I summoned countless Banish Chakrams into the air.
Herode, too, materialized translucent rhombus-shaped objects out of thin air.
"Phantasmagoria Lore."
"Order. Barrage."
The rhombus-shaped objects rotated, and lasers rained down like a storm.
But the incoming Banish Chakrams tore through them, scattering them to nothing.
Undeterred, Herode drew the sword mounted on her left arm and charged.
I drew my knife and met her head-on.
Twice, three times, four times — our weapons clashed.
Sword versus knife. Height difference. Clearly, I was at a disadvantage.
And the time limit was closing in.
"Field Quake Lore."
The ground rumbled.
"Ngh!?"
Herode staggered. Now's my chance.
In one step, I drove the Banish Lore Knuckle into Herode's abdomen.
She grunted, but it was shallow. One more shot, then — huh? What?
Her eyes — Herode's pupils flared with a crimson-purple glow.
I instinctively flinched, but momentum won out, and I lunged in anyway.
"......—Over Code."
My right arm, the one Riv had stabbed, glowed an eerie bright red and swelled up.
It caught the Banish Low Knuckle and deflected it.
"Guh!"
But she wasn't about to be swatted aside and let that opening slip.
She swung the sword in her left arm. But I wasn't giving up either.
"What...! ...?"
Herode's eyes went wide. My right arm was wrapped in the cosmos.
"......["
"Cosmic"
"Arm"
"Loa"
".]"
I grabbed the sword in her left arm and held on.
Five seconds left. Four. Three. I unleashed it.
"One Stroke, Demon Severing—!!"
With Agaro's Knife Custom 3 in my left hand, I brought it crashing down on Herode's sword and cleaved through.
The severed fragments morphed into arms. Two seconds. One.
"Gguuaaaaaaahhh!"
Herode screamed and hit the ground.
———Zero seconds. I returned to my normal form.
"Pant, pant... just as I declared... one arm, I took..."
I held my knife at the ready, just in case.
She's still going to fight? When I tensed up in caution, Herode spoke from where she lay on the ground.
"You've done well. Impressive."
"...I, um, I'm sorry for going so overboard with everything."
Pakira being kidnapped aside, I did think I'd gone a bit too far.
Besides, part of me wondered whether this could have been settled through negotiation from the start.
No, that would have been difficult.
Herode had been following the Master's orders.
Obeying commands without question, even when they were irrational — that was precisely the kind of thing a machine would do.
In my past-life memories, there was something about AI like that.
How they initially followed orders faithfully, kept executing them, and it ended in catastrophe.
"Wh-what in the world... is happening...?"
I heard a voice that wasn't mine, or Riv's, or Haiyarn's, or Herode's.
It was the startled voice of a girl.
I looked, and there beside Pakira was a small figure clad in a white hooded robe.
Her face was hidden, but it was clearly a girl.
When Pakira saw me, she gave a faint, wry smile.
"Herode!?"
The girl rushes over to Herode.
"MASTER... I apologize. I failed to execute the order."
"Don't speak. The damage is to your arm and stomach?"
"MASTER... It's not enough to cause a shutdown. Wof did not intend to destroy me."
"Wof...?"
Only then does the girl look at me, as if just realizing something.
Then she shows a blank, puzzled expression.
"He's just a child. Herode lost to a child...?"
"That is correct."
"That can't be. You have a performance advantage over Baltazar and are stronger."
So that's how it was. Riv was indeed strong. And Herode was acting with non-lethal intent.
If she had moved to kill, the battle would have been even fiercer.
"Seems like you made quite a spectacle."
Pakira-san approaches me.
"Hmm... Wof... quality..."
At some point, Riv-san brings over a still-twitching Hyaern.
Well, even I have to admit, grabbing someone by the ears when they're unconscious is a bit much, coming from me.
"Um, well, I did go too far..."
I was in a hurry, true, but I do feel a little remorseful.
"Hmm... Pakira... are you alright?"
"Mm. I'm perfectly fine. Sorry for worrying you."
She looked completely unharmed. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"I did tell you to incapacitate them without lethal force, but... you should have been more... adaptable... in your response."
Master had heard the full account and was holding his head in his hands.
Can't really blame him, though — it is a machine, after all.
"Say, Wof. There's something I'd like to discuss."
"What is it?"
"Would you hear Master out?"
"Hear him out? Come to think of it, why did you snatch Pakira in the first place?"
"I mistook her for Yomido."
Figures.
When I pressed for details, it turned out she had been enemies with the Chief God and Lord Yomido during the Great War.
And just before the war ended, she had fled and found her way to this ship.
At that point, my first thought was:
Chief God? There was a Chief God? I had no idea.
Well, if there's a goddess of knives, then I guess there would be.
If gods exist, then surely there'd be one who rules over them.
The Chief God... but actually, when was this Great War even supposed to have taken place?
And for that matter — what exactly was Master, if she'd fought in it?
Could it be... a god?
The same moment.
Celestial Emperor-class interstellar colony ship Great Roar.
Central habitation zone Starlight City.
Main Brain Tower.
Plaza just in front of the Second Outer Defensive Wall.
"Uwoooooah!"
"Nwaaaaah!"
Agaro and Baltazal were exchanging blows.
Baltazal's mechanical right arm distorted Agaro's face.
Agaro's left arm dented Baltazal's hard abdomen.
Both were sent flying, but immediately charged in to strike again.
Both of their faces were grinning. They laughed with glee, with enjoyment, with happiness.
Agaro was bleeding. Baltazal was leaking some kind of fluid.
The man and the mech were wrecked, covered in wounds. And yet they kept trading punches.
The magic sword "Flunting II" and Flametongue were both broken and stuck in the ground nearby.
Incidentally, Flametongue was regenerating.
"Hoo-hah! Men are such idiots."
"That they are."
"That's right."
The women sat on a nearby bench, watching the idiots beat each other up.
They were also a bit dirty from having been fighting until just a short while ago.
"Daaaaaaaahhhhhh!"
"Seiyaaaaaaaahhhh!"
This brawl continued for a while, until both fighters collapsed in a mutual draw.
Meanwhile, the girls had long since lost interest and were chatting happily about romance.
Meanwhile, old Hormidas was in his own room.
Due to his advanced age, the wear and tear over the years was severe, and the condition of his memory storage had been terribly bad lately.
So the past several days' worth of memories had been erased — in other words, he had completely forgotten everything and was just spacing out.
Even now, he was addressing the floating pink sphere: "Hey there. Is today's food ready yet?"
"Indeed, indeed."
"Beep… beep… beep… Afterlife Vision is… issuing a warning… your energy intake… has been completed in accordance with regulations… any further… energy intake… will cause damage… Afterlife Vision System… guarantees your health tomorrow… beep…"
"Indeed, indeed."
"Beep… beep-beep-beep… beep…"
And at a considerable distance away, there was a lone outpost.
Its second floor. The middle room.
"Naa…"
Chubby Dagaa was sleeping.
Sleeping soundly. He looked happy.
And so, the battle came to an end.