The ultimate battle form of monosyllables that Alice invoked. The one
who took the initiative to challenge that power, which was completely
unknown to the Gods… was Chronois.
Chronois immediately stopped time and approached Alice with as much
speed as she could muster.
The power that she exercises is different from that of ordinary magic. If
one wants to stop time, there are several kinds of such magic that can
be used once one is of the Count-rank.
However, Chronois' power is different from them. The authority
bestowed upon her by Shallow Vernal, the God of the world, is
overwhelmingly superior to their Time Magic, and the only one who
can interfere with the time manipulated by Chronois is Ein, "who was
also given the power to manipulate time by Shallow Vernal".
In fact, in the early stage of the battle, Alice fought back against
Chronois' authority of time by swapping with a clone beforehand and
exploiting the opening that appeared that she had opened up.
That's why Chronois quickly attacked without giving her time to switch
with her clone.
Within the stopped time, Chronois approaches Alice with
overwhelming speed… but in a moment of time, she sees "Alice turning
towards her within the time that was supposed to be stopped".
[Impossib—— Ghaaakk!?]
Surprised, Chronois' body was blown away by Alice's nonchalant
counterattack, and rolling down on the ground several times, she
released her time stop.
[God of Time and Space!?]
[…I- Impossible… Even within my stopped time…]
[Yep, "I can now move within it".]
Alice nonchalantly replies to the dumbfoundedly muttering Chronois.
Life, who has quickly finished healing Chronois' wounds, approaches
Alice.
[God of Time and Space, take command of everyone! I'll take care of
her!]
Alice catches the fist that Life swings at her, but Life's overwhelming
physical strength surpasses her in terms of pure strength, and she
begins to push Alice little by little.
(…In this case, I can do this. I have more pure power than her… If I can
engage her in battle with God of Time and Space's support…)
She could see a faint chance of victory… But immediately after… Life
was powerfully slammed on the ground.
[…Eh?]
The damage she received itself was minimal. However, she couldn't
immediately understand what had happened.
(…"I lost in power"? Me? How? After all, just now…)
She certainly should have been overpowering her. It was impossible for
her, the God of Life, to misjudge the physical capabilities of her
opponent. With that thought in mind, she turned her gaze to Alice, who
was quietly looking down at her, and became astonished.
She then immediately shouted to Chronois, who was astonishedly
looking from a distance.
[God of Time and Space! This is bad! We need to defeat her quickly…]
[W- What do you mean?]
[It's going up! In just seconds… no, even faster than that! Phantasmal
King's "physical abilities and magic power continues to increase at an
explosive rate"! If she becomes even more powerful, she'll really be out
of our control!]
[What!?]
Fate, who was watching their exchange of attack and defense from a
short distance away, was also astonished, as her eyes opened wide, just
like Chronois and Life.
[Eeeehhhh… W- What's happening? Shall-tan is clearly getting stronger
and stronger…]
[…Let me explain it to you.]
[Eh? Ahh, errr, if I remember correctly, you're Shall-tan's best friend…]
[Umu, she asked me to explain it to you. My name is Iri——]
[You're "Riz-tan"! Unnn, I don't know what's going on, so please
explain.]
[…Wait, calling me that is…]
[Explain it already!]
[U- Umu…]
(T/N: Irisu → Risu-tan. I can't find the words to translate it in english,
but if Alice/Iris' world were somewhat the same as Kaito's, Fate sounds
like she's calling Iris "Squirrel-tan.)
Iris, materializing so that she could explain what's happening to Fate,
looked as if she wanted to complain about the nickname Fate had
immediately given her, but Fate's vigorous urging pushed her to start
explaining.
[…That is the power of the ultimate battle form of her heart tool,
Ἑκατόγχειρες. No, I guess it might be better to say that it's one of its
"special characteristics".]
[Errr, Shall-tan's Ἑκατόγχειρες will allow her to use the power of the
person she's bonded with, right?]
[Umu, that indeed is its normal ability. Meanwhile, that ultimate battle
form of her is the form she had once when "she had spun the hope of
the whole world" to face the Evil God, and it's also the power that
transformed her body into "the Incarnation of Hope".]
[…U- Unnn?]
[The true power of that ultimate battle form is that it adds all the bonds
she weaves to her own power… That's more than powerful enough on
its own, but Alice has gained another ability after becoming the
Incarnation of Hope.]
As if she still didn't understand what Iris was trying to say, Fate
curiously tilted her head.
[She told you about it earlier, didn't she? That she usually "doesn't grow
in physical ability or magic power"…]
[Errr, I think she said it only grows under a certain condition… Does
that mean that that ultimate battle form is that condition for her
growth?]
[Umu. "If I can't win the way I am now, I should just become a me that
can win", is what she likes to say before… Her current form is the
embodiment of this mindset of hers. People's thoughts… Hope… All of it
doesn't end. "All of it will make her explosively and indefinitely grow"…
That is the true ability of Ἑκατόγχειρες's ultimate battle form. And the
growth she gained after using it "doesn't disappear even if she releases
monosyllables".]
[Eeeehhhh!? T- That's too absurd… Then, the reason why Shall-tan was
super stronger than 20,000 years ago was…]
[Yeah, it's because she had fought in a battle with that God from another
world in that state before. She grew stronger at that time.]
It was truly a tremendously absurd ability. There is no end to Alice's
power now. If she can't deal with Chronois' authority of time, she will
grow to deal with it.
If she was being physically overwhelmed by Life, she would evolve into
a being physically capable of overcoming her. This is her ultimate
power that allows her to easily step into the domains of the Gods, and
continue to infinitely evolve…
Chronois and Life, who had managed to overhear Iris' words, also had
despairing expressions on their faces.
(…Well, this ability has various restrictions like if all of my abilities
outperform my enemy, my growth rate will slow down, or how this
ability has strict activation conditions buuuuuut~~ I don't really need
to bother telling them this, do I?)
Alice's abilities have grown to the point where not a single strike can
wound her body anymore, even if all the Gods attacked her at the same
time. The Gods don't have any chance anymore… However, there is still
a light in the eyes of the Gods.
Seeing them act like this, which made Alice know that "it still went just
as she had expected"…"She quickly released Ἑκατόγχειρες's ultimate
battle form".
As meteor-like lights began dancing around Alice's body again, she
spoke, touching one of those lights.
[…Now then, I've met all the "requirements" now. However, looking at
this again, I really feel like it would take me some time to get used to
this.]
[…What are you talking about?]
Neither Chronois nor Life could understand Alice's intentions. After all,
right after they thought that Alice would begin one-sidedly overrun
them from here on out, she deactivated that ultimate power of hers.
Even though they knew that she would still retain the growths she
gained, they felt that there was no advantage to releasing it.
[No, I just thought I'd play one more of my "trump cards".
Ἑκατόγχειρες's ultimate battle form is indeed powerful but… it's more
convenient to use this in its normal form. You're wondering what this
is? What do you think? Well, I'm just going to end this quickly, so I'll just
tell everyone the answer… It's "Kaito-san's Heart Tool".]
[ [ ! ? ] ]
Chronois and Life know that the Heart Tool was the mysterious ability
that Alice was using. That's why, when they heard that it is Kaito's Heart
Tool, they became even more vigilant.
Their decision may have been right… but whether they can handle it
with their vigilance is another matter…
[The heart treads upon the definite path— Smiling together— Crying
together— Accumulating footprints of memories together— The bonds
I weave are the fragments of a miracle— My heart, burst forth!
Together, become one! "Αναμνήσεις"!]
(T/N: Memories)
The moment she said those words, a dazzling light was released that
covered the space. And when it cleared up… looking as if she was about
to start crying, Alice muttered.
[…I just need a little time. That's why, please lend me your strength.]
As her voice gently trembled, with an expression that doesn't fit the
battlefield she was currently in, her words were answered with the
sound of footsteps.
[…Unnn. I'll help you, "Big Sister Alicia" is saving… someone important
to Big Sister after all.]
[Of course. Master… The flames of my loyalty aren't so fragile that it can
be extinguished by "dying once".]
[Good grief, just when I thought I'd been summoned to the Lord's
service, I found myself in additional manual labor. Well, fine. I owe you a
debt after all… a debt so great that I couldn't repay it when I'm alive.]
A tall, blonde beauty with a face similar to Alice's, a girl with knight's
armor with fiery red hair, and a dour-looking priest in a vestment with
black upside-down crosses on them… stood next to Alice.
It wasn't just them. Before they knew it, a large number of people began
appearing behind Alice that it's too many to count.
These are the bonds that the girl who was once called a Hero has spun.
The irreplaceable friends she had fought together and lived together.
Now, those people are gathered again. Passing through the great wall of
the death, to the Hero's side——