A torrent of stars repeatedly glittering…… The light circulated around Alice, just like meteor showers shooting around her, manifesting with an enormous amount of magic power that makes the atmosphere shake.
That magic isn’t something that exists in this world, a magic that once existed in the world Alice was born and raised in…… “A magic that turns the strength of the heart into a weapon”…… That is her trump card.
Alice, clad in numerous lights, moved in front of Kaito in an instant and held her blade towards the Earth God.
[Alice……]
It’s not that she was conscious of anything, but the atmosphere around her is clearly different…… Seeing Alice expose her emotions for the first time and seeing her unusual state, Kaito reflexively called out her name.
However, his voice didn’t reach Alice as she was right now…… That’s because her mind was filled with only one thought: That is to protect and defend Kaito.
[……Still…… not enough……]
While looking at Alice, who was raging like a storm with her enormous magic power, the Earth God didn’t show any particular movement, but just quietly stared at Alice.
She had the posture of someone waiting for the other, the posture of someone who holds absolute power. A response supported by a definite self-confidence that she would be able to deal with whatever attack Alice makes.
That is a fact, and Alice herself was aware of that.
Even after Alice uses all her power, the Earth God in front of her is still far superior…… But then, for her…… No, even back then, this wasn’t anything unusual for her to do but……
[Return…… Return…… to the me of those times…… to the time when I was “weak”……]
[Alice……?]
Muttering to herself, Alice lowered her body and prepared her stance.
[The enemies I had fought against were far more powerful to me…… Even so! I want to return…… to the time when “I protected everyone until the end”!!!]
[ ! ? ]
At that moment, Alice unleashed it. Her “true self” that she has sealed away…… Just like a dead person, her self that had only been something of the far, distant past……
Immediately afterwards, Alice’s magic power, which had been gushing out like a storm, quieted down like an ocean without a single wave, enveloping herself in silence.
Alice doesn’t look intimidating anymore…… And seeing this, for the first time, the Earth God “prepared for battle”.
As she spread out her wings to intercept her opponent, the Earth God’s body was blown away across the white space.
[Speed, Assumption, Exceed…… Threat, Recognize, Intercept!]
Still muttering that with her matter-of-fact tone, after stopping in mid-air in movements that defy the law of physics, the Earth God spreads her twenty wings wide.
Thereupon, light dwells on the tips of her wings and a dazzling flash of light is released towards Alice, who is approaching at super speed. Seeing this blast of light, Alice brandished the knives in both of her hands to the incoming flash, and deflected it without slowing down at all.
[Movement, Insufficient, Attack, Increase.]
Seeing Alice’s movements, the Earth God judged that 20 attacks weren’t enough, so she immediately calculated Alice’s speed and released a number of light bullets that was 10 times more than before.
It doesn’t look as simple as a mere attack, as it looks like a rain of destruction, crashing down at the speed of light.
Seeing this, Alice immediately changed her course and evaded them, as if she were slipping between the rain of light. However, even as she tries to evade them, the rain of light still incessantly falls.
The Earth God suspends herself in mid-air, and just like a turret, she continues releasing light bullets.
The size of these light bullets is small, but they’re still the attacks of a God who’s the pinnacle of her world…… Each shot is filled with such power that it can “wipe out an entire island”, and if even one of them hits her, it would instantly decide the outcome of this battle.
She was constantly releasing those light bullets, making it impossible to escape…… However, even so, not a single bullet reached Alice at all.
As if she could see the path she needed to take, Alice changed her course, but not slowing down at all, she slipped through the rain of light, drawing near the Earth God with knives held in her hand.
[……Admire.]
Seeing Alice’s attack, even while her hand was slashed, the Earth God seemed to be sincerely impressed.
Then, when she was about to fire light bullets at Alice again, Alice seemed to have read that and immediately distanced herself from the Earth God.
Without following Alice as she moved away, the Earth God lightly clapped her hands.
[You, Battle, Art.]
As she continued to release a vast number of light bullets, continuing her battle with Alice, the emotion that boiled up in the Earth God’s heart…… were unsparing praise.
This might be something that had been said already, but the Earth God was far superior in terms of basic abilities. Hence, the rain of light just now would have defeated Alice if she had been hit by even one bullet.
However, Alice was able to handle all of them and dealt a blow to the Earth God. Her combat abilities were even impressive for the Earth God.
How vast could the number of battles the girl in front of her gone through be? How many deaths have she overturned for her to exist until now?
If the angle at which the light bullets she deflected had been off by even a few millimeters, the bullet would have hit her. If she had made even one mistake in handling the thousands and thousands of light bullets, all of her efforts would have been for naught. If her mind had wandered for even a few tenths of a second, she would be swallowed up by the rain of light.
In the Earth God’s view, there wasn’t even a 1% chance that Alice would be able to reach her. However, she didn’t commit a single mistake at all and grabbed the miracle all too easily.
Seeing this, the Earth God was convinced. This is the true identity of the threat she just felt from this girl…… Without a doubt, she won’t make a mistake in the future. Even if it’s just 1%, she won’t let that small probability escape and grab the best possible outcome.
[……Beautiful.]
Yes, the girl in front of her is like the embodiment of a miracle, and her battle is nothing short of amazing.
Deflecting attacks that can be deflected and avoid attacks that can be avoided…… This feat may be something easy to say, but it was difficult to do and show to someone who has far more basic skills than you do…… It’s as if her mind has been fully focused on the battle.
[Attack, Density, Ascend.]
[ ! ? ]
Thinking that, the Earth God further increased the number of light bullets by “hundreds of times”.
I see, she’s undeniably a strong person who grasps even the slightest possibility…… However, what will she do when there isn’t a slightest possibility at all? The difference between 1% and 0% is just too big.
The Earth God’s new “hundreds of millions” of light bullets, unlike the previous ones, aren’t aimed at Alice in a straight line, but instead, they are tightly packed around Alice to the point that not even a single insect can pass through, before they begin to converge at once.
The power of each shot was also increased further. It’s now impossible for her to evade, impossible to defend, and two knives are completely insufficient to deflect these numbers.
Now then, what will she do now? And with that thought in mind, as the Earth God looked at Alice through the light bullets, one of the many lights Alice was surrounded in was sucked into her body, and Alice’s appearance changed.
“Her hair had become a reddish-purple twintail” and “her golden eyes” glared at the surrounding light bullets……
[ “Deviate!” ]
[……Principle of Causality, Derivation……]
What if there isn’t even the slightest possibility that she could take advantage of? In response to the Earth God’s attack as she asked such a question, Alice responded with the answer of “creating the possibility itself”…… by transforming herself to the “God of Fate, Fate”.
Watching the approaching light bullets be deflected away as if they were being guided by something, the Earth God spread her wings wide…… And this time, she won’t just make use of quantity, but quality instead, as she unleashes a bombardment that fills the view.
Thereupon, another light is sucked into Alice’s body, and her appearance changes again…… This time, to a “woman with green leaves as hair”……
And soon after, huge trees appeared from the empty space and blocked the incoming bombardment.
Amidst the scene filled with huge explosions…… This time, Alice appears, holding a huge staff of several meters long, and Alice, who has transformed into a girl with two shades of black hair, appears and holds up her staff.
Thereupon, Alice’s magic power explosively increased and began converging on the tip of her wand.
[Drink, Tyrannical Beast ———ἀποκάλυψις!]
(T/N: Apocalypse)
[ ! ? ]
As if to say that it was revenge from her attack earlier, a huge jet-black magical bombardment burst towards the Earth God.
Watching it quietly, I don’t know if it would be apt to say finally…… as the Earth God moved her hand “for the first time”, and flicked the bombardment to the side.
[Surprise, You, Ability, Measurement, Difficult.]
[……How long can you afford to be that carefree? I don’t know which God you are, but this wouldn’t be the first time…… that I will kill a God!]
Returning to her “former tone of voice” and hearing Alice’s words intimidatingly sharp eyes, the Earth God realized that the wound of her right hand that was cut earlier hasn’t regenerated.
[……Incomprehensible, Regeneration, Impossible?]
[I have a weapon that can do that.]
[Comprehend…… Cope, Easy.]
[Wha!?]
Hearing Alice’s words, the Earth God recognized that the wound on her hand couldn’t be healed…… And without any hesitation, she lopped off her own arm from her shoulder.
Then, the arm she had lopped off disappears in a flash of light and a “new arm” is created on her shoulder.
[Battle, Continue.]
Alice, the God-killing Hero, she who has the ability to kill immortal opponents…… And the God of another world that still hasn’t shown her full power yet…… The battle between these two beings became even more intense.
<Afterword>
The title isn’t a typo. The Heart itself is the weapon.
Serious-senpai: […… I’ve been waiting…… for something like this…… I’m fully supporting Alice now.] ← The one who just said that she was her natural enemy not long ago.
T/N: 22/185