#733 A Lineup of Kindred Spirits

In the end, Junior also made it to the finals.

“Dad, I did itttt.”

“Yeah! Way to go, Junior!”

The Asura figure Junior controls is insanely strong.

The fact that it has many arms is a great advantage.

If it gets into a grapple, it knows exactly how to move to easily overcome the opponent.

His Asura’s best technique is submission.

The way it entangles the opponent with its six arms is reminiscent of a spider.

When Junior used the Asura Buster as the finishing move in the final preliminary match, I thought, “Is this child for real?”

The way he perfectly controls the six arms as he wishes is remarkable.

Normally, the more controls there are, the more confusing it gets, but he pilots every single move with precision.

All I can say is, “As expected of my son.”

Even though I, his father, can’t handle magic so I can’t operate the figure at all!

Yet my son can? What’s up with his genes?

“Isn’t it because my genes are more dominant? Junior takes after me.”

Platy strongly asserts her own genes only at times like this.

“But isn’t this bad...? Mmh...!”

What’s bad, you ask? I’ve made it to the finals, and so has Junior.

That means the chances of me and Junior facing each other are at their peak.

As a father, I can’t afford to lose to show my dignity, but at the same time, I don’t want Junior, a child, to know the harshness of competition just yet.

He may cry in sadness if his painstakingly created Asura figure is brutally destroyed!!!

If a stranger does something like that, it’s one thing, but if I, a family member, do it, he might dislike me!

The Demon King’s tragedy is still fresh in my memory after his son called him “the worst” for crushing his new friend with all his might!

I don’t want to be disliked by my son, but I want to maintain my dignity as a father!

What should I do?!

“I’m actually the one who’s going to fight...” murmurs Belena.

“So you’re saying Junior’s hate will be directed at you?”

“I don’t have such a noble mindset. Please don’t use people as your personal shield.”

Belena has become quite bold.

Well, whatever will be, will be.

The God Fight Olympia finals are about to begin; I just hope I can finish without confronting Junior.

***

Still, there are more than a hundred players left. The denominator was huge.

With this many, I might be able to avoid facing Junior!

“I’m gonna try my best to beat Daddd.”

But why is this child so serious about overthrowing me?

Did I do something to upset him?

“Every son has the right to oppose his father. And the father must respond to that.”

Platy is spouting her wrestler philosophy again.

It’s okay; I want to live peacefully with my sons for the rest of my life!!

No, in this situation, the only option is to have either Junior or me defeated by one of the hundred or so finalists!

Given the sheer number of participants, I can’t keep track of all of them. I have no idea what kind of strong competitors might still be lurking.

Among them, there are some notable ones...

Wait a minute.

I spy a familiar face.

“Lord Saint! What a coincidence to meet you here!”

“Arowana?”

Why are you here, of all places?

Aren’t you the Mermaid King?

The mere appearance of Arowana, a merfolk, here on land is as absurd as encountering a flying shark.

Moreover, Arowana is royalty.

I’d say that’s incredibly rare!

“I was invited by the Demon King! As a friend, I couldn’t refuse to participate!!!”

Oh yeah, the Demon King and Arowana are buddies.

There’s also their friendship as two kings, so if the Demon King is participating, then so is Arowana.

Is that how it works?

“Have a look, Lord Saint! This is my God Figure, crafted with the Mermaid Kingdom’s finest technology!!!”

What Arowana showed me was, as expected, a figure of the god Poseidon.

While Hades figures are mainstream, daring to choose Poseidon is pretty edgy.

It also expresses Arowana’s “merfolk-ness.”

“I’m not just participating for fun! This modified Poseidon figure, incorporating cutting-edge technology, is here to showcase the highest tech of the Mermaid Kingdom!”

Oh, Arowana.

You’re carrying quite a load, being the Mermaid King and all.

“The key feature of this Poseidon figure, modified by my wife Puffer and Prime Minister Zoth Syra, is its transformation mechanism!”

“Transformation?!”

That’s gonna make every young boy swoon!

“Transform!!!”

At Arowana’s shout, the leg parts of the Poseidon figure fold up, and at the same time, something like a fish tail appears.

“The Poseidon figure in mermaid form can swim freely underwater! This is our proud amphibious God Figure of the Mermaid Kingdom!”

“But there’s no underwater stage in this tournament, right?”

Even if it has an underwater form, it would be useless.

“Nooooooooooo!”

Arowana crumbles.

“Why?! Wouldn’t they normally anticipate underwater battles?! If it were our kingdom, we would!”

“Well, you do come from an underwater kingdom.”

“I am most dissatisfied! I’ll firmly insist that the organizers prepare an underwater stage for the next tournament! No, we’ll host our own tournament in our kingdom, with all battles underwater!!!”

Arowana is about to misuse his power as king.

Well, I guess I’ll leave it to Zoth Syra to apply the brakes there. I made her big wish come true the other day, so I hope she’ll work hard in return.

In addition, there’s another familiar face.

It’s Brown Kato, the S-class adventurer!

“Why are you here too, Kato?!”

“If you’re a man from modern Japan, there’s no way you wouldn’t be interested in this event! Doesn’t the same go for you, Saint?!”

Indeed, as Kato pointed out, any otherworlder who knows the model kit boom couldn’t possibly skip this event.

“I invited a former hero I know, but she turned me down, saying she wasn’t interested in robots!”

Well, perhaps not everyone was.

Surely girls aren’t attracted to robots...?! Unless the pilot is a handsome young boy, then things are different...!

“But seeing your creation, Saint... You’ve hit on some really niche ideas...! The dedication to making Susano-O from Ares’ body... I get it!”

Oh, do you?

“SUSANO-O DOESN’T THINK OF US AS TOOLS!!!”

HAHAHAHAHAHA!

Good old Kato!

How delightful it is to share this conversation with a friend.

At the same time, it’s grating when everyone is going wild over something you know nothing about, so the disapproving stares we’re getting are just unbearable!

“So, Kato, are you participating too? What kind of figure did you create?” 

“Well, since I’ve come all the way to another world, I wanted to try something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time... it’s called Modern Knowledge Unrivaled!”

What...?!

That means...!

“Based on that concept, I’ve finished... my beloved Full Armor Hades Heavy Arms Hell Custom!!!”

A Hades statue decked out with rifles, gatlings, and bazookas all over its body?!

This guy brought the concept of heavy weaponry to another world!

“Fuhahahaha! In the world of God Figure Fight, where battles are still primarily hand-to-hand, nothing can match my weaponry blasting away from a safe distance!”

There’s another immature person here!

Kato... I was too scared to do it, but he managed to import firearms into another world...

How terrifying. Yet, there’s a certain appeal that speaks to me.

“I, who am immature, have left no stone unturned! I have already incorporated into this machine the ultimate destructive power of firearms!”

“The ultimate destructive power?!”

What on earth is that?!

“Self-destruction.”

The moment Kato presses the switch, the Hades figurine, a mass of heavy weaponry, explodes and disappears on its own.

Not a trace was left.

“...As Kato’s figure has been destroyed, he is disqualified.”

The import of heavy weaponry into another world was narrowly thwarted.

By the way, how can Kato, an otherworlder like me, control figures with magic?

“I practiced, and somehow I managed to do it.”

No kidding...!