Diablo couldn’t feel any response, but the Shadow was gone. The oppressive feeling hung in the air just the same, though. Diablo glared up into the sky — at the Magimatic Castle Viovix.
†
A raspy voice spoke down to them from the sky again.
“Such impiety... To bare fangs against me... The sovereign and ruler... You shall regret this...”
The old man’s wrinkled face once again appeared in the sky. Diablo’s lips curled upwards.
“Hmph! Know when to give up, fool. I shall defeat you again and again!”
But that said, Diablo didn’t have any more tricks up his sleeve. Apparently the Human-headed serpent from earlier wasn’t the Emperor’s main body. It was a difficult opponent to defeat, but the Emperor himself hadn’t sustained any damage. It was similar to a Summon Beast in that regard.
“Magimatic Sols! Return to Viovix!” the Emperor ordered.
The order echoed throughout the capital, and then, the sound of building crumbling began to echo around them.
“What?!”
Not just Diablo and his group, but even the Imperial soldiers all looked around in confusion. A new Magimatic Sol appeared from some distance away from the courtyard, flying in and destroying the rooftops of the capital’s buildings in the process.
There was still an undamaged Magimatic Sol lying around?!
It was a golden color.
“That’s impossible... Goldinus of the Gold?!” Aira exclaimed, her voice strained.
For a second, Diablo felt its gaze focus on them... The Magimatic Sol called Goldinus of the Gold flew toward the Magimatic Castle Viovix with lightning speed. Diablo kept his expression hardened and resolute, but he was panicking on the inside. Fighting the other Magimatic Sols was challenging, so the idea of there being one who clearly seemed stronger than the rest was a startling one.
“Bakki, hurry! Toaha, you disembark, too!”
It was then when the sound of metal bending filled Diablo’s ears. Raumunus of the Ash’s claws finally tore Viridinus of the Emerald’s hatch open.
“I made it!”
“Haa... Haa... Haa... Haa... Haa...”
The pilot wore an expression like she’d finally snapped out of her madness and realized the situation she was in. Bakki hopped out of Raumunus and pulled the Nekomata girl — Saya — from the emerald Magimatic Sol. Her limbs were slender and dainty, and her build was like a child’s. Diablo wasn’t familiar with therianthropes all that well, so he couldn’t really judge her age based off of her appearance.
But Toaha, the pilot of Erurenus of the Yellow, still refused to disembark.
“Ahaha... Go back? Go back? Why? I still haven’t fought enough. They all keep saying, go back, take a rest... Stupid ordeeeeeeers!”
Erurenus turned around, leaving just its head turned toward them.
“Shut up already, Aira. There’s no more enslavement magic. I don’t obey anyone’s orders now, and I’m going to fight all I want.”
“You have to disembark the Magimatic Sol, Toaha. This is... His Majesty...”
“Disembark?! This thing is me. It’s who I am. I don’t need to get outside or rest... I feel my best inside here. I feel calm.”
“No, you don’t understand!” Aira raised her voice desperately. “This thing is a monster that obeys His Majesty’s will! You have to disembark, right now!”
“Magimatic Sols, return to the castle!” the Emperor’s voice boomed once again.
Toaha had no intention of obeying anyone’s words anymore, though.
“Aaaaaaah! Shut up, shut up! Stop ordering me aroooooooound!”
“...So you were defective,” the Emperor’s voice declared coldly.
“Huh?!”
A gut-wrenching crunching sound echoed from within Erurenus. The sound of chewing.
Crunch, crunch, crunch...
“Aah, ouch! Why?! Wh-Why... Why is... Why is Erurenus eating meeeeeee...?!”
Aira clenched her teeth bitterly. Bakki was screaming incoherently at the sight while Saya let out a shrill, sorrowful shriek. Toaha’s screams echoed from within Erurenus, eerily filling the courtyard.
“Aaaaaaaaaaah! It’s eating me! It’s eating me! It’s eating meeeeeeeeeeeeee! Why?! Whyyyyy?! Aaaaaaaaah...”
Her voice grew fainter, and eventually, Erurenus stood still and motionless. Toaha’s voice — even her breathing — were no longer audible.
It ate her?! The Magimatic Sol ate its own pilot, killed her?!
Diablo didn’t even have a chance to help her.
“This is... What is this?! What is that thing?!” Diablo forgot his Demon Lord role play and exclaimed, feeling a cold shiver run down his spine.
Magimatic Sols ate pilots that weren’t compatible with them, and despite looking like a machine, it was some kind of tentacle monster on the inside.
What are these tentacles anyway?!
“That’s... the contents of the Magimatic Sol, it’s...” Aira stammered.
“You know what that thing is?!”
“Doriadanph said it’s... part of Emperor Gelmed’s body...”
“Wh-What?!” Diablo asked in a shrill voice.
Up until now, Diablo thought the face he saw in the sky was Emperor Gelmed. An old man of the races who had control over a large Empire. Diablo assumed he might be a powerful magician, at best.
The Magimatic Sol’s contents... are part of the Emperor’s body?! He’s a tentacle monster, not one of the races?! That’s absurd! He’s more of a monster than any Demon Lord! I’m up against something much more evil than I had ever thought!
“Bring forth... the Girl of the Vessel,” Emperor Gelmed’s voice boomed around them. “Do so, and you shall be forgiven...”
He said this after using part of his body to devour Toaha alive. The sheer arrogance, the utter monstrosity of this creature.
But how do I fight this thing...? Diablo racked his brain desperately.
The Emperor was probably somewhere inside that castle, and it was gigantic... No, gigantic wasn’t strong enough of a word to describe its size. He appeared by way of a projection in the sky, but scattering that would achieve nothing.
Could magic even oppose an enemy of that caliber?
But if Diablo were to do nothing, the Emperor would certainly send in his subordinates and make use of Magimatic technology to go after Rem.
Diablo clenched his teeth.
I call myself a Demon Lord and then let an opponent unnerve me this much?! If I’m acting this role, I’m going to stick to it until the very end!
†
Diablo thrust his staff in the direction of the Magimatic Castle Viovix.
“Emperor Gelmed! I am Diablo, a Demon Lord from another world! You have set foot upon this land and sown chaos without my permission! Prepare yourself, for I will bring upon you an end which is as horrifying as you are impudent!”