Chapter 3: Prayers and Betrayal

“All right, let’s go slay this monster!” Bah’s voice was still cheerful when we reached Jizu Village, but...

“Not happening...” I said.

“My calves are so stiff...” Satsuki said.

“I can’t stand up without holding my staff...” Harissa said.

Tetra just panted.

By the time we reached the mole people village, we were all far too exhausted to go fight any monsters.

“Hmm... Well, the seal’s weakening, but it’s not going to break any time in the next day or two, so I guess it’s safe to take a rest.”

“You can tell, Bah? We’re still at the entrance to the village, right?”

Tetra had said that the Hall of Sealing was in the temple at the back of the village.

“I can get a basic idea, yeah,” Bah replied.

Well, I wanted a break anyway, so I wasn’t going to complain.

We entered Jizu Village, feeling a little better. It was a small settlement in a cavern that opened up underground. It almost gave the whole village the feeling of being inside a huge gym.

The domed roof buildings were made of stone and dirt. There weren’t a lot of them, and they were all small.

“There aren’t many people here,” I said to myself as I walked through the town.

“That’s right. The village can’t get any bigger than the cave, so the population just naturally doesn’t grow.” Tetra looked a little upset when she spoke.

“By the way, what is it that’s illuminating this village? It’s not fire, and can’t be electricity...”

Now it was Tetra’s turn to explain.

“The light has no source. It’s a blessing from God. The whole village is always surrounded by light.”

“What do you do when you want to sleep?’

“Huh? We close our eyes.”

I guess they just got used to it.

A man—probably a villager—approached. We bowed a little to each other, and then he kept walking. He just took a glance at us and went his way.

“...That’s a very different response than from when I was in the other world.”

Everybody had stared at me then.

Tetra and the villagers were quite pale, but the sun had tanned our skin and made it a different color. He should’ve been able to tell instantly that we were outsiders. Did he just not care about other people? As I pondered this, Tetra halted at the head of the line.

“This is the Jizu Village shrine.”

“Huh...”

I looked up at the building, which was significantly larger than any of the others.

It reminded me of a smaller version of Greek temples that I’d seen in history or art books. But it was still much bigger than the other houses, and there were carvings on the roof and pillars. The materials it was made out of didn’t seem to have been excavated from underground.

“It’s like someone just brought this down here.”

“There was a time I tried to research it, although I didn’t learn much. This is another one of God’s blessings, so I think that might have something to do with it.”

“I see.”

I was still a little curious, but more than anything else, I just wanted to rest.

Since there wasn’t any kind of inn in Jizu Village, we decided to rest in an open room at the temple. Tetra ordered the villagers to bring us beds, then escorted us to the room, but...

“Um, Tetra... Is there only the one room?”

“Yes.”

“And it looks like there are only two beds, yeah?”

“I’m sorry. These are the only two spare beds in the village.”

Well, it was a small village. Maybe that couldn’t be helped. I wasn’t exactly going to get upset at Tetra over the way we were being treated. But...

“......”

“Ooooh... Ahhh...”

Satsuki and Harissa were staring at the beds so intently that it was scaring me.

“All right, everyone. Good night.”

Tetra bowed and quietly left the room. Nobody said a word until she shut the door.

But the silence didn’t last long.

Satsuki turned to Harissa with the most serious look imaginable on her face.

“Harissa, you don’t want to sleep in a cramped bed, do you? Rekka and I will sleep next to each other.”

“No! I’m tinier, so it makes sense for me and Rekka to sleep in the same bed...”

“It’s fine. When I was a kid, I used to sleep with Rekka all the time...”

“My family was poor, too, so I’m used to sharing a bed with my siblings...”

“No, I insist.”

“No, I insist.”

They continued to argue.

“I’ll sleep on the floor, so you guys can each sleep in your own bed.”

I tried to compromise, but...

“You’ve gotta fight the Monster tomorrow, right? You can’t get a good night’s sleep on the floor.”

“That’s right. You don’t need to do that, Sir Rekka... Honestly, I’d prefer to sleep in the same bed...” Harissa trailed off, mumbling as her face turned bright red. What was that about?

Either way, my plan was shot down.

“Okay... I’ll go outside for a minute. You two decide.”

I quickly left the room. If I had stayed, they probably would’ve asked me to decide who I wanted to sleep with.

For the moment, I was just going to wander around and try to find a spot to sleep.

“Rekka, I think you’re allowed to be a little more of a pervert,” R sighed as she floated through the air next to me. “Or perhaps all three of you could sleep together.”

“I can’t do that!”

“Please do. And then do what comes naturally, too. Otherwise, I can’t finish my mission.”

“It’s not that easy... Huh?”

As I spoke with R, I entered a larger room in the temple. Tetra was standing silently in the room’s center.

“Tetra?”

“Oh, Rekka. What’s wrong? Can’t you sleep?”

“Nah, something came up before I even got to think about it.”

“...?”

Tetra just looked confused. But yeah, I guess she would. I barely understood it myself.

For no reason in particular, I entered the great hall.

“By the way, what is that?” I sat next to Tetra and pointed to what she’d been staring at.

It was something in the center of the room—a statue of a goddess and a box. The box was rectangular, shaped like a coffin without a lid. It was engraved and affixed to the floor, so it had probably always been there. The goddess was on top of the coffin, holding a sword.

It was a temple, so it was only natural to have a statue of a goddess... but the coffin and sword made it look like somewhat of a haphazard monument.

“This is another of God’s blessings. If you put food or clothing into this box and pray, whatever you put inside will multiply.”

“Seriously? That’s amazing.”

That really did sound like a divine miracle. It was amazing that there was light underground, too, but that was a little dull, to be honest.

“Can I use this, too?”

“No. This was made by God for the benefit of the guardians, so only we can use it.”

Too bad. If I could’ve put some tea and Japanese snacks into it to get more of them, I could have taken a break and relaxed a bit. It would have been nice to get rid of some the fatigue that had been building up lately.

Tetra told me more about the coffin. Apparently, the more people that prayed, the faster the things inside would multiply. And there was no limit to how much. As long as they kept praying, the contents would keep increasing in number.

For generations, Tetra’s clan had been in control of this coffin. She said she’d learned all of this through the old scrolls and books she found on her own.

“Once every seven days, the village gathers at the temple to pray for all the food, water, and clothing we need. It’s the most efficient way of making sure everybody gets what they need.”

In the past, each person prayed for what they wanted individually, supposedly. But when everyone prayed for themselves, people had to wait in line. And if you let something spoil, you could only get more of the spoiled thing. That’s why Tetra had decided that they would all get together and pray, then hand out what each person needed.

“It’s hard being the daughter of the village chieftain, huh?” I said, impressed.

I meant it as a compliment, but Tetra looked down.

“I wish I could bring more life to the village... I had hoped the rule I made about praying once every seven days would make everybody feel like part of a group. But it wasn’t that easy.” Tetra rubbed the edge of the box with her finger. “This coffin is what keeps us alive, but it has stolen from us any reason we had to work hard to survive. It gives us food and clothing—everything we need.”

“...Aren’t any of the villagers helping you?”

I thought it was an obvious enough question, but Tetra shook her head.

“The village is infected with tens of millions of years of laziness. This is a village of living corpses. Even with what’s going on now, only myself and a few other young people are interested. The adults—even my dad, the chieftain—won’t try to do anything.” Tetra sighed a little as she spoke.

She’d probably given up on asking the villagers for help. She’d worked so hard without anyone’s support... She must have been really tired.

She’d exhausted herself working all alone, and maybe she’d abandoned hope of the village ever getting its energy back, but still... She’d come to the surface and asked us for help saving the village she loved.

And then I wondered...

Was Tetra’s story really about defeating the Monster Who Defied God? Sure, if it came back to life, the village would be destroyed, and she wouldn’t want that, but... Wasn’t the soul of Jizu Village what she really wanted to save? That she wanted me to save?

Of course, this was just a theory. Tetra hadn’t said anything about it, but what if that was because she couldn’t? What if she was so exhausted and defeated that she couldn’t even say what she wanted? What if she was keeping her real desire sealed away in her subconscious?

Shouldn’t I try to help her? I didn’t know how, but...

“I think you’re trying really hard, Tetra.”

“Rekka... Even if I am...”

“So I’ll help, too.”

“Huh?” Tetra looked up at me, shocked.

That’s right. She was so petite that she had to look up at me when she talked. Even if the calm way she acted and spoke made her seem grown-up, she was just a normal girl.

She was really just trying to save her hometown. And she was doing it all on her own.

Talking to her, I realized how tirelessly she’d been working, but it felt like she was trying too hard for just one person.

Wouldn’t it be okay... for her to rely on somebody else? Me, for instance.

“Well, first we have to get through the Monster Who Defied God tomorrow, but even when that’s over, if your story isn’t resolved, I’ll stay with you. I still don’t know what it’ll take to help Jizu Village, but I’d never abandon you. Let’s try and work it out together, okay?”

I wasn’t very smart, and maybe I couldn’t do much, but when I laughed and told her that, her expression gradually changed. Shock turned to a quiet smile.

“...Thank you, Rekka.”

After I said good night to Tetra, I started to wander around the temple.

I mean, when I went back to check on the other girls, there was a note on the door that read, “Decide which of us you’re going to sleep with, please.” The two of them had each taken a bed already. Normally you’d run, right?

“You’re such a chicken that my stress is reaching supervolcano levels here.”

I ignored R’s meaningless words (though I kind of got the meaning) and kept walking with no real destination in mind.

Crap. I was getting really tired.

“Ugh... Maybe I’ll just sleep in the hallway.”

“Whatever you want,” the girl floating in the air next to me said coldly.

Was she that mad that I hadn’t slept next to one of the girls? But you know, sleeping with a girl in a cramped bed was a bad idea anyway. For a number of reasons.

Actually, I didn’t think I’d get any sleep.

Rrrrring! Rrrrring!

“Huh?” My cell phone was ringing? Down here?

Confused, I took my phone out of my pocket. But instead of a phone number, the display was showing hieroglyphs.

“...Is it broken?”

“Sure it’s not a prank call?”

“What kind of prank call would turn the numbers into hieroglyphs?”

I thought about ignoring it, but it wouldn’t stop ringing. It didn’t go to voice mail, and I couldn’t reject the call... so I gave up and answered it.

“...Hello?”

“Hello?! Rekka, are you alive?!”

A high-pitched voice rang through the other end—one I felt like I hadn’t heard in a long time. It was Iris.

“Iris? Where are you calling from? There were strange hieroglyphs on my phone.”

“Planet Finerita! I wanted to be able to talk to you whenever I wanted, so I had Daddy make me a cell phone that could call you anywhere in the universe!”

Space technology really was something else, huh? But since I couldn’t save her phone’s weird number in my contacts, it was going to be a one-way street.

“I’m getting the most advanced medical technology in the universe for you! I got a HUUUGE syringe fit for a space monster, too! They said it could even heal a planet-eating beast with one injection! So don’t die until I get there, Rekka!”

No, an injection from something like that would probably kill me...

“Wait, I’m actually...”

“Okay, I’m on my way back! Just wait for me, okay?”

Beep boop booooop...

“She didn’t hear a word I said...”

“You’d think she’d realize that you answering the phone meant that you were okay. She must have been pretty worried. She’s really in love with you, huh?”

“Blah blah blah!” I stuck my fingers in my ears and pretended I couldn’t hear R.

As I continued to wander around, I decided to visit the Hall of Sealing in the back of the temple. I didn’t really mean to do much there. I was just curious.

But when I arrived, someone was already there.

“Hey, Rekka Namidare.”

“Bah.”

It was the creepy-cute, super-deformed elephant fairy. He was flapping his ears in front of the giant door to the Hall of Sealing with an unsettling smile on his face.

Was it okay for a magical girl mascot to have such an evil-looking grin? I mean, it’s not like I was really a magical girl either, but...

“What are you doing there?”

“Hm? Oh, nothing. I was just thinking.”

It felt like he wasn’t being totally truthful, but there must have been plenty on his mind in the face of a battle with an enemy he’d had for millennia.

I stood next to him and looked up at the door that marked the boundary between us and the sealed world.

It was immense.

There was no roof to the Hall of Sealing, and the door stretched all the way up to the ceiling of the cave. Because of that, even though we were indoors, it half felt like standing outside.

The engravings and decorations on the door were much rougher than the ones in the temple, and in places they were cracked. I could even hear the sound of the door cracking, and it was clear the seal was about to break.

Tomorrow, I was going to break that seal and go to the other side, wasn’t I?

“You know, there’s one thing I don’t get.”

“What’s that?”

“Why did you want to ask me for help with the Monster?”

It was a simple question, but I was at a loss for an answer.

At first I thought it was because we had a mutual interest in defeating the Monster, but that didn’t make much sense. I had nothing going for me other than the bloodline of the Namidare, and I couldn’t come up with a good reason for him to help me do it.

But Bah just laughed. It was as if he felt I was asking an obvious question.

“It’s because you beat the ultimate mage, Messiah Kyandistrapps, of course.”

“Huh? Because I beat Messiah?” I gasped in surprise when I heard the name of the mage who’d put me through all kinds of misery last time. “No, wait. How’d you find out about that, anyway? Satsuki and I didn’t tell anyone, and Messiah’s not the type to go around talking about being bested, right?”

“The world of magic is a special place. Messiah may have been the strongest, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t lots of other talented mages. But only I know about Satsuki and the Magic of Omniscience, so don’t worry about that.”

From what he said, Bah had heard about Messiah’s downfall and got curious as to why he’d been fighting in the first place. When he looked into it, he learned of the Magic of Omniscience and Satsuki’s family.

Of course, that information was carefully protected with a great deal of safeguards and subterfuge. It was only his incredible power as “The Perfect Beast” that allowed Bahamut to break through it all.

He reassured me that even if other mages tried to do the same thing, they probably wouldn’t get far. That made me feel better, but I still had to correct him on an important detail.

“Bah, I hate to say this... but I didn’t beat Messiah because I was stronger than he was.”

“You don’t need to be so humble. Messiah is powerful enough that even I wouldn’t want to fight him. He’s not somebody a normal person could beat with a few tricks.”

“But I am a normal person. You see...” I gave Bah a brief summary of how I’d taken down Messiah.

“...Then you lied and told him this alien meteor weapon was your own magic?”

“That’s right. So, like I said, I’m just a normal human who can’t use any magic. Wait, can’t you tell by looking at me?”

Messiah was able to tell at a glance that I wasn’t a mage, as I remembered.

“Determining if someone has magic, and how much they have, is a type of support spell. I’m specialized in offensive magic, so I can’t really use spells like that.”

“Fair enough.”

Come to think of it, he had asked me when we met if I could use area of effect offensive magic. I thought it was some kind of joke, but it turns out he was just mistaken.

“I see... So you’re really just an ordinary boy, huh?”

I felt a shiver as something cold ran down my spine.

Reflexively, I turned to the side to look at Bah... but he just stood there with the same creepy-cute smile on his face, no different than before.

“What’s wrong, Rekka?”

“Nothing...”

Was I just imagining things? Something still didn’t feel right, but just as I tried to convince myself otherwise...

The door to the Hall of Sealing suddenly started to rumble and shake.

▽

Leviathan had regained its power and was thrashing around on the other side of the door. At this rate, the seal could break at any moment... At least, that’s what Bah said quietly to everyone when they gathered to see what the commotion was about.

“It’s no sweat off my back, but I imagine you guys don’t want Leviathan coming to this world, do you? So I think we should go immediately.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” I gulped and tried to steel myself after this dramatic change in our situation.

“You didn’t sleep, Rekka. Are you okay?” Satsuki asked warily.

“I was waiting for you,” Harissa said, upset.

...I wasn’t able to steel myself quite like I’d hoped.

“Mmm! Wait, are you two really going to follow me?” I looked at them both again.

“Of course.”

“I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Well, I figured that they’d said that... But wait, there was someone else.

“What are you doing here, Tetra?”

“I was the one who asked you to do this. I have a duty to see it through to the end.”

“Wait, hold on...”

“I’m going no matter what you say,” she said, smiling. “You said you’d stay with me. I can’t let you go into that dangerous place alone.”

“...!”

The pure look in her eyes pierced right through me, and I couldn’t help but smile.

Why were all the heroines this time so stubborn?

“Rekka... you’re going to tell me all about this when we get back, okay?”

“......”

For some reason, both Satsuki and Harissa were glaring at me angrily. What now?!

“Bah, I just realized something. How are we going to cross the seal?” I turned to Bah, desperate.

Depending on how we were going to do it, there was still a chance I could leave them here. They’d probably scream at me later, but it was better than taking them into danger.

“This door can be opened from the outside as long as you follow the instructions. Of course, it takes a lot of power, so humans can’t do it on their own.”

...Which meant that once Bah and I went inside, it would stay open, huh?

I tried to think of some way to get the girls to stay behind, but I knew in my heart that even if I were to lock them up somewhere, they’d just use their magic to follow me somehow.

“Fine. But don’t do anything crazy, you guys.”

“Yes, I understand.”

“Right, Sir Rekka!”

“Okay.”

At least they were saying what I wanted to hear, even if they had no intentions of following through...

“Are you all set, then? Let’s get a move on.”

Bah started to chant a complicated spell.

▽

When we passed through the door to the other side...

“...Huh?”

We were back in the same temple.

“Bah, what’s going on here?”

“On the other side of the seal is a fake Earth made by God. You could call it an artificial parallel world, maybe? But since it’s not real, there’s no life and nothing grows. Also, this version of the temple will be aboveground.”

Um, so basically, it was a clever duplicate of the world we knew?

Just as Bah had said, when we left the (fake) temple, we were on the surface, not in Jizu Village. And it is a place I knew quite well.

“This is where our town is, isn’t it? There’re no buildings, so it feels kind of strange.”

“Right?”

Only when Satsuki spoke up did I finally realize...

There were no signs of life here. No people. No houses. No stores or roads... There was water and soil, but I couldn’t see trees or anything green. There was light coming down from the sky, but nothing that looked like a sun.

“Well, as you can see, it’s like our world, but in a very unusual way. The biggest difference is that time passes quite slowly.”

“Huh. It’s similar, but different... It’s kind of bizarre.”

And there was no noise, either.

It had never dawned on me before that a lack of life created a lack of sound... Although, I guess maybe it’s weird to talk about “creating” an absence of something.

“I’d go crazy in three days in a place like this.”

“Same.”

“Me, too.”

“I know I would.”

And Leviathan was stuck in a place like this, huh?

“Wait, where is Leviathan? If it was trying to break the seal, shouldn’t we have run into it right when we came through?”

“Maybe it decided to be cautious when we opened the door. It could be watching us, so you should transform, Rekka.”

“Ugh... Fine.”

Bah had a point, so I resolved that I had no choice but to raise my bracelet... even though I was really dreading it. This wasn’t the time or place for me to be thinking selfishly, so I quickly transformed.

“Jeez, why do I have to say the spell, too? Kururun, Kururun, Kururinpyon! Kurukurupah, become an explosive magical girl!”

I recited the transforming incantation that Bah had given me as I waved my arm with the bracelet on it in a circle, and then followed it up with a victory twirl. I stuck out my tongue too for good measure.

And just as I was thinking I would rather be dead, my body was wreathed in a strange light.

“Bwahha!”

“Pfft! Heeheehee!”

“S-Sir Rekka, what is tha—bwahaha!”

By the time my transformation was complete, the girls were already in stitches.

I’ll say it again. I really just wanted to die. Seriously.

At least transforming into a magical girl made me physically stronger, so I wouldn’t be slowing down Bah this way.

Bahamut, “The Perfect Beast,” would be handling the majority of the fight. Realistically, it’s not like anyone but him could beat Leviathan, “The Strongest Beast.” I was just here as backup.

“So, yeah, Bah, I’m counting on you... Huh?”

Bah was gone.

“Hey, what’s going on? Where’d Bah go?”

“Huh? I-I don’t know!”

The three of them were so engrossed with my transformation that they hadn’t seen what happened to Bah.

We called out for him, but all we got back was silence.

“R, where’s Bah?” I whispered.

“I was watching your hilarious transformation sequence, so I don’t know.”

“Crap...”

Bah was a key player in this story. There was no way I could win without him.

The girls and I split up to search around the nearby rocks and things, but he was nowhere to be found.

“What do we do, Rekka?” Tetra asked me in a scared voice, but I couldn’t answer.

“...”

As I looked down in panic... Everything suddenly grew dark. An enormous shadow loomed over us.

“Satsuki! Harissa! Run!”

“!!”

“Huh? Wah! Wah!”

Satsuki responded by grabbing Harissa and jumping. She must have used some kind of levitation magic, because a single leap was all it took to get them out of the way.

“Oh, Rekka...”

“Uh-oh!”

Tetra hadn’t picked up on what was happening yet, so I grabbed her and jumped, too. Thanks to my considerably improved physical abilities, I was able to get a good distance away, though in a different direction than Satsuki.

And while I was in the air, “It” came down from the sky.

It felt like a whole skyscraper had fallen down, but it was even more massive than that. It was a gargantuan, white snake that left a gaping crater in the ground where it landed.

“Leviathan!”

It was closer to a dragon than a snake, but it wasn’t any kind of dragon I’d ever seen. It had horns and wings, and its tail spread out like a fan. Its long, winding body was covered in a wavelike pattern. On top of its head was some strange, floating thing that looked like a pair of golden headphones. It truly did look like a monster from the age of gods. It was straight out of a fairy tale.

Damn it! Were we supposed to fight this thing ourselves? Why did Bah have to disappear at a time like this? I was furious and clueless, but I needed to deal with the obstacle in front of me first... no matter how big it was.

“Tetra, you stay here!”

“Rekka!”

She screamed, but I hid her behind a rock and headed toward Leviathan.

“Huh? Hmm...” R tilted her head in confusion as I ran.

“R, what’s wrong?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Maybe it’s my imagination.”

“What the hell?” Why was this girl from the future always saying weird stuff at the most important times?

“Satsuki! Harissa!” I screamed their names.

“Rekka!”

“Sir Rekka!”

They heard me and answered. Evidently they’d been looking for me, too.

They were both covered with dirt and dust, but not visibly injured. I was relieved.

“Rekka, what do we do?”

“To be honest, I’ve got no idea... but we’ll try and work something out.” I really didn’t have any idea, but this wasn’t the time to run away. “If I can’t stop it, you two take Tetra and get back to our world from the temple!”

“No way! I’m helping you.”

“Me, too!”

Come on! Why couldn’t they just listen to me for once?

“Good grief! Damn it... Then just don’t get close to the monster! Got it?” I shouted and kept going.

But the stupid skirt made it hard to run! I clenched my fist in annoyance at the whole magical girl outfit.

And then Leviathan looked down at me with a head that was probably bigger than my house.

“You... were with ‘him,’ weren’t you? Are you on ‘his’ side?”

Him? Who was it talking about? I didn’t have time to think about it.

The explosive magic Bah had given me was extremely powerful. But would it work on such a huge monster? Just as I tried to use my stick to find out...

My transformation abruptly ended.

“Huh? What?”

My enhanced physical abilities apparently went with it. I fell forward, hitting my chin on the ground so hard that I saw stars.

“...Jeez. You really are just an average human, Rekka Namidare.”

As I lay on the ground like an idiot, I suddenly saw Bah, the creepy-cute fairy who’d disappeared until a moment ago. He was holding my transformation bracelet in his stubby hands and playing with it.

“Bah... Why?”

“You see, at first I thought you were just being cagey and hiding your powers, so I put you in a situation where you had no choice but to use them... But I’m very disappointed, Rekka Namidare. You really don’t have any more strength than other humans, do you?”

“Huh?” What was he talking about?

“Basically, he hid himself deliberately to test you.” R saw my confusion and was nice enough to give me an explanation.

But I still didn’t understand. If he wanted to see my power, he could’ve just fought alongside me. The girls and I almost got squished back there!

And then I remembered the chill I’d felt in the Hall of Sealing. I realized that was right after I’d told Bah that I wasn’t special.

Had this been his plan ever since then...?

“...Bahamut. I never expected that you’d come to me.”

I could hear Leviathan’s hateful voice from above.

My body tensed up, but the Monster’s eyes were fixed on Bah, not me.

“I’ve been waiting a long time to get my revenge on you,” the Monster hissed.

“Oh, yeah? Then I guess I kept you waiting a while.”

Leviathan’s voice was seething with rage, but Bah seemed like he was having fun. He had a huge grin across his face like a giant gash.

“When I heard the seal was breaking, I got a little worried. I figured you’d regained most of your power. But seeing you in your current form, I feel a lot better. You’ve only got less than a percent of your power back, don’t you?

Less than a percent? And it was still this big?

Bah ignored my shock and laughed gleefully.

“Well, I’m curious how you managed to get back any power at all inside here where there’s no food... but did you really plan to break through that old seal and fight me when you’re still so weak? That’s suicide.”

“I decided I would atone for the mistake of unleashing you myself. No matter how much stronger you are, I will defeat you,” the white snake said.

“Hahaha! Boy, do I feel stupid for going to all this trouble! I guess I’ll just show you the difference in our power after all these ages.” Bah laughed, and then turned to me with a grin. “So, Rekka Namidare, I’m taking back the power I lent you. I think I can handle Leviathan myself.”

Bah tossed the bracelet into his mouth and ate it with a crunching noise. Suddenly his body began to change.

First, he grew to my height, but he was about three times wider. Then his limbs grew long, and five clawed fingers appeared on each hand. His nose, ears, and tusks grew, too.

He wasn’t a little fairy anymore. He was more like... a demon.

“Gufwah!”

He put his hand on his protruding stomach, and snapped his long trunk at Leviathan, who was flying toward him to attack.

And then there was an explosion.

“Gyaaaooooh!” The giant snake writhed, and Leviathan screamed.

“Gufwah! Gufwah! Gufwah!” Each time his trunk moved, another series of explosions wracked Leviathan’s body.

Blood poured out like waterfalls, and the stench of burning meat seared my nose.

Leviathan was blown back by the explosions, yet even covered in blood, it kept charging forward.

But it was hopeless.

Pillars of water appeared around Leviathan, then swarmed at Bah from all directions as if they had a will of their own.

But that didn’t work, either.

Leviathan’s desperate charges and pillars of water were all knocked away by Bah.

He hadn’t budged since the start of the fight. He just stayed put and kept attacking.

I had thought this was exactly how I wanted to see things go down...

But for some reason, it was horrifying.

“Gaah... gyah... guh...”

At last, Leviathan was sapped of strength and could no longer lift its hulking body. As I watched in shock, the snake itself appeared to be collapsing.

“Oh, looks like it can’t maintain this form anymore.”

“...What do you mean?”

“Leviathan’s body, like mine, changes based on the amount of energy stored within it. So the more power we lose, the more difficult it is to maintain a certain form. I would guess that only the core is left now.”

“So it’s kind of like a balloon, huh?”

If the air (or energy) inside was what was causing it to swell up, as the air left, it was only natural that it would shrink. Then all that would be left was the deflated rubber. The rubber, in this case, would be the “core” that Bah was talking about.

“Well, something like that. Okay, time to find the core and destroy it.” Bah grinned and vanished.

I went to get Satsuki and the other girls, then ran after him.

When we arrived, we saw what clearly looked like a human girl lying at his feet.

“Bah! Who is that?”

“Hm? Oh, this is Leviathan’s core.”

“It is...?”

It was true that I’d been told that there was nobody here in this artificial world but the Monster Who Defied God. So no matter what she looked like, she had to be Leviathan.

In other words, even in human form, this was The Monster Who Defied God. The Strongest Beast that had once leveled the surface of the earth...

Which meant I had no choice but to watch as Bah finished her...

“Hmm...? I thought so.” R’s voice was oddly soft as she circled my head, staring at Leviathan.

I was unusually interested in what she had to say for once.

“Hey, what’s going on? What do you mean?” It was possible that the other girls might hear me, so I whispered as softly as I could.

“Nothing. It just looks like that girl is a heroine.”

“...Huh?”

“The girl lying on the ground there. She’s a heroine. At first I thought it had to be some mistake, but I guess it isn’t.”

“Huh?! Bah, hold it!” When I heard what she said, I yelled and started to run. I placed myself between Leviathan and Bah to protect her.

“Oh? What’s this about?”

“Well, uh...”

He narrowed his eyes into a piercing gaze directed right at me, and I broke into a cold sweat.

“Rekka! What’s going on?” Tetra and the girls were astonished at my sudden action.

To be honest, I couldn’t explain it. Was it just because Leviathan was in human form? Or was it because she was a heroine? It was probably both.

But... it was also true that something didn’t feel right about how Bah was behaving.

The way he’d reacted when he learned I didn’t have any power. The way his attacks seemed to be about maximizing his opponent’s suffering. And the peculiar nature of his conversation with Leviathan.

Bah had told us from the start that he wanted revenge, but Leviathan was the only one who’d said anything about revenge once we got here.

It was like the opposite of what we expected.

And just as I was about to ask...

“...Yup. Forget it.”

His attitude suddenly changed.

“Rekka Namidare, I’m done with you. Die, please.”

The next words out of his mouth were a death sentence.

“What?!”

“Good riddance, you useless boy.” Bah’s trunk turned towards me.

Oh, crap! He was going to blow me up!

I tensed up, waiting for the worst.

“Rekka!”

And just at the same moment my field of vision was overwhelmed with flames from the explosion, I saw Satsuki block them with some kind of invisible barrier.

“Well, well. You can block that, huh?” Bah looked impressed.

“Running and protecting myself are the two things I’m good at!” Satsuki yelled.

Just as Bah laughed and tried to attack us again, Harissa returned with Tetra. And then...

“Ealim Nekram!” Harissa chanted a spell.

“Hmm? They disappeared?” Bah looked around in confusion.

It was as if he’d lost sight of us... Was this Harissa’s invisibility magic?! I’d never had it used on me before, but evidently the effects were mitigated for people under the same spell. The four of us, plus Leviathan, could still see one another.

Satsuki waved her hand as if to say “grab on to me.”

Harissa and Tetra latched onto her arms. I put the unmoving Leviathan on my back and then put my hand on Satsuki’s shoulder.

Next thing I knew, we started to float in the air.

Satsuki tried to head for the temple, but she grimaced when we heard Bah mutter, “Hmm, I guess I can just wait them out at the entrance.”

For the time being, we headed in the opposite direction just to get away from him.