A Tie? Are They Going Hand-to-Hand?

Don't be fooled by the fact that it had only inflicted such a tiny wound on Thor, like a mosquito bite.

If it had been an ordinary Divine Soldier, that blow would have absolutely killed them.

So with pure human military strength wielding such a weapon, this much could be achieved.

Then if he used a divine weapon, who knew how many times greater its power would become.

And if it were combined with Valkyrie divine weapon forging and a state of human-god unity, his strength would increase by an unknown amount.

"Oh?"

Zeus, seated among the Main Gods, slightly raised his right brow, revealing that seemingly hollow eye.

The human Brunhilde had found had indeed given him a small surprise.

To injure a god on Thor's level through human physical strength alone was quite remarkable.

In a sense, saying he could slay gods would not be false. Ordinary Divine Soldiers were no match for him at all.

But was that all?

If that was all, it was far from enough. What other secret was he hiding?

He had to be concealing some other means. Otherwise, Brunhilde would not be foolish enough to send a human into the arena like this. That would be no different from suicide.

He would wait with mild anticipation to see what surprise Brunhilde would bring to the gods. Hopefully, it would entertain them.

"Hmph, he only managed to slightly pierce Lord Thor's skin."

"But that's all."

"He's definitely going to die next. Get ready to be smashed into a meat patty."

"A meat patty!"

The ravens perched on Odin's shoulders were shouting arrogantly.

"Uncle Odin, do you think Brunhilde has any other tricks up her sleeve?"

The one who asked was a man who gave off a similarly gloomy impression—the Norse God of Trickery, Loki.

Based on his understanding of Brunhilde, that woman would never act so impulsively.

Since she had dared to initiate Ragnarok, she surely had something that gave her such confidence.

But up to this point, everything he could think of felt insufficient to support Brunhilde's decision.

So he could only ask the supreme god of the Norse.

Yet all he received in response was a sideways glance. Odin said nothing.

"How boring. I'll go take a look over there."

He was about to head toward the Greek Pantheon, where the group was more interesting. With both hands behind his head and a lazy gait, he started to leave, but the sudden change in the arena's atmosphere stopped Loki in his tracks.

Oh?

Thor's previously calm aura had changed.

It felt like Thor was finally getting a little serious? Like he was beginning to regard his opponent as an actual foe?

Had it happened? Was it because the human, now holding a new spear, gave off an aura completely different from before?

Interesting.

"What is this?"

"Could it be?!"

On the arena floor, Thor held Mjolnir with both hands and bent backward so far that it looked as though he would lose his balance and fall.

"Has he grown impatient? Is he going to end the game immediately?"

"For a mere human to die beneath this move would be an honor."

The gods who knew what Thor was about to do believed the match would end at once.

There was no way his opponent could survive this strike.

"Sister Brunhilde!!!"

Goll, who also knew what was coming, shrieked. Her face was covered in cold sweat.

"Don't worry, it'll be fine!"

Though she said that, Brunhilde did not have much confidence in her heart either.

In the next instant, as Thor's body snapped back from its arch, Mjolnir slammed down heavily.

In an instant, a terrifying pillar of lightning descended from the sky.

The blinding light swallowed the entire arena in a moment. If the venue had not possessed protective measures, ordinary humans would have been instantly blinded by the light emitted from that pillar of lightning, with burns appearing across their skin.

Yet the flash came quickly and vanished just as quickly.

In an instant, the sky returned to its clear, cloudless state.

Nor was there any damage or impact on the arena platform from the lightning strike, as though that pillar of divine punishment that had seemed capable of destroying everything had merely been an illusion.

Nothing had happened.

"Wh—!"

"This guy!"

"This is truly—!"

The gods who understood what had happened were all stunned.

Before the divine punishment could hit the ground, that human had thrust his spear upward a fraction sooner, and the impact created by it had dispersed the pillar of lightning.

Was this a joke?

Evenly Matched? Entering Close Combat?

The previously clamorous arena fell silent for a moment.

The terrifying lightning strike that had been about to destroy Xiang Yu, the Hegemon King, had suddenly vanished. It was truly bizarre.

"What happened?"

"Lord Thor's lightning disappeared?"

"Was he trying to scare his opponent?"

"Or did he think using such a move was overkill for killing a chicken, so he withdrew the lightning?"

Some gods had no idea what had happened. Given their eyesight, they could not make sense of it.

That was why such remarks arose.

But for the gods who could discern something, the shock was immense.

"You've got to be kidding."

"That human dispersed Lord Thor's lightning?"

For a moment, they began questioning reality itself, wondering whether they had seen an illusion.

And the Main Gods who saw even more clearly restrained their previously contemptuous expressions.

"Now this is interesting."

Zeus of Greek Mythology smiled, and his smile was fierce.

If that human had survived Thor's lightning strike, even without a scratch, it would have greatly surprised him.

But what had happened now was far beyond mere surprise.

Before the lightning could reach the earth, that human had struck first and dispersed it. That was what truly astonished him.

His speed had actually reached such a level!

Then what had happened before?

His current performance was vastly different.

Was it simply because he had changed weapons?

Was the secret hidden within that weapon?

But from the overall picture, it seemed to be an impact unleashed through the combined efforts of the human and his weapon. What exactly was going on?

Zeus could not help looking toward the Valkyrie opposite him with interest.

"W-What happened, Sister Brunhilde?"

Goll asked blankly.

At the moment the lightning exploded in a flash, she had shut her eyes.

It was not because the flash had made her eyes sting, but because she could not bear to witness the gruesome scene that would follow.

In her view, once that strike landed, Xiang Yu, the Hegemon King, would surely die, perhaps without even a corpse left behind.

And Humanity's side spectators would become even more despairing because of such a vast difference in strength.

Yet the imagined roar of an impact striking the ground never came. Instead, there was a sudden silence.

So when she cautiously opened her eyes, what she saw was as though nothing had happened.

Immediately afterward came the audience's confusion and bewilderment.

"If you want to know, then don't close your eyes."

As Brunhilde gave that reply, she flashed a provocative smile toward the several gazes cast at her from across the way.

Then she turned her attention back to the figure in the arena. His performance had exceeded her expectations.

He had actually dispersed Thor's lightning with a thrust.

This scene was a moment in which humans and gods changed history.

"Mm."

Goll nodded and did not press her sister for an explanation.

She could infer the truth from scattered remarks among the other spectators.

But before she could listen closely to what the spectators who knew the reason were saying, the two in the arena had already moved.

The two vanished in an instant.

No, they had not vanished. Their speed was simply too great for the naked eye to react.

When their figures could be caught again, they had seemingly teleported to the center of the arena, facing one another.

Bang—!

After the force of both sides collided and compressed to the extreme, it exploded outward in every direction with a dull metallic crash.

A fierce shockwave spread out.

The arena platform had been specially reinforced. If this battle had taken place in an arena like this in the world below, the impact of that strike would have instantly shattered not only the platform but the entire arena.

"W-What a sight this is!"

Heimdallr, the gatekeeper of Ragnarok who served as both announcer and referee, cried out in shock.

Before him, the two sides were swinging their weapons at each other at speeds so fast that even he could barely react.

In the blink of an eye, no one knew how many times they had clashed.

Each collision from their swings generated heat, while the sheer speed of their movements produced heat through friction with the air.

Thus, the temperature around them was rapidly rising.

"They are evenly matched. It is truly difficult to—"

Heimdallr's voice caught. They were not evenly matched; one side was gradually becoming unable to hold out.

And the side that was about to fail was, astonishingly, Thor.

In the next instant, Xiang Yu, the Hegemon King, launched a fierce upward strike, knocking Thor's Mjolnir into the air.