Mastery of the Principles. A struggle for dominance. It sounded like something terribly complicated, but as I kept at it, I started to get the hang of things. It was like a game of territory—a simple game where the Silver Head and I fought over this space, and whoever dyed it their color won.
"Wh-what... What is this power?!"
Shaken by the unexpected counterattack, the Silver Head’s earlier composure had vanished. But was it really wise for it to get distracted? If it didn't focus, I was going to keep painting over its world at a breakneck pace.
"Well then, let's try reproducing Mr. Beere’s curry shop next. <Rebuild>."
With a single spell, I overwrote the gaudy, visceral interior. It was a handy bit of magic for renovations, though its true essence was the reconstruction of the world itself.
"I'll crush you... I'll crush you!"
The Silver Head tried to make a move, but I wasn't worried. The origin of its attacks was easy to spot; it seemed capable only of rewriting reality gradually from its own position. Perhaps that was because its concept of alteration was "swallowing the world," unlike my own method.
As long as I knew where the strike was coming from, it wasn't hard to handle. It felt like slapping away a reaching hand. By successfully blocking its spatial alterations, I didn't have to waste effort repainting, which meant there was almost no strain on me.
Conversely, I could choose where to rewrite at will. Since my targets changed randomly from the Silver Head's perspective, it found it nearly impossible to anticipate and intercept my moves.
The battle was firmly in my favor. Its spatial alterations were being neutralized while mine were almost always successful. Through that repetition, I seized control of nearly the entire space. My friends, who had been suffering moments ago, were beginning to find their second wind.
The Haniwa Knights were also in peak condition. It seemed my creations received a power boost within any territory I controlled, while the silver monsters conversely fell into a slump. While neither effect was dramatic on its own, a slight edge is all it takes to decide a stalemate. The knights, who had been struggling earlier, gained the upper hand the moment I controlled more than half the area. Now, the battle was decidedly in their favor. The silver monsters were barely clinging on, but they wouldn't last long. Once a single point in their line broke, the scales would tip decisively toward a Haniwa victory.
"It's over now!"
Time to finish this with a Pandora Gift. I wanted something even bigger than a Haniwa Knight—a real giant robot. I opened the box while wishing for something massive, and a gleaming humanoid form shot out. Its luster was nothing like the dull earth tones of a Haniwa; its body was sleek and polished. Finally, I’d managed to produce a golem body that wasn't a Haniwa. Except...
"Wait, why a Great Buddha?!"
What appeared was a Great Buddha, complete with the iconic tight curls and an archaic smile that seemed to see through everything. Sitting in a zazen pose, it began to move with an unsettlingly fluid motion. Its height easily dwarfed the Silver Head.
"Guh... What is this?!"
"Do you intend to purify us?!"
I suppose I should have expected as much from a Great Buddha. Its mere existence generated a purification effect. The Silver Head and its monsters began to writhe in pain.
"I won't let you... I won't let you!"
Desperate to resist, the Silver Head lashed out with its writhing hair, attempting to entangle the Great Buddha.
It was a futile effort. The Great Buddha brushed the attacks aside with ease, then began tearing out the hair as if it were nothing more than a nuisance.
The fight had become entirely one-sided. The Great Buddha’s power of purification had already annihilated the silver monsters. The main entity remained, but it was helpless against its new opponent.
Still, the Silver Head refused to yield.
"I-It's useless! As long as we are connected to the other side, our power will never fail! You will be the ones to exhaust your strength first!"
It certainly talked a big game for something currently having its hair plucked by a giant Buddha.
Still, its hair did grow back no matter how much was torn away, so it clearly was drawing power from the other world. I doubted its reserves were truly infinite, but just plucking it would turn this into a war of attrition. I didn't have the patience for that.
If that was the case, I just had to sever the connection. The anchor point was the large hole directly beneath the Silver Head—the one spot the entity was defending to the death. I’d have to move the Silver Head to plug it... but that seemed like a hassle. Maybe I'd just shove the thing back where it came from.
"All right, Great Buddha! Shove that head down into the hole!"
It didn't answer, but my intent got through. The Great Buddha stopped plucking hair, raised its joined hands high, and brought them crashing down on the Silver Head. The impact was violent. With a single strike, half the entity was hammered into the abyss.
"Great Buddha, keep pushing it in!"
Silent as ever, the Great Buddha obeyed. It pinned the head down with its left hand and delivered a series of heavy blows with its right fist.
"St... Stop! Stop it!"
The Silver Head resisted desperately, but the Great Buddha ignored its cries. Finally, the entity vanished completely into the hole.
Now!
"<Rebuild>."
I cast the reconstruction magic immediately. The gaping hole contracted violently. It didn't close entirely, but in its place, a round metal plate snapped into the shrunken opening. It looked exactly like a manhole cover.
"<Rebuild>."
I wasn't about to take any chances, so I performed more spatial alterations. I reinforced the manhole cover with a thick layer of concrete, hardening it so it couldn't be pried open. And then—
"Great Buddha, sit on top of that!"
At my command, the Great Buddha assumed the zazen pose atop the concrete pedestal.
Perfect.
The gate to the outer world was officially sealed!