Boom! Boom! The thunderous impacts, like trucks crashing head-on, rocked the arena.
"Ha ha ha! You really are something! Then how about this—100,000 Volts Discharge!!"
Thor unleashed lightning from his palm.
'Shit—!'
Kazuki cranked up his physical reinforcement multiplier and dodged widely.
He'd been made painfully, disgustingly aware of how troublesome a lightning-user like Thor could be during his fight with Baraqiel. The power and speed of the lightning itself were one thing, but the real danger was having his movements halted by electrocution. On the battlefield, to stop moving meant death. Kazuki focused every fiber of his being on evading Thor's lightning.
"What's wrong, what's wrong! You can't defeat me just by dodging!"
'You bastard, don't fucking mock me—!'
Kazuki glared up resentfully at Thor, who was raining lightning from above—and then his expression shifted. At Thor's fingertips, raised skyward as if to pierce the heavens, storm clouds had gathered and were rapidly expanding.
Soon, the clouds had spread to cover the entire arena, and Thor grinned.
"Take this, Guyver—this Thor's certain-kill strike! Ten Thousand Thunderbolts!!"
Thor swept his fingers down, and countless bolts of lightning poured down across the entire arena. Amid the inescapable rain of lightning, Kazuki called forth his other self.
"Guyveeeeeer!!"
The barrier generated during the armoring process blocked the Ten Thousand Thunderbolts for a moment, but it was only an instant—fresh lightning pressed in immediately. However, for the armored Guyver Kazuki, that single instant was more than enough.
"Don't underestimate me, Thor!!"
Kazuki aimed both palms skyward and activated his waist-mounted Gravity Controller. The Black Holes generated in his palms began swallowing the torrent of lightning pouring down.
"What!?"
Toward the stunned Thor, Kazuki launched himself upward, crashing into Thor with the momentum of his ascent and driving his fist upward.
"Guhah!!"
"Fuwa Enmei Style—Fugaku."
Thor's body reeled from Kazuki's blow. Seizing the opening without mercy, Kazuki grabbed Thor's head and plummeted to the ground, crushing Thor's skull with his knee upon simultaneous impact.
"Fuwa Enmei Style—Iwaoroshi."
Cracks spiderwebbed across the ground centered on Thor, and an instant later, it caved in entirely. As countless spectators watched, the figure that emerged from the thick, swirling dust cloud was the crimson demon-god—Guyver.
"No way... Lord Thor lost!?"
"That's impossible!?"
Screams immediately rose from the stands. But in the very next moment, Thor, blood streaming from his forehead, burst out of the dust cloud and brought his fist crashing down on Kazuki.
"Kazuki-san, look out—!!"
Faster than Rossweisse's voice could reach him, Kazuki—whose Head Sensor had already detected Thor—leaped onto Thor's descending right arm. Locking the joint, he simultaneously drove a brutal kick into Thor's face.
Kazuki moved to snap Thor's right arm then and there. But Thor's arm did not budge a single inch.
"What!?"
"...You told me earlier not to underestimate you, didn't you? I'll throw those words right back at you, Guyver! Don't you underestimate this Thor!!"
Thor lifted his right arm, Kazuki still attached, and with every ounce of his strength, slammed him into the ground.
"Gahah!!"
"Take this! One Million Volts Discharge!!"
Thor unleashed a Discharge at an even higher output than before.
"Gyaaaaaaaahhh!!"
Bathed in Thor's lightning, Kazuki screamed in agony and rolled away clumsily to escape. But Thor's own damage was severe, and unable to pursue, he dropped to one knee on the spot.
"Guuh!?... Kh! My right arm won't lift! Seems I took more damage than I thought... But!!"
"Damn it... I took that lightning head-on! Move, dammit! At this rate, I'm done for!!"
"Nuooooooohhh!!"
Thor and Kazuki, whipping their damaged bodies forward, rose to their feet almost simultaneously.
"Heh heh heh... To think you'd push me this far... The rumors were true. No—you're even more than the rumors, Guyver."
"You too, Thor. The title of 'Strongest in the Norse Realm' isn't just for show..."
"Hmph. Allow me to apologize for underestimating you. You are indeed strong. But that is exactly why you cannot defeat me. Because that very strength of yours has made this Thor get serious!!"
Crackle crackle crackle!!
Violent flashes of lightning erupted from Thor's entire body, and thunder roared. Within the brilliance, Thor's form began to change. The half-naked body clad in nothing but simple trousers was now encased in dull-silver armor, a crimson cape billowing from his back. And as Thor slowly raised his left hand, a golden hammer flew from seemingly nowhere and settled firmly into his grasp.
A golden hammer, roughly fifty to sixty centimeters in total length. The moment he saw it, a shudder ran through Kazuki.
That was Mjölnir, the very symbol of the Thunder God Thor, a God Arm so famous its name had thundered across every conceivable medium. Armored and with Mjölnir in hand, this was Thor's true form. The figure overflowed with a martial majesty truly befitting a God of War.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Guyver! Now I'll show you this Thunder God Thor's full power!!"
An aura even more ferocious than before surged from Thor. But what swelled within Kazuki's chest as he beheld that Thor was not fear—it was exhilaration, and fighting spirit.
'Incredible. So this is the full power of the strongest in the Norse realm... As I thought—if I'm going to fight this guy, Thor, I have to give it everything. No—I have to fight with every last fiber of my being!!'
From Kazuki's body, a crimson aura blazed upward like scorching magma, a force no less overwhelming than the lightning Thor now wreathed himself in.
"There's no need for apologies, Thor. Because I wasn't being serious either. Right now—I'll show you my full power! The full power of Guyver! Guyveeeeer—Gigantic!!"
Responding to Kazuki's thought-wave, the "Chrysalis" materialized behind him and encased his body. An instant later, Guyver had transformed into the crimson giant—Guyver Gigantic.
At Guyver's transformation, Thor's face went blank for just a moment. But in the very next breath, he burst into a roar of utterly delighted laughter.
"Fufu—gahahahahaha!! To think you'd hide your power against me, Thor! Such insolence! Delightful! Let's see if you can take my certain-kill strike, Guyver!!"
Thor raised Mjölnir to the heavens, and lightning struck the hammer, crackling and discharging violently. As Kazuki held his breath, Thor readied the white-hot Mjölnir and leaped high into the air.
"Take this! This is the Crushing Thunder God's Hammer—Thor Hammer."
"!!?"
The signature certain-kill technique of the Thunder God Thor was now unleashed straight toward Guyver Gigantic.