CH 31

[Retribution]

“——AAAAAANUUUUUBIIIIIISSSSS!!!!”

My consciousness returns at that scream.

The world regains its color and the time begins to tick normally.

When I open my eyelids that I closed in preparation for death, I see the back of a black shining giant—— Anubis.

“Sakurai Tōru, you have fought well. The time has come to reward your dedication.”

Anubis says so, and shakes off the remains of the battle ax that he intercepted with his bare hands.

Seeing that, Babi starts screaming as though he is flustered.

“Why! Why do you always and always get in my way!! Why do you get in the way of my enjoyment!!”

“Babi Niflheim. My older brother. It is you, yourself, that has spun karma that warrants retribution.”

“Karma, you say!? Stop saying stupid things!! What did I do to you bastards!! Rather, aren’t you all the ones who always torment me!! You bastards spited me and cursed me as ‘atrocious’ just because I killed our parents who didn’t understand me!! On top of all that, you all snatched away my daughter from my hands, aren’t you bastards the real sinful and evil brutes heeeere!!”

Babi Niflheim screams, plucking his hair with both hands.

Simply because he can’t put up with it and snaps, he stomps and destroys the floor with his feet, losing his temper just like a kid throwing a tantrum.

Perhaps he has already gone beyond disgusted at that very pathetic figure, Anubis declares the end of Babi in completely cold voice.

“You are already beyond saving. Today, in this place, let us settle your karma and put an end to the atrocity that is you.”

“Put an end? Put an end, you say!? You, my younger brother, will put an end to me, your older brother, you say!? Stop talking nonsense, Anubis!! You have no such power! To point your blade to your older brother and the likes is unforgivable!! What do you think you who is inferior to me in all aspects can do, huh!!”

“We know that full well. Therefore, we have requested assistance before coming here.”

At the next moment, transition gates open one after another in the room.

“……Ha?”

While Babi is stunned, four people appear from the gate.

The white aura cladding them is radiating gods’ majesty; they are an alliance (party) of gods who gathered in response to Anubis’s call to destroy Babi.

“Uwaa, a human really forced Babi to stay by himself? He is giving me the shivers~, isn’t he a dangerous guy?”

With a swept back hair and a monocle on his deep red face. A man with a seven-colored book floating at his back is shocked seeing me.

He is Anubis’s friend, a magic god and wise man with no equal in the ‘Netherworld’, ‘Thoth’.

“Hooray! To have the opportunity to defeat the unforgivable fiend Babi twice… o’ human, I thank you for your service of justice!”

A girl with an ostrich hair clip tying up her blond hair that shines radiantly and is equipped with a total of 6 longswords, with 2 on her back, 2 on her waist, and 2 in her hands, thank me.

She is the goddess ‘Maat’ who presides over the order of death, holding the swords that once defeated Babi who were scattering chaos.

“My child, my sin. If you say that you cannot wash your blood-stained hands yourself… Your mother (I) will purify them with your life. That way, some people should feel gratified.”

A dark-skinned woman in a gorgeous dress that combines countless beads and jewels wearing a crown resembling a throne on her head looks at Babi and calmly tell him so.

She is the mother goddess ‘Nephthys’ who stepped into ‘hell’ on her own accord due to the sin of having given birth to Babi.

“It seems like the time has come to return the hundred curses you carved on mine body.”

A mummy-like man wearing a white crown, with his whole body wrapped in bandages up to his face, thrust a twisting cane before Babi and give him sentence.

He is the former god and king of Netherworld, ‘Osiris’, whose soul was divided into a hundred parts and sealed in the world of ‘infinitude’.

“Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible!? Why are you bastards all in this place!?”

The five pillar gods – including Anubis – that symbolize the after-death world in the present time and in the past, surround Babi Niflheim and are holding up their weapon as if to not let him make any move.

On Babi’s back, the ghosts of the powerless and innocents he oppressed form a flock, praying for the victory of the gods.

Even though they know they are powerless, they continue to offer up their power that is equal to dirt to the five pillar gods to punish the person they cannot forgive.

“What the hell are you doing here!? Why are you pointing your weapon at me!? Ridiculous, this is ridiculous!! My head hurts! Don’t displease me, do something I can understand, move with my circumstances in your mind!! The world should be like that, right!? Aaaaaaahhhh!!!!”

Grasping the meaning of the gazes directed at him, he is unable to understand them from the bottom of his heart.

And above all, he truly doesn’t understand why he is put in the plight where he is seen with such eyes.

That is the kind of god Babi Niflheim is… seeing his extremely unsightly state even makes me forget the pain of my cut off arm.

The winning move that I thought up as a countermeasure against Babi is ‘relying upon others for attaining one’s own objective.’

I’m glad I was able summon my motivation by forcibly casting the factor ‘one on one leveling with a boss’ while arming myself with theoretical backing somehow.

However, although I was prepared to continue fighting for eternity, I was afraid that my energy and concentration would probably run out in the end.

If that fear come true, Babi who overcame the barrier, namely me, would start moving again, ending up right back where he started.

That’s why I said to god Anubis,

‘I will buy you time in the meantime, so gather as many allies as you can and replay the past subjugation play.’

From the beginning, I knew from the content of the original story that Babi Niflheim revived in a condition far from his heyday.

That was why I suggested to Anubis that now, and this time, is the chance to completely destroy him.

And with not only words but also fists, I succeeded in getting Anubis to agree to it.

I had Anubis gather as many members as possible to subjugate Babi using the time created while I rescued Iris together with Higaki and continued fighting against Babi in order to raise my levels.

‘Increasing battle force by relying on the connection of the god’ and ‘forming a capture party composed of gods’ – which was impossible in the game era, this is the full picture of the strategy I set up.

It was the strategy I came up with because we were up against an extremely selfish shitty bastard who had incurred countless people’s resentment and had repeated so many atrocities, so I thought there would be people flocking in from every direction to be our allies… it’s great that all went well in the end.

(I’ve been unfortunate since I entered the academy, is fortune finally inclining toward me, I wonder?)

In the tense situation, I sigh as though I’m the only one unrelated.

Then, mustering my last strength, I stand up with my sword as a support and line up next to Anubis.

“You bastard… you… the likes of a mere human dares!! Why is a mere human standing next to Anubis, next to a god!? That act contradicts reason!! Shouldn’t gods always stand up above and humans kneel down below!? I see, you, you are the one who makes the world goes out of order!! You make the world where Anubis and Iris should follow my will goes out of order!! You, you, you!! What the hell are youuuuuuu!?!?”

He releases his anger and curses at me. I laugh at the words directed to me, and decide to answer his question so that he can die in peace.

“I’m not a person whose identity worth to be asked, you know. I just have a little bit higher humanity than you.”

At the end of those words, Babi’s reason finally snapped.

Babi who went crazy with his eyes bloodshot in anger collides with the gods who gathered to destroy him.

Flash, impact, sword, fist, black magic, curse.

The battlefield where all of them jumbled together one after another in every second, it is a gorgeous raid battle that didn’t exist in the original game.

“Haha! Good, good! It looks fun, isn’t it!”

The climax is in the second round.

Having those words crossed my mind, my heart throbs in excitement and expectation of how far the things I accumulated would work.

What is a gamer would be if they don’t participate in this battle, in this spectacle? The things that need to be done has been done; if the rest is only to watch the conclusion, it won’t hurt to enjoy myself until the very end, right?

I raise the corner of my mouth and break into a run with my sword in hand, forgetting all about fatigue, pain, and even my lost arm.

Neither a hero nor a brave, anyone who see my back would probably describe me as an idiot doing something unnecessary.

But that’s fine, no matter what they say, I will run forward, prioritizing the throbbing of my chest.

Slipping through the flash and jumping over the impact. Using the sword as a decoy and the fist as a foothold.

Hiding behind the shadows of the black magic and the curse and leaping in; what is visible in front of me is the boss’ head.

“You, you, youuuuuuu!!!”

“I’ll have your head, you shitty bastaaaaard (exp)!!!!”

In front of the rampaging Evil King of the Night Sky (Babi Niflheim), I unleash my skill with a sunny smile.

The ‘Fake ・ Sword Saint’s Slash’ that I released slashes his body, collapsing his posture, and then the powers of the gods strike him in rapid succession.
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