Yuuki relished the joy inside his mind as he felt the place freeze.
Now that he became the strongest, he almost achieved his objective. If so, he thought that it would be fun to see the bitter faces of his worthy opponents for a bit longer.
If it was a month ago, he wouldn’t have been able to fight even one of these difficult opponents directly.
But, he had no inferiority complex about that anymore.
Instead, those powerful people made him feel excited and the thought of plunging the world into chaos and making his enemies dance in the palm of his hand would give him supreme pleasure.
However, all of Yuuki’s plans had ended in failure due to the presence of Rimuru, who stands in front of him.
It had been a series of unexpected situations.
When Yuuki first met Rimuru in the Ingrassia Kingdom, he had felt an indescribable premonition.
At that time, Yuuki had sent Hinata at him as a safety measure, but Rimuru escaped with ease.[1]
It was unbelievable that the calm and vigilant Hinata could fail, and when Rimuru turned out to survive this encounter, Yuuki acknowledged Rimuru as his enemy.
From that point on, all of his plans have been crushed by Rimuru.
However, Yuuki didn’t feel any anger regarding that matter.
On the contrary, Yuuki wanted to show his respect towards Rimuru’s brilliant skills.
Yuuki made the decision to move personally for the first time when the situation on the board titled so much that he couldn’t win, even if he unleashed all of the pieces in his hands.
It wasn’t like when he was playing around during his fight with Leon. Yuuki seriously decided, for the very first time in his life, that he wanted strength.
He estimated that it would take one month for him to unravel all that power.
Meanwhile, he decided to let Velda be in the firing line and do as he pleased.
Although Yuuki’s personality was more or less positioned at the top of the pecking order, because it was a mutual switch of beings of the same rank, once they switched places, he couldn’t switch with Velda with just his own Will.
For this reason, this was a gamble for him.
Velda’s goal was also the collapse of the world, but the end result was different than Yuuki’s.
Yuuki’s end goal was to return this world to nothingness, but Velda’s was different.
After the collapse, Velda wanted to try to create a new world with him as its God.
From Yuuki’s point of view, that was a naïve idea that he couldn’t hold back his laughter when thinking about it.
While thinking that Velda would fail anyway, Yuuki gave his last order.
Thus, the result was as Yuuki had expected……
Yuuki was a genius, but he didn’t obtain all of Veldanava’s powers.
As such, being able to control all of Veldanava’s powers was a lie.
However, there was nothing that worried him.
Because it was true that he could use almost all of Veldanava’s abilities.
Yuuki already had enough power to destroy this world.
The Manas called Velda had the knowledge about all of the Ultimate Skills, but he didn’t have the ability to recreate them.
The reason was plain and simple, insufficient capacity.
Yuuki had analyzed every skill over a month’s time and made a selection.
He reduced Ultimate Skill『Greedy Lord Mammon』into energy (Existence Value) and tried to recreate the necessary skills.
It became possible for him to perfectly recreate『Creation Lord Ahura Mazda』.
However, there was also an ability that he couldn’t recreate no matter how hard he tried.
The Ultimate and Supreme Ability――called『Turn Null』which produced the primordial energy needed to create a world. But in the end, it was impossible for him to recreate it.
Even if he could recreate that ability, he would only cause the energy to go amok and disappear if he didn’t create a world like Veldanava did.
After all, 『Turn Null』, as indicated by its name, was pure and super dense energy that destroyed everything. A super-tier level ability that allowed the destruction of the existing world and even the creation of a new world.
It was said that Veldanava lost『Turn Null』after he created this world, and he was left with『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』.
Veldanava was the strongest existence because of this ability, which produced unlimited magic essence.
Milim inherited that『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』, making her the strongest.
It was due to the byproduct of『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』that she could control Stardust, the condensed form of magic essence.
Yuuki had recreated this ultimate power too.
Yuuki became a God-Man and a spiritual life-form. Therefore, based on Velda’s knowledge, he created『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』and completely controlled it.
However, as it was, he didn’t have enough capacity to use other abilities and became nothing but a rehash of Milim.
He could control the output like Guy, but then he wouldn’t be able to surpass them.
Yuuki thought as such, so he came up with the idea of recreating the abilities and put them inside Veldanava Sword.
Veldanava Sword was a crystallization of Veldanava’s powers. It was the condensed form of half of Veldanava’s maximum energy.
Milim was supposed to inherit this Sword of God someday.
Hence, such a thing as recreating the abilities in Velda’s memories was easy.
Yuuki had also disassembled his own Ultimate Skill『Creation Lord Ahura Mazda』and combined it with Velda’s knowledge. Thus, Origin Skill[2]『Information Ruler Akashic Records[3]』was created.
He installed this Origin Skill into Veldanava Sword and tweaked it so that any selected ability could be used at any time.
Because it was tuned exclusively for Yuuki’s use, it couldn’t be used by Velda.
Velda’s role was to keep『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』always in the optimal state, acting as a kind of permanent monitoring device.
Thus, Yuuki was reborn as an incarnation of absolute power that could freely use all abilities.
◇◇◇
Yuuki was only wary of one person.
Only against Rimuru, who had a dumbfounded expression in front of him.
This annoying monster always exceeded Yuuki’s assumptions.
For this reason, there was no need for him to hold back. As soon as he determined the extent of Rimuru’s capabilities, Yuuki would need to use his strongest technique to get rid of him.
They were equal in power.
Yuuki, who was a God-man and an Awakened Hero, was operating『Magic Essence Breeder Reactor』at its maximum output, and yet he couldn’t surpass Rimuru’s power.
This was abnormal.
(This is so troublesome, seriously. I had thought that I would surpass him with a bit more power, but――)
Yuuki was advantageous in weapon’s performance, but he didn’t know how things would turn out if the fight dragged on.
(Velda, I’m gonna use energy at full blast. Fill Veldanava Sword with power to the limits it can withstand!)
Yuuki ordered Velda and attacked Rimuru with faster speed than before.
However, Rimuru easily warded off his attacks.
As if to not damage the sword, both of their swords were clad in energy which interfered with each other and caused heavy shock waves, but they were like a breeze for Yuuki and Rimuru.
(He reacted even to the assaults just now…… But, his reactions seem to be getting slower. Perhaps our swordsmanship is at a tie, I guess?)
Yuuki snapped his fingers.
At the same time, the world stopped moving. Time had stopped.
「Time Stop now, heh? I think it’s pointless……」
「Yeah, I think that it’s pointless too.」
「――You lying bastard. Your aim is probably to crush my forte so you can fight advantageously.」
「Ahahahaha. As I expected, you figured it out.」
Yuuki grinned and laughed.
He easily stopped time with Primitive Magic.
There were two reasons why he did so.
The first one was just as Rimuru had said to restrict emission type abilities.
By narrowing the options that could be taken by Rimuru, who had various means of attacks, he could continue the fight advantageously.
And above all else, it was for the best for him to stop time as to seal the ominous magic such as the annular magic that Demon (Diablo) had shown a while ago.
It was impossible to activate magic inside the Suspended World――Yes, with the exception of Primitive Magic.
Yuuki created an environment where he could one-sidedly use magic while sealing off Rimuru’s magic attacks.
――Burn brightly, O primordial flames!――
Yuuki wished so and simultaneously Rimuru was engulfed in flames.
「Woah! How can you use magic while time was stopped!?」
Just as he expected, Rimuru seemed to be unable to predict this attack.
Yuuki continuously manifested phenomena by merely thinking of them.
Cornering him with flames, sealing his movement by hardening the ground, severing the space―― Rimuru was toyed around with by Yuuki.
This was his last resort.
One of the trump cards that he thought surely would be effective.
However, unfortunately, Yuuki concluded that this Primitive Magic couldn’t defeat Rimuru.
Naturally, there was a very deep and calculated reason for why Yuuki used Primitive Magic despite it not being able to deal the decisive blow.
Yuuki judged that Rimuru had a habit of constantly observing his opponent’s attacks. It probably was a sign of his confidence that he could deal with any kind of attacks, but there was more than that. Yuuki thought that came from Rimuru’s innate naivety as he wished to find out his enemy’s true intentions and whether they could reach a mutual understanding or not.
This time, Yuuki made use of that habit.
As he expected, Rimuru didn’t use his full power from the start so Yuuki succeeded in activating Suspended World.
If he used Primitive Magic in this stopped time, Rimuru would very likely start to analyze his actions.
Although Primitive Magic was Yuuki’s trump card, he couldn’t beat Rimuru with it.
Then, even if it was valuable, Yuuki could use it as bait without problems.
“If I don’t win this fight, there won’t be a next time”, that was Yuuki’s judgment.
Although he was somewhat advantageous right now, Yuuki thought that he wouldn’t be stingy with what he got.
That’s because Yuuki’s wish could be achieved as long as he exhausted everything that he got and won against Rimuru.
My enemy is Rimuru alone――Thinking as such; Yuuki had evaluated Rimuru very highly.
Just as Yuuki planned, Rimuru seemed to be analyzing the Primitive Magic.
Analyzing your foe’s hands while in a fight couldn’t be said to be wrong. However, being preoccupied with something trivial during a tight battle like the one Yuuki and Rimuru were currently in was a bad move.
Yuuki had done various preparations since this battle began――No, even before it started.
Naturally, while he was analyzing abilities inside Velda, Yuuki had always been formulating plans on how he would eliminate his strongest rival.
Even stopping time wasn’t just for making himself have the upper hand by restricting Rimuru’s abilities.
Rather, Yuuki’s aim was to make Rimuru think that.
His true aim of using Time Stop wasn’t for such an insignificant reason――
「How naïve, Yuuki. I gradually got the hang of it, don’t think that you’re the only one who can use magic while time is stopped!」
As Yuuki had expected, no, even faster than expected, Rimuru seemed to have completed the analysis of the Primitive Magic.
The primordial flames that Yuuki had invoked without chanting were frozen by Rimuru just now.
Yuuki’s Will was offset by the conflict between fire and ice.
Yuuki thought that he had no choice but to smile wryly about this.
One of his trump cards was nullified so quickly, even though time was stopped.
However, even this was as Yuuki planned.
The katana clashed against the sword.
Both sides fought with their sublime powers.
In this situation, Yuuki had succeeded in distracting Rimuru’s consciousness even if it was just for a moment.
――I’ve been waiting for this moment!!――
Yuuki smiled.
Then, as he clashed with Rimuru with all his power once again, Yuuki put the final phase of his plan into motion.
While enormous amounts of energy clashed against each other and spread shock waves, Yuuki activated a magic spell formulation without chanting.
Naturally Rimuru, who had understood Primitive Magic, activated his own magic to deal with Yuuki’s magic and nullified it.
(Just as I expected! I had imagined that Rimuru-san would pick the correct response exactly as I had foreseen.)[4]
Although Yuuki was satisfied, he felt slightly empty.
He could read what his opponent was thinking this far, but he realized that he couldn’t understand him in the truest sense.
After all, they were strangers to each other, so such a thing as understanding each other completely was nothing but a pipe dream.
Yuuki felt such a sentiment, but before he could understand that, he unleashed his last trump card.
In the end, Yuuki and Rimuru were enemies.
Simultaneously when Rimuru invoked magic nullification, Yuuki activated the trick that he had put inside his prosthetic left hand.
The arm smoothly transformed and unleashed the magic circles engraved on it at Rimuru.
Then, the phenomenon was rewritten and converged into one magic spell.
The Ultimate Magic Arts that never could be activated by one person.
――Chrono Saltation[5]――[6]
The Ultimate Super Space-Time Magic that forced the target to leap to space where time had ended.
The magic was formed by swallowing up all of the energy that filled the place and even the raging quakes in time.
Then, with that immeasurable energy, it took Rimuru away to the “End of Time and Space[7]”.
Even all of Rimuru’s clones were completely swallowed up by the space-time continuum……
If the “Soul Corridor” wasn’t closed, Rimuru’s subordinates and even Velgrind might also become the target of the magic.
All kind of resistance was futile against the terrifying and compelling force of this magic.
Chrono Saltation was impossible to be activated by Yuuki alone.
The reason was simple; it was a compound magic that required the activation of at least 2 or more magic at the same time. Moreover, the magic needed to be activated simultaneously by those with the exact same properties and qualities.
What Yuuki had put inside his prosthesis arm was a simple ultimate spell formula.
The effect was a reversal.
It was a spell formula to reverse the target’s magic effect.
Primitive Magic was a magic that reflected the user’s Will and it wouldn’t just activate because Yuuki understood what kind of magic to use.
Just by wishing it, the phenomenon was invoked. This characteristic was the reason why it was called as the Ultimate Magic.
By limiting the magic that Rimuru could use with Time Stop just now, Yuuki was able to induce Rimuru to activate magic that he desired.
The magic that Rimuru activated was simple and plain. That was nullification.
It was impossible to stop the magic if Rimuru were to try to analyze the magic that Yuuki activated. Given the time differences, the nullification wouldn’t catch up at the same time as Yuuki activated his magic.
Yuuki thought that way.
Instead, Yuuki induced Rimuru’s thoughts while showing his trump card and directed Rimuru to act like that in this situation.
Then, just as Yuuki had planned, Rimuru would activate the magic.
Everything was prepared by Yuuki and he had forced Rimuru to act splendidly, exactly as he wanted.
In the space where Genesis class’ energy collided and space-time quakes occurred, Yuuki had used Space-Time Magic: Time Stop[8].
Originally, there was no meaning of stopping time in Suspended World. It was impossible to stop further of what had stopped.
However, the circumstances were different this time due to Yuuki’s trick.
In order to nullify Yuuki’s magic, Rimuru had activated magic that had the same energy but with the opposite properties of Yuuki’s magic. His magic was reversed by Yuuki’s trick and transformed to magic with the same energy and properties as Yuuki’s magic.
By doing this, Yuuki met the conditions for activating Chrono Saltation.
Even if he added Time Stop to another Time Stop, the effect wouldn’t change.
However, it would cause drastic changes if he multiplied it.
Bathed in the flow of all time and received the repulsion of the space that tried to fix itself, the target was sent to beyond time.
To the “End of Time and Space”―― A void in the far off future where the end of time and space overlapped.
If he couldn’t defeat him, he only had to put off the issue――That was the decision Yuuki had made.
Rimuru was able to rival him, or maybe even surpass him.To fight head-on against a super-level being like Rimuru would be sheer stupidity.
The answer to that was sending Rimuru to the future and destroying the world in that chance.
At the very end, the difficulty of the game to destroy the world, that used to be boring and easy, jumped up insanely, but Yuuki only felt happiness now that he had cleared it.
Yuuki was very happy and showed a smile from the bottom of his heart.
◆◆◆
The Time Stop was canceled at the same moment as Rimuru disappeared.
Without waiting for anything, those left behind moved all together.
Most of them didn’t understand exactly what had happened in front of their eyes.
However, the fact that Rimuru had disappeared was the only thing they could understand clearly.
「Well, I had sent the biggest obstacle for a trip to the future. This is a checkmate, right?」
Yuuki declared while sprouting a faint smile.
Hearing that, Milim sat down on the ground as if she was about to cry.
「Rimuru has…… Rimuru has disappeared……」
Ramiris was angry by the grieving mutters of Milim.
Without Ramiris herself being aware, her figure rapidly transformed into an adult――
「If it’s Rimuru, he will surely be okay! Let’s defeat him and quickly called Rimuru back here!」
Ramiris shouted.
Strength returned to Milim’s eyes as she heard those words.
「Yeah, you’re right. Let’s do it, Ramiris!」
「Yup!」
The two made their decision.
Milim stood up once more with renewed strength, even Gaia, who was on her shoulder, glared at Yuuki too.
Next to Milim stood Ramiris who had grown into a beautiful adult.
Her hair, which changed color to rainbow-colored, spread out wide as she focused her consciousness to activate the Primitive Magic that could modify the laws of the world.
As for the other people――
「Guess we’ve no other choice but to do it. He looks like an unbelievable beast, but it would be quite fun to go out seriously if this is our last after all.」
「Hehe, it’s really been a while, Guy. I won’t leave your side until the end.」
「Whew. Even though I especially got revived and wanted to see what the world was like now. Well, it can’t be helped as things turned out this way. Velgrind, if we survived, will you show me the world then?」
「Rudra, you idiot. Searching for your reincarnation is more important than the world. And also…… I think you should realize that you didn’t get revived, you know.」
「Kufufufufu. It’s impossible for Rimuru-sama to be defeated, but let’s hold the fort in his absence.」
「Yeah, Sensei might have some ulterior motive, but it won’t be useless if we defeat him.」
Each of them said their respective thoughts and altogether faced Yuuki.
Then, they unleashed their deadly attacks filled with their entire beings toward Yuuki.
――Everything was as Yuuki expected.
Right now, Yuuki could use all skills because of Origin Skill『Information Ruler Akashic Record』.
In other words, he could even devour energy completely using Gluttonous Lord Beelzebuth.
Yuuki sprouted a dark smile as the mass of energy enough to destroy the world was approaching in front of him.
[1] Xbox’s Note: "With ease" he says...
Guro: As smooth as a Slime he is. kek
Sierra’s Note: lol tru.
[2] 源流能力(オリジンスキル)Genryū Nōryoku (Orijin Sukiru). Source/Beginning/Origin/Primordial Ability.
[3] 情報之王(アカシックレコード) Jōhō no Ō (Akashikku Rekōdo). I chose Ruler because Akashic Records is more a thing than a being and Ruler is neutral I guess.
[4] Sierra’s Note: Getting Star Wars Emperor Palpatine vibes :3
[5] 時空跳激震覇(クロノサルテーション) Jikū Chō Gekishinha (Kurono Sarutēshon) Supreme Space-Time Leap Mega Quakes. Saltation (come from Latin word of saltus which mean leap), so in a sense, this can mean Time Leaping. Instead sending yourself through time, it send your target instead.
[6] Xbox’s Note: "Can I have some salt with this time please?"
Sierra’s Note: “Only after some Stellar Peppering”
Guro: “Hey guys, this didn't have anything to do with Salt and Pepper!! XD”
[7] 時空の果て Jikku no Hate. Edge of Time, Outskirts of Time and Space.
[8] 時間停止(タイムストップ) Jikan Teishi (Taimu Sutoppu). Stopped/Suspended/Frozen Time, Time Stop.