A little before Lufas and Alovenus ended up destroying time itself during their fight, a young man was browsing his favorite website on his computer. His pet cat, Fahl, took up its place at his side, and was regularly getting in his way. Every time the cat did so, it was moved away, but it would quickly come back. Just what does this cat even want? he wondered.
The young man had finally tired of the game he’d been hooked on up until now, Exgate Online, and now he had too much free time on his hands. Therefore, he’d taken on some job interviews and was currently just waiting on results.
After being interrupted by Fahl for the seventh time, he happened to look outside while moving his pet. Outside, he happened to spy some children walking to elementary school. It was a completely normal scene out of everyday life. There was nothing strange about it, which made the boy think that he’d seen such a scene before. Either that or he’d been in the scene himself in the past.
Two of the children were playing around as they walked. That was all there was to the scene. There was nothing special about it.
“Gotcha!”
“I’ve got a barrier up! Doesn’t count!”
For reasons unknown, Japanese boys always liked to play with barriers. According to a certain survey, it seemed over ninety-five percent of men had experience doing this. This meant that out of one hundred men, ninety-five of them had taken part in this strange game at least once. The reasons for this were, once again, unknown. The word “barrier” probably resonated with a child’s heart somehow.
The young man was filled with nostalgia, thinking, I did that too, once.
Games like this always started with a touch and a barrier in response before gradually devolving into an anything-goes format. It was a pretty common development. There were no clear-cut rules like in hide-and-seek or tag, so all rulings were left to the players—the children—themselves. That was why there was no limit to things, and nothing was against the rules.
“Then here’s a beam!”
“Beam Barrier! Doesn’t work!”
“Barrier-Destroying Weapon!”
“Double-Layered Barrier!”
There was no end. This was just a game of words, and they could layer as many attributes and moves as they wanted. If the kids felt like it, they could bring out invincible barriers, beams that could break those barriers, and more. Even barriers that encompassed all of Earth or all of space could exist. Children were invincible in the world of imagination. They could do anything.
When would a game like this end? Would it just go on forever? No, that would never happen. There is always an end to everything.
The boy looked away from the window as his beloved pet, Fahl, interrupted for the eighth time, leaving the boy scratching his head.
All things must come to an end. However, a cat’s ability for interruption was infinite.
＊ ＊
How long had the fight been going on at this point? Time no longer existed, so it would probably be accurate to say that not even a second had passed. To Lufas herself, it felt as if she’d been fighting for a couple of hours at this point. Even so, the battle between the Goddess and her Rebel was still completely even.
The battle was now in a temporary stalemate, with the two of them some distance away from one another, content to only glare.
They had a standoff in this pure-white space, but Lufas was the first to make a move. She swung her arm, which held Lifthrasir, a weapon that should have been lent to Alioth.
The universe that contained Mizgarz was already gone, but this sword still existed. Only this sword, which legends said was able to survive even the end of the world, would always exist.
Lufas brought both swords in the set together. By doing so, the swords amazingly changed shape and melded together into a longsword, as if they had been meant to be one sword this entire time.
In response, Alovenus waved her hand, grabbing onto two brightly shining swords and combining them into one, just like Lufas had.
The two of them laughed, identical swords in hand, before quiet swept over the battlefield. Lufas’s red cloak swayed, and Alovenus’s blue cape fluttered, even though there was no breeze.
They leapt forward and clashed. A blast too violent to merely be called a shock wave was created, and it spread to the ends of this theoretically infinite Endpoint. The wave traveled millions upon trillions of light-years, spreading out seemingly forever. At the center of all this, Lufas and Alovenus clashed swords over and over, flying around in a circle. Things had taken a turn from the over-the-top, flashy fight from earlier, transforming into a relatively tame sword fight.
However, while things looked less flashy, every swing was lethally destructive. Their blades clashed, and many dimensions were destroyed. Their swords once again clashed, and multitudes of timelines were broken and shattered. They exchanged blows that sounded like thunderclaps, and cracks ran throughout the Endpoint. They entered a pushing contest with their swords, and every time one of them got knocked away, they came back the next moment with an all-out attack, sending sparks flying everywhere. At this point, it was unknowable how much damage the aftereffects of their fight were causing. Neither of the combatants cared either.
The two of them locked eyes. Lufas’s smile was belligerent and fierce, while Alovenus simply laughed like she was having fun.
“Hah!”
Lufas swung down her sword, and Alovenus evaded by leaping away.
Alovenus flipped her dress around, swinging her sword and sending a flurry of slashes at Lufas. The flying blades of energy would never miss, and they would destroy anything and everything. They slashed through everything, closing the distance until blades once again clashed, creating more shock waves.
At first glance, everything seemed even. In fact, it was even. Both sides repeatedly insisted that they were stronger, so no difference could be formed between them. Now that the two of them had reached the heights of power, this fight could not be anything but even. It was an equation so simple even small children could understand it. Infinity was always equal to infinity; there was no other answer. At least, that was how it should have been.
However, Lufas slowly started gaining the advantage in this sword-locked duel, and for the first time, Alovenus seemed somewhat anxious.
This is weird. I shouldn’t lose. I shouldn’t be being pushed back. I should have been raising my own power in concert with hers!
Of course, Lufas also knew that, so she took that into account and raised her own power to respond to Alovenus’s increases as well. That was why they should have been even. So why am I being pushed back? Why am I losing?
“Play-fighting between children... That was what you described it as, didn’t you, Alovenus?”
Lufas applied even more power, further pushing Alovenus back. She was doing the same thing as Alovenus, simply layering her own settings and character building over her opponent’s in order to make herself superior. However, Lufas was doing so just slightly faster than her opponent.
Alovenus was raising the speed at which she got stronger. She was raising the scale of her power. However, Lufas was one step ahead. Somehow, she was creating a gap in strength.
How is she doing this?
“By the way, going back to that example you gave of children trying to insist that they’re stronger... Do you know who wins that argument?” asked Lufas.
“There’s never a clear result...” Alovenus trailed off. “Since both sides say the same things, there’s no end to it.”
“You’re wrong. You know, back when my avatar was a child... Well, things ended when the slightly smarter child realized there would be no end to things, so they compromised.”
Yes, this seemingly endless children’s game actually did have a natural end—compromise. The slightly smarter, more grown-up child would realize that this could go on forever, and they would quickly lose motivation and just give up to put an end to things.
What Lufas was implying seemed to have gotten through, and Alovenus’s expression was steeped with further anxiousness.
“Y-You’re saying I’ve compromised...? That I’ve given up?!”
“No, I’m pretty sure you haven’t. You haven’t given up. But your tenacity for victory isn’t enough.”
The gap in their strength widened. Now, Lufas had completely surpassed Alovenus in power, and the sword in Alovenus’s hands started to crack. It didn’t matter how many times Alovenus added the property that the sword would never break; it was just overwritten with the plot point of its breaking. Even if she added a property for the sword to be repaired, it was quickly erased.
“You became satisfied. You felt fulfilled the moment someone appeared to truly oppose you. However, I’m rather selfish myself... I won’t be satisfied unless I win.”
Yeah, there needs to be a clear victor in this fight. There’ll be no draw. I will never allow a result that only recognizes that “someone is better.” There needs to be a clear best. There is only victory.
Lufas’s goals differed from Alovenus’s. While the Goddess only desired someone to push back against her, the Rebel aimed for something beyond that. The exact same thing had happened in the fight between Leon and Sol. This similarity might have been the true bond between master and servant.
Alovenus hated Leon. From her point of view, Leon surely seemed despicable and foolish. However, Lufas thought of Leon quite favorably. She thought that he had hidden potential. At the very least, his desire to win was the greatest among all the Thirteen Heavenly Stars by Lufas’s estimation.
“It’s over, Alovenus. It’s my... No.”
Lufas leapt away and brandished her sword. In that moment, Alovenus saw a multitude of shadows behind her. Among them, she noticed the forms of Benetnasch and Orm, who had withdrawn from the battle. There was also Dina, her avatar, and Libra, who was supposed to be her puppet, as well as the Seven Heroes, the rest of the Conquering Twelve Heavenly Stars, other heroes from history, the devilfolk, humanity, demihumans, and even monsters and animals. It was the sum of all life that existed on Mizgarz. It was everything that Alovenus had been playing around with all this time.
“It’s our victory.”
Lufas’s sword cleaved through Alovenus’s weapon, as well as her body, all in one attack.
The slash Lufas unleashed flew off into the distance, cutting apart everything in its path. The slash, which seemed to threaten to cut apart the Endpoint itself, continued on its path, growing ever bigger until it eventually disappeared.