The sparring grounds of the [Ingrassia] mansion.
Clang!!
In a training field broader than the grounds of most estates, two swords cut through the air and collided.
[Overlord Black Star] and [Moon Mistress].
A pitch-black [Legend-grade] longsword and a silver-white [God-grade] rapier.
The beloved blades of two [Hero]es, hailed as humanity's greatest fighting force and said to rival the [True Dragon]s, flew at each other's bodies.
"Your movements got a little stiffer than last time."
With that brief warning from Adelio, [Overlord Black Star], wrapped in ash-gray magic power, came crashing down over Hinata's head.
"Hard to say. I think I need to test it a little more first."
Hinata slipped back half a step and lightly evaded [Overlord Black Star] with the bare minimum of movement.
Even without Chloe, her original self, she handled Chronoa's unfamiliar body with astonishing skill. Calmly answering him, she drew [Moon Mistress] back.
It was an ordinary thrusting stance, without even the setup for a feint.
Against an opponent with a normal body and comparable swordsmanship, leaving out the feint would have created an opening. But for her, it did not matter.
"—!"
Whoosh!!
Chronoa's body was the body of a [Half-God].
In terms of pure physical ability alone, she was a human who surpassed even that First [Hero], whose limit had only ever been the body of a saint.
Even without bothering with feints, there were only two [Hero]es in the entire world who could keep up with the speed of her attacks.
Claaang!!
But—
"You really are fast."
—the problem was that one of those two people was the opponent standing right in front of her.
"So even if you can't use [Skill]s, you can still use the body's physical power?"
The purpose of this spar was to confirm how much of Chronoa's power Hinata could use.
Now that Chloe was asleep, Chronoa's body, having lost its original self, continued to waver in an incomplete state.
Fortunately, Hinata, who had once experienced being a saint herself, was managing to keep the body under control to some extent. But since there was no telling when that control might slip, they had to keep checking through regular sparring sessions like this.
"Right. But don't hold back because of that. Otherwise I can't go all out either."
As soon as she finished speaking, Hinata charged Adelio again as he widened the distance between them.
At present, Adelio at full power was strong enough to defeat Veldora before his sealing with ease. But because the body of a saint was not yet fully complete, even without using [Skill]s, he could not easily overpower Hinata while she was controlling Chronoa's body.
Because she had [Holy Relic], armor comparable to [God-grade].
Whoosh!!
Moving so fast she left afterimages, Hinata drove [Moon Mistress] forward again and again.
From one to ten, from ten to a hundred.
A storm of sword strikes swirled around Hinata.
Dwargo Second Secret Art, Earth Flower.
At the same time, Adelio's sword also burst forth with sword energy split into hundreds of streams.
The speed of the sword strikes and the sword energy was nearly equal.
The strikes forged from nothing but physical power and the sword energy born from a blend of force and magic power shone silver and gold respectively as they devoured each other.
'...As expected, a [Catastrophe] like Chronoa is troublesome even without [Skill]s.'
It was true that Adelio's equipment was [Legend-grade] while Chronoa's was [God-grade], but even setting that aside, she was strong.
Just as with the [Primordial Demons], the [Seven Angels of Origin], and Dagruel, Chronoa's body as a [Half-God] was itself infinitely close to an Ultimate Skill.
But Adelio did not particularly care about the difference in weapons and body. As he had just said, she could not use [Skill]s anyway—and...
'This is fun.'
—he could feel, in real time, that this fight was sharpening his own level of skill.
A clash between [Hero]es who had reached the level of [Catastrophe] was not the kind of battle one got to enjoy often.
**
A little later, the sparring grounds had been thoroughly wrecked by the duel between the two [Hero]es.
Since the barrier had not protected the ground itself, the entire field was buried in sand and dust, and white-aligned demons were cleaning it up with magic.
"Master... next time, please pay a little more attention to your surroundings."
Shizu, who had returned to the mansion around the time Adelio and Hinata's spar ended, gave a wry smile.
She had just come back from completing a request for the mutual aid association, only to find the back of the estate looking as though something had exploded. It was only natural that she was startled.
"...Haha... I got a little too absorbed this time. It'll be fine next time."
Facing Shizu with the same awkward smile, Adelio slowly stroked her head.
"More importantly, how's adventurer work? You must have quite a few juniors under you by now. Has it been difficult?"
"No. They're all responsible people, so nothing's been especially hard."
"That's good, then. If anything comes up, tell me without hesitation."
By now, Shizu had become such a legendary adventurer that veteran was the only fitting word for her, but in Adelio's eyes, she still looked like the child he had first met.
After treating her as his beloved disciple for a hundred years, that was only natural.
"Oh, right... I met an interesting girl on this expedition."
"An interesting girl?"
When Adelio asked, Shizu's obsidian-like black eyes sparkled as she began recounting the story of her adventure.
"The area I was assigned this time was in the eastern part of the continent, so I ended up going near the Dragon City."
"The Dragon City... That's dangerous territory because of the dragonewts. Were you alright?"
"Yes. I almost ended up fighting some warriors who live there, but the girl I mentioned helped me."
An interesting girl living near the Dragon City.
Those two details, which sounded like they should never go together, brought one particular person to Adelio's mind.
Someone with a striking appearance, living in the Dragon City, and strong enough to be perfectly fine in a dangerous place like that.
"...What was her name, by any chance?"
Adelio's voice carried a question that was almost certainty.
At his tone, Shizu tilted her head for a moment, then slowly spoke the name of that girl... no, that [Demon Lord].
"I think it was... Milim. Milim Nava."
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