Setting aside the details of how Lin Luo finalized the contract with Mugino Shizuri, the narrative shifts back several minutes.
...As for how to fight, Kazahaya was unfamiliar with the concept; she had never been exposed to it.
She possessed not a shred of experience in utilizing the Purple Lightning Wings on her back, nor the longsword formed from those very wings held in her hand.
However, none of that mattered.
She didn't need to master usage methods, nor did she require combat experience.
As an Angel of Science, she merely needed to manifest whatever she envisioned into tangible effects.
She wished to fly, and the wings gained the ability to hover.
She desired a weapon, and the wings transformed into a sword...
Stripped down to its essence, an Angel of the scientific path, formed from an AI's foundation, was, from another angle, existence infinitely close to Level 6.
Now, the girl named Kazahaya Kamihazuki imagined how to defeat the enemy before her.
Thus...
the power she envisioned flowed into the Purple Lightning Sword she held, blooming with streams of purple mist.
Facing the massive monster charging toward her, she brought the sword down in a strike.
Clang, clang, clang, clang! The Purple Lightning Sword struck repeatedly, forming spherical shockwaves that expanded outward in rings.
The very air vibrated with sharp cracks.
Kazahaya's slashes grew heavier, more violent.
As her assault continued, countless flecks of white bone dust scattered from the dragon skull, and even the stark white cranium began to show fissures.
Who in the blazes is this person? Standing atop the skeletal dragon, observing the girl fiercely attacking his mount, Sieg’s gaze was shadowed, a sliver of doubt flickering within his mind.
Of course, anger overshadowed the doubt.
Success was imminent, only for this person to suddenly appear, causing a deeply frustrating setback.
A human? Clearly not.
An Angel? Unlikely.
What is it? No, it no longer mattered.
Whatever she was, to him, she held only one designation: Enemy.
If she was an enemy, then she simply needed to be slain.
A dense killing intent radiated from Sieg's core.
Endless black mist reappeared behind him—one...
two...
three...
six dragons, formed entirely of black mist, coiled around him.
Each was thirty meters long, their colossal maws wide enough to swallow an elephant.
The six black dragons roared silently, churning up monstrous demonic energy as they lunged toward Kazahaya Kamihazuki. "Hah!" A crisp, clear shout rang out from the ground.
Silver-white light seemed poised to tear the sky apart as it shot upward, instantly piercing one of the black dragons.
The black mist was utterly annihilated, vanishing without a trace.
Sieg frowned, lowering his head to stare at the pure white knight below.
Among the enemy ranks, this girl posed the greatest threat to him.
Not only did she possess strange abilities that prevented him from flying, but her sword seemed to possess an absolute counter to his black mist, extinguishing it completely with a mere touch.
Fortunately, she lacked the ability to fly; otherwise, dealing with her alone would be troublesome enough.
Zzzzzzzzt Woooow...
An abnormal sound echoed around them.
Countless bolts of lightning and whirling winds converged from all directions, surging toward Sieg.
These were the powers unleashed by Misaka Mikoto and Accelerator.
Wind and lightning intertwined, forming terrifying electric tornadoes.
Among the four present, although their individual strength appeared slightly lesser, their attack range was the broadest, and their attack patterns were complex and shifting.
While they couldn't inflict significant damage on Sieg, they could effectively restrain him to a degree.
The main assault was handled by ABER and Kazahaya.
Sword energies shot out from ABER’s Excalibur, each blast accurately striking and instantly extinguishing one of the black dragons.
Finally, a sword energy, capable seemingly of piercing the clouds, hurtled directly toward the lower jaw of the bone dragon.
Meanwhile, in mid-air, despite Kazahaya Kamihazuki's typically gentle demeanor, the dominance she displayed in her Angelic form during combat was in no way inferior to ABER's.
Every sword swing generated violent shockwaves, and the Purple Lightning Wings on her back writhed and roared as if alive, and then...
Bang! Zzzzzzzzzzt! With supersonic velocity, more than a dozen blades struck the skull of the bone dragon from different angles.
In an instant, a thousand cuts had landed.
Finally...
with a sharp crack, the bone dragon's skull exceeded its limit of endurance and shattered completely.
Simultaneously, a streak of silver-white sword energy tore through the air, emitting a piercing sonic boom as it blasted into the bone dragon's lower jaw.
After a pause of less than half a second—BOOM! The head of the Nine Nether Bone Dragon was utterly pulverized, crashing down heavily.
Although the bone dragon was an undead creature, all its life force, or rather, its operational consciousness, resided within its skull.
Once the skull was destroyed, it was reduced to nothing more than a pile of ordinary dry bones. "Agh! You swarm of insects!" With his mount destroyed, Sieg roared toward the heavens, consumed by hatred.
Level 3! A dignified Level 3 Walker, having fully stepped into the domain of Rules, his existence was fundamentally a tier above these individuals.
To him, they were merely insects, yet now he was cornered by these insects, even having his most powerful mount obliterated.
The blazing fury threatened to erupt from him. "World Rules! Damn World Rules, damn your mother!" Sieg screamed.
It shouldn't have been like this! If he could deploy his full strength, the battle would never have dragged on this long.
It was all because of those accursed World Rules, that damnable limitation! As an expert in the domain of Rules, upon entering another world, one could not immediately utilize those Rules due to the world's restrictions.
This concept was simple: if Sieg had entered any ordinary world of mortals, his power could easily destroy the entire planet.
But this was not permitted by the "World." Therefore, to prevent such occurrences, the World Rules existed as a restriction.
This was not decreed by the God War but stemmed from the limitations of the Greater Universe itself—it was the Law of the Greater Universe.
To employ one's Rules, one must first analyze the current world's Rules.
This analysis could take anywhere from several months to several years, depending on the world's grade and one's personal comprehension of the Rules.
Moreover, lower-grade worlds required longer analysis periods.
Even after completion, the realized power of one's own Rules was uncertain.
Take the Toaru Majutsu no Index plane, for instance.
Given Sieg's abilities, analyzing this world's Rules would require at least a month.
Originally, facing so many enemies, his best course of action would be to immediately find a secluded spot and focus entirely on analyzing the world's Rules.
A month later, once he could use his own Rules, absolutely no one could stand against him.
However, he could not afford that time.
Lin Luo possessed three World Hearts.
If he found a second host for the Heart of Corruption, the mark Sieg left on the Heart of Corruption would vanish entirely.
Once Sieg left this world, even if he managed to analyze the world's Rules, it would be meaningless.
Three World Hearts—if he could secure those three, breaking through to Level 4 was certain.
How could he possibly forsake such a monumental opportunity? Thus, he was forced to fight with his inherent strength.
Originally, a Level 1 Walker, even in his current state, could be easily dispatched.
But...
but...
Boundless rage flooded his soul.
The moment he began to fall, he could no longer tolerate it...
The Evil Spirit Tome materialized. "Is that...
the Core Canon?" Upon seeing it, Mikoto's eyes widened, a deep sense of unease welling up within her. "You forced me to do this! World Rules...
Break for me!" Screaming, Sieg thrust one hand toward the heavens and suddenly clenched his fist.
Bang...
Ping...
Crack! The entire space suddenly resonated with a sound of shattering.
Then, Sieg’s figure froze suspended in mid-air.
All the external black mist began surging back into his body, instantly absorbed completely.
Finally...
BOOM! A fiercely burning black flame erupted from within him, instantly forming a massive Black Flame Giant behind his back, its churning demonic fire consuming the sky.
In an instant, everyone's expression changed; an incredibly heavy pressure enveloped them.
The Rule of Extreme Evil—The Blazing Domain! This was Sieg's Rule.
Analyzing World Rules had two methods: one was using one's inherent strength to analyze, and the other was forcefully analyzing using the Core Canon.
However, this method carried a steep price.
After forcibly analyzing World Rules with the Core Canon, the current Rule's power would be halved at least.
Furthermore, this reduction was permanent upon entering other worlds; regardless of effort, the Rule could not be elevated to its original realm until a different Rule was comprehended.
Yet, comprehending even one Rule was exceptionally difficult; grasping two or more was nearly impossible.
Moreover, each Walker could only forcefully analyze World Rules once in their lifetime using the Core Canon.
Originally, Sieg intended to keep this as a trump card for self-preservation.
But now, he could wait no longer.
Compared to the three World Hearts, a single trump card was insignificant.
As long as he could obtain the World Hearts and reach Level 4, it wouldn't matter if he could only use half his Rule power later on.
At Level 4, he would be invincible. "You...
all of you must die!" A horrific grimace contorted his zombie-like face.
Sieg waved his hand, and the Black Flame Giant behind him instantly dispersed, forming a massive black flame ring that encircled the four of them.
Concurrently, streams of black fire shot upward, burning toward the four individuals.
Kazahaya Kamihazuki, suspended in mid-air, bore the brunt of the attack.
As the black flame approached her, she instinctively swung her sword...
but the black fire passed right through the Purple Lightning Sword and struck her body, then exploded with a BOOM! "Ah!" Kazahaya cried out in shock.
Although she managed to shield herself with the Purple Lightning Wings in time, the explosive force of the black flame instantly destroyed more than ten of those wings...
What terrifying power.