Now, maybe it’s because I’m distracted by emotions I don’t really understand, like pathos and admiration, or maybe it’s because I’m too focused on running away. Either way, I’m a second too late to react when the space in front of me warps abruptly.
Black leaps out from the tear in space.
Tch! He got the jump on me?!
Normally, teleporting would be a bad move.
In a battle between spatial conjuring masters, teleportation takes too much time.
Admittedly, for me, activating teleportation probably takes less than a second.
But that’s still too long.
It leaves space for your opponent to interfere.
The teleportation rune is complicated enough to begin with. Mess with it a little, and it falls apart.
Then your teleportation fails.
If you were just moving an object, that wouldn’t be such a big deal. If you’re teleporting yourself, on the other hand, then the risk is a whole lot higher.
Worst case scenario, you might even get sucked into a gap between dimensions and be gone forever, or something equally terrifying.
Of course, I have certain safeties in place to keep things from going too horribly wrong. But depending on what the other person does to mess with my spell, there’s no guarantee disaster wouldn’t still happen.
Which is why teleporting would usually be a bad move in a battle between gods…unless you use giant buildings as a distraction to get the jump on the other person.
I mean, yeah, a bullet hell with entire buildings as the bullets is definitely enough of a decoy—way too much, if you ask me!
Black’s hand is gripping a sword as it closes in.
I’m in big trouble if that thing hits me.
I dodge to the side with almost unnecessary vigor, avoiding the sword slash.
“You won’t escape!”
But another building comes careening down at me right away.
Oh, come on! Buildings aren’t supposed to rain out of the sky!
What’s happening here, a natural disaster?! So this is the power of a god?!
I gnash my teeth in frustration at the sight you would normally only find in an overblown battle manga, and use my threads to catch the building.
And yes, even I have to admit that a spiderweb strong enough to catch a falling building is pretty overpowered, too.
But I’m not just gonna catch it!
I’ll send it right down toward Black’s head!
Take this! Building Dodge-and-Drop!
Speak softly and carry a big building, like they say!
Enjoy getting crushed by your own stupid building attack!
SLAAAASH! The building gets sliced neatly in two.
…Right. Yeah.
No, I knew an attack like that wouldn’t be enough to take down Black, okay?
It’s just, watching someone cut a building in half is kinda, y’know…
Can’t you leave that stuff in the realm of battle manga?
But complaining in my inner monologue isn’t going to make Black stop, of course. His sword comes thrusting toward me.
I jump back with another exaggerated dodge, escaping the sword’s range.
That sword is bad news.
I can sense some crazy energy coming off it.
If it cuts me, I’m guessing it’ll damage the energy within me, not just my body.
A battle between gods is mainly an energy-based war of attrition.
Whoever can waste more of the other’s energy is the victor.
Getting hit with enough force to cut a building in two wouldn’t be a big deal in itself, since I could just heal the physical damage.
But the amount of energy in that blade is more destructive than just that.
Most likely, it’s not just physical destruction. It can probably erode my energy, too.
I’m already at a disadvantage here. I can’t afford that kind of hit.
…Still, that’s got to require a lot of energy for Black to use it, too. Yet he’s busting it out without hesitation.
Attacking requires energy, too.
If you use too much energy on attacks, that alone could run you out of gas if you’re not careful.
So I always figured you were only supposed to use lots of energy on an attack at a critical moment when you know it’s really gonna count.
But here’s Black throwing energy around like it grows on trees.
That sword probably uses the most, but floating buildings and even just maintaining this dimensional space have gotta cost a fair amount of energy, too.
So why does it almost seem like he’s actually gaining energy, not losing it?
…No, it’s not just my imagination. His energy is growing.
Damn it aaaall! This must be the effects of those stupid prayers!
The rule is that people can pray for one god or the other, and give them just a little bit of power.
That’s gotta be why it seems like Black’s energy has been increasing for a while now.
Just as I suspected when I first heard the rules, Black’s definitely getting more prayer power.
Oof. My lack of popularity is painfully clear…
B-but that doesn’t bother me at all!
I’m a natural-born loner, baby!
I don’t need approval from the masses to win this whole damn thing!
Or at least, that’s what I’m telling myself…but this is looking pretty grim, isn’t it?
We’re fighting in a dimension of Black’s creation.
This futuristic city, not quite like anything on Earth, is probably based on what this planet looked like before the system was made.
It might even be the city where Black and Ariel met.
…Though if that’s the case, it’d be kinda tasteless to chuck buildings at me from such a precious place, don’t you think?
Well, either way, we’re on Black’s turf.
He created it, so he has the advantage here.
It was a mistake to let him drag me into his home field when the battle first started, or at least a miscalculation.
Except really, it’s all D’s fault for announcing that stupid world quest from out of nowhere!
I bet the reason I didn’t hear that first announcement initially was to delay my reaction, too!
That’s the only explanation I can think of for why I was able to hear the rest of the announcements, but not the very first one.
Damn that evil god! Always finding ways to put me at a disadvantage!
Now he’s got a serious head start on me.
I glance around.
Countless white spiders are still eating away at the space, trying to consume the city itself.
It’s like this three-dimensional space is in a two-dimensional picture spotted with holes.
As odd as it looks, the spider-eaten sections make up less than 10 percent of the whole scene.
It’s basically a power map of mine against Black’s.
I’ve got less than 10 percent, and the other 90-plus percent is all his.
Should I say my side has got nearly 10 percent, or not even 10 percent yet?
Either way, as long as Black’s field has the advantage, I can’t go on the offensive.
I can’t afford to attack.
I’ve gotta stay on the defensive and hold out, or I’ll drain all my energy and go down without ever getting in a proper counterattack.
Right now, I just need to endure his attacks, keep eroding away at his field, and overwrite it with my own field.
Once the power distribution on the map reaches fifty-fifty, then I should finally be able to fight back.
But as hard as my little clones are working to spread my influence over the field, the results aren’t much to write home about.
That’s mostly because the resistance against them has gotten even stronger since Black started getting more energy from the outside.
It’s not enough to push them back entirely, but it’s certainly slowing their progress almost to a halt.
At this rate, I’ve gotta be ready for this to take a very, very long time.
I have to withstand Black’s barrage of attacks until the balance of the field evens out.
Ughhh, this suuucks…
But it’s not like Black has it easy, either.
Since I’m still managing to encroach on his field, that means my spatial conjuring is stronger.
He’s got control over the battlefield for now, but if the power distribution map shifts in my favor, I’ll be the one with the big advantage.
Then he’d be forced to go on the defensive instead, while I’d swap onto offense.
And since my spatial conjuring is superior, Black will have no way of getting the advantage back if I manage to pull off the switch.
He knows that, too, which is why he’s pulling out all the stops to try to pull off a win before I can overwrite the field in my favor.
Otherwise, I can’t imagine why he would use such an obviously energy-sucking weapon like that sword, even if he is getting extra energy from the outside.
I bet that thing uses up energy as fast as he can receive it.
Except it still looks like his energy is increasing slightly…which means he must be getting a whole hell of a lot at once.
Still, there has to be a limit to how much energy he can receive.
Since it’s limited to the total population of mankind, that means there’s a ceiling on the amount of energy they can provide, too.
Hopefully, the amount of energy he’s receiving will decrease over time.
In that respect, the longer things drag on, the more Black is at a disadvantage.
Time is on my side.
With each minute that passes, the situation will slowly turn in my favor.
Of course, that’s only if I can keep fighting in tip-top shape the whole time, though.
I mean, think about it.
As impressive as my endurance might be, if I get injured, obviously I won’t be able to fight at full strength anymore.
In the case of a battle between gods, physical wounds can be healed instantly. It’s the energy you lose that can’t be recovered.
Even if I appear completely unharmed, I won’t be able to pull off a comeback if I start running low on energy.
One major hit could drain tons of my energy, and then I’d be in big trouble.
I don’t think a single slash from that sword would be a fatal wound…at least, I sure hope not.
But just ’cause it won’t kill me doesn’t mean it’d be no big deal.
I don’t know how much energy I’d lose if that sword hits me; ergo, it’s better not to let it touch me at all.