Chapter 782: Divine Domain Techniques, The Ultimate Martial Arts
"You are... [Avalon]?!"
"Wait, I surrender... Ah!"
Accompanied by a tragic scream, the Reincarnator who had transformed into an ancient dragon in the sky was directly decapitated by a golden sword light. Amidst the spraying dragon blood, a crimson drop card had already appeared.
The Reincarnators hiding in the ice plains and forests below all shivered.
"[Frost Dragon] Morita was actually instantly killed by a single sword strike... Damn it, these are top-tier Reincarnators from the West District. They are going to start a war with our East District!"
A Reincarnator walking in the void, seemingly separated from the real world by a thin wall, gritted his teeth and began to reach out to sketch in the empty space.
The East District Reincarnator [Spirit Walker Neko], whose real name was Kiyoshi, was reinforced by the super rare Devil Fruit, the Door-Door Fruit. He was also a somewhat famous Title-class Reincarnator.
Utilizing the Door-Door Fruit's exceptional escape and concealment abilities, Neko's small team was successful in all kinds of missions.
After learning of the Erdtree's traces appearing in the real world and the emergence of the Golden Order, Neko was the first to come and investigate.
But after coming into contact with that woman, Neko was persuaded and voluntarily joined Amatsu's faction, bringing Morita, Roku, and a few others along to become followers of the Golden Order.
Over ten Title-class Reincarnators, as well as dozens of Second and Third Step Reincarnators, quickly gathered on this ice plain, forming a moderately sized new faction.
As Neko wandered sideways in the void, he clearly observed the appearances and ability characteristics of the invaders.
He had no time to grieve for Morita's death. They were all over thirty years old and would no longer act impulsively like those young hotheads.
At this moment, quickly gathering and transmitting intelligence was the proper course of action.
Furthermore... as long as the Golden Order could be perfected and the Greater Will descended, death was nothing more than 'returning to the Erdtree'. This was the true reason why Neko, Morita, and the others from [Vintage Wine] were willing to join Amatsu's command.
Who wasn't afraid of death!
But as long as one submitted to the Golden Order, death was no longer terrifying. Even with its many flaws, the Golden Order's appeal in this aspect surpassed all negative traits.
Illusory handwriting appeared within the space. Neko saw that although the invaders were all wearing snow-white plush cloaks, their combat abilities and enhancements were highly diverse once they started fighting.
Almost every single one of them possessed the strength of a Title-class Reincarnator. The light of various elements and energies bombarded everywhere.
The hiding Reincarnators below had been forced out and began to flee in all directions. However, the radiance of the Golden Order acted like some sort of coordinate; no matter what methods these Reincarnators used to escape, someone would pursue them.
In just an instant, the seven or eight Reincarnators here were all slain.
Neko frowned. The strength of this West District group was extraordinary, and the leaders hadn't even made a move yet, except for the one who had just unleashed that sword strike...
Relying on the Door-Door Fruit to hide within the space where others would find it difficult to detect him, Neko moved a bit closer from the side.
At the same time, he transmitted the message back that West District Reincarnators had entered Eastland territory and were slaughtering Reincarnators.
Neko cautiously applied concealment magic, presence blocking, and other effects on himself, ensuring nothing could go wrong before moving towards the leaders.
"Seigai, is that Mercenary Tao from the East District really as strong as you say?"
"From what I can tell, the strength of these East District Title-class Reincarnators is nothing special. The gap between them and those idiots in the West District isn't that big."
The group, having finished their slaughter, gathered again and quickly moved towards the location of the Erdtree.
From here, they could already see the massive Erdtree, over hundreds of meters tall, gently swaying with golden radiance.
Perhaps before long, the Erdtree would blot out the sky and the sun, and the border between Whitebear and Eastland would be enveloped in the Erdtree's radiance.
Seigai heard the undisguised skepticism in the speaker's tone. It was a woman with platinum-blonde, shoulder-length hair and a braid on each side. She was beautiful and twirled a long spear in her hand.
This woman was a newcomer from [Song], and her codename seemed to be [Ritsu]. Seigai, who originally didn't plan to answer the question, decided to warn her due to her background.
The newly established super-assembly in the West District, [Avalon], was an amalgamation of the core forces of various assemblies. Among them, the most essential part came from Yoko's original assembly, [Song].
That was the assembly Yoko belonged to before showing her grand ambitions. Later, as Yoko's ambitions grew, the various assemblies she conquered began to unite, ultimately forming the new [Avalon].
The leaders and top-tier Reincarnators of the various assemblies all swore allegiance to Yoko in the form of the Knights of the Round Table.
Yes, Yoko did not establish a contract with everyone using the Space as an arbiter. Instead, she completed her dominion over them through an almost primitive form of pledging allegiance.
This method, filled with classical romance, brought Seigai great joy.
He believed this not only contained Yoko's trust in them but also demonstrated her unparalleled confidence.
Even if everyone betrayed her, she could still sweep everything away and complete her grand cause...
"Silence, Ritsu!"
Another woman wearing a hood spoke up, stopping Ritsu's rudeness. It was exactly [Echo], who had previously crossed districts and used the Kaio-Ken in a trade to obtain the Ajin bloodline item from Kaito Shirogane's hands.
Seeing the current big sister of [Song] speak, Ritsu cowered a little. The tachi on Echo's back was nearly as tall as she was; at a rough glance, its length was close to two meters.
"Mercenary Tao is not someone you can question. That guy will be the King's biggest obstacle in unifying the Space."
Echo actually hadn't expected that the arrogant martial artist she saw that day would have reached the point of defeating all other candidates and monopolizing the Sovereign Crown.
Ritsu pursed her lips and didn't speak again, but her expression showed she didn't agree.
At this moment, relying on the convenience of the Door-Door Fruit, Neko, who had walked to a distance of less than a hundred meters from the group, finally saw their faces while Echo and Seigai were speaking.
Especially the woman who had just killed Morita with a single sword strike, her signature nodachi, and her fiery figure.
Echo!
It was the most trusted subordinate of Yoko from the West District. The attackers were not an ordinary West District team; they were the West District's [Avalon]!
Neko's mind was shaken. He immediately retreated backward in the void. He promptly used magic to contact Roku, who was still under the Erdtree, preparing to relay the information and have them evacuate immediately.
But the next moment, among the dozen or so hooded figures at the very front, one raised his head and looked towards Neko's location.
Neko froze, his heart turning cold. He immediately smeared teleportation runes in the void, his figure rapidly retreating into the distance at the same time.
But that person opened his mouth.
"Die!"
Hearing this voice, Neko shuddered violently. His heart beat fiercely once as if it had ruptured, and then his consciousness rapidly faded.
He took one last look at his interface; the prompt on it was incredibly clear.
[You have suffered the effects of a special ability. Based on the gap in Mental attributes between both sides, you have obtained the following information:]
[You have been affected by the ability of Special Unit: All Thoughts Return to One]
[Now conducting an instant-death check]
[Check... Passed]
[You have died]
All Thoughts Return to One?
A title he hadn't heard before, but to be marked by the Space as a special unit, wasn't that...
A Sovereign Monarch...?
In the void, scattered points of red radiance appeared, subsequently condensing into a Crimson Drop Card in front of the hooded man.
Seigai and the others, who had already noticed when the man made his move, wore calm expressions.
"Doctor Hill, this is..."
Echo asked. The newly advanced mental domain Sovereign Monarch, codenamed [Dr. Hill], put away the Crimson Drop Card, his voice soft.
"Nothing much, just squashed a peeping rat."
"Let's go. Yoko is probably already waiting for us beneath the Erdtree."
"Miss Amatsu, hurry and go. If I use that move, I can probably hold her off for five seconds... no, three seconds!"
Mushin's hair stood on end, a shuddering sensation rising from his tailbone.
Beneath the massive Erdtree, the combat specialist of the trio, [Mushou], who was capable of tangling with some top-tier Reincarnators for a while, had his blade shattered. He lay collapsed beside the Erdtree, his chest cleaved open by a sword strike, the smell of blood thick in the air, his life or death unknown.
The woman draped in a heavy white cloak dragged her longsword, walking calmly towards Amatsu, who stood rooted to the spot.
"Miss Amatsu, I have heard your name, and I presume you have heard mine."
"I hear you possess the special ability to calculate without omission. So, waiting for me here, have you calculated that you can escape from my hands, or is it because you have calculated that no matter what, today is a situation of certain death?"
The woman's voice was neither rushed nor slow, and carried little killing intent.
But accompanied by the background of corpses turning into data streams and disappearing behind her, with one or two condensing into Crimson Drop Cards, it still made one feel a terrifying oppressive force.
Mushin clenched his fists tightly. The rumored strongest [Sovereign Monarch] in the Space was indeed so formidable it made one tremble. He hadn't even seen her strike clearly before the five Title-class Reincarnators here were instantly slain.
Unparalleled speed, unparalleled swordsmanship, unparalleled Authority... and that majestic [Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light] that continuously impacted his mind.
This woman had elevated nearly every power a Reincarnator could possess to the absolute extreme of the current stage.
This kind of person... probably even that monster Mercenary Tao might not be able to match her...
Mushin inexplicably formed this association.
But even so, he still didn't retreat a single step, and illusory fluctuations similarly appeared on his body.
Amatsu held Mushin back, stopping him from opening the Eight Inner Gates.
"Yes, facing the rumored [Empress Yoko], I looked into many different futures. The deaths of these people were unavoidable. It could be said that the moment they joined the Golden Order, it was destined that they would be killed by you."
Yoko noticed that Amatsu used the word "they," meaning she didn't believe she herself would be killed.
Yoko hadn't sensed any particularly strong power from these few people. Even if it weren't her, anyone from the Round Table coming over could have killed the three of them.
She rushed over personally just to ensure that after the Erdtree was destroyed, there would be no remnants of the Greater Will.
Amatsu seemed able to see through Yoko's thoughts and spoke, "If the person who came wasn't you, then there is a high probability I would die here. But because the person who came here is you, there is a high probability I will survive."
"After all, the only monarch truly thinking from the perspective of this world is Yoko Ekaterina."
Yoko gently raised her longsword, instinctively sensing that the other party was preparing to say some bewitching words. She should kill her with a single strike right now.
But she thought of the deceased Sousuke. From now on, the power of this world was even weaker. Perhaps she really should absorb every bit of strength that could fight for the world.
Seeing that Yoko didn't directly kill her, Amatsu also breathed a slight sigh of relief. In fact, in the many futures she had seen, whether Yoko killed her here or not was not a certainty. Even if she made the exact same choices beforehand, Yoko might still walk towards a different timeline.
"Yoko, our world is too fragile. If we don't find a way to strengthen the world itself, before long, just the battles between Reincarnators and enemies will be enough to destroy the world."
Yoko looked up at the swaying Erdtree and understood the other party's goal. But strengthening the world through the descent of the Greater Will... let alone whether such a thing could succeed, even if it did, it would be no different from drinking poison to quench thirst.
Hum~
The Halloween Queen tore open a spatial rift, and Kaito Shirogane then voluntarily dived into it.
The two seemed to pass through countless layers of phases and space; even the flow of time became abnormal.
So much so that Kaito Shirogane was somewhat unsure whether the illusory space currently before him was a space that truly existed.
Or a place the Queen had fabricated herself.
The Halloween Queen looked at the two trees standing solitary on the emerald green prairie.
Legend has it that the certain enlightened one attained enlightenment here.
"The [Divine Domain Techniques] you desire are not something you can obtain just by me granting them to you directly. Given the characteristics of that thing inside your body, a power you comprehend yourself is the most suitable."
Kaito Shirogane had given up on Gifts like the Host Master Authority and other new Authorities. He hoped the Halloween Queen could take his power a step further. He wanted to integrate the various powers within his body and gradually obtain his own true power.
The Little Garden world possessed techniques that transcended the mundane—entering the Realm of Law through technique, or rather, entering the Dao through technique, which was still extremely mysterious in the Infinite Dimensional Space today.
In a place like Little Garden, which had merged an unknown number of worldviews and timelines containing Gods and Buddhas, outstanding individuals, and heroes, naturally, there already existed quite mature techniques.
Rather, in the Little Garden world, if one truly wanted to step into the highest realm of power as a combatant, combat techniques of the divine domain were absolutely necessary.
Every strike from the 3-Digit Indra utilized techniques of the divine domain. Similarly, the 3-Digit Origin Candidate Son Goku was also a top-tier powerhouse deeply versed in this path.
What Kaito Shirogane thirsted for was exactly that kind of true and indisputable power.
He had already obtained quite a few Authorities, and he could level them up himself. But for something like technique, humanity inherently had limits, and even the current Infinite Dimensional Space had limitations in this regard.
That was why there was the so-called [Lv10+], because that had already surpassed the scope of normal enhancement in the Infinite Dimensional Space.
Kaito Shirogane suddenly felt a gaze fall upon him. He looked up and saw golden eyes opening in the night sky.
The Halloween Queen then spoke.
"Quickly, while the [Enlightened One] opens His eyes, go beneath the twin Sala trees and comprehend your own path of combat."
"Let me see... the so-called... ultimate martial arts."