Renzo’s greatest talent lay in his pure and powerful body.
The durability to endure even when he fell for Frondier’s schemes, and the destructive power to defeat Aster’s perfected textbook.
Because of that, he was the natural enemy of every type that differed from himself.
Overwhelmingly pure strength had a way of rendering all techniques and tricks useless.
However, if his opponent
possessed strength and speed greater than his.
“Huaaaap!”
Renzo charged in again. As he closed in on Tyr, he drew his arm inward. In that hand, he held a single sword.
Tyr calmly watched the scene.
‘His voice and momentum just make him look simple and brainless, but he’s cleverly hiding his openings.’
The process of Renzo swinging wide to attack.
At a glance it was nothing but violently rough, yet in the process of that swing Renzo’s openings actually disappeared.
Hwoong─!
Tyr stepped back and avoided the horizontal slash. In the instant an opening was created in Renzo,
‘No, that’s not it.’
The space that should have been left defenseless after taking the motion, yet in that brief gap, he could see Renzo’s greedy eyes. He was luring him. He was trying to cut off the hand that would carelessly stretch out toward his opening.
However.
Hwoop─
KWA-AAAAANG!!
“Kh-!”
Tyr’s fist moved in an instant, and with a tremendous sound Renzo flew up through the air.
He had blocked with the arm that had the prosthetic. It was fortunate that it was a prosthetic; if it had been an ordinary arm, that punch would have smashed it to pieces—
‘No, the same goes for the prosthetic too.’
While airborne, Renzo checked his own arm, and the place that had taken the punch was dented in.
Strange. He had definitely paid a huge sum for the latest super-alloy prosthetic arm.
Those bastards tricked me.
[Where are you looking.]
“!”
In that brief gap, Tyr reached the space right before Renzo’s eyes.
Even Renzo struggled to track Tyr’s speed with his eyes.
Whoosh!
Chin, thud!
A few exchanges in midair,
Grab!
Between their crossing fists and feet, Tyr seized Renzo’s prosthetic arm and,
KWA-DRRRRK!
“Graaah!!”
broke that arm.
Even though it was a prosthetic, the nerves were connected, so he felt pain. Otherwise, it would be impossible to manipulate the prosthetic that delicately. Of course, it was still better than his real arm being broken.
“Damn it!”
Renzo retreated. His prosthetic arm dangled in tatters.
[To face me without divine power. Your spirit was commendable, but your skill does not back it up.]
Speaking, Tyr looked at Renzo’s shredded prosthetic.
[Once I completely destroy that proud fake arm of yours, I’ll make your remaining arm end up the same way.]
“......Ah, is that so?”
At that, Renzo grinned.
KWA-DRRRRK!
And then he ripped off the prosthetic himself with his own hand.
The madness in his eyes said everything.
“I’ll skip that step for you.”
[......To this extent, it’s almost astonishing.]
Even broken, a prosthetic was harder than a human body. With Renzo’s level of sense, just by changing his posture or position he could still have used it for defense. On top of that, if an arm suddenly disappeared, his balance would be thrown off.
Renzo ignored all those advantages and tore the arm off.
The reason was probably that it was just getting in the way.
“Come on, now it’s a bit fair.”
Renzo pointed at Tyr with his fingers. Strictly speaking, he pointed at Tyr’s empty right arm. It was his way of appealing that he too was now one-armed.
[Fair?]
Tyr kicked up the ground.
KWA-AAAAANG!!
The earth was literally flipped over like a cake. The ground turned over and the flying fragments of stone poured down at Renzo like a tidal wave.
Renzo’s eyes shone.
‘This attack is, yeah! It’s like that mage guy!’
Renzo recalled the barrage of ice shards a mage he’d fought long ago had once shown him.
What was her name again. Daisy, was it.
TADADADANG!
Renzo swung his sword and knocked away all the fragments of stone.
However, through that gap Tyr’s fists poured in.
‘This headlong, ferocious strength and speed! It brings Helldre to mind!’
Renzo knocked the fists away with his sword as he retreated. He must not just block them head-on. If he did, it would be his sword that was destroyed.
Renzo’s stance rose slightly. As if aiming for that, Tyr’s right leg shot out toward his jaw.
‘Ha! Monty’s kicks were superb too!’
Renzo leaped back and dodged the kick.
A gap opened between them, not close enough for their weapons to reach, but with a light dash their fists could.
Mid-range.
‘At this distance, the countermeasure is,’
Renzo’s lips stretched into a crooked grin.
─I’m the one who made things the most fun for you, aren’t I?
‘I got sick of getting done in by Frondier!!’
Renzo pulled one foot back, opened his shoulder, and clenched his fist.
It was clearly the stance for “throwing a spear.”
He didn’t have Ares’ spear Enkespahlos right now, but,
‘Who cares!!’
Renzo grabbed the air and hurled it toward Tyr.
Shwiik─!
[......!]
Tyr twisted his head aside. But a wound opened on his cheek.
‘Just now, what was that?’
He had definitely been barehanded, yet an attack had flown at Tyr.
Projection of aura? Yes, that had to be it. It had to be. Renzo couldn’t use a single spell; the only way he could attack from that distance, with such a strange motion, was aura.
But just now, had Tyr seen any aura?
‘......I didn’t see anything.’
Tyr furrowed his brow.
That attack from just now probably wouldn’t have been anything great even if it had hit. His body was not one that would take damage from a mere lump of aura without a weapon.
However, it was undeniable that Renzo’s attack had been bizarre.
And more than anything,
[......Your level of response has gone up from a moment ago.]
He sounded like he was jeering, but it was in fact accurate.
Renzo’s defense had suddenly improved. His movements were as if he already knew the answers to how he should respond.
The rampaging beast had become a refined warrior. That change was no small thing.
“Ha-ha! It’s your fault your moves are too obvious!”
Renzo said.
“In the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» end, you gods do the same things over and over because your power is too strong! They’re all things I’ve already seen in the past! If you’re gods, try cultivating a bit more creativity!”
[......What did you say?]
Tyr spat out a displeased sound.
[Even if my attacks resemble those of someone you fought in the past, my strength and speed far surpass theirs! There’s that much of a difference between what a human did and the techniques of me, a god,]
“Ah, well, sure.”
Renzo shrugged like it was only natural.
“But that’s how it’s supposed to be.”
[......What do you mean, that’s how it’s supposed to be.]
“Everything I fought in the past was stronger than me.”
Renzo raised his sole remaining arm and opened and closed his hand.
“I jumped into fights before my body had even finished growing. So everything I met was bigger, faster, and their techniques were more refined than mine. But that’s only natural. Have you ever seen a warrior in war decide his enemy is weak and fight with only his left hand? The enemy comes at you with all their strength, and I grew up devouring all of them. While absorbing their techniques.”
Squeeze.
Renzo clenched his fist again. As he looked at Tyr, his eyes flashed.
Tyr spoke.
[......You are not just some battle maniac who knows nothing but fighting.]
“What are you talking about? I am a battle maniac. I know nothing but that. It’s just that the ones you’ve met until now weren’t battle maniacs.”
Renzo’s purpose in life lay in fun.
Especially fun that dwelled in battle.
He was an unmistakable battle maniac.
“I met opponents stronger than me, fought on the brink between life and death, and in the end I seized victory and survived. You say your techniques are faster and stronger than the ones I’ve seen? So what. It’s always been that way.”
The look in Renzo’s eyes as he spoke was no different from before.
“That’s what makes it fun, Tyr.”
Eyes full of madness.
“No matter how strong I get, someone will still be above me trying to kill me. You have no idea how thrilling that is.”
The one who had changed was not Renzo but Tyr.
Nothing about Renzo had changed. It was just that Tyr hadn’t properly read him until now.
He had dismissed that madness with a single word, “madness,” and ignored it.
“Tyr, you said you’re the god of war. Then you’d better learn this well.”
KWA-AK.
Renzo drove his foot far back into the ground. From there, aura swelled up. The wind grew fiercer. The fist he clenched began to tremble, and it was as if the wind were being sucked into Renzo’s fist.
“With something only a bit stronger than me,”
A stance for the sake of a single straight punch.
As if it didn’t matter what happened before or after that, Renzo stood in a posture of total concentration on one point, with no guard at all, and said,
“you can’t beat me.”
***
Poseidon stood loftily above the sea, arms crossed.
He had no idea how many days had passed in that posture. From a god’s perspective it might have been no more than an instant, but from the perspective of the humans watching, it was a nerve-rackingly long time.
It wasn’t that Poseidon was doing nothing.
If anything, he was focusing with all his might. So that he would not allow even a single fly to leave Agoris.
‘......Especially that bastard who impersonated Ares deserves to die.’
Aster in particular had become a thorn in Poseidon’s eye. In truth, that expression was far too mild; the moment Poseidon saw Aster, his heart filled with the desire to drown him. It would be fine to turn him into fish food while still alive. In any case, he would not let him die cleanly.
Poseidon had heard about the recent incident from the possessing gods.
In Palma City, someone had impersonated a god. It was undoubtedly the work of a demon. So the gods possessed humans to punish the demon, and an unknown human, hiding among those gods, had acted like a god.
It was all exactly as Frondier had said.
‘Frondier, he’s the only one who can grant passage through here.’
Frondier had warned Poseidon in advance. About the demon impersonating a god, and that among the gods, someone would sneak in while pretending to be a god. At the time, Frondier had said a demon might be hiding there, but in truth it had only been Aster. However, through Poseidon’s eyes it was all the same.
Events had unfolded just as Frondier had foretold, and thanks to that, Poseidon had been able to respond properly. He had been able to pick out Aster, the thorn in his eye.
Once the possessing gods went to Palma, the war ended, and the demon king died, they said. There was no way for Poseidon to know that Aphrodite had been colluding with the demon, and Aphrodite would never tell him, so the fact the war was over was a good thing for Poseidon regardless.
‘Frondier, I don’t know how much influence you had in that demon incident, but you must have some credit in stopping the war, don’t you?’
Like Aphrodite, Poseidon was also bound to Palma. So information did not reach him. He had wanted to hear the whole story from the possessing gods, but after the war ended, they all hurried back in a rush. He had no idea what they’d been so busy about.
‘The martial power to inflict wounds on Heracles’ body, and wisdom with outstanding prediction and strategy. He really is a waste.’
Hmm, Poseidon let out a sigh.
Then his eyes suddenly flashed open again.
‘However! That exception applies only to Frondier! Especially that blond bastard, the moment I see him I’ll definitely beat him to death—’
Just then.
Goooooo.......
Poseidon’s first thought was that the soles of his feet tickled.
It still wasn’t visible on the surface of the sea, but he felt something roiling far down below, in the depths.
Poseidon’s eyes naturally lowered.
Ordinarily, anything that suddenly appeared without warning in his domain, the sea, would be unpleasant.
However, at this depth.
In that deep sea where even Poseidon himself did not easily set foot.
If something shot up from there—
‘......No way, the one who’s been lying as quiet as a dead mouse for all this time.’
Poseidon’s thoughts were cut off,
and the length of that cut became reality.
“......Why.”
Poseidon was at a loss for words at the sight before his eyes.
KUOOOOOOO─
Bursting up through the ocean’s abyss, with a massive wave soaring high above, a head thrust forth.
A serpent stood before him.
