Chapter Twenty: Disappearance

Thinking back on that fight, I was only lucky I survived.
Our powers were clearly different, but their compatibility was something else. Creating water takes only about five to ten percent of the energy I use to create Zinertia, and the longer I fought, the more disadvantaged I became.
He was crafty. His brother Ha’e’rrut had charged at me full throttle and underestimated me, but Wa’e’rrut was an indirect fighter — he kept his distance and weaponized the environment… I almost thought he was unstoppable.
To be able to turn water into steam in an instant… that was a terrifying power, and I paid the price for it.
When he steamed me, I thought for sure every cell in my body had been cooked.
Ironic… the gods keep getting stronger and stronger. And just as he said, I would have had a horrible time fighting Malkeria, who wields wind.
What will my next opponent be like? With Zinertia and summons I’m dangerous, but I’m not invincible yet. I have to reach a level where Zinertia can win over nothing.
Here’s a little of what happened after my fight.
I was held by LV as I fell toward the ground, and she smiled at me and said, “Weakling.”
But I was in no mood to trade barbs, so I used my remaining energy to summon Rai, grabbed it quickly, and let out a shout in celebration of my victory.
All the burns on my body immediately healed, and I felt like I could fight a god once more.
“.……….. You idiot!!” LV screamed as I drank the potion.
Huh, what did I do?
“I was waiting for you to summon two potions, but you only summoned one!” she scolded.
“Why would I do that…? Your fight ended… in a flash.”
“In a flash!? Do you know how terrifying it is to fight what you can’t see!? The compressed air is enough to destroy a god, not to mention her swords……”
Apparently Malkeria had invisible swords that cut through everything, and LV had to go in barehanded before I summoned the staff for her.
We were mid-argument when a messenger from heaven arrived.
Just like the angel before, light filled the sky and an angel with pure white wings appeared.
“I am……………..” he began in a submissive voice.
“I don’t need to know your name… tell me why you are here.” I stopped him before he could finish.
“I’ve been sent with a message from heaven to congratulate you on your feat and to bestow upon you the power given to you by the gods… Telepathy……”
“Telepathy? Now you can talk to anyone you like no matter the distance, and you can hear their thoughts just like how it is between us,” LV explained as I looked puzzled.
I see.
“I’ve also come to inform you of your title. The heavens have named you the ‘God of Conquest’… fallen.” in a monotonous tone, he added. 
The moment he said the last word — ‘fallen’ — I moved behind him, grabbed both his wings… and plucked them clean.
“Fallen? Don’t make me laugh… I’ll never fall, and I’ll never be defeated!!” I roared.
I moved to land a punch on him when he suddenly vanished.
“God of Conquest? That’s a great title. Sure it has ‘fallen’ at the end, but who cares about that? You just have to show them who’s going to fall.” LV tried to soothe me with an assuring smile.
“They are underestimating me… LV, I’m being underestimated… do you know how that feels?” I demanded.
“I know. Let’s go back home and rest for a while.”
LV slipped back inside me and I shifted home from the desert where I had battled Wa’e’rrut.
When I arrived, Hinata was waiting by the main entrance with my parents, their faces clouded with worry.
“What’s going on?” I asked as I reached the door.
“What’s going on!? That’s what I want to know!” my dad snapped.
“Come on, father, he has his reasons… am I right?” my mother asked, giving me a serious look as she tried to guess my whereabouts.
“Infinity, why are your clothes all torn? You look like you’ve been in the forest for a century,” Hinata said, covering his mouth in shock.
“.………………………………… What do you want me… to say?” I answered, unsure what they wanted to hear.
Dad gently gripped my shoulder. “Forget I asked. Come on in; we have food waiting for you.”
Is that all?
{They were worried about you; you should be grateful.} LV commented.
Why is Hinata here?
At the dining hall the food was spread across the table, and Hinata kept glancing at me before taking a seat in his school uniform. Is it breakfast or lunch?
“So, did you hear about the attack? It seems we are under attack from an unknown source,” Dad asked cunningly before I sat.
“Do I know about the attack?… That’s funny… Who do you think ju—” I was about to boast about my exploits when LV interrupted.
{Hey, hold on!!} she said.
I changed my answer to, “Yes, I heard.”
“Did you go anywhere near the scene?” Dad pressed, not buying my reply.
“It happened in City 2… and I’m in the capital,” I gave another vague answer.
“I know that, but you are Infinity, right? Surely you can go to City 2 and come back in less than an hour.”
“Haha! Make that in less than a second… an hour is like a decade when I move.”
{You are hopeless.} LV muttered.
“Really? I always knew you were the strongest. How did your clothes get torn like that?” Mom asked.
“Oh, this? Saving humanity… is not easy, you know? The god this time was particularly clever… unlike his brother.”
Mom smiled comfortingly. “Oh? You’re fighting gods, I take it?” she said with pride.
“I wouldn’t waste my time fighting humans… even the gods don’t stand a chance against me.” I declared.
“I’m so proud of you; you are truly the greatest! How many gods have you defeated so far?” Dad asked eagerly as he handed me his share of turkey.
“Only two of them… the one from a week ago and this one. They won’t stop until they destroy everything… humans are lucky I’m around. Their next attack will probably be in less than a week.”
“Less than a week!?” they all exclaimed, stunned.
“You are not fighting with bare hands, are you?” Dad managed, frozen.
“Weapons don’t work on them… I also have god powers. Here I’ll show…” I raised my left hand to summon Zinertia when LV suddenly popped out. “Mother! Father! I’m also back!” she announced.
“LV!? I’m sure I didn’t see you arrive,” Mom jumped to her feet as if she’d seen a ghost.
“I was hiding behind your son; my clothes are torn too, you see.” LV said.
Hinata fell silent, trying to contain himself at the sight of LV with tattered clothing beside me.
After that, all of them stared as if confronted by an alien.
MUNCH MUNCH
I devoured the entire table in an instant and none of them had the chance to take a bite. It felt like I stopped time.
“MOOOREE!!!” I yelled. It had become routine.
There was some commotion afterward, and when I finally went back to my room to sleep, Hinata followed.
“Infinity, what was the power you wanted to show us, and who was… that… girl?” he asked, not knowing LV was inside me.
“Oh that?…” I answered as I took off my clothes.
“Kyaaaaaa-ah!!” Hinata screamed.
“What happened?” I asked.
“How can you strip in front of me!? Infinity, you meanie!” Turning around bashfully, his face became beet red. 
Huh? What was that about?
“So? Why are you here?”
“Hmm? You were half dead after the last attack; I thought something might happen so I came to check on you.”
“I see… You shouldn’t be moving around when we are under an attack. What happened at school today?” 
“You are unusually talkative today; what’s with you?” he turned, surprised at my sudden flood of questions.
I asked one question and now I was being questioned?
“Forget I asked.” I jumped into bed and sighed.
“We were attacked before dawn so there wasn’t any time for school. I heard we would go back tomorrow even with the attack.”
“Academia… must move forward.”
He stayed a while, then left in the evening when Dad gave him a ride to the city. 
The next day before noon I got bored and told LV to ask what Amira was doing. It turned out she was in her apartment studying even though school was ongoing. 

I asked about Hinata — literally the only person I knew — and I was shocked by what I learned, so I shifted to the school without wasting a second.
RE-SUMMON
Arriving where Hinata was, I reverse-summoned him to the castle and took his place.
He was being bullied by three so-called elites who thought they could intimidate me.
“We meet… again,” I glared as I prepared to move.
SHIFT
I moved swiftly and landed heavy punches to their guts.
With just enough force, they crashed into a nearby building, but I summoned them back. If I didn’t hold back they would die.
After that I punched them for a while without using full power. They suffered broken bones and swollen faces, but I avoided their heads. It’s fine as long as they can still study, right?
“I can allow you to do whatever you want to me, but I won’t allow anyone to lay a finger on Hinata,” I warned them with a terrifyingly evil face.
….……………………………………………………………………………….
And that brings us to now.
It’s been three days since my fight with Wa’e’rrut, and today Academia is holding a national conference to address students and workers.
Over a hundred thousand people packed Academia’s main stadium, “Dreams.” It has the capability of holding over 150,000, but now it was filled to the last seat.
Because of that, my parents left early to secure places.
The hosts were elites from across the nation and the guest of honor was none other than yours truly… me.
But I wasn’t going. I had my hands full saving humanity and no time to entertain them, so I stayed in the main hall of my castle watching the event on TV.
I could already guess what they would say without anyone speaking.
“Academia must not show weakness! Even if all hell is unleashed, we will stand tall and lead the world!” or something like that.
A few minutes later my exact words echoed on the screen.
BAD-UMP BAD-UMP
Some minutes into the conference my heart suddenly raced — the same foreboding I feel when a god is about to appear.
BAD-UMP BAD-UMP
Fearing the worst, I stood and peered out the window.
{What’s going on…} LV asked.
SCRAMBLE
The TV channel had lost connection.
Seeing that, I ran from the house without thinking and headed for the stadium, no more than five kilometers from the garden where I’d met Amira.
BAD-UMP BAD-UMP
Where is it? This should be the site of the stadium, but I couldn’t find it.
When I reached the location where the stadium should have stood, I was hit by the greatest shock of my life.
“Where is it!!!???” I screamed; there was no stadium anywhere in sight.
{Oh no… how did this happen?} LV muttered, and the answer I didn’t want to know came to me.
The entire stadium had disappeared.
“No… No.”
With eyes hollow and lifeless, I stepped into the empty field; it was as if no building had ever existed there. The circular asphalt that marked the kilometer-wide stadium remained, but no structure or ruin stood.
“Mom!?… Dad!? Where are you…?” I called, searching for what could not be found.
There was no sound of an explosion, not even dust from an attack. All that remained were people and cars scattered around the stadium — and they had all collapsed.
Unable to hear or see, I tore through the crowd like a hound searching for a bone but found nothing.
“LV…” I whispered.
{…O-Okay! Where are your parents?} she said softly, as if she already knew the truth.
“I don’t know! I can’t tell where they are… No…” I choked.
{I’m so sorry.}
“Stop!… Mom!… Dad!!!!!!!!!!… Mitreanreax!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed in a jagged mix of anger and grief, and the god’s name flashed into my mind.
“HAHAHA what a great view… Lord Mitreanreax doesn’t have to waste his time on a human like you, I’M MORE THAN ENOUGH TO TAKE CARE OF YOU!!” a god with spiky hair and golden armor hovered above the vanished stadium.
“BROCKABA’E’RYUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I howled his name in deep sorrow.
And so another battle with a god began.