Chapter 20: Juggernaut Ascension

The battle between Ren and Vali had already surpassed mortal comprehension.

Each clash tore apart the landscape, ripping trees from their roots and shattering boulders like glass. Shockwaves rolled across the cliffs like tsunamis of compressed air, splitting the skies and shaking the earth. The surrounding space bent under the pressure of their raw power.

Ren's knuckles bled, not from injury—but from sheer friction. His body, synced 42% with the Cosmic Garou Template, moved with primal fluidity and impossible precision. His every punch adapted, evolved, twisted against physics like a beast mastering a new prey with each heartbeat.

Vali's armor had begun to crack in places. Faint trails of blue-white energy hissed from the breaks in his Vanishing Dragon Scale Mail. Albion's voice echoed in his mind with warning tones.

"Sustainability compromised. Critical damage imminent if this pace continues."

But Vali only grinned wider, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.

"I haven't had this much fun in years."

He rocketed forward again, feinting a left hook, spinning mid-air, and blasting a point-blank demonic cannon from his palm. Ren deflected it with his forearm, twisting under the heat and snapping a kick to Vali's ribs.

They both flew apart again, crashing into the earth with enough force to carve miniature craters.

The silence afterward was brief. Too brief.

Vali stood up slowly, panting, the smile fading from his lips.

"This won't do," he muttered. "This won't push you far enough."

He closed his eyes.

Albion's voice grew louder. "Warning. Activating that mode will risk total mental corruption. Your body isn't ready."

"I don't care."

His wings flared open, shining like twin stars as energy began condensing around him.

"I was born to surpass all limits. Even yours."

Ren's expression darkened, and he took a cautious step back. His instincts screamed at him—louder than ever.

Something was coming.

Something ancient and catastrophic.

The wind stopped.

Even the forest, shattered and burned as it was, seemed to hold its breath.

Then came the voice—not Vali's, not Albion's—but something fused.

"I, who am about to awaken…"

Ren's eyes narrowed. "No way…"

"Am the Heavenly Dragon who has stolen the principles of domination from God…"

Armor pieces began to melt off Vali's body, replaced by living, writhing scales of energy. His wings mutated—larger, more jagged, pulsing with light. Claws extended from his gauntlets. Horns curled up from the sides of his helmet, glowing with divine hatred.

The sky cracked like glass overhead.

"I laugh at the infinite, and I grieve at the eternal…"

The pressure slammed into Ren like a falling world. He gritted his teeth, his muscles tensing involuntarily. His system flared in alert.

[WARNING: Opponent has activated Forbidden Form][Threat Level: God-Slayer Class][Empireo Juggernaut Overdrive – Detected]

"I shall become the embodiment of destruction and... I shall show you—true despair!"

The final light exploded outward, swallowing the battlefield in pure white. When it faded, standing in the center of the crater was not the Vali from before—but something else.

Vali's new form radiated hatred, purity, and power—so dense it distorted space. His voice was doubled, one human, one draconic, both roaring in harmony.

Ren's smile faded for the first time.

"…Well, shit."

Across the various viewing points—Rias, Sona, Azazel, even Sirzechs—their eyes widened.

"Vali…" Azazel muttered, gripping the table. "You maniac…"