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.

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

was then that Zeratul understood the

by the

will of

understood, while others scratched their

melted away, losing its shape like a

and Biban reassured the

“Don't worry.”

has been

presence was rising from beyond the

who vaguely sensed it

***

felt different

his mind clear and distractions at bay. His heart was hammering in his chest. Energy flowed throughout his body. His bones were of

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

to achieve the best form possible, was now reaching its peak. He felt rejuvenated, like his body had become younger, though the sensation felt

[It feels strange...]

looking at the way his fingers wrapped around the hilt of the sword, he could tell that Hayate’s swordsmanship

the process of joining with your soul... Isn’t

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

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

to be made.

sound of bells. Dominion was talking about Chiyou’s appearance. He was confirming that Hayate had become strong enough to

go

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

resurrected. The only

then wasn’t wrong. It was Mother

Dominion not to care about the world. It originated from the time when humans had

that could

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

I promise to keep you safe, somewhere

a human to Asgard? Dominion was directly disobeying Judar’s orders. The Valkyries were genuinely shocked. Then the silent Hayate asked a question.

[Of course I know.]

aren’t

[Help...? My mother?]

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

to realize that Dominion saw Rebecca as the embodiment

a way, it made sense. After all, he owed his

famous gods or everything in this world, Dominion believed they were

must

comes to the god of

Dominion frowned.

refraction dragon. It will be the same this time. Most importantly, she is the embodiment of light. No one can touch her,

she couldn’t be

Hayate sighed.

your back to what’s really happening?” Hayate rarely raised his voice. His deep, gentle eyes