On this day, the rumbling and booming within Tharros never ceased.
The entire region of Tharros felt as though it was struck by a massive earthquake, constantly shaking and booming, prompting the residents within to flee in panic.
The Saint Bastian Ruins had completely vanished. That forest filled with nuraghe constructions also collapsed into the earth at a certain moment along with the ground, sinking into the depths below, never to be seen again in its original form.
People didn't know what had happened, but someone claimed to have seen black and silver sword light constantly flashing in the original Saint Bastian Ruins, and even saw two enormous swords, large enough to blot out the sky and sun, suddenly shoot into the air, clashing with each other like the collision of two celestial bodies, instantly unleashing a world-shaking impact that destroyed the entire forest.
No one knew that the true culprits behind all this were just two people—two individuals who had each slain gods more than once.
Only the forces on the mysterious side knew the truth, especially the Copper Black Cross, who had personally witnessed the entire intense battle between the two Kings and etched those unbelievable scenes deep into their souls, forming an unprecedented reverence toward these god-slaying Campione.
By the time everything settled, night had already fallen on Sardinia.
As darkness descended, the day-long tremors, booms, and earth-shaking upheaval finally ceased, allowing many people to heave a huge sigh of relief.
"Let's go. Let's welcome the two Kings."
Erica was the first to speak, leading a large group of Copper Black Cross members and representatives of the mysterious side who arrived later, all gathering at the inn's entrance to await the return of the two Kings.
They waited for nearly an hour.
An hour later, they saw two figures walking side by side.
"Were you all waiting here for us?"
Salvatore Doni spoke cheerfully to the group, seemingly in high spirits, a wide smile on his face.
However, seeing Doni's appearance, the crowd was taken aback.
At this moment, Doni was not only covered in tattered clothing from head to toe but also bore several ferocious wounds.
The box he always carried on his back was gone, and the sword he never parted with was nowhere to be seen. Official source is novel-fire.ɴet
Looking at this state of Doni, Erica couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
"Lord Salvatore? Your… your sword?"
Upon hearing this, Doni laughed very straightforwardly.
"It broke."
That overly blunt and concise answer left everyone too stunned to speak.
The sword… broke?
Even the magic sword of the King of Swords can break?
Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.
Erica also looked toward Kaiser, discovering that his appearance wasn't much better compared to Doni.
He too was in tatters, although not covered in wounds like Doni. His expression was very calm, as if he hadn't just fought a life-or-death battle but had simply taken a stroll.
"Don't look at me like that." Seeing Erica looking at him, Kaiser slightly misunderstood and said, "His Magical Power couldn't keep up, so his Authority weakened."
"I just casually swung my sword, and it ended up getting cut."
As soon as those words came out, everyone exchanged bewildered glances again.
But Doni, with a wry smile, slung an arm over Kaiser's shoulder and said:
"You make it sound so light. If I hadn't stepped back at the right moment, I'm afraid the thing that got casually cut wouldn't have just been the sword, right?"
Though the statement was quite dangerous, Doni said it with a tone as breezy as spring wind, making the crowd twitch at the corners of their mouths.
"Cut the nonsense." Kaiser smacked Doni's hand away, walking into the inn while saying, "You didn't exactly go easy on me either."
"But I'm the only one who ended up injured, brother." Doni quickly caught up to Kaiser, speaking with high spirits, "I clearly slashed you so many times, and with the magic sword from the Severing Silver Arm too. Normally, a wound from that wouldn't heal easily even with the finest magic. Yet after just a blink, your injury healed up—it's totally cheating!"
"What exactly is it? Did you steal that Authority from a god?"
Doni kept questioning, but all he got was silence from Kaiser.
The two disappeared into the elevator of the inn under everyone's gaze, leaving the rest finally coming back to their senses.
"Quick, get the best healing magicians to treat Lord Salvatore's wounds!"
"Prepare food—both Kings must be starving after fighting all day!"
"And clothing! Get fresh outfits ready for both Kings!"
"Let them rest in the spa! Where's the best technician? Hurry and have her serve them…"
A group of high-ranking individuals from the mysterious side began chattering away.
Erica, however, looked in the direction where Kaiser and Doni disappeared, pondering one thing.
"Who won that battle?"
Truthfully, Erica was quite curious.
...
One had to admit, the Copper Black Cross's service was indeed excellent and thoughtful.
Originally, Kaiser had just intended to go back to his room to change clothes. But before he even finished changing, he was escorted by a group of youthful and beautiful attendants to the inn's spa area.
There, he immediately enjoyed services like aroma massage, hydrotherapy bath, facial care, and foot treatment—basically a full-body spa.
In such conditions, the fatigue accumulated from his day-long battle with Doni gradually melted away.
Unfortunately, midway through the massage, a bothersome guy showed up.
"Indeed, a massage after battle is the most comfortable."
Reclining on a luxurious massage chair beside Kaiser, Doni let out such a sigh while enjoying the hands of a beautiful technician.
"Isn't having a sword enough for you? You enjoy this too?"
Kaiser was getting his temples massaged, not even opening his eyes as he spoke.
"What are you talking about?" Doni answered seriously, "A man can't live with just a sword. At the very least, he needs to be well-fed."
…Why does that sound so infuriating coming from your mouth?
Kaiser's hand twitched slightly but in the end, he resisted the urge to draw Ser-Veresta and slash this guy again.
At that moment, Erica silently appeared.
"Your bravery was truly admirable and eye-opening."
She offered a compliment, which Doni responded to cheerfully.
"I enjoyed the fight a lot too, so I'll accept your praise, Robert Dolly Jr."
At those words, Erica's graceful smile almost cracked.
If she were as powerful as Kaiser, she would probably have the same impulse Kaiser had earlier—to draw her sword and strike someone.
"Although I know it's not something we should concern ourselves with, may I ask out of curiosity… Who won today's battle?"
Erica eventually voiced the question.
Outside the room, the mysterious side personnel who had been waiting instantly perked up their ears.
This wasn't something meant to be pried into.
If it were any of the more old-fashioned Kings, trouble might have followed.
Fortunately, neither Kaiser nor Doni was the type to mind such things.
So, Doni answered very straightforwardly.
"It should count as a draw, I guess?" Doni said with some satisfaction and some regret, "If we had kept going, I probably would have lost. But brother here stopped on his own, so we never reached a conclusion."
Since they fought for an entire day, it proved the gap between Kaiser and Doni wasn't huge. Otherwise, the battle wouldn't have lasted so long.
In terms of swordsmanship, both were at divine levels. Even if one had an edge, it wasn't a large one.
Physically, Kaiser had overwhelming superiority, but after Doni used the Authority of Protection of Steel, the gap was closed, allowing him to compete evenly.
In speed, Kaiser again had the advantage. After all, he had both Shunpo and Sonído. Even if Doni's footwork was unorthodox, he couldn't compare. But Doni's beast-like instinct was terrifying. Kaiser couldn't toy with him using speed.
Doni had also trained the ability known as "Mind's Eye"—a realm only accessible to warriors who reached the pinnacle of martial arts.
With that ability, Doni could see through even Verethragna's "Phoenix" incarnation. Kaiser's Shunpo and Sonído weren't yet exquisite enough to surpass that Mind's Eye, so even if he had the speed advantage, it became minimal—and could even be turned against him by Doni.
Both wielded magic swords that could cut through anything, and once they clashed, neither could gain the upper hand. As a result, the fight ended in a draw.
Of course, this was only because Kaiser had used Ser-Veresta and none of his other exclusive weapons.
Doni didn't know this, but he still felt that if the fight had continued, he would've lost.
The reason was simple: he had been constantly using Authorities and outputting the magic sword's power. By the end, even with a Campione's immense Magical Power, he was struggling to keep up, weakening the magic sword's power and the half-immortality granted by Protection of Steel.
In contrast, Kaiser had at least ten times Doni's Magical Power and never used any Authority—just a single Ser-Veresta, making his consumption much lower than Doni's.
Moreover, once injured, the High-Speed Regeneration that had completely merged with his body would activate immediately. His resistance to Magical Power far surpassed that of ordinary Campione. Add in the immortality brought by the Hōgyoku, and Doni's magic sword, which inflicted incurable wounds, simply couldn't be effective…
In such a case, if Kaiser still couldn't win, that would be truly pathetic.
"I used two Authorities, brother, and you didn't even use one. Only when injured did you seem to use something that quickly healed your wounds, right?"
Doni patted his forehead and complained to Kaiser.
"You're really demoralizing, brother."
Hearing that, Kaiser's expression remained blank.
"So that's your reason for going inhuman later?"
Kaiser hadn't forgotten—he got injured because, partway through the fight, Doni started pulling tricks.
The Severing Silver Arm not only granted its wielder the power to cut anything and bestowed various strange magic sword abilities—it could also turn anything it touched into a magic sword.
Perhaps realizing that continuing the fight wasn't to his advantage, Doni stopped focusing on swordsmanship and instead began turning light into magic swords with the Severing Silver Arm, firing them like lasers at Kaiser. He even turned the ground into magic swords, unleashing a continuous barrage of invisible slashes in a wide area.
Kaiser got caught off guard and was injured. If not for Hierro fully fused into his body, transforming it inside and out with astonishing hardness, he might have been shredded into pieces by the slashes sweeping across the forest.
If not for High-Speed Regeneration activating instantly and restoring his wounds, he definitely would've pulled out True Longinus and shot Doni's head off.
"But you said we'd go all out, brother." Doni grinned. "It's a shame I didn't get to see you fight seriously."
Indeed, Doni had long noticed that Kaiser had no intention of going all-out.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have only used one sacred gear and never activated an Authority.
"We're the same, aren't we?" Kaiser said with eyes closed. "Didn't you also have two unused Authorities?"
"That's different." Doni shook his head. "It's not that I didn't want to use them—they're just useless in battle."
That was true.
Doni's remaining two Authorities were far less practical than the Severing Silver Arm and Protection of Steel.
One was taken from the fire god Vulcan, which could regress surrounding civilization to medieval European levels. The other was taken from the wine god Dionysus, which created a region where magic, Magical Power, and even Authorities would go berserk and lose control—so powerful that even Doni himself wouldn't be spared.
The former was basically useless in battle. The latter, once used, would only harm Doni himself.
After all, it was thanks to his two Authorities that he could fight Kaiser evenly. If those Authorities failed, the outcome would be obvious.
Since Kaiser had hardly used any Authorities himself, with his sheer physical strength, even in a region where magic, Magical Power, and Authorities went berserk, he could probably beat gods into submission with just a blade. Doni would have to be out of his mind to do something like that.
In other words, in this battle, Doni had already used all his methods, and the draw only came because Kaiser stopped first.
On the other hand, Kaiser had shown so few of his abilities that his hidden power was likely far beyond imagination…
Doni keenly realized: the reason Kaiser fought him wasn't to determine a winner, but to verify his own power—and the strength of other Campione.
This newly born fellow… was extremely unsimple.