Mushoku Tensei — Chapter 153 - Decisive Battle
Keith's Perspective:
Just as I wrote in my letter.
For the final battle, I wanted to fight fair and square.
My opponent, it seems, didn't feel the same way.
On the day of the decisive battle, I led Badigadi forward to the battleground.
"Ah... I really didn't expect this."
There are people in Rudeus's camp who can deal with North God III and the previous Sword God?
I can't think of who that would be.
The Man-God said they would help me if I used that method. He has no reason to lie to me about something like this.
This is the final battle, his final battle too. Why would he deceive me now?
So there's only one possibility.
They were intercepted on the way here.
At the battleground, Rudeus stood openly in the center of a flat clearing.
Fine. I take back what I said earlier.
It seems he also wants to settle this fair and square.
A magician.
Taking that position.
So this is the protagonist.
Behind him stood Paul, Ruijerd, Ghislaine, and two warriors of the Superd Race.
"That is my enemy? Looks very weak."
"Don't underestimate them. While I was gathering strong fighters, Rudeus must have already prepared the battlefield. Otherwise he wouldn't just be standing there."
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Badigadi's laugh rang out and drew their attention straight to us.
Rudeus turned his gaze toward us. Just watched us.
North God III and the previous Sword God. Their fates unknown.
The cards in my hand: the current Water God, the Demon God, the Fighting God, and myself. I had also obtained clairvoyance and a method of magical communication.
To be honest, by anyone's measure, even with just these three, killing a single magician shouldn't be difficult.
So why do I feel like something is wrong?
"Rudeus is right there. I'm moving."
"Wait! Our plan—"
"Heh. I never knew what your plan was in the first place."
With those words, the woman holding the title of Water God charged forward.
------
Rudeus's Perspective:
I saw Keith.
4 people total.
Two of the Demon Race, Keith, and... a woman.
I feel like I've seen this woman somewhere before.
"Hey hey hey, Rudi, that big guy looks like serious trouble. What's the deal with that armor? Pure gold? Pretty cool, actually!"
Paul said it, but there was no fear in his voice.
He was in front of his own son, after all. Showing nerves would just be embarrassing.
I hadn't intended to bring Paul, but when he heard about it, he demanded to join. Forcefully. He said he wanted to personally teach Keith a lesson.
Mm.
Orsted had briefed me on this before.
Demon Lord Badigadi.
That armor he's wearing is probably the Fighting God Armor.
According to Orsted, anyone who wears the Fighting God Armor becomes the Fighting God. The problem is that very few who put it on survive. It endlessly drains magic power until life fades away.
Demon Lord Badigadi is of the immortal race, though. An exceptional fit.
Heh. Sounds terrifying enough.
I opened my mouth.
"In any case, let's proceed with the plan we discussed before coming here."
The hidden traps I'd prepared were gravity magic traps designed to activate proactively. Because they triggered actively rather than reactively, the gravity would hit harder.
I hadn't intended to involve my wives, but all three of them put their foot down. After a great deal of persuasion on my part, they accepted a compromise: stay at the rear with Orsted and provide support from there. My three daughters were with Orsted as well, for that matter. Just in case the Man-God had any more tricks to play.
The gravity magic traps were remotely linked to my wives' magic power reserves. Sylphiette's reserves were more than sufficient. Roxy's were decent. Eris didn't have nearly as much, but Eris was pregnant, and no matter what, I wasn't putting her anywhere near the front line.
------
------
A woman was walking toward us.
As I said, she looked familiar.
She stopped at a distance that wasn't quite close, and drew her sword.
"I am the current Water God, Isolte Cruel. I have come for my master."
It came back to me.
Reida's disciple.
She wouldn't also know that move, would she?
"Rudeus Greyrat! Hand over your sister, Aisha Greyrat! How did she secretly learn my master's techniques?!"
I didn't answer. She drew her blade and charged.
Hey.
Isn't Water God Style supposed to be built around defensive counterattacks?
I cast the magic anyway. The same kind I'd used against her master, magic that throws the senses into disarray.
At the same time, Paul and Ghislaine drew their blades and charged toward Isolte together.
"Ghislaine! Support me — I'm the captain!"
"Oh!"
Paul.
You're asking a Sword King to play support.
Looking at Isolte, though, it didn't seem like she'd inherited her master's techniques. Getting the Water God title was probably less about raw ability and more about filling the vacancy Reida left behind.
And taking a hit from my sensory magic, for a swordswoman, is no small thing to push through.
I left her to Ghislaine and Paul. They were both strong, and they'd fought together before. They'd figure it out.
"Father, Ghislaine! Pull the battlefield toward the position I set up earlier!"
They both nodded and started pushing Isolte's position back.
Good.
Next.
These three.
Just as I'd expected, the Fighting God came straight forward. No hiding, no urgency. Keith sat perched on his shoulder, the picture of ease, as if they were declaring that nothing we did could stop them.
The Demon God had his eyes fixed on me. Whatever he was thinking, I couldn't tell.
"Ruijerd."
"Go ahead."
"You and your clansmen, go stall the Demon God. Same as before, pull the battlefield away from the main area. Avoid close combat with Badigadi at all costs. If Badigadi comes at you, run. Don't think about fighting him."
"Understood."
------
The Demon God was Ruijerd's problem now.
Badigadi's target was me, just as Keith had written.
At some point, Keith had vanished.
I didn't have the luxury of worrying about that.
On flat ground like this, one careless moment and I was dead.
So I cast magic.
Countless earthen pillars burst from the ground. Anything to make the terrain more complicated.
I took position at the top and watched Badigadi stroll in.
Then he raised his head.
"My name is Fighting God Badigadi! As an ally of the Man-God, I have inherited the name of the Fighting God! Here and now, I propose a one-on-one duel with Rudeus Greyrat!"
That golden armor stood out even from up here.
I had no interest in responding. I cast magic.
"Hm?"
An earthen pillar drove up from beneath Badigadi's feet. It hit the Fighting God Armor and nothing happened. He crushed it in one hand and laughed.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Very good!"
Orsted had told me: the Fighting God Armor is exceptionally hard, making the wearer tireless and amplifying their strength. Even if damage occurs, the armor absorbs the wearer's magic power or vitality to repair itself.
But hard doesn't mean unbreakable.
If I concentrated the magic power enough,
A spike drove up from the ground.
Badigadi, arrogant as ever, didn't dodge.
"Hm?"
The magic drove through him, bottom to top.
He recovered almost immediately.
Then he laughed.
"Very good! Magician, very good! Before I kill you, I will not lay a hand on anyone else. Unless..."
He paused.
"Unless my comrades require it of me. After all, I have also come for victory."
Good news.
And the magic just now had managed to slow him down a little.
"Then let's continue."
I kept casting. Badigadi kept walking.
He didn't even bother defending. He just walked, straight at me, as if nothing I did could touch his momentum. Most of the magic was absorbed by the Fighting God Armor without leaving a mark.
Without hitting from point-blank range, I couldn't deal any real damage to him.
Mm.
Time to change tactics.
I raised the Arrogant Water Dragon King and cast.
Trees erupted from the earth, roots and all. A swamp of matching scale spread out alongside them. And across the whole area, I layered a fog dense enough to swallow the forest whole.
Since the fog was my magic, I could sense the Fighting God moving within it.
I reached out with my senses,
"Hm?"
I turned.
Badigadi had somehow gotten behind me.
This monster.
I shoved wind magic through my feet and launched myself the opposite direction.
"A magician with that kind of reaction speed? HAHAHAHA! Very good!"
How did he know where I was?
What was going on?
Fighting God Armor function?
No. That couldn't be it. Orsted had detailed the armor's capabilities. Nothing in there about tracking.
Ah.
Keith.
He disappeared.
He's hiding so he can locate me and relay my position to the Fighting God.
Damn.
This was bad.
I needed to reach the magic formation trap right now.
While flying on wind magic, I turned and cast gravity magic, attacking simultaneously with ice spikes and lightning. Swamp, gravity, offense, all of it together only shaved a little off his speed.
He was already at my side again.
I cast, and a row of earthen walls rose in front of me. I glanced back, clocking the position of the trap formation.
Close enough.
The walls shattered under Badigadi's fist, exactly as expected.
My hand was already inside my pocket.
The healing scroll Orsted had given me. Capable of healing all external injuries in an instant.
The fist tore through the wall and drove hard into my abdomen.
At the same time, I pushed magic power into the scroll, activated the healing magic, and let my body sail east.
"Hah... Thank god it was a fist. A sword and I'd already be dead."
I poured more power into my wind magic and flew hard toward the trap formation.
Badigadi followed, completely indifferent to what I might be leading him into.
I activated communication magic.
[Sylphiette, Roxy, Eris, get ready. The moment you sense someone step onto it, inject magic power immediately.]
I kept drawing him in.
He came straight at me, pouring through every barrier I threw down.
Until he stepped onto the formation.
"Hm?! What an interesting magician!"
The gravity hit. Badigadi stood within the formation, bent at the waist, bearing down against it.
Sylphiette and the others couldn't hold this indefinitely.
I raised the Arrogant Water Dragon King.
To push the damage as high as it could go, I began to chant aloud.
"King of Frost, tyrant of the vast snowfields —
King of Zero, clad in pure white, stealing all warmth —
The cold king who governs death shall freeze all things! [Ice Spear Blizzard]!"
Countless ice spears rained down. I wove in waves of lightning alongside them, then layered high-precision earth magic to drive through him from every direction.
That had to take some time to repair. Didn't it?
Don't get optimistic.
Run.
He wasn't going to drop from that.
I cast wind magic and flew toward the next trap formation.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Rudeus! You truly surprise me!"
What?!
I looked back. Badigadi was already recovered and already closing.
Not closing.
The swamp was thinner in this stretch. He'd already caught up.
Tsk.
I pushed magic power through the ground and sent an earthen pillar shooting up beneath my feet. At the same time I cast the sensory disruption magic directly at Badigadi.
First time seeing it, even he froze for several seconds.
Orsted had said as much: the first time, even he would get caught by it.
Badigadi stood still.
"Very well. I shall say this once more!"
His upper pair of arms clasped together. His middle hand pointed at me. His lower hands rested on his hips as he looked up.
"My name is Fighting God Badigadi! As an ally of the Man-God, I have inherited the fearsome name of the Fighting God! Rudeus Greyrat, I propose a duel."
This time, I didn't ignore him.
I stood in the air and answered.
"Why do you help the Man-God?"
"He helped me! Yes, he helped me and also deceived me! But help is help! Kishirika has been resurrected as well, so I have forgiven him."
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."
"Hmph! To put it simply: in order to repay my debt, I must kill you. And your daughters."
"You really can't be reasoned with."
"So. My duel request — do you accept?"
"I accept. But you said you want to kill my daughters? Even wearing the Fighting God Armor, what does that matter? Do you think you're a match for Orsted?"
"MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I am an immortal!"
Nothing more to say. I'd accepted the duel, but I still turned and ran.
Honestly terrifying.
Being chased down like this.
First time in my life.
------
I retreated to the trap formation again.
This time, he didn't charge straight in.
He slowed his pace and walked toward me.
He'd figured out what I was doing.
"The magic attack from earlier did have some effect, then?"
"Hmph! The underhanded tricks of a magician! I am immortal, yes, but I am not immune to fatigue. Hit me with that a few more times and even I will tire."
Interesting.
His self-repair ran on stamina. And the Fighting God Armor was simultaneously draining his magic power.
In short: he wanted to end me fast.
How long had we been at this? Hours, at the least. I had no idea what the situation was with Paul and Ruijerd.
I activated communication magic and reached Sylphiette.
[Same as before, when you sense someone, ]
Before I could finish, Badigadi took one step and drove into the formation.
He knew it was a trap. He'd just said as much.
Was it a lie? Had those attacks actually done nothing to him?
No. They had to have done something.
Orsted had signed off on this plan himself. He said that while it couldn't kill Badigadi, grinding him down this way was enough.
My objective was attrition.
The trap activated.
He was pinned in the formation again.
Don't overthink it. Raise the weapon and hit him once more.
I lifted the Arrogant Water Dragon King.
"Rudeus."
An unfamiliar voice.
I turned.
That monkey face.
Keith. And right behind his voice, a volley of smoke bombs.
I have detection magic, so,
Wait.
Something's wrong with these smoke bombs.
I can't output magic power.
No.
I focused, pushed hard, and blasted the smoke away with wind magic.
A disruption. Temporary interference with my magic output. One good push cleared it.
I looked back. Keith was already gone.
I had to run. Badigadi hadn't been worn down this time.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA — this is as far as you go, Rudeus!"
What,
Sylphiette and the others ran dry? Or had he adapted?
I'd assumed this round would last as long as the first one.
In the span of one second, my mind raced through everything.
But Badigadi was already in front of me.
"Rudeus!"
Before the fist came down, Ruijerd appeared. He didn't try to take the hit. He kicked me clear of it instead.
"Thank you, Ruijerd! Head for the third trap, now!"
I didn't know what had happened with Ruijerd and the Demon God, but looking at the field, the advantage was still ours.
If the third trap didn't put a dent in Badigadi's energy, we'd have to call on Orsted.
But then, unexpectedly,
Badigadi didn't chase us.
He turned and went in a different direction.
Hadn't he said he wouldn't switch targets easily?
This was bad.
I called to Ruijerd as we moved.
"Ruijerd, where are your clansmen? What happened to the Demon God?"
"My clansmen went to reinforce your father and Ghislaine. The Demon God... he was deceived. He thought you were planning to use large-scale magic to strike his homeland. I gave him my word that you would never do that, and he stood down. We barely exchanged blows."
"Your reputation carries that much weight now?"
"After all, with the stories Norn wrote and Ariel's promotion, I've become somewhat known."
"How far have my father and the others pushed?"
"Still at the magic formation."
Keith could see us. Keith could use communication magic, that was how Badigadi had found me in the fog. Keith could read the whole battlefield at once.
He could direct Badigadi. And even if Badigadi didn't want to play it that way, he would move for the sake of victory.
"We need to move faster. My father's side may not hold much longer."
➤ Next: Decisive Battle 2