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.

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

then that Zeratul understood the

driven by the will of his

of the

understood, while others scratched

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

Biban

“Don't worry.”

has been

was rising

vaguely

***

felt

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

that the

form possible, was now reaching its peak. He

[It feels strange...]

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 real time. The

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

coat. It was as white as snow, though it appeared red

had been reconstructed, the same could be said about the dragon armor he’d been wearing.

surface in this state isn’t the right choice to be made. You will most

sound of bells. Dominion was talking about Chiyou’s appearance. He was confirming that Hayate

you go to heaven with

changed right from the very beginning. Hayate had regained his body. Of course, this didn’t make it impossible to take his soul to heaven. Killing him again and subduing his soul

only would it be hard to kill Hayate, but Hayate was still a human being. However, he resurrected. The only ones who

felt back then wasn’t wrong. It

to say that he was trying 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

wasn’t something that could be

himself as much as he could from such issues. After all, he was the god of war. His duty meant overseeing the army, not

very large. I promise to keep you safe, somewhere

Asgard? Dominion was directly disobeying Judar’s orders. The Valkyries were genuinely shocked. Then the silent Hayate asked a question. “Do you know that the goddess is being

[Of course I know.]

aren’t you helping

[Help...? My mother?]

his head to the side. He had a certain rigidness in his expression, but his reaction showed that he

for Hayate to realize that Dominion saw Rebecca as

After all, he owed his

this world, Dominion believed they were all dancing

must

comes to the god

Dominion frowned.

be the same this time. Most importantly, she is the

light, she couldn’t be reached. There was

Hayate sighed.

you going to turn your back to what’s really happening?” Hayate rarely