PROLOGUE

PURE SPITE

The creatures known as cryptids possessed nothing if not a wide variety of characteristics. Most of them were incapable of cooperating with others and simply did whatever they wanted. However, there were also groups of cryptids who shared similar characteristics. Highly intelligent, they sought to protect one another, forming alliances that could hold their own against stronger opponents. It was proof that even the cryptids, who fought relentlessly, without showing any sign they feared death, possessed a definite level of intelligence.

It was perhaps inevitable that the insectors would evolve from the cryptids. And now…

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-haa-ha-ha-ha-haaa!”

Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon, let out its first cry of evolution. It was the birth of a new life.

A rainbow-colored cocoon enveloped Ivalage, and within that, its body reconstructed itself. Spiritual life-forms were free to choose their appearance and size, but Ivalage had neither any concrete form nor any will of its own. It was an accumulation of energy, and it was growing to an enormous size, taking on an appearance as ominously evil as it was terrifying to behold.

But as a result of this evolution, Ivalage underwent a staggering change. It shrank to the size of a human child, its gigantic store of energy condensed down even as its mere presence was devastatingly conspicuous.

The remains of the cocoon enveloped its regal form, its pure white skin visible through the gaps. Its snow-white hair, which seemed to absorb light itself, was as airy as fluff from a dandelion. Its cherry-colored lips were both charming and twisted in an evil grin—and its golden eyes gleamed with intelligence.

Ivalage gained this novel emotion called “enmity,” and its senses began to blossom. It was the embodiment of malice, gifted a clear will of its own, and so it decided to show off its existence to the world.

But before that, Ivalage recalled something. With its new emotions, its intelligence accelerated—and thanks to that, it understood it had been abandoned.

It was lonely. It was frustrated. It couldn’t stand for this.

There was a time when it was a perfect being—a singular presence that embodied everything at once. It was satisfied. It may have lacked intelligence or feeling or emotion, but that also meant no anxiety, no complaints. Not even boredom.

Then half of it was taken away. Its dreamlike sense of omnipotence vanished, and it was exposed to a reality that was impossible to gauge. Even so, Ivalage had no complaint—it lacked the intelligence to voice any—but still, it couldn’t shake the feeling of loss, the loneliness that came and went in its mind.

That was no longer true. Ivalage had gained a sense of self. It had gained intelligence, understood its situation, awakened to its emotions, and vowed revenge. If it had lost something, it would simply take it back…and if it could swallow up the entire world, everything that had abandoned it would return. It would destroy everything Veldanava had created—that was how Ivalage would achieve its goal. It was unfortunate for Ivalage and the rest of the world that malice was the first emotion it felt. It envied all living things, and therefore, it never doubted or hesitated for a moment. It was determined to destroy the world.

Before the awakened evil god stood a door. A gate leading to another realm—the Celestial Palace. Beyond it must have lain the countless worlds created by Veldanava, realms Ivalage couldn’t even contemplate. If Ivalage destroyed them and swallowed them up, one by one, it would surely be satiated someday.

Ivalage was already fantasizing about that moment.

“Ah-ha!”

Some responded to this contented laugh. They were the kings who ruled the masses—a beast who raced through the void, a bird who flew through dimensions, and a fish who swam through the stars. They were the three servants who loved Ivalage, this chaos dragon with lofty dreams, as their own mother.

The rulers of the cryptids—a race whose innate abilities could rival even those of Zeranus, former king of the insectors—had received the favor of Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon, through its evolution. Ivalage’s already formidable power had grown beyond anyone’s control with the addition of self-awareness. It had an unimaginable impact on every race derived from it.

“Ah-ha!Ah, my lovely servants. This must be what ‘cute’ means, huh?”

Ivalage grew even more cheerful, rejoicing in the emotions it felt for the first time in its life. So, carried away by its excitement, it thought about giving its servants a gift so they could share in its joy.

“Hmm…hmmm… Ooh, I know! I’ll give all of you names, too. Just sit back and let your mommy give you the most wonderful names you’ve ever heard!”

A name was the first gift Ivalage had ever received. It had never realized it before, but now that it had gained sentience, it understood how happy this gift had made it. That had been its first experience with happiness, something Ivalage wasn’t shy about expressing with all its innocent emotion.

However, as ignorant as Ivalage was, it was still the embodiment of evil itself. Therefore, even the act of naming another creature meant something different from the norm.

“Um… You’re Canter.”

Ivalage looked at the void-racing beast.

The beast named Canter was suddenly jolted with an intense barrage of emotion. Ivalage’s malediction was passed on to the beast along with its name.

It gave the other two beasts similar names. The dimension-crossing bird was Flutter, who inherited Ivalage’s feelings of resentment. The star-navigating fish was Paddler, who inherited Ivalage’s feelings of hatred. The names might have been cute, but all the dragon’s malice came streaming into each one.

Even without the names, the three servants would have done anything for their mother. Receiving this new gift made them more driven than ever. They would act without hesitation, even sacrificing their own lives, to fulfill their mother’s wishes.

The evolution of the three servants was complete, and their appearances embodied sinister evil.

Canter had the body of a giant lion with the head of a dragon, its entire body covered with reptilian scales. Its tail was like a poisonous snake, split into eight parts and writhing freely behind it. It also had eyes all over its body, meaning it lacked blind spots. A viscous, sticky enzyme oozed from small protrusions, forming a hazy mist around Canter. Even a demon lord–class monster could very well die just from touching Canter’s aura.

Flutter was now two-headed, with each head belonging to a different sex. It was an elegant-looking demon bird, with an eagle-like body and a peacock’s tail. Its entire form was covered with feathers made of crimson steel, shining golden in the air, making it look more like an inorganic machine than a living creature. A closer look revealed even Flutter’s feathers were metal.

Paddler, meanwhile, was the most bizarre of the trio—a fish monster who, despite it all, also possessed a strange sort of beauty. It had a pointed, squid-like form, but there was no single head. Instead, numerous tentacles grew from the round torso. Looking closely at these tendrils, one could see they were made up of small, hinge-like joints, allowing total freedom of movement. A collection of small, strange-looking parasitic creatures with skin made of alionium covered much of Paddler’s body.

The trio couldn’t be more different from one another, but they all shared a common trait: their bizarreness. They were nothing anyone could ever see in the realm of living creatures, and the lack of rhyme or reason to their forms was what made them so unique.

The same was true of their peoples. The cryptids serving each of the three beasts inherited the traits of their parents, with the higher-ranking ones reaping more of the rewards than the common grunts. They were more vicious and powerful than a creature generated from the ether via magicules. This also applied to the “evolutions” they endured; all these fantastical creatures, tainted by malice, had undergone evolutions that were evil beyond imagination.

Even the lowest of the older creatures, the ones highest in rank among the cryptids, had enough power to be classified as Disasters. Their numbers exceeded one hundred, and if you counted all those who served under them as well, the scale reached into the five figures.

The huge horde of cryptids led by Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon was like an army of evil gods heralding the end of the world.

“Aw, this is fun. A lot of fun. Come on! Let’s go play!”

Ivalage gave the order. It had a big smile on its face, but its eyes weren’t so friendly.

Staring intently at the Celestial Palace, it began to move silently. Its eyes were full of hatred for those who had abandoned it. Ivalage reached the palace, vowing to take back everything it had lost. Normally, the large gate connecting to the key world would be shut tight, requiring a key to go through…but for some reason, the gate was wide open. Daggrull, the gatekeeper, was absent, and anyone who wanted to go through had nothing stopping them.

Additionally, a tremendous shock wave had pierced through Skyspire Tower beyond the gate, traversing the ground until it reached the Celestial Palace. It was the fallout from Drago-Nova, the massive explosion unleashed by Milim. The interior of Skyspire Tower had been completely destroyed. Each of its floors had been blown away, leaving a gaping hole through which the cryptid army could pass unhindered.

“Ah-ha!This is fun!!”

No one could stop Ivalage. Accompanied by this army from Hell, the innocent, evil god strode forward. And as it crossed between worlds…

“…There you are!”

Ivalage noticed the fragments scattered throughout the key world. They were traces of those who had once been connected to Veldanava, the Star-King Dragon.

Ivalage laughed. Brimming with hatred for those whom Veldanava loved, it swore to destroy the world. The army of evil gods responded to Ivalage, ready to trample across the planet.

It was time to swallow everything up and become both “everything and one” again…

CHAPTER 1

THE LORD OF VICE

Rewinding to before the battle in the labyrinth began…

Once the policy was decided at a meeting of the leaders of Tempest, the world’s only nation of monsters, Testarossa quickly sprang into action. As soon as she left the Control Center, she sent a Thought Communication to Cien, who had remained in the Kingdom of Englesia. After briefly informing him of the meeting’s content, she ordered him to consult with Hinata and decide on the next course of action.

Next, as she was about to contact Moss, she was greeted by a stern-looking Soka.

“Oh?” said Testarossa.

“Allow me to guide you,” Soka told her.

“Don’t you need to assist Sir Soei?”

Soka nodded lightly. “I have already dispatched my team to assorted relevant locations.”

This much was true. Hokuso was in the Holy Empire of Lubelius, Saika in the Holy Void of Damargania, and Nanso in the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion. They were serving the various Replications of Soei, scattered across several battlefields so they could gather information more quickly.

Toka was on a mission in the area Testarossa was heading to, but Testarossa had lost contact with her. Judging by the situation, Toka had probably been trapped in the ice world created by Velzard. If Toka, who served under Soka, had been turned into an ice statue, it was only natural Soka would join the rescue mission.

“…All right,” said Testarossa.

She didn’t need the situation spelled out for her. Guided by Soka, the two headed for an isolated room dedicated to teleportation. In order to prevent enemy invasion, it was forbidden to transport people directly from inside the labyrinth to the outside. This was an inconvenience for those with free access to Spatial Transport, but safety had to take priority, so everyone meekly adhered to the rule.

Testarossa thought things over as they walked. To be honest, even with Soka’s abilities, she would be little more than a distraction to Velzard. Understanding this, Testarossa accepted Soka’s requests. Combat required more than just fighting power; you also needed firm analysis and communication skills. If Soka could relay information to the Control Center, it’d keep Testarossa from having to worry about less vital matters. It wasn’t essential, but it would be helpful.

Besides, she could understand Soka’s desire to help her troops caught up in this disaster. She, too, had to rescue Carrera and the other demons, so working with Soka instead of rejecting her would increase their chances of success. Still, if Testarossa simply brought her along, it’d mean nothing but a pointless death for Soka. Guy and Velzard had both returned, after all, and if Soka was exposed to a fully raging Velzard, she’d instantly die before she even took ice-statue form.

I don’t know what Velzard is thinking, but I wonder if she’s really fighting Guy seriously. Perhaps that’s her intention, although I don’t think even she can hold out against him…, thought Testarossa.

The battlefield of the former Eurazania was encased in a world of ice…but that, too, was strange. If Velzard willed it, it’d be easy for her to turn all living things into little flecks of frozen dust, skipping the frozen statue step entirely. If that happened, maybe the demons could be revived later, but otherwise there’d be no survivors. Their status as ice statues was the only reason they still had a chance of being alive at all.

That’s right. Lady Velzard is a merciless creature, but she never does anything on a mere whim. It seems reasonable to assume she doesn’t intend to kill anyone here. And if that’s the case…

What was Velzard’s true purpose? Testarossa didn’t know, but she was convinced it was unlikely Velzard was being manipulated by Feldway. It’d be difficult enough to control Primals like Testarossa, let alone the True Dragons who reigned supreme among spiritual life-forms. It was inconceivable to Testarossa that any True Dragon in their prime could be controlled. It wasn’t impossible, but given the precedent, it was more plausible to believe Velzard had willingly done all of this.

The most likely explanation was that Feldway had asked Velzard to delay Guy. Testarossa understood there was a natural rivalry between him and Velzard, so it was natural to think she and Feldway found common ground. However, Testarossa suspected there was more to it than that.

I wonder if Sir Rimuru could have come up with the perfect answer. No…I can’t keep relying on him for everything. I’ll do what I can, in my own way.

If there was an answer, then it was worth pondering over, but if not, any further thought was a waste of time. If she could read Velzard’s mind, that’d be the best solution of all, but even someone like Testarossa couldn’t perfectly comprehend the mind of a True Dragon.

Either way, it was clear that unnecessary sacrifices had to be avoided. In that case, she needed to take every possible safety measure as she tackled this mission.

“Moss, come here.”

“Yes, my lady.”

After summoning her trusted servant Moss, Testarossa stopped in her tracks and called out to Soka. She locked eyes with her, testing her resolve.

“You’re coming with me, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” said Soka. “My mission is to investigate the situation on the ground. If possible, I’ll try to rescue any survivors—”

“Wait. That’s not possible.”

“What?”

“You don’t seem to understand, so let me spell it out for you. Velzard’s ice and snow are freezing everything they touch. It’s stopping all activity—yes, even life itself.”

“?! So it’s too late—?”

“No, it’s not,” Testarossa said, calming Soka down and explaining the situation so she could understand. “It’s only stopped for now, and that means it can be restarted later.”

“Huh?”

“In other words, it’s not an attack. Instead…”

Yes, Velzard’s ice and snow was more like a protective barrier covering that entire land.

Long ago, Testarossa had been lucky enough to witness Velzard fighting Guy. He had been sneaking looks at the scenery around the planet from his home in the demon realm, and the battle was nothing short of spectacular. Velzard’s Air Wall, which solidified the atmosphere itself, easily blocked all of Guy’s attacks…but in the next moment, the wall was easily shattered by a series of magical strikes. This scene kept repeating itself, the exchange of transcendent techniques proving both of them were in a class of their own.

At that time, Testarossa couldn’t find any weaknesses in either Velzard or Guy. Now, however, she could understand the nature of their techniques. The ice and snow Velzard threw over the land froze everything in place. It was probably the same principle as Air Wall—a defensive technique—but she extended the effect by freezing everything in the local area. If you simply used Air Wall to trap an opponent, they’d likely break free within a short time, making it a less than permanent solution. Combine it with this freezing, however, and you should be able to immobilize an opponent for as long as you need. It was like an icy prison that seized your very conscious. Even Carrera couldn’t escape it; its strength and precision were both quite alarming.

And yet, it was originally a defensive technique…

“I think she’s protecting them all so they won’t get caught up in this fight,” Testarossa said to Soka.

“Um… What?”

“There’s no doubt the ice statues would be difficult for anyone to destroy.”

Testarossa sounded sure about that.

Soka’s expression changed as things began dawning on her. “So does that mean Lady Velzard has no intention of fighting us?”

That was a difficult question. Testarossa needed a moment to reply.

“I don’t think Lady Velzard is hostile to us, at least. She must have some kind of plan, one she doesn’t want anyone to interfere with. That’s why she’s resorting to this.”

She wasn’t being controlled by Feldway; they just happened to have the same motivations. So Velzard created a situation convenient for her to achieve her goals.

Testarossa explained all this to Soka.

“So you’re saying we don’t need to stage a rescue?” Soka asked.

“I suppose so, yes. Or, really, we’d never be able to move anyone out of there anyway.”

“…?”

Seeing Soka’s lack of comprehension, Testarossa added some detail.

“That ice and snow hasn’t just frozen all living things in place. It’s frozen the ground itself—part of the surface of this planet. All that, too, is protected from being destroyed by Lady Velzard, along with anyone else.”

“I see…”

Soka finally understood…sort of. She did comprehend the idea, but the scale Testarossa was trying to encapsulate was so vast, she couldn’t really grasp it. Still, she got what Testarossa was driving at.

Encasing everything in ice to protect the planet is hard to believe…, thought Soka. But if that’s the truth, then perhaps there’s no safer place we can move those statues to right now. Maybe that’s why…

Then Soka recalled what Testarossa said. It wasn’t that they didn’t need to move them; it was that they couldn’t. If that entire piece of the planet was frozen solid, the ice statues—firmly part of that mass—couldn’t be budged. That was what Testarossa meant.

“It seems you’ve come around,” said Testarossa. “Then let me ask you again. Are you going with me?”

If there was no need for a rescue mission, all Soka could really do was intelligence work. And if that meant delving into this hellscape where Velzard the Ice Dragon was engaged with Guy the demon lord in a no-holds-barred fight, there was obviously no guaranteeing Soka’s safety any longer.

Was it really worth taking such a risk?

Yes, it was.

Soka nodded. “If you’ll have me, then yes.”

She was every bit as much a spy as Soei, the one she served, and she had a duty to report back to headquarters on what was happening on the ground. Soei would never say it outright, but he was overexerting himself. Soka, who had been following him all this time, was the only one who picked up on that.

“You might die, you know,” Testarossa warned.

“I’m prepared for that!” Soka answered, not hesitating. That resolve was simply beautiful.

Testarossa smiled, satisfied with this. “Well, to be honest, there isn’t much you can do on site. If it’s just reporting the situation to the Control Center, we can do that ourselves well enough.”

“…”

“But I do have a role only you can play.”

“What’s that…?”

“A marker.”

“A marker?”

“Yes, that’s right. The battle between Lady Velzard and Guy has turned that area into an unobservable danger zone. It’s no longer possible to teleport there directly, so we’ll have to jump to a location that’s far away enough to not be affected.”

Soka nodded. But only when she heard Testarossa’s next words did she understand her intention.

“However, if we had someone there we all knew, we could jump directly to them.”

Guy, Velzard, and Testarossa were well acquainted with one another. It was possible to use them as landmarks for Spatial Transport…but it’d be a coin flip. Jump over at the wrong time, and Testarossa and Soka would wind up right in the middle of a devastating attack. They didn’t know what was happening over there, so the situation immediately after the Spatial Transport would be left entirely to chance. Even for Testarossa, that’d be nothing short of suicide—a dangerous act for everyone involved.

But what if there was someone on the ground observing the situation?

“I see. So as long as I’m alive, wherever I’m located is guaranteed to be a safe zone…?” Soka asked.

“That’s right.”

Soka’s quick wit brought a smile to Testarossa’s face. It was a gentle smile, but also cold and ruthless. Bluntly speaking, she was asking Soka to be her canary in a coal mine. Plus, this was a job anyone could do, not just Soka—as long as they were alive and in the area, it didn’t matter who was there. The only thing anyone had to gain from taking that huge risk was the little bit of time it’d earn them before reinforcements arrived. Under normal circumstances, there was no need to even think about doing that.

But Soka had already made up her mind.

“Not a problem. If I can be of use, I will fulfill my duty.”

Her gaze was as clear as the blue sky.

As Soei’s closest confidant, I cannot allow him to think I’m useless, Soka thought. I’ll take care of this…and I’ll report to him what’s going on!

That determination was enough to move Testarossa’s heart.

“All right. That’s lovely to see, Soka.”

She looked at Soka with new respect. All Rimuru’s leaders were strong-willed people, and Soka was no exception. She was just as wonderful as the rest of them.

Testarossa’s smile deepened. Then she issued an order into empty space.

“Moss, I want you to protect Soka at all costs.”

When Soka looked over, Moss was kneeling there.

“As you wish,” he said with a nod.

“Um…?”

Soka panicked a bit. If Moss was there, her role was already redundant. But neither Testarossa nor Moss acted like anything was amiss.

“Both Moss and I can erase our presence, of course. Even the other leaders of Tempest would have a hard time locating us,” said Testarossa. “Diablo might be able to do it, but for anyone else, it’d be well near impossible.”

Soka thought their presences would be detected eventually, but upon further consideration, she realized not a lot of Tempest’s top leaders were acquainted with Moss. Soei employed him for work, but it was a pretty one-sided relationship. That was true for Benimaru as well, who received information from Moss but never really gave him anything back.

For demons—spiritual life-forms with a natural gift for working in the shadows—revealing their location all the time would be pure folly. Constantly advertising their presence went against their very nature; it was a form of torture. If they had to, they would, but no demons would want to draw attention to themselves if Velzard was potentially around.

“If we are too conspicuous,” Moss whispered to Soka, “we risk distracting Lady Velzard and making her target us first.”

Seeing the wisdom in that, Soka decided to accept Moss’s protection. The two of them headed for the freezing, howling hell of Velzard’s creation.

The destination of Moss’s teleportation was at the very edge of the domain dominated by Velzard’s thrall. Even Moss, no pushover as a demon, couldn’t leap directly into the impassible expanse of snow and ice. That, however, was all part of the plan.

“From here forward,” Moss whispered to Soka, “we must be prepared to die. Are you sure you want to go? If you want to turn back, now is the time.”

Rimuru, demon lord and supreme ruler of Moss and his followers, had given his subordinates an absolute order: Don’t die. In the current situation, it was an impossible ask.

But still, it’s our mission to somehow accomplish that…

Testarossa was less than enthusiastic about the thought. If they wanted to stick to this rule, they needed a perfect understanding of the situation. Both Guy and Velzard were more powerful than Testarossa. If she got caught up in a battle between the two of them, there was a good chance she’d die without even knowing what happened. From this point on, they couldn’t afford to make any careless mistakes. Testarossa and Moss could be revived if given enough time, but that wasn’t possible for Soka.

With that in mind, Testarossa’s consciousness flew onto the battlefield. It was a world dyed white. Velzard’s ice and snow swallowed everything, painting it all one color. But this was convenient for Testarossa. She was Blanc, the Original White—a beautiful queen of ivory, merciless and coldhearted to her enemies.

Testarossa’s consciousness melted into the whiteness. She instantly grasped all the information she needed. Data gathering was Moss’s specialty, but there was no way Testarossa, his superior, would lose out to him. She usually had Moss do all the dirty work, but when she put her mind to it, she could perform most necessary tasks herself.

Lady Velgrynd’s power is mitigating the effects on the ground. It’s fully preserving the battlefield. Velzard’s power has frozen the surface, but still…

If Guy and Velzard clashed, the shock waves alone would have an immeasurable impact on the area. The only reason the planet’s axis hadn’t shifted off its usual track was because Velgrynd was protecting it. But even Velgrynd found it difficult to intervene in the battle between them. No one but those two could end this fight.

The main concern was Velzard’s motivation. She had turned not only Carrera and her demons into statues, but all of Milim’s troops as well. If she intended to kill them, she wouldn’t have gone through all that trouble to preserve them. If she was just looking to save lives, well, Feldway didn’t care about any of that—more evidence Velzard wasn’t being controlled by him at all.

Speculation and uncertain assumptions can lead to fatal mistakes. We need to assess the situation more carefully.

Testarossa was cautious. She was almost at the core of the matter, but now she halted this line of thinking. Unlike ordinary people, she never acted without certainty—that was her nature.

In order to confirm the situation, Testarossa surveyed the entire scene from above. The center of her attention was, of course, the fight between Guy and Velzard. On a battlefield impossible for ordinary people to even approach, Testarossa kept up her observations, like a sightseer taking in a view even a champion-class fighter couldn’t fathom.

Velzard emitted a pale blue glow from her entire body as she canceled out Guy’s attacks. The beautiful curtain of fine, powdery snow that protected her drew patterns in the air reminiscent of dragon scales with each impact. This was Snow Crystal in action, an impervious wall of defense Velzard was justifiably proud of.

I wonder if even Guy can break that, Testarossa mused. It’s hard to say yet. I don’t think he’s trying his hardest right now…

A considerable amount of time had already passed since the battle began, but Guy and Velzard were still watching each other. They were both transcendent fighters, and at this level, they knew how battles tended to turn out—and so did Testarossa, who was nonplussed. If there was no decisive opportunity to win in sight, rushing to strike would only lead to defeat. The tried-and-true strategy of wearing down an opponent reigned supreme in this realm, and so there was no choice but to continue carrying out that tedious work.

With that in mind, Guy seemed at a disadvantage. Velzard was efficiently defending herself while looking for an opening in Guy’s defense. In response, Guy seemed to be cycling through a menu of useless attacks in his attempts to break through Snow Crystal.

I know it looks that way, thought Testarossa, but this is Guy we’re talking about. He must have some kind of plan. For example…

If he was just trying to buy time, that was probably the best way to do it. Guy had an upcoming battle with Ivalage to think about, so he wouldn’t want to gas himself fighting Velzard. If she was going to focus on defense, it made sense to cycle through these moderate-size attacks to conserve energy.

But that alone won’t accomplish anything. Where does he plan to end this? What’s his strategy?

Testarossa continued observing. As she grew more accustomed to the battle, the next thing that caught her eye was Velzard’s beauty. It was marred by a rage that roared like a violent sea, but Velzard’s golden eyes never left Guy. Those eyes usually seemed so gentle, but they had lost all trace of their former kindness. They were as cold as icicles, and nothing but Guy was in their sights.

…I still can’t read her. Perhaps it’d be safer to ask her directly about her intentions.

That completed Testarossa’s assessment of the situation. She’d already worked out the locations of Carrera and the others, who were frozen into ice statues. Testarossa began to move toward them, making sure to keep Soka protected as she continued preparing for battle.

“Are you planning to assist Sir Guy?” a concerned Moss asked her.

Testarossa shot him a cold glance.

“…Apologies, my lady!”

Moss panicked, thinking he had spoken out of turn, but Testarossa didn’t lecture him as she usually would.

“The real battle hasn’t even begun yet,” she told him. “There’s no need for me to get involved.”

“F-fair point!”

“Besides, if Guy is going to give it his all, my presence will only be a distraction.”

Testarossa was just as transcendent as Guy and Velzard, but Guy and Velzard possessed godlike powers compared to her. There was no way Testarossa would even think of interrupting a battle between them.

Now, she realized, she needed to clarify why she was here. The most important thing was to rescue Carrera and the others. The second priority was to stop Velzard’s rampage. They also had to be ready to accept reinforcements immediately once the intruders were eliminated from the labyrinth and the situation had settled down over in Tempest proper.

But some of these objectives were already no longer relevant. Most important was the rescue operation; they had to protect all the ice statues in this place, including Milim’s people, but Testarossa had already concluded this was no longer a pressing issue. She had suspected it from the beginning, but her observations essentially confirmed Velzard had no intention of killing anyone—and even if Velzard had other ideas, it wasn’t like Testarossa could challenge her authority. So as far as Testarossa was concerned, they could put rescuing Carrera and the others on hold.

With that in mind, the secondary objective became the main goal. If Testarossa could stop Velzard, that’d solve all the problems in the area. That was why she was trying to read Velzard’s intentions…but even Testarossa couldn’t be too sure of them.

So she had no choice but to resort to force…albeit not the kind of blunt force Moss was worried about.

“Look at this beautiful, pure white. This whole land is dyed my color. Don’t you find that rather convenient?” she said to him.

“Ah…”

Moss firmly understood Testarossa’s intentions. His face turned pale as he realized what was about to happen.

………

……

…

Testarossa’s unknown power was called Nihilistic World. It was a power that, in so many words, could manifest the depths of Hell in this world, allowing her to construct a realm where all life could be annihilated—a world that belonged only to her. But of course, it wasn’t omnipotent. It required various conditions to be met, which actually made it rather inconvenient.

When she built a Nihilistic World, if the area was filled with “positive” life force, it would interact with the “negative” void energy manifested by Nihilistic World, making them cancel each other out and disappear. If this skill was expanded over a wide enough area, that would mean a mass slaughter of all life-forms inside.

Fortunately, the total amount of void energy that could be summoned was directly proportional to Testarossa’s own ability, naturally limiting the scope of Nihilistic World. But this was only true as long as Testarossa maintained control over the void energy, ensuring it didn’t overflow and trigger a runaway reaction. If she didn’t bother to, it had the potential to destroy the entire world—which was why Testarossa was so feared by most.

All that being said, using Nihilistic World effectively in battles against powerful foes was challenging. As mentioned earlier, the void energy was automatically canceled out by the life force of living things, so unless Testarossa cleared the land of creatures a little bit in advance, the size of the resulting world would be heavily stunted. If she wanted to point this skill at a powerful foe, she needed to keep unnecessary people or creatures from falling under its thrall, or else it’d be weakened beyond any usefulness. Between that and the way Nihilistic World didn’t discern between friend and foe, there were actually very few situations where it was helpful at all. It was extremely powerful, but mostly impractical—and even Testarossa, with all her intelligence, hadn’t figured out how to best use this power.

However, Testarossa had obtained the ultimate skill Belial, Lord of the Underworld. That was the spark allowing her to perfectly control this dangerously powerful ability. The synergistic effect was beyond imagination, granting Testarossa an absolute advantage that made her enemies seem pitiful by comparison. Moss, who had reached the number-two spot in Blanc’s force at one point, was fully aware of the terrifying nature of this ability. Life cannot exist in Hell; even the soul is destroyed and turned into energy. It was a true void of nothingness, a Hell only the higher spiritual life-forms could endure…and once you got down to the depths, even those beings couldn’t survive. That was exactly the sort of realm Testarossa could summon with Nihilistic World.

Incidentally, Ultima’s specialty, the dark magic Nihilistic Vanish, was a spell that mimicked this “depths of Hell” mechanism. This, however, was the real thing, no mere imitation. It didn’t just work across a wider area; it could turn a whole region of the planet into a hellscape, making it easy to understand how dangerous this spell was. In the event (likely or not) Testarossa failed to control it, the void energy would flow out endlessly, and the world would be swallowed up by the ever-expanding abyss and collapse upon itself.

Moss knew that. With a single passing whim from Testarossa, death would come, and no one would be able to resist it. The speed at which this white space would expand could surpass even the speed of light.

He had to escape immediately—as quickly as possible, before Testarossa unleashed her power. If caught in it, Moss would die instantly. Protecting Soka no longer mattered; Moss would be helplessly sacrificed. What’s more, resurrection didn’t even seem possible. He had never been in a situation where he had to try, nor did he want to be, so the truth remained unknown…but to Moss, it didn’t matter either way. He was content to remain ignorant of that question until the end of his virtually eternal life.

With that in mind, he was about to act swiftly, but then he suddenly thought he had it all wrong. Testarossa’s Nihilistic World was terrifying, but it wasn’t invincible. Setting up the right conditions for it was difficult, and even if she activated it, would it be enough to defeat such an overwhelmingly superior opponent? If it were someone on par with Testarossa, such as Carrera or Ultima, the outcome was unquestionable. However, the sheer amount of energy in a True Dragon would be much tougher to break down.

Plus, Guy was there, too. He was the strongest of the seven Primals, undoubtedly stronger than Testarossa.

If it were just Sir Guy, thought Moss, she might be able to defeat him, but…

But with both Guy and Velzard present, it was unknown how far the effects of Nihilistic World would reach.

Testarossa wasn’t the type to take risks. She was an intellectual, cautious person who’d assess the situation and seek the best solution. So why was she unleashing this kind of power right here and now?

Sir Guy and Lady Velzard are the only ones here, aren’t they? Or no—is that really true…?

Moss finally realized his assumption might have been wrong. Like Testarossa, Moss had also been gathering information. He had sent out his Replications to investigate this area. That information was shared with Testarossa, and nothing unusual had been found. That was supposed to be the case, but maybe something had been overlooked. Nihilistic World wouldn’t fail to affect someone who attempted to hide within its effective range. No matter what kind of concealment you attempted, the void energy would never miss it.

But what if that was what Testarossa was aiming at?

Does that mean there’s someone else here?!

Moss was stunned. If Testarossa, whom he feared and respected, had discovered that possibility…it had to be the truth. Everything, after all, was within her grasp.

………

……

…

“I’ll be more vigilant!” said Moss.

“Yes, please do,” Testarossa urged. “I am not a fan of incompetent subordinates.”

This was, of course, her way of showing kindness—proof she saw Moss as worthy. If he was truly incompetent, he wouldn’t even be able to stand close to Testarossa. His existence would be erased before she even spoke to him.

As deputy king of the Blanc force, Moss was well aware of that. He had maintained his current position by consistently choosing the correct answer around her, maintaining a success rate of over 90 percent. That hadn’t failed him this time, either. He sighed in relief, sensing the satisfied tone in Testarossa’s voice, as the world was once again engulfed in white.

“Quite bold of you, Testarossa. Amazing, too.”

The blue-haired beauty voiced her admiration as she stood next to Testarossa. It was Velgrynd, appearing before her in the Separate Body she had left behind in the area.

“It’s really nothing,” Testarossa replied. “I simply wanted to make sure this whole commotion was really Lady Velzard’s intention.”

“And for such a trivial purpose, you used a power that could destroy the world? You don’t see that every day, no.”

The two beautiful women stood side by side, smiling as they conversed. If you didn’t know the context, it would’ve been a sight to ogle. But for Moss, having been exposed to Nihilistic World, it was nothing short of a terrifying experience.

Come on! Cut me a break! I’m the Grand Duke of Hell, you know! One of the most powerful beings in existence! Yet I’m treated like this?!

What a thrill it’d be to say that out loud. But the moment he did, his fate would be sealed. He ought at least to have been allowed to internally vent his frustrations, though.

“U-um, thank you for protecting me,” Soka apologetically said, safe inside Moss’s barrier.

Ever since she arrived, she seemed to have difficulty keeping up with the rapidly changing situation, and Moss could see why. This whole area, filled with Velzard’s magical power, was blanked out by a blizzard charged with intense levels of magicules. A normal person would die instantly inside it, and an A-ranked adventurer would be in danger of dying within a few hours. On top of that, visibility was zero in this blizzard; even the sound was muffled. Magic Sense, used to detect the presence of magicules, was useless, making it impossible for Soka to grasp the situation. At best, she could just barely notice Testarossa, who was near Moss, and Velgrynd, who was next to her.

“Don’t worry about it. If you survive this, it’ll be mission accomplished.”

“But now I realize just how useless I am. It’s frustrating.”

“You’re fine. I’m in the same boat.”

Moss and Soka had far different levels of power. The rank difference between them was like a grown man versus a newborn infant. But despite that, Moss was in the same helpless situation as Soka. He didn’t feel humiliated; this was simply a reminder of the vast gap in strength between Moss and his master.

“So listen… Right now, our very existence is in the hands of Lady Testarossa,” he told Soka. “In this world of white, our lives can be ended on a single whim from her. We wouldn’t even be allowed to get reborn—we’d just be swallowed up by the void.”

“Um…?”

“That’s the essence of Nihilistic World, but we’re still only in the first stage. As long as Lady Testarossa doesn’t release the void energy, we can keep on living for now.”

If Stage 1 was the standby mode, Stage 2 was when the attack was launched—but as tough as it was to keep suppressing the torrent of power, Moss didn’t even know how long this state would last. He was just as helpless as Soka, and Soka understood she could do nothing. She wouldn’t have minded more of an explanation, but she suspected she wouldn’t understand it anyway. It was her presence within this space that mattered the most at the moment; everything else Moss would bear for her.

“…”

But Soka was still confused. She wanted to ask why they were using such a dangerous technique, but all Moss had done was explain the mechanics of the skill itself. Soka didn’t really want to hear that—it was only whetting her fears—but there was one thing she was glad to know. Moss, just like her, seemed to be unable to do anything. That much she definitely understood—her presence was extremely important, but nothing more than that.

Talented information gatherers like Testarossa and Moss had been along for the ride, which was why Soka hadn’t hesitated to join them. In this world of white, where hardly anything could be perceived, it’d take a considerable amount of time for reinforcements to arrive after being dispatched. If things went wrong, they could even get lost for good and never reach their destination. Even high-ranking Tempest officials had no guarantee of making it this far.

But things would be different if Soka was there…because with Soka as a marker, direct transport was possible. As Moss said, Soka could achieve her mission just by remaining alive. Soka understood there was no need to belittle herself over this. All she had to do was wait quietly in this place.

So in their corner of the white world, Moss and Soka huddled close together. Unconcerned with the two of them, Testarossa and Velgrynd continued their conversation.

“So was there any intervention?” Velgrynd asked Testarossa.

“That’s what I wanted to know. It’s why I took the trouble to show up and use this power.”

“Yeah. Well, to be honest, there’s not much I can do here. Before she headed to the Holy Void of Damargania, Milim unleashed Drago-Nova inside Skyspire Tower. I reinforced it with Star Barrier, so there was no major damage, but that doesn’t mean the crisis is over. We need to retain our strength for later.”

Velgrynd briefly explained the situation in Damargania. The gates of Skyspire Tower connecting Heaven and Earth had opened up, and Ivalage’s grand march would begin at any moment.

But that wasn’t all. Threats were emerging across the world as well.

“Milim has headed for Thalion,” Velgrynd added. “Her target is probably the Sacred Tree, but there’s no way for me to stop her. We’ll have to leave it to the folks over there.”

“Is Feldway also on his way to Thalion?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Hmm. It’s looking pretty dire, then.”

“It sure is,” Velgrynd said with a beautiful smile. “That means a lot of trouble for me.”

Champions from all over the world were gathering in the border region of Lubelius at Luminus’s request. Masayuki the Hero was there, serving as their leader, and Velgrynd wanted to devote the brunt of her attention to him. In fact, it was already too late to send in more troops, so Velgrynd’s assistance was going to be a must.

“So I have to help with that…and that’s why I’d like to leave the work here to you,” she told Testarossa.

“Even if we ignore the impact on the planet, there’s no doubt someone’s lurking behind Lady Velzard. This isn’t my area of expertise, so I can’t give any details, but I definitely sensed something.”

If the battle with Guy and his forces intensified, the impact on this planet would be no laughing matter. Even if things were fine for now, they couldn’t afford not to deal with this. That, combined with the presence of this new, unknown force that could sway the tide of battle, made for a troubling situation for Testarossa.

But at that moment, she received a Thought Communication from an unexpected source.

(Call my idiots over here. If you’re gonna intercept Ivalage in Damargania, there’s no point having them protect Leon’s domain.)

Surprisingly, Guy—who was still busy fighting Velzard—interrupted Testarossa and Velgrynd’s conversation. Testarossa was impressed he’d managed to send his thoughts through the dense blizzard of magicules.

(Oh? You were listening, too, Guy?)

Testarossa teased him for having the time to eavesdrop.

Guy ignored the remark. (There’s someone behind Velzard, isn’t there? I’ve been feeling something strange, too. That’s why I’ve been holding back to see what happens, but we have to settle this before Ivalage arrives.)

(What are you trying to say?)

(I’m telling you to get to work for a change, Testarossa!)

Testarossa smiled wryly, thinking she had probably picked up her boss’s habit of slacking off. It was a compliment to be compared to her beloved Rimuru, but she wasn’t happy about being called lazy to her face. Besides, Rimuru wasn’t slacking off. He was just busy with…things.

For that matter, Testarossa wasn’t trying to harass Guy by refusing or putting off his requests. Certainly, she found said requests annoying at best, but still, being compared to Rimuru—someone she fully supported—convinced her to ignore the barb.

“All right,” Velgrynd said. “Raine and Mizeri will take over maintaining the protective barrier. Moss, I want you to help them.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The only answers allowed were “yes” and “yes, my lady,” so Moss wasted no time replying. Even Velgrynd, his last hope if he wanted to get out of there, didn’t seem to think Moss was wholly incapable.

“Right. It’s in your hands, then.”

With that, she dispelled her Separate Body without wasting another moment. A few seconds later, the remnants of Velgrynd’s power connected with another point in space, and then a transport gate appeared, revealing Raine and Mizeri.

The battle in the white world was entering a new phase.

As soon as she arrived, Raine began to complain.

“It’s c-cold! I’m a Primal, and I’m still freezing.”

That was pretty typical of her. But Testarossa was ready to put her in her place.

“Shut up. I don’t need your complaints while everyone’s trying to work so hard.”

If this were Mizeri, who was always far too kind to Raine for her own good, there wouldn’t be a problem. But Testarossa wasn’t Mizeri.

“Fine, fine, I’ll get serious for a change.”

Raine had a look of discontent on her face as she cast a spell to reinforce Moss’s barrier.

“Hey, Moss, are you stronger than me, maybe?” she asked.

“Ha-ha-ha! Oh, don’t be silly…”

Moss, absolutely not wanting to be involved, brushed her off as soon as he could. But Raine wasn’t satisfied.

“This barrier can withstand most attacks, right?”

Moss’s barrier was constructed to protect only himself and Soka. Its strength was formidable, perfectly counteracting and annulling the aftershocks of the attacks launched by Guy and Velzard.

“Well,” said Moss, “our priority for now is survival.”

“Not even my own servants are capable of this,” said Raine.

“Indeed,” added Mizeri, “Khan and the rest couldn’t dream of building something of this caliber.”

Moss certainly didn’t mind the compliment, but he didn’t let it go to his head. He knew Raine was an expert at flattering people, then giving them all the menial tasks she herself didn’t want to do. Instead, he decided to take the initiative and assign some work himself.

“I’ve connected my barrier to the one Lady Velgrynd built here. Raine, you can take the lead. Mizeri, please make any necessary fine-tuning.”

Asking for help like this from the two Primals, far above him on the ladder, was tantamount to suicide. But this was an emergency, and it was also in line with what Testarossa wanted. Moss reasoned this much should be permissible, and he was correct.

“…You’re just as outstanding as I’d hope Testarossa’s right-hand man would be,” said Mizeri. “Very well. There’s no time for debate anyway.”

The next moment, Moss’s burden was suddenly lifted. Mizeri had begun to intervene as promised. The sensation of holding on to the reins of a wild horse with all his willpower disappeared, making him breathe a sigh of relief. But he couldn’t let his guard down yet.

“I don’t agree with Mizeri assisting and me taking the lead, but fine,” said Raine.

She had finished taking control of Moss’s barrier and forcefully seized the initiative. Even in the eyes of Moss, who was skilled at precisely controlling his magical power, it was a divine feat.

“Amazing…,” Moss marveled.

As Raine herself had said, Moss might have been stronger than Raine in a fight. He couldn’t say for sure unless he tried, but Moss believed he’d win if he was fully prepared and had the right strategy. With his secret move Infinite Eater, Moss could easily destroy any enemy with a lower magicule count than him. He had to carefully pick the right moment to invoke it, since it’d all be for naught if his target fled on him, but that secret weapon had kept him undefeated so far.

Since Raine and Mizeri’s magicule counts weren’t much different from Moss’s, it wasn’t unreasonable to think he could win, depending on how the battle went. But assuming that would be a mistake.

I could use Infinite Eater on Raine, but it probably wouldn’t work. I never imagined there would be this much difference in strength…, thought Moss.

His respect grew for the seven Primals. He reflected on his arrogance, promising himself he’d keep a low profile around them from now on.

Raine, meanwhile, was miffed.

What’s the deal here? Why does Moss have more magicules than me?!

Internally, she was frantic. By a very small margin, Moss’s count was actually a bit higher. She had jokingly asked if he was stronger than her, but she was half-serious about the question, too.

Testarossa had humiliated her in the past, once. Raine had conveniently erased the memory of that humiliation, but the lingering resentment continued to smolder deep within her heart. And now she was about to lose to one of Testarossa’s servants? It was more than enough to damage Raine’s pride.

Now she wasn’t just getting serious. She was getting super serious, taking the barrier over wholly from Moss. It was beyond childish, but for Raine, this was war. Moss thought he had gained the upper hand, but so did Raine. He might not have known this was war, but she was still showing him the full extent of her power.

Raine was convinced she had saved face with her peers…and the situation began to improve for them all.

Watching Raine out of the corner of her eye, Mizeri was awestruck. Not only was she impressed by Moss’s abilities, but she was also speechless at the wondrous magic Raine was weaving. It was the first demonstration she had put on in quite a while.

Raine is truly amazing. If she always gave her all like this, even Guy would value her more.

Mizeri was sure of it, although she missed the fatal flaw in her own logic. Raine wouldn’t be open to that advice at all. Being valued meant being given more work, and Raine was a demon who lived for the sake of her own hobbies. She hated having work assigned to her; instead, she believed work is something you find for yourself. As long as you had enough to put food on the table, that was good enough—this was her philosophy, and it was the main reason why she mostly just sat on her considerable talents.

Of course, Raine, being a demon, didn’t actually have to eat at all. If she ever ran into trouble, she could tap into Mizeri and her servants, so she never really had any problems. Frankly, she had already set up for herself an environment where she didn’t have to work at all. That was Mizeri’s fault for willingly cooperating—and, by extension, it was Mizeri’s fault Raine didn’t take her work seriously whenever she had any. Mizeri herself never realized this, which was a personality flaw of hers…but taking care of Raine made her perfectly happy, so this problem was unlikely to be resolved anytime soon.

Regardless, it was true that Mizeri was inspired by Raine, and that worked to everyone’s advantage here. It was with a newfound determination that Mizeri put her all into fine-tuning the magic barrier, carefully eliminating any vulnerabilities so Raine had an easier time working things. Thanks to that, the impact on the area was minimal—and the barrier more than reinforced enough to make up for the hole left by Velgrynd’s departure.

Testarossa smiled at this. Soka was fully defended, and she no longer had any worries. All that remained was…

“Now, who could be hiding here?”

Testarossa looked up at the fierce battle raging in the sky.

Guy was engaged in an extended aerial battle with Velzard. But he wasn’t tired. That was because neither of them was taking this very seriously.

………

……

…

A world of white.

All living things in this land, including flowers and trees, had been turned into perfect statues. This meant they could be revived once Velzard’s power was removed.

From that point of view, Velzard’s goal seemed to be different from Feldway’s. But Guy’s words still weren’t reaching Velzard. He tried to persuade her to stop this foolishness, but Velzard would not listen. She just smiled eerily and continued her attacks on Guy. All her strikes were little more than fun and games, but they contained enormous magical power, so it was dangerous to let his guard down.

Guy didn’t need to get serious about this, but he couldn’t ignore any of the moves Velzard made, either. Both of them were trying to feel out each other’s abilities while gradually increasing the power of their attacks. Occasionally they’d throw in attacks intended to inflict fatal damage, but they just knew each other too well. Every potential killer strike was instantly spotted and neutralized. It was so natural, even an exceptionally skilled spectator wouldn’t be able to tell which blows were fatal and which weren’t.

That was how far apart Guy and Velzard were from anyone else in terms of skill. Neither of them had suffered any damage at all. Velzard was the second-strongest True Dragon after Veldanava, capable of producing an endless supply of magicules within her body, so the concept of a war of attrition simply didn’t apply to her.

Strictly speaking, certain conditions were necessary for her to attain this level of invincibility. They involved being in a space where she could use Eternal World to create an enclosed world of white—a magicule blizzard. In this realm of blowing ice and snow, Velzard would circulate her magicules around, recovering them quicker than she consumed them, a sort of perpetual motion machine of magicules. Velgrynd would eventually tire if she repeatedly used her most high-powered secret techniques, but that strategy would be meaningless against Velzard.

Guy knew that. Even among the True Dragons, already beyond unfair in terms of force, Velzard was in a class of her own. In order to fend her off, he had to keep his own magicule consumption to a minimum. This was no problem for him, however. Instead of using his own magical force, he tapped into the magicules floating in space, just like a not-so-magically-inclined human conjuror would. Collecting magicules from the atmosphere took time and made his magic less efficient, but in terms of energy consumption, it was a great way to conserve power—and Guy was an expert at carrying out this sort of magic conservation.

The only issue was that almost all his magic was ineffective against Velzard.

Yeah, that’s the problem, isn’t it? thought Guy.

If nothing worked, there was no point. He understood that, but still, casting ineffective magic with the magicules in the air beat wasting his own energy on the effort. He had to repeat these attacks over and over again to find any sort of opening in Velzard, or else he’d never be able to defeat her. All his magicule force needed to be saved for the final blow.

This made the battle pretty nerve-wracking for Guy, requiring intense concentration for little reward. But he didn’t seem tired whatsoever, which was only to be expected for someone of his stature.

He narrowed his eyes at Velzard, exasperated. He wondered why she wasn’t taking this seriously. If Velzard would just employ a more large-scale move on him, Guy would hopefully counter it and win the match that way. But Velzard was consistently playing it safe, like she was determined to stall until the end of time.

Tsk! I knew it wouldn’t be the same as the first time we fought, but her patience really amazes me…

Velzard was selfish and capricious. Her life had never been about prudence. When she first fought Guy, she got angry at him for not doing what she wanted and made mistakes because she was too impatient to win. Guy knew Velzard’s personality well, and he planned to set the same trap this time, but she just wasn’t giving him any openings. The magic-infused ice destroyed all the potential traps Guy had set.

I’ve become so much stronger since then, too…

Guy, who had expected an easy win, had no choice but to acknowledge Velzard’s growth. And then…things began to rapidly turn on him. Velzard’s magical power was immense, and the magicules she blew out raged like a blizzard. She was crafting a frozen wasteland that would allow no life to exist inside it. The sky and soil were filled with her magic, the full brunt of her will bearing down upon him.

Guy could have dealt with that alone, but as he continued to observe his opponent, he felt something was wrong. Velzard’s behavioral patterns were clearly unnatural. She was notorious for relying on her own strength and brute force. She was an absolute powerhouse, and she had no need for intricate tricks. But now she was carefully employing her tactics. Guy maybe could’ve been surprised at how she was capable of that approach, but in his mind, it was more natural to suspect someone else was involved.

He didn’t think she was being manipulated by someone else. However, Guy decided to tackle Velzard on the assumption a third party was on the scene. And it seemed his choice was correct.

Thanks to his careful observation and battle alertness, he discovered Testarossa and a few others had arrived at this location. He also learned their purpose and grasped the current state of the world.

What happened to Rimuru? No, more importantly, is Ivalage coming? I’ll have to deal with that myself.

Guy bitterly pondered this future. It was working out just as he feared. Velzard alone was enough of a problem, but now the worst had come to pass.

But there was some good news. Thanks to Testarossa, the existence of a third party in this fight was assured—someone Guy felt safe having Testarossa handle, too. There were few people in the world Guy acknowledged as being truly capable, but Testarossa was one of them. With her on his side, Guy began to think about how to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.

(Call my idiots over here. If you’re gonna intercept Ivalage in Damargania, there’s no point having them protect Leon’s domain.)

He interrupted the conversation between Testarossa and Velgrynd, giving out his instructions. There was much to be done, and he couldn’t afford to let his capable servants sit around doing nothing.

So the situation began to move forward.

………

……

…

The magic in the area had stabilized, much to Guy’s relief.

Well done, Testarossa.

He thought Raine and Mizeri were doing a good job, too. Guy felt satisfied for the first time in a while that things were getting better for him.

Velzard was jubilant. It was impossible to tell from her expression, but she was thoroughly enjoying her battle with Guy.

………

……

…

She had fought Guy a long, long time ago. She had fought him because she couldn’t tolerate the fact that her older brother, Veldanava the Star-King Dragon, recognized Guy as his equal.

“My brother might bow to you, but I will not!”

She’d taken him on with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, and the battle had ended in a draw. For Velzard, though, that was equivalent to defeat.

At the time, Velzard boasted the second-highest magicule count of anyone after Veldanava, while Guy had less than a tenth of that amount. And that wasn’t all. There was also the difference in their fighting ability, which should’ve been the decisive factor in the battle. Velzard possessed the invincible power Veldanava had given her—the ultimate skill Gabriel, Lord of Endurance—but she couldn’t defeat Guy, despite his skills being locked at the “unique” level. It was a blow to Velzard’s pride, and that was understandable, since she was forced into a draw despite her overwhelming advantage.

After that incident, Velzard decided to observe Guy. She wanted to see how far Guy would go—and go far he did, because he soon obtained an ultimate power through his own free will.

Guy became someone “special” to Velzard, but Velzard was nothing like that to Guy. He was eternally calm, coldhearted, a tyrant who reigned over all things. But he was also equal and fair, treating everyone the same. He would test people, befriending anyone who could overcome his challenges. That was his policy, and it gave him a generally peaceful life, although he never shied away from the tumultuous changes of his era.

Velzard was a little dissatisfied with this. She tried hard to use her charms to make Guy notice her, but Guy’s attitude remained wholly unchanged.

He’s so terrible, she thought—but she still didn’t find it in her to hate the man. On the contrary, she just became even more obsessed with him. Occasionally she’d even express her true feelings to him, although she always encased them in a bunch of jokes. It never came across to him.

That arrogant man. That stupid man. That kind man. That cruel man. That…terrifying man. The man her brother accepted as his equal. Guy had so many faces, and they liked spending time with each other, but at the same time, she couldn’t stand the way Guy never recognized her true feelings.

He’s so terrible. He’s intelligent enough to see right through everything in my mind, so why can’t he see how I truly feel?

Velzard could have just confessed at any point, but she was afraid of rejection. Indeed, living with Guy was the way she got introduced to the emotion of fear.

One day, a group led by someone calling himself a Hero came and disrupted Velzard’s peaceful life. As usual, Guy accepted their challenge.

That person, Ludora, was quite strong. The battle was a surprisingly even matchup. A smile appeared on Guy’s face, and Velzard, seeing him so delighted by this, had to bite her lip in response.

A fierce flame swirled inside her. Was it anger? No, it wasn’t. It was jealousy. Guy never showed her that side of him.

How can he enjoy fighting so much…?

When he fought Velzard, Guy was careful not to hurt her, like a grown teacher sparring with a child student. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a draw at all. Velzard had been hiding her true feelings for quite a while, but Guy was almost certainly doing the same. If Guy had ever been serious about killing her, Velzard wouldn’t still be standing.

But he gave his all against Ludora.

The moment she realized this, Velzard suddenly became aware of the jealousy that had sprouted in her heart. Ever since her older brother Veldanava had acknowledged Guy’s strength, she had been troubled inside. She couldn’t understand what the feelings sprouting in her heart were. But at that moment, she finally understood. Guy Crimson, the demon lord recognized by Veldanava. Strong, kind, arrogant, never doing what Velzard wanted him to do.

She admired Guy. And when she saw how Ludora made Guy take him seriously in the ring, it filled her with regret. That should have been her role.

From the day that jealousy took root within her, Velzard lived with a constant sense of depression. Even now, she continued to agonize over it. On the surface, she remained calm, but deep down, the flames of jealousy continued to burn.

The result was the birth of a goddess of great disaster.

Guy is kind to me…but he won’t let me stand beside him.

Is it because I’m weak?

No. I am strong. I’m the strongest True Dragon!

No, I am weak. Guy refuses to recognize me.

No, that’s not true! I’ve gained the right to stand by his side!

Have I?

Of course I have.

Then why does Guy only spar with Ludora?

Because…

Because I am weak.

I…am weak?

If I was stronger, Guy would pay more attention to me.

Would he notice me?

Yes, he would.

Yes… If I was stronger…

If only I was stronger…

…I could stand beside Guy.

That is my wish.

That is my sole desire.

After watching Guy and Ludora fight, Velzard began to fervently wish for more power. That was the moment the goddess of disaster was born.

Velzard’s patience flipped over in her mind. Her ultimate skill Gabriel, Lord of Endurance, was reborn as Leviathan, Lord of Envy, thanks to her sheer jealousy.

But that jealousy—and Gabriel itself—didn’t disappear. Velzard’s mental acuity was so strong, she was able to hide her new power without Guy noticing. She remained herself, bearing both Gabriel and Leviathan—two polar opposites in ultimate skills.

So she waited for her chance.

Feldway’s approach to Velzard was laughable to her. Michael’s power, Ultimate Dominion, provided him with absolute control over those who possessed angelic ultimate skills. It’d thus never work on Velzard, who was still covering up her contradictory powers.

Nevertheless, she agreed to Feldway’s offer, because his proposal was appealing to her. If she joined hands with Feldway, she’d be able to fight Guy and make him treat her seriously for a change. There were other reasons as well, but regardless…

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Interesting. I’m sure that’s exactly what you’ll have.”

This collaborator agreed with her, this man who’d work to fulfill Velzard’s wish. Supposedly he got his start when Feldway decided on a whim to help him while he was on the verge of extinction—another story from long, long ago. Not only was his material body destroyed, but his spiritual body was gone as well, leaving only his astral body behind—yet he was unexpectedly useful as Velzard’s adviser.

He brazenly said he wanted to study the True Dragons. Velzard allowed him to, in exchange for treating him as her right-hand man. Thus a long-lasting coexistence was established…but it seemed the existence of her collaborator had finally been revealed.

………

……

…

Velzard smiled. “Hee-hee-hee… Well done, Testarossa. I found you so easily.”

“Aw, darn,” said her collaborator. “Here I wanted to hide in the shadows and just do as I pleased, too.”

“The pseudo-dragon body is complete, isn’t it? You said the performance tests went flawlessly.”

“Well, yes, but you see, I’m pretty weak, so…”

“What do you mean by that? You used to be so arrogant, too.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! And that’s why I was almost destroyed, wasn’t it? I’ve learned my lesson now. This time, I’ll be a little more humble about what I try. Anyway, I’ll see you later.”

With a smile, he separated from Velzard.

Then he stepped up to Testarossa, ready to take her on.

The battle reached a major turning point. It was Guy against Velzard, and Testarossa against Velzard’s collaborator, and each of them was facing the other head-on.

Testarossa immediately recognized who this person was.

He was a slender young man, but if you focused on the little details, you might conclude he was a woman. He was dressed in a blue turtleneck and a bright-red suit, his shoes white with gold trim. The look was flashy but tasteful, and it really seemed to suit his natural appearance. Most distinctive, however, were his heterochromatic silver-and-gold eyes, which emitted a mysterious red-and-blue glow. His features were vaguely similar to Luminus’s, especially in the way he was unforgettable after a single glance—almost like Luminus with her sex and eye color reversed.

Testarossa had definitely never met the man before, so his appearance was not a factor in her judgment of him. But she knew it right off the bat—the essence of that person; his pure, innocent madness. Match that with his Luminus-like looks, and Testarossa was pretty sure her guesses were correct.

Talk about stirring up the hornet’s nest… Was that the saying? I think Sir Rimuru used it in his previous life, but that’s exactly how I feel right now.

Testarossa was already fed up. Detecting this man’s presence and luring him out was all well and good, but this opponent turned out to be far more troublesome than she had thought at first.

“Oh, how nice to see you,” Testarossa said to him. “We’ve never met before, but I’ve certainly heard the rumors.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Being remembered by the White Queen is a great honor for me.”

“Oh, I sure do remember you. It’s rare to find someone who marches to the beat of his own drum quite like you. Besides, I have to hand it to you for creating humanity. Don’t I, King of the Twilight?”

The man grinned. “Just Twilight is fine. That’s the name Veldanava gave me.”

“Fine by me, as long as you call me Testarossa.”

The two of them exchanged smiles, words, and glances that all screamed bloody murder.

Testarossa remembered now. Twilight Valentine, the King of the Twilight, was the leader of the vampires, a man who very well could be called humanity’s demigod ancestor. He had been Veldanava’s right-hand man, creating numerous races and species to fulfill his wishes. That included the vampires, led by Luminus, and the High Humans, a race believed to be extinct. Numerous races derived from elemental beings were also made possible by Twilight’s involvement, and the creation of humans—indispensable to the demons—could also be traced back to him.

Testarossa recognized all those achievements. On the other hand, however, his evil misdeeds over the years were perhaps even more notorious. His countless experiments, which wholeheartedly ignored any law or moral creed, made those who knew of his actions reel back in terror. They were so horrific that test subjects of weaker compositions were driven mad by them; even the hardiest of them would be subject to recurring nightmares afterward. It made his list of achievements feel more wicked than anything a demon had ever done; he seemed devoid of any human heart and was despised by all who knew of him.

In fact, when Raine learned of Twilight’s resurrection, her first reaction was: “Ugh, he’s still alive…? He’s tougher than a cockroach, isn’t he?” Mizeri promptly reprimanded her for that, but that didn’t make it any less true. Even the usually reserved Testarossa found herself in total agreement with Raine.

“Testarossa? What a nice name. I didn’t think there were any other idiots besides Ludora who’d go around naming Primals,” said Twilight.

The remark enraged Testarossa. She could forgive someone insulting her, but Twilight had crossed the line. The moment she heard this man mocking her beloved Rimuru, her mind was made up.

“I guess I hate you after all,” she said coldly, the murderous intent clear in her voice.

Twilight laughed it off, showing extraordinary courage. “Heh-heh! Oh, don’t say that. I like you guys. You’re the best subjects for my research!”

Velzard was cooperating with him, but Guy was a dangerous opponent. Twilight tried to observe and learn more about Guy whenever he saw an opening, but he knew if he made a careless mistake, his presence would be spotted immediately. It had left Twilight’s hands tied for a very long while. But now, for the first time in ages, he had regained his physical freedom. It might be fun to play around a bit, he thought. Testarossa would the perfect test subject for the first public demonstration of his pseudo-dragon body.

That was why he provoked Testarossa a little, trying to get her to take this seriously. But Twilight didn’t realize yet he had gone a little too far.

“You really should have just stayed dead when your beloved daughter Luminus killed you, you know. This time around, I’ll crush you so thoroughly you’ll never be able to come back to life.”

Testarossa was sounding bold, but in her heart, she was still trying to figure out Twilight. She was furious about all this, but she couldn’t let her guard down. Her mind needed to be cut off from her emotions as she continued to calmly analyze the situation.

The demigods are extremely immortal beings, yes, but they can’t control Separate Bodies like Lady Velgrynd can…

According to what Testarossa had heard, Luminus had carefully laid out a Disintegration attack that landed a direct hit on Twilight, leaving no trace behind. That was to be expected. If hit directly, even Testarossa, a Primal, wouldn’t be able to escape destruction. There was no possibility of anything like Twilight escaping just before the attack. Raine had witnessed it as well, so there was even corroborating evidence.

They were certain he’d disappeared after a direct hit from Disintegration. In that case, he must have been resurrected from nothing—but was that really possible?

Instead, Testarossa considered another possibility: Velgrynd’s specialty, Separate Body. That would explain how Twilight escaped, but Testarossa thought it was unlikely. It didn’t explain why he’d been in hiding all this time. If Twilight had access to Separate Bodies, he would’ve been much more active before. He wouldn’t have let Luminus off the hook after she betrayed him, and the world would’ve faced even greater chaos.

For that matter, only a very few people could use Separate Bodies. It was an extremely difficult power to master, something even Veldora and Rimuru didn’t have a perfect grasp of. There were similar powers, such as Raine’s Ubiquital Mist, but they generally required all the Replications to be within sight. You couldn’t use powers like that to create another version of yourself on the other side of the planet; those Replications were much less useful than Separate Bodies.

In fact, as far as Testarossa knew at that moment, the only possessors of Separate Body were Velgrynd and Soei. In Soei’s case, though, there was actually a hidden, essential condition to it—after entrusting his heart core to Benimaru, his former lord, he was simply controlling two bodies at once from the overhead perspective of some hypothetical god. He could handle this solo when both bodies were within sight, but when he had to work a Separate Body farther away, he needed to borrow Benimaru’s power.

Still, such an arrangement was far beyond the norm, making Soei an exceptional case. The important point was how fiendishly difficult it was to divide up one’s own consciousness. If you employed a method that relied on other people like Soei did, it’d be feasibly possible for Rimuru and Veldora to conjure up Separate Bodies as well. However, there seemed to be little point in going that far. Rimuru and Veldora were each other’s safety devices, after all, so if one of them was destroyed, the other could easily revive them anyway.

Incidentally, if Vega had ever gained a full appreciation of the powers he had on hand, he would’ve been able to conjure up something similar to Separate Bodies. It was fortunate for everyone else this didn’t happen, but Testarossa had no way of knowing that.

All this meant Velgrynd was the only one who could truly handle Separate Bodies.

Even if this guy could use Parallel Existence, it still doesn’t matter, thought Testarossa. I need to be thorough with killing him, so I can prove once and for all whether he’s got that skill or not.

Testarossa concluded it was always best to see and experience things for oneself. She vowed to kill Twilight.

Raine looked at Twilight, her face tensed up.

“Ugh, he’s still alive…? He’s tougher than a cockroach, isn’t he?”

She blurted out her true feelings. Mizeri reprimanded her—“That’s not very nice.”—but she couldn’t help it. She just hated him so much.

“Did you not appreciate the cockroach reference?” Raine asked Mizeri.

“No, I didn’t. I really hate bugs.”

Moss wanted to interject, “So that was it?!” but he didn’t have the nerve to interrupt the conversation. Besides, the idea a Primal had an insect phobia seemed like too much of a lie for anyone to believe.

Soka, who had been keeping quiet, spoke up.

“Um, do you think maybe Testarossa is afraid of bugs, too?”

“Huh?”

“No, I was just wondering… If so, it might be a weakness, you know…”

Moss’s eyes widened. A weakness…? That’s how you think about the Primals? Does this girl even realize how rude she’s being?

Soka’s ideas seemed terrifying to him. She acted so differently from how she looked. He didn’t know if Testarossa was afraid of insects, and he didn’t want to know. Searching for weaknesses in the Primals, especially Testarossa, was a taboo in itself. At least that was true for Moss.

Raine and Mizeri were whispering to each other, as if they had heard Moss and Soka’s conversation.

“Is that dragonewt child not afraid of Testarossa at all?” Raine said to Mizeri.

“Maybe she’s planning to toss a big roach her way. Terrifying, isn’t it?”

“Stop it, Raine. The word alone gives me goosebumps.”

“Me too. Just saying that gave me chills.”

They were speaking quite loudly, making no special effort to hide their conversation. This was a rather unexpected revelation—an actual weakness in a Primal!—but it wasn’t welcome news for Moss. He instinctively sensed these were hazardous waters.

“Hey, could you please stop saying such dangerous things? I don’t want to be dragged into this.”

Even if he hadn’t said anything, simply being there could make him guilty by association. If he didn’t stop them, he’d undoubtedly be held responsible as well.

“Um, was there something dangerous about that?”

“I’m talking about bugs! It’s none of your business whether Lady Testarossa is afraid of bugs or not, is it?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. My primary duty involves staying covert, and I have an obligation to report any information I obtain back to Sir Soei. In this case, unverified information could be problematic, so confirmation is essential, you could say—”

“No, listen!”

Moss wanted to shout to the heavens about how he didn’t want to get involved. But it didn’t get through to Soka.

“This is actually quite important,” she said. “It’s well known that Sir Rimuru hates cockroaches. He is very serious about pest control, from his private quarters to his guest accommodations. But one still appeared a little while ago in the courthouse. It was quite a commotion.”

She began to go over the events in detail—something Moss didn’t know about and didn’t want to know about.

According to Soka, Carrera, who was present at the time, flew into a rage. She came close to unleashing a nuclear spell inside the building, and the rest of the staff had to rush in to stop her. Rimuru didn’t criticize her for it, though. He was all “Oh, yeah, I totally get how you feel,” defending Carrera, really, which caused its own problems. Soon, a special task force composed of Tempest residents with resistance to insects was organized to eliminate the unwelcome creatures, ensuring they never crossed Carrera’s path again.

“By the way, I should add that Ultima has no problems with things like spiders. She said they’re ‘cute,’ in fact. And I personally don’t have a problem with any of them—roaches, caterpillars, whatever.”

It was wholly extraneous information, and it rubbed Moss the wrong way.

“Look, we really shouldn’t be talking about trivialities right now! It’s not like Carrera has it out just for roaches—she’s hostile toward pretty much everything!” he griped.

Moss refrained from mentioning Ultima. Call it a self-preservation instinct. She was fine with spiders, but cockroaches might still be a problem—and for Moss and his ilk, they were better off not knowing a Primal, akin to a god for them, had any phobias whatsoever.

But maybe that was too hasty a conclusion to make.

“Mossy, has anyone ever told you that you don’t know how to read a room?” said Raine.

“She’s right,” Mizeri agreed. “That remark just now was pretty dangerous. It made Carrera sound like this unstable girl picking fights with anyone and everyone. Phrasing is important, you know?”

“No, that’s not what I meant…,” Moss said. “I mean, yes, you’re right, but what I’m trying to say is the dragonewt over there—”

“My name is Soka.”

“Soka over there was talking about something very important,” Raine said. “You need to understand that, Mossy.”

“What?!”

This came as quite a surprise to Moss. There were so many things to point out that he didn’t know where to start. First, Raine. Why was she calling him “Mossy”? Next, Soka. How could she ever interrupt Raine? And how could she introduce herself so casually to Primals? From Moss’s perspective, it was an unthinkable act—but much to his surprise, Raine didn’t act perturbed at all.

What’s going on here?

Even Mizeri, whom Moss trusted as the most sensible person of the group, seemed to be on Raine’s side. She was criticizing Moss over a completely different point, but she was also correct. If Carrera found out what he said, Moss’s fate would be sealed. Moss had to reflect on his actions. He let his mind get the better of him, and he’d said something he shouldn’t have.

He did, but there was still something that had to be pointed out.

“Um, Lady Raine… I don’t need you to call me ‘Mossy’ or anything like that. Could you just call me by my regular name?”

This, to Moss, was the most pressing issue. Why was the Original Blue acting all friendly and giving nicknames to the White Queen’s second-in-command? If they were enemies, it’d be fine to taunt each other like that, but they weren’t that close at all.

It intimidated Moss, but Raine just laughed back. “What are you talking about? You’ve got enough potential to beat me, don’t you? It’s only natural I show you a little respect.”

This was a very suspicious statement. Moss knew that thanks to the deep sigh Mizeri heaved.

“Raine, stop teasing Moss. Isn’t what Soka’s saying more important?”

“You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just that Moss seems so serious all the time, but he has all these funny reactions…”

“I agree, but…”

“Yeah. I thought he’d be harder to approach, so it was a bit surprising.”

Moss was now entirely left out of the women’s conversation. He was starting not to care any longer.

“So,” Soka began, “you said I brought up something important? What exactly are you referring to?”

“You were looking into Carrera and Ultima’s weaknesses, weren’t you?” replied Mizeri. “Perhaps you also have information on Testarossa?”

“Um…?”

“I’m curious about that, too,” said Raine as Soka fished around for an excuse. “By the way, I hate roaches as well. You don’t see them in frozen tundra, at least, so I’m grateful to Lady Velzard for that!”

“Yes, they do appear in Englesia a lot,” added Mizeri. “Ivy keeps exterminating them. They always come back from somewhere… Maybe they’re more immortal than the undead.”

This is really no time for that, thought Moss, giving up on joining the conversation.

“I’m afraid this is classified information…,” said Soka.

“Just say it.”

“We didn’t give you the option not to talk about it.”

Moss figured as much. Even if he were in Soka’s position, he’d probably be forced to reveal it all, too. Of course, if it were truly top-secret, they wouldn’t have made such teasing remarks in the first place. Soka was a professional spy, and everyone understood that well enough. In other words, this was information the Primals were deeming safe to share.

“I am always looking for weaknesses among Tempest’s leaders, under the order of Sir Soei. Sir Benimaru doesn’t like carrots, and Sir Diablo doesn’t get along with Testarossa. It’s really trivial information, but we hope it will come in handy in case someone starts causing trouble.”

“Hmm.”

“So?”

“In Testarossa’s case,” Soka went on, “we couldn’t find any weaknesses. It’s honestly pretty troublesome.”

As Moss had expected, she didn’t say anything of real significance. All this fell under the realm of common knowledge. But Raine still wasn’t satisfied with this.

“Then let’s have Moss throw a cockroach at her!”

“Stop it!!”

Moss jumped up to refute the ridiculous suggestion. He was too shocked to say it, but on the inside, he wanted to scream, “Why resort to these childish pranks?!” And he wasn’t joking. If he did something like that, it definitely would anger Testarossa. Regardless of whether she was afraid of insects or not, just doing that would be punishable by death.

What a horrifying thing to say…! Please spare me, Lady Raine!

Moss looked at Raine, trembling with fear.

“I won’t do it! Ever!”

“Aw, what a shame!” said Raine.

“Oh well,” Mizeri added. “Moss can’t help it if he just doesn’t have enough courage.”

Why did all the Primals have to be like this? Moss cursed his fate, but he knew saying it out loud would only make things worse.

However…

“It’s really a shame, though. We could’ve found Testarossa’s weakness and everything…”

Soka’s remark made Moss wonder just how seriously scary this dragonewt was. It took incredible patience to keep from asking her out loud, but he stayed quiet anyway. Everything he had endured up to this point, after all, made Moss the demon he was today.

This conversation, by the way, was overheard from start to finish by Testarossa. She later remarked that hearing this banter while trying to wage a serious battle was quite irritating.

“At the time,” she said, “I thought about pretending to make a mistake with Nihilistic World and turning all of you into dust…but I didn’t want to show any weakness in front of Twilight, so I kept myself from doing it. You were lucky, huh?”

When Moss and the others heard this, their legs began to tremble in unison…but that’s another story.

Raine might have enjoyed teasing Moss, but at the same time, she never took her eyes off Twilight as he faced Testarossa. This kind of Parallel Thought was a natural skill for Primals.

In Raine’s mind, the two who reigned supreme as the most troublesome people in history were Diablo and Twilight. Until Rimuru came back, these two were going to constantly stir the pot, and nobody had any power to stop them. There was room for debate over who was better, but Raine’s belief was that Diablo was a mischievous scamp of a troublemaker, while Twilight was more of a despicable one.

It was the difference between a lovable fool and a low-down idiot. Diablo was a self-centered rabble-rouser who only played according to his own rulebook. He stuck to his beliefs, but he didn’t necessarily force them on others. Even Raine admitted he had a surprisingly common-sense side to him. On the other hand, Twilight didn’t care about other people’s circumstances whatsoever. He was similar to Diablo in that he stuck to his own set of rules, but he also tried to impose those rules on others, and Raine couldn’t stand for that.

Raine, it should be added, had a self-centered side of her own. She’d never admit to it, but she tended to prioritize whatever mattered to her the most, to a fairly ridiculous degree. It was only natural Raine didn’t get along much with Diablo or Twilight.

If you want to avoid conflict, one good way is to keep your distance from those you dislike. The problem is always when people try to impose their sense of justice on others. Twilight was a prime example of that. He spread all sorts of trouble around the world, triggering problems that were impossible to ignore.

Countless disasters had been caused by countless evil experiments of his—life-threatening calamities, cities of the dead, two moons, eroded forests, seas of blood, and so on. There were no records of any of this among the current human nations, but he was considered a dangerous presence by the demon lords, even to the point of being classified as an unofficial, honorary Catastrophe-level threat.

Raine couldn’t remember how many times she’d been called in to clean up after him. Or rather, Raine did remember, because she was the type who never let go of a grudge. She kept all her receipts, which was why she celebrated so much when Luminus destroyed Twilight. She was still grateful, in fact.

Now that Twilight had been revived, though, she had no choice but to keep close tabs on him.

Ugh… I’ll take a box full of cockroaches over that bastard any day. But with the fearsome Testarossa on the job, not even Twilight could have a chance…right?

The way Raine saw it, it might not actually be too easy. Testarossa’s expertise lay chiefly in defense, which made it unlikely she’d lose, but when it came to offense…well, after numerous experiments, Twilight had become vanishingly close to immortal, so Raine was worried she wouldn’t be able to defeat him.

What’s more, the current Twilight was even more sinister than ever, and his true strength a total unknown. Raine could tell she could no longer beat him, and secretly, that made her break out in a cold sweat.

Even after Sir Rimuru was kind enough to evolve me, it’d still be impossible. Maybe I could stall and buy some time, at least? Or maybe it’d work out if I made a good enough effort? Oh, but I don’t want to suck up to that bastard! I’m not out to put on a performance for him!

How would she fight? The only option, she concluded, would be to play along with him, lull him into a false sense of security, and buy some time to figure something out. But this was never an option. She didn’t want to do it, so it was simply impossible.

Testarossa, though…that would be a different story. She had become a completely different being compared to when Raine fought her. She was the most cunning and calculating of the Primals, so she’d never take on a foe she had no chance of beating. It seemed safe to hold out a little hope.

Testarossa knows her own weaknesses, I’m sure. I heard she fought well against Lady Velgrynd, even. If I cheer her on with all my might, I’m sure it’ll work out!

That support meant nothing to Testarossa, but Raine had such a high opinion of herself that she was convinced Testarossa would be happy to have it. She watched the battle unfold, her interest growing by the moment.

Testarossa, despite all the distracting chatter around her, hadn’t forgotten her mission. The formula for victory was already complete in her mind.

Twilight provoked her from above. “What’s the matter? Aren’t you coming?”

Testarossa quietly chuckled in reply.

“…What’s so funny? You’re not in a position to be that relaxed, are you?”

Testarossa responded to Twilight’s suspicion with a sneer. “How ridiculous. Do you still think you have the upper hand?”

Twilight looked puzzled. Testarossa’s attitude was unusually aggressive, not at all what he had expected.

Sheesh. This is why I dislike people who don’t know their place. Yes, I was reduced to dust by a single blow from my beloved daughter Luminus. But that wasn’t a defeat. It was just an unavoidable experiment.

He had wanted to get Testarossa serious so he could test out the performance of his pseudo-dragon body, but Twilight was distressed to hear her say something so mistaken.

“Oh well. You demons always did believe you were the strongest. That’s why you have a habit of looking down on your opponents,” he said. “But you know, if you can’t work on your perception a bit so you can see who’s really the strongest, you’re just gonna get hurt.”

It was meant to be heartfelt advice, albeit made with the intention of hurting Testarossa’s feelings. But she remained unmoved. She continued to smile fearlessly, as if Twilight didn’t even exist. It was starting to get on his nerves. It just wasn’t fun any longer.

“I’m not gonna listen to that attitude,” he added. “I was thinking of playing along with you a little, but now I’ve changed my mind.”

With that, he released the fighting spirit he had been holding back. It was unmistakably that of a dragon.

………

……

…

The pseudo-dragon body was the culmination of Twilight’s research.

After conducting extensive studies of immortality, he had concluded the answer lay in the True Dragons. Their personalities were reset whenever they died, but their souls were perfectly reproduced, given enough time, making them immortal beings. But Twilight was not satisfied with that alone. If the heart core could be perfectly inherited as well, the results truly could be called the ultimate life-form—such was his reasoning.

Even if a resurrected being inherited memories from its previous version, these wouldn’t be perceived as coming from the same existence if the personality they were attached to differed from its predecessor. Conversely, if the heart core was the same in the new being, even if it inhabited a different body…could you really dismiss it as a wholly different person?

This was the crux of Twilight’s research—how to reproduce memories and heart cores, the most important aspects of one’s soul. Using himself as an experimental subject, he succeeded in replicating memories relatively easily. By synchronizing them with numerous prepared replicas, he ensured memories would never be lost, even after death. Needless to say, Velgrynd’s Separate Body was the model for this.

Next was the reproduction of the most important part of a person: the heart core. This proved to be difficult. It was just such an intangible thing, something that changed over time. A heart core lay in a state of constant flux. Unless you were someone like Velzard, who could freeze even her own heart, it was impossible to maintain the same state forever.

But Twilight was just crazy enough to figure out a way.

“Velzard, I have a favor to ask. Do you think you could freeze my heart core with your powers?”

With that request, he opted to have Velzard preserve his heart core. On top of that, he stored a copy of his memories in his original body and continued to do as he pleased. The synchronization of his memories was perfect, and he was unmistakably the real Twilight. Under the circumstances, it was no wonder even Luminus couldn’t tell the difference.

Now Twilight had created a powerful body from Velzard’s magicules as his ultimate physical form. He had reincarnated his soul into this body, and all his memories were perfectly copied over to it.

But that wasn’t all. Having been created from Velzard’s body, he possessed combat abilities equivalent to those of a True Dragon. No matter how Primal this demon Testarossa was, Twilight could say with certainty he’d never lose. Furthermore, even if worse came to worst, Twilight’s heart core was protected by Velzard. If a new pseudo-dragon body was created, he could be revived without anything being lost.

No chance of that happening, though. This power is equal to Velzard’s, so there’s no way I can lose. That applies just as much to the White Queen as anyone else!

Twilight was full of confidence. His magicule count didn’t hold a candle to Velzard’s, but they were equals in terms of magic force. Between that and his own powers he retained, he honestly believed there was no way he could lose.

Twilight once bore the unique skill Avarice, although that was no longer the case. He had studied the unique skill he had obtained, fully comprehending its nature. He then replicated his own self and fused it with the skill, releasing it as a seed of greed. Avarice became a freed unique skill, and it was drawn to the greediest individuals it could find. And so, after passing through a variety of hosts, it reached Maribel before finally being inherited by Yuuki.

Twilight observed this whole process. Information was constantly being synchronized with his pseudo-personality, which resided within Avarice. By analyzing it, Twilight’s research made huge leaps forward.

When it was housed in Yuuki, he even had the opportunity to experience the strength of the demon lord Guy for himself. Guy was far too dangerous an opponent, so he shut off the synchronization with his own body and had it go into automatic mode. If Yuuki had died, that would have been the end for him as well—but he survived, by some strange stroke of luck. Thanks to that, he was able to resume the synchronization of his memories between his bodies. The information gained was invaluable.

This was the process by which Yuuki sacrificed Avarice and acquired the ultimate skill Mammon, Lord of Greed. Twilight counted himself lucky to obtain all the detailed data behind this.

The pseudo-personality of Twilight that had been housed in Yuuki was then manipulated by Michael, which canceled the synchronization, so it was unclear to Twilight what had happened since then. He heard Yuuki had died, so the skill must have disappeared long ago, but such trivial things didn’t matter. Twilight himself, after all, now had an ultimate skill—Aamon, Lord of Avarice.

This made him neither good nor evil—just someone who purely desired everything. Someone existing solely to satisfy his own intellectual curiosity, as it was destined to be. He became unable to resist the urge to learn, and so he sought to witness the outcome of his actions. No matter how much chaos engulfed the world, the results were all that mattered to Twilight. Obtaining and observing those results was his final goal, and for that alone, Twilight had sacrificed everything—and because there was no malice to it, it had become an even purer embodiment of his vice.

This was Twilight Valentine, demigod and the ultimate egotist. One who did anything for his own sake, regardless of how good or evil it was. And inevitably, he could no longer turn away from a certain question: What lies beyond the ultimate? If he sacrificed even his ultimate skill Aamon, Lord of Avarice, what would he gain from it? Trying to answer that question was Twilight’s true calling. And he found the answer, a terrible result that should never have been.

The ultimate skill Angra Mainyu, Lord of Vice.

This was a terrifying power that surpassed even those of the sin-based skills created by Veldanava. It offered a diverse selection of abilities, including Hasten Thought, Universal Detect, Analyze and Assess, Full Create, Copy Skill, Synchronize Skill, Control Dimensions, Multidimensional Barrier, and Eternal Return. Although its specialties lay in creation and research, it was also unmatched in combat.

With Angra Mainyu, the pseudo-dragon body, the culmination of Twilight’s research, was complete. As long as Velzard existed, Twilight was as immortal as he was invincible.

………

……

…

Twilight unleashed his dragon energy, dominating Testarossa. The pseudo-dragon body had nearly ten times more existence points than hers. Although Twilight could not quantify it as such, there was no doubt the difference between them was enormous. Twilight understood this and found it quite reassuring.

She may be older than me, but she’s a resident of the spiritual world, after all. She doesn’t even have a physical form. She might have incarnated herself, but in the material world, I have a decisive advantage. My physical abilities are overwhelmingly superior to hers…

Twilight smiled at Testarossa. She must have terribly misunderstood her position, because he knew he couldn’t lose.

The battle between Testarossa and Twilight had begun. Several hours passed. Both were still alive, facing each other in midair.

What was going on with Feldway’s plan? Milim must have reached Thalion by now, but was she still on a rampage? How many forces had gathered in response to Luminus’s Final Declaration? Would humanity be able to defeat the huge army of cryptids led by Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon? And what would become of all those fools who had entered the labyrinth?

Those concerns were forgotten as Testarossa concentrated on Twilight. The formula for victory was already complete, but this still wouldn’t be easy. It took someone like Testarossa to keep pushing through this, as she did not appear to be endangered at all. She proceeded carefully, not wanting to give anything away to her opponent…and now Twilight, too, felt something was off.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! What’s wrong? There’s no way that magic would work on me!” he cried.

He easily deflected Testarossa’s series of timed attacks. With his overwhelming computational force, he had no problem overriding Testarossa’s magic. Normally, this level of skill would be astonishing, but Twilight was growing increasingly irritated.

What’s going on? It’s natural that Testarossa’s attacks don’t work on me, but why is she still alive? It doesn’t make sense that she can withstand me for hours on end like this…

That was the thing. All of Testarossa’s attacks were being nullified with ease—and of course, Twilight was returning the favor as much as he could—yet this adversary was still alive. She was covered in blood, yes, but she remained poised in midair, and from the very beginning, her resolve had not wavered.

“White Flare!”

Twilight was engulfed in white flames.

Dammit! The moment I let my guard down, this happens?! She was aiming for this from the start!

For the past few hours, every time Twilight’s mind wandered away from assessing Testarossa, he’d be subjected to powerful magic, as if she was aiming for those moments. The damage wasn’t significant, but it couldn’t be ignored. Twilight had no choice but to refocus his attention on Testarossa.

That was quietly but increasingly becoming a source of irritation. It was no problem to ignore, since he could heal it almost instantly, but this was Testarossa he was dealing with. He could see he couldn’t let his guard down, but all the monotonous repetition seemed to have made Twilight complacent. All this irritation and complacency led to carelessness.

And in that moment, he was hit with a powerful blow…

The magic set off Twilight’s pain receptors, triggering something that reminded him of death. It was only natural. White Flare was the ultimate antipersonnel magic, created by Testarossa with her ultimate skill Belial, Lord of the Underworld.

Twilight’s pseudo-dragon body was burned to ashes in an instant…but that was no problem. It was instantly restored, as if nothing had happened.

“Come on, don’t you ever learn? I told you nothing you do will work on me.” Twilight sneered in disbelief, looking down on Testarossa. It was an act, he knew, to hide his inner frustration. No matter what attack he used, she just wouldn’t die.

He couldn’t shake the feeling he was overlooking something important. A sense of unease and anxiety engulfed him—Twilight’s instincts were sounding the alarm. But he ignored them. He had heard, after all, that the White Flare he had just endured was Testarossa’s strongest technique. It was a heavy blow, enhanced by an ultimate skill. It was little wonder this was Testarossa’s best—it was so powerful, it seemed to exist in a different dimension from the magic she had tapped so far.

Even Twilight’s pride and joy—his pseudo-dragon body—had its protective barriers pierced through, with the main unit burned to ashes in an instant. That alone proved how dangerous Testarossa was.

But that was all, really. Even her strongest attack was meaningless, and so Testarossa had no chance of winning. Twilight laughed, reassured. Testarossa’s strongest technique had failed…but her reaction was unexpected. Unexpected, that is, for Twilight.

Testarossa had anticipated this outcome from the beginning. Everything that had happened so far, including Twilight’s assorted attempts at mockery, had been exactly as she had planned.

Testarossa was so calm and cunning that even this secret weapon of hers, White Flare, was just another card in her deck. Through a variety of techniques to keep Twilight’s attention fixed on her, she was able to prevent him from noticing the bigger trap.

Twilight was certainly strong. A simple comparison of their battle abilities would show beyond a shadow of a doubt that he surpassed Testarossa. But the match was clearly even—and in fact, Testarossa was calling all the shots now. That was the difference in combat experience between the two. It was rare for Testarossa to make any moves herself, but she gave orders to her servants with a truly strategic mind. Her strength lay in her combat sense, the fruit of all the experience she had built up.

“How foolish,” Testarossa said, smiling broadly. Her gaze was not that of a woman in despair after her last-ditch attempt had failed. It was clearly one of contempt for Twilight.

At that point, even the rather oblivious Twilight finally realized what was wrong.

“…? I see… I thought something was up. You haven’t taken much damage from my attacks, have you? Were you pretending to be hit on purpose?”

Unlike Twilight, who healed himself instantly, Testarossa’s wounds were starting to build up. There was nothing fatal, but her military uniform was torn, revealing skin covered in discolored scars. Some were burns, others were cuts, and still others were bruises from blunt strikes. Twilight’s attacks were hitting home—that was the only conclusion to be made.

But that was the thing. If she had taken this much abuse, there was no way she should still be this active. No matter how much damage had been mitigated, Twilight’s techniques were no joke. All his body’s moves were modeled after the strongest of True Dragons, powerful enough to slay even a demon lord with a single blow. The fact Testarossa was still alive meant Twilight’s attacks had only appeared to affect her.

That, or it’s possible she really didn’t suffer much damage from any of them…but no, that can’t be. If that was the case, why would she keep all those scars intact? Fascinating! What’s she after, anyway?

Twilight wasn’t particularly alarmed because he was invincible. He arrogantly believed nothing could be done to him, and that made it fun to try to figure out Testarossa’s intentions. It was a bad habit of his—and now it was his weakness. And Testarossa knew him well.

“You haven’t grown at all, have you?” she said.

“What are you talking about? I’m far stronger than I used to be!”

“Heh. Ridiculous. You fight like a child. You love tormenting opponents weaker than you, don’t you? It’s like a kid getting all excited about stepping on an anthill.”

“So what? What’s wrong with that?”

“I’m not saying it’s wrong. I just think it’s foolish.”

Those were Testarossa’s true feelings. It was perfectly fine to look down on an opponent you could beat, but taunting them was out of the question. That was even more true if it was a battle you couldn’t afford to lose. If there was a clear difference in ability involved, you had to finish them off quickly—and above all, you couldn’t give your opponent time to think of a strategy.

“You’re calling me foolish? That doesn’t make any sense.”

“It’s the truth. But you have my gratitude. Thanks to you, I can win this.”

From Testarossa’s point of view, it was an unbelievable mistake—but this time, it saved her. Taking advantage of Twilight’s bad habits like this allowed Testarossa to satisfy all the conditions she needed.

“Come on! No matter what you do, you can’t make up for the difference in our abilities,” Twilight said.

He laughed at Testarossa, only to quickly withdraw his smile. Now he could palpably feel something unusual about her. Not only had her wounds healed, but even the rips in her uniform had been repaired. He wondered how she did it. Her bewitching smile was full of confidence, like she wasn’t being put in a corner at all.

Does she really think she can beat me?

That wasn’t possible. No matter what attack she attempted, Twilight could always revive himself. Even in terms of energy consumption, Testarossa was at a disadvantage. Twilight’s pseudo-dragon body was constructed from Velzard’s magicules, which were floating in the air around her. Even if it was reduced to dust, it could be instantly regenerated, making it impossible to defeat. And for that matter, even if his very soul got crushed, he could still be revived because his heart core was being protected by Velzard.

He was truly invincible. And he was so confident about it that he thought he could beat anyone, even Veldanava himself. There was simply no way he could lose to someone like Testarossa.

“All right. Prepare to have your confidence crushed. Time to show you the true power of my ultimate skill—Angra Mainyu, Lord of Vice!”

With his silver-and-gold heterochromatic eyes shining eerily, Twilight all but declared victory.

The ultimate skill Angra Mainyu, Lord of Vice is the worst, most terrifying ability in the world. It is the very will to kill a god given material form, a power that would be reserved for Veldanava in an ideal world. Here was truly a case of a child surpassing his parent—or, in other words, killing a god himself.

That was the destiny Twilight carried. He had Luminus kill him so he could observe the process required to fulfill that destiny. He had considered every possible scenario, and he was determined to kill Veldanava—but since Veldanava still hadn’t come back, his ambition remained unfulfilled.

In return, however, Angra Mainyu became more refined and vicious. The power ranked high among the sin-based skills, which meant it could not be controlled by lower-level powers like Ultimate Dominion. Demons are inherently free beings, so they are not subject to domination like that to begin with. For this reason, Twilight did not possess any coercive powers such as Regalia Dominion.

There was no need for that sort of thing anyway. Angra Mainyu gave him the power to destroy everything in his path. All life ultimately ends in death, and the one thing that leads to that inescapable destination is Angra Mainyu’s Eternal Return, a skill specially refined to trample upon the free will of all others.

“May you continue to perish in my world—Eternal Twilight!”

Testarossa was struck by malice. An embodiment of evil, one who feeds on the resentful dirges sung by the dead in Hell—that was the true nature of Angra Mainyu. It was a loathsome power, even more vicious and repulsive than the demons who fed on human emotions. But the effect was tremendous.

Eternal Return had the terrifying effect of trapping all beings within its range in a sort of pseudo-Hell, continually showing them endless nightmares until the world was destroyed. Those trapped in it had to face the world’s end without any hope of escape, and the cries of agony and rage they emitted only fueled the growth of Angra Mainyu. There was no fleeing this curse, and even the Primals who’d grown accustomed to Hell would be doomed to repeat the nightmare of being destroyed and reborn an infinite number of times.

So the souls of all victims would be beaten down over time and eventually return to nothingness. Which would come first: the end of the world or the exhaustion of the soul? Twilight, anticipating the answer, was already joyfully shouting.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! My malice will destroy even the gods themselves! Regardless of whether you’re an older being than I am, you are no match for—”

The darkness of an eternal end, embodying despair itself, attempted to swallow up the world of white…but nothing happened. Testarossa floated back to where she previously was, smiling.

“What?!”

Twilight was utterly astonished. It was a familiar feeling, one he experienced whenever he observed unexpected results from an experiment. Unlike those occasions, however, this was far from welcome. It was a reality he simply couldn’t accept.

“Funny, isn’t it? And how foolish of you for never noticing.”

“H-how? How are you safe?!”

Twilight didn’t even care about being called foolish. He had to know the reason. Testarossa had to be dead. There was no way she could be completely unharmed.

But all that was Twilight’s business, and Testarossa had no obligation to fulfill his wish. She had a role, and she was carrying it out. Her cherry-colored lips curved into an evil smile, and then she announced the despair that awaited her adversary.

“You want to know what destruction is like, don’t you? Well, you’re in luck. I’ll tell you. I’ve just finished setting it up.”

As soon as Testarossa finished speaking, her sneer deepened. Then, exactly as she had planned from the beginning, she carried out the plan.

“Nihilistic End!”

The world was dyed white. It had already been covered in white by Velzard’s ice and snow, but now the world was enshrouded in a sort of white darkness that painted over everything else.

“No way! I can’t see anything from the outside now!” Mizeri cried.

“I haven’t been able to for a while…,” said Raine.

“How surprising. It wasn’t that Moss’s barrier was so all-powerful. Testarossa had just put an invisible coating on the surface.”

“…I have to hand it to Testarossa. She fought me to a draw for a reason.”

The voices of those watching from the sidelines could be heard. Their feelings about it differed, but they all shared the same sense of astonishment.

But Soka was the only exception. Velzard’s ice and snow had disrupted the magicules around her, rendering even her Magic Sense useless. The complete whiteout had wholly numbed her senses long ago. The only reason she retained her sanity at all was Moss’s barrier.

From her perspective, it just looked like everything had been painted over with an even whiter “white” than before—not that Soka could see the difference. Something unbelievable must have happened, she thought, already detached from the situation.

Twilight, meanwhile, didn’t have the luxury of feeling so relaxed about this. He was thinking as fast as he could, his thoughts accelerating millions or tens of millions of times faster than normal, as he grappled with the situation.

What happened?! My Eternal Twilight was perfect! How is Testarossa still unharmed? No, more importantly, what is this white darkness around us?

That “white” was eating away at Twilight’s body. It was spreading faster than he could regenerate himself.

No. Calm down. Even if my body turns to dust, I can just create another pseudo-dragon body. Right now, it’s more important to determine what Testarossa did…

He figured whatever happened to his body, he could address it later. Twilight tried resuming his analysis.

At that moment, Testarossa’s thoughts broadcast their way into his severely delayed mind.

“How does it feel to taste true destruction?”

“Interesting. I think I understand a little of what you did. You left the void energy that you used to find me untouched, didn’t you?”

“That’s right.”

“Impressive. So casually keeping it in place while fighting me.”

Twilight was sincere with his praise. Void energy was the ultimate in destructive force. Naturally blending it into the ice storm and maintaining it in a harmless state was, his common sense told him, a waste of time. It consumed too much energy—energy that’d be much more useful diverted into an attack. And why hide all that until the very moment of attack?

Twilight couldn’t figure it out. That was why he had overlooked it, but he still felt no sense of real danger. Certainly, if he had been hit by the void energy, his current body, “soul” included, would have been annihilated—but that didn’t mean anything for Twilight, who could completely regenerate himself at the drop of a hat.

This was what complete immortality was. This was why he was invincible. But this was also where the miscalculation occurred.

“I guess you don’t understand,” Testarossa muttered, exasperated.

“…?”

“My void energy was not summoned from Hell.”

“What?”

Twilight gave Testarossa a “what are you talking about?” look. There she stood, smiling with glee like the absolute monarch she was.

“This power is proof that he is still alive. Beyond the door deep within my chest, I felt it—the breath of life.”

“What does any of that—?”

“I wanted to sense more of it, but it seems it’s time to part ways.”

Testarossa was cautious. She’d never try anything beyond her capabilities the way Zegion would. Even if she attempted to, she knew it wouldn’t work…and yet going not quite all the way would be enough of a threat.

Her ultimate skill Belial, Lord of the Underworld was the one power closer to death than any other. One of its skills, called World of the Dead, gave her the power to control the hellfire known as void energy. This was how she safely harnessed Void Collapse, a skill she borrowed from Rimuru, as long as she kept it within her own capacity. Combining it with her own Nihilistic World let her rule over a world of her own—an extremely dangerous one.

The thing void energy fed on was data particles—to be more precise, it erased the information written in these particles. No command has any meaning at all if it cannot be communicated. Even if all the requisite information is synchronized instantly between giver and receiver across time and space, if the “data particles” the information is written into are interfered with…

“Wait… My heart core isn’t responding…,” Twilight managed.

“Of course not. I’ve put up with you for a long while, but I’m tired of playing with you. So it’s time to end this.”

With those words, Testarossa’s thoughts left Twilight’s mind. He was all alone again.

What? Are you saying this white darkness is all void energy? That’s ridiculous! There’s no way that’s true…!

Void energy, even when isolated, was difficult to control as it stood. Manipulating it like this, to the point where it filled the entire space—no one Twilight knew could do such a thing. It’d be like playing against the one thousand greatest chess grandmasters of all time simultaneously and still dominating on all the boards. You couldn’t lose your concentration for a single moment, and you couldn’t make a single mistake—and even then, it’d be an impossible feat, something that could only happen in a fairy tale. From the beginning of time to the present moment, even Veldanava himself should have been incapable of such a feat.

What could possibly be going on…?

And then Twilight’s consciousness was swallowed up by the white darkness and disappeared. His intellectual curiosity should have been satisfied after receiving Testarossa’s answer, but a new concern arose, leaving him with questions in life that may need to be left…unaddressed…

It was difficult for those inside Moss’s barrier to see what was going on outside, but even if the details were still a mystery, they somehow felt Testarossa would win. They couldn’t imagine Testarossa losing, for one, but they also felt a fundamental, primordial sort of fear from the white darkness that filled the outside.

This was particularly the case with Moss.

“Oh crap! Testarossa’s so angry right now…”

Before everything was covered in white, he was able to catch a glimpse of Testarossa, covered in wounds and scars. She seemed to be suitably healed up and ready for battle, but that didn’t mean she was okay. The proud White Queen had been damaged, and that in itself was a problem, because it meant Twilight’s attacks had touched Testarossa’s holy body.

If Testarossa were using only magic in this fight, this would not have been possible. That would let her fight from a distance and launch attacks to prevent her opponent from getting close. But that didn’t seem to be the case. Was Twilight such a gifted fighter that he was able to make Testarossa abandon her pride like this? Moss simply couldn’t believe that. If his opponent were a True Dragon like Velgrynd, he might’ve been able to tolerate it, but this was merely a demigod—yes, feared as an ancient god and so forth, but not someone who deserved respect from Testarossa, one of the seven Primals.

“Well, sure, I’ll admit he’s strong, but Lady Testarossa isn’t very good at hand-to-hand combat to start with…”

“Yeah, neither am I.”

“It’s not my forte, either…”

Raine and Mizeri were pretty loose with this information. Soka remained silent. She wasn’t sure how to take this.

I think I’m good at hand-to-hand combat, but I’d be no challenge for either of these people saying they’re not.

It was the blunt truth, whether she wanted to accept it or not. But as she wallowed in this pathos, the conversation cruelly kept going.

“It’s strange, though, isn’t it…?” Moss asked.

“What is?”

Moss thought for a moment before trying to explain his unease.

“Testarossa is a great defender. Naturally, she’d never be so kind as to fight within her opponent’s preferred range. This whole situation strikes me as unnatural.”

Testarossa was indeed engaged in a melee battle. She was casting some magic as well, but instead of falling back to cast it, she was standing her ground while fending off Twilight’s attacks. That certainly wasn’t in character for her. She was known for her stick-and-move tactics, since taking damage wasn’t her preferred way of going about things.

Raine and Mizeri nodded back.

“Yes… You may be right,” Raine said. “Personally speaking, after all, I’ll do anything to win. I’d waste no time dragging my opponent over to where I want them.”

“True, but Testarossa didn’t do that,” said Mizeri. “Which means…”

Which meant she had a reason not to.

“Um, I have a question,” Soka cautiously began.

“Yes?” Moss prompted her, hiding his annoyance.

Given that Soka could do nothing for them any longer, he preferred for her to sit down and shut up. He didn’t really care about her input—but when he heard it, his eyes opened wide.

“What was it Testarossa said? Um, Nihilistic World, wasn’t it? What happened with that?”

“Huh?”

Come to think of it…

Moss now remembered. Testarossa had created her Nihilistic World and found Twilight hiding there. That was the first stage—the preparation for the attack. If she were to attack from this point, everything within the range she specified would be exposed to the fury of void energy. A specific amount of energy would be canceled out and destroyed, both friend and foe. However, since Moss and Soka had no way to escape, the fact they were still alive meant Testarossa had not actually released any void energy.

Or, really, in the first place…

“Even Lady Testarossa wouldn’t be able to maintain void energy for a very long time,” said Moss. “Perhaps she actually released it a long time ago.”

That was his impression…or rather, his hope. Could it be that Testarossa didn’t tap into her specialty of magic because she was focusing her energy on something else? No, no; Moss couldn’t see things that way. It’d be madness to fight for this long while maintaining your hold on this incredibly volatile void energy. In the unlikely event Testarossa wavered or fainted outright during battle, even for a moment, it’d unleash a torrent of uncontrollable void energy.

Given how much she had clearly been hit by Twilight, she was exposing herself to the risk of him knocking her unconscious, at least momentarily. Even controlling void energy was exhausting enough; Moss couldn’t imagine having to constantly deploy it for an extended period of time.

She wouldn’t take such a risk, would she? Are you really going to be okay, Lady Testarossa?

Moss prayed it was so, trying to suppress his anxiety. But given who he was praying to, it was doomed to go unanswered.

“But Moss, that has to be void energy, doesn’t it?” Raine said.

“Yes,” Mizeri agreed. “It definitely looks like it’s swarming and corroding Twilight.”

They didn’t need to point it out. Moss had already picked up on it.

“You’re kidding…,” he said.

So that means there was a slight chance, even a millionth of a one, that the world could have been destroyed?!

As soon as he understood this, Moss felt like he was about to collapse on the spot.

“Wow! Testarossa sure is something, huh? If she launched the second stage of whatever that attack was, I was afraid that’d kill us as well,” said Soka, who didn’t quite understand the situation.

“Ummm, right.” Raine smirked. “Well, it wouldn’t kill us, exactly…but, yes, you’d probably be happier not knowing what would happen. I could tell you if you want, but…”

Mizeri started to explain, but then stopped, giving Soka a somewhat envious look. That was enough for Soka to understand.

“No…no need. I have an obligation to know as a secret agent, but I’ll let it go this time!”

It was Soka’s strength that allowed her to choose peace of mind over her duty. But it was the right decision. Even if she were told the world was possibly on the verge of destruction just then, Soka wouldn’t have been able to accept it. Raine and Mizeri, who had given her the choice, had a surprisingly gentle side to them after all.

But as these women were lost in contemplation, Twilight’s existence began to disappear. The sight made Raine burst into a smile.

“Yes! Twilight, you bastard! About time you got what was coming to you!!”

There was a lot of hatred built up over time she had to vent. And Mizeri could commiserate.

“He did give us a lot of problems, yes. I’m more relieved than anything else.”

Even Soka, listening from the side, nodded, reasoning this must’ve been a pretty dangerous guy. They all relaxed a bit, relieved the crisis had passed.

“All right. Great,” said Raine. “And since I fought Testarossa to a draw, it’s no exaggeration to say I just defeated Twilight. I feel like one of my lifelong dreams has finally come true. What a rush this is!”

Raine hadn’t done anything at all, but she wasn’t shy about interpreting the situation the way she wanted. But their problems weren’t solved yet. Velzard, their original target, was still alive, and this land was still covered by a closed-off world of white.

And as if to remind them of that, Guy and Velzard’s fierce battle began in earnest.

White and red auras of fighting spirit crossed each other in the air. They were light in mass but filled with enough heat energy to swallow up an entire star system. Any collision would have caused massive destruction, but the ground was protected, so only snow and ice blew wildly around them.

Guy’s attacks had no effect on Velzard. He still wasn’t being serious about this. He understood everything going on—Testarossa’s victory and all the nonsense his servants were spouting. He even knew about the changes in his enemy Velzard.

During this fight, he had sensed the presence of a third party and stayed on constant guard for them. It was difficult to search for this interloper while fighting Velzard, but Testarossa had revealed his true identity for him—and even better, she had made relatively short work of him.

Now he could finally concentrate on Velzard.

But Twilight, huh? He can’t be dead, then. The bastard’s probably still inside Velzard…

Guy thought this over. He was sure Testarossa was aware of this as well. Even he had to admit how formidable a talent she was. She had just shown them the full extent of her vicious power, something truly worthy of the name White Queen. Conventional wisdom dictated void energy could not be controlled; once unleashed, all beings trapped within the range of Nihilistic World would be consumed. But Testarossa wielded it with erudite precision, eliminating Twilight with it and no one else. It was an astonishing sight to witness, even for Guy.

He was the only one to pick up on it, but the technique Testarossa had performed was even more difficult and incredible than the other witnesses knew. She had taken the time to create a cage out of void energy, sealed Twilight inside, and cut off all his connections to the outside world. The moment she burned it all with White Flare, she observed the movements of the data particles and confirmed the location of Twilight’s main body inside Velzard. Guy understood what she was doing because he had done the same thing.

That’s some pretty scary business. I might’ve lost that fight, too, if I wasn’t careful.

It could never have been possible, but he thought so anyway. Guy never let his guard down in a fight, so this was little more than hypothetical. Regardless, there was no doubt he’d need to reevaluate Testarossa’s threat level…but that could wait until later.

Right now, stopping Velzard took priority.

“Guy, you understand, right?” said Testarossa.

“Of course I do.”

“Good. I’m going to take a rest. Can I leave the remainder to you?”

“Yes. You’ll leave the void covering Velzard as it is, right?”

“Heh-heh-heh… I guess I have no choice. You owe me a favor.”

With that, Testarossa descended to the ground again. Her pride would never allow her to admit it, but she was so exhausted that she didn’t even have enough magic left to hover in the air. Guy could see that, but he wasn’t rude enough to point it out.

Instead, he made a pretty unreasonable request of her.

Testarossa was convinced Twilight’s true self was inside Velzard, so she had surrounded Velzard’s body with void energy. This erased all information from the local data particles, preventing Twilight from being revived. Guy was asking her to leave it as it was—in other words, he wanted her to maintain the void energy and keep the cage intact.

Testarossa casually agreed to this favor, a deal made possible only by the mutual trust between them.

There was no longer any danger of Twilight interfering.

Guy flashed a grin at Velzard. They had been fighting for dozens of hours, but neither of them had gotten serious about it yet. The time for that was coming very soon. They had gauged each other’s strength, and Guy was ready to deliver a blow that could be fatal.

Not that she’d die from it, of course.

With that in mind, he swung his hand down. As expected, Velzard casually parried the blow.

“Tsk! You can even cancel out Calamity Claw, huh?”

Guy’s attack, Calamity Claw, struck his enemy by injecting infectious particles into the point of contact, contaminating them from the inside. It had a greater effect on the mind than the body; even a glancing blow was enough to corrupt the brain, making it a highly effective attack against spiritual life-forms.

Given its effectiveness even if Guy didn’t land a direct hit, it was designed to kill on first sight. But it had no effect on Velzard. Any substance that touched her was instantly frozen, and that effect worked at the data-particle level, freezing all physical and mental matter.

Velzard gave him a playful smile back. “It’s only natural, isn’t it? Let’s cross blades some more, then, and see who’s left standing.”

Guy wanted to roll his eyes a little. How long is this girl gonna hold a grudge against me?

She really hadn’t changed since the first time they met. At the same time, though, he saw the possibilities. It could very well be that Velzard was freezing her emotions in place, too. If so, that would be trouble for him. The harder something was, after all, the more fragile it became against unanticipated blows.

Now he knew Twilight was inhabiting Velzard’s spirit—and now, Guy realized, the battle remained extremely unpredictable.

Velzard originally approached Guy to test him. Her older brother Veldanava saw him as an equal, and she was jealous of him.

But as the years passed, she began to enjoy her time with him…just a little. In a sense, it was only natural. It was Velzard, not Feldway, who was in charge of the deserted Celestial Palace. She had been alone for a long time, and she had never questioned her duty. That was why the time she spent with Guy was so refreshing.

If things continued like this, she would forget her entire purpose…but, no, she didn’t really need to worry. At the Celestial Palace, which she visited regularly, Velzard reexamined her heart. She never wanted to forget her original motivations, and so she froze her heart using Leviathan, Lord of Envy and Gabriel, Lord of Endurance—two skills she had just recently awakened to.

This was how she sealed away her emotions, casting away all her doubts. Now Velzard was in a state of ecstasy, her heart filled with joy over finally being in the situation she had always yearned for.

Yes, this was her dream. This time, she would defeat Guy, who was finally serious about fighting her, and she would prove she was the strongest. Only then, she believed, would Guy finally accept her.

…Why do I have to defeat Guy?

The question arose somewhere in the back of her mind, but she ignored it. She closed her heart even further so no more questions would arise. On the surface, she smiled, but inside, a fierce snowstorm was raging.

Now is the time to fulfill your long-held wish.

The whisper came from Twilight, Velzard’s ally. He had completely digitized his own heart core, transforming it into power itself. A lot of new information and facts had come to light, and Twilight seemed to be scrutinizing this data, crying out joyfully the whole way. As a result, he had undergone a rapid evolution.

Now it seemed he had reached the level of a manas, something that transcended spiritual life-forms. One of those forms was his pseudo-dragon body, which provided him unparalleled power, but it could only be used in combination with Velzard.

Our best strategy was to use the pseudo-dragon body as a finishing move after reaching a stalemate with Guy.

“There’s no helping that. Guy’s a cautious man,” Velzard told Twilight.

They had been watching for an opening for dozens of hours but couldn’t find even the tiniest one. Guy had been on high alert from start to finish—in fact, he seemed convinced Velzard was hiding something.

She didn’t like the chances of this strategy succeeding. She hadn’t expected Testarossa to interfere, but the situation remained unchanged.

No, you’re right…but even so, the White Queen is quite something. She’s become able to manipulate that extremely dangerous void energy at will.

“I know. It’s still enveloping me, so I can’t use my pseudo-dragon body, either.”

Velzard was enveloped in a shining darkness of white. She could shake it off, but doing that in front of Guy posed some danger. This void energy had the ability to absorb other types of energy, so any magical force Velzard released would be instantly nullified. But she doubted this was all the void energy, either. If even more was summoned, anything she tried would be a waste.

It was a very distressing, troublesome tactic.

Any spells that release energy are off the table. Even if you reduced their power, they’d be easy to dodge, since it’d be so obvious whenever you launched them.

Twilight’s analytical skills were top-notch as always. The pseudo-personality he’d sent out was trounced by Testarossa, but he was an extremely competent adviser.

Testarossa’s goal at the moment was to contain Twilight within Velzard. That unfortunately meant Velzard had lost one of her greatest weapons against Guy. Now she had no choice but to abandon her original plan and go at him head-on.

“Well, I’m happy about this situation.”

Twilight had no reply to that. If the goal was certain victory, that would be one thing, but Velzard’s motivations lay elsewhere.

Just defeat Guy, and then you can do whatever you want.

That’s what I intend to do. Velzard flashed a fierce smile.

The next moment, she unleashed all her desires. She had already been struggling to hold back, but still she had managed to maintain a certain last line of self-control. But now reason played no part in this. She had to defeat Guy and get him for herself.

“Guy! You’re everything to me! I’ve always been looking at you—you alone! So why don’t you see me? Please, look at me. Look at me, and no one else!!”

It was a cry from the bottom of Velzard’s heart—a selfish, self-serving desire, but above all, it was pure.

Guy was hovering in midair, keeping his distance from Velzard, but suddenly he flew backward, sensing danger. It was a close call. Raging ice and snow were blowing where he was located a moment ago. With the force of a lightning bolt, Velzard’s fierce attack began.

With all strategy out the window, Velzard had become a real threat. Even among the all-powerful True Dragons, Velzard was in a class of her own. She was second only to Veldanava, the Star-King Dragon, and her power was beyond comprehension. The enormous magical energy she released raged like a tidal wave, trying to blow away Testarossa’s void energy. It wasn’t what Velzard was trying to do; it was just a way of threatening her opponent and rousing her own enthusiasm. Even so, it was highly effective.

“Ugh, this isn’t funny… You’re gonna have to pay for this, Guy!” Testarossa spat as she tried to join Moss inside his barrier.

Still, she did not give up, manipulating the void energy to skillfully deflect Velzard’s magical force. Her skill at this was so great that even Raine, who was always competing with her over every little thing, quickly admitted defeat.

Even Guy had to admit it.

“Thanks, Testarossa!”

If Twilight appeared, it’d be trouble—enough to make Guy’s victory far from certain. He was truly grateful Testarossa had showed up.

Testarossa, for that matter, didn’t have it in her to rejoin the fight. Things worked out the first time, but Twilight would be prepared for a second round. The better thing to do when an enemy kept coming back no matter how often you beat them was to just ignore them. That was one of the lessons Testarossa had learned from her training in Ramiris’s labyrinth.

Anyone who tried to stop Velzard wholesale right now would be blown away in an instant. Not even Testarossa could do it. This wasn’t a situation that could be solved with tricks or negotiation. Guy’s side had little they could do. There were only a handful of people who could face Velzard in her current state.

But actually…

I’m not sure if Sir Veldora and Lady Velgrynd would be up to it…, thought Testarossa.

The only ones who could fight her were her peers, the True Dragons…or Guy.

Sir Rimuru might be able to work something out… But how useless am I if I start thinking like that?

Testarossa had to cease this train of thought, although no one could blame her for feeling that way. Rimuru was absent, so they’d just have to figure this out on their own.

“We’ve got no choice but to leave it to Guy,” she said.

All their hopes were pinned on that man, the one person who might be able to stop Velzard.

Testarossa finally reached the barrier.

The inside of Moss’s barrier had been made a bit more comfortable in anticipation of her arrival. That was because Moss knew how to suck up to his boss, and he’d thus done a little temperature adjustment. The warmth was akin to spring sunlight, allowing the freezing Soka to catch her breath a bit.

Not content with that, Moss had even used Create Material to craft a few chairs for everyone. It was impossible to sit on the frozen ground, so Moss and the others had been standing this whole time, but they couldn’t let Testarossa do the same. Acting only after being ordered to would make Moss a second-rate servant. First-rate ones anticipate everything in advance to keep their masters happy, and not all shouty and screamy. That was Moss’s theory, and it served him well.

“Hey, Mossy, why didn’t you do this from the beginning?” Raine griped once she was settled.

The sarcastic emphasis on his nickname was intentional. Raine tended to easily get cold, something she had been forced to put up with. She had kept quiet about it, having enough common sense to know asking for the Moon wasn’t likely to earn her anything—but looking at the chairs prepared for her, Mizeri, and Soka, it seemed clear Moss still had some extra energy to work with. If he could’ve done that from the beginning, she reasoned, he should have! Why was only Testarossa getting this special treatment?

“What are you talking about, Raine?” an exasperated Testarossa asked as she sat elegantly on her seat.

“I’m sorry, Testarossa,” replied Mizeri. “Raine’s been exerting herself today, so she seems to be a little stressed.”

“Mizeri, aren’t you being too lenient with her?”

“No, she’s not!”

“If someone is already trying hard, telling him to try harder will just be counterproductive. If they’re not trying at all, going all-in on the encouragement is the right thing to do.”

“…? What are you suggesting?” Mizeri asked.

Testarossa wasn’t sure Mizeri actually knew. This was getting exasperating.

“I’m saying Raine is trying very, very hard today.”

“Huh? Are you serious?”

“Of course she is!”

“Look, does Guy ever get sick of you or anything?”

“Yes, he does. I suppose I’m just not quite good enough for him yet…”

Doubtful, Testarossa thought, although she hesitated to say it out loud. She felt a little sorry for Mizeri.

Soon the conversation trailed off, and the safe zone inside the barrier grew quiet. The battle between Guy and Velzard was turning more intense, and having nothing to talk about only increased the tension. Still, that beat bringing up some careless topic and paying the price for it.

Moss, meanwhile, was as invisible as air. He sat next to Soka, as if hiding behind her, silently doing his work with a blank expression on his face. The stress of having his name mentioned in a conversation between Primals was unbearable. He wished they would leave him alone, but the best he could do was tune them out.

However, Moss’s wish would not be granted.

“Look at Moss, for example,” said Testarossa. “Thanks to me, he’s grown into a very capable servant.”

Please don’t, Moss thought. If I ever mess up, you get so angry you try to erase me from existence!

This wasn’t about friendly ribbing or anything. The pressure to never, ever fail was so intense in these circles that only those who could endure it survived. He wished he could tell Testarossa not to take the credit for that, but Moss just clammed up and nodded with her.

“Fair,” said Mizeri. “Looking at Moss, I admit you’re a gifted educator…but Raine is a capable woman, too. She cries at me all the time, but she did manage to fight you to a draw, didn’t she?”

“…When was that?” Testarossa asked, puzzled.

“Let’s not talk about the past,” Raine said, jumping into the conversation. “Right now, we should think about how we can help Guy win, shouldn’t we?”

It was obvious to everyone she wanted to steer them away from this highly inconvenient topic.

“What a surprisingly cowardly tactic, don’t you think?” Soka muttered under her breath…toward Moss.

Please, can you just keep quiet? Or don’t involve me in this, at least!

Moss looked away, feeling like he wanted to cry.

Raine was trembling.

What’s going on here? I feel like my position has become very precarious out of nowhere…

It was her own fault, but Raine was the type who always blamed others for her problems, so she didn’t think she’d done anything wrong. Still, realizing her deception wouldn’t work this time, she decided to take another step—that is, change the subject again.

“Well,” she defiantly said with a newfound determination, “so be it. I’m gonna go out there and help out Sir Guy!”

Testarossa snorted. “If you want to die, I won’t stop you. Just remember, you’ll be killed in an instant and become nothing more than another laugh for us.”

She was openly provoking her, putting her previous words into action.

Soka refrained from speaking—she wasn’t sure she had the right—but she agreed with Testarossa. Moss was much the same; there was no doubt his boss was correct. Considering the situation, Raine’s words were nothing short of laughable. Raine might have been one of the strongest out there, but she was no match for the very top.

Everyone understood Testarossa was in the right. Even the formidable Mizeri couldn’t defend Raine this time.

“Well, yes… We’d only get in Sir Guy’s way if we went in. Let’s just focus on what we can do here, all right? And speaking of which, I sent some of my servants to Lubelius as well.”

It was a brilliant move, appeasing Raine and eruditely changing the subject at the same time. It caught Raine off guard, making tears form in her eyes, but she quickly changed her mood as well.

“Ah yes, it is cold outside, isn’t it?”

Raine’s quick recovery skills were one of her good qualities.

“I asked Lady Velgrynd to take your servants with them to Lubelius, too, Raine. We have a lot to do here, but they have to do their part, too,” said Mizeri.

“You’re right. Even if we bring Velzard back to her senses, it won’t mean much if the world’s destroyed. Let’s hope Lady Luminus is doing well.”

The conversation moved on.

“So,” Testarossa said to Moss, “did you find Carrera and the others?”

She wanted a simple yes-or-no answer. Moss understood this and promptly nodded.

“Y-yes, my lady.”

“Good. They’re under this snow, right?”

“That’s right,” Moss replied, again not hesitating.

The group had been moving along slowly, searching for any traces they could find of them, and in the end, they reached the spot directly above the ice statues of Carrera and the others. Velzard’s snow had piled up many feet high, blocking their view of the statues, but they were definitely there—directly below the area where Moss built the barrier.

Milim’s troops were also huddled together a short distance away. There were no signs of life from any of them, but the group wasn’t worried about that.

They were frozen instantly by Velzard’s power, so reviving them should be easy.

If their souls were lost, it’d be impossible to revive them, but in their current state, that wasn’t a concern to Moss, and Testarossa agreed with him. Besides, the only frozen forces who would make a difference were Carrera and Obela. There were other Million Class members around like Carillon, Frey, and Middray, along with Esprit and the Three Lycanthropeers—maybe a step behind, but still great fighters in their own way. All of them, however, were helpless against Guy and Velzard. Saving their rescue for later was the safest thing for all parties involved.

Still, as tired out as Testarossa was, she wouldn’t mind reviving Carrera to pinch-hit for her. If they could rescue Obela at the same time, that would be perfect. The outcome of the battle in this world of white was still quite uncertain, and they had to secure as many forces as possible.

“Dig them out ASAP.”

“As you wish.”

Moss wanted to argue about how crazy this was, but agreement was all he was allowed to provide. It’s not like we can move them anyway, he lamented as he began to take appropriate action.

Guy was thinking about Velzard’s cry when something occurred to him.

“Velzard, you bastard… I never realized it. Really? You’ve been jealous of me all this time…?”

Velzard reacted a bit to Guy’s muttering. She smiled. But that didn’t mean her rampage would stop.

“Guy, I…I’ve always loved you…”

Then the world was dyed white once more. It was different from Testarossa’s Nihilistic World; this white was a purified, transparent, isolated type of absolute standstill. Eternal World was its name, and by the will of the ruler, all laws were forcibly suspended.

As time slowly passed by, Guy felt a little confused…but even more deeply convinced.

I see… That’s why it took so long for jealousy to sprout in her.

At this point, Guy realized the power Velzard had hidden within her. However, the extent of its effects remained unknown to him. It was inherently contradictory, and controlling it would be tricky with just a half-hearted mental effort. Only Velzard would be capable of it, in fact. And since she had successfully kept this skill from Guy’s notice, it was safe to assume Velzard had pretty much read Guy like a book.

So what to do? Guy pondered the question. The people under the barrier’s protection could afford to casually speculate, but Guy, one half of the battle, had to be more serious about it.

Organizing his thoughts, he felt the problem really boiled down to a single question: how to stop Velzard’s rampage. There was also the issue of preventing Ivalage’s attack, but he had no time to worry about that. He who chases two rabbits catches none, as the saying goes. Guy knew his own abilities well, and he would only act on a plan if he knew it’d yield him dependable results.

If Velzard’s mind were being controlled, it would be a lot easier for him, but that wasn’t the case. Her challenge to Guy was based on her own free will, and if so, he had no choice but to play along until she had her fill of it.

Damn. What a pain in the ass…but I guess I gotta do it, huh?

“Do it” meaning “defeat Velzard.” He could think about what came after once victory was his.

But nothing was going to be easy for him. Just then, a freezing wave with a ridiculous amount of force behind it grazed Guy’s cheek. A direct hit would have pierced through his numerous defenses, perhaps even his Multilayer Barrier, and caused him fatal injuries. As if to prove it, there were signs of a mountain range collapsing in the distance. It must have hit the bedrock halfway up the hills, causing things to break apart at the molecular level and making the mountains fall down under their own weight. It was a wholly unreasonable amount of violence.

This is why True Dragons are so much trouble. They can do whatever they want, and nobody can stop them.

They didn’t think about minimizing the damage to their surroundings. They just wielded their power as they pleased. It made them good at fighting, yes, but it was also a huge headache for their opponents. Guy himself used to be similar in personality, but now he had a promise with Veldanava. He still lived as he pleased, but he had also gained an awareness of people and things besides himself. That was why he knew just how much trouble he was really in.

Guy looked at Velzard. Her snow-white hair and golden eyes were as beautiful as ever. She was a frighteningly attractive woman, as dangerous as she was gorgeous. Guy had to face up to her inexhaustible, overwhelming magical power, and he knew he couldn’t afford to hold back.

Great. She’s really gonna push me to the limit, isn’t she?

He hadn’t been put on the spot like this since he fought Velzard over in El Dorado. But that didn’t mean defeat. It just meant he was getting serious about a fight, which was extremely rare for him.

In fact, Guy’s ultimate skill Lucifer, Lord of Arrogance was so dominant precisely because it was him wielding it. Lucifer offered a wide range of skills, but at its core, it allowed him to fully reproduce any ability after he had seen it once. That was one reason why he was so eager to see his fellow demon lords learn new ultimate skills. In order to become the strongest, he had to observe other people’s ultimate skills and incorporate them into himself. He had stuck to this tactic from ancient times, learning powers from countless strong fighters of the past and present.

This was naturally reflected in his fighting abilities. He could even imitate Twilight’s pseudo-dragon form and Testarossa’s Nihilistic World (which she presumably wanted to keep secret) with Lucifer, Lord of Arrogance. That was why Guy was so all-powerful—if he could make any enemy’s powers his own, there was no way he could lose in a pure match of skill. Not even Velzard was an exception to this…but nonetheless, it’d be an uphill battle for him.

Guy wanted to analyze Velzard’s abilities and make them his own. That way, he could easily nullify those skills, giving himself an assured victory. However, in order to do that, he had to make her use those abilities, and he had to observe them in action.

Dammit… She’s not gonna use anything until it’s do-or-die for her.

Velzard was fully aware of Guy’s mimicry skills. She knew revealing anything new to him should be done only as a last resort. That was why she had only tapped into Gabriel, Lord of Endurance so far. Guy knew that ultimate skill already, which was why he could anticipate and avoid all her attacks with only a token effort. But simply knowing what he was up against wasn’t enough in itself. Velzard’s sheer force was a threat regardless of how she used it. If he showed even the slightest opening against this magicule-fueled assault, he could be dealt a fatal blow at any moment.

The decisive moment in this battle would come whenever Velzard dug up a new ability to use against him. The outcome was hanging on whether Guy could Analyze it quickly enough in that instant.

The thought filled Guy with gloom. He didn’t go into a battle looking to lose. Allowing himself into an unpredictable situation was out of the question, especially a full-on gamble like this one. It felt like his pride was being trampled upon.

Well…no way I’m gonna lose, at least.

But Guy still believed in himself. No matter how cornered he was, his heart would never break. Confidence that he was the best filled his mind. He let a small smile erupt on his face.

After a nerve-wracking moment or two, Guy escaped Velzard’s absolute standstill. If he hadn’t understood the nature of that skill, he would have been defeated the moment he was frozen in place. It was just too forceful and unfair, using sheer power to stop all kinetic motion, but that also meant it could be overcome through sheer will as well. It wasn’t the most elegant way to respond—a very Guy-like approach, to be sure—but he hadn’t expended all that much energy so far, so it wasn’t an issue.

Besides, the time he stood to gain was all too precious.

After observing Velzard for this long, Guy came to one conclusion. There was no doubt Velzard was acting on her own free will, but it was also highly likely her mind was being influenced by someone else. That “someone else” was, of course, Twilight dwelling within her. Velzard seemed to believe she had full control of herself, but Guy reasoned this was the result of some clever manipulation.

He’s probably watching the battle between me and Velzard so he can formulate his theories or whatever with it, thought Guy.

Velzard wasn’t a fool, but she did behave pretty single-mindedly. For someone as clever as Twilight, tricking her into doing his bidding must’ve been like taking candy from a baby. Even worse, this trickery wasn’t anything driven by a mind-domination skill or the like. Twilight had simply convinced her, and unless Velzard could be convinced otherwise, Guy’s words would never reach her. But could Guy persuade her? It wouldn’t be easy—in fact, he didn’t think he stood much of a chance. That was why he had been lying back and watching the situation unfold for so long. He just couldn’t make up his mind.

But it was time to decide. He couldn’t leave Velzard alone any longer, and more than that, his future had started to grow ominous in his mind.

Twilight was, in essence, the worst mischief-maker in history. He was constantly scheming something, and whether his plans succeeded or failed, the malice that resulted kept spreading itself worldwide. He used to be surprisingly likable, once upon a time…but one day, he changed his colors completely and delved into all the inhumane experimentation he was known for.

I remember Daggrull wailing about it, too. He never did tell me what they did to him. Not that it’s any of my business, but…

Even if his old acquaintance Twilight had something happen that turned him into this, he had laid his hands on something precious to Guy, and that made him an enemy.

Guy’s anger quietly grew within him, fueling the fire burning in his heart. It’s just so stupid. Immortality? If the only way you can reach that is by relying on someone else, all you’re doing is deluding yourself.

Twilight was certainly free to pursue his passions as he saw fit. However, using his own kin—his partner—for that purpose was beyond what Guy could tolerate. Whether Velzard had been deceived or not was speculation for now, but Guy’s anger had reached the point where the truth didn’t really matter.

So he unleashed the elemental magic Napalm Burst on Velzard. A scorching dragon shot out, and its long, writhing body danced wildly around her. The spell burned anything it touched, but Guy knew it’d have no effect on Velzard. From the start, it was designed just to keep her in check—but not even that worked. Velzard dispelled it all, turning it into shimmering, diamondlike flakes of ice with a single breath. It spread out like a large firework before dissipating. This was Freezing Breath, a frigid wave normally released in dragon form, but Velzard could use it while in human mode as well.

Damn…

Guy internally sneered at her. He couldn’t help but be impressed.

She’s really that strong, ain’t she?

It made him emit a happy little laugh. Velzard was a formidable opponent, a fact Guy knew well. Her power hadn’t diminished at all since they first met—in fact, she had grown stronger, to the point that she was now on par with Guy. He was glad to find such a worthy partner, and having her as an opponent wasn’t an ideal situation, but it only served to boost his motivation.

It was a well-established fact in his mind that those without a will—or real emotions—were inherently weak. Testarossa didn’t have much of a problem against Twilight, and that was likely because Twilight had abandoned his emotional side long ago. Kill those emotions off, and change will eventually leave you in the dust. Anyone without them is doomed never to grow.

In that respect, Velzard was different. If she were just being mind-controlled into causing a huge ruckus, she never would’ve demonstrated this level of strength. What consumed her instead was single-minded jealousy—the catalyst that brought her up to this lofty height.

Is Twilight using her, or is she using Twilight as a stepping stone to achieve her own goals? Either way, I gotta get that guy out of the picture.

Regardless of whether he could return Velzard to her senses, Guy wanted to deal with Twilight.

Ah well. Maybe I was overthinking things. Sometimes, keeping it simple is the best way to find an answer!

Guy discarded his distracting thoughts, focusing only on the problem at hand. If Velzard was selfishness manifest, then Guy was the living embodiment of arrogance. He didn’t care about the circumstances of other people; if he didn’t like someone, that was reason enough to do whatever he wanted with them.

That was who he was, and once he remembered that, the rest was easy. He just had to let out all the anger that had built up inside him and follow his heart.

At that moment, Guy finally got serious. No point in saving his strength for the World-Destroyer Dragon. He summoned all his might and spirit as he faced Velzard.

Ahh, he’s finally taking this seriously…

Velzard rejoiced. Now she could finally enjoy fighting Guy and Guy alone. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

But I have to hand it to him. He’s certainly no weakling.

It was yesterday when this battle began. Neither competitor was fighting at full strength, but this was already at a level beyond what your garden-variety demon lord could endure.

Guy didn’t show any openings. He kept it purely by the book, like he knew all about her strategy. That, and he was tapping into the atmospheric magicules for his magic spells the way humans do—in other words, he was using Velzard’s magicule energy to fight, ensuring he’d never exhaust himself. It’d normally be considered a very inefficient approach, but not with Guy, because he could turn magicules into magic spells in an instant, without even the slightest time delay.

He was the strongest of the Primals, and even if Velzard seriously tried to defeat him, it was unclear whether she could. She had been by Guy’s side for a long time, and she knew what made him the strongest. With his genius-level observation skills, Guy could perceive the essence of a person with a single glimpse of their abilities. Velzard’s poker hand was practically face-up in his eyes. If Gabriel, Lord of Endurance were still the only ultimate skill she possessed, her chances of winning would have been zero.

That was why Velzard had been saving her trump card for this day. And that card, Twilight, was caged up by Testarossa. The last resort was Leviathan, Lord of Envy, but Guy seemed to know about that, too.

What a danger. I’d expect nothing less.

The thought made her both angry and elated at once. Guy was the only person in the world she recognized as her peer, and she was proud of him.

But she couldn’t afford to celebrate yet. Velzard had more than twice as many magicules as Guy, but she had only one card left in her hand. One chance to win, in other words. She was circulating her magicules through her Eternal World, so she wasn’t consuming any…but now that Guy was taking this seriously, she had to assume her previous advantage was gone. Undue rushing, though, was out of the question. If she revealed her hand too early, she’d ruin any chance she had to win.

Just like she thought before, she had to use Gabriel to fight Guy into a corner, then Leviathan to go for the kill.

This is exactly why I should’ve found more cards for my hand before I took him on.

She didn’t expect Twilight and his pseudo-dragon body would fail to stop Guy for even a moment. Luck didn’t seem to be on her side, but she had to accept that as her fate.

Now that Guy was serious about this fight, her goal was as good as achieved. Velzard flew toward Guy with all her might…

…and this pair who stood at the top of the world finally began to duel.

CHAPTER 2

MOMENT OF DESPAIR

In the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion, after seeing Benimaru and the others off, Kagali and Teare departed in pursuit of Jahil. It might have been a better decision to stay where they were, but they felt uncomfortable facing Elmesia and her ilk.

Laplace, whom Kagali had revived as a walking dead, was Sylvia’s husband and a father to Elmesia as well. He had been killed by Jahil while protecting Kagali, and he was no longer a part of this world. It put Kagali in a complicated mood, but her hatred for Jahil was immeasurable. Rather than stay behind and join Elmesia, she decided thinking about how to gain her revenge suited her better, and so she acted on that urge.

Elmesia, appreciating this, let her go without another word.

The others who remained behind were so exhausted they all but collapsed on the ground and took a rest. The battle for the Sacred Tree was total war. Everyone under the leadership of Emperor Elmesia had given their all; the only one with any real spare energy left was Zarario, the former enemy commander.

“Well,” Elmesia said, “let’s eat first.”

Everyone who had been watching the battle quickly sprang into action. Finally, it was their turn to pitch in, and soon all the soldiers had their combat rations. Meals were being prepared across the battlefield, and there was even hot soup available. The sheer speed and efficiency were fairly remarkable; everything must have been prepared in advance.

“I hope it suits your tastes,” Elmesia said as she served Zarario.

“…Thank you,” replied Zarario, accepting it without hesitation.

After fighting in a foreign world for ages, Zarario and his kind had long forgotten about the concept of eating for sustenance. Their stomachs were vestigial sacs, having lost their function long ago, and sleep and hydration were enough to replenish their energy. Even “sleep,” in this case, didn’t mean actual sleeping—just sitting still and not moving for a little while. It was, in retrospect, a very bland life.

“Now I’m glad I took on a human form,” said Neece, one of Zarario’s assistants. The army saw food in many different ways; many of the higher-ranking soldiers were impressed and appreciative, but the rank-and-file had only just gained their free will, after all. They’d all be changing in the future, little by little.

“So what are you going to do now?” Zarario asked Leon after finishing his bowl of soup.

“Do you want me to spar with you?” Leon blithely replied. He was elegantly enjoying a spot of post-meal tea. The atmosphere was relaxed, and it was clear from the context that Leon had no intention of fighting Zarario.

“I’ll pass,” Zarario dutifully said. “I want to avoid further exhausting myself in preparation for what comes next.”

Guy might’ve found Zarario boring, but Leon liked him quite a bit.

After successfully protecting the Sacred Tree, everybody present was safe for the time being. However, Milim was still out of control, and Feldway was still alive. If this group didn’t rest while they could, they wouldn’t be able to take effective action when things really got going.

Leon nodded and tried to enjoy the moment of peace.

However, the sad news quickly arrived. Luminus’s Final Declaration was projected near the Sacred Tree.

The dignitaries gathered atop the vast leaves that covered the branches of the Sacred Tree. Leon, Zarario, and his aides-de-camp Dhalis and Neece were there as invited guests. There was no time to return to the royal palace, so the army had set up some simple desks and chairs for everyone. Nobody had any complaints. In short order, the emergency meeting was underway.

“So what do we have here, then?” Elmesia asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Nothing good, I’m sure,” replied Sylvia, the same expression on her face.

It was the duty of all humanity to prevent Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon, from interfering with and destroying this key world. But they had been greeted by a one-two punch of bad news—Rimuru was gone, and Milim was rampaging toward the Sacred Tree.

Major problems weighed upon them. They couldn’t consult with Benimaru and the other Tempest officials even if they wanted to. All communication with Tempest was being blocked—jammed in some fashion. Something was definitely going on over there…but Elmesia’s team didn’t have time to worry about the monster nation. Milim was coming their way, and they were on their own with that threat. If she destroyed the Sacred Tree, it could lead to the destruction of the world, a problem that could not be ignored. Now was not the time to debate over which was more important.

The main issue, of course, was that they were completely outnumbered. In light of this, Elmesia and the others were faced with a kind of doomsday decision—either abandon the Sacred Tree and join forces with Lubelius, or defend it with the meager force they had. If they concentrated their forces in one place, they’d be able to respond quickly to changing events, but that meant leaving the Sacred Tree—and Thalion, by extension—to rot. Not taking any measure against Milim left no doubt both would be destroyed, but their army was just no match for her. Everyone understood that well enough after seeing the threat she posed firsthand. If their forces had been useless against Jahil, they wouldn’t even be able to stall for time against Milim Nava, the Destroyer.

At the moment, Erald was in command, proceeding with the evacuation of the populace. They were getting everyone away from the Sacred Tree as quickly as possible, proceeding carefully to avoid panic…but even so, it was impossible for everyone to escape. There just wasn’t enough time. People were abandoning all their belongings and fleeing with only the clothes on their backs, but even with all the magic devices operating at full capacity, there was a limit to how much could be transported at once. That, and a lot of citizens preferred to share their fate with the Sacred Tree. The longer they had lived, the more they seemed to accept this may very well be the coda to their lives. When Milim arrived, their fate would be sealed.

The moment of tragedy was approaching. If they wanted to avoid it, their options were limited.

It was ultimately Leon who broke the heavy silence. “We have no choice. I’ll deal with Milim. Elmesia, you need to fulfill your duty as emperor.”

“You shouldn’t underestimate me,” objected Elmesia. “If you want to talk about duty, it is most certainly mine to protect the Sacred Tree.”

“But—”

“Leon, this is a crucial moment. It’s not just the demon lord Milim coming, but Feldway as well. Isn’t it better to have as many forces on hand as possible to fight them?”

Leon had no choice but to remain silent. This wasn’t the sort of threat guts and glory would suffice against. Leon might win this argument, but if he was defeated, Elmesia would have to stop in.

“Heh,” interjected Zarario. “I’ll take on Feldway. I have a grudge against him anyway.”

“I’m here, too, you know, Ellie,” added Sylvia. “You should leave the rest to your super-strong mother. You’ve got a people to lead—”

“Don’t say that,” Elmesia countered. “An emperor exists solely because of her people.”

The imperial aura of Elmesia was stout enough to work even on Sylvia, her own mother. It wasn’t about who was stronger than the other; this was just the overwhelming dignity of a monarch at work. Those who rule have a heavy responsibility to the people whose burden they bear. Elmesia had always prioritized the lives of her citizens, even if it meant putting her own interests on hold, and she was determined to retain that pride of hers until the very end. She did boast an enormous personal fortune, too, of course. She was notably shrewd that way, never bothering to adhere to any kind of chivalric code of self-sacrifice. Make the people happy, make herself even happier—that was her basic credo.

Besides, what if she escaped alive and the rest of the world perished around her? It’d all be the same thing anyway…and if so, better to live proudly until the very end.

Leon and Zarario had no intention of retreating. Even if defeat was certain, they were determined to fight until there was no fighting left to do. Elmesia felt the same way, and Sylvia readily gave in as well. She wanted her daughter to be happy, but that, she realized, was just her own ego doing the talking. There was no need for further discussion.

“All right. Veldora’s on his way here, too, so let’s do our best to survive.”

Stalling for time only made sense if help was coming. They wouldn’t find any hope waiting for their deaths. It could only be discovered via purposeful action.

“I leave the rest to you,” Elmesia concluded, addressing her top advisers, the members of the thirteen Thalion royal families. Their faces were grim, but they solemnly nodded, not voicing any objections. After being protected so much, they had little in the way of pride for themselves…but if any of them left Thalion, it’d only lead to needless death. It was humiliating, but they threw away any urge to run away and opted to do what they could.

So it was decided four fighters would face Milim and her forces.

Zarario’s army was tasked with helping the people of Thalion evacuate. The different chains of command made smooth cooperation a tall order at first, so their main assigned tasks were to watch for intruders and provide support.

Dhalis and Neece commanded the troops well, and they seemed to be doing a decent enough job. It relieved Zarario to see as he sharpened his mind in preparation for Feldway’s arrival.

There was no battle strategy as such. If there was any goal at all, it was to stay alive.

One hit from Milim would mean instant death. Therefore, they decided the three speed-oriented fighters would provide a distraction, preventing Milim from finding any openings to attack. If she fired a Drago-Nova blast at the Sacred Tree, that’d be the end of it, so they decided this was the most effective strategy.

However, that meant Zarario would be the only one facing Feldway. The weight of this responsibility made him tremble with anticipation.

“Are you nervous?” a concerned Leon asked.

“Hmph. Of course I am. When Feldway fights for real, he’s a menace.”

Feldway had brought out his true form, making him complete. That was partially a sign of desperation—defeat could mean death for him—but it also made his total strength a black box. Not even Zarario had gotten to see Feldway’s full force that many times, and not at all since he last broke it out long ago. Zarario was sure he was a stronger fighter now as well, but there was no ignoring the overwhelming presence Feldway presented. His energy was equal to or greater than that of a True Dragon, and any casual approach would lead to being destroyed with a single touch.

“But will all of you be okay?” he asked, changing the subject.

Leon and the rest fell silent. Any finishing moves of his and Zarario’s would be useless against Milim. They were all readily blocked by the invisible barrier that was a side effect of Drago-Nova. The difference in ability was like Heaven and Earth—that much was obvious to anyone.

“Winning isn’t the goal,” Leon casually replied. “We don’t need to defeat her. We just need to capture her attention.”

His was a very heroic kind of attitude, but it was very typical of Leon. It earned agreement from Elmesia and Sylvia.

“Right, right,” said Elmesia. “If you asked us to beat her, I’d say it couldn’t be done…but if we just have to engage her, that’s not quite as impossible.”

“Exactly. And I’ve got confidence in our speed, at least. And Leon, as my trainee, knows nothing if not how to run away real fast, right?”

Leon gave Sylvia a bitter look. “I’ve been thinking this for a while, but could you stop calling me just Leon, please? And also, please refrain from framing it as ‘running away.’ There are many more upbeat ways to put it.”

His expression spoke volumes. Clearly he had been harboring this grievance for a long while.

“Upbeat, huh…?”

“Would you prefer ‘gallantly chickening out’?”

Leon let out a deep sigh. “Enough. I was a fool to expect anything from you people.”

“Me too.”

“Yeah. Trying to look all cool at your age.”

“…”

Leon finally fell silent. Zarario patted him on the shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look. He wasn’t the only one who had to deal with an annoying boss.

These exchanges weren’t just a way to kill time. The four of them needed to relax at least a little if they wanted any chance at overcoming the despair looming before them. And it definitely worked—Zarario, Leon, Elmesia, and Sylvia were in top condition.

Then the target came into sight.

“Here we go,” Zarario bluntly announced.

“I see it here, too,” said Sylvia.

“Incredible… It’s only been a few hours, and she’s already here.”

Elmesia’s view was shared by everyone present. The distance between the Holy Void of Damargania and the Sacred Tree was over twelve thousand miles as the crow flies. Only Milim, with her extraordinary ability to fly several dozen times the speed of sound, could make the return journey so quickly.

“She’s probably not going full-speed,” Zarario said worriedly. “If she was really serious about this, she’d be going even faster. Are you sure you guys are all right?”

“Whether we are or not, we’ve got no choice but to do this.”

“Yep. That’s how it is.”

“I could beat her in terms of top speed, at least!”

Elmesia, Leon, and Sylvia were all as prepared as they could ever be. The rest would be up to fate.

The battle was underway the moment they spotted Milim. Exactly as planned, Leon, Elmesia, and Sylvia spread out to surround her. All three of them had trained together, so their movements were in full sync.

Coincidentally, their powers were also similar. Their ultimate skills—Surya, Lord of Brilliance for Leon; Vayu, King of Heavenly Wind for Elmesia; and Indra, Lord of Thunder for Sylvia—had powers geared toward boosting their speed. They didn’t boast wings like Zarario, but all three were more than capable when it came to aerial combat. Using their powers to apply solidity to a fixed space and use it as a foothold, they were wholly unfettered by gravity—a skill they figured they could use to occupy Milim’s attention. Between that and their ability to perfectly time their movements with one another, they were a formidable team, even with no advance practice time.

With that in mind, the three spread out and took turns stepping forward to keep Milim at bay.

“I’ll go first,” Leon said. This was the most dangerous role, but he accepted it naturally. He launched his attack without waiting for a reply.

“Melt Breaker.”

This was one of Leon’s finishers, working on the same principle as Hinata’s Meltslash. The only difference was that instead of magicules, Leon was manipulating spirit particles with this force, providing superior safety and stability and adding intense power to his slashes for extended periods of time. This would turn into the skill Hundred Breaker when unleashed at full power, but since he figured it wouldn’t work on his target anyway, he decided to just test the waters first.

Was it the right call or not?

“…Ugh! You’re not even trying to defend yourself!” Leon grumbled.

Flame Pillar, an all-powerful God-class weapon, could easily slay a demon lord when enveloped in the light of Disintegration, but Milim continued to fly toward the Sacred Tree, as if she didn’t even notice. Leon had landed a direct hit upon her as they passed each other—he could sense the impact with his arm. It startled him for a moment, as he wondered if he had just seriously injured her…but such concerns were pointless. It was clear just how much he had underestimated Milim’s Stampede.

On her back were a pair of jet-black wings. The crimson horn growing from her forehead glowed brighter than ever, shining in all the colors of the rainbow. Her skin, except for her face, was covered with hard dragon scales that glowed in mysterious patterns, gradually cycling between colors. It certainly made her look more sinister than ever, but it wasn’t just her appearance that had changed. Her whole arsenal of skills had achieved a new level of strength.

Leon’s sword managed to only scratch her scales. His spirit particles could cut through anything, but they still couldn’t break Milim’s stellar particles—and those scales would come back fully intact anyway. If she couldn’t regenerate them quickly enough, she could just grow new ones, so the damage to her was essentially zero.

Leon told himself it didn’t matter, since he had no intention of actually beating her, but everyone saw that for the lame excuse it was.

Sylvia followed Leon’s lead, but the result was similar. Her reputation as their teacher was now in tatters, but no one could blame her for that.

“I knew it was impossible,” she complained.

“…You knew it from the beginning, then?” replied Leon with a triumphant smirk, as hollow as it seemed to his audience. Even with one of his best finishers, he couldn’t even slow her down. No wonder he was so discouraged.

“Come on, you!” shouted Elmesia. “I’ll use my wind blessing to increase your speed, so keep trying to provoke her!”

Hearing her voice, Leon and Sylvia regained their composure. Whether it was sour grapes or pure stubbornness, they knew if they lost their courage, it’d all be over. Just as Elmesia said, if it didn’t work the first time, they’d have to try again.

“One more time.”

“I’m with you!”

Leon and Sylvia unleashed a series of attacks, with Elmesia supporting them all the way. Soon they had a natural flow in place, allowing them to launch a wave of repeated strikes against Milim. Finally, they made their target twitch a little. Joy appeared on Leon’s and Sylvia’s faces…but in the next moment, they were blown away by a crosswind from the side. Immediately after that, a mass of magical power flew past the spot where the two had been, exploding on the ground in the distance.

That was Milim’s doing. She must have found the attacks annoying enough to flick a bullet of magic force at them. Elmesia, noticing it first, blew Leon and Sylvia to the side before they could react.

“Let your guards down, and you really will die here…”

Leon and Sylvia silently nodded at Elmesia’s warning, their faces pale.

Zarario was up against Feldway. The two stood motionless in midair.

Feldway spoke first:

“Why did you betray me?”

This was enough to enrage even the normally placid Zarario. It was Feldway who tried to take over his mind in the first place; trying to reframe that as anything else was unacceptable.

“That’s what I want to ask you!” Zarario replied, venting his frustration. “Why did you try to rule over me, of all people?”

He wanted an explanation from Feldway. But what he heard instead was a pretense beyond his understanding.

“Rule over you? That wasn’t my intention whatsoever. I only used my authority to strengthen the bonds between us. That way, I could convey my orders more smoothly to you, right?”

Zarario found that thought process hard to comprehend. “…What are you talking about?” he asked, truly confused. But this didn’t get through to Feldway, either. He seemed unable to understand why Zarario was so angry.

“All of you… You were my friends. What is so wrong, then, with unifying our wills as one?”

Unifying their wills, in this case, meant obeying Feldway at all times. There was no need for individual will, no room for argument. It was his way of completely rejecting Zarario and his companions.

Zarario was shocked. Does this man have no concept of respecting others? It was the only conclusion he could reach, and at that point, he had to face the facts. There would never be any mutual understanding between the two.

Feldway was a lonely man. He had carried that loneliness for so long it had broken him. Zarario, realizing this, deeply regretted not noticing this change in his friend—but, he thought, it couldn’t be too late yet. If Feldway was willing to continue the conversation, he need to keep trying to persuade him. Besides, the full extent of Feldway’s power easily overwhelmed Zarario, something he realized all over again now that he was facing all of it at once.

It’s even more than I expected. Almost like the real Veldanava is back…

His appearance, his demeanor—everything about him was identical. There were some trivial differences like hair color, but for the most part, Feldway was the exact same as the Star-King Dragon of Zarario’s memory. To be frank, he didn’t like his chances of winning. For buying time, it was much safer to keep talking to him instead of fighting.

Zarario racked his brain for where to start, then solemnly began to speak.

“Lord Veldanava wouldn’t want the world to be taken apart, would he?”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“How, you ask?”

“Hmph. You wouldn’t know, but he accepted all of this. He allowed all life-forms to evolve freely in a rich, diverse world. And what do you think lies beyond that?”

“…”

“Conflict. A fierce struggle for survival, and at the end of it, the ultimate demise of the world.”

“Isn’t that why demon lords exist? In other words, Lord Veldanava wanted peace for the world as well…”

Feldway looked at Zarario with pity as he argued his point.

“No, no. You know…I came to realize something.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s not that evolution was allowed for all living things in the world. No, not allowed. Perhaps they are destined to evolve…”

Feldway’s words troubled Zarario. There was a big difference between being “allowed” and being “destined.” It was no longer a freedom, but an obligation. But only Veldanava himself would know his true intentions. No matter how an outsider like Feldway interpreted it, it was only his truth. People, after all, are creatures who believe what they want to believe—but was it right or not? If you neglected that most important question, you’d never reach the path of truth, no matter how much time you spent on it.

Feldway, as an overseer, should have understood that. But now he’s falling into the same trap as all those foolish, petty people…

The words of a god must be conveyed correctly, without alteration, and it was up to the individual to interpret them. If those in positions of influence proceed based on incorrect interpretations, the masses who follow them will also suffer…and there lies the difficulty in using words to try to understand matters. The god in this case was Veldanava, and with his closest associate Feldway in this state, it was clear to Zarario just how difficult a task it was to lead humanity. The mere thought made him feel faint.

However:

Lord Veldanava isn’t omnipotent in the first place. He himself said he can make mistakes. It’s only natural we, his creations, also make them.

Zarario was convinced of this. And that was a useful tenet to consult as he mulled over how to consul Feldway from this point on.

“If conflict is the ultimate finishing line for evolution, then that must be the will of Lord Veldanava, our god. And in order to reach even greater heights, Daggrull, Twilight—even Zeranus, born in the other world—were given the ‘fate’ of evolving past what their parents could ever reach.”

“…”

“For people like us, born perfect beings from the beginning, it is a difficult feeling to work out. However, I feel I understand it a little now.”

Zarario braced himself, wondering what Feldway was about to say. He knew, at least, that he had to pay attention to every word Feldway uttered so he could better refute it all.

Obela was far better at this kind of thing…

But she was frozen in ice. With no help on the horizon, Zarario had to do his best. He gathered his strength as he listened intently to Feldway.

“To surpass one’s parents is, in essence, to kill one’s god. Those people gained a strong connection in their struggles to surpass Lord Veldanava. Something I never even had…”

Feldway had a sad look in his eyes. It was a tense moment for Zarario, unable to see how this connected to the conversation. If this bought him more time, then great…but listening to his former friend say all these incomprehensible things was more mentally trying than he expected. But sincerity was Zarario’s strength, and so he gritted his teeth, trying to be patient.

“But all I can do… Yes! All I can do is fulfill the wishes of Lord Veldanava for him!”

“…?!”

“The destination of those who seek evolution—the destruction of the world—will be achieved by my own hands. That is the only mission left to me.”

Feldway looked refreshed.

No, no, no…

Zarario wondered how he should respond.

“But isn’t that a misunderstanding on your part? What if Lord Veldanava didn’t want the world to be destroyed at all?”

It was a valid point. He had never directly given that order, so Feldway shouldn’t go around acting on his own judgment. That was what Zarario wanted to say, but Feldway’s next response left him speechless.

“Well, if that’s the case, then so be it. If a foolish servant is about to take the wrong path, isn’t it the duty of a master to stop them?”

“What…?”

“I’m quite angry right now, you know. Angry at the foolish humans who killed the god, and at all those who allowed it to happen…”

Feldway paused. Then he vented his anger all at once.

“And even more than that, I am angry at Lord Veldanava for never reviving himself!”

This was where his anger was pointed. He probably felt he had been abandoned, left in that other world for such a long time. But from Zarario’s point of view, it was a ridiculous argument. He wished Feldway would stop acting so spoiled when he was virtually borrowing Veldanava’s appearance. Among the Seven Primordial Angels, Feldway was the one most beloved by Veldanava, as well as the most trusted and valued. That was why he was given the vital task of watching over Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon.

Feldway’s physical form was proof positive of that. Veldanava had jet-black hair that shone like the stars in the sky, while Feldway’s hair was silver, representing shining light. Veldanava himself had created a body identical to his own and given it to Feldway. After all that special treatment, it was hard to believe he’d still have anything to complain about—so thought Zarario.

“Quit acting so spoiled.”

“What?”

“All these selfish arguments… Have you forgotten your mission?!”

Zarario’s warrior side was disgusted by the weakness Feldway was showing. There were parts of his argument that made a decent amount of sense—that much was true. But was Feldway at all qualified to make arguments like that? Because at the very least, he should have consulted with others in his position, such as Zarario himself, about his qualms. If he thought Veldanava had abandoned them, how did he think Zarario and the others would have to respond?

Feldway was being far too selfish. He was using and abusing others as he pleased, and considering that, there was no need for any sympathy.

“Draw your sword,” declared Zarario as he went into his stance. “I’ll beat some willpower into you yet.”

Zarario’s sword could cut the rigid alionium exoskeletons of the insectors in two with a single blow—a God-class weapon, to say the least. He lacked Feldway-caliber power, but he was still justifiably proud of his skills. If delivering a painful blow or two to him would wake him up, then perfect.

Feldway eyed the determined Zarario, his gaze cold.

“Weren’t you looking to stall for time?”

No matter how much of his sanity he had lost, Feldway’s mind was still sharp. He had seen through Zarario’s intentions from the beginning, and so far he had just been playing along with the charade, but…

“…I don’t care.”

Zarario realized persuasion was useless in the first place. Feldway knew all along he was just trying to buy time until Veldora arrived.

“Then prepare yourself.”

Feldway drew his sword as well. It saddened Zarario a bit, seeing the Ark sword in his hand. He wanted to declare they were no longer friends, but couldn’t—instead, he struck at Feldway with his blade.

By the time Zarario and Feldway’s full-scale battle began, the group fighting Milim had already been pushed to their limits. They were walking a constant tightrope, unable to let their guard down for even a moment.

They had repeatedly provoked Milim, trying to prevent her from getting into position to use Drago-Nova. It was basically Leon and Sylvia attacking, with Elmesia intervening when necessary. None of them bothered with any defensive moves, since one hit would end it for them anyway. They just gave their all to outrunning Milim. The three of them would easily be considered among the strongest in this world, which made this strategy seem a little sad in how passive it was, but the danger Milim posed offered little alternative.

The trio fought desperately, hoping to buy as much time as possible. But the limit came all too suddenly. Elmesia, who had been focused on supporting the other two, was now being targeted by Milim. Despite her rampaging ways, her fighting instincts were as outstanding as ever. Seeing Elmesia was the key to this three-sided teamwork, Milim began to relentlessly pursue her, ignoring Leon and Sylvia entirely.

There was nothing they could do. They were playing it safe by dividing Milim’s attention between the three of them, but if she was no longer reacting to all three, then so much for that strategy. The only option left was for the targeted person to keep running.

But the bad news kept on coming. This whole strategy assumed they were faster than Milim in terms of maximum speed…but in just this short time, Milim’s reaction speed had noticeably improved. There was seemingly no limit to her agility, and Leon and the others were rapidly losing any advantage they had. Even worse, out of all three speed-oriented fighters, Elmesia was the slowest by a palpable measure. With her alone being targeted, it was only a matter of time before she was caught.

“Not good…”

“Ugh! She’s completely ignoring my lightning strikes and stuff. They land right on her, but they don’t even leave a scratch. There’s just no way to stop her…”

Leon and Sylvia grew more and more impatient. They were completely impotent, and the clock was ticking fast. Elmesia, too, had made up her mind.

“Well, this can’t last… There’s no way I can shake her off.”

She was trying to mix up her moves to confuse Milim, but Milim’s Magic Sense detected everything in advance.

“Well, isn’t this great? So powerful, and it’s all based on instinct, too. How did Rimuru ever manage to beat her in this state…?”

Elmesia had a newfound appreciation for Rimuru’s talents. In no time at all, he had subjugated the monsters of the forest and brought a grand civilization to them. No matter what era of history you looked at, he’d be considered a great leader with few equals…monster or not.

But it was his rate of growth and development that frightened Elmesia the most. From her perspective, it was downright dangerous. When she first saw him with a Primal demon under his command, she questioned his sanity. When he went from one Primal to four, she almost screamed on the spot. When she asked what would happen if the Primal named Diablo went out of control, Rimuru just calmly sat there and said, “Well, I’ll stop him before that happens.”

At the time, Elmesia didn’t take that too seriously. She appreciated his candor, at least, but didn’t think there was any way to back up his claims at all. Now, she realized, he was being totally sincere—and it was those ideals of his that helped inspire Elmesia’s flagging enthusiasm.

Yes, those were fun times…

She conspired with Rimuru and a man named Gard Mjöllmile, forming a little secret triad of their own. Through it, they established a new system of government in the Western Nations formerly ruled over by the corrupt Rozzo clan. Together they aimed to create a system that, as much as possible, kept citizens from falling through the cracks—a sincere dream, not just some passing fancy.

Rimuru was a good-natured pushover who could be surprisingly absentminded at times, but he also had a cunning side, and…well, he was just such a kind friend. That was what Rimuru the slime meant to her—someone she respected, who could overcome any crisis. Not that she’d ever say so to him.

Rimuru, in essence, was like a joker in a card game. Just having access to him gave her a sense of security. If push came to shove, at least he’d be around.

I wonder how Rimuru is doing now…

She was more concerned about Rimuru’s whereabouts than Luminus’s Final Declaration or Milim’s rampage. Without the sense of security that Rimuru would swoop in to save the day, Elmesia suddenly felt a far weightier responsibility than before. She was determined to do her best, but look at how it had turned out! At this rate, she thought, she’d never be able to face Rimuru in the afterlife.

Of course, I’m sure he’d just go off living merrily along somewhere else, but…

Elmesia couldn’t imagine Rimuru ever getting into a serious predicament. Even in situations that seemed hopeless from the outside, Rimuru had always managed to find a way out. She felt she had a lot to learn from him…

So is this my life flashing before my eyes or what?

Elmesia couldn’t be sure. But Milim was closing in. She would catch up soon. The game of tag around the Sacred Tree was about to end—and with it, her life.

“Ellie…?!”

“Ngh! Don’t give up!”

Elmesia heard Sylvia and Leon shouting into her mind. She understood them well enough. If she gave up, she would die. But she knew it was impossible.

Leon was desperately trying to exceed his limits, but he could never catch up with Milim. In high-speed aerial battle, once two sides made a pass at each other, it took time to regroup and face each other again. If they were chasing each other on the same trajectory, it’d be one thing, but even with Leon’s exceptional skill, Milim was just going faster and faster. It’d be impossible to overtake her and step up to protect Elmesia. Even if he made it in time, they would both be killed anyway.

The demon lord Milim was truly a transcendent being—the dragon princess, daughter of the Creator. She was the subject of countless legends, but the real her was so amazing, it made those legends pale in comparison. She looked like just a little girl around Rimuru, but now she was a natural disaster in motion.

The highly dense energy in her body would shatter Elmesia into pieces just by colliding with her. Elmesia was one of the world’s most powerful beings, but now she was just counting the seconds until her final moment.

So you know, Leon…try not to blame yourself for it so much, all right?

He might have tried to act cool, but the demon lord Leon was a compassionate soul, quick to shed tears. A series of misunderstandings had led to his reputation as a villain—one he had settled into—but to Elmesia, he was still a fellow student worth counting on.

She wanted to do something for him before they died, except there was no time left. She closed her eyes. But at that moment…

“Kweeeee!!”

…she thought she heard a cry.

There was no way it could have reached her before Milim, who was coming in at dozens of times the speed of sound, so she thought she was just hearing things…but the impact she was expecting never came.

Realizing something was amiss, Elmesia opened her eyes slightly…and beheld a shocking sight.

“Huh?!”

A mini-dragon, three or so feet long, was flying in front of Elmesia, its back turned toward her. Milim could sense it, along with its shrill cry, and it made her stop moving for a moment. That was all the time needed to save Elmesia.

Then she saw it. Holding this mini-dragon was a young girl. She had unusual hair, a mixture of black and silver.

Leon was shouting something in the distance, but Elmesia didn’t care. This girl was so captivating she lost her voice entirely. This was one of the children Rimuru was looking after. Her name was…

“No, Gaia! Chill out, all right? It’s too dangerous here,” she said before placing the mini-dragon in Elmesia’s arms. Then she turned to Milim and stood her ground, like she was going to fight her herself.

At first glance, it seemed beyond reckless of her. But Elmesia was still relieved. Hope was still out there for her…because that girl was the one who held the fate of this world in her hands.

“I’ll take you on,” she said—and then she wasn’t there. In her place stood a beautiful woman with long, silky black hair sprinkled with silver flecks. Her Moon Mistress sword was in her hand, her Divine Spirit Armor protecting her.

It was, of course, none other than Chloe the Hero in her battle form.

Chloe promptly put up a barrier to parry Milim’s charge. That ensured Elmesia was no longer in danger, and immediately after that, the battle between Milim and Chloe began.

Leon and Sylvia came over to Elmesia, who was still trying to catch her breath.

“Well, I’m glad you’re safe,” Sylvia told her.

“Oh, you said it…”

“All thanks to the ravishing Chloe, no less. You should be grateful.”

“Why cop an attitude about that, Leon?”

“Right? Calling her ‘ravishing’ and all that. You’re such a silly goose sometimes, Leon.”

“Shut up.”

Leon’s stern expression silenced the noisy emperor and her mother. If he simply ignored them, they’d keep teasing him forever, so it was best to cut things off at the source.

Regardless, it was clear to everyone that Chloe’s arrival had saved them.

“Kweee!!” Gaia the mini-dragon cried out in Elmesia’s arms.

………

……

…

Why was Gaia there?

Currently, the Control Center located inside Tempest’s labyrinth was the safest place in the world. As a result, the waiting room adjacent to it was serving as an evacuation site for children, along with expectant mothers like Momiji and Alvis.

Chloe, who had just woken up, was there as well. Everyone had been told she wasn’t feeling well, but she had taken refuge there with Kenya, Alice, and the other kids. They were all playing board games to distract themselves from their anxiety, resting and recovering their strength so they’d be able to join the fight in an emergency.

Just then, however, they heard a report that the dracobeasts released by Vega were approaching the labyrinth’s lowest level. Hakuro, the children’s guardian and escort, rushed out to intercept them…and immediately after that, something strange happened to Gaia.

Chloe was the only one who was able to react to it. She intuitively sensed something was up with the demon lord Milim, who was connected spiritually to Gaia. That meant Rimuru, who was busy trying to do something about Milim’s rampage, was also in serious trouble.

There was no way Chloe was just going to obediently sit in the labyrinth. She sensed Gaia, pulled by her soul bond with Milim, was about to perform a Dimensional Leap—so without letting any of the others notice, Chloe came along for the ride.

………

……

…

At the very last moment, Chloe the Hero arrived, a development Leon and the others eagerly welcomed.

“Just as I thought,” Elmesia said, impressed. “The legendary Masked Hero is on a whole other level from all the others…”

The fact that a beautiful, charming woman was behind the mask made her even more excited.

“That’s right,” Leon said, nodding vigorously. “She’s a little stronger than me, in fact. No wonder she’s the strongest Hero of all time.”

“Hold on,” Sylvia said, stopping Leon before he could embellish the facts any further. “The strongest was Ludora, the Original Hero. His disciple Granville, the Hero of the Dawn, might be a close second, but he can’t quite outclass Ludora.”

So began Sylvia’s vast history of Heroes, along with some extra trivia for good measure. She was a huge fangirl when it came to Heroes, even going so far as to marry one—Thalion, the Wandering Hero. The idea that Chloe was the strongest was thus a little hard to accept, but Sylvia had to face the facts.

“Are you sure? Because she’s clearly the strongest!” Elmesia insisted.

She gazed admiringly at Chloe, the Hero fighting in front of her. Chloe was younger than her—much younger. She had only just turned twelve, while Elmesia was over two thousand years old. But Chloe’s years of experience were reflected in her strength, something chronological numbers couldn’t explain. From Elmesia’s perspective, it was only natural she would give all her admiration to this child, one who had popped in and out of the shadows of history. She knew Chronoa, the Masked Hero, had saved the world from assorted crises many times.

But Sylvia had her own opinions. The heroic tales of Ludora, the Original Hero, were gospel to Sylvia—she had lived through them all. As far as Sylvia knew, only Ludora was capable of fighting evenly with Guy Crimson, the strongest demon lord. That was the point she was trying to emphasize by fangirling over him.

Really, Sylvia and Elmesia resembled each other in some ways. But it was Leon’s opinion that tipped the balance.

“Hmph. I’ll admit this Ludora person is formidable. If he fought to a draw with Guy, he must be quite skilled indeed,” Leon reasoned. “But Chloe is a perfect beauty, combining good looks with grace, and in that regard, I think the winner is clear!”

It was a ridiculous argument, given with a completely straight face. Elmesia nodded with a smile, and Sylvia clicked her tongue in disgust, feeling defeated.

“Look, since when were you some big expert, Blond Hero? You’re way, way out of their league! Why can’t you just shut up about them?!” Sylvia griped.

Leon was indeed a former Hero himself, but Sylvia had an extremely low opinion of him—one she wasn’t afraid to make clear in her attitude.

Elmesia and the others might have been giddy with relief, but Chloe’s expression was stiff. Why? Because she had been defeated many times by the demon lord Milim in the past. As the strongest of Heroes, Chronoa was no stranger to her…but she had been unable to win at all.

After the death of Rimuru in the timeline Chronoa had experienced, Milim had gone into Stampede mode, using her incredible strength to crush even the most powerful of opponents. She herself was one of them, and seeing Milim like this—and having the memories she did—made it impossible not to be a little nervous.

But there was hope. The current Chloe possessed the three traits of courage, hope, and justice, making her far stronger than the Chronoa of her memories. Plus, now that she was awake, she was far more deeply attuned to the manas known as Chronoa. Chloe naturally accepted Chronoa into herself, and Chronoa soundlessly disappeared into her body.

But that wasn’t precisely the case.

As Chloe grew, the role of the manas Chronoa simply came to an end. Once it did, this Chronoa returned to the past and merged back with the young Chloe.

“Don’t worry. I’ll pretend to be touched by madness and guide you so you can reach this future.”

That was her resolve. She smiled, as sad as she was to part with Rimuru, because she knew they’d meet again.

Chloe didn’t know any of that, but either way, she was no longer a young child. She was the strongest of Heroes, one Chronoa knew would take care of herself well enough.

In the future world Chloe remembered, Chronoa wasn’t able to do much more than invoke her ultimate skill Yog-Sothoth, Lord of Time. That was still enough to let her reign as the best in the world, but now Chloe had awakened to her own ultimate skill—Yog-Sothoth, God of Time.

That brought her to a whole other level from before. Even without the manas known as Chronoa, she had become able to wield her powers completely naturally.

Resonating with Gaia’s wish, she had used Dimensional Leap to come to Milim in an instant. Now, she understood what she had to do.

That is what my teacher Rimuru wants…

She couldn’t let Milim commit any more crimes. This very moment was the reason Chloe had gained her power.

“I will protect your life,” Chloe announced to Milim.

“Graaaaaaah!”

Milim roared in response. The air shook—and so, with the hopes of humanity behind her, the Hero joined the battle.

Chloe opted for an extended fight instead of settling it in one blow. Against Milim and her boundless energy, it’d be a poor decision by any normal standard, but Chloe didn’t hesitate at all. Based on all the many times she had fought Milim before, she was convinced this was the best course of action.

She blocked Milim’s dragon fists with her Moon Mistress, a God-class blade that had evolved from the Moonlight sword. It easily withstood the pressure from Milim Nava, among the strongest demon lords, never showing any sign of cracking. That, however, was only possible because of Chloe’s exceptional skill—a skill she employed lavishly as she dodged Milim’s strikes.

With a well-timed counterattack, Chloe attempted to pursue her opponent…

“Rrrgh!”

Chloe spat out blood, her body going limp. Milim’s tail had pierced her abdomen. She was mixing up her moves, toying with her…or that was her intention, at least. Chloe should have been mortally wounded, but her face returned to its usual serene state, as if nothing was amiss.

Calmly, she raised her sword toward Milim. There were no scars on her abdomen, and her clothes were no longer torn. Her Divine Spirit Armor was still intact, and overall, it was like Milim’s tail strike a moment ago was just a group hallucination of some sort.

Milim launched a fierce attack at Chloe. Unlike before, Chloe remained expressionless, easily dodging the attack. The dragon fists and tail passed right in front of her eyes. She lost her chance to counterattack, but they were just repeating what had happened before. This time, though, Chloe’s fighting was flawless, like she knew exactly what to do.

It was only natural, though, because Chloe did know exactly what to do. In fact, Chloe really did nearly die in that last exchange. But as soon as she realized her mistake, she activated her ultimate skill Yog-Sothoth, God of Time, and that made it as if it had never happened. This was the true nature of Chloe’s ability—she could turn back the clock and go back to the past after experiencing a piece of the future to come.

Through her mastery of Yog-Sothoth, Chloe had gained the ability to freely send only her consciousness back to the past. By inhabiting and synchronizing with her past self, she could recall memories from the future before she technically perceived them. In other words, Chloe could always choose the best move at any given moment, lending her an insurmountable advantage in battle.

This allowed her to fight solo against Milim, an opponent against whom even the slightest mistake meant certain death. Thanks to Yog-Sothoth, she always knew what waited in the future—and best of all, it required no energy. It did consume magicule energy in the future, but it consumed nothing in the present. That explained why Chloe chose a long-haul approach to this fight. She could make the most of her temporal advantage that way.

Even so, Chloe knew it was impossible to completely defeat Milim. Thus, her only option was to pin her down and neutralize her. That was the role she took up, and she knew she’d be the best at it.

“Amazing,” muttered Elmesia. Chloe’s fighting was completely free of mistakes. It was as if she could read everything coming up, bringing the battle to a perfect conclusion for her. It was a beautiful, waste-free fight, akin to a dance performance—and it was also minimizing the impact on those around her. How much focus would it take to pull off such a feat?

What’s more, Chloe was managing Milim with exact precision. It looked as if one of Feldway’s magic blasts just happened to hit Milim after she rushed in, following a dodge from Chloe…but there was no “just happened” to it. Chloe was choosing the best course of action at all times, with perfect confidence, and the results were simply the best of the best. It was a surreal sight for everyone watching, save for the Hero herself.

But even with the all-powerful ability to “remember” the future, Chloe couldn’t be complacent for a moment. Against Milim, she could never let her guard down. In fact, Chloe had already made several potentially fatal mistakes. Milim was going on pure instinct, but her sense for battle was as exceptional as always, and that sense transcended even her natural-born skills.

She sure is strong, yeah, thought Chloe. Maybe I would have been better off taking on Guy…

Guy, she felt, was a more even match in terms of technique. He’d be a better opponent for this kind of advanced psychological warfare, with both sides trying to read each other’s intentions. Opponents like that were easy for someone with Chloe’s clairvoyance.

Not so with Milim. For that matter, she couldn’t be killed with a single blow.

Unlike Rimuru, Chloe could be ruthless when she decided that was the best course of action. Naturally, she had considered eliminating Milim—and she actually tried it a few times.

But that led to the worst possible outcome for her. None of Chloe’s finishing moves worked on Milim. Hypnos, the strongest type of spiritual magic, had no effect. Absolute Severance, the strongest of melee techniques, was fully blocked by a barrier. She then tried to seal her in an Unlimited Imprisonment, but Milim easily broke out of it. Even Reverse Fate, which should have brought about the results Chloe desired, could not bring Milim back to her senses. The only way for this battle to end ideally, she now knew, was to find and eliminate the cause of this rampage.

Left with no other choice, Chloe turned to her strongest of finishers—Fatal Loss, which crushed her opponents with the weight of time. The results, however, were a disaster. This skill accelerated the flow of time for the target, leading them to the end of the universe itself—an ultimate technique no living being could resist. But it didn’t work that way for Milim. It only allowed her to accumulate more power, ultimately resulting in the destruction of all space. It was a stunning sight for Chloe—Milim firing off Drago-Nova like she was playing a shooting game, the key world collapsing in an instant. She witnessed it to the end, much to her credit, and when she returned to the past, she swore to herself that the nightmare must never be repeated.

But things kept getting worse.

Chloe kept on her guard, trying various other tricks and moves, but there were also moments when she went bold, resigning herself to the damage that’d result. It might seem like she misread the situation, but that was not the case. There were times when Milim’s attack motions connected directly to another Drago-Nova, and if that was left unchecked, the Sacred Tree would be destroyed, or there’d be massive damage elsewhere. Chloe had to go to extremes to prevent that, even if it meant making some sacrifices.

This sure is tough, she calmly thought. She had been choosing all the best moves, but the damage was greater on her side. In fact, she hadn’t even scratched Milim, making it impossible to see how this would turn out.

Chloe was undoubtedly one of the strongest, capable of holding her own against Ludora the Hero and the demon lord Guy. Her techniques were unparalleled in their power. But the demon lord Milim just was too much of an opponent. How much more time could she buy? Knowing what was coming made the pain seem endless.

Even so, Chloe did not give up. It wouldn’t be long now…

“Behold, for I have—”

“Never mind that! Just cover my front!” Chloe cried.

“Huh?”

“Don’t say ‘huh’! Hurry up!”

Veldora flew in at hypersonic speed, but he didn’t even have time to introduce himself before he was recruited into Chloe’s command.

There was no time to show off, but that was fine. Chloe finally had some breathing room. It was too bad for Veldora, but that, too, was his fate.

Veldora was being treated very unfairly.

Wait, wait, wait, how is this right?! When I show up to aid people in trouble, shouldn’t they be gratefully showering me with praise? But now look… I mean, why?

He was extremely confused, standing there in front of Milim and getting exposed to the full brunt of her attack. He should have been praised; instead, he was being overworked. Zarario was similarly struggling against Feldway, but his misfortune was nothing compared to Veldora’s.

“Leon, you’ve had enough rest, right? Hurry up and go help that guy!” said Chloe.

“What?”

“Hurry up!”

“Fine…”

Perhaps it was the fate of older brothers born around the world to be bossed around by their younger sisters…even if they weren’t related by blood. Chloe, as it happened, couldn’t have been more beloved by her “big brother” Leon, so if she was giving out orders, “yes” was the only allowable response.

So Leon began to provide backup for Zarario, choosing to think of this as his reward. It was quite an unusual thing for a demon lord to think, but he kept those thoughts to himself. He had an image to uphold, after all.

With him trying so hard to act cool around Chloe, Elmesia was further inspired as she rushed into battle against Feldway.

“I’ll avoid combat,” she said as she resumed her support role, “so I don’t get in the way!”

Elmesia’s ultimate skill Vayu, King of Heavenly Wind, was all about manipulating the atmosphere. Footing is always an important factor for swordfighters, so she used this skill to fix the space around Leon, adjusting it so he could take advantage of things like recoil. It was a great help to him. Zarario and Feldway’s wings made aerial combat second nature to them, but Leon was mostly earthbound by comparison. That was good enough to keep Milim at bay, but if he wanted to counterattack when she showed an opening, it was better to have a solid foothold.

With Elmesia joining the battle, both Leon and Zarario began to gain momentum. Some decent footholds went a long way, after all. And Sylvia wasn’t slacking off, either. She regretted not being able to help out her daughter Elmesia earlier, and now she was on high alert, ready to respond if the same situation arose again.

All three of them—Leon, Elmesia, and Sylvia—had speed-boosting skills, but the nature of these skills varied. Elmesia excelled in endurance and boasted the fastest speed over long distances. Sylvia’s ultimate skill Indra, Lord of Thunder let her move the fastest over short distances. Last but not least, Sylvia could reach her top speed in the shortest amount of time—a bit under 65 miles an hour. That level of acceleration was unmatched even by Milim.

This did require some advance prep work, though. If she could zip around like that anytime she wanted, Sylvia might’ve been the strongest, but that wasn’t the case. Just as lightning ionized nonconductive air to create a path before moving forward, Sylvia needed to clear a path for herself in a similar manner, meaning she couldn’t change her trajectory on a dime.

That was the main weakness of Lightning Speed, her ability, but there was still no doubting its usefulness. That kind of speed let her avoid damage that could cause trouble for other people. Believing this, she picked a role for herself—and now that it was three plus one, Zarario felt much less physically and mentally burdened. They were finally seeing the beginnings of a path to victory.

This was not the case for Veldora. No, he was already in the middle of battle without any advance briefing—and if he made even the slightest mistake, Chloe would give him hell.

Unlike Leon, Veldora did not particularly like being scolded by women in positions of authority. Due to all the traumatic experiences handed to him by his two sisters, he had unknowingly developed a sort of psychological trauma that made him believe “beautiful woman = scary menace.” Thanks to that, Veldora meekly did Chloe’s bidding, unable to defy her will.

“Whoa! Don’t use brute force against Milim! You have to parry her attacks!” Chloe ordered.

“R-right!”

Simply catching Milim’s fist and attempting a submission hold on her made Chloe yell at Veldora. It did little to delight him, but it went without saying Chloe was giving accurate instructions. She was being such a stickler only because there was zero room for error; everything she said held vital meaning.

After rewinding time over and over and conjecturing about Milim’s powers, Chloe had come to one conclusion. Her power, in a word, was inexhaustible, and the more they fought back, the stronger she became. She wasn’t wrong, either. Milim’s ultimate skill Satanael, Lord of Wrath, couldn’t have been more straightforward—it created and amplified magicules in proportion to Milim’s anger. There was no upper level to it, and if it went to extremes, it might wind up multiplying out to infinity, with devastating results.

Chloe, with her fairly accurate understanding of this, made sure Milim couldn’t access that skill. The more Milim activated Satanael, the more power Chloe would have to use to defend herself. Job one in this battle was to ensure Milim didn’t get any stronger than she already was.

(I’m sorry! I don’t have time to explain—just follow my instructions for now!)

(Hmm, so you have your reasons, then? Very well. I will do your bidding!)

Chloe sent a Thought Communication Veldora’s way, despite the danger. She wasn’t used to fighting in a team, since she was already the best all by herself. She didn’t want to reveal too much, lest her plans got listened in on. Veldora was fine with this—or rather, he never even dreamed of disobeying her. There was no complaining about his fate now. All he could do was follow Chloe’s lead and act like the workhorse he was.

Feldway was by no means a skilled swordsman. He was superior to Zarario in overall strength, but looking at combat ability alone, Zarario actually had a chance of beating him. This, however, assumed Feldway wasn’t using his actual body—which he was at the moment, making him overwhelmingly superior to his former self. In terms of energy stores and physical stats, he was several times stronger than Zarario in every aspect, not an opponent anyone could beat in a normal fight.

Since Zarario’s swordsmanship was the only edge he had, there was no chance for him unless he could find an opening somewhere. From the start, Zarario fought with all his might, launching fierce attacks and attempting to force an opening somewhere.

Then he felt something strange.

Was he really this strong?

It was strange how easily his sword was being parried away. Zarario was a coolheaded warrior, never trusting his own strength too much and always keeping up a steady pace in battle. There were no complaints about his technique, either. He didn’t have a wide repertoire to dive into; his approach was straightforward, solidly built, and powerful. His mastery of the Steel Sword style allowed him to cut down almost any enemy with a single stroke.

Although not as powerful as Feldway’s Ark blade, Zarario’s beloved sword was also a famed, exceptional weapon. But despite attacking Feldway with this trusty piece of gear, he was just getting shrugged off. He would’ve understood if Feldway put his whole body into blocking his blows, but this was wholly unexpected. Feldway was faster and stronger than Zarario, so he assumed it’d be easy for Feldway to block him and knock his blade away. He thus prepared to launch follow-up strikes after his blade was shunted aside, but his momentum kept getting stopped in its tracks.

Zarario warily sensed something was wrong. He tried to observe Feldway, but he couldn’t read anything from his attractive face. His intuition as a master of the blade told him this was dangerous.

He parried my sword? Feldway shouldn’t have this level of skill…

Parrying Zarario’s powerful strikes was impossible with superior strength alone. It required a certain amount of skill and technique, and as far as Zarario knew, Feldway had never formally trained in the sword. He had always been a commanding officer, as far as he knew, with no experience fighting on the front lines like this. He was strong, but he was no warrior.

Feldway must have seen the questioning look on Zarario’s face, because he smiled back at him.

“Heh. Strange, isn’t it?” he said to Zarario.

“Yes. You were never interested in battle arts before, were you?”

“Not at all. The truly strong are born that way. The weak are weak because they have natural enemies, but unlike them, I don’t need to train myself.”

“Then why—?”

“Why was I able to parry your sword? It’s simple. Once you master the basic movements, you can see your opponent’s intentions just by observing the angle of the opening motion.”

Feldway explained it as if teaching an apprentice. Zarario was unconvinced.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t react that readily just because you can see it!”

The weak-minded—those who lacked confidence in their abilities—would’ve been easily fooled by Feldway’s words. But not Zarario. He saw through the lie, laughing derisively at him.

Feldway, realizing his lie was exposed, gave a sly grin back. He had no intention of hiding his dishonesty.

“Heh-heh… You seem to understand me well. But you can’t see what my real aims are, can you?”

“Your real aims?”

“That’s right.”

Feldway went on the offensive. His movements were no longer monotonous; he was going at it like a skilled swordsman. And his techniques were familiar, too.

This reminds me of something… Is this Leon’s move?

He wasn’t mistaken. There was no way Zarario could overlook the movements of his former enemy, one of his worthiest opponents until recently.

“I have never neglected my studies,” Feldway told his confused opponent. “I have always observed everything around me, thinking over what is truly the best way to go. That includes those who were ruled by Sir Michael and me.”

“…?”

“The emotions, the thoughts, the experiences, and everything else from those ruled over by my ultimate skill Michael, Lord of Justice… It was all shared with me. Whatever skill levels they acquired are also well within my grasp.”

Zarario had trouble accepting this.

“What?”

He was speechless—there, in the middle of battle. And who could blame him? He had just been told all the knowledge he had gained through his own efforts, all the experience he had gained from fighting worthy enemies, all the skills he had honed over the years—they had all been taken from him without his knowledge.

“Bullshit… You can’t take people’s skills that easily!”

The time for polite conversation was over. Frustration was transformed into anger, helping him unleash a punishing blow with every ounce of his being. But the results were tragic. With a strikingly similar stance and the force to match, Zarario’s sword was blocked head-on.

Feldway was proving his statement by imitating Zarario. He even adjusted the strength level on it, so he didn’t kill his opponent—his way of showing off all his powers.

“…Such bullshit.”

Zarario was the only one injured. The collision was between two equally matched forces, but Feldway still had plenty of gas left in the tank. Thanks to that, Zarario was the only one blown back by the recoil.

“…How long must you continue to mock all those who fight?!”

Zarario could wail about it all he wanted, but geniuses have no understanding of the suffering of ordinary people. If you could memorize a textbook after a single readthrough, those who required multiple rereads to grasp the content must have looked like they simply weren’t trying hard enough. Feldway didn’t see the value in hard work; he cared only about the results. If he could only appreciate the differences between himself and others and show a willingness to bridge the gap, maybe things would have turned out differently…but he didn’t have that compassion in him.

He thought he was right and everyone following him was a fool. He never once dreamed he could be wrong, nor did he place any importance on what others said to him. It was a very hazardous way of thinking, but regrettably, it had worked just fine for him.

That was why he couldn’t understand. He couldn’t see any value in Zarario raging over this point. So he asked him a cruel question.

“I don’t get it. Why are you angry? Isn’t technique something you learn by watching and imitating?”

All techniques passed down from master to student were learned through observation and experience. That general process remained the same whether the student asked permission to learn them or not. Even if you create your own style of martial art, tracing its origins will eventually lead you to a limited number of primary sources. Only very few people can truly create something from nothing, and in the modern era, with the weight of history upon us, it’d be an almost impossible feat.

The right path, then, was to develop through imitation. Ignoring moral questions for the moment, the method taken by Feldway was far from wrong, a point Zarario was forced to admit.

But that didn’t make it right. In fact, it was fundamentally wrong. It wasn’t just skills that should be handed down; the thoughts and feelings of the master needed to be paired with them. Zarario was the founder of his school, teaching his skills to his disciples and refining them as they all fought the insectors together. He had a palpable pride in that.

The same was true for Leon. There was a marked difference in strength, but his swordsmanship was enough to make Zarario marvel in admiration. That was why he recognized him as a worthy opponent, and how they subsequently built the connection they had now. Actual feeling was involved, a sense they were shouldering a burden together.

But Feldway ignored all that. Simple efficiency was all that mattered to him. He and Zarario were like water and oil—eternally incompatible with each other. The thought made Zarario grit his teeth all over again.

But despite his anger, he was also calmly analyzing the situation. If Feldway had obtained all their techniques, he knew they had no chance of winning. Feldway was either trying to show off his superiority or simply holding back against Zarario. If Feldway were serious about this at all, he would’ve eliminated his opponent early on. But no, he didn’t even see Zarario as a threat. There was no need to dirty his hands engaging him. And once Zarario understood that, seeing this as an insult at all just seemed ridiculous.

Just as Zarario realized this, Leon and the others joined his side in the fight.

Zarario hesitated. Should he tell his allies the truth? Whatever they tried, it wouldn’t work. They couldn’t defeat Feldway, no matter what. Outmaneuvering him was impossible, and even stalling for time was only possible because of Feldway’s detached indifference. If the outcome was the same either way, maybe it was better to just watch silently.

…No, that’s not right. Can I even trust Feldway’s words to begin with?

There was almost no doubt Feldway was telling the truth. But at the same time, Zarario didn’t think he had revealed everything yet. He had a gut feeling Feldway was hiding something crucial…and he was right. Feldway couldn’t afford to have Milim wake up from this rampage.

One of Feldway’s goals was to obtain Veldora’s draconic factors, but the current situation prevented him from doing so. If he tried to take on Veldora, he’d lose his ability to completely control Milim—such was the amount of power Veldora had at this point. Feldway, realizing this, found it quite restrictive.

My long-awaited prey is finally here before me, and I have no choice but to leave it undisturbed…

So Feldway opted to ignore Veldora for the time being. He could win if he fought with all his might, but there were other priorities.

This, however, did not markedly improve his situation. If Veldora joined the battle, to say nothing of Chloe, it raised the risk that his control could be broken at any moment. Therefore, he had to constantly massage his control, keeping it fully active, and this gave him no time to deal with Zarario and the others. That was why he was acting calm around them, hoping Zarario would fall into despair and give up for him. But it wasn’t working.

I can’t believe how annoying this is. His simple, honest personality was helpful to me, but as an enemy, he’s nothing but a problem.

His colleague was a valuable ally when he fought tenaciously against the insectors. Now, however, his never-give-up determination was a monkey wrench in his plans. He admired Zarario’s skill, but he also saw now was no time to let his guard down. Leon and Elmesia, despite their lower rank, weren’t to be taken lightly, either. A couple direct hits from them would lead to only minor damage, but it’d disrupt his concentration—a far greater danger.

Until Milim could destroy the Sacred Tree, at least…

If I could just destroy the tree with my own power, I wouldn’t have to go through all this strife…

The Sacred Tree was an important base in this key world. Its defenses were impenetrable; no half-hearted effort could ever destroy it. Even with his immense presence, Feldway just didn’t have the required power. He might be able to destroy Thalion, the nation of elves, but when it came to the tree, only Milim’s Drago-Nova could do the trick.

Worse, if the tree couldn’t be toppled, then Skyspire Tower in the Holy Void of Damargania wasn’t going anywhere, either. Feldway realized that the moment he saw the tower withstand a shot from Milim’s Drago-Nova. That building didn’t matter if they could take down the Sacred Tree, though. It’d trigger the natural collapse of the world, and then Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon—who was soon to arrive—would wipe out everything else.

All this meant Feldway couldn’t loosen his control on Milim for a moment. This is the moment of truth, he thought as he began to clandestinely gather his strength.

Thus, the second battle over the Sacred Tree started heating up. Chloe and Veldora had joined forces to stop Milim, with Zarario leading an impromptu team to eliminate Feldway—and no one could say yet how it was going to turn out.

In the former Eurazania, the battle between Guy and Velzard was intensifying. At the foot of the Sacred Tree, brave warriors were stepping up to prevent Feldway’s ambitions from destroying the world. At the same time, though, more champions were gathering on the border of the Holy Empire of Lubelius, which bordered the Deadly Desert.

With the help of Velgrynd, they had come from all over the world. There were about five hundred champions, hailing from many different countries. The Armed Nation of Dwargon brought along five hundred Pegasus Knights, led by King Gazel. The Eastern Empire sent a hundred members of the newly reformed Imperial Guardians, commanded by Caligulio with Minitz as his aide.

The forces of Lubelius and the giants had been fighting each other until just the day before; now they had reconciled and become fast allies. Three hundred Crusaders led by Hinata were there, as were Saare and Grigori from the Three Battlesages, making a return under Hinata’s command, along with thirty members of the Master Rooks. Louis the vampire leader was there as well, along with just under four hundred of his Bloody Knights.

As for the giants, Daggra had assumed command in place of the sleeping Daggrull. Four-Armed Basara, leader of the Five Great Warlords, was serving as Daggra’s aide, accompanied by over a thousand elite warriors of the Bound Titans. Finally, a small but elite force of a hundred Musketeers, a force commanded by the ever-shadowy REG group, were making their way to the scene as quickly as they could.

This put the total number of troops at a bit under 3,000—the entire scope of the anti-Ivalage alliance at the moment. This, less than a day after Luminus’s Final Declaration. It may have seemed like a long time, but gathering such a large force in a scant few hours was an achievement that defied all previous norms.

But the real battle hadn’t even begun yet—the fight that would decide the fate of all humanity.

Five hundred heroes, traveling from all over the world, were assembled in one place, forming a single group. Each one of them was an over-A powerhouse, but labels like that were nothing to brag about here. Only those with truly outstanding abilities could be counted among the alliance’s warpower; the rest, lacking cohesion, were less than useful.

This raised the question of who would lead them. Everyone probably thought Masayuki should have been entrusted with that role, but that was actually a bad idea. The kid was great at boosting everyone’s luck, but a mob incapable of coordinated action wouldn’t achieve much if left to its own devices. These people were well-known figures in the guilds of their homelands, but they had little experience working under someone else, and they didn’t have much in the way of leadership skills, either. Someone was needed to unite all these champions.

Everyone looked tense, anxiety written all over their faces. Among them, however, one person was still joking around, looking very much in his element. It was Yohm, who had been celebrated as a local champion and eventually ascended to the throne and been crowned the king of a large nation. This time, as the ruler of Farminus, he had gathered up his former comrades to join the battle.

“Check it out! Ain’t that something? They call me a champion and everything, but compared to a real one like King Gazel, I ain’t even close. Who knows if I’ll be any help at all, even…”

He shrugged as he spoke to Gruecith, the lycanthrope next to him. Gruecith found the anxiety of his partner downright comedic.

“Ha! Don’t make me laugh. Whether you’re a fake or not, just standing here makes you a hero, y’know? If the world’s gonna end if we lose, there’s no point cowering in fear at all. We might die in vain or die like dogs, but we’re gonna have to face ’em either way.”

Yohm nodded back. From the beginning, they had no delusions about how much they could contribute to this fight. They just wanted to help in any way they could.

Mieme, Yohm’s young daughter, was not joining her father. The retired King Edmaris, who had since taken the name Marius, was serving as an adviser. Edgar, his son, was a reliable young man as well, and Yohm was sure they’d untangle any royal succession issues in due time.

If they could survive this, that’d be the best outcome. If they didn’t, well, they could leave the kingdom to those who remained after the battle was won. That was why Yohm was standing there with Mjur, his queen, and Gruecith, his bosom buddy and knight commander.

“Normally I’d be boasting about how I can at least buy us some time so everyone else can escape, but there’s certainly nowhere to run, is there? No point trying to look heroic right now. We’ll just have to face them head-on.”

Razen, despite his youthful appearance, was half-muttering to himself in an old man’s voice.

“You’re damn right!” responded Yohm with a loud laugh.

“Pfft. I was gonna make Mjurran happy after you were outta the picture, too…”

“Yeah, sure, keep on pretendin’ that promise exists.”

Yohm and Gruecith were sniping at each other over Queen Mjur again. That much was business as usual. It helped ease the tension among their companions a little, at least.

But the other champions around them had other thoughts. Yohm seemed trustworthy to them. They were convinced they could entrust their lives to this man, a personal friend of the demon lord Rimuru.

“Hey, Yohm! I don’t belong to any country, so forgive me if I’m not gonna speak all formal-like to a king.”

“No problem. I used to be a small-time thug in my day, too.”

“Oh, ‘too,’ huh? Ha-ha! Two of a kind, ain’t we?”

“Hell yeah.”

“Well, thanks a lot.”

“You got it!”

“Also, you mind bein’ our general?”

“No problem— Wait, what?”

Champions charmed by Yohm’s gregarious personality kept approaching him, one after the other…and before he knew it, the title of “general” had been foisted on him. And that very same personality prevented Yohm from saying no to any of them.

“Well, um, you’re really okay with someone like me? Are ya sure?”

“The job’s all yours, man.”

“You’re the only one who can do it!”

“I’ve only ever worked solo, so use me as a scout or something.”

No one had any complaints about making Yohm the leader. Yohm’s own friends couldn’t stop laughing.

“What a general you are.”

“You’re about to have a hell of a lot more stories to tell, aren’t ya? Better start writing them down.”

“And hey, even if you screw up, no one’s gonna blame you, huh? We’re all in the same boat here.”

With all this avid encouragement, it was quickly decided Yohm would be the commanding general.

“Taking on a role that tough without a second thought…” Mjurran looked at him in disbelief. “You’re as unintelligent as ever, aren’t you?”

She couldn’t believe it at all, but there was a tinge of red to her pale cheeks. There was something nice about seeing the man she loved lead such an action-packed life.

Luminus, the initiator of this plan, had no time for casual camaraderie. She was huddled together with Velgrynd and Hinata, working out assorted details.

“The best way to minimize damage is to target them when they try to leave Skyspire Tower,” Luminus said.

“True,” Velgrynd replied. “We have just under three thousand people here, and they’re about the most well-trained troops we can hope for. A few more might show up, but we’ll have to start thinking about where to place them soon.”

Velgrynd nodded at Luminus. Then, pointing to the maps spread out on the table, she began to explain the structure of Skyspire Tower.

“This tower is circular in shape, with a spiral staircase running up the center. The outer walls house living quarters, but we can ignore those. The problem is what lies beyond the doors…”

The blueprint was a three-view diagram. From above, it was a perfect circle, and when viewed from the front, it was almost the same width all the way to the lofty skies. The same was true from the left and right sides; it wasn’t a particularly unusual design in that way. The entrance was at the base, a series of arched openings that allowed for free entry and exit. It was about five hundred yards in diameter, and each opening was quite large—as they’d need to be for giants to comfortably go through them.

“I suppose it won’t be possible to concentrate all our forces in one place,” Velgrynd mused.

Skyspire Tower essentially couldn’t be destroyed—which in turn meant the entrances would be very tough to block. They could try using earth magic or the like to cover them up from the outside, but they weren’t sure those defenses would hold for long, and for that matter, there were more than three hundred of these archways. It’d be too hard to seal each of them to guide the enemy where they wanted, even if they had the time for that.

“Could we maybe seal up whatever doors there are inside?” Hinata asked.

“I think you have the wrong image of what the term ‘door’ means here,” Velgrynd replied with a shake of her head.

She promptly used Thought Communication to send Hinata images of the interior. The spiral staircase inside Skyspire Tower was quite large, and the doors along the way similarly gigantic. The spiral was about three hundred yards wide, with each stair about half that length. The steps were literally too high for humans to traverse.

“…Oh. So from our perspective, this is really just a gigantic gate? Even if we waited inside, we’d be helpless if they rushed in all at once…,” said Hinata.

A force was always at an advantage attacking from above—that was Battlefield Tactics 101. Waiting around on gigantic stairs with precarious footing would offer no advantage to the defenders. Hinata could easily see that, so she swiftly withdrew her suggestion.

“We’ll station troops on all four sides of the tower and have the strongest soldiers stand at the front to meet the enemy’s main force. That’s the only option.”

That was Luminus’s decision.

Since it was a circular tower and could be entered from anywhere around its circumference, the only option was to surround it with troops. It was also in their best interest to distribute the troops evenly so they could respond equally from any direction.

“It’s not looking very good, but we have no choice.”

“Yes, I agree.”

“The rear group will take care of any enemies who escape the encirclement or don’t get picked off. Is that okay?”

Hinata, Luminus, and Velgrynd all agreed.

“Then let’s gather the leaders and decide how to divide up the roles.”

So they had their general policy, but there were still many problems to be solved. If the cryptid army flooded out from all the openings, the sheer numbers could easily overwhelm them. They had to be prudent with how they used their forces if they wanted to avoid that eventuality. But this was a motley crew of an army, a thousand different wills clashing with each other. No matter how dire the situation was, it was doubtful they would all obey orders without question.

I suppose persuading them all is going to be my job, thought Hinata. She didn’t mind the post—there was no time to spend on internal squabbles. The outcome of the meeting coming up could determine the fate of the world—and Hinata was ready for it.

A makeshift tent was set up, and the leaders soon gathered inside. Some of the more famed adventurers sought out a place among them, but upon seeing the imposing lineup of kings and prominent figures, they quickly realized just how out of their league they were. As a result, only the carefully selected few were seated at the round table inside.

The more well-known among the attendees were as follows.

Sitting in the seat of honor was Luminus, the organizer. After making her global Final Declaration, she had led all subsequent efforts, taking on the role of chief coordinator. Hinata sat to Luminus’s right, and Louis sat to her left. Behind them stood Gunther, dressed in his best butler uniform.

Behind Hinata stood Cardinal Nicolaus. He’d had little interest in joining the decisive battle against Daggrull, but now that Hinata was part of this, he had suddenly found his will to fight again, and looked highly motivated and fully prepared to help his good friend.

Standing next to Nicolaus was Renard Jester, vice captain of the Crusaders, and behind him were four of his commanders. Their drills and training in the labyrinth had done wonders for their skills, and they were expected to play a central role in this battle as well.

Opposite Hinata sat Shion, still fatigued from the previous battle but looking well, all things considered. Between her fearless eyes and defiant smile, she was obviously happy to be there.

Sitting next to Shion was Daggra, standing in for Daggrull, and behind him stood Basara, intimidating everyone in the tent. Maybe his presence was meant to make Daggra more imposing, but the giant looked quite out of place.

The royal contingent consisted of Gazel, Yohm, and Masayuki. Gazel was accompanied by a man dressed as a warrior—Agera, the reincarnation of Hakuro’s grandfather Byakuya Araki. He stood behind Gazel, keeping him protected with his dignified, calm, and flexible demeanor.

Yohm attended with Queen Mjur, his wife. He might have been a champion of the people, but political issues, military issues, and frankly most other issues went a little over his head a lot of the time. At times like these, his chief adviser (or, really, the actual ruler of Farminus) Queen Mjur was more qualified to take the lead.

Behind Yohm stood Razen and Gruecith, and Saare and Grigori were also at the edge of the meeting tent, strategically standing at a vantage point where Hinata couldn’t throw them any side-eye. They were still technically on the run from her, which made things awfully awkward for them both. Hinata, of course, spotted them right away, but she didn’t really have anything to say to them, so she left them alone. Besides, any approach she made was likely to scare them out of their boots, so she opted to pretend not to notice them. That, no doubt, was the best thing for both sides.

But Saare and Grigori weren’t the only ones feeling terribly out of place. There was also Masayuki, a hapless high school student and a kid who wanted to be out of there more than anyone else. Despite that, he was serving as leader of the representatives and others who answered the call to join this force. He was a symbol of hope for them all, so escape was out of the question—a fact he knew better than anyone else. He was staring off into space, attempting to keep his mind as blank as possible.

Next to Masayuki stood a woman of unparalleled beauty. This was Velgrynd, a jack-of-all-trades contributor who had used Dimensional Connection to summon heroes from various parts of the world. All her Separate Bodies were offline as she devoted every fiber of her being to protecting Masayuki.

Behind them stood Venom, whom Masayuki now counted as his best friend. Caligulio and Minitz were also there, standing upright and motionless like statues, faithfully fulfilling their duties.

Away from the round table, Ultima was relaxing on a cushioned chair. Tea was being served at the table, and Zonda was waiting on her. Veyron was standing by with a breezy look on his face; he had only just recovered from his exhaustion. Ultima’s two confidants had also worked hard behind the scenes in the previous battle. They had begun by blocking Deeno and his crew. Then they waged a life-and-death struggle with the giants, who were immune to magic. There was no rest for them the entire time, but with Ultima around, they were not given the right to complain. Middle-management demons never had it easy that way.

Compared to them, Adalmann was completely free of all cares. He and Gadora looked rejuvenated as they sat at the edge of the round table, Alberto and Venti happily chatting behind them. They were about to attend a meeting that would decide the fate of the world, but they were all as relaxed as ever. No one complained about it, though—maybe seeing them helped everyone else relax a bit.

The same was true for those seated farther down the round table. There was nothing noble about this group. They didn’t exactly wear their Sunday best to this meeting—and no wonder, either, given their positions as leaders of human society’s seedy underworld.

Seated as their top representative was Glenda Attley herself, who had brought along all the elites sent by REG (a.k.a. the Three Wise Drunks) to attend this gathering. With the world in crisis, she had no choice but to act, and brought along around a hundred of her trained Musketeers and a select group of those she had more recently trained. There were around fifty of them, with the best two present.

Standing behind Glenda were Girard, former leader of the Sons of the Veldt, and Yang, who led the Black Nails, a group of A-ranked mercenaries. It was customary for REG’s more powerful members to travel to Tempest to receive further training, and while this was still an ongoing process, everyone brought into this army had taken on and passed rigorous testing. Their numbers were only in the double digits, but they had survived hellish labyrinth training and were granted equipment made specially for them, making all of them menaces in battle.

There was a collective name for these successful candidates. With their proven loyalty to REG, they were initiated into a sort of religious order, given badges with a large zero written on them. Rimuru liked to call them the Strong Zeroes, a name that delighted him greatly—no better thing to call an army that served a bunch of drunken leaders, after all.

The Strong Zeroes tackled a variety of assignments, but all of them had been urgently summoned here from all corners of the world. Yang was their leader, a man Girard and Glenda regarded as a promising talent.

Ayn, Girard’s assistant, was handling the ritual summoning work outside. She was an elementalist and the former leader of Green Fury, the team who lit up the labyrinth at one point. She was trying to summon as many high-ranked spirits as possible, including the fire giant Ifrit, the earth knight War Gnome, the water saint Undine, and the wind maiden Sylphide.

So while they all looked like a bunch of rowdy thugs, they were more than qualified to be there as a group. Glenda, by the way, was acting far more dignified than Saare and the others. She, too, had betrayed Hinata, but she had already filed it away as a piece of her checkered past, it looked like. That courage was what separated her from Saare and Grigori, but opinions were divided over whether others should follow her lead…

Just as the meeting was about to begin, Velgrynd raised her head. After drawing everyone’s attention with her presence, she slowly opened her mouth.

“My sister, Velzard the Ice Dragon, is fighting the demon lord Guy.”

It was a casual remark, but it was enough to silence the entire room.

It might not have been as important as the impending fate of the world, but it was still a major event under normal circumstances, something that could not be ignored. If Guy was defeated, Velzard might set her sights on all of them next, and the human race simply couldn’t prepare for such a turn of events.

Everyone waited tensely for Velgrynd to continue.

“…There’s a third party involved as well now.”

“““…?!”””

That was the second-worst piece of news they could’ve heard. The worst, of course, would’ve been Guy’s defeat, and this was better than that, but it still didn’t cheer anyone up.

“If I may ask,” Luminus said on behalf of everyone else, “would this possibly be assistance for Guy?”

She knew it was unlikely, but there was still a glimmer of hope, perhaps.

“Unfortunately, no,” Velgrynd replied.

An uproar across the tent. They hadn’t expected much, so the atmosphere was more “ahh, I knew it” than anything. But Velgrynd’s next words instantly restored everyone’s composure.

“Don’t worry, though. Testarossa has taken action to find out who they are.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. That was Testarossa the White Queen for you—terrifying as an enemy, but supremely reliable as an ally. Even Ultima smiled when she heard the name of her most beloved rival.

“Ohhh. Well, gee,” she said, “I thought my turn was coming up, but I guess we can leave that to her, huh? ”

The conversation was over, as far as she was concerned. Her quick change of heart was impressive, but in this situation, it was the right move to make. If they dragged their worries into the coming war, it might trip them up later.

“You’re right,” Luminus added, seemingly agreeing with her. “There’s no point dwelling on it now, so let’s go on to the main subject.”

With that, she urged Velgrynd to continue. She stood up in response.

“Before I begin,” Velgrynd said, getting to her feet, “there are some people I should introduce. I think some of you may already know them…”

With that, Velgrynd performed a Dimensional Connection. Answering her summons were the leaders of the magic knights under the command of Leon.

“We are the servants of the demon lord Leon, the guardians of the Golden Land of El Dorado. We rushed here upon hearing about the situation from Lady Velgrynd.”

Arlos, their leader, handled the greetings, while the other knight captains nodded along. The wounds they sustained when Feldway targeted them had not yet healed, but the crisis facing the world was far more urgent. If they were to focus strictly on their own country, all that awaited them was their own destruction. Having reached this conclusion, Arlos and the other knight captains decided to join the battle.

There were concerns about the citizens of the Golden Land, but they were resilient folk. Even after being exposed to the nuclear magic of Jaune—or rather, Carrera—they actually had enough nerve to enjoy it. Even now, they were seeing Arlos and his captains off with smiles and laughter, shouting, “You’ll figure it out!” and so on.

The most powerful forces under Leon’s command were present: Claude, the Black Knight and instructor for the knight corps, along with the various captains—Maeter of the White Knights, Oxian of the Blue Knights, Fran of the Red Knights; and Kizona of the Yellow Knights. That plus Arlos made six of them…but those weren’t the only people Velgrynd summoned.

“Hello, everyone. I’m Misora, and I’m sure you don’t know me, but I am one of the leaders of the demons. I certainly never thought we’d ever be fighting alongside humans, but given the circumstances, we will do whatever we can to help. I hope you can put aside any hard feelings you might have, even if only for a short time.”

Misora, Raine’s right-hand woman, smiled as she greeted the crowd. She and her colleagues had been helping with defense and rebuilding over in El Dorado, but with the current crisis at hand, they had rushed to the scene—or really, their queen had been taken away on Guy’s orders, and they weren’t about to sit around doing nothing.

Misora’s colleagues, Squall and Ulrich, agreed with her. If we’re the only ones taking it easy, it’d just make people resent us needlessly. I’m sure Lady Mizeri wouldn’t mind, but unfortunately, Raine might be another story…

Going into any further detail would be a punishable crime, even if they were just thinking it to themselves. Misora, at least, had no intention of slacking off. She loved Raine, the beloved monarch of her demonic lineage, and was always ready to give her all whenever she had to. But when she recalled the sad eyes of Raine as she was taken away to such a dangerous spot, she just didn’t feel right about staying where she was having quite a lot of fun. So she volunteered to join Velgrynd’s group instead.

Oh, Lady Raine… Will she really be all right? I hope she’s not crying after being scolded by the almighty Sir Guy, or perhaps even angering him…

Her worries were endless. Granted, as far as Misora was concerned, Raine was an eminently clever woman. She’d be just fine, no doubt. All she could do was pray for her master’s safety and try to focus on the problem at hand.

Some of Mizeri’s posse was there as well. Khan, their leader, returned the greeting to Misora.

“Man, I never expected stepping into the public spotlight like this at all. Normally I wouldn’t even consider fighting alongside these guys…”

Khan glanced around the venue as he spoke. Standing alongside him were some of the strongest warriors of this world. He wasn’t sure why some people in this tent were there at all, but if anyone’s presence should have been questioned, it was Khan and his group, a relatively weak bunch of demons.

It was interesting, actually, how the Primals’ chief assistants, now all Demon Peers and equivalent in strength to the old-school demon lords, were on the bottom half of the ladder strength-wise in this tent. They certainly couldn’t act like they owned the place. Khan wasn’t looking to do anyone any favors anyway, but he was beginning to wonder if there’d be a role for any of them at all. It was strange.

Pfft! We won’t be able to operate behind the scenes after this, but that’s a problem for later. For now, let’s just show them we can hold our own!

That was the solution Khan had to reach. Mizeri’s servants were all serious-minded and capable, after all. There weren’t any outstanding talents among them, but their overall level was quite high. They were also noted for their teamwork skills—apart from Georg, who was originally part of Team Rouge.

Ulrich, by the way, was of the same origin, but serving under Raine had given him this “long-suffering butler” vibe that was hard for him to shake. He used to be so arrogant, always thinking he was the best at everything, but you never know what’ll happen in life.

Co-workers can be a good or bad influence—and certainly, Raine never seemed to struggle much. Her servants were all extremely talented…or more likely, they had somehow become useful after starting out as a bunch of lazy louts. Even the once-aggressive Ulrich was laying low and acting calm, showing no sign of trying to assert himself. Khan had no idea where they had learned to do that, but it certainly seemed like a sign of growth, at least. “That’s what makes Raine so great, you see,” Khan’s master Mizeri would often say. It made no sense to him, but it was also likely best not to think about that too deeply.

Either way, the right education can make all the difference, clearly. Khan kept that in mind as he rounded out his greeting.

“…These are exceptional times. Humans may be as unreliable as ever, but we’ll support them just enough so they won’t get into trouble.”

With that, he sat down in the chair set out for him. His declaration seemed to satisfy his colleagues Alban and Georg well enough; they stood silently behind Khan, watching things unfold.

Breaking news like the demons offering their support to a human-led operation would normally cause a big stir, but nobody on the human side was showing much concern. A demon lord, after all, had called for this war to start with, and they even had a True Dragon on hand like it was totally normal, so this revelation didn’t seem too epoch-making by comparison.

Testarossa was pretty famous over in the Council of the West, for that matter, so few were surprised to see Misora and her friends around. The reaction was more of a “hmm, neat” kind of thing, and then the meeting proceeded.

With the actors all in place, Velgrynd finally began explaining the situation.

“We have received an apology from the royal family of Englesia. They inform us that they have not healed yet from the previous attack, so they want to keep the number of troops they send to a minimum.”

She turned her gaze to a corner of the tent. The envoys from Englesia were seated there. There were some decently strong members among them, but their numbers were minimal and they frankly didn’t hold a candle to the majority of the people in the tent, so they wouldn’t have much influence on these proceedings.

They nodded at Velgrynd’s words, watching to see how things would unfold.

“As a result,” she firmly continued, “we shouldn’t expect any more reinforcements from them.”

There might be more, but it was unlikely, and from Velgrynd’s perspective, they’d all be small potatoes anyway.

Luminus nodded. “All right. And?”

Velgrynd then shared what Testarossa had informed her about.

“My sister Velzard and Guy are fighting over in the former Eurazania. As I mentioned earlier, there was intervention from a third party, but Testarossa stopped them, and the battle is now back to square one. There are other people onsite working to prevent too much damage to the rest of the planet, but…”

But the situation wasn’t looking good. If Guy and Velzard got serious, the impact would be immeasurable. Ideally, the situation would be resolved before it came to that, but that wasn’t likely to be easy. In the worst-case scenario, Guy’s defeat could lead to unfettered freedom for Velzard.

“If Velzard attacks us from behind, that’ll be the end of humanity. Pray that it doesn’t happen.”

Velgrynd was simply stating the facts, but it led to a lot of conflicting feelings for the audience. They couldn’t argue with her, though. Accepting it was the only choice. All they could do was pray that it wouldn’t come to that and just deal with the problem they were facing.

“Now, I’d like to address our response to the more immediate threat—Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon.”

Cien, who had been standing to the side, spoke up. He stood in front of Velgrynd, taking over the moderator role.

“We will need to have a strategy in place before the army of cryptids arrives. Currently, the entire Skyspire Tower is on high alert, but even if we spread our forces out across its circumference, it will be difficult to cover the entire area. I would like to hear your opinions on this matter.”

He turned toward Velgrynd. She was the wisest person present, and everyone was sort of naturally appointing her commander-in-chief in their minds. The True Dragon had no objection to this—she had served as Marshal of the Eastern Empire for many years, and she’d never hesitate to discuss strategy.

“Deploying troops around the whole of it would be foolish,” Velgrynd said. “First, we need to create a battlefield that works to our advantage; then we need to lure the enemy into it.”

“How do you mean?” Cien asked.

“Well, we have barriers, don’t we? I could put my Eight Impervious Gates in place, but that alone wouldn’t be enough to entrap the entire enemy force. So…”

Velgrynd turned her gaze to the paladins. They nodded back at her.

“Ah, the Holy Field barrier? So is it safe to assume the Aggressors from this other world are composed of magicules as well?” Hinata asked Velgrynd.

“Yes. Well, at least half their bodies are. There are likely other unknown substances that don’t exist in this key world, but the Holy Field should still work anyway.”

Everyone agreed. The Eight Impervious Gates were useful for holding back enemies, but the way they had to be arranged put their army’s defenders at a disadvantage. If you wanted to dominate a battlefield and keep your enemy from threatening you at all, it was perfect…but in terms of defending contested ground, it wasn’t quite the tool for the job. Plus, with the enemy’s total number unknown, attempting to encompass everything at once posed far too many difficulties.

If and when Ivalage showed up, that’d be entirely Velgrynd’s duty. She didn’t think anyone else was up for the challenge—not even Hinata or Luminus. That made it her job to focus on Ivalage, the enemy leader, and that meant conserving her strength as much as possible. The rest of the forces she wanted Luminus and the others to take care of.

In that sense, the Holy Field was the best solution. It could be used to erect barriers to control the enemy’s movements, even in a circular tower with so many entryways. But there was a problem—one Cardinal Nicolaus, standing behind Hinata, wasn’t shy about pointing out.

“But a Holy Field cannot be established unless the skies above it are all connected to each other. Skyspire Tower, built by the gods, reaches the very heavens. I’m not sure that would satisfy the conditions needed.”

Hinata was also aware of this.

To activate a Holy Field, at least three spellcasters needed to stand equidistant from each other, forming a polyhedron that connected to a single vertex up in the sky. It didn’t need to be some complex shape; a pyramid-like setup was considered the most efficient approach. The issue, as Nicolaus saw it, was that it’d be impossible to form that vertex up high if the tower was right there. There were ways around this, but…

“We might not be able to complete the full polygon,” muttered Hinata, “but there are ways, yes.”

“Indeed,” agreed Luminus.

Skyspire Tower had a series of entrances at the ground level, but after a certain height, there weren’t even any windows. They wouldn’t have to worry about flying cryptids flowing out from the top of the tower, at least—and if they made the top vertex wherever the topmost set of windows were located, they could erect a Holy Field that way. But someone needed to be located at that topmost vertex, and the danger would be incalculable.

“We have decided to deploy troops on all four sides around Skyspire Tower to await the enemy. That will be the safest and most reliable option.”

They had to lure the enemy into a position where they could be defeated with a small number of troops. If they surrounded the tower at three points, forming a triangle, the beasts flowing out would be battering themselves against three sides of the Holy Field. That was likely too much density to work; one of the vertices was bound not to survive long. With a square formation, however, that spread out the enemy a bit more, lowering the density at each side and the number of foes in contact with the barrier at any given time. If a vertex fell, they could freestyle a bit, moving the other vertices around to keep the barrier going. That’d be an emergency measure, one that wouldn’t last for long, but it still allowed them some breathing room.

Along those lines, their best bet was to set up four vertices on the ground, forming a square as they deployed the Holy Field. But what about the upper vertex? Usually, three people would have to be up there, just like with the other points of the pyramid—but if the base was a square instead of a triangle, that meant four people instead.

This was where the real challenge lay. When formed using this method, the Holy Field would be square at the bottom, but more of a circular shape at the top. Holy energy would need to be channeled along the walls of the tower, forming a circle that ran down to the four points connecting it to the ground. This meant they needed the defensive force to protect those four points. They didn’t have much of an air force to start with, and they needed to be spread out across the battlefield in order to protect their fighting spellcasters. It wasn’t going to be easy, but failure wasn’t an option.

“It’ll be a tough order,” concluded Hinata, “but we have no choice.”

“Yes,” agreed Renard. “We can’t just say we don’t do it because it’ll be difficult to defend. It’d be disgracing our good name. It’s time to show the true worth of the Crusaders!”

The other captains under them, responsible for air, land, water, and wind operations, all steeled themselves.

“The four of us will take to the skies,” declared Arnaud Bauman. “We’ve mastered using Holy Spirit Armor through our training, allowing us to fly with ease. We’re the perfect choice!”

The audience was impressed by their willingness to volunteer for such a dangerous mission. And Hinata’s other captains weren’t about to be outdone.

“Hear, hear,” Bacchus said with a smile. “Compared to that training, this mission might even be a bit easier for us.”

“That sure was Hell, yes,” added Litus.

“Yeah,” a scowling Fritz agreed, “coming back to life after dying was fine and all, but couldn’t they have reduced the pain for us a little? Like, were they just out to harass us, or what? I mean, I know we all obtained Cancel Pain thanks to that, but…”

Masayuki was frozen in place, unsure whether to laugh or comfort him.

“I’m sorry,” Hinata said coldly, “did you have any complaint about that?”

“…No,” came the almost-whispered reply. This exchange had become routine. This was Fritz’s way of lightening the heavy atmosphere, and Hinata, spotting that, was playing the villain on purpose. Small laughter broke out, lifting everyone’s spirits, and with that bit of relief, Hinata returned to the core issue.

“That leaves three more…”

There were five people involved in this operation, including Renard. Three more advanced practitioners of holy magic were needed to activate the Holy Field.

“Nicolaus, you can do it, right?” Hinata asked.

“Very well.”

Cardinal Nicolaus Speltus was both Hinata’s closest adviser and probably her most ardent fan. He may have held the lofty position of cardinal, but Hinata was the object of his own faith. In fact, he prided himself on being Hinata’s loyal dog, so he had no choice in this matter, either.

Nicolaus, by the way, was capable enough a conjurer to activate Disintegration on his own, which naturally gave him the status of Enlightened. It also made him more powerful than even the Vice Captain Renard, so his qualifications were not at all a concern. The fact that he was up there with Crusader captains in ability was something he usually kept a tightly guarded secret, but Hinata knew all about it—that was why she had brought him.

Now there were only two left. Hinata’s gaze pierced through Saare and Grigori, who were desperately trying to look away.

“And how long are you going to stay silent over there?”

Saare, being directly addressed, finally gave in. He raised both hands in surrender, reluctantly pulling his head up.

“All right. I’ll take care of one vertex. Grigori, you take the other one—”

“Wait a minute.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not very good at making barriers.”

“““…”””

Everyone fell silent. Grigori, the “Giant Boulder” known to all as the protector of humanity, was one of the champions who served as one of the Three Battlesages within the Master Rooks. He was on par with any Crusader captain, and his combat ability was well above average. He should’ve had no problem handling something like a Holy Field spell, but he was giving this rather unexpected confession.

Saare looked back at him. “…What? You’re kidding, right?”

“I’m serious,” Grigori replied, blushing.

He was serious. Everyone realized it now. All the paladins belonging to the Crusaders were over-A in rank. A lot of them could help build a regular Holy Field without issue, and all of them could at least assist in the effort. But not this time. They couldn’t maintain a barrier if one person was significantly more inept than the rest of the team. They’d all have to accommodate the weaker member, which would render the barrier useless. They were using this shield to guide the cryptids where they wanted them. If it broke, the whole operation would fail.

This suggested the whole Holy Field team would need to be roughly similar in ability. Luminus created this spell, so she’d have no problem with it, but her plate was already full, so her participation was rejected without discussion. Hinata could also do it, but having her handle that instead of exercising her combat skill would be wasting her talents. The demons were too incompatible. Maeter, the White Knight healing specialist under Leon, and Oxian, the Blue Knight support-magic expert, could be trained for the position, but they’d be too unreliable to serve as primary spellcasters—and they may not have time for that training anyway.

Cien, the moderator, looked toward Luminus for a resolution. Hinata would have to take on the job, despite the losses that would result. Luminus, seeing this, began to open her mouth…but at that moment, Queen Mjur raised her hand.

“I’ll take one of the vertices. I was always good at creating barriers, so I think I’m probably up for it.”

Using words like probably suggested an element of chance nobody wanted to see. That was what everyone would normally think, but not now. If she said she’d do it, it was up to her to see it through to the end.

In fact, Mjurran had a proven track record of maintaining a large-scale barrier, in collaboration with Shuna. Learning from the invasion of Farmus, she had also conducted her own research on the evil-purifying Holy Field barrier. If they were going to come up with a countermeasure, they needed to see it in action, so she had some of the paladins who had been dispatched over help her experience it for herself.

She had never expected this sort of situation, but if she couldn’t contribute to the cause, there was no point in Rimuru rescuing her in the first place. That was Mjurran’s take on it.

“Then I will assess Queen Mjur,” Maeter said. “I’ll also learn the spell at once so I can take over in an emergency.”

“I’ll go, too, then,” added Oxian. “I’ll cast as many support spells as I can at the start, and then I’ll assist the two of you.”

He, too, was ready to provide emergency backup as needed. But there was no guarantee anyone would be safe. On the battlefield, anything could happen, so it was essential to prepare as much as possible.

So with the consent of everyone on hand, the team activating the Holy Field—the keystone to their strategy—was in place.

Arnaud Bauman of Air would be in charge of the upper vertex in the east. Fritz of Wind would handle the west, Litus of Water the south, and Bacchus of Earth the north.

Nicolaus would be Arnaud’s backup for the operation. Their abilities were evenly matched, making for a pretty well-balanced combination. Renard, meanwhile, would be paired with Bacchus. Renard was actually more skilled than his partner, but they had been through many trials and tribulations together over the years. He’d be able to support Bacchus decently enough, so he could perform at his best.

Litus would be paired with Mjurran, a fellow woman.

Saare was assigned to Fritz, and at first glance, they seemed like a bad match. They both had a lot of lip they weren’t afraid to use, which quickly led to fights…but Fritz was honest to the core, and Saare liked that about him. He also appreciated the man’s courage, the way he teased Hinata all the time…and overall, it was a surprisingly good combo.

With that, the key personnel for the four main bases were decided. Next was the deployment of the general forces.

“We’ll protect the south,” declared Yohm. He had no intention of leaving the protection of his beloved wife to another man. No one objected, and Yohm’s group was thus assigned to protect the south.

Leon’s forces were also sent to cover the south. “If Maeter and Oxian are involved with the barrier,” Arlos said, “I think we should protect the south. What do you think?”

Luminus gave a generous nod at the offer, and there was no further discussion.

The next to speak up was Saare’s friend Grigori.

“I’ll protect Saare, of course.”

“Sure. I’ll be counting on you, Grigori.”

No objections there, either. Razen looked worriedly at his students, but his assignment was to protect Yohm, and he couldn’t stray from that. But this was no problem. They weren’t in the tent, but the Master Rooks were all fond of Saare and his friends, so they had already agreed to remain under his command.

Saare and Grigori shook hands on it in a lovely little scene of friendship. Then Glenda raised her hand.

“I’ll go with you guys, too.”

With Glenda joining them, the former Three Battlesages were reunited. Saare and Grigori, however, were less than excited.

“Don’t be ridiculous!” said Saare. “If you think about it, it’s your betrayal that forced us into life on the run like this!”

“Yeah! I was so shocked when I heard about it later! There’s no way we can trust you!” Grigori agreed.

Their anger was quite sincere, although understandable to everyone who knew the backstory.

Glenda, however, just snorted at them. “You’re such a bunch of cowards. I betrayed you because I knew you were going to lose, all right? If you’re that upset about it, make sure you can actually win next time.”

It was tremendously unfair reasoning. Everyone thought so. And the people she said this to were particularly furious about it.

“Will you cut it out with that crap?! I gave my all back then! I thought I had it in the bag! My opponent was just a monster beyond imagination!”

In fact, once Saare learned who Diablo really was, he thanked his lucky stars he hadn’t died back there. Winning and losing were no longer a concern at that point. That was even truer for Grigori, too—if he’d fought Diablo, his fate would’ve been even more tragic. Ranga was tough enough of a challenge for him. A Primal demon who embodied every fear in the world was nothing he ever wanted to face in his life. When he heard Saare had lost, his only thought was, “Well, yeah.” They both deeply appreciated making it out of that scrape alive.

In their eyes, Glenda’s betrayal could never be forgiven. But Glenda was as nonchalant as usual.

“Look, I won’t betray you, okay? Not like I got anywhere else to run this time. I promise you I’ll do my best.”

There was no remorse at all. Saare didn’t know what to say back. There was really nothing he could argue about. It infuriated him, but Glenda was right. She had no escape valve this time, so there wasn’t much point in mistrusting her.

“Well, great. What can we do, huh? I can’t trust you, but I can sure trust your strength.”

“Yeah. Forget about leaving my back open to you, but if Saare’s gonna be too busy maintaining that barrier, you could at least help us a little.”

So with great reluctance, Saare and Grigori agreed to fight alongside Glenda.

Despite a bit of friction here and there, discussions over which force would defend where proceeded relatively smoothly. Before much longer, they had their general direction worked out, and it was time to up the pace. Using Velgrynd’s Dimensional Connection, they headed for the site of the upcoming battle and quickly completed their preparations.

Luminus was reconfirmed as commander-in-chief. She’d initiated this whole mission, and there was no one else more suitable for the role. Her job would be to hover above the battlefield, maintaining a grasp on the overall situation. She wouldn’t be directly giving out orders, but she’d be helping to reinforce the Holy Field they were all counting on, so she’d still be a vital part of this operation.

Next, they decided Velgrynd would deploy her Separate Bodies in the four cardinal directions around the tower, lying in wait for Ivalage. As a result, she wasn’t being counted as part of the main force, giving her the freedom to do whatever she wanted. She’d probably stick to Masayuki, of course, but it wasn’t like anyone could keep her from doing that, so she was given full discretion.

Apart from those two, the rest of the force would be assigned one of the four directions to cover—but before that, the question of reserve forces came up.

“Just in case,” said King Gazel, “wouldn’t it be better to have a response force ready if one of the four directions is breached?”

The five hundred Pegasus Knights he led were, of course, an excellent air force. They knew in advance the enemy included flying cryptids, so they’d be assigned to eliminate that threat. That proposal was quickly granted—the Pegasus Knights would provide rapid response in an emergency, and everyone else would be part of the main force.

And so the troops—which had indeed grown a bit larger while the tent conference was taking place, what with the latecomers’ arrivals—were sent off.

The eastern side of Skyspire Tower would be covered by a little over six hundred fighters.

Three hundred Crusaders and one hundred new Imperial Guardians were deployed to back up Arnaud and Nicolaus. Hinata and Masayuki were the leaders of both groups, but Hinata had overall command. Caligulio, who had no objection to this, was content to support them as a strategist, and Cien had been ordered by Testarossa to protect Hinata. Two hundred of the Black Corps, the army under Testarossa’s command, were also there and under Cien’s command, ready for battle.

Venom was acting on his own volition to protect Masayuki. Minitz was the actual commander on the front line, and Hinata and Caligulio were ready to respond if any unexpectedly strong enemies showed up.

Next to Masayuki, of course, stood Velgrynd, or the bare minimum of a Separate Body of hers…but as planned, she would be treated as a noncombatant for the time being.

On the west side, there were around 1,280 soldiers, the majority of which were deployed to protect Fritz and Saare.

Like the eastern side, which faced the Deadly Desert, the terrain was quite conducive to deploying large armies…but this territory was also in the beloved homeland of the giant race. They had taken it upon themselves to protect this land and were determined to defend their home with their own hands.

Thanks to that, there were over a thousand of the Bound Titans present, all elite warriors—but those weren’t the only fighters. Shion and her hundred-strong Team Reborn were also joining them, serving as Daggra’s superiors.

“Get ready, everyone! Death might be a fearsome thing, but not as terrifying as a life without meaning! So go forth, survive, and prove your lives are worth living!”

The warriors responded enthusiastically to Shion’s rallying cry. It didn’t seem quite right for the situation at hand, but still, they were a reliable group to have on hand.

But despite all this unity and goodwill, a couple people felt tense and uneasy. These were Glenda and Grigori. They were overseeing thirty members of the Master Rooks, a hundred of Glenda’s Musketeers, and fifty of the Strong Zeroes, the elites who served REG…but having two ex-Battlesages who hated each other’s guts leading this crew was a cause for concern. Why were they squabbling like this when humanity was facing such a crisis? They all might have thought that, but no one stepped up to stop them, so their fruitless bickering continued.

If it’ll make you feel better, Saare thought, just do whatever you want, for all I care.

He had been betrayed once, which ensured he’d never trust Glenda again…but she had proven her skills to him, and not even he thought she’d be dumb enough to try two-timing him a second time. He wasn’t overjoyed about this, but he could still silently accept it.

“Preparations are complete,” announced Ayn, their elementalist. “I was able to summon four high-level elemental spirits. We can use those to defend our base.”

She had just performed a ritual to summon the high-level elementals of earth, water, fire, and wind, stripping her troops of all their magic force in the process. One of them, the water spirit Undine, had already been Unified within her own body.

“I think the earth one would suit me the best,” Grigori said, using Unify on the War Gnome without further hesitation. Grigori’s master Razen was a talented elementalist himself, providing a studied hand when it came to the care and handling of elemental spirits. It surprised Ayn, but then, maybe that sort of thing came naturally for an ex-Battlesage.

The fire spirit Ifrit was taken by Girard, also as planned. Acquiring this ability was the result of days of blood, sweat, and tears training with Ayn in Ramiris’s labyrinth. It was part of his efforts to look as natural as possible while posing as the public-facing boss of REG, and that would come in handy here, too. He couldn’t help but wistfully smile about it. You could never predict where life might take you.

“Hmm… All right. Then I’ll take Sylphide, the wind maiden.”

The last remaining elemental was assigned to Glenda. She, too, had trained alongside Girard, and her gifts for long-range attack were extremely well-suited for the wind elemental.

The spirits were assigned to their proper places, and preparations were complete.

South of the tower, the troop count was past seven hundred and approaching eight hundred. Champions from all sorts of countries had gathered there to keep Litus and Mjurran safe.

Among them were the leaders of the magic knights, Maeter and Oxian. They had on-the-ground combat experience with barriers, and they were assigned the important task of responding immediately to any situation that came up with the Holy Field.

Leon’s troops, meanwhile, were determined to protect their colleagues, and all the champions who were smitten with the easygoing Yohm were just as highly motivated. They didn’t really have the cohesion to be called an army, but they were still each worth a thousand fighting men. It was a hastily assembled team, but there was still a chain of command in place, so they wouldn’t be that much of a drag on the force.

Also on hand were the Black Corps under Ultima’s command. They hadn’t shaken their fatigue from the previous battle, but there were two hundred of these stout fighters, and they knew there was no room for complaining. All of them were in this, like it’d be silly not to be, and they were busy diligently restoring their magical power.

“Hey, Khan.”

“Yes, Misora?”

“Should we summon our own troops here as well?”

“Hmm. Well, if the demon lord Guy granted them an audience, they must be more capable than those humans over there, eh?”

“No doubt. They’re pretty scattered all over the place, but I think they’ll still be here in time.”

Misora was remarkably composed about making that call. Canceling all other operations at once was unheard of, but Misora didn’t even flinch doing it. It showed what a competent, decisive leader she was. Misora the Cold-Blooded, they called her—and Raine couldn’t ask for a more talented assistant. Without her, Guy would’ve fired that woman long ago. (Raine, by the way, was also the only person in the world who could make Misora change her expression…but that’s beside the point.)

The demon-summoning ritual was carried out in secret.

“““We have arrived before our master!!”””

Sixty high-ranked Arch Demons, each with their own granted name, had instantly abandoned all their tasks and rushed to the scene. Under normal circumstances, they’d be a force capable of shaking the world. At that moment, they were humanity’s trustworthy allies.

Finally, the north side was covered by around five hundred people. The terrain was cramped, boxed in by rocky crags, so this was the smallest crew—but that meant they were a tighter, more concentrated force, which had its advantages.

Just under four hundred of these were the Bloody Knights, deployed to protect Bacchus and Leonard. They were the core of this force, ready and willing to intercept the enemy.

Renard was busy sizing up his army, all lined up in formation. “I knew this intellectually,” he said, “and I thought I was convinced of it, but seeing us be protected by these monsters, the enemies of mankind—and the upper ranks of the vampires, no less—it’s still pretty hard to believe.”

He couldn’t help but bare his soul. And Bacchus firmly agreed with him.

“Absolutely, yeah. If you told me this a few days ago, I wouldn’t have believed it, either.”

Louis, the Holy Emperor they served, was leading these vampires. What they believed or not didn’t matter, but their instincts still refused to accept this as reality.

That, fortunately, wouldn’t be a negative factor. Even Renard understood not all monsters were evil. They had trained in the monster nation of Tempest, enjoyed delicious food and drink with the local monsters, and even made close friends with a couple of them. This wasn’t abject disbelief so much as a self-deprecating reflection on their own rigid preconceptions. The fact that Renard still harbored such thoughts after everything he had witnessed made him feel a little ashamed of himself.

“Heh… Well, that’s just how humans are,” he said.

Gunther stepped up, offering comfort to Renard and Bacchus. “They seem rigid and unchanging, but their thoughts are a lot more easily swayed than you’d think. For better or for worse, of course.”

Even the Seven Days Clergy, once the heroic guardians of humanity, had fallen into corruption and been torn apart. Gunther was aware of their famed past, however, and he didn’t want Renard and Bacchus to lose that spirit, which once shone just as brightly within them.

The seven overcomer nobles on hand thought in similar ways and were eager to keep those two humans safe. Adalmann and Gadora, meanwhile, were ready to fight back against anyone who came their way. Both of them looked surprisingly handsome, so anyone who only knew them as a skeleton and an old geezer wouldn’t recognize them at all.

Then again, they’d be scared off anyway by the group in black around them—the Black Corps, a hundred-strong group who served directly under Diablo. Gadora might have been a newcomer, but he was leading this offbeat team of super-elites. The fact that Adalmann and Gadora still stuck out so much among this oddball group made it easy for everyone to recognize them in the crowd.

With all preparations complete, the warriors waited for the battle to begin.

Finally, the time came. But that moment was accompanied by a sudden, terrifying despair that seemed to mock all their thorough preparations.

“Ah-ha!Let’s play, let’s play!”

It was the clarion call signaling the end of the world.

All the warriors there heard nothing but pure terror echoing in their minds. Those who heard the “voice” instantly lost all will to fight, recognizing an overwhelming, essential difference between them and this new presence that words like overwhelming couldn’t begin to describe.

It was the army east of the tower that was unlucky enough to face this fate. They had deployed the Holy Field to prepare for the enemy, and suddenly, a child was there—a small one, very out of place. Her face was flat and featureless, but she appeared to be female. But already, there was no time to wonder how she had ended up there.

Only three were able to respond to the threat. Hinata was the first to shout.

“Spread out! Take cover!”

She gave the desperate order with every fiber of her being, praying that it’d reach its targets without delay.

The moment she saw Ivalage, she used her ultimate skill Fortuna, Lord of Misfortune (which she had activated at all times) to “view” the hopeless future lying ahead. Before her was revealed a scene where most of her warriors had been reduced to dust. The few survivors remaining lay on the ground, toeing the line between life and death. It was a desperate scene, one that was almost impossible to turn around.

She didn’t know how many casualties her warning could prevent, but still she issued the order, hoping to save as many lives as possible. No one there was oblivious enough to fail to respond. All six hundred of them instantly tried to go on the move. But it was already too late.

“Ah-ha!”

Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon, unleashed a merciless blast. A destructive ray, its nature unknown, filled the space, approaching the speed of light.

The second to respond was Velgrynd. The Separate Body next to Masayuki became her main body without a moment’s delay, deploying a protective barrier. It was bad luck Ivalage had come this way first; if Velgrynd’s Separate Body hadn’t been on the scene, that would have spelled the end.

Fortunately, Hinata’s thoughts reached her just in time, and the protective barrier was activated. But the day was far from saved. Even with all her strength, the power of the World-Destroyer Dragon was too great for Velgrynd to withstand.

The majority of the people there were killed by the shock wave alone. For humans, resisting the power of a god was simply impossible.

The front line collapsed, and the eastern front instantly transformed into a hellish landscape—but at that moment, a third person responded.

“You will awaken… Sanctuary Resurrection!”

Luminus, who had been watching the battle from above, activated the holy spell Resurrection, maximizing its force by harnessing the processing power of all her believers’ minds at once. It created a sanctuary that expanded the magical effect across a great range, bringing the dead back to life.

If their physical bodies had been lost, it would’ve been impossible for them to be resurrected on the spot. However, thanks to Velgrynd, that most fatal of situations was avoided, as intense as the damage was.

Nicolaus, responsible for running the barrier on the ground, died instantly, making the Holy Field collapse for a moment, but Hinata quickly rebuilt it. The good cardinal was revived in the meantime, taking over for her as if the pain of death hadn’t bothered him at all. He would never want to show any sort of weakness around the woman he adored…but such a heartwarming tale would have to wait for later.

This resurrection took place in an instant, but the losses on the human side were immeasurable. Although Luminus had reduced the number of dead to zero, that didn’t mean anyone was in any shape to continue fighting. Nicolaus and his ilk were the exception. They had just gone through a terrifying experience, and that wasn’t the kind of thing you could instantly recover from.

The Crusaders and new Imperial Guardians were seasoned warriors. That, in a way, was exactly why they couldn’t help but feel a terrifying awe for that overwhelming presence. All of them had experienced death and resurrection in their time—some while training in the labyrinth, some when the demon lord Rimuru revived them—so despite the shock, they usually would be able to recover. But when faced with the absolute presence of the World-Destroyer Dragon, their hearts were simply broken.

If your will to fight was broken, you could easily lose a battle you could have won. They all understood this, but no one could make a single move in the face of this despair. It was wholly understandable. Even Velgrynd—the strongest fighter present, the main support in everyone’s hearts—had been severely damaged by the last blow. In fact, she was so close to collapsing, Masayuki had to help her stay upright. She wished she didn’t have to use all her strength there, but she had already put all her Separate Bodies together. The blow was so powerful that, if Velgrynd hadn’t risked everything, their surroundings would have become unrecognizable.

It was pure luck that she had endured it—but there would be no next time.

“Heh-heh… This monster’s unbelievable,” Velgrynd said. “I have to admit, I underestimated her.”

One had to hand it to Velgrynd for being so humble at a time like this. But to anyone watching, it sounded like little more than her being a sore loser. Even Masayuki, who was propping her up, was starting to fall into despair, wondering if this was finally it for him.

And it wasn’t just him. Everyone felt the same way.

More than anything else, it was Ivalage’s appearance that frightened the warriors. She was still a child, and a young one at that. There was room for growth, as far as everyone was concerned. She was already unstoppable. If she grew any stronger…

Anxiety consumed them, and they all were thinking the same thing: Was there any point continuing to fight if it was this futile?

Still, the battle raged on. In the eastern sky, the cryptids who had managed to escape the Holy Field began engaging the Pegasus Knights led by King Gazel. This force was fighting in place of all their downed allies, but they had expected to see action far later than this. Immediately after it began, they found themselves at an incredible disadvantage.

But humanity was still not defeated. Even in the face of such despair, they had not abandoned hope.

Luminus was commanding them as a god would.

“Do not give up! I will revive you if you die! Cast away your fear and fight the enemy before you!”

“She’s right!” added Hinata. “I’d rather live proudly as a warrior to the end than give up here and die a miserable death. You all feel the same way, don’t you?”

The words resonated in the hearts of the warriors. Their fighting spirit, once on the verge of flickering out, was just barely kept alive.

Caligulio, too, found his inspiration. “Listen to me! Our goddess has sacrificed herself to protect us! Even though we could never hope to approach her in strength!”

There was not a single soldier from the Eastern Empire who wasn’t moved by these words. They all understood they were protected by the mercy of the goddess Velgrynd…and now, they had experienced that blessing firsthand. If they couldn’t muster their courage, they’d be branded weaklings, unworthy of being anywhere near here.

Even if the enemy was despair itself, that no longer mattered. Even if it meant total annihilation, the imperial soldiers would no longer retreat.

Seeing that change spread across the field, Testarossa’s assistant Cien laughed loudly.

“Heh-heh! Heh-heh-heh-heh… That’s exactly right! If Testarossa sees you in such a sad state like that…”

And that, apparently, was enough. Because before Cien could finish his sentence, the two hundred members of the Black Corps stood up. For a moment, they remained motionless…and then, with the glint of bloody murder in their eyes, they bravely resumed their battle against the cryptids.

The human side regained its momentum. Even if they were all going down, they were determined to fight to the end. And with that, the long, long period of despair was underway.

CHAPTER 3

THE DUEL TO END ALL DUELS

The leaders of the monster nation were gathered in the Control Center. Over a day had passed since Luminus’s declaration, and it was Benimaru, their commander, who broke the silence.

“We’ve received word from Soei. They eliminated the threat of Zeranus and dispatched the disaster that was Vega, but it looks like we can’t rest easy yet. I know all of you are exhausted, but you’re gonna have to remain vigilant for me.”

Soei had already left the battlefield so he could respond quickly to the changing situation. He didn’t even leave a Replication behind, so they were connected only through Thought Communication—such was the urgency of the situation.

The gathered officials nodded, their faces grim. It’d be meaningless, after all, for them to defend Tempest when the whole world was going to be destroyed. None of them were in perfect shape any longer, but their resolve was unwavering.

Of course, some of them couldn’t survive off resolve alone. Zegion was the prime example, having fallen into the slumber of evolution. He was still absent, and Diablo was also distressingly missing, having gone off somewhere and left a note that he was “running some errands.” That worried Benimaru, but at least he had a rough idea of where Diablo had gone. He grinned a bit, thinking about how incorrigible the demon was, and decided to just let him do as he pleased.

“So, Benimaru, what should we do now?” Ramiris asked on behalf of everyone else.

“All forces returned from the former Eurazania will be dispatched to Damargania.”

Tension filled the Control Center.

“I will command them,” Benimaru declared before anyone could ask a question. Over half of Team Kurenai was still in Eurazania, transformed into frozen statues, but he had no intention of carrying out a rescue operation.

The others there, Gabil and Geld included, could understand just how determined he was to carry this out. Gabil was worried about Sufia, with whom he had just recently formed a romantic relationship, but now wasn’t the right time to say anything. As a warrior, he knew Benimaru was considering the big picture, and he had to do his bidding.

Geld felt much the same way. Not all the members of his Yellow and Orange Numbers had returned. Those who had taken on the damage Geld had received via the ultimate gift Beelzebub, Lord of Gastronomy, were still waiting to be rescued. He and Gabil both wanted to set off for Eurazania immediately if they could…but that wasn’t going to happen. This wasn’t Benimaru being heartless; they knew the man was more compassionate than most people they knew.

It was his call to make, and no one dared to object. If there was any question left, it was this:

“How are we going to travel there?”

It was the pregnant Alvis who struck at the main tactical issue at hand. Even Team Hiryu, the speediest of Tempest’s forces, would need more than a day to reach Damargania, and that was without stopping for any rest. All their other armies would take even longer. If they didn’t leave immediately, there was a good chance they’d all be too late for this crucial battle.

If Rimuru were there, he would’ve solved the problem with a large-scale teleportation spell. Now that they had to manage on their own, the concept of logistics, which they never had to consider much before, weighed heavily on their minds.

Alvis wanted to bring that up, as unpleasant a question as she knew it was. But Benimaru remained unaffected. That problem had already been solved by his sister.

“That won’t be a problem,” he assured them. “Shuna will teleport us.”

“Yes,” Shuna said with a smile and a nod. “I have analyzed Sir Rimuru’s spell, and I’ll be able to transport everyone safely to their destination.”

It wouldn’t be that easy, of course. There was a huge difference in magicule count between Rimuru and Shuna. They could optimize and simplify the spell for her a fair bit, but teleporting such a large number of people at once would likely place a considerable burden on her. But no one brought this up. They all understood how determined Shuna was about this, and they decided to support her. If she said it was fine, then it was fine. If you can’t do something, don’t say you can—Rimuru taught them that rule, and Shuna would never break it. Success was all but guaranteed, and they’d worry about what came after that when it happened.

“Ramiris, I leave the defense of the labyrinth to you.”

Shuna’s request was all but admitting she wouldn’t be able to contribute to the cause afterward. Ramiris wasn’t foolish enough not to pick up on this.

“Ooh, of course! You can leave it to me, Ramiris, strongest of all demon lords!”

She was ready with her usual reassuring smile. Benimaru eagerly nodded in return.

“Apito, I’m counting on you to defend the interior of the labyrinth.”

“Understood.”

“However…”

“?”

“As soon as Zegion awakens, leave the labyrinth behind and deploy to the battlefield.”

“But…”

The labyrinth contained everything Rimuru had left behind. That included Alvis and Momiji, who were more important to Benimaru than his own life. Nonetheless, Benimaru remained unshaken.

“The labyrinth will be left to Beretta, Treyni, and the others to defend. I have no intention of dying, but we don’t know what kind of situation we’ll run into. If you can contact me, then great. Otherwise, Apito, you’ll have to judge the situation yourself.”

Under normal circumstances, it’d be unthinkable to entrust the defense of the labyrinth to anyone else. But that was simply how desperate things were.

Apito dutifully nodded, understanding Benimaru’s feelings. The man was usually so confident, but there he was, saying not even he knew whether he’d survive. Apito was his insurance, and she had a duty to live up to that trust.

“Yes. Now’s the time to step up and protect the destiny of the world…”

“You said it.”

“And we’re gonna win!”

Win first. Then we can all laugh and carry on together. This was the resolve everyone was sharing in.

“Kumara, you’re joining the deployment.”

“Very well,” she responded with a defiant grin. This wasn’t her first battle outside the labyrinth, so she had nothing to be nervous about.

Benimaru nodded back at her, then announced his final decision.

“As for Team Kurenai, Hakuro will lead them until Gobwa is back!”

“Gladly,” said Hakuro.

“Gobta will command the Goblin Riders. Ranga and Kumara will assist him. I want you running far and wide across the battlefield, showing off everything you have for me!”

“Roger that!” said Gobta.

“At once!”

“I look forward to it.”

“Team Hiryu, you are all free to fight in any way you wish.”

“…?”

Gabil looked puzzled. He thought he’d be put in command of them. But Benimaru had other ideas.

“Gabil, Geld… I have another mission for you two.”

It had to be an important one, given the situation. Gabil and Geld held their breath for a moment.

“You may have already planned to do this without my orders, but…”

Benimaru explained the plan. It was a dangerous mission, but it considerably brightened both their faces. Just as Benimaru said, it was exactly the orders they were hoping for.

“Very well! Team Hiryu is hereby in the hands of Yashichi, Sukero, and Kakushin!”

“Right! Leave it to us!”

“Indeed.”

“Good luck, Sir Gabil!!”

Gabil’s three closest assistants accepted the mission in their usual manner, feeding off their boss’s enthusiasm. It was just like normal times with them, and that made success seem all but inevitable.

And then there was Geld.

“Even if it means my death, I will fulfill my duty!”

He was not fully recovered, but he didn’t care. His resolve was true.

So each member of the counterattack team had their assigned role. There’d be a hundred members of Team Kurenai, a hundred from Team Hiryu, and a hundred Goblin Riders—three hundred troops in all, deploying with Benimaru leading them. The sleeping Zegion and their labyrinth contact Apito would stay behind, and the rest of the Twelve Lordly Guardians would all join the outside battle.

The labyrinth had never been left so undefended before. Everyone silently prayed it would never happen again.

Jahil was contemplating.

What’s the right move to make next?

Zarario’s betrayal was a painful blow. There was Zeranus the Insect Lord to consider as well, but he had grown too powerful for Jahil to handle.

For that matter, he wasn’t sure how much he could trust Feldway.

Even if I do his bidding, I’ll never become king of that domain. There’s nothing at all in it for me. And besides…

He recalled Benimaru, that beyond-detestable enemy. Despite being vastly inferior to him, he had toyed with Jahil, the sorcerous dynast, like a puppet. It was an unforgivable act of foolishness, a truly evil deed—the idea some lowly magic-born should dare to defy him.

Benimaru must therefore be punished…but he was a tricky opponent. If Jahil fought him alone, victory would be certain—but Benimaru had been given all the fighting force he needed, which was a bad mistake. The correct strategy would have been to defeat each one of them individually. Evil Bloodwave might not have been enough to kill them, he thought; they’d just stand in his way again. If so, it was best to settle this before things got any more annoying. But:

Hmm, I’ve got a long list of enemies to defeat. And first among them…

The demon lord Luminus. The enemy who destroyed the demigod Jahil so loved and respected. She had to be killed, too, not just Benimaru.

Jahil had many enemies, and few allies to rely on. The army he’d received from Feldway had been routed, and only about seven hundred remained. Nowhere near enough fighting power.

Still, sitting around and waiting would accomplish nothing, so Jahil decided to gather information. He sent his troops here and there to investigate the current situation. Their destinations: the former Eurazania, Lubelius, Damargania, the labyrinth, and Thalion. He had attacked Thalion himself, so further investigation might not have been necessary, but he could have his team look into it anyway. He could find out from their report whether further attention was required or not.

Time passed. Reports came in, one after another…and what they said was impossible to ignore. The former Eurazania was encased in a world of ice. His scouts tried to explore inside, but they couldn’t reach the center with their limited resources, so no further details were known. Guy and Velzard were still fighting there, no doubt.

The problem was the remaining four places.

First, Daggrull had been defeated in Lubelius.

“So first Fenn, and now ‘Earthquake’ Daggrull has been taken down? I can’t believe it. How did Veldora become that powerful…?”

Jahil considered Daggrull to be stronger than even himself, and he had been easily bested. It surprised Jahil even more than Zarario’s betrayal.

That will be difficult to recover from, won’t it? What’re you going to do now, Feldway?

At this point, the Three Stellar Leaders were shells of their former selves. Their armies were all in disarray, and the damage was too great to even dream of subjugating the key world. That wouldn’t be a problem if they could still win…but battles elsewhere were proving to be an even greater concern.

Take the group who had invaded the labyrinth. They were no longer being heard from, their whereabouts unknown—but even more surprising, Zeranus had shown up. With such a powerful fighter joining the battle, it seemed only a matter of time before the labyrinth collapsed…but there had been no progress since then.

This was a terrible state of affairs, but Jahil wasn’t all that pessimistic about it.

Come on. Vega is one thing, but there’s no way Zeranus could be defeated. Even if that Benimaru guy somehow came back, it’d be impossible for him to win.

He was so stuck in his own way of thinking that he just couldn’t see any other possibility. The lack of news, he thought, was probably due to the ongoing battle inside the labyrinth. Even if they were facing an uphill fight, Zeranus would surely emerge victorious in the end—and once that happened, the land around the labyrinth ruins would become Zeranus’s domain.

That was not at all what Jahil wanted. He was doing Feldway’s bidding in order to realize his own ambitions. He wanted to gain revenge for the demigod and rule this key world—that was his wish. He had given up on conquering the entire world, knowing Zeranus wanted a piece of it, too, but he had no intention of giving up any of his important strongholds.

What Jahil wanted was either the fertile Forest of Jura or the prosperous Western Nations. In the best-case scenario, he’d obtain the entire central continent, including the Forest of Jura. If Zeranus took that forest instead, Jahil would have to give up on that, since he didn’t really know how he’d wrest it back from him. But even if he had to relinquish Jura, he had no intention of losing the Western Nations and all their wealth. He and Zeranus had different views on the territory they craved, and that was why he believed coexistence might be possible. Zeranus could seal off the Forest of Jura and turn it into a sanctuary for the insectors, while Jahil could reap all the benefits of a booming civilization.

But there was a problem. Feldway would likely bring the Eastern Empire under his control, but Daggrull’s aim was the same as Jahil’s: to take down the Western Nations.

Jahil had had many a thoughtful moment trying to find a solution, but now he had finally come up with a plan. He would just cede a large portion of the Western Nations—specifically, the northwestern part of the continent, including Lubelius, Englesia, and Farminus—to Daggrull. Then he could make the lower half—the southwestern part of the continent, including Thalion—his own domain. The world would be divided into quarters, working together to develop further. He could take this time to gather up his strength, and eventually, Jahil would rise to the very top. Depending on the situation, he could even annex the former Eurazania, but that would be a future goal at best—he couldn’t do much unless he neutralized Velzard’s abilities first.

In any case, the most important thing was his own interests. With that in mind, Jahil sent spies out to investigate the situation in other areas. He didn’t want the territories he had his eyes on to be ravaged by war, so for him, having this final confrontation take place in Lubelius was a stroke of luck. Daggrull’s defeat was unexpected, but maybe that was for the better, since he wouldn’t have to cede territory to him any longer.

As Jahil thought about the future, he received reports about the remaining regions. Milim had unleashed Drago-Nova at Skyspire Tower in Damargania, and then she returned to Thalion.

“What are you doing, Feldway?!”

Jahil was indignant. The rampaging Milim was the very embodiment of the “Destroyer” he had heard about. If left to her own devices, she could very well destroy the world. At this rate, Jahil was bound to lose all the wealth he was supposed to gain later on.

Damargania was in utter chaos, and Lubelius was frantically gathering its forces. Luminus herself had revealed her true identity, making this nonsensical speech to the whole world about the crisis it faced and calling heroes worldwide to come and help.

Jahil laughed at her bombastic behavior, but as he learned more about the developing situation, he realized this was no longer someone else’s problem. He was concerned about Milim’s movements, but he couldn’t ignore Luminus’s Final Declaration, either. If it was a threat that required even Velgrynd to act…

“Ivalage?!”

The king of another world—a being who could be called the true god of destruction. If Ivalage were to appear, Luminus’s response no longer seemed overblown at all.

Over in Thalion, too, the battle to stop Milim continued. Jahil had tried to burn down the Sacred Tree, but he only did that on the assumption that it could be revived later. If Milim’s Drago-Nova was aimed at the tree, the total destruction of Thalion would be inevitable.

It seems like they’re holding their own against Milim, but it’s no longer really a battle at all. They’re not being routed, at least, but it’s only a matter of time.

Just as Jahil bitterly mulled this over, a new report arrived. A mysterious being had appeared, fighting Milim and keeping the battle even. He wondered who this could be…and then he read the rest of the report.

“What? Veldora is there?!”

It said Veldora, upon defeating Daggrull, had come to Thalion.

“I don’t get it. I thought he’d return to the labyrinth to deal with Zeranus…”

If things in Lubelius had calmed down, it would’ve been natural for him to return to his labyrinth base, especially if it was under attack. Jahil had thought for sure Veldora would be called back to deal with Zeranus. Ideally, they’d defeat each other—and even if it didn’t go that well, Jahil could finish off the survivor. That might have been asking too much, perhaps…but either way, the situation in the labyrinth remained unknown, and the situation with Thalion and Veldora concerned him.

More importantly…fierce battles were raging all over the world. Zeranus must have been rampaging in the labyrinth. Guy and Velzard must have been clashing fiercely in Eurazania. The threat of Ivalage was imminent over in Damargania. And Milim was running wild in Thalion.

Jahil pondered a bit.

So…in a situation as chaotic as this one, what should I be prioritizing?

It was a tough call, but he finally made up his mind.

“Milim’s being manipulated by Feldway, so I should be safe leaving her alone. Instead, it seems high time to settle a long-standing grudge of mine.”

Jahil turned his gaze toward Damargania. Luminus was surely there, and he decided to take advantage of the chaos to get rid of her.

With an evil laugh, he heavily lifted himself up off his seat.

The various armies of the human defense front were fighting fiercely against their respective enemies. Among them, the eastern front was suffering the most severe losses as the desperate battle dragged on. Thanks to the Holy Field just barely staying online, the moment of decisive defeat had yet to arrive, but this was just delaying the inevitable by a few more moments. Everyone understood this, yet they continued to fight, their resolve never wavering.

The only bit of luck they had was that Ivalage, the World-Destroyer Dragon, had stopped moving. She was sitting quietly on the shoulder of a large mystic beast, eagerly watching the battle unfold but showing no signs of joining in herself. Some suggested taking advantage of this opportunity to attack, but that just wasn’t possible—Velgrynd was busy trying to recover her strength, and no one else was powerful enough. Better to wait and see, they reasoned, rather than provoke her any further. Besides, if they could buy some time, there was a chance the situation would turn around later.

Great, we’re already counting on Rimuru to save us?

Luminus smiled to herself. The chances of that were far too slim—the idea that Rimuru’s team would come to their aid. With Zeranus the Insect King appearing in the labyrinth, there was no way they had any spare forces left. She knew that, but Luminus still couldn’t help but hope a little. The others felt the same way, and really, it was that hope that allowed them to keep up the fight.

And if there was any hope in the first place…

I can’t believe someone as stubborn and brazen as Rimuru would just let himself be defeated. It looks like he’s been banished somewhere, but I have a feeling he’ll come back acting like nothing happened at all.

That was how Luminus felt after receiving the news of his disappearance. Chloe might have been giving her an idealized view of Rimuru, but the one Luminus herself had observed wasn’t far removed from the stories. He was confident, competitive, kind, and gentle, with a presence that made people want to rely on him. Even Hinata, usually as tense as a sharpened knife, acted a little more her age when she was with Rimuru, which was remarkable to see in action. In fact, she probably still believed Rimuru was safe.

If I admit defeat here, who knows what he’ll say to me later? I don’t want him to think I’m a fool, no. Gotta stay focused until the end.

Luminus firmed up her resolve. She couldn’t show the slightest opening right now.

The battle wasn’t going that badly…or so she thought. If they could cull the cryptids’ numbers before Ivalage made a move, maybe they could even win. The balance was shifting in their favor to the point that she actually believed that.

The battles on the other fronts were proceeding in similar fashion. It seemed like they were managing to fight without suffering any casualties. The cryptids were individual powerhouses, but as a race, they were simply unaccustomed to group warfare. Some of them coordinated with their own species, at least, so the human side couldn’t let their guard down…but the situation wasn’t getting out of hand, anyway. That was good news.

Now if we can just do something about Ivalage…

Just as everyone was thinking this, the situation changed completely. Ivalage, sitting on her mystic beast with her legs dangling off, gave a smug smile.

“I made some new friends for you!”

Everyone was confused by her sudden remark. But in the next moment, they knew just what she meant.

It was unclear what kind of ritual had been performed behind the door, but the nature of the cryptid beasts appearing from it was quite different. To be specific, they had taken on human forms. Most of them were distorted, missing eyes or noses or mouths, but some among them were mesmerizingly beautiful as well. Those higher-ranking ones seemed to possess greater combat abilities.

“Oh, great,” muttered Hinata. “Is she learning from watching this battle?”

They had been fighting beasts up to that point, but these humanoid cryptids were using sword-like techniques, and their hardened skin also proved useful as a weapon. It was adapted to that purpose, with the weaponized parts stronger than the rest—which might seem to make them more vulnerable in spots, but you could also interpret that as being better adapted to attacking and posing a danger. What’s more, they seemed to be learning tactics as they went along. This skill level wasn’t increasing at an absurd rate or anything, but if allowed enough time, they might just gain the upper hand.

“This is getting nowhere. What should we do, Caligulio?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to try not to show them our tricks and finish them off with one blow.”

They knew what to do, but that was fiendishly difficult to put into practice. It wasn’t something just anyone could manage, unless they were as skilled as Caligulio and Minitz. On top of that, the existential ratings of the higher-ranked individuals were edging up higher than those of the previous ones. Not only did they have high durability, but some of them even had Ultraspeed Regeneration. At this point, it’d be difficult to defeat them before they could learn anything else.

“Not good. Ivalage is watching.”

As Hinata pointed out, Ivalage had been observing the battle the entire time, learning how to fight through watching and listening. The ominous feeling they had at the beginning was becoming a reality. Everyone felt it now, fighting off the anxiety that was welling up from the depths of their minds.

The eastern front was in the most dire situation, but the other lines were also struggling.

On the western front, a creature emerged from a door, swaying back and forth with the bearing of a king. This was Canter, the beast racing through the void, and contrary to the charming name, it looked vicious.

It was similar in shape to a wolf, but much larger. Canter had the body of a lion and the head of a dragon, and was over thirty feet long and fifteen feet tall. Its entire frame was covered with jet-black dragon scales, each one sharp as a needle—or a spear, really. Its tail, split into eight parts, wriggled like a basket of venomous snakes, and it had six eyes that glowed a vivid red as it glared at its surroundings. One would think its massive size would cause it to have a great number of blind spots, but not so—those menacing eyes were scattered all over its body, not fixed in place but appearing and disappearing at will, even growing out of its dragon scales.

Its four powerful legs were adorned with sharp claws that let off a dull glint. Countless small protrusions sprouted from the gaps between the scales, making it look even eerier. And its fangs! They were beyond fearsome, the very symbol of a predator, evoking terror in the hearts of those who beheld them.

Canter glanced at the waiting warriors, but quickly lost interest. Instead, its attention was focused on the world it was experiencing for the first time. It sniffed the air, taking in the scent of the wind. Then, apparently satisfied, it let out a roar. The wind shook, turning into a shock wave that blew away those not strong enough to withstand it.

“What is that thing…?”

Grigori was trembling, as if his hatred of dogs was being triggered. Still, with the pride of an ex-Battlesage in his heart, he squared off against Canter.

Then Shion and Daggra stepped forward, keeping Grigori back.

“Come on! A mere beast like that? We could easily— Oh?”

Shion cut herself off mid-sentence, staring intently at Canter. The beast ignored Shion, circled around a bit, and lay down elegantly on the ground. It didn’t seem interested in fighting, but a herd of beasts that appeared to belong to Canter’s species began walking out, one after another. The only differences between these and the real thing were that they were slightly smaller and had only four eyes instead of six. It was impossible to tell how capable they were without fighting them.

“Everyone, get ready!”

Shion’s shout was the signal for Canter’s followers to move. Thus the battle began.

These minions were very strange. Cryptids tended not to work in groups, but this pack worked together in perfect harmony—and even when they didn’t, they were talented fighters on an individual level, too. Based on the Free Guild’s scale, they’d rank at least an A, and there were even a few ranking S or higher among them, making for an extremely dangerous fight. The human champions were all individual A-ranks or higher as well—by no means inferior—but could they defeat these guys one on one? Truthfully, it’d be difficult—and even worse, they were an excellent group of fighters. For the humans, who were far from a well-trained army discipline-wise, it was just too much to deal with.

“Guys! Stick with those you know! Don’t get separated!”

Glenda was shouting guidance, and very accurate guidance at that. The number of Canter’s minions marching out was in the hundreds. Solo combat would be akin to suicide. It was only thanks to the Holy Field that the front line held at all.

“Stupid dogs!!”

Grigori fought valiantly, blowing away minion after minion. These weren’t dogs, exactly, but maybe it’d be rude to point that out to Grigori.

Shion’s Decapitating Demon Blade struck down several of them at once. She was demonstrating her fierceness more than ever, but they were still heavily outnumbered. It didn’t feel to anyone like they were cutting their numbers down at all. They just kept coming, one after the other, and while the army still outnumbered them, it wasn’t clear how long that would last.

The endless battle wore down the warriors’ spirits. Canter, aware of this, remained motionless. It surveyed the battlefield with its cold, intelligent gaze, waiting for its moment.

Finally, it came. Canter stood up and roared. It was its second roar of the day, but this time was different. Canter might have been a beast, but it was highly intelligent, even compared to human beings. It was cunning, cautious, and possessed sound enough judgment to avoid battles it couldn’t win.

Now, Canter had decided to attack, a sign it was confident of victory.

Its roar shook the air. Unlike that first warning, it was issuing a genuine attack order. At once, its minions changed their style, growing braver, more fearless, and less hesitant with their attacks.

“Man, this is tough… And what’s this ominous feeling I have?”

Glenda, seamlessly reloading her weapon just in time to kill another enemy, was frustrated and muttering to herself. Something she had just noticed was disquieting her.

And then her voice boomed out via Thought Communication, as loud as Canter’s roar.

(Everyone, hold your breath and take defensive action! If you let your guard down, you’ll die!)

The order just barely came in time. Canter had used its roar as a cover to launch another attack. The gaps between the dragon scales covering its huge body were filled with small protrusions that sprayed a sticky decomposing enzyme from the tips. This mixed with Canter’s demonic aura as it caught the wind and spread into the air. It was harmless to its minions but worked as a deadly poisonous mist to all other life-forms.

If it weren’t for Glenda’s warning, many would have died right there. Some of Shion’s troops in Team Reborn were vomiting blood. They had probably tried inhaling it out of curiosity, and now their lungs were burned, their breathing cut off, their organs rotten and pus-filled, their eyes destroyed, and the mucus membranes in their noses shattered and spraying blood. Three hours of hellish suffering were in store for them all, and unluckily for them, healing medicine couldn’t counteract it. They wouldn’t die, but until Canter’s poison mist wore off, their bodies would repeat the cycle of destruction and regeneration, and they could do nothing about it.

Seeing this deplorable state of affairs, the rest of the army gained a new appreciation for Glenda’s Detect Danger skill.

“Tsk! This is exactly why I hate these damned mutts so much!”

Grigori didn’t exactly sound heroic when he spat that out, but he was healthy enough to complain about his fate, and that alone did a lot to rouse those around him.

Now Shion was back on the move.

“True Chaotic Fate!!”

Shion’s Goriki-maru Divine, her gigantic sword, cut through the sky. That alone neutralized Canter’s poison mist. The absurdity of her ultimate skill Susano-oh, King of Atrocity, and its skill-canceling Minus Break aspect, were as intact as ever, ensuring a clear victory for Shion.

“Whether it’s an enemy on the battlefield or an ingredient in the kitchen, I can cook either of them up just fine! There’s no way I can lose this fight!”

The proclamation aided everyone’s morale. As long as Shion was there, they would be more determined to win than ever. But despite Canter’s second roar intensifying things in the west, the battle was still just in its opening stages.

An extremely strange creature appeared in the south. It was Paddler, the fish swimming through space.

“Ahh, too bad,” Ultima said once she saw it. “That one looks pretty dangerous. Frankly, I think at least a few people are gonna have to die if we wanna defeat it.”

It was a perfectly fair assessment, and Veyron was ready with his orders in response.

“Everyone, fall back! We’ll take care of this!”

The gathered champions glared at Veyron, clearly wondering who this weird old man thought he was. But before they could vent their frustration at him, Yohm spoke up.

“C’mon, guys! Get the hell back!”

His communication skills paid off. Thanks to all the trust he had earned, this ribald band of champions was willing to obey him. Some groused about it, sure, but only in the friendliest, social kind of way. The only fighters left in the Holy Field once Paddler was fully visible were Ultima and the other demons.

“Good call there. If you had been any later with that, you would’ve all died! ”

Ultima was light with her tone, but nothing she said was funny. She was proven right a moment later.

“What kinda creepy monster is that?”

“A fish, or…?”

There were some fish-type creatures that could fly in the air, such as megalodons. The people making these comments were under the mistaken impression Paddler was among their ilk. It looked a bit like a squid hovering in the air, but even without its tentacles, its body was a good thirty feet long, with each tendril ten or so feet in length as well—a big creature, to be sure. But that still didn’t really describe Paddler well. It was small compared to the likes of Charybdis, but assessing strength based on size wouldn’t benefit anyone there…as the fish itself was about to prove.

Paddler swayed in the air. The tentacles—actually a collection of small monsters latched on like parasites—detached all at once, zooming forward. They reached the speed of sound in five seconds. There was too little distance to gauge their maximum speed, but no one wanted to know what it was anyway. Being hit by any of them, after all, meant instant death. Hurtling straight ahead, spinning as they did, they all looked like a rain of spears.

In fact, the entire body of the strange creature was covered with alionium, making its relatively small size a key advantage. It was intensely dangerous, capable of cutting and piercing its way through anything.

“Oh, no way…”

“If we were still in there, we woulda been completely helpless…”

The chaotic dance of these small parasites was as mesmerizing as it was terrifying. Moving with perfect precision, they rampaged freely within the Holy Field.

The only reason there was time to admire their beauty, of course, was because there were no casualties. Ultima was keen to point this out, as Veyron and Yohm yelled at her in return—but either way, the battle thankfully did not kick off with mass slaughter.

Now the two hundred or so demons remaining on the battlefield fought with all their might. Their pride was on the line.

“This is so annoying!” Ultima shouted in exasperation, instantly burying a medium-size school of parasites.

This was a divine feat, but Ultima’s real target was Paddler, their boss. It swam through the sky, changing form constantly and seemingly able to set its speed to whatever it wanted at any time, no acceleration required. That meant it could go at top speed from the start, and its maximum combat speed was near the speed of light. Light moves approximately at 880,000 times the speed of sound, and Paddler wasn’t quite there, but it was beyond close enough. The atmosphere was slowing it down a lot, but it was still moving at over 100,000 times the speed of sound, making it impossible for ordinary humans to even see the cryptid.

But there was nothing ordinary about Ultima, either. The moment she sensed Paddler’s presence, she could freely shed the laws of physics to respond. It was very fortunate she was there on the southern front. Skills and magic were the tools she used to counter this enemy, and soon, it was impossible to see how this could turn out.

Plus, the battlefield itself was undergoing a transformation. Following close behind Paddler was a horde of other strange creatures. The cryptids created by Ivalage came in every shape and size, seemingly having no common traits at all. Some resembled the humanoid insectors, and the champions who escaped the initial danger were forced to deal with these new threats.

The northern front had turned into a living hell. Flutter, the dimension-crossing bird, was laying waste to everything it saw, and the Bloody Knights and Black Corps were completely helpless against this single foe. Blood sprayed freely, arms and legs flying through the air.

“What the hell is this thing?!”

“What just happened…?”

Ultima wasn’t there. They weren’t able to recognize the danger of their enemy until they were face-to-face with it.

“Not good,” Adalmann muttered. He finally understood the situation, but it wasn’t because he was slow to pick up on it. The massacre had begun without warning; not even a minute had passed since this creature had made itself known. They had no time to observe the situation, so they had to come up with a plan quickly.

“I think this is teleportation,” Gadora stated. “Judging from the glow across their entire body, those feathers must be made of crimson steel.”

Flutter gave the impression of a double-headed eagle covered in golden plumage. The beast’s total length, from the tip of its head to the end of its tail, was about ten feet—large for a bird, but relatively tiny for a cryptid. However, its sheer ferocity and fighting ability still made it one of the strongest of its ilk. Paddler was the fastest among them, excelling at long-distance travel; Flutter was slower and couldn’t keep up with it, but even so, Paddler could never take the bird in a fight. The reason was just pointed out by Gadora—that teleportation skill.

“Hmm. So it uses its teleportation while it’s accelerating in the air, letting it slash at enemies without losing its momentum,” Adalmann mused. “Seems similar to Glenda’s ability, actually.”

“But I’m not sensing any spatial fluctuation,” said Gadora. “It’s so refined, it almost feels like Instant Motion. It’d be difficult to determine its location with Magic Sense alone.”

With Glenda’s unique skill Sniper, she could predict where teleporting targets would appear, following the rift in space that opens up the moment a Spatial Connection is made. But Flutter could freely choose where it appeared, and it showed up at the exact same place the rift opened up—similar, but not quite the same thing. And if they didn’t have the time for evasive action after sensing Flutter, then Gadora was right—this ability was about as close as you could get to Instant Motion.

“People,” an angry Louis said, “now is no time for idle commentary!”

Seeing the sorry state of all his troops enraged him—but no one had died. The Bloody Knights were virtually immortal, with access to Self-Regeneration to heal any missing physical parts. They couldn’t go back to the front immediately, but given time, they’d make a full recovery.

The most impressive performers at the moment were the Black Corps maintaining the front line. They were sorely shaken at first, but with the Multilayer Barrier covering them, it had grown somewhat easier to anticipate where Flutter would show up. Serving directly under Diablo as they did, they had bountiful on-the-ground experience.

Adalmann and Gadora exchanged glances, digesting Louis’s warning. Flutter wasn’t the only enemy—a smorgasbord of uncanny-looking monsters was pouring out of the doorways. If something wasn’t done soon, they’d quickly be in a position they could never recover from.

“Indeed, this is no time to stand idly by.”

“You’re right. Allow me to step in as well, then.”

The two nodded at each other and shifted their minds to combat mode.

“Don’t worry, everyone! Our god is still alive, and I will now show you proof of this miracle! Holy Magic: Great High Heal…and Great Regeneration!!”

Having regained his physical body, Adalmann possessed all his senses from his previous life. What’s more, he had become skilled at switching between healing humans and monsters, proving adept at providing aid to both at once. This proved extremely useful for the warriors busy regenerating themselves; the ones who were already back to 100 percent were busy finding and taking on suitable foes for their caliber.

Alberto and Venti took up positions to protect Adalmann. Seeing this, Gadora went on the move.

“I’d like to use large-scale magic to destroy the enemy, but that thing’s going to be rather difficult to catch with it. Still, I suppose I have my ways…”

With that, he charged into the chaotic battlefield.

Gadora had been reborn as a metal demon, but he had also become a skilled wizard in close-quarters combat. His melee skills were still lacking, but he made up for it with his magic, allowing him to make considerable contributions in battle. This proved to be more than enough against the rank-and-file cryptids, who were clueless when it came to martial arts, and soon he began to wreak havoc on the field.

Gunther, who had been listening to their conversation, sighed to himself. “I suppose I let them get ahead of me…but I can’t afford to lose this.”

“You said it,” agreed Louis. “There are more enemies coming, too. You can’t just stand by idly all day.”

“That’s right. There seem to be other enemies appearing, so you can’t stand by and watch, can you?”

The two weren’t particularly close, but they weren’t bitter enemies, either. They preferred not to encroach on each other’s territories, but whenever they came together, it always brought out their true potential.

“We’d best apply ourselves. Luminus is watching.”

“Yes. Let’s show her the power of Gunther Strauss, a worthy student of the demigod!”

And now Luminus was shouting, her attention turned toward the north.

“Stop being so slow, you fools! Counterattack now!”

A little over a minute had passed since the battle began. Even in the north, there had been no holding back from the start. It was all-out war.

Fierce combat was raging in all four directions, with Skyspire Tower at the center. Luminus was keeping an eye on the entire battlefield, but Ivalage’s location in the east was proving to be particularly tense.

Over there, Million Class–level fighters like Hinata and Caligulio were fighting multiple humanoid cryptids. Other powerful warriors, such as Cien and Minitz, were focusing on single opponents at a time, defeating them one by one. The rest of the force was taking on foes in three-on-one fashion, trying to avoid casualties as much as possible.

And Luminus’s holy magic was supporting all of them.

“Hmm… Did I make an error in judgment?”

She wondered if she should have assigned more healers to each side, but soon decided this was the best setup possible. Thanks to Ramiris’s labyrinth, they had a great deal more practitioners of holy magic these days. She hadn’t anticipated this situation, but this outcome was certainly fortunate for her.

Still, they had a lot of problems. Ample healers or not, they needed to be protected, so it wasn’t enough to just divide them evenly among the force. They had to be distributed in a well-balanced manner, and unfortunately, it was inevitable that healing couldn’t be provided in time here and there. That was why Luminus had to keep track of the entire battlefield…which, naturally, was the hardest job. She kept a close eye on Ivalage, never letting her guard down as she assisted with healing at assorted key points—but then an unexpected disaster struck.

The remnants of Jahil’s angel army attacked, like they had come straight out of a nightmare.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh! I’m here to give you some personal attention, Luminus!”

Seeing the evil demon fly in from the sky and laugh loudly to himself, Luminus clicked her tongue in disgust.

“Ugh… Getting in the way at a time like this? You’re still as clueless as ever.”

Luminus hated Jahil from the bottom of her heart. Him showing up right now would do nothing but hurt her—and since Jahil’s target was strictly Luminus, he had just rushed right in, as if the entire rest of the army didn’t matter to him. Hinata, noticing this, attempted to fly up to him, but Luminus stopped her. There was no room for error on the battlefield, and Jahil’s men had already joined up with the enemy force, spreading their own brand of chaos. If Hinata left her now, thought Luminus, it would tip the entire balance of power. That was exactly what Jahil wanted—nobody left to protect Luminus.

“The heavens are on my side, and why not? For I, Jahil the sorcerous dynast, will soon become the ruler of this world!”

The arrogant Jahil smiled smugly.

“How ridiculous!” retorted an indignant Luminus. “How could someone as vile as you ever become a ruler? Don’t make me laugh!”

Luminus and Jahil faced each other in silence. Reconciliation would be impossible. Luminus had a fervent desire to get rid of Jahil, but sadly for her, Jahil was far from a pushover—and what’s more, he held the Demigod’s Bloodspear, greatly amplifying his power.

It’d be foolish to fight him head-on. If I could at least set a trap and come up with a plan, I might be able to get rid of him…

Even if they had to duke it out right here, she could still fight in a way that’d help her avoid defeat, at least. It wouldn’t be easy, but Luminus believed it was possible. What was impossible, though, was destroying Jahil outright. The sheer difference in magicule count was impossible to surmount.

Luminus’s specialty was trickery. She could use her brain to unite the faith of her warriors on the battlefield to perform Parallel Operation, letting her repeatedly throw out large-scale spells like the divine figure she was. That was how her Sanctuary family of spells worked, allowing her to perform holy magic beyond the limits of any individual—but in her current state, it just wasn’t possible. Taking advantage of the computational domain of other people required a lot of advance prep she didn’t have handy.

Simply put, she only had preset spells in her arsenal. In this case, only two were relevant—Regeneration, which she had constantly active, and Resurrection, which she invoked in emergencies. Those were the best auxiliary spells she had, but if she wanted to beat Jahil, she absolutely had to have access to Disintegration.

No time to change out spells now. But if I invoked Disintegration with my own magic force only, it’d be impossible to destroy him.

First of all, the range was too narrow to hit him. Once activated, Disintegration traveled at the speed of light—but before that, you had to have your target in sight and cornered. That made the spell pretty tricky to use against a wealth of stronger opponents. The ideal strategy would be to beat the enemy into submission, immobilize them, then finish them off with Disintegration…but Luminus had already determined she didn’t have enough power for that.

Jahil, for his part, wasn’t letting his guard down against Luminus. That detestable woman! There’s no telling what hidden tricks she may have up her sleeve. I’d be a fool to attack recklessly.

Perhaps it was to be expected, since they were “created” by the same person, but the two of them thought in very similar ways. Jahil, however, believed he could win by relying on his strength alone. The main concern on his mind was Luminus attempting to escape him. Even the demigod himself—a full-on god in Jahil’s eyes—had been destroyed by Luminus. If he didn’t finish her off while he had the chance, it could be his turn to die next.

Judging from the state of things, there doesn’t seem to be any sign of a trap like the one that killed the demigod…

Jahil let out an evil laugh. If there were no traps, he thought, he’d be sure to win. Then, carefully and cautiously, he prepared the ultimate enchantment Agni, Lord of Blazes.

Luminus sensed the danger. That’s a lot of power. What should I do?

She was confident she could defeat an opponent who relied solely on brute force…but there was still a limit to that. No matter what tricks she attempted against a True Dragon like Veldora, she’d never be able to defeat him, because Veldora could heal faster than she could inflict any damage.

So her current strategy was to harass her opponent and look for an opening. But that wasn’t going to work on someone like Jahil. He was no big deal compared to Veldora, no…but if things continued like this, Luminus was unlikely to enjoy the result.

“Die!!”

Aiming right for Luminus, Jahil fired a huge fireball with enough heat to burn her to ashes. Luminus, avoiding a head-on collision, created a barrier with both hands to deflect the energy and activated Divine Regeneration to make up the difference, narrowly escaping instant death.

She landed on the ground, pushed back by the fireball. The terrain around her boiled like magma, showing just how dangerous that attack was. But she remained calm.

“You will regret messing with me!” she boldly announced. Her ultimate skill Asmodeus, Lord of Lust had already helped her recover. If this was going to turn into a dragged-out battle, she had a wealth of options available…everything, that is, except a decisive method to defeat Jahil. One mistake would instantly corner her, but she couldn’t let Jahil know that. She had to stay aggressive and hold out until a fatigued Jahil made a mistake for her.

In terms of skill, Luminus was the superior fighter. She just had to pray things would turn in her favor while she still enjoyed that advantage.

At that moment, the luck of the god Luminus began its fireworks show.

An unexpected pair of assistants appeared: a beautiful woman in a suit and a tinier one next to her. It was Kagali and Teare.

“You’re the demon lord Luminus, right? That man’s our enemy as well. Do you mind if we join forces with you?”

Kagali’s eyes were fixed on the demon lord. Luminus wasn’t about to lose this opportunity. It was her creed, her way of life, to use everything at her disposal.

“Very well. Try to be of some use to me, then!”

With that haughty rejoinder, she joined forces with this duo.

Kagali and Teare had been tailing Jahil, taking care not to be noticed. Jahil was extremely powerful, but—whether he was just arrogant or he saw himself as too strong to need to worry about it—he tended to be careless about his surroundings. If he had been truly powerful, he would have noticed Kagali and Teare following him long ago…but Jahil showed no sign of being aware of them.

“I knew it. He’s still new to his awakening. Just as I thought, he hasn’t had time to hone his powers yet.”

“Yeah. We’ve probably got ways to fight him…but I still doubt we can win on our own.”

As they tracked Jahil, the two of them had tried to find a weakness. After a while, though, they concluded he wasn’t the sort of opponent they could ever really defeat. They knew they couldn’t do much on their own, and they didn’t have any plan to go on…and that was the situation when they arrived in Damargania.

Jahil’s target was the demon lord Luminus. That woman, whom Kagali and Teare thought was just a servant of the supposed “demon lord” Roy Valentine, was an ancient being who had lived even before Kagali, a fact she only learned after the Final Declaration she broadcast worldwide. Luminus was more capable in battle than even Kagali, although Kagali still didn’t see her as capable of beating Jahil—not even with her and Teare’s help. And Jahil wasn’t even their only enemy. If they let Luminus die, humanity would be defeated by the cryptids.

It’s truly just absurd, Kagali realized with a laugh. She wanted to avenge her comrades, but that was going to be pretty tough. If she had waited until the very end for an opportunity to kill Jahil, maybe her wish would have been granted. But she had abandoned that possibility entirely and chosen to help humanity survive instead.

In a way, Kagali was surprised to realize she was still so attached to living.

“You’ve put yourself in a difficult position, I see,” said Luminus, as if reading her mind.

“Oh, are you trying to comfort me? Or have you given up?”

“Come on. If you die, I’ll revive you. Stall for time like your life depends on it.”

It was Luminus’s way of saying “don’t give up,” and Kagali read her loud and clear. Even if they couldn’t destroy Jahil now, reinforcements would surely come along. If Benimaru came on the scene, their chances of victory would skyrocket, and there were many other powerful warriors serving the demon lord Rimuru as well. As far as she could sense so far, they weren’t on the scene quite yet, but if she and her allies could buy enough time, they’d surely come for them. When that moment arrived, they could stage their counterattack—and that would be enough to destroy Jahil.

That hope was what gave Luminus strength. Kagali felt the same way, and Teare believed in her. It had helped Luminus regain her composure, seeing hope in this situation. But in this world, things don’t always go as planned.

The next moment, a scorching ray of light split Teare, who was shielding Kagali, into two halves.

“What?!”

Kagali was shocked. Then she realized her chest had also been run through. She promptly began to lose consciousness.

“No you don’t! Resurrection!”

A mysterious light enveloped Teare and Kagali, and the two were revived. But:

“Hrngh!”

Jahil’s powerful arm struck Luminus in her moment of weakness. It was followed by a series of blows that engulfed her in flames.

Such was the price she paid for underestimating Jahil. The outcome would have been different if there had been an overwhelming difference in ability, but that difference just wasn’t enough to overcome the heat. One could also say Luminus, who kept using Magic Sense to monitor the entire battlefield as she faced Jahil, failed to appreciate the crisis at hand.

She wasn’t dead yet. She was never the type to die from something like that. But there was no doubt it was a fatal mistake. The damage was heavy, but her automatic spells healed her as she stood. She smiled, as if to say that showing weakness would mean defeat, and that this much meant nothing to her. But Jahil wasn’t about to be fooled.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! I knew it! You can’t use the technique that defeated the demigod now, can you?!”

Jahil did not know Luminus’s abilities well. However, based on the demigod’s demise, he assumed Disintegration was what did the guy in. He was pretty sure Luminus would tap into that at the decisive moment to turn the tide, a supposition that drove him to attack while still holding back some of his power. If he used all of it at once, he wouldn’t have been able to defend himself, so he deliberately left himself open a little like that.

But Luminus didn’t react.

No, that’s not right! She didn’t react because she couldn’t in time!

The thought made Jahil all but certain of his victory.

Teare and Kagali, who had been revived by Luminus, were keenly aware they had been too complacent.

“Well, this sure isn’t good, Kagali. What should we do? Run away?”

Jahil’s attention was focused on Luminus. Teare and Kagali had every chance to retreat from the scene. But Kagali refused.

“No, Teare. If we run now, we’ll still be the losers here.”

They’d never find happiness that way. They’d have to keep feeling miserable all the way until the moment the world was destroyed. And if that was the kind of life they were going to live, they might as well try to make the rest of it shine.

Kagali was prepared to die here.

“Laplace and Yuuki died protecting me. I have to survive until the end…but there’s no point living an unhappy life. I don’t think those two would want that for me.”

“Right, yeah! I think so, too!”

Yes, they had to be happy. Even if it was only for a short time, they had to be happy in their final moments. Otherwise, the sacrifices of their fallen comrades would be meaningless. Kagali couldn’t allow that…and so she elected to fight instead of running away.

Kagali raised her Ruin Scepter, activating the ultimate gift Agastya with all her might to predict Jahil’s next move. Teare did the same, wielding her Tear Scythe and invoking the ultimate gift Orpheus.

“Even if we burn out at this very moment, we’ll take you down with us!”

“I owe you for killing Footman…and Laplace, our boss. You took what was important to me, and I will never forgive you for it!”

Kagali and Teare challenged Jahil in unison.

Jahil was about to deliver the final blow to Luminus, but not even he could ignore the coordinated attack from these two. A direct hit from it wouldn’t kill him, but he certainly wouldn’t emerge unscathed, either. Besides, he already knew from the previous battle that giving them full freedom of motion would lead to headaches.

“You worthless dolls, thinking you can get away with that…!”

So Jahil decided to leave Luminus alone and finish off Kagali and Teare. He fired a huge fireball at them, trying to burn them to ashes in one shot.

The duo didn’t panic. Jahil’s reaction speed exceeded Kagali’s expectations, but that was to be expected. They were attempting to get revenge on Jahil with a strike they knew would cost them their lives. Before the fireball hit them and burned them to a crisp, they’d strike back with their last remaining ounce of strength. That was the resolve they were going into this with.

Ugh! Annoying little gnats, constantly trying to drag me down!

Jahil braced himself for the counterattack. But at that moment, a black whirlwind blew Kagali and Teare away to the side. The huge fireball shot up into the empty sky, leaving behind the smell of burning air as it dispersed.

A woman dressed in a maid uniform floated there, bringing Kagali and Teare to the ground. She had darker skin and gray hair tied in a braid, with eyes like amethysts peering out from behind her expressionless mask.

“Who are you?!”

“You may call me No Face.”

“Stinking little…!”

Jahil fired another huge fireball, but the woman who called herself No Face easily dodged it. Her movements were light and graceful in the air, even though the heat from the fireball still caused her burns.

“What are you doing, Eva?! Get out of here!”

Kagali was shouting, but the woman did not move.

“Kagali, you’re the one who has to retreat. As long as you are safe, my life has meaning.”

“What are you—?”

“I may have failed to protect Lord Clayman…but I still retain my pride! So please, get away from here…”

Eva refused to budge. She was a dark elf, one who had served Kagali since she was a princess. She had lived a long, eventful life, including a stint as Kagali’s confidant during her time as the demon lord Kazalim. As an undercover member of the Moderate Jesters, she had been entrusted by Kazalim to manage the ancient city of Amrita, located in the Puppet Nation of Dhistav.

After both Kazalim and Clayman died, she served as an elder for her dark elf brethren. She reunited with Kagali when her old friend welcomed Rimuru’s group in, and she was ordered to watch over that demon lord while providing aid so she wouldn’t arouse Rimuru’s suspicion. Upon learning of the crisis facing the world, though, Eva could no longer remain silent and abandoned everything to rush over and protect her old friend. Even if her beloved Kagali was ordering her to move away, she had no choice but to stay right there.

Eva wasn’t a walking dead, which precluded resurrection if she died. But that didn’t matter to her. If she could prolong the lives of Kagali and Teare even a little, that’d be enough to satisfy her. All the skills she had honed were for this moment. Pure joy pulsed throughout her body. Her existence points were less than 200,000—not bad for an ordinary demon lord’s assistant, but akin to a helpless piece of driftwood against the fury of Jahil. But despite that, she was still there, trying to use her training and her speed-focused physical enhancements to buy time against Jahil. It was nothing less than suicide.

“Just stop! Stop it!”

Kagali’s heart-wrenching cry echoed across the battlefield.

Eva’s clothing began to burn at the edges. The heat melted her mask off, revealing her true face. She had a fleeting smile on, but Jahil’s was far crueler. He had accurately gauged Eva’s true strength and come up with a suitable response. Instead of targeting the spry Eva, he opted to burn a wide area of terrain away. This intervention was making him frustrated and angry, but it wasn’t interfering with his sound decision-making skills.

Still, he was getting sick of this two-bit drama. He was ready to get rid of all these annoying pests, and he had a punishment ready for those who stoked his anger.

“You pieces of trash think you can mess with me? Have it your way, then! I’ll give you a taste of the torments of Hell’s fire pits! I hope you regret defying me as you suffer amid the eternal flames!”

Jahil grinned. Everything was going to plan. Kagali and Teare stepped in between him and Eva, this little insect in his way, to protect her.

Damned fools! The weak always flock together like that…but I sure don’t see why you’re so willing to die protecting them!

Jahil had seen this whole thing before. Those insects Yuuki and Laplace had also died protecting their comrades, just like Kagali and Teare were about to. It was nothing short of ridiculous how these two, after having people die pointless deaths for their sakes, were about to do the same thing for someone else. The irony greatly amused him.

After getting rid of all these nuisances, it was time for Luminus, his true target. Even now, she was preparing to activate her Resurrection skill for when Teare and Kagali inevitably died. It was incredibly impertinent and annoying of her, but that plan was doomed to fail.

Jahil would use the power of the Demigod’s Bloodspear to unleash a fireball with his full force. Eva and the rest of the rabble were one thing, but Kagali and Teare were strong enough in their own right. They were in the Million Class for a reason, and they’d no doubt present some level of resistance to Jahil’s force. He intended to break through that and burn them to cinders, not even leaving fragments of bone behind. That way, not even Luminus’s Resurrection spell would work too well—and even if it succeeded somehow, it’d take much too much time to revive them.

Within the split second he had to contemplate all this, his deadly fireball was complete. It expanded to a gigantic size just before reaching its target, creating a blazing inferno…or so it should have. Instead, the moment the expansion took place, it made a sad little poof sound and disappeared.

“…Huh?”

Jahil was confused. He stood stupefied, unable to process this. There should’ve been a flash of light that engulfed and destroyed everyone in his way…but all that remained were a few clouds of steam floating sadly in the air.

“No…”

It had been a long time since Jahil last felt so out of touch with reality.

Then he saw a figure in motion beyond the steam clouds. Kagali’s trio was unharmed, of course. Anger welled up inside Jahil. He quickly resolved to not let this anomaly happen again. He could look into the cause later on; for now, he had another strike to plan out.

But just then, a very unexpected voice hit his eardrums.

“Sorry I took so long!”

It sounded familiar. In fact, it belonged to someone he knew he had killed.

“How are you still…?!”

“Boss? Are you okay?!”

“Sir Yuuki?! Heh-heh-heh… I always knew you were tougher than all that.”

Jahil’s cry of astonishment was joined by the confused but delighted voices of Teare and Kagali. It was no wonder everyone was surprised. The voice belonged to a man who was supposed to be dead—Yuuki Kagurazaka.

He cut a dashing figure there, holding a woman whose face was hidden to the audience. They were joined, incidentally, by one other.

“I’m here, too, y’know…”

Laplace’s muttering was drowned out by the cries of joy.

Mai Furuki was failing to grasp the situation. To be honest, it was a miracle to her that she was still alive.

She had jumped into a dimensional rift leading to parts unknown, intending to die with Vega, but instead she had been caught in a massive temporal storm. She had lost consciousness, fully accepting her death, but for some reason, she had woken up. It was a torrent of energy that transcended time and space, so vast even someone like Mai couldn’t begin to measure its scale. Surviving such a terrifying supernatural phenomenon was nothing short of a miracle.

That said, miracles only go so far. With no idea where she was located, Mai had no idea what to do next. There was no ground beneath her feet, no air around her. She had no sense of direction, and nothing was visible to her eyes.

Well, not quite. She could perceive colorful beams of light forming rainbow-colored geometric patterns around her. They were like snowflakes, and they probably weren’t created by anyone. To Mai, they were beautiful yet terrifying, befitting the kinds of visions one sees before death.

Mai wondered if her fate was to wander aimlessly in this space, incapable of doing anything else and then dying whenever her energy reached zero. But that foreboding supposition was wrong.

“Hey, are you awake?” someone asked her, all casual. It wasn’t a voice, but a thought. There was no air in this cross-dimensional rift Mai was in; there were magicules (at times), but if she spoke, it wouldn’t come out as sound. Still, though, she recognized this voice.

“What? Is that you, Yuuki?!”

He really shouldn’t have been there, this man who had picked Mai up after she unwittingly wandered into this strange world and taken care of her. He was a cunning and inscrutable boy, but he was a more reliable figure to her than anyone else. But he was likely a boy only on the surface—Mai was pretty sure he was actually much older than her. It wouldn’t make sense otherwise. He had been summoned to this key world, and in just a decade or so, he had built a powerful foundation for himself in the empire, consumed by a burning ambition to conquer the world.

The news that Jahil the sorcerous dynast had killed him threw Mai into a state of despair. She was so sure if anyone could find a way back to their home world, it could only be Yuuki. And if she was hearing his voice…

“I’m just hallucinating this, aren’t I? I guess that’s what happens before you die?”

“No, I’m really here.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! No, I don’t need an explainer or anything. It’s just a dream anyway. But I’m surprised, Yuuki. I always saw you as someone I could rely on, but I didn’t think you, of all people, would flash before my eyes before I die.”

Mai couldn’t believe Yuuki was telling the truth. She convinced herself this was just part of the dying experience. She didn’t remember liking him that way, particularly…but was she in love this whole time? It was a pretty immature thought to have, but she indulged in it heartily. It was all just in her head anyway.

But this hallucination wasn’t showing any signs of ending…and now Mai was hearing Yuuki’s voice talk to someone else.

“Hmm… Maybe she can’t recognize us because there’s no light in this space?”

“Yeah, it took us a while to get used to it, too, y’know? She just needs some time, I betcha.”

“Time, at least, we got a lot of.”

“Yeah, like, does time even flow here or whatever?”

“Don’t ask me…”

“Wow, not even you know, Boss?”

Mai pondered what to do. Could this maybe actually be real? Not a dream or a vision or whatever? She couldn’t help but feel that way—and as the people in the conversation said, she really did begin to see faint figures before her eyes. Between Thought Communication (which diverted the flow of magicules around her) and Detect Magic (which perceived these flows), she could even grasp the situation around her in this void, as long as she didn’t strain to peer too far away from herself.

That was only because Yuuki had used his abilities to keep the local magicules from drifting away from her, but that didn’t matter to Mai. The moment she got used to this process, she began to vividly perceive Yuuki and the others.

“Wait, is that really you, Yuuki?”

“Hey, I’m here, too!”

“Oh… Laplace?”

“Uh-huh!”

At that moment, Mai was finally convinced.

Oh, so this is real…?

And then she remembered some of the delusions she had come up with a moment before. A silent, elongated scream erupted from deep within her chest.

After waiting for Mai to calm down, they got down to business.

“So, Sir Yuuki, what’s the situation right now?”

“You don’t have to keep calling me ‘sir.’ It’s kinda late for formalities.”

“…All right.”

It was time for Mai to give up on her delusions. She mentally turned the page, looking around and trying to grasp the situation.

She could tell they were still floating between dimensions. Thanks to a mysterious barrier that was put up, her Magic Detect was still working in this pseudo-world they were in. Beyond the barrier lay sheer darkness, a world fully beyond her knowledge. She could see a shining rainbow in the distance, but she had no idea what could exist beyond it.

A dazzling sphere expanded from nothingness near her. Then, just as suddenly, it burst and vanished. She had no idea what that was about, but she was sure this was a truly extraordinary situation, one that was pointless to try to understand.

Banishing the outside world from her mind for the moment, she turned back to what was going on inside the barrier.

“I still can’t see clearly. You look like Laplace, but it only looks like the top half of you.”

Mai was a little anxious to tell him that, but Laplace laughed it off.

“Oh, no, no, you’re right. I lost my lower half when Jahil blew me away.”

That didn’t sound to Mai like something to laugh about, but at least she knew she was perceiving him correctly.

“Ha-ha-ha! Pretty funny, isn’t it? Not that it’s anything Laplace can’t handle!”

“Hey, no, it’s not funny at all, Boss! If you revive me like this, I’m gonna be completely naked from the waist down, y’know.”

“Okay, so use your magicules to make some pants.”

“You’re missin’ the point! I was tryin’ to tell a joke there! I’m sick of bein’ the straight man of our crew all the time!”

“You’re the straight man? I must’ve missed that memo.”

Mai wondered how important this topic really was. It did a lot to improve her outlook, though. There was still little to no hope, but she felt strangely optimistic that things would work out somehow.

“So…”

Yuuki’s expression grew serious. They had all the time in the world, he explained, and so he had her explain in detail what had happened in the meantime.

“Hmm. So the demon lord Milim went on a rampage, Feldway took advantage of that, and now Rimuru got banished away somewhere?”

“Dang. Sounds like a pretty sorry state of affairs.”

“Yeah, and Ivalage is waiting in the wings, right? It’s gotta be real chaotic over there.”

“Oh, sure, like it’s none of your business.”

“Well, we’re kinda in a situation of our own, aren’t we? It’s not like we can do something to affect that world right now. Can we?”

“Well, we could all work together and try to figure something out…”

Yuuki sounded like he had something in mind, but after Laplace cut him off, he fell silent.

“So not even you can do anything, Yuuki?”

“Well, I’m trying a few things…”

In fact, Yuuki was trying everything he could. Thanks to that, even though he was transported to this incomprehensible place, he was able to immediately create a barrier to protect himself. But that was only a stopgap, and if things continued as they were, they’d all eventually disappear anyway…

“But it seems like time isn’t even passing in this place.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

That was Yuuki’s answer to Laplace’s question from earlier. He wasn’t confident about it, but he couldn’t think of any other explanation.

“Like, I’ve been watching for a while, but… You saw that multicolored sphere that expanded and disappeared a bit ago, right? I think that was probably a different world or a different universe.”

“A universe?” said Laplace.

“Or a single world…,” Mai added.

“Right, and time was flowing inside that sphere. I think the fallout from that disappearance makes time flow a bit in the surrounding area, too, not that we can observe it at all…”

Strictly speaking, time was flowing. However, since there was no way to observe it, Yuuki looked at his own lack of fatigue, along with the fact he wasn’t getting hungry over time. It told him time either wasn’t flowing at all or was just doing it extremely slowly. He couldn’t interact with or observe data particles, so that was all just speculation—but after exploiting his genius intellect to its fullest, he had come up with the correct answer.

Of course, that meant little if they still had no way to come back home.

“So is one of those rainbow spheres the world we were in?”

“I don’t think so. I think those are derivative worlds. Everything from the creation of the spheres to their demise… It varies for each individual one.”

Considering the amount of energy he could see from them, it seemed the spheres visible there were unrelated to the world Yuuki and the others came from.

“That’s true,” agreed Mai. “If they were somewhere I could perceive easily, I could have easily returned there with my powers…”

Even Mai’s brain was sharp enough to see that the coordinates of this area were significantly different from the key world.

In order to use her ultimate skill Tera Mater, Lord of Starry Skies to perform a Dimensional Leap, she needed the coordinates of both her current location and her destination, along with enough energy to power the jump. If she was on the surface of a planet, the skill didn’t even require a ton of energy to invoke, making it very useful for her. That was why she made a point of memorizing the coordinates of places she had been to before. She had no idea what her coordinates were now, though, and that was why she wasted no time giving up after realizing that.

As she explained the situation, Laplace sighed deeply and hung his head.

“Well, so much for life, then, I guess.”

He sounded extremely disappointed, likely hoping Mai could’ve done something to take them all home. That was understandable…but Yuuki had a far different reaction.

“Wait a minute. Did your skills evolve on you, Mai?”

“Um, yes. That princess Shuna used her power on me, and…”

Mai explained what went on. In order to break free from Feldway’s domination, they had tampered a bit with their own powers. Thanks to that, Mai had a much easier time handling her skill set. She had nothing but genuine admiration for Shuna—she had performed that incomprehensible act with apparent ease.

“Well, that’s pretty dang abnormal. I mean, we knew that about the slime already, but all his buds are just as loony, huh?”

“I know. I wish they wouldn’t talk about manipulating other people’s powers like that was as normal as walking down the street…”

Even Yuuki was dumbfounded by Mai’s story. At the same time, however, a hypothesis was forming in his mind.

“By the way, Mai, why do you think you jumped all the way here?”

“Huh…?”

Mai didn’t have an answer. She had simply found herself there. It wasn’t anything she had intentionally activated, and she certainly couldn’t explain it herself.

“You mean it was just a coincidence?”

“Well…”

Put that way, it did seem highly unlikely. The probability of encountering an acquaintance in this remote dimensional rift was infinitely close to zero.

“What happened when you were drifting around with Vega?”

Mai could recall that much. She remembered being caught up in an intense temporal storm and being tossed away from Vega.

“A temporal storm, huh?”

That was all Yuuki needed to hear to understand. But instead of saying so, he urged Mai to continue.

“Right. It was too big to be called a supernatural sort of thing. I couldn’t even grasp the entirety of it…”

“And you were somehow unharmed after getting caught in it?”

“Yeah. I don’t know if I can call it luck, but I’m sure it wasn’t bad luck, at least.”

Mai didn’t sound so certain about that. Yuuki thought it over instead of answering immediately.

“So what is it, Boss? Share it with the class, why don’tcha?”

“Hey, you shouldn’t interrupt him!”

“You always did side with the boss, huh, Mai?”

“No, I… Nothing like that, no!”

Yuuki was deep in thought for what felt like a short while, although concepts of time and space were twisted enough around there that it was hard to tell. Regardless, at the end of it, Yuuki asked one last question to confirm his suspicions.

“So what was the last thing you thought of at that moment?”

Was it the place she wanted to return to? Someone she wanted to see? Whatever it was, it must have influenced Mai’s power, Yuuki thought.

“That…was…”

Mai remembered. The last thing she thought about was Yuuki.

“Just a few of the things you said to encourage me,” she stammered. She wanted to make some kind of excuse for it, but the more things she thought of to say, the more it felt like she was digging herself into a hole.

“But no, really, I don’t have those kinds of feelings at all, okay?”

Mai fell silent after that. But that was enough for Yuuki. He wasn’t like the romance-obsessed Mai, but he did have a perfect understanding of Mai’s powers.

“Okay, I hear you. Anyway, I now know what’s changed about your abilities.”

“Really? Well, fine, but… Wait, what?!”

Mai was flustered by Yuuki’s cold, emotionless response. Laplace’s gaze upon her felt painfully intense; he was looking at Mai like she was this thing to be pitied. It made Mai want to shout to the heavens about how none of it was true. She relied on Yuuki, sure, but there wasn’t any romantic stuff to it. Him completely ignoring what was on her mind, though? It hurt her pride as a woman…but she felt like saying anything about it would be akin to admitting defeat.

But just as she was thinking that, Yuuki dropped a bombshell.

“So I’m thinking if you use that power, you can probably go pretty much wherever you want.”

“You mean…”

“Yeah! You can go home! And take us with you, even!”

Yuuki was a true genius. Just by hearing Mai’s story, he had figured out the true nature of Tera Mater, Lord of Starry Skies. He had correctly deduced that it gave her the ability to travel through any timeline to reach any location she desired—a truly amazing thing.

However, they still had an energy problem to solve.

Yuuki was deep in thought.

He considered stealing Mai’s power with the Skill Steal ability of Mammon, Lord of Greed, and giving it a try himself. He didn’t think it’d get them back home, though. Yuuki had more magicule energy on hand than Mai, but not enough to make that big a difference. He’d be gambling to see if he could make it to the coordinates he needed.

Another plan needed to be considered.

Hmm… How about I take Tera Mater, Lord of Starry Skies from Mai first, then use Lifestealer to gather up more energy?

In other words, he could bring all of Laplace and Mai’s energy into himself and use it to execute the jump for them all at once. It seemed doable to him…but Yuuki immediately changed his mind. It would mean he had to carry all the burden. He knew he needed an ironclad will to make it back, and he also knew he alone wasn’t up to it.

Besides…

The fact that the three of us are here at all is pretty suspect in itself. A temporal storm? Something on the scale of back when the universe was created? And she survived it and got taken to a place where her friends just happened to be? That can’t possibly be a coincidence.

There was one inevitable conclusion. It seemed safe to say someone—really, only one person came to mind—had intervened on their behalf. And if that was the case, there really was a reason why it was these three in the same spot.

Right… I bet Laplace probably wants to go back home more than both of us. If so, maybe we can set his desired location as our destination, then pool our energies together…

Yuuki desired to conquer the world—or a world—in order to make it a better place. It didn’t particularly matter to him if it was the key world or not. The same was likely true for Mai, who probably still wanted to return to Earth the most. It was thus most efficient to harness Laplace’s desires to set the coordinates.

Next was the energy problem, which was quite a bit trickier. He had an idea of how to transfer his and Laplace’s energy to Mai, but it would be extremely difficult to pull off. It’d be one thing if Yuuki himself could control the stolen energy, but he had to synchronize it with Mai’s power and keep up a steady flow between them, without any interruptions. Even worse, with Laplace in less than optimal shape, even the slightest miscalculation would mean instant failure. It’d require prudent judgment and meticulous calculation, with not even the slightest margin of error allowed. Mai’s ability was a delicate one, too, so it was difficult to foresee how foreign energy from the outside would affect her. If the synchronization failed, reaching the target coordinates would become impossible.

That’s the most feasible-sounding way. It’s the only thing we can try and all, but it’ll be such a tightrope…

He’d have to be in constant control of his powers while synchronizing his and Laplace’s energy with Mai’s—easy to say, but fiendishly difficult to pull off. There was no room for failure at all with this method, which made him hesitate to commit to it. In a rift like this, there was no recovering lost energy. They’d have only one chance, and even the usually confident Yuuki couldn’t help but be a little wary.

And then it happened.

How pathetic. So pathetic.

A familiar voice echoed in Yuuki’s mind.

Huh?

It irritated him to no end. The voice exactly matched that of his archenemy.

What are you?

He thought it was ridiculous, but Yuuki asked the voice anyway. He had a slight hope he was just hearing things, but…

It’s me. Maria.

“…”

It made Yuuki want to give up on thinking forever. When he finally turned his brain on again, he felt like he was going to shout, “Don’t give me that crap!”

Maria, or Maribel, had tormented Yuuki for a long time. He was planning to take total control of the Western Nations, and she had made that impossible for him. Even now, long after he had personally rubbed her out of the picture, he still had hard feelings about the whole thing.

And now, for some reason, Maribel was speaking to him. Yuuki couldn’t ignore that. But in fact, this being calling herself “Maria” was…

………

……

…

When Masayuki unleashed the true power of his ultimate skill Lord of Heroes, Maribel was summoned along with Granville. However, since she used Yuuki’s soul as a guidepost, she ended up in a place she didn’t understand at all.

All she could do was wait for the darkness to return, but Maribel’s ego wasn’t about to take that sitting down. If she didn’t take revenge on Yuuki for killing her, she thought, the name Maribel the Greedy would be tarnished forever.

This was a mistake. She could have just left quietly after leaving a few resentful parting words for Yuuki, but instead she came up with a plan to embed her sentience within Yuuki’s powers. It was a classic example of being too clever for one’s own good.

An einherjar like her was a digital life-form, composed entirely of information alone (in essence). As a result, Maribel thought she could write her own information into Yuuki’s powers. When she tried it, it actually worked—even better than she expected. Yuuki’s ultimate skill Mammon, Lord of Greed was originally an evolution of Maribel’s unique skill Avarice, making it a perfect match for Maribel. She felt right at home inside it, as if she had returned to her old nesting grounds. Even better, the entity that had been residing in Mammon at the time simply wasn’t there, leaving a mysterious void in its place. Maribel wound up slotting herself right in there without incident.

Everything was fine up to that point. But then a strange thing happened to Maribel.

Something’s wrong! Something’s very wrong! My skill is being eroded— No, that’s not right. I’m trying to take over its power!

By the time she realized it, it was already too late.

Maribel was the living embodiment of greed, a true queen of greed if there ever was one. So compatible with Mammon was she that she actually merged with its powers, becoming a permanent fixture. Now she and Mammon were basically the same thing, but that was not at all what Maribel was expecting. She had just wanted to harass Yuuki a little, but now she was in a situation she couldn’t escape on her own.

So after the einherjar Maribel disappeared once Masayuki’s power was turned off, it inadvertently left behind Maria, the new manas inside Yuuki.

………

……

…

It may have been a bit of an unexpected surprise for Maribel, but for Yuuki, it was a living nightmare.

Hey, what do you mean, “Maria”? You’re Maribel herself!

Yuuki was disgusted. But the response was defiant.

I don’t know… I just don’t know. I’m Maria. I’m not Maribel.

In fact, she herself didn’t know whether she was Maribel or Maria.

When she became a manas, completely assimilated into her powers, her ego and memories were separated from each other. She did have memories as Maribel, but they existed more like reference data in an old filing cabinet than anything that seemed real.

However, her personality was exactly the same as Maribel’s. That was Yuuki’s main complaint. The attitude, the voice, even the tone she took with him—all the same. Why did his natural enemy Maribel have to install herself in him like that? He couldn’t imagine a scenario worse than this.

But Maria didn’t care.

That doesn’t matter. More importantly, you’re in such a pathetic state right now that I’m going to help you.

She said it in a way that made it clear just how much she was making fun of Yuuki. It made him want to fly into a rage. This voice was saying she wasn’t Maribel, and after she explained matters, he could understand she was telling the truth. But everything he heard from her was exactly like the Maribel in his memories.

Sadly, though, she was a kind of embodiment of one of his powers, so there was no way to ignore her.

Oh, great, thought Yuuki—but at the same time, he was the sort who believed in using any tool he had access to, so it took only a moment or two for him to change his mind.

Hmm. So what are you gonna help me with?

I’ll take charge of the calculations and ability control. You just concentrate on synchronizing everyone.

Okay, Yuuki thought. Does that mean she’ll extract the energy safely from Laplace and convert it into energy for me? If that’s possible, she could be surprisingly useful, huh?

He set Laplace’s thoughts as her destination and continued to supply pre-optimized energy to Mai. If that was all he had to do, Yuuki thought he could manage well enough on his own.

But can I trust you?

A stupid question. Truly a stupid question. I want to harass you. Forever. I can’t have you dying on me in a place like this.

Not the most welcome of answers. But Maribel always was overly honest that way. It almost made him laugh. Someone like her, the living embodiment of greed, wouldn’t be that quick to destroy Yuuki, a toy she had worked so hard to obtain. Besides…if he didn’t trust her, he was just going to die there anyway.

All right. My fate’s in your hands.

Then get to it.

So the new relationship between the two was established—the worst possible team-up between two of the greediest people in all of creation.

Yuuki raised his head up high.

“All right! Let’s get ourselves back home—all three of us!”

Yuuki smiled at Laplace and Mai, exuding absolute confidence. He quickly won both of them over.

It’s not three. It’s four.

Shut up. You’re just my sidekick.

Yuuki brushed off Maria before she could make things any more difficult. Already, he was beginning to master how to deal with this irksome new roommate of his.

So their plan was decided. From this unknown realm between dimensions, the group of wanderers, dreaming of returning home, took a breath and made the leap.

And now Yuuki stood before Jahil.

Laplace had also made a complete recovery with the help of Luminus and Mai. He wasn’t pantsless, either, so they must have looked into that for him as well.

Yuuki flashed a fearless smile. Jahil gritted his teeth in frustration. “You worm!” he spat, but immediately after, he let out an evil cackle.

“Your continued insistence on staying alive surprises me…but you were just a little worm in the end. Your power might have neutralized my ability, but that was just a one-time event.”

Jahil had already uncovered Yuuki’s secret. If he simply pummeled him with enough brute power, he knew it’d be possible to nullify all of it. That was the position of confidence he was coming from. But Yuuki remained unshaken.

“Listen, just because you succeeded once doesn’t mean you’ll succeed again, all right? Keep making those sorts of assumptions, and it could wind up being your downfall.”

He was speaking from heartfelt experience. But Jahil scoffed at it.

“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Stop talking nonsense, worm. And don’t you ever compare a sorcerous dynast like me to someone like you!”

With a loud, haughty laugh, Jahil casually tossed a ball of energy at Yuuki. It was an embodiment of his fighting spirit, and it contained enough sheer pressure to make the air crack around it. Jahil wasn’t some newly manifested being; he had fully learned the ins and outs of his power, and now he could summon pure destructive force at will. This was unrestrained violence being unleashed upon Yuuki, putting him in dire straits…or it should have. But the results shocked everyone watching.

“Don’t bother,” Yuuki responded, a friendly tone in his voice, as he brushed Jahil’s rage-driven attack away with his left hand.

“What?”

Jahil was stunned, unable to comprehend what just happened.

“…What’d you just do, Boss?”

Laplace, by his side, wasn’t much different. He couldn’t help but ask Yuuki right there.

“It’s simple,” he replied with a malicious smile. “If you throw pure power at me without any special ability backing it up, it’s like asking me to take it from you.”

His attitude was calm and collected as he looked down upon Jahil. But in fact, he was still walking a tightrope.

Phew… It worked.

Of course it did. I’m here, after all.

That’s why I’m worried, thought Yuuki, but he quietly buried that thought deep in his heart so Maria couldn’t read his mind.

Yuuki’s ultimate skill Mammon, Lord of Greed specialized in taking things away from others. This skill, though, naturally has its limits, something Yuuki was painfully aware of after being crushed by Velgrynd. That was why he was trying not to go too far with it this time.

“I failed against Velgrynd, but…”

“Um, she’s right here, you know. And I’d advise you to watch your mouth when you’re talking about me.”

Yuuki began to sweat. Great. I was trying to provoke Jahil, not her…

He was actually in the middle of scanning the battlefield to see who was around him, but he hadn’t spotted Velgrynd yet. He never expected her to be there, so he blurted out the name without thinking about the consequences. He sure didn’t think the dragon herself would interrupt him.

Also, why’s she being so inconspicuous right now? A True Dragon really needs to show off a more imposing aura than that.

Yuuki gritted his teeth, unable to voice his complaints, then went back to what he was saying before.

“I failed against Lady Velgrynd, but someone like you would be a piece of cake!”

“Well, I’m glad you’re being honest. I’ll let you off the hook for the time being.”

“Thanks.”

Now Yuuki was more concerned about Velgrynd than Jahil. Wow, thought Masayuki as he watched. Even Yuuki has trouble dealing with her? He already had a high opinion of Yuuki, but now Masayuki saw him as something of a kindred soul.

Jahil, meanwhile, looked furious.

“You took my power?”

“That’s right,” replied Yuuki. “But this time, I didn’t get greedy. I took the bits of it I couldn’t control and distributed it around to everyone else.”

Instead of trying to absorb all of Jahil’s energy with Lifestealer, he absorbed only as much as he could accept and passed around the rest. That nimble move kept this from being a repeat of his battle with Velgrynd.

This, too, was a side effect of the leap they had just performed. As long as his manas Maria was supporting him, he was able to control all sorts of energy, no matter how overwhelming. And just as he claimed, the effects were spreading to all those around him. It had even healed Laplace and the others back to full strength, something that truly astonished him. He along with Mai, Kagali, Teare, and even Eva were all back to their normal selves. Between Yuuki and Luminus’s healing, they couldn’t have been in better shape.

“Man, no way we can lose now,” said Laplace.

“Right?”

“You’re so amazing, Boss!” Teare added.

“Yeah, I know. ”

The mood was light between Yuuki, Laplace, and Teare. It was a now-familiar sight to Kagali, this ever-reliable boss who’d never lose out to anybody. That was why she couldn’t help but ask:

“So, Sir Yuuki…are you really going to take on Jahil?”

Yuuki smiled defiantly at Kagali’s question. “Oh, I’ve got no intention of taking him on. I’ll just beat him up a little, and that’ll be the end of it.”

It was half-bluffing, half-serious. In this battle, Yuuki felt pretty sure he could beat Jahil.

“You mean that?”

“Well, yeah? I guess it’ll be me getting revenge instead of you, but I hope you won’t hold that against me.”

Yuuki winked playfully at Kagali. It seemed like he was joking, but Kagali knew better. Yuuki was a man of his word, despite it all.

“In that case,” she said, “I’ll leave him to you, then.”

“You got it!”

So the battle between the sorcerous dynast Jahil and the magic-born Yuuki began.

“You sure we can trust you on this, Boss?”

“You know, Laplace, the most important things in any fight are friendship, effort, and victory, right? I can’t understand why you’d want to abandon friendship like that.”

“Ha-ha-ha! Oh, no way, my man! I know I’d just get in the way here anyway, so… Just remember, victory’s the most important one o’ those, okay?”

“Sure, sure. ‘Effort’ is kinda hard to quantify anyway. It’s the results that matter, really.”

Yuuki shared a laugh with Laplace as he used his eyes to give him instructions. Laplace, used to this from him, immediately understood his intentions and promptly went on the move. He took up a position where he could protect Kagali, Teare, Eva, and even Mai if needed, keeping a watchful eye on Yuuki and Jahil.

But there was another purpose to this.

Well, if a stray blast comes our way, we’re all dead anyway, but I doubt the boss is about to make a mistake like that. Once Jahil is defeated, we’re zoomin’ out of here.

Yes, Yuuki was already planning to retreat after defeating Jahil. He was cunning that way, covering all the bases.

So the battle began, and the audience was divided on how it’d turn out. Caligulio and Minitz, for example, knew how much of a handful Yuuki was. They couldn’t quite explain why, but they knew even if he lost, he certainly wouldn’t make it easy for his opponent.

Luminus thought Jahil had the advantage. That boy seems decent, but Jahil is simply in a different league. It’d be one thing if he was fighting alongside his companions, but taking him on alone is mere suicide.

Her presence ensured he could be brought back to life if killed. Maybe Yuuki was counting on that as he made this reckless effort, but even so, Luminus didn’t like his chances very much.

But Velgrynd had the opposite opinion.

Hmm… He’s gotten pretty strong, hasn’t he? Nothing at all like when he fought me.

There didn’t seem to be any visible changes in his strength—no huge influx of magicules, no God-class piece of equipment—but he felt like a different person to Velgrynd. Even with the tenfold difference in existence points, she still thought this could be an even match. She knew, after all, how a skilled fighter like Testarossa could take on someone like her through sheer technique alone. Based on that experience, Velgrynd was very curious about what Yuuki might be hiding.

Hinata, someone who felt a deep connection to Yuuki, was also there. They had come from the same land and were both students of Shizue Izawa…but he was also a huckster who used, abused, and betrayed her. Even with that past, though, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Yuuki. In a way, she saw that past as her own fault for failing to recognize his true nature in time. This explained why she had been genuinely saddened to hear of his death, and why she was so glad to see him safe and sound.

But there was another emotion playing a role.

“He still hasn’t paid for tricking me. I am not going to stand for him losing here.”

She couldn’t forget her anger, and she had to say something to vent her frustration. So she offered him this very roundabout sort of encouragement.

Ignoring the cheers and jeers from the sidelines, Yuuki calmly stepped toward Jahil, unperturbed. Then, in the same motion, he delivered a light kick.

Of course, Jahil didn’t flinch. He easily caught the kick with his left hand and struck Yuuki with his right. His fist was shrouded in high-intensity flames, with the slightest touch capable of incinerating someone in an instant, but Yuuki calmly crossed his arms and blocked the punch.

“Hmph. You…”

“Hee-hee! I knew it. That body is Footman’s. And it’s filled with tons of energy, but it’s not like it got physically enhanced at all.”

That exchange of blows confirmed Yuuki’s suspicions. He had figured out the key to defeating Jahil, and his eyes took on the aura of a hunter stalking his prey. Jahil, too, saw Yuuki was an enemy he couldn’t let his guard down against. His brute strength, after all, had no effect on him just now—strength he thought he could easily defeat him with.

Ugh. This guy…

All attacks imbued with the ultimate enchantment Agni, Lord of Blazes were sealed by Anti-Skill. Even if he used his powerful magic, it’d just be similarly absorbed by Lifestealer.

I should have been more thorough about killing him back then…

But it was too late for regrets. Now Yuuki was something of a natural enemy to him…and so the hunt began in earnest.

At this point, the overwhelming difference in magicule energy lost all meaning. Jahil would have to use his technical arts to get around Anti-Skill, but his specialty was magic. He could optimize and maximize his spells with the assistance of Agni, but since that was classified as a skill, Yuuki could just use Anti-Skill to shut it down. He couldn’t just throw pure energy at him, however, because Lifestealer would take that off the table, too.

The only move left for Jahil was a physical attack with his Demigod’s Bloodspear.

“Don’t screw with me, you maggot!”

Jahil spun his spear lightly in the air, then stopped it with the tip pointing directly at Yuuki. He was surprisingly adept with the weapon.

“Wow. Must’ve taken a lot of effort to familiarize yourself with Footman’s body like that.”

“Silence! The word ‘effort’ has no place in the vocabulary of the successor to a god!”

Jahil charged at Yuuki. His speed was unexpected for such a hulking man. In an instant, he was within striking distance with his spear…but Yuuki had anticipated this move.

“Yeah, I knew you’d do that.”

With most of his powers blocked by Yuuki, Jahil had few options left. Yuuki, anticipating this, set a trap—the sort of thing that was child’s play for him. In another moment, Jahil stumbled right in front of him, stepping into a pit Yuuki had created with his superhuman powers.

It was simple, but extremely effective. Yuuki’s kick burst into the face of Jahil, who had fallen off-balance. That kick had Lifestealer infused within it as well, which cost Jahil more stamina than merely the damage he took.

He rolled away to distance himself from his opponent, but Yuuki didn’t miss that chance. Following his moves, he landed a series of punches and kicks, moving fluidly from one strike to the next.

“Dang. I didn’t even have half a chance against a monster like that, an’ here he is dominating the dude…”

“It’s never easy to believe, but that’s Sir Yuuki for you. From my perspective, I’d say you and him are about equal, but…”

“Aw, come on! We both got a kick-ass boss! That’s all that matters, huh?”

Laplace recoiled at the idea. Kagali, recalling her first encounter with Yuuki, began to question herself about what “strength” truly meant…even as Teare watched Yuuki’s every move with sincere amazement.

Mai, feeling a little left out, stayed alert, making sure she could flee immediately if something happened.

Yuuki sure is something. I’m not sure where I’m going to stand in all this, though. Am I good, staying on his side?

Mai had no intention of serving Feldway. She had finally gained her freedom, and now she wanted to live life on her own terms. Her ultimate goal was to return to her original world, and she believed Yuuki could make that possible. The only problem was that Yuuki’s camp was at odds with the demon lord Rimuru. They were in an alliance right now, but she was still concerned the monster nation might hold a grudge against them.

No matter how you slice it, you never want to make enemies out of those guys. If we can just work that out somehow, I’ll have nothing to worry about…

From Mai’s point of view, the monster officials who served the demon lord Rimuru were just too dangerous. She saw that firsthand after attempting to conquer the dungeon with Deeno’s party. She trusted Yuuki, but what she was in there was an entirely different matter.

Well, if he decides to antagonize the demon lord Rimuru…I’ll risk my life to persuade him otherwise.

That was the resolution the troubled Mai came to on the subject.

But she wasn’t the only one paying close attention to the battle. Luminus was back up in the sky, surveying the entire battlefield, so naturally she was observing it as well.

How very surprising. I knew Yuuki was active behind the scenes in the Western Nations, but I never expected him to grow this much.

Luminus was only being honest with herself. She still harbored ill feelings toward Yuuki for almost taking Chronoa away from her, but once she saw him fighting Jahil, she began conjuring up healing magic for him, taking an “enemy of my enemy” outlook to the whole thing.

She was right to do so. After all the trouble he had given Luminus, Jahil was being dominated by Yuuki.

Luminus herself was confident she could defeat Yuuki in battle, but against Jahil, she didn’t like her chances nearly as much. It was a matter of compatibility. Luminus had several ways to counter Yuuki, which guaranteed a win for her, but Jahil really had no effective means of attacking him. Despite being an overwhelmingly powerful fighter, he just could not beat the guy. For Jahil, Yuuki was like a natural-born enemy.

If he can defeat Jahil like this, it would certainly be a great relief to me…

Luminus could be pretty slapdash in her approach to things, despite appearances. As long as at least one of those two was out of the picture once the dust settled, she was fine with that.

Velgrynd, by the way, had muttered “I knew it” to herself and promptly devoted all her attention back to Ivalage instead. She saw this coming, so it was no surprise to her. Hinata, for her part, was busy slaughtering enemies, but the whole time she was thinking about how she’d deal with Yuuki if she were in Jahil’s place.

“You can never let your guard down around him, no…”

Finally, the moment of truth arrived.

“Well,” Yuuki sneered, “I’m tired of playing with you. It’s about time to end this.”

Jahil was clearly alarmed.

“Wait! I am Jahil, the sorcerous dynast! The next generation of the god who will rule the world!”

He was also growing desperate.

Jahil couldn’t allow himself to be killed by a mere nobody in a place like this. After all, he was the rightful successor to Veldanava, the Star-King Dragon. When he saw Twilight Valentine, the demigod burdened with the fate of killing divinity, the encounter gave him pause. There was no need to trouble his demigod father that way when he could just do it himself. That way, everything would be wrapped up, nice and neat. By killing the gods and obtaining their power, Jahil would become the creator god of the next generation.

Then, after many reincarnations, Jahil finally achieved his goal. It was a great achievement, in a sense, but it was also a folly that plunged the world into chaos. The world was thrown into a long period of war, and the small country ruled by the king Jahil was destroyed. He had achieved nothing, and all of it was buried in the sands of history.

He then set his sights on the dragon princess Milim, and everyone knew how that turned out. Either way, however, Jahil’s “god-killing” mission was complete, and so the idea of it all ending here was simply unacceptable to him.

But circumstances like that were irrelevant to Yuuki.

“Next generation? Who cares?”

His sense of superiority was clear in his defiant attitude.

“You…”

“Oh-ho, don’t bother trying to run. I got Mai here with me, too.”

Jahil also knew how useful Mai was. She could do a lot more than find destinations on a map—she could target people, too, and “jump” right to them no matter where they were. Just as Yuuki said, attempting to run from her was useless.

“All right! I’ll make you the first member of my new force! How about it? Let’s join hands!”

It was a desperate attempt to reason with Yuuki. As he made the offer, he was desperately trying to figure out a way to get out of there, but he failed to come up with any decent ideas. The tables had turned, and it was crystal-clear who was hunting whom.

“Uh-uh. After how badly you treated my friends?”

“That…”

“Don’t brother with excuses. They’re not gonna change my answer.”

Yuuki’s smile vanished.

Hee-hee! Very good. Exceedingly good! I gave you my powers and everything, so I expect you will use them to the hilt!

Maria didn’t need to spell it out for him. Yuuki was already well-versed in using his newfound power—the one that made Maribel the Greedy quite nearly the strongest in the world.

“Okay, time to die.”

“I can’t die yet—!”

He activated it—“You will thirst for death… Lost Entropy!!”—and at once, Jahil’s heartfelt desire to keep living reversed upon itself. In another moment, his soul reached its natural death.

“You’re gonna keep regretting that,” Yuuki said to him. “Even after you die.”

So the embodiment of evil who had spread misery throughout the world was completely destroyed by the hands of a person whose greed surpassed even his own desires, never to be resurrected again.

Tears fell from Kagali’s eyes as she witnessed it unfold.

“It’s over…”

She was overcome with emotion as she remembered the hardships of the past.

“I’m so glad for you, Princess…”

Kneeling before Kagali, rejoicing with her, was Eva, the “No Face” jester.

She was a dedicated servant, one who had worked for Kagali since her princess days—this dark elf who swore allegiance to Kagali and survived the tumult of history alongside her.

Eva did not know all the details, but she surmised from Kagali’s behavior that Jahil was her enemy. She had no way of knowing Jahil was the ancient evil that had once taken over Kagali’s father, but just seeing Kagali safe and full of joy made her feel risking her life had been worth it.

Yuuki approached his friends.

“So how was that? Boss-like enough for you?”

“You were fantastic,” Kagali effused. “My loyalty is forever with you.”

“Yeah,” added Teare, “you looked really cool doing it, too! And thanks for avenging Footman! I couldn’t ask for much more!”

Laplace pompously nodded at this. “Well, just remember—if I helped out, it woulda been over a whole lot sooner.”

This was demonstrably untrue. He likely would have been more of a hindrance than a help. But Yuuki laughed anyway.

“Ha-ha-ha! Okay, I’ll hit you up next time!”

“You’re on, Boss!”

And so, as the group lost themselves in the emotion of this harmonious reunion…someone swooped in to ruin the mood.

“So it’s over now.”

Luminus, who was watching from above, landed in front of Yuuki, who grinned back at her.

“Hey, can you save your complaints for later? I’m kinda tired.”

“No need to be so wary of me. I know our past hasn’t all been rosy, but now is not the time for that. I am grateful to you.”

It was a magnanimous gesture from the demon lord, and she meant it. Jahil had been a thorn in her side for too long, and Yuuki had gotten him out of the way for her.

“Okay. Did you need something from me, or…?”

“Yes. I wanted to know what you and your group intend to do now.”

Luminus was keen to have them join the front lines, if possible. She also knew that was probably asking a lot of them. Some people on this battlefield weren’t as forgiving or conveniently forgetful as Luminus. They might not trust someone who had already betrayed them once—that’s just human nature. Yuuki was aware of this, and he wasn’t there to try to make friends anyway.

“Well, you know, we got a lot of stuff to take care of. Try not to block us or anything, okay?”

“Hmph. As you wish.”

Luminus, expecting as much, didn’t try to stop them. She gave them a chance at reconciliation, and when that didn’t work, she lost interest in them.

But then Yuuki added one more thing.

“Oh, right. We’re about to get going, but Mai is staying here.”

“Hmm?”

“So that bird over there… I think it’s using Spatial Transport to dart around all over the place. Bet you’re having trouble with the guy, huh? Mai oughta make it a lot easier for you.”

Yuuki was referring to the battle with Flutter. He couldn’t see the two-headed beast from where he was, but Yuuki had a good grasp of what was going on. There he goes again, thought Luminus.

“All right, young woman… You will join our battle!”

Luminus had all the dignity of a ruler accustomed to commanding people. Mai, on the other hand, acted like this was all news to her. She had resolved to follow Yuuki, the man she trusted, and now she felt more than a bit abandoned.

“Um, I…”

She didn’t know what to say or do at all, so she glanced over at Yuuki for assistance. He meekly smiled back at her.

“So yeah, do your best over here!”

Yuuki casually patted Mai on the shoulder.

(And if you have any problems, just let me know. We still have our promise!)

That final message—sent to Mia via Thought Communication so no one else could hear it—wound up serving as their goodbye. By the time Mai tried to reply, Yuuki and his friends had disappeared.

“Whoa, no way… Instant Motion?”

As far as Mai knew, no one among Yuuki and his companions had access to Instant Motion. In fact, she didn’t think anyone else could pull that off except her. She figured he’d have access to the elemental magic Warp Portal, and a decent number of people out there had Spatial Transport, too…but those both required advance preparation and gave ample warning before they were set off. It was otherwise impossible to simply disappear without a trace right in front of someone.

It stunned Mai to see. What’s going on? Could he have learned it after seeing that one time when we all came back?

That felt like the answer, but she didn’t want to admit it. She knew this boy named Yuuki was a genius, but she never imagined he was this talented.

“Yuuki’s got to be faking his age.”

She just couldn’t believe he was the same age as her. So cunning, to the point you constantly suspected him of something, and yet so reliable as a boss. If someone like him left Mai to herself with barely any warning, there had to be a reason for it.

I’m sure he probably noticed me wavering over the question, but…

Mai let out an exasperated sigh, mentally turning the page. No matter how she felt about this, the world was still on the brink. She wasn’t exactly sure what was going on, but she could sense the danger deep in her bones—and she felt a duty to do something about it. So once she firmed her resolve, she leaped over to the battle against Flutter as ordered.

The second battle for the Sacred Tree was still staying just barely even.

Chloe and Veldora were taking a psychological approach to preventing Milim from getting any more violent. They had only teamed up just now, but with Chloe taking the lead, they were showing pretty decent teamwork. The similarly informal team led by Zarario was also keeping their spirits high against Feldway, never giving up despite how powerless they felt. The world was thus still protected, but things were starting to approach their limit.

“Is it okay to use lightning magic against Milim, I wonder?”

“You mean my super-cool Thunderstorm Roar: Human Version V2?”

Veldora sounded like he had a lot he wanted to brag about, but Chloe cut him off—and not because she was annoyed by minor details like the repetition of “version” with the abbreviated V in the name.

“I don’t care what you call it, but don’t you dare use it!”

Upon hearing this warning, Veldora realized Chloe was remembering the future.

“Oooh, I did it again, didn’t I…?”

“You sure did. If you strike her with that, the lightning will form a ball around her, and it’ll be hard to even approach her then. It’ll cut off too many options.”

She was dealing with Milim on a physical basis, revealing as little of her power as possible and using just the right amount of force—which was actually just about everything she had—to fend her off. This was the best course of action. Magic blasts and the like, if misused, would drain a lot of power and potentially even give Milim more strength. Chloe could always jump back in time and try again whenever things fell apart, but that was simply kicking the can down the road.

It was the only thing that allowed Chloe to endure at all against her, but…

“Hmm… Even showing her the wrong powers will strengthen her, I see. I must hand it to my niece. She’s growing at a fearsome rate—not that my magic is so easily imitated like that…”

Veldora kept muttering to himself as he obediently followed Chloe’s orders.

“Stop being so impressed! Listen, don’t dodge the next magic blast!”

Describing Milim as “growing” was slightly off the mark, actually. Veldora didn’t quite have it right, which had come to be expected. But just as Chloe instructed, he had just taken a volley of magic shots head-on from Milim.

“Ow! Ooooh, that was rough! If it was anybody but me right now, they would be crying so hard!”

He was making a huge fuss about it, but still he took every shot, dispelling them one by one. His eyes were tearing up, by the way. Anyone could clearly see he was crying…but nobody was laughing at him. If anyone other than Veldora tried that, they would’ve been vaporized before they even had the time to shed any tears.

In fact, if Veldora had dodged this flurry from Milim, an errant magic blast would have hit a city located on one branch of the Sacred Tree, causing untold damage. It had already been evacuated, but not all the residents were fully safe yet; some had fled outside the Sacred Tree, but others had taken refuge in shelters within the city. This tree was a symbol of peace and safety for its people; they couldn’t imagine it ever collapsing, and in a sense, they couldn’t be blamed for that.

Chloe, seeing that future, took measures to avoid it. Veldora deserved great praise for following all her prompts…but unless they could help Milim regain her good sense, they were bound to hit a wall eventually.

“What a pain…”

Chloe was fed up with how little firepower they had to offer, but she hadn’t given up yet. If she were the sort of person to throw in the towel at this point, she never would’ve embarked on the fantastic voyage through time she had been working her way through. It spoke volumes about her tenacity.

“Well, we’ll just have to do our best till the bitter end!”

“Yes… Yes, you’re right!”

Nothing proved that more than the light nod she gave the overly optimistic Veldora. There was no basis to it, but there were no doubts, either—they both firmly believed everything would turn out well in the end.

And they weren’t the only ones demonstrating tenacity. Gaia, the mini-dragon that led Chloe here, had also been calling out to her master Milim the entire time, and those efforts were finally beginning to bear fruit. Milim’s movements began to lag behind a bit from time to time.

“It’s working!”

“Heh-heh-heh! All thanks to me!”

“I don’t think so, Veldora, but I appreciate the effort!”

Thanks to the combined efforts of these three—the surprisingly in-sync duo, plus Milim’s pet—the world was still in one piece.

Feldway, meanwhile, was furious. He remained calm on the surface, but being interrupted like this just when he was about to make Milim destroy the Sacred Tree was deeply frustrating.

Those horrible people! How dare she interfere with me time and time again, this disgusting Hero…

Chloe always seemed to butt in at the worst possible moment, and Feldway hated her for it. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he had misjudged her—that he should have dealt with her sooner.

With Veldora joining the Hero, they were able to handle Milim with relative serenity—even when Milim was on the rampage.

I can’t believe it. The more Milim fights, the stronger she should become. Why are they still evenly matched?

It was very strange. Milim’s power had taken on a truly terrifying nature, and no one should have been able to do anything against her. When she had gone out of control in the past, Guy and Ramiris had to fight to the death to fend her off.

That battle had cost Ramiris, the director of the stars, most of her powers, leaving her with only a few key skills. She didn’t lose any more than that strictly because of how amazing she truly was. Using her abilities to isolate Milim from the present world helped them reduce the influence of her powers, allowing Guy to work on her and—after much difficulty—finally restore her sanity. It took the two strongest beings in the world at the time to engineer that miracle, and even Feldway turned pale when he heard nothing else could be done.

But that was precisely why he couldn’t accept this. Neither Guy nor Ramiris was here. Ramiris hadn’t regained her powers, so she was useless…or maybe not, but even so, she didn’t have the power to corral Milim at all.

So why? Why isn’t Milim’s power increasing? Why…?

And then Feldway realized something. The two people fighting Milim were always making the optimal moves at every opportunity.

…Their handling of her is perfect. Not even I do that on my first try. And if so…

Feldway’s observations led him to a single conclusion.

It’s her. She can control time. She must be rewinding back from the future… No, she’s jumping into the past!

Feldway was this close to figuring out Chloe’s power. It wasn’t rewinding time, he thought, so much as “remembering” memories from the future before they were actually made. Judging by the instructions the Hero kept giving Veldora, he felt pretty sure about that.

And he had a way to stop that—literally. If he stopped time, she wouldn’t be able to send her consciousness back to the past. He hadn’t done it yet because he knew there was someone who could counter it—that, and it might not work and leave him open to attack. Besides, Feldway hated wasting his resources on unnecessary things. He had already fully analyzed his enemy’s strength, and he saw no point in trying to rush the battle.

Now, though, things seemed different to him.

I hate to do it, but I’ll activate the “frozen world” until Milim eliminates these obstacles.

So Feldway tried to put his plan into action—but another obstacle appeared.

“Hey, Leon! It looks like you’re struggling, huh? Let us join in!”

Yuuki’s team joined the battle in only the most casual of manners. Now Feldway was fighting alone against eight of the most powerful people in this world. Anyone who didn’t know the situation would think this was an unbeatable lineup.

“Listen,” Zarario warned them. “Feldway has mastered all our powers. And just so you know, once you show him a technique, it won’t work again.”

Yuuki and Kagali had also been controlled by Michael, so it was safe to assume all their powers were known, too. Teare and Laplace’s powers were not, but even so, they couldn’t let their guard down. Zarario believed any unnecessary moves against Feldway, this powerful interdimensional being, could be fatal.

But even after hearing this, Yuuki remained perfectly calm. Most people would fall into despair, but Yuuki wasn’t most people.

“Yeah, that’s pretty common,” he fearlessly said, like he was talking about a battle manga trope. “Well, you probably thought you had me under your control, but that was just a decoy, okay? I didn’t show you all my cards, and I have some powers I gained after that, too. I won’t be going down that easily.”

Yuuki was so confident, in fact, that he was even taunting Feldway. Zarario was stunned. He didn’t know what manga was, but if this was that common a scenario, then maybe Yuuki had a countermeasure he wasn’t aware of? He was hopeful for a moment, but then he realized real life probably wouldn’t be so kind to him.

“In that case, how do you plan to deal with him?”

“It’s simple. I’ll kill him before he can copy me.”

This, of course, was assuming Feldway didn’t know his moves. If that were the case, then of course it’d be simple. Zarario let out a big sigh.

“Or we could look for a move that can’t be copied.”

This idea seemed obvious as well. In fact, Zarario had tried it himself enough times that he knew it wouldn’t work.

“Don’t do that. It’d just be giving our enemy an advantage.”

“You mean it’d only make him stronger if I tried a bunch of stuff on him?”

“Yes.”

He was being blunt, but Zarario couldn’t have Yuuki copying his mistakes. But this concern was unnecessary when it came to Yuuki—or rather, it was misguided.

The reason Yuuki came was because Laplace asked him to. Now that he had regained his memories and realized he was once Thalion Grimwald, Laplace was left with little choice but to save his wife and daughter. Yuuki was perfectly fine with abandoning this world and just living with his pals, even in the face of this global crisis, but Laplace had successfully begged him to at least let him go help those two.

Yuuki was a selfish man, but he cared deeply about his friends, and Laplace’s sincerity moved him to say yes. Kagali, Teare, and Eva all felt the same way; they were all of one mind about it. And that was why they were there—not to beat Feldway, but to rescue Elmesia and Sylvia.

Their allies had held out until Veldora arrived, but that wasn’t going to be the end. As long as Milim was still out of her mind, someone had to keep Feldway in check. Depending on the situation, Yuuki was prepared to join the battle with all his might, but since the goal was just to buy time, he had no intention of fighting like that any longer. So he decided to just provoke Feldway a whole bunch, then run away. This was the rather irresponsible conclusion he had come up with—so even if Zarario hadn’t given that advice, he had no intention of revealing his true abilities. It’d be unbelievable to the serious-minded Zarario, but that was just the way Yuuki worked.

And Laplace was similar. He was an expert at teasing and toying with his opponents. He didn’t fight needless battles, and he didn’t try to assert himself too much in fights. If it achieved his goals, he didn’t mind being the clown in the crowd. That was his game plan for this fight as well.

So he attempted to fly up and join Yuuki in the air…and failed. He was caught by the woman who had just descended to the ground at high speed.

“Hey! Why didn’t you say hello to me?”

It was Sylvia, who had left the front lines to take Yuuki’s place. Her hands were now around Laplace’s neck and squeezing, her smile so fierce it sent a chill down his spine.

It was only when Jahil’s bullet of pure magic ballooned in size and was about to become a huge fireball that she realized Laplace’s true identity. In the flash, Sylvia saw Laplace’s true face and realized he was the beloved husband who had passed away long ago. It was such a long-awaited reunion for her…and then Laplace and his companions disappeared. They didn’t even have time to talk, and now they’d never see each other again.

Sylvia didn’t have time to be sad about it. She swallowed her personal feelings, fighting with everything she had. And then here he was again, just popping up out of nowhere. Her patience had reached its limit.

“Uhhh, who’re you?”

Laplace very foolishly chose to play dumb. He had been called by his current name back there, but he had not yet admitted to it. For now, he wanted to pretend to be someone else, or that he didn’t know her.

It only riled up Sylvia more.

“What? That’s your story? You’re really going to say that? Well, now I’m angry! How about I break my promise and start cheating on you, huh?”

“Wait, wait! Stop! Stop!”

Sylvia tightened her grip around Laplace’s neck.

Laplace struggled, sensing his life was in danger. Suffocation wouldn’t have killed him, but his instincts still reacted to Sylvia’s murderous intentions.

“No time-outs until you remember who I am!”

Tears welled up in Sylvia’s eyes. Laplace, seeing this, was shaken. He now had his memories of the past, and unlike before, there was no way he could ignore the tears of the woman he loved. It was time to give up on deceiving her and just resign himself to his fate.

“We needa talk! Now ain’t the time for this! Let’s talk about it later, Sylvia!”

The husband she thought was dead just called her by name. In an instant, she was filled with joy.

“Thalion! If you’re alive, then why…?”

Sylvia, overcome with emotion, finally burst into tears. She clenched her fist, as if in a trance—

“Whoa! No fists! Way outta the question! Drop that, at least!”

Laplace, wide-eyed, tried to escape. But it was already too late.

“If you were alive, why didn’t you even contact me once?!”

With all her anger poured into the scream, her golden right fist struck Laplace’s left cheek with a corkscrew blow. It was the worst defeat in Laplace’s life, or at least the worst one so far. This sure brings back memories, though, he casually thought—which maybe wasn’t a good sign of where this was going.

In any case, Laplace was fired up. He took off his mask and smiled at Sylvia.

“We’ll talk later, okay? There’s no way I’m gonna defeat that guy, but I can drag out the fight for as long as we need. So leave it to us and rest a little!”

With the problem successfully put off until the future, Laplace stepped forward. But just about he was about to fly up…

“Move it.”

He was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder and pushed back toward Sylvia.

“Wh-what?!”

The man had appeared out of nowhere. Laplace was talking to Sylvia, but he hadn’t put his guard down at all—but he completely failed to notice this man’s presence. He turned around, and only then did he realize what was going on.

“…Gehh?! Well, dang, if it ain’t you, Diablo!”

It was indeed him. He told Benimaru and the Control Center he had an errand to attend to, and then he came right here.

Oh man, Laplace thought, this guy’s soooo damn dangerous.

He didn’t know Diablo very well, but he recalled speaking to him a few times before. He recalled the fear of what might happen if he gave the demon the incorrect answer. The guy was definitely at the top of his list of people to avoid crossing at all costs—such was the impression he gave him. Laplace was hardly the only guy to have trouble figuring out how to act around Diablo, though. Most of his acquaintances probably felt the same way.

“S-so, um, what brings you here?” Sylvia asked in his place.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Oh, just a little business to attend to. Shall I take care of that person over there for you?”

Diablo’s gaze was fixed on Feldway. Laplace and Sylvia took one look at Diablo and instantly decided they should probably just step aside—way aside—and let him do whatever he wanted. That was Diablo for you—a man who even made his own allies cower in fear.

Spreading his wings, Diablo flew in front of Feldway.

“Tsk… Great. Trying to get in my way?”

Feldway considered stopping time but abandoned the idea after seeing Diablo had teleported his way here. He eyed his opponent closely, on high alert, basically allowing Sylvia and the rest to do as they pleased. He was confident he had the upper hand in terms of magicules, and now that he had returned to his true form, he was even superior in battle skill. The fact remained, however, that Diablo would be trouble for him. If they were going to fight, he wanted to settle the matter here and now.

With the Sacred Tree behind them, the two rivals glared at each other in the air. Sensing Feldway’s attention had shifted away from him, Zarario couldn’t help but call out:

“Diablo, are you going to stop Feldway? If so, will you join us in—?”

He was offering to form a team against Feldway, but couldn’t bring himself to finish the thought. Diablo was ready to reject him anyway.

“Join you in stopping Feldway? No, no, I am only here to help this fool understand more clearly.”

“…Understand what?”

“His place.”

With that reply, Diablo smiled faintly, his arrogance indicating he didn’t see Feldway as a threat.

…If you have fewer magicules than me, what kind of thought process possibly allows you to think you can beat Feldway?

Zarario was exasperated. There was no doubting Diablo’s strength, something Zarario knew all the more because of his struggles that day. Diablo’s total level was well past Zarario’s, and he knew strength was about more than just magicule counts. But even so, Zarario was still on par with Diablo—and that made it impossible to defeat Feldway.

“Look, I’ll admit you’re strong, but…”

As he was about to say that, Zarario felt something was off. Diablo was a talented fighter, not the kind of fool who’d misjudge his own abilities. He had seen how tough Zarario’s team had it, but there he was, acting like Feldway meant nothing to him. Maybe Diablo had some way of winning this?

Leon and Elmesia, listening in from the side, seemed to agree.

“He must have some kind of plan. If he fails, we’ll just go out there again.”

“Just let him do what he wants! He’s a huge threat!”

In short, they decided to leave it to Diablo for a while and take a break.

Yuuki sure wasn’t objecting, either.

“Dangerous” ain’t the half of it with him…

His Predict Danger skill was going off even harder than when he looked at Feldway. It wasn’t his first time meeting Diablo; they had spoken before. Yuuki didn’t peg him as all that dangerous back then, but now the demon wasn’t even trying to hide his true nature.

What was the difference between then and now?

I get it. The guy was just feigning friendliness back then…

Yuuki intuitively felt it. The difference was that Rimuru was around back then, and he wasn’t now. Diablo was like a runaway car on the highway with its brakes out—a menace threatening to explode at any moment. Yuuki had no choice but to stay out of the way, and frankly, he was all too glad to give up his seat at the table to Diablo.

The serious-minded Zarario couldn’t understand why everyone wasn’t working together in such a desperate situation—but they were dealing with Diablo, and “teamwork” just wasn’t in his dictionary.

“True enough.”

Zarario nodded his agreement. It was the only reasonable thing to do.

With that, Diablo and Feldway were left to fight one-on-one.

Feldway couldn’t have been angrier, but he knew if he let Diablo set the pace, he would lose. He calmly analyzed Diablo, not interrupting his idle chitchat.

Does he really think he can defeat me alone?

He wondered this because he couldn’t sense any sign of a trap. Diablo seemed to genuinely believe he could beat Feldway. It made him wonder if he had some kind of hidden weapon.

No, that’s impossible. There’s no one who could defeat me now…

His aim was to revive Veldanava, and he had most of the power required for that within him. The only one who could possibly defeat Feldway was Milim, who was well ahead of him in the evolution cycle. He intended to act before things got too crazy with her, of course, so for now Feldway had nothing to worry about. So he decided to make an example of Diablo to punish him for annoying him.

“Well, great. It seems you do not have the capacity to measure the greatness of a god with your own two eyes.”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Well, we’ll see, won’t we?”

“Come down here for a moment. I’ll show you a little of my true power.”

Feldway tried at first to gauge Diablo’s intentions but opted to act on his strength rather than dwell on it. It was time to sever the bitter history he had with Diablo once and for all.

“Very well.” Diablo gave him an arrogant nod, completely confident he would win. “I’ll grant you the courtesy of choosing your own place to die.”

Feldway landed on the ground and readied his Ark sword. Diablo did the same with his demon scissors.

“Let me tell you something first, Feldway. The reason you will lose is because you underestimated your enemy.”

“What?”

“As proof,” he said, looking bored and sounding like he was mocking him, “I offer the fact that you’ve never killed a single person weaker than yourself. Did you not bother to make the effort because you thought you could kill them at any time? Or did your pride refuse to allow you to take a lower-ranked opponent seriously?”

“…”

Diablo’s words hit home for Feldway. He was exactly right. So Feldway couldn’t help but bite back.

“Like you’re any different at all. Are you? You’ve always enjoyed fighting weaker opponents without giving your all!”

Diablo rarely showed his true strength. As Feldway had said, he often fought in a manner that seemed to actively berate his opponents. But even when called out on it, Diablo remained unfazed.

“So what? For me, it’s just a hobby.”

The motivations behind how Diablo and Feldway acted were fundamentally different. Diablo’s style involved bringing out the full potential of his opponents, then crushing them. For that matter, he never “held back”; he simply adjusted his strength to match that of his opponent. These pure comparisons of technical skills, with both sides a complete match in power, were always entertaining for him.

Feldway therefore had no grounds to complain. It wasn’t the nicest “hobby” to have, something most of his acquaintances (i.e., Zarario) would agree about, but that wasn’t Diablo’s problem.

“Hold on,” Zarario said, serious as ever. “What does that mean?”

“I mean that I enjoy surpassing the technical skills of my opponents,” Diablo replied in full honesty. “It’s both a hobby and a practical skill to have. It’s not meaningless at all.”

That’s not what I meant, thought Zarario. Maybe being all roundabout with the question was going over Diablo’s head. He opted to be more direct, trying to suppress his anger.

“I’m asking if you were holding back when you were fighting me!”

This question piqued Feldway’s interest. The maximum amount of magicule energy he could sense from Diablo was less than a third of Zarario’s. Compared to Feldway, it was less than a twentieth—but despite that, he was able to fight Zarario on equal terms.

If he was holding back at that time, Feldway thought, then maybe I should consider him a threat after all.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Holding back? You must be joking. Of course I was being serious.”

“I hope so…”

If that was the case, Zarario wanted to tell him, it’d be impossible to defeat Feldway. Sadly, this just wasn’t going to be a fair match. Even if Diablo—someone close to him in level—joined the fight, they just had no chance…and yet Diablo was eager to fight alone. It seemed like nothing more than a foolish act of suicide.

“Well, no point in dragging this out. Let’s end this quickly.”

“I’d say the exact same thing to you.”

Diablo’s declaration was met with a casual response from Feldway.

He then swung down the Ark sword he had been holding. It was a remarkably casual strike, but it contained a power far beyond the imagination of those present. If a hypothetical astronaut had been observing this planet from space, it would have looked like an extremely thin beam of light shooting up from the surface. It wasn’t the kind of power any sort of sword should ever have.

The blow was fully taken by Diablo. The demon scissors in his left hand were shattered to pieces, and his entire left arm disappeared up to the shoulder. But that was all the damage. It was so strange.

“““…!!”””

Everyone was speechless. They realized Feldway had not even shown a sliver of his true power yet.

“What did you say again? You wanted to finish this quickly, right? Well, you’ll hear no objections from me.”

Feldway had a menacing smile on his face.

“Given your request, I was hoping to finish things up with that one blow. I certainly didn’t expect you to react like that.”

“Keh…keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… And I did not expect my demon scissors to be broken.”

“Ha. That was just God-class, wasn’t it? My Ark sword here is part of the Genesis class, one of only seven in the world. Your weapon just couldn’t compare.”

Feldway sounded calm. And now Diablo understood.

“I see. So it’s recognized you as its master and you’ve unlocked all its potential?”

He nodded to himself while repairing the damage he had received. Feldway allowed him to.

“That’s right. If I was still in a temporary body, it wouldn’t have been able to withstand this weapon’s power…but now I can handle it without any concern.”

Diablo nodded. “Well, lovely. I had thought your sword was about the same level as Guy’s Wald, and the Asura Lady Milim was given…”

“That assessment is correct. It is disguised, but once it unleashes its true power, it becomes a Genesis-class weapon.”

This was one of only seven Genesis-class weapons in existence, created by Veldanava the Star-King Dragon himself. They were originally intended to be given to the Seven Primordial Angels, but Feldway was the only one who could wield any of them, so Veldanava disguised them as God-class weapons and gave them to friends and individuals he found promising.

“Guy, Ludora, Ramiris, Twilight, Milim, and Lady Lushia—those are the other ones in possession of Genesis-class gear. I plan to take my time collecting them after this.”

Feldway recalled no one could actually unlock their full potential except him—and even then, he had to be residing in his main body and in perfect condition. The power they held was so great, it would rapidly corrode the body of their owner.

Once Veldanava lost his power, he was unable to even hold up the Asura sword, so he entrusted it to Guy—and if Milim, the current owner, had it on her, she undoubtedly would’ve unleashed its true Genesis-class power. The fallout would have been unimaginable, and it was unlikely Chloe and Veldora could have done much. The world could consider itself lucky this did not happen.

Feldway spoke calmly, seemingly without a doubt in the world he would win. Yuuki and his group had been stunned into silence. Zarario, Elmesia, and the others were in a state of semi-resignation—“it’s no use any longer” was the dominant thought on their minds.

Only Chloe refused to give up, glaring at Yuuki. “If you’re going to just stand there staring,” she told him, “then help me out!” It was a feat only someone as tenacious as her could pull off; the others were too overtaken by despair to do it.

But there was actually one other person who didn’t even know what despair was as an emotion. It was Diablo. He declared he would defeat Feldway, and that promise still stood.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… How fascinating! A very intriguing story, indeed.”

There was no sense of despair, or that there was any crisis at all. There was nothing but smugness to that laugh. It completely threw Feldway.

“But all right,” Diablo said. “Having this difference in weapon performance is just the kind of handicap I like.”

“What did you say?”

“I’m saying I’m finally going to show you my true strength.”

He said “finally,” even though he was no stranger to taking a fight seriously. This time, though, he truly meant it. With all conditions removed, Diablo unleashed his full power as promised.

“Whew… Mistakes were always allowed in the labyrinth, so perhaps I wasn’t quite as on my game as I should have been. But what a lovely situation this is! The most thrilling experience I’ve ever had!”

Diablo laughed. His terrifying smile struck fear into those who saw it.

“A thrill? You foolish—”

Feldway, seemingly uninterested in Diablo’s nonsense, struck first. The strike was so fast it could split stars in two, a slash so powerful it could have sliced Diablo in half and reduced him to dust.

And yet…

Cracks spread across the ground, and dust swirled in the air. The atmosphere burned around them, and a life-threatening smell stimulated everyone’s nostrils. But the result everyone expected turned out to be incorrect.

Feldway attempted to push his sword down upon its target, as Diablo took the strike from the front. It was the Ark sword, letting out a shine like the shimmering galaxies in the sky and clashing against the demon scissors, itself shining all the colors of the rainbow.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I let Zegion have Zeranus, so you could say I’ve been itching for this. You should be the perfect test subject.”

“What?”

It had been expected that Zeranus, after leaving the former Eurazania, would attack the labyrinth, since there were insector survivors inside. Now that all his troops had been wiped out, the Insect King would no doubt try to recruit more of his kind—or so thought Feldway. That was why he ordered Vega, Deeno, and the rest to conquer the labyrinth for him. He knew Vega and his ilk wouldn’t be enough, but even he recognized Zeranus’s fighting strength, and he knew he had the potential to take over Ramiris’s infernal creation.

Even if that proved impossible, it wouldn’t really matter. It’d take time to complete their conquest of the labyrinth, and in the meantime, delaying the enemy’s advance would be enough. All of Rimuru’s remaining forces were in there. Having Diablo pop up was an unpleasant surprise, but in terms of holding up the rest of that force, Zeranus was serving as a good decoy.

In short, it was merely a matter of time. Of the three bases of power remaining in this world, only Ramiris’s labyrinth was still fully independent. The other two were Skyspire Tower and the Sacred Tree, and once they were toppled, the labyrinth would be quickly neutralized as well. There would be no need to conquer it—they’d just isolate it from the rest of the world.

This was why, the moment Zeranus headed for the labyrinth, Feldway’s plan was as good as complete…but there was something slightly unsettling about what Diablo had just said.

“You let him have Zeranus? How arrogant of you, Diablo. Zeranus isn’t up to my caliber, but he’s more than strong enough. He surpasses any True Dragon and is destined to rule this world someday. You couldn’t possibly be a match for him.”

Even as he said this, Feldway realized something strange had been happening to Diablo after he had taken that blow from the Genesis-class weapon.

Sensing his unease, Diablo smiled even more broadly.

“Arrogant? That’s more Guy’s trademark.”

With that lighthearted remark, Diablo began his counterattack, as if it were now his turn.

His speed lost nothing to Feldway’s. For demons, especially the highest-ranking Primals, rewriting the laws of physics with magic was par for the course. If they moved while ignoring the matter that filled the atmosphere, they could even break the sound barrier without creating a shock wave along the way. The principle was a bit different from Instant Motion, but it was no less of a divine-level skill—and Diablo was well-versed in such techniques.

Feldway, too, possessed a level of skill he had spent eons building up. In terms of mastery, he didn’t lose a beat to Diablo at all.

The two rivals, neither yielding an inch, began to exchange blows in rapid succession. Flowing like water, dancing like a whirlwind, Diablo parried Feldway’s sword strikes. He had already realized from the previous exchange that confronting them head-on was inefficient.

Although Diablo didn’t show it, he had sustained significant damage. Or maybe “significant” didn’t sell it enough. He was concentrating every ounce of energy in his body to just barely withstand these attacks. Combined with the damage from losing his left arm earlier, he had already lost over 90 percent of his energy.

Yet he remained calm on the surface, a testament to Diablo’s remarkable deception skills. It wasn’t that Feldway was too incompetent to see it—that was how exceptional Diablo’s technique was.

………

……

…

Diablo was using his ultimate skill Azazel, Lord of Temptation to deceive his opponent. He had applied the ability Tempting World, which allowed him to wield absolute power in a virtual world, to his own body in order to rewrite the information that defined it. This power would not have worked on Feldway if used as intended, but by applying it to this unintended purpose, he was able to use it to his advantage in battle. That ingenious use of his powers was another one of Diablo’s strengths.

But there was another reason for this, too. To compensate for his lost energy, Diablo had secretly absorbed the power of Void Collapse. This was extremely risky behavior, something people like Benimaru would never attempt. Anyone who knew their own limits would realize the chances of failure were just too great.

But Diablo wasn’t wired that way. He wasn’t in the labyrinth; there was no second chance if he failed. But nothing would stop him from putting this terrifying plan into action, using the overwhelmingly powerful Feldway as his guinea pig.

“Ah, how wonderful. I can feel a strong connection with Sir Rimuru now!”

Diablo had an ecstatic expression on his face. He was so pure that way, giving his all to what he loved, so there was no fear or regret at all. He wasn’t afraid of failure; on the contrary, he was curious about it, ready to accept any outcome.

That was why he always succeeded.

Diablo was circulating Void Collapse through his own body, just the way Zegion did. But simply imitating him would result in certain failure, so he once again invoked his ultimate skill, Azazel…convincing himself as strongly as he could that his body could withstand Void Collapse.

………

……

…

No one in their right mind would come up with something like this. But Diablo was sure it would work.

He had wanted to try this against Zeranus the Insect King, but had given that job to Zegion instead. Thanks to that, he was able to witness the way Zegion worked his Void Collapse on himself—and thus he knew his logic wasn’t unsound.

In the case of Zegion, it was the universal cells constituting Rimuru that made it possible. Diablo didn’t have access to such a thing, but he did have the physical body Rimuru gave him. His idea was that if he could optimize this body for the purposes of Void Collapse, it’d be possible to make effective use of all types of energy without expending too much effort.

That was the theory, anyway. But Void Collapse was more of an unpredictable “event” than a skill. It was akin to taking the void energy Testarossa poured her heart and soul into controlling and simply using it as pure energy. Its essence lay beyond the depths of Hell, or perhaps in the chaos that existed before Hell was created, and toying with such dangerous energy and emerging unharmed from it seemed like a very strange thing.

Diablo, too, was no exception. His body was swallowed up by the void energy before it could fully optimize. He accepted this with a serene expression, regenerating himself with the ultimate skill Azazel, and kept persuading himself all of this was real, allowing him to maintain his current state and continue fighting.

It wasn’t just beyond the realm of common sense; it was a suicidal act that defied all definitions of sanity. But Diablo didn’t let anyone realize this. For him, it was not only no problem at all—he was actually enjoying the battle, and there lay what made him so great.

Meanwhile, there was Feldway. The man genuinely believed once he settled into his true form, no opponent could withstand him—but reality was showing him he struggled against Diablo. He refused to admit it, but from a third-party perspective, it was an evenly matched battle.

“This is madness! How could the likes of you ever dare to challenge me?!”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Is it so surprising? I spared you before because you weren’t in your true form. Today, though, I promise you I’ll see this through to the end. I told you, didn’t I? I have the means on hand to kill you.”

Feldway’s resolve began to waver. To him, Diablo was nothing more than an annoying little pest. He was trying first and foremost to destroy the Sacred Tree, and then Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon, who was probably through Skyspire Tower and would have no problem laying waste to the world—and, of course, Diablo along with it.

For someone like Feldway, who hated to waste his time on extraneous things, it wasn’t unreasonable for him to want to avoid fighting Diablo. But he was supposed to be the great conqueror, granted both the strongest physical body in the world by Veldanava and possessing the strongest weapon in the world from him as well. He couldn’t accept the reality that Diablo was posing a challenge for him. He never wanted to admit it.

So he spoke up.

“You accursed demon! I will show you no mercy! Before I destroy the world, I will make it a special point to bury you first!”

This was the pride Feldway retained—when he truly got serious, he couldn’t lose to anyone. And it was at this point where, finally, Feldway acknowledged Diablo as his true enemy.

Now Diablo had Feldway’s full attention, just as he hoped.

Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… How delightful.

He grinned. This wasn’t him getting Feldway overly excited in the hope he’d let his guard down—nothing as baseline cunning as that. This was just the selfish urge to defeat his enemy only when he had unleashed his full powers. It was one of many less-than-proper traits of his, but regardless, both were now in this to win it, and the battle began anew.

Feldway, fully committed, poured all his skills into the fight, pushing Diablo to the limit. Diablo effortlessly parried the attacks, as if waiting for this moment. Remarkably, they were evenly matched in both strength and technique.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… You deserve to be proud, Feldway. This is the first time anyone has seen this much of my true power.”

“Ugh… I never expected you to be hiding all of that…”

“Well, you’re too inexperienced to make full use of your own strength, is all.”

There was a clear imbalance between Feldway’s physical strength and his battle skill. Diablo pointed that out to him as condescendingly as possible.

“Enough! Don’t bother trying to dissuade me.”

Diablo seemed to be enjoying himself, but Feldway was far from amused. He had believed there was an overwhelming difference in strength between them, akin to an adult versus a child—but here he was, not only unable to defeat Diablo but forced to engage in an evenly matched battle.

This situation was nothing but humiliation for Feldway. The skills he had accumulated over the years brought him to the very pinnacle of every swordsmanship school and martial art he had learned. If he used them all, leaving nothing off the table, he should have been able to defeat Diablo in an instant.

But it wasn’t working. Diablo was reading him like a book, much more so than the other way around. The reason was clear. Feldway may not have realized it, but Diablo’s sense for combat had reached godlike levels. He, after all, had mounds of experience bringing out the most in his opponents, then surpassing them. He wasn’t some detached, all-powerful being like Guy—he really loved fighting, including all the skill-oriented tactical aspects. That was what made him so strong—power and skill, combining with his heart to create his true essence.

Diablo’s claws grazed Feldway’s cheek. A few drops of bright-red blood stained Feldway’s beautiful face.

“Dammit! My body was given to me by Lord Veldanava! How dare you scar it!!”

Feldway was angrily bellowing. But Diablo didn’t care.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I suppose that means the body Sir Rimuru gave me is superior to yours.”

That was blatantly meant to provoke Feldway, and it worked. He lost his composure, just as Diablo intended, and the battle was his to win.

But that didn’t mean he was out of the woods yet. He came figuring it’d be a protracted engagement, but not even he knew how long his body could put up with Void Collapse. He worshiped Rimuru to an almost pathological degree, so he had no doubts the body he gave him would withstand whatever abuse he put it through. That was a problem—it meant he was walking a constant tightrope with no end in sight. That, and he was taunting Feldway while doing all of this, activating Tempting World in assorted ways to give himself an advantage in every aspect.

His first priority was to maintain his physical body. If that fell apart on him, defeat was certain. After that, he had to cancel out Feldway’s powers, and that was what Tempting World was for—a truly brilliant set of moves on his part.

Most skills work by applying their influence to the substance known as magicules. By moving these freely around and rewriting the laws of nature with them, skill users could create all kinds of supernatural phenomena. That was why disrupting magicules through a skill like Magic Interference was one good way to prevent any magic from being cast.

The so-called ultimate skills, however, were different. Thanks to their godlike powers, they could work on not just magicules, but spirit particles (the substance magicules were made of) and data particles (the smallest form of matter in existence). This is exactly the sort of skill Feldway had, and Diablo’s expertise in blocking that skill showed how well-versed he was in wrangling data particles.

Tempting World, in other words, was the way he disrupted these data particles, knocking Feldway’s powers offline. Feldway needed to devote some of his resources to controlling Milim, but the rest of his ultimate skills had been essentially wrested away from him—a truly abnormal situation to see.

Diablo had his unparalleled sense for combat to thank for that. He had neutralized Feldway’s core strengths, and now he was using his own magic and brute force to match his power.

But Feldway was no fool. He wouldn’t let Diablo manipulate him forever. In no time at all, he regained his composure and calmly analyzed the situation.

That was when he realized just how dangerously reckless Diablo was being. He saw the void energy was coursing through his body, a discovery that made him doubt Diablo’s sanity. Here was a power that could truly destroy the world.

“You…you have gone beyond any sense of normalcy!”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… I will accept that as high praise.”

The words Feldway blurted out only served to amuse Diablo. This, he thought, was why that demon was so damned annoying. His goal was to destroy the world, of course, so he certainly didn’t mind if Diablo made a mistake in his void-energy manipulation. The thing was:

I can’t imagine he’ll fail…

He didn’t want to admit it, but Diablo was truly powerful. They had known each other for a long time, and even after Feldway became the mystic lord, Diablo had stuck his nose into countless plans of his. There were a lot of bitter memories involved, and that was why he now acknowledged him as his “true enemy.” But the terrifying thing was that even with all Feldway’s strength, he simply couldn’t overpower him. The numbers stated Diablo should be vastly inferior, but they were even.

Feldway realized he had underestimated his adversary. He regretted deeply that he didn’t deal with Diablo before he met the demon lord Rimuru.

However, he still had one more ace up his sleeve.

I really need to hurry her along, too…

And so Feldway finally decided to launch an all-out attack to finish things off.

Zarario, who had come to watch, was stunned. Much like Feldway, Zarario understood what Diablo was attempting, as much as he didn’t want to.

What are you thinking, Diablo…?!

He shouted it inside his head. If he could, he wanted to jump into the fray and stop Diablo, even if he had to punch him out in the process. That would only benefit Feldway, though—and worst of all, there really wasn’t any other way for their side to win this battle. His only choice was to leave Diablo alone and hope he knew what he was doing.

It made Zarario feel so helpless, and he wasn’t the only one in that boat. Sylvia had also perceived what was happening, and at almost the same time, Elmesia did, too.

“No…”

“Y’know, Rim really better come back soon, or there might not be a world to return to, huh?”

“I tell you…”

Only Rimuru could stop Diablo. For Elmesia, that was both a given and the only emotional anchor she had at the moment.

Sylvia, her mother, had heard the story from Elmesia and generally agreed with her. She saw it’d take someone like the demon lord Rimuru to do something as extraordinary as subjugate the Primals, the scourge of all humanity. With Rimuru gone, the infighting between the demons Elmesia had feared didn’t happen, if only because the situation was too dire to waste time with that. Right now, though, the perhaps overconfident Diablo was acting in a way that made one question his sanity. Elmesia didn’t expect him to have any common sense in the first place, but he was taking in this incredibly hazardous void energy and trying to power himself with it. In any normal time, she would have done everything in her power to stop him.

“He sure doesn’t hesitate to try the craziest things, does he?”

“Ellie, we should probably tell the demon lord Rimuru about this.”

“I would if he was here…”

Sylvia also knew Rimuru had been banished by Feldway. However, she couldn’t help but think Rimuru would suddenly come back for them. Her daughter Elmesia felt the same way, seeming to believe Rimuru was safe. Assuming that was true, the two couldn’t wait another moment to tattle on Diablo for all this foolishness.

“Hey, what’s goin’ on? Is that guy up to somethin’ rough, or what?”

Laplace tried to join the conversation. To him, Sylvia and Elmesia were technically his long-lost wife and daughter—something he only recently remembered, so the memories were still fresh for him. It was a little unsettling that the daughter who wasn’t even born when he was around had grown into a woman who looked just like her mother, but still…

Well, hey! She’s grown up to become a beauty! What dad wouldn’t be proud of that, huh?

Laplace sincerely felt that way…but they had been apart for a long time. It may have been recent news for him, but for Sylvia and Elmesia, these were all distant memories.

Sylvia stopped askin’ me questions only ’cause of what’s goin’ on, too. Best to start with a li’l light conversation first. I gotta close the gap!

He prided himself as a man who knew how to properly act around people. But his choice of topic was ill-advised.

“If you don’t realize how dangerous that is,” Sylvia coldly replied, “you’re better off not knowing at all.”

“You know,” Elmesia said, “the father Mom told me about was this really cool, handsome guy. I admired him so much…”

She gave Laplace a sidelong glance, as if appraising him, then heaved a disappointed sigh.

“Wait, wait!” Laplace flew into a panic. “C’mon, I’m still cool and handsome, right?”

“It’s hard to tell,” came Elmesia’s indifferent reply, “when you have that weird mask on.”

That was a valid enough opinion. Elmesia had always looked up to this masked champion, after all. Sylvia had told her about the Wandering Hero, so she knew this was her father, but it was kinda difficult to see this clown in front of her like that.

So she dove into the core of the issue. “I mean, it’s a bit difficult to suddenly be told you’re my father, you know. Are you really the real thing?”

She thought so, judging by her mother’s reaction, but she didn’t want to admit it. He had gone missing before she was born, so this was their first meeting. She was hardly a child anymore, either. Why now? That was the main question in her head.

“Oh, I’m the real thing! No mistake about it, Ellie! That’s why—”

“I didn’t give you permission to call me Ellie.”

Elmesia flashed him a daunting look. She didn’t care about her dignity as the Heavenly Emperor, but as his daughter, she couldn’t help but feel a wide range of emotions. It seemed likely that opening up to Laplace would take some time.

Laplace, always a master of taking social cues, swallowed hard and nodded.

“Okay. I understand, uhhh, my daughter.”

“…”

“Was that okay?”

“Hfff… Just call me Elmesia, please.”

At that moment of exasperation, Elmesia finally ceded a little territory. That was one step forward, at least—the first step toward reconciliation. They were on a first-name basis.

At this point, Kagali saw fit to change the subject.

“Listen, I know these family matters are important, but can you please explain to us what’s going on?”

“Good point,” added Leon. “I didn’t want to interrupt, but if that demon is up to something dangerous, we need to be prepared for the worst.”

Diablo was holding his own against Feldway, but there seemed to be some ominous secret lurking behind that. That was the only conclusion Kagali and Leon could reach after listening to Elmesia and Sylvia speak, and while they didn’t know if they could help at all, they wanted to be briefed, at least.

Yuuki, by the way, had been called over by Chloe and was fighting Milim. He had learned Instant Motion without anyone realizing it, and really, he was contributing a lot to the cause. That was another reason why Kagali didn’t just want to sit idly, and Leon felt much the same. He still had fresh memories of being manipulated by Yuuki; he’d be lying if he said he didn’t have a grudge about it, but he also saw some common aspects to both their lives. Leon was prepared to do anything to find Chloe, and Yuuki, too, would never stoop too low if it’d help him reach his ideals.

I suppose I have no right to blame him.

You’re free to hate someone, Leon thought, but you also had to acknowledge their more praiseworthy aspects. Whether they could become friends, though, was another matter. Maybe they could open up to each other someday…but if that was ever going to be possible, they had to deal with this current threat.

“Tell me…is there anything we can do?”

Zarario stepped up to answer.

“No.”

It was a blunt statement, but it applied to Zarario himself as well.

“Yeah.” Sylvia nodded. “Right now, the best thing we can do is rest up and recover.”

“And really, if Diablo’s void energy runs wild, that’s the end of the world anyway. All we can really do is pray Rim comes back before that happens…”

Elmesia didn’t sound delighted about it.

You know, this is exactly what I was worried about, Rim. Noir, this crazy Primal, is wreaking havoc right now, and you promised you’d stop him if he did, right? So get over here and do it.

It was all she could hope for.

Hearing her assessment, Laplace, Kagali, and Leon all thought the same thing.

So it’s the end of the world…

It would’ve been easy to say out loud, but they couldn’t. This really was it, after all, without exaggerating.

“Oof, what a mess,” said Teare.

She was the only one who seemed relaxed about this. It wasn’t that she failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, but she was too happy to be reunited with everyone to care that much about anything else. She had a lot of pity for Clayman and Footman, yes, but she still had a lot of friends here, and she was eager to do her best together with them all.

And then I can brag all about it in the afterlife!

It was an optimistic way to think, but soon her mood was spreading over to everyone else. Even if they couldn’t do anything, there was no need to wail about it. All they had to do was trust in Diablo’s victory and pray for the safety of the world.

And if things didn’t work out…

“Well, in that case, we’ll all go whine at Rimuru about it!”

That was the conclusion they came to. If the world was to be destroyed, it’d all be Rimuru’s fault.

Once Guy and Velzard got serious about their fight, the danger level on the battlefield went up by several notches.

“Moss! This protective barrier is okay, right?”

Testarossa’s cold gaze pierced him.

“Well?” she asked again.

That’s what I want to ask, Moss thought, although he’d never say it out loud. He wanted to shout, “Of course it’s not!” at the top of his lungs, but if he did, he’d suffer a fate worse than death at Testarossa’s hands, and then the world would end. Not wanting that at all, he gathered his strength and reinforced the barrier some more.

“I’m doing my best!”

It wasn’t really an answer, but he had to appease Testarossa somehow. But then Moss suddenly gained some helpful (?) backup.

“That’s right! We’re giving our all, too, more than ever before. Trust me, if this barrier’s broken down, we’ll call you our exalted big sister for the rest of our lives!”

That was Raine. She had actually taken the majority of the barrier duty from Moss, which was why she spoke up, but Testarossa was not at all sure how to interpret this irrelevant response.

“And what do I gain from that?”

Testarossa seriously pondered it for a moment…then heaved a sigh.

“Well, never mind,” she casually said. “Just brace yourselves for a shock.”

“Huh?”

Moss and Raine both couldn’t comprehend what she meant. Mizeri, on the other hand, quickly got into position. Soka didn’t need to follow her cue—she instantly turtled up, ready for whatever was coming her way, although she couldn’t fathom what it’d be. That was the difference between a capable woman and an incapable one.

Immediately after that, a violent shock ran through the protective barrier.

The sound came a moment later.

“Whiteout Absorb…!!”

It was Velzard’s ultimate attack, unleashed with all her might.

………

……

…

Velzard had an intrinsic skill, one she was particularly skilled at. That was the art of “stopping”—she could freeze the movement of matter in its current state. She didn’t reduce its kinetic energy to zero, but rather rendered it immobile in whatever state it was in. It was a highly useful power she could use in various ways, even to prevent the loss of energy from her body.

In addition, she had a power bestowed upon her by her older brother: the ultimate skill Gabriel, Lord of Endurance, a paragon of perfected defense. If Velzard’s skill lay in stopping things, Gabriel was all about fixing them in place. It was capable of doing this to all types of matter, turning them into mere substances locked in space.

These two powers, stopping and fixing in place, were highly compatible with each other. For example, she could create walls of ice by simply “fixing in place” the moisture in the air, with no need to solidify any water molecules at all. The power affected all types of matter, but unifying the same type of molecule into a single hunk of matter both increased its durability and looked prettier to boot, so Velzard made it a habit to add that extra touch.

When powers are this compatible with each other, the synergistic effects can be staggering. Stopping the flow of energy let her nullify any and all attacks. The only way to overcome that was to hit her with a storm of magicules bigger than even Velzard’s bottomless supply, which was virtually impossible.

In terms of defense alone, it would not be an exaggeration to say Velzard was invincible. But what about her offense?

Those two powers were well suited to fighting styles that involved immobilizing opponents and whittling away at their abilities. It was like placing a debuff on your opponent while maintaining your perfect defense—a useful perk, to be certain. But Velzard had something else, too. Her ultimate skill Leviathan, Lord of Envy specialized in degrading the abilities of her opponents. It allowed her to lower them in proportion to her own, and needless to say, this worked amazingly well with her other powers.

She could combine these skills in any number of ways for tremendous effect, but they were also backed up by Velzard’s magicule energy, huge enough to dwarf those of her opponents. That was what made her strong.

In battle, she could fortify herself with an iron wall of defense, weakening her opponents as much as possible. It was a surefire strategy of hers, creating a situation where she couldn’t possibly lose. There were almost no enemies she had to go that far against, though. This tactic was devised with the battle against Guy in mind.

That, and there was one more secret weapon in her arsenal. To unleash it, she combined her own skill Cessation Lost with the Gabriel-derived move Solidification, then added in the Leviathan-derived skill Absorption before throwing it at her foes. This was Whiteout Absorb, the strongest out of all her attacks.

………

……

…

A shock wave of pure white struck Moss’s protective barrier. It was only a side effect of the strike, but the power was still tremendous.

“I’m sorry, my exalted sister!”

“Shut up!”

In an instant, the barrier was shattered. And after all that big talk, Raine actually stuck to her word, too. Taking care of business, one could say, although it was nothing but irritating for Testarossa. She vowed to punish Raine later as she reacted to the situation.

But thanks to another interloper, they were all unharmed.

“It is I!!”

It was Gabil the Dracolord, and as soon as he arrived, he instinctively knew what needed to be done. Now was the time.

Moodmaker, the ultimate gift Gabil had obtained, had a special power that could be used only once a day. It came with a lot of restrictions, but this power, called Alter Destiny, could make any tragedy disappear, just like that.

Gabil swung his Vortex Spear high above his head as he shouted:

“World, become what I want you to be—Alter Destiny!!”

And with that, Gabil prevented the tragedy that would have occurred if the protective barrier had broken down.

He wasn’t alone, either.

“Hfff! Is everyone all right?” asked Geld the Barrier Lord.

He had invoked Spatial Transport on Benimaru’s orders, arriving just in the nick of time. Even Benimaru, with all his skill, could not have foreseen this situation—but thanks to Soka keeping Soei abreast of things, he knew about the potential danger involved, so he sent Geld to reinforce the barrier for him.

Geld had helped them buy a little more time by deploying his own barrier under Moss’s. He would have been just a step too late, but Gabil’s presence had changed the outcome. If the timing had been slightly off and Alter Fate hadn’t been available for use, things would’ve been very different. It was only because of Raine’s support, Gabil’s ability, and Geld’s barrier that Moss was able to get everyone protected again. It was a series of lucky breaks, and that was what it took for everyone to survive this.

“That was close,” Raine said, as if she had engineered all that. Everyone ignored her. She responded by hanging her head and fake-crying a bit, but this was also ignored.

Meanwhile, Gabil found Soka and called out to her.

“Ah, Soka! Are you all right?”

“My brother! Why are you here?”

“Well, you know, I was concerned about my beloved sister, but…” Gabil began to fidget a bit.

“Ah, I understand. You came for Sufia, right?”

Having his motives so easily guessed startled Gabil a bit.

“Well, she’s fine. She’s still frozen, but she’s perfectly safe until we do something about that.”

It sounded like a contradiction, but Soka was telling the truth. Velzard’s ice was a sort of all-powerful shield protecting its victims.

Gabil, accepting this explanation, breathed a sigh of relief. But he himself didn’t realize how powerful his Alter Fate was quite yet. It was subject to many restrictions and conditions, but it worked on a much wider range than he thought. No one knew that at the moment, but it wouldn’t be long before they did…for the miracle was not over yet.

Intuitively, Guy knew Velzard was resorting to her final trick.

They were locked in a fierce battle, with the first probing stage of the fight well behind them. There was no reason for either of them to hold back, so her breaking that out was really just a matter of time.

“Whiteout Absorb…!!”

Velzard’s beautiful voice echoed across the field after the shock wave ripped through Guy’s body. It made him grimace at the pain he hadn’t felt in a long time…but that was all. Guy had just used the slender longsword in his hand to cut through the cold blade created by Whiteout Absorb.

“You should be proud,” he told Velzard. “You made me draw my sword.”

The name of the sword was Wald, one of only seven Genesis-class items in existence. Unlike the Asura he had given to Milim, the blade of Wald was still quite well-maintained. Its rainbow luster shone beautifully, illuminating its mysterious pattern. It seemed to pulsate as it fit perfectly in Guy’s hand; he hadn’t held it in battle for a long time, but it still felt like part of his body. That was only natural, as Genesis-class gear had the ability to lend their power to their owners, just like God-class items. Their existence points depended on the power of their owner, but Genesis-class weapons could go into the tens of millions.

Guy, of course, knew how to make the most of it. He was clumsy at best with it at first, but now he could work it as freely as his own limbs—and so, the moment his hand clasped it, Guy’s EP became equal to Velzard’s.

Without her superiority in strength, Velzard had no way to win. Guy was now the strongest, and the most omnipotent—all thanks to his ultimate skill Lucifer, Lord of Arrogance.

Velzard’s Whiteout Absorb had left his entire body covered in wounds. The freezing effect also shut off Guy’s Divine Regeneration, but that wasn’t a problem for him. By recreating Rimuru’s power Belzebuth, Lord of Gluttony and using Predation on the frozen, damaged areas, he managed to restore himself. Thanks to that, he was good as new in an instant, using nothing but his own healing power.

Incidentally, he had already fully analyzed Velzard’s ultimate skills Gabriel and Leviathan. Her unique stopping abilities were a headache as well, but the way Guy saw it, there were ample ways to deal with them.

Glad that Wald felt as perfectly attuned with him as always, Guy grinned at Velzard. “That was your last resort, wasn’t it? Now what’re you gonna do? Wanna keep going?”

Guy was certain of his victory. He had fought with Velzard for this long because he hadn’t figured out what her hidden powers were yet. Once they were all revealed, there was nothing left to stop Guy. The moment Velzard failed to finish him off with the last of her powers, the battle was decided. Those were the cold, hard facts, and Velzard understood it well.

But she refused to admit it. Or maybe she just didn’t want to.

“…No! I haven’t lost yet!”

“Haven’t you had enough? How long are you going to keep pretending to be mind-controlled?”

“…Shut up.”

“Ah-ha-ha-ha! Stop pouting like that.”

“You think you can solve everything on your own, don’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I got the strength for it.”

“How arrogant.”

“That’s who I am.”

“I know.”

Velzard’s heart remained as frozen as ever. But when she was talking to Guy, she could feel a faint warmth. She almost felt like she could be swept away for good…

…but that was not going to be allowed.

“So the envy was growing in your heart after all, Velzard? Did you think you could trick me?”

These were the cursed words engraved on Velzard’s heart.

The cunning and ever-cautious Feldway had corralled Velzard with Ultimate Dominion, but he still harbored doubts about its effectiveness. He could see well enough Velzard’s love was genuine, and there was no changing the outcome of it. She’d be so shackled by her love of Guy, she’d bottle up her true feelings and make up some kind of convenient excuse to do his bidding anyway.

So he had devised a plan based on the assumption Velzard would switch sides, rigging the override circuit so he could monitor Velzard at any time. Through that, he could activate Regalia Dominion in case of an emergency. That was something akin to an oven timer going off, though—it’d only have a temporary effect on her. With all his energy focused on controlling Milim, it was impossible for Feldway to do the same for Velzard.

But Velzard also had Twilight in her heart. Feldway had negotiated with him, and they had a secret pact in place.

“Twilight, are you going to waste my time again?”

But even before Feldway could ask, Twilight was already watching intently, searching for his chance.

Oh, how I’ve waited for this moment!

Twilight awoke—not in his pseudo-dragon body, but this time in the physical body of an actual True Dragon.

Velzard’s body glowed faintly as it transformed into a male physique. It was unmistakably Twilight.

“Hey, Guy. I got caught off guard earlier, but I’m not losing this time.”

“You…”

For the first time in ages, Guy felt sincere anger welling up from the bottom of his heart.

Don’t expect me to forgive you. How dare you lay your hands on what’s rightfully mine! How dare you trick my beloved Velzard for your own purposes… You’re playing with fire, Twilight…

“If you want to die that badly, let me help you.”

Guy’s anger made his hair stand on end and glow bright red.

“Ooh, how scary.”

Twilight gave this a taunting laugh.

“Get this over with, please.”

The curse engraved on Velzard’s heart—the bare remains of Feldway, not even worthy of being called a Separate Body—gave the order to Twilight. He nodded.

Yes. I’ll get rid of him right—

Twilight tried to respond to Feldway in his mind, but his thoughts were cut off midway. At that moment, a path appeared in the void energy that had suddenly enveloped Guy and Velzard. A single gunshot was fired, piercing through that path—a Judgment Bullet, capable of destroying anything it touched.

“Hey, Carrera? Isn’t this going a little too far?”

“It’s fine! I know it’s a Judgment Bullet and all, but I really don’t think it could take down a True Dragon in one go.”

“Well, maybe not, but I didn’t think it would blow that big a hole in Lady Velzard’s heart, either…”

The miracle Gabil performed did more than protect those under Moss’s barrier. The brunt of its energy was expended on freeing those frozen in the ice. Gabil’s main target might have been his (brand-new) romantic partner, but the miracle’s effects saved Carrera first, since she happened to be closest to Sufia.

Thanks to that—or because of it—Carrera was back, and back with a vengeance. “I sense something real bad,” she said, not hesitating to use her secret once-per-day weapon.

It shocked everyone in the area…except Testarossa. She instantly understood what Carrera was trying to do, since she, too, sensed something sinister within Velzard. It was Testarossa who manipulated that void energy to match the possessed Velzard’s movements, ensuring Carrera had a clear shot at her.

This bit of teamwork allowed the Judgment Bullet to strike Velzard right in the chest, piercing and neatly annihilating the curse Feldway had set up inside. Even the remnants of Feldway inside it scattered and evaporated into the air.

Twilight, a manas residing within Velzard, wasn’t spared, either. A manas cannot support itself—it must coexist with someone’s soul—so it was impossible to pinpoint its exact location at any given time. An attacker like Carrera couldn’t strictly target and attack the manas within someone’s body. For Velzard, however, that didn’t apply. To her, Twilight was merely a battle partner she was hosting, and Twilight’s manas was thus a solid, physical existence, both within her body and completely separate from her. He needed to be a separate entity in order to use that pseudo-dragon body.

That wasn’t really something worthy of being called a “weakness” in normal times, but the unexpected direct hit still threw Twilight for a loop.

No! The chances of that happening… It’s so improbable…

But this was his reality, and just like that, Twilight’s consciousness was swallowed by darkness. Velzard had been protecting his heart core, but even that was shot through, and so his existence was cleanly wiped away from the world.

There was no way things could have gone this well without Gabil’s Alter Fate. Testarossa secretly revised her opinion of him.

But that didn’t mean everything was perfect. Twilight had just taken over Velzard’s body, but he relinquished control over it the moment the Judgment Bullet hit. It made Velzard return to her original form immediately, but the effects of the attack devastated her. She lost all reason, lashing out at everyone surrounding her.

“Hey! Whoa! Restrain yourself a little!”

Guy, receiving the worst of it, felt justified in his complaints. She wasn’t as much of a threat as Milim, but a rampaging Velzard was still a fair bit of a catastrophe. That, and judging by the rapidly melting ice statues around them, Velzard’s Absolute Defense was clearly starting to atrophy on her. Guy had to strike a careful balance between defending himself and not hurting Velzard more than she already was.

“I feel bad about it,” Carrera countered, “but I don’t regret it, either. I mean, she froze me solid, didn’t she? It’s only the polite thing to get a shot back at her!”

That was a pretty typical Carrera argument, really—logical on the surface, but not really sane at all.

“That was a little too much of a shot! You gotta think about the consequences before you act!”

Guy was right. Carrera grumbled a bit, but she had nothing else to say. She had used her most devastating offense as her first move, so she didn’t really have much of a leg to stand on.

“Ugh…never mind,” Guy said as he grappled with Velzard. “Now’s no time to be arguing.”

“I suppose I have no choice, then.”

Testarossa followed Guy’s lead. Seeing Velzard unconsciously flailing at Guy, there was no doubt in her mind something had happened to Twilight as well. Theorizing Carrera’s Judgment Bullet was likely to blame, she switched tactics and used her void energy to cancel out Velzard’s magic blasts. She also devoted some of that energy to sealing up the ice and snow beneath them, preserving them for the time being. Everyone conscious was fine, but the evacuating noncombatants would be completely lost if they woke up presently.

“Is this really the time for you ladies to be slacking off?” Testarossa coldly asked.

“Fine, fine,” mumbled Carrera. “If Guy’s gonna be that useless, I guess I better try and make up for what I did.”

“Hmph! Looks like I’ll have to show off my true powers.”

Raine was on board as well, if reluctantly. Guy wasn’t exactly thrilled.

“Great! Will you two stop talking and get the hell over here?!”

So he allowed them to join the fight.

On the ground, Testarossa used her void energy to set up an aggressive defense, clearing away any unnecessary ice and snow.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?” she asked Mizeri.

“Well, I think I’m better off on the defensive side, thank you.”

“That’d be safer, yeah.”

Even Geld, with all his abilities, couldn’t create a barrier to cover this large of a battlefield. Moss’s protective shield was still their main line of defense, and with Raine in the fight, Mizeri had a heavier burden to carry. Thanks to Geld reinforcing that barrier, though, it was still strong enough to hold out even without Raine’s support. That was reassuring, but the great thaw taking place below them was a new potential problem to handle.

Other people getting revived down there—Esprit included—joined in strengthening the barrier, rolling their eyes as they did. “I wish someone would explain what’s going on,” she griped, but she still did her job.

The rest of the formerly frozen were either assessing the situation and retreating as soon as they could or helping organize a larger-scale evacuation. The world of pure white was starting to let up a bit, improving visibility, but the people inside it still had to rely on senses like smell or hearing to maneuver inside it at all. For those not clued in, it must have felt like purgatory. The sounds of battle echoing through the heavens, accompanied by all these shock waves and vibrations, made the blood drain from their faces. If they were going to die anyway, most of them likely thought, they would’ve preferred to die in the frozen sleep they had been in.

These people were led away by the more powerful of the allies on hand, who reassured them as much as they could. These were all battle-hardened warriors, so there wasn’t that much chaos or confusion to the process, which was a godsend.

Of course, some people opted to watch the battle unfold instead of run from it.

“Boy, this sure is something,” Gobwa muttered to herself as she looked up at Guy and the others.

“Yeah,” said Phobio, who was nodding next to her. “I can only guess at what’s going on, but if someone told me the world was ending, I’d almost believe it.”

Some, like Carillon, were a bit more optimistic.

“Hey, nothing to be afraid of! Guy’ll figure something out!”

He tried to put his arm around Frey’s shoulder. It was pretty mind-blowing, how much he was detaching himself from the reality before him—but then, he should have been praised for realizing so quickly he had nothing to contribute.

“Quit being silly,” replied Frey, grasping at his arm. “We can’t help with the barrier, but we can help regroup our forces, can’t we? Here, send a Thought Communication out to gather them up. They could probably use some reassurance.”

Carillon smiled, resigned to his fate.

“Okay, Guy! It’s all up to you now!”

“We’ll be back, so try to keep things in order until then, won’t you?”

With that, Carillon and Frey left to address the fighters slowly reviving around them.

Guy gave them a half-smile. “Oh, sure, Carillon, go ahead and give me orders like that. Not that you needed to, but…”

Guy was always fond of the man. He wanted to live up to his expectations if he could, but it wouldn’t be that simple.

Velzard was fiercely, unrelentingly raging at him. He was confident he could defeat her in a real fight, but if asked to kill her, well, that’d be tougher. He could maybe do it if he had enough time, but it’d come at a terrible cost to their surroundings—and besides, Guy cared deeply about Velzard. Killing her wasn’t an option to begin with.

“So what’re we gonna do?”

“What should we do, Sir Guy?”

Carrera and Raine stood by him.

“Well…”

Guy thought about it. Right now, it seemed like the most difficult question he had ever been asked.

Feldway was starting to sweat a little. The curse he placed on Velzard had suddenly been destroyed—and Diablo was grinning from ear to ear at him.

“Oh? Is something wrong?”

The smiling demon didn’t let up on Feldway as he asked the question.

“Shut up.”

“Why?”

Maintaining a conversation with this guy was impossible. That was only natural, since Diablo was strictly trying to provoke Feldway anyway. He had no reason to obey an order to shut up.

“You…”

“Heh. At the end of your rope? Your plans have all failed. Victory appears to be imminent for us.”

Diablo was boasting hard, but nothing was guaranteed yet. His body was beaten and battered, and it still wasn’t clear whether he would beat Feldway or not—that, and he certainly couldn’t ignore the presence of Ivalage. Even if Feldway didn’t win the day, it wasn’t like that meant total victory for them…but it’d certainly provide a psychological advantage, and that can make all the difference in war.

So Diablo stuck to the script, laying the groundwork to defeat Feldway. That, too, was part of his tool set.

“Whew… This is madness. You really have angered me, you know.”

Feldway felt a great deal different now.

Instead of maintaining my rule over Milim…

Now he was making a new decision.

Milim was invincible. If he had continued with his plan, she’d eventually have annihilated all her foes and smashed up the Sacred Tree. However, he still hadn’t managed to demonstrate his full strength against Diablo yet. His final victory was certain either way, but nevertheless, he wanted to show off everything he could against his insolent opponent, shutting him up for good.

Once he did that, his plan would surely succeed. But it’d come at a risk. His power would be significantly weakened for a moment, leaving him dangerously exposed. Still, despite all that, Feldway believed defeat was impossible. He knew about that, but he had his pride, and he had been determined to achieve a full, complete victory before he was done.

By this point, however, Diablo had changed his mind. It was time, he felt, to prioritize the success of his plan first, even if meant enduring a little humiliation. He decided to abandon his control over Milim and use all his strength to defeat Diablo.

“Milim, destroy the Sacred Tree!”

Feldway gave the order with all his heart and soul, forcing Milim to obey. That final order cost him all his control over her, but that wasn’t a problem. His last order would still be carried out either way, and Milim was still in Stampede mode anyway. The way he saw it, he could just regain control of her after he took care of this present obstacle in front of him.

There was no stopping it now. Milim was going to destroy the Sacred Tree, and when it happened, it’d be the end of the world.

Feldway braced himself, sensing his defenses dropping around him. But Diablo just grinned at him.

What? This is the perfect chance to defeat me. Why isn’t he moving?

Feldway wondered for a moment. Then he realized Diablo wasn’t looking at him.

Yuuki was being bossed around mercilessly.

“Hey, who made you the boss of me, anyway—?”

“Quiet. These coordinates next!”

“…Yeah, yeah.”

No complaints would be accepted. Chloe was giving the orders, and Yuuki had no right to question her.

Veldora, seeing this, happily nodded to himself. He seemed to have this weird kinship with Yuuki in his mind, which only irritated Yuuki more.

Ugh! Why am I being treated like this…?

He couldn’t be blamed for griping. Chloe was mercilessly taking advantage of him.

First off, it was immediately obvious to her that Yuuki could use Instant Motion. She had witnessed it with her own eyes. Instant Motion was a skill that let you teleport without even a moment’s delay, and it went without saying how useful something like that was. Use it in combat, and you could dodge just about anything. You had to have a certain level of strength and competency to tap into it, but if you did, you were golden.

If you were capable of using Magic Sense to cover a hundred-yard radius around you, you could set up a code in advance that activated Instant Motion the moment you sensed an attack, letting you dodge anything—even if it was traveling at lightspeed. This was exactly what Yuuki had mastered; it was no problem at all for him. Even Milim’s strikes, which were fatal if they so much as grazed him, were a cinch to avoid. It wouldn’t have been so easy if Milim had full control of her faculties, but that’s just speculation. It was definitely working on Milim now, and he was intent on making the most of it.

Thanks to this, this battle was much more stable than before. With Yuuki serving as a decoy—the most dangerous of duties—all Chloe had to do was make sure Milim never left their Magic Sense range.

There was one other advantage to this tactic, too—maybe even the most important one. It prevented Milim from becoming stronger. On several occasions, Veldora or someone else held back too much, allowing Milim to activate her ultimate skill Satanael, Lord of Wrath. This caused Milim’s power to expand, making her stronger with every cycle. With Yuuki, though, there was no need to worry about that.

I mean, I get what Chloe’s trying to do…but is this really how little she thinks of me?

Genius that he was, Yuuki already knew why Chloe was going about this in such a roundabout fashion. Through that, he also realized he could never really be a threat to Milim…which secretly depressed him a bit.

Pathetic. Too pathetic.

“Shut up,” Yuuki said in irritation. The manas of Maria was annoying him beyond words. Why did she have to repeat everything twice like that?

It was so obvious how much malice she had for Yuuki. She had copied the personality of Maribel, his former archenemy, which ensured they’d never be compatible with each other. But maddeningly enough, she was capable of incredible things in battle. Thanks to that, whenever Yuuki messed something up, she would lambast him as if it was somehow a victory for her. Even if he performed flawlessly, like now, she’d still sometimes make disparaging remarks like that.

I have got to find a way to mute her, he secretly vowed. It’s just the worst kind of harassment…but I know exactly who could be behind this.

He recalled the absent Rimuru. It was thanks to him, he thought, that he’d made it back at all. The probability of meeting Mai in that one place in the universe was so close to zero, it made him feel faint just thinking about it. That was all the proof Yuuki needed to believe Rimuru was involved…and therefore alive.

And if that was the case, all he could do was put in his best effort.

“Man. There’s no way anyone but Rimuru can do something about a crazed demon lord Milim, huh?” said Yuuki.

“If you’re aware of that, keep moving!” Chloe barked.

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Right! Time for me to do my very best as well!”

“Veldora, I don’t need you doing anything extraneous here!!” Chloe yelled.

“Um, no, of course not…”

As expected, Chloe put her foot down, giving precise instructions in order to keep Milim away from the Sacred Tree. Even Veldora seemed unable to disobey her.

“So what next?”

“Use your psychic superpowers to attack and attract Milim’s attention.”

“Huh? Did I ever tell you I had those?”

From Yuuki’s perspective, this was his first time meeting the Masked Hero. He knew she was Chloe Aubert, a former student at the Free Academy, but right now she was someone completely different. He didn’t think he’d given up any of his secrets to her, but…

“I’ll explain later! Hurry!”

“Coming…”

The sheer force of the command completely defeated Yuuki. He gave up any further questioning, left once again with no choice but to obey.

After some more of this…

“…Ah!”

Chloe let out a soft yelp. Yuuki instantly looked at her. It seemed as if there was a twinge of joy in her voice, but her expression remained cold.

Just as Yuuki thought he had misread her, things suddenly began to change.

“Milim, destroy the Sacred Tree!”

Feldway’s thought waves thundered across the area. In response to it, Milim instantly began staring at the tree.

“Uh-oh!”

Yuuki moved frantically. He attacked Milim, but she didn’t even flinch. The effect on her was less than a mosquito bite, and it didn’t catch her attention at all.

“Shit! I can’t do anything!”

“Then I will! Dragon Claw!”

It was Veldora’s turn. But Milim paid him no attention. She kept her eyes fixed on the Sacred Tree and took a stance to unleash her ultimate technique, Drago-Nova.

A thin barrier spread out to protect her, glowing pale blue and looking quite fragile compared to the unprecedented scale of the Drago-Nova she was about to unleash. Veldora tried to strike at it, but he was repelled. Whenever she unleashed Drago-Nova, she deployed this barrier—a cocoon of stellar particles—in order to protect herself. That was what this was, and unless you were familiar with how it worked, it was impossible to penetrate.

“Oof. What a strong barrier that is. Even Dragon Claw couldn’t scratch it…”

Veldora was forced to admit it—Milim was a menace. And this wasn’t even a defense barrier, either. He was decently confident about his abilities, so having his attack blocked this easily was a major blow to his ego.

But he couldn’t give up now.

“I have no choice. I’ll have to use all my power to manipulate the probabilities and change Drago-Nova’s trajectory…”

The chances of success were next to zero, but Veldora knew Fertile Paradox could interfere with stellar particles. It might damage him in the process, but it might be possible to cancel it out that way.

“Yuuki, help me!”

“…I guess I have to, huh? So what should I do?”

“Right, you calculate the coordinates…”

Just as he gave those instructions, Veldora suddenly noticed something. Chloe, who had been bossing them around to no end just a moment ago, had grown strangely quiet. Had she given up? No, it didn’t seem that way.

Before he knew it, she had taken up position in front of the Sacred Tree, glaring at Milim.

Does she have some kind of plan? If she does, I should probably join her.

If nothing else happened, she was in position to take the brunt of the Drago-Nova strike. It was frankly suicide, but if Yuuki was with her, Veldora reasoned she could at least survive.

“…Let’s join her before that.”

“Right.”

Yuuki invoked Instant Motion along with Veldora to move behind Chloe. Milim was now in front of them.

Stellar particles sparkled between her hands, an otherworldly destructive force swirling around them like a miniature nebula. The extraordinary amount of energy was compressed into a high-density ball with the potential to easily destroy even a star system. Milim, incapable of rational thinking, had no intention of holding back. At that point, the power in her hands was already over a hundred times greater than what she had launched at Zeranus.

The truth soon dawned on Veldora.

“Right! Never mind! I can’t cancel that out!”

It was easy to understand why he gave up so quickly. Anyone with a pair of eyes could easily predict it’d cause the kind of destruction that had never been seen before in this key world. It’d certainly vaporize the Secret Tree, and maybe even the rest of the planet along the way.

Feldway roared with laughter. “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Wonderful. Wonderful, Milim! Now, unleash that blast and fulfill all my ambitions!”

Heeding the command, Milim fired Drago-Nova.

Everyone prepared themselves for the end of the world. A stream of pale blue light, electricity discharging around it, approached the Sacred Tree at a velocity close to the speed of light, burning up the atmosphere. Chloe, Veldora, and Yuuki were floating in front of it.

The fighters who joined this war to protect their homeland looked up at the three of them. No one was lost in despair. God helps those who help themselves, as they say, but with the exception of only a few of them, everyone felt fulfilled—satisfied they had given their all until the very end. It was with this sort of serenity that they waited those few brief moments before the final instant—and then a miracle happened.

The space trembled before them. Something appeared. A shimmering head of moon-white hair fluttered in the air, capturing everyone’s gaze. Time began to flow again for everyone—but they were all paralyzed in place. There was no destruction. The Sacred Tree was safe, and the world was still in one piece.

But:

“Ow! Dude! That, like, really hurt!”

A hangdog sort of voice echoed. Drago-Nova, infused with the power to destroy the world, had disappeared without a trace. And, as if she knew this would happen all along, Chloe stepped up.

“Rimuru!!”

She headed right up from behind him, the most reliable man she knew, and immediately hugged him.

Well, great. The moment I come back, Milim’s freaking out right in front of me.

That was exactly what I was hoping to see, but it came right at the moment when she fired Drago-Nova, which was the worst possible outcome.

I trusted Ciel at its word when it boasted about using Dimensional Leap to come back here at any time I wanted, but that was sure a mistake. We even had a little accidental collision along the way. It tried to brush that off as just my imagination, but it couldn’t fool me. Thanks to that, we wound up coming back at what had to have been the most dangerous moment possible.

No, it was perfect timing.

You liar! If it was that perfect, we woulda been here before Milim busted out Drago-Nova! Then I wouldn’t have had to suffer so much.

Also, instead of isolating that blast in Complex Space, wouldn’t it have been better to just cancel it out with my normal strength instead? You kept on bragging about how much energy I had stored up. Wouldn’t canceling this out have been a hell of a lot easier for me?

No. This was the perfect approach, because we were able to handle it without causing any damage.

Is that really true? I mean, after swallowing that, I have what feels to me like the worst hangover ever. Nausea, headache, the whole bit.

…Wait a minute. Did you call this “perfect timing”? Did you want me to swallow up Drago-Nova on purpose?

…

Helloooooo?

It is all in the past. I think it’s time to move on.

…Haaaaaah.

I suppressed all my anger. Maybe I was getting too accustomed to being pushed around for my own good. But at least Ciel was being its normal self again. That was almost a relief, actually.

Anyway, we made it back safely. We’ll just leave it at that.

“Rimuru!!”

A charming young girl clung to me as she called my name. She was a world-beating beauty who could make any man’s heart skip a beat— Oh, okay, it was Chloe.

“H-hey. Chloe, right? Weren’t you evacuated to the labyrinth?”

“Yeah, I was, but Gaia was trying to fly over to her master, so I came along for the ride.”

I see. Gaia must’ve sensed something wasn’t right with Milim. I’m sure they had that kind of bond. Maybe Gaia was the real star of the day, huh? We owed her for keeping us all safe…and here she was, squeaking her little heart out at Milim.

As for Milim…

The thrall over her appears to be weakening in response to Gaia’s call.

Apparently, that thrall was rapidly losing its effect after she was done busting out Drago-Nova. At this rate, she’d hopefully regain control of herself pretty soon.

I unconsciously stroked Chloe’s head, marveling at how good things were looking.

“Ah… Sorry,” I said once I came to my senses. “I know I shouldn’t do that. You’re not a child.”

“No, it’s okay. Give me more praise.”

Well, if you insist…

No. That counts as harassment.

Oh, I guess not? I only realized after Ciel told me, but Leon was staring right at us, too. Now was no time to relax.

I gently patted Chloe’s shoulder and stepped away. At the same moment, Veldora came over and put his arm firmly around me.

“Kwah-ha-ha-ha-ha! It’s great to see you safe, Rimuru. I wasn’t worried at all, of course, but I did a lot of heavy lifting for Chloe in your place, believe me! You better give me a big reward later!”

“Yeah, thanks. So how did Daggrull go?”

“A complete victory for me, of course!”

“Ah. Wonderful. I knew you’d live up to my expectations!”

“Right? Right! Yes, of course!!”

Veldora sounded pretty overjoyed about this, laughing heartily next to me. He seemed to be looking forward to his reward, so I resolved to ready a new magical weapon or two for his avatar.

The pseudo-MMORPG we had going in Ramiris’s dungeon with these avatars was getting to be quite a bit of fun, what with all the new players joining in lately. In time, we’d have team-based combat set up for everyone, so leveling up would become a lot more important. You couldn’t afford to procrastinate on upgrading your equipment, either, and stuff like flashy armor was a big hit in the marketplace.

We were currently at war, so there was no time for playing games, but it’s always the prospect of fun things in the future that keeps us going, isn’t it?

“When this is all over, I’ll get you some great items!”

“Hmm! You are speaking my language, Rimuru. I’m counting on you!”

Veldora nodded contentedly. It sounded like he had been through a lot, so I decided to listen to his stories later and thank him for his hard work.

I had my happy little reunion with Chloe and Veldora…but Yuuki was there, too.

“I hate you, Rimuru…,” he grumbled.

“Hey! Where’d that come from? I didn’t do anything.”

“Yes you did! Why did you force such an evil, sinister bastard on me?!”

I had no idea what he was talking about, but Yuuki sure seemed livid about something. Milim was starting to stir as well, so I really didn’t have the time to hear him out…although that intense anger did concern me. I mean, sure, we’d had an alliance, but he did try to take advantage of me. I doubted I needed to be that kind to him…but then again, he’d studied under Shizu, too. It’d be mean to just abandon him, so I opted to at least let him have his say.

As I was thinking this, Yuuki started talking over me. He used a one-sided Thought Communication to whine at me about how Maribel’s ego had taken up residence inside him. Apparently, she spoke to him in his mind, interrupting him at inopportune times to make fun of him.

When he was done griping, my takeaway was along the lines of “well, that’d sure suck, yeah,” but I didn’t think much else about it.

“Do something about this, Rimuru!” he begged.

“I can’t.”

Why did I have to do anything like that? I mean, if Yuuki was being given a hard time, I was all for it, you know?

“Besides, that’s a manas, isn’t it? A rare and powerful ability, yeah? You should just get along with her,” I said.

A manas could be very useful, like how Ciel was to me. You were better off cooperating with them, no doubt about that. And more to the point, if this manas had that much self-will, I didn’t think it’d be possible to separate it from Yuuki.

That’s correct! A manas and its host cannot be separated.

I’m sure, yeah.

(I merged with Chronoa, though,) interjected Chloe.

Ah, right, there was that kinda pattern, too, wasn’t there? I could sense Ciel nodding vigorously at this.

Don’t worry. I will always be with my master.

Um.

Personally, I’d much prefer remaining where we were as partners than merging like that. It was a hassle sometimes, but I’d accepted it for what it was.

With that, Yuuki’s complaint was dismissed.

“Give it up, all right?” I told him.

“Oh, come on…”

Seeing Yuuki wail at me didn’t give me a single moment of heartache. Serves you right, I thought.

Anywho, I wanted to celebrate our return more, but we had to finish some business first. Before Milim could make any moves, I decided to put her in custody so she couldn’t rampage any longer.

For a moment, I thought it was great to be back with her, too—but the next instant, she gave me a punishing headbutt. I was immune to pain to a certain extent, but it still hurt enough to bring tears to my eyes.

Dammit, Milim, just because you’re out of control doesn’t mean you can just do whatever you want to me…

So now what? Getting my head bashed like that repeatedly wasn’t all that much fun, and honestly, it was starting to get painful. Maybe I should transform into my slime form and wrap myself around her. I hesitated to do that because it’d look really not safe for work, but I was running out of patience.

Just as I was about to make my move, someone started yelling at me.

“This is ridiculous! What are you doing, horsing around and acting like you’ve already won?!”

Who’s that? Oh, it’s Feldway.

I certainly didn’t feel like I’d won yet. Milim was still out of control…but she was visibly reacting every time Gaia called for her, and I felt like she was beginning to recognize Veldora, too. If I could just keep her restrained long enough, I figured that’d do the trick. Then I could worry about our counterattack.

It was too early to schedule a victory parade, but even from the get-go, I never really thought I’d lose. If we were gonna do this, we had to aim for the best possible solution and reach it no matter what. What really mattered was what we defined “victory” to be.

…You’re setting the bar too low for victory.

Well, yeah. If you want to notch this as a victory in the record books, you gotta do that sometimes. But I don’t think we’ll need to stoop too low this time!

“Our victory was already set in stone from the start!” I said.

I’m real good at riling people up, too. Feldway looked suitably pained about it. That was exactly how I felt whenever I got defeated.

And Diablo agreed.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… You amaze me once again, Sir Rimuru!”

He never wavered from that cheerleader role. But as I gave him a closer look, I realized he was a total mess.

“Diablo? Are you okay? Probably not, huh?”

He must have pushed himself too hard, because his physical body was starting to give on him. I didn’t notice at first because he was acting so normal, but Diablo had suffered so much damage it wouldn’t have surprised me if he disappeared at any moment.

It seems he has made expert use of void energy, but his body wasn’t able to withstand all that force. He cannot regenerate himself with magicules, so it will be only a matter of time before Diablo’s body completely collapses.

Wait, that’s serious, isn’t it?

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Not a problem. It is a shame to lose the body I received from you, Sir Rimuru, but surely I will be revived to serve you again someday.”

Diablo didn’t seem to care at all. It was as impressive as it was befuddling. He had paid the ultimate sacrifice to take on Feldway. I really should do something about that.

Mmm… There is one option.

Oh? What’s that?

The same as what we did for Zegion—making use of your universal cells.

Ah, I see. Giving Diablo my cells, huh…?

Hmmmmmmm.

I didn’t mind doing that for Zegion…but somehow, with Diablo, I hesitated a little. I think he’d probably give me way too much praise and thanks for it. Then again, he was clearly starting to fall apart on me, and I couldn’t just sit around and watch that happen.

Ah well.

“Here, Diablo, use this.”

With that, I threw Diablo a piece of my body, disguised as a healing potion.

I made sure to use Instant Motion so Feldway wouldn’t steal it; that was a real handy technique once you learned how to master it. Thanks to that, the handover went off without a hitch.

“Oh, Sir Rimuru! Thank you very much. I will keep this as a family treasure—”

“No, you’ll drink it right now. That’s an order!”

Family treasure? Do demons even have the concept of “family” in the first place? Diablo’s a talented man, but he gets these weird ideas in his head at times that unnerve me a little. That side of him was bubbling up to the surface again, although he still obeyed me and drank that fake healing potion, so I let it slide.

“Keh-heh, keh, heh-heh-heh-heh… I see. Yes. Wonderful! With this, there is no one left for me to fear any longer.”

His body wasn’t collapsing anymore. In fact, it looked completely healed. He boasted he had no one to fear, but he had to be afraid of Soei, right? He was supposed to be investigating Diablo’s room, and yeah, the war postponed that, but I bet he’d have a thing or two to “fear” once we picked up that case again.

We’ll see what happens at that point, but—you know, it’s not like that’s none of my business. I have a secret agreement with Raine, too. I’ll need to see how things shake out with Diablo and work from there.

…

Well, I have the money for it. Maybe I could set up a kind of secret base—a non-labyrinth one, impregnable by any enemy. The sort of thing a guy dreams of.

For now, I wanted Diablo to do his best as a diversion, even if it meant he had to face Feldway soon. Until Milim was back to her former self, I was gonna have to count on him.

Feldway’s a tough enemy, something Diablo understood. I’m sure Diablo was planning to bluff his way into buying more time against him.

I don’t think so…

No?

After taking that much damage, he can’t possibly have an advantage over him, right? Whether he’s fully healed or not?

No, those wounds were self-inflicted, you see…

Oh, he blew himself up? Wow. Even he can make mistakes like that, huh? Now I feel like he’s a kindred soul to me. Maybe I should give him a little encouragement to keep going.

“Listen, Diablo, you never disappoint me, okay? And you’re the only one I can count on right now, so keep it up!”

He was visibly moved by this.

What a drama queen. There were even tears in the corners of his eyes. Guess I made the guy real happy, huh? Great motivation for him, though. At this rate, maybe I could leave Feldway entirely to him after all.

“Okay, get out there!” I told him.

“Absolutely.”

As soon as I heard Diablo’s reply, I focused my attention on Milim. We needed to stop this rampage and free her mind already.

While continuing to call out to Milim, I decided to examine the current situation a little more closely.

The only ones Milim was responding to were me, Veldora, and Gaia. Her reaction to Gaia appeared to be the strongest, but there was still no sign she was coming back to herself. This was better than nothing, though—enough that I could hold out some hope, at least.

At this rate, there was a chance nothing would change with her at all, and that’d be it. Nobody would want that, though, so I considered some more effective methods for handling the situation. We had to find a way to snap Milim out of this. Our voices were definitely reaching her, so I wanted a solution where we could vocally prod her into putting away her anger.

I activated my monitoring magic Argos, the Eye of God and checked into the current situation in the former Eurazania.

“Whoa, Frey and the other folks are back at it…?”

An unexpected sight spread before me. I didn’t know what happened, but a bunch of guys frozen in the ice were alive and kicking. Frey stood out because she was in flight, but the rest of my friends seemed safe as well.

Oh, there’s Testarossa!

Soka and Gabil were there, too, along with Raine and the others. I was glad Carrera and the gang were okay, but I doubted Velzard lifted the spell herself. How did they do that? I don’t think I could have undone that, either—

Negative! I’m sure it would have worked out somehow!

There was something about the “I’m sure” part I couldn’t trust. Ciel always was competitive that way, but this wasn’t the time to argue.

I decided to reach out to Testarossa first.

(Good work. How’s the situation over there?)

(…!! Sir Rimuru! You’re back safe!!)

My casual Thought Communication was greeted with a surprising amount of joy.

(Ah, yeah. It’s no big deal…)

No, I’m sure it was, actually. They were worried about me. I didn’t think it had been that long since I was sent far, far away, but I guess that wasn’t the issue. I guess everyone was beside themselves with fear I’d never return. It was basically luck that got me back. I’d have to apologize later…not that it was my fault or anything, though…

I mean, Feldway was the one to blame, right? And once I freed Milim, I was gonna get some payback.

That aside, Milim really was in a grumpy mood.

Testarossa, to her credit, kept her emotions bottled up long enough to brief me on what was happening. The way she put it, a bunch of things transpired during the battle with Velzard. Damn you, Feldway! Prancing around, doing whatever he wanted… I could feel my anger at him swell.

(Well, good thing there aren’t any casualties. You all be careful, okay? Don’t get caught in a fight and wind up all damaged!)

(Yes, sir!)

Testarossa seemed to be listening to me, which was a relief.

Now, then. Let’s tackle these problems one at a time.

“Hey, Milim! Can you hear me? All your friends are safe! Stop rampaging and snap out of this for me!”

I spoke as gently as I could to Milim, like the police trying to convince someone to surrender.

“Kwee! Kwee, kwee…!!”

Gaia joined in with me. I took that as a sign of encouragement.

“If Frey sees you like this, she’s gonna cry her eyes out! Are you sure you wanna be doing this? I can send video of this to her, you know!”

“…”

“Carillon’s here, too. I bet he’s gonna laugh at you for being this pathetic!”

“…”

“And Guy, too! Don’t come whining at me if he starts razzin’ you!”

“…Wait. They won’t find out if you don’t send the video, right? Then you’d be the only one at fault, right?”

“Huh? No, it’s your fault for pulling all these antics people want to get video of. Everyone already knows you’ve been rampaging around in the first— Wait, what?!”

The next thing I knew, Milim had come back to her senses. There was nothing sinister to her appearance any longer.

This had happened so naturally—easily, even. Astonishingly so. Was it because I was using Argos to show her how things were going in Eurazania, so she knew everyone was safe? Gaia’s calls might’ve had an effect, too.

Even so…

Her beautiful platinum-pink hair was parted, with a red horn protruding from her forehead, but her eyes shone with the light of reason. Dragon wings spread out from her back, and her body was clad in flawless black armor. In short, despite all the chaos, she had suffered almost no damage.

Chloe was looking at her incredulously. Not just her, but Leon, Ellie—lots of folks were looking up at Milim, like they were witnessing an unbelievable sight. Defeating her in battle would’ve been a real pain in the ass, so I was glad she was back on our side…but…

“Look, don’t try to act like you don’t know what happened, okay? You’re the one who went crazy on us. Don’t just pretend it was nothing,” I told Milim.

“Rrgh, stop getting hung up on such tiny things…”

“It was not tiny.”

Sheesh. It’s great she’s back to her senses, but I’m not gonna sweep it all under the rug for her. I was dead set, in fact, on making her apologize to everyone she caused trouble for.

“Now, now, Rimuru,” Veldora chimed in. “Thanks to my gallant actions, there was no major damage, right? Why not just laugh it off and forgive her?”

I thought Chloe might have some objections to that. But Ellie floated up to me, ready to defend her.

“Milim didn’t mean any harm, you know. She was just being manipulated. Isn’t it a little wrong to hold her responsible for this?”

She was usually such a hardliner about this sort of thing, but she was ready to drop the whole matter. And, well, if the emperor was fine with that, I wasn’t about to drag this out…

Milim, of course, was egging her on, all “Yes! That’s right! Oh, I knew you’d understand me!” and stuff…but I doubted Ellie was being that lenient.

“Well, sure, you’re right, but wasn’t it Thalion that suffered the most here?”

“Oh, certainly, we’ll have to discuss that later! I might want to ask you for reconstruction help as well, Rim!”

Huh? Why me?

“No, no, it’s Milim who should step up and handle that, isn’t it?”

“What are you talking about? You’re the guardian of the demon lord Milim, aren’t you? You’d be my main point of contact!”

Elmesia threw a wink my way. Okay. So that’s how it is?

…Well, it’s not like Milim could personally assist with the reconstruction work, so of course I’m gonna help and all… Clearly, there was no way I could refuse this proposal, so I forced myself to accept it.

It was a pretty fortunate thing that Milim came back to her senses when she did. Feldway looked like he wanted to be somewhere else, but Diablo was restraining him for me. Chloe and Veldora were resting on the leaves of the Sacred Tree, visibly exhausted.

“I’ll let you take over for now, Rimuru,” said Chloe.

“Indeed. Milim was causing trouble over at Skyspire Tower, too,” Veldora told me. “Things seem pretty hectic over there as well, so I’d be more concerned about that at the moment.”

Wait a minute. Milim did something at Skyspire Tower, too?

“I…I don’t know anything about that! I didn’t do it!” Milim insisted.

“““…”””

There was no room for argument. The vote was unanimous.

“Well,” Ellie said as she smiled at me, “according to my intelligence, Milim used Drago-Nova at the tower.”

“What were you doing?” I demanded.

“I—I never heard of that!” Milim said. “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“You’re totally guilty. Forget about talking your way out of this…”

“Urk?!”

Milim groaned at my overly honest retort.

This was…after I got blown off the planet, right? Good thing I didn’t bother trying to cover up her rampage. No one would have believed me for a moment.

Exasperated, I used Argos to check the situation around Skyspire Tower. There I saw a large-scale battle underway, one fought with forces assembled from all over the world.

“Wow. This is serious.”

“The demon lord Luminus called them over there, you see,” Ellie told me. “It’s quite the big war that’s broken out. They’re fending off invaders from another world.”

“Whoa…”

“Thanks to that man”—Ellie glared at Feldway—“the idiot who had an idea in his mind to destroy the world, the entire planet’s in this mess right now. He’s the one who put the demon lord Milim out of control, and I do hope he answers those charges.”

Even Ellie seemed to understand she couldn’t have beaten any of these guys on her own. I could tell she was determined to make me do all the dirty work. Milim was still going on along the lines of “That’s right! It’s not my fault!”—but I decided to leave her be.

Feldway probably got up to all sorts of mischief after he banished me. Luminus stepped up to stop him, and that led to the current situation. As long as Guy was busy with Velzard, Luminus had no choice but to do something…which made sense. Daggrull was acting out against us, Leon was here, Ramiris was presumably working hard in the labyrinth, and Milim was going nuts until just moments ago. I didn’t know what Deeno was up to, but I sure couldn’t expect anything from him. Really, Luminus was the only one who could step up at all. I thanked her in my heart for her hard work.

Anyway, let’s deal with the “idiot” first, and then we’ll move quickly to resolve everything else.

“Okay, how about we kick Feldway’s ass?” I suggested.

“Yes! I’ll help too!” said Milim.

We were highly motivated.

At that moment, Sylvia arrived.

“I couldn’t be more delighted if you defeated him, but are you sure? He looks exactly like Veldanava, the Star-King Dragon!”

Um, is that right? He did look kind of dashing to me, but that didn’t matter much if he was our enemy.

Milim also looked back at Sylvia, puzzled…and actually, Milim had just reminded me of something.

“Oh, I see. You mean he looks like Milim’s father?” I asked Sylvia.

“That’s right! The hair color is different, so he’s definitely not the real one.”

“Well, no problem, then!” Milim cut in. “I don’t remember him anyway, so I sure don’t care!”

Well, if Milim didn’t care, then I didn’t need to be considerate at all. Our enemies had to be defeated, and that was that.

With that decided, it was time to plan out the future. Ignoring the confused-looking Sylvia and Ellie, I told Milim how I saw things.

“Once we defeat Feldway, I’ll go help out Guy. You head for Skyspire Tower and save everyone else.”

“Hrmph. I wanna rescue Frey and the rest, though…”

“You saw how they’re already freed. They can manage on their own well enough. Besides, you really better start racking up some brownie points soon, or everyone’s gonna be real pissed at you…”

Milim nodded, seeing the logic in that. “O-okay. Velzard’s pretty strong, but with you and Guy, it ought to work out.”

She, too, had a vague sense of how volatile the situation was. She was probably worried about us, but I thought we’d be fine with Guy at our side.

“All right. I’ll let you take care of my sister, Rimuru…and with that settled, I’m off with Milim!”

So Veldora bravely ran away. I had intended to have him help out Shion’s crew in the first place, so this was fine by me…but I’d better remind him of something, just in case.

“That’s fine, but I think Velgrynd is at Skyspire Tower, and she seems a little, uh, tense at the moment. Try not to get on her bad side.”

Okay, tense wasn’t the right word. More like wary of something. To be exact, Velgrynd was staring intently at a small child.

A child…?

She was sitting on the shoulder of this large mystic beast, legs dangling. It couldn’t have looked more out of place.

I believe that is Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon.

I see. That made sense. So we were well past the point of being able to prevent this thing from showing up? Now our only option was to defeat her or drive her away.

“I—I would never do anything to anger my sister, mumble, mumble, mumble…”

What’s wrong with Veldora? He’s turning into more of a wimp by the minute. Is he okay?

…Eh, he can figure out his own problems.

“Ivalage seems a decent amount stronger than we expected, so be careful,” I warned Veldora and Milim.

“Right! Leave it to me!”

“She can’t hold a candle to me!!”

Well, these two should be fine, then. With that decided, let’s go finish off Feldway. I was about to run over and join Diablo, but…

Um…

“Hmm, pretty one-sided, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Diablo’s got the win.”

Yep. While I was deciding on a plan, the battle had already nearly reached its end. I did wonder why Feldway was being so quiet, but now it made sense. Diablo was overwhelming Feldway with his superior strength…and before our astonished eyes, the decisive moment was approaching.

For Feldway, Rimuru’s return was beyond unexpected. Seeing him safe and sound gave him the worst feeling in the pit of his stomach. If things kept going like this, it’d be nothing short of disastrous…but he couldn’t do anything with Diablo in the way.

While he hesitated, Rimuru threw something at Diablo. Something Feldway could tell was dangerous. He tried to stop it, but couldn’t. Rimuru had only pretended to throw it—and then he teleported it over to Diablo.

Instant Motion?!

Feldway knew how much of a menace that skill was because he had access to it himself. The ability to move anything anywhere at will, ignoring all space-time restrictions, from transporting armies to defending yourself in combat—it had a thousand and one uses.

Feldway fully understood this…but he had hardly used it at all during his battle against Diablo. He lacked the necessary experience. Feldway was a terrifying genius, capable of taking on the skills of others, but his cautious nature prevented him from tapping into unfamiliar techniques in actual combat. As a leader, he always preferred to rely on surefire strategies. Even when facing unknown enemies, he avoided risky maneuvers, instead employing more proven tactics. That was Feldway’s fighting style, and it was the secret to his string of victories.

But interpreted another way, it showed his lack of adaptability.

Feldway did not study combat techniques himself. That job belonged to his subordinates, and no matter how useful a skill might be, he would never incorporate it into combat unless it had been proven effective.

Seeing Rimuru use Instant Motion therefore felt like something of a crisis to him. The thought crossed his mind that if Rimuru was left alone, he would eventually grow far too strong to be stoppable at all.

That was why Feldway was frantic.

Heh. Well, Diablo is already on his last legs, and the demon lord Rimuru took a direct hit from Milim’s Drago-Nova. He’s acting unaffected, but he must be a mess inside. Now is the time, then…

With his thrall over Milim lifted and access to his full strength restored, Feldway decided to throw his entire weight into finishing off Diablo with all his might. Then he’d move on straight to Rimuru, destroying him before he could become a greater threat.

But Feldway might have been kidding himself. Diablo, who had begun to fall apart and disappear, was completely revived by the healing medicine Rimuru gave him.

Diablo greeted Feldway’s surprise attack with a defiant smile. As sword and claw clashed, Feldway realized he had miscalculated.

…?! This guy’s gotten stronger?

Not even a full-strength strike could faze Diablo. The difference in their weapons’ levels no longer seemed to matter as he charged at him head-on.

Diablo was using a different fighting style now. Instead of parrying impacts and relying on other delicate techniques, he was going for a brute-force approach. It was a poor strategy against an opponent with dominant strength—nothing but suicidal in this situation, potentially reducing him to dust in an instant.

But it didn’t turn out how Feldway imagined. If anything, Diablo was handling this battle with ease.

“…?!”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… What has you so surprised?”

“You… That power—”

“Indeed, I am utilizing void energy at the moment. Is that a problem?”

“What a—!”

“What a ridiculous thing to say!” he almost blurted out. But then he remembered this was a life-or-death battle. No matter what means were used, might made right. But somehow, Diablo didn’t seem to be straining at all. Unlike before, his body actually seemed to be accepting void energy.

Feldway trembled at the thought. It couldn’t have been possible. This void energy was a destructive force that could very well destroy the world.

Neither he nor Testarossa should have been able to work it so easily. For one, it was difficult to bring up to the surface. It could be manifested through magic, but there were limits to that as well—and even if you summoned this energy, it’d be quickly neutralized if left alone, restoring the balance like nothing had ever happened. It was impossible to release an unchecked torrent of void energy large enough to destroy the world unless you could open a gate directly to the depths of Hell itself.

Or maybe this meant Testarossa and Diablo had opened that door.

Feldway, of course, was actively seeking to destroy the world. If those two couldn’t control this energy, then good for him—he’d achieve his goal without having to destroy the Sacred Tree.

But Diablo was circulating that void energy around his own body. This was beyond suicide—or it should have been. But he had complete control over it, which was unbelievable. It’d be one thing if Veldanava himself had given Diablo that body, but no—it had to have been just a collection of unknown, random materials cobbled together. There was no way he could withstand such unprecedented power.

But reality was cruel. Diablo was perfectly capable of using this terrifying new energy, thanks to the universal cells Rimuru gave him. These cells had the power of Infinite Regeneration, and they rebuilt themselves back to normal before even the void energy could claim them.

Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Sir Rimuru has done it again! He’s granted me the perfect body to tame this void energy with!

This was a spectacular misunderstanding on Diablo’s part. Rimuru was only trying to heal him. Unlike Ciel, he had no intention of letting Diablo do something so reckless. But Diablo had ample reason to believe this. Zegion had already provided him a successful example to follow. There was no way he wouldn’t try it.

So trusting Rimuru, Diablo put all his strength into circulating the void energy throughout his body. That was how he determined the limit his body could endure—and just like that, he mastered it.

At this point, the conventional tactics of battles between transcendent beings like them no longer applied.

Ugh… Diablo… How did he avoid getting swallowed by the void…? No, wait! This…!

Feldway could see the danger this posed.

Normally, regenerating one’s body consumed energy. Velgrynd’s Separate Bodies were no exception. No matter how invincible and undefeated one might have been, there was always a price to pay. Even the True Dragons, with their inexhaustible energy, could not escape battle fatigue. That was why it was standard practice for those of higher rank to learn how to conserve energy and recover while fighting, as Velgrynd did.

In the end, whoever depleted their opponent’s energy first won. It meant battles between transcendent beings often ended in a stalemate—but that conventional thinking was all in the past now. Diablo was summoning void energy and using it to power himself. It was the universal cells, with their Infinite Regeneration, that made this possible…but he was even using void energy to power this entire anti-exhaustion process.

It all meant one thing.

Diablo’s energy store can never be exhausted?

That was the conclusion Feldway reached. And if that was true, comparing people by magicule count or the like no longer meant anything. The only thing that did was energy output—continuously unleashing techniques of progressively more dominant force until you obliterated the opponent from existence.

Applying that logic to this fight meant Diablo’s skill level wasn’t inferior to Feldway’s at all. In fact, even in the midst of this battle, he was continuing to learn and evolve. His techniques were flawless in terms of precision and power, of course, proving he could manipulate the elusive void energy as freely as his arms and legs.

Feldway’s Ark sword sliced through Diablo’s shoulder—but it healed instantly. The power of his Genesis-class weapon had been reduced to nothing in an instant.

Ngh…?! He… He’s healing himself that much, and he still has this much power left?!

Diablo had been acting recklessly, but that was in the past. Now, with his new body given to him by Rimuru (or so he believed), he was searching for the perfect energy balance. It was only possible for him thanks to his exceptional combat sense.

Feldway now came upon a truth he didn’t want to admit. Although he had an overwhelmingly superior EP…Diablo beat him in combat ability. The gap between them wasn’t narrowing at all. If things continued as they were, defeat was inevitable.

“Dammit, Vega, what are you doing?! Why do you have to be struggling in the labyrinth right now, of all places—?”

Feldway was losing his composure. Complaints began slipping out of his mouth. It made Diablo laugh.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… Vega? We’ve already dealt with him. He might still be alive, but if he is, he’d probably prefer death right now.”

“What?!”

Vega was a dirty man—greedier for power than anyone else, willing to do anything to survive. But Feldway had come to rely on him. The idea that such a man had been defeated was hard to believe…but Diablo’s presence was confirmation that it was true. Feldway saw this, and he had no choice but to accept it.

Out of the Three Stellar Leaders, Zarario had betrayed them, and Fenn had already been defeated.

“Then the only one left is Jahil…”

“Ah, I took care of him,” Yuuki told Feldway.

“You bastard!”

The idea of calling Jahil over for a last-ditch escape was promptly rejected by Yuuki, who had just arrived. Feldway lashed out at him in frustration, but his attacks were easily dodged.

“Don’t bother. I can’t defeat you, but I can dodge you all day if you want.”

“…Instant Motion?”

“That’s right! A bunch of stuff happened, and then I learned it from Mai.”

Yuuki was just toying with him now, provoking him and sassing him as he kept dodging his blows. It was payback, really.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… A menace of a skill, to be sure. Now that I’ve seen it, though, I think I can come up with countermeasures.”

Diablo laughed. Yuuki didn’t seem so amused.

“Yeesh. Rimuru has some seriously crazy dudes under his command, doesn’t he? Well, don’t let me get in the way, then.”

With that, Yuuki left the scene. As he had said himself, he never thought he could beat Feldway. He just wanted to get a little revenge while he had the chance—revenge against the fiend who’d tried to control him. Once that was done, he had no qualms with letting Diablo take over. That demon was too insane to challenge anyway.

I doubt I could ever beat him, honestly. And if his servants are all this crazy, I’m sure Rimuru’s impossible to beat, too.

Yuuki had no choice but to admit it. Both him and the other one inside him.

It’s impossible. Totally impossible. If you lay one hand on him, you’re dead!

Even Maria was dead set against it. You don’t have to remind me, Yuuki thought.

Then Diablo’s fierce attack began. Feldway’s Ark blade was thrown back by Diablo’s demon scissors. The difference in the grades of their weapons no longer seemed to matter, which was frightening to think of.

“So that’s what he’s capable of when he takes this seriously?” said Zarario, in full spectator mode by this point. His EP might have been over twenty million, but he didn’t feel at all like he could beat Diablo in his current state. There was an ocean of difference between them, and it left him beyond frustrated.

Leon nodded to himself, perhaps feeling the same way. Feldway had once dominated them all, but now he was being overwhelmed. It was impossible not to be stunned by this display.

And finally, the decisive moment arrived.

“End-of-World Requiem.”

With a single blow that contained all of Diablo’s strength, Feldway was knocked to the ground.

Diablo finished the match without even letting me have a turn. Pretty amazing, as much as I couldn’t believe it.

“Good job! Man, I didn’t think you could actually win that one.”

I congratulated Diablo, relieved I had one less assignment to take care of. Feldway really wasn’t a pushover, after all—I wasn’t entirely sure I could win. If I needed to get involved, I planned to rope Milim into it, too, to ensure we had this in the bag.

To be honest, I never imagined Diablo was this strong. And yeah, he now looked even worse than before I healed him up a moment ago, but still…

“I am deeply honored to hear such kind words, my lord!”

Diablo was in a celebratory mood, at least, but I was impressed he was still on his feet. My concern wasn’t about his body—more about his mental state. He was drained of energy, and there was no life in his face at all. He looked like a dead man…or to put it more mildly, like a person facing death.

“Are you okay?”

“Keh-heh, keh-heh-heh-heh-heh. Of course. I can’t act pitiful in front of you, Sir Rimuru. It would be a terrible loss of face.”

Diablo was awfully apologetic, but he hadn’t done anything wrong. It was a great victory, in fact.

I tried to tell him to rest while I took care of matters, but then Feldway—nothing more than a pile of dust a moment ago—began to regenerate his body.

“Damn stubborn bastard. I thought I had you finished off completely, but you’re still alive…?” Diablo hatefully spat, eyes narrowed.

I didn’t see how he could keep moving at all, but he seemed intent on continuing the fight.

“Wait a sec,” I said, stopping him. Feldway had been muttering something under his breath for a bit.

“Ridiculous… Ridiculous… I have to destroy the world…and then…it’ll all be stopped. But… Why Diablo…? No, I haven’t lost yet. It’s not over. Yes, one more round… We must have a reunion. I was abandoned once, but I will have my revenge… Why? Why did you disappear…?”

It sounded like some kind of a curse, but I had trouble understanding it. I didn’t like where this was going, so I decided to keep my distance and observe from afar. Before I could act, however, Feldway lifted his head. Our eyes met…but his were so empty, it sent a chill down my spine. Somehow, though, I could sense a kind of despair-filled sorrow in them.

What should I do about this? Well, I should defeat him, obviously, but I felt like I’d have some lingering regrets if I did. I knew I was going to kick myself over it, but I couldn’t help but hesitate to act. Better to mourn for a moment than regret it my entire life.

…Which was a cool thing to say and all, I suppose. But then Feldway looked up at the sky, and in the next moment, he disappeared before our eyes. With Instant Motion, that untraceable power, he had jumped away somewhere.

“Whoa! Rimuru! He got away.”

“Whoa, wait, don’t pin that on me…”

“It was pretty obviously your fault, Rimuru!”

“I was trying to be prudent! Sheesh!”

Well, great. Feldway got away, and I had no one else to blame for it.

But no, wait a minute. Yes, I stopped Diablo back there, but who ever thought the dude would teleport out like that? As much pride as Feldway had, I didn’t think he’d ever opt to flee. That, and I guess I was arrogant to think I could keep tabs on him, only for him to break out Instant Motion on me. That doesn’t generate any traceable rifts in space the way Spatial Transport does; you’d only detect stuff like that at the location he jumped to. So basically, we had no way to find him.

I mean, maybe it’d be possible if I could perceive the entire key world at once, but—

That is possible.

…It’s what? Really? Isn’t it normally impossible to track something like that?

Tracking him is impossible, yes, but I can observe magicules throughout the world to determine where he appeared. In this particular case, he did not reappear on the surface of this planet, so he must have escaped to another world.

Oh… Hmm. So as soon as he comes back to this world, I’ll be able to find him?

That is correct.

In that case, well…maybe it’s not a big deal if he escaped.

“Guys, guys, calm down. Feldway escaping isn’t that huge a problem. In fact, it gives us time to focus on all our other issues. We need to have a positive outlook about this!”

I tried to sound as convincing as I could, changing the subject at all costs. Along the way, I attempted to casually downplay the importance of all this, ensuring my responsibility didn’t get considered by anyone.

“He’s right! With Sir Rimuru’s deep insight, it doesn’t matter what Feldway does. I didn’t have the strength to stop him in the first place.”

Ah, perfect. Just what I wanted—Diablo making my defense sound more persuasive.

“If we had pushed ourselves any further, we might have no longer been able to serve Sir Rimuru. But instead, with that truly loving move he made—”

This is getting to be a bit much. I should wrap this up before people begin taking this the wrong way.

“Right, yeah, so let’s put Feldway on hold. Right now, I want to split us up into two groups and solve our current problems first.”

Everyone nodded back.

Then things started moving quickly.

As planned, I was going to head for the former Eurazania, and Milim and Veldora would go to Damargania to prepare for the battle against Ivalage. Chloe asked to stay with me, but I refused. Her ability to “remember” the future would be vital in the battle against Ivalage. I wanted to avoid casualties as much as possible, and along those lines, we could never have too much insurance.

As for the others, Leon, Zarario, and Sylvia were mentally and physically exhausted, but they demanded to join Milim and the others. Elmesia, or Ellie, was summoning the Magus corps, who were still healthy…and naturally, it was Yuuki’s role to transport them.

“It has to be me, huh?” he griped.

“Who else?” I said.

“Oh, come on. I had no interest in being this world-saving champion, you know.”

“You don’t have to be. Sometimes the process is a lot more important than the results…but right now? Results are everything.”

If we couldn’t protect the world, everything would be over. “We tried our best, but it didn’t work out” wouldn’t suffice, a point I tried to drill into Yuuki. He understood that, of course, and I’m sure he would’ve pitched in either way. I think he groused about it because he wanted to frame it like I owed him a favor. He was always like that—using me, tricking me, you name it. I was willing to let bygones be bygones, but I couldn’t hide my reticence, either.

“And I’m sure this doesn’t need to be said…but let’s stay friends, okay?”

I smiled at Yuuki. It was my subtle way of telling him he’d need to do more than this to earn my forgiveness.

Yuuki grinned back. “All right. Let’s talk about that later!”

As resilient as ever. I smiled back at him, resolving to do just that.

Kagali had a worried look on her face as she watched us talk. She knew everything about Yuuki and me, so she probably thought their fates would be decided by how I responded. And you know, I had my thoughts about this—a lot of them—but I’d also heard Yuuki’s side of the story. As long as they agreed to behave themselves, I didn’t mind letting them live as they pleased.

In other words, Kagali’s worries were unfounded—but from her perspective, they probably had a lot of other stuff to worry about, the most pressing of which was where they’d go next. They sure couldn’t go back to the kingdom of Englesia, and they’d lost the place they had built for themselves in the Empire. The Puppet Nation of Dhistav—Clayman’s domain—used to be their home, but that was now governed by Milim, and I was managing it on her behalf.

Really, they didn’t have a home to return to. That, and Kagali had just earned her revenge against Jahil, so I was sure she was pretty burned out. If saving the world led to a happy ending for her, then great…but without some kind of reward, it might be difficult to motivate her.

That said, I was still curious about the mysterious dark-skinned woman I saw. She did look familiar to me…

She is the elder of the dark elves who lived in Clayman’s castle.

Oh, right! I remember her now. She had a somewhat shadowy aura about her, but she looked like she was guarding Kagali, kinda.

Hmm… So if they knew each other before, did that make me this woman’s enemy for defeating Clayman, maybe? I suppose so, but Clayman was being mind-controlled back then, too, treating the dark elves like slaves and stuff. I’m sure this dark-elf elder had a lot of mixed feelings about the whole thing.

“Oh! You’re here, too, Eva? Long time no see!”

“It has been indeed, demon lord Milim.”

“Doing all right?”

“I can’t say yes in every way, but I’m getting by.”

Oh?

“Did you know the elder, Milim?” I asked.

“Oh, sure! Eva’s a really great cook. She took amazing care of me!”

Ah, I see. As long as Middray was running things over in the City of the Forgotten Dragon, the only thing on the menu for Milim there was raw vegetables. I guess Milim paid visits to the other demon lords whenever she wanted to have something that tasted good—or had any taste at all.

And she was a frequent visitor to Eva, huh? In that case…

“Milim, I have a proposal,” I began.

“Huh? What is it?”

“You know the territory that used to belong to the Puppet Nation of Dhistav, right? How about we just give that land back to Kagali and company?”

“Hmm?”

“““…!!”””

Yep. The perfect carrot if I wanted to keep Yuuki and his companions motivated.

Dhistav was the ideal solution—I wasn’t really sure what to do with that whole place anyway. It was situated way far away from the new capital of Milim’s domain. I had plans to develop the ancient ruins there and turn them into a tourist destination, but that was still a long time coming. I was in charge of all that land, but frankly, I had way too much other stuff to focus on.

Leaving Dhistav in the hands of Yuuki’s band seemed like a pretty brilliant idea to me, killing two or three birds with one stone. They all saw it as a lavish reward, and I wouldn’t have to worry about running a land I wasn’t particularly motivated about. We didn’t interact much with the people there anyway, so it wasn’t like this would be an economic blow or anything. I think we could do the territorial transfer without much of a fuss, so if Milim agrees, let’s just get on with it.

“Mmm… Yeah, that’s a good idea! I guess I caused those guys a little bit of trouble today, so how about we do that as a way of apologizing?”

“It was more than a little, Milim, and you caused trouble for me, too. I’d hope you would agree to it.”

“It was only a little!”

“The planet almost blew up!!”

“Nnnggh…”

This argument was starting to drain me, but at least Milim was seeing things my way.

“Are you sure about that, Rimuru?”

“Yes, can we really expect that from you?”

Kagali sure sounded a lot more timid about it than Yuuki.

“Well, it’s not technically my property, but Milim just agreed to it, so I bet it’ll be fine.”

The only permanent residents in the Puppet Nation of Dhistav were those who lived under Eva—in other words, the former followers of the demon lord Kazalim. They were unlikely to easily submit to Tempestian rule anyway, I’m sure, so why not just have someone else govern? I was pretty sure Carillon and Frey would let it slide, too.

But all this, of course, assumed we kept the world protected.

“Thanks, Rimuru! I always knew you’d do right by me. Guess I’ll have to try a little harder now, huh?”

Yuuki gave me a cheerful grin.

Uh-huh. I wasn’t gonna let that smile trick me any longer.

“But don’t forget the conditions, all right? We have to retain our alliance, and you need to put my requests first! I’ll be watching you, got it?!”

“Sure! Of course!”

I didn’t even half-trust him, but at least I had his word. I was probably gonna be dealing with Yuuki for a long time to come, so for now, I wanted to keep him on his toes whenever he was around me.

In the midst of this, the Magus corps had finished their prep work.

Just as everyone was about to leave, Kagali approached me, a serious look on her face.

“Sir Rimuru, may I ask you something?”

“Hmm?”

“You offered to return our permanent home to us…but that’s based on the assumption we win this upcoming battle. Are you confident we can?”

Hmm…

Well, it was technically Milim running Dhistav, not me…but that was beside the point. So she wanted to know whether I was positive we could win? Well, no, I wasn’t. I could never be.

But…

“Think of it this way—if we lose, there’s no point thinking about what happens after that. I always consider the worst-case scenario in the decisions we make, but we’re already kind of there, so to speak. So all we can do is put everything we have into winning, right?”

Why think about what’ll happen if we don’t? I think about what it takes to win at times like these, not lose. War is something you should try to avoid as much as possible anyway. That was why I tried not to provoke or corner my opponents. If it did come to a fight, though…well, I gotta come prepared.

“So really, if we’re gonna do this, then yeah, we’re gonna win.”

I smiled back at Kagali.

“That’s what I’m gunning for.”

Yuuki nodded, patting Kagali on the shoulder. “That’s so like you, isn’t it, Rimuru? And I guess we’re all kinda the same that way. It’s simple, really—we just gotta win and earn our losses back.”

A very Yuuki-like way of putting it. Life may not be a gamble, but things often did turn out better if you approached it casually, like it was just a card game.

“Right? Yeah! You’re thinkin’ too hard about this, Boss,” said Laplace. “We’re already at the game-over point. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, I say!”

I’m the “them” here, aren’t I? Well, whatever.

“Yes… Not to worry,” Elmesia said. “Rimuru’s bound to figure something out, so we’ll just do what we can. No need to stress.”

Hang on. Was this really sound advice from the Heavenly Emperor?

“Hey, stop pinning all the responsibility on me!”

“Oh, come now.”

“Don’t ‘oh, come now’ me!”

“Right! Off we go, then!”

“Roger!”

“Let’s do our best over here, too!”

“Wah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Time for me to fight Ivalage and earn myself some brownie points!”

“Never fear, Rimuru, for the Storm Dragon is here! I will be back!!”

“All right, Rimuru. We’ll be waiting for you over there, okay?”

Everyone sure had a lot of different ways of saying goodbye to me—but in the next moment, Yuuki activated Instant Motion, and I was left all alone…

“Keh-heh-heh-heh-heh… We had best travel to the former Eurazania now, Sir Rimuru.”

“Fhuhh?!”

He startled me. I don’t know what kind of noise I just made…but Diablo was standing there, waiting on me as usual. I was surprised I didn’t notice him.

“Why’d you stay behind?”

“As your butler, Sir Rimuru, it is eternally my duty to serve you.”

“…”

Loyalty can be a burden when it goes too far like this. But whatever. Diablo was in pretty crappy shape anyway, so I couldn’t expect him to be much help in battle. Going to Damargania in his condition might just cause everyone more strife. It was safer to keep him under my watch…or so I told myself.

But it was time to turn the page.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes, my lord.” Diablo bowed his head.

I had taken care of Milim, and now it was Velzard’s turn. Why did all the True Dragons have to be such true pains in the ass?

I swallowed that complaint as I took Diablo with me on an Instant Motion trip to Eurazania.

EPILOGUE

THE EVIL GOD AWAKENS

Ivalage was having fun—a whole lot of fun.

When she arrived at the key world, a large crowd had formed there, as if to welcome her. She fired off a blast as a way to greet them back, but it appeared to be just a little too strong for the occasion. The powerful-looking folks suffered a lot more damage than she expected. It seemed like they were protecting the crowds of insignificant little creatures around them, but Ivalage couldn’t understand why.

So she observed, and then she understood. The weak fought with whatever means they could come up with. Those who could fly didn’t need hands—that was what Ivalage believed, but the battle unfolding before her eyes was thought-provoking. It was spectacular to see these champions fighting as individuals, giving their all for the fight.

But Ivalage soon realized she could easily win by overwhelming them with sheer numbers. So she adjusted her forces a bit in order to prolong the battle.

While she did so, a change occurred on the battlefield. Reinforcements led by Benimaru had arrived, fighting as an organized group. It was like witnessing a work of art unfold. Sword strikes and martial-arts moves were on full display. A myriad of different magic spells and skills flew back and forth.

The results were clear. Now it was the evil god’s army that was being pushed back.

“Ah-ha!”

Ivalage rejoiced. This was interesting. Very, very interesting.

As the battle reached its climax, Ivalage had a sudden desire. She wanted to try something.

Ooh, I see!

She finally understood why Veldanava, who had abandoned her, had taken on human form.

If that was how it was, then she would become an adult, too. She would no longer be a child, but she’d gain the ability to fight. And with that desire, the Halloween Carnival—the evolution toward becoming an evil god taking place deep, deep within the heart of Ivalage the World-Destroyer Dragon—at last entered its final stage.

Its effects soon extended their way to her three servants.

“Hey, guys. Do you want a human form, too? So you can enjoy battle even more? I’ll give you a new power, then!”

At that moment, the battlefield was still.

It was as if something terrible was about to happen. And then it did.

“Ah-ha-ha-haaaaaa-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!”

An evil laugh echoed throughout the key world.

The World-Destroyer Dragon, now transformed to the point of rebirth, stepped foot on the ground for the first time.

And she looked almost like…