“If it would defeat Emperor Gelmed, I don’t mind laying down my life. I don’t have long left, either way...”
Aira was bleeding from her flank. A thin, sharp branch extended from the Emperor’s tree, became a blade, and stabbed into her. Diablo wavered.
—Do I close in on them, cut off that branch, save Aira, and then fire the spell?
Did he have the time to do that? Should he just fire the spell immediately? The combined Magimatic Sol God Cross had crumbled away, and now Emperor Gelmed was only protected by the Magimatic Garment Cross Reverie. The Lance of Helvetia tore a large gash into him, but his armor was restoring itself little by little.
Diablo did not have the time to question himself.
“Strike him down quickly, Diablo!” Klem pressed him. “The Emperor’s regenerating! If that Kobold girl dies, the lance will likely lose all its power!”
If Aira were to die, the Lance of Helvetia would lose its ability to slay the divine, and Emperor Gelmed would be restored to his previous strength. Diablo would have no other means of defeating him again. Losing this battle would mean everyone he holds dear would die...or worse.
“Kuh...!”
—Forgive me, Diablo thought to himself as he extended his destroyed right hand.
His instinct and mind had already resolved that this was the right thing to do. But for whatever reason, he didn’t cast the spell. Instead of chanting, he said something else.
“Someone asked me to save you...with tears in their eyes.”
“Diablo!”
Klem’s scream echoed in his ears, and at the same time, Emperor Gelmed’s voice boomed around him.
“You’re naive, too naive! I wouldn’t believe a man claiming to be a Demon Lord could be so softhearted! It is ever so laughable, and ever so fortunate! I am fated to rule the world after all!”
Cross Reverie’s headpiece contorted in shape, and two arms emerged from it — arms with the wrinkled hands of an old man.
“I won’t let you pull it out!” Aira said, glaring at the arms.
“I won’t kill you,” the old man said. “I shall use you as my shield. I’ll sever your limbs so you can never hold the lance again, then I’ll nail you to my chest.”
He reached for Aira... But then arrows whizzed silently through the air, gouging into Gelmed’s hands. His hoarse voice raised in a cry.
—Arrows?! Where from?!
“Diablooooooo!”
A bright, bubbly voice — which sounded foreign in this strained situation — reached his ears. Diablo looked in the voice’s direction and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
—Shera?!
†
Shera was riding on the back of a large bird summon beast, 《Great Eagle》. Due to the unsteady footing, she was resting on one knee to shoot. And the bird’s summoner...was Rem, striding across the sky with the Glow, her shining fist swung out in front of her.
She approached Aira like a hurtling missile, slamming her fist enveloped by the Glow against the branch stabbing into Aira. She then grabbed hold of Aira and leapt away.
“Now, Diablo!” Rem shouted.
Raging tentacles spurted out of Cross Reverie in what looked like an explosion, and Emperor Gelmed began screaming again. “Ooooh! At long last, the Girl of the Vessel! At long, long last! You are finally before me!”
The tentacles pursued Rem, who kicked in midair and bolted off.
“Hah!” she scoffed at him. “You won’t ever lay hands on me! Diablo won’t let you!”
Rem accelerated to a speed that matched Diablo’s with the Shining Wing Armor.
“Hmhm, it seems she’s finally tapped into her latent power,” Klem said in Diablo’s mind, satisfied.
“You shan’t escape!” Emperor Gelmed howled manically. “You shan’t escape me, Girl of the Vessel! Bear me, give birth to me, grant me new life! Bring stability to the world!”
The tentacles doubled in number, crashing down around Rem like a volley of arrows.
Shera unleashed a martial art. “Take this! 《Arrow Storm》!”
“Don’t get in my waaaaaaaay!” the Emperor bellowed.
“Aaah?!” Shera grabbed her head, like the very scream was causing her pain.
The Great Eagle turned around and flew in the opposite direction, but not as quickly as Rem. As Diablo looked on, he felt a warmth fill his heart.
—Those two are the only ones for me, after all.
He had no more doubts. He unleashed another powerful spell again.
“Emperor Gelmed... The only thing you’ll gain is your own destruction!”
“Do not try to stand in the way of my ambition, you ordinary, mediocre fool!” the Emperor replied angrily. “My soul must gain new flesh if I am to govern all worlds! It is necessary! Why do you not realize it?!”
“Die! Flames of Ruination!” Diablo ignored him.
“Kuh!”
The ivory Magimatic Garment’s back tore apart as wings erupted out. Like a butterfly bursting out of a chrysalis, the insides of the robot abandoned Cross Reverie along with the wings.
He’d discarded his armor. The tentacles dried out like dying branches, lost their power, and crumbled away. Now airborne, Diablo’s opponent was a winged serpent with Emperor Gelmed’s head and wrinkled face. Its skin was rough and rugged, and its wings were pure white, soft, and graceful, contrasting the ugliness of his face.
“You won’t escape me, Girl of the Vessel!” Gelmed called out hoarsely. He went after Rem, ignoring everything else. Despite moving so quickly, she was being slowed down by having to carry Aira, and that hindrance kept her from shaking him off.
“What...?!”
The winged serpent closed in on Rem.
“Goaaaaaaaaaaah!”
But someone stood in Emperor Gelmed’s way.
“Diablo!” Rem called out.
Diablo nodded back at her and smirked fearlessly.
“Heheheh... Chanting doesn’t mean I actually unleashed my spell. What made you fall for this trick now? Losing your composure, Emperor?”
Diablo didn’t fire his spell earlier, as he’d correctly predicted that the Emperor would avoid it and target Rem. He’d taken off the Demon Lord of the Eyeball’s Iankaroz’s ring earlier, meaning he couldn’t even cast Flames of Ruination anymore.
“Out of my waaaaaaaaaaaaay!” the Emperor shouted at him. “Don’t interfeeeeeeeere!”
The winged serpent opened its gigantic mouth, revealing rows of teeth that looked like daggers. His howls were full of magical energy, becoming curses that washed over Diablo like a shock wave. Countless cracks ran through the Shining Wing Armor as the curse penetrated his armor and dealt damage directly to his body.
Diablo felt his entrails shake and bodily fluids fill his mouth, but he spat out all the blood and tanked the pain as he chanted his spell. “Get blown to bits, you madman! Infinity Detonation!”
The Demon Lord spell was activated at point-blank range, its flash engulfing the winged snake.
“Gyaaghaaaaa!” the Emperor howled.
His ugly form, his ear-splitting voice, his vast magical energy — it all disappeared into the magical light as the winged serpent was tattered by the spell.
—Will this...do it?
Diablo remained vigilant. He’d fired one powerful spell after another, but nothing had finished him yet. He had never so much as now longed for this world to have a victory fanfare play out when you win, just like in the game.
“Ah...!”
The serpent spasmed. Its shadow inched forward, like it was swimming through the flash of the Infinity Detonation spell. It was already half-destroyed, most of its magical energy was dispersed, and its voice was by now only a raspy whisper in the wind.
A dark premonition filled Diablo’s heart. Another divine miracle. Even after setting up this kind of situation, he still couldn’t beat him. Diablo turned around.
—What about the two of them?!
The avian flying beast had gotten quite far, and with Rem on its back. Aira seemed unharmed, and he could see Shera as well. He called their names, but they were too distant to hear him.
—Get away from here. As far as you can.
So long as they kept their distance, they’d surely manage to escape. Diablo gritted his teeth. As he did, the glow of that miracle caught up to him, covering him entirely.
—Death.
He didn’t feel any pain like he was expecting. This wasn’t an attack. In fact, as the white light enveloped him, it felt like all of the wounds inflicted on him during this battle were being healed.
—What’s going on?
And what filled Diablo’s ears next was...