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I remembered Lubbock’s warning about that sword, how it had obliterated his «Zetsu» in a single strike. I knew better than to lock blades with it directly. My only option was to keep my distance and counterattack when I could. It felt like a repeat of our last fight, but this time the stakes were higher.

“Hmm, so our feisty princess enjoys a good chase, does she? How about this, then…?”

The moment the words left his mouth, his form blurred. At first, I thought he’d vanished, but it was just an afterimage. His speed had climbed beyond what my eyes could track. A heartbeat later, he reappeared right in front of me.

“What the—?!” I gasped, startled at how instantly he’d closed the gap.

“What’s wrong? Is that all you’ve got?”

My responses were falling behind, and his next slash came at blinding speed. I barely got my shield, «Eiserne Jungfrau», in position in time. The impact shredded the ornate roses and vines along its surface, scattering petals like confetti. His sheer power overwhelmed me, and I was hurled through the air like a ragdoll.

“Too slow.”

Before I could recover, he was already charging again. He mimicked my earlier triangular jump maneuver, adjusting mid-air and flying toward me like a bullet. With both hands on his colossal blade, he raised it high and swung down like an executioner delivering a final blow.

“Tch!”

I twisted my body mid-air and slammed «Gilles de Rais» into the floor to stop myself. The force barely slowed me, and his strike still tore through my jet-black wings, «La Vie en Rose», then ripped into the floor and wall like they were made of paper.

Holy hell, that was close! If I’d hesitated even a second, he would’ve sliced me clean in half. Was he seriously trying to kill me?! I shot him a glare, but he just stared back calmly, as if none of it concerned him.

“It’s not my fault, alright? If I go for the kill, I might not be able to hold back. But props to you, Hiyuki…you’ve managed to stay in the same arena as me, even while I’m powered up by the GODSPEED authority. Not bad for a player facing the GM.”

So that’s where his insane speed came from. Figures…he was basically a walking cheat code.

Before I could even click my tongue, he was already closing in again. I kicked off the floor to meet him head-on. For a second, surprise flickered in his eyes, but neither of us said a word as we collided at near point-blank range. He swung Amadeus in a wide arc, and our clash exploded with a spray of sparks.

It was clear that Azure God had the edge in both speed and reach. If I kept relying on hit-and-run, I’d be taken down eventually. I had to get inside his guard. Even so, I couldn’t deny how lopsided this fight was. I was running out of options.

He had the luxury of going all-in on offense, ignoring defense entirely to unleash overwhelming force. But I wasn’t blessed with GOD MODE. One clean hit would be the end. All I could do was keep dodging and surviving.

“What’s wrong? Not fighting back anymore? Figured out it’s pointless?”

My nerves were stretched to the breaking point. It felt like I’d been dancing on thin ice for an eternity. We had traded over a hundred blows in just five minutes of close combat. To anyone watching, it might have seemed like an even match, but I knew the truth, I’d been defending the whole time, slowly bleeding from countless shallow cuts as I was forced back.

My foot caught on debris as I retreated, bringing me to a sudden halt. Only then did I realize the walls of the room had already been cleaved clean through. There was no more space left to run.

“This is the end!” Azure God roared, bringing Amadeus down with full force. I was locked in place, unable to dodge. At that speed, there was no escaping the blow.

I flung Gilles de Rais to the floor, making it appear as if I’d dropped it in desperation. That was the bait. Gathering every last ounce of force from my coiled legs, I exploded forward in a blur, aiming straight for Azure God’s chest.

“Take this!”

I closed the distance before his sword could drop, slamming my open palm into his chest. In that very moment, I poured every drop of strength into a single focused technique: «Internal Force Blast».

“Hmph, you’d think you’d learn—what?!”

At first, he barely reacted, as if the hit was no more than a mosquito bite. But when he tried to step forward, his leg gave out. The shock from the internal damage had finally overwhelmed his body’s resistance, forcing him to the ground.

At last, this was the moment I had been waiting for.

I lunged back in, closing to arm’s reach. My left hand pressed instinctively against his chest while my right struck the hilt of Amadeus, knocking it from his grip. As it spun through the air, I jumped up, caught it, and brought it down in a powerful slash.

To my surprise, the massive sword felt weightless in my hands, light as air, despite its ominous size. My guess had been right. GM-exclusive equipment had no level requirement, which meant I could wield it too.

Back in the game, gear like this would’ve been locked out for regular players. But I’d suspected the rules were different here. That restriction was gone now, and it looked like my hunch had been dead-on.

Come to think of it, the signs had been there all along. Joey had wielded my exclusive sword, Gilles de Rais, when Animaru ambushed us. Later, I passed Animaru’s exclusive twin blades, «Kanshou» and «Bakuya», to Revan after his death, and he’d used them without issue. The restrictions really had been lifted.

A thick, sickening squelch rang out as Amadeus pierced clean through him. Azure God looked up at me, stunned, his eyes wide with disbelief. The blade had run straight through his back, cutting through his right lung before embedding deep into the floor.

This time, there was no doubt, I felt the impact, the solid resistance of flesh giving way.

That sword was unreal. I’d barely caught it mid-air, brought it down in a simple slash, and it had cut through him like butter. Turns out, the answer to a GM’s absolute defense was none other than a GM’s absolute offense.

In the next moment, blood burst from his chest in a violent spray, drenching me in crimson.

◆◇◆◇

While Hiyuki had finally overcome the Azure God’s invincibility, neither of them noticed the single Life Jewel embedded in the wall. As their mingled blood splashed across its surface, a faint glow began to pulse within its core.