Deus.Ex.Machina Chapter 72

Vali moved.

I barely had ti to raise my spear before he was on , draconic claws slashing through the air where my head had been a microsecond before. His speed was way faster than before,

This was the power of a Heavenly Dragon unleashed.

I spun away, fire trailing from my spear as I carved a defensive arc through the air. The flas that had been burning white-hot suddenly felt inadequate against the sheer presence radiating from the transford White Dragon Emperor.

"Divide."

The drain hit like a physical blow, stealing not just my power but sothing more. I could feel my enhanced strength bleeding away, my mana reserves suddenly feeling finite.

This was different from before.

The Juggernaut Drive wasn't just removing Vali's limitations—it was amplifying everything. His speed, his strength, his Sacred Gear's ability. The ten-second cooldown was gone. The half-power limitation was gone. Now every contact with him, every clash of our weapons, every mont we spent in proximity triggered another devastating drain.

I thrust my spear forward, sacred fire exploding outward in a cone of purifying fla. The attack that had damaged his Balance Breaker armor now barely scorched the draconic plates covering his transford body.

He walked through my flas like they were warm air.

His clawed hand closed around my spear shaft, and I felt the weapon's power drain away instantly. Not gradually. The sacred fire guttered out like a candle in a hurricane.

"Impossible," I breathed.

Golden eyes fixed on .

"Nothing is impossible for the White Dragon of Supremacy."

His other hand ca up in a backhanded strike that should have taken my head off. I got my arms up just in ti, the Kavacha and Kundala absorbing most of the impact. But 'most' wasn't 'all,' and the force still sent skidding backward across the shattered arena floor.

This was bad. Really bad.

I'd known Juggernaut Drive was powerful—the ani had made that clear enough. But knowing sothing and experiencing it firsthand were completely different.

This wasn't just a power boost. This was a transformation into sothing that operated on an entirely different realm.

"Divide. Divide. Divide."

The chant had beco constant now, overlapping with itself as multiple aspects of my power were drained simultaneously. Physical strength, mana reserves, enhancent effects—everything was being stripped away.

I tried to create distance, launching myself backward with a burst of mana. But even that felt sluggish now, my reserves operating at maybe sixty percent of their normal capacity.

Valid didn't give the space I needed. He moved, flowing across the arena faster than before. His wings, now fully organic and lined with razor-sharp scales, carved through the air with each movent.

I barely managed to resummon my fire spear, pouring what felt like twice the normal amount of mana into the manifestation. The sacred flas sputtered to life, but they looked pale compared to their earlier brilliance.

"The gap between us is wider than you thought." He said as he lunged forward.

I t his charge with my spear, resulting in an explosion that lit up the entire arena.

When the light faded, we were locked together—my spear pressed against its crossed forearms, neither of us able to gain ground. But I could feel my strength bleeding away with every second of contact.

"Divide."

Another chunk of my power vanished. The sacred fire dimd further.

"Divide."

Vali's golden eyes glead with intensity as he felt my strength failing. He pressed forward, slowly but inexorably pushing backward despite my best efforts to hold ground.

"This is the true power of the Heavenly Dragons," he said. "And if you keep holding back, you are gonna lose."

"Divide."

The mana core that had been effortlessly regenerating my reserves stuttered, its output dropping to a fraction of normal capacity.

I was in trouble and I needed a new strategy. Fast.

The Arcanum Grimoire pulsed at the edge of my consciousness, pages flipping frantically as I searched for appropriate spells. But even my enhanced cognition felt sluggish now, the NZT enhancent apparently counting as a 'power' that could be divided away.

Think. Think!

Laevateinn and the Senzu Beans sat in my inventory ready with the forr ready to burn the enemy into ashes instantly and the latter to restore to full strength in an instant.

Either one would turn this fight around imdiately.

But my pride refused to let use them. This was not a life or death battle.

This was a test of my determination, of my will, of my hard work.

Then—

Was I going to lose because of this pride?

Because I was too stubborn to use every tool at my disposal?

I felt sothing stir deep within . Not just frustration, but anger. At myself. At my own stupid self imposed limitations.

Here was Vali, fighting with everything he had, pushing himself to the absolute limit with a transformation that was burning his life force. And I was holding back because of so misguided sense of fairness?

That wasn't pride. That was arrogance.

True pride ant refusing to accept defeat. It ant using every advantage, every weapon, every trick in the book to achieve victory. It ant never backing down, never giving up, never accepting that soone else was simply better.

I felt like an idiot.

This whole ti, I'd been thinking like a human but that wasn't what I was anymore.

I am a dragon.

And dragons do not lose to other dragons.

They fight to win.

They choose who gets to keep flying.

"I'm sorry Vali." I said. "I was being stupid."

Vali paused for a mont . "Yes you are."

I smiled.

Vali wanted to see the true extent of my strength?

Fine.

He was about to get exactly what he asked for.

I reached deep into my inventory, past any pretense of holding back. The familiar weight of Laevateinn materialized in my hand.

The temperature in the arena spiked. Not just heat—this was the essence of destruction given form. The air around the blade shimred and warped as reality itself struggled to contain its power.

But I wasn't done yet.

"O Sun," I whispered, feeling power beyond asure coursing through my body, carried by an anger that would burn away anything that dared stand in its path. "Beco armor."

The golden plates blazed with the radiance of the sun itself. The nigh-indestructible armor transford into sothing that could endure attacks from gods themselves. Golden light erupted from every plate, every inscription, turning into a miniature star.

The arena fell completely silent.

Even Vali, in his Juggernaut Drive form, took an involuntary step backward as he felt the shift in power. The constant drain of "Divide" that had been weakening suddenly felt... irrelevant.

"Now that," Vali said, "is more like it."

He raised both hands, and power began gathering around them.. The air itself began to distort from the amount of energy.

His armor opened from the abdon, revealing a cannon muzzle that began gathering energy. Silvery-white and jet-black aura swirled together, compressed into a single point that made reality itself seem to bend around it.

"Satan Lucifer Smasher!" Vali roared.

I knew about this move. I didn't realize that Vali was already capable of using this move by now.

But I was ready for it.

I raised Laevateinn above my head, and sacred fire erupted along its length like a solar flare. The blade grew, extending from eight feet to twenty, then fifty, becoming a sword of pure burning light.

"Let's end this," I said.

He grinned, his golden dragon eyes gleaming with pure joy. "Finally!"

We launched our attacks simultaneously.

The Satan Lucifer Smasher fired—a massive bombardnt of silvery-white and jet-black energy that carried the combined power of the White Dragon Emperor and the original Lucifer's bloodline. It was destruction incarnate, capable of erasing anything in its path.

I brought Laevateinn down in a vertical slash, sacred fire extending from the blade in an arc of purification that could burn through concepts themselves.

The two attacks t in the center of the arena.

The explosion was visible from space.

When the light finally faded and the dust settled, we stood facing each other in the crater that had once been an arena. Vali's Juggernaut Drive armor was cracked and smoking, his transformation finally beginning to fail. My own armor was unmarked, still radiating solar power.

But we were both smiling.

"Good fight," Vali said, just before he collapsed to one knee as the transformation ended completely.

"Good fight," I agreed, letting Laevateinn fade and releasing the true power of my armor.

In the stunned silence of the watching crowd, I walked over and offered him a hand up.

"Sa ti next week?" I asked.

Despite his exhaustion, Vali laughed. "Absolutely."

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