It was common enough for a fighter to tell their opponent to die when things got heated during a match. But no matter how ominous a word it was, it was ultimately just a word. It might serve to rile one’s opponent up, but it certainly wouldn’t actually kill them.
Amane wasn’t just anyone, though. His words had the power to twist fate itself. The moment he spoke that word, the goddess protecting him bent the workings of the universe toward his will, ensuring that his desired outcome came to pass.
“Agh!”
Fate conspired to rob Ikki of his life, and he stopped in his tracks. A second later, he dropped to his knees, coughing violently.
“Wh-What’s happening?! Kurogane had Shinomiya on the ropes, but now he’s on his knees!”
“What the? Did he fall?”
“No way, right?”
The audience stared down in confusion. Amane had given the command softly enough that only Ikki had heard it.
“I-I don’t believe it!” Touka shouted suddenly.
“Touka-chan?”
Because she could sense the faint electrical signals a human body emitted, she was the first to notice what had happened, and her expression twisted in worry. She knew that Ikki’s heart had stopped. As silence fell over the audience, Amane’s laughter rang out through the arena.
“Aha ha ha ha! ‘With my next slash, I’ll end this match,’ was it? Aha ha! Quit trying to act so cool! Did you really think you could overcome my Nameless Glory? Don’t be stupid! I can twist fate itself to make whatever I want happen! Considering how delicate the human body is and how many things can go wrong, stopping a person’s heart is child’s play!”
“Wh-What?!”
“N-No way! Did he really stop his heart?!”
The crowd began shouting in disbelief. Since Amane couldn’t stop Ikki’s blade, he’d opted to stop his heart instead. He couldn’t cause Ikki to make any errors in his swordplay, so he’d forced his body to make a fatal error. If his power could do even that, then there really was no way to beat him. At least, that was what everyone thought as they watched him laugh maniacally.
“That’s right. I can’t be stopped. My Nameless Glory is just that powerful. It’s basically fate itself. As if you’d be able to beat it with guts and hard work. I know that better than anyone. After all, that’s exactly how this power ruined my life. You probably thought you’d put in enough effort to overcome this power, but you got too full of yourself, Ikki-kun. What do you say? If you admit that you can’t match up against my Nameless Glory, I don’t mind surrendering for you.”
Ikki just glared silently at Amane, whose grin grew wider.
“Oh yeah, I guess you can’t talk while your heart’s stopped. But I can tell from the defiant look in your eyes that you’re not gonna admit I’m stronger. Oh well.” Amane materialized an Azure in his uninjured hand. “You only have yourself to blame for this. If you’d just known your place, this wouldn’t have happened.”
He lazily swung Azure down at Ikki’s neck.
“Ikki!”
“Onii-samaaa!”
“Aaaha ha ha ha!”
The blade sliced through skin, flesh, and bone. A torrent of blood sprayed all over the ring like a red flower blooming ominously from the ground.
“Gaaah?!”
However, it was Amane who’d been cut, and Amane’s blood that was decorating the stone floor.