Let's admit what needs admitting. All victories begin by admitting failure. Honestly, I was greatly overconfident in my own skill. I thought that no matter how strong the hero was, I could take her down with my buffs and sheer tenacity.
But that was a miscalculation. The hero had endured as many hardships as the lines of fire I had crossed, and had roamed the world on adventures I had never experienced. From a young age, she devoted herself to spiritual discipline, always steeling her heart and training herself. The hero's experience was of a different quality than mine. I could feel her experience from the sharp tip of her blade.
The hero was overwhelmingly strong. Stat buffs and abundant practical experience. The proficiency from wielding a sword since childhood and eyes filled with sincerity. The hero, equipped with all these perfect elements, could be called the strongest right now. I sank into thought on my knees.
"How about it? Are you going to surrender now?"
In fact, the one whose willpower was being chipped away was AA. Every time she cut me, she suffered as if she were the one being cut. She was someone who could do anything for her comrades, yet she was also a soft-hearted person who would rather die than cut down a comrade.
Her once-steady blade tip was now trembling slightly.
"No."
My side burned. Right after I was first hit by her fist, AA stabbed me in the side to pry me off her. When I screamed, AA herself was startled and pulled the sword out with a wide twist, and I collapsed to the floor, my upper and lower body half-separated.
I fiddled with the area around my neck. It was a wound I received after landing the first successful blow on AA. AA's face was shattered by my mace, but my head was sent flying. The sensation of my neck feeling empty as my vision soared high into the sky still hadn't faded.
I picked up my mace and got up again. AA shuffled sideways, dragging her feet cautiously. It seemed the lingering effects of the knee I had smashed earlier still remained in her body. AA screamed as the sound of her joint breaking rang out, but her leg quickly returned to normal.
AA said.
"W-why do we have to fight like this? We're comrades, Sir Priest. We, we don't have to fight like this."
I shook my head resolutely. If I didn't fight AA here, she would turn into a man. If she became a man, I would get the disgraceful title of the priest who fucked a man. Besides, if that happened, I wouldn't be able to pounce on AA, and I wouldn't be able to face Ati, who kindly told me about this place to enhance my power.
I wordlessly raised my mace. As soon as I raised my mace, AA shifted into a defensive stance. If this were a serious duel, it would have ended with my death long ago, but since I could resurrect infinitely, it was worth a shot even with the stat difference. The spirits behind AA watched our duel with bated breath.
When I swung my mace, the spirits sighed with pitiful expressions as if they were the ones being hit. When AA's sword struck me, the spirits clapped or cheered as if they had landed the attack themselves.
It was the same this time. When it looked like I was about to hit AA with my mace, they shook their heads with pitiful expressions. I gripped the end of my mace and swung it wide toward AA's head. A big, straightforward attack. AA ducked to evade the trajectory of my attack.
But that was exactly what I was aiming for. I threw the mace I was about to swing into the empty air and charged at AA. AA, who was about to draw her sword and strike, was hit by my tackle while still in her crouched position.
Even a giant rock can be toppled with a single kick, and even a wrestler needs to find their center to use their strength. Having stepped into an awkward stance to swing her sword as fast as possible, she rolled helplessly across the floor from my all-out tackle.
I didn't miss this opportunity. I grabbed the fallen AA's arm and bent it with all my might. I planned to break her joint and not let go until she surrendered. If you don't have strength, you have to use your head. Joint locks were the only solution for me to win.
I put AA's arm between my legs and pulled and twisted it with all my strength. AA's body convulsed as she screamed.
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
I heard the sound of muscles tearing and joints twisting. It was working. AA's pain-filled scream pierced my ears. If I kept breaking her arm every time it regenerated, victory would be mine.
"Now, surrender... huh?"
But as they say, delusion is free, right? AA, who had instantly regenerated her arm, lifted me up just like that. A strength difference of 100 was not a spec that could be overcome with a joint lock. She lifted me, the one applying the armbar, and slammed me onto the floor with all her might.
"Ugh-aaargh!"
The air was knocked out of me. A sharp pain shot from my spine to the back of my neck. My vision momentarily went black, and tinnitus rang in my ears. I tried to breathe, but only gasps came out of my mouth, and I couldn't move.
When my vision returned, AA was in front of my eyes. She was on top of me, raising her fist. Her taut thighs wrapped around my abdomen and her sultry, sweat-drenched face, oblivious to the situation, made my cock twitch and rise.
AA, sitting on my stomach, couldn't see my erection, but the spirits behind her must have witnessed my clothes tenting upwards. The spirits were making a fuss, covering their eyes as if they'd seen something they shouldn't have, and my ancestor covered his mouth and started wailing again.
AA held her fist right in front of my nose and said.
"Surrender. If you don't, I'll keep hitting you until you do."
I thought for a moment. I tried to move my arms to push her off, but my arms, pinned under AA's legs, wouldn't budge. I felt a pressure as if a heavy lead weight was pressing down on my entire body. I said with a smile.
"You're surprisingly hea-oof!"
Before I could finish my sentence, AA planted her fist in my face. A heavy pain and my vision flickering confirmed that she had indeed thrown a punch. The moment I opened my eyes again, my vision was once more plunged into darkness. Every time I regained consciousness, AA would land one blow. She was driving her fist into me with enough power to kill me for sure.
Crack!
"Surrender."
I shook my head. Then AA raised her arm high again.
Crack!
My head was shattered to pieces. When I regenerated and came to my senses, she would grimace and say again.
"I said, surrender."
I shook my head violently again. The reason I couldn't answer was that it hurt to open my mouth due to the lingering damage to my jaw joint. Then AA would once again throw her fist at my head.
Crack.
Surrender.
And then
Crack.
How many times had my head been smashed? I was growing weary from the headaches that came like a chronic ailment, and AA was growing weary from the burden of beating me to death. In this Avici Hell where I couldn't move an inch, it was AA's comradeship that saved me. In the end, she couldn't bear the act of beating a comrade to death. She put some distance between herself and my sprawled body on the floor, and collapsed, sitting on the ground. Her hands were trembling, and her face was drenched in sweat.
I barely managed to get up and felt my jaw. After forcing my mouth open a few times, the foreign body sensation disappeared. I clicked my teeth together and then flopped back down. My body was also drenched in sweat. With a face soaked in sweat, I glared at AA. She drew her sword again and aimed it at me.
"You're going to... surrender, right?"
"......No."
I shook my head. I can't surrender. If I surrendered, all my efforts up to now would be for nothing. AA's face was on the verge of crumbling. The guilt of killing a comrade was eating away at her. Her gaze couldn't find a place to rest. Her eyes, which had been sweeping the floor like a broom, looked at the spirits, and then back to me lying on the floor.
The words that would come from her open mouth were clear. But she couldn't speak properly, her mouth open like someone about to sneeze. Only a small, feeble sound, neither a sigh nor a scream, escaped from her trembling lips. After maintaining that precarious articulation for a long while, AA finally spat out a question.
"Why? Just why? Just why? Are you that against me becoming a man and taking Erina with me? Do you have no confidence in yourself? You're married, aren't you? You have two beautiful wives, don't you? Why are you trying to stop me so much?"
".....I'm not trying to stop you, Sir Hero."
I slowly got to my feet. I couldn't back down here. I gripped my mace, clenched my teeth, and glared at AA. AA flinched and trembled at my gaze.
"Then just why..."
"I have a dream, too. There's something I absolutely must do after gaining great power. This has nothing to do with Princess Erina. I swear."
AA's expression looked confused. I forced my drooping eyelids open and stared straight at AA. AA was at her limit, but so was I. I aimed my mace at AA and said.
"What is that dream?"
I grinned.
"My dream is to obtain great power. Power so strong that I won't lose to anyone."
"What are you going to do once you get that power?"
"I have to defeat Evangeline."
At my words, AA wore a dazed expression as if she had realized something. She stared at me for a moment, then her eyes began to waver. She pressed again.
"And after that?"
I grinned and said.
"It's a secret. Will you concede? I can't lose this fight. My wife and my domain folk are waiting for me. For the sake of being able to face the one who told me about this place, I must win. AA. What have you wagered? Is Princess Erina's love more important than Evangeline?"
"That's..."
I changed my operation to breaking her mentality by running my mouth. There was no flaw in my words. Because it was also the truth. It didn't matter whether my true intentions were to rape the hero or smash Deorgon's head. It was more profitable to enhance my power than to undergo a gender swap that no one liked in a place where I could enhance my power.
"Th-..."
AA was hesitating. Her mind and body, exhausted from the long fight, were being made to accept my temptation. Good. Forfeit like this, and just hand over the power to me. Please. I kept whispering.
"This is what I think. You shouldn't use the power gained from such a precious sanctuary just to change your gender. If we use that power to enhance ourselves, how much stronger could we become? Sir Hero. Our goal is to defeat Evangeline, isn't it?"
"Ah, th-... I mean..."
She's wavering. AA was swaying violently like a shipwreck. I grinned. This fight was as good as my victory now.
"Uwaaaaaaaah! You can't lose, Hero AA!"
"Hero AA! Don't listen to his wicked words! We support you!"
"Don't listen to that filthy bastard! AA! Don't fall for his temptation!"
"Do your best! Don't lose, AA!"
"Are you going to make our support be in vain!"
"Your decision is right! You are right! AA! Get a grip! Don't fall for it!"
"My descendant wouldn't do this! This isn't reality! This isn't reality! Uwaaaaaaaah!"
AA looked at the spirits cheering powerfully from behind her. She scratched her head and looked at me.
"..... It seems I can't stop now, either."
Those fucking useless old bastards.