“Telling me to ‘wait’ and ‘stop.’ You all were the ones who came at me first.” Mikagami shrugged.
I shot a glance at Alice. “Mikagami... Based on what you said, Alice doesn’t have anything to do with this, right? At least let her go, if nothing else.”
He took a second to think about it, then nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, I promise I won’t lay a hand on her.”
“I want you to promise to let her go back to her world after all this is over.”
“Wow, you really don’t trust me, do you? All right, then. Regardless of whether or not you win this game with me, after it ends, I’ll transport her to the Great Sage Isabella’s mansion in the northern city. I just can’t guarantee that she won’t get hurt during our little scuffle.”
“Hear that, Alice? Get as far away from this place as you can. Immediately.”
“But Master Shinobu...!”
“Just go!”
After a moment of hesitation, Alice ran off along the streets of Shibuya.
There was no turning back from here.
“Why don’t I explain the rules to give her more time to run?”
“Rules? I thought I was just supposed to get a hit in on you.”
“About that...as you saw with Tsukuyomi just now, I’m pretty sure your attacks won’t hit me, no matter what. It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t explain that to you in advance.”
It was true. Tsukuyomi had launched the perfect sneak attack. If that was how this guy reacted to surprises, then actually landing a hit on him would be a monumental task.
“To start, I’m not a god that can do anything he wants, nor am I indestructible. If I were, this wouldn’t make for a good game. However, I wouldn’t mind if you considered me the strongest player in the whole world.”
“...Okay?”
“My class is Swordmaster, and my level is 130. Another important thing to mention is that I have the Evil Eye of Liquid Wisdom, which can see through all magic, and the unimplemented, extremely broken skill Clear as Still Water, which renders all status effects ineffective against me.”
“The Evil Eye of Liquid Wisdom... Is that the ability to visualize magic flow so you can dodge simple magic attacks? Are you serious?”
“Yes. Clear as Still Water is like the ultimate version of the final attack of a martial arts master from a manga. Every attack within my field of vision can be dodged because of some nonsense like ‘the logic of the art of war’ or something like that. You and I are currently thirty levels apart, so you might as well assume that you won’t be able to land a direct hit on me, with or without magic.”
“...You’ve got evasion boosts, then.”
“That I do. Usually, no one would be allowed to equip Liquid Wisdom and Still Water at the same time because of how unfair it would be. I mean, these things can suppress all magic, physical attacks, and unified attacks. Oh, and I should mention. I don’t have a way to defend against ranged explosions, so don’t use those, please. It wouldn’t make for a good game.”
“No Area of Effect Magic? That sounds a little too favorable to you.”
“You’re the ones who get to win the whole game just by landing a single hit on me. If you want, why don’t I get rid of that rule and we do a pure, fair killing game? I don’t mind, if that’s what you want.”
“Fine,” I said after a moment. “No Area of Effect Magic.”
Mikagami clapped his hands together. “I’m sure she’s far enough by now. Let’s begin.”
“Yeah. I’m going to beat you down, then you’ll let me out of here. After that, you need to promise me that you won’t meddle in my affairs ever again.”
He tilted his head and chuckled. “Oh my. You look like you know a way to win.”
“I’m not stupid enough to give up before I even try.”
“Interesting. Part of why I explained the rules was so that you could have some time to think, so that’s good, but... Well, go on, give it a try.”
†
About twenty minutes after the battle began, all we were doing was desperately running around Shibuya.
Gabriel and I were the only ones who had the ability to revive others, and our MP was down to twenty percent already.
We were just getting one-sidedly sliced by Mikagami. Not even joking—his battle prowess was broken as all hell. With each swing of his blade, one of us was struck down in a single hit. Or rather, Cerberus was the one to die every single time. Even if we attacked him together, Mikagami would dodge everything, not even letting us step on his shadow.
This was the power of someone 30 levels higher than me. Not to mention him being gifted with the unfair Evil Eye of Liquid Wisdom and Clear as Still Water skills, which both boosted his evasion.
He was so powerful I could only think of him as a monster.
“You’re not gonna win if you keep running around like that!” he yelled as he chased us between the buildings on Main Street.
We paid him no mind, sliding into a certain building we’d had our eyes on the whole battle. It had broken into just the perfect shape. It must’ve been a department store or something. The smell of cosmetics pierced my nose.
“Master Shinobu! Don’t worry about us, just keep running!”
The sound of Tsukuyomi getting sliced rang out at the same time Cerberus yelled. He fell to the ground next to me as her damage substitute.
Tsukuyomi’s scream followed. Damn it, they were both done in!
Sure, we could fix this since Gabriel and I could revive them, but hearing my comrades get cut down one after the other wasn’t good for my soul.
But we weren’t running around like this for nothing.