Chapter 373 - Hadaka No Ousama

The greatest armor and weapons from his world couldn’t even hope to match the gods. That was what Koujiro experienced when he came face to face with Kazutora. He had taken much pride in his favored collection, gathered from all sorts of places. But that came to nothing when his best blades shattered against his opponent’s armor, while his own armor crumbled and slid off his body after several exchanges.

“Feel free to keep calling up replacements. You’ll soon learn that none of them can match what is in my hands.”

The air of confidence around Kazutora was undeniable. There were hardly any blemishes on his own equipment, a pure white armor and sword that made him look like a guardian of Heaven. The brightness of them compared to Koujiro’s equipment made it seem like everything that approached would be whited out. They were toys in the face of Kazutora’s millennia worth of forging.

Koujiro’s ability to gain nearly ten times the stats from equipment was the same as the God of Proficiency, making their possessed equipment crucial.

Koujiro called up another set, making full use of the fast change device given to him by Queen Katalina. A set of dark armor and a long polearm materialized, making Koujiro look like a dragoon. He lunged forward with the intent to skewer his opponent, but he might as well have been a child wearing cardboard and shaking a foam noodle.

Kazutora dodged the stab and swung his blade right into the shaft of the long weapon, snapping it in two. Bringing the shield in his left arm forward, it bashed right into Koujiro’s armor, sending a huge ripple through the metal.

Koujiro tumbled to the ground, and as he rolled, the armor flaked off in chunks until the integrity of the entire suit reached zero and burst into shards. Another set of equipment destroyed. Another piece of his collection of no use.

Still, he immediately got up and called forth another, an armor and sword of lesser quality.

“It’s useless. Your best equipment has already been destroyed. What spares you possess will matter even less. I would know. My incarnations and I created most of the legendary equipment that you found upon Leguardia,” Kazutora said, his face hidden behind a helmet.

Koujiro shook his head. He looked resigned as he got into a battle stance again.

“I’ve learned time and time again that it’s not everything to be on the winning side. Sometimes, you just have to endure. To tough it out even if you don’t have a lick of a chance in succeeding. That’s because everyone else is out there fighting. I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t go at it with everything I have.”

Koujiro charged forward, taking swipes at any openings that could be found. Kazutora moved much faster, his guard placed in the right spot in the blink of an eye. His blade didn’t move a single bit, making Koujiro grind his teeth in frustration.

He stepped back to try again, but the white armor blipped right before him, and a giant blow smashed into his torso. Once again, Koujiro was sent tumbling. The shards of his equipment scattered about as he was thrown like a ragdoll.

Once the dust had settled, Koujiro slammed his palm on the ground and forced himself up. He brought his bracer up and called for the next set… only to find that nothing appeared. He remained in his underwear, feeling very naked without anything to cover him.

“Looks like I broke them all. Time for you to give-, what are you doing?”

Koujiro grabbed a half-broken weapon from the ground. He held it shakily in front of him, like the weight bore heavily on his thin arms. The weapon was so destroyed that it no longer bestowed any stat boosts. Yet, his grip upon it was firm. He looked much like a bullied kid that had been stripped and beaten with nowhere else to run, left with only a sense of desperation.

But then, Koujiro took a deep breath to calm himself. The jittering of his weapon slowly died down, and he shot a glare at Kazutora like before.

He was a naked king. The fancy armors that made him a champion were no more. To continue fighting was a fool’s errand. Koujiro knew that, but he did it regardless. He had no idea why, but some kind of stupid bravery was calling out to him.

And just like always, he moved forward with no hesitation. It was who he was – the Electi of Proficiency. Or rather, the prideful Koujiro Raidou that would never give in anymore.

Kazutora’s weapon moved up to block the dismissive swing.

‘PINGGGGG!!!’

To Kazutora’s surprise, the rumble of his sword traveled down the length of his arm, awakening him from his carelessness instantly. A half-broken weapon and a foolhardy charge shouldn’t have stung like it did.

In response, Kazutora sent his shield forward, but when it bashed against the bare arm of Koujiro, a flash of purple erupted in between the two. The rock-hard defense from Koujiro had come out of nowhere.

Even Koujiro himself looked stunned at the result. But then, he pulled up his menu and skimmed its contents before smiling.

“Only when one loses, can he learn to walk the path of a hero…”

Koujiro marveled at the purple aura wrapped around his body. Even without his equipment, he felt full of power. With a swing of his fist, it collided heavily into Kazutora, more powerful than when he was equipped with his best before.

That was because he had obtained a new skill at that moment – ‘Hero’s Cowl’.

Even with nothing fancy equipped, his body recalled the experience of having worn many guises. The stats of each of them were called up and compounded onto his body, making it seem like he wore all of them simultaneously.

He had realized it before. He didn’t have to settle on any one role to begin with. He was strong because he could be any one of them if he tried. And when he finally shed the equipment and became himself, his abilities skyrocketed in recognition of all of them.

He was a hero regardless of what else he tried to become.

Kazutora attacked in disbelief. But now, the tables had turned. It was now Kazutora’s blade being stopped effortlessly by the bare hands of Koujiro, who started having fun doing blade catches between his palms.

“Impossible! Divine equipment forged by millennia of optimization – taken down by the power of one person?! Who, who simply collected all the failures I created in the past?!”

“That’s exactly why you’re on the losing end if this one, buddy!” Koujiro shouted as his punch made a satisfying clang into the white armor. “A hero doesn’t need stats or power to come out on top! A hero doesn’t discard the things that used to be. He owns up and gets stronger from them!”

Lighter on his feet and more fluid than before, Koujiro’s body blazed purple as he continued his assault. Heavy impacts echoed across the area from each hit that landed. He was having too much fun giving back what he received before.

But then, Kazutora finally had enough. Swinging his blade out in a wide sweep to clear the space before him. He leapt back even further, lifting his sword high above his head as if beckoning for power. In response, his sword shone white as energy circulated around it. Its length grew several times as it continued to collect power.

Koujiro knew what was coming. After all, he had a very similar attack in his repertoire. But all he could do was panic because he wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of it.

“EX----ECUTION!!!”

“Wait! How could you not use one of the more obvious choices?!”

Of course. Koujiro’s protest couldn’t be heard over the sound of a huge beam of white light that collided with him, creating a giant explosion that rocked the area. If Kazutora had heard, the answer would have been simple – he couldn’t decide between either, so he used something else entirely.

Regardless, his mind wasn’t focused on such trivialities. He was more concerned with whether his attack had eviscerated his annoying opponent that somehow resembled a monk class that reached enlightenment.

But within the dust, a purple outline faintly shown from within. It became denser as the smokescreen settled, apparently even stronger than before. But to Kazutora’s surprise, a set of seven bright lights in the familiar shape of Macali’s emblem, stood in front.

And behind that, Koujiro was standing with his mouth agape, like he had been saved by this surprise appearance.

“Well… I ‘wa’ shock!”

Kazutora faltered as the reference of that symbol finally kicked in. He got back in a stance to move around the seven lights, but before he could, they moved over to Koujiro, who was still mesmerized by them.

But as soon as they touched his body, he felt a familiar warmth from each of them.

“Liruru… and Relia, and Merona… Firion… Lyucel… Harlett… Lailah…”

They were lights that represented his connection with his wives. The ‘Hero’s Cowl’ had not been limited to only what Koujiro had recognized within himself. A hero was accompanied by companions through his walk of life. And in times of need, that was also strength imparted upon one.

That was yet another thing that Kazutora lacked. He had put his entire faith in creating the best equipment to be the epitome of a hero, but hiding himself behind a mask and discarding his failures had left him alone on his journey.

Kazutora, much like Koujiro had done before, merely played a hero. However, Koujiro had grown up from it. He learned to appreciate what he gained from the mistakes and claimed his role in the minds of those around him.

The lights morphed as if responding to his thoughts. In his mind, he already knew what was happening, and in response, he beamed a smile forward.

“It’s a ‘gattai’, isn’t it?! Alright, let’s gooooooo!”

One light went to his body and formed a cloak of armor. Two lights went to his arms and two more to his legs to encase his limbs in mechanical appendages. One floated to his head and formed a helmet. And the last one, it formed a giant sword for Koujiro to wield.

Combining together, it created an aura that resembled a see-through mobile suit. Its name was-

“RAIDEN! MOVING OUT!”

In a flash, Koujiro disappeared from the field, only to materialize a good distance behind Kazutora. Like the finisher for a super attack, Koujiro spun his sword before stabbing it into the ground. And with that move complete, a concentrated burst of purple light exploded where Kazutora stood before the god toppled to the ground, unconscious.

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Kazutora had always wanted to be a hero. That was why he wished to dress up all the time and fight crime. But as maturity set in, he found that there were a lot of things that ran against that simple desire.

Growing up meant doing a lot of things that he didn’t want to, but if he hid his identity, then no one would tell him otherwise. He could go on being the person he wanted to be. Forever and ever…

“Ashite shimatta zenbu zenbu~~”

“Furikakatta noroi mo zenbu~~”

Kazutora sat up to see Koujiro sitting on a rock, looking out at the horizon. A melody continued from his lips like he didn’t have a care in the world. Certainly, he didn’t even turn around when Kazutora stirred.

“Why haven’t you-”

“-finished you off?” Koujiro completed. “Maybe because I saw your face and thought, ‘Gee… he reminds me of someone I once knew…,’ and I gave up.”

Given that Koujiro was an incarnation of Kazutora, that much should have been obvious. But sitting there calmly and talking, it felt like Koujiro had an air of maturity about him that Kazutora lacked, even with the massive disparity in their ages.

“Someone you ‘once knew’?” Kazutora asked. “What changed about him?”

“He grew up. He started doing things that he didn’t like doing, but it made others happy. And after a while, he learned that it wasn’t so bad after all.”

“And why is that?”

Koujiro started to answer but then stopped. Smiling, he instead sang his response.

“Mou aishiteshimatta omoi wo zenbu~~”

“Mamoreru hodo no hikari wo~~”

Kazutora recalled that song as well, deep in his memories. It was a melody long lost but had sparked his initial desire. Only now, the focus on this particular verse made it clear what Koujiro fought for. What Kazutora failed to accomplish.

“I guess gaining a harem of girls that love you should have been on the priority list.”

“Nope,” Koujiro interjected. “It’s being put through the ringer for their sake and still learning to love every moment of it.”

“How do you cope with that?”

“By putting your expectations on someone other than yourself.”

Several moments of silence happened between them before Koujiro felt a chill and sneezed.

“Want my armor? I don’t think I’ll be needing it anymore,” Kazutora said.

“Yeah, sure. This special ability doesn’t come with any neat threads.”

Koujiro watched as Kazutora faded away into white particles. He grabbed the armor and slipped it on. Picking up the helmet, he stared at the front before placing it on top of the rock he was sitting on. With a gentle pat, he walked off, into the white haze that surrounded the area.

He was better off not knowing perfection. If he had it, then there would be no point in searching for things to make him feel whole. The prospect of fulfillment was part of the fun, after all.