even though it seemed confusing, the situation itself was not that difficult to understand.


    it was probably eleanor who had instigated the rebellion that was currently unfolding.


    [judging from lehric’s presence, there is a high chance that this was part of his grand scheme. he’s always the one orchestrating the situation wherever he goes.]


    “agreed.”


    as velica stated, i also believed that even eleanor had ultimately been playing right into lehric’s hands.


    “try and save your strength as much as possible. eventually, it will be you and me facing him.”


    it was the rule to face each other as demon lords. on top of that, if aria joined, it would have been much easier. however...


    “if possible, i want us to be the ones to finish him.”


    [i don’t want to rely on other women either.]


    i didn’t want to create a situation where aria would ever have to fight again. especially now that she no longer had a weapon after she lost duathane when she killed romuleus last time.


    [but will we be able to get through this?]


    the princes and soldiers of the jerman kingdom were all immersed in battle, filled with madness and excitement.


    and it didn’t seem like the battle would end easily. i figured that we could either flank them or break through the middle.


    “you guys should at least say hello, shouldn’t you?”


    snap!


    the sound of fingers snapping spread throughout the night sky. the sinister omen resonating from lehric’s fingertips came towards us as if it were natural.


    strange beings rose from the shadows of the soldiers of the jerman kingdom who were deeply engaged in battle.


    “w-what’s going on!”


    “kuaaarrrrghhhh!”


    “p-prince!”


    screams burst forth.


    those who were just swinging their swords at each other and trying to take each other’s lives were now begging for mercy together as the shadows swallowed them mercilessly.


    now, they had become dull black soldiers without a trace of color, turning their heads towards us as if it were natural.


    “ah, can’t we have it easy for once?”


    findenai sighed as she took her axe out. and even though she said that, she seemed a bit excited at the prospect of using the silver axe in her hand.


    snow white.


    instead of the axe of pangu, i gave her the axe i got from the griffin royal treasure trove after resolving the romuleus incident.


    it wasn’t the axe she normally used, but a halberd. however, it was in similar length to the axe of pangu.


    findenai seemed pretty satisfied when she received it.


    “i’ll clear the way quickly.”


    she gave me a sly grin and put a cigarette between her lips. thinking i should at least allow this much during a fight, i quietly took a step back to avoid the smoke.


    “huff.”


    as she exhaled cigarette smoke and slowly gathered her mana, the blade of snow white reacted, releasing a chill steam that began to spread across the ground.


    “i think i can understand why you said that when you gave me this, master bastard.”


    on her hand was a hand of hemomancy.


    war shoes on her feet.


    and the weapon she was holding was snow white.


    “can i really utilize my full power now?”


    looking somewhat cheerful, findenai swung white snow through the air. smoke emanating from all directions naturally enveloped her body.


    “i think i know.”


    fwoosh!


    finally, with a strong burst of smoke from the war shoes, she led the charge forward.


    boom!


    she broke through the enemy formation with a powerful blow and charged inside.


    and what followed was almost like a beast’s rampage beyond the village’s fence.


    “velica.”


    [already?]


    although she said that, velica readily infused intense mana into my right hand, as if she had been waiting for it.


    my hand transformed into a black light, containing an ominous fire that seemed to be alive.


    “i will go first.”


    findenai had already cleared the path.


    i focused all my strength into my right hand and charged forward.


    no, it felt more like my right arm pulling me along rather than me taking initiative.


    unable to endure the speed, my body began to ache.


    like a deception, my right hand grabbed the nape of lehric, who was behind eleanor.


    “huh?”


    i had moved at a speed that even lehric didn’t anticipate. using that momentum to throw him away from eleanor, i applied pressure with my right hand to snap his neck.


    crack!


    [i can’t even remember the number of times i have killed him like this.]


    velica grinned, but as her words implied, this couldn’t be considered as having killed lehric.


    his body slumped on the ground.


    however, as if waiting for this, it gradually began to swell. i kicked it with my foot, pushing it away, and then embraced eleanor.


    “oh my, you’re doing this here of all places?”


    i stopped her as she tried to wrap her hands around my waist while letting out a strange groan.


    “it is going to explode.”


    booooooommmm!


    at my words, lehric’s body exploded, and flames burst out, spreading throughout the palace.


    thanks to the buildings being resistant to heat due to their proximity to the sahar desert, it didn’t catch fire easily, but perhaps because they were magic flames, they spread everywhere like mites.


    as i slowly released eleanor, she muttered something while somewhat displeased.


    “oh, you hugged me because of the danger? i thought it was because you were feeling the joy of reuniting.”


    “as if that would happen!”


    yelled aria and deia running behind me. aria especially seemed to be frustrated by the princess and continued to poke eleanor.


    “why the hell did you hug him when professor was only trying to protect you?”


    “...geez, i thought he would be happy to see me after such a long time.”


    “you’re saying that professor...? toward you? why would that happen when he has such a cute and clever student like me right next to him?”


    “you probably didn’t even notice that yours is just like a washboard, did you? or did deus rub his dirty clothes against your chest?”


    “you crazy bitch! in spite of having plenty of nutritious food at the palace, yours are only that much?!”


    “alrightttttt! it’s always the loser who talks about what-ifs, right?”


    [jeez, please stop fighting.]


    the dark spiritualist intervened as the two brats continued to squabble. their mouths were hanging open for a moment before they turned their heads.


    “professor doesn’t care about women’s breasts.”


    “if it’s big, it’s a death sentence.”


    although unintended, the dark spiritualist managed to stop the commotion they were causing. i sighed and told deia.


    “take care of these two. make sure they do not do anything stupid.”


    “and you?”


    lehric’s eerie laughter echoed from inside the palace.


    i replied calmly as i headed deeper into the palace to find him.


    “i am going to kill that bastard.”