I was confident that I would be able to match their pace with Jet Beam, but my enemy’s numbers exceeded ten thousand. Consolidating thousands of flies, all buzzing around in different directions, into one manageable target would be difficult.
That being said...
“If they’re all in the Great Forest, then I can wipe them out all at once!” I said. Death Beam, expanded to its utmost limits, could make a clean sweep of even the vastest areas. Because I could adjust the laser’s trajectory with my movements, exterminating all of the devil flies was possible even despite their incredible numbers.
“I doubt any human is capable of wielding magic powerful enough for that, but it’s no matter. Regardless, you won’t be able to eradicate them. Human ears cannot perceive it, but my heart thumps to a different beat, one with the power to delude and tempt insects. The devil flies have already begun their advance. They’re coming here to save me,” Beelzé said.
Living things could hear only a limited range of frequencies. For example, high-pitched noises were more difficult for the elderly to make out. In some cases, extremely acute sounds called “mosquito noises” were used to scare off young people who gathered disruptively at night when older people wanted their rest. The sound that Beelzé produced, it seemed, was similar, except that no human—young or old—could hear it. Furthermore, it was loud enough to reach the Great Forest, one hundred kilometers away. Like the mating call of a male cricket, Beelzé’s sound must have had some seductive power over the insects in question.
The captivating sound of a heartbeat with the power to lure and entice the devil flies even at great range... That was the card up Beelzé’s sleeve: the fact that the sound would continue only so long as he remained alive. His calm, composed demeanor in the face of entrapment was easy to understand given that even while immobile, he could trust that innumerable devil flies were on their way to save him.
“Every single insect that hears my heartbeat turns into my slave. Just like the housefly here warned me of your approach, the devil flies will come to protect me from harm,” he said. “Lord of the Flies” was certainly an appropriate appellation for one with his powers. For thirty years, he had kept the devil flies confined to the Great Forest and refrained from unleashing them on any other towns so that in an emergency, he could have them nearby to protect him.
Then again, considering things from the opposite angle revealed Beelzé’s weakness.
For the devil flies, which prided themselves on speed, one hundred kilometers was but a stone’s throw. The fact that they were kept on standby close enough to be called on in a pinch meant that Beelzé was not confident in his own abilities. Though his speed was troubling, he clearly lacked the power to break out of Shield Beam. In other words, I was able to kill him at any time, but...because of the complications, I couldn’t do so even though I wanted to.
The devil flies were barreling toward Port City on Beelzé’s orders. If he died, his influence would disappear and they would likely change course, but...then more than ten thousand devil flies would be set loose to scatter all over the country. The scale of destruction unleashed would be enormous.
On the other hand, I couldn’t let Beelzé out of the shield either.
Crackle, crackle!
As I was racking my brains for a solution, a sharp sound like static electricity hit my ears. It was the fly from earlier, running repeatedly into the shield surrounding Beelzé. Despite the fact that Shield Beam repelled it each time, it slammed its body into the barrier again and again. Eventually, having used up all of its strength in vain, it dropped to the ground like a stone.
“You’ve finally perished, have you?” Beelzé muttered to himself, sounding depressed.
As soon as I heard him say that, a light bulb went off in my head. If I’m gonna do it that way, I’d better hurry up and—
My thoughts were interrupted by the ominous sound of buzzing wings. Bzzzzzzz came the noise, reverberating. The light of the moon had tinged the night sky with blue, but the horizon in the direction of the forest—to the west—had gone completely black as something rose up to cover it.
The devil fly horde!
“Well then, adventurer! If you want to protect the town, you’d better release me!” Beelzé said in an elated voice full of confidence. Without responding to him, I turned and looked down to survey the city from our high-ground vantage. Sticking to the fundamentals of what had worked in the past, I began to extend a protective beam over the town. Starting in the metropolis’s center, the thin layer of bluish-white light spread like a parasol until a dome shield covered the entire area.
“Beautiful. It looks just as if the full moon has appeared upon the earth itself.”
“Pretty calm, aren’t we?” I jabbed at him.
“Naturally. I hold the fate of the town and your life in the palm of my hands, after all.”
“And how is that?”
“...What? What do you mean?” Beelzé said. My placidity having perhaps set him on edge, his gloating gave way to a cold, detached expression. At the very same time, the horde of devil flies passed by a hundred meters skyward.
The enormous, dreadful sound of their collectively buzzing wings hurt my ears. Adding to the sound, a gust of wind accompanied their arrival, kicking dust up into my eyes, but I was otherwise unharmed. The devil flies, having failed to notice me, charged straight toward Port City.
Crackle crackle crackle crackle! came the sound of the shield repelling them as they swarmed around the town and repeatedly threw themselves against the barrier.
“Just as I thought, they didn’t even pay attention to me,” I said.
“That’s because I ordered them to assault the city. If I were to override their directive, they’d descend on you just as readily. Well then! Release me if you do not wish to die!”
“I refuse. Besides, you wouldn’t be able to kill me now even if you wanted to. The devil flies are completely fixated on the light I’ve created.”
“Even to the degree that they would disregard my instructions?”
“I think so, yeah.”
“...And what makes you so sure?”
“Because they’ve already stopped listening to you,” I said. Beelzé had been in low spirits listening to the sound of the small housefly ram itself against Shield Beam. And yet, despite that, he had let it go on fruitlessly until killing itself.
Seeing that, I had realized something. The light of my beams was even more appealing to the flies than the beating of Beelzé’s heart. Its charm overrode his commands.
After a moment of silence, he said, “I see. It seems you’re smarter than you look. Surely, then, you can understand. You only have until the break of dawn.”
Of course I had noticed. The light of my beams stood out because it was the dead of night, but come morning, the rising sun would outshine anything I was capable of conjuring. At that point, the glow of Shield Beam would lose its appeal and the devil flies would once again be at Beelzé’s beck and call. In order to force me to free him from the shield, he would simply send the swarm to a different settlement.
However—
“I’ll eradicate all of them before first light!” I said.
“You’re bluffing. As if a mere human could use such magic! Even supposing that you speak the truth, any power strong enough to purge the devil flies all at once would surely bring about the city’s destruction as well!”
“I don’t plan to fire on the town—I’m going to aim for the night sky!” I declared. As I did, I drew my hands close to my body and held them down by my hips, giving form to a ball of light between them and building upon it until it had grown ten centimeters in diameter, then twenty, then thirty. It grew and grew until...
“DEATH BEEEEAAAAM!” I shouted as the cluster of light reached fifty centimeters in diameter. I aimed at the darkened sky above Port City and let loose the bluish-white laser. It shone as brightly as a firework at the moment of bursting. In an instant, the Death Beam had cast out the darkness and lit up our surroundings as if it were the middle of the day. The glowing ray, dazzlingly luminous to such a degree that it made me want to cover my eyes, shot straight out in a clean line, extending determinedly toward the sky above the town.