Infinite Dendrogram - Volume 18 - Chapter 8

Chapter Eight: Gods of Destruction and Creation

King of Destruction and King of Crime

Shu and Sechs had fought many times before. Over four years had passed since they met, and they had already clashed more times than could be counted on one hand.

Because of this, both of them had a good understanding of each other’s combat styles.

Shu had two different ways of fighting: an “army of two” approach and “machine god rush.”

The former was focused on using his unbelievable STR, resistance nullification, and combat prowess to fight from up close while Baldr provided him with wide-area artillery cover.

The latter was the fighting style he used against large or powerful foes—close combat while inside Baldr’s giant robot form.

Regardless of which he was using, however, he was simply delivering destruction in different ways. One could actually call his fighting style “simple,” especially when compared to that of his opponent.

Sechs’s combat style, after all, was often described as “faceless.”

◇◆

“RRHAAGH!” Expelling his breath, Shu took a step forwards and threw his right fist at Sechs.

“Shapeshift: Rechter Arm of the King of Destruction!” King of Crime responded with a gleeful smile, followed by a right punch of his own.

The fists clashed, and their powers canceled each other out.

As though the punches were equal in might, their bodies didn’t even flinch. However, the impact cracked open the ground beneath them, and Sechs’s right fist began to shatter shortly after.

“Baldr!” At that moment, Shu used his immense leg strength to jump backwards.

A split second later, a rain of incendiary missiles from Baldr’s Stardust Genocider showered Sechs in fiery destruction.

“Shapeshift: Eisshild.” Even a slime like Sechs should have not remained unharmed by Baldr’s searing blaze—and yet, Sechs was neither burning nor boiling.

The reason for that was his left hand...equipped with a shield of ice.

The hand itself was different, as well, with skin of a color far darker than Sechs’s own.

Shu instantly understood what that meant.

“An Embryo that’s got Heat Absorption! Where’d ya stock up that one, huh?!”

“It was a little find in Caldina.”

Despite the fire surrounding him, Sechs replied as though he was rather chilly.

◆

Sechs’s Superior Embryo was called “Nu,” and its core trait was “transformation.”

It gave him the power to transform into other people, copying their jobs, skills, and even their Embryos—the entities that were thought of as one with their Masters. That meant that by simply transforming a part of his body into that of another Master, he would essentially be transforming it into their Embryo as well.

He’d nullified Shu’s first attack by turning his right arm into Shu’s own to meet the strike. And for the incendiary missiles that had followed, he’d used Jötunheimr, a shield-like Embryo focused on Heat Absorption, which he’d acquired from an enemy he’d faced in Caldina.

The more transformations he had stocked up, the more cards Sechs had in his hand.

That was why his combat style was called “faceless.”

Of course, it had its own share of weaknesses.

First of all, Nu’s Embryo stat growth bonus was negative.

King of Crime was not a combat-oriented SJ and thus didn’t have impressive stats to begin with, and since Nu’s stat growth bonus further halved them, Sechs’s own base stats were astonishingly lackluster.

Additionally, the transformation skill, Shapeshift, had several limitations.

First, it required him to take in actual cells. He couldn’t add any Master or tian transformation into his stock without absorbing cells from their body in some way.

Second, it was limited to beings who actually had a physical form. He couldn’t assume a body that resembled the spiritual kind of undead, nor could he copy Embryos of the Territory type.

Third, stocking up on transformations didn’t give him any actual information about them. He didn’t know what skills they came with or how they were used. Simply putting these transformations in stock did not mean he would automatically understand how to wield them, and to employ them optimally, he had no choice but to learn it from the sources themselves.

And then there was the fourth and final limitation: the fact that he could only transform into those who were “half of what he was.”

With Embryos, that meant half of his own Embryo’s form, rounded up. This meant that even as a Superior Embryo, Nu could only completely transform into Embryos up to their third form.

With people, he could only assume the shape of someone who had half of his total job level or less, meaning that to transform into the first-rate Masters who were far above level 1,000—such as Shu—Sechs had to have a total level of over 2,000.

If he didn’t fulfill this requirement—if his level was less than double that of his Shapeshift target—the resulting transformation’s precision, stats, and skill power would greatly suffer for it.

Also, if he were to transform different parts of his body into different people simultaneously, the limit would be calculated from the sum total of all of them. That made more extreme multiple-person transformations all but impossible.

As well, Sechs could only stock a certain amount of transformations at a time. The sum total level of all the available transformations in his stock could not exceed ten times his own total level. Any more and he would be unable to add new ones, making it necessary to get rid of others to make space. If he later wanted a transformation that he’d discarded, he would have to absorb the target’s cells again.

The way Nu’s transformations and storage worked meant that this Shapeshift skill required a great deal of levels.

Because of this, the powerful, chimera-like transformations that were possible in theory were in practice barred behind the impossibly high level limitations.

However, Sechs wouldn’t be the King of Crime if he didn’t break such expectations.

◆

“...Look at how much heat it absorbs in just its third form,” said Shu. “That’s a good Embryo you picked up.”

“Embryos with a single focus are quite good at what they do even when they are low-rank.”

“Well, my Baldr does a lot, but nothin’ too great—and comin’ from you, that almost sounds like you’re makin’ fun of him!” Shu roared as Baldr fired its Twin Quintuple cannons.

Sechs responded by returning to his slime form and slithering into the cracks in the ground created by their first clash.

“Shapeshift: Gebrochen Schwert.”

A moment later, a blade thrust out of the ground. This was a copy of the sword-like Embryo that had a blade-extension skill—Næġling.

“Tch...!” And the right arm holding it...

“Sword Avalanche.”

...belonged to King of Swords, Foltesla.

What followed Sechs’s words was exactly what the skill’s name suggested—a literal avalanche of swords. The cascade tore the ground apart and even managed to slice into Shu’s leg, which was caught at the edge of the skill’s AoE.

“Gh!” The severed tendon almost had an impact on Shu’s movements, but the equipment on his legs acted as enough support to minimize the effect. His current gear was focused on keeping him fighting regardless of the situation. He’d assumed many things about how this battle could go, but he never once assumed that Sechs would never manage to hit him with an unexpected attack.

“When did ya get Foltesla?!”

“I stole a part of him away some time before he vanished.” Sechs’s arm, peeking from the wounded ground, was no longer Foltesla’s. It now looked noticeably aged.

Shu didn’t know who the arm belonged to, but he recognized the blaze burning right above it.

“You...goddamn...!”

After all, even the Arch Sage used this immensely powerful spell.

“Fixed Star.” This was the ultimate job skill of one of the strongest tian casters—King of Blaze, Feuer Lazburn. As a fire spell of the highest tier, few things could match it in pure firepower.

If the ball of flame landed, even Shu would melt away in an instant.

“RRAGH!” With a beastly roar, Shu kicked up the surface beneath him. His vast strength forced the very bedrock upwards, crashing into the incoming ball of flame.

The Fixed Star melted right through the bedrock, but before it could fully break through, Baldr fired a missile barrage at his rocky shield. With the bedrock reduced to pieces and melting away, the Fixed Star had lost a good amount of its power; it vanished within the explosion.

Before it could fully abate, though, Shu and Sechs were already making their next move.

Sechs transformed his body into that of a certain Master called “Juliet,” then grew out Hræsvelgr’s wings and took to the skies.

Shu used one of his equipment skills—Air Skip—to chase after him.

...He just keeps turnin’ into things I don’t know! Though Sechs hadn’t used a mix of forms yet, with Shu included he had already turned into three separate Superior Job owners. That number would go up to four if the owner of the ice shield was a Superior Job as well.

Those forms alone should’ve taken at least 5,000 levels of Sechs’s available transformation storage.

That was perhaps the biggest issue here. When it came to Sechs’s combat style, the level limitations on simultaneous use of multiple transformations meant little in comparison to the limit on how many forms he could have in his stock.

However, despite having already shown so many of his abilities, it didn’t seem like he’d run out of cards to play quite yet.

...What level is he now? Shu wondered. It was already obvious that Sechs had to be at least double Shu’s level.

He’d asked him about it once, and even back then, Sechs was over level 2,000.

This absurdly high level was all thanks to his Superior Job, King of Crime.

◆

King of Crime was a job unlocked, as the name suggested, by committing countless crimes.

While even Murder Princess could theoretically be acquired by honest people, King of Crime was essentially exclusive to sinners.

The job had an ultimate skill that was simultaneously its only skill, and it was called “World Record.”

This skill had multiple effects, among which was a stat bonus dependent on skill level, but that effect wasn’t all that impressive—nor was it the skill’s primary focus.

World Record’s core feature was the acquisition of XP—Resources—by committing crimes.

While most people gathered Resources by defeating other creatures or completing job quests, King of Crime could do that through the very act of sinning. And the greater the crimes—the worse a criminal the people of this world believed him to be—the more XP flowed towards him.

It was unknown where the Resources came from or what exactly counted as a grave sin, all of which served to make the skill rather mysterious. There was speculation that it relied on the hatred King of Crime received for his transgressions—specifically that the relevant negative emotions were converted into Resources and sent towards him.

Regardless, this was the only skill that the job had, and it was a skill that sped up the owner’s leveling. Of course, each level-up provided more stats, but the job didn’t have the growth of combat-focused Superior Jobs.

It seemed especially weak when compared to Draconic Emperor—another job defined by its high level.

King of Crime could be considered a vain, self-absorbed job that did almost nothing but increase the level’s number.

It was as though the creator of the world was talking to the sinner, saying “This is all that you are.”

Because of this, most people who became Kings of Crime died shortly after. After all, their stat growth meant they were no match for combat Superior Jobs.

However, things were different for Sechs Würfel.

He was the current King of Crime, and he was perhaps the biggest sinner out of all who had ever claimed the job, meaning that the experience given to him by World Record was simply immense in comparison to his predecessors.

Because of this, Sechs’s current total level was 2,890.

This meant that he could freely transform into anyone up to level 1,449—and that his total transformation storage cap was 28,900 levels.

With the exceptions of over-leveled beings such as King of Beasts, The Earth, and Draconic Emperor, Sechs could become a replacement for just about anyone.

That was the true nature of his combat style—the one those who understood it called “faceless.”

◆

...What’s he gonna do next? Up until now, Sechs had been using partial Shapeshifting to assume forms Shu didn’t know about.

However, that had its own flaws.

While such chimera-like transformations allowed Sechs to wield many and varied powers, the stat balance was all off.

Indeed—the transformed parts of his body had different stats than the others.

There would be no issues if he continued to use them for singular attacks like he had been doing until now, but keeping that up for too long ran the risk of making Sechs lose his balance.

Shu knew this, and what’s more, Sechs knew that Shu knew this.

Since he can transform into me even now that I’ve gotten my SJ and leveled up, his level’s gotta be way bigger than I thought. Though...it’s not large enough to let him transform into multiple SJs at once. That’s why he’s constantly changin’ his arm.

As he chased after Sechs, Shu analyzed the situation.

I dunno how long he’s gonna keep usin’ the partial transformations, but when he figures out they’re not workin’, he’s gonna use a full body one.

When Sechs assumed the shape of another person, he matched them in almost everything, including stats—but excluding Embryo form. In addition to that, he would still be a slime, meaning that he would maintain his physical immunity and ability to split apart for multidirectional attacks. He might even be able to use the leftover levels for other transformations and skills.

If, for example, Sechs transformed into Shu, he would receive Shu’s stats and resistances, as well as Baldr up to the third form, theoretically giving Sechs the upper hand in this fight.

However, both of them knew that that would’ve been a bad move.

Shu wasn’t afraid of facing an enemy who was a perfect mirror of his own body, because he was confident that he could wield that better than anyone else. The advantages of being a slime also wouldn’t mean much before Shu’s Right of Destruction.

Additionally, Sechs didn’t receive stat bonuses from his transformation target’s equipment. His gear post-transformation would be either a mere mimicry of Shu’s gear or simply Sechs’s own equipment, and the stats and abilities would obviously be different as a result.

Though they’d seemed equal when their fists met on the first clash, Shu had actually won out because of the stat bonuses from his equipment. Sechs’s World Record gave him enough of a bonus to prevent Shu from destroying him instantly, but the gap in their powers was evident regardless.

Also, Baldr’s first three forms were hard to utilize in battles against powerful foes. Even Shu himself faced all major threats with either the first or the seventh.

The second form was lacking in pure firepower, while the third form was a pillbox that allowed for no mobility. The fourth, fifth, and sixth had better maneuverability than the seventh, but in terms of firepower, they were certainly a downgrade.

Those were the reasons why even Shu only fought his strongest enemies with either the seventh or, if the situation was good for it, the first forms. And even the first also had the major drawback of being incredibly difficult to hit anything with.

Because of all that, becoming Shu entirely wasn’t even an option for Sechs.

Whose form would he assume, then?

Would he combine someone’s powers with his abilities as a slime?

Would he take the form of King of Swords, Foltesla?

Would he become King of Blaze, Feuer Lazburn?

Or would he shift into an SJ or Superior Shu had never even heard of?

The answer would now become clear.

“Shapeshift...” A moment later, Sechs’s form changed...

“King of Destruction.”

...and, betraying all expectations, he assumed the shape of his opponent.

Shock overcame Shu. It wasn’t a choice he’d been remotely anticipating. After all, Sechs was unlikely to win against him while using the same character, so to speak.

Was he perhaps planning to send Shu flying and hit him with Strength Cannon while he was in midair and unable to dodge?

However, switching between transformations didn’t reset the drawbacks each form suffered from. If Sechs fired Strength Cannon and missed, he would be unable to use it again in this battle.

Also, Shu currently had Air Skip active, so he would have some maneuverability in the air even if he was sent flying. It wouldn’t be hard for him to avoid a ranged attack from someone whose AGI was the same as his.

That was exactly why he hadn’t thought Sechs would even try to take this form. He knew Sechs had to understand all of this as well.

Shu was on edge, wary of where Sechs was planning to go from here.

“Heh heh...” King of Crime, wearing Shu’s face, let out a little laugh. “I Take Countless Forms—Nu...”

He spoke, calling forth his—Nu’s ultimate skill. “...Schwarz Baldr.”

And with those words, he transformed himself into a towering, jet black robot.

◆

The greatest of Masters, tians, and even monsters rarely revealed all they were capable of.

The only ones who freely exposed their own cards were those whose craving for the limelight surpassed their caution. Those who were Superior or greater never showed the true aces up their sleeves to anyone, and they went the extra mile to hide them when dealing with Masters, who couldn’t be silenced by death.

For example, The Earth—the Magical Apex—had only revealed two of the great spells he’d crafted, and there was always the possibility that there were actually five or more in total that he had access to.

King of Beasts—the Physical Apex—had also never shown anyone the combination of her Superior MVP reward and the ultimate skill that put her in her strongest form.

As those who matched these “Apices,” both King of Destruction, Shu Starling, and King of Crime, Sechs Würfel had aces of their own as well.

The two had already fought too many times to count on both hands, but this was the first time Sechs had ever used his ultimate against Shu.

◆

Still in the air, Shu was faced with his own ace that he’d kept up his own sleeve.

“...Yeah, it’s about what I’d expect from your ult,” he said.

At this moment, Sechs looked much like Baldr in his ultimate form. However, this version of the machine god was all black, like the primordial watery abyss from Egyptian mythology—the namesake of Sechs’s Embryo.

“‘Black Baldr,’ huh? ‘Schwarz Baldr’ really doesn’t roll off the tongue. What’s with you and makin’ everythin’ German?”

Then again, Baldr’s from Norse mythology, so maybe “Schwartz” is just fine there, Shu wondered as he dodged backwards. He used Air Skip and his immense STR to make some distance between him and the black machine god, who responded by firing countless missiles from his chest.

“So you took to the air to separate me and Baldr!”

Sechs’s goal here was to fight Shu until the very end. That included doing all it took to win.

Shu was currently separated from his Embryo. While Baldr could still provide artillery support for Shu, he couldn’t use his ultimate—which was the only thing he could do to stand a chance against the dark copy that no doubt also possessed the immense stats of the original.

Shu couldn’t have used his ult until now because that had come with the risk of Sechs literally crawling inside him—that was what he had done to the UBM they’d cooperated against.

Now, however, it was clear that he had to use his ult as quickly as possible.

He would be fine as long as they were still in the air, since the machine god had no means of flying and couldn’t use its stats to their fullest in this situation. All Sechs could do right now was fire missiles at Shu.

However, the moment he landed, Sechs could use the dark Baldr’s full power to kill Shu in an instant.

“You’re always a real hog when it comes to upkeep, but now that the shoe’s on the other foot, I can see what a real pain in the ass you truly are,” said Shu to Baldr.

“I am afraid I cannot agree,” his Embryo replied.

Shu had actually anticipated that Sechs would use something like this, but there was something that even he had failed to anticipate.

Nu was an Embryo focused on transforming into other people, so it was obvious that its ultimate would be something that fit into that theme. And if it was more powerful than Shapeshift, one could easily expect that it would allow Sechs to employ even other people’s Superior Embryos.

However, there was one thing that Shu had never seen coming.

“He’s dodgin’ the ult’s goddamn payment!”

Sechs had transformed into Baldr with his ultimate active. However, normally, The Unmatched God of War—Baldr was a skill that used up an energy cell created within Baldr. Those energy cells could only be produced if Baldr spent a certain amount of time active outside of combat.

Because of this, even though Shu expected Sechs was capable of copying even Superior Embryos, he never thought he could actually use an ult with such strict conditions.

However, there he was, using The Unmatched God of War despite ignoring all of those restrictions.

He’d even used missiles right away, while the original Baldr had to spend time crafting them.

...Did he cover the payment some other way? Shu wondered. Since the price obviously wasn’t paid with an energy cell, Nu’s ultimate skill had to have demanded something else.

Something like this shouldn’t be possible for cheap.

It probably ain’t just lots of MP or SP. Was the cost covered by somethin’ produced over time, similar to Baldr’s energy cells? No...Baldr himself needs both time and materials. Unlike him, Nu shouldn’t have the default ability to produce stuff.

Sechs had to have paid some sort of a steep price. In exchange, he was able to use a skill that either “drew out the full potential of the one he was transformed into” or “made him the strongest that he knew the person could be.”

Though given their relationship, those two were one and the same when it came to Shu.

What did he pay? It’s powerful, so it’s gotta cost a lot...an MVP reward?

Shu was aware that Dryfe’s duel champion, Hell General, Logan Goddhart, sacrificed MVP rewards to summon Mythical devils. Sechs surely had many such MVP rewards he could give away for his ult. However, Shu had seen no sign that he’d sacrificed anything of the sort before activating it.

Is there a time-related limit, then? Can it only be used once every...I dunno, month? It wouldn’t be the only ultimate that had such a long cooldown. The leader of Caldina’s Sefirot as well as Dryfe’s Giga Professor, Mr. Franklin both had ults that functioned like that.

Slowly, over long periods of time, they accumulated the Resources necessary.

Seems closer, but it doesn’t quite cover everything. Nu’s not the kind of Embryo to stock up on Resources. If anything, it’s more likely to use... Ah!

At that moment, two things came to Shu’s mind.

First was the way Nu’s Shapeshift functioned. It was a transformation ability entirely dependent on Sechs’s total level.

The second thing was the Master he called “fox”—Tsukuyo Fuso.

Specifically, it was her job, High Priestess, and its final skill—Ulfaria Eltram.

“...I get it,” he said with certainty.

Predicting the trajectories and avoiding the missiles coming his way, Shu glared at the black Baldr.

“You sacrificed your levels, didn’t ya?”

◆

The Superior Embryo, “Primordial Shifting, Nu,” had an ult called “I Take Countless Forms—Nu.”

This was a skill that sacrificed the user in exchange for giving him a different form. It allowed Sechs to select a transformation target he had stocked up and let him use all of their powers, if only for just thirty minutes.

It didn’t matter if that meant using a Superior Embryo or a skill that required specific items to be used.

However, using it caused Sechs to lose 500 levels.

That was more levels than many tians could stand to gain even if they dedicated their whole lives to leveling. It was such a steep cost that this could rightly be called a final skill—in the sense that it would often mean utter self-destruction.

Though Sechs had many levels thanks to World Record, this certainly wasn’t cheap for him. His level was now 2,390. Since this ult had the same level conditions as Shapeshift, the next time he used it, he wouldn’t even be able to take Shu’s form again.

And if he used it too many times, Sechs would no longer be able to become anyone or anything.

Nu—and Sechs himself—would lose his purpose.

It was such a double-edged sword that it made perfect sense why he had never once used it against Shu.

And yet, he was using it now.

◆

Shu silently considered his enemy. Sechs had used the War as an opportunity to challenge him, but he must’ve been preparing for this for a long time. He’d even stocked up on forms he could take and raised his levels so he would have enough. He wanted to fight Shu until the end, and with everything he had. He wanted them both to give their all—and for him to emerge victorious, having gained the understanding he so desired.

“...Fine.” Shu had given a lot for this, and this was Shu’s response: “I’ll play the ace up my sleeve too.”

Shu had two goals for this fight.

First, he wanted to beat Sechs and put an end to all the crime he’d been committing in Altar.

Second, he wanted to rush to the War between Altar and Dryfe to aid the kingdom’s war effort.

He’d sent out a message suggesting that it was better not to expect him, almost certain that he wouldn’t be able to participate in the War. Despite that, he hadn’t given up on the possibility. After all, it wasn’t impossible that he’d still be able to make it in time to assist in the War, and if the possibility wasn’t zero—even if it was a tiny fraction of a percent—Shu would simply reach for it.

That was the kind of man Shuichi Mukudori was.

At this moment, however, he abandoned his second goal.

This wasn’t him giving up, though. The man who was right now giving all he had was none other than Sechs Würfel—his rival, his foe, his friend, and his reflection—and Shu had simply decided to throw away all considerations outside of this and stop caring whether he’d have enough power left to spare once this battle was over.

He’d recognized that he also had to give his all against this enemy—and resolved to do just that.

“I’ll use everythin’ I got too. Though, just lemme repeat what I said,” Shu said as he pointed at the black machine. “Don’t think a little fight to the death’s gonna be enough to really understand me.”

That was another way of saying “you won’t fulfill your goal either.”

Hovering in the air, the dark god let out a roar. Just like the original Baldr, it must’ve contained Sechs transformed into Shu.

However, the entire machine was also Sechs. The doppelganger within was but a small part of the whole, and the roar of the dark god was not the loud workings of the machine, but Sechs’s own voice.

As that sound shook the air itself, the armaments on the dark machine’s chest, fingers, legs, everywhere opened fire.

It was indiscriminate, unbridled devastation. Like a god of destruction, the black machine ravaged its surroundings, defacing the already blasted land of the canyon even further.

As the storm of shells and fire rained down, Shu rushed towards Baldr, and Baldr rushed towards Shu.

Neither could evade every attack launched by the other. Gear and armor was damaged; blood and energy was spilled.

Eventually, the dark god landed, and Shu reached Baldr at the same time. The dark god kicked off the ground at supersonic speeds while Shu entered his Embryo. The dark god threw his deadly punch while Baldr assumed his robotic form. And ultimately, their fists clashed once more.

Launched from below, the steel god’s fist welcomed the dark god’s arcing punch.

The shock from the clash dwarfed the one before it. Its power was so immense that the walls of the canyon that had enclosed him until now were completely blown away.

The two gods in the center, however, didn’t flinch at all.

In silence, these reflections of one another stared at each other.

One was the color of steel, while the other was of the deepest black.

A flawless, shining metal that bent before nothing and remained itself no matter what.

A chaotic darkness that sought itself and took on countless other colors on the way.

It was as though their colors represented their very natures.

Words were no longer needed between them.

The steel god kicked off the ground. The technique he planned to use now was “Nejirebana.” The twisting of this right palm-strike was meant to drive the full force of his momentum into his foe.

In response, the dark god also stuck out his right arm.

A moment later, that same arm began to turn at an extremely high speed.

“Gh...!” The way the arm rotated was far too visceral compared to the way the steel god moved, based solidly in martial arts. The dark god’s hand was instead turning from the wrist down like a drill.

Thus, the two twisting hands clashed. The steel god’s right hand pulverized the dark god’s, but its rapid spinning took two of the steel god’s fingers.

...Gotta be that thing’s MVP reward, Shu thought, instantly understanding what caused the spinning.

Just like Shu had some unique gear, so there was gear owned only by Sechs.

The MVP reward for the turning UBM they’d cooperated to defeat had gone to King of Crime, and Shu guessed that he’d just experienced a manifestation of its ability.

Did he force his hand into that spin to mimic my Nejirebana? Is it a skill that lets him spin his body...? That seems a bit weak for a reward from that thing. Best assume this ain’t all it can do.

While Shu was thinking that, the dark god regrew his lost hand.

...He’s still a slime. No surprise he’d be able to do this much.

The dark god was as strong as the steel god, but he was also a slime, letting him ignore all physical damage. Even though Shu’s Right of Destruction enabled him to physically destroy Sechs, it didn’t prevent reconstruction of those destroyed parts.

However, the damage had still made him lose some volume—or rather, his HP. Shu’s attacks were not exactly ineffective here.

Sechs can keep goin’ in good condition for a while, but there’s still a limit here—he can’t have his actual volume drop below that of his transformation target. Not that that changes my plan.

He would simply fight the dark god, whittle away at Sechs’s HP, and eventually destroy him.

There was no other way than that, but...

...I’ll be at a disadvantage if this drags on, Shu thought. While the steel god was a machine, the dark god was a slime that had means of healing himself. He was well aware that he couldn’t win an endurance match. He had to make it quick.

And for that, he had to use the ace up his sleeve.

He’d already resolved to do just that.

“Ah...?!”

But before Shu could actually do it, the steel god found himself tripped up. As though hit by a sliding kick, the right leg he used to support himself was knocked off the ground, making him lose his balance and fall.

“This is...!” Looking down, he saw the shattered fragments of the dark god—a part of Nu—clinging to his right foot.

It didn’t make sense, though, that such a small part could deliver enough power to make the steel god trip.

There had to be some other cause...

“So this is what the reward was for!”

...and Shu knew exactly what it was.

It had to be the Ancient Legendary MVP special reward, “Spinning Belt, Spindle.” This item contained the power of the turning UBM, concentrated solely on making Sechs’s body revolve quickly.

It wasn’t just simple turning around, though. Its activation required no physical focal point, letting him turn along any vector even if he was midair.

Additionally, it allowed turning not only on his own axes, but also making his surroundings turn around a specified point in space.

Sechs not only had the UBM’s Turning Space at his fingertips—that power was available even to the parts that had been separated from him.

Because of this, he was able to rotate things that he’d merely attached severed parts of himself to. The effect of the turning was weaker the less of his total volume Sechs used, so the amount attached to the steel god wasn’t enough to actually force Shu to spin—but it was enough to make him lose his footing and trip.

As long as part of Sechs clung to Shu, he simply couldn’t move as he intended.

Even though he had Shu’s body, Sechs didn’t have his technique, and this was one of the ways that he intended to make up for that gap.

With a sound much like the one that had preceded it, the dark god threw another fist towards his destabilized enemy. Shu tried to raise his right hand to protect himself, but the part of Sechs attached to his right arm essentially negated his defensive movement, letting the dark god deliver his punch straight to his chest.

“Kh...!” That alone was enough to send a shock wave that reached even Shu in his cockpit, making the surrounding consoles release sparks and the entire frame audibly and visibly creak.

The punch that followed the first left the chest armor in ruins.

“Baldr!” That one word was enough for the Embryo to understand what his Master wanted.

A moment later, the steel god’s chest exploded.

Stardust Genocider had been fired within the warped, shattered armor, behind unopened nozzles. The resulting explosion reached his own inner machinery, blew open the chest armor, and caught even the dark god unawares.

Shock overcame Sechs as he realized these were the same incendiary shells as before.

Even though he had equipment to mitigate some of the risk, he still had a slime’s characteristic weakness to fire. The high temperatures almost made the dark god’s surface melt, forcing him to jump away.

However, the steel god was in an even worse state. The armor over his chest was completely gone, and the damage had spread to the other parts; the surface of the unit was covered in heat from the incendiary shells.

That was exactly what Shu had intended, however.

The intense heat enveloping him had made the bits of Sechs that were clinging to him melt away.

He’d chosen to harm himself just so he could remove what was hindering his movements.

Though, the price to pay was not exactly small.

“Total damage has exceeded 40%. All armor compromised. Serious damage to inner systems within the chest area. The Stardust Genocider in the chest area, as well as all Bloody Laser Storm slits within all armor, have been rendered unusable.”

“Figured.” They’d been punched by the god’s own power twice, and suffered the self-destructive missile “launch.” In fact, it was a miracle that the damage wasn’t more than fifty percent.

However, this had completely eliminated his already low chances of winning a drawn-out battle. Even if his opponent had no means of healing, fighting him in his current state would mean utter defeat.

“Well, not like it changes what I’m doin’.” Shu had already decided that he wouldn’t make this an endurance battle. Sechs had used his pricey ultimate as well as his MVP reward, revealing every card in his hand. “Guess I’ll lay it all on the table too.” Right now, Sechs had both Shu’s job and Embryo powers.

But that didn’t mean that he had everything that Shu possessed. Though he could assume the forms of people or their Embryos, he couldn’t transform into things—or more specifically, items.

It was a limitation on Nu’s abilities, likely born out of Sechs’s own nature.

Compared to the ability to transform into people and Embryos, it seemed like a trivial limitation. However, that was exactly what made it so important to Shu.

Sechs now exceeded the original in physical form and skills; this was the sole way in which Shu could still surpass him even now.

“Baldr... Rev up the Gamma.”

“Affirmative. Fatal Engine, Gloria γ, ignition.”

It was something just barely visible through the gaps of the destroyed chest armor—the place where a human’s heart would reside.

As though to make its origins clear, this “heart” looked quite different from most of the steel god’s inner workings, with an appearance more organic than mechanical.

It was King of Destruction, Shu Starling’s final card in the most literal sense of the word.

It was the curse left behind by the terrible dragon.

This thing that had been sealed away within this chest was now receiving energy from the steel god, making it roar in a way that made the very ground tremble.

Now awoken, the curse would seek its tribute, and that was exactly what made this his “final” card.

He had nothing to say about that. He’d already resolved to pay the price.

The War was barely on his mind anymore. He had no power or thought to spare for it.

He would give his all to this battle against Sechs.

Thus, he spoke the name of the power within the Fatal Engine, Gloria γ—the Superior reward left to him by the strongest dragon.

“The Dying Breath at World’s End: Gloria.” “Code, acknowledged.” Following Baldr’s response, the steel god...

“War God Ship, Baldr. Assuming Ragnarök Form.”

...was reborn in a red-gold hue reminiscent of twilight.