Malin stepped onto the rampart, pushing through the soldiers in his way.
Bippo was blessing him steadily, like a flowing stream, until finally Malin unstrapped Bippo along with his nest and set them aside, then approached the towering Frost Giant with empty hands.
"Little tender skin! Are all your friends dead?!" The Frost Giant named Mendel spread his arms wide; his blood-red, massive battle-axe was in his right hand, and he pointed at Malin with his left: "I, the great chosen champion, do not kill the nameless! Little tender skin! State your surname!"
The henchmen behind him howled loudly.
"Malin Gaiate, Malin Gaiate of Carterburg, I’ve heard you’re a chosen champion. It’s quite a coincidence in this world, you see, I’m also a chosen champion." After speaking, Malin turned towards the rampart and spread his arms: "Soldiers! There should be applause here! Flowers! If we have neither, then let those chaotic scum witness the courage of humanity!"
After speaking, amid the soldiers’ shouts, Malin turned and deflected an arrow: "Mendel! You dare break the sanctity of the duel! You villain! Shameless scum!"
"Damn it! Don’t shoot you idiots!" The Frost Giant turned to his companions, who were ready to back off, just as a 20mm bullet fired from Malin’s giant Revolver burrowed into its chest.
Before Mendel could roar, Malin tossed his Revolver aside: "I have dealt with that coward and wretch! Come! Let’s complete the sacred duel!"
"You have no weapon!" Mendel eyed Malin, wary of his Revolver even though it had been thrown away.
"Weapons, eh..." Malin was about to turn back to request one when he saw a young shoot breaking through the soil on the ground.
The shoot quickly bore flowers, and as they bloomed, Malin saw a Longsword within.
Just as Malin was about to reach for it, he heard a strange noise from the sky, and as everyone on the battlefield watched, a blood-colored battle-axe landed next to the Longsword.
"Are your clan’s kids always this brave?" Jack asked his old friend from atop the city wall.
"He has always been very opinionated..." Old Gaiate, now somewhat worried, asked his old friend: "Is this fellow named Mendel strong?"
"Very strong. Seven championship duels, two deaths in the Church of the War God, three in the Winter Wolf Church, one dead and one injured in the Church of Justice, the injured one managed a draw." Jack watched the kid step out onto the rampart and stand before the ferocious chosen of the gods.
"He’s quite a talker." After hearing everything Malin said, Jack simply leaned on the parapet: "My goodness, in all my life, I’ve only ever witnessed such a chosen confrontation once. Old friend, you better hope your son can really fight."
"I trust him. This child has killed a Wraith even as an Apprentice, and now he has become someone beyond my own skills."
"Really that strong?" Jack had just finished speaking when he saw Malin turn and deflect an arrow: "Indeed, very strong. Mendel has an Archer who is very good with a bow, but he... he’s dead." Watching Malin take down a cloaked figure in the distance with his Revolver, Jack put down his binoculars: "From here to the deceased is nearly 375 yards, and this kid killed that fellow who caused thousands of casualties from a distance of about 200 yards?"
"He’s strong?" Gaiate estimated the distance and realized he could hit that man from there with a rifle—Malin’s workshop truly created something beyond the imagination of warfare.
"An extremely good Archer, just like that, dead?" Jack raised his binoculars again, hearing that Malin was unarmed, according to Mendel, so he looked toward Malin just in time to see a flower bud bloom at his feet, a Longsword simply appearing before Malin.
"Even myths don’t have such absurd performances." Jack had just muttered to himself when he heard a whistling sound and, along with Gaiate, caught sight of a falling weapon with his naked eyes.
Then as they looked down, they saw a blood-colored battle-axe land next to the Longsword.
"...Sorry to ask, old friend, but which deity’s chosen is your son?" Jack asked with a puzzled expression on his face.
"I’ve heard he has a pretty good relationship with the Church of Justice." Gaiate thought for a moment and then responded.
"A good relationship, and the Lord of Justice personally bestows a weapon?" Jack pointed towards the axe: "Also, why is that axe blood-red, don’t tell me it’s a blessing from some Evil God."
"Uh... who knows." Gaiate’s face showed some visible embarrassment.
"...I never knew the first chosen duel of my life would encounter such a scene of jealousy... Damn it, seems like I’ve come to know something I shouldn’t have..." Jack looked around nervously, as if everyone nearby were waiting to chop off his head and present it to the deities for a reward.
Malin gazed at the two weapons on the ground, uncertain which to choose.
Mendel was silent too, seemingly never having encountered such a situation.
In the end, Malin extended both hands—Deities have given humans two skillful hands, and I shall use them to pick up both weapons.
Battle-axe in the left, Longsword in the right, Malin felt boundless strength and courage coursing through every vein in his body, as if someone were eagerly urging him to slay the waste of space across from him.