This was partly Belial's fault, since he deliberately kept his energy absorption in an overclocked state, using Energy Field to restrain it around his body. As a result, the surrounding heat rose in an abnormal way. Even doing nothing, the nearly ten-thousand-degree heat turned the area into something like a volcanic eruption, with rivers of magma and columns of black smoke.
That was already with Belial using Energy Field to restrain most of the leaking energy. As for Bella complaining that it violated the Law of Conservation of Energy, monsters from the Heisei Era era always scaled by multiples when they went all out. One burst could jump dozens or even hundreds of times in power, and that era was just like that.
"Given this, no matter how I adjust it, the metal's heat tolerance can't handle it." After a whole night of draft plans, Bella could declare them fit for the trash. She had even thought that if the test version passed, she could cover Belial in a full layer of armor.
It was not that she had not considered the plan might fail. The original idea was to use a full set of auxiliary armor to turn Belial into a ruthless output turret and blast everyone to death. She had worried the armor might be torn apart by his raw physical strength, but never imagined it would not even qualify to be worn.
And for some reason, Bella also had a strange urge to give this dragon a massive metal chin.
"...As expected." Lilith nodded calmly, already used to how absurd he was, then turned to Bella and said, "You've seen how strong he is. A rough estimate already tells you it's ridiculous."
"...Do you really need to do this? If you're just looking for a sacrifice to clean up a mess you failed to deal with before, then we can stop here."
The basis of Lilith's cooperation was that they all wanted to deal with the true mastermind behind the recent Shard incidents. The three of them had already completely provoked that side, to the point where it was a fight to the death. Otherwise, she could have just repaired the Barrier and left, but once she realized this involved an Evil God, she knew running was useless and stayed to help raise the big gun to strike back.
She had never thought of treating a certain dragon as a sacrifice, even if she knew he was very unlikely to die.
"...That's why there's a second and third plan, right? Before this, I also wondered if it was too extreme." Bella paused, lowered her head, and smiled bitterly. "Even I think the idea is absurd and crazy, and I don't know why, but my remaining memories tell me my main body faces a destined crisis."
"It's extremely serious, serious enough that only such aggressive measures might solve it. But don't worry, when the battle comes..." She continued seriously, "I'll go too, with the core."
When Bella said this, she looked completely serious, without her usual goofy manner. If the enemy took it, such extreme methods would be unavoidable, and she would not hesitate to detonate the core. This made Lilith pause for a moment, then she brought the Magic Staff down and knocked her back to her senses.
"Ah... why..."
Bella, who had deliberately enabled pain simulation, hugged her head and crouched, barely holding back tears. Seeing her like this made Lilith feel a bit more at ease. "The way you were talking just now, it sounded like everything would be solved if you died."
"I get it now. You and that dragon react the same way in this regard. Not evenly matched, but equally ridiculous."
"Why don't you just ask Him?"
"Huh...?"
"That sounds interesting. Want me to try now?"
After Bella finished showing the simulation, Belial found it very interesting. The model was clear, creating another pseudo fusion reactor inside his body. The outcome was also shown, that if control failed, it would very likely explode inside him.
Bella's idea was to use it as a second output port, like firing two heat rays at once. Internal radiation and area effects would be greatly enhanced, though sustained output would drop since total energy stayed the same, which was acceptable. "So he understands it, right?"
"...Probably. And it looks like he agreed."
Bella and Lilith exchanged a look. Even without direct communication, such clear diagrams could convey the idea. But what Belial did next left both of them stunned.
They realized their thinking had been too conservative. According to Bella's readings, Belial directly modified his own reactor output method.
"If one heat ray can deal with Shard on the other side, why do I need a second one?" "It's all just output methods anyway. Tweaking it like this should be fine, right?"
Since the total energy stayed the same, there was no need for complicated detours. Spell structures were complex, but at the core they only needed one effect. Compress, then release.
This was where Energy Field, which he could operate internally with ease, came in handy. It allowed him to ignore most spell structures while providing stronger restraint. His reinforced body could withstand such an energy burst, and any damage would be the kind that could be repaired, without causing a Burning Mode outcome. So a different use emerged.
"Anyway, let's test it a little. No need to rush."
Just reaching the minimum power threshold would be enough. With that thought, he directly constructed a reaction field inside his body.
Belial lowered his body, bracing himself with both hands on the ground. A low hum of an overclocked reactor echoed inside him, while the heat restrained on the surface flowed inward instead. His dorsal spines glowed continuously, white light seeped from the gaps in his scales, and the internal energy reaction began to expand outward.
He spread his wings, and a wave of blinding white light, hot enough to warp vision, surged out, instantly turning the surroundings into a molten hell. In a single moment, Bella's observation equipment melted away, and Lilith immediately grabbed her and retreated at full speed, raising a barrier at the same time.
"Damn... still not skilled enough. I lost control a bit."
Feeling the internal energy compression slipping, Belial opened his jaws without hesitation and expelled the energy in the most destructive way possible. The ground beneath his feet caved in from the recoil, and an orange-red, blazing white beam of destruction erupted.
The expanding shock alone flattened the surroundings, and the massive ring-shaped airwave even reached the clouds. Scattering lightning carved deep scars into the land. A distant mountain range foolish enough to block the path was pierced straight through, melted into a huge circular hole, leaving a molten channel that stretched to the edge of sight.
Yet this was still not the limit of that heat ray. After regaining his senses, Belial calculated that the energy would keep flying for a while, and once it decayed to a certain point, it would naturally disperse. In other words, explode.
"He's even more reckless than me... is he okay?" "...He should be fine."
Hidden behind a crystal barrier and Nanometal, Bella and Lilith finally peeked out once things calmed down. They saw the Great Dragon standing there in a daze, smoke still drifting from the corner of his mouth, and both of them twitched.
As for Belial himself, the brief loss of control had caused some internal damage, but it was already recovering quickly. There was only one more thought on his mind. "I hope it doesn't hit anyone."
A cold sweat ran down his back. Even if he flew with all his strength, he could not catch up to his own heat ray, so he could only pray no one would be unlucky. Thinking back to that beam, he felt it was strangely familiar, as if he had sensed something like it from SpaceGodzilla before.
"It really feels familiar... wait."
Recalling the energy reaction and beam form, Belial finally reached a conclusion and opened his eyes with a strange expression. "No wonder it looked so familiar. This is kind of a dark joke."
"Space G firing a fusion reaction heat ray, isn't that a bit weird?" But it also felt oddly normal, because the conditions were there. The premise was that Space G had to drop resources, but now he himself was Space G, fully self-sufficient.
Dark humor aside, he felt pretty good about gaining another powerful output method. "Still, I need to keep refining it. Even the minimum power was like this. One day I might send myself back by accident."
There was also room to improve the fusion reaction heat ray. Could it stack with Spiral Heat Ray? What would happen if it were used for internal radiation? "Looks like I need to keep grinding proficiency."
"Sir, we will soon reach the forward camp of the Third Army Group."
A scout brought the report, and a mid-level officer of the Second Army Group nodded and smiled. "Looks like that overly greedy Ludwig is finally going to fall."
"What timing. The most threatening magitech troops have taken heavy losses. It's a gift from above." He slammed the table lightly. "Pass my order. Send out the Sixth and Seventh Divisions!"