The War God's pressure towered above heaven and earth, with golden light piercing through the entire sky.
Under the fearful gaze of all forces in the world, War God Artosh, towering high in the clouds, cast his gaze upon a black-haired, black-eyed human male.
The two looked at each other, and although no confrontation had yet occurred, the entire atmosphere solidified.
"Wuuu! Lord God has come to save me meow!"
Azriel immediately showed an expression of extreme joy.
Although her body was still powerless, she still proudly raised her head at this moment.
"Jibril, it's still not too late to repent now! Otherwise, Lord Artosh might not spare you and your master meow!"
She reminded half-kindly.
Faced with the suddenly appearing Azriel, Jibril looked at her speechlessly and directly stuffed her mouth with a rag.
"Shut up!"
"Jibril, you'll regret this mmph mmph!"
Azriel immediately couldn't speak.
Before she could continue struggling, suddenly, War God Artosh spoke.
The War God's figure, like a heavenly proclamation, crossed a thousand kilometers yet remained crystal clear.
"Are you human, or deity?"
Hearing the War God's voice, Azriel finally quieted down and stopped making a fuss.
Her gaze toward Ryuga also changed from previous hostility to complete solemnity.
Those who could be personally addressed as equals by her Lord God—in the history she knew, there was only the Final Dragon King Hartrem.
Other existences, even deities, were not qualified to make War God Artosh move a single step.
The reason War God Artosh had sat high on his throne motionless for over ten thousand years was because there were no longer any opponents worthy of his serious attention in this world.
But now, Ryuga's mere appearance here had attracted the War God's utmost attention.
Not only had he stood up for the first time ever, but he had even developed a desire to understand him.
Azriel was shocked while also becoming curious.
What exactly was this person's identity?
Human or deity—did this question even need to be asked? Those humans who were merely like monkeys or beasts and nearly extinct—how could such a powerful individual appear among them?
During the Great War period in the No Game No Life world, humans were beings that could be confused with wild animals, not even qualifying as a species. No one would associate this name with a powerful individual.
Although Lord Artosh's words must have deep meaning, wasn't this possibility a bit too absurd?
Just as Azriel was thinking this.
"Not a deity."
Ryuga calmly shook his head and replied peacefully.
"Using human power to control mythological power... you can roughly consider me a poet."
Campione, deity—such labels couldn't completely correspond with the power Ryuga currently wielded.
Compared to deities, a poet who recorded and sang myths was closer to what Ryuga was currently doing.
"Poet?"
Hearing this unfamiliar term, Artosh's tone showed slight confusion.
However, dwelling on trivial worries wasn't the War God's style. He quickly ignored this point and looked toward Jibril and Azriel.
"Extra Individual, did you defeat the First Individual?"
"Mmph mmph!"
Seeing the War God look at her, Azriel immediately became excited, but couldn't say anything.
Meanwhile, Jibril proudly raised her head and chest.
"That's right! Lord Artosh, I've already received new power from Master. A mere Azriel is no match for me at all, so you should be careful too. The moment you've been waiting for might be personally completed by my Master!"
As a servant of the War God, she brazenly declared her betrayal. Any Flügel hearing this would be stunned.
However, hearing this, Artosh didn't become angry.
"Your master?"
The War God looked at Ryuga again, his majestic gaze carrying slight expectation.
"I thought the one to end me would be the weakest, but I didn't expect it to be a powerful individual from another world."
"Poet from another world, will you give me the battle I desire?"
Hearing this question, all the Flügel became nervous.
Although they didn't understand what a powerful individual from another world meant, the atmosphere of battle was quite obvious.
As long as the other party agreed—
"If you want a battle, anytime is fine."
Before they could think further, Ryuga nodded and accepted the battle.
"However, before that, may I ask a question?"
"What is it?"
Artosh nodded in agreement.
"Does your current energy come entirely from spirits? Or rather, do you believe it all originates from spirits?"
Sharp vision seemed able to penetrate the War God's divine essence as Ryuga asked an extremely strange question.
"Naturally so."
After brief consideration, Artosh answered thus.
The power of the Old Deus came from the Spirit Corridors—this was common knowledge in this world.
Or rather, all beings capable of using spirit power derived their strength from the Spirit Corridors.
In the No Game No Life world, the Spirit Corridors were the source of the great source.
It was precisely because of the inexhaustible spirits produced by the Spirit Corridors that life in this world possessed such powerful energy.
If Lancelot came here, he wouldn't even need to do anything extra—his divine power would naturally surge several times over.
"I see... it seems the current you hasn't yet made contact with imaginary energy!"
Hearing this answer, Ryuga nodded slightly, confirming this point.
In the original work, during the final battle, Artosh had violated the law of conservation of mass-energy, directly drawing vast amounts of energy from the void.
In that state, the increase or decrease of power meant nothing to him—he could have as much energy as he wanted.
Regarding this phenomenon comparable to a perpetual motion machine, Ryuga had long had suspicions.
As mentioned before, so-called True Ether could be said to all originate from natural energy.
Generally speaking, when True Ether is mentioned, one would immediately think of a planet's Great Source—natural energy that flows from the planet's own pulsations, like the Spirit Corridors.
However, just as most people would equate planets with worlds, the conceptual scope of True Ether wasn't actually so narrow.
Within planets, natural forces dominated by the Planet's Great Source were True Ether.
In cosmic space, at positions not close to celestial bodies, there were similar natural energies—this was another form of True Ether.
If the True Ether within planets mainly came from the Planet's Great Source, then the True Ether in the universe mainly originated from imaginary energy.
It could be called imaginary internal energy, or vacuum zero-point energy from the Dirac sea.
The S² perpetual organs of the Angels in Evangelion wielded this type of energy.
After the completion of the [World-Creating Mother Goddess] mythological technique, as long as Ryuga was on Earth, he could receive support from the Earth Mother Goddess Gaia.
This point directly compensated for his long-standing energy disadvantage.
And this characteristic could also take effect on ownerless ley lines in other worlds, even in the current No Game No Life world.
With Ryuga no longer lacking energy within planets, he naturally set his sights on interstellar space.
Whether in scale or power, imaginary energy far exceeded ordinary Planet's Great Sources.
He had originally thought he could get some clues from War God Artosh's divine core.
Now it seemed that Artosh, who hadn't been pushed to the brink, hadn't yet realized his own capability.
But it didn't matter. The fact that Artosh could accomplish this already showed that divine cores in this world could indeed draw upon imaginary internal energy.
If he carefully studied the divine core structure of this world, he might find the key to unlocking imaginary internal energy.
"Imaginary energy?"
Artosh felt confused again.
He knew Ryuga came from another world, and many concepts definitely wouldn't be mutually comprehensible. He didn't mind this point either.
Compared to the meaning of this term, what he cared more about was—
"Is this your purpose for this trip?"
"No, my purpose for this trip is the Ex-Machina. I need them."
Ryuga shook his head without any intention of hiding.
"Is it to become stronger?"
Artosh pondered for two seconds and asked further.
"You could say that."
Ryuga nodded.
If he could completely analyze the portion of primordial divine cores from Christianity and the Greek divine realm, Ryuga could truly advance from a divine core controller to a mythological controller. By then, his strength would probably improve to a level completely surpassing Father Zeus—that is, at least the fifth tier: planet-busting realm.
"I see..."
The War God suddenly withdrew his divine light and sat back on his throne.
"It seems now is not yet the time for the decisive battle."
"?"
Question marks immediately popped up above Azriel's head.
Not fighting anymore?
Ryuga and Jibril exchanged glances and immediately guessed the other party's thoughts.
"Want to wait until I become stronger before fighting? If that's the case, it's completely unnecessary. The road ahead of me is still very long. With your strength, I don't need special preparation."
Ryuga spoke frankly.
By the time he stopped becoming stronger, Artosh might not even be able to defeat Jibril.
"No matter. Since it's the final decisive battle, naturally the more exhilarating the better."
Artosh shook his head, his smile fierce and mighty.
"I've already waited over ten thousand years. I don't mind waiting a few more days."
"But I don't want to wait."
Ryuga shook his head.
If it could be resolved in one go, why split it into two?
Hearing this, Artosh was slightly stunned. After looking at his subordinate Flügel, he suddenly thought of something.
"Then so be it. I make an appointment for battle with you—at least wait until after you become stronger this time before we have our final duel."
"As compensation, until the day of the decisive battle arrives, my subordinate Flügel can be at your disposal."
Who said War Gods don't use their brains? When facing beings of the same level, he even made deals.
Ryuga had originally wanted to refuse such things.
But seeing the over thousand-winged Flügel in the headquarters, and recalling that he had only cleared a corner of the divine realm, Ryuga couldn't help but silently change his mind.
"Deal."
No choice—Artosh was giving too much.
To be continued…