In one corner of the wasteland, two lights flashed.
For hours on end, an ash-gray demon and a yellow demon had been hurling their swords at each other.
Whoosh! Shhhk!!
At a glance, the endless deadlock looked as though the gray one was being overwhelmed and swallowed by that yellow radiance, but the truth was the exact opposite.
'...What an absurd talent.'
The one being pushed back was the yellow light, Agera.
Instead of his usual speed-based style, Adelio was using a defensive swordsmanship that redirected Agera's blade.
At first, his swordplay had looked awkward, but with every exchange, every clash of steel, its gaps steadily shrank and its form grew cleaner.
In other words, while fending off hell's greatest swordsman, he was growing stronger by the moment.
'So merely parrying my sword isn't enough for him? He means to take it all for himself...?'
Monstrous martial talent.
The demon who had once stood frozen behind [Blanc] a few years ago was nowhere to be seen. The man before Agera now had become a new pillar, boldly aiming for hell's first seat.
A new pillar seeking the place of [Hell's Greatest Sword].
'...So my lady had good reason to want him that badly.'
Adelio's worth was not limited to his soul of nothingness. His talent itself was every bit as exceptional as that soul.
No—perhaps that was only natural.
If his talent had been lacking, Gran Dwargo would never have passed his secret arts on to him.
If he had been nothing more than an ordinary man, Guy Crimson would have treated him like a servant, just as he did his other acquaintances.
In the end, the reason they had continued to keep him as a disciple was because both his soul and his talent shone that brightly.
Because somewhere in them had been the expectation that, in the distant future, he might even surpass them.
'Dwargo's Fourth Secret Art, Heavenly Star.'
And that expectation was being proven true by the demon quietly blooming before his eyes.
Wooooong...!!!
A rocky sword strike unfolded along a golden galaxy.
A secret art of crushing force that could not even be compared to the rocks of the surface world.
A sweeping downward blow, vast enough to wipe out a whole area, came crashing down over Agera's head.
"It's about time to end this."
"...It seems it is."
Adelio spoke as though his victory were already decided.
But Agera did not deny it. If Adelio had abandoned defense, that meant he had already absorbed all of Agera's swordsmanship.
So all that remained was to swing his sword to the very end in accordance with his lady's command.
"That was well played."
Murmuring as if to say it had not been bad at all, Agera leaped high toward the descending strike.
Then he drew his sword back and took the form of a thrust.
He too was a swordsman of brilliance, and during the battle, he had come to an understanding.
"!!"
Of the very first ultimate technique of the Oboro Style that Araki Byakuya had completed before crossing into another world.
[Oboro Style Ultimate Art: Five-Floral Thrust]
In those days, it had also been called the Oboro Divine Sword Style's earliest secret art and ultimate technique.
The transcendent blade forged by humans to kill fiends collided head-on, then pierced through the heart of the meteor.
KWA-GWA-GWA-GWANG...!!!
A fivefold sword strike. The result was even.
It was still an ultimate technique that had not been fully completed, yet in sheer power it stood equal to Adelio's sword.
A flawed blade born purely from instinct had drawn out the form sleeping within the soul.
"......"
And yet he had said he learned a thing or two from a demon who had lived barely over a hundred years. That was humility taken too far.
He might lose in [Acquisition], but when it came to [Experience], Agera held an overwhelming advantage.
Which meant there were still many mountains left for Adelio to climb.
So—
—he too had to abandon any thought of ending this halfheartedly.
"...I should be the one saying I learned something."
Closing his eyes for a brief moment in respect, Adelio adjusted his grip on the sword.
He poured his full strength into it, intending to bring this duel to its proper end.
He had felt it instinctively.
That the next exchange would decide the victor.
"Good. Then let me show you one more thing, as a bonus."
Agera too smiled faintly and engraved the final sword he would unleash into his body.
He had long forgotten even its name, but he felt it was the most fitting blade with which to end this duel.
That man—the new greatest sword—would surely want to master this ultimate technique as well.
'To leave a sword behind for the next generation.'
Just as he had done in his previous life, just as Gran Dwargo had done, just as Guy Crimson had done, Agera too found himself wanting to see it.
Just how far that demon would rise, and beyond the small world called hell, what other worlds he might challenge for the highest seat in.
If it was for the sake of seeing that sight, then passing on this ultimate technique meant nothing at all.
The birth of a new powerhouse was, to a demon, little different from a blessing.
"Hah!!" "Hah!!"
With two short battle cries announcing the beginning of the end, the two longswords swung at the same time.
[Black Heaven, Nether's End]
[Five-Floral Thrust]
The single path of the sword that two swordsmen had carved out alone, staking their entire lives on it.
A sword path containing the ultimate depth of [Will].
And—
the succession of [First].
Fwoooooong...
The moon of emptiness hanging high in the night sky mixed with plum blossoms blooming brightly beneath its light.
A moon beginning in darkness, and petals reaching five.
The end of life, and the full bloom of flowers.
In slowly flowing time, the two blades met at a single point and—
—settled it.
Chaaaaaaang————!!!!
The beautifully blooming fivefold petals were swallowed by the wind gifted by the night.
The old swordsman's arm was absorbed into the radiance along with the moonlight,
and at last, it met its end.
......
".........My defeat."
In the wasteland, now quiet after the thunderous blast, Agera looked at his right arm, vanished without a trace, and made his declaration.
It might have sounded like a powerless voice, but the meaning of that declaration was immense.
Because the moment he acknowledged defeat, it meant that a new [Hell's Greatest Sword] had been born in this hell.
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