Under the gentle glow of World Dragon Kurimo's healing light, Sona slowly regained consciousness.
"Where... am I?"
She felt remarkably refreshed, better than she had in years. Not only had her injuries vanished completely, but the demonic power flowing through her body moved with unprecedented smoothness, as if all impurities had been cleansed away.
Though Takeyo couldn't yet access the full infinite power of his incarnations, the healing properties of World Dragon Kurimo's immortality remained potent enough to mend any wound short of death itself.
Not all of Takeyo's incarnation abilities had fully awakened, some required him to discover and unlock them through experience and understanding.
The power most similar to the Infinite Dragon God Ophis, which represented boundless strength, remained dormant for now. But since he could sense its existence within him, full activation was merely a matter of time and proper conditions.
"Well..." Takeyo gave a slight, satisfied smile. "I suppose this counts as my victory."
He estimated that Akeno, after unleashing her Super Lightning Strike, still retained roughly thirty percent of her demonic power. Tsubaki had exhausted more than half of hers in the process.
Most of their energy had gone into constructing elaborate magic circles, circles that Takeyo had dispelled with seemingly effortless ease, rendering all that preparation meaningless.
"Yes... we lost."
Seeing that Takeyo remained completely unharmed, Akeno released a long, resigned sigh.
A wave of frustration washed over her. Takeyo-kun, couldn't you have at least pretended to struggle a little? Would it have killed you to dodge once or twice?
"There's no need to continue," Tsubaki added, her voice carrying a note of finality. "We concede defeat."
She meant it, she truly accepted this outcome.
Her initial confidence had stemmed from knowing Takeyo's usual capabilities. She'd believed his defensive power, while impressive, had its limits. He would never willingly put himself in mortal danger.
Their combined magic had proven far more potent than anticipated, yet it still failed to affect him meaningfully. The disparity in their abilities was simply too vast.
But what truly sealed her acceptance was the revelation of how Takeyo had withstood their assault.
He'd activated the power of [Gautama Buddha], pushing it to its absolute peak!
The enlightened Shakyamuni, who had transcended countless trials of ascetic practice and achieved perfect understanding, possessed formidable resistance against spell attacks, physical strikes, and even mental assaults.
The Buddha's enlightenment granted immunity to worldly suffering, and by extension, to most forms of harm that lesser beings could inflict.
"I appreciate your concession."
Takeyo gently lifted Sona in his arms and walked toward where Rias stood watching the aftermath.
There was no need to prolong this match. He'd simply wanted to verify his current strength while completing the sign-in requirements for this encounter.
According to his calculations, even without defending himself, the combined attack wouldn't have been immediately fatal. At worst, he might have been left half-dead, and such injuries could be rapidly healed through the power of World Dragon Kurimo.
If he activated Kurimo's regenerative abilities, recovery from even grievous wounds would take mere moments.
With both Queens acknowledging defeat, Takeyo's sign-in promptly completed itself.
[Ding!]
[Successfully signed in for Silver-level plot!]
[Sign-in Plot: Queen's Defeat (1)!]
[Plot Description: Defeated Rias Gremory's Queen, Akeno Himejima.]
[Congratulations! Reward obtained: Alpha Stigma (Evolution)!]
[Ding!]
[Successfully signed in for Silver-level plot!]
[Sign-in Plot: Queen's Defeat (2)!]
[Plot Description: Defeated Sona Sitri's Queen, Tsubaki Shinra.]
[Congratulations! Reward obtained: Authority, Divine Severing, God's Wine of Madness!]
"Oh? Not bad at all."
Takeyo had completed the Alpha Stigma's evolution while his eyes remained closed for just a moment. What had been an ordinary analytical eye now approached the capabilities of a half-complete omniscient formula solver!
His various abilities were advancing rapidly, and crucially, there was no longer any risk of the eye running out of control and consuming his sanity.
"The other reward is a Campione Authority... This one's acceptable, I suppose. While I'd prefer abilities focused on technique and precision over raw power, I don't actually dislike close-quarters combat."
This particular Authority could be classified as either a self-enhancement skill or a debilitating field effect directed at opponents.
[Divine Severing, God's Wine of Madness] was an Authority that Salvatore Doni had usurped from Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and revelry.
It created a bounded field where magic, cursed energy, and even other Authorities would spiral into chaos and malfunction. The effect was potent enough to cause Doni's own powers to run wild if he wasn't careful.
On the surface, the utility seemed questionable. But depending on how one wielded it, this Authority could become a terrifying trump card in the right circumstances.
By activating this power, Takeyo could force opponents into the pure hand-to-hand combat scenarios where he excelled. It served as Doni's ultimate technique, a last resort that stripped away all supernatural advantages and reduced conflicts to contests of pure martial skill.
Normally, using this Authority required extensive preparation time. However, it could be activated quickly for more limited, localized effects.
[Note: You retain full consciousness and can freely enter or exit the berserk state at will.]
Satisfied with his gains, Takeyo returned to the Occult Research Club's meeting room, where the other participants were still recovering from the spectacle they'd witnessed.
"Takeyo-kun, that blood flowing through your veins... what exactly is it?"
After returning to the clubroom, Rias finally voiced the question that had been burning in her mind.
He'd demonstrated such overwhelming power, then taken Akeno's Super Lightning Strike directly without suffering any visible damage. What kind of hero's descendant could possibly possess such formidable abilities?
"Well, I don't think there's any harm in telling you, Rias."
Takeyo had no intention of revealing his true nature, not yet. But creating a plausible false identity seemed prudent enough.
"What I inherited is the power of Rama, the Mahatma. The incarnation described in the epic Ramayana."
"The weapon I used against Yuuto's Demon Swords earlier was the Sword of Salvation. Additionally, when I fought Kuroka, I employed several divine armaments bestowed by gods and Buddhas, all stored within the Sword of Salvation."
Of course, there were countless other weapons Takeyo hadn't yet utilized in combat.
The Sword of Salvation was an extraordinary treasure wielded by the young Rama, its true form obtained from ancient Brahmin allies during Rama's mortal life. When those friends still held Kshatriya status, they had accumulated divine weapons and treasures from across the world, gifts from gods and Buddhas alike.
These armaments had been transformed into conceptual essences and engraved upon the blade itself. When Rama wished to use them, they would emerge from the golden gates that manifested around him.
The destructive capacity of these weapons surpassed even the legendary Gate of Babylon wielded by the King of Heroes!
The arsenal included Indra's Vajra, Vishnu's Discus, Shiva's Trident, Brahma's Dart, the Wind God's Missiles, Damoso, the Death God's Scythe, Narayana's Dart, the pestle of Ganesha, and countless treasures of the Trimurti... Takeyo himself didn't know the full extent of what lay dormant within the blade!
Moreover, every weapon carried a curse that negated immortality. If one couldn't defeat Rama in battle, wounds inflicted by these divine blades would never heal, a permanent mark of the Mahatma's judgment.
Even Vimana, the radiant celestial vessel that served as Rama's mount, resided within this treasury. Some had mistakenly called it the golden Vimana of Gilgamesh, but that was a fundamental error.
The true Vimana belonged to Rama alone!
Unfortunately, merely manifesting the Sword of Salvation required activating the [Rama] incarnation's full power, which came with significant energy costs.
"I see... that explains why you're so formidable, Takeyo-kun."
Akeno's voice carried a mixture of understanding and resignation.
Rama the Mahatma... an existence that transcended even legendary heroes. He had originally been an avatar of Vishnu himself, one of the three principal deities of Hindu cosmology.
Compared to him, the so-called modern protagonists of clichéd stories were nothing, pale imitations with none of his grandeur.
One need only examine Rama's recorded achievements: he had slain the Rakshasa demon Tataka with a single arrow despite its thousand transformations. He used the divine weapon Manapo to defeat the Rakshasa king Maricha and send him flying for a hundred years through space itself.
He'd obliterated the demon Subahu with Agni's fire-weapon, dispersed entire demon armies that threatened sacred rituals with the Wind God's arsenal, and bent Shiva's divine bow as though it were a child's toy.
He'd drawn Vishnu's bow to intimidate Parashurama himself, shot an arrow to the edge of the universe, covered the sky with a rain of arrows that plunged the world into darkness...
In the parallel world of the Campione universe, the final antagonist, the Last King, was also a manifestation of Rama.
Against Rama, who operated at the level of a game master with full administrative privileges, even Godslayers who had acquired cheat-like powers remained as vulnerable as ordinary chickens facing a wolf.
"Now I understand why my swords shattered so easily..." Yuuto murmured with a rueful smile, his earlier confidence completely deflated.
The weight of that revelation settled over the room like a heavy blanket.
When your opponent is literally an avatar of a supreme deity, Yuuto thought grimly, what chance does anyone have?