On a Godless Planet:Volume2B Chapter 27
Chapter 27: Battle Mania[edit]
–Once you face each other, the system starts up.
●
Tenma knew she was more the bookish type. During her life, she had frequently shirked her duties to read books instead. And to be blunt, the political power games within the Imperial Palace had been a pain in the ass. So she had decided she would be fine without any motivation as long as she showed results.
…But a show of motivation is the only thing people can really observe when it comes to outside appearances and physical actions.
In that sense, she had always had trouble with athletics which were all about outside appearances and physical actions, but this was different.
After all, the thunder god and hero god were seated across the table from each other at the campsite that evening. They were both the athletic type, but they also achieved real results. In fact, there were few who achieved results on their level.
Tenma was bookish, she focused on results, and she didn’t particularly care about appearances, but even she could tell they did well when it came to both results and appearances.
So what kind of “sparring match” was this going to be? Tenma was curious about their method.
“How will you be doing this?” she asked.
Seated on the west side of the table, the thunder god spread his arms a bit as he answered her.
“We’ll be doing some image training. But…we’ll be doing it together.”
●
It was a game.
Raidou used to do this a lot.
“We battle by announcing our actions to each other.”
“So if I say ‘White Sword”, it will mean I used it?”
“Right. But…we’ll be viewing time in units of 0.01 seconds and you can take a single action in that time.”
“Oh?”
It sounded like he understood.
“So we aren’t being too strict about it?”
“Right. Think of it as fighting on a field with a spell in place making every single action take 0.01 seconds.”
“I don’t get it.”
How to explain this? wondered Raidou when the Shinto knowledge god’s hand went up.
“Stepping forward and throwing a punch would be two actions: the step forward (0.01 seconds) + the punch (0.01 seconds). So it would take 0.02 seconds to complete. Do I have that right?”
“Yeah, you do.”
“What about actions that are difficult to break down like that? Or actions you can do at the same time?”
“Sometimes heavier actions will take 0.02 seconds, but lighter actions can’t take a fraction of 0.01 seconds. That means you can’t begin your next action early. For simultaneous actions, you would expect a penalty for regaining control of your stance before your next action, wouldn’t you?”
“Understood. What location are we imagining?”
“Here works, don’t you think?”
Bilgamesh pointed over at the cleared space. And…
“How far apart are we?”
“5m?”
“Who goes first?”
“You can.”
As soon as Bilgamesh nodded, Shifu opened a Revelation Board that displayed a gong. She struck it with her finger and it made a nice sound.
The battle had begun.
●
Bilgamesh crossed his arms and then realized something.
…Crossing my arms like this does not count as an action.
That was obvious but important.
This wasn’t about actual actions. It was about how well he could imagine the scene and make decisions based on that. That and how well he could verbally express himself.
Simply put, he was determining what happened. So while this took the form of “action”, it was more about being in command.
In that case, he thought.
“I watch.”
He checked to see what his opponent would do.
After all, he was new to this type of “sparring”. So he wanted to see what happened.
The thunder god immediately responded with a pleased look.
“I leap at you for a knee strike.”
●
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! That was fast!”
“You are 5m away from your opponent.”
“I can easily clear that.”
“Oh, so the game’s about bluffing.”
“What, you think he can’t do it?”
“I’m sure he can. Splitting the ground when taking a step and splitting the air when throwing a kick is par for the course when it comes to a god’s full power. But I bet they’re holding back there so it can all fit in that space.”
“You said that to restrict both their actions, didn’t you?”
“Rule negotiations by the onlookers are fair game.”
“In that case…”
“Raidou-kuuuun’s attack sems awwwwfully heavy to meeee.”
●
The monotheistic god’s statement led Bilgamesh to a realization.
Heavy actions were penalized.
And he “saw” something else as well. So…
“I assess the path of the knee strike.”
“Damn. Shinsei decided to help you out.”
The thunder god was smiling, so Bilgamesh knew what to choose for his next action.
“I guard against the knee strike.”
“With your arms?”
“Correct.”
“Then,” said the thunder god.
“My raised knee hits your- oh, sorry. Make that my right knee.”
“Get it together, Tooru.”
“My bad. Anyway, my right knee hits your arms from below.”
The blow landed.
Bilgamesh imagined it. His opponent had momentum built up, so he was knocked back in his defensive stance.
“The hit seems short for a single action.”
More support from the spectators. And it was Bilgamesh’s turn now.
“I stand my ground.”
“I straighten my raised right leg to throw a kick.”
So he shouldn’t have stood his ground. The kick would hit his defensive stance. But…
“I lower my hips.”
“That means the kick passes over his head.”
Ki provided some outside help.
The way things were, the thunder god would strike Bilgamesh’s lowered left shoulder with the back of his right knee.
“I lower my hips to drop the back of my right knee on your left shoulder.”
“And your forward momentum turns it into a crotch tackle! That’s gonna do a lot of damage!”
The human needed to shut up. Although it was impressive his mental image was keeping up so well.
At any rate, the two of them were in close quarters now. Did the thunder god plan to place his weight on his right leg to knock Bilgamesh down?
If he fell and the thunder god got on top of him, he would be in trouble. So…
“I place my left arm around your right leg on my left shoulder.”
That would stop the thunder god’s weight and his forward momentum. Bilgamesh could endure it.
The thunder god must have sensed the danger too.
“I plant my left leg on the ground to stop my momentum.”
He had stopped. So…
“I stand up.”
Bilgamesh was still supporting his opponent’s right leg with his left shoulder and holding it with his left arm. This lifted the thunder god’s right leg high, and…
“Do you lose your balance?”
The answer came right away.
“I kick up with the left leg I still had on the ground.”
“…? But that would remove both your feet from the ground.”
“That’s fine. I’m aiming for your face, by the way.”
What could Bilgamesh do?
A midair kick with no leg on the ground for support wouldn’t do much damage. But letting it hit would give his opponent a new starting point. So…
“I throw your right leg forward and back away.”
That meant the upwards kick of his opponent’s left leg would miss. But…
“I use the momentum of my upwards kicking leg and the momentum of the leg you threw to perform a backflip. I place my hands on the ground to help.”
“That’s a pretty heavy action.”
“Let’s say I have to crouch as I land to keep my balance, so overlook it.”
“Not happening. I throw a right kick toward your face after you land.”
●
He does not hold back! was Raidou’s opinion. So…
“I guard.”
“And my kick hit your guard?”
“It did.”
“I circle around you on your right, which is my left.”
“I stand up and fall back to reduce the damage taken from guarding.”
“Are we side by side now?”
“We are.”
“I throw a right kick below your guard.”
Oh, damn, thought Raidou because he had been led right into that one.
Being side by side brought them a lot closer, so they could only use short attacks. He had assumed that meant he could endure any attack that did hit him, but…
…That was a mistake!
“Bilgamesh-senpai is very capable of throwing a powerful kick from that close.”
“Kuwajiri-chaaaan? Whose side are you on?”
You tell her, Shifu.
But Raidou’s mistake wasn’t misreading Bilgamesh’s abilities.
He had assumed being side by side would mean no powerful attacks.
But when Bilgamesh said he had thrown a kick from such extreme close range, his immediate reaction was “yeah, I can see that”.
That meant the real Bilgamesh he had fought before had surpassed the imaginary Bilgamesh in his head.
He must have viewed Bilgamesh even more highly than he had thought.
So…
“Whatever. You can have that hit. I let myself be knocked in the opposite direction to reduce the damage.”
●
Bilgamesh was aware he had grunted quietly.
It was hard to do much damage with extreme close-range kicks. But he had gotten a kick below the thunder god’s guard and into his unguarded flank. And yet…
“I can’t be certain it did any real damage.”
It had been a borderline surprise attack, but it wouldn’t have done much damage to this particular opponent.
He was confident of that despite getting an attack in.
…I see.
He realized just how highly he regarded this thunder god.
So…
“After my right kick, I step to the right and throw another kick.”
“You aren’t reaching my side this time.”
“I kick your guard.”
“I deflect it with my shoulder.”
He could imagine his deflected kick, so to use the knockback…
“I make a low jump backwards.”
That put distance between them. They likely both thought of it as 5m.
They were back to where they started.
●
“Oh,” I said in belated realization.
“This is the strike rank system!”
“–––––”
“Strike what system?”
“Senpai! That smile leading into the exclamation had perfect comedic timing! Please do it again!”
“–––––”
“L-like this!?”
<Weren’t you recently worried about seeming undignified?>
“You are so stupid. This just means Senpai is a goddess with a great spirit of service! Why don’t you get that!?”
“The shut-in goddess with serious issues has transformed into a service-minded goddess who falls from other people’s balconies? I’m a little worried about you.”
“Anyway, anyway! What is that strike rank thing you mentioned!?”
“It’s a TRPG combat system. From RuneQuest.”
“???”
<Providing a detailed explanation would be a pain, but it is a rule system used to recreate and play out combat on the table. The strike rank system was used for the combat in RuneQuest, a classic TRPG released in America by Chaosium.>
“It’s really tricky when you’re not used to it.”
“How so?”
<The many different actions you can take in combat are added up by a time cost called the strike rank modifier, or SRM. So when you swing a weapon or move forward, it costs a certain SRM. Naturally, more complicated actions have a higher SRM. A battle begins at SR1 and advances one at a time. The players announce their actions in advance and they take their actions in the order the SR reaches their calculated SRM.>
“It imitates having a real time battle.”
<The design is like an analog and more advanced version of the active time battles that would come about later on. It took a lot of effort, but it allowed a high level of strategizing and feels like an idea that arrived before its time. Also, RuneQuest takes place in a complicated world were a polytheistic religion is at war with a monotheistic religion and the series continues for a long time overseas while changing publishers.>
“So this is like a version of that which allows you to make immediate action by limiting the SRM to 0.01 seconds.”
●
“I move forward.”
“I move forward and right.”
“I swing my left hand out in a leftward backhand blow.”
“I duck to dodge.”
“I use the swinging motion to throw a right kick toward you.”
“I stand up and fall back away from the kick. Is that fine?”
“It is. I stop my kick and step forward.”
“I throw a low right kick while falling back to take out the ankle of your stepping foot.”
“I block that and continue forward.”
“I pull back my right foot and fall back.”
“I step forward with my left foot and throw a straight right punch.”
“I watch the punch while falling back and I move to the inside of the punch.”
“I pull back my right fist while sending out a left uppercut.”
“I hit that uppercut with a downwards chop of my right elbow.”
“Could that really stop Bil-chan’s uppercut if it hits?”
“It will unbalance him downwards.”
“I go down on my knee.”
“Ah, damn. Fine, then. I hit the left uppercut.”
“Since Bil is down on his knee, that would pass over his head.”
“I open my retracted right hand and send a palm strike forward.”
“I kick my left foot forward to negate the palm strike.”
“I use the force of the blow to stand up while moving back.”
“That’s annoying, so I step forward in pursuit.”
“I hold out my right palm to focus on deflecting your attacks.”
“What about your left fist?”
“It still hasn’t recovered from the elbow strike.”
“Then I rush in and attack.”
He went for it.
●
“I throw a left jab.”
“I deflect that outwards with my right hand while I fall back.”
“I throw a right straight toward your new location.”
“I continue to fall back while I hit your right wrist and deflect it out to the right.”
“I change my right straight to an elbow strike.”
“I send my fist along your right forearm from wrist to elbow, pushing it out and to the right.”
“I kept my elbow from being pushed, so I tense my back and take a powerful step forward while making the elbow strike.”
“I step back out of the way.”
“You’re not going to let me get any combos started, are you?”
“Does this talking count toward the time?”
“No.”
“Then come at me.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.”
●
Bilgamesh really did stop Raidou’s next attack.
…Impressive when he only has the one hand to work with.
Bilgamesh kept falling back, but he made sure to circle around the narrow field to endure Raidou’s barrage.
When Raidou used his right hand, Bilgamesh would deflect it out to the left. When Raidou used his left hand, Bilgamesh also deflected it out to the left. Bilgamesh always kept the right side (from Raidou’s perspective) open so he could curve in that direction while falling back.
Raidou had gotten in quite close, but his attacks couldn’t get through Bilgamesh’s defenses. Bilgamesh was just as good as Raidou at managing the distance between them. He may have been even better at it than Raidou. Which meant…
…He’s either a martial artist or a swordfighter.
He likely had experience fighting someone of a similar build to Raidou.
And Raidou had a feeling he knew who that was.
“That’s it! Keep on falling back!”
Kidou.
In Bilgamesh’s mythology, Kidou was originally a wild man rampaging through the wilds. To admonish that wild man, Bilgamesh had brawled with him over the course of several days until they reached a mutual understanding. So…
…He’s had plenty of training against someone around my size!
He had to be trained in sword fighting and martial arts with a focus on striking blows. Probably grappling too. What methods did that leave?
“Maybe this?”
●
“I throw a right jab.”
“I deflect it out to the left.”
“I throw a right straight.”
“I deflect it out to the left with my right arm while falling back to the right.”
“I throw a right jab.”
“I deflect it out to the left.”
“I used that to measure the distance between us.”
“And what do you do?”
“I throw a left hook.”
“Oh.”
Just as Ki realized what this meant, Bilgamesh stated his next move.
“I guard with my right arm.”
“He finally landed a hit!”
●
That attack hit without being deflected.
“What does that mean!? Did he earn a continue!?”
“I haven’t died yet.”
Shifu-senpai smiled bitterly and looked to me.
“He said he measured the distance between them, right? That was a signal that, while it looked like an identical right jab, he was actually changing things up.”
“Changing things up!? Oh, I know what you mean! He’s going to throw his pocket change at him, isn’t he!? …Dammit, fine! Even I know that was a bad joke! I shouldn’t have said it! Why are you looking at me like that, Kuwajiri!? Do you think I’m a painfully unfunny guy!? S-stop! Don’t look at me like that! I’m under attack!”
“Senpai-san, please tell him to abandon this persecution complex.”
“Sumeragi-kun, how about you think if your joke is any good before making it next time?”
“Okay! I will!”
“She’s even more overprotective than I thought.”
“Anyway, how did his attack suddenly hit?”
“That’s because Tooru changed from right to left. His Thor’s Hammer is generally a two-handed weapon, so he can wield it on either side if he wants. Which means he can attack from either side too. He can switch between a righthanded and lefthanded grip mid-fight.”
“Which means,” Shifu-senpai gave Kidou-senpai a toothy grin, “he has an advantage against someone he’s trained with a lot or who always holds their weapon and shield in the same hands.”
“Damn. I can’t believe he noticed that so quickly.”
“Oh, I get it. And the Lizard Man is the only lefthanded enemy, so he wouldn’t have much combat experience against lefthanders.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Anyway, Bilgamesh-senpai is at a disadvantage here. This battle’s rules do not provide separate attack and defense phases, so there aren’t many ways to switch from defense to attack.
- Attack while prepared for mutual destruction.
- Make an attack that includes evasion or defense, knowing this will mean a heavier action.
- Cause your opponent’s attack to miss and force them to defend.
“But since Raidou-senpai is ambidextrous, he can effectively increase his attack speed. Meanwhile, Bilgamesh-senpai only has the one arm to work with, which limits his options.”
I looked to Raidou-senpai to see what he would do.
“I send a left jab ‘out ahead’.”
He switched to the right.
●
Raidou went for the attack. He started with a jab, remained cautious of his opponent’s movements, and switched to the other side to keep him from falling back.
“I throw a right hook.”
“I block with my right arm.”
He blocked. Raidou had expected this, so he knew what to do.
“I’ve already measured the distance between us.”
So…
“I throw a left hook.”
Before, he had used combos that began with a jab and then went for a straight or a hook.
But this was a full swing combo.
He had used it a few times before, but this one was different.
“I switch to my left hand.”
He instantly switched to his left arm and made a full swing.
“I block it with a right palm strike.”
That hit. Raidou knew it would. So…
“I switch to my right hand.”
He adjusted his feet as if making a dance step.
“I throw a right straight.”
“I block it with my right elbow.”
That hit. Raidou’s attack was deflected. But he converted his hand switch into an adjustment of his feet, and…
“I continue a barrage alternating between left and right while pushing forward. First, a left straight.”
●
The thunder god pressed the attack.
He had entered his combo with all excess stripped away.
The switch between right and left attacks was clean and tight.
“I’ll have moved in close by now. My hooks are now short hooks and my straights are now motionless with no pull back.”
He pushed in. Bilgamesh continued to block, but…
“I keep my right elbow out front and block with my hand.”
He used his elbow as a deterrent and kept at it.
But focusing on defense would never win the battle. The thunder god used his pressure to push on and made an announcement.
“I send a left short hook into the inside of your right elbow.”
“I stop it with my guard.”
“That will push him back.”
Exactly right. An unplanned guard would be pushed back. The thunder god did not overlook that fact.
“I send a motionless right straight toward your face.”
“I extend my hand from my inwards-swinging elbow to deflect that outwards.”
“That’ll deflect it.”
It worked. But Bilgamesh’s current pose showed he had made a mistake.
“Bil-chan’s right arm is up in front of his face now, isn’t it?”
“I send a shortrange left uppercut up from below the blind spot created by your hand.”
“This is the first time Raidou-senpai has made an uppercut while they were both standing facing each other. Before, he always attacked from head on or from the sides, so this is his first attack coming up from below.”
It was going to hit.
And this was the kind of attack that would knock you out.
There was no way to defend against it. Bilgamesh’s arm had been deflected and his hand was blocking his view. The previous hit had his body rotating as if pulling back his left shoulder.
“Oh.”
Just as Shifu realized what was going to happen, Bilgamesh spoke.
“I unlock use of my left fist, which is pulled back low on the left. It is hidden behind my other hand and I use it to throw a smashing blow.”
A breath.
“This acts as a counterattack from below after you moved in close for your short-range uppercut. And the force of swinging my arm pushes my upper body back.”
He dodged. And while his swung left hand was still damaged…
“This will hit.”
●
It was going to hit. It did hit. It was a direct hit. But…
“I crouch enough to take the blow on my forehead.”
The imagined clash of bone against bone caused the audience to wince and gasp.
“The thunder god can’t continue his short-range uppercut now, can he?”
Raidou’s attack had failed.
And Bilgamesh wasn’t done.
“I drop my raised right elbow on your head.”
Raidou made his own announcement at the same time.
“I crouch even lower and grab you around the torso.”
“A clinch?”
What was Raidou doing? Bilgamesh reacted immediately.
“I lower my hips and plant my feet behind me.”
“I stand up anyway.”
What was happening now?
“Billllgamesh-kun’s feet are offff the ground.”
Then Raidou named his move.
“Front suplex.”
●
Bilgamesh collapsed after the top of his head was slammed into the ground.
They had cleared the area, but it was still a rocky riverside.
“That ends it. There is no reason to continue. Assume I can no longer move.”
“I forced that response after taking a major blow, so even if I could get back up, I couldn’t keep fighting. Continuing would only turn into a mudslinging contest of endurance.”
“Then it was a draw.”
With those words, Bilgamesh extracted his mind from his imagination. He faced forward and stared at the thunder god who was resting his elbow on the table and accepting a sports drink from his wife god.
“You restricted it to standing techniques because it was my first time, didn’t you?”
“I only did that because I wanted to give it an exciting ending. I wasn’t underestimating you.”
“Where did you go wrong?”
“I think I should have used my left fist sooner.”
“You should have as soon as I began switching between my right and left. If you held one hand out front, you could have kept me from switching like that.”
He was correct, so Bilgamesh nodded and heard another voice.
“Did you notice anything Tooru could stand to fix, Bil-chan?”
“He seems quick to lower his stance.”
“Oh,” said the thunder god like he knew what Bilgamesh was talking about.
“A lot of my combat experience is against giants. That means starting with mid or long-range combat in a standing position. But when you begin close-range combat with a giant, it’s a lot safer to keep your feet in close or to crouch low and charge in at them, so I might unconsciously do that when I’m fighting at close range.”
“Habits have a way of showing up. And you noticed Bil’s habits regarding weapon handedness that he picked up training with me.”
Exactly. And in that sense…
“This was more useful than I expected.”
●
How could Bilgamesh explain this?
“The actions that immediately come to mind clearly enough for us to verbalize them are the moves we have used countless times and the ones that have left an impression on us. So this method reveals our habits.”
“Unexpected ideas are pretty important in combat, after all. If you do image training like this on your own, you tend to reinforce your habits. So it’s worthwhile to do it against someone else or as a group.”
The thunder god spread his arms and smiled as he explained.
“But it was originally a way to kill some time. Our home of Scandinavia spends a lot of the year covered in snow, so even when we tell stories and play games, we still end up bored. And we’re as violent as our barbarian origins would suggest, so we end up stubbornly arguing over who’s the strongest, insist each other’s claims aren’t possible, and accuse each other of cheating.”
“Sometimes it devolves into actual fighting, but generally speaking, whoever is good at these sparring matches is good in a real fight too.”
“Could I try it?”
“How about I take you on? We can allow spells this time.”
With that decided, they swapped out positions at the table.
“Um, so you’re doing a second round?”
The lifespan god opened a temple bell on a Revelation Board and rang it.
“Now this is really feeling like a summer evening.”
●
…They all really like fighting, don’t they?
The two at the table and the rest were arguing a lot more heatedly about the ongoing “battle” now that everyone knew how it worked.
The word “childish” came to mind, but I decided that was being rude. And is that Mr. V taking part too?
“I really don’t think she could withstand that blow.”
“Hmm. I’m not sure it’s any more powerful than when I failed to catch Senpai-chan after she fell from a balcony.”
“Wh-when are you going to let that go!?”
My view of Douhai-san had changed a lot over the last few days. But not in a bad way.
“Oh.”
The vegetable I was boiling in preparation for the curry were done. I crushed the pre-boiled ones with a spatula to create a rough paste that would sink to the bottom of the pot.
After adding the curry roux, I mixed in the vegetable paste to quickly increase the volume.
The new chopped vegetables I added would give it a firmer texture, but…
…These vegetables are too sweet.
That was probably a seasonal issue. Or did the combination liquor store and supermarket near Okutama Station just carry produce that was too fresh?
I had bought medium spicy roux, but that wouldn’t be enough to counteract the vegetables and the end result would be too sweet. My intuition told me a 2:4 ratio of medium spicy and hot spicy would be just right. So…
“Excuse me. I need to head back up and buy more roux.”
“Oh, I’ll go with you!”
“Yes, I will too.”
This is turning into a large group, I thought in amusement. But…
“I will watch the pot, so don’t worry about that.”
That solved that problem. The group at the table was really into their “battle”, so Shifu-san simply raised a hand in acknowledgement without looking this way. But…
“Let’s go shopping then. It feels like we keep doing that today.”
By this point, I didn’t mind making the trip with those two.
| Back to Chapter 26 | Return to Main Page | Forward to Chapter 28 |
