"...So, where are we?"
I glanced around, realizing that I'd been pulled somewhere. I couldn't see
anything of interest in my surroundings. The place wasn't dark or anything. It
was just empty. The whole area had a sunset-orange hue, and some misty
clouds of dull gold blew by here and there. It was like the spirit realm, but
completely different. I couldn't feel any spiritual energy here.
"I'd like to welcome you to Niflheim, my divine-suppression realm."
Yula stood in front of me, bowing politely. This bastard really pissed me off.
He had the gall to welcome me here when he'd dragged me by force.
"...Huh?"
I was unable to properly visualize my destination.
"It took a great many resources and a great amount of time to construct. This
realm is not connected to any other world; it's completely isolated. Even with
the power of a god, it would take a great deal to escape this place. The only
drawback is that this place only functions so long as I am within it..." Yula's
words rang clear.
This place was designed to isolate me, so it was designed to make it nearimpossible to escape. He'd brought me here with himself to trap me.
I tried using my divinity to warp away, but it was hopeless. It was like I'd been
thrown into Aokigahara on the side of Mt. Fuji without a compass or a map. I
had no idea where to go. It was basically impossible for me to anchor on to any
landmarks. If I could focus my divinity it'd probably be easier, but it was being
interfered with somehow.
"It's pretty impressive that you managed to create something like this. But if I
defeat you, it'll vanish, right?"
I morphed Brunhild to gun mode and pointed it at Yula. He just smiled.
"That would be most unwise. The world would indeed collapse upon my
death, but it would collapse in on you. You wouldn't be freed."
"Gh..."
I had a feeling that was the case. That was probably why he'd brought me in.
He didn't necessarily want to defeat me. He just wanted to immobilize me. The
only thing I could reasonably do was slowly try to find a world to pinpoint on to
with my divinity, and try and warp to it.
"Well, it's true you may be able to return eventually. But I can't say the world
will be in the same state you left it in."
"What do you mean?"
Yula grinned as projected images began appearing in the air around us. I could
see a live feed through each of them, of Brunhild, Belfast, Regulus, Strain,
Allent, and various others. Just about every country was visible. But why was he
showing me all that?
"Don't you think there were too few of us defending the crystal fortress? It's
true that we may not be able to choose where we appear from the breaches
between worlds... But, with a little bit of focus, we can certainly choose when to
emerge."
"Wait, don't tell me...!"
Yula smiled wide as I caught on to what he meant. Behind him, in the skies of
those kingdoms... cracks began appearing everywhere.
◇ ◇ ◇
"M-Miss Relisha! We've got spatial errors all over the world! These readings
are off the scale!"
"Gah!"
The first organization to notice the impending threat was the guild. Their
sensors picked up on the disturbances, with every single one in the world
picking up on them at once. The emergence points all had identical estimated
arrival times. No matter how many times Relisha tried to call the grand duke,
her phone calls wouldn't connect.
One of these cracks had appeared right by Brunhild, though Relisha felt like
their Frame Gears could probably win out. That wasn't the case for the other
nations, though. It was true they knew when the enemies would emerge, and
how many there were... But most countries in the world didn't have Frame
Gears. The ones fighting the mutants would be the knights, soldiers, and
whatever adventurers were available. Relisha knew that it would lead to a
massive loss of life.
The mutants, on top of killing people, transformed their prey into their own
kind. This was an incoming crisis on a global scale, and there was nothing
Relisha could do. She let out a horrified gasp as she gripped her smartphone,
the enormity of the situation washing over her.
"Grand Duke... Is it not ready yet?!"
Relisha was hoping they'd be able to pull through with the trump card that
Touya had mentioned, but it was looking hopeless.
"Please... Please... Hurry!" Relisha could do nothing but quietly pray as her
subordinates started calling out emergence locations.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
"Your Highness, you must flee!"
"Nonsense. A king must not flee and leave his people to their fate."
The king of Belfast calmly sat atop his throne. He scowled at the cowering
nobles. Their fear was understandable, however. The spatial disruption had
appeared right next to Belfast's capital. There were around five thousand
mutants expected to pour out of it. If they all attacked the capital at once, then
it would surely fall.
Most of the nobles wanted to leave, but the wise king knew it would be
wrong to leave before evacuation procedures had completed.
"Viscount Swordrick, has our knight order finished strengthening our
defenses?"
"Yes, sir! Our men have taken up positions outside our walls! We've enlisted
the local adventurers as well!" Viscount Swordrick, wearing his Eashenese
armor, said as he bowed to the king. The Eashenese katana on his waist rattled
as he moved. Swordrick, the greatest swordsman in Belfast, prepared to move
to the front lines.
"We must fight hard, for the sake of those struggling in Isengard right now. I
entrust our protection to you."
"Yes, sir!"
As the king spoke, his smartphone began vibrating. He glanced at the display.
"Mismede's beastking, huh...? Ah, hello?"
"Hey, King Belfast. How're things over there?"
"Not great. They're about to emerge near the capital. It's very stressful..."
"Wahahaa! Same here! I sent all our best men out to intercept, but it's gonna
be a rough fight for sure."
The beastking's voice was positively jolly despite the grave nature of their
conversation. But he was a man who craved battle, so he was probably looking
forward to the great war ahead. But the king of Belfast knew that wasn't the
only reason for his relaxed attitude.
"It's not here yet, is it?"
"Pfft, nah. You know how Touya likes to take it easy. But frankly, I hope it
comes soon. If it doesn't, we'll be in a whole heap of trouble."
They were relaxed because of that young man's special trump card. They
were sure it would come in time, so they were just holding out until they could
use it.
The two kings watched their retainers hustle and bustle in a panic, calmly
waiting to be saved.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
"Send our war priests and our templars at once! This is a holy war, I say! A
divine test from god above! We must protect our loved ones by mustering all
our strength! May the blessings of the divine be upon you, my child!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
The captain of the war priests, along with the commander of the templar
knights, hurried out of the pope's chambers. Fortunately for the Ramissh
Theocracy, the spatial disruption had appeared far from the capital city.
Unfortunately, it was still near a few smaller towns. The guilds had been helping
coordinate evacuation efforts, but the situation was not all that promising.
The pope clutched her smartphone to her chest, silently praying. She prayed,
not only to the almighty god that she believed in, but also to the young man
who she believed to be his messenger.
"Your Holiness."
"Phyllis..."
The pope raised her head and saw Phyllis, clad in a well-fitted cardinal robe.
She was the right hand of the theocracy and the only other person who'd seen
God Almighty alongside the pope. She gripped her smartphone as well.
"Do you think it'll come in time?"
"I do, yes. The light of salvation will come to us before long."
"I feel the same. The grand duke and his fellows must be facing the brunt in
Isengard right now. We must do our part as well. I trust in you, Phyllis."
"Thank you, ma'am. I promise I'll stake my very life for the sake of this world."
The two of them clutched their smartphones, awaiting deliverance.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
"Looks like something big is going down..." Sarutobi Homura heaved a sign as
she looked down at the news app on her smartphone.
"Mutants all over the world... Are things going to be okay?" Fuma Nagi looked
up from her own phone. They were currently stationed in a guard building in
Brunhild.
"We will be fine. The grand duke already saw this coming, and the guilds have
been preparing squads to help defend," the calmest of the three Brunhild
ninjas, Kirigakure Shizuku, spoke matter-of-factly. She was also holding her
smartphone.
"Do you think that thing the grand duke mentioned is gonna get passed out
soon?"
"Probably. No other way we can survive this."
"I'm looking forward to it, honestly... But it's a little scary too..."
"Steel yourselves, girls. You are warriors of Brunhild. Act like it."
The sudden voice, coming from nowhere made the trio yell out in shock. It
was Tsubaki, the leader of the intel corps. They hadn't sensed her arriving at all,
prompting them to jump in surprise. Tsubaki quietly sighed, making a mental
note to intensify their training.
"You know what you have to do, don't you?"
"Y-Y-Yes, we do! As soon as the download comes up, we'll head out!"
"Good. Stay in constant communication, and act as one. No matter what
happens, don't get cocky. Got that, Homura?"
"Whaaat?! How come you only singled me out?!"
Tsubaki took out her smartphone and gripped it tight. She couldn't help but
be nervous. The plan was absolutely absurd, after all. Only the grand duke of
Brunhild could have come up with such brazen insanity.
■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
"Doctor. Would it not indeed be better to distribute it before the mutants
emerge?"
"We need to hold on as long as we can. It'll be more effective with more
magical power fueling it," Doctor Babylon quelled Liora's fears as she flourished
her lab coat like a cape.
They were surveying the spatial disruptions on the research laboratory's
monitors. The monitors displayed direct feeds from dozens of tiny wasp-like
drone Gollems created thanks to Elluka's expertise.
"Seventy-eight emergence points globally... Indeed, they're almost in every
nation. If this goes unchecked, it'll be a repeat of what happened five thousand
years ago!"
"And that's why we're going to make sure that doesn't happen. Tica, how's
the mana gauge looking?"
"Combined with the amount, mmh... that master spurted inside? We're
allocating resources from the Tower as well. We have enough to supply them
all."
"Good... Very good!" Doctor Babylon nodded proudly in response to Tica's
words. She'd been left in charge of distributing a particular app. She'd explained
it to Liora earlier, but the timing was vital for an important trump card like this.
It needed to be unleashed at the right moment.
"When our opponent thinks they've won, that's the pivotal moment... We'll
charge in and wreck them, and cause them major trauma at the same time. Not
that those mutants will get it. It should piss off that Yula guy though," Doctor
Babylon grinned as she said that, pulled out an ether vape from her coat
pocket, and puffed on it for a few moments before exhaling a cloud of smoke.
"He might think he has the upper hand on Touya, but we're ready for it. This
is my revenge, five thousand years in the making! We're gonna get real weird
with it!"
Doctor Babylon had previously learned from Ney that Yula was the one
responsible for the grand invasion during the ancient era. She wasn't exactly
the patriotic type, since she didn't view her homeland as anything more than
the place she grew up in. However, it was also home to some people that she
liked quite well.
She wouldn't say it out loud, but the opportunity to avenge those souls had
finally come. She'd be a fool not to take it.
"Doctor. The disruption in western Regulus has opened up, mutants
inbound."
"Spatial tear in northern Strain has indeed opened as well. Mutants all over,
indeed they are."
"We don't want them to cause major issues, so it's time we did it. Operation
Full Moon is a go. Begin the distribution!"
"Indeed! Launching the app!"
And just like that, Liora brought her fingers dancing along her work station,
sending it out to all those who possessed a smartphone.
◇ ◇ ◇
Mutants tore through the fabric of reality, pouring in all at once. Brunhild,
Belfast, Regulus... They all emerged at the same time, starting their advance. I
couldn't see any Upper Constructs. Even if there were, they'd have been too big
to break through as quickly as the other ones.
"Heh... Heheh... Hahahaha! Now my kin will assimilate all living creatures of
your world into our species. I will stand at the apex of a new, mutated species! I
will use that power to continue crossing through worlds until even the gods are
within my grasp!"
Yula seemed positively elated as he watched the live feeds of the mutants
marching on the nations. This guy's goal was to assimilate other species into his
mutant army and eventually march on the divine realm. Was he a complete and
utter idiot?
I sighed quietly as I watched the mutant forces march on the displays behind
him.
"What is it? Are you speechless? Feel free to lament your own lack of power
all you like. Even with the power of a god, you're still an insignificant little
human. A pathetic dog such as you could—"
"You know, the world I come from has a lot of stories..." I suddenly cut Yula
off and started talking. I didn't need to listen to his prattling anymore. After all,
the app distribution was probably about to begin.
"So these stories have lots of different kinds of protagonists, and it goes
without saying that there's a ton of different antagonists as well. The
antagonists can usually be sorted into different categories based on the
patterns of their behavior. You know, like... This kinda bad guy is gonna do this
thing, or this kinda bad guy is gonna do that thing. Basically, bad guys can be
pretty easily stereotyped."
"...Where are you going with this?"
"Well, here's the thing. Antagonists like you are the type to take hostages. I
feel like you'd have probably gone after those close to me or those I considered
friends. I knew you'd target the people of the world I'm trying to protect. That's
why I set a certain measure in place."
This wasn't a very heroic line of thinking, but it was smart to aim for your
enemy's weak points. I did that all the time, honestly. But that was why I knew a
snide, calculating enemy like Yula would want to as well, so I had something in
place to oppose him. And it had just arrived, right in the nick of time.
"Hm? And? Am I supposed to believe there's something you can do from
here?"
"Oh, I won't be doing anything, Yula. Everyone else will fight in my place.
Sure, I may be trapped here, but they're in another world. With their
smartphones."
I held up my phone, pointing out the newly-added app to Yula. I'd left it to
Doctor Babylon, but I wished that she'd picked a cooler icon for it...
Beneath the icon, which was a cutesy version of my face, there was a simple,
two-word name for the app.
Mochizuki Touya.
◇ ◇ ◇
"It's finally here!"
The beastking looked at his phone, cheering loudly once he saw the app
appear. Most of his nobles looked at him in confusion, but Royal Chancellor
Glatz and a few others who also had smartphones inexplicably started cheering
and flexing.
The beastking began downloading the app as soon as he could, but he could
barely contain his excitement. Once it downloaded, he anxiously brought his
trembling finger to the app icon. And, in a flash, he felt power unlike anything
he'd ever felt before flowing through his veins.
"Oooh! It's incredible!"
He rushed out to the castle courtyard and began focusing his power. He'd
always wanted to do this.
"[Fly]!" the beastking screamed right before he soared upward into the air.
"Oh! I'm flying! I'm actually flying! Ahahaha!"
He looked to his side, and Chancellor Glatz was also flying. The beastking
thought this was a bit redundant, since Glatz was a winged beastman. He just
assumed that the guy wanted to try it out, much like he did.
"[Storage]!"
The beastking pulled a sword out from nowhere. It was huge and crafted from
phrasium. This version of [Storage] was shared between all users of the app.
Weapons, armor, and even food had been stocked inside it well in advance.
Whoever took what was automatically recorded, and if anything was broken or
lost, then they'd be able to pay for it later.
"Glatz! I'm headed out!"
"Huh? Your Beastliness?!"
The beastking soared off to the south. Once he activated his beloved [Accel],
he started rocketing through the air.
"Amazing! I'm already at the battlefield!"
The royal soldiers stood at the southern plain, ready to face down the
incoming mutants. They were outnumbered two to one. And so, the beastking
stopped in mid-air and decided to use [Speaker] to rally his men.
"Warriors of Mismede! Show no fear this day! Give those shimmering
schmucks something to really think about! Show them our might! I'll be fighting
by your side, so battle with all you have!"
The Mismede soldiers cheered and waved their weapons in the air. The
beastking grinned wide, pointing down his hands at his men.
"Come forth, Winds... Blessed be the Updraft: [Tailwind]! Come forth,
Light... Blessed be the Flesh: [Skin Barrier]!"
The beastking enchanted his entire army with Wind magic to enhance their
speed and Light magic to enhance their defenses. The battle would go a lot
easier as a result.
"Warriors of Mismede, charge!"
"HRAAAAAAAARGH!"
Thus, the true battle began.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Hyaaah!"
The man swung his spear hard, slicing a mutant in half like it was made of
butter. Phrasium weapons were amazingly durable; he hadn't chipped his spear
at all.
The emperor of Regulus loved being able to fight again. His old bones no
longer creaked and his body was instead filled with vigor and might. And in
order to test out the magic, he tried something he'd been wanting to try for a
while.
"[Slip]!"
The mutants that were headed toward him tumbled in a straight line, allowing
the Regulus knights in their Chevaliers to take them out easily. Thankfully, there
had been enough basic Frame Gears in the shared [Storage] for all the nations
to have some.
"Your Majesty! Please, fall back! It's too dangerous!"
"Don't be foolish, my friends! I cannot fall back now, not at all! Touya would
surely laugh if I quit in the thick of it!"
The emperor of Regulus simply laughed in the face of his concerned knights.
Then, he pierced the core of another mutant that was shaped like an ant and
watched as it melted away.
The emperor had fought many battles during his youth. The fire inside him
had dimmed during his old age, but this battle was reigniting the spark once
more.
"How very exciting! I feel just as vigorous as I used to be!"
The emperor gleefully swung his spear around like a child playing with a toy.
He destroyed mutant after mutant with ease. He wasn't in a Frame Gear, yet he
fought just as skillfully as the men in the Chevaliers. This was, in part, due to his
thorough experience as a young man.
"Come, my knights! Follow me! Let us rid our fair land of these wrongdoers!"
"Hoo-rah!! All hail the emperor!"
The dull-golden glow of the mutants was gradually purged from Regulus.
◇ ◇ ◇
"Meow, meow, and meooooow!" Mr. Mittens screeched as he unleashed a
sword flurry, piercing through various mutant cores until he finally felled the
last one in the area. He'd beaten a whole batch by himself.
"Meow then... where to next?"
Mr. Mittens sheathed his crystal rapier as he turned to his fellow warrior,
Athos. Athos, who looked like an American shorthair, checked the map on the
smartphone-on-astring he had dangling from his neck. He skillfully swiped along
the phone with the soft toe beans on his paw pads.
"East Roadmare. Small village called Cattenip. Around ten mutants."
"Sounds like a tasty village..." Porthos, the tubby Persian cat, peeked at the
map and made a small comment.
"Ten rascally mutants? Let us march off to save the day, gents!"
The elegant Siamese cat, Aramis, raised his sword skyward. The other cats
drew their swords and met his.
"All for one, and one for all!"
"Well then, let's get those meowtants! [Teleport]!"
Using Sakura's Null spell, Mr. Mittens and the others warped off to save the
day.
◇ ◇ ◇
Piercing claws shredded the mutants, and hulking bodies crushed their cores.
Shirogane, the draconic butler of Drakliff Island, was leading an army of
Dragons against mutants that had appeared in the Gem Kingdom.
"Don't leave a trace behind! Our master, Touya, has ordered it!"
"Ping." "Pong." "Pang."
Shirogane, still in the physical form of a silver-haired young man, cast out his
arm as he ordered the attack. The three maid Gollems, Ruby, Saph, and Emerl,
imitated his pose.
"Graaargh!"
Giants of all shapes and sizes faced down the mutant horde. Though the
mutants absorbed the fire breath, the White Dragons capable of breathing frost
managed to slow down the enemy advance. The rest of the Dragons took that
chance to charge at the foes, their attacks strengthened by Shirogane's support
spells.
One of the mutants began charging up a particle beam blast toward
Shirogane...
"[Shield]."
Only to be effortlessly blocked by the man's magic. That spell could block just
about anything, save for an Upper Construct's beam attack.
"My, this magic is certainly splendid. I'd expect no less from Touya,"
Shirogane said as he smiled and gripped his smartphone, praising his employer.
He was overjoyed that he could muster such strength in a humanoid body.
Touya's enemies were, naturally, his enemies as well. Shirogane would not let
a single golden insect escape his wrath.
"Purge them all! Don't let a single one escape!"
"Ping." "Pong." "Pang."
◇ ◇ ◇
"Heh... They're really going for it. It's pretty cool watching them go wild."
"Wh-What nonsense is this?! How can those mere creatures be mustering
this strength?! What did you do, you bastard?!"
I grinned a bit, seeing Yula's cool demeanor break apart. The look on his face
was fraught with anger, confusion, and fear.
"Just a little power I like to call nunya."
"And just what the hell is nunya?!"
"Nunya business."
I laughed obnoxiously, taking great joy in taunting Yula. He snarled at me, fire
burning in his eyes. He clearly didn't think the situation was all that funny. I was
pretty amused that he could make that kind of expression, but maybe the cool
facade had been an act from the beginning.
The tide of battle was turning thanks to the Mochizuki Touya app. As its name
implied, it was an app that allowed people to do what I could do. They'd have
access to every single magical attribute possible, and their physical prowess
would be multiplied severalfold. Obviously, divinity stuff wasn't accessible,
though.
They could use as many spells as they wanted, too, since the app tapped into
a deep mana well within Babylon that I'd been regularly topping up. This was
my ultimate trump card. It was only to be deployed in a situation where I'd be
unable to help them, so they'd be able to help themselves through my power. It
was a means to entrust those I believed in to save the world themselves. It was
honestly a little reckless, so I wanted to save it as a last resort. But back at the
summit we'd had earlier, the world leaders did say they'd be happy to defend
the world with their own hands, so I trusted them. Plus, the fact that the app
download had reached my phone meant that I had a bridge to the other world.
Though there was a little bit of a signal delay, apparently.
I grinned, holding out my arms and starting a call on my phone.
"Y'ello. Yep, I'm good. Actually, I'm glad you waited, since it let me realize I
could make an outgoing call. Yeah, good call on your part."
"...H-Hold on. Who are you talking to?"
"Hm? Oh, yeah. I got pulled into some weird dimension. Don't worry about it,
I'm fine. I can trace my way home now."
"Wait, is that a communications device?! That's impossible! How could it be
functioning?!"
"Sorry, Doc, gimme a sec... Yo, Yula. Dude. Can you shut up? I'm on a call right
now. Hold on, I'll call back, Doc."
I abruptly ended my call with Babylon. I could understand Yula's frustrations.
This realm was supposed to be his, after all. Nothing was supposed to be able to
come in or out without his say-so, not even stuff like light or sound. Given that I
was here, in his personal space, making an outgoing call to someone he'd never
met before... It was pretty clear why he'd be upset.
The mass-produced smartphones were a product of Babylon, but mine was
different. It was a legitimate sacred treasure, something imbued with the
divinity of God Almighty. Back when the Reverse World was still separated from
the regular one, getting service was a pain. That was solved when we had a
dimensional disruptor constructed to link both worlds, but now the world was
merged it was basically irrelevant. Since I didn't want that kind of trouble to
happen again, I'd asked God Almighty, who'd been in the mortal world at the
time, to help me out with cell reception. He happily lent his aid, saying he
figured it'd be useful for me to have phone contact when I eventually went back
to Earth for a little while. It didn't take him long at all...
That was why I wasn't too worried after being brought to Yula's dimension.
Frankly, I just wanted to avoid having to call Karen and asking her to come pick
me up... That would've been way too embarrassing. Still, now that I'd had
enough time to get my bearings and pinpoint my relative location via my phone,
I could freely leave.
Ordinarily, I'd have taken care of the moron in front of me, but I didn't want
to risk the space around me collapsing. I'd have probably been able to survive if
I triggered a full Apotheosis, but I didn't want to run that kind of gamble.
"Ney told me about you. She said you were a strategic genius, but you rarely
dirtied your own hands. You've never come to the front and stared your
enemies down, have you?"
"And what of it? So long as I have pawns that can be easily manipulated, why
should I do the legwork?"
"That's why you're a fool, Yula. You think too little of your enemies. I think the
fact that you got a hold of a little bit of divinity went to your head."
"Stay your tongue! You've a lot of nerve, when you're exactly the same!" Yula
snarled furiously at me. He seemed to think that we were similar in that regard.
"Dude... Do you even know how weak that wicked god is? I mean, like... do
you even know what kind of god was used to create it?"
"Of course I know! The god himself told me of his power! He was an
unfathomably powerful god, above any other! He was the unbreakable god of
order! He called himself a neat god, for some reason, but I'm sure he was just
being modest... Wh-Why are you laughing?!"
I couldn't help but burst out laughing at Yula.
Pfftahaha! You idiot! He wasn't a neat god, he was a NEET god! Oh man,
okay... Okay... Calm down, Touya. I can't believe this. This is amazing... That
idiotic, pathetic NEET god must have given him an easily misunderstood
explanation. Kind of like someone ashamed of being unemployed explaining
things in an easily misconstrued manner. Like saying you work private security
without specifying that you stay in and watch your own house all day.
I remembered the Dragon king guy who tried to forcibly control Dragons with
that needle artifact to help him take over the world. He was pathetic, and
apparently, Yula was just as bad. Guys like him lied, tricked, and manipulated to
get whatever they wanted. They ended up using those stronger than them to
reach their own ends. They refused to dirty their own hands, saw themselves as
higher than the people they toyed with. They all decided of their own volition
that their enemies were lower than trash, and devised plans to sweep them
away like they didn't mean a thing. That was why they always got what was
coming to them.
In Yula's eyes, he probably thought everyone except me and my immediate
family were worthless small fries. He probably thought they wouldn't be worth
worrying about. That was his fatal, arrogant mistake.
"Look, you at least deserve to know this. That god you found? He was the
lowest ranking member divine being around. He was what's known as a servile
god. Actually, his rank was even lower than that because he got kicked out of
the divine realm for abandoning what little duties he had."
"Excuse me?!"
To be honest, the wicked god was probably a lot stronger now, given it had
eaten up so many souls. The fight against it was going to be a pain in the ass.
There were a hell of a lot of golden Skeletons among the mutant armies, so it
must have consumed at least that many human souls. Still, I had no obligation
to add that on to what I was saying.
"Either way, Yula. Whatever you were working toward ends today. You can sit
here and watch me take it away from you."
"Bastard...!"
I pictured the coordinates from my phone in my mind and locked on to my
world. Then, I warped away. Yula tried to say something, but it was too late. I
was gone.
"Whoa! C-Crap! [Fly]!"
I was a little bit shocked to find I'd come out in the middle of the air. I'd found
myself hurtling down from hundreds of meters in the sky, which was scary! It
was a bit hard to fine-tune my destination using a long-distance warp like that,
after all. I looked down just to be sure I was actually back in the right world. And
when I did, I noticed a city with a huge tower in it, which I vaguely recognized to
be Isenberg.
"Looks like I'm home safe... Now, what about the others?"
I landed atop the tower and pulled up my map. My fiancees were safe and
sound, a short distance from Isenberg. Seemed like they'd escaped the golden
palace, and I knew they had the Touya app as well. Everything was okay.
"Wh—?!"
Right when I was starting to relax, a sudden chill ran up my spine. I
immediately recognized the aura washing over me.
"No way..."
I turned to look at the golden palace and found that it had been replaced by
an immense pillar of light. The light swayed like heat dancing in the air. I could
tell at a single glance that it was unfettered divinity. It wasn't a pure divinity,
like that of Karen or God Almighty. It was a disgusting, twisted divinity. It was
steeped in muddy-gold darkness, like an amalgamation of negative human
emotion.
The hazy divinity shot upward until it took form in the air.
I couldn't even think of a proper way to describe it succinctly. Its upper body
was insect-like. It kind of reminded me of a silkmoth. It had massive compound
eyes, antennae on its head, six insectoid arms that jutted out from its sides, and
moth-like wings on its back. Its lower body was long, kind of like a snake's
stomach. Its belly swelled softly, emanating dark divinity from inside.
So far, one of the largest things I'd gone up against was the witch-king's
massive Gollem. But this thing? It was several times larger. The beastly form it
originally had was completely gone.
It slowly flapped its wings, descending to the golden palace below. When it
landed, it crushed the muddy-gold structure to tiny fragments. I wondered if
those wings were just for show, since they hardly seemed suited for giving its
massive body full flight.
There it stood, atop the wrecked mass, almost asserting its dominance over
the landscape.
"...So it finally hatched, huh? The wicked god's matured form is on full
display."
Those grim, shimmering compound eyes swiveled around and glared right at
me. It knew exactly where I was.
◇ ◇ ◇
Skreeeeeeeeeeckh...
The wicked god flapped its wings, emanating a noise that resembled nails on a
chalkboard.
Glimmering powder sprinkled from its wings, scattering across the land. It was
probably the same spore-stuff that the golden tree from Isengard was releasing
a while back. It transformed people who died while harboring negative
emotions or people who were just especially wretched.
It wasn't effective against people like me and my fiancees, but if I left it be,
then the spores would probably spread all around the world.
"Reginleif!"
I summoned my Frame Gear and leaped from Isenberg's tower. Then, I used
[Fly] to soar into the cockpit, setting my smartphone beside the monitor and
firing the machine up.
The display showed the wicked god turning toward me.
I heard a whirring sound, and particles of light began forming between its
antennae.
Oh shit!
"Gah!"
I took emergency evasive maneuvers, swooping down low and getting far
away from the tower.
Around three seconds later, a huge ball of light crashed into the tower,
creating an explosion larger than any I'd ever seen before. The wind pressure
created by the blast came rushing toward my Frame Gear.
"[Prison]!"
I secured Reginleif in a barrier, preventing chunks of rubble and metal debris
from hitting me.
A mushroom cloud rose up from the impact site, black smoke trailing off it like
a volcanic eruption. Suddenly, hunks of rock began falling from the sky.
I rose higher up as the barrier kept on getting pelted by the falling stone.
Then, I looked down to survey the situation. It was even worse than I'd feared.
The city of Isenberg had been completely wiped off the map.
The city had already been forsaken because of the golden Skeletons, but now
there wasn't even a trace of it left. The blast had carved it out of the earth.
That attack was far, far beyond the might of an Upper Construct's particle
beam. If it had been a lively city filled with people, that would've been utterly
catastrophic...
I had a feeling I wouldn't be able to block that attack with [Prison] or [Shield],
and [Reflection] was probably a no-go, too...
"No point sitting around on my ass. I better try attacking."
I split off the crystal boards on Reginleif's back and merged them into a large
blade.
"Gonna need a greatsword for this..."
The massive sword, which was honestly more like a gigantic triangle, pulsed
as I channeled divinity through it. Phrasium was a great conductor for mana,
but it also happened to channel divinity really well.
I raised my newly-forged holy blade and sent Reginleif charging toward the
wicked god. The six limbs that jutted from the monster's torso fired out laser
beams, as if they'd been waiting for my move.
I weaved in and out, deftly dodging the incoming blasts. Then, I closed in,
swinging my blade hard and severing one of its thin limbs. Thin was a relative
term here, since, due to the sheer size of the wicked god's body, even one of
those arms was wider than Reginleif. Despite the phrasium blade's divinity and
strengthened composition, I met a surprising amount of resistance while cutting
through.
The severed limb dropped to the ground and smashed to pieces.
Creaaaaaaaaaaak...
The wicked god's entire body sounded like it was moaning as it regenerated
the missing limb. I'd expected it to have that kind of ability, but I'd needed to be
sure.
"Blaze, o Fire! Blazing Penetration: [Burning Lance]!"
A massive, flaming lance appeared in the air and flew toward one of the
wicked god's wings. The magic attack pierced right through the wing, leaving a
scorched hole. Still, the wicked god was so large that it was akin to burning a
hole through a piece of paper with a cigarette. It regenerated the damage in
mere moments.
"It didn't absorb the spell... Guess it didn't retain that trait from the Phrase,
then?"
The Phrase lifeforms were capable of absorbing magic and using it to
strengthen themselves. But it seemed the wicked god didn't have that ability...
Or maybe it just didn't need it.
It could use its divinity to instigate its own regeneration and could fire lasers
without an external magic source.
"This thing's real big. I really don't know how I'm gonna kill it..."
If it was a regular organism, it would die if I went for the head or the heart,
but then I kind of wondered if gods could even die... No, if the divine venom
could supposedly kill gods, then it would be possible to kill this imperfect one.
I started thinking too deeply, failing to notice another laser barrage.
"Aw crap!"
I grabbed the controls and just barely evaded the strikes... Or at least, that
was how it should have gone. But the wicked god flapped its wings, causing an
air current that knocked Reginleif off course!
Before I even had time to react, a laser hit my Frame Gear directly, blasting it
back.
"Guh..."
"Protective Barrier Damaged. Operating at sixty-five-percent efficiency."
A voice came from my smartphone. The protective barrier around Reginleif
prevented the mech from taking direct damage, but it seemed like it'd only be
able to take around two more direct hits before breaking.
I righted Reginleif's position and glared down at the wicked god. I didn't think
it felt anything like emotion, it was probably just attacking me on instinct.
The wicked god had basically been formed from the negative emotions of
tens of thousands of people. It was just a mass of hatred, now. There wasn't a
dominant personality controlling it.
Even that NEET god had just fallen into the mass of darkness, alongside the
rest. Not that I was too surprised. NEETs weren't exactly known for their strong
wills.
The wicked god suddenly bellowed, as if enraged by something, and launched
several laser blasts at me. It couldn't have read my mind, could it? Those lasers
were really dangerous, so I needed to focus.
This kind of battle was like facing a boss monster on a blind run. I didn't know
its attack patterns. I had no idea what it was weak to, either. And so, I had no
choice but to be conservative.
Man, this really does feel like a boss fight. I can even hear the final boss music
from a certain famous JRPG series in my head... Hold on a sec... Huh? That's not
coming from inside my head! Why's the final boss music from a certain famous
JRPG series coming out of my cockpit's internal speakers?!
I turned to Reginleif to try and identify the source.
"What?!"
The display on the monitor showed a man sitting down in mid-air. He was
furiously strumming a guitar, which was hooked up to some speakers from
Babylon's storehouse. It was Sousuke, the god of music.
"Ohhh, hic! Wowshers."
"It's pretty impressive, you know? Wicked gods like this don't show up all that
often."
Suika, the god of alcohol, was standing nearby with a bottle in her hands.
Karen, the god of love, was also there. She was eating some potato chips.
They were just sort of sitting there, marveling at the wicked god.
"H-How come you guys are here?!"
"We're, hic, on a trip! The god of agriculture went to the, hic, puretree. Then
the three fighty ones are busy fighting the, hic! The uhhh... gold thingiesh, and
now we're here!" Suika giggled a bit as she spoke. This scene didn't exactly fit
the mood... I was supposed to be engaging in an epic clash for the sake of the
world! They were treating it like a picnic!
"I just came to see if you were doing well, you know? I guess you'd call this an
employee evaluation?"
"Whatever it is, it's goddamn annoying!"
C'mon, guys! I'm trying to fight here! Let me have my moment!
"Don't worry about it, hic! We got told not to interfhere... We can give ya
plenty advische, though."
I stared at the little drunkard, wondering what kind of advice a gremlin like
her was supposed to provide. But suddenly, Sousuke's guitar tune changed.
I turned back toward the wicked god, just in time to see its massive, snakelike tail barreling toward us.
All three of the nearby gods teleported away, which felt pretty unfair!
"Gah... [Teleport]!"
I copied the others and warped away to safety.
The massive tail crashed into the ground, splitting it apart. If that had hit
Reginleif, I definitely would've been flattened like a pancake.
"How am I even meant to hurt that thing?"
"Wicked gods are formed when a source of divinity merges with a source of
grudge or negativity, you know? They're monstrous apparitions that are imbued
with the power of the divine. So only divinity is gonna work!" Karen popped up
nearby and spoke plainly.
"Uhh... Haven't I been using divinity this whole time, though?"
"You've been usin', hic! Ushin' divinity but alsho not divinity. You got too
much, hic, attacshment to this world. You're all mixshed up, Touya! You're, hic,
like a cocktail! Cocktails are way niiice, but, hic, pure distilled is better! Get it?!
You gotta be a spirit, Touya!"
"... Karen, what is she saying?"
I didn't understand what the hell the little drunk was trying to say. I didn't
know why she was calling me a cocktail, or what she meant by attachments.
"Well, it's kind of like this, you know? You're a mix of godhood and humanity
right now. You're using divinity, but it's still impure because of your attachment
to your humanity, so it can't show its full power, you know? But at the same
time, you can't become a full god either, or else you won't be allowed to
interfere with this world's issues. You need to channel pure divinity through
your body and make use of it... all while keeping your human body intact."
"And, uh... how do I go about doing that, exactly?"
"You need to affirm your own goals, Touya. You need to gather your
determination to defeat the wicked god, and to leave behind any lingering
doubts about your godhood."
Karen's explanation kind of made sense. Or well, the whole attachment part
did, at least.
It was true that part of me just wanted to keep on living my regular human
life. Obviously, I wouldn't become a full god right away, but I was still afraid of
setting myself down a path I wouldn't be able to come back from.
But I had to come to terms with the fact that I was already on that path. I
hadn't gone down it very far, but I'd definitely been walking it for a while.
Despite that, I was still worried about leaving my humanity behind... So at least
in that regard, Suika was right about me having lingering attachments.
I even knew that a tiny part of me would be okay losing to the wicked god if it
meant I didn't have to fully embrace the divinity inside me... But I couldn't do
that, since it would be a slap in the face to all the precious allies that brought
me here.
"Hurry up! Right now, you're lingering too hard on something pointless, like a
guy who got dumped and won't stop thinking about his ex. You aren't a stalker,
are you?"
"What's with all the weird-ass metaphors?! Ugh... Whatever, I kinda get what
you mean. Thanks, Karen."
"Heheh, of course," Karen said as she grinned and flashed me a wink, Sousuke
strummed at his guitar.
...Why did you just strum a level-up sound effect from a video game? How am
I supposed to interpret that?!
"Heeey, hic! Don't thank herrr. I gave you the advice! Spirits! Distilled spirit,
that's what you gotta be!"
I still couldn't understand that annoying little gremlin.
I sighed slightly as another barrage of lasers came flying in at us. Karen and
the others warped away, just like before.
"Do your best, you know?" Karen's voice rang out before she faded into thin
air. The three of them had clearly opted to watch this battle from a safer
distance. To gods like them, this was somewhat of a casual day out, like going to
a baseball game.
"Alright... Better not disappoint my crowd, then."
I began to swirl divinity around my body. Suika's comment about me being a
cocktail kind of made sense. My magic power, something tied to me as a
human, was always mixed in when I used it. I had to distinctly separate the two
things.
I decided to use God Almighty as a reference point. My divinity came from
him, so it shared the same characteristics as his own. All I had to do was
replicate the pure divinity that he emanated during the Ramissh incident. I
needed to distill my own divinity, to create that kind of aura. Despite the
intensity of this task, I felt oddly calm.
A strange light drifted up past my mind's eye, staying in the center of my
focus. At first, it felt like a tiny little spark, but at the same time, I could feel it
expand like a grand explosion. It was the spark of creation within me,
something new being born.
I opened my eyes and felt a strange rush of power through my body. It was
divinity running through me. But it wasn't like before, when I'd garbed myself in
it. This time, it was flowing out from within.
I'd done it. It was a strange feeling, but it was kind of like assembling a plastic
model and the parts just slotting perfectly into place after a little push.
It happened so seamlessly that I was amazed that I'd never managed it
before. I knew in my heart that this divinity was my own... and that it would be
okay for me to embrace it.
The power I exuded spilled out into Reginleif's ether liquid, spreading across
the entire Frame Gear. Naturally, the phrasium greatsword in Reginleif's hand
was also filled with pure divinity.
Karen's divinity had a kind of pink tinge to it, and Moroha's felt like a sky-blue
with a little gold lining. But my divinity? My true divinity? It shone with a silver...
No, a platinum hue.
It was different from God Almighty's divinity. This color belonged to me.
Another laser barrage came in from the wicked god. I dodged it and slashed at
the wicked god's limbs just like earlier. This time it was different, there wasn't
as much resistance in the cut. It was like chopping through a potato with a
kitchen knife.
Creaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!
The area I'd cut began to go up in black smoke, and the wicked god's body
began contorting in agony. I'd just severed a limb, but it wasn't growing back. It
fell to the ground and melted into viscous sludge.
I did it... That means I can win this!
"Touya, are you alright?!"
I suddenly heard Yumina's voice over the comms system. I turned around and
saw the girls in their Valkyries. They were headed in my direction from the ruins
of what had been Isenberg.
But... just as I saw them, I also saw particles of light gathering between the
wicked god's antennae. It was charging up its attack much faster than the last
time, too. I barely even had time to process what was happening before it
launched the same attack that had obliterated the city right toward my
fiancees