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The Black-Winged Conqueror, Lufas Maphaahl.
It happened two hundred years ago. The distinguished girl turned out, in the year 2800 of the Mizgarz calendar, to be hiding her true nature as an absolute ruler.
Her power would behead dragons bigger than mountains with a single swing of her arm, and her legs could carry her leagues in an instant. She was arrogant, and no one was more ruthless. Anybody that tried to stand against her would be beaten to the ground. Weaklings would not even be allowed to stand before her, and even the strong were torn to pieces like scraps of paper.
It was even said that she was the only opponent the devil king ever avoided. —There is no shortage of historians who insist that if she had been allowed to remain in power, we might be living in a world without a devil king at all right now.
She was strong, relentlessly so. She used that strength to unite the world into one country and ruled over all races, with the exception of devilfolk.
However, being too strong incurs fear.
Back then, people were not nearly as weak as they are now. There were heroes that could oppose Lufas who gathered their courage and stood up to her.
The people came together, and with the objective of casting her down, they rose up against her.
That was probably the time people were most united in recorded history. Whether as a ruler or an enemy, for better or worse, no one united people like Lufas had.
The heroes, who came together with bonds like steel, splendidly brought down her stronghold. They defeated her loyal subjects, the Twelve Heavenly Stars, and finally managed to drag Lufas herself to the battlefield.
The battle lasted the entire night.
The sheer aura of willpower that Lufas emitted would not even permit weaker opponents to stand, and out of eight million brave warriors, seven million of them had their wills crushed.
While carving through, piercing, or crushing countless warriors, Lufas ran the line between life and death. Even while being cut by swords, pierced by spears, and burned by countless magics, she finally managed to land a fatal blow on The Chosen, the symbol of everyone’s hope.
But The Chosen stood up once more. Using hope as his power, even after losing his life, he thrust his sword in order to destroy evil.
Then, the heroes all attacked at once.
Not even Lufas Maphaahl could escape unscathed.
However, even so, she laughed.
With a pleasant smile, she shouted as if she would stand up once again:
“Well done! Well done, heroes, you surpassed us splendidly! We have nothing but heartfelt admiration for your bravery and strength! But do not forget, the darkness has not left. With your union, you may yet defeat even the devil king—but should you lose, the world will be plunged into even greater darkness. Whether your path is one of light or darkness, We will be watching from the depths of hell! Khhahahahaha...... HAAAHHHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!”
Just like that, the story of Lufas Maphaahl ended. Having already been defeated, she was further sealed into subspace, and it should have been impossible for her to ever return to this world.
Should have been.
Ahh, but then how should I explain this situation? How should I explain this black-winged girl, giving off an aura of absolute presence? “So, how long are you planning to stay silent? You, were you not going to explain to us this present situation?” He, pitifully, was sitting across from Lufas in one of the castle’s meeting rooms. —The young elf, who two hundred years ago succumbed to her Pressure without even being able to fight, thought:
Is this punishment from heaven for trying to summon a hero? The object of the ritual was to draw in an uninvolved bystander from another world, and make them fight. Yes, it was a sinful thing to do. He knew that.
That’s why he was sure he would receive divine punishment, and was convinced that he would be cast down into the depths of hell.
Ahh, but Great Creator Alovenus, this is too cruel!
It’s too much to revive the great conqueror when we were trying to summon a hero!
In response to his confusion, Lufas crossed her arms and thought:
My wings are in the way; it’s hard to sit. The situation wasn’t as serious as the young elf was thinking.
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It took several minutes of waiting for the silent, long-eared hottie to start talking. He threw glances at me every now and again, before immediately getting scared and hiding his face.
Even so, he started to slowly, word by word, start talking, while still being extremely jumpy and sensitive to whether I was getting angry at every little thing. His story could be summed up into three points:
1. Even after two hundred years, the devil king is so scary it ain’t funny.
2. Oh yes! Let’s use an Exgate spell to summon a hero!
3. But somehow, it wasn’t a hero, but a last boss that appeared...... ← We are here.
......So short! And it took him several tens of minutes to say that? Just how scared of me is he?
But more importantly, this place really was inside the game. I was already getting there myself, though. Not only that, it was two hundred years after the Mizgarz I knew. What kind of unknown world was I even called to?
No, but well, to tell the truth, I was a little excited at the situation.
I’ve always been optimistic, and I still feel like, as long as I’m having fun, I don’t need to sweat the small stuff.
Now I could walk the world of Exgate Online, which I love, as Lufas, whom I poured all my heart into making. As an online game addict, this was basically a reward.
Oh, right, the Exgate spell is derived from the name of the game, Exgate Online, and it was basically the blood and guts of this world.
The origins went back to when it was still a console game apparently, but it seemed that the protagonist of the original game was an average Japanese student. Said protagonist was summoned to another world via an Exgate, and over the course of the game’s story basically was led to beating the devil king.
Anyway, for the online game it basically was there in name only...... To think that bit of fluff survived. I actually felt a little moved.
Oh, wait, wasn’t the hero supposed to appear in the year 3000 of the Mizgarz calendar?
Oh man, then isn’t this timing perfect?
I dunno if an otherworld hero will actually appear here, in the online game world, but if he does I should totally get his autograph.
Still, I needed to figure out what to do now, first.
The elf bro and king over there have been looking so nervous for a while now and it’s making me feel sorry for them. For now, it looks like I’m only going to be scaring them constantly by being here, so let’s just show them I’m harmless and leave.
“......We see, We understand now. So the devil king is still alive and healthy...... That one is also quite stubborn.” The devil king got appended with a (lol) thanks to me, so hearing he was fine was a relief.
So, apparently, they tried to call a hero in order to counter him.
Hmm...... Yeah, sorry. I ruined your long-awaited coming of the hero scene.
“Ahh, do not worry. We do not feel like doing anything to this world now. We have already been defeated, our dreams shattered......there is nothing We want to do now.”
“A-are you telling...the truth?”
“Indeed. Although We lost, We were still satisfied with the ending of that fight. It’s unfortunate that the ones who defeated us could not win against the devil king but......well, that is fine. More importantly, right now We just want to see this world and admire it.” For now, I decided to throw all responsibility for the devil king to the hero that may or may not appear.
I’d rather go sightseeing around Mizgarz than do that. I wanted to walk with my own feet, and see with my own eyes.
Honestly, I almost wanted to leave right now.
“A king with no followers and an empty throne. It would be laughable to continue to sing of our supremacy like this, no? Right now, We are not the great conqueror Lufas, but simply a girl who has had her dreams broken.” I have no intention of being the great conqueror in this world.
Actually, if I did that I’d totally head straight for the most-wanted list. So I won’t stand out, and instead have my fill of this world at my leisure.
As for how to get back to my world, well, I’ll think of that later.
“So there is no need for your concern. Just forget about us, and do what you like, even try to summon another hero.” I can’t stand to sit here any longer.
I got up off my chair and opened a nearby window.
It was a strange thing, but I knew how to move my wings, something I’d never had up until now, like I’d always had them.
I even knew how to fly.
I was thinking that there was no way to physically fly with a person’s body and these wings, but my instincts told me I could and gave me the GO sign.
“Well then, We will be leaving now. Let us meet again should the fates will it.”
“W-Wai—! ......” I ignored the voice trying to stop me and spread my wings.
I jumped, and my body flew through the air splendidly.
I put distance between me and the ground in an instant, and in the blink of an eye the castle was already the size of a grain.
Ohh......
I’m flying...... I’m really flying! I’m, like, swimming freely through the air! How should I express this feeling...
Freedom. Yeah, it’s freedom.
The joy of being free from the bonds of gravity.
My feet weren’t on the ground; I was completely free and insecure, making my way through 3D space. I can go in circles, I can go up and down, I can fly as free as I like! “Heh, heheh......Ahahahahaha!” I flew above the clouds, before descending rapidly, before stopping right above the ground, like bungee jumping without the cord. I started flying up right after almost hitting the ground, and returned to the sky, where I could see the whole world stretching before me.
Right now, the vast sky was my dominion.
There were no annoying crowds or traffic.
I could fly as much as I liked; I could go anywhere!