“Myaggggh...”
Shiro pressed her dragon eye and grimaced. Her eye was bloodshot, blood trickling from the corner. She was pushing herself too hard.
I wanted to shout at her to stop, but Shiro didn’t lose her fearless smirk.
“This is nothing! Mya-mya-myaaaah!”
She dashed forward again, red tears streaming from her eye.
“Now it’s Shiro’s turn! Holy Light Blade!”
A shining blade formed in her hand, as if she had compressed light. Even as it glowed, I could tell that wind was swirling around it. It was Shiro’s trump card: shining wind, a fusion of both attributes. Before, it had only appeared by chance when she’d been cornered, but now she was clearly using it of her own will.
And this time, something was decisively different. The divine swirl of green and white mana around her now had blue streaks running through it. The shining wind had fused with blue mana.
“I see it! Right there!”
Shiro hurled the mana blade with all her strength.
“Wh-Whaaat...!”
The blade had pierced straight through Machina of Pride’s barrier and stabbed her left chest. With a great unleashing of mana, a massive explosion blew apart the Demon King’s chest, the force knocking her onto her back. She let out a surprised groan, but it wasn’t just from the damage.
“Mya ha ha! Found your weak point!”
“It wasn’t a fluke...?!”
Shiro had struck Machina of Pride square in her weak point. Celestial demon mushrooms had something called a mana core inside their bodies. Striking it was a sure win, but the problem was that its location varied from individual to individual. Even I couldn’t pinpoint it immediately.
But Shiro’s eye was special. Since she could accurately read the flow of mana, I was sure that she could find Machina’s weak point too...and she did. Just like a human, the Demon King’s mana core was located where the heart would be.
“Shiro, that was amazing. Kuro’s gonna show what I can do toooo.”
Kuro’s voice sounded relaxed as always, but we could all feel the fierce resolve swirling inside her.
“Mmmmmm! Awoooo!”
Black mana covered Kuro’s body, but it wasn’t sinister. It was black mana with red, flame-like tips. Kuro’s own trump card: burning darkness. And now she could manifest it of her own will. Just like Shiro’s shining wind, blue mana ran through it like the veins of a leaf. The fusion of burning darkness and blue mana had strengthened it and made it easier to control.
“Here comes Kurooo,” she said, leaping high in the air.
Below her, Machina of Pride was trying to lift herself up. Then, as mana exploded behind Kuro, she suddenly dropped at a speed rivaling Shiro’s; she had detonated the burning darkness to accelerate.
“Don’t get in my way...!”
Machina of Pride swung her arm to swat Kuro down, but—
“Too slowww.”
“Dammit...!”
Kuro twisted in an impossible trajectory, dodging the arm. An explosion had gone off beside her, sliding her body sharply to the side.
“Awoooooo! Hellfire Armament!”
In response to her shout, all the mana in her body surged into her right arm. Her already huge dragon arm swelled even further as burning darkness wrapped around it, turning it into something like a giant’s limb—a mighty dragon arm, blazing ever so gallantly.
Kuro raised that arm high and brought it down with everything she had, aiming straight for Machina of Pride’s destroyed chest.
“Awwwooooo!”
“Gggaaaggghhh!”
A deep, earthshaking boom rang out as the Demon King’s scream tore through the room. The dragon arm was already terrifying on its own, but with magic amplifying its power, the blow was monstrous. If that had hit a human, they probably would’ve been blasted into smithereens. The impact was so tremendous that Kuro’s own dragon arm had split open from the inside, blood spraying out.
Machina of Pride’s giant body bounced violently, cracks spiderwebbing across the floor. The shock wave alone was enough to show how devastating the strike had been. And the burning darkness that had erupted engulfed Machina’s entire body.
“You despicable braaaaats...!”
Her scream held more panic than anger. She wasn’t defeated yet, but she was clearly hurt. As for her chest, the flesh was completely torn and tattered, exposing the mana core inside.
“Way to go, you two!”
“Myah!”
“Wuffu.”
I’ll take it from here!
“Aaaggghh!” I’ll blast her with everything I’ve got!
“That blue mana... Why...?! Had you not become a servant of wrath...?!”
“Dude’s already in my stomach!”
“Wha...?”
The thing inside me had been wrath, and she was Machina of Pride. Both were part of the Seven Deadly Sins: wrath, pride, lust, sloth, envy, greed, and gluttony. I had a hunch that they were demons of the Seven Sins. And I’m guessing people who inherit the demons’ powers gain corresponding colors? Wrath is red. Machina of Pride is purple. So what about the blue mana?
“You bastard, you serve gluttony...!”
Gluttony. That must’ve been the source of the blue mana. The constant hunger, the way eating made me stronger, it was all gluttony’s mana influence. My stomach growled loudly at the perfect moment, as if gluttony itself were chiming in, and I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess this power’s perfect for gluttons like us. Whatever the case, this is sure to suit us better than the red mana of wrath.
“I’m gonna eat you— Actually, I dunno... But I am gonna cook you. I hear frozen mushrooms make great broth!”
Using the mana that moved like my own limbs, I completed a spell.
“Seize even the soul and freeze everything solid. Chains of the Frozen Prison!”
Just as the chant promises, it’s an advanced ice spell capable of freezing even one’s soul. Magical chefs use it to preserve the freshness of their prey.
“Aaaaagggghhhh!”
From the magic circle that had formed before me, countless chains burst forth and shot toward Machina of Pride. She tried to defend herself with a mana barrier, but these were no ordinary chains. Forged from advanced-magic ice, they pierced straight through her barrier with brutal force, wrapping around her exposed mana core. Shackled by layer upon layer of chains, it was quietly consumed by white ice.
“I-I was defeated...by such...lowly beings...”
“Pretty bold words for a cooking ingredient.”
“What...are you...? A hero...? No, a sage...?”
“Just a cook with a little dungeon malice curse, that’s all.”
“A...cook...? I-Impossible...”
Those quiet words of disbelief were Machina of Pride’s last. Her mana core was completely overtaken by the ice and frozen solid. Now, she no longer looked like prey to me—she was nothing but an ingredient.
I let out a big sigh of relief. “We won.”
“Myaffu! We won!”
“Victoryyy.”
“That’s right! We won!” I said, high-fiving the girls as they ran over to me. “Are your injuries okay?”
“We’re already healed!”
“Aaall good.”
Shiro’s dragon eye and Kuro’s dragon arm still had traces of blood, but the wounds were closed—the dragon’s regeneration really was something else.
Grumble.
“I’m hungry,” said Shiro.
Slurp.
Their mana and stamina must’ve hit their limit with their final attacks. Holding their stomachs, they stared longingly at the frozen Machina of Pride.
“No, we’re not eating that,” I said.
“Whaaat?”
“Why not?!”
“There’s no way we’re gonna eat a former-human-turned-Demon-King!”
Even the heaven dragon— No, thinking about that is bad for my sanity. Forget it.
For now, I tucked away Machina of Pride in storage.
Silence fell over the room as Shiro, Kuro, Ares, Godlord, and I looked at one another.
Is it finally over? A mix of caution and relief washed over me.
But then, a new figure appeared.
“Children, you have done well.”
The being right before us looked just like Ares had when he had attacked us: a grotesque being enveloped in black mana. It was dungeon malice, but this time, the aura it gave off was even more violent, even more oppressive. The moment it appeared in the center of the room, it felt like the force of gravity had been supercharged. A vicious mana cloaked my entire body, and a freezing chill crawled through me, raising goose bumps along my skin. Its presence was so overwhelming that none of us could move. If it had attacked now, we would’ve died without being able to resist.