Damn it!
Arceus's mind was once again filled with the flames of rage.
His azure eyes turned completely crimson.
"You will regret this!"
His voice was hoarse and low.
This kind of humiliation was something he had never experienced since the moment he was born within this chaotic universe.
And now…
This insolent madman actually dared to treat him this way!
Arceus had completely lost the ability to think rationally.
Right now, he only wanted to become even stronger.
Then he would defeat the opponent before him.
He would trample him underfoot, humiliate him viciously, and then destroy him!
Boom!
Within this silent cosmic space, another astonishing explosion rang out.
Arceus began absorbing the power of those two Plates.
The golden wheel around his body spun.
It released a dazzling, rainbow-colored divine light.
At that moment,
the blue Draco Plate, which symbolized pure dragon power,
and the silver-white Iron Plate, which symbolized pure steel power,
also erupted with the same brilliant radiance.
The light of the Plates and the light of the golden wheel merged together.
There was not the slightest sense of disharmony.
That was only natural.
After all, these two Plates…
had originally belonged to Arceus.
As if they had sensed a call from their source,
the Draco Plate and the Iron Plate
began trembling faintly and excitedly.
Immediately after that,
the two Plates suspended in the air were drawn in.
They moved toward Arceus's body.
In an instant,
the two Plates returned to their original positions.
They locked firmly into the two vacant slots on the golden wheel.
And the instant those two Plates returned to their places,
Arceus's aura
became even more terrifying and powerful!
Arceus let out a roar.
A vast cosmic storm was stirred up.
It swept across this dark cosmic space.
Feeling his power return to its strongest state,
Arceus became excited to the extreme.
That sensation of overflowing power
once again gave him confidence—and illusion.
Now!
He, in his strongest form,
could absolutely defeat this opponent before him!
Arceus was ecstatic.
He raised his head.
His burning gaze locked onto the figure in the distant space.
But!
At that very instant,
when he sensed the fluctuations of the other party's aura,
a trace of doubt and worry still emerged in Arceus's heart.
This guy!
His aura still felt absurdly outrageous!
The confidence that had just risen in him
dimmed again at this moment.
Deep within Arceus's sea of consciousness,
the thought of fleeing even faintly surfaced.
To leave this universe where he had always lived and ruled.
But
the instant that thought appeared,
Arceus rejected it.
What kind of joke was that?
This was the place where he had been born.
It was also the universe under his control.
Had anyone ever seen a ruler, a king seated at the highest throne,
abandon everything he possessed
without doing anything,
just because of his own fear?
Arceus could not accept such an ending.
Even more than that,
he was unwilling to accept
that he, the mighty Creator God,
the one and only ruler of the universe, the powerful supreme existence,
would actually…
have such emotions arise within him!
He absolutely could not accept it.
This was humiliation!
Arceus flew into a rage from shame.
Using what little stamina he had left,
he forcibly entered his Origin Forme once again.
This time,
it was the perfect Origin Forme powered by all the Plates.
It was the strongest form Arceus could achieve.
He decided to face Omegamon
in his strongest state.
Feeling that even greater power,
Arceus looked toward Shiko once more.
This time,
he finally had a sliver of confidence and certainty.
He could fight the opponent before him.
He could feel the power of the entire universe resonating with him.
All energy
was flowing toward his body.
The shocking wounds left behind by the Grey Sword
were completely healed in an instant.
Closing his eyes,
Arceus could sense
cosmic energy
surging wildly into his body at an astonishing and unrestrained pace.
That feeling
was as if his body had become a gigantic vortex,
constantly absorbing power,
devouring the energy of this universe.
Although he was the ruler of the universe,
this strange new feeling was also a first for Arceus.
It felt
as if he had perfectly merged with this universe
and become the true sovereign of the cosmos.
Yes!
The moment he sensed this,
Arceus's pupils trembled violently.
Immediately after,
intense shock and joy appeared within him.
He understood very clearly
what exactly was happening.
Although he was a being born and raised in this universe,
and had even created many galaxies within this chaotic and barren cosmos,
he was the most powerful lifeform before Shiko appeared.
He was the undisputed master of this universe.
But
he had still only been an overwhelmingly powerful lifeform that had transcended a planet.
He could merely use and manipulate those vast, pure, ancient cosmic energies.
But now, it was different.
After going through such a brutal battle,
within this dangerous desperate situation,
he had returned to his strongest state.
And under that unique state of mind,
he had somehow taken another step forward.
Yes!
The current Arceus
had already become even stronger.
If the previous him
could manipulate an immensely vast amount of cosmic energy,
then now,
he could completely control the energy of this universe.
He had become the undisputed master of this universe.
His energy body,
under the infusion of cosmic energy,
had long since returned to its peak state.
And now,
after taking another step forward, that sudden insight gave Arceus
powerful confidence and conviction.
The white monster-like lifeform before him
would absolutely not be his opponent!
Within this universe, he was absolutely invincible!
Although there had previously been a gap of an entire level between him and his opponent,
now,
that gap had been completely erased.
In fact,
on his home field,
Arceus was fully confident that he could kill Omegamon!
"Thank you for this gift!"
"To express my gratitude, I will kill you in my strongest form!"
Arceus looked at Shiko.
Once again, he returned to that arrogant bearing of the king of the universe.
Hm?
At that instant,
Shiko, who stood opposite Arceus,
also truly felt the change in Arceus's aura.
He could clearly sense
that after absorbing those two Plates,
the other party's strength had advanced tremendously.
No!
To be more accurate,
this could no longer be considered tremendous advancement.
It was a complete rebirth.
He had fully stepped into a higher level!
Arceus, in this state,
released a flow of aura
that finally made even Shiko begin to take him seriously.
As expected!
An ancient existence that had ruled this cosmic space for countless years
was not so easy to deal with.
As for whether Shiko regretted strengthening his enemy and increasing Arceus's power,
for a battle maniac like him,
a lifeform born for battle,
of course he felt no regret whatsoever.
In fact,
he could not have wished for a situation like this more.
The stronger Arceus became,
the more excited he became, and the more he enjoyed it.
Only like this
could Shiko learn where his current limits truly were.
Only like this could he know
what kind of battle power he was capable of unleashing.
He looked at Arceus before him,
whose aura was climbing little by little,
until in the end it became vast, terrifying, and profound,
like a black hole or an abyss.
Within Omegamon's eyes,
blazing battle intent ignited.
The tip of the Grey Sword pointed at the opponent.
Light traced a fleeting arc that flashed and vanished.
"Come."
Shiko's voice was very soft, yet very clear.
His tone carried overwhelming confidence.
Even though Arceus had already risen to another level of power,
in his heart, that was all there was to it.
He had merely gained the ability to fight him.
He had merely become interesting to him.
As for defeating him?
This guy
still had a very long road ahead of him!
The moment Omegamon's words fell,
Arceus charged toward Shiko to kill him.
His speed was astonishingly fast.
Faster than a meteor.
So fast that even with Omegamon's eyesight,
he could only barely capture Arceus's trajectory.
The four-legged creature radiating dazzling light
was like a massive star.
Wrapped in shocking energy capable of destroying heaven and earth,
he blasted toward Omegamon.
In that instant,
Shiko suddenly felt a sense of helpless awe,
like a memory from another life,
standing by the shore and facing the boundless sea.
However,
that feeling lasted only for an instant before disappearing.
The next second,
limitless mighty power surged through Omegamon's body.
Facing Arceus as he rushed in,
Omegamon's expression remained calm.
Then,
golden light surged from the muzzle of the Garuru Cannon in his hand.
A blast of pure cosmic energy was released.
It carried a bone-chilling cold that made one's heart tremble.
This cannon blast
did not merely freeze space.
It even caused the astonishing boiling energy surrounding Arceus as he charged toward Omegamon
to calm slightly in that instant.
It was only a single instant.
Arceus's charging momentum
slowed by the faintest trace.
And precisely because of that faint instant,
Omegamon gained the chance to strike.
The Grey Sword slashed out for the first time.
The sharp sword radiance cut through space.
Within the empty cosmos before him,
it tore open a massive black hole.
Countless waves of violent cosmic energy surged out.
Like a raging storm,
they swept wildly and roared across this stretch of space.
The cosmic energy surrounding Arceus
was shattered by that chaotic current in mere moments.
Immediately afterward,
the sword strike that had cut through space did not lose momentum.
It landed heavily on Arceus's body.
At the critical moment,
Arceus's domain expanded once again.
He frantically released the energy within his body.
It formed a protective barrier around him.
Boom!!!
A violent explosion rang out.
The scattered energy rippled through this space.
Those vast energies
collided continuously,
releasing wave after wave of roaring explosions.
The energy storm spread extremely far.
Even several planets
at a distance so far from the center of the battlefield that they could barely be seen
were reduced to dust under the fluctuations of that energy.
Why is his power this strong?
After only a single collision,
Arceus realized it.
The opponent before him
was stronger than he had expected!
He had already done everything he could
to overestimate his opponent.
But he had never imagined
that only now would he discover
he had still underestimated Omegamon's combat power!
Damn it!
"Judgment!"
Arceus walked out from within the shield.
The energy of this space
raged and howled around his body.
He was like a bottomless black hole.
At an astonishing, exaggerated speed,
he madly devoured that energy.
No!
To be accurate, he was not devouring it.
He was controlling it!
In this brand-new state,
where he possessed the ability to control cosmic energy,
Arceus was gradually fusing together
these pure and violent cosmic powers.
In the end,
the instant he reached the limit of what he could endure,
those energies gathered into a terrifying torrent of energy that poured forth.
Everywhere it passed,
space shattered and was annihilated inch by inch.
That exaggerated energy beam
drained all the cosmic energy in this region of space completely dry.
Not only that,
those energies were already turbulent and chaotic to begin with.
They possessed extremely strong instability.
Yet Arceus now forcefully fused them together.
The destructive force and intensity of that energy
rose even more at a geometric rate.
Without a doubt,
this berserk attack
was Arceus's strongest current offensive method.
Even he, who had become the true lord of the universe,
had to drain all the energy in his body
before he could unleash this attack with everything he had.
Right now,
his body was already in a depleted state.
The only thing he could do now
was pray that this terrifying attack could hit Omegamon.
Then,
it would deal astonishing damage to this opponent,
end the battle,
and secure victory.
The instant this attack came rushing in,
Shiko felt that something was wrong.
The energy contained within this attack
was far more exaggerated than any attack Arceus had unleashed before.
This feeling of being firmly locked on
was as if the energy of the entire universe
was surging toward him.
Shiko realized it at the first moment.
This attack…
he absolutely could not dodge it!
Not only that!
He raised his sword, and his energy surged upward.
The energy beam and sword light intertwined.
However, this time,
his attack did not take effect like before.
On the contrary,
when the sword light and energy beam
collided with Arceus's attack,
they were completely swallowed in an instant.
He could not block it!
The moment he saw this,
that thought appeared in Shiko's mind.
Without a doubt,
this was the strongest attack
he had encountered since coming to this world!
Without the slightest hesitation,
Shiko knew that he could not clash head-on this time.
Right now, he could only defend against this attack with all his strength!
On the other side,
when Arceus saw this scene,
he finally revealed an excited and satisfied smile.
This was the first time in this battle
that Shiko had taken a defensive stance.
Yes!
That meant his attack this time
was not meaningless.
It had truly threatened the opponent!
Good!!
Arceus's eyes instantly lit up.
He knew
that this attack would absolutely hit Shiko.
Next!
He would be able to see the sight
of Shiko being completely shattered!
(End of Chapter)
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