Overgeared

Reidan Desert.

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.

“I-Is he back?”

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.

“Something’s wrong.”

Zeratul frowned and slowly rose from his seat.

Step.

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

was then that Zeratul understood the

by

of the

while others scratched their

it slowly melted away, losing its shape like a painting submerged in water.

Biban reassured

“Don't worry.”

has

was rising

vaguely

***

felt different

situation, trying to keep his mind clear and distractions at bay. His heart was hammering in his chest. Energy flowed throughout his body.

before. It seemed that the ways with which he could grip

trained to achieve the best form possible, was now reaching its peak.

[It feels strange...]

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

was in the process of joining with your soul...

as snow, though it appeared red in Dominion’s eyes. It was

gain insight and glimpse at the essence of the soul. When Hayate’s body had been reconstructed, the same could

in this state isn’t the right choice to be

appearance. He was confirming that Hayate had become strong

you go to heaven with

Hayate had regained his body. Of course, this didn’t make it

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

felt back then wasn’t wrong. It was Mother who

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

that could be

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

I promise to keep

were genuinely shocked. Then the silent Hayate asked a question. “Do you know

[Of course I know.]

why aren’t

[Help...? My mother?]

his expression, but his reaction showed that he didn’t

the answer was enough for Hayate to realize that Dominion saw Rebecca as the

sense. After all, he owed his very existence

matter whether it was famous gods or everything in this world, Dominion believed they were all dancing on

must

comes to the god of the beginning is

Dominion frowned.

refraction dragon. It will be the same this time. Most importantly, she is the embodiment of

she was made of light, she couldn’t be reached. There was no way to help her because it was impossible to physically approach

Hayate sighed.

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