Even though it was short-lived.

Even if it was only for a moment.

“So what’s left is a test of perseverance. Just repeat it a hundred million times, a trillion times. I’m going to go back to the ‘original world’ and I won’t let you go to the ‘next world’. The ‘original world’ I’m talking about is probably different from the ‘original world’ in your mind. Even so, I will force you to accept it. Do you understand, Othinus? I’m saying, ‘Even if I have to destroy your dream, I will realize my own dream’!”

“OK then……”

“So be serious, Othinus. Stop giggling over there and use all your strength as a god. I’m not helping anyone. I’m fighting for myself. There are only you and me here. The only one who can save yourself is yourself!”

“In the end, this is not a battle between you and me, but a battle to determine the answer in my heart. In this case, I will cut off the confusion. Completely expel the idiot who boasts about my mistakes as his own achievements!”

I have given up counting.

Even the act of giving up counting has flown beyond consciousness.

“…”

Kamijou Touma never won even once.

Flatten, cut, smash, tear, blow up, and shatter into pieces.

The body of an ordinary high school student was delicately damaged, and every time the light of life faded from his eyes, every time that little light was as faint as a candle in the wind, it would cause a small ripple in Othinus’ heart.

Just give up and move on.

No, there’s still time to turn back.

There is always only one option left. What you are given now is a choice between two.

After a moment’s hesitation, before the light completely disappeared from the flying pieces of meat, Othinus swung her “spear” and returned everything to the starting point, back to the dark maze that she also hated.

She didn’t think that a single decision would resolve everything, nor did she think that simply standing in front of these scattered options would completely free her from confusion.

but.

Othinus gave up little by little. Her heart gradually leaned towards giving up, gradually being led to give up. It didn’t matter if it was just an illusion. It was just self-suggestion. As long as she turned the rudder at the last moment, even if she regretted it after the anesthesia wore off, the route had been decided.

After 1003 killings, we got the answer.

There was no smile on her face.

That was the end. Her dream was over.

After waking up from the dream, only reality is waiting. Othinus, who gave up the first choice, will quickly create the second choice of “the next world” and return to the usual life. This struggle that belongs only to her ends here, and no one can understand the value of it. In order to prevent such anxiety from happening again, she will spend the rest of her life telling herself “this is the best solution” and “this is the right solution.”

She would probably lose her sensibility.

The vast blue sky above and the emerald green of the forest trees.

Even if she sees these natural things in the future, it will not move Othinus’ heart; on the contrary, she should be able to draw a clear line between herself and the struggle and live a peaceful life.

She has no interest in values ​​and interests.

This struggle is just for meaning.

and so.

(That’s the end.)

As the victories piled up, the body temperature gradually faded away.

As the soft parts are peeled off again and again, the heart gradually solidifies.

Her existence gradually transformed into something almost mechanical.

(The confusion disappears. I understand. I have found a way to purify my thoughts. In this way, I can say goodbye to my childish dreams. In return, I will gain reality.)

The wavering in the eyes disappeared. The pupils became fixed, gradually becoming something that simply reflected light.

Instead, she will be completely victorious.

Kamijou Touma hadn’t changed. He made big promises, but in the end, he had no plan to turn things around. He was just waiting for Othinus to be vulnerable.

When he understood this, Othinus’ heart really turned cold.

The girl realized that the dream she had believed in until now was only this far.

and so.

however.

grumble——!

Suddenly, a sharp pain burst out of Othinus’ head.

“……Varied……?”

She couldn’t help but stop.

The first choice that will be completely abandoned if only a few more kills are crossed.

The invisible slash passed by Kamijou Touma and shattered the reinforced concrete school building behind the boy.

Kamijou did not look back.

He just stared at Othinus head on.

Stare at your enemies.

Staring at the God of Magic.

Staring at that face twisted in pain.

“What……?”

“finally……”

The words escaped from the young man’s mouth.

The first strike missed. Kamijou did not bleed. Even so, his face still looked very ugly. He had experienced so many one-sided killings that even calculating them was painful. This was the price. If the eyes could see the so-called soul, then Kamijou’s heart must have been full of scars.

“Finally… I have a chance of winning.”

but.

He said so.

At the same time, he was still staring at the face of the blonde eyepatch girl.

“You must be kidding. The mental wear and tear from repeated struggles…? You think you can stop me with just this little thing…”

“I don’t have that ability, and I don’t understand human nature at all. So you judge for yourself. I’m not the only one who’s on the verge of giving up. If you just look at your face, you look worse than me.”

Othinus’s face twisted slightly.

This was not caused by the previous few sentences. It was because her head hurt so much that she could even hear the squeezing sound.

“Even if wear and tear accumulates, there is still a fundamental difference between your performance and mine! If we continue to face the same pain, it would be strange if you don’t burn your brain first! What’s going on? What’s going on?”

“You are obviously a god, but you forgot to give the answer?”

“Or do you want to say that you have also suffered the same pain? And even though you were in pain, you could pretend that nothing happened? No, that is simply impossible. Facing pain that is enough to torture a god, it is impossible for a mortal to continue to deceive. If you were to suffer the same torment, your brain would have been deformed long ago!”

Hearing this, Kamijou Touma smiled slightly.

At the same time, he tried his best to control his body, which would shake if he relaxed.

He said.

“…Then you are wrong, Othinus.”

“what?”

“I was in the exact same place as you, at the exact same time. You’d think we’d be hit the same way, but we’re not.”

The girl didn’t understand what these words meant.

However, she did not think it was just nonsense. In fact, the blow caused by mental wear and tear did have a difference.

“It might be a bit vulgar to use such a metaphor for a real God. It’s just like a video game, Othinus.”

“What…are you talking about…?”

“So, it’s not that boring when a weak player challenges an overwhelmingly powerful boss and gets beaten back home. Of course, you won’t win, and you’ll feel unhappy. But when facing an enemy that you can’t normally defeat, it’s fun to analyze its attack patterns through trial and error, and even if you don’t leave any data, you’ll feel like you’ve accumulated something. To be honest, fighting a powerful enemy that is far stronger than you is meaningful in itself. After all, just fighting a rare boss that no one has ever seen can spark some discussion.”

“…”

“But what about the other way around? It’s boring to have an overwhelmingly powerful player constantly hunting down weak minions, right? It’s hard to even concentrate for 30 minutes. It’s just a simple operation. There’s no room for trial and error, and if you don’t even have experience points and money, then you really have nothing to accumulate. There’s no point in fighting minions that are much weaker than you. After all, even if you fight a minion that everyone knows, it won’t cause any discussion.”

Even standing on the same stage, their roles are still completely different.

One is a weak person who finds meaning in foolish challenges, and the other is a strong person who feels bored when forced to accompany others.

At the end of the day, there is no clear benchmark for mental wear and tear.

It’s all about mentality.

If this is the case–

“This has happened countless times. We have shared everything along the way, wandering together in this hellish maze… but there is still a difference. I am different from you – we wear out at completely different rates! This goes beyond the difference in performance, and it has pushed you into a desperate situation! I will not let you start over, Othinus. If you don’t stop here, you will start to collapse from the inside!”

This is an invisible knife.

Although Kamijou Touma failed to land a single blow on Othinus, he did succeed in bringing a weapon that could have caused him fatal injuries. He now had enough material to force the God of Magic to negotiate.

“OK then……”

Whisper.

Othinus growled like a wild beast and said in a deep voice:

“In that case, I’ll give up here.”

“…”

“Then I will give up my first choice, ‘the original world’, and settle for my second choice, ‘the next world’. Since I can’t delay any longer, I might as well give up and save your life here. Indeed, this is a good opportunity. Do you know what this means?”

Compared to the pain deep in my head.

Compared to being cornered by something as ambiguous as “mentality”.

What the girl couldn’t bear even more was that the human in front of her thought that he was stepping on her head.

“There is no turning back. There is no redoing. No more confusion. Give up everything and move forward… After I kill you, there will be no next time, human. You can no longer win. Even before, you have never won. In this case, you will dissipate with the next blow!”

Othinus didn’t even need to move.

Just raise the “spear” gently.

The invisible explosion would surely crush Kamijou Touma’s body without hesitation.

This had happened so many times before that even calculating it was a torment. This undoubted result had accumulated so much that one could no longer distinguish between past and future memories. The ideal destruction that Othinus was now describing in his mind was simply following the past process. Therefore, it would not fail. The results of those thousands of times guaranteed the result.

however.

“Boom!”

The next second, Kamijou jumped to the side, accurately avoiding the invisible explosion.

Chapter 197. Battle

Should we continue to allow Kamijou Touma to act recklessly, causing this battle that should have ended long ago to continue?

No…this cannot go on any longer.

The demon decided;

She wanted to give up these unnecessary excuses.

Saying.

Why is she in so much pain?

Is it a backlash of magic?

Or is there another reason?

No one can explore and examine such profound content.

The real fact before the audience is——

“Accompanied by the sound of the demon god’s pain, I think she is finally going to turn on the king mode… Now, watch her next, she will show you how awesome she is.”

The gold medal dog-hanging driver pushed up his glasses, looked at the scenes in the video and made up a story, and finally said his signature quote, which drew thunderous applause.

At this time.