Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken (LN) - Volume 20 - Chapter 1.12

The battle was like a mythical legend revived.

The fists of Milim and Zeranus, tearing through the air, made the atmosphere shake and the earth tremble. It was so intense, it felt like the planet itself would soon shatter. There was only one reason why that didn’t happen: Zeranus and Milim were protecting this battlefield with their respective defense barriers.

This was also why Milim didn’t join the fight from the beginning. After assessing the effects of Carrera’s Abyss Annihilation, she calculated the damage this war would exact on the planet. Based on that, she took measures to protect this entire planet with her barrier.

Milim might have been a tyrant, but even she had her thoughtful side. Everything she said and did was based on what she wanted to do, but behind the scenes, she could also accurately predict and understand the consequences of those actions. It was a kind of dual personality, but Milim Nava did her best to make both of them coexist.

So while Milim had left chief ass-kicking duties to Carrera, she soon realized she wasn’t the only one looking out for this planet. Zeranus, the insector leader, was doing the same thing.

Hmm… He must be having the same thought I did. That’s kinda troublesome…

Milim never saw this coming. Zeranus was trying to take over this world, of course, so if you thought about it for a moment, it made sense. But in Milim’s mind, this wasn’t something she could readily agree with.

If this was a plain old barrier, it wouldn’t be a problem, but his barrier had a few effects added that helped the enemy. Milim wanted to bust it up, but that might affect her own barrier and cause untold damage to this planet.

Nnngh… Look at him, using my barrier like that! He’s got a lot of nerve!

It was annoying, but Milim had to admit: Zeranus’s barrier was keeping her from making any untoward moves. It proved the enemy leader had a good head on his shoulders, and Milim knew she couldn’t afford to lose her temper. She preferred to solve most of her problems with violence, but when faced with an enemy that might very well rival her, she had no choice but to proceed with caution.

So after waiting for the right moment, it was finally her turn.

Zeranus was on the move. Milim quickly followed suit, but then a problem came along. The ever-careful Zeranus had tinkered with his barrier, preventing her from breaching it. It’d take less than ten seconds to dismantle, but accepting that delay could be a fatal blunder. It was really just a tiny thing, but clearly Milim had been outfoxed. She had to praise her enemy for it, but she also calmly vowed to get her revenge.

She was only dealing with this problem because she had arrived just in time to help with Carrera’s crisis. Carrera was unlikely to die, but if she did, no one could tell what that might do to Milim’s anger level. The world could breathe a sigh of relief about that.

Regardless, Milim had avoided the worst-case scenario, and all that remained was to defeat Zeranus. She couldn’t wait to get started.

Zeranus was strong.

He blocked Milim’s fist without a second thought, sharply hitting back with his own. Milim took this attack in stride as well, responding with kicks, elbows, and headbutts in a fluid motion. Zeranus kept up with each attack, never falling behind for a moment.

A fierce battle ensued, both fighters using nothing but their own bodies as weapons.

“Not bad,” said Milim. “I’m not going easy at all, but you can play with me at this level, huh?”

“Heh. Don’t make me laugh. I worried about what you, the Creator’s daughter, were capable of, but this seems like nothing serious.”

Zeranus responded to Milim’s chitchat with sheer arrogance, but he wasn’t letting his guard down. He was acting above Milim, but inside he was exercising every caution possible. Pride and self-conceit were not in his dictionary. He was supremely powerful but never overconfident. No matter who his opponent was, Zeranus never let his guard down and never gave less than a full effort.

Thanks to that, Zeranus was wary of more than just Milim. He always strove to do his best, never underestimating either the strong or the weak. So he put a little trick into his barrier to delay Milim’s entry into the fray—and during that little instant, he planned to take out Carrera and make her power his own.

That wound up not happening for two reasons: Milim’s brain ran faster than Zeranus expected, and Carrera was more stubborn than he ever imagined.

Failing to finish off Carrera was another blow for him. If she recovered enough to join forces with Milim, that would be trouble. The battle could drag on without end, to the point that she might get to use another once-per-day Judgment Bullet. Calmly looking over the situation, Zeranus found little reason to be optimistic.

So in the midst of his conversation with Milim, he tried a rather high-end tactic.

If this makes her let her guard down, then great…but we’ll just have to see what the Creator’s daughter can do.

Zeranus pondered the thought as he watched for Milim’s response. Milim, meanwhile, laughed as haughtily as she could.

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Well, look at you, huh? You better keep on entertaining me, then!”

And then Milim took this seriously for the first time. Beautiful crimson horns sprouted from her forehead, parting her red hair. Dragon wings spread out from her back, a suit of jet-black armor covering her whole body. In her hand was the Temma Sword that Guy gave her. It was rare for Milim to ever use a weapon—it was a sign of her admiration for Zeranus, no matter what she said to him.

Zeranus realized this performance wasn’t working on her. If so, there was no reason to keep it going.

“If you’re that strong,” a curious Milim said, “then how come you’re being so cautious? Are you a big coward or what?”

“Heh.” Zeranus wasn’t about to hide his feelings. “What do you mean, coward? Better to be a victorious coward than a rash, fearless loser.”

He retained his regal bearing, assuring Milim he had nothing to be ashamed of. It was what Zeranus truly believed—and took pride in.

“Victorious? What are you tryin’ to do anyway?”

“Heh! Isn’t it obvious? My mission is to surpass the Creator.”

That, too, was the unvarnished truth.

Ever since Veldanava first named him, Zeranus had been wondering why he existed. Unlike Feldway, he wasn’t blinded by respect for his Creator—instead, he constantly searched for a mission to devote his life to. Then, after a lengthy trial-and-error process, he found that mission: surpass his parents.

Zeranus already had an immortal body. Every cell of it was controlled directly by his mind, which could instantly repair and replace at will—even faster than any chemical process. Illness and injury did not affect him, and his being transcended any numerical lifespan.

But despite that, if his energy was fully depleted, he would die. His body was immortal, but his spirit had its limits. In other words, he wasn’t so immortal after all. He knew he had to surpass Veldanava, but in his current form, he could not fully resist death. That made him a coward all the way—someone willing to take any measure to bring himself higher.

And so he gathered followers, never attempting to complete the puzzle himself. He created Piriod to be his spouse, even knowing the risk involved. With her, he created the children who would do his bidding. These children, like their father Zeranus, sought strength. Zeth in particular was quite similar to him, and just as timid. He was also sneaky and cunning—enough to try to eliminate his newborn “brother” before he proved a threat; enough to hatch a plan to consume the individual birthed to become the next queen and make her power his own.

That plan had failed, it seemed, but all that was none of Zeranus’s business. He let his children do what they wanted. If Zeth became the next Creator, nothing would make Zeranus happier. He was the father and Zeth was his son. Whoever won would be the righteous among them, charged with building the next epoch.

But Zeranus had no intention of handing the throne over to Zeth. Once he was done raising him, he intended to seize his power. As time passed, though, he instead won Zeth’s trust through love and affection, gaining a full view of his powers at all times to better ensure his victory.

In this case, he had used Zeth as a kind of test against the dangerous Carrera. Now that he had taken Zeth’s power, Zeranus had reached a conclusion with him that he was perfectly fine with. And as long as someone as strong as him could be so cunning, so endlessly cautious in his behavior, he was as good as undefeatable. That was why he gave Milim the truth, with no shame or hesitation whatsoever.

When she heard him, Milim saw Zeranus was more of a danger than she’d assumed. Figuring he’d be impossible to corral later at this rate, she decided she’d go all out to defeat him now.

“I’d love to play with you more,” Milim said, her face serious, “but unfortunately, you’re too dangerous for that. Sorry, but from now on, I’m gonna apply my full effort to this.”

Without waiting for a reply, she released her power. Zeranus could no longer take it easy. He had no choice but to reply in kind.

“Ha. You will make a fine diversion before I reach for the top. Show me the power of the Creator’s daughter!”

No longer concerned about the potential effect on the planet, he released his accumulated, disastrous force. The air trembled as great wells of power grew out of both sides. If there was no appreciable gap in their technical skills, a simple battle would turn into a slog that dragged on forever. Both of them knew that, and so Milim opted to finish this up fast with a special magic of hers.

Zeranus, preparing for that, got his fighting spirit ready. The resulting clash between Milim’s aura and Zeranus’s spirit caused small, compressed explosions in the air. The shock waves alone could have razed your typical monster on the spot; even a high-level magic-born wouldn’t have weathered the effects too well. There was no way a third party could enter this battle, now surrounded by massive, random explosions. Everyone had evacuated already, watching the proceedings from afar outside the barrier. If they had been even a little late, a hellish scene would have unfolded. But despite the force field of energy that was already being generated, the real show had yet to begin.

“I got the perfect thing for you! Drago-Nova!!”

Stellar particles shimmered between Milim’s hands, whirling around as they bore a destructive force not of this world. She bundled them together and shot them toward Zeranus.

Even if Zeranus had the power to twist space to his needs like Piriod, it’d be impossible to avoid such an attack. Milim, thinking that far ahead, threw all her tyrannical force on him at once.

It was sheer reckless violence, perhaps befitting the girl they called the Destroyer, and it was the right move to make. In a battle between two supernatural beings, the longer a fight dragged on, the more intense the resulting damage. Since the two of them had joined forces to create a barrier around themselves, Milim decided to take advantage and bring the fight to Zeranus.

Zeranus, on the other hand, used the same tactic as Milim—an instant-kill move meant to annihilate his enemy.

“Devour it all…Devastator Virus!!”

Dark micro-particles rose from his body, blocking the shine of Drago-Nova as if they had their own free will. They were actually some of the dark cells that made up Zeranus’s own body.

As Zeranus was capable of freely controlling any substance he took in from his home world, he could also make his own cells microscopic enough to invade the bodies of his enemies. These tiny cells, each infused with his will, could break through magical barriers to devour their target from the inside out. There was no way for any ordinary person to resist them.

So Milim’s shimmering light and Zeranus’s dark particles crossed paths. The light drove out the darkness, but the darkness swallowed up the light. It all happened in an instant, but one so tense that it seemed infinite. It also wasn’t what either side wanted to see. Milim sought an overwhelming victory, while Zeranus wanted to consume Milim.

Finally, though, the result became clear. When the light and darkness ran their courses, Milim was standing. The dark micro-particles clung to her body, but her aura was enough to destroy all of them. It was a fatiguing experience for Milim, but she was unharmed.

As for Zeranus…

“So this…is pain? I never thought…there was something I couldn’t consume…”

Shockingly, he was safe.

Milim’s Drago-Nova was mainly composed of special matter known as stellar particles. This matter, controllable only by Milim, packed more destructive power than even spiritual particles. Unless someone could fully analyze its properties, there was no chance of manipulating it at all. It was little wonder Zeranus failed to consume them—but he was able to cancel them out. He sustained some damage, but it was easily healable and didn’t impact his ability to keep fighting one bit.

So Milim was mentally winded, and Zeranus was just a little worse for wear physically. Those were the sole results of this clash of finishers.

Zeranus got back up, his compound eyes studying Milim. Then he had a thought.

Can I really win like this?

Milim, daughter of the Creator, was truly powerful. It was said that she’d inherited the lion’s share of the Creator’s power, but some aspects still seemed to be hidden, unfathomable. In fact, Zeranus was sure of it.

He had seen the Barren Lands, the ruins where Milim had once waged a life-or-death struggle with the demon lord Guy. Just like now, Zeranus had taken a cautious approach, gathering every piece of information he could. That land, also known as the Deadly Desert, was created over two thousand years ago, and even now it was polluted with excessive amounts of magicules.

The power of Milim’s Drago-Nova was stupendous, but not even that could cause so much environmental contamination. He had to assume it was something else—but what? That was unclear, and it unnerved him. Victory at all costs, including death, wasn’t what Zeranus wanted. He had to win, but it had to be safely, with no room for error. His belief in this approach was absolute, and based on it, he felt that further battle was too dangerous. He didn’t want anything unexpected to happen, but Milim was just too full of unknowns…

It was at that point that retreat began to seem like an attractive option to Zeranus. Then, right after that, something happened that forced him to make up his mind.