Part 6 of 8
“Much appreciated.”
Keeping my exasperated thoughts to myself, I thank him for the drink.
Asaka immediately picks up her mug and takes a sip.
She’s not the type to pass up anything that’s offered to her…
What if it’s poisoned or something? No, I guess Merazophis wouldn’t need such roundabout methods to kill us, which he clearly isn’t gonna do anyway…
I follow her example and take a sip.
It’s hot tea that tastes vaguely of apple.
“I’ll attempt to explain as objectively as I can, but I imagine it will still be biased toward a demon’s point of view. Try to bear with me.”
What Merazophis tells us next is certainly far from pleasant, just as he promised.
In fact, it’s downright depressing.
It was a lengthy explanation.
First, he explained the domestic conflict in the demon territory.
It was hard to tell what that had to do with our hometown being destroyed, but I’m sure he had his reasons for starting with that.
Asaka and I sat in silence and listened.
A rebel army, secretly aided by the elves, formed to resist the Demon Lord.
Ms. Oka was among those elves, he says.
But the rebel army was crushed by the official demon army, and the elves, including Ms. Oka, were left stranded in the demon territory, with no way to return to the human territory alive.
The biggest obstacle to their escape was the Human-Demon Buffer Zone, namely a tribe that lived there.
This tribe of despicable thieves would kill anyone they didn’t recognize on sight and live off their stolen possessions.
…That’s referring to our hometown, apparently.
For real?
That’s what demons thought of our clan?
I was stunned, but Asaka seemed fairly unsurprised.
“Well, they really were quite obviously barbaric, remember?”
“Whaaat…?”
I guess Asaka saw the people of our clan that way, too.
She tells me that she was hoping to get away from that settlement as soon as possible.
Come on…seriously…?
I always remembered the men of that tribe being strong, cool adults. Were those just glorified memories all this time?
The unexpected and unwelcome truth about our tribe sends me into a tailspin, but Merazophis still has more to say.
In order to get Ms. Oka safely over to the human territory, it was decided that the only option was to preemptively attack and destroy our hometown to secure safe passage.
“Wait a minute. Why didn’t you just make Ms. Oka a prisoner of war or something?” Asaka asks.
“I’m afraid that was impossible, because of Potimas Harrifenas’s particular abilities.”
I met Potimas, the patriarch of the elves, once before; it turns out he’s the reason this world is in shambles.
Plus, he has the ability to take over someone else’s body.
He can’t do it to just anyone, but evidently if someone meets the right conditions, he can erase their mind and operate their body like his own.
Ms. Oka falls into that category of possible hosts, so if they had kept her as a prisoner of war, Potimas probably would have taken over her body immediately.
“…Damn, that’s gnarly.”
“Yes. Which is why we were unable to lay a hand on Missoka.”
I knew from what Wakaba told us that the elves were garbage, but with that ability, Potimas seems even more evil than I realized.
He was such a piece of shit that it even showed in his abilities.
That’s crazy, though…
“So in a roundabout way, Ms. Oka is the reason our hometown got destroyed?”
It’s not Ms. Oka’s fault at all, but I still feel weird about it.
“There is that, but your presence there was a factor as well.”
“Huh? It’s our fault?”
“No, I wouldn’t describe it as your ‘fault’ per se. This was the border between the human and demon territories, as you recall. Once the war broke out, it would soon become a battlefield, and your clan would have surely perished. It is true that the situation with Missoka hastened its destruction, but there was also the goal of getting you two reincarnations out of the war zone and into a safer area as soon as possible, before the war began. Nor could we allow you to encounter Missoka, who was gathering the reincarnations under the elves’ control.”
“What…the hell? That’s…I don’t even…”
My words won’t come out right.
What is he saying?
That we’re also to blame for our clan getting wiped out?
I guess he let me and Asaka live because we were reincarnations, too.
“Ha-ha. What, are we reincarnations angels of death or something, then?”
“As I said, that tribe would have been caught up in the war and destroyed sooner or later, no matter what.”
Merazophis addresses me almost comfortingly as I laugh bitterly.
Stop it.
Don’t be nice to me when you’re supposed to be the target of my revenge…
“That is the long and short of the situation at that time.”
Merazophis concludes his explanation.
Just as we were warned, I feel decidedly unpleasant after hearing all that, but it made a lot of sense, too.
Now I finally know why someone ridiculously strong like Merazophis would suddenly attack our settlement without warning.
I spent years wondering where he came from, and why.
Not to mention why our clan was the target of such sudden destruction.
Now those questions have finally been answered for me.
Even if part of me suspects I was better off not knowing.
“…As you see, we had our reasons for doing what we did. But it does not change the fact that I personally destroyed your home and killed your friends and family. You have every right to despise me.”
With that, Merazophis stands.
“I cannot apologize, nor can I willingly offer you my life in penance. But I will not turn away a challenge from you, either. I will fight you whenever you wish.”
Just like that, he leaves the room.
Was he being considerate of us?
Were those final words an attempt to motivate me out of my obvious depression?
Seriously, I don’t want my supposed mortal enemy to be nice to me…
“…I came here to find out the truth so I’d know what to do next, but I’ve never felt more unsure, dammit.”
Asaka silently puts her hand on my shoulder.
The mugs that Merazophis poured for us are already empty.
Once Yamada and his crew took off, I left the house right after.
The rest of my former classmates probably had no idea how to deal with me.
I could figure out that much from their distant attitude when I was talking to Yamada and the others.
If Issei was there, maybe I would’ve still made an effort to talk to ’em.
But as it stands, I couldn’t be bothered.
The moment I gave up on this world for good was when Ms. Oka told me that Issei was dead.
This was right when we met with her at the academy.
Ms. Oka was reluctant to answer my question, but I stubbornly pushed until I got a response, only to regret it immediately.
Issei Sakurazaki was my best friend, practically my other half.
As soon as I learned that he was long gone, the world lost its color.
“Excuuuse me? Where do you think you’re going?”
Shinohara comes running up behind me.
“Huh? What, did ya need somethin’ from me?”
“Hmm? Oh, no, not really.”
“Then what do you care what I do? Leave me alone.”
“…But I’m afraid if I do that, you might die.”
I snort at that. “I’m not gonna die. I’ll stay alive for ya as long as you lot don’t kill me.”
“…Well, good.”
I keep walking.
But Shinohara silently follows me.
…Don’t tell me she’s actually worried about me, in her own way?
After everything I did?
Ha! This one’s as big a softy as her owner.
“Listen… How did you end up like that, anyway?”
Unable to bear the silence any longer, Shinohara asks me point-blank.
“You guys were all born into pretty cushy circumstances, and you had friends close by. I don’t just mean Yamada. Even the ones who got captured here had food, shelter, and friends who knew what they were goin’ through, yeah? …But I got no one.”
In the end, it all comes down to that.
I was very lucky in my previous life.
I had everything I could’ve wanted.
I didn’t want to be reincarnated into some stupid fantasy world.
At that point, I woulda been better off dead.
“The empire is dead rotten on the inside, did ya know? All those damn pigs tryin’ to use me as their puppet to get a taste of the good life, hidin’ their ugly ambitions behind their smiles. Not that they fooled me for a damn second! So I was surrounded by greedy pigs, all tryin’ to suck up to me. Not a damn soul I could talk to. No one I could trust. After a while, it seemed stupid to try stayin’ sane in a place like that.”
The empire hasn’t been a place of nobility for a long time now.
Its military nobles turned their backs on my father, the sword-king, to chase the shadow of the previous ruler, while the imperial nobles of the court took advantage of the situation to line their own pockets.
If it weren’t for the common enemy of the demons, they would’ve all ripped each other apart by now.
And I’m supposed to be the prince of such a shitty country?
I never asked for any of that!
Who the hell is “Hugo Baint Renxandt”?!
I just wanted to keep being Kengo Natsume, dammit!
So then I made up my mind.
I decided this was all just a bad dream.
If it’s a dream, I can do whatever I want, right?
I can mess everything up and do whatever it takes to get out of this nightmare?
And if that didn’t work, I had no reason to even go on living in this shitty world.
The most I could hope for was a little fun.
Otherwise, it was still just a goddamn nightmare.
That’s how I saw this world.
“Y’know, though, when I met Ms. Oka and the rest of you people, I was actually pretty pumped.”
I really was happy to see other people who knew about our old world.
“But when I saw you fittin’ into this world just fine and havin’ a great time, I got kinda pissed.”
Why are these guys being so damn positive?
They’re just accepting that we gotta live in this world now?
Well, I couldn’t accept it.
Maybe if Issei was still alive, I would’ve felt differently.
If he was here, I bet he would’ve put up with my whining, saying stuff like, “You’re soo hopeless, Ken,” but still accepting me as I am.
Maybe then I would’ve felt better and managed to move forward.
But Issei isn’t here anymore.
“It’s like what they say about the greatest hate comin’ from love or whatever. I felt betrayed, then that turned into hatred. The reason I hated Yamada the most was ’cause he seemed like the heart of your little buddy-buddy group.”
We were both princes.
Why did my life go so differently from his?
It’s not fair.
He could at least get a taste of the suffering I’ve gone through.
“Pretty stupid, right? You think even less of me now?”
“Mm-hmm. Honestly, you were just taking out your frustration on others.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly goddamn right.”
I look over my shoulder and meet Shinohara’s cold stare.
But I don’t even care what anyone thinks of me anymore.
I don’t care about anything at all.
Not even whether I live or die, at this point.
“Well, first of all, you know.”
“Hunh?”
Shinohara puts a hand on my shoulder, then violently flips me to the ground.
“Hmph!”
“Oogh?!”
You gotta be kidding me!
She keeps smacking me around like it’s no big deal!
“We’ll just have to beat that twisted personality right back into shape! And I’ll keep beating you up even after it gets better, for the rest of your life!”
“…What the hell? The rest of my life? Is that some new kinda proposal?”
“Hmph!”
“Guh?!”
Seriously, stop hittin’ me like that!
…Damn, that hurts.
“Miss Phelmina?”
Returning to my room, I turned to the young lady who had followed me inside.
I have met Miss Phelmina on occasion since the time that I was brainwashed.
Now, I was aware that she belonged to an organization quite separate from the imperial army, but who would have imagined that it was the demon army?
I suppose when one is brainwashed, one becomes quite oblivious to such things.
Thus, I must learn from my mistakes by observing everything from all angles!
“Was everything Shun said earlier true?”
I peer into Miss Phelmina’s eyes as I inquire.
She leans back a little as if to avoid me, but I bring my face that much closer.
“…Erm, you’re a bit too close.”
“Answer me.”
“I will answer you. Just, could you please step back first?”
Miss Phelmina breaks our staring contest to turn her face away.
Trusting that she will indeed answer me, I retreat a single step.
It is ever so important to be trusting and faithful, after all.
“…Just so you know in advance, I can only tell you what I’ve heard from Master and the Demon Lord and such. I cannot confirm whether all of it is true.”
Phelmina sighs and adjusts herself before continuing.
“We have no way of proving whether the current state of this world, the system, and the events of the past are all accurately conveyed.”
“Of course.”
When she puts it that way, I realize she’s right. Neither of us can prove whether what we’ve been told by others is true.
In our prior world, there was ample information on the Internet, but much of that was of questionable accuracy as well.
In fact, we had no way of knowing if even the information we were taught in school was all true.
It isn’t as if we witnessed these historical events for ourselves, nor have we personally seen the atoms that we learned about in chemistry.
I am beginning to feel that knowing what is true and what to believe is in fact quite important.
“But if that’s all right with you, I’d be happy to share what I have been told, if you would like?”
“Please do.”
“Very well.”
With that, Miss Phelmina told me everything she knew.
She seems to be quite good at explanations: The main points were easy to follow, and she refrains from peppering in her own opinions or emotions as she speaks.
Thus, I can easily accept everything she says.
“That’s just about all I know.”
“I see. Thank you.”
Once she finishes, I tilt my head back toward the heavens.
Ah, my mind is such a mess of information, I have no idea what to do with any of it.
At times like this…
“Huh? Wh-what are you doing?”
Miss Phelmina exclaims in shock, but this sort of thing really calms me down.
Essentially, I scratched myself with my fingernail.
Yes, across the wrist.
“We need to stop the bleeding! No, wait! Healing Magic!”
Miss Phelmina promptly closes the wound, but the trickle of blood and memory of pain still linger.
The coldness when my nail broke the skin helps me regain my composure.
Then the pain and spreading warmth of the wound reassure me.
I haven’t done it in such a long time, but I did it quite often in the past.
Since there is Healing Magic in this world, it needn’t even leave a scar.
<Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Pain Mitigation LV 8] has become [Pain Mitigation LV 9].>
“Ahh…”
I can hear a voice.
The Word of God!
“That’s right. No matter what the truth might be, God will still speak to us! I can hear the voice of God!”
I reach up toward the sky.
All I can see is the ceiling, but I still stretch toward what lies beyond it!
“My faith is right here! God! O God!”
God is real.
I can hear God’s voice.
I don’t know what is or isn’t true, but this is the one fact that I shall never doubt!
Even if the Word of God church was built on ostentation and lies, my faithful heart is realer than ever!
I needn’t have doubted anything!
From the very beginning, I already had my answer, and my faith never once wavered!
“Let us pray! Let us rejoice! O God! In the name of God! Lady Sariel! Aah, Lady Sariel!”
Aah! It’s such a thrill to be able to speak that blessed name!
How I wish to share this joy with another!
“Miss Phelmina! Please, join me!”
“Huh?! Um, I, n-no thank you…”
Awww…
It all happened so fast.
Shortly after Black and the Demon Lord made amends and the mood started to lighten…
The Demon Lord’s face became serious again, and at the same time, Vampy and Mr. Oni gave a startled look into empty space and posed as if listening carefully.
Let me tell you, I had a bad feeling about this already.
I ordered my clones to hack the system right away.
There, I took a peek at the Divine Voice (temp.) message logs.
Judging by the way these three were acting, I had a feeling the Divine Voice (temp.) had issued some kind of revelation or something.
And boy, was I right.
Uhh, what’s this now?
World quest activated.
An evil god is plotting to sacrifice humanity in order to prevent the destruction of the world. You must either prevent this plot or assist with it.
…Ughhh, damn that D.
Way to throw a wrench into my plans!
Aaaargh!
Seriously, gimme a break! Thanks for nothing!
I figured she’d probably get involved somehow, but I wasn’t expecting such big, bold interference.
This “evil god” thing is referring to me, right?
But D’s the only evil god around here! What a jerk!
I mean, I kinda suspected that D wouldn’t find it very fun to let things continue like this.
So I was expecting something like this to happen.
But still, even if it’s not a total surprise, that doesn’t mean I can’t be pissed about it.
If someone said “I’m gonna punch you right now! Here goes!” and you braced yourself to be punched, and then they really did punch you and it hurt, I bet you’d still be pissed, right?
My ideal scenario would’ve been to keep working behind the scenes until I got the results I wanted.
Long story short, if I could destroy the system without anyone noticing, I’d win.
By the time people realized what was happening, the system would be gone, and yeah, maybe a ton of them would die in the process, but at least the world and the goddess would presumably be saved.
For the biggest victims, aka most of humanity, it would be like a massive disaster happening out of nowhere…but for me, that’s the easiest and best-case scenario.
But would D really let things go down that easily?
Yeah, no. Of course not.
In gaming terms, that’d be like if the final boss went sneaking around behind the scenes, never giving the player the slightest hint of what’s happening, until they suddenly get a game over.
Who would wanna play that?
At the very least, you’d have to include hints like “The final boss is up to something! You better stop them or else!”
Then the heroes would stand up to thwart the evil boss’s plans!
You can’t just set a time limit without ever telling the player, letting them go on some unrelated adventure until they suddenly get a GAME OVER. That’s just bad game design.
Sure would be easier from the final boss’s point of view, though.
Why should the boss have to give a hint to the heroes, who might very well try to stop her?
Obviously it’s better to just go about your evil schemes without letting anyone know.
Games are waaay too unfair to the villain characters, if you ask me.
And while this world has stats and other gamelike features, it’s still reality.
Does it really have to work like a game, then?
So I sneak around behind the scenes.
Bwah-ha-ha, by the time you realize what’s happening, it’ll already be too late!
At least…that’s how I was hoping this would go…
This world isn’t a game, it’s true.
But it does have a god who’s basically the game master.
Not to mention a huge pain in my butt.
And now, like it or not, it’s got all the makings of a game’s final stages.
Fine, then.
If I’m the final boss of this game, who’s going to fight against me?
First of all, the pontiff.
The pontiff strives to protect people, specifically the human race.
He’s basically the guardian of humanity.
Since I’m trying to cause harm to humanity now, he’ll definitely oppose me.
There’s no point trying to convince him otherwise.
It’s impossible to bend that man’s will. The Demon Lord once described him as “freakishly determined.”
He’s a tough old geezer who’s lived enough lifetimes that you’d be better off trying to debate a brick wall.
The worst thing about the pontiff is that, on top of the fact that he’ll definitely oppose me, he also happens to have one of the Ruler skills: Temperance.
These Ruler privileges, which come with the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Heavenly Virtue skills, are the keys to the secret self-destruct feature of the system.
By opening all these Ruler keys, you can make the system destroy itself.
Theoretically, I could pry open some of those keys by force.
But the truth is that I have no idea what sort of negative repercussions that might have later.
So I want to play it as safe as possible by collecting all the Ruler keys.
The fact that one of them is definitely on the enemy side is nothing short of infuriating.
If I want to get the Temperance ruler privilege, I’d have to either talk the pontiff into handing it over to me or turn him into a dead man.
Aaand like I said, I can’t talk him into squat!
So that’s the pontiff’s fate decided.
The other person who’s definitely gonna oppose me is Balto.
You know, the guy who’s been the Demon Lord’s aide all this time?
Surprised?
You shouldn’t be.
Balto’s been going all out for the demon race his whole life.
His methods might differ, but he’s not unlike the pontiff or Agner, who worked just as hard for the demons.
Balto only obeyed the Demon Lord because he deemed that the best choice for the demon race as a whole.
If he learns that the existence of all demons is on the line, he’s sure to resolve himself to fight off the threat, aka me.
He already made the tough choice to go to war against the humans and sustain massive casualties, as opposed to challenging the Demon Lord and getting his race wiped out entirely.
…Although he’ll probably get an ulcer in the process.
So, the pontiff and Balto.
The representatives of the human and demon races are definitely gonna try to stop me.
In other words, I’m basically making an enemy of the majority of mankind.
Although considering that the best word to refer to all humans and demons in combination is “humanoids,” I think it’s pretty clear which representative is gonna be the biggest pain to deal with.
But there’s one person who’s gonna be a much bigger problem than any of them—or all of them combined.
“Hrm…”
That person is right in front of me, turning his gaze upward and heaving a long sigh: Black, also known as Administrator Güliedistodiez.
He remains facing the sky as he speaks to me.
“…I suspected that it might come to this. If you destroy the system, this world will be saved. I do not think that proposal of yours for salvation is false. And yet…”
Black trails off for a moment and turns to look steadily into my face.
“There was never any way that this doomed world, only a step away from destruction, could be completely saved without any sacrifices being made.”
He stands up slowly.
The Demon Lord and Mr. Oni rise as well, looking tense.
Vampy? I mean, she’s still all tied up in my thread, sooo…
“Ariel. As far as what we were discussing before, I can only go on atoning as I always have. I will continue to devote myself to simply carrying on Sariel’s will. That is all I have ever done, and all I shall ever do. Therefore…”
He turns away from me for a moment to look at the Demon Lord.
“If anyone attempts to trample on Sariel’s wishes, I shall not allow it, no matter who it might be. You still intend to go through with it, do you not?”
The Demon Lord answers without a moment’s hesitation.
“Yeah. We’ve made up our minds. I’m sorry.”
Her instant response speaks volumes to her determination.
“Do not apologize. If anything, I ought to instead. Once again, it has only come to this because of my own failures.”
Black smiles, gentle and a little sad.
“Sorry.”
He’s been apologizing nonstop this whole time, but that one felt like it contained the heaviest meanings and emotions of all.
Then he breaks off from all that, his expression going blank, and turns away from the Demon Lord to face me again.
“Do you remember what I once told you?”
Uh, you’re gonna have to be a little more specific than that.
“If your actions lead to results that run counter to mine, then you shall likely find me standing in your way.”
I don’t think he knew what I was thinking, exactly, but Black proceeds to repeat the statement he was referring to.
It’s something he said to me when Sariella and Ohts were at war, or more specifically, after the Demon Lord showed up there and we had a throwdown.
At the time, the Demon Lord and I were enemies, and Black lent a hand to the Demon Lord just that once.
Then, once I survived that, he came to apologize to me.
While he was at it, he asked me to stop meddling with the Demon Lord.
I shot him down at the time, but then he got all depressed about how he couldn’t do anything.
I felt kinda bad, so I told him, “You should do whatever you feel is best.” (Seems like the kind of advice a certain evil god would give, in retrospect.)
That seemed to put some pep back in his step, but then he gave me the warning that he’s repeating now.
“It appears that time has now come.”
…Yeah, I figured as much… Damn it all!
Black and I move at almost the exact same time.
He charges straight toward me, raising his fist.
Mr. Oni tries to get in his way, but he’s not fast enough.
Not even an oni can keep up with the speed of a real-deal god like Black.
That goes double for the weakened Demon Lord, who can’t even react in time.
In those precious milliseconds, I was busy doing whatever I could.
Not about Black, specifically, but about various other things.
Naturally, that means I’m too preoccupied to react to Black’s attack immediately, and his fist goes right through my chest.
His arm pierces all the way into where my heart should be.
Any normal person would be dead already.
“I know this alone is not enough to kill you.”
But naturally, a god like Black isn’t stupid enough to think he’s finished me off that easily; he starts in on a follow-up attack.
Instantly, the scene around me rearranges itself.
We’re on a road in some strange, slightly futuristic city.
The Demon Lord and the others are nowhere to be found.
In fact, even though this looks like an urban area, there’s no one else around at all.
He teleported us.
No, we’re probably not in the same world at all but on a battlefield constructed in some separate dimension.
Like the home where I keep all my mini-me clones.
Black throws me down onto the hard road of this unnatural space.
Gah!
Even for a god, having my body broken like this is causing significant damage.
Especially since I’m still a fledgling god myself.
Getting my heart crushed obviously did some major damage.
Not that I’m gonna die or anything!
…Actually, if you really think about it, I went through all kinds of injuries before I even became a god—getting torn into shreds, floating around as a disembodied head in the ocean, all that jazz. By comparison, getting my heart pierced isn’t even that big a deal, is it?
At any rate, I’m totally fine with this degree of damage.
That doesn’t mean I enjoy getting beat down like this, though!
Ugh! This guy’s merciless!
But I guess I always knew it was probably gonna come to this eventually.
It’s just a matter of priorities, and ours happen to be very different.
The Demon Lord and I care more about the goddess’s ongoing existence.
Black and the goddess care more about the goddess’s wishes.
We’re trying to save the goddess’s life and ignoring her wishes in the process.
He’s trying to respect the goddess’s wishes, even if it means letting her disappear.
Since our goals are in direct conflict, we were bound to clash.
Man, what a pain, though.
The goddess is the one who’s making the biggest mess of all this, y’know?
Here we are, trying to save her life, yet she’s trying to sacrifice her whole existence for the sake of mankind and all that crap.
The person we’re trying to rescue doesn’t even want to be saved.
Plus, our method of saving her is sacrificing most of mankind, in direct opposition to her wishes.
Of course she’d get mad about that.
What we’re trying to do probably does seem evil from an outsider’s perspective.
But we’re still gonna do it.
Because that’s what the Demon Lord wants.
She’s the one who decided to do it, even if it means turning the whole world against her, even if the person she’s trying to save would hate her for it.
And why shouldn’t the Demon Lord have someone on her side?
So I made up my mind and all, but come on!
This still seems awfully harsh, dude!
Sure, I figured I was probably gonna have to fight Black eventually, but I wasn’t expecting it to happen so soon!
Gimme some more time to get ready here, will ya?!
You realize I’m still running around dealing with the aftermath of the battle with the elves, right?!
How am I supposed to be fully prepared if you come at me with such inconsiderate timing?!
Damn you, D!
Always trying to put me at a disadvantage!
I roll to the side just in time to avoid being crushed by Black’s leg.
It makes a crazy BOOM! as it crashes into the ground where I was just standing.
Cracks form in the perfectly level ground below.
But I can’t assume it wasn’t so bad just because the ground didn’t smash to pieces.
We’re in a dimension of Black’s creation.
If I assume the laws of physics work the same way here, I’m in for a world of pain.
I’m guessing my bones would’ve been broken to splinters if that hit me.
Still rolling away, I catch my hands on the ground and hop to my feet.
The giant hole in my chest has closed.
Any god worth her salt could instantly regenerate from a wound like that.
But still, time out for a second!
I lean back and just barely manage to dodge Black’s fist as it flies toward my face!
A perfect Ina Bauer!
Or maybe it’s more like The Matrix!
Either way, I let my hands hit the ground for a flawless bridge pose!
Then I shimmy away like that, The Exorcist style!
What, that’s creepy?
Like I’ve got time to worry about that!
Black, buddy, you could at least hold back a little!
You turn on me the second D sends out that stupid world quest thing, then toss me into your own territory and attack me before I can even stand up?
It’s no fair if the stronger guy pulls something like that!
If you know you’re better than I am, you could at least have the decency to be overconfident, like everyone’s favorite golden king!
You’re not even a king, you’re a freaking god!
While I’m scuttling away, Black catches up to me instantly and kicks me in the back, sending me flying upward.
GWOOMPH!
Um, I don’t think bodies are supposed to make that sound!
Hello?! This might actually be bad news!
As my body goes sailing into the air, Black’s fist strikes again.
It goes straight through the center of my chest, piercing through me just like before.
Ha-ha-ha.
So much for the defensive barrier I put up…
I guess this is no laughing matter.
This situation is getting even more serious than I thought.
My limbs feel as slow as if I’m moving underwater, and I can’t seem to defend myself, either.
I think the former is because this is a field Black created.
As long as the master of the field is here, I won’t be able to use my full strength.
And the reason my defenses aren’t working is that Black’s barrier is canceling mine out.
He’s got the realest kind of Dragon Barrier, the one only actual dragons can use: an overpowered barrier that cancels out all kinds of conjurings, no exceptions.
As a defense, it can nullify any attack conjurings; as an attack, it can break right through the enemy’s defenses, like he did just now.
Seriously, it’s straight-up cheating.
No fair.
He’s got this super-OP cheat power, and he’s using it with perfect precision to try to kill me.
Even though I’m far from perfectly prepared myself!
Man, I can’t deal with a superior opponent who doesn’t let his guard down due to hubris.
I always figured that if the time ever came for a final showdown with Black, I would lure him into my own territory first thing, but now he’s beaten me at my own damn game?
No waaay.
Ugh.
Okay, complaining won’t get me anywhere.
I guess I’ve got no choice.
This isn’t even remotely how I hoped it would go, but that doesn’t change what I have to do.
Just gotta beat Black down and put my world-restoring plan into action.
“Hrmm.”
I grab Black’s arm—which is still pierced through my chest, by the way.
At the same time, I transform my lower body into spider form and slash at him with my scythe-shaped front legs.
Black shakes free from my grip, yanks his arm out, and jumps back.
The effects of this field slowed my scythes, making them easy to dodge.
Even if they had hit, he probably would’ve been fine, thanks to his Dragon Barrier.
I guess that means he’s being extra cautious of me.
Luckily, that put some distance between us—even if that doesn’t mean much, since this is Black’s territory.
A field created by a god is basically an extension of that god’s body, after all.
It gives him an advantage and me a disadvantage.
As long as we’re in here, he’s always gonna have a leg up.
That doesn’t mean I’m gonna take it lying down, though.
White spiders begin crawling up out of my shadow.
Tons and tons of them.
As each spider appears, the field warps around us, like they’re eating away at the space.
“Not a chance!”
Black raises a fist and charges, but the white spiders scatter before him.
Of course, I jump back to avoid his attack, too.
The scattered white spiders call in more spiders, and those bring in even more.
White spiders keep multiplying all around us.
And all of them are eating up the field Black created.
“So many…”
Heh-heh-heh!
Did you think I was just getting beaten up for no reason?!
…Okay, yeah.
I was getting my butt handed to me pretty good.
But, I was also putting my clones into action, making arrangements for them to break into Black’s field!
The hole in my chest closes again.
Whew. Now the real fight begins!
I have no memory of getting beaten up this whole time!
“Tch!”
Black scowls.
He keeps trying to attack my main body, but I’m steadily retreating, keeping distance between us.
His attack speed and my retreat speed are evenly matched.
My body isn’t slowed down like it was before.
A battle between two spatial conjuring masters is sort of like a game of Othello.
It’s all about expanding your own territory and preventing your opponent from expanding theirs.
And right now, my white spider clones are taking over Black’s field at a remarkable rate, turning it into my own.
Bwah-ha-ha-ha-ha!
I didn’t perfect my abilities for nothing, y’know!
Bow before my extremely specialized skills!
As Black keeps speeding after me, I avoid him by retreating at equal speed.
Meanwhile, the clones keep summoning other clones, overwriting Black’s territory.
I’m relieved to see that my command of spatial conjuring seems to outmatch his.
If it didn’t, I wouldn’t stand a chance in this battle.
I’ve got to at least be able to hold my own in spatial conjuring or I’d already be screwed.
You can tell how important and nasty fields are by how badly I was getting beaten down when I first got dragged into this field.
It’s basically like buffing yourself and debuffing your opponent.
If you’ve got no way to fight back against that, you’re going down in no time.
Which is why spatial conjuring is a crucial ability for gods.
This is all just the prerequisites to try to fight a powerful god, though; I’ve basically just made it to the starting line.
If I didn’t have equal or better skills in spatial conjuring, I wouldn’t be qualified to fight him.
I’m glad mine are better, but that still basically gets canceled out by all the damage I took from his initial attack.
Since he got the first move, I’m behind on developing my own field.
While I’m managing to take over his field now, it’s not as fast as I’d like it to be.
I’ve got to be prepared for a long fight if I have any hope of taking over the whole thing.
So on that note, my current situation is still reeeeeally bad.
I assumed from the start that I would be as good or better at spatial conjuring, and I was right about that.
But I’ve taken more damage because he got the first move; instead of luring him into my territory, we started off in his.
On top of that, Black is stronger than I am.
For me to defeat a stronger opponent, I’ve got to get the home field advantage in my favor.
Since I haven’t managed that, I’m in trouble.
“Hrm?!”
The thread strung between buildings twines around Black’s body.
My clones put these spiderwebs here in advance.
And it’s no ordinary thread, of course.
I used spatial conjuring in the process to make the thread virtually impossible to cut.
Once you’ve gotten caught in this thread, there’s no getting out.
Or at least, there’s not supposed to be…
Black waves his arm casually.
That alone is enough to break through my prized threads and destroy them.
Damn that cheat barrier!
My threads are made with conjuring, so they don’t work on Black’s Dragon Barrier, which erases any and all conjurings.
I knew that going in, but I was still hoping I’d get to see an all-powerful god getting stuck in a spiderweb and flailing around helplessly. No such luck, huh?
Well, that was really just a bonus, with the main goal being to buy a little time.
In the mere seconds that the thread distracts him, I put more distance between me and Black.
For right now, my top priority is buying time until I can turn Black’s field into my own.
Fighting back can wait until that’s done.
In fact, it’s gonna have to, because I don’t have a second to spare for that right now!
I don’t have many tricks up my sleeve, after all.
Honestly, I think I’m probably underqualified to be a god.
I’ve got spatial conjuring, clones, and Evil Eyes.
That’s pretty much it.
So I create my home field with spatial conjuring, hide in there, and use my countless clones to drown the opponent in Evil Eyes.
I don’t have much else in the way of attack methods.
Part of the problem is that I didn’t have much time to learn any other ways to fight a very real, very powerful god.
I mean, I’m a newbie god who just got deified recently. The only way I can take on a big veteran god like Black is to pick one single thing to focus on and hopefully beat him at.
If I started busting out every half-assed trick in the book, I figured it would all amount to nothing.
So I decided to focus on my specialties, spatial conjuring and Evil Eyes.
Thing is, it’s a bit of a gamble.
I’ve basically only got the one attack method, Evil Eyes, so if he finds a way to neutralize that, I’m pretty much doomed.
I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you could cancel out that easily, but it’s not impossible.
So when I fought Potimas’s weapons, I tried not to let him see my moves.
As a test, I have one of my clones use Evil Eyes on him.
“Ngh!”
Oh? Did it work?
Judging by his reaction, it doesn’t look like Black has any way of blocking my Evil Eyes.
That’s certainly a relief, but I need my clones to focus on overwriting the field right now. I can’t waste time using Evil Eyes.
That first move really made a huge difference.
Now my home and my Evil Eyes are both out of reach, putting me on the defensive.
But on the flip side, that also means that even though I’m at a major disadvantage, I’m still managing to hold my own.
Sure, I got my butt kicked at first and lost a ton of magic in the process, but I was able to get back on my feet easily enough.
Honestly, the fact that I didn’t take more damage feels like a stroke of luck, given that I figured a single hit might even kill me.
Black’s attack power isn’t as high as I thought.
And since he’s still trying to get up close, he must not have any powerful long-distance attacks, either.
I guess Black is more of a defensive-type god, with his Dragon Barrier and all.
Gods are totally unfair by nature.
Like, even if you manage to hurt them, they’ll fully recover in no time flat.
Even my body has already healed from the damage Black did.
So doing anything to physically hurt a god is really difficult.
Whether you crush their heart or blow their head off, they’ll just go right back to normal.
But of course, even a god will lose the power to think for a few seconds if they lose their head.
Unless they come prepared in advance to automatically recover.
I’ve got a counterstrategy for that kind of thing myself, so I’m sure anyone who calls themselves a god does, too.
There are only a few methods for defeating a god like that.
You can break them down broadly into two categories: wearing them down, or shattering their souls.
The best examples I know of the latter are Heresy Attacks and Abyss Magic.
Leave it to D to casually build in skills that could defeat a god.
That wasn’t very cash money of her.
What the hell was she thinking?
Anyway, that method is way too advanced for me.
Yet D is out there letting people who aren’t even gods use it.
That wasn’t very cash money of her.
Seriously, what the hell was she thinking?
I had to say that twice, because it’s very important.
A soul is the very core of a living being.
Even a god can’t go on living if their soul gets destroyed.
It’s like the true form of a god, really.
So that’s the basic flow of a fight between gods.
Get a way to destroy your opponent’s soul and a way to keep them from destroying yours.
Figure out a method that works on them and find an opening to use it.
At least, that’s how it’s supposed to be.
But widdle old me can’t do thaaat.
I basically became a god through some weird cheat code, leaving me without any special secret powers.
So my only available method is the other one: wearing them down.
Wear down what exactly, you ask?
Energy, of course.
That’s the driving force for any god.
If the soul is a god’s heart, energy is a god’s blood.
They use it to perform all kinds of miracles.
Instantly healing a fatal wound is one such use of energy.
Naturally, if they run out of energy, they can’t do that anymore.
In other words, they’ll die.
Thanks to my Evil Eyes, I specialize in stealing that energy.
I slowly whittle away at my opponents, like poison working its way through their body.
But see, there’s just one problem with this method…
Like, “god” is basically just a being with a crazy amount of energy stored up, right?
And like, I’ve gotta suck all that energy dry, right?
It’s gonna take a ton of time, isn’t it?
Yeah, you know it.
This wearing-down method takes a reeeeally long time.
Plus, Black has that damn Dragon Barrier.
I don’t think it can block my Evil Eyes completely, but it’s bound to slow down the effects.
Plus, I’m still busy preparing my base for that plan.
Black doesn’t have the firepower to take me down in one hit, either.
All this can only add up to one thing: an extremely drawn-out battle.
Part 6 of 8