Chapter 212
Kiriya naturally noticed when Ryu activated Astrea Record.
Feeling the immense surge of magic from her battlefield, he could not help praising her.
"As expected of a genius once compared with the Sword Princess. That improvement is ridiculous."
His admiration lasted only a moment.
He still had a far more important opponent standing before him.
"Are you ready, Ottar?"
Kiriya gripped his sword with both hands.
"I’ve been waiting."
Ottar’s expression remained stern, but a crimson light burned within his eyes.
His fighting spirit had been building like magma beneath the earth, ready to erupt.
"Eight Gates."
Kiriya lowered his stance.
"Seventh Gate, the Gate of Wonder—open!"
BOOM!
A violent wave of power exploded from his body, stirring the air into a hurricane that swept outward in every direction.
An enormous volume of chakra surged through his body, bringing an explosive increase in strength.
Blue energy rose from his skin like raging flames, transforming Kiriya into something resembling a demon emerging from the abyss.
For the first time, the Seventh Gate of the Eight Gates was revealed to this world.
"So... strong."
Ryu raised one arm against the violent wind and stared at the blue figure in a daze.
"This is..."
Ottar’s eyes widened slightly.
The pressure radiating from Kiriya resembled that of some primordial beast, and his enormous body began to tremble.
It was not fear.
It was excitement!
"With that power... your ability values no longer fall below mine."
Ottar’s declaration stunned every spectator into silence.
"The King is joking, right?"
A small cat-person adventurer forced out a laugh.
"He has to be joking."
"Idiot. Does Ottar look like someone who makes jokes?"
His companion scoffed, though a line of cold sweat slid down his forehead.
He stared at Kiriya with shock, fear, and intense jealousy.
A Level 4 had crossed three full levels to contend with a Level 7.
Why had he never received an ability that absurd?
Why did the heavens favor that pretty-faced bastard?
Could handsome people genuinely do whatever they wanted?
Kiriya had no idea that half of Orario was cursing him.
Ottar cared even less about what anyone outside the battlefield thought.
There was only one thing in his mind now.
The fight!
"Come!"
He roared and raised the enormous Supreme Black Sword vertically before him.
Kiriya took a deep breath.
Then he disappeared.
BOOM!
The ground where he had stood instantly collapsed.
Jagged pillars of rock erupted toward the sky, while the sonic force created by his movement carved a deep trench across the battlefield.
CLANG!
Kiriya’s sword crashed into Ottar’s raised greatsword.
The force traveled through the massive blade and struck Ottar’s body, driving even the King backward. Every step left a deep crater in the ground.
Kiriya did not allow him to recover.
He transformed into a whirlwind around Ottar, attacking from every direction with lethal sword strikes.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Ottar met the assault calmly.
His greatsword could not move with Kiriya’s ghostlike speed, but his extraordinary reactions and refined technique allowed him to block most of the attacks.
Slash! Slash!
Sword winds ravaged the ground, carving trenches through the stone and leaving bloody cuts across Ottar’s ironlike body.
With G-rank Strong Body and S-rank Endurance, the boaz would not fall quickly.
Nevertheless, the momentum of the battle was steadily turning against him.
"Hah!"
Kiriya gathered his strength and delivered an upward diagonal slash.
The movement gave Ottar a strange sense of familiarity.
’That technique...’
A powerful warning surged through his instincts.
He raised his sword to block, but he was already too late.
Slash!
The razor-sharp strike swept across Ottar’s shoulder, cutting deeply through his tough flesh until bone was nearly visible.
The remaining force continued onward.
It tore through the shattered city wall and several ruined buildings before finally dispersing.
"Was that... Afterglow?"
Hermes’s eyes widened in disbelief.
Afterglow stood near the absolute summit of mortal swordsmanship.
Originally, only a legendary swordsman of the Zeus Familia had mastered it. Later, Leon and Ottar had learned the technique as well.
Kiriya had arrived in Orario only recently.
Where could he possibly have learned it?
"Don’t tell me..."
Hermes swallowed.
For the first time, genuine alarm entered his gaze as he stared at Kiriya.
"Did he copy it just now?"
"Where did you learn Afterglow?"
Ottar ignored the wound in his shoulder and stared at Kiriya.
His normally rigid expression had become unusually animated.
The technique was still rough, but the essential principles were unmistakable.
It truly was Afterglow.
"Have you forgotten already?"
With the Seventh Gate open, Kiriya’s voice sounded distorted and distant.
"You taught me a moment ago."
"Impossible!"
Ottar rejected the claim immediately.
Even he had required months of relentless practice before mastering the technique.
Had this boy truly understood its fundamental principles after seeing it only once?
Ottar did not know about the Sharingan’s extraordinary powers of observation and imitation.
Kiriya had already advanced to the Mangekyō Sharingan, increasing his perception many times over.
When he deliberately attempted to learn a technique, even something as refined as Afterglow could be understood and reproduced within a short time.
His years of sword training provided the foundation.
The Mangekyō Sharingan supplied the perception and ability to copy.
The Seventh Gate granted his body enough strength to execute it.
Together, those advantages allowed Kiriya to reproduce the technique immediately.
His control remained imperfect, but the framework was already complete.
All that remained was to refine it through practice.
There was no need to explain any of that to Ottar.
"Now then..."
Kiriya raised his sword.
"Please enjoy my version of Afterglow."
Under the stupefied gazes of the spectators, he unleashed the technique again.
And again.
And again.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Sword strikes tore across the battlefield and battered the ruins of Shreme behind Ottar.
Buildings that had barely survived the earlier destruction collapsed one after another beneath Kiriya’s enthusiastic demolition work.
"Huff... Hah..."
Ottar breathed heavily as he continued blocking Afterglow.
Even his body could no longer endure the repeated impacts without consequence.
Wounds multiplied across his body, intersecting until he was almost completely covered in blood.
Yet the more injured he became, the hotter his blood burned.
An unprecedented opponent represented an unprecedented opportunity.
’Defeat him.’
That was the only thought remaining in Ottar’s mind.
"ROOOAR!"
His eyes opened wide, and a bestial howl erupted from his throat.
Ottar’s body expanded.
Muscles swelled, veins rose beneath his skin, and his strength and presence climbed at an astonishing rate.
He had activated his trump card—Hildis Vini.
Beastification.
The transformation consumed enormous stamina and Mind, but in exchange, it provided an extreme enhancement to every ability.
At the same time, his Skill Stortus Ottar activated.
As long as the battle continued, he temporarily gained effects comparable to Development Abilities such as Spirit Healing and Healing Power, while his existing abilities—including Strong Body—were greatly strengthened.
In terms of raw numbers alone, Ottar had entered the realm of Level 8.
And not merely the lower end.
His strength now rivaled that of an experienced Level 8!
The balance of the battle reversed instantly.
CLANG!
Ottar swung his sword and shattered Kiriya’s Afterglow head-on.
Then he appeared before him like lightning and struck with the flat of the enormous blade.
Kiriya was launched across the battlefield.
Ottar pursued without hesitation.
His greatsword became a violent storm, delivering one attack after another.
Kiriya raised his sword to defend himself, but the difference in their raw ability values had become too great.
A relentless series of blows battered his body.
Finally, his sword was knocked from his hands.
"Ugh!"
Kiriya spat out a large mouthful of blood.
Looking at the boaz covered in one enhancement after another, he could not help sighing.
"Being the protagonist is rough these days. Every opponent I meet has cheats of his own."
"..."
Ottar offered no response.
His greatsword was already approaching Kiriya’s neck, with less than an inch remaining.
’Fortunately, my cheats are better.’
At the final instant, Kiriya activated the Flying Thunder God Technique and appeared beside his fallen sword.
He did not pick it up.
"Have you reached your limit?"
Ottar frowned in dissatisfaction.
Ryu and the spectators were equally confused.
"I’m more worried about you reaching yours."
Kiriya smiled.
Somewhere far from the battlefield, a shadow clone that had been sitting motionlessly in meditation disappeared.
Orange markings quietly formed around Kiriya’s eyes.
His pupils became horizontal, resembling those of a toad.
Sage Mode—activated!
Kiriya’s presence was no longer as violently overwhelming as before.
Yet every hair on Ottar’s body stood on end.
He immediately began chanting at maximum speed.
"Mercy of the silver moon, fields of gold, grant this body the form of the raging boar."
"Bearing the will of the goddess, charge ever onward."
"Take this properly."
Kiriya lowered his body and drew back one fist.
"Otherwise, you’ll die."
The combined state of Sage Mode and the Eight Gates could only be maintained for several seconds.
He had to make every instant count.
Kiriya chose the technique he understood best for this brief state of absolute power.
He stepped forward and drove out a devastating straight punch.
"Sage Art: Daytime Tiger!"