I hadn’t looked closely, but.
Thanatos was clearly missing one arm.
Since when had it been gone? Had he lost it in the middle of this battle?
His one remaining arm was wrapped around where the other should have been. He clearly hadn’t adapted to having lost his arm yet.
Yet Thanatos didn’t say a single word to anyone. Leaving nothing but questions behind, he entered Yggdrasil.
As if the chaos of gods fighting each other here had nothing to do with him at all.
“.......”
Everyone found the sight strange, but in the end they resumed fighting. Thanatos wasn’t what mattered to them.
Zeus’s faction trying to go to the human world, and Hestia’s faction trying to stop them.
The outcome of this battle was already decided. Hestia would lose.
Still, if she could buy even a little more time, then surely—
‘At the very least, humanity must be fully prepared by now,’
Just as Hestia thought that,
Flash!
Something suddenly shone from above the peak of Mount Olympus,
“Huh?”
A straight line of light connecting Mount Olympus and Yggdrasil.
It flashed for just an instant.
‘Zeus’s Blink?’
Hestia stopped fighting, a chill running through her as she hurriedly looked around.
Had she lost track of Zeus? If there was a way to reach the human world without passing through Bifröst—
“Huh?”
But Zeus was still nearby.
He too was looking at Hestia, as if he found the brief flash of light from just now unsettling.
They were thinking the same thing. That the enemy had just done something strange.
‘......Then who was that flash?’
***
Thanatos passed through Yggdrasil,
And finally arrived in Asgard.
“Huff, huff, huff......!”
He had come in such a hurry that even as a god, he was gasping for breath.
On top of that, he was missing an arm. He still hadn’t adjusted to the suddenly altered balance of his body.
“Damn it, why am I in such a state......!”
In truth, Thanatos hadn’t come to Asgard with any particular purpose.
He had fled. From Frondier.
It wasn’t that he didn’t know Frondier’s martial might; fighting him while missing an arm was impossible.
“If only I’d had both arms intact, that insignificant human......!”
Thanatos flew on, scattering hatred as he went. Perhaps because he had expended quite a bit of energy, his flying speed was slow.
But then, in front of him—
“Hmm?”
Fwoooosh!
BOOM!
“What brings a god of Olympus all the way here?”
A savior appeared.
“Thor!”
Thanatos cried out in joy.
Normally, that arrogant Thor, who only knew his own greatness and never attended any councils, had never seemed so welcome.
“Thor, protect me.”
“What did you say?”
Thor’s eyes twisted.
How dare he give orders, and to whom? Not even Odin could dare to do that, yet a god from some distant world dared—
“You have any idea who you’re talking to—”
“Thor! Do you want to earn the Norns’ hatred?”
“Ghk.”
Thor was startled for a moment.
Even Odin couldn’t dare command Thor so easily, but—
The Norns were a different matter.
“It was our contract! I was the one who informed Odin of the Moirai’s movements and connected him to the Norns. In return, the gods who follow Odin’s orders agreed to protect me! Pay the price!”
“...Damn bastard.”
Thor spat to the side, sounding exasperated.
“Fine. Which god is it? Odin has me running an errand right now, so say it quickly.”
“It’s Frondier!”
“...Frondier?”
At that, Thor looked at Thanatos with an expression that said he couldn’t listen to anything more ridiculous.
“You’re waving that treaty at me because you got scared of a mere human? That deal was meant for the case where what you were doing got discovered by the gods of Olympus in the first place.”
“Shut up! If only my arm were intact, that bastard wouldn’t have—!”
“What a pathetic excuse.”
Thor looked at Thanatos with disdain.
“If you’re going to be a god who dies to a human, then at least die like a god, fighting properly. How disgraceful.”
“As expected from a battle-crazed lot like Asgard. You wouldn’t understand. Death isn’t such a simple thing.”
“Enough. That was my errand anyway, so you’ve spared me the trouble.”
As their sharp exchange continued—
Step.
Both Thor and Thanatos heard the sound.
“...?”
Sensing something off, Thor turned toward where the sound had come from.
There was clearly a strange presence coming from far away.
And yet, even before he could sense it fully, the sound reached them first.
From a place still unseen, far away.
Footsteps that shouldn’t have been audible.
Thor stared into the distance, drawing up his tension.
“...Who is it.”
“That aura—it’s Frondier.”
“Frondier?”
At Thanatos’s words, Thor’s gaze changed.
This feeling was Frondier?
Human?
“Wasn’t Frondier supposed to be human?”
“...He’s a demon now. He did something insane.”
What would someone have to do to become a demon from being human?
No, that’s not it.
That’s not the problem.
‘......This presence.’
It didn’t feel like either human or demon. Something else entirely.
Step.
And Frondier revealed himself.
He looked at Thor and Thanatos standing before him.
“As far as I remember,”
Frondier pointed a finger at Thanatos.
“I think the one with ten thousand tails back there was Thanatos.”
“You insolent wretch!”
Grab!
Thor blocked the furious Thanatos.
“Stand down.”
“That thing did this to me—!”
“Whatever you remember him as, I’ve only just seen this Frondier for the first time.”
Thor shot Thanatos a warning look.
“Right now, that thing is neither human nor demon.”
“...!”
“I have to uphold the treaty.”
Blue sparks flared in Thor’s eyes.
“If you want to live, back away.”
Thanatos’s expression changed at those words.
It was an unpleasant expression, but he slowly retreated, step by step.
Frondier looked at Thor for a moment, then shifted his gaze to Thanatos.
The instant their eyes met.
‘......Yes. That’s better.’
Memories of the past flowed in from Thanatos.
‘I was curious too.’
Frondier saw.
The memories Thanatos showed him were exactly what Frondier had expected to see.
“You’re really pitiful, Atjie.”
Thanatos sneered.
Standing in front of him was Atjie.
“You’re dying because of Frondier.”
Atjie stood there gripping his spear.
There were no wounds on him yet, but his breathing was already ragged.
As if in his stead, the spear he held had suffered extreme damage, barely retaining enough shape to still be recognized as a spear. It was a wonder it hadn’t broken entirely.
No—actually,
“Is it thanks to the technique called ‘Fallen Spear.’ Your skill has reached something akin to unique magic.”
The spear had, in fact, broken.
Over and over again.
It had been cut apart by Thanatos’s power.
And yet, each time, the spear returned to its original state and came back to Atjie as if it hadn’t been cut at all.
“What a shame. If you’d had just a little more time, you would have certainly become a spearman remembered in human history. The gods wouldn’t have just respected you—they would have feared you.”
Keh heh heh, Thanatos laughed, with a trace of relief mixed in.
“But Frondier crushed your dream. If you hadn’t been his older brother, it wouldn’t have ended like this.”
Thanatos knew the plan to drive Frondier toward death. And that Atjie was to be the sacrifice.
At that, Atjie spoke.
“A dream, huh.”
His voice mixed into his ragged breathing.
“What good is having something like that.”
“Hah. Just bravado. You expect me to believe that someone with your level of skill has no dream? Impossible. For what reason did you amass this much ability without a dream!”
Whoosh!
Thanatos’s straight punch.
Atjie spun the shaft of his spear to deflect it—
CRACK!
Just grazing the punch’s aura caused the spear shaft to shatter yet again. Now it was more appropriate to say it had been smashed.
“How about now!”
Seeing the shaft split in two, Thanatos kicked toward Atjie’s abdomen.
‘With a broken spear shaft, he won’t be able to block it!’
That’s what Thanatos thought, but—
KWAANG!
“...?!”
Atjie blocked Thanatos’s attack and was pushed far backward.
‘Just now, the empty space clearly between the broken spear pieces—’
There had been a gap.
He had kicked through that gap, and yet had been stopped by something in empty space.
‘At first I thought it was nothing but Fallen Spear. But after fighting him a few times, I realized he was an exceptional spearman even aside from that. But—’
What was this?
Where, exactly, was Atjie’s technique making contact right now?
“As you said.”
Atjie spoke.
“I am Frondier’s older brother.”
“Yes, and so you are—”
“That’s why I have no such thing as a dream.”
Atjie’s shoulders rose and fell. Having expended much of his stamina, his breathing was still rough.
“I don’t need dreams. They’re a luxury.”
“.......”
Thanatos closed his mouth and looked at Atjie.
Atjie’s eyes.
Their focus was distant.
Since when had Atjie been in that state?
“I am Frondier’s older brother.”
He wasn’t speaking to Thanatos anymore.
“That is my position, my qualification.”
He was /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ speaking to himself.
“It’s my share to bear.”
Within his harsh breathing, Atjie’s distant gaze fixed on somewhere far away.
To Angfer, Atjie had been an all-too-perfect son.
A good son who had never hurt his father’s heart, who had never even once rebelled.
To Atjie, that had been natural.
He kept every word Angfer had spoken.
─Frondier is a weak child. He’s different from you.
─Protect your younger brother.
─That’s your share, as the older one.
Qualification, position, responsibility, role, share.
Things that, to him, were naturally meant to be upheld.
Fallen Spear had originally been a technique he’d mastered back when he trained with Frondier as children.
House Roach was a family that protected people.
From the time they were little, Atjie and Frondier were taught that, and their talents were tested.
Frondier had suffered Fallen Spear countless times. More than anyone else, and likely more than the entirety of Atjie’s life afterward as well.
But Frondier had no talent.
And back then, Atjie had been just as young as Frondier.
Too young to even understand what words like qualification, position, and responsibility meant.
The Frondier of that time hated fighting and getting hurt. He feigned illness and slacked off.
And Atjie helped Frondier back then.
Smiling.
At Frondier’s complaints, with a childish, playful laugh—hee hee.
And so, Fallen Spear.
If Frondier dropped his weapon, there was no clearer defeat.
Without injuring Frondier, Atjie could use it as an excuse to hone his own technique.
Thinking back on it now.
That might have been a mistake.
It might have cost Frondier the chance to grow.
Instead—
“It’s okay, Frondier.”
Atjie could say.
“Don’t worry.”
As he patted his younger brother’s head.
“I’ll become your weapon.”
