Then came two lightning-fast spear thrusts. The iron gauntlets on Thor's hands shattered instantly, exploding into countless fragments that scattered through the air.
At that moment, the Hegemon King Xiang Yu did something utterly baffling. He stopped attacking and planted the spear in his hand off to one side.
Logically, now that Thor's gauntlets and weapon had both been destroyed, he should have pressed his advantage. Yet he was giving it up?
Was he planning to fight barehanded? Did he think that would be fairer?
"W-What is he doing?!"
Goll shrieked as she clutched her hair.
Was he still pursuing fairness at a time like this?
Was something wrong with the Hegemon King's head?
"What is he trying to do?"
Even Brunhilde could not understand his actions.
He had clearly knocked away Thor's divine weapon and was practically on the verge of victory, yet the Hegemon King had let go of his own weapon as well.
What was he thinking? Did he really want to fight the other side with his bare hands?
Wasn't he worried Thor would pick up Mjolnir again?
That would not happen, though, because Thor's iron gauntlets, Járngreipr, were actually meant to protect his hands.
Without those gauntlets, his hands would not be able to withstand the power of Mjolnir if he tried to wield it.
That was precisely why Brunhilde had arranged for her fourth sister, Lantigreese, to take the field.
Her fourth sister's trait was—Shield Breaker. She had been sent specifically to destroy the divine gauntlets, preventing Thor from using Mjolnir.
Suddenly, her expression changed. She sensed that the Hegemon King had severed his connection to the spear.
What was that guy thinking? Did he believe that, because Thor could no longer use his divine weapon, he could defeat him with nothing but human strength?
Just how arrogant was he?!
Then, however, he said something that left everyone stunned.
"The thing suppressing your power has already been destroyed. Show me your true strength, Thor, the Thunder God."
Mechanical Ascension Failed?
Brunhilde had told him about Thor, the Thunder God's, intelligence.
She had said that Mjolnir contained excessively powerful energy, and that if its wielder did not take proper defensive measures, he would suffer backlash.
And the iron gauntlets Thor wore, Járngreipr, were supposedly meant to protect him.
That was why Lantigreese, the fourth of the thirteen Valkyrie sisters, had taken the field.
As a Valkyrie, Lantigreese could transform into a divine weapon and possessed the trait—Shield Breaker.
Thor's iron gauntlets, Járngreipr, were a type of armor and thus were especially vulnerable to her divine weapon.
Therefore, the plan for fighting Thor was to destroy his gauntlets and leave him unable to use Mjolnir.
That way, Thor would lose his divine weapon, his strength would naturally drop by a level, and Humanity's side would have a much better chance of winning.
That was the Valkyrie Brunhilde's plan.
But someone had never intended to follow that plan.
He had not connected with the divine weapon at the beginning because he wanted to see how much damage he could inflict on Thor, the Thunder God, in a purely human state. Unexpectedly, it had amounted to only this much.
His subsequent divine weapon fusion with Lantigreese had also been to better understand this unusual state of human and god becoming one, gathering more data.
Yet during his clash with Thor, the Thunder God, he noticed something strange.
There was likely an error in Brunhilde's intelligence. The claim that Járngreipr existed to protect Thor was probably false.
As they fought, he could feel the other's desire for battle growing more intense, as though Thor were asking whether he could become stronger—strong enough to make him unleash his true power.
During their exchange, he also discovered that Thor's attacks, which should have been even fiercer, were instead being restrained by the iron gauntlets.
He sensed that Thor was almost unable to contain his urge to cast aside those restraints and use his true power to fight him to the death.
The only reason Thor was still holding back was that he had yet to see enough power from this side to make him do so.
Thus, Thor was both expectant and disappointed.
So he simply raised his current human-god fusion state to its limit and destroyed Thor's iron gauntlets.
Sure enough, after they shattered, he could clearly sense the even more savage power in Thor's body, ready to erupt at any moment.
Now this was interesting.
He was also preparing for mechanical ascension. Then the two of them could fight to their hearts' content without holding anything back.
This would have nothing to do with Ragnarok's purpose. It was simply two sides seeking an opponent worthy of battle, someone with whom they could enjoy a satisfying fight.
Then, during the transformation, he would deliberately give them a little scare.
"Huh? Sister Brunhilde, wh-what did he say?"
Goll, seated among the spectators, looked dazed.
The Hegemon King Xiang Yu had said that he had destroyed the thing suppressing Lord Thor, allowing him to use his true power?
What did that mean?
The thing suppressing him referred to the iron gauntlets, Járngreipr, right?
But weren't those supposed to protect Lord Thor? How had they become something that suppressed his power?
"I don't know either."
Brunhilde's expression gradually turned solemn.
The Hegemon King representing Humanity's side in the arena would not make baseless claims.
If what he said was true, then the intelligence she had obtained about Thor, the Thunder God, might have been false.
And now the arena itself was changing. Mjolnir was melting the ground beneath it, as though it would burn straight through the floor if no one picked it up to stop it.
When most of the gods in the audience saw this, they began to panic, saying that with Járngreipr destroyed, Lord Thor could no longer wield Mjolnir.
In other words, most of the gods possessed the same information as Brunhilde. They believed Járngreipr existed to protect Thor.
"Uwah! What is that?!"
Goll suddenly shrank back because she heard a heartbeat.
The heartbeat seemed to be coming from Mjolnir.
The metal shell around the hammer cracked apart as though something inside were expanding and forcing it open, exposing flesh that made Goll's skin crawl.
It was as if some bizarre living creature were inside.
Brunhilde, who had seen the same scene, grew even more solemn. Especially when Thor told Mjolnir that it had finally awakened, she felt that something was terribly wrong.
Her gaze shifted to a lecherous old man—Zeus. Unlike everyone else, he was not panicking at all. Instead, he wore an amused expression.
That look clearly was not the expression of someone worried Thor might lose. Rather, he found what was about to happen even more interesting.
As though he had noticed her gaze, that loathsome stare turned toward her again.
"Little Brunhilde, judging by that expression, you didn't know, did you? Then let me tell you. There is actually a misconception in the legends of Mjolnir and Járngreipr."
So the information she had received truly had been false. Brunhilde's expression became rather unpleasant.
"Do you know? The gauntlets do not protect Thor from being eroded by Mjolnir's power. It's the other way around."
"The other way around? You mean—"
"That's right. The gauntlets actually protect Mjolnir before its awakening from being crushed by Thor's power in an instant, so they suppress Thor's true strength."
Those teasing words caused Brunhilde's face to gradually turn livid.
Thor's true power could effortlessly crush Mjolnir?
Wait, Mjolnir before its awakening?
That meant Mjolnir was awakening now and would become even more terrifying. On top of that, Thor's true power was no longer being suppressed.
"Do you feel despair now, little Brunhilde? Want to come cry in my arms?"
Brunhilde ignored Zeus's flirtatious words. She could only stare at the arena with a livid expression.
She had never expected this. In other words, Humanity had already—
"It's over. There's no way we can win!"
Goll murmured despairingly once more.
"It's... it's not time to give up yet, Goll!"
Brunhilde said this because she believed Xiang Yu must have some sort of trump card.
As for what that trump card was, she had some guesses, but she had no confidence in them.
Hm?
Xiang Yu was finally about to reveal his trump card. With a wave of his hand, an enormous metal box appeared out of thin air behind him.
Such an appearance out of nowhere did not surprise the gods.
After all, summoned humans could freely call forth objects from their lives before death.
Following a series of mechanical whirs, several massive Cables suddenly burst from the metal box. They seized and bound Xiang Yu's limbs, lifting him above the box.
Pshhk—!
The sound of a body being pierced by sharp blades.
At that moment, the entire arena froze.
Even the spectators on the gods' side, who had been cheering because Thor was about to use his true power, fell silent as though time itself had stopped.
One after another, they stared in stunned confusion at the scene opposite Thor, Humanity's representative.
Could it be that he knew he was no match for Thor once Thor got serious, so he had resorted to this?
Yet no matter how they looked at it, it was deeply bizarre—so bizarre that it filled them with unease.
"Sister Brunhilde, s-sister..."
Goll's voice trembled as if her tongue had tied itself in knots.
She had thought the Hegemon King Xiang Yu was about to reveal some trump card. Instead, this so-called trump card had become this scene, terrifying everyone.
She glanced at her sister from the corner of her eye. Her sister had also been startled, but she seemed to understand something. Rather than panic, she even looked expectant?
What was there to look forward to?
With the scene before them, what could possibly be worth anticipating?
It was over. This round had already been lost.
"Wh... what is he doing?"
Hermes, the man standing beside Zeus in elegant gentleman's attire, wore a baffled expression.
He could not understand why the other side was doing this.
Of course, he did not believe the man was committing suicide.
"Who knows? But it looks like things are about to get even more interesting. Let me look forward to it properly."
Zeus merely smiled.
This human had abandoned the divine weapon and instead brought out this metal box. Did he believe what was inside could be stronger than a divine weapon formed from a Valkyrie?
"This truly is astonishing."
After forcing Thor to use his true power, this human was acting as though he too were about to use his true strength?
How arrogantly absurd. Did he believe Thor had to fight seriously at full power before he was worthy of making him use his true strength as well?
Before you continue