“Heheh, of course not,” Alicia said, still smiling. “Right now, half of me belongs to His Majesty the Emperor, and he ordered me to kill all intruders. But most importantly...”
A crimson glint appeared in Alicia’s eyes.
“...Noah Gibun. I can’t tolerate the fact that ugly beings like you exist.”
Alicia always did harbor a deep hatred for the people at the upper echelons of the Kingdom of Lyferia. So much so that she even wished to see the Demon Lord revived and the Fallen slaughter the mortal races.
“Ugly?” Noah scoffed at her. “How about you take a look at yourself before you call other people names? You’re disgusting. You were nothing more than a noble girl in knight’s clothing. Just because you got inside a Magimatic Sol doesn’t mean you may turn your blade against me!”
Her long time in a palace had likely made Noah develop a discriminatory outlook. Honestly, the two of them were polar opposites of each other.
“...I will kill you here and now, Noah Gibun,” Alicia said, her voice several degrees more chilling than it was a moment ago.
And with an indomitable smile on her lips, she slithered back into Goldinus of the Gold. The hatch snapped shut, tearing a few of the tendrils that had wandered out. They fell to the ground and thrashed like severed lizard tails. The Magimatic Sol looked robotic from the outside, but inside it was some kind of tentacle monster. And those tentacles were apparently some kind of terminal for Emperor Gelmed.
The backstory was that Emperor Gelmed was supposed to be human, but...
—I think he’s long since discarded any humanity he had.
“You traitorous wench...!” Noah spat out bitterly.
“Wait, Lady Noah!” The Order’s captain, Maximum, stopped her. “I don’t think we need to cooperate with her trying to stall us here!”
He stood in front of her, as if trying to cut off her glaring stare with his massive frame.
“Get out of my way, Max!” she snapped at him. “That little slut called me ugly! She called me...!”
“She’s provoking you!” Maximum called out at her.
“Yeah, but still!” Noah insisted.
“Lady Noah!” Maximum raised his voice with uncharacteristic roughness.
This made Noah flinch. She then took a long, deep breath and finally seemed to have regained her composure. She was apparently a lot more impulsive than she looked.
—Or maybe something happened to make her hate the word ‘ugly’...?
To Diablo, a woman’s heart was a deep ocean of secrets; its fathoms were well beyond his understanding. He didn’t have the first idea as to how women’s minds worked, but he could relate to being traumatized by certain words.
Having regained her usual cool expression, Noah began calmly issuing orders.
“Thanatos, Chobi, keep her occupied. I’ll go on ahead.”
Chobi was a tall Pantherian member of the Palace Knights, a warrior who wielded a spear three times her height.
“Wait!” Aira said, her expression severe. “Goldinus of the Gold is different from the other Magimatic Sols. We’re all going to have to fight it off together!”
“We need to defeat the Emperor by nightfall.” Noah shook her head. “If that’s a powerful enemy, then that’s all the more reason for us to avoid fighting it as much as possible.”
“You’re going to treat your men like sacrificial pawns?!” Aira asked her, shocked.
But Thanatos stopped her from going on. He swung his black longsword through the air and laughed scornfully.
“Heh... You said we’re to keep her occupied. But surely you don’t mind if I defeat h—”
“She’s charging us!” Chobi cut into Thanatos’ narcissistic spiel with a shout and thrust her long spear forward. The martial art she unleashed made the tip of the spear light up, but unlike Thanatos, she didn’t shout out some long name. And of course she didn’t; it wasn’t like this was a spell she had to chant.
†
Goldinus of the Gold responded to Noah’s challenge.
“Very well, Palace Knight! I’ll start by slaughtering you! You will regret ever serving such a foolish mistress!”
Palpable bloodlust rolled from the Magimatic Sol in waves. It seemed like Alicia had retained her ego and memories; since she was an Imperial Knight, her purpose had been taken away when Noah formed the Palace Knights, which made this a personal grudge.
Of course, considering Alicia was a Demon Lord worshipper, one could say this was overall unjustified... But people don’t always have logical reasons for doing battle.
There was no telling how much influence the Emperor’s tendrils had over her personality. If Alicia was under the influence of enslavement magic, they wouldn’t fight her even if she did show this much hatred toward them. After all, she put her life on the line to defend Lumachina and Rem in the twelfth district.
“Aaaaah!” Chobi moved forward, thrusting her spear.
“Ah!”
Chobi was tall by the standards of the mortal races, but Goldinus was still at least three times her height and wielded a gigantic sword appropriate to its size. It swung through Chobi’s body, severing it in half...
—Wait, no... Her form faded away?!
The next moment, a clamorous metallic clanking sound rang out from Goldinus’ back.
“Gah?!”
“Too slow!”
Chobi had used a movement-type martial art.
《Blink Thrust》?!
No, it was a different technique. It used the afterimage as a decoy to fool the enemy.
“Get away, you troublesome insect!” Goldinus swept its sword through the air in an attempt to swat her away.
“That armor might increase your power and speed, but your reaction time is still just as sluggish!” Chobi called out.
“You’re calling me slow...?!”
But as Goldinus was confused by Chobi’s swift movements, a crescent-shaped shock wave crashed into it. It was one of Thanatos’ martial arts.
“True Demon’s Slash!”
“Kuh... You...! Are you really normal warriors?!”
“Tch... Such firm defenses! You’re the second opponent to ever withstand my secret arts!” Thanatos grimaced.
“Don’t you say that every time...?” Chobi asked as she rebalanced her spear.
“N-N-No, not at all!” Thanatos sputtered.
But as Diablo watched them fight Goldinus, something felt off to him.
They’re overwhelming it...
This was supposed to be the strongest Magimatic Sol, but it was losing so spectacularly it was almost anticlimactic... Was it really because Alicia was its pilot? She was always talented, but her skill as a knight was average at best. She was level 40 or so, while the Palace Knights were all over level 100.
Both Chobi and Thanatos were using martial arts Diablo wasn’t familiar with, which they’d likely learned with Noah’s help. After all, Noah reincarnated into this world from further into the future than Diablo.
But despite being pushed back, Goldinus of the Gold didn’t show any signs of receiving true damage. It felt like this battle was going to drag on, and that gave Diablo a sinking feeling, like he’d been eating some fruit when he suddenly bit down on something hard...
But he didn’t have time to ponder about this.
“Let’s go!” Noah ordered him.
“Ugh...” Diablo grimaced with displeasure.
“Diablo, the Demon Lord won’t be satisfied if you stay behind,” Noah told him.
“Well...”
Klem was the one who insisted Diablo had to be there when they fought the Emperor. It really would be meaningless if he stayed behind.
“My read on the situation is that the enemy’s trying to split us up,” Noah continued.
“I’d imagine,” Diablo replied as if it were obvious.
But despite his words, he was unfamiliar with fighting in a group. He hadn’t really considered the possibility the enemy would want to divide their forces.
Noah then approached him and whispered into his ear. “Diablo, Diablo. Have you forgotten your promise to me? You said you’d obey me.”
“I-I know!” Diablo said hurriedly.
“And while I’d like nothing more than to tear that annoying woman’s hair out, I do understand the situation. I promise we’ll save her.”
“Seriously?”
“I assure you, Chobi and Thanatos are even more adept at saving people than you are.”
“...Well, I am a Demon Lord, after all.”