Volume 9 Chapter 63 Stick Vs Fist, Part Three
The space where Kougarou and the others fought was different from other places, with its vastness reduced in exchange for its sturdiness. The wooden room was creaking, cracking, and collapsing.
What appeared from below was a pitch-black wall.
Only the door to advance was left, and the floor and walls were dyed black, where the winner and loser were decided.
"Incredible... a blow like a comet's!"
Shikin let out a whistle of amazement.
The right arm that had unleashed the '(One Hundred Union Cannon)' had completely vanished and showed no signs of regeneration.
However, he was still standing. With both feet firmly planted on the black ground, he was standing.
What he saw in front of him was Kougarou, lying flat on his back.
Blood was flowing from his entire body, and he wasn't moving an inch. The stick that had been shattered from the middle was lying nearby.
The '(One Hundred Union Cannon)', which had consumed a hundred years' worth of training, was equivalent to a life-risking attack for an ordinary sorcerer.
It was only natural that Kougarou had been defeated.
――My body, it hurts.
While pouring power into his immobile arms and legs, Kougarou was maintaining a thin thread of consciousness.
He was alive because the stick had taken the brunt of Shikin's attack.
If he had taken that attack head-on, his body would have been (utterly destroyed) by now.
It was as if he had been crushed by sheer force, with the phrase "on the brink of death" etched into his mind.
At some point, he had started to feel nostalgic for that.
When he was young, it was a given, and even when he became the king of the Great Forest Country, being on the verge of death was not an unusual thing.
His clan, in the land of Asteris, was often not referred to as either human or demon. They were a clan that denied the gods.
In the past, when humans and demons were distinguished, Kougarou's ancestors had committed a great sin in the human kingdom and were exiled.
According to the royal family's (くでん), the goddess was not a god, and they claimed so.
To be honest, he wasn't interested in such things.
As long as he didn't leave the forest, there would be no persecution, and he wouldn't be caught up in a meaningless war between humans and demons (mazoku).
There's only one thing that interests me: what lies at the heart of the great forest.
What kind of world are we living in, fighting in?
That's all.
'Lend me your power, people of the forest!'
In this world, someone suddenly appeared from the outside.
This person, who couldn't even walk properly in the forest, advanced with just one sword and reached the country.
He claimed to be a hero.
That's how Kougarou and Yamamoto Yuusuke met.
Recalling male friendships that went full circle is just embarrassing.
"――Huh, you still have that kind of power left?"
Kougarou was standing up.
He didn't know when or how he stood up, or where he got that kind of power.
But his soul was pounding, telling him he had to do it.
Participating in the God-Demon War is absurd. In the distant past, his clan chose to live in the forest, escaping from such entanglements.
Kougarou said as much, but Yuusuke responded,
'Kougarou, I don't know what your ancestors were or what they did. I never thought about it. Your life is yours to decide. You can explore the outside world and come back to this forest; that's a choice you can make.'
It was convincing.
'I'm telling you, it's not wrong. The world is vast and full of surprises.'
Although he understood that, his heart still skipped a beat at those words.
So, in the end, they decided with a fistfight. If Yuusuke's words were true, then his fist should hold a weight that Kougarou didn't have.
"――――"
The magic power sleeping within him awakened.
The power, which usually lay quietly inside his black magic, was now stirring.
Kougarou was afraid to use the power that existed within him, a power he himself didn't understand, one that belonged to a different dimension.
He couldn't even remember when it was, back in his childhood.
During training, Kougarou, who got separated from the adults, spent a week walking through the demon-infested forest, exploring the great forest.
So, at that time, he arrived there.
Maybe, it was night. Since there were no lights, he just had a feeling, or maybe it was daytime.
In any case, a massive lake spread out before Kougarou's eyes.
In the depths of the lake, which was a deep, transparent color, numerous stars twinkled.
It was impossible to determine what those countless points of light were.
――――Swaying.
In the depths of the lake, a white shadow fluttered.
This was no illusion.
The lake's surface rippled calmly, and the stars trembled.
The white shadow extended endlessly, making it impossible to distinguish where the body ended and the tail began.
When Kougarou saw the enormous existence, he finally understood the meaning of the word "god".
Was the "Ultimate Dragon" said to live deep in the forest a being of that sort?
Before he knew it, he was surrounded by adults, lying in the forest.
No one knew about that lake.
He searched for it many times, but it was impossible to find until now.
From that time on, Kougarou felt as if a similar shadow was coiled in the depths of his own heart.
It was better to be alone.
He thought so from the bottom of his heart.
"――Shinrei, manifest"
This guy would crush everything, regardless of friend or foe.
"'Accelerate'"
Kougarou's hair turned a silver color.
In the midst of eternal, celestial blue, silver light danced radiantly.
It was beautiful, yet violent and mad.
It was a spirit's incarnation.
"――Is that your true power, Kougarou?"
Shikin's voice, filled with wonder, received no response from Kougarou.
He couldn't respond.
His consciousness was growing hazy, and he was losing himself.
But one thing was clear, no matter how dark the surroundings.
――――Forward.
――Forward.
Forward.
His foot stepped firmly on the black floor, and he took a step forward, as if about to fall.
Shikin instinctively felt that this was the beginning of sorcery.
There was no grand gesture, no compression of magical power.
It was the final step of a dying man.
In that instant, Shikin, who had fought against even the land gods, felt an unprecedented pressure that shook him to his core.
(Trembling), (shaking), he screamed.
The time to put everything on the line had come.
"'Nine Hundred Years Union Cannon'!!"
He staked his life and unleashed a fist.
He no longer had any attachment to life. His wife, trapped in the agony of death, and his child, would be saved by his lord.
What he had to do was to take down this man right here.
The training Shikin had accumulated became a single, powerful fist, and he took a step forward, closing in on Kougarou.
In the moment when Nine Hundred Years Union Cannon approached, Kougarou's foot also touched the ground.
――(Settled), the outcome was decided.
Exactly, in that instant.
Neither Kougarou nor Shikin recognized that moment.
Kougarou's '(Accelerate)' accelerated the '(All Things in Nature)'. The '(Azure Silver)'s '(Shinrei)' accelerated Kougarou's time.
Ignoring the constraint of lifespan, it compressed an eternity into this instant.
The phenomenon this brought about was not just being able to move quickly.
The discrepancy between the surrounding time and the accelerated time would generate an enormous (friction).
The energy born from there was nothing short of miraculous.
"――――"
When Kougarou, standing as the victor before the door, turned around, there was nothing left in the black space except for a silver glint.
The (Mugen)'s had scattered, fading away.
"――I accept your praise, thank you"
Leaving behind the falling illusion, Kougarou Eftiona pushed open the door.
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