The Undefeated Legend of the Underground Arena
Among the many titles given to Begus, one of the city’s outlaws, the most famous by far was only one.
The Legend of the 13th District’s Underground Arena.
Class-1 wanted criminal. Giant Rock Begus.
He had been a legendary figure who boasted an undefeated record in the underground arena.
Begus’s Stone Skin magic, which hardened his body like rock, and bare-knuckle fighting talent so innate it was no exaggeration to call him a genius. When those two met, the destructive combat power they produced left every opponent he faced crumbling without exception.
Begus took every life-or-death one-on-one match in the underground arena, until at last a statue of him was raised in the very center of the fighting pit.
How empty.
But those brilliant days did not last long.
Caught in a struggle over interests, the underground arena vanished completely from the 13th District overnight. The statue that had captured his unyielding form shattered into pieces and disappeared as well.
The gold that had once filled his house still remained with him, yet after the arena was gone, Begus’s heart stayed hollow.
He had money. Even so, he could no longer throw himself freely into battles of life and death.
Staking his life on a fight was the only thing that made his heart race. He was already addicted to the duel.
Still, I cannot stop fighting.
In the end he chose to continue his duels alone. Begus wandered the entire city, seeking out the strong who might be hiding in its corners. Against every opponent he met he wagered vast amounts of gold and forced a duel.
Of course, every loser who faced Begus died.
Only the victor survives. That had been the rule of the underground arena he had fought in all his life.
“P-Please… spare me…”
“You lost the duel, didn’t you?”
The man currently begging for his life before Begus’s eyes was no different. He had accepted the duel Begus offered with his entire fortune on the line, and had lost in disgraceful fashion.
No matter who the opponent who had matched strength against him might be, Begus had no intention of letting them walk away alive. With the man slumped against the wall in front of him, Begus raised his fist.
“I… I got too greedy. If you just spare me—”
“Your excuses are pathetic.”
“Guh…!”
Crack!
Begus’s fist smashed into the man’s skull. Strengthened by Stone Skin, the fist had become as hard as solid rock. The man who met that merciless blow fell silent. With his head bowed, he never opened his mouth again.
That was the end of a loser in a duel.
“A boring fellow.”
Begus dispelled his magic and dusted off his palm. He had come to test the skills of a mercenary who was supposedly famous in the area, yet the fight had been far less satisfying than expected. The security officers who had chased him before had put up a fiercer struggle.
At this rate there had been no reason for him to travel all this way just to stake his life against an opponent.
“Looks like I’ll have to find another one this time too.”
A stronger opponent. Only that could quiet the fighting spirit boiling inside him.
Begus picked up the black bag he had set on the floor. Heavy with gold bars, the bag was bait meant to lure mercenaries and criminals steeped in greed. Few who saw the gold filling it refused a duel with him. Those who still refused simply received Begus’s stone fist instead of gold.
Thud. Thud.
Bag in hand, Begus started walking into the alley where darkness had settled. The duel with his target had ended in his victory. With the fight over, there was no reason to remain.
His feet carried him through the tangled alleyways of the outer district. The city’s back streets, stretching out like a maze, were thoroughly unfriendly to anyone unfamiliar with them. Torn flyers. Broken neon signs. Cigarette butts rolling across the ground. The desolate scenery of the alley brushed past his vision.
After turning several corners and stepping onto an unfamiliar path, he sensed something and stopped.
“……”
Long hounded by security forces and bounty hunters, Begus possessed senses sharper than most. Those senses now registered a presence.
Feeling a wrongness, he turned. A girl was already leaning against the wall, watching him. A mechanical scabbard was strapped across her back, and her golden eyes gleamed in the dark.
“If you don’t want to die, stay still.”
“Who are you?”
“Sword Saint. That’s what they call me around here.”
“I’ve heard the name a few times. They say there’s a swordsman in this city who has mastered sword energy close to the divine.”
The anecdotes Begus had heard of the Sword Saint were truly marvelous. An unparalleled swordsman who had trained with the blade all his life could cut down anything that entered his domain. That was the story he knew.
The black-haired girl who claimed to have polished martial arts her entire life was calling herself the Sword Saint. Yet the figure reflected in Begus’s eyes looked far too young and unseasoned to discuss each other’s martial paths.
“……You’ve got pretty good ears.”
“You look younger than I expected. Maybe the rumors were exaggerated.”
“Then feel free to check for yourself.”
Click.
Slender fingers closed around the sword at her waist. The dark cape that had half-covered the scabbard fluttered in the air. What kind of swordsmanship would the golden-eyed girl show?
Begus, already looking forward to the coming fight, drew up his mana and blinked—
“Sword Saint Style——— Fivefold Slash Barrage.”
Shrrrring!
A wind brushed past his bangs as the Sword Saint’s blade slipped a fraction from its scabbard. The time his eyes had been closed was only an instant, yet Begus had completely missed the moment the sword moved. When he opened them again, five branching scars were already carved into the ground.
“……I didn’t see the sword swing.”
“That’s because I’m the Sword Saint.”
“Certainly an impressive achievement at such a young age.”
Blinking for even that brief moment had been Begus’s mistake. Even so, the attack the Sword Saint had just displayed was so fast he could not perceive it. A single stroke that left five marks. In an age when firearms spat fire, it was a tale of pure romance.
Hearing the praise, the girl stroked the hilt of her sword with a satisfied expression.
“I have a proposal.”
“What kind of proposal?”
“Either quietly follow me to the Security Corps, or get broken into stone pieces and go that way. Which do you want?”
“If I don’t want to die, follow you—is that it?”
“That’s right. I don’t particularly feel like killing someone who doesn’t resist.”
The single strike the Sword Saint had shown was certainly strong. Yet for Begus to abandon the fight over something so small, the fighting spirit inside him would not allow it. For once the other party had thrown down the gauntlet first. There was not the slightest reason left for him to refuse.
“The former doesn’t appeal to me. But if you can take me down, I think the latter isn’t bad.”
“A battle maniac, they said—you really are crazy for fighting.”
“I was born to fight. I built myself up to survive, and I honed my martial arts to win.”
“So?”
“How far can I go with this one body of mine? Until I find that limit, I have no intention of ever giving up.”
Stone Skin.
Begus’s magic that turned flesh to stone revealed itself. With ashen skin exposed, he settled into a stance to charge the Sword Saint.
Watching him, the Sword Saint let out a quiet sigh and gripped her hilt once more.
“Fine. I’ll just kill you.”
“Swordsmanship that has reached the pinnacle, is it? I’ll look forward to it.”
“Sword Saint Style. Secret Technique———”
She took the stance for drawing the blade. Capturing that preparatory posture, Begus raised his guard and lunged. Unconcerned by the charging giant, the Sword Saint simply moved her sword in place with quiet precision.
Click.
With a short rasp of metal the blade left its scabbard.
“——Absolute Boundary.”
The instant the Sword Saint’s sword cleared the sheath, the surrounding space began to waver. Above. Below. Left. Right. Leaving no room to dodge, formless slashes flew at Begus from every direction.
Seeing the cuts pressing in from all sides, Begus immediately dropped his stance low.