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“Hey? How are you doing, Mephistophales?” I asked him. “Your companions… Doesn’t it look like both of them have been utterly defeated?”

I turned to Mephistophales, who was the last one remaining. I had gotten rid of 6 of his 7 bodies easily, too.

“How… How can this be? How can your attacks hit my smoke bodies? How is it possible, that your sword and shield don’t turn into smoke? Moreover, how can you even control 7 swords at the same time, and… in the first place, tell me, when did you create all these swords…?”
“Heh-heh, weren’t you looking down on me a bit too much, huh?” I said the line, I had always wanted to say.

I’m not suffering from 8^th grader’s syndrome, but that phrase is something, one really wants to say, right? Well, I merely created a sword and a shield that had the effects to render his tricks ineffective.

“…If it’s come to this,” he replied, “there’s no other choice but to expend all my power, and make you create the item, isn’t there?”
“Hmm, but I won’t create it, you see? There’s no reason for me to help my enemy instead of taking advantage of his weakness.”

It didn’t look like he had given up completely.
You know, he’s what you’d call a sore loser. I’m sure, he still has some kind of ace up his sleeve. He’s grinning way too excessively, so…

“No, you’ll surely create it. I’m positive, the ‘Sword you create’. That’s also the ‘Sword Mephistophales desires’, right~…?”

That’s stupid, isn’t it? What is he talking about?

Even though I didn’t get it, Mephistophales’ words echoed in my head again and again.
Weird, that’s concerning.

Suddenly, I saw it clearly in front of my very own eyes. Something, an object with a warped shape appeared. Just barely, I understood it was a sword, but…

…Huh? What is this really? That sword in front of my eyes… when did I produce that?
Did I create if with Dark Matter? This? That’s impossible…

“Wow~! Thank you so much. I owe you!” Mephistophales said, as he snatched the sword. “That was unexpectedly simple. In one instant, from nothing, the Demon’s Sword that’ll destroy the Hero’s Sword… To think that you created ‘Droprot¹‘! As expected of the one with Item Master, right~… If you had done this from the start, it would’ve been fine!”
Eh~? What’s going on?
“Well~, I’ll tell a bit how that trick worked. It’s one of my powers! It’s called ‘Power Word:² Forced Contract’, but… For my words to enforce the contact, my ability causes them to remain in my opponent’s head, right~? Said opponent acts according to what I said. It’s unfortunate, that I have to pay a huge prize in turn, right~?”

Eh, that’s frightening… That ability is too much of a cheat. Does he mean, he can make his opponent do whatever he says against their will, as long as they hear it…?

“Oh, yes, I need to pay a compensation, right~? And that’s the ‘Collapse of my Stronghold’, right~? Wait~, now I’m in a fix! The place I’m living in will disappear!”

Just as Mephistophales said that, a terrible sound echoed through this space. The walls started to crack.

“Come on, can you please keep at it and escape from here, can you?” he asked, while everything around us fell apart. “Ah, since I no longer need the princess, you can have her back. It’s your reimbursement. In addition to that, about the bodies of those two demons…”

Mephistophales raised the corners of his mouth into a grin, and, before we knew it, he touched the bodies of the two demons and surrounded us with smoke, while he raised his voice loudly.

“Forced Contract! Come back to life for me, turn into dragons, and please prevent the escape of those people! As for your names… ‘Envy Dragon’ and ‘Moon Poison Dragon’ should be fine, right? Come on, please keep at it, won’t you? Buh-ha-ha-bye!”
“W-wait-!?”

He turned into smoke and left.

Crap… He simply made me create that thing!
In frustration, I pushed my fist hard against my mouth.

“Oh… Alim…” Karua said with worry. She had seen my eccentric behavior in full.
“Yeah…” I replied. “Oh, I’m fine, you see… probably.”

Well, I may be alright, but, as it is, he’ll probably revive Samaeyl, won’t he?

Meanwhile, this place wouldn’t stop collapsing, either. Mika and Bacchus were fighting back against the two dragons.

“Mika!” I called out to her “It’s fine if you get serious to defeat them, you know!”
“Yeah? Alright, got it!”

As soon as she said that, an ultra-giant magic circle appeared. This was Mika’s strongest magic³. Bacchus and Karua were astonished by the tremendous amount of magic power. When the magic activated, we were enveloped in black and white light.

I see, it looks like Mika designated this place as “friendly”, too.

Mika’s magic destroyed the demon dragons and restored the place built from shadows. The collapse stopped, and all that remained were the corpses of two dragons who had once been demons.

I quickly collected them.
Obviously, since they’re dragons, I might use them as materials for something⁴, right?

“Come on…” I told my companions. “Shall we leave? We need to report this.”
“That’s true, isn’t it…” Mika replied. “But first, is Karua in good health?”
“Karua, are you alright?” I asked her. “You’re not injured, are you? That perverted demon⁵ didn’t do anything to you?”
“Yes… yes… I’m fine. Thanks to all your efforts…”

We promptly made our exit.

Just as we left, the collapse seemed to start again, and, when we emerged from the shadows, even the trees that had served as a landmark disappeared. After we watched that scene to the end, we immediately returned to the castle, which looked the same as when we had left.

To tell them the good news and the bad news.

TL notes:
You’ve got to give Mephistophales kudos for his plan, he played our protagonists like a fiddle from the very beginning. Though much of that was on Alim for not simply telling Mika to nuke everything hostile the moment they encountered those demons…

1. The original is ドロップロット (Doroppurotto). This might also mean “Droplot” or “Drop Lot”.
2. The original is 言霊 (mysterious power of words to alter reality). It’s hard to translate, so I chose “Power Word” which is widely known from Dungeons & Dragons and somewhat conveys the meaning while being not overly long.
3. As a reminder, Mika can use her super-magic (Howling Bow God of Sun and Moon) on a huge area and freely designate friends (which are healed) and foes (which are destroyed).
4. I just hope he doesn’t cook them and serve them to the king again…
5. Again, he’s using 魔物 (magic beast) instead of 悪魔 (demon) here. Maybe it’s a typo, or maybe it’s intended to show he sees Asmodens as nothing but a beast.