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.