Chapter 190: Arriving at the Final Battle Arena Between Humans and Gods?
Everyone's vision became particularly strange, impossible to explain in words.
If one had to describe it, everything in their sight was like a tapestry of all phenomena that constitute the world, interwoven together.
Suddenly, light appeared—a somewhat dazzling light.
At the same time, their bodies, which had somehow lost the sensation of gravity, were suddenly recaptured by gravity.
As the feeling of solid ground beneath their feet returned, their vision gradually returned to normal.
"What is this place, nya?"
The first to see clearly and speak was Kuroka, her eyes wide with astonishment as she looked around.
They were no longer in the Occult Research Club, but in an incredibly massive arena—one she had never seen so enormous before.
They were among a crowd, in the spectator stands, surrounded by humans?
But what was strange was that these humans were dressed in all sorts of bizarre outfits. To their immediate west, people wore clothing resembling that of a certain country from two thousand years ago.
Further west, they wore twentieth-century clothing, while to the east, it looked like eighteenth-century attire.
Ahead, it seemed to be clothing from a thousand years ago.
There were also areas that were chaotic mixes of clothing styles from various eras.
"It's too noisy, nya~"
Countless people were shouting, which gave her, who was particularly sensitive to sound, a terrible headache.
"We can win, humanity has a chance to win."
"We can win the next millennium."
"Can we really win? Could it be they deliberately lost the first round to us?"
"Are you stupid? Would they sacrifice the Thunder God Thor just to let us win one match?"
Amid the chaotic noise, Kuroka overheard these words and couldn't help her pupils contracting and dilating rapidly.
"Could it be—"
Is this the life-and-death arena for the final battle between humans and gods?
"Everyone thought the Valkyrie's proposal for [Ragnarök] was a joke, but who could have imagined the first match—where Thor was supposed to bring despair to humanity—would end with the god's defeat!!!"
An emotionally charged voice echoed through the arena, coming from a horn-holding announcer on the platform.
"Is that…"
A replay of the first match?
"Is this world's Thor like this? He seems more domineering than the one from our world, and that's Mjölnir, right? Isn't it way too big, meow?"
Kuroka had seen the Thor from her world. In terms of appearance, this one was more handsome, and he exuded an intangible aura far stronger than her world's Thor.
As for Mjölnir, it was absurdly large—compared to her world's version which was like a child's tiny toy hammer.
And his opponent was this world's version of the Hegemon-King of Western Chu? He didn't look like an ordinary figure either.
"Hmm? Isn't this attack too weak?"
This was supposed to be a full-power opening strike, yet it only caused minimal damage to Thor?
As his opponent drew a new spear, the Thunder God launched his assault.
In an instant, the blinding light from the colossal lightning pillar nearly overwhelmed their vision—yet it was instantly dispersed by a single spear thrust?
What followed was a pure exchange of weapon strikes between the two.
"Honestly, with this level of combat display, are the gods of this world really stronger than ours?"
This muttered complaint came from the vice president of Kuoh Academy's student council.
Aside from the initially terrifying lightning strike, the subsequent battle was just a straightforward contest of raw strength between them, without particularly impressive collateral effects.
It felt like even two low-class devil soldiers going all out could create more dramatic impacts than this. Every single move and technique was clearly visible.
Of course, ordinary humans would probably find it visually overwhelming.
So, could that shrine maiden have been mistaken?
"Tsubaki, look carefully at the upper right corner of the footage."
The reminder came from Sona, whose expression had turned unusually grave.
"Huh? The upper left corner—"
Tsubaki looked up again.
"This—this is too exaggerated!!!"
The astonished exclamation came from Ravel, who stared in disbelief at the upper left corner of the footage displaying the current slow-motion multiplier.
"If we calculate the normal speed based on this slow-motion playback... that velocity is genuinely dangerous, meow~"
Extrapolating from the slow-motion multiplier, the actual speed clearly exceeded what even a High-class Devil could achieve.
Even Vali would probably struggle to defend against it.
The current slow-motion playback was likely intended for the human spectators—otherwise, they wouldn't be able to see anything, which would defeat the purpose.
In the blink of an eye, the combat footage showed both combatants losing their weapons. Were they switching to hand-to-hand combat?
No—this meant neither side had yet used their true power, and now they were finally getting serious.
I never expected that in this world, Thor's iron gauntlets weren't used to protect him from Mjolnir's damage, but rather to suppress his power and prevent Mjolnir from being broken.
Meanwhile, in her world, it was the complete opposite. The Thor from her world needed these two Sacred Gears to unleash even more extraordinary power.
But the sudden change in the human side made Kuroka freeze in shock.
"Ah, what are you doing?!"
Ravel was startled—was this suicide?
"No, it can't be..."
Ravel noticed that the slow-motion playback of the footage had been magnified again.
Wait, it was split into several screens. One maintained the previous slow-motion speed, another further increased the magnification to allow humans to continue watching the battle clearly.
And the final screen showed the normal speed footage.
In this normal speed view, it was impossible to see either of their movements at all.
"Rias, to what extent can you roughly see in the normal footage?"
"What about you?"
Then, each of them stated a number, estimating how many times it would need to be slowed down for them to see clearly.
As it turned out, Rias required several times more slowdown than Sona.
For example, Rias could barely capture six weapon exchanges in an instant, while Sona could only see four.
As for Kuroka, she also mentioned the extent of what she could see—she could perceive eight swings in an instant.
The battle between the two sides grew increasingly intense. The hero known as Xiang Yu underwent a transformation, his form now resembling that of a mechanical demon.
Opposite him, the Thunder God Thor also transformed.
In the blink of an eye, the final blow that would decide the outcome descended, and everyone stared intently!
Kuroka, in particular, fixed her gaze on the slow-motion replay of the final strike. The degree of slowdown made her gasp in shock.
"W-what kind of magnification is this?"w
Ravel let out a sound of chaotic disbelief.
Is this the power of the chief gods here?
The shrine maiden had said that the myths here were even stronger than those in their world, and now she was starting to believe it.
Hmm?
The arena's announcer began declaring that the second ultimate battle between humans and gods was about to begin, making Ravel tense up.
Not just her—everyone's expressions grew serious.
The second match was at the super-chief-god level.
No, it was a super-Dragon God-level showdown!!