Part 1

Turning time back a bit, after he had spent some time sparring with Lexus, Godou had gone to visit Hel and Inori to check how they were doing.

The room they were placed was a simple one. It had white walls and a single window which was opposite to the door.

In front of the window was a drawer full of medical supplies. On top of the drawer were some cups and a jug of water.

On either side of the drawer were two simple beds which Hel and Inori lay resting in.

Conversely, this had been the room that Godou and Ferrex had placed in when they had collapsed from Lexus’s inhuman basic training program.

According to Lexus, Inori had overloaded her magic circuits or something. Either way it seemed like she would be hit with extreme fatigue for the next few days and would be unable to use magic for about a month.

Hel, on the other hand, had pushed her body way beyond her limits and was currently suffering mild paralysis. This was only temporary though but likewise it would take her about a month to fully recover.

When he entered, Godou had found that Inori had fallen asleep. Meanwhile, Hel was conscious and lucid. She seemed to be staring at the jug of water with great intensity.

Hel glanced at him as he entered but didn’t say anything. Instead she returned to glaring at the jug of water with great intensity and longing.

Sighing, Godou walked up and poured a glass of water from the jug. With all the moving about and fighting done today, it would be easy to get dehydrated.

He then offered the cup to Hel.

“...I didn’t ask for this.”

Hel made no moves to accept the cup.

“I know that, but I’m doing this on my own accord. So here, take it.”

However, Hel still didn’t accept the cup.

“If you’re being stubborn about this then I guess you don’t want this as much as you thought you did.”

Godou moved the cup away and saw desperation flirt across Hel’s face for a spilt second. How cute.

He offered Hel the cup again. However, Hel only gave a weak sigh and explained.

“I can’t move my arms right now…”

Oh right... That would explain why Hel hadn’t tried to pour the water herself. The jug was only a metre away from her. Godou berated himself for not realising this eariler.

To reduce someone as strong as Hel to this level…Speaking of which, Inori and Badas were also in similar situations.

Because of him, they had gone through so trouble. Godou felt frustrated with himself.

Godou moved the cup to Hel’s month. She took it without complaint.

He placed cup and sat down in a nearby chair.

“…”

“…”

Neither of them said anything else for a while.

It was a companionable silence.

Then Hel quietly muttered.

“That guy was strong. What happened afterwards?”

There was only one person that Hel could be talking about. Realising that Hel still didn’t know the whole story, Godou filled her in about the bits she needed to know, reassuring her:

“This whole business with Knite is my responsibility. Relax and rest, Hel, allow me to take care of that guy.”

Hel didn’t seem as surprised as he thought she would. Perhaps living in such a world full of magic and monsters didn’t make such things surprising. She didn’t blame him for it either.

“Ultimately, Knite was the one who decided to cause all this trouble on his own.”

This gratified him greatly. He felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders.

The debt he owed her, Godou promised that he would take it from Knite with interest.

They continued to chat on other more trivial topics.

About their experiences, about their interests.

A truly normal activity which Godou had not experienced in quite a while.

However, these peaceful times did not last.

Almost 4 hours since their last encounter, Godou felt the return of a tremendously powerful aura of light.

Bidding farewell to Hel with a smile that he hoped didn’t appear too forced, Godou left the room....

Godou had spent roughly one hour in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber sparring with Lexus. The reason for this was because he only wanted to get a hold on what his powers could be like.

Fruitlessly training till the last minute– Since, he had no idea when Knite would return, he saw no point in wearing himself down with such an activity.

Rather, he felt that it would be wise to simple spend his remaining time relaxing, storing up the energy for when he needed it most.

Godou quietly left the Church of Freya. On the way he had passed by Lexus who simply nodded at him.

It seemed that Lexus had agreed to follow the “plan” he had proposed. Though, there were too little details to call it a plan.

Rather, it would be more accurate to call it a "just in case" measure.

Conversely, Godou had somehow managed to pick up a new skill from his sparing with Lexus.

Aura Sensing.

That was the name of the skill he had learnt accidentally in combat.

It was through the use of this new skill that he had sensed Knite’s arrival.

Aura Sensing

Allows greater understanding of aura based techniques and allows you to sense the aura of others.

Godou’s skill proficiency wasn’t very high with Aura Sensing, so he had troubling distinguishing separate auras when he didn’t look at them directly.

Basically, rather than allowing him to find someone like a human radar, his current level of Aura Sensing only gave him vague impression like if the person was far away or close by.

If he tried to extend the range of his sensing to his limits, then he would only find an unreadable mix of aura caused by too many people being in the vicinity.

However, like a lighthouse on a foggy night, Knite’s aura was so intense that it was hard to miss.

Conversely, aura intensity was affected by stats like Fighting Spirit, Faith, Honour, Divinity etc. Aura amount referred to the resource that was being used to fuel the aura, be it Stamina, Mana or Health.

Godou hurried across the streets of Tellap.

The sun was beginning to set now. However this didn’t mean that the monsters had stopped their attack. After all, monsters get a 50% stat boost at night. Nevertheless, that wasn’t his problem now. Godou pushed all unnecessary thoughts out of his mind.

Knite aura appeared to be approaching him rather fast. It was as if he had no trouble finding Godou this time.

It was probably one of the features of Aura Sensing. Knite probably had the skill or something similar to it.

Godou was the same in that regard. As long as he met someone at least once, he would be able to identify how close they were from him no matter how many populated their current location was.

Godou searched from a place with the least amount of people in it. He headed to that location.

Innocent bystanders jumping to into help him on their own accord... He would not allow Knite to cause any more unnecessary harm anymore. Nor would he hide behind another person’s back.

Godou had decided. This was his fight now.

Step.

Something fell from the skies and landed lightly before him.

A glowing figure. A bright white radiance.

Knite appeared before him again.

“As promised, I have returned to continue my mission! By the way, how are the conditions of the Knights from before?”

Knite’s first words showed a surprising amount of concern for someone who loved fighting so much. Godou really didn’t know what to think of him in that regard, thus, he gave a simple response.

“They will live.”

Godou had resolved himself to that task of fighting Knite, However, participating in fights when he didn’t need to wasn’t something that Godou wanted to develop a habit of doing.

Thus, Godou gave Knite one last chance to leave.

“As a pacifist who avoids unnecessary conflict, I will ask you one last time. Knite! Please give up on your mission and return to your Elemental Realm.”

“Godou was your name wasn’t it? Considering the fact that you have already fought against me earlier, that proposition of yours is quite hypocritical. Ho ho ho saying such things with your eyes full of fighting spirit. Your actions don’t match your words at all! You’re actually itching to fight as much as I am aren’t you?”

However, Knite seemed determined to carry on with his mission. Rather, it seemed that a good fight was what he was after.

Knite’s accusation actually struck the core of his being, however, pretending that he didn’t hear it, Godou raised the valid point.

“Are you sure about this? After all, you’re not in top form.”

Currently, Godou was in a party with Lexus and Ferrex.

Because both of his party members were priest type characters, they had the ability to view the lifeforce information of others.

This ability could apparently be shared throughout the party. Conversely, although Ferrex did not have a physical body on the continent of Versailles, or the Mortal Realms, as it was called, he could still be invited into parties.

As a result, Godou could see 3 bars around Knite.

One represented his Health which was at around 60%.

One represented his Mana which was full.

And the last one represented his Stamina which was also at around 60%.

It seemed that Knite ability to recover Health was sorely lacking for some reason.

“Humph! Indeed my ability to heal is inhibited by the damage to the Elemental Realm of Light, however, fighting under disadvantageous conditions is what brings out the joy of battle more clearly! After all, wasn’t there that famous saying... uhm… With each step closer I become to Death, the more my sharper my senses become! ”

“No such saying exists!”

Basically, it was like starving yourself before a battle to make your blade “sharper”. That kind of twisted logic.

However, Godou felt disheartened by the fact that he could actually relate to Knite’s statement.

The worse off he became, the faster his mind worked and the lighter his limbs became. He had felt that sensation several times before.

Refusing to accept the undeniable similarities between himself and Knite, Godou scowled and irritably muttered:

“Just don’t regret it if that’s what causes you to lose then!”

Godou was about to start, however Knite stopped him with an outscretched hand.

“Wait! Before were start! I have a question that’s been biting at be ever since I saw you. What are you? I sense Divinity from you but you are different from those Lesser Gods stuck in the Mortal Realm. Neither are you something that has gained Divinity from being worshiped like that holy spirit from before. Rather, you have similarities with True Gods in the Immortal Realms, but that the same time you seem more wild and unrestrained.”

How should I answer such a question? Godou responded in a rare tone of challenge.

“I am the player Godou. My race is Heretic God. My class is Overlord. I will be the one who defeat you.”

“An Overlord huh… Ha ha What a coincidence! Could this be karma? I missed the Sword Saint but encountered you instead! Ha ha ha very well Godou, let us begin this fight!”

Part 2

“As the one who holds each and every victory, I am the strongest. Man and devil, all who harbor enmity will be vanquished. Hence I will smash through all enemies in my way!”

Godou started off by whispering the activation incantation he had set to activate Gift of the Origin.

Although he didn’t particularly like the idea of using these words, it was what he was most comfortable and familiar with.

Gift of the Origin has been activated.

All fame has been consumed and converted into raw power. All cooldowns have been reset. You class has temporarily advanced to Divine Overlord.

+ 245% all stats

+ 245% Damage Output

+ 245% Damage Reduction (capped at 99%)

+ Further 245% Health

+ Further 245% Mana

+ Further 245% Divinity

+ Further 245% Stamina

+ Further 98% the effects of all buffs

+ 24 levels of all non-Divine combat related skills and masteries

+ 245% Health, Stamina and Divinity regeneration

+ able to ignore activation requirements of skills

+ All experience gained from battle will be converted to fame

+ You have temporarily gained access to the skill [Realm of the Overlord]

Duration: 24 Hours.You aura is overflowing.

X 3 all statsYou have activated Might of the Ruler.

+1454 Fighting Spirit

+ Psychological pressure has been applied on your opponent (due to the effects of the target’s high fighting spirit this effect has been negated).

+ Effects the enemy intimidation skill High Elements Pressure has been negated.Survival Instinct has activated.

+Your damage output increases as your condition worsens

+ ability to detect danger has increasedOverpowering Will has activated

+You are able to overcomes your limits

+Stamina has become infinite

Godou felt tremendous surge of power though his body as the skill activated. His aura suddenly exploded around him in the form of pitch black flames, the intensity of it caused disturbances around him.

Never before had his in-game body felt as light and easy to move as it did now. It was a strange feeling of omnipotence.

“Ho, such power! This is just like a Divine Saint Knight’s Divine Possession.”

Knite watched him seemingly interested by this change. Then, he too, released his aura around him like armour. A brilliant white aura shone, contrasted greatly with Godou’s black aura.

However, he didn’t attack.

Considering Knite’s personality it was highly likely that he would want to learn more about Godou current capabilities before getting serious.

Rather than caution, it was more like gauging up how much he should hold back to have fun. At least that was the impression Godou got.

However, it was precisely because of that haughty attitude that Godou could afford to take the time to get used to his new abilities.

He quickly read the skill description for [Realm of the Overlord].

Realm of the Overlord

Using your surroundings in the mortal realm as a basis, create a temporary version of a Divine Realm. A suitable keystone is required for the creation of the divine realm.

Currently a suitable keystone is present.

A convenient skill for his current situation. If the fighting took place elsewhere then he wouldn’t have to worry about any more collateral damage right? Although he had never remembered when he had acquired such an item, it seemed that the keystone requirement had apparently been met.

Godou activated Realm of the Overlord.

As he did so, a ring of illusionary fire formed around him and rapidly expanded, rushing past Knite and beyond. The sky changed colours and became a distorted rainbow of colours.

You have created a Divine Realm. A portion of the world around you has been copied to create your own space in the boundary between the mortal and immortal worlds.

Size of Realm: 42 Hectares

All other inhabitants in this realm will be rejected back to their original places when you leave

Due to leaving the mortal realm, the effects of the Contract of Gods no longer limit your abilities. While in the Immortal Realms, Divine Tolerance becomes infinite.Your aura is overflowing. x3 to all stats

Godou looked around. The paved ground, the buildings, they all appeared the same as they were before. It seemed that apart from the sky, everything seemed identical from before.

However when he extended the range of his Aura Sensing, Godou found that he could no longer sense the mixed confusion of auras that had been caused due to the presence of so many people in the city.

Instead, he vaguely sensed the presence of 1 or 2 other entities present in the realm besides himself and Knite. Godou took note of this. It seemed like he had the ability to choose who got transported to this realm.

The other entities were probably Lexus and Ferrex(?) who had been in a party with Godou when he activated the skill.

“Hahaha! To think that you would have the ability to create your own realm. Well, now I don’t have to worry about holding back to reduce collateral damage. I guess I really can’t look down on you any further.”

Knite looked around the realm Godou had created. There was a wariness around him that hadn’t been present earlier.

“Now, if you’ve finished powering up, I will resume my mission!”

Without waiting for Godou’s response, Knite began his assault. He closed the distance between them in an instant and launched an aura enhanced punch!

Fast!

However, in Royal Road, the agility stat was a stat that also altered time perception. Godou’s agility stat had been multiplied by several times due to aura and Gift of the Origin.

Coupled with the intense concentration that he was able to pull out in battle due to his real body’s disposition, Godou was able to barely avoid the attack.

“You- I never said I was finished!”

Please stop deciding all these things by yourself!

Godou wanted to say all this and more as he leapt away from Knite to create some distance between them.

It was an inhuman jump that he probably wouldn’t have been able to perform normally as he sailed over the roofs of several buildings before landing on a double storey house.

Divine Wildcard Decree has activated.

+ 230% to all stats

+ 224% to all stats due to the effects of Gift of the Origin

You can gain access to Wildcard forms which are selected randomly.

Max duration: Infinite due to being in the Immortal Realms

Whilst doing this, Godou activated the “new” skill he had unlocked quite recently. Surprisingly enough, these “Wildcard Forms” that the skill provided were actually quite familiar abilities.

Well, since it was shaped from his desires it seemed inevitable that it would take the form of powers which he was most used to.

Normally, the skill required Godou’s opponent to have Divinity for him to activate it. However, Gift of the Origin allowed him to ignore skill activation requirements.

The only problem was that the Wildcard Forms were selected at random so he had no way of knowing which one he would get. After some sparring with Lexus, Godou had gotten a pretty good grasp on this skill.

Divine Wildcard Decree was a skill that gave Godou access to 4 different Wildcard Forms depending on his luck. Each Wildcard form gave him access to different passive skills. He was also able to switch Wildcard Forms in battle. However, once he had decided to switch Forms, the Form he was using before would become unusable for the rest of the time Divine Wildcard Decree was active.

Normally, every single Wildcard Form caused a massive strain on his Divine Tolerance because his Divinity was so low. However, this problem seemed to be subverted now that his Divinity had become infinite due to being in his own realm.

Conversely, Godou had named the Wildcard forms with names that he was most comfortable with using in battle.

Anyway, back to the battle, Knite hadn’t been standing idle while Godou had jumped away.

Stomping down hard to change the direction of his charge, Knite had also jumped and made a beeline at Godou, smashing through the buildings in front of him without care.

Godou tried to make another leap away from Knite, managing to jump just before Knite reached the rooftop he was currently on.

However before he could get out of reach, Knite created a transparent double of himself made of light which blocked Godou’s exit.

“You can clone yourself?!”

Taking advantage of Godou’s shock, Knite managed to grab hold of Godou’s leg and smash him downwards through the rooftop and to the floors below.

Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii!

Additionally, Knite’s light clone broke up into small balls of light which floated around Knite. Each of these light balls rained down white laser beams at the spot where Godou had fallen from above.

You have lost 1434 Health.You have lost 11435 Health.You have lost 567 Health.You have lost 10487 Health.You have lost 17 Health.You have lost…

Tch, this guy is getting more and more ridiculous.

The battle had barely started but already Godou was already losing chunks of his Health.

His back ached from the impact of being smashed down the roof. It seemed his fall damage immunity won’t protect him from that kind of attack.

Some of the laser beams pierced straight through his body while others merely grazed him or shot close to him, pelting him with rubble. Either way, these attacks really hurt!

Godou activated the Wildcard Form which had been randomly selected. Having something to defend himself with was at least better than nothing!

Wildcard Form “Bull” has been selected.

The effects of the skill [Overpowering Will] have been greatly enhanced.

While this Wildcard Form is active the following passive skills are active:

[Earth Armament]Earth Armament

Charge your body with the aura of the land to greatly enhance your toughness and physical strength. Health regeneration also increases greatly.

Godou’s aura changed colours, from pitch black to a bronze earthy colour. It condensed itself around him like armour, similar to what Knite’s aura had done.

Like all his other Wildcard Forms, this ability had been based on Godou’s desire to have to use a familiar power. In other words, they had been based on his first authority, the Ten Incantations that he had usurped from the war god Verethragna in reality.

However, they were not the same.

Verethragna’s second form, which this Wildcard form had been named after, granted him immense strength proportional of whatever he wanted to apply his strength to.

Meanwhile, the Wildcard Form “Bull” condensed his aura around him like armour, not only greatly enhancing his physical strength but also enhancing his defensive abilities as well!

Of course, this only applied when there was some part of his body connected to the ground or something solid touching the ground.

Laser beams of light continued to rain down on him, though they did considerably less damage due to the protection of his aura. That being said, the pain of getting hit only numbed from the feeling of being stabbed with a knife to being pelted with 250km/h tennis balls. However, although Earth Armament increased his toughness, it was really too naïve to rely on that alone to defend himself.

“Haahh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

Godou ran over to the walls of the building and smashed it down. He pushed the building with his enhanced strength from the other side forcing the building to collapse.

The rain of lasers stopped as Knite was forced to move away from his collapsing foothold. He leapt and landed lightly in front of Godou.

“Oh, so you can condense your aura to such a degree as well- No, it looks similar but it’s really a different technique. Now, let’s see what it does!”

Knite closed the distance between them again in an instant. Wasn’t this guy supposed to be weakened? A movement technique?

This level of speed was undoubtedly much faster than Godou as he was currently.

Godou couldn’t jump away in time.

He was also wary since being airborne would negate the effects of Earth Armament. So instead, he lowered his centre of gravity and raised his arms to guard his head like a boxer.

You have lost 34543 Health.

Godou grunted as Knite managed to kick him under his guard. Although, his aura mostly protected him, Godou still felt an impact akin to a cannon ball. Nevertheless, he withstood the attack and managed to grab hold of Knite’s body.

“Yaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!!!”

With a yell, he threw Knite has hard as he could at another nearby building.

However, with an inexplicable display of martial art prowess, Knite managed to right himself in mid throw and land on the side of the building without breaking it.

He then leapt at Godou, an axe of light forming in his hands. A blindingly bright white meteor descended.

Taking that attack directly would be bad!

Warned by his instincts, Godou leapt with all of his might out of Knite’s path.

Boooooooooooooom!!!!

A large crater formed from the impact. Additionally, the instant after the impact, a rune like symbol formed within the crater and a pillar of white flames surged out of it.

Godou managed to dodge Knite’s direct attack but was unable to avoid the pillar of white flames which rose rapidly at him. He was also in mid-air so the effects of Earth Armament where no longer active.

“Create!”

Godou desperately created a mana weapon beneath him without touching it. It managed to absorb Knite’s spell before it dealt any serious damage.

He also tried to kick the mana weapon back at Knite but it broke from the impact of his kick.

An explosion of white flames erupted from the broken mana weapon. Due to the attributes of Divine mana weapons not being able to damage their creator, Godou was unaffected.

Knite on the other hand, took a direct hit from the explosion. Godou checked Knite’s health, there had been absolutely no effect.

To have so much health as well as such high physical and magical offensive power… Come to think of it, now that he didn’t have his scythe with him anymore and wasn’t just blinding rushing into close combat, Knite was showing off a variety of different abilities.

“Damn this is so broken its not even funny....”

As befitting of an entity that was akin to a final hidden boss. Unknowingly, Godou’s lips had twisted into a grotesque savage smile as he said those words.

“I don’t want to hear that coming from you. Sigh~ Those mana weapons are turning out to be pretty annoying.”

On the other hand, Knite seemed to have his own complaints that the even more broken existence that was just barely able to keep up with him despite being only a fraction of his level.

Granted he wasn’t at full power and was undoubtedly winning their exchange, but still, it was almost unheard of for something like this to occur.

Against such a worthy opponent, it was only proper that he paid his respects by going releasing more of his power!

“Since you’ve given me a show, I guess it’s my turn to show you something interesting.”

Godou grew wary at Knite’s proclamation. Knite drew another rune like symbol in the air, his finger burning in white flames.

A portal appeared in the place where the rune had been drawn and the ghostly figure of a horse trotted out of the portal.

Godou tensed, was Knite summoning more elementals to help him fight? However, the horse changed shape again, becoming more slender, stick-like, with a blade forming at one end.

Godou recognised it.

It was Knite’s scythe which Badas had broken earlier that day!

However, as it was now, it seemed cloudy and almost intangible even. Just what is this guy planning?

Seeing Godou’s confusion, Knite gave a friendly explanation.

“For Elementals, there are 2 ways of growing stronger. The first way is by gradually levelling up. The second way is by combining with other elementals of the same element. Now, there are two types of fusions which an elemental can have. Both require the consent of both parties. First is the permanent Elemental Fusion. This can only be done between two elementals at around the same level of power. It also requires some time for a certain ritual to be conducted. Basically, it’s a very complicated process that requires time to do.”

Knite’s body suddenly started to emit a dazzlingly bright light. The scythe also began to shine.

“The second one is the temporary Elemental Fusion. For this one, there are fewer restrictions. The main one being that the two parties are both Elementals. Of course, the power boost given by it is a lot less than a permanent one but in terms of practicality, temporary fusion wins hands down. In a permanent fusion, the memories and personalities of sides are mixed together, however, for a temporary fusion, one participant acts as the base and receives a boost in power.”

The forms of Knite and his scythe became to combine together.

Lights flashed around them brillantly. A breathtaking sight.

During the time Knite was giving his explanation, Godou could find no openings whatsoever to jump into.

“I will have to thank you for being us to out of the mortal realm. Otherwise, I would not be allowed to use this! Elemental Fusion!”

The flashing stopped and Knite’s overall appearance changed. His armour like parts became more compact with a horse motif.

White flames were emitted from various parts of his body giving him a wild and unrestrained impression.

His mask like visage had also opened up and Godou saw that Knite’s face was vaguely human like. However, with his pale, most transparent looking skill and glowing blue eyes, that was where the resemblance ended.

Using Aura Sensing, Godou saw that the amount and intensity of Knite’s aura had increased dramatically.

“This is getting ridiculous.”

Knite power level right now was probably around his normal level of strength before he got weakened by Gegorus and Badas. Evidently, the effects of Elemental fusion had been weakened by the fact that both participants were not in perfect shape.

However, even before Knite used Elemental Fusion, it would have been a stretch to say that Godou was barely keeping up with Knite.

Indeed, even before fusion, Knite had outclassed him in several areas. Such was the difference between the two of them.

Thus, the current Godou was unable to achieve victory.

“I’m starting again.”

With Knite’s warning Godou stopped thinking and tightened his guard. He glared at Knite intently.

Then,

Bang!

You have lost 61489 Health.

Before Godou could react, Knite appeared in front of him and delivered a devastating blow which knocked the wind out of him.

Knite followed up with a blindingly fast series of combo attacks.

In the end, Godou could do nothing but tighten his guard and endure the storm of blows as he watched his Health rapidly decrease.

Although he could vaguely see Knite’s movements, Knite’s relentless assault was too much for him to concentrate on anything other than defending.

Not good. I’ve lost over 70% of my health already!

Gritting his teeth, Godou concentrated his power and stomped down as hard as he could at Knite’s feet.

Bam!

An attack powered by the aura of the land!

The ground tore up.

A crater like depression formed where Godou’s foot had landed.

Reflexively, Knite jumped back to avoid this attack.

It was in that moment that Godou jumped away, trying to build some distance between himself and Knite. However,

“Naïve!”

He had underestimated Knite boosted speed.

Knite closed the distance between them again with a flying kick!

“Create!”

In the moment before Knites kick hit him, Godou managed to create a mana spear which touched a building, hereby allowing him to use the effects of Earth Armament to lessen the damage dealt to him.

Nevertheless, he was still struck by a devastating kick which sent him flying through the air. Godou was smashed into the upper floor of some multi-storey building.

Grunting, Godou got to his feet and wiped blood off his chin.

There was no doubt about it.

The “Bull” was no longer effective against Knite.

Having determined that, Godou immediately switched to his next random Wildcard Form.

Adapting flexibly to situations as they arise, that was one of the key traits that made Godou what he was!

Wildcard Form “Warrior” has been selected.

Weapons created with the [Mana Weapon Creation] gain the [Divine Right] attribute.

While this Wildcard Form is active the following passive skills are active:

[Telekinesis]Telekinesis

Move objects using your thoughts alone. You can only carry things that you would be able to lift physically.Divine Right

A status defect that cannot be negated. Attacks with this attribute will deal no damage but instead weaken the effects of the target’s active buffs, transformations and skills/attacks which have been boosted by these buffs for one day. Continuous hits with this defect will result in the target being unable to use all buffing skills for one day.

A lucky draw for his current situation.

Based on Verethragna’s tenth form, this Wildcard Form allowed him to weaken his opponent’s fighting potential!

Godou’s aura had changed from bronze to gold. With the effects of Earth Armament lost, his aura released itself from it’s condensed armour-like form and became wild and freeflowing.

He immediately began to create as many mana weapons as he could.

His mana weapons, which normally had a bluish glow, had also turned gold.

Swords, daggers, spears… Godou created as many weapons as he could.

As soon as he created a weapon, he immediately supported it with telekinesis.

Thus, Godou surrounded himself in a brilliant golden radiance.

Although it hadn’t been his intention, Knite’s kick had bought Godou the distance he needed to do this safely.

As he felt Knite’s aura approaching, Godou jumped out of the hole he had made when he crashed into the house, and on to a nearby roof.

He caught sight of Knite strolling casually on the street below and immediately sent all the golden mana weapons he had created so far to fly at Knite.

Knite stood his ground and made a stance as if he was going to bat them all away with his fist.

Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik!

“!??”

With the sound of shattering glass, each mana weapon exploded on impact, cutting away at Knite’s boosted power and sealing it.

Taking advantage of Knite surprise, Godou ran.

Sometimes he jumps across rooftops, other times he ran on the streets.

He just ran.

It was impossible for Godou to hide from Knite in this realm because he had never learnt how to hide his aura. Thus Godou didn’t have the intention of trying to hide.

Instead, he was trying to buy himself more time. Trying to increase the distance between himself and Knite.

While he ran, he generated Golden Mana Weapons with abandon.

Time was of the essence. From observation, it seemed that each weapon type reduced power by the same amount no matter what the size.

With that in mind, Godou prioritised on creating small weapons like knifes and daggers which required less time to create.

The skill level boost from Gift of the Origin meant that he was able to generate weapons much faster than normal.

As a result, tens of golden weapons gradually became hundreds. From each weapon, golden light shone.

Like golden lanterns in a festival. A golden radiance lit up the sky.

Knite had recovered his senses and started to pursue Godou at some point in time.

Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii! Pii!

Since there was now quite some distance between them, Knite had started firing laser beams of light at him again.

Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik! Smiiiik!

However, the gold weapons also weakened and negated attacks which had been enhanced by buffs!

Godou made a portion of the weapons to stand between him and Knite like a shield.

He launched about half of the remaining weapons all in a volley in Knite’s direction.

Like a spectacular shower of shooting stars, the golden weapons rained down.

Knite, now wary of the weapons, took evasive action and managed to dodge to bulk of them. They exploded harmlessly as they collided with something.

As for the ones that he couldn’t avoid, Knite tried to shoot them down with lasers and block them with his aura.

However, the golden weapons slashed through such efforts and continued onwards to strike Knite!

It was only a slight a amount but with each impact, Knite's abilities were weakened.

Smiiiik! Smiiiik!

Little by little, the sense of pressure that Knite emitted was reduced.

Smiiiik! Smiiiik!

Little by little, Godou felt his minuscule chances of winning increase.

Godou didn’t try spraying the remaining weapons all in Knite’s direction again. Due to Knite’s speed, that would be a grave folly.

Rather than attack rashly and get evaded, it was better to advance slowly to assume certain annihilation.

Thus Godou’s counter attack began.

***

Tap Tap Tap…

Footsteps echoed as someone entered the church of Freya. More accurately, the church of Freya replica that had been created in Godou’s temporary realm.

Lexus was kneeling in front of the church altar, no the replica of the church altar, with his hands clasped together as if he was praying.

A bowl full of holy water lay in front of him.

Images of the fight being conducted between a certain Overlord and an Elemental Lord Candidate of Light were being displayed on the surface of the water.

Obviously, he was using a spell of some sort to do this.

The water’s surface showed him images of…

Godou running through the temporary realm, desperately trying to strike Knite with golden weapons which flew like miniature comets…

Knite chasing after Godou, trying to shoot him or otherwise slow him down with white laser beams of light…

It was like a strange game of tag. And a dangerous one at that…

Tap tap tap…

Lexus was mediating right now. Recovering lost mana and expended stamina.

Gradually, he was recovering from the fierce battle he had had with another Elemental Lord Candidate of Light.

Of course, in the event that Godou lost to Knite, he fully intended to step up and continue the fight if necessary.

However, even after considering the strength that he could recover during Godou and Knite’s fight, it would be unlikely that he could be able to win without dying in his current state.

Thus, although it wasn’t complete unrelated to fighting Knite, the reason he was mediating was an entirely different matter.

Tap tap tap.

The footsteps stopped behind him. Lexus didn’t have to turn around to know who was behind him.

Had he turned, he would have seen a youth, around 18 or 19 years old, with messy dark hair who was wearing an open collared red and tan robe with a white toga wrapped over and around his torso. A golden pendant hung from his neck. A blank expression was on his face.

“So someone in your situation is able to obtain this kind of form in this realm?”

Without turning, Lexus asked the question somewhat curious.

The youth, Ferrex, sat down on one of the chairs in front of the altar and stared at the bowl of water. He responded.

“Basically yes. This place is somewhere in the middle of an artificial space. It’s basically the same thing as the Immortal Realms where the afterlives are located. My pendant also seems to be have been used as the keystone for this realm so it got temporary combined with my “soul” world.”

Ferrex was the type of person who would appear cold and unfeeling to outsiders. However, people who have known him for a while will know otherwise. Although he generally did not talk much, he always tried his best to explain about things when asked.

As they watched the fight continue, Ferrex suddenly asked:

“Why did you lie about not being able to handle Knite in your current state? Surely you could have been used “Return” to revive yourself to perfect condition.”

“Too many people have seen me in my worn out state so it would raise too many questions if I suddenly regained power. Plus, Knite’s only after Godou so we might as well just let them duke it out. This is a perfect chance to see what Godou can do if, after all you didn’t see how he defeated the Divine Saint of Embinyu either did you? If worse comes to worse and Godou loses, then I will fight.”

“Training someone just for the sake of collecting data… I feel like you’ve done this to us before…”

In response to Ferrex’s bitter remark, Lexus countered with a question of his own.

“Why aren’t you helping Godou then? There’s no way you wouldn’t have noticed.”

What Lexus had been referring to was the lift of the restrictions on Divine powers in the temporary realm.

Divine Powers did not refer to the Overlord’s Divine Decrees alone. The Divine Saint’s Heaven’s Call Arsenal was also an application of Sacred Energy, or more accurately Divine Power.

Thus, having no restrictions on Divine Power meant that Heaven’s Calling spells could be used without any cost.

Hence, a Divine Saint like Seirph would be able to sustain his angel winged form without having to worry about conserving strength.

Hence, a Divine Saint like Lexus would be able to swarm the field with as many Valkyries as he wanted.

Hence, a Divine Saint like Ferrex would be able to continuously nuke the battlefield with meteorites.

Hence, all of the aforementioned broken characters would also be able to revive themselves continuously from death with no cost.

In other words, they were practically invincible. In theory that is...

However, Ferrex answered belied the power he represented.

“My current state is unstable. Given the high magic resistances of both sides, I probably wouldn’t be much help unless I used Heaven’s Calling. If I were to cast toned down versions of spells like that the seal I placed on myself will break and something even worse than Knite will be released.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself. On a side note, what do you think of Godou golden mana weapons? In all the centuries I have lived through, I have only come across a handful of others with the same ability.”

As if he had been trying to distract Ferrex from depressing thoughts, Lexus suddenly changed the subject of the conversation to the ongoing fight.

Ferrex appeared to think for a while as he observed Godou’s abilities as displayed on the water’s surface. Then he simply said:

“A skill that negates the target’s ability to use buffs and aura. A terrifying nightmare for those who rely entirely on powering up to fight.”

“I agree. Let’s pity the unfortunate fool with such a fighting style who ends up fighting Godou…”

Part 3

“Hahahahaha brilliant Godou! Not only have you managed to completely negate my ability to use aura, you also managed to force me to revert back to my true form!”

Of course the one who proclaimed this happily was of course, Knite.

A battle manic whose spirits refused to be dampened even in the worst situations.

Godou could only frown at such extreme optimism.

It had taken him quite some time for him to completely do it but he had finally managed to completely subject Knite under his “Divine Right”.

Conversely, the current distance between the two of them was about 150 metres. Knite’s speed was so great this Godou felt that he needed at least this much to stay away from Knite.

During this interval, Godou had managed to recover some of his lost Health as well. He was at around 40% now.

However, the same thing also applied for Knite so it wasn’t exactly a win-win situation. Knite was still at around 60% Health.

Normally Divine Right would also increase the strain on Godou’s Divine Tolerance as it struck the target. The stronger the effects negated by Divine Right, the more Divine Tolerance strain was created.

However, due to not being in the mortal world, his Divine Tolerance was infinite and so Godou didn’t have to worry about most of the drawbacks of Divine Wildcard Decree.

Indeed, Knite had been reverted to his original form.

A glowing cloaked figure wrapped in robe-like armour that also appeared to be part of this body. Knite's current appearance was as such.

However, that didn’t mean that Knite had given up on the fight.

Pii! Pii! Pii!

Knite shot more laser beams of white light at Godou. Due to the speed of the lasers, they were difficult to dodge so Godou had directed a cluster of weapons to stand in front of him like a shield. However,

“Arh!”

You have lost 60325 Health.

This time, Knite’s laser beams simply sheared through Godou’s weapons as if they weren’t there. They continued traveling penetrating Godou in various parts of his body.

“Those lasers aren’t considered magic?!”

Staggering from the pain, Godou started to run again.

His mana weapons still had the ability to absorb magic attacks. However, it seems that they couldn’t absorb Knite’s lasers which were a purely elemental attack.

Not good...

The Divine Right attribute had allowed him to use the mana weapons to block Knite’s boosted attacks.

But now that Knite was in his base form it seemed this no longer applied.

He could still use telekinesis to attack but Knite’s resistances were too high for him to apply telekinesis directly on him. Conversely, Godou couldn’t use it directly on himself either.

Godou switched Wildcard Forms.

Looking at the situation now, he would probably be able to make it somehow with either of the 2 remaining Forms he had left.

The remaining Golden Mana Weapons simultaneously exploded was they dropped on the ground as the telekinesis supporting them vanished.

Wildcard Form “Goat” has been activated.

While this Wildcard Form is active the following passive skills are active:

[Shared Mana Pool]

[Electro Master]Shared Mana Pool

Combines the mana of all party members into a single mana poolElectro Master

Grants lightning control. You can directly convert mana into elemental lightning.

It appeared!

Godou’s aura changed from gold to electric blue.

His mana pool explosively expanded as it became linked with that of Lexus and Ferrex who were mediating in a safe location.

Sparks of electricity were emitted around him.

A strange feeling of omnipotence.

Verethragna’s ninth incarnation, the [Goat], had the power to control thunder and lightning.

However, the target must be a common enemy recognized by the people and there was the major caveat of taking the life force of nearby people indiscriminately.

Compared to that, the Wildcard Form version of it was a lot more convenient, simply letting him use lighting and granting him access to his party members’ mana pool.

Ferrex had once said that divine powers were controlled by the user’s imagination. This form in particular was evidence of those words.

Godou recalled his memories from the time he sparred against Lexus and released a thunderstrike.

A flash of lightning was fired from his right hand, giving off the stench of ozone from the ionized air as the intense electrical current headed straight for Knite. At the same time, Godou did not forget to direct his awareness towards the sky.

Thunderclouds were summoned into the distorted sky, and these heavy clouds rumbled with thunder.

" You can control lightning as well?!"

Knite exclaimed with surprise was as he dodged lightning coming from in front and above at the same time.

Apparently, Divine Right didn’t stop him from using certain movement type skills.

Pii! Pii! Pii!

Additionally, Knite retaliated by firing his laser beams as well.

Godou returned fire. Thus a ranged battle of the elements began.

They leapt around the replicated city, each trying to shoot the other down their respective elemental attacks.

A sad scene of destruction was caused to the replicated city whenever one of their attacks missed.

Buildings destroyed. Street tiles ripped up. Roads torn hopelessly beyond repair...

Godou was thankful of the fact that he had transported them here. Who knows what kind of chaos would be erupting had they done this in the mortal realm.

Being struck by lightning would cause severe burns and a massive shockwave impact.

Normally, Knite would have been able to use his aura to protect himself from the worst of this.

However, Knite did not currently have the ability to use his aura.

Thus, in addition to blowing him back, Godou was finally able to deal some to damage Knite.

Realising this, Godou channelled enormous amounts of mana into each of his attacks.

He had a strange feeling of certainty. How well he performed in this stage of the battle would greatly affect the outcome of the fight!

Thus, Godou ran around shooting thunderbolts, Knite hot in pursuit.

Suddenly, Godou felt a large amount of mana gather at Knite’s location.

He turned to see Knite condensing light into the shape of a sword.

Swing!

Knite swung his sword and a huge slash of light flew at Godou.

Responding to this, Godou condensed lightning into a ball in front of him and used it to block the slash.

However, Knite’s flying slash cut straight through the ball and struck Godou.

Pain akin to being struck with a heated metal rod sheared through Godou's body.

Gritting his teeth, Godou endured it and bombarded Knite with lightning bolts, determined to stop him from swinging that light sword again.

Regardless of whether or not Knite was using buffs he was still managed to outclass Godou in all aspects.

Knite dodged some of these attacks and cut down the ones he couldn’t using his light sword.

Godou felt a moment of triumph when one of his lightning attacks managed to break Knite’s light sword.

However, that feeling was quickly squashed as Knite condensed light to generate more weapons.

What an ridiculous ability...

Against such a powerful offense, Godou was forced to put most of his efforts into trying to avoid Knite’s attacks.

However, focusing on defence alone was the same as handing over the control of the battle to Knite. Such an action would spell nothing but defeat.Thus, Godou didn’t neglect his own offense either!

He attacked Knite with lightning strikes whenever he could and did his best to stay out of Knite’s reach.

If Knite caught up to him now then that would spell the end of everything.

A sudden joint of inspiration hit Godou was he watched Knite create and fight with his light weapons.

Godou focused on the image of a simple sword.

“Create!”

With mana he used his mana weapon creation skill to generate the sword he envisioned. However, that was not all he did.

While the sword was being created he also mixed in the lightning element into his mana weapon.

The end result was a lightning sword with similar abilities to the light sword that Knite had made before.

Surprisingly, Godou had managed to create this correctly on the first go. Perhaps this was the effect of Gift of the Origin boosting his skill level proficiency?

Godou experimented with the various effects the different weapons had.

Each of these weapons was an extremely condensed form of mana and lightning element. Thus, they did more damage than normal thunderbolts.

However, they still broke after one or two uses and were a lot easier to evade than thunderbolts.

Nevertheless, this discovery had greatly increased the variety of attacks Godou could use.

A lightning sword could send out ranged slashes of electricity.

When thrown, a lighting spear would transform into a piercing bolt of lightning. Etc etc

Hence, mixing in his lightning weapons with thunderbolts from both his body and the sky, Godou managed to gradually chip away at Knite’s health.

However, no matter how you put it, from an observer’s perspective it was clear that Godou was the one getting pushed back in the fight.

Despite the fact that Godou’s Health regeneration was a lot faster than Knite’s because the Elemental Realm of Light had been damaged…

Despite the fact that Godou had more mana than him because he had access to Ferrex and Lexus’s own vast stores of mana…

Despite the fact that Knite had been greatly weakened because of his inability to use aura and other buffs…

Despite all these advantages…

There was still an unbridgeable gap between their abilities.

Nevertheless, whenever Knite approached and tried to bring the fight to close quarters combat, Godou released lightning at him, keeping him at bay.

As long as there was a chance for him to win, he would not give up!

Additionally, his Survival Instinct skill increased his damage output the lower his Health and Mana were.

Thus, time flew by was the two combatants fought it out in a bizarre game of cat and mouse. However, engrossed as they were with the fighting, the notion of time might as well have been non-existent to the two.

“Hahaha! Interesting! How will you react to this Godou!”

Laughing out from the joy of battle, Knite sent 9 balls of light around Godou.

Then, each of the light balls grew in size and became a light clone!

The light clones jumped at Godou all at the same time.

"Damn it! In that case—"

Godou summoned lightning which descended from the thundercloud, surrounding himself in 360 degrees with lightning for protection.

The stench of ionized air stifled his nostrils, while his assailants were all swept away by the lightning — no, just as he was thinking that, the real Knite leapt at him from above.

Using his clones as distractions, the real one had jumped into the air.

No time to evade!

Godou charged up was much electricity was Knite would allow him to and fired. At the same time, Knite skewered him with a thrown spear of light.

Boom!!!!

An explosion erupted as both attacks struck their targets.

Simultaneous hits!

Struggling to ignore the pain of his injuries, Godou immediately leapt away from Knite, clutching his side.

The flashy battle between lightning and light continued.

Knite was struck by lightning many times and blown away backwards. However, Godou wasn’t without his own injuries either.

Knite’s laser beams pierced through him with increasing frequency as the fight dragged on. Internal injuries from explosions and other attacks piled damage on to him to the point where it was getting painful to breathe.... Nevertheless, Godou mustered up his willpower and endured.

Thunder rumbled. Light flashed.

However, the battle could not continue like this eternity.

Eventually, the flashes white light stopped.

Eventually, the rumbling of thunder also stopped.

Both Divine Overlord and Elemental Lord Candidate had completely exhausted their immense reserves of mana.

“So this is the limit of the Goat huh?”

Godou spoke for the first time in a while.

Less than 1% Health remaining.

Godou stood panting in the middle of a devastated street. Despite this, he felt no physical fatigue. After all, his Overpowering Will skill had made his stamina infinite.

Complete destruction -That was the state of the replicated city in the temporary realm.

Almost 42 hectares of the replicated town of Tellap had been completely destroyed during this arduous clash between lightning and light.

Conversely, one of the exceptions to this rule of destruction was the replica of the church of Freya. A powerful barrier had been erected around that building which neither of their attacks could break.

Knite stood around 15 metres in front of him.

Unlike Godou, Knite did not have infinite stamina, however, he didn’t seem was affected by this as he should have been.

Over 15% Health remaining.

A truly ridiculous existence.

Even more so if you considered the fact that Knite had started the fight with almost half his Health gone.

Godou couldn’t help but think that way after experiencing Knite’s power first hand.

However,

Not giving up. Not doubting his own victory. Adapting to and overcoming obstacles as they arise.

As long it existed, Godou could do whatever it took to drag out that tiny chance of victory.

Godou glared at Knite, eyes burning with fighting spirit.

It had finally come to this.

Survival Instinct

Current Bonus: + 248% Damage Overall Output

(+243% from Gift of the Overlord )