Chapter 443: The Final Battle

"Let's get down to business."

Li Mo casually put down his fishing hook, only for Paimon to immediately take the bait, eliciting hearty laughter. But after the laughter came serious matters.

Li Mo knew that with the completion of the "Pseudo-Simulated Star Chart: Mystic Foundation," his immediate goal had been achieved. The only important matter now was the battle between Ei and the Shogun.

"Don't think this is over! Paimon is still very angry!"

"I have some delicious snacks here. Want some?"

"Yes!"

Li Mo retrieved snacks accumulated from other worlds from his inventory. To satisfy his culinary desires, he had stuffed his storage with many treats, most looted from Academy City.

Faced with this cornucopia of snacks, the gluttonous Paimon stood no chance and immediately surrendered.

"Did Miko say anything, Lumine?"

When it came to serious matters, Li Mo turned to Lumine. In his eyes, Paimon was just the Traveler's mouthpiece - she'd naively blurt out any inappropriate questions. But when real work needed doing, the Traveler was the reliable one.

This was reality, not a game. Why listen to Paimon's chatter when he could hear a lovely girl's voice instead? He'd had enough of Paimon already.

Lumine said, "After Miko heard my purpose for coming, she..."

She briefly recounted their earlier experiences, compressing everything from entering the shrine to entering Makoto's consciousness space into a few sentences.

Listening to all this, Li Mo felt somewhat speechless. Miko's behavior seemed particularly perfunctory - like an overworked office drone finally getting time off only to have to deal with her boss, hence the half-hearted response.

Li Mo massaged his temples. "She trusts me that much? Actually, entering Makoto's consciousness space is quite dangerous. Previously, the time flow in this space differed from the outside world, and the entire passage existed in nothingness and chaos. Though with the 'Isshin Art: Shadowblade' in your possession, I could indeed ensure your safety."

Not to boast, but when it came to these convoluted matters, Yae Miko was no match for him. Moreover, he had long since planted the idea in their minds to seek him out. Their arrival at this time was an inevitable choice.

Because this was precisely when he would complete his ritual.

"When entering the tunnel, I seemed to see many historical scenes of Inazuma," Lumine said after some thought.

What appeared as an ordinary tunnel from outside revealed countless images within - scenes that were recognizably Inazuma, yet somehow not Inazuma at all.

Li Mo said, "Don't worry about it. The timelines only properly synchronized when you arrived in this space. Those were just fragments of history recorded in the river of time."

Lumine nodded. Her safe arrival here proved no danger had materialized.

"I'll go resolve matters over there. You two should step back for now," Li Mo said, pointing toward the two combatants.

Lumine's arrival signaled that this battle should conclude. But Li Mo's thoughts kept diverging - originally, Makoto's consciousness space contained only the Shogun and Ei. The most appropriate time for the Traveler to arrive would have been the exact moment their battle ended.

Yet now the Traveler had come at the perfect time relative to himself - precisely when he completed his ritual.

After finishing the "Pseudo-Simulated Star Chart: Mystic Foundation," the Stigmata had reappeared on his body. Li Mo could feel he could now use all his spells freely - like a base station receiving "signals" from other worlds.

When traveling to new worlds in the future, he wouldn't need to go through complex processes to use various spells.

But now, his attention needed to focus ahead. Ei and the Shogun's battle had lasted decades with no signs of concluding.

He had thought his "Musou no Hitotachi" strike would solve everything - conveying the will of Inazuma's people to the Shogun should have prevented such a drawn-out conflict. Yet the Shogun's stubbornness proved terrifying.

In a way, didn't this demonstrate how profoundly Ei had once loved eternity?

Activating the "Sanctification: Raiden Shogun" spell, Li Mo reclaimed the Thunder God's power. Only then did he dare intervene in their battle - being killed by stray energy while trying to mediate would be too pathetic.

"Have you finished your business?" Ei asked.

"It's done. May I ask - after decades of battle, are you still unable to determine victory?"

Victory didn't necessarily mean life or death.

Standing between the two combatants, Li Mo's arrival made them simultaneously disengage and retreat.

Ei looked at the Shogun.

The Shogun spoke first: "This duel brings back memories. It feels like when eternity was first established. Your will now is no weaker than then. Through countless exchanges, you've never once lost or hesitated. Even when I showed you all the enemies of eternity, you remained unmoved."

"Your adherence to established rules is commendable. But... since he has appeared, and outsiders have come again, this battle should end."

"Then let this final confrontation punctuate the fate between us."

"Agreed. I will become... no, I have already become the next 'Beginning.'"

Almost simultaneously, they reached the same conclusion.

—Final Battle.

Raiden Ei, wielding Musou Isshin, remained unchanged. But the Raiden Shogun holding the Engulfing Lightning now manifested an armor-like exterior.

This was the pure power of Electro convergence, a force closer to divine authority.

Li Mo expressionlessly retreated.

"What's the situation, Your Excellency?"

"Wait for this battle to conclude... So all it took was me stepping forward for them to decide on a final battle?" Li Mo patted Paimon's head. "Regardless, let's watch quietly... and wait with anticipation!"

The battle's outcome was decided in this instant.

Raiden Ei could not lose.

Because... the Raiden Shogun had already abandoned the "Eternity" she represented from the past.

In the decades-long battle, both Ei and the Shogun could claim the title of "Narukami Ogosho, God of Thunder." Now only Ei could hold that title.

The Shogun in this transformed state should be called "Magatsu Mitake Narukami no Mikoto."

"Magatsu" was a distinctly Japanese term referring to a deity - Magatsuhi-no-kami, the god of calamity in Shintoism, representing humanity's combative and wrathful spirit.

The previous Shogun was the shadow of that Raiden Ei from five hundred years ago after the Cataclysm.

The current Shogun was the runaway state after Ei denied her past ideals - externally manifesting as a calamity that could befall Inazuma.

No longer the Shogun who promised Inazuma's people "eternity unchanging for ten thousand generations," but the "evil" that must be overcome to prove the ideals of Inazuma's rebirth.

Li Mo kept this interpretation to himself.

He thought of himself - "evil" could extend to mean "the evil that must be defeated," which could then become "trial." Only by passing the "trial" could one progress to the next stage!

For a moment, Li Mo lost himself in thought.

"Your Excellency? Your Excellency! Why are you spacing out?" Paimon's voice snapped him back.

He shook his head. "Just professional habits."

In the end, these were merely his interpretations.

The battle's outcome would only be known when it truly ended.