In my notes that battle was supposed to be short *laughs in pain*. Is this even a Kazuma/Aqua Fic anymore? Will I finish this story before it finishes me? Only time will tell.
Next chapter will be the first half at least of the final battle but given how long the previous ones were I might not even bother to split it into 2 parts. What's the point of these Chapter Breaks? So I can do pithy Author's Notes?
Also, I maybe should have warned how dark it was going to be. Abaddon's backstory is coming up at the start of the next chapter. I can't tell if it's going to be darker or slightly lighter than Aqua's. Decide for yourself. Anyway, I hope you're enjoying it, and that I haven't stretched your attention span too much. Predictions for total ending word count? Heavens knows.
Chapter 4: The Road to Heaven Runs Through Hell
Emmanuel Abaddon (Nagato Yamikage): Invocation Magic; can summon a random creature from the Hellish Realm but can only one at a time. Currently in possession of some eldritch demon but it has not been seen yet.
Azrael: Contract Magic; can form contracts with people to perform reality-altering spells but requires the recipient to agree to a proportionate cost or condition for the contract to be fulfilled.
Raphael: Electromagnetism Magic; can create magnetic fields to either manipulate metal or launch electrical charges which automatically home in on the nearest piece of metal or conductive material.
Gabriel: Light Magic; can manipulate Photons to become invisible, fire lasers, make other things or people invisible or appear like a different person. It is currently unknown how she is able to see while invisible.
Uriel: Rune Magic; can cast a variety of spells and pay for them using energy drawn from people standing inside runes he draws on surfaces rather than draining his own mana. The larger the rune or the more people inside it the less energy he drains from each person, and so the weaker or less accurate the spell he can cast.
Amitiel: Time Magic; possesses an advanced time manipulation skill called Time-Skip which causes any attacks that are launched during skipped time to take no effect and any events that occur during these skipped periods are erased as well as memories of these events except the memories of the user. Inorganic matter like terrain and buildings will still be damaged and mana costs or negative side-effects of spells that are skipped over still apply. During skipped time it is impossible to breathe as air does not flow, and human users become weak and experience extreme pain and negative side-effects very quickly, with extended time skips potentially being fatal. His crystal, which grants him the ability, is currently in the possession of Kazuma Satou and his guild. CURRENT STATUS: RETIRED
Nagato's good looks got him places frequently when he was alive. In particular they had gotten stabbed in a fit of jealousy by a bunch of guys one night when he started flirting with their girls. He had come from a military background and knew the proper decorum that could let him blend in with a platoon. So that was his strategy, to infiltrate the army of the Demon King.
He had watched many of his comrades die to deserters and war criminals from corrupt kingdoms looking to usurp the Demon King and take his place. He could sympathise, believing they'd be at least a bit fairer than the devilish tyrant that he had been tasked to kill, but he couldn't in good faith help them establish their own autocracy. He would do whatever he could to protect lives, whether it be civilians or the people with him.
He was mining for magic crystals with his new replacement squadron. He managed to fill it with other adventurers that he had trained on his downtime to infiltrate the army with him. They'd never see it coming, a whole elite squadron made of spies and traitors to take the Demon King down. The ability he found while mining was said to be one of the most powerful. Invocation Magic.
But when he used it in combat, he couldn't believe what he'd seen. As the enemy forces advanced on the village they were encamped in, he unleashed a horrific abomination. A gluttonous, gargantuan worm with a mouth big enough to swallow a jumbo jet. It's impenetrable hide proved too tough for the enemy forces to pierce and it swallowed them whole, its thousands of tongues like tentacles pulling apart their armour and limbs and its thousands of teeth stripping the flesh and meat from their bones as they were pulled down into its gullet where leech-like orifices sucked out their blood like straws and painful deaths dissolving in acid awaited them.
And that was before the creature's hunger remain unsated and it turned its attention to the civilians. His superiors told him not to worry about it. These things happen.
Nagato was in over his head. He'd have to just train and fight and kill the Demon King that way, desert when given the chance and give up trying to fight from within. There's no way he would do this again, not if keeping his cover meant letting people die like this. But he knew there was one member of his company not a spy. A mage who went by the epithet, Azrael.
He was determined to fight the next battle without using his ability, but what could he do? They were surrounded; outnumbered, outmanoeuvred, outgunned and outmatched. Once he caught a glimpse of one of his best friends dying, he wouldn't let another die. His friend told him that it was the natural price they paid for being undercover and not to break ranks and ruin all they'd fought for. Nagato wouldn't live with himself if he let another die and he unleashed his Invocation Crystal. The creature that came out was even worse than last time.
The enemy nicknamed it the Helleater, and the brutal ways it sliced up, dissected and devoured its prey was unlike anything the Demon Army had witnessed. His squadron was safe, but the townsfolk, the soldiers for the good king trying to defeat Abaddon's demon company, they perished in fates Nagato wouldn't wish upon the Demon King himself.
He had been broken, and had decided he no longer wished to live with himself after what he had done. He went to Azrael, and asked him to make it so he never had to experience the guilt of massacring friend, foe and innocent bystander ever again.
He knew these magical contract making types. His suspicions were confirmed; others had told him that Azrael had a tendency to interpret his requests in the most convenient or sadistic way possible. If you made him promise that someone wouldn't be killed, he'd force that person into a fate far worse than death, as they worked as his autonomous slave for all eternity. He would make them immortal, so they could never be killed – as the contract stated – and their torment would never end.
With this is mind, Abaddon fully expected Azrael to simply kill him. After all, he'd feel no guilt if he were dead. Even if the rest of his squad got discovered the next day and publicly executed, Abaddon would die peacefully never having to worry about his own actions ever again, or the countless lives he'd taken and boundless rivers of blood he'd spilled and walls of screams he'd caused.
He returned to his squadron, at ease. "How do you feel? About what happened in the village yesterday" they said to him, assuring him the Helleater had eventually been killed.
"What are you talking about? We defeated the king's army with zero casualties on our side"
Impossible, they thought, there was heavy casualties. His friend that died? He was pretty sure she'd never been in his company at all. He thought it was weird they were asking him these questions. Talking about people he'd never heard of or events he was sure had never took place. When he started to get suspicious that something happened he had no memory of, he suddenly found he couldn't remember the conversation at all.
They started asking even more questions. When he found their dead bodies the next day, he decided the most likely answer was that some other king's army had broken in and killed them all except himself and Azrael. Spy or not, how could he ally himself with a kingdom who would wantonly kill sleeping soldiers like that, like cowards? He couldn't forgive it. He knew every casualty caused by these corrupt menaces claiming to be against the Demon King, but when he tried to way it with the sins of the Demon King, well, to the best of his knowledge, the Demon King had never killed anyone except in self-defence. He was, by all accounts, the rightful ruler.
He was given a replacement squadron. Raphael, Gabriel, Uriel and Amitiel. Together, they would defend the honour of the Demon King. The true heroes of the realm. As Abaddon, he began his new life believing he was reincarnated to kill the King by a wicked goddess. Realising his error, he joined their army and longed for the day he could put that evil goddess to rest for good and fulfil his royal duty.
Azrael chuckled, the most barbaric, depraved, viscous and sadistic member of the Demon King's own army, was someone who sincerely believed he was innocent. He could tell you every transgression committed by any enemy of the throne, but couldn't think of a single thing he or anyone affiliated with him had ever done wrong. It was what he had asked for, after all, to never feel a shred of guilt ever again.
"I was just wondering" Megumin asked, keeping her vision straight, one foot in front of the other on the way to the Citadel where Abaddon resides, "What was it about Aqua you liked?"
"Why I'm in love with her, you mean?" he replied.
"No offense, but she's an idiot"
"None taken, you're right"
"Aside from her boobs, what else does she have going for her?"
"I see what this is about!" he shouted accusatorily, "You're jealous of her boobs!"
"Boobs can get you anything!" she pleaded, "She doesn't even have to have a personality! Boobs are enough, are they?"
On some level, Megumin knew she was wrong. Despite how it might have sounded, she liked her friend Aqua as much as everyone else, and liked equally all the other girls whose boobs she was jealous of. Otherwise she'd have nobody left to like. There was something about all her friends she liked, that made her willing to go to battle and die for them, but then if you asked what their good qualities were, she'd be short of an answer.
Aqua was off a safe distance where she couldn't hear; she was walking alongside Yunyun and Darkness. Wiz was back at the shop looking after Chomsuke who refused to follow someone who had an army of elite demon soldiers trying to kill her pets.
"I was never popular with girls myself" Kazuma explained, "But if I thought they had good reason for ignoring me, I'd probably hate myself. That wouldn't do me any good except to make me more miserable. I don't think people decide who they love based on what traits they do or don't have. Otherwise we'd all fall in love with the same person, right? The one who's smart and pretty and athletic and funny, etc. Maybe she is trash, but then so am I. If we don't have each other, who will we have? She might be a sexy dumbass, but that's my type. If that makes me shallow, well then I never claimed to be deep. When she tells me to spoil her, I want to give her the world, when she tells me she's scared I want to protect her. All I know is that I want someone who will make me happy, and she makes me happy whether I have a good reason or not"
"Ok" Megumin said flatly, "I think that pretty much answers my question. But one thing still bothers me"
"Yeah?"
"How can you say all that and still think you're not "good enough for her"?"
"Despite her personality, she is still a goddess and I'm still a former NEET"
"But what if she doesn't care if you're "good enough" or not?"
Kazuma didn't answer.
"Do you think they're expecting us?" she asked instead.
"Absolutely"
"Do you think they're worried?"
"Not at all"
"Are you worried?"
"Certainly" he said at first, "But we do have one thing. The Time-Skip Crystal. As a human I can't use it as well, but it's the best we've got to beat them"
When they found the Citadel it didn't seem to have any life in it. Maybe it was a town once before the Archangels appropriated it as their base. Perhaps they were the reason it is constantly under the shadow of some bright orange sky and black cloud. The Dark Cathedral was visible at the highest point of the city, suitably looking like the Town Hall or parliament of some Orwellian dictatorial party. It was dark grey and blocky and imposing.
Along the road were patches or dirt where there clearly used to be trees or plants but that had died long ago until not a trace remained except the conspicuously empty spaces they had absented. Roads were cracked and drains were rusted and stained with years of blood. All around there were buildings from either industry or urban development that clearly been started but never finished since there was evidently now nobody left to live anywhere. Kazuma would have just ordered Megumin to blow it all up but he guaranteed they'd survive any size of explosion.
"They're here" Uriel said calmly, feet up on the oppressively long dining room table where they held their meetings.
"Feet off the table" Abaddon spoke with a soft but firm tone. "Where? Front entrance I would assume"
"You assume incorrect. They've apparently took the time to enter from the West, which is equally as open and exposed as the front entrance. So time wasted no doubt"
The entire Citadel was surrounded by a giant rune. Of course, given the size, the energy he could drain from someone within it is so minimal that even a dog, which has low mana compared to a human, wouldn't notice. But the benefit is that these runes tell Uriel when there is a valid target within them whose mana he can drain. Meaning he can use it to pinpoint intruders instantly.
"Ok, if we sneak up we should be able to land a crushing blow before the real battle starts" Yunyun said.
There was a deafening roar.
"Ok, never mind, we've been here five seconds and they already know we're here"
"Aqua!" Kazuma shouted, "Stay where I can see you!"
"What do you want me to do in this fight?"
"Just, whatever you can. Try your best" he answered. He was not optimistic.
Just cresting the cooling towers of the power plant in front of them, a thick, leathery hide lined with spines and orifices spewing toxic clouds of gas slowly became more visible. A huge hand with many fingers all tipped with claws the size of swords, a mouth bristling with teeth like lances and suddenly at least a dozen more arms just like the horrifying one they had just seen. More heads as demonic as the one they had assumed was the only one, and tentacles writhing just like the one they though was a tail.
"Are we doing a Lovecraft crossover? What the hell is this?!" Kazuma wailed.
He knew he was in severe trouble because Darkness had never looked more ecstatic. If I piss myself, Aqua thought, I can purify it into water and nobody will notice. Yunyun thought about she liked it better when she had no friends. Megumin moved her fingers like she was framing a picture so she could judge if she could produce an explosion large enough to kill it.
"Not to be a downer" Yunyun said, trembling, "But if we kill it can't he just summon another?"
"But if it's random it might not be as big and scary" Aqua said trying to remain calm
"Do you think our luck isn't bad enough we won't just get the same one twice?" Yunyun panicked
"Of course" thought Kazuma, "With my high luck stat, as long as I'm here he might be unlucky enough to keep summoning weaklings after this"
"Assuming we can even kill this one?" Yunyun asked, "It's the size of a castle by itself!"
One of the tentacles came raining down like a collapsing tower. Kazuma confidently activated his Time-Skip. This gave him plenty time to get out the way, but he still had to ensure it missed everyone. This wasn't too difficult this time but he wouldn't get lucky every time. When time resumed the shockwave launched everyone several feet in different directions. The spread was enough that once they had all gotten up to regain their composure, they were in good positions to run off in different directions.
"We have to split up and I'll draw its attention. I can use the Time-Skip to save myself but I can't save you guys if you stay still during skipped time as well"
The group splintered off, with Kazuma making noise to keep the Helleater attacking anyone else. He wanted to avoid dying so he managed to avoid using the crystal as he drew it away.
Their goal presumably was to enter the Cathedral but Aqua predictably got lost immediately and ended up within the power plant. Raphael had realised he couldn't wait for them to come to him and went down to the plant personally to challenge her. Naturally, he waited in the place best suited to his abilities.
"Your trick won't work on me a second time" he gloated, "I'm not using my liquid metal anymore. With this being my home turf, I have a limitless supply of metal to use!"
Aqua quaked in her knee-high boots. Raphael ripped two giant lightning rods out of the ground and began to wield them like impossibly long lances.
"I thought there was at least an upper limit to how much metal you could lift, how is this even fair?" she complained, probably hoping that some admin could override the powers of the electromagnetism ability to make it easier and more balanced for her.
She ran for cover and avoided his initial strikes. She was surrounded in metal girders and panels and beams. If she wasn't careful then all he had to do was unleash a stray lightning bolt and it would be likely to pass close enough to her to catch her in the blast.
"Sacred Barrier!" she yelled frantically, casting it and protecting herself from the stray electricity.
"Where's Aqua?!" Kazuma screamed, looking everywhere for her. "She'll be on her way to the Cathedral, so if I know her well enough she should be in exactly the opposite direction from where she's supposed to be going"
He turned around and led the Helleater back towards the power plant.
That was, completely unbeknownst to Kazuma, perhaps the main reason she disliked Kyouya and reciprocated Kazuma. She wasn't aware of it herself, but she could never take Kyouya's affection for her seriously, no matter how many times he professed his love, she didn't believe it. He didn't know her, he thought she was gracious and generous and kind. How could he love her? He loved someone who looked like her but was nothing like her, it was someone else. If he likes nice girls, there's tonnes of them out there. Aqua wasn't one of them. Kazuma knew her, he knew exactly how selfish and incompetent and rotten and pompous she was, and loved her anyway. Surely if anyone else knew what she was really like, they wouldn't. But Kazu-Scum would. She was exactly his type.
Having followed the sound of clanging metal and crackling thunder, Kazuma tracked down Aqua to where she was fighting Raphael. He shouted at him to draw his attention, "Hey, ugly!"
"I'll deal with you when I'm finished with her" he said, turning to look at him but keeping his lightning rods pointed in Aqua's direction, "Your crystal might protect you from attacks but you have no offensive power at all. You have no real way of killing the Helleater. It's all over for you. Give up or not, we're going to butcher you either way"
He charged one of his lightning rods with a powerful charge, billions of volts, stronger than anything a normal bolt of lightning can produce.
"I'll finish you quickly and get back to her" he informed Kazuma, "Ragnarok Tempest!"
"Nature's Beauty!"
"What?"
Aqua's melodic, sweet voice was immediately followed by a gentle sprinkling of water on Raphael's invincible yet metal Trinity Armour… and then an instantaneous annihilation by billions of volts of raw electricity frying Raphael's body. As the current rocketed through his nerves and tissue and cells, his muscles seized up, preventing him from ceasing his onslaught which just happened to be targeting himself. The light show finally came to an end when he passed out and collapsed, his outer layer of skin charred.
"Grab his crystal!" Aqua shouted.
Kazuma was stumped for a few seconds until he realised, "wait, that never occurred to me! Of course!"
Amitiel's power came from a crystal – that Kazuma stole – so it stands to reason he could acquire the abilities of all the Archangels. He would become Giga-Kazuma! As he imagined this wild fantasy transpiring he was struck with another thought.
Aqua said something clever? The truth is Darkness gave her the idea. She was worried about the upcoming fight and had fielded advice from the others. This was clearly the fight she was most determined to win, and in light of that, the smartest thing she had done recently was realise she was stupid. She wouldn't figure out the solution to defeat Abaddon herself, but someone else might and she could acquire their knowledge.
Kazuma went to retrieve the crystal but he had a bad gut feeling. As he predicted, Raphael's light show would signal their location to others, and the Helleater was, like the other creatures Abaddon had historically summoned, not loyal to its summoner, and not likely to discriminate between friend and foe, or to even have some conception of that.
"We have to get out of here now!" he shouted and grabbed Aqua by the hand.
"Oh!" She blushed at this as he lead her out the nearest exit seconds before a giant claw came crashing through about 4 floors or steel beams, concrete, pipes of radioactive waste water and machinery before completely crushing Raphael into microscopic chinks like an orange that was ran over by a car.
"Why didn't you use the Time-Skip?" Aqua asked exasperatedly, "Wasn't that cutting it a little close?"
"I don't have it with me anymore. It was starting to take its toll on me and, well, it inflicts physical pain so, it suddenly occurred to me who was best to wield it"
Gabriel's laser sword was having a hard time getting Darkness, but likewise Darkness' accuracy meant she never landed a single counterblow. It was mostly just two melee fighters missing each other and flailing about. Gabriel swung, then suddenly she found Darkness standing behind her. Darkness responded with a cool backswing behind herself, where you take down an opponent without even looking, but she missed and ended up looking like a complete fool in front of Yunyun.
Darkness turned and tried to attack Gabriel the normal way, but her non-existent accuracy meant she missed a standing target at point-blank range with multiple swings anyway. Gabriel pretty quickly realised she had little of a threat to deal with but the Time-Skip Darkness used made it impossible to hit her in any case. A complete and unbreaking stalemate.
Darkness tumbled slightly onto one knee. "This isn't a fun kind of pain" Darkness admitted, "I normally like it when I can't breathe but this ability is making it harder to move. If I can't keep using this I might die, and I can't let my team down"
Yunyun interrupted with a few blasts of flame, "Sorry about this Darkness, I'll get Aqua to heal you later!"
A powerful torrent of fire washed over the ground, a rapidly spreading cloud of heat and light that covered the ground in ash.
"Thank you!" Darkness screamed as she burned up.
"At least now I can be sure that Gabriel is nowhere near you, otherwise she'd take a massive hit!"
Gabriel had turned invisible and was in hiding. The ash on the ground meant she would be seen if she tried to approach, since she would still leave footprints. She took a few pot-shots with lasers from a distance.
"This is more like it!" Darkness screeched as holes burned through her body, thankfully missing vital organs or her defense being too resilient to let them be damaged.
If she's invisible, Yunyun started thinking, then light would pass through her eyes as well, or she would have to bend the light around her eyes so we can't see them. In that case, it wouldn't hit her retinas, and she'd be blind. How can she still see? I think I know the answer.
Yunyun used the new ability she bought, Ultraviolet Vision. It was simple, Gabriel manipulated photons in the visible spectrum, meaning light whose frequency was within the range humans can see. How was she still able to see? She was blueshifting the radiation she emitted so it was too high a frequency for anyone to see and then bending the visible light around herself so it appeared to pass through her. How could see still see us? She was seeing in ultraviolet rather than visible light that normal human eyes detect.
"There you are" Yunyun said, and launched a small fireball in her direction.
"Crap!" Gabriel screamed while jumping out the way.
A laser was fired in return and Yunyun was hit. "This isn't ideal" Yunyun admitted, "I shoot fire and she shoots lasers, she can hit me more accurately than I can get her. And furthermore, her being a demon means she's faster and deadlier than me in general and is more resilient to damage. I've evened the playing field but I'll still almost certainly lose if I play at her game. I can only win if I play my game that I can win. I've got one ace up my sleeve.
"Darkness, cover for me for a bit!" she shouted, while Yunyun hid and Gabriel turned her attention to firing lasers at Darkness who tried to dodge occasionally, and let some hit her for the pleasure.
"Take as long as you need" Darkness squealed euphorically, her nerves being shredded by scorching hot lasers cutting through her flesh.
Yunyun began generating the hottest fireball she could. Heat generates light, but mostly infrared, which is why infrared cameras pick up body heat. As the heat increases, the frequency of the light it produces gets higher. When it reaches a certain temperature the frequency rises and the light enters the visible spectrum and objects hot enough will start to glow visibly. As it gets hotter, the light gets brighter and changes colours. When it gets hot enough, it should then leave the visible spectrum, and become ultraviolet.
As heat from the fireball began to seep out and come towards her she used another spell to absorb that heat and convert it back into mana to make her fireball hotter. With that, no matter how it got, herself and her surrounding wouldn't get any hotter unless she wanted it. She could make the small region in her hands scorching hot while remaining safe. This was the point.
With this, Yunyun was able to launch a powerful flame grenade that she launched over to Gabriel. It was self-contained, being able to reach higher temperatures than normal, but in exchange the inability for the heat to escape meant it couldn't harm anyone. But that didn't matter as long as it produced ultraviolet light. This powerful UV light bomb blinded Gabriel so badly it burned her eyes out completely.
"She's completely blind!" Yunyun yelled to Darkness, "Unleash the final blow"
Darkness decided she might have better luck using the club she brought. Kazuma told her to use it like a baseball bat and with her practicing her swings, she managed to only miss about five times against an blinded opponent who couldn't run away before finally landing a solid hit. Gabriel was promptly launched of in an arc through the sky where she disappeared completely into the distance becoming too small to be spotted. Yunyun assumed correctly that Gabriel would die on impact, but also ensuring that yet another crystal would not fall into their hands.
They were still stuck without an offensive option for taking out the Helleater.
Megumin was doing battle with Uriel just in front of the Cathedral, clearly being the best in terms of combat she had elected to make her way as close to the front lines as possible.
She was conserving her energy with short bursts of explosive balls. Uriel used his runes as portals usually for transporting members of the Archangels to different places or to come back to the Citadel but using smaller, more energy-conserving runes he could teleport Megumin's blasts to where they could not harm him. Time for him was drawing near though, as the rest of the guild were approaching and they had a 150 meter tall kaiju following them.
"I can just teleport out of here" he said tauntingly, "So you'd better hope you left enough explosion magic to kill that thing otherwise you're finished. I think everyone here knows you're the only hope of defeating it"
"That is the burden which has been foisted upon me, and which I, for the sake of my friends and of mankind whole, shall carry!" Megumin spoke like a dramatic reading of a script.
"Megumin!" Aqua cried as the Helleater moved just a few feet behind them, "We brought you a friend!"
"I don't want any friends!" she shouted in reply, hoping Aqua would have lead it elsewhere. Yunyun heard her and started to cry.
"I'm finishing this here!" Megumin warned, "Yunyun, hold him back. Aqua, Kazuma, take Darkness' body and stay as far away from here as you can. I can only unleash my ultimate explosion once a day!"
As long as Uriel doesn't draw a rune around her, she should have enough energy left to kill that thing, Yunyun thought, and began using what little of her energy remained to try and keep Uriel from completing any of his spells.
Megumin was almost finished charging, a red and purple aura formed as glowing particles materialised into existence and were sucked into her sceptre, swirling like the contents of a black hole ready to be released in a furious and terrifying burst of death like a split atom.
"Darkest black and brightest light, join hands in this fight and combine…!" she began, only to be predictably interrupted.
"I can't let you do this" Uriel growled, using his claw to scratch a small circle on his forearm "Basic Spell: Instant Rune"
By draining a small amount of his own mana, he could instantly draw a larger rune directly around Yunyun and Megumin.
"Advanced Spell: Temporary Invincibility" A bubble shield formed around him, glowing with pure, divine energy like a God-given barrier or indestructibility, "The Helleater is coming over, unfortunately for you, only I will be safe from it as it devours the entire neighbourhood and you all along with it!"
Megumin and Yunyun writhed in pain and dropped to the ground. "I can't do it" Megumin said weakly, forcing the words out that she so wanted Yunyun to hear, "He's drained my mana too much to unleash explosion, I would have to wait a whole day for it to recharge"
"I can't do much except hold him off" Yunyun admitted, "It looks like this is the end, it's been fun" she went on, now crying, "I'm glad to have had you as a friend"
"I never said I was your friend"
Lumbering footsteps made their way up towards the front of the Cathedral. It walked slowly but each foot was dozens of meters long and a single, painstaking step would let it stride the length of a street in one bound. In a straight line, it could catch up with almost anything given enough distance.
"It's not like our Time-Skip will do anything. Without abandoning this altogether we can't dodge its attacks all day" Kazuma said, "I'm disappointed" he told Aqua, "For the first time in my life I'm finally happy, I was kind of hoping this would last longer than it did"
"This was a damn sight more fun than my job as a goddess, I have to admit" she replied.
Aqua collapsed onto her knees.
"What's wrong!?" Kazuma wailed in concern. "Did you run too far? Don't give up on me now you dumb goddess, I'm warning you"
Aqua smiled, "Nothing's wrong"
"Don't try to act brave" Kazuma said, "It's okay to be tired. But we can't stop now"
She smiled at him again, more forcefully this time. "Kazuma. I said there is nothing wrong"
Whatever she said, whatever the hell she meant, he trusted her. He looked around, and he knew exactly why.
The mighty kaiju pulled itself up onto the massive cliff behind Uriel, in short time it was already looming over him and the Cathedral.
"I'm completely safe inside my safety bubble, but the same cannot be said for you!" he cackled fiendishly.
"What bubble?" Kazuma asked.
"The…" Uriel said, looking down around him, "IT'S NOT THERE?!"
"It's only temporary you said" Aqua intoned in a mischievously sweet voice
"It's should have lasted at least an hour, It's only been a few minutes!"
Uriel brought up a projection of a clock to see exactly how long. Correct, the minute hand had only advanced about 4 minutes, the hour hand was exactly where it was before. He looked a bit closer. The date had seemed to move forward a whole day.
"Wait, it's tomorrow?!" he screamed, "How is that possible? Unless…"
Aqua forced herself to stand up, "Funny that" she laughed, "How 24 hours just went in an instant. As if they were skipped altogether"
Kazuma had to admit, he was slightly impressed. She skipped exactly 24 hours to the minute so Uriel wouldn't even notice?
"Wait" Megumin cried in excitement, "My mana is completely recharged. I can use Explosion again!"
That's right, Megumin can use her Ultimate Explosion once a day. Well, it had been an entire day since she last used it.
"You couldn't have" Kazuma said, "The pain after only a few seconds is unbearable. Even Darkness couldn't stand it"
"Well, I'm a goddess. There was no way it would kill me" she croaked.
"But the pain!" he pushed her to elaborate further, a look of concern on his face.
"It was the worst I've ever felt" she laughed agonisingly, "But what else could I do? I'm not strong, my magic isn't powerful; I'm not versatile or clever or strategic. I can't overcome obstacles in my way, not like you or Megumin can. All I can do is suffer through it and endure. If all I have to do to win is endure, then that's what I'll do"
"Maybe you aren't useful" Kazuma said, "But you've got so many other great qualities. Just do your own thing, I suppose, and get through this in your own way!"
They both exchanged a determined smile and Kazuma held her hand, hoping to dull the pain by transferring some of his mana over to her.
"NO!" Uriel screamed as the Helleater picked him up in its claws, "I can't lose like this, you only won because you took that crystal from one of our own!"
"But we won" said Darkness.
"Forces of creation meet in the valley of destruction" Megumin began, "And bring this creature to an end just as you brought it into existence! EXPLOSION!"
