It was a majestic red dragon. Wind could be seen faintly whirling around its body that
was sized as big as a house.
[This is the first time we met since the conference of the three countries isn't it,
youngster of Balted.]
The voice sounded like it resounded from the bottom of the dragon's stomach. The
jaws that were lined up with sharp fangs didn't move, but the vibration of the air could
be felt so apparently the words themselves were transmitted normally.
Shia thought 'The way he talk is different from Thio-san huh' while judging that the
dragon wasn't an enemy and put a brake on Schutaif.
She confronted the red dragon midair on a bike that had a carriage attached.
"I've told you every time, please stop calling me youngster, Gruelle-dono. I am the king
of Balted."
[Fuh, forgive me. I am completely unable to forget the you at your youth.]
His majesty Eric who leaned out from the window asked the dragon to correct his
words with a bitter face.
Apparently his majesty Eric and his majesty Gruelle were old acquaintance. Their
countries were neighboring each other without any particular quarrel between them,
in addition their two countries were fellows surviving countries among the three
remaining countries, so it was only natural.
In contrast with the dragon's fiendish appearance, it seemed his majesty Gruelle had
gentle disposition. Shia thought so from his voice and atmosphere.
The dragon eyes of his majesty Gruelle moved toward Shia. And then, his breath was
taken away. He looked at Shia once more from closer and he seemed to have something
in his mind from the way he was staring fixedly at her.
[…I'm surprised. I presume that you are the hero. To think that the hero is a fellow
tribe member and a girl who is this beautiful.]
"Er~r, nice to meet you, king of the beast tribe. My name is Shia Hauria."
Shia kept sitting on Schutaif, but she bowed her head briefly just in case. However, she
somehow got an unpleasant premonition and her lips were subtly twitching.
[Pardon my rudeness.]
His majesty Gruelle said that and the next instant, he was wrapped in light. Then, a
beat later he transformed into a red haired dandy handsome man. His appearance
looked like someone whose age was at the late forty. An attractive middle-aged man
who was overflowing with dignity and youthful vitality. There were only dragon wings
growing from his back.
His majesty Gruelle then lightly flew to Shia's side and,
"I am the king of Tinted Beast Kingdom, Gruelle Dullac Tinted. It's a pleasure to make
your acquaintance, o beautiful hero of fellow beast race."
He said that and smiled while taking Shia's hand and moved his lips toward the back
of her hand.
First thing first, Shia swiftly dodged. It might be a typical greeting, but even if what
she did might be rude, she couldn't tolerate a kiss from the opposite sex. She also
couldn't help but sensing an ulterior motive from how he excessively stressed the part
of "beautiful" and "fellow beast race".
"Im sorry, I'm not used to this kind of greeting. Besides, right now we are in a hurry."
They were marching with uncommon speed and also travel method, so it wasn't like
they didn't have some leeway, but Shia spoke that excuse in order to avoid any
troublesome matter.
"I see, that was really rude of me. It's really unbecoming of someone of my age to be
this high spirited after witnessing your loveliness."
"…Is that so. Thank you."
'Somehow it feels like many of the kings of this world seems to be playboy… ', Shia
thought while exerting herself to prevent her expression from spasming. Whether it
was the demon king or the beast king, Shia was extremely troubled whether she
should called them as idiot who couldn't discern the situation, or whether she should
consider them as composed king who was unperturbed in any kind of situation.
As someone who knew Tio's grandfather――Adol Claus who was also a red dragon
who was the very picture of honesty and sincerity, she was unable to hold a good
impression about the king of dragon man in front of her no matter what.
While she was thinking that, his majesty Eric timidly got down from the carriage and
stood on the sky road that was made from barrier. He walked toward Shia while
sending a helping hand.
"It should be fine to postpone the formal introduction for hero-dono who was
successfully summoned after we overcome the danger that is occurring right now."
"Hmm. Danger is it?"
"Yes. For you to be here, it means that you also received request for assistance from
the demon kingdom just like us correct? In that case, we have to hurry right now."
He said words that sounded like a citation of Shia's words. His majesty Eric glanced at
Shia and nodded.
Shia also nodded while grinning with feeling of gratitude at the helping hand from his
majesty Eric.
His majesty Eric, was shot. His cheeks blushed and his hand covered his mouth while
he looked aside. Inside her heart Shia made a tsukkomi "Are you a maiden!".
"…I see. Although the strength of Louis Lector was needed for the summoning
ceremony, as I thought apparently it's a mistake entrusting this to other."
Such small whisper was carried away by the wind. It was only picked up by Shia's
excellent rabbit ears. Shia could somehow understand what the meaning of that
whisper was from how his majesty Gruelle was looking alternately at his majesty Eric
and Shia.
(Even though it's our first meeting, what's with this? Certainly there is merit in
winning over the hero but… I can sense a sentiment that is more than that…)
From the conversation of his majesty Eric and others on their way here, and how the
way they looked at Shia was identical with how his majesty Gruelle and his majesty
Arogan acted, she couldn't say that it was just her imagination.
(That Erst, did she put a curse of charm or something when I defeated her?)
Shia's popularity period was so amazing to the degree that she had such doubt.
Perhaps, Shia was an article of the finest quality for the sensitivity of the people in this
world.
"I was waiting here due to that matter of reinforcement request."
Shia was taken aback by the words of his majesty Gruelle and she returned back from
the vortex of her thought.
"What do you mean? Do you mean that you wish to match our pace in heading there
as reinforcement?"
There was a small forest below if they looked down. The figures of beastmen could be
seen here and there down there. Most likely they were elite force that was the royal
guard of his majesty Gruelle.
His majesty Eric and others couldn't help from frowning.
The location of the three countries from each other was positioned like a triangle.
Which was to say, the route to go to the demon kingdom from Balted Kingdom
wouldn't overlap with the route from Tinted Beast Kingdom.
The success of the hero summoning along with the degree of the hero's strength had
been conveyed to the beast kingdom before dawn using flying dragon as messenger.
The reinforcement request should be coming to the beast kingdom at around the same
time with that.
Then, it could be surmised that the best way to be reinforcement was to fight together
with the demon kingdom to buy time until the hero arrived rather than intentionally
flying to different direction and lying in wait like this.
Furthermore his majesty Gruelle shouldn't know about uncommon transportation
method like Schutaif, so he should be under the impression that Balted Kingdom
would be coming using the flying dragon his country lent to them. In other words, he
must be planning to wait here for one whole day.
Furthermore, he quickened only his departure so he would be able to intercept Balted
Kingdom in this route with certainty.
If the intention from such act was compared with the way of thinking of his majesty
Gruelle that they knew well then…
"No, I came here to stop you all."
"As expected huh."
It was like that. His majesty Gruelle was waiting here in order to stop the
reinforcement from Balted Kingdom. He prepared a powerful card of the king
personally coming to stop them courteously.
"Eerr, what does that mean? We cannot go to help? Is the people of beast kingdom in
the same position with the celestial people?"
When Shia asked her question with perplexed feeling, his majesty Gruelle smiled
wryly and shook his head.
"No way, the celestial people consider us as enemy. There is no way we can join hand
with them. But, we are simply thinking that we shouldn't reach out to help the demon
kingdom."
In other words, it was something like that. There was no need to go as far to fight a
divine spirit to protect the demon kingdom. Rather, they had no intention to go against
the divine spirit by not getting involved. 'Please help yourself to the sinner, judge them
as you please, that is the expression of our remorse', they wished to convey that by
doing this.
Apparently the king of the beast kingdom was abandoning the demon kingdom.
"Your majesty Gruelle, that's no good. That is no different from what we have done
until now. The sincerity that human should display shouldn't be something like that!"
"You are really young, Eric-dono. As the king of a country, I cannot praise such thinking
that is making light of the benefit for your own country."
"That way of thinking is what invited this situation!"
"There is no guarantee that we will end up safe by opposing divine spirit. You are
getting carried away due to the hero's power, young king."
"There is no point seeking any guarantee at this late hour-. Why won't you understand
that the only path left for human is to advance forward!"
"It's you who are the one who won't understand. You cannot call yourself a king
without being able to make the decision to obtain benefit."
It was a thorough rationalism. His majesty Gruelle shrugged in exasperation and
behaved as though he was talking with a little kid.
Next he asked Shia "Won't you come to me rather than staying under this kind of
immature king?" with his gaze. Shia didn't really change her expression and simply
looked back at his majesty Gruelle with a fixed stare. She looked like she was trying to
ascertain something.
His majesty Eric couldn't control himself from the attitude of his majesty Gruelle that
was like that and spoke roughly.
"Who will listen to an opportunist like you-"
"…I won't stay quiet if you intend to mock me you know?"
"I spoke the truth. You completely ingratiated yourself to demon kingdom's
technology supremacy ideology, but when the divine spirit started to act you
immediately turned around to the plan that our country carry out. And yet, even then
you still acted subservient to the demon kingdom and wouldn't give any satisfactory
help to us until Oros-sama attacked!"
"Watching for opportunity is also the role of the king. What is bad from ascertaining
the feasibility of an absurd plan?"
"Feasibility you say? Then, why did you suddenly become cooperative after Oros-sama
attacked the demon kingdom? That's unrelated with the plan's feasibility right? You
simply abandoned the demon kingdom and turned side toward us!"
"Good grief… I don't come here to listen to a child's temper tantrum."
His majesty Gruelle shook his head with a wry smile and this time he directly offered
his hand toward Shia.
"Shia-dono, although you are someone who has defeated even a divine spirit, surely
this action isn't something that is completely not dangerous for you. There is no need
to head to a meaningless battlefield. Won't you come together with me to the star tree?
If the demon kingdom is judged, the star tree too should understand that there is
already no more bad people among the humans."
"Your highness Gruelle-, you are really-. Now it's the hero you are currying favor to-!?"
"This isn't currying favor. I hope that you will see this as me possessing the eyes to
perceive the tide of the time, or perhaps even the destiny. Unlike you."
His majesty Gruelle was completely unperturbed. He didn't give any glance at his
majesty anymore and simply preached the rational and beneficial path to Shia. He
offered his hand implying that taking his hand was the best course of action, that it
wasn't Balted Kingdom, but Tinted Beast Kingdom that would welcome her as
honored guest.
Shia looked at his majesty Eric. His majesty Eric was looking at Shia with pleading
gaze.
Shia smiled wryly and looked at his majesty Gruelle. His majesty Gruelle smiled kindly.
He invited Shia with eyes that believed the survivor would be those who could ride on
the tide called destiny skillfully.
"I am a commoner, so I don't understand about how the king think. That's why, I also
cannot deny the way Gruelle-san think. To always side with the advantageous
direction for the sake of one's own country's benefit… perhaps that is a correct
decision that is only natural for the king."
"Shia-dono is truly wise."
"Shi, Shia…"
The smile of his majesty Gruelle deepened. Shadow of despair colored the expression
of his majesty Eric.
The next moment,
"But I refuse! Desuu!"
Shia's expression changed completely.
Her smile crumbled and the bewildered king Gruelle asked "Why?".
"I'm unable to like such thing."
"…What do you mean?"
Shia proudly answered toward the dubious expression and words of his majesty
Gruelle.
"There is also a person of dragon clan in my family. That person is always sincere. She
is unshakeable. She honor righteousness, she would stake her life for the sake of
benevolence, even if it's a stupid choice, she will never take back what she has
decided."
"…"
"She who is like that hold the pride as the protector. We too proudly consider her as
the one and only protector. Even though normally she is always fooling around, when
the time comes, when it is necessary, she will always show her back to us. A back that
is worthy for the princess of the dragon clan, a great, noble, sublime, and the most
beautiful standing figure."
Even though her voice was quiet, for some reason a terrific pressure could be felt from
it. His majesty Gruelle lowered his hand from the pressure.
"For me, that is the kind of person a "dragon race" is."
That single sentence spoke the story more eloquently than anything. His majesty
Gruelle couldn't even be compared with "her".
No, more accurately if Shia's feeling was to be expressed, it would be "what a miserable
state". Her feeling would be 'I'm amazed that someone like you is the same "dragon
race" like "her", furthermore you are even introducing yourself as king'.
From the beginning she was unable to harbor good impression toward him for some
reason was because of that. Shia's discerning eyes informed her that he wasn't a
"dragon race" that she knew. And then,"Aah, even though you are a "dragon race", don't
show such appearance to me" her instinct was feeling unpleasant. It was as though
one of her important family was dirtied.
The sky was silent except for the sound of the blowing wind.
While no one was saying anything, Shia suddenly made a wide smile that blew away
such atmosphere.
"Beast king-san, I apologize. I will go with Eric-san and everyone to persuade Orossan!"
Behind her Eric made a guts pose that pierced to the sky. The inside of the carriage
was getting roused up with 'hip hip hooray'.
His majesty Gruelle lost his smile from before and turned expressionless. Was he
feeling rage from reading Shia's emotion? He was simply looking at Shia fixedly with
colorless gaze.
Shia confirmed that Eric had returned inside the carriage and started Schutaif. She
advanced in a way that went around his majesty Gruelle. Even when she passed beside
him, in the end his majesty Gruelle only stared at Shia and didn't do anything.
In response to him who was like that, Shia stopped for a moment and looked across
her shoulder before saying.
"Beast king-san, forgive my presumptuousness but will you allow me to speak about
an experience of mine?"
"…Speak."
Shia listened with her rabbit ears to the beastmen standing by below that were getting
into commotion that Shia and others were going to pass while she said.
"Certainly it might be stupid to go against the flow of the river. But, I also feel doubtful
for those who only ride on the flow simply like leaf or searching only for gentle stream.
Because, based on my experience, that kind of people――"
――Have no future
Although his majesty Gruelle didn't know about Shia's vocation "Divination Master",
something must have come in his mind seeing Shia's figure talking about the future.
He didn't say any objection, and only slipped out "Is that so…" while saying nothing
else.
"Then! I pray that I will be able to meet everyone in a good future!"
'What a thing to say to a king!' Shia thought while smiling slightly shyly before driving
Schutaif away fast.
Beastmen riding flying dragons were rising up from the forest one after another. His
subordinates were calling out to him, however, his majesty Gruelle didn't reply.
He was simply watching the back of the leaving Shia silently.
"Your majesty-, the barrier won't hold anymore!!"
"Golem's emergence is sighted at the west gate! Three hundred in total-. The third
defense corps is pushed back!!"
"The fourth and seventh spirit cannon corps are retreating from the front line due to
running dry! Please send reinforcement!"
"Your majesty!! The sinking of the ground won't stop-, at this rate-"
"Messenger from captain Henzes of the eight defense corps! Intrusion from the
breach, increasing! Many are injured!! The first defense line is abandoned!"
Hearing the reports about the unfavorable situation that were coming one after
another, his majesty the demon king Arogan was grinning fearlessly while getting cold
sweat.
As a king, he absolutely couldn't show any fretfulness. But, soon he was about to
become unable to avoid his fearless grin from spasming.
"Deploy all the defense corps. What about the repair of Tyrant?"
His majesty Arogan reduced a squad of celestial people whole outside the barrier from
the viewing platform at the highest floor of the demon king castle while asking.
"It's seventy percent finished. Currently it's in the middle of getting re-erected. If it's
fine to aim manually, it will be able to fire in ten more minutes."
"Do it in five."
Tyrant――the spirit weapon that the demon kingdom boasted of. It was a huge tower
that reached 300 meter with shape like a tuning fork. It could absorb the spirits of the
land, vibrated the spirit element in high speed and fired it. The spirit element itself
couldn't endure the vibration and would immediately self-destruct, but in that
moment it would indirectly create shockwave.
The power was something truly worthy as the crystallization of the demon kingdom's
technology. When it was fired to all direction, anything inside the range of 1 kilometer
around the capital, even a mass of rock would be pulverized indiscriminately. If the
opponent was human, they would be driven into a state that was unable to battle even
within the range of 2 kilometer.
If it was fired into a single direction, the power and range would increase even further.
Previously, it was also this weapon that drove away the divine spirit of earth Oros. His
large body that was two hundred meters high in total was pulverized many times.
Of course, Oros could regenerate as many times as he liked as long as there was ground
so the demon kingdom couldn't win completely, but there was no doubt that it dealt a
serious damage to a divine spirit.
Although, even that super weapon right now was destroyed by Oros's first attack and
became unusable. Fortunately the damage wasn't fatal, so it would be able to fire as
long as the tower was raised with spirit art.
"However… your majesty, is it alright? Using Tyrant will be a violation of the treaty
regarding the salvation plan."
A man in his prime with splendid moustache growing on his face――the confidant of
his majesty Arogan, Barius――asked with a hesitant tone.
Collection and relinquishment of the spirit element refined within human body,
prudence in using spirit element resource, and then directly pleading to the star tree
to beg for coexistence with the spirits. Those were the gist of the salvation plan.
Therefore, when the alliance of the three countries was formed, naturally the banning
of the use of a weapon like Tyrant that thoroughly consumed vast amount of spirit
element along with the spirits was one of the conditions.
If they used this nightmarish weapon once more, who in the world would believe the
words "We are reflecting. We will reform ourselves from now on." coming from their
mouth. The salvation plan would be a failure when they used it. They had to resolve
themselves for the demon kingdom to be isolated after using it.
Toward his anxious confidant, his majesty Arogan didn't slow down his attack toward
the army of the celestial people while answering coldly.
"Barius. Look at our country."
The capital was split. The ground was cracked in radiating shape like a spider web.
The ground was split by Oros's first attack.
It seemed that Oros's slow pace was to invite negligence. The demon kingdom's
attention was fixed into his gigantic body, while in actuality he sent small clone of
himself for surprise attack. In order to first make Tyrant unusable above all else.
It was the demon kingdom's trump card, so the security for it was heavy. His majesty
Arogan who immediately noticed Oros's clone immediately crushed it, because of that
the Tyrant avoided complete destruction, but the shockwave greatly damaged the
capital.
And then, severe earthquake was assaulting them even at this moment. Oros's
towering body was sending down fist on the barrier like a meteor. The powerful attack
of spirit art from the army of celestial people that numbered of 2000 people was also
attacking the barrier without pause. The size of the barrier was being reduced in every
second.
In addition, small golems were physically tearing down the outer wall and flooded in.
They clung on the barrier and started to recklessly attack like a battering ram.
Even inside the barrier there were golems swelling up from the cracks running on the
ground. They couldn't help but to send battle force to the center of the capital. It was
a situation where it wouldn't be strange for the inner part to collapse anytime.
Many citizens and soldiers were already parting from this present world.
The countdown toward the end of the country was starting.
"Should we perish graciously for the sake of the world's future? Foolish. Such outrage,
that haughtiness of the god is unforgivable."
For his majesty Arogan, he was planning to wait until the very limit. Right now in this
world existed a way to cut through this situation without using Tyrant.
He didn't see it by himself so he couldn't be sure, but certainly there was a divine spirit
of lightning cloud beside her who was so exhausted he couldn't even take human form.
If it was against a woman, no matter who they were they would lose the strength in
their knees when his smile and words bathed them. But that beautiful, interesting girl
wasn't only unperturbed, she even punched him.
If she and the divine spirit of lightning cloud held back Oros for them, then the
possibility of realizing the salvation plan
buying time
would heighten drastically.
Although, there was no guarantee that reinforcement would come.
"Have your majesty considered the possibility of them abandoning us?"
"Do you think that lizard king who favor turncoat diplomacy won't admonish that
inexperienced king?"
His majesty Arogan understood well how his country was seen, how they were
evaluated by others, how was the personality of the kings of the other countries.
That was why he sent his projection to directly cajole the inexperienced Eric. And then,
because the hero was unexpectedly a beautiful girl, he believed that the possibility of
reinforcement would increase if he made her his captive and made advances on her.
He never thought even at his wildest dream that a fist would fly into his face.
"If they abandon us, then we too will give up the salvation plan. In any case, everything
will be over if we don't survive. If we are able have a way of thinking like contributing
to the future by perishing, we wouldn't join something like salvation plan from the
beginning."
"It's just as your majesty say."
The world of man had to be ruled by man.
They mustn't be controlled by the sense of values of god. Such unreasonableness
couldn't be forgiven.
They mustn't be imprisoned by the old convention. Advancement and progress were
exactly the characteristic of human. Existences that obstructed that couldn't be
forgiven. They had to fight resolutely.
That was the fundamental values of the demon kingdom. It was the people who were
charmed by those values who were the people of this country.
And then, the person who obeyed those values, who were given expectation by those
values, and aimed to even further height was none other than the demon king Arogan
Spervia Rated.
"Your majesty!! Oros is-"
"――"
A report was screamed.
When they looked there in surprise, the surrounding ground was undulating and
bulging up. The soil became a high wave and massed into Oros. At the same time, Oros
was enlarging in size even further.
"Impossible… there is no record of this."
Divine spirit ought to be opposed, so naturally the demon kingdom was researching
them thoroughly. In the literatures, there was no record of Oros enlarging bigger than
400 meter. There was no such thing even in the legend and tales when the divine
spirits were fighting enemy of the world called the outsiders or in the incidents when
they were involved with the historical heroes.
Oros who finally reached an unprecedented enlargement of 600 meter which might
never to be seen again in the future raised a sound that shook the air and he lifted both
his arms. The joined hands became one which created a terrifically huge lump of rock.
It was a giant fist that blocked even the sunlight.
"Reinforce the barrier!! Wring out all your strength!"
Things like calm order or fearless grin were all blown away at this moment. The
order's volume that was magnified with spirit art was broadcasted around. The spirit
artists who deployed and maintained the barrier poured their spirit element with
deathly desperate look. Even his majesty Arogan poured his tremendous spirit
element like water to reinforce the barrier.
But, in front of the god's crushing hammer, all that effort was just too transient.
There was a thunderous explosion as though the world was split.
The barrier showed an instant of opposition, but the next instant cracks ran through
and it shattered like broken mirror.
A direct attack to the capital was barely avoided, but the spreading shockwave mowed
down the citizens and soldiers. The buildings that were already brittle from before
were blown away.
It was a great disaster that was truly like a falling meteor.
And yet, the divine punishment apparently wouldn't forgive them even at the slightest
with just this much.
Shadow covered them. The huge shadow that blocked the sunlight.
"You bastard-, I won't let you-"
Extremely fierce light of spirit element burst out from his majesty Arogan who opened
his eyes wide. It was an overwhelming torrent of power that was worthy for a demon
king.
"Element is water, stream shape, distance seven, coordinate formula――"Raging
Stream""
Right after that, Oros who was holding aloft the crushing hammer was enveloped by
water stream that suddenly manifested from empty air. It didn't look like the water
itself had any particular effect, but the second attack that was immediately
released――the freezing air froze the soaking wet Oros.
*Creak* Creaking sound resounded. The hammer that was going to fall exactly at that
timing was stopped.
"Element is earth. Compressed state, distance seven, coordination formula―"Hades"."
Right after that, the ground below Oros's feet immediately caved in. It was a bold
attack that was opposing the divine spirit of earth by caving in the ground, however, it
was enough to break Oros's balance coupled with his frozen state.
The ground shook with tremor and cloud of dust rolled up grandly while Oros fell on
one knee.
"Element is mixed, the main is wind, the sub is flame. Converged shape, acceleration
formula four times――"Flame Cluster""
Wind growled and the air was filled with heat. Wind and flame were gathered and
mixed in front of the hands that his majesty Arogan thrust out, showing radiance like
plasma. The next moment, it was fired and exploded at the center of Oros without
missing.
The instant it hit, explosion and shockwave surged and shook the air.
The cloud of dust was instantly cleared by the wind blast. Ahead, there was the figure
of Oros with a large hole opened in his chest and his right half being partially
destroyed. The power that partially destructed a giant with size bigger than 600 meter
was terrifying. The power of the demon king was displayed fully here.
But,
"…Good grief, even though I have used a third of the spirit element inside me, this is
just too unreasonable."
As expected, their base power was too different. With the sound *prang*, Oros broke
through the freezing and gathered raw materials from the ground in the blink of eye,
repairing his body.
[Repent]
A heavy voice that was like crawling out from the bottom of earth echoed. It was Oros's
voice that they heard for the first time since this battle began.
*Gogogo-* Rumbling that was like the shaking of the ground was resounding while
Oros's large body was rising up. He spoke while lifting up both his hands into a
crushing hammer once more.
[O world, obtain peace]
"Divine spirit! Listen! We have prepared to repent!"
His majesty Arogan deployed a barrier while yelling once more the sentence they had
been yelling all the time since the opening of the battle. However, Oros[s movement
didn't stop. The second crushing blow was descending from the sky.
It hit the barrier.
"Guuh"
He groaned while his peerless handsome face twisted, even so he poured all his
strength into the barrier.
Surprisingly, the second divine punishment was deflected along with an explosive
sound even though only barely. It seemed his majesty Arogan included the spirit art of
wind blast just now into the barrier.
But, it seemed that his resistance only went that far. The demon king lost his strength
and fell on one knee. His subordinates starting from Barius ran toward him, but their
expression twisted into despair.
The hammer was already lifted up as though nothing had happened.
"The Tyrant!?"
"-, Not yet-. The celestials are hindering them."
It seemed that the trump card wouldn't make it in time. His aides, his own art, and his
prided spirit weapon that he developed himself laid out multiple layers of barrier to
protect the king.
But, most likely, no, undoubtedly their barrier would be unable to block the next
attack.
Seeing the god's hammer was going to be dropped anytime toward a corner of the
demon king palace where surely the demon king was located, all the soldiers and all
the citizens were drowned in despair.
Other than the force whose objective was to destroy Tyrant, the celestial people had
stopped attacking when the barrier of the capital was destroyed and they were
looking down as though they were the witness to the divine punishment. Their
expression was completely dyed with joy.
[For the sake of mother Lutria.]
Perish. He informed so and executed the divine punishment.
His majesty Arogan glared at the mass of rock that covered the sky and,
"Someday human-, will reach all of you bastards!! Remember that!!"
He yelled――
"SHAORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!!"
A piercing yell of fighting spirit surged up. What came flying like a streak of flash was
a rabbit eared girl clad in bluish white radiance.
In opposition of the falling giant hammer of god, was a war hammer that although
huge was only in the level that could be handled by human in the end.
The girl who stepped on midair with deep stepping sound brandished the war
hammer behind her with her body twisting like a bow… and she swung.
And then, it was blown back.
Without any petty trick. Without even any technique. Without even any spirit art or
any mysterious phenomenon.
It was blown back simply by pure violence right from the front!
"…Impossible."
From the first time since he was born, his majesty Arogan's beautiful face crumbled
into a stupid look.
Around him, there were Barius and others whose jaw dropped down so wide it fell
like it would fall off. From here and there voices like "Lies…""Is this a dream"that were
escaping reality leaked out.
And then, Oros who was a divine spirit that embodied firmness also wasn't an
exception.
[…No way]
His posture was forced into banzai gesture and he hurriedly separated his hands that
were fused into a crushing hammer. He recovered his balance with both hands while
stepping back one step, two steps from the impact.
Ahead of the gaze of all these people, the rabbit eared girl――Shia was,
"Fuu, I barely made it in time."
She swoop back her rabbit ears *fuasa-*. Vire Drucken tapped *tap tap♪* on her
shoulder. Bluish white magic power glittered and the hair that was the same color with
the wind fluttered. The dreamy beautiful legs lightly stepped down.
Like a flower of wide petals blooming in the battlefield, she was so lovely to the degree
it was like a joke.
"Now, Oros-san! Let's talk!"
Her voice resounded dignifiedly. That figure charmed the demon king, the people, and
then, even the divine spirit.
At the same time.
"Nuooh"
A scream resounded inside the room. Hajime's body leaped up in shock.
He blinked inside the dim room with its curtain completely closed.
――Chu~, chu~
The light weight his body was feeling was something he was very familiar with. His
memory was hazy, but he somehow recalled how he half-heartedly handled the no
good vampire princess and dragged her to him.
When he turned his gaze that was in order to ascertain it…
"…Yue. She is doing her sleep sucking again."
Sleep sucking――that was Yue-sama's bad habit (?). Just as the words meant, she was
sucking while half-asleep. Even now she was hugging Hajime closely while her mouth
sucked on Hajime's neck.
The sensation of her tongue crawling on his neck made him felt a bit of shivers. He
looked at the curtain that had faint light shining in from it while feeling the sensation.
It looked like the sun had slightly set.
He groped for his smartphone and made it display the time and he felt understanding.
The time was about to reach four o'clock at the afternoon.
"So I slept for nearly six hours… I must be really tired. I overestimated my toughness
a bit too much."
Like this, Shia was right telling him to rest, Hajime thought with a wry smile.
The sleep sucking that was continuing even now along with the sleep of nearly six
hours made his head felt clear even though he just got woken up.
For the time being, he tickled Yue's side in the attempt to remove the sleep sucking.
Yue let out a strange voice "hahih" and her mouth opened. Removal success.
Yue's hands wandered around as though to say "Ha, Haijme whereee~". Hajime smiled
wryly at that while gently fixing the disordered hair of the waking up Yue.
At the same time, he felt a presence inside the house and tried searching in detail.
"Tio and Remia, and Myuu too had come home… Kaa-san is also here… Shia is, not
home yet?"
He didn't find Shia's presence. It appeared she still hadn't come back from the Akiba
battlefield.
He checked his smartphone, but there was also no call from her.
"…She is looking around that place really enthusiastically huh."
He tried saying that to himself but, somehow, really for some reason his chest felt a
vague uneasiness.
It felt like his head that was cleared throughout the rest was raising an alert.
Hajime wordlessly took out the compass from his "Treasure Warehouse". Perhaps
noticing that Hajime's presence that turned sharp, Yue woke up in a snap.
"…Hajime? What's the matter?"
"Shia still hasn't come home."
Yue looked at the clock and tilted her head slightly. There was still some time before
dinner. The time was only slightly entering evening. She wondered what the problem
was.
From a glance, Hajime could be seen as a fiercely possessive boyfriend who confirmed
with GPS her girlfriend's location in succession as though he wanted to constantly
grasp her position…
Naturally, Yue didn't have such thinking. Hajime was getting serious about Shia even
if only slightly. It wouldn't be strange no matter what happened. She immediately
woke up fully and be still while waiting for Hajime's words.
Hajime's magic power surged and the compass activated. It loyally carried out his
order to search for Shia's location.
But…
"Tsu, no, reaction?"
"…Hajime?"
The compass's effective range was in proportion with the amount of magic power
poured into it.
With the magic power he poured right now, just a mere distance from here to Akiba,
no, even if it was anywhere in Japan the compass would be able to cover it. And yet,
there was no reaction. Shia wasn't within the search range.
Hajime leaped down from the bed and his magic power surged even more. As
expected, there was no way the activation of magic power that tremendous would be
unnoticed. Downstairs he could feel Tio was taken aback. The sound of her
immediately going up the stairs in hurry could be heard.
The door was opened loudly *bam* and Tio entered.
"What's the matter, Goshujin-sama. What art――"
Tio asked forcefully, but seeing Hajime's tense atmosphere and Yue's serious
expression, she immediately closed her mouth so to not disturb their focus.
A beat later, Hajime opened his closed eyes.
*Shiver-*, Tio's spine shuddered. Hajime's other face that she hadn't seen for a long
time――the face of the godslaying demon king was there.
"Coincidence? Or else a deliberate act?"
The others must be curious of Tio's hurried look and followed after her. Remia, Myuu,
and then even Sumire and Shuu peeped inside and their eyes opened wide.
"…Hajime. Shia?"
"She isn't in earth. She is in another world that isn't Tortus."
"Muh, doth that mean she was summoned by someone?"
Hajime shook his head. He must mean that he didn't know.
'But', Hajime continued.
"If that's the case, kuku-. Just whose woman do they think they are taking away
without permission… I've gotta make sure that they thoroughly pay their debt."
"Tha, tha-tha, that's right Goshujin-sama."
Tio pressed her hands in prayer inside her heart. If Shia was sent into another world
accidentally because the border that separated the worlds were shaking or something,
then that was still alright. But if that wasn't the case… 'then those people really hath
done something stupid. I wouldst at least pray for their happiness in the afterlife.', Tio
thought.
"Tio, call Kaori and others. Our magic power stock is unreliable after the previous gate
opening. In preparation of the worst case, I want to keep in reserve a stock of magic
crystal so we will be able to return right away."
"We art going to collect the stock for going there from those with magic power? So it's
not enough with just us, Shia hast been sent to a really far away place."
Tio immediately began to contact Kaori and others. Myuu's face peeked out from Tio's
side.
"Papa… Shia-oneechan, she is alright?"
Next, Remia, Sumire, and Shuu too were asking worriedly. Hajime shrugged and
answered.
"No way that bugged rabbit will get done is that easily. We are going to bring her home
before dinner, so don't worry."
"Yes nano!"
'Certainly, this is Shia-oneechan we are talking about! Much less god, even if the whole
myth come attacking she will flatten everything and come home like normal! Rather,
it feels like she will even be in good mood from a mortal combat with god of war that
make her blood boil and her flesh dance! Nano!', Myuu replied energetically.
Myuu's smiling face made Hajime said "Ri, right. You really get it, Myuu" and he
nodded while feeling slightly creeped out.
From how her 'nano' was said with forced timing, somehow it felt like Myuu's
relationship with Shia was the best among all the big sisters, or rather it felt like she
received the biggest influence from Shia. If before long Myuu started saying things like
"Go fly till the moon! Nano!" or "Right now, Myuu become the wind! Nano!" while
riding bike, what should he do… Hajime papa thought with worry.
While that was going on, multiple magic power reactions came from inside the house.
Kaori and others who received the call must have used their personal gate key to
teleport here.
Hajime patted Myuu's head while switching his feeling. From a model Japanese who
loved peace, to demon king mode that would kill even god if it was necessary.
He gazed at empty air and thought of his beloved family. Since when did she vanish?
When he thought that it happened while he was fast asleep, a killing intent that was
targeted to even himself was welling up. Surely even right at this moment she was
waiting for their arrival impatiently.
"My bad, Shia. I'm going there now."
It was a proclamation that was dripping with rage that although small, was overflowing.
Five minutes later.
The godslaying demon king teleported to the world that kidnapped his bunny wife.