Milim was furious.
She resolved that she would absolutely have to eliminate Velda, the root of all evil.
Throwing open the doors, she advanced toward the throne room where Velda sat.
Transparent capsules were arranged in neat rows along the walls, each filled with a clear liquid.
Floating within each capsule were angels yet to be born.
Into those hollow vessels, soul energy was being injected.
Because they possessed no Physical Body, they could only maintain their existence within the Celestial World.
If a sufficient degree of self-awareness were established, they would be able to operate on the surface world for short periods—but to reach that point, they would need more time.
Milim paid these angels no heed, marching straight toward the throne.
This was the heart of the Celestial World.
The central nexus of everything, where the Celestial Emperor sat.
Velda was now, in both name and reality, the master of this castle.
The Sky Castle's automatic defense system reacted to Milim's killing intent, identifying her as hostile.
Alarms blared, and Guardian Machine Gods appeared.
However, upon seeing the necklace Milim carried, they halted their movements.
"You may not pass beyond this point. Please turn back."
Puppets warning Milim.
But she completely ignored them.
"Out of my way."
With that, she swung her fist casually and destroyed one of the puppets.
The puppets could not attack Milim.
That was because the necklace she wore signified she was one of Velda's own.
No one could stop Milim.
And yet, a woman now stood blocking her path.
"My, Milim, how you've grown..."
Tears welling in her eyes, the woman approached Milim.
She was a gentle-looking beauty dressed in a black gown.
"Salome... It's been so long..."
Milim's expression brightened with joy for an instant—and then— "No. You're not Salome, are you..."
Her expression clouded with sadness, but in a flash— She cleaved the woman—who had been reaching out to embrace her—clean in two.
What dripped from the wound was not blood but an unknown transparent liquid, and what spilled from the severed torso was not viscera but precision machinery.
"...Ah... Mi...rim... My... You've... grown... won—der—ful..."
The outstretched hand touched Milim's cheek, wiping away a tear that traced down her face.
Then the Salome puppet collapsed to the ground.
The woman who had raised and educated young Milim.
The woman who, in days long past, had passed from this world with Milim by her side.
She could not possibly be alive.
Unlike Milim, who would live for all eternity, she had been nothing more than one of Lucia's attendant maids.
A human like Salome could not still be alive.
And yet—Milim couldn't help but wonder.
Had they called forth her soul and housed it within this puppet?
Such a thing was impossible.
That was Milim's conclusion, and it was the correct truth.
Milim destroyed the puppet without hesitation, cutting away her attachment.
It was the right thing to do—and yet the puppet's satisfied smile and the inexplicable tears that welled up only clouded Milim's heart further.
Yes— Perhaps, in truth, she had— "How cruel. I went to the trouble of summoning the soul of the dead for you. I had prepared this as a little surprise, hoping it would make you happy... I suppose it wasn't to your liking?"
A cool voice reached Milim's ears.
She didn't even need to turn around.
The voice belonged to— "Velda. You've made your peace with what's coming, haven't you?"
"My peace? Whatever do you mean?"
Despite Milim's fury, Velda wore nothing but a composed smile.
The two stood facing each other, emotions in stark contrast.
Milim had not yet contacted Rimuru, but that was something she wasn't worried about.
Earlier, when she had laid Lucia to rest, she had sensed the remnant of the Hero Chloe.
A sword stroke of such extraordinary perfection that it had pierced through even 'Multiple Existence' to strike Lucia's true body.
It had been but a brief instant, but Milim was not the type to miss such a thing.
By now, those who had been under Lucia's control on the surface would have been freed. Besides, it seemed Rimuru had been lurking in the shadows scheming something, and surely some countermeasures had already been put in place.
Thinking about it that way, Milim believed that simply being here was enough for Rimuru to understand everything—there was no need to contact him directly.
That fool
That petty wretch Kazalim also seemed to have been defeated without managing to take down Leon.
She was aware of
As for what
In other words, every last one of Velda's subordinates had been defeated.
"Your prized Four Fiendish Heavenly Generals—all of them have been defeated, it seems. You're all that's left, Velda. Now, prepare to face the full consequences of making me angry."
Milim drew the demonic sword "Heavenly Demon" and took her stance.
Velda shrugged lightly, maintaining her smile as she gazed at Milim.
"I'll play with you, Milim."
Those words became the signal to begin.
With innate grace, Milim unleashed a flurry of consecutive sword strikes.
But Velda evaded each one by the narrowest margin.
She remained empty-handed, never losing her composed demeanor toward Milim.
This only fueled Milim's rage further, and the demonic sword "Heavenly Demon" began to pulsate in response, as if resonating with her fury.
The rust on the blade's surface fell away, revealing a pale blue blade. It seemed to be absorbing the waves of her anger, reinforcing the edge.
"Die!
Heavenly Demon Dragon Star Slash!"
A slash of ferocious intensity—as if Milim's fury had taken physical form—rushed toward the defenseless Velda.
However— "How disappointing. You're a bit slow."
Velda casually leaned back just slightly, dodging Milim's blade with ease.
But that was exactly what Milim had been counting on.
"The time of your destruction is now!"
The moment Velda dodged Milim's sword, their positions had reversed.
Milim now stood before the throne, while Velda had been pushed to the lower position.
And behind where Velda stood— Towering above was the Sky Gate, the sole passage connecting the surface world and the Celestial World.
From the very beginning, Milim had been angling for an opportunity to strike both Velda and the Sky Gate simultaneously.
In her right hand: the demonic sword "Heavenly Demon."
In her left: the will to destroy.
Milim now unleashed with everything she had at Velda— Dragon Star Flame Domination.
A pale blue radiance, reminiscent of brilliant starlight, layered upon itself again and again as it pierced through Velda.
It expanded outward with overwhelming force, sweeping through everything in the direction of the entrance Milim had come through.
A flood of light was born, blasting away every pillar in its path.
And beyond that stood the Sky Gate, rising like a wall.
Everything had gone exactly as Milim had intended.
The pale blue radiance that had pierced through Velda drove forward with even greater force and plunged into the Sky Gate.
◇◇◇ When the light subsided, half of the Sky Castle had been completely obliterated, erased from existence.
What remained was only the rear half of the castle, everything behind where Milim stood.
However, the Sky Gate still existed.
Countless cracks ran through it—it was far from unscathed—but it had withstood Milim's ultimate, most powerful attack.
No. That wasn't right.
(I managed to observe the light's refraction just before, but to think that—) Milim did not let her guard down, maintaining her stance.
And that was the right call.
"My, as expected of my daughter. I hadn't thought you'd be unable to fully dissipate it and that it would affect the gate too."
A voice reached Milim, laced with amusement.
It went without saying—the speaker was Velda.
Completely unscathed, Velda had at some point taken a seat in the chair behind Milim.
Suppressing her shock, Milim turned to face Velda with a composed expression.
"Oh...?
You took Dragon Star Flame Domination head-on and emerged unharmed...?"
"Yes, it was the ultimate magic that triggers a supernova explosion through ultra-high-density compression. The ultimate perfected form of the Core Strike Magic 'Gravitational Collapse,' but it's impossible to cast without free manipulation of Star Particles. Truly, it's the ultimate magic befitting you. But you see—"
Caught off guard by Milim's involuntary question, Velda began explaining as if it were the most trivial matter.
She conjured a thin membrane of light in her hand, showing it to Milim as she continued.
"I can manipulate them too. Star Particles. Since you're directing destructive force to affect only a limited space, redirecting the impact away is simple enough."
She said this with a matter-of-fact air.
For Velda, it seemed she was surprised that the power hadn't fully dissipated and had affected the gate. But for Milim, this was far more serious than that.
What Velda had just said casually was something that would be impossible unless she had read Milim's thoughts and fully grasped her intentions.
More than anything— Before this, no one other than Milim had been able to manipulate Star Particles.
This magic should have been fundamentally impossible to even analyze. Even Guy had only been able to counter it through the brute-force method of nullifying overlapping Core Strike Magic...
And now Velda had just manipulated it as though it were nothing.
That meant this was nothing more than a magic Velda could easily seal away—it meant Milim had lost one of her trump cards.
(What a monster...)
For the first time, Milim had truly touched upon even a fraction of Velda's real power.
"Come now, feeling satisfied? I need you to bear children with me, so I'd rather not let you get hurt. You've had your fun by now, haven't you? Do be good and stay still."
With a gentle smile, Velda spoke as though coaxing a child.
Milim desperately racked her brain.
Was there any move she could make? She pushed her predictive calculations to their limits, searching for any effective strike against Velda.
But Milim's abilities were too great—they revealed the merciless truth that nothing would work.
(Tch... Maybe I really should have waited for Rimuru and the others after all...)
Just as Milim was beginning to regret— —CRACK— A small sound echoed through the chamber.
Milim shifted her gaze toward the source of the sound.
Velda's eyes were drawn there as well.
"What!?"
And for the first time, surprise crossed Velda's face.
A massive crack had just appeared in the Sky Gate—that towering barrier that had been blocking everyone's way.
And then— Light poured through the crack, followed by a thunderous roar as the gate crumbled.
"My, my. What an incredibly sturdy gate."
"Right? I can't believe the three of us bounced off it so many times."
"Indeed. When we received orders from Lord Rimuru, I thought it would be a simple task."
The three women chatted as they stepped through the ruined gate and into the chamber.
At Rimuru's command, they had finally succeeded in destroying the Sky Gate.
"But at the very end, there was a shockwave from inside—"
"Oh? Looks like someone's here."
"I see—so they were busy dealing with things on the inside."
The three of them turned their eyes toward Milim and Velda, seemingly grasping the general situation.
Testarossa flashed an evil smile, her gaze piercing through Velda like ice.
"Hey, you three. Wouldn't killing her count as a great achievement?"
"That's right, that's right! And it looks like we'd be the first ones here too!"
"Lady Milim seems to be having a tough time, so I doubt anyone would complain about us lending a hand."
The other two nodded in agreement with Testarossa's words.
The three of them took up their respective weapons and faced Velda.
◇◇◇ Milim analyzed the situation and calculated her odds.
It seemed Rimuru had played his hand at exactly the moment she had predicted.
It wasn't enough to face Velda head-on, but if she could divert Velda's attention for even a single moment, she could land a full-power Heavenly Demon Dragon Star Slash.
If she compressed the energy of Dragon Star Flame Domination and detonated it from within, even Velda would be destroyed—unable to manipulate Star Particles to defend herself.
Milim reached that judgment in an instant.
"I need you three to lend me a hand!"
At Milim's cry, the three demons nodded eagerly.
A path to victory—however small—had finally opened up.
Velda watched Milim with an unamused expression.
She shifted her gaze to the three demons.
And spoke.
"I can't be bothered to play with anyone besides Milim. Let me find you some suitable opponents."
With that, Velda produced a jewel in her hand.
Milim and the three demons tensed warily at Velda's actions.
But it was done in an instant.
Two figures now stood before Velda.
An elderly man clad in extravagant black ceremonial attire.
A short-haired military officer wearing the formal dress uniform of the old Empire's army.
The two looked around with bewildered confusion.
"I—I'm certain I entrusted my techniques to a young girl and then died..."
"Why am I here? I was alive—but no, that's impossible."
It was
But they were not the real thing.
The two's reactions proved it.
"Welcome back. How are you feeling in that body?"
"Ah, Lady Velda! I am in splendid condition!"
"Lady Velda, it has been some time. You've summoned me—is there a task at hand?"
Before Velda, Damrada and Kondo displayed their loyalty.
It was a posture that would have been utterly unimaginable from them during their lifetimes.
It was Ultima and Carrera who were thrown into confusion by the sight.
Because though it should have been impossible, the two looked far too much like the real thing.
"Don't be deceived! Those are mere Impostors carrying nothing but memories. And on top of that—their memories have been rewritten to suit Velda's purposes... Their true souls have been destroyed, haven't they? Even the gods cannot bring back the dead!"
At Milim's shout, Ultima and Carrera also realized the truth.
The cheerful voices of the three demons reached those who were still in shock.
"Correct. Just now I showed Milim a puppet maid of mine, and the principle is exactly the same. Strange as it may seem, the memories of the living cannot be gathered, and each one can only be used once—but this Memory Jewel can reproduce the memories of the dead."
Velda produced a third jewel, toying with it as she spoke.
She continued further.
"I used those jewels as nuclei, gathered the energy of the angels, and created temporary Physical Bodies. They can't operate on the surface, but that doesn't matter here. Besides, no matter how many beings without technological knowledge you use—even if you evolve them into Wisdom Cores—they were never strong enough. This time, I recreated beings with powerful wills. Energy equivalent to ten Awakened Demon Lords, and ironclad resolve. What do you think—doesn't that seem quite formidable?"
Velda explained with a smile.
As the meaning of her words sank in, the demons' expressions turned to rage.
Toying with human souls was the exclusive domain of demons. So they had no intention of complaining about that particular act.
However, to manipulate the memories of people they themselves had acknowledged was nothing short of blasphemy against them.
They were fundamentally selfish creatures—they could forgive their own actions, but they would not tolerate those of others.
"It seems you truly wish to die."
"I'm furious."
"You've managed to anger me. That's not something just anyone can do."
The three demons, incapable of viewing themselves objectively, expressed their rage however they saw fit.
Milim felt the same.
"Don't let your guard down. I'll handle Velda, but I won't last long. Get rid of those fakes quickly!"
She ordered the three.
And so the battle in the Celestial World began.