D.I.O

Chapter 223

“So, uhm… you can think of it as a more advanced way to change something’s attribute to fire or lightning… Merlin, Cruze, you two can do something similar… right?”

Merlin sighed as he saw Arthur’s pleading expression.

“I can transform a property into aura power and pure spiritual power to a certain extent, and I’m also able to create an aura-powered materialization,” Merlin commented.

“Aura power materialization….”

Lancelot was still recovering from his now-healed wounds when he stiffened as if struck by lightning. Although he was a Level 12 aura power user, he still didn’t possess an attribute affinity, nor did he know how to use materialization. In contrast, Merlin didn’t even specialize in aura power….

Rumble! Rumble!

Just then, a loud noise rang out. However, the source of the sound was quite far, beyond the distant clouds. There, giant dragons and the Emperor of Martial Arts were fighting with fierce momentum, the battle seemingly threatening the entire planet’s very existence.

“Dang, they’ve already moved so much. I guess we’re not worth the slightest bit of attention to them, huh?”

“Still, is it okay for us to continue doing nothing?”

“It must be a nuisance to have such a useless party, with teammates who rest for nearly an entire minute during battle. Ugh, we’re so useless.”

Although the speaker of the last comment was muttering in a carefree manner, his eyes were burning with anger. While the Masters were currently hiding like insignificant beings, they were all amongst the most powerful individuals on Earth. They made themselves small and didn’t fight because they faced the absolute wall of the Grand Masters and transcendents. Not only did they feel defeated, but they were also thoroughly ignored. Hence, none of them felt good.

Arthur waved his hand as he read the general atmosphere.

“Okay, then, everyone, please memorize this.”

Arthur’s information transmission magic barrier started sending material to all the Masters around him. Jeros was the first to accept the information, and he soon asked.

“A formation? What’s the name of this formation?”

“It’s called the Emperor's Submission Formation; I came up with this specific formation to attack the Emperor of Martial Arts. Of course, even if there’s a different target, this is a strategic formation that can be used against any transcendent who’s practiced in short, medium, and long-range attacks.”

The Masters’ expressions hardened after hearing Arthur’s calm explanation. In other words, Arthur was saying that, in a matter of minutes, he had created a strategy capable of dealing with a transcendent, or in this case, the Emperor of Martial Arts.

‘Ugh. He has a crazy level of inspiration and genius. And they expect us to uncover the unfair advantages and powers the Noblesse gave to the Heaven above the Heavens?’

Throughout the entire world, many people questioned the power of the three Heaven above the Heavens. According to common sense, it was strange that a couple of young guys and a girl would wield such logic-defying powers. After all, they weren’t world-renowned scholars and were not even old enough to have mastered or otherwise become experts in anything. As such, many governments had their Masters investigate the relationship between the Noblesse and the Heaven above the Heavens. Jeros was one such Master.

‘Endowed with unfair powers? No way, these three… they’re just geniuses… incomprehensible geniuses.’

Those relatively close to the Heaven above the Heavens repeatedly witnessed their terrifying talents and clearly discerned the three’s genius qualities. This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened either. The Heaven above the Heavens did things that no one else would dare to attempt or even think of. If someone devoted their entire life to achieving just one of the inspirational feats that these three displayed on the daily, they would probably exhaust their lifespan before reaching a similar conclusion. Yet, the three geniuses made these same achievements seem as easy as a bird flying or a fish breathing underwater. However, the problem was that this fact couldn’t convince others, including the Masters’ respective superiors. For one, some Masters had not interacted with the Heaven above the Heavens firsthand; thus, they did not quite understand the monstrous talent the three had. Like this, there was no way non-Masters could easily accept the gigantic gap between the three geniuses and the rest of humanity.

“Hmm. Hey, Arthur, since there are three of us, wouldn’t the formation be strengthened if we did this?” Merlin commented.

“… Also, we can replace the barrier persistence process with my materialization. The output will increase by more than 20 percent if we do that,” Cruze added.

“Ah! Instead of that, let’s do it this way. There seems to be no civilization limit here, so if we utilize my flying shuttle for evasion and defense, the output will increase by an additional 50 percent….” Merlin continued.

Merlin and Cruze began to offer their opinions on reinforcing various aspects of the formation, with them being the only other people capable of understanding and analyzing the formation on an equal footing with Arthur. Since the three had entirely different fields of expertise, there was an incredible synergistic effect when they put their heads together.

“Did everyone memorize everything?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm, it’s a bit difficult, but… done.”

“W-wait a minute. I’m a life force user, so I’m not a genius when it comes to this stuff.”

Adol clicked his tongue at the sight of Hanma reviewing the information and breaking out into a cold sweat.

“Dude, even if you’re not a genius and don’t fully understand this stuff, you should at least be able to memorize it, right? Anyway, Arthur seems to have already taken your stupidity into account; he only put you in roles where you need to use your body.”

“S-shut up! There are two pages of instructions!”

“What? I knew it wasn’t much, but is it actually only two pages? Wow, Arthur really reduced what you need to memorize.”

There was a lot of fuss, but in the end, all the Masters learned their role in the Emperor’s Submission formation. In the past, it had taken a considerable amount of time for the Masters to grasp the perfected team formations provided by DIO, such as Smashing Vajra Formation and the 108 Shaolin Battle Formation. The Emperor’s Submission formation was considerably less complicated to perform with its simple structure and individual tasks, making it relatively easy to digest. Furthermore, Merlin, Arthur, and Cruze were handling all of the formation’s main axis movements and activation actions.

“Come out, Vimana.”

Ting!

A golden magic circle rose in the air and started spinning. It was a common visual phenomenon that occurred whenever users logged in or when the system regenerated monsters, but the difference between those golden magic circles and this one was the scale.

“… What the hell is that?”

“A flying shuttle?”josei

A huge golden orb exploded, revealing a sleek flying shuttle within. Merlin’s Vimana resembled a flat surfboard and boasted a stylish design in which gold and red colors were exquisitely mixed. Even so, it did not stand out much compared to other users’ flying shuttles, which had all kinds of bizarre shapes protruding from them.

However, the size was the biggest difference.

“Man, that thing is huge.”

When Vimana, with a total length of 1.5 kilometers and a height of 250 meters, appeared above their heads, it exuded a sense of colossal intimidation, as if the sky was completely filled.

No other flying shuttle was as massive as Vimana. Even Bruce’s Atlantis couldn’t compare as it was only 300 meters long. Moreover, Bruce had given up every one of the shuttle’s functions aside from flying, all to gain a profit as Aeon Airlines and fly users from one place to another.

“Compared to how Arthur manifests every day, I knew that Merlin was saving some of his gem points, but I never imagined he’d make such a monstrous flying shuttle.”

“… That thing is amazing. It’s not only large - it’s also surrounded by a magic stealth barrier and is impossible to detect.”

The users were not the only ones surprised by Vimana’s appearance. Even the Blue Dragon Lionel, the largest among the four dragons, only stood around 300 meters tall. There was no way Vimana wouldn’t catch his attention, even from a distance.

‘Wait… that… that thing contains more advanced technology than what is provided to users… Did he design it himself?’

‘Irregular this, Irregular that… I guess all that talk about Irregulars wasn’t just hot air. I’ll have to ask Tan to show me the blueprints for that thing. I’m sure I’ll learn something after reviewing it.’

‘Woah, how cool is that?’

‘Finally, the users pulled out an item that might be useful in this battle.’

All four dragons were interested in Vimana, but their passing thoughts did not last long. After all, the Emperor of Martial Art, Regrants, wasn’t the type of opponent who would allow his foe any time to get distracted.

Rip!

With a deafening noise, Regrant tore apart Leighann’s golden wings. Regardless of the dozens of defensive magic barriers that surrounded Leighann’s wings, Regrant’s attack lightly crossed through the air and passed Leighann without any resistance. This simple yet terrifyingly destructive attack made Leighann, a great mage, feel a deep sense of fear.

“Ugh! Space Leap! Is it an ultimate-level sword strike?”

“Since I used my hands, it’s probably more appropriate to call it an ultimate-level hand skill… wait a minute. The attack was shaped like a sword’s blade, so I guess it would be more accurate to call it an ultimate-level sword strike….”

“I blocked all possible coordinates, though!”

“Dummy. I already attacked your barrier several times; I’d clearly figure something out- woah!”

At that moment, a huge sword made of light penetrated the space where Regrants was floating. It was a materialization-type attack from the White Divine Celestial Dragon, Thousand Scent’s Momentary Brilliance.

Whoosh!

Then, a great swath of darkness soon descended upon Regrants. Unlike Thousand Scent’s extremely compressed materialization-type attack, Adalcha’s skill seemed to plunge the entire world into darkness. However, Regrants just smiled and walked across the air.

Poof.

Regrants teleported through space and escaped the light and darkness attack. Not only had he already risen to a level where he could control all 12 different attributes, but he could even interfere with the absolute attributes to a certain extent. These absolute attributes were time, space, and nothingness. He possessed powers beyond that of a mid-level god, so he could control his own time, cross space, and destroy or even create objects.

Bam!

“Kyak!”

Regrants punched Thousand Scents’ head, and she staggered in the air and barely managed to keep her balance. Though he could have landed several follow-up attacks, Regrants seemed dissatisfied with something. He soon yelled out.

“Ah, your body is hundreds of meters long, but the sound of your scream is so cute! You’re making me feel like I’m bullying you!”

“W-what? Are you belittling us!”

“That’s not it… you can say that I always look at things in a positive, lighthearted way.”

Flashes of light and darkness stirred the space, and soon, strong qi was heading straight toward an ultimate-level magic attack.

The attacks were strong enough to shake the planet and warp the dimension, but Regrants dealt with his enemies so effortlessly that it was unbelievable.

“Nonsense. Isn’t this weird? There shouldn’t be such an overwhelming difference between us.”

“Even though he’s called the Emperor of Martial Arts, how can he combat the four of us with such ease… we’re fully armed while he’s just using his bare body, no?”

As the era of the modern universe took shape and the Union was formed, the strongest forces amongst the many massive factions became the transcendents themselves, not giant creations or high-tech weapons. Hence, the strength of a certain group was determined by the number of transcendents present.

However, a transcendent being who was not [perfected] couldn’t output absolute power. This was why high-tech weapons belonging to the 4th Stage of Civilization could kill transcendent beings, and even the weapons of the 3rd Stage of Civilization could be used to drive some transcendent beings to their death.

However, just as Earth’s humans became the lords of all creation through tools, transcendents also became stronger with weapons. However, it took an astronomical amount of money and manpower to produce a weapon that could enhance the combat power of a transcendent. Such a weapon was called a Transcendent Weapon, and if a transcendent being were to wield it, they could go up against tens of other transcendents at the same level.