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“Is the Empire concentrating all its forces on the system?”

“Yes, that’s correct. They are fleeing in fear of the Demon Lord! Kruruk.”

Just as the Imperial Army accurately discerned the movements of the Demon King’s army, the Demon King’s army also knew the movements of the Imperial Army precisely.

“They’re gathering where the Emperor, the hero of the Empire, is.”

“What should we do?”

“Focus on the areas where their forces are lacking. Capture every last human left in the gaps where they fled, and where their main forces have pulled back.”

“Yes!”

Thud, thud, thud.

The ogre unit is moving north.

The main forces of the Demon King, including Satan, continue advancing toward the system, and now they even have the leisure to divide their forces.

“Demon Lord, isn’t this too strange? The Empire seems suspiciously focused only on the system.”

“There’s a reason for that. You should just do as I say. Understood?”

“Ah, yes! I will trust and follow you, Demon Lord! Long live Satan!”

Although his subordinates sometimes harbored doubts, Satan governed the Demon King’s army through the raising of Magyom Gehenna.

Terror politics.

Even before that, ruling the Demon King’s army was sufficient just by achieving victories over the Empire.

“So who will go face the Panty Warriors of the Anari Principality now?”

“…….”

It’s not just about the victories over humanity.

“Hah, what happened to the proud Demon King’s army? Now that it’s said to face a powerful enemy, they’re tucking their tails. The name ‘Demon King’s army’ really means nothing.”

“B-but Demon Lord, they do have a hero over there…!”

“The Empire also has heroes. Heroes are everywhere. To defeat such heroes is the true power of the Demon Race. Look. This.”

Demon Lord Satan lifted Gehenna high.

“I have defeated a hero. You can too. A hero is still human, and if they let their guard down, they will be pierced just the same. The Panty Warriors are no different. Who will go toward the Anari Principality?”

“Demon Lord, what should we do about the additional frontline? A hero from the Order of the Goddess is approaching.”

“……I will head toward the Empire. But I cannot just let such a person be. You, over there.”

“Y-yes?! Did you call for me!”

The small imp with a diminutive stature went pale and crouched down.

“With your abilities, you could win easily.”

“B-but I only have hypnosis…!”

“I shall grant you strength.”

Creak.

“A very powerful strength, that of a ‘Hero’s Adversary.'”

…….

A woman bound by chains looked at the Demon Lord with dazed eyes.

“Use it. You were once a hero.”

*

The Bride Ship, on the way to Sky Island.

Heroes must always fight for humanity.

That has been one of the frames imposed on humanity for hundreds, no, thousands of years.

“The Empire has tried to refute that from the front.”

The hero who wields the Holy Sword of the Earth, Jade.

Jade Arpe.

At that time, he didn’t even have the middle name Leberced, simply a man who inherited the Holy Sword due to his lineage in the Empire.

He was preoccupied with women and saving his own life, yet he was supposed to act as the Emperor and as a hero of the Holy Sword, but he took no action whatsoever.

He abandoned the Empire.

He shamelessly created moving fortresses like Mamon with the Holy Sword and continued fleeing from the Demon Lord’s army.

I referred to it at the time as a “harem.”

Jade Arpe, a coward living in the safest mobile fortress alongside the abdicated Emperor.

There were only women following Jade inside, allowing him to exercise the Emperor’s authority safely from the Demon King’s army.

The mobile Harem Castle of Jade.

Even while making a Harem Castle out of the Holy Sword of the Earth to flee, he eventually had to use the Holy Sword in the face of the Empire’s collapse, and somehow awakened and used the Earth Spirit Device as well.

“I had a really hard time back then.”

It was shortly after I obtained the body of the Black Dragon.

Then suddenly, when I chased after the hero of the Holy Sword, the Earth Spirit Device, Bahamut, showed up and started causing earthquakes against me.

I really fought for my life.

I almost got crushed in a split that opened in the ground, and when I flew to the sky, spikes from the ground almost pierced my body, and later, I even made it erupt with lava.

It was the power of the Spirit Device.

The abdicated Emperor Jade didn’t fight relying on the Spirit Device, but when I began my counterattack and started turning the tide, he quickly fled.

If we consider the total duration of the battle to be 100, I was nearly pushed back from the start to 77.

But at around 23, I began my full-fledged counterattack.

I started getting used to moving the Black Dragon’s body, became accustomed to facing the Earth Spirit Device, and most importantly, as the Spirit Device’s attacks began to ‘pattern’, they became easier to deal with.

And as I aimed for the final blow at a favorable point, someone jumped out of the cockpit and fled.

Thus, I defeated the Earth Spirit Device and seized the Holy Sword of the Earth.

What I actually obtained was a somewhat ambiguous fragment of the Holy Sword of the Earth, and I successfully trapped Jade’s Harem Castle in a swamp after a long chase.

Not worth killing.

A being without pride.

If too human, he was a petty man, yet far too incompetent to be called Emperor material.

A shameful existence to be called the ‘Hero of the Holy Sword’ who is humanity’s hope, I did not kill Jade but imprisoned him until the battle with the Human Alliance was over.

That was my past.

I barely achieved victory over the Earth Spirit Device and made sure it would not act recklessly by burying it underground within the Empire so it could never rise again.

Unless the Empire retrieves the Holy Sword of the Earth, Bahamut will never rise again.

Or as long as I intentionally do not awaken Bahamut, it will remain asleep within the Empire’s underground.

As long as maintenance continues, I could have prevented the Spirit Device from planning ‘purification of the Earth’.

But then, I died.

Maintenance became impossible, and the Empire retrieved the Holy Sword of the Earth.

“Did I think I would die by a stab from the Wind Hero?”

Plans are always like reeds.

They shift this way and that, yet no one could have imagined that picking up a girl from another world and treating her kindly would result in being stabbed in the heart.

-Ah, what a fool. Serves me right. Poor thing.

Even if I were to tell Bahamut of this grievance, Bahamut would listen.

“In an emergency, would my main body not contact Bahamut?”

Although not an ally, at least Bahamut recognizes what ‘romance’ is.

If it detects the mana that resides in my main body as the Demon Lord Belphegor, it will surely show some sort of reaction.

Will Bahamut, who once grasped the Holy Sword of the Earth and temporarily became its master, react like Celcius?

Or…

“In an emergency, toppling the Empire is possible.”

Let’s ally with Bahamut and blow up the Empire, then think about the rest later.

Let’s use Bahamut to defeat Demon King Satan.

And for that ‘next’ step, I head to Sky Island with the Lucius party.

“Do you see outside?”

“Ugh, waaah!!”

Rosmas screams in shock.

Droniel trembles wide-eyed, and Yan only offers prayers.

Only Lucius is looking exclusively at me.

“Lucius, look up. It’s a sight that’s hard to find anywhere else.”

“When we arrive at Sky Island, we can see it, can’t we?”

“That’s true, but isn’t it still good to see it from here?”

Seeing the space beyond the sky is a rare occurrence.

“We’re almost there, so you should take a look. Look at that.”

I pointed to the vast ocean visible beyond the Bride Ship, a sea stained dark with black darkness.

“Do you know what that is called?”

“What is it?”

“Space.”

The Bride Ship had flown a considerable distance vertically.

“We’re currently crossing the ozone layer, heading toward the edge of the atmosphere.”

Frost-like phenomena began to appear around the Bride Ship.

“The outside of the Bride Ship is much colder than the northern part of the continent we walked through. If you go out unprotected, you’ll freeze to death. The air is thin, and you won’t be able to breathe. Just stay quietly in the command room until we reach Sky Island. We’ll be arriving soon.”

“……!!”

Lucius suddenly looked up.

“Master, I can feel something.”

“Follow that feeling, Lucius. Still, guide the Bride Ship.”

“…It’s calling out.”

“That’s right. It’s Sky Island.”

It slowly comes into view.

The golden aura pouring out from beyond the Bride Ship is guiding our way.

It’s as if a transparent sphere is floating in an empty space, with golden wind swirling expansively around it.

Wrapping the sphere in golden light.

“Wow….”

Even the frightened Rosmas, the previously quiet Droniel, and Yan, who prayed to the Blue Moon, could only express their awe at the golden sphere.

“Lucius, the other name of Ascalon is ‘Dragon Slayer Sword’. So why is it called that?”

“…Because it destroyed Dragon civilization?”

“That’s one reason, but it’s also the sword that overwhelmed the first dragon.”

The Holy Wind Sword overwhelms the Holy Sword of the Earth.

“Then… shall we enter Sky Island?”

I grabbed Lucius’s ankle, which was caught between my armpits.

“It’s the ‘satellite’ governing this planet’s atmosphere.”

“Yes?”

Yan’s head turned toward me.

“What is that…? Is that perhaps the land of another forgotten god…?”

“That’s what I’ve been saying. Especially you will find many of your existing knowledge and beliefs shattered once you go up to Sky Island.”

I could only laugh.

“Sky Island is just an air circulation device, a super colossal air circulator.”

Simply.

The Spirit Device is just an engine.

“……It’s a device that transforms this planet, which had nothing in the beginning, into an atmosphere where life can breathe.”

 

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