DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN NOW READ THREE TO SIX CHAPTERS AHEAD. CHECK MY PROFILE FOR THE LINK.
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Clang!
The underground chamber shook violently as another shockwave tore across the ancient stone floor, dozens of the surrounding magic circles flickering as the collision of blades sent compressed air screaming through the cavern.
Maribel watched the battle with an almost leisurely smile. "My Unique Skill, [Avarice], allows me to manipulate the greed dwelling within a person's soul."
Clang! BOOM!
"The greater one's greed, the greater my control over that individual, and the stronger that control becomes."
Another explosion ripped apart one of the chamber's stone pillars as Rimuru narrowly slipped between Sally and Yuuki's coordinated assault.
Maribel clasped her hands behind her back, sounding almost like a teacher giving a lecture.
"It is a wonderful ability. After all..." She giggled softly. "...what creature exists without desire? The desire to live, the desire to grow stronger, the desire to protect, to possess, to achieve... they are all forms of greed."
Her emerald eyes gleamed. "And greed is something I can grasp."
Meanwhile, Rimuru Tempest fought for his life.
He slid backwards across the stone floor, narrowly avoiding the serrated teeth of Yuuki's chained sword before twisting his body to defadescend a barrage of crimson blades that materialised from thin air.
Sally's attacks always came without warning, as Maribel had surmised after taking control of the Demon Lord.
Illusions concealed every movement until the instant before they struck.
Rimuru had barely finished avoiding one attack before another appeared from an impossible angle.
Then the former Holy Knight charged again. The white-haired man roared as he swung his oversized blade straight toward Rimuru's side.
Rimuru didn't even look at him.
He planted one foot against the incoming sword, kicked himself sideways and drove his shoulder straight through the chamber wall, bursting back into the room through another section of stone a heartbeat later while avoiding Yuuki's follow-up slash in the same motion.
Although Maribel's smile remained, Inside... She was calculating. Her eyes never left Rimuru. 'Even after empowering Gaiye by burning away the entirety of his soul... he was erased almost instantly.'
The memory remained unpleasant. She had expected him to delay Rimuru. Perhaps wound him. Instead... He had simply disappeared.
'We underestimated him.'
'Fortunately...' Her gaze shifted toward the battle unfolding below. 'I prepared more than one layer of insurance.'
Steel screamed against steel, as Yuuki and Rimuru met head-on.
Their swords clashed and clashed once, twice, three times, and counting. Then dozens of times within the space of a single heartbeat.
Maribel's pupils contracted. '...I can't even see them anymore.'
The two figures blurred together into little more than streaks of silver and black, every collision producing another shockwave powerful enough to crack the surrounding stone.
Sally was even worse. One moment she stood beside Yuuki. The next, she was gone.
Every couple of seconds another crimson blade would appear from empty space, forcing Rimuru to abruptly alter his footing before immediately returning to his duel with Yuuki.
Even Maribel occasionally lost track of where Sally had gone.
Then the Holy Knight charged in yet again.
Compared to the three beings battling, his lacking power made his timing terrible. His sword nearly clipped Yuuki's shoulder. Another swing almost forced Sally to interrupt one of her own attacks.
Mariabel sighed. "...Enough." The white-haired knight froze. She didn't even bother looking at him. "Stand down." His body obediently retreated several steps. "Remain by my side." Without a word, he took position beside her.
'He's become more of an inconvenience than an asset.' She had already extracted everything of value from him.
There was no point allowing him to interfere with the two people actually capable of challenging Rimuru.
Yuuki's chained blade suddenly curved around Rimuru's guard, faster than Rimuru could dodge.
Rimuru's left arm spun away from his body.
Mariabel's smile widened. "Excellent." She took a slow step forward. "Do you understand now, Demon Lord Rimuru?"
She gestured toward the countless glowing formations surrounding them. "Every single magic circle in this chamber projects a Holy Field. Layered, one upon another."
"Each successive field strengthens the next while further suppressing demonic and monstrous energy." She laughed softly. "You are fighting while continuously being weakened."
"And yet..." Her smile became almost radiant. "...this is merely the beginning."
Rimuru glanced once toward the severed arm lying across the floor. "As I thought." His stump was just a blue gelatinous substance that wriggled, and stretched. Within moments, a completely new arm had regenerated.
Mariabel merely shrugged. "I expected as much."
Regeneration alone meant nothing. Yuuki and Sally continued pressing him relentlessly, giving him almost no opportunity to capitalise upon it.
The battle resumed immediately.
Yuuki attacked from the front. Sally from everywhere else.
Every few seconds another illusion collapsed as Rimuru somehow detected Sally's true location at the very last instant.
Mariabel frowned slightly. 'How is he tracking her?' She lost sight of Sally again.
Once again, Yuuki suddenly slipped beneath Rimuru's guard, his chained sword thrust straight toward his chest.
Mariabel's smile returned. 'It's over...'
Clang!
Her smile froze.
The sword stopped, barely an inch from Rimuru's chest. As though it had struck an invisible wall.
Yuuki pushed harder, to no avail.
Rimuru smiled. "That's not how it works, Yuuki." His golden eyes settled upon Yuuki. "Your Anti-Skill doesn't work through the weapon you're holding."
Mariabel's pupils narrowed. "What?"
Rimuru grinned. "It has to be your body making direct contact." He casually knocked the sword aside. "So your sword can't bypass my barriers."
Before Yuuki could recover, Rimuru swung. "{Storm Break}!!!."
Wind exploded through the chamber. Lightning followed an instant later. The combined strike struck Yuuki squarely across the chest, launching him through multiple layers of stone before he finally disappeared into the darkness beyond.
Rimuru didn't stop.
Instead, he turned and slashed toward completely empty space.
Sally appeared, forced into visibility as she blocked the attack, crimson sparks erupting around her blade.
The two of them remained locked together.
Mariabel barely noticed. Her thoughts had already stopped elsewhere. '...Anti-Skill?' The words echoed through her mind. 'Yuuki has... an Anti-Skill?'
Her expression remained unchanged. Inside, however, her expressions stalled. 'Why didn't I know about that?'
'From the name alone, it should be obvious of its function. Which is to nullify the effects of other skills used on the owner.' She let out a gasped breath. "But that would mean..."
Yuuki slowly pushed himself through the rubble, returning to his feet. Around him, she could still feel the effects of her [Avarice] lingering on his body.
'That's right.' She told herself. 'There's no way that he was able to resist me. My Unique Skill is the most powerful in the world. And yet...'
She watched as Yuuki rushed back into battle, rushing into the rapid exchange of blades between Rimuru and Sally.
'What if it's true?' She wondered. 'Then I've been compromised. Hard. Is he a spy for Rimuru? All this time, and I didn't think to even consider that he wouldn't be affected by [Avarice]'
Maribel's breathing remained calm. Only her thoughts had descended into disorder.
'No...' She forced herself to watch the battle rather than the conclusion her mind kept trying to reach.
Yuuki's movements remained just as sharp as before. His attacks continued to coordinate with Sally's almost perfectly, each strike complementing the other's without the slightest hesitation.
Nothing about his behaviour suggested someone acting independently.
And yet... 'If Anti-Skill truly nullifies the effects of other skills directed at its owner...' Her fingers tightened imperceptibly behind her back.
'Then why is he still under my control?' The answer came to her almost immediately. 'Or... was he never under my control to begin with?'
Her emerald eyes narrowed. She replayed every conversation she had ever held with Yuuki Kagurazaka.
How many of her own decisions had quietly been nudged in directions she believed were her own?
A cold sensation settled in the pit of her stomach. 'Impossible.' She had observed him countless times.
She had tested him. She had watched his emotions fluctuate beneath the influence of [Avarice].
There was no way she could have mistaken genuine control for an act... Was there?
Another deafening collision echoed throughout the underground chamber.
Rimuru intercepted Yuuki's chained blade with one sword while simultaneously ducking beneath a crimson slash that emerged from empty air, his own blade immediately twisting upward to force Sally backwards before she disappeared once more.
Stone exploded. The Holy Fields trembled.
Even under the continuous suppression of hundreds of overlapping holy barriers, Rimuru continued matching both opponents at once.
Maribel watched silently.
'No...' She discarded the thought. 'Whether Yuuki is resisting me or not changes nothing.'
The Holy Fields were still functioning exactly as intended. The teleportation array had activated perfectly.
The Chaos Dragon remained above Blumund. Everything was proceeding according to plan. She only needed to remain patient. Victory was still hers.
Then another thought surfaced. '...Wait.' Maribel's eyes slowly widened. 'How?'
No information regarding Anti-Skill should have existed outside Yuuki himself.
She had certainly never learned of it. Which meant there were only two possibilities.
Yuuki had willingly revealed it to Rimuru...
Or Rimuru possessed a means of analysing Skills far beyond anything she had anticipated.
Neither possibility was acceptable.
Neither.
Her gaze drifted toward Sally.
The Demon Lord vanished once again before reappearing above Rimuru, her crimson blade descending in perfect silence.
Rimuru raised his sword without even looking.
Clang!
The impact shattered another section of the cavern floor.
He pivoted immediately, avoiding Yuuki's follow-up strike by the narrowest of margins before driving a kick into Yuuki's abdomen, forcing him backwards several metres.
'Some kind of Analysis?' Maribel frowned. Her gaze shifted toward the countless magic circles surrounding the chamber. 'That meant that he should have been aware of what they were even before she told him.'
Her emerald eyes glowed brilliantly. "This is getting too dangerous."
One by one, the remaining dormant magic circles throughout the underground chamber began to awaken. Their crimson light spread across the cavern floor like an encroaching tide, layer after layer activating in perfect sequence until the entire chamber pulsed with overwhelming magical power.
Even the air itself grew heavy.
The pressure increased so suddenly that fragments of broken stone were crushed into powder before they could touch the ground.
Rimuru glanced toward the expanding sea of magic circles, his expression remaining surprisingly calm.
"...So," he said with a small smile. "Phase two?"
Maribel shrugged lightly, her expression remaining calm despite the chaos unfolding around her. "I've decided to dedicate everything I have to killing you, that's all." A faint smile touched her lips. "I intend to put my entire being into accomplishing that goal."
Rimuru gave a small nod, tightening his grip on his sword. "Then I'll stop holding back as well."
Maribel's emerald eyes narrowed. Once again, she activated [Avarice].
Rimuru instinctively lowered his centre of gravity as an overwhelming surge of power erupted from both Yuuki and Sally.
The increase was immediate.
A moment ago, the two had already been formidable enough to force him onto the defensive. Now, their auras exploded upwards, dwarfing what they had displayed only moments before.
The pressure filling the underground chamber became so intense that the surrounding magic circles trembled in response.
Maribel, however, wasn't looking at Rimuru anymore.
Inside... She was stunned. '...What?'
Out of nothing more than lingering suspicion, and in an attempt to silence the doubts that had begun creeping into her mind, she had consciously monitored the flow of energy she was about to pour into [Avarice], intending to observe exactly how much additional power she granted Yuuki and Sally before releasing it.
Except... She had stopped. The very instant she prepared to channel her power, she paused, wanting to observe the baseline first.
She hadn't enhanced them at all. Yet their strength had still increased. As though they hadn't even noticed she'd stopped.
Her heartbeat quickened. 'Not just Yuuki...' Her gaze shifted toward Sally. '...Sally as well?' Her pulse began pounding against her ears. 'They're both pretending to be under my control.'
The realisation struck her like a physical blow. Yet outwardly... Not a single emotion crossed her face.
Maintaining the same composed expression, Maribel simply turned and walked toward the former Holy Knight waiting obediently beside her.
"Come."
Without questioning the order, the knight followed.
The pair crossed the chamber together before stopping atop one of the larger magic circles engraved into the floor.
Maribel glanced at the formation only once before quietly activating it.
The circle erupted with crimson light. An instant later... Both she and the knight vanished.
...
Rimuru's eyes shifted toward the now-empty magic circle. "...She's gone."
The words had barely left his mouth when Sally relaxed her stance and smoothly sheathed both of her daggers. "...Shit." She clicked her tongue softly. "Looks like she caught on."
Yuuki blinked several times, looking from Sally to Rimuru before lowering his gaze to the sword still resting in his hand.
"...Ah." He scratched his cheek awkwardly. "You too, Sally-san? You were pretending to be under her control the whole time?"
Rimuru let out a long sigh.
"If it wasn't for the message you slipped me earlier, I would've killed you, you know." His golden eyes settled on Sally for a moment before shifting back to Yuuki. "It would've been way too easy to believe you'd actually betrayed us."
Sally chuckled quietly. "It's adorable that you think you could kill me."
Yuuki calmly sheathed his sword. "So..." He looked between the two Demon Lords with an almost innocent smile. "What do you two want to do now? Is it alright if I go after Maribel?"
His voice gradually trailed off. Both Rimuru and Sally were staring directly at him. "...What's with the scary looks?"
Without taking her eyes off Yuuki, Sally addressed Rimuru. "He's yours."
"As for the Chaos Dragon..." She gave a dismissive wave of one hand. "There's no need to concern yourself with it. It isn't the genuine Chaos Dragon. Our subordinates should be more than capable of bringing it down on their own."
Yuuki blinked. "...Ah, crap." A resigned smile spread across his face. "Have I been found out?"
Rimuru slowly raised his sword, its tip coming to rest squarely in Yuuki's direction. "You've got a lot of explaining to do, Yuuki."