Winston was flustered. It was the worst-case scenario among unexpected events.
"Is it betrayal? Adolf, of all people, fainted at the first strike. I have to protect the Saintess and stop that man somehow. Whatever is happening, now is the chance, before the Demon Lord appears."
Gritting his teeth, he moved forward. Grant, who had taken over Lucian Vane’s body, smiled faintly.
"Are you coming to die?"
"I’m trying to stop you. You don’t seem like Baron Vane."
Like a stage actor, Grant made an exaggerated gesture.
"How many times do I have to tell you for you to understand? I am your creator. You exist because I exist."
"Don’t make me laugh! You’re obviously a false god worshipped by cultists, like those who recite sins!"
A false god.
Not a being who gained true divinity like Isis or Horus, and wielded divine authority throughout the universe.
Merely a god created by delusion, false belief, or power.
Nevertheless, the power possessed by such beings was formidable.
Grant’s expression hardened. Then he let out a chuckle.
"Do you know something? There’s one ironic point."
"What is it?"
"The very people you so vehemently denounce as cultists are the ones who actually gave power to me, your creator. Well, there were also quite a few minions who merely exploited my name."
Shrugging his shoulders, he wore a smile on his pale face.
It was a pale and hollow smile.
"But at least they believed. What about you, who pride yourselves on being normal?"
"Stop with the riddles!"
As if he could no longer bear it, Winston charged. The sword, imbued with light, shone brightly as if pleading for victory.
Grant was cautious.
"One who transfers slashes from a distance, the solution is..."
No matter that it was Grant, he was currently in an incomplete state. His body was not his original one, and all his items and titles had turned away from him.
He grabbed a holy artifact, then realized his mistake.
"Right, it’s bound, isn’t it? Tsk, if it were my original power, I could break it instantly."
He dodged to the side. The slash Winston had transferred cleaved through the air.
"Haah!"
Winston transferred another slash. The slash, powerful enough to cleave even a fortress wall, tried to disrupt his vision.
Then, he felt uneasy about his rear. Grant threw his body to the side.
Whoosh.
He saw a slash coming from behind, then disappearing.
"Oh, quite impressive, aren’t you? If you had been born at the right time, you might have become a Knight Commander or even the CEO of the Hunter Association."
"The one who stops you... is me!"
Winston rushed in again. He activated a four-directional slash, different from before.
Grant perceived all of them and smiled.
"Your ability application is good. But..."
Ultimately, the most important thing was fundamentals.
He vanished, becoming a shadow.
"What?! Gah!"
Lord Grant, who had appeared before Winston, instantly slammed a fist into his jaw.
"He wasn’t visible befor...?"
With the sound of his jaw shattering, Winston’s stance crumbled. Following that, Grant delivered a backspin elbow and, rotating his body further, even a spinning kick.
The battered Winston collapsed to the ground, stained with blood. All he could do was writhe, unable to get up.
He merely looked up at Grant with hollow eyes.
"You seem curious how I did it. It’s simple. Accuracy breaks power, and timing breaks speed. Your transferred-slash tactic ultimately originates from swinging a sword. The pattern is obvious."
No matter how strong a technique, if its pattern is obvious, it’s bound to be countered. Once countered, it could no longer function as a powerful weapon.
Grant knew this better than anyone, which is why he exploited it.
Even so, he had defeated a late Master stage practitioner bare-handed. It was astonishing.
Whoosh.
Grant lifted his foot and crushed Winston’s head. He was about to shake off what was on his foot when his eyes widened.
[Crystallization]
Zzzzt!
Crystallization spread from the ground, attempting to engulf Grant. He retreated, whistling.
"Hooh?"
"...That’s enough. Who are you? Get out of my nephew body!"
Crystallized walls rose from all directions, as if to immediately surround Grant.
Even seeing that, Grant showed no sign of fear.
"An interesting woman."
He ran a finger over his lips and shrugged.
"You intend to stop me with just that much power? Don’t you know yourself?"
"You’re bluffing."
Sharia clenched her fist. In truth, she knew it too.
"That’s no longer Lucian. But the unknown energy emanating from that man is endless, like a deep Abyss. Such a monstrous...!"
Grant, who had been glaring at Sharia, moved his lips as if he had made up his mind.
"I’ll show you something interesting. I’ve decided."
"Stop committing evil deeds with my nephew’s body! False god."
"Tsk tsk, I’ll kill you especially overwhelmingly. Be grateful, Mortal."
"...Do you think an evil like you can do anything to me, a Saintess?"
Grant nodded without needing to think. For him now, collapsing a continent would be an easy feat.
"Of course, you have enough beauty and skill to be the heroine of any work. But what good is all that?"
Grant raised Dawn. Sharia was horrified.
"Lucian’s sword has been dyed pitch black. As if its functions are locked!"
At least there was hope. It meant he couldn’t control the holy artifact.
However.
"I don’t know about other holy artifacts, but I’ve had this one since I was born, you see? So I can use it like this! Heh heh."
Kahlum appeared as if boiling on the sword’s surface, then washed over the entire blade and vanished.
The Dawn Guardian, transformed into a shining form, black like obsidian.
Grant gripped it and licked his lips with relish.
"Now, I’ll kill you. Ki and Mana... all at once!"
As he said himself, Grant began to inject all the Ki and Mana he possessed into Dawn.
Sharia was terrified.
"No, everyone, run away!"
"What?"
"What the...?"
Sharia retreated. It was driven by instinct, not reason.
She was feeling a power of a scale she had never felt from Grant before.
"An attack that will obliterate the continent is coming! We can’t stop it! Hurry..."
"Dawn, Elysi."
[The Aberrant Power that Twists the Universe]
Grant lightly swung the black-dyed Dawn he held.
Then, a pitch-black sword energy flew forth. Following that sword energy, everything in the surrounding space was seen shattering into pieces, like a breaking mirror.
Sharia broke out in a cold sweat and despaired. Such power. Wasn’t this cheating?
"No, if this continues... everyone will die. Everyone!"
Feeling helplessness for the first time, she tried to draw out all her strength. At the very least, she couldn’t die a meaningless death.
Nevertheless, everything in the world was dyed pitch black. In the center of it, Grant smiled cynically.
"As expected... I did well to lure this fellow."
And then, there was no one.
＊＊＊
"Hey, wake up. Hey! Ugh."
"Uh, um...?"
Someone slapped his cheek, and he barely came to his senses. He raised his upper body, accompanied by a familiar scent of human habitation.
Huh? This is the practice room? The dorm?
"What, where’s the Demon Lord?"
At his question, a guy with a familiar face clicked his tongue.
"Idiot, were you dreaming? Get up quickly. The first-string promotion match is today, you know."
"Huh? Ah... yeah."
He scratched his head and got up. First, he washed.
While washing, he looked around. It was strange. Extremely strange.
"This is weird. Am I really dreaming? Why am I back in my pro gamer trainee days? Is this for real?"
Everything in the world seemed suspicious. He wondered if someone had cast illusion magic on him, playing a nasty trick.
Otherwise, wouldn’t this situation be inexplicable?
He sighed, finished brushing his teeth, and washed his face.
Soon after, he washed his hair and let out a deep sigh. It was a routine he always followed after waking up in the dorm.
It was meant to spit out all the despair of yesterday and start anew.
As he wiped his face with a towel, an ominous thought struck him.
"No way... was everything I did in Asgard a dream? No, surely not. Right? Why do I feel so uneasy?"
He needlessly looked around. It was right. It was the dorm he knew.
Really a dream? That makes no sense.
Going to another world in the first place was already an absurd thing to happen, though.
He opened the door and cautiously stepped outside. In the living room, he could already see guys checking their mice and keyboards. These guys, they’re working hard.
Once they had all gathered, the coach yawned widely and made an announcement.
"Alright, everyone gather. First, we’ll be playing against the guys with bad scores from the first string. It’s best of three, and the maps are Purgatory, Barmuda, then Lost Temple. Proceed as you see fit."
"Yes!"
Today was none other than the first-string promotion match. The guy who wins here goes up to the first-string dorm.
If he lost? He might even have to move out of his room.
"Fuck, let’s do well. Anyway, since I have memories of the past, it’ll be fine."
He sat down. He attempted to mind control himself.
"It’ll be fine. Yeah, I’ve been in this situation before, haven’t I? I ended up losing and dropping out. But this time will be different."
He checked his mouse and keyboard, and tested the sensitivity.
But then, his opponent spoke to him in the waiting room.
[HumansAreOverated]: Are you the Asia Ladder Top 100 gatekeeper?
[FatherofGojo]: Yes, that’s right. Let’s have a good game.
He greeted them politely, but the opponent’s tone was different.
[HumansAreOverated]: Oh, so it was you. You’re that bastard who can make it to 90th place but can’t go any higher. This should be easy lolololol...
Only then did everything come back to him.
"Right, there was a bastard like this too."
Bastards who acted cocky just because they were doing better than others, or had a bit of talent. Oh, of course, there were plenty of these guys in the webnovel industry too.
You know, the guys who create group chats to disparage readers, or go on hiatus and then nonchalantly return to claim event prizes.
He was almost done with his settings when the opponent spoke again.
[HumansAreOverated]: By the way, why do you grow your hair long? Are you a rockstar on side?
[FatherofGojo]: I’m just growing it out before I go to college.
[HumansAreOverated]: You know our team cap likes anime, right? You look like a female character from it ..lol.
[FatherofGojo]: Should I just go to the first-string dorm and beat the crap out of you? You pathetic loser bastard. Oh, sorry, my words slipped out!
[HumansAreOverated]: What? Wow, this guy’s crazy?
He responded nonchalantly.
"It’s just a dream anyway."
Finally, the game began. Even if just for this bastard’s attitude, he absolutely couldn’t lose.
"I don’t know why I’m having this dream, but since I’m doing it, I might as well do it well."
This time, so I don’t lose! So it flows differently from the past! Let’s play seriously!
And so, the game began.