“Inconceivable! The seal on Town Girl A has been broken?!” Empress Margaret Whitehyde of the First Kingdom shouted as she listened to an urgent report. Thanks to certain members of the Seven Heroes, the right of command in this war had been recovered from the Humanity Defense Coalition and given to her, so she was serving as supreme general.
Margaret stood a little taller than the average woman at 170 centimeters, with long limbs and a pleasing figure. Most noticeable of all was her bosom, tightly pushed up in her purple royal garments. No man in the world could keep his eyes away from them. Despite the temptation, her gallant gaze, framed by her imploring eyebrows and long eyelashes, exuded such dignity that most viewers instinctively prostrated themselves before her.
Despite her stately beauty and looks much more youthful than her actual age of thirty-eight, anyone could tell that she was in an utter panic. She’d received a report of their sixth consecutive victory not too long ago, so she’d been talking to everyone in a celebratory tone since she’d thought the fight in the Seventh Kingdom was the only one left. The festive mood had vanished in an instant.
“You must be joking, yes? I’d like to consider myself a forgiving leader, but even I can lose my temper,” Margaret said with imploring eyes to the knight who’d delivered the report.
“N-No, I’m afraid it’s the truth. There is a silver lining, as the last of the New Seven Black Stars was eliminated by Town Girl A’s attack,” the knight said.
“Well, that’s good news, yes.”
With the last Black Star gone, every gate to the human world should be closed, and the demons would vanish back to the underworld as a result. Victory against the demon army was theirs.
“But, with the disaster revived, the war is far from over,” interrupted Alan, who’d just arrived in the throne room.
“Y-You shouldn’t move around yet, Master Alan!” Rosetta protested.
Alan was peppered with bandages from head to toe. He’d rushed over in the middle of his treatment as soon as he’d heard the report. The fact that he could stand now, after being carried back to the castle with his heart almost destroyed, was a testament to his unwavering willpower. However, that also indicated that the current situation was grave enough to necessitate him displaying his willpower in the first place.
“Fill me in on the details,” Alan told the knight.
“Uh, yes, sir!” The knight activated the magical device that projected images on the wall.
A scene straight out of a nightmare appeared on the wall. The lifeless wasteland depicted had likely been a town full of people only a short while ago. It must have been a peaceful, comfortable place with man-made structures that coexisted with nature. Now, the buildings had been reduced to rubble, all living beings had vanished without a trace, and the abundant greenery had shriveled into nothing.
In the center of everything, a lone girl radiated noise in terrible waves with each step.
“Town Girl A is advancing from the Seventh toward the First Kingdom. She’s already destroyed over twenty towns and villages, and the casualties are estimated to be close to two million. Our nearby forces have moved to intercept her, but...”
The display on the wall shifted to show a unit composed of soldiers from every kingdom with the Humanity Defense Coalition’s forces playing the central part. They fired at the skinny girl using the coalition’s latest model of anti-demon turret. Nonetheless, the shells that could fell even robust demons were blocked by the noise protecting her. Her Miasma of Rejection counterattacked by washing over them like a torrent full of choking mud, swallowing the entire unit and the town itself instantaneously.
Nothing was left after the dust settled.
“Wh-What on earth was that? An entire town vanished in a second!” The ministers serving as strategy advisors by Margaret’s side were stunned.
“Dammit all, I knew they would end up like that. Stop the attack. I doubt you can stop that girl for even a millisecond.” Alan ground his teeth in frustration as he watched the lives of countless young soldiers being snuffed out right in front of him.
“I’ve heard about her from Alan, but I never imagined the extent of the devastation she could cause,” Margaret said.
“This is why Beelzebub and his army were aiming for the seal stones. They wanted to revive this disaster and let her single-handedly destroy humanity. Since she’s human herself, she’d pass away from old age one day, and then they could do as they pleased with our empty world. That was the gist of their plan, although Beelzebub himself had no interest in our land,” Alan explained.
“E-Either way, what kind of measures should we take?” the knight asked, despair evident in his voice. “Town Girl A is approaching our First Kingdom. At this rate, we estimate she will reach here around noon tomorrow. This is the kingdom with the highest population, so if she rampages here...”
“It will be catastrophic. I don’t understand why, but that girl always moves toward the location with the most humans present. When she arrives, she erases every last one of them, like she’s wiping the whole place clean. I’m afraid the casualties will be on an unheard-of scale,” Alan said.
The entirety of humanity would eventually meet the same fate at her hands. According to Yoshida, the girl had ended up in that state at only twelve years old. After that, her aging had slowed to a crawl. In a span of five years, she’d physically aged by only one. In other words, if she lived to be fifty in terms of physical age, 185 years would’ve passed for everyone else. Would it be possible for humanity to stay on the run for that long, from a monster that could reduce an entire city to nothing in an instant?
“That’s why I’ll go,” Alan said.
Margaret seemed surprised, but also like she’d known what was coming. “Are your injuries all right?”
“Not in the slightest, but I can’t do nothing, can I? This is my final task.”
“Ha! I heard that your heart was crushed to bits, but you never change, do you?” said the towering Dora Alexandra, a woman of pure muscle, as she entered the room. But she wasn’t alone: Kevin, Derek, Norman, and Isabella—everyone in the Seven Heroes save for Yoshida was accounted for.
“Take us along for the ride.”
“Heh, like you’re one to talk. I heard you were in critical condition,” Alan replied.
Every hero had bandages wrapped around one place or another, excluding Isabella, who’d won her fight through a game of chance.
“Ooh! The Seven Heroes have gathered to fight together!” one of the ministers said.
“Sir Yoshida is missing, but he was only made a hero by sheer luck. These six are the essential members,” another added.
“With their powers combined, they can defeat even that disaster,” said yet another.
“That’s not true.” Alan shook his head. “In the previous war, that girl appeared at the demon lord’s castle after Beelzebub was defeated and the gate was closed. Do you understand what that means? She appeared at the decisive battle, where we had all gathered together.”
“I’m not sure I understand your point,” a minister said.
“Yoshida was absent then too. Even with the six of us together, we had to resort to sealing her away. It was not a clean victory.”
At that, the ministers raised their voices in an incomprehensible commotion.
“Either way!” Alan said above the noise. His voice was unwavering. “We will figure something out, just like last time. One way or another.”