CH 39

RAW:

9:just wana say this, sorry guys but i kinda made lot of mistakes this chapter, the author suddenly decided to use 3rd POV for the whole chapter, i was already used to Ryua’s POV which made this kinda hard for me to translate. Though at first i was depressed about it but after reaching the 2nd half i understood the charm of the 3rd POV, it was good for describing fights, though i would still prefer Ryua’s POV when they are not fighting

Xant: Finally. Oh my jeebus. I am sorry this took so ding dang long. Also, Flappy and Kuro, stop harassing me whenever I hop into IRC for more chapters. I have a life you know~ (I will spoil chapters if you keep it up >:3)

Author notes: This time, I tried writing in 3rd person. What it will be after is still undecided.

Siegel went to the clinic to visit Rupee, who was staring at the ceiling. They ended up forming a party after becoming acquaintances. Rupee, noticing Seigel’s figure in the room, smiled as he welcomed him.

“I saw your match. It was a disaster.”

Seigel caught Rupee making a strange expression as he said ‘disaster’, but he didn’t say anything. He had fought that sword in the past himself, so he understood.

“That sword…I don’t recognize it.”

“It looks like it wasn’t even caught by your <Stardust Memory>.”

Seigel understood the menacing nature of <Stardust Memory>. Earlier on, in Rupee’s match, Seigel had been eyeing that sword. His exterior may have stayed calm and collected, but he felt the corrupted presence.

“You can say that the Sun saw it. It happened right beneath that bright star, the fight and all was recorded by it. I pull that knowledge out from space and analyze it. That move calculated his movements and traits, predicted how he would act, and sealed all of his techniques. Saying that his counter was foul play is no exaggeration. Is his sword not recorded?”

“He fights like it was recorded, but his movements almost seemed like they belonged to another person.”

Somewhat odd, just as he thought. Seigel cast a cold glare around the clinic. Some superior A-ranks have been sent all around the Imperial Capital as security, and they travelled under water so the festival wouldn’t be hindered. Every year, many soldiers are dispatched for the festival. Only newcomers are spared by being given some days off or odd jobs. Thankfully, Rupee had used defensive magic before being hit, so he avoided any mortal wounds. Once Rupee was healed, Seigel planned to probe around. He concluded Rupee felt the same.

“Tifelia-san, the match! The match-”

Tifelia was finally woken up by Ryua’s stubborn shaking. She rubbed her eyes and looked around, figuring out why she was woken up. Without forgetting to say “Good morning”, Tifelia ascended to the match ground without her weapon or armor. Tifelia moved about unsteadily and drowsily as Ryua saw her off, hoping to finally see some of Tifelia’s strength. Ryua was wondering if Tifelia was truly stronger than her. Tifelia let out a large, contrasting yawn to those thoughts.

“It’s finally here! This tournament’s biggest expectation! The appearance of <Master Knight> Tifelia-chan!”

The cheers were vibrating the coliseum, and the spectators created large waves of hands that rolled and rippled through the stands. There were also some people who wrote things, such as “Tifelia LOVE”. The length of some of those posters was just too much, for the to be able to move the hearts of so many people…

Ryua admired her a little, but…

“*sigh*…so noisy…”

“I want to hear that sigh as I am about to die! No, as I’m dyiiiiiiiiiing!”

She placed her hand on her face as the annoying cheers continued on. That gesture seemed to make her fans burn up even more; they became rabid in the stands with their overflowing enthusiasm.

“And her opponent, the mysterious man, Inoro! With the exception of magic usage, there isn’t any data on him! What in the world will he show us today?”

“Attack magic is probably his specialty.”

“I already know that! Well then, let’s see what happens!” 1st round, 4th match!”

Inoro silently glared towards the bored Tifelia.

He was shorter than Tifelia, almost looking like a child.

Other than his odd robe, he had a mysterious aura about him. Alhough, it was a child versus an adult. The result was obvious from a glance. ‘This isn’t an opponent for the <Master Knight>’ was a common thought among the spectators.

“Tifelia vs. Inoro! Start!”

Even though they were told to start, Tifelia behaved just as she had in the preliminaries, unwilling. Inoro was waiting on Tifelia to make the first move.

“Are both of them just waiting for the other? There aren’t any signs of movement!”

“When you fight against someone at a similar level, the match can be decided in an instant. Really, considering what we know about Inoro, can you grasp his true strength from his appearance?”

Ryua swallowed her saliva while watching them. She was more curious about Tifelia than Inoro. Inoro moved first; it seems he ran out of patience. However, he didn’t use any magic. He slowly approached Tifelia.

“H-hold on! What does Inoro plan to do!? Tifelia-chan is responding-”

Tifelia finally noticed Inoro as he got close, and partly opened her mouth while winking. Inoro thought she was playing dumb.

“Umm, what is it?”

The spectators were expecting a fierce fight, and Ryua had been let down by the outcome before her. “Tifelia-san, what are you doing!?” Ryua felt irritated and she was acting like a child, tapping the floor with her feet.

“<Master Knight> Tifelia. If she judged the opponent unworthy, she wouldn’t even look at them. Just like the data we have on her implies.”

“*Sigh* is that so?”

“However, that will be a fatal decision.”

Standing before Tifelia, Inoro quickly cut his own hand. Blood appeared on Tifelia. Her mouth was still partly open, even she was surprised from this. She didn’t wipe the dripping blood, instead she finally looked at her opponent from his head to his feet.

“Umm…how are you going to clean this?”

“You don’t need to worry. The need to pay for it will soon disappear, since you’ll be going to the other side soon. You and that stupid face you’re making.”

“Eh, I really don’t feel like disappearing.”

“…I give up.”

The live reporter, commentary, and spectators all went silent while watching the development in front of them. You couldn’t even call this a match. The referee didn’t even respond to Inoro’s “I give up”. He repeated himself to make sure the referee heard him.

“Ha? Sorry, what?”

“I said I give up. The victory goes to Tifelia.”

The match was aborted by Inoro, and he descended from the match grounds, vanishing into the waiting room.

“*Sigh*” Tifelia seems to want to say something, but there was nothing to be delighted about. She followed suit and also descended from the match grounds. Although Ryua had been looking forward to the fight, she didn’t understand why it ended like it did. It was a huge letdown. She finally released her clenched fist.

“It ended after some blood spilled? What’s with that…”

Ryua wasn’t really asking anyone, she was just talking to herself.

“Ah geez…the blood won’t come off…*sigh*…but I saw something that works before. If you tap and cover it with the end of a daikon…I want to tap it…”

Tifelia’s gaze changed from her dirtied clothes to Ryua. She smiled at Ryua, and Ryua couldn’t help but return a fake smile. Ever since Ryua had left the <Caves of Hell>, she hadn’t met a person like Tifelia before.

“It’s going to be your match next, right? I watched your previous fight closely. It was amazing. You were going easy, but to have that much power…”

“So you weren’t sleeping…”

This person easily saw through Ryua and that she had been going easy. Ryua thought if it was this person, then she could easily read her mind.

“Ah, it’ll be your turn very shortly, you know.”

“Well then, it’s the 2nd round of the finals! 1st match! Ryua vs. Hekaton!”

Hekaton was already on the match grounds in a daunting pose. Ryua jumped towards the platform, a little disorganized. Hekaton was laughing. He looked down at everything. Ryua hated this large person. Considering what happened with Ritta, Ryua wondered what she’ll do in this match. She came to a swift conclusion. Hekaton wasn’t fazed when he saw Amane get one-shot, and it also seems like he considers this match already won. He crushes his opponents, tramples their heart, and destroys them. It was like that time with Gametts. Ryua’s heart was smothered in fury, a blue flame silently burning.

“You, don’t be thinking that you can down me in one blow like you did that muscle woman.”

“I think I can, you know.”

Ryua didn’t want to talk to Hekaton anymore, she felt like vomit would come out. She had been speaking in a low tone. You couldn’t think of her as a little girl, she was more like a knife.

“Brat.”

Hekaton rotated his prided hammer once in the sky and then swung it down to strike the platform. If his opponent had been a more normal person, then they would have felt threatened. Ryua wasn’t affected at all. The <Caves of Hell> had monsters that made your hair stand on end. Watching this adult swinging his toy hammer around made her feel nothing.

“Shitakka-san! That girl, with her monster-like strength, is she well matched against Hekaton?”

“It depends entirely on potential. You can’t determine how strong someone is before the match.”

“This guy. Only saying potential.”

The referee stood between the two of them and finally announced the start of the match. The atmosphere was unusual between Hekaton and Ryua, the referee instantly took a step back from them.

“Now then, I’ll be starting. Also, I’ll tell you something good. The King over there will appreciate even someone like me. In short, strength is justice. Did you listen to him earlier? I murdered someone last time, but I wasn’t barred from participating this time. What does that tell you?”

Hekaton held his hammer with two hands and brandished it like he did earlier. It seems like he will put as much strength as he can into every strike. A crack and the rumbling ground from a single strike shows how strong he is. However, Ryua had a look that said “So?” Her eyes stayed focused, and her mouth was still. It was evident that Ryua didn’t regard Hekaton as an opponent.

“Amane-san was an amazing person. That’s why I reflected on the way I fought against her. But for you, it’s different.”

“Stop your babbling!”

He moved his hammer to his left hand and without delay struck at Ryua. “I won’t be hit by such a thing,” Ryua said as she dodged. Hekaton’s hammer suddenly switched into his other hand and was swung at her again. Like bullet holes, the amount of stamps that the hammer made on the platform increased. He was controlling his hammer like he was beating a drum, rhythmically striking at Ryua.

“HeiHei! Heiheihei!”

His tone matched the timing of the bullet hole being made. Due to the rumbling it caused, many of the spectators were screaming, and some of the female spectators were crying. The storm of hammer attacks were evaded easily, Ryua dodged to the beat.

“W-what an intense attack! Ryua isn’t even being given a chance to fight back!”

“This is Hekaton’s <Grand Ram>. The strikes cover a large area and the vibrations prevent the opponent from taking a proper stance. This drains their stamina, and when they get tired the attack will eventually hit. Even if the opponent is an expert, he would have to avoid every strike from start to finish. If you look closely at Hekaton, it seems like he enjoys driving his opponents into a corner like this.”

“It feels like we finally received a proper explanation this time around!”

Hekaton’s large hammer kept falling towards Ryua. The match platform had become the drum for Hekaton’s beat, and the shockwaves from each swing were attacking Ryua.

“Yoiyoiyoi! Yoiyoiyotto!”

The match platform had been destroyed to the point where it couldn’t be used anymore. Since it was known that A-ranked fighters would be participating, the match grounds had been made of a stone that was almost as hard as orihalcon. Even so, it had been dented by the sheer force of the hammer. Hekaton was trying to instill fear into Ryua with his strength. He was under the impression she was getting exhausted. However, her expression hadn’t changed.

///

“That Ryua, just what is she doing?”

“Oh! Gantetsu-san, you came.”

“It doesn’t seem like she’s unable to resist but more like she doesn’t want to. Seigel, what do you think?”

“It seems the situation at the clinic is in her head. She probably has a child-like scheme.”

“Ryua-han ih noht heeeming at all!” (ED: Roel is eating while talking)

Roel was stuffing her mouth with a buttered potato while desperately protesting, but she was only able to persuade them after swallowing and speaking properly.

///

“Do you think that you can keep evading?”

Ryua wasn’t replying as usual, she just kept evading his hammer. “I wonder if I should finish him in one hit…” Ryua thought, but she decided to wait a little more. She wanted to utterly crush him.

“So you hate me? Look around and think a little. There will always be someone that laughs down at those in front of them. To point out the weak from a group and exclude them, keeping them safe and giving them peace of mind. Human beings can’t do that, you know?”

While he was talking, little sparks of electricity were arcing from his arm to his hammer. The noise slowly increased in volume, and eventually the electricity influxed his entire hammer.

“Seeing scum like that rise up to A-rank makes me excited, once again I can crush…”

The expressionless Hekaton finally showed an unpleasant smile. Ryua couldn’t help but feel disgusted looking at it. “More ugly than a monster,” was her impression. She understood that the “scum” insult was aimed at Nikka. She clenched her teeth, but she didn’t draw her sword.

“You’re worse than Grundom.”

Neither Grundom nor Hekaton can change. No matter what Ryua says, it won’t move them. Hekaton, as if ending the banter, jumped into the air. He assumed a stance, preparing to swing his hammer. He jumped high enough to see over the walls of the coliseum, it was his way of showing off his strength.

“I’ll teach you! In the end, it’s all about power! No matter what they do, if they don’t have power then you can do nothing but howl like a loser! You can’t protect anything without power! You crumble in the face of reality! That’s how that guy ended up…and with this, you might die. Resent me as much as you want! THOOOOOOOOR HAMMEEEEER!”

Electricity streamed from his hammer and fell, it wasn’t aimed at Ryua but rather the center of the platform. Not even a floor monster, let alone a human, could bear the voltage of that bolt. All of the cells in the body would be annihilated, and it would cease to exist. This was Hekaton’s strongest skill: . The light and sound this move emitted caused the spectators to be blinded, most were covering their heads and protecting their bodies as much as they could. This skill was fear incarnate. He planned to kill Ryua from the start. Originally he had been fine with whatever, but “Crush the spoiled brat!” was his only purpose at this point. He felt no greater pleasure than at this moment, achieving his goal. This was the only time he felt any pleasure.

“What the…”

—–The light disappeared, and standing in the middle of the platform was Ryua.

Hekaton’s smile vanished. Ryua had dared to take on the full brunt of his <Thor Hammer>. She pinned the hammer with one hand. The current had long since scattered, in front of him wasn’t the form of a helpless girl. Cracks started to appear in his hammer, and it was smashed to pieces. With just her grip, his special weapon was pulverized. Hekaton was just…looking.

“Old man, you’re weak.”

With that one phrase, Hekaton became filled with rage. With his hammer broken, he began to attack Ryua with his fists. But with his strongest attack, <Thor Hammer>, being defended against so easily, brute strength wasn’t going to work either.

“You, you fucking braaaaaaaaaaat!! Don’t look down on us adults! Just who raised this arrogant girl!?

“So weak, you’re so weak. You put on such a big act, but I’m way stronger than you.”

“DIEEE!”

Even without a weapon, Hekaton is by no means weak. With his physique and brute strength, his unarmed prowess is beyond that of a monk’s. However, if one of the monsters from the <Caves of Hell>, where Ryua fought, were to leave the dungeon, they can destroy the world. That’s how strong the monsters there are. Ryua didn’t have any way of knowing the details of the monsters inside the <Caves of Hell>. Within it, she fought a monster called <Gigas Atlas> that, with just one punch, can destroy a country. Ryua recalled that giant, even though she didn’t know it had such a name, while purposely letting Hekaton hit her on the head.

“Gi-giyaaaaaaaaa!”

It was like punching something harder than steel; Hekaton’s fist took damage. Hekaton’s right hand was completely broken.

“Running away from something you can’t do, something you can’t face. Trampled with regrettable thoughts as if cursed. Ever since I was a child, I have always endured it. You didn’t have to go that far when you fought Nikka. After we’re done here, apologize.”

“J-just what are you babbling about you braaaat!”

He punched out with his remaining left hand, then a kick. He wasn’t able to move the girl standing there an inch. Hekaton’s pride wouldn’t let him recognize their difference in strength.

“J-just what kind of support magic did you get? Don’t you know the rules? This is a f-foul play you know! Referee! Disqualify this guy!”

“I won’t. From what I have seen, there wasn’t any kind of support magic used this whole time…”

“You blockhead! How can you say that? Oi! Can’t you see? This guy is cheating! You understand, right!?”

Those in the audience; the participants waiting in standby, Tifelia and Kweed; and the King who was overlooking all, Hekaton raised his voice for everyone to hear; seeking someone with the same opinion. Pathetic. Anyone he looked to would immediately look away. Tifelia was only interested in Ryua. She was the only one she was looking at. Since the very beginning, she was never interested in Hekaton. Most likely, that voice didn’t even reach her ears.

“Hekaton, you lose.”

“So noisy, would you shut up!?”

No matter what he does, the situation isn’t going to get any better. The referee was also surprised by Ryua’s strength, but was even more shocked by this lastest exchange.

“Y-you, what’s your level!? Answer me! Answer me! Answer me!”

“999…”

“Oi, referee! This guy is doping!”

Ryua planned to end this now. She would crush Hekaton’s self-confidence and make him take back what he said to Nikka at the clinic. That was what she thought at first. That thought was immediately lost after Hekaton uttered his next words.

“That brat…isn’t she your companion? Hehehehe, don’t look down on the <Crusher>. If I don’t like someone, then I will chase them until they are one with the earth. You understand right? Because of you, your little blonde friend is going to experience something horrible. Hihihihihihi…now then, what would yo-ku!”

Those were Hekaton’s last words. Ryua’s fist met with Hekaton’s cheek. (TL: I’m shipping fist x cheek) (ED: seconded. this is my OTP) (neo: Here’s a picture ) His skull was pulverized as her fist easily dug into the side of his head. Hekaton’s body crashed right under the spectator seats. All of his teeth were broken, his whole body was flinching and he lost consciousness. The wall crumbled and the rubble fell onto Hekaton. It all happened so fast that the referee wasn’t able to react and was watching, dumbfounded.

“Ha!? Ah, let’s see.”

The referee rushed over to Hekaton’s side, before soon announcing Ryua’s victory.

“Victor…Ryua.”

Though they were noisy up until the middle of the match, the live reporter and the commentary was silent, completely speechless. They were too overwhelmed to think due to Ryua’s inhuman like strength. The King’s expression didn’t change after watching the match. However, he was clenching his hand. He was delighted about something.

The only ones who were happy and shouting ‘Banzai’ from the seats were Roel and Cynthia. Gantetsu, who knew of Ryua’s strength during the incident, had no comment.

“Just as I thought, she’s a kid.”

Seigel let out a sigh after his murmur, it didn’t reach the ears of Roel who was delighted.

“Well…ufufufufu…”

Tifelia was in a good mood as she tapped her feet, unsuitable for a venue which was still taken aback from what had happened. Several seconds after the declaration of the end of the match, the crowd began to go wild.

← →