In truth, Zieg found it strange. He had never seen Gyro wield a halberd before, and had always seen him using a sword back then. This only further proved to increase his unease and wariness, since he had never doubted Gyro’s skill with weapons. By now, Zieg had already realized that he would be unable to defeat Gyro unless he abandoned all notions of defense, and focus all of his efforts into bringing forth his strongest offense in order to break through Gawain’s protection. A collision of their strongest offense against offense, just the thought of it made Zieg nervous, because he believed. He believed that Gyro would somehow find a way to bring a stop to his momentum like he always had in their previous spars. The only thing he could do was resolve himself to exceed his own beliefs in Gyro’s ability, and that was to risk his life, sacrificing his body in the next attack. An attack which, aside from the technique he used to defeat Volheilm, was the strongest attack he knew.

Zieg revolved the mana within his body to stop the cut on his stomach from bleeding, and stood with a grim expression. A purple aura spread out of his body, and he channeled nearly the entirety of his mana into Bloodwhistler, in preparation for a final clash.

Gyro once again spread out his metallic left palm in front of him, lowering his body into a stance. Even though Gyro could be considered the “weakest” immortal, the pressure he gave off at this moment surpassed anything Zieg had ever faced before, even that of Ryzel’s in his transcendent realm state.

It was at this moment that Zieg seemed to have disappear, turning into a purple blur and arriving directly in front of Gyro. He pointed Bloodwhistler directly at Gyro’s chest, and pulled back both of his arms into a preparatory attack.

…

Nearly a decade ago, within the Northern wastelands of the Grandiel continent, two demons, vagabonds stood in front of an immortal beast.

The immortal beast appeared indestructible, it looked like a large rhinoceros with crystalline scales covering every portion of its body.

The younger vagabond couldn’t stop his body from trembling, he knew the difference in strength between the immortal beast and him, it looked like it had no weaknesses whatsoever. He looked at the older male standing in front of him, and noticed that his countenance was calm, almost tranquil. Thoughts of confusion flooded him, as he was confident that even the immortal that stood before him, the man he considered his father and mentor, was absolutely no match for the beast.

The older vagabond had a worn sword sheathed on his back. The sword looked rusted and pitiful, like it would break upon its next use.

“It looks strong, doesn’t it? Its scales, its defense. Like it has no weaknesses. Even you think I won’t be able to do any damage to it, right?” Gyro asked the young boy behind him.

“...” Zieg remained silent, he felt like he would be giving up all hope if he really did answer Gyro’s questions.

Gyro shook his head, unsheathed his decrepit sword, saying, “Everything has a weakness. If something looks like it doesn’t, make one. Create and seize opportunities. If you’re able to master that, you will always survive in battles against those stronger than you.”

Gyro rushed up to the immortal beast with sword and hand, saying, “Today, I’ll show you the strongest attack I’ve created with all my experience. My proudest creation. A Pseudo-Worldbreaking technique with a destructive power that can surpass a real one. I call it…”

…

“Gyro thrust!” Zieg yelled out, thrusting Bloodwhistler forth with both hands. His arms and wrists spun abnormally, creating a piercing cyclone that looked like it could break through all defenses. Rotation added to a penetrating strike only further increases its power. The thrust rent and tore through Gyro’s armor like paper, and slowly started to sink into his chest.

Gyro’s eyes momentarily widened in shock at those words, but the shock only lasted for a moment before vanishing.

Bloodwhistler bore an inch into Gyro’s chest, and…

It stopped.

(It’s not enough!) Zieg thought, his eyes were bloodshot with adrenaline. He tried retracting both arms in a hurry.

It was at this moment that Gyro made his move. At the same time Zieg had attacked, he had already loosened his grip on his halberd, sliding his hand down closer to the base of its axehead. The transition was extremely smooth, something that could only be done by the work of a master experienced with polearms. The axehead was facing up, and the pole of the halberd was directly resting beneath his right arm. Like this, it was like Gyro was wielding a large hand axe, a weapon extremely suited for close-range combat. This was the method to which a polearm could be used in close-ranged combat. Bringing the grip of your hands closer to the head of a polearm, it could become a weapon that excelled in both mid and close range.

When Bloodwhistler dug into his chest, he struck. Gyro forcefully pushed his right elbow downward with all his strength, underneath which was of course, the pole of the halberd. The sudden movement acted like a spring, catapulting the axehead upwards into an upward slash. This attack exceeded that of a sword’s in both speed and power. The speed the halberd moved at was even faster than Zieg’s thrust, and the strength it contained was absolutely monstrous, enough to dissect Zieg in half many times over. The axehead was aimed directly at the middle of Zieg’s body. Gyro intended to split Zieg into two parts vertically down the middle.

The rush of adrenaline caused the halberd to move in slow motion to Zieg, and he fully realized that he wouldn’t be able to avoid it in time. Time seemed to freeze for a moment, just like the moments right before death.

Even so, Zieg acted on instinct. He already prepared himself for this because he had never doubted Gyro. He believed Gyro would somehow be able to overcome his first strike, so he was already resolved to make a sacrifice, and that sacrifice was…

The sound of a halberd cleaving cleanly through flesh and bone sounded out in the quiet highlands.

Zieg’s blood splashed all over the snow covered ground, dyeing it in red. Something could be seen separating from Zieg, and flying into the air while splattering blood.

That sacrifice was one of his arms.

The second Zieg retracted Bloodwhistler, he released the grip on one of his hands, and abruptly moved his body to the left, sacrificing his right arm at the shoulder in exchange for his life.

Zieg’s expression didn’t change at all from the loss of his limb, and he instead continued to move. He kept attacking, continuing his onslaught with his one remaining left arm that held onto Bloodwhistler.

“Gyro thrust!” Zieg cried out once more, his left arm turning into a piercing cyclone.

The area Zieg aimed at was precisely the same chest area he attacked with his previous strike, focusing on the same region to maximize his penetrative damage.

Bloodwhistler struck the previous chest wound, slightly digging into Gyro’s chest a few more centimeters.

Gyro didn’t let this opening between Zieg’s attack pass by. His handling and movements of the halberd flowed like water. He quickly reversed the grip of his right hand, spinning the axehead of the halberd one hundred and eighty degrees so that it faced downwards, and made a consecutive downward slash, once again slashing vertically at the middle of Zieg’s body.

The speed and power of this strike was even higher than the last. A downward slash was always easier to perform and even contained more power than an upward slash. Together with the weight of the halberd itself working in concert with gravity, Gyro put all his strength into slashing downwards.

The mere aftershock of Gyro’s downward slash ripped through Zieg’s body easily, creating a huge fissure in the ground in the process, the snow parted as if in reverence to its power.

More of Zieg’s blood splashed unceasingly through the air.

Zieg’s face paled like it was drained of blood, but…

He still lived. He was still alive.

Like before, Zieg had sidestepped to the right, this time sacrificing his left arm at the shoulder, and turned his body sideways in front of Gyro.

Zieg was now armless, and both of his arms were still airborne, the two’s movements were so fast that Zieg’s dismembered arms have yet to touch the floor.

Zieg’s bloodshot gaze connected with Gyro’s cold eyes, both unyielding and full of desire for victory.

For some reason, there was three blood-soaked objects flying through the air. Those three objects all flew independently of one another.

The first object was Zieg’s right arm. The second object was Zieg’s left arm. The third object was…

Zieg’s artifact sword, Bloodwhistler.

The moment Zieg performed his second thrust, he had determined that Gyro’s downward slash was even faster than his first upward slash, and had abandoned the thought of even retracting his arm that time. Instead, he used what little time he had before the downward slash connected with him to slightly toss Bloodwhistler up into the air.

Zieg had resolved himself to sacrifice his limbs, both of his arms, for this one moment. For the gamble of making the one, final, third strike.

The two acted simultaneously. Gyro lifted the halberd up sideways, this time intending on dissecting Zieg’s body horizontally. Zieg had stretched his head out, and caught Bloodwhistler that was spinning in midair.

Zieg bit onto the hilt of Bloodwhistler with his mouth. He bit so hard that his gums bled, adjusting and angling his head directly at Gyro’s chest wound.

Then, the two struck.

Zieg rammed his head holding onto Bloodwhistler into Gyro’s chest wound, and Gyro made a horizontal swing at Zieg’s torso.

…

The young vagabond stood dazed, mesmerized at the sight before him.

The older vagabond slowly walked back towards the younger vagabond. Behind him lay the immortal beast.

The immortal beast was apparently upon its death’s throes. It wailed in agony, a rusty sword still embedded into the side of its body.

Zieg couldn’t take his eyes off the sight, and the scenes before it. Suddenly, the immortal beast’s body seemed to have expanded for a brief moment, its body bloated, and returned back to its previous size, this time, clearly dead.

Gyro spoke, “The spinning thrust is only the first step of my strongest attack. The true reason why its power is greater than a Worldbreaking technique’s is…”

…

Bloodwhistler penetrated through Gyro’s chest wound, finally piercing through his artifact-level body and shattering Gawain’s power, its blade showing from his back. Like that, the artifact lay there, embedded into Gyro’s chest.

Gyro’s halberd cut several inches into Zieg’s torso, and it stopped there.

Gyro’s body seemed to shudder, and an exploding sound could be heard coming from within him. He vomited mouthfuls of blood, and vast amounts of blood poured out of all seven of his orifices. He lost all strength in his body, and dropped his halberd. The halberd caused a miniature quake when it hit the floor, sinking the ground around them by several inches, and causing snow to fly up into the air.

Two more dull thuds could be heard. It was now that Zieg’s two arms finally reached the floor.

Gyro had no energy left, not even enough to stand, and he collapsed forward. The only thing that kept his body from reaching the floor was Zieg’s small, armless body that supported him up.

The reason why Gyro’s Pseudo-Worldbreaking technique, the Gyro thrust, has such destructive powers wasn’t only because of the external damage it causes, but also the internal damage. Every time the attack pierced into the body, it would send streams of mana that would revolve violently inside. When the sword was fully embedded into the body, it would cause the mana to explode, causing innards to be crushed and internal organs to implode on themselves. This was the strongest attack Gyro had ever created in his lifetime, and something that Zieg had repeatedly practiced to master.

Zieg stood upright, armless, as he faced downwards and allowed Gyro to lean on him.

The emotions Zieg were experiencing couldn’t be put into words. He didn’t feel any pain from his arms, but his chest hurt. The feeling was like he lost something important, something inside of him dying.

Gyro used what little strength he had left to slowly raise up his right arm, now free of the halberd, and wrapped it around Zieg into an embrace. The embrace was so weak and fragile, so ephemeral, seeming like it would disappear at any moment. He knew that he would die. He knew that his death was now inevitable.

Gyro’s lips slightly curved upwards, into an almost imperceptible, gratified smile.

With the last of his energy, Gyro said in a hoarse whisper, “Stop… Paragon…”

Then, Gyro’s right arm fell lifelessly off of Zieg.

Like this, he breathed no more, and the leader of a Jaeger group Sphinx, the one given the moniker of the Artifact Hunter, Gyro’s life ended.

Silence enveloped the area. Zieg didn’t know how much time had passed. A few seconds seemed to be an eternity.

Zieg raised his head and made a wail. It was an inhuman wail. A wail containing agony, rage, sorrow, and WRATH.

Zieg’s eyes were glazed over, cold and lifeless, and he channeled a portion of the power of the god’s fragment he had control over to heal his wounds, planning to reconnect his arms.

He looked over at Gyro’s weapon, his halberd, and stared.

…

Seria and the Grand Elder Asher watched the battles unfold calmly. The lazy immortal, Ray, had just been defeated, and Gyro had just passed away leaning on Zieg.

Watching the fights end, Seria seemed to be satisfied. It looked like the others were utterly exhausted, a perfect opportunity to get rid of the others and seize the legendary artifact, Aegis, from Gyro’s interspatial ring.

She spoke, “The battles have just about ended. Let’s-”

Before she could finish the sentence, her words were interrupted by a sensation of pain. She felt a sharp pain pierce into her body from her back, and travel through to the middle of her chest. A trickle of blood ran down the side of her mouth, and she looked down.

What she saw was a blade of ice that ran through her body, and the right hand of the one who wielded it.

“W-why?” Seria turned her head to look at the one behind her, and asked.

“Why?” The Grand Elder Asher smiled. His smile twisted evilly, partnered with his wrinkled face, made him look like the devil itself.

“You don’t realize it yet? The young mistress has unfortunately been killed in action by the Artifact Hunter Gyro during the retrieval of Aegis,” Asher snickered.

“If you weren’t here, who do you think would be the next head of the Weiss clan?” Asher laughed, crazed.

A flash of realization struck Seria.

“Treachery…” Seria whispered.

“That’s right. My grandson is obviously more fit to be the next head. He’s the strongest of the clan, but your foolish father, Jugo, is blinded by his nepotism for you,” Asher’s face abruptly changed, from a smile into a frown.

The Grand Elder raised and opened his left hand, gathering mana. Another blade of ice was formed, and he planned on using it to finish the job he set out to do.

Asher aimed, and thrust his second blade of ice towards Seria.

A red blur flashed, and passed through the space between Asher and Seria. After the blur passed through, two red lines were seen on both of Asher’s wrists.

Asher’s wrists separated from his body, and they fell at the same time he jumped backwards. The sounds of his wrists hitting the ground made two dull thuds.

“Who?!” He yelled.

“I hate your types the most. The cowardly, scheming ones,” Zieg said, waving his sword. It was like he was afraid of having the vermin’s blood on it.

“You! I won’t forget you!” Asher screamed at Zieg, turned towards Seria, and said, “If my grandson can’t be the one to lead the Weiss clan, I’ll make it so that no one can!”

Asher, bleeding at his wrists, slowly sunk into the snowy ground. Ice began wrapping around both sections of his wrists, and hands made from ice formed.

His voice echoing out as he disappeared, “I’ll destroy it!”

Seria spat out the blood filling her mouth, and sealed her wound with ice. She looked at Zieg with a strange gaze.

Zieg flicked his wrist, and Aegis appeared within his hand from Gyro’s interspatial ring he had taken. With the same cold, lifeless look from before, he threw the shield over to Cain who was on the floor, exhausted and collapsed with the other two girls.

Cain looked over to Zieg, only to be greeted with his back. Zieg was already walking away, over to Gyro’s corpse.

Zieg picked up Gyro’s corpse, placing it onto his back, and began to walk North. He was walking aimlessly. Where he was going, even he himself didn’t know.

The four survivors gazed at Zieg’s rescinding back in silence. They didn’t understand what was going, but they all knew that Zieg was feeling immense sorrow for some reason.

How could they have known, or even come to understand the feeling of killing one’s own father figure with their own two hands? This feeling, this sadness, could only be comprehended by those who have done it themselves.

Zieg’s figure continued walking North of the Tiandiyu continent. The four all had the same thoughts. Zieg’s departing figure, somehow, looked incredibly lonely.

They all had the feeling that after he left, they would never see him again.

Alcantis wanted to follow him, but Cain held out a hand to stop her. He understood the most that certain things could only be resolved by yourself. Only by being left alone would you manage to sort out your own feelings and come to a realization on your own.

It was then that Seria called out to him, “You! Your name is Hope?! I’ve decided to make you my fiance!”

Her voice was particularly loud, echoing within the quiet highlands.

“So make sure to stay alive until then! We’ll meet again in the future!” She yelled.

At those words, Zieg briefly paused for a moment.

Without turning back, he continued slowly walking aimlessly Northward, carrying the dead body of the one he considered his father and teacher, Gyro, on his back.