Hayate’s body lay neatly in the middle of those who were still recovering after the battle. His eyes were closed, and his chest was unmoving.
Hayate’s body wasn’t breathing. It had lost its soul, no longer serving any purpose. It was nothing more than a corpse.
“...It will soon start to rot,” Zeratul told the others. He grimaced, despite the high levels of arrogance he, as the Martial God, displayed.
Thanks to sharing drinks all night, he could somewhat grasp how the people around him felt. Just as the eight gods who had descended alongside Zeratul to challenge Grid had already demonstrated, gods were surprisingly capable of empathizing with others. It was just that, most gods didn’t even get the chance to socialize with humans. For many, the idea of living alongside humanity wasn’t even conceivable. For them, Asgard was the core of their world, their most valued place. Therefore, they rotted for the rest of their lives in Asgard, like frogs in a well.
“It can’t be too late to save him...”
The tower members didn’t disagree with Zeratul’s opinion. However, they also noticed that Hayate’s condition was perilous, and they couldn’t conceal their anxiety.
Nevertheless, no one suggested going to find Hayate right away. They trusted and respected Lauel’s advice, that the right thing to do was leaving the search for the soul to Knight.
They also understood the importance of their task. They were to focus on the body’s recovery, and they kept wondering to what degree they needed to recover in order to help Grid.
The people’s reactions were making Zeratul feel disappointed. Humans, ephemeral beings with such short lives. Even he, who had been born with eternal life, was always anxious and obsessed over the title of Martial God. Meanwhile, humans appeared to be more altruistic and wiser than him. This was because they managed to overcome their own limitations by trusting others and cooperation with their people.
Zeratul believed the humans’ way of thinking was worthy of imitation.
‘Should I try contacting them...?’
His mind wandered in the direction of the eight gods who had cooperated with him when he had publicly challenged Grid. Maybe they had opened up their hearts to him a little bit. Of course, it could be mere sympathy. It seemed very likely that they would only accept cooperating with him if there was some type of reward to be earned.
Still, it was true that they did him a favor. However, he never considered their feelings. He just struggled on his own to be recognized as the Martial God.
He was only ever focused on himself, and never paid attention to others...
Zeratul was startled from his thoughts, eyes suddenly widening at the sight before him.
The others reacted similarly.
Hayate’s body, which had been lying dead, suddenly jumped up from his seat.
The tower members, the apostles and the Overgeared Guild all felt skeptical before allowing themselves to feel thrilled.
Hayate’s eyes were unfocused. The people couldn’t detect breathing, let alone life.
Zeratul frowned and slowly rose from his seat.
Hayate appeared dazed. He eventually took a step forward, heading in the direction where tattered armor had been discarded. It was the dragon armor created by Grid, though it had been torn to pieces by Trauka, reduced to nothing but a lump of scrap metal. Therefore, it was no longer functional. Still, Hayate started to arm himself with pious gestures.
It was then that Zeratul understood the situation.
“The body is being driven by the will of his soul.”
The will of the soul.
Some people understood, while others scratched their heads.
Once Hayate’s body finished putting on the armor, it slowly melted away, losing its shape like a painting submerged in water. It was an ominous-looking sight.
Zeratul and Biban reassured the others.
“The lord has been resurrected.”
An enormous presence was rising from beyond the underground.
The Absolutes who vaguely sensed it trembled.
His body felt different than before.
Hayate contemplated his situation, trying to keep his mind clear and distractions at bay. His heart was hammering in his chest. Energy flowed throughout his body. His bones were of different thickness and length. His muscles seemed to be flexible and firm.
Immediately, he felt strength resurge in his joints, and he could grip the sword hilt better than before. It seemed that the ways with which he could grip the hilt had increased considerably from the last time he’d picked up a sword.
His entire body, which had already been trained to achieve the best form possible, was now reaching its peak. He felt rejuvenated, like his body had become younger, though the sensation felt much more breathtaking than that.
[It feels strange...]
Dominion could also sense the changes occurring to Hayate’s body. Just by looking at the way his fingers wrapped around the hilt of the sword, he could tell that Hayate’s swordsmanship was changing in real time. The Valkyries being pushed back was good enough proof of that.
[It seems like your body was reconstructed when the body was in the process of joining with your soul... Isn’t this type of transformation unheard of?]
Dominion’s gaze fell on Hayate’s ankle length coat. It was as white as snow, though it appeared red in Dominion’s eyes. It was the aura of the Fire Dragon.
As an Absolute, Dominion could accurately gain insight and glimpse at the essence of the soul. When Hayate’s body had been reconstructed, the same could be said about the dragon armor he’d been wearing. This configuration of the armor maintained Hayate’s ideals, while also retaining Grid’s skills and intentions.
[...Going to the surface in this state isn’t the right choice to be made. You will most likely hear the sound of bells.]
The sound of bells. Dominion was talking about Chiyou’s appearance. He was confirming that Hayate had become strong enough to be able to bring Chiyou down.
[Why don’t you go to heaven with me?]
Originally, Dominion’s mission was to take Hayate’s soul to heaven. However, things had changed right from the very beginning. Hayate had regained his body. Of course, this didn’t make it impossible to take his soul to heaven. Killing him again and subduing his soul would have been good enough. However, Dominion was reluctant to do these things.
Not only would it be hard to kill Hayate, but Hayate was still a human being. However, he resurrected. The only ones who could reverse the death of humans were Rebecca, a god of the beginning, and Raiders, the gourmet dragon.
‘What I felt back then wasn’t wrong. It was Mother who saved him.’
Originally, Dominion hadn’t been interested in the world. Though, it was more accurate to say that he was trying not to be interested. This was because Judar wanted Dominion not to care about the world. It originated from the time when humans had a sincere faith in the three religions. Dominion felt Judar’s jealousy intensify every time the power of his religion managed to surpass the one of the Judar Church.
It wasn’t something that could be ignored.
Judar had the heavy task of ruling Asgard every time their mother entered the ‘cycle’. Dominion didn’t care about matters involving other gods, nor did he care about ruling Asgard, so would decide to remove himself as much as he could from such issues. After all, he was the god of war. His duty meant overseeing the army, not handling politics. Therefore, his attention was often focused on the Valkyries, not the surface.
[Asgard is very large. I promise to keep you safe, somewhere out of Judar’s sight.]
“...Let me ask you something.” Inviting a human to Asgard? Dominion was directly disobeying Judar’s orders. The Valkyries were genuinely shocked. Then the silent Hayate asked a question. “Do you know that the goddess is being chased by Bunhelier?”
“Then why aren’t you helping her?”
[Help...? My mother?]
Dominion tilted his head to the side. He had a certain rigidness in his expression, but his reaction showed that he didn’t understand what was being asked of him.
Still, the answer was enough for Hayate to realize that Dominion saw Rebecca as the embodiment of perfection.
In a way, it made sense. After all, he owed his very existence to his mother.
No matter whether it was famous gods or everything in this world, Dominion believed they were all dancing on his mother’s palm.
“The goddess must be lonely.”
[Discussing loneliness when it comes to the god of the beginning is blasphemy.]
[My mother has a history of sealing the refraction dragon. It will be the same this time. Most importantly, she is the embodiment of light. No one can touch her, and neither can I.]
Dominion added one more reason why he wasn’t worried about Rebecca. Since she was made of light, she couldn’t be reached. There was no way to help her because it was impossible to physically approach her.
“The goddess only gave birth to disrespectful children. Truth of the matter is, my god is fighting for the goddess. Are you going to turn your back to what’s really happening?” Hayate rarely raised his voice. His deep, gentle eyes became fierce. “Or are you working behind the scenes with the old dragons?”
[...I shall take back my suggestion.]
Dominion’s expression stiffened. He took out a spear and held it.
“Do you need my strength to make the agreement with the old dragons advantageous? Be aware that I will harm you.”
Hayate exposed his opponent’s flaws. Surprisingly, Dominion felt no shame. Secretly scheming with the old dragons? That wasn’t the case. The real reason he wanted to hide Hayate was simply because Dominion favored him. He’d developed a liking for this great warrior, someone had made it this far despite only being human. That was the sole reason.
[You are making assumptions. You shouldn’t do that, considering your level of strength. Don’t you know that such pointless suspicions can lead to the deaths of millions or tens of millions of people?]
Dominion threw his spear.
As many as three spears flew at the same time. Eligos, who had been quietly examining Cerberus’ wounds, pitched in to help out Hayate.
Hayate’s sword slashed two spears. Eligos’ sword barely deflected one spear.
Then Cerberus limped to where Seuron was, and lifted him on its back.
For half a day, he had raced through hell on a horse that was faster than a car. He’d fought against an Absolute of Heaven, and had won the favor of both the Dragon Slayer and the ruler of hell.
It was a dreamlike situation.
He wondered if it had always been whenever he got involved with the Overgeared Guild.
Seuron was lost in thought, though he was pulled back to reality as he noticed the Valkyries rapidly getting closer.
This crazy Cerberus was hastily rushing into the enemy lines!
“No, dammit. Do you want me to die?”
Cerberus wasn’t doing him a favor, it was killing him.
Seuron lamented as he realized this. Then he started slaughtering the Valkyries along with Cerberus.
He was a typical ranker. Basically, he perceived the crisis as an opportunity. Moreover, since all the elite Valkyries were rushing in Hayate’s direction, it was worth fighting them.
‘If Hayate dies , won’t it all be for nothing?’
Suddenly, overtaken by worry, Seuron glanced around, searching for Hayate.
Strangely enough, his gaze naturally fell on Hayate’s right hand. His form was changing in real time. He moved his fingers constantly, the grip on the hilt regularly changing.
The Absolute of heaven shouted frightfully, a sound that did not match his imposing aura.
The silver sword energy constantly changed its trajectory and flew as if predicting the enemy’s retreat, slaughtering the Valkyries in its path.
And Hayate did all this as he was fighting Dominion. He was confronting the God of War and massacring his army at the same time.
Seuron clicked his tongue. “...Phenomenal.”