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It was about the same time as the battle of Ruphas and Scorpius concluded. The battle within Blutgang was also nearing its settlement. No, it would be more accurate to say that it was settled from the start. There was never a need to fight.

The difference between them—Aigokeros and Luna—was simply too great to be compensated. The battle dragged on for so long only because of Luna’s persistence and geographical advantage. However, dragging out the fight was merely that. It would not change the outcome in any way. Luna’s delicate body was grasped by the huge arm of Aigokeros. A grieving cry came from her mouth.

“Ugh, ahh—!!”

“This is the end, Luna of the Seven Luminaries, a foolish pest who opposes my master. Well then, what should I do? …Would you like to have your arms torn apart? Or perhaps your legs instead? Or would you prefer to be disemboweled slowly while you are still alive? Or perhaps all three at the same time?”

The nature of Aigokeros was that of a cruel devil who desired blood, fear, and death more than anything else. In order not to obstruct his master Ruphas’ goal of unifying the world, his cruel nature was usually hidden away. But once it resurfaced, there would be no pardon.

Kill the enemies. Kill them with whatever method was necessary. Kill them brutally. Kill them even after they regretted. This was the meaning of his existence, his very nature.

Now, give a scream of fear, weakling. Dye your face with repentance and despair, while you head towards death in suffering.

The Twelve Heavenly Stars, Aigokeros of the Goat.

He was not recruited into the Twelve Heavenly Stars because of his strength. It was because he was too dangerous. If he was not controlled by Ruphas, he would become a terror to the humanoids of a magnitude higher than that of the demons. His existence was to torment others and dye their faces with despair. He would look upon the weaklings who spoke of courage and hope, force them to kneel in the face of overwhelming power and watch them dye their faces with tears and snot before granting them death.

He was born to like such things. He needed no reason to prefer the darkness and to love death. Since he was born this way, it was only right to be like this. Death was beautiful. Despair was sweet.

Because he was like this, Ruphas recruited him as her subordinate. This was in order to monitor and control a dangerous great devil like him. In addition, he was proud to be a true devil. As a result, he was extraordinary cruel towards the demons.

“How foolish, false devil…Did you think that a created demon could challenge a true devil?”

“Fa—False…!?”

“Naturally. You are merely a toy of the goddess. You are a counterfeit created in the likeness of true devils.”

“Thi—This is…!”

Aigokeros was a true devil born in Helheim. As such, his understanding and sense of mana even surpassed Ruphas. One might say this was the talent to sniff out the same kind of smell. He could discern the richness of mana. This was the reason he lowered his head and obeyed Ruphas unconditionally. He instinctively understood that she was the one who ruled over all creatures infused with mana.

Thus, he noticed the distortion of the demons. Oh, they were different. He could sense the abominable power emitting from them! This was the power of the goddess! This was divine power! Oh yes, these were not true devils. They were imitations created in the likeness of true devils. They merely have the likeness—They were merely damaged goods! Therefore, he hated them. He was truly displeased by such inferior products calling themselves demons.

“Have you ever wondered? Why you demons do not leave behind corpses after death?”

“…! That, that’s…When we die, we will be broken down into mana…”

“And why would you be broken down into mana? When magical beasts like me die, we leave behind corpses which would then return to the earth. Why do you demons disappear as if you never existed? Do you really not recognize the phenomenon? Returning to mana after fulfilling one’s role—Are you not so familiar with this phenomenon that you get tired of it?”

After hearing this much, Luna was shocked. She knew. Something could be given shape from mana, so that after finishing its role, it returned to mana. She knew of this phenomenon.

“Could it be…”

“Exactly. This is the true nature of you demons.”

A nature that brought despair. Aigokeros was about to say so.

A blue sword of light shone from the entrance of Blutgang towards Aigokeros while avoiding the nearby buildings. Although it was a surprise attack, Aigokeros was not so sloppy as to get hit from this distance. The attack was avoided easily, while the attacker jumped from the ground.

The first attack was a feint to direct Aigokeros’ attention. The true goal was to use the buildings as cover and approach on the ground at high speed. Again, the blue sword of light flashed and severed Aigokeros’ arm. That person carried Luna like a princess and landed on a building.

“No. You are…!”

What was severed was the form created from mana by arcane magic; it was not Aigokeros himself. However, it was not easy to cut something that was only partially real. That alone indicated how high the attacker’s level was.

His short, trim hair was more of a deep blue color than regular blue. His pure white cloak fluttered, revealing his similarly white armor beneath. His skin was light orange, close to that of a human. His eyes were crimson. There were no fangs in his mouth, but his intense aura of mana proved that he was a demon.

“The Demon King’s son, Terra!”

“You must be Aigokeros. It looks like you roughed up my subordinate quite a bit.”

The one among the demons which required the most vigilance was the Demon King. This was firmly established. Beyond him, there was also an existence that even the Twelve Heavenly Stars needed to be wary of. That was the son of the Demon King, the master to whom the Seven Luminaries owed allegiance—Terra.

When Aigokeros was cooperating with the demons, they met several times. However, his ability was unknown as he was never seen fighting seriously. In addition, what was with his appearance? Demons normally possessed blue or green skin and eyes with inverted black and white. But his appearance was too human, too different from demons.

“Te—Terra-sama…”

“Seriously. I told you not to overdo it.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Don’t make me worry so much…It is good that I arrived in time.”

The two demons glanced into each other’s eyes as if entering into a world of their own. Aigokeros ignored the mood and struck with his fist. However, Terra elegantly avoided it and moved to the top of another building. If this was a picture, who would think of him as a demon? After all, one was a huge incarnate of a devil. The other was a knight who rescued the captive girl. If it was like this, who was the villain here?

“Hmm. Fine. You shall also be a tribute to my master.”

“If you are speaking of intentions, I would want to disembowel you and boil your innards. However, I cannot be your opponent now. Sorry, but I’m withdrawing.”

If it was one-on-one, Terra was confident that he could defeat Aigokeros. This was different from unjustified overconfidence like Mars of the Seven Luminaries. This was justified confidence based on his ability and Observing Eye.

However, Ruphas Mafahl was also here. If the Goat, Ram, and Scales of the Twelve Heavenly Stars joined in, it would be impossible for Terra to win against the black-winged one. No, even if it was one-on-one against the currently weakened Ruphas, it would be uncertain who would win…

“You think you can escape?”

“I do, actually.”

Terra held onto Luna and jumped towards the wall. He swung the sword with one hand and slashed open the wall of Blutgang. This did not cause Blutgang to break down since it was just a small crack large enough for one or two people to pass through. But it was enough to escape. Terra jumped through the crack and flew out of Blutgang. For a moment, his gaze met with that of the black-winged woman outside.

“……”

“—”

Neither of them spoke. Since it was a momentary exchange, Terra left the field and went out of sight before anyone could react.

Unfathomable. I would need to rethink this.

He heard from his father that Ruphas was somehow hindered by the goddess and was unable to exercise her full power. But was that really the case? Was she like that even after losing more than half of her power? When their eyes met, he felt as if he was about to be devoured. She had a presence of that magnitude.

He was convinced that it would be a mistake to let anyone other than his father fight her. Terra pondered. It would be necessary to change their direction as soon as possible. He must question the real intention of “that person” who knew the movements of the Seven Luminaries and the Twelve Heavenly Stars, the self-proclaimed adviser of Ruphas.

“Luna.”

“Ye—Yes!”

“Currently, the Seven Luminaries…No, the entire demon race is being manipulated by someone. My father knows this, but he does not try to stop it. Instead, he is still cooperating with that woman. As for Sol, he was practically a puppet. Now, there are few people I can trust among the demons.”

Terra “kicked” the sky while holding onto Luna. Thus, his body accelerated in the air and the scenery flowed pass at a tremendous speed.

“You are one of those few I could trust. Please do not die in vain in a battlefield like this. I still need you.”

“Te—Terra-sama…”

His words were meant for a subordinate. Luna understood this. Even so, she still thought of other possible meanings. Or rather, she wished there was another meaning. She wanted to think it was more than a leader-follower relationship. As she thought that, she shook her head to clear away the disturbance in her mind.

“What are you doing?”

“No—Nothing!”

While listening to the words of her superior who did not understand her feeling at all, she felt that tinge of frustration swell up in her stomach.

♏

Who was that handsome b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲?

I was dazed by Handsome-kun who suddenly burst out the wall of Blutgang and left. How should I say this? I instinctively understood that he was the public enemy of men everywhere. He had an overly handsome face with pure white armor and cloak.

What was with the appearance that seemed to proclaim that he was the protagonist? The protagonist of this world should be the hero. Furthermore, he was carrying a demonic woman like a princess. Explode and die.

“Hey, did you see that, Ruphas-sama? That is the correct way to treat a heroine! Grabbing a maiden by the neck and start flying off is simply outrageous!”

“No, but that would make me the villain…Oh, actually I am the villain. Anyway, who the heck was that?”

Dina was still fussing over the previous matter, but I needed to find out about that handsome dude. Since he was carrying a demon, he probably had ties to the demons. In that case, I just needed to ask the double spy, Dina.

“Oh, he’s the son of the Demon King, the prince-sama of demons.”

“Handsome princes really exist…”

“In an otome game
, he would definitely be a romantic target.”

“I never played those games, so I wouldn’t know.”

Unfortunately, I was more interested in action RPG and fighting games. I did not like adventure or romance games. Weren’t those games simply light novels or romance novels with a Save/Load function
? So why not just buy a normal book? It was just sad and bothersome to buy an expensive machine just to read a light novel.

“…Ruphas-sama is really not like a girl…”

“That’s because I’m a guy on the inside.”

“Eh?”

“Hmm?”

Hearing my remarks, Dina was stunned and stared at me.

Hmm. Did I say something strange?

“Eh? Eh…Ruphas-sama, you are…a guy on the inside? … Now that I think about it, you have been quite indifferent about all the things a woman should definitely know…”

“Didn’t I mention this before?”

“You didn’t! This is the first time I’m hearing it!”

“Oh…Is that so? Well, don’t worry. When I took over this body, my libido had basically ran away from home. It hasn’t come back yet. So even if I look at a naked woman, I don’t really feel anything.”

“Isn’t that kind of frustrating!?”

I left Dina alone and went over to join Virgo. The city interior should have tidied up by now. I should commend Libra and the others for their work later.