---

The fierce battle between the two heroes.

It can be said that the one grasping the Holy Sword is in a favorable position in this fight.

Although the battle power of the one who is brainwashed is not at its full level…

Still, the corrupted hero, Mercenary King Bearnes, was strong.

The imp Barbalado controlling her was a being who had directly inherited a portion of the power from Satan’s Magyom Gehenna, showing considerable prowess in manipulation over the Mercenary King.

However.

Swoosh.

Barbalado fell as the waves of the Holy Sword surged forth.

Other demon races were swept along in the current as well and those demons occupying the top of the Mobile Fortress were pushed back by the Holy Knights and warriors and swept away by the tide.

The only one in the Demon King’s army able to seize the advantage was none other than the corrupted hero Bearnes.

Yet around that corrupted hero, only the blue water splashed.

Splash, splash!

Every time the sound of water sloshed loudly, a fountain surged upwards.

The sound of flames meeting water instantly vaporizing echoed, and the shape resembled a blooming lily bowing its head downwards.

“Wow….”

The lily, with its white petals, absorbs the color of the water through its stem.

The body of the corrupted hero Bearnes, who had once been under Satan’s brainwashing, was freed from that control by Liriez’s sword, washing her whole body clean.

What dyed her again, now turned white, was the blue magical power used by Liriez.

Swoosh.

The sky opened up, and the blue moonlight began to embrace Bearnes once again.

Whether it was the color of the Moon Goddess or Liriez’s color, it was unclear, but the once corrupted hero was gradually regaining her original form.

“Ah….”

Bearnes slowly opened her eyes.

In her eyes, the energy of the demon race was no longer present, and vitality returned to her pale skin, rising in a blush.

Swoosh.

The battle was over.

The Hero of the Holy Sword, Liriez, raised the Holy Spear Trident high towards the sky.

Swoosh——!!

The sacred water that soared high fell from the heavens like a fountain, washing away the blood of the Holy Knights, warriors, and the demon races smeared on the Mobile Fortress.

“Long live the Moon Goddess——!!”

“Wow——!!”

With the shout of Holy Knight Commander Liriez, humanity savored an overwhelming victory.

The alliance of the Order of the Crescent Moon Goddess and the Anari Principality succeeded in breaking through the Lesvos Gorge, which had been defending the southern part of the Empire.

*

“Ah, I feel like I’m going to die.”

Thanks to Liriez’s consideration, I returned immediately to the Mobile Fortress and resumed my doll form, and as soon as I stood up, I received a warm embrace from Liriez.

“That was wonderful, Witch!”

“Ah, uh, yeah.”

I felt flustered.

Just moments ago, before I entered here, I was manipulating Liriez’s body, but Liriez was acting as if she had some awareness.

“Did you see? Did you see?”

“Yes! Since the moment the Witch possessed my body! It felt like my soul was trailing behind and fighting too!”

“…I see.”

Thanks to Celcius’s influence, perhaps.

Or was it due to the divine power of the Moon Goddess?

Or was it that I used possession magic with Beelzebub’s magic core instead of Belphegor’s true body?

Normally, using possession magic would cause the original owner’s consciousness to sleep, like Lucius.

Especially if it possessed the permission and trust of the individual, that body would entirely become mine.

…I hadn’t anticipated the variable that Liriez’s consciousness was awake and watching how I fought from behind.

But.

“How was it?”

“I feel like I’ve learned a new way to use the Holy Sword. Thanks to the Witch, I can handle Trident much better now. Thank you, Witch.”

I was genuinely relieved that Liriez was purely happy about me using her body to fight.

“Even though you were the one using the Witch’s body, I felt all the sensations entirely. It was truly wonderful. Such vivid sensations.”

It would have been reasonable to suspect how I could handle the Holy Sword so well, but luckily, she asked no such questions—

“Especially the intense connection with Bearnes.”

“…Huh?”

“Witch. Thanks to you, I have finally been able to awaken my true self.”

Liriez knelt before me, wearing a lewd smile.

“May I ask you often in the future?”

“For what?”

“For possession. Especially when dealing with female enemies…. I will gladly offer this body for the Witch.”

“Weren’t you uncomfortable?”

She probably wasn’t uncomfortable at all, but I asked the question out of courtesy.

“Even if it was to break the hypnosis, you were on top of Bearnes and kissed her.”

“Not at all!”

As expected.

Liriez felt no hesitation in that regard.

“It was an act to save a life! Just like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. It was an act to save someone’s life, so there’s no reason to worry about that.”

“Is that so?”

Could she really say that so calmly for just that reason?

Surely there must be another reason?

“Liriez, you….”

“Witch. I’m really sorry, but could you keep my personal matters a secret?”

“A secret? Doesn’t everyone know?”

“Nobody knows if it’s real.”

Liriez’s face was extremely serious.

“There’s a huge difference between when everyone jokes and says, ‘Isn’t it that?’ and ‘It’s really like that.’ Witch, are you perhaps feeling disgusted?”

“…About individual preferences, I don’t intend to comment.”

“Ha, Witch….”

Liriez held my hand tightly and embraced me.

Her grip, as if intertwining our fingers, sent a slight chill down my spine, even though I was a doll.

“…I look forward to working well together in the future. Of course, since the Witch is Lucius’s mentor, when Lucius returns….”

“We don’t know how that will go yet.”

“Huh?”

“Lucius also has a clone attached to him. Not his true body, but a clone for Lucius. So for the time being, I might be your exclusive… so to speak?”

“…….”

Huh.

Liriez licked her lips with her tongue.

Swallowing her saliva, she seemed to be quite reluctant, and I felt a chill again from her gaze directed at me.

“…Shall we finish what we need to do for now and then continue?”

“……Yes.”

Liriez held me tightly and stepped outside.

“Ah! Hero!”

“It’s Holy Knight Commander.”

Liriez exited the Mobile Fortress with a calm expression.

The Mobile Fortress that had emerged from the gorge briefly landed on the plain beyond, where a group of demon races were trapped in prisons of water.

“Satan’s Demon Army.”

Numerous types of demons that I couldn’t fully name were trapped in the water prison.

Death Knights, Ghost Knights, Liches, and more, the remnants of the Southern Army that had survived from the Mobile Fortress and the tidal wave of the Holy Sword were all stuck in the water prison and unable to move.

And their representative, the hypnotized imp Barbalado, knelt down with her emaciated body bowed.

“H-h-honorable surrender…! Please, please spare me…!”

A far different attitude from her earlier readiness to face death.

There was clear horror of death in Barbalado’s eyes.

Why?

The demon races ‘subjugated’ by Satan do not die easily.

As long as Satan infuses them with mana, they can be resurrected, and those who die once can be reborn with rage.

Yet, despite this, the fear of death was because of the ‘Holy Sword.’

“You must have heard stories of the demon races killed by the Wind Holy Sword Hero who was already in the Anari Principality, right?”

“…….”

Barbalado did not raise her head at my words.

“No matter how powerful Satan’s magic is, or his authority, they are useless against the power of the Holy Sword.”

“Th-that’s…!”

“You’ll understand if you experience it yourself. How about it? Should we test whether your soul will go to the afterlife or flow to Satan if the Holy Sword beheads you?”

“…….”

Barbalado was paralyzed with fear and could not speak.

“And that one?”

A man with horns on his head.

Perhaps he was a unicorn in human form, a man I somehow found familiar—and knew. He calmly held his head high.

“I have nothing to say to the losers. Do as you will, whether you kill me or spare me.”

“Spare you? You wish for that?”

“Where are the ones who truly want to die? Now that I’ve been captured like this, although I’m dead in a sense, if there’s a way to live, I will crawl on the ground like a dog for survival. However.”

The unicorn, Amducias, glared at me and gritted his teeth.

“I, Amducias, a member of Asydia and servant of the Great Demon Lord Bel Phegor, can never betray my Great Demon Lord!”

“So?”

“If you don’t kill me, I will gather the demon races and raid human villages again. So if you don’t want unnecessary casualties, you might as well kill me cleanly. Hehehe.”

“Do you really think dying like that is glorious?”

Honestly, it’s quite sad.

Even with Asydia right before me, I couldn’t say, ‘I shall interrogate this one separately.’

After all, Amducias was half-destroyed by the bombardment of Trident, and in truth, this battle was his last.

“Five hundred years ago, a subordinate of the Great Demon Lord.”

“That’s right. I, Amducias, although I was just a lowly minion in the Demon King’s army, my death will serve as a cornerstone for the resurrection of the Great Demon Lord.”

“W-what…?”

I could feel the expressions of those besides me hardening.

I also felt flustered.

‘They didn’t train me to blurt that out—’

Ah.

To speak so confidently like that.

That means already….

“Has the Great Demon Lord already been resurrected?”

“…….”

Amducias.

“……Cough.”

He coughed up blood and collapsed sideways.

“…Before I could even question for information, he took his own life….”

“…….”

The face of Amducias, collapsed beside Barbalado, seemed utterly relieved.

Whoosh.

With the wave, all the remaining demons were swept away by the blue tide.

The army of Satan’s Demon King stationed in Lesvos was annihilated.

The alliance succeeded in freeing the Mercenary King Bearnes from her brainwashing.

However.

There was no respite.

“The Empire’s bulwark…has collapsed?!”

As our alliance passed through Lesvos Gorge…

…Satan’s Demon Army had successfully broken through the last bulwark of the Empire and entered the system.

 

---