Chapter 30: Round Two

"■■■... OOOOOOO!"

The roaring Calamity God beat its enormous wings violently.

A gale resembling a massive typhoon swept over us.

Everyone who had been trying to deliver the finishing blow while the Calamity God had left itself open was blown away, sending us flying far from it.

"Tch..."

Even my light frame was sent flying with ease.

When I got back on my feet and looked ahead, I saw that another change had come over the Calamity God's body.

Purple flames were erupting from every part of it.

The flames were a color that did not exist in nature, burning across the Calamity God's body and blazing brilliantly.

"O-OOOOOOOO!"

The Calamity God's growl sounded almost like a cry of resentment.

It was a horrifying roar that seemed to echo from the depths of hell, as though it were a condensation of all its hatred for this world.

The new form of its horror, so different from before, sent a wave of unease through us.

"What is that...?"

"Transformation is probably the closest way to describe it. It's no longer just the God of Pathology. It's an expanded interpretation of a god that governs fear and despair. A redefinition of itself."

The most symbolic part was the purple flames surrounding its body.

The Calamity God's black body was now completely engulfed in flames, to the point that its surface was barely visible.

"The purple flames represent the fear of nuclear weapons. The infamous weapons didn't spread destruction alone. There was the pathology caused by radiation, and the persecution that followed. To the Calamity God, the destruction caused by nuclear weapons and the division that followed are within its own domain."

Fear strengthened the Calamity God's body.

For 『Invasion of Fiction』, the fame of whatever served as its basis was directly connected to its strength.

The greater the scale of a lie commonly shared among humanity, the more powerful it became.

The flames erupting from its body were the power of a weapon of destruction that had once reduced cities to ruins with a single strike.

"It's hot...!"

The armor surrounding the Calamity God continued burning purple, radiating tremendous heat.

The Calamity God itself seemed to be suffering intense pain from being burned by the flames it had enveloped itself in.

Every now and then, it let out a pained growl.

Even so, it turned that very anger into murderous intent toward us and glared in our direction.

"Here it comes."

The enraged god opened its jaws.

Purple sparks crackled inside its mouth.

"Another breath attack!"

The breath it unleashed was several times larger, more violent, and more murderous than before.

"『Pure Land of This World』... Tch...!"

Kanon deployed her shield, immediately colliding with the incoming breath.

The moment the dome of light came into contact with the torrent of flames, Kanon let out a strained cry.

Behind the caster, the outstretched palm of the Kannon statue began rapidly corroding.

Watching the golden Buddha statue rot away was almost sacrilegious.

"This is... rather difficult!"

The seemingly endless breath attack finally came to an end.

Kanon stopped maintaining 『Pure Land of This World』, clutched her right arm, and fell to one knee.

"Kanon!"

"I'm fine. ...However, I won't be able to block the next one."

The surface of the right arm Kanon was holding had been burned and blistered.

It was probably feedback from the damage inflicted on the Kannon statue.

Her ability was exceptionally well suited to fighting the Calamity God, but having her confront its second form head-on had apparently pushed her a little too far.

Just like our original strategy, we should use our mobility and engage it in close-quarters combat from here on.

"Hibari, can you charge in one more time?"

"Of course!"

In the end, I was going to make her push herself again.

The damage Hibari had accumulated was far from minor.

The more she moved around, the heavier her bleeding became, and the more her strength was depleted.

And yet, the light of hope still sparkled in her eyes.

After speaking openly with him and swearing to carry hope on her shoulders, she had become strong.

As long as her hope remained alive, the light in her eyes would never fade.

"HAAAAAAAAAH!"

There was no slowing down the momentum of her flight.

Even after losing so much blood, there was no darkness in her radiance.

Everyone began moving to support her as she led the charge.

"Illusory Conscription—Armament, Limited Deployment."

When he activated "Bluffer Wearing," mechanical arms similar to Mana's unfolded over his arms.

Apparently, his Affection Level with Mana had risen enough.

The mechanical arms attached to his arms were somewhat more jagged in design than the ones Mana deployed.

"Tch."

The heavy machine gun he raised opened fire.

The bullets flew straight toward the enemy.

However, he soon cried out in confusion.

"It's not doing anything...?"

Mana's bullets had at least been effective enough to suppress the Calamity God's movements, but the Calamity God barely reacted to the bullets he fired.

There was little difference between the firepower of his bullets and Mana's.

The difference was simply that the Calamity God's outer shell had become unnaturally hard.

I approached him and asked him directly.

"Can you borrow Hibari's power?"

"Huh? ...I haven't tried it, but I think I probably can now."

"Then use Bluffer Wearing with Hibari. Her weapon is the most suited to this situation."

As I said that and pointed, Hibari happened to be charging in at that very moment.

"Blade, extended deployment...!"

Hibari's glowing blade carved a deep cut into the Calamity God's leg.

The Calamity God, which had shrugged off the bullets without a care, seemed slightly shaken.

"...Got it. I'll trust you."

The true nature of the bluff that served as the source of Hibari's power was hope.

In contrast, what the Calamity God had newly incorporated was overwhelming destruction—and the fear of it.

To disguise their fear, humans create all kinds of lies.

Those lies become discrimination, become oppression, and sometimes lead to massacres.

The light that resists humanity's ugliest lies and its fear is what people call hope.

"OOOOOOOO!"

An attack closed in on Hibari as she flew around the Calamity God.

A strike from its claws. A tail strike from outside her field of vision. A small-scale breath attack with almost no charging time.

All of them were faster and more precise than before, but Hibari continued dodging every attack by a hair's breadth.

However, as time passed, the humans at the disadvantage in terms of stamina would inevitably lose.

At last, the descending claw caught Hibari's body.

"—Ah...!"

At the last possible moment, Hibari blocked the tip of the claw with the wand she thrust forward.

However, her body, which had been flying through the air, was slammed into the ground.

"One more time...!"

It should have been an injury that could easily have become fatal, yet the light in her eyes had not dimmed.

As she stood up once again, a hand reached out toward her.

"Hibari, I'll fly with you too."

In the hand of the man borrowing Hibari's power was a roughly constructed wand.

Rather than looking like a magical girl's wand, it looked more like a magician's wand.

"—Yeah. Thank you."

The Calamity God roared.

Sparks began gathering inside its jaws once again.

The precursor to another breath attack.

Everyone reacted immediately.

We scattered and each took evasive action.

With Kanon's protection no longer available to us, we had no choice but to rely on our mobility.

However, the Calamity God's attack was on an entirely different level from before.

Its target was me, who had been at the front.

An orb of flame that landed behind me as I ran at full speed slammed into the concrete and exploded.

"Tch, damn it!"

The blast struck me from behind, sending my light body flying. At times like this, I really cursed my small stature.

"Raika-chan!"

"Watch out! The nature of its breath has changed!"

From a beam that pierced a single point to a bombardment that scattered destruction across a wide area. For the Calamity God, which had redefined itself, an application like this seemed to be child's play.

"Switching──Handgun."

Once again, flames came hurtling toward me. I raised the handgun to my chest and fired. The small-caliber bullet flew exactly where I aimed, shooting through the incoming fireball and making it explode in midair.

"This is more difficult than I thought...!"

Shooting down fireballs flying toward me at high speed was extremely difficult. I had managed to pull it off this time, but I wasn't very confident I'd be able to keep defending against them.

"Raika. I'll handle this now. At this frequency of attacks, I can deal with them on my own."

When I turned around, Mana was standing there with her mechanical arms raised, making her declaration.

"Defensive system defined. Establishing an attack posture against incoming projectiles. ...Definition complete."

Another fireball came flying toward us, only to be shot through by a large-caliber round fired by Mana and explode in midair.

"Raika, concentrate on defeating the Calamity God. I'll handle defense."

What a dependable girl.

The fireballs that followed were shot down one after another by Mana.

"Shota-kun, let's go!"

The Calamity God's movements slowed slightly after firing a continuous barrage of fireballs. Hibari had already noticed it. The moment she shot forward, he followed after her.

Two shadows tore through the sky like shooting stars. The twin stars made a graceful turn before attacking the Calamity God from opposite sides.

"HAAAAAAAAAA!"

The two blades closed in on the Calamity God's neck. The enemy reflexively twisted its neck away, but it couldn't completely evade the blades, and black blood began flowing from its neck.

"Wh... WhOOOOOO...!"

The Calamity God flew into a rage at the insolent rebels. With its roar, the purple flames surrounding its body grew even more violent. They blazed furiously, expanding as though they were about to swallow both him and Hibari, who were flying nearby.

"Both of you, get back! It's going to explode!"

An explosion attack covering a wide area centered on itself. Using my knowledge of the original story, I shouted the warning, and the two immediately changed their flight paths.

The heat surrounding the Calamity God exceeded its critical point, and its entire body erupted in a massive explosion.

"──!"

A thunderous BOOM, loud enough to rupture my eardrums. Even I, who was far away, was caught in the blast wave.

"Hibari!"

"...Ngh! This one hurts a little."

Hibari, who had been blown away, barely managed to land over here.

Hibari had been displaying more power than usual by experiencing the power of hope firsthand, but even she had accumulated a considerable amount of damage.

Her ability to keep distracting the enemy was probably reaching its limit.

"──Hi-chan, Raika."

I turned around and saw Victoria walking toward us, dragging her severely wounded body behind her.

Her Gothic Lolita outfit was already in tatters. She had even lost her eyepatch somewhere, yet her eyes were still fixed on us, glowing red.

"I'll land one hit and draw the Calamity God's attention. While I do, everyone else, hit it with everything you've got."

"Ree-chan, you can't push yourself anymore! Your eyes are still red, too..."

"──No!"

Victoria raised her voice. Her eyes widened as she pleaded with us so desperately that Hibari closed her mouth and listened to her.

"I can't let it end here. Even if everyone else defeats the Calamity God, I couldn't possibly accept that. ──That would be way too uncool."

"Uncool" was the thing Victoria hated most. The person she had once been. The self that Victoria had parted ways with.

For the Victoria she had become now, wrapped in her "cool" self, ending things like this was more unforgivable than anything else.

She clenched her fist.

"Please, Hi-chan. Raika. Everyone is hurt, and I can't stand the thought of being the only one lying down. Even if this is where I end, I have to accomplish something here."

Perhaps it was a foolish choice.

With Ascension Flyout drawing near, even activating her magic once could prove fatal for her.

According to the manuals written by adults, she should be restrained in a hospital room immediately and placed under absolute bed rest.

As someone who had once been an adult, I could understand that reasoning perfectly well.

But...

"Victoria. Just one strike."

"Raika..."

"Raika-chan..."

Feeling their gazes upon me, I deliberately gave them a carefree smile.

Preventing a Bluffer's Ascension Flyout wasn't something only another Bluffer could do.

An Anchor. A being that holds a Bluffer in place when they are about to fly away into the void of fantasy.

"Looks like I'm not the only meddlesome idiot who can't just leave you alone."

A single shadow flew in and landed beside us.

Without even bothering to properly ask about the situation, he simply said:

"Is there anything I can do?"