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“Dome of Oroboros, come forth!”

As Ray said those words, the stone on his ring shined brightly and the dome wrapped around him and Odin. Fenrir was pushed outside by the walls. No matter how much he scratched it, he couldn’t get in.

“It’s okay boy. Calm down. I’ll defeat this creap.”

“Big words. But I am different from the other guys. Unlike the rest who keep summoning warriors to fight for them, in my case… I become the ultimate warrior!”

Once again, the ring shined and Ray was covered with a thick black armour.

“That is…”

“So you noticed. Yes. This is Lord Ornis’s battle armour. I made a deal with Gaav after he took his soul. Your powers will be mine soon.”

“Weren’t you after my soul?”

“Hehe. That’s what our master wants. But I want something different. Elves were always looked down upon when it came to strength. But the Oroboros changed that for me. It gave me a power like none other. The ability, Plunderer! Simply put, once an opponent loses to me, I can steal their special abilities and powers. Their magic knowledge, their swordsmanship, you name it. Which makes you the perfect target.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you’re like me. Everyone knows you’re a battle maniac. The thrill of a fight; there’s nothing better than the adrenaline that builds up. We all have been warned that lady Milla is strong. That means the warriors around her will also grow stronger. Like you. They… you… will copy, or more precise steal the way Milla fights and surely that will give birth to even stronger people by incorporating that. Such evolution of battle will create even stronger warriors. The cycle of stealing is perpetual.”

“Why do you seek strength?”

“Do you need reason to want power? This world exist for the strong’s sake. And after the grand purging, the strong will be needed to build the new Paradise. The weak exist to be their food. And then there is no limit to the evolution of strength!”

I see. I won’t deny that there was a point when I had a similar mentality as him. But that changed when I met onee-chan. She showed me that power isn’t everything. There are equally important stuff out there in this world. Against someone with a shallow conviction like his… I won’t lose.

“Come forth, Nidhogg!”

The serpent with a dragon head, Nidhogg, would automatically detect a target that could threaten its master and attacked back. But Ray immediately increased his speed. It almost seemed like he had thrusters in his metal boots as he closed the distance in an instant and landed a powerful kick in Odin’s stomach.

“GUOAaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

The dreadful impact sent Odin flying and pushed her straight into the dome’s wall.

“Come on! Is that all there is to you? Where’s your famous strength?”

Odin quickly raised to her feet once again. Her expression didn’t change.

“There’s one thing I need to teach you. You judge me by my power. You can’t judge someone’s worth by power alone. But by how they decide to live their life!”

Ray pulled out the ancient relic Xyphos which was also in his possession now and sliced through Nidhogg who was charging at him at great speed. He completely crushed the ice dragon. Normally an ancient relic can’t be wielded if the person isn’t worthy, but because of the Oroboros, that condition was bypassed and the sword was suppressed.

“So much for your guardian… eh!?”

The blue light of magic power flowing through Odin’s body increased in strength. At that instant, her figure vanished. The rubble below Odin’s feet burst out, and a small crater was formed

“!?”

Ray lost sight of Odin’s figure for a moment. It was something impossible. In the last hundreds of years since he joined the league of shadows he had never lost sight of his enemy.

‘So a formidable enemy after so long huh’──when Ray whispered that inside his heart, he sensed a terrifying presence from diagonally behind him. A threat at the level that made him feel a chill. A danger at the level that made his spine shudder. An opponent of such a level was right behind him.

“HAAA!”

This time it was Ray that was sent flying in the air and crashed into the dome’s wall.

“Hehehe! Marvelous! Let’s see how you handle this sure kill attack! Apocalypse strike!”

It was the special ability of the ancient relic Xyphos. However, Odin manifested her own weapon in her hand. Her strongest armament – Gungnir. Odin readied her Gungnir and kicked on the ground. She rushed out as though vanishing from her spot. The explosion caused by Apocalypse strike hit nothing.

“!? ──Gah”

Ray’s body was flying from a corner of the 1 kilometer wide dome to the opposite corner. It was just a strike with the blunt part of her spear.

Ray’s body crashed into the dome’s wall with an acceleration that could blow away one’s consciousness. The shockwave that was produced instantaneously blew away all the rubble.

“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Odin dashed in order to attack further.

I’ll finish this in one go!

But Ray’s eyes stared at the approaching figure and he grinned. He lifted his body from the ground as though he wasn’t damaged at all. In his hand he still had the ancient relic Xyphos.

“This is as far as you go!”

Ray thrust the strongest sword in existence towards Odin. The distance was enough to pierce her. A deep bloody red light cut apart the space and lengthened as though it was being sucked into Odin’s chest. The moment that radiance was about to reach, Odin kicked on the ground and tried using Gungnir as a shield. The ground was cracked and lifted up. In exchange of that destructive energy, Odin’s body was pushed to the side. She dodged the tip of Xyphos in a hair’s breadth.

However…

Xyphos stabbed into Odin’s chest.

Wha-!! What happened!?

Odin was blown away to the opposite side of the dome once more while thinking with her chaotic mind. She should have dodged it without any doubt even though it was just for a hair’s breadth. But she was still stabbed by that sword.

“Hahaha! Don’t feel too bad about yourself! Ornis never managed to use this sword at its’ full potential.”

The reason why the sword is known as a sure kill is because if forced, it can literally pierce space itself and connect to whatever it wants to target. That was the power of Xyphos.

Odin’s body collided on the ground and she bounced several times while raising dust and sand violently from her rolling. And then she stopped just before the dome’s wall.

My wound is not really bad. I still have time to react and…

But Xyphos once again split the air. The sword was flying straight towards her.

Ray wasn’t charging forward with it. He threw it from where he stood. No matter what kind of person, they wouldn’t be able to escape from Xyphos’s law breaking ability.

The next moment, the cursed sword raised a horrible sound and pierced Odin all the way through.

“Hah! It was fun while it lasted. But it’s over. Your power is mine, and your soul belongs to the Oroboros now!”

But the dome didn’t shrink like it did when it took Gaav’s soul. After a few seconds Ray started to poke his ring.

“What’s up with this thing? Is it broken?”

In that moment a hand was placed on Ray’s shoulder. When he turned around, it was none other than Odin.

“That’s… you’re… impossible!”

When he looked again at the body near the edge of the dome, the body that was pierced by Xyphos was nothing more than an ice sculpture. Odin’s Gungnir started spinning like a giant drill. She thrust her spear straight into Ray’s stomach.

“Aaargh! I… I won’t lose like this!!”

Ornis’s armour was strong, but the piercing power of Gungnir was far superior. But Ray did have enough time to break free and take some distance. His wound wasn’t deep enough to be fatal.

“B̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! It seems I underestimated you. But play time is over!”

“Bring it on!”

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