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.

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

then that Zeratul understood

body is being driven by the will of his

will of

people understood, while others

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

and Biban reassured the

“Don't worry.”

lord has been

was rising from beyond the

who vaguely

***

body felt

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

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

now reaching its peak. He felt rejuvenated, like his body had become younger,

[It feels strange...]

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 the process of joining with your

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

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

isn’t the right choice to be made. You will most

He was confirming that Hayate had become strong enough to be able

you go to

Of course, this didn’t make it impossible

he resurrected. The only ones who could reverse the death of humans were Rebecca, a god of the beginning, and Raiders,

back then wasn’t wrong. It was Mother

trying not to be interested. This was because Judar wanted Dominion not to care about the world. It originated

that could

decide to remove himself as much as he could from such issues.

I promise to keep you safe, somewhere out of

were genuinely shocked. Then the silent Hayate asked

[Of course I know.]

aren’t you

[Help...? My mother?]

side. He had a certain rigidness in his expression, but his

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

it made sense. After all, he owed his very existence to his

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

goddess must

it comes to the

Dominion frowned.

refraction dragon. It will be the same this time. Most importantly,

added one more reason why he wasn’t worried about Rebecca. Since she was made of light, she couldn’t be reached.

Hayate sighed.

for the goddess. Are you going to turn your back to what’s