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The Seven Luminaries of the demons.

They were the seven elite demons who were gathered to oppress the humanoids. This was what this gathering of weak soldiers was called.

By the current standards of the humanoids, they were truly powerful enemies. They were monsters that even the knightly orders could not match, but they were still far from being true monsters. Even if Mars, Mercurius, Jupiter, Saturnus, and Luna were summoned to fight together, the five of them still could not match the combat power of Castor alone.

So, yeah, even if the leader of the Seven Luminaries or whatever were to come out now, he wouldn’t be much of a threat. He would just be a minor character who had completely missed his timing to come onto the stage…That was how it should be.

However, Castor unconsciously drew and readied his weapon in his hand. He wasn’t alone. Terra and the heroic spirits behind Pollux were similarly ready and alert.

In front of them, the man in white—Sol—grinned.

“First, let me introduce myself. I’m one of the Seven Luminaries, Sol of the Heavens. I rule over the Sun attribute. I’m honored to meet you, my cousins.”

The ones whom Sol called his cousins in a deep and refined voice were the twins, Pollux and Castor. Of course, they had no idea what he meant. As the avatars of an ouroboros, they had no relatives, especially one who was a demon.

However, why was it that, somewhere in their hearts, they knew that he was right? Why did this man give off the same feeling as themselves?

“And Terra, you too are my cousin. You could say that our existences are very similar.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about…What exactly are you doing here, Sol?”

From Terra’s perspective, Sol was a male subordinate who reported to him. In the current situation, he wasn’t someone he could trust. After all, it was Sol who had brought that traitor, Venus, to Terra. Thus, he needed to consider the possibility of Sol being Venuss…Dina’s puppet.

It might be memory modification or thought manipulation. He had considered that Sol might have been subjected to either one of them. But now, Terra was wondering if his idea was fundamentally wrong. What made him reconsider was the eerie, overwhelming presence which wasn’t there when Sol was working under him.

“What if I say that I’m here to wake the ouroboros?”

“Wha—!?”

“Well, let me reveal something first. I’m not of the Demon King’s faction, but rather, I’m of the Goddess’ faction. I’m sorry for lying to you, but it’s my job. Don’t think badly of me.”

With a casual smile, Sol plainly revealed his purpose. This was a sign of absolute confidence that they wouldn’t be able to stop him. At this moment, Terra realized that he had misunderstood his own subordinate.

“I could achieve my objective like this, but you people probably won’t understand what is happening, right? If you like, I can take some time to explain it to you?”

“…How very kind of you.”

“Haha. I’m actually quite kind. Let me tell you all a certain story.”

As he spoke sarcastically, Sol glanced at everyone. There were five high-level combatants among the people gathered here. They were Castor and Terra as well as the three flügel heroic spirits. In other words, it was everyone except Pollux and Virgo. But even when faced with this, Sol’s composure did not falter.

“Ah, of course…You can always make a sneak attack while I’m explaining. Maybe you can succeed if I’m not ready for it.”

Sol said as he glanced at Apus of the Bird-of-Paradise behind him. The latter was holding a dagger behind his back, but his intention was easily seen through. His complexion changed and his movement stopped.

“Well? Aren’t you coming at me? Did you get nervous?”

“Stop acting tough. Hurry up and speak.”

“Ah, I apologize. That’s right…Let’s start from the beginning.”

At Terra’s urging, Sol crossed his arms and closed his eyes in remembrance. His stance seemed to be full of openings, but nobody took advantage of them. This was because they understood that Sol was trying to lure them into it. Eventually, he opened his eyes and spoke about himself.

“The Seven Luminaries of the demons…Luna of the Moon, Mars of Fire, Mercurius of Water, Jupiter of Wood, Venus of Gold, Saturnus of Earth, and me…Sol of the Heavens. As you may have guessed, the two of us…Venus and I are a bit different from normal demons. Rather than a demon, Venus is actually a half-elf.
Oh, let me say this first. Saturnus is truly a demon and has nothing to do with us. Please don’t doubt her. And it isn’t like I was trying to hide it or anything, but I’m the avatar of the Heavenly Ouroboros. More accurately, it should be the Sun Ouroboros, but that name is easily confused with the Fire Ouroboros, so please call me the Heavenly Ouroboros instead.”

“Wha—What!?”

Everyone held their breath as they took in Sol’s words concerning his identity. The five divine beasts served as the proxies of the Goddess. One of the ouroboroses, the avatar of the Heavenly Ouroboros, was currently in front of them. They couldn’t help but be surprised.

At the same time, they understood why he had called them cousins. Yes, he was the same as Pollux and Castor. He was an avatar created by an ouroboros and he had gained an ego that was independent from the ouroboros itself. The only difference was that, unlike Pollux, he followed the will of the ouroboros which was his true form.

“As an avatar that has gained a sense of self, it would be more appropriate to consider me as the son of an ouroboros. In this sense, Terra, you are the same as me.”

“…I’ve been kept in the dark this whole time. I hate myself for being so useless.”

“You don’t have to be so depressed. It’s rather commendable that you were able to doubt Venus and I despite being subject to the thought manipulation of Venus. Besides, even though I have a different creator, I’m certainly a demon. It would be difficult to discern my true identity.”

Sol spoke quietly and glanced at Luna. On the other hand, Luna glared at him cautiously, but it had no effect.

“…Does my father know about this?”

“Well, it’s hard to say. He isn’t someone you could make light of. Perhaps, he had long realized my true identity and yet still dared to leave me be.”

“What’s your purpose of infiltrating the Seven Luminaries?”

“While Venus controls the demons from the inside, I keep an eye on the Demon King. The Seven Luminaries of the demons…is just a cover for us to hide under. Although you were the one who actually organized it, you were simply manipulated into doing so.”

Terra’s face turned grim as he remembered forming the Seven Luminaries.

At that time…Yes, at that time, I seemed to be in a daze. It was as if I was drunk after drinking too much wine. At that time, I was probably already under Venus’ spell. I didn’t even suspect that woman whom Sol brought back from somewhere, despite the fact that she didn’t even look like a demon.

There was nothing more terrifying than being manipulated mentally without prior knowledge.

And…yes. At that time, there was an unbridgeable gap between Luna, who was at the bottom of the demon race, and Terra, the prince of demons. No matter how much Terra wanted Luna beside him or how much Luna wanted to be by his side, it wouldn’t be possible given the difference in their social standings. However, at that time, the powerful demons had been mostly killed by Ruphas, thus there was a unique opportunity for Luna to sit in the chair of an executive.

—And she made use of that desire. There was nothing more to it. His own sexual urges were the cause of this situation.

“And so Venus manipulated the demons from the inside, while I remained inconspicuous and acted as one of the clowns known as the Seven Luminaries.”

“Why are you monitoring my father?”

“Good question. That’s Terra for you. It’s because your father has been ignoring the script of the Goddess.”

Terra raised his eyebrows at his words. He didn’t say anything, but his face showed that he was somewhat shaken.

“Two hundred years ago…The story should have ended at that time. The Seven Heroes should have defeated the demons by sacrificing their lives. The demons should have been exterminated as their fate would have it.”

“Wha—!?”

Terra couldn’t control his voice this time. It was completely beyond what he imagined. It was an answer that he didn’t expect. Likewise, Pollux’s face looked grim as things had deviated from her expectations.

“…Isn’t the Goddess’ scenario to drive the humanoids into a corner?”

“Of course, it is, but there was actually going to be a break. Just like it has always been, the current Demon King should have been defeated and exited the stage, taking all his subordinate demons along with him. But that did not happen. The Seven Heroes, who were supposed to die, survived and the demons didn’t leave the stage. Instead, the farce continued even though it should have already ended.”

Pollux listened carefully and thought with her hand on her chin.

Orm…What is that guy thinking?

Extending the farce which was supposed to end…This had never happened before. What was the benefit of dragging things out? What was that man trying to do by inciting dissatisfaction in the Goddess? What was he anticipating?

…I can’t see any merit for the Demon King to do so.

“Of course, the Goddess asked him what that was about. He merely replied, ‘I can’t afford to play around with the Seven Heroes and the other heroes anymore, so I used my full power.’ After all, normally, every few thousands to tens of thousands of years, there should only be a single individual who was specifically selected by the Goddess to reach Level 1000. Yet at that time, he was attacked by a large number of Level 1000s. So under such conditions, things might have really been as he said. But at that time, the Goddess was somewhat concerned, so she thought of sending me to keep an eye on him.”

Sol unfolded his arms as he spoke. Terra and the others were ready to respond, but it seemed there was no sign of an attack as yet.

“After that, he was obedient to the Goddess for a while. Ensuring that the humanoids would not be exterminated, he cornered them and increased their fear. But the concern of the Goddess was justified. The deciding factor was the battle a few days ago. He had revealed the script to the returned Ruphas Mafahl.”

“What exactly is Orm thinking?”

“I also don’t know the answer to that. All I know is that he has completely separated himself from the Goddess. She has no piece to move against Ruphas Mafahl and even Orm is being rebellious…Moving Pollux and the other Twelve Stars would only increase Ruphas’ combat power. Therefore, the Goddess finally decided to move her greatest combat power.”

Sol said and started to gather mana. This implied that he had finished talking. Did he deliberately signal that he was going to start fighting because he wanted a dignified battle? Or was he simply looking down on them?

Whichever it was, the situation would not change. Terra drew his sword, while Castor and the others advanced.

“Well then, do you understand now? In that case, I want to get things started…If you have something you want to do, you should do it first. I’ll wait until you are done using support divine magic.”

“Don’t look down on us!”

The heroes behind responded bravely to Sol’s provocation. They jumped and landed in front of Terra. All three of them were holding their swords.

“We are the Three Winged Knights who are loyal to Ruphas-sama! Pavo of the Peacock!”

“Similarly, Apus of the Bird-of-Paradise!”

“Similarly, Corvus of the Raven! You are not worthy of facing Castor-sama! Let’s do this. Formation A!”

“Wait, we should use B here!”

“Yeah, whatever!”

“Then use C!”

“Okay!”

The three flügels flew and slashed fiercely at Sol. On the other hand, Sol smiled bitterly and flew into the sky. The three of them followed up with simultaneous attacks from the front, left, and right, but Sol defended against them with his arms and knees.

Furthermore, he emitted mana from his body, repelling the Three Winged Knights with a shockwave. In addition, he made a frontal assault, kicking Corvus in the jaw. While the latter was unable to recover his stance, Sol delivered a heel-drop and sent him crashing into the ground.

The other two swung their swords simultaneously from behind, but Sol immediately turned and grabbed their swords with his fingers.

“……!”

“This…”

“What’s wrong? I’m just lightly holding them.”

With just the strength of his fingers, he threw the two of them along with their swords and then instantaneously moved to kick Apus. He turned his palm towards Pavo in a flowing motion and an explosion occurred soon after.

The battle took only a few seconds. No, if one considered only the offense and defense without the conversation, it took less than a second. From the point of view of Virgo and Pollux, it was practically instantaneous.

Seeing the Three Winged Knights defeated in an instant, Terra was hit hard by reality.

This guy…isn’t just all talk. He’s really strong. Truly.

“Now then, who’s next?”

Sol glanced at Terra in a relaxed manner, ignoring Virgo who was using recovery skills on the Three Winged Knights lying on the ground.

The Three Winged Knights weren’t weak by any means. Unlike Ruphas and the Seven Heroes whose ability values far exceeded those of Level 1000, theirs were only those of a normal Level 1000. But by virtue of their levels alone, they had already reached the summit in their own ways.

They were monsters who were capable of destroying the humanoid’s civilization all by themselves. They were capable of turning Midgard into a devastated planet with no living creatures in just a few days.

Furthermore, their combat power was close to that of Terra, so it was not usually possible to deal with all three of them at the same time. Even if one were to underestimate them, they would still be acknowledged as powerful individuals comparable to Ruphas and Leon in their normal states.

On the other hand, Terra, who was the strongest combatant here, was not too different in power from any one of the Three Winged Knights. It would be dangerous enough for him to deal with two of them at the same time instead of all three of them.

If Terra wanted to fight them evenly, a reasonably strong buff or debuff would be necessary. However, there was nobody here who was capable of such skills. The ones used by Virgo weren’t enough.

It might be possible for Pollux to forcefully suppress Sol with Argonautai, but…the Goddess might possess her the moment her ring was removed, so it couldn’t be done. If Pollux were to be controlled by the Goddess here, complete annihilation would be inevitable.

Therefore, they could only fight using the heroic spirits who were summoned when Ruphas was present, since Ruphas could have dealt with the possession immediately if it were to happen.

Fortunately, the heroic spirit who could break this deadlock had already been summoned.

“—The next one is me.”

Duang!

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground was heard. At the same time, the voice of a young girl resounded. However, her tone was that of an old woman, which did not match her voice. Everyone turned back and saw a green-haired girl.

She held a branch of the Wood Ouroboros in her hand and her mouth arced into a grin.

Virgo knew her figure well. She had only seen her like this once, but she would never forget it. This was the youthful figure of her grandmother whom she respected, but she shouldn’t be around anymore.

“…Gran—Granny?”

She was one of the Tyrannical Twelve Stars. She was the previous Maiden—Parthenos.