'…Why is it that every single one of my kind is so abnormal?'
My final monologue was a brutally honest assessment of the reality before me. Salvatore Doni let out a satisfied smile and casually rested his greatsword—a massive hunk of steel—upon his shoulder. That simple, light movement alone exerted a pressure that felt as if it were tearing the very atmosphere apart.
"Now then, shall we begin, 'Newbie'? Show me everything you've got—all those Authorities of yours. This Salvatore Doni shall cut them down until there's nothing left!"
His declaration was jovial, but the battle lust contained within was the real deal. I let out a heavy sigh and glanced back at Alessandro, who stood firmly behind me. His hand was already gripped tight around the rapier at his waist. He looked ready to draw his blade against the King of Swords without a moment's hesitation to protect his lord. However, that was the worst possible move.
"Alessandro."
"Yes, my King."
"Stand down."
"But…!"
"This is an order."
I cut off his protest sternly. Then, in a slightly softer voice, I added a reason he could actually accept.
"The fight between that man and me won't end within the confines of this building. You have a far more important mission. Get outside and deploy a barrier around this area. Use every ounce of your strength to ensure the aftershocks of our battle don't spread into downtown Milan. Can you do that?"
It wasn't a lie. A clash between Kings is a cataclysmic disaster that can erase an entire city from the map. At the same time, it was the best justification to get Alessandro away from this dangerous stage—protecting his pride as a knight while moving him to safety.
Alessandro grasped my intention immediately. Agony flickered across his face for a moment, but it soon smoothed over into the expression of a knight obeying his King's command.
"…I shall obey your command. I wish you martial fortune, my King."
He gave Doni one last sharp glare before turning away without regret and exiting the hall. Now, only the two of us remained in this massive hall: me and that lunatic King of Swords.
"Oho, not bad, Newbie. You know how to look after your subordinates. That's what a King should do. Now that the distractions are gone, let's get this party started!"
The moment Doni kicked off the floor, he vanished from my sight. An Authority of speed? No, it wasn't anything on that level. This was a pure physical charge born from explosive leg strength. The marble floor shattered like a spiderweb as his massive frame shot toward me like a cannonball.
'Dammit, he's fast!'
I immediately summoned a localized gale beneath my feet, launching myself backward at an angle to dodge his linear charge. At the same time, I deployed the Authority of Tāwhirimātea.
"Everything that invades my domain, the breath of the heavens shall obstruct thee!"
It wasn't a simple shield. I manipulated the airflow of the entire hall. The air around me became a suit of protective armor, while the air around Doni became shackles intended to crush his body. Thousands of wind blades targeted him from all directions in an irregular storm. However, the result far exceeded my expectations.
Clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang!
The deafening roar of metal clashing against metal filled the air. The moment the wind blades touched Doni's body, they were uselessly repelled in a shower of sparks. It was like throwing razor blades at a wall of reinforced steel; not a single scratch remained on his body. He even tore through the crushing air pressure with sheer, brute muscle as he advanced. Every time he moved, I could see mysterious ancient runes faintly manifesting on his skin before disappearing.
"What…?!"
Shock escaped my lips. My Authority was being bounced off without leaving a single wound on a human body.
'This sensation… it's similar to Ravana! It's not just that he's physically tough. The very 'concept' of my attack is being neutralized!'
"Hahaha! Doesn't even itch! Is this the storm you're so proud of, Newbie?"
Doni laughed as he broke through the curtain of wind, swinging the greatsword that had been resting on his shoulder. Then, as if performing a ritual, he declared in a low voice that echoed through the entire hall:
"Here I swear. I shall not permit the existence of that which I cannot cut! This blade is the invincible sword that cleaves and severs everything on this earth!"
With his Incantation, the massive greatsword began to glow with an eerie silver light. I hurriedly summoned another gale for an evasive maneuver, but his sword pursued me with speed and a trajectory that defied common sense.
Sshhh—!
As if cutting through butter with a hot knife, the blade—which had predicted my flight path—'cut' through space itself as it closed in.
"Urgh!"
I barely managed to twist my body to avoid a direct hit. But I was too late. The sharp tip of the blade grazed across my chest. It wasn't a deep cut. However, in that instant, a horrific sensation traveled from the wound. The miraculous regenerative powers of a Campione didn't work on this specific injury. Instead, I felt a tearing pain as if the wound were being forcibly pried open.
"Oho, you're pretty fast! That last one was quite a close call!"
Doni adjusted his grip on the sword, looking satisfied. I continued to ride the winds, moving crisscross through the hall to open up the distance. Clinging to the wound that refused to stop bleeding, I began to analyze this nonsensical adversary.
"You—just what kind of god did you usurp those Authorities from? What is that steel-like body and the sword that cuts anything!"
At my coldly narrowed question, Doni answered with a grin, like a child who had finally been asked about his favorite hobby.
"Oh, you're finally asking! I bet you were curious! This tough body? I snatched it from some hero-god from the northern neighborhood… the one who was supposedly covered in dragon blood. Was it Sie… Sieg? Anyway, it was something like that! Once I took him down, I became this tough too! Most attacks just bounce right off. Pretty convenient, right?"
He tapped his chest, boasting as if showing off a newly bought toy.
"And this sword! This one I got from a god with a silver arm… Nu… Nuada? I don't know! Anyway, he was a super strong god. After I cut him down, my sword gained the power to cut anything! Just like that shield of yours earlier. Isn't it amazing?"
I was speechless. With that bright, innocent face, he was explaining a set of absurdly broken abilities. He could cut anything on offense and repel everything on defense. What kind of ridiculous combination was this?
'A hero covered in dragon blood… That sounds like something out of the fairy tales I read as a kid. Those guys actually wander around as gods? Wait, dragon blood… if I recall those stories correctly, there was always a weakness…'
I racked my brain desperately. But I was in the middle of a battle. I didn't have the luxury of time.
'If that's the case…!'
I bet on the last remaining possibility. If physical attacks didn't work, what if I stopped the very 'existence' of the man himself? I rode the wind to dive into his blind spot, pulling forth the deepest essence of Medusa's Authority.
"Time shall cease its flow, and sound shall lose its being. Under the serpent's curse dwelling within my eyes, all living things shall become monuments named Eternity!"
It wasn't simple petrification. I wasn't cursing his flesh, but rather the 'movement' of the sword he intended to swing and the 'speed' of the step he was about to take. I was placing a direct curse on those concepts.
Creak!
There was a reaction! Doni's movement, as he attempted to swing his sword toward me with incredible velocity, momentarily jerked like a video with missing frames. For the first time, his jovial expression stiffened.
"Whoops, what's this? My body isn't moving how I want it to!"
He seemed momentarily flustered, but he soon burst into laughter as if he found it interesting.
"My, my, this is quite a troublesome technique."
The moment Doni grumbled and shrugged his shoulders, an intense surge of Divine Power exploded from his entire body. The mysterious runes on his skin glowed much more vibrantly than before.
Crack! Ssshh…!
The very laws of space where my curse resided shattered like glass before his overwhelming Divine Power. His 'stopped' movements regained their original speed. It wasn't a perfect neutralization, but it was at a level he could easily shake off with his power.
'Damn, even a curse won't work?! No, wait. There was a reaction. It was different from the physical attacks. He resisted, but it definitely worked. That body covered in those mysterious runes has almost perfect immunity to physical force or energy, but it's not perfect against powers that directly interfere with laws, like my curse!'
"Alright, I've seen all your tricks now, right? Then it's really my turn!"
Doni's eyes regained their mischievous light. Once again, he kicked off the ground and lunged at me. I frantically manipulated the wind to distort his trajectory and constantly fired 'Stillness' curses to maintain distance. But it was all meaningless. He broke through the warped space with sheer muscle and brushed off the curses with his Divine Power, advancing solely to cut me down. He was like a heavy tank charging through everything in its path.
Clang!
His greatsword finally broke through all my evasions and collided with the storm barrier I had raised as a last resort. The barrier was sliced through like tofu in an instant, but that split-second allowed me to barely throw my body clear.
"Gah!"
However, I couldn't avoid the shockwave. If I hadn't instinctively wrapped Tāwhirimātea's storm around my entire body to deflect the impact, I would have been snapped in two. Even so, I crashed into the wall of the hall and slumped down, spitting out blood. My vision blurred, and every bone in my body screamed in pain. It was a one-sided slaughter. Calling this a 'fight' was embarrassing.
"Man, you're pretty tough! I have to give you credit for your durability. But isn't this getting boring? How long are you going to keep playing tag?"
Doni walked slowly toward me. Disappointment was written all over his face. He didn't want a one-sided massacre; he wanted an equal struggle.
I staggered to my feet. A body covered in blood. Wounds that wouldn't heal. Authorities that wouldn't work. Everything was hopeless. Yet, in that despair, my mind grew strangely cold and clear.
'…A weakness. It has to exist. His defense is absolute against physical attacks like Ravana's, but not against curses. That means an internal force, rather than an external one, might stand a chance. And… dragon blood… an immortal body… those fairy-tale stories always have a loophole. For instance, Achilles had his heel… and in the story of dragon blood… wasn't the most famous version about a leaf sticking to his back while he bathed in the blood, leaving that one spot untouched? Of course, there's no guarantee it's exactly the same…'
Two clues pointed toward a single hypothesis. The observation that curses worked, and the faint possibility of 'Dragon-Slayer clichés.'
'If… if his Authority really stems from such a tale, there might be a "hole" where his defensive Authority doesn't reach. And if that hole exists, perhaps a power other than my curse could work. But how do I find that weakness?'
Of course, there was no guarantee Doni's Authority was a perfect copy of the storybooks. But right now, the only hope I could bet on was Pele's power. Still, it wouldn't hurt to observe the situation and think a bit more. I still had no idea what kind of power I usurped from killing Ravana. For now, I'll do everything I can.
I wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth and smirked at Doni as he approached.
"Running away? No, that was just the warm-up."
"Oho?"
Doni's eyes lit up with renewed interest.
"The real party starts now."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register