"The branch snapped, huh~"
Verethragna smacked his lips in disappointment.
"Yeah. The branch snapped~"
Sai Akuto's smile did not change.
Within his perception, Saint Raphael and Erica had already subdued three divine incarnations: the "White Horse," the "Camel," and the "Goat."
There was no doubt that, in this wager—"capture six incarnations as the goal"—he had already secured an invincible position ahead of time.
"Shall we continue?"
Verethragna glanced toward another branch on the ground. Clearly, he was dissatisfied with what had effectively become a draw.
"No. There's no need."
Sai Akuto shook his head.
He said that because the three divine incarnations he had sensed were already all captured. As for the remaining three, they had likely been scattered too thoroughly and would need more time to restore their true forms.
They would not appear again in the short term.
"Hm?"
Verethragna noticed Sai Akuto's smile. Compared to before, there seemed to be more in it now.
With the dragon-qi barrier withdrawn and his external perception restored, he finally understood the reason for that smile.
In the next instant, Verethragna revealed a grin of unprecedented exhilaration.
"Hahahaha!!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! So that's it! So that's how it is!"
"Beautiful! Truly beautiful! Even though I was still wandering in confusion just now, I must admit it—this move of yours was played brilliantly!"
Sai Akuto simply watched Verethragna calmly as he lost his mind with laughter.
He laughed for a full minute before the slender body finally stopped trembling, returning from that extreme delight and excitement.
"O you who have broken free of fate~ may I ask you a few questions?"
When his fit ended, Verethragna looked at Sai Akuto, his gaze filled with appreciation and fighting spirit.
"Before you ask me questions, can I ask you one?" Sai Akuto countered.
"Of course. No problem. You are someone I acknowledge. I am willing to listen to—and answer—any question you have."
"…"
Hearing that overly intense, almost intimate-sounding response, Sai Akuto's mouth twitched involuntarily.
He had already imagined what it might look like after defeating Verethragna once, but when the scene actually appeared in front of him, he still found it difficult to keep his composure.
"Alright, then I'll ask. If I'm not mistaken, you've recovered your memories, correct?"
Sai Akuto could feel it. There was no longer any haze in Verethragna's mind—only the desire for battle and victory.
If the earlier him had been pursuing victory unconsciously, then the current him was deliberately, obsessively pursuing battle and victory.
"Correct." Verethragna nodded.
"Just now, while I was laughing, my mind suddenly became crystal clear. When I came back to myself, I had already awakened all my memories."
Having answered Sai Akuto's question with disarming frankness, Verethragna very naturally began his own turn.
"O you who have broken free of fate—unless I am mistaken, you should come from another world entirely?"
After recovering his memories, Verethragna's form of address also changed—from "outsider" to "one who has broken free of fate."
"…"
Sai Akuto said nothing, only nodded with a faint smile.
To be honest, he was pleased that Verethragna could see this, because it made his next plan much easier to execute.
"So it is. No wonder I cannot find any threads of fate on you at all. I truly envy you—able to freely rule over your own destiny."
Verethragna's envy came from the heart.
After all, within the divine realm of the Campione world, gods were powerful—but that power was built upon "mythic narrative."
Once the worlds connected to the divine realm changed the way they passed down and celebrated those myths, even the appearance of the gods' dependents would shift accordingly.
That kind of change was something even the goddesses who governed fate could not avoid.
"No matter what, one who has broken free of fate—even if I was wandering in confusion just now, you truly succeeded in taking victory from my hands. Defeating the never-defeated God of Victory—this supreme glory will follow you for life, and become the brightest point within your existence."
Although there was a faint hint of "explaining it away" (implying he had not been in a complete state), Verethragna still acknowledged Sai Akuto's victory openly.
Because, though the three-round match ended one win, one loss, and one draw, he had indeed lost the first round. And no matter how one looked at the second round, Sai Akuto had intentionally thrown it.
Faced with the praise of the God of Victory, Sai Akuto maintained a smile.
"Verethragna, I have to say… you… really are narcissistic~"
Telling someone that defeating him once should become their lifelong glory—Verethragna was not merely narcissistic, but arrogant to the point of absurdity.
Sai Akuto had long expected the arrogance of an unsubmissive god. But seeing that arrogance displayed in front of him still left him feeling awkward.
"Narcissistic? As a god, if one cannot even be narcissistic, then that god must be a failure."
Verethragna accepted the evaluation with complete composure.
"Besides, the stronger I am, the less I lose—does that not only highlight the glory you obtained in this lowly mortal world?"
"Judging by the result, your best-of-three system was designed from the beginning to draw my attention."
"First, you revealed your identity to catch my eye, and formed an agreement with me—'victory will be decided by the number of incarnations captured.'"
"Then, you challenged me under the pretext of 'just playing around.'"
"Though the challenge was nominally 'just for fun,' you were calculating from the start."
"In the first round, you chose a game you could certainly win, to provoke my desire to compete."
"Then the second round. The reason you chose to have our subordinates fight can be summarized in three points."
"First, you used the opportunity of subordinate combat to grant your subordinates blessings in a perfectly legitimate manner."
"Second, you allowed me one victory, to further stimulate my competitiveness—so that in the third round you could stall me for as long as possible."
"Third, you displayed before me that dragon-qi barrier capable of isolating the outside world and protecting it from our battle's aftershocks."
"After all, you had already used the barrier in the second round. Using it again in the third round during a direct duel with me would not seem strange in the slightest."
"Through the second round's setup, you could completely accomplish your true objective in the third."
"Externally, you isolated your subordinates outside the barrier and sent them to capture my incarnations."
"Internally, with the outside fully sealed off, you competed against me while my desire to win was at its peak. You even refrained from using divine power and instead deliberately used dragon qi to amplify the olive branch in your hand."
"Because in that case, even if your dependents used dragon qi outside and affected the earth veins, I would assume any change in the earth veins was caused by you."
"That is precisely why, once I understood all this, I was willing to grant you the glory of 'defeating the victorious war god.' Because this was something you earned."
Sai Akuto shook his head, neither confirming nor denying.
"Is that so? Earned, huh~~~"
After Verethragna said so much, all Sai Akuto could hear in it was arrogance and self-adoration.
"Correct. Earned. But now that I have recovered my memories, I will not permit you to take even a sliver more victory from me."
"The remaining three incarnations—I will capture all of them before you do."
At present, of the six incarnations, Sai Akuto had captured three. If Verethragna captured the remaining three, it would be a three-to-three draw.
"Is that so? Then hurry up and capture the remaining three incarnations~~~"
Then Sai Akuto added, "But Verethragna, do you know something? The reason you haven't lost yet is because you are weak."
"Hm? What do you mean?"
Verethragna's brow furrowed instantly.
"Because you are weak, you were defeated by the god-king Melqart."
"Because you are weak, the recovery of your ten incarnations is this slow."
"Because you are weak, your ten incarnations still have not fully recovered. Even now, three incarnations remain in a state of dispersed energy, lost without a trace."
"If your six incarnations had already fully recovered, they would have already been detected by me and captured. You wouldn't have the chance to capture anything."
"So the reason you haven't lost yet is because you are weak."
"…"
After Sai Akuto said that, Verethragna fell into a long silence.
Indeed, if his incarnations had already fully recovered, then while he and Sai Akuto were competing in martial skill, the remaining six incarnations would have all fallen into Sai Akuto's hands.
"O you who have broken free of fate—you wished to steal victory in secret, and still leave me with nothing I could say. Is that why you said those things before the three matches began?"
Verethragna recalled the words Sai Akuto had spoken before the match started.
[Although from now on it already counts as the official start of the competition, to deepen mutual understanding, I suggest we first play three friendly matches.]
Clearly, the war god only acknowledged Sai Akuto's victory, but believed that victory had been built upon "stealing a win in secret." If it were a frontal contest of strength, he believed victory would unquestionably belong to him.
"Regrettably, I do not acknowledge a victory where one player starts the game unilaterally and does not tell the other player."
"Next time. Next time I will let you see my true appearance. My true strength."
As he spoke, fierce winds rose around him.
The white-robed boy's figure began to fade.
"Verethragna."
Before the boy war god vanished completely, Sai Akuto called him one final time.
"Don't you think it's too boring—too regrettable—that we can only duel using the form of an unsubmissive god?"
The boy war god nodded.
"It is indeed regrettable. However, that is the rule of being an 'unsubmissive god.'"
"Unless… that rule is broken…"
Before the words could finish, Verethragna disappeared entirely from in front of Sai Akuto.
(End of Chapter)
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