Chapter 37: Strongest vs. Strongest (7)
Shalltear slowly opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was Kaiser—his clothes shredded and his entire body covered in wounds—
staring straight back at her.
Why…? How?
She, Shalltear Bloodfallen, was a creation of the Supreme Beings—a flawless masterpiece among the denizens of Nazarick.
A top-tier NPC designed specifically for combat, second only to Gargantua in raw interceptive power.
And yet… in a one-on-one fight against a mere human,
she was losing.
That humiliation—that disgrace—was worse than death.
To lose as a creation of the Supreme Beings was to insult Them.
The shame felt so overwhelming she wanted to simply disappear.
And worse—
She could feel it.
If this continued, she really would die.
"Why the hesitation? You've just resurrected. Your HP and MP should be full. Why aren't you attacking?
Look at me—I'm a complete mess."
As Kaiser stepped toward her, Shalltear's body froze.
She had lived as an undead, almost completely detached from pain…
But Kaiser's attacks—his Red Thunder, his True Ancestral Hunt— they inflicted real pain.
Agonizing, burning, flesh-tearing pain.
And Shalltear realized—
For a brief moment…she had felt fear.
Her jaw clenched.
Fear turned to rage.
She was Shalltear Bloodfallen.
She was a Floor Guardian.
She protected Nazarick's vanguard.
She could not—must not—be afraid.
"Einherjar!!"
A flash of white light.
A duplicate of Shalltear appeared beside her—
a perfect copy in appearance, radiating nearly the same pressure as the original.
It wasn't like Kaiser's shadow clones—this was the real thing.
A fully combat-capable summit-class echo of her.
Though most doppelganger skills came with limitations—less magic, fewer abilities—having two Shalltears present was still overwhelming.
And the real Shalltear still had full MP thanks to her resurrection.
"I'LL KILL YOU!!"
Both Shalltear and her clone surged toward Kaiser.
Kaiser simply smiled—relaxed, unfazed.
He drew two weapons: the Palanite in one hand,
and in the other, a short white dagger-like blade.
Then he rushed forward.
TING! CLANG! BOOM!!
Shalltear and the clone attacked relentlessly,
leveraging the overwhelming stats of a level-100 Guardian.
Anything less was unthinkable—if she couldn't overpower a single human even in a 2-on-1…then she no longer deserved to live.
He's human…!
No matter how strong he is, he must be exhausted!
Two against one—I can't possibly lose!
CLASH! SLASH!
Shalltear's cheek was sliced.
Red lightning crawled across her skin and burst in a sharp sting.
Not fatal—but enough to agitate her.
Kaiser vaulted, spun, and kicked the clone away, then swung the white dagger at Shalltear.
Her lance intercepted—she counterpunched—
—but Kaiser deflected her fist with Palanite and severed her arm.
Blood sprayed like a fountain.
"Tch…!!"
She leaped back, holding her wound.
"Maximize Magic: Crimson Holy!"
Both Shalltear and the clone rushed in with the spell.
Kaiser tossed the white dagger upward—as it floated, it drank in the crimson flames.
A Magic-Sealing Blade.
Limited to once per day, but capable of sealing up to 9th-tier spells.
He had predicted she'd use magic.
From now on—she could no longer cast Crimson Holy.
Kaiser blocked their attacks with Palanite, vaulted upward, and kicked the clone away again.
Dust rose as the clone rushed back in.
"Martial Art: Infinite Killing Method."
SFX: SHASHASHASHASH!!
Both Shalltear and her clone were slashed repeatedly,
their bodies opening under the rapid cuts.
2-on-1…
Even if the clone is limited, its stats are identical to mine! And yet— even so— I'm being overwhelmed!?
Shalltear's fury swelled.
Her instincts screamed—she could no longer cast Crimson Holy.
Fine.
She would use something else.
"Maximize Magic: Force Explosion!!"
"Greater Teleportation!"
A massive detonation surged outward—but Kaiser vanished.
Shalltear scanned the surroundings—below?
No—not this time—
A sound echoed above her—like the roar of Koquytos swinging his greatsword.
She looked up.
"Wh-what… is that!?"
A giant axe, so enormous it filled her entire field of vision.
At its handle—
Kaiser stood poised.
"Giant's Axe!"
He hurled it.
Fast. Too fast.
But Shalltear didn't dodge—this was her chance.
Kaiser had attacked.
He would drop his guard.
With her clone beside her, she charged.
"Impure Shock Shield!!"
Her last use of the skill.
A blood-red shield manifested—colliding with the giant axe and sending it ricocheting backward.
It spun—gaining speed—hurtling straight toward Kaiser.
He calmly reached out—
—and caught it by the handle.
Shalltear's jaw dropped.
He caught that!?
Kaiser aimed the axe back at her.
"Martial Art: Heavy Strike."
The Giant's Axe ignited with crimson energy.
He threw it downward.
Shalltear realized too late—
There was no way to dodge.
BOOOOOOM!!
The axe crashed down with a thunderous roar.
Kaiser landed on its handle and scanned the field.
The clone charged again—but Kaiser only smirked as red lightning flickered.
"Martial Art: Third Form — Moonlight Slash."
SLASH—!!
The clone was cleaved cleanly in half, lightning exploding through it.
Kaiser spun, raised his blade—
"Red Thunder Cannon."
KA-BOOOM!!
The clone was annihilated.
Breathing steadily, Kaiser sensed the air—detecting Shalltear rushing in.
She had no reason left to think clearly.
Not because of Blood Frenzy—but because of her pride.
Kaiser knew how NPC pride worked.
He'd even provoked it intentionally.
The shame of losing as a creation of the Supreme Beings…
That emotion was breaking her.
"But your approach is too linear."
"KAAAISERRRRR!!"
"At this angle, I just need to—"
Then Kaiser's expression changed.
His eyes widened.
"Arche?"
He had placed a spell on Arche—one that would notify him if she took a mortal wound.
And now—
The alert was ringing.
Arche was in life-threatening danger.
He understood instantly.
Shalltear was still charging—but Kaiser's mind had already shifted.
"Chains of the Guardian!!"
From the air, spectral chains shot down toward Shalltear.
They would capture her just before she reached him.
With her extremely negative karma, the chains would hold her like steel forged by the gods.
He had no doubt they would bind her.
But just as they were about to wrap around her,
Shalltear screamed—
Was it anger?
Was it jealousy?
Or some chaotic mix of emotions fused together?
Kaiser couldn't tell—only that Shalltear's scream sounded like a roar torn from a throat filled with blood.
"Magic Cancellation!!"
CHAAANG!
The spectral chains disappeared instantly.
"What—"
Kaiser stepped back, startled—but not fast enough.
Splat!
Shalltear's Spuit Lance pierced straight through his side.
He twisted just in time or it would've skewered his abdomen completely.
She then slashed him away as if batting aside an insect.
BOOOOM!!
Kaiser crashed into the ground, carving a crater.
"Maximize Magic: Force Explosion!!"
Another thunderous shockwave erupted, vaporizing what little remained of the forest.
Shalltear descended, her sharpened instincts screaming that Kaiser was right below—
"...That hurts."
Kaiser clutched his head, glaring up at her—his eyes glowing with an eerie black radiance.
The moment their eyes met, Shalltear felt an inexplicable chill.
An undead shouldn't feel cold.
Yet she felt as though blood she didn't even have was draining from her skull.
Kaiser watched her silently—
Then exhaled, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, the terrifying warrior was gone.
In his place was the same relaxed, almost foolishly gentle boy as before.
"Well… this one's on me. Arche is probably handling things fine on her own but… overprotectiveness really is a bad habit."
"W-what are you—!?"
"The match is already over."
"What nonsense are you spewing!? I'm not finished!
My HP and MP are still full!"
"But your skills are gone, aren't they?"
Shalltear flinched.
She couldn't possibly be unscathed after being hit by the Giant's Axe.
That meant she had used Time Reversal—her last one.
No Impure Shock Shield.
No more Time Reversal.
Everything had been consumed.
Her reckless assault had handed Kaiser all the information he needed.
Kaiser leveled his sword at her.
"To be honest, I never needed to fight you seriously.
Killing you was simply the easiest way to become a deterrent…to make sure your group would treat me as a threat. That's why I fought like this. As a warrior, I apologize for not fighting you properly."
"...ha… haha… hahaha!! So that's it!? But it's pointless!
Absolutely pointless! Fine—yes, you're stronger!Stronger than me, Shalltear Bloodfallen! But that's all!
Just one more Guardian at my side and we'd shred you into pieces! You're strong, but not overwhelming!
You'll never be a real deterrent!!"
"Hm. Lady Shalltear, for all your overwhelming power, you're surprisingly slow-witted. Your perspective is too narrow. If someone with your strength had wisdom as well…that would be truly troublesome."
That wasn't the reaction she wanted.
Confused, Shalltear's eyes widened as Kaiser continued with a placid smile:
"You didn't notice anything strange? I told you— I couldn't fight you properly as a warrior. The Kaiser who fought here is a Guardian…one who must protect humanity."
"What ridiculous garbage are you muttering…?"
"In truth, the battle is already decided. You have no trump cards left. If we keep going, this lightning of mine will erase you completely."
Shalltear clenched her jaw.
Even she—intuitive as she was—could feel it.
If this continues… I'll die.
The lightning Kaiser wielded inflicted a bizarre, unnatural pain—more than anything she'd ever felt.
Kaiser dropped his sword.
It dissolved into the air.
Shalltear stared blankly.
He raised his hand.
"Then let me show you… something unmistakably out of place."
"…What?"
"Six-Paths Divine Blade."
THOOOM.
And suddenly—
—the world moved.
That was not a metaphor.
The world itself moved.
The sky shifted.
The wind bent unnaturally toward Kaiser's hand,
as though the entire world were responding to his call.
Light gathered, then darkness, folding into his grasp.
Shalltear could not comprehend any of it.
The gathered world—the miniature cosmos—slowly took shape.
It became a blade.
A beautiful ash-colored sword, longer than any greatsword, longer than Kaiser or Shalltear, longer even than logic permitted.
It was not a sword.
It was a world.
A blue sky shimmered within it.
Rivers flowed.
A sun hung suspended.
Villages dotted its surface.
Not literally—but that was the sensation it evoked.
Her whole body trembled.
A small doubt sprouted—then grew—and hardened into certainty.
"Draw."
The world-sword solidified.
A flawless blade, shining like a sunlit monument.
Shalltear stared—no, glared—at Kaiser with a trembling mixture of rage and terror.
"Y-YOOUUU!!! KAISER!! F-from the very start—you were toying with me! You weren't serious! Not even once!! Against ME— Shalltear Bloodfallen—you were HOLDING BACK!?"
At last, she saw it.
The torn training uniform Kaiser had been wearing—
it wasn't armor.
It was nothing.
Cloth.
Fodder.
Barely enchanted, instantly torn apart.
He hadn't worn armor at all.
Only now did she understand his earlier words:
that he hadn't fought her as a warrior.
He truly meant it.
Shalltear grit her teeth until they cracked, blood dribbling down her chin.
"Why!? WHY!? Weren't you trying to become a deterrent against Nazarick!? Didn't you want Ainz-sama to view you as a threat!? Then you SHOULD HAVE FOUGHT ME SERIOUSLY!! You should've CRUSHED ME with your FULL strength!!
So WHY!? WHY DID YOU—!!"
Kaiser held the world-sword with both hands.
"An unknown power—one you can't understand—is the greatest deterrent of all. Your Guardians, and your ruler Ainz, are intelligent. They'll quickly realize I wasn't going all-out. Perhaps they already know.
That's all that matters."
Dark energy gathered at the tip of the blade.
It was nothing like the energy Kaiser had prepared for Cocytus.
This was something wholly different.
Kaiser's eyes grew cold as steel.
"With my full strength…and with my own self-imposed restrictions…I defeated you.Not through luck—but through skill."
He had refused Shalltear's intel for this very reason.
Knowing her abilities would weaken the deterrence.
So he chose to fight blind.
And the result was this.
If only he could be as merciful as he is strong, he thought.
But that's impossible.
Dark energy rose into the sky.
This technique embodied all of Kaiser's contradictions.
His martial art: "Day Without Sun."
An embodiment of idealism—a strike containing every dream, every light, every unreachable hope.
If the sun represented aspiration, then this was its shadow—
—the weight of all the pain that came with being a hero.
Voices cried for help in his memory.
Children begging.
People dying.
He had saved some—and abandoned others.
Not by choice.
But because he couldn't save everyone.
That guilt—that sin—had once severed his humanity completely.
He became a mere "guardian," a slaughterer who felt nothing, choosing pragmatism over empathy.
During that time, he could never use this technique.
Only when he regained the ability to feel—to suffer the weight of lives he couldn't save—did the technique return.
It was proof not of justice, but of torment.
A stained ideal wrapped in beauty so layered
it looked almost holy.
That strike could never be used at night.
If "Day Without Sun" could only be used in the darkness… then "Night Without Stars" could only be used in the light.
Such was the restriction placed upon these techniques.
As Shalltear stared into that warm, radiant illusion of a light—a light so brilliant it could fool one into believing it was the sun—her eyes reddened, flooded with rage.
"KAISEROOOOOOOOOOO!!!"
If she had felt it was beautiful, that would've been fine.
If she had felt it was simply cool, that would've been acceptable.
Those reactions would have matched what a creation of the Supreme Beings should feel toward something impressive.
But no.
What she felt was not admiration.
Not awe.
Not beauty.
She felt something she should never feel toward a mere human:
Reverence.
She felt it was sacred.
For just one moment, she lost herself in that light—
and noticing that fact filled her with a murderous fury.
She charged.
Above them, the darkness spiraling toward the heavens finally converged—gathering into the blade.
"It's been a long time since I met an opponent like you. Farewell."
People say stars are the embodiment of ideals—
that the number of stars equals the number of dreams.
Even if those dreams cannot be realized, as long as the stars exist, human wishes continue.
But this darkness contained no ideals.
Only a faint light.
A light so subtle, so fragile, that perhaps only Kaiser could see it.
Every shadow in the world belongs to the night—
yet even shadows possess light.
They merely lack the brilliance of the sun.
A strike that could only exist during the day—because only during the day does one forget the stars.
A technique shaped from the anger of stars
the grief of stars and the destruction of their beauty.
Kaiser swung the blade at the charging Shalltear.
Night Without Stars.
KAAAAAAAAANG!!!
The blow flew forward in a single, perfect line—
a streak of annihilating darkness.
"DAMN YOU—YOU FILTHY LOW-BORN CREATURE!!!
YOU—YOU DARE— YOU DARE MAKE ME—!!"
Was she furious because she lost?
Or because, even for an instant, she had found Kaiser's technique sublime?
No one could know.
The darkness struck her head-on.
Shalltear's body shattered.
The technique "Day Without Sun" was meant for many— but "Night Without Stars" existed solely to kill one.
A single target.
Utterly, definitively.
No matter how strong Shalltear's defense was,
it became meaningless under a strike designed to erase a single life.
The streak of darkness shot past her, vanishing over the horizon.
"...Haaa."
Kaiser exhaled and dismissed the Six-Paths Divine Blade.
He pulled out a bottle of Nazarick liquor—taken from his last visit—and took a casual drink.
"I wonder if this much will be enough."
Still smiling with that same relaxed expression,
Kaiser began contemplating all the troublesome matters that would surely follow.
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