Endurance 3

Ouma immediately pulled back his empty-handed left arm to guard...

“Ugh────!”

That punch crushed the bone of the guarding arm like a matter of course, and the impact pierced into his organs. Ouma’s body wobbled back greatly and his knees bent. He could not stop it. He could not stop Stella’s fierce attack. Not his trained muscles, not his sharpened speed, not technique, not magic── Everything that he had accumulated was meaningless. He would be trampled on. By pure violence that could knock down everything. And that helplessness caused Ouma to get a flashback on the memory of his first loss and frustration. He, who was covered in blood miserably, and that pair of pupils glaring at him while sitting on a chair like it was a throne. Nothing went through no matter what he did. Despite him challenged again and again, he could even not touch the seated Tyrant, he could not even protect his own body, and was just single-sidedly beaten up. His body suffered burning pain. His heart felt helplessness. As he linked everything to the fear that shook him at that time in the past, his whole body started to tremble.

“Ku...O...OoOoOoo──!”

Even so, Ouma struggled to raise his trauma-carved body and counter attacked.

He aimed to stab at Stella’s heart as she chased after him for further attacks after he collapsed backward. However, with his crushed right leg and battered body he could not aim accurately as he wanted... The stab was ── blocked.

Stella purposely pushed out her left hand at the incoming Ryuuzume, letting it pierce through her palm as she advanced, and grabbed hold of the sword guard of Ryuuzume after it pierced through to the base.

 “I caught you, Ouma.”

(Shi────)

It was too late by the time he thought so. Stella punched her superheated right fist into Ouma’s upper body that was full of openings.

“HAAaAaa────────!!!!”

She also did not end it with one strike. She had the intention of determining the outcome and rained down consecutive punches. With Ryuuzume caught, Ouma could not even escape backwards with the impact from the hits. If he were to let go of Ryuuzume once, Stella would probably not even give him the time to reconstruct his Device. He must not let go. If he were to let go, he would lose. Hence, he could not escape. He could not escape, he could not even defend, he could only let the consecutive punches that were like cannon shots shower on him. And that storm-like punches that fell onto him burnt his skin, grilled his flesh, crushed his bones──

“～～～～～～～～～Ka...ha!!!!”

The instant Ouma’s chin finally lowered. An uppercut that came from the ground level thrusted upwards at his chin, hitting the four hundred kilo body of Ouma into the air. His body flew through the air in a big parabola, and fell onto the stone disk with his back without any protection. In that match, no, in that Festival, Sword Emperor of Wind sank onto the ground for the first time.

「Contender Ouma...down! He is lying down in a ‘大’ position and looking at the sky without moving! No he can’t move!」

「H-How intense......」

「This...already determined the match, right?」

「This is......the Blazer possessing the world’s strongest magic power huh......!」

A big reversal from the eventful out of the ring. The strength of Stella, who had displayed her true power, caused a big commotion in the venue. However, even that commotion did not reach Ouma who had fallen on the ring. It was no wonder. His right leg fractured from the shin, left wrist dislocated, his rib cage did not have a single bone uninjured. The jawbone that received an uppercut was smashed from the root of his teeth, that crack reached even his skull. And the heat from those shattered bones were burning his flesh from inside currently. The injuries were so severe that it wouldn’t be strange if he had lost his consciousness.

“──............U...oo.”

「C-Contender Ouma flipped his body around and is trying to raise his body with his arms! He is trying to stand up! Contender Stella is also showing a shocked expression!」

(......I have ambition to continue even if my chest is burned.)

No matter how many times he realized the vastness of the world... No matter how many times his accumulated confidence and pride were shattered... His unwithering desire to continue remained unchanged. ──He would wish for any and everything. It was fine if he did not have a comfortable life. It was fine to just have one thing.

──He wanted to be number one.