After absorbing
It had already reached maximum velocity—surpassing the speed of sound, in fact. I could catch up easily enough, but with the "Rat" situation to deal with as well, I figured it'd be best to settle things quickly.
The ship had clearly seen a fierce battle—it was in a surprisingly terrible state, a miracle it could even stay airborne.
Where I teleported in, the demons knelt in greeting.
At a single glance, no traces of combat remained. Every wound had been healed cleanly, and they looked as beautiful as usual.
However, my enhanced Appraisal Eye revealed significant fluctuations in their existence values.
The chaotic magicules they'd had after having their forced evolution abruptly halted were now in perfect harmony.
It seemed they had grasped something during the battle. A good thing, indeed.
Above all, I was relieved that everyone was safe.
"You've all worked hard! I'm glad to see everyone in one piece."
"Haha! You honor us with your words, Sir Rimuru!"
"As you commanded, we survived and gained strength!"
The demons bowed in unison, saying things like that.
Huh? I told them not to die, sure, but I never told them to go recklessly pushing their limits to survive. Survive and get stronger? What kind of warrior race did they think they were?
I was genuinely astonished that they thought I was the kind of master who'd demand something so unreasonable.
"Ah, yeah. Well, the important thing is that everyone's safe…"
The demons beamed happily at my words.
Whatever. I'd need to be more careful with my phrasing going forward, maybe, but now wasn't the time. I'd deal with that later.
I shifted my attention and assessed the situation.
"What's the current status of the 'Rat'?"
"Kuh-ha-ha-ha. The 'Rat' has just arrived at the teleportation device, it would seem."
Hmm. If I wanted to stop them, now was the time.
I had considered killing the "Rat" here and stealing their memories. But for anyone who'd surpassed A-rank, resistance would be high, and if their soul was protected, extracting memories would be extremely difficult.
For the possessor of an Ultimate Skill, the soul was absolutely beyond reach.
The "Rat" was skulking about covertly, but according to
That much was obvious from the fact that they'd stolen part of the Military Uniform's abilities as well.
To truly steal an ability, you needed to obtain the target's soul. If you just ate the Physical Body without doing that, you could only analyze a degraded fragment…
Still, this person had managed to break through part of a spatial-interference barrier maintained by six hundred Arch Demons. They were undoubtedly a troublesome opponent.
I decided to go with the original plan: use the Emperor as bait to lure out whoever was pulling the strings behind the scenes.
I'd cut the problem off at its root.
And I had to keep the promise to release Emperor Rudra.
"There's no risk of them escaping, correct?"
"Kuh-ha-ha-ha. No risk whatsoever!"
Good. I set my strategy and issued orders.
Time to settle this quickly.
———
The man called the "Rat"—
He nodded to Vice Commander Zalmo and the handful of high-ranking mages remaining behind.
"I'm going ahead. You all evacuate immediately!"
Leaving those hollow words behind, Vega fled through the teleportation.
Naturally, he brought Emperor Rudra along.
Once they arrived at the teleportation chamber deep within the Imperial Palace in the capital, Vega destroyed the device.
The faintly glowing, mystic magic circle was obliterated by the wave of Vega's power.
This severed the link between the airship's teleportation device and the capital. The demons could no longer pursue him.
The ones left behind would all be killed, but Vega couldn't have cared less about that.
He caught his breath, then let a bold, triumphant grin spread across his face.
Vega had absolute confidence in his own power.
But then, recalling the demons he'd just encountered, he reconsidered. The ones who had instantly slain Beast King Granville, who had fought Kondo and
Beast King Granville had been a powerhouse who surpassed even a Demon Lord.
Vega had believed he could defeat Granville, and in an actual fight, he likely would have won most of the time.
Yet those beings existed on a plane of strength that transcended the limits of Vega and others of the Immortal level—all while being human.
(Damn it! This isn't fun at all. But I'll keep getting stronger. Just you wait and see!)
Fierce anger surged up, so intense it felt like his head might boil over, but he forced the emotion down and attempted to carry the Emperor toward the destination as originally ordered.
"Oh, you're late, Vega. Is Emperor Rudra safe?"
In the throne room.
A boy sat casually in the chair reserved for the Emperor alone.
The moment he saw Vega arrive, he called out in a friendly tone.
Black hair, black eyes, purely Japanese in appearance…
It was the man who should have been killed and erased by Kondo—
Standing behind him was a fragile-looking beautiful girl.
But despite her appearance, this was the strongest Hero—Chloe Obert.
Chloe seemed displeased about the whole thing, reacting with a bored expressionlessness.
She'd simply carried out the contract in a detached, mechanical fashion.
"Yeah, he's safe. His mind's about ready to snap, but still."
"However, Demon Lord Rimuru is a monster. Even I'd have a hard time crushing him.
So, were you okay on your end? Granville and the others were talking about a coup, purges, something like that?
Did you make it out alright?"
"Hardly! Things were absolutely brutal over here.
I asked Chloe to resurrect me if I happened to die—just as a precaution.
Thanks to that, I barely scraped by with my life. Otherwise, I'd be dead for real.
Well, because of that, my remaining uses of the Command on Chloe are down to one now…
It's all Damrada and Kondo's fault, really. Both of them were hiding their true strength, and that was a real pain."
Yuuki explained to Vega with exaggerated gestures.
He was about to continue when he happened to glance at Vega and stared.
"Oh dear, Vega. You're being tracked, you know."
He sighed as he lamented this.
Then, raising a hand behind Vega—
"Annihilation Wave!"
With a single strike, he obliterated the Moth-type clone that had been observing Vega.
The small, fist-sized demon, forcibly semi-materialized, vanished without being able to resist.
"That was close. A little more and they'd have tracked you all the way here.
Come to think of it, Rimuru's subordinates are shockingly competent, aren't they?
You can't let your guard down for even a second. Be careful, Vega."
"Y-yeah. My bad, I let my guard down…"
Yuuki shrugged.
Vega grimaced in embarrassment, though he didn't seem truly remorseful deep down. What had actually wounded his pride was that he hadn't even noticed when the spy had latched onto him, and he was seething with rage on the inside. There was no room for genuine self-reflection.
Damn it all—Demon Lord Rimuru's subordinates really were the kind you couldn't afford to be careless around.
Yuuki decided to change locations.
Taking Vega and Chloe with him, he used teleportation magic to relocate.
They arrived at a site on the outskirts of the capital where corpses had been gathered.
It was the same place where Velgrynd had been using her Crimson Purge to restrain and torment the mixed army's soldiers—and where the remains of Yuuki's elite subordinates had also been laid out.
The flames of that Crimson Purge had been impossible to extinguish through any means, but they had finally lost their intensity and faded away just a short while ago.
Most of the soldiers were on the verge of death and didn't seem useful anymore…
They had been prepared by the Imperial Knights—those ranked No. 11 and below who remained in the capital—as raw material for the Army of Angels.
Merely summoning angels didn't produce a truly terrifying threat. On average, they possessed "B+" rank combat power.
That said, even a normally summoned Arch Demon was only "A-" rank, so for a human nation, that was plenty threatening…
Against a former Demon Lord class, it wouldn't have been a problem, but the current Octagram was different in both quality and scale from anything that had come before.
That was precisely why Emperor Rudra, for the first time, decided to attempt incarnating angels within the resurrected.
It had been taboo up until now, but having lost his composure and half his reason, he had agreed to the King of Justice's proposal.
Both the living and the dead had been gathered so he could discern the difference between the two.
This location also suited Yuuki's purposes.
Since the tracking clone had been destroyed and their position was unknown, this should be safe for the time being.
As Vega nodded in understanding of Yuuki's plan and turned his thoughts to these matters—
"Where… is this? What happened to the battle…?"
Emperor Rudra, who had been in a dazed state until now, finally spoke.
His consciousness was still hazy, but he seemed close to waking fully.
It was slightly earlier than expected, but Yuuki decided to move to the next phase of the plan.
Yuuki signaled to Vega with a glance, then quickly vanished along with Chloe.
Vega caught the signal and grasped Yuuki's intent.
It was one of the prearranged scenarios.
Understanding, he swiftly knelt and turned to face the Emperor.
Things had been hectic, but it was still within the expected range. Now, he would have the Emperor use the Ultimate Skill—the King of Justice's special ability: the Army of Angels.
That was Vega's designated role all along.
Yuuki was relieved that Vega had understood.
(For a second there I was worried he'd forgotten because he's an idiot…)
It seemed Vega actually possessed something resembling intelligence—more than Yuuki had given him credit for.
He'd been all brawn before, but after witnessing people who surpassed him, perhaps he'd learned to think a little.
In any case, the plan seemed to be proceeding smoothly, and Yuuki felt a wave of relief.
Vega hadn't been briefed on the details of Yuuki's scheme.
However, once the Emperor used his ability, the operation would conclude.
Vega's role in the chain of events following the coup was, ultimately, to make Emperor Rudra activate the Army of Angels.
Well, that role was originally supposed to be carried out by Yuuki himself, but the contingency plan called for Vega to take over if the coup went sideways.
Since Yuuki was supposed to be dead, Vega had no choice but to execute it.
The original plan had anticipated this happening after Luminas's defeat and before the final battle with Guy, but the accumulation of unforeseen circumstances had made it possible to accelerate the timeline.
"Your Majesty! Thank goodness you're safe! This Granville has been worried sick!"
Vega played the part of Granville and explained the situation to the Emperor.
He relayed the pre-planned scenario: the army had been annihilated, and everyone except the Imperial Knights—Kondo, Damrada, and the like—had been wiped out.
He had managed to drag the Emperor away to safety while Velgrynd bought time.
"What did you say!? You said Damrada and Velgrynd are still fighting!?"
"Yes, Your Majesty! Kondo and Damrada should still be locked in desperate combat…"
"I see. Then we must go to their aid before it's too late.
Prepare to summon the angels!!"
"But, Your Majesty…!!"
Vega made a show of trying to dissuade him while a grin spread beneath his helm.
He'd been racking his brain over how to get the Emperor to summon the angels, but it seemed to be working out perfectly.
The thought that the plan was nearly complete naturally drew the smile wider across his face.
But that optimism was far too naive.
"Oh my, that won't do at all. Besides—rescue is no longer necessary."
"Those individuals have already passed on."
A beautiful voice echoed in Vega's ears.
Impossible! Vega tried to deny the thought that had just sprung to mind.
But as if mocking his very reaction—
"Hey, you. Nice of you to get in my way, huh?"
"Your miserable life can't begin to atone for it…"
"So at the very least, let your screams of pain and terror soothe my heart."
Someone had materialized behind him without a shred of presence—utterly without warning.
And then he felt the sensation of a gun barrel pressed against his head.
Even through his helm, the feeling was startlingly clear.
"W-wait!"
"Let the fear consume you in regret! 'Grudge-Fear Curse-Binding Prison'!"
An endless torment delivered by a horde of ravenous spirits that devoured even the soul itself.
The pinnacle of anti-psychic attack magic, compressed into a Curse Destruction Bullet integrated with the King of Death, and fired.
In the woman's hands, an ungainly heavy-caliber revolver roared.
It was even larger than the gun Kondo had wielded, and its power was presumably proportionally greater.
The bullet unleashed from that massive revolver released every ounce of the magic sealed within it directly into the inside of Vega's skull.
From that single shot, his Physical Body was corroded by the curse, and his soul was trapped in unceasing agony.
———
Oof…
She didn't even give him a chance to explain himself—just shot him without a moment's hesitation…
That was pure
Come to think of it, Diablo might be gentlemanly, but
Her subordinates called her "Young Mistress," she had a butler and attendants, and she looked like she'd been raised in luxury from the start.
There must have been all kinds of factions within their ranks.
She was, in a sense, something like a Demon Lord's daughter.
No, no. Focus.
Carrera had wasted the "Rat" without a second thought, and I'd nearly escaped into my own head to avoid confronting that.
I'd granted permission for her to handle both the Emperor and the "Rat," and this was the result.
Well, what remained now was the Emperor and whoever had been lured out by the bait.
Ultima had come to me with great enthusiasm, asking to be given the task of dealing with the Emperor.
So I let her have it.
That meant my opponent was the mastermind behind it all.
"Hey, stop hiding and come out. I know you're there—Yuuki!"
I called out into the darkness.
"Oh, you found me? As expected of Rimuru."
Yuuki walked out as he spoke.
He looked exactly the same as when we'd met in the royal capital before—casual and relaxed, like greeting an old friend.
But I couldn't let him run free. He was far too dangerous.
"Sure. You look well, at least.
So—anything you'd like to say before you die?"
"Ahaha. That's awfully direct, Rimuru. You think I'll go down that easily?"
"I don't think it'll be easy, but you've gone too far.
Still, if you're willing to stop here, I'll settle for sealing you away…
What do you say? You won't be completely free, but it's better than dying, right?"
"You're too soft. Way too soft. Same as always, you're a pushover…
But I'd advise you to drop the assumption that you're the one who's going to win!"
So he wouldn't accept it after all. I'd expected as much.
But with Chloe's release also at stake, and the risk of some bizarre Command making things worse if I agreed to anything, I would have preferred to settle this peacefully.
Still, it seemed that was not to be.
The two of us faced each other, and silently steeled ourselves for battle.