Have you ever been chewed up and tossed out again like an old rag in the span of five minutes? And to add insult to injury, ever had it happen when you’ve reached a venerable sort of age and been renowned as a teacher?
I have. Right now, in fact. Fighting God Badigadi was strong. This was my old uncle who, every now and then, liked to drop cryptic comments with an air of significance about his past and skills; I never thought he would be this tough. The only thing I’d thought when I’d sparred with him in the past was that he might be a demon king, but I assumed he was nothing to my mother. Yet now, in a few blows, he’d snapped my staff in two and beaten me to a pulp. I’d been confident in my skill with both my staff and my fists, but he’d thrashed me as though the skills I’d honed over the past hundred years counted for nothing at all.
This was the power of the Fighting God. At first glance, you might think he’d simply augmented his strength and speed. Exchanging blows with him revealed the unbelievable degree to which the armor had improved his defenses. Badigadi wouldn’t be a force to challenge me with your average boosted armor. I could have taken him down empty-handed, whereas he’d never rival me under similar conditions.
Thinking about it, that wasn’t a surprise. Armor exists to protect you, as does defensive technique. Putting on a suit of armor that enhanced your abilities would enhance that too. Add an insurmountable gap in fundamental power and speed on top of that, and your opponent’s in a real fix. It’s like a mouse trying to kill a dragon. The dragon might die from some poison or disease carried by the mouse, but alas, the person inside that armor now was more resistant to such things than anyone alive. Immortal demons don’t die. Poison affects them, and they can fall ill, but neither will lead to death for an immortal demon.
I had no means of doing harm to the Fighting God’s Armor. I was up the creek without a paddle. If I had a magic sword…if I’d had the King Dragon Blade Kajakut, there was so much power wrapped up in that sword that with it, I could have done something.
But as I see it, a true hero is one who uses their wits when they aren’t strong enough. Not that I was the sharpest fellow. The blood of the infamous immortal demon king Atoferatofe flowed through my veins, so there was no chance of that. I had moments of ingenuity, but when push came to shove, I went to brute force. It was no wonder I ended up dependent on my magic sword and robbing people of peace.
But that wouldn’t pass muster this time. I had to do something…but I was at a loss.
Our Father who art in heaven, grant me wisdom.
“Yaaaargh!” Just then, I heard a familiar, female voice—my mother. There was Immortal Demon King Atoferatofe, standing a little way above the rest of us, and she wasn’t alone. In the distance, I could see the hulking figure of the Ogre God. Somehow, I also sensed that the others were hurrying to the scene.
“Come on, we should fall back and—” I started to say, then stopped. The others were one thing, but my mother wouldn’t be stopped now that she’d heard the enemy was attacking. The Ogre God, who made protecting this area his life’s mission, would join her. If Atofe and the Ogre God started to fight, it’d be a bad look if I didn’t join them. As far as fighting power goes, the three of us were among the greatest alive, if I do say so myself.
“Whoa!” Just then, something heavy came crashing down in front of me—a woman. Though…somehow, there was something a bit embarrassing about calling her a woman. Even if it were accurate.
“Mwaaahahahahaha!” It was Mother. Immortal Demon King Atoferatofe had arrived, swooping down with calculated drama.
“I’ll back you up,” she said. As a rule, you couldn’t go asking for all the reasons why my mother did what she did. Immortal Demons as a species were all about acting on the spur of the moment, according to their own peculiar rules.
“Fwahaha! Sister mine, this scoundrel just challenged me to single combat! Would you interfere in a duel between demon king and champion?!”
One of those peculiar rules was: Single combat is to be observed without interference.
“Eh? Is that true?” she demanded.
“What? I never said that it was.”
Lying through your teeth is another of the skills fostered in North God Style.
“He says he never said it!”
“Fwahahahaha! You really are a moron, sister mine!”
“Screw you! I’m no moron!”
Even if this hadn’t been single combat, it wasn’t like my mother to offer backup to anyone. Perhaps to her, the fact that we were fighting a demon king made our side the champion’s party. If that were so, this was unusual. Her demon king role was a point of pride for her, one that she placed a lot of importance on. She’d rarely ever stepped away from that role until now. Maybe acting like Rudeus’s familiar had wrought some change within her. Either that, or she had some history with the Fighting God Armor.
“Sandor!”
The rest of the team had caught up. There was Master Rudeus and Miss Eris, Master Cliff and Miss Elinalise, and even Guard Captain Moore. That was heartening. Although it made my heart swell, I had to wonder if it would be enough for a chance at victory…
Ah, well. Nothing for it but to try.
“Master Rudeus…”
“Fall back and get healed up! We’ll hold him here!”
Oh no, I thought. Rudeus was too focused on what was right in front of him. He was probably thinking that the arch-nemesis he’d been pursuing all this time had shown up out of the blue and looked ready to fight. We’d been caught off guard, but we were rallying. He couldn’t have been more wrong.
But he wasn’t going to listen if I recommended we retreat now. Without a plan, if we retreated here we’d be stuck. I didn’t have any idea what an adequate plan might look like.
Which meant we really did have to do this now.
It wasn’t that it was a bad idea on Master Rudeus’s part, not by any means. I only saw it because of the fight I’d just gone through: With the might we had now, we couldn’t beat Fighting God Badigadi.