In the void surrounded by planet fragments, two "strongest" beings faced each other.
After the Spirit Corridor was destroyed, the initial cause of the great war—the Star Grail coveted by the gods—floated beside Ryuga.
But no one cared about this spoil of war.
In the flames burning even stars to ash, Artosh used his "strongest" Star Grail to increase his strength hundreds or thousands of times, even expanding to match a star's level.
However, even such power couldn't harm Ryuga in the slightest.
And as Ryuga's voice declaring the end rang out.
A slender flame sword manifested from his hand.
No need to aim, for it would surely hit its target;
No need for speed, for it could not be escaped;
No need for power, for it would definitely defeat the enemy;
Under the blade gleaming with sacred flames, War God Artosh had no time for any resistance before directly meeting defeat.
Sensing his Star Grail suddenly cut off, his divine power and imaginary energy simultaneously grinding to a halt like jamming gears, his entire body becoming so powerless in an instant that even raising his hand was impossible, Artosh initially tried to resist.
But very quickly, he discovered he was stepping into irreversible death, and all resistance was futile.
Though unable to understand what happened, he understood one thing—he had been defeated.
"So this is defeat..."
Tasting the unfamiliar bitterness of defeat for the first time in tens of thousands of years, Artosh carefully savored this strange flavor, then turned his gaze to his final and strongest opponent.
"Can you tell me—what power did you just use?"
At life's end, he asked this question.
Regarding his defeat, he'd had premonitions.
This premonition didn't arise when the Star Grail appeared and directly chose Ryuga, but even earlier—over ten thousand years ago before meeting Ryuga, brought to him by the Final Dragon Hartyleif.
Though Hartyleif's prediction ultimately failed—the one ending his life wasn't some worthless weakling but a mighty warrior from another realm.
But ultimately it was the same—he'd long prepared for defeat.
Noticing the Flügel he created had been transferred away before his defeat, Artosh no longer held concerns for those children.
He believed Ryuga could care for those naive and reckless wings.
Without this worry, what he cared most about before death was the power Ryuga used earlier.
That feeling of being unable to resist, unable to match, unable to overcome—almost like destiny itself, making him feel he absolutely mustn't oppose it.
What kind of power could make even the War God unable to muster fighting spirit?
Regarding Artosh's question, Ryuga was as frank as always.
"If you're asking about the power's nature, I can tell you—it incorporates many mythological armament concepts. For example, the Brahmastra spear that pierces and surely wins, the Gungnir that shoots and surely hits, the Tyrfing that cuts and surely tears, plus many other powers..."
So-called mythological armaments, though their effects were heaven-defying, each actually had corresponding rules. As long as one knew these rules, there were possible countermeasures.
And naturally, if these characteristics were woven together, one could forge BUG-level mythological armaments, making them into power that ordinary existences could almost never resist.
However, no matter how much these weapons' natures were explained, they were still just the results of mythological spell compilation, with no qualitative difference from previous mythological spells.
This level of mechanism naturally wasn't enough to become Ryuga's trump card now.
After destroying and rebuilding the entire divine realm, becoming the Divine Realm's Master, Ryuga's mythological spells also received qualitative improvement.
This improvement was no longer the result of weaving divinity, but the result of weaving mythology itself.
"If you want to ask the real reason for your defeat, there's only one—good must triumph over evil. This is the absolute regulation from Zoroastrian cosmology."
"A mere 'strongest' Star Grail isn't enough to resist a complete cosmology's weight. Your Star Grail's concept is too simple."
Justice will inevitably triumph over evil, goodness will inevitably overcome malice—this fairy tale-like paradigm was precisely the manifestation of Zoroastrian cosmology—[Dualism of Good and Evil].
After completely destroying Zoroastrianism and unifying and organizing all of Zoroastrian mythology, Ryuga had initially grasped this cosmology.
The benefit of grasping cosmology was being able to use absolute concepts to crush opponents who hadn't grasped concepts of equal weight.
This crushing was almost dimensionally superior advantage.
Though War God Artosh was immensely powerful and even self-taught the method of drawing imaginary energy, in the domain of Star Grail concepts, he was still too weak, almost collapsing at first touch.
Just as the Sun God wouldn't fear the Fire God, the Underworld God wouldn't fear the Death God, the Sky God wouldn't fear the Thunder God—divine concepts themselves had hierarchies.
And no matter what deity, even a monotheistic god, their concept at maximum couldn't exceed the entire world.
So when Artosh as War God faced cosmological concepts, even being the strongest, he couldn't achieve victory.
In the [Dualism of Good and Evil] system, if he truly was the strongest, he must be in the good camp, he must obey Ryuga's commands as patriarch, and he must be defeated.
If he wasn't the strongest, even more so—he'd directly meet defeat.
Strong means losing, not strong also means losing—from the start, this battle's outcome was already determined.
The only thing that could resist cosmology and free itself from the [Dualism of Good and Evil] system's power was another cosmology.
Unfortunately, the No Game No Life world whose civilization hadn't developed very prosperously didn't have this concept.
"Star Grail concept too simple?"
Hearing this answer, Artosh was slightly dazed, then quickly understood.
Though always adhering to the aesthetic that simple purity equals strength, Ryuga's previous sword indeed gave him that feeling of facing the entire universe, unable to avoid.
In fact, during combat he'd sensed that Ryuga's energy output wasn't as much as his.
But when divine concepts became complex to the extreme, pure energy could no longer make up for conceptual disadvantage. No matter how much power he drew from the void, ultimately he'd only be a stepping stone for the opponent's system.
Just as matter submits to energy, energy must also submit to higher-level concepts.
In this regard, he truly lost.
After resolving the doubt in his heart, Artosh's body had already dissipated by half.
In the final seconds, he turned his gaze to the flame sword in Ryuga's hand, asking one last question:
"This sword's name is?"
Hearing this, Ryuga glanced at the sword in his hand, contemplating for a second before saying:
"Previously called Victory Sword, the manifestation of Divine Glory (Varaghna). After comprehending [Dualism of Good and Evil], this spell received qualitative improvement. Now it should initially deserve this name—"
"Its name is Glory of Kings (Khavarenah), its meaning—certain victory!"
This sword represented the core concept of [Dualism of Good and Evil] cosmology—the [certain victory] in [good must triumph over evil].
Hearing this name, Artosh revealed a relieved expression, then completely dissipated as light particles.
Thus, the battle ended. War God Artosh died.
Witnessing this scene, inside Avalon, apart from the Flügel girls showing grief, everyone else breathed a sigh of relief and revealed joyful expressions.
Regardless, the battle was over, and their side won.
Nothing deserved celebration more than this.
However, after celebrating, looking at the shattered mother planet and the endless starry sky before them, everyone involuntarily fell silent.
Yes, they won, but what next?
In this completely destroyed starry sky, did they still have space to survive?
For a moment, most fell into confusion.
Only now did they have time to think about post-war matters.
Watching the world that completely lost living space after the flames of war, even someone as slow as March 7th realized this problem.
"They said it was the war to end all wars. Now the war's over, but it seems like nothing's left!"
She scratched her head, not knowing how to solve the problem before her.
Ask Aunt Himeko to purchase some basic supplies, then transport them herself?
With the Astral Express's financial resources, that seemed like a drop in the bucket!
"Um, do you need food supplies? I might be able to help with that."
After thinking, March 7th still took the initiative to speak.
In the interstellar age, simple food prices weren't too expensive. If she asked Aunt Himeko, maybe she could help a bit.
Save one person at a time!
Facing the girl's earnest question, Jibril beside her came to her senses and shook her head.
"No need to worry! Just leave such small matters to Master!"
"Ryuga-sama?"
Watching her confident appearance, March 7th was somewhat puzzled.
In this situation, how could just being strong help? Even if Ryuga could traverse the galaxy, wouldn't it take a long time to find habitable planets?
Some in the chat group also had such doubts.
However, before this doubt could be voiced, change occurred.
The Star Grail's radiance illuminated the entire universe. Ryuga's hand directly grasped the Star Grail.
The next second, he spoke.
"Let there be light."
Thus, a creation-like scene appeared in the starry sky.
To be continued…