Ingvild's voice rang out across the battlefield, a haunting melody that carried both beauty and despair.
In terms of pure vocal quality, it was undeniably gorgeous. But the emotions woven into each note, depression, anguish, and hopelessness, made it something far more dangerous than mere music.
Only by channeling such dark feelings could Ingvild guarantee her song's effectiveness against beings as powerful as Heavenly Dragons or even Dragon Gods.
The effect was immediate and devastating.
Issei's body went limp mid-flight, his strength abandoning him in an instant. The world before his eyes began to twist and blur, a nauseating vertigo overwhelming his senses until he couldn't even maintain his balance in the air.
His Boosted Gear armor shattered like glass, dissolving into crimson particles as he plummeted from the sky like a stone.
"What kind of power is this?!" Tannin roared, his massive draconic form suddenly losing the strength to keep his wings beating. Without the power to stay airborne, the former Dragon King fell alongside Issei, both crashing toward the ground below.
The suppressive wave radiated outward with Ingvild at its center, an invisible sphere of dominance that brought every dragon within range to their knees.
All the dragons that had rushed to join the battle suddenly found themselves grounded, their bodies pressing against the earth as if gravity had multiplied tenfold. Limbs trembled with the effort just to remain conscious.
Nereid Kyrie, the Longinus known as "Song of the Emerald Sea's End", rivaled even the Dragon Eater Samael in its potency against dragonkind. Its suppressive effect was absolute, capable of affecting even the Infinite Dragon God herself.
Within Tannin's miniature dragon realm, the Sacred Gear's power amplified exponentially, making resistance nearly impossible.
Of course, Takeyo remained completely unaffected.
He did sense a foreign energy attempting to invade his body, but the moment it made contact, his physical form assimilated and neutralized it as easily as breathing.
Watching dragons collapse all around him, Nyx smiled with satisfaction before turning her gaze toward Takeyo.
"Ara ara? Lord Rama hasn't fallen yet?" Her voice dripped with mock surprise. "But surely you've lost your strength by now, haven't you?"
According to her intelligence, Takeyo's Sacred Gear, the World Dragon Sacred Heart, was dragon-based. If the Crimson Dragon Emperor and even Tannin had succumbed, then Takeyo should be completely unable to summon his power.
Now would be the perfect time to capture him. She'd take him back and train him properly~
Facing the goddess's question, Takeyo simply shook his head with a helpless expression.
"Schwi, stay here and protect Ravel. I'll be back shortly."
The five-pointed star pattern in Takeyo's eyes flickered continuously. He'd already collected most of the data he needed on Nyx during their brief exchange.
"Master Takeyo intends to engage in combat? When facing a dragon-killer opponent, the optimal strategic decision would be to retreat temporarily and seek a more advantageous opportunity to defeat the enemy," Schwi stated matter-of-factly, her analytical mind processing the situation. The Crimson Dragon Emperor himself had been instantly neutralized, her calculations suggested withdrawal was the logical choice.
She phrased it as a tactical retreat rather than running away, knowing Takeyo's personality wouldn't accept the latter.
"Ravel, don't you trust me?"
Takeyo gently rubbed her blonde hair, smiling warmly.
"No... I believe in Master Takeyo, it's just..." Ravel's expression showed clear concern despite her words.
"Just wait here for me. Your job is to keep yourself safe, understand?" After saying this, he playfully tugged on one of her twin ponytails, ensuring she understood not to worry.
"Oh my,~"
Nyx watched Takeyo slowly approach her position, eyes narrowing with predatory interest.
She studied him with the gaze of someone examining prey, already convinced there was no hope of him winning this confrontation.
Not only dragons themselves, but even the wielders of dragon-type Sacred Gears fell under her suppression. Such was the nature of combat!
But... this was exactly what she wanted,
Let me see what kind of power a human hero can unleash when facing a goddess!
However, what happened in the next second shocked her to her core.
"Nani?!"
Platinum and azure light exploded across the entire sky, illuminating the battlefield with radiant power!
This was,
The strength of dragons, which should have been perfectly suppressed!
[My... Liberation!]
[It is the origin of the world that bears all creation... the dragon among dragons...]
[Dragon of the world where I am housed, ascend to the peak of dimensions, , ]
[We who transcend the end shall ultimately cross beyond finality, , ]
[Lead me with your brilliant radiance and galactic power!]
[Coming!]
[Kurma Incarnation Overlimit]
[Incarnation of Kurma·Over Limit!]
Recklessly drawing upon the power concentrated in the fragments of his Sacred Gear, Takeyo revealed the might of a higher-dimensional dragon to the Goddess of Night!
"What?! It's not working?!"
Nyx's eyes widened as she instinctively glanced toward Ingvild.
The girl was still singing, her voice unwavering, but Takeyo showed absolutely no signs of being affected!
"Unfortunately, that's simply the reality," Takeyo said, spreading his hands casually.
A tentative blast of light shot toward Nyx, a probing attack to test her defenses!
As Takeyo had expected, Nyx didn't bother dodging his strike.
BOOM!
The energy wave struck her head-on, detonating in a brilliant explosion!
However...
When the smoke cleared, Nyx emerged virtually unscathed, not even a scratch marring her skin.
"Useless, utterly useless,~" Nyx spread her arms wide, projecting complete confidence. "As long as I wear these garments specifically created to counter you, your attacks cannot harm me,"
She displayed her outfit proudly, secure in the knowledge that she'd achieved invincibility through preparation alone.
"I see. That dress you're wearing is certainly unusual," Takeyo observed, his analytical eyes studying the garment intently.
This matched his expectations. In the original timeline, Nyx had specifically created the "Godly Virgin Killer Clothes" to nullify Issei's dragon-based techniques. Even Ddraig's Penetrate ability, awakened after significant character development, had proven ineffective against it.
In that timeline, only after Issei combined Ingvild's empowering song with Ddraig's Penetrate had they finally broken through her defenses.
But this time, the situation differed significantly from what he remembered.
"The Unclean Dragon-Fallen Garment,~This is the name people have given it," Nyx proclaimed proudly, showing off the dress that guaranteed her innate invincibility.
"Do you truly believe that?" Takeyo asked, a knowing smile playing across his lips.
When she'd first arrived, Takeyo had activated Krishna's ability in conjunction with his full-formula analysis to pierce through most of the garment's secrets.
The Unclean Dragon-Fallen Garment lived up to its name perfectly.
Any attack from someone "unclean", that is, someone who wasn't a virgin, or from dragonkind, would prove completely ineffective against this divine clothing.
Takeyo understood with a single glance that this was something Nyx had crafted specifically for him. The original "Godly Virgin Killer Clothes" had targeted Issei's virginity as its defensive condition.
So in Nyx's perception, I'm considered "unclean"...
It seemed the Goddess of Night didn't regard him as pure in that particular sense.
"Nyx, Goddess of the Night! Have you formed the Alliance of Hell yet?" Takeyo asked suddenly, his expression calculating as he silently activated one of his incarnations.
"Ah, It seems Lord Rama is quite well-informed,Yes, we have." Nyx's eyes sparkled with unprecedented interest.
"However, it appears that even knowing this information is meaningless, After all, Lord Rama is about to be captured by me,"
Her gaze radiated confidence, convinced of her absolute superiority.
"Really... it's already been formed? You certainly do love making things difficult for me," Takeyo muttered, scratching his head.
It seemed his presence in this world had triggered numerous butterfly effects, causing events to unfold differently than they had in the original timeline.
"Actually, we haven't caused you any trouble,After all, even if Lord Rama hadn't lost his powers, you still couldn't possibly be my opponent,~"
Nyx's words carried the pride of a goddess, the unshakeable belief that divine beings would never lose to mortal heroes.
"Then shall we test that theory?"
Golden particles began swirling in Takeyo's hand, coalescing into a blade formed of pure light and words of power.
As he infused it with relevant divine knowledge, the golden sword transformed into a weapon specifically designed to seal gods, a blade custom-made for this exact confrontation.
"Ahh,~ Lord Rama still won't give up? You should understand that it's impossible for someone unclean like you to harm me~"
Nyx appeared completely at ease, supremely confident in her garment's protection.
Indeed, even Ophis would find it extraordinarily difficult to damage clothing with such absolute defensive properties.
But Takeyo had his own methods.
He continued silently channeling the power of his incarnation, weaving words of power into the blade...
[You are the Greek Goddess of Night, Nyx!]
[In your mythology, the first-born deity was Khaos, representing the emergence of the universe itself. Then Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros were born in succession.]
[Afterward, Khaos gave birth alone to Erebus, the primordial darkness, and to you, Nyx!]
[Your image is widely depicted in myth as a woman draped in black star-flower veils, embracing young Sleep or Death, flying across the evening sky in a chariot drawn by black horses!]
[You have left your mark indelibly upon epics and legends through your strength and distinctive personality! Homer mentioned in the Iliad that only the "ever-yielding" Nyx commanded respect even from Zeus, the Father of Heaven!]
[In the ancient theogony of the Orphic tradition, you are described as the primordial source, an existence equal to Chronos, the God of Time!]
[In the Orphic "Sacred Discourse," Nyx possesses three identities simultaneously!]
[Chronos's wife and mother of Phanes, the goddess of inevitable destiny, Ananke; his consort, the goddess of natural law, Adrasteia; and their daughter, Heimarmene, goddess of karma and fate!]
In an incredibly brief span of time, the Golden Sword of words and power designed specifically to slay Nyx took shape!
"Do you think that toy will work?" Nyx asked mockingly, watching him with the confidence of someone who believed themselves untouchable.
Playing with mortal heroes was proving quite entertaining,~
"Whether it works or not, you'll find out soon enough."
Takeyo looked at her overconfident demeanor and shook his head with genuine exasperation.
If you'd been just a bit more cautious, I might have needed to expend considerably more effort to capture you. Perhaps I would have even needed to use the authority of the underworld itself.
Capturing a god alive was, after all, far more difficult than simply destroying one.
At Nyx's level, her magic and abilities vastly exceeded those fossilized deities from bygone eras.
"Then... here I come,"
A slight smirk crossed Takeyo's face.
[Chains of Heaven!]
While Nyx leaned back triumphantly, waiting for Takeyo's attack with casual arrogance, several golden ripples materialized in the space around her.
Divine-binding golden chains erupted from the portals, lashing out with supernatural speed!
"Eh?!"
Before Nyx could react, the chains had already ensnared her completely!
With both the god-binding Chains of Heaven restraining her movement and a warrior wielding a god-slaying golden sword standing before her, Takeyo held an overwhelming advantage when facing so-called deities!
Come to think of it, Nyx was actually the first hostile god he'd encountered since arriving in this world. She'd make an excellent subject for experimentation.
"These are... divine-binding treasures! They seem to be from Mesopotamian mythology... just what is your true identity?!"
Panic finally crept into Nyx's voice as she struggled desperately against the chains.
Unfortunately for her, the Chains of Heaven's restraining power scaled proportionally with Takeyo's own strength.
In the past, Tannin had been able to forcibly break free using the combination of his dragon realm's power gap and his tyrannically powerful draconic physique. But why would Nyx, the Goddess of Night, possess such advantages? Not only was Takeyo's combat capability now significantly stronger, but she was also a deity, the exact type of being the Chains of Heaven were designed to restrain!
"You can ignore who I am. Just know that things are about to become very unpleasant for you," Takeyo said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Hmph!... It's impossible for an unclean man to cause me harm~"
Even now, despite her disadvantageous position, Nyx maintained her confidence.
Though she did feel a twinge of regret, regret that she'd handled this matter personally, regret that she hadn't brought reinforcements along.
"Whether I can cause harm... why don't we find out?"
[Fourth Incarnation!]
[Narasimha!]
Beyond possessing the ability to defend against any weapon in the world, Narasimha also granted the power to ignore an opponent's defenses entirely!
Just as in legend, where the demon-slaying lion-avatar Narasimha had torn apart a demon blessed with Brahma's protection of invincibility, bypassing divine safeguards to rend flesh and bone, that same defense-ignoring power now resided within the Golden Sword!
"Crack!~"
With a soft sound like breaking glass, light enveloped Nyx's form.
"Boom,~"
A magic circle materialized beneath the defeated goddess, and she vanished in a cascade of light particles.
This was merely a visual trick Takeyo had created, an illusion designed to fool Sairaorg and the other observers.
In reality, Takeyo had captured Nyx within the Sacred Heart of the True World Dragon's crystalline prison.
Inside that gem-like dimensional space, the goddess was completely contained. There was no possibility of her causing any disturbance or escaping.
After Nyx's capture, Ingvild finally released from her brainwashed state.
However, whether from her chronic sleeping sickness or simple exhaustion from sustained Sacred Gear use, she immediately collapsed into unconsciousness.