It was the third night. It seemed that after seeing our wall, Geese and Badigadi were struggling to work out an effective attack strategy. Badigadi couldn’t simply jump over the wall, and if he couldn’t do that, he couldn’t protect Geese. I’d been right on that count. Then there were the missiles that came hurtling at us from the other side of the valley. First came a massive boulder that hit the wall at hair-raising speed, knocking out a chunk of the wall. More boulders and tree trunks followed, coming one after another at terrifying speeds. I woke to the cacophony and intercepted them all, so they didn’t do any significant damage. Badigadi and Geese must have decided that unless they did something about the wall, they couldn’t get through. That would explain this attack. Based on what I’d seen of the Fighting God’s battle style, he could have smashed his way through if he were alone. It had to be Geese holding him back. If he left Geese behind and leaped over, he could get through…only then, if a pursuit came from the rear, Geese would be dead meat. Not that there weren’t any reinforcements coming from outside the forest… Well, except maybe Atofe, if she regenerated then came after us. Maybe they were afraid of something like that. A single Superd warrior on the forest side should be enough, to be fair…but it was possible the two of them had wisened up to the danger of leaving Geese behind after yesterday.
A guard could finish Geese off if he was by himself. I didn’t have to be there. It didn’t have to be me.
It was getting to the point where the Fighting God might well run out of patience and jump over alone.
My trump card still hadn’t come.
✦ ✦ ✦
On the fourth day, the sun came up, and the Fighting God along with it. He was alone, as I’d predicted. He came over at a running jump, like the Ogre God, then stuck fast to a point a little below the wall. As I’d expected. Everything was as I’d planned. The moment I saw that Geese wasn’t on the Fighting God’s back, I released a spell at the other side of the ravine, casting Flashover over a wide area. The forest was swallowed by flames in an instant. I couldn’t tell if it got to him. I didn’t have time to scan the burning forest for a body. I kept the blaze of the burning trees in the corner of my eye, but I had an enemy in front of me who required my full attention. Using his six arms to climb like a spider, the Fighting God scaled the wall at a shocking pace. Cliff and I fired Stone Cannons and giant water bombs at him to try and knock him off, but it was like trying to hold back the tide. The Fighting God flew up the wall at blistering speed.
“Cliff! It’s no good! Fall back! Ruijerd! Get us out of here!”
“Understood!” Ruijerd grabbed me and Cliff and jumped down from the wall. We didn’t wait for the Fighting God to get over the wall—the moment we hit the ground, I used magic to send the towering wall crashing down into the ravine.
It did us no good. The wall began to crumble away with aching slowness, then exploded all at once as though by dynamite. Great hunks of rock flew through the air, and among them was a golden suit of armor. I used magic to clean up the boulders that came raining down on us, never taking my eyes off the Fighting God. He alighted at a point less than five meters away from me with a grunt. Then, he slowly turned to face me.
“Let’s pick up where we left off,” he said. He folded his upper arms, put his lower hands on his hips, and pointed at me with the middle hand. Badigadi was looking at me. “I am Fighting God Badigadi! Friend to the Man-God, and heir to the name of fighting god! Rudeus Greyrat, I challenge you to a duel!”
“I have a question!” I shouted quickly. I knew he might just tell me not to waste my breath, but I said it anyway. “Your Majesty! Why have you joined forces with the Man-God? What do you mean you’re his friend?! Were you not deceived by him once before?”
“Indeed I was, boy! He tricked me saying it was to save Kishirika from dying at Laplace’s hand! I donned this armor, then I killed Laplace, but did Kishirika a mortal wound in the process!”
“Then why?!”
“The Man-God came to me on his knees to say he was sorry for that! Not only that, but he begged I lend him my strength! I could not say no after that!”
The Man-God apologized? No way. That bastard would never apologize. Or if he did, he’d just smirk and be like, Tee hee, I’m sooo sorrrrry.
“He’s going to deceive you again!”
“I care not! Should it be so, he need only apologize, and I will forgive him! I am immortal, and Kishirika regenerated! If he apologizes, then I have no quarrel with him! What more could I ask for?”
You’re too generous.
He had a pretty good point, in my opinion. I thought you should forgive people for petty dishonesty, too. Only, I didn’t have the luxury of writing off the death of a family member as “petty.” I wasn’t an immortal demon. I saw the world differently. From Badigadi’s perspective, Kishirika was always going to regenerate.
“Don’t suppose you’d betray him and come over to our side?”
“Never! I was never an ally of the Dragon God. However, if you win this battle, I shall consider it!”
He was telling me to fight and take what I wanted. He and Atofe were alike in this area. Come to think of it, the first time I’d met this demon king had been at a dueling arena. Had I won back then or lost? It had ended with me earning Badigadi’s respect, in any case. That’d be why he treated me well. To a demon king, that had to be what it meant to fight.
“All right. I accept your challenge.”
The thing was, Badigadi had forgotten to say “single combat” this time.
“All of us here will be your opponents.” From the bushes behind me emerged Eris, Elinalise, Zanoba, and Dohga. Joining them came the Superd who had been guarding the rest of the ravine. It was time for all-out war.