BAM!!!
Ryuji's right prosthetic arm missed Sho and smashed into the ground.
Venting steam, the prosthetic arm was powered by his magical energy, allowing it to exert Servant-level strength.
It didn't have the various functions of Da Vinci's gauntlet, but it was more than powerful enough for a modern human to wield.
She had originally planned to add more features, but before she could, she was killed by one of Atalante's arrows piercing her chest.
"Hey, why were you messing around and stealing other people's women in the first place?"
"What kind of bullshit is that!"
Ryuji swung his right arm as if about to start a riot. Realizing it was too late to dodge, Sho activated Emergency Evasion to get away.
"I don't get it. Have you ever truly loved someone? I just can't understand guys like you. Why do you live like that?"
"What would a fucking loser like you know! Are you even a man!? You're a pretty boy who looks more feminine than a woman!"
"I'm just the type who looks thinner with clothes on, you know? It's all functional muscle."
Sho was indeed the type who looked relatively slimmer when dressed. Having done all sorts of odd jobs by himself in Chaldea, he was exceptionally skilled at using his strength. He had the muscle mass of a well-built adult man.
CRACK!
Perhaps that was why. Whether it was because he knew how to use his strength efficiently, Sho's punch was significantly stronger than Ryuji's left fist. Unlike Ryuji, who just swung his fists with brute force, Sho fought by distributing his power more effectively.
Ryuji had raw power but didn't know how to use it, while Sho was relatively weaker but handled his strength efficiently.
It was the difference between him and a man who had coasted through life relying on his basic physique, playing around with women rather than working diligently.
"This is how you get to the top! I must look like an idiot to you, right!? It's guys like you who are the most pathetic! Study hard, work hard, and get into a big corporation? Hahaha! I can make more than your entire lifetime salary just by opening one gambling site! Money just rolls in by stealing the wives of guys like you!"
"You're the worst."
"Effort? I make an effort, too! You think it's easy knowing how to please women, how to sweet-talk them!?"
"Sure, you made an effort. It's just that the direction of that effort is so pathetic, I'm at a loss for words."
Effort. The direction of their efforts was truly polar opposites.
A man who ruined the happiness of others, trampled on them, and spat on the rules of the world. He spoke as if proud, and his prosthetic arm sucked in his magical energy, venting even more steam.
"Die!"
"Your Atalante was amazing, by the way."
"You son of a bitch!"
Ryuji threw his right fist with all his might, aiming to pierce Sho's chest.
"Banishment."
Just before the prosthetic arm finished its power-up, Sho's Mystic Code cast a Buff Removal on it. The right fist landed weakly on Sho's chest, and Ryuji's face went blank with confusion.
"Code: U."
The muscles in his right arm creaked as he gathered his strength. Power focused into his right arm.
"Mana Burst."
BOOM!!!
A full-power strike. Sho's right fist slammed directly into Ryuji's solar plexus, shattering his ribs.
"Keok!"
Ryuji coughed up blood and collapsed forward. Sho stood over him calmly and looked down.
"Ditch the prosthetic. Then I won't use my Mystic Code either."
"Bull... shit."
"I'm not a liar like you. A fair and square fistfight. Isn't that romantic? For the finale, I want to beat you as a man. Take it off."
"Shut... uuuup!!!"
Was it just stubbornness? Or was his mental fortitude surprisingly strong?
He scrambled to his feet and threw his right fist, and Sho sighed and used his final measure.
"Order Change."
The moment a golden light enveloped his body, it was not Sho who appeared before Ryuji, but Asterios.
"Mmph!"
"What!?"
Asterios, of course, was unharmed by the punch. He grabbed Ryuji's real right arm and the prosthetic.
With a surge of strength, he tore the prosthetic from the arm.
"Gyaaaah!!!"
Though the senses weren't connected, the prosthetic had been linked to his nerves via magical energy to allow for natural movement. The moment it was forcibly detached, Ryuji felt the agony of his arm being ripped off and rolled on the ground.
"Thanks, Asterios."
"Yup!"
Sho walked back inside the barrier. Asterios had also been fighting the corpses, but he used Preemptive Evasion to dodge them and enter the barrier.
"See? I told you to take it off."
"You cowardly bastard!"
"You brought all this on yourself, Ryuji. Losing your arm was your own damn fault. The prosthetic getting ripped off was your own damn fault. Your shattered ribs are your own damn fault. Why do you keep denying reality?"
All the harm he had suffered so far was his own doing. It was a classic case of double standards.
He had lived his life loud and proud, laughing at the cries of those he had harmed.
For the first time in his life, he was on the ground, being looked down upon by someone. He staggered to his feet.
Sho, genuinely intending not to use his Mystic Code, immediately threw a punch at Ryuji.
What followed was a dogfight.
A brutal brawl between two men. Kicks and even headbutts were exchanged, and Ryuji bit Sho's arm, tearing the flesh enough to draw blood.
But the two men fought on, unconcerned.
The fight gradually, and naturally, turned in Sho's favor. Not just because Ryuji had started with heavy injuries, but because Sho was now throwing punches faster than when he had used his Mystic Code, pushing Ryuji back.
Their resolve was different.
Unlike Ryuji, who fought with nothing but a hateful desire for revenge, Sho was fighting with the determination to sever this ill-fated bond to protect his loved ones.
This wasn't revenge. In the end, this was a regressed timeline.
The Ryuji here had not committed the acts that Sho had experienced.
Could this be called revenge? No, Sho didn't think of it as revenge.
It was a fight to break away from the shadows of the past, to cast off his lingering attachments.
Throughout the fight, Sho remembered the Ritsuka of that time.
`'I packed this because I thought you'd be thirsty, so why aren't you drinking it? If you don't like semen, shouldn't you at least drink my piss? You shouldn't be so picky, you know? Khahaha!'`
Ryuji had not only raped Ritsuka and covered her in semen, but had also mocked her by pissing on her while she lay unconscious with her eyes open.
THWACK!
"Kuhak!"
This was different from revenge.
This was a fight to prevent the Ritsuka of this world from suffering the same fate. The regression had already made it so that it never happened. In that case, he wasn't fighting for a vanished past that only he remembered.
He was fighting for the present and the future.
He cherished and would never forget the Ritsuka of that time, nor the Ritsuka who loved him now.
To prevent the worst possible future, to protect his loved ones this time for sure.
"Kugh!!"
"Die."
Sho got into a mounted position, pinned Ryuji's left arm with his knee, and began to choke him with both hands.
Ryuji's face gradually turned blue as he struggled.
Some had suggested to Sho that he should let Ryuji live and suffer for eternity.
But he had refused.
He hated it. The very idea that this person he loathed, whose very existence he despised, still existed somewhere in the world was repulsive to him.
What he wanted wasn't revenge. It was simply a happy future with everyone, free of such foul people.
He didn't want to give this man even that sliver of attention. He just wanted him to be completely erased from the world.
"Gurgle."
Soon, Ryuji's eyes rolled back as he passed out. Sho squeezed his neck even harder to ensure complete asphyxiation. One minute, two minutes, five minutes passed.
CRUNCH!
Sho grabbed his head and slammed it repeatedly against a rock jutting out of the ground. His skull shattered, and his brains spilled out.
"Hah, hah."
Breathing heavily, Sho slowly got up, took a lighter from his pocket, and lit it. The lighter's flame began to burn Ryuji's clothes, gradually setting his body ablaze.
Watching his body cook and char to black, Sho collapsed as if it were all over.
"I did it. Finally, I did it."
Tears streamed down his face as a faint smile formed. Finally, he had finally severed the long, ill-fated bond.
He saw Ritsuka running towards him from a distance with Kiyohime and Mash. Not wanting to show her the pile of ashes that was once Ryuji, he stood up and walked towards her.
Meanwhile, BB, who was observing from Chaldea, confirmed Ryuji's complete death.
"And so, you pass the first trial, Senpai."
BB sat in her chair with a faint smile. Being an AI who oversaw the system, she could observe everything without needing to be in the control room. She was relaxing in her own room, drinking wine.
On the outside, she appeared to be resting, but that was only for her materialized Spirit Origin. Her mind was still adjusting the system.
"We also thought that getting rid of that one man would be the end of it all. But the Counter Force of this world... it surpassed our imagination."
BB was proud to see Sho pass the first trial, but at the same time, she felt pity for his sense of relief.
"Replacements, you see, they just keep appearing. In all sorts of ways. The remaining six Singularities. Annoying replacements will likely appear in all of them. After all, it seems the world hates us."
A different Counter Force from the usual ones, Gaia (the World) and Alaya (the Counter Force). There was no way to express what its official name should be.
The name BB had temporarily assigned it.
"Eros. Well, my apologies to the actual god Eros, but since there's also a goddess with the same name as Gaia, this seems fitting enough. It's just a temporary name, not official anyway. The third Counter Force of this world. Hah, four Counter Forces on Earth alone. This planet must be the only one like it. In a normal timeline, a single planet would have about two Counter Forces at most."
She spoke these cryptic words, set down her empty wine glass, stood up, and left the room.
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Hello! We have caught up with the original author on my Patreon, so chapters will be released more slowly (48 chapters).
Also, I apologize for the lack of updates. I was sick with a high fever and couldn't move at all, but now everything is more or less tolerable.
I would also like to thank Aki Kasami and Shakekiller for purchasing a subscription. Seeing my time and effort slowly starting to pay off—I can't help but be happy.
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