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“Raise your men, Army Rending Swordmaster, and come hither… Ephemeral Spectral Swords…!!”

At Crim’s behest, the twelve black and red swords stuck on the floor all over the hall began to glow bright red and lifted into the air.

Ephemeral Spectral Swords was a familiar sight for everyone there by now. But Crim was not done, as she surveyed the hall behind her, locking onto various targets there.

…Specifically on the ten members of the Black Wolf Pack, who were fiercely fighting on the frontlines against the zombies.

“I grant thee this, Astra Sephra!”

Ten of the twelve red swords flew out and headed straight to the targets Crim had locked onto earlier.

“D-Demon Lord…what’s this?”
“Ahahah! Count thyself honored to wield them! They may be but replicas, yet they are still forged after the Red Lion Emperor’s Twelve Blades. I grant thee free rein to use them as thou wishest!”
“…Thank you!”

Jed, the leader of the Black Wolf Pack, seemed a bit hesitant at first, but Crim pushed them to use it. Hearing that, he and his companions all cheered loudly before fighting even more fiercely.

That was Astra Sephra, derived from the EX Drive Skill, which allowed her allies and not just herself to wield the twelve blades.

At the same time, there were always those men following certain subcultures, who not only rejoiced at being given powerful weapons, but felt like their dreams had been fulfilled by their cute Demon Lord handing them weapons of ancient heroes.

Even if it was only a momentary thing, it gave them a strong boost of morale, almost turning them into berserkers as they brandished the swords Crim had given them.

*”Urgh…Corpse Explosi-“*
“No you won’t!”
“I won’t let you!”

Realizing things were against him, Bifrons desperately tried to snap his fingers…but Hinagiku would not let that opening go unnoticed and sliced off his right arm.

Then he tried to release his scythe and cast corpse explosion with his left hand instead, only to be interrupted by a glowing shot from Lycoris. He scowled in annoyance, forced to swing his scythe with one arm to deflect the bullet, before leaping back.

*”I’m not fond of sacrificing something I poured so much time into…but I’ve got no other choice!!”*

He was annoyed beyond measure as he said that, stomping loudly with his heel.

Everyone braced for another Corpse Explosion…but none of the zombies burst in flames. Instead, various magic circles of an ominous purple color appeared on various spots of the floor.

And then…someone appeared in them.

“Summoning circles…?”

Crim continued fending off the zombies rushing into the hall while looking at those summoning circles. The other players also watched attentively to see who that was…

“Wait, they’re just more zombies…”
“Lower not thy guard yet!”

They appeared to just be more zombies, coming out from the endless summoning circles. One of the players close to Crim muttered that in disappointment, but Crim quickly told him to stay focused.

A moment later…the front part of the zombie began to bulge up.

“Huh… Woah?!”

As that player approached the zombie, he was suddenly attacked…by a razor sharp rib bone.

Crim rushed in to cut off that bony spear, covering for the careless player. Meanwhile the other zombies that had appeared also began to morph and twist in grotesque ways, turning parts of their bodies into weapons.

“Wh-what the hell are these things?!”

The players began to become distressed seeing those gruesome zombies join the fight, but Crim ran head first to fight them back, raising her voice in an attempt to get the situation under control.

“…Don’t fret! They might look hideous, but they aren’t much of a threat, so stay calm!!”

While those zombies had a really impactful and frightening appearance, they were only around two or three times stronger than regular zombies, a far cry from the enemies they had to fight in R’lyeh.

The players here had all gone through that ordeal in the past, so as long as they remained calm, they should not have any issue dealing with these zombies.

“Y-Yeah…that’s true.”
“Don’t break formation, the Black Wolf Pack is keeping them away!”
“Look, our Ditzy Lord is trying so hard herself, we gotta pull ourselves together!”
“Right, we can’t possibly get more scared than her!”
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

Crim had the lowest tolerance for horror of anyone there, yet she was the one who remained calm and handled the situation properly. Realizing that, the players began to stand up straight again.

“Unbelievable… Anyway, where’s that b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲ Bifrons.”

With things stabilizing, Crim looked around again…but could not find the devil. At first, she assumed he was suppressing his presence somehow, so she asked Setsuna to check, as she was their most skilled scout, but she shook her head.

“…So that damn coward ran away?!”
“Crim, try to calm down a bit!”
“Ah, right… I have to focus up too!”

For a moment, Crim almost broke character in anger, but Freya helped her remain focused on the fight around them.

Zombies that could tear off their own ribs and use them as sharp weapons were clearly not normal enemies. So Crim inspected them while fighting…

***

***

“What an inhuman monster… he basically turned them into their own poison!”
“Does he have no respect for life itself…?!”

Crim and Elmir felt like vomiting after learning that about the new zombies that appeared.

“I can’t forgive him… Crim, we can take care of this ourselves. You go and beat him up for us, please!”
“Yes, I was thinking the same…!”

Kasumi rushed in to take over the ghouls attacking Crim, shouting at her to go after Bifrons. Crim nodded back, and turned around.

“Frey, take command here. Freya, watch over everyone!”
“Yeah, just go!”
“Don’t worry about us, I promise no one will die on my watch!”

The twins nodded at the same time, as they stood back-to-back while firing magic and restraining the undead around them.

“Setsuna, Elmir, come with me, we’ll go after him!”
“As you command, Master!”
“Sure, let’s give him what he deserves!”

The two quickly joined Crim and together they ran out of the hall, heading to the stairs leading further up in the fort, which was likely where Bifrons had escaped.

And just then…

“Umm…Sister…”
“Hm? What’s wrong, Rouge?”

Rouge, in her fairy form, spoke from Crim’s chest pocket, where she had been hiding in silence throughout the fierce battle. Crim tilted her head in confusion, wondering what she would say…

“…Please be careful, I have a really bad feeling…like there’s *something I know up there.*”
“…I see, thanks for telling me.”

Rouge was looking up with unease as she said that, and Crim gave a light nod, listening to the warning, while continuing to run up the steep stairs.

…And so they headed upstairs to the final battle against Bifrons, whose evil presence seemed to permeate the whole fort.