Chapter 64: The True Final Battle
Kazuma headed to where the Chinese Gifted were engaged in a life-or-death struggle with the assailants and wiped out the numerous, proliferating attackers with magic.
Having wiped out the assailants, Kazuma issued orders to the Chinese Gifted.
“I’ll take care of things here, so you guys protect the leaders.”
“U-Understood! May fortune favor you in battle!”
The Chinese Gifted understood that it would be more efficient if Kazuma remained alone, and so they immediately followed his words and withdrew.
Kazuma, who was left behind, turned back towards the assailants. Though he looked weary, it was his job, so he cracked his neck and faced them.
“Alright, I don’t know who you are, but just give it up.”
“…”
Kazuma spoke boldly to the assailant.
In contrast, the assailant was eerily silent.
Unlike Mahito, whom he had fought earlier, this assailant was remarkably quiet, which Kazuma found somewhat unsettling.
“Silent, huh? Well, whatever. If it’s Proliferation, this will be over soon anyway.”
Towards the assailant who uttered not a single word, Kazuma attempted to use the same magic he had used on Mahito to eliminate the proliferated assailants in one fell swoop.
“Kukuku, kihihihihi, iiihhihhihhihhi!”
Then, the silent assailant began to chuckle, then burst into loud, vulgar laughter.
Kazuma, looking displeased, addressed the assailant who was suddenly laughing maniacally and shaking his body.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’ve wanted to meet you, Crimson Knight~! Or perhaps I should call you Satsuki Kazuma~!”
The assailant, laughing with great amusement, correctly identified Kazuma as the Crimson Knight.
This meant the assailant was undoubtedly a high-ranking member of the Ivera Church.
However, Kazuma had no recollection of him and questioned the assailant.
“Sorry, but I don’t know you.”
“Hey, hey, don’t be so cold after our long-awaited reunion. Weren’t we comrades who tried to kill each other at Grand One!”
The assailant spread his arms wide and shouted.
Hearing the assailant’s words, Kazuma recalled the Grand One occupation incident that had occurred in early spring.
That day, at that time, Kazuma’s feud with the Ivera Church had begun.
And Kazuma also remembered the name of the culprit from back then.
“Don’t tell me, Amrutat the Infinite! So, you were the one with the Proliferation Gift!”
“Gehyahyahyahyahya! Correct! That’s right, I am the great Amrutat-sama, wielder of the Proliferation Gift, crowned with the name ‘Infinite’!”
“A fated enemy at the very, very end. Destiny sure knows how to set a hateful stage!”
“Kukikikiki! Exactly! You and I were bound by the red thread of fate! This is the perfect situation!”
“It’s the worst for me, though! But still, it’s just Proliferation. You’re no match for me.”
The Proliferation Gift was certainly troublesome, but it didn’t enhance physical abilities, so it wasn’t a major threat.
What Kazuma disliked was having to count the proliferated Amrutats.
He already knew Amrutat’s strength from their battle at Grand One.
Kazuma showed an air of confidence, believing Amrutat was no match for him.
“Gyaahhahhahhahha! I am not the same as I was before! Allow me to show you proof of that right now!”
Kazuma eyed Amrutat, whose speech pattern remained as unstable as ever, with suspicion.
The words “not the same as I was before” caught his attention, and Kazuma heightened his guard.
In that instant, a pain unlike any he had ever experienced assaulted Kazuma.
“Gubuh!?”
Despite wearing his Powered Suit, Kazuma spat blood from his mouth.
What on earth had just happened? Kazuma asked Amrutat, who stood before him, shoulders trembling.
“What did you just do?”
“It was simple. I just ordered the me that infiltrated your body to self-destruct~”
“What did you say?”
“Gufuh, gufufufufu! Allow me to kindly explain it to your uncomprehending self. This one used this Gift Amplifier and Gift Enhancer to acquire the Gift of Miniaturization in addition to Proliferation, and significantly raised my Gift level. Then, using Miniaturization, I shrank myself down to the particulate level and infiltrated your body!”
“…I see. I mostly get it, but there’s one thing I don’t understand. You said you made yourself self-destruct just now, right? That’s a feat you can’t achieve with just Proliferation and Miniaturization. How did you do it?”
“You don’t get it? My Gift is Proliferation. I proliferated these two drugs and had another me awaken a new Gift. Of course, the Gift that awakens is random, like a gacha, but I just had to keep rolling until I got it, right?”
“Don’t tell me… you kept having proliferated individuals take the drugs until you got Telepathy and Self-Destruction Gifts…!?”
Amrutat’s own Gift was only Proliferation.
However, by using the Gift Amplifier developed by Asmodeus, he awakened new Gifts, and with the Enhancer, he forcibly leveled them up.
As a result, Amrutat not only possessed multiple Gifts but had become capable of possessing literally infinite Gifts.
Moreover, he possessed an infinite supply of items that allowed for easy level-ups.
“That’s right. With the Proliferation Gift and these two drugs, I won’t lose even to you.”
Kazuma was undoubtedly the strongest in the world, but he wasn’t invincible.
Proof of that was him being wounded and bleeding due to Amrutat’s ability.
Bleeding for the first time since returning to this world, Kazuma was enveloped in a sense of焦燥感 (焦燥感 – shousoukan – impatience/anxiety).
“(Seriously? Seriously? Seriously?! Infiltrating the body with Miniaturization is bad enough, but having other Gifts too is insane, isn’t it?! He’s way stronger than Mahito, who was nothing to write home about!)”
Mahito had been strong enough, but to Kazuma, he hadn’t been a big deal.
However, Amrutat standing before him was different.
Thanks to his Proliferation Gift and the drugs developed by Asmodeus, he had obtained power surpassing Mahito’s.
Although, Amrutat was hiding it, even if he increased his Gifts, he could only have up to two additional ones.
However, because he had the Proliferation Gift, it was, in a sense, equivalent to infinity.
“Well then, shall I destroy your brain this time?”
“Tch!”
Spitting blood and down on one knee, Kazuma was extremely flustered.
As long as it wasn’t instant death, it wouldn’t be a problem, but having his brain destroyed was extremely bad.
After all, activating magic required commands from the brain.
Of course, it could be used subconsciously, but ultimately, it was meaningless without a brain.
Therefore, having his brain destroyed was something he absolutely could not allow.
“As if I’d let you!”
“Too late!”
Amrutat, who had infiltrated Kazuma’s body, moved to destroy his brain.
Kazuma collapsed as if his power had been cut.
Or so it seemed, but Kazuma was perfectly calm.
There was only one reason for this.
He had annihilated the countless Amrutats that had invaded his body with magic.
He had accelerated his perception of time to the absolute limit and activated his magic before Amrutat could.
However, it had put a considerable strain on him, and he had a headache.
“(Damn it! Just how many of them infiltrated me?!)”
Literally, an uncountable number of Amrutats had invaded Kazuma’s body.
By accelerating his perception of time and desperately counting, Kazuma was only suffering from a headache and hadn’t taken any particular damage.
However, continuing like this each time was nothing but agony, and Kazuma racked his brain for a way to somehow eliminate all the Amrutats created by Proliferation in one go.
“(I have to accelerate my perception of time and develop a new magic spell to defeat Amrutat all at once. That’s the only way!)”
Forced to develop new magic on the spot, Kazuma hurriedly dug through his knowledge.
He desperately recalled the magic drilled into him by Sage Ludwig, constructed new magic from scratch, and engaged in trial and error to the point where his brain circuits felt like they would burn out, all to annihilate Amrutat.
“(Fugigigigi…!)”
On the verge of a nosebleed, Kazuma didn’t stop thinking.
He would spend an eternity of time until he developed a magic spell to wipe out Amrutat in one go.
However, just as Kazuma was sinking into a sea of thought, an event occurred that interrupted his concentration.
“Yo, what’re you doin’~?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, his shoulder was grabbed. When he turned around, Amrutat was there.
His expression was hidden by Ibinom’s Mask, but he was probably wearing a hideous grin.
“Wha-?”
“Hahahahahaha! How’s that, surprised~?”
“Impossible! I’m accelerating my perception of time right now! So how can you be—!”
“Think about it a little, and you’ll get it, right? I’m accelerating too.”
“Don’t tell me… with an Acceleration Gift, you accelerated your perception of time!”
“Gya~hhahahhahha! Correct, absolutely correct! I’ll give you a gold star!”
Amrutat had proliferated, and one of his copies had awakened an Acceleration Gift.
By strengthening Acceleration with the Enhancer, what was originally just the ability to move faster than others had become capable of even accelerating the perception of time.
Thanks to that, he was able to perceive Kazuma in the accelerated world.
“This time, you die for sure.”
He attempted to kill Kazuma using his self that was lurking within Kazuma’s body, but Kazuma remained completely unharmed.
Unlike before, Amrutat tilted his head at Kazuma, who showed no reaction, and questioned him.
“Could it be… you completely expelled all of me that was inside your body?”
“Of course. As if I’d let you do as you please forever.”
“In that case, I just have to do it again!”
“Idiot! Of course I’ve taken countermeasures!”
To prevent Amrutat, who had undergone Miniaturization and become like a virus, from invading his body, Kazuma had deployed a Barrier around his entire body.
Thanks to that, Kazuma had succeeded in neutralizing Amrutat’s Miniaturization, but the fundamental problem remained unresolved.
Unless the existence known as Amrutat was dealt with somehow, peace would not arrive.
The true final battle against the Ivera Church was about to begin.