[Please, go back.]
[We're sorry.]
Those were the words Alfia and Zard had meant to say to Erebus.
Life here had been too peaceful — too settled. Over these years, both of them had lost the will to throw themselves back into [Evil].
To destroy everything. To let chaos swallow order. To demand of those self-righteous young men and women what [Justice] truly meant — and beyond that —
To kill. Many, many people.
Adventurers and ordinary citizens alike.
That was what a death-battle demanded. To be a worthy stepping stone, you had to tear away the things people held most dear — to summon hatred, resentment, to force them to grow through that crucible — and at the very end of those trials, to become the kindling that lit the road ahead.
Someone had to save the world. And someone had to die for it.
As the strongest survivors of Zeus Familia and Hera Familia, Alfia and Zard understood that truth better than anyone.
Neither of them — nor even Erebus himself — had any intention of making excuses. [Evil] was [Evil]. Just as [Darkness] was [Darkness]. But in a world teetering on the edge of annihilation, both [Evil] and [Darkness] had to exist.
Without them, the world would never see another tomorrow.
This was a mission.
And it was the last thing the two of them — both already walking a road that led nowhere but death — could still do.
If they refused [Evil], the world might crumble as a result. This was no dramatic warning from the gods. It was a truth known to all.
The [Last Hero] had to be born.
Even if all their efforts amounted to little more than a drop in the ocean — it still had to be done.
Alfia and Zard should have said yes to Erebus.
But.
Perhaps it was because something strange had changed them. In these years of living quietly, both had reached the point where they could no longer bring themselves to shoulder that sin.
No matter what justification you offered — taking someone's life was something that could never be forgiven.
Originally, they had planned to bid farewell to the god of darkness when he came for them — with voices light as if a great burden had been lifted.
But now, things had shifted, just slightly.
Zard raised his greatsword.
By all rights, a junior who was Lv. 5 shouldn't have given him a feeling quite this — yes, this was the word — remarkable.
Perhaps in the city today, a first-rate adventurer was already someone beyond the reach of ordinary people.
But in the old Zeus Familia and Hera Familia — that would have counted as nothing more than "average." Nothing more.
Take Ryuu, who stood beside Isagi right now. The impression she gave Zard was approximately "decent."
"You changed your mind?" Isagi asked.
"Surprise visit." Erebus shrugged — though perhaps, he thought, this too was a welcome development.
"They're adventurers from the city as well. They told me they wanted to meet you both — and that they intend to stop you from going to Orario."
"Ha?"
The god's plan had been leaked?
Zard shot Erebus a baffled look, but the god himself had no idea how it had happened either.
Whatever.
The greatsword-wielding [Glutton] had never been one for overthinking things.
If they'd come all this way, then fine.
"You ready to die?"
Isagi's answer was a single word.
"Transform."
[Wolf's Devouring Feast].
Black viscous liquid seeped out from the case, forming into armor — piece by piece, it swallowed the boy's entire body, until at last it became a towering suit of plate bristling with jagged spines, its helmet shaped like a great wolf's head with jaws long as a lance.
Wolf and bear.
In that moment, both had become [Beasts] — and in terms of sheer size, there was no longer any gap between them.
[Exhale —]
Isagi sharpened his focus completely.
Because Zard, standing across from him, should be far stronger than any enemy he had ever fought before.
Who was stronger between Zard and Alfia?
Isagi didn't know.
Back when he had been Lv. 4, he had encountered that woman — [The Greatest Evil · Alfia] — in the Dungeon. She had one-shotted him in an instant.
No time to react. No matter how many times he replayed it afterward, there had been no room to maneuver whatsoever. A crushing, humiliating defeat.
That was pure, unadulterated numerical supremacy.
Magic that covered every angle — three hundred and sixty degrees, no blind spots, impossible to block, impossible to dodge, guaranteed to hit. An absolute monster of a toolkit.
If your stats weren't there, there was simply no fighting her.
But Zard?
Isagi had no information on him.
Judging by appearances, the man seemed to be a greatsword user — a vanguard type, most likely.
"Forgive me, Father, for I shall devour the feast of the gods."
The sudden hoarse chanting caught Isagi off guard for a moment.
And then.
Zard drew the moonlit greatsword from his mouth and came charging at Isagi at full speed.
"Rejoice, tongue of hellfire. Consume, searing fang!"
"[Rhea · Ambrosia of the Divine Feast]!"
In the blink of an eye, Zard's belly swelled and distended — as if in some grotesque act of supplication, his entire frame ballooned to several times its original size.
Then, from his mouth, a torrent of crimson flame came roaring out.
"Aaaaah——"
From the farmstead behind them, what sounded like an old man's anguished wail rang out.
Probably weeping over his fields — the labor of an entire year, gone in an instant. But on Zard's face, there was nothing but the wild, ecstatic madness of a man who lived for this.
Those deep, moonstone eyes — glazed and brilliant as polished jade — reflected the raging, ferocious light blazing in the big man's gaze.
The flames swallowed the earth in an instant.
Everything around them was engulfed, the whole world blazing into a scorching sea of crimson.
Sparks cracked and burst, drifting upward — then dying, one by one, into the dark of the night.
Zard's greatsword wrapped itself in fire. Not some enchantment layered on from outside — it was as if, at this moment, anyone who stood before him had stepped into his domain.
The big man drew a breath.
The dancing flames were immediately swept inward — swallowed back down into his gut in great, hungry gulps.
And so.
Everything — including Zard himself — began to burn.
Huh. Black Bear Spirit.
For some reason, that was the first thing that came to Isagi's mind.
Then.
He felt it — a force like a falling mountain, transmitted through the weapon in his hands.
Heavy!
From directly above, the great blazing sword came crashing down — like a mountain range collapsing — carrying with it the overwhelming might of something that devoured everything in its path.
Simultaneously, the sea of fire around them seemed to come alive. It coiled and twisted into immense, roiling chains, spiraling outward — sealing off every possible escape route Isagi might have taken, in an instant.
And in the moment the two greatswords clashed —
The fire shifted again.
In concert with a fresh torrent of crimson flame that erupted from Zard's mouth, the blaze transformed — into spears, blades, and axes — and came hurtling at Isagi from every direction at once.
[Incredible]!
Even Ryuu, watching from a distance, had been left completely transfixed.
On the surface, Zard looked like nothing more than a greatsword vanguard — the standard archetype built around [Strength] and [Endurance], a brawler who liked to fight face-to-face.
But in truth, his mastery of magic, and the seamless way he wove it into his combat — it was nothing short of perfect. Refined to absolute artistry.
Calling him a [Magic Swordsman] would not have been wrong. In fact, Ryuu could sense it — the fundamental nature of Zard's fighting style was, in a certain sense, the same as her own.
[Can he win?]
No — wait.
Was she thinking too much about this? From the very start, winning was always going to be difficult…
A Lv. 5 challenger, taking on two Lv. 7 veterans of Zeus Familia and Hera Familia — the most gifted of the old era's young generation, the ones who had actually slain the [Lord of the Land] and the [Sovereign of the Seas].
Ryuu felt it again — a deep, instinctive dread. The raw, visceral panic that came from staring into an unbridgeable gap in power.
In an instant, Isagi was completely swallowed by the flames.
Not even a cry escaped him.
The very air around him seemed to have been seared away.
"…Not bad at all." "Pretty good."
"Oh?"
Zard seemed genuinely surprised — the boy had actually taken that hit.
For just a moment, the thought crossed his mind: had he gotten old? Had his body decayed so far that he couldn't even put down a Lv. 5 junior?
Of course not.
The Lv. 7 [Glutton] was still powerful — immensely so. But this kid was no pushover either —
In terms of raw stats, he would never lose to another adventurer of the same level. Even going up a tier, he'd absolutely have a fighting chance!!
And what's more…
Isagi swung his longsword with sudden force — and the impact that came back through it was enough to send Zard stumbling backward several steps, completely off-guard.
Then.
Zard watched as the boy reached into the pitch-black mantle behind him and produced a series of small vials and bottles — then began tipping their contents, bead after colorful bead, into that great wolf-maw of a mouth.
What is that?
Zard stared, baffled.
He swung his sword again — and then saw a flash of golden light ripple across the boy's body.
[Sorcery · Iron Body].
"Clang!"
A sharp metallic ring rang out, and Zard was knocked back several more steps.
"?"
Interesting.
This kid was genuinely, endlessly interesting. And yes — this one was absolutely worth eating.
A delicious find, indeed.
____
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