I knew Leobolt wouldn’t actually join the demons’ cause.
As I ran through the rubble toward the front gate, I thought about what had happened during our battle.
After I had taken the blow from his lightning-fast blade, Leobolt had spoken to me:
“I did all this to lure Rebirth out of hiding. That is why I caused such destruction here in the capital, and why I tried to strike you down. I needed to battle with all my might in order to gain his trust.
“I’m going to head to where Rebirth is, now. I will report to him that you’ve been slain, and convince him to show himself. Please remain here, Sieg. Once I locate Rebirth and defeat him, the battle will be over, and the capital will be saved.”
It had all been exactly as I suspected; he really would go to any lengths to accomplish his goal—even if it meant sacrificing himself. That was just the kind of person Leobolt was.
Back when the Fifth had fought him during his entrance exam and he had been told to protect the balloon as though it were the Orb of Light, he had thrown his body into the line of fire in its defense. He was still that very same person—straightforward to a fault.
Then, a little bit ago, after he had left for the front lines, I had suddenly heard a loud noise that sent a rumbling shock wave through the ground beneath me. It had clearly been something that could’ve changed the entire course of the battle.
What on earth is happening out there? Thinking the battle might have been coming to an end, I had started making my way toward the front gate to witness those final moments.
Now, arriving there, I found no trace of any of the attacking slime soldiers.
Instead, there was one giant slime soldier towering above us—apparently a conglomeration of all the other ones. Its mere shadow made the entire area in front of the gates as dark as dusk.
“Whoa, there ya are, Sieg!” Spinoza called out upon seeing me. “I knew you were still kickin’!”
“I was really worried when Leobolt came back without you...” Fam chimed in. “I thought he might’ve actually taken you down.”
“I’m so glad you’re all right, Sarge...!” Seira added, nearly in tears.
“Sorry to worry everyone,” I said to my comrades. “But let’s focus. What’s the situation here?”
Commander Bolton was the one who responded to me. “Leobolt managed to destroy Rebirth’s core, which made all the slime soldiers disappear. But then he started turnin’ into some kinda giant slime!”
“We think it’s because the magical energy he had been using for his copies all came back to him at once,” Seira added.
“Where’s Leobolt?”
“Apparently, he managed to destroy the core, but that didn’t finish Rebirth off—he ended up taking a counter hit afterward.”
I followed Fam’s gaze over to where Leobolt was lying on the ground.
I see... So you managed to carry out your duty, after all.
By shattering the real Rebirth’s magic core, Leobolt had rendered him unable to make soldiers. He had accomplished what the rest of us hadn’t been able to do.
“I’ll take things over from here.”
Leobolt had sacrificed his very humanity to break us out of our stalemate—and I wasn’t about to let it go to waste.
I pushed forward past the guards gathered at the front gate, walking toward Rebirth. The enormous slimy mass teemed with magical energy.
“That was a clever ploy Leobolt pulled on me—only pretending to betray you,” echoed Rebirth’s voice. “But even though he went so far as to give up his humanity to deceive me, his blade fell short. He sacrificed himself for nothing.” His words held a derisive overtone. “Did he think I was powerless without my copies? The staggering might I wield is more than enough to tear down your precious capital!”
“You’re just a pathetic coward who hid in the background letting your copies do all the work. Your ‘staggering might’ can’t even take me down, much less the capital.”
“Is that so?” Rebirth sneered. “Let’s test that theory, then—by crushing your puny body into paste!”
He raised his giant fist high up into the air and brought it down on me with a vicious crash. The force sent shock waves flying through the air and flattened the ground nearby, kicking up a massive cloud of dust.
When the air cleared, Rebirth’s voice was trembling.
“How did that not hurt you...?!”
I had blocked his giant fist with my shield head-on.
Honestly, it had been quite a powerful blow—but it hadn’t held a candle to Leobolt’s sword strikes. Comparing the blade of a man who was prepared to risk his own life to the fist of someone who ran and hid behind others was like comparing night and day. The level of strength was simply incomparable.
“Now that this is a one-on-one battle, you have no hope of beating us. I can defend against anything you could possibly dish out.”
There was one last thing I had to say to Rebirth.
“Leobolt’s blade didn’t fall short at all. It hit you exactly where it needed to.”
The massive demon roared furiously.
“Now’s the time, boys! Charge!” At that moment, Commander Bolton gave his men the signal to move in. “Leobolt gave us this chance; don’t let it go to waste!”
A chorus of battle cries erupted from the guards as they rushed in at Rebirth.
Faced with the full-scale assault of the commander and his men, along with my Fifth Squadron comrades, there was no escape for the demon general—and he was felled right then and there.
And thus, our lengthy battle finally came to an end.