Malekith finally spat out something vaguely coherent, and Ryuuto actually clapped.
"That's not terrible. Probably the smartest line you've managed so far."
Before the Dark Elf could twist it into another rant, Ryuuto flashed a grin that made the nearby soldiers step back.
"Tell you what. If you can hurt me, even make me retreat half a step, I'll hand your precious Aether back."
Malekith's eyes went wide and hungry. This was the kind of hope only a delusional man could love.
"Boy, you said it yourself! Don't cry when you regret it!"
He immediately waved his tribe backward, clearing space for what he thought would be a clean, honorable duel.
He actually believed he'd win now that Ryuuto wasn't using the Eight Inner Gates.
Poor man.
He didn't even last a heartbeat.
Wood Style: Four-Pillar Prison!
Wood Style: Wooden Ingot Wall!
Wood Style: Eternal Binding Burial!
Wood Style: Birth of the World of Trees!
Ryuuto's hands blurred through seals like a pianist trying to break a speed record. Towering trees erupted in an instant, branches snapping outward like divine spears, wrapping around Malekith before the Dark Elf could even scream.
Malekith's magic fizzled under the sheer volume of chakra-born nature crushing down on him.
"W-wait! I—I haven't called start yet! Pause! Pause!" he howled.
"Tough luck," Ryuuto said cheerfully. "Just take your beating."
He tightened the wooden bindings, squeezing until Malekith's eyes bulged like stress balls about to pop.
"Don't get cocky!" Malekith snarled, panicking as he forced dark flame into his palms. "My magic isn't something your kind can comprehend!"
With a roar, he finally tore free, blasting the branches away in a spray of dark sparks.
But the moment he broke out, waves of massive tree trunks slammed toward him, forcing him to counter with detonations of corrupted magic just to breathe.
"Heiyan… consume him! Burn his soul bare!"
The Dark Elf began chanting, drawing on a forbidden spell, black flame boiling around him like tar set on fire. The inferno roared outward, devouring the vast forest of chakra trees and sweeping across the battlefield.
Dark Elves screamed.
Asgardians ran.
The air turned into a hellish furnace.
At the center, Malekith laughed, wild and shaking.
"Yes! Jiang Li! Kneel! Beg! Your end is already here! The Aether will return to me!"
Ryuuto floated above the rising sea of black flames, expression unimpressed.
"Seriously? I thought you unlocked some cosmic doomsday. It's just fire."
Malekith froze.
The dismissal hit him harder than any jutsu.
"You ignorant brat! Do you think you can withstand this!? This is the peak of Dark Magic! HEIYAN cannot be extinguished!"
He shoved more power into the spell, pushing it past safe limits. The flames swelled and twisted, swallowing his own warriors, burning them alive as offerings. Their screams rose into the sky while Malekith didn't even glance at them.
The surviving Asgardians stared with horrified betrayal.
"He's insane!"
"Run! If we stay we'll burn with him!"
"We're supposed to be allies!"
Malekith didn't care. He just kept feeding the fire.
"You really are a maniac," Ryuuto muttered, staring at him like he was watching a clown juggle knives badly.
"If you're this far gone, then fine. I'll put you out."
Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!
Ryuuto's seals snapped together with vicious precision.
A tidal wave exploded from his chakra, rising like a newborn ocean.
It crashed down, a colossal waterfall swallowing the black sea whole.
When it was over, steam hissed upward.
The battlefield hardened, scorched and soaked.
Not a single ember of Heiyan remained.
Malekith stared, trembling.
Impossible. The word practically carved itself into his face.
"H-how!? That flame was summoned by top-tier dark magic! Nothing can—nothing should—extinguish it!"
Ryuuto's voice dropped, cold and sharp enough to cut bone.
"If this is the limit of your strength, then you're already done."
Malekith's legs buckled. For a moment, he almost collapsed.
But desperation breeds stupidity.
"I haven't lost! The Aether will always be mine! I, Malekith, will lead the Dark Elves to rise and dominate the universe! You're nothing next to me!"
Dark energy wrapped around him violently, shredding what sanity he had left. He launched himself skyward, a suicidal meteor aimed at Ryuuto.
Everyone on the battlefield stared upward, breath held.
Even Thor, who had been "unconscious" with exaggerated dedication, cracked an eye open when the air rippled with the force of Malekith's charge.
"Haha… kill each other, you fools," Thor mumbled, coughing out dust. "If you take each other out, I'll… remember you fondly."