A tidal wave of ten thousand demons. Even amid that countless flood, the presence of the “devil” was distinct.
Yuli seemed to know where, and who, the devil was. She perceived it naturally.
“……”
The devil’s outward appearance was bizarre beyond measure. Yuli could not even find a way to describe that form.
It stood over three meters tall. Yet the arrangement of its body was utterly unlike a human’s.
Like clay ruined in the midst of trying to make a person, its eyes, nose, mouth, legs, and the rest of its body were all crushed and smeared together. It advanced on three legs and four arms, pressing them against the ground. If an octopus or a cuttlefish lived on land, would it look like that?
Truly repulsive……
Thud——!
Just then, Deculein’s cane struck the pavement. Startled, Yuli turned to look at him.
“It is a devil of delusion.”
“……Pardon?”
“Humans interpret, imagine, and describe ‘beings they have never seen’ according to their own experiences.”
The easiest example was an alien.
An alien was certainly a human from beyond this world. A being no one had ever encountered even once.
Thus, while everyone described its face or skin color as vastly different from that of an earthling, they still assumed the same basic elements: bipedal walking, two arms, two legs, and so on.
They assembled a being they had never once seen from scenes they had seen before.
“That thing uses human memories and experiences. So it must look rather strange to you.”
If it was a named devil, its appearance and identity were obvious. Even if it had not been in the game’s scenario, it had been recorded in the countless ancient texts and prefaces Deculein had read.
“……”
Yuli looked at Deculein. She examined his appearance closely. Then, she nodded.
“……Yes. However.”
Answering in a low voice, she turned the tip of her sword. The blade, moving slowly, was aimed at Deculein.
“Professor Deculein is not so easy a man to imitate.”
“……”
Deculein—no, the devil that had taken Deculein’s form—silently glared at Yuli.
There was no foolish question like, How did you know? It had told her frankly with its own mouth that it “used memories,” so she had enough to understand.
Even so, Yuli kindly explained.
“Your face is squashed.”
There had been no need to examine it that carefully. From the side, she had been confused for a moment, but seeing it from the front like this made it clear.
“Are you a flounder?”
It was so absurd that she nearly laughed.
In the next instant, Deculein’s form distorted, and the creature rummaged through her mind, preparing another appearance……
But Yuli thrust her sword into the devil.
The moment she cut diagonally from its shoulder to its hipbone, bitter cold seeped into its body.
“You don’t seem to have any particular shape.”
Murmuring so, she tightened her grip on the hilt.
“Extreme cold freezes even gas.”
Kakakakakakak───!
The creature’s body froze. In an instant, it hardened like a statue.
Perfectly, cleanly.
“……”
Yuli looked up at it and fell briefly into thought. Deculein’s voice drifted faintly through her mind.
—If you are going to hate someone, hate them sincerely. Hate them enough to kill them.
“Sir Yuli! What’s this now?!”
Just then, Reylie came running over. Yuli shook her head without a word.
“It is nothing. Focus on the battle.”
Yuli swung her sword again.
Far away, the devil advancing toward this place still existed. It seemed to be separate from the one that had imitated Deculein, but……
“……Kuh.”
Yuli clutched at her heart. Before she knew it, the fog of demonic energy had thickened.
Still, she could endure it.
This much was enough.
“Reylie!”
She rushed forward and cut down the demonic beast lunging at Reylie’s back. Reylie let out a relieved sigh and smiled.
“Thanks!”
“Focus!”
In that instant, a clear wind brushed between the two of them.
The swift swordsman, Syrio.
“Everyone’s working hard~”
He gave Yuli and Reylie a small smile, then became a gust of wind and charged forward like a wedge.
Kwa-rurururu───!
Syrio’s sword roared. Mana raging like a storm ground away the demonic beasts in the area. Each and every strand of that wind was Syrio’s swift sword.
Thud───!
Next came a tremor that shook the earth’s axis. The greatsword of Raphel the “Beast” struck the pavement, and as the ground split, a massive explosion surged upward.
Kwaaaaaaa──!
Fragments of the pavement rose into the air. Raphel’s monstrous strength alone could compare to Zeit’s to some degree.
“Hup!”
Behind him, Gwen’s rapier rushed forth. Lightly, as if a butterfly were flying, she unleashed thrusts imbued with mana.
Swaaaak──
Sharp, thin bundles of straight lines. Flashes that pierced and killed only the vital points of the demonic beasts.
“Show your loyalty——!”
Then Delric’s shout rang out.
To whom that loyalty was directed—Deculein or the Emperor—had become hard to tell these days, but there was no doubt about his skill.
Kwa-rururuk──!
His sword, lengthened like a snake, raced across the battlefield. Every demonic beast touched by its path was cut apart.
Snake-Belly Sword.
As he could freely adjust the size, length, and hardness of the blade, he could display extraordinary efficiency in close combat.
Perhaps that was also why Deculein had been so determined not to send him away.
“Sir Delric! Do you see that devil over there?!”
Gwen asked as she thrust with her rapier. Delric turned that way as well and nodded.
“I see it.”
The grotesque devil. It was merely standing there.
“……No.”
No. That was not it.
Its belly was writhing.
As if it were about to vomit something out.
“It’s trying to spit something out!”
By then, it was already too late.
From a hole that could not be called a maw, an eyeball, or a nostril, the creature spewed thick demonic energy.
A fog of demonic energy poured out in waves. All the knights put on gas masks.
“Yuli!”
Gwen sought out Yuli first. Fortunately, Yuli was already wearing a gas mask and gave her a firm thumbs-up.
And so, the tenacious battle continued once more.
The knights’ swords and mana cut down the demonic beasts, magical support rained down from the barrier, demonic beasts bit into knights’ arms and tore out throats……
Then, at a certain moment.
Step—
A very small footstep echoed across the battlefield.
A faint sound that could hardly be heard.
Step—
Yet the “leisure” contained in that stride alone was enough to steal the attention of some.
Step—
The first to turn that way were Lia and Leo, who had joined the knights in battle. The two children, whose senses were sharper than adults’, noticed him before anyone else.
Step—
Demonic energy lay thick in every direction.
Its toxicity was enough to melt even armor, so the knights fought while taking care that their gas masks would not break.
For that reason, their gazes shifted one by one toward somewhere else.
Step—
The owner of those regular, neat footsteps, so out of place on the battlefield. The eyes of the knights who found him all went round.
Some were astonished, and others shouted that it was dangerous.
Delric belonged to the latter.
“……Professor! It’s dangerous!”
Deculein.
Without any protection at all, he was simply walking with a robe draped over his shoulders and a cane in one hand.
Into this battlefield where demonic energy was so dense, into the very heart of this slaughterhouse, he advanced.
Step—
“Deculein! What are you doing?!”
Gwen cried out in shock, and Yuli merely stared with wide eyes.
“……”
Yet he himself was calmer than anyone in this land of annihilation. Most at ease of all, he simply went on his way.
“Protect the Professor!”
—Delric shouted.
Right now, there was no Wood Steel by the Professor’s side. It was attached to the barrier, serving as the catalyst for Metal Enhancement.
“……There is no need.”
He dismissed the knights and exhaled softly. The demonic energy pervading the area seeped into his body, strongly awakening the obsession engraved in the bloodline of Yukline.
“……”
Deculein gazed at the devil on the far side.
A grotesque lifeform spewing demonic energy. A mere imitation, too laughable even to call a devil.
At the same time, he took a small jewel from his breast.
A contradictory crystal, blue yet pure white, cold yet hot.
Snowflake Stone.
“Professor! The demonic energy is thick!”
“Do not make a fuss.”
He lightly dismissed Delric’s words.
Glaring at the devil beyond—no, gazing at the endlessly surging tidal wave of demonic beasts—he activated the Snowflake Stone.
That beautiful metal floated according to his will, and a vast, dark demonic energy gathered beneath his feet.
Ssssssss……
The body of Yukline completely purified the demonic energy it accepted, and at the same time burned it as its own fuel.
──Thus, the demonic energy purified by Deculein far surpassed his own limits.
Kugugugugu———!
Unable to seep into his body, it surged up from beneath the ground.
Kugu──! Drrrrrr───
The pavement rattled as though some volcano beneath the earth were murmuring.
Upon it, Deculein calmly accepted the demonic energy. He infused the purified mana into the Snowflake Stone.
“The annihilation of demons is the tradition of Yukline.”
In that instant, his pupils opened wide, and his crystal-blue eyes took in the area.
Gazing at the devil standing beyond, Deculein murmured in a low voice.
“……Devils, be afraid.”
All the mana of demon-annihilation and metal seeped into the Snowflake Stone.
The tremor shaking the area ceased.
…….
In the next instant, the Snowflake Stone manifested. Blue branches moved like light.
Its speed could not be measured. It could not even be sensed.
As if time had stopped, as if space had halted, in a land of annihilation where every knight and demonic beast had frozen still, only the Snowflake Stone stretched out.
A metal that froze enemies, and burned them as well.
The Snowflake Stone melted the devil as though sunlight had settled upon it, burned the demonic beasts, and the tidal wave beyond……
It swallowed them all.
* * *
……And so, three days passed.
The southward march that had seemed endless was finally revealing its end. It was thanks to the desperate continuation of the war.
Though the knights had exhausted their stamina and mana, they still moved outside the barrier, and atop the barrier were many mages collapsed from exhaustion.
The residents came up carrying food, drinking water, medicinal herbs, wet towels, and anything else that might help, but there was no way such things alone could overcome mana exhaustion.
“……Leaf. You all right?”
Ihelm asked. Today was the fifth day, but the war was still continuing.
“Yes. I’m fine. It seems like it’s…… almost over.”
Epherene looked far away at the pale rising sun.
The morning sun she was greeting for the first time in so long. That damned fog had kept her from seeing it until now.
“……You did well.”
Of course, many people had died.
Nearly ninety percent of the prisoners sent to the front line had died, over a hundred knights had fallen in battle, and ten mages had suffered damage to their dantians.
──However.
“Somehow, we didn’t collapse.”
At the very least, the barrier protecting Reccordak still stood firm.
Epherene tapped the wall she stood on and smiled faintly.
“……Isn’t that thanks to that Deculein bastard? Is he still on the battlefield?”
“Yes. He went out two days ago and hasn’t returned.”
The appearance of the devil. And the emission of demonic energy.
As soon as he had seen that process, Deculein had vaulted over the barrier and gone out, and he still had not returned.
“……Isn’t he dead?”
At Ihelm’s mischievous question, Epherene narrowed her eyes and glared.
“He is not.”
“How do you know? Did you contact him?”
She shook her head and shrugged. Then she took a piece of Wood Steel from inside her clothes.
“If the Professor is in danger, or if there’s a problem with his life, this Wood Steel goes wild, you see.”
“……That?”
“Yes. It’s something I received from the Professor, you know. This is incredibly expensive steel, all right?”
She snorted proudly.
Ihelm gave a small laugh as if dumbfounded, then tapped the Wood Steel with his finger.
“Ah, what are you doing?! Don’t touch it!”
Epherene pushed Ihelm away, even kicking at him. Ihelm let out an incredulous laugh.
“Hey, are you crazy? Do you not know who I am? How dare a little brat like you.”
“Ah, whatever.”
“……Tch. So how do you know? Does this steel talk or something?”
“No. Not that.”
Epherene pouted and placed a finger on the Wood Steel.
Then, the Wood Steel turned bright red and began to vibrate.
Wiiiiiiiiing———
“Ah, right. Like this. Like this.”
Wiiiiiiiiing——!
“When the Professor is in danger, it changes like this.”
“Ah. I see.”
Ihelm nodded.
Wiiiiiiiiing——!
The Wood Steel continued to vibrate. Epherene chuckled and said,
“That’s enough. You can stop now.”
Wiiiiiiiiing——!
The vibration did not stop.
It remained bright red as well.
“……I said you can stop?”
Epherene hesitated a little and tapped the Wood Steel.
Then,
Kyaaaaaang───!
The vibration grew even more violent.
“Wh-what’s wrong with it?”
Just as Epherene began to panic.
Ihelm, who had been watching the Wood Steel while stroking his chin, spoke.
“……Doesn’t this mean that bastard is in danger?”
“……”
“……”
They exchanged glances for three seconds.
Wiiiiiiiiing──!
Then the Wood Steel shook once more, as if frustrated.
“……Ah! You’re right!”
Only then did Epherene realize the Wood Steel’s true intention.