Two Battlefields

The showdown between Ars and Zeke began with both using enhancement magic, defensive magic, and their weapons clashing.

They enhanced themselves repeatedly without chanting, exploiting each other's openings without incantations, and crossed blades head-on.

The initial momentum favored Ars. After all, he had Sage's support with multiple acceleration spells from his space-time magic.

"Two against one, that's dirty for an ex-hero! You damn Great Demon King!"

"Well, I'm the Great Demon King after all! All that matters is winning!"

Despite their banter, both combatants' transcendent swordsmanship was nearly evenly matched.

Ars Garhart was one of the heroes summoned to Nears, who defeated the demon king and led humanity to victory in the Millennium.

And then he parted ways with his companions, went to the demon territory, and established a great empire there.

Since the demons of that time were even more devoted to violence supremacy than now, Ars, who entered demon territory alone, subdued dozens of demon general-class warriors. Moreover, without killing them, to turn them into future forces. Among them were the parents of the later demon generals.

Even in the process of constructing the national system, he still needed to silence the demons with absolute violence. Civilizing them while maintaining the combat prowess of the fierce demons. It was a series of hardships.

And then the Great Collapse. Through battles with the secret organization Black Cat and battles with divine dragons, his battle record became even more tremendous.

Siegfried Ratzen is not one who fights with purpose. He's simply a man who fights for his own desires.

However, for those desires, he accomplished even conquering labyrinths and destroying sealed gods.

In terms of the strength of enemies fought, he may be inferior to Ars, but he might surpass him in the number of battles. Plus, unlike Ars who was originally more of a mage, he has innate combat instincts.

That's where he's fundamentally different from Ars, who calculates his chances of victory before fighting.

Sage, who was observing both combatants' offense and defense with acceleration magic, wasn't versed in swordsmanship and couldn't tell who had the advantage.

Though vaguely, he felt that both swordsmen had different characteristics.

If Ars's sword was soft, Zeke's sword was hard.

And according to Divine Illumination Discernment, the ultimate Identify magic, neither had yet played their trump card.

However, the impatient one quickly played his trump card.

『Release』

Zeke's equipment emitted a golden radiance. And his stats skyrocketed.

I see, so that's why he calls himself the Golden Warrior, Sage thought in amazement, but Ars immediately responded.

『Heaven-Piercing Breakthrough』

The Gift『Limit Break』that surpasses the limits of mortal races.

The Heaven-Piercing Breakthrough, an even higher Gift that breaks through the『limits of existence』to reach divine dragons.

It was a Gift born from infinity magic that now, among mortals, only Ars and Labyrinth could use.

Though all divine dragons except Lavi and Lieselotte possessed this Gift.

The difference in stats became overwhelming.

Ars's sword flashes couldn't even be captured by Sage's accelerated five senses, so he cast acceleration magic to the limit.

And was astonished.

Zeke's movements, which should have been overwhelmed, were gradually catching up to Ars.

So this is the Overcome Adversity Gift, Sage was honestly impressed, but he couldn't overlook the crisis of his ally Ars.

Supporting with more acceleration was impossible. Then he'd put a burden on Zeke instead.

『Delay』

Magic that had the opposite effect of acceleration. However, it was repelled by the magic power surrounding Zeke.

『Gravity Increase』

Increasing gravity to slow his movements. But this too was repelled.

"What… the…"

Sage was involuntarily dumbfounded, but this was probably just Siegfried being Siegfried.

(Isn't he stronger than all four of the others combined?)

Ars is strong. Undoubtedly strong. Sage has known him for 3,000 years, but he's an existence that greatly transcends the framework of mortal races.

However, this man Siegfried is also somehow strange. He destroyed a lesser god, but would that alone make someone this strong?

While he was thinking this, the movements of the two had once again become nearly evenly matched.

But Sage didn't doubt Ars's victory. Ars hadn't yet used That.

The weapon that even fought nearly evenly with Ria when she transformed into a dragon during the Great Collapse.

The Demon Lord Machine God.

If he used that, victory was certain. The question was whether he'd have the chance to use it.

If necessary, he'd have to move himself to create that opening. Sage quietly watched the battle.

The Hero of Ruin.

In the first place, the Gift of Ruin wasn't overwhelming at Level 1.

Using swords or bare hands as a medium to turn living things or objects touched into dust.

That was the power at Level 1.

As her level increased, its true nature gradually became clear.

Yes, the power of Ruin destroys everything.

Whether human souls, powerful monsters, or even dragons.

Even those with the Immortal Gift.

Sei is immortal. Mako is immortal.

Lavi is also an existence far from death, a divine dragon.

But piercing through even that, the power of Ruin destroys existence.

That was the point Ria and Carla were concerned about.

In fact, immediately after beginning combat with Mika, Sei noticed how troublesome this Gift was.

The blade of the katana was chipped.

It was a specially-made katana forged by Ria. A weapon that had even cut through orichalcum, rivaling holy swords and demon swords. It even had a gimmick not found in Earth's finest supreme masterwork blades.

Yet it chipped when clashing with an ordinary longsword, despite being a masterwork.

That should have been impossible.

"So that's Ruin!"

Sei wrapped the katana in a blade of magic power. Even that magic power dissipated when it clashed with Mika's sword.

"It wasn't much until the level went up! Now I can even fight dragons!"

He could somehow understand how she trained until her base level exceeded 200. Probably she hunted quite high-level monsters.

This Gift was truly dangerous. In terms of having effects on non-living things too, it might have more versatility than the instant death eyes.

Even though Sei and Mako were fighting two against one, the situation was balanced.

Because Mika was using the power of Ruin to destroy magic cast on herself and Sei's support magic.

Lavi's breath might actually get attacks through, but timing was difficult in close combat. If she returned to human form to fight, Lavi's close combat skills were low. She'd just be in the way.

And Quorfos's spirit arts also had poor compatibility with Mika's Gift.

"This is bad."

Even in what should have been an advantageous four-on-one situation, Quorfos muttered this.

Large-scale spirit art attacks would catch Sei and Mako in them.

But if he reduced the output, those too would be erased by the power of Ruin.

Lavi's breath also couldn't be used because the two were engaging the hero in close combat.

If there was any saving grace, it was that the Ruin Gift was surprisingly not very attack-oriented.

Even so, it easily sliced through Sei and Mako's magic barriers, so Quorfos repeatedly cast defensive magic on them.

Sei also felt the need to change the battle situation.

He thought engaging in close combat was a mistake in the first place, but taking distance was also difficult.

(What should I do?)

Sei had enough leeway to think during combat.

The Ruin Gift was troublesome, but Mika's sword skill level itself wasn't that high, so if he focused on evasion, avoiding attacks wasn't too difficult.

The problem was how to damage the opponent.

Poor attacks couldn't break through Ruin's defensive power. It would just damage their weapons.

But to use magic attacks, they were too close.

When he tried to separate, she closed the distance. Mika was experienced in combat.

Despite having the Ruin Gift, she was level 200-plus. That must have been from the experience of killing tons of high-level monsters.

And as expected, or fortunately, she apparently didn't have much experience in combat against people. If she did, her sword skill would have been higher.

After analyzing this, Sei decided to make one move.

"Mako, I'm counting on you for just a moment."

Saying this unilaterally, Sei leaped backward, but Mako filled the gap without saying anything.

Sword and spear clashed. Since Mako's spear skill level wasn't that high, Mika intensified her attacks even more.

However, in that brief time, Sei told Quorfos the breakthrough strategy.

Quorfos was surprised for a moment, but considering Sei and the others' Gifts, he understood it wasn't unreasonable.

"Then I'm counting on you."

When Sei returned to the front line again, the hard-pressed Mako gained some breathing room, and the battle became deadlocked again.

Though at this rate, Mako, who constantly wrapped her weapon in magic power to fight, would be the first to run out of stamina.

Even with Sei alone, they could endure for a considerable time, and he might think of some other breakthrough strategy, but it wouldn't be decisive.

That's why Quorfos's power was needed.

Quorfos followed Sei's proposal.

He had noticed that Mika relied on Ruin's defensive power and had low healing magic skills.

That's why Sei said something so reckless.

『Wind Spirit King』

The spirits of the atmosphere became raging blades and raced across the battlefield.

Yes, toward all three people caught in the melee.

"Wha!"

Only Mika was flustered, while Sei and Mako were completely unfazed and continued fighting.

Wind blades beyond what the power of Ruin could shave away raged across the battlefield.

In other words, it was a basic tactic of utilizing their strengths and exploiting the opponent's weaknesses.

By using the power of Ruin for defense, Mika could reduce weapon durability and neutralize magic constructs to some degree.

Since she took no damage, she never had a situation to develop healing magic skills.

In contrast, Sei and Mako, in addition to the Immortal Gift, had the Gift of high-speed regeneration and high healing magic skills.

Quorfos's magic was powerful, and even with Mika's power, she couldn't completely nullify it.

While Mika could hardly recover any damage, Sei and Mako immediately fully recovered.

In the end, it was the usual brute force approach, but it was a brute force approach that used their heads a little.

… But there was one problem.

It was embarrassing.

"Why did our armor fall apart!"

Mako shouted. The wind blades naturally also damaged all three people's weapons and armor.

Weapons aside, the armor was the problem. Though it was incredible armor equipped with self-repair functions, it couldn't restore from any condition.

And unlike the other two, Mika's armor was high quality but ordinary. Even with Ruin's power defending, the armor itself had low defense.

As a result, the three girls ended up fighting almost half-naked.

The one whose movements slowed the most was Mako.

Having the strongest sense of shame became a disadvantage in this case.

Mika's movements also dramatically slowed. It was natural for a girl.

And Sei's movements didn't slow.

Though her body was a girl's, her heart was a boy's. Sei had a thoroughly embarrassing past from kindergarten days of doing things like meaninglessly showing his lower half while saying "Peepee!"

Men have less resistance to becoming naked compared to women.

And while half-naked, Sei severed one of Mika's hands.

… The presence or absence of shame due to gender differences.

That decided the outcome.

Receiving light wounds all over her body, and furthermore having her dominant right hand severed.

Even so, Mika's fighting spirit didn't wane.

She aimed at the quickly moving Sei with the longsword held in her left hand, but it was clearly impossible.

Sei's wounds healed on their own even during combat. In contrast, Mika's wounds remained.

Receiving a wound on her left thigh, and receiving sword wounds repeatedly, her movements gradually slowed.

The power of Ruin was a non-productive one.

To heal injuries, healing magic was necessary, and Mika's abilities in that area were low.

Even so, she kept swinging the longsword with one hand without change, but she finally reached her limit.

If both arms are severed, one can't grip a sword.

She couldn't bite down on it with her teeth for a three-sword style like a certain pirate.

Finally exhaling, Sei assessed the current situation.

Ars and Zeke were fighting quite far away. Their sword speed was already inhuman. They had reached speeds even Sei's eyes couldn't follow.

It seemed the conclusion would take a while, but the meaning of the battle had disappeared.

"Not yet… not over yet…"

Mika tried to raise herself with her elbows, but when both legs' bones and tendons were physically severed, she couldn't stand. She was a warrior, not a mage.

Sei and Mako restored their armor and clothes for now and approached Mika.

"Ah, you can surrender now, right? There's definitely no comeback from here. If you honestly go back to Earth, your wounds and such should be healed."

"… No. In this world, I can realize my ideals."

What a stubborn girl. Sei and Mako looked at each other and sighed.

"With that much passion, I think you could do various things on Earth too."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind helping."

Sei's words seemed shocking to the other two girls as well.

"If I send all the heroes back, I get divine protection from Earth's god. I don't know what kind of divine protection, but whether as a politician or a businessperson, I think it could be useful."

Mika listened to those conditions with ragged breathing. Since she seemed about to pass out soon, he closed up both arms and the major wounds.

"You'll help? Why?"

"You're thinking of doing something big, right? I don't mind helping people take on that sort of challenge."

Mika seemed to be thinking for a while about whether there was any lie in Sei's words. But eventually, from within her ragged breathing, she gave her answer.

"I don't need it. I'll manage with just my own power. Using someone else's cheat would be too cowardly."

It was surprisingly pure-minded, but Mika immediately relaxed her expression afterward.

"I'll return to Earth."

Those were words of a defeat declaration, but they held determination in a different direction.

And thus the Hero of Ruin returned to Earth.

—Yet still, the battle between Ars and Zeke had not ended.