"Aguh...!"
"Shi...!!"
Yugo threw a jab, timing it perfectly to meet Neid’s incoming fist.
Considering the disparity in their size and weight, Yugo should have been the one blown back by the force. Instead, he had shifted the armor on his left gauntlet into a drill.
Punching magic-reinforced iron with all one's might—especially when that iron was spinning as a high-speed drill—meant taking inevitable damage, no matter how much raw muscle lay behind the strike.
The counter landed in an unfamiliar, brutal fashion. Coming at the very moment Neid was most committed to his assault, the painful impact dealt more damage to his spirit than his physical body.
"I told you, Neid. I have friends. To your eyes, this might look like nothing more than an old-model Magic Item, but this Blaster is filled with the feelings of my many friends. It’s the ultimate Magic Item, granting me a power far greater than any Demonic Sword you could ever forge."
"What are you...?! What the hell are you?! You keep spouting pretty words about friends, and feelings, and not being alone! You’re just another piece of trash aiming to be a Magic Knight, aren’t you?! You’re just another shitty bastard dreaming of being a Hero, exactly like Isaac! I took this power to crush trash like you! I... I...!!"
"Wake up, Neid! Right now, you’re doing the exact same thing as the trash you loathe! Do you really think someone who sacrifices so many people for his own ends has the right to call anyone else trash?!"
"WRONG! I’m nothing like them! I’m doing this to change this rotten world! I am... I... M-M-Me-e-e-e! Tra-tra-trash, cru-u-ush!!"
"!?"
Any shred of sanity vanished from Neid’s voice as his screams dissolved into static.
Seeing the same look Isaac had when the Demonic Sword consumed him during yesterday's duel, Yugo caught his breath. Before he could react, Neid let out a maddened roar.
"I WILL CRUSH THE TRASH! I AM AMAZING! I AM THE STRONGEST! I AM RIGHT!! AAAAAHHHHH!!"
"...You’re wrong, Neid. Everything, every bit of it is wrong. But I suppose you never had a friend by your side to tell you that. That’s why both you and Isaac ended up turning into Magic Armor Beasts...!"
The current Neid wasn't strong. He wasn't amazing. He didn't possess even a fragment of righteousness. He was merely a lonely, selfish boy who had narrowed his vision until he could unilaterally define justice to justify his own crimes. He had become the very definition of the "trash" he so despised.
And yet, this tragedy surely could have been avoided if he had only had a friend.
If Neid had associated with more than just Isaac—if he had befriended Anhel and the other students of the Industrial Department, or if he had gradually built relationships with the clients who came to him for work, like Hex—everything would have been different.
Yugo didn't know exactly where things had gone wrong. He had no way of knowing where the threads of Neid's life had begun to fray. Even so, he knew exactly what he had to do here and now.
"Stop him, huh..."
He recalled Anhel's words as she sent him off. She hadn't asked him to defeat Neid; she had asked him to stop him. Looking at the monster before him, Yugo felt he finally understood why.
"Hero’s Condition #2... Strength alone is meaningless. Never, ever forget kindness...!"
He recalled the pride held dear in the hearts of the heroes he admired. He fanned the flames within his soul, rousing his spirit.
It was always like this; a Hero fought to protect. What they protected varied depending on the battle and the Hero. Someone's smile, their home, their life, their dreams, their future, their past, their feelings, their hope, their pride... and that list of things to protect included even an enemy who had fallen into sin.
He didn't aim to be a mere combat machine. He aimed to be a Hero who saved everyone.
In that case, he had to save the villain before him whose heart had been consumed by darkness. As long as there was someone like Anhel who wished for Neid to live and atone, Yugo wanted to protect those feelings as well.
To be a Hero who protects everything—that was why he had sought power in this world. He would devote his entire being to that resolve.
"Let’s go, Ann. With this Blaster you forged for me... I’ll become the hero who saves him!"
Igniting his will and resolve, he released the full capacity of the Attribute Magic Crystal in his chest.
Feeling the staggering power generated by the crystal as it radiated a brilliant flame, Yugo watched Neid—whose heart was being devoured by the Demonic Sword—and lunged forward, his Flame Muffler trailing behind him like a banner of fire.
"HAAAAAAAAA!!"
"NUGAAAAAA!!"
A roar and a shriek collided, making the air tremble.
Neid swung a fist to pulverize the charging Yugo, but in the next heartbeat, Yugo vanished. An impact struck the monster from a completely blind angle.
"Ga! Gaa! Yu-go... YU-GOOOOOOOOO!!"
Erupting with hatred and rage, Neid swung his fists wildly, chasing after the blur.
However, his strikes only cut through thin air. He couldn't even graze his opponent. It wasn't just his fists that were too slow; Neid couldn't even track Yugo's movements with his eyes.
He thought he was throwing punches at the approaching boy, but his fists caught only afterimages. By the time he realized Yugo had moved, he was already reeling from a strike from a completely different direction. He would endure the pain and try to intercept him again, only to be toyed with by Yugo's superior mobility.
To the current Neid, the attacks themselves—cloaked in Prominence that scorched his tough hide—were formidable, but the speed at which Yugo moved was his undoing. He couldn't fathom how Yugo could move like that while wearing heavy armor. Without an answer, he simply continued to take a one-sided beating.
"HAAAAAAAAA!!"
"GUAA! GA! GUUUUU!!"
He couldn't react. He couldn't keep up. He, who was supposed to be perfect, was utterly helpless.
Worse, Yugo’s movements grew faster with each passing second, and his strikes grew heavier with every impact. No matter how tough the Cyclops's body was, its endurance had a limit, and Neid’s own stamina was rapidly draining.
A roar like a jet engine echoed as flames erupted from the suit. The ground beneath Yugo's feet buckled as he kicked off.
The difference in their strength was now understood through raw, agonizing pain. The reality that he was no match for the boy made Neid feel the crushing weight of their disparity.
And yet, Neid wouldn't stop. He couldn't. Every taste of defeat and humiliation only amplified his negative emotions. The swelling anger and hatred drove his broken body forward.
Having become a Magic Armor Beast under the influence of his own Demonic Swords and the Cursed Hammer, the internal mechanism known as "reason" had completely shattered.
Because of that, Yugo unleashed everything he had to put an end to the destruction.
"Let’s end this, Neid. I’m stopping you!!"
He funneled his flame-attributed magic power into his legs. Utilizing the leg strength that generated his overwhelming mobility, he soared high, high into the sky.
Flames, pushed to their absolute limit, erupted from the Blaster to form wings of fire on Yugo's back. Tucking his legs together, he locked his sights on Neid and dived like a falling star, wreathed in Prominence.
"PROMINENCE BLASTERRRRRRRRRR!!"
"GOGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
It was a flying kick that combined maximum leg strength with the terminal velocity of his descent, all wrapped in scorching fire.
Yugo became a crimson meteor. The strike caught Neid squarely in the chest, the sheer momentum driving the giant backward.
At the final moment, Yugo snapped his knees straight, kicking Neid away with a decisive burst of power. He performed a graceful rotation in mid-air before touching down on the scorched earth.
As Neid watched that landing—as light and effortless as a falling feather—he reached out a desperate hand, groaning in agony.
"I was supposed to have... the strongest power...! With this... I was going to rule the world...!! UOOOOOOOOOOO!?"
Then came the explosion. Prominence erupted across Neid's body.
The detonation wasn't a single event. Flames burst forth in a rapid-fire sequence, cooking the giant's flesh until he reached his breaking point. Neid screamed as he toppled backward.
A final, massive explosion swallowed everything, sending a giant pillar of fire roaring toward the heavens.
The inferno, accompanied by a thunderous boom, engulfed the monster and the Cursed Hammer alike, incinerating the tainted iron until it was reduced to nothing but ash.