kscans

Chapter 147 - Pinnacle

(A hero and a demon king from another world, is it.)

I was surprised such beings even existed, but I never imagined I would get to see them fight. Actually, does this mean I can see a glimpse of Hero-san's power? To be honest, it has become something I no longer care much about, but it was one of my original objectives.

The Arima brothers are without a doubt stronger than Thanatos and his kin. Overwhelmingly so. Even I, personally crafted by Hades himself, probably could not win without my authority over death. Since he is fighting opponents like them, Hero-san surely cannot hold back the way he does when he deals with us.

(How... pitiful.)

Who, you ask? Thanatos and the others. They are the reason I am here, but I have a feeling I would have ended up in this situation anyway if things had not progressed, even without that incident. Which means they were cursed completely for nothing. Even after being turned into women and forced into exhibitionistic outfits, they failed to achieve their goal. I almost feel a little guilty, being here without having paid any price myself.

"Alright, this should do, I suppose."

Having transformed the training grounds into a vast wasteland, Hero-san casually rolled his shoulders. Just when I thought the fight was about to begin, he came over to us.

"What did you do?"

Rika-san tilted her head as Hero-san placed a hand on our heads with a light pat, pon.

"You wouldn't be able to see our fight as you are. I gave you a little boost. Well, I kept it at a level that won't affect your bodies, so you might not be able to see everything, but you should be able to make out a fair bit."

Next, he snapped his fingers, and a tatami mat and a low table materialized in the middle of the wasteland. Judging by the barrier around it, it seemed he had prepared a viewing area for us. There was even tea and snacks on the table. He really is so considerate when it comes to kids.

"Those guys are pretty strong. Have fun, but make sure you study them carefully."

With a belligerent smile, Hero-san turned his back to us. I had not thought he was a particularly bloodthirsty person. Or perhaps he feels differently about a pure contest of strength.

"Yo, brothers. You ready?"

"You bet we are. We don't hold a grudge about last time, but that's a separate matter. We're getting our revenge!!"

"I'm looking forward to it. You guys were all over the place back then."

It was Hero-san who made the first move. Countless black spheres appeared around him. As he waved his arms like a conductor, all of them shot toward the Arima brothers. That was the miniature black hole I had seen before.

(An attack of this level right from the start!?)

But this was likely nothing more than a warm up for him. Faster than the gravitational collapse could occur, the Arima brothers easily sliced through them all. It was not a simple attack. The way they neutralized the spheres without them bursting suggests they used some kind of technique. Was it the power of their holy and demonic swords? But I did not see any sign of the swords' power being activated.

"Quit using moves like a final boss."

"You're more of a demon king than I am, you bastard."

The Arima brothers closed the distance in an instant and slashed at Hero-san.

"Give me a break. You know, I used to look up to heroes when I was a kid."

Is that... the Kongo Nyoi!? Hero-san countered the storm of slashes by taking out his Power Pole. The exchange was so fast I could barely follow the afterimages. If he had not enhanced us, I would not have even known what was happening.

(He's being pushed back.)

I am no expert, but I can tell. The two of them are suppressing Hero-san with pure swordsmanship, not with any special powers from another world.

"Ngh, ugh...!!"

The hero unleashed a sweeping cut at Hero-san's right eye. Hero-san dodged it with minimal movement, or so it seemed, but his eyeball was sliced open. Did he misjudge the distance? No, this is...

"Having vision that's too good can be a problem, huh?"

A technique. He must have used some kind of skill, turning Hero-san's insane kinetic vision against him. But Hero-san was not one to go down without a fight. An unbelievable amount of blood spurted from his lacerated eye. The gushing blood branched out into countless tendrils, as if it had a will of its own, and assailed the hero and the demon king. With the number of attacks suddenly increased by the tentacles of fresh blood, it was now the hero and the demon king who were forced on the defensive.

"Amazing... Uncle's got this super villain vibe going on..."

Is that what you are focusing on? Well, I suppose I understand how you feel.

While we watched, the state of the battle shifted again. After hundreds, thousands of exchanges, Hero-san and the others took a great distance from one another.

"That's enough for a warm up, right?"

"Yeah. The real fight starts now."

The first major change was visible in the demon king. The ominous armor and demonic sword he wore lost their form, turning into an amorphous darkness that enveloped his entire body. A black halo floated above his head. His limbs grew larger. Wings like withered branches sprouted from his back. Next to me, Rika-san let out a cheer that was almost a scream at the sight of the aberration, a figure that truly embodied the name of demon king.

"Hero-san! Hero-san, you've got something too, right!?"

At Rika-san's words, the hero grinned and gave a silent thumbs up. His eyes flashed open, ka!, their azure turning to gold, and his armor and sword transformed into light, leaving only a loincloth and an inner layer clinging to his skin. The light formed a giant halo behind him, and from its sides, countless swords of light fanned out like wings.

"How's that!?"

"It's a smorgasbord of cool! Wonderful! The best!!"

"Hahaha! You know it, you know it!?"

I honestly do not quite get this kind of excitement. But well, I am glad they seem to be having fun.

"Hey, hey. Don't go getting a sloppy look on your face just because some junior high girl is fawning over you."

"A man's jealousy is an ugly thing, you know."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm gonna get a little serious now, too."

Hero-san put away his Power Pole and took out a large caliber handgun and a dagger instead. A major step down from the Power Pole? Not a chance. The power I felt from the handgun and dagger was on a completely different level. He had undoubtedly enhanced them himself.

(And the way he holds them... that's probably Hero-san's true fighting style.)

He held the dagger in a reverse grip in his left hand, thrusting it forward, and adopted a low stance that hid the handgun in his right hand behind his body. I suspect it was a stance he acquired naturally through battle rather than one he was taught. The faces of the hero and demon king also changed from their previous slack expressions to ones of intense seriousness. As warriors, they are overwhelmingly superior to me. They can probably see many things that are invisible to my eyes. After a few seconds of silence, they clashed once more.

"Huh, ah, eh...? Wha, what's happening..."

It is no wonder Rika-san is confused. It is not just that their movements have gotten faster. What is even more abnormal is the speed of their transitions. He is using attacks with his dagger and handgun as his core, but he is constantly cycling through his other cards at a dizzying, extraordinary rate. The hero and demon king should be overwhelmingly stronger than before, yet they are completely on the defensive.

(I see. So the more serious he gets, the simpler his approach becomes.)

He is not using any of the advanced techniques he did at the start, like forming black holes. All he is using are elementary skills, like magic that creates a blinding flash of light or sorcery that makes a patch of mud at their feet. On their own, these techniques are nothing special. But his timing for playing these cards is godlike. He uses them at moments when his opponents absolutely cannot fully react, reliably robbing them of their sight for an instant, reliably making them lose their balance for an instant.

The hero and demon king can probably fight without their sight. They can probably fight even when off balance. But their rhythm is broken, without fail. By repeating this process every second, or perhaps even faster, he continuously chips away at his opponents' flow, never letting them seize the pace.

(! Was that just healing...?)

Of all things, Hero-san had cast a healing spell on his opponent. I was confused, not understanding his intention, but I understood when I saw the hero who had been healed.

(To throw off his senses, I see.)

A sword swung with an injured arm, and a sword swung with an uninjured one. Would they be exactly the same? No. They would not. This is especially true for a master. They would make subtle adjustments to achieve optimal performance even with an injury. To have a healing spell unexpectedly cast on you when you are consciously swinging with the mindset of being injured would cause a slight... disturbance. And in a battle between masters, that small disturbance leads to a huge advantage. That is why he used a healing spell. And at the same time, it was likely his way of paying the hero back for his taunt, "Having vision that's too good can be a problem, huh?"

(For Hero-san, his vast number of skills is more of a shackle than anything.)

He can literally do anything, but he understands that the sheer breadth of his abilities prevents him from using them to their fullest potential. That is why, when he gets serious, he seals most of them away and fights using only a limited set of skills reserved for when he is serious. It is obviously faster to choose from a hundred predetermined options than to choose from ten thousand or a hundred million options on the spot.

(If he were to go all out, he would probably use about a hundred or two hundred elementary to intermediate skills, I suppose?)

It might be even fewer. There is nothing flashy about this fighting style. But it is terrifyingly strong. That much is clear from seeing the hero and demon king constantly forced on the defensive. If I were to offer a hopeful observation, I might say he could not take on a large number of opponents this way, but that is probably not the case. Anyone who can pull off such deft maneuvers would surely find a way to handle a large army. In fact, seeing how he operated in Hell, he might even be better against a large army, since it would give him more opportunities for mischief. Watching this battle, I was once again made acutely aware of something.

(Father, why on earth did you pick a fight with a man like this...?)

This is impossible.