Chapter 643: Gathering the Fragments of a Miracle (1/2)
The ultimate battle form of Ἑκατόγχειρες that Alice invoked. The one who took the initiative to challenge that power, which was completely unknown to the Gods…… was Chronois.
Chronois immediately stopped time and approached Alice with as much speed as she could muster.
The power that she exercises is different from that of ordinary magic. If one wants to stop time, there are several kinds of such magic that can be used once one is of the Count-rank.
However, Chronois' power is different from them. The authority bestowed upon her by Shallow Vernal, the God of the world, is overwhelmingly superior to their Time Magic, and the only one who can interfere with the time manipulated by Chronois is Ein, ”who was also given the power to manipulate time by Shallow Vernal”.
In fact, in the early stage of the battle, Alice fought back against Chronois' authority of time by swapping with a clone beforehand and exploiting the opening that appeared that she had opened up.
That's why Chronois quickly attacked without giving her time to switch with her clone.
Within the stopped time, Chronois approaches Alice with overwhelming speed…… but in a moment of time, she sees ”Alice turning towards her within the time that was supposed to be stopped”.
[Impossib——— Ghaaakk!?]
Surprised, Chronois' body was blown away by Alice's nonchalant counterattack, and rolling down on the ground several times, she released her time stop.
[God of Time and Space!?]
[……I- Impossible…… Even within my stopped time……]
[Yep, ”I can now move within it”.]
Alice nonchalantly replies to the dumbfoundedly muttering Chronois. Life, who has quickly finished healing Chronois' wounds, approaches Alice.
[God of Time and Space, take command of everyone! I'll take care of her!]
Alice catches the fist that Life swings at her, but Life's overwhelming physical strength surpasses her in terms of pure strength, and she begins to push Alice little by little.
(……In this case, I can do this. I have more pure power than her…… If I can engage her in battle with God of Time and Space's support……)
She could see a faint chance of victory…… But immediately after….. Life was powerfully slammed on the ground.
[……Eh?]
The damage she received itself was minimal. However, she couldn't immediately understand what had happened.
(…… ”I lost in power”? Me? How? After all, just now……)
She certainly should have been overpowering her. It was impossible for her, the God of Life, to misjudge the physical capabilities of her opponent. With that thought in mind, she turned her gaze to Alice, who was quietly looking down at her, and became astonished.
She then immediately shouted to Chronois, who was astonishedly looking from a distance.
[God of Time and Space! This is bad! We need to defeat her quickly……]
[W- What do you mean?]
[It's going up! In just seconds…… no, even faster than that! Phantasmal King's ”physical abilities and magic power continues to increase at an explosive rate”! If she becomes even more powerful, she'll really be out of our control!]
[What!?]
Fate, who was watching their exchange of attack and defense from a short distance away, was also astonished, as her eyes opened wide, just like Chronois and Life.
[Eeeehhhh…… W- What's happening? Shall-tan is clearly getting stronger and stronger……]
[……Let me explain it to you.]
[Eh? Ahh, errr, if I remember correctly, you're Shall-tan's best friend……]
[Umu, she asked me to explain it to you. My name is Iri———-]
[You're ”Riz-tan”! Unnn, I don't know what's going on, so please explain.]
[……Wait, calling me that is……]
[Explain it already!]
[U- Umu……]
(T/N: Irisu → Risu-tan. I can't find the words to translate it in english, but if Alice/Iris' world were somewhat the same as Kaito's, Fate sounds like she's calling Iris ”Squirrel-tan.)
Iris, materializing so that she could explain what's happening to Fate, looked as if she wanted to complain about the nickname Fate had immediately given her, but Fate's vigorous urging pushed her to start explaining.
[……That is the power of the ultimate battle form of her heart tool, Ἑκατόγχειρες. No, I guess it might be better to say that it's one of its ”special characteristics”.]
[Errr, Shall-tan's Ἑκατόγχειρες will allow her to use the power of the person she's bonded with, right?]
[Umu, that indeed is its normal ability. Meanwhile, that ultimate battle form of her is the form she had once when ”she had spun the hope of the whole world” to face the Evil God, and it's also the power that transformed her body into ”the Incarnation of Hope”.]
[……U- Unnn?]
[The true power of that ultimate battle form is that it adds all the bonds she weaves to her own power…… That's more than powerful enough on its own, but Alice has gained another ability after becoming the Incarnation of Hope.]
As if she still didn't understand what Iris was trying to say, Fate curiously tilted her head.
[She told you about it earlier, didn't she? That she usually ”doesn't grow in physical ability or magic power”……]
[Errr, I think she said it only grows under a certain condition…… Does that mean that that ultimate battle form is that condition for her growth?]
[Umu. ”If I can't win the way I am now, I should just become a me that can win”, is what she likes to say before…… Her current form is the embodiment of this mindset of hers. People's thoughts…… Hope…… All of it doesn't end. ”All of it will make her explosively and indefinitely grow”…… That is the true ability of Ἑκατόγχειρες's ultimate battle form. And the growth she gained after using it ”doesn't disappear even if she releases Ἑκατόγχειρες”.]
[Eeeehhhh!? T- That's too absurd…… Then, the reason why Shall-tan was super stronger than 20,000 years ago was……]
[Yeah, it's because she had fought in a battle with that God from another world in that state before. She grew stronger at that time.]
It was truly a tremendously absurd ability. There is no end to Alice's power now. If she can't deal with Chronois' authority of time, she will grow to deal with it.