Radahn's allied forces were clearly unreliable, so Rykard began considering the other factions.
Morgott and Mohg, the two brothers, were also out of the question. From the very beginning, they had never intended to become Elden Lord.
That Grace-Given King had even obtained the crown and stood only one step away from Marika herself, yet he still abandoned the opportunity to ascend the throne.
This alone already proved that those two brothers were also spineless insects.
That left only his younger sister, Ranni, and the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
However, ever since the Night of the Black Knives, his own sister had never shown herself again, as though she had vanished from the world entirely.
She did not even appear when her own territory, Liurnia of the Lakes, fell into civil war, which clearly indicated that her condition was far from good. It was highly likely she had already been secretly dealt with by the Gloam-Eyed Queen.
Otherwise, how could the Gloam-Eyed Queen be so arrogant as to directly seize Ranni's territory?
Ranni's strength was no less than that of her elder brother Radahn. Among all their siblings, she was likewise among the very best.
However, even if Ranni were still present, Rykard had no intention of assisting her.
There was no other reason—his younger sister's heart had never belonged to the Lands Between.
Ever since childhood, she had wanted to ascend to the heavens, and even after growing up, she still wanted to ascend to the heavens.
Her ambition had always been to reach the stars and kill the Greater Will itself, and the existence of the Law of the Stars proved just how terrifying Ranni's ambitions truly were.
Ranni's ambition was simply too great, completely incomparable to someone like Rykard, who merely wanted to remain within the Lands Between and become a powerful high-ranking ruler with authority.
Therefore, from the very beginning, he had effectively only one choice: the Gloam-Eyed Queen, who was powerful, intelligent, and filled with schemes and calculations.
Given the current situation, even if Radahn defeated the Gloam-Eyed Queen, as long as she handed over her Great Rune, Radahn probably would not kill her.
As long as the Empyrean herself remained alive, if he secretly allied with her and infiltrated the allied forces, she would still have a chance to reclaim her power.
One must know that the power the Gloam-Eyed Queen currently displayed was only a quarter of her peak strength, yet she already possessed such terrifying power.
At least half of her authority still remained in Maliketh's hands, and while Empyreans feared the Shadow Beasts, Demigods did not fear those creatures.
If he secretly eliminated Maliketh and reclaimed the Queen's Law of Death for her, he would obtain an immensely powerful ally.
Moreover, as a contemporary of Eternal Queen Marika, the Gloam-Eyed Queen also appeared to be the oldest Empyrean alive, and her goal was clearly not something as simple as merely becoming Elden Lord.
The Gloam-Eyed Queen's ambition and pride made it impossible for her to remain subordinate to Marika. She would inevitably seek to replace Marika and become the new God of the Lands Between, establishing an entirely new Order.
If the Gloam-Eyed Queen became a God, then the now-vacant throne of Elden Lord would naturally give him, as her ally, an excellent opportunity.
In this way, there would be absolutely no conflict of interest between them. The Gloam-Eyed Queen wanted to become a God, while he merely wanted to become Elden Lord.
Thinking this far, Rykard could not help but feel his heart stir.
As an ambitious man, how could he possibly not covet that supreme throne?
However, the reality of the past had been incomparably cruel.
Above him stood Radahn, the invincible elder brother who firmly suppressed him as the number one candidate.
Below him stood the Valkyrie, the world's strongest female warrior, staring at him as the second candidate.
No matter how one looked at it, Rykard, trapped between the two, was destined to never have a share in the throne of Elden Lord.
But if the Gloam-Eyed Queen became the new God, then she naturally would not choose Radahn or the Valkyrie as her King.
At that point, his only competitor would be the Blasphemous Serpent beneath Volcano Manor.
Fortunately, through studying Messmer's body data, he had already developed a forbidden technique that allowed him to fuse with the serpent and obtain the power of the evil serpent.
As long as he could merge with the Great Serpent, then the throne of Elden Lord would surely belong to him!
After finishing his calculations, Rykard finally made up his mind.
He would become the King of the Gloam-Eyed Queen and raise her to the divine throne.
Of course, Rykard was not the sort of person who only wished to act as someone else's dog without relying on his own abilities to become King.
In truth, it was not that he was unwilling, but rather that he was incapable. Having lost the support of Volcano Manor and the Serpent Men, he had already completely lost the qualifications to compete for the throne.
In a place like the Lands Between, the gap in strength between Demigods and Heroes was actually not as enormous as people imagined.
Not long ago, during the Battle of Leyndell, the Grafted Demigod Godrick had been captured alive by the Grace-Given King's Ancient Dragon Knight Kristoff.
One must know that this Demigod possessed Godwyn's core Great Rune, yet he was still defeated and captured alive by a Hero in single combat.
This battle could be said to have directly shattered the prestige of the Demigods, but it also indirectly proved that the strength of Heroes absolutely could not be underestimated.
Even if they were not individually as powerful as Demigods, if several Heroes united together, they could still hold off a Demigod.
Therefore, if a Demigod possessed neither territory nor subordinates, then they would likely be defeated by the enemy's Heroes before even meeting the opposing ruler face-to-face.
Thus, if a Demigod wished to become Elden Lord, relying solely on personal combat ability was absolutely impossible.
They needed enormous territories and vast armies, using those forces to conquer the entire world.
…
…
BOOM—
Just as Rykard was envisioning his future and planning how to pave the road toward becoming Elden Lord, Radahn's meteor form collided head-on with Xiao's Legendary Kaiser Ghidorah form.
This was a colossal collision between heaven and earth, like two stars crashing into one another.
At the moment of impact, the entire world seemed to lose all sense of reality; every sound vanished completely.
A gigantic shockwave spread across the sky like a nuclear explosion.
Countless dazzling white lights illuminated nearly the entirety of Liurnia's skies. It was as though a second Golden Tree had appeared overhead, its radiance so blinding that nobody could even open their eyes.
The surrounding soldiers desperately fled for cover, afraid of being swept away by the terrifying power generated by the clash between the two sides.
"Awooo~~~"
After an unknown amount of time passed, mournful dragon roars echoed from the clouds above.
A gigantic three-headed golden dragon, over a hundred meters in size, plummeted from the sky as golden blood rained down like droplets.
BOOM~~~
The massive dragon body crashed heavily into the earth, sending towering waves of debris skyward.
At this moment, the once-majestic and incomparably sturdy dragon body was covered in cracks, all its scales blasted away, looking utterly miserable.
Xiao lay within the enormous crater, struggling to stand up, only to feel as though every bone in his body had shattered apart during that instant collision.
The intense pain made him gasp sharply, and with a groan, Xiao collapsed back onto the ground once more.
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