episode_0151

000

Kleone, who was caught up in transfer magic and once wrapped in black light, grabs Caliburn and looks around as soon as his vision returns. The surroundings are entirely filled with a sticky liquid-like space. As if inside the stomach of a giant creature, he is surrounded by red, meaty walls, and when he looks up at the ceiling with an unpleasant sensation. He saw Kamala hanging upside down and looking at Kleone with a smile. Strangely, her hair did not fall upside down, but flowed naturally towards her upper body, riding her shoulder line as if ignoring gravity. The same was true of the clothes she was wearing. Kleone, looking at the phenomenon that defied the laws of nature, frowned and muttered.

“The small domain of black magic…”

“That’s right~☆ This is my small domain! You know what that means, right?”

Just as Galatea draws Kleone in, everything that happens within is determined by her black magic. Natural laws, of course, and matters of life and death. Even injuries or loss of body parts can all be “undone” if there is enough black magic.

This is such a powerful small domain, but it requires considerable magic control to use. Black magic is inherently impure magic rejected by the world. Therefore, if you surround a certain space with black magic, it becomes a barrier that blocks the outside and the inside. In other words, it is possible to create a small domain. However, since a small domain defies the will of the world simply by its existence, an incomplete domain is destroyed in an instant. If a small domain is demolished against one’s will, the massive amount of black magic used to maintain the small domain is not recovered and disappears as is, so humans who use black magic do not even dream of using it, and even low-level demons have to risk their lives to deploy a domain once.

Looking at her deploying it so leisurely, smiling, Kleone sighs.

“You’ve prepared quite a lot.”

“Of course☆ Because I’m a gourmet. If there’s a food ingredient I want, I’ll use any means necessary. This inside is my stomach. It acts like my tail. It slowly melts your body, converts it into magic power, and makes it my power☆ In other words, I’m getting stronger and stronger. Is it a space where you get weaker and weaker? How is it, Kleone-nim? Does it send a chill down your spine?”

Licking her lips with her tongue sticking out, she feels Kleone’s magic power and blushes as if intoxicated by the taste.

At some point, Kleone realizes that the sticky liquid in this living space, which she said was her stomach, is playing a role similar to gastric acid, but he sees unpleasant tentacles rising from the wrinkled flesh floor, which could also be called the stomach wall, wrapping around his ankles and preventing him from moving.

“Tch…”

And also the fact that his magic power is slowly being taken away from there.

“Hmm~♡ This is the dense black magic of a black magic swordsman…! I think I’m going to get addicted… I want to eat it all by myself without giving it to Lillum-unni☆”

She wags her tail and converts the pure mass of black magic created on her hand based on the absorbed magic power into magic as if she is in a good mood. It transforms into the shape of a sharp weapon such as a spear or arrow, and when she flicks her finger, it flies away at a rapid speed and plunges down where Kleone is.

Bang! A loud noise echoes, and the black mist rising as the black magic decomposes obstructs the vision between them.

“Kyahahaha! No matter how much of a black magic clan you are, there’s no way you can block a mass of black magic!? It’s okay~ I’ll take into account that Kleone-nim didn’t behead me. I won’t kill you right away, I’ll cut off your arms and legs and use you as a living dildo-”

In the next moment, whoosh! When a sound is heard, a golden slash wave flies and cuts off her left shoulder.

“-Huh?”

A dumbfounded sound flowed from her mouth, and she opened her mouth and looked at her shoulder with a shocked expression.

“What-”

And, where the slash wave flew from, the rising black magic mist slowly disappeared, and she looked at the shining sword blade visible through it. Holding it was Kleone, preparing to strike the next blow with a blank face, holding the sacred sword with both hands.

“How, can you move like that-”

“Ah. I’m sorry. I was aiming for the troublesome tail. I’ll hit it next time.”

“No, no, no! It’s strange☆ … It’s strange! How can you emit so much divine magic even though you’re tied up with black magic and tentacles!? This is, this is my space! It’s my stomach!?”

Kamala, panicked by the incomprehensible reality, screams madly. The separated body parts scatter with magic power and gather again from the shoulder area to create a new arm, but-

Swish-

Along with the sound, this time her neck and body were separated, and her neck fell upside down to the ground.

Her body, separated from her body, was hanging from the ceiling, defying gravity, but her neck did not seem to be able to do so.

“Haa… Haa…!?”

Kleone feels the power of the tentacles binding him slowly weakening and loosens his shoulders. At his attitude, as if he had not even warmed up, the succubus Kamala denies the unbelievable reality, trying to regenerate her body, feeling that the man in front of her is giving her as much fear as Ishtar of the Red Planet- no, as Lillum.

However, her body, which was separated from her head and slowly decomposing into magic power, was cut in half again in the air and fell to the ground even faster than that. It turns into magic power faster than she expects and cannot be absorbed by her. It is purified by divine magic and disappears.

“Ah, ah, no…”

Kleone looks at her and points the golden sacred sword Caliburn at her head. As if to cut it off if she moves even a little. A blue-tinged- no, it shines like the rising sun and emits such powerful divine magic that her skin tingles.

“I admit it. You are, more than any enemy I have ever met-”

`Ah. Golden crescent moon.`

“You talk too much.”

001

A space like an arena. There is no hole to escape from. The audience seats are empty. In a desolate stage with no guests to cheer for, only the sound of clashing steel fills the place, deafening the ears. The ones dancing the sword waltz are a white knight and a brown bunny girl.

The purpose of this place can be roughly guessed. Perhaps the basement of the store until just now. A disposal site for `defective products` prepared for VIP guests. The floor permeated with bodily fluids scattered around makes one frown. They may not have died, but the worst spectacle running rampant with more than that extreme of humiliation has taken place here.

The white knight – Iona flows divine magic into her favorite long sword, parrying Mistilteinn wrapped in black magic, and gathers her breath. Eustace is swinging it mercilessly in front of her eyes. But it is impossible to think that that is his true skill.

By forcibly enhancing his physical abilities with the black magic Kamala poured in, after crushing his ego to the point where he could not wield swordsmanship. His appearance of simply swinging his sword to defeat the enemy in front of him was like a berserker.

However, if the berserker moves with anger and hatred, Eustace is the opposite of that. Without feeling any emotion, he just swings his vicious sword at random, and that alone becomes a great threat to the opponent. Who would have thought that power without will would be so dangerous? Rather, Iona briefly has disrespectful thoughts that he is handling Mistilteinn much better than when he was in his right mind.

Still. She couldn’t just think about it so leisurely. Right now, he is swinging his sword instinctively without ego or thought. If the magic power erosion progresses, a self will be created as a faithful female servant who only swears allegiance to the succubus, just like the others. Was it `Justina`? I acknowledge the naming sense, but even so, I didn’t want to see him become like that. For Iona, Eustace is also a meaningful existence.

That did not mean that she was conscious of Eustace as a man. Rather, she had never looked at him that way. However. Eustace is the last disciple that Talcheck taught. Although, he was not properly taught swordsmanship, nor did he spend a long time with her father. However, the flame of Talcheck’s will was passed on to Kleone and Iona, and it was clearly passed on to Eustace as well. Because of that will, Eustace worked hard enough to think about sacrificing his life to wield the sacred sword and block the Barrier Tree. Regarding the imp’s actions that trampled on such a will, Iona calmly gathers her silent anger into the sharpness of the sword’s tip and takes a deep breath.

“I, ona…”

At that time, Eustace’s mouth slowly opened, like a sound coming from a door that had not been oiled for a long time. Squeak, squeak. As if a broken music box’s spring was slowly turning. With a shallow ego that was only as thin as a sheet of paper. Eustace moves his body and speaks.

“Cu, t me…”

There was despair mixed in Eustace’s words. That was because of his pathetic state. Mistilteinn. The despair over the situation of holding this sword, with the lives of several precious people piled on top of each other, and trying to harm an innocent person. A bottomless abyss of despair that he could not bear at all for him, who had forcibly endured even if he was deprived of his will, deprived of his true appearance, and deprived of his freedom. His pride. It was so unbearable for him to disgrace the name of the sacred sword with this sorry state.

So, he wanted to stop. So, he wanted to end it. The best path left for him was not to continue this unsightly life, but to fall at least within the framework of a fight.

Eustace was thinking that and asking Iona.

But Iona hears those words, looks at Eustace who is holding her body for a moment, and puts her sword down once.

Then, she takes a deep breath and smiles.

“My father – fought countless people in the imperial arena for many years and took their lives. In some ways, he was a villain. Even if there are mitigating circumstances, he can only be seen as a madman.”

The place they are in, after looking around, was made in a circular shape, imitating such an imperial arena. As if telling the fate given to the two people standing in the center that it is the death of one of them.

“I investigated that place a lot without my father’s knowledge. Many gladiatorial slaves fought to survive and wielded their swords. Even if they were companions who drank alcohol at the same table until yesterday. If the god of fate sends a sneer, today they will have to swallow their companion’s blood instead of alcohol.”

Iona cannot guess what Talcheck felt while fighting them. Her father was not normal in the first place. He did not try to show his heart to Iona.

In the next moment, Eustace could no longer control himself and swung Mistilteinn wildly once again. As the black magic erosion intensifies, his body exceeds its original limits. He was moving without thinking about rebound and going berserk.

“If you are also a disciple of Talcheck. Don’t say things like asking the other person to cut you down or kill you. That is never an act of relieving the other person’s burden. Pick up your sword with all your might. Look at me and swing it! And move your body desperately to survive.”

Iona picks up her sword again and points it at Eustace. Her red eyes are filled with the fighting spirit inherited from her father – albeit, her adoptive father. Talcheck.

“I will do the same. In this arena with no audience. There will be no jeers or punishments even if one of us does not die. If we wield our swords until our bodies reach their limits. There will be a time to stop.”

And -. Iona adds.

“Kleone would surely get rid of this stage. He is also a disciple of Talcheck like me and you.”

“Kle, one…”

Eustace murmured his name.

“So. Let’s have a little long sparring session with this senior sister. You learned from your father `places that must not be cut`, right?”

Iona says that and rushes towards Eustace like lightning.

002

The first to kneel was the lancer, Remilia. While clashing with tens, hundreds of times, the spear she was holding was gradually carved away by the sacred sword. At some point, it could be seen that her red underwear, which had been hung on the spear shaft, was tattered and ragged. However, there were no wounds, nor did she sweat. Just, a little. She was just out of breath. That would be the case. Already, so many Arondights had been created that the surroundings were entirely covered with blue crystals.

On the other hand, Aruru was only slightly out of breath. Like Remilia, there was nothing wrong with her condition. Without shedding a drop of blood or even a drop of sweat, she made the strong enemy Remilia kneel and picked up Arondight and pointed it at her head.

“Hoo… Excellent. Even though my body has become younger, there is a limit to this body.”

Remilia quietly put her spear on the ground and lowered her head. That was acknowledging that she was the loser.

Any more than this, even if she continued to fight, her spear could not penetrate this thick crystal wall. No, even if she did penetrate it, the swords that would pop out from there would tear her body to shreds. She had completely mistaken the way to deal with it. Before this sacred sword. Arondight, a war of attrition was the worst choice. With a short decisive battle. She should have consumed all of the magic power of the magic spear and pierced her heart – or her head.

Even if she let the same regrets flow through her head. The result does not change. It’s a bad habit of an old man. She mutters as if she were completing it herself.

But Aruru was different. The heat of her sword had not yet cooled. The cold anger that had risen had not lost its chill either.

Still pointing Aruru quietly opened her mouth while still pointing at Remilia’s head.

“Raymond of the Red Thorns…”

As if confirming the reality that she did not want to admit, Aruru puts the name in her mouth. Remilia lets out a chuckle, “Haha…” and nods her head. Her once proud gray hair had turned white. The eyes of the veteran, who was skilled but had not forgotten the joy, had turned into the eyes of a sparkling beautiful girl. The muscles of her body had turned into fat and stuck to unnecessarily protruding parts, and the spear she had abandoned her favorite spear and newly held was completely dyed with black magic and was a newly made object for killing people.

“After all, you had memories…. Then why are you on the side of the demons who threaten the royal capital.”

Aruru quietly asks him. There was no way she wouldn’t know the reputation of the Red Thorns. She had never met him directly. She had never been involved indirectly either. However, the fact that the legendary adventurer who once guarded the kingdom from the demons of the empire as the vanguard of the volunteer army. Now, he was a pawn of the demons who threatened the peace of the kingdom. And, she felt anger at the fact that he was not turning the spearhead to the demons while holding on to his memories.

“It’s the last adventure of an old man who has had many adventures. I’ve fought on the side of humans all my life. Wouldn’t it be a romantic thing to fight on the side of demons sometimes?”

Looking at Raymond – no, Remilia, who shows her face with a smile that seems to have given up on and accepted everything somewhere, Aruru closes her mouth. As a hero, she had come into contact with many people. Although she did not notice the change in her oldest friend, Lail. She herself was able to understand the hearts of others to some extent.

It was the expression of someone who had been betrayed that she had once seen.

“Why… Who betrayed you?”

“… … Haha. I’ve been had. To think that you were a hero with so much experience. Aruru Tromea. I think I underestimated you too much.”

Remilia showed a surprised face at Aruru’s words, but quickly regained her usual composure and smiled. Aruru could tell that it contained some bluster. There was agitation. The fingertips. There was a slight tremor.

“The Tromea family… The shield of justice that protects the kingdom. But you cannot fight the enemies I am trying to fight.”

“What….”

“Do you have pride in everything you are trying to protect?”

“Of course. I believe that wielding my sword as a hero, carrying everyone’s expectations and hopes on my back, for the sake of the precious people and the people I must protect. Is my mission.”

Looking at Aruru, who speaks with her honor without a moment’s hesitation, Remilia smiles. Although they were facing each other with spears and swords, her pride. Her soul was shining so brilliantly that it could not be compared to her already corrupted soul. So, she cleanly admits defeat. That was the only thing she had not lost, even though she had abandoned everything. Raymond’s pride as a warrior.

But. That is why she is worried. When this girl sees the shadows of what she must protect. Will she be able to not despair like herself?

Betrayal is established because there is faith. Defilement exists because there is honor. Lies arise because there is truth.

“There is only one thing this old man can tell you. Have unshakable companions, miss. Even if. You face the darkness of what you were trying to protect. If they are there, you will not become like me.”

That is why. She spits out the old man’s advice. Giving advice to the enemy may be a violation of the contract, but it seems that this place is somewhat isolated, so there should be no problem.

Just as Aruru was about to ask him what that meant while listening to his words.

Boom! A huge magic pressure occurs and vibrates the entire space.

Then, the transfer magic circle activates on Aruru’s body once again, taking her somewhere.

Remilia, who was left alone in the banquet hall, looked at it and let out a sigh.

“Has God taken my side? Or has he taken her side?”

It might have been possible for her to continue to convey the truth as it is and destroy her…. She doesn’t know how strong her mind is.

But Remilia does not change what she has to do herself.

“Palatinatia. I don’t think I’ll be able to go to the heaven you are in.”

Muttering that, she slowly grabs her spear and walks away to find her employer.

The Red Planet’s Ishtar. Because it was something that had to be reported to her.