Chapter 780: The Paradox of Absolute Good and Evil
Kaito Shirogane threw a punch, only feeling the golden miracle enveloping him. Subsequently, all power collapsed into one. The chaotic, disparate powers currently residing within him, which were fundamentally difficult to unify, coalesced completely into a single point.
The power erupting in that instant directly snapped the dark threads entangling his body.
Facing Izayoi Sakamaki, who resembled a golden sun, Kaito Shirogane laughed maniacally and similarly threw a punch.
BOOM!
A heaven-and-earth-shattering collision erupted on the outer side of the world.
The instant their fists clashed, Kaito Shirogane felt an entirely irresistible force. It was as if a special substance that perfectly countered him instantly pulverized the force field on his body—a force field so robust that ordinary 4-Digits couldn't possibly breach it—and further collapsed his Body of Stars.
That terrifying force carried a majestic momentum, like the wrath of heaven itself.
That was destiny, the epic of human history, the power of dualism born from the mythological pantheon.
Three majestic, completely irresistible powers of destiny followed Izayoi Sakamaki's fist and smashed down, instantly destroying the defenses of the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil, Kaito Shirogane (Azi Dahaka).
Neither the Body of Stars nor the Physique of the Primordial Man could resist it.
The Demon Lord of Absolute Evil was defeated here. Humanity conquered a new [Final Trial of Humanity], continuing human history. This was an unstoppable torrent.
BOOM!
Kaito Shirogane shuddered. That devastating power pierced right through him, extinguishing all his vitality in an instant.
There was no possibility of counterattack; even the chance of Nirvanic Rebirth was sealed by Fatalism.
This was Destined Death...
Kaito Shirogane's eyes trembled. He didn't notice that his vision had returned to a normal perspective, escaping the terrifying field of view of the colossal three-headed evil dragon.
In his eyes, Izayoi Sakamaki—who had thrown a punch aligned with human history, the Age of Gods' history, destiny, and other factors—was simultaneously struck by his own punch, which had collapsed to the absolute extreme.
The force of that punch shattered the golden radiance on Izayoi Sakamaki's body inch by inch.
The brilliant sun extinguished upon him.
The Gift that seemed impervious to all phenomena was also shattered by an unknown essence existing outside of human history.
Crack~ Pfft!
Web-like cracks appeared on Izayoi Sakamaki's skin, instantly spreading across his entire body.
Izayoi Sakamaki's eyes widened in astonishment, and then blood sprayed from his entire body.
[You have come into contact with the Special Creation: Third Star Particle (?)]
Through the reflection in Izayoi Sakamaki's pupils, Kaito Shirogane suddenly realized he had actually detached from the three-headed evil dragon form.
He turned around, only to see the three-headed evil dragon—whose size was massive even from a planetary perspective—maintaining the posture of throwing a punch.
The Authority of [Irreconcilable Enemy] condensed on His fists. The golden Ki had extinguished, replaced by fiercely burning miracles.
"To have a battle such as this... What joy! What elation!"
A voice blending Azi Dahaka's and Sousuke's vocal cords echoed on the outer side of the world. Even the tone of speech and the habit of using archaic language had become a fusion of the two.
Bang!
Accompanied by a shattering sound, the colossal three-headed evil dragon turned into a massive amount of dust and flames of light, drifting away outside the world.
Kaito Shirogane instinctively reached out his hand, but after doing so, he wasn't sure if he was trying to salvage that fused power, or question Sousuke why he made such a choice.
Was this Yasushi's arrangement?
Or some trump card of Azure Sky's?
He knew he and Sousuke had absolutely no amicable interactions. Their past encounters were either antagonistic or transactional.
From beginning to end, their compatibility was extremely poor, belonging to the category of Reincarnators they were most unwilling to associate with.
He mocked Sousuke's self-deception and Azure Sky's hypocrisy.
Azure Sky and Sousuke probably also disdained his reckless behavior.
Yet, this very guy, at the final moment, chose to use a [Miracle] to replace his fusion with Azi Dahaka, and took over the [Destined Death] that was to be obliterated by Izayoi Sakamaki?!
Could this be the will of the Infinite Dimensional Space?
Because it couldn't accept both him and Sousuke dying in this world simultaneously, the Space devised a way to salvage one of them to reduce losses?
Can the Space really go that far?!
In Kaito Shirogane's mind, this was probably the most likely answer.
But at the same time, scenes of unprompted kindness he had received in his past life appeared one after another. Kaito Shirogane generally disliked pondering such things.
Humans are very complex creatures.
Their evil is hard to let go of, and their kindness is equally incomprehensible.
[You have obtained Crimson Drop Card * 1]
On Kaito Shirogane's outstretched hand, golden radiance gathered bit by bit, eventually forming a drop card.
This drop card was different from any that had appeared before, because it had nothing to do with Crimson anymore. Moreover, this drop card felt incredibly real, possessing almost the texture of physical matter.
Kaito Shirogane could even feel the lines of the pattern on it.
[Crimson Drop Card: King of Miracles]
[Quality: Special, Unique]
[Description: A special drop card condensing the Authority, Gifts, and Concepts of the King of Miracles.]
[Effect: Upon crushing, a specialized draw will be performed.]
As if the Space simply refused to accept the disappearance of such high-density information, this drop card appeared directly in Kaito Shirogane's hand.
On the other side, Izayoi Sakamaki, spraying copious amounts of blood, plummeted downwards. The terrifying spatial turbulence around him tossed his body about.
And below, an intense light flared. Black Rabbit, having unsealed Indra's weapon, similarly shot into the sky carrying the momentum of a 4-Digit.
With a thought from Kaito Shirogane, the illusory stairway lit up behind him, but the next moment...
Intense blackness overwhelmingly annihilated the white portion of the stairway. The illusory stairway disintegrated instantly.
Pfft!
Kaito Shirogane coughed up blood from his nose and mouth. His consciousness returned to his body. The Swirl of the Root behind him hadn't closed yet.
He instantly understood his condition, so while the Root hadn't yet vanished, he forcefully began to reverse his state.
[Reversal of Good and Evil]!
He was going to directly reverse his [Absolute Evil] into [Absolute Good]!
Clack!
The sound of the folding fan abruptly snapping shut was incredibly jarring. Shiroyasha's expression changed.
Izayoi Sakamaki had indeed defeated the Demon Lord of Absolute Evil, Azi Dahaka, just as she predicted. Although she originally thought Izayoi could only fight the three-headed evil dragon after it had been weakened to the extreme.
She hadn't expected the development of the battle to change so drastically. The intervention of those outsiders caused a dimensional leap in their battle.
Ultimately, history and destiny still guided the result to this.
Yet, Izayoi Sakamaki was actually nearly killed by a single punch from the opponent.
With Shiroyasha's shifting thoughts and Qi, how could the 3-Digit exception, the Halloween Queen, not sense it? She raised her hand.
Right at this moment, Ye Zi—who had been kneeling on the ground, continuously seeking more Gifts from the Halloween Queen so she could completely kill those hundreds of thousands of people and complete the timeline—suddenly erupted in ghostly blue flames.
Whoosh!
"Ah!"
The Halloween Queen looked up and saw the white-robed young woman hundreds of meters away gasping for air, her eyes filled with fear and unwillingness.
She had bitten her lip until it bled, yet she still reached her hand out towards this direction.
And behind her, the arrogant man with his arms crossed emanated a surge of energy. Subsequently, a moderately sized exoskeletal spirit body appeared, drew its blade, and slashed towards their side.
Madara Uchiha coldly snorted. From the corner of his eye, he looked at Hakumen, who had seemingly pushed herself to the brink of life and death with just a single strike.
His impression of this young girl, who possessed enough ruthlessness and cunning, improved slightly.
Possessing such dirty, insidious thoughts, if one lacks the courage to kill with one's own hands, they are ultimately just insects unworthy of taking the stage.
But how could he know that right now, Hakumen's heart was practically stopping as she looked at the Perfect Susanoo appearing above her, and the massive sword it swung at Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen.
"You old Uchiha fossil, you—"
Pfft!
Ye Zi, completely ignited by the Oversoul: Fox Fire, surged with Nen. But just as she was about to struggle, she suddenly paused.
The next moment, the terrifying slash fell.
Ye Zi was slain on the spot.
The Halloween Queen and Shiroyasha stood motionless in place.
Whoosh!
A strong wind blew past, instantly dissipating the dust and smoke caused by Susanoo's attack. Madara Uchiha's body tensed instantly, but Hakumen, conversely, relaxed.
The parchment, which had fiercely burned down to less than a square meter, was gently pinched by the Halloween Queen.
And in Shiroyasha's hands, she was already holding two people. One was Black Rabbit, her face full of anger and her ears turned red; the other was Izayoi Sakamaki, bleeding profusely and unconscious.
The Halloween Queen continued to shake the parchment.
Figure after figure was shaken out of it.
First were Azure Sky's Reinhardt, Roman, Brynhild, and the Professor. Mori-Summer, sitting on the ground with her vitality nearly completely gone, was the last of their group to appear.
Then came Artoria, missing an arm; Satoru Gojo, completely in his King of Curses form; and Black Face, holding his sword.
Then, the Queen simply tossed the parchment into the air, and figures rained down like droplets.
Underwood was quickly filled with people. Those who had narrowly escaped death began to emit terrified screams, sorrowful wails, and the ecstatic laughter of survival.
The noise filled Hakumen's ears.
Smack.
An empty book flew into her hands.
She immediately checked her Gift Card. This was an important Gift obtained in Little Garden, which could, to a certain extent, replace the Infinite Dimensional Space in searching for various obtained items, including items and powers.
[End of Rhapsody]...
Hakumen checked it and quickly realized this was the fundamental ability the mastermind used to brew all of this.
A powerful item capable of recording and reproducing various special scenes, enemies, and even phenomena.
Constructed jointly by Nen, Magic, Miracles, and Gifts...
Hakumen's heart beat violently, a wild joy blooming within her. She looked up and saw that Shiroyasha and the Halloween Queen had already withdrawn their gazes, no longer paying attention to insignificant figures like herself and Madara Uchiha.
But she was very certain: this was the reward for the brave.
It was the reward for reading the two entities' hints and acting to kill that woman!
Of course, Hakumen didn't understand why that person was ultimately killed by Madara Uchiha without any resistance. Logically speaking, it was understandable that the other party couldn't react to her sneak attack with Fox Fire.
But Madara Uchiha's Susanoo slash was far too flashy; it was practically impossible for anyone to ignore.
Either Shiroyasha and the Queen intervened here, or... that person probably didn't really want to live anymore anyway...
Sizzle~
The parchment began to burn fiercely. As the parchment grew smaller and smaller, both Satoru Gojo and Artoria became slightly tense.
Black Face, holding his sword, had already walked towards the Halloween Queen, adopting a posture ready to attack at the slightest disagreement.
Seeing this, Hakumen quickly approached as well.
Stimulated by this, Reinhardt and the others immediately went on high alert.
Brynhild, holding her crack-filled shield, stood in front of her group. Reinhardt, his eyes bloodshot, had his magical energy surging wildly.
Professor Kento, meanwhile, was searching for something everywhere.
Amidst all these movements, a long-haired figure was finally flung out of the parchment. The man drifted down from mid-air, his form expanding gracefully like a crane.
No energy aura could be detected, yet he drifted down as lightly as a falling leaf.
Thud.
Kaito Shirogane casually tossed the Heroic Spirit he was holding in his hand. Gilgamesh's final leap to the outer side of the world to challenge Izayoi Sakamaki had earned the King of Heroes a slightly higher estimation in Kaito Shirogane's eyes.
"I thank the Queen for the Gift."
Kaito Shirogane looked calmly at the two entities in front of him who looked no different from young girls.
He first glanced at the former pinnacle of this world, the Demon Lord of the Geocentric Theory, the Final Trial of Humanity, the Astral Spirit of the White Night, Shiroyasha.
Holding multiple Sun Authorities, no one knew how high the true power she could unleash was.
Unfortunately... he couldn't temporarily replicate that kind of power right now, otherwise...
Kaito Shirogane averted his gaze, finally resting it on the blonde Halloween Queen beside her.
The Halloween Queen, an Astral Spirit of the Sun, the Queen governing [Boundaries], an exceptional existence among 3-Digits.
"Hey, hey, kid. I sense a lot of disrespect in your eyes!"
With almost a single glance, Shiroyasha saw the undisguised fighting desire in the eyes of this outlander, who was even more arrogant and conceited than Izayoi Sakamaki.
Yet, when he looked at the Queen, he didn't have that desire to fight.
She knew very well what that meant. It meant that in the eyes of this arrogant human, the current 4-Digit version of herself was someone he could fight if he tried hard enough.
But the 3-Digit Queen was someone he currently couldn't challenge.
Shiroyasha strongly disliked this kind of look.
Kaito Shirogane, however, merely smiled and said to the Queen, "I thank the Queen for the Gift."
The Halloween Queen looked at this human who had ultimately emerged victorious from the trial. This game had been proactively proposed by the [Reincarnator] named Ye Zi.
She hadn't expected the ultimate victor to be an accidental factor.
It was neither Ye Zi, who proposed the plan and wanted to become a calamity and a Demon Lord, nor the King of Miracles, Sousuke, whom Ye Zi had deliberately plotted against.
"Mercenary Tao, that is the reward you deserve. After all, you won the Gift Game. As the Host, I must grant you a Gift. This is the rule."
Kaito Shirogane nodded. He understood that the Queen meant she didn't want to become a Demon Lord here. Therefore, as the true Host of the Gift Game, she had to follow the rules of the Gift Game.
As Kaito Shirogane had effectively won the Gift Game, she had to bestow a reward.
Behind Kaito Shirogane, pitch-black and silver-white flags fluttered ethereally. The powers of Absolute Good and Absolute Evil condensed into a new stairway behind him.
The Queen had bestowed the true flag of Absolute Good upon him, allowing him to perfectly balance the stairway at the end without needing to use his own method to reverse good and evil to temporarily stabilize it. It could be considered as helping him solve a problem.
"Then, Queen, as the only participant to conquer the 6-Star Gift Game in this massive Gift Game event, can I be considered to have won this city's Gift Game Tournament?"
"Ho~ Truly insatiable, aren't we? The Queen just helped you, yet you still want to extract more benefits."
Shiroyasha took the opportunity to mock him.
Kaito Shirogane, however, met the Queen's gaze calmly.
The massive Gift Game event organized by Ye Zi could not continue due to her death, and the other high-star Gift Games vanished with it. Kaito Shirogane became the only participant to win the 6-Star Gift Game.
And his potential competitor, Izayoi Sakamaki, was unconscious.
This allowed Kaito Shirogane to comfortably consider himself the victor of this Gift Game and demand more rewards from the Queen—that rumored, massive Gift!