On a Godless Planet:Volume1B Chapter 40
Chapter 40: Heavenly Symphony[edit]
–Yes / take these feelings / to form words / to form a song
●
The first to sense it was Eshita.
Yomoji shrugged once their 15-minute time limit passed.
“Hmmmm, how long are weeee going to stay herrrre?”
That one true god had stopped “restraining” the planet.
The ether had dried up. Not completely, but given what was to come, it would be best to keep some in reserve. However…
“Something’s coming!”
It was not a tremor in the ground. Nor was it a shaking of the air. This was bigger.
“The planet is shaking! This happened a few times with ours, but this is a big one!”
“What do we do? Withdraw?”
None of them answered Shifu’s question.
The planet did.
The lava sea surrounding them rose up.
The distant horizon grew higher. The entire horizon in every direction.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“A lava sea tsunami!?”
Freed from its restraints, the will of the planet was finally making its move.
“Logically speaking, this would be the side effects of Yomoji-senpai’s initial meteor strike reverberating through the planet, activating the crust around the planet, and causing the land to shift simultaneously. But…”
“If it is the ‘will’ of the planet, the planet is using that to strike back at us?”
<Those are questions worth pursuing, but doing so would be dangerous at present. My observations show lava swells 300m tall approaching from every direction at greater than 700km/h.>
“Man, the planet is going all out, huh?”
“Well, it does want to kill us.”
Eshita recalled the ancient human wars. They had often engaged in silly conflicts between cities or states, but the result was usually determined by quantity and morale. And when she applied that logic to this situation…
“We can try to stop it and we might be somewhat successful, but the planet is certain all that lava and its momentum will be enough to win in the end.”
<We have yet to investigate whether or not the planet has a will and what level of will that is if it does indeed exist, so we cannot yet say if this is intentional.>
Oh, shut up.
“In ancient times, people used mythology to explain phenomena like this in an understandable way. So if you understand mythology, you can more or less explain most things in the world. Mythology is a collection of generalized interpretations for that purpose.”
<But we are not in ancient times. By the Western calendar, we are past the year 3000. That is around 6000 years beyond your time and, even if we used the 1990 date of the Divine World, that is still 5000 years later. Do the generalized interpretations of mythology really still apply after so much time?>
“That’s checkmate there.”
“It’s not her fault. She still isn’t used to how things work here.”
“Sh-shut up, you two!!”
“Um, hey. There’s a tsunami coming!!”
Yikes, this is not looking good.
●
Bilgamesh saw a swarm of dragons approaching.
Flame dragons were swimming within the giant lava tsunami and emerging from it.
“They’ve revealed themselves!”
Their serpentine bodies were tangled together to create a giant mass similar to a dense thicket. At this point, the tsunami was flowing out from the gaps between them.
“…!!”
Roars erupted from all 360 degrees around them.
The tsunami was starting to break the sound barrier as it approached, but the roars ignored that fact to reach the gods.
“They obey their own personal laws!”
That put them above the level of spirits. And…
“There’s some biiiig ones.”
Dragons rising over a kilometer from the lava appeared in the four cardinal directions.
They slowly readied themselves in the distance and their waving tails looked like mountain ranges stretching far behind them.
“…!”
They all accelerated.
They were coming, but in response…
“Everyone, you can withdraw now. If I fully activate my equipment, I can deal with this side.”
“Will the Protection Red Shield and Freeze be enough to get by?”
“Wait,” said Bilgamesh while turning around to see Ki smiling. “You didn’t withdraw?”
“This is better than using Call Bil, right?”
That was true. And they had a reason to stay here.
“We can’t let those two be the last ones here.”
The human and the weak god were still in the stone hut. Neither one had much power, but…
“They still managed to protect us, so divine rank and such might as well just be for show.”
“You’ve got a point,” replied the war god while in position to protect the opposite end of the rocky land. “What kind of upperclassman goes home when his underclassman’s still out there?”
“Hmmmm, you know I’m a suckerrrr for lines like that.”
“Yomoji-chan, you’ve got a lot of passive powers, so it helps just to have you standing there. I mean, you’re an automatic light source at the very least.”
As in “let there be light”? If so…
“Eshtar! What about you?”
“I’m the inspector, so can I leave?”
“You never give up on that, do you?”
“Okay, fine,” said Eshtar while pulling a tube of potato chips from her mountain hoodie. “Getting hit by this would kill even me, but I’ll stick around until I’ve finished eating these. So suit yourself.”
<In the worst case, you would be returned to a virtual manifestation, so you will not die. And you are currently under my management.>
But…
<If you do withdraw from here, that evolved ape will undoubtedly die.>
“I see,” said Bilgamesh. “Then let’s fight.”
●
Raidou sensed the wind.
Of course, this was not a real wind. They were already surrounded by the lava tsunamis and those were emitting heat from all directions. That heat was starting to form a wind, but this planet’s atmosphere was composed of helium and hydrogen, not oxygen. That would change to something else during the early stages of the planet’s development, but…
“I wonder if the helium would change our voices if we were actually breathing it.”
“That would make for some really crazy karaoke.”
Meanwhile, the wind blew in.
That impossible gust was an illusion created by the dragons rushing in from all directions.
They were trying to crush the gods.
Then some light arrived.
Raidou looked over to find it came from Enkidu.
“I’ve cast Protection Large. That should last for three or four hits.”
That covered all of them. Having a spell user around was useful at times like this.
“Once we’re through this, I’d love to work with you two on some suppression missions.”
“To punish the planet?”
“I guess that’s what it would mean, yeah.”
Meanwhile, the wall of dragons arrived within range of his Thunder God Sword. He reacted a little early, but that was perfect since it took some time to prepare.
“I might have trouble with fire, but lava I can hit!”
To achieve victory, he held the Thunder God Hammer out in front of him as a hilt.
Then Eshtar yelled over.
“Here it comes!”
Here what comes? wondered Raidou. They’re already here. But then Eshtar explained.
“The dragon cannons!”
●
Eshita saw lights appear from far above their heads in every direction.
Those were the flame dragons’ dragon cannons. Light was fired from thousands of mouths.
And it was all aimed at the gods here.
“Why now!?”
They must have avoided firing their dragon cannons before because they did not want to lose any speed or power. However…
“They must have determined exactly how far our range is!”
<It is too soon to say. This could be a coincidence.>
That screen was seriously annoying.
But the dragons were attacking from outside the gods’ range. They must have decided they could fire those cannons because they had preserved the momentum of their lava tsunami.
They would fire on and then crush the gods.
The dragons would rush in to destroy any gods that survived the dragon cannons. And if they survived even that…
“––––––”
The larger dragons were still waiting in the distance.
“This must be a rushhhhed response. If the entire planet was attacking, this might be even morrrre exciting.”
The blinding light surrounding them burst out all at once.
Those dragon cannons rushed in even more quickly than their accompanying roars and they took the form of…
“Lava blasts!”
●
The interception came in two forms.
“Tooru!!”
Shifu pulled out some of her hair and unleashed it in every direction.
It erected a wall of golden pillars forming a circle with a radius of 1km where the tsunami had not yet reached.
The dragon cannons crashed into the hair pillars that acted as golden shields.
That was not enough to stop them.
Some parts of the wall held, but the lava was hotter than the 1064-degree melting point of gold. She would have to rely on her other defensive authorities to hold it back any longer, but…
“There’s way too many for that!”
“Then leave it to me!”
Tooru fired a blast of lightning.
Instead of a vertical slash, he made a 360-degree horizontal slash. There was a time delay for the full rotation, but…
“Thunder God Sword!”
Lightning ran out along that horizontal line.
It reached a maximum range of 10km and it first hit the lava dragon cannons.
But since they were made of lava, the lightning could hit them. The lightning shattered all the incoming dragon cannons. And…
“Again!”
Shifu’s hair barricade was made of gold. The excess lightning was drawn in toward it, causing it all to burst.
That triggered further explosions that worked to destroy the dragon shapes.
Their defenses held.
But some later dragon cannons were intact and incoming.
“Red Line Shield!”
A shield with a circular defense boosting spell formed a 500m dome overhead. Several dozen surviving dragon cannons scored direct hits, but while the metal shield’s surface was broken and melted…
“It held!”
●
Yay, thought Eshita.
She currently held a tube of potato chips called Chip Stars. She thought they would be fried potato slices like normal, but no. The potatoes had probably been crushed and then reshaped. She initially thought that made them fake, but it instead gave them a consistent flavor and mouthfeel.
“They’re so good!!”
They were the best. But the counterattack was complete when she had only finished 1/3 of the tube.
The Norse thunder god looked exhausted, but he could probably manage another attack. The Bil-Ki pair didn’t have the best equipment for this fight, but they could get by once the dragons approached. So…
“We’re gonna win!!”
Just then, she noticed a light in the distance.
“Eh?”
This was not Yomoji’s automatic glowing. Light was being emitted in all 360 degrees around them.
“What is this?”
It was the flame dragons.
The lava tsunami was rushing in at the same distance as before and the dragons were gathered behind the wave.
They opened their jaws like a row of cannons and had already launched their second attack.
But something was not right.
“Isn’t it way too soon for a second attack!?”
Yes.
Whether they were aware of it or not, the dragon cannon was the most powerful attack the planet’s dragons had.
How could they use it again after such a short time?
A thought occurred to Eshita and Balancer confirmed it.
<This is not their second attack! A new set of flame dragons was positioned around you!>
●
It was like they shed their skin.
Ki saw it happening from below Bilgamesh’s shield.
“The dragons were remade!”
Some dragons had fired their dragon cannons earlier.
That was a draining action for a flame dragon, so it should have taken some time before they could do it again.
But it had not.
The dragons’ lava skin was peeled away and they split apart as new ones emerged from within them.
They were renewed.
They must have extracted lava from themselves to fire that previous dragon cannon, so another dragon was formed at the same time to replace them.
The enemy’s strategy was clear.
“They hope to crush us with long-distance attacks while we attack the lava tsunami!”
The dragons would not fight at close range and they had increased their firing speed.
“The second attack is incoming!”
That was obvious. If they could see the light, then it was already here.
The thunder god raised his hammer in response to the immediate second attack, but he was too slow.
He would not make it in time.
“Nooo! Is it really back to a virtual manifestation for me!?”
The attacks hit while Eshtar screamed.
●
The battle was over.
Everything had come to a stop.
It had all happened on a piece of land taking up a miniscule portion of the planet.
That land had become a stage surrounded by a lava sea.
The red heat pushed in from all direction, but the land made of central bedrock was not swallowed up and was lifted high.
A stone hut stood at the center of the stage.
The stage had been lifted to a height of 300m by a swelling of lava.
And countless pieces of art had been created in every direction around it.
Massive stone spears surrounded the elevated stage in all 360 degrees.
The many dragon cannons had all been turned to white stone.
As had the dragons who launched those attacks.
All of it – the stone dragon cannons that stretched for more than 10km, the stone flame dragons that had produced them, and everything else – was now collapsing under its own weight.
But that was not all.
The tens of thousands of statues were scattering into the air. Before they could even destroy themselves, they were transformed into white flower petals.
The central stage was untouched, but all else was petrified, came apart, became flowers, and yet scattered into the wind instead of blossoming.
Everything was destroyed.
Voices from the far distance in each direction roared toward the central destruction.
“…!!”
●
It was the four larger dragons.
They raised their heads to a kilometer high in the four cardinal directions and they roared as if in response to it all.
They did not understand.
Why had this happened?
Why had their roars not reached the others?
Why had the other dragons gone cold and turned to stone?
Why had even their attacks turned to stone?
Why had heat faded from it all until it turned white and scattered in the wind?
Why?
“–––––!!”
They still did not understand, but their voices called in heat.
And they went wild. They smashed the white and hardened land, called in heat from the depths, and crushed and overheated everything.
It was like a dance.
The four larger flame dragons set their tens of thousands of petrified and shattered companions ablaze once more.
The hardened land was reheated and reclaimed its scarlet color.
The reheating and melting provided an adjustment.
They were recreating the lava land.
Yes. The area around the stage may have grown white and hard, but the planet as a whole was a lava sea the same temperature as them.
This tiny change was nothing.
So the dragons danced. They plunged it all back into the depths of heat. But as their roars and irritated actions continued, their visual senses focused on a single point.
A single figure stood at the center of the raised stage.
That was their enemy.
“U-um, sorry I’m late?”
That enemy had done all of this.
●
Eshita gasped when Iwanaga-hime casually opened the door and stepped out.
…What kind of lewd costume is that!?
No, wait. It might be lewd if it was see-through, but it’s not. Then it’s safe. But those big boobs of hers are still pretty poorly defended. So is it out? Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’ll allow it.
Wait, that’s not the point.
She saw Iwanaga-hime walking down the center of the stage.
Her outfit was the light black of stone and the white of absolute nothingness. It was also decorated with jutting stones and…
“Flowers?”
No, those were not flower blossoms.
They were scattering flower petals.
Petals scattered with every step she took.
The remnants of former blossoms fluttered around her.
The former flowers gave off ether light and then vanished. She looked like…
“A god?”
She was a god.
It felt like Iwanaga-hime had finally become a god.
Of course, Eshita was a god too. So were Bilgamesh, Ki, the one true god glowing over there, the Norse group, everyone in the Divine World, and all those with virtual manifestations.
But none of them, including Eshita herself, seemed quite this “godlike”.
Why was that?
A god was a powerful being.
But with that alone, they would simply be a humanoid being with some kind of power. They might live in a society, make friends, get married, and perform work, but they would not be a god.
To be a god required one other condition.
“Wowwww! Senpai! You’re so cool! Way to exist at a higher level! Yayyyyyyy! Yahoooooooooooooo!!”
That idiot fulfilled the crucial condition.
He might only look like an idiot, but he was human.
“It is through human worship that a god becomes a god!”
●
She has become something more, thought Eshita.
“…”
Iwanaga-hime’s divine rank remained low. She had earned a ton of level ups earlier, but she had not gone up even one divine rank.
But she now existed at a higher level.
The rest of the gods might have extremely high divine ranks, but they were not worshiped. They were no more than powerful beings.
But while she had a low divine rank, she was an actual worshiped god.
That increased the level of her very being in a different way than divine rank.
…What the hell?
They had all once existed in the same way.
But no longer. They understood that, which was why they knew what to do about it.
“Balancer,” said Eshita. “Once the terraforming is done, can we gain more believers and undergo a similar transformation?”
<Isn’t the DC researching a way for you to do that without human worship? Although you seem to be having trouble because it only produces a twisted version of the transformation.>
That was true, which was why the DC was also trying to see if they could get their hands on that human.
This was a problem.
Eshita felt her heart stirring at the presence of this god from another religion.
She longed for human worshipers.
During her virtual manifestation and in the Divine World, she had thought she could get by without humans because she was a wild goddess who lived free, but she had been wrong.
Now that she truly understood what she was missing, she knew just how wrong she had been.
She had not truly experienced the Earth Age herself and her memories of it were fabrications, but the passion of human worship she remembered there highlighted the absence of that in her now.
She was a god.
<To follow the naming scheme of the virtual manifestation and real manifestation, I call this a Released Manifestation. This is my first time seeing it, though.>
The human was chasing after the god. He was excitedly gathering the scattered flower petals from the air and throwing them so they fluttered down on the goddess he worshiped.
And…
“Here it comes!”
Roars shook the sky across the entire area.
The enemy was ready.
The larger dragons had recreated the thousands and tens of thousands of smaller dragons and they were preparing to charge.
No, they had already begun charging in.
They immediately launched a dragon cannon attack, but concluded those would be stopped and rushed in to crush their enemy more directly as well.
However, Iwanaga-hime opened her mouth.
“Submit!”
●
“I command eternity itself!
“A stack of stones becomes a great rock. Break down a great rock and it becomes many stones.
“The sound of the rock rings through the water. The sound of the water plays within the rock.
“My power watches over the scattering flowers!
“Choose to protect and transform that power, world of humanity!
“In spring, they scatter. In summer, they fade. In fall, they wither. In winter, they shatter.
“In all four seasons, my power seeks
“the eternally scattering flowers of stone!”
She clapped and raised her voice.
“Flowing Mist of Stone Flowers.”
●
That’s it, thought Shifu. That’s what happened when Senpai-chan came out earlier.
The fluttering flower petals – no, the remnants of all the Revelation Boards that had appeared and shattered – had become this.
It was a lot like a storm of flowers.
White flower petals covered a vast area of the sky.
But these flowers were not soft.
They looked withered and dry, but they were white and had been purified of all else.
…Are they fragments of stone?
Stone could not flutter, but this was Senpai-chan’s land right now. If she was in charge, then her rules applied.
She was a weak god with a low divine rank.
But that transformation that Balancer had called a Released Manifestation was different.
Shifu could tell they had once been like that. And if Senpai-chan had done it now…
“…!”
The dragons were charging in with tremendous pressure, but Senpai-chan simply spoke.
“Please calm down.”
Or…
“I’ll hate you.”
Then something happened.
When the flame dragons contacted the white flower petals spread out beyond the 300m of the stage, something happened to them and their dragon cannons.
“–––––”
It all turned to stone flowers and scattered away.
●
This was on an even higher level than before.
Last time, she had turned the lava to stone and that had ultimately been crushed into pebbles.
But this time, the lava was directly turned into scattering flower petals.
<A god is the very laws of the world.>
Balancer watched the white flowers covering everything in every direction.
<If Iwanaga hates something, its lifespan will be shortened the instant it touches the storm of stone that acts as her vessel.>
She had no power, so her power would scatter.
Thus, she made the storm of stone flowers into an Auth Spell.
She specialized in creating and manipulating rock and stone, so under the effect of her laws…
“Eh!? Does that mean I’m dead if I touch it!?”
<You can always touch it and find out, Eshtar.>
“To be honest, Senpai-chan’s pretty forgiving, so I bet she’ll spare you.”
Just as Shifu said that, something arrived.
It appeared above them.
“Wait, wait, wait.”
A great curve appeared beyond the dark smoke in the sky.
It was a flame dragon. The dragons who had been surrounding them from a distance had risen up into the sky where they gathered together and intertwined.
“…!”
They rose directly above the gods.
●
The dragons reached an altitude of 52km.
Even on that hot planet, the heat could not reach that high and the air began to cool.
But the flame dragons gathered and intertwined to further overheat themselves.
That was due to the friction of their intertwining and the pressure they applied to each other.
They used those heat sources to grow even larger. They formed a dragon over 2km in diameter that’s body curved back toward the ground with a length of more than 120km.
Instead of simply entering freefall, it accelerated as if kicking down its body arching through the sky. On the way down, it blew the excess heat from its body to produce white smoke and pour on more speed like a scramjet.
It dropped down with such great mass, heat, and speed.
While its opponent had set up a barrier of scattered stone, it hoped to crash down with more force and speed than the stones could be replenished.
Thousands and tens of thousands of dragons formed a single ultra-massive dragon that entered a powered descent.
“––––––––”
It could not actually see. Eyes were organs that sensed light, so they could not exist on a flame dragon. Instead, its senses perceived the areas of lesser heat in order to “see” its opponents.
A few such figures were standing at the center of the stage.
“Looks like you need one final blow!!”
●
A lightning attack swung upwards and struck the flames.
The first 10km of the dragon burst while the lightning scattered and split.
The falling pieces were all red-hot stones.
But they shattered.
However, the dragon was still alive.
It cast aside the parts of it that were hit by the lightning, letting the damaged portions break away and creating a new face from within.
It was effectively immortal. The dragon’s face was reformed, it roared, and it accelerated even more. Seeing its great length made the 10km of damage seem entirely meaningless.
“…!?”
But just then, the entire falling portion of the flame dragon burst into flowers.
Iwanaga-hime’s Flowing Mist had reached its high altitude.
●
Kuwajiri sighed.
She was on the edge of her seat watching a simulation of the battle on a Revelation Board.
The land had been lifted up like Mt. Fuji and the flame dragon was charging down at it from above. However…
“When the land is heated from all directions, a current of heat will rise from the land. The atmosphere there is not made of oxygen, but it still exists and an updraft should have formed. If so, you only need to destroy the front of the falling dragon. Something interesting will happen if you do.”
What would happen then?
“With even a small portion of the overhead heat source suddenly gone, the updraft will move to fill in that gap, creating powerful turbulence. The air below will be sucked upwards. If Senpai-san sends her stone flowers in there, they will be automatically carried to the dragon on the turbulent updraft.”
“Wow, that’s really what happened! Thank you so much!”
Of course it had happened.
Kuwajiri just about replied with “this was nothing”, but she stopped herself.
And when she did reply, she kept the simulation result repeating instead of stopping it.
“You’re welcome.”
●
So many flowers scattered in the sky.
But the flame dragon had clearly not given up.
It continued to drop down, so the scattering white flowers were gradually approaching the stage.
Superheated lava pebbles and stones rained from the heavens.
Everyone watched it happen while using Bilgamesh’s Red Line Shield as an umbrella.
The dragon dove rapidly into its own shortened lifespan and destruction as if to devour it all.
“…!”
It roared and trembled while arriving so close its face filled everyone’s vision.
It intended to force its way through. However…
“Flame Dragon, there is one thing you are mistaken about.”
Iwanaga-hime spoke to the flame dragon as it dropped like a meteor in a cycle of breaking and regenerating.
“You made Sumeragi-kun rollback in the past, didn’t you? When I was searching for a way to be with him again and when you were initially fighting the others here, you targeted him instead of us.”
So…
“Did you want him? Did your instincts tell you what you needed to become a god, so you wanted a human?”
Well, too bad.
“You can’t have him. And I hate you for trying.”
Those words had an immediate effect.
<Shinto Kotodama is affecting this world!>
“–––––!!”
Iwanaga-hime’s Words caused everything to scatter away.
The entire flame dragon stretching for more than 120km through the sky had its lifespan shortened.
●
The entire dragon’s lifespan ended at the same moment.
It turned white and scattered away starting from one end with an explosive roar.
That roar of destruction consumed the entire dragon before its fall brought it to the surface.
“–––––!!”
The shortened lifespan took control faster than the wind or sound, so the dragon could not resist at all.
The dragon’s foundation was born from planet and jutted out from the lava ocean, but that foundation destroyed itself to cut off the dying dragon from the planet.
The lifespan Kotodama completed its task even though it could not affect the planet as a whole.
The dragon was cut off from its mother, earning it instant death.
As soon as it was cut off, the severed serpent’s lifespan ended, so it broke apart and scattered away.
It had been defeated.
●
All the stone flowers scattered in the wind, forming a massive white arch in the sky that fluttered lightly overhead.
“Ah.”
Shifu supported the goddess who nearly collapsed when her usual uniform returned.
“Okay! Great job!”
Sumeragi ran over.
“Senpai!”
He took her hand and she stood back up in response. Although she did still have Shifu’s support from the side.
“How was that, Sumeragi-kun?”
“It was the best! I mean…just look at this!”
White flower petals were fluttering around like snow.
“They look like flowers!”
●
“This is…” I said. “This is what I can do.”
I felt proud of what I had done, but I also felt fear.
I knew I could not let myself direct this power at the wrong target. But…
“It’s so beautiful!”
That was true enough. And…
“It’s leaving.”
Hearing that, everyone turned to see something near the horizon of the lava sea.
There was a flame dragon there.
But it was far larger than the previous ones.
The head alone was several kilometers long, so it looked more like a giant island. And…
“Eight of them?”
“That’s probably the main one, so is it like Yamata-no-Whatever?”
<The dragons are this planet’s resistance, so that is probably like the planet’s great spirit. I imagine it is choosing not to challenge us because it understands Senpai-san’s power, but it may still change form and challenge us again as the terraforming continues.>
But it was leaving.
Would they eventually see it again someday? But for now…
“It’s over, isn’t it?”
It was. The danger had passed. But this had been my fault, so…
“I’m really sorry about all the trouble.”
“Hm!? Did you say something!?”
“Y-yes, this was all my fault, so-”
“Wow! Check out that dragon! It’s so big!”
What was this about?
She wasn’t listening.
“???”
I was confused, so Balancer explained.
<She is choosing to overlook what happened.>
●
I listened to Balancer.
<Do you understand? The inspector is overlooking all of this.>
“B-but that doesn’t mean I didn’t cause it!”
“It’s not about that, Senpai! Mucho is afraid of getting on your bad side, so she’s trying to score some points with you!”
“Don’t phrase it like that!”
Oh, that made sense.
But after all this, I wasn’t going to get after her for what happened. So I instead pulled Sumeragi-kun close and placed my hands on his shoulders from behind.
“N-next time you try something, you won’t get away with it!”
“Why would I!? And what about the others? Me overlooking it doesn’t mean they will.”
“That’s true.” Shifu grinned. “Tooru, how would you sum up today’s terraforming?”
“Well, one of our people got a power up, so I’d say it was a success overall. How about you?”
“I wasn’t aaaany help, so I would prefer to overlook it tooooo.”
“Yes, this was our first time participating in the terraforming and it made for a decent combat test, so I am satisfied.”
“We need to build some better Auth Spells for this.”
“Really…?”
“Don’t let it bother you! Think of it as getting a fresh start here! I mean, you’ve got your work cut out for you when we return to Tachikawa!”
“Eh? Um, I do?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I’ve always wanted to run into a hot upperclassman when I step out the door! So can you do that for me like you did for the past versions of me!?”
That was Sumeragi-kun all right.
“Then how about I go all out and run right smack into you in front of your room?”
What was with that look everyone gave me?
●
“No, no, no! What is wrong with you!? You need to tell Eshita-kun to stay on as inspector! If she leaves, I can’t mess with her any longer!”
“You don’t have to do that. What are you even looking for in all this?”
“Excitement of course! We’re latecomers as far as mythologies go, so we need a lot of external and internal stimulation to reach the same level as the other mythologies. So…”
Omokane laughed and looked to the part of the library leading to the bottom of the stairs.
“The most interesting one here was Sumeragi-kouhai.”
“Because he managed to persuade Iwanaga-hime?”
“No! Well, sort of, but think it through. What did he say when he persuaded her? When faced with the problems presented by her presence, he said ‘someone else will figure it out’.”
Scarecrow gave a look of realization, but Omokane ignored it and waved both hands.
“You two have been getting in my way a lot recently, but that human is different! That Sumeragi-kouhai – a mere human – wants a Divine God like me to act on his behalf!”
Honestly.
“That’s the thing about mythologies. They’re about the gods but they’re made by humans! And I am delighted to play along with that human selfishness!”
●
I sat with Senpai on the land elevated to 300m.
We sat on the edge of the piece of land that was now a stage.
The white flowers were still fluttering in the sky. Based on Kuwajiri’s calculations, they would continue to fall for the entire day.
The others had left, so it was just the two of us. But we were not simply here.
“Um, Senpai.”
“Yes, what is it?”
We both silently stared into each other’s eyes and let time pass while I listened to the thump-thump of my heart. “Wait, what kind of crappy romcom is this!? When I really get going, my heart doesn’t just go thump-thump! And now I lost my train of thought because I looked down and saw Senpai’s giant boobs! In fact, seeing my god just about made me forget what I was doing here. That’s my Senpai!”
“Um, Sumeragi-kun? You started saying that out loud.”
“Oh, no! It’s just like when a fan’s glowing review is discovered by the author! But that’s the best part of speaking directly with your god!”
“Um, if you can’t calm down, maybe we should leave. It’s already around 5 PM over there.”
“Where did you travel here from?”
“From my room.”
“Oh, right! I have to recreate that scenario you wanted.”
“We can do that when we leave. You can pretend you only just dropped your things off at your room! Then we can meet up with the others and-”
I realized I had made a critical mistake.
“Why am I not a girl? I was thinking we could get something to eat and then go take a bath after that, but that doesn’t work? All hope is lost!”
“D-don’t say that! We can talk via divine transmission from the different baths!”
That cheered me up a little. But then I realized something from this conversation.
“For the next terraforming, let’s wait until the club president can control ether again and solve the rotation and revolution problem.”
“Eh?”
“I mean, look at this place. There’s no oxygen in the air, there’s no blue sky, and you can’t see the sun because the planet isn’t spinning. This was supposed to be a touching scene where we watch the sunrise!”
Senpai opened a Revelation Board showing a diagram of the star system. And after looking at it for a bit…
“Sumeragi-kun? We’re facing what we’re tentatively calling south.”
“That’s a margin of error! It doesn’t count!”
It didn’t matter. We could solve all that with time. And…
“Let’s continue the terraforming, complete it, and let humanity prosper.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. If it works, it works. And if it doesn’t, we can find something else to do with everyone!”
So for now…
“Right now, we are on a godless planet.”
And one day…
“We will be on another godless planet where we can become human and smile together just like this.”
“Am I smiling now?”
Of course she was.
And that was my biggest accomplishment in today’s terraforming!
Interlude[edit]
“How bout we go get some yakiniku to celebrate?”
“Oh, we wanted to make our move here official, but is the city hall still open?”
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