I Have No Rival

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The Demon Lord's chin snapped back.

I didn't lead with the blade, since the sharp point would just be deflected by innate magic reinforcement, but with the metal ring pommel. It doesn't matter how unbreakable the skin or tough the muscles, joints remain joints. Force = mass x acceleration. With the explosive speed and force of my [Rising Dragon Uppercut], even such a great being must flinch unsteadily on its feet-

I continued on to flip around in mid-air, to land feet-first on the ceiling like Spider-Man or something.

And then, while the Demon Lord was still staggered, explosively bounced off again with a flying dropkick straight to its nose.

Its balance broken, the Demon Lord began to topple backwards like a tree.

The floor under it began to tremble-

I somersaulted in mid-air, since kicking down imparted my momentum onto the Demon Lord and as such the equal and opposite reaction launched me back into the air.

Then I pushed against the ceiling again with jets of wind coming out of my raised hands and aimed down with legs in a horse-riding stance.

"[GOOMBA STOMP!]" I shouted, and with both feet slammed hard onto the Demon Lord's solar plexus.

It crashed down - straight onto a stone spike underneath aimed at its spine!

"KREEEEEEEEEEHHHH!!!" the Demon Lord shrieked. That attack was not enough to break its skin, but that didn't matter. Its own mass was working against it, and even as the stone spike crumbled beneath its weight that hard to hurt LIKE HELL.

Bam!

The Demon Lord crashed down amid a cloud of pulverized rock.

Without even losing my footing, I surfed its body down, and now glared down disdainfully at it.

It looked back at me with a silent mix of bewilderment, injury, and indignation.

I glared down with an arrogant air to the Demon Lord and said "I had a strong feeling you were much smarter than your host. But only because your summoner is a moron. Now I know if I make you stop existing, then he gets to stop being magic immune."

Then, I changed the grip of my sword to a reverse stabbing hold, and chanted "[Earth], make the metal sing! [Vibro Blade!]"

With no thought of dignity - and indeed, proved to me that this creature was much smarter than its summoner - the Demon Lord rolled, and threw me off. The tip of Zanzibar Mk II scored a red line across its chest and down to its hips - an inconsequential wound that barely even broke skin.

Magic Swords were commonly enchanted to be sharper, to resist breaking, to hit harder than their apparent weight would allow, or be imbued with elemental magic. All of those would be dispelled on contact with the Demon Lord's skin - not quite like the Crystal Creature that gets tougher and stronger the more magic it is exposed to, but as a creature of raw magic you can't exactly hurt it with more magic.

What's it feel like to use a sword-length ultrasonic blade? Like a hot knife against materials.

The Demon Lord rolled a short distance away and got up to a wary crouch. Its gaze now communicated anger, hostility, a little respect at finally finding something worth fighting in this plane.

"That… that's not possible!" General Bazoar gasped. "How can you make a Demon Lord bleed?! A little pipsqueak like you!"

Let's say there's TWO assholes with infinite magic power. What could be the difference between them? One has ambitions on the continental level, the other just wants to mess around and meme.

You'd think the first one would be better, wouldn't you?

The difference is that first is a meathead that just knows how to sword things, relying on someone else to complete all the strategic deficiencies of his ambition; and the other is an actual mage with a working relationship with some of the best researchers and magic combatants this side of the continent.

Those bracers were probably the source of General Bazoar's abilities.

One to absorb magic power for its surroundings.

Another to defend against physical attacks.

I definitely knew what the purpose of those things may have been.

Crystal Creatures, the doom of the Ancient Civilization! Special equipment to combat them!

Those were magic tools! One hand to suck up magic power away to keep them from becoming stronger until functionally invulnerable to attack, and the other hand to survive actually going to melee with the fuckin' things.

Either those things were prototypes and never mass produced, or the damage was severe enough that even these things were useless against the onslaught and lost their magic power through the five thousand years since the Ancient's Fall.

Still with a reverse hold on my sword, I laid my right hand over my left shoulder to point its tip towards the Demon Lord.

Then I stretched out my left arm parallel to the sword.

Knife-missiles floated out of my belt pouches to float in the air behind me.

Dohoho. Now I have a shoulder rail launcher.

The Demon Lord had eerie balls of flickering yellow-pink plasma floating around it. Those… are probably magic missiles.

I chanted "Come, [Water], come [Light], duplicate this forn, [Mirror Image]." And immediately mist covered the view for a moment, fading back to reveal that I had duplicated myself into three. Only one of those figures was real.

A few breaths passed.

Then we both strafed to the left. We both attacked and dodged at the same time. We both succeeded and failed.

Shrak. The first Knife-Missile struck the wall, punching deep and causing a small shower of debris.

Shrak. The next hypervelocity Knife-Missile struck a magic barrier, and punched through, but deflected just enough to again strike the wall.

Shulk! The third Knife-Missile, now that its barrier was broken, sank into the Demon Lord's left shoulder and then out the other side, creating a large open exit wound, a shower of unholy ichor, idea-made-flesh, and shrapnel.

"YOUR POWER IS MINE!" General Bazoar yelled, and sending another antimagic wave out.

I stumbled on my feet, my [Mirror Images] flickered.

Brack. The first Magic Missile struck the wall a good distance away from where I used to be, blasting out a deep pit. The Mirror Image it hit exploded into so much mist.

Brack. The second Magic Missile also hit the wall, a bit closer. The Mirror Image was struck in the head, and the decapitated illusion lost cohesion.

Whump! The third one exploded off my left shoulder, blasting it open. I was spun around and slipped, tumbling into a nearby set of drawers.

The Demon Lord did not faff around. It took a deep breath, building up internal power, and sparks trailed between its horns. Then it sent a torrent of piercing lightning towards me, then as an after-thought threw a few more fireballs at my awkwardly tumbled form.

The resulting explosion was enough to blast through the wall, almost from floor to ceiling, bricks and stone shattered and blasted outwards, exposing the blue mid-afternoon sky outside.

But soon enough the sucking winds from outside blew away the smoke. Demented laughter filled the room.

"What… what are you?!"

"I AM IMMORTAL!" I shouted, spreading my arms out in oblation. "I HAVE IN ME THE BLOOD OF KINGS!"

Now I was functionally naked from above the waist, my outfit hanging my body in tatters. Only my thick white gloves remained intact. The exposed flesh glowed like liquid gold. Slowly the flesh began to even out and turn into a paler color.

Just at the same time, the puckered wound on the Demon Lord's shoulder began to fill out, magic replenishing its form.

The general raged "YOU DARE?! You dare say that to me?! There can be only one and I am that that one! You are mocking me! Mocking me! YOU ARE A WORM! A WORM TO BE STEPPED ON, LIVING FOR NOTHING, LEAVING NOTHING!"

I was.

Then I wasn't.

Then you took away that reason from me.

Now I will take everything from you.

"Did you know that it is actually that [Light] has the defensive barrier magic?" I said out loud to the Demon Lord. "It goes "Come forth, Light... Blessed be the Flesh: [Skin Barrier]." And Light was naturally opposed to Dark.

Medics need not be squishy in this world! Although… technically DnD style Clerics have never been squishy.

Modified with [Earth] style metal casing and [Wind] style pressure layers, and [Water] style hydraulic systems, this becomes the [Non-Newtonian Fluid Defensive Layer]. Then behind that backed by [Metabolic Supercharger], [Blood Oxygenator], [Tissue Regenerator], [Bone Reinforcement], and [Continuous Heal].

"Behold! The [ARHAT INVULNERABLE GOLDEN BODY!]"

I posed with a Shaolin martial stance, legs down in a super stable arch and with my arms held at a 90 degree angle - one hand punching straight out to the side, and the other straight overhead with the palm flat like warding off h̷e̷a̷v̷e̷n̷l̷y̷ ̷t̷r̷i̷b̷u̷l̷a̷t̷i̷o̷n̷s the sky.

My naked upper body glistened, every muscle outlined.

Aiiyayayaiii~

This was Monika's gift to me, in her own preparations for the day that I might live on without her. Infinite magic power and unbreakable body, if this was a xianxia I had passed Qi Forming and Body Tempering Stages and should be preparing to form my Golden Core.

Oh she did not find the process of researching and applying this magic an unpleasant task. Not an unpleasant task at all. Specially now that she was able to feel things with [Force Feedback] with her own hands.

It was nothing compared to the Demon Lord's musculature however. It posed, clenching its arms to the sides and bulging its biceps.

"No… no this can't be happening," General Bazoar mumbled. "What am I even looking at?"

And again "WHERE IS THAT DAMN MUSIC COMING FROM?!"

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