A gaze looking down from the rocky peak met a gaze looking up from below. Amidst a tension so thick it felt as though it might swallow the sound of the crashing waves, I crossed my arms and gave a sharp tilt of my chin.
*Being a senior is exhausting.*
To be frank, I had no intention of killing the boy. However, I didn’t plan on taking it easy on him either. The world of Kings is cold and ruthless. As I learned through bitter experience three years ago in Hawaii and England, a King without power doesn’t just destroy himself—he brings everyone around him down into the abyss. If I was going to entrust my territory to him, he at least needed to know how to keep himself alive.
“I’ll grant you the first move. Pour out whatever is inside that vessel of yours and let's see what it holds.”
This wasn’t mercy. It was the calm detachment of an absolute predator, a tester’s attitude forged through three years of dealing with gods and Devil Kings alike.
Kusanagi Godo licked his dry lips. His heart hammered as if it might burst, but there was no turning back. Trusting in the knowledge Erica had drilled into him and his own instincts, he drew his first card.
“Thus, thou hast broken the covenant and brought evil unto the world...”
As the incantation flowed from Godo’s lips, the atmosphere began to vibrate. His shadow bled into a pitch-black ink, and from within it, the shape of a massive beast surged forth.
“The Lord hath spoken: let judgment be delivered upon the sinner! Trample them!”
KUOOOOOOOO—!
With a roar that seemed to tear through space itself, a black boar the size of a house manifested. It was an avatar of destruction molded from the Authority of a god. The creature’s eyes flashed with a crimson light as it charged in a straight line toward me. The earth shook, and rocks were ground into dust beneath its path.
“Hoh.”
I narrowed my eyes with mild interest at that overwhelming mass. Simple, but possessed of undeniable destructive power. For a rookie, it was a heavy opening gambit.
However, power is meaningless if it fails to reach its target.
I stared directly into the eyes of the charging boar. As my pupils were dyed in the color of ash, I spat out an incantation carrying the curse of the earth.
“He who looks upon me, and all that face me: Fall into silence and turn to stone.”
Space itself began to bleach gray along the trajectory of my gaze. Starting from the forelegs of the furiously charging boar, its coarse fur and surging muscles instantly began to transform into cold, hard stone.
It was at that exact moment.
“Now!”
Godo’s shout rang out. He had been waiting for the exact split second the boar was being petrified. Using the massive summoned beast as a decoy and a shield to draw my gaze, Godo lunged out from behind the boar’s shadow.
The boar's momentum had been transferred into his own body. He wasn't just relying on the summon; he had converted that power into his own physical stats, closing the distance at hyper-velocity.
*He used his head. However...*
Godo’s fist rushed toward my solar plexus—a surprise attack from a blind spot. A normal opponent would have been caught off guard, but I already knew the counter to this tactic.
My Authority isn't just about turning things I see into stone.
I realized it three years ago while fighting the storm god who covered the Hawaiian sky. And I confirmed it again when fighting Doni in Italy. The essence of my power is more than petrification—it is Stasis. An absolute power of stillness that forces all kinetic energy within my domain to converge toward zero at my command.
Without panicking, I trapped both the boar and Godo within my domain simultaneously and chanted the true verse.
“Time shall cease its flow, and sound shall lose its being. Under the curse of the serpent within my eyes, let all living things become monuments in the name of eternity.”
KRRRRRRRK!
A bizarre sound echoed. It wasn't the sound of breaking bones. It was the sound of space itself screaming in protest.
Godo’s fist, which had come inches from my chest, stopped dead in mid-air as if trapped in invisible jelly. The boar charging behind him also froze perfectly with its forepaws raised.
“Ugh... Argh?!”
Godo’s eyes shook with horror. He couldn’t move. An absolute sense of restriction washed over him, as if cement had been poured into every vein in his body. He couldn't even twitch a finger.
*This is... Medusa's power? It’s not just turning things to stone... it’s like time itself stopped!*
Dripping with cold sweat, Godo looked up at me. I looked down at him and spoke coldly.
“Did you think avoiding my eyes would be enough? Once you’ve stepped into my garden, every movement you make is impossible without my permission.”
Slowly, very slowly, I approached Godo. The sheer pressure was enough to make his heart feel like it would explode. If things continued like this, he would die. He wouldn't just be frozen; his entire existence would be devoured by this ashen domain.
Godo desperately forced his mouth open. Fighting the sensation of his tongue turning to stone, he spat out an incantation of resistance.
“I am... I am the Victor! No chain can bind me... and no rampart can block me!”
The Authority of the god of victory, Verethragna, responded to its master's crisis. Golden divine energy exploded from within Godo’s body, beginning to crack the ashen shackles that bound him.
CRACK!
“HAHHH!”
With a roar of exertion, Godo forcibly tore through the restraint and threw another punch. It was a magnificent display of resistance. But that split second had already given me more than enough time.
I retracted the Authority. There was no need to waste energy at such close range. The physical body of a King, tempered in countless battlefields over three years, was more than sufficient.
Whish— THUD!
“Gah?!”
My fist drove straight into Godo’s abdomen. It wasn’t an Authority; it was a pure physical strike. However, the strength of a King who had slain a god was a lethal weapon in its own right. Godo’s body doubled over, his breath knocked completely out of him.
I didn’t stop. Grabbing the stumbling Godo by the collar, I pulled him toward me and delivered an uppercut to his jaw with my other hand.
THWACK!
Godo’s head snapped back as he was lifted into the air. I immediately spun my body, planting a roundhouse kick into his exposed side while he was vulnerable.
BOOM!
“AAAAAAGH!”
Godo went flying, rolling unsightly across the ground. He crashed into boulders and scraped across the dirt before coming to a stop, coughing and groaning in agony.
“Listen here, rookie. If you keep acting cocky just because you have an Authority, you’re going to die young.”
I smoothed my clothes and walked toward him slowly.
“Power isn’t something you just borrow; it’s something you must master. Your movements are predictable because you’re swinging the power of a god around without even knowing the basics of hand-to-hand combat.”
“...Cough, hack.”
Godo spat out blood-stained saliva and stood up unsteadily. His body throbbed where I’d hit him and his head was spinning, but the light in his eyes hadn't faded.
*He’s strong.... His Authority, his technique... everything is overwhelming.*
But he couldn't give up here. His limits were being tested. If he fell over something like this, he had no right to protect Japan, or the people who looked to him.
“I’m... not done yet!”
Godo converted his pain into rage. He reached his hands toward the ground.
“I am the strongest, and I shall grasp every victory! I shall break all enemies and all hostility, be they man or demon!”
His arm muscles swelled unnaturally. It wasn't just a simple boost in strength. Using that monstrous power, he began to literally rip up the bedrock of the deserted island he stood upon.
CRAAAACK! RUMBLE!
One end of the island groaned. With a roar, Godo hoisted a massive slab of bedrock—the size of a small building—and hurled it toward me.
“TAKE THIIIIIIIIS!”
A colossal shadow loomed over me. There was no room to dodge. The geography of the island itself had been weaponized and thrown my way.
“Foolish boy. Take your power plays somewhere else.”
I didn't move an inch. Instead, I awakened another Authority within me: the power of the sky.
“Hear my voice, O Heavens! I shall take your wild breath as the shield that protects me!”
The air surrounding me was instantly compressed. An invisible, transparent barrier of wind manifested before me.
KWAAAAAAANG!
The massive bedrock collided with the wind shield and shattered into countless pieces. Boulders flew in every direction, but not a single speck of dust reached me. Piercing through the chaotic cloud of debris, I rode the wind and soared vertically into the sky.
SHHHAAAAA!
In an instant, I was hundreds of meters in the air. I looked down at Godo. Panicked that his attack had been nullified, he was frantically searching for me.
“Look up, brat.”
My voice echoed from the heavens like thunder. When Godo raised his head, he saw it.
The clear sky of the island had been instantly smothered by pitch-black storm clouds. And within those clouds, blue lightning flashed like thousands of squirming serpents.
“Let me show you the true wrath of the sky.”
I reached toward the heavens and chanted the verse of destruction.
“Hear my voice, O Heavens! Your breath shall become a blade, and your tears shall become the lightning that strikes down my foes!”
BOOOOOM—! CRACK-BOOM!
The sky was torn asunder.
It wasn't a single bolt. Dozens, hundreds of lightning strikes poured down like rain. Their only target was Kusanagi Godo, standing on the earth below.
“Eek?!”
Godo’s face went pale. That level of firepower was something that neither man nor god could survive unscathed. He couldn’t block it. He had to dodge. But how?
*Think! Think! Find the power to overcome this!*
In that desperate moment as the lightning began to rain down upon his head, Godo’s instincts found the answer.
“Fear me, those with wings! Whether evil or strong, fear me who possesses wings! My wings shall deliver the retribution of the curse upon you!”
Godo’s body was enveloped in light. Breaking free from the shackles of gravity, he entered the realm of Divine Speed, transcending physical velocity.
ZIP!
The moment the first bolt struck his previous position and melted the ground, Godo was already gone. He began to sprint like a madman, weaving through the raining lightning with paper-thin margins.
“Useless!”
I flicked my fingers, adjusting the trajectory of the bolts. They bent in mid-air like homing missiles. Godo screamed as he fled along the coastline of the island.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it! Does this senior have an infinite battery or something?!”
Godo ran with a look of despair on his face. Yet, his eyes remained fixed on me in the sky, refusing to give up.
Watching his persistent struggle, a faint smile played across my lips.
*Impressive. I thought he was just lucky, but he’s holding on quite stubbornly. At this rate, he might actually be useful enough to handle my more annoying chores.*
But the test wasn't over yet. Summoning an even fiercer storm, I began to drive Godo toward the edge of the cliff.
“Show me, Kusanagi Godo. Let's see just how deep your vessel goes!”
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