Chapter 784

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 784: A Ruckus (5)

Boxing, often called the oldest martial art in human history alongside wrestling.

Well, since it was a martial art utilizing two fists, tracing back to its archetype would mean the claim wasn't wrong.

‘No, but even so, you practiced boxing? For thousands of years?’

While Yeongwoo stood with his jaw dropped in utter disbelief, Parina finally let out a kiai and charged forward.

『Hup!』

She began rushing toward the Ratman who had thrown flames earlier.

◎ You’ve gone stark raving mad.

At this, the Ratman took up a fighting stance, clenching both fists as if accepting the challenge.

Of course, compared to Parina, who had practiced combat for thousands of years, it was crude in the extreme.

An arrogantly raised chin; arm positions serving purely as a ready stance to thrust out a fist; a stance width between both feet far too awkward for footwork.

Even to Yeongwoo’s eyes, it was a posture utterly devoid of any knowledge regarding combat.

‘It really is true. That most stars fight using only their innate strength.’

Although the ones present here were star avatars and could not unleash their original power to the fullest, regardless, weren't each of them colossal fixed stars?

In terms of raw power, it was obvious they would be far stronger than Parina, a candidate star.

They even held the numerical advantage at three to one.

And toward that Ratman standing at the very forefront, Parina approached at rapid speed.

『Bring it!』

As she slightly lowered her upper body, showing signs of digging inside, the Ratman moved forward to meet her and attempted to extend a fist.

However, what actually happened was—

Fwheeeeesh!

Parina’s upper body, which had appeared to dash forward, snapped back upright, and her right leg, moving swiftly behind it, lashed out like a whip.

Smack!

‘A low kick……?’

Sparks actually flew from the Ratman’s thigh upon taking Parina’s low kick, and the moment the Ratman lost balance and stumbled because of it—

Swish!

Parina extended both arms, wrapped them around the nape of the Ratman’s neck, and dragged him toward herself.

‘Don't tell me.’

Seeing this, Yeongwoo’s pupils dilated yet another degree.

Because that was a plum clinch, one of the techniques of Muay Thai.

『Te-at!』

Immediately following, Parina let out a vigorous kiai and drove a knee strike right into the downward-bent face of the Ratman.

Crack!

◎ Kweeeek!

With his head pulled down, his vision and upper body movements restricted, the bewildered Ratman instinctively brought both arms together to protect his face.

Then, a second knee strike drove right into the Ratman’s wide-open abdomen.

Thump!

◎ Gwahk!

From within the snout the Ratman opened while letting out a grotesque noise, liquids sparkling just like starlight poured out.

Even star avatars possessed body fluids, it seemed.

◎ S-Stop!

As if experiencing such sophisticated violence for the first time, the star avatar wearing the form of a Ratman forgot his own status and begged for mercy.

Just then, the white avatar holding a scimitar leaped into the scene.

Tap!

◎ How pathetic… Can you not even handle a single candidate star?

Yet, he himself chose to use a weapon instead of engaging in bare-handed combat.

He swung the scimitar toward Parina, who was still holding onto the Ratman and hammering in knee strikes.

Slash!

As the white avatar’s scimitar swiftly cleaved through empty air, Parina, sensing it, swung her arms while keeping her grip around the back of the Ratman’s neck.

Whoosh!

Accordingly, the Ratman’s upper body had no choice but to reel in the direction Parina moved her arms, and as a result…….

Squelch!

◎ …Huh?

The scimitar originally meant to cut Parina vertically split the Ratman’s back instead.

◎ Kraaaak!

The Ratman let out an unsightly shriek as starlit bodily fluids sprayed from his back.

And in the meantime, Parina was already charging toward the white avatar.

Dash!

◎ You crazy—

Belatedly realizing that his opponent was no ordinary foe, the white avatar pulled back the scimitar stained with stellar fluid.

He then took a large step backward to widen the distance from Parina, who was already threateningly close.

Whoosh!

Seeing this, Parina sharply dropped her upper body and executed a tackle at tremendous speed.

Roaaar!

Practically grazing the floor with her knees, she approached right before the opponent's lower body, then propped up and hoisted the opponent’s pelvis using her shoulder.

◎ Ugh!

Experiencing a wrestling tackle for the first time, the white avatar’s expression went blank.

And understandably so, since in the blink of an eye, both of his feet had left the ground.

Normally, the completion of the tackle would be driving straight forward so the opponent’s back hit the floor, but Parina was actually rising upright while carrying the opponent completely over her shoulders.

“……?”

As Yeongwoo’s eyes went round at this, Parina, with the white avatar hoisted on her shoulders, twisted her body half a turn to the side, then fell straight backward just like a standing log toppling over.

Kaboom!

In other words, that was…….

“A Samoan Drop?”

Strictly speaking, it was a pro wrestling technique that could hardly be considered practical for real combat.

Rather than falling backward together like that, executing a conventional forward tackle to secure the mount was far more advantageous, after all.

Yet could Parina, having honed martial arts for three thousand years, not know that?

“Good grief.”

She was definitely in the middle of trying out everything she had ever wanted to do.

◎ Gurk!

As the white avatar planted into the ground groaned while groping the floor to find his weapon, Parina flipped her body like lightning and moved to crawl over his body.

◎ A-Aaargh! Get away!

No matter how untrained one was in martial arts, one could instinctively tell that being pinned beneath an opponent was disadvantageous.

So when the white avatar turned over to crawl away toward the back, Parina mounted his back in an instant, tightly locking the opponent’s pelvis with both of her legs.

‘…Back mount secured.’

For some reason, a sigh slipped out.

Then, as expected, Parina’s merciless strikes hammered into the side of the white avatar’s face.

Thud, thud-thud!

At that, the blue avatar, who was virtually the only one left standing, placed a hand on the still-unresponsive accelerator and shouted.

◎ C… Cease this! Do you possess not even the slightest shred of dignity!

Checking that the white avatar’s head had gone limp on the ground in the meantime, Parina shook the fluids from her fists and spoke.

『Dignity? Aren't the ones lacking dignity you lot, who ended up in such a state despite swarming in as a group?』

When Parina pointed toward the Ratman shivering over yonder with his back split open, the blue avatar was rendered speechless as well.

In any case, wasn't it a fact that they failed to resolve the issue despite as many as three fixed stars manifesting here as avatars?

Furthermore, that absurd combat technique… within the realm of celestial bodies, never before had anyone witnessed a being displaying such movements.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Of course, in the first place, occasions where celestial bodies engaged in physical brawls were rare anyway.

『Come, step forward. I've only just warmed up.』

As Parina resumed her fighting stance and beckoned with her extended left hand, the blue avatar took his hand off the accelerator and squeezed his eyes shut.

◎ You subvert the laws of celestial bodies with that meager parlor trick of yours. Yet one day, you shall face severe retribution.

『If it is a law that can be subverted by a mere parlor trick, isn't something vastly wrong with it?』

With these words, Parina tipped her chin to provoke her opponent, but the blue avatar did not budge an inch from his spot.

Knowing he would lose anyway, he had decided not to bother fighting the opponent.

And seeing this, Yeongwoo quietly opened his mouth.

‘In the end, even celestial bodies can't help being subordinate to the logic of power.’

Well, if you can't strike down your opponent, how on earth could you enforce the law?

It was simply that in the case of celestial bodies, their power and status were strictly divided by birth, so such exceptional situations had merely occurred less frequently.

『Do you have no further objections? If so, I shall now restore Pareshik’s dignity.』

Presently, confirming that the situation was sorted out, Parina turned her back on the blue avatar; in her place, Yeongwoo aimed Bastard at the avatars.

“Don't even think about trying anything funny. I kill stars too.”

At the same time, he even summoned ‘Shining Blasphemy’ into midair, keeping it afloat with his sword aptitude.

「Shining Blasphemy」 – Legendary One-Handed Sword

【+20% damage against celestial bodies】

【10% Honor Deference Reduction Rate】

At that, the blue avatar gazed blankly at Yeongwoo with his solitary eye.

◎ Are you the one who shoulders the Free Celestial Body?

“Why, heard my name somewhere?”

◎ It seems I shall be hearing it often before long.

The blue avatar then looked back and forth between Yeongwoo and Parina.

◎ However, you will soon learn just how vast the universe is.

“Isn't it a bit embarrassing to say things like that after surrendering without even putting up a fight?”

Yeongwoo shook his head from side to side, then looked toward Parina, who had already stepped up and stood tall before the Planetary Seal.

“Are you going to finish smashing that now and pull Pareshik out?”

At this, Parina glanced back slightly at the accelerator behind her.

『It is still under ‘punishment,’ so reinforcement troops will not arrive for a while. Therefore, there should be plenty of time to break the seal and hear Pareshik’s story.』

Then, without hesitation, she swung her fist toward the Planetary Seal.

KABOOM!

A massive fissure formed across the reddish surface of the seal, and soon its outer armor began to crumble all at once.

Crunch!

“…Oh.”

And what was revealed inside that armor was a mass of light similar to the energy ring seen when first discovering Planet Pareshik.

『Pareshik. Are you still alive?』

Parina asked toward the inside of the broken armor.

A silence followed for a while, and then the tranquil surface of the mass of light began to ripple.

Whoooosh……!

Shortly after, a single ray of light leaked out, shaping itself before Parina into the form of a small tree.

『Of course. I am staying alive with all my might.』

It was Planet Pareshik’s voice.

However, completely unlike what Yeongwoo had anticipated, it was the voice of a young boy.

『Passing by, I felt that you were enduring immense suffering. So I came to ask for your will.』

When Parina said this, Pareshik, in the shape of a tree, twisted his branches and looked up at her.

『My will? Asking for my…… will?』

『Yes. If you wish to be liberated from the suffering, I shall obliterate you.』

『Such a thing is…….』

Carrying the nuance of ‘impossible,’ Pareshik looked around his surroundings.

Having spent all this time enduring the tremendous agony inflicted by the energy ring, he hadn't known at all that a cataclysm had unfolded outside the Planetary Seal.

Then, finally, Planet Pareshik discovered the two avatars sprawled across the central area of the sealing grounds.

And even the completely powered-down accelerator, along with the blue avatar standing beside it.

『How did this happen?』

『I've temporarily cleared away the obstacles that were preventing your obliteration. So all you have to do is decide. Do you wish to be obliterated? The method is already prepared as well.』

When Parina turned toward Yeongwoo with these words, Yeongwoo and Obstruction of Official Duty raised their index fingers side by side in unison, mimicking the gesture of firing a gun.

“Just say the word. I'll kill you within a minute.”

At that, Pareshik shivered his branches, then looked back at Parina once more.

『Just who on earth are you? Are you not… a celestial body?』

『I am Parina, a Free Celestial Body and a member of the Planet Fleet System.』

『A Free Celestial Body?』

『Yes. We do not revolve in natural orbits. We go where we want to go, and we do what we want to do.』

Especially in the case of the latter, it had already been proven right before his eyes.

After all, she had beaten up the star avatars who came to maintain celestial order, and had broken the Planetary Seal without authorization.

『Of course, we cannot linger here forever. So choose. Once we leave here, there will never be another chance for obliteration.』

When Parina spoke while glancing back at the accelerator, which was still powered down, Pareshik uttered words that no one present had anticipated.

『Then, can you give me freedom as well?』

『…What?』

『I have burned while held captive in a natural orbit for half of my life. Thus, I do not wish to meet my death in this place. If possible, please take me with you.』

At Pareshik’s request, Parina looked toward Yeongwoo with startled eyes, and Yeongwoo could not help but make a subtle expression as well.

“Didn't someone say before? That it's possible to operate the Earth Ship even with two fixed stars attached to it. So wouldn't it be entirely possible to take along a single planet?”

The very first incorporation of an external planet in the Earth Fleet System.

Because it was unprecedented, Yeongwoo wasn't entirely certain either.

“It seems this will require advice from Earth and Mother-in-law after all.”

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]