"Impossible! How could there be such an absurd story!"
At a point distant from the battlefield, Lieutenant General
Before his eyes spread a scene of devastation beyond belief.
His pride and joy—the tank unit—had been toyed with by a demonic magic wolf-type Majin, and there was no doubt that the destroyed hulls now outnumbered the intact ones.
Defeat was already decisive, but the battle had progressed far too quickly, and he had missed the window for retreat.
Yet, urged by the rational voice warning that even reorganization would become impossible at this rate, Gaster was about to finally issue the order to withdraw.
However, his judgment had come far too late.
"Oh my? You're not about to call it off, are you?
I warned you, you know.
I said I wouldn't show mercy if you intruded.
For someone who looks like this, I do keep my promises, you know.
When I visited this world before, I faithfully granted the wishes of the person who summoned me. You can rest assured of that.
I'll make sure to properly reward you all as well."
Her beautiful face wore a radiant smile.
But what arose in Gaster's heart was terror.
"Y-You are—!"
"Oh my? Have you forgotten already?
What a rude man."
She flicked her crimson hair—so beautiful one could never forget it—as it danced in the wind.
Suppressing his terror, Gaster was about to order his subordinates to attack.
But— "I'm not sure what you were trying to do, but your subordinates are fast asleep. They must have been tired—they don't seem capable of getting back up."
Testarossa whispered this directly into his ear.
Her movement speed was too fast.
He had never taken his eyes off her, had never let his guard down.
And the most terrifying thing of all was that there had been absolutely no sound.
Gaster's Unique Skill, "Performer," allowed him to detect movement through sound. It could pick up the faintest sounds that even masters couldn't control—even the beating of a heart.
But there had been nothing.
And at that moment, he noticed one more horrifying thing.
From his fallen subordinates, he could no longer hear any sound at all.
They were dead.
"You—you killed my subordinates?!"
At Gaster's scream— "Oh my? I was feeling a little peckish, so I just had a small bite."
Testarossa answered without a shred of remorse.
"You had a bite? Of what?"
"Yes. A bit of their souls."
Told this so casually, Gaster flew into a rage.
To unleash that fury— "Die, you devil!
Spirit Death Funeral March!!"
He scattered murderous sound across the surrounding space—sound imbued with a special effect that attacked the mind and induced death.
It was Lieutenant General Gaster's trump card, capable of killing even spiritual life-forms.
And yet— "Ah, what a pleasant melody. It's almost a waste that you're merely human.
How unfortunate—I must kill someone who is such a splendid musician."
Testarossa murmured, her blissful expression clouding with sadness.
It appeared to have no effect whatsoever, and realizing this, Gaster was overcome with despair.
He had been deceived by her beautiful exterior, but without question, the beauty before him was something inhuman.
And not just inhuman—an existence of an entirely different caliber.
Perhaps she was even above that violent wolf-type Majin rampaging through the battlefield—the one that was the embodiment of brute force.
The fact that there wasn't just one such monster filled Gaster with a premonition of the Empire's military operation's failure.
On top of all this, disasters on the level of Veldora still awaited.
"Wait! I want to make a deal!"
"Oh my? What kind of deal?"
"I—I hold a high rank within the Empire. I'm well-versed in military operations and possess classified intelligence. I promise I can be of use—so please, just spare my life!"
Cast aside all pride and dignity, Gaster begged for his life.
But there was still a light in his eyes, and he was carefully watching Testarossa's every move without letting his guard down.
Because through Gaster's "ears," he could hear the sound of several people approaching.
Gaster had a gut feeling about the identity of those approaching.
They were likely operatives from the Imperial Intelligence Bureau who had infiltrated the battlefield for the purpose of surveillance and situation reporting.
First-class combat specialists, known as Intelligence Bureau agents or spies.
Despite their superior combat abilities, they never participated in rank-seizure battles.
They belonged to the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and were never transferred elsewhere.
Kondou Tatsuya— An "Otherworlder" not to be underestimated.
These were the peculiar individuals who operated under him.
If it was Kondou Tatsuya, it would not be surprising if he had anticipated such a situation and prepared multiple contingency measures.
That was precisely why Gaster's strategy was to buy time—through begging for his life or anything else.
But that hope was shattered.
In truth, all hope had been lost the moment he encountered Testarossa.
"Devils! They've revived!"
Shouting this, operatives from the Intelligence Bureau who had been hiding among ordinary soldiers crept toward Testarossa and attacked.
Using chains woven from the fur of magical beasts, they sealed Testarossa's movements from three directions.
The ultimate killing formation—capable of sealing even Greater Demons.
An elite trinity of demon hunters from the Intelligence Bureau.
"Yes! Got her!" Gaster cheered inwardly at that moment— "Oh my, oh my. How nostalgic. You're the ones who defeated me before, aren't you?
How delightful.
Back then, thanks to the interference, I didn't get to eat my fill.
I haven't forgotten that grudge.
But... are you quite sure about this?
Do you really think the exact same technique will work again?"
Testarossa's voice rang out, laced with malevolent intent.
"Hmph, you monster! This malevolent aura—it's the Greater Demon from before!"
"So you've revived after all. This time, we'll destroy you body and soul!"
"You don't belong here. As long as we stand, we won't let you have your way!"
"Now, Lord Gaster. Leave this to us. Please issue the retreat order quickly!"
Upon hearing this from the three of them, Gaster moved as though reminded.
He hurriedly attempted to broadcast orders to the entire army through his Unique Skill, "Performer," but— "Hmm? Do you really think I'll allow that?"
He felt the touch of a slender, ice-cold woman's hand on the nape of his neck—a touch that could freeze even the soul.
Needless to say, it was Testarossa.
The holy silver chains, woven with the fur of magical beasts—chains that boasted upper-class performance even among Legendary-grade equipment—had been utterly destroyed, shattered to pieces.
The three shaken agents turned their eyes toward Gaster and Testarossa, who now stood behind him.
Panic and confusion were etched on their faces.
They hadn't seen a thing—how Testarossa had destroyed the chains, or when she had moved.
And then, even greater hardship befell them.
From the sky above came a cute voice wholly unsuited to a battlefield.
"Testarossa, you haven't killed them yet? Lord Rimuru told you to go all out, didn't he? You'll get in trouble, you know."
As she spoke, a girl with long purple hair tied in a ponytail descended from the sky.
This meant reinforcements for the devil before them, and her tone suggested she possessed equal or near-equal capability.
In a situation where even a single opponent was difficult to handle, this reinforcement was fatal.
These were elites from the Intelligence Bureau—masters at killing demons.
The three of them prided themselves on their ability to bring down Greater Demon-class opponents even in one-on-one combat.
And yet, before their very eyes, their prized sealing formation had been broken, and another terrifying Majin of apparently equal standing had appeared.
The situation had to be judged unfavorable.
"Lord Gaster, we're pulling back for now."
One of the three informed Gaster and began chanting a teleportation spell.
The other two moved to extract Gaster.
Immediately after— "I really hate people who don't know their own limits.
It's been so long since I ran into an old acquaintance, I ended up rambling.
"Sure thing~ What are you going to do, Testa?"
"I'm not quite full yet. So I'll have a little more to eat. After all, it's been so long since I've seen an old friend."
Testarossa smiled with a lovely expression.
But that smile was nothing short of ominous.
Sensing the ominous premonition in that smile, the three abandoned any thought of rescuing Gaster and began their retreat.
But—the teleportation spell did not activate.
"Im-Impossible! Why not?!"
Mocking the rattled spellcaster— "Is something so strange?
I used Magicule Disruption Emission, didn't I? Surely that's correct?"
Testarossa answered the three's unspoken questions and proceeded forward at a leisurely pace.
"What?!
Magicule Disruption Emission?!
Don't tell me she recreated it with magic...?!"
Through their thought-link, the devils shared information.
So for them, reproducing any acquired information through Skills was child's play.
But such things existed on a dimension far beyond human understanding, and the three Intelligence Bureau agents could not comprehend it.
All they could comprehend was— "What are you?! What are you?!
A Greater Demon couldn't possibly possess that kind of power!!"
They screamed as though trying to drown out their own terror.
Testarossa listened to their screams with evident amusement, and her smile deepened.
"Yes, you're right. I am an existence above Greater Demons.
Or rather, I think Arch Demons are on a completely different level from me, but...
Do we look the same to you?
It's sad how I have to spell it out for people to understand."
She confirmed their suspicions with a simple affirmation.
And then— "Well, as much as I'd like to linger, I'm afraid this is goodbye."
The three had already run out of time to process the meaning of those words.
They met their end without ever realizing the true identity of the being they had faced.
Or perhaps that was a mercy, in its own way.
From the depths of the abyss, black flames were summoned.
These black flames condensed to the size of a fist, and Testarossa crushed them in her hand.
The devil— Sneered.
"Blessing of Death."
She whispered like a song.
In an instant, the crushed black flames dispersed, scattering black light in all directions.
This light possessed the property of passing through virtually all matter. It was a light that could not occur naturally.
It inflicted no physical destruction, but it possessed a particular characteristic.
When it passed through a living being, it affected their genetic sequence.
By forcibly rewriting the genes, it could force-kill virtually all biological life.
The most evil, most forbidden death magic.
However, according to legend, its true purpose was something else entirely.
Those who could withstand this magic were limited to spiritual life-forms or beings whose souls possessed memory capability.
Only those capable of complete regeneration from Physical Body destruction.
The light, in its smallest units, was extremely difficult to defend against with magic, and physically, no defensive technique existed.
The only known countermeasure was the Holy Light Barrier.
The probability of death upon exposure to this light was 99.9999%.
One in a million would survive by transforming their body into that of a demon.
In other words, it was a blessing magic designed to select those with aptitude for demonic transformation.
However, there had never been a successful case of demon transformation through this magic.
The devil was likely lying about hope—probably something along those lines.
This magic was the most terrible of forbidden spells.
A form of nuclear-class magic, it caused absolutely no physical damage and was the ultimate forbidden art designed solely to kill living beings.
Within a radius of 500 meters, a violent storm of death raged.
Testarossa's "Magic Perception" had already confirmed that no allies were within this range.
For devils like herself, this magic was entirely meaningless.
It was a magic created by devils for the express purpose of killing humans—and other living beings, for that matter.
The unfortunate part was that it indiscriminately killed all living beings within range, whether friend or foe.
If used without restriction, it could likely be expanded to a radius of 10 kilometers, but that would engulf allies as well.
That was why she had limited it to 500 meters.
"This whole area has been completely wiped out, huh. We'll be able to bring back those tanks in perfect condition as samples!"
"Yes, that's precisely why I cleared out all the humans first. If I had used this magic to annihilate everyone from the start, I'd only need to deal with the survivors."
"Can't be helped! Lord Rimuru told us not to fight, after all. But I'm glad I finally got my turn. Though... I probably shouldn't have destroyed those floating toys in the sky, huh?"
"Well, your magic was a bit over the top, Ult. That might make sample collection difficult."
"Yeah... I thought I messed up too. They were too fragile. I only planned to take out one, but ended up destroying a bunch."
"It can't be helped. You obtained the intelligence, yes? Let's consider the matter settled."
Testarossa and Ultima concluded their conversation.
Throughout all of this, the collection of the dead's souls had been carried out with meticulous care.
Along with the killing via "Blessing of Death," the harvesting of souls had been properly completed.
In truth, the possibility of transforming into a demon only existed when the soul remained intact.
When the soul was harvested simultaneously, as in this case, the survival rate became exactly zero.
Naturally, Lieutenant General Gaster and the three Intelligence Bureau agents had already failed to resist and were dead.
Testarossa felt no sentimentality watching the end of those who had once defeated her.
They had never been worthy of her attention in the first place, so it was only natural.
And with the complete silence of the Empire's operational command, the Monster Nation's victory on this battlefield was now assured.
However, this did not mean the fighting would end. With the operational command destroyed, the Empire's capacity to surrender had also vanished.
The battlefield would now transform into a scene of annihilation.