Chaos side

I couldn't see it.

Half of my body is gone, erased by this last attack, and so is a cone-shaped area of the city behind me. The tip of that cone lies at the ground below the sword Ame-no-Murakuma, which Oinos is now holding with both hands.

The last thing I saw was him gripping it with both his hands and raising it over his head. I instinctively dodged to the side, which is the only reason I'm still alive now. And even then, the part of me in the strike zone was disintegrated into nothingness.

Damn, I can't be losing matter now, when I have to head to the moon to potentially fight another Crawling Chaos later. I feel that in a battle between members of my species, mass is all that counts; the bigger one can simply swallow the smaller one. I've been saving up for the past half a year and gotten back to my largest size ever, but half of that has disappeared in one attack.

Steam is rising from Oinos' back, and it seems that the swing has overheated him. Or maybe it's because he lost his cool from nearly losing his eye earlier. But the fact that he isn't using that attack again means he can't do it in quick succession. I need to do something about this before his cooldown is up.

But what can I do? My mass is diminished, and even when I had all of it, I could only scrape along his skull rather than pierce it. His outside, despite looking like skin and muscle, is harder than anything organic in this world. Only Aurelia and her conceptual body could compare to it.

Suddenly, a massive lance of darkness strikes Oinos from the side, only to scatter the moment it touches his skin. Rather than some magical defense, his physical form withstood Hestia's most devastating attack.

Wait, Hestia!

"Don't come over here!" I turn to scream at the fast-approaching black angel. She has no defenses against any of Oinos' attacks. Her light barrier spell is stronger than mine, but it's also not the perfect sanctuary envisioned by Sintress. I doubt anybody but the creator of it herself can ever reach that realm.

Hearing my voice, Hestia stops abruptly and points both her hands at the Walker of the Wild. In the next moment, hundreds of two-dimensional-looking circles of blackness surround his limbs. It's her corrupted version of a light barrier, with a similar application to the one I tried before. However, unlike my attempt, she's directly locking down his arms and legs, not even giving him the option to swing his sword.

The fact that Oinos doesn't move while steam continues to come off his back isn't an indication that Hestia's spell has stopped him. In the first place, I somehow doubt that anything within the system of the Imagination Engine can be effective against him. Exla said that he's a godlike existence outside the system. I would think the same about members of my species, and even I can barely scratch him.

Suddenly, branches begin to sprout below Oinos' feet, breaking through the cracks in the pyramid left by our battle. They begin to ensnare his limbs but shy away from his steaming back. It must be incredibly hot, like the heat radiator in a high-powered machine.

Looking down, I see Tokomaha standing on the first terrace, raising her white spear with one hand and drawing circles into the air while pointing at Oinos. Wood won't be enough to stop his movements; even I couldn't do anything against him because of the beams he can fire from the tattoo-like lines running across his body.

As if to prove me right, the moment the steam from his body subsides, Oinos looks up at me as if not even noticing the magic and branches binding him. The wound on his temple has already healed, and the golden liquid has been reabsorbed into his skin. His expression tells me that he's completely serious now.

He casually breaks all his restraints as if they don't even exist. Raising both hands over his head, he prepares to eradicate my existence with Ame-no-Murakumo completely. In pure desperation, I shoot forward to get within his range. Maybe I can clasp onto his face and smother him? Or enter through his ears and nose to destroy him from the inside. He should be softer inside than he's outside, right?

Just then, a blob of liquid gold surrounds his blade and stops it in place. Oinos looks up in surprise, struggling to pull his weapon out from it. Aurelia has appeared on the terrace near Tokomaha and is holding out both of her hands. For the first time, I see strain on her face as she has to muster all of her willpower to hold back the strength behind the Walker of the Wild's physical strength.

This is an opening I can use!

Shooting forward, I aim for Oinos' mouth. Just then, he twists his torso slightly and lets out a beam from his chest that forces me to evade. I know for a fact that those can cut through even dragon armor, and I don't want to get split any further with my currently diminished mass.

That's when I see a person running up the remaining branches growing from the side of the pyramid, holding a dagger in one hand and drawing back the other as if ready to swing. It's Kamii, with her amethyst eyes utterly focused on the back of the Walker of the Wild.

I don't know what she's attempting to do, but her cursed arm may be the only thing in this world that could decidedly take down Oinos at this point. But the towering god will simply fire his tattoo beams to cut her apart if he notices her approach.

"Cut this!" I shout and create a wall of spirit spears to fill his entire vision. Even if he knows that Kamii is coming at him from behind, she won't be his top priority. After all, these spears are a creation by Sintress, meant to pierce through anything the Old Humans can imagine. I haven't used them against him this openly before, so he can't know whether or not I have been able to replicate the effect initially intended by their creator. I know for a fact that they can't, as the pile bunker tip I used earlier was only marginally stronger than compressed dragon armor.

His widening eyes tell me that he has taken the bait, as I make a show out of letting them spin in place before loosing them at him all at once. I can tell that this is the first time he actually fears something coming from me, as he desperately struggles to pull his sword free.

Suddenly, he seems to realize something in my eyes, and he turns his head to look back. Judging that all this was to let Kamii get closer, he lets go of his sword and turns on the spot while swinging his arm at blinding speed.

But it seems that Kamii has predicted the direction of his swing and has already twisted her upper body to the side. The air pressure from his fist cuts her cheek; if she had been only an inch off, her head would have been taken clean off her shoulders.

In the same motion, she throws her crab pincer forward in a straight punch with all her might. Compared to Oinos, her speed is laughably slow; he brings up his left hand to catch the pincer. He may be surprised at the fact that somebody this weak is attacking him so audaciously that he's lowering his guard and not killing her straight away.

With a titanic impact that shakes the very air, her strike connects with his palm. For a split second, nothing seems to happen. Then, the cursed arm pushes his hand back into his stomach, connecting with his well-defined abs.

In the next moment, his hand disintegrates against his own skin, followed by an impact traveling through his entire body. Then his back explodes outward, spraying golden liquid out so quickly that it hits me in the face like a solid wall before I even realize it. All the spirit spears still flying at him have been dissipated without my input, as a cone-shaped explosion of gold expands from Oinos. A second shockwave evaporates the gold and turns it into a fine mist that obscures my vision.

I summon winds to make the mist clear faster, to find that the Walker in the Wild is standing where he met Kamii's strike. A massive hole has been blown into his back, exposing his black spine and ribs, which have withstood even this impact. His left hand, having had everything but the same black bones removed, has fallen apart into its individual pieces, leaving only the stump of his wrist.

"... what is your name, little one?" Oinos asks in a calm voice as he looks down at Kamii. His body is still and unmoving, standing tall like a stopped piece of construction machinery.

"Kamii." The little dark elf draws back her extended crab arm and replies in a neutral tone.

"Oh, I see." As if coming to a realization, Oinos smiles to himself wryly. "I guess everybody underestimated you."

It would seem that Alverost was aware of Kamii's existence but didn't know that she possessed such a power. Everybody seeing her regular abilities compared to those of the other girls in my harem would consider her inconsequential. That's why he didn't inform Oinos to be careful of her. And sure enough, if not for everything coming together perfectly, she would have never landed a hit on him.

"Oh, well." Lowering his right arm, the Walker of the Wild looks down at the hole in his stomach. "I've achieved what I came here for."

"And what is that?" Kamii asks with a suspicious glare into her opposite's white eyes.

"I was only a diversion." Oinos looks like he wants to shrug, but can't even muster that much strength. His body doesn't seem to be healing from this wound. "The real target... was Arkheim."