Resolve

The battle, which was restarted with Tanaka's cool line, was begun with a one-sided attack by the God of Destruction.

From this battle state, the gap in power was apparent, but the God of Destruction didn’t let his guard down at all. This was because he had a sense of discomfort with Tanaka's actions when he had rescued the God of Creation earlier.

In fact, Tanaka had continued to evade attacks, which would spell his demise should even a single one land on him, for countless times already.

The negative energy of the God of Destruction spread out as if to dominate this world of nothingness. While precisely moving in the scarce safe zone in between, Tanaka continued to evade the attacks of the God of Destruction. It was by no means impossible for it to be due to coincidence or perhaps luck, but if it continued for tens or even hundreds of times, it could be said to be only natural that he began to suspect that there was some sort of trick behind it.

『What kind of trickery is this? To think I’d be faced with obstruction at this point by a mere human, I never would have expected it.』

「Kukuku, could it be that you, of all people, are unable to see through the ploys of a mere human’s?」

『Don't get ahead of yourself! Human!』

The attacks of the God of Destruction increased in intensity. However, these attacks, which were supposed to bring about certain death should they land, continued to be evaded by Tanaka as usual. Not only that, Tanaka began to counterattack.

The God of Destruction was now an accumulation of negative energy. This aggregated amount was so enormous that it was impossible to scale even by the self-proclaimed handsome cheat protagonist Tanaka-san, but as he was an energy, there was inconsistency in his power.

Precisely seeing through the weak parts of the power of the God of Destruction, which could be said to be his weak point, Tanaka wielded the power of God to annihilate the power of the God of Destruction.

Despite the fact that there was supposed to be a difference in power that it should have never even been a fight, the weak Tanaka was actually the one who had the advantage in the battle. 『I shall admit it. Your vain struggle is quite impressive. As someone who possesses power nowhere near that of the God of Creation, let alone mine, I never expected that you’d be able to put up such a fight.』

「What’s it, suddenly praising me like that, how disgusting. Ah, it’s that, huh. Is it the cliche pattern of the villain going ‘I shall give you half of the world’ or something? Tsk tsk tsk.」

Tanaka coolly criticized the God of Destruction. It was an irritating act, but as always he was the man most suited to perform it.

「That kind of trap won’t work on me, who is well versed in anime and games. If you don’t say ‘I shall give you all the beautiful women in the world’ at the very least, it won’t even worth considering.」

Tanaka-san dismissed the incitement of the God of Destruction in a resolute manner. As his nostrils appeared to be flaring in expectation.『What kind of nonsense are you babbling on about? I shall make a declaration to you once again. You shall absolutely be unable to defeat me. Feel free to use whatever tricks you want. I shall teach you that there is a wall that can never be overcome in me.』

There was a change in the state of the God of Destruction. The God of Destruction, whose power had spread through the world of nothingness, seemed to have shrunk.

However, that didn’t mean that the God of Destruction had weakened. Rather, as the density of his energy rose, it could be said to be a troublesome change for Tanaka.

「Tsk!」

Without even time to rejoice in the fact that he had managed to perform the cool tongue-clicking he longed for, Tanaka continued to be exposed to the attacks of the God of Destruction. Even with the rise in severity of the attacks of the God of Destruction, the main problem for Tanaka was that he was no longer able to attack.

As the God of Destruction had concentrated his own power, there was already no point in attacking his weak point. As a concentration of energy, inconsistency in power still existed even now. However, the density of this weak point had already risen to point of even after receiving Tanaka’s full power attack, let alone offsetting each other, Tanaka’s attack couldn’t help but being one-sidedly annihilated. 『What's wrong? Are you not going to attack?』

「Damn it! Saying that despite being already aware of it, that’s a bad manner, you know?!」

Tanaka continued to skillfully evade the attacks of the God of Destruction that would be enough to annihilate him with a simple touch.

『Looks like you’re very good at running around. To think that my attacks are still unable to land even after I go this far, just what manner of trickery are you employing? How intriguing.』

The attacks of the God of Destruction rose in severity even further, but as usual, Tanaka continued to evade them without any trouble. Those precise movements and judgments were something that made others couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps he was actually able to see the future.

『Your attacks no longer work on me. Your victory is already off the table, but what are you intending to do? Don’t tell me, you're not intending to continue running around for eternity and postpone the end of the world, are you? If that were the case, I would like to praise you for your commendable spirit of self-sacrifice, but the time is almost up. I’m sure you’re also aware of that, aren't you?』

「… You may be right.」

The power of the God of Destruction continues to rise even now. The supply of energy from the countless worlds he had destroyed never ceased, and he would surely break through the limit in no time at all. Said limit here was that of the barrier that Tanaka had set up to protect the world. No matter how much it blocked off enormous power, there was a limit to how much it could withstand. And the strength of the God of Destruction was about to surpass that limit already.

「I did have such a hunch, but I didn't expect it to reach such an extent. It seems that if even we continue to fight as we are, it’s be my– the world’s lose, huh.」

『So are you finally going to admit defeat? I shall commend you for having done well for a mere puny human. However, it may have been only for a bit, but you do have wasted my time. You shall pay for that sin.』

Just as the God of Destruction said as much, he took a stance to attack. The aftermath for this attack was rising in power to the point of threatening to break the barrier.「It’s not my style, but it can’t be helped. I guess I’ll take the liberty to put up a vain struggle to the bitter end. With my whole power.」

Unleashing a good grief that could have been nominated for the Nohel Literature Award, Tanaka moved to face it. Be sure to always wear a helmet when riding a motorcycle.

◇ ◇ ◇

「… Oioi, is he still intending to do something else? Shouldn’t we go for all or nothing, combining both of our power to strengthen the barrier here?」

The God of Creation, who had been watching the battle from the hyperspace, muttered as such to Tanaka, who was still intending to continue with his recklessness. However, even the God of Creation himself knew that it was nigh impossible. At the moment, the power of the God of Creation had only been restored for a bit. Even if he had been in perfect condition, for sure it would have similarly been impossible to stop the current God of Destruction. That showed just how much the power of the God of Destruction had increased.

However, even then, rather than continuing the fight as it was, he believed that strengthening their defense would have a better chance of succeeding. Be that as it may, though, it was nothing but a faint ray of light.

As the God of Creation was watching the battle in such a manner, there were others who were also observing the battle. They were the inhabitants of Ham Star — the world created by Tanaka.

Even after Tanaka had left, they had continued to observe closely the God of Destruction with bated breath. And then, right now, the fact that Tanaka had resolved himself was transmitted to the hamsters, his other half, as if only natural. At the resolution that even Tanaka, the sovereign of little men, would deign to bend his pride for it, all of them lined up and offered a salute.

Here, a small world, whose life was over after only a short few days, quietly disappeared. It was a small world that no one knew of, but their role was certainly not in vain.

It was exactly thanks to their analysis and trial and error that Tanaka was able to perform a great fight against the overwhelming powerful existence namely the God of Destruction. And above all, it was thanks to their labor that Tanaka was able to find the method to defeat the God of Destruction.

◇ ◇ ◇

「I'll show you. The potential hidden within mere humans that you despise!」

Tanaka's power swelled up at once. He’d regained the power that had been separated up until now. However, even then it was still nowhere near that of the God of Destruction’s. 『It’s surprising to know that you’re still hiding your power, but what a joke. Trying to defeat with only that level of power, how arrogant of you. As expected, humans are worthless existences! They are ignorant and greedy to the point of being unsightly, and their actions are so ugly and detached from intelligence. There is no need for such imperfect beings. I shall destroy everything. Eventually, once I devour all worlds and become the sole existence, everything shall be concluded.』

「What a lonely ideal. And to hell with that! Certainly, from your point of view, humans being imperfect may indeed be true. However! They are interesting exactly because of that imperfectness! It's from such a chaotic world that possibilities are born!」

Tanaka was aware of it. The magnificent of human beings.

The manga he always loved had taught him. That friendship, hard work, and victory were powerful and cool.

His favorite game had taught him. The fundamentals of the strategy of love.

Anime culture, the pride of Japan, had taught him. The magnificent of two dimensions.

「Just as you said, human beings are akin to the embodiment of ugliness. But even those ugly emotions can be used as a driving force to move forward. I'll show you! The will of the weak! The realm that can only be attained by those who always gazes upward!」

Tanaka's figure shone brightly. It was a fantastic figure that made him forget the fact that his first love was actually a beautiful girl character from anime.