His size had been reduced to that of a child around ten years old.
This was because he had activated his Unique Skill, "Collector."
The ability was highly versatile, applicable to virtually anything.
Normally, his primary objective was to scatter miniature clones of himself to spread calamity and harvest lives...
But this time, he was limiting himself to observing the interior of each warship.
However...
(Well, well, it seems all the ones worth calling strong have gathered on the flagship...
How boring.
At this rate, there's no one worthy for me to face.
Oh my, my fellow Demon Lords seem to be struggling... How enviable.
But this Kondo fellow is something else. Lady
He did not neglect to monitor and record every aspect of the battle situation.
After all, what he was collecting this time was information.
At the same time, he didn't forget to transmit the collected information to
He was unaware, however, that Diablo was relaying that information further to a certain someone...
He had witnessed the overwhelming power of Demon Lord Rimuru's attack—
"Tempest Storm Sword"
—and while excited by it, he seemed to have had a flash of inspiration. If it could help Veillon even a little, that would be good.
Just as he was thinking this,
(Kufufufu. Moss, the situation is moving. How are things with the "rat"?)
A communication from Diablo came through.
(No problems. They appear to be moving through the teleportation devices of several ships, but direct teleportation outside seems to have failed.
The space-interference barriers set up by the Upper-Tier Demons have successfully prevented escape.
(Good. Their constant flitting about is an eyesore.
They'll end up showing up at the flagship anyway, drawn by the Emperor.
They're even deviously plotting escape routes, but it's pointless.
Kufufufu. Destroy everything except the flagship.)
(Understood. Then I'll use my clones to—)
(Wait. Your master has heard the words that insulted Lord Rimuru and is furious.
It might be better to leave this to
(What!? He heard the Emperor's words?
Before we can lure the "rat" in, the Emperor might get killed!)
(Well, that should be fine.
That "Royal Palace Wall" is indestructible even for Testarossa.
However, it could obstruct contact with the "rat."
Calm her anger and help her regain composure, won't you?)
(Huh? Me doing that? That's impossible!!)
(I said you! Kufufufu. I'm counting on you!)
(Ah, he cut the connection.
Lord Diablo, no matter how you look at it, he's not good with Lady Testarossa...)
Thinking such idle thoughts, Moss let out a deep sigh.
Diablo was calm, composed, cold, and ruthless.
Yet toward the Demon Lords, he let his guard down to some degree.
But for some reason, he seemed to be on edge around Testarossa, Moss's master.
Well, perhaps there was no particular reason, and it was simply how Moss perceived it.
Putting that aside, Moss contacted Testarossa.
He requested that she destroy all the airships except the flagship.
(Leave it to me. I'll make them understand the consequences of insulting Lord Rimuru!)
From her thoughts, he felt a violent wave of anger, and Moss's face twitched.
Would she burn the "rat" to ashes along with everything else? He worried for an instant, but that wouldn't really be a problem.
Thinking so, he began recalling his clones.
He left a few near the teleportation devices of each ship, then finished retrieving the rest.
At the same time, the battle aboard the flagship seemed to be reaching its conclusion as well.
Zonda, who had rushed to help with great enthusiasm, had been able to aid Veillon thanks to his ability to turn himself into a weapon.
(Mm, as expected.)
Accepting his colleagues' victory as a matter of course, Moss turned his attention to the movements of the "rat"—his designated role.
As a bonus, he ordered the few remaining clones to interfere with the mages maintaining the barrier magic on the airships.
It was probably unnecessary, but weakening the multi-layered barriers even slightly would help support Testarossa.
Moments later, with a tremendous roar, a dragon of flame raged through the remnants of the airship fleet around the flagship, which had been reduced to roughly half its numbers—about sixty ships.
It was the result of large-scale magic—
"Explosive Flame Dragon Chain Annihilation"
—ultra-high-temperature flames that reduced everything to ash.
The airship fleet, weakened by Moss's interference and unable to withstand the assault, was engulfed by this all-consuming grand magic.
Thus, the airship fleet was left with only the Emperor's flagship, minus the two hundred ships that had been captured.
Moss probed the "rat's" movements and confirmed that the "rat" had successfully moved toward the flagship.
At the same time, he used his clones to erase the teleportation magic circles on the captured airships.
Everything was proceeding according to orders.
Now, the operation would enter its final stage.
---
Their strength was evenly matched, and the outcome was uncertain.
At first glance, that appeared to be the case...
When it came to magic usage, she, being a demon, had complete freedom to wield it as she pleased.
However, in terms of the abilities she had acquired, her mastery fell several steps behind Damrada's.
Though the quality of their magic power differed, she held an overwhelming advantage in sheer energy volume.
Yet Damrada countered her attacks by concentrating his own aura into a single point, neutralizing Ultima's strikes.
Even when she launched simultaneous multi-attacks of equal power, he used the activation of his "Proxy" to cancel every single one.
It was a beautiful, textbook-perfect demonstration of ability application.
But Damrada was aware that he was being pushed into a corner.
He had no room for restraint, and with each card he revealed, he could feel Ultima growing—absorbing his techniques as though devouring them.
(Not good. At this rate, defeat is inevitable.)
That was the stark reality.
To an outside observer, their strength would appear evenly matched.
But if they were currently at a stalemate, then as long as one side continued to grow, the balance would inevitably tip.
And then—
"Aha! I'm starting to understand more and more!"
Ultima cried out with delight, spreading six pairs—twelve wings—of pitch-black feathers as she launched a simultaneous assault on Damrada.
Wing-based attacks.
These were no longer the unstable, flame-whip-like strikes from before, but refined, devastatingly powerful blows.
Damrada mustered his remaining spirit energy and deflected the attacks with focused precision.
He deflected them all!—and in that brief moment of relief—
"Death Poison Collapse Fist!"
The small girl had pierced through Damrada's torso.
She had coated only her extended fingers with magic power, channeling her ultimate ability, "King of Death Poison," into the five purple claws of her hand.
Its power shattered through Damrada's defenses with ease, deciding the outcome of the battle.
"Guh!"
Damrada coughed blood and collapsed to the ground.
But even then, he mustered his remaining strength.
"You fool... that's not a collapse fist. It's a spear hand...
But the power is... impeccable... Magnificent...
I suppose you could call it... the '
With those final words, he fell.
Gazing up at the sky, he looked back on his life and let out a wry, slightly regretful smile.
Your Majesty—
"Damrada, this will be our last meeting, I think.
I'm tired.
Even keeping the King of Justice's rampage in check has its limits.
Absolute 'justice,' when pushed to the extreme, is no different from 'evil.'
There is no justice that everyone acknowledges...
Therefore, while I am still myself, I hereby decree:
'Find someone who can defeat me!!'"
If he had lost the battle against Guy this time, he would no longer have the power to stop the King of Justice's rampage.
It pained him to make such a request of Damrada...
He regretted being unable to honor his promise with the Star King Dragon,
But he would make his apologies in the afterlife.
This is a royal decree.
Find someone who can defeat the King of Justice and destroy me!!
—I am... sorry.
I failed... to carry out... the royal decree...
Regret.
But also, relief.
Finding someone who could slay his own master—that had been a source of profound pain for Damrada.
Guy would not make a move.
That Demon Lord strictly adhered to rules and would never act on his own initiative.
That was precisely why the Emperor had issued his decree to Damrada, and why Damrada had left the Emperor's side to operate across the world.
He had found candidates.
Kagurazaka Yuuki.
And Demon Lord Rimuru.
Both were seeds of catastrophe, and at the same time, beacons of hope.
This battle had failed before the decisive confrontation with Guy could even begin.
Recovery was no longer possible. Emperor Rudra had no strength left for another opportunity.
With his ironclad willpower, he had for millennia dominated and controlled his ultimate ability, "King of Justice."
For a mortal like Rudra, that must have been an unimaginable ordeal. But Rudra had endured it all this time.
Burning with his ideals—to unify the world and establish lasting peace.
To eliminate conflict and poverty, and see humanity flourish.
He had promised and sworn to Veldanava, who had fallen in love with his sister Lucia, to build a unified nation, and Emperor Rudra had devoted everything to that goal.
But it seemed that dream was destined to fail.
If so, then he had to stop the rampage of the ultimate power bestowed upon him by the Star King Dragon, Veldanava—his ultimate ability, "King of Justice."
To be destroyed by a power granted by a friend—there was a certain irony in that.
Damrada needed to fulfill the decree before Rudra's mind collapsed...
But it seemed he had failed in that duty as well.
Defeated by Ultima, his life was nearing its end.
But the situation was not the worst, he thought.
"Your Majesty... Lady Rudra... I need you to be...
killed..."
Could he even ask...?
"...Sure. I was planning to kill you anyway!"
Hearing Ultima's response, Damrada felt a wave of relief, as though a burden had been lifted from his heart.
"For payment, take my soul... I entrust to you the 'techniques' I have honed...
...Your Majesty... I'm coming to your side now............"
Those were his final words.
Damrada closed his eyes and drew his last breath, as gently as falling asleep.
Former prime minister of the Nasca Kingdom and confidant of Unified Emperor
The "Fist Saint," Damrada, at last drew the curtain on his long life.
"Aww, how boring.
His core vanished.
I was going to offer it to Lord Rimuru, too..."
Then, with a bored expression, Ultima absorbed Damrada's soul with black tendrils as his body began to disperse into energy.
She had taken into herself Damrada's honed techniques and power.
That was the resolution of the battle between Damrada and Ultima.
One "Fist Saint" had ended his life, and a new "Fist Saint" was born.
Damrada, in his very final moments, had bestowed the most fearsome of powers upon one of the worst demons.
The fact that he passed away without realizing this was perhaps, for him, a blessing.
Or perhaps he was simply happy to have found a successor to his techniques...
Now that Damrada was gone, there was no longer any way to know.
---
Carrera had lost her left arm and was being pushed into a difficult fight.
Even though she had converted the violence threatening to burst from within her into an ability, wielding immense power, the man before her still stood as an immovable wall.
For Kondo as well, this was a miscalculation.
Normally, victory meant justice, and it was unacceptable to lose when facing an opponent in full regalia.
Donning one's full regalia meant fighting at full power, and it was something done only when the enemy was judged so formidable that immediate elimination was necessary.
And yet, this demon had shattered the barrier with a "Dimension Break Bullet," fired several "Curse Destruction Bullets" through the breach, and was still alive and kicking, coming after Kondo.
In other words, even for someone like Kondo, this was a "threat" too formidable to handle easily.
(How troublesome.
If I still had the God Destruction Bullet...)
He thought this, but quickly accepted that dwelling on it was pointless, and once again fired an "Annihilation Bullet" at maximum output.
The God Destruction Bullet was a once-per-day trump card, representing his single most powerful strike.
But he had just used it moments ago to weaken Veldora. The recovery time needed before he could use it again went without saying.
Against a demon like Carrera, Kondo surpassed her in both combat technique and mastery of abilities, but the sheer volume of her Magicules forced them into a rough stalemate.
Even within this intense battle, he had used several bullets to disrupt Carrera's magic circuits, then used an "Annihilation Bullet" to erase her left arm before she could recover.
Now, once again, a maximum-output "Annihilation Bullet" had succeeded in tearing through Carrera's left flank.
"You...!!"
Carrera groaned, pressing her right hand against the gaping wound on her left side to encourage healing.
Normally, wounds of that severity would repair themselves without conscious effort, but the "Curse Destruction Bullets" had disrupted her self-recovery.
The fact that her left hand still hadn't regenerated drove home the severity of her condition.
The strength of one's will surpasses the strength of one's abilities.
Here and now, along with the pain ravaging her body, Carrera came to deeply understand this truth.
It wasn't enough to simply possess power.
To truly fight a fearsome opponent, one needed to become so accustomed to one's abilities that they could be wielded instinctively, like magic.
In raw power, Carrera overwhelmingly dominated.
But in terms of level and willpower, she was suffering a crushing defeat.
(At this rate, I'll lose...?
Which means... I'll die?
The strongest of us demons...
One of the King's own pillars... me!?)
That was absolutely unacceptable.
Worse than anything, it would mean defying the orders of her most beloved master, Demon Lord Rimuru.
If that were to happen, Carrera was terrified that even killing herself ten thousand times would not be enough to atone for such a disgrace.
Not fear of death itself, but fear of failing Rimuru's orders.
"I absolutely will not allow that to happen!"
She screamed, forcing regeneration of her left side and arm, then steeled herself.
She activated her ultimate ability, "King of Death and Destruction," in both her right and left hands, and the space around Kondo and Carrera was filled with blinding white and black light.
Vast quantities of Magicules were converted into energy—the backlash alone nearly blew both Carrera and Kondo away.
Through intense concentration, Carrera controlled every shred of that energy.
From Kondo's perspective, this was an outrage.
If he attacked Carrera now and disrupted her concentration, the uncontrolled energy gathered in both her arms could destroy the entire airship.
In the unlikely event that no one survived, the Emperor himself could be caught in the crossfire.
With the surrounding fleet annihilated and the flagship the only ship remaining, that risk could not be dismissed.
He ground his teeth in frustration, but had to admit he'd been placed at a severe disadvantage.
This was not Kondo's fault.
What deserved admiration was Carrera's "Magic Manipulation"—the precision with which she had compressed energy from nothing and brought the situation to this point.
As one of the four Demon Lords, second only to Diablo in Magicule count, and the one most skilled in precise control, Carrera alone could have achieved this.
"I'll grant you destruction. Vanish! 'Apocalyptic Collapse Annihilation Wave'!!"
A torrent of spiritual annihilation energy, conjured by combining matter summoned from the depths of the abyss.
Carrera's ultimate magic.
The most devastating offensive spell made possible by her ultimate ability, "King of Death and Destruction."
Kondo swiftly assessed the situation and deployed his ultimate ability, "Executioner."
He had seen through it—any material in the trajectory of this magic that targeted him would be annihilated.
And if left unchecked, it would strike the bridge of the flagship directly behind him.
So instead of resisting the flow, he decided to redirect the torrent of energy away from the bridge.
Emperor Rudra, standing on the deck, would survive even a direct hit. Therefore, protecting the flagship was synonymous with protecting the Emperor.
Kondo wielded his "Executioner" to manipulate the destructive force, but—
The "Apocalyptic Collapse Annihilation Wave" was Carrera's most powerful magic, and its force was overwhelmingly immense.
Though Kondo was protected by his Divine-grade armament, which had achieved perfect compatibility with him, searing pain pierced through his entire body.
In the end, Kondo survived.
Protected by his Divine-grade armament and empowered by his "Executioner," he endured.
But he was far from unscathed—his body was covered in wounds, and he was barely clinging to life.
However, as a result of Kondo's actions, the bridge was successfully protected.
A moment of relief.
Despite his battered state, Kondo turned to face Carrera.
"You people are... absurd—"
For the first time, he let emotion show.
Carrera responded with an expression of satisfaction.
"Of course. We are the strongest race, after all.
But I'd say you're pretty absurd yourself, wouldn't you?"
She grinned with fierce confidence as she answered.
That was, in Carrera's way, the highest compliment.
And then, without letting her guard down, she readied herself.
Kondo was covered in wounds.
But Carrera, too, had sustained damage far deeper than her appearance suggested.
Recognizing each other's strength, both fighters gathered the last of their power for the final clash.