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“Haa… haa…!”

In the sky away from the Land of the Fairies, a pair of demons, a man and a woman, were flying desperately.

No, the expression that two of them were flying was not the correct way to describe what was happening.

It was more correct to say that the man, Terra, was carrying Luna and flying by himself.

There was a big difference in level between Terra and Luna. Therefore, rather than for Luna to fly herself, it was significantly faster for Terra to carry her and fly.

Needless to say, it did not allow Terra to reach his top speed. Furthermore, a terrifying pursuer was closing in on him from behind.

Its length was 170m. Its weight, 180 000 tonnes.

Its whole body was enveloped in jet black scales and every time its giant wings flapped, it caused a storm just from the motion.

Individually, its giant neck was already majestic and unparalleled, yet there were ten of them in total. As each of its necks was enough to rival ten ordinary dragons, it was nicknamed “The Dragon Which Possessed 100 Heads” in the past.

It was a monster which should no longer have existed in this time and age. It was an existence which should have been subjugated over 200 years ago.

Historically, it dominated a quarter of the world and was a feared existence which stood at the pinnacle of the dragon race that embodied what it meant to be the strongest.

It was an existence which stood alongside the Vampire Princess, the Lion King and the Demon King as the four strongest individuals. Until the moment Ruphas Mafahl came and subjugated it, it was a tyrannical king which flaunted its title as unrivalled in power.

– [The Dragon King] Ladon. A monster which should have long perished from this world, yet currently, it was undoubtedly in this world and was releasing a mighty roar.

And riding on that… was the Fairy Princess Pollux, looking down on Terra and Luna with an icy stare.

“Terra-sama! I’ll be the bait, so please just leave me and run!”

“That’s not going to happen. You wouldn’t even be enough to become bait.”

“But!”

“For now, just grab onto me tightly!”

Pollux’s rampage was a total miscalculation on the part of Terra.

As for the reason why it had turned out this way, Terra was somewhat able to understand the situation thanks to the last few words Pollux had shouted.

The Goddess had interposed one way or another and was currently controlling Pollux.

If that was not the case, even if she was the Fairy Princess, she would not be able to summon and control the Dragon King.

Indeed, if it was her ability, it was not impossible to reanimate the Dragon King.

However, her ability was “to summon a hero”. On the other hand, the Dragon King was a destroyer and an existence which stood at the polar opposite of such heroes. Therefore, the prerequisite was not fulfilled. At the very least, it was very hard to believe that Pollux would recognise that existence to be a hero.

Furthermore, even assuming that she was able to successfully summon him, she should not have been able to command him.

If the legends were true, the Dragon King Ladon was more tyrannical of a king even compared to the Lion King Leon. It did not have the disposition to listen to what others had to say.

Notwithstanding that, it was being controlled by Pollux as if it had absolutely no self-consciousness of its own.

In Midgard, there was only one entity which could make such a thing possible.

Exactly – to actualise such a thing, only the Creation Goddess Alovenus was capable of that feat.

And her goal was most likely to defeat Ruphas Mafahl. In order to make that possible, she had moved her strongest chess piece that she could currently reach.

“Pitiful child of the demon race. Cease your needless resistance and settle down quietly. I do not really have the intention to kill you. If you would only come to my hand as one of the cards against Orm, I shall guarantee your safety.”

“That’s a good offer….! But sadly, I doubt I’d even be enough to serve as a hostage against my father.”

“No, no, that is not exactly the case.”

Borrowing Pollux’s mouth, something other than Pollux spoke.

Its tone was soft and, without any particular reason, induced a sense of comfort in the listener.

However, Terra possessed a conviction that the only thing at the end of entrusting themselves to that sense of comfort was destruction.

Her words put one’s heart at ease. Just like a mother singing a lullaby to a child, it erased the sense of caution. That was scarier to him than anything else.

Furthermore, if he and Luna were caught now, he would no longer be able to face Pollux who was likely to be desperately fighting back.

Fighting back – yes, she was still resisting. If that was not the case, they would have already been… in particular, Luna would have already been erased.

As the demon race was arcane magic used by the Goddess, it would be easy for her to erase them.

However, she was unable to do that. Furthermore, she wanted to obtain Terra as a means of a threat against his father. This signified that she was currently in an incomplete state where she could not manifest her omnipotence or full capabilities.

At this moment in time, all that she was doing was possessing Pollux’s consciousness and moving her body. That was exactly the reason why Terra and Luna were still alive.

No, even the phrase possessing Pollux’s consciousness was incorrect. In all likelihood, even the possession was not complete.

It was like moving a chess piece on the board. It was a puppet-like state in which she was moved and made to speak her words.

If Ruphas was here, she would have described this situation as, “So, something like moving a character on a TRPG.”

“Capture them.”

Answering to Pollux’s command, a countless number of dragons, which were on standby behind her, all accelerated at once.

They were the many armies of dragons which had been hunted down by Ruphas in the past. Those dragons were now given temporary bodies and were returned back to the world of the living.

Each and every one of these dragons was a monster which possessed an exceptional amount of power.

Although Terra might have been able to able to take on up to five of these enemies at once, anything more was too much for him.

Adding on the fact that he would have to fight whilst covering for Luna, there was no chance for victory.

He desperately dodged the pack of pursuing dragons and attempted to shake them off with an acrobatic flight. He fiercely hugged the snuggling existence within his arms that he had to protect so that it would not fall.

If Terra was alone in this situation, he might have been able to take hold of his sword to slash the enemies away and keep them in check whilst running away.

Of course, there was only about a 1% chance of such an outcome happening. Nevertheless, such a possibility existed.

However, the current situation was too unfavourable. Even such a small possibility was extinguished.

“So you wish to be captured alongside that girl. Truly a noble way that I favour, but…. That is a development that those on the Hero’s side should do. It is not something that you should be doing.”

Spoken from a stance far above them, it was a very unreasonable manner of speech.

However, she had the right to speak from that position. She had that power.

The Dragon King’s ten heads squirmed and faced Terra with their mouths open.

What came out from each mouth were ten shots of hellfire that would each be enough to destroy a city and still have power left over.

“I will have them hold back a little… so don’t die, okay?”

Then, a giant flame landed on Terra’s back.

*

“Are you sure it’s in this direction?”

“Yes. My sister’s coming from this side of the city.”

A few minutes after Castor dashed out on his own.

We were looking at the sky that extended far beyond the boundary of the city.

According to what Castor had said, for some reason, the other half of the Twins [the Fairy Princess] was sensed to be moving towards them on her own.

Perhaps it was a synchronisation which was only made possible because they were twins.

Nevertheless, it did not seem like there was a mistake in what Castor had said. It was because I was also feeling a tingling sensation of something dangerous closing in on me.

I took my glasses off and took off the bandages that were hiding my wings.

I also had Virgo stay back at the inn. In all likelihood, she would not be able to keep up with the battle which was about to happen from now on. Furthermore, I thought that it would be better to leave a skilful supporter in the town behind us, as it would allow us to fight properly without having to worry about what was happening behind us.

As a side note, we had also left Dina behind. She had yet to come back from the toilet.

….. Needless to say, the best-case scenario would be for there to be no battle in the first place.

If it turned into a stupid scene where I was just overly cautious and Pollux simply had some matter to talk about, it would be for the best.

Therefore, I hoped to myself that I was merely overly cautious for no reason.

To begin with, as she was one of the Twelve Heavenly Stars, it was strange to think that there would even be a battle at all.

However, I wondered why. Within myself, I felt a sense of conviction that things would not turn out that peacefully.

I did not know whether my brain or my heart had my “mind” and which one had the soul. However, both of them were screaming, “Prepare for battle.”

The sensation that I felt was most likely the instinct of the real “Ruphas”, which had been honed and polished through battles beyond my imagination.

It would be the end of it all if I was to brush it off as “just a feeling”. Strangely however, I had the utmost confidence in those unfounded feelings even though they had no substance to back it up. Furthermore, it was not just me.

Aries, Libra, Aigokeros, Scorpius, Karkinos, Sagittarius and Castor had all already entered a battle-ready state as if to say, “Come at us from anywhere.”

Although we would be fighting back with almost our best lineup, I did not think that it would be excessive.

It was because something inside me was giving off the highest degree of alarm. A battle that would happen in a moment would be a clash against an existence which surpassed the realm of Benetnash and Leon.

“Divine magic – Heliopause & Heliosphere.”

I spread a divine power over Laegjarn as if to cover it whole, deploying an anti-physical damage barrier.

Heliopause was skill that created a barrier which could completely negate all physical damage under a certain value. It worked against enemies who dealt damage below that fixed threshold.

However, its condition was up to “(Total level + Priest class level) x 10”.

In other words, my Heliopause was unable to prevent damage that surpassed a value of 10 500.

Although it seemed a little questionable, it was by no means unusable.

Back in the game, there were magical beasts which could use a skill called [Drink 10 000 Needles] and fire needles from all directions, each dealing a fixed damage of 10 000. In those situations, there was no divine magic which was more reliable than Heliosphere.

Additionally, although it depended on the user’s HP, if the damage dealt by Mesarthim was less than 10 000, then it could even negate the damage dealt by Mesarthim.

Anyways, what I was trying to say was… I guess, it’s a defensive measure that’s better than nothing.

Even though I had worded it that way, it should still be enough to prevent damage from any shockwaves during the upcoming battle.

If it was directly attacked, it would easily shatter. However, in those situations, we would have to have Karkinos put in some effort.

As for Heliosphere, I had already previously explained it, but as a reminder, it was an absolute anti-arcane magic barrier.

This was deployed on the inner side of the Heliopause’s dome, thereby creating a barrier to prevent stray arcane magic.

I digressed, but there actually existed an absolute anti-physical damage barrier in X-Gate Online. Furthermore, I was able to use that skill. However, there was no skill nor divine magic that allowed me to grant that to all of my allies.

To top it off, those types of absolute anti-whatever defensive skills were often breached by the enemies when they used defence penetration skills, therefore, it was often unexpectedly useless.

When I first acquired those skills, I had a brief moment of happiness and shouted, “With this, I’m invincible!” However, I could not forget the feeling when it was easily breached by the enemy in the battle immediately afterwards.

“Sagittarius.”

“Here.”

When I called Sagittarius, he shot an arrow towards me without any hesitation.

I then grabbed the intangible arrow of light and activated a skill upon contact.

“Enchant Ray.”

Enchant Ray – A buff that increased the attack and defence stats of a single ally.

This was combined with Sagittarius’s support skill called [Ascella].

The effect of Ascella was simple. It turned a single target skill, whether it be arcane or divine magic, into an area of effect skill.

Needless to say, the potency of the skill dropped when compared to the original single-target state. However, when considering the effort saved from having to cast it on each and every individual target, it was a convenient skill.

Although… if you consider that some national RPGs allowed the player to switch the effect of the skill between single target and area of effect with a single press of an L button, it was not a very strong skill. However, it was still convenient, nonetheless.

I then threw the arrow that I was holding onto. When I did, the arrow divided into multiple pieces and pierced everyone present in that location, increasing their stats.

“Skill, Tegmine!”

Karkinos also activated his skill, further increasing his already solid defence.

Now then, with this, the preparation for the battle was somewhat completed for now.

I crossed my arms together and awaited whatever was coming towards us.

Subsequently, the first thing that appeared before us, after betraying our expectations, were a pair of demon couple.

If I recall correctly, I saw him once at Blutgang… the so-called Demon King’s son… Terra or something?

And he’s carrying a young girl and seems to be running away from something.

His whole body’s covered in wounds. He’s in quite a miserable looking state.

Is he the cause of why my alarms are ringing inside of me? ….. No, that’s not right. I do indeed feel some kind of a threat from him, but it’s not him.

“He’s…..”

“That seems to be the Demon King’s son. Should I erase him?”

“No, wait. Something seems a little strange.”

I stopped Aigokeros, who was about to switch to attack mode the moment he saw their figures and decided to wait and see the situation.

When we decided to do so, Terra and the girl crash-landed in front of us and the young girl in his arms fell to the ground.

However, she did not have any significant wounds on her. It must have been because Terra had protected her with his life.

“Terra-sama! Terra-samaaa!”

The young girl was sobbing as she nudged Terra, but he did not respond.

When I silently took a step forward in front of her, the young girl… If I recalled correctly, she was Luna of the Seven Luminaries? She came in front of me as if to cover for Terra.

It was truly admirable. After all, she must have known that she had no chance of victory.

As a way to test her, I glared at her lightly, at which point, the girl shivered in fear. However, she still did not show any intention of moving away.

“……. P, please….. I don’t care what happens to me…….. but please let Terra-sama go.”

“Hmm (hou)? Aren’t you asking for something that’s too good to be true? I don’t believe I have any obligation to help you out.”

“I, I’ll do… I’ll do anything you ask of me… so please…”

Hmm? Did she just say that she’ll do anything?

Anyways, let’s put aside those jokes for now, how should I go about this, I wonder?

But whatever, for now, let’s put aside how to deal with these two until later. It seemed like the cause of whatever was ringing the alarm inside of me was finally arriving.

It flew right in front of us with frighteningly fast speed.

What appeared in front of us in a flash as if it had warped out before us was a giant dragon.

It was a monster which had ten heads, but strangely, I felt a sense of familiarity from it.

My brain taught me its name straight away.

…… The Dragon King Ladon, huh. If I recalled correctly, he appeared during the special event hosted by the developers as a special magical beast that acted as the final boss. I also recalled that after it was defeated, it dropped many valuable alchemy materials and I used them to craft items like Amrita.

And above that dragon stood a young girl with honey-coloured hair. There would be no mistake in concluding that she was the Fairy Princess Pollux.

Our eyes met each other and the Fairy Princess smiled warmly.

“I see, so you are that Black-Winged Supreme Ruler. I have heard about your misgivings even before now, however, this must be the first time we are conversing with each other.”

“……. You, are not Pollux, right?”

“Correct. Although I have borrowed her body for a while, I am not her.”

Borrowing Pollux’s mouth, something other than Pollux spoke.

If it was the real Pollux, she would not say that it was our first time having a conversation after we reunited.

In truth, it would be the first time for me, however, for her, it would not be the first encounter with Ruphas Mafahl.

As such, there was only one conclusion. Just as I was not the real Ruphas, she was also not the real Pollux.

Furthermore, if you considered who would be able to pull off the stunt of being able to manipulate Pollux, the possibilities were limited.

If my assumptions were correct, out of all the enemies that were currently against me, she would be my greatest enemy.

“I have always wanted to have a conversation with you once… but before that, let us have the extras get off the stage.”

Pollux looked down at Terra and Luna and a full-body armoured warrior climbed down from the dragon and approached the two of them.

….. It was quite strong. By the looks of it, its level was around 750.

The warrior raised its sword up, at which point, Luna covered Terra like a shield.

The warrior had no murderous intent. Its intention was most likely to amputate their limbs and capture them.

I then took a step forward to cut in between the two parties before raising my arm to grab the blade being swung down with my bare hand.

“!?”

Position-wise, the two of them were in a hostile relationship with me.

Therefore, I did not have the obligation to help them, however… well, I felt that the two of them were different from the other demons that I had met up until this point.

I suppose one could say that it was a bit too hasty to erase them right now.

It would not be too late to listen to what they had to say later on and decide on a course of action after that.

“Young girl of the demon race. Do not forget what you said a moment ago.”

For now, I decided to sell them a favour as I strengthened the grip of the hand which was holding the blade.

In any event, I never had any intentions of demanding anything weird of her in the first place. After all, I did not have a hobby of stealing someone else’s partner.

Anyways, it was merely an idea that it might be useful later on if she owed us a favour.

I shattered the sword with my grip alone and kicked away the surprised armoured warrior.

With just that action alone, a loud explosive sound was heard and its armour caved right in. Furthermore, another individual which was in its path was caught up as collateral and spiralled away into the distant horizon.

Ohh, so light.

Image from Light Novel Volume 6

“I have to concur with you, someone who’s not Pollux. We do indeed need the unneeded extras to get off the stage. – You should piss off.”

As I said that, I smiled belligerently, then activated the skill that I had only just recently acquired.