Born From a Forbidden Union, Humanity hates me.

Orion and Noah both walked in the direction of the incoming wave of corrupt beasts.

Tetra returned to Henrietta, where both continued to look at the two Heroes through their spying magic.

'What do we do for the next wave? You can't use that blazing spear anymore, right?'

In his core, Tetra asked a question. Pondering, Orion placed his hand in his pocket and touched the bracelet.

'...'

While walking, he focused on the device and opened himself to it. His mind received the instant knowledge of another individual inside the bracelet.

Someone who wanted to help him and willingly shared their weapon mastery with him for a time.

'Don't worry, Tetra. We're going to be fine.'

Orion removed his hand from his pocket and clenched it in front of his chest.

Just then, both stopped and looked forward to a large cloud of dust coming their way.

"That is very unusual. I haven't seen that many aquatic beasts since coming to this world."

Focusing on his eyesight, Orion used the ability 'Eagle Eye' to zoom on the beasts.

"Seahorses, crabs... I also saw multiple mollusk-looking beasts."

Noah crossed his arms.

"Look behind that incoming force."

Listening to what Noah said, Orion focused his vision past the second wave of enemies.

"Ah~ I see."

Orion nodded. Behind these corrupt aquatic beasts, another wave of enemies followed closely behind.

"This is actually the third wave in front. Miasma is either more experienced and dangerous, or those beasts are simply too dumb to follow simple orders."

Without moving, he let out a frustrated laugh.

"So far, it hasn't been difficult to understand Miasma's tactics. They were straightforward and basic. Now, it's becoming difficult to read him."

"Beasts without cores, giants appearing more often, and unusual beasts being thrown at me..."

He frowned immediately.

"The more I notice these changes, the more I fear for this world."

Orion looked forward with the same frown.

"To some extent, this was caused by my inability to deal with Miasma. If I had been more prepared and hadn't let my guard down when I needed to be the most cautious, this whole matter wouldn't have happened."

"Tetra's death was... difficult to swallow. I might have scared my daughter at the time, and I'm not even able to apologize to her."

His tone was apologetic, but his gaze was determined.

As the waves of enemies crossed the five hundred-meter mark before reaching them, Noah looked at Orion.

"Are you fine with a little motivational competition?"

Surprised, Orion glanced toward him while lifting his chin.

"A competition... The one who kills the most corrupt beasts wins."

Noah nodded.

"Does that sound alright with you?"

"..."

Pondering, Orion dropped his gaze to the ground and grabbed his chin with his index finger and thumb.

"Let's make it a little more interesting."

"Alright. What's on your mind?"

With an intrigued but excited smile, Noah waited for Orion's suggestion.

"Whoever wins gets to ask a personal question about the other."

"That's fine with me."

Inside Orion, Tetra let out a long, exasperated sigh.

'Boys will be boys...'

Hearing her dismiss his interest in Noah as a person, Orion immediately growled at her.

'Oh, shut it. Don't try to make me believe you wouldn't kill to know more about him.'

'...'

She quietly ignored him.

'I don't know what you mean.'

'Girls will be girls.'

Recalling how Amelia acted a few years ago, he became convinced that women were creatures of love.

They shone brightly when their feelings were reciprocated. That's why he tried his best to help Tetra put the last dot on her feelings.

This little challenge was the best way to learn more about Noah and to ask questions Tetra never brought up during their time together.

Orion's expression was always neutral when talking to Tetra, which made others unable to notice his discussions with her.

As his expression turned to a satisfied smile, he nodded at Noah.

"Then it's decided."

The ground began to rumble as the stampede of aquatic creatures approached the two Heroes.

"I'll take the right."

Noah looked to the right.

"And I'll take the left."

And Orion leaned to the left.

The image of the man in white armor flashed in Orion's mind, giving him a thumbs up.

He placed his right arm horizontally in front of his chest, dragged his right foot behind him, and extended his left arm further to his side.

"Cael, member of the Seraphic Guard, lend me your strength."

The first person who helped Orion, Hecate, was a woman mercenary. She worked under the orders of the chief of the demons, which was Orianne at the time.

Dispatching corrupt beasts invading their land was part of her duty.

On the other hand, Cael was a long-time guard working to protect the angels under Reon's orders.

He was a member of the Seraphic Guard, the most powerful force after Reon himself.

Calling out the name of the angel, his body began to shine. Two ethereal wings of light emerged from behind Orion's back, covering his entire body.

When the wings disappeared, Orion appeared armed with a large shield on his right arm and a gleaming sword in his left hand.

"Seraphic Champion."

Without notifying Noah, Orion leaned forward and leaped forward.

"Hey!"

With a smirk, Noah rapidly followed behind him while pulling an ore fragment from his pouch.

The art of the sword and shield flowed inside Orion's head. More precisely, the way Cael himself fought appeared clearly.

While using Hecate's spear, the same happened. It was Orion who was fighting, but his movements were those of Hecate.

Using the 'Second Gear', Orion began to pick up more speed and bumped into the first corrupt crabs with his shield.

*CRASH*

The crab exploded from the impact, making his organs and limbs fly upward.

Orion continued to run in a straight line, ravaging the ranks of the corrupt beast.

A seahorse avoided his shield and slid to the side to attempt biting his thigh. But Orion still had his sword in hand.

With a swift wrist movement, the head of the seahorse became detached from its body and flew high in the air.

Its limp body fell to the ground, making crabs and mollusks crash on it.

On the other side, Noah jumped in the air before clashing with the front of the army.

The five elemental orbs emerged from his back.

"I have a challenge to win. Don't hate me for being ruthless."

Noah was more excited than ever. It had been such a long time since he was able to work with someone, and that reminded him of his time in the force, when he patrolled everywhere with his buddy.

The orbs behind his back began to spin faster and faster, until a volley of elemental bullets were fired from above his head.

Fire, water, wind, lightning, and earth bullets crashed on the right side of the force, sending pieces and entire corrupt beasts into the air.

"What the fuck?!"

Orion grinned as Noah created a carnage like no other on the other side of the battlefield.

"I can't let myself be beaten."

He nodded to himself while abruptly stopping, pushing the corrupt beasts in front of him as his feet dragged blades of grass and dust.

While sliding, he bent his knees and pushed on his legs using the 'Second Gear'.

"Hup!"

He jumped five meters into the air, almost at the same height as Noah.

"What's better than a bit of..."

"Meteoric Crash!"

Orion threw the shield at the beasts under him at an absurd velocity before plunging toward the ground.

The shield crashed like a meteor, sending the enemies flying in the air like Noah did. But that wasn't all.

When Orion crashed to the ground, he began to swiftly move past the beasts, slashing at them at the same time.

He returned to where the shield was, grabbed it, and began to use it like a weapon.

Bashing and slashing. Those techniques were what Cael learned as one of the strongest angels.

"Not bad. Very interesting!"

Noah followed Orion's example and returned to the ground in the same process.

With a crude sword made of silver in his hand, he began to slash his way through the enemies.

At that moment, the third wave, which wasn't far behind, clashed with the second one.

This was a wave of dangerous buffalos and bulls with uncharacteristically long horns, ready to impale them.

They ruthlessly ran through the second wave and crushed, impaled, and killed the aquatic beasts without a care.

"That calls for a quick death."

Noah took a few steps back out of the stampede while spinning his sword to his side. It was now an iron sword, as the previous one had already crumbled into dust.

His feet began to lighten up before a trail of light formed behind him as he ran toward the beasts.

Spanning through their ranks, heads fell to the ground as Noah rapidly dispatched the entire right side of the two forces.

"I can't lose!"

Orion noticed that Noah had entered his 'serious' state and was rapidly killing beasts.

'Tetra.'

'I know what you're going to ask. Knowing Amelia, she would have refused, but I'll indulge you.'

Tetra, who was the 'Key' before she revealed herself, was able to unlock Orion's abilities instead of Amelia.

'As usual, you have a very short window. Don't go overboard, as you don't have any healing abilities anymore.'

Internally nodding, Orion added something.

'I'm not the same reckless mess that I was before. Trust me.'

'Alright.'

His body began to heat as Tetra unlocked the 'Fourth Gear'.

'You have... 20 seconds. No more.'

'That's...'

Orion leaned forward.

'Plenty enough!'

As the enemies behind him went flying from the impulse Orion had caused, he began to hold his breath as Cael's sword sliced the enemies.

The sword's sharpness was so pronounced that the beasts' bodies began to separate only a few seconds after being struck down.

With both Orion and Noah going at their full might, the entire stampede of corrupt beasts was eradicated.

Subsequently, it became time to find out who had killed the most corrupt beasts.

"Damn..."

The winner was...

"Guess I won."

Noah.

With a frustrated but satisfied smile, Orion shrugged.

"Here."

Noah lifted his arm and asked Orion to tap his hand.

"Heh~"

Orion approached him and, with a loud slapping sound, slapped Noah's hand.

"Good work, mister Hero."

"Same to you, future Hero."