bookworm

My peripheral vision told me that Kagali and the expedition team were attending to Shion. She was awake, but it didn’t look like she could stand up—something she looked pretty pained about, but there was no quick solution to that.
If Yuuki left her in such bad shape, I couldn’t afford to make light of him. But I wasn’t worried at all. As Raphael put it, a unique skill can never work against an ultimate skill. The strength of our relative souls was at the crux of it. If someone awakens to a power that surpasses unique skills in all dimensions, you needed a strong enough heart to go with that. Faced with that kind of spiritual strength, there was no way a unique skill could have any influence.
The only thing that could beat an ultimate skill user was another ultimate skill user. No matter how much power Maribel gave him, Yuuki couldn’t beat me. My victory was as good as assured…but the next moment, my confidence was thoroughly crushed.
“All right. Time to get real.”
With that, Yuuki unleashed a right roundhouse kick. It was just the same as before, and I easily blocked it with my left arm. But the next instant, my entire upper arm shattered, as if it burst open.
“…Huh?”
I backstepped to safety, honestly surprised as I blankly stared at my arm.
Concern. The Universal Barrier of Uriel, Lord of Vows, has been broken. This is believed to be due to the subject Yuuki Kagurazaka’s extra-singular Anti-Skill constitution.
Um, wait a minute. So my Absolute Defense doesn’t work on him?! In fact, is he pretty much nullifying all my attacks right now?
Affirmative. Anti-Skill is a spiritual-body constitution that suppresses magic and skills. It is likely that only holy-blade skills and certain other Arts will be effective against him.
So something like Meltslash could work?
This wasn’t a joke any longer. He seriously managed to break down my ultimate skill. I’d never be able to comprehend all the details behind that, but his “constitution” was terrifying news to me.
“I thought you couldn’t obtain unique skills or special stuff like that!”
“That wasn’t a lie. I did say that my physical abilities have developed beyond normal, didn’t I?”
I wanted to yell at him about that, but he was right. Besides, if his mind was being controlled, there wasn’t much point complaining at him anyway.
But what’ll I do now? Yuuki’s attacks work on me, but mine don’t work on him. I’d just be wasting time as it is, and if this is what it’s come to, I can’t get hung up with trying to keep him alive. I really wanted to, since we shared a homeland and everything. If he was deliberately my rival, that’s one thing, but mind controlled like this? I felt real bad for him.
Facts were facts, though. Yuuki wasn’t someone I could beat while going easy. Steeling my resolve, I drew my sword, sending my aura up and down its jet-black blade.
“Ooh… Nice katana there.”
He took out the knife hanging from his side with his right hand. Then he took out another with his left, a small, single-edged sword. With these two blades, he held his hips down in an unusual stance—nothing I had seen before; maybe it was self-invented.
Seeing him square up, it finally dawned on me. Losing my skills and magic worried me, but Yuuki wasn’t impervious to physical attack. Anti-Skill constitution or not, if I cut him, he’d bleed.
That’s why some Arts will work, huh? And in my case, my skills even affected my punching, which is why that didn’t do much. Would it be more effective if I didn’t enhance them with my aura?
Negative. A correct answer cannot be determined due to lack of information.
Roger that. Let’s just try it, then.
Planting my feet on the ground, I slashed at Yuuki. He blocked it with the sword in his left hand, his physical skill letting him easily match my speed. But I had experience trading blows with Hinata, which helped both my sword skills and my confidence.
Staying calm, I looked ahead two or three strikes. Even if skills didn’t work on Yuuki, Predict Future Attack still worked just fine, since it used Raphael’s computations to discern his behavior.
Yuuki preferred to defend with his left-hand sword and attack with his right-hand knife. It usually went the opposite way, I thought, but everyone has their own preferences. Both of his weapons were made from purified magisteel, metallurgically evolving for vast power gains. Even among Unique weapons, they were in a class of their own—maybe even Legend-class, in fact.
Those were a threat, but then I made an unexpected discovery.
Report. Anti-Skill is not applied to weapons.
Whoa. So using weapons actually weakens Yuuki. That little tidbit doesn’t mean much for anyone besides me, but to Yuuki, that’s a real blind spot. If these were just regular old attacks, Absolute Defense gave me nothing to fear.
I decided to risk Yuuki getting a hit on me.
“Ha-ha! Dropping your guard, Rimuru?”
Pretending to lose my balance after a parried katana strike, I left myself open to him. Yuuki thrust with his knife, as if it was attracted by a magnet; there was some special feature to it that let it expand and contract, which messed with my sense of distance. To Yuuki, it probably felt like a surprise attack, expertly tossed into my single moment of vulnerability—but I planned the whole thing.
The knife was aimed squarely at my heart—but then I stopped it. I touched it to make sure; turned out it contained a special poison that would affect my nervous system. If he really stabbed me with it, even I would’ve taken damage, but that was just pointless theorizing now.
“Well, too bad for you! It hurts more when you punch me, y’know.”
“No way. This is insane…!” Yuuki’s eyes widened. But I had no obligation to listen to his complaints.
Instead, I mercilessly unleashed a new sword strike, one I had just finished developing. It was called Stormbreak, a combination magic-and-Art move inspired by Hinata’s Meltslash. The magic in question was Storm magic, as provided by the skill Veldora, Lord of the Storm. Veldora’s magic was scarier for its secondary damage than its primary—once it opened up a wound, the destruction would begin from there, eventually breaking down your entire body. Stormbreak was the same way, a sure-kill Art that ate into its target’s life force.
Thanks to his unique constitution, however, the strike I landed on him didn’t trigger that effect. There was now a large gash across his chest, but it still wasn’t a lethal blow.
“Ngh…”
With a groan, Yuuki glared at me. I tried to look into his inner thoughts, but a black mist blocked me from seeing anything. Maribel’s desires had fully infected him. If I could clear all that away, I wouldn’t needto finish him off, but…
Understood. Interference is blocked by Anti-Skill.
…but no dice.
Then there was just one thing to do.
“I’ve won this. I wanted to release you from Maribel’s rule, but I guess I can’t do that. I’m gonna go a little strong on you, but no hard feelings, all right?”
I would damage him almost to the point of death, knocking him unconscious. Then, while he was knocked out, I’d go take care of Maribel. If that eliminated her effect on him, then great.
I readied my sword against Yuuki. Sadly, punching him with my bare hands didn’t deal him any damage. The energy that Anti-Skill cancels even included the kinetic energy from my fist. It’s crazy, I know, but Yuuki was a very special case.
Waiting until the best possible moment, I applied power to my sword. I wanted to strike him with the blunt side of my blade—good thing it’s sturdy enough not to break, but if I applied too much, I was liable to cut Yuuki in half. Striking the right balance of power was tough.
But just as I readied my sword, preparing to smash it down on him:
“P-please, wait a minute! I beg you, please reconsider killing Sir Yuuki!!” Kagali started shouting. I turned her way. She was on her feet, attempting to run up to Yuuki.
“Whoa, look out! Yuuki’s under Maribel’s control!”
“No, it’s fine! There’s no way someone as strong-willed as Sir Yuuki could have his heart taken by a little girl like that!” She clung to Yuuki, ignoring my warning. The expedition team was following her lead.
“Yeah! She’s right! The Grand Master’s not that much of a wimp!”
“That’s true! He’s always going by the beat of his own drum! There’s no way anyone could exploit his weaknesses!”
“He’s the kinda guy who’d beat a dragon just to show off to us!”
He was certainly well loved. If they were defending him that much, I was starting to look like a villain. Look, if there was a way to keep from killing him, I’d use it, all right? But I can’t go easy like that right now. I’m just taking the option that’s best for the situation. Can’t you see I’m carrying my katana backward?!
I mentally begged them to take a closer look as I watched Kagali and the rest. They were coming up from behind him, trying to get his attention. If that was all it took to break Maribel’s influence, we wouldn’t be having this problem.
But:
“I’m not trying to kill him, either, okay? So—”
So get out of my way, I tried to say. And at that moment:
“Guys…” Yuuki whispered the word, his face twisted in pain.
Report. Change detected in the subject Yuuki Kagurazaka. The desire-driven spiritual interference appears to have been canceled…
…What?!
Seriously? We’re going with that “happily ever after” ending? I could barely believe it, but my sense told me Yuuki wasn’t after my life any longer.
You gotta be kidding me! I thought, but I had to accept it.
With Yuuki back to normal, the only foes left were Maribel and the Chaos Dragon.
“Looks like I caused you some trouble there, so forgive me for that. But you saved me, Rimuru!”
“Y-yeah. Glad you’re okay,” I replied, trying my best not to look like I was okay with him dying a moment ago.
“Hey! Gobta! Get this done with already!!”
I needed to change the subject, and yelling at Gobta did the job. Soon after, his battle was over.
Shion was safe. Yuuki’s Anti-Skill effect wasn’t permanent, so her Ultraspeed Regeneration sprang back to life after a bit. She glared at Yuuki, still in a rage, as I tried my best to calm her down.
“This is a humiliation. I still haven’t trained enough…”
When the anger left her, the sadness came rushing in. I tried to calm her once more, telling here there’d be another time.
Gobta, meanwhile, looked pretty exhausted. “I told that guy Glenda was alive, but he just wouldn’t listen to me…”
Now that he was used to handling the power of Ranga, Rama wasn’t much of a threat to him. Between Gobta’s sense for battle and Ranga’s hyper-instincts, that wolfman form was a huge upgrade. Ranga stayed conscious for it, too, apparently, keeping a honed eye out for external threats. The way they divvied up responsibilities during battle kinda reminded me of Raphael and me. No wonder they’re such a force.
So why did Gobta have so much trouble in battle? Because he learned that Rama, his opponent, was burning to avenge Glenda’s apparent death. Being a kindhearted goblin, he couldn’t find it in himself to kill him.
I had asked Raphael to undo the spiritual interference in Rama’s mind. He had used the power in his soul a little too much, but it looked like he’d survive. He was perfectly awake as well, and he was believing our description of how Glenda managed to survive.
That should have wrapped things up…but sadly, it didn’t.
Well, we can’t sit around for long. Judging by the intense shaking we’re feeling, Milim still hasn’t managed to seal away the Chaos Dragon. I really wanna go help her.
“Rimuru, I’ll go chase after Maribel.”
Yeah, but Yuuki, you’re… Wait, you’re not wounded? It healed up? “Your wounds are okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Kagali can use healing magic, so…”
Huh? Why is he stating that like it’s an obvious fact? “I thought magic didn’t work on you…”
“Oh, no, it’s fine. I can turn these properties of my body on and off.”
“……”
I was too exasperated to reply. Yuuki was giving me a breezy smile, which was so unfair. Hinata’s body could purify magicules, or something like that, but she didn’t have a flip switch or anything. And Anti-Skill was way more powerful than that. He could control it with that much precision…?
It just seemed so unfair. But ah well. I needed to address his offer.
“You can beat her?”
“It’ll be easy, if I don’t let my guard down. I mean, being controlled like that; I can’t let her go. It’s a matter of pride to me.”
“Sir Rimuru, please,” said Kagali. “I think Maribel is bent on destroying these ruins. In the ruins of Soma that I explored, there was a magical generator that I think was used to run the city. This area looks similar to me, and if the generator goes out of control, it could blow up the entire area around us. And I think I’m the only one who can stop that!”
“…You think Maribel’s gonna blow it up?”
“Supplying too much magical force to one can destabilize it. And if it hasn’t been used for so long, there’s no telling how it’d react…”
We weren’t even sure if there was a generator like that in here, but if she was right, we had trouble on our hands.
“You know how those things work?”
“I thoroughly analyzed the one in Soma. If need be, I know how to stop one!”
A woman with her beauty sure had a lot of impact when she gave you a serious look like that. It wasn’t just because of it that I nodded at her, but I sure did feel overpowered, yeah.
“Okay. You take care of that. Yuuki, get going!”
He was back to his usual breezy, aloof self, brimming with confidence. The two of them were now on Maribel’s trail.
“Shion, Gobta, guide the expedition team up and regroup with the dark elves. Keep them guarded!”
“Yes, sir!”
“What about you, Sir Rimuru?”
“I’m gonna go back up Milim. If I don’t hurry, the Chaos Dragon might start striking all of us soon.”
Milim was doing her best to fight back, but even a stray shot of energy would devastate us. We didn’t have time to waste here, so once we decided on something, we had to move.
“Let me join you!”
“No. Your wound’s healed on the surface, but I’m sure you’re still damaged inside. Just bodyguard the team for me!”
“Hmph. All right…”
Reluctantly, Shion agreed.
Yuuki and Kagali were already on their way into the crypt. Shion and Gobta had their orders. It was time to head out.
Maribel was running. But she hadn’t given up on winning.
She had unleashed the sealed Chaos Dragon, one of the best cards in her deck. Under no circumstances could she let this operation fail.
But there was still one more card to play. Deep inside the crypt—the heart of the ancient elven city—the pinnacle of the old world’s magical technology was still sleeping. She had heard about it, and so she wanted to overload it with magic and bury Rimuru with it.
That’s the only way I’ll ever defeat that monster. My strongest pawn right now is Yuuki, and I’m sure he’ll buy me a little time. In the meantime, I’ll set that magical control reactor on the path to destruction…
Yuuki’s reports to her included information on the ancient ruins of Soma. She knew that Amrita was a city built by a similar ancient culture. If they worked the same way, it’d be easy for Maribel to control them.
Setting off a magical control reactor would cause vast amounts of magic-power destruction. If she triggered it right when Rimuru and Yuuki were locked in battle, she could catch them in the explosion, and they’d be caught powerless. An attack the demon lord Rimuru wasn’t conscious of could absolutely defeat him—Maribel was certain of it.
Now she was in the central part of the crypt…but she couldn’t find the reactor discussed in her report. In fact, there was nothing at all. The sarcophagi were empty, bereft of any accompanying decor or treasure. Yes, there were gold and silver baubles lying around, but no magic weapons—nothing of real value.
“That’s strange,” she reflexively whispered to herself. “So strange. What’s going on…?”
Nobody was there to answer her…or so she thought.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! There’s no magical control reactor in these ruins, you know.”
“…!!”
“And by the way, there wasn’t one in Soma, either.”
“…Is that you, Yuuki?”
“It sure is.”
It was definitely Yuuki who answered her, standing tall where she could see him. Kagali was also there, nestled close to her.
“Aren’t you fighting the demon lord Rimuru…?”
“It’s over. I gave my all against him, but it was pointless. Rimuru had enough strength to go easy on me, but I didn’t stand a chance. If I could have won, I figured I would’ve beaten him right there, but…”
“I was so scared watching you! And I really thought you betrayed us, too.”
“Ha-ha-ha! Sorry, sorry. I figured it’d be more believable if I didn’t let you in on it. Besides, I always believed you’d understand my intentions.”
“Well, all right. Everything worked out fine, at least. If this is what you wanted, I’ve got nothing to complain about.”
Yuuki and Kagali were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Seeing them carry on, Maribel finally realized. Yuuki tricked her.
“That’s a lie. It must be a lie. But… Yuuki, did you break my force?!”
It seemed impossible to her, but it was a reality Maribel had to accept. But when, and how, did Yuuki manage to overcome the desires of her Avarice?
“…How did you do it?”
“Curious?”
“Just tell me!!”
“Heh-heh! All right. I will.”
Yuuki gave Maribel a look of pity, then showed her. As she watched, his brisk, cloudless demeanor suddenly appeared to have a dark pall over it.
“No… That’s a lie! A lie…”
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don’t believe me? But it’s the truth. I was pretending to be under your thrall from the beginning. What do you think? Pretty good performance, huh?”
Yuuki laughed, having a blast down in the crypt.
Maribel, on the other hand, looked ill. “No! My desires… They harness your emotions, to give you power…” Whispering to herself, she tried desperately to understand her situation.
“Yeah, your greed was something else. Sadly, though, my own desires are stronger than yours. This world, you know… It’s like my sandbox. And it’s my dream to become king of it someday. I didn’t even need Anti-Skill to keep your Avarice from working on me.”
The smile stayed on Yuuki’s face. To Maribel, it was like having her death sentence read out.
“Don’t count me out! I’m Maribel! Maribel the Greedy! Someone like you isn’t even a threat to me!”
She drummed up all the energy in her soul, hurling it straight at Yuuki as she screamed. This was Greed Flare, a skill that transformed the power of her iron will into waves of physical destruction. It didn’t work.Forget it already. You can’t beat me.”
Yuuki took her attack unguarded. The black waves dissipated like clouds around him. And at the next moment:
“Grrhh!”
The edge of Yuuki’s hand shot straight into her heart—and that wasn’t even the worst of it. Her force flowed out of her body as Yuuki’s own absorbed it all.
“Nghh…ah… My power… You’re…”
“You got that right.”
“No… You—you can’t…do that…”
The light faded from Maribel’s eyes, the power draining from the arms clutching at Yuuki.
“If you were born into this world even ten years earlier, you might have taken the whole thing over. You just weren’t lucky this time. Your body was too young to fully control your skills, wasn’t it?”
“……”
Maribel didn’t respond. She glared at Yuuki, frustration clouding her face…and then her soul flickered once, twice, before fading away. The one golden rule of this world had been upheld once more—the powerless always lose.
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? You said I had too much ambition. Well, good night, Maribel. I’ll take on that desire of yours…”
His words no longer reached her—and thus, Maribel, who lived in an era of near-constant upheaval, breathed her last.
Leaving everyone else to Shion and my friends, I rushed over to help Milim.
Right this minute, I was looking down on the Chaos Dragon. It was huge. Super-huge. A good three hundred feet or so in length, maybe. It made Charybdis look like a shrimp, and just beholding it drove the viewer to despair. The Chaos Dragon was now consuming the magicules around itself, growing bigger and bigger. I could see it razing entire mountains with a single spout of breath. It was violence personified.
Even I had no chance against a monster like this. But Milim was different. Thanks to her super-dreadnought-level magicule stores, she had stopped the Chaos Dragon’s advance.
“Sorry I’m late, Milim!”
“Rimuru? It’s about time! I’ve got a little problem here. This guy’s actually my friend. I wanted to seal it away, but it’s just not working. I think it’s gonna cause some damage soon…but I can’t bump off my own friend!” She looked ready to cry.
Unlike Charybdis, the Chaos Dragon was bosom buddies with Milim. She must’ve wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt…but it was so huge that not even Milim had enough force to banish it away. Simply beating it would be doable enough, but she couldn’t kill a friend like that.
I could understand that. It reflected well on Milim, in my eyes. So I smiled, trying to reassure her.
“It’s all right now. I’ve got an idea!”
Milim’s eyes sparkled as she watched me. I could tell she trusted me, but man, talk about pressure. I couldn’t let it get to my head, though. Trying to look as confident as possible, I explained my strategy. “Listen. No matter how big this guy is, there has to be a core in it. You can attack him accurately enough to leave that intact, right?”
I figured Milim could preserve the Chaos Dragon’s soul while striking the rest of it—much as I did with Charybdis to save Phobio, its vessel. This soul would be protected by the dragon’s astral and spiritual bodies, but those bodies were already corrupted and breaking apart—or actually, they were broken to start with, hence this hate-driven corruption. It was also smeared head to toe with Maribel’s desire, and I couldn’t extract it out of the guy.
But its soul, though—the “heart” of Milim’s best friend—still seemed to be working hard to me, shining as strong as always.
“B-but… If it’s this big, it’ll take a lot power to stab into it. If I mess it up, I could blow away the whole thing…”
“I taught you how to go easy, didn’t I? Your friend’s trying its very best for you right now. You have to be strong for it!”
I couldn’t let her make excuses. Momentum was key. If she starts thinking What if I mess this up? she’ll fail at something she ought to succeed in.
“And I’ll help you out, okay? Just follow my instructions and release all the magic force you’ve got!”
Yes, I told her I had a plan. I really didn’t. I was just gonna rely on power here—Milim’s power. But this wasn’t the first time for me. I already saw it happen once, and it succeeded then. This was operating on an even huger scale, but the task before us was identical.
“All right. I believe in you, Rimuru!”
“Okay! We got this!”
I faked as much confidence as I could. Really, it was breaking my heart, acting so bold like this. If it failed, I was deathly scared of the consequences…but I had no other bright ideas, and I was the only one who could pull this off.
You’re on, Raphael!
Understood. Yes, my lord!
I might be a pro at palming responsibility off…but for this moment, at least, I needed to perform. No mistakes would be allowed. I repeatedly told myself that this would go fine.
“This’ll be easy, okay? It’s the same thing over again! Do it, Milim!”
“Right! Yeah, you’re right. Here goes, my friend. May the shining of the stars burn into your eyes! Drago Buster!!”
There was a flash, so bright that closing your eyes did nothing.
The enormous swirl of power Milim released reached the Chaos Dragon, smashing against its ominous wall of force. Power struggled against power—and as I watched it, I searched for the source of the Chaos Dragon’s strength, relying on Raphael’s calculations to control Milim’s torrential might.
It was heavy. Incredibly heavy. I could tell it was draining my own magicule stores. But despite all the energy we poured into it, the Chaos Dragon was unscathed. This guy really was crazy.
It was about to break my heart, but if I gave up now, this would all be for nothing. All my previous experience was for this exact moment—I truly believed that as I threw everything I had at it.
Trying desperately to retain my peace of mind, I slowly brushed away the evil force that loomed around the Chaos Dragon’s soul. In terms of time, it was less than a second, but the pressure made it seem like forever.
I saw it! The Chaos Dragon’s spotless heart, blinking there amid it all. But I couldn’t let up yet. Even without the black mist of desire, even without the hateful evil, I still had the dragon’s broken, polluted spiritual force waiting for me.
Carefully, with pinpoint precision, I kept up my work. Then, out of nowhere, the black mist disappeared. Yuuki defeated Maribel!
“Yes! We can do this!” Hoping to seize victory, I set off Belzebuth. “Milim, we’re finishing this now. Can you boost your output?”
“You got it! Raaahhhhh—Drago-Nova!!”
Heeding my instructions, Milim finally got serious.
Feeling it all over again made me realize just how amazing she was. How could she turn the spigot any farther than that? The way she engineered incredible feats of strength like that—I could really tell she was on another level from the rest of us.
But watch out. Now’s no time to stare at her, all amazed.
“Okay, Chaos Dragon. I’m gonna stop the pain for you.”
Now for the final touch.
Timing was going to be key here. Milim’s magic had to pulverize the Chaos Dragon’s exposed spiritual body, breaking down its astral body as well. Not missing my beat for a moment, I waited until just before Milim’s power shattered its heart, then triggered Soul Consume.
Ignoring all rules of time and space, Belzebuth did its work. Within my perception, it was done quicker than Milim’s magic—and just as I planned it out, I had the Chaos Dragon’s shattered heart in hand.
Without the core governing that massive cloud of magicules, the Chaos Dragon was already starting to disintegrate. But that was a problem of its own.
“R-Rimuru! This is bad news! It’s gonna explode!”
Milim had already stopped infusing her magic at my signal. But now there was a massive energy field in the sky, twisting and warping the air inside. Force clashed against force, compressing the energy at eye-popping pressures. The reaction would come soon enough, a huge explosion that not even Milim could neutralize.
She gave me a panicked look. But I was calm. According to Raphael, I could apparently do something about this.
“It’s all right. I’ll figure it out!”
“You can do that?!”
She looked surprised. I appreciated her admiring eyes, but if I messed this up, I was gonna look like such a dumbass—ah, but now’s no time for that.
Are you sure this’ll be okay, Professor?
I couldn’t help but ask.
Affirmative. It is not a problem.
Just as businesslike as ever. That seemed so reckless but kind of reassuring in a way.
With a smile, I looked at what used to be the Chaos Dragon. It was already just a shell at this point. No need to hold back.
“Gobble it up, Belzebuth!!”
Could it really consume such a vast blob of energy? My worries were instantly quelled by the fury of Belzebuth’s appetite, astounding me beyond imagination as it swallowed every bit up like a midnight snack.
“Is…? Is it over?” Milim asked.
“No, not yet. We gotta do something about your friend here.”
“Huh? You will?”
“Sure. I brought this along for times like these!” Not really! But let’s roll with it!
I took out a pseudo-soul.
“…?”
No time to spell it out for the confused Milim. I focused on myself. Theoretically, this was possible. In fact, Raphael guaranteed it. I just had to believe in it.
Boldly, I did my work, trusting it was guaranteed to succeed. I picked up all the pieces of the shattered heart, then absorbed them into the pseudo-soul; Soul Consume patched all the pieces into a single unit for me, so it went easier than I expected.
The issue was what came after that. Can a core like this be housed in a pseudo-soul?
There was no reaction.
I began to sweat. Staying calm on the surface, I frantically tried to brainstorm a solution. What should I do at a time like this?
My brain finally settled on something I saw on TV dramas a lot.
“M-Milim… Did this Chaos Dragon have a name or anything?”
“A name? Nothing like that, no…”
No? Crap. But calm down. There has to be another way…
“…Gaia! I wanted to call it that someday. This creature’s name is Gaia!!”
Oh, it does have one.
I breathed a sigh of relief and softly called Gaia’s name.
What a nice name that is!
So your name’s Gaia, huh?
Hey, shouldn’t you open your eyes before your friend starts crying?
The pseudo-soul began to softly glow. We did it. The heart was in the soul.
Now I wrapped the master core in Gaia’s pseudo-soul. That completed its avatar core, and now my job was done. Time would take care of the rest—and once Gaia’s heart was healed up, it would be revived in the shape of its choice. In Gaia’s case, that shape would be its actual body, not some other vessel. It’d be a new monster, coming to life right before Milim’s eyes.
“It worked, Milim. This is the new Gaia. It hasn’t been born yet, so it’s kind of like an egg right now.” I presented the avatar core to her.
“Right… Right! I just knew leaving everything to you would work out. I trusted you, Rimuru. Thank you. Thank you!”
Glad to be of service. That, and I’m glad I didn’t screw that up. But more than anything, seeing Milim smile really did make me happy.
“Wanna head back? Everyone’s probably worried for us.”
“Mm-hmm! I need to tell ’em all what I did!”
Sure, sure.
Good thing Milim came along, though. I couldn’t have done a thing against that guy alone.
From far away, we saw the palace, along with our friends nervously watching us. They all looked okay, which was reassuring.
That wrapped things up, then. I just wanted to go home and relax. A nice bath, followed by a cold beer. Basking in the joy welling out from me, I joined Milim as we went back down to regroup with our friends.THE ONE WHO LAUGHS LAST
Yuuki had obtained Maribel’s power.
“I really wish you’d talked to me about it first.”
“Ha-ha-ha! I already explained why I didn’t. That’s why I was able to trick Maribel, you know?”
“But do you realize how hard it was not to let my ‘outside’ friends find out the truth?”
As Yuuki fought Rimuru, Kagali was forced to distract the expedition team so the secret behind Yuuki’s powers didn’t come out. Any strange activity on her part ran the risk of attracting Rimuru’s attention. It was an ordeal for her.
Yuuki, meanwhile, didn’t really care if people found out, so he didn’t see it as a problem. Even if everyone knew he could cancel people’s skills, it wasn’t like someone could devise any kind of workaround against it. It was an ace in the hole for Yuuki, yes, but it wasn’t even one of his last resorts.
“Well, you know, I trusted in you. It worked out in the end, so can you maybe let me off the hook this time?”
“You siphoned off Maribel’s power, didn’t you? Was that in your plans, too?”
“Yeah, more or less. They say ‘sinful’ unique skills are the most powerful ones out there, so I did have my sights on it. I heard Avarice was driven by the size of your desires, and I figured it’d be pretty appropriate for me.”
“You really are crazy sometimes. It’s not that easy to take somebody’s skill, you know that?”
“I’m sure it’s not. But Avarice kinda chose me this time. I still couldn’t win against Rimuru, but…”
“…I’m sure you couldn’t. He’s so unfair like that.”
“I know! But now I can pin all the negative stuff on Maribel. I’ve just been fully acquitted! I’m probably gonna have to mind my p’s and q’s for a little while, but now I’ve got something else to look forward to, you could say.”
“Right. No need to hurry things now. And it’s so unnerving, how wary the demon lord is of the people around him. I can’t say I liked everything about your plans, but I think I can appreciate them now.” Kagali’s main complaint was how Yuuki ruined the crypt by blowing it up.
Yuuki told Rimuru that Maribel activated the reactor, then took her own life. The explosion, which razed the deepest section of the crypt but little else, was his way of hiding the evidence. Yuuki had prepared a magical bomb for just this purpose.
“There wasn’t much energy left in reactor,” he’d explained to Rimuru, “so the damage was pretty light, thankfully.” He even had the foresight to scatter the remains of a real reactor around the crypt to back up his story. Now he was prepared to stick to that story, no matter what he was asked.
But Kagali had her concerns.
“You were planning to abandon this place from the start anyway, weren’t you?” Yuuki retorted. “So why worry about it?”
To Kagali, though, this was a familiar city, her home. Once everything was cleaned up, she wanted to restore it to its former bustling glory—but with the crypt now buried, she had a few gripes.
“…Not necessarily, I wasn’t.” She shrugged. “It was kind of my second home, you realize.”
Yuuki gave her a grin. “Yeah. But we earned something from this. My name got cleared, which is huge, but other stuff, too. Maribel deployed her Blood Shadow troops, but did you see how they all cast holy magic? That’s a lethal blow.”
“You’re right. I noticed that, too. It proves that the Council’s connected to the Western Holy Church. That’s why there’s all the secrecy behind the Five Elders’ true identities.”
“Exactly. It showed up in the papers and everything, but after the war in Farmus, the reputation of the champion there took a huge hit. Then, at the same time, the Council started losing clout with the Western Holy Church. That points to only one truth! I’m thinking that Maribel’s grandfather, Granville Rozzo, is actually part of the Seven Days Clergy.”
“I see… That’s a clever deduction, Sir Yuuki.”
Kagali was just as sharp as him—and her reading of the situation matched his to some extent, convincing her it was the truth.
Yuuki looked at Kagali with a sinister smile. “Oh, it’s nothing too impressive. But I’ve stumbled upon another really key possibility. You know what it is?”
He paused, gauging her reaction. Kagali couldn’t think of anything else. She put up her hands in surrender.
“I tried tracing Maribel’s thoughts, based on the actions she took. But she really forced things with this whole operation, you know? If she killed the demon lord Rimuru, there was a chance Veldora would go berserk on us. When she took over the Chaos Dragon, that really did enrage Milim, almost. You were terrified that she’d discover us, weren’t you? So I really think she pushed her luck way too much with a demon lord as dangerous as that…to say nothing of a True Dragon.”
“Putting it that way, you’re right…”
“Maribel had to know the danger she was putting herself in, and I’m sure she worked out some countermeasures. But what were they?” Yuuki looked straight at Kagali. He didn’t have an answer himself, but he figured asking would help organize his own thoughts.
“Hmm… Maybe she believed that she, alone, was safe the whole time?”
“There is that, yeah. But I don’t think that’s all.”
“And maybe she was anticipating at least a little damage? She feared the rise of Rimuru, and if she thought some sacrifice now was worth it in the future…”
Yuuki nodded at this. “Well, me, I’d never do that if I had no idea how much damage there’d be. But if I could predict how much to expect, approximately, I’d definitely weigh the losses against the gains on the scale.”
“…Meaning?”
“I think Maribel had some kind of reason to believe things would work out, even if Veldora and Milim lost control.”
“……”
“And what was that reason?”
“Granville…”
“No.” Yuuki had arrived at an answer. He grinned. “Who did Laplace fight in the sanctuary?”
“Well, the demon lord Valentine—Oh!”
He chuckled, seeing Kagali’s reaction. “Right. The demon lord Valentine is dead…but there’s a demon lord Valentine in the Octagram. The real demon lord’s even stronger than the fake one, I bet.”
“Even at my peak, I was about equal with that Valentine. In that case…”
“In that case, the real one’s even stronger! Now I’m sure of it. The headquarters of Luminism isn’t just a religious site—it’s a demon lord stronghold.”
“You mean Valentine’s really the god Luminus? That’s insane…”
“But it’s true. I really don’t think I’m wrong.” The confidence behind Yuuki’s voice led Kagali to the truth.
“Yes… You’re right. And it wouldn’t be strange if Granville knew that.”
“Not at all. And so did Maribel. That’s why she figured Luminus was protecting the Western Nations.”
It all seemed to make sense. Kagali had to accept it. There wasn’t any room for objection. “Sounds like we’ll need to rethink our strategy.”
“Yeah. But I’m gonna have to move my base of operations to the East for a while anyway.”
“Hee-hee-hee! You are a scary man. You say you’re going to lie low, but it sounds like you’ll be moving around a lot, aren’t you?”
“Well, sure. I’m gonna be king of this world, remember? I promised you I’d get a hold of it!”
“That you did. Hee-hee… Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. I look forward to it. I really do. And I’m sure Clayman will be delighted, too.”
“Yeah. So keep lending me a hand, okay?”
“Yes, of course. And please don’t betray me, either, Sir Yuuki.”
“Of course I won’t. The world will be mine—and then we can all have a blast together!”
Yuuki and Kagali looked at each other and smiled. The laughs continued on and on; two magic-born aiming to seize the world like it was a game to enjoy. Their aim was childlike, but they were serious about it.
They wanted to conquer the world.
The Chaos Dragon was gone. Milim’s friend was saved. And now that I was back on the ground, I was shocked to find the bottom section of the ruins all caved in.
According to Yuuki (who was safe), the cornered Maribel blew herself up inside. She wanted to take all of us along with her, apparently—she really wanted to take me out that bad? That was just too much, in a way…but she was hostile to me, so I didn’t know what else I could do. No point moping about it.
After discussing matters with Kagali, we decided to restore the ruins back to their pristine condition. It would take time, but we planned to excavate the bottom portion as well. Eventually, we would display the artifacts we dug up and turn this palace into a museum. We wanted to make this into a tourist attraction, complete with a magitrain stop.
That would take who knows how many years, of course, and we had a ton to do before then. Unless we negotiated a peace treaty with the Eastern Empire, at least, this whole area was a front line. Just because it was Milim’s turf didn’t make it a safe zone, necessarily.
For now, at