42. Seiya's Practice
Seiya didn't waste time. Flames erupted around his body as he leaped into the air, slicing through skulls as he passed.
His fire-infused feet crashed onto the head of a giant demon, using its skull to propel himself forward. The demon collapsed, crushing its allies beneath it.
Using the momentum, Seiya spun his flaming blade, transforming into a whirlwind of fire. Dozens of demons were torn apart in his bloodied path.
Suddenly he got interrupted as
"GOT YOU!" A shield-bearing demon suddenly took on his strike.
"FINALLY—UGH?! OH SHI—Slash!" Unfortunately, Seiya replied to that interruption with fatal bisection.
Without hesitation, he choked the demon and raised its partial body. Rains of arrows thudded into the demon's body.
Seiya had no time for pity, he ignited the corpse and hurled it into the incoming demons.
The lead demon froze, instinctively catching the flaming body—a mistake it would regret. The thrown force sent it stumbling back, crashing into those behind it, causing a chain of tumbling.
By the time the demons got back to their feet, Seiya was upon them.
His blade was a blur, reaping heads with terrifying precision. As they cornered him, he vaulted high, blade poised for his next strike.
—
Ristarte watching all this couldn't help but comment, "Isn't Seiya TOO perfect for this Aria."
"..."
"Huh?" her partner suddenly became quiet
"Hello? What's the matter—?!" She became silent.
Goddess Ariadoa withheld nothing back, showing a face she had never seen before, filled with melancholy.
Ristarte wanted to ask her questions, but suddenly an explosion flashed from the screen.
She got pulled back to Seiya's screen, to which he was riddled with frost.
[Not bad, hero-chan~] a voice cooed from behind. Before Seiya could react, a freezing blast erupted beneath him. The frostbite gnawed at his skin as he landed harder than expected.
[I thought you'd be out of steam by now] on the screen, the feminine demon mocked, her lips curling into a grin.
[But you proved us wrong] A giant demon lumbered forward, heavy weights dangling from its arms.
Seiya cast flames on his body, but as a spark was made, a chained pitchfork flew out of the darkness. Seiya rolled to the side, canceling his cast and narrowly avoiding it.
[Not bad, kid] a voice called from the shadows, the pitchfork retracting back. [using your magic to warm yourself! Smart. But why would I allow that] there's a joy from its voice
CRASH!!! A colossal mass of metal collided with Seiya, launching him across the battlefield. Then crashing to the other side, cratering the ground.
[Not bad…] The giant demon has thrown one of his weight, [Get them BOYS!] With those orders, another wave of demons descended.
Seiya immediately shot up from the crater. He glanced at his body, battered and frostbitten. He had to finish this quickly.
Without hesitation, he chanted an incantation. [METEORS! IMPACT!] The sky darkened, and a barrage of meteors rained upon his enemies.
—
Three of them had watched the fight to a conclusion. Seiya won his fight with more left inside him.
"He had packed four dozen of the highest quality health and mana potions in his pocket, and from that war alone he had drunk half of them," Seth concluded.
Any other person witnessing such simulated victory would celebrate themselves, but Seiya straight-up pulled a 3D projection of the whole battlefield.
It was a holographic recording of the whole war, and Seiya analyzed every frame. If something caught his eye, he grabbed a pen and drew marks and notes.
[Nope, that part was wrong, half a second of hesitation caused me to have two arrows flying a few inches away above my head, I should have taken the initiative.] [That move was too risky, although it worked out well in the end, it has the chance to cause an inch of graze on my shoulder, I should have gone that way.] [I overdid my fire spells, spending seventy points mana instead of sixty.]
These were the many mistakes and errors Seiya had noted from his fight against many. 'Seemingly' inconsequential, but stacked up in the end.
Unbeknownst to him, three gods and many more were in awe of his execution and finesse.
I know I'm the goddess of healing, but am I needed anymore? He went one versus tens of thousands. Yet he's unscathed! She felt empty and unneeded, ignoring the twenty-plus health and mana potions he drank across the battle.
With this dejectedness, she went back to Seth's screen. In it, Seth was celebrating as his experiments bore fruits; a flimsy flintlock gun had been made on the other side, meaning he had successfully circumvented Gaeabrande's law of reality and causality.
Looking at both events from each screen, two extremely different pictures arose.
On one side, Seth is having fun experimenting and doing comical stuff to test the world's boundaries. On the other, Seiya just did the most bloodied epic solo war himself. One side screams cartoonish chill fun while the other screams hard heavy metal.
Watching these two different peas in a pod, she felt weird.
Sigh…
( ° _ ° " )
Aria!? Ristarte leered hard at her friend across the table.
That face again?! Aria! Why are you STILL so focused on Seiya with those mopey eyes?! What's wrong Aria?! Ristarte touched Ariadoa on her hand, snapping her off her dejected trance.
"Ah... Oh… Sorry there Rista. I'm just in my world there, reminiscing something."
"Aria, I can tell that it has something to do with Seiya, want to let me in on it, is it a certain feeling or what?"
Aria raised her eyebrows before giggling a bit, "Oh Rista you joker, there's really nothing going on with me here."
Ristarte was not convinced, but since her friend did not want to continue, she obliged.
Suddenly there's a change in Seth's screen, after getting a gun through that barrier, Seth trotted to somewhere else.
Ristarte expected him to check on Seiya, but instead, he went to where a group of gods and goddesses were chilling.
Are they the ones that Seiya fought? She had questions in her mind.
"Of course, these gods would have beaten Seiya in one punch if they used their full power, but at the simulation, their strength was limited to what an S-class world general should be." hooded Seth explained.
"It is so these people could accept their loss: in their eyes, it's as if you're controlling a character in virtual reality, and their death at Seiya's hand feels the same as having their game character killed."
On the screen, the main Seth greeted them with a smile, initiating fun talks to improve their mood, while subtly inquiring them about their experience, likes, complaints about this event, and more—all for the betterment of this event and maybe more in the future.
After a while, some of them left for somewhere else, but more new faces came in, so with the math done, this group's number became bigger than before.
"Before you asked, This 'beat our hero' event is picking up steam, some of those that left are momentarily leaving to invite their friends into this. Those remaining are waiting for the next round of whatever our brutal hero would grind himself through."
This surprised Ristarte slightly, "Ain't this feels too much like a game lobby?" She pointed at the unsettling amount of gods gathering there.
"It is, but does it matter? They're enjoying it."
"Well Rista, shouldn't you be happy about this? I see no downsides with this matter." Ariadoa butted in.
"Aria! It's not about happiness or convenience! It's about… uh… Integrity! Making Seiya as a main attraction just feels wrong."
"Good for you, Rista," Seth spoke this time.
"Hey! You're the perpetrator here!"
"Yes I'm sort of at fault, but Seiya already consented to this. Look!" The main Seth had gone back to where Seiya was, helping him analyze and review the recording of his previous fight.
"If Seiya finds the whole thing a dodgy matter, he wouldn't be with the other me discussing improvements."
The two's collaboration continued, and Seth Seth presented his findings from his blatant testing of Gaeabrande's rules. Thanks to it the two went on a montage of their own, to which Ristarte has to watch through it.
She saw Seth coaching Seiya's magic casting and combat skills.
She saw Seiya testing his lethal moves on Seth.
She saw they discussed what tools or spells they could add to improve Seiya further.
She saw them exploiting the reality loopholes Seth found.
She saw the both of them dueling each other as practice.
They left me out. Ristarte watched the whole thing with mixed feelings.
She technically feels relieved due to having these two tackling the S-class world, but right now she feels mostly left out.
"Rista? You okay there"
"Ooh! Sorry there Aria, looks like I'm the one in the gloom this time." She continued to watch the two's shenanigans.
Ariadoa as the experienced goddess caught on quickly.
she only placed a reassuring hand on Rista's shoulder, letting her know she was by her side.
Suddenly a spectre in waitress clothing arrived at Seth and whispered to him.
"The delivery's here?! Finally, I can start making that butler."
He immediately conjured a portal next to him and stepped one leg in. "Oh and sorry to say this, but these two shows end here." He snapped his finger and the screens poofed.
"Hey!"
"Sorry Rista, those two videos were recorded like an hour ago. Technically speaking. Months have passed there since then," he implied on the time difference due to dilation.
"WH-WHAT!!! THAT WAS AGES AGO?!"
"Yup."
The two goddesses stared at him weirdly.
"Now excuse me ladies I have something else to do!" Seth waved his hand and vanished.
?(｡•́︿•̀｡)?
Ristarte blinked her eyes multiple times.
She turned to Aria, "Aria, he just ditched me, right?"
"Rista, I don't think—"
"Don't sugarcoat it, it's obvious…"
"Rista, you shouldn't take it–"
"HUHP! Sighhh…" It was a big one. She let it all out, without any malice, just deflation.
Ariadoa was piqued. She expected an outburst, definitely not this.
Ristarte lay sullenly on the table, "Have I told you what happened to me ever since I came here?"
"You did."
"From hearing the whole thing, what do you think about my placement in the story."
Ariadoa could guess, but she wouldn't say it because she didn't want to hurt her deflated friend more.
"I know the truth Aria. I was sidelined."
"Don't be like that Rista! Seth did let you tag along to the many fun places!"
"But they're unrelated to saving Gaeabrande at all!" This answer caused Aria to become mum.
"When I got here, Seth and Seiya trapped themselves in that time whatever place, spending like months training, while little ol me stuck outside with that finger of his."
"Finger of his?"
"Wait, have I told you about that?" She turned her head sideways to Aria.
"I believe not."
"Okay, I'll just tell you: that clone of him we met moments ago, that's his finger."
"Finger? like metaphorical?" Ariadoa Asked.
"Metaphorical?"
"As in you call extensions of him as his fingers?"
"What?! No-no-no! That clone was made from his finger, literally!"
"Okay? Interesting?" Ariadoa reacted like she found a weird fact. "Would Seth be fine with me knowing this?"
Ristarte lifted her head, "He's fine with it, nothing REALLY bothers him, at all."
"Hmm…" The goddess got curious, "You seem to understand him very well, even though you have only spent a short time with him," Aria replied.
"That's because he's surprisingly very basic." she shrugged in annoyance, "He's just a workaholic, a no-nonsense guy, and what do you call a guy who likes to test stuff out without holding back?" Ristarte spoke.
"Test stuff out? Do you mean in research and experimentation?"
Ristarte slammed the table, "Yes, along those lines! Plus he's the type that dives straight in without worry of its aftermath! Since nothing could physically stop him!"
"Rista You're getting quite pumped up for this, Look, you're off your chair." Aria pointed at Ristarte, who was leaning on the table.
Rista became slightly flustered. She got too energized in her grievance against Seth.
"I sense a love-hate relationship in this~." Aria teased sweetly.
"HAH!? EH?! Uhh!?" She couldn't refute that.
"Excuse me, Ristarte. I'm sorry to interrupt, but do you know where Seth went?" a new voice called out.