I Will Eventually Embark On The Path Of No Return Called A Hero

[Arc5] - 17. I Won't Let Anyone Die in Front of Me!

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"Boom—"

Medusa covered her ears and hid behind a rock, watching the two giants battling in the basin. Honestly, it was the first time she had seen Cyd injured, but she wasn't too worried—Cyd was immortal, after all.

Although Cyd usually seemed quite lazy, once he made up his mind to do something, he would definitely see it through. All she could do was watch from the sidelines; rushing in out of concern would only be a hindrance.

"You speak such arrogant words, yet your strength is only this?"

Escanor threw a punch that collided with Cyd's. The armor of stone only held up for an instant before showing signs of shattering and melting.

Cyd's expression soured. He had miscalculated the rate at which Escanor's strength increased—he had been wrong from the very start, thinking in terms of conventional logic.

This guy's power was growing stronger with the rising sun!

"I am the pinnacle of this world... There is no one around me who—"

Before Escanor could finish, Cyd landed a heavy punch on his face. The sudden surge of power caused Escanor to spin several times before kneeling on the ground.

Escanor touched the corner of his mouth in disbelief, the stinging pain making his eye twitch slightly.

"Be honest and come back with me. I'll show you that there are many people in this world who aren't afraid of your light."

Red demonic marks intertwined with golden sun patterns spread across Cyd's face. The blessing of Apollo alone couldn't hold up anymore, and the surge of fighting spirit wasn't something he could suppress just because he wanted to.

"Take me back? I am—"

"Enough! Stop being so long-winded. Whatever you want to say, I'll listen to it once you're flat on the ground."

"Long-winded!?" Escanor's expression twisted for a moment. Slowly, he stood up, a small, sun-like orb forming at the tip of his raised finger.

"Cruel Sun!"

Escanor slowly tossed the orb from his fingertip. Though the motion was slow, Cyd had no room to dodge.

The moment the rock knight raised his hand to touch the small orb, his stone arm turned into molten lava and was blown apart—not just his arm, but his entire outer shell was destroyed.

Cyd grabbed the orb in front of him. The instant he touched it, he realized it wasn't just a ball of extreme heat but more like a falling meteorite. The immense force pushed him back, his legs carving a deep trench into the earth.

"Damn it!"

Cyd could already feel the burns on his hands, but he couldn't afford to care about that right now. He had to control the trajectory and avoid the village behind him. The power of this small sun wasn't something ordinary people could withstand.

Of course, it would be best if he could stop it, but the main problem was that he couldn't stop it!

"This power is way too much!"

Just as a damp sensation hit him from behind, Cyd's legs planted into the ground like iron stakes, stopping the small sun in its tracks. The orb dissipated in his hands.

"Whew~ I see now..." Cyd exhaled lightly as his burned hands healed with each breath. He turned to look behind him, at the sight of the ocean—its blue expanse was the same as the crystal on his wrist guard.

"Blasted all the way from the mainland to the sea—could this get any more exaggerated?"

"It can." Escanor descended from the sky, his body seeming even larger, bringing an overwhelming pressure as he landed in front of Cyd. His grin grew wilder, as though no matter how much he tried to resist the power within, the joy of holding such raw strength had overtaken him.

"Not even at noon, and you're already this pathetic. Did you think you could knock me down and talk like that?"

Cyd raised his [Reforged Pandora] hammer, slamming it onto the sea's surface. The once-calm water stirred, and countless water columns coiled around him.

"Armor made of seawater? You dare boast about knocking me down when you can't even face me head-on?"

"Armor? Sorry, but I've never found anything tougher than my own body." Cyd waved his hand, and the swirling water morphed into sharp blades aimed at Escanor.

The high-pressure water blades easily sliced through the earth, but when they landed on Escanor, they only left shallow cuts on his skin.

"How long until you reach your peak strength?"

"Right now!"

The sun reached its zenith, and Escanor's body swelled to a gigantic size. The heat radiating from him instantly evaporated all the moisture within a hundred meters.

"Is noon your strongest moment? Then if I'm still alive after this minute, you'll come back with me."

"Ridiculous!"

Escanor took a step forward and slashed at Cyd with his hand. The force of the chop cleaved through the air, splitting the ocean apart, as the sound of rushing water merged with the gushing blood from Cyd's chest.

"Dead. A pathetic mortal. How envious... being so easily killed." Escanor shook his head, but beneath his fierce expression lay an unshakable sadness.

Someone, anyone—please stop him, please stop this version of himself...

"Hooah—That really scared me~"

"!?" Escanor whipped around, astonished to see Cyd, completely unharmed, bouncing around in place. If not for the burn marks on half of Cyd's shirt, Escanor would have thought he had done nothing at all.

"You can never burn me, for the sun stands on my side. And you will never defeat me, for I am..." Cyd raised his hand and clenched his fist tightly. "Immortal."

"Be proud of your current strength. Someday, you, the arrogant one, will master this power and use it to fulfill your past regrets."

"What do you know? This power is a curse. It only brings harm to others!"

"Then just control it!"

Cyd and Escanor's hands locked together, the ground beneath them crumbling layer by layer from the downward force. Despite his smaller frame, Cyd was overpowering Escanor. It wasn't that his current strength surpassed Escanor at noon, but Escanor was rejecting the use of his power, resisting it from the depths of his heart.

"Just now, were you trying to die? You really don't understand anything, do you?"

"What?"

"Acting like you don't want to live, yet you haven't even lived properly!" Cyd yanked Escanor downward, smashing his knee into his face. A crisp sound of bones shifting echoed from Escanor's jaw.

"Death is death. But at least once, live with pride!"

Cyd grabbed Escanor's head and lifted it high.

"If you want to die, no one will stop you. But I..."

In Escanor's shocked gaze, Cyd slammed his forehead into his.

"I won't let anyone die in front of me!"

Boom—!

A massive force pierced through the ground. The earth exploded in waves of dirt and rock, as a colossal figure was flung into a distant mountain with the force of a meteor.