This isn't me showing off; I'm always giving it everything I've got

Bilgamesh gave a shout while falling and sending down twin attacks.

"Your partner is now dirt! Know that you have no backup!"

But…

"She will be returned to normal! So worry not and face me!"

His words showed him how weak his own will was.

He was feeling unnecessary sympathy for this opponent.

He had once lost his own partner, so he was empathizing with what his opponent had to be feeling.

…Honestly.

He thought back to when he had once lost Ki.

"What is happening? Why is his opponent being so nice?"

Kuwajiri nodded while wondering if she was consuming her hamburger steak too quickly and while considering if she should order another one.

"In his myths, Bilgamesh lost his partner Enkidu and began to wander."

"Wander?"

"Yes. Enkidu was made to die as a punishment from the G.o.ds, but Bilgamesh could not accept that death. When Enkidu was on the verge of death, Bilgamesh dressed him up in bridal clothes to celebrate him. After Enkidu's death, Bilgamesh wandered the world hoping to find the location of his soul so he might be resurrected."

And…

"When he ultimately realized that was not possible, the half-G.o.d half-human king discovered the limits of his own power and he died."

She finished the story. And…

"Uh…"

There were tears.

"Eh? Um, wait. h.e.l.lo?"

She had no idea what to do about this.

The story of Bilgamesh was indeed a tragedy, but she had not expected to bring an older girl to tears.

Besides, making this particular uppercla.s.sman cry was a problem.

Because the idiot would respond. And sure enough…

"Don't make her cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Ahhhhh, Senpai! It's okay! It's only a legend! It's a made-up story!"

"h.e.l.llll of a thing to say to a bunch of leeeegendary G.o.ds."

"Yeah, that's what I meant! So, Senpai! Don't worry too much about their backstories! Now we can continue the legends or play the sequel or whatever! It'll be as easy as inserting a 50 yen coin in the slot!"

"And you don't need to cry either way."

"B-but it's just so unfair!"

First I made her cry an now she's yelling at me. Well, it is an emotional story. That's never been my strong point. But…

"The biggest difference between now and the Earth Age legend is that Bilgamesh is real now."

Yes.

The Norse G.o.ds had memories of going through the Twilight of the G.o.ds at the end Norse mythology, but that had yet to happen in 'the present'.

It was the same for Bilgamesh.

He had once lost Enkidu and wandered.

He had tried to live life the way he wanted but learned of his limits when he found something he could not do.

He had that past in his memories and that would cause him to hesitate even in the middle of battle. So…

…He isn't a bad person. Which means…

Which means…

"Raidou-senpai, you must have the phase prepared by now, so do it already."

Bilgamesh saw something while in midair.

His opponent had struck a pose on the dried and scattered land. His left hand was at his hip, his right hand was jabbing upwards, and he swung both those hands before pointing upwards again.

"Raidouuuu!!"

He shouted.

"Thorrrr!!"

Bilgamesh interrupted whatever this was by slamming down both his attacks.

"Enough nonsense!"

Bilgamesh knew his attacks had hit. Both scored direct hits.

He felt the blow land through both the gauntlets.

He had not felt that any of the previous times.

Of course he had not.

He had been making a flurry of attacks before, but he had always been using one arm at a time.

This time, he had used the momentum of his fall and used both arms at once.

That was not something someone could fully block. However…

"Did he do it!?"

Both of the gauntlets shook.

A counterattack had struck both the ultrheavyweight attacks and that attack's power exploded within the gauntlets.

The wrists of the gauntlets bounced up and shattered.

He heard the destruction of metal. It was an odd concentration of sound caused by the metal being torn, compressed, and crushed.

The 70m metal fists were utterly destroyed.

His opponent had used a counterattack to survive.

"d.a.m.n you."

That was well played. The enemy appeared in the center of his vision just as he thought he was going to land.

It was Raidou Tooru.

The hem of his uniform was shredded and there was clear weariness in the way he stood there, but…

"What's that look for?"

"That weapon."

He knew what it was. He had researched it before arriving in this divine world.

"Norse Thunder G.o.d Thor has three divine tools."

The first was the gauntlet he had used to endure all the attacks thus far: Jarngreipr.

The second was the strengthening belt that allowed Thor to draw out his full power: Megingjord.

And the third was the divine hammer that acted as his symbol.

"What happened to Mjolnir?"

Raidou held a weapon in both hands so that it spanned left to right, but it looked like a giant sword.

It had no guard and the rectangular blade simply looked like a hunk of metal stretched out.

"Don't be dumb. This is Mjolnir."

Thor smiled a little and lightly swung the large sword.

"The only flaw with that hammer is the poor craftsmans.h.i.+p, so of course I was gonna improve it when I came here. Just like you did with your equipment."

It instantly changed shape. No, it returned to its original form.

It really was a hammer.

The handle was short enough to fit inside a single hand.

The striking portion was long side to side, but it was still the size of a hand's breadth.

"So I take this and go like this."

He swung it.

It immediately changed form. As the handle extended, the striking portion also grew wider. The striking portion also thrust out upwards like it was growing taller.

"It might look like a blade, but it's really just the striking portion stretched straight out. You can think of it as an extrlong hammer. I used this mode for that counterattack just now."

I let slip a comment on what I had just seen.

"Kamen Raidou."

"No one asked you to say that."

"Now, now, now, now," I said while shaking my head.

"You saw that just now, didn't you? Raidou-senpai's belt buckle started spinning in a really cool way and then the hammer popped out."

"It is true Mjolnir is normally stored in Megingjord's buckle."

"Is therrrre a good reeeeason for that?"

"Because he modified Mjolnir to make it more usable and added some extra features, it didn't have enough power for itself. That's why it generally gets its fuel from Raidou-senpai. He's fighting now, but he only just built up enough fuel to use it properly."

"Sumeragi-kun, would you like half my hamburger steak?"

"Ah! Y-yeshy-yes! I want it! I want it so bad!"

"Are you listening? Hey, are either of you listening?"

An impact became sound and raced out.

Two rapid-fire sounds rushed alongside the Tama River.

The first was the rumble of the lightning attacks produced when the extended striking weapon counterattacked.

The other was the metal ring of two giant fists pus.h.i.+ng away and striking the lightning attacks.

The two continued ceaselessly as a continuous roar.

Both sides struck, attacked, and sometimes spun around while staying on the move.

However, the thunder G.o.d was constantly falling back.

His opponent's attacks were far heavier than his own.

He kept his center of gravity lowered as he launched the lightning hammer attacks, but the two fists were still more than 600m long when the forearms were included.

That was an overwhelming difference.

When he caught one of those attacks, he was forced to fall back a dozen meters at least.

But his extended striking weapon did not break. Instead, the metal fists shattered but were immediately regenerated with ether light.

"Ha ha! How huge an ether pool do you have!?"

"You laugh, war G.o.d!?"

"Course I do! We fought much bigger things when we were destroyed in the Twilight of the G.o.ds, but if I can keep up with someone like you, I know I've still got what it takes!"

"I see."

His opponent smiled a little too.

"I feel the same way."

"Is this a complicated thing for you!?"

"I said this is politics, didn't I?"

Oh, right. But…

"You idiot."

"What makes me an idiot?"

The thunder G.o.d gave a roar while they fought.

"This is a battle! Not politics! You call this a battle for politics!? Not how it works! Battles are battles! We're duking it out and whoever's stronger wins! How is that politics!?"

"Whoever is stronger wins! That describes politics to a T! Isn't that right!?"

"That's dead wrong!"

He was sure of himself here.

"The winner is the one who survives to laugh another day! That's what I call a battle! Wasn't it that way for you!?"

He asked a question.

"Did you laugh back when you were the one to survive!?"

Bilgamesh gave his opponent another look.

He had researched this opponent. However…

"I lost something precious to me yet survived and regretted it every day thereafter. I felt powerless and I felt despair. But…"

He slammed his fists forward.

"What about you!? What about Ragnarok!? In the Norse myth you called the Twilight of the G.o.ds, most of the G.o.ds die and the world is remade! And…"

And…

"You are one of those who dies in battle! What did you do then!?"

A counterattack arrived and knocked his attack upwards.

"I laughed!"

The thunder G.o.d raised his eyebrows in a smile.

"I laughed and died! In a 'whelp, this is the end I guess' kinda way! But…"

"Out with it!"

"Sure," he replied.

"But my laugh was a twisted thing. I felt a sick kind of relief that everything else was being destroyed along with me. I was fine with it because everyone was with me. Not what you'd expect from a war G.o.d, huh!?"

"Which is why," he added.

"I'll never laugh like that again!!"

"You will not allow it, is that it!?"

"Same for you, huh!?"

They exchanged a nod. A moment later, they struck and cleared a small distance between them. At that moment, Bilgamesh met his opponent's eyes and raised his voice.

"White Sword!"

Bilgamesh saw the thunder G.o.d was already on the move.

…What does he intend to do against my summoned weapon!?

Bilgamesh was not summoning the gauntlets. He was using the White Sword that could be called a piercing AoE weapon.

Did he have some trick up his sleeve? Or was he simply desperate?

Bilgamesh did not know.

But that extended striking weapon was aimed his way and it grew an extra few dozen meters while his opponent gave a roar.

"Thunder G.o.d Strike!!"

What is he saying? Gilgamesh wondered in a split second.

The summoning of the White Sword was being completed by the many Revelation Boards around him.

This attack was not like the one he had used previously. The muzzle-like ejection s.p.a.ce at the base of the weapon had already been enlarged.

The white sword's attack would cover around a dozen kilometers and stop when it hit the barrier wall.

What lightning attack could that hammer produce in response when it was long but still only measured in meters?

Was he really simply desperate?

…No! He is not the type of person to do that!

That left only one option: a trick up his sleeve.

And at the moment…

"It can't be."

Gilgamesh checked the top of his vision.

He saw it there.

The thunder G.o.d's trick was there.

At some point, clouds had appeared in the previously clear night sky. The thunderclouds looked like they were being intentionally brought in from the west.

This was weather manipulation. In other words…

"A phase!?"

"There we go."

Kuwajiri looked into the western sky out the window while she wondered if she had overdone it by ordering a melon soda float.

Even in Sunakawa, it was visible at a low angle to the southwest.

Dark clouds extended from the Okutama mountains to the west.

"Did he create that with an Auth Spell?"

"No, he did not. It is a type of weather control, but this is due to a natural phase forming in the Nis.h.i.+tama region."

There was a trick to this, so she opened a map of western Tokyo on a Revelation Board.

"j.a.pan has a lot of mountains and a lot of rivers. Both of those things eliminate the flatlands all the way out to the ocean. The people of j.a.pan tended not to notice it, but j.a.pan's terrain is a collection of valleys extending from the mountains to the ocean that were carved away over many long years by the rivers."

What special traits did that provide?

"Deep mountain valleys and rivers cause the mountain's winds and waters to flow downstream. Clouds form more easily in the sky above the mountain rivers. South of Okutama, the Tama River connects to Yamanas.h.i.+. North of Okutama, it connects to the Chichibu Mountains. So it gets hot in the summer and clouds form especially easily above it. From the perspective of other regions, a lot of rainclouds will extend from there while snaking along the path of the Tama River."

That was exactly it.

"The thunderclouds created here are supported by the regional G.o.ds and spirits of this s.h.i.+nto land. And Raidou-senpai can further increase the power by pressurizing them with his Auth Spell."

In an instant, their surroundings grew white.

She knew what had happened. No, she knew what was still happening. The light coming from the west was no longer just light as it illuminated the western side of Tokyo.

"This Thunder G.o.d Strike is a combination of thunder G.o.d tricks. A ma.s.s of lightning will crash down from the sky over a radius of probably 3km…but it should only hit the outsiders."

There was no sound.

There was no light.

Everything was burned away to create a pure white s.p.a.ce void of all noise, smell, and even heat.

An explosive vibration had been launched at his opponent from the sky.

But Raidou still saw something ahead of him.

"Well done."

His opponent was still there.

Bilgamesh had his giant right arm raised with something visible atop the gauntlet.

It was a shadow.

The all-encompa.s.sing shadow continued for more than 2km.

That was not the White Sword.

It was a s.h.i.+eld.

"Red s.h.i.+eld."

He stood there with his breathing heavy but enduring.

The lightning light faded, the sizzling sound vanished, and everything grew visible once more. However…

"I would've won if you'd used your White Sword."

Raidou had planned to strike in the opening that left, but he had canceled that plan.

However, Bilgamesh alone could not have pulled this off in time.

Yes.

Someone else had intervened. Someone had reached out a helping hand and replaced Bilgamesh's attack ejection device with a defense one. Raidou knew exactly who that would be.

"The wife!"

"I wouldn't have noticed the movement in the sky if I hadn't been watching from behind."

Ki wiped away an exhausted sweat and sighed. She stood next to the stone statue that had been s.h.i.+fu.

"I thought you had to have a trick up your sleeve, but I was focused too much on the river."

The river was not what mattered.

They were up against a thunder G.o.d. Not a weather G.o.d like they knew; a G.o.d that specialized in thunder specifically.

Also, the natural terrain of this divine world was different from the Middle East.

There was more than one factor to the land here.

The phase that gave Thor the upper hand was the sky.

The terrain along this river would call in thunderclouds from upstream.

She had finally noticed once she was positioned further away and had to view the entire scene from a distance.

That had given her just barely enough time to intervene. And…

"That is the Red Line s.h.i.+eld defense spell. It is a specialized protection applied on top of Bil's s.h.i.+eld, but unfortunately, I couldn't apply it more than once. The weapon deployment permission stuff gets in the way."

So she made a suggestion.

"How about we take the same family name? If we're at the same rank, I can intervene without going through the permissions process."

"Thank you," whispered Bilgamesh.

Then he looked to his opponent and took a fighting stance.

"It's on, then?"

"On it is."

His opponent raised that hammer once more.

Bilgamesh reactivated his Auth Spell Revelation Board. He put it in sleep activation mode to shorten the activation time.

"We both came here after suffering a defeat."

"Yeah, but you're about to suffer another one."

Was he simply acting tough after losing his partner's support and having his largescale lightning strike blocked? No, he had an idea. That was what made him a war G.o.d.

Thunderclouds remained in the sky. Lightning was racing from them.

But since Ki remained in the fight, her defense spells could defend Bilgamesh.

If his opponent was going to act tough despite that…

…I must not hold back!

He reactivated his White Sword and preserved the Red s.h.i.+eld that was starting to vanish.

"I will pour my heart and soul into defeating you!"

The Revelation Board was complete, but then he heard a comment from his opponent.

"FYI, you're not the only one with the power of a wife."

What does he mean by that? wondered Bilgamesh.

This opponent's wife had already been stopped. Her harvest had been scattered and Ki had petrified her.

Ki had the upper hand on a fundamental compatibility level, hence the victory. But…

"Ki!"

He realized a certain fact and sensed danger.

But not for himself, for his partner Ki. Because…

…The ground!

There was a color in the ground: yellow.

This should not have been possible.

The withered and scattered fruits of the earth had returned.

That was odd.

But the light rising from a wide expanse of land was clearly the color of the returning harvest. Which meant…

"Ki! Your opponent has overcome your compatibility!!"

Ki was confused.

Something strange was happening.

A golden color was welling up all around her.

It was wheat. That ma.s.sive divine territory was returning. But instead of being established anew, it was recovering.

"It couldn't be."

She did not see how this was possible, but she had to ask.

"Did you remove the petrification!?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, cracks ran through the s.h.i.+fu statue.

Her entire body split apart and stone scattered. But instead of the entire statue crumbling away, something emerged from within.

"Whew, that one caught me by surprise."

It was s.h.i.+fu. The petrification had only covered the outermost layer of skin. Almost like…

"Would you call it a thres.h.i.+ng facial? But having stone in my underwear was a little ouch, if I'm being honest."

Ki watched in a daze, but there was something different about the s.h.i.+fu she saw now.

"Your hair."

"Yeah," she said with a smile while brus.h.i.+ng the stone off her hand.

"Black hair is pretty nice too, don't you think?"

"What is the meaning of this!? My Auth Spell should have returned your life to dirt!"

s.h.i.+fu nodded at Enkidu's complaint.

"I have a double divinity. Because there are two people in our mythology who are considered Thor's wife."

Was "people" really the right word there? Meh, who cares, she decided.

"The first is the more well-known one: Sif. That's the blonde beauty. And the other one is Jarnsaxa. Do you know what that name means?"

She explained.

"It means 'iron dagger'."

The rest was simple enough.

"Your Auth Spell? If it turns life to dirt, then its rules let you return Sif's wheat and fertility to the earth, but it can't do the same with Jarnsaxa. After all, she's iron. Iron's still iron even when it rusts. It can't be turned to dirt."

"Compatibility, huh?"

"Oh, the compatibility issues don't stop there."

She moved forward. She approached. Her opponent prepared to fight.

"Flying Disc!"

Ki launched several dozen razor discs at close range, but s.h.i.+fu easily ducked past them.

"Remember what you said about bladed weapons being popular in your day? Then how about barehanded attacks?"

She moved right up to her opponent while she spoke.

It only took an instant. But…

"Kh!"

Enkidu threw a frantic attack that did not have her hips behind it, but it did reach s.h.i.+fu's cheek.

It landed.

s.h.i.+fu heard a nice sound come from her cheek.

Enkidu had been created as a man, so it was a fairly powerful blow.

Oh, right, she realized after recalling the mythology Kuwajiri had explained for them. Before Bilgamesh and Enkidu had accepted each other, they had fought a lengthy duel through which they realized they were both created by the G.o.ds.

In that case, they would be able to handle hand-to-hand combat too. So…

"Correction: we might have great compatibility."

With that, she took a step forward.

The blow she had taken had affected her. It hurt like h.e.l.l. But…

"You've still got a ways to go before you can match the punches the jotunn have thrown my way."

Her black hair blew in the wind as she circled around her opponent's attempt at evasion. Her hair continued to flutter as she interrupted Enkidu's evasive action with the toughness of iron.

The enemy could not move, so she only had to use her standing motion to gain momentum.

"How about we exchange stories about our husbands later on, En-chan?"

Then she threw her fist into En's jaw.

s.h.i.+fu took En's hand as she tried to stay standing but started to collapse into the fertile field.

By the time she had supported her, her hair was back to the gold of wheat.

And she gave a shout.

"Finish this, Tooru!"

Bilgamesh realized Ki had been defeated. But…

…Good enough!

He had just launched the White Sword from his right arm.

The attack would reach the edge of the barrier and create an even deeper valley for the river.

Thunderclouds filled the sky, but he was raising the Red s.h.i.+eld toward the heavens.

The s.h.i.+eld no longer had the Red Line s.h.i.+eld protection applied, but…

"It can still protect me for a short time!"

Once he said that, he saw the thunder G.o.d's hammer transforming again.

This was not the striking portion extending like before.

It was short and it looked a lot like a hammer, except that the handle was longer than it had been.

No.

This was a sword guard.

The hammer formed a sword's hilt and guard, so what was it lacking?

A blade.

And what would a thunder G.o.d use as a blade?

"A lightning strike!?"

All of the electrification, ball lightning, and thunderbolts emitted from the thunderclouds overhead were concentrated on the sword guard held up by the thunder G.o.d.

The lightning was focused and discharged from that point and the blade itself called in thunderclouds while also launching itself into the sky.

The lightning produced a flare.

The lightning blade produced from the thunderclouds gave a roar and burst in the heavens.

The blade of striking light scattered the very clouds it had come from as it reached a height of 9km.

Bilgamesh tried to seize victory.

The thunder G.o.d in front of him raised his lightning blade.

That 9km lightning strike descended toward him.

He raised his s.h.i.+eld toward the sky, but…

"Ki!"

You left this to me, he thought while launching his White Sword and moving forward.

He would win this.

He would strike swift and hard.

Even if his opponent was faster, his s.h.i.+eld would hold out for a moment. But…

"Kh!"

He saw something moving in front of him. No, below him.

An attack arrived from the ground - from the fertile land.

It was s.h.i.+fu's gold.

Bilgamesh saw the enemy's attack appear below him.

All of the wheat covering the fertile land turned to blades and hopped up at him.

"Let's do this harder than before!"

Well done, he thought. You two work well together.

It was coming.

The attacks were launched up from the ground.

All of the blades raced across countless angular paths and stabbed into him to pin him in place.

They hit him.

The many heads of wheat pierced straight through his gauntlet and the s.h.i.+eld it was raising overhead.

But he still gave a roar.

"No matter!"

His equipment's ma.s.s and speed could easily break those thin blades. So…

"I will not lose!"

He shattered all of the wheat and continued forward.

He did not stop.

The thunder G.o.d was swinging that giant blade to hit him.

It was a swift motion, but he could still win.

His opponent's attack was coming from above, but he had his s.h.i.+eld raised. So…

"Victory is ours!"

s.h.i.+fu heard Tooru's voice from the distant battlefield while she reached a hand out toward En who was breathing heavily down on her knees.

"You know what? Your partner is a pretty good match for you in battle."

Tooru spoke to Bilgamesh.

"But s.h.i.+fu's gold is highly conductive. Pretty convenient for a thunder G.o.d's wife, right?"

"Oh, shut up," she muttered while looking up in the sky.

Her many wheat attacks had been torn apart and were scattering ether light, but they were still there.

Most of them had pierced Bilgamesh's gauntlet and Red s.h.i.+eld to reach the sky beyond.

The s.h.i.+eld no longer provided any protection against the lightning strike.

It would pa.s.s right through.

Which meant…

"Don't a.s.sume we've lost just yet!"

En spat out the words.

"Bil! I'm not going to use Call Bil!"

"Oh!"

What was he trying to say?

Was it a cry of resistance?

Had he been addressing the enemy? Or…

Had he been addressing someone much more important? He did not know. But…

"Hammer of the Thunder G.o.d!!"

The light from the heavens struck the s.h.i.+eld, pa.s.sed right on through it, and shattered it.

Everything simply vanished into whiteness.

It was over.

"Any deep reason you finished off your hamburger steak just as the battle ended?"

"So I could order another one."