The outcome was as expected: Musashi was utterly defeated by Ryou's cunning plot.
It made sense, after all. Musashi's current state was like someone who had been stuffed to the point of bursting and then force-fed a barrel of potent alcohol.
Despite being at such an overwhelming disadvantage, Musashi neither ran away nor begged for mercy. Knowing full well that she was bound to lose, she still raised her sword.
"Come on!"
Her resolute, fearless warrior spirit, accepting death without fear, left him deeply moved.
So, without hesitation, Ryou delivered the highest honor he could offer a swordsman.
[Swallow Reversal]!
Three eerie, sharp flashes of sword light appeared simultaneously, cutting toward the nearby Musashi.
Musashi barely managed to block two of the strikes with her dual swords, but in her drunken, overstuffed state, her body was too sluggish to react in time. Ryou's third strike pierced her heart.
Blood splattered, and Musashi collapsed weakly into his arms, her body beginning to dissolve into stardust.
"You… to wield such a… beautiful sword technique… why would you resort to such underhanded methods…"
Ryou gave her a helpless look.
"Sorry, I'm not a pure swordsman. I didn't have absolute confidence in defeating you."
Suddenly, Musashi laughed, though blood gushed from the corner of her mouth as her body faded into a fragile, haunting illusion.
With a sudden burst of strength, as if in a final moment of clarity, she grabbed his collar tightly.
"Damn it! Remember this—you'd better not run next time we meet, because I'll defeat you face to face! Don't think you can escape! I'm very persistent!"
These final words seemed to drain the last of her strength. With a rush of blue light, her entire form dissolved into a cloud of stardust, slowly dissipating into the air.
Even though he had won the duel, Ryou showed no signs of joy.
This duel was nothing more than a tactical victory, and nothing else.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to the host for completing the 'Transcendence Trial' dungeon.]
[Based on the host's typical combat style and experience, your Noble Phantasm is being upgraded...]
[Time remaining: 23:59:59.]
[Would you like to return?]
"Return!"
Ryou's figure instantly faded into a shadow, disappearing from the island of Ganryu.
...
Upon returning to Chaldea, Ryou found Medea Lily already waiting for him, and the others were all geared up and ready to go.
Since he had taken control of the entire dungeon from the Danmachi world, he had the brilliant idea to make use of it. He had Scathach engrave a modified version of the [Blessin] on the backs of each of his Servants.
Then, he allowed the heroic spirits stationed in the Danmachi world to take turns clearing dungeon levels when they had nothing better to do.
To his surprise, aside from Scathach and Ishtar Rin, every one of them experienced significant growth.
Although none had grown as impressively as himself, all of their fundamental stats had improved at least a little.
Take Medea Lily, for instance. Her original attributes were:
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: D
Magic: A
Now, they had improved to:
Strength: D
Endurance: D-
Agility: C
Magic: A+
Ryou was immensely grateful that they had fought the gods of the Danmachi world and seized control of the dungeon.
Not only had he provided a valuable growth opportunity for his Servants, but after obtaining the [Source] from the world of Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, he had a hunch that the immense secret hidden within the dungeon was likely the [Source] of the Danmachi world as well.
Now that the dungeon was in his hands, it was a golden opportunity.
He immediately decided that after finishing the current world, he would gather his forces and head to the Danmachi world to extract and absorb the [Source].
Once he had absorbed the Danmachi world's [Source], the only remaining valuable things would be the gods themselves, who were nothing more than walking treasure chests to him.
At that point, there would be no need to keep anyone stationed there.
Once Ryou's power had grown enough, he could always return and sweep through for one final harvest.
He couldn't help but wonder what expressions the so-called superior gods would make when they realized he had been treating them like mobile treasure chests or livestock ready for slaughter. That would be quite a sight.
...
After a night's rest, Ryou had completely recovered his energy.
With steady steps, he walked into the teleportation chamber.
Everyone was already prepared, waiting for his command.
"Let's go!"
With a wave of his hand, several teleportation circles lit up simultaneously.
In the next second, their figures disappeared into the teleportation arrays.
...
Open World – One Piece
"The ocean! It's the ocean!"
Looking out at the vast, endless sea, Shimakaze immediately cheered with excitement. Without hesitation, she summoned her rigging and dashed into the ocean.
"Shimakaze, don't go too far~"
Yamato gently reminded her.
"Understood~~~"
Shimakaze waved back as she sped across the water, laughing wildly.
Traveling with the Admiral was great, but as a shipgirl, she simply couldn't stay away from the sea!
"Miss Ais, do you have any suggestions about where we should head next?"
Yamato turned toward Ais.
Since the system wouldn't assign them any quests, they had to figure out how to cleanse the world of its corruption on their own.
"Training?"
Ais tilted her head, her face a picture of innocent confusion.
"And after that?"
Yamato's smile faltered, tinged with frustration and helplessness.
"Getting stronger?"
Yamato looked at Ais's clueless expression, then glanced at Shimakaze racing across the sea, and let out a long sigh.
With these two problem children in tow, Yamato had a feeling this dungeon run wasn't going to be easy.
"In any case, let me plan the next steps. First, we need to find a nearby town, gather information about this world, and confirm the current time and place."
Yamato quickly made her decision.
The three of them immediately set off toward the nearest town.
....
Meanwhile, in the world of A Certain Magical Index.
Scathach and Jeanne had just completed their teleportation when Scatahch, without saying a word, she summoned a crimson spear in a flash of red lightning.
Grabbing the spear, she barely moved, but the spear left several red streaks in the air, stabbing in different directions. A few faint sounds, like glass shattering, echoed in the distance.
"Lady Scathach?"
Jeanne looked over in confusion.
"Someone's been watching us."
Scathach's expression was icy cold.
No one would be in a good mood after being spied on immediately upon arrival.
Moreover, Scathach believed in the simple, brutal law of iron and blood, and she deeply despised such cowardly tactics.
"Found you!"
Scathach suddenly smiled.
"I'll be right back."
With those words, she transformed into a flash of purple-black lightning, leaping out of the window and speeding toward her target.
Her destination? A strange building without doors or windows.
...
On the other side, Ryou and Medea Lily ran into big trouble during their teleportation.
Every time he teleported, it felt like sliding down a smooth tube, and when he opened his eyes again, he would already be in the new world. But this time, just as he and Medea Lily entered the tube, a violent impact suddenly struck them.
The tube began to shake violently, accompanied by fierce jolts.
This was the first time he had encountered such a situation. Even with his current strength, he couldn't break through spatial barriers like Scathach could. If something went wrong with the teleportation, all he could do was close his eyes and wait for death.
Cold sweat soaked his back. At that moment, a small body suddenly leaned against him, trembling. It was Medea Lily.
This unexpected situation terrified the 14-year-old Medea Lily.
Ryou suddenly calmed down. After all, he was still a man—how could he show fear in front of a young girl?
Feeling the trembling body of Medea against him, he reached out and gently patted her back in a comforting manner.
Unexpectedly, this action caused an even stronger reaction from Medea. She clung to him even tighter as if she had suddenly found someone to rely on.
Feeling the soft, delicate body in his arms and catching the faint fragrance drifting into his nose, he realized he was starting to have certain feelings and couldn't help but find the situation somewhat ridiculous.
I'm no gentleman, nor do I want to start with a three-year sentence, let alone the death penalty…
Wait, 14 years old isn't illegal, right?
Loli-lovers aren't criminals, but perverts?
Liking Lolis doesn't count as being a pervert.
While Ryou was busy with his chaotic thoughts, the system, as always, came to the rescue, quickly activating its reaction mechanism.
The shaking of the tube gradually stabilized.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Due to an unknown force, teleportation has encountered an anomaly!] [Teleportation anomaly!]
[Repairing in progress...]
[Current repair progress: 50%... 60%... 80%...]
[An irreparable error has occurred, which may result in unpredictable consequences. Temporal and spatial coordinates have deviated. Host, proceed with caution!]
In the endless void, a grand and mysterious existence deep within the abyss let out a soft chuckle.
"My dear daughter, this is all your mother can do for you..."
In the next second, both Ryou and Medea Lily were spat out of the teleportation stream.
It was literally like being spat out, as they were ejected headfirst from the teleportation array.
"Ah!"
Medea Lily instinctively cried out in surprise. Thankfully, Ryou wasn't too slow to react. He twisted his waist mid-air, righting himself and landing lightly on the ground with her in his arms.
It was nighttime. In the distance, the city's lively district was already lit up with twinkling lights.
However, the area where Ryou and Medea Lily had landed seemed a bit desolate. Apart from a few blinking streetlights, the wide road was completely deserted.
Only the chilly autumn wind swept up fallen leaves, whistling as it passed.
Looking around at the eerily quiet street, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
Where is this? Can someone at least show up so I can ask for directions?
[Ding!]
[Teleportation complete.]
[Location: Japan, Fuyuki City.]
[Due to a temporal axis anomaly, the host has arrived ten years and fourteen days late.]
[Host, please explore on your own.]
After dropping this irresponsible message, the system went completely silent, no matter how much he called out to it.
Ryou sighed and began to think.
Since it was ten years after the Fourth Holy Grail War, this must be the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Observing the surroundings, with the late autumn scenery edging into early winter, he became even more certain of his judgment.
For now, heading to the city center, which should be the new district of Fuyuki City, seemed like the best course of action. Once there, he could get a map and perhaps...
"Master! Someone's coming! And there's a Servant's presence!"
Just as Ryou was lost in thought, Medea Lily's voice snapped him back to attention.
Ryou's eyes narrowed. Thanks to her warning, he immediately sensed two sources of magical power approaching them from the distance.
One of them had such immense, mountain-like magical energy that he felt utterly powerless in comparison.
A drop of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
System, you've screwed me over this time!
Ryou mentally cursed.
With his current strength, combined with Medea Lily's support, taking on a bunch of normal Servants would be a high-stakes but manageable fight, with a 70-80% chance of victory.
But now?
He was being thrown straight into a fight against a fully powered Servant.
This was practically a death sentence!
"Medea, if things go south, immediately enhance my body with full reinforcement magic and then use flight to get us away from the battlefield!"
Ryou's expression was deadly serious, even referring to her formally.
Medea Lily bit her lip, her face showing some hesitation, but knowing she only had auxiliary abilities and no combat power, she could only nod reluctantly.
"Understood, Master."
Just as the two of them braced themselves for battle, the unknown targets in the distance suddenly sped up, clearly having sensed him and Medea Lily as well.
From the bottom of the slope appeared an unusual duo.
A small, silver-haired girl in a purple winter coat sat atop the shoulder of a towering, 3-meter-tall giant, whose muscles, exposed to the air, looked like black-gray stone.
A name immediately popped into Ryou's mind: Illyasviel von Einzbern.
Don't be fooled by her cute, loli-like appearance—Illya was 18 years old, a fully legal loli.
But if you underestimated her, you'd be putting your life at risk.
As a homunculus specially crafted by the Einzbern family for the Fifth Holy Grail War, Illya had been treated like a lab rat since the age of eight, subjected to all kinds of torment. Adding to that, her parents were dead, and she had grown up without proper care or affection, which had left her psychologically twisted and bloodthirsty.
Aside from showing mercy to her adopted brother, Shirou Emiya, she had only one approach to dealing with enemies: kill.
The Holy Grail War, in simple terms, was a contest where the magi of the Nasuverse cooked up a massive magical artifact called the [Holy Grail] to try and reach the Root of all magic.
But the Grail was an empty vessel without magical energy to fill it. So these magi hyped it up as a wish-granting machine that could fulfill any desire, luring a bunch of magi to summon Servants and fight to fill the Grail.
The problem? There's only one Grail, but seven pairs of Masters and Servants. How do you decide who gets it?
By hosting a battle royale, of course. The last team standing wins the chicken dinner—or in this case, the Grail.
So, naturally, in the Holy Grail War, compromise wasn't an option.
Ryou glanced at the Command Seals glowing red on his hand. There was no doubt that the system had designated him and Medea Lily as participants in this Holy Grail War.
And just his luck—he had encountered the bloodthirsty Loli Illya right off the bat.
Ryou seriously began to question whether the [luck] stat he had just leveled up was a debuff.