Tsyon crouched before the charred corpse and observed the situation.
“They still have stock remaining, so why aren’t they moving?” When he tried using Scan, Slowanak and Toytzo’s stats didn’t show up. It seemed that they had already become inanimate.
“It’s extremely quiet outside. Have the Chimera stopped? So does that mean their regenerative abilities disappeared too, then?” Tsyon stood up and approached the Chimera, which had been created by connecting demons. Then he stared intently at those familiar faces.
“I had hoped they would’ve regained at least a little of their self-awareness when the Chimera stopped though.” What lay before his eyes was nothing more than a lifeless corpse, incapable of even uttering a word. Tsyon grabbed hold of a part that appeared to be a hand protruding from the corpse.
“I have absolutely no intention of letting the piece of shit bastards responsible get away. I promise that I will definitely settle the score.” Tsyon swore that vow strongly and left the room to destroy the power core as planned.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Chaos Ray!” Multiple black and white magic circles appeared behind Sheitoom, from which arrows of magical power were fired indiscriminately. The Chimera before her eyes was already covered in wounds and no longer had the physical strength to be able to withstand such magic. As the arrows pierced its entire body, leaving it riddled with holes all over, the core also shattered, and the large-sized Chimera collapsed into a heap.
“It seems like that was the last of the Chimera that have descended upon us.”
“It appears so. Well, then, Dhiza, let us assist with the barrier and… Hmm, what’s this?” The large- and medium-sized Chimera had been firing a barrage of magic at them from above Selayde. But that had stopped at some point before they had even realized it, and the barrier that the demons had deployed had also already disappeared.
“It would appear that they’ve done it, after boarding Tokyo, apparently.”
“They succeeded in destroying the central core! Then Selayde is safe, for the time being.” Even as she said that, Sheitoom stared at the giant city floating in the sky with a grim expression. “That said, I cannot say I’m completely at ease yet…but now that Selayde’s safety has been secured, there should be no problem with me storming that fortress as well.”
“I understand that you are worried about Tsyon, but—”
“It’s not just him I’m worried about! Well, yes, I am worried about him too, of course, but…”
“Mmhmm, yes, I understand. Very well, I shall have the catapult prepared.” Dhiza seemed to have gotten enough composure to be able to tease her. He headed over to the demons responsible for assembling the catapults. Sheitoom, now alone, looked up to Tokyo once more and murmured to herself.
“If Miss Cyrill wakes, then we could go there while in a perfect position.” As she was thinking about that, she heard voices of demons echoing.
“H-hey, is this okay?”
“Humans are our allies, s-so it’s okay. Um, hello…”
“Miss, you’re the hero, right? Go and take care of those bad guys!” There, surrounded by demons, was the hero, clad in pajamas. Sheitoom was surprised and rushed over.
“Cyrill, you’re awake!”
“Y-yes, I am…” Cyrill was clearly frightened. “Where am I…? Wait, before that, who are you…? There are only demons here, it’s cold, and I don’t know what’s going on. And I woke up for a moment, and Neigass was there, so the demons are allies? But there’s a city flying in the sky, lots of disgusting monsters falling, and Flum and everyone else are gone… Could this be a dream?” She had woken up in the Demon Lord’s castle, an unfamiliar place to her, and when she went outside her room, she was accosted by demons, and everything she could see seemed so far removed from reality. Sheitoom immediately took her to another location for the time being so that she could calm down and they could be alone, and she proceeded to carefully explain everything from the beginning.
“First of all, my name is Sheitoom. I am the one who rules over the demon realm, known as the Demon Lord.” That explanation was correct, but…
“Demon Lord…?”
“Yes, I am the Demon Lord.”
“Such a little girl is the Demon Lord…? No, that can’t be true. I must be dreaming after all. I must be exhausted from the backlash from using Brave, and I’m still dreaming.”
“This is realityyyy!” Actually, because it was too correct, Cyrill had ended up becoming even more confused.
✦ ✦ ✦
Eterna dangled from a pipe with the strength in her arms. She was battered and bruised all over, barely able to breathe. The spheres floating around her, used to amplify magical power, were also covered in scratches, having protected their master from attacks countless times. That was not surprising, since until just moments ago, she had been surrounded by four medium-sized Chimera, and to make matters worse, small-sized Chimera had been arriving one after another as reinforcements, and she had been flitting about all over the place trying to get away from them. However, the Chimera stopped as if a switch had been flipped and fell down. Herrmann too, who remained, stood still atop the pipe, his head shaking in all directions, convulsing as if he were broken.
“Haa…haa… Would it be showing off if I said that…this victory is because I believed in my comrades?” In reality, she had just been desperately doing whatever she could to survive. She shook her body and used the momentum to throw herself at Herrmann, using the strength in her arms.
“Aqua Pressure!” A large amount of water gushed out from the magic circle that appeared over the palm of her open hand at a furious rate. It was a simple spell that crushed its target with water pressure. However, as soon as it touched Herrmann, the water froze. This ice seemed to be created independently of his own will.
“I can’t stand the thought that water loses to ice.” When Eterna made a huffy, miffed expression, and a very immature, childish one at that, she poured even more magical power into her attack.
“This is just following by example, but…if I overload it with excess magical power so that the technique doesn’t fail…that might work.” The magic circle grew larger, and the blue light grew stronger. Although she hadn’t studied them, in Selayde, Eterna had been able to see the data on magic that only demons possessed. So she was putting the knowledge she had learned there to use right on the spot, in actual combat.
“Illegal Formula!” The amount of water released increased dramatically and the pressure grew stronger, too. The pressure crushed the ice and Eterna’s magic finally reached Herrmann. He fell from the pipe and plummeted into the abyss. The “weight” from Aqua Pressure pushed down on him heavily, accelerating his fall. He arrived at the lowest level, breaking several pipes as he fell. He crashed onto the floor.
The shock of his impact caused the entire room to vibrate violently, and great crashing sounds, a combination of the sound of the impact from his fall and of things breaking, shook the air. Herrmann lay sprawled out on the ground, with his arms and legs outstretched, as if he had been lodged into it. The armor of flesh created by the Origin core had burst open, exposing part of his original body. After Eterna landed shortly afterward, she threw a magic-amplifying sphere at the core visible in his abdomen.
“Eyah!” The sphere accelerated instantly by spraying water, and then a dull thud sounded, like whump. The impact had destroyed the core and the flesh armor covering Herrmann peeled away.
“A single core can be broken so easily now, so much so that it’s unimaginable compared to before. Thank you so very much, o gracious Reversal core.” While she said that, she sat down on the floor, looking exhausted. She then grumbled as she looked at the large body of Herrmann as he lay unconscious beside her.
“You look heavy…but it’s not like I can just leave you here.” She still had some magic left, but her body was worn out considerably due to dealing with a horde of Chimera. She decided she’d take a break for the time being, at least for a little while. She felt like she wanted to rest and catch her breath. She then took out her communication device from her sleeve and talked into it.
“Milkit, respond. Where are you now?”