Haa… haa…
Oh, that was close!
I never expected the main body to get taken out!
I seriously underestimated Yamada's divine blessing!
Getting taken down by a needle-threading-the-eye-of-a-needle maneuver like that—can you even wrap your head around how insane that is?!
Telling me to "stay on guard" is pointless when it's literally impossible!
But what a shame!
Even if the main body goes down, a second, third version of me will eventually show up!
Well, no, not really.
It's more that since I have clone bodies, losing the main body isn't the end of the world.
When I say "main body" and "clone bodies," the only differences are that I'm primarily piloting the main one and the energy distribution varies—but they're all still my body. As long as my soul remains intact, whichever body I'm moving is still me.
In other words, if you want to kill me, you either have to destroy my soul itself, or obliterate every last clone body—including the main one—beyond any hope of repair.
Destroying the soul is basically a divine privilege, with the exception of heretical attacks or Abyss Magic. And obliterating bodies to that extent isn't something a run-of-the-mill attack can achieve.
Even if I lose an arm or two, they regenerate almost instantly.
So I was certain that once I defeated Kuro, my victory was in the bag…
Who'd have thought I'd get blown away by the Hero's Sword.
That was a miscalculation.
And it cost me the main body.
…That hurts.
The energy stored in the main body got completely wiped out along with it.
Frankly, I can't continue fighting anymore.
I managed to take out Yamada and Oshima with a surprise attack from a clone I had waiting in the system core.
They're unconscious, but not dead.
If these two had killed the Demon King, I would've torn them apart regardless of energy concerns—but they showed mercy, so I'm returning the favor.
It's only polite to let them go, after all.
The Demon King really pushes too hard.
The Demon King's body can't fight anymore. There was no need to stand in front of Yamada and the others like that.
Right after my main body went down, I couldn't move immediately either. If Yamada and the others had gone for the kill on the Demon King at that moment, I wouldn't have made it in time.
That had me sweating for a second.
Yamada and Oshima got blown out of the system core door along with the impact of my attack.
I tottered over to the door and shut it tight.
Sealed it with thread for good measure.
You know how before a typhoon you tape up the gaps with duct tape? Same idea.
That should buy me some time.
No one's getting through that door for a while.
Now then, now then, now then.
Let's get this show on the road.
It's been one unexpected event after another, and my energy is running dangerously low.
Any more of this and I'm genuinely in trouble.
This is going to be a hell of a gamble, but sitting around waiting isn't going to change anything.
So there's only one option.
Here goes.
I jammed a thread into Goddess
『E-Experience Points—!』
Goddess Sariel's voice fragmented into noise, like a broken record.
At the same time, what remained of Goddess Sariel's body—her upper half—arched backward.
Her eyes flew open, her expression clearly screaming in pain.
Ah, this isn't a sight the Demon King should see.
Good thing I shut that door.
What I'm doing right now is hacking the system.
More specifically, I'm interfering directly with the system through Goddess Sariel.
Up until now, I'd been gradually poking at it from the outside, trying to ease the strain on Goddess Sariel.
But that takes too much time.
I could make the system collapse more safely if I took my time, but then Yamada and the others might pull another surprise on me.
I need to finish this before anything else unexpected happens.
No big deal!
The only price is that Goddess Sariel gets a little scrambled in the head and suffers a bit!
Eh? You're all trying to save Goddess Sariel, aren't you?
Well, yes, but that's separate from the fact that I don't particularly like her.
Besides, I'll save her properly in the end.
The Demon King will be satisfied with that much.
Actually, the Demon King wouldn't find out about this anyway.
As long as no one knows, it's fine!
Interfering directly with the system through Goddess Sariel.
The system—a massive magical construct.
I'll dismantle a portion of it and divert that energy toward the regeneration of the star.
That "portion" refers to the soul-enhancement elements granted to the living creatures of this planet: things like Status and Skills.
These elements are used to strengthen the souls of the planet's inhabitants, and a mechanism exists to collect those strengthened souls and extract all surplus energy beyond what's needed for survival.
I'm going to slice away everything except the part that actually governs the star's regeneration and convert it into energy.
In doing so, the souls of the planet's living creatures—along with their attached Statuses and Skills—will also be absorbed as energy.
Since these are bound to the soul, the shock delivered to the soul is considerable.
It's like ripping apart something that was glued together, without using any solvent—just brute-forcing it off.
And the souls of this world's people—who have been cycling through distorted
Roughly half of them will die from it.
That's why Kuro and the others fought us—to prevent exactly that.
If I push this process through now, half of humanity will be sacrificed, and the energy needed for the star's regeneration will be secured.
…However.
『G-G-G-!』
While scattering noise, Goddess Sariel's hand grabs me.
At the same time, a magical movement occurs to interfere with my interference with the system.
…Yeah, I knew this was coming!
Of course Goddess Sariel would resist!
Fine, fine, fine, fine.
I get it, so stay still!
Before activating the system collapse, I spend my stored energy to weave in a new formula.
She seems to understand what it is, because Goddess Sariel's resistance stops.
Ah well.
So it's come to this after all.
I figured this would happen.
That's exactly why I kept my energy in reserve.
And now my reserves are completely empty!
On top of that, losing the main body means I'm running a little short!
But there's no turning back!
Collapse the system.
The formula I added is, quite simply, a soul-protection spell.
I'd already placed a barrier on people close to me and on the Reincarnators that prevents their energy from being drained in the first place.
This new one is different—it's a simple formula that protects people from dying of shock when their energy is extracted.
However, applying it to every living human in this world means the energy cost is astronomical.
I saved up energy specifically for this purpose.
Even during the fight with Kuro, I refused to touch those reserves, which meant I was on the defensive for the entire early stretch.
Well, if it had looked like I was going to lose, I would've used them of course—but I managed to turn things around.
Honestly, I really didn't want to use this energy.
If Goddess Sariel hadn't resisted, I would've been perfectly fine with sacrificing half of humanity and collapsing the system as-is.
But you know, a happy ending where everyone gets to smile is better for a story's conclusion.
So I have no regrets.
I poured everything into this—including all the energy I needed to keep myself alive.
In my fading consciousness, I gave the Demon King a thumbs-up.
With my current hand being a sickle-blade, it just looked like I raised it casually. And since the Demon King isn't here, probably only Goddess Sariel saw it.
Well, I did it, Demon King.