The light that had covered the world vanished, and I entered Soph’s memories—no, his past.
The place where I—no, where Soph—stood was the very same place where I had been in reality. The center of the sanctuary where the greenhouse was.
Soph’s companions were beside him.
A young mage clutching his staff with a tense expression, Soph’s dear friend wearing a grim look unlike usual, and even the martial artist who had lost one arm yet still hadn’t lost his bright expression.
Shamara, Soph’s lover and the guardian of this star, was there beside him as well.
As expected, this time too, I could neither move nor use magic.
Last time, I must have been lucky, or there must have been some rule I didn’t know about.
Just as I was feeling that regret, a voice rang inside my head.
[You failed to stop me. I thought as much. Which prophecy will come true this time, I wonder?]
A magical voice. Unlike the Lord of Prophecy, it was human, truly natural.
The place from which that telepathic magic had been cast—
In front of the group stood a monster of unbroken black.
It was a humanoid monster, well over two meters tall, with an egg-shaped face that had no separate eyes, nose, or mouth, and long arms and legs.
The monster reminded me of aliens from science fiction movies, or an Eastern egg ghost.
The monster stood with the greenhouse behind it. It had one hand resting on a shelf and turned only its head to look at Soph and the others.
It had no eyes, nose, or mouth, but since I was sharing Soph’s senses, I could tell the monster’s gaze had swept over us.
‘Is that the Demon King?’
A monster that resembled a human, yet was not human.
And a monster alone in the depths beneath the sanctuary.
Considering the power I could feel from it was anything but ordinary, that seemed to be the Demon King.
However, it was very different from the Demon King I had imagined.
I had pictured either a gigantic monster or something like an amoeba clinging to the sanctuary, but the Demon King resembled a human.
Then again, the Demon Kings I’d seen in novels were closer to this image.
Soph and the others looked even more puzzled than I was when they saw the Demon King.
“The Demon King… right?”
“Yes. That is the Demon King.”
At the martial artist’s question, Shamara nodded.
Looking at the Demon King, Soph clicked his tongue.
“This time, you’re in human form.”
The Demon King answered.
[Right now, I have to use human magic and human objects. At times like this, a human form is convenient.]
It seemed that was not its original appearance.
“That’s… a good thing, right? When it was huge, I couldn’t even imagine fighting it.”
The young mage forced a smile as he spoke.
Soph, who had been glaring at the Demon King, turned his head and looked at Esh.
“For someone saying that, you followed along well.”
At the archmage’s words, Esh, the young genius mage, grinned.
“Nothing would change if I hid somewhere trembling. If I can step forward and stop the end of the world, then I should.”
As he spoke, Esh glanced furtively at Shamara.
Shamara wore her usual faint smile.
Soph nodded at his words, and Jafmel ruffled Esh’s hair.
“Admirable. I think you’re more suited than me to be the next Tower Master.”
“Don’t say such horrible things.”
Startled by Jafmel’s words, Esh pushed his hand away, and the martial artist grinned at the mages’ joke.
Just as the sharp atmosphere was beginning to ease a little, the Demon King opened its mouth.
[Are all your farewells finished? Since it has been a long time since I met humans, I was giving you some time, but… you’re talking too much.]
The pitch-black human, the Demon King, raised its other hand.
The black hand swayed like a tentacle, drawing a magic circle in the air.
“Everyone, shields!”
Seeing that, Soph shouted, and lightning poured out from the magic circle the Demon King had created.
Krazzzzzt!
Half the hall before the Demon King was covered in lightning. Walls burst apart under the cascading bolts, and stones from the floor flew up.
The flashing light hid the group from view.
After pouring out that torrent of lightning, the Demon King asked,
[How was my greeting? Are you starting to feel like fighting now?]
With the Demon King’s words, the lightning cleared.
The group came into view.
Fortunately, everyone was safe.
At Soph’s shout, they had all deployed shields, blocking the Demon King’s magic with several layers of barriers.
However, after the lightning vanished, only one shield remained.
Only Soph’s shield, the innermost one, had barely survived.
“Damn it, you call that a greeting? You’re making sure we’re wide awake from the start.”
Jafmel, whose shield had been shattered by a single spell, spat out the blood trickling from his mouth and mocked himself.
Esh’s shield had been shattered as well.
“Doesn’t this magic resemble yours, Lord Soph?”
Esh seemed more shocked by the magic itself than by its power.
“Of course it does. That monster knew I would come.”
“But the Demon King shouldn’t have ever seen you, Archmage Soph.”
I had heard it from Soph as well.
Before coming to the sanctuary, Soph had never met the Demon King directly.
[I was busy fighting other monsters. I wasn’t close with the elders of the Magic Tower. Even when the Demon King fought the kingdom’s magic corps and the mages of the Magic Tower, I couldn’t participate.]
Soph had confidently said that if he had taken part then, he would have finished off the Demon King, but both he and I knew that wasn’t true.
Soph answered Esh’s question.
“I’m not the only one who uses lightning magic.”
I didn’t understand what Soph’s answer meant, but Esh nodded at those words.
“So that was it.”
While Esh and Soph were conversing, the Demon King also stroked its chin with the hand that had cast the magic.
[You were nearly put in danger by a mere greeting? Strange. Your skill should not be at that level.]
The Demon King, having questioned itself, seemed to reach a conclusion and snapped its fingers.
A grotesque movement, imitating humans yet utterly inhuman.
Making that gesture, the Demon King looked at Shamara.
[I see. The guardian didn’t make a shield. You must be preparing that seal of yours, are you not?]
At the Demon King’s words, the group’s expressions turned cold.
“Looks like we’ve been found out.”
I had thought it strange that they kept chatting and doing other things in the middle of a fight, but there had been a reason after all.
It had all been to divert the Demon King’s attention.
It had been an effort to conceal Shamara, who had been working on something since they entered the hall.
Now that they had been discovered, it was time to fight.
“We proceed according to plan! Everyone, begin combat!”
At Soph’s words, the mages began casting spells.
Esh once again drew forth countless spears of ice, and Jafmel immediately fired blades of wind.
Soph also continued hurling enormous fireballs.
The attacks of the mages, excluding the martial artist who stood in front of Shamara with his shield raised, poured down on the Demon King.
Thud! Thud-thud! Thud!
Spears of ice flew at the Demon King and struck.
Shhk! Shhk!
Blades of wind sliced into the Demon King,
Boom! Bang!
And flames engulfed it.
The Demon King was unharmed.
A violet barrier wrapped around its body, protecting it.
A violet barrier that felt similar to Shamara’s barrier.
The mages’ attacks could not pierce through it.
Inside the violet barrier, the shield, the Demon King spoke.
[I heard you were remarkable mages. Ice magic, wind magic, even flame magic… They are all ordinary spells.]
At the Demon King’s words, Jafmel snorted.
“If we use impressive magic, you’ll just copy it all. Do you really think we’d make you even stronger?”
At the words the next Tower Master spoke while firing off magic, the Demon King wagged a finger.
[I see. It was because of my ability to instantly acquire magic.]
The Demon King, wagging its finger as if in understanding, tilted its head again.
[But if I cannot learn any new magic, then I have no reason to play along with you, do I?]
The instant countless magic circles began forming once more in the Demon King’s hand, Soph opened his mouth.
“In that case, we’ll simply force you to play along.”
Along with those words, magic poured out from Soph’s staff.
It was not an impressive high-level spell. It was, quite literally, an enormous quantity of magic raining down.
Boom-boom-boom-boom!
The violet shield was buried under the magic until it could no longer be seen at all.
The floor was gouged out, and stray magic shattered the walls and ceiling.
It was a wonder the greenhouse right behind the Demon King was still intact.
The staff from which Soph’s magic poured was one I had never seen before.
A completely new staff I had never seen in his memories.
Dozens upon dozens of black stones were embedded in that staff.
Crack, crack, crack, crack.
While hundreds, thousands of spells poured down on the Demon King, the black stones attached to the staff kept shattering.
The black stones of magical monsters, the black stones of scouts, even the black stones of control entities lost their energy one after another and broke apart.
From the midst of that magical bombardment, the Demon King’s voice rang out.
[In a situation where we are trying to exterminate humanity, I suppose I cannot criticize you for using our source as an energy supply, but… I dislike that you are trying to blind me.]
With those words, a single tentacle shot out from within the magic.
Shraaaak!
A black tentacle, as though an arm or leg had transformed into it.
The tentacle, faster than magic, stretched endlessly and arrived before the group in the blink of an eye.
The tentacle was too fast and too hard.
It pierced through the pouring magic and broke through every layer of stacked shields.
After piercing the shields, the tentacle passed beside Jafmel, then past Soph and Esh, heading toward Shamara.
The mages didn’t even notice the tentacle passing beside them.
It was too fast for Shamara, praying with her eyes closed, to notice.
Even I had barely perceived the tentacle’s movement through Soph’s senses.
‘Block it! Shamara’s in danger!’
But I couldn’t do anything.
My voice did not reach Soph, and neither magic nor energy would move.
If this was how it would be, I couldn’t understand why I was able to feel these senses at all.
However, there was someone who, like me, noticed the tentacle.
Gibor, the martial artist guarding Shamara.
He saw the tentacle flying toward her.
The arm that had worn his gauntlet was gone, but he paid it no mind and threw himself forward.
He thrust out his shield and hurled his body in front of the tentacle, and—
Thunk!
He was able to protect Shamara from the tentacle.
Gibor looked at the tentacle piercing through his shield, then turned to look behind him.
Shamara was safe.
Seeing Shamara, he smiled.
“In the end, I protected you.”
At that moment, Shamara finished her prayer, opened her eyes, and saw Gibor.
Tears flowed from her eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
Gibor shook his head.
“You don’t need to apologize anymore.”
Blood poured from his mouth.
The tentacle that had pierced through his back writhed toward Shamara.
He seized the tentacle and slowly sank to his knees.
“I’m truly sorry.”
Gibor said it was all right, but Shamara apologized to him once more.
However, Gibor could no longer hear her words.
His life had already been severed.
The tentacle he held no longer thrashed.
[Have I been caught?]
At that moment, a blue shield had wrapped around the Demon King’s body and the tentacle extending from it.
It was a shield that had appeared the instant Shamara’s prayer ended.
“Did it succeed?”
“Yes. It’s done.”
At Esh’s question, Shamara nodded, and only then did the mages see Gibor collapsed on the floor.
“Brother Gibor!!!”
Esh ran over, and Jafmel poured potions over the dead Gibor.
Shamara walked past them.
Soph, who had been looking at Gibor, turned his head to look at Shamara.
After smiling at Soph, Shamara walked toward the immobilized Demon King.
The Demon King opened its mouth.
[Strange. The seal is so weak. This is not the sort of seal I had imagined.]
“That’s right. This isn’t a seal. It’s merely magic to collapse the Demon King’s body and buy time.”
Shamara stood before the Demon King.
Shamara embraced the Demon King.
“What will seal you is my body.”
A brilliant light burst from her body.
Even in that situation, Soph did not move.
He had already known as well.
Sealing (3)