With the Earth God's high opinion of Alice's abilities, the battle is becoming even more intense.
The light bullets that the Earth God releases from her wings are much faster than before, and they are constantly being released with even more power, but its attacks still couldn't reach Alice.
Looking at Alice, who dodged her attacks with body movements that could even be said as artistic, the Earth God proceeded to analyze her.
Even though she wasn't extremely fast, Alice continued to evade her attacks. In the eyes of the Earth God, Alice appeared to be one of the most powerful beings in this world.
Normally, when they hold this much overwhelming power, their ways of battling would be cruder... However, it can be said that Alice's battle techniques, "the weapons of the weak" had been polished to the maximum.
The basis of Alice's strength is...her overly keen ability to perceive and respond to a crisis.
The speed at which she perceives the looming danger, the attacks that would harm her, is frighteningly quick, and she is able to accurately use the huge number of cards she had in hand and make use of it to deal with her opponent.
It was a power that must have been acquired from vast combat experience, and the Earth God assumed that the girl in front of her was accustomed to fighting a far superior opponent.
However, if that were the case, some doubts still remain... As mentioned before, in the eyes of the Earth God, Alice is supposed to be the most powerful being in this world... Then, how could she get used to fighting so many opponents that are far more powerful than her?
She has overwhelming experience in dealing with attacks she has never seen before, from angles that she should have never seen before and knows how to fight opponents that are far more capable than she is.
That should mean that Alice isn't born strong just like the Earth God... It was also proof that she was "a weak person who became strong".
That's why the Earth God had overflowing admiration for her from within her heart.
For her to refine her blade to the point where she could fight her, the Earth God wondered how many times she had bared her fangs in the face of death...
However, Earth God couldn't just be impressed by her on this occasion. She still hasn't achieved her main goal yet.
Investigating Kaito... With the information she read just from what she could see on the surface, she could only recognize him as just an ordinary person, but the Earth God doesn't think that's all he is either.
Then, she thought that it may be what was on the inside, and she was about to assess that, but that hindrance had to butt in, making her pull quite a distance away from Kaito.
[Early, Conclusion.]
Alice's fighting style is interesting, as she was able to fight her "without easing up" a single bit.... but she can't waste any more time.
The Earth God doesn't have any problems even if this fight is prolonged. The girl in front of her will also be able to handle such a prolonged fight without any problem... However, there was some anxiety in the Earth God's heart.
She will be fine, so will the girl in front of her. However, what about that human? Humans, unlike beings such as the two of them, can't generate inexhaustible amounts of energy. If this fight goes on for days, months or years, that human will die... No, even if the human doesn't die from getting caught up by their attacks, if that human suffers from hunger... Wouldn't that mean that the human is harmed?
If that's the case, at that moment, the half-body of that God will intervene. If that happens, the situation would turn for the worst. She wouldn't be able to determine the true value of that human.
While thinking about this, the Earth God... Finally launched an all-out attack with "only her power".
The newly created light bullets, each of which is several meters in diameter... with over hundreds of millions of these light bullets released at a speed comparable to that of light.
The rush of light that filled the space instantly engulfed Alice's body and caused a really huge explosion.
[Conclusion...!?]
[...F- Fufufu... Hahaha...]
The Earth God thought that this was already settled, but on the end of Earth God's gaze, she found the "unharmed" Alice, laughing from within the smoke of the explosion.
[Since "I've lost everyone", I've always, always been incomplete, as if I'm using incompatible parts in place of my insufficiency.]
[...Magic Power, Radical, Ascend?]
[There's an enemy in front of me that I need to defeat, and behind me is my important person that I want to protect... Ahhh, this is it... This is the real me... Finally, I'm finally "catching up to my old self"...]
[!?]
[This is—— At this moment—— The farthest my heart had reached—— Exceed my limits—— And now, weave the world! ——Ἑκατόγχειρες!!!]
With a powerful shout, the numerous lights that surround Alice are all absorbed into her body.
The pressure released by Alice increases and along with that, her magic power increases.
Although Alice is supposed to be the only one in front of the Earth God, Alice's presence feels overwhelming, as if a vast number of warriors are forming an army, and a smile appears on Alice's lips.
[Iris, Noel... Everyone, lend me your strength. I won't let anyone steal Kaito-san, I don't want to be parted with Kaito-san.... and I will not be defeated by anyone! Come... Let's begin! Let's kill a God for the second time!]
[Ability, Ascend... Threat.]
Within the infinite space, flashes of light repeatedly exploded.
The Earth God stopped holding back and unleashed a variety of attacks on Alice... but she is still alive and well.
If the Earth God creates a humongous blade of light and cleaves her, she will change form and evade like mist. Even if she surrounds her with walls of light to eliminate her escape route and unleash an attack inside, Alice would change into a different form again, slips through the wall of light and evades her attack.
With the exchange so far, the Earth God was able to recognize Alice's abilities as well.
This ability which she calls Ἑκατόγχειρες allows her to transform into someone who meets a certain kind of condition and use that being's abilities... And as for the abilities that she can use, there are two kinds of beings that she can transform to: Those beings who she can only use for a moment, and those who she can continue to transform into unless she cancels it herself.
The most troublesome transformations are those ones that she can transform into all the time... A girl with two shades of black hair with an enormous staff, a woman with straight golden hair with glowing twin swords, a spear-knightess with flaming red hair and a man dressed in priest's robe with a Bible in hand... These four are the only ones that the Earth God has seen so far, but "these beings who hold weapons" were clearly more powerful than her other transformations.
Of course, the Earth God herself is an overwhelmingly strong being, as she changed her attack pattern one after another as they fought, but Alice would choose the right ability from the huge amount of cards she had.
[....]
Currently, the wings on the Earth God's back were "cut off in half" and there were cuts all over her body, so it could be said that she was somewhat pushed to the edge.
Of course, she was far from being in a predicament. If she wanted to, the Earth God could just annihilate this body and recreate it again. The reason she isn't currently repairing her wounds is that she had judged that they don't particularly hinder her movements, so it's fine even if she leaves them alone.
However, her mind is in a stalemate in terms of attacking back.
The most effective means of attack against Alice is presumably an unavoidable, ultra-wide attack... but if she were to do that, there's a chance that Kaito will be caught up as well.
She could also fight in melee but... That could get Kaito caught up in the shockwaves that were to occur.
For the Earth God, who has no intention of breaking her promise to Shallow Vernal, these methods aren't something that she can choose.
Just as she was thinking of how to get rid of this troublesome opponent, the Earth God holds her hand towards the approaching Alice.
[!? Tsk...]
Thereupon, Alice's eyebrows twitched for a moment... and seeing the Earth God about to launch an attack that she could have evaded like before, but she burst forward and straightforwardly approached.
Seeing the clear impatience on Alice's movements that she had never shown before, the Earth God didn't overlook that... "and pulling back the hand that was pointed at her", she was blown away by Alice's fist.
[...Eh?]
Seeing her fist struck her face too cleanly, Alice's eyes widened in surprise, stopping her movements and looked like she started thinking.
Then, after seeing the Earth God regain her stance, she moved a long distance in an instant and returned back to Kaito's side.
[Eh? A- Alice!? W- What the heck is going on...]
As a human, Kaito couldn't possibly see the battle between the Earth God and Alice, as he could only see some things glowing in the distance and didn't understand the situation at all.
That's why he was surprised at the sudden appearance of Alice and asked her what was going on.
However, Alice doesn't answer the quiet, still remaining alert of the Earth God, she spoke.
[...Kaito-san, apparently, that woman... It doesn't seem to have any intention of hurting Kaito-san.]
[...Eh?]
[For a moment, the place where Kaito-san and I are located is perfectly aligned in a straight line from her point of view... Well, even if she had shot me like that, I had a plan to deal with it, but for her... That should have been the perfect chance to attack. However, she interrupted her attack.]
Yes, the reason as to why Alice's eyebrows twitched just now was because a great chance for Earth God to strike Alice appeared.
Alice was moving around as much as possible so that the attack wasn't led in the direction where Kaito was, but she couldn't completely seal off the movements of an opponent as powerful as the Earth God, and she was prepared to take some damage in that situation.
However, the Earth God didn't shoot.
[...Perhaps, that woman stopped attacking me to avoid the probability of hitting Kaito-san. And also, she never tried using widespread extermination... It seems that she has circumstances that prevent her from hurting Kaito-san.]
[...]
[In that case, what do you think we should do? It seems like there's a chance we could end this situation peacefully, you know?]
[...]
There was a good chance that the Earth God would not and could not hurt Kaito. Recognizing this, Alice's slightly hotblooded mind cooled down and she decided to ask for Kaito's judgment.
Surprised by Alice's sudden question, as Kaito kept his silence in response... The Earth God, who was "fully healed of her wounds", approached the two of them.