Chapter 785: The Antinomy of Destiny and Miracles
Kaito Shirogane was enveloped by an illusory curtain. Scenes appeared one after another like foaming phantoms, but every image within was incredibly real.
Among them was a scene of Kaito Shirogane's hair turning silver-white, standing aloof like a god in the B711 world confronting Saitama. There was also a scene of Kaito Shirogane manifesting three heads and six arms, single-handedly transforming into the new Demon Lord of Absolute Evil to battle fiercely with Izayoi Sakamaki.
Fatalism had always entangled Kaito Shirogane. At this moment, this power hidden deep within his essence was drawn out by the power of the Dice of Destiny and the Stairway of Binary Antinomy, solidifying into a tangible stairway.
That was a stairway flowing with silver-white destiny. The moment Kaito Shirogane set foot on it, he immediately felt all his possibilities begin to contract and collapse. He even felt an overwhelming sense of insignificance as if placed within the long river of time.
But Kaito Shirogane now possessed the Martial God's Ultimate Intent. Under the witness of the Halloween Queen, he had broken the boundary between human and god in just thirty days. In the very place where the Buddha attained enlightenment, he too had stepped into the domain of the Martial God, acquiring a transcendent Spirit Status.
Kaito Shirogane's Martial God's Ultimate Intent possessed extremely strong adaptability towards destiny and causality-type powers. Almost at the exact moment he felt like falling, he firmly planted his foot and steadied himself.
At the same time, a golden miracle, accompanied by an ocean-like radiance, lit up from beneath his feet.
The radiance of the miracle went from nothing to something, from one to ten thousand, almost in a single instant.
In other words, something like a miracle is "nothing" when it doesn't exist, but once it appears, it encompasses all possibilities.
"Nothing" means the miracle hasn't happened. But when it happens, it is "One." One is all, and one is ten thousand.
A brilliant golden stairway appeared symmetrically on the other side of the silver-white stairway. It immediately displayed an overwhelming presence, its degree of reality even surpassing the stairway of Fatalism.
Kaito Shirogane planted both feet firmly, steadily entering the Second Step.
The illusory stairway instantly solidified.
The first step was the half-black, half-white dualism of Absolute Good and Evil. After experiencing the fusion with Azi Dahaka, Zoroastrian dualism was completely integrated into Kaito Shirogane's stairway.
[You have unlocked the Second Step of the Binary Antinomy: The Antinomy of Destiny and Miracles]
[You have gained the Blessing: Child of Destiny (Mythic): Existentiality is constant at 100%. Your existence cannot be erased by destiny-type, time-type, or causality-type abilities. Your power gains constancy and cannot be suppressed by Authorities below Tier 11.]
[You have gained the Blessing: Child of Miracles (Mythic): Cannot be affected by guaranteed-hit, guaranteed-death, or un-nullifiable abilities. Abilities with similar characteristics will absolutely fail when used on the Child of Miracles.]
[You have gained the Ability: Lock of Destiny (S): Lock onto any target you have ever interacted with (past, present, or future). All attacks and lock-ons between both parties cannot be dodged, nullified, or evaded in any form.]
[You have gained the Ability: Key of Miracles (S): Select any target to use. Within 30 seconds of use, the success rate of all abilities and Authorities executed by the target is constant at 100%, and the probability of paying any corresponding cost is 0%.]
[You have gained the Ability: Antinomy of Miracles and Destiny (SS): Actively toggled. Can reverse the destiny-type and causality-type abilities applied to yourself. Simultaneously, the effects of the Lock of Destiny and the Key of Miracles will also be reversed.] (Lock of Destiny will change to: neither party's attacks or lock-ons can succeed.) (Key of Miracles will change to: the success rate of any ability or Authority executed by the selected target is constant at 0%.)
Kaito Shirogane successfully climbed the new stairway and obtained two blessings. The quality of these two blessings displayed a descriptive tag Kaito Shirogane had never seen before.
[Mythic].
A quality beyond [World's Rarity]?!
Kaito Shirogane descended from the illusory stairway, carrying an indescribable, profound aura about him.
Among everyone present, only Shiroyasha understood what had happened.
His probability of existence across the multiverse timelines and world lines had collapsed to exactly 1. This was a characteristic typically possessed only by extremely high-dimensional beings.
Generally speaking, 4-Digit gods did not possess this trait.
It was a trait that beings in the domain of Omniscience, or even Omnipotence, should have.
Yet, this otherworldly being, whose power was barely at the 5-Digit level, had somehow acquired this trait.
It was her first time seeing such a weak guy obtain this characteristic.
Although an Origin Candidate must possess this trait, none of the currently existing Origin Candidates were this weak.
Did the Queen really see this far into the future?
At this moment, Shiroyasha also began to ponder the existence of the so-called [Infinite Dimensional Space], and the many humans it produced who could traverse various worlds.
To be able to cultivate mortals to such a degree so rapidly... to some extent, this had already surpassed what the Gods and Buddhas in Little Garden could achieve.
Gods and Buddhas bestow Gifts merely to allow humanity to cope with certain crises.
But that [Infinite Dimensional Space] operated much more directly through a cycle of creating crises and granting power.
This allowed these lowly humans to rapidly seize power, alongside a massive amount of tragic deaths.
The most outstanding individuals among them, like the guy before her, were thus elevated into figures akin to the heroes of the Age of Gods.
"Hmm? Those guys from Azure Sky actually escaped?"
Kaito Shirogane opened his eyes and found that the Azure Sky members, including Mori-Summer, had all vanished. This left him somewhat disappointed and dissatisfied.
He had finally managed to kill Ryo, and Azure Sky was in the same task world as him. This was simply the best opportunity to hunt down this group of outstanding Reincarnators.
Hakumen shook her head, glanced at Shiroyasha, and said, "It doesn't look like they returned. It's more like they were picked up by someone."
Among all the spirit bodies, Hakumen was the one who understood Kaito Shirogane's intentions the best in this regard. Both were extremely greedy; if there was a chance, they naturally wouldn't mind plundering a bit.
Her expression clearly hinted to Kaito Shirogane that the one who meddled was highly likely Shiroyasha.
This Astral Spirit of the White Night had an unclear attitude towards Kaito Shirogane. Izayoi Sakamaki, whom she had chosen, had suffered heavy injuries in the previous battle, his survival unknown.
Shiroyasha merely shielded her face with her folding fan. Despite her petite stature, her demeanor seemed to look down on Kaito Shirogane.
No matter how weak her Spirit Status had become, she was not someone who hadn't even reached 4-Digit could compare to.
"To the one chosen by the Queen, let it end here. What you've obtained is already enough for you to digest for a long time. Besides, you had already made up your mind, hadn't you..."
Looking at his newly acquired ability [Lock of Destiny], Kaito Shirogane's smile grew even more radiant.
He had always been quite averse to destiny-type abilities. But after acquiring this ability himself, he found that as a support ability, its effects were indeed hard to refuse.
It even gave him the illusion that he could periodically "snipe" certain individuals.
On the ice plain, the Knights of the Round Table of [Avalon] lined up in sequence, walking across the ice. Whether it was ice, snow, or sheer cliffs, terrain and weather could no longer stop Reincarnators of this caliber.
Seigai, peering from beneath his hood, looked at the Erdtree still standing tall and frowned.
Logically, [Yoko] should have arrived there long ago. He could sense the smell of blood lingering in the air from earlier.
With [Yoko]'s strength, even if a Golden Order of this scale had successfully dropped the Elden Beast, it should have already been slain.
But the Erdtree still stood tall at this moment. He sensed something was wrong.
Rumor had it that the leader of the Reincarnators operating this faction, codenamed [Amatsu], was a newcomer who rose in the East District during the last cycle.
Many believed this woman was a Reincarnator of the strategist type, possessing unimaginable wisdom. It was said that she had once counter-killed the Reincarnator team that enslaved her while under a slave contract, thereby regaining her freedom.
Avalon's internal intelligence analysis department concluded that Amatsu must possess some sort of special destiny or causality-type ability that allowed her to seek good fortune, avoid disaster, or observe world lines.
Otherwise, it was impossible to explain how this woman had almost entirely avoided every assassination attempt during her growth.
Almost every rapidly rising Reincarnator encounters powerful enemies beyond their capabilities, and Amatsu was no exception.
Intelligence indicated that she should have encountered the Reincarnator Kaito Shirogane, who was now infamous throughout the entire Space, during her time in the Naruto world.
Yet Amatsu was one of the extremely few Reincarnators who encountered Kaito Shirogane at that stage and returned completely unscathed.
"I suppose that woman named Amatsu truly is very talented."
Screech~
The ring of a sword echoed. Echo slowly drew her nodachi from the excessively long scabbard on her back.
Her eyes were sharp as she explained the others' doubts. She had followed Yoko for a long time and understood her very well.
Echo didn't believe a Golden Order of this level could stop Yoko. The only explanation was that Amatsu was indeed very talented, making Yoko willing to listen to her explanation.
And even wanting to recruit her as a subordinate.
Otherwise, the Erdtree would probably have been severed by now.
Seeing Echo draw her blade, Seigai also subsequently noticed that abnormally spiking presence.
Behind the two of them, the frail [Dr. Hill] had noticed the enemy's appearance even earlier.
It was a long-haired man wearing a bamboo hat, standing with his hands behind his back on a snow-covered branch.
A thick layer of snow had already covered him, indicating he had probably been waiting here for a long time.
In other words, it was highly likely that before they even decided to make their move and cross into Eastland territory, this person already knew of their group's movements.
"Go back. Now is not the time to start the Great War between the East and West Districts. If a large group of you crosses the border like this, it will be very hard for me to explain it to that person."
Shigure spread his arms, shaking off the snow. His gaze swept over the many experts of Avalon.
It finally rested on the frail guy wearing a hood. Above the opponent's head floated a faint, shimmering crown.
"You know, our King isn't as gentle as your Empress Yoko. He is... a cruel King~"
Shigure thought to himself, As expected, [Avalon] has recruited a second [Sovereign Monarch]. The West District has highly likely been completely conquered by [Yoko Ekaterina]. [Avalon] effectively possesses over half of the top-tier Reincarnators in the West District.
This level of combat power was something no single assembly in the East District currently possessed.
Of course, [Throne of Illusion and Reality] and [Destiny] were special assemblies spanning all four districts and weren't strictly categorized under the East District.
Once Ryo died, [Azure Sky] couldn't possibly possess such combat power either.
Kaito Shirogane's [Paradise]...
"Get down!"
A low shout rang out, and a violent airburst instantly occurred. Shigure shuddered violently, his mind going blank for a moment as a powerful Mind Blast erupted directly within his brain.
Only then did he realize that he had actually lost focus while facing a Sovereign Monarch and a dozen high-tier and top-tier Reincarnators...
Screech!
The sword's ring was high and sharp. Echo instantly crossed the distance of hundreds of meters.
[Octaslash]
A tyrannical slash directly erupted.
Seigai also clapped his hands together, and a pillar of Holy Light hundreds of meters in diameter blasted outwards.
Facing a Sovereign Monarch of the mental domain, Shigure fell into a disadvantage due to a moment's inattention. But after discarding the title [Eternal Destiny], which didn't suit him, he had returned to the combat style he was most adept at.
He was like a person reborn.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The [Masamune] chopped against his body, only cutting through his clothes to reveal a torso underneath that was like the hardest alloy.
Taking the full brunt of the attacks, Shigure was blasted hundreds of meters away. However, aside from dirt on his skin, he suffered no wounds.
Divine power flowed over his body, and an illusory Divine Body had condensed.
Seeing this, Echo frowned. This was a manifestation of an Authority entering the Seventh Tier. Even among Sovereign Monarchs or Sovereign Candidates, not many could achieve this.
Looking at the illusory crown above his head, the person before her was undoubtedly a Sovereign Monarch himself.
Yet, she couldn't immediately identify him.
"Hahaha, as expected of the guy who replaced that idiot Dan no Yama and got the crown. This Mind Blast is much more effective than whatever curse he had."
Shigure leapt high backward. Under the surging terrifying divine power, he directly pointed a finger towards the group.
The next moment, the air suddenly became scalding hot. A terrifying air pressure descended from the sky. Ritsu, holding her Noble Phantasm spear and preparing to charge, felt a tightness in her chest. She instinctively looked up, only to see a massive finger poking straight down from beyond the world.
Ritsu's pupils shrank.
"A continental-level attack?!"
Shigure felt incredibly exhilarated. That guy Ryo was finally dead. He could finally unleash his power in the real world without any scruples.
Seigai and the others were also momentarily shaken.
Beneath the Erdtree, Amatsu stood as still as a mountain, as if she couldn't see the longsword resting against her neck.
Yoko looked up and saw the anomaly in the sky. If an attack of that magnitude landed, this ice plain between Whitebear and Eastland would shatter directly.
—
The simultaneously generated intense heat and impact would cause large-scale glacier melting, and sea levels would rise.
The highly intense crustal movements would bring unprecedented natural disasters to both countries.
In this instant, Yoko also saw the necessity of reinforcing the world that Amatsu spoke of.
She could, of course, slay that Sovereign Monarch codenamed [Shigure], and even the King of Destiny behind him wouldn't be able to stop her given time.
But as Reincarnators grew stronger and stronger, more and more people could unleash attacks like this. How long could she keep killing?
With the Dimensional War imminent, killing powerful Reincarnators from their own side was equivalent to cutting off their own arms.
She sighed, knowing she had already been persuaded by Amatsu.
The next moment, Yoko took a step forward. A massive phantom appeared behind her, and intense divine power covered her entire body.
Her Concussive Pulse of the Spiritual Light swept out like Conqueror's Haki, covering everything beneath the Erdtree.
Screech!
A massive slash swept upwards from below, severing that finger in the middle.
Accompanied by a heaven-shaking roar, terrifying divine power exploded in the sky.
An aurora instantly illuminated the entire ice plain.