Demon King's Perspective "That's all I could say after hearing the report from Fermina-chan, who had arrived gasping for breath.
Fermina-chan, trained in Stealth by Shiro-chan, had sprinted at full speed — something she rarely did — to deliver the latest intelligence.
In that case, I had to act immediately to reward her efforts.
That's what I thought, but I couldn't quite shift my mindset.
I thought I'd steeled myself long ago, but when actually faced with this moment, I ended up this flustered.
No matter how long I live, I'm still just a young girl at heart. This really drove that home.
But I have to accept it.
The paths of myself, Gyurie, and
My relationship with Gyurie and Dustin had lasted a long time. It was hard to call us outright allies, but unlike with
There were times we clashed over differing approaches.
But because what we each strived for was clearly defined, we never reached a decisive break.
But I guess this is where it ends.
"
Hiding my tangled emotions, I did my best to keep my voice flat as I continued through telepathy.
My conversation partner was Ael, one of my kin, whom I'd stationed as a liaison at Dustin's location.
"Kill the Pope."
I issued the order.
There was no turning back now.
No — the moment Gyurie made a move on Shiro-chan, it was already too late to turn back.
The trigger had already been pulled.
And my order would accelerate the current.
I thought there was still a grace period before things reached this point.
Shiro-chan and I had both thought to make the most of that time.
But D wasn't going to allow that.
Once a current has been accelerated, it can't be reversed.
It would become a raging torrent, igniting the final battle of this world.
If that was the case, then having Dustin — a troublesome obstacle — exit the stage here was the best course of action.
Under normal circumstances, killing Dustin wouldn't carry much significance.
He possessed one of the Ruler Skills — Temperance — whose effect allowed him to inherit his memories and reincarnate upon death.
From death to reincarnation: a few years.
And then several more years for his body to mature. But during Dustin's absence, the massive organization of the Divine Word Religion would fill the void and keep the world in a stable state.
The hole left by Dustin wasn't small, but it wasn't so enormous as to be unfillable.
That was evident from the fact that Potimas had never managed to destroy the Divine Word Religion.
Whether Dustin was there or not, the situation didn't shift dramatically.
But right now, circumstances were different.
If Dustin were removed from this decisive battle, the Divine Word Religion would become a headless mob.
More than that, it would create a vacancy among the Ruler Skill authorities.
One of the Ruler Skill authorities — a key to the system's collapse — could be left empty.
It wouldn't give us an advantage since we couldn't claim it ourselves, but it would help even out an otherwise unfavorable situation.
That was why this was the optimal moment to eliminate Dustin.
However, the other side surely knew this as well.
"If you judge it impossible, retreat immediately."
I gave Ael additional instructions.
It was unthinkable that Dustin would be without preparations of any kind.
Ael was the strongest among my kin, second only to the Queen Taratect.
I didn't think she would fall behind easily, but with Gyurie in the enemy camp, I couldn't afford to be optimistic.
Gyurie being there meant the Dragon-kind and dragon species who followed Gyurie also belonged to that faction.
Among them, the ancient dragons were particularly formidable.
The ancient dragons, each a ruler of their respective elements, were undoubtedly above Ael in rank.
If those were serving as Dustin's guards, the assassination had to be considered a failure.
Was this all the trouble I could stir up for Dustin?
With Shiro-chan, our spatial magic user, absent, we faced the absolute barrier of distance.
Consider the distance from here — the
Whether Ael's actions succeeded or failed, we ourselves needed to take action.
"There's nothing we can do about Shiro-chan. We have to leave it to her."
This was one thing we simply couldn't intervene in.
Judging from what Fermina-chan had witnessed, Shiro-chan and Gyurie were fighting somewhere we had no access to.
We didn't know where they'd teleported to.
It might not even be in the real world.
Even if they were fighting in the real world, searching for them in this vast world was unrealistic.
We had no choice but to trust Shiro-chan.
If that was the case, then what was left for us to do?
"...Alright then. Let's go."
"Where?"
Lars, who had been silently watching how things played out, called out to me as everyone's representative.
"That's obvious, isn't it? We're going to bring the remaining Ruler Skill holders over to our side. First up is Ms. Okazaki, who's right here."
Ruler Skill holders were the key.
For our goal of collapsing the system.
Conversely, one could say the Ruler Skill holders also had the means to lock it.
In other words, this battle would come down to which side could secure more Ruler Skill holders — that was the preliminary skirmish.
And currently, there were three holders who belonged to neither faction.
Ms. Okazaki, whom Shiro-chan called "Sensei" and revered.
Yamada, the Hero.
And it seemed that Yamada's sister, Princess Sureshia, had also acquired a Ruler Skill.
After the discussion here had reached a stopping point, Shiro-chan had casually taken her leave, and she'd mentioned something to that effect.
She'd said she was going to bring Yamada to meet Princess Sureshia, so Yamada was probably in the Holy Aleius Papal State where the princess was.
From Fermina-chan's account, it didn't seem like Yamada had returned.
That meant Dustin had two Ruler Skill holders at his side.
That Shiro... She outmaneuvered me.
With Yamada and Princess Sureshia at Dustin's location, those two would end up on his side.
If that was the case, then we absolutely had to bring the remaining one — Ms. Okazaki — over to our side no matter what.
I'd have to talk her around using every trick in the book.
If that wasn't possible, then at the very least, I had to make sure she didn't become an enemy.
She seemed to be someone Shiro-chan had known in a past life, so ideally I didn't want to resort to force. But when the fate of the world hung in the balance, I wouldn't choose my methods.
This was a battle that would decide the world's fate.
Sentiment — I was done with it.
So, Gyurie. Dustin.
Steel yourselves.
I'm making my resolve now too.