Chapter 1846 [The Battle Ends: A Prodigy Among the Lone Victors], Luck is Not Immutable.

Chapter 1846 [The Battle Ends: The Victor—A Prodigy Among the Lonely], Luck is not immutable.
Hachiman Hikigaya was stunned, but Kazuma Sato was not!

On the contrary, Kazuma Sato is in better condition than ever before!

That surging power of luck filled his entire body, making him feel as if he had transformed into the protagonist of a story, omnipotent!

Although reason told him that this might be an illusion, the confidence in being in control of the whole situation was very real.

"Hahaha! Hachiman! You're dumbfounded now!"

Kazuma Sato was very pleased with himself. Taking advantage of Hachiman Hikigaya's momentary lapse in concentration, he launched another attack. However, in Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes, the attack was full of flaws.

Hachiman Hikigaya shook his head slightly, easily dodging the attack. His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception locked onto the death lines on Kazuma Sato's body, lines that represented "the end".

The death lines at vital points such as the heart, throat, and head are clearly visible!

"I'll take care of you directly!"

Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes flashed with a fierce light, and he sprang up, his fingertips gathering a deadly aura, transforming into a black and red afterimage that pierced straight at the most conspicuous death line on Sato Kazuma's chest!
This strike was swift, accurate, and ruthless, intended to kill instantly!
However, just as his fingertips were about to touch that death line, something unexpected happened!

It wasn't that Kazuma Sato saw the death line and dodged it, nor did the death line itself change.

Instead, a series of completely illogical and extremely low-probability "accidents" occurred in the "causal chain" of Hachiman Hikigaya's attack!
The virtual rock at the point where he exerted his strength had a tiny, almost imperceptible weakness in its internal structure due to the previous energy fluctuations. It shattered just the right amount of time when he pushed off, causing a barely perceptible deviation in the force and angle of his sprint.

A faint, turbulent current of air, seemingly from nowhere, swept by at that moment, disrupting his delicate sense of balance for a fraction of a second, much like the butterfly effect.

Any one of these "coincidences," if occurring individually, would have been easily adjusted and overcome by Hachiman Hikigaya. But they were superimposed in a perfect sequence and manner, forming a powerful "deflecting force" that defies common sense!
As a result, Hachiman Hikigaya's seemingly inevitable strike narrowly missed Sato Kazuma's mouth at the last moment, only managing to cut a gash in his clothes!
"what?!"

Hachiman Hikigaya was deeply shocked!
Is good luck really this unreasonable?

His Mystic Eyes of Death Perception clearly saw through "death," and his actions were perfectly normal, but "fate" forcibly inserted a series of impossible accidents between Kazuma Sato and "death," deflecting his fatal blow!

Kazuma Sato was startled and instinctively took a few steps back. He touched his chest and breathed a sigh of relief when he found that he was alright.

"Scared me."

"I almost thought I was going to die, but it turned out to be just a tear in my clothes?"

"Didn't you use the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception just now?"

"The Mystic Eyes of Death Perception shouldn't be able to tear someone's clothes, right?"

Sato Kazuma himself was somewhat doubtful about what he was saying, but to Hikigaya Hachiman, it was nothing short of a provocation.

"hateful!"

Hachiman Hikigaya, refusing to believe in evil, launched another attack!
His gaze was fixed on the death lines surrounding Kazuma Sato, his figure flashed, and his attacks were as fast as lightning!
Then, the same thing happened again!

Just as he was about to succeed, Sato Kazuma "coincidentally" tripped over a small pebble that appeared out of nowhere, causing him to stumble and tilt his head to the side.

It was this completely unskilled, purely accidental deviation that allowed his throat to narrowly avoid Hachiman Hikigaya's fingertips!
Hachiman Hikigaya's fingertips merely sliced ​​through the air beside his neck!

"Hahaha! Missed again!"

Kazuma Sato himself found it unbelievable, but he was more in a state of smug satisfaction, thinking, "This is what it means to be the chosen one."

Hachiman Hikigaya attacked repeatedly, targeting his arms, legs, and even attempting to sever the "death line" that supported his body.

But each time, the results were strikingly similar.

As he stabs the arm, Kazuma Sato might "just happen" to raise his hand to scratch his head due to a slight tremor in the ground.

As he sweeps his hand toward his legs, Kazuma Sato might "just happen" to jump because he sees a virtual insect flying by.

When he tries to break his balance, there are always various trivial accidents that allow Kazuma Sato to maintain his center of gravity in a comical yet effective way.

Kazuma Sato clearly couldn't see his own death line, but his luck was like that of an artificial intelligence with top-notch predictive and micro-management abilities, manipulating countless seemingly random events behind the scenes to precisely avoid every fatal "cause and effect" at the lowest cost!
Hachiman Hikigaya's Mystic Eyes of Death Perception can see "death," but his attacks cannot touch "life," which is protected by "Absolute Luck."

Finally, after a series of coincidences neutralized his all-out thrust, Hachiman Hikigaya stopped, panting.

He looked at Kazuma Sato across from him, who was getting more and more excited and dancing with joy because of his repeated "lucky" escapes, and then looked at his own trembling arms, which were swayed by Sato's luck as he tried to seize opportunities but was thwarted countless times. He fell silent for a moment.

"Your luck is truly incredible. You're practically on par with Lady Luck."

"Even the ability of Observation Haki to foresee the future cannot predict it."

"When the difference in strength is not absolute, this level of luck is truly unreasonable."

"I can't believe it," Hachiman Hikigaya exclaimed from the bottom of his heart.

The Observation Haki he purchased was already at the level of being able to foresee the future, but when facing Kazuma Sato's luck, he couldn't see how Sato evaded his attacks at all.

Clearly, Kazuma Sato's luck has surpassed his "Observation Haki" ability to foresee the future.

If his strength is great enough to disregard Kazuma Sato's luck, then no matter how lucky Kazuma Sato is, it will be meaningless; he cannot escape "death".

However, the gap between his strength and that of Kazuma Sato was not that large, at least not large enough for him to ignore Kazuma Sato's luck.

This has led to the current situation.

Upon hearing this, Kazuma Sato put his hands on his hips and let out a smug, villainous laugh:
"Now you know how powerful I am, Hachiman!"

"Luck is also a part of strength, and it's the biggest part!"

"Before my destiny, your Mystic Eyes of Death Perception are nothing but this!"

After laughing enough, Sato Kazuma seemed to be in a very good mood. He adopted a magnanimous posture, waved his hand, and said:

"However, considering how hard you've worked, I might as well be lenient and let's call it a draw."

"Anyway, I don't have the ability to harm you."

However, Hachiman Hikigaya shook his head.

No, there was no draw.

"But before it's over, I have one last trick up my sleeve."

"If that trick doesn't work either, I'll admit defeat."

"Oh?"

Kazuma Sato raised an eyebrow, still looking confident of victory.

"What other tricks do you have? Bring them on! But let me warn you, the result will be the same!"

Hachiman Hikigaya said no more. He slowly adopted a peculiar stance, not with his fists and feet, but by concentrating all his strength into his right fist.

His fist did not emit any amazing energy fluctuations; on the contrary, it was extremely restrained, as if all the power had been compressed into a single point.

"I want to see if your luck can be distorted even by this most direct 'force'."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hachiman Hikigaya unleashed a punch!
There was no earth-shattering momentum, only a jet-black beam of light, condensed to the extreme and moving at a speed that almost surpassed visual capture, bursting out from the fist, like a black line tearing through space, shooting straight toward Kazuma Sato's chest!

This strike contained all the power he could muster at that moment; it was simple, direct, and swift!
Faced with this sudden, seemingly ordinary beam of light that contained terrifying energy, Kazuma Sato's smile froze slightly, but was quickly replaced by overwhelming confidence.

He didn't even make a move to dodge; he simply stood there, arms crossed, a supremely confident smile on his face, silently chanting in his mind:
"Probability Distortion! Increase the probability of this attack deviating from my target to 100%!"

"My luck is unbeatable! It's bound to miss!"

He firmly believed that his luck would work miracles again, allowing the beam of light to glide past him in some incredible way.

However, just a moment before the dark beam of light was about to hit Kazuma Sato.

Beneath Kazuma Sato's feet, a virtual rock that had been loosened by the aftershocks of their battle but had managed to maintain a delicate balance, collapsed completely the moment he completely relaxed his balance and relied entirely on luck!
"Holy crap!"

Kazuma Sato was completely caught off guard by the sudden change in his footing. He cried out in surprise and instantly lost his balance, stumbling forward involuntarily!
And it was this forward leaning motion that, by sheer coincidence, brought his head right into the face of the dark beam of light that was originally aimed at his chest!

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

The confident smile on Kazuma Sato's face froze instantly, turning into extreme fear and bewilderment.

Hachiman Hikigaya's pupils also suddenly contracted; he hadn't expected things to develop this way either.

next moment.

call out!
The jet-black beam of light pierced through Kazuma Sato's forehead, which was positioned precisely on the trajectory of the projectile due to his forward lean.

Kazuma Sato's expression froze in horror and disbelief as his body transformed into specks of light and vanished from the virtual battle arena.

[Battle Ends: The Victor – A Prodigy Among the Lone Wolf]

The chat group notification sounded coldly.

Hachiman Hikigaya stood there, looking at the spot where Kazuma Sato had disappeared, his brows furrowed. He felt little joy at his victory, but rather deep doubt and confusion.

"Something's not right. That attack just now was very strange."

He carefully replayed the last scene.

He clearly remembered that the beam of light he unleashed with all his might was aimed directly at the head of Kazuma Sato when he was standing!

If the beam was aimed at the head, why was it that it was Sato Kazuma who leaned forward because of the collapsing rocks beneath his feet, causing his forehead to be directly hit by the beam?
Was the angle of his strike wrong?
However, Hachiman Hikigaya was certain that when he threw the punch, neither his Observation Haki nor his body felt any "incoordination".

Therefore, the initial angle of his punch was subtly "corrected" by some force at a level that was difficult to detect, without his awareness.

"My will and body control cannot go wrong."

"Then the only explanation is that at the moment I threw the punch, my perception or the trajectory of my attack was already affected."

If that's the case, then under normal circumstances, his attack should have grazed the edge of Kazuma Sato's body, resulting in a "narrow miss".

This is the expected result when Sato Kazuma's luck is working properly, avoiding the greatest danger with the least amount of surprise.

But in reality, just as the attack was about to miss its target according to the "corrected deviation trajectory", the rock under Sato Kazuma's feet collapsed "just at the right time"!
This "accident" not only failed to help him avoid risks, but instead led him to his death!
"This is too contradictory."

"Given his luck, he was clearly powerful enough to subtly deflect my attack trajectory, so why did he create an 'accident' that was extremely disadvantageous to him at the last moment?"

"unless."

A bold conjecture gradually took shape in Hachiman Hikigaya's mind.

"Unless, Sato Kazuma's seemingly 'invincible' luck is not a perfect, constant state, but rather subject to some kind of fluctuation or cycle?"

"Or perhaps, when faced with the constant 'threat of death,' especially that aimed at his very core, his luck, like an overloaded machine, reaches a certain critical point and experiences a brief 'backlash' or 'disruption'?"

Hachiman Hikigaya recalls the course of the battle.

He had used the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception multiple times in the early stages to try to sever the line between his luck and death. Although he failed each time, each attempt forced Kazuma Sato's luck essence to undergo a violent "outburst" and "evolution" in response. This struggle was obviously extremely taxing and may have accumulated some kind of "pressure."

Like a rubber band that is constantly stretched, once stretched to its limit, it will either break or spring back in an unpredictable way.

“My final attack just now may not have been fatal in itself, and may even have been ‘preset’ by his luck field to be avoidable.”

"But just as the field of luck is deflecting my attack according to the 'pre-set script,' it may itself enter a very short period of instability or 'low point' due to the previous excessive consumption and pressure."

"The result was that the accidental fall that should have helped him escape danger turned into a 'suicidal' coincidence due to a brief disruption of luck?"

(End of this chapter)