“This is the worst. I want to punch him.”
As Marius stated honestly, Nyarla chuckled delightedly.
“Of course, it is. But it’s useless, useless, useless! It’s useless to oppose me! For I am the ultimate, the supreme, the absolute, the one and only! I am Nyarla! You humans, you lifeforms, are merely entertainment for my amusement!”
Its laughter grated on his nerves.
However, his body felt as if it didn’t belong to him, making it difficult to move.
“You realized it in Tindalos, didn’t you? Created beings like you cannot defeat gods. The only reason you won was because of me. Do you understand? The possibility of you defeating me is not even one in ten *nayuta*!”
“Nayuta? What kind of unit is that from what world?”
Hearing a unit from his previous world, Marius reflexively fired back.
Nyarla mocked Marius all the more.
“With your intellect, you probably won’t understand unless I explain it simply, will you? I’m quite kind, aren’t I?”
Thus, the verbal abuse resumed.
Marius found Nyarla’s behavior unnatural.
If there was such a vast difference in power, as the god claimed, why didn’t it just use force?
It should be able to erase Marius’s ego and possess him in an instant.
Why wasn’t it doing that, and instead, tormenting him slowly with words?
(One possibility is that it’s simply a hobby…)
It was likely trying to inflict slowly mounting shock on Marius, observing his despair, and enjoying it at leisure.
This seemed the most probable scenario.
At least, its malicious nature didn’t suggest a personality that would aim for a quick, decisive end.
(And another is that it *cannot* use force…)
Perhaps possessing him by force would damage the body, or maybe despair was a prerequisite.
This would explain why it wasn’t using its full power and why it seemed so desperate.
Marius had no way of knowing if Nyarla’s words were true.
It was possible the god was just spouting nonsense to crush his spirit.
(No, at least the part about being able to freely take back the power it granted must be true.)
Otherwise, he should have been killed instantly like Tindalos.
In any case, Nyarla didn’t seem as almighty or powerful as it claimed.
If so, even Marius, who had become merely human, might stand a chance.
He tried to move his body again.
It still wouldn’t move, but he felt lighter than before.
(Come to think of it, this is a world of spiritual power, isn’t it?)
Marius recalled Nyarla’s words: “Someone like you…”
If this was a world that changed based on spiritual power, it made sense why he felt lighter when he believed he could win.
And it also explained why Nyarla was so persistent in tormenting him with words.
(I will win! I will win and meet Barra, Lovisa, Zofi, Al, El, and Auraniess again!)
Cash-like, merely seeing hope gave him strength.
“What’s with that look in your eyes?”
Nyarla noticed the change in Marius and drew closer, whispering.
“What do you plan to do, when you can’t even move a finger?”
“Master.”
Zofi’s voice echoed in Marius’s mind.
“Master.”
“Marius.”
Al and El’s voices, and those of his wives and Auraniess, followed.
“Everyone…”
Marius blurted out involuntarily.
Hearing this, Nyarla laughed.
“Ah, a Succubus can do this much. But did you not learn from the battle with Tindalos?”
As the god snapped its fingers, a sound like an explosion rang out, and the screams of his wives were heard.
“The power of created beings does not work on a god.”
Nyarla paused for a deliberate moment, then whispered into Marius’s ear.
“Too bad for you. This ultimate, supreme, absolute, one and only…”
Marius’s right fist exploded into Nyarla’s face, sending it staggering back.
“A moment’s opening is all I need.”
Marius slowly rotated his right arm.
“You’re not as formidable as you seem, Mr. Absolute One and Only.”
Marius taunted, smiling back.
“Y-You!”
Nyarla’s face turned bright red, and its voice trembled.
“Don’t get ahead of yourself just because you can move a little, you a-be-shi.”
With another punch, it was sent flying backward this time.
“You’re too wide open, you fool.”
Marius gloated, a mocking grin on his face.
“Fu, fu, fu.”
Nyarla let out an eerie chuckle.
“You wish to despair before the power of the great Nyarla, I see.”
It stood up and pointed a finger at Marius.
“Very well! I shall show you my power, in a way even you can understand.”
“This is where the real battle begins.”
Marius clapped his hands together.
He couldn’t confidently say he would win, but it wasn’t an opponent he was completely outmatched by.
It should at least be a proper fight.
The fact that it still treated him with contempt from above suggested there might be an opportunity to catch it off guard.
(It’s already been proven that gods can be defeated in Tindalos.)
That was a source of strength.
In contrast, Nyarla maintained its overwhelmingly confident demeanor.
“Do you know the difference between humans and gods? You don’t, do you? I’ll teach you.”
As Nyarla snapped its fingers, clones of itself appeared.
Not thousands, not tens of thousands.
It was clear there were more than the vast army of Undead seen during the Eastern Battle.
“It’s spiritual power. You’ll understand when you see it like this.”
Nyarla’s clones filled the world, stretching as far as the eye could see.
“My spiritual power, in numbers, is roughly one hundred and fifty million.”
The god laughed, presenting the numbers.
“And you, at best, are one? You intend to defeat an enemy one hundred and fifty million times your strength?”
“That seems like a mere bluff.”
Marius brushed it off dismissively, provoking Nyarla.
“Then taste it to your heart’s content, the power of one hundred and fifty million!”
Marius was immediately grabbed, restrained from both sides, and punched.
“You, a mere human, think you can surpass a god?!”
His cheeks, stomach, and crotch were simultaneously hit and kicked.
For a final battle with a god, it was a surprisingly primitive fight, and Marius was relentlessly pummelled.
It was the inevitable outcome given the overwhelming numbers.
“Idiot. You’re desperately trying to break the spirit of a mere human. Your behavior gives me courage.”
Marius gasped for air, spitting out insults at Nyarla.
“Silence!”
A rain of punches and a storm of kicks assailed Marius.
“I will win! A single human! A powerless commoner! I, Nyarla! Cannot possibly lose!”
Even after enduring countless attacks, Marius’s consciousness didn’t fade, and his pain receptors weren’t numbed.
This was likely because it was a mental world.
With every blow, he felt pain and could only endure.
But Marius’s spirit wouldn’t break.
(If it’s just about spiritual power… if I can win by not giving up!)
That was enough to keep him from despair.
Nyarla likely didn’t know that his life before reincarnation was a series of giving up.
As a child, he admired athletes but quickly failed.
So, he decided to focus on studies and aimed for a prestigious high school, but couldn’t get into his desired school.
In middle and high school, the girls he liked and confessed to rejected him. His parents, whom he wanted to repay for their kindness, died in a traffic accident on his high school graduation day.
And these weren’t special circumstances.
Achieving one’s dreams through perseverance was something only a select few could experience.
There was also the proverb, “The time you want to be filial to your parents is when they are gone.”
However, if it was merely a matter of not giving up…
If it wasn’t something beyond his control like natural disasters or illness, but simply a matter of not giving up…
(I will not give up!)
He struggled, trying to break free with both arms.
They wouldn’t budge, but he didn’t give up.
No matter how many punches he took, how many relentless kicks he endured, how much pain he felt throughout his body.
If not giving up meant he wouldn’t fall, then…
(Besides, I’ve already left them behind once…)
It happened on the snowy mountain.
His friends and some girls he met while trying to pick people up.
If Marius gave up now, he would be leaving them behind again.
Lovisa, Emma, Barra, Zofi, Al, El, Auraniess, Aina, Remika, Catherine… let’s omit the men for now.
He didn’t want to leave them.
“I’m going back to them!”
He finally succeeded in breaking free with his right arm.
“Wh-What…”
Nyarla found this unbelievable.
In that split second of frozen movement among its clones, it punched the nearest one.
The struck clone easily dissipated.
(I can do it!)
Even just swinging his right arm wildly, the clones disappeared.
They were surprisingly fragile.
“Don’t get cocky!”
Though restrained again, he knocked a clone down with a headbutt this time.
“Wh-What…”
The main body could only watch as its clones were felled one after another.
(Wh-Why… Why are you fighting? Why don’t you give up…)
Nyarla found it utterly unbelievable.
That an existence it considered a minuscule and inferior lifeform was resisting a god, and not despairing even in the face of its absolute, overwhelming power.
Weren’t humans fragile creatures whose hearts broke and minds crumbled when pushed to their peak?
Weren’t they pathetic beings who would prostrate themselves and beg for mercy when faced with a far more powerful existence?
Nyarla had made several mistakes.
Looking down on humans and failing to understand them, and choosing a direct confrontation with Marius, Shin Ryuji Yamada.
For someone who had experienced setbacks, lost precious ones, and tasted bitter failure, this situation of “just don’t give up” was simply an “extremely easy game.”
But Nyarla didn’t understand these things.
It didn’t even try to comprehend that humans don’t always fall into despair when faced with hardship.
If simply not giving up could overcome anything, then many people besides Marius wouldn’t give up immediately.
Humans didn’t despair because their opponents were powerful.
“Didn’t you know, Nyarla? That what humans call ‘hope’ is the belief that you can succeed if you don’t give up!”
Marius didn’t think he was special.
What he just said was probably just something he’d heard from someone else.
But wasn’t that what humans were like?
They influenced each other, helping someone, being helped by someone.
The character for “person” (人) literally depicts people supporting each other, a saying so common it’s almost cliché.
“What is it? What in the world are you?!”
“Hmph, it’s too easy to just not give up! Don’t underestimate humans who are always forced to give things up!”
Marius roared back at the shrieking god.
Nyarla was starting to freeze up due to the incomprehensible turn of events.
It was the price of acting the mastermind all along and never having faced or accepted someone’s life, beliefs, or convictions.
Though, Marius’s stance couldn’t really be called a conviction.
He was just desperately struggling because he didn’t want to die.
It was merely the last vestiges of a common man’s pride.
If he mythologized or exaggerated it as a conviction, most people would just laugh.
However, Nyarla, who had always maintained a cynical distance, pretended indifference, and mocked others, couldn’t even process Marius’s struggle.
Even with the power to create worlds and life, and the ability to manipulate all phenomena from the shadows, its spirit was utterly immature.
If Nyarla’s spirit were proportional to its immense power, Marius would have no chance of winning.
Marius had already realized that Nyarla wasn’t such an existence.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to counterattack against such a desperate numerical disadvantage of one hundred and fifty million to one.
“This is the last one!”
Marius’s voice rang out as the final clone vanished.
“I-Impossible… How can this be… That I, a god, the absolute and only god, would be defeated by a human in spiritual power…”
“Maybe your power is godly, but your heart isn’t?”
Marius said listlessly.
If the god’s spiritual power had been like the gods and immortals he imagined, he wouldn’t have even been able to land a punch.
He understood that much.
“Wh-What are you saying? Don’t get cocky! I haven’t given up yet!”
Nyarla declared in a trembling voice.
Hearing this, Marius smirked, a sadistic grin spreading across his face.
“That’s convenient. I’ll make sure to get back at you for all the times you’ve summoned and bothered people.”
“Wh-What…”
The god recoiled in fear.
He was completely psychologically overwhelmed.
“Well, I won’t forgive you even if you cry and apologize.”
Nyarla felt that Marius was unnaturally lively.
“P-Perhaps your true nature is…”
“Even if I cry, I will not forgive, cuckoo…” I’m not very talented, am I?
He clenched his fist, disappointed in himself.
Then he punched the god.
“Ugh.”
Nyarla was effortlessly sent flying.
But Marius didn’t let his guard down.
(The resistance is too little.)
Even if this was a world decided by spiritual power, to be overwhelmingly dominating against a god was unnatural.
He should expect one or two twists.
Marius continued to punch Nyarla, but he didn’t let his guard down.
However, the one-sided development continued.
“Y-You damn bastard…”
Nyarla glared at Marius, battered and bruised.
As a god, it seemed to have some grit.
Seeing the god like this, Marius voiced a guess.
“Is it possible that you can only seal away my power while you’re in this world? Is that why you won’t retreat even though you’re in a disadvantageous situation?”
“Y-You… Weren’t you an idiot?”
Nyarla was stunned and answered involuntarily.
Marius frowned at its reaction.
“Every time I tried to focus on my thoughts, I was forcibly stopped.”
He said something that wasn’t an answer.
Nyarla couldn’t tell if he was being an idiot or trying to obfuscate.
However, it felt like a ray of hope and shouted.
“If you’re not an idiot, you should understand! If Tindalos is destroyed and I am destroyed, what will happen to this world?!”
“What will happen?”
Marius asked back, and Nyarla, inwardly pleased, replied.
“If the power of a god completely disappears, this world will end. That is why gods must not be destroyed. Understand this and withdraw!”
Marius’s eyes widened, and he said.
“But wouldn’t the flow of things be that the one who wins takes the other’s power?”
“Gurh.”
Nyarla was struck with accuracy and was speechless.
It should have retorted with something like “a feat only a god can perform,” but it couldn’t even do that and said in a trembling voice.
“Do you think you can wield the power of a god?”
“If it’s a power I can win against.”
Marius replied instantly to the god’s threat.
“Besides, if I let you go now, there’s no guarantee you won’t meddle again.”
“I-I am a god. Gods keep their promises.”
It made a pleading sound, but Marius was not impressed.
“When you’ve looked down on and toyed with others, your words have zero persuasive power.”
“I-I am the strongest a-be-shi.”
Marius punched the god as it was about to say something.
“Ultimate a-be-shi.”
He punched again.
“Supreme a-be-shi.”
He continued to punch.
“Invincible a-be-shi.”
He punched more and more.
“Absolute a-be-shi.”
He kept punching.
“One and only a-be-shi.”
He completely pummeled it.
“P-Please, have mercy.”
Finally, Marius delivered the finishing blow to the surrendered god.
A death cry echoed.
Marius jolted awake to the worried faces of his wives.
“Are you alright?”
“You were groaning quite a bit…”
“Yeah.”
Marius replied curtly and checked his body thoroughly.
He felt an unprecedented surge of strength.
Just then, Isabella burst in.
“It’s done! The Elixir! And… Marius-sama is awake? Is this the punchline again?!”
Isabella shrieked, tears welling up.
Seeing her, Marius put on a serious expression.
Refining an Elixir took at least a week.
Starting from gathering ingredients would take even longer.
“How long was I asleep?”
“A month. We were really worried.”
Lovisa said with a relieved expression.
“Hmm? Something’s changed?”
Auraniess peered at him, looking puzzled.
It seemed she had sensed it instinctively.
“More importantly…”
Marius asked about what was bothering him.
“I thought I heard everyone screaming in my dream, are you all right?”
They looked at each other, and Auraniess puffed out her chest with a triumphant look.
“I put up an Auraniess Barrier! You can praise me now.”
“Wow, good job, good job. You’re amazing, Auraniess.”
“Heh heh.”
Auraniess beamed with pride.
Marius thought, “That didn’t explain anything,” but it seemed Auraniess had indeed protected them in a pinch.
Seeing the expressions of his wives and Familiars, he decided to accept it.
If Auraniess was this proud, it likely wasn’t a big deal.
Feeling the heavy atmosphere, Marius tried to lighten the mood with a joke.
“Tindalos is dead, right?”
“Well, let’s get back to work.”
The women turned expressionless and stood up.
Even Auraniess was no exception.
“I-I’m sorry.”
Marius found himself apologizing profusely.
Huh? You thought this was serious?
