Leo… Leonis…
Her slender fingers gently caressed his cheek.
In the Goddess Temple located in the interstice of time, she heard the sounds of the Dark Lord returning victoriously from battle. Her dark eyes looked down upon him. His head resting atop her lap, he reached out to her. At that point, his hand still had flesh, as this was before he fully became undead. It was only through repeated deaths in combat that his body became that of an undead monster.
“Roselia, I… I lost it. The precious memento you gave me…”
“…I see. That’s no good.”
She smiled, her sleek, black locks falling over his cheeks.
“Yeah…”
“But it’s strange…,” she said.
“Eh?”
“After all, your sword is right here, is it not?”
Her fingertips clasped Leonis’s outstretched hand—
✦ ✦ ✦
“—eo… Leo?”
“Hm…” Leonis awakened, hearing a lovely voice whisper into his ear.
“Oh, Miss Selia… Good morning,”
“Morning,” Riselia smiled at him and patted down his messy air.
The battle vehicle was on the move, rattling. Raising his head from Riselia’s lap, Leonis rubbed his eyes sleepily. It was dark on the other side of the windshield.
“Sorry I woke you up…”
“It’s all right. Did something happen?”
“Sakuya said it smells of Voids, so we should be careful.”
Leonis looked up to the ceiling. Sakuya was seated on the battle vehicle’s top, acting as lookout. The Thunderbolt was equipped with a mana radar meant for detecting Voids, but Sakuya’s intuition was more reliable than that.
“…I see. We should exercise caution, then,” Leonis said, and made to take the Staff of Sealed Sins out of the shadows.
But…
“…”
“…Leo?” Riselia looked at him, concerned.
“It’s…nothing.” Leonis shook his head wearily.
She placed a hand on his head. “Were you dreaming?”
“…? Yes. Did I say something in my sleep?”
“Yes, you, erm… You called my name.”
“Your name…?” Leonis asked, puzzled.
He saw Roselia in his dream, not Riselia. But then, the realization dawned on him.
Oh, she must have mistaken Roselia’s name for her own…
Indeed, their names did sound similar. But that said, why did he have that dream?
The unease of not having the Demon Sword in arm’s reach must have affected me subconsciously…
“Hm, Lady Selia, not to get in the way of you making out with the kid—” Regina used the intercom to speak to them from the driver’s seat.
“I—I am not making out with him…!” Riselia pouted, her cheeks rosy.
“Yes, if you say so… But be careful, here they come!”
“…?!”
The battle vehicle suddenly sped up.
“Whoa!”
The vehicle jerked, sending Leonis plummeting into Riselia’s bosom.
“A-are you all right, Miss Selia?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Are you hurt, Leo?” Riselia asked, hugging Leonis tightly. “Regina, what happened?”
“Look out the window!” Regina replied.
“…?” Riselia turned her eyes out the window.
A flock of gigantic, bird-like monsters soared through the sky, pursuing the vehicle.
“…Large-type Voids?!”
“Database search complete… Looks like they’re unknown specimens.”
Sakuya’s intuition was spot on, it seemed.
The battle vehicle jerked hard.
“…Leo, hang on tight!”
With his face pressed against a pair of sizeable breasts, Leonis’s heart rate skyrocketed.
…My minion has impressive cushioning functionality… Such inappropriately idle thoughts crossed his mind.
Screeeeeeech…!
The swarm of flying Voids swooped down on them from the dark sky.
“Fall already, you pests!” Regina shouted.
The Thunderbolt’s 35mm autocannon spewed fire, but conventional weaponry was mostly ineffective against Voids.
“…They’re trying to ram us!”
Leonis sighed and cast his eyes out the window. He nonverbally casted a fifth-order instant death spell. And so, moments before the flying Voids rammed into the battle vehicle, their heads fell limp and they all crashed to the ground with a loud thud that kicked up a spectacular cloud of dust.
“H-huh?! What just happened?” Regina exclaimed.
“…Leo?” Riselia caught on.
“I’ll be scolded if the Thunderbolt gets damaged.” Leonis shrugged.
…He could keenly imagine the Dark Lords’ Armies treasurer’s angry expression.
“Hey there, boy.” An upside-down face looked at him through the window.
“Whoa!” Leonis fell back in shock. “Don’t scare me like that, Miss Sakuya!”
“Hmm, so you’re vulnerable to this, are you? I’ll keep that in mind.” Sakuya smiled, clinging to the window. “What we just saw was only their advance force. There’s more of them on the way.”
“…Eh?” Riselia asked in surprise, only for Regina to chime in a moment later.
“More flying Voids coming in from four o’clock! There’s several of them!”
Leonis focused his sight out the window. More shadows than he could count were soaring toward them on the backdrop of the black sky. They were smaller than the earlier ones, but there were more of them.
“I’ll shoot them down,” Regina said. “Lady Selia, could you take the steering wheel?”
“I’ve never driven a large battle vehicle before…”
“Don’t worry about it. Just keep driving at top speed.”
“…All right.” Riselia nodded nervously. “Leo, you watch the fort, okay?”
“Don’t treat me like a child.” Leonis said, offended.
“Heh-heh, sorry.” Riselia patted him on the head and opened the hatch to the driver’s seat.
Leonis turned his eyes to the Void outside.
…Helping them too much might be a bad idea.
He also had exhausted much of his mana in the last few days, so he wanted to focus on recovering it however possible.
And this could be a golden chance to watch my minions’ growth…
But just as he decided to settle into his seat…
Bang!
He tripped over something on the floor and bumped his head on the ceiling’s corner.
“…!”
“L-Leo, is everything okay back there?! I just heard something!” Riselia shouted from the driver’s seat.
“I—I’m fine…!” Leonis replied, cradling his forehead.
…Wh-what errant obstacle has the audacity of damaging the Undead King…?!
He angrily looked down to the thing he tripped over, only to spot…
“…”
The upper half of the Deus Machina, lying tugged under the seat.
“…My word.” Leonis sighed and picked up its head so as to push it back into its place.
But then…
“Mana detected… Survival mode… Reboot…”
The Deus Machina’s head, still in his hands, opened its eyes.