Chapter 90

CHAPTER 2 Belial Arrives… 1 When we arrive at the training ground, we’re welcomed by a wide grin. “Tee-hee, I’m here.” Just what the hell is going on? What is Belial the Great Flame, Kisaragi’s single greatest combat asset, doing here? I turn to Alice and whisper in a voice only she can pick up. “I thought we were gonna go pick up Tiger Man! Why is Lady Belial here?!” “The fighting on Earth has settled down a bit, and Lady Belial didn’t have anything else to do. Unlike last time, when we had to con Lady Lilith into coming over, the hideout teleporter’s stable and working normally, so we were able to borrow Lady Belial under the condition that we send her back the moment we get a recall request from Earth.” Of the three Supreme Leaders, Belial is the only one who has no paperwork to do. Technically, it’s because she can’t do paperwork. But if we’re just having firepower lying idle on Earth, I suppose the logic is that we may as well make use of it here. It’s true that she’s probably the one we’d want here more than anyone else, but she’s just generally way too quick to act. “Alice, do you even understand what sort of woman Lady Belial is? In some ways, she’s even more problematic than Lady Lilith!” “I’ve heard she’s unreasonable and prone to solving everything with brute force. That’s fine. It’s not like Kisaragi’s got any normal people in its ranks. I’ve already accounted for any possible complications.” If Alice has already accounted for all of that, I guess it’s fine, but there’s something that’s been bugging me about Belial. “Lady Belial, may I ask a question?” “What is it, Six? Go ahead,” says Belial as she puffs out her chest. “I just have to ask. Why are you dressed like that? What happened to your super-sexy Supreme Leader uniform?” She had been wearing a uniform that looked like a swimsuit before, but she’s now wearing a custom set of red power armor. “It’s because you called it a cheap porn star costume!” I was just giving my opinion of it, but it seems my remark had bothered Belial, since she was so pure at heart. “It’s fine that you’re wearing combat armor, but why are you accentuating your breasts by using belts to give them a boost? Why do you always have to make your clothes look so slutty?!” “Stop calling your boss slutty! I can’t help it, my chest fastener won’t stay put,” says Belial, even as she naturally exudes raw sex appeal. “So what’s the situation? Who am I supposed to incinerate?” The sexy Supreme Leader starts out with a scary statement. “There’s this group called the Hiiragi tribe in the woods who control giant monsters. So we need you to take care of them. But first, let me introduce my loyal subordinates.” There’s a reason I’m introducing them despite the fact that Belial isn’t staying long. The reason my other colleagues haven’t moved a muscle is because they’re trying to avoid drawing her attention. “Hey, Heine, come over here! This is Lady Belial, one of Kisaragi’s Supreme Leaders.” Just when I gesture to Heine to come over and introduce herself… “So you’re the copycat from the reports!” “C-copycat?! What do you mean copycat?!” Heine, cowed by Belial’s sudden anger, takes a step backward. “You call yourself Heine of the Flames, don’t you?! I’m Belial the Great Flame! Your title’s too close to mine! Change it!” “Why?!” Heine bites her lip and responds to Belial’s introductory salvo of reasonable demands. “R-respectfully, the title is one that was given to me by the Demon Lord as the strongest fire magic user in the army. It means a lot to me. Even if it’s close to yours, I can’t just go and change it…” Oh right, Heine always seems happy when she’s referred to as one of the Elite Four or Heine of the Flames. …But. “I don’t care about any of that! From this day forward, you’re just plain Heine! Also, your voice sounds way too much like mine, and you talk too much like me! Shift your voice up half an octave and stop pronouncing your r’s!” “That’s not fair at all!” If I were to add a comment of my own, they’re also similar in that they’ve got flaming hot bodies. Heine protests, but logic has no sway against Belial, a force of nature against whom reason means little to nothing. In terms of combat, there’s no one I’d rather have on my side than Belial, but outside of the battlefield, there’s all sorts of things wrong with her. The reason I introduced Heine to her was to try and have her share the burden that is this belligerent and unreasonable woman. “All right, then, Heine! Since you’re both fire users, you’re going to be Lady Belial’s guide here. Make sure you treat her with respect!” I was also hoping to dump Belial off on Heine, who I assumed would be something of a kindred spirit. “No. It’s been too long since I’ve seen you, Six. I want you to be my guide.” 2 Heine murmurs blankly at the sight in front of her… “Lady Belial certainly moves quickly…” Belial’s only been on the planet for about an hour, but our brutal boss has already begun setting fire to this planet’s forests as part of her introductory tour. She said she wanted to see the hostile life-forms, so we’ve brought her to the Great Woods. After Belial demanded that I be her guide, Heine and I accompanied her to the forest. As we stand at a distance watching her unleash her hellfire at the woods, silhouettes begin moving among the flames. “Oh hey, Six, some weird women showed up.” “Those ladies come out when you set the forest on fire. They’re like guardians of some sort. They split their heads and fire cannonballs out of them, so please be careful!” Belial was granted pyrokinesis by undergoing Lilith’s mad scientist brain surgery. Her firepower is so overwhelming that she’s on par with a small arsenal; she’s basically dropped any and all pretenses of being human. “Have you forgotten who you’re talking to, Six?! Bullets aren’t going to do much to me!” “…Well, yes, but it doesn’t hurt to be safe.” The enhancement surgery also cranked up Belial’s defenses and physical abilities to superhuman levels, so she prefers leading from the front. “Ah! It…doesn’t hurt? It doesn’t hurt at all! Stop looking at me like that, Six! I said it doesn’t hurt!” “I get it, so please hide. There’s no reason to go out of your way to get hit by them.” “How is she still alive after taking a round from the forest guardians…?” Ignoring Heine’s naked awe at Belial’s toughness, the stubborn Supreme Leader holds back tears from the enemy attacks and swiftly hides behind the tree line. At the same time, the burning trees begin spraying water from their branches to start dousing the flames. “Hey, do they have sprinklers embedded in them?!” “This planet’s forest puts out its own fires. Because of that, we haven’t been able to do any slash-and-burn agriculture.” Belial nods, impressed by this discovery, and retrieves something from her pocket. “So what you’re saying is that we need more firepower to burn down these woods.” “Um, I don’t think that’s it at all, but if that’s what makes sense to you, Lady Belial, sure.” Nodding to herself, Belial injects the ampule into her neck. The cartridge is mostly made up of nitro. It’s a booster that enhances Belial’s pyrokinesis. If she overuses it, she’s pretty much useless the next day, but since she seems to have no ability to learn from her own mistakes, she never hesitates to use the injections no matter how much we try to stop her. The nitro flows into Belial’s veins, and her eyes become bloodshot and shimmer. “Hey, rookie! Make sure you take notes! So long as we have enough firepower, we flame wielders are unmatched!” “Y-yes, ma’am!” Belial smirks happily at Heine’s respectful response and sticks out her hand from behind the tree. “Taaaaaake thaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!” As Belial’s shout rings out, a huge inferno erupts from the middle of the forest—! “I see, so that’s the cause of all this.” The shockwave from Belial incinerating a chunk of the forest as a little introduction to this world wiped out all the glass windows in Hideout City. The sudden explosion sent the residents of the city into a panic, and the Grace Kingdom had sent a messenger to check in. After cleaning up our mess, Alice makes us sit contritely in a corner of the glass shard–infested conference room. “Sorry, Alice. I did my usual attack without considering where I was. I mean, all of the windows in our base on Earth have reinforced glass, right? And besides, the people over there are used to explosions.” Belial looks apologetic, scratching the back of her head as she musters an apology. “No, it’s not your fault, Lady Belial. I called you here with the understanding there’d be the occasional problem. It’s these two who are at fault for not properly backing you up.” “Hold on a minute! I can’t be at fault here! I had no idea just how powerful Lady Belial was!” Heine had changed her tone of voice and accent after witnessing Belial’s firepower. “Oh? You trying to pin all the blame on me, then? Well, that’s a compliment for a Kisaragi employee! You’re also one of Lady Belial’s companions! You can’t be the only one who dodges responsibility!” “You’ve known Lady Belial a long time, right, Six?! Then you should’ve been able to see this coming!” Alice lets out an exasperated sigh as we start bickering. “All the windows here at the hideout are goners, but considering Lady Belial’s accomplishments, it’s a small price to pay. After all, she opened up a huge clearing in the woods that we’ve been trying to develop. Once we fill in the crater, we can start building immediately.” I’m told Belial’s maximum firepower is the equivalent of ten thousand tons of TNT. I don’t know how powerful that actually is, but one of Belial’s strengths is that she can shoot off blasts like that with ease by using just a single nitro cartridge. “Besides, even I didn’t expect Lady Belial to start her campaign as soon as she arrived. But now that Kisaragi’s ultimate weapon is here, the Hiiragi tribe doesn’t stand a chance. Alice, who is a fervent believer in the power of Kisaragi science, holds up her fist triumphantly. “We can’t let them think they can attack an evil corporation and get away with it! We’ll gather our Combat Agents tomorrow and go save the Bashin tribe’s village!” “Yeah! It’s time to avenge our chimeras! We’ll make the enemy suffer for what they’ve done!” As Alice and Heine work themselves into a lather, Belial leans over and whispers: “Hey, why can’t we just go now…?” I wish Belial could give even a tenth of her motivation and initiative to that lazy brat Lilith. The next day. “Urgh… Six, gross…” “Why are you calling me gross this early in the morning?” Belial insults me the moment I arrive to pick her up from her room. “Not what I meant… I feel gross… My head hurts…” “That’s because you used a nitro cartridge yesterday. This is why I keep telling you to stop using those; they’re so bad for you.” Belial’s robe is only loosely draped around her body, and she’s pale, as though she’s badly hungover. She reaches over and grabs a nitro cartridge. “Best thing to do when I feel like this is to take a shot in the morning.” “You sound like a drunkard talking about the hair of the dog. I’m not letting you use a cartridge just so you can ease your withdrawal.” Belial glares at me as I snatch the cartridge away. “Give me back my precious…” “I can’t. Lady Lilith warned me not to let you use too many.” As I gently push the wobbly Belial back into her room so she can change, I hear something heavy fall to the ground behind me. I turn to find the source of the noise… “Commander… What’s the precious thing you took from this skanky woman?” Grimm stands there staring at me. There’s a picnic basket, probably filled with sandwiches or something, lying on the floor at her feet. “What did you take from that hungover and super skanky-looking woman? Her robes are undone… What’s the precious thing you took?!” “It’s too early for your histrionics. I took this from her, okay? One of Lady Belial’s nitro cartridges.”