「If you don’t want to die then stand back」

It was a strange scene.

A single man was walking forward, calmly, even though he was facing a an overwhelming army.

He was headed towards the depths of that very army.

That man, who was called the〈demon god〉, continued to walk straight forward, without changing his pace at all.

「〈Lightning Fangs of Wind〉」

The demon god whispered.

In the next instant, the humongous wing of wind on his back, that stood tall like a wall, started to make a strange noise.

That was the crackling of the white lightning.

The white lightning was crackling 『inside the wings of wind』.

「I will no longer hesitate」

The demon god――Merea, turned his brightly shining red eyes towards the black army while he continued to knit extremely complicated techniques at high speeds in his mind.

The technique that Merea just used was one of the 『composite techniques』 he could use once he entered the violent god mode after opening the four gates.

As Merea, himself had said, he wasn’t yet too adept at flexibly using the various techniques of the heroic spirits.

The〈Rain of the Resplendent Swords〉a little while back was a kind of technique to force your way through.

He didn’t do anything particularly special. He just consecutively created the swords.

However, it wasn't something that a normal human being could accomplish and most probably, the person who created the technique, the water god (Seura Eurus), may not even be able to accomplish it.

Even the〈Lightning Fangs of Wind〉in that sense, was an original of Merea’s.

He made the〈Six Wings of the Wind God〉into an extension of his own body and wrapped the white lightning onto that as well.

Although it might sound simple when it’s said out loud but trying to wrap white lightning on those wings which already flow like wind, requires an extreme processing power.

However, Merea’s abilities which had been expanded to the very limit could, at that time alone, make such a feat possible.

In the first place, having already surpassed Flander Crow in both technique processing and technique creation speed, once Merea entered violent god mode, he reached a point that no one could ever dream of reaching.

Halfway through, he forcefully created the 『pinnacle techniques』 of the heroic spirits.

That destructive power――

「――」

Could be summed up in a single word. Majestic.

The wind which had white lightning crackling through it, attacked Mūzeg’s army.

Not only did it blow away the people it came in contact with but, the charged lightning ran to the very core of each person and even spread to other people near them.

One corner of the black army suddenly cleared out in a fan shape.

Merea quickly turned his head to both sides and checked all the soldiers who were out of range and,

「〈Rain of the Resplendent Swords〉」

With a wave a single finger, he rained a large number of swords onto the soldiers who had been out of range earlier. Screams could be heard all over.

「I won’t let a single person through and I’ll have you let me through to Serius」

Those weren’t words that a single person should be saying when faced with a huge army.

However, the power to back those words were gushing out Merea’s body.

Merea alone covered the entire 『frontlines』.

An extremely brave soldier of Mūzeg went towards that Merea with a sword in hand. There was plenty of room near Merea since that one swing of his wings of wind had left the space around him completely empty.

Merea also noticed that a single brave soldier had come out of that boisterous army and faced him with a calm expression on his face.

「U, uooooooooo!!」

A war cry.

The voice that, that man had raised, as if to encourage himself, reached Merea.

Without getting counterattacked by Merea, that man rushed towards him with his sword raised and swung it towards Merea’s neck.

「...」

However, his courage was the cause of his body scattering. It was just a single moment. A black lump assaulted the soldier from the side at high speed, as he tried to attack Merea.

An extremely large black lump――the〈Three Tails of the Earth God〉which had grown to a strangely huge size.

The soldier that was hit by the three tails, rolled on the ground like a piece of rubber.

As he was rolling away, another tail went on ahead and hit him again and this time he rolled all the way back to Merea’s feet.

Merea quietly grabbed onto the neck of that soldier with his hand wrapped in the bluish black flames and raised him up in the air.

There was a very slight――sad expression on his face.

「...Who might be the cause for this, I wonder?」

His words spilt out. However, in the next instant, that sad expression disappeared from his face.

「I won’t say that I’ll eliminate anyone who’s hostile to us. But, at the very least, your 『king』 called us demon lords and oppressed us and you people showed your approval to that and raised your swords so, I’ll have you taste an appropriate counterattack for that」

Merea continued speaking.

Also」

A slight hint of fury could be seen on his face.

「――I’m not nearly as kind as the〈Technique God (Flander)〉」

Merea spoke and applied some coercion to the soldiers who were coming closer to him.

He quickly looked around his surroundings and then in the next moment, he turned his attention back to the soldier he had raised in the air.

That soldier seemed to have stopped breathing. The brightness in his eyes had also dulled.

Merea looked straight at that fragile life in his hands.

He didn’t turn away.

――And then,

「...Resent me. Let us eventually meet in the〈Sea of Souls〉. ――〈Death Flame of the Flame God (Fram Brand)〉」

He hit the soldier’s neck with the azure flame that reaped life.

His neck did not burn, fester or get a single wound but――

In the next instant, all life drained out of his eyes.

The azure flames wrapped around Merea’s arms seemed to be extremely happy at being able to eat that man’s soul and as if to show its happiness, it raised a tongue of flame into the air.

That sight looked even more frightening to the soldiers of Mūzeg than simply dying.

Having your life stolen by that bluish black flame, might they not burn for all eternity in the〈Sea of Souls〉?――Was one of the delusions that those soldiers had as they watched.

◆◆◆

Even so, the soldiers of Mūzeg did not move.

They were good warriors and they were good 『Mūzeg soldiers』.

With a sword or spear in hand, they approached Merea.

At that time, the other demon lords and Lemuse’s soldiers joined Merea from the back and once again joined the war.

However, the man who was watching the war from a high position,

「――It’s like a drop of water on a hot stone」

Said those words while riding on the back of the red dragon. Serius Brad Mūzeg was analysing the military situation calmly.

「With this...the damage will be too large」

It’s not worth it. To put it plainly, he ran out of words. Mihai, standing next to him, thought the same thing as well.

「The more soldiers we invest, the more of them will end up being obliterated by the demon god. Even if we invest the ones who come later, the result will probably be the same」

While Mihai spoke with a calm tone of voice, his eyes were round with shock. With his eyes wide, he looked at the scene spreading below him.

Mihai watched the situation as if he were watching a beast being fed feed. A greedy beast that would never be full.

「Kuu, we can still shoot the white light cannon. If we could just do something about that demon god then――」

Suddenly, the captain of the practitioners corps spoke up from next to those two.

After getting one shot off towards Merea from within Caligula’s mouth, he and his subordinates were still on standby on Caligula’s back in order to provide long range support to the army.

While watching the scene in front of him, as if he couldn’t bear it anymore, the captain started to knit a technique.

His subordinates seemed to feel the same way, as they matched his movements and started knitting techniques at high speeds.

However, a tragedy was approaching them.

Serius alone realised. The fact that, Merea, who was rampaging like a natural disaster in the distance, had turned his red eyes towards them.

Even if he couldn’t see in detail, the coercion was strong enough that he could tell with just his bloodthirst and the air around him.

He couldn’t help but have a bad premonition.

「Sto――」

The moment he felt that premonition, he tried to stop the captain and his squad.

However――he didn’t make it in time.

The captain and his squad had already finished knitting over 90% of the white light cannon and were preparing to shoot it towards their target.

At that point,

「――!!」

A black light came first.

*Suu*

A sound that a human’s body should not make could be heard. The black light cannon grazed past Serius’ face.

That cannon wrapped up the captain and the practitioner corps next to him and reaped their lives from the very root.

「――」

Serius was unable to react.

Mihai was, similarly, standing there dumbfounded.

Merea, who was far away, could be seen turning his head away with a sour expression as if he was regretting something.

Merea had shot his technique before the captain and his squad could even complete theirs.

Earlier, it was already good enough if he shot it at the same time.

Since Merea couldn’t use the reversal technique until 80% to 90% of the enemy’s technique was complete, no matter how high his technique creation speed was, the chances of a preemptive strike were extremely small.

If he could speed up his technique creation even further then he would be able to do it but no matter what, shooting it simultaneously was already his limit so, he couldn’t shoot it preemptively like Flander did.

Normally, that is.

That alone was quite a threat but, now that Merea had entered the violent god mode, his speed increased even further.

Serius hadn’t even noticed when Merea had knit that technique.

When he realised it, Merea had a completed technique in his hand. When he realised it, the black light had been shot. The speed was as if the scene had completely changed in the blink of an eye.

「――Stop it」

Serius suddenly raised his voice.

「Don’t shoot any 『techniques』!!」

That was an order to the other practitioners who were taking part in the battle down below, separate from the captain earlier.

With what happened a moment ago, Serius understood exactly how foolish it would be to shoot techniques from their end.

However, that also, ended up being too late.

「Shi…!!」

At the base of Serius’ gaze, a black light could be seen rushing forward.

That light made a beeline towards the practitioners who had created a platform to shoot techniques from so as to not involve any of their allies and penetrated their bodies.

Over and above that, not just he cooperation technique from earlier but every single technique launched even by individuals had their reversal techniques shot back at them preemptively and had their bodies eroded.

「Just how much processing power does he――」

Exactly what was going on inside the head of the demon god. Reversal techniques were flying around without a single bit of a time lag.

「His character is even worse than the〈Technique God〉...」

Serius changed what he had thought earlier. He completely dismissed the thought he had earlier of Merea’s reversal technique being a 『mockery』.

It’s definitely different from the one used by the〈Technique God (Flander Crow〉. The technique god’s reversal technique was ingenious.

However, though the〈Technique God’s〉reversal technique won’t fall behind this one but, when faced with multiple opponents, his reversal technique would probably surpass the technique god’s.

Unlike the technique god, it would be impossible to create an opening by attacking with so many attacks that his processing would not be able to keep up.

Just how many would he be able to process simultaneously and when would he reach a point of not being able to handle anymore. Serius couldn’t even begin to guess the answers to that.

There was a limit to being unfathomable.

「...That must not be」

Seeing the scene in front of him, Serius felt his sense of value being overturned.

「For a 『pawn』 to exceed 『numbers』...!」

Look at the difference in numbers.

This difference in numbers would normally directly connect with the result in any ordinary war.

It’s just not possible.

It’s not supposed to be possible.

The trust that was felt with the absolute advantage in numbers.

For that to be overturned by the appearance of a single irregular is――

「Something that...should never have been possible…!!」

The moment that the type of battle that Serius knew started to fall apart, he felt like a part of himself also started to crumble.

Even if it wasn’t everything but, he had seeked to find his cornerstone in battlefields much more than normal humans.

Feeling the essence of the battlefields he was familiar with changing, he felt a rather intense unrest well up.

And, an incident that would push his unrest to even higher levels was about to take place.

The demon lord and the demon lord.

That was an incident that occured because several demon lords were cooperating, as well as the encounter happening because of the 『demon lords of the past』 using the current demon lords as a medium to encounter each other.

Merea Mea who was a unique existence that had the genes of a hundred heroic spirits, awoke the genes of a heroic spirit that had not been a part of his body earlier.

Without anyone knowing, the battle was already drawing towards its climax.

◆◆◆

At some point, Elma had come close to Merea.

She skillfully swung the demonic sword Krishra and kept cutting down Mūzeg’s soldiers.

With that, as she splendidly positioned herself so as to not become a hindrance to Merea, even when seen by Merea himself, she could be seen as someone who had an excellent tactical eye.

――Three minutes.

While watching Elma with a sideways glance, Merea calmly calculated the time.

How long would he be able to continue staying in the violent god mode.

The reaction of having opened the 『god’s gate』 was rather obvious.

Disintegration.

His body would break down from inside and out.

――No, it’s fine to exceed that.

If Hasim’s estimation is to believed, then, just by holding out for a further few minutes, the reinforcements of the three kingdoms should come.

Merea felt that it was fine to extend the duration of the violent god mode until the reinforcements of the three kingdoms arrive.

Starting from the〈Resurrecting Body of the Life King (Myuzel Blue)〉, Merea had several genes of the self regenerating system.

If he relied on those, then even if he were to exceed the limit, he would still be able to bear the disintegration to some extent.

Since it wouldn’t reduce the impact or the pain from the disintegration, he would probably taste a suffering which would surpass even his own imagination.

Even so,

――I don’t care.

Merea planned on doing it.

The moment he resolved to do that, Elma showed up right next to Merea with a will to retreat and spoke.

「You plan on forcing yourself don’t you?」

Merea was honestly surprised.

Wondering if it was showing on his face, he quickly covered his face with his hand.

However, Elma spoke again.

「I just somehow got that feeling. Seriously, just somehow」

She spoke with a slightly annoyed expression.

「――I’m amazed」

Merea replied with a wry smile.

Most of the enemy soldiers had disappeared from their surroundings and the remaining soldiers were also hesitating in their charge towards them.

Although they weren’t scared of dying in battle but they were scared of dying a dog’s death.

「It feels like, even if I lie to you right now, you’d find out. Even though you’re always so klutzy」

「Shu, shut up, don’t make sarcastic quips in such a situation」

Although Elma slightly hung her head in shame but she didn’t take her attention away from the enemies.

「――They’re numbers are formidable. Although we’ve managed to reap a considerable amount of their fighting spirit but, Mūzeg’s 『faith』 is strong. As long as Serius is behind them, they won’t break. They’re making such eyes」

「That’s obvious. How many hundreds of years do you think they have been amassing strength? After doing that much, the point they reached was this one. With a piece like Serius Brad Mūzeg, they finally reached a point where they would gain prosperity. It won’t crumble that easily」

After saying that, Elma stabbed her demonic sword into the ground for a moment. In addition, she pulled out the short sword on her hip and cut off the clothes that were already torn in places.

「I thought that clothes meant for travelling would be sturdy and would be able to endure but, as expected, it can’t handle being taken out to the battlefield huh. I’ll get the money-grubber to prepare better quality clothes next time」

「That’d be good as well. For that sake, we first need to――」

As Merea took a few steps forward, his hand brushed against the handle of the demonic sword that Elma had stabbed into the ground.

When the back of Merea’s hand brushed against the handle of the demonic sword, although it raised the usual bizarre screech but, Merea himself felt his body stiffen the moment he heard that.

To be more precise, he felt a sense of discomfort the moment his hand brushed against the sword which caused him to stiffen up unconsciously.

「Win――」

While replying to Elma, Merea suddenly grabbed the handle of the demonic sword and pulled it out of the ground.

「O, oi, it’s dangerous even for you. Even I don’t understand the nature of these imperial weapons completely」

Saying that, Elma placed her hand on Merea’s shoulder but, after a few moments, even she stiffened up.

「What...is this…?」

Elma was baffled.

「I can hear a voice...inside my head...」

「――It’s the voice of the demonic sword」

Merea could clearly hear it.

◆◆◆

『Second Imperial Weapon,〈Demonic Sword〉Krishra――Activation』

◆◆◆

In the next instant, Merea felt an enormous amount of 『magic power』 being sucked out of his body. It was a load that was abnormally more than when he uses several pinnacle techniques of the heroic spirits simultaneously.