"Fight on, Onii-chan! Just a little more!"
Est's voice echoed in Charlie's mind, touching the fading edges of his consciousness, blurred by overwhelming exhaustion.
"Mm."
Perhaps spurred by Est's encouragement, Charlie forced his trembling, fatigued body to move. His physical exhaustion had reached a point that should have brought him down, but his resolve kept him upright.
*SHUUUU—!*
Without further ado, Charlie raised Terminus Est before his chest. Magical essence gathered along the Holy Sword's blade. A towering green pillar of light shot upward, piercing the grim sky, as if to cleanse the darkness itself.
"Balmung!"
"ROAAARRRRR!"
In the distance, Heracles had just been revived by God Hand. His freshly regenerated body was met with the green pillar of light slashing toward him at inescapable speed.
*BOOM!*
A colossal explosion rocked Tokyo for the umpteenth time. At the epicenter, Heracles was killed instantly, obliterated before he could take a step.
"Two."
Charlie counted Heracles' remaining lives.
Sweat drenched his forehead, his chest heaved rapidly, and his head spun from the stress of the prolonged battle. All he wanted now was to end this fight and sleep.
*ZINGGGG!*
Ignoring his body's protests, Charlie activated Mana Burst, transforming his magical essence into a silver jet-like burst enveloping Terminus Est.
*WHOOSH!*
Out of long-range techniques powerful enough to kill Heracles, Charlie had no choice but to switch to close-quarters combat, now less advantageous due to his fatigue.
"ROAAARRRRR!!!"
God Hand revived Heracles again. The newly risen Heracles leaped, shooting forward like a cannonball.
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
Close-quarters combat resumed, faster and more brutal than before.
Charlie moved agilely, his feet stepping lightly over debris, while Heracles demolished everything in his path.
*BAM!*
The Sword-Axe slammed into the ground, creating a new crater, while Terminus Est left small wounds on its foe.
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
Each clash jolted Charlie's hands to numbness. He parried an upward swing, deflected a diagonal slash, and twisted his wrist to redirect a blow to the ground, where the resulting explosion sent debris back into Heracles' face.
Charlie stayed hyper-vigilant. If Heracles showed signs of using Nine Lives, he would retreat instantly with Shukuchi.
Though he had killed Heracles ten times, his performance had declined since the earlier near-fatal injury from Nine Lives.
In truth, without Dia Fratel's rapid healing and Armor of Fafnir's passive defense, Charlie wouldn't have lasted several rounds against Heracles.
"…!?!"
As their weapons clashed fiercely, Holy Sword against Sword-Axe, Charlie suddenly felt weakness.
Not from a blow, but from his body's physical limits. Continuous Mana Burst use and repeated heavy injury recovery had finally taken their toll. His vision blurred for a split second, and his muscles felt limp.
*SWOOSH!*
Heracles didn't miss the opening. His massive Sword-Axe swept, forcing Charlie to leap back. But it was a feint!
Heracles' tree-trunk-sized left hand shot out faster than imaginable, seizing Charlie's ankle with an iron grip.
"!"
Before Charlie could react, his body was lifted and swung with brutal force.
*BRAAK!*
He was slammed into the ground so hard the concrete shattered into dust.
*BRAAK!*
A second slam sent a faint sensation of fracturing bones, even through Armor of Fafnir. The world spun in his eyes.
*BRAAK!*
The third slam choked his breath. Then, with a rough throwing motion as if discarding trash, Heracles hurled Charlie's body like a ragdoll.
*WHOOSH!*
*BAM!*
Charlie flew and crashed into reinforced steel debris with a sickening sound.
"Cough Cough…"
Blood filled his mouth. He tried to rise, but his vision flickered. A massive black shadow blocked Tokyo's dim sky. Heracles loomed before him, Sword-Axe raised high.
No time for Dia Fratel. Charlie was drawn into combat again.
*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*
The unavoidable close-quarters fight resumed. But this time, Charlie was clearly at a disadvantage. Each weapon clash sent painful shocks through his battered arms and body. Even worse, the fight had escalated to a higher level.
Both possessed Mind's Eye. Worse, Heracles' rank slightly surpassed Charlie's.
They reached a stalemate: Heracles couldn't land a fatal blow due to Charlie's warnings, and Charlie couldn't strike fatally because Heracles anticipated his attacks.
(This stalemate can't continue. It's only a matter of time before I can't keep up with Heracles and lose.)
So, Charlie decided to gamble.
*SWOOSH!*
He let Heracles' attack come, a terrifying diagonal slash. Instead of parrying with his blade, Charlie let Terminus Est collide with the Sword-Axe's handle at a weak point he predicted.
*CLANG!*
As Heracles pulled back his Sword-Axe for another swing, Terminus Est suddenly accelerated.
*PU-CHI!*
The Holy Sword from another world pierced Heracles' left chest, stabbing his heart.
Heracles froze, his roar caught in his throat. His mighty body wavered.
"One."
With Heracles' death, Charlie used Shukuchi to gain twenty meters' distance from the smoking crater. He had to end this before his body gave out.
"I prepared this technique as my final strike for you."
Whether his foe listened or not, Charlie raised Terminus Est before his chest, its blade bathed in soft silver light. He began chanting an incantation.
"Through the Cycle of Rebirth and the Farewell Gift, I Bring the Final End with the Transformation of Clear Skies…"
He chanted not to look cool or act like a chuunibyou. It was to enhance his imagination and imprint the desired image while mimicking this technique with Spirit Art.
"ROAAARRRRR!!!"
God Hand had reached its limit. This revival was its last, and Heracles rose fiercer, his eyes blazing blood-red.
Without hesitation, he charged, refusing to let his opponent complete preparations, aiming to strike Charlie and sever the human's head.
Unfortunately, he was one step too late.
"I Deliver the Ultimate Strike, Capable of Cleaving Even Dragons…"
"Tensei (Sky Clear)!"
*SWOOSH!*
In an instant, Charlie swung Terminus Est vertically, bottom to top. No explosion or light burst. It was an invisible sword energy, a pure slash soaring through the air.
*VROOOM!*
The sky changed abruptly. The thick, dark clouds shrouding Tokyo for months split directly above them, forming a chasm of clear blue sky. Sunlight broke through for the first time in the ruined world.
On the other side, Heracles halted mid-charge. His colossal form froze. A perfect, thin line stretched from his crown to his base. Then, slowly, his body split into two symmetrical halves.
His massive body fell to its knees, his Sword-Axe slipping from his grip.
Mad Enhancement faded. His madness-clouded consciousness cleared.
A faint, peaceful smile appeared on Heracles' split face. He looked at Charlie, not as an enemy, but as a warrior who matched and defeated him.
"Thank you for defeating me, great warrior. May I know your name?"
His voice was now calm, free of prior madness, trembling only as his body gradually turned to light particles, signaling his return to the Throne of Heroes.
"Hah… Hah… Hah…"
Exhausted, Charlie lowered his sword.
"Charlie Avalon."
"A fine name. This may be small, but consider it my farewell gift. May it aid you."
After speaking, Heracles mustered his final energy. A dense light, marble-sized, detached from his Saint Graph and shot into Charlie's body.
Soon after, Heracles' form fully dissolved into blue light particles, carried away by the wind, leaving silence and a massive crater beneath Tokyo's now-clear sky.
"…"
Charlie stood under the newly opened blue sky, feeling new power flow within him. He took a deep breath, gazing at where Heracles vanished.
"It's over, Est."
"Yes, Onii-chan. We won."