Ch.1112Big Armor Hinders

The mighty powers, transcendent body, and endless dark mana that once made the evil god Invidius so formidable.

Yet his massive form, while a powerful weapon in itself, simultaneously served as his weakness.

Due to his excessively large body, he became an unmissable target, unable to dodge most attacks and forced to either block them or endure them with his body.

As a result, countless wounds accumulated like clothes soaking in drizzle, until his entire body was covered in small injuries, reduced to a tattered mess.

Most were merely surface wounds, but their sheer number caused significant bleeding, and the damage to both arms was clearly severe by anyone’s standards.

Joshua and the Holy State’s reinforcements achieved far beyond what I had expected of them before retreating. I should be grateful.

Anyway, after both sides had lost considerable strength, Invidius, now aware of his body’s limitations, revealed his trump card to overcome this disadvantage.

The essence of Invidius is envy and desire.

He imitates because he envies, mimics because he desires, and with these copied powers, seeks to tear apart and destroy their original owners—the embodiment of malice.

The ultimate technique Invidius finally revealed was literally the power of envy and desire that formed his very essence.

“Why so serious? Rejoice. Be honored. You should rightfully do so.”

Yes. The true nature of his power was abandoning his original divine body to mimic another’s form.

The being he chose as the target for this power was, quite predictably, the strongest, most beautiful, and most perfect transcendent among us.

“I acknowledge it. That your power, your body, is more suitable for this situation than my divine form.”

…That is, me.

I stood before myself.

With bloodshot eyes burning fiercely, an unusual appearance like bleached hair and tanned skin, displaying the black cross star in the center of his chest.

“…Well, shit.”

A curse involuntarily escaped with my cold sweat.

I knew better than anyone just how troublesome an opponent I would be when faced as an enemy.

“Skycutter…? Good heavens…”

And he hadn’t merely copied my appearance superficially.

The strike he demonstrated upon appearing in my form was Skycutter—the space-time severing slash I wielded, identical in every way.

In other words, he had copied not just my appearance but my abilities as well.

I wasn’t sure how much he had copied… but at the very least, he had perfectly replicated Defying Fate and Severance.

“…Haschal, how about on your end? Can you write a Tale of Heroes now?”

“No… I can’t.”

Conversely, I still couldn’t properly execute even time compression, let alone time stop.

“Then how are we supposed to block that…?”

Demian asked with a face full of bewilderment.

If the opponent could use Skycutter while I couldn’t counter with my own Skycutter, how were we supposed to block it?

“…The Skycutter isn’t the problem right now.”

But that wasn’t the issue at the moment. At least not as I saw it.

“Not the problem?”

“Skycutter isn’t difficult to block. As soon as you sense its precursor, you can counter it with a spatial-type slash. Just like she did just now.”

Persiella, who had attempted to use Star Cleaver—a space-breaking slash—only to have it nullified by Skycutter and be thrown back. That was how to block Skycutter.

“…That doesn’t look like blocking to me.”

Demian glanced at her before turning back to me.

…Well, certainly it doesn’t look like she blocked it properly. Her weapon shattered, and her body was thrown back, embedded in the ground and bleeding.

But surprisingly, that was what successfully blocking Skycutter looked like. More precisely, it was the best result Persiella could achieve.

“She was simply overpowered. If she hadn’t blocked it at all, she would have been split in half and died.”

She had blocked it perfectly, but the difference in power was so vast that she couldn’t withstand the pressure and was thrown back.

I would probably fare the same.

Though I would be pushed back due to the power difference, I should still be able to block Skycutter itself with the power of Severance.

Unlike Persiella’s sword, Durandal wouldn’t break under the impact. The problem was…

“The dangerous part isn’t the Skycutter, but rather—”

“—What are you all babbling about?”

…Yes, this. This is the problem.

As soon as I heard Invidius’s voice, I twisted my body sideways and swung Durandal.

——!

A thunderous sound as if heaven and earth were being torn apart. Two longswords imbued with the power of Severance clashed head-on, the resulting shockwave ripping space to shreds.

“Kuk…!”

“When did he—?!”

The aftermath became an invisible hammer and storm.

Persiella, who had been trying to get up, staggered and fell, while Demian, who had been standing beside me, was thrown back without even having time to react to the sudden clash.

A sudden collision.

Until I heard Invidius’s voice, he had clearly been walking leisurely from a distance… but in the very next moment, he had somehow reached right beside me and was swinging his sword.

High-speed movement that could almost be called light speed.

I barely managed to block by swinging my sword in the direction my instincts warned me of the creeping sense of danger, but if my reaction had been even slightly slower, I would have been hit.

“…Blocked, huh.”

Invidius, his sword pressed against mine, muttered as if disappointed.

“Of course I blocked it. Pretty clumsy for a surprise attack.”

I countered with all the bravado I could muster.

“Most of the duration wasted on movement, and targeting me of all people first—that’s not how you use Defying Fate.”

Defying Fate.

A Tale of Heroes that guarantees an absolute first strike if the opponent doesn’t know its nature or lacks a way to counter time stop.

That was precisely why I feared Defying Fate’s time stop even more than Skycutter.

Since Skycutter’s technique structure forces Defying Fate to deactivate when manifesting, there’s a momentary chance to counter, but time stop from Defying Fate is unavoidable without time-based abilities.

Yet neither Demian nor Persiella had abilities that could directly counter time stop, and my own ability was sealed.

So in reality, we had only one way to counter Defying Fate.

To cover the surroundings with flames or holy power before the time stop activated, preventing that copycat evil god from approaching in the first place.

But just now, we had allowed his approach without any preparation. In truth, it wouldn’t have been strange if we had been completely annihilated.

“…Ah, perhaps you don’t understand since you’re just a thief who stole someone else’s technique?”

However, Invidius had wasted most of Defying Fate’s duration just approaching us, and among the three of us, he had targeted me first—the one with the fastest reaction speed.

So despite maintaining time stop to its limit, he gained nothing from it.

‘If he had activated Defying Fate a bit later and targeted one of the other two, he could have definitely killed at least one of them.’

Was it because he wasn’t familiar with another’s body and techniques?

Despite gaining the power of time stop, his method of using it was so inefficient that Invidius had squandered a golden opportunity to decide the battle in an instant.

“Well, fine. Please continue to act so stupidly!”

I stomped the ground, shattering it, and channeled that recoil into my sword as I swung.

– KWAAANG!

A slash that was less about cutting or breaking the enemy and more about pushing them away forcefully.

Invidius, who had been pressing his sword against mine, was propelled backward like a cannonball by the force.

—-

Invidius, who had been thrown back as if about to fly beyond the horizon.

-KWADUDUDUK!

But before long, he twisted his body and landed on the ground like he was falling, leaving a long trail in the earth as he came to a stop.

“…Hmm. Being too light for my strength causes these problems.”

Then, as if this were nothing, he calmly straightened his back and cracked his neck left and right with a woody sound.

“Come to think of it, the initial surprise attack was different from what I had planned. It shouldn’t have been blocked like that… my body moved too sluggishly.”

Perhaps the state of his new body was somewhat different from his expectations, as he continuously muttered to himself with a somewhat puzzled expression.

“I see. These unnecessarily protruding flesh masses are the problem. What purpose do these serve?”

“……”

“Armor to protect the heart…? No, even if that were the case, being this large would only hinder movement. What on earth…?”

“……”

Could he please refrain from fondling his chest in the middle of a serious battle? Since he has the same face as me, it’s making me feel embarrassed.

It seems that Invidius’s failure with the surprise attack using Defying Fate wasn’t because he couldn’t properly utilize a technique he was using for the first time.

This is truly absurd.