Kwagagagagagwang—!
The sounds of collision overlapped in a relentless sequence.
Because the impacts meshed so tightly, the dozens of exchanges sounded, at a glance, like one single, drawn-out strike.
The lion's claws and the spirit's sword. Every time these two blades—neither of which had ever met a worthy rival until now—collided, blue sparks burst through the dust, leaving vivid traces of their struggle.
Before those sparks could even fade, another shower of light scattered in their place, glittering like a sequence of fireworks.
"Hup!"
"Ghk...!"
Kagagak— kwagwang!
A brief deadlock. The claws and sword that had been grinding against each other locked together, and then, thunder erupted from the blade, sweeping over the lion.
The black sword, once wielded by an ancient hero and later reforged by the one-eyed blacksmith and his personal smith, boasted power that surpassed even ordinary magic swords, unleashing a thunderous roar.
It was an attack powerful enough to wipe out even monsters from the deep floors in a single blow. And yet, the opponent didn't care in the slightest, immediately launching the next strike.
The giant attacked as if treating that terrifying lightning like mere static. Faced with such monstrous stamina and defense, Vesta clicked his tongue and quickly pivoted to evade.
Unlike Vesta, who fought with only one arm, the giant's attacks rained down from every direction. Worse, each individual claw was a terrifying weapon that made the Destroyer's look amateur by comparison.
Against a warrior who possessed the equivalent of both spear and shield, even a spirit's weapon struggled to find an opening.
What a terrifying opponent. It was hard to believe they were even the same species.
To think even a man like this had been defeated by the Black Dragon. Once again, Vesta realized just how absurd the things he had done truly were.
And how many sacrifices had been required to make it possible.
It wasn't something limited to his own generation.
Not only his own era, but the Zeus Familia, the Hera Familia, and even the ancient heroes who had lived eons ago.
Their wishes had been carried down through the ages, and the fruit of those desires had simply come to fruition in the era he lived in.
He was merely one among them. Just a lucky soul who had been cast in the role of tasting glory. He reminded himself of that once more.
But now was not the time for sentiment. That was one thing; this was another. Right now, all he had to focus on was winning this fight.
He twisted his head sharply. At the same time, the lion's claw narrowly missed him. A few strands of white hair fluttered sadly through the air, severed.
...There was less room to breathe than he had expected. Even after trying to predict the movement, it was still this close. Part of it was likely because the giant had started adapting to his movements, but this was...
Is he getting faster?
To his surprise, the giant still seemed to be warming up. To think he still wasn't fighting at full power... the title of the strongest adventurer in history hadn't been earned for nothing.
What should I do?
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was hit. In a close-quarters brawl like this, high-speed maneuvers using charging were useless.
For now, he should safely create some distance and then accelerate again—
"..."
He stopped in his tracks.
"Hm?"
The giant stopped as well, following suit. However, the giant seemed to have stopped only because he was puzzled by Vesta's sudden halt.
Regardless, Vesta could not lift his head, overwhelmed by a rising sense of self-loathing.
What? Safely create distance? Accelerate again?
Pathetic bastard.
The self-directed insult struck deep. He realized in that instant just how long he had been resting.
Just how dull he had become.
This wasn't about technique or reflexes. This was a matter of resolve.
An adventurer afraid of adventure.
Of course, being an adventurer didn't mean you had to gamble your life recklessly.
But still. This wasn't some half-baked place where you could survive while entertaining lukewarm thoughts like "safety."
Just moments ago, he had been spouting nonsense about carving out a path, and now that things had become a little dangerous, he was trying to run away in such a disgraceful manner.
That is absolutely unacceptable.
How could he show such a shameful sight?
His history of adventures had certainly been ugly enough to be called a "tale of escape," but even so, there were fights from which one must never flee.
This was one of them. If he backed down here, he felt as though he would spend the rest of his life giving up whenever something stood in his way.
"Hoo—"
He exhaled deeply. With that single breath, he discarded the hesitation within.
He wiped away the rust that had settled in his soul.
He sharpened his dulled heart once more.
With his resolve newly honed, he looked back at the enemy before him.
"Thank you."
Perhaps sensing the change in him, the giant looked at him with renewed interest. Vesta offered his thanks.
He hadn't noticed. He hadn't realized his own resolve had grown so rusty.
He hadn't realized he had become so blunt.
Perhaps the giant had noticed the state of his heart even before he had. That was likely why he had found Vesta displeasing and challenged him to this fight.
Really, how pathetic.
It had always been like this. Whenever he let his guard down, he would slack off and seek only comfort.
He was still that pathetic, half-baked brat who couldn't escape his own nature.
Right now, especially so. If there was no one beside him to spur him on, he would simply continue to fall apart.
If the giant hadn't shown him this, how far would he have fallen? Perhaps he had already hit rock bottom...
"Thanks to you, my eyes have been opened."
"Is that so."
The giant answered in a flat tone. Perhaps he was dissatisfied that the fight had paused.
Then they should begin again. Vesta wanted to purge this rotten state of mind as well.
"Hoo—"
He drew in a deep breath. At the same time, he shoved all the bothersome thoughts into a corner.
He gathered his spirit for adventure once more, recalling the feelings he had held in the past.
He tightened the muscles in his core and legs. Glared at his opponent. Clenched his weapon tightly.
And charged—
"Haaaaaaa!!!"
The rabbit's battle cry once again signaled the start of the fight.
The lion roared in response, and the two collided once more.
But there was one difference from before.
Jiiiin—
"?!"
White light appeared in two places at once.
One was on a foot, just as before.
And the other was on the sword wrapped in lightning.
The foot that stomped the ground exploded forward.
One second's worth of propulsion. A speed the lion had already grown thoroughly used to.
At the perfect timing, the lion swung his proud claws. Based on every experience so far, that method should only produce a straight-line movement.
Therefore, it should be easy to infer the direction of the charge by watching the foot that struck the ground. Matching his claws to that speed was simple enough.
The lion was certain beyond doubt that his claws would split the rabbit and sever his breath.
"What...?"
But his hand sliced through empty air in vain.
For a moment he wondered at the lack of any sensation, only to find the rabbit standing at the very edge of his reach, barely a hair's breadth away.
Looking down, he saw that one patch of ground had been completely overturned. From that, Maxim understood.
He had accelerated with one leg while simultaneously decelerating with the other. Just as the lion had read the opponent's timing, the opponent had read the lion's distance.
No, that was strange. He did not mean to underestimate him, but the rabbit had never shown such movement before. If anything, he had preferred to avoid the claws entirely or block them with his weapon.
The giant didn't think that was wrong; his claws were that threatening. In fact, he had been surprised the rabbit had managed to endure them this well.
A weapon capable of withstanding his claws, and the speed to escape his attacks. The opponent had answered his offense brilliantly in two different ways.
But that last method had left him in a state where one mistake would have seen him torn apart. A battle style of narrowly evading by the thickness of a single layer of skin—completely different from anything before.
Did he not value his life? Before he could even wonder, the rabbit's teeth struck the lion.
"Kuh?!"
The moment the rabbit brushed past him, a searing sensation bloomed at his side.
Following that sensation, he found a red line running along his flank.
Red liquid spilled from a wound so narrow it was barely even worthy of being called an injury.
It was his blood. Only a single drop, an amount almost embarrassing to call a wound, but it was the first injury the lion had suffered from the rabbit's attack.
At the sight of it, the lion's eyes widened. To think he was bleeding. How long had it been since that happened?
A grin rose at the corner of his mouth. The fight had only just begun, and yet his body was already heating up. What kind of creature was this, to be able to fight him like this?
Without bothering to hide the smile tugging at his lips, the lion turned his gaze toward the rabbit.
He had taken a hit, so now it was time to return one. Even if he had been injured, such a trivial wound would not frighten him even if he suffered it a hundred times.
From the looks of it, that attack was probably a skill that grew stronger the more power it gathered. Once unleashed, it would have to start building strength all over again from the beginning.
Then it would be difficult for it to produce any greater power than this. There was no need to be wary—
Jiiiin—
"What...?"
As if to sweep that thought away, the rabbit's attack came again.
This time, it was stronger than before.
How...? He shouldn't have had time to gather more power than the last attack...
The reason was easy to understand.
Light particles still remained on the sword even after the attack.
He was attacking while maintaining propulsion.
Parallel propulsion.
Unlike in the past, when he had to do nothing but keep charging to gather power, he could now attack while charging at the same time.
Of course, the power was lower than when fully released, but the strength that kept rising could not be ignored.
Gradually increasing power, and with it, damage that began to accumulate little by little.
The blade still had little effect, so the attack was closer to a blunt strike than a slash, but the growing force began to pierce through the hide and reach the body beneath.
Impressive.
Not only was the power increasing, but if he took a direct hit from the attack at the moment of release, even his hide would not remain intact.
Even aside from that, an attack that grew stronger little by little was dangerous enough on its own. Judging by how it became stronger with each strike apart from that skill, did he also possess the [Rapid Attack] ability?
In any case, he had to break the flow of that onslaught now. The giant immediately swung his arm wide to shake the rabbit off, but...
"What...?"
It was a narrow escape, one so perfect it could only be described as leaving behind a single layer of hide.
Did he get faster?
That was the only explanation for the movement. Stunned for a moment by a motion on an entirely different level from before, he was struck by three attacks in the blink of an eye.
After several more exchanges, the giant finally understood. The reason his attacks were missing was not because the rabbit had become faster.
It was simply that, as the battle continued, the rust that had long clung to him was being stripped away, and his dulled senses were becoming sharp again.
He was sharpening himself—a rabbit who had grown blunt—and continuing to evade by margins so narrow they could only be called absurd, while launching a desperate assault with his life on the line.
It was a movement the lion, born strong from the start, could not understand. Having been born with overwhelming power, the lion could not comprehend the rabbit's weakness.
There was no way the lion, who stood at the summit, could understand the rabbit who had come this far by wringing out his meager brain to compensate for his weakness and pressing onward while drowning in the mud of defeat.
But there was one thing he could understand: the path the rabbit had walked.
I see... so you, too...
You were already an adventurer.
The giant had momentarily forgotten that the rabbit, too, was an adventurer who had come here through countless journeys.
He had been at the summit for so long that he had come to take that place for granted. Even though the world was full of strong people, full of people struggling to become stronger!
"Kukukuk..."
A laugh escaped him before he knew it. How many times was he going to be made to realize things in a fight with this rabbit?
At that moment, the lion finally acknowledged it. In the end, he too was still an incomplete being.
Before he knew it, he found that he had been harboring arrogance as well. And at last, he cast that arrogance aside.
"Thank you."
Just as the rabbit had done a moment ago, the lion also offered his respect to the benefactor who had granted him insight.
And he prepared his own repayment. The greatest repayment he could offer.
He would present the rabbit with the strongest blow he possessed. With that thought, the lion reached for the pillar beside him—for the handle attached to its tip.
The lion did not usually use weapons. Because everything that made him who he was had already become the most powerful weapon of all.
Hide that could never be pierced, legs that would never bend, and claws that could split everything apart.
A giant who needed neither weapon nor armor. What did it mean for such a being to take up a weapon?
Did the weapon possess some special effect?
Was the enemy one that could not be handled with bare hands?
Or was it merely a hobby?
None of those. There was only one reason he lifted a weapon.
—Beyond the wilderness
Because it was to invoke magic.
The moment he recited the first line, the air sank in an instant.
Along with Mind, overwhelming terror pressed down on the space around them.
The rabbit sensed the anomaly and immediately launched a fierce assault. His instincts screamed that he must not allow that magic to be completed.
The two powers continued to rise. The lion took the rabbit's attacks head-on, while the rabbit battered the lion mercilessly with his sword in order to interrupt the song.
—Resounding over the stormy sea
But the lion's song did not stop.
The impact pierced through the hide. It was still closer to a blunt strike, but unlike before, when it had barely registered, heavy shocks began to pile up across the lion's body.
And yet the lion continued the song without caring. He had not learned difficult techniques like parallel chanting. There had been no need to.
His hide was an impregnable fortress. As a lion who possessed an unbreakable shield, he had never felt the need to learn parallel chanting.
And even now, that thought had not changed.
The blade filled with light slammed into the lion's face. His upper body bent sharply, but the lion still continued the song in a calm voice.
—The roar of a father that shakes the heavens
And then, at last, it was complete.
—The wrath of the divine beast that proclaims the end
The pillar—no, the massive club he had mistaken for a pillar—was wrapped in a dull light.
Seeing that light, fierce and heavy as if it contained lightning, the rabbit instinctively knew.
The end of this battle was drawing near.
"..."
There was nothing left to say. Even the rabbit thought it was a rather fitting ending.
He cared about nothing else now except proving his strength here and now.
White light and fierce lightning remained upon the two weapons.
A brief silence. An instant that felt like eternity hung between them.
And then it shattered.
"UOOOOOOO!!!!"
"AAAAAAAH!!!!"
With a single step, the two collided once more.
They poured all their strength into the weapons they gripped, swinging with everything they had to crush each other.
"[Sound of Two Things Resounding]"
The giant's magic activated. And at the same time, the power he had gathered was released.
One minute's worth of propulsion. The suppressed light burst free and collided with terrifying thunder.
It was a clash of immense power that could be felt even in Orario, far away from here. A surge so great that ordinary people would have thought an earthquake had struck, and all the strong ones would have felt the massive peak of power.
The two forces, locked in a dead heat, sent the surrounding area flying as they roared endlessly, trying to force the other back.
And Vesta saw it.
The pillar wrapped in lightning that shattered his own light.
The instant he realized his own strike was being broken, it slammed directly into the rabbit's body, and the rabbit's consciousness vanished completely.
*
And now, in the present. The home of the Zeus Familia.
"This guy is..."
"You know him, old man?"
Zeus was flustered as he looked at the white-haired boy who had suddenly been thrown in front of him.
Ignoring Zard's question, Zeus was stunned inwardly.
No, why is this guy here?
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