Perhaps it was because the last time Izayoi had encountered someone with a similar Gift—"His Highness"—he had lost, and the frustration still lingered.
Or perhaps when two wielders of "unknown-origin" powers met, it naturally spurred mutual growth.
Whatever the reason, one thing was certain to Ren Kuroda:
Compared to Izayoi during the Fire Dragon Birth Festival, the boy standing before him now had grown—dramatically.
Faced with the massive sphere of azure flame hurtling down from the sky, Izayoi showed neither panic nor anger.
Instead—
He grinned.
The Gift Game rules clearly allowed participants to use any Gift to interfere with or attack their opponent. Ren had broken no rules.
What excited Izayoi was something else entirely.
If Ren was willing to go this far, it meant he was finally taking the match seriously.
Watching the enormous blue inferno descend straight toward him, Izayoi understood something instantly:
If he let go of the chain to counter with his hands, the decrease in pulling force would erase the advantage he had just gained.
That precious first point, now within reach, would slip away.
So—
Rather than defend conventionally, Izayoi used the iron chain as his axis, twisted his body mid-grip—
And unleashed a spinning roundhouse kick.
His heel collided with the fully chanted Hadō #33.
The descending Azure Flame exploded in a violent burst of blue fire.
But that wasn't the end.
The instant Izayoi's feet touched the ground again, he moved.
Unlike Ren, he didn't possess a dazzling array of supernatural techniques.
But he had his own way of interfering.
Using the rotational momentum from his kick and the force of gravity from his descent, Izayoi brought his leg down in a devastating axe kick—
Straight into the earth.
His strength alone could shatter heaven and earth.
Combined with falling inertia, the blow struck like a meteor impact.
The spectators felt the ground convulse beneath them. A violent tremor rippled outward.
Most of them lost their footing and crashed onto their backsides.
If mere spectators were affected this badly, the other competitors fared no better.
Aside from the few winged demi-humans and flying phantasmal beasts, nearly every participant in nearby Gift Games suffered from the shockwave, losing precious points in the chaos.
But what everyone truly wanted to know was this:
If the aftershock alone was so devastating…
What about the one who was directly targeted?
When the dust cleared, a massive crater yawned beneath Izayoi's feet.
From its center, a deep fissure tore across the ground like a scar, racing toward Ren.
And as it traveled, the crack widened.
If Ren did nothing, the fracture would reach him in seconds. Even if he didn't fall into the abyss, losing balance was inevitable.
Izayoi didn't expect the attack to truly injure Ren.
But that one-point marker was close—so close.
If Ren reacted, even slightly—
Izayoi intended to seize the opening.
The fissure surged forward.
Just before it reached his boots, Ren frowned slightly.
Then—
He stomped.
A second violent tremor erupted, though this time the crowd braced themselves and managed to stay upright.
What they did not expect—
Was that Ren's stomp shattered the earth beneath him.
A colossal crack burst outward from his position, racing toward Izayoi just as rapidly.
The two fissures collided at the midpoint.
And in that instant—
The ground gave way.
The cracks widened into a canyon.
The earth split apart, and buildings nearby began collapsing one after another.
At this point, the spectators could no longer treat it as entertainment.
No one had expected that watching a Gift Game would put their lives in danger.
Participants in nearby games were forced to abandon their matches as the terrain disintegrated.
Flying beasts swooped down to rescue those stranded on unstable ground.
Ratine pulled out her flute. At the sound of her melody, a swarm of enormous rats burst from hidden corners, dragging panicked civilians up to higher ground.
Argel activated her petrification Gift, turning those who couldn't escape in time into stone statues. Pest then summoned a swirling black wind, lifting the statues safely to elevated areas.
Why not simply carry them directly with the black wind?
Because Pest's wind was, in essence, the Black Plague itself. Direct exposure would infect even sturdy demi-humans.
In petrified form, however, the victims were far more resistant to impact—even if they accidentally tumbled into the fissures below.
And as long as Argel was present, the petrification could be undone at any time.
The earth fractured.
Buildings crumbled.
Technically, the Gift Game should have ended due to environmental destruction.
But at the epicenter—
Ren and Izayoi still gripped the iron chain.
Neither showed the slightest intention of letting go.
And so, Little Garden's central system determined that the Gift Game was still ongoing.
No termination document descended from the sky.
"Those two are still going? Are they insane? They've turned the area into a disaster zone and they're still not stopping? Is their desire to win that strong?"
"We were laughing at them earlier… Turns out we were the clowns."
Rescued spectators stood atop higher buildings, staring down at the two figures still straining against each other in the ruined landscape.
"They're definitely not ordinary. No idea which Community they're from, but it can't be a South District one. If monsters like that lived here, we'd have heard of them."
The analysis was quickly met with eye-rolls.
"You needed to explain that? Even a blind man could tell those two aren't normal. Compared to them, the other competitors were a joke. Have you ever seen a human shatter the earth with a single kick?"
"I don't recognize the guy wearing headphones," someone added. "But the one with the sword at his waist—I've heard of him."
He pointed toward Ren.
"He's from a North District Community called 'Ghost Travel.' You've probably heard of them lately. Every Gift Game they've entered during the Harvest Festival—they've won."
"And not only are they ridiculously strong," another chimed in, "they're all absurdly good-looking. That's why they've been so famous in the South recently."
"If I remember correctly," the first speaker concluded, "the swordsman down there is one of their members."
Far below, amid a landscape split like the aftermath of divine punishment—
Ren Kuroda and Izayoi continued their contest of strength.
The iron chain remained taut.
And neither monster intended to yield.