“Not like that, stop putting magic into your demon eyes! Absolutely nothing!”
I didn’t reply but did what he said and cut off the magic to the demon eyes, both the Demon Eye of Foresight and the Eye of Distant Sight. Now I was seeing with my normal eyes.
“…What.” I saw it! Something was rising out of the ocean onto the beach right there. They were big. Two and a half meters…about the same height as the Ogre God. They wore golden armor. They had six arms. On their shoulder…on their shoulder was a person. The person, wearing a robe with a strange design, lowered the hood of that robe to reveal an all-too-familiar face.
“Well, well! Fancy running into you here, boss!”
It was a man with a monkey face.
Geese. Geese Nukadia!
“Aw, shucks. Here I thought we’d get onto land without you spotting us, yet here you are. No luck, eh?”
“Fwahahaha! You should always expect your plans to go awry!”
“Heh, if that ain’t the truth.”
The man in golden armor answered Geese’s jibe. I recognized that voice. I could never forget that laugh.
“Lord Badi…” I said.
It was Badigadi.
Why is he here? Why’s he wearing that? Why’s he with Geese? Did the Ogre God betray us? Did Sandor call them? Surely not, but…come on…what?
A million different thoughts raced about my mind but couldn’t coalesce into words. An unfathomable tremor rose from deep within my body. That golden armor was bad news. I didn’t know in precisely what way, but I could tell it was sinister. This was an opponent who’d kill me in an instant if I fought as I was.
“It’s been too long, Rudeus! You too, Alex!”
Sandor was staring blankly, but his brow glistened with sweat. I got the sense that he felt he had to attack now, but he couldn’t move.
“Uncle. What brings you here?”
“What else? I am a disciple of the Man-God!” Badigadi declared. Without hesitation, with his head held high, he said that he was the final disciple.
“…Right.”
So that was it. It made sense. Hadn’t everyone else implied as much? Both Orsted and Kishirika had told me there was a good chance that Badi was a disciple. The one who had brought Ruijerd to the Superd Village was none other than Badigadi. How had I forgotten? I felt the last piece fit into place.
“At the Man-God’s request, I delivered Ruijerd to the Superd Village. Then, in preparation for battle, I went to get this armor from where it had sunk in the middle of the ocean. You have nowhere to run! And so Abyssal King Vita, the Sword God, the North God, and the Ogre God, and I, with our powers combined, will defeat you and Dragon King Orsted—”
“Whoa, whoa, buddy!”
“Whassat now? Just when I was getting into my stride…”
“Too much chatter. There ain’t no need to tell ’em that much.”
“Blegh, you’re no fun. What point is there in having a plan for if not to gloat over revealing it at the end?”
Geese scratched his face and shrugged helplessly.
With what Badi said, it all fell into place for me. I’d been right. The Sword God, the North God, and the Ogre God weren’t the Man-God’s disciples. If I’d let North God Kalman III go, the battle would have continued. The hunting party wouldn’t have disbanded. We’d still be caught up in a standoff in the forest.
Meanwhile, these two would have arrived at Ogre Island. They’d have cleared out Atofe’s personal guard and relieved the Ogre God’s fears. Fighting just the North God and the Ogre God had been hard enough. If Badi had joined them, we’d have been doomed.
Now it was different. Abyssal King Vita was dead. The Sword God, dead. The North God, dead. The Ogre God had withdrawn. We only had to contend with Geese and Badi.
“Oh yeah, I know all about it, Boss. The Man-God told me about how you won in the forest. Bet you think we haven’t got a hope, traipsing in now.”
Geese wouldn’t be of any use in a fight. That meant we could win… We could win, right? Why was he so relaxed?
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. This gent here, he’s a living legend, y’know?”
At the word “legend,” Badi leaned back with a swagger.
“Four thousand and two hundred years ago, I, the strongest of the demon kings, took Demonic Dragon King Laplace down with me…”
I gulped. Badi’s armor, as though to make its presence known, began to glow. “I am Fighting God Badigadi. I can take you by myself.”
Of course. Of course. That was the Fighting God armor. His whole body radiated an unnatural aura. It was like the chill I’d felt facing down Orsted when he was fighting in earnest. I instinctively knew I couldn’t win.
Just then, Badigadi unfolded his arms and spread them wide. “I am Fighting God Badigadi! Servant of the Dragon God, Rudeus ‘Quagmi—’!”
“I am Alex Kalman Rybak, North God Kalman II! Immortal Demon King Badigadi, I challenge you to single combat! On the honor of the immortal demons, I trust you will honor my challenge!”
Badi froze. Then, he looked at Geese beside him with a conflicted expression.
“Hrmm… I was going to challenge Rudeus to a duel.”
“Just turn him down.”
“I can’t do that. It is an age-old rule that a demon king cannot turn down a challenge.”
Geese looked like he couldn’t believe his ears.
Who knew how much control the Man-God had over Badi, but Geese at least didn’t have Badi fully under his thumb. Not that I had any confidence I could control the likes of Badigadi and Atofe.
“Master Rudeus.” While they talked, Sandor whispered in my ear. “I will buy you time. While I do that, please fall back, gather your forces, and work out a plan.”
“What about you?”
“I will die here.”
My breath caught. I couldn’t muster a response right away. I finally managed to nod. Right now, I wasn’t armed. The Version One was near at hand, but I wasn’t wearing it. This wasn’t a question of safety margins. I had absolutely zero chance of winning. Even if I fought alongside Sandor, I’d only get in his way. There were nothing but cons to my fighting here, no pros.
“Thank you,” I said, then I ran back toward the village.
Behind me the ferocious clash of swords echoed.