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“Movement.”

Now, I will take Zion and return to the formation to completely annihilate the Demon King and the Gate.

This was the perfect scenario I had sought to achieve through Great Regression.

No, as a result, it turned out to be an even better situation, allowing us to engage in the campaign against the Demon King.

Zion surpassed my expectations and became a stronger hero than in his prime, and thanks to my memory loss and rehabilitation efforts, humanity’s military strength had also significantly been restored.

Even without Zion joining, the gap between humanity and demons was so evident that a foolish operation to completely surround the Gate and attack until the Demon King was dead was feasible.

I wonder if the campaign against the Demon King’s officers is over by now?

Once Zion reformulates the party and launches the attack on the Demon King, we should be able to end the war without any variables.

Using Space Movement, I teleported together with Zion to the main entrance of the barracks.

I wonder if Now and Hanamana’s party is still fighting somewhere?

Once we enter the formation, I’ll explain the situation to Zion and wait for Now to return.

Zion might want to charge in right away, so I should let him know that the situation is currently relaxed first…

– Boom!!

– Boom!!

“?”

Explosions resounded from all directions. The central barracks I returned to with Zion had transformed into a battlefield.

The sky was layered with holy barriers and magical shields, and dark magic was crashing down, creating explosive sounds, while arrows and spells were flying within the formation, and behind them, phalanx soldiers wielding spears and shields were repelling the enemies trying to breach the barricade.

“Teacher? Have we moved to the heart of the battlefield?”

Zion immediately drew his sword and took his stance.

“No, this is the barracks. We were supposed to surround the Gate…”

First, I needed to assess the situation. Where is Now?

I thought she was probably in battle somewhere, but since I didn’t know the operational details, I couldn’t know where the commanders were when fighting broke out in the formation.

Now was a commander, but also the second mage, so perhaps she had gone out to fight?

Aimlessly searching would be awkward…

‘Oh, there’s that.’

An idea suddenly popped into my head. If finding them is hard, I’ll make them come to me.

“Zion. Just stay here for a moment.”

“Yes?”

I called out to Zion, who was about to leap into the front lines.

Joining the fray immediately was certainly a good thing, but first, I needed to inform the command structure that Zion had joined us for accurate decision-making.

This is the central barracks. The signal flare…

‘Purple. I had decided to shoot this when I met Zion.’

– Whoosh!

A purple signal flare shot into the sky, informing of a special situation.

Before long,

“Director Hop! Zion!”

Now flew in from somewhere in the sky and joined the barracks.

So she must have been fighting somewhere.

“Director, you’ve brought Zion. That’s a relief.”

“What on earth happened? Why are there so many monsters?”

“The Gate has been completed. According to the Demon King, it’s because Mirae is dead…”

“What?”

“I don’t know either! I’ll explain later, so just send Zion in. We need to lift the siege and retreat.”

“Understood. Zion!”

“Leave it to me, Teacher. Let’s go, Now.”

Zion and Now returned to the front lines.

Mirae’s death resulted in the Gate being completed?

How on earth did that happen…

***

“Aurora is dead.”

“So what does that matter?”

The Demon King, focused on the presence behind him while successfully parrying the Duke Crofel’s rapidly approaching sword, was not at all concerned about the 1st party’s onslaught, which was merely a nuisance attempting to seize an opportunity.

The role of the 1st party was to hold the Demon King until the other commanders finished their assaults.

And now that Aurora had fallen, the Demon King thought,

“I’ll open the Gate, so you all stop them.”

He simply didn’t care what happened to the other officers.

When a demon dies, their power returns to the Demon King, who can then share that power to create more demons.

And the power Aurora was born with wasn’t originally the Demon King’s; it was a special power that appeared by chance. Still, if she died, the power would return.

Although the Demon King wanted to complete his plan by killing her directly, Aurora was an Aptitude Holder of time magic.

He may not be able to use time magic directly, but if he had personally killed her, it wouldn’t bode well for his plans if time were to affect him.

She played a vital role in opening the Gate from the realm of intermediaries.

While it would be ideal for his conquest of the realm to conclude with an incomplete Gate, if that were insufficient, then letting Aurora die naturally would be part of the plan.

Being a demon himself, even though he absorbed Aurora’s power when she died, it wouldn’t necessarily mean he could use time magic freely.

“Time acceleration.”

He would use it while her power still remained—without directly absorbing it—to eliminate her completely.

No matter how much of a Demon King he is, he wouldn’t want to become an Aptitude Holder of time magic, and once would be more than enough for him.

Although the officers were falling under the heroes’ attacks, they wouldn’t be completely obliterated by the Holy Sword, nor would there be time to purify and eliminate them, so once the Gate was completed, they would regain their power.

“I’m sending the Gate’s time 300 years into the future.”

With one use of time magic, Aurora’s power disappeared without a trace.

She probably never anticipated that her death would be part of the plan.

As time accelerated, the Gate was gradually completed.

Inside, the power of the demon realm began to seep through.

The humans of the realm were confidently pulling all their forces together, arrogantly thinking they were surrounding the Gate.

Soon, they would regret abandoning the advantage of defense to launch an offensive.

***

“What about the losses?”

“We’ve lost about 30% of our troops… The hero-level ones unable to retreat include three vanguards and one healer.”

The Unified Alliance, facing the sudden offensive of the fully completed Gate, temporarily lifted the siege and retreated, with the demons pushing back the alliance to a certain extent, allowing them to regroup and assess the situation.

With a fully operational Demon King connected to the demon realm and the endless wave of monsters beginning to pour out, it wouldn’t have been unusual for the encirclement to become untenable, leading to abandoning troops or total annihilation.

However, thanks to Zion returning to stall the Demon King, the presence of two space mages, and the efforts of the command staff to devise the best retreat plan, more than half of our forces were able to survive.

Only the highly mobile archers remained for support, while the main forces retreated en masse. After quickly reformatting the party to focus on a small number holding off many, elite heroes bought time for the final escape via Space Movement.

In this unavoidable situation, I thought it was the best possible operation.

“How could a complete Gate arise in just five years…”

Still feeling responsible, Now wore an expression of frustration.

The gathered command staff and heroes, generals, offered encouragement, noting they had done well, but this was not the time to indulge in sentimentality.

“You mentioned there’s a connection to Mirae’s death. What exactly did the Demon King say?”

“He didn’t give us any direct clues. He only muttered as per the words of Duke Crofel, ‘Aurora is dead,’ before heading for the Gate.”

Then Zion must have killed Mirae right before the Gate was completed.

To think the situation could change so dramatically while I was conversing with Zion and bringing him back.

“I also think Mirae, being a reincarnator, must have used her time-manipulating power after her death. Demons cannot wield time magic because using it means losing all their memories. So it makes sense that she accelerated the time of the Gate by borrowing power.”

Hanamana, who had been deep in thought, stepped up to share her opinion.

“I also think it’s that way.”

I had a similar thought. The Demon King could absorb a dead demon’s power or share it with another demon.

I felt it was entirely plausible, so I supported Hanamana’s opinion, and Now nodded and continued the meeting.

“Then that Gate isn’t some temporary spike or resonance. We will plan further operations based on the premise that the Gate is complete.”

The situation was quickly communicated, and the operational meeting continued.

With a perfect Gate and a Demon King.

Following that, news arrived from the reconnaissance unit stationed near the Gate that the Demon Fortress was beginning to rise, prompting a hush to fall over the room.

Before long, voices advocating for each delegation to return to their home countries in preparation for a long-term battle became the majority opinion.

If we continued like this, it would be a repetition of the last war.

Although rehabilitation had progressed to some extent since the war, the world still bore the scars of conflict.

How long could we last by retreating and establishing defense lines?

Knowing that those gathered were not fools who couldn’t think this through, naturally, there were dissenters as well.

“The homeland hasn’t been breached yet, so if we block using the walls, we can maintain the frontlines while keeping the north as demon territory. That would be the best course right now.”

“How could we get this far and suggest we retreat? There probably won’t be another opportunity like this again in the future!”

“Then you mean we should face the monsters pouring out from the Gate in the northern territory with its support?”

“Are you suggesting we fight them on our soil where our citizens live? Oh, I see, since you’re not adjacent to the north, it doesn’t concern you?”

“You’re going too far, General…!”

In an unanswered situation, voices grew louder, turning the meeting into chaos.

Even the overall commander, Now, couldn’t present a clear answer and sighed when,

– Ting!!

“Silence.”

Stepping forward was Zion.

He planted the Holy Sword into the ground and drew everyone’s attention.

Those who had been revealing hostility towards each other turned to the source of the sound in unison, and after confirming it was Zion, they quietly settled their emotions.

Is this the moment when the hero should step up?

What could Zion possibly say…?

“I…”

 

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