A race to see who will get out of Hell first. The Grandmaster Adventurer versus the Foreigner, both men have equal stakes on this climb up the ever shrinking walls of the cavern they were in. Right, to shed some light on the situation, so to speak—The tunnel going upwards Aru had previously dug out could only retain its shape due to the water she had flooded it with. Now that the water has been drained, however, the area too had decided to start reshrinking. The two men were on a strict time limit to climb back out, and the worst part was—The terrain they were scaling moved as hastily as they climbed it.
"Crap!" Schnell cussed as he fell a few meters, "Hrngh...! I miss getting Healed back up the moment I felt pain!"
"Sorry, no more getting coddled by the Gods~!" Issei glanced down at him from above, only to stick his tongue out and make a face, "Now it's my turn!"
As he said this, another water hand manifested below his feet, elegantly raising him up higher and higher as if he was standing on an elevator. With each meter of distance gained between them, Schnell's frustration only grew louder. Indeed, since the very start of this race, Aru had been unfairly helping Issei from the sidelines. No matter what, it seemed, Schnell was going to lose this battle in large part thanks to this.
"Guess whinin' ain't gonna do nothin'." Schnell clicked his tongue as he took his boots off and chucked them at Aru, "Stop helping that bastard!"
She caught them with ease not too far from her face, obviously. For a Goddess with powers such as hers, manifesting a water hand to grab them was but a cinch. Even then, she couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.
"Why chuck your smelly boots at me, even?" She asked honestly, "If you really wanted to slow Issei down, you'd have had a better chance by throwing them at him."
"Wait a second, Aru." Issei strained his Eyes to inspect something below them, "He tossed both boots up, right?"
"Yeah?" She tilted her head.
"Then what's that silvery stuff shining from below him?"
"...Crap-!"
Kaboom. Before she could throw the boots in her hands away, they had exploded in quite the violent manner. Aru had been blown to smithereens, and it seemed it'll take a while before she could fully recover again. Coughing as he called out to her in desperation, Issei had slowly pieced together the puzzle behind this disaster.
"...You took a page from my book." Issei glared down at him as he kept climbing up on his own now, "When'd you do it?"
"When that ugly orc put up those defensive walls around you." Schnell boasted, "I saw that backpack of yours just lying there burning still, so I just grabbed the items that looked to be in the best shape."
That was the case, and it infuriated Issei that it worked so well. Indeed, while Issei was hiding from his adversary in Auros' stone wall defense, Schnell had took out two distinct pieces of technology from his burning backpack. The first was a bunch of grenades, which he stashed away in his boots, and the second—A pair of hoverboots which he put on beneath his regular boots.
"I'll give you some points for creativity." Issei rolled his Eyes, "You certainly know how to use everything at your disposal. Too bad those iron boots are only good for slowing you down, though."
In this moment more than ever, Issei's bluff game had to be on point. Currently, in a race to climb up a wall, his opponent had on a pair of boots that allowed him to soar up in just a couple of seconds. If Schnell realized that, then Issei would lose without a doubt. Thus, he feigned their inadequacy, spouting nonsense like the fact that those boots are just that—Normal and uninteresting.
"I'm sure these propellers strapped onto them beg to differ." Schnell struck his heels together, activating the boots as he felt his weight getting lighter, "Whoa! Holy crap, that actually worked!"
"Dammit, I knew I should've made the activation less intuitive!" Issei cursed himself as he sped up his climbing, "Damn my innovator brain!"
In spite of his best efforts, the deed has already been done. Schnell was closing the gap between them to a degree simply impossible to keep up with. Before long, they were neck and neck, and just a moment after that, Schnell had taken the lead. To make matters worse for Issei, the terrain had changed again, and this time it had trapped his ankle. He couldn't even trail after him this time, only look up and see his opponent use his own equipment against him. This time, the one time it mattered most, it was Schnell's victory...
"Ow!" Issei felt something fall on his head, "Tch, you're kidding? Was this on purpose, or is it fate?"
A grenade dropped on him. It still had its pin, so Schnell at least didn't do that to harm Issei's progress or anything. Then again, even if there was no pin, it's not like Issei could have died in Hell.
"Is this... his mercy?" Issei gripped the nade tightly, contemplating his next move very carefully, "Is he saying: Hey, use this to free yourself and escape with me? He didn't seem like he wanted me to remain trapped here even once, now that I think about it..."
Issei didn't have much time left. He glanced up one more time at the sight of Schnell advancing upwards towards the crack that served as the gate between worlds. Silently, he tossed away the pin, and the grenade dropped right next to his foot.
"I guess I should start investing in automail technology." He chuckled.
----------------------------------------
***
----------------------------------------
Once again, an explosion occurred in Hell, this time launching Issei up hundreds of meters up the cavern. With the speed of getting launched by the grenade being almost ten times as much as the hoverboots could muster, he had managed to reach Schnell within the second. That being the case, he wasn't in quite the best shape to continue the climb from where he stopped.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"So you figured it out." Schnell looked back at him, glancing back and forth between the Foreigner's pained expression and the stump where his knee was, "Sorry it had to be this way, but you and I both know it was either that or you remain here forever."
"...Didn't... think you had..." Issei struggled to even talk anymore, "Spare nades... Ha-ha..."
"Not gonna scream out in pain?"
"Too much... work..."
By now, Schnell had stopped using the hoverboots to help Issei climb up the wall. Extending a helping hand quite literally, he had him climb on his back as Schnell slowly but surely made his way up. The scene was reminiscent of a war movie's ending, where the two protagonists simply continue to trudge along the wartorn battlefield in silence. As if all the pain and suffering was behind them, they held absolutely zero malice towards each other as they merely hoped with all their might that they'll make it out of Hell in time before they get trapped once more.
"I assume... you got no more nades..." Issei felt drowsy.
"...Nah, that was the last one." Schnell let out an awkward chuckle, "So if we get stuck again, I'm blamin' you."
"That's fine..." He chuckled as well.
The situation was as such: Aru was still revitalizing herself down at the bottom, Auros was waiting for them all to come out of the Hellhole patiently as he treated the Generals' wounds, and Schnell and Issei were just hoping they don't get trapped again. It seemed bleak for everyone, but not impossible to save. Though Issei was tasked with trapping him in Hell, Schnell still felt the obligation to help him get out himself. It would mean Issei's mission had failed, but he couldn't really care about that right now. After all, he was quite delirious from the pain.
"If we make it out... I'll try to talk to Auros." Issei nodded, "Maybe we can set up... a plea deal."
"Ask him to Heal you first." Schnell warned, "We can't die here no matter what, but up there is a different story. Once you're all good, then we can try negotiating with that orc."
"...Is it that bad?" Issei refused to look at his missing leg.
"It's nothing a peg leg can't fix." Schnell briefed him, "At least your wives' will think it's cool."
"My wives..." Issei smiled, hanging on tightly to Schnell's body as he felt tears start to drip down his face, "Dammit all..."
"You were good, Black Eyes. Had me on the backfoot a ton of times." Schnell recalled their hard fought battle together, "And all that without any magic. Just your wits and some tools. Way more fun to do it the good ol' fashioned way than what those cowards were using."
By cowards, he was referring to the Generals. They predominantly used their Iro Abilities to the point where they were closely integrated into their respective fighting styles. As Schnell put it, he wasn't fighting men, he was fighting magic. Thoughtless, heartless, emotionless magic.
"It was all so boring." He then turned to praise his new ally, "But you were so much fun! You understood my every signal and replied in kind! It was exhilarating! You felt like..."
Maybe it was because of his wounds, maybe fatigue, or even just the excitement of almost getting out of Hell, but during his long winded speech he didn't notice it at all. Issei's tears mourned the kind man, pitied him even. For the bearer of those tears had just now cut a line clean across Schnell's throat with one of the sharp hellrocks he had acquired from the explosion that freed him. Even then, as he choked on his own blood, Schnell hadn't noticed the betrayal.
"You felt like..." A trail of tears fell down Schnell's cheeks as he continued, "My first friend in this new, cruel world..."
Issei cold heartedly grabbed the wall and pushed Schnell off with ease. The man wasn't dead, he couldn't pass on, after all. But just like what happened with Aru, a fatal injury would still leave him incapable of moving. Issei didn't utter a word throughout this exchange either, he just took one last look at the person that trusted him, the person that saved him... The person he condemned to an eternity in Hell. Soon after, he had climbed his way to the crack, and with the last of his strength used to punch through it, he made it out of the dimension of darkness.
"Hmph." Auros was the first to greet him, "Congrats. You did good."
As he himself contemplated those very words, Issei was laid down by the Fighting God and had his leg Healed. The stump began to scab up when Issei couldn't take the guilt anymore.
"Stop, stop it!" He shouted and wailed, "Leave it, please! I don't deserve getting out of this shitty situation scot-free!"
"You saved us a ton of trouble." Auros declined as he kept Healing, "I'd get a ton of flac from the other Gods if I didn't at least do this much for you. Besides, this still isn't over."
Those painfully truthful words struck Issei down to the core. His leg had by now fully regrown, and he could semi-comfortably stand on it, but he didn't want to. If he stood on it, that meant he could walk. If he could walk, he could run. And if he could run... He could fight.
"Take five for now, Foreigner." Auros returned to looking after the Generals, "You're gonna wish you'd have rested more once we get up, trust me. 'Cause until that old pain in the ass Olyahim is stopped for good, we're gonna be needing your help."
Issei cursed himself internally for this perfect victory. He followed the Gods' mission to a T, and that led to their trust in him growing infinitely. The downside of this was that he was now too far gone to back out. They saw how capable he was, and they weren't just gonna let such a man run free.