That was exactly it.
"The thunderclouds created here are supported by the regional G.o.ds and spirits of this Shinto land. And Raidou-senpai can further increase the power by pressurizing them with his Auth Spell."
In an instant, their surroundings grew white.
She knew what had happened. No, she knew what was still happening. The light coming from the west was no longer just light as it illuminated the western side of Tokyo.
"This Thunder G.o.d Strike is a combination of thunder G.o.d tricks. A ma.s.s of lightning will crash down from the sky over a radius of probably 3km…but it should only hit the outsiders."
There was no sound.
There was no light.
Everything was burned away to create a pure white s.p.a.ce void of all noise, smell, and even heat.
An explosive vibration had been launched at his opponent from the sky.
But Raidou still saw something ahead of him.
"Well done."
His opponent was still there.
Bilgamesh had his giant right arm raised with something visible atop the gauntlet.
It was a shadow.
The all-encompa.s.sing shadow continued for more than 2km.
That was not the White Sword.
It was a shield.
"Red Shield."
He stood there with his breathing heavy but enduring.
The lightning light faded, the sizzling sound vanished, and everything grew visible once more. However…
"I would"ve won if you"d used your White Sword."
Raidou had planned to strike in the opening that left, but he had canceled that plan.
However, Bilgamesh alone could not have pulled this off in time.
Yes.
Someone else had intervened. Someone had reached out a helping hand and replaced Bilgamesh"s attack ejection device with a defense one. Raidou knew exactly who that would be.
"The wife!"
"I wouldn"t have noticed the movement in the sky if I hadn"t been watching from behind."
Ki wiped away an exhausted sweat and sighed. She stood next to the stone statue that had been Shifu.
"I thought you had to have a trick up your sleeve, but I was focused too much on the river."
The river was not what mattered.
They were up against a thunder G.o.d. Not a weather G.o.d like they knew; a G.o.d that specialized in thunder specifically.
Also, the natural terrain of this divine world was different from the Middle East.
There was more than one factor to the land here.
The phase that gave Thor the upper hand was the sky.
The terrain along this river would call in thunderclouds from upstream.
She had finally noticed once she was positioned further away and had to view the entire scene from a distance.
That had given her just barely enough time to intervene. And…
"That is the Red Line Shield defense spell. It is a specialized protection applied on top of Bil"s shield, but unfortunately, I couldn"t apply it more than once. The weapon deployment permission stuff gets in the way."
So she made a suggestion.
"How about we take the same family name? If we"re at the same rank, I can intervene without going through the permissions process."
"Thank you," whispered Bilgamesh.
Then he looked to his opponent and took a fighting stance.
"It"s on, then?"
"On it is."
His opponent raised that hammer once more.
Bilgamesh reactivated his Auth Spell Revelation Board. He put it in sleep activation mode to shorten the activation time.
"We both came here after suffering a defeat."
"Yeah, but you"re about to suffer another one."
Was he simply acting tough after losing his partner"s support and having his largescale lightning strike blocked? No, he had an idea. That was what made him a war G.o.d.
Thunderclouds remained in the sky. Lightning was racing from them.
But since Ki remained in the fight, her defense spells could defend Bilgamesh.
If his opponent was going to act tough despite that…
…I must not hold back!
He reactivated his White Sword and preserved the Red Shield that was starting to vanish.
"I will pour my heart and soul into defeating you!"
The Revelation Board was complete, but then he heard a comment from his opponent.
"FYI, you"re not the only one with the power of a wife."
What does he mean by that? wondered Bilgamesh.
This opponent"s wife had already been stopped. Her harvest had been scattered and Ki had petrified her.
Ki had the upper hand on a fundamental compatibility level, hence the victory. But…
"Ki!"
He realized a certain fact and sensed danger.
But not for himself, for his partner Ki. Because…
…The ground!
There was a color in the ground: yellow.
This should not have been possible.
The withered and scattered fruits of the earth had returned.
That was odd.
But the light rising from a wide expanse of land was clearly the color of the returning harvest. Which meant…
"Ki! Your opponent has overcome your compatibility!!"
Ki was confused.
Something strange was happening.
A golden color was welling up all around her.
It was wheat. That ma.s.sive divine territory was returning. But instead of being established anew, it was recovering.
"It couldn"t be."
She did not see how this was possible, but she had to ask.
"Did you remove the petrification!?"
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, cracks ran through the Shifu statue.
Her entire body split apart and stone scattered. But instead of the entire statue crumbling away, something emerged from within.
"Whew, that one caught me by surprise."
It was Shifu. The petrification had only covered the outermost layer of skin. Almost like…
"Would you call it a threshing facial? But having stone in my underwear was a little ouch, if I"m being honest."
Ki watched in a daze, but there was something different about the Shifu she saw now.
"Your hair."
"Yeah," she said with a smile while brushing the stone off her hand.
"Black hair is pretty nice too, don"t you think?"
"What is the meaning of this!? My Auth Spell should have returned your life to dirt!"
Shifu nodded at Enkidu"s complaint.
"I have a double divinity. Because there are two people in our mythology who are considered Thor"s wife."
Was "people" really the right word there? Meh, who cares, she decided.
"The first is the more well-known one: Sif. That"s the blonde beauty. And the other one is Jarnsaxa. Do you know what that name means?"
She explained.
"It means "iron dagger"."
The rest was simple enough.
"Your Auth Spell? If it turns life to dirt, then its rules let you return Sif"s wheat and fertility to the earth, but it can"t do the same with Jarnsaxa. After all, she"s iron. Iron"s still iron even when it rusts. It can"t be turned to dirt."
"Compatibility, huh?"
"Oh, the compatibility issues don"t stop there."
She moved forward. She approached. Her opponent prepared to fight.
"Flying Disc!"
Ki launched several dozen razor discs at close range, but Shifu easily ducked past them.
"Remember what you said about bladed weapons being popular in your day? Then how about barehanded attacks?"
She moved right up to her opponent while she spoke.
It only took an instant. But…
"Kh!"
Enkidu threw a frantic attack that did not have her hips behind it, but it did reach Shifu"s cheek.
It landed.
Shifu heard a nice sound come from her cheek.
Enkidu had been created as a man, so it was a fairly powerful blow.
Oh, right, she realized after recalling the mythology Kuwajiri had explained for them. Before Bilgamesh and Enkidu had accepted each other, they had fought a lengthy duel through which they realized they were both created by the G.o.ds.
In that case, they would be able to handle hand-to-hand combat too. So…
"Correction: we might have great compatibility."
With that, she took a step forward.
The blow she had taken had affected her. It hurt like h.e.l.l. But…
"You"ve still got a ways to go before you can match the punches the jotunn have thrown my way."
Her black hair blew in the wind as she circled around her opponent"s attempt at evasion. Her hair continued to flutter as she interrupted Enkidu"s evasive action with the toughness of iron.
The enemy could not move, so she only had to use her standing motion to gain momentum.
"How about we exchange stories about our husbands later on, En-chan?"
Then she threw her fist into En"s jaw.
Shifu took En"s hand as she tried to stay standing but started to collapse into the fertile field.
By the time she had supported her, her hair was back to the gold of wheat.
And she gave a shout.
"Finish this, Tooru!"
Bilgamesh realized Ki had been defeated. But…
…Good enough!
He had just launched the White Sword from his right arm.
The attack would reach the edge of the barrier and create an even deeper valley for the river.
Thunderclouds filled the sky, but he was raising the Red Shield toward the heavens.
The shield no longer had the Red Line Shield protection applied, but…
"It can still protect me for a short time!"
Once he said that, he saw the thunder G.o.d"s hammer transforming again.
This was not the striking portion extending like before.
It was short and it looked a lot like a hammer, except that the handle was longer than it had been.
No.
This was a sword guard.
The hammer formed a sword"s hilt and guard, so what was it lacking?
A blade.
And what would a thunder G.o.d use as a blade?
"A lightning strike!?"
All of the electrification, ball lightning, and thunderbolts emitted from the thunderclouds overhead were concentrated on the sword guard held up by the thunder G.o.d.
The lightning was focused and discharged from that point and the blade itself called in thunderclouds while also launching itself into the sky.
The lightning produced a flare.
The lightning blade produced from the thunderclouds gave a roar and burst in the heavens.
The blade of striking light scattered the very clouds it had come from as it reached a height of 9km.
Bilgamesh tried to seize victory.
The thunder G.o.d in front of him raised his lightning blade.
That 9km lightning strike descended toward him.
He raised his shield toward the sky, but…
"Ki!"
You left this to me, he thought while launching his White Sword and moving forward.
He would win this.
He would strike swift and hard.
Even if his opponent was faster, his shield would hold out for a moment. But…
"Kh!"
He saw something moving in front of him. No, below him.
An attack arrived from the ground - from the fertile land.
It was Shifu"s gold.
Bilgamesh saw the enemy"s attack appear below him.
All of the wheat covering the fertile land turned to blades and hopped up at him.
"Let"s do this harder than before!"
Well done, he thought. You two work well together.
It was coming.
The attacks were launched up from the ground.
All of the blades raced across countless angular paths and stabbed into him to pin him in place.
They hit him.
The many heads of wheat pierced straight through his gauntlet and the shield it was raising overhead.
But he still gave a roar.
"No matter!"
His equipment"s ma.s.s and speed could easily break those thin blades. So…
"I will not lose!"
He shattered all of the wheat and continued forward.
He did not stop.
The thunder G.o.d was swinging that giant blade to hit him.
It was a swift motion, but he could still win.
His opponent"s attack was coming from above, but he had his shield raised. So…
"Victory is ours!"
Shifu heard Tooru"s voice from the distant battlefield while she reached a hand out toward En who was breathing heavily down on her knees.
"You know what? Your partner is a pretty good match for you in battle."
Tooru spoke to Bilgamesh.
"But Shifu"s gold is highly conductive. Pretty convenient for a thunder G.o.d"s wife, right?"
"Oh, shut up," she muttered while looking up in the sky.
Her many wheat attacks had been torn apart and were scattering ether light, but they were still there.
Most of them had pierced Bilgamesh"s gauntlet and Red Shield to reach the sky beyond.
The shield no longer provided any protection against the lightning strike.
It would pa.s.s right through.
Which meant…
"Don"t a.s.sume we"ve lost just yet!"
En spat out the words.
"Bil! I"m not going to use Call Bil!"
"Oh!"
What was he trying to say?
Was it a cry of resistance?
Had he been addressing the enemy? Or…
Had he been addressing someone much more important? He did not know. But…
"Hammer of the Thunder G.o.d!!"
The light from the heavens struck the shield, pa.s.sed right on through it, and shattered it.
Everything simply vanished into whiteness.
It was over.
"Any deep reason you finished off your hamburger steak just as the battle ended?"
"So I could order another one."