After Alovenus went on the attack, Lufas and her group were forced into a purely defensive battle. However, no defenses worked, and their healing couldn’t keep up. Any attack they launched was meaningless, and as hard as they might try to use their skills, they were all nullified. Lufas’s group had powered up a phenomenal amount since the start of the battle, but even then, they couldn’t manage. Alovenus was just too ridiculous.
Alovenus spawned a universe outside the universe and another universe beyond that. Each universe was but a single cell of another one, which was in turn just another cell. After a dizzying hundred repetitions of this, a supergiant universe was born.
All of this was used by Alovenus as a consumable bomb. After starting a hundred big bangs, she destroyed it all with a big crunch. It was just way too much—way, way too much.
The scale of the fight was now so inflated it was becoming stale. What she was doing was just like selfish children arguing, saying, “Mine is way better than yours!” She was just making things bigger for the sake of it. She was using this childish non-logic as a brute-force response to everything, blowing all her problems away. All powers, speed, skills, everything was meaningless in front of what she was doing.
However, Lufas laughed in the midst of this rough situation. I see. She certainly is the strongest. She’s incredible, but Alovenus is wrong about one thing. One simple, silly thing—but that thing will prove to be the most important truth here.
She doesn’t know that I too am a childish sore loser!
“Alovenus...” Lufas said, trailing off.
“Hmm? What is it? Are you conceding already?”
“No, no. You were just going on for so long about your strength, so allow me to answer that with something of my own.”
The corners of Lufas’s mouth lifted upwards in a fierce smile.
She’s working on a much larger scale, but we’re both standing on the same stage. We’re both fighting as gods who have surpassed their worlds.
Then... Right. This is all just a competition of will. It’s because I keep thinking useless thoughts like, “I’m at the limit of my strength,” or wondering how strong I really am, that I get caught up like this. What’s important here is just forcing things to be the way I like it. There doesn’t need to be any reason or logic behind that. Those are just useless.
“You may be strong, but I’m stronger!”
As she spoke, Lufas’s power soared, surpassing the setting that Alovenus had laid down.
Supergiant universe? Who the hell cares. Infinite stats? That doesn’t matter. You can overwrite anything? So what? “I am stronger than all of that.” This simple line will counter everything.
Oddly enough, Alovenus was right. At this level, the concept of strength no longer exists. Concepts, providence, laws, and limits—all of these are decided by gods, so it follows that none of them exist in their dominion. We would have had to create them on our own.
What I have to do is paint over this pure-white canvas of a space and insist that I’m right. Alovenus could do it, so we can do it too! We came from the world that Alovenus made, after all, so normal laws don’t apply to us! Now that I think about it, that’s probably why the laws of physics didn’t apply to us at all. Of course we would be able to do things that would normally be unthinkable. We inherited Alovenus’s power.
There’s no doubt that Alovenus is the strongest. That’s why the only thing that can defeat her is her own power. So from now on, it’s a match of will and strength, one where the opponent says they’re strong, and I say I’m stronger. This will just be a childish argument where we repeat that over and over. This is God’s territory, so I can do it. I can do anything!
Lufas’s stats instantly switched to display infinity signs in every slot, and then those infinity signs started multiplying endlessly.
At this rate, simple physical force would solve everything. Lufas’s existence itself caused the supergiant universe currently around them to shatter into particles and disappear.
Lufas punched.
Pure, distilled violence assaulted Alovenus, and the invisible wall protecting her broke, and she was sent flying. It was a Powerful Punch That Can Shatter Any Barrier that broke Alovenus’s Amazing Barrier That Can Block Any Attack. The wind pressure from her attack continued onwards seemingly forever, destroying everything in front of it and even claiming one of Alovenus’s arms.
“Ah, as I thought. You really have risen up to my level. Yes, I did faintly notice that things might turn out like this.”
Alovenus instantly undid the damage to herself with a smile that made it seem like she was crying and laughing at the same time.
I never thought anyone would be able to reach here. I thought that no one would ever stand equal with me. I figured that all I’d ever do is play with puppets, moving small people as I pleased, and that I would be alone here forever. So... Why? Why was someone who was only supposed to be a puppet able to come this far?
“Seriously, nothing ever goes my way. I wanted to make thoughtless puppets, but they turned out the exact opposite. Nothing ever happens the way I plan it. You’re all completely right. I’m just a deity who can’t do anything right.”
“Are you sure?” Lufas questioned.
Alovenus couldn’t respond.
“Are you really sure that you never did anything right?” Lufas asked, certain of the answer.
Alovenus’s expression froze.
There was something that Lufas had always wondered. Is Alovenus really just the careless, unthinking Goddess that we assume she is? She was too careless, too immature, too thoughtless. Thanks to that, Lufas and her group had been able to carry out their plan properly and deceive Alovenus.
But maybe that was all because some part of her wanted this?
“That’s not it. Your wish isn’t something like that. What reason is there to use such roundabout methods to try and make me a puppet? No matter whom you ask, they’d say you made a mistake. What you actually want is the opposite, Alovenus. Your ability to force everything to be the way you want it, and the fact that you are alone, isolated by your power, causes you pain. You can’t grasp a sense of reality. You don’t feel alive. To you, there is only one true person alive in this place. It’s as if you’ve shut yourself up in a room, playing with dolls by yourself while being hounded by a sense of loneliness. That’s why you wanted someone to notice you and rise up against you. You wanted me to exist.”
Alovenus felt as if something had stabbed her in the chest. However, that was just a feeling; nothing had actually stabbed her. In the first place, she was immortal. She’d created a setting where she couldn’t be killed by anything. Even if she was struck by some supposedly god-killing weapon, she would be left without a scratch. She wouldn’t even feel any pain. So then... What is this pain? Why...do I feel so fulfilled?
“You wanted someone who wouldn’t move just as you wanted them to, right? You wanted something to leave your hands and move on their own, didn’t you? You didn’t want to be omnipotent. You wanted at least one thing that your power could not do anything about. You wanted someone at your side who would not simply move as you wanted.” Lufas paused. “Well, be happy, Alovenus. Your dreams have come true. The despicable demon of your dreams who will oppose you is right here. The one you’ve always wished for is in front of your very eyes.”
“Ahhh...” When she finally made a sound, Alovenus’s voice was shaky, and she covered her face in her hands.
Ah, that’s right. I remember now. This pain; this feeling. It’s been such a long time since I’ve felt this. I’ve forgotten what it was like. How many millions or billions of years has it been...? Maybe tens of billions? I’ve forgotten.
This is... Right. It’s delight.
I’ve been lonely. Ever since I was born, I was far too different from others, and I was completely separated from any and all laws. I was unable to stand on the same ground as others. While everyone else does their best just to live, I am the only one not truly alive. That was why I wanted to save them. I wanted to bring them all up as close to my level as possible.
That was what she truly wanted, but the height she wanted to bring people up to was just too great. When she had become a god, that distance only became worse, and her ever-increasing power drove her further and further into loneliness.
Though there were others who could speak and communicate their will, she herself was unable to join them. It was as if she were looking at characters displayed on the other side of a monitor, and when she tore her eyes away, she was reminded that there was no one there but her.
She was jealous of those small people. That was why she at least wanted to be involved in their stories, and she attempted to influence the world with a script. Desiring the satisfaction that came from granting their happiness, she continued a cycle of mistaken salvation.
However, all of it was just an act of consolation. None of it filled her heart. In truth, she’d always wanted someone who would stand right in front of her and defy her, just like what was happening right now. So that was the reason I ended up placing the forbidden fruit tree in a location they could reach, even though I’d told them so many times that picking the fruit was forbidden.
Yeah, it’s obvious to me now. I never wanted faithful puppets. I wanted someone who would walk on their own, think on their own, and show that they were their own person, even if they had to betray me... I wanted someone to chase after me—me, who became too strong and climbed so high that I could never go back—no matter what methods they had to choose.