Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha Volume 7 Chapter 4

Continues on to Epilogue – Consequences of the Necessary Path

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Chapter 4 - Beyond the Endless Dream

1

The ancient city of Lada that the third generation Demon Lord Lezonas ruled.

Within the artificial s.p.a.ce that emulated what was once the royal city recorded as a turning point in history, a particular sound continued to ring out unerringly. They were the continuous sharp sounds of clashing blades, and from time to time, intense vibrations from impacts made in the air. These sounds alone were able to describe just how fierce the battle was. The source of the sounds were not set in one place, they didn't stop moving for even a moment. At the source of the sound — there were two silhouettes leaping between the rooftops of the historic buildings, and like two gales of wind crossing each other, they clashed successively in mid-air. One of them was a human youth who wielded a silver demonic sword, while the other one was a demon youth who swung a jet-black demonic sword — Toujou Basara and the Current Demon Lord Leohart. After the two of them clashed at full-force with their first hit, they then made full use of the entire s.p.a.ce for their high-speed battle.

…Truly fast.

Even though Leohart's speed had similarly increased to such a degree that he seemed to have become one with the wind, he still appeared to be amazed at the speed of his opponent. In terms of pure strength and swordsmanship, Leohart was clearly superior, but Basara who was darting in front of him was significantly faster. Leohart had fought against many Heroes in the previous Great War, and he had also witnessed many of his powerful comrades such as Balthier, Lars, and the Eight Demon Generals; but to be honest, he couldn't remember if any of them could achieve such speed. In Gardo's report, he mentioned that Basara was faster than him at his best, but—

…It can't be wrong.

The current Basara was definitely much faster than when he fought against Gardo. Gardo's power in that state was indeed amazing, but his speed was still below that of Leohart's; moreover, Leohart was chasing after Basara's afterimage at the moment, and he could barely keep up. However, Basara with his speed advantage was no longer keeping his distance from Leohart. Basara was no longer leaping and accelerating from the many rooftops present, while Leohart used his leg strength to maintain his speed, prepared to leap at any time. Basara twisted his body in mid-air, turned his legs to change direction, and faced Leohart who was chasing him from the rooftops behind. After tearing through many red tiles as he skidded, he suddenly charged straight towards Leohart.

Leohart prepared to swing towards the ground in a single strike. The purpose of that was not to defend against Basara's sword that was aimed towards the upper right, but to repel him with force. Then, just as the sound of their colliding swords rang out, Leohart used the contact point and pressure of their blades as support to jump up directly over Basara's head; and after a mid-air somersault, he chose to land on an adjacent rooftop…but he didn't descend immediately, and instead performed a horizontal slash behind himself beforehand. The sound of metal pushing against metal was heard in the next instant. After Basara saw Leohart jump up, he immediately turned around for another strike, and that was why Leohart was forced to react. In the instant that he finally landed, the battle had turned into a close-quarters sword duel in which he had no chance to rest.  Within Leohart's entire range of movement, Basara began a non-stop high-speed onslaught, while Leohart remained fixed to the spot as he defended. The sound of clashing blades was heard a countless number of times from every direction, and gradually surrounded him. It was not long after the fierce slashing sounds began that a particular phenomenon occurred before Leohart's eyes. The wielder of the sword, Basara, appeared to multiply.

"This is…"

It was the critical phenomenon that had occurred as a result of high-speed movement at a close distance. Afterimages of Toujou Basara had appeared in front of Leohart's eyes.

(Part 1 of 13) (31/8)

2

The decisive battle between Leohart and Basara had finally begun. The stronghold of the Moderates faction was in the far-off Wildart City, but there was also a live broadcast there. Leohart believed that the Moderates faction had a right to watch the battles of their own representatives, and the direction that the war would take the Demon Realm towards, so he allowed the battle's broadcast to be sent towards Wildart City using magic waves. And through Sheera, who was at that location to adjust the frequencies of both magic projection systems to be the same, they were able to view the situation of the battle in real-time. Klaus and many others paid close attention to the evolution of the battle's situation in their lounges, rooms or other locations. However, there was one particular person in Wildart city who had hung up a hammock in the midst of several trees, and was taking a leisurely nap on it while a pocket-sized book sat on top of his face as a sleeping mask. It wasn't just anyone, it was Toujou Jin. After being brought here by him, the young soldier of the Current Demon Lord faction, Fio, walked up to his side and asked in disbelief

"Hey, your son's battle with Leohart-sama has begun, aren't you going to watch it?"

Jin first answered with a simple "No", before removing the book from his face to say

"It's already gotten to this stage, so there's no need to watch it any further…"

"No need? …It's currently three wins and three losses. The outcome of this decisive battle will decide the future of the Demon Realm, you know? How—"

Fio then continued to say

"To a human like you, the future of demons like us may be unrelated to you…but you can at least worry about your son a bit, can't you? What other reason do you have not to go?"

"Because I've already done what I needed to do."

The man who was formerly called the G.o.d of War said

"All that I can do is give him some special training before the battle, and to clean up for him after the battle. Regardless of whether he wins or loses, the result is the same…of course, there are some changes in what actually has to be done, but this is fine for now. Moreover—"

Jin continued

"If I rushed over there to join in, it would make the situation even more complicated, and then that would just cause trouble. Although it may not seem like it right now, my relationship with the Demon Realm is an endless cycle of reason and chaos."

"You look like this all the time, not just right now."

Fio sighed, and then asked again

"Well, what's your perspective? Can your son win against Leohart-sama?"

"I wonder. As a father, of course I'd hope that my precious son can win…"

Jin shrugged as he said

"If it was that simple, we wouldn't have to work so hard. Basara's chances of defeating him — is only twenty percent at most."

(Part 2 of 13) (31/8)

3

In front of Leohart's eyes, Basara was constantly increasing his speed, creating more than ten afterimages. It was a phenomenon caused by instant acceleration and deceleration; it was the result of the difference between visual and cognitive signals in the brain. However, although Basara was indeed faster, Leohart was still able to roughly make out his position. As for why he insisted on creating afterimages — Leohart could somewhat understand why.

…The perfume was for this?

When they initially clashed, Leohart could smell a strong odour on Basara's body, it was from that bottle of perfume. Originally, that would've been a stupid act that would expose his own position, but for someone who used speed as a weapon, that was a different matter. By performing high-speed movements and emergency stops with vast amounts of perfume on, he had become something that was almost like a human incense which caused Leohart to misjudge Basara's position.

—This perfume also had other effects. To Leohart, it had a provocative and distracting effect on his mind. What Basara had asked the Current Demon Lord faction to prepare was the perfume that had halted production after Zolgear's death. He originally thought that it was the perfume that Zolgear gave to the women in his erotic playground, and when Belphegor became the playground's new master, he stopped its production to remove Zolgear's impression from it.

—He was wrong. After a.n.a.lysing the perfume that Basara had asked Lars to obtain, they discovered that it was the same perfume that Belphegor wore when he met with Leohart the other day. The main reason was so that Belphegor could fully unify the women in the playground by choosing a fragrance that belonged only to him; he prevented it from circulating on the market, most likely so that those women would have a unique fragrance in the Demon Realm. And the day before yesterday, they weren't sure whether Basara was after Zolgear's or Belphegor's perfume. When the two representative sides met at the beginning, he was not able to smell this from Mio's body, which meant that Basara had put on the perfume for the sole purpose of disrupting Leohart's judgement.

"———"

While enduring Basara's constant flurry of attacks where even a slight mistake in guarding could prove fatal, Leohart had to perform various defensive measures in an instant, and a.n.a.lyse the combat situation while avoiding the attacks. Up until now, he had crossed blades with Basara a countless number of times, and in the vast majority of those cases, he was on the defensive. His opponent was completely dominating the flow of combat. This happened because his speed fell behind that of his opponent.

…But.

Leohart wasn't anxious or nervous at all. While Basara's speed was certainly impressive, and the afterimages generated with a.s.sistance from the perfume were dangerous, Leohart was currently able to deal with all of that quite comfortably. The reason for that was because each of Basara's attacks was of low quality — every one of his strikes was rather weak. From the perspective of the viewers who were outside the fighting s.p.a.ce, Basara's continuous attacks at a dizzying speed were putting pressure on Leohart, but that was only a superficial visage. It wasn't a matter of physical arm strength, rather, it was clear that Basara was unable to utilise his full strength.

…I don't know where he was before.

In short, his current injuries were not minor. Known for his swiftness, he was currently able to maintain his maximum speed, but under such circ.u.mstances, it seemed unlikely that it would last very long. Using Belphegor's perfume for disruption or provocation was the most desperate struggle that he could put up right now. —He was deliberately stalling for time, at least until he fell. However, this kind of behaviour meant that Basara was simply using a petty trick. It was the day before yesterday when Basara asked for the perfume, and he disappeared late last night. In other words, Basara had planned to put this plan into action from the beginning, and decided to use the perfume against Leohart. Leohart didn't want to stoop as low as Basara. He wasn't opposed to using tricks, but he simply insisted on fighting until the end in a manner befitting that of a Demon Lord.

"—Roar, Loki."

At the same time as Leohart's call, the demonic sword in his hand responded by whipping up a wild tempest, dispersing the scent of the perfume in the surrounding area.

"———"

In the moment that Basara paused out of surprise because his afterimages had dissipated, Leohart unleashed a single pure strike. A slash of pure power.

"!——"

Basara lifted Brynhildr up to block it, but that was a poor decision. Leohart slashed down with Loki with no hesitation, causing both Basara and Brynhildr to be forcibly swept aside. Leohart's ruthless strike had instantly sent the opponent in front of him flying through the air. He was sent flying towards the tall and distant twin towers.

"Gaaaaaaarrrgghh—kuh!"

Leohart's powerful strike immediately sent Basara flying backwards.

…This is bad, if I don't think of a way…!

In the scope of Basara's upside-down vision while his upper body had been knocked into the air, he noticed the large building along his route.

"—Haah!"

As he saw the large twin towers quickly approaching, Basara struggled as he swung Brynhildr with all the strength that he could muster. Using the sharp gale of wind that was generated from his swing, Basara pierced through the wall and flew inside the tower; he attempted to stab Brynhildr into the ground in order to slow down, but the stone floor was too hard and all he left on it were scratches.

"Gah…help me…stop—!"

Basara did not give up on using the full weight of his body, and the tip of his blade finally pierced the floor, resulting in a sharp screech which echoed out, as well as an eruption of sparks across the floor — after sliding over a distance of a dozen metres, he finally succeeded in stalling his momentum amidst the wreck of a countless number of tables and chairs. In the s.p.a.ce that appeared to resemble a parliament hall, he stood up on the dark floor.

"!…Hah, hah…kuh—!"

The sudden pain in his abdomen caused the expression on Basara's already breathless face to tighten. It seemed that he had overexerted himself in trying to brake, causing his abdominal wound to reopen.

…He's definitely found out that my condition isn't optimal.

Although he had used the perfume to mask the smell of his blood; given how many times he was in close-quarters combat with Leohart, it was clear that someone of Leohart's level could detect that something was wrong with Basara's condition. —This was something that couldn't be helped. Basara's abdominal wound was received when he alone performed a 'preparation' for this decisive battle. It was an absolutely necessary preparation, something that had to be done. Hence, Toujou Basara didn't regret his own injury, moreover—

…I have to deal with this quickly.

He was racking his brains on how to deal with Leohart at the moment. Belphegor's perfume didn't cause Leohart to lose his cool, and using the afterimages which were amplified by the odour was unable to disrupt him. In this situation, he was also no longer able to fight at maximum speed as he did before. When Basara hastily tried to think of his next strategy, he heard a loud and blunt metallic noise, which then lingered in the air.

"!…What is that..?"

Basara could not help but frown as he felt the entire tower shake from the ground in synchronisation with that sound. The word 'earthquake' entered his mind, but when he saw the adjacent tower outside the window—

…No…!

He realised what had happened to the place that he was in — the cause of the large tower's tremors. The scenery outside the window was turning on an oblique angle…which meant that the metallic sound from earlier was the sound of the tower's walls being cut apart. It seemed to be a position several storeys below that had collapsed, and the section above which had lost its support had begun to slide. There was no need to mention who's doing this was. The battle was not over yet. Basara immediately tried to leave the area — but he was unable to do so. It was because the young man clad in black jumped in through the hole in the wall that Basara had made when he was sent flying.

"———"

As soon as Leohart spotted Basara, he rushed towards him in great strides.

"!…d.a.m.n it!"

It was impossible to escape at his current speed, it would be equivalent to death. Thus, Basara stood up to attack and charged towards Leohart — when their blades crossed, the phenomenon that was to happen sooner or later occurred. The upper section of the large tower that the two people were in finally slid off the edge — and began its descent towards the ground. While the floor rotated, the walls became the ceiling, and the wreck of tables and chairs began to fall—

"Oooooooooohhh!"

"Haaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Amidst the chaos, Basara and Leohart continued to fight as they searched for secure footing in the ever-changing s.p.a.ce, cut apart the rubble, and continued to clash with their demonic swords. Every time sparks flickered from their clashes, it briefly illuminated the two figures within the dark s.p.a.ce. The ceiling, floor, and walls were all footholds as their battlefield shifted from a flat plane to a three-dimensional s.p.a.ce.

"—Hah!"

During this, Basara was the first to try breaking out of the current situation; he suddenly dispelled Brynhildr halfway through a clash and then summoned it again, using a quick-draw sword technique as he distorted dimensional boundaries — [Dimensional Slash]. His aim was to destroy the weapon — to destroy Leohart's demonic sword Loki. However—

"Using a high-speed slash the moment the demonic sword is summoned increases its power and sharpness, I've heard—"

Saying that faintly, Leohart blocked Basara's [Dimensional Slash]. After quickly restricting the movement of Basara's arm before he started to use the technique, Leohart similarly released and re-summoned his demonic sword to cause a dimensional disruption to interfere with Basara's technique — blocking it so that the [Dimensional Slash] became an ordinary slash.

"What…!"

"Although I cannot imitate it, it's more than enough to stop your technique."

After saying that to the surprised Basara, Leohart dragged the tip of his demonic sword across the ground as the resulting shockwave moved along the ground towards Basara.

"Kuh—"

Basara hastily jumped towards one side to evade it, but that caused him to lose sight of Leohart's figure, and it was already too late by the time that he realised he had appeared beside him.

"—-!"

Upon seeing Leohart swing down the sword that was above his head, Basara was able to lift Brynhildr to block it in time, but his legs — crashed through the wall as a result of the impact. By the end of Leohart's swing, Basara's entire body had been knocked down towards the bottom of the falling tower.

"Gaaah—…!"

He was still roughly a hundred metres from the ground — so if he fell from this height, it would surely mean death, but Basara was fortunate enough to be able to find a foothold. In between the tower that Basara was in, and the other adjacent tower, there was a pa.s.sageway between them that was still hanging in the air. Although he could safely reach the ground through that pa.s.sage, Basara wasn't out of danger's way yet, as the tower he was in continued to fall. As for Leohart who had jumped out of the tower from another window, he wasn't at risk of dying unlike Basara.

"———"

A countless number of black particles manifested in mid-air above Leohart's back — in the next instant, two enormous black wings spread open, allowing Leohart to effortlessly float in mid-air. For Basara who didn't have this kind of ability, there was only one way for him to stay alive — so Basara decided to use that move. It was one of the two trump cards that Jin had entrusted to Basara. Toujou Basara gripped Brynhildr with both hands to unleash a full-powered attack, turning the power of [Banishing Shift] into a destructive force.

"! —Ooooooooooohh!"

The destructive wave that Basra unleashed spread out in the shape of a fan, instantly turning the upper section of the tower that was falling down on him into rubble. A vast amount of smoke and dust gushed past Basara like a sandstorm, but it was nothing more than that.

…I succeeded…!

Having just escaped with his life, Basara lifted his head with a solid sense of confidence, only to see Leohart holding Loki at his waistline as it was wrapped in a dark luminance.

"Your destructive power is certainly strong…but it's my turn now."

After a single breath—

"—Devour him, Loki!"

In the instant that Leohart swung his jet-black demonic sword — the black torrent that could even distort s.p.a.ce swept through the air as it rushed towards Basara.

"Uoooooooooohhh!"

Even though the pain from his abdomen caused his face to distort in pain, Basara still gritted his teeth to unleash [Banishing Shift]. Of course, it was not to fully eliminate Leohart's black torrent, he aimed to just barely stop it, an attempt to disperse it, however—

…S-So heavy…!

The force of Leohart's black torrent was so incredibly powerful that it almost knocked away Brynhildr while it was being gripped with both hands, forcing Basara to double the strength he was putting into his arms. Even though the bleeding from his abdomen was so severe that it seemed as though a blood vessel had burst — he still swung with all his might.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Accompanied by Basara's beastly roar, he unleashed [Banishing Shift]. And then — after he had painstakingly dispersed Leohart's black torrent, a voice suddenly came from in front.

"—I've also heard about your elimination ability."

As he turned to look, he saw in the right corner of his vision — Leohart was in a low stance, as if he was ready to swing his demonic sword Loki at any time.

"!——"

[Banishing Shift] could only be used when holding Brynhildr with both hands in a full swing. Leohart had spotted this subtle flaw in the technique. Leohart's slash closed in towards the right side of Basara's abdomen which was unguarded because Basara had just swung Brynhildr—

"———!"

Since he was holding the sword with both hands, Basara immediately removed his armoured right hand from the sword, and used his arm to block Loki's strike directly. —That armour was a derivative of Brynhildr's manifestation. The strength of the material was naturally the same as Brynhildr's blade — but, there was one clear difference. And that was its thickness. If the armour was as thick as the blade, Basara's right arm would become too heavy to wield Brynhildr; so since it had to be light, the armour was correspondingly thin. As a harsh metallic sound rang out, the armour on Basara's lower right arm — its exterior had been broken, revealing the inner section that even Basara was only seeing for the first time. However — now was not the time to be surprised or to delve into thought. Leohart's strike seemed to have hit a major blood vessel, and so his armour shattered and bright red blood suddenly began to spray out. Even so, Basara had taken the opportunity of that strike to find a clear path to the pa.s.sageway, and he jumped into the air.

…Ah…

When he felt stunned — Toujou Basara had begun falling to the ground. As Leohart looked down at him from the edge of the pa.s.sageway, his consciousness began to fade.

[———]

What he then saw was the figure of Leohart's back as he turned around to leave at the far end of his vision. It was as if the outcome had been decided.

As seconds seemed like minutes as they pa.s.sed in this critical situation, a thought emerged in Toujou Basara's mind — if he died like this, how would the situation change? Firstly, the Moderates Faction would lose this decisive battle. —But, Mio and the others would probably be fine. Because Jin had once said that if Basara was defeated, that he would disregard the agreements of the past Great War and step forward to deal with it. Jin was the father that Basara was proud of, and it was possible that he could solve the various problems in the Demon Realm in a way that Basara couldn't even begin to imagine in order to guarantee Mio's freedom and safety and also so that Yuki, Kurumi, Maria, and Zest wouldn't need to worry either. Although he was unwilling, Jin did have such a capacity. Right now, Basara's body would no longer listen to himself…perhaps it was better to leave the rest to Jin, and to honestly accept his own defeat and death, it would be so easy to do.

But Toujou Basara simply couldn't give up. He still had people that he cherished waiting for him, and he still had promises to keep; he couldn't turn himself into a liar and a traitor, that was one thing that he couldn't concede on. He absolutely couldn't give up! So — Toujou Basara played his last card in that moment. —Before he left Wildart, Basara had asked Sheera to prepare some medicine for him. One of those was an aphrodisiac to deepen the master-servant bond between Mio and the others, while the other — after that life-threatening special training where he learned from Jin that he possessed the blood of two mothers, he asked Sheera to make — a stimulant that could strongly awaken one particular side. In Toujou Basara's mind, there were some things that he just couldn't back down from. In order to protect them, even if both of his hands became tainted with blood, as long as it was something that he had to do, then Basara was willing to do it. It didn't matter even if he was no longer himself of the past. So with the tablet that had been hidden behind his molars, Basara used the tip of his tongue—

"———"

And swallowed it. The tablet containing magic was immediately decomposed after going through his oesophagus, and was fully absorbed by his body.

"…—Rampage, Brynhildr."

When Basara uttered that — he was only ten or so metres from the ground.

(Part 3 of 13) (8/9)

4

In this manner, the decisive battle was won by the Current Demon Lord Faction. That was what Leohart thought.

…But, there are still some obstacles that must be eliminated.

Until those old b.a.s.t.a.r.ds in the Council had been eradicated, this battle wasn't over yet. Just as Leohart began to focus on the next battle in his mind—

"——?"

The violent shockwave and sudden attack that came from below caused him to take a deep breath. Since the beginning of their confrontation until now, Leohart thought that Basara was a respectable opponent, and even if he was an enemy, he didn't want to see him fall to his death or be reduced to a figure that no longer seemed human. However—

"What…?"

Leohart looked down from the connecting pa.s.sageway towards the ground, and could not help but feel surprised. Not only did Basara survive a fall from that height, he was standing tall as he stared back while his entire body was enveloped in a burning red aura.

…That is…

Deep down, Leohart knew what the colour of that aura represented…or perhaps it was better to say that it was impossible for him not to know. It was because that aura was the same colour as the previous Demon Lord Wilbert who was regarded as the strongest in history; it was also the power that Leohart had always desired so that he could dominate and unify the Demon Realm. This reproduction of the ancient capital of Lada was a s.p.a.ce that only descendants of the Demon Lord could enter, and it was now clear that Basara was able to enter not because he used the power of [Banishing Shift] to break through the barrier.

…It can't be.

After being stunned by the colour of Basara's aura, Leohart finally returned to his and noticed the other changes in Basara's body. His entire body was covered in a black battle armour that resembled Leohart's, and Brynhildr in his hand had also changed shape like a Valkyrie that had spread its wings; the length of the sword had almost doubled, and as if its self-defence instincts had been fully liberated, it had changed into an awakened form.

[——]

Basara lifted Brynhildr up, then swung it down, and in an instant—

"Guh — aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Heavy crimson waves a.s.saulted Leohart from directly above, causing him and the pa.s.sageway — to be forced down to the ground that Basara was standing on in an instant. Leohart lay on the ground in front of Basara, using all the strength that he had to endure the immense pressure that made him feel as though he would be crushed to death if he relaxed for even a bit.

…G-Gravitational magic? …N-No…!

Perhaps it came from the same origin, but this was not magic. Basara had swung Brynhildr down towards Leohart — this action may have been the trigger for the magic's activation, but a more natural possibility was that this was the same as when Leohart poured his full power into the magical circuit within Loki to release that black torrent. Basara swung Brynhildr to unleash a red aura towards Leohart that resembled gravitational magic. That would also explain why Brynhildr had transformed into such a strange form. While Leohart speculated about such things, the powerful gravitational surge that pushed down his entire body showed no mercy, and before he realised, it had carved out an enormous crater in the ground surrounding him.

…! I was too careless…!

Although he hadn't underestimated Basara, he became too focused on his ultimate goal of defeating the Council and dropped his guard. While Leohart's entire body remained paralysed, he cursed at his own hasty move which had caused a reversal in the situation. A single moment of negligence or regret was enough to lose one's life on the battlefield.

"———"

Leohart clenched his teeth as he attempted to lift his head, only to see Basara looking down at him with a cold and merciless stare while he once again swung Brynhildr down with his right hand.

"Gah! …Ah…ngh…!"

The muscles in his entire body distorted unnaturally, and his bones made creaking sounds as if they were wailing in pain. Even though Leohart could no longer bear the pain, Basara didn't seem willing to loosen up with just that.

"———"

He gripped Brynhildr in silence, and made an action to further increase the pressure. He was going to completely crush Leohart.

…Aneue…!

As that sword was swung down, the wish that he had embraced for so long, his dream for the Demon Realm's future, as well as Riara's smile and warmth — all of it would turn to naught. The system known as the Council that was secretly dominating the Demon Realm at the moment would also continue on forever. However, although Leohart at present had the att.i.tude that something had to be done no matter what, he couldn't think of any way to escape from his peril. And so, Basara swung Brynhildr down like that, completely crushing Leohart's body and soul — but an instant before that could happen

"…—No."

There was a sudden voice and a girl who had arrived stopped Basara. —It was not Riara. If Riara had come to save Leohart, she definitely would have stood between Basara and him to protect him from Basara's attack. The girl — hugged Basara from behind to stop him. The girl whose arms reached around to Basara's chest as she hugged him while her face remained close to his back was—

"Naruse…Mio…—?"

Indeed. The girl who saved him was born as the Demon Lord's daughter, but chose to live as a human. The girl's sudden interruption caused Leohart to say her name in surprise, and he inadvertently noticed something. He could speak…the powerful gravity waves that attacked Leohart had weakened. —The reason was in front of Leohart, who had chosen the path of the Demon Lord. Mio's red aura gently covered Basara's aura of the same colour.

(Part 4 of 13) (12/9)

5

From the beginning of her duel until the very end, Naruse Mio never used the power of the former Demon Lord Wilbert. Now, she was using it to stop Basara. —Mio didn't understand why Basara was able to use the power of gravity. In any case, Mio's intuition told her that aside from the interference of her own gravity magic to supress Basara's gravitational power, there was no other way to stop Basara in his current state. —Last night, before Basara left the guest house, he confessed to Mio and the others about something. Although the possibility was very low, in the off-chance that Basara attempted to kill Leohart — they had to do everything possible to stop him. Mio and the others didn't understand why, but they knew that Basara had his own reasons, and so they immediately agreed to Basara's request. Seeing Basara act so seriously, it was only natural that they were unable to refuse. At least for Mio, Basara was her absolute master — and an important family member. Moreover — of all the people present, Mio was the only one who was able to enter this s.p.a.ce. And that was why the burden of fulfilling this request was entirely on Mio's shoulders right now. It wasn't for the sake of helping Leohart, but to stop Basara from losing control, and at the same time, she also had to maintain control of her own power and stay conscious. After all, her target was Basara, so all she had to do was prevent his movement. So, Mio carefully adjusted the Demon Lord's power in her body. —In the past, Takigawa had advised her to get stronger, to the point of being able to kill Basara in the very unlikely event that she had to. However, Mio was still not at that level yet.

…But.

This was enough. Because everyone had forged a deeper bond with each other, they had powerful feelings that would not break no matter what came at them. Everyone believed in those feelings and decided to treasure each other, and live together. Hence — she had to stop Basara no matter what.

"Basara…it's enough already."

Mio softly called his name, and she pressed her chest against Basara's back — as if to move their heartbeats closer together. The most important thing was to tell him that she was here. Just as Naruse Mio accompanied Toujou Basara in the past, that would not change from here on either. Then — Mio straightened her back, and spoke in a whisper that was only audible to Basara

"—Please, onii-chan."

The curse of the master-servant contract had not activated — but Naruse Mio still addressed Basara in that way. She knew that when she called him like that, that Basara would definitely respond.

…Indeed.

Because Basara was that kind of person, Mio was that kind of sister, a loyal submissive girl who loved him. This strong emotion that filled the heart would never abandon her.

Brynhildr was slowly lowered…it was not swung, Basara had loosened the grip of his arm, and he slowly lowered it. After letting out a heavy and long sigh, he put his left hand on top of Mio's hand that was on his chest.

"……Mio."

It was the normal Basara who turned around to call her name. Different from when they had first met — the current Basara saw Mio as someone much more precious to him now. So—

"———"

Naruse Mio could no longer supress the overflowing emotions in her heart, regardless of the number of people watching them from outside the fighting s.p.a.ce. She tightly embraced Basara once more. —An important fact was conveyed to everyone who watched this scene. She did not belong to the Moderates faction or the Current Demon Lord faction, and neither did she belong to the Council. For a long time now, Naruse Mio — belonged to Toujou Basara. Outside of the fighting s.p.a.ce that Basara and the others were in, was silence. The audience members who were watching the broadcast of the inside were all speechless. —Mio's interference had interrupted the duel between Basara and Leohart. But no one dared to clamour or say that Basara should be disqualified unlike the time when Zest had done the same. Because, no matter what the reason or intention, she had saved Leohart from Basara.

[———]

In the broadcast, Basara stretched his hand out to Leohart, who was trying to stand up.

After a long silence — Leohart slowly grabbed his hand. The Current Demon Lord, the previous Demon Lord's daughter, and the son of the man known as the G.o.d of War all stood together in this moment. No one could have imagined that something like this would happen in the decisive battle between the Current Demon Lord faction and the Moderates faction. This scene — caused every single person in the arena to envision a future in which the Demon Realm was no longer at war. However — there were some people who held differing thoughts, and were waiting for this development and the arrival of such a situation.

The son of the G.o.d of War Jin Toujou, the wielder of [Banishing Shift], Toujou Basara. The only daughter of the strongest former Demon Lord in history, Naruse Mio. The striking young hero who had become the new Demon Lord after Wilbert's death, Leohart. What those people were waiting for — was a situation in which they could take down all three of these people.

"—The sacrifices are in full attendance. Eat to your heart's content, Chaos ."

At the same time, when Mardones said that while in the Council's special viewing gallery as he looked on, 'that thing' began to take action.

[——]

In the next instant — a burst of white light flashed through the fighting s.p.a.ce that Basara and the others were in. It was immediately followed by vigorous tremors and explosions on the ground.

(Part 5 of 13) (17/9)

6

"Incredible…those are the flames of purgatory that melted the eternal tundra in the arctic long ago."

The members of the Council who watched the broadcast of the battle between Basara and Leohart saw the enormous explosion occur within the fighting s.p.a.ce and were no longer able to quell their excitement. Even though there were several layers of barriers between the inside and the outside of the fighting s.p.a.ce, the shockwave from that explosion could still be felt from their observation room.

"It's like the beginning of a new era. Today is a perfect turning point for the history of the Demon Realm, and this is a perfect ending to the past."

When one of the members of the Council said that, the broadcast shifted to the area of the sky in the fighting s.p.a.ce above the explosion. It showed the outline of 'that thing'. —Recently, the Current Demon Lord faction had discovered a relic of the ancient Demon era in the western region. The humongous heroic spirit that attacked Wildart the other day had been excavated from there. Leohart and the others fully re-adjusted it, and after making a contract, it was given to Gardo to command. At the same time, the Council had privately carried out their own investigation and excavation. For the purpose of 'monitoring' the attack on Wildart City, Nebula was paired with the high-level heroic spirit that they had excavated. As for this decisive battle, the one that Luka used as the front-runner of the Current Demon Lord faction was an even higher-level heroic spirit than the one that Nebula used.

"No matter how a heroic spirit is used, it is still just a spirit…"

According to legends, these so-called heroic spirits were used in the ancient Demon era as spiritual weapons. Indeed — they were simply weapons. So, who was the person that controlled them? During the time of the Council's predecessors, the [Council of the Seven Sins], they did not yet have full control over the entire Demon Realm. Belphegor accidentally made contact with a deep magic boundary, and was able to successfully summon a super high-level creature that was capable of summoning heroic spirits into this dimension. Belphegor controlled this creature, eliminated all rebel forces in one fell swoop, and became the master of the Demon Realm. Because the creature possessed such incredible power beyond all imagination, the later generations gave it another name that represented its absolute status. It was above a 'Demon Lord' — a 'Demon G.o.d'.

"Chaos…oh, it has been thousands of years since I last saw that thing."

One of the members of the Council pa.s.sionately said. —It was the first time that the five members of the Council including Mardones had seen Chaos' awake in all its grandeur. Of all of the people present, none of them were among the [Council of Seven Sins] at the time. These five people, as well as the already deceased Zolgear, or the six members not including Belphegor in other words, had all been chosen to become members of the Council after what was known as the 'Great Demon G.o.d War'. In other words, six of the seven seats among the Seven Sins had become empty during the war, and Belphegor was the only one of them who remained. —The reason for that was the Demon G.o.d Chaos. In order to control the Demon G.o.d, vast amounts of magic and spiritual energy were required as sacrifices. However — Belphegor still managed to successfully control the Demon G.o.d at the time, and wiped out all of the rebel forces. This was possible by turning the other six members of the [Council of Seven Sins] aside from himself into sacrifices. Like chaos that engulfed everything — that was how the name of Chaos came to be. Later on, when Belphegor became unable to maintain control of Chaos by himself, Mardones and the other current Council members helped Belphegor to seal Chaos, putting it into a deep slumber so that it could never again awaken — finally, its name became something that could only be heard of in legends. Until — today that was.

"The Current Demon Lord Leohart is here, as well as the daughter of the former Demon Lord Wilbert, Naruse Mio…on top of that, there's also Jin Toujou's son, Toujou Basara…"

Moreover—

"There are also the representatives of the Current Demon Lord faction and the Moderates faction, as well as a full house of audience members…with so many offerings, it'll certainly be enough for him to eat."

Indeed, the Council became involved in this decisive battle and attracted such a large number of audience members for the purpose of playing this card. The Council was clearly aware that Leohart was after their lives — and he also knew that the Council planned to get rid of him during this battle. To this end, they prepared a secret strategy to crush Leohart's ambitions. The fourth representative of the Current Demon Lord faction who originally would have fought against Zest…the Council had prepared Chaos for that; but the situation suddenly turned in their favour, so of course, they chose to alter their original plan to summon him. Hence, the third representative Admirath threatened Kurumi, causing a situation in which the next combatant, Zest, was forced to interfere, thus allowing their plan to succeed.

"Look…it's already happening on that side."

Everyone followed that person's joyous words as they looked out, only to see the members of the audience who were dumbfounded by the explosion in the fighting s.p.a.ce that Leohart and the others were in cry out in shock — it was because many large magic circles had appeared within the arena, and heroic spirits were emerging from them one after the other. In order to control Chaos, everyone in the arena had been made into sacrifices, aside from the Council and their subordinates such as Admirath. Chaos summoned its own heroic spirits in order to reap its sacrifices.

[———]

The heroic spirits with fierce light in their eyes looked at the audience members, and then charged towards them — it was the beginning of a frenzied ma.s.sacre. Amidst the sudden tragedy which had set off a wave of screams and loud noises—.

"Like this, we'll be able to get rid of all eyewitnesses to Leohart and clean everything up."

Mardones said with satisfaction. All that was left was to wait for all this to pa.s.s, say a few words to turn Leohart's death into a tragic story, proclaim Admirath as the new Demon Lord, and then all of their problems would be solved.

"What's going on with Jin Toujou's side?"

"No problem…look."

Another broadcast was then displayed, showing the situation in Wildart City. A countless number of high-level heroic spirits which were even stronger than the ones from the previous attack were advancing towards the former Demon Capital. This was because the last time that Jin invaded Lundvall Castle, the Council a.n.a.lysed Jin's spiritual waveform, and they also marked him as one of the sacrifices.

"Even if it's Jin Toujou and the leftover forces of the Moderates faction, there's no way for them to deal with this many high-level heroic spirits. Even if they are defeated by them, Chaos has long been the answer to that problem, and Chaos can simply deal with them directly."

"What about Gardo?"

"There's no need to worry, I've also marked him as a sacrifice for Chaos."

Another broadcast showed the heroic spirits which were attacking Lundvall Castle.

"What a pity…that castle was rather extraordinary and I actually liked it."

"It doesn't matter. It's just a castle, it can simply be rebuilt. This time, we'll construct something even grander."

"That's true…"

When the two of them laughed—

"Speaking of which, Mardones-dono…where is Admirath?"

"Ah, it seems like there were a few people that he wanted to personally clean up."

Just as Mardones smiled and replied, the white light that enveloped the fighting s.p.a.ce rapidly faded, but it was not because the supply of air for combustion had run out.

"That is…"

In front of Mardones' eyes, among the burnt out remnants of the ancient capital — three silhouettes stood upon the earth. One of them was in a stance where they held a large demonic sword. Seeing this, Mardones smiled as he said

"That elimination technique huh…interesting. With such heavily injured bodies, just how long can you and Leohart hold out against Chaos, I wonder?"

(Part 6 of 13) (26/9)

7

Upon the ground where even rubble had evaporated after the explosion of immense heat finally receded.

"d.a.m.n it…that's where it came from!"

Basara lowered Brynhildr after he had just used it to execute [Banishing Shift], and looked at the sky as he shouted. The power of that white light was immense, and he was unable to completely eliminate it; the scorching burnt earth was the aftermath of that blinding flash of light. At the other end of his gaze, there was a strange thing floating in the air; surrounded by a dangerous purple aura, it had six arms and two legs longer than its chest; its long arms which kept on moving around intertwined with each other like tentacles, while its bizarre form floated in the air.

"I'm afraid that's Chaos…"

Leohart uttered the name of that thing with a serious expression. Thanks to his immediate use of the demonic sword Loki's barrier, there was enough time for Basara to use [Banishing Shift] to eliminate the aftermath of the light so that the three of them could remain safe.

"In the past, Belphegor had successfully formed a contract with that Demon G.o.d, and that's why he stands in the Council with absolute authority right now. According to the legends, Chaos' tough body has vast amounts of magic stored within it, and it has a barrier that blocks all magic. This is something that happened a long time ago, before the people in Wilbert's generation were even born. That's why this is the first time I'm seeing it…/this is also the reason why Balthier didn't return after he went to investigate. But — a great amount of magic and spiritual energy is required to control it, and that's why Belphegor used it once before sealing it away…the purpose of awakening him now is probably to get rid of us, to turn the three of us into sacrifices, and perhaps that also includes everyone on the outside."

"That way, not only will they get rid of obstacles like us, they'll also be able to silence the mouths of all witnesses…it's like hitting two birds with one stone for them — so what should we do now?"

"We have to make it out of here alive regardless…I'm not going to sit here and let it turn me into an offering."

After Basara answered Mio's question, he lifted Brynhildr up.

"Shall we call it a truce for now?"

"No problem — it's more important to find a way to stop that."

Leohart also took a step forward, and stood beside Basara as he lifted Loki up. Under the current circ.u.mstances, the Current Demon Lord Leohart was a powerful ally, but—

…It's difficult.

To be honest, this wasn't such a simple matter. Chaos' aura was far stronger than S-level, it was simply immeasurable; and on top of that, he was also injured.

…I have to think of something quickly.

With just a three-man team, there was no chance of winning.

"You said that sacrifices are required to control him…will he disappear if a sufficient period of time has pa.s.sed?"

"It's not impossible, but that's simply our optimism. It's too dangerous to fight on that premise. Also—"

Leohart continued

"If sacrifices are the condition for its awakening, I'm afraid that it won't disappear before it kills us."

"If the three of us aren't able to defeat it, can't we just have the people outside a.s.sist us?"

"—The people outside are able to see a broadcast of us in this fighting s.p.a.ce. There would definitely be a commotion among the audience if they could see Chaos, and our comrades will also take action. It's impossible that the Council wouldn't have predicted this."

In other words—

"I'm afraid the outside is already a mess…the fact that no one has come here is the best proof of that. According to the legends, there were many heroic spirits under Chaos' command. It's highly likely that it has summoned those heroic spirits on the outside, and they're killing the audience as sacrifices so that it can replenish its own magic and spiritual energy."

"We can't stall for time, and we can't contact our comrades on the outside…so we'll have to come up with a way on our own, and quickly."

"Yeah…as long as we can defeat it, even if the heroic spirits have been summoned, they'll disappear as well. This way, we'll also be able to help the people on the outside."

Just as Basara and Mio got ready for the fight—

"There's no time left to talk — it's here."

After Leohart reminded them, the two of them looked over to see the Demon G.o.d Chaos descend towards them after it had seemingly decided that its wide-area attack was useless against the three of them due to [Banishing Shift].

(Part 7 of 13) (26/9)

8

In the Moderates Faction's infirmary, in the instant that Basara and the others were attacked.

Although the injuries that Kurumi received during her battle had been treated, the injuries were still quite severe, and she had not yet regained consciousness…as her elder sister, Yuki naturally wanted to stay by her side. Maria, who had fainted during her duel against Takigawa was also still asleep, and her elder sister Lucia was similarly accompanying her. The sounds of explosions from the arena, along with the tremors and the cries of the audience had all been transmitted to the infirmary that Yuki and the others were in. It was clear how catastrophic the pandemonium outside was. —If this continued, this infirmary would soon also be exposed to the threat of the enormous heroic spirits, so there was no time for them to relax. More importantly, the attack on Basara and the others was very worrying. So after Yuki asked Lucia to take care of Kurumi, she turned and rushed towards the arena. But she was unable to do so — because this infirmary had also become a battlefield.

"!……"

Yuki's expression turned cold as she summoned [Sakuya], while closely watching the enemy in front of her. The person who had come to obstruct her from rushing to Basara's side was the one who had hurt Kurumi with underhanded means — the high-level Demon Admirath.

"I originally came to deliver the finishing blow to my opponent, but I didn't expect there to be so many extra gifts, you know?"

After Admirath said that with a leisurely smile while holding an enormous sharp sickle in his hand, Lucia calmly said

"So you actually planned to secretly kill an injured person…is that how dirty the Council is?"

"No, this is my own way of doing things. Once I see my prey, I have to take its life, it'd be rude of me otherwise."

Even though he was at a disadvantage in terms of numbers as he had to face both Yuki and Lucia at the same time, Admirath continued to smile with the same relaxed smile on his face.

"Go ahead and resist if you like…but under these circ.u.mstances, you two ladies are definitely not opponents for me."

"——!"

Admirath's words caused Yuki's expression to sink; beside her, Lucia's reaction was similar, meaning that Admirath's words were correct. The ones who were being driven into a corner were Yuki and the others. —The heavily wounded Kurumi and Maria were both in this infirmary. Yuki and Lucia had to use a strategy that would avoid spreading damage to them, so as not to aggravate their injuries. Both of them deeply understood that this was extremely difficult to do. Yuki and Lucia respectively held [Sakuya] and a whip in their hands as since they were both technique-type warriors. They didn't have an ability capable of eliminating their opponents' attacks like Basara's [Banishing Shift], nor were they like Kurumi who could utilise a convenient wide-area magic barrier according to the situation. In contrast, Admirath had put up a powerful defensive wall during his fight with Kurumi, an indication of his magical prowess. It was also easy for him to use wide-area magic attacks. With Admirath's magic, he could instantly turn this infirmary into a ruin if he so wanted. —Of course, Yuki and Lucia could also utilise wide-area attacks. But since they could not further harm Kurumi and Maria, it was not possible for them to do that at present. Furthermore, even their opportunities to use powerful techniques had been restricted. Under these highly demanding circ.u.mstances…Yuki and Lucia realised that there were also other things that they had not considered.

While Yuki worried about getting Kurumi and Maria caught up in this, and hesitated on whether or not to take the initiative in attacking, she realised that she could not stop her vision from shaking, and her legs became weak as she kneeled on the floor. Lucia seemed to be in the same condition, and she supported herself with one hand against the wall.

…Could it be…?

Yuki looked up in surprise only to see Admirath's smile deepen.

"Did you think that the battle hadn't started yet? How careless."

He then told them that their current conditions were his doing.

"You're enveloped in a magic miasma that drains your life force. Since it's effective even against that Succubus, it must be quite painful for a Hero like you, right?"

Admirath had pretended to have captured Basara as a hostage, fought at full-strength against Kurumi who was afraid to retaliate, and even forced Zest to be disqualified for breaking the rules. She wasn't careful enough against such a tricky opponent, and so Yuki paid a painful price.

"!…Uh…kuh!"

Not only was she dizzy, she also found it hard to breathe, resulting in a lack of oxygen. Yet she still struggled to stand up and hold [Sakuya] so that she could protect the wounded and unconscious Kurumi from the hands of this despicable villain. Lucia also revealed a similar expression to Yuki, and held her whip. Seeing the two older sisters risk their lives to protect their beloved younger sisters—

"That's a nice look…well then, let us begin."

After Admirath said that with a slight smile, he approached with a large scythe in his hand.

(Part 8 of 13) (26/9)

9

Zest was fighting amidst the panic and frenzy in the arena. Her opponents were the numerous giant heroic spirits that had appeared out of thin air without warning. She originally wanted to rush over to Basara's side with Mio, but she was unable to enter the fighting s.p.a.ce. Perhaps because the stage had been destroyed by the heroic spirits, a failure had occurred with the system responsible for constructing the battle s.p.a.ce, and it could only be fixed by Basara's elimination of the barrier. Zest turned around to face the fist of an enormous heroic spirit, and then dived.

"Haaaaaaaaaaahh!"

With her elongated sharp claws, she slashed through a heroic spirit's Achilles tendon with a blinding silver flash of light. The heroic spirit that kneeled down and tumbled forward on the spot was then struck by Zest's earth magic. A large obsidian cone emerged from Zest's magic circle on the ground — its tip pierced through the heroic spirits head from its jaw; and on top of that, the cone decomposed into sand and dust as it poured from the mouth into its throat, and all the way into the heroic spirits body—

"—Explode."

When Zest forcefully clenched the right hand that she had extended out, it turned into a sandstorm. The body cavity and organs of the heroic spirit suddenly began to inflate from the inside, and then its enormous body blew up into pieces. At that time, Zest had already locked onto the next heroic spirit and left. —In response to this sudden disaster, the ring full of spectators could only cry out and flee in all directions, as they had no idea of what was going on. However, that was not the case with Zest. After seeing Basara and the others take an attack from an unidentified enemy in the fighting s.p.a.ce, she had a rough idea of what was going on. So she spread her wings, and flew up to a bird's eye view of the area at the height of the giant heroic spirits.

…Basara-sama and the others, I'm afraid that they're up against Chaos.

Zest had heard the former Council member Zolgear describe the ancient Demon G.o.d, and she quickly realised that this large group of heroic spirits were summoned by Chaos.

…If so…

Since there was no way for her to enter the fighting s.p.a.ce, the most helpful thing that she could do right now was to defeat these heroic spirits, and reduce Chaos' power as much as possible.

"I already swore — that if anything threatened Basara-sama's life, then I would kill it."

After reaffirming her reason and will for existence once more, Zest instantly made a rapid dive towards the horde of heroic spirits. In order to annihilate all the things that would harm her master.

(Part 9 of 13) (26/9)

10

In order to fight against the Demon G.o.d Chaos, Leohart, Basara decided to change the location of where they would fight. Chaos' first strike had completely burned down everything except for the surface of the ground, so let alone escape, it was impossible to dodge or defend there since there were no objects that could be used for defence. Leohart's wings had been damaged by Basara's gravity waves, making it difficult for him to fly at high-speed, so he flew together with Basara using flight magic to an area with a dense population of high-rise buildings. As soon as Chaos saw them moving, it followed them at the same speed; it was in no hurry to catch up, yet it would not allow them to pull away either, it simply maintained a certain distance.

"This place should do — take us down."

After Leohart said that and confirmed that Chaos was following them, Mio nodded as she released the flight magic on Leohart and Basara, allowing them to descend towards the ground. Mio moved further away, and landed on top of a building some distance away. If the legends were true, then Mio's magic would most likely be ineffective against the Demon G.o.d Chaos, and she obviously couldn't engage in close combat with it either. So in this battle, Mio was relegated to a support role while Leohart and Basara who specialised in close combat would face off against Chaos. Currently, the two of them were standing atop tall buildings along the road while they looked up at Chaos. At the same time—

[——]

The Demon G.o.d Chaos also rapidly descended, and in the hands of four of its six arms, various weapons such as a gigantic sword, a long spear, a war axe, and a war hammer manifested while it flew closer.

"—I'll leave half to you."

"Alright — understood."

Leohart raised Loki, while Basara beside him also nodded whilst gripping Brynhildr tightly. Facing Chaos as it used four weapons to attack at once, Leohart and Basara both spread out and prepared to dodge — and then, the ground in a ten metre radius began to rumble as explosions occurred. It signalled the beginning of their death match against the Demon G.o.d Chaos. The ground damaged by the earthquake turned into sand, and despite all of the dust surrounding Chaos, Leohart and Basara moved forward at the same time. With one person on each side, they charged towards Chaos whilst swinging their swords down. Leohart was immediately met with a solid sensation against his hands and a harsh metallic noise. The war hammer and gigantic sword in Chaos' hands had blocked both of their attacks.

[——]

When Chaos raised its long spear and long-handled axe to counterattack, Leohart and Basara evaded it, and they prepared for a second a.s.sault. The two of them had moved to the front and back of Chaos respectively, where Basara slashed at its left shoulder diagonally while Leohart slashed from below. As Basara was in front, Chaos used its enormous sword to block, but for Leohart who was behind it, that was beyond the reach of its limbs, so he precisely drove his sword directly into Chaos' back — but Leohart felt a strange sensation that was very different from a normal stab in his hands.

"—!"

Looking around, two of Chaos' tentacles had moved around to its back, and blocked Loki's strike. Although Loki had cut off Chaos' tentacles, its body was still unharmed. A purple liquid then gushed out of the cross-section of the tentacles, filling Leohart with a bad feeling that caused him to reflexively jump backwards. The liquid that spilled out then dissolved the ground, and made sizzling noises as it did so.

…Its body fluids are a strong acid!

If his sword pierced through its body, it could possibly cause effective trauma, but its body fluids could ruin the blade. When Leohart jumped backwards to gain some distance after being faced with this tricky new problem, Chaos began to chase after him. The tentacles that had been cut off instantly recovered, and they stretched forward to chase after Leohart. Even though he dodged from side to side, the tentacles were still in hot pursuit, and after tracing out curves in its path, they straightened out and continued moving straight towards him.

"Kuh…"

Leohart moved to the left to evade once more, and at the same time, the tentacle swiped across horizontally — and with a boom, it toppled the high-rise buildings behind him in a single sweep.

"——"

Leohart used one hand to roll over to the side, followed by a backflip to swiftly escape the scene. Amidst the sound of the mayhem and crumbling of the buildings behind him, Leohart moved towards Chaos' body, and at the same time he heard a loud voice from the top of a building that was opposite the road—

"—Oooooooooooooooohhhh!"

In front of him, Toujou Basara unleashed an ultra-high speed a.s.sault against Chaos' four-p.r.o.nged attack. Let alone defence, the counterattack of his blade simply appeared like flashes of light each time. But in order to go on the offensive, it was inevitable that he had to sacrifice defence and evasion. Basara found an opening amidst all of Chaos' mad attacks and slashed horizontally, but it was flawlessly blocked by Chaos' war hammer. The heavy impact pushed Brynhildr away forcefully, causing Basara to lose his stance slightly — and the tip of the spear was immediately thrust towards him.

"—As if I'd let you!"

Accompanied by the cry of a girl, a blade of wind deflected the tip of the spear away. Since Chaos' body was unaffected by magical damage, Mio aimed at its weapons to provide cover. When the spear which had strayed off its original course went past Basara and pierced into the ground, Chaos had entered the attack range of Loki.

"Haaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Leohart's fierce slash from diagonally behind it successfully sliced off the hand that held the spear from the very root of the arm.

…That's one.

When they felt that there was some progress in the battle's situation—

"—Leohart!"

Basara suddenly shouted, but his tone was not thankful, rather, it carried a tone of warning. Because of that, Leohart instinctively turned around, but Chaos' tentacles immediately rammed into his cloak from behind. By the time he felt the tentacle touching his cloak, Leohart's body had already been thrown into the air.

If he didn't break free, he would be pounded into the ground or into a nearby building. Leohart made shaking off Chaos' tentacle his first priority and quickly undid the buckle on his cloak, but this still didn't eliminate the inertia of the swing. Simultaneously with the loosening of his cloak, Leohart flew straight towards the wall of a building — however, there was a sudden gust of wind that formed a buffer between him and the wall, allowing him to escape unscathed from the collision.

After recovering his stance and landing safely, Leohart didn't look back at Mio, and simply kept his eyes looking in front. It was enough for him to simply keep his own eyes on the enemy that had to be defeated…Mio would not ask for thanks either. Her attention had long left Leohart, and her attention was now fixed on Basara who was in close combat with Chaos. Until now, they had successfully taken off one of Chaos' arms — so long as they continued, victory would be within their reach. In order to obtain that necessary victory, Leohart charged straight towards Chaos. Chaos' movements shifted between straight lines and curves. The tentacles without any joints acted like whips, meaning that there was no restriction on its range of movement, and its attacks could change at will. Its arms that held a variety of weapons were continuously engaged in multi-angled attacks. The strength of its limbs far exceeded the level of a human or a demon, and if blocked incorrectly, one's arms could be instantly paralysed, resulting in a loss of offensive and defensive ability. However — the cooperation of Basara and Leohart smoothly dealt with Chaos' actions. —There was no tacit understanding between Basara and Leohart as comrades. But, they both had a way of cooperation and understanding as two people who had fought each other to the death. They knew how their actions would affect the other party, and after the other's actions, they knew what their own next move would be. Because when they were enemies of each other, they recognised each other's strength more than anyone else, and when it was time for them to cooperate, the same trust could be established between them.

"Uoooooooooooohh!"

"Haaaaaaaaaaahh!"

Basara and Leohart shifted positions indefinitely, and changed positions front, left, back, and right at incredible speed as they unleashed strike after strike on Chaos. When it was Leohart's turn to attack, Basara blocked against the difficult to avoid counterattacks for him, and when Basara struggled to defend against the stream of Chaos' attacks, Leohart's actions would allow him to switch onto the offensive — the two of them complemented each other in this situation, gradually improving the accuracy of their cooperation in the battle so that they could take the most suitable course of action for each other. Together with Mio who provided cover for them from afar in critical situations, this allowed Basara to move towards its body to unleash a full-powered strike, while Leohart swiftly swung his sword as he moved past its side, allowing them both to cut off the arms which held the axe and war hammer. Including the unarmed hands that it had kept in front of its chest, only three remained now. However—

They had finally gotten to the halfway mark. But—

The facial expression of Basara who had constantly engaged with it at high-speed and at a short distance began to look heavy. Fighting continuously at a close range underneath Chaos' oppressive aura grinded away at Basara's consciousness, and the drain on his stamina was beyond expectations. Leohart's body appeared to be in a similar condition, and his movements were clearly not as good as they were before. Of course, Chaos had lost three of its arms, so the battle situation had become more favourable for them, but—

…The problem is those tentacles.

Chaos' tentacles were different from its arms, and they would immediately regenerate regardless of how many times they were cut off, meaning that effort on them was wasted. Before becoming physically exhausted, it was impossible to come up with a way to defeat Chaos…under the gradually increasing pressure of these thoughts, Basara attempted to slice off the arm that held the enormous sword—

"! ——?"

But his anxiety caused a slight slip in concentration, and that put Basara in danger. The two arms of Chaos that had remained motionless so far suddenly moved. Once the number of its arms had been reduced, it was natural for this to happen, and it was something predictable. But for Basara in his current state, that was actually outside of his expectations — and after jumping away from Chaos' sudden move Basara realised that his choice was a fatal mistake. The new weapon that Chaos summoned was an enormous bow.

[———]

Chaos then drew back the bowstring, and released a magic arrow that had no physical form.

"Kuh — oooooooooohh!"

Basara jumped backwards as he unleashed [Banishing Shift] to just barely eliminate the arrow. There was no other way of saving himself — but that was only able to deal with the immediate threat before his eyes, the crisis had not yet pa.s.sed. —In this battle against Chaos, Basara had not used [Banishing Shift] until now. In order to use [Banishing Shift], he had to be focused and had to wield Brynhildr with both hands. This action would always result in momentary opening in his stance. Hence, Basara only used it to eliminate long-range attacks during his battle against Leohart. Moreover, it was necessary to eliminate its barrier for complete erasure, but Chaos was so overwhelmingly strong even without the barrier in its body. He couldn't fully unleash it, but he was able to more or less scatter Chaos' attacks. But if it was ineffective against Chaos, then the moment he used that technique, it would result in a fatal injury for Basara. Under the circ.u.mstances where the three of them were cooperating, they had all been forced into a corner by Chaos. If Basara was to fail and die, Mio and Leohart would probably be killed one after the other. But at the moment, Basara had used [Banishing Shift]. The Demon G.o.d naturally did not let go of this opportunity.

[———]

Chaos leaned forward with its body close to the ground, and the tentacles wrapped in front of its lower body violently hurdled out. The winding tentacles across the ground rapidly approached, and they gave off the impression that they were a single large and dreadful snake. Leohart, who had moved around behind Chaos, was unable to stop the surprise attack, and was tossed into the air by the shockwave that Chaos generated. The bad things all have to happen at the same time — when Basara thought that, Chaos was already in front of him.

"—Basara!"

Just in the nick of time, Mio's help arrived. Basara was propelled into the air by a powerful blast of wind from below — and when Chaos noticed that it had lost its target, it turned towards Mio who was the cause of it. This is bad — just as he had a bad feeling about it, Chaos jumped towards Mio who was on top of a distant building.

…!…

In that instant, Basara could hear the intensification of his heartbeat in mid-air. Mio was a high-level magic user, and it was impossible for her to cause damage to Chaos. Leohart had mentioned the legend that magic was unable to harm it, and that was confirmed in their earlier attempts. In order to combat Chaos' weapons, Mio used offensive magic to provide cover, but when she missed and it landed on its body, it all disappeared without a trace the moment it came in contact with its body. Even so, Mio could not use flight magic to escape. Doing this would only serve to further increase her own distance from Basara and Leohart, which would isolate herself and make it more dangerous. —Of course, they also considered the situation in which Mio became Chaos' target. That was why Basara always occupied a location to fight where he could protect Mio, so that if anything was to happen, he would immediately be able to rush over to Mio's side. In a hurry, Basara lifted Brynhildr up while in mid-air to rescue Mio—

"!——"

But he suddenly stopped his own body. In order to stop Chaos' attacks, he had to use the power of elimination. But if he attacked Chaos from his current position, not only would he put Mio in the line of fire, he could also be blown away just like Leohart was. In that period of time — Chaos continued to move closer to Mio.

"d.a.m.n — iiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttt!"

Even though he was angry at his own hesitation, Basara still didn't give up on acting. Treading on the wind that pushed him up, he flew towards the side of a building along the main road — and with a forward facing position on the surface, it was a preparatory stance so that he could sprint ahead at full speed. —As Basara was desperate to make it to Mio's side, he felt that even Brynhildr was too heavy. So he dispelled the demonic sword and instantly accelerated. As he directed all of his energy into his legs, he became like the wind, there was barely any sound as he ran across the side of the buildings; he ran upwards diagonally across the flat walls of the grid of buildings one after the other — but he still could not catch up. Basara was still some distance away from Mio, but there was no doubt that Chaos was a step ahead of him. However — Toujou Basara still did not give up on the girl that he cherished.

"—Mio!"

At the same time that he cried out her name, the girl at the far edge of his vision responded with an action. She released offensive magic towards Chaos as it approached from just below her.

The magic that Naruse Mio chanted was lightning magic. Towards the rapidly approaching Chaos, she released a plasma ball that discharged electricity. —Even magic that was more lethal than that would simply disappear the moment that it touched Chaos' body. So, Mio did something else just before it made contact with Chaos.

"——!"

When the offensive magic was about to hit, she suddenly clenched her right hand, and the plasma ball immediately burst. It was not because went out of control and it collapsed. The explosion of the plasma ball erupted with a thunderous boom, dying everything around it a dazzling white — Mio had used that flash of lightning to blind Chaos' eyes. —Magic was unable to harm the Demon G.o.d Chaos. It was probably because it had some kind of ability or barrier, a power that allowed it to block magic. So, it was likely that Chaos used sound or heat sensing to identify objects. So when Mio detonated the plasma ball, it was an attempt to hinder Chaos from detecting her presence.

"———"

Mio had closed her eyes before the detonation to protect her sight, and she jumped sideways to get away from Chaos amidst the blinding white light — she leapt into the air on her left side above the road from the rooftop that she was standing on. There was no time for her to cast flight magic, and all she could do was jump towards the ground.

[———]

There was an enormous sensation of pressure in the air that brushed past Mio's right side in that instant — and then, the sound of an explosion could be heard behind her, most likely from Chaos smashing the rooftop that Mio was originally on. It succeeded — Chaos lost sight of Mio, but that was also the same for Mio who had closed her eyes. Due to the blinding white light that pierced through even her eyelids, Mio had lost her balance and was freefalling, and she didn't know what state she was in, she only knew that she was falling. The violent flash was so blinding that even Mio couldn't tell where she was. But — there was a unique person in this world who knew where Naruse Mio's body was. That was the person who was connected to her soul and had made a Master-Servant contract with her, the one with absolute authority who could make her sacrifice everything, and also the person who would fight for her with everything on the line. Precisely because he called out Mio's name, Mio was able to jump off the roof without any hesitation. —Afterwards, Mio's idea had become reality. There was a force that st.u.r.dily intercepted the falling Mio from the side. A pair of strong arms carried her firmly, and pulled her into his chest as if he was reluctant to let go — so, Mio slowly opened her eyes within the dazzling light, and the face of 'him' appeared before her as though it were only natural.

Basara smiled gently at Mio. No matter the distance they were separated by, he would rush to her side in a moment.

"———!"

Naruse Mio's heart became elated for a moment, and she hugged onto Basara tightly. Within the blaze of light on the battlefield — it felt like a moment that belonged only to the two of them.

The Demon G.o.d Chaos noticed that the girl who should have been a sacrifice had escaped. Since Chaos was a being greater than a human or a demon, its eyesight recovered quickly, and it looked down from the rooftop. It then looked over to see Basara and Mio who had landed on the road a short distance away. —But Basara was holding the girl with both hands, so he couldn't move his arms. Chaos immediately understood what that meant.

[———]

In the next instant, Chaos reached out with its remaining right arm, and used the same burning ray of light that it had first used in this fighting s.p.a.ce. Even if Basara could summon his weapon, he would not make it in time. They would be erased along with Leohart who was rushing over to help them. The absolute light that was able to destroy everything instantly expanded in an arc from where Chaos stood — but there was a sudden boom, a red dimensional fault encircled and blocked Chaos' attack.

The gravity of the entire surrounding s.p.a.ce suddenly surged, leaving the Demon G.o.d Chaos with a seemingly puzzled expression. There was a man who stood in front of the young boy and girl who had been marked as sacrifices to protect them. It was a red-haired demon with a sharp gaze — Ramsas.

(Part 10 0f 13) (19/10)

11

At that time — a battle had just begun in the Moderates Faction's infirmary.

"!…Ah…"

"Kuh…ugh…"

Yuki and Lucia collapsed onto the tiled floor as they groaned in pain — Admirath looked down and leisurely watched them as he said

"Look, as I said…you two are definitely not opponents for me."

The two of them had to protect the fainted Kurumi and Maria from the battle, and couldn't use any powerful attacks, and they had also inhaled the gas that Admirath released. It was a miracle that they had been able to hang on until now in such a disadvantageous situation, and they had already done everything that they could, but they were still no match for the Demon Lord candidate Admirath. It was easy for him to take their lives with his enormous scythe, but Admirath only used the back of the blade on purpose so that he could beat them until they were rendered completely immobile. The reason was absolutely clear, it was all — in order to allow them to witness the moment in which Kurumi and Maria died by his hand.

"Lay there on the ground obediently for me, and watch me take away your precious family members."

After saying that, Admirath swaggered towards Kurumi's bed.

"!…Ku-rumi…!"

 Yuki tried to lift her head, and she desperately tried to call her little sister's name to warn her, but it was all in vain. Admirath arrived at the bedside, and looked at Kurumi's adorable sleeping face as he became more and more excited on the inside.

This is great. Next, I'll pinch her thin cheeks, and watch as her hypoxic face gradually turns purple, while slowly enjoying the sensation of ending her life. Moreover, it'll be in front of her sister Yuki.

…Could there be any better arrangement?

Should I kill Kurumi before all of them and then similarly strangle Maria, and then kill Lucia after torturing her? Or should I kill Maria first, so that the two sisters suffer before I kill another one? No…what about killing Lucia first, it would be nice if she died without knowing how her little sister was going to meet her end. In any case — no matter what, the first person to kill won't change. So—

"Alright…this time, I'll definitely be taking your puny life."

Admirath's left hand edged ever closer to Kurumi's body. However, that hand suddenly made an excruciating 'crack' sound — it was crushed by another hand that had reached over from the side.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!?"

Without even the time to be surprised, Admirath yelled out in pain and immediately tried to throw off the unknown threat that had attacked him. But the hand that had crushed his lower left arm did not let go — after continuing to struggle until the end, Admirath had no choice but to collapse to the ground when he had finally broken free.

"W-What guts…to dare to destroy my good moment…!"

His own shameful appearance caused his anger to swell up as he gritted his teeth and looked up to see the beautiful succubus Maria, who was originally asleep on the bed next to Kurumi. Although she had fallen unconscious after losing to Lars, she still retained her adult form.

"What—…"

At that time, Admirath suddenly uttered something with an expression of deep hatred while he stared at her face. Maria's hand was holding a particular object. So he sheepishly looked at his left arm, and at his left arm which had gone numb after a searing pain — he had lost the part below the wrist, and a vast amount of bright red blood was dripping out.

"M-My hand…my…aaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Maria disregarded the agonising screams of Admirath, and turned around to look at the messed-up room, as well as her older sister and Yuki who were unable to get up.

"I see…so even Lucia-oneesama and Yuki-san have been…"

After muttering that, Maria tossed the hand that she had pulled off in front of Admirath and said

"How impudent…you wanted to attack Kurumi while she was asleep after beating the two of them."

"H-How dare a tiny succubus like you be so arrogant…!"

Admirath lifted his gaze from his severed left hand and cursed, while Maria simply responded with 'hmph' and said

"Listen carefully okay? Kurumi-san is my most valuable playthi…my most precious friend!"

"D-d.a.m.n it!"

Admirath grimaced in pain as he desperately tried to swing his enormous scythe — but he could not do so. It was because Admirath's remaining right arm had been severed from the shoulder by a blade of wind just before that. Upon seeing his right hand attached the scythe fall to the floor—

"What —Aaaaaaaaaahhh!"

Admirath screamed in shock. And then, Kurumi, who had woken up at some point sighed as she said

"…Maria, were you about to say 'plaything' just then?"

It was only now that she turned around said to Admirath

"What is it…I was wondering who it was, so it was the sc.u.m who took Basara hostage."

Then, Kurumi realised that Basara was safe because she could see him on the broadcast of the fighting s.p.a.ce on the display device in the infirmary.

"……I see, so it was a lie."

After murmuring that in a low voice, Kurumi looked down at Admirath.

"After making me feel so bitter, I'll have to repay that to you…"

Kurumi slowly floated up from the bed. Using the black elemental as a catalyst, Kurumi's magical power swiftly heightened, and all of the spirits in her service appeared around her.

"I'll pay you back for hurting onee-sama and Lucia-san right now!"

Kurumi's left palm stretched over — when Admirath thought that, his entire body had been blasted into mid-air together with a loud boom.

"! —Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!"

The powerful high-pressure airflow had instantly swallowed Admirath, and in pushing him backwards, a countless number of walls and rooms in a straight line had been destroyed. He was even pushed out into the arena, where he made a crater in the thick rock wall in the hills behind it, and almost split the entire mountain in two.

"!…Ugh, ah…ngh—?"

There was a figure that appeared in front of Admirath as he groaned in pain. It was Maria, who held her right fist close to her torso—

"—It ends here."

At the same time, the adult Maria smashed through Admirath's chest with a single punch. Maria's blow completely released all of the power that had been built-up in her right fist.

Together with a booming noise and a heavy impact, her fist was met with a solid sensation. —So, when the dust settled after the rock wall had been blown apart, Maria set down the fist that she had held in mid-air. In the cave-like pit that she had generated with her blow — she glared harshly and heatedly yelled to the already motionless Admirath

"You're far too arrogant — if you think you can get away with attacking Kurumi in her sleep in front of me!"

(Part 11 of 13) (22/10)

12

While Zest flew gracefully in the air and destroyed the enormous heroic spirits one by one, the mayhem in the audience stands was still yet to subside, and there was an individual who did everything that she could to help the audience members who were caught up in the panic. It was a girl of the Moderates faction — Noel.

"Please stay calm everyone! It doesn't matter which path you take, none of the exits are any quicker than the other to take refuge from!"

After putting up a magical barrier, Noel continued to cry out, but no one in the audience paid any attention. This was natural, as in the face of such an absolute threat, everyone was equally weak, and they all blindly crammed into the nearest exit. Even though Zest was gradually reducing the number of the heroic spirits, there were still more heroic spirits than could be counted on two hands raging endlessly in front of her. The audience members who had packed the pa.s.sageways to the brim were equivalent to perfect targets. When the ruthless heroic spirits swung their fists or kicked, a countless number of lives where thus turned into bloodstains and strands of flesh strewn across the floor. In this h.e.l.lish plight, Noel still insisted on staying behind. All of the audience members in the arena were enemies belonging to the Current Demon Lord faction, so Noel had no obligation to risk her life to help them as a maid of the Moderates faction. But — for Noel who grew up in an orphanage, she didn't want to see any more children end up with the same experience as her. Among the audience members, there were many who had families, family members waiting for them, and children to look after. Even if they were enemies, their children were still innocent, and they shouldn't have to bear the pain of having their parents being taken away by this absurd situation.

"! —— ?"

As Noel desperately fought on with these thoughts in her mind, the sound of 'crying' that suddenly entered her ears caused her entire body to freeze. It wasn't from an adult who was crying at the horrific scene, but from a child who could truly do nothing else but cry. Noel was not the only one to discover the crying child. From Noel's point of view, there was a heroic spirit opposite the child.

"Kuh…!"

As soon as she saw the heroic spirit raise its enormous fist — Noel rushed out.

…I won't let it happen!

She didn't care about the fluttering hem of her skirt; she simply used all of her strength to rush over the broken tiled floor of the arena.

[———]

Just before the heroic spirits fist crushed the child — Noel picked the child up and jumped away.

"—Gah…!"

The heavy impact that she felt on her chest caused Noel to groan. Although she had evaded the heroic spirit's fist, that fist had dislodged a large piece of rock which had unfortunately hit her. At that time—

…Ah….

Noel still continued to hold onto the child, but she realised that she had not considered the next step after escaping from it because there was still another heroic spirit before her eyes — it opened its large mouth in front of them. Although the intense pain had caused her consciousness to fade, Noel wanted to bring the child to a place where they would not be endangered by the heroic spirits. However, such a place did not exist in this arena.

"——!"

While Noel clung on to the child — the heroic spirit with its mouth agape suffered a blow to its face and was sent hurtling backwards. At the same time, there was a person who embraced them in mid-air.

"…Lars…"

Seeing the side profile of his face while in his arms, Noel subconsciously called out the name of her childhood friend. Then — after confirming that it was not an illusion, she fainted.

After Lars caught Noel and the child in mid-air, he smoothly landed at the topmost level of the audience stand. After setting down the unconscious Noel who was still holding the child in her arms—

"How reckless…"

Even though he complained with a slightly annoyed tone, Lars still checked to ensure that her breathing was steady, and then let out a sigh of relief. And then, the large heroic spirit that appeared behind them threw down its enormous fist — but it was solidly blocked by a barrier-like black magic sphere. The child in Noel's bosom seemed to be surprised at having been rescued, and at some point, it had stopped crying.

"Be good…stay just like that, and don't run around."

After smiling as he said that to the child, Lars slowly turned around.

"—Rotten doll, don't get carried away."

The instant that Lars spread open his arms and said that whilst full of rage, a countless number of magic spheres shot out. Not only did they blow away the heroic spirit in front of him, almost half of the remaining heroic spirits in the arena were blown away. —Until now, Lars had never let anyone see his true strength. But in his current state, he no longer had any thoughts about holding back, forgiveness or mercy. When the heroic spirits seemed to notice Lars' counterattack, the entire horde scrambled towards him.

"Let me tell you all…how it feels to be unilaterally destroyed."

After making such a declaration, Lars slowly moved towards the horde of heroic spirits. Lars and Basara were the same, they both had things that they could never back down on. So, the heroic spirits in front of him only had a dead end awaiting them. It was because they had hurt the person that Lars valued the most.

(Part 12 of 13) (23/10)

13

In the instant that Toujou Basara saw the back of the figure standing in front of him — when Ramsas protected him and Mio.

"Why—…?"

Mio confusedly asked while in Basara's arms. Ramsas did not look back and still faced the front, but—

His stance suddenly faltered, and he kneeled with one knee on the ground as if he had lost balance.

"…Are you okay!?"

They had once heard that using gravity magic would cause a great burden on Ramsas.

"—Are you okay?"

When Basara and Mio hurriedly moved forward to support him, Leohart also followed to meet together with them.

"…If you have the time to support me, you should think about how to deal with that thing instead."

Being surrounded by the three people, Ramsas reprimanded them.

"Think of a way…how?"

After fighting against Chaos until now, they still had not found any means of restraining it, causing Mio to reluctantly say that. But then—

"—No, but there is one now."

With a clear voice, Toujou Basara brought forth a beacon of hope. Before their eyes — Ramsas' gravity magic barrier had succeeded in suppressing Chaos, causing it to remain in the same place. Although Chaos was supposedly able to block magic, it was trapped within the barrier because Ramsas' gravity magic affected the entire surrounding s.p.a.ce, generating a dimensional fault that Chaos was unable to cross. In other words—

"Gravity-based attacks may be able to seal it into another dimension."

Toujou Basara recalled how when Wilbert's power went out of control in Mio's body, it formed something like a black hole. Also, it was not just a simple physical phenomenon, it was a magic black hole. If they could recreate that kind of black hole again to absorb Chaos, then it was likely possible to seal it into another dimension. —Hence, Basara explained his battle plan to everyone present. As soon as Ramsas lifted his gravity magic, Basara would use [Banishing Shift] frontally to supress Chaos and Mio would use her gravity magic at full strength again to generate a black hole; Chaos would naturally try to dodge — so at that time, Leohart would use Loki's power to push it, so that the black hole could swallow it — that was Basara's plan. After listening to the explanation, Leohart and Ramsas nodded with acceptance.

However, Mio had so far been unable to control Wilbert's power, and her expression seemed uneasy. Seeing this, Basara lightly put his hands on her shoulders and said

"Don't be afraid…believe in me. Didn't we promise that we would finish all of this and then go home with everyone?"

After Basara saw Mio nod keenly, he slowly began to step forward.

"I'll leave the end up to you…"

"…Very well."

After Leohart lifted Loki and responded to Basara, Basara continued to move forward by himself — towards Chaos.

"———"

After he was a sufficient distance away from Mio and the others, he lowered his stance and concentrated — it was the stance for an all-conquering Dimensional Slash. By using [Banishing Shift] at the same time as his Dimensional Slash, even if he could not entirely eliminate his opponent, he would be able to significantly enhance its power. So Basara concentrated every fragment of his mind, and waited for that moment. In this state where his concentration was at its maximum, even all noise in his ears had been blocked out.

When the entire world appeared to enter a state of silence — Ramsas lifted the gravity magic.

[———]

As soon as Chaos broke free of the dimensional cage, it jumped down from a rooftop and landed in front of Basara who was closest to it. Facing the overwhelming incarnation of death in front of him, Basara was still unable to move. Chaos also appeared to be on alert, and did not move. Amidst the silence, only the atmosphere continued to intensify. And then — that moment finally arrived. The first one to act was Chaos.

[———]

In response to the remaining right arm that slashed down with its enormous sword, and the thrust of the incoming tentacles, Toujou Basara unleashed the ultimate blow. Raising all of his movements to their maximum speed, he charged towards the Demon G.o.d. Using Brynhildr, he let loose a Dimensional Slash — and on top of that, [Banishing Shift]; everything finished in an instant. Amidst the sharp ringing sound of a 'clang', Chaos' tentacles, the right arm that held the gigantic sword, and even the area from its shoulder to its lower torso all burst into droplets — but the battle was not over yet. Toujou leapt towards Chaos in front of him while shouting

"—Mio!"

When she heard Basara's cry, Mio had already completed the preparations to activate her gravity magic. Using the small gap after he had cut from Chaos' right arm down to its lower torso, he pa.s.sed by the side of Chaos' body as if he was changing position—

"———!"

In that moment, Naruse Mio unleashed the gravity magic that she had built-up within her body to the limit. That power pushed Chaos down from directly above, and generated a black hole — this kind of thing did not happen.

"——!"

Just as Naruse Mio's consciousness began to blur after she put forth all her strength, something happened. Although her gravity magic was indeed covering Chaos, the centre point was a little further forward. I must not harm Basara…these kinds of thoughts caused Mio to subconsciously move the position a little forward, but — this was a fatal mistake.

Chaos used its tentacles like legs against the ground, and pushed backwards to jump away and escape from the area of Mio's gravity magic. Failure — the worst possible word evoked thoughts of desperation in her mind.

…Ah….

But, Mio then saw Basara's figure as he moved around to Chaos' back and used his right leg as a pivot to turn around, and swing Brynhildr horizontally.

"Uuuooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh—!"

The instant that his blade was swung, Brynhildr unleashed a red wave. It was the same as before when he had almost crushed Leohart — the gravity wave had turned into a slash.

There was gravity magic that Mio had released from above, and the gravity wave that Basara had unleashed horizontally. The clash of their two attacks caused the black hole that Mio generated to greatly distort, and the red torrents that flowed towards the dimensional hole immobilised Chaos as it tried to escape.

[———]

Even though it suffered blows of gravity both vertically and horizontally, Chaos still made every effort to move towards an area with less influence — it was struggling for its life. —However, the Demon Lord Leohart would not allow it. Before Chaos could act, Leohart poured all his strength into the magic circuit of Loki while in mid-air—

…So he antic.i.p.ated this from the beginning huh.

When Leohart flew to this position at the timing that was decided in advance, he understood Basara's intentions. After cutting off Chaos' right arm — Basara's method of escape was to run from the area in front of Chaos to its back so that he would essentially swap front and rear positions. If he only wanted to evade Mio's gravity magic, there was no need to risk getting closer to Chaos; retreating backwards or to either the left or right sides would have been safer. Deliberately choosing to move behind Chaos was so that he could remain in position. If he retreated backwards or to the left or right side, he would increase his distance from Chaos — in that way, after having its right arm cut off, Chaos would have likely chased after Basara in reflex. But — if Basara deliberately closed their distance, Chaos would continue to attack in that position. This action had indeed succeeded in trapping Chaos under the effect of Mio's gravity magic. He also unleashed another gravity wave from behind it, which impacted with Mio's gravity magic to sp.a.w.n an even more powerful vortex of gravity, further limiting Chaos' means of escape, resulting in the most beneficial results. Despite the fact that this perfect implementation before his eyes had brought forth a slight feelings of astonishment, Leohart still fulfilled his own role without any hesitation.

"Slumber eternally in the dimensional gap, Ancient Demon G.o.d!"

Together with his yell, Leohart brought Loki down. The black wave unleashed from the full-powered magic circuit of the demonic sword surged into the gravitational vortex of Mio and Basara, and moved straight towards Chaos.

[———]

The ancient Demon G.o.d that had awakened in this world was thus pushed into the centre of the black hole. In the next instant — Mio's black hole twisted beyond the critical point, and instantly collapsed because it was unable to sustain the ma.s.s.

The swirling vortex of air and magic subsided, and the s.p.a.ce also returned to normal. After the black hole that swallowed everything around it disappeared, all that was left on the ground was an empty crater. The figure of the Demon G.o.d Chaos had already disappeared without a trace. So—

 "………"

Leohart slowly lowered Loki, and then dismissed it. —This action represented that the battle had truly come to an end. At the same time, Ramsas supported the unconscious Naruse Mio in his arms. Toujou Basara moved forward steadily, and walked towards her.

(Part 13 of 13) (23/10)