The one commanding the horde of monsters was Alma.
The sight unfolding before our eyes seemed like some kind of bad dream.
“Why is Alma leading the charge for these monsters...?” I couldn’t help but ask in bewilderment.
“Do you think perhaps her memory came back? And maybe that’s why she’s attacking the Royal Capital—just like the others who were brainwashed before did...?” Seira wondered nervously.
“No, she’s been with us this whole time. Besides, even if her memory did come back, there’s no way she’d attack the capital,” I insisted. “First and foremost, though, it makes no sense that she’d bring monsters with her. Even if she had some residual brainwashing left over, she’d still only be able to do things humans are capable of.”
It was impossible for any human to command a huge group of monsters—or should’ve been, at least. Yet the monster army that Alma was leading approached as we spoke.
I guess no matter how we slice it, it doesn’t change the fact that she’s turned against us...
Once Alma got close enough to where we could hear each other’s voices, Seira called out to her.
“Alma, please stop this! The battle is already over! There’s no reason for you to attack Astaroth!”
“I don’t think it will do you any good to try to appeal to her better nature,” Fam advised. “Because in all likelihood—that’s not Alma anymore.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Seira blinked.
“I sense the essence of a demon coming from her. It’s not the same as the people who were brainwashed—it’s an aura that’s only given off by actual demons.”
“Are you saying—”
“So we meet again,” Alma called out, looking down at us from atop her horse—but everything about her, from the tone of her voice to the way she carried herself, was completely unlike the Alma we knew. It was as if she were an entirely different person altogether...and one I recognized, at that.
“You—you’re Baron, aren’t you?” I asked.
“How astute of you. Guilty as charged.” Alma—or rather, the being that identified himself as Baron—cast us an audacious smirk; traces of his face were visible beneath hers.
So it’s him after all... But there’s something I still don’t quite get.
“I’m pretty certain I crushed you. How did you manage to make your way back here as Alma?”
“The simple answer to that is: I took over Alma’s body.”
“What...? When did you even come into contact with her?”
“I laid an egg inside her. Once it hatched, ownership of her body was transferred to me.” Baron grinned widely. “Implanting eggs into others and hatching them allows me to take over their bodies. Should I die, any egg of mine will begin to hatch automatically.”
“I see—so that’s how you move from host to host.” The Baron we’d faced back in Sorcera wasn’t his original form either. He had been staying alive by taking over other people’s bodies like a parasite.
“Exactly. You could say Alma was my ‘spare.’ It’s always good to have a backup, isn’t it?” Baron declared. “The problem is that there aren’t many individuals who can withstand being controlled by me. They must harbor great power, like she and Sodom did, otherwise their bodies simply break. In actuality, the reason behind Alma’s loss of memory was the egg I implanted.”
So that meant that Alma had lost her memory as a side effect of having the egg implanted inside her, then just so happened to land in our laps.
“Then what does that mean for Alma...?” Seira asked fearfully upon hearing Baron’s words—as if gingerly touching a box that should not be opened.
“She no longer exists. I’ve taken possession of her. Her personality has disappeared from this world without a trace.”
“N-No...!”
Upon being told that Alma was gone, Seira was visibly shaken—and the same went for the rest of my companions. Though we hadn’t known her all that long, we had all been through thick and thin together as comrades; it was only natural for us to feel distraught after hearing that she had just vanished into nothing.
I certainly wasn’t calm on the inside myself either. Despite that, though—
“For now, we just need to focus on the enemy in front of us,” I stated.
This is a battlefield. If we lose focus, it could mean our lives.
“Such a levelheaded decision. Truly befitting of a squad sergeant,” Baron commended, seemingly impressed. “The quantity and quality of my subordinates may be inferior to those of the other generals—but it should be more than enough to grind down Astaroth’s battered forces.”
Then, he shouted out an announcement: “I hereby order every monster here to eliminate Sieg.”
Upon Baron giving his orders, all of the monsters advanced on me at once.
“Bring it on.”
And so the opening salvos of the battle had been fired.