Vol 2 Chapter 19 – A Rival—Not Like a Nemesis or Strong Foe, but More Like a Hated Enemy… a Grudge Enemy

Right now, the situation is technically three versus two.

Me, Yumeba, and Yukina-san versus the cheat reincarnators (currently in divine-power berserk mode).

But things aren’t looking good.

“Bad matchup, huh…”

Yukina-san—who’s supposed to be our biggest combat asset—is, as expected, effortlessly toying with them and landing one-sided hits, but maybe because divine power is interfering, it doesn’t seem like she can deal real damage.

Still, I’m grateful she’s keeping one of them occupied.

“Tch!”

《Quit skittering around!》

Meanwhile, Yumeba and I were struggling.

I use what mana I have left to cast reinforcement magic on Yumeba, and Yumeba slashes with her familiar favorite sword, but…

《It itches, it itches!》

It’s not working at all.

Well, I’d already expected that once even Yukina-san’s attacks weren’t getting through.

And more than anything…

“Guh—!”

“Lio!”

It looks like it’s planning to focus on me. I get punched and slammed into the outer wall of the Saionji ducal residence, buried under rubble.

“Ow…!”

Of course, I shove the debris off and get back up immediately, but the damage keeps stacking little by little.

Absolute Defense Wall Aegis is still deployed, and yet I’m taking damage—so for a moment I wondered if their attacks were actually surpassing Aegis’s defense…

(No way. Absolute Defense Wall Aegis is a spell I built so it can nullify infinite attacks. No matter how high the attack power is, it shouldn’t be able to damage me.)

I shake my head and reject the stupid possibility on the spot.

But considering I’m actually taking damage…

(So divine power is basically a straight upgrade over magic.)

Meaning magic itself doesn’t have the ability to fully block divine power.

It’s only “this little” because the user is trash, and I should assume divine power beats magic in every category.

So when I’m attacked with divine power, Aegis—being magic—can’t cover the gaps, and the attack slips through to places it can’t compensate for…

“Gof—!”

…and some damage gets through to me anyway.

I got punched away again—rolling across the ground for a pretty good distance while thinking that through.

“Kgh. Kgh.”

On top of that, maybe something inside got damaged. I manage to stand, but I end up coughing and spitting a little blood.

“—!”

But I don’t have time to stop.

Yumeba is still struggling, and I can see her sword getting shattered—then her pulling a replacement blade from her bracelet and starting to fight back.

(I don’t have the mana to spend on healing magic… How much longer can I keep fighting with the mana stored in Lio II?)

The moment I cast reinforcement magic on Yumeba, my mana went razor-thin, and just maintaining Absolute Defense Wall Aegis is all I can do.

All I can do now is carefully, carefully draw from the mana stored in Lio II to support Yumeba.

With that in mind, I start walking toward Yumeba, who’s gotten pretty far away from me…

“…Huh?”

All of a sudden, Lio II activated teleportation magic—and vanished.

With zero understanding of what just happened, I sense a reaction in space magic right in front of me, like something is about to teleport in.

And what appeared before me was…

◇◆◇

Impatience.

That was the only word for the emotion controlling her.

(At this rate… my Lio-sama will…!)

Watching the situation through Lio II’s eyes, she—Serina—was panicking hard.

She knew there was nothing she could do against an opponent that even Yumeba, and even Yukina, were struggling with, but she still desperately searched for something she could do.

All to protect the Emilio she loved.

“That’s it. Lio II!”

And the conclusion she reached was to use one of the engravings carved into Lio II—teleportation magic—to fly to the scene.

Yes. Having successfully analyzed Lio II completely, Serina could use every spell carved into Lio II through Lio II.

In other words, she’d become able to pseudo-use all of Emilio’s magic.

And on top of that, Serina’s mana pool was nowhere near comparable to Emilio’s.

Even more so compared to the current Emilio, who had no mana stockpiled in his deep consciousness room.

And so, with thoughtless headlong momentum—an outburst of a maiden in love, fueled by obsession and grit—Serina took action.

Using the fragment of Serina’s consciousness embedded in Lio II, she made Lio II come pick her up via teleportation magic, then while replenishing mana into Lio II, she rushed to Emilio again with another teleport.

“…Huh?”

So from Emilio’s perspective, it was a completely incomprehensible situation.

Lio II suddenly disappeared, and when it came back, it had Serina with it.

But Serina—the obsession-and-grit maiden in love—didn’t stop.

Following the voice in her heart to protect the Emilio she loved, she moved without a shred of hesitation.

“Lio II!”

She poured as much of her available mana as she possibly could into the Lio II in her hands.

Originally, it wasn’t built to accept anyone’s mana but Emilio’s, but that had already been modified when she “magically remodeled” it—and besides, the moment a fragment of Serina’s consciousness got inside, that restriction stopped meaning anything.

And after being flooded with Serina’s mana, Lio II…

“…Huh?”

…grew larger with a thump-thump sound, swelling at a physically impossible speed, to the accompaniment of Emilio’s dumbfounded voice.

Then Lio II, having absorbed every last bit of Serina’s mana, transformed into a huge, deep-sky-colored—wolf.

Meanwhile, Yumeba was being forced into a tough fight, but at the same time, she was confused.

(This guy’s attacks… were they always like this?)

The movements of the brown-haired man infused with divine power—a cheat reincarnator named Nanba Yosuke, though Yumeba didn’t know that—felt noticeably slower than before.

And more than that…

《Giiyaaaah!》

At some point, her attacks started working too.

She could still only manage grazing wounds, but compared to earlier—when she couldn’t deal damage at all—it was a night-and-day difference.

It wasn’t as simple as Yumeba getting used to Nanba Yosuke’s movements.

In fact, Yukina was still landing one-sided hits and still couldn’t deal damage.

(…The blade?)

The turning point was when Yumeba’s favorite sword shattered, and she switched to a katana that Emilio had magically remodeled.

But no matter how magically remodeled it was, it was still within the realm of magic, and it shouldn’t work against divine power.

It shouldn’t have worked.

Yumeba didn’t notice, but among the items stored in her bracelet, something had disappeared without her realizing it.

It was a precious gift Yumeba thought was beautiful, and she had begged Emilio to give it to her.

Because of that, a red—no, vivid crimson—light dwelled in the katana’s blade.

The vivid crimson bullet dwells within Yumeba’s katana.

The deep-sky bullet dwells within Lio II, held by Serina.

(Ah. I see.)

(So that’s what it is.)

And the two of them understood at the same time.

“God-Slaying Weapon 【Leviathan, King of Jealousy】.”

“God-Slaying Weapon 【Mammon, King of Greed】.”

And at the same time, they released their power.

A blade shining vivid crimson, and a wolf shining deep-sky blue.

Yumeba slashed straight at the brown-haired man in front of her—Nanba Yosuke—and Serina commanded Lio II, now a blue wolf, to lunge at the black-haired man—Kitazawa Ryuji—who had been facing Yukina.

《《GIIIIYAAAAAAAAAAH!》》

The two of them screamed in agony that couldn’t even be compared to before—one had his arm cleanly severed by the vivid crimson blade, while the other had his arm bitten off by the deep-sky wolf.

But it didn’t end there.

“Huh?”

Unable to keep up with what was happening, Emilio let out a stupid sound as he looked at what suddenly fell down beside him.

Because what dropped next to him were two magazines loaded with fifteen bullets each.

Two full magazines—thirty rounds total—of god-slaying bullets that could be loaded into God-Slaying Weapon 【Lucifer, King of Pride】… dropping out of nowhere. Of course he’d make that sound.

And this was the effect of God-Slaying Weapon 【Leviathan, King of Jealousy】 and God-Slaying Weapon 【Mammon, King of Greed】.

God-Slaying Weapon 【Leviathan, King of Jealousy】 severs and alters the divine power it slices with its vivid crimson blade, creates god-slaying bullets, and delivers them to Emilio.

Because to the opposing gods, it’s nothing but a nightmare of an act…

That blade’s true name is God-Repelling Blade 【God-Prison Abyss】.

God-Slaying Weapon 【Mammon, King of Greed】 bites through with its deep-sky fangs, devours divine power, alters it inside its body, creates god-slaying bullets, and delivers them to Emilio.

Because it’s a deranged act—devouring and killing the opposing gods…

That beast’s name is God-Repelling Beast 【God-Eater Fenrir】.

Unlike Emilio’s God-Slaying Weapon 【Lucifer, King of Pride】, these god-slaying weapons had the advantage that as long as the target was divine power, they could create god-slaying bullets without limitation—even if there was no soul.

And because until now he had never loaded more than eight bullets at a time, a new—no, a true—power awakened that he had never known.

“I see. That’s a blatantly unfair ability… now I get why Pride is the top.”

By consuming the maximum number of rounds that can be loaded into a single magazine—fifteen—it creates a special magic circle, and within that area, it can pass judgment on gods.

This isn’t a direct attack like the bullets before. It’s more like a trial in the form of bullets—like a judge’s gavel—pursuing responsibility for the divine power that exists within the magic circle.

Meaning the effect doesn’t end inside the circle. It targets the gods who are continuously pouring divine power into Kitazawa Ryuji and Nanba Yosuke as well.

《——! —! ——! —!》

Countless screams echo from somewhere.

At the same time, magazine after magazine loaded with huge amounts of bullets drops down beside Emilio.

Because it’s an arrogant act—judging gods with a human body… no, with a Demon Lord’s body…

That ammunition’s name is God-Repelling Bullet 【God-Judgment Judgmentment】.

He hadn’t wiped out all of Earth’s so-called yaoyorozu gods, but it would be fair to say that the vast majority of the gods who participated in that idiotic scheme were exterminated.

◇◇◇

Honestly, it kind of feels like I got left behind in a lot of ways, but still, we managed to repel the gods’ attack, so I wanted to call it a win… but.

“What is this, exactly? Hey. What is this, exactly?”

“Ufufu♪”

After the battle ended.

The Saionji residence itself was still standing, but parts of the outer wall had crumbled here and there, and there was a gigantic crater in front of the gate, so just thinking about cleanup made my head hurt… and yet.

“Why do you have Lio II?”

“Oh? Who knows—why do I, I wonder♪”

““……””

Yumeba glared hard at Serina, while Serina smiled brightly and let Yumeba’s killing intent slide right off her.

Yeah. I also have questions about Serina using Lio II like it’s her own limbs, and more than that, I’m worried about how the fragment of my consciousness that was supposed to be inside Lio II has changed into something else entirely.

“We’re cleaning up from noon onward, so finish talking before then, okay?”

“Y-Yes.”

And the endlessly carefree world’s strongest organism threatened us to handle it by noon.

Even though she skipped into the house while saying it.

“Looks like you want to die.”

“Ufufu♪ Even if you’re my opponent, Yumeba-sama, I won’t lose that easily right now.”

“That’s interesting.”

“Ufufu♪”

Yumeba drew her katana, made it shine with vivid crimson light, and slashed in, while Serina poured mana into Lio II and transformed it into a deep-sky wolf to meet her head-on.

“H-Hey! Are you seriously about to start killing each other?!”

I try to stop the two of them from starting a no-joke, no-holding-back deathmatch—and realize I don’t have any way to stop it.

Yeah. I’ve basically burned through all my mana, so I can’t use magic.

Also, Serina should’ve burned through a ton of mana too, so what kind of recovery speed is that?

Is it really just that a young lady of the magic-elite House Kairinin isn’t for show?

While freaking out internally and thinking a bunch of unnecessary thoughts…

“Hm?”

“Oh?”

The moment the two collided, the fight got interrupted.

No, it’s not like they voluntarily stopped the match…

“Tch. So it won’t show its power if the target doesn’t have divine power.”

“…How disappointing.”

Looks like there are restrictions, just like my God-Slaying Weapon 【Lucifer, King of Pride】, and they can’t bring out their power when used normally.

They’re anti-god weapons—specialized weapons with gods as their target.

When used normally, Yumeba’s blade becomes completely dull, like it forcibly resets even the magical remodeling I did, and Serina’s Lio II—no matter how much it’s changed—still has a fragment of my consciousness in it, so it seems to be resisting attacking Yumeba.

Yumeba’s favorite sword is already broken, and Serina isn’t supposed to have much combat power in the first place, so that should’ve ended the deathmatch…

“Fine, then.”

Yumeba pulled a backup weapon out of her bracelet.

“This is an amusement in its own way.”

And Serina held Lio II and started constructing magic using the spells engraved into it.

“…Why?”

Leaving my pile of questions behind, Yumeba and Serina threw themselves back into a no-joke deathmatch.

I got scolded.

Yeah. In the end, their deathmatch didn’t get resolved by noon, so Yukina-san intervened and forcibly stopped it.

God-slaying weapons are just junk in front of Yukina-san anyway.

And then I and Yumeba—and even Serina—ended up sitting in seiza and getting lectured.

Not just the two of them. Apparently I was also at fault for not resolving it before noon, so it was “collective responsibility,” and I got lectured too.

“I honestly don’t care about your personal issues, so hurry up and clean this mess up.”

“““Yes.”””

She really didn’t seem interested in our drama at all, and as punishment, the three of us had to clean up the surrounding area.

Or rather… wasn’t Yukina-san just trying to slack off?

“Is there a problem?”

“N-No, nothing at a-all!”

In terms of matchup, maybe we’re better suited than Yukina-san for dealing with gods, but in raw combat power, Yukina-san is overwhelmingly stronger, so nothing about the overall hierarchy has changed one bit.

So anyway, the three of us ended up cleaning together, but…

“Hh… hh… hh…”

My mana is totally empty. I can’t even maintain Absolute Defense Wall Aegis, and I can’t enhance my body, so I’m stuck working completely barehanded and out of breath.

“Seeing Lio-sama so utterly exhausted like this reminds me of the first time the three of us met.”

“Don’t try to dodge this with nostalgia. And stop calling Lio ‘Lio.’”

Even then, Serina tried to talk in a friendly way, but Yumeba wasn’t the kind of woman to fall for that.

“Tch.”

Serina clicked her tongue after her plan got seen through.

What even is a duke’s daughter?

“I’ll say this up front—there is absolutely no way I’m handing Lio over.”

“Mmh.”

In response to Yumeba’s hardline stance, Serina frowned, looking annoyed.

“I’m an imperial noble as well, so I understand the traits of a young lady of House Saionji.”

“…And?”

“I won’t give up, but I also have no intention of doing anything that makes me an enemy of you, Yumeba-sama.”

“……”

The emotion on Yumeba’s face was confusion.

Yeah. I don’t really understand what Serina means either.

No matter how you look at it, that statement sounds contradictory…

“Is that related to how the ‘Lio’ inside Lio II changed into something else?”

“You understand well.”

“It’s obvious.”

“……”

Ah, yes. I understood because I have a direct connection to Lio II, but apparently for Yumeba and Serina it was “obvious.”

I’m not the weird one here, right?

In this case, it’s Yumeba and Serina who are weird, right?

“When you loaned me Lio II the other day, I analyzed it, magically remodeled it, and embedded a fragment of my consciousness inside.”

“Wait! You just said something I can’t process at all!”

“Lio. Be quiet for a moment.”

“…Yes.”

Somehow, at some point, a fragment of Serina’s consciousness got embedded in Lio II.

Huh? Is that even possible?

When I created a clone body and moved a fragment of consciousness into it, it took me a long time to master, and it shouldn’t have been something anyone but me could do.

“I was satisfied just being able to touch Lio-sama through Lio II…”

“That’s a lie, right? Stop calling Lio ‘Lio.’”

“…I thought I was satisfied, but not being able to touch Lio-sama directly was lonely, after all.”

“Stop calling Lio ‘Lio.’”

Yumeba does not waver.

“And perhaps that wish was answered. My consciousness and Lio-sama’s consciousness inside Lio II blended together and became one. This is no longer Lio II—it’s something that should be called ‘Rina II’ instead.”

“Stop calling Lio ‘Lio.’”

Yumeba doesn’t give up, but Serina doesn’t give up either.

Also, is it Rina II because a fragment of Serina’s consciousness was transferred, so it’s “Rina”?

I can’t talk, but what kind of abbreviation is that?

“Just to confirm—Rina is from Serina, not some mash-up of Emilio and Serina to make ‘Rina II,’ right?”

“………………Of course.”

She lied!

And Yumeba is way too sharp!

I wouldn’t have even thought of that!

“Anyway, thanks to our consciousness blending together, I’ve gained a deep sense of fulfillment, so for now, I’ll withdraw.”

“…For now.”

“Your possessiveness and jealousy won’t apply to Rina II, since it’s changed, so there’s no issue, is there?”