As the blade swept through, a faint blue rift tore open in the air!
Godzilla's Atomic Breath poured straight into it.
In that instant, not only Mefilas, watching from the shadows, but Godzilla itself froze.
…What was this?
Seeing the seemingly bottomless void yawning before it, Godzilla refused to believe its eyes.
Its jaws gaped wider, the purple light along its dorsal fins blazing brighter as it cranked its output to a frenzy!
Superheated plasma gushed out in an endless stream.
But Chris's Dimension Slash cut through the very continuity of space itself. Any attack that traveled through space, no matter how powerful, would be twisted and flung into another dimension.
Until Godzilla evolved far enough to directly affect, or even shatter, space itself, it had no way to break the underlying logic of this technique.
Still, precisely because it severed spatial continuity rather than permanently destroying it—
—space had the ability to heal itself.
So as the rift began to close, Chris was forced to swing his blade again, adding a second Space Slash.
Once he'd done it, he tilted his head slightly.
He glanced back at the crowd of eager onlookers who—saved for the moment—stood dumbstruck, some of them even breaking into spontaneous cheers and applause. His brow furrowed.
"What are you all standing around for? Run, now!"
Chris barked coldly, "You want to stick around and get barbecued when Godzilla gets mad and widens its Atomic Breath?"
"Don't forget—Godzilla's mouth isn't the only thing that can fire a beam!"
That snapped the cheering crowd back to reality.
Those with cars piled into them; those who needed the shelters bolted for the shelters. The scene dissolved into chaos again.
It was only then that Shiina Hiyori snapped out of her daze, remembering that she was wearing the [Phantom Mask]!
The phantom soldiers might be undying and unkillable, but if they vanished by accident and weren't summoned again, that was practically no different from being dead.
And a moment like this—when troops were desperately needed to keep order and move the wounded—was exactly when they mattered most!
With that, Shiina Hiyori turned and called out to Katsuragi Kohei beside her:
"Katsuragi! Could you open the passage linking the Mirror World to reality? I need to go back to the real world and summon my army to help with the evacuation!"
Her own combat strength wasn't much, but as long as she could make herself useful, she'd never just stand by and watch.
By now Ichinose Honami, Sakayanagi Arisu, and the others were arriving from various directions to regroup.
At the sight of the spatial rift before Chris that had swallowed the Atomic Breath whole, they couldn't hide their astonishment.
"—!? Insane…!?"
Sakayanagi Arisu's eyes lit up, and a delighted "Whoa" escaped her:
"Just what you'd expect from a top-tier item priced at 160 points—and that's only as a knockoff! A mechanic that ignores sheer scale like that is simply overpowered!"
Chris ignored her marveling and simply shouted a warning:
"Get everyone out while Godzilla hasn't recovered yet!"
"I can't just carve out a rift big enough to protect everyone at once."
Ichinose Honami's expression firmed, and she nodded at once.
She turned to Amanatsu Kazuha and Horikita Suzune at her side. "I'm counting on you two for the evacuation from here!"
Amanatsu Kazuha and Horikita Suzune wasted no time.
Shadows writhed as a great host of black-clad, flying phantom ninja was summoned forth, throwing themselves into hauling and guiding the refugees.
A few more seconds ticked by.
At last Godzilla ceased its breath.
It cocked its massive head, staring at the void before it that refused to be filled no matter what, confusion flickering in its eyes.
With a roar of thrusters, Ryuuen dropped from the sky and landed heavily beside Chris.
He turned his head toward the distant Godzilla and said:
"There was a hiccup along the way—some hidden bastard interfered with the operation… but the nuclear energy left inside it really is running low now."
"Since your Dimension Slash works against its Atomic Breath and keeps us safe, we can move on to the next phase of the plan."
Chris shot him a look.
"You got the coagulant ready that fast?"
Ryuuen shook his head and spat.
"To fully freeze something the size of Godzilla, you'd need millions of tons of coagulant!"
"Time's tight—factoring in transit, even at full tilt, twenty tons of coagulant inside ten minutes is already the absolute limit."
"But then, I never planned to pin all my hopes on those good-for-nothings anyway."
"That bit of coagulant is a garnish at best." Ryuuen's eyes burned. "If we really want to freeze Godzilla… it'll come down to the [Demon Essence]!"
Sakayanagi Arisu stroked her chin and coolly offered her analysis:
"The Demon Essence we redeemed—thanks to the system's failsafe—lets whoever takes it fuse successfully outright, sparing them the backlash of the killing intent…"
"But any item, to be pushed to its absolute limit, needs enough time and experience to develop."
Hearing this, Ichinose Honami folded her wings and landed nearby, speaking with concern:
"But we have no time at all to get familiar with it… This exam gave us a generous twenty-four-hour limit, and even that's too tight."
Sakayanagi nodded, resolve flashing in her eyes.
"So, the only way to squeeze the most out of the Demon Essence with zero experience…"
"…is to send it berserk!"
The girl lifted her fair chin. "And right now, we know of exactly one condition that can throw an Imperial Arms into a berserk state instantly… and that's for someone who already holds one Imperial Arms to forcibly wield a second!"
"When the time comes, leave that to me."
"Using your own life as bait, then…"
Ichinose Honami thought it over, then stepped forward with a proposal:
"I won the earlier Stone Mask trial, which earned me bonus life counts."
"Even after spending one to break free of the Control Devil's grip, I still have three extra life counts left."
"My [Myriad Soaring Wings] is an Imperial Arms too. How about I take this task instead?"
Sakayanagi Arisu turned down Ichinose's kind offer without a moment's hesitation.
"No need." Sakayanagi tipped her chin up, proud as ever. "As one of the top three in the midterm exam, I earned a revival reward as well."
"I still have two spare life counts in hand. Until I'm down to my very last life, I don't see anything here worth worrying about."
She looked Ichinose dead in the eye and gave a reason that brooked no argument:
"Besides, I've had my eye on the [Demon Essence] for a long while. Assuming things go as expected, I'll be saving up points to redeem one myself."
"Since the opportunity's here, I might as well use it to test the rejection reaction from two Imperial Arms clashing and gather some data. There's no need to talk me out of it, Ichinose."
Ichinose Honami sighed, knowing that once Sakayanagi had decided on something it was hard to change, and pressed no further.
Ryuuen, listening to these two rich girls fight over who got to throw their life away, clicked his tongue and cursed. "Damn it…"
"If I hadn't scraped up an extra life back when we fought Santa Claus, I'd be stuck on a zero-tolerance, die-anytime status right now."
"At this rate, watching you lot humblebrag over here, I'll cough up blood from sheer frustration sooner or later."
Chris paid no mind to the group's banter.
With a backhand toss, he flicked the capsule holding the [Demon Essence] straight into Sakayanagi Arisu's hand.
Then Chris looked up toward Godzilla in the distance, its head cocked, watching them in bewilderment.
"All right, enough chitchat."
Chris's tone grew heavier. "To play it as safe as possible, we have to wait until the coolant arrives before we make our final move."
"And in the ten minutes before that, what we need to do… is drain Godzilla's stamina at any cost!"
Ryuuen nodded firmly, the weapon systems across his armor warming up and powering on.
Meanwhile, on Godzilla's side.
These humans, as tiny as ants, hadn't taken the chance to flee.
Instead, they dared to walk straight toward it, step by step?!
The behemoth took a step forward too.
"Thoom!"
Its enormous foot slammed down, sending tremors through the ground.
Godzilla threw back its head and roared!
"RAAAWR!"
In the face of that deliberate show of intimidation—
—Chris, Ryuuen, Ichinose, and Sakayanagi, the four of them, neither flinched nor dodged, marching straight ahead to meet it.
Seeing this—
Godzilla frowned, puzzled.
Were these really humans? They weren't afraid of it?! Weren't they supposed to run?!
Uncertain.
Better try another Atomic Breath and see…
Seeing Godzilla's dorsal fins light up again, Ryuuen spoke up to warn Chris:
"If you use Dimension Slash back to back and your stamina and mental energy start running low, give us a shout."
"We control the air—we'll fly up and draw Godzilla's attention, and you can use that window to recover down below."
Chris didn't turn around, just flashed an "OK" sign with his back to him.
Just then, Godzilla gathered another energy-saving purple Atomic Breath beam in its maw and blasted it straight at them!
Chris repeated the same trick, drawing the Enma Blade and using a Space Slash to open a rift into the other dimension, swallowing that probing breath whole.
But this time, it had watched the whole motion up close.
Godzilla wasn't very bright, but it quickly grasped why the interdimensional rift kept appearing.
It couldn't comprehend spatial physics or phenomena like that…
But since the rift showed up right after this little punk drew his blade, it had to have something to do with him!
So it was you, you little brat, swallowing my Atomic Breath!
Godzilla was furious!
Its thick tail lashed, and it loosed another Atomic Breath, bearing straight down on Chris!
"Scatter!"
Chris barked.
This time, Chris didn't use Dimension Slash to tank the pointless drain.
Instead, drawing on the combined burst of power from the Combat Suit and Demon Possession, he leapt to the side, narrowly dodging the blow.
The four of them scattered at once in perfect sync.
Aside from Chris bounding through the rubble to dodge Godzilla's sweeping fire—
Ryuuen, Ichinose, and Sakayanagi Arisu each leaned on their own gear and spread out through the air.
As dazzling flashes burst across the sky…
Godzilla was indeed dazzled by it, and thoroughly irritated.
But… that was all it amounted to.
When it realized that the sword-wielding brat could no longer fully dodge its Atomic Breath and was reduced to scrambling up and down like a flustered monkey, Godzilla was thrilled all the same.
Just as expected—my Atomic Breath is invincible!
With that thought, it couldn't even be bothered to answer the air blasts Ryuuen kept pelting against its tough hide.
These tickling little attacks felt like even less than the cluster bombs those little iron birds had dropped on it earlier.
Rather than waste stamina on this swarm of annoying flies—
—it might as well shut its eyes and take a good long nap; once it topped off its energy, it could hit up the nuclear plant for a meal when it woke.
Meanwhile, Ryuuen, Ichinose, and the others worried that Godzilla might absorb the heat from the explosions and evolve faster.
For the moment, they truly didn't dare hit Godzilla with everything they had, terrified that one careless move might turn them into a free power bank for it.
And just as Godzilla contentedly closed its eyes, ready to take a little rest where it stood—
"Rrgh?"
It suddenly felt a strange, stabbing pain shoot up from its toe, straight to the top of its skull.
Godzilla's eyes snapped open.
Glaring wide-eyed, it looked down.
Somehow, at some point, that infuriating silver-white bug had crept all the way up to its foot.
Chris gripped the [Enma Blade] in both hands and drove it hard into the gap between Godzilla's toes.
Then, along the edge of that hide, he began carving—sparks flying, lightning crackling!
That hide, tough enough to withstand a missile barrage, offered no resistance at all before the Enma Blade—like slicing through tofu!
After all, this was the Enma Blade, capable of cutting through space itself. Against a spatial cut, Godzilla's physical defense counted for nothing.
"RAAAAGH—!"
Godzilla trembled all over from the pain and, without a second thought, hurriedly lifted the foot now gashed with an enormous wound, meaning to stomp this loathsome bug into paste.
And Chris's answer to that was…
He looked up, raised his blade, and flicked the Enma Blade upward.
A reverse Dimension Slash tore open a spatial rift directly above his head!
The next second—
Godzilla's slit pupils, already blown wide with rage, split to their very limits.
"RRAAOOH—!!!"
Damn it… it had stepped on a spike!!!
Its massive body staggered back several steps, injured foot raised slightly in agony, its bulk nearly leaning against a surviving high-rise behind it.
It opened its jaws and panted in great gulps, but the searing pain twisted even its roar.
Up in the air.
Ryuuen, taking in the whole scene, broke into a grin.
"Looks like Godzilla can shrug off and absorb heat and explosive energy…"
"…but it's got zero resistance to weapons that target space itself!"
"Question is… whether my [Soul-Release Blade] can do it any damage."
From a distance, Sakayanagi Arisu answered offhandedly:
"The [Soul-Release Blade] can only wound the soul, and its actual material is, at best, on the same tier as a Black Sphere war sword."
"Whether it'll have any effect on a soul and body as vast as Godzilla's… let's first test a Black Sphere war sword in the coming fight and see."
With that, Sakayanagi Arisu raised both hands.
Golden ribbons of magic power took shape around Godzilla's mouth, countless thick magic ribbons winding tight, trying to force its roaring jaws shut.
"My ribbon magic won't hold for long!"
Sakayanagi Arisu called out, "Now's your chance—go try it, quick!"
"Got it!"
Ryuuen's thrusters roared at full load, his figure blurring into a streak of light as he shot straight for Godzilla's chest.
"Break, damn you!"
He drew a Black Sphere war sword, meaning to use the blade's ability to extend infinitely to run it clean through Godzilla's chest and try to pierce the nuclear reactor supplying its energy.
Unfortunately—
The Black Sphere war sword, sharp as it was, did succeed in piercing Godzilla's outer skin.
But the moment the blade extended into its body, faced with the reactor-like heat inside, it was instantly melted through!
Ryuuen felt it plainly—an unnatural softening sensation traveling up the hilt in his hand.
"Damn it! What ungodly heat!"
"Tch—this hellish heat!"
Frustrated as he was, his sensors detected that Godzilla had already forced its way free of Sakayanagi's ribbon magic and was gathering energy at its maw again.
Ryuuen had no choice but to let go and pull back at high speed.
After all, Ryuen had no intention of testing his alien armor's defenses against Godzilla's Atomic Breath.
Sure enough—
almost the very second after Ryuuen retreated, Godzilla wrenched its jaws open, and the magic ribbons binding its mouth snapped to pieces.
Thankfully, Chris and Ichinose hadn't been idle during that brief window either.
Ichinose Honami soared high above Godzilla's head and spread her wings.
Taking aim at Godzilla's relatively vulnerable eyes, she loosed a furious barrage of feathered arrows.
Chris, meanwhile, wielded the Enma Blade once more, playing the merciless pedicurist as he laid into Godzilla's lower half.
Faced with this dirty two-pronged assault, top and bottom—
—Godzilla well and truly lost its composure to the pair of them.
Earlier, the bunker-buster bombs from the U.S. B-2 bombers had hurt plenty and drawn a fair amount of blood.
But at least those had supplied it with the enormous heat energy needed to evolve, smoothly carrying it to the next stage.
Painful, but pleasurable in its way.
But what the hell was this now?!
These little bugs flitting around had its whole body aching, especially the soles of its feet and its eyes—maddeningly so!
And the worst part… these damn bugs didn't give it a scrap of energy when they hit! They were freeloading off its health bar, plain and simple!
Purely painful and purely annoying!
This time Godzilla finally, utterly snapped.
It shut its eyes and flung its abyssal maw wide.
All across its body, and especially along its dorsal fins, an unprecedented, blinding purple light blazed forth!
As the reactor within it went into full overload—
—its rage spiked, surged, and skyrocketed all at once!
And fast.
It whipped around with a whoosh, its enormous body beginning to swing violently.
A dense sweep of purple beams cut straight across the entire battlefield!
"—!!!"
Take this!
A three-hundred-and-sixty-degree, no-blind-spot, all-encompassing Atomic Breath!
____
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