Chapter 848: Ch 847: Limits

Hearing Algol's startled exclamation, Ryo couldn't help rolling his eyes.

He tossed the lifeless eyeball onto the table in front of the sofa, then picked up the glass of water in front of Algol and drained it in one gulp.

Algol didn't mind that he had just drunk from the glass she'd been using. Instead, she grinned, "You've really got a talent for this assassination business, kid."

She looked Ryo up and down a few times before joking, "You should just start your own Assassin Community. I guarantee you'd make more money than Arcadia."

Ryo put the glass down with an annoyed look.

This was his first time assassinating someone. He'd been extremely nervous just now, terrified that Anat might escape.

Luckily, in her fury, the first thing she'd thought about wasn't running. She'd wanted to teach her assassin a painful lesson instead, which gave Ryo the opening he needed.

Of course, there had also been an element of catching her completely off guard.

Besides, Algol had gathered all the intelligence on Anat long ago. Her specialties, the Authorities she possessed, her abilities, even her habits when attacking. Ryo had been briefed on all of it beforehand.

Anat, on the other hand, knew nothing about Ryo's abilities.

Whether it was Sekishiki Kisōen, which targeted the Spirit Rank, the Genrou Mao Ken, which attacked the mind, or the Galaxian Explosion, whose direct offensive power rivaled that of a real galaxy's explosion, each of these combat techniques was completely unfamiliar to her.

Even more frightening was the way Ryo compressed all that terrifying power into his tiny palm. He didn't release it until the instant his attack struck, sending the full force directly into his enemy's body before detonating it internally.

All those gaps in information, combined with Anat's momentary carelessness, were what allowed a perfectly respectable three-digit God-King to be taken down by Ryo without ever getting the chance to display her true strength.

It was a loss caused by circumstances rather than a fair fight.

Ryo understood that perfectly well, which was why he had nothing but contempt for Algol's suggestion that he start an Assassin Community.

Once the three-digit powerhouses of the Little Garden learned about his fighting style and the characteristics of his attacks, they would deliberately prepare counters.

Things wouldn't be nearly this easy after that.

Fortunately, before attacking Anat, Ryo had asked Algol for a treasure capable of concealing traces.

That meant his combat methods would remain hidden for a little longer. He could still ambush a few more unlucky Gods before anyone caught on.

After finishing his water, Ryo finally felt the exhaustion that came with letting his nerves relax.

He said, "Can you handle the rest?"

"No problem."

Algol draped the white cloth she'd been using to dry her hair over her head and smiled at the eyeball on the table.

The lifeless eye was glaring directly at Algol, radiating unmistakable hatred.

Clearly, even with only one eyeball remaining, her spirit and physical body almost completely burned away, Anat was still clinging to the last thread of life.

So when she saw that the person behind her assassination was none other than Algol, her hatred was only natural.

"Oh? You really thought hiding behind the Ouroboros name meant I couldn't do anything to you?" Algol met that hateful stare with a cheeky grin. "Think about it. You offended me, which means you offended my man. Now that my man killed you, isn't that only fair?"

The hateful eyeball trembled.

The air itself vibrated under the force of spiritual power, and a woman's voice, thick with malice, echoed through the room. "Ishtar! This time, I'll concede that you won! But remember this! We're not finished!"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh~~" Algol drew out the words with a delighted, teasing smile, apparently determined to be as infuriating as possible. "You say that like you're the one who got the last laugh, Anat. You're still talking about finishing things with me when you couldn't even beat that brat. Uh, I mean, my man."

At that moment, Ryo was standing nearby with a towel and a change of clothes, preparing to take a shower. He completely understood Algol's "my man" teasing. The people outside already believed the two of them were together, so Algol was simply playing along with the part.

Before leaving, he glanced back and said, "She's actually pretty strong."

The eyeball immediately developed an unmistakable look of mockery. It seemed to be laughing at Algol for not even being able to control what came out of her man's mouth.

Then it heard Ryo continue, "At least she managed to hold out for two seconds when I wasn't wearing my God Cloth and had only burned fifty percent of my Cosmo. I'd say that makes her a pretty capable three-digit powerhouse. Stronger than Hermes."

The mockery in Anat's eye froze.

'He wasn't wearing his Cloth? He'd only burned fifty percent of his Cosmos?'

'And I lasted two seconds? That's all my strength was worth to you, Ryo Yagami?'

'Wait a second. So you weren't even taking me seriously just now? '

Algol was equally bewildered. "With your personality, why weren't you wearing your Cloth? And why weren't you burning your Cosmos at full power?"

Ryo's expression immediately darkened. "The Central Core, that idiot, wouldn't let me!"

Algol instantly understood.

She knew very well that Ryo's power didn't belong to the Little Garden's system. Because of that, it was possible for him to bypass the suppression on power output from the lower layers to a certain extent.

That was different from the gods of the Little Garden. Whenever they directly generated power through their Gifts and Authorities, the Central Core suppressed them.

But even being exempt from that restriction had its limits. Apparently, Ryo's current upper limit in the lower layers was the amount he could use without wearing his Cloth and while burning fifty percent of his Cosmos.

He could still assassinate a God-King under those conditions, but that was only in the lower layers. Under the same conditions in the upper layers, where a three-digit powerhouse could unleash their full power, the assassination might have failed.

No wonder Ryo looked so annoyed after finding this out.

He was realizing just how close he had come to getting himself killed.

If he had remained unaware of this limit simply because he hadn't fought anyone yet, then one day he could have gotten himself into serious trouble, been discovered, and found himself surrounded by several God-Kings.

Well, fortunately, he had learned about the restriction early. Now he had a much clearer idea of where he stood.

He was stronger than every four-digit powerhouse who had broken through the normal limits, as well as the true forms of God-Kings who had descended to the lower levels. He was a rule-breaker among rule-breakers in the four-digit domain.

Thinking about this, Algol blinked and asked, "How about we go up to the upper layers next time and pick a fight? See where your actual limit is?"

"We'll see if we get the chance," Ryo muttered as he slung the towel over his shoulder and headed for the bathroom.

After he left, Algol reached out and grabbed Anat's eyeball. She uploaded it directly to the Trickster Forum, sent it to Yamata no Orochi, and posted a message. "Eat her. Keep 1,000 points for yourself and transfer the rest to me."

Before she even received a reply, Algol went back to drying her hair.

...

..

Outer Gate 57155, Lava City—

A man dressed in white robes, with a veil wrapped around his head and a red cinnabar mark between his brows, stood hesitantly as he stared at the black building in the distance.

"The fluctuation of an Authority definitely came from around here. But how did it disappear...?"

He stared at the building in confusion while simultaneously accessing the Heavenly Army's intelligence network.

Then his eyes narrowed. "So this is a hidden Ouroboros base...?"

Without another word, he appeared inside the building.

He materialized directly in front of Gis, who was waiting anxiously for a response from the higher-ups.

Gis' vision blurred. Someone had suddenly appeared in front of him.

He immediately cursed. "Who the hell are you? You just barge in without even knocking? Can't you see I'm waiting for a report from the—"

Then he finally got a good look at the man's face. The color drained from Gis' face in an instant.

"B-B-Brahma!"

Brahma grinned, revealing eight perfectly gleaming teeth.

.

.

.