Meanwhile, another battle was unfolding in Silver Factory, the last of the seven great human kingdoms. There, on the plains of the Wiladorf sector, the demon army was standing against the combined front of the Seventh Kingdom’s forces and the Humanity Defense Coalition. The humans had suffered great casualties, but they’d managed to repel the demons’ powerful and massive machine golems with the help of the Great Six, the coalition’s ace fighters.
These kids are amazing, thought Yoshida the Villager, one of the Seven Heroes, as he watched the young warriors boldly standing at the front line.
Master of Defense, Griffith Maxwell.
Master of Strength, Strong Garfield.
Master of Magical Energy, Leen Clarice.
Master of Magical Control, Lynel Foxfort.
Master of Special Ability, Chris Almard.
Master of Speed, Stephan Goldeagle.
These six had grown significantly in the short time after witnessing their foes’ extraordinary power during the mock battles with the Seven Heroes and the fight against the fake Black Star, Heavy Rain. This rapid progress was only possible thanks to their youth. From Yoshida’s perspective—someone who’d become one of the Seven Heroes by pure chance and was only capable of logistical support—they had truly become reliable allies.
But there’s still a big problem, Yoshida thought.
This was no time for them to relax. While there was only one enemy left, he was a shenmo. The real battle was just beginning.
“It’s showtime!” said Loki the Mythical Creature, one of the New Seven Black Stars, as he strolled forward.
At 180 centimeters, he wasn’t much taller than an average man, but he stood out with his theatrical white suit, gloved hands, and dark necktie. Nearly a third of his body was mechanical. Half his face, his left arm, and his right leg were formed from a black metal. The clink-clank of the machines inside him rang out with each step he took. Despite his frame resembling that of a human, his machine golem traits clearly marked him as a shenmo. An even clearer indicator was the dense, powerful mana pouring out of his body.
“Urgh!” The nauseating sight reminded Yoshida of the terror he’d felt in the previous war. He felt like a pathetic excuse for a hero.
“We’re taking you down, New Black Star. Then we’ll finally be on par with them!” shouted Griffith Maxwell, the leader of the Great Six.
“Yeah!” the other five roared in response.
Their determination and fighting spirit were more than sufficient. The fight between these young heroes and the shenmo was on.
“All-consuming hellfire, cleanse the stain of sin from this world. Flame Tornado!” Leen Clarice was the one to kick things off with her Chanted Magic.
The Humanity Defense Coalition considered six abilities essential in combat: defense, strength, magical energy, magical control, special ability, and speed. Each of the Great Six excelled in one of these fields.
As Leen’s title indicated, her magical energy was exceedingly high. Furthermore, she’d spent a great deal of time practicing her Chanted Magic—which had far higher output than Template Magic—amping up her attack even further. The flames were so intense an ordinary demon would burn to cinders from a direct hit.
“Bienvenido!” Loki let the incoming flames engulf him, his arms spread wide, as if welcoming them in.
“Huh?!” Leen gasped. As a specialist in magic, she could tell that Loki wasn’t using any of the basic defensive measures, like covering himself in a layer of mana to reduce damage. Shenmo or not, his body had been burned and a small portion of his metal parts had melted.
“Ooh! Nice, very nice, little lady,” Loki said with an ecstatic grin.
Griffith stared in confusion. “Is this guy seriously laughing while part of him’s melting?”
“How bizarre. Should we try hitting him once more?” Lynel Foxfort asked. He didn’t wait for a reply before leaping into action.
“Lightning Group, Twenty-Ninth Magic!” His area of expertise was precise magical control. While he didn’t have the same high energy Leen did, he gathered mana at the tip of his finger, charged it with the lightning element, and fired the narrow beam at Loki. “I aimed my spell at his heart, the core of a shenmo’s mana. What will he do now?”
“Okay!” Once again, Loki kept his arms spread like a heron’s wings and took the attack head-on, no magical defenses in place. The lightning couldn’t pierce through his tough body from end to end, but it still managed to cut to his heart and expose his core, scraping it just a little.
Did he just take a deliberate hit to his core? Yoshida wondered in shock.
The core was to demons as the heart was to humans. Since the heart was the source of mana, its destruction would lead to an inability to generate mana. That spelled certain death. There was absolutely no reason to drop one’s defenses and take an attack there.
Abruptly, smoke erupted from Loki’s core, and the damage on it seemed to wipe away.
“What?!” Griffith shouted.
“Whoa, hold up! Didn’t we learn in class that no matter how potent a demon’s healing is, it takes them time to recover if their core is destroyed?!” said the muscular Strong Garfield.
“Heh heh heh, you’re seeing the result of my Ex-Skill, boy,” Loki said with a malicious jester’s grin. “Its name is Perfect Form, and it will restore my body to its original shape no matter how much damage it suffers. In other words, you could say I’m immortal. Let’s get on with the show now, shall we?”
“What the—” the Great Six cried in dumbfounded unison. The realization that the enemy they thought they’d nearly defeated was immortal hit them like a ton of bricks.
“So he didn’t defend himself since it’d be a waste of mana,” Griffith muttered.
“Now then, can you six kill me?” Loki said before appearing right in front of the Great Six.
“How did he move so fast?!” one of them yelped.
None of them could stop Loki from getting so close, but Strong immediately reacted. With a loud battle cry, he threw a punch with all his might behind it, as much as he’d used when he’d sent the monstrous machine golem flying earlier.
“Oh yes!” Loki said as he took yet another attack without offering a hint of resistance.
Thwaaack!
The metallic clang of two objects violently slamming into each other filled the air.
“Hmm, not bad,” Loki said with a smile, though it was misshapen by a dent on his face where Strong had slugged him. “You lot aren’t bad at all.” He then returned the favor by slamming his own fist into Strong’s large frame.
“Argh!” Strong’s back bent ninety degrees and he was blown into the distance.