289 Devour

Duelist. 

It was an ability that allowed him to lock himself with the enemy in a separate space until the winner between them was determined. 

There was no doubt that it was a convenient ability, especially when most of his abilities could destroy the environment. 

However, with this ability, there was no need for him to worry about the destruction of the environment and use his everything to fight since he was in a separate space and only the victor could leave. 

While it wasn't his first time using this ability since he had also tried it on the criminals and the bad guys, it was his first time fighting such a powerful being. 

The Great Red. 

The strongest being in the world. 

Even the God of the bible, Sirzech, two Heavenly Dragons, and those famous Gods in the world were nothing in front of this existence. 

Nevertheless, Riser is confident about fighting it, especially when he is immortal and has the "Ruler." 

The ability to reverse all the magical attacks and power effects used against him into healing and fortification.

With this ability, he was invincible. 

That should be the case, but the Great Red was a tricky opponent, especially when this thing could control his mind, forcing him to stop using the "Ruler." 

Riser might have had a "Psychic Resistance," giving him the power and will to resist all the attacks that related to physics, yet it didn't mean he was immune to such an attack. 

Facing the mind manipulation of the strongest being, even if he tried to resist, he could do nothing, so in the end, he could only rely on all of his passive abilities to resist. 

Yet, he was helpless. 

Riser wasn't sure how many times he had died before he was revived. 

During these three days, he had died so many times that he didn't even bother to count it. 

Riser believed that he might be able to destroy the earth, but he needed to use his everything. 

However, the Great Red was different. If he wanted to, he could destroy the planet casually. Moreover, as the dragon of the dream, he had the ability to manipulate the dream, so any damage he had received would disappear as if it were a dream. He could even see the future, dodging an attack skilfully, and even worse, he almost had an unlimited amount of energy. 

Facing such an opponent, even if he used his everything, what could he do?

Moreover, his mind was always affected, and he was forced to harm himself. 

If Riser didn't have the ability of "Crisis," which made him get stronger as he was hurt, and also the eating the "Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix," he knew that there was nothing he could do except give up. 

Yet, he didn't give up and kept fighting.

However, he stopped thinking and kept fighting like a mindless beast who only thought of ravaging and killing the enemy in front of him since if he thought of something; his opponent would control his mind again. 

The Great Red was also enraged and tried to kill Riser no matter what the method was, yet no matter how many times it tried to kill Riser, this cockroach kept standing up. 

At this moment, the two of them lost their minds, and no one cared about anything, only fighting until one of them died. 

Frankly, if Riser didn't think about his family outside and the hatred he had for those who had plotted against him, he might give up since living was too painful. He might be able to get stronger as he was hurt, and he also could be reborn even if he was dead, but it didn't mean he was immune to the pain!

Being shredded apart by this beast's horn, being blasted by an energy blast, being manipulated to commit suicide, and many others. 

"Give up. You don't have a chance to win against me."

As the strongest being, it was impossible for him to be brainless. Even the Dragon King could think individually, even better than a human, so why shouldn't the Great Red do so?

If there was something different, the Great Red's nature was pure, as there was no need for him to become mature. Everything that annoyed him would be killed and destroyed in front of his mighty power. Instead of taking into account the others, it was the others that should take account of him. 

It was more appropriate to think of the Great Red as a nature instead of an individual. 

Yet, Riser didn't say anything and kept attacking. Even if all of his attacks would end him dying, it didn't matter since he could be reborn once again. Attack and be reborn. Attack and be reborn. This was what he had done for so long, and he wasn't sure how long it had been considering he had made the time move differently from the inside the space of "Duelist" and the outside. 

However, during the Great Red's attack, Riser also awoken his Devil Fruit. The power of "Tori Tori no Mi, Model: Phoenix" bloomed, and he really became the Phoenix. Naturally, he could fight the beastly nature of the Phoenix, and his will win against the will of the Phoenix, yet this was something natural as his will was tempered by the Great Red's mind attack. 

Still, at that moment, his will also strengthened, and he could resist the Great Red's mind manipulation, causing him to be able to use the Ruler once again!

"This damn annoying power!" 

Even the Great Red was helpless against the Ruler since all of his attacks would be reversed into healing and fortification on Riser's body. Naturally, he knew the weakness of this power and tried to heal Riser, but Riser deactivated the Ruler, so everything was meaningless. 

Their situation was in a stalemate, and no one could defeat each other. 

Moreover, the "Ruler" also had evolved, so all the mind manipulation would be reversed and made Riser stronger instead, so using the mind manipulation was meaningless for him. 

The Great Red also couldn't read Riser's mind once again since Riser's will could resist him. 

However, it was impossible to determine the winner, especially when all of Riser's attacks and damage caused by Riser became nothing but a dream. 

Riser was helpless and thought that there was only one way for him to win, so he directly charged forward as if he were ready to fight in the close combat fight. 

"Just die!" 

The Great Red was utterly annoyed by a cockroach's existence in front of him. Riser was just dying, and everything Riser did was meaningless, yet Riser kept trying to fight him. 

How could he not be angry?

Yet, when the Great Red slammed Riser, unlike before, Riser didn't die immediately and held on, grinding his teeth and sticking into the Great Red's body as if his life depended on it. 

Riser knew that he had never tried this method, but he knew if he didn't try, nothing would happen, and he also didn't think that he could develop his technique so fast, so in the end, this was the method he could think of to defeat the Great Red. 

"What are you doing!?" 

The Great Red noticed that his body seemed to be absorbed into Riser. 

"You should know all of my skills, right?" 

"...this... Degenerate?" 

Degenerate. 

Ability to transform two differing targets into a single object and separate property. 

In other words, it was an ability to combine and separate. 

Riser decided to combine himself with the Great Red. 

"Are you crazy?! Do you think you can win against me?!" 

Naturally, when they combined with each other, there was a risk where Riser's will was devoured by the Great Red. 

However, there was also a chance for him to devour the Great Red and gain all of the Great Red's power! 

At that moment, Riser didn't care anymore, and he just wanted to beat the shit out of this beast! 

"If I don't get closer, then I can't beat the shit out of you!" 

"Then, come!" 

As the two combined, they devoured each other until one of them died. 

Yet, what the Great Red didn't know was that the moment they combined into each other, it was Riser's victory. 

"I have won." 

Riser took out the Mocking Gear he created by using Samael, the Dragon Eater. During his previous stay in the human world, he also visited the deepest part of the Underworld, Cocytus, where Samael was kept. Stealing it from Hades, he directly created a mocking gear using Samael's body and soul. 

Even if the Great Red was the strongest being, he was still a dragon, and this poison worked the best on the dragon. 

Before their fight, Riser had prepared for this Mocking Gear, but he never used it until he got a chance to fuse himself into the Great Red's body since he was afraid all the preparation he had prepared would end in failure when the Great Red used the power of dream. 

"You bastard! Coward!" 

Riser only laughed and thought that Issei should have died with this poison, too. 

What about him?

Riser didn't care about the poison, and more importantly, he wasn't a dragon. Also, when the Great Red was affected by the "Memo Memo no Mi," he easily manipulated the Great Red's memory so it would let him devour it. 

Realizing this, the Great Red tried to fight, but it was too late. Riser was already inside his body, and his body had already been affected by the poison of Samael; unless he threw Riser out and erased this poison, there was nothing he could do. 

"I CURSE YOU! I CURSE YOU, RISEEEERRRR!" 

Riser only laughed and felt happy by the despair of his enemy. It was also his revenge, especially when he wasn't sure how many times he was killed.

This was also the reason why he decided to accept the challenge since he knew as long as he devoured the Great Red, he would become truly invincible. 

It was a long process, but it was in the end—

[Congratulations, you have received five random rewards.]

The victory was in his hands. 

Yet, what he didn't know was that it was impossible to kill the protagonist easily.