Pou's Perspective The war between the human race and the Demon race had come to an end.
The result was best described as a draw.
Both sides had suffered devastating damage.
The human race had lost several of the fortresses that served as the backbone of their border defenses, leaving them vulnerable to another Demon race invasion at any moment.
Beyond that, the fall of so many fortresses meant the human casualties were equally severe.
Among them, the death of the Hero was a tremendous blow to the human race.
I hadn't held high hopes for that Hero, but I couldn't deny that a faint part of me had harbored some lingering expectation — that perhaps, just perhaps, things might have turned out differently.
If only they had managed to take
The Demon race had succeeded in capturing several fortresses, but there had been failures as well.
Even in the case of fortresses they had successfully taken, it had not been without cost.
In terms of raw casualty numbers, they were roughly on par with the human race.
And for the Demon race, whose total population was smaller than humanity's, that level of damage was devastating.
They had conscripted soldiers without regard for the consequences, and the resulting losses could cast a dark shadow over the very survival of the Demon race as a species.
Then again, since Ariel had pushed through the forced conscription fully aware of this outcome, one could say things had gone according to plan.
Yes — according to plan.
This entire war had been in the palm of Ariel's hand.
The damage sustained by both the human race and the Demon race, and the elimination of key figures who needed to be dealt with once and for all — all orchestrated brilliantly in a single stroke.
It was nothing short of magnificent.
It was, frankly, artistic.
After all, she had even managed to pull the wool over my eyes.
I had sensed for some time before the war began that elf activities within Demon race territory were becoming increasingly difficult.
At that point, I had already figured out that
I was surprised that Ariel had an asset capable of dominating an information war to such a degree.
I had underestimated Ariel, thinking her power was limited to pure combat strength.
Most likely, that individual called White — the one who had recently taken to shadowing her — possessed exceptional intelligence-gathering abilities.
I had no confirmed intelligence due to the interference, but there were rumors circulating among the Demon race that a unit led by White had been specifically assigned to information warfare.
Where on earth had she found a group with that kind of skill?
Having those people operating behind the scenes was infuriatingly restrictive, leaving us unable to move as we wished.
We had been completely defeated in the information war within Demon race territory.
I could no longer tell which intelligence was real and which was fabricated.
That was precisely why, when I received word that after Ariel had departed for the front, one of the reincarnators — the vampire girl — had been left alone, I had suspected it was a trap.
Even so, I decided to take the bait deliberately, intending to crush the trap along with her.
Using an old-model body, of course — one whose loss wouldn't sting.
Old-model though it was, it still possessed a reasonable degree of combat capability.
And yet, that vampire girl had shattered it with laughable ease.
Based on the feel of our exchange, if she fought at full power, she would be comparable to an Upper Dragon — or possibly even beyond.
The gap in combat ability between her and the other reincarnators I knew of was night and day.
Ariel must have drilled the fundamentals of battle into her.
Otherwise, there was no way a mere girl could possess that level of combat prowess.
What's more, that girl had then appeared across the globe over the span of several days, raiding elf bases one after another.
A single girl, and she had destroyed elf bases all over the world, whittling down our forces.
To think she had uncovered not only our bases in Demon race territory but also our bases within human race territory — there was no word for it other than miscalculation.
I had no idea how she had sniffed them out.
The vampire girl's combat ability was no longer something ordinary elves could handle.
To kill her, I would have no choice but to deploy the Anti-Magic Equipped Gloria units.
Or else use the Anti-Deity Gloria stored in the village.
I certainly wasn't keen on using that against some little girl, though.
And besides, it wasn't just the vampire girl. There were almost certainly other troublesome individuals involved as well.
Someone had identified the elf bases.
Someone had been teleporting across the globe instantly — meaning someone possessed spatial magic at an extremely high level.
At minimum, there were individuals with those two abilities.
My guess was that the girl called White was involved, but I had no proof.
In the worst-case scenario, the vampire girl herself possessed all of those abilities. But even accounting for the fact that she was a reincarnator, it was hard to believe a single individual held all of those capabilities.
Even so, the abilities she had already demonstrated were troublesome enough.
I regretted not killing her when she was still an infant.
And having glimpsed the potential of reincarnators, I was now more certain than ever that my choice had not been wrong.
Reincarnators were indeed bundles of limitless potential.
Unknown quantities beyond anything this world's common sense could measure.
If I had them on my side, then I could…
In any case, this was essentially a declaration of war from Ariel.
If she had just stayed put and lived out her natural lifespan, she could have died peacefully.
Did this girl, who had only grown marginally stronger thanks to the system's blessings, really think she could defeat me in a serious fight?
How laughable.
The only being I had ever feared — now and in the past — was God.
And the only god remaining on this planet was one.
Once I disposed of Gyuriedistodiez, all that would be left was the dying husk of
If Ariel intended to march her forces into the elf village, I would annihilate them completely.
The arsenal of weapons I had developed specifically for use against Gyuriedistodiez.
Using them against a little girl might be overkill, but think of it as a shakedown run before the real thing.
"Thoroughly inspect all Gloria units. I want them ready to deploy at a moment's notice."
"Sir!"
Now then — time for you to reap what you sowed with all your little games out there.
Sorry, but that white one is God.