— — — — — —
"...Seriously petty."
Ryo muttered under his breath. The vast hall had fallen completely silent. His voice was the only sound echoing through the empty space.
The setting sun streamed through the massive hole in the ceiling, bathing him in warm golden light. Yet where that warmth met the building's lingering chill, a sudden flash of white caught his eye.
Sunlight glinted off a dagger.
Without warning, a figure wrapped head to toe in white robes emerged from thin air. Moving like lightning, the assassin thrust a blackish-purple blade straight at Ryo's heart.
"Why bother..."
Ryo moved after his opponent, yet arrived first.
One strike snapped the assassin's arm in half. Then before the man could even react, Ryo stepped in close and drove an elbow into his head.
Bang!
Like a watermelon exploding.
The corpse collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.
Ryo calmly turned around, picked up the dagger, ran a finger lightly along its razor-sharp edge, and sighed, "Wouldn't it have been better just to stay alive?"
He stood there quietly for several seconds, confirming there were no more hidden attackers. Satisfied, he rewrapped the bandages around his hand and headed for the exit.
Clap. Clap.
Two slow claps echoed down from above.
Ryo looked up.
Sitting casually on the edge of the shattered ceiling was a young man with black hair and black eyes. His upper body was bare, his neck adorned with gold and silver ornaments, and he gazed down at Ryo with an easy smile.
"You wiped out one of Greece's strongholds in under thirty seconds. I suppose the rumors weren't exaggerated. Quite the rising star from the lower layers these past few years."
He leaped down and landed lightly in front of Ryo, still applauding.
"First time meeting you, student of Canaria."
The moment Ryo saw his face, he recognized him. Back when he'd bought information on Little Garden's major powers from Shiroyasha, he'd memorized this appearance.
"Amun-Ra."
One of the incarnations of the Egyptian god Ra.
Like Vishnu, Ra's complete Spirit Rank had yet to be fully assembled, leaving several contenders vying for the title of Egypt's supreme god.
The man standing before him was one of those contenders. Bearer of the newborn sun's Spirit Rank. King of the Two Lands. Lord of Karnak. The Hidden One. The King of Egyptian Gods.
"So you know who I am." Amun-Ra smiled.
Ryo curled his lips into a mocking grin. "Of course I do. The mighty King of the Egyptian Gods, instead of staying in the heavens fighting the other heavyweights over the complete Spirit Rank, decides to follow me around instead. I'm honored."
Then he added with a smirk, "Come to think of it, weren't you one of the people who ambushed Zeus's Heretic incarnation? How'd that work out? Did you actually kill him?"
Ever since he'd ambushed Artemis, Ryo had noticed countless tails following him.
There were too many to shake off. After several failed attempts, he'd realized these weren't ordinary pursuers.
Now that Amun-Ra had appeared, it confirmed his suspicions. His campaign against the Greek Heretic Gods had drawn the attention of several god-king avatars.
He didn't particularly care. As long as they stayed out of his way, he didn't mind if they gathered a little information. After all, no amount of observation would reveal all the cards he was still holding.
"..."
Amun-Ra showed no anger at the sarcasm. If anything, his smile deepened, "Zeus's Authority isn't bad."
He left it at that before changing the subject. "As for what you call stalking... think of it as a test. A way to determine whether you're qualified to cooperate with me."
"Oh, wow. Thanks so much."
Before the sentence was finished, Ryo attacked.
The bandaged right hand instantly disappeared beneath pitch-black darkness. In the blink of an eye, his entire forearm transformed into a Black Arm.
It was destruction itself, compressed to its purest possible form.
One step and he was already in front of Amun-Ra.
His clenched Black Arm descended like a siege hammer, smashing straight toward Amun-Ra's head with overwhelming force.
"A brute."
Amun-Ra's expression cooled.
He raised a hand to block. Golden radiance, warm like the first rays of dawn, naturally spread from his palm.
Like snow melting beneath the morning sun, the destructive intent coating Ryo's arm dissolved inch by inch into nothingness.
Ryo didn't care. Instead, he accelerated.
The punch came down even faster.
The next instant...
BOOM!
Something exploded.
The moment their attacks met, Amun-Ra's entire arm shattered into bloody fragments.
Before the severed limb even hit the ground, Ryo's hand had already slammed Amun-Ra's head straight down into his own chest.
Drip. Drip.
Blood trickled from Ryo's fingers.
Looking at the skull crushed into the man's torso, he sneered and spat. "You think I'm an idiot? I already heard Zeus got away."
"'Zeus's Authority isn't bad?' Heh! A whole group of you couldn't kill someone at your own level and still let him escape. And you've got the nerve to come here pretending you're impressive?"
He spat contemptuously at the body as it dissolved into particles of light.
Then he narrowed his eyes, feeling a newborn Authority merge with the Sun Authority he'd already possessed.
"Another solar Authority of the same type. That saves me a lot of trouble."
He wrapped the bandages around his hand again and turned to leave.
Then the hole in the ceiling suddenly blazed with scorching brilliance.
Ryo looked up, squinting against the dazzling sunlight. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a magnificent golden divine bird burning within the sun itself.
The sacred falcon of the sun. Amun-Ra's true form.
SKREE!
Its piercing cry rang through the air.
Ruby-red eyes locked onto Ryo with terrifying intensity.
"So it's going to be a battle beyond the limits?" Ryo laughed coldly. "Come on. Now that the Godslayer Treaty isn't holding you back anymore, let's see how many punches it takes before I beat you to death."
He slowly unwound the bandages around his hand.
Not much. Just enough to create the slightest opening in the seal suppressing one of his five senses. Yet even that tiny crack sent his aura soaring.
Among the Saint's training methods was a secret technique mastered best by the Virgo Saints.
By sealing away one of the five senses, a Saint could continuously accumulate Cosmo through perfect unity of mind and body. When the seal was finally released, all that stored power would erupt in an instant, making the inherently explosive nature of Cosmo even more terrifying.
The bandages on Ryo's hand served as the seal.
What he'd sealed away... was his sense of touch.
Now, with the seal partially opened, brilliant golden light began gathering around him. The Cosmo was so dense it had begun to mist around his body.
The instant the golden falcon sensed those waves of Cosmo, deep wariness filled its eyes.
Before it could react, however, Ryo casually produced a small brown glass bottle.
The sight of that ordinary-looking vial immediately reminded Amun-Ra of the countless bizarre poisons that had nearly done Zeus in.
Silence fell.
The divine bird continued radiating majesty as brilliant as the sun itself.
Ryo stood his ground below.
The two faced each other across the open air, neither willing to make the first move.
.
.
.