The instant the White Whale's gaze fell upon them, Reinhard moved.
Hundreds of meters separated them. It didn't matter. The sheathed sword swept downward in a single devastating arc.
Every trace of Mana in the surrounding air answered the call, drawn toward the blade as if magnetized. In a heartbeat, the atmosphere was drained dry. The sheer volume of gathered power formed a visible vortex, warping the environment around him.
A deep hum split the night.
As the sheath descended, a wave of pressure erupted in every direction. A colossal blade of light, unstoppable and absolute, surged skyward toward the White Whale.
The size difference between them was absurd. A man and a mountain. And yet when that light reached the whale, its massive body seized up, convulsing as though every nerve had fired at once. From its maw came a sound no creature that size should have been capable of producing: a shrill, infantile shriek.
Not an attack. Not a malfunction.
Instinct. The primal recognition of a force so far beyond resistance that the only response left was despair.
Before Reinhard's strike, the White Whale couldn't even muster the will to fight back. Like a person whose legs buckle at the sight of death, collapsing to the ground with nothing left but a scream.
The blade of light didn't care whether its target was afraid. Didn't care whether it despaired.
This beast had terrorized the world for centuries. It had killed untold thousands. It had killed his grandmother.
Reinhard's intent to destroy it was iron.
The brilliant slash crossed the sky in a flash, punched through the whale's body, and kept going. The residual force rocketed upward, tearing a storm through the heavens themselves before it finally, slowly, faded.
Fog attacks. Splitting into clones.
None of it mattered. Before that single stroke, the White Whale had done nothing but scream and die.
Its colossal form hung motionless in the sky, as though time itself had stopped.
Then, under the eyes of everyone watching, a crimson line appeared. Starting at the center of the whale's forehead, it raced downward, spreading with terrible speed all the way to the tail.
The line completed itself in an instant. And once it had traversed the full length of that enormous body, the White Whale split apart from the middle.
It looked almost like it was trying to clone itself.
But this time, there was no trick. Only death.
Blood poured from the wound like a burst dam, drenching the ground below in a crimson downpour that soaked the earth red. The two halves of the carcass, stripped of whatever force had kept them aloft, plummeted.
BOOM. BOOM.
Two thunderous impacts shook the ground beneath their feet.
One strike.
A single strike.
Silence hung over the group as they stared at the wreckage. For a long moment, nobody spoke.
The White Whale. One of the Three Great Mabeasts. A terror that had roamed the skies for centuries, devouring everyone who'd ever tried to bring it down.
Dead in front of them.
Even knowing Reinhard's reputation, even having braced themselves for something extraordinary, the reality of it was something else entirely.
Applause broke the silence.
"Not bad at all, strongest in Lugunica. Didn't even have to draw the sword and you cut it down in one hit."
Gojo clapped as he strolled toward Reinhard, grinning.
"Strongest is a bit much..."
Reinhard returned the blade to his hip and offered a sheepish smile.
"It's a title, don't overthink it." Gojo paused beside him and slung an arm around his shoulders. The grin faded. Something more earnest took its place. "Reinhard. Let's find a time to spar."
"Spar?"
"Yeah."
Gojo slid his sunglasses off. Those ice-blue eyes locked onto Reinhard, and deep within them burned something that hadn't been there before. A seriousness that went all the way down.
"Alright. Whenever works for you."
"It's a promise."
"That was incredible, Reinhard! I knew you wouldn't let me down!"
Felt snapped out of her daze and came running over, the others close behind, crowding around the whale's remains to get a better look.
Gojo hung back and watched them gather around Reinhard and the carcass. Something stirred behind his eyes.
He'd killed the White Whale himself in the previous loop. Taken his time with it, too, treating the fight as a chance to study one of the Three Great Mabeasts before finishing it off. He knew its capabilities inside and out.
The creature wasn't particularly impressive offensively. Its greatest asset was sheer durability. Both Blue and Red could wound it effectively, but to actually kill the thing? Only Red or Hollow Technique: Purple packed enough destructive force.
And Red, compared to the strike Reinhard had just delivered, wasn't even close.
Purple could match it. Maybe surpass it.
But Purple was his ceiling. The strongest technique in his current arsenal. He had methods to amplify it further, sure, but nothing that changed the equation in a fundamental way.
Reinhard, on the other hand, hadn't been trying.
The gap crystallized in that single exchange. Gojo could see it clearly now: his power and Reinhard's were not on the same level.
And that wasn't even accounting for the man's ability to manifest whatever Divine Protection he needed on demand. If Reinhard wished for a Protection that could breach the Limitless Cursed Technique, or one that nullified domains entirely, the distance between them would stretch even wider.
Gojo had always understood how this world worked. The Divine Protections he'd seen in the system shop back in the early days had hinted at the scale of what was possible.
But standing face to face with someone genuinely stronger than him? That was a first.
Watching that strike, something had ignited in his chest.
Not fear. Not anxiety.
Excitement. Deep, thrilling excitement.
Every enemy he'd faced in this world had crumbled on contact. Not one of them worth the effort. And now, finally, here was someone who could stand across from him as an equal. More than an equal.
For someone who'd been sleepwalking through life like it was a game, this world had suddenly become very, very real.
"Interesting."
The word was barely a whisper.
The system shop, too, that thing he'd been treating as a bore, suddenly didn't seem so pointless anymore.
Felt and the others circled the whale for a while before Betty's voice cut through.
"Shouldn't we get moving?"
"Probably. Leave the whale here. We'll deal with the Witch Cult first. By the time we get back, the Knight Order should be arriving."
No reason to linger. The whale wasn't going anywhere.
"Let's go, Reinhard. Interested in taking on the Sin Archbishop?"
Gojo waved him over.
"Or I could bring the others and wait at a distance while you handle it."
Reinhard smiled warmly. "That's alright. You seem like you could use some exercise yourself."
"No, no. Don't be polite about it. You take this one."
Gojo shook his head fast enough to blur.
The Sin Archbishop of Sloth? He wanted absolutely nothing to do with that lunatic. Weak and annoying. The kind of enemy that stuck to you like tar once you engaged.
He'd rather sit back and watch Reinhard work. Study the Sword Saint in action a second time. Besides, he didn't expect the Dragon Sword Reid to acknowledge Petelgeuse as worthy enough to draw against.
"Betty, whenever you're ready. Take us there. I'll guide you."
Space tore open once more. The group filed through.
Several jumps later, they emerged in the forest near the village, same as before. Gojo led them through the trees to the Witch Cult's temporary base with the ease of someone who'd walked the path already.
"Meili, get your nasty little friends to surround the area. The cultists can move underground, so don't let a single one slip through."
"Got it, Big Bro!"
While Meili summoned her Mabeasts, Gojo turned to Betty.
"Go with Reinhard. Talk to your teacher first. If it works, great. If it doesn't, Reinhard handles it."
He kept his tone light, but there was intention behind it. In the previous loop, learning the Sin Archbishop's identity had shaken Betty more than she'd let on. She needed the reminder.
"I'm not stupid."
"He's someone I knew a long time ago. That's all."
Her voice was composed. "I won't let emotion cloud my judgment."
"That's not what I meant. If you don't want to go through with it, letting him go is fine too. We've got plenty of cultists to trade in for bounty money as it is."
"No."
"This is enough."
Betty cut him off, her tone leaving no room for argument.
"Big Bro, everything's set! I've got Mabeasts watching every direction. The second anyone tries to run, we'll know."
Meili's timing was perfect.
Gojo didn't belabor the point. He waved the two of them off.
"All yours, then. I'll take the others and clear out."
He led Subaru and the rest toward higher ground, settling on a small hill with a clear view of the cave below.
"So who's stronger, the Sin Archbishop or the White Whale?"
Felt crouched at the hilltop, squinting at the distant figures of Reinhard and Betty approaching the cave.
"Did Subaru's stupidity rub off on you? That's the kind of thing Betty would roast you for."
Gojo tossed the jab out casually, deflecting the blame before it could land on him.
"Sin Archbishops and Witches are the same kind of existence, you know," Meili chimed in quietly. "The names are different, but the nature is the same. The White Whale was something a Witch created."
"Who are you calling stupid? You think you'd be eating Reinhard's desserts without me?"
Felt glared at Gojo, indignant.
"Fair point, fair point. How about a bet on how long it takes Reinhard to finish?"
"Hmph, I heard what you said earlier. That guy's a pain to deal with. Has to be a few minutes at least..."
While they talked, a figure emerged from the cave below.
Petelgeuse.
The sight of him hit Betty like a wave. Memories flooded in unbidden: centuries ago, the first time she'd met Geuse, his patient lessons on etiquette, the gentle spirit who'd treated her with such care...
"Geuse. I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
Her voice rang clear through the forest, tinged with something older than sadness.
Crack.
Petelgeuse tilted his head at an unnatural angle and stared at her, baffled.
"A spirit, talking to herself. A knight, shining and pretty." His gaze ping-ponged between the two of them. "Coincidence, or the guiding hand of fate?"
He hadn't acknowledged a word she'd said. Hadn't even registered that she was speaking to him. His eyes swept over her without recognition, muttering to himself as though she were part of the scenery.
"Geuse, what happened to you?"
Urgency crept into Betty's voice. If she could reach him, there was still a chance. If she couldn't, what waited was Reinhard's blade.
After witnessing what that blade had done to the White Whale, she harbored no illusions about what it would do to Geuse.
"Geuse, you..."
"Shh. Noisy little spirit. Don't interrupt me while I listen to the Witch's teachings."
That grotesque grin stretched across his face, clownish and terrible.
"Ah, how rude of me. I forgot to introduce myself." He straightened, composing himself with theatrical flair. "I am not 'Geuse.' I am the Sin Archbishop of the Witch Cult, representing Sloth. Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti."
"To encounter you before the day of the Ordeal arrives... my brain... my brain trembles!"
Betty watched him rant. The lunatic in front of her bore no trace of the person she'd known.
After a long silence, she turned on her heel and walked toward Gojo's group without looking back.
"Have you decided?"
Reinhard's quiet voice reached her as she passed.
"He's completely gone. There's no point in talking anymore." Her stride didn't falter. "If that's how it is, there's no reason for me to hold onto those memories either. The person I knew died a long time ago."
She disappeared into the trees, alone.
Her voice had been steady. Controlled. But Reinhard, walking behind her, caught the grief threaded through every word.
...
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