Sitting cross-legged, Moss had secured a position in the air overlooking the battle from above.
His size was smaller than usual, it looked like a child around that age of 10.
He achieved this by activating his Unique Skill 『Collector』.
Its capability was highly versatile, and had practical application in almost every scenario.
It was often used to create miniscule clones of himself to spread calamity everywhere, its primary being the reaping of life...
This time though, he stopped at only using it to monitor the situation within each individual Airship
However...
(Good grief, looks like the strong ones are all concentrated at the flagship...
How boring.
If it's like this, there isn't a single person we(I) can fight.
What's this? It appears my fellow Demon Nobles are in a challenging fight... how enviable.
However, that Kondo's quite a bigshot.
To make Carrera-sama get serious, and yet still fighting on par with her...)
He monitored every ongoing battle, recording them without negligence.
After all, what he was collecting was intelligence.
At the same time, he hadn't forgotten to transfer the collected intelligence over to Diablo.
Though he hadn't noticed that Diablo, acting as a relay point, was further sending that information to a certain someone....
Zonda who was nearby a while ago, spectating the battle of their Demon Lord Rimuru, was informed of their colleague Veyron's struggle, and headed off to support him.
Witnessing Demon Lord Rimuru-sama's overwhelmingly powerful attack―― the "Veldora Sword" ―― had left him brimming with excitement, and seemed to have awakened something in him, but it was likely a good thing to be of use to Veyron.
As he was thinking such things,
(Kufufufufu. Moss, we're progressing smoothly. What's the situation with the "Rat"?
The message came from Diablo.
(No problems here.
It looks like it has been moving around several ships heading for their transfer devices, but it has failed to teleport outside.
Thanks to the Spatial Interference Barrier set up by the Greater Demons, teleportation is being successfully prevented.
Looks like Cien has done quite a fine job)
(All right. Having it darting around is quite a pain.
Anyways, he'll probably appear on the flagship reeled in by the bait(Emperor).
It appears several escape methods were thought out, but it's all pointless.
Kufufufufu. Destroy everything other than the flagship)
(Roger that. Now then, my clones shall――)
(Wait. After hearing those words of insult towards Rimuru-sama, your boss seems to be raging.
I think it's better if we left this to Testa. This would probably help her vent out some anger.)
(What?! Didn't you hear what I just said about the Emperor?
Before the "Rat" takes the bait(Emperor) we can't have the it killed.)
(Well, it'll probably be alright.
It's impossible for Testa to destroy that "Castle Guard".
However, I fear this may cause interference with surveillance of the "Rat".
Please somehow calm her down, and help her regain her reason.)
(Wha? You mean me? What the heck, just unreasonable !!)
(Yes I mean you! Kufufufu. I'm leaving this to you then!)
(Ah, he hung up.
No matter how you look at it, it seems Diablo-sama's no good at handling Testarossa-sama...)
Thinking so at the back of his mind, Moss let out a big sigh.
Calm yet cruel.
Even so, he was still lenient towards the other Devil Lords.
However, towards Moss' master Testarossa, he seemed to actually act carefully.
Well, there isn't any reason in particular, maybe it's just Moss' imagination.
Changing his trail of thought with a "Good grief.", Moss contacted Testarossa.
He requested her to destroy all other Airships apart from the flagship.
(Leave it to me. Let's teach them what happens when they dare insult Rimuru-sama!)
Feeling the surge of her anger, Moss' face stiffened.
Wouldn't the "Rat" be accidentally grilled as well? He was worried for an instant, but even if that did happen, there were no problems.
He judged so, and began retrieving his clones.
Apart from a small number left at the transfer devices of each vessel, all the other clones were retrieved successfully.
At the same time, the battle on the decks had begun to reach their conclusions.
Zonda who had cheerfully headed off to offer his support, had helped Veyron by utilizing his ability to transform himself into a weapon.
(Right, as expected.)
Accepting the victory of his colleagues as the natural order of things, he returned to his own role of observing the "Rat".
Incidentally, the remaining small amount of clones were ordered to continually obstruct the Mages on board the ships to interfere with their Defence Magic.
There was probably no need for that, but weakening the multi-layered barriers even a bit would act as support for Testarossa.
Immediately after, the sound of a large explosion resounded. Around half of the remaining airships around the flagship―― around 60 of them――had been raptured by a dragon of fire. (TN: 炎の龍 means it's a dragon composed of fire rather than an actual fire dragon, so fire dragon may cause some confusion, especially with a certain Scorch Dragon around…)
This was due to the exceedingly high temperature of the wide area magic――"Chain Prominence".
The Airships whose defenses were weakened due to Moss's interference couldn't possibly resist, and were all burned to nothingness by the grand spell.
Thus, excluding the 200 captured airships, only the flagship, which carried the Emperor, was left in the air.
Moss had probed into the whereabouts of the "Rat", confirming that it had transferred aboard the flagship.
At the same time, the teleportation magic formations of the captured Airships had all been erased by his clones.
All as per instructed.
As such, the battle plan had moved on to its final phase.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
Ultima was purely enjoying her battle with Damrada.
Their strengths rivaling each other, a victor couldn't be easily determined.
Or so it seemed at first but...
When it came to using magic, as a demon, she had complete mastery, enabling her to use it as she pleased.
However, when it came to acquired ability, in terms of proficiency, she lagged behind Damrada by several steps.
The quality of their mana was different, but when it came to the quantity of Energy, she should have had the overwhelming advantage.
And yet that Damrada, by focusing his attacks onto a single point, he had managed to offset all of Ultima's attacks.
That being the case, a multi-pronged attack was attempted, but then multiple simultaneous attacks, all with equal strength was initiated in retaliation, and Alternative had activated on all of them, offsetting the attacks once more.
His mastery was splendid, the very definition of model usage.
However, Damrada was aware of the fact he had been backed into a corner.
Unwilling to show off his hand, every time he played a card, he clearly felt Ultima taking it in, and growing stronger.
(This is bad. At this rate I'll definitely be defeated.)
That was the harsh reality.
From a third party's point of view, they'd probably think their abilities are evenly matched.
However, as it was currently balanced, as one side continued to grow, the scales would begin to tilt.
and then,
「Aha, I'm starting to get it now! 」(TN: Your daily reminder that Ultima's a bokuko/tomboy.)
Happily cried Ultima as 6 pairs of――12 individual――pitch black wings spread out, and simultaneously commenced their attacks towards Damrada.
An attack via the wings.
It, unlike the unstable Black Flame Whip up until now, it was a severe attack with refined strength.
Damrada mustered his strength, and focused on subverting the attack.
Did it! And after he felt relief for an instant,
「Poison Lunge Fist!」
The young lady (Ultima) had pierced through Damrada's Abdomen.
Her wrist clad in magic, the Ultimate Skill 『Poison King Samael』 was focused on the purple claws at her five fingers as it activated.
Its strength easily broke through Damrada's defenses, giving her the grasp of victory.
「Ughf!」
Damrada started vomiting blood, and collapsed on the spot.
However, still mustering his willpower,
「You idiot, that wasn't a lunge fist. It was a spear hand...
But, the strike was flawless...well done...
It could be called "Bloody Bite (Crimson Serpent's Venomous Claws)" perhaps...」(EN: Look at this guy. Spouting off chuuni attack name on his death bed.)
And saying that much, he collapsed.
Looking up towards the sky, he looked back at his entire life, and made a bitter smile with a hint of regret.
Your Majesty――
「Damrada, this time may be my last.
I am more than tired.
Suppressing Justice King Michael from going out of control has its limits.
When you think about this thoroughly, absolute "Justice" isn't all that different from "evil".
a justice that everyone acknowledges doesn't exist after all...
Therefore, while I'm still myself I command you.
『Seek out he who can defeat me!!』
If I lose this battle against Guy, There probably wouldn't be anyone left with the ability to suppress the berserking Justice King Michael.
It pains me to ask you for this favor.
It's vexing to be unable to keep my promise with "Stellar Dragon King" Veldanava but...
That's something I'll go apologize to him about on the other side.
This is an imperial order.
Find someone who can defeat me, and destroy Justice King Michael!!」
――My sincere apologies.
I was unable to fulfill your imperial order...
Regret.
However, there was also relief.
To find someone who could kill his master, to Damrada it was agonizing.
Guy wouldn't budge.
That Demon Lord was obstinate about rules, he would never make a move out of his own volition.
For that reason, after the Emperor's decree was issued, Damrada had left the Emperor's side and began his various activities around the world.
He had found some candidates.
Kagurazaka Yuuki and Demon Lord Rimuru.
Their existences were the buds of chaos, but at the same time they were also the rays of hope.
This battle had caused the decisive showdown against Guy to become an impossibility.
At this point it was already impossible to rebuild themselves. Emperor Rudra no longer had the spare energy to wait for another opportunity.
With his tenacious will, he had dominated and controlled the ultimate skill 『Justice King Michael』.
For Rudra who bore the flesh of man, it must have been a burden painful beyond imagination. However, Rudra had endured all the way till now.
He was idealistic, he wanted to unite the world, he wanted establish eternal peace.
A dream where no conflict and poverty, where mankind would develop.
When Rudra's sister Lucia first met Veldanava she made a promise; she had sworn to give it her all alongside Emperor Rudra to work towards "establishing a unified country".
However, that dream would end in failure.
That being that case, they needed to stop the rampaging of the Ultimate Skill bestowed by the "Stellar Dragon King" Veldanava, 『Justice King Michael』.
To be destroyed by the ability handed from a friend, it truly is the greatest irony.
Before Rudra collapsed, Damrada had to fulfill the imperial decree, but...
It seemed he had failed in his duty.
Defeated by Ultima, his life began to wane.
However, he believed this wasn't a worse case scenario.
「His majesty...Rudra sama, I wish for him to be killed (released)...
can I ask that of you...?」
「...Yeah, alright. I planned to kill him anyways!」
Hearing Ultima's reply, Damrada felt relieved, his heart was liberated as he felt at peace.
「Your offering, is my soul... I will pass on all the "techniques" I've forged...
――Your majesty...I'll be joining you now...」
Those were his last words.
Damrada, took his last breath and descended into eternal slumber.
He who was the Prime Minister of the Nasca Kingdom, and the sworn friend of the unifying Emperor Rudra・Nam・Ul・Nasca.
The curtains had finally been drawn on the long life of the "Fist Saint" Damrada.
「A-ah, how boring. His Heart disappeared.
Especially after I thought about presenting it to Rimuru sama...」
Looking uninterested, Ultima, absorbed Damrada's body that was altering into energy, his very soul, with her black tentacles.
The skills and strength Damrada had forged was being absorbed into her body.
And so, the battle between Ultima and Damrada reached its conclusion.
The life of one "Fist Saint" ended, and that of a new "Fist Saint" was born.
Damrada, in his final moments, had given his greatest power to one of the worst (strongest) of the demons.
Perhaps passing on without noticing this was, for him, a blissful thing.
Or perhaps, he was happy with the fact there was a successor for his skills.
Damrada passed away, and it was no longer possible to know the answer to this, for a method to do so didn't exist.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
Carrera, who had just lost her left arm, was in a bind.
With an ability to convert her violence from within into strength, she could exhibit immense power, but the man before her stands in her way like a wall.
Kondo too, had miscalculated.
From the beginning, justice belonged to the victor, and to lose to an opponent while donning his uniform was inexcusable.
Wearing it meant that he would be giving it his all. Even if his opponent were a powerful one, he would never don his uniform unless he judged it necessary to quickly eliminate them.
And yet, even after firing several Remove bullets to destroy her barriers and multiple Necrosis bullets at her directly, she was still alive and kicking as she charged at Kondo.
In other words, she was a "threat" at a level that not even Kondo could easily handle.
(Such a pain. If only I still had the Judgment bullet left...)
Or so he thought, but just thinking about this would be no good, and he shot out an Eraser bullet once more.
The Judgment bullet, it was trump card that could only be shot once a day, but that also meant that it packed the strongest punch.
However he had already used it earlier in order to weaken Veldora, he would have to wait until cooldown time was over, so there's no point thinking about it.
Against the Demon Carrera, Kondo had the upper hand in terms of battle tactics and proficiency over his abilities, however her overbearing Energy had forcefully evened the playing field.
In this battle, several bullet shots caused Carrera's magic circuits to go haywire, and an Eraser bullet by Kondo managed to erase her left arm before it had the chance to regenerate.
Even now Carrera took a hit from a maximum output Eraser bullet that managed to gorge out the left side of her abdomen.
「You bastard...!!」
Carrera groaned as she used her right hand to mend the large hole on her flank.
Normally, this level of injury is something she could passively heal, however due to the effects of the Necrosis bullets, her healing failed to function.
In a situation where her left arm wouldn't regenerate, Carrera was made aware of the graveness of the situation.
The stronger of mind could beat the stronger of power.
At this point, Carrera, whose body was tormented by pain, deeply understood this.
There was no point in merely having them.
When fighting true elites, similar to using magic as naturally as breathing air, one must also have complete mastery of their own abilities.
In a contest of power, Carrera had the overwhelming advantage.
However, she suffered a majorly in terms of will power.
(If this goes on, I'll lose...?
In other words...I'll die?
We demons...the strongest…
I, a Devil Lord, will!?)
This was something she would never acknowledge.
Above all, this would go against the order of Carrera's beloved master, Demon Lord Rimuru.
If something like that happened, Carrera feared that even if she couldn't atone for this disgrace even if she killed herself 10,000 times over.
Rather than death, she worried about being unable to follow Rimuru's orders.
「Such a thing is unacceptable!」
Shouting aloud, she braced herself as she forcefully tried to regenerate her left abdomen and left arm.
Activating the Ultimate Skill 『Extinction King Abaddon』 on both her hands, black and white lights filled up the space around Kondo and Carrera.
Colossal amounts of magic essence were being converted into energy, and the aftershocks had enough force to blow away Carrera and Kondo.
Carrera focused her will, and gained control of the Energy.
As for Kondo, he wanted to say 'are you fucking kidding me'. (TN: I am not joking here…well, it's a comical take, but this is actually what it saids…)
At the moment, if he attacked Carrera and disrupted her concentration, he feared the uncontrolled outburst of energy concentrated on her hands would blow away the entire Airship.
Perchance, if he didn't survive the blow, he feared the Emperor would get wrapped up in it.
Due to the fact the surrounding Airships had all been annihilated, with the flagship as the only remaining vessel, he couldn't disregard the risks.
His teeth grinding in frustration, it was as if the tables had turned in an instant.
Kondo wasn't exactly at fault in this regard.
This was praiseworthy, to able instantly compress the mana that swelled out of nowhere, and leading to the current circumstances, reflected the precision of Carrera's 『Mana Manipulation』.
This was something that could be accomplished precisely because she was Carrera, who, among the 4 Devil Lords, boasted of Energy levels second only to Diablo, and prided herself on the precision of her control.
「I bestow upon you destruction.Be gone! "Abyss Annihilation"!!」(TN: You really got to admire the Chunnibyou within the author to come up with all these names… )
A substance called forth from the abyss, a torrent of Anti-Spirit Energy.
This was Carrera's Ultimate Magic.
Realized through the use of the Ultimate Skill 『Extinction King Abaddon』, this was the greatest, the best Attack Magic.
Kondo quickly analyzed the situation and took action, invoking his Ultimate Skill 『Sandalphon the Executioner』.
With Kondo as the target, this was a spell that would destroy anything in its path.
He understood it as such.
At this rate, it would directly hit the bridge of the ship behind Kondo.
Therefore, in order to avoid affecting the bridge he'd have to go against, and suppress the Energy.
He determined it as such.
Emperor Rudra who was on the deck would probably be safe even if he took a direct hit. That being the case, protecting the flagship would be synonymous to protecting the Emperor.
And thus, Kondo, making good use of Sandalphon, attempted to tackle the force of extinction but...
"Abyss annihilation" was Carrera's strongest magic, and its power was likewise excessively overwhelming.
Despite being protected from head to toe by the God-tier armour that was used to its full potential, Kondo felt intense pain penetrating throughout his entire body.
But thanks to that, Kondo survived.
It was the result of protection from a God-tier armour on top of using Sandalphon the Executioner.
However he wasn't unharmed, wounded all over his body, he was in a state where he was barely standing.
But, as a result of his actions, the bridge was splendidly protected.
He was relieved.
The battered Kondo turned towards Carrera,
「You are, unfair――」
He expressed his emotions for the first time.
Carrera seemed satisfied with his words,
「Ah, that's natural. We are of the strongest race after all.
But are you not very unfair yourself?」
She responded with a grin while laughing fearlessly.
For Carrera, this was the greatest compliment.
And then, she prepared herself vigilantly.
Kondo was wounded all over.
However, Carrera too had suffered heavier damage than how she appeared.
While the two mutually acknowledged each other, they began mustering their last ounce of strength for the final showdown.