121 - - The younger brother fulfills his duties as a leader.

Julius, the reincarnated hero, encouraged his brother Gaius.

A few hours later.

It was the second day of the school competition. The first competition is about to begin.

<>

Gaius and his team are on the open sea in the northern part of the empire.

The representative athletes are in swimsuits and standing on a sandy beach.

"No, no, no!　Wait a minute!　Chancellor!"

It is Anti, the head of the Imperial Academy, who objects.

"I know the first and second!　What's the third thing about long-distance flight?

>

"Are you allowed to use magic ...... magic?"

The chancellor answers Anti's question.

<

On the first day, the competition was only for one body.

However, from the next day, that restriction will be lifted.

Gaius looks around at his Royal teammates.

"I'll take the first long swim as planned."

"Are you okay, Gaius?　I was depressed yesterday."

Mikael looks up at me anxiously.

For some reason, his brother-in-law is concerned about Gaius.

Gaius smiles and pats Mikael on the head.

"Don't worry, I got you a shot of energy."

I look over at my brother, who is smiling supernaturally as usual.

"Are you a handsome ...... handsome infusion ...... handsome?"

Dantalion stands behind him.

"Whoa!　I'm so surprised. ......"

"Julius-sama injected me with ...... hot stuff. ......♡ I knew it. ...... Juli x Guy is... ...supreme."

"Don't be weird!　So ......, who's going to be the long-distance swimmer over there?"

Far behind Dantalion stands Asmodeus.

His hood conceals his figure.

"I am sorry, Mr. Gaius ......."

"What?"

"She might ...... go ...... out of control again. She seems to hold ...... a strong grudge ...... against you guys, so..."

Gaius has been told of Asmodeus' true identity by his brother Julius.

Historia.

Gaius' former lover.

I know how she ended up.

"...... Thank you for your concern. But I'll be fine.

Gaius nods vigorously.

Dantalion looks into his eyes and nods.

"I'm ...... sorry ...... for your unnecessary ...... concern."

"Don't worry about it. If they're serious, I'll be serious too.

Dantalion drops his head and walks away.

"It looks like the Holy Empire will have Alto and the Empire will have the schoolgirls for the long swim.

Julius and his friends surround Gaius.

"We're in transition, we're ahead of you to the next checkpoint."

Triathlons are divided into two checkpoints.

At each checkpoint, the athletes change places and move on to the next event.

"Last one, everyone.

Gaius looks around at his teammates.

Then he bowed his head.

"I'm sorry for the ...... mess I made at the end of the first day."

Gaius was helpless in the face of the runaway Asmodeus during the bar fight.

"I put Elise and Sakura in danger and caused trouble for you and the team. As a ...... leader, I am disqualified."

Normally, I would have been depressed again.

But now he has changed.

"So, on the second day, I will do my part. As a team leader, for everyone."

Julius and the others smile and nod.

Then they clench their fists together.

"Let's go for it, guys!"

""""Oh!"""

The other team members move back.

The transition is activated and they disappear.

Only the four who will participate in the long-distance swim are left.

"...... You've changed a lot, haven't you? Gaius."

"......Historia."

A hooded schoolgirl stands next to him.

She is registered as an athlete under the name Asmodeus .......

But that's not what she is.

She is Historia.

She is the daughter of the king and the former lover of Gaius.

Bam ......!　And Historia takes off her hood.

Her body is filled with an enormous amount of magical power, like a storm.

However, her transformation is so remarkable that we do not care about it.

Her hair is bleached, one of her eyes is crushed, and her veins are bumpy and raised.

You look happy now. I'm ...... such an ugly mess. Because of you ...... and your brothers!

Gaius does not deny it.

It is true that he abandoned her.

A lot has happened since then, but Gaius does not know.

So when he is called out for blaming the Carlyle brothers, he says neither.

"I'm going to kill you, I'm going to ...... make you ugly, I'm going to ...... make you ugly, I'm going to ...... make you ugly!"

A wave of murderous intent is painfully felt from Historia.

She no longer cared about the competition.

She just wants to take revenge on the person who caused her to suffer so much.

That was all she could think about.

Her backer, Feres, never comes out.

Her goal is to kill everyone except Julius.

That is why she wants Historia to kill Gaius and not to keep him.

"You can't kill me now, can you?"　

"Ha ......!　Don't talk big to me!　You were beaten to a pulp by me yesterday!"

Gaius was helplessly defeated before the curse of the bugs she controlled.

"Yesterday. But ...... not now. My partner is here.

He wears a belt around his waist and has a pair of swords hanging at his sides.

"Swords or no swords, I don't care!　My victory is unassailable!　I will never lose!"

"......I won't lose, either. I can't lose. I promised my friends that I would do my duty as their leader.

Gaius' clear eyes pressured Historia.

When she used to be his lover, his eyes had been somewhat cloudy.

Now, they have grown to the point that they radiate a clear fighting spirit.

"Hmph!　You can be as strong as you want to be. But when the competition starts, I'll be the first to crush you. Be prepared for that."

At a sign from the chairman, Gaius and the others take their places at the starting line.

>

At the signal, the athletes from the Holy Empire and the Empire jump into the sea.

Only Gaius and Historia are left on the beach.

"Kill ...... kill kill kill kill!　Korooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!"

A black mist spews out from all over Historia's body.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out to be a small insect.

A storm of insects, so large in quantity that they paint the wide sandy beach black, is brewing.

"............"

Gaius' mind is filled with thoughts of his defeat the other day.

<>

The voice of his partner, Saber the Warriors' Sword, echoes.

"Yes, I'm afraid. I'm not strong enough like you to defeat any enemy with ease.

Gaius draws the sword from his waist and holds it at the ready.

"So, Saber, fight with me."

In the past, Gaius had looked down on Saber as a mere tool.

But he no longer feels that way.

He has learned.

He has learned it keenly.

He is weak.

The more he fought, the more he trained, the more he learned.

Unlike my brother, I cannot be strong alone.

My friends and my partner.

I can only maximize my strength when I have other people in my life.

It was my brother Julius who made me realize this.

He always gives Gaius advice on how to become stronger.

I say this with gratitude to my brother and respect for my partner (Saber).

"Help me, partner!"

>

Gaius holds up his twin swords.

Then he says quietly

"[Spiritual equipment] deployed."

Spiritual equipment .

The art of merging with a spiritual being to gain power equal to that of a god.

By merging with the God of Swords (Saber), Gaius becomes even stronger than before.

Unlike his brother, however, Gaius's spiritual attire is incomplete.

He is dressed in pure white and wears a small hand made of ice on his left hand.

<<50%. I am amazed that you have mastered your spiritual attire so far.

"I'm not there yet. I'm not as good as my brother."

Incomplete spiritual equipment.

However, a terrifying amount of magical power blows up from Gaius' body.

"So what!　You lost yesterday!　You can still lose today!　I'm stronger ...... than you, much, much stronger than you... oh, oh, oh, oh!"

A storm of black bugs rushes toward Gaius.

But he calmly captures it all in his eyes.

"Yes, I may have lost yesterday. But I won't lose today. Better today than yesterday, better tomorrow than today. ......That's how we (we) always keep evolving. We have become demons, unlike you.

"f*ck you!　Die, you f*ck!"

A storm of bugs.

Gaius is the opponent.

In his left hand, he thrusts his blue sword into the ground.

"Musou-teki [Cocytus]!"

At that moment ...... everything was covered in ice.

Not only the bugs in front of me.

The ocean spread out in front of me also turned into a glacier covered in thick ice.

Fifty percent of the ocean that encompasses this planet is now frozen solid in an instant.

"Phew. ......"

Gaius draws his sword.

Historia is transformed into a pillar of ice with all her bugs.

Alto and the other Imperial players are safe, but they are stunned by what has just happened.

"What the hell?　Is it an ice age?　You're a monster for freezing an ocean in an instant, in the blink of an eye!"

Gaius sheathes his sword and strolls out across the frozen sea.

"No way. Don't you dare to be with a real monster!

When I look back, I see Historia, her whole body covered in ice.

Her eyes were wide with astonishment.

"......Sorry. I'm going to move on.

Gaius walks, stomping on the ice.

"Up ahead, everyone is waiting for us."

Thus, Gaius walked across the sea and took the top spot, beating out the other three schools.