On a Godless Planet:Volume3B Chapter 47
Chapter 47: Super Thunder Blade[edit]
–Divine games set the world atremble.
●
Kidou ran.
She had a destination. According to the thunder god…
“There is an elevated area between Shinjuku and Tokyo. It is apparently carries a war god’s protection.”
“Yeah, that’s really our only option!”
They fought back and ran while breaking the pilgrim sea and occasionally dodging the buildings brought down by the low-budget thing’s attacks. They could see what awaited past the forest that appeared further back in the city.
The building had a giant roof shaped like Mount Fuji.
“The Nippon Budokan! It’s huge!”
They kept running, jumping over the moats full of water that occasionally appeared seemingly out of nowhere.
<That was the former moat of Edo Castle. If you continue east while passing just outside the forest south of Yasukuni Shrine, you will reach the Nippon Budokan surrounded by the moat.>
“The Nippon Budokan and the natural land around it cover an area with a diameter of more than 500m. The location should provide what Raidou-senpai wanted.”
Kidou nodded as she ran. By continuing past the Yasukuni Shrine as asked, the Budokan’s roof and the nature park around it came into view a bit down and to the right.
It would have been a nice place if not for the pilgrim sea pressing in on them. The “natural” land was probably actually artificial, but Tokyo as a whole was largely artificial. In that sense…
“This is artificial nature. It looks this way because humanity wanted it to.”
●
It had taken them a while to realize this.
“We mass-produced bricks and such to expand Uruk and our other cities. In the long term, that lead to the loss of forest resources.”
That destruction of nature could be seen as one of the causes of Mesopotamia’s frequent floods and droughts. That had in turn led to logging restrictions and invasions of other regions in search of resources, but…
“The historical kings must not have been able to put a stop to it. Or those who came after the kings.”
Perhaps that was a culture that had deserved to be destroyed.
But humanity had never done so.
That was obvious enough here.
“They planted so many trees for lumber, but now their civilization doesn’t require so much lumber and their mountains are covered in trees.”
It was also incredible how they built these “nature parks” in their cities. This wouldn’t exist without rejecting the view that forests were strictly a resource.
According to Shamhat…
“A forest can be adored in the same way as a flower. Can’t you see it as the leveled up version of our flower decorations?”
Kidou agreed.
And this existed in the same way. She felt bad choosing it as a battlefield, but…
“We’re here!”
She crossed the moat and ignored the pilgrims pushing in. Her running jump carried her up onto the Budoukan’s roof.
She was high up. She was now diagonally above Yasukuni where they had been before, but the space around her felt much different. And just as Bilgamesh arrived by her side, she shouted at the low budget thing.
“Bring it on, low budget freak!”
●
“–––––”
It was not bringing anything on.
Huh? thought Kidou.
“What’s wrong? I’m saying we’ll take you on, low budget freak!”
Her voice rang out. But…
“–––––”
The low budget thing stopped at the moat on the western slope.
“Has it figured out our plan?”
“Or maybe this place concerns it for some reason?”
<The latter is plausible. The Budokan’s land was originally the location of a shrine called Tsukudo Shrine, which enshrined a legit war god called Taira no Masakado. The shrine was moved when Edo Castle was expanded in the 17th century, but he remains the patron god of the Nippon Budokan. That shrine of longevity for warriors is counted as one of the three great shrines of Edo and its divine protection is likely granted to this place as well.>
“Why did you choose a place like that, Tooru?”
“Sorry…”
“You have nothing to apologize for.”
“Don’t you use this as an excuse for you to apologize instead, okay? Oh, and no apologizing because you intended to apologize either.”
Her partner fell silent at that. But since he continued to say nothing…
“The thunder god said he’s buying us bentos, so let’s say we’re even, okay?”
“I will.”
That settled that. And Ki realized what the enemy’s strategy was.
“––––”
There were giants. Around ten of them. And based on how the water was splashing up from the nature park’s moat…
“Are they altering their hitboxes!?”
●
Bilgamesh saw the low-budget beast look away from him.
Was it leaving them to the giants while it went elsewhere? Its four legs were taking it…
“South! Is it after Team 1!?”
“That would mean they’ve decide Kido and the others headed for Tokyo Bay are more important than us.”
That meant the initial diversion tactic wasn’t going to work anymore.
But they couldn’t let the low-budget beast get away.
They had discussed this with the thunder god’s group and this would put Team 1 in danger. So they had to stop it from breaking into a run, but…
“…!”
The giants’ attacks flew over the Budokan’s roof to strike them.
●
A tremor raced by.
The the ten giants had launched a simultaneous attack, but the Budokan’s roof and the targeted gods remained undamaged.
“That was close. It’s been a while since I had to use Protection Large.”
A shield of light had appeared between the giants and them and Kidou was controlling it with her hands.
It could be launched anywhere within her visual range. In an open space and up on a roof, she could send it just about anywhere. But…
“––––”
More giants had arrived. Another ten. And while the previous ten had half surrounded the roof…
“…!”
These ones stood in a line. As they raised their right fists, their aim was most accurate.
“Once Protection Large stops the one in the lead, will the next one’s fist break through and destroy it!?”
That was one way of responding to this. To react, Bilgamesh hurriedly readied his right hand. But…
“Bil! No major attacks! That would probably boost their resistance!”
He didn’t ask what he was supposed to do instead. Meanwhile, the line of ten giants was running their way.
…Will I have to cast Projection Large multiple times!?
Just as she wondered that, a voice called out to them from behind.
“Huh? What are you two doing here!? Seeing a concert!?”
●
Kidou and Bilgamesh silently grabbed Eshtar’s shoulders.
They carried the goddess even as she refused to stop eating Karamucho.
Calmly but swiftly, they affixed Eshtar to the edge of the roof with her back directed outwards.
“Huh? Why you placing me here!? Do you think this actually means something!?”
A moment later, the series of ten blows slammed into the back of snacking Eshtar’s head.
●
Kidou saw the giants who had attacked Eshtar lose the contest and shatter.
First just one. Then another. And another. The chain reaction of a charging attack followed by a collapse continued.
…Wowww.
By the time she was thinking that, all ten had been destroyed.
Ten sets of ether scattered into the air. It shined behind Eshtar like a halo, but she had a Venus motif, so that was probably a burst of sunlight killing Venus. Kidou had learned all about that while studying terraforming.
But Eshtar only stirred in response to the waves of ether light scattering behind her.
“Whoa, that scared me! What’s this!? Are my adoring fans setting of fireworks in my honor!? That must be it!”
“You are incredible, you know that?”
“What, you only just now figured that out!? Anyway, what’s going on!? How are you doing with the enemies!?”
Bilgamesh had left Eshtar for Kidou to deal with while he used Spear to defeat the surrounding giants. Seeing no more enemies past the Protection Large, Kidou glared at Eshtar.
“The enemies are…well, look.”
She pointed.
At the low-budget thing leaving to the south.
But how could she explain this? They had to guide the low-budget thing back this way.
●
How could they grab the attention of an opponent that didn’t respond to provocation?
She considered destroying it once with Bilgamesh’s attack and then having it remade over here.
…But if we do that, it’ll get even bigger in response.
And as she tried to figure out what to do, Eshtar suddenly gave a shout while observing the low-budget thing.
“Huh!? What’s with that horse!?”
●
The horse was shocked.
Never before in its life had anyone called it a horse.
'…Mother.
It had hated having this form, but it hadn’t said anything. What with being a horse and all.
But now someone had recognized it as a horse.
How could this be? Was she insane? Even it wondered that based on how it looked, but this person had recognized it all the same.
So it turned back. How was it supposed to react to finding someone so understanding?
The snacking goddess looked up at it and spoke.
“Ah ha ha! But it’s so badly drawn! I’m gonna laugh so hard I’ll be hoarse! Get it!? Hoarse!?”
●
Kidou saw the giant four-legged thing send a raging knee blow for the first time.
But this was an opportunity, so she raised her voice.
“Now, thunder god! Get an attack in!”
●
Raidou stood atop Tokyo Station.
He was up above the red brick walls and blue-green slate roof. He faced the interior of the Yamanote Line with its red-roofed platforms while…
“Tooru!”
He and Shifu high fived. At the clap of their hands coming together, several Revelation Boards opened.
<Couple sharing of authority and authorization confirmed.>
On the way here from Shinjuku, they had ran along the Yamanote Line, one from the north and the other from the south, and now they shared their authorities.
They were both set to be equally effected by those authorities and the divine protections that applied to their surroundings. A lot of it would get averaged out, so there were disadvantages to doing it this way. Still, some parts received a boost.
But in this case…
“Harvest gold!!”
It happened just as he raised his thunder god’s hammer as a blade.
Gold light rose up from across the vast area of Tokyo within the loop line.
●
The rising gold light resembling heads of wheat at harvest time was visible as far away as Tachikawa.
“What is that? A harvest spell?”
“No, it isn’t. That is the sublimation of ‘gold’.”
Kuwajiri understood her superiors’ technique.
“I believe this is the same system as the technique they used when the Mesopotamians attacked. Back then, they used Shifu-senpai’s harvest and metal authorities to fill the spell field with a gold phase.”
“Hm? But why is there a gold phase in the city? Was there a mine there?”
<Yes. There is a literal “gold mine”. In this era, humanity’s electronics begin to possess a wide variety of functions beyond simply switching on and off. Some small amount of gold is used in the circuit boards and such, so in 1988, Tohoku University began recommending those electronics be recycled. This created the concept of “urban mining”.>
“That’s right,” added Kuwajiri.
“In 1990, Japan contained approximately 40 million households, but the rate of TV ownership was above 99% and the rate of computer ownership was above 10%. For video game consoles, the Famicom had sold more than 15 million units total…so you could find gold just about anywhere.”
And so this light was visible in the eastern sky.
Shifu’s authority had established a gold phase with the loop line acting as a barrier.
What could they do with this?
“In the 90s of this divine world, a certain phase can be artificially created.”
That was…
“Electricity.”
●
Demeter saw light.
To the south, sparks raced from west to east, sending the expanding sea of clouds flying as it went.
“Is that the Chuo Line!?”
“The Yamanote Line connects to many other railroads and all the electricity used for them has been summoned to Raidou-senpai.”
<In this era, the East Japan Railway consumes approximately 7 billion kWh of electricity a year. That is roughly equivalent to the consumption of 2 million households and is approximately 19 million kWh per day. Now, the voltage of lightning is about 100 million volts, but that occurs within 1/10000 of a second. Now, if the entire power consumption of the East Japan Railway in a day were compressed into 1/10000 of a second, how many lightning bolts would that equate to?>
“What, does this AI actually expect us to know that?”
<Not really, no,> said Balancer.
<The answer is approximately 228,915. To sum up, is Raidou trying to destroy my divine world?>
●
Come to think of it, I should have set up an official spell field, realized Raidou.
But he grinned and raised his hammer while producing a sudden power outage throughout the area.
“Well, whatever! Activate for 10 seconds! Eat 228,915 Thunder God Hammers, Yamanote!”
With that, it fell from the sky.
Light. A thunderstorm dropped straight down while bending at right angles.
“I’ll conduct that!!”
The lightning struck the golden light emitted from the ground as if to catch it.
The impacts expanded as the conduction spread it across the area.
“How about that!?”
The light destroyed an area of 63 square kilometers within the Yamanote Line.
●
I realized a sound like drumbeats was reaching us from behind.
“W-wow!? What is that!?”
We didn’t even need to look back. While Kido-san drove the motorcycle, our shadows were cast long on the road.
“That is lightning. It would be best not to look. It would damage your eyes.”
Shortly afterwards, I felt a quake-like rumbling. The motorcycle bounced up a bit before landing. And a powerful gust seemed sucked back behind us. What could this be?
“Are they using another powerful attack?”
“Since they can control it with a spell field, this attack must still be within their controllable range. I have never seen the true extent of Raidou-san and Shifu-san’s power, but they would be able to do this much if they are gods with a Region level sphere of control.”
“Um, what about your divine rank?”
“My sphere of control is Region level. Same as Raidou-san and Shifu-san. To put it another way, that means we can control a simultaneous bombing of 228,915 lightning bolts across a region larger than a country.”
“That’s so much it doesn’t really mean anything to me…”
“Someone who can influence a phenomenon like people’s lifespans without even using an Auth Spell seems a lot more valuable to us.”
“But I barely have any chance to use it.”
Just then, a Revelation Board opened.
“Hey, how are things there? Are you still safe?”
●
Kido-san was driving, so I mostly handled the conversation.
“We’re fine. We’re headed toward the bay coast and should reach Tokyo Bay soon. Um, you were doing stuff directly below all that, weren’t you? You weren’t caught in it, were you?”
\p
“I think the low-budget thing took a direct hit, but we’re taking a break in the restaurant below the Nippon Budokan while cheering for the local god. Things like ‘You can do it!’ and ‘Don’t let the lightning win!’ ”
<Taira no Masakado is a thunder god, so he should be fine. Still, this can’t be fun for him.>
No, probably not, I thought. And…
“Wow, that was fun! Everything’s a lot cleaner now! …Senpai-chan and Kido-chan, are you alright? The pilgrim sea was pushing in your way before we cleaned them up, weren’t they?”
“Oh, we managed to avoid them because Kido-san is so great!”
“Yes. And we are now entering Tokyo Bay!”
●
Kido left the waterway.
She drove onto the road. At an intersection. The motorcycle slid to the side as she braked.
The tires screeched as they came to a stop somewhere that smelled of the sea.
“Shiodome!”
Before them was a nature park with a forest.
“Balancer! You can be our tour guide!”
<I feel like you have the wrong idea here, but this is the Hama-Rikyu Gardens in Shiodome. It was originally the shogun’s villa managed by the Kofu Tokugawa family and it acted as the entrance between the Edo Castle moat and the sea.>
“I see,” nodded Kido. That would explain why the river phase from Benkei Moat made it all the way here. But…
“Isn’t this overdoing it?”
Up head, a color had overtaken Tokyo Bay.
“Black. It is a sunny day, yet Tokyo Bay alone is covered by a dark storm.”
●
And I saw something.
“Is there something inside the storm?”
At first, I thought they were clouds or waves.
But when I looked closer, I saw they had a solid form. They reminded me of twisted waves or stormy clouds.
“A group of giants!?”
The giants stood much taller than the buildings and apartments on the bay coast and they were shaped more like humanoid snakes than like people. They were all intertwined as they spun and tripped, endlessly filling Tokyo Bay. You could call it something like a crucible and I found it disturbing.
“Um, we’re supposed to cross that to reach Makuhari Messe?”
“I should probably use Oktobasilia Drakon here, shouldn’t I?”
“But if you Yamanashi slag-ter them like giant fish in a bay-sized bucket, won’t they get stronger?”
“I’m not quite sure what you mean there, but that is a concern.”
Kido-san suddenly looked up.
“Is that a bird flying over there?”
●
“Eh?” I said, looking where Kido-san was pointing. That meant to the east end of Tokyo Bay, but…
“Eh!? Wh-where?”
“Right there. Where I am pointing.”
I followed the path of her finger. But…
“…?”
<Kido? How is your eyesight?>
“Hm? During my spring physical, I could easily see the bottom row on the eye exam.”
“A-a god of the hunters of the plains would have good eyesight, wouldn’t she!? Mine is dead average, probably because I’m a shut-in!”
<You could just use a telescope spell, you know?>
I grabbed the screen and shook them up and down before activating a telescope spell. I increased the brightness to see inside the dark clouds and looked in the direction Kido-san was pointing to see a white bird flying through the wind and rain that looked so much like stormy darkness.
“You’re right! There is a bird flying there.”
“No, I apologize for the error, but I must correct myself. That is in fact TJ-san.”
Eh? I thought and increased the magnification to check. But the slider on the side of the screen was already at its max, so it only looked like a white bird to me.
“How good is your eyesight, Kido-san!?”
●
TJ was flying through the storm.
She did not have wings growing from her back. They were on the back of her shoulders. She spread those wings into the space behind her and adjusted their angle to alternate between ascent and propulsion and then she glided. Just like a large bird would.
“These wings really aren’t great for flying in a storm.”
That occurred to her as she flew.
The wind she could manage. She would get swept off course a bit, but she remained in control.
She could manage the rain too. It made her feel heavier, but it didn’t take her out of the sky.
But the enemies were a problem.
“Souko-san isn’t holding back with these attacks.”
These larger giants were currently about 300m tall. She had been able to see Tokyo Bay from a distance as she flew, but their size hadn’t changed since then.
The gods following after her appeared to have been causing trouble in Shinjuku, but…
…They aren’t having an effect. Is that because they’re seen as no more than characters?
That would probably change after they made it about halfway across Tokyo Bay. It definitely would once the human could see them.
Then they would be one of the protagonists instead of just any old character.
TJ had to make sure that happened for her, but…
“––––!”
The giants were being a huge pain in the rear.
●
“…!”
TJ dodged an incoming arm.
She slipped between the fingers of a giant arm that seemed to extend like a serpent and she continued forward.
Wings were convenient here. The enemy’s arm flexibly drew out curves, but her wings allowed her to draw out curves or right angles as she flew.
She dodged countless serpents as the rain fell and the wind blew.
One would occasionally graze her or just barely miss her, so she couldn’t get careless. These giants were enormous, after all. Their arms alone were 40m thick. How could you describe that size to make it immediately understandable? What units would be the most evocative?
…The school building is three floors for a total of 16m.
About 2.5 schools is hard to imagine.
Tachikawa Station’s Lumine was about 55m.
…These arms aren’t quite thicker than Lumine, aren’t they?
That just made them sound smaller.
Of course, Lumine was huge, so while the relative amount was smaller, the actual amount was big.
“Ah!”
She got so caught up in that weird line of thought she nearly took a direct hit.
●
That was a close one, thought TJ as she ascended out of the way. From above, the storm looked like a great mass of wriggling serpentine creatures.
…In our myths, snakes are holy things.
But these probably weren’t snakes.
Then what were they?
Just because they were giants didn’t make them humans. After all, Souko-san didn’t know Sumeragi-shi. So she simply saw humanity as the beings who created the myths. They were important to the gods and they were strange but absolute things.
…Then what is this?
You could say they had been created as “artwork” with no real meaning behind them. They did look the part. There were times when you would come up with a vague image of something – in this case, a storm or an obstacle – and get so into drawing it you ended up using it.
But if that wasn’t the case, then what did these things represent?
This was Souko-san’s divine world, which was centered on Comiket and the human. TJ felt like the other gods had been pushed away. So these storm giants seemed to be telling her to “stay away”.
“––––”
●
Oops.
…I nearly got lost in thought again.
Being pursued by so many enemies for a long period of time took it out of you.
But TJ was almost there. She had almost crossed Tokyo Bay’s midpoint. So it wasn’t much further. That was what she needed to focus on.
So she ascended.
Out of reach of the giants’ hands. And above the storm. Once she was outside the storm, she might leave Souko’s visual range, but she could tell just how worn out she was.
She could secure a safe position first and then approach. Thinking about whether or not Souko could perceive her could come later.
“That’s right.”
TJ ascended. Wind was everywhere in this airspace. Adjusting the angle of her wings caused her to shoot upwards.
She began the rapid ascent above the reach of the giants’ arms.
“…?”
Then she realized the giants’ arms had vanished from view, especially those higher up than her.
She looked down to see the giants crouched, their tentacle arms submerged in Tokyo Bay.
“Oh, damn!”
As soon as she realized what they were doing, it happened.
Tokyo Bay exploded.
The giants in the bay used their tentacle arms to splash the seawater up.
●
The intense rain from above and the heavy seawater from below formed a heavy scattershot.
And a rising wind reached TJ as well.
“…!”
She activated a defense spell. And focused it downwards. Masses of water about the size of her head repeatedly crashed into the spell, but it held.
“––––!”
An attack came from the right so suddenly she failed to react to it.
How did that reach me? she wondered because she had ascended. But then she finally noticed.
When the giants stood back up, they were taller than her position.
Which meant…
“Ah! I’m so exhausted I didn’t manage to ascend very far!”
She was falling.
And of course, the attacks were coming. The giants standing around her raised their arms and swung them all at once.
They repelled the raindrops, altered the fog, and were sure to completely ignore the defense barrier spells she had hurriedly activated.
“Made it!!”
●
Athena used her full mobility from the very start.
She had leaped into the center of the enemy group. She was currently combined with the god of war named Victorious Empress.
The spread fingers of its metal left hand caught Anne who was holding TJ in midair. And its right hand…
“Dory Piesis!”
●
The short spear weapon instantly opened up. It formed a large shield that struck downwards.
The atmosphere was hit by the “pressure” of myth, which ignored all physical laws. It instantly sent the water of Tokyo Bay splashing upwards, scattered the mud on the ocean floor, and revealed the rock below the layer of pebbles.
The only sound was that of rupturing.
The pressure also produced heat. A hot mist formed in a circle around the god of war.
“…!”
The giants were struck by something like a second attack.
The raindrops.
The great pressure affected the rain as well, dropping across a wide area like ultra-fast needles.
The giants were shredded by the unavoidable rain and the pressure caused them to collapse from the points of injury.
In an instant, the giants within a radius of a kilometer were affected.
“––––”
They were crushed and returned to nothing.
●
TJ sat on the waves receding to fill the massive hole that had formed in the ocean.
She had no idea what was happening. But since she could exist here on the ocean surface, she could guess a sea or water god’s authority was involved. In that case, she thought, looking to see a familiar face standing before Athena’s god of war.
“Oh? I thought you looked familiar, but it was you, was it?”
“…Huh?”
What was going on? In Souko-san’s manga, the protagonist’s friends came to save her.
But that wasn’t what was happening here. She instead saw the Irish representative, Poseidon, Beisu, and…
“TJ? We’re on our way to guard Comiket. But, TJ? You know the way better than we do, right? Be our guide.”
Because…
“We don’t know the way.”
“That’s the worse excuse I’ve ever heard!!”
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