When Kuman lifted his mace and was a moment away from striking him down with it, Nordin Wood made a decision.
"I surrender."
"…?!"
The mace stopped only a few inches away from Nordin Wood's head.
"… Bludifer is now too distracted to put curses on us and order us around. I guess if he dies, the curse that he already has on us would get lifted too."
"… Why are you trying to bring up curses as if that's an excuse? Rebels aren't going to be able to avoid getting expelled from the Demon Kingdom no matter what they do!"
"But, we don't care about being slaves."
"…"
Kuman's mouth shut.
"If Bludifer wins," Nordin Wood continued, "we would get our vitality drained like livestock. But if Her Highness Demon Lord sits on the throne and is generous with us, even though we would still live as slaves, we wouldn't get our blood sucked."
"… Are you really going to betray your comrades just like that?"
"What do you mean betraying? That's too much. I'm only being reasonable."
Nordin Wood looked at Allin.
"You agree, don't you?"
Allin frowned and let out steam through his nose.
"Stop talking nonsense, Nordin Wood! I don't know about everyone else but Karakul… that bastard! I can't forgive him! That guy didn't just kill our tribe members, he even killed the other demons as well! Without mercy! You want me to surrender to that bastard?! Don't joke around!"
"I didn't mean that we were going to surrender to Karakul, but to Her Highness Demon Lord instead. Besides, once the battle between us is over, Kuman would be able to join in the fight against Bludifer."
Allin was stunned and looked over at Kuman.
Battling against Minotaurs was difficult, but Ogres were powerful as well. Especially if you had to fight one while also going against an Orc and Doppelganger at the same time.
"…"
"This fight is over."
***
Tom gripped his sword. He breathed in and concentrated his holy power.
The hundreds of light swords that had been floating in the air were suddenly sucked into his holy sword, vanishing.
The three-meter sword glowed and dispensed a white current.
It was a sacred, new sword that only Heroes could use, made up solely of holy power.
Though the sky had darkened long ago and it was deep into the night, the surrounding area was illuminated brightly.
Bludifer looked at the intangible sword made of holy power and shivered.
'Dangerous! That one's really dangerous!'
"W-wait…!"
"… For the Demon Lord."
Tom ran and jumped. The ground he stepped off of exploded and his body pierced through the air. He spun at a high speed and his sword slashed through Bludifer's chest. Bludifer's skin was cut deeply and turned to ash, due to the holy power in the blade. Even his blood vanished without a trace as it burned up.
Bludifer stepped backward with his jaw agape.
"Ah..aah…aaak…!"
He dropped to his knees. Blood was bursting out from all over his huge body and falling in all directions like rain.
Bludifer's huge body deflated and vanished, leaving only his original flesh behind. He shivered on the ground and raised his body.
"It's still… not over! If I gather more blood…! I'll…!"
'There's still a chance! I lost because of the Werewolves' betrayal! More than anything, someone who has holy power like a Hero has… No, even a Hero wouldn't have been able to do this to me! The situation itself just wasn't good from the start!'
'It's because I let my guard down! A little more…a little more…! There is still a chance…!'
'I can still be the Demon Lord again! I just need to run away for now…!'
A rune scroll suddenly restrained his whole body. The demonic power he had summoned to gather more blood scattered.
"How…? How can my demonic power…?!"
Bludifer looked up.
Tom was holding a sword made of light and was now approaching him. Bludifer was terrified and struggled to try and run away, but he couldn't because of the chains.
"W-what on earth?! This holy power…! This large-scale magic…!"
'It's ridiculous!'
It should have taken hundreds of high-ranked priests several hours to create an attack with this much power inside it. He had never seen anything like it before.
'This… is unbelievable!'
Bludifer looked at Tom with eyes filled with horror.
'… The power of Artarrk is indeed strong.'
Tom couldn't display his full power unless he manifested Artarrk. But he could borrow some of it temporarily.
Holy power and demonic power could be drawn almost infinitely, but there was a side effect that prevented him from getting too carried away.
'The physical burden is too much.'
Tom looked down at his hand. The one that was gripping his light sword.
The skin underneath his Holy Knight uniform was cracking and breaking apart. This was because of the fact that he was using more power than what his body could currently handle. He wasn't able to sustain something like this, not even with a Hero's body.
'Even so, this is less painful than diseases where your body stiffens up.'
His body might explode if he kept pushing things. Though, if that happened, he knew that he would revive as a manifestation of Artarrk.
Bludifer looked at Tom as he approached, sword in hand.
It was radiating a terrifying, bright light. The energy around it was completely extinguishing any nearby demonic power that it encountered.
The power was vicious, and it would extinguish any undead that got too close.
As a type of the undead himself, Bludifer didn't have many options.
"W-wait!" He pleaded. "Save me! Y-you bastard… You're the Devil of Lania right? Please! Save my life! I-I will pledge allegiance to Her Highness the Demon Lord! No, I'll help you in any way I can so that you can be the Demon Lord! What do you want? Whatever you want―!"
The white robe Tom was wearing suddenly flapped due to the man's movements.
Tom's sword pierced through Bludifer's head and ripped off, leaving a gaping hole where his neck and chest used to be.
"… You just said the same thing that the previous Vampire did. It seems like that is a trending, dying wish nowadays."
Bludifer's body was split into two and turned into ash. His skull was crushed and his flesh vanished, leaving only bones behind.
"… What?"
"Bludifer… Your Highness…?"
The vampires were shocked at the sudden development and they frantically looked around.
"Kwoooooooooo!"
Karakul bellowed in victory.
The Orcs, Ogres, and Goblins joined in.
The frightened Vampires turned and ran away.
"… We lost."
"L-lost…?"
Hekaron threw the spear he was holding onto the ground. The Gnoll, Nasys, who had been clinging onto him was startled and started looking around.
All of the demons were dropping their weapons, knowing that the battle was over and that they had been defeated.
"Karakul!"
Allin tried running toward Karakul but he was stopped by Kuman.
The Orcs arrived and aimed their spears at Allin.
"You bastard! I won't ever forgive you! Karakul!"
Karakul turned toward him and crossed his arms.
"… Hate me or loathe me. Do as you please, Allin. I have no intention of asking for forgiveness for my sins."
"Karakul!"
"Stop now. You need to calm down."
Nordin Wood smacked the back of Allin's head.
His head struck the ground from the force, causing a hollow-sounding echo to reverberate across their surroundings.
Ellin flinched at the sound.
"… Did we… win?"
As Kulvo asked the Demon Lord, Lily dropped the sword she had been holding and hugged the moon rabbit siblings.
"Your Highness! We won!"
"Your Highness! We won!"
"R-right… what a relief. We won… We won… it's finally… over."
Lily's entire frame drooped in relief. The moon rabbit siblings shared a glance and then hugged her even tighter.
"Huu… It's hard."
Tom stuck his holy sword into the ground to support his weight and sighed. The weapon had already transformed back into its original appearance.
His body felt heavy and stiff, almost like a wet sponge. His head was spinning. It had been a long time since the last time he had felt anything like it.
"Even so… it seems my first objective was accomplished."
Tom sighed.
The Demon Kingdom war ended with Bludifer's death.
— Ω —