Chapter 38

He tried approaching Ollerus to beat some guts into the guy. However… …this time, it was Ollerus’s turn to show his true power. In short, it was an inexplicable phenomenon. Even Sogiita, who took the attack face-first, had absolutely no idea what had just happened to him. But the next thing he knew, his body was flying away. The damage washed over him—all of it equal, from the surface of his skin right down to the core of his body. This wasn’t an attack that struck a single place, with the impact spreading through him after it hit. It was more like soaking a cloth in water. Unnatural damage was now permeating his entire body. “……?” Even after suffering the clean hit, his legs giving out, and his body crumpling to the ground, Sogiita wasn’t afraid—he just had questions. Ollerus’s attack hadn’t even allowed him to sense a threat to his life. “The most fearsome attacks in this world come from powers that cannot be explained.” The lips of the man who should have become a magic god moved. “No matter how vast the wellspring of mysterious power, if you swing it down like you would a sword, you need only respond in kind. If you fire it like a gun, you can defend yourself in the same way you would against a gun. That’s all that ‘strange attacks’ are when explained on the most basic level.” Number Seven groaned as he tried to pull himself out of his prone position. Ollerus didn’t move. He made absolutely no action that could be explained or understood. But something still happened, and Sogiita’s body was blown even farther away. “But you can’t deal with inexplicable powers that way.” Ollerus spoke quietly and slowly. “The most fearsome thing in the world is to be defeated by something you cannot understand, by powers that cannot be explained, and without any time to think of a counter. The ambiguity makes it impossible to even define conditions, and it forces you to fight without knowing if dodging the attacks is possible even if you moved thousands of kilometers away in any direction. I believe you now know how frustrating such a thing can be.” There was no gasp of surprise from Sogiita. Though it was incomplete, Ollerus had struck him directly with his Hliðskjálf twice. Originally, the throne that appeared in Scandinavian legend had no such offensive properties—but Ollerus’s spell forcibly used it as a weapon, which was how he’d escalated its force into something inexplicable. He’d used it while keeping the attack’s scope and power only vaguely defined, and Number Seven was probably already out cold. “You and I aren’t so different,” he said quietly, relaxing. “One of us is subjectively wielding an inexplicable power, and the other isn’t. That’s about the only thing that sets us apart. The delicate and complex Number Seven, whom even Academy City’s scientists couldn’t meddle with… In fact, you’re such a unique esper they’re not even sure if they should really be classifying you as a Level Five. And if you’d understood that, you might have been able to beat me.” The goal of the man who should have become a magic god was to fight Number Seven and defeat him with overwhelming power. It was a subtle restraint against Academy City for its collection of all those Uncut Gems. Ollerus, deciding this show would do the trick, quietly turned around to leave. “And I do have a reason I can’t allow myself to lose, either. It might have been a disaster for you, but stay down—for your own good. This isn’t about what your guts can or cannot do.” And then… “…I can’t let that go now, can I?” Ollerus heard someone get up. He slowly turned around to find the wound-covered young man standing there. By all accounts, he should have been unconscious after getting hit twice by the unknown attack Hliðskjálf, and yet he was standing. It didn’t mesh with Ollerus’s calculations. But this was the kind of world Ollerus and the others lived in. “Don’t you dare treat someone like they’ve got no guts before they’ve even given up, you turd.” Blood dripped from Number Seven’s brow. His breathing was ragged. But he ignored the intense pain and glared at his opponent. “Don’t think for a second I’ll go down that easy. I’ll show you that strength is more than getting all cocky on your high horse…! Guts isn’t something you lose just because you don’t have the advantage anymore!!” Roar!! Some sort of strange energy surrounded Sogiita. “I’ll show you what real guts looks like!! I don’t need any outrageous reasoning. If a man walks the straight and narrow and never strays from his path, he can at the very least stand up for some wounded girls, regardless of whether they’re total strangers or whatever!!” Number Seven didn’t fight it—he let the energy fill him, then began to run forward. Unlike Ollerus’s inexplicable powers, he simply ran forward. Ollerus laughed in response. And as he did, he made no moves that could be explained or understood. The third cast of Hliðskjálf—and the charge of the seventh-ranked Level Five. The indescribable, inexplicable, and incomprehensible monsters clashed. And then…