Chapter 34 - Chapter 4-Total Victory-Part 3

As Benimaru was put in that tight spot, Chloe was facing an unexpectedly tough bout of her own.

In terms of sheer ability, Chloe was by far the best—but Jiwu, a specialist at striking her foes' weak points, didn't even try to wage a typical swordfight against her. She was also doing things like putting up isolating barriers to keep Chloe from calling for backup or conjuring up toxic dark mist to blind her—all these things to help give her a situational advantage.

That sort of thing wouldn't work on the masked Chloe, but with Jiwu so intent on escaping her at every moment, she was having trouble catching her. Jiwu kept running away; Chloe kept chasing her; and the result was a very prolonged battle.

…But hey, unlike Benimaru, Chloe's got an ultimate skill, right? If she was more powerful than I was, I didn't think she was about to lose to Jiwu. So I didn't pay them particularly close attention, assuming that everything was cool with Chloe, but apparently things weren't gonna go that easy. By the time Benimaru was thrown on the defensive, Chloe was facing some real trouble as well.

"You sure love scampering away from me, huh?" she said to Jiwu. "Of course. Your sword's too dangerous. I have a hunch it could penetrate my

defenses."

Jiwu was cautious. She was facing an unknown in Chloe, and she kept her head as she tried to deal with her. Chloe's Absolute Severance was a unique skill, but for some reason, it boasted so much power that you could feasibly call it an ultimate if you wanted to. Maybe Jiwu was just being modest when faced with its power, but no, a Legend-class suit of armor definitely wouldn't stop it. She even dealt damage to Veldora with it, so I'd have to say that Jiwu was taking the right strategy here.

"You know running around all day won't beat me, don't you?"

"I can't deny that… But that's not the problem. I'm not here to win; I'm here to protect Bernie. And once he kills that ogre, we're both going to kill you next."

I wasn't about to take that sitting down, but then Jiwu started to get real tricky with me. Every time I tried to join in the fray, she'd start lobbing attacks at Labyrinth City behind me. The quarantined capital city was safely ensconced behind Masayuki and the others, but if any magic landed on them, I couldn't guess how much damage it'd cause.

Even worse, Jiwu was asking for Bernie's assistance.

"We've got too much unexpected trouble, Bernie. This woman's a lot more dangerous than I thought. She's too much to deal with alongside the demon lord Rimuru at the same time, so I want to play it safe. I need you to help me attack Labyrinth City to keep him from intervening."

"Understood. I'll give you a hand when I'm able."

With Bernie joining in the potshots, that immediately doubled my burden. Masayuki and Jinrai had Resurrection Bracelets, so they'd be fine even in the worst-case scenario… But Labyrinth City was packed full of unwitting citizens. This was meant to be a safe space for them, and they wouldn't all be wearing bracelets at all times—the adventurers evacuated in here would've each had one, but not your average goblin on the street.

So now I had to not only keep the guys behind me safe from stray magic blasts; I also had to deal with Jiwu's and Bernie's harassment. All their attacks on the city were of the ranged type, so I could just swallow it up with Belzebuth,

Lord of Gluttony, and that was that, but now I no longer had the free time to help Chloe at all.

Like, seriously, man.

Good thing, then, that Chloe came here in time to help us out. If it were just Benimaru and me here, we might've been defeated long ago. After all, Benimaru was only barely able to stave off Bernie's attacks. One false move, and he might be overwhelmed by them entirely, making it hard to keep his foe from attacking the city. The edge he had in absolute ability was what allowed him to keep this battle going, really. A single direct hit from Bernie's onslaught would instantly kill him, but Benimaru handled it all with a calm, studied demeanor. The tables might be turned skillwise at the moment, but I still thought Benimaru deserved a round of applause.

Still, though… I thought of all these guys as little more than roadies for Masayuki, but they had some wild hidden abilities. In a way, the fact that they had deceived me for so long showed just how good they really were. Even Luminus didn't give these guys the time of day when she met them at the festival. I guess I can't blame myself—okay, Raphael—for overlooking them, too.

Regardless, I'd say we were in a pretty dire situation right now. In addition to everything else, my Thought Communication with Ramiris was cut off, so we were now forced to overcome this assault all by ourselves. And I guess Chloe could sense my anxiety, because she chose that moment to take a gamble—and that led to an unforeseen blunder.

"If that's how it is, time to pull something out of my sleeve."

If she had something to get us out of this situation, I'd really love to see it right about now. But for some reason, I had a bad premonition about it.

For a single moment, the world went dark on me. All movement stopped, and I felt like someone had tied me up with rope. Unable to comprehend what happened, I realized I had experienced this feeling some time before. It was when Guy and Chloe were fighting, I think…

Report. The subject Chloe Aubert's life energy is confirmed to be falling. She appears to have failed to control her skill.

This was how having time stopped felt, I realized. Just as I did, Raphael spat out a warning—and then I noticed Chloe was back in child form.

"Whoa! Chloe?!"

"Oh, no way! This power's too inefficient for me to handle right now—" "I told you it was too hard to control for long periods of time!"

I didn't know what happened, but it was clear Chloe's "trick up her sleeve" failed big-time. Even worse, it also gravely compromised Chloe's ability to fight. I guess she couldn't fully control Yog-Sothoth after all. She seemed to have it pretty well mastered in the last fight with Guy, but I guess that was mostly Guy's own power at work, with Chloe simply responding to it. That was still impressive enough, though—if she wasn't able to move in that time-stopped world, it would've been a one-sided whipping Guy dealt to her.

But a practice battle is different from a real one. It looked like Chloe could still stop time for a moment, but it consumed a vast amount of energy. The proof was all in her current child form.

See, this is exactly why using untested powers on the spur of the moment like this is such a problem! It'd be a completely different story if she had full control over Yog-Sothoth, but not even Raphael had completed its analysis of that move yet, so it was a bad mistake to count on a miracle there.

(Yo! Chloe! You okay?)

(I might be in a little trouble. I can go back to my original form, but it'll take a while before I'm my usual self again…)

She sounded frustrated through the Thought Communication. But at least things weren't completely dire. Chloe wasn't out of the battle permanently, which was a great relief.

"I don't know what you were struggling to do, but you're wasting your time. You can't even figure out your own strength? You're even more of a shambles than I thought."

"Ha-ha-ha! Well, that's just who she is. You were just being too careful, Jiwu." Jiwu and Bernie exchanged chuckles over Chloe's mistake. But just then, a

voice boomed in my mind like a message from the heavens.

Report. Analysis of the enemy's skills complete.

Damn! That was fast!!

It still hadn't wrapped up Chloe's Yog-Sothoth yet, but Bernie's and Jiwu's ultimate skills were apparently a piece of cake by comparison. I would've been satisfied if we could have narrowed them down to a specific family of moves, even, but this was a happy miscalculation on my part.

So what's up? Lay it on me.

Report. The subjects Bernie and Jiwu share a great number of similarities in abilities, to the point that they can be considered virtually identical. Unique skills are just that—skills borne from one's personal individuality—and ultimate skills are born when a unique skill is brought past its set limits. But the fact that both of their skills are so similar indicates that—

…Are you saying Bernie and Jiwu borrowed their power from somebody? Affirmative. The possibility is believed to be very high.

I see, I see.

You know, I was thinking this was a little unnatural, too. If you want an ultimate skill, like, that's not the kinda thing you acquire with some half-hearted backyard effort. Even Hinata was stuck at the unique level with her arsenal, and overcomers like Granville and Luminus hadn't awakened any ultimates, either. I don't mean to sound like a prick, but these aren't the kind of clearance-rack abilities someone at Bernie's and Jiwu's level could just pick up out of nowhere. An ultimate skill borrows a lot of its characteristics from the person possessing it—and while both were showing great obstruction and concealment skills, neither was using their power for anything beyond that. I was on the lookout this whole time, thinking they were hiding something—but it looked like they weren't.

Affirmative. They are demonstrating absolute superiority over magic and unique skills, as well as complete concealment of their own powers. These are the powers that have been loaned to the subject Bernie and

the subject Jiwu. Calculating backward from their energy levels, neither are in any position to exercise more powers than these.

So I was correct when I figured there was nothing left?

You never do know how things will turn out until they're over, I thought as I looked at the smiling Bernie and Jiwu.

(Benimaru! Chloe! I found the secret to their power. They're nasty opponents, but they're not unbeatable. I've got an idea along those lines, but—can you guys hear me out?)

They both agreed without a second thought.

(Of course. If I could get a good slash in with my sword, I'd have won this long ago… But he's a defensive specialist, and it's incredibly annoying.)

Benimaru must've been prepared to keep fighting like this for a long while to come, in order to keep himself from losing. Just keep your eyes on the prize; don't let your opponent's moves faze you. Diablo and Shion were bound to return sooner or later, and they could go on the counterattack then. That's my Samurai General, all right—calm no matter the situation and totally reliable.

(I believe in you, too, Rimuru! I wanna make up for that mistake, so if you have a winning plan, I'm game for it, no matter what!)

Chloe was up for this, too. Unlike Benimaru, her fight was one she could've won if she wasn't in such a hurry. Absolute Severance could've penetrated Jiwu's defenses, and in a one-on-one battle, the assassin would've been no match for her.

Still, this was a good lesson for her. Now we all knew how inexperienced she was with her ultimate skill, but that was something she could work on in the future. I'm sure that's gonna work itself out with practice, so for now, I had to focus on ending this battle.

(Okay, here's the deal. I want to get Benimaru and I connected with a soul corridor. That way, I can lend him some of my powers.)

(I'd be glad to borrow them. It's somewhat embarrassing to ask for your help here, Sir Rimuru, but anything beats being defeated. I promise I will bring you

victory.)

Benimaru gladly agreed. That was typical of him—practicality always came ahead of pride. Besides, if our opponents were tapping into borrowed power, too, I didn't see any reason to be ashamed of it. Pound for pound, Benimaru was definitely the better fighter anyway.

With that in mind, I applied Absolute Severance to Benimaru's sword. This boasts pretty much the same performance as Chloe has access to. It's essentially the reverse of Absolute Defense, so both might be canceled out when clashed against each other, but against Bernie, this oughtta work well enough.

So that took care of Benimaru. Now for Chloe.

(Chloe… Chronoa… Listen to me. If you can keep on buying time for us, Benimaru's gonna beat Bernie, I promise. After that, here's how you'll deal with Jiwu…)

For her, we'd take the opposite pattern. Chloe was back in adult form, but far from her usual self strengthwise. It was better to take a safe approach with her to ensure we could seal the deal. She merely had to survive until Benimaru won, and all would be well. That was my idea, but:

(Whoa, wait a minute! I'm not about to lose here or anything! If it's one-on one, I'm positive we can win!)

(She's right, Rimuru. Yog-Sothoth kind of fell through our fingers there, but if we get serious with this battle, we're not gonna lose.)

Chloe and her alter ego were both eager enough. I expected that from them, so I was hardly surprised. So I decided to make another suggestion.

(Okay. Then I have one condition.)

(What?)

(Use Yog-Sothoth one more time. I want this victory to be perfect for you.) (…Huh?)

(Like, you can stop time for a really tiny little bit, but it's too short to work on Jiwu, right?)

It seemed to me that Chloe was in full control of her skills, as long as she didn't go all reckless with them. When I said "really tiny little bit," I couldn't tell exactly how many seconds that was, but it probably wouldn't be enough time to hunt down Jiwu and her ultimate skill. That was why she went over the limit like she did… But next time, she oughtta be just fine.

(I'll help you out this time, okay? I'll help with the calculations and stuff, and you can try it again.)

(Well, if you say so; I'm not complaining…)

(You're going to open your computational domain to us? We ought to be able to control it then, definitely.)

Chloe and Chronoa said yes to the offer. They looked a little anxious still, but… um, so was I. This was Raphael's idea, after all—can you blame me for wondering if this would actually work?

Guess I'd believe in the dude. It had to have an inkling this would work out, so I had to just trust Raphael and act accordingly.

Then Chronoa raised another issue.

(But I'm still not sure there's enough energy. I can get into combat form, but I haven't recovered enough to stop time yet. Even if your aid makes it more efficient, the current Chloe won't be able to use the skill right at all.)

I was kinda wondering about that, too, actually. I knew I was planning to lend them my power and stuff, but would that suffice?

Affirmative. It is not a problem.

Good. Nice to get a firm yes there. I'm sure it's got some kind of great plan, so I'll stop bothering it for details.

(That won't be a problem. If you don't have enough, I'll back you up.)

Or Raphael would anyway… But it's not worth explaining everything here, so I'll just take this opportunity to look way cool instead. That was enough to secure Chronoa's agreement.

(All right. I'll sign on, then. Time to show these two what they've got coming.)

So we had a plan. It was time for the counterattack.

Benimaru changed his offensive style. Until now he had been using a "static" sword stance, but after being granted Absolute Severance, he switched to a "dynamic" style. Static—or sei no tachi to borrow the samurai parlance—is a sword technique where the attacker allows their opponent to make the first move, with the focus on counterattacks. In other words, you're parrying whatever comes at you instead of actively seeing chances to attack—a kind of offense-defense combo. The dynamic style, or dou no tachi, concentrates more on offense than defense; you're basically trying to attack and win the day with a single strike, overwhelming your foe and never giving up the initiative.

This change in styles definitely registered with Bernie. Surprised, he went on the defensive. Now the tables were turned once more, but at this point, he still looked relaxed and in control.

That, however, vanished in an instant. Bernie was so in control only because he was confident—and all evidence so far backed him up—that Benimaru's sword wouldn't work against him. But all that was in the past.

Failing to keep up with the flurry of slashes and strikes, Bernie left himself open—and the fatal blow was aimed right for that moment.

"That—?!"

I wasn't sure if he was gonna say "That's crazy" or whatnot, but either way, that strike hewed straight through Bernie's torso and chopped him in half. Continuing with the same motion, he arced his sword's trajectory upward like a curving river, separating his head from the rest of his body—hence why Bernie couldn't finish that last voiced reaction before his death.

Man. Talk about overwhelming—Benimaru totally knocked that out of the park.

"Y'know, if you went with that momentum from the start, you could've won easy, couldn't you?"

"No, if I tried to do that, I would have broken my weapon. That armor was no joke, I thought, so I tried to avoid putting too much strain on my sword. It was a very awkward way to fight for me."

That was "awkward"? Because he sure looked pretty majestic out there. I will agree that "dynamic" suits him better than "static," though.

Now I was absolutely sure Benimaru outclassed Hakuro by now. He was a better physical specimen to start with, but now his skill level was about the same as Hakuro's or higher. Once he gets serious about fighting, he's just incredible. I mean, not one minute after going on the counterattack, Bernie was dead.

Chloe, meanwhile…

(Ohhh, I knew we wouldn't have enough energy!!)

Chronoa sounded pained as she tried to trigger the skill. But right after that: Report. There is no problem.

That calm voice was accompanied by the sound of an agonizing "Arrrrgghh!!"—or at least it felt that way in my mind. What was up with that? I had the sneaking suspicion that might have been her, actually—in fact, I was sure of it.

Hearing it sure made me feel depressed. It was just so pathetic. I hadn't done anything bad, exactly, but I was the one causing it. Maybe it is my fault, then? I'm gonna have to treat Chloe to some pudding and apologize to get back on her good side.

But anyway, that was the end of our energy problems. The next thing I knew, the world stopped—and Jiwu was reduced to a pile of dust.

So yeah, that was how we beat Bernie and Jiwu, but now Raphael was taking a more forlorn tone with me.

…Report. The subject Bernie and the subject Jiwu are confirmed to be alive. I had forgotten about the existence of the Resurrection Bracelets.

Huh? Ah, no biggie.

Pretty rare for Raphael to make a careless error like that, though. In fact, this may very well be the first time ever.

"Oops. I should've broken their bracelets while I had the chance," I said. "They weren't wearing bracelets."

"Yeah. I had my eye out for those, but they didn't have any on."

Oh. Guess Benimaru and Chloe were being a lot more careful than I was, remembering the bracelets and checking to see if they were there. Maybe I was the careless one here. I sincerely doubted that Raphael simply overlooked them, so I guess Bernie and Jiwu got one up on us.

"Ah, about that…"

Masayuki, who had been quietly watching this the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"To tell the truth," Jinrai said for him, "we all kinda saw you as the enemy, so we never really took those bracelets of yours seriously. Like, we weren't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth or anything, but…"

He flipped up one of his pants legs—and amazingly, I saw him wearing a Resurrection Bracelet on his ankle.

"Um, yeah, that's the bracelet…," I said.

"I know. But like, whether we trusted it or not, it's still a magical item, right? So we figured it'd work just as well no matter where you put it on. Bernie suggested it as kind of a little 'rebel' thing we could do."

Apparently Bernie had anticipated this outcome enough that he took steps to address it. Benimaru was scratching his head in frustration, and Chloe was seeming pretty pouty, too—I was sure she looked disgusted under her mask.

Given the situation, I really didn't think Raphael could've done anything about this. I mean, Jiwu's barrier isolated us from the rest of the world, so we couldn't talk to Ramiris. I think I could've telepathically communicated with Veldora, but I doubt I could've explained the situation to him with much accuracy. Besides, if you thought about how much work Raphael had to do there, it was just mind boggling how much parallel processing it was up to. Granting Benimaru Absolute Severance, helping Chloe/Chronoa with Yog-Sothoth, maintaining my own Absolute Defense, analyzing Bernie's and Jiwu's abilities… The list goes on and on. Given all that, who among us could've predicted that a bunch of idiots would put Resurrection Bracelets on their ankles?

"Well, no helping that, I guess."

"Indeed. Let's just forget about it. I've already assessed their strengths, and I'm positive I would win a rematch. If someone like me challenges them, that might be a different story… But I'm sure we can find a way."

That was Benimaru's conclusion, so he and I both decided to drop the matter.

Anyway, Bernie and Jiwu were out of the picture. Not being able to off them for good was a blunder, but Benimaru, Chloe, and I promised each other we'd forget about it, so it didn't really count, right? Masayuki and Jinrai looked pretty shocked about their friends' betrayal, but I was sure they'd do their best to recover. I thought about this as I watched them trudge back to their jobs assuaging the vampires.

The war was still going on. I felt kinda bad for those two, but frankly, I didn't have time to worry about them. So I decided to let Chloe take care of them, and then Benimaru and I went back to the Control Center. Now the labyrinth should be free of all hostile elements.

But just as I thought that the final ground battle was all that was left to handle, we discovered that a few people were in the room already.

"Oh! Rimuru! You sure gave me a scare, y'know! We fell out of contact!"

"Indeed you did. I was far from worried, of course, but I did want to complain to you about it a little. Ramiris insisted we come down here, too, so we hurried —I mean, we walked on over to check up on you."

Ramiris looked concerned. Veldora was being pompous as ever. He was currently whining about how I stole his energy out of nowhere, but it was so obvious that he was seriously worried about me. He's cute that way, isn't he?

So, Raphael, can you at least ask for a bit of permission before borrowing Veldora's power?

…? That is behind us now, so it is not a problem.

Behind us? You haven't been using his energy on the sly for a while now, have you? If so, Veldora sure must be used to it—but either way, I've done him wrong. I'll have to get him some snacks later, and maybe a few new manga volumes, too.

"Sorry I worried you guys. Still, Veldora, I can contact you from pretty much anywhere, so if I get in trouble, I'll be counting on you."

"You can, Master?"

"Oh! …Ah-hem! That's why I told you not to worry!"

Ramiris was awestruck. Veldora, probably hiding his embarrassment, decided to act all high and mighty as he changed the subject.

"But enough about that. If you're fine now, can you go listen to those guys for a bit?"

Following Veldora's gaze, I found Treyni, Soei, and a suspicious-looking man tied up with rope. I noticed that the first two were there before now, but what was up with that other dude? Treyni was currently chugging some fruit juice, looking utterly exhausted but otherwise unhurt, so I let her be. Instead, I glanced toward Soei, hoping he'd clue me in.

"Well, once I reached the site Moss told me about, I found this man fighting

Treyni. His name is Laplace, and he's a nemesis of ours."

So it was Laplace under that rope? He looked pretty beat up, but not dead, at least.

"Why is he still alive?" Benimaru asked coldly. He wasn't even trying to hide his murderous rage, which was rare for him.

"I tried to kill him, but he kept insisting he had something important to talk to you about, Sir Rimuru."

"That has to be a trap," Benimaru replied, taking out his sword once more. The moment he did, the limp Laplace leaped up like a caterpillar. Pretty nimble move, as silly as it looked. I couldn't help but let out a couple laughs.

"W-wait a minute, man! Stop laughing and keep your people away from me!" "You'd better watch your tone…"

Now Soei was raging, too. But that was still nothing compared to Benimaru, who was moments away from cutting the guy in half. I stepped in to calm him down for the time being.

"Calm down, all right? We're in the middle of a truce with Yuuki, remember? If you brought him all the way here, we could at least hear him out."

Soei nodded at this. Being able to keep his moral compass straight despite his rage showed just how patient he could be. Benimaru, realizing he was wrong, put his sword away.

"So what's your story?"

"Damn, you guys are super scary. That gal over there refuses to listen to me, and she's gotten way stronger since last time, too. The other dude's a little more sensible, but his eyes are just so cold, y'know? And that one—"

"Huh?"

Don't start with that, Benimaru. You're revealing too much of your old self there. Clearing my throat, I tried to steer us away from this gloomy atmosphere.

"So anyway, Yuuki asked me to give you a message!"

Laplace, reading the tea leaves correctly, signaled his appreciation to me as

he began explaining why he was there. He could've just done that to begin with, I thought, but I lent him an ear anyway.

"…And that's the long 'n' short of it. So basically, you guys better keep an eye out for Bernie and Jiwu, got it?"

"…"

"…"

Benimaru and I looked at each other in silence.

You could've told me a little bit earlier, dude.

According to Laplace, Yuuki has a guy named Damrada working for him. He's one of the head bosses of Cerberus, a secretive crime ring. After a tip from Gadora and a little investigation, it came out that Damrada was suspected of attempting to assassinate Gadora, although Yuuki hadn't given him any such order. I say "suspected," but it was almost certain, actually.

Having made that judgment, Yuuki reviewed Damrada's past actions, and in the process, he discovered a few more suspicious things. This led him to believe that Masayuki's party members, people arranged for him by Damrada, might have had some kind of ulterior motive. In a rush, he assigned Laplace—who was just back from another mission—to relay the message to me.

As Laplace's story unfolded, Treyni began to look visibly paler over time. Now I knew full well why Laplace hadn't told me the news earlier.

"Well, if that's what the story is, you gotta give it to me sooner, all right?"

"I tried! I told her over and over again that it's really important! But she was all 'Ooh, I'd never trust you' and all that! Never even gave me the time o' day!"

"It's—it's because you're so fishy, all right? And besides, I still bitterly recall the last time you escaped me, so I was determined not to make the same mistake again."

"Well, you kinda used a little too much force, lady! I kept shouting at you about how this was work-related stuff, and I'm super serious about it, but it was all 'Wah, wah, shut up, I don't care what you say'! You didn't listen to one word from me, did you?"

Seeing this ugly argument unfold before me answered all my questions. "So you've been fighting this entire time?"

"Yeah! Like, eesh, cut me a break…"

Laplace looked seriously disgruntled. By this point, "this entire time" would've been a good ten days or so. I'd be a little sullen about it, too, I think.

"I— I'm so deeply sorry!!"

Realizing how badly she'd jumped to conclusions, Treyni apologized to me, her face bright red. But would any of us here blame her for it? If you asked any of us to trust Laplace a little bit more, we'd think you were out of your minds. I mean, he's still acting all fishy. I don't think you should judge a book by its cover, but he's constantly up to one suspicious caper or another. You'd have serious problems if you ever trusted a villain like him.

So maybe she made an honest mistake, but I'd never blame this one on Treyni. Benimaru, inches away from lopping his head off a moment ago, looked incredibly uncomfortable, as did Soei. I'm rather surprised he put up with Laplace long enough to bring him here, actually.

"Well, what's done is done. Let's just stop worrying about it and let bygones be bygones, all right?"

It was in the past now, and I didn't want to keep it on my mind. So let's just talk our way out of this. I had a battlefield to focus on, and there was no telling what would happen up there until the end. With this in mind, we turned our attention to the big screen.

A visibly annoyed Caligulio was waiting for a report.

It had been two whole days since he dispatched a hundred of his best men and women into the labyrinth, and he was no longer hiding his frustration at the fact that he hadn't heard from them. Well, not frustration, actually. He might've looked miffed on the outside, but on the inside, his heart was filled with anxiety.

He had decided to attack the labyrinth after being dazzled by visions of big

money and tons of magic crystals. He still didn't regret that. If they wanted to keep their backs protected, they couldn't have simply ignored the demon lord's domain. So Caligulio rejoiced as he saw all the treasure being taken out of the labyrinth, more than even he had imagined.

Looking back, however, it all seemed like the demon lord Rimuru's trick. Caligulio realized that now, and he cursed his own cowardly ways—but at the same time, he began to fear that the demon lord would defeat him, and he'd have no way to block this.

"God dammit! Is there any report yet?!"

His staff couldn't count the number of times he had bellowed that so far. Nobody had an answer for him, but now a murmur could be heard from outside the camp.

"What's going on? What's happening?!"

Caligulio's question was answered by a private who came rushing in.

"Reporting, sir! We have just rendezvoused with troops from the Magitank Force!"

What? Caligulio thought. No matter how nimble and rugged those magitanks were, there was no way they wouldn't hear any sounds from them before they arrived. There were no messages about this at all, so the state of their allied forces was still an enigma. Given all that, he had a bad feeling, and it was growing by the second.

And then his fears came true.

"We're back, sir…"

The woman who entered Caligulio's field tent was a fetching young lady who looked out of place on a battlefield. She was actually Misha the Lover, one of the three bosses of Cerberus; she was ordered by Yuuki to carry out a scheme to ensnare Caligulio, and so she was participating in this operation. She really was chief of staff for the Empire's Armored Division, however, serving Caligulio with decent enough competence.

But she was assigned to the Magitank Force for this op, a move Caligulio

made for her own safety. It wasn't a deployment Misha was very happy with, given that her mission here was to monitor Caligulio's movements. Unfortunately, she was in no position to protect it, so she pretended to be grateful for the favor as she kept reporting back to Yuuki. These reports, of course, included the crushing defeat of the Magitank Force, and after that took place, she carefully left the field, making sure no monsters found her, and regrouped with the main force there.

"Misha! You're all right?"

"Yes, Sir Caligulio."

Misha gave him a bewitching smile. Even with her stained, dirty uniform, her beauty hadn't faded one bit. Seeing her was a relief, but Caligulio hadn't forgotten about his duty.

"So what happened to the rest? How long will all of them rendezvous with the main force?"

He spoke quickly, peppering her with questions.

"Please, sir, just one minute. There's no point in panicking now." "Huh? What do you mean—?"

"They've been wiped out."

"Huh?"

"The Empire's proud Magitank Force, along with a hundred of its elite airships, have all been reduced to ashes."

The bewitching smile was still on her face.

"That can't be… What the hell are you talking about?"

Caligulio smiled in disbelief. Misha remained silent—and her silence forced him to believe her.

"They're really all wiped out?"

"Yes, sir."

"So the only surviving members of the Armored Force are the people here right now?"

"That would be the case, sir."

Hearing this, Caligulio hung his head. The rest of his staff followed suit, their faces pale. Their invasion was now a complete failure. Even if they managed to conquer the labyrinth here, countless thousands of soldiers had lost their lives, and there'd be no way to escape the blame for it. Emperor Ludora would never forgive Caligulio and his staff.

"What should we do?" he whispered. The staff had no answer—but then Misha spoke up.

"We should retreat."

"What?"

"I had a quick look around earlier. It looks like you're not having much luck in the labyrinth, either. I suppose labyrinths are meant to be explored, not invaded by vast armies."

"Did that Yuuki boy say that?"

"Yes, sir. He said that only our elites should be unleashed into the maze."

"Ridiculous! I've sent our damn elites in…!" a furious Caligulio shouted back at the calm, polite Misha.

He was right. In fact, just two days prior, he sent in the best forces he could think of, alongside all the elites in the Restructured Armor Corps, proud to be the Empire's strongest force. There were over half a million people down there. They couldn't have possibly hoped for anything better. All those elites would no doubt congregate in the labyrinth, and even now, they must have been marching for the bottom. Caligulio believed that. If he didn't, his heart would've been gripped with fear.

Still Misha was relentless.

"But even after swallowing up the most elite members of our force, the labyrinth is alive and well. And yes, it's possible that there's still a battle going on inside…but we have no way of finding out what's going on, and it'll be difficult to send yet more reinforcements, won't it?"

"Enough."

"All you can do is wait for our allies to leave the labyrinth alive, right?"

"I said enough! Listen, Misha, you have nothing to worry about. The higher ups have been given necklaces that can resurrect them. As long as you're wearing it, if you die in the labyrinth, you'll be resurrected outside of it. And the fact that nobody's come out yet proves the invasion's going just fine!"

Caligulio knew full well that this was a rather optimistic view. But as the general in charge of the full force, he had no choice but to resort to it right now. However, Misha's pursuit didn't end there. Unlike the other staff, Misha had enthralled Caligulio. Even if she riled him here, she was confident she'd be allowed to do whatever she wanted.

"But you haven't confirmed that the prototype necklaces actually work yet, have you? Sir Yuuki said that if the bracelets were generated by someone's special skill, it'd be impossible to make a copy of it."

That silenced Caligulio. There was no way he could tell his troops to die for the sake of this experiment. Just like Misha said, he had been sending his comrades without having a firm idea if the necklaces worked. They were just meant as an insurance policy if something went awry, and Caligulio understood that. But Misha was right, and he was wrong.

You can't lead an army division through strength alone. Strength is needed, yes, but nobody too incompetent to read the current situation correctly could ever hold that position for long. But Caligulio never believed there was such a thing as a structure that over five hundred thousand elite troops couldn't conquer. This was a formidable force, one that could reduce multiple large cities to ashes. Even in the worst-case scenario, they should've been able to destroy the labyrinth and escape, he thought.

And that wasn't all. Many people had already died, he knew. If he decided to abandon his fellow comrades inside the labyrinth, Caligulio's name would be forever enshrined as the incompetent general who oversaw a historic defeat. He started this campaign with nine hundred thousand troops, and now it was down to below two hundred thousand. There was no way he could do something as terrifying as retreat like this.

It was only at this point that Caligulio realized he had thoroughly

underestimated this demon lord. He only saw the Storm Dragon as a threat; to him, the demon lord Rimuru and his forces were nothing but an opponent to be overrun and crushed. He hadn't spotted the enemy he was supposed to be fighting this whole time. It was a fatal blunder, but it was too early to give up. Hope in the form of Minitz was still there for him.

"Calm down. I trust Major General Minitz more than anybody else on the force, and he's in the labyrinth now. I'm sure he'll bring back some intelligence. We can wait for the results from him first—"

But Caligulio was unable to finish.

"No, you should withdraw immediately, sir."

This unsolicited advice was offered by a man who had suddenly entered the tent.

"Who are you?!" one of the staffers demanded. Caligulio looked at the intruder, wondering what the guard sentry was up to. He appeared to be fine, but the blood on his uniform was troubling. Nobody in this tent had been involved in actual battle, so it was possible he was a survivor of another unit, or a—

"My name is Krishna, Imperial Guardian number seventeen and one of the force of one hundred who entered the labyrinth two days ago."

Everyone present was astonished, Caligulio included.

"Y-you're an Imperial Guardian?"

"Why is the emperor's personal guard here?"

The staff were disturbed. But Caligulio lived up to his reputation, quickly regaining his composure.

"That's not the question! Krishna, was it? Can you begin by telling us what's going on?"

With a single shout, he calmed the situation down a notch. Krishna thanked him with a nod and hastily briefed the tent.

"The one thing I have to say is: That labyrinth's no joke. I'm not sure this will mean anything to you, but Bazan, ranked thirty-fifth, and Reiha, ranked ninety-

fourth, are dead. Major General Minitz died before my eyes, sir, and I don't know for sure, but I think Colonel Kanzis is dead, too. There are no survivors left in the labyrinth right now; you can be assured of that!"

Everyone listened in stunned silence. Caligulio wanted to rant and rave about how much of a lie this was, but Krishna's eyes were dead serious. His whole body indicated he was telling the truth. Besides, he was a familiar face to Caligulio; he remembered Krishna as one of the people he sent out two days ago.

So he was resurrected? Did he have a Resurrection Bracelet, then? A real one, not an imitation? Then it's safe to assume it's really him.

Caligulio tried to think calmly, despite the fact that he wanted to be furious.

Gadora had submitted two Resurrection Bracelets to the government. One was analyzed by their technical bureau, which helped them create replicas, while the other was presented to the emperor. Being loaned one of those replicas was probably what allowed Krishna to come back to life. It confirmed that Resurrection Bracelets actually worked—and also that their copies didn't work at all.

In other words, every one of their men and women in the labyrinth had been wholly annihilated. Over five hundred soldiers, dead. The sheer enormity of that fact turned Caligulio pale.

But Krishna wasn't done yet.

"Also, the one who killed me wasn't the demon lord at all—or even one of the Big Four who serve him. It was a magic-born whose name I've never even heard of before. He was part of the Ten Dungeon Marvels, as he called it, but he was a level above anything I've ever seen."

Anyone who was in the Marvels had fighting ability comparable to or higher than an Arch Demon. But even among all of them, the demon who called himself Zegion was on another dimension—enough so that Krishna saw full well how little chance he had to win.

"I'll say this one more time—we have to retreat. There's no shame in that. Please, you have to step up and make the decision that'll save the troops we

have left!"

Krishna's ardor made the officers tense up. His words were undoubtedly true. Everybody's gut feeling was telling them there was no time to lose.

"…Not the demon lord? They have Arch Demon–level monsters just bumping around in there? They're that strong? How is some upstart demon lord capable of having so much power?!"

Caligulio lost his patience and began ranting. His staff officers took that cue to begin shouting as well.

"We have to retreat this instant! This isn't only our fault. The IIB was negligent as well!"

"Exactly. We have to help the survivors escape before the demon lord Rimuru makes another move!"

Everybody was expressing their opinions now. Usually, they wasted hours arguing with each other, but on this occasion, they had unanimous agreement. Each of them instinctively knew they were in danger.

Finally, Misha spoke.

"I forgot to report this to you, sir, but it wasn't the dragon Veldora who drove us to destruction. It was someone else's nuclear magic that dealt the fatal blow. Twice, in fact. It was magic on a scale that could easily defeat any legion magic. The one who cast it is a threat, yes, but that's not my point. The point is…"

Nobody needed to hear it. Everyone understood already. Veldora, the Storm Dragon, was still waiting for them ahead.

So Caligulio made his decision.

"Gather the troops! We're changing course. For now, we have to turn around and go back to our nation!"

He called it a change of course and not a retreat mainly for his own sake. He knew it was just semantic nonsense, but if he didn't phrase it that way, the anxiety was likely to crush him. No matter how foolish it sounded, he didn't care, as long as it got them out of this place. His staff all agreed on this, and they were ready to carry out the order at once.

But the decision came too late. The situation was starting to evolve, soon to become a raging torrent that would sweep in and swallow them all up. The fate of the imperial army was already set in stone.

As if to cancel out Caligulio's order, a low, clear voice echoed across the tent. "I cannot have that. My boss says he will not allow you to retreat."

The man put all the frenzied activity in this command tent to a halt. All eyes were on the tent entrance, where there stood a man in a foreign costume with a weapon called a katana at his waist. His white hair, speckled with gold, was pulled back and tied into a single knot, and he had a long white beard and a wrinkled face—but his sharp eyes and straight, clean posture made him seem ageless.

"Who are you?" Krishna asked, stepping forward.

"My pardons. My name is Agera, and I have been sent by my master, Lady Carrera, as her messenger."

This was Agera. Rimuru, being the peace-loving demon lord he was, had decided to send out an envoy to hopefully accept the enemy's surrender. Few expected the Empire to offer it—in fact, more of them were saddened to potentially lose the opportunity to kick some imperial ass. But Agera, one of the few among them with actual common sense, insisted that this was the true way of a warrior, so Geld granted his permission for it. Momiji had no objections, either, and so he was ordered to act as military envoy.

This was also, however, meant to help buy time for the Tempest army to get ready. Whether the imperial forces surrendered or made a last-ditch stand, they didn't care much—but running away was not allowed. Everybody who participated in this invasion must be punished—that was Rimuru's decision. Agera respected it, and so he had no intention of letting Caligulio off the hook here.

One of the staff officers spoke up to him.

"A messenger? By your 'boss,' do you mean Rimuru?"

Agera's expression turned grim for a moment.

"How dare you refer to my stately leader strictly by his given name. Such arrogance! I hope you will reflect on that affront in the afterlife."

The moment he stopped speaking, the head of the staff officer who asked the question fell to the ground. No one present realized for a moment that Agera had drawn his sword. Even Krishna, who was closest to him, couldn't react in any way.

With his single sword, Agera now dominated the scene. As everyone fell silent, he began to list his demands in a clear voice.

"Now that it seems everyone is ready to listen to me, I will give our terms. Disarm yourselves immediately and surrender. If you do, you will be kept alive, I assure you, as our slave. If you choose to defy us, that is fine as well—we will decide your fates with our valor instead. I will wait one hour. If you wish to surrender, you may do so at any time before then."

With that, Agera turned away.

Caligulio's brain was working hard, trying to figure out the best plan of action. Hoping for a Hail Mary, he decided to negotiate with Agera.

"Wait! Er, I mean, excuse me. I'd like you to wait a moment." "Yes?" Agera stopped and looked back at Caligulio.

"Sorry. My name is Caligulio. I am the leader of this army and chief of this operation."

"Ah. And what do you want?"

Agera's mission here was to buy time, so he was in no hurry to go back. He wasn't particularly interested in hearing Caligulio out, but he decided to anyway. Seeing this reaction, the commander put all his hope in reasoning with him.

"Sir Agera, you said earlier that you'd accept us as slaves if we surrendered, but could you perhaps reconsider those terms? The idea of slavery is simply too cruel to bear. I'm afraid I cannot accept that condition."

The sudden plea startled his staff officers. But no one voiced any objection. Everyone understood how weak their position was, and everyone knew this

negotiation was their best hope for the future.

Taking advantage of Agera's silence, Caligulio continued his one-sided conversation.

"You can obtain victory for yourself without having to fight us when we're at our most ferocious. Instead of making us slaves, would you be able to let us go for now? We'll pay you reparations, of course, and we promise to refrain from any further invasion. No, actually, more than that! I would like to return to my homeland and appeal to the emperor to form an alliance with your nation! If you and the Empire join forces, it'd be a trivial matter to rule the world. I'm sure it'd put your leader in an advantageous position over the other demon lords, and I don't think this is a bad offer from the demon lord Rimuru as well. Believe me, we will never forget a favor. What do you think? Could you perhaps allow us an audience with His Majesty the demon lord Rimuru?"

Caligulio was desperate. Looking at how things were right now, the invasion of Dwargon and the labyrinth were both abject failures. Everybody involved with both operations was dead. The only survivors were the less than two hundred thousand people present here. They had blown this invasion royally, no matter how you looked at it—even Caligulio had no choice but to admit that. He admitted it, and he wanted to make sure that those who were still alive could return home safely. It was the only way he could take responsibility for this now.

After having his say, Caligulio waited for Agera's response. He knew this offer was a little convenient for his side, but it didn't mean they had zero chance. Their numbers might be significantly culled from before, but a little under two hundred thousand is still a very large army. They couldn't have been any smaller than the demon lord's forces, and having them all fighting for their lives in a frenzy couldn't have been what the demon lord Rimuru wanted. And unlike the labyrinth, on the ground, you couldn't come back to life if you died.

That's why this proposal, which granted them a complete victory, really should have been worthy of their consideration. At the very least, it wasn't the kind of offer Agera could respond to right now. It'd definitely have to be conveyed to the demon lord Rimuru, and if he could be brought into the loop, that's when the real work would begin. Maybe he wouldn't let everyone off the

hook, but at least some of their forces might have a chance to escape. Including Caligulio, he hoped.

If they want to make slaves of us, they're probably not intent on taking our lives. It's rare to see such leniency from a demon lord, but maybe that'll help us this time. We could always buy back the rank-and-file soldiers later. I'll need to return home and inform His Majesty about this.

Caligulio wanted to save his own life… But more than that, he wanted to save as many soldiers as possible. That, and he wanted to bring accurate intelligence back to the emperor. Those were his true intentions, deep down.

He had grossly underestimated the enemy's war power, and it led to defeat this time, but in a sense, it was totally unavoidable. With their gigantic forces, he was positive they could have seized Dwargon, Tempest, and the Western Nations, even if they had to fight all three at once. He was absolutely sure of his victory, and this was the result.

It was impossible to imagine a story as ridiculous as the demon lord Rimuru having not just one but several Disaster-grade monsters serving him. Caligulio's downfall might be inevitable after this fiasco, but any further sacrifices could very well destroy the entire framework of the Empire. Better to retreat, then, and bet on their future reconstruction—even if it meant abandoning his pride. Caligulio may have been greedy, but he wasn't incompetent, and that's why he offered this proposal.

If the demon lord Rimuru wants me alive, then so be it. I'm sure somebody will bring the required intelligence back to Emperor Ludora. And once they do, this defeat will finally take on meaning…

Caligulio was prepared to sacrifice himself for this negotiation. But it was all too late.

"Do you think you are in a position to state your conditions at this point? The moment you rejected Lady Testarossa's mercy, your fates were all sealed. Your choice is to resist or obey. Take your pick."

That was Agera's reply. And with nobody else able to move, he leisurely took his leave of the tent—but not before adding one more thing:

"And don't think about running away."

"What'll we do?" Misha asked Caligulio, who was standing there stunned. After a moment of silence:

"…We have no choice but to fight. All our lives belong to the emperor. Perhaps we would survive longer as slaves, but we could hardly face His Majesty if we have to accept such humiliation!"

It was with a quiet determination that he made the decision.

"But we have no magitanks and no magic cancelers. It's going to be a tough fight, don't you think?"

"I don't care. Survival's no longer the goal. Our mission is to bring back all this information to the emperor. All of you have to escape this, no matter how many soldiers have to be sacrificed."

"…?! P-please, sir, wait a minute!"

"Wh-what do you intend to do, then?"

"Isn't it obvious? We'll show these monsters our pride as imperial soldiers!"

The desperation finally made Caligulio abandon his selfishness. Here and now, he regained his pride as a pure, noble soldier. Seeing him change his stripes, his lieutenants and staff officers followed suit.

"Nobody would be shameless enough to leave you alone and run, sir." "That's right. Nothing like a little last-ditch effort for some excitement, eh?"

"We're not guaranteed to lose yet! Now's when the Armored Division will show its true colors!"

They all raised their spirits, boosting their morale as they did. Misha alone heaved a sigh.

"In that case, I'm going to run away. I'm not admirable enough of a woman to go along with all of your death wishes."

She waved her hands in the air as she did, all but relishing playing the villain. It made Caligulio smile bitterly.

"Thank you. I know you have links to that kid Yuuki. Tell the Empire just how incompetent I was. Don't leave out a single detail."

"Yes, sir," she said, smiling back. Nobody was going to stop Misha. Everyone knew that getting out of there was never going to be easy for her.

"Let me appoint you guards—"

"We'll take that role, if we could."

Before Caligulio could finish, two figures appeared in the tent. They were Bernie and Jiwu, freshly escaped from the labyrinth.

"Single Digits…!" Krishna shouted.

"Oh, Krishna? Good to see you again. Staying here's just gonna get you killed, you know. You wanna join us?" Bernie asked.

Everyone fell silent. A Single Digit, one of the strongest forces in the Empire, was predicting defeat for them. It spoke volumes about the severity of the battle that lay ahead.

"…No. I will stay with Lord Caligulio."

"Oh, no? Well, I'll tell His Majesty everything you did, then. You will die a glorious death in battle, not like some gutter rat. Give it all you've got. It's bound to be worth doing."

Bernie's words echoed heavily across the tent. Jiwu silently agreed with him. Then, taking Misha along, they quickly withdrew from the scene.

Those who remained were prepared to die.

"There's no need to stick to that envoy's time limit. We'll strike them with maximum force before the enemy's ready!"

Caligulio's order reached all the way down to the bottom rungs in an instant. Everyone went on the move, hurrying along, ready to give their all in the final battle.

"…Ah. They've decided to fight, then?"

Geld shot a respectful glance at the imperial troops who had started moving en masse. Neither he nor anyone else on his side were certain of their victory yet—on the contrary, they were at an overwhelming numerical disadvantage. Letting their guard down was out of the question. Letting anyone lose their lives against this wounded tiger was unthinkable.

The role of Geld's Second Corps was defense. They'd take the front line and protect their firepower in the rear—that should have been enough to achieve victory. The dwarves excelled in this tactic, building a wall of forces and unleashing powerful offensive magic from beyond it. It was simple, straightforward, and perfectly suited for Geld's team.

The Fourth Corps would be in charge of providing that firepower, and right now it was led by Momiji from the tengu.

"Victory for our master!!"

Already she was delivering a charming little pep talk to her forces. Taking this side approach in her quest for Benimaru was quite a bold strategy. In time, she thought, it'd help break the ice between them—and before he knew it, they'd be an established couple. Benimaru may very well have already lost to Momiji at the strategy phase, Geld thought—but then, maybe Benimaru didn't mind so much. If he did, he would have done something about it long ago, or else he wouldn't be much of a Born Leader after all.

The problem, Geld supposed, was that Benimaru had too many girls with a thing for him. Everyone knew about Alvis, of course. The competition between her and Momiji was so fierce that it had become pretty notorious among Rimuru's staff. There was really no telling at this point if Momiji would emerge as the winner, in the end. And now Alvis was rushing in to reinforce the Tempest army, which undoubtedly left Geld at a loss over who to root for. I better keep my nose out of this, he thought. Inevitably, someone's going to end up disappointed, so…

It was very non-warrior-like of him, but either way, he took his mind off the subject and checked again for any flaws in his forces. The rear guard was fully prepared to support the rest of the group, and their methods of attack were all at the ready. Momiji was leading the main force, with Shion commanding her

own unit and Alvis overseeing the reinforcements. Coordination between them wouldn't be a problem—not with Benimaru around.

As long as I do my part, we won't lose.

Geld's defense was truly ironclad. The elites of the Yellow and Orange Numbers totaled seventeen thousand in all, and these fighters were all completely protected by Geld's unique skill Protector. On top of that, Kurobe's and Garm's armor had beefed up their defenses to the point that not even cannonballs could fell them.

As if that wasn't enough, Gourmet—Geld's other unique skill—had a Stomach that was accessible by the entire armed force. If anyone got hurt, they could be healed magically through that via the support troops to the rear, and if someone was seriously messed up, they had instant access to as much healing potion as needed. A large supply was always kept in Geld's Stomach, in case of emergency—not just for this war, but at all times. Rimuru kept it fully stocked for just that purpose. This potion wouldn't go bad or anything inside the Stomach, either, and so the army had permission from Rimuru to deplete the stockpile as much as needed today.

From the standpoint of logistics, a unit that could replenish its supplies on the spot without having to move an inch would put any commander's mind at ease. In a way, the monster's own bodies were building a stout barrier for them all.

There's no way they could lose, Geld thought. But after that…

He looked at the sky. There, he saw the figure of an officer named Carrera who was assigned to his unit.

If she's got enough power to make Sir Rimuru count on her, I'm sure gonna be looking forward to this.

The final battle was almost here. Geld, nearly beside himself with excitement, continued to quietly wait for the opening bell.

Carrera was idly floating in the sky, within Geld's line of sight. She had been assigned to the Second Army Corps with her two companions, but they were operating separately for now. Rimuru had given her the honor of being on the vanguard force, and the warrior Geld had graciously accepted the trio, advising them to act as they pleased. He seemed like a very nice person, and Carrera felt they'd be getting along excellently before long.

Rimuru had given Carrera a secret order to protect Geld as well. She didn't know for sure, but she guessed that Testarossa and Ultima received similar orders. If anyone on the Empire side was too much for his chief officials to deal with, the demons would keep those foes occupied and buy time for their side— that was their real mission.

That wasn't the case now, however. Now that they were in a lead position among the forces, there was no reason for the three of them to stay together. In fact, given the wall Geld and his forces had already built up, Carrera and her friends had nothing to do, really.

For now, the first priority on Carrera's mind was figuring out how to best annihilate the enemy. So there she was, in the sky, just about to unleash a nuclear magic spell.

"Whoaaa, wait a second! Lady Carrera, what did you just try to do?"

Agera, just back from his envoy errand, hurriedly came up to stop her. The hard-nosed old veteran Caligulio saw was nowhere to be seen—in front of Carrera, Agera was nothing but a hapless, long-suffering servant. He had rushed back here because he had a premonition that something bad was about to happen, and it turned out he was right. The way he could detect subtle signals predicting Carrera's actions showed how developed his keen intuition had become over many years of working for her.

"Oh, you're back, Agera? You know, I've been thinking about a few different things, but I honestly think I need some practice. I don't want to mess up when it's time to really fight!"

She wanted to fire that off while nobody was around to nitpick at her about it, but being interrupted didn't seem to bother her at all. It was clear evidence that this behavior was pretty much par for the course.

"Practice, you say?"

"Right, yeah. I'm just triggering a nuclear explosion in the sky, so it'll look kind of like a big firework, y'know? There might be some residual heat that burns up the ground a little, but no biggie! What do you think? That won't be a problem, will it?"

"It's excellent, my lady! A perfect idea! Well done, as always!"

The girl who accompanied the smug Carrera was now giving her effusive praise. This was Esprit, a demon on roughly the same social caste as Agera. She looked like a cute little girl, but one with a terrifying personality—in fact, it'd be no exaggeration to say she was the worst of Carrera's underlings. But she had

the power to back it up, so even Agera had trouble dealing with her. Typically, as servants, he and Esprit would be sharing in the same hardships, but Esprit indulged all Carrera's impulses so much that she wasn't much of a bulwark at all. Never once had he ever tried to admonish her; whatever Carrera did was fine with her. Esprit left all the difficult, awkward lecturing to Agera while continuing to be Carrera's top bandwagoner. This meant that Agera did all the labor among them, which made for a less than healthy working relationship.

To him, Testarossa (a sensible girl who was pure evil) and Ultima (who was in constant pursuit of further brutality) were just as bad as Carrera. But simply being evil wasn't the problem. Even Carrera, who always did everything turned up to eleven without worrying about the collateral damage, was a troublesome lord to serve in Agera's eyes. Spreading mayhem, then saying "Oops, that kinda caused a lot of damage!" afterward, didn't strike him as funny at all. He just couldn't bring himself to laugh along with her.

On the other hand, his colleague Esprit didn't mind Carrera at all, thanks to having such similar personalities. Agera envied her for that.

"It's not excellent at all, you! Keep your mouth shut!"

The long-suffering Agera yelled at the irresponsible Esprit about it. Then he turned to Carrera and began to explain matters carefully, as if talking to a child.

"…Listen, Lady Carrera. I just visited the enemy camp as an envoy, right?" "Right, yeah."

"And it's a rule on the battlefield that you're not supposed to make any moves until the time comes."

"What? It's just practice!"

"Practice or not, you still can't do it!"

Agera's boss Carrera was like a runaway train with no brakes. Stopping her required a mammoth effort. Her power was just so overwhelming that it made her tough to control. She had been making a regular habit of agitating the demon lord Leon on a daily basis, shooting nuclear magic off to provoke him. It didn't turn into a war thanks to Leon being coolheaded, but if it was any other demon lord, the fallout would've been massive.

But whenever Carrera had her fill, she'd just go back to her home in the demon realm. She was looking for momentary kicks, so she never placed much importance on winning or losing fights. Even if she ever lost, she would've just disappeared from the scene with a big smile on her face. She wouldn't think she'd lost, so it wouldn't damage her or make her feel any remorse. That's who she was, and before now, Agera was at a loss to figure out how to teach her some common sense.

Not now, however.

Up to this point, there was no one who could give orders to Agera and his ruling-class companions, the top-ranking demons of the realm and the most powerful as well. That was doubly true for Carrera, who could make even those ruling classes do her bidding—even offering your opinion to her was done at your own risk. Carrera only allowed Agera to serve her without being rubbed out of existence because she liked him.

Now, though, Carrera herself was not serving the demon lord Rimuru. Agera believed that, in order to win Rimuru's favor, Carrera had best start to learn a little patience—that, and using her head instead of acting on impulses. To achieve this, he needed his boss Carrera to learn a little common sense. If Carrera could learn and master Tempest's assorted legal rules and regulations, Agera thought, then he really hoped she could act more considerate in her day to-day life, too.

Then maybe my hardships would be eased a little…

With that modest wish in his heart, Agera made a daily effort to offer Carrera the frank advice she needed. He was always on the lookout for a good opportunity to lecture her, and while it might look like an old man berating his granddaughter, he didn't care about that. Now, he thought, was his chance. He needed to be understandable and concise—tough when dealing with Carrera, who was easily bored and never listened for very long to others.

But then, as Agera earnestly explained the customs of war to Carrera…the imperial army suddenly went on the move.

"Hey, Agera, you gave them a lot more time than that, didn't you?" "I did, yes…"

"Okay, so while I was listening to all your boring trivia, the Empire's gotten a leg up on us?"

This unnerved Agera for two reasons. Carrera didn't understand the concept of "going easy" at all, but get her mad, and her outbursts usually led to massive meltdowns. If the brunt of that anger was pointed at Agera, he'd have to give up on living. But he was also mad at the Empire for ruining this lesson on the rules of warfare he was giving her. This reckless action on their part—akin to a betrayal—made him angry for the first time in quite a while.

"Lady Carrera! Leave that old man alone and let's teach a lesson to those idiots who can't even keep a promise!"

Esprit flashed a look at Agera that screamed "I hope you're happy now, asshole!" then pointed toward the Empire to draw Carrera's attention. Geld and his army were going into formation, and headed their way were nearly twenty thousand troops marching in an orderly fashion. From the air, the soldiers who seemed to fill Carrera's entire field of vision looked like a fat hog ready for the dinner table.

She nodded, smiling.

"That sounds good! You won't stop me, of course—right, Agera?"

The terrifying tone of the question indicated that any attempt to stop her would result in murder. But Agera's reaction wasn't what she expected.

"Yes… I did tell them to wait an hour, but I did not say they couldn't attack in the meantime. I suppose I am to blame for this misunderstanding."

"So what'll we do?"

"Well, if someone is that eager to die, it's the duty of any warrior to intercede on their part. No need to go easy. I think you're quite safe doing whatever you like."

Agera was fully ready for this. He might've been a gentle, decidedly un demonic demon, but anyone who mocked his master or broke their promises to him would face his almighty rage.

"Great. This is so thrilling! See, that's why I love you so much."

He'd never stop Carrera now. Realizing this, she let out a gleeful laugh.

"Okay, let's get started. Let's teach them what happens when they try meddling with us!"

"Yes, my lady."

"Coming right up!"

And so the battle broke out. And the Empire had no idea that their own actions were akin to signing their own death warrants.

"All right… How about a rain of nuclear spells for starters?"

"Oooh, I like that! It's like planting tulip bulbs in the ground, except they're mushroom clouds!"

Sometimes, when you offend someone who's usually mild-mannered, they can react with shockingly severe retribution. The Empire was about to find this out the hard way.

"No, no, that's still too little. Lady Carrera, remember what our master told us, please. He told you he wanted something massive that'd scare the Empire out of their wits."

"…Mmm?"

"Wouldn't combining our full forces together be the best way to adhere to our master's wishes?"

Carrera's eyes opened wide. It made sense to her. Agera's words were indeed correct—and now Agera himself, usually busy snipping at Carrera to keep her from running wild, was telling her not to hold back. It was a deeply moving experience for her.

"Oh, Agera, you finally understand! And you're right. I think I've been setting my own limits too much lately. Your words just woke me up! …Right! Let's show them what we've got! I have a big spell I've never quite pulled off before, but it's time to debut it to the world!"

Carrera was motivated. Motivated—and going all out like never before. Agera, regaining his composure, began to say "Uh-oh" to himself, but it was too late for that now. She was already focusing on the spell she was casting. Esprit

was giving him a "Now what?" look, but at this point, all he could do was wait and see what happened. If his boss went out of control and got angry at him later, well, he could think about that when the time came.

With that in mind, Agera decided to sit back and enjoy this. Even he was a demon, after all.

In the end, the imperial army that had begun to march ahead was destroyed by an attack from above.

They had multiple legion magic–driven barriers over them, further magic defenses provided by state-of-the-art equipment, a force populated by soldiers who all had high magic resistance of their own, and all manner of holy blessings applied to them. And all those measures were utterly powerless in the face of the large-scale extinction magic Carrera unleashed.

This was Gravity Collapse, a type of nuclear magic. Boasting the most force among all the spells in its family, Gravity Collapse required both precise magic manipulation and an enormous amount of magicule energy. If the abyss core at its foundation was left unattended, it'd balloon in size until it triggered a Nuclear Flame—but in the forbidden Gravity Collapse spell, it was instead suppressed and compressed to create a super-gravitational field—in laypeople's terms, an artificial black hole. This supercharged local gravitational field, created by the adverse reaction from the planet's own magnetic fields, then crushed anyone caught inside into the size of a pebble.

Needless to say, the effect on the imperial force was pretty tragic. With no advance warning, gravity suddenly began to flatten them; the troops were all pulverized, unable to bear even their own weight. Marching on open terrain proved to be their downfall; there was no way to escape the eyes of the demon. Over four-fifths of the force of nearly two hundred thousand was trapped within the magic's sphere of influence.

They were all currently on the ground, unable to move, but the real essence of this spell was just beginning. A storm of magical force began to blow upon them, affecting only the precisely defined area Carrera designated. It was an inverted storm, like nothing that anyone had ever seen.

The hyper-compressed space soon reached its breaking point, and in another

moment, all its energy was focused on a single dot in space. Then it imploded— and the planet was greeted with an extremely miniature version of a supernova. A jet-black pillar connected the surface to the heavens—the earth, sand, and dust that had been swept up to the stratosphere by the huge explosion, as if Carrera just opened the manhole to hell.

It was no type of magic that should ever be used while standing atop a planet. If she hadn't taken the time to define a precise range for it, the entire Forest of Jura would've become a charred wasteland. And nobody in the imperial army ever had a chance of being resistant to it. The nuclear magic Gravity Collapse is an all-attribute attack, encompassing all magical and physical phenomena. Thus, most troops caught inside were smashed into dust before even realizing what had happened.

Carrera was satisfied with this blast. What she wasn't so satisfied with was Agera, who was already back to his usual habits. He was the one who encouraged her to do it; where did he get off, trying to complain about it now?

Still, Agera was expecting nothing quite on this scale. He did think it could wind up being trouble, yes, but not even he realized that Carrera had so much power. But dwelling on it at this point was a waste of time. The long-suffering Agera's troubles had only just begun.

Geld smiled. This was awesome. Yes, he figured she'd be pretty strong, but Carrera's might was simply unimaginable.

"Sure didn't expect her to pick off that many with just one blow. Now none of us will have a chance to show our stuff."

He sounded a touch sullen about it, but Geld didn't really mean what he said. The imperial army was in a state of chaos, but there were still over twenty thousand survivors, and they were all in a mad rush for Geld's army, trying desperately to escape the carnage. They were no longer heavily outnumbered, but now wasn't the time to let their guard down. Geld understood that well enough. After witnessing the horrors of death firsthand, all those troops were doubtlessly going to fight within an inch of their lives. The pressure they'd lay on should never have been taken lightly.

But Geld was unfazed. And perhaps thanks to their commander's calm demeanor, all Geld's forces, right down to the lowliest buck private, were at attention and sizing up the enemy.

"Shields up!"

Once the enemy was within spitting distance, Geld issued the solemn order. The Second Corps responded in perfectly choreographed order, and in the next moment, they became a wall that would allow nobody through.

The fierce clash of army against the army came the next instant—but despite that, Geld's forces didn't retreat a single step backward as they engaged with the Empire. Even after that, Geld's wall didn't break down at any point along the line as it pushed the imperials back.

That was how the final battle began. Now it was Shion's turn to make a move. "Let's charge them. I want to slaughter every last one of Sir Rimuru's foes!!"

Shion's elite guard, led by Team Reborn, roared their approval. At once, a good ten thousand magic-born of all shapes and sizes began to act on their own discretion. These were Shion's most die-hard fans, trained by the woman herself, and being commanded by Team Reborn allowed them to largely do as they pleased.

They were a sizable army, and in a fight, they were good enough to turn heads. Shion's extra skill Mortal Fear united them with Team Reborn, making these ten thousand magic-born a legion of marauding knights of terror as they slammed into the Empire. Mortal Fear fanned the enemy's fears, sapping them of their will to fight. The effects were tremendous. The enemy, no longer able to tap into their full abilities, left themselves exposed, open, and ready for Team Reborn to trample all over them.

Wearing matching sets of bluish-purple armor forged by Garm, Shion's forces rampaged across the battlefield. To the imperial army, the mere sight was nightmarish—but three giants among them, each exuding a ridiculous large aura of dark energy, caught most of their attention. Their own aura had assimilated with Shion's Mortal Fear, turning them into living incarnations of violence. They were, of course, the three sons of the demon lord Daggrull.

But the rest of the guard wasn't about to be undone. Taking full advantage of their resistance to death, Team Reborn focused on keeping the enemy's attention. As they did, the other magic-born would dispatch the exposed foes— that was the basic strategy, and it let them steadily cut their numbers without taking any damage.

Gobzo was among them.

"Ooh, my head's gettin' itchy…"

Despite his casual observation, there was a stab wound in his head from when someone stuck a sword in it. The way it closed up, bit by bit, was gruesome to see if you weren't used to it.

"Way to keep at it, Gobzo."

"Yeah, if I took that blow, it would've killed me, huh?"

Gobzo had grown a lot—enough that his troops were truly impressed with him.

In the meantime, three cyclones began to form on the battlefield, one of Daggrull's sons in the eye of each one. It was from those landmarks that the Empire's left wing began collapsing.

Members of Shion's elite guard weren't about to miss that chance, and now the imperials were being pushed back at breakneck speed. Even the Empire's troops, desperate and running on pure adrenaline, were no match for them. The two sides were more or less evenly matched in terms of individual combat ability—but one side was far better trained than the other, and in terms of skill level, the elite guard had a clear upper hand.

What kind of training did it take to make this happen? Somewhere along the line, Shion's troops had transformed into an amazingly well-honed, specialized combat force.

As Shion was making a name for herself on the right wing, the imperial army was facing even more trouble on its own right side.

"N-no! Why are they here—? Urgh!"

"The Beast Master's Warrior Alliance?!"

"No, I don't wanna die— Grnnh!"

The Beast Master's Warrior Alliance troops were serving as reinforcements, alongside the other magic-born who served Carillon. They all owed Rimuru a great favor, and now they were exercising their full powers to pay it back.

"That's one hell of a monster."

"It is."

Zol, the elephant beastman, wholeheartedly agreed with Alvis's muttered remark. A magic spell like none they had seen or heard of before was deploying before their eyes. An ominous pillar, connecting heaven and earth, had just reduced more than a hundred thousand imperial troops to dust. Even now, its violent fury was battering the landscape, never diminishing.

With that blow, victory was now assured. The only remaining question was whether the enemy had any true champions left hiding in their ranks. They wanted to know, and that was why they refused to let the enemy escape in this fight. Alvis, fully aware of how openhearted and generous Rimuru could usually be, was honestly shocked at how thorough they were with this policy—but at the same time, she believed this was how a demon lord should act.

"Well, we rolled in with twenty thousand troops, and it looks like they're overwhelming them anyway. We can't exactly call it paying him back if it's going to be like this," said Alvis.

"Ah, as if we could ever repay him in any true sense."

"True enough. Well, we shouldn't sadden Sir Rimuru, at least. Dying here is out of the question. Do everything in your power to ensure nobody's hurt."

"You heard him, everyone. Take your pride serving the Beast Master and do everything you can until the bitter end!"

The Beast Master's Warrior Alliance answered Zol's roar with one of their own. Not a moment later, the beastfolk began their march on the imperial army's right flank.

By this point, the trend was abundantly clear. Magic was rampaging across the rear, and they were being overrun on their left and right sides. The imperial

army had little option left, apart from waiting for their foes to surround and exterminate them.

Momiji eyed the situation, her eyes cold. Her head was calm, but her heart was burning fiercely.

"It's about time now. Allow me to ignite flames of compassion to relieve our enemies from their suffering."

With that whisper, she sent a signal to Gobwa. The moment she did, the Fourth Army Corps breathed in unison, summoning their mystic force. The order cascaded across Team Kurenai via Gobwa's Thought Communication— and as if in response, the mystic force created by everyone streamed across the army, harmonized in beautiful fashion. It was Momiji's job to give all this power a conduit.

"Are you sure this will work?" a slightly worried-looking Gobwa asked.

Momiji laughed the idea off. "If I'm to be Sir Benimaru's wife, how could I not be capable of this much?"

There was an unshakable confidence in her attitude. Her plan, in essence, was to gather this mystic force into a single presence, then lob it straight at the enemy army. It was a simple, unadorned strategy, but if she failed to unify that force correctly, it might trigger an unintended explosion that could damage Geld's force on the front line. Gobwa's unease was natural, but in the face of Momiji's confidence, she commented on it no further. Momiji had been entrusted with this army as Benimaru's substitute, and to doubt her would be the same as doubting Benimaru.

"All right. I'll leave that to you, then. Are you ready to begin?"

"Yes. This won't be as powerful as the vicious magic Carrera cast, but it should be enough for the remaining forces. I'm going to finish this with one blow."

Then Momiji's once-in-a-lifetime mystic spell made its debut.

"Let us bloom a red lotus that softly, gently envelops our enemy. Mystic Crimson Heaven!"

It was a red flower blooming in the sky. Its first objective was to rapidly burn

through oxygen, draining it from the air at ground level and leaving the enemy incapacitated. The second objective was to rain down the flames of compassion, its temperature high enough to render targets unconscious before it could inflict pain. The third objective was to ferret out the strongest among their forces. If anyone could withstand this attack, they'd have been classified as strong, naturally, making this mystic art a great way to weed out the time wasters.

So the blooming flower fell upon the battlefield—and at the end of it, nobody was left alive.

"Oh? Well, that's a letdown."

"It was to be expected, perhaps. The last group to enter the labyrinth was far more powerful than any before it. They might have been the best elites the Empire had to offer."

"Seems like it. Now all we have left is the enemy's command HQ." "I'm sure that's been taken care of by now. Besides…"

"Oh, right. Carrera's servant was heading over there, wasn't he? And I'm certain nobody at the HQ could be a match for him."