“――Aaaaaaannnuuuubiiiiiiissssss!!!!”
That scream jolted my consciousness back.
The world regained its color, and time began to tick normally again.
I opened my eyelids, which I had closed in preparation for death, and saw before me the back of a black, shining giant—God Anubis.
“Well fought, Sakurai Toru. The time has come for your devotion to be rewarded.”
God Anubis said this as he shook off the remains of the battle axe, which he had likely intercepted with his bare hands.
Seeing this, Babi cried out in agitation.
“Why?! Why do you always, always interfere?! Why do you disturb my pleasure?!”
“Babi Niflheim. My brother. It is you who has woven the karma that deserves retribution.”
“Karma?! Don’t talk nonsense!! What have I ever done to you?! Rather, you are the ones who always torment me!! You call me ‘wicked’ just for killing those who bore ill will towards me, my parents who didn’t understand me!! And on top of that, you stole my daughter from my hands! You are the most sinful beasts!!”
Babi Niflheim screamed, clawing at his head with both hands.
As if unable to bear it, he stomped on the floor, smashing it, and threw a tantrum like a spoiled child.
Perhaps having gone beyond even being dumbfounded by his pitiful appearance, God Anubis simply declared Babi’s end in an emotionless tone.
“You are beyond saving. I shall settle your karma, your wickedness, here and now.”
“Settle? Settle, you say?! You, my younger brother, will settle with me, your elder brother?! Don’t be ridiculous, Anubis!! You have no power! You are not allowed to defy your elder brother and turn your blade against him!! What do you think you can do, you who are inferior to me in every way?!”
“I am well aware. That is why I have sought assistance.”
The next moment, teleportation gates began to open one after another in the room.
“……Huh?”
While Babi was stunned, four men and women emerged from the gates.
The white aura they wore was the manifestation of divine power, the alliance of gods who had gathered in response to Anubis’s call to defeat Babi.
“Whoa, seriously, a human was holding him off all by himself? That’s crazy, he’s a real monster.”
A man with a bright red face, a monocle, and slicked-back white hair, with seven-colored books floating behind him, looked at me in astonishment.
He was Anubis’s friend, the unparalleled wise man and god of magic in the Netherworld, Thoth.
“Yes! The wicked fiend shall not be forgiven! To have two opportunities to strike down Babi… Human, I thank you for your righteous service!”
A girl with golden hair so bright it seemed to glow, tied up with an ostrich hair clip, carrying two long swords on her back, two on her waist, and two in her hands, a total of six, thanked me.
She was the goddess Ma’at, who once took up her sword to defeat Babi, who was spreading chaos, and who bore the responsibility of orderly death.
“My child, my sin. If you cannot wash your blood-stained hands yourself… then I, your mother, shall atone for it with your life. That way, some will surely find some relief.”
A brown-skinned woman wearing a dazzling dress adorned with countless beads and jewels, and a crown shaped like a throne on her head, quietly told Babi as she looked at him.
She was the goddess Nephthys, the mother who had stepped into ‘hell’ herself because of the sin of giving birth to Babi.
“It seems the time has come to return the hundred curses engraved upon my body to you.”
A mummy-like man, wrapped from head to toe in golden bandages, wearing a white crown, declared as he pointed a crooked staff at Babi.
He was Osiris, the former god and king of the Netherworld, whose soul had been divided into a hundred pieces and sealed in the ‘eternal’ world by Babi’s curse.
“Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible?! Why are you all here?!?”
Five gods, symbolizing the present and the past, and the afterlife including Anubis, surrounded Babi Niflheim, weapons in hand, ready to not allow him a single move.
Behind them, a swarm of powerless, innocent spirits, abused by Babi, were praying for the gods’ victory and offering their power.
Even knowing their own powerlessness, they continued to offer their meager strength to the five gods for the sake of what they could not forgive.
“What are you doing here?! Why are you pointing your weapons at me?! This is wrong, this is wrong!! My head hurts! Don’t make me uncomfortable, do things I can understand, act according to my convenience!! That’s how the world should be, right?! Aaaaaaaahhhh!!!!”
He sensed the meaning of the gazes directed at him, and could not understand it at all.
And more than anything, he had no idea why he was being subjected to this.
That was the god Babi Niflheim… and his appearance was so ugly that I had already forgotten the pain of having my arm cut off.
The winning move I had devised as a countermeasure against Babi was a complete ‘reliance on others’.
Somehow, I had managed to rationalize myself and force the element of ‘leveling up in a one-on-one fight with the boss’ into the situation, which was good enough to motivate me.
However, even though I was prepared to fight forever, I was concerned that my willpower and concentration would eventually run out.
If that concern came true, Babi, having overcome me as a barrier, would start moving again, and we would be back to square one.
That’s why I said to God Anubis.
“I’ll buy you time, so gather as many allies as you can and reenact the previous subjugation.”
Originally, I knew from the original story that Babi Niflheim had been resurrected in a state far from his prime.
That’s why I proposed to God Anubis that now was the chance to completely destroy him, and this time for good.
And not just with words, but also with fists, I succeeded in getting God Anubis to agree to it.
Iris was rescued with Higaki, and I continued to fight Babi for leveling, and using the ‘time’ created, God Anubis would gather as many members as possible to subjugate Babi.
‘Strengthening our forces by relying on divine connections’ and ‘the formation of a strategy party by the gods’, which were impossible in the game, was the full extent of my plan.
I figured that since he was such a self-centered bastard who had earned the hatred of so many people and committed so many atrocities, there would be allies in all sorts of places… and it seems it worked out well at the last minute.
“(I’ve had nothing but bad luck since entering the academy, so I guess my luck is finally turning around?)”
I sighed as if I was the only one who had lost my tension in this tense situation.
And with the last of my strength, I stood up, using my sword as a support, and stood next to God Anubis.
“You… human… a mere human!! Why is a mere human standing next to Anubis, a god?! That is an act against reason!! Gods should always stand above, and humans should kneel below, that is the way of things, right?! So, you, you are the one who has thrown the world into chaos!! Anubis, Iris, you have thrown the world, which should have followed my will, into chaos!! Damn you, damn you, damn you!! What the hell are you?!”
Words of curse and anger were unleashed at me. I laughed at the words directed at me and let them flow past, deciding to answer his question as a parting gift.
“I’m not such a big deal that you need to ask what I am. I’m just a little bit higher in humanity (level) than you.”
With those last words, Babi’s reason was finally lost.
Babi, consumed by rage, his eyes bloodshot, went berserk, and the gods who had gathered to defeat him clashed.
Flashes of light and impacts, swords, fists, magic, and curses.
The battlefield, where all of these things were mixed up every second, was a magnificent raid battle that did not exist in the original game.
“Haha! Nice, nice! This looks fun!!”
The second round, the climax.
Those words flashed through my mind, and my chest swelled with anticipation and excitement at how far what I had built up so far would work.
What kind of gamer would I be if I didn’t participate in this scene, in this battle? If I had done what I needed to do, and the rest was just automatic until the end, then there would be no harm in enjoying myself at the very end.
I forgot about my fatigue, my pain, and my missing arm, and with a grin that stretched my cheeks as far as they could go, I grabbed my sword and ran forward.
Not a hero, not a brave warrior, but someone who everyone who saw his back would call a meddling fool.
But that’s fine. No matter what anyone says, I’ll prioritize this excitement in my heart and run forward.
Slipping through flashes of light, leaping over impacts. Using my sword as a decoy, my fists as footholds.
If I dive in, hidden in the shadows of magic and curses, what lies ahead is the head of the boss.
“You, you, you, youuuuuu!!!!”
“I’ll take that head for experience points, you bastarddddd!!!!”
Before the raging Evil King of the Night Sky (Babi Niflheim), I unleash my Skill with a bright smile.
My ‘False Saint’s Flash’ tears through his body, and as he loses his balance, the power of the gods is hammered into him in quick succession.