Chapter 626 - 626: The Pride of a False God

"The Fox Ring of Greed allows me to steal any power possessed by anyone standing before me and make it my own."

Ennie made no attempt to conceal the nature of her ability.

She had clearly done her research before entering the ruins, and now she raised her hand to admire the Divine Ring resting on her finger.

"Although they call it a divine artifact, even a god's power must ultimately submit to the rules of my world."

A confident smile appeared on her face.

Unfortunately, Ennie hadn't noticed what was happening to her.

Her Rule World had indeed suppressed some of the Divine Ring's negative effects, but it hadn't completely eliminated them.

The longer she wore the ring, the more her behavior changed.

Her normally cold, composed expression was gradually giving way to something far more disturbing.

Jellal noticed immediately.

He said nothing.

Ennie was far too confident in her abilities, and he had no intention of correcting her mistake.

One of the rules floating overhead explicitly stated that Ennie's rationality would remain unchanged within this world. Yet the words had become noticeably dimmer, their radiance almost completely extinguished.

The Divine Ring's influence was clearly bypassing the protection of her alchemy.

And Ennie herself was completely oblivious.

She slowly licked her lips.

Her once-elegant face began twisting with desire as she stared at the seven members of Crime Sorcière. Her entire body trembled, as though merely looking at them was enough to excite her beyond control.

"And there's another ability…"

Her voice became almost breathless.

"Besides stealing someone's magic, this ring also allows me to plunder everything belonging to a person I kill with my own hands."

Her smile widened.

"Their memories, their Magic Power, even their physical body…"

She slowly clenched her raised hand.

"Their wealth. Their position. Their status."

"All of it becomes mine!"

The more Ennie spoke, the dimmer the remaining clarity in her eyes became.

She looked at the members of Crime Sorcière as though they were valuable possessions waiting to be collected.

Then she thrust out her hand.

"Every last one of you…"

Her voice rose with uncontrollable excitement.

"YOU'RE ALL MINE!"

"That's disgusting…"

Erik grimaced.

He was already planning to get married, thank you very much. He had absolutely no intention of allowing some deranged alchemist to steal his identity, body, or anything else that belonged to him.

He turned toward Jellal, the group's usual strategist.

"How are we handling this? Her abilities are a complete nightmare."

Jellal kept his eyes on Ennie, rapidly analyzing everything they had witnessed so far.

"The Divine Ring must have limitations. She hasn't stolen the magic of two of us simultaneously even once."

He spoke quickly, assigning their roles.

"We attack together. If she steals someone's magic, the next person immediately takes over and keeps the pressure on her."

"Got it!"

The others responded without hesitation.

Now that they had identified the basic mechanism behind Ennie's ability, the fight became a matter of coordination and execution.

The seven members of Crime Sorcière spread out, surrounding Ennie from every direction.

Their different forms of magic began striking in succession, forcing her to defend herself against attacks coming from multiple angles.

Unfortunately, even outnumbered seven to one, Ennie showed no sign of being overwhelmed.

This was her world.

Her absolute territory.

And within it, she possessed advantages that made ordinary numerical superiority almost meaningless.

Rule World continued expanding as the battle intensified.

More and more lines of text appeared across the white sky, each one establishing another restriction or granting Ennie some additional advantage.

Jellal launched himself forward with Meteor, transforming into a streak of light as he attacked.

But shortly after the technique activated, weakness suddenly spread through his body.

His Magic Power was still there.

The ability to use Heavenly Body Magic, however, was beginning to disappear.

He recognized the sensation immediately.

"Macbeth!"

"I'm on it!"

Macbeth moved in without hesitation, using Reflector Magic to take over the offensive while Jellal withdrew.

The arrangement was working well enough to keep them fighting, but it wasn't bringing them any closer to victory.

During the brief opening, Jellal studied the countless rules drifting overhead.

'We have to destroy this world.'

It was the only practical solution he could see.

The rules resembled the Jutsu Shiki formulas used by Freed, but their effects were on an entirely different level.

They weren't merely restrictions placed upon an area.

They were absurd, one-sided commands that seemed to overwrite the very conditions under which combat could take place.

And through them, Ennie had effectively turned herself into a monster who couldn't be killed or exhausted.

Admittedly, the Fox Ring was still eating away at her sanity.

But at this rate, Crime Sorcière would collapse from exhaustion long before that corruption rendered her incapable of fighting.

Jellal had already tried redirecting his attacks toward Rule World itself several times.

Every attempt had ended badly.

Ennie had prepared rules specifically preventing the destruction of her artificial world through brute force.

Some of those rules caused attacks aimed at the world's boundaries to change direction and strike his companions instead.

Others generated extreme spatial phenomena that disrupted their formations.

And some simply released clouds of Magic Barrier Particles, threatening to disable their Magic Power entirely.

If Crime Sorcière hadn't possessed so many different combatants and such a wide variety of magical disciplines, any one of those failed attempts could have given Ennie the opening she needed to defeat them all.

The Signario Sisters might both possess World Alchemy, but Ennie was clearly much stronger than her younger sister.

And with the Fox Ring granting her the ability to steal and exploit her opponents' magic, the matchup had become even more oppressive.

Jellal couldn't simply imitate Laxus and solve everything by overwhelming the artificial world with raw destructive power.

There were too many rules preventing that approach.

'There has to be another way.'

His gaze moved around the battlefield, searching for an opening.

Then he remembered something.

The object he had concealed earlier.

Jellal quietly reached into his clothing and withdrew the Lion Ring.

He studied the sinister dark-violet artifact in his palm.

According to Ennie, this was the strongest of the seven Divine Rings.

The Pride Ring.

If it truly was more powerful than Greed, then its ability might be enough to reverse the situation.

Of course, that probably meant its negative effects would be even more severe.

Jellal knew exactly how dangerous that could be.

All he had to do was look at Ennie.

Despite believing that Rule World had completely suppressed the ring's influence, she was already losing herself to its corruption.

And Pride was supposedly the greatest sin of all seven.

What would happen if he put it on?

Before Jellal could finish considering the risks, Ennie noticed the ring in his hand.

Her expression changed instantly.

"That's mine!"

She violently swept aside the attacks of several Crime Sorcière members, her eyes blazing with greed.

"MINE! GIVE IT TO ME!"

Jellal looked toward his companions.

They were fighting desperately against an opponent whose Magic Power and vitality never seemed to decrease, whose world constantly tilted the rules in her favor, and whose ring could steal the abilities they had spent years mastering.

Every moment they remained trapped here placed them in greater danger.

That was enough to settle his decision.

'So what if there's a price?'

What difference did another sin make to someone who had already committed so many?

If accepting that burden allowed him to protect his companions and defend Ishgar, he would gladly shoulder it.

Jellal ignored Ennie charging toward him.

He raised his hand and slipped the Pride Ring onto his middle finger.

The effect was immediate.

The dark-violet lion engraved on its surface seemed to come alive.

Its crimson eyes flared, and an overwhelming presence erupted from the ring.

Unlike the Fox Ring worn by Ennie, however, this artifact did not merely rest against its owner's skin.

Countless tiny spikes seemed to grow from its inner surface.

They pierced Jellal's finger, biting deeply into his flesh and anchoring the ring in place.

A strange force immediately began flowing into his body.

Jellal clenched his jaw against the sharp, tingling pain spreading through his hand.

Then he steadied his breathing and concentrated on receiving the power.

"NO!"

Ennie's fury exploded.

The entire artificial world began trembling in response to her emotional instability.

Without hesitation, she activated the most destructive magic currently available to her.

Heavenly Body Magic.

Starlight gathered between her hands.

Seven brilliant points of celestial energy appeared overhead, and Ennie unleashed Jellal's own technique directly toward him.

"Grand Chariot!"

The seven pillars of light descended with tremendous force.

"NOT A CHANCE!"

Ultear and Macbeth reacted simultaneously.

Time and space distorted as they activated their respective magic, enormous overlapping formations appearing between Jellal and the incoming attack.

Macbeth twisted the trajectory of the celestial energy while Ultear manipulated the temporal properties of the affected space, desperately working together to halt its advance.

BOOOOM!

The seven pillars collided with their defenses.

A violent magical shock wave spread through Rule World, shaking the entire artificial space.

Ultear and Macbeth gritted their teeth as they struggled to hold the attack back.

When the brilliant light finally faded, Macbeth was left breathing heavily.

He looked toward Ennie with disbelief.

"She isn't just copying his spell…"

He swallowed.

"Her Heavenly Body Magic is every bit as strong as Jellal's!"

"Don't worry."

A calm voice sounded behind them.

The six members of Crime Sorcière turned.

Jellal stepped forward, passing between Ultear and Macbeth until he stood in front of the others.

His expression was composed.

"I'll handle her."

Sorano frowned.

"By yourself?"

She looked from him to Ennie.

"Even if you've obtained a Divine Ring too, that woman can steal your magic. How are you supposed to fight her alone?"

"It's fine."

Jellal raised his hand.

The Lion Ring gleamed upon his finger.

"This will be enough."

He smiled with absolute confidence.

The others exchanged uncertain glances.

Something about Jellal felt different.

He hadn't lost himself to the ring the way Ennie had, but there was an unmistakable change in his attitude.

That certainty…

That complete lack of hesitation…

It almost seemed as though the Pride Ring was already influencing him.

Jellal took a deep breath.

Then he gently ran his fingers across the Divine Ring.

White light erupted from its surface.

Streams of pure-white energy began spreading outward from his hand, flowing along his arm before gradually enveloping his entire body.

The transformation continued.

His blue hair began losing its color, strand by strand, until it became a brilliant white.

The dark clothing he wore dissolved into flowing radiance.

In its place appeared an elegant, luminous white robe that seemed woven from light itself.

Within moments, Jellal had assumed an entirely different appearance.

And the power radiating from him was no longer that of an ordinary mage.

...

Inside the dimensional rift, Yuluye watched the transformation with satisfaction.

Jellal was adapting to the Pride Ring remarkably well.

"In the churches of the mortal world, Pride is often regarded as the original and gravest of all sins."

His voice was quiet and thoughtful.

"It encompasses indifference toward the weak, the abuse of power, contempt for the gods, and the belief that one's own existence stands above all others."

Ankh listened while watching Jellal's transformation through the flowing galaxy beneath them.

Yuluye continued.

"But in my eyes, the greatest arrogance belongs to gods who place themselves above all living beings."

His silver-gray gaze became distant.

"Gods who cannot empathize with anything beneath them, who believe they understand everything, and who reshape the world according to their own ideals without ever considering the lives caught in the process."

He shook his head.

"They are the ones whose arrogance is greatest precisely because they cannot recognize it in themselves."

Yuluye looked back toward Jellal.

"That is why I invested so much effort into creating the Pride Ring."

"Of all seven rings, its power is the closest to the very concept that sin represents."

His expression became solemn.

"It allows its wearer to become the most arrogant existence imaginable."

Ankh narrowed his eyes.

Below them, Jellal's blue hair had already turned completely white, while his dark clothing continued transforming into flowing robes of divine radiance.

He watched the transformation thoughtfully.

"A power like that could overwhelm anyone who doesn't understand their own limits."

Ankh's expression softened.

"But someone who can hold on to themselves even while wielding it…"

He smiled faintly.

"That's someone who has truly mastered Pride."

His gaze remained on Jellal.

'Go on, Jellal.'

'Let's see what you can do with that power.'