UPHEAVAL IN THE WEST

The demon lord Leon was in an audience with someone he had trouble dealing with—a woman with long silvery hair and uniquely long ears. She was sunk deep into an ornate chair, like a dazzling portrait come to life. It was Elmesia El-Ru Thalion, emperor of the land of Thalion, and the two of them were seated facing each other in a gazebo overlooking an elegant garden.

A bit of steam wafted out from the kettle on the table, the lady attendant serving them making sure to replace the water before it cooled. A sweet-smelling aroma filled the air, creating a relaxed atmosphere. The two of them watched each other for a moment, but it was Elmesia who spoke first.

“Taciturn as always, Leon? You have come to see me for the first time in ages, and you’re that bored already?”

Her tone of voice was kind—as it should be. Elmesia and Leon knew each other, not just as the leaders of two important trading partners but as close personal acquaintances. One could tell this from the simple fact she granted Leon this kind of audience. They had known each other since before Leon was a demon lord—back in his Hero days, when his exploits took him to Thalion. They had been friends ever since.

“I’m afraid now is not the time for idle laughter.”

“I can’t say I’ve ever seen you laugh a great deal.”

“Well, that doesn’t matter very much, does it? Time is of the essence right now, so let’s get down to business—”

“Ahhh, yes, yes. I have some pastries from Mr. Yoshida’s boutique. Would you care for a bite or two?”

Elmesia’s interruption stirred the attendant into action. She pushed a cart up to the table, cutting a couple slices of cake.

“I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.”

“Oh? It’s good, you know. Ah, but these cookies are made with tea leaves baked in, so they aren’t quite so sweet. Matcha cookies, I believe they’re called.”

“…I’ll have that, then.”

From past experience, Leon knew there was no talking over her. It was the same way with the demon lord Ramiris—everyone he had trouble with shared the common trait of never really listening to him in conversation. He calmed himself, already resigned to not having his way here, as he reached for a cookie.

“Too sweet…”

“Oh, you can’t even take that?”

“No. It’s not bad.”

“Hmm. You never were very honest with your feelings, were you? Ah well. So what brought you here today, if I may ask? Are you about to ask whether I’ve seen the children in the demon lord Rimuru’s nation?”

Leon sighed. I can never relax around her. She’s already picked up on matters? In that case, he felt, at least this would save him some time. He mentally switched gears.

“That’s right. I believe Rimuru has it out for me. One of my previous underlings made contact with him, filling his mind with all sorts of ideas.”

“Yes, Shizue Izawa, right? The Conqueror of Flames, was it? She’s a household name in this empire as well.”

“Why do you know her? Our relationship was supposed to be a well-kept secret—”

“Ah, how about we continue with the conversation? Time was of the essence for you, wasn’t it?”

Leon was growing irritated. He wanted to raise his voice, shouting “Who do you think is wasting my valuable time right now?!” but he suppressed the urge.

“Yes… Well, I was thinking about extending an invitation to Rimuru sooner or later. I had wanted to clear up our misunderstandings, and I find him too dangerous as an enemy anyway.”

Letting himself be toyed with by someone was not an experience Leon relished very much. Even dealing with Guy, he could maintain his own pace well enough, but Elmesia was simply too much for him.

“Oh? Don’t you think you could beat Rimuru?”

Elmesia seemed to take an interest. But Leon wasn’t going to accept the challenge.

“Whether I can beat him isn’t the issue. There’s no point in antagonizing him. I gain nothing from it and stand to lose a great deal, don’t I?”

Leon’s eyes said it all. You made the same conclusion, didn’t you? And Elmesia agreed.

“Indeed, indeed. And if you build a friendship, you could gain a lot from it. A change of heart in Rimuru could have some very disquieting results, but any leap forward comes with risk.”

That made sense to Leon, who all but assumed Elmesia shared his thoughts.

“Exactly. Personally, I’d welcome any demon lord who’s open to reason. I think Rimuru was smart to join hands with the demon—er, ex–demon lords Carillon and Frey. The only problem with that is—”

“Is the way you’ve been acting?”

“…”

He wanted to deny it but was in no position to. The whole reason Leon and Rimuru weren’t on good terms came down to Leon’s mishandling of Shizu.

“But very well. I will make some overtures along those lines for you shortly. If Tempest and El Dorado start taking potshots at each other, it would be highly annoying for us as well. But ah yes, the children. I did see them, actually. They seemed to enjoy the festival very much.”

“They did? So—”

“Now, now, not so fast. Ah, this cake is so lovely!”

Leon was normally the epitome of calmness, but he was reaching the end of his rope. This, he bitterly thought, was exactly why I didn’t want to come here. But now was no time for complaints.

“Among those children, was there a little girl by the name of Chloe?”

Asking so directly like this came with risks. There was no guarantee Elmesia wouldn’t try to deceive him, and Leon always endeavored to keep Chloe herself away from danger. But he accepted Elmesia as a friend, and in these urgent times, he didn’t want to withhold secrets from her. It was with all that in mind that Leon decided to come out with it.

“Ah, so you finally see fit to believe me? Very well, demon lord Leon. If you trust in me, I won’t hesitate to cooperate with you.”

Elmesia was signaling a change in atmosphere. She turned toward Leon. Now they were both ready to compare notes. The demon lord Rimuru was in custody of five children—Kenya Misaki, Ryota Sekiguchi, Gail Gibson, Alice Rondo, and…Chloe Aubert. The name of the girl Leon had spent his whole life searching for.

“…Did you know that from the start?”

“You know, you are far too silent for your own good. You don’t care if people misunderstand you, you never reveal your true feelings to anyone, and you try to handle everything by yourself. That is precisely why the champion Shizue Izawa never trusted you. Isn’t it, ex-Hero?”

If Leon had ever spoken honestly with Shizu, maybe their relationship could have turned out differently. Elmesia was teasing him about that. She knew Leon was a nice person, deep down—and that was why she couldn’t put up with him being reviled and feared as a demon lord now.

“Hmph,” he replied. “Enough with your silly suspicions. I… I’ve sacrificed a great many things. I’m willing to do anything to rescue her. No matter how bad a reputation it gives me, I’ll gladly accept it all.”

This was the truth. As a former Hero and protector of humankind, he realized one day that strictly doing good wouldn’t be enough to reach his goals. Ever since then, he never recoiled from getting his hands dirty as he dauntlessly pursued his desires. It was too late to pretend otherwise. He wouldn’t attempt to justify his actions. That was the rule, and the faith, that he lived by.

“Ah, you always were rather inflexible. Do you want Chloe to hate your guts as well?”

“Silence. So Rimuru is taking good care of these children, is he? Then he must be trying to lure me into some scheme of his.”

“You have so far failed to eliminate the Rozzos, or Cerberus, or even the demon lord Luminus. And it’s troubling you, isn’t it, Leon?”

“You really know everything, don’t you?” he whispered, the strength drained from his body. It was a reminder of how extensive Elmesia’s intelligence network was and how right he was to enlist her assistance. At the same time, it also struck him with fear. He was afraid of her—not militarily, but politically—and that certainly didn’t make it any easier to deal with her.

“Right, well, enough picking on you for now, Leon. Based on our investigation, Tempest and Lubelius are in the clear. The demon lord Luminus truly intends to stick to her treaty with the demon lord Rimuru. That much, you know, is obvious enough from the actions of Hinata, their paladin captain. As for Cerberus, it’s a bit harder to judge them. Much about them remains a mystery, and their bosses do a poor job of working with each other—perhaps on purpose, it seems. So there’s only so much we can learn about their internals from the outside. Let me move on to the Rozzos for now. They are bad news. They’re doing away with all their protections in the north in order to attack Lubelius, according to my sources. Every agent in the Selt Foreign Information Bureau is being deployed, apparently, and it’s currently quite a mess over there.”

The northern nations to the East were lightly guarded, and battle was about to erupt in Lubelius. The news presented a serious problem to Leon.

“Then Guy must be making a move.”

And this was it. To be exact, the demon lord Guy wouldn’t lift a finger—but the demons under him were bound to kick up some dirt. If Guy himself decided to join in, nobody could stop the world from being destroyed then. Even Elmesia understood that, but that didn’t make the situation any less dangerous for humankind. Certain demons in Guy’s stable—Vert and Bleu—made certain of that.

“Yes, that’s what I’m afraid of. It’d present a serious problem for us all. Unless someone stops his underlings, that might spell the end of the Western Nations…”

Elmesia glanced at Leon, who appeared genuinely concerned.

“D-don’t look at me like that! I’m just—!!”

“You’re starting to sound like your old self again, Leon.”

“N-no, I…”

“No need to torture yourself. You don’t need to put on airs around me. It is cute, but now is no time to play with you.”

Even in an emergency like this, Elmesia never changed. It honestly impressed Leon.

“Well,” he replied, “I’m sorry, but I’m going to work toward my own goals. I’d like to make some overtures with Guy, but he’s such a contrarian. Negotiating poorly with him would have the opposite effect.”

“Oh, I’m quite aware of that. We need to show we’re making an honest effort, or that demon lord might lose all interest in the human race. If the Crusaders aren’t able to move right now, our only choice might be to deploy the Magus to the northern regions. I’ll organize a dragon transport to take you partway there.”

“…Are you sure?”

“I told you, there’s no need for panic. But time is of the essence, isn’t it? You’d better get going soon.”

Events were proceeding faster than Leon thought. Not even he could teleport someplace he hadn’t been before—and Lubelius was protected by a barrier anyway. If he was headed there now, air travel was the fastest way. He appreciated Elmesia’s offer a great deal.

“Thank you, then.”

“I wish you’d be that thankful more often. Oh, and I’m sure this goes without saying, but Cerberus absolutely wants to ensnare you. It’s a blatant trap; do you understand me?”

“I know,” came the terse reply.

“I’m sure you do,” she said with a slightly sad smile. Leon had always been that way—never showing any external sign of weakness, never giving up on his mission, no matter the danger. He never lost heart that way; a boy living like a true Hero. Even as demon lord, that still held true.

But he’s still as clumsy as always. He hasn’t changed a bit from back then…

It made Elmesia happy and sad in equal measures.

A little while later, as he boarded the dragon ship, Leon suddenly turned back toward Elmesia, as if remembering something.

“To repay you for your advice, I should probably tell you that Jaune has disappeared. You should be careful, too.”

“What?!”

She reared back in genuine surprise. It made Leon chuckle a bit.

“Intelligence is practically your hobby, and you didn’t know that? Glad I could help, then.”

Then he turned back around and left, the thrill of victory echoing in his heart.

After he was gone:

“You’re kidding me. Three of the Primal Demons, while I have half of the Magus deployed? What kind of sick joke is this…? But I suppose it would require that much to make Leon take action, wouldn’t it? I misread him again…”

Thus, Elmesia was left behind, hand on her forehead, muttering about all these people selfishly ruining her plans.

We had a clear sky from daybreak, a pleasant breeze heralding the start of a wonderful day. That, at least, was my expectation…

“R-reporting in! A group has penetrated the cathedral grounds! There’s talk of battle on the site!”

…but the paladin apprentice who came storming in told me just how wrong I was.

“Calm down. What’s their size and how much damage is there?”

Hinata, enjoying breakfast with me, kept a cool head. Again, whenever I see her like that, I feel so glad I’m not her enemy.

“Their numbers are unknown, my lord, but we’ve confirmed close to a hundred hostiles. Their strength is at least B-plus in rank, and they’re demonstrating a knowledge of our nation’s internal layout.”

Nearly a hundred B-plus fighters made for a pretty formidable force. And if they knew the city’s layout, I’d have to assume they were with Granville.

“…As of now, our apprentice knights have suffered extensive casualties. We have several members of the Master Rooks downed in action as well. Fortunately, no civilians have been harmed.”

The messenger was giving us the news straight, and it wasn’t rosy. I’d normally be losing my temper right about now, but I was a guest here, so I resisted the urge to butt in and just sat there quietly. Maybe that sounds cruel of me, but this just isn’t my turf.

“I see. Then I will assume our enemy is Gren, leader of the Seven Days Clergy, and the Rozzo family under him. They’re no doubt packing more force than they’re letting on right now. Send out the deployment order for all garrisoned Crusaders!”

It sounded like the enemy had taken even more casualties than our side, but Hinata wasn’t going to let up. I knew she wouldn’t. But something still worried me.

“By the way, this isn’t the same cathedral that we left our instruments in yesterday, is it?”

If so, that was trouble. Baton and the rest of the orchestra installed their kit there for an acoustics check. I doubted there were that many cathedrals in this nation, so I had a very bad feeling about this. And whenever I had a feeling like that…

“That’s the only cathedral in the country.”

…Yes, it usually turned out to be right. In fact, it had yet to be wrong.

Already dreading what was to come, I turned toward Diablo.

He just smiled back and said “Not a problem.” Apparently, he opened up a Thought Communication with Venom the moment the messenger arrived—capable as always, I see. And Venom’s response was just as commendable. Baton and the orchestra were already in the cathedral for the day, but he made sure they were kept under careful guard, not letting anyone suspicious come near them. They were still making final instrument adjustments, even.

“They’re still at it with an army advancing on them? Man, oh man.”

“Heh-heh-heh-heh… Of course they are. If Venom couldn’t handle this much of a crisis, I would never have brought him in to assist.”

I could learn from that confidence.

“Well, we can’t sit around, either. Let’s go.”

Trying to hide my feelings of inadequacy, I used Dominate Space to open a portal to the cathedral. I had begun to master this a little more; even within Lubelius, protected by its holy barrier, I had no problem launching it. I suppose that barrier didn’t interfere with internal teleportation or the like.

“…Phew. I can’t even give you snide comments about that anymore. I’ll join you through there.”

Hinata looked a tad fatigued. I was about to ask why she wasn’t looking so hot this morning but stopped myself, not wanting it to be misconstrued. See? I can learn from my mistakes. I don’t want anyone calling me inconsiderate again.

We were also joined by a man named Nicolaus. I thought he was a servant since he brought us breakfast, but it turns out he was a cardinal and chief counsel for the Western Holy Church. He had a fancy theologian’s robe on beneath his apron, so I guess he wasn’t lying, but why was someone that high up tending to Hinata’s meals? The plot thickens, I suppose…but that didn’t matter right now.

Our kids were in the cathedral as well. They were all up bright and early, so I sent them over a little while ago. Diablo said they were under full protection, but you never knew what could happen in this world. Taking a deep breath, I quickly transported myself over to the cathedral.

Once I was inside, I could hear the sounds of intense battle beyond the walls. Baton and the rest were there, looking understandably frightened, but then I heard Shion’s booming voice.

“Do not lose your composure! Have you forgotten what Sir Rimuru said? He himself told you to concentrate on your music, for you are guaranteed to be safe. So why have you stopped practicing?!”

Um… That’s kind of an insane thing to say, isn’t it? We’re in the middle of a battlefield, Shion. Ordering noncombatants not to be frightened right now was really a big ask, I thought…

“My apologies, Lady Shion. I think we were all just a little caught in the moment.”

…Huh? Did Shion’s scolding actually restore the focus to Baton’s eyes? And now here he was, turning back toward the performers and lifting his arms up high. They must’ve noticed me by this point, because I could feel their eyes on me. I don’t know if that was the cause, but now everyone seemed more relaxed, their tension draining. They were even smiling.

“Let’s continue our rehearsal!”

Nobody voiced any dissent. Baton, seemingly taking the orchestra’s agreement as a given, began conducting—and beautiful music filled the room, not a single note out of place. It almost seemed powerful enough to drown out the war going on outside. Listening on, I couldn’t help but be proud of everyone I brought along.

Having this battle gain a sudden musical accompaniment made it almost seem like a stage show—but of course, this was no production.

In another moment, I found the kids and ordered them to stay where they were. “But I wanna—” began Kumara before I shut her down. Right now, she was by herself—only one tail—and just like the other children, she was too young for actual battle yet. Calling Shion over, I ordered her to protect them with Diablo.

“What are you going to do, Sir Rimuru?”

“Me? I’m gonna squish these roaches. Whoever’s facing off against Hinata’s forces is the cause of this, and it’s time to kick ’em outta here.”

Normally, it’d be ill-advised for a guest like me to step into the fray. But watching Baton’s orchestra give their all like this, I wanted to do whatever I could to make tomorrow’s concert a success.

“…Very well,” Diablo said.

“Hmm? What’s the matter, Vice Secretary? It’s rare for you to actually accept an order from Sir Rimuru.”

Shion gave Diablo a surprised look. Yeah, I was kind of floored by that, too. I all but assumed Diablo would volunteer to join me, but if I wanted to keep this scene from growing any bigger, this was probably best.

“All right. The chamber is yours!”

“Best of luck to you.”

“Ah…”

Shion seemed to have her concerns, but given what she just told Diablo, she was in no position to protest now. That suited me just fine, so I flung myself outside and into battle.

Enemies and allies were scattered across the cathedral entrance. The main door was battered down, not a trace of it left, and over a hundred people were currently engaged in battle.

Among the standouts, certainly, was the figure Hinata was up against. He was an old man, but his back was straight as a fence post, his moves nimble and artistic. He was dressed in a fancy-looking suit, and his sharpened eyes indicated he was no one to be trifled with. He wasn’t a monster but likely not human, either—and looking at the aura around him, I could tell he was packing a formidable amount of force.

“Who’s that?”

“Granville Rozzo. Leader of the Five Elders and head of the Rozzo family.”

“Him…?”

That made sense to me.

“Maria,” the man said, “find Lady Luminus and bring her here. If she resists, kill her if you must.”

At his summons, a woman stepped in front of me. Her features reminded me of Maribel, but she was a young adult in age. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were blood relatives, but I couldn’t say if she was Maribel’s mother.

Understood. Failed to confirm blood relation with genetic evidence.

Whoa, you can tell just by visuals? Cool, I guess.

So if it was no coincidence that Maria looked like Maribel, that made me wonder what her strength was like. She sure didn’t look like she’d hold her own against Luminus. Was Granville seriously ordering her to seize that woman—a demon lord?

“Very well. I will begin immediately.”

The woman called Maria walked off, never looking my way. It was all so mechanical—all I could say was that it wasn’t like any regular human being. I couldn’t gauge her strength, but I guessed Luminus would before too much longer.

Me, I needed to get Granville out of here. If we could talk this over, then great. If not, I was prepared to end this quickly.

“Nice to meet you, Granville. I’m the demon lord Rimuru.”

Any decent conversation needed to begin with a greeting. I had a hunch our relationship wasn’t going to be too friendly, but we might as well start on the right foot, at least.

“You’re Rimuru? How dare you take my Maribel from me…”

“Whoa, whoa, she started it—”

Yeahhhh, I guess he’s got it in for me.

But Maribel’s death was an accident. It seemed unreasonable to blame me for it. I know telling him “I didn’t mean to kill her” would be a dumb excuse…but really, if Maribel didn’t start gunning for me, none of that would’ve happened. Not that I expected Granville to accept it. Yuuki said he’d try reasoning with him, but now that I no longer trusted Yuuki, I could kind of imagine what he had said about me. I doubted this was something we could iron out with words any longer.

Report. Regardless of what was said, you would likely have been in conflict with him.

Yeah, I was sure. Something told me it would be just as hard to coexist with Granville as it was with Maribel. In which case, I’d just have to overpower him.

“…But I guess it’s pointless to say that, isn’t it? Then let’s prove to each other who’s in the right.”

“Heh-heh-heh… Say what you will. You think a demon lord upstart like you could defeat me? I’ll fight you later, so just stay there and watch as your allies are picked off, one by one.”

A demon lord upstart like me? Given that he used to be Luminus’s servant, this guy sure seemed to like his chances. I mean, yeah, the power of a monster depended a great deal on how old they were…but any demon lord, no matter how young, should’ve at least given him pause.

Guess this guy’s more confident than I thought. But now someone else was here to challenge him.

“There is no need for Lady Hinata or Sir Rimuru to step up. Gren of the Seven Days Clergy, your fight begins with us!”

It was Nicolaus who shouted this. Isn’t he way too up there in the hierarchy for this stuff? Then I remembered—Cardinal Nicolaus was the guy who set a trap and cast Disintegration on Granville. Gutsy move, definitely. He was currently accompanied by three Crusader captains—the subleader Renard, along with Arnaud and Litus. Fritz and Bacchus would’ve been training at the labyrinth right now, so they weren’t here. If this was gonna happen… But again, that’s not for me to judge.

“Behold, Lady Hinata! Watch us in action!”

At Nicolaus’s orders, Renard propelled himself forward. Not just him, actually—Arnaud and Litus as well, all rushing Granville at the same time. These three captains were attempting to buy enough time for Nicolaus to cast Disintegration again, I figured. A pretty grandiose strategy, but that must be how wary Nicolaus was of his foe.

Renard used his magnificent sword moves to keep his foe at bay. Arnaud’s keen perception let him match every move of Renard’s, as Litus provided handy backup for them both. Normally, an attack from this trio would end the battle right then—but it was well within Granville’s capabilities. Like a picture from a textbook, he engaged all three of them at once, wholly ignoring Nicolaus’s spellcasting. That creeped me out a bit, as did the serene look on his face, not a single bead of sweat on his forehead. He, I felt, was simply on a different tier from them.

Nicolaus had only one verse left in the spell. Its effects would summon a layered magical circle, with Granville standing in the middle of its light-infused dungeon. Once the Disintegration was complete, there was no way to block its dazzling rays, as it dismantled the soul of its target at the speed of light.

That’s what should have happened. But now, all common sense was thrown out the window.

“Mm… A fine spell, there. No better way to read the flow of your magic.”

Granville’s voice sounded frightfully cold as he spoke, like a teacher commanding his student from high above. Hinata, hearing it, muttered a soft “No…” as the blood drained from her face. She must’ve noticed something, but there was no time to inform Nicolaus.

“Time to die! Disintegration!!”

The rays of light were cast, heading straight for Granville—and suddenly, they switched paths and were sucked straight into the sword in his hand. It happened in an instant. Even with my perception accelerated a million times over, it was difficult to pinpoint. But I recognized exactly what happened—because I had witnessed it before. It was Overblade: Meltslash, the most powerful of sword skills, just like what I saw from Hinata.

“…Spread out!”

Renard and the others instantly heeded Hinata’s order. They worked fast, true to their military precision, but not fast enough. Once Granville threw out his Meltslash, it immediately generated a fan-shaped shock wave—and in that single moment, Hinata pushed forward, came in front of Nicolaus, and stopped Granville’s sword.

The frontal force of the Meltslash sent Hinata flying. She bashed against Nicolaus—which kept her safe, but I’m sure Nicolaus was out of the battle. If she wasn’t wielding the Legend-class Moonlight right now, they’d both be a pile of ash. That—and even the secondary shock wave blew Renard and the other captains away. They were all on the ground, knocked out by that single blast.

“A-are you all right?!”

Nobody answered.

I could detect a twinge of panic in Hinata’s face as she glared at Granville. Even someone as cold as her didn’t expect this level of force—and now it was Granville doing the talking.

“Mmm, I couldn’t kill a single one of you? I must be getting rusty. You have that demon lord over there to thank.”

“Huh? What do you…?”

Hinata took a glance at me, growing calmer. Now she seemed to understand.

“Oh. You saved them? Thanks, Rimuru.”

You’re welcome.

I gave Hinata a light nod. Yes, Renard and the others were merely knocked out because I lent them a hand. The moment I realized this was trouble, I launched Absolute Defense—otherwise, they’d have vanished without a trace.

The wall that skill built was perfect, I thought, but I guess I expected too much from it. Absolute Defense—part of the ultimate skill Uriel, Lord of Vows—could block any sort of attack. There were some exceptions, such as Yuuki’s Anti-Skill, so I couldn’t rely too much on it, but it was always a helpful arrow in my quiver.

However, although it was perfect for self-defense, trying to deploy it on someone else (multiple targets, even) blunted its effects. Even if a little force got through, I could always count on Infinite Regeneration to wipe up any problems—that’s why it so perfectly defended me. But not the paladin captains. The little bit of the shock wave that penetrated the Absolute Defense pushed them to the brink of death. They really escaped disaster by a hair’s breadth.

“I had no idea someone besides me learned Meltslash. Color me just a little bit surprised.”

“Mmm… An arrogant thought, Hinata. With all the years that have passed, some have reached your level, you know.”

Yeah. I mean, I could use it, so… (Although, admittedly, that was just Raphael doing its usual Analyze and Assess job on it.)

Still, to completely leverage Meltslash, you needed full, intimate knowledge of how Disintegration worked. If there was a handful of people wielding that now, I guess the human race was a lot more capable than I thought. It did make sense, though—a human Hero once sealed Veldora away, so at least some of them had to be that strong. Even being a demon lord, I really couldn’t rest on my laurels.

But look at me. My mind was wandering, and I really couldn’t afford that.

“So what is this I see? High officers in the paladins, almost killed by something of this level? How worthlessly pathetic. You couldn’t even begin to compare with the sword masters of the past, to say nothing of myself.”

Granville seemed to believe his own claims. He honestly didn’t think Hinata would pose a challenge.

“That’s a funny thing to say. Care to test that out?”

Hinata flashed a cold smile. She was just as serious, it seemed, and I had no room to interfere…

Then a sudden thundering explosion by the cathedral told me how incorrect I was.

“Ah, Razul? I ordered him to destroy the cathedral, and it seems he’s doing a thorough job.”

“What did you…?”

The kids and the orchestra were still in there. Shion and Diablo were charged with protecting them, but if all-out war was erupting, they were bound to be caught in it. I was hoping to make short work of Granville, but at this point, maybe it was best to eliminate this uninvited guest first.

With that in mind, I attempted to teleport myself to the cathedral. But Granville stopped me.

“Demon lord Rimuru, I will let this group entertain you. Enjoy! You may even find some of your own kind among them!”

Several people stepped up at his order. Immediately, I understood what he meant. The group consisted of many races and many ages, no real theme to them, but they each had something in common—more magicules than any regular person would possess.

“Otherworlders? Ah. Yeah, maybe there’s one or two Japanese people in here.”

Now was not the time to act all casual about this. I had ten or so otherworlders attacking me at once. Like Glenda from the past, they seemed to be under the effects of a locking curse, robbed of their freedom of movement—and unlocking that curse wouldn’t stop them, by the looks of it.

Still…

“Heh-heh-heh. You intend to fight? You realize they’re only doing this because I’ve enthralled them, do you not?”

How treacherous of him. I’m sure he said that to make me hesitate…and I hate to admit it, but it worked.

“I heard how soft and weak-minded you were. Can you kill innocent human beings? Can you tell yourself this is war and step up to defend yourself? Not that I mind either way, of course.”

Granville only saw the summoned otherworlders as weapons, nothing more. To him, they only had value as throwaway pawns. And he was right—killing them shouldn’t make any difference to me. He really was a menace. Clearly, he had done his research. If Diablo or Shion were taking these guys on, they’d show absolutely no mercy, I’m sure. But did that make it okay, or not okay, for me…?

“Ah, dammit! What a pain in the ass!”

I had no time to agonize over this. The children were in danger if I didn’t do something fast, and now the damage was just gonna get worse. At this point, there was just one option to take. As annoying as it was, I’d have to unlock the curses of every one of these guys and knock them out nonlethally.

Thus, I was now an active participant in this battle.

My fellow humans were closing in on me. For all I knew, maybe they were from some other planet (or dimension) besides Earth—but now my mind was wandering again. Guess I was back in my element.

Otherworlders were blessed with extraordinary physical skills, as well as a variety of special skills that were impossible to predict. That made them dangerous, of course, but they weren’t a threat to me. Not even Glenda could hurt me, whether I put up a defense or not. That’s how all-powerful the combo of Absolute Defense and Infinite Regeneration was.

These foes were still a handful, but not much more than that. With enough time, I could safely neutralize all of them. I wasn’t about to go easy on them, but that was my honest assessment. Besides, I had Raphael, which meant that going easy wasn’t an option to start with.

So I used part of my vast computational skills to begin surveying the situation.

First, I looked at Hinata, fighting right next to me. Granville, who had mercifully shut up for me, was gracefully clashing swords with her, both of them equipped with nothing but their rapiers. They held them in their right hands, their left kept behind their backs for magic-casting purposes.

“Tch! So when you posed as Gren, you were hiding your full powers? I recall that you specialize in bare-handed close-range combat, but you’re rather handy with a sword as well.”

“Heh-heh! I have experience with all weapons. I just never needed to use it before now.”

“Oh, no? Then let me strip you of your mistaken confidence.”

Hinata was leaving nothing on the table. That much was clear from how she used Moonlight, her sword. What I wondered about was Granville’s blade. If he could use it to keep Hinata’s at bay, it couldn’t have been any normal weapon.

Understood. Unable to determine weapon class due to interference. It is believed to be classed at Legend or higher.

Hmm. A surprising appraisal. Raphael hadn’t made any mistakes as of late, but here you go. Perhaps I underestimated Granville quite a bit.

I doubted it, but was Hinata in, you know, big trouble here? I mean, I didn’t think she’d lose or anything…but I couldn’t dismiss the possibility, and that unnerved me. Not even Raphael had a bead on his skill level.

So Hinata and Granville’s duel piqued my interest, but I had even bigger fish to fry—namely, the intense battle I was sensing from the direction of the cathedral. I honed the accuracy of my Magic Sense, turning my eyes toward the fray.

There, I saw a man in a suit of dark armor. Amazingly, he was fighting against Shion and Diablo at once—and not giving an inch of ground. I suppose he wouldn’t. His magicule level was higher than both of them combined.

“Damn, you’re kidding me. You were hiding someone with power beyond a demon lord’s?”

“Of course. When facing the demon lords or other monsters who threaten humankind, you can never have too many aces up your sleeve.”

Granville must’ve picked up on my muttering if he replied to it. He was in the middle of fighting Hinata and still had the time to answer me. Wow. But hey, if he was open to chatting, we’d get some more info from him—and if it distracted him along the way, that was two birds with one stone.

“He has to outclass Roy, right? That demon lord stand-in? Maybe stronger than you?”

I worked a bit of a taunt into my question.

“His name is Razul. My friend for the past millennium.”

Glad he was nice enough to reply. Hinata was still silent; I suppose she understood my aims and chose not to interfere. So I continued.

“Your friend, huh? But Razul doesn’t seem human to me.”

“What of it?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. I just wanted to find out what he really was. Now I knew he wasn’t human, at least, and that was a step forward, but…

“Well, nothing…”

I felt talked down to a bit, which was annoying.

“He comes from a long-lived race, you see. My partner during my glory years. Given how he’s got far more power than a paladin captain, I’m sure your underlings must feel overwhelmed right now.”

Granville was right. Shion and Diablo were having a hard time of it. I thought having Diablo around kept us safe, but maybe that was too optimistic?

…Hang on. Actually, here was something weird. It was like Diablo’s having trouble focusing or something.

Report. Unusual rifts in space detected. It is a sign of someone using Spatial Transport to appear.

The warning from Raphael came all too suddenly. It almost never gave me alerts like that unless things were really serious, so I had to treat it as an emergency. No need to go easy any longer. Diablo must’ve been picking up on this anomaly, and it was keeping him from concentrating.

(Ranga, you there?)

(Yes, my master!)

Ah, good! He was usually curled up in my shadow these days.

(Back up Shion, but keep yourself concealed!)

(Right away!)

At once, he used Shadow Motion to dive into Shion’s shadow. When I saw he was ready, I gave out my next order.

(Diablo, is something bothering you?)

(My pardons, Sir Rimuru. I know my difficulties in this battle are unforgivable, but the fact is that this adversary is more powerful than I anticipated. He is a highly evolved example of the uncommon insectoid race, and to demons, they are a kind of natural enemy.)

Diablo described insectoids as cross-dimensional magic beasts with elemental powers. They appeared now and then in this world, but it was extremely uncommon for them to evolve into humanoid creatures. I figured Diablo could still win against him, but he wasn’t. Something far worse was troubling him—and now that this something was incoming, I wanted Diablo to address it first.

(Shion, you heard him. If Diablo’s making excuses, it must be something really serious.)

The moment I said that, I could practically feel Diablo’s discomfort from over here. He’d never resort to excuses like this usually, so I immediately knew he was hiding something. And if I wanted him to retain full freedom in this battle, I needed Shion’s and Ranga’s help.

(Shion, I just planted Ranga in your shadow. Both of you work together to defeat Razul, that insectoid.)

(No need to order us!)

(I will live up to your expectations, Master!)

Looks like Shion picked up on Diablo’s difficulties as well. I’m sure she would’ve taken measures even without an order. But if she did, it would’ve been Shion alone against the mighty Razul, which would only be more dangerous. Not that I didn’t trust her, but I wanted our plans to remain as safe as possible. Maybe setting two allies against him was a cowardly move, but in an actual battle like this, guaranteed victory was always your final goal.

(Diablo, go take care of whatever’s bothering you. Also, try to trust and rely on your allies more.)

(…!! Keh-heh-heh-heh… Very well. I suppose I thought a little too much of myself today. Allow me to take care of this problem at once!)

Not just a “little,” I’d say. But at least he sounded a bit more like himself again.

(Right, everyone… Begin!)

(((Yes, my lord!)))

I wasn’t used to giving out orders like these, but all three gladly accepted them. Now I just had to hope for the best, as I brought my full focus back to neutralizing the otherworlders.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh… Sir Rimuru sees everything, I suppose. I would be a fool to think otherwise.”

“Of course he does, Vice Secretary. Just go and deal with your problem already!”

“You don’t have to remind me. As I think you’ve noticed, Razul is more powerful than you. Are you sure you’ll be fine, Secretary?”

“Hee-hee-hee! I never thought you’d worry for me, Vice Secretary…or Diablo, I should say. You’re strong, I’ll admit. Stronger than me, even. So go defeat that foe so Sir Rimuru has nothing to worry about! That’s your job, isn’t it?”

“…!! Keh…heh-heh-heh. You called me by name…”

“Just go! Leave this fight to me!”

“I believe in you, Lady Shion. Not because Sir Rimuru ordered me to—the feeling is genuine.”

“Just Shion is fine. It’s weird, you showing me proper respect. There’s no heart in it.”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh… Best of luck to you, Shion.”

“You too, Diablo.”

In that short conversation, conducted without any eye contact, Shion and Diablo finally accepted each other. They both had overinflated senses of pride, perhaps, but deep down, both of them knew the extent of each other’s power.

Diablo walked off, not looking back as he gave orders to his staff.

“Venom, protect those children like your life depends on it. Or sacrifice your life for it—either way, just do it.”

Rimuru had given no orders for Diablo’s own forces. He thus saw no need to consider their feelings. All that really mattered here, he coldly reasoned, were the children and the orchestra.

“Oh, um, all right.”

Wish he could’ve considered us a bit more, Venom thought—but he wasn’t foolish enough to say it. If he did, Diablo would’ve ended his life before any foe could.

Besides:

Well, looks like Lady Shion and Sir Ranga are handling the major threat. With all of us, protecting this area should be doable enough. It beats fighting Sir Diablo, at least…

That summed up Venom’s feelings on the subject.

“May victory be yours, Sir Diablo!”

“Silence. I have no interest in you worrying over me.”

Diablo wasted no time coldly brushing off Venom’s encouragement.

There’s the Diablo I know…

Venom’s memories of being forcibly pressed into service by him flashed through his mind. He banished them as quickly as he could. If Diablo ever saw him looking disgruntled, there was no telling how he’d react.

As he mentally refocused on his mission, Diablo left the scene to his friends and strode off the battlefield.

He teleported to his destination, reappearing in a spot removed from the cathedral, and outside of Lubelius itself—a corner of a vast, vegetation-free plain. Awaiting him was a beautiful blue-haired woman in a dark-red maid outfit. Several paladins were on the ground at her feet—even these guardians of humanity, each one boasting the power of a thousand, were helpless against her.

“How nice to see you again, Noir. I was growing impatient with your lateness.”

“Indeed, I could feel your murderous rage from miles away, but I had some business I couldn’t extract myself from. But I’d really prefer if you called me Diablo, Bleu…or I suppose you had a name, too, didn’t you, Raine?”

Raine, the blue-haired beauty, gave this response a satisfied smile. “That’s right. The name Raine was granted to me by Rouge, the Original Red, the great Sir Guy himself, strongest of the Primal Demons. It’s not at all like being named by some mutt of a demon lord like you were.”

“Huh? Are you looking to die? Or maybe you want to be detached from this world entirely. Keh-heh-heh-heh… I’ll be happy to oblige.”

Diablo’s smile remained, but his gold eyes were no longer friendly. The red pupils within them narrowed as he eyed his prey.

“Let us battle, Diablo! Ah, I cannot wait for this. Ever since I detected you fighting Blanc over to the east, I’ve always wanted a chance at you.”

“Ridiculous. If you think this will be any fight at all, you are sorely mistaken.”

“Well, why don’t we begin and find out?!”

With that signal, Raine made good her question and went on the move, dropping a chop with her hand that moved beyond the speed of sound. A casual wave of Diablo’s arm deflected it. It delighted Raine. The wish she kindled for many long years was finally happening.

Yes… Yes, this is it. I can’t have this end that quickly. We are both Primal, and yet you enjoy all of this freedom. No building your own factions, no undertaking someone else’s mission… All demons want nothing more than a physical body, and you laughed that off…

It was fair to say that Raine was jealous of Diablo. For someone like her, who followed the rules by the book, his behavior was inexcusable.

He fought Sir Guy to a draw, as loath as I am to admit it…and here he is now, blithely wandering around, no desire for more strength. As a demon, he needs to gain a body the right way! He needs to strive for what lies beyond his evolution!

All of Raine’s power was being thrown Diablo’s way. After stewing over these emotions for years, she was now acting on them.

Diablo—Noir, the Original Black—was a unique demon. Long, long ago, he and Rouge fought to be crowned the strongest of their kind. The match, while ending in a tie, wound up sealing both of their respective fates. Rouge manifested in the physical world, gaining untold powers, but Noir refused to change, turning down his chance at evolution.

The cases of Blanc, Jaune, and Violet could be understood—those three colors were all meddling with one another, preventing any evolution, creating a sort of balanced rivalry that remained to this day. But Noir, despite having no such restriction, simply remained his natural self and enjoyed life, as if he thought the other six shades were all fools. That is how things had been for tens of thousands of years.

And it was exactly why Raine could never forgive Diablo. He was so selfish, going wherever his whims took him, living in perfect freedom—and Guy, the strongest of all, recognized him as an equal.

“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! You’re right. All this dodging can hardly count as a battle. You always were good at evading things, if nothing else.”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh… I told you: Don’t get the wrong idea. I simply have no need to tap my full force against the likes of you. Also, I should note that I have zero intention of avoiding you.”

“Making apologies already? I’m sure you’re still too new in your body to tap its full potential, but don’t expect me to accept your pathetic excuses.”

Raine fired a bolt of magic from her fist. Exposed to the laws of nature, it transformed into a Nuclear Cannon blast—one Raine called for with no casting time. But Diablo, naturally, had expected this, not demonstrating a moment of concern as he cast dispulsion magic to make the nuclear blast vanish. This is what battle between high-level demons is about: breaking through one another’s layers of magical barriers and counterattack spells to land a lethal blow on your enemy. Neither side had any need for time-consuming spellcasting as they threw supercharged blasts of magic at each other.

And as more and more time passed…

“I—I can’t believe it! You were drawing this while you were fighting?!”

“That’s right, Raine. To me, fighting you was merely busywork. One can hardly call it an engaging game if you can already see the ending.”

Raine was in shock. The outcome was already set in stone.

Surrounding Raine was a layered circle, alive and glowing with magical runes. It had appeared in the air just now at Diablo’s signal, and now that she was in it, Raine could no longer move. Whenever she tried to, even a little, Diablo could summon any magic she wanted against her.

It was called:

“A… A multilayered Disintegration…? The antithesis to all demons, a magic dangerous enough to crush us all… Why do you…?!”

Diablo looked coldly down upon her, a slight sense of pity in his otherwise-frozen mind, as if he couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t know.

“Ridiculous. As long as my faith in my master is deep enough, I can even hold sway over spiritual particles. Common sense, don’t you see?”

“Are you insane?! How could that ever be common sense…?!”

“But let me extend you the courtesy of ending this. You have insulted my wondrous master Sir Rimuru, and soon you will burn with regret.”

Seven rays of light were released. Even one of these deadly arrows held the power of absolute destruction, and now they came crashing down upon Raine…

From the bottom of her heart, Luminus was irritated.

Right here, in the midst of the concert she invited the demon lord Rimuru to stage, she had allowed Granville to arrange an all-out rebellion. Such a dreadful error was unheard of in the history of her nation. She was taken by an urge to run to the cathedral and massacre everyone inside herself, but her sense of reason (and her instincts) restrained her. She realized that, as public of an attack as this was, it was undoubtedly a diversion.

Louis and Gunther, stationed by Luminus’s side, stayed silent, not willing to set her off. They said nothing—like Luminus, they were greatly disturbed but not stupid enough to prioritize the wrong thing here.

If Granville’s blitz was a diversion, what purpose was there to it?

I’m sure he knows about my cherished ark. That means there’s a nonzero chance he’s thinking about releasing the girl inside…

The ark was the greatest of Luminus’s secret treasures. But she had an even bigger reason to keep it absolutely safe—and she knew Granville was aware of that reason. This is why it was hard to imagine him gunning for the ark—but still, she trusted her instincts. And she was correct to do so.

Here she was, inside her innermost chamber—a burial room, one nobody was supposed to know about. It was currently playing host to an uninvited guest.

“Well now, guess our little home invasion got spotted, eh? Or were you just beefin’ up the security around here?”

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! A pity. But here’s a bit of prey we can have some fun with. Think it’s all right for us to raise a little hell?”

“Fine by me, but you better be careful. That li’l beauty over there’s a menace, through and through. You’re the demon lord Luminus, ain’t you?”

The two home invaders—Laplace and Footman—stepped in, acting less than polite to their host. Luminus watched them as she elegantly relaxed on a couch in front of the ark she absolutely had to protect.

To her, this pair didn’t even remotely seem like a challenge. But something about the atmosphere kept her on close guard.

Luminus took care to conceal her rage as she spoke.

“…I will ignore your attitudes for the moment. State your names.”

Laplace was the first to react. He was a bit surprised that someone expected their break-in, but Granville had mentioned the possibility. To address it, he had provided them with a guide, someone to help them traverse the multiple defense lines blocking access to the chamber.

“It is an honor to meet you. I am Laplace, the Wonder Jester and vice president of the Moderate Jesters—a kind of handyman outfit, know what I mean? And this here’s Footman.”

He deliberately took a less-than-serious approach to the greeting as he motioned toward Footman.

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! I am Footman, the Angry Jester. Glad to meet you…although I don’t think we’ll be staying long.”

Footman, to his credit, was standing strong against this demon lord. His mind worked on simple terms—if there’s an enemy, he’d crush it. Now he was just waiting for Laplace’s signal to begin.

“That—and we’ve got one more person here. C’mon in!”

Another figure emerged through the door, a blond-haired beauty.

“…”

“She’s not too talkative, mind you. I think her name was—”

“No. I remember her… Yes, yes. Maria Rozzo? The woman Granville loved?”

“Yeah! Maria! That’s the name! Wow, Lady Luminus, you two knew each other?”

Luminus winced. “I’m not your friend, you know. We are done greeting each other, and thus there’s nothing left to discuss. Going forward, we will discuss matters not with words but with fists.”

Her patience was reaching its limit. She had detected this person hiding and decided to put up with it, but with Maria now introduced, she could endure this no longer.

“Eesh, no need to be so hasty. And yeah, we all know one another now, but I got a message from Granville, too.”

“Oh?”

“Right, so listen to this: ‘I await you up above. Let us settle this, demon lord Luminus. Come soon, or else those you hold dear will die.’ So there ya go! And I think that monster oughtta be in combat with the paladin captain, Hinata, by now, so who knows how that’s gonna turn out—”

Laplace was interrupted by a strike from the lunging Louis. Luminus had lowered her hand—her signal to commence the attack.

“It’s you, isn’t it? The man who killed my brother?”

“Tchh… Can’t you at least let me finish?! Ah well. I’ll spot you an answer to that one: Yes! I killed yer body double, Roy, sure enough!”

“Hmm. I have no interest in petty revenge, but since you’re here, perhaps I can prove to you that I am far more talented than he was.”

With that, Louis began stalking his prey.

“So I’m fightin’ you, then? Better not bore me, man!”

“Hohhh-hoh-hoh-hoh! I’d ask the same of you!”

Gunther and Footman eyed each other—and in the next moment, they flew out of the burial chamber. They had their own battle to fight, and collateral damage wasn’t remotely a concern to them.

“Louis and Gunther can be so annoying. They’re normally so calm and composed, but when the time comes to battle, they simply cannot hold back their thirst for blood. But I suppose the same can be said of me. Granville, just you wait. Even with your stout ally, you’ll find it impossible to stop me!”

Luminus, too, had her eyes sharpened upon Maria, the fleeting, silent figure.

“A corpse? It couldn’t be,” she continued, almost whispering to herself. “I see Granville still hasn’t given up. Maria is dead. Even with Resurrection, the miracle of my god, nothing can be done for a soul already lost. And now look…”

The figure before her wasn’t Maria at all. It was something in the shape of her.

“But very well. Allow me to perform your last rites!”

Her aura blazing around her, Luminus stood up—and with that, she and Maria began fighting at a level beyond what a normal person could even observe. Would the winner be Luminus or this thing taking the shape of Maria?

And then…the ark was left behind in the chamber.

Everyone had left the room, not wanting to damage it. And as if waiting for that exact moment, a lone boy appeared in the darkness.

“Ha-ha-ha! I didn’t think it’d go this much to plan. Granville was absolutely right.”

It was Yuuki laughing.

Never accepting Granville’s information at face value, he had remained in the shadows as he followed the intruders in. He had successfully shrouded his presence to all, even deceiving Luminus. He usually kept himself at least a little bit detectable, so he’d be ready if things ever went south. A lot of people could detect his presence that way, and once those adversaries presumed they had the upper hand, that made it easy to put them off their guard. Yuuki was always pursuing that strategy. His accumulated experiences were paying off in vital situations, including this very one—and now they let him obtain what he wanted with practically no work at all.

“So this is the ark?”

He reached out, touching that beautiful coffin of ice.

“Whoa. So that’s what makes it a holy coffin? Matter made out of pure spiritual particles… I didn’t know you could do that.”

Now he was glad he came. He wasn’t sure anyone besides him could even lay a hand on this thing. Even a magic-burning coffin couldn’t affect Anti-Skill, and that made it perfectly possible for Yuuki to make off with this ark.

Then, without another moment of hesitation, he smashed it open. The hidden treasure Luminus worked so hard to protect shattered all too easily.

Slumbering inside it was a beautiful young woman—the Hero everyone was after, no doubt.

“Ooh, there’s a seal on this girl’s body as well? Not that it’ll work on me…but I can deactivate it later, I guess.”

Yuuki chuckled. They certainly tried to be careful. A barrier more powerful than the ark itself covered the girl’s skin from head to toe. He could take his time removing it once he was back to safety.

As he made this decision, Yuuki’s eyes turned toward the girl’s face.

“Who is this girl anyway? She seems vaguely familiar…but nah. It can’t be that.”

She looked to be around sixteen, and while her long dark-silver hair hid her privates, she didn’t have a stitch of clothing on her.

“Hmm… I guess this is technically assault or something like that, but not much I can do there…”

With that whisper, Yuuki hefted the girl’s body up.

“Well, I’ve got my Hero. Now to flee the scene.”

With one more sly grin, Yuuki quickly left the chamber.

…Why is there a Hero sleeping in an ark anyway? Is she really the ultimate weapon Granville called her? And what does Granville even want?

Yuuki was a skeptical young man by nature, but given his rash opinion of his almost excessive talents, he often figured things would work out in the end. That was what his pride did for him, and thus, despite his doubts, he signed on for Granville’s operation…but at this point in time, he had no idea what kind of situation his actions were about to cause.

The otherworlders lurched upon me like zombies. Carefully, I neutralized them one by one, making sure not to kill any. With my powers, not even a hundred of these at once would give me a challenge…but undoing the locking curses on them all was a pain.

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder about these otherworlders. I focused my mind upon them for a bit, and yes, they definitely packed a lot of magicules. They had real physical skill, too; some of them could even manage an A rank. But for some reason, they didn’t seem particularly strong to me. I thought that was just the difference in talent at first, but something told me that wasn’t the whole story. I was sure Granville’s robbing their freedom was one other reason, but was there something else?

Understood. In this battle, no adversary has used any unique skill so far.

Aha! That was it! And it made sense to me. None of these guys were using any kind of special attack, and that made neutralizing them pretty straightforward work. But would a group of otherworlders this big really have no uniques at all? Or were they going easy on me? Either way, it was kind of creepy.

Of course, no matter what Granville was planning, I’d just beat him, and we’d be done with it. That was the plan I had in mind as I turned my attention toward the last one of them.

She still looked like a young girl to me, maybe a bit past ten—her power would’ve just barely stabilized by that age. Like the others, she was intensely powerful, but that was it. With a now-practiced hand, I undid the lock on her—no problems there. She was conscious again and looking thoroughly confused, but there was no time to explain matters. Putting her to sleep for the time being, I laid her down where I had placed the others.

There were a few kids like her in the group, which made things seriously difficult for me. Granville didn’t seem to care much about how he looked in the midst of this, but regardless, I managed to take care of them all. I’m assuming he was just looking to buy some time; if I wanted to, it would’ve been quicker and easier to just kill ’em all. Along those lines, I guess it’s mission accomplished for him.

Still, the otherworlders attacking me were now neutralized. I don’t know what he wanted to do with the time he earned, but once I ended this battle, it wouldn’t matter anyway. I glanced across the battlefield to see how things were going.

The children were safe, which was a relief. Meanwhile, despite it all, Baton and his orchestra were still starting to practice their music. They had nerves of steel, I guess—or something of steel. I suppose focusing on something is a good way to calm your anxieties, though, so maybe it wasn’t that crazy after all.

Hinata, meanwhile, was fighting on an even keel with Granville. I had to hand it to her. It was literally a supersonic contest, an advanced back-and-forth where no one could afford a single mistake. If I stepped in without a plan, I could destroy the balance and inadvertently turn the tide of the battle. Better save that for later.

Shion and Ranga were being pushed back by Razul, but it didn’t look like they were that badly outclassed. Shion was taking Razul’s attacks, but as she did, she was swiftly healing herself each time. Ultraspeed Regeneration really was like cheating—it was easily enough to make up a difference like this one. Ranga, meanwhile, was concentrating on offense, diving into Shion’s shadow and sniping away when he found a blind spot, throwing in magic like Death-Calling Wind and Dark Lightning. I was impressed with his nimble performance—the only problem was that none of it worked on Razul.

I mean, Razul’s just insane. I recalled that if he’s an insectoid, that put him in the same family as Apito and Zegion. Their segmented eyes meant they had no blind spots, making it easy for him to dodge Ranga’s surprise attacks—and besides, most regular attacks didn’t faze him at all. What I thought was black armor was actually an exoskeleton harder than steel. He could simply lift up his left arm and stop Shion’s large sword in its tracks. Unless you aimed for his joints, you likely had no chance of damaging him. Even worse, judging by the way Ranga’s magic bounced off him, his surface must’ve had a Magic Interference–style effect applied.

No wonder he gave Diablo trouble. Magic was Diablo’s main thing, so I could see why he wasn’t the greatest matchup for Razul, although I think he’d still manage a win.

Given his edge against both physical and magic attacks, Razul was a serious threat. And someone this amazing was just meekly serving Granville, with no ambitions of his own…?

Well, as much of a challenge as he posed to Shion and Ranga, I figured I could handle him.

So I was about to head over there…and then I steeled myself as I turned toward the cathedral. I wasn’t alone—Hinata, Shion, and the others did the same, looking nervous. I think we were all justified. After all, the demon lord Leon—a guy who should never have been here—was standing in front of it.

He wore a white robe, a nice-looking, knightly suit of golden armor underneath. Handsome as always, to be sure, but he looked very peeved at the moment. And he wasn’t alone—several knights were stationed behind him, and by the looks of it, they were handpicked from his top officials. What’s he doing here? Is he friend or foe? I found it hard to picture him as an ally, but I really hoped he wouldn’t decide to fight us.

“Ah, you’re here, demon lord Leon? And, Hinata, you must be finding this terribly boring if you’re turning away from our battle.”

Granville sounded more like the bored one. He seemed totally unfazed, standing composed and not trying to sneak an attack on Hinata right now—although, of course, if he tried something so underhanded, he could’ve been walking right into her trap anyway. With this high-level a battle, you’d never be crowned the victor unless you overpowered your foe with a frontal attack. Either way, though, Granville clearly knew Leon was coming—his casual tone proved it. They had to be in cahoots.

“Aren’t you being a little too friendly with me? Who are you?”

“Ah yes, we haven’t met in person before. You’ve been very good to the children I’ve collected. I’m sorry to make you take time out to come here.”

“…”

Wait, they’re not in cahoots? Because it sounded like this was Leon and Granville’s first meeting. It could be an act, but… Oh, and speaking of which, a lot of the otherworlders I just fought against looked no older than middle schoolers. Was that what Granville was talking about…?

“What do you mean by that? I have no business with you. I came here to—”

“Hmm? I’m the one who summoned the children with the spells you taught me, you realize. Are you going to claim ignorance? Aren’t you using unstable otherworlder children to bring yourself more elementalists? Warriors as powerful as Shizue Izawa herself?”

It was like someone punched me in the head. Hinata lowered her own sword, eyes darting between Granville and Leon.

Report. Danger. The subject Granville Rozzo is using wordplay in an attempt to pit you against the demon lord Leon.

I had a hunch. Clearly Granville’s plan, however misguided, was to antagonize Leon as much as possible. It’d be a terrible idea to lend much credence to anything he said. And yet:

“How many failures do you think we had to endure to call over all the people you wanted? That’s what those people are. The castoffs.”

And yet, I just couldn’t ignore that. Shizu was summoned by Leon, then cast aside by him. And she wasn’t alone—Leon had reportedly summoned many other children. That was an unforgivable crime.

“Is that true?”

“Very true, indeed, demon lord Rimuru! As merchants, it’s our job to provide whatever merchandise our customers demand!”

Granville’s manner of speech irritated me. I wasn’t even asking him.

The providers need to have ethics, too. Throwing all the blame on the consumer went against my creed. But even ahead of that, there was something else I wanted to confirm.

“So…you summoned other people, too? Not just Shizu?”

“Yes.”

“Even when you knew that children subjected to unstable summonings have drastically shortened life spans?”

“That was—”

Leon was about to say something, only to be interrupted by a roaring, echoing laugh. Granville was the source of it.

“Heh-heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don’t make me laugh, Leon. Aren’t you the one who explicitly asked me to provide ‘otherworlder children no older than ten years’? Instead of attempting to subjugate the stable summons, you found it easier to make the unstable ones feel they owed you their lives, didn’t you? And you used them as weapons!”

Through the taunts, Granville’s goals were clear. He knew I could be a softhearted pushover, and he was attempting to milk that as much as he could, fanning my do-gooder attitude and trying to make me despise Leon. The thing was…his words were convincing. If Leon’s aim was to implant elemental spirits into children, then Granville was right—they needed to be “unstable.” And maybe that was why I detected exactly those sorts of elementals within Leon’s underlings here.

“…Is that true?”

“Yes. But there’s a reason for—”

“Shut up! You’re the cause of all this!”

With that shout, I started running toward Leon. I just had to go and give him a wallop, or I wouldn’t be able to contain myself. I knew full well I was playing into Granville’s hands, but I just couldn’t contain my rage for Leon any longer. I can hear his reasons later. First things first—I had to vent my anger.

So with everything I had, I struck at Leon. He didn’t move. All he did was raise a hand to keep his troops at bay, staring directly at me. Was he that confident, or…?

Leaving my accelerating thoughts in the dust, my fist drew closer and closer to him. He didn’t move.

…Target shows no signs of countering you. It will be a direct strike.

There was no trap in the end. My punch thundered against Leon’s right cheek.

“…Happy now?”

My full power was in that, but apparently it didn’t damage Leon much. I must have cut his lip, because he felt obliged to take out a handkerchief to wipe up some blood, but his composure was fully retained. Pfft. I know I wasn’t using any skill there, but maybe I underestimated him a little.

Still, that punch taught me one thing. This guy, the demon lord Leon, was more good-natured than I thought. He had no obligation to take that punch, but he shed all his defenses and took it anyway—and that proved it.

He came across as cold and unfeeling, but maybe he wasn’t such a bad guy, actually. Shizu didn’t hate him, after all. She tried to, but as she put it, she just couldn’t—and it was her final desire in life to figure out what Leon’s motivations were. Of course, I didn’t need Raphael’s warning. I was calm from the beginning. I made a promise with Shizu—a promise that I’d take the feelings she left behind and shove them in Leon’s face. And I was fully ready to take advantage of today for that.

Leon had to have some reason for what he did. I could decide later whether to forgive him. As entangled as things were today, making a foe out of Leon as well would be suicidal. Getting emotional like this wasn’t the shrewdest plan. He was no ally of mine, but he was no enemy, either—and now that I knew that, I had to speak up.

“Not yet, no. That was my way of expressing Shizu’s feelings, but I still need to show you mine. Let’s talk about things in depth right now!”

So will he pick up on my intention here? I noticed an eyebrow twitch up. That’s a relief. He’s not such a fool after all. So…great. Let’s talk it out, then—our plans for how to deal with Granville.

With that in mind, I readied my sword in Leon’s direction.

He was a dead ringer for Shizu in her youth. There was no pigmentation; his skin was smooth, his hair shining like each individual strand had its own glow. He couldn’t be described as looking Asian now, but he still retained Shizu’s core features, making them all the more beautiful. Now his golden eyes were trained upon Leon, his pink lips speaking to him.

“Not yet, no. That was my way of expressing Shizu’s feelings, but I still need to show you mine. Let’s talk about things in depth right now!”

Such were the words of Rimuru, and Leon immediately understood.

I see… He wants to take advantage of this situation. We barely know each other, and he’s decided to trust me without a moment’s doubt? He’s more stout-hearted than I expected.

But, Leon thought, he liked that. Rimuru seemed to be driven by emotion right now, but apparently that was all part of his calculations—his way of determining, in this chaotic battlefield, exactly who was friend and who was foe.

I always knew I couldn’t let my guard down around him…but at times like these, I’m glad he’s around.

He took his own blade up from his hip, holding it forward.

As he took the dragon airship here, Leon was briefed about an emergency magical call from Cerberus. It seemed one of his agents had fallen out of contact, and there was a chance someone had blown their cover. Exactly who found this agent out, they didn’t know—maybe it was the demon lord Rimuru, maybe one of the Five Elders. Maybe even the Crusaders, for all he knew. With the agent captured, and no further information available, nearly everyone was a suspect.

Of course, Leon wasn’t gullible enough to fully trust Cerberus. There was a plausible chance they were hatching an elaborate scheme to deceive him. But one thing was certain: Being here right now, in this holy space, was akin to walking into a trap. And yet Leon couldn’t stay away.

Even if this is a trap, if I find Chloe here…

No matter how much danger it entailed, Leon would never care. And now, crossing swords with Rimuru, Leon was finally serene again.

He looked around, surveying the area. The scene was shockingly chaotic. It was difficult to determine who was on which side. The elite magic knights guarding him had been dragged into the fray while he wasn’t paying attention. They had been lured into opening hostilities with some of the local defense forces.

(Keep yourselves defended! Do not kill the enemy!)

(Yes, sir!)

Now seemed like an opportune time to give Arlos the Silver Knight some orders. He did so via an anonymous magical call, but there was every chance someone would eavesdrop on it. That’s why he kept the order to something that wouldn’t cause problems later.

Regardless, Leon was the intruder here. To the demon lord Luminus, he was an uninvited guest, and it wouldn’t surprise him if she decided to retaliate. If she did, he wanted to retain as much of an advantage as possible while keeping the dead to a minimum.

But where is Luminus…?

Leon and Rimuru were fighting near the cathedral entrance while the paladin captain, Hinata, and Granville were a short distance away. Farther afield, Shion and Ranga—both present at the last Walpurgis—were in pitched combat against the insectoid Razul. Luminus, the master of these sacred lands, would never allow open warfare here…and yet, she was missing. And if someone like Luminus were pinned down elsewhere, that was seriously bad news.

To Leon, this entire situation was nothing short of nonsensical—but as he looked over matters, he could see where the trap was. Someone—he didn’t know who—was trying to goad him into fighting the demon lord Rimuru. What this someone didn’t expect, and what Leon was lucky enough to see, is that Rimuru wasn’t so easily hoodwinked. Now Rimuru was attempting to take advantage of that to gain control of things.

I see… So he’s the one behind all this? Very well. Might as well try trusting you.

It was a rarity for someone as wary as him, but for once in his life, Leon decided to meekly trust in Rimuru.

Leon wasn’t the only one thoroughly confused. Hinata was having similar trouble dealing with this rapidly changing battlefield. But even worse than that, her opponent Granville was starting to seem eerily different.

“Finding it odd that you can’t steal my skills?”

“…?!”

He had guessed right. It made Hinata nervous, despite herself.

“Hmph. Why the surprise? Did you think I never picked up on your secret? A little observation, and it was easy enough to surmise. Why do you think I had the other six fighting in front of me?”

“Ah… I see.”

Hinata’s unique skill Usurper gave her a decisive advantage against the most powerful of foes…and yet it assessed Granville as “inapplicable.” Previously, Granville definitely was above her, and whenever they trained, she constantly used Usurper until it succeeded, seizing—or more accurately at the time, copying—his skills.

“You have some way of taking skills and arts from opponents, do you not? But I imagine that only works once on the same foe…and you’ve already taken from me, haven’t you? So it won’t work twice.”

“That couldn’t be…”

Hinata found herself reacting to Granville’s statement—and then she realized her mistake.

“Heh-heh-heh… So I was right? Hinata, you are a calculating woman, one of the greatest talents among all my apprentices. You are careful and cunning. Out of all the paladins of the past, nobody has ever reached your level. You should take pride in that, but you are still young. You’re far too unfamiliar with opponents of your own level.”

“Enough!!” the clearly provoked Hinata shouted back. But she understood Granville was egging her on. Thanks to her reflexive reaction, she had inadvertently admitted that her skill was stealing other people’s powers. Granville had his hunches about it before, no doubt, but couldn’t be sure about it. Now, with his social engineering skills, he knew it for a fact.

Who’s the cunning one here?!

Despite being wholly devoted to battle at the moment, Granville kept talking to Hinata. The carefree ease he exuded made her resent him even more.

“Even if I only took you once, that’s all I need. I wouldn’t look down on me that much.”

She made no secret of her hostility. After all, she had one more trick up her sleeve—Force Takeover. Now she was doing more than just copying someone else’s skill. She was forcibly wresting it away from them, for good. It would let her strip away one of Granville’s cards, and it all but guaranteed her victory.

To Hinata, the preliminaries were over. She began a relentless attack, each sword strike a potentially lethal blow. At the same time, she continually activated Usurper, attempting to sap Granville’s power. But:

No… My skill has to work against him! But…?!

The results: inapplicable. Proof that Granville’s actual power was below Hinata’s. Right now, she had grown far more powerful than before. It wouldn’t be strange for her to surpass Granville, so these results were understandable. The only problem was that even when she seized a skill with Force Takeover—her final lifeline—Granville would just use that skill again the next instant. It happened over and over, no matter how many times she tried it.

It was now impossible to hide her panic. She was definitely capable of taking Granville’s skills and arts—but to Hinata, they were useless. She had already taken them once, and thus she gained nothing from them. If she could at least take away some of Granville’s skills, there’d be a point to it, but…

Why? Did Granville anticipate this and set up some kind of backup system?

It wasn’t out of the question. No regular person could do it, but she could picture an ex-hero like Granville pulling something like that off.

“What’s wrong, Hinata? You look unwell.”

Granville, a sneering grin on her face, seemed to read Hinata’s mind. It irritated her to no end.

“Hmm… It seems you don’t understand what I’m doing. The most important thing in battle is to carefully observe your opponent. Did you expect me to not take any sort of measures against you? If so, you sorely underestimated me, Hinata.”

“Geh! Enough from you.”

“I can see from your fighting style that you retain an advantage against foes stronger than you. Meanwhile, there are few examples of you seizing skills from weaker opponents. I say few and not zero, however, so you must have some kind of method for that. But the effort must exhaust you, does it not?”

“…”

“You don’t have to answer me. Looking at you, I’m now convinced my suppositions are correct.”

Being so completely seen through was a shock to Hinata. Somewhere in her mind, she was looking down upon Granville as a relic from the past—and now she wanted to punch herself over it.

“Ngh… No, I doubt there’s any point in continuing this.”

There was no reason to keep up her attempts at Force Takeover. With that decision made, Hinata retreated a distance away from Granville. Gathering her breath, she looked for a suitable opportunity. Her heart rate was setting a new record, the sweat from her brow pouring down. Then, with a thump, she could sense a small throbbing inside her, deep within her chest.

…What was that? I’ve tired myself out more than I thought. But not because I miscalculated this. Maybe I’m being attacked…

Impartially observing herself, she realized that her exhaustion was stacking up more quickly than usual. Even all the Force Takeover attempts wouldn’t have gassed her this much—but as Granville pointed out, her fatigue could no longer be ignored.

“You seem confused. You are powerful, Hinata, very powerful. That must be why you have so little experience with underhanded combat techniques such as this.”

“What was that?”

“It’s simple. My actions are designed to make you overwork yourself. Little by little, I made you wear yourself down, believing that your attacks would succeed if you just pushed a little more, a little more. Listen to me. If you confront someone on the same level as you, whichever side tires the other out first wins. The more fatigued you are, the slower your decisions, and the wider you leave yourself open…just as you are personally experiencing right now.”

“…!!”

She wanted to deny Granville’s claims, but she couldn’t.

Hinata had used her unique skill Measurer to calmly analyze the battle situation…or so she thought. But Granville went one step beyond. She thought she was overly on her guard. Yes, she underestimated him a little, but she didn’t let her guard down at all.

So does it mean this man’s stronger than me? That… That must be the case. It’s the difference in level here, brought on by experience.

She was now convinced—convinced and ready to admit to it. Even with Usurper, she couldn’t take Granville’s expertise.

“Now I understand. I see I’ll have to get serious if I want to defeat you.”

“That’s right. Give me all you’ve got. Otherwise, trying to outclass me will be a dream beyond a dream for you.”

Hinata banished the ambient noise from her mind, focusing squarely on Granville. The sound disappeared. They were the only people present in the world.

“Here I come, Granville!”

“I hope you learn from this, Hinata!”

Thus, Hinata and Granville’s battle grew even more heated as time went on.

The multilayered Disintegration unleashed by Diablo smashed into Raine’s defense barrier, destroying pieces of it in succession…and then, the final ray pierced through her chest. Everything had gone the way he had calculated it, including the fact that Raine was still breathing.

“Heh-heh-heh-heh… How weak. You were even less competition for me than Testarossa before her evolution.”

“T-Testarossa?”

“Never mind. It has nothing to do with you. But explain to me why you came here.”

“Who would ever—?!”

Diablo was barking orders from high above, but Raine saw no reason to oblige him. Her predictable refusal irked him a little.

He had clearly beaten Raine, but that didn’t mean it was smooth sailing from now on. The perfectly formed insectoid he was having Shion and Ranga deal with really was the nemesis of all the demons. He was an unusual creature, one who lived in the space between the material and spiritual world. As a half-spiritual life-form, whenever he slipped into the physical realm, he’d naturally assume a palpable form and become a burdensome invader. A group of them was extremely dangerous, requiring quick detection and extermination.

Even worse, an insectoid attaining humanoid form was quite rare. Most examples settled into some more primitive form, finding themselves not quite suited for life in the material realm. But Razul, this insectoid here, was in his final and complete state—and Diablo could see why even Shion and Ranga would find him a handful.

Of course, Lady Shion works under Sir Rimuru. She has the potential to do well near anything to overcome her foes’ strength. And with Sir Ranga around, there’s no need to assume they’d lose. Still, though…

Diablo could win. It would suit Rimuru more, he knew, if he eliminated all the question marks from the battle. Right now, going back and taking care of Razul would be the right thing to do…

…But then another thought crossed his mind. What, he reasoned, if Rimuru deliberately left Razul to Shion and Ranga? Diablo was flustered earlier, true. He detected Raine’s arrival and didn’t want her (or her cohorts) joining the fray, and the distraction had kept him from focusing on the battle.

I thought it best at the time to drive her away as soon as possible, but…

But was it, really?

Perhaps Sir Rimuru wanted Lady Shion and Sir Ranga to experience battle against someone stronger than them? In that case, it wouldn’t be right to intrude…

That seemed plausible to Diablo. Truly, these were the thoughts of someone crazed for battle, a nonsensical conclusion that no regular person could ever imagine. But to Diablo, who placed Rimuru above all else, doing anything that went against Rimuru’s intentions was a gross error. He wasn’t some simple creature who assumed that fighting, and winning, was all that mattered. He could see that if Rimuru wanted to give them such a powerful foe, he truly wanted them to win—and learn from it.

A difficult decision. This will require careful consideration on my part.

Now Diablo’s thoughts were starting to spiral in a pretty wrong direction. In front of Raine, the highest level of fighting force in the world, Diablo was thoroughly confused.

Rimuru, of course, was thinking of nothing so idiotic. What he cared about was putting an end to this fracas, while keeping the children and orchestra safe. He had no obligation at all to see this as some kind of training situation for Shion and Ranga.

So Diablo was wrong. But with that wrong idea in mind, he now had a new path to take.

“I was going to kill you, but I decided against it.”

“What are you talking about…? Threats won’t work on me—”

“No need for that, thank you. I don’t need your act any longer, so come on out,” he told the demon with a large hole in her chest.

Raine didn’t seem to understand this. In short time, however, her expression turned to panic. It wasn’t the pale face from before as she faced defeat, but something rather more complex—a mixture of frustration and hatred.

“Noir… You only just evolved into a Demon Peer after all this time, and look at you…”

“Just as set in your ways as always, I see. The true essence of strength does not lie in magicule counts. What’s important is your level. I was taught to believe that differences in magicule energy do not make a decisive difference in battle ability.”

“Ridiculous,” replied Raine, her voice raspy as her body began to fade away. By the time she was fully gone, nothing but dust in the wind, a ray of light shot out from beyond the heavens, only to disappear and reveal two people—blue and red. Raine was the blue one, and she was kneeling before Guy Crimson, the strongest of demons, who had just entered the scene.

“Hey, Noir! It’s been a while.”

“Mm… Rouge—or Guy Crimson now, I believe? So you were here, too, then?”

Diablo was wary of Guy from the start, even as Guy seemed to view him with nostalgia.

“So you noticed Raine’s Ubiquital Mist from the start? So why did you execute such a large-scale skill on her?”

Diablo scowled, dreading this question. He had intended to feign ignorance of this skill, allowing her to divide up and regenerate her body with a second copy. His original plan was to make Guy and Raine (in her original body) believe that here was a man who wouldn’t give them great trouble. If Diablo destroyed Raine’s Ubiquital Mist body, got all cocky, and left the scene, Guy would no doubt lose hope in him, as well as lose interest in this whole battle. He’d leave on the spot, and thus Diablo could buy more time while hiding his full powers from him. Then he could go support Shion and the rest.

That plan was now mothballed, thanks to Diablo’s own desires. Even he could admit to it—now was no time to stage an act.

“Disintegration wouldn’t be enough to defeat Primal Demons like us, would it? This parlor trick doesn’t even qualify as a secret trump card.”

“Wow, is that what you have to say? If I took a direct hit of that, not even I would survive unscathed.”

“Indeed. The same is true for me…if it were a direct hit.”

“Heh-heh… Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!”

“Keh-heh-heh-heh…”

Diablo’s answer made Guy burst into self-satisfied laughter. Diablo did the same, still hoping to look unfazed. At this point, Raine was all but invisible to them.

“So why didn’t you evolve until this point in time? You had no interest in dragging others down, unlike the other three.”

“Mm… You could say they’re dragging one another down, yes, but really, it’s just a game they enjoy. You’re right, though, that I have no part in it. As for myself, Guy, let me ask you—is there anyone in this world stronger than us?”

The question was similar to what Testarossa asked. It was a view shared across all the Primal Demons, Guy included. Bringing up common ground like this made it easier to stoke kinship with each other.

“No, there sure isn’t. Maybe the True Dragon, if I had to bring up a name, but that’s more of a phenomenon of nature, y’know?”

Even the True Dragon wasn’t a threat before Guy. If Veldanava, the Star-King Dragon, was ever revived, that’d be another story, but as of right now, Guy was telling the truth.

Diablo nodded. “Precisely. So if I evolved while knowing that, any battle afterward would seem so boring. So one-sided, wouldn’t you agree?”

He grinned at Guy. His battle-obsessed brain was working hard as usual.

“Hmm… I see.”

Guy, for his part, seemed convinced. Maybe he would deny it, but the two of them were actually fairly alike—two kindred spirits, when it came to this topic.

“So did the slime give you a change of heart?”

“Sir Rimuru. I’ll ask you to not refer to him as slime, please.”

“…All right. So is that Rimuru guy the reason you evolved?”

Diablo’s adjusting the pace of this conversation to suit his tastes irked Guy, but complaining wouldn’t help advance things. He hated playing by the beat of a different drummer, but this time, he chose to make an exception.

“Very good,” muttered Diablo. “The growth of Sir Rimuru, you see, is a constant surprise to me. I wouldn’t be afraid to call it evolution in action. His looks are charming; his soul brimming with refinement. And what’s more—”

“Is this going to go on for a while?”

“…?”

Diablo met Guy’s stare, as if to say What did you expect?

“I don’t need to hear about Rimuru. Let’s talk about you, all right?”

This annoyed Diablo a bit—but perhaps remembering the urgency of the situation around them, he acquiesced.

“Tch… Well, all right. Let us return to the topic at hand. Sir Rimuru’s compatriots, as well, are changing rapidly from day to day…and I think seeing that has influenced me.”

“…Hmm. That much?”

This chat seemed to be tiring Guy out, but he still had the wherewithal to scrutinize what Diablo just said.

“Indeed. I fear that if I do not make an effort of my own, even I might be left in the dust. And in that sort of environment, there is no longer any reason to set limits to my growth.”

A fascinated Guy nodded. Now things were going at his pace again. He unleashed an evil grin.

“It does sound like Rimuru’s got the nations to the West under his control now, yeah. But I’m sorry to say, my own people are wreckin’ the place right now, I think.”

To Guy, this was just some playful harassment of the human race. That was his intention, at least—but to Rimuru, so driven to play nice with humanity, it must’ve been a serious crisis. That’s what made Guy mention it. He could see that none of this surly behavior would work on Diablo, but if he could get under Rimuru’s skin, he knew that’d have its effect on Diablo as well. Thus, if his minions happened to be messing around in the Western Nations at the moment, he thought he could take advantage.

The sight of Diablo—someone who fought evenly with Guy in the past—calling someone his master put Guy off a bit. So he wanted to mess with him, stir him up. With Razul gone from his usual post up north, the Western Nations were vulnerable. Much of it, like Guy warned, was no doubt looking like hell on earth by now. Diablo wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, and as Guy saw it, not even Rimuru could take action.

But Diablo just gave him his trademark snicker instead.

“Keh-heh-heh… You thought Sir Rimuru didn’t see it coming? It has all been taken care of. His wisdom, you see, is deeper than the ocean, his perception giving him insight into all things—”

Guy thought that would agitate Diablo at least a little. It didn’t. In fact, he chose this moment in time to revert back to praising Rimuru. He must be sick in the head, he thought, facing no choice but to accept it.

“…Ah. Yes, very interesting. You think he’s surpassing even my expectations?”

“Yes, of course. For Sir Rimuru, that is a given.”

Diablo continued to verbally taunt Guy about Rimuru for a while, despite Rimuru not actually being there. If he was, he would no doubt shout, What the hell are you doing?! Only Raine was listening, biting her lip—but Guy and Diablo were wholly ignoring her as they continued.

………

……

…

Meanwhile, the Western Nations were facing a danger unprecedented in their history.

The Cidre Frontier Defense Force, always busily handling the demon threat, suddenly found its main offense gone. No longer able to push back the demons who visited their territory regularly, they sent out an emergency request for reinforcements.

“Ridiculous! The demon forces are advancing southward?!”

“What could Margrave Cidre possibly be doing?!”

“We can’t think about that right now. Every nation needs to deploy its troops and build a layered set of defense bases! Otherwise, we’ll have a marauding army of demons right here, in the capital of Englesia!”

All the representatives at this emergency Council session were in an uproar.

Being composed of councillors from all its member nations, the Council of the West held a great deal of political power—but when it came to sudden crises, there was always going to be time wasted. That was the biggest disadvantage of a majority-vote system.

The defense of the northern regions was left entirely in the hands of Margrave Cidre of Englesia. It was a large, powerful kingdom, and still a good half of its military strength was stationed up north, forming a bulwark against Guy Crimson. They were joined by several members of the Crusaders, as well as a team of A-ranked adventurers from the Free Guild, which functioned as a subsidiary of the Council. That was how important a defensive line this was. Losing it could be a matter of life and death for humanity, and thus the panic around the Council chamber was understandable.

Currently, they were just barely hanging on to the base defined as their last line of defense, and even that was thanks to the paladins and adventurers stationed there. Considering the situation, they needed to deploy troops there immediately, but time would not allow it. This wasn’t a monolithic dictatorship; it was a federation of independent nations, and each representative needed permission from their home state.

The only thing the Council could do right away was call for emergency backup from the Free Guild. They could also ask the Council’s host nation of Englesia to deploy its regular forces, but the request was likely to fall on deaf ears, since it’d leave the capital more exposed. Besides, Englesia was already shouldering the burden of defending the north; nobody would fault it for asking other nations for support in an emergency.

Like the lesser-known Council members were currently shouting, it was time to create a federated, multination force. The problem, however, was that all these disparate armies would be led by the brand-new member nation of Tempest, the land of monsters. The Council had unanimously voted for it, so there was no room to complain about it now—but leaving precious military resources in the hands of monsters presented a thorny dilemma to many councillors.

“Order, all of you, please!” shouted the chairman. The noise gradually died down as all eyes turned toward him.

“Right now, we can’t afford to waste a single minute. Instead of debating among ourselves, we must immediately contact our home nations and have them send forces our way. The demon lord Rimuru’s representative, Lady Testarossa, is in attendance today, and I understand she is well versed in military affairs. If Sir Rimuru appointed her, I am sure leaving our forces in her hands will not be an issue.”

The chairman’s words were greeted with some sporadic disagreement, but no one stood up and spoke on the record against it. With no better ideas forthcoming, lodging complaints now would only make things worse.

Now all eyes were on Testarossa. If the Council was raising an army, she’d be its de facto commander—it was only expected that everyone was appraising her abilities now. She was a young woman, a rarity among the councillors, and a beauty the likes of which one rarely lays eyes upon. Many councillors had the impression that Tempest featured a lot of pretty faces, but no one was foolish enough to say as much here. Everyone’s focus was on whether this woman Testarossa truly had any power.

It may have been an exaggeration to say, but on this debate rode not only the future of each councillor, but the future of humankind itself.

“L-Lady Testarossa,” began one councillor, finally drumming up the courage to speak. “Um, I fully recognize that asking this might be considered rude, but are you capable of commanding a military force?”

Testarossa gave him a gleaming smile. “Do not despair, councillors. My master, Sir Rimuru, has ordered me to defend all the nations that belong to the Council of the West. In fact, my own personnel have already been deployed across the land. And also… Moss?”

“Yes. According to the latest information, reliable reinforcements have now arrived in the north.”

“Wh-what?!”

“Is that true?”

The councillors didn’t even have the time to realize that Moss was likely one of Testarossa’s assistants. What he had to say sent the hall into another furor.

“S-so what reinforcements are these, Lady Testarossa?”

“Moss?”

“Yes, my lord. A dragon airship from the Sorcerous Dynasty of Thalion is currently on its way to the area. I am sure that high elf’s forces are more than capable of dispatching the low-level demons threatening the region.”

“You heard him, Chairman. And, Moss, she is more than just a high elf. She is a sworn friend of Lord Rimuru.”

“Ah…! My—my apologies…”

“Don’t make that mistake again, all right? From now on, you will refer to her as Lady Elmesia.”

“Y-yes, my lord.”

Moss withered under the gaze of Testarossa’s crimson eyes. He turned pale, realizing he could no longer behave like the demon-world prince he once was. Angering Testarossa would lead to his ruin—and even worse, disrespecting someone Rimuru recognized as a friend was an error he couldn’t forgive himself for. Testarossa, likely realizing that, let him off with just a warning this time. If Moss didn’t correct his insolent ways, she’d no doubt punish him for it the next instant. That applied even to him, a great demon who had served Testarossa for ages. She was a woman possessed of kindness and ruthlessness in equal measure.

The Council she sat in was a scene of chaos. The words she and Moss exchanged provided an overview of the situation, but there was still no evidence to back them up. Opinion was clearly split on whether to trust them.

“I will speak for my nation when I say that I trust Lady Testarossa.”

“Indeed, our nation’s of the same opinion. I want Lady Testarossa to command our forces!”

“It would be the height of irresponsibility! If something should happen, it will be far too late then!”

“Exactly! If this talk of reinforcements turns out to be a ruse, the demons will trample all over human civilization!”

Unity was now in short supply across the Council as the debate continued to heat up. Testarossa calmly watched matters unfold, listening instead of offering her own opinion. After a little time had passed, though, she suddenly spoke.

“Ah, it was you? I thought you might be here.”

The sudden statement invited confusion among the councillors, many failing to understand what she was talking about. Only one among them—the person her eyes were presently aimed at—broke out in a cold sweat, the color draining from his face. It was Prince Johann Rostia of the Kingdom of Rostia.

“Wh-what are you saying about me?” he asked, trying his best to hide his apprehension. But Testarossa simply arched her lips upward. It made him lose his patience.

“I—I knew monsters weren’t to be trusted! Only we can step up to defend humankind. Guards! Guards, come out now!”

He was now dramatically shouting, sweat running down his face in a portrait of despair. Meanwhile, Testarossa’s smile only broadened.

Following Johann’s orders, soldiers began to pour into the Council hall. Some of Johann’s personal guards were among them, their presence putting him more at ease. Testarossa elegantly played with her hair as the other councillors sat there, bewildered.

Johann’s behavior was beyond illogical. Even if Testarossa did have some malevolent intent, any unlawful violence would never be allowed in a hall of laws like the Council. No matter how important a figure Johann was in here, such arbitrary behavior would never be smiled upon.

“Your name was Johann Rostia, right? Prince of Rostia? A very high figure, aren’t you?”

“Wh-what of it? Flattery will get you nowhere—”

“Sir Johann, who were you talking to in a magical call just now?”

“Wha…?!”

“And why did you send out an order to have this nation’s defensive barrier destroyed?”

“H-how did you…?”

“Would you mind explaining?”

Testarossa was relaxed, as if chatting over tea, as she painted Johann into a corner. The other councillors looked on in awe. Now was no time for confusion. They all immediately ordered their staff to check on the state of Englesia’s barrier. But before they had an answer, the entire land around them began to rumble.

“It—it’s true…?!”

“Destroy the barrier? If you do that, there’s no defense against the monsters. We’ll lose countless citizens!”

“What could possibly be the meaning of this, Sir Johann?! Answer me!”

When confronted with someone in a panic, most people are hardwired to either fall into a similar panic or take a step back and calm down. Johann was the latter. Realizing that his plans were complete, he let a relaxed smile creep upon his face.

“Sir Girard, the barrier is gone now. It’s time to call them out…”

The councillors, seeing the figure Johann was addressing, were startled.

“It— It’s the head of the Sons of the Veldt, that mercenary gang…”

“…Girard!”

“…The Veldt’s connected with Sir Johann, too? Not just Gaban?!”

“But what’s Sir Johann going to do with them?”

Ignoring these cries, Girard walked up to Johann, standing beside him.

“Yes,” he said, “our contract is now ratified. Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Oh, not at all. The last hope of our mutual master Granville Rozzo happens to match your mission as well. No need to hold back now. If you’re going to raze this land, be as showy as you can about it!”

Now Johann’s laughter rang loud across the hall, the light of reason no longer visible in his eyes. His face was transformed into something fiendish as he revealed his true colors to all. At long last, the councillors realized Johann had betrayed them—but the kingdom’s defense barrier was already destroyed. And as they gradually understood this, despair began to reign.

“Have at it, Ayn.”

“You got it!”

The woman Girard called Ayn began to cast a spell—a summon spell.

Ayn was an elementalist and the leader of Green Fury, the team that made it far into the Dungeon not long ago. But this was no spirit she was summoning this time. It was, in fact, the very deity the Sons of the Veldt worshipped as their spiritual leader.

A large, oval-shaped transport gate appeared, a living personification of power stepping through it. It was a beautiful girl with green hair and a crimson-red maid outfit—but everyone witnessing it could sense how dangerous she was. After all, despite her attractive looks, the aura she unleashed plunged the entire hall into hopelessness. The magical inquisitors who ran in, sensing the danger, were frozen in place; their instincts told them that any movement could very well kill them.

This was Mizeri the Demon Peer, stepping out from the darkness.

Despite the overwhelming despair, Johann looked supremely pleased with himself.

He recalled the last time Granville called for him, after Gaban’s fall reduced the Five Elders to four—Granville Rozzo of the Rozzo family, Margrave Cidre of Englesia, King Doran of the Kingdom of Doran, and himself. They had all come together at Granville’s bidding, and he had a fearsome final order for them.

“Maribel is dead—and with that, the Rozzos will likely meet their doom soon. Perhaps, depending on how one looks at it, we could reconcile with the monsters after all. If they show no interest in human territories like Lady Luminus, it may even be possible to coexist. But the demon lord Rimuru is seeking nothing less than complete rule over humankind. He must be stopped at all costs.”

“But, Sir Granville, any attempts along those lines are doomed if we have no realistic way of resisting him.”

“I understand what Maribel was concerned about, but if we’ve lost our Chaos Dragon, there’s nothing we can do. We have Razul under our control, but we can hardly move him around…”

Doran was being realistic, with Cidre offering his support and Johann in agreement. Johann knew well the threat Maribel posed, as young as she was, and the demon lord Rimuru’s victory over her filled him with fear. For now, he thought, our best plan is to pretend to do Rimuru’s bidding as we build up our power. But Granville, perhaps sensing this internal weakness within Johann, fired back.

“Have you fools all lost your nerve? No matter how much chaos is in the world, no matter how much we sacrifice, we humans must retain the right to rule over ourselves. Am I wrong?”

His sheer vigor took Johann and the others aback. Granville rarely wore his emotions on his sleeve, which made his deep-seated anger and rage all the more clear to them.

“I am tired. If this keeps up, the human world will perish and the demon lord Rimuru will rule over us all. If that is the fate we’re doomed to face, then why not stage one more final resistance? You may do whatever you choose, but I’m going to take one last risk.”

Once he was done, he gave his three companions some time to consider their choices. Either they could follow Granville’s orders and resist their fates, or they could align themselves with Rimuru. Only Doran among them decided to separate from the group—choosing to resist as he normally did, on his own turf, to keep the Rozzo name alive.

“My territory is located far from the scene of conflict. As a survivor from the Rozzo family, I will observe and care for your true and correct history.”

Granville nodded at Doran. “Very well. This will likely be the final time, so I say this to you as my final request. It may be too late, but I wish there to be no ill will.”

Doran listened to Granville’s resigned words, tears in his eyes…and then he departed, alone.

Johann, too, realized this would likely be their final meeting. But he had no regrets. Considering the suffering Granville must have gone through as the Rozzo family patriarch, joining him on the path to almost certain death seemed a perfectly reasonable proposition. Cidre, who also stayed, was of the same opinion.

So the three of them worked out their final operation. Granville would use the Guild Grand Master Yuuki to stage one last challenge against Luminus. Cidre would abandon his northern defenses and allow the demons up there to march for the Western Nations. Johann would destroy Englesia’s defensive mechanisms and kill the core members of the Council. Tempest’s representative would likely be among them, and with her murder, they’d even be able to stage a confrontation between the demon lords Guy and Rimuru.

Once they pulled all of that off, human society would be in shambles. Doran, left behind, could opt to rebuild by himself, or maybe another nation would lead the way. Perhaps humankind would find some charismatic savior to guide them. Granville had some other motivations in mind as well, it seemed, but that didn’t matter to Johann.

“…But you’re truly sure about this? I am asking you both, in essence, to die for me.”

“What are you saying? As a member of the Rozzo family, my heart is always with you, my master!”

“As is mine. I cannot join your frail body on its final journey, but at least allow me to fulfill my duty to you.”

Johann and Cidre didn’t hesitate to answer Granville. It was quite the opposite of what Johann thought a moment ago, but he had a good reason for that. Everyone in the Rozzos took the absolute rule of Granville as a given. They depended on him; it was all but impossible to imagine prosperity without his patronage. So if Granville was now venturing forth to his final battlefield, even the previously indecisive Johann was ready for it.

I’m sure it’s just as difficult for King Doran to bear. He must feel helpless, like a child abandoned by his parents.

By comparison, Johann counted himself as a happy man. Until the final moment, he’d be able to take pride as a member of the Rozzo family.

So as ordered by Granville, Johann made contact with the Sons of the Veldt, a demon-affiliated group he and Gaban were familiar with, and won their promise to join in the effort. Their mission: to summon Vert herself and plunge the world into chaos. And for the Sons of the Veldt, like any paramilitary group dreaming of a world at war they could profit from, it was the greatest—and most self-centered—thing they could ever wish for.

And now, here in the Council, Johann’s job was done. The Sons of the Veldt’s dreams were coming true before his eyes. Their god—the Demon Peer Mizeri—had heeded the summoning. And with Mizeri, a threat more fearsome than any demon lord, laying waste to Englesia would be a simple task.

Heh-heh-heh… The rumors called this nation’s magical inquisitors the most powerful presence in the kingdom, and this demon’s frozen them stiff. It’s all over for Englesia. My homeland of Rostia will be caught up in it, no doubt, but I can apologize to my countrymen in the afterlife…

Satisfied with himself, Johann looked around the council hall. Then he witnessed something he couldn’t believe. One figure there was breezily smiling before Mizeri, the personification of all fear. The boy next to her was similarly unfazed—a little bored, even.

Wh-what are they doing?!

Then he remembered who they were: Testarossa, councillor from Tempest, and her assistant Moss.

“Yes, you’ve certainly come up with an interesting scheme. Sir Johann. Were you trying to destroy this country and plunge the world into chaos?”

“And what if I was?”

Johann didn’t like anything about Testarossa’s reaction. She acted totally unaffected in front of Mizeri, this calamity ranking above all demon lords, and it bothered him. But he quickly reconsidered matters. Testarossa is on the stronger side of monster-dom, no doubt, but her confidence would be her downfall.

There’s such a thing as being too strong for your own good, I suppose. It makes you fail to see the abilities of your adversaries. It dooms you.

And this strong woman would soon be wailing over the reality she faced. Simply imagining Testarossa pleading for her life gave Johann a sadistic rush.

“How comical can you get? All of this, despite the fact that my presence here makes your scheme an immediate failure.”

“Heh-heh-heh… Such nonsense,” Johann said with a self-assured smile. The more Testarossa shone with confidence, the greater her despair would be in a moment. Glorious expectations filled his mind.

“L-Lady Testarossa!” shouted the chairman, interrupting them. “Now’s not the time for such casual talk. You must flee at once and send a report to Lord Rimuru!”

“Chairman? What did you want me to tell him?”

Accurate information about the demons was scarce within the Western Nations. Compared with the experts in the Eastern Empire, this made the West seem eminently ill-prepared for them. The chairman was no exception, and not even having Mizeri on hand would tell him much about her or her race. However, the simple fact that she served the demon lord Guy Crimson, the greatest evil anyone here knew, made her a threat.

Ignorance is bliss, as they say, and here it was definitely working in their favor. If the chairman and other councillors knew more about demons, having Mizeri here would cause them to abandon all hope. The chairman didn’t realize how lucky he was to avoid that as he kept shouting at Testarossa.

“Tell him that one of the demon lord Guy’s chief agents has invaded our capital! He’ll surely not abandon us then!”

Even the chairman knew this was wishful thinking at best. No matter how much the demon lord Rimuru sought to live hand in hand with humans, it was impossible to imagine him going out of his way to make an enemy of Guy. Anyone who spent a moment to work out what he stood to gain or lose could see that.

But, the chairman thought, there was always a chance. He couldn’t fully give up yet. He had seen the demon lord Rimuru for himself, and he trusted in his words. A demon lord so emotional in nature—so human in many ways—might just throw all his potential stakes out the window and come riding to the rescue. He knew it was a stupid hope to have, but he couldn’t help but kindle the thought.

That was the only reason why the chairman could keep his sense of reason in front of this terror. And now Testarossa was smiling at him.

“You realize that I am here, yes?”

The chairman wasn’t sure what she meant. He would find out quickly.

But he wasn’t the only one confused by this. Johann was as well, and Testarossa’s cavalier attitude was sorely testing his patience.

“You think I will let you? Sir Girard, it is time to give everyone here a dose of reality.”

Girard, despite Johann’s order, was among the many here unsure what to make of this.

Why…? Why is Lady Mizeri not making a move?

Ayn, Girard’s right-hand girl, had lost consciousness upon summoning Mizeri. The effort no doubt took years off her life span, but she deserved enormous praise for being alive at all. However, without a supernatural power along the lines of Mizeri’s, she might never wake up again.

Girard, even as he took pride in Ayn’s masterwork, was already seeking an opportunity to retreat. With all of her powers beyond imagination, it’d be easy for her to kill everyone present. In fact, she could burn the entire capital of Englesia down with her purgatorial flames. Before that happened, he planned to scoop Ayn up and get the hell out of here. The people of this city would serve as the Sons of the Veldt’s offering to Mizeri, and then Girard and his friends would be added to the ranks of those his deity recognized as peers.

That was the plan, at least. But things were going completely off the rails.

From the moment she appeared here, Mizeri hadn’t done a single thing except stare at Testarossa. Now, at long last, she spoke.

“Unbelievable, Blanc. Why have you received a physical body?”

“A pity you saw fit to call me that. I’ve been granted the wondrous name of Testarossa now. You don’t like being called Vert, either, do you, Mizeri?”

“A… A name? You? It can’t be…”

“Oh, but it is. And I hate to spoil your grand welcome, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t lose to you right now. If you still want to fight, though, I’d certainly be interested. In fact, I’d be happy to put you to sleep for a thousand years or so.”

She snickered, an elegant laugh meant entirely to taunt Mizeri. She had a body now and a name as well—and even better, she was a Demon Peer just like Mizeri. They were the same.

At first glance, they’d seem to be a pretty even matchup. However, under normal circumstances, Testarossa would have the disadvantage, given how new she was in her body. However, that assumed Testarossa wasn’t as belligerent as she was. Here you had Mizeri, who mostly performed office-style duties under Guy, against Testarossa, a fellow Primal Demon who had spent far more time fighting for influence with other demons. You didn’t need to crunch the numbers to see the difference in battle experience—and what’s more, Testarossa’s associate Moss was with her.

I may have more magical energy than she does, but I cannot afford to take on two Demon Peers at once—especially if one is Blanc or Noir, the more dangerous ones of them all. Sir Guy merely ordered me to stir up a small commotion in the capital, not risk my life attempting to defeat a fellow Primal Demon. If anything, it is more my duty to return alive and inform Sir Guy of this.

Mizeri coldly gauged matters. She instantly recognized the difference in strength between them, and just as instantly, she made the best choice possible for her.

“You don’t need to provoke me…Testarossa. My goals today do not involve you. I have destroyed the capital’s barrier, and that, I feel, is enough to fulfill my mission.”

“Oh, are you running away?”

“I am. My life belongs to Sir Guy. It is not something I have the right to throw away.”

“Ah. I see. I will look forward to the next opportunity, then.”

“As will I, to be sure. I hope you get accustomed to your new body quickly, because when you lose, you shouldn’t expect your excuses to work on me.”

Testarossa’s smile broadened. Mizeri greeted it with a completely emotionless stare. The two watched each other for a while… Then, out of nowhere, Mizeri vanished.

“…What?”

Girard was the first to react. With Mizeri gone, everyone who remained didn’t have the scantest idea what just happened.

To Girard, it looked for all the world like this god—this superhuman presence that Girard’s gang viewed as omnipotent—had just been talked into submission by a councillor with good looks and nothing else.

To Mizeri, the Sons of the Veldt were nothing but disposable tools, something she set up on a whim to watch over and collect intelligence from human society. She could replace them at any time, so the fate of Girard and the rest were of no concern. They had been completely forsaken, but that reality wasn’t one Girard was willing to accept.

“N-no! Dammit! Thanks to you, our god has gone back!”

Enraged, Girard began swinging at Testarossa. He was above A in rank, and that wasn’t just for show—his speed with a sword made it impossible for most people to track his moves. But to Testarossa, he may as well have been frozen in place. Besides, she didn’t even need to a lift a finger. Moss was still there, and Moss had no reason to let this insolent violence go unanswered.

With a piercing ting, Girard’s sword was cut in half—and in another instant, Moss had Girard restrained.

“Don’t kill him. And don’t kill the lofty Sir Johann over there, either.”

“But, Lady Testarossa, these two insulted you—”

The next moment, Moss was deafened.

“Do I have to say it again, Moss?”

“N-not at all, my lord! It was selfish of me to second-guess you!”

He fell to a knee, immediately regretting his gaffe. Testarossa’s good mood as of late had made him forget, but she could be an extremely egotistical woman. The same was true of Ultima and Carrera. “Birds of a feather flock together” described them well.

“If you understand that, I will forgive you once more. What a generous person I am, aren’t I, Moss? Don’t you agree?”

“Absolutely!”

Moss was as obedient as he was smart. Despite the occasional mistake, he had been serving Testarossa through all her selfish whims for over ten thousand years, a feat that no one else could ever duplicate.

Thus, Johann, Girard, and Ayn were all in custody, bound down along with the soldiers who served them.

“It—it wasn’t meant to be this way…”

Girard, thoroughly defeated by Moss, had a cooler head now. Gradually, the conversation between Mizeri and Testarossa ensconced itself in his mind, helping him comprehend it.

Our god recognized her as an equal…? Blanc… By Blanc, did she mean the Original White?!

He was aware of the Primal Demons, hence why he noticed Testarossa’s true identity. The moment he did, his ego all but imploded. Now he understood just who their enemy was…and that his soul would never enjoy another day of peace in his life. As strong as he thought himself to be, it was valueless against the Primal Demons.

“Ah-ha…ha… Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaaaa!!”

Insane laughter echoed out of Girard. In a strange way, this was actually a happy ending for him—they were all handed over to the magical inquisitors and weren’t even cognizant enough to realize it.

Johann, meanwhile, looked like he had aged a couple decades, sitting on the floor and staring into space as he mumbled.

“I—I failed…? Sir Granville’s hope, his final request… I couldn’t do it…”

“No, you couldn’t do much of anything,” Testarossa scoffed, her words bearing lethal poison as she whispered them into his ear. Her sweet breath tickled his eardrums, numbing his very mind.

“Dammit… Dammit! If—if only you weren’t here, everything would have worked out perfectly!”

“Oh, would it have? Well, sorry about that. I suppose I got in the way, but you’ll just have to chalk that up to fate, won’t you? Now, I think some people are waiting behind me, so I’ll just step out of the way…”

Without another word, Testarossa ran a snowy-white finger across Johann’s jawline, then left the scene for the magical inquisitors to take over.

“N-no. Stay away! Don’t come near me!”

Silently, the inquisitors seized him.

“Halt! No! No, let me go! Wh-who do you think I am? Do—do you bastards have any idea what you’re doing?! My homeland won’t take this sitting down! You’re setting off an international incident!”

Johann screamed his head off. Nobody reacted; nobody lifted a hand to help. Of course they didn’t. With these many witnesses on hand, Johann was all but assured to face justice.

“No crying, now. No carrying on. You must atone for your crimes. You’ll have friends joining you, won’t you? I’m sure it’ll be loads of fun.”

“Damn all of you! You accursed demon! I hope you burn in hell!”

“Hee-hee… Hee-hee-hee. Yes. I like that. Ah, why is the howling of the truly lost such sweet music to my ears? But you’re cursing the wrong person. Any crimes committed in the Council, you realize, are judged in a court of law. And if those crimes include treason, plotting against the state, or other insurrectionist behavior, that falls under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Englesia. Too bad, isn’t it? I’m afraid I have no legal right to personally punish you. I could have done it anyway and called it self-defense, I suppose, but you’re a little too weak for me to claim that.”

Testarossa let out a blissful laugh as she faced the frantic Johann.

Everything she said was in compliance with international law. With the law as her shield, she had cornered Johann with an incontrovertible argument.

Thus, Johann was now in custody. And much like old Count Gaban, he would likely be dealt with in secret so that he’d never see the light of day again.

When you looked purely at the externals of all this, Testarossa had just banished a demon bent on destroying the kingdom. She had saved the councillors, the Council itself, and all of Englesia, too.

To say the least, it solidified her position within the Council. Nobody could compare with her in brains and brawn. The chairman wanted her in far more important posts now. Her reputation would be known far and wide shortly.

Now Testarossa’s rule over the West was complete.

“Do you think he read all of this?” she said to Moss. “Ah, we’re all dancing on Sir Rimuru’s palm, aren’t we? What a truly, truly wonderful ruler!”

“Yes, there’s no telling how deep his talents run.”

“I firmly agree. But today’s events might drive Guy Crimson to get more serious. And if he does…”

“We’ll have to firm up our powers. No matter the storm facing us, we must show the public that no one shall block the path of our master!”

“I’m glad you understand. May you remain just as diligent going forward. I expect great things from you. And tell Cien for me, won’t you?”

“Absolutely, my master!”

Testarossa gave him a satisfied smile and an elegant nod.

Over in the north, Cien—one of Testarossa’s demon servants—was holding his own until Elmesia’s Magus forces could arrive. Thanks to Guy not being all that serious about this invasion, the demons saw their position weaken in due time—and in the blink of an eye, they had retreated.

Thus marked the end of the disturbance in the West. But in a way, the true upheaval was only about to begin.

………

……

…

“Hey, I just received word from Mizeri, but why the heck does Blanc have a name now?”

“Oh, you mean Testarossa? Well, it proves that she, too, understands the glory and wonder of Sir Rimuru.”

Diablo was all too eager to explain things to the nonplussed Guy.

“And it sounds like they’re making mincemeat of my minions out there… Guess this little prank blew up in my face, didn’t it?”

“Naturally. It is all according to Sir Rimuru’s plan. And Guy… You, too, are being taken advantage of.”

Diablo, completely unbeknownst to Rimuru, was keeping up with his taunting. If Rimuru was here, he’d probably be holding Diablo’s arms back and screaming “Have you gone insane, you fool?!” in his face.

“So did that bum Rimuru name Testarossa?”

“Yes, he did.”

“And her getting a physical body and evolving to a Demon Peer…?”

“All the blessings of Sir Rimuru, yes.”

“…Oh.”

Diablo’s smile widened as Guy’s headache intensified. Raine, stationed behind him, turned white at the enormity of the news.

Ugh, are you serious? We’ve somehow maintained this delicate balance of battle skill for the past millennium and a half-ish, and now it’s all crashing down…

Guy had to resist the urge to laugh. A three-way deadlock between Primal Demons; the East in a standoff with the West; Luminus in a staring contest against Daggrull—somehow, everything had balanced itself just right. That was now gone in the course of a single day.

Suddenly, he was struck with a dark foreboding. He turned to Diablo.

“Hey, so if Testarossa’s now above the other two, what’re they up to right now?”

“Ultima and Carrera, you mean? Sir Rimuru put them to work as well, of course, and let me assure you, they couldn’t be happier…”

“Wait! Hold it right there!”

Guy stopped the smiling Diablo before he went into full gear.

“What? I am getting to the good part.”

Being interrupted just when he was about to banter away offended Diablo. Guy, as always, wanted nothing but the facts.

“It’s gonna be another long story, isn’t it?”

“It would have to be, wouldn’t it?”

That was up for debate, but Guy had no intention of doing so.

“Well, I’ll listen to the whole thing later, so…um, this Ultima and Carrera you mention…”

“Ah yes—Ultima is Violet, the Original Purple, and Carrera is Jaune, the Original Yellow. You really must call them by their names, because they have a rather short fuse if you don’t. In fact, they’ve all but forgotten their old monikers as of late.”

“They have…?”

Guy was at a loss for words. Come on… What the hell could that bastard Rimuru be thinking? Noir, I can understand—he’s always been a strange one. But if Violet and Jaune are jumping on his bandwagon, it’s not so funny anymore. And Blanc, too? The proudest out of all the Primals, and now she’s also serving someone else…?

He mulled this over as Diablo kept casually chatting.

“I invited them, mind you. Having more work to do is certainly a welcome thing, but if I cannot support Sir Rimuru directly, there’s no point to it. Don’t you think so?”

“…Huh?”

Now Guy eyed him with great suspicion, wondering if he heard him correctly. He may have wielded absolute power in this world, but now Diablo was verbally toying with him.

“This way, you see, I can give the trivial duties to—er, that is, I was looking for companions to work alongside me, and their schedules were free, so I invited them. Having these stupid power struggles for all time is simply ridiculous, so I told them to grow up a little and help out Sir Rimuru!”

Guy internally cursed the proud Diablo. This is all your doing?! If anyone needs to grow up here, it’s you!

“…So Rimuru brought them on after you invited them? And gave them names? And bodies?”

“Exactly. Thinking about how rudely they treated Sir Rimuru at first fills me with murderous rage, even today. However, they’re proving to be quite helpful. If Sir Rimuru is not bothered by it, then I am open to generously forgiving them.”

Diablo was strange enough, but Guy knew full well that Rimuru was beyond abnormal. Naming Primal Demons was something your average demon lord should never be capable of doing. It was lethally dangerous, opening you to the risk of either dying or simply being poofed out of existence. Besides, even if a Primal Demon’s power was recognized and praised, that demon would never bow down and serve anyone. If they were named, they’d repay the favor by consuming the namer’s soul—that’s all. This wasn’t just a matter of being crazy or overly confident in oneself.

I think I better talk things over directly with him, Guy concluded.

“Right. I’m gonna go pay a visit to Rimuru soon.”

“Oh? I will pass on that. It will only invite more trouble.”

God dammit…

Guy was already balling his hands into fists. But losing his temper would put him out of the game. Diablo was a unique case—if he ripped him apart right now, he’d just resurrect himself. Guy was fully aware of that, so he never took the bait.

“Nah, think about it. I want to hear more about your story, y’know, and we can’t really relax and chat over matters amid all this stuff, can we? And Deeno’s been telling me about how prosperous Rimuru’s lands have become. I’m getting kinda curious.”

He put a hand on Diablo’s shoulder, acting buddy-buddy as he spoke.

“Sigh… Well, all right. In that case, you are welcome to visit. I’m sure Sir Rimuru would be delighted.”

Diablo, for his part, never minded when people complimented Tempest. Feeling a bit better, he accepted Guy’s request.

If Rimuru were here, he’d probably be screaming even louder now. Good lord, he thought when Diablo briefed him on it later, he’s learning all the bad lessons from Shion and none of the good ones…

Thus, unbeknownst to Rimuru yet, Diablo and Guy’s conversation came to a close.

“In any case, if all of you are on hand, I’m outta here.”

“Yes, I’m sure Sir Rimuru will handle things here…no matter what happens.”

“Will he? Well, tell him I said hello.”

“I will. In that case, I look forward to seeing you again soon.”

With that, Guy was gone.

*   *   *

Diablo sighed.

“It seems I somehow made it through that, I suppose. If Guy decided to interfere with things, I couldn’t say what would happen then. Even I have trouble dealing with him, after all. Keh-heh-heh… I need to get stronger…”

Only his echoing laughter could be heard.

Deep inside the cathedral, a fierce battle was taking place.

The chop unleashed by Louis had enough slashing force to cut through any obstacle, the accompanying shock wave continuing to pursue Laplace even after he retreated far away. Laplace still had no trouble dodging it, however, breezily smiling as he did.

“Well, huh. You’re Roy’s brother, then? You twins or something? I’d quit while I was ahead if I were you. Ya can’t beat me, y’know.”

Despite darting around, pretending to look for an escape, Laplace was still as talkative as ever. Louis, meanwhile, remained unaffected. Being evaded didn’t concern him, as he continued swinging both arms at Laplace.

They had made their way outside the burial chamber, a kind of natural progression as Laplace continued dodging Louis’s strikes.

“Yes, as you say, Roy was like my twin brother. We were equally as powerful, and we looked similar, too. If there’s any difference, it’s that he had a violent streak, and I was far less emotional. But I will inform you that I am superior to him in one way—my eyes are much keener.”

“Yeah? So what?”

“I can take my time observing my opponent’s skills, movements, and targets. It’s been clear to me for quite some time that you’re trying to strike me where I’m unguarded.”

“…Huh. Better’n your brother, then, eh? But good eyes ain’t gonna be enough to beat me.”

“We’ll see about that. Also, my name is Louis. I’m more than just someone’s brother. Roy and I were never on the best terms, in fact.”

“Hmm. Can’t say I care much.”

Laplace seemed carefree, in his element, as he traded blows with Louis—or really, dodged the one-sided rain of blows coming his way. His eyes showed in the most eloquent terms that he, not Louis, was doing the observing.

“You must be tired by now, no?” Louis shouted. “Time for you to go to sleep.”

He stepped up the intensity of his attack.

“I’m tellin’ ya, you’re wastin’ your time.”

“Am I? Let me go stronger, then.”

Although the tone of his voice hadn’t changed, Laplace suddenly began to feel uncertain. Whenever he had a foreboding like this, it usually wound up true. With a leap some would describe as exaggerated, he instantly jumped back from the fray. His intuition was correct—Louis’s attack fanned out, pulverizing the space he stood on a moment ago.

“…?! What the hell’s all that power…?”

It had clearly skyrocketed in that last swipe. If Laplace was still hopping around, making fun of Louis, he wouldn’t have been able to defend in time. The damage would’ve been terrific.

“Phew… Now I’m getting used to this. If you evaded that, you’re certainly not one to be trifled with.”

“You wanted to put me off guard so you could do me in with one shot?”

“Mmm… I won’t say that didn’t come to mind, but I think I can win without resorting to such underhanded measures.”

“Huh?”

Laplace had taken Roy down. Roy, at that time, had certainly underestimated him, but even discounting that, Laplace was a far better fighter. And Laplace took the fight seriously—Roy might’ve been a stand-in for the demon lord Luminus, but he was an even match for the demon lord Kazalim, a sort of father figure to Laplace and his cohorts. He’d never go into a fight against someone like Roy unprepared.

“What you saw just now was an application of Bloodray. It hides its magical presence in order to reduce my opponent’s wariness of me. Of course, it won’t work again now that I’ve shown it to you, will it?”

It was sort of like revealing his hand, but he explained the skill to Laplace anyway. Hearing that gave him an even deeper sense of foreboding.

This ain’t good. Is he buying time for himself? What’s this guy after?

Laplace’s intuition was already sounding the alarm. If this keeps up, he decided, one of these tricks was bound to snare him—so without hesitation, he tapped one of his innermost secrets.

“…That’s why you must die here!”

With that declaration from Louis, the area around Laplace exploded. The shock wave focused itself around the center, offering Laplace no avenue for escape. The waves of blood particles were already locked onto him. The fight was over—anyone would conclude as much.

The flames burned high in the air as a human figure inside them collapsed.

“It’s too bad. Roy and I used to be one and the same. We were separated by the power of Lady Luminus. And with Roy dead, I’ve regained my original powers.”

Once, there existed a Bloody Lord too violent, too vicious for anyone to handle. Luminus managed to defeat him, adding him to her forces—but he was still so vicious that he caused constant trouble for the rest of Luminus’s ranks. Thus, she split him into two separate men—naming one the Holy Emperor and her right-hand man, and the other her stand-in as demon lord.

In other words, Louis was complete once more, regaining the powers he previously enjoyed. From the start, no matter how much more powerful Laplace was, he was convinced he could win. And that was why…

“Whoa. That was really cuttin’ it close.”

Laplace dragged himself up, a sight that gave Louis pause—a moment’s hesitation that Laplace wasn’t about to ignore.

“Let’s go, Footman. If this keeps up, you’re gonna die!”

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! I hate to say it, but it looks like you’re right.”

Footman had already been battered from head to toe by Gunther. He was the most powerful of the Three Servants under Luminus, and while he lost out to the fully restored Louis, Footman still had no chance. Laplace had kept careful tabs on their battle even as he fought his own, and his conclusion was dead-on accurate.

Even if I gave this all I had, I couldn’t take down the whole lot of ’em, and they’ll probably kill Footman first. Best to run while the runnin’s good. I’d say our diversion worked well enough—no need to expose ourselves to danger over it!

So Laplace, shouting out loud to distract Louis, sprang into action. It worked. In another moment, Laplace and Footman were away from this deadly battleground.

All that remained in the burial chamber were Luminus and Maria Rozzo. Luminus, perhaps hesitating to attack Maria, had yet to really throw herself into battle. The fact that Maria could keep up with her high-speed fighting was proof enough that she was no fake. It was definitely Maria—the kind, affectionate Maria she knew.

Granville must’ve been preserving her corpse. So this is a death golem using her body…or maybe not? This unconscious shell is a servant generated by Raise Dead necromancy. So he’s stooped low enough to tap into forbidden magic…?

Anyone who’s lost a loved one has fostered hope of seeing them alive one more time. But it’s a lost cause. Even Luminus could see why Granville would resort to necromancy—but it was all theoretical, something to imagine and not act upon. To someone as far removed from death as Luminus was, she had no way of understanding the true nature of sadness.

Maria was a Saint for the Hero Gren, acting as his servant and confidant. He comforted her as well, trying to relieve the heavy burden of her position. They enjoyed an intimate relationship, one that their then-foe Luminus envied.

What would it take for Granville to make her a zombie servant? And if she’s this strong, that couldn’t have been the only forbidden magic he cast. Maria was using a litany of special skills to hold her own against Luminus, including what seemed to be several uniques. Luminus wasn’t sure how to handle this, and that made her worry.

She is astounding but still weak. I doubt that fool Gren thought she had a chance against me. So why, then…?

Suddenly, intense anxiety attacked her. Something told her she was overlooking something extremely important…

“Lady Luminus, the invaders gave us the slip. Louis is currently pursuing them, and I was about to join him…”

Just then, Gunther came back in to report. The moment his voice trailed off, Luminus saw what was wrong. Something was missing from the chamber. Something vitally important. Now even Luminus’s heterochromatic eyes could see it as they followed Gunther’s gaze.

The coffin of spirit-infused ice, the relic they took such great pains to store here, had disappeared.

Luminus fell to confusion, unable to speak or accept this reality. It was something that should never have happened. It threw her, exposing her to Maria’s full attack.

“Lady Luminus!”

She could hear Gunther’s concerned shouting, but she couldn’t listen. The pain racking her body was the stimulus she needed to keep a cool head. She appreciated it.

The rational part of her brain began to consider her options anew. Calming her desires to scream against it all, she faced up to her reality. No matter how much her emotions refused to accept this, her cold analytical skills gave her the facts. The coffin of ice had been stolen, and that was that.

In another few moments, Luminus harnessed the anger bubbling up within her to stab right through Maria’s chest.

“You would go this far, Granville? You… You have incurred my full wrath, Gren!!”

With a scream of fury, she unleashed her hidden magic force. In an instant, this unprecedented level of mad tyranny destroyed the burial chamber. A swirl of chaotic magical force pooled around her. She had created a dimension of death, one nobody would even dare approach.

“Guntherrrrrrr!!”

“Yes, my lady!”

“Find them. Find the invaders!”

“As you wish!”

There was no need to say more. Realizing Luminus’s intentions, Gunther quickly sprang into action. As truly angry as she was, not even Gunther could be completely safe here.

If we fail, Lubelius itself could fall…

He ran away at full speed, compelled to act.

Luminus, left alone, struggled to control her rage. If she made a move right now, her analytical side told her, it would only make things worse. It was natural for her to keep her thoughts separate from her emotions. But even with that, this came as a massive shock.

This cannot stand. We must keep it safe until the time comes, or else it may spell doom for the entire world. And if even I cannot handle the fallout…

The ark was given to her by a trusted friend. Mishandling it could unleash disaster, so she had kept it sealed and under strict guard. Carefully, she analyzed her situation. Only she could undo the seal on that ark. It was a tremendously powerful barrier, one whose holy force could even burn the body of Luminus, the one who installed it. But now it had been carried off.

…Who could have done it? Anyone capable of taking it away must be at least as powerful as me…

Someone classified as a demon lord or better.

All the chaos Granville sowed in the cathedral must have been just a diversion. Who would he leave this true mission to? If Granville was willing to offer himself as bait, he must’ve been sure this person could steal the ark—a bet that certainly paid off.

…No. It’s too soon to call this lost. Weakness is a sin. Right now…

Right now, what did Granville want with the coffin? First, she needed to find out. She knew she hadn’t told him anything about the ark—it was supposed to be the most closely guarded of secrets. Not even Gunther and Louis knew any details about the girl sealed inside. And here was Granville, using every card at his disposal—he must’ve been absolutely resolved in this mission.

It was almost eerie to Luminus. His drive to succeed today was malicious. He wanted to get this done, no matter what the fallout was.

“All right. First, let’s find out what your true motives are.”

With that whisper, she turned her eyes toward the cathedral.

I had gotten my intentions across to Leon. He crossed swords with me, and to the outside observer, it must have looked like a serious sword fight. And it was! If I stopped for even a moment, he’d cut me down.

Wait. Did he really understand what I wanted from him?

As far as I could tell, Leon must’ve understood that Granville was behind all this. Now all we’d have to do is this bit of sword sparring for a while, until the time was right, and then we’d be fine. That’s what I thought anyway, but Leon was really giving me no time to rest. He was crazy fast. Hinata’s pace with a sword was amazing enough, but Leon sure wasn’t any slouch. Like her, he was a traditionalist with the sword, showing off a beautiful stance. Since my education from Hakuro, I had begun to teach myself a thing or two—I fight with more than just a sword, so I can’t really help it. With Raphael watching over me, I’m pretty sure I’m not doing anything that’d hurt myself, at least.

But enough about that. We were talking about how sharp his attacks were. I thought he was really out to kill me, but his face had almost no expression on it. It was hard to tell whether he really meant to harm me. I began to grow a little worried about trusting him.

Understood. There is no problem. Using Predict Future Attack to synchronize our plans.

That was a relief, then. I would just keep leaving this to Raphael’s auto-battle mode.

But that wasn’t my only concern. For a while now, I’d been detecting rumblings underground. I thought the bedrock might be moving; such was the enormity of the shaking. It’s probably the work of Luminus, I thought, a figure who still wasn’t present. We’ve had problems up here; she had problems down there… This sure wasn’t your run-of-the-mill scandal, no. I was definitely an involved party at this point, and if it was anybody but me, it’d probably become a huge diplomatic fight—not that Luminus would care, but regardless.

Shion and Ranga were still struggling against the insectoid Razul. Hinata seemed to be keeping it even with Granville, but I had the impression that Granville hadn’t tapped his full skills yet. If that fight dragged on, I had a feeling Hinata would be at a disadvantage soon. So no, things weren’t really going swimmingly for us. I wasn’t even sure what I should try to wrap up first.

But as I analyzed the battle, I suddenly detected a huge burst of magical power from down below. That was Luminus, for sure. The cathedral’s flooring flew into the air, opening a circular hole six or so feet in diameter. The blast of heat that shot up from it broke straight through the ceiling, ascending to the heavens. Its power was ridiculous, but I’m sure it was kid stuff to Luminus.

“It seems you’re serious about antagonizing me, Granville.”

Luminus appeared from the hole, carrying a beautiful woman in her arms—and the moment she did, she clearly indicated that she wanted Granville dead. Now things are gonna move, I thought. Leon must’ve thought so, too, because his eyes were on Luminus.

“Heh-heh-heh… Well done, Lady Luminus. Not even my servant could halt you, could she? She was a masterpiece of mine, you know. I infused her with the power of only my best handpicked otherworlders.”

“You fool. Pool together all the fake imitations you want; an unconscious doll could never beat the real thing. You, of all people, should know that!”

“Oh, I do, of course.”

Granville, faced with an enraged Luminus, remained serene. The speed of Hinata’s sword grew sharper against him, but Granville easily parried every strike, as composed as ever. She could steal her opponents’ skills, but apparently that didn’t work on him. Arts, unlike skills, couldn’t be used immediately after taking them. It’s the difference between reading about baseball and winning the World Series; only through continued training could you hone those arts. Granville’s strength was the result of years of that kinda training—and now he was humming along, as stable as the unmoving earth.

“Strong, isn’t he?” Leon whispered to me. “They don’t call him a former Hero for nothing.”

“No. He’s a bit better than I thought.”

“In that case,” Luminus said, ignoring us, “what were you doing with this?”

She laid the woman in her arms down. It looked like she was sleeping, but she wasn’t. She was most definitely dead, a corpse that had been used for servitude. With no soul inside, pumping her with energy was a pointless endeavor. I knew that well.

“…Why do you continue to denigrate Maria, even after her death?!”

I guess Luminus knew this woman. Maria, huh? Her face resembled Maribel’s a little. Did that mean she was…?

“Because I needed her. Everything was for the sake of this exact moment.”

Before the quizzical Luminus, Granville removed the glove on his left hand. The magical patterns on it were glowing, and now Maria’s corpse was glowing with it.

“What are you…?!”

It was Luminus who said it, but everybody there was thinking the same thing. Leon stopped engaging with me, watching over the proceedings. There was no point keeping the act going. I almost forgot why we started in the first place.

Then, before our eyes, something unbelievable happened. Maria’s body turned into a ball of light, flowing straight into Granville’s glowing hand. As it did, his body began pulsating with power—visually, not just in terms of magicule energy. This process was revitalizing his body’s cells. His white hair turned a shining blond, his withered skin regaining its youthful luster. There, in front of us all, was Granville Rozzo from his younger days, the Hero of years past, his eyes dead sharp.

“You… You took all the Love Energy I gave you and injected it into Maria!”

Granville nodded at Luminus. Love Energy, if I recall correctly, is a type of energy meant to retain one’s youth. So he mixed that with some other powers to rejuvenate himself, and the result is the Granville we’re looking at now?

“Lady Luminus… Or how about I just call you Luminus? I still need to settle things with you—I realized some time ago that I can’t die until I do. Now that Maribel is dead, my ambitions have been crushed—but still, above all else, this is what I desire!”

“You…!”

“Don’t toy with me!!”

Luminus and Hinata both responded simultaneously.

The young Granville turned toward Hinata. “Ah yes. Hinata, I still need to provide you with my guidance. You are the most talented of all the apprentices I dealt with. You always strove to improve, never afraid to make an effort and polish yourself. I will gladly praise your excellence any day. But…”

With that, Granville casually swung his blade. The effects were beyond belief.

“Meltslash…?! No! You can control spiritual particles with no casting delay?!”

Hinata dodged it, which amazed me. But Granville’s ability to handle Overblade skills with such nonchalance was jaw-dropping, completely beyond anyone’s imagination.

“Hinata, I always wondered why you never became a Hero. It takes more than talent and hard work. Unless you have the love of the elemental spirits, you will never qualify to be one. But you had that love, and yet…”

“Well, sorry. Whether they loved me or not, sometimes things are just beyond your reach, I suppose.”

“If you awakened your Hero side, it would have helped my ambitions immensely. So here’s a word of advice. You hold darkness within your heart, don’t you? Did you kill someone close to you in the past? Your parents, your brother, a friend?”

“Shut up!!”

Hinata had retreated to avoid his Meltslash, but now she shot back into position, lunging at Granville. Something about what he said must’ve touched a raw nerve. Anger filled her eyes.

The high-pitched ring of sword against sword filled the air. Granville remained steadfast…as Hinata was helplessly blown away.

“Ngh…!!”

There was just too much of a difference. Seeing Hinata treated like a child made me doubt my eyes.

“You never accepted the elemental of light. You have to overcome this. The darkness is just an illusion your heart creates for itself. You must forgive your past self and take pride in the present—the way you live. Then you will accept the light—”

“I told you, shut up!!”

Granville’s cold eyes sized up the enraged Hinata.

“It’s a pity, Hinata. If I had more time, I could have guided you. But if you can’t understand me, then it’s best for you to face the truth. How will you ever save the world if you can’t even protect what you hold dear?”

My instincts told me this was bad. With this conversation, everyone’s eyes were now focused on Hinata. What if Granville wanted that? And what he wanted…

Report. According to Predict Future Attack, his goal is—

His sword swung down in a slash. It was Disintegration, and there was no way to stop it. It was more of a stabbing move than a slash—call it Meltstrike if you want. It came down at close to light speed, and no doubt it’d gouge its way into its target. So I ran as fast as I could toward them.

According to my calculations, not even me at full speed would reach them in time. But if I could use Belzebuth to consume it—and the air around it… Even if I couldn’t capture these spiritual particles moving at light speed, I knew they were targeted toward Chloe, so I could get ahead of them.

“Chloe!!”

By the time I finished shouting, everything was over.

Hinata was the first to move. Without a moment’s hesitation, she stepped between Chloe and Granville’s line of fire. Sacrificing her own body, she took the Meltstrike blow to her chest. It stabbed right through her, and she collapsed to the ground coughing up blood—but all it did was lower the speed of that beam of light a little, as it extended toward Chloe.

The next person to move after Hinata, surprisingly enough, was Venom. Just like Hinata, he tried to sacrifice himself to protect Chloe—he must’ve been awfully faithful to Diablo’s orders, because he had kept himself focused on protecting the kids over everything else. That’s why he was in time for that moment.

“Gah! …Oh man, owww!”

There was a large hole in his stomach, but he seemed pretty chill about it. That’s a demon for you. As long as your soul’s safe, any damage to your body was apparently just window dressing. If Granville was aiming for him, it might be a different story, but for now, he could tend to himself.

Then, thanks to the minuscule amount of time Hinata and Venom brought for me, I made it over. Consuming the air in front of Chloe, I all but instantly teleported in time. Now I just needed to activate Uriel’s Absolute Defense to protect Chloe.

“Huh? Mr. Tempest? Miss Hinata…?”

No offense meant to Venom, of course, but Chloe was focused solely on Hinata. That was understandable. I was worried for her, too.

Luminus ran up to Hinata, gauging her wound.

“Miss Hinata! Miss Hinata, don’t die!!”

“Chloe! Hey!”

Before I could stop her, Chloe started running. The other kids were taking her cue, so I hurriedly used Paralyzing Breath to knock them out. Giving Venom some healing potion, I tasked him with protecting them.

“Ch… Chloe?! Is that really Chloe…?”

Leon was acting incredibly suspicious, but that’d have to wait. Chasing after Chloe, I ran up to Hinata, keeping a careful eye on Granville as I sized her up.

…Whoa, look out.

“Hey, Luminus…”

“Silence! The spirit particles are eating into her fast! Too fast!”

Her physical wounds were now healed, but Hinata was growing weaker by the moment. The Meltstrike particles were destroying her spiritual body, and in time, they’d start whittling down her astral body as well. And at that point, not even Hinata could—

Just then, Hinata barely opened her eyes.

“G-good! Good, Hinata. You gotta stay awake for me!”

“N-no, Lady Luminus, I… Hurk!”

Oh man. HInata was in serious trouble. But not even Luminus, much more versed in holy magic than I was, could rescue Hinata from the brink of death. That’s how fearsome Granville’s strike was.

“Ch-Chloe, I’m glad you’re safe…”

Even with blood flowing from her mouth, Hinata tried her hardest to sit up. Her will was like steel. I’m sure she couldn’t see any longer, but her lips were still taking the form of a smile. She turned toward Chloe and raised a shaky right hand, the one holding her Moonlight sword and bearing the Holy Spirit Armor bracelet.

“…Chloe, I want you to have this. I… I couldn’t be much of an…instructor to you, but I know…you can surpass me…”

Her voice was hoarse, but it was clearly coming through to the sobbing Chloe.

“Miss Hinata…”

Chloe’s hand gingerly touched Hinata’s—

—and the next moment, Hinata’s body began to glow, the light seemingly flowing into Chloe through her fingers. Was I seeing this right? Because not even Luminus was reacting at all. It was like time was stopping…

“N-no!” Chloe screamed. “This can’t be happening! It’s too early! Why?!”

“Uh, Chloe?”

The moment I tried calling for Chloe…she vanished, almost like she was never there at all.

…I snapped back to attention.

What was that?

“Chloe? Where’s Chloe? Rimuru… What did you do to Chloe?”

“I—I have no idea what just happened…”

Leon had me by the shoulders now, demanding an explanation, but I was clueless. Seriously, where did Chloe go? Did she really just disappear?

But at least Leon seemed to believe me. He looked around the area, panicked, and even I couldn’t hide my confusion. I had absolutely no clue what was going on.

…Unknown. This is an abnormal situation. Failed to grasp the full extent of what happened to the subject Chloe Aubert.

And surprisingly enough, Raphael—whom I could usually rely on for well-nigh everything—didn’t have any idea, either. But right now, I had no time to just stand there and ponder this.

The disappearance of young Chloe was not a concern to Luminus. Her own friend was more important to her right now. Her Resurrection spell had deployed itself, but it feebly dissipated into the air, much to her shock.

“Why?! Barely any time has passed since her death! Why…?”

…But Luminus could “see” it. Even with Hinata’s body back in perfect condition, her insides—her soul, the most important thing of all—was lost.

“Hinata, forgive me. I was here for you, and still you had to endure this…”

A single tear fell from her eye. It was greeted by a boorish voice interrupting her.

“I wish you wouldn’t wail like that. This, too, is exactly as I aimed for. My final plan is going quite smoothly, Luminus!”

Only Granville was smiling at this sequence of events. It greatly irritated Luminus. Now she wasn’t even allowed time to mourn Hinata’s death.

“You will pay for this. You will. I will tear you apart!”

The scream was as loud as it was furious. Her face was reddened with intense rage—the rage she felt by having Hinata, her favorite, taken before her eyes.

Her mind was filled with despair at how powerless she was, incapable of doing anything. It stirred her demon-lord heart in ways that couldn’t even compare with when Veldora laid waste to her kingdom long ago. The emotions stimulated her mind, like ripples on the surface of a cup filled to the brim with water—and the trembling force on her previously suppressed emotions caused a change inside her.

The World Language echoed, like a bell calling Luminus to the loftiest of heights, like none that even her almost limitless abilities had taken her.

Confirmed. Conditions met. The unique skill Lust has evolved into the ultimate skill Asmodeus, Ruler of Lust.

At that moment, the massive power within Luminus evolved into even more intense, vicious heights—into the realms of the ruler of the skies.

Asmodeus, the evolved skill she just gained, held sway over life and death itself. The powerlessness she felt at Hinata’s death was exactly what awakened Luminus to it. But she did not react. Now, her instincts told her, even this ability would be meaningless.

“It doesn’t matter any longer! It’s too late… I was useless right when it counted, and it doesn’t matter to me anymore…!!”

All but ignoring the World Language, Luminus continued to seethe with rage.

“So you wanted to settle matters?”

“Yes, Luminus. You’ve evolved, haven’t you? I hadn’t anticipated that, but it’s a fine thing to see.”

Her blue-and-red heterochromatic eyes blazed as they stared straight at Granville, full of hated. Suddenly, the disappeared girl flashed into her mind—but she banished any sentiment from it.

“This wasn’t what I heard would happen…but that no longer matters. Prepare to face the afterlife, Granville!!”

And so open battle began between Luminus and Granville—the culmination of a rivalry that had lasted over a thousand years.

All I could do was watch as Luminus treated Hinata’s mortal wounds. The Resurrection spell was administered perfectly…but had no effect.

I couldn’t believe it. As long as the soul was intact, Resurrection should also work, restoring the spiritual and/or astral bodies as needed. So what went wrong?

Understood. The soul of the subject Hinata Sakaguchi appears to have vanished. It is impossible to restore lost data particles by any method.

Her soul’s…gone?

No, I knew it. That was the second time Hinata fell, so I could tell the difference all too well, and I was sure Luminus did, too. But a soul would normally never fade out of existence this quickly. I supposed we were holding out hope that we had just lost sight of her soul by some mistake, but that was a fruitless dream.

I didn’t think Luminus would be this thrown by it, though. She and Hinata must’ve been closer than I knew. And this was my business, too. I started to think about why this was happening, which made it hard to collect my thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for regrets.

“This wasn’t what I heard would happen…but that no longer matters. Prepare to face the afterlife, Granville!!”

With Luminus’s scream, I realized just how out of it I was.

Spacing out in battle… What was wrong with me? That’s just asking to be killed. I had to save my sadness for later and do everything I could here. Luminus’s words seemed odd to me, but I could think about what she meant later. I had calm down. Things hadn’t been settled yet. If I lost my temper and got defeated, then Hinata’s death—and the efforts of everyone else—would have been wasted.

It was a pretty forced effort, but I successfully managed to move on. If Luminus’s scream had come any later, things probably would’ve gotten even worse—because the next instant, the whole cathedral was engulfed in a massive explosion.

The light and shock wave from the blast burst out from the entrance to the middle of the site. Its speed was intense but still yawn inducing compared with the speed of light. Keeping my mind cool, I stepped up to protect the children and musicians. I turned an eye toward Shion and the others out of concern, but Diablo—who had returned at some point—had put up a protective barrier for them.

“Keh-heh-heh-heh… Sorry I’m late.”

“No, I’m just glad you made it!” I said, thanking Diablo. However, the real surprise was Shion. Ranga had noticed both the explosion and Diablo, but Shion still seemed to be entirely focused on the enemy in front of her. Her expression was terrifying, her face flush, as if intoxicated by the blood around her. It was oddly kind of alluring albeit definitely improper for a battlefield…but ah well. Despite being on the defense before, it looked like she was holding her own, which was good. I think I’ll leave Razul to Shion and Ranga for now.

I examined the cause of the explosion. The first thing that struck me was a gigantic aura—an evil presence, one that felt like your spine was freezing solid. This was more than just a bad feeling. It was an intense pressure, like the sky was falling down on you—although didn’t it feel a bit like the high-level elemental spirit that fused with Chloe? It resembled that but seemed a little different as well. The sheer size of this presence reminded me of what I felt with Chloe back then.

Report. The object is a material body. Unusual amount of existential energy detected. Its maximum level is equivalent to that of the subject Veldora.

Great. We’ve got a monster here! At least Raphael could measure it this time, although that didn’t calm my nerves much. If this was operating on sheer instinct like the Chaos Dragon, I could deal with that…but if it was sentient, I was screwed. Especially if it actually had battle experience—just imagining that scared me. I’d lose without a fight then. We’re talking energy several times my own…and either way, I had a feeling I’d have to deal with it.

Would this be enough to be considered dire straits by this point?

Then the smoke cleared, revealing an incredibly beautiful woman, naked as the day she was born. She stood there, eyes closed, her lustrous dark hair fluttering as she shone in a silvery light. It was like something out of a fantasy, and I was immediately smitten.

But now wasn’t the time to stop and stare.

“Are you the one who took my ark?! And you’ve even undone my spiritual seal and awoken Chronoa…”

Luminus was now shouting at a much more familiar figure who just entered the scene. It was Yuuki. So he’s in on this, too? Part of me still wanted to believe in him, but I guess Raphael was right after all—and given the choice, I was always going to trust Raphael first.

I thus felt no surprise at all as I turned my icy gaze to Yuuki.

“So you’re involved in this?”

“Oof, guess you know, huh? But that works, too, so…”

He spoke entirely off the cuff, not being shy at all. I was dealing with the real Yuuki right now, no doubt, but he’s a lot more shameless than I thought.

Behind him were two unfamiliar people wearing masks—an asymmetrical one leering at me and the other one looking angry. I assumed those were Laplace and Footman from the Moderate Jesters, and although I had a hunch about it before, I guess they really were linked with Yuuki.

“So you’re Luminus? My name’s Yuuki Kagurazaka. It’s an honor to meet you.”

“Silence! How did you undo the seal?”

“Well, about that—I’ve got this really unique thing called Anti-Skill that lets me cancel any type of magic or special skill.”

“…I see. Rather daring of you to reveal that.”

Luminus shot Yuuki a look full of loathing, although her senses were still firmly attuned on Granville. They were in a dead heat, and neither of them could afford any false moves. Granville himself was also eyeing the dark-haired girl, even as he dealt with Luminus’s attacks and fired back with his own. Duels between two experts like this went far beyond the realm of mere “skill.”

“Yeah, well, Rimuru already knows, so there’s no point hiding it. But I want to ask you something, too—well, not you, but Granville over there.”

“Heh-heh-heh… I can guess what it is, but go ahead.”

Yuuki sounded casual, but his eyes were surveying the area around him, never resting. As long as Leon and I had freedom of movement, he knew he couldn’t escape too easily…assuming he planned to, that is, but I’m sure he did. I really had no idea why he was even showing up at this point; something told me he didn’t anticipate this turn of events. With as many question marks as there were, moving around would be dangerous. I’d have to figure out from Yuuki and Granville’s conversation just what kind of situation we had fallen into.

“So about the Hero I heard was sealed inside that ark… I mean, ‘controlling’ her turned out to be super-easy. The seal just came right off! What’s the deal with that, Granville?”

Hero? That girl’s a Hero?!

This was making even less sense now. Why would a demon lord keep a Hero sealed away? And given how much Luminus seemed to care for her, this wasn’t any kind of normal sealing.

“You are right! Because this is both a Hero…and not a Hero. Right now, that child is a personification of evil, by the name of Chronoa…”

It was Luminus who answered Yuuki, her voice filled with intense rage and a surprising fretfulness. Calling this girl Chronoa a “personification of evil” sounded pretty foreboding to me—she must’ve been something really dangerous.

“Heh-heh-heh… You did very well, Yuuki. Not even I could dismantle the elemental seal on that ark. That’s why I took advantage of you. Now that she’s released, nobody could ever defeat her. Attention, demon lords! Attention, servants of evil! All of you will die here today!”

Granville erupted into laughter as he shouted. Awfully kind of him. Revealing everything without prompting like this sure helps me a lot…not that it makes this situation any better.

“Wow. Guess I lost this game of wits, huh? You sure got me good…”

Yuuki sounded surly about it. Sooner or later, though, this stalemate had to end. And now, with a relaxed motion, the dark-haired Chronoa started moving. With a light shake of her head, her eyes opened—and that was the signal for the free-for-all to begin.

I could ask Luminus what she knew later. For now, I had to survive.

“Diablo, handle this area for me.”

“…Yes, my lord!”

It looked like he wanted to say something for a moment, but he meekly agreed, perhaps sensing the atmosphere. He probably wanted to fight, I think, but now wasn’t the time for a back-and-forth conversation. I wasn’t going to change my mind, and I’m sure he knew that.

So that just left one question: What would I do now? Luminus and Granville were at a stalemate. Shion and Ranga were fighting hard against Razul. Yuuki’s group was trying to escape, and while I didn’t plan to let them, they were much less dangerous than Chronoa. I couldn’t just leave them be, though, which posed a difficult issue. They might stab me in the back—and forget about us fighting together here. Leon, meanwhile, had been acting like he was in his own little world for the past while—I honestly couldn’t put much trust in him.

Thus, I had few allies and lots of enemies. It was a disastrous situation, way too difficult to handle.

Chronoa’s eyes were open. She looked naked to me before, but now I realized she had a single bracelet around one wrist. It was glowing, emitting black particles that wrapped around her body—a system something like Hinata’s Holy Spirit Armor. Her armor, however, was pure black and much sturdier than what Hinata wore.

Next, Chronoa summoned a single sword, a beautiful rapier not unlike Hinata’s Moonlight, albeit with a jet-black blade.

Report. Although its shape is identical, its latent statistics are incomparably higher.

That sword and armor were both apparently way better than Legend class. Her sword was as strong as mine, or maybe stronger, which meant it was God class. I guess I could no longer be optimistic. It’s wasn’t just a matter of knowledge—she may have even had me beaten in skill, and I had a feeling her weapon could penetrate all my defenses. This was seriously becoming a do-or-die situation.

Report. The hostile subject Chronoa is—

I know, okay?!

I didn’t need Raphael’s analysis to understand how scary this girl was.

Following my instincts, I deployed Absolute Defense and commenced evasive maneuvers. Immediately after I began, a dark beam of light smashed through where I was just standing. It continued in a straight line, demolishing all obstacles it hit along the way. It was only stopped after breaking through a cathedral wall.

That was beyond crazy. If I was one step slower, I would’ve taken that head-on. Would I have withstood it? It all would’ve come down to luck.

Negative. Even with Absolute Defense from the ultimate skill Uriel, spiritual particles can still make their way through. It is only through predicting their movements and making the particles interfere with one another that they can be canceled out. The hostile enemy’s attack variation is greater than originally pictured, and prediction is therefore difficult. To sum up—

…You can’t defend it, right? Okay, then. “Absolute” Defense, my ass. But now was no time for whining. I’d have to thank my own quick-wittedness for dodging that.

And Chronoa was aiming her attacks at more than just me. Her next strike headed straight for Yuuki. He couldn’t quite dodge it, suffering a slight cut on his cheek. It wouldn’t be nice to cheer for that, but hopefully nobody minded if I let out a bemused giggle.

Still, Chronoa’s attacks were astounding. Even Yuuki’s Anti-Skill was helpless against attacks purely physical in nature. I suppose I had Cancel Melee Attack, but Yuuki enjoyed nothing that convenient. He had powered up his whole body, but he was still merely human. I had thought of Anti-Skill as a major threat, but maybe there were a lot of holes to it after all.

I had the time to ponder this while other people were fighting. Better come up with some kind of strategy before I’m aimed at again.

Suggestion. Deploy Summon Storm Dragon, part of the ultimate skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm?

Yes

No

Hey, that sounds nice!

I hated to use one of my most secret moves in front of such a big crowd, but it’d be even worse if I kept it hidden and fell into a hole I couldn’t get out of. If I lost someone like Hinata, it’d be too late after that. Luminus’s relationship with Veldora gave me some concern, but now was no time to hesitate.

So I leaped at Raphael’s suggestion. I had been practicing in secret, so it felt natural now. Opening a soul corridor to Veldora, I called for him.

(Mm? Rimuru? Well! I hope you are happy with yourself, going on a nice field trip without me.)

Great. He was dolefully pouting at me. And this wasn’t a field trip. I wish he wouldn’t lodge these accusations at me, but I didn’t have the time to argue. At times like these, you had to speak your mind.

(Veldora, please, I need your help. Lend me your powers!)

With a soul corridor, you could communicate your emotions more directly than with Thought Communication. Normally, you wouldn’t use a corridor for conversation, since any lies could immediately be spotted out, but if you really wanted to bare your soul, this was the best way. Thanks to that, I could tell Veldora seemed surprised.

(Oh-ho? You need my power? Well then, you will find few companions as trustworthy as I. I can certainly understand why you rely on me so!)

Crap, did I egg him on too much? No, I’d be okay. Veldora was bound to step up for me.

(I’m short on time. Can I call for you?)

(Pfft. A silly question. If you ask me so nicely, I could only respond in kind! Please go ahead. I will exercise the full extent of my force!)

Veldora turned out to be just as trustworthy as I hoped.

Consent acquired. Launching Summon Storm Dragon.

And in just a scant few moments, a gale-force wind blew over the cathedral…

Leon was struck dumb.

Was I too late…?

The girl called Chloe was without a doubt the childhood friend he had been searching for, an effort he spent hundreds of years on. He had even dirtied his hands with certain forbidden methods in the attempt…and now she was here. She was here…but that little girl was gone.

At first, Leon thought that Rimuru had done something—but he quickly dispelled the thought. As he saw it, the only conclusion to make was that something truly unexpected and mysterious had happened.

No… I can’t give up on this yet. Just now, I met her. There’s going to be another chance, I’m sure of it!

He decided to cling to that thought, persuading himself it was so. It helped him regain control, but by that time, things had suddenly begun to unfold quickly. A new enemy appeared, demonstrating unstoppable force. Her identity was unknown, but he could tell she had Rimuru playing defense. And Leon was no impartial observer; there was no guarantee he wouldn’t be targeted next.

Next Yuuki was attacked, dodging the strike with everything he had. Seeing that promptly made Leon realize that he was standing in a battlefield—but that realization came a little too late.

People knocked out of battle were already strewn near the cathedral wall. Leon had no way of knowing, but Rimuru had deposited them there so they wouldn’t get caught in combat. They were still alive but completely unconscious, so Leon wasn’t particularly wary of them. In normal times, he’d never make an error like that, but the shock of seeing this girl he pursued for so long suddenly disappear had made him lose his composure. Put it all together, and he had let his guard down—and that’s why, for that one moment, he reacted too slowly.

A small blast of magic shot out from near the cathedral wall. It didn’t look very lethal as it made its way toward Chronoa, who was currently preparing another attack on Yuuki. It certainly wouldn’t damage her, but the blast did exactly what its creator intended.

Chronoa turned around, her eyes settling on Leon.

“Tch… Trying to push her on me?!”

Despite his reluctance, Leon had to cast off all the niggling concerns in his mind. If he took his eyes off Chronoa, he’d be dead the next instant. Unless he seriously fought this out, even a demon lord like him would have a disadvantage—and even with a full effort, there may be no way for him to win this. That was how strong a threat Chronoa had become—and with the way things were, Leon could no longer distract himself with other issues.

One side of the battle was cheering at this. It was Yuuki’s group.

“Nice job, Teare!”

“What a great idea. I didn’t think she’d help out like that, but now I’m glad I took out that insurance.”

This move on Teare’s part was originally meant to antagonize Rimuru against Leon, but the opportunity never arose, so Teare kept playing possum. Her perseverance was rewarded at the perfect time.

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! Now we can get out of here once Teare makes it back.”

Being targeted by Chronoa made Yuuki sweat bullets, but now he was his usual composed self, kicking back as he observed the fight between her and Leon. Thus, he could easily see Teare clambering her way from the cathedral wall. He headed off to rescue her before Laplace finished up their preparations to retreat—and by the time he was back with her, Laplace’s spell was complete.

“All set, Boss. Let’s blow this joint.”

“I hear you,” Yuuki replied with a nod. “I think Rimuru’s up to something, so it’ll be dangerous to stay put. We better get out of here fast.”

He raised his hand up high, knocking out the magical barrier that covered the whole of Lubelius.

“Hoh-hoh-hoh! Nice one, Boss.”

“Whenever I see it in action, your skill seems like such a cheat…”

“Hey, if it lets us scram in a hurry, I’m all for it.”

As Laplace implied, escaping the center of this city with magical means would normally be impossible. Thanks to Yuuki’s power, though, they could modify anything and everything to their liking. It was a cheat, as Teare put it, but if it got them out of here alive, nobody was going to complain.

“I dunno who’s going to survive this, but whoever it is, I’m sure we’re gonna be enemies next time we meet. Anyway—good luck, guys!”

With those final words, Yuuki and his team left the battlefield.

I could see Yuuki and his cohorts escape. I resented that. Making good on their retreat, with all these threats left for me to deal with—but when I thought about it, this actually worked well. Someone like them, who could be either friend or foe—well, definitely foe right now—but teaming up with someone like that, I had no idea when they’d decide to betray me. It might’ve even become two on one against me, so having just one enemy to deal with now definitely boosted my chances.

The Western Holy Church held a great deal of influence among the Western Nations. If I made a public statement, and it received Luminus’s agreement, Yuuki would pretty much lose all standing in the West. Besides, the Free Guild was backed by the Council, and the boss of the Council was currently in active warfare against Luminus. If we won today, Yuuki was no longer a threat.

Convincing myself that his escape wasn’t worth feeling down about, I sized up the enemy in front of me.

“Rimuru, is that not…the Hero who sealed me away?” Veldora asked.

“Seems to be.”

“Ah, I see. She is not masked, but the area around her lips is identical. I see my eyes do not deceive me. Beautiful, is she not?”

Veldora’s speech accelerated as he bragged about her. Now really wasn’t the time for this. I wondered if a True Dragon even knew how to assess human beauty. It certainly lent more credence to the theory that Veldora lost after falling for her good looks.

“I agree with you, but right now she’s our enemy. Luminus sealed her away, I guess, but she’s out of anyone’s control right now. I think she was meant to be insurance against you, so do something about this!”

“How rude of you. Why are you ordering someone as irreproachable as me to ‘do something?’”

Who do you think you’re talking about here, man…? I almost had to applaud his audacity. But I didn’t have the time to put up with his nonsense.

“Enough jokes. Just take her on and buy me some time!”

“Kwaaaah-ha-ha-ha! Absolutely! We have a score to settle, besides. I was just thinking about how I wanted a rematch. It is all right if I defeat her, I assume?”

Wow! My hero!

Although, whenever anyone says that in a show or video game, they’re basically doomed to lose afterward.

“Yes, of course! Have at it!”

“Leave it all to me. I was defeated last time because I was in my dragon form. Now is a good chance to show you how I’ve grown.”

I’m glad he’s so confident, but hasn’t he actually gotten weaker since then? I don’t really see the logic behind being stronger as a human instead of a dragon…but I didn’t want to rain on his parade when he was so enthusiastic, so I sent him off with a smile.

Not like losing would kill him—that much I could be assured of.

“Are you all right, Leon?” I asked, turning toward him. Chronoa was still looking right at us, so I kept an eye on her.

“Yes, somehow. Don’t leave yourself open. She’s stronger than you can imagine.”

I decided to heal Leon a little. His sword was already cut in half, and he was thoroughly battered and bruised. I was impressed he held out this long. Thanks to his efforts, I had enough time to successfully summon Veldora.

“I realized that the moment I saw her. You saw how wary Luminus was. I’m not expecting this to be an easy win.”

That was why I broke out Veldora, one of my last resorts.

“And so you called for Veldora? I won’t ask how you did that, but having you as an ally is certainly reassuring. But even a True Dragon will have his work cut out for him.”

That I knew as well. Chronoa, after all, was the very person who sealed him away.

“Are you hurt?”

“No, I’m fine. I used an excessive amount of magic force to keep my sword intact, but this is nothing fatal.”

Of course, he couldn’t save his sword in the end. And as unconcerned as he looked, I was detecting a lot of fake stoicism. I didn’t have the excess capacity to protect Leon, so maybe this was the right thing to do after all? Good thing I kept my summoning to Veldora only.

There was actually one other person among us.

“Are you all right, Sir Leon? It is good to see you again.”

This was Charys. My summoning hadn’t gone perfectly after all, because Veldora insisted on bringing Charys along with him.

“Are you…Ifrit?” Leon asked.

“Yes. I have now received the name Charys and am in the service of Sir Veldora.”

“Ah. Well, glad to see you in good health.”

“I…was unable to read your true intentions. Thus, I failed to reach an understanding with Shizue Izawa. Receiving Sir Veldora’s guidance has helped me realize just how foolish I was.”

“…Has it?”

Leon nodded, although I wasn’t wholly sure he was paying attention. He seemed to be brushing Charys off, but I didn’t want to call him out on it. They both had similarly serious personalities, to be sure.

“Rimuru,” Leon said, “please buy me some time. I have a trump card of my own to reveal.”

I considered the chance he’d try to run, but even with what little time we had spent together, he didn’t strike me as that kind of guy. Let’s trust in him, then.

“All right. I’ll go support Veldora. Charys, defend this area until Leon’s ready.”

“Yes, my lord!”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

We were all set to go. Leon promptly got to work on…something, with Charys protecting him—the old master-and-servant team reunited. Me, I went back to the battlefield. It was time to kick off the final fight.