It's the climax. The setting,my party members are exhausted, on their knees, if not lying on the ground. Clothes are torn in a way where the females are more erotic than fully naked.The dudes? Who cares. Had we not been enemies, I would've praised the demon lord for his,,, tas- I mean ferocity in battle.
"Let's face it, it's our loss." I said as I lowered my already piece of scrap weapon
Here's the thing, as usual, in final battles, after defeating the demon lord, the skies turns dark, ominous light and sound comes from here and there, Demon Lord rises once more, even more powerful, the Hero blade gets broken, our magic barely scratch said Demon Lord, and etc.
"Look we both knows how this will go. I receive near fatal damage, then you either cry, sings, pray or all at the same time, you emit a flash of light, then I miraculously gets my strength back. And then, you either disintegrate to dust or turn into floating glitters, I then cry, shout one liners like 'Demon Lord! I won't forgive you for this!', then clash with the demon lord. He dies, I save the world, happy ending, and I remain single. No way in hell I'm going to all through that." I continued.
Mary looked down, biting the nail of her right thumb. As to how are we able to ignore the demon lord the moment is because he's currently ongoing with his speech like "Did you really think that was enough to beat me ", or something. Anyway, it's the basic stall time speech to hide the fact that his recovery speed is actually slower than he anticipated.
"Well, as a reward of getting this far, I will give you a chance to surrender and admit defeat. If you do so, I would at least think about sparing your petty life and let you watch as I trample Leori."
Mary and I both looked at him. That's our que.
"But knowing you hero I'm su-"
-clank
The demon lord was interrupted by the sound of my dropped sword.
"We lost, it's our defeat, as expected of the mighty Demon Lord. To think he can singlehandedly defeats the hero and his party. I have no words to describe such power!" I theatrically said, raising both of my hands in the air.
"Long live the Demon Lord!" I shouted
"Long live the Demon Lord!" Mary and the rest who was already standing her somewhere along the way.
It does not take a wise man to figure out what we're doing here. We're changing sides.
"To think that the Demon Lord would spare us despite all our trespasses. Ah, Such benevolent ruler!" Me
"Such a benevolent ruler! Long Live The Demon Lord!" Mary and the rest who were supposed to be incapacitated earlier ago.
"Knowing how great Demon Lord and true to his word, of course you won't go back to your promise won't you?" I egged.
"Long Live the Demon Lord!"
"O-o of course not! But I didn't expect that-"
"OHHHH! Long Live the Demon Lord! Thus as a proof of loyalty and atonement, we hereby serve the Demon Lord with our outmost loyalty!" I claimed.
"Eh? wha-?"
"Long Live the Demon lord!" Before the Demon Lord could process, I shouted.
"Long live the Demon Lord!" my party followed
"Now that the pact of allegiance has been pledged. Come, oh great and mighty Demon Lord! Give us the order to slay those fools whose eyes were not opened unlike us! Let their blood serves as the demonstration of your might as well as the proof of our loyalty!" Theatrically still, I claimed.
This time, my party members did not followed back. For once we made this choice, this will be our point of no return. They were just standing, each weighing their own options in their mind till the last second.
"A-ahem. P-please give a moment." Raising a hand, the Demon Lord staggeringly sat back at his throne.
Of course we're not about to give him time to process all the things that are happening.
"Oh, I just remembered, a while ago we had an unexpected encounter with whom I believe to be one of your remaining Demon Generals"
Understanding what I'm up to, our hot to the boot mage, Sylvie, whose clothes are already repaired by the way, star casting a spell. Then tapping the floor with her staff, a magic circle appeared and inside, an unconscious demon materialized.
"Lilith!" Immediately the Demon Lord ran after her, shaking her as he kept calling her name. Yet there was no reaction.
"Man, you have no idea how surprised we were when we suddenly faced each other ha ha ha!" I pretended to laugh at the obvious lie that even the Demon Lord himself is well aware of.
"I-is she, no, I can feel her pulse, what did you do to her?!" The Demon Lord said as he glared at me.
"Please do understand, as the Great Demon Lord such as yourself is so powerful and mighty, it would be foolish for us to underestimate you thus we had to use every means we can in order to win ." Dropping all pretense I said as a matter of fact.
"But please be rest assured that the Great General is safe unless of course you are to do anything that will bring harm to us, then we cannot promise. You must be aware of Lady Lilith's ability yes? Fortunately for us, she happened to just use that ability with the wrong opponent." I continued.
Lady Lilith is what you call a Dream Demon, I don't know which one specifically is her race but, she's someone capable of forcing someone's soul to be trapped in that someone's own consciousness, resulting in coma-like state visually to others while that someone wonders in a Constructed Dream World. It's actually a hella scary ability. From brainwashing to actually breaking the target's mind (example would be trapping to what feels like an eternity, making the target forgets the actual present)
"Worry not Great Demon Lord, The Great General's soul is simply trapped in my own's world. If everything goes well, I assure you, I will release her immediately." Sylvie.
To be honest, had that ability had been used against me, and gave me the illusion for example of ruling in a world where I'm the only male doing anything I want, I'd definitely fell for it. Thankfully, who Lady Lilith fought with is this well-endowed Mage. I'm not gonna lie, everyone in my party has at least one or two loose screw in the head but in Sylvie's case, rather than a missing screw, she went ahead and built a laboratory inside her own mind. It's fascinating topic but I'll leave it for another time.
We did not spoke nor moved to give the Demon Lord time to think. With the silence in the room, the sound of the fight on going outside the castle is now more audible.
Eventually, the Demon Lord carried Lilith back to his throne sat down while carrying her on his lap. Our investigation with his relationship with her was correct. Just like with his remaining Generals, he sent her away but knowing she would not abandon him, the Demon Lord gave her a task to secure his escape if things went south. However, as she loves him as he does her, Lady Lilith focused on ensuring the Demon Lord's safety thus neglecting hers, allowing us the opportunity to her instead.
"..... I have lost too many comrades already in this war," the Demon Lord.
We know what he actually wants to say is he had lost many of his comrades in our hands. However he knows better than to say so.
We kept quiet.
"If it means her safety, then I accept your allegiance. Just, just return her." As if losing his will, the Great Demon Lord said, no, begged.
"It is done." Sylvie.
Lady Lilith slightly moved her head, a sign that her soul returned though still unconscious.
I bowed with my right hand on my left chest.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we shall end this battle in your favor." me.
"Long live the Demon Lord." we said smiling in a way like a predator which are.