Ryuichi's fist came down without the slightest restraint.
The impact was brutal — you could almost hear bone deform. Riser's face visibly twisted under the blow, cheeks collapsing from the sheer force. A sharp whoosh tore across the air as the Phoenix heir's body shot away like a broken projectile.
He plowed across the arena floor and carved a trench more than twenty meters long before finally grinding to a halt. Half of his face looked like raw meat — crushed and mangled beyond recognition.
But the regenerative blood of the Phoenix activated immediately. Flames surged over the ruined flesh, licking away blood and pus — and in seconds, the face re-formed as though the damage had never been there.
Ryuichi flexed his knuckles slowly, watching the miraculous recovery with a faint smile.
This guy really can take a beating.
"I knew you wouldn't go down that easily," he murmured.
He blurred forward, seized Riser by the collar, yanked him up — and drove a spinning kick into the man's chest.
Riser screamed as he was flung yet again.
Two, three seconds after hitting the ground, he forced himself upright, frantically cranking his Phoenix flame to its limit. The injuries knit back together. His eyes burned with ferocity and murder.
"You bastard… I won't let you walk away alive…"
"I'm not expecting you to let me go," Ryuichi replied, calm and unguarded as he walked forward. "Whatever you've got, bring it."
To Riser, that composure — that casual indifference — was unforgivable.
He was a Phoenix — a pure-blood high-devil — a noble.
And this reincarnated nobody dared look down on him as though he were nothing.
Riser roared, unleashing his demonic power.
A pillar of flame erupted skyward, swirling into the shape of a colossal Phoenix totem before launching toward Ryuichi like a living inferno — the kind of attack even High-Class Devils could not ignore.
Against the enormous bird of fire barreling across the void, Ryuichi looked no more substantial than a sesame seed waiting to be blown away.
He didn't move.
The inferno swallowed him whole.
The flames raged, twisted, devoured everything they touched — and yet Ryuichi, standing in the heart of the blaze, remained unburned. Untouched.
Some secret force flowed beneath his skin. No matter how violently the fire crashed against him, it failed to leave even a trace of harm.
Eternal Twilight — activated.
As long as the ability persisted, Ryuichi existed in a perpetual state of stasis. Every condition of his body was frozen in the moment of activation — untouchable by any external influence.
Step by steady step, he walked out of the sea of flames. Even a single strand of his hair remained smooth, orderly, and uncharred.
"…Impossible."
Riser stared as though witnessing a nightmare.
He refused to accept it — gathered power again — and this time his magic blazed in prismatic color. Behind him, wings of fire manifested, almost solid in their density.
This was no ordinary blast — this was execution.
"I don't want to admit it, but you've become a monster. I'm actually afraid of you now… but I don't care!" Riser shouted, voice cracking with frenzy. "Burn in karmic flame — turn to ash in front of your precious King!"
Among the myths of old, the Phoenix — the immortal firebird — was said to burn through dragon scales and go to war with dragons themselves. Its karmic flame was not symbolic — it was absolute.
High above, in the shadowed spectator dimension, the hidden VIPs observed with grave attention.
"He finally resorted to that— karmic immolation. Nothing of the human world can withstand it."
"That reincarnated brat is getting arrogant. A little agony will do him good — though make sure he doesn't actually die."
Eyes locked on the magical broadcast, every one of them watched Ryuichi with a gleam that mingled fascination and calculation.
A dual-typed Devil piece — the first ever recorded since the system's birth centuries ago. A phenomenon with the potential to rewrite Devil history.
Of course they would protect him. Of course they would study him.
This was too monumental to lose.
Inside the sealed battlefield, Ryuichi narrowed his eyes.
He could feel the wrath of the karmic flame bearing down. Without Eternal Twilight already active, there truly would be nothing he could do to withstand it.
But he had prepared for this from the beginning.
He had planned around Riser long before this battle ever began.
Even without a clone, he could have defeated him — at a cost.
Now, with Eternal Twilight successfully invoked — there was no cost. No suspense. No uncertainty.
The karmic blaze engulfed him — and every spectator leaned forward to witness him scream.
One second later, their anticipation died in their throats.
Ryuichi walked through the karmic inferno with the same unchanging expression — utterly unaffected — step by merciless step closing the distance to Riser.
Under stasis, karmic fire meant nothing.
"This… this is impossible!" Riser's voice broke into panic. "Karmic fire scorches all sinners — all beings bear karmic defilement — NO ONE should be invulnerable!"
Ryuichi continued forward, unhurried.
And for the first time — Riser's confidence fractured.
"You… listen to me," he sputtered, retreating. "My marriage to Rias is for the future of our entire race. You have potential — and once I become her husband, I'll train you myself — raise you to power — our glory will be shared—!"
Ryuichi tilted his head slightly.
"…It seems you still don't understand."
His voice was soft — but it tightened something cold and inexplicable in the air.
"W-what are you—?"
"'Devil glory,' to be honest, means nothing to me."
Ryuichi rested a hand on Riser's shoulder, almost casually — like speaking to an acquaintance instead of an enemy.
"I'm just a reincarnated Devil. I don't understand pure-blood ideology, and I don't care. If you want to preserve pure bloodlines, that's your business — I've never opposed that."
"Then why—" Riser tried to speak, but Ryuichi raised a hand to silence him.
"The reason is very simple — Rias doesn't like you."
His grip tightened. Bone creaked under his fingers.
"She doesn't like you. Marrying you won't make her happy. That's enough reason, isn't it?"
"If you want a pure-blood bride, find one who wants you — not force Rias, a girl who doesn't."
Riser's face contorted with pain as Ryuichi's fingers bit deeper into his shoulder — and then Ryuichi slowly raised his right fist, demonic power pouring into it like a collapsing star.
"Pure blood, high class, noble rank — none of that matters. To me, Rias is just a helpless girl being cornered."
"And you— self-righteous parasites — who decided you have the right to dictate someone else's entire life?"
The punch fell.
Half of Riser's body detonated into red mist.
BOOM.
Blood sprayed the air like rain.
.
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