My thoughts were divided into countless streams as I walked back home. One part focused on analyzing the effects of the [Accel] spell, while another was already working to deduce its theoretical opposite.
...That section of the crest had been destroyed, degraded beyond recovery after four years following Kiritsugu's death.
Medea followed in her spirit form, trailing me back home in secret. After I'd told her we might have drawn someone's attention, she agreed it was best to avoid any further scrutiny.
.
Back to [Accel].
My [Ultimate Analyst] and [Ultimate Detective] had concluded that, with my current physical specifications, I could sustain [Square Accel] for a maximum of 48.78 seconds before my body began suffering severe internal injuries.
I had [Avalon] to heal the damage, of course.
But if this was already the limit, what would happen with [Double Square Accel]? Or [Triple Square Accel]?
Creating the spells themselves was trivial. With [Ultimate Analyst] and [Ultimate Inventor], I could formulate them in moments.
The real obstacle was the backlash.
If my [Beast Will] spell were operational, I could likely manage the strain without issue.
But Medea had made it clear... I was nowhere near capable of defeating a mythical creature or phantasmal species, even if we summoned one for me to analyse and complete the spell.
.
A petite girl walking toward me from ahead pulled me from my musings. She appeared childlike, with pale skin, crimson eyes, and long white hair. Her clothing consisted of a collared purple long-sleeved shirt, a light purple scarf, a long white skirt, and purple boots.
[Ultimate Precognition] clamored with a grave warning.
[Ultimate Analyst] stirred immediately. My surroundings were scanned and processed at superhuman speed.
The leaves and branches swaying in the wind.
The groaning metal of the nearby water storage tower.
The conspicuous absence of people at the edge of the Einzbern Forest.
Even...
Those red eyes. That white hair. And that innocent smile carrying something venomous just beneath the surface.
Those countless magic circuits lying dormant under her skin.
.
Her lips parted. Her voice reached me a moment later.
"Big brother... You must be a Master, right?" She continued, her eyes studying me with feigned innocence.
Our magic circuits flared to life simultaneously. Green electrical grids materialized across our bodies, glowing with an eerie luminescence.
"Can you be a good big brother and... die for me?" Her voice was sweet. Her tone childish.
Yet her words were the polar opposite.
BOOM!
Her question was swallowed by the violent rupture of the sound barrier being brutally torn apart.
A behemoth loomed before me suddenly. A colossal, statue-like man with obsidian skin and mountainous, bulging muscles. His fist was already filling my vision, rocketing toward my chest with absolute lethality.
Master!! Run! It's Heracles!
Medea's desperate scream tore through our mental link.
...
Don't... interfere.
My voice resounded firmly in Medea's mind as my hands rose to cross before my chest.
[Body Reinforcement]. [Triple Accel].
Time warped as a thin boundary field enveloped my skin.
My blood flow skyrocketed.
My hemoglobin metabolism surged.
My muscle acceleration breached human limits.
BOOM!
The giant's fist collided with my forearms an instant later.
Crack. Crack.
I was hurled backward like a kite with severed strings. Both of my arm bones snapped. Four of my ribs broke. My spine slammed brutally against the base of the water storage tower in a moment.
Master!! Medea's scream was anguished.
Don't interfere... Instead, prepare a teleportation circle. I spoke while forcing myself back up. Mana poured into [Avalon], and it immediately began knitting my severe injuries back together.
BOOM!
Another sonic boom resounded in my ears. Heracles was upon me once more.
This time, however—
[Ultimate Martial Artist] rose to the forefront.
[Ultimate Soldier] followed in tandem.
[Ultimate Precognition] refused to be left behind.
My right hand shot up to meet his descending fist. Our fists colliding with cataclysmic force.
BOOM!
My finger bones shattered. Veins across my shoulders rupturing as I channeled the kinetic energy from the impact through my torso, redirecting it toward my left arm.
Blood sprayed from my pores as I drove my left fist into the giant's stomach, releasing the full force of our earlier clash directly into his core.
BOOOM!
Even so... he merely stumbled back three steps.
Not even a scratch?
[Ultimate Analyst] delivered its verdict instantly. This Heroic Spirit—undoubtedly a Berserker...was hopelessly out of my league.
My gaze, however, shifted past him. To the white-haired child standing far behind us. His Master.
That was his weakness.
[Square Accel].
48 seconds.
Time distorted even further as I took a step toward her. My surroundings compressed and expanded.
BOOM! BOOM!
I materialized beside the magus instantly. Sonic booms resounded across the area in my wake.
Yet... [Ultimate Precognition] still blared.
Because...
BOOM! BOOM!
More sonic booms followed my own. Heracles was right behind me, his hands reaching for me.
45 seconds.
I tilted my body parallel to the ground in response, my leg launching against the giant's chest behind me. Meanwhile, my fist headed for the white-haired and red-eyed magus ahead of me.
Hercules held onto my leg and pulled a moment before my fist was about to land on his Master, making my punch miss her face by mere millimeters.
Yet, my detachment surpassed even the demigod's madness.
42 seconds.
With a sharp jolt, I forcibly dislocated my own hip joint, extending my reach just enough.
My fist connected solidly with the crimson-eyed magus's cheek without mercy, the impact hurling her backward.
ROOOOOAR!
A roar of pure fury erupted from Heracles. His grip tightened on my dangling leg, swinging me upward and hurling me away like a javelin.
40 seconds.
I rotated mid-air, dissipating the kinetic force through a series of flips before landing on my remaining functional leg.
The giant had already turned away from me, rushing to his Master's side.
35 seconds.
I observed the mad berserker tend to the white-haired child with a bored expression.
Heracles? A demigod?
My sole functioning hand pressed against my pelvis, snapping the dislocated joint back into place with a merciless crunch.
How... dull.
Heracles possessed strength comparable to that golden-haired man...yet he was infinitely weaker.
The golden-haired man had no weakness.
Heracles, however, possessed a glaring vulnerability...far more critical than I had anticipated.
His Master.
30 seconds.
I advanced toward the Master and Servant pair. Though hopelessly outmatched against Heracles, I still pressed forward.
With each step, [Ultimate Despair] awoke from within me.
Death. Destruction. Despair.
My very presence twisted into an entity created to inflict despair upon all existence.
A suffocating pressure started to radiate from me, drowning the world in pure carnage and bloodlust.
At that moment...
I posed my question to the demigod son of Zeus.
"Tell me, Heracles...
What is Hope?
When the only thing I can ever bring is despair."
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[5 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Author's Thoughts]
Izuru's [Ultimate Luck] seemed to have gone on a strike. First Gilgamesh... now Heracles. Who next? The First Hassan?
Nah... that would be too much.
Anyway... Thanks for reading.