577 – The Greatest Vulnerability

I walk up the mountain with everyone else.

I’m not sensing Umukahime near where we left her.
She might be further up.
I’ll try checking where I fought the clay brave.

As we near the summit, I spot Hero Miia’s stone monument through the fog.

I laid waste to this area quite badly in my battle with the [Clay Brave], but the ground has flattened out again.
The stone monument is also standing up straight.
The field of flowers haven’t returned, but fresh shoots are breaking through the earth in patches.
The plants here might have an abnormally strong vitality.

I walk towards the place where I sense Umukahime’s presence.

“The battle is over, then?”

The air warps, and a kimono-clad black-haired woman appears in front of me.

Aro and the black lizard glare at her.
They might be holding a grudge against Umukahime for stopping them from helping when I was fighting the [Clay Brave].

Hiding behind Aro, treant-san shadow boxes with his wings.
You don’t need to push yourself if you’re scared, you know…

Umukahime glances at him with raised eyebrows, then looks back at me.

“I’m relieved to see you were able to safely triumph over the fanatic.”

『…Lilixira might not actually have been blindly following God’s Voice.』

Umukahime frowns in response.

“If she lacked the will to strike back, then that any different? That is the only point that matters.”

…Umukahime really is set on fighting God’s Voice, no matter what.

『Then tell me, how can I be a match against God’s Voice? If you know how, then please enlighten me.
If you’re going to say I need to gradually increase my allies, then I’ll have to refuse.
That was how you guys failed, right?』

Umukahime’s brow furrows.

『…I said that badly.
But it’s not a subject I can avoid.
I was thinking of putting it more diplomatically, but I’m not going to commit to a fight I can’t win.
Besides, whether it’s the Evil God Foren, or Laplace who controls the laws of the world, the scale is too big for me to properly grasp.
Up until now, I’ve always just been doing my best to protect what’s in front of me.』

Umukahime silently stares at me.
The mood has become slightly tense.
Treant quietly steps out next to Aro.

Umukahime gestures them back, then closes her eyes and crosses her arms.

“As she wrote that stone monument, my master came to reconsider much of what she thought.”

Umukahime hadn’t seen the contents what Hero Miia wrote for centuries.
That was because Miia believed God’s Voice can see through the eyes of others.
It was a painstaking measure she enacted to make sure the information could be passed onto those who need it, and to protect it from God’s Voice.

However, even after we laid eyes on it, God’s Voice didn’t do anything to interfere.
I’m now the only one with divine skills now, so it’s possible that God’s Voice simply doesn’t have any way of destroying it, but that’s probably wishful thinking.
It’s much more likely that its God’s Voice simply judged it to be inconsequential.

“God’s Voice can be killed.
As she read over what she had written, my master became certain.”

『…Are you sure?』

“Yes.
It at the moment when God’s Voice tries to fulfil their objective that they are at their most vulnerable.”

God’s Voice’s objective… From what Miia wrote, it’s to produce someone with strong influence over Laplace… That is, to use someone with a high level of [Laplace Interference Authority] to release the sealed evil god and thus destroy the world.

『Why does that make God’s Voice vulnerable?』

“God’s Voice knows that the strength of an individual is important in determining their ability to influence Laplace.
God’s Voice’s own authority is insufficient.
Otherwise, Foren would have long since been released.”

『In other words… God’s Voice’s ultimate objective is to produce an individual even stronger than themself, and then have that person free Foren…?

Umukahime nods.

“That’s right.
Should things go their way, someone will eventually surpass them.
At the very least… that was what Alchimia-sama thought.”

…However, the problem then is that if anyone with rebellious intent gets close in strength, God’s Voice will just dispose of them and then use them as a reference for the next generation.
I doubt that I’d be able to deceive God’s Voice.

So, our only hope is that God’s Voice makes a careless mistake.
The prospects seem a little too narrow for me to get on board…

『In the first place, what can I even do to get stronger? I’m still a little off from my maximum level, but…』

“You’ve collected the four divine skills, have you not? Has your evolution limit not been lifted?”

Th-there’s a rank higher than Legendary!?

It seems that under certain conditions, the [Final Evolution] title skill can disappear, but I would have been given a message that that had happened.
I already checked before, but nothing of the sort seemed to have happened….

I check my status again.
But, [Final Evolution] is still there.

『It’s still there.
I’ve still got [Final Evolution].
Hey, is there really something above Legendary?』

“Hmm…”

Umukahime raises a hand to her mouth in thought.

『…Are you sure I couldn’t already be at my limit? God’s Voice has been struggling to raise the strength of the divine skill holders for ages now, right? So I don’t think it would be strange for me to be a failure, even as the victor…』

…The problem then is what God’s Voice will do as a result.
If this would mean they’d stop interfering with me, that would be for the best.
Though it’s also possible that they might consider my continued possession of the divine skills to be a hindrance, and eliminate me.

“That conclusion might be overly hasty.
There might be some other some other condition.
Has God’s Voice not said anything? Once you became the victor, I would have expected them to try to indoctrinate you straight away.”

『N-nope, nothing at all… I thought it was strange too.
When I got [Asura Realm], I was bombarded with messages, but it’s been nothing but silence this time.』

Umukahime smiles wryly.
I realise what I just said.
No way… Has God’s Voice really given up on me now that I’ve reached my growth limit?

Now that I think about it, it seemed more like God’s Voice was backing Lilixira over me.
God’s Voice might have been operating on the assumption that she would win.

If so, then… Eh? Seriously, what does this mean now?

An awkward silence flows between Umukahime and me.
If God’s Voice isn’t about to dispose of me, then I’m fine with being a failure.
I know that nothing good would come from living up to God’s Voice’s expectations, after all.

But, for Umukahime it’s different.
She hoped that I would be the one to avenge her master and free the world from the tyranny of God’s Voice.
The silence presses down on us.

【Don’t worry.】
【I just wanted to give you a little time to relax.】
【I’m surprisingly considerate, aren’t I?】

Suddenly, a message appears in my head.
It’s unmistakably from God’s Voice.