Cthulhu Gonfalon

As to what happened inside the burst of bright light, the ones who were most clear as to what happened were the two parties involved in it. However, the only one who appeared to fully aware of everything was Sui Xiong, as the God of Spellcasters seemed to still be in a daze!

He only knew that, after he had heard the curses being uttered from underground, he was sent flying by an unimaginably violent strike, to the point that he was blasted out of the main plane, into the far reaches of the outer void. Although he had relied on the effects of the Divine Spellcasting and his shield hadn’t been broken, the tremendous impact still made his head dizzy and his vision spin, sending his divine power flowing, as though it were a stream.

“How is this happening?” The rainbow lights that were covering him emerged. It was the incarnation of the Master of Mystery!

This incarnation kept itself concealed, as most mortals who saw it thought that it was just a cluster of lights. But, any god who saw it was sure to receive a huge shock, causing them to be on their guard, because this incarnation was filled to the brim with divine power. In fact, it was actually designed for use in combat!

There were many different types of incarnations that gods could have, each with different strength levels. The incarnation that Sui Xiong left on Wendy at the Tyrian magic tower had basically no combat ability. It could only be used for communication, or as coordinates for teleportation in crucial moments. As for the most impressive incarnations, such as the one that the Master of Mystery had sent, they had enormous divine power, enough to clash head on with other gods in a serious fight.

As per the rule of “Avatar inferiority,” a high-grade incarnation would only be able to output the mid-grade divine power at most, and the incarnations of mid-grade gods would, at best, be able to use the divine power of the lower tier ranks, and so on. Those gods, who were at the very bottom, with extremely weak divine power, were simply unable to create avatars with the abilities to fight with other gods. They would be destroyed in less than a second.

The avatar that was sent by the Master of Mystery contained enough divine power to be ranked at the peak of the mid-rank gods. Coupled with his extensive knowledge of battles and his incredible might, he wouldn’t have many problems, even if he were to go up against an incredibly strong divine power. Seeing as his avatar was already this strong, the divine might of the Master of Mystery was simply terrifying!

He had originally only intended to watch from afar, not intervening unless the God of Justice Yorgaardman took action. As per his calculations, the God of Knowledge’s fighting ability was far below that of the God of Spellcasters’. Even with that weird octopus thrown in, Ymirgar le-Peyroux’s could still do as he pleased. At worst, it could simply choose to attack leisurely, from a distance.

Yet, he never would have imagined that, although the God of Knowledge’s strength was average, Void Mask actually had quite the keen ability! He actually sent the God of Spellcasters flying with his first attack. If he had not rushed over to help resolve the aftermath, he might even have been severely injured physically!

This was truly shocking! The divine spell shield on the God of Spellcasters was something that he had painstakingly designed. Forget about weak gods, it could hold out against the attacks of even a mid-ranked god, and for a long time!

Yet, it was beaten to the point of collapse, just from a single attack. Plus, the aftermath managed to penetrate it, causing severe injury to the God of Spellcasters, who was supposed to have been well protected.

In contrast, an attack, which flung the opponent off of the main plane, did not seem as shocking anymore…

Having received the aid of the Master of Mystery, the God of Spellcasters could have been said to have recovered. He looked left and right in somewhat of a daze. Only then did he fully regain his mental clarity, leaking out a horrified expression on his face immediately thereafter.

“How is this possible?” He exclaimed weakly. “I was actually blown off of the main plane by this attack!”

“I didn’t think that jellyfish really had any abilities,” the Master of Mystery calmly said. “I am curious, though, exactly what move did he use against you?”

“My brother, what exactly did you do just now?” the God of Justice asked curiously, from above the platform.

Sui Xiong laughed, but did not explain. This was not because he was trying to be mysterious on purpose, but rather because there were limits to his ability, and he was simply unable to explain clearly.

The railguns that were on the Earth that he had come from, before transmigrating, were mostly just highly sophisticated toys. Even a high school laboratory could only produce a simple toy railgun. But, to talk about principles….Well, he could only laugh awkwardly.

What he was doing now, was based of when he had made a propaganda poster for a knockoff game called “three hundred idiots.” The other painter had given him a design diagram that was based off of popular science. It was a design for the construction of a railgun in one’s own body.

As to the logic behind such a toy, there were four groups of students, arranged in a descending order, based off of technology and operational requirements. These included: engineering students, science students, humanities students and arts students.

This brother was coincidentally from the last group. He could talk about the development of world art, and he could also discuss the difference between classical and modern music, as well as the association between architecture and Feng Shui. Honestly, he could talk about pretty much anything that was related to the arts. So, isn’t it silly that one would have him, an arts student, talk about the the scientific theory of electromagnetic railguns?!

“This is the signature move of a game character, which is known as Biribiri [1]. There are three different levels of strength: Railgun, Real railgun, and Super railgun.

Every five seconds of time that are spent charging, allows another coin to be fired, and up to a maximum of eight are allowed. Upon release, it discharges electromagnetic waves forwards, to a distance of five yards, dealing spell damage to the enemies it pierced through.

Killing heroes acquired a player eight coins. After six seconds of charging, it would then become a real railgun, with a distance range of seven yards, and have an increase in killing potential. With a further charging time of six seconds, it would become a super railgun, with a distance of nine yards, and an even further increase in killing potential…”

Something like this?

This must be a joke…

Or, perhaps he could take out that design diagram, pointing at it to introduce it to big brother. “This is the orbital formula of electromagnetic waves, and this is a electromagnetic coilgun. By the way, who is this young girl in a short skirt? That was the character concept art, which was sent to me back then…”

Wouldn’t this be such a joke?!

As such, he could only smile and laugh dumbly, attempting to cover up his awkwardness. The God of Justice misunderstood the reason behind his smile, thinking that he was trying to keep it a secret, and just simply could not resist laughing.

“Right, I should not be trying to uncover your secrets.” He laughed as he approached, patting Sui Xiong, who had become a giant jellyfish that was the size of a few houses!

“Everyone has their own secrets, especially regarding this move, which should be the ace up your sleeve. I was only just being curious earlier. I had no intention of making you divulge your secrets!” He stressed this point.

Sui Xiong conversely did not feel that this knockoff railgun counted as a unique skill. In fact, his true hidden move was still slowly gathering power. With the electromagnetic gun, it was just a test, to see if it could be used as a delivery method for a warhead.

He laughed, letting the matter go, then lightly asked, “What do you think we should do next?”

“What to do? Weren’t you the one who said to give the Master of Mystery a fierce beating?” the God of Justice curiously asked.

Sui Xiong used a tentacle to rub his head, then said with some worry, “I’m still honing it. If that move is used again, it might start a feud…”

He originally was unable to hold back his anger. He wanted to give the Master of Mystery an unforgettable lesson, but his blasting the God of Spellcasters with the railgun earlier had caused his anger to dissipate greatly. Now, he could not help but have some hesitation.

After all, he was just a peace loving artist. These past few days had been so comfortable, so he truly did not want to take part in conflicts with others.

When he had used his special move earlier, his mind was filled with fury. Now that he had calmed down partially, he was thinking again about the possibilities of everyone sitting down for an amiable discussion, instead of having a cataclysmic fight.

“A conflict of duties, paired with a conflict of ideals… This was destined to become an irreconcilable enmity from the start.” Morani heard this as she flew over. She couldn’t resist laughing, as she said, “Regardless, your relations cannot possibly get any worse. So, why worry about forming grudges? There’s no need to bother.”

“There won’t be any more grudges?” Sui Xiong asked.

“There’s no possible way to have any more grudges,” Morani said. “Your and Wor’s magic have not been sealed yet, right? This is just his attitude.”

Sui Xiong looked towards the God of Justice again.

The God of Justice chuckled and nodded. “It’s definite that we have to fight anyway. So, instead of waiting to fight in the future, let’s just take advantage of the current situation, fighting now and getting it over with!”

Now it was Sui Xiong’s turn to laugh too. He then turned around to drill into the ground.

“I’ll continue to plan some big moves. You guys go ahead and continue hosting the competition.”

Yorgaardman and Morani froze in the air, staring at each other, before laughing bitterly.

The situation had already come to such a point, so why was he still thinking of having a competition?!

But, Sui Xiong had already pushed for this decision, so they had no reason to object. As such, under their management, the competition actually continued to take place.

As to those experts at the peak, watching the battle between the God of Knowledge and the God of Spellcasters had made a great impact on them. In comparison, the subsequent battles between experts that were approaching legendary status felt dull and dry. One by one, they began to leave the scene, going back to reflect on the battle that they had just witnessed, in order to extract as much experience as possible from it. After all, they were on a search for a path towards greater planes!

To the mortals in the grandstand, the battle between the two gods had no meaning. Instead, it was the battle between Lewre and Soocher that was the most spectacular to them, exciting them to the point that their blood boiled and they cheered wildly!

But Lewre and Soocher had already felt the effects of that battle earlier, and so they did not fight too vigorously. Although they still fought flashily, using countless tricks, it could still be seen that neither party had given their 100 percent effort to acquire victory, unlike they had in the previous one. Thus, this type of battle,was just a charade to fool others mainly.

Both of them fought for about an hour, before the battle ended with Lewre proving himself superior. Lewre achieved the victory by shooting deftly with the divine bow, forcing Soocher out of the arena.

Actually, Soocher could have displayed her skill of elementalization to carry on the fight, but her will to fight was low, and she was in no mood to continue fighting. So, she admitted defeat.

In the finals the following day, both Alan, who was from the winners bracket, and Lewre, who was from the losers bracket, had already adjusted their mental states, allowing them to display their abilities to the fullest. Both of these peak level experts had already used all of their abilities, and were determined to not have any regrets. Hence, they happily fought.

Thus, the final battle of the first ever martial competition convention proved worthy of its name! It was truly spectacular, an unparalleled sight to behold!

[1] This is a reference to Misaka Mikoto from the “A Certain Magical Index” and “A Certain Scientific Railgun” anime series.