"Blow it away, Scales of Selection. Brachium!"
Naru intercepted the explosive flames of the hypernova with a destructive torrent of light. Naru had set not only the galaxy but the entire galactic cluster as the target of her swirling destructive light.
If the enemy was going to destroy stars as an attack, then all she needed to do was wipe out all the stars in the area. An eye for an eye and brute force for brute force. Naru had no intention of doing something so boring as to use giant-killing tricks. This was a fight with the fate of the world on the line, a fight of pure destruction versus pure destruction. They would find out who was on top and force the other to obey.
There was only one strategy for Naru to take. In fact, it wasn't even a strategy. Beat them head-on! That was the only way.
When Naru canceled out Yggdra's attack, Sakura and Satsuki both launched themselves forward, pummeling the Goddess with a string of blows. Their speed was already infinite, and because their attacks landed the instant they were launched, there was no evasion. However, they were stopped by an invisible wall in front of the Goddess.
As if I care. It's too much work to think of a way around it. There wouldn't be any weak points anyway. There's no point in even thinking about it. The only way is to push straight through. Their only choice was to destroy it head-on. Why would there be any other solution in this ultimate battle?
"HAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"
"OOOOAAARRRGGGGHHH!"
Sakura and Satsuki's attacks rained down forcefully on the invisible wall. These attacks, which surpassed the speed of light, had also attained infinite mass, so these shock waves shook space itself. However, that didn't matter. At this point, neither side cared about incidental casualties.
Satsuki transformed into a dragon and unleashed a beam. It hit. The torrent of light raged onwards, instantly reaching the ends of space and extinguishing all the stars, planets, and even galaxies in its path. However, the Goddess was unscathed. There wasn't even a scratch.
"Maiden Who Shoots a Silver Arrow!"
Sakura unleashed the most powerful Moon element spell, and a silver arrow surged towards the Goddess. The sheer size of it was awe-inspiring.
The arrow was larger than a galaxy, and it barreled towards the Goddess. Just having the arrow pass nearby caused countless entire galaxies to disappear, but it never reached the Goddess. A smile still on her face, the Goddess had stopped the arrow with nothing but a single finger, and a single breath erased it as if she were blowing out a candle.
Naru raised her hands, activating the strongest secret art of alchemy in exchange for most of the universe.
"Come, you who destroys the source… Transmute! The Beast Who Strikes with Malice—Níðhöggr!"
What manifested from beyond the void was a black dragon so large that calling it gigantic didn't even come close to cutting it. Compared to the sheer scale of its body, even the ouroboroses were like microbes. Its undulating body seemed large enough to be able to swallow this universe in its entirety. Its glare alone caused stars to turn to dust, and a single breath could blow away multitudes of galaxies. It came from the core of the universe, a monster among monsters said to be forever eating the world tree—Yggdrasil.
Now it faced the Goddess, raising a roar that reverberated through the vastness of space.
"RROOOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!"
This roar alone caused cracks to appear in the universe, and the remaining few celestial bodies were all broken down to particles and destroyed. The dragon was so big it exhibited its own form of supergravity, and just its presence warped space destructively. It was a true calamity; the mere fact that it existed put the universe in danger. It was a beast of pure ruin.
However, Yggdra just giggled when she saw it. "How cute."
With a light smack, it was deleted.
The end of such a monster was disappointing and far too short. Its overbearing presence vanished as if it had never existed at all; Naru's biggest skill had been dealt with as if it were trash. Seeing this, even Naru was struck mute for a moment.
"Hee hee. You really are strong…" the Goddess said, pausing. "But something like that loses all meaning if I raise it up a stage."
Trying to hold a conversation while moving at a speed faster than light, causing everything to freeze, was a strange thing. Sound itself was basically frozen as well at this point, after all. However, one of the participants was the Goddess, who could bend anything and everything to her will. Therefore, bending laws like this was no problem for her, allowing such a paradox to act as if it weren't one at all.
Speaking in the middle of the vacuum of space was strange in the first place. Common sense did not apply here. Rather, at this point, not even a shred of common sense existed anymore.
Everything from this point on was and would be supernatural. However, there was still one thing that would be unchanged: the stronger one would prevail. Only this undeniable rule would never change, no matter where or when.
"Tch! Burn her to cinders, god-slaying flame. Hamal!"
Naru spewed fire from her palm, which halved the target's HP. It didn't matter how big the number was, it would all be treated the same with this skill. It didn't matter how large, immeasurable, or unimaginably incalculable the number was; it would be halved.
From there, Naru also activated Ex-Coalesce, combining the fire with Deneb Algedi to make the damage unrecoverable. The resultant black flames that would burn away gods swallowed Yggdra, but she was unmoved.
"Heeheeh. I added another hundred digits to my HP when I was hit, so your flames barely did anything to me," said Yggdra.
"Quick Raid!"
Sakura jumped in from the side, twirling to gain speed and unleashing a flurry of attacks.
Faster, faster, faster! I'm already on the far end of infinity in terms of speed. There isn't anything higher. But I don't care! If what I'm doing isn't working, then I just have to keep breaking limits! Surpass infinity to an even further infinity! I'll keep busting through these walls, surpassing my past self! That's the only solution!
"There is no limit to the strength that people can imagine," said Yggdra. "For example, take two different stories, and compare the strength of their two main characters. The character from the first story is strong enough to destroy the universe, but the character from the second story says that a universe is just a small cell in a part of an even larger megaverse."
As Yggdra spoke, the universe started to shrink. It got smaller and smaller, and eventually, it was as small as it could get, small enough for Naru and the other two to see the entirety of the universe at once. They were being shown that the universe was but a microcosm of something larger. Beyond that, there was an even larger space.
Unwilling to listen to the Goddess's leisurely lecture, Naru threw out an attack overlaid with skill, a poison that would never disappear, while Satsuki used her breath attack. However, the Goddess didn't stop.
"But this is where a third story comes in, and they claim that even the second story's universe is but a small cell of an even bigger one."
Once again, the universe shrunk. Thus, she once again showed them the sheer scale of things, where two nested universes were once again nested in a larger one.
"Even if there was someone labeled as the strongest among these characters in a setting this overwhelming, things would be flipped upside down by nothing but one word from the author, or in other words, God. That being that there was an even stronger character able to defeat the first character with but one punch. Just like that, another powerhouse would appear. Then that fourth powerhouse gets treated like a child by a fifth, who is then unable to react to the speed at which a sixth fights. Then the sixth character gets killed a hundred times over by a single forehead flick from a seventh, who can't even lift a finger against an eighth, who equals a ninth in strength. Then, even if there were a hundred of the ninth character they would get trampled over by a tenth, who can be erased in a single breath by an eleventh… Hee hee hee. Doesn't that sound rather common in fiction?"
Light gathered in Yggdra's hand. It was no normal light; it contained countless universes and held the power to destroy hundreds, thousands, or even billions of worlds. This was the dimension of gods; the scale of it all was just different.
"This is all just the product of childish arguments," Yggdra continued. "Imagine two young children. One pretends to attack with some sort of awesome beam, but the other defends against it with an equally awesome barrier. Then the first child claims that their beam can easily break through any barrier, causing the second child to insist that their barrier is an invincible one still capable of blocking it. That just causes the child on the offensive to get angry and stubborn, and they continue to selfishly insist that their beam can break the barrier, no matter how invincible it is. Then, the second child tries to insist that their barrier will never break, no matter what… There is no end to this."
Yggdra giggled again, showing her absolute confidence in her victory, her power.
I cannot lose. There's no reason I would. Even if there were, I could just go above it. I can make as many settings where I am the strongest as I please. Reason is nothing. Providence is nothing.
"I'll start by telling you this: my power is endless. I can layer setting upon setting. For example, even if you all managed to obtain some sort of ability or power to defeat me, I would be able to answer it by saying, 'Those abilities and powers will not work on me. I am strong enough to defeat you all with a single one of my fingers.' Do you think it is childish? Well, that's because it is. I won't deny it. But things like this are far more powerful than pretentious, unmoving settings that go on forever."
Yggdra's power spiked, causing a universe-sized explosion. Naru and the other two defended against it with all their might, either erasing the explosion or absorbing it as their own power.
However, that was when Yggdra flew at them, flinging the three of them away at the same time. They all quickly regained their footing and went on the offensive, but their attacks were easily evaded. These were attacks that should have left behind the process of having to hit, because they came with infinite speed.
"Infinite speed? Yes, that's amazing. So I'll respond with, 'To me, infinite speed is the same as one speed. I am still a hundred times faster,' " said the Goddess. "If you boast infinite attack strength, then I'll respond, 'There is another infinity behind that, which makes your infinity look like a one.' If you manage to surpass that, then I will just add another layer on top. If you continue to get stronger infinitely, then I will just get stronger at a thousand times that speed."
"Now, what will you do next?" she continued. "Use some sort of instant death power where you just have to look at the target? Use an ability to steal your opponent's powers? Make use of some sort of special attribute that always makes you stronger than your opponent? Turn back time altogether and make it so this never happened? Use some amazing power to go to a higher world in order to rip up your opponent's settings? Activate something that will nullify all abilities? Erect an invincible barrier that will reflect any and every attack at twice the strength? Manipulate the very concept of victory in order to make yourself always win, ignoring everything else? Cheat and implant the concept of defeat onto your opponent so that they will always lose? Make use of a pure and simple power that will pierce through everything to always kill the target? I don't care what you do. Please, come at me until you're satisfied. None of it will do anything, anyway."
Yggdra declared that all forms of resistance were futile as she scornfully laughed.
Then, a big bang erupted with her as the epicenter. It didn't just happen once. Over and over, universes were born violently enough to one-sidedly erase everything before them. More universes were born outside of those universes, and more outside of those. This was repeated maybe a hundred times. At that point, Naru and her two companions were so small they seemed like insignificant garbage before Yggdra trashed all the newly born universes at once.
"Apocalypse Times One Hundred."
Countless worlds were simultaneously destroyed.
The scale of everything was so big that this basically did nothing. Yggdra herself most likely wasn't thinking too deeply about things. Her power was so overwhelming that everything up until now seemed like child's play. This was why she was said to be omniscient and omnipotent. Of course, she was neither.
However, Yggdra did possess enough simplistic strength to kill anyone who was. She was incredibly immature, incredibly childish brat—but that was what made her the strongest.
Facing that threat, Naru and the others were forced into an unimaginably hard fight.