The one who stood up with a look of delight upon hearing the report of an enemy attack was Atophe.
"Where is the enemy!"
"The beach! It's the Battle God Badigadi! Shandor is holding him off right now—retreat now, put some distance between—"
"Ahahahaha! Badigadi's turned against us? That suits me just fine! Royal Guard! Follow me!"
Atophe didn't wait to hear the rest of my words. She charged toward the beach with her royal guard in tow.
There was no stopping her.
Of course,
The other demon races also mobilized for evacuation without hesitation.
"I will fight too," Ruijerd said.
But the Demon God was different.
He chased after Atophe as if to say that now was the time to honor his promise.
Atophe and the Demon God had gone off to fight.
In that instant, my mind shifted from "retreat" to "engagement."
Shandor, Atophe, and the Demon God Maltod.
If all three fought and lost, we'd suffer a massive blow to our combat strength.
I concluded that even at a disadvantage, we needed to hold our ground and face the enemy head-on.
I wasn't panicking.
I had more than enough fighting power—me, Eris, Ruijerd, the Soldat tribe warriors, Cliff, Elinalize, plus Atophe, Muiqe, ten members of the royal guard, and the Demon God.
Somewhere deep down, I believed we could win.
I boarded the Magic Armor that I'd left at the edge of the banquet hall.
---
I'd given the retreat order and boarded the Magic Armor.
In that brief span, the battlefield had shifted.
Near the third city of Heilerul, waist-deep in the ocean, Badigadi and Atophe's group were clashing.
The ones engaging in close combat were Atophe and the Demon God.
Badigadi faced the two of them with Geese resting on his shoulder.
The difference in power was staggering. Even with Geese perched on his shoulder, Badigadi handled Atophe and the Demon God like children.
Overwhelmingly so.
Shandor was nowhere to be seen.
Nowhere at all—had he been taken out?
The royal guard surrounded Badigadi at a distance, unleashing magic.
Ice arrows, fire arrows, rock projectiles rained down on Badigadi like a storm.
But they seemed to dissolve just before reaching him.
The magic from the royal guard wasn't reaching Geese.
Was that an ability of the Battle God Armor?
Or was Geese using some kind of mana-enchanted item?
If it was the latter, I wanted to take out Geese on that shoulder as early as possible.
Should I have tried to defeat Geese while Shandor and Badigadi were fighting earlier?
No—Shandor had gone down right after I'd left.
If I'd been delayed even slightly in dealing with Geese, I likely wouldn't have made it back to the banquet hall alive.
Geese would have thoroughly researched me.
He'd have prepared countermeasures.
Even with me right in front of him, his posture radiated ease.
I shouldn't assume he could be killed with a single rock projectile.
But there was no reason not to try, either.
There was no time to think.
Atophe and the Demon God were both tough, but even from the sidelines, it was clear they were being overpowered by Badigadi.
The front line could collapse at any moment.
"I'm going too!"
"Stop!"
I restrained Eris, who was about to charge out, and channeled mana into both hands.
Fortunately, thanks to Atophe and the Demon God, there was distance between us and Badigadi.
Atophe and the Demon God.
I'd wait for the moment they were simultaneously blown away.
"I'll hit him with magic first! Cliff, I'm going to snipe him—support me with magic!"
"Leave it to me!"
For a moment I hesitated, worried about catching Atophe and the Demon God in the crossfire.
But Geese was clearly visible. I wasn't sure if it would work, but I had a clear shot.
Now was the chance. I wouldn't think about failure or collateral damage.
All I had to do was land one hit.
What to use... Rock projectile?
No—lightning.
At minimum, the royal guard's rock projectiles had been neutralized just before impact.
Maybe mine would work, but I'd use a different spell.
Alright.
I took a deep breath and raised my left hand.
I directed the blood flow within my body toward my left hand.
Then, from my left hand into the sky, I didn't just send mana—I used a gust of wind to create clouds.
Suppressing my impatience, I took my time, making the clouds bigger and bigger.
Rain began falling around us.
In the distance, thunder started rumbling.
The wind picked up. The ocean began to churn.
Cumulonimbus of Thunder.
Normally, I'd compress and release the spell before it was complete.
But this time I spread it out.
Using both a tornado and updraft, I expanded the thundercloud as large as possible.
The rain on the beach intensified.
Not yet.
The wind pressed Eris's hair against her face.
Not yet.
The waves rose higher, sending spray over the three still fighting.
Almost there.
The sky was entirely blanketed by clouds.
The surroundings were dark, and the rain reduced visibility to less than fifty meters.
But I had Clairvoyance.
Clairvoyance locked onto the three continuing their battle as it always did.
It locked onto Atophe and the Demon God.
My right hand.
I released the mana I'd been accumulating.
The clouds contracted all at once.
I suppressed the raging mana, concentrating it into a single point.
I timed it.
Atophe and the Demon God attacked simultaneously, and were simultaneously blown away.
In that instant.
I dropped the mana.
"Lightning Pillar."
It wasn't a bolt of lightning.
It was a single column of light.
The instant it appeared, sound vanished from the world.
The rain cut off in a single heartbeat, and silence and light enveloped everything.
Beneath the column of light, a massive pillar of water formed.
A thunderous roar.
A sound reminiscent of a lightning strike battered my eardrums.
"...sand... to the... earth..."
Through that roar, I caught fragments of Cliff's incantation.
I recognized the spell he was about to use and moved to assist.
In my field of vision was a mass of water surging toward us.
A wall of water, threatening to sweep everything away.
It bore down on us with terrifying speed— and—
"Sand Swarm."
A mass of sand collided with it, canceling it out.
Thanks to my and Cliff's combined magic, the water mass turned into brown rain and fouled the sea and the beach.
I cut my Clairvoyance and strained my eyes, searching for gold.
"............"
Nothing came into view.
Clairvoyance wasn't active, but...
I glanced around and saw that everyone else was squinting just like me.
But there was still nothing.
Nothing visible.
No trace of him anywhere.
"Did we get him?"
The words slipped out before I could stop them.
I'd said it.
Saying it wouldn't change anything, but it was an ominous thing to mutter.
"!"
By the time I noticed, it was too late.
Eris. Ruijerd.
The sharp-eyed ones were all looking up.
The next instant, a pillar of sand erupted right in front of me.
Something had fallen from the sky.
Even drenched in muddy rain, it sparkled as it descended.
Golden.
"Ugh."
A sound escaped my lips.
It landed right before me.
Golden armor.
Under the helmet, I couldn't tell if that really was a face I knew or not.
"Thought I was gonna die."
The voice came from the armor's shoulder.
Caked in mud, he was riding there.
The monkey-faced demon.
"My name is the Battle God Badigadi! Ally of the human God and bearer of the name Battle God!
"N-no, I refuse!"
"Fuahahaha! No room for negotiation!"
The golden fist struck me.
One blow.
With a single strike, the armor shattered into pieces, and with fading consciousness, I was sent flying through the air.
My awareness was slipping away.
In my dimming vision, I saw them.
Eris, Ruijerd, Atophe, the Demon God.
All of them charging at the Battle God at once.
——That day, the third city of Heilerul was destroyed.
---
When I came to, there was a pleasant smell.
A little sweaty, but pleasant all the same.
A smell I knew well.
And at the edge of my vision, red hair was swaying.
At the same time, I felt warmth on my cheek.
Something was touching my cheek.
"...You're awake?"
A voice came from whatever was touching my cheek.
Eris's voice.
"!"
My consciousness returned in a rush.
I was being carried on Eris's back.
"...What happened?"
I instinctively sat up and looked around.
Several people were walking along like refugees.
Cliff, Elinalize, and Ruijerd.
"We lost," Eris said.
After I'd blacked out, Eris and the others had challenged the Battle God—and had been utterly and completely defeated.
Eris had been knocked unconscious in a single blow. Elinalize's shield was shattered.
Atophe and the Demon God had fought well, but they'd been sent flying again and again and again.
With me unconscious, Muiqe had taken command and ordered the retreat.
Ruijerd recovered me and Eris, while Atophe, the royal guard, the Demon God, and the recovering Shandor served as the rearguard—and the retreat succeeded.
"I see."
It was a shock.
Being defeated so easily—that was a shock.
It wasn't like I thought I was the strongest.
The Magic Armor had been defeated by
I wasn't invincible.
It was true that I'd been on a bit of a winning streak lately.
I'd beaten Atophe. I'd beaten Alex.
Well, I hadn't been alone against Alex, but a win was a win.
But losing had always been within the parameters of my thinking.
But a one-shot? That was a first.
One hit.
Shattered to pieces in a single blow, consciousness and all.
...Had I underestimated Badigadi?
Had I believed that, Battle God or not, the Demon Lord would hold back somewhere?
"What do we do next?" Eris asked.
I thought about it.
Next.
What should I do next?
I wouldn't say all options were exhausted.
But could I beat that Battle God with some half-baked scheme of mine?
Shandor was gone. The Demon God was gone. Atophe and the royal guard were gone.
They might even be dead.
Our combat strength was pitiful.
Me, Eris, Ruijerd, Cliff, Elinalize... and maybe some of the Soldat warriors were still around.
Though I hardly counted as combat strength—without the Magic Armor, I was nothing but an insect.
The best I could do was create rivers, raise mountains, maybe set a mountain on fire.
Three talismans.
The Battle God would drink the river dry, leap over the mountain, douse the wildfire with the water he'd drunk, and come after us.
With our current forces, there was no chance of winning.
"Running is our only option."
"...Ruijerd."
Ruijerd looked me in the eye and spoke.
"That is one of the genuine Seven World Powers.
Even if all of us attacked together, he's not someone we can beat."
Run, huh.
Flee all the way to the Soldat tribe's village...
And then... what?
The folk tale of the three talismans was about a clever monk in a temple who outwitted a mountain hag.
The Soldat tribe's village had its own "monk."
But... Badigadi and Geese.
Their goal was my life and draining Orsted's power.
Orsted would consume an incomparable amount of mana fighting the Battle God—far beyond what he'd spend against the North God or the Sword God.
That would be a de facto loss.
And they would chase us to the ends of the earth until they achieved their goal.
There was nowhere in the world that was safe.
"...Even if we run, we can't win."
"Then our only choice is to fight to the death."
Fighting to the death didn't change the fact that losing meant losing.
It wouldn't become a victory.
If we died, it was over.
"...Rudeus, pull yourself together."
Suddenly, Eris was holding my hand.
Warm. Strong.
The hand that had saved me countless times.
The hand that had held my child.
"Yeah."
Let me calm down.
Think.
Think of a way to win.
First of all—intelligence.
For example, the Battle God Armor's weaknesses.
But the Battle God Armor was said to be the most powerful armor ever created by Laplace.
Even Laplace himself had fought the wearer to a draw.
It might not have any weaknesses at all.
Even if there were no weaknesses, there would still be strategies—ways to fight.
There might be a hint to be found there.
Who would know about that?
Atophe... was gone.
Orsted.
Right, I'd have to ask him.
If even he didn't know...
"..."
No.
Even if he didn't know, this was someone I'd have to fight eventually.
I should fight now.
Atophe, the Demon God, and Shandor were gone.
But there had to be a way to win.
Even so, I wanted to minimize the damage.
I didn't want to drag the Soldat tribe's village into the crossfire.
There had to be a chance of winning.
It might be less than one percent, but still.
That's right.
When I thought about it, I still had a trump card in reserve.
A trump card I'd been meaning to use much earlier.
"...We'll retreat to the forest and buy time there."
I decided to bet on it.
"Understood."
Everyone nodded.
---
And so I returned to the Soldat tribe's village.
My trump card still hadn't arrived.
What on earth was going on?
Should I just wait?
Suppressing my doubts, I knelt before Orsted and reported everything that had happened over the past day.
"That concludes my report. The whereabouts of the Demon God, Atophe, and Shandor are unknown."
"..."
Orsted wore a stern expression.
"The Battle God Badigadi."
"Is there a way to beat him?"
"...No. I know about the Battle God Armor, but I've never fought Badigadi while he's wearing it."
"I see."
I'd expected as much, but the disappointment was hard to hide.
Still, there was no point in showing it.
"Then please tell me everything you know about the Battle God Armor."
"The Battle God Armor is the most powerful armor ever created by Laplace. It rests at the deepest point of the Magic God's cave in the center of the Rings Sea. Its surface radiates mana in a golden glow, granting the wearer supreme power. However, because of its overwhelming mana, it develops a will of its own and hijacks the consciousness of whoever wears it."
"Badigadi didn't seem to have been hijacked?"
At the very least, Badigadi hadn't appeared to be controlled.
He was the same Badigadi I remembered.
Though of course, appearances could be deceiving—he might have been controlled for all I knew.
He'd been completely unreasonable with Atophe and with Shandor.
"...Complete hijacking takes time. The longer one wears it, the more the Battle God Armor dominates the wearer's consciousness. They lose the ability to distinguish right from wrong, and come to seek nothing but combat. That said, Badigadi possesses a special body that even demon eyes can't penetrate. Perhaps he's able to resist being hijacked."
So Badigadi hadn't been wearing it for that long.
Even so, the method of hijacking sounded eerily familiar...
"Like your Magic Armor, the Battle God Armor operates by consuming the wearer's mana. But unlike yours, it cannot be removed until the wearer's life force is completely exhausted. If Badigadi is wearing it, it will function semi-permanently. The armor transforms into the optimal shape for its wearer the instant it's equipped, and also forges the optimal weapon. The range depends on the weapon, but if Badigadi is the one wearing it, there probably aren't any long-distance options. Magic is nearly nullified by the golden light emitted from the armor's surface—but there is a threshold. A rock projectile fired at full power might actually work."
Detailed information.
But so the rock projectile was more effective than lightning.
"When Orsted fought it before, who was wearing it?"
"A certain Sea God race member. Though they quickly ran out of mana and died."
"Any other cases?"
"I've worn it myself a few times, a human wore it once, and a demon wore it once."
So he'd experienced it multiple times.
Well, you probably needed to have worn it many times to know the details.
"So, concretely, how do we defeat it?"
"...I don't know."
"You don't?"
"While wearing the Battle God Armor, one feels no fatigue or pain and can fight at maximum power at all times. But it's merely forcing the body to move—there's no healing function for the wearer's injuries. Therefore, if your attacks can get through, a battle of attrition would be effective—but..."
Against Badigadi, that wasn't viable either.
The Battle God Armor would keep functioning until the wearer died.
Badigadi was immortal.
In other words, a perpetual motion machine.
"How did Laplace defeat it?"
"He overloaded it with mana exceeding the armor's defensive threshold, temporarily neutralized the wearer inside, and separated them from the armor. The result was a massive hole in the continent that became the Rings Sea."
"...I see."
So depending on the power of the attack, it was possible to deal damage.
It would just recover afterward.
But if that was the case, there was one strategy...
"However, I'd heard the wearer at the time was killed. Was it Badigadi?"
"You didn't know?"
"Laplace apparently didn't know who had been wearing it during that battle, either. When he heard they'd died, he lost interest. The Battle God had never stood before him as an enemy the way he has now."
"Did you learn this... directly from Laplace in a past loop?"
"That's right. Along with the fact that I'm the son of the First Dragon God, and that the First Dragon God placed this curse on me."
"...But Laplace must be killed."
"Yes. To reach the Human God's location, all Five Dragon Generals must be killed and the sacred treasures must be obtained."
"..."
For the first time, I felt like I'd heard it stated clearly and explicitly: he must be killed.
So that was how it was.
Then I certainly couldn't count on Perugius's reinforcements. Asking for help from someone who planned to betray you later—I wouldn't want that either.
There was no point in pressing the issue here.
"This must be an unpleasant topic for you."
"...No."
Right now, I needed to focus on the immediate problem.
For now—Badigadi.
If the Human God was acting based on foresight of his own future, he probably wouldn't be moving pieces like Badigadi who acted of their own accord all that often.
Or perhaps this was the Human God's true trump card.
When I'd seen him the other day for the first time in a while, he'd seemed pretty desperate.
The Battle God, Badigadi.
Badigadi had originally been an apostle of the Human God.
I didn't know why the Human God hadn't used Badigadi in past loops, but this time he'd managed to drag him out.
Well, if he wasn't there in past loops, it was probably my fault.
"So, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to fight. There's no running."
"Understood. I'll go out there too. I've never fought him, but I doubt it's impossible to win."
Orsted rose to his feet as he said this.
But I stopped him.
"No, please wait."
Orsted sat back down.
I couldn't see his face behind the mask, but I could tell he was displeased.
"If you exhaust your mana here, Orsted, that's a loss in itself. It means nothing."
"If you die here, that's a loss too. It means nothing."
"...Well, that's true enough."
Short-term gain versus long-term gain.
But I'd fought this hard to get here.
I wanted to push on until there was truly no hope left.
"But even if you have to fight eventually, I should be able to weaken the Battle God's power at least a little before that."
"...You'll die."
"If that happens, I'll entrust my remaining family to you."
I didn't want to die. I wanted to go home alive.
But this was surely the decisive moment.
The Battle God was the Human God and Geese's final piece.
They might still have cards hidden, but they'd used the Death God, the Sword God, the North God, the Demon God—defeated or otherwise—and they were in this state.
The last apostle.
All their face-down cards were now face-up.
There were no more cards on their side of the field.
If we defeated the Battle God here, they'd be in serious trouble too.
I had to dig in, fight, and win.
"Understood. But the moment you realize you can't win, retreat immediately. Got it?"
"Thank you."
I bowed my head and stood up.
"So... any word from
"Not yet."
"If she arrives, please let me know immediately."
Seeing Orsted nod, I stepped outside the house.
The warriors were waiting.
Eris, eyes sharp as blades, radiating killing intent.
Ruijerd, standing with his refined poise.
Cliff, somewhat excited, tense, and frightened.
Elinalize, wearing an expression that said she'd protect that frightened Cliff.
Doga, on the verge of tears upon hearing that Shandor had fallen.
And the Soldat tribe warriors, resolved to defend their village.
This was our lineup.
Honestly, it wasn't reassuring.
Losing Shandor, Atophe, and the Demon God left gaping holes.
But Doga and Zanoba, who had good synergy with the Demon God, were still here.
Badigadi was a close-combat type. The matchup wasn't bad.
The two of them had been at a disadvantage against the Demon God, so "not a bad matchup" might not mean much.
But with this lineup, maybe we could hold him off for a day or two.
The chances of my trump card arriving in the next day or two were slim.
And even if it did arrive, there was no guarantee it would be enough to win.
It might just get my comrades killed for nothing.
"Let's go."
And yet I walked forward.
I had a plan, but no certainty of victory.
No guarantee my judgment was correct.
I had enough time to set traps, but this wasn't an opponent that traps could beat.
"..."
No one said a word. They simply followed behind me.
I marched off to face the Battle God.