Finally, Valachi mustered enough force to blast himself far enough to break free from the immediate surroundings of Ryder's oppressive presence.

So far that he could no longer feel Ryder's aura as suffocating as it had been, no longer sense those casual footsteps maintaining perfect pace behind him.

His body coursed through the air with tremendous force, covering miles of devastated landscape in seconds as he aimed for the battlefield where he knew the double-headed dragon was engaged in combat.

The plan was simple—regroup with his most powerful ally, and escape this nightmare scenario before Ryder could close the distance again.

He arrived at the battlefield just as the impossible had happened, just as reality delivered another devastating blow to his understanding of what humans should be capable of.

He saw a bright red light, definitely the flame of the double-headed dragon, extinguishing just after it had burned off whatever it wanted to.

What should have been two magnificent heads, each capable of breathing destruction that could level cities, had been brutally decapitated.

With a tremendous thud that shook the ground for miles around, the massive corpse that had just been killed crashed to the ground.

Valachi had not been fast enough to witness the whole moment of death; he only saw the aftermath, only witnessed the last moment before its aura flickered out of existence.

Above the crater, clearly responsible for the impossible victory, were two figures. One of them was unconscious, his human form sprawled on the ground in clear exhaustion.

The other stood in good condition, apparently unharmed by whatever incredible battle had just concluded, and there was no doubt in Valachi's mind that these two humans were responsible for the double-headed dragon's death.

However, avenging the death of his fallen comrade was the least of Valachi's worries at this moment. Ryder's presence was closing in drastically, that oppressive aura growing stronger with each passing second despite the distance he had managed to gain through the desperate move he had pulled.

At that exact moment, as if summoned by his need for allies, something else suddenly arrived at the battlefield, materializing right beside Valachi with the kind of speed that spoke of genuine urgency.

Luckily for Valachi, it was Draki.

Draki's eyes widened as he stared at the massive corpse that had already begun to disintegrate into particles, the supernatural flesh breaking down into component energy that would eventually merge with the energy in the air.

The sight of their companion's death clearly shook him.

"You arrived just in time," Valachi's tone was gentle as he spoke, though underlaid with the kind of urgency that came from knowing death was approaching rapidly. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Yeah," Draki responded after a moment of hesitation. The situation had moved beyond the point where anything else, other than survival, mattered. Survival was the only consideration that counted.

Both creatures began activating the resignation technique simultaneously, the technique that would allow them to return to the Astral Shadow Plane with or without completing their original mission.

It was a technique that, in order to activate, all the creatures that had been summoned out from a particular portal must regroup and activate together.

This was the exact reason why Valachi was calling for a retreat. The fact that the dragon was dead now left only Valachi and Draki and made this even easier. But the cost of losing a comrade... didn't feel like it was worth it.

A sudden rush of aura began to burn around them like black flames, the energy visible to the naked eye as it prepared to tear open a link between planes of existence. The technique required several seconds to reach completion, several seconds during which they would be vulnerable to attack or interference.

"And where might you think you are going?" a voice spoke from directly behind them, the tone carrying deadly curiosity.

It was Ryomen, his claws slowly extending from his knuckles like gauntlets.

Valachi's eyes turned slightly to the side to look at the approaching threat, and without hesitation, without any attempt at negotiation, he slammed his remaining fist against Ryomen with all the force he could muster.

*Wham!*

The impact was tremendous. So tremendous that Ryomen's body was sent coursing through the air like a ragdoll, his skeletal form tumbling end over end as bones cracked and ribs shattered before he finally came to rest on the ground.

But even as his broken body flew through the air, even as fragments of his ribs scattered, Ryomen's expression showed not pain or fear, but satisfaction.

He had already activated his Death's Embrace technique just before approaching the two black-marked beasts, ensuring that the attack would be stored perfectly, ready to be returned after delivery.

His bones had already begun to reform even as he struck the ground, the supernatural resilience of his undead nature allowing him to recover from damage that would have killed any normal fighter instantly.

Within seconds, he was getting back to his feet properly, his skeletal frame reassembling itself with precision in all body parts.

Taking a sprinting stance, he readied his fist, the bones crackling with stored energy that had been perfectly preserved from Valachi's attack.

"Let's see how you handle a taste of your very own power," he declared, his hollow voice carrying across the battlefield with menace.

*Swoosh!*

His body coursed through the air as he charged, covering the distance between them with explosive speed, ready to unleash the stored power directly into Valachi's face.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!"

But even as he closed the final distance, even as victory seemed within his grasp, Valachi spoke with calmness.

"It's already too late."

Right before impact, just as Ryomen's stored attack was about to connect with devastating force, both Valachi and Draki vanished.

The resignation technique had reached completion at the last possible moment, instantly teleporting them without the need for a portal.

Just the moment Draki and Valachi disappeared from the face of planet Terra, vanishing into the void that connected realms through their resignation technique and straight to where they came from, Ryder suddenly arrived at the exact location where they had been standing mere seconds before.

The timing was almost perfect—if he had arrived just a heartbeat earlier, the outcome might have been entirely different. But fate, it seemed, had its own way.

Ryder moved with that same terrifying fluidity that had characterized his transformation, each step covering impossible distances as he traversed the devastated landscape.

His movements remained unnaturally smooth, and his legs were barely being stretched throughout his movement.

The purple lightning that had been dancing around his form throughout his rampage continued to crackle with violent intensity that was oddly constant.

Upon reaching the exact spot where Valachi and Draki had stood before their escape, Ryder came to an abrupt halt. His movements, which had been so fluid and purposeful just moments before, suddenly froze, recognizing its prey was gone.

For several long moments, he stood perfectly motionless, his chest rising and falling as he breathed. The purple lightning continued to dance around his form, but even it seemed to be losing some of its violent intensity, the bolts becoming less frequent and less aggressive.

His gaze turned upward toward the night sky, staring at the stars with an expression that was impossible to read.

There was something distant in his eyes, as if he were looking through the sky itself rather than at it.

The aura that had been suffocating everyone in his vicinity—that overwhelming presence that had made even black-marked beasts fear for their lives—remained constant for what felt like an eternity.

It pressed down on the devastated landscape like an invisible weight, making the very ground seem to tremble beneath his feet.

But then, as suddenly as a candle being extinguished, it all changed.

The purple lightning that had been his constant companion throughout the night flickered once, twice, and then vanished completely. The oppressive aura that had made him seem like something beyond human began to fade, dissipating out of existence.

Thud!

Without warning, without so much as a word or a sound, Ryder collapsed.

The transformation was so complete, so sudden, that it was almost difficult to believe this was the same person who had just terrorized creatures from the Astral Shadow Plane.

Gone was the overwhelming presence, gone was the supernatural speed and strength, gone was everything that had made him appear inhuman.

What remained was simply Ryder—the same young summoner who had stood frozen with terror at the beginning of the night, paralyzed by fear at the first appearance of Draki.

The same person who had struggled with even harnessing his familiar to the fullest, who couldn't even summon his familiar freely.

It wasn't particularly surprising that he had lost consciousness. Throughout the entire duration of his transformation into that terrifying version of himself, there had been no sign that he was truly aware of his actions. Everything he did felt so unlike him.

Even his movement.

His movements had been driven by something deeper than conscious thought—pure instinct and overwhelming emotion.

Now, with those threats gone and his purpose fulfilled—though not the way he wanted it—whatever force had been sustaining him had finally released its hold.

His body, pushed far beyond its natural limits, had finally given in to the inescapable crash after such a feat.

During the entire rampage, Luxy had been desperately trying to catch up to his summoner, covering ground as quickly as his small form would allow.

The devil viper bunny had been running at his maximum speed ever since Ryder had given him that ultimatum—join him or stay clear—but even his incredible capabilities as a black-marked familiar had proven insufficient to keep pace with whatever Ryder had become.

After Ryder's proposal for him to either join him in his mission of eradication or stay clear of his path, Luxy had made what seemed like the obvious choice.

There had never really been any question about it—he was Ryder's familiar, bound to him and wouldn't be leaving Ryder without caring for him.

What he had expected to be a straightforward matter of supporting his summoner in battle had instead turned out to be a frustrating waste of time.

Throughout the entire encounter, from the moment Ryder had begun his violent pursuit of Valachi to the final confrontation that had just concluded, Luxy had been reduced to little more than an audience.

All he had accomplished was running behind his summoner, watching from a distance as Ryder single-handedly terrorized creatures that should have been far beyond any human summoner's ability of the current age to challenge.

There had been no opportunity for him to contribute, no moment where his own considerable powers as a devil viper bunny could have made any meaningful difference. Ryder had been radiating power on a level that made Luxy's abilities seem insignificant by comparison.

'Speaking of waste of time,' Luxy thought grimly as he smacked his lips in clear frustration.

The expression was almost comical on his rabbit-like face, but the emotion behind it was genuine. He had never felt so useless, so completely outclassed by his own summoner.

Now that the immediate crisis had passed and Ryder lay unconscious on the ground, Luxy finally had no reason to push himself to maintain that desperate pace. He could afford to walk normally, to catch his breath and lose fatigue.

The devil viper bunny's movements became more measured as he approached his fallen summoner. Each step was purposeful, giving him time to observe Ryder's condition even from a distance.

The young man who had been an unstoppable force just moments before now appeared completely vulnerable, his chest rising and falling with the steady rhythm of deep unconsciousness.

Ryomen, who had attempted to strike Valachi with his stored power technique only to watch helplessly as both black-marked beasts vanished at the last possible moment, was also present in the immediate area.

The skeletal warrior's form, his hollow eye sockets fixed on Ryder's unconscious form with an expression that was impossible to interpret.

"Just what the hell was that?" were the only words Ryomen could manage to utter, his voice coming out with his mouth moving.

He barely recognized the unconscious figure before him as the same person he had briefly encountered earlier.

If not for the fact that Ryder had clearly returned to his normal state, Ryomen would have instinctively prepared himself for combat. The transformation had been so complete that Ryder had seemed like an entirely different person even though his face remained unchanged.

The aura that had emanated from the transformed Ryder had been so oppressive, so overwhelming that even his undead nature—which typically made him immune to fear and intimidation—had responded with genuine unease.

Now, moving his gaze away from Ryder's unconscious form, Ryomen found himself staring at what appeared to be a relatively large rabbit. The creature was small in comparison to most familiars he had encountered, standing only to about the height of his knees when he was in human form.

With its white fur and distinctively long ears, most casual observers would have assumed it to be adorable, perhaps even harmless.

The rabbit's appearance was almost innocent if not for the red predatory eyes.

But Ryomen knew better than to judge any creature by its appearance, especially in their current circumstances. His enhanced senses allowed him to perceive what others might miss—its aura intensity.

The aura emanating from this seemingly innocent rabbit was unmistakably that of a black-marked familiar.

While it wasn't as intensely overwhelming as those that had descended from the portal created by Yuki Nakamura—it was still undoubtedly not a weakling.

Taking a defensive stance, Ryomen quickly readied himself for combat. His skeletal form shifted into a position that would allow him to respond instantly to any sudden action.

The first words that came to his mind were delivered with direct suspicion: "What are you?"

Luxy, who was already quite close to Ryder's unconscious form at this moment, turned casually to regard Ryomen with an expression of irritation. For a creature with rabbit-like features, his facial expressions were remarkably human.

"Even a blind Fan-ranked individual would be able to tell I am a familiar," Luxy responded with the same irritation on his face.

Having delivered his response, Luxy began to move closer to Ryder, clearly intending to check on his summoner's condition.

However, before he could make physical contact with the unconscious young man, Ryomen demonstrated exactly why he had earned his position as one of the Sen.

He had used the stored impacts from Valachi's punch in his feet and propelled himself between Ryder and the cute-looking familiar.

"Don't come any closer," Ryomen ordered, his voice carrying the unmistakable authority of being too used to getting his commands obeyed without question.

"I need a better response," he continued, his tone growing more threatening with each word. "Who are you, and what is your aim here? Answer me, or I won't hesitate to engage you this instant."

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