Chapter 143: The All-Powerful Force

[Tokyo Media Center]

"Senpai! Senpai!"

"What? Shut up!"

"Look at this!"

The video shown by my junior, Koguchi, was of a black warship uploaded to a posting site. Thousands of them. Covering the sky completely.

"From Mongolia?"

"Yeah, it was uploaded by a regular person. There are multiple videos on other sites too."

Even here at the media center, we'd been given footage and images from the government—but only a tiny, clipped portion. Other media outlets were loudly complaining about the lack of info.

"This one’s way better."

"Right? The info here is slow and sparse. On the net, some places are streaming live!"

"You stay here."

"Huh?"

"I’m heading back to headquarters to compile a web article. If anything comes up, email me!"

"Wait, senpai!"

I burst out of the media center, hail a taxi. In this day and age, trying to control information? Impossible. I’ll write about everything that’s happening.

Finally starting to get interesting.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

[South-East, where four warships are present — Freyja, Wang]

"Just to confirm… you’re not carrying any weapons?"

『I don’t need weapons. Shall I show you?』

"Go ahead—!"

Wang jammed the Ruyi Jingu Bang into the ground and instantly extended it to full length. The momentum shot him straight toward Gaia.

『Oh, fast!』

Gaia barely dodged Wang’s kick. Wang retracted the staff and lunged forward, aiming to slam it down— but…

Gaia moved her right index finger, sweeping it upward from below.

"What!?"

Wang kicked off the ground, trying to close in—but couldn’t hide the shock. His body went light, then he soared upward, uncontrollably.

Floating weightlessly through the air, he couldn’t steady himself at all.

"This can’t be…!?"

While Wang was distracted, Freyja shot forward at blinding speed—light magic, instantaneous teleportation.

Just as her sword was about to strike, Gaia moved her finger from above downward.

"Yeeek!!"

Freyja crashed hard to the ground.

『What’s wrong? I’ve only moved my finger…』

"Damn it! Freyja. She’s manipulating gravity."

"Gravity?"

"Back when I trained with Gojo, he showed me something like this. Keep distance—range is limited, I bet."

Wang and Freyja stepped back, staying over fifty meters from Gaia.

『Hm… you figured out my power so quickly? Not bad at all.』

Gaia spoke with cheerful ease, smug and relaxed. The two tried long-range attacks.

"Stretch!如意金箍棒!!"

The staff shot forward, elongating instantly—but Gaia flicked her finger, and the staff slammed into the ground, never reaching her.

"If physical attacks won’t work… then, light magic—converging laser! (Assemble Laser!)"

Freyja unleashed a blinding flash straight at Gaia. But—

『Useless.』

The light bent in front of Gaia, just like Wang’s staff, and fell to the ground.

"Impossible…!"

『Gravity is a distortion of spacetime. Even light can’t escape it. There’s no weakness in my ability.』

If long-range attacks don’t work, then Wang and the others are completely out of options.

『And then—』

Gaia raises her hand, and intense gravity crashes down on both of them.

“Gah—!?”

“What?!”

They can’t stay upright—collapse onto the ground, crawling, panting.

“…How?!”

『I don’t understand why you thought my ability’s range was limited, but this 【Gravity Domination】 affects an area of several kilometers, you know.』

“Several kilometers!?!”

Wang remembers the day he fought Gojo during training.

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

【China, Chengdu, Sichuan Province — Ten days earlier――】

“Damn it! Not a single hit? You’re stronger than before, aren’t you!?”

“Your staff technique’s impressive too. Really learning a lot here.”

“What else can you do?”

“Hmm… for example…”

Gojo raises a hand. My body suddenly lightens—floats up, lifted by a gust of wind, spiraling into the sky.

“Wahhhhhhhhh!!?”

Gojo flies through the air with wind magic, effortlessly. I’m just spinning wildly, flailing.

I crash back down, dizzy, landing hard on the ground.

“This is ‘gravity manipulation.’ Also my strongest ability.”

“S—so incredible… I’m gonna throw up…”

Gojo says he can make things heavier or lighter. Honestly, it feels like cheating.

“If you can do that, why even bother with magic or Martial Arts?”

“Hmm… well, there are downsides, too.”

“What kind of downsides?”

“Take range, for example. I can only affect things within about fifty meters of me. And that’s… well, that’s a fatal flaw, I’d say.”

“What?”

“That’s—”

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

The enemy’s intense gravity presses down on me and Freyja, our bodies groaning under the strain. Probably… I could push the load even higher.

If they crank it up any more, I won’t be able to take it.

‘Resisting is pointless. “Gravity” is a universal force—acts on all matter. You should just give up.’

‘…Really? Are you sure you’re not just overestimating your own power… a little too much?’

‘Even gasping for breath like that, you still manage to sound so confident… impressive.’

The armored man increases the gravity load even further.

‘Gahh!!’

I plant the Ruyi Golden Cudgel into the ground, barely holding myself up—but I can’t stand anymore. Freyja’s on her hands and knees, barely holding on.

I take my final gamble.

‘Stretch! Ruyi Golden Cudgel!!’

I aim the staff upward. This staff’s extension is something even immense force can’t easily stop.

‘Just… where are you aiming…?’

The armored man realizes the cudgel is now directly above him.

‘Gravity’s powerful, sure—but its direction is always straight down.’

The long, extended cudgel plummets at terrifying speed, pulled by the earth. He panics and tries to deactivate his ability… too late.

‘GAAARRRHHH!!!’

The cudgel smashes into the man’s shoulder. Cracks through armor and bone, sinking deep with a sickening *crunch*.

His gravity ability shuts off. His body suddenly feels light.

‘Freyja!!’

‘Got it!’

Freyja vanishes in a blur—light-speed steps—and closes the distance in an instant. Her sword glows blindingly bright, and she strikes down on the enemy, who’s still reeling from the impact.

“——Holy Dragon Steel Severing Sword (Ascalon)——!!”

Freyja’s lightning strike split the man clean in two. Too fast to react, the armored warrior was dead in an instant.

“Haa… haa… we did it. Wang…”

“Yeah… barely made it.”

This guy didn’t move a step forward not because he was cocky—no, he just didn’t want to be caught in the range of his own power…

I reach down to help Freyja, who’s on her knees.

“Hurry. I’m worried about Leo and the others—they’re coming in from the center.”

“Yeah!”

◇◇◇◇◇◇◇◇

【Northwest of the Four Warships — Carlo Bandis】

“Wait… wait… no way… this can’t be real…”

Over thirty of our people—now less than half. This beast… is it even fair?

‘Hahahaha… what’s wrong? Is that all?’

Surrounded by us, he doesn’t even flinch. Just laughs.

“Carlo, we should fall back for now. If we keep going, we’ll all get wiped out.”

“Noah… I want to, but I can’t leave our fallen comrades behind. At the very least, we have to hold him here.”

The massive brute standing before us laughs, effortlessly cleaving through “Suzaku” and Luca with his sheer strength. When he slams his fist into the ground, the earth explodes. The shockwave sends our allies flying.

Is he stronger than Gojo… just in raw power?

Physical attacks? Useless. Magic? Barely scratches him.

Just as we’re struggling, two transport planes appear in the eastern sky.

“Which country’s aircraft is that?”

They shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous.

“Luca—can you fire explosive arrows to scare them off? Keep them from getting too close?”

Got it. I'll try.

As Luca nocked an arrow and prepared to fire—

"Wait! Please!"

Noah shouted, stopping Luca.

"What's wrong, Noah?"

"Those are Self-Defense Force aircraft."

Self-Defense Force? So that's what they were... Japanese transport planes...

Two transport planes touched down, and dozens of armed personnel stepped out.

"We might actually be able to win this now,"

Noah said, a confident smile spreading across his face.