As the searing beam of golden light tore toward him, Ren Kuroda had the fleeting urge to enter his Half-Demon Form.
But the thought stopped him cold.
If he deliberately stepped outside the bounds of "human"… would Az Dakaha's power surge again in response?
He couldn't rule it out.
"Blade Spirit—Release!"
"Raging Divine Thunder that answers the flesh—With the momentum of Raikouku—Move Like Lightning: Raikouku!"
There was no time to hesitate. If using Half-Demon Form carried unknown risks, then he would have to stake everything on another path.
Without warning, white lightning burst into existence.
Ren's entire body flared like a descending thunder god, arcs of electricity writhing around him. Enhanced by the divine blessing of his awakened blade spirit, Move Like Lightning erupted upward—no longer merely a slash, but a pillar of white lightning that seemed capable of splitting the heavens themselves.
It collided head-on with the golden high-temperature beam blasting from Az Dakaha's jaws.
White thunder and golden radiance clashed midair. The storm unleashed by their collision sent shockwaves ripping outward, hurling everyone nearby off their feet in a single instant.
But the stalemate Ren had hoped for never came.
His white lightning held for only a breath before the golden beam began forcing it back.
Ren understood the difference all too clearly.
Even strengthened by Blade Spirit Release, Move Like Lightning was still wielded by someone who, without Half-Demon Form, had only just stepped into the realm of four-digit existence.
Az Dakaha?
Setting aside his monstrous Gifts and simulated cosmologies, the dragon was a genuine, top-tier three-digit being.
Even if Ren's attack surpassed the dragon's breath as a Gift in raw classification, the gap between their users was immeasurable.
Ren thrust his hand into empty space and drew forth a massive sake gourd.
Uncorking it, lightning still dancing across his body, he held his blade in one hand—and began drinking deeply with the other.
The liquor within the Endless Sake Gourd had aged for an extraordinary length of time. Its quality was now the finest it had ever been.
He had intended to save it as a trump card.
And yet, absurdly enough, Az Dakaha had forced him to use everything he had just to survive a casual breath attack.
The sake burned down his throat.
His aura surged.
The lightning dancing along his blade grew wilder—more violent.
The golden beam that had nearly driven him into the ground began to falter. The raging white lightning pushed back.
Concentrated into a single piercing point, the thunder reshaped itself—no longer a strike, but a spear that seemed to rend the sky itself.
With the force of a needle piercing cloth, it split the golden beam down the center, shredding it inch by inch.
For the first time, Az Dakaha's playful expression shifted.
Surprise flickered across one of his three faces.
Even he had not expected Ren to reverse such overwhelming disadvantage.
The lightning was too fast.
By the time Az Dakaha sensed himself losing ground and attempted to intensify his breath, Ren—cloaked in roaring thunder—had already appeared before him.
The golden beam had been obliterated.
But the lightning had not dissipated.
Ren surged forward with thunder's fury. After shattering the dragon's breath, he redirected the lightning spear straight toward Az Dakaha's eye.
He had watched the dragon endure Izayoi and His Highness's earth-shattering punch without so much as a flinch. That alone proved the creature's physical durability was absurd.
Even Move Like Lightning, the strongest technique among Wind, Forest, Fire, and Mountain, might not inflict meaningful damage.
But eyes—
No matter the species, eyes were among the softest, most vulnerable weaknesses.
There was no way his blade wouldn't pierce it.
Az Dakaha clearly read his intent.
And he had no desire to become one-eyed.
As the lightning shrieked toward him, the dragon opened his enormous jaws and bit toward Ren.
Ren was moving too fast for a guaranteed catch. But if he insisted on piercing the eye, his speed would inevitably drop at the moment of impact.
Would he trade injury for injury?
Or withdraw?
Az Dakaha found himself curious.
He had three heads—six eyes. Losing one meant little.
But for Ren? One fatal opening, and it would not be a matter of injury—it would be instant death.
Knowing full well Ren's target, Az Dakaha did not blink. Did not dodge.
Instead, he widened his eyes and stared straight at him.
The meaning was clear.
As the embodiment of humanity's final trial, he welcomed challengers who dared test their limits.
"Interesting. I accept your challenge."
Would Ren retreat?
Of course not.
He understood the risk. A miscalculation here would kill him.
But he also knew this—
An opportunity to grievously wound Az Dakaha like this might never come again.
Thunder roared across the heavens.
The lightning spear drove forward—
And pierced straight through one of Az Dakaha's eyes.
Ren's divine blade buried itself to the hilt.
Blood erupted from the dragon's right eye.
The moment those droplets struck the ground, they transformed into divine-class two-headed dragon avatars that roared and charged toward Shira Yukimura, Kuro Usagi, and the others.
Even with his eye impaled, Az Dakaha did not cry out.
Instead, at the exact moment he suffered the blow, he bit down toward Ren.
Just as he had predicted—
Lightning might be swift, but unless it pierced completely through his skull, the attacker would slow at impact.
Before Ren could withdraw his blade, Az Dakaha's massive jaws snapped shut at his position.
But Ren had anticipated this.
He thrust his left hand forward—directly into the dragon's maw.
An instant later, Az Dakaha felt something jam violently between his upper and lower jaws, forcing them apart.
Through his remaining eyes, he saw it clearly—
The massive sake gourd Ren had been drinking from.
The seemingly ordinary vessel was wedged between his fangs—preventing his bite from closing.
The Endless Sake Gourd was, after all, an SS-class artifact.
In Ren's original world, it would be considered a divine treasure.
The system had described it as a defensive item, and Ren had once used it to withstand Abe no Seimei's full-force strike. Its durability was beyond question.
But this was Little Garden—a world filled with countless cosmologies.
Here, even an SS-class artifact felt… insufficient.
The gourd had smashed through Rashomon. It had endured the strongest onmyoji's attack without so much as a scratch.
Yet under Az Dakaha's terrifying bite force, cracks spread across its surface within seconds.
It wouldn't last long.
Ren yanked his blade free from the dragon's eye and withdrew the gourd just before it shattered completely.
At the same time, he began chanting at breakneck speed.
"O King who rules—Mask of flesh and bone, myriad phenomena, wings that flutter, crowned in the name of man!Scorching heat and strife, the sea churns southward—advance without hesitation!Hadō #31—Shakkahō!"
Even as he recalled the gourd, a massive crimson fireball detonated inside Az Dakaha's mouth.
This time, the dragon roared in genuine pain.
But in that same instant, the dragon's rightmost head seized the opening in Ren's retreat.
It bit.
A spray of red arced through the air.
Ren's body landed hard in the rubble some distance away.
His left arm was gone.
The arm that had cast Shakkahō hadn't withdrawn in time.
Az Dakaha had torn it clean off.
Blinding one eye.
Blasting his throat.
All of it had cost Ren his left arm.
"Your strength, your will, your combat instincts… all first-rate. Perhaps you might have become the first to truly cross beyond me.
"But you are not a pure human.
"I can feel it. You hold power in reserve—power that does not belong to humanity.
"What a shame."
Despite taking a fully chanted Shakkahō directly to the throat—one of the most vulnerable parts of any living being—Az Dakaha stood there with little more than faint smoke curling from his mouth.
His five remaining eyes regarded Ren with something almost like regret.
Ren's courage and ingenuity had earned his recognition.
But he was not purely human.
And only true humans could surpass humanity's final trial.
"Aurora Pillar!"
Before Az Dakaha could finish speaking, a blue-white beam erupted from beneath the ruins, piercing through the surface and slamming into him.
Its power was overwhelming—like a column meant to pierce the stars themselves.
Under its force, Az Dakaha was blasted several kilometers away.
Blood rained from his body mid-flight, creating more divine-class avatars that surged toward Shira and Kuro Usagi, intensifying the pressure on them.
At the same time, His Highness activated his simulated cosmology—"Avatāra."
Meaning "Incarnation."
It contained ten distinct universes—a power that transcended existing cosmic laws, hailed as the pinnacle of omniscience and omnipotence.
Through it, he gained "wisdom beyond humanity, strength beyond humanity, and starlight beyond humanity."
Because one of those ten cosmologies aligned with Leo's traits, he could unleash the true authority of the Solar Sovereignty of Leo.
Ordinarily, he could also reproduce the power of the simulated cosmology False Star Taisui.
But that Gift was currently in Ren's possession.
And given their relationship, Ren would never relinquish it.
Thus, His Highness focused solely on Leo's power.
Even so, with Avatāra amplifying him, his strength soared.
Together with Izayoi's Aurora Pillar, they appeared—for the moment—to suppress Absolute Evil.
Witnessing Ren grievously wound Az Dakaha, and now seeing Izayoi and His Highness unleash overwhelming strength, Shira, Kuro Usagi, and the others felt their morale surge.
Though divine-class avatars multiplied with every drop of blood Az Dakaha shed, they understood—
Defeat the original, and victory remained possible.
But not everyone shared that optimism.
Ren.
Izayoi.
His Highness.
They knew better.
To outside observers, it seemed they had inflicted serious injuries.
But only those fighting him directly understood the truth.
From the very beginning—
Az Dakaha had not fought seriously.
The damage they dealt was minimal.
And they had already given everything.
Meanwhile, Az Dakaha had used nothing but his dragon body and brute strength.
He had not invoked Gifts like "Thousand Sorceries," "Wheel of the Overlord," or "Dragon's Shadow."
Not once.
As the battle dragged on, Izayoi and His Highness came to a sobering conclusion:
Az Dakaha might be invincible.
Ren's severed arm had already regenerated.
But as he stared at the seemingly untouchable dragon, he could not see a path to victory.
Even if he used Half-Demon Form—unaffected by the simulated cosmology Avesta—
The gulf between them would still be vast.
Far too vast.