“Babel!”
Marius dodged another attack. Despite being equipped with the “Robe of Purgatory,” his body was no different from an ordinary human’s. Even a single hit from a god’s attack could prove fatal.
“Vajra!”
Yet another attack failed to land against Tindalos. Thinking he was attacking the wrong spot, Marius tried the sky, the ground, seemingly random directions, and even omnidirectional attacks, but none had any effect.
“How many times do you need me to tell you? Your attacks won’t work on me, a god.”
Marius almost resigned himself to the fact that his attacks wouldn’t work, but he held back. Even Marius knew that one shouldn’t falter in the midst of battle.
“Then I’ll keep attacking until it does.”
“Useless, useless, useless.”
Tindalos’s booming laughter was joined by the roar of thunder. Just as Marius braced himself, lightning struck from above, but it was absorbed by Tindalos. A familiar female voice reached Marius’s ears, piquing his curiosity.
“I’ve arrived!”
Auraniess descended from the sky and abruptly stopped beside Marius. Marius had no idea what principle she was using. While it was theoretically possible to replicate this by combining flight and levitation magic, he felt like “it’s just Auraniess” was a sufficient explanation.
“Auraniess.”
Marius gasped in surprise. Auraniess responded in a slightly irritated tone.
“You seemed to be struggling, so I came to help.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Marius was genuinely struggling, so he offered his sincere gratitude. Perhaps surprised by his response, Auraniess turned her head away.
“It’s not like I rushed here because I was worried about you.”
Marius thought it would have been more convincing if her voice hadn’t trembled, but he couldn’t possibly say that now.
“Another piece of trash has joined us.”
Tindalos stood as if nothing had happened.
“To willingly come to be killed by me is audacious. However, it is perplexing. Are you not my subordinate? Why are you siding with a human?”
Auraniess, questioned by the Evil God, puffed out her chest arrogantly.
“We are not siding with each other. Our goals are simply the same: to eliminate you.”
Marius thought, *At this point…* but again, he remained silent. Tindalos, challenged by their declaration, burst into laughter.
“How amusing. For one of my kin, you show no understanding of my power. Or perhaps, a few pieces of trash have already presented themselves before me. This may be proof that mere trash cannot comprehend my strength.”
His laughter ceased, and Tindalos glared at Marius and Auraniess.
“Then I shall plunge you into the depths of despair and tear your bodies asunder.”
The pressure emanating from Tindalos intensified further. Marius spoke to Auraniess as a warning.
“Auraniess. That black mist is probably not his true form. My attacks are barely landing at all.”
“Hmph, for someone who calls himself a god, your methods are pathetic.”
That was Auraniess’s assessment.
“Precisely,” Marius agreed. While the scale of his attacks was indeed immense, if he was hiding his true form from them, they couldn’t be blamed for calling him “petty for a god.” Tindalos, perhaps playing it cool, watched their conversation intently.
“Well then, let’s lure out his true form first.”
Auraniess returned to her true form. Tindalos launched an attack against the Demon Lord.
“What can trash like you do? You will only die miserable deaths. Babel!”
Dozens of black lightning bolts struck Auraniess. Struck by lightning all over her body, Auraniess didn’t flinch and laughed.
“Did you even do anything?”
Auraniess exhaled “Fimbulvetr” downwards. The white blizzard hit the flood and froze it. From within it, a shadowy figure sprang out.
“How did you pinpoint my location? I commend you.”
The speaker was something in the form of a black Doberman.
“Hmph, it was just a guess.”
Auraniess merely snorted at the praise.
“To breach my divine aura with merely a guess.”
“…Is that Tindalos’s true form?”
It was no wonder Marius stared in disbelief. No matter how one looked at it, it was simply a dog.
“However, coincidence does not strike twice.”
Tindalos’s form began to waver. It seemed he intended to conceal himself again.
“Stop hiding every single time, you mutt!”
Auraniess roared and unleashed “Ragnarok.” The blazing inferno that erupted from her entire body spread across the Farmia Continent, causing water to evaporate in an instant. The darkened world was suddenly illuminated by the fiercely burning flames. The fires of “Ragnarok” completely ignored the influence of Tindalos’s water and wind, reaching across the entire continent.
*(Is this a fraction of the power that annihilated the continent?)* Marius stared in awe. The flames of “Ragnarok” continued to burn, completely bypassing the divine flood and storms. With nowhere to hide, Tindalos floated in the air like Marius and Auraniess, glaring at them.
“I will commend you for forcing my form out.”
His unflagging composure was beginning to strike Marius as increasingly comical.
“Blather on.”
Auraniess attacked without regard for the atmosphere. She unleashed the lightning attack “Brynhildr,” exhaled “Fimbulvetr,” and closed the distance to deliver “Juggernaut.”
*(She could move while using Brynhildr and Fimbulvetr?)* Marius broke out in a cold sweat at Auraniess’s fluid barrage of attacks. If he hadn’t become a Saint yet, he might have died from that attack. While Marius stood dumbfounded for a moment, Auraniess, after delivering “Ragnarok,” created some distance.
“Do you still have the audacity to boast?”
There was a hint of triumph in Auraniess’s voice, and Marius vaguely thought, *Probably not.* However, as if to mock them, Tindalos’s voice echoed.
“Did you just do something to me?”
Tindalos stood as if unaffected and laughed at Auraniess and Marius.
“Did you honestly believe that attack could do anything to me? As expected, trash is trash, from head to toe.”
“I can’t believe that had absolutely no effect.”
Marius couldn’t hide his surprise, but Auraniess burst into hearty laughter.
“I’m relieved you’re not just a coward who can only hide after all! This makes you worth defeating!”
Instead of cowering, she was inspired to fight. Marius felt a sense of reliance on Auraniess and grinned, taking his stance. He felt he couldn’t be left behind either. Tindalos scoffed at them.
“As expected, trash is beyond saving.”
“I’ll keep hitting you until you fall.”
Auraniess didn’t even wait for Tindalos to finish speaking and charged in again, this time from the start.
“What a charging boar. Sodom!”
Tindalos attempted to counter the approaching Auraniess, but his attack was blocked by a defensive magic spell deployed by Marius. It wasn’t a complete block; it only halved the power, but for Auraniess’s durability, it was sufficient. In terms of sheer physical presence, it was like a giant dinosaur attacking a puppy. Of course, this was a visual illusion from Marius’s perspective; the dog was an Evil God pushing the world towards ruin.
“Juggernaut!”
The sheer force of the impact, not something that could be described as mere explosions or roars, reverberated through the surroundings, forcing Marius to cover his ears. In the meantime, Auraniess unleashed a continuous assault of “Ragnarok,” “Fimbulvetr,” and “Ragnarok.” The relentless storm of attacks, so intense that Marius felt a pang of sympathy for Tindalos, was…
“Megid.”
…interrupted by the Evil God’s counterattack. Bathed in the noxious black flames, Auraniess let out a momentary cry of pain and retreated. That alone was surprising, but Tindalos appeared to have taken almost no damage.
“Ngh.”
Even Auraniess could only manage a guttural sound, rendering her speechless.
“Have you finally understood? You creations cannot defeat a god.”
Tindalos declared. He continued speaking to the silenced pair.
“Because all your power is merely what has spilled from the gods. You have merely been granted a portion of my power. And…”
He paused for effect, as if to build dramatic tension. Then, after a brief moment, he continued.
“My power now is less than one-thousandth of its original strength. Do you understand? How insignificant you trash truly are.”
Marius’s “Laser” placed near the Evil God’s mouth interrupted his triumphant explanation.
“So, it’s best to defeat him now, then?”
As Marius spoke, Auraniess nodded vigorously.
“To repeatedly interrupt my pronouncements. Such ill-mannered trash.”
Tindalos wasn’t angered by his speech being interrupted, but he was finally irritated by the two who showed no despair. Marius wasn’t despairing because he hadn’t yet tested if his attacks could still be effective. He also felt that Auraniess’s attacks not affecting the Evil God wasn’t entirely unnatural within the game’s system. He couldn’t deny that he hadn’t shaken off his gamer mentality yet, but it was precisely for that reason he could maintain his composure. Otherwise, he doubted he could withstand the scenario of a “mortal fighting a god with world-ending power whose attacks don’t work.”
“You run away from my attacks and then claim they don’t work. That’s hardly convincing. Try enduring my attacks first and then tell me that.”
Marius taunted the god. He was aware it was a cheap taunt, but that offered a sliver of hope that Tindalos might fall for it.
“Heh, very well.”
As expected, Tindalos took the bait.
“Taste the full extent of a god’s power and tremble in despair.”
The Evil God’s intention was to first break Marius’s spirit by effortlessly enduring his attacks. To a god, human hearts were extremely fragile, and once shattered, they rarely recovered during battle.
“Here I come?”
Marius declared and got above Tindalos. If, by some slim chance, something went wrong, it would only mean sacrificing the Farmia Continent, where there were no survivors anyway. Caught by a strong gust of wind, Marius’s hood fell off, revealing his face. Neither Marius nor Auraniess paid it any mind, but Tindalos was astonished.
“Wh-what…”
Ignoring the dumbfounded Evil God, Marius canceled “Elishion” just before activation, then canceled “Vajra,” “Agni,” “Absolute Zero,” and “Anubis.” For the sixth attempt, he chose “Annihilation.”
“Y-you are… Nyarlathotep?”
“<...Return to nothingness> Annihilation.”
His attack, which even he himself didn’t fully understand, drowned out the Evil God’s voice. At least within the game FAO, even if a bug exploit was discovered, it had never been given a proper name. The sole exception was this bug; those who first discovered this exploit, those who then implemented it, and those who saw it on video unanimously gave it a name due to its overwhelming power.
“Vanishing.”
Marius, who had only seen it on video, now truly understood the reason for its name. When the light faded, there was nothing left. Neither Tindalos, nor the burning flames of “Ragnarok,” nor even the supposedly burning Farmia Continent. Only an endless ocean stretched out.
“…Huh?”
Marius tilted his head, but there was no reaction. Even Auraniess was speechless. Judging by the cessation of rain, thunder, and wind, and the sunlight breaking through the black clouds, Tindalos had likely been annihilated.
“…Hmm?”
Marius spoke again, but nothing changed.
*(The Evil God was too fragile, wasn’t he?)* Despite his dissatisfaction, the biggest issue now was Auraniess, who was giving him a questioning look from behind. He frantically racked his brain for an excuse.
*Even the protagonist can be the strongest.*
