In terms of strength in this world, Satella would rank first due to her immortality and space-time manipulation.
Reinhard would rank second due to the fact that his Phoenix blessing would continue to revive him after he dies, added onto his skills that are basically unmatched.
Pandora's rank is debatable, since no mentions of her authorities specifics has been confirmed. However, due to the unique nature of her power, she could easily surpass Satella and Reinhard if she had the knowledge and opportunities.
Dragons such as Valgren or Volcanica are the next strongest entities, with Volcanica being and other dragons (potentially) exponentially stronger than Valgren.
Next are the Witches of Sin, assuming that they are alive.
And then you have the three strongest mortals, the Mad Prince of Gusteko, the Admirer of Kararagi, and the Blue Lightning of Vollachia.
Alas, you have myself. Or at least, that's where I consider myself to be.
Taking on a dark dragon was part of my plan, and the way to tame it is related only to my Authority of Pride, and a seemingly impossible level of dominance over the creature.
I didn't have Stride's curse rings, so controlling Valgren isn't possible, nor do I want to have them deteriorate my body.
So the obvious solution is to wound him enough in the soul realm before subduing him. It seems like a near impossible task, but I believe that with the right timing and concentration, it was achieve-able.
Time to begin, then.
With me finally completely entering the soul realm of Valgren, his giant hydra form loomed over me, as if a god has descended. But...
...what's a god, to me, who has transcended worlds?!
"Critical Overload! Quadragingenso, Rupture!"
四十元素破裂
Valgren opened his mouth as black flames spewed forth from all three heads, only to be completely countered and overpowered by the power of nuclear fusion that was going on in the beam of unidentified substance I shot out from my hands.
Taking this chance, I went ahead and used all three of my swords of power as I slashed off one head of his, hoping that it would do the job.
This dragon should die upon beheading.
And why does the Valgren guy not die?
Valgren had a total of three heads to be removed.
Remembering the conversation with Wilhelm and Subaru back in Priestella, I immediately countered the next attack, which included barrages of Fire and Yin Magic that was shot towards me.
"Suitoru Maxima!"
A giant vortex appeared out of nowhere as it completely absorbed the damage and heat from all the magical attacks, before I activated the White Whale's flying seal, causing me to float in the air.
Valgren, who just had his left head decapitated, regenerated it before also taking to the sky, and faced me on the same level.
"Finally willing to acknowledge me, huh?"
"HUMAN... you... who... are you? Strong indeed... but... dragons... do not bow to anyone."
"Speaking? I never thought you were that intelligent, but this proves all the better!"
"You shall pay... for your Pride, just like that man once did."
"Huh?"
A giant claw swatted me to the ground, slamming my entire soul wobbly before a weird sensation crawled upon me. I felt like I was fainting, but somehow not at the same time. I suddenly realized that I did faint, but Vacuum Trigger brought me back.
An attack that causes a soul to drop into unconsciousness? How is that possible?
This... might be harder than I originally thought.
Periodic Manipulation: Wave of Arsenic.
A large tsunami of poisonous heated liquid roared towards the dragon, only to be vaporized by his flames. Realizing that the evaporated arsenic is also dangerous, I quickly replaced it with nitrogen, returning the state to a normal atmospheric ratio of gases.
Time to use a newly discovered trump card, then.
Block Form: Technetium.
This was a very dangerous substance, and I knew it quite well, due to my experience in various labs, be it medical or for research. Technetium, element number 43, is the first and lightest artificial radioactive element that was mass-used for medical reasons. However, having it in its purest and in large quantities can cause serious damage to anyone's cells.
As someone once said, touching technetium would not kill you, but wearing a block of it as a hat for a day will definitely kill you.
So I'm going to strap this onto the hydra, and make sure it stays there.
Leaping forwards, I activated my Authority of Sloth, and my Imperceptible Extensions fended off the claws of the dragon, and I used Prudence's Barrier to block an incoming fireball. Sliding underneath the giant figure, I approached it from the back and jumped onto one of their necks, before activating Rage Pulse to knock them confused for a little while.
Then, I finally unleashed my iron chains and technetium blocks, and they were now binding all three heads together with radioactive substances between their necks.
Checkmate.
I sighed as I looked at the wimping form of the dragon, which symbolized my victory. However, as the course of this timeline just hates me, the dragon broke free of the chains, and their corrupted skin started healing.
"Oh, what now?"
I braced for impact as another claw swatted towards me, but it was deflected by my Authority of Greed. "Are you done watching? Come and help a little, will you?"
"Trying to tame that is a piece of wasted effort." The purple-haired man said as he stepped forward from the shadows, finally revealing himself although he made his presence known since the beginning.
"I don't care if the chances of success are low. Valgren's remains are mine, and I'm securing it. In my opinion, there's nothing better than using ancient power that's supposed to be gone. A nice surprise and a good show."
"Huh. Thou is quite the prideful individual, huh." As soon as he spoke, another figure stepped out of the shadows, her eyes blind, but her features were most definitely recognizable by myself, who has explored almost every corner of the Re:Zero world back on Earth.
"Of course. The hydra is a great resource to have, and it'll prove beneficial to this world and my plans if I can get hold of this piece." I said to the man. With that, the man gave me a smirk and a muffled laugh, before extending a hand towards me.
"I believe I have not introduced my partner and my venerable self yet, have I?" The man asked as he put an arm around the girl, and I grinned.
"My name is Y/N L/N, Warlock of Deceit."
"Ashen Bride, Melinda of the Evil Eye Tribe." The blind girl responded.
"Since thou hath introduced thy, I shall do the same. Mine venerable self is the Destruction Wish, also the former Sin Archbishop of the Witch's Cult, representing Pride, Stride Vollachia. Allow mine venerable self to lend thy mine assistance."
"Shall we do this then, Stride?"
"Let's begin."
"Melinda, you should help as well." Stride said to his wife, who simply nodded her head before activating her ability to suppress the dragon's mind. Then, Stride took out his arsenal, the Ten Curse Rings.
"Scarlet little finger, activate."
Within a split second, one of Valgren's head rotted and disintegrated. As much as I was shocked by his power, I focused my energy into the Imperceptible Extensions as they blocked the claws of the Black Dragon, temporarily holding them back.
"Ho. Thy has quite the unique ability, does thy not? Mine venerable self deduces that thy's ability is a variation of telekinesis, no?"
"Not just that, Stride." Melinda spoke up, startling the both of us. "He's using... the power of that man. The hands."
"The hands? Thy surely don't mean-" Stride took one look at me and realized. "How fascinating. Thy has managed to acquire more than one witch factor, hm? How many does thy have, I wonder?"
"I possess five. Deceit, Sloth, Greed, Wrath, and Pride."
"Very impressive indeed. One here would deduce that you would've ended up mad like Petelgeuse... but it seems that your mental strength is truly admirable. However, let us not make any more delays to your goal."
"Index Finger of Puppetry. Middle Finger of Obedience. Thumb of Limit Break." Stride chanted as more of his curse rings lit up, and I realized what he was doing.
"Are you going to control me?"
"It's the only possible way to defeat and make Valgren's soul submit. I hope you have no trouble with this?"
"Nah. Making a deal with the devil is what I always do."
"Then let's begin."
Suddenly, my body felt light as my control over my body vanished. I saw myself leap towards the dragon with something that I never had before: the state of complete fearless of death.
"This might actually work."
I unsheathed my three Swords of Power before I rotated, and used a frontal somersault mid-air thanks to the creation of an iron platform.
"Sword Skill- Cygnus Onslaught!"
An X-shaped wound was created on Valgren's chest as I sliced through, leaving him vulnerable before Stride rotted one of his back limbs, and he fell to the floor. Before I can react, his tail swept towards me but was stopped as I realized Melinda was also slightly influencing his actions. Thankful for this chance, I asked Stride to release me from the control, which he agreed to.
"Dominator's Domain- The Second Form."
"Fear condition- abolished."
A massive wave of aura slammed down upon Valgren, causing him to slam down into the ground even more, cracking down into the soul realm. Since he didn't need to fear me anymore for my Authority of Pride to take effect, it was going splendidly well until I suddenly noticed light coming out of his eyes.
Shit-
The next thing I knew, a wave of light shot into my eyes, blinding me with the force of a thousand flashbangs. When I came to, a tiny version of Valgren laid in front of me.
"Uh... what?"
"Please don't kill us! We've already suffered enough for one lifetime, so don't let our second one be ruined as well! We'll even serve you, so please don't kill us!" The chibi version of Valgren's middle head spoke in a fearful voice.
"Uh... you guys can actually... talk?"
"Hm?" Stride noticed my conversation as he walked over, and regarded the little talking hydra before the right head gave a large snarl.
"It's him! That evil man! He was the one who summoned us at the city! And it was because of his failure did we not get to taste all those people! We also got turned to ash by that bastard Volcanica! Why is he here..."
"Hush, Valgren. That man is a benefactor of mine, so you better behave. Also, no eating anymore innocents. I will cook you some delicious food, so stop whining."
"We understand, lord." The left head gave a slight bow with their head, and the other two followed suit. With this settled, I drifted back into the real world, and found a sleeping hydra in my arms, the soul realm non-existent.
Oh yeah... I think I transported Valgren and Melinda to the Necropolis... Theresia is not going to take that so well.
I guess I'll go to sleep and then deal with that problem, then.
"Now, can we please not fight over this again?"
I was now trying to defend Stride and Melinda from the raging Theresia, who was not happy that I brought in more of her past enemies. But I mean, I can't even find people like her father our Pivot from the demi-human war, so what exactly are my choices here?
"Theresia obaa-chan, you have to understand that I don't have much of a choice on who I bring in. It's not I particularly wanted to go against you. Come on, let's all sit down and have a chat, I'll even make some of your favourite egg tarts."
"Don't think you can bribe me with food, young man! Also, obaa-chan? I look nowhere similar to a grandma!"
"You say that, yet you were already 40 something when you died, and arguably in the high 50s by now in terms of mental age..."
"Call me auntie at least if you can't stick to onee-chan!"
"Does this... happen quite often, Y/N?" Stride said as he took a slight interest in the scuffle.
"Somewhat, I guess? Also, Stride, what exactly were your motives to help me?'
"Mine venerable self does not yet know, but I think that the reason mine venerable self is willing to help thy is because of thy's immense ambition. Those who hath Pride bow to those who has more Pride, naturally, I believe."
"Well, that's reassuring."
That night, the residents of Necropolis decided to chat for a long time, leaving me with a lot of mediating work to do. However, a third of this journey's purpose has already been completed.
Time to move towards Kararagi.