“Hmm, you have leveled up. So, which one are you? This world’s Yumiela? Or the parallel one?”
How can the evil god say such a thing carelessly? He didn’t even recognize us? It was unpleasant.
As the water droplets distorted my vision, I remembered her words, “When I die, I’ll bring you down with me.”
Ah. She’s talking about the evil god. Dragging someone to their death isn’t something you do, but we have no choice but to do this. I wonder if she thought this far before jumping into the Black Hole.
Wiping the water dripping down my cheeks, I inwardly curse her for this. Yumiela #2 is a piece of work. I hate her.
While I was weeping, our situation changed.
The evil god never stopped chanting the code while Patrick tried to interrupt him, but it was too late. We all seem distracted by Yumiela #2’s disappearance.
“Administrator code activated—target stopped.”
Our movements stopped. We can’t even shift a single joint of our fingers.
Patrick and I can’t move. The same would also apply to Remn and Sanon, who is a short distance away. Every being present in this location stopped moving.
But, Yumiela #2, who isn’t here, should be able to move. She’s inside me. So I can move my body.
“How appalling. All it takes is one phrase from me.”
“You have a hard time finishing that one phrase, though.”
“What?! …Did you synchronize with isotopes from parallel worlds to lift the restrictions? Where did you learn such advanced skills?”
“Huh? Can you explain it to me logically? You sound like nonsense.”
I thought it was just the tension building up from inheriting #2’s power, but I could move my muscles. Wasn’t it?
“It’s different. The isotope has already disappeared. No way, you recreated the whole thing?! Developing a pseudo-world is a delicate business even if only part of it, even for me?!”
“…Right. I am a logical person, or at least I have the attributes of an intellectual person.”
I don’t understand a single thing the evil god is saying!
Although I pretended to act cool and know what I’m talking about, I understood nothing. I could move, and that’s enough.
“Guess I underestimated you a little.”
The evil god said that and swung his arm lightly.
Instinctively sensing that I was in danger, the sword I had been misplacing was quickly picked up and swung sideways.
“Another invisible attack?!”
“How could you defend against that?”
I felt something pop with my sword. I couldn’t see it, but I could prevent it with my intuition alone. I’m amazing.
When I checked the sword cleave direction, the view had shifted. I can only describe it as a misalignment. The space was disconnected, just like a landscape painting that had been cut and displaced.
It is something like spatial disconnection. Not sure about the additional effects, but it’s one I see a lot. This is something I’m familiar with.
Letting the evil god do as he pleases is not a good idea. From the edge of the crater, I run down to the center.
When I was about to reach the bottom of the crater, the blurred humanoid jumped up into the air.
“He can fly?!”
How many abilities is he hiding? He’s been playing nice with us, and now he’s getting serious. Hasn’t he learned in school that throwing successive forces into battle is terrible? Had he been serious from the start, we would have lost.
He looked down at me from up in the air and thrust his arms toward me.
It worked out well that I braced myself for what was to come. The pressure from above almost crushed me.
The gravitational pull is increasing. I wonder how many times more G’s are being applied that I’m about to fall to my knees.
With both feet stomping powerfully, I kicked and jumped as hard as possible on the sinking ground.
For once, my humble physique saved me. The heavier and bigger you are, the stronger the gravity pressure is. Though I still haven’t given up on my dream of reaching three tons in weight.
“How?! I activated the irreversible force field!”
What is that? It must be something related to gravity. Kugelschreiber-san, are you deliberately saying it’s difficult?
I went for the evil god in the air with the same momentum.
But the pressure from above is still the same. The stall is gradually slowing down, and it is unlikely we will ever make it to the evil god.
Starting all over again from the ground is hard. The reason why combatants use gravity chambers for training is now sinking in.
Then a voice called out to me, coming from outside my consciousness. It was Patrick who should have been restricted from moving.
“Yumiela! I’ll make a foothold for you!”
Like a tower, the earth rises and reaches my feet.
After completely stalling and beginning to fall, I landed at the top of the pillar.
I thought about letting the tower take me to the evil god, but the tower began to collapse. The tower couldn’t bear my weight, which was tens or even a hundred times heavier than it was.
I would have to jump again. I jumped, crushing the tower under my feet.
“Take thiiiiis!”
We managed to reach him. Having reached equal heights, the evil god is trying to perform another move, but it is too late.
Evil god Kugelschreiber was my strongest opponent ever.
This victory was only possible not only because of me but also because of Patrick, God of Light, God of Darkness, and Yumiela #2.
“Why, why so much power….”
“This is it. It’s over!”
I have been holding on to the sword of darkness for so long. I swung down the pruning sword… and it slipped through.
“…Huh?”
Isn’t this a winnable situation? Aren’t we supposed to be able to attack the evil god after uncapping the level cap?
No matter how strong you get, you can’t defy gravity. I frantically jumped up, only to fall with my sword through the blur.
I tried hitting the Black Hole aftereffect left behind during the fall, but it didn’t work. The attack nullification is still in place. What am I supposed to do now?
I crash to the ground, landing on both feet and one hand, gripping the sword with my free hand.
Okay, so this is the advantage of the three-point landing. Up until now, I have done it because it looks superhero-like and cool. It is only bad for the knees.
The plan was supposed to cause the ground to cave in on impact, but I landed on the ground without making much noise. The gravitational pull increase debuff seems to have been lifted.
“Ah—my body is so light.”
“It’s hard when there’s no way for us to attack.”
I heard Patrick calling me from the side. Honestly, it surprises me.
“Thanks for earlier. When did you learn that move?”
“Around the time when Yumiela ran down the hole, and the evil god floated in the air.”
I guess I was the exception. Because he didn’t take Patrick seriously, I was able to jump. But what’s the point of being able to do that if my attacks keep getting nullified?
What should I do? While we were worrying, the evil god descended from the sky and approached us.
Bracing myself, he raised his hands and said,
“Wait, wait, easy tiger. There is nothing you can do to harm me, anyway. I just want to talk for a minute.”
“What do you want to talk about now?”
“You are strong.”
“No, no, no. Not really.”
The compliment came as a surprise. Although he is an enemy, I am happy to hear it.
When I huffed and checked, Patrick gave me a hard look. Fine, I’ll be serious.
The evil god, who may have been flattering me just for flattery, goes on to say.
“You were probably under level 99 a while ago. The level cap restrained you.”
“I was already level 99, though.”
“And that level cap was lifted. You just passed level 99. Even if you absorb the mana, the extent is unknown. What’s the source of your unfathomable power? Where did you get all those mana and EXP? It would be useful information. I’d like to know.”
According to the evil god, I’m stronger than #2.
I have no idea… wait, could it be?
“Uh, what will happen if I keep defeating monsters after reaching the level cap? Since you know, the restriction is still there.”
“…Any manga that has nowhere else to go should temporarily go to virtual space to prevent any discrepancies with the law.”
“Then what will happen when the level cap is uncapped?”
“There will be no more discrepancies. The mana will be returned to the person… no way, YOU?!”
Oh—he guessed it. I wouldn’t want him to know if I could.
I have spent about a decade in my childhood leveling up. In the beginning, I could feel the progress that I was getting stronger, but after some time, the growth stopped. Was I about… seven years old?
I had a bad feeling about Patrick’s growth rate…
Only now, I was convinced. I was flooded with massive amounts of EXP. I could have gone from level 1 to level 99 more than ten times if I had been unlucky.
Good job, old me! Thanks to that dumb move, I can now fight with the evil god.
There is no disadvantage for him to know. I’ll just be honest with the evil god.
“Right. I’m strong because of the overflown EXP since I’ve reached level 99.
“Why?”
“Huh? It’s like what I just said.”
“Why would you do something so stupid?”
“…I kinda anticipated something like this would happen.”
Well, I must admit I’m a complete and utter fool. I tried to bluff, but the psychological damage was incredible.
No time to be discouraged. Let’s get back on track.
Now I know why I felt considerably stronger, but it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t attack the evil god. We have no choice but to use that thing now.
“Patrick, step back. I’ll use this.”
“Did she tell you? Wait, it could be a trap!”
I hold the pruning sword with both hands.
The sword is so black it absorbs light. Its true inscription is also the key to its true power.
The evil god wanted me to say the inscription. He was the one who taught it to #2. There is definitely a trap somewhere in this.
But this is all we have left. I will not regret it if it is a trap because it is her last will since she is no longer with us.
Her last words. How could I forget them? The shears that cut off the world, the pruning sword is unworthy of its name—
“—Ikitemina.”
The evil god didn’t fail to hear my whisper. He laughed hysterically and said.
“Hahaha, you got me. The pruning sword is a sword that will swallow all the humans in this world to perfection! You are a human. May the power of the pruning sword, the one you rely on, swallow you up!”
The sword has too many bad omens. But there is no sign that it will swallow me up at all.
However, my surroundings became darker. It is as if it were evening. When I looked around, the sun was not hidden by clouds, and I could not understand what was causing the darkness.
Then a scream was heard from behind me. Turning around, I saw Sanon floating in mid-air and making a lot of noise. She grabbed Remn by the hair and managed to keep herself from flying away.
“What are you playing at?”
“Do I look like I’m playing with you?”
“Ouch, ouch! Why do you have to grab my hair? …Oneesan! That sword is getting its energy by converting light into darkness!”
It was converting light into darkness. Was that why it went dark? Sanon was about to be sucked into this sword.
It was getting dark, and I thought it was dangerous, but it seemed to be showing its power properly. That surprised me, but the evil god appeared even more surprised than that.
“How? Why? Their nature to swallow humans shouldn’t have changed. Only I should know the key’s language, and I’m not from this world, which means I’m the only one who can handle it.”
Was it double-locked with a password and biometrics? It will not be activated by biometrics alone.
Calling it biometrics isn’t quite right. You can’t call soul a biometric.
“I fulfill both of those requirements, don’t I?”
“Lies! You’re a human being!!”
“Didn’t you say it? You said it could only be used by those not from this world.”
“You can’t be, your soul—”
The evil god floats in the air. Its mosaic-like appearance wavered erratically as if reflecting its fury.
The fact that he flees to the sky shows that he is afraid.
With the weapon in my hands, let’s settle this.
“Patrick!”
“Aaah.”
It came through just by calling his name. The ground rises under his magic.
This time it won’t collapse, creating a solid foothold.
In a perfect stance, I caught up with the evil god who fled into the sky.
I hold my pruning sword down. The surroundings became dark again.
“Pruning Sword!”
“There it is! The upper world!”
I grasped Ikitemina tightly. In response, enormous magical power begins to overflow.
“Iki….”
“It must have felt good to watch from above! I will do everything in my power to conquer them! Whatever it takes—”
Slashing up from the bottom, one swing using brute force with no swordsmanship.
“…Temina!”
The world was enveloped in darkness the moment the sword hit.
I can feel nothing but the abundant, overflowing mana from the pruning sword in the darkness, where I couldn’t see anything even with my eyesight.
When the darkness dissipated, there was no one there.
“Hmm, you have leveled up. So, which one are you? This world’s Yumiela? Or the parallel one?”
How can the evil god say such a thing carelessly? He didn’t even recognize us? It was unpleasant.
As the water droplets distorted my vision, I remembered her words, “When I die, I’ll bring you down with me.”
Ah. She’s talking about the evil god. Dragging someone to their death isn’t something you do, but we have no choice but to do this. I wonder if she thought this far before jumping into the Black Hole.
Wiping the water dripping down my cheeks, I inwardly curse her for this. Yumiela #2 is a piece of work. I hate her.
While I was weeping, our situation changed.
The evil god never stopped chanting the code while Patrick tried to interrupt him, but it was too late. We all seem distracted by Yumiela #2’s disappearance.
“Administrator code activated—target stopped.”
Our movements stopped. We can’t even shift a single joint of our fingers.
Patrick and I can’t move. The same would also apply to Remn and Sanon, who is a short distance away. Every being present in this location stopped moving.
But, Yumiela #2, who isn’t here, should be able to move. She’s inside me. So I can move my body.
“How appalling. All it takes is one phrase from me.”
“You have a hard time finishing that one phrase, though.”
“What?! …Did you synchronize with isotopes from parallel worlds to lift the restrictions? Where did you learn such advanced skills?”
“Huh? Can you explain it to me logically? You sound like nonsense.”
I thought it was just the tension building up from inheriting #2’s power, but I could move my muscles. Wasn’t it?
“It’s different. The isotope has already disappeared. No way, you recreated the whole thing?! Developing a pseudo-world is a delicate business even if only part of it, even for me?!”
“…Right. I am a logical person, or at least I have the attributes of an intellectual person.”
I don’t understand a single thing the evil god is saying!
Although I pretended to act cool and know what I’m talking about, I understood nothing. I could move, and that’s enough.
“Guess I underestimated you a little.”
The evil god said that and swung his arm lightly.
Instinctively sensing that I was in danger, the sword I had been misplacing was quickly picked up and swung sideways.
“Another invisible attack?!”
“How could you defend against that?”
I felt something pop with my sword. I couldn’t see it, but I could prevent it with my intuition alone. I’m amazing.
When I checked the sword cleave direction, the view had shifted. I can only describe it as a misalignment. The space was disconnected, just like a landscape painting that had been cut and displaced.
It is something like spatial disconnection. Not sure about the additional effects, but it’s one I see a lot. This is something I’m familiar with.
Letting the evil god do as he pleases is not a good idea. From the edge of the crater, I run down to the center.
When I was about to reach the bottom of the crater, the blurred humanoid jumped up into the air.
“He can fly?!”
How many abilities is he hiding? He’s been playing nice with us, and now he’s getting serious. Hasn’t he learned in school that throwing successive forces into battle is terrible? Had he been serious from the start, we would have lost.
He looked down at me from up in the air and thrust his arms toward me.
It worked out well that I braced myself for what was to come. The pressure from above almost crushed me.
The gravitational pull is increasing. I wonder how many times more G’s are being applied that I’m about to fall to my knees.
With both feet stomping powerfully, I kicked and jumped as hard as possible on the sinking ground.
For once, my humble physique saved me. The heavier and bigger you are, the stronger the gravity pressure is. Though I still haven’t given up on my dream of reaching three tons in weight.
“How?! I activated the irreversible force field!”
What is that? It must be something related to gravity. Kugelschreiber-san, are you deliberately saying it’s difficult?
I went for the evil god in the air with the same momentum.
But the pressure from above is still the same. The stall is gradually slowing down, and it is unlikely we will ever make it to the evil god.
Starting all over again from the ground is hard. The reason why combatants use gravity chambers for training is now sinking in.
Then a voice called out to me, coming from outside my consciousness. It was Patrick who should have been restricted from moving.
“Yumiela! I’ll make a foothold for you!”
Like a tower, the earth rises and reaches my feet.
After completely stalling and beginning to fall, I landed at the top of the pillar.
I thought about letting the tower take me to the evil god, but the tower began to collapse. The tower couldn’t bear my weight, which was tens or even a hundred times heavier than it was.
I would have to jump again. I jumped, crushing the tower under my feet.
“Take thiiiiis!”
We managed to reach him. Having reached equal heights, the evil god is trying to perform another move, but it is too late.
Evil god Kugelschreiber was my strongest opponent ever.
This victory was only possible not only because of me but also because of Patrick, God of Light, God of Darkness, and Yumiela #2.
“Why, why so much power….”
“This is it. It’s over!”
I have been holding on to the sword of darkness for so long. I swung down the pruning sword… and it slipped through.
“…Huh?”
Isn’t this a winnable situation? Aren’t we supposed to be able to attack the evil god after uncapping the level cap?
No matter how strong you get, you can’t defy gravity. I frantically jumped up, only to fall with my sword through the blur.
I tried hitting the Black Hole aftereffect left behind during the fall, but it didn’t work. The attack nullification is still in place. What am I supposed to do now?
I crash to the ground, landing on both feet and one hand, gripping the sword with my free hand.
Okay, so this is the advantage of the three-point landing. Up until now, I have done it because it looks superhero-like and cool. It is only bad for the knees.
The plan was supposed to cause the ground to cave in on impact, but I landed on the ground without making much noise. The gravitational pull increase debuff seems to have been lifted.
“Ah—my body is so light.”
“It’s hard when there’s no way for us to attack.”
I heard Patrick calling me from the side. Honestly, it surprises me.
“Thanks for earlier. When did you learn that move?”
“Around the time when Yumiela ran down the hole, and the evil god floated in the air.”
I guess I was the exception. Because he didn’t take Patrick seriously, I was able to jump. But what’s the point of being able to do that if my attacks keep getting nullified?
What should I do? While we were worrying, the evil god descended from the sky and approached us.
Bracing myself, he raised his hands and said,
“Wait, wait, easy tiger. There is nothing you can do to harm me, anyway. I just want to talk for a minute.”
“What do you want to talk about now?”
“You are strong.”
“No, no, no. Not really.”
The compliment came as a surprise. Although he is an enemy, I am happy to hear it.
When I huffed and checked, Patrick gave me a hard look. Fine, I’ll be serious.
The evil god, who may have been flattering me just for flattery, goes on to say.
“You were probably under level 99 a while ago. The level cap restrained you.”
“I was already level 99, though.”
“And that level cap was lifted. You just passed level 99. Even if you absorb the mana, the extent is unknown. What’s the source of your unfathomable power? Where did you get all those mana and EXP? It would be useful information. I’d like to know.”
According to the evil god, I’m stronger than #2.
I have no idea… wait, could it be?
“Uh, what will happen if I keep defeating monsters after reaching the level cap? Since you know, the restriction is still there.”
“…Any manga that has nowhere else to go should temporarily go to virtual space to prevent any discrepancies with the law.”
“Then what will happen when the level cap is uncapped?”
“There will be no more discrepancies. The mana will be returned to the person… no way, YOU?!”
Oh—he guessed it. I wouldn’t want him to know if I could.
I have spent about a decade in my childhood leveling up. In the beginning, I could feel the progress that I was getting stronger, but after some time, the growth stopped. Was I about… seven years old?
I had a bad feeling about Patrick’s growth rate…
Only now, I was convinced. I was flooded with massive amounts of EXP. I could have gone from level 1 to level 99 more than ten times if I had been unlucky.
Good job, old me! Thanks to that dumb move, I can now fight with the evil god.
There is no disadvantage for him to know. I’ll just be honest with the evil god.
“Right. I’m strong because of the overflown EXP since I’ve reached level 99.
“Why?”
“Huh? It’s like what I just said.”
“Why would you do something so stupid?”
“…I kinda anticipated something like this would happen.”
Well, I must admit I’m a complete and utter fool. I tried to bluff, but the psychological damage was incredible.
No time to be discouraged. Let’s get back on track.
Now I know why I felt considerably stronger, but it doesn’t change the fact that I can’t attack the evil god. We have no choice but to use that thing now.
“Patrick, step back. I’ll use this.”
“Did she tell you? Wait, it could be a trap!”
I hold the pruning sword with both hands.
The sword is so black it absorbs light. Its true inscription is also the key to its true power.
The evil god wanted me to say the inscription. He was the one who taught it to #2. There is definitely a trap somewhere in this.
But this is all we have left. I will not regret it if it is a trap because it is her last will since she is no longer with us.
Her last words. How could I forget them? The shears that cut off the world, the pruning sword is unworthy of its name—
“—Ikitemina.”
The evil god didn’t fail to hear my whisper. He laughed hysterically and said.
“Hahaha, you got me. The pruning sword is a sword that will swallow all the humans in this world to perfection! You are a human. May the power of the pruning sword, the one you rely on, swallow you up!”
The sword has too many bad omens. But there is no sign that it will swallow me up at all.
However, my surroundings became darker. It is as if it were evening. When I looked around, the sun was not hidden by clouds, and I could not understand what was causing the darkness.
Then a scream was heard from behind me. Turning around, I saw Sanon floating in mid-air and making a lot of noise. She grabbed Remn by the hair and managed to keep herself from flying away.
“What are you playing at?”
“Do I look like I’m playing with you?”
“Ouch, ouch! Why do you have to grab my hair? …Oneesan! That sword is getting its energy by converting light into darkness!”
It was converting light into darkness. Was that why it went dark? Sanon was about to be sucked into this sword.
It was getting dark, and I thought it was dangerous, but it seemed to be showing its power properly. That surprised me, but the evil god appeared even more surprised than that.
“How? Why? Their nature to swallow humans shouldn’t have changed. Only I should know the key’s language, and I’m not from this world, which means I’m the only one who can handle it.”
Was it double-locked with a password and biometrics? It will not be activated by biometrics alone.
Calling it biometrics isn’t quite right. You can’t call soul a biometric.
“I fulfill both of those requirements, don’t I?”
“Lies! You’re a human being!!”
“Didn’t you say it? You said it could only be used by those not from this world.”
“You can’t be, your soul—”
The evil god floats in the air. Its mosaic-like appearance wavered erratically as if reflecting its fury.
The fact that he flees to the sky shows that he is afraid.
With the weapon in my hands, let’s settle this.
“Patrick!”
“Aaah.”
It came through just by calling his name. The ground rises under his magic.
This time it won’t collapse, creating a solid foothold.
In a perfect stance, I caught up with the evil god who fled into the sky.
I hold my pruning sword down. The surroundings became dark again.
“Pruning Sword!”
“There it is! The upper world!”
I grasped Ikitemina tightly. In response, enormous magical power begins to overflow.
“Iki….”
“It must have felt good to watch from above! I will do everything in my power to conquer them! Whatever it takes—”
Slashing up from the bottom, one swing using brute force with no swordsmanship.
“…Temina!”
The world was enveloped in darkness the moment the sword hit.
I can feel nothing but the abundant, overflowing mana from the pruning sword in the darkness, where I couldn’t see anything even with my eyesight.
When the darkness dissipated, there was no one there.
