With incredible speed, Siegfried put distance between himself and Artoria. His wary eyes briefly darted toward her before falling to the wound on his abdomen.
There was no blood, only a charred black ring around the injury that made it extraordinarily difficult to heal.
"Burned?"
Just as steel can be reforged with fire, it can also be destroyed by flames of even greater intensity. The only way to break the invulnerability of a [Steel] hero god's immortal body was with temperatures high enough to melt steel.
Truth be told, Artoria had been caught off guard by Siegfried's sudden burst of power.
It wasn't just that Siegfried had grown stronger; it was also that Artoria herself had unexpectedly weakened.
She suddenly remembered the unique nature of her role as the Last King, the god of [Steel] tasked with exterminating Campiones. The more Campiones gathered in one place, the stronger her power became.
Now, with Marquis Voban, one of the strongest Campiones, dead, Artoria's power had diminished unexpectedly. This left her unprepared and vulnerable, allowing Siegfried to unleash a brutal assault on her.
Knowing that her weakened state left her unable to contend with Siegfried, who had returned to his peak, Artoria reluctantly drew energy from the earth to reinforce herself.
She disliked this ability—it drained the life force of the land, causing irreparable damage to its vitality.
With this fight reaching its apex, Artoria decided there was no further need to prolong it.
With a swift motion of her blade, the glowing veins etched across her armor flared to life, releasing countless crimson serpents of lightning. The ground and rocks around her were reduced to rubble in an instant.
A torrent of light surged forth, carving a path hundreds of meters long. Siegfried leapt skyward to avoid it, and the blast struck the earth below.
The land shattered, melted, and burned into nothingness.
Scorched earth gave way to wildfires, the very air turning crimson with heat.
As the heat waves swept past, Artoria's flowing hair revealed the crimson markings etched onto her cheeks.
With a thunderous explosion, Siegfried's massive form appeared before her, [Balmung] raised high. Artoria stood ready, her sword already poised to meet his strike.
Boom!
The clash of their blades resounded like a roaring thunderclap.
The overwhelming force of Artoria's sword traveled through [Balmung], striking Siegfried with such power that it sent him hurtling backward.
The ground beneath him shattered as he flew even faster than when he had charged forward.
Siegfried barely had time to steady himself. Before he could react, a streak of black light slashed across his chest.
Shhhk!
His muscles were seared, his skin scorched. The strike left a deep, charred gash.
Snarling, Siegfried lunged toward Artoria, grabbing her with his massive hands. With a mighty leap, he shattered the ground beneath his feet and propelled them both skyward.
As they neared a distant mountain, Siegfried prepared to hurl Artoria into it.
But before he could act, a flash of black light flickered.
Artoria severed the hand that gripped her, sending it plummeting to the ground. Siegfried's kick followed immediately, slamming into her abdomen and sending her flying like a cannonball into the sky.
The deafening sound of the air being torn apart heralded Siegfried's pursuit. Within moments, he was at her side again, [Balmung] glowing with the twilight hue of dragon-slaying energy as he swung it toward her.
But instead of Artoria, Siegfried found himself staring into an attack—a devastating slash infused with the destructive heat to obliterate worlds.
High above, the heavens erupted with a cross-shaped blast of black and crimson flames.
The fiery explosion distorted space, and lightning snakes born from the blast reduced distant mountains to rubble.
Meteoric embers rained down from the sky.
Landing gracefully, Artoria stood unscathed. Not far from her, a burning black "meteor" slammed into the ground, leaving a massive crater in its wake.
Artoria's gaze remained fixed on the center of the crater, waiting patiently.
Moments passed before a charred figure emerged from the rubble.
The figure's body was covered in burns, and his left arm, along with part of his side, was completely gone. His exposed bones and organs were charred black, and traces of black flames lingered on his wounds.
For any ordinary human, such injuries would have been fatal.
But he was no ordinary human—he was a god. A hero whose legend was immortalized in countless tales as the dragon-slayer.
To slay dragons and wage battle—this was the [Steel] god's sole purpose. As a "living sword," their existence was defined by combat, their every fiber dedicated to it.
Despite his ruined body, Siegfried's aura grew even fiercer.
With a roar, he charged forward, shattering the ground beneath him and pulverizing rocks in his path.
Artoria raised her sword, gripping it with both hands, its tip aimed forward. The consuming black light of despair began to gather once more.
Siegfried's figure, like a raging beast, bore down on her.
When the dragon-slaying sword and the black blade met, the impact shattered the falling debris around them. The shockwave melted the fragments into slag, dissolving them in a black-red haze of lightning.
The magical energy concentrated on Artoria's sword began to compress, forming a massive blade of light that bore down on Siegfried's weapon. Even as his ankles sank deep into the ground, Siegfried couldn't stop himself from being pushed back.
Gritting his teeth, he tightened his grip on [Balmung], but his resistance was futile.
Siegfried felt as though he were trying to move an entire continent—no matter how much strength he summoned, he couldn't budge the blade pressing down on him.
Ding.
The crisp sound of metal breaking rang out as [Balmung] was flung from his hands.
Before Siegfried's eyes, the space between them resembled a canvas, and a deep crimson streak began to paint over everything, swallowing the surrounding world.
A pillar of black-red light roared like a furious dragon, accompanied by bursts of lightning. Mountains in the distance disintegrated upon contact, evaporating into nothingness as if they had never existed.
Artoria landed firmly, her black boots scraping against the mountainside, sending brilliant sparks into the air.
A twilight-colored slash tore through the air, shearing off a section of the mountain.
Amid the falling debris, two figures appeared. Siegfried pinned Artoria beneath him, driving them both toward the ground like a meteor.
When they struck, lightning dragons erupted from the crater, followed by a towering black pillar of light that connected earth and sky.
From within the light, two figures shot out: one, a small figure cloaked in black flames; the other, a towering man wrapped in blazing fire.
With a single whip of her leg, Artoria sent Siegfried hurtling away. He crashed through a mountain and slammed into the earth below, carving out another massive crater.
In the depths of the pit, Siegfried lay prone, hot breath escaping his lips.
"It's over."
Artoria's cold voice cut through the still air, her tone calm and unshaken, as though the battle hadn't even been a warm-up for her.
Standing tall, she looked down at Siegfried's broken form. His legs were gone, and he couldn't even rise.
As he clung to life, determined to fight to his last breath, Artoria raised her sword high above her head.
"Even when on the brink of death, you fight to the very end. I will honor that bravery by granting you a fitting conclusion."
The black flames of her sword flared, the heat so intense it seemed the heavens themselves would burn.
Holding aloft the roaring torrent of light, her golden eyes burned with resolve.
"[Excalibur Morgan]!"
---
T/N: i dont know if steel hero is right :(( plz dont huwtr me
...
Huh. You really stuck it out all the way to the end.
Didn't think you had the patience. Guess I was wrong.
WiseTL's the one who actually made all this come together. I'm just here putting a bow on it… or, well, shoving it in a backpack and calling it a day. Same thing.
If you had fun, you know what to do:
👉 [patreon.com/WiseTL]
Heads up—Patreon's 50% off for all tiers during May. So if you were on the fence? Now's the time.
And if you're the social type, there's a Discord too. Pretty decent spot to hang out—no battles required.
👉 [discord.gg/wisetl]
Alright. That's enough standing around. Go on—before you make it weird.
—Leaf