At that moment, outside, a golden diagram above Riku suddenly shrank, returned to his hand, and then vanished.
Dao De Tianzun of [Taoism] had been completely sealed. Unless Riku willed otherwise, there was absolutely no breaking the seal. Even his will had been suppressed, everything else was empty talk.
"He still got his way," muttered Lingbao Tianzun on the other side, his expression shifting as he maintained the Zhuxian Sword Formation, unable to calm himself.
"One down. Next, it's your turn, Lingbao Tianzun," Riku said evenly, fixing him with a cold gaze.
Within the Zhuxian Sword Formation, Sun Wukong was plainly in a wretched state; even her Diamond Body had been breached, blood scoring her skin proof enough of how terrifying that slaughter-forged array was.
"If you can, then try," Lingbao Tianzun shot back without yielding. In his view, Riku had spent most of his trump cards on Dao De Tianzun and should have burned through a great deal of power, something he could handle.
Rumble!
Riku didn't waste words. He raised both hands; they blurred into afterimages as mighty energy fanned out into a skyful of blasts, all thundering toward Lingbao Tianzun at the eye of the Zhuxian array.
In an instant, horrific detonations erupted again, ravaging this already battle-scarred world.
"How is that possible!?" Feeling that Riku's power hadn't weakened in the least, Lingbao Tianzun's face changed; disbelief filled his eyes.
To unleash so much strength and so many trump cards in succession and not diminish at all defied common sense.
"Wait… do you possess the Perpetual Motion Engine's divinity!? But the Humanity's Final Trial, the Perpetual Motion Engine, that's clearly not you.HOW?!" His pupils contracted as the thought struck him.
"Correct," Riku said calmly; he had no intention of hiding it. These beings at Little Garden's summit would see it in a long fight anyway.
"Hey, now isn't the time to zone out," Riku snorted.
Under Riku's furious bombardment from without, the Zhuxian Sword Formation was already turning unstable.
[Pseudo Star Map — Third Kind of Star Particle Body!]
An aurora blossomed in Riku's palm, and then a pillar of heaven-sundering light, a one-hit-kill worldview, roared straight into the formation!
"Not good!" Lingbao Tianzun's face changed wildly; he tried to stop it.
Too late. The aurora pillar blasted a massive, symmetric breach straight through the Zhuxian Sword Formation, even knocking two of the immortal swords sprawling.
"Old Dao, eat my staff!" Seizing the chance, Sun Wukong burst free with a shout; her Ruyi Jingu Bang swelled to titanic size and came crashing down on Lingbao Tianzun at the array's eye.
He hastily threw up a guard and was still swatted away, a meteor vanishing into the horizon. The Zhuxian Sword Formation, too, winked out.
Riku had already foreseen that moment. As Lingbao Tianzun went tumbling, Riku streaked across the sky to cut him off and drove a merciless punch forward.
Crack!
Lingbao Tianzun's body-protecting immortal tool shattered on the spot; blood sprayed from his lips across the firmament.
Just as Riku moved to finish him, a strange immortal tool flared from Lingbao Tianzun's person and blasted Riku back.
A heartbeat later, Lingbao Tianzun vanished.
"Ran, did he," Riku said with a curl of his lip. "When it comes to fleeing, these gods and immortals are each better than the last."
"But I've already got what I came for. Whether he runs or not doesn't matter; this operation's main target wasn't [Taoism] anyway." He shook his head, speaking to himself.
Riku then released the mute he'd placed on the system in his mind. At once, two pleasant chimes rang out in his head.
[Congratulations, Master: black treasure chest opened. Acquired item: Heaven-Opening Supreme Treasure, Taiji Diagram."]
"Oh? I actually drew Dao De Tianzun's Taiji Diagram. Not bad." Riku rubbed his chin, satisfied enough. It was the single thing he'd treated most seriously to date.
Only by pushing Super Blue to full output and firing the aurora pillar at his absolute limit had he managed merely to cancel it out, and that was by using the [Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence] to strike its weak point.
"A good start. Let's keep going," he murmured. The one just now had come from Dao De Tianzun. The other, naturally, was from Lingbao Tianzun.
[Congratulations, Master: black treasure chest opened. Acquired item…]
This time, what emerged made Riku narrow his eyes; a keen light flashed within them.
"Heh… so the moment's finally here, though it's a bit unexpected." He lowered his gaze to the black-and-white card in his hand and murmured to himself.
"This haul is amazing!" Riku said playfully as he put the black-and-white card into the system storage space.
Wait for the right moment and use this thing, the gods and buddhas will be scared stupid.
"These old Daoists are slippery as eels; they run so fast." Sun Wukong came up to Riku's side, the tattered divine armour on her body restoring itself to cover that snow-white figure once more, and she grumbled in displeasure.
"Once you're at this level, killing them is always hard," Riku said unconcernedly.
Dao De Tianzun only wound up sealed because he carelessly let himself get drawn into [Three Thousand Worlds], and the Taiji Diagram couldn't be used again in a short span; otherwise, he wouldn't have ended up sealed.
"Sun, you're okay, that's great!" At that moment, Karyō, Jiao Liu, the Bull Demon King, and the other [Seven Heavens] yōkai kings arrived with the yōkai host, exclaiming in delight.
"Everyone, thank you for coming to save me." Sun Wukong smiled, waving to Karyō and the rest.
"From here on, decide for yourselves. We've spent too much time here. I need to go strike the [Buddhist Order]," Riku said with a faint smile, sweeping his gaze over Sun Wukong, Karyō, and the others.
With that, he vanished at a speed that eclipsed starlight.
The yōkai of the [Seven Heavens] looked up respectfully at Riku's departing figure, eyes full of reverence. Only when he had completely disappeared did they come back to themselves.
......
Riku then sped to the foremost battle line.
Here, a million deities were locked in war, unleashing every manner of tremendous technique.
"Gods and buddhas still not giving up? You cannot surmount this banner." On the battlefield, the [Perpetual Motion Engine] was going all-out in a fearsome display of might.
The [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s divinity had swelled to a terrifying degree; no god or Buddha could stand against him.
"Even if we cannot surmount you, we must seal you!" a god-king roared, bringing his divine armament down toward the [Perpetual Motion Engine].
"Hmph. Only your courage merits praise, yet it is folly!" The [Perpetual Motion Engine] gave the slightest punch; the divine armament exploded, and the god-king was slain in an instant.
Seizing the chance, tens of thousands of gods and buddhas cast sealing arts at once. Golden radiance flooded heaven and earth.
"With just you lot, sealing me? Gods and buddhas have you still not grasped the gulf?" Cold light flashed in the [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s blood-red eyes; his divinity erupted and blasted tens of thousands of deities away at once.
His presence and his pressure made a million gods feel thorns at their backs and chill seep into their hearts.
Even so, not one deity retreated. The cost of retreat was unimaginable. "The [Perpetual Motion Engine] really is making a ruckus," said the Lord of White Night, swatting a god aside with a casual wave.
"Heh. Weren't you even rowdier before? Even now, legions of gods are still shrouded in your shadow," the Halloween Queen replied with elegance.
"Queen, are you picking a fight?" the Lord of White Night said, nettled.
"Heh." The Halloween Queen merely gave a gentle laugh and said no more.
At that moment, a figure appeared high over the battlefield, and with it descended a world-subduing aura that startled countless beings.
Even the divine host who could grit their teeth against Humanity's Final Trial felt their bodies go slightly stiff.
Because the figure above was the one who could command Humanity's Final Trial, the one who had, just recently, defeated the most ancient immortal and blasted all of [Heaven] into a wasteland.
"So the Son of God, Jesus, has actually been held up by Indra," Riku said, frowning as he surveyed the field.
"No surprise the strongest war-god who could fight '[Heliocentrism]' head-on in the Dawn Era, with such a peculiar divinity. Add host permissions, and it's not strange that he can tie the Son of God down," Riku remarked coolly.
"But in the end, only defeat awaits him," he went on, eyes settling on the thoroughly outmatched Indra. "Against a double-digit, no matter how defiant you are, you cannot win. Defeat is a fixed outcome. And to forcibly drag a two-digit into this kind of self-amplifying game, the price is enormous. Conservatively, you'll be stripped of your divinity; worse, your body and mind will be taken, making you a member of [Disboard]."
Admirable resolve but ultimately empty. Because [Disboard] does not know defeat.
"Even without the Son of God, it's no big deal. [Perpetual Motion Engine], stop wasting time on the divine legion. Come with me to reclaim the [Heliocentrism] divinity," Riku said, turning to the [Perpetual Motion Engine].
"My Lord… I understand." Grinning, the [Perpetual Motion Engine] instantly annihilated the tens of thousands of gods and buddhas in his way.
That, too, sent the mood among [Disboard]'s ranks surging.
On the other side, the gods and buddhas were seething with fury.
"Damn it, their target is the [Heliocentrism] divinity. We absolutely cannot let them succeed!"
In a flash, the gods and buddhas panicked and tried to swarm Riku at all costs.
Too bad they were overthinking it; [Disboard]'s people blocked them outright, and they couldn't even get close to Riku.
Even if they could, it would be useless. If not for forging [Disboard]'s rank and file, Riku alone could have wiped them all out.
Riku said nothing more and vanished from the battlefield together with the [Perpetual Motion Engine].
Athena, Poseidon, Laplace, God, Juntan, and the other officers had no intention of following. Their task was to pin down the opposing god-kings, and besides, going along would be pointless. Those of the three-digit class can scarcely intervene in a battle of the two-digits.
The Halloween Queen theoretically could, but she needed to command the entire field.
And until the Lord of White Night reclaimed the [Heliocentrism] divinity and once more became the true Humanity's Final Trial, "[Heliocentrism]," her mission likewise could only be to rout god-kings and buddhas.
In the domain of the [Buddhist Order], Buddha-light coiled; Buddhist chants never ceased to reach the ear.
In the view ahead of Riku and the [Perpetual Motion Engine], there rose a holy mountain that seemed to reach the very vault of heaven.
Ancient and timeworn, it exuded a sacred air; faintly, it gave rise to visions the sight of believers bowing before the Buddha.
A line of golden characters then appeared upon the mountain:
Thirty-Three Heavens; Heaven beyond Heaven—the Lingshan Sacred Realm!
"So this is the [Buddhist Order]'s inner sanctum? Perpetual Motion Engine, blow it open," Riku ordered coolly.
The [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s blood-red eyes gleamed; the corners of his mouth lifted in a cold smile as murderous chill spread. Power surged, and he blasted the barrier protecting the Lingshan Sacred Realm.
Boom!
In a heartbeat, a great hole yawned open in the barrier.
Though the Lingshan barrier bore Sakyamuni's full Authority, an ordinary three-digit could not have budged it in the slightest; but to the [Perpetual Motion Engine], it was nothing.
Even with his divinity no longer swelling, having drawn away from the god-legion, if he could not shatter the whole barrier, punching a hole through it was as easy as eating or drinking.
"Still won't come out?" Riku snorted. "In that case, let's see how long you plan to hide."
With that, he and the [Perpetual Motion Engine] plunged straight into the Lingshan Sacred Realm.
In an instant, their view shifted space itself had changed.
Riku and the [Perpetual Motion Engine] made no move to resist. No scheme or stratagem here could rattle the two of them.
Riku looked straight ahead. There, an age-worn ancient temple stood, its name: the Great Thunderclap Temple.
Before the old temple, a Bodhi Tree rose gnarled and vigorous, its bark etched with the wrinkles of years, only a few green leaves clinging to its boughs as it stood rooted in the earth.
Beneath that tree, a solitary figure sat quietly, meeting Riku's gaze with calm.
It was Sakyamuni.
"The two great Demon Lords who have thrown Little Garden into turmoil… in the end, you have come here," Sakyamuni said slowly.
"The Bodhi Tree and the Great Thunderclap Temple replaying your meritorious myth. Seems you intend to go all out," Riku replied evenly.
In the myths, beneath the Bodhi Tree, Sakyamuni meditated for seven days and nights, awakening completely, perceiving the root of human suffering, attaining the supreme Buddha-seat and guiding all beings.
That immense merit made Sakyamuni, in Little Garden, the Buddha-Lord who, with the esoterica of [Three Thousand Worlds] as a cosmic truth, established a new worldview and founded today's [Buddhist Order].
To face Riku and the [Perpetual Motion Engine], Sakyamuni re-enacted his primal myth and elevated himself to a truly peak state.
"Against Humanity's Final Trial, and the great Demon Lord who commands it, I can only stake everything, grasp even the faintest chance of victory," Sakyamuni said, Buddha-light wreathing him as his divinity steadily rose. The pressure of a two-digit Authority-class is swelling ever greater.
"[Heliocentrism] must not be allowed to run rampant in Little Garden!"
"Since that's how it is, let's see whether you can truly keep hold of the [Heliocentrism] divinity," Riku said with a grin.
"Lord Buddha, since it's come to this, accept the trial!"
Boom!
In that instant, the [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s divinity surged skyward, cold intent spilling forth; he drove a merciless blow straight at Sakyamuni.
With that punch, the holy mountain quaked.
Sakyamuni's expression did not change; he made no move.
Boom!
Before him, another pressure descended: a silhouette cloaked in shadow appeared as black winds of Ending and white gales of Creation twined together, intercepting the [Perpetual Motion Engine]'s strike.
"Heh. Twin Goddesses, you've come to meddle, too. Seems the pain I gave you last time wasn't enough," the [Perpetual Motion Engine] said with cruel delight as he looked upon the figures that had stopped him.
With the Twin Goddesses' arrival, his divinity swelled once more.
"So even the Twin Goddesses have come to aid him. But your wounds aren't healed yet, are they?" Riku glanced at them, amusement in his eyes.
In the last battle, the Twin Goddesses had taken the worst of it; not only had Riku heavily injured them, but they had then forced themselves to fight the [Perpetual Motion Engine]. Even after all these years, a full recovery was impossible. "And if we haven't recovered? The [Buddhist Order] must not be destroyed by a Demon Lord. The [Heliocentrism] divinity must not be taken," the Twin Goddesses said coldly.
"Taken? That's funny," Riku said, wiping his forehead as he laughed. "[Heliocentrism] is the Lord of White Night's thing. What 'taking' are we talking about? We're just here to get back what we owned in the first place."