(3rd POV)
"There are quite a few of them this time huh?" Yumina said with mild annoyance as she looked up into the sky full of Insectars.
"Wahahahaha! Don't worry too much about it Yumina! With both you and me here, there isn't anyone we can't beat!" Milim bragged.
Yumina sighed slightly. "We can't beat Mother..." Yumina commented with a slightly teasing tone.
"Eh!?! Um... well it's..." Milim was stumped.
Despite having more magical power than Velzard before her restructuring of Alaster's Skills thanks to the infinite energy generation of [Satanael], she still could never force herself to fight her mother seriously. Velzard was just too scary when angry for that to happen.
Alaster, in contrast, would allow himself to be beaten up by his daughters in a fight up to a point because he could never bring himself to harm them. Sure, he'd never allow himself to actually take real damage, as evidenced by the fact he once fell asleep in one of his spars with Milim and even pounding on him for an hour wasn't enough to wake him, but he'd still declare his 'loss' if either managed to impress him with their techniques.
He was a dotting father if nothing else.
Obera, overhearing the conversation between the two, smiled gently as she decided to interrupt them and save Milim from her embarrassed fumbling. 'Mistress, it's time." Obera stated.
Yumina and Milim both straightened up at hearing Obera's words and turned toward the horizon again. The entire skyline was blacked out by swarms and swarms of insects. Leading the charge were several of Demon Lord Zelanus' Insectar Generals. While the small fry could be easily dealt with in one go, the Generals themselves would be quite the issue.
Alaster's version of 'training' was quite barbaric for someone like Hinata or Chloe, but it always gave fantastic results, as it forced the two women to learn to fight without relying on their superior swordsmanship abilities to penetrate the armor of the Insectars, where were hardened against bladed weapons. The Majin and Demon Lords on the side of Nava, however, did not receive such training.
Worse yet, Zelanus' constantly repelled raids against the southern shores of the continent had served to weed out the weakest of the Insectars resulting in the overall level of the survivors being much higher than they otherwise could have been.
Milim, using her cleverly disguised wit underneath her not entirely false child-like persona, turned to Frey. "Hey, can I just blow them all up?" She asked.
Frey smiled lightly and closed her eyes. "Unfortunately, I know for a fact that there is an Insectar which is good at {Spatial Magic} and they may redirect the attack back at us if you do." She explained.
Carrion nodded solemnly. "Yeah, Boss. I don't think we should lead with a move that would wipe us out if redirected back at us. Noone could survive a direct hit like that." Carrion added.
"I'd survive." Yumina interrupted.
"Yeah, Yumina would survive," Milim added matter-of-factly, acting a little proud that her beloved sister wouldn't be beaten by tricks like that.
Midley laughed loudly at this. "As expected for Milim-sama's sister and the daughter of my master!"
Everyone else, including Milim and Yumina, nodded at Midley's statement. It would be odd if Yumina was weak enough to be defeated in one attack from Milim, given who her parents were and the two girls' sisterly rivalry with one another.
"The enemy is making its move." The previously quiet Zegion stated as he looked out into the horizon.
The Insectar had been given special permission to travel to this battlefield by Rimuru. Rimuru, thanks to his interactions with Alaster, now knew how to use [Parallel Existance], so so he decided to send one of his bodies out to help Alaster's battle with Michael and Feldway, while another body stayed to protect Tempest. His current limit was only three bodies, the third was constantly sitting and waiting in his [Imaginary Space] just in case his other bodies died suddenly.
This limit wasn't due to the fact that Rimuru was only capable of using three bodies, but rather he was only able to use 3 bodies due to how each one shared his magic power pool and he didn't want to weaken all of his other selves by splitting too many times, especially with how much energy using Ultimate Skills costs and how often he tended to spam them.
Carrion looked to the now moving mass of black fog that was the Insectars ahead and shook his head. "I don't think we'll be able to avoid collateral damage against so many... even if we can't use [Drago Nova], I'd like to have thinned them out a little."
Carrera smiled. "Then shall I do it?" She asked more in a tone of saying 'I'm going to do it anyway'.
Yumina sighed when she saw this. "Damn it Yeloow, didn't I say they'd just throw it back at us?" She said in an annoyed tone.
Carrera gave Yumina a glare. "My name is Carrera. I quite like it, so please call me by it from now on." She said with a menacing glare but continued. "And now that I know about it, I can take special precautions to entire it won't happen."
Yumina relented at her, seeing as no one was coming to back her up. "Fine then Carrera, but I hope you are right."
Carrera smiled viciously. "Sure, I'll wipe them all out and only the strongest ones who can play with us will be able to resist it!" She said defiantly before wanting forward and gathering an enormous amount of magical power behind her.
After she had arrived at the front of the army, she looked up at the approaching horde and laughed lightly "Damn Insects! I'll grant you my blessing of decimation. {Abyss Annihilation}!" She declared, using one of her most powerful spells without hesitation.
"Huh!?!" Carrera was shocked by what she'd seen.
Of the 2 Million Insectars which were coming toward's Milim's forces, over 1.5 Million were indeed annihilated in an instant, but one instectar, the one Yumina had been worried about throwing Carrera's attack back at them, had made its move. It instantly compressed the rampaging nuclear and gravitational energies which Carrera had unleashed before funneling it through a subspace nearby.
Yumina closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "Looks like Peliod has gained an Ultimate Skill after all." She said before clicking her tongue.
Everyone looked at her with a surprised face as if to ask what she was talking about so Yumina explained. "The Guild does more than just waiting around for Insectar invasions to occur in the south of the continent. We send scouting parties to the Insect Continent to keep an eye on their numbers and even use a tool that Mother made back when Father was the Guild Grandmaster to keep track of the amount of Ultimate Skill users there are in the world." She explained a hidden secret that only a select few members of the inner core of the Guild knew about so casually to the 'enemies' of mankind in the form of Demon Lords that if there were any humans nearby to report her, she'd instantly be labeled an 'enemy of mankind' for spilling it.
"Basically only one of the Insectars on their continent had any Ultimate Skills but recently another Ultimate Skill was added," Yumina explained.
"I see, so it's an Ultimate Skill that has domination over the spatial element then?" Frey asked.
"Yes. I only know its name, not its abilities, but its [Aditi: Lord of Boundless Space]" Yumina commented.
Carrera's face paled. "Which means..."
Yumina looked up into the sky as a spatial portal opened up inside it and the light of Carrera's magic shone from inside it. She looked at the coming attack with total apathy, however.
"Brace yourselves!" Carrion screamed as he rushed towards Milim to shield her.
"No need. Reduce into nothingness. [Leviathan]!" Yumina said, as the blast of energy from Carrera's earlier magic fell toward the people below, however, as it got closer and closer to the people below it, it seemed to get weaker and weaker and energy bled from it until the only effect on the ground was a slight breeze of warm wind tainted with Carrera's magicules.
Yumina closer her palm slowly, everyone except for Milim and Obera looking impressed at the feat. "That woman is always doing such absurd things. I'm definitely going to kill her this time." Yumina said with venom in her voice.
Carrera nodded her head in agreement. "Yes. If that one is not killed here, she will become a pain in the future. If you didn't do it, I would have." She said, a subtle furry in her voice.
"Now is not the time for this. Here they come." Zegion muttered before charging forward and colliding with a seemingly invisible force in the air in front of him.
Chaotic lighting twisted with the space element emanated from the sight of impact in front of him for just a moment before Zegion was thrown back through several walls in the castle and out of the other side.
Standing at the impact sight, surrounded by a fine mist was... Zegion?
"Wahahahaha! What a neat trick!" Milim laughed as she turned towards the direction the other Zegion had flown to. Out of the rubble, Zelanus emerged, seemingly unharmed and emanating a fierce aura that was larger and more dense than any of the people here other than Milim and Yumina.
Zelanus stood among the pile of rocks and narrowed his compound eyes slightly at Zegion. "You dare challenge me, welp!?!" He growled.
"I do no such thing, however, I have been tasked by god to defeat the enemies here, and so I shall do so," Zegion stated.
"Oh, Zegion, let me fight him too! It's been forever since I had a good fight!" Milim declared.
Zegion turned to Milim for a moment before nodding silently in agreement. he had his pride to consider, but he knew that his trick wouldn't work a second time and he was under no illusions that this fight would be easy.
"I don't get it, what just happened?" Carrion asked quietly to Frey who stood beside him.
"I'm not quite sure, but I think Zegion used some kind of Ultimate Skill." She said.
"He used [Maphisto] to create a [World of Illusion] where Zegion was the one to send Zelanus flying and super-imposed it over the world, all in under a second, effectively throwing back Zelanus' attack back at him." Carrera, who overheard Carrion explained.
"It's a ridiculous ability to swap the world of illusions with the real world. I think only Diablo has been able to do something so absurd before." Carrera finished.
Carrion and Frey, and even Midley, were shocked by this, although for different reasons. It sounded impossible to the two former Demon Lords, but to Midley it made his dragonewt blood boil. He definitely wanted to fight Zegion himself after this war ended, but for now, his enemy was elsewhere.
The other Insectar Generals were all around them now with the remaining army of insectars facing off against the troops from Milim's Allied forces, which included the Yellow, Orange, and Blue Numbers from Tempest, The Beastmen from Carrion, the Sky Core from Frey's old forces, the Dragon Faithful who originally belonged to Millim, and Several A-Ranked human adventurers Yumina brought with her. There was even an S-Ranked party at the front, leading the troops alongside Geld.
However, this battle wouldn't be settled by the battle lines on the ground or dogfight in the air, but rather in the coming duels between the commanders.
"There seems to be an almost equal number of generals to
Milim had paired off to go face-off against Zelanus, a fellow Demon Lord, after Zegion seceded the battle to her. Their fighting was fierce and faster than the naked eye, but it would be clear to anyone strong enough to actually witness the battle that the two were merely testing one another's strength and that the REAL battle wouldn't begin for some time yet.
Instead, Zegion targeted another one of the insectars automatically, which was Zess, and the two were fighting with a certain ferocity that implied the two had a history together.
Yumina and Peliod made a b-line towards one another in their own clash as rivals. Alaster had fought Peliod several times in the past during the Insectar Invasions, however, the Insectar Queen had always managed to escape from him and retreat in time to save her own life. Alaster never pursued, as the constant assaults at the time guaranteed work for the Guild early on, but when Yumina had taken the mantle of Guild Grandmaster, she swore to wipe away the stain on her father's record once and for all, which led to their frequent clashing over the years.
Carrera was forced away from the battle by another Insectar which had challenged her using its Alienium exoskeleton and a sword-like appendage. Razul stamped all over Carrera's honor by using his sword in a manner that canceled out all of her magic, so she began to rely on her own 'sword', which was really just the Transformed Agera to combat him.
And in a similar vein, all of the other Generals paired off one by one as the Final Insectar War began.
(Milim POV)
'Whoooo! This guy is stronger than I thought!' I yelled excitedly in my mind.
I threw another |Milim Punch| which would be enough force to blow apart an entire castle normally, only for it to be caught by Zelanus. I wasn't given any time to react as he grabbed my extended arm and threw me over his shoulder toward the ground before following it up with a diving charge ready to pierce me with the various bladed weapons in his six arms.
I smiled as I twirled before landing on the ground and jumped back just in time to dodge my own skewering. While he was extended, I quickly gathered stardust and magicules together for a followup attack.
"{|Drago Buster|}!!!" I yelled, a smile on my face as a dozen beams of light erupted from my hands and struct Zelanus, exploding with enough force to cause tremors throughout my entire territory.
I smiled as I realized that the Insectar was only barely bruised by my attack and came to a halt.
"Wahahahahaha! This is getting fun!!!" I said as I activated my Battle Mode.
My body slightly buffed up and gained a small amount of height while my more draconic creatures emerged. I pulled out the sword left to me by my worthless father, Asura, and used a technique that my true father taught me when I was young. I began condensing Stardust energy into my sword before wrapping it in a spatial barrier to keep the energy compressed, then covered THAT with my [Dragon Spirit Haki] and unleashed a slash.
"{|Dragon Rend|}!!!" I called out as the beam struck Zelanus, who attempted to 'eat' my attack with strange mouths emerging from his hands.
I smiled deviously when I saw that. He'd fallen for it. In the split second he'd taken to eat through the spatial barriers, the compressed Stardust was unleashed, exploding on top of him with the force of a super-localized {|Drago Nova|}.
Pops (Alaster) had taught me this since it was technically just as effective as a {|Drago Nova|} on an enemy without causing too much collateral damage.
That said, the massive explosion and mushroom cloud that emerged wasn't exactly subtle, but I really didn't care too much. I'm sure Frey would understand that the damage and destruction was necessary to defeat such a tough opponent.
'Yeah... she'll agree right?
Maybe I'll run awa- I mean go see pops to protect me- I mean hang out with after the battle... I deserve some spoiling after defeating a Demon Lord of Zelanus' caliber. Yeah!' I thought, distracted momentarily.
A fist was instantly in front of my face the next moment. I grinned and head-butted the incoming strike from Zelanus using my horn and a ton of my concentrated aura. I didn't have to gather my aura manually now, since [Wrath] upgraded to [Satanael], so even my most casual or sudden attacks and defensive actions would be at full power.
The impact staggered the seemingly injured Zelanus so I decided to try it again, having a feeling doing it once more would give great results. "I didn't name it before but... {|Drago Horn|}!" I called out as Stardust coated my aura and body before I delivered another devastating blow to Zelanus' fist, who'd tried punching me again.
In an instant, Zelanus' arm was blown clean off and he was sent dealing backward in agony. He let out an inhuman screech which perfectly represented the insect monster he truly was at his core. I wasn't going to give him any respite though. He'd staggered and that was all I needed.
"I've got you! {|Drago Break|}!!!" I said, deciding to use my finishing move which I'd been saving for a fight with Pops. I dashed forward, putting the full effect of [Satanael] into Asura and cramming as much Stardust as I could into my aura before plunging Asura into Zelanus' abdomen.
A full power {|Drago Nova|} was unleashed from the tip of my blade at the center of my enemy's core, exploding through his body completely disintegrating it in an instant and wiping away his soul in one go. The blast wave traveled outward from the tip of my sword to the horizon out over the ocean before exploding into a gigantic dome of power in the ocean.
I looked down at Asura in a bit o surprise. "That was it? I could have sworn he was stronger than that..." I said.
I was a bit surprised at how easy it was before remembering how Pops had come by not long ago and 'awakened me' or something to that effect. I didn't really think of it at the time, as, though I felt stronger, its not like I had a lot of people I could test my strongest moves on after awakening.
'Well my attacks DID feel more potent but... being too strong is a curse huh? Fun fights never last long...' I looked up into the sky. 'Come on, Rimuru. Hurry up and get stronger so we can fight already. I wanna punch my birth dad some.'
(Yumina POV)
"How weak," I commented as I blocked another one of Peliod's strikes.
In retaliation, I sent a wave of distorted space back at my enemy who was unable to dodge at such a close range. Peliod's body was shredded into dust for a brief moment before that dust became small particles of light, which reformed some ten or so meters away.
That was how our fight had been going so far. Peliod was merely running around throwing small attacks here and there to keep me engaged but never coming in close to deal any lethal or finishing blows. Sure, dealing with the occasional {|Dimension Ray|} was annoying, but it was no more than that.
Peliod, on the other hand, was looking impatient. She kept glancing around the battlefield, noticing more and more insectar casualties as she did so. This seemed to upset her, and she didn't seem to have noticed my 'trick' yet, so I thought about playing with her for a little longer. Another one of my strikes barely grazed Peliod but bounced off her exoskeleton. I could hit her with a flurry of smaller attacks just fine, but the bigger stuff which required more energy, she would always scatter into those golden lights of hers to avoid the instant kill of my attack.
"This is getting nowhere," I commented as I dropped my stance and sighed. I really hated having to rely on things that were given to me, even if they were given by Father, but it seems my Legend-Grade Sword which I had made personally for myself wasn't going to cut it. I held out my hand and opened a small pocket space before pulling out Mother's pride and joy, the sword Preta.
A chill ran down my back the moment I held it, as it always did and I felt the surrounding magical energy of the air being drained into it slowly but surely. I gave Preta a few test swings, sending sword beams of air pressure off into the distance. I had actually swung them at Peliod, but knew she'd avoid them and use them to gain space, so I didn't bother actively 'trying' to hit her with them.
"So you still accept me then?" I asked it and the weapon vibrated as if happy to be in my hands again.
I smiled lightly. "I thought you'd have rejected me for not using you for so long, but I guess I was wrong. Come on, it's time for the 'Sword Necromancer of White Ice' to make her reappearance!" I said, remembering briefly the dark period I went through when I was younger and had sealed away inside myself.
"Oops, I seem to be smiling again," I said as I noticed my evil smile in the whitish-silver reflection of my sword.
I turned to look at Peliod who'd taken quite a bit of distance from me and was occasionally throwing attacks at her own troops. I think she was expecting to have gotten stronger after they died, as was probably the plan between her and the other Generals, but she was actually getting weaker the closer she stayed to me.
That was my fault. I was constantly reducing the amount of magic power she had on her using [Leviathan]. She WAS actually getting power from the dying Insectars, but my ability to reduce her power was faster than her ability to gain it with this method. Maybe if a BIG player, like an Insectar General, died, she would see a mild power boost, but even then, I wasn't at the limit of how much I was reducing Peliod's power and could simply up the anty at any time.
"That method isn't enough to defeat me," I said, appearing behind Peliod in an instant using nothing but my speed, and sending forth a slash that would have decapitated her if she was a moment slower. Still, she wasn't able to completely dodge my attack and I had severed her wings in an instant.
Peliod was confused as to why she hadn't split into her tiny balls of light to avoid the attack so I decided to give her the answer. "My [Leviathan] has sealed your power by reducing your energy faster than you can gain it." I explained as though talking to a child.
Peliod looked on in horror as my words sunk into her core and she began falling from the sky to the earth. She looked so pitiful that I began smiling unconsciously at her fate. I had to catch myself before my sadist side emerged.
Just then, a massive amount of magic power charged toward Peliod before being absorbed by her followed by several other powerups. I gazed around, only to notice that Milim had just finished off Zelanus. It seems everyone else had used Zelanus' death as a signal to hurry it up and finish their fights.
Carrion blew away Abart with a {|Burst Roar|}, Frey had ripped out Torun's core, Midley had destroyed Saril in one blow, and somehow Gabil and Apito who was with him, had defeated Abart despite the large difference in their power.
Zegion, on the other hand, seemed to have been toying with Zess for a while now. Whether it was because he was reluctant to kill his older brother or that he had noticed the events going on and didn't want to give Peliod too much of a powerup by killing the strongest of the Insectars other than Zelanus and Peliod at the same time as the others were killed aren't important, but I guess this is him showing me consideration in his own way.
Geld seemed to be at a stalemate with Mujika, who was similar in magic power presence to Zess, but was clearly weaker in terms of Skills and techniques, though it wouldn't be long until the reinforcements came to aid Geld.
Carrera had long since destroyed Razul and was now devastating the enemy army's ranks with her magic, however before she left, she'd used some form of magic to interfere with the technique so Razul's power never went to Peliod to begin with. This was probably her revenge against Peliod for the insult earlier.
Obera had also knocked out Tishorn cold, not killing him, so his energy didn't go to Peliod. Obera had imprisoned the Insectar General in a cage of light that would disintegrate his body if he awoke and tried to escape it and had returned to Milim's side after Milim had finished off Zelanus. Milim now watched Yumina and Peliod's fight with a slight expression of worry on her face.
After scanning the battlefield I looked at Peliod who now seemed to be bursting with power. Indeed, her EV had shot up to beyond 100 Million and would be troublesome for anyone.
'Though Father could probably still make defeating her look easy.' I thought to myself.
'I know Milim is worried about me right now. My strength doesn't come from my energy value as hers does, but rather from my technique and Ultimate Skill. I'd never allow Milim to get over 100 Million EV in our spars, so she must assume I'd have trouble.' I thought.
After a few moments of allowing Peliod to finish basking in her new feeling of Omnipotence, I decided it was time to end it. Due to the consideration the others were giving me, I'd be a jerk to continue playing like this just to soothe my own heart.
"Are you done?" I asked Peliod who looked at me with anger in her eyes.
Peliods regrown wings spread out wide before flapping once in a powerful burst of energy, sending a shockwave toward me comparable to a full-power final blow from someone in the Million Class. My smile grew wider, thinking that now would be the perfect time to use the Ultimate Secret ability of [Leviathan] and exact my ultimate revenge.
"[Whiteout]!" I said calmly.
In that instant, the very laws of the world were overwritten and Peliod's energy value cratered and I felt my own begin to burst forth from within. There was no doubt. [Leviathan]'s true power was revealed to the world.
I had just reduced Peliod's energy values to below my own while simultaneously degrading her Skills a rank and absorbing all of the excess energy Peliod had amassed. This technique could only be used once per day, as it broke the laws of the world by 'making me the weak able to prey on the strong' according to Mother, but in this situation it was more than enough.
I looked down at Peliod. "Bug, begone," I commented as I swung my sword once.
Tens of hundreds of slashes appeared on Peliod's body for an instant before Peliod burst into nothing by tiny chunks smaller than even a coin before even those chunks were frozen solid by my aura. When they crashed down onto the earth, the ice shattered like a piece of fragile glass before melting into nothingness, not even leaving a puddle behind.
I exhaled, allowing small amounts of icy fog to come from my mouth as the battlefield was silent. I suppose that made sense, from their perspective one of the Insectar Generals instantly became stronger than even a True Dragon, in terms of energy values anyway, before I stole all of its power and decimated it in under a second.
I turned to look at Milim only to see her already flying up to me, stars in her eyes.
"Whooooohhhhhh!!! WHAT WAS THAT!?!?! THAT WAS SOOOO COOOOOLLLL!!!!!" She said as she flew around me, inspecting my body.
"It's my Ultimate Skill's true power," I said slightly taken aback by Milim's earnest look of praise.
"Eeehhhhh!?!?! Why didn't you use it in a fight against me then?" Milim began pouting. "You think your too good for me?"
I shook my head. "I'm not going after you to kill you, you know, just like you don't fight against me with your full power trying to kill me, right?" I said.
Milim looked shocked and taken aback. "Y-yeah... I definitely don't use my full power against you either..." Milim said sweating profusely.
It was my turn to be taken aback. "Wait really Milim!?! That's you going all out!?!" I asked, horrified by the implications.
Milim was now practically in tears. "I'm telling you that's not it!!!"
"If Milim-sama would learn to use Calculations more often in a fight rather than rely on instinct and overwhelming force then perhaps your 'spars' would be more even," Obera commented.
"Oy! Obera! Don't take her side!" Milim begged.
"Pfft~ Hahahahahahahaha!!!!" I couldn't stop myself from laughing now as Milim began to squirm and try to come up with excuses as to how it 'wasn't like that' and whatnot.
After a couple of seconds, I stopped laughing and put my hand on Milim's shoulder to try to be supportive. "Don't worry, I'll still love you no matter how much weaker you are than me," I said, a gleam coming from my eyes as I smiled at Milim.
"You're definitely Alaster's daughter," Obera commented as Milim flew away to go have a temper tantrum alone.
(3rd POV)
With the deaths of Peliod and Zelanus, the war was effectively over. Zess took control over the Insectars that remained and surrendered. Because of Rimuru's nature, he'd ordered that no one was allowed to die on Milim's front, and so the Tempest team did everything in their power to prevent deaths and revive the ones that did perish quickly enough that there were no casualties by the end of the day.
The Insectars were allowed to leave, though they were now forbidden from invading the Magic Continent anymore via treaty and had to help rebuild Milim's country which had been destroyed. Zess and Mujika agreed to these terms.
Apparently, the constant invasions were an order from Zelanus to weed out the weaker insectars and build up his Insect General's experience after the first few invasions failed. Sure if they actually managed to conquer it that would be great, but the continent still had plenty of space left, and Insectars could colonize underwater too, as they didn't really need to breathe air to survive.
Zess and Mujika did worry about the potential for a future civil war in the insectar domain now that there was no concrete leadership. Insectars only followed the strong, but Mujika and Zess were about equal in strength with Tishorn being a close third. At first, they tried to solve this bloodlessly by getting Zegion to take on Zelanus' title as Insect Lord, due to him being the strongest living insectar by a wide margin, but he refused.
Instead, Zegion brought Zess and Mujika to fight it out in the labyrinth to see who would lead with Zess coming out on top. Tishorn and Mujika then became his aids and Zess took on the title of Demon Lord, though that information wouldn't be announced for a long time.