Mushoku Tensei: Reincarnated as a Beast Race Chapter 396: 395 - True Freedom — When Humanity Shines Brightest

Rygar sometimes contemplated what true freedom was.

An easy answer would be to say that a free person is one who lives without restrictions. Without chains, without limits, with nothing above their will.

A more philosophical answer would argue that true freedom does not even exist, because even a completely independent being would still be bound to their own consciousness, their own flesh, their own point of view, without ever truly being able to abandon them.

Perhaps even an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent existence would feel trapped by having to remain at the top of existence.

This was a recurring subject in his previous world, on Earth. Many philosophers had reached different conclusions and answers about what freedom was.

Some said that true freedom was choosing one's own chains. Choosing one's own virtues and principles.

And that someone without any of those things would never truly be free, because they would simply be carried along by impulses, desires, and circumstances.

Others argued that the true freedom of a living being could only be achieved through solitude and independence in their purest state.

Rygar had arrived in this world longer ago than he had lived in his previous one. He had lived through many things over those many years.

In his early years, his young and heroic mind sought freedom above all else. Back then, freedom was simple.

Things like running without being stopped, exploring the world, seeing new places, fighting, and protecting whoever he wished to protect.

For that Rygar, exploring the world without being stopped by anyone was freedom. But many things had changed since then.

From the days when he fought slave traders in his youth, to the moment he went to war against an entire kingdom, and then to this exact instant, when he confronted the apostles of a god, the scale of his actions had grown far too much.

His attitude now could shape the entire world if he so desired.

The death of his enemies was no longer something as simple as murder.

Killing Hitogami meant destroying the entire world as he knew it, unless he found a way to prevent the collapse that would come afterward.

The consequences of his choices led Rygar to think more about his actions.

About his attitude, and about the future.

Even though he had well-established values and principles, he felt that he needed to reflect more carefully on what he truly aimed to become in this world.

His cognition had changed.

The speed of his thoughts, the breadth of his new perceptions of this world and even of other worlds, all of it had completely altered the way he saw reality.

While playing with his children, he thought about it.

While spending time with his wives, he thought about it.

While teaching his disciples, he thought about it.

Even while fighting, he thought about it.

This was a burden he could not share, even if he wanted to. Simply thinking about these themes in depth would already be unreal for a normal person.

There was, however, one exception. And that was his genius disciple, Aisha.

Thoughts about the eventual complete destruction of the world, about becoming a divine existence, about interdimensional travel, about magical laws, about destinies, loops, and plans capable of crossing eras.

None of this frightened or surprised Aisha the way it would a normal person.

Her mind was far too expansive and adaptable, so open to new ideas that it was almost curious.

Rygar often wondered whether that mental openness was an innate trait of her genius or whether it had been cultivated by his teachings.

In the end, he concluded that it was a mixture of both. Either way, Aisha helped him think in a more focused way.

To simplify it to the extreme, Rygar had two possible routes before him.

Of course, there were variations between them, middle paths, and detours. But in the larger picture, almost everything else could be placed under two possibilities.

The first route was to become a true God.

Not only in power, but as an existence whose consciousness, soul, and physical body were intrinsically different from normal beings.

Probably with an unparalleled life expectancy. Perhaps an existence capable of sustaining itself above the limitations of the world.

Rygar did not know what would change in himself if he followed that path.

Would he live forever?

Would his life be tied to the world, like Hitogami's?

Would he still see things the same way after becoming a divine being?

What was the difference between being born as a God and becoming one?

There were many questions, and the answers were not clear.

What he knew for certain was that, with magic, anything was possible. And now that he possessed a false Divine Core, theoretically, it was still possible to reach that level.

The second route was the path of science, which followed the same principle. Magic made anything possible.

Magical science was capable of accomplishing anything, as long as there was enough understanding, enough method, and enough time.

He would not need to become any kind of supreme existence for that. He could remain as he was. And even so, he could reach answers capable of surpassing the limits imposed by the world.

Which path was the right one? Rygar had no way of knowing.

Oldgar had not reached the same crossroads, since the life he lived during this same period had been very different.

But regardless of right or wrong, Rygar had already made a decision.

He had the answer. All he needed to do now was move forward. To advance without stopping toward the path he had chosen.

----

The fight between the Beast God and Saint Milis gradually intensified as both of them understood the other's style.

At first, the two were still testing their limits, but the more they exchanged blows, the more each one understood the other.

And, at a certain point in the battle, both of them noticed something that shocked both sides for the same reason.

Touki.

Battle Aura had always been a source of pride for Milis.

Even direct blows from the North Gods could not do more than scratch his body. The dense layer of mana covering his body protected him from blades, impact, heat, poison, energy, and pressure.

It also granted him physical superiority.

No matter how powerful the enemy before him was, Milis had always been used to moving with more strength, more speed, and more aggression.

But Rygar did not merely match him, he surpassed him.

On the other hand, Rygar was surprised for the same reason. After all, besides his own Battle Aura, which stood at the top of the world, he was using Sköllvindr.

It was obvious that he expected to be vastly superior to his opponent in physical power and endurance. The Divine Armor was not merely protection. It was an extension of his body, his mana, his Touki, and his techniques.

Even so, he discovered that the advantage was not as overwhelming as it should have been.

Milis was absurd. The most powerful human of his era was not just an empty title.

Another point both of them had in common was healing ability. Both of them were God-level mages in that field.

No matter the damage or the severity of the wound. With a thought, fatal injuries could be closed.

Organs could rebuild themselves and bones could grow from nothing. Even charred flesh could be reborn in moments.

Milis used his Divine Magic as absolute offense and his Barrier Magic as absolute defense. Those divine levels of magic, combined with his monstrous Battle Aura, made him a complete warrior in every sense.

But it was a pity. His opponent this time was more than a simple warrior.

While Milis used his divine flames as a banner, Rygar used the entire world to surround him at every instant.

As a God-level mage in multiple types of magic, Rygar could fire incinerating pillars of light, beams of antimatter, endless lightning, vacuum slashes, and flames capable of distorting the sky. His repertoire was more versatile because each spell had a better use in each situation.

With every second, the superiority of the Beast of the Apocalypse became more evident.

Rygar surpassed Milis as a warrior and demonstrated his absolute superiority in the field of magic. And he also made it clear that even the legendary Ascalon could not fully compete against the blade of judgment, Doomsday.

Finally, using a combat system perfected over decades against increasingly powerful enemies, against increasingly greater obstacles, the Beast God began to corner the most powerful human.

Milis became more and more passive, more and more forced to defend, and more and more forced to heal.

Rygar was united with the lightning.

His body advanced from twelve simultaneous positions toward the single ray of light retreating through the sky to avoid the lightning technique.

Milis tried to escape, but he was not fast enough.

He was forced to endure once again, conjuring barriers before his body and strengthening his Battle Aura.

Ascalon's golden flames expanded around him.

Even so, Rygar's lightning crossed space and destroyed his body in several places.

Milis healed in the same instant he was destroyed, while Rygar observed carefully.

At the beginning of the fight, he had also been holding back, because he expected some kind of interference from the Dragon God.

But after confirming his absence, he let loose completely, his Demon Eyes shining behind the black helm.

A wild smile occupied his face, along with the thrill of watching cornered prey.

The anticipation of the hunt.

That had never left the heart of the bestial warrior.

From the first time he chased a rabbit in the Great Forest to that day, the excitement and frenzy had only grown.

Milis, even with the situation completely unfavorable, laughed madly.

"HAHAHAHA! Yes!"

He flew through the sky, narrowly avoiding a black slash that divided space and tore apart everything around it.

"It is during the moments of greatest despair!"

Rygar advanced like a tide.

A tide of bright purple flames advanced with him and Doomsday, burning everything around them and making even space enter a process of confused fusion.

Light distorted around the blue blade.

But Milis shouted louder, with more energy and more will than ever. So much so that his voice echoed across the sky like a declaration of victory.

"ONLY IN THIS EXACT MOMENT!"

Rygar crossed the distance, dragging the sky with him.

Milis raised Ascalon.

"IN MOMENTS OF GREATEST DESPAIR, HUMANITY SHINES THE BRIGHTEST!"

An overwhelming amount of mana converged into the golden and white blade. The flames around Milis became so intense that he looked like the sun itself shining over the world.

A liberating angel, or a hero predestined to win. Ascalon's blade began to crack under the intense wave of mana.

Rygar, in the middle of his advance, widened his eyes as he understood the magnitude of the feat. At no point in the battle had Milis been capable of that.

In that instant, he gathered every drop of his remaining mana into a single strike. How was he suddenly able to do that? Not even Milis knew!

But that did not stop Rygar, no. He increased his speed.

And answered, his voice resounding through the sky with Howling Magic:

"What a pity, ignorant human!"

Rygar almost laughed even harder as he entered the theater of demon vs. human that the Saint had established in his mind.

Milis looked at him upon hearing his voice, and advanced like a flood of flames, on a direct collision course.

And Rygar's voice finished:

"You could have been a great hero, but it is a pity..."

Rygar's heart exploded in flames. His eyes, nerves, muscles, and bones ignited in purple and white fire.

In this battle, the Beast of the Apocalypse surpassed his limits, breaking through and surpassing his own potential once again.

"You blocked my path to success!"

Milis smiled fervently as he advanced, and so did Rygar.

Both warriors, like incandescent comets, collided.

In the instant before impact, a spatial distortion formed around both of them under Rygar's command.

He knew that the shockwave resulting from that collision could devastate the world if released without control. So he bent the space around the impact and compressed the direction of the explosion.

And then...

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!

In the sky above the Ringus Sea, near the atmosphere of the Six-Faced World, a supernova emerged.

For a moment, there was no night or day, the light took everything.

The sea below sank under the pressure, and the clouds vanished in a perfect circle.

The atmosphere trembled.

The glow could be seen from entire continents, as if a new star had been born in the sky only to die in the same instant.

This was the omen of the fall of Hitogami's last living apostle.

The second death of the most powerful human to ever walk beneath the firmament.

The Knight of Humanity.

Saint Milis.

Finally died by the hands of the Apocalypse Beast.

----

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