Battle is a fight against time.

It’s about using my time efficiently and wasting the enemy’s, rolling the snowball of advantage to clinch victory. In a battle against a metamorphosed foe, even more delicacy is required.

We may have ascension-level power, but the opponent has metamorphosis abilities borrowed from the goddess. With the effect of “Cogwheel: Freeze” still unknown, I have several options.

Simply put, offense and defense.

Either cut the enemy’s throat before they can pull any tricks.

Or withstand their ability, analyze what effect it has, and then counter.

I wonder if the goddess’s metamorphosis is offensive or defensive. Could it be a debuffing type? Or perhaps a power that delivers a devastating counterattack.

Creak, creak. Crystals like verdant ice continue to spread along the space’s seams. I could feel an intense chill from the visual spectacle. Time is still moving.

At that crossroads…

“Hey, what kind of ability is that?”

“Why do you think I would know?”

“You’ve been acting like you know everything all along.”

I chose the option to ask the seemingly knowledgeable Evil God-chan.

She opened her mouth as if eager to answer. I thought she would play hard to get at least twice, but she was surprisingly compliant.

“I don’t know exactly. My memory isn’t complete.”

“Ugh.”

“…Give back 93% and then talk! Anyway, the goddess wants to maintain the status quo. ‘To be eternally tranquil.’ That much is clear. That’s why all the powers were so slack and boring, as far as I remember.”

“To be eternally tranquil, huh…”

I’ve seen two of the goddess’s parables now. The “Gear: Homeostasis” that Tara used in a previous session, and the “Gear: Freeze” that’s currently activating before my eyes.

Homeostasis provided unlimited healing and protection over a wide area.

I took it as a game-like area buff and healing, but if I focus on the aspect of maintaining the status quo… it might have been an effect that reverted the state of the fish electronics to the time of casting.

Literally recovery (回復), the power to revert to a previous state.

Then, the “Gear: Freeze” that the high priest is casting now, rather than beating people with chunks of ice, is more likely to be a form that solidifies something to prevent it from moving.

If it’s likely to be defensive.

Then I must strike now. Before the guard is completely solidified. I decided to project firepower.

“Go, Evil God-chan! Go and strike!”

“…I was going to do that anyway, so don’t order me around!”

Evil God-chan kicked off the ground and dashed forward.

Crunch, crunch.

During her charge, Evil God-chan roughly pulled out the dragon scales that had sprouted on her arms. Blood flowed red, and she was now armed with plenty of solid and handy weapons. And then.

Swish-swish-swish!

She scattered the scales with a throwing technique imbued with the art of swift movement. It was a skillful use of information she had tucked away when playing the role of Xie Yingxuan in a martial arts session.

“Argh!”

“aaagh!”

The priests blocking the way with scriptures and maces screamed as scales embedded into their bodies. The human defense line wavered.

Some scales were aimed at the high priest’s vital points, but.

“The Three Dogs Guarding the Goddess.”

A large golden shield appeared, intercepting the scales. It was the holy magic that Tara used in a session. I remember it cost quite a bit, but she seems fine.

I began chanting behind her, extending my magic like a spider web. However, magic simply wouldn’t advance around the high priest. It solidified like a frozen stream.

A wide-range magic freeze… Is that the effect of “Gear: Freeze”?

It’s an ability determined to kill magicians. In terms of defensive performance, it’s superior to Roderus’s magic materialization. But it has weaknesses. Two of them, in fact.

One, the freezing range is gradually expanding. It’s still creaking and stretching out fresh green branches, but the speed isn’t that fast.

Two, outside the frozen domain, magic can be cast freely.

The High Priest’s strategy is simple. Endure with holy magic until the frozen domain engulfs the entire space. Then, if we shatter it with a strike, we win.

It would be easy with the power of the Tower Master.

“…Should I erase it?”

“Just give me a little time. I want to extract some information.”

If hit by Yunades Beam, the information for rooting would be wiped clean, so I decided to cook without borrowing power for now.

I change the target. Not the High Priest, but the ordinary priests bowing at the altar.

“‘Faltering Heart’, ‘Mind Control’, ‘Marionette’.”

Cunning mana pierces through the priests’ mental barriers and seeps in. It then firmly grasps the pulsating psyche from within, hooking it in place.

Twang. A sensation of being securely fixed. With a flick of the fingers, one can feel the taut connection, like a tightly wound fishing rod. The conduit is properly connected.

It’s different from the days of goblin hunting. Thanks to Yuna, the brain’s capacity has expanded, and the operation to rescue Yuri has taken us a step further.

After injecting malignant information.

“Move while shouting your faith. Kill your false prophet, show your repentance and belief!”

Crack. With the command, the fist clenches and takes hold in one swift motion.

Screeching-!

“Ah, aghhh-!!”

“My head, my head hurts… A heretic, am I a heretic…?!”

The priests clutch their heads in disarray, then one by one, their eyes roll back as they lose their sanity. All of them, even those injured by the scales of the Evil God.

They were shown a vision of the Goddess sternly rebuking them. Asking why they followed a false goddess, lamenting, and telling them their souls would now fall to hell, unredeemed.

But if they repent now and do what they must, they were shown a vision of being generously forgiven.

Driven to be saved, they rushed to kill the High Priest.

“Repentance, I will repent, O Goddess! I was only deceived by that fake!”

“I’m not a heretic, I’m not a heretic, ahhh!”

Humans swept up in blind murderous intent appear more beastly than human. Desperate to inflict even a scratch, they charge like zombies, using their entire bodies.

They pound on the High Priest’s shield, and if weaponless, they scratch until their nails break. With such a sturdy reinforcement, the Evil God became irritated.

“Ah, Mima! These guys are such a nuisance!”

“Brainwashing… illusion magic? If your faith was as solid as the earth, unshakable, you wouldn’t have been swayed by mere illusion magic. I’m disappointed, everyone.”

A chill passes through the High Priest’s gaze.

Both I and the Evil God sensed the prelude to an attack from the High Priest.

“The ‘Spear of the Goddess’!”

Golden dust converged, forming three spears of gold. Two were fired at me, and one at the evil deity.

Screaming──!

“Reassemble Texture, Hologram: Avatar!”

I scattered chaff. Smudging the visual-auditory location with illusion, I poured out phantasms resembling me.

While dodging attacks with Meta, searching for Willi, the evil deity used brainwashed priests as shields to fend off the assaults.

“It’s dangerous to go without a helmet because it’s cumbersome. Look, you’re making good use of your brainwashed friends!”

“⋯⋯Shut up!”

Magic doesn’t work, so I have to hit physically. But physical damage is blocked by the holy shield. If I had been a Red Tower or Gold Tower, I would have accumulated damage with something like a rock Gatling gun.

But since I only have illusion magic, I have to find a detour somehow.

—

The clue was seen just before. When the evil deity threw the scale, the priest summoned a shield to block it. The scale was not a target of “Freeze.”

Considering the evil deity is close to a lifeform made of information, a gap is visible.

I press malignant information into the hologram, materializing it. A fragile black dagger, but when struck, illusion magic directly pierces through.

In other words, dagger-shaped scrolls. Many of them.

I scattered information-daggers in all directions. Then I controlled the brainwashed priests to grasp the daggers and charge. As I did, I shouted.

“Radiant Illusion! Myriad Blossoms!”

“⋯⋯You’ve found some trick again, haven’t you-!”

The evil deity rushed in excitedly. The high priest looked extremely troubled at the sight.

“Weren’t you an illusion mage⋯⋯? No, did you study both the Red Tower and Gold Tower schools simultaneously? With such an octopus-style study, you can’t reach the realm⋯⋯?!”

He was mistaken. He understood this information-dagger as a formation magic of the Gold Tower. It’s understandable. He must have never heard of a physical illusion.

There’s a reward for being holed up in the Red Tower and Academy. My name and abilities are not yet known to the world, so I can usually stab like this.

Ten dominated priests charged. The high priest shook them off with all kinds of holy magic and inflicted damage, but it’s not easy to deal with humans who rush in, ready to sacrifice their lives.

Especially if the attack power of holy magic is weak.

In that gap, the evil deity took a deep breath and danced. Kicking the information-dagger dropped on the floor into the air and catching it with her hand, she threw it with a spin.

She jumped to catch the broken dagger bounced off the shield, repaired it in real-time, and threw it again. Her body continuously moved in circles, and the daggers flew in all directions.

How could such skill not be called a dance? It may lack the grandeur of Myriad Blossoms, but it’s an excellent throwing technique.

And then.

“Kuh──?! Ugh⋯⋯.”

A dagger blade, flown from a blind spot, grazed the high priest’s cheek. That alone allowed the malignant information to seep in. The high priest’s eyes spun, and he began to retch, covering his mouth.

It worked.

It felt like being on a roller coaster ten times in a row, the kind of nausea that comes with it. Like being shaken violently inside a giant bottle.

When concentration wavers and shakes, it becomes even harder to fend off a dagger. The momentum has shifted to our side. We’ll melt it down slowly and capture it.

“Still, is the effect weaker than expected…?”

“You, I am…! Trying hard! Throwing it with all I’ve got! You should do something… more, too!”

“If you try hard enough, we’ll catch it! I’m here to block any unexpected reinforcements, so let’s hunt with vigor. Fighting!”

“Yah-!!”

The high priest’s expression contorted.

Did he think he was going to win? Probably, since he even used the goddess’s parable. On the other hand, we haven’t even brought out the ‘parable’ part.

He must have thought it natural to win because of the difference in realms, but look. I’m strong even without that darn parable.

That cool finishing move, it’s not even necessary!

“…How, without even using a parable. Damn it, the goddess is… indeed useless! My faith wasn’t misplaced. If the broken goddess’s power is lacking, then I’ll call upon His power—!!”

The high priest picked up a golden plate. The liquid—information about the queen—rippled in the cup. Seeing this, the evil deity-chan was horrified.

“Don’t drink ittttt—!!”

Gulp.

He drank it down with big gulps.

Although it was a fatal blow of shame for the evil deity-chan, it was a futile struggle. There’s no way that ingesting the remnants of the queen would suddenly mark a sublimation or manifest new abilities.

If anything, it would have been better if it led to a breakdown due to the clash with his existing self. I waited leisurely. Once the high priest lost his taste, I planned to slowly rummage through his head for information—.

“Damn, should have stopped it, Mima!!”

“What…? No, what’s going to happen just because he drank that.”

“The goddess must have noticed my lingering scent! I’m on the blacklist, so she’ll try to erase it!”

Noticed? And erase?

Click.

Click-click.

A chill ran down my spine. It felt like my spinal cord had been filled with coolant, goosebumps all over. Where is it? What’s happening where?

It’s the sky.

Before we could take any action, the sky was visible. This place was surely an underground facility, but before we knew it, we could see the blue sky.

“…It’s the ‘Divine Punishment’!”

And from that sky, a pillar of light descended. Right above the high priest’s head.

Kwaaa—!!

The ceiling and ground melted, and the heated air brought a backdraft. I was pushed by the strong wind, and the lightweight tower master and evil deity-chan were left floating in the air.

“Uh, ugh, what?!”

“I told you to block it, didn’t I?!”

“Damn it, if that’s the case, say it sooner, man—!! Tower Master, catch her!”

First, I clung tightly to the Tower Master beside me, and jumped to grab the ankle of the flying Evil Spirit-chan in the strong wind. A brilliance that could light up the entire basement continued.

I thought divine power had low offensive capabilities, and that was true.

But just as concentrated sunlight can melt steel, overwhelming density and mass of divine power obliterated everything. The High Priest melted away without a trace in the light.

Yet, despite the High Priest having vanished long ago, the pillar of light continued. It seemed determined to leave not even dust of ‘that thing’ in this world.

Fortunately, it seems Evil Spirit-chan is not the target. There’s no sign of that reckless bombardment heading this way. Even though we were quite close, it didn’t detect us.

In my head, there’s a whole chunk of ‘that thing,’ yet it seems undetected.

Is it that within the range of the Succession Fable, ‘that thing’ must be directly exposed to be seen? The Goddess has set the range very narrowly. If so, it means we’re safe for now.

Then, a reckless idea flashed through my mind.

If the “Divine Punishment” is bestowed by the Goddess, then this pillar of light must be directly connected to her. If I could climb up this pillar and read the information…?

Using Evil Spirit-chan as a counterweight, I attached her to Yuna and advanced step by step against the strong wind.

“Mima, what are you doing?!”

“…It’d be a waste to go back without gaining anything!”

Yuna’s voice trying to stop me was heard from behind.

“Don’t, it’s dangerous! You’ll, you’ll get hurt!”

I might get a bit hurt. But I’ve already seen the Goddess clearly hostile towards ‘that thing.’

The benevolent being who would bestow divine power even when we spoke ill of her, fired such a foolish bombardment just because ‘that thing’ slightly touched her detection net.

That fact gives me hope. If I can understand the Goddess, I can use it to oppose ‘that thing.’ It’s not a dream to completely extract ‘that thing’ from my head.

Then!

At that moment, I would reach a happy ending. No need to touch anything strange, just live happily ever after with Yuna and Yuri for a thousand years!

I reached the front of the light pillar.

The Succession Fable was lifted due to the death of the caster, the High Priest, and the light pillar was gradually thinning. Checking from various angles just in case, I found that this light pillar had no detection function.

There’s no risk of a second beam shooting through my head if I carelessly put my hand in.

I took a deep breath and plunged my hand into that mass of heat.

“Ah, hot…”

Sizzle, sizzle. My clothes burned away, and my skin slowly melted. Yes, as expected, it’s not so hostile. The ray that instantly melted the High Priest feels quite warm to me.

Relatively warm, that is, and my burning hand is in excruciating pain.

I infused magic into it. And then, I climbed up the pillar, reaching towards the sky. It felt like climbing up a waterfall that was falling fiercely.

I strain my brain. I twist the magic into a triple helix to increase its penetration power, and I climb up the shortest route I’ve discerned through the weak points of the pillar of holy power. I burrow in, calculating down to the single particle.

It’s happening. Somehow… it’s happening!

I embed myself deeper into the body. Up to the forearm, and then deeply into the shoulder.

“Grrrrr…”

Sizzle, sizzle. The smell of cooking meat spreads all around, and as my skin chars and the texture of my inner muscles begins to show, I’ve reached it.

■■■■■■■…

There’s a mass of information, encrypted in a complex, incomprehensible language. It’s so vast that I can’t even begin to fathom its outline. It might take ten years to read in its entirety.

So, just a part of it. Only the most vulnerable part is detached for analysis. Show me your secrets. Anything will do, just give me a hint that I can use to infer something about you.

[The■■■■■rate ■■%]

Just a little more, tell me what it means.

[The■■■■■ation rate 2■%…]

Just a bit, a little bit more──

—

“Cough!”

Snap. My hood is yanked back. As my neck is constricted and I’m dragged backward, I tumble away from the pillar of light.

Looking up, it’s the evil deity-chan. She’s crossing her arms and tapping her foot. When I ask with my expression why she interfered, evil deity-chan holds up two fingers.

Folding one, she points at my arm.

It’s a ghastly sight. Even the bone seems visible. If I had gone any further, my left arm would have almost become sans.

And folding another, she points beside me.

“……..”

Yuna is silently crying, staring intently at me. She seems deeply upset and wronged, as if she’s telling me, “I told you not to do it, but you went ahead and hurt your arm anyway.”

I should console her immediately, but there’s no time. I’m using my entire brain to piece together the information I’ve just acquired.

I saw words of such grave concern. They’re too ominous to be optimistic about. The information gleaned from the goddess was as follows:

[The■■■■■ation rate damage 24%…]

[Warning: If the damage rate exceeds 30%, the administrator purification phase will commence.]

Damage rate and purification.

Perhaps I have read the signs of an impending disaster.