“Agh.” A sudden attack, damage to his neck, a shattered Brooch.
The change in situation was so sudden that even Candy couldn’t stay surprised.
As Marie tried to recover from the fatal crash, he backed away, blood spurting from his neck.
At this moment, they were on even footing. However, Marie was already infected by his disease. The flesh-consuming Collapsed Present was quickly draining Marie’s HP.
Candy spared a moment to think.
This was someone who could break through his defenses—his empire of plagues—and end up right next to him. It wasn’t out of the question that she could once again negate the effects of his bacteria.
Thus, Candy chose to take her seriously.
Spreading a colored cloud of bacteria to conceal himself, he began his escape.
Preparing to leave this world in thirty seconds, he initiated the logout sequence...only to get an error.
A...debuff...?
Candy then realized that his status summary said “Paralysis (Slow Acting).”
This was the effect of the dagger in Marie’s left hand—Palsy Stingblade, Belspan. It was an MVP reward that delivered a paralysis poison requiring time to become effective, making it difficult to resist.
But while it was slow acting, it didn’t change the fact that the debuff was still there, and having a binding-type debuff prevented a player from logging out.
In that case... Candy realized that he had no choice but to kill his opponent immediately. Thus, he prepared to use his ultimate, The Lab of the God of Pestilence—Resheph...
“...n...gh...!”
...only to realize that his destroyed throat made him unable to speak the words.
This was also the work of Belspan. Marie had used it to lower his HP, apply a debuff that prevented escape, and stop him from using skills that had to be called out.
The blade had been given three roles, and it had fulfilled them all.
Even as she coughed, the bacteria consuming her, Marie still had her eyes fixed on Candy.
He’d spread a smoke screen, but her abilities as a job from the onmitsu grouping still allowed her to track him.
She’d also switched out the dagger in her left for a handgun.
This was Marie’s Embryo—Arc-en-Ciel. But instead of having its usual six shot revolver form, it was in the shape that primed it to fire a single, giant shot.
It was the form Arc-en-Ciel took for its ultimate skill.
All was silent. Candy fixed his eyes on the assassin who was ready to claim his life. She’d broken through his defenses and destroyed his throat, preventing him from using his ult. With the assassin so close now, and the gun aimed right at him, there was nothing left for him to—
Construction setup.
No—someone who claimed to be a god would never fall this easily.
Unable to say a word, Candy began manipulating his own magic.
This wasn’t accomplished by any of his job skills. This was the pinnacle of pure technique, said to be reachable only by tians with The One series of Superior Jobs. It was the realm of original magic skill creation—a world that only Masters like King of Glaciers AT WIKI would someday ascend to.
Candy happened to already be deep within this uncharted territory.
Outputting guidelines. Defining concept. Connecting network.
Using only his own thoughts and powers, he wove something that matched the most superior of all skills. Since he couldn’t speak—since it was all in his thoughts—this process contained none of the colorful, deranged role-playing he normally affected. He merely acted like a system—a god—designed to act like he did, and exercised his authority accordingly.
Construction complete. Exhausting internal magic.
What he wove was something befitting the title of Plaguemancer—a job focused on creating and managing diseases—and yet something completely unlike it at the same time.
False God Imitation—Infinite Daimon: Carnage the God of Pestilence.
The bacteria that gathered right before Candy in that moment assumed a shape that resembled a giant, angry spirit—the image of a divinity that had wielded immense power in a certain era of some particular world. Synonymous with destruction, its very touch brought the end.
This false god, built from bacteria and magic, rose like a restless deity that could devour all that lived and destroy all that did not, swinging its claws at the heretic that dared to stand before it.
This was divine might that no human could withstand.
However, no matter how inhuman, unique, or even godlike the enemy...
...Marie Adler was the protagonist of a tale that was all about defeating them.
“Phantasmal Raingun—Arc-en-Ciel: La Gravelle the Godslayer.”
What Marie fired at that calamitous false god was a single, fatal bullet that made use of red, blue, green, white, black, silver—all the colors Marie possessed and all the Resources loaded into Arc-en-Ciel.
What manifested was a woman with her eyes covered by a green cloth veil, wielding a sword so massive it could only have been made from the bones of a giant beast.
Her name was La Gravelle the Godslayer, and she was the strongest professional killer in Nagisa Ichimiya’s work.
Thus, two creations had been summoned. One from the history of a different world, the other from a fictional story—both remnants of those who had once held godlike power.
All that was left was to see which past was stronger.
A moment later, Candy’s false god and Marie’s godslayer clashed.
The billions of bacteria comprising the false god rushed to consume this enemy that mocked it. A single swing of its claw would reap the life from anything it passed through.
There was no living being that could withstand this mythic ruination.
✦ ✦ ✦
✦ ✦ ✦
However, La Gravelle was the Godslayer.
She had that name exactly because she could surpass mere mythology—the manifestation of explosive power that came at the cost of so many Resources that it left Marie’s Embryo useless, yet didn’t even last for ten seconds.
The swing of her sword called forth such a mighty wind that it surpassed the magical pressure gluing the billions of bacteria together and carved open a path for her. Then, with a step that cracked open the earth, La Gravelle rushed through where the density of bacteria was thinned out.
Though, “thinned out” didn’t mean that this calamity was harmless. It still wouldn’t take long for the bacteria to consume a single person.
In just two seconds, La Gravelle would vanish, bones and all.
However, it wouldn’t take even a single second for her to break through the false god and stand before the true god—Candy Carnage.
Candy’s eyes widened.
Even as parts of her body disintegrated, La Gravelle raised her sword high and swung it down.
What protected Candy’s head was the item granted to mankind by a being that surpassed Mythical tier. Its ability to see enemies wasn’t all the power it possessed—it also excelled simply as a defensive piece of equipment. Even a blade of Mythical metal would bend before it.
But this one truth could not be forgotten: the Godslayer surpassed mythology.
The attack that would eventually break even Superior metal split the Star Helmet...
“Ah.”
...and cut through the god.
It all ended with one attack, without even any time for revival.
Stripped of control, the false god collapsed in an instant, and Candy began to melt into motes of light.
With her role finished, La Gravelle also vanished without so much as a word. And her summoner, Marie, was also succumbing to the damage the bacteria had done to her body.
It was likely, however, that Candy would die first. Thus, he realized that this was undoubtedly a loss for him.
The silence stretched on as Candy Carnage, his body split in half and unable to speak, gazed at the woman who was swiftly becoming nothing but light, just as he was.
I’ll get back at you someday... Candy thought as the bits of light that were once his godly body were carried off by the wind.
A moment later, that which had once been Marie disappeared in the same way.
Arcal had witnessed all this from high above, and when it was over he flew off to the west, eager to tell the boy that their friend had been avenged.
The brief yet truly eventful battle was over.
The Master who’d killed more tians than any other—this one-man calamity—had been defeated by a lone assassin and sent to the gaol.
This was the conclusion of the King of Plagues incident.
✦ ✦ ✦
Following this, it became known that King of Plagues had fallen to a certain professional killer. This truth was sent out to the world by the twin CEOs of DIN—the control AI.
The name of this assassin was a mystery, so people wanted something to call them.
Perhaps if Candy Carnage had been recognized as a god by anyone besides himself, the Master who had killed him might’ve come to be known as “Godslayer,” just like the method she had used to destroy him. However, no matter how wretched the casualties of his actions, he was still only a Superior—a mere human.
That was the extent of the world’s understanding of him, and that was why the one who slew him became known as the “Superior Killer.”