“Then you should hurry and heal yourself, please! Magical energy wells up from within the Demon Lords, does it not?!”
“...Too much...of my magical energy...was plundered. It’s no longer gushing out... Not enough remains in my...body anymore.” Her voice was becoming thinner and thinner.
“Klem?!”
“Aaah... If only I could eat...one more...biscuit...”
Rem could feel some heat building up in the corner of her eyes. It was like her heart was being squeezed. At this rate, Klem would be destroyed. Klem was the Demon Lord Krebskulm, which Rem had once wished to destroy even if it cost her her life. But now, Klem was like family to her.
“Klem, I... I don’t want to lose you.”
She pulled a transparent crystal out of her pouch which had black flames flickering within it. It was a Divinity Crystal which held the remnants of Krebskulm that Rafflesia, the chief of the dark elves, had extracted from Rem’s body.
If I give this back to her, she might turn into Krebskulm...
Klem only became a sweet, biscuit-loving girl because she didn’t have her memories. A Demon Lord was always intent on killing the races, but she never had the urge to do so; she likely would have fought them otherwise. The memories Klem was lacking were likely sealed in the Divinity Crystal, along with the urge to destroy the races...but it also contained magical energy. That magical energy was what Klem needed to be saved...
Rem looked at her. Klem looked like she might crumble into sand at any moment. It could very well be too late already... There was no time to spare.
“Ah!”
She brought the Divinity Crystal to Klem’s body, placing it into the hole in her stomach. The transparent orb shattered, and the flame inside it intensified.
“Klem!”
...But nothing changed. This Demon Lord lay still, her body still riddled with cracks.
Was I too late?!
Rem’s hands were shaking. The memory of Klem, eating biscuits with a smile, flashed in Rem’s mind. The memory of her rounding up villains who bothered the townspeople...of her singing songs happily...of her eating a steak, or a cake, or pasta... It was mostly memories of her eating.
Her tears flowed freely.
“I’m... I’m so...sorry...” Rem crouched down, powerlessly. “I wavered so much and now...now you’re...” She covered her face with both hands and wailed openly.
“Rem...?! Wh-What’s wrong?!” Shera placed a hand on Rem’s shoulder.
“Klem is... It’s all my fault! It’s all my fauuult! Aaah!”
“Huh?! Klem...?!”
“It’s because of my indecisiveness! I was too late... Argh! I didn’t make it in time! Aaaaaah!”
“What?!”
“You didn’t make it, Klem?!”
“I didn’t...?! I don’t really understand, Rem, but don’t cry... Here, have a biscuit. That makes everything better.”
Rem’s breath clogged her throat.
Huh?!
She lifted her face, only to be met with Klem’s astonished expression. Her shoulders shivered.
“Oh, you stopped crying. Good girl. Now, have a biscuit. It’s a bit crumbly, though.”
Klem’s lips held a smile. In her small, extended hand was a broken biscuit. The skin on her hand was still cracked, but it seemed to be healing.
“I’m so glad you’re alive.” Shera patted Klem’s small head. “I’m so relieved...”
“Heheh! But of course!”
“Klem...you’re...alive...?” Rem was shocked.
“What are you saying? Was it not you who gave me magical energy?”
“Th-That’s right, but I...thought I didn’t make it in time...”
“Heheheh, this Demon Lord is tough!” Klem puffed up her chest. Then she turned around, remembering something. “I should heal Edelgard now.”
The Fallen girl was on the verge of disappearing, with several holes in her body. But in just a moment, she’d been healed. Edelgard hopped to her feet in a hurry.
“Demooon Loooooord! Is all right...?! All right! So happy!”
“Don’t cry... Aren’t you a Fallen? Embarrassing thing, you.”
“Aaaaaah...”
When they first met, Edelgard was as expressionless as a doll, and quite terrifying to boot... But her emotions overtook her whenever the Demon Lord was involved. She looked almost adorable now.
“I’m happy you’re fine, too, Edelgard,” Shera said with tears in her eyes.
Her tear glands were as loose as her thoughts. Following Shera’s example, Rem teared up as well.
But she healed a Fallen on the verge of death in an instant. It’s a good thing she isn’t an enemy of the races...
Then it hit her—
“Klem, what about your memories?!”
“Hm? Oh, I remembered a whole bunch of things. All thanks to you, Rem.”
“...What did you remember?”
“Heheheh... A Demon Lord is a being that annihilates the races, of course!”
“N-No!” Rem flinched back.
“...But this Demon Lord loves biscuits.”
“...Huh?”
“And living in this city with you is fun. There’s probably a ton of tasty things I haven’t eaten yet.”
“...Really? But, your memories...”
“Rem, you wanted to defeat the Demon Lord Krebskulm, right?”
“Y-Yes... I won’t deny that. It was my greatest wish.”
“And now...?
Rem shook her head. “If I still wanted that, I wouldn’t have given you your magical energy back.”
“Then it’s the same for this Demon Lord! I remembered I once had the urge to slaughter the races, but memories are all just stuff in the past!”
“Kleeem!” Shera hugged the little Demon Lord snugly.
“What are you doing, Shera, it’s stuffyyyy!”
“I loooooove yooouuu!”
“Hmm... Yes, I can see that. Now let gooo.”
Even as she acted bothered, Klem wore a big smile.
“There truly was meaning...to the peaceful days we spent in this city,” Rem said, wiping away her tears.
Now they had to win, to protect the life they’d led. And so, their gazes returned to the battle at hand. Sasara and Rose were locked in melee combat against Modinaram.
It’s all happening so fast... Her eyes couldn’t keep up with the battle.
Diablo then entered a stance for casting multiple spells, one he’d never used when traveling with Rem and Shera since the opponents were always so close...
†
Diablo turned his Tonnerre Empereur back into its staff form and aimed it at Modinaram, commencing his Multiplex Magic. It was a challenging feat that involved compressing three grand spells into one. The amount of buildup time it required was obscenely long, so it was a trick he couldn’t pull off against such an agile opponent as a solo player.
Multiplex Magic was a special skill, and as such couldn’t be used multiple times. Even if he were to mess it up, he wouldn’t be able to cast it a second time during this battle. It was risky, but it’d guarantee massive damage if it worked.
Diablo recited the first of the three grand spells: “Darkness blacker than black, born from the gloom of the underworld, congregate and form into an arc... Dark Arc Seek!”
A bow, dyed black from top to bottom, extended from the tip of Diablo’s staff. Modinaram didn’t sit quietly at the sight of the spell; if it had the knowledge of multiple Demon Lords, it surely knew the power behind this spell.
“You shan’t fire that spell!” it called out. It charged forward, but was intercepted by Rose.
“You will not lay a finger on Master! Crius!”
Massive hands appeared in the air behind her. They looked like they were clad in armor, with mechanical components residing within them. Pipes that looked like blood vessels were attached to them, etched with magic symbols. The symbols shone, running from the tips onto the hands’ fingertips.
These mass
ive hands, the Magimatic Sol, held the same double-edged sword Rose held in her hands, except the size and scale of the weapon was entirely different. Just one of the blades was as tall as Rose.
The massive sword crashed down on Modinaram, who generated a black broadsword from its right hand to block it.
That’s the Demon Lord of the Eye, Iankaroz’s Godslayer Sword!
Diablo then realized that the Flames of Ruination had toppled Faltra’s walls. It was an ability said to have the greatest firepower in the game. When he challenged Iankaroz, it would fire this attack and reduce all character players in sight to a mountain of corpses. The message boards gave it different names like “Curtain Raiser Destruction,” “Eyebeam,” and “Wave Motion Cannon”... How one called it pretty much showed how old they were.
Rose’s Magimatic Sol clashed with Iankaroz’s black broadsword. But they only matched one another for a second before she was pushed back.
“Rose’s Magimatic Sol lost...?!” Rose exclaimed in surprise.
The large hands creaked, and cracks began forming in the large double-edged sword. Rose matched a level 150 warrior, but she wasn’t capable of matching Modinaram face to face.
Just then, Sasara unleashed an attack in the nick of time: the martial art, Boundless! The slash ignored the concept of distance, cutting Modinaram at the wrist.
“Are you mocking me?!”
Sasara then used the martial art Flash Thrust to close the distance rapidly, as if switching places with Rose, before unleashing the martial art Thousand Hands to simultaneously unleash several dozens of slashes at once. But as she was slashing Modinaram, it swung its sword at her.
“Gyah?!” Not evading in time, Sasara took the blow to her stomach. She was blown away, but rose to her feet immediately. She had the ability to take no damage from an attack one time per day. It felt like a cheat skill to Diablo, but...there wouldn’t be any other second chances here. The next time she took that kind of hit, it’d cut her in half. Even a level 200 warrior was inferior to Modinaram in a one-on-one fight.
Diablo recited his second grand spell.
“Void that swallows all of creation, come to me... Black Hole Arrow!”
The tip of Diablo’s staff was consumed by a black sphere clad in electricity—a hole that swallowed everything it came in contact with.
Rose and Sasara attacked Modinaram simultaneously from both sides. But Modinaram simply generated a second black broadsword, effectively blocking their attacks from both sides and pushing them away. Even with one hand, its arm’s strength exceeded that of Sasara’s total strength. Worst of all, wielding two Godslayers was something Iankaroz never did in the game. Was it because of Modinaram’s influence of absorbing it to become the Demon Overlord? Or perhaps it was just an action that was never implemented in Cross Reverie? Whatever the case, Diablo would have to be cautious. Assuming everything would be the same as the game could be his undoing.
Diablo focused on his third grand spell and recited, “Arrow of the void, pierce through and wedge between the boundary of heaven and earth! Gravity Abyss!”
A black arrow formed by magic fired toward Modinaram with a velocity exceeding that of a magi gun. It was fired at close range, and before Diablo could even pray that it’d hit, the attack met its mark, digging into his opponent’s left breast.
The air trembled as the Multiplex Magic that bound the three great magics together activated. The hole in Modinaram’s chest began swirling, drawing its armor-like skin inward.
“O-Ooooooh...?!”
It was a spell powerful enough to consume the majority of a massive magical beast like a sand whale. An opponent that was merely twice the size of the races would be consumed by it in no time.
“I am the Demon Overlord,” Modinaram roared, “destroyer of the races!”
It slashed at its own body with the longswords in its hands. It used the one in its left to cut itself below its left shoulder, and the right one to cut into its left flank. That would no doubt be a fatal injury for the races, but the Demon Overlord withstood it. The Gravity Abyss spell only consumed part of Modinaram’s body: the upper-left side and its left arm.
†
It would normally be a fatal wound. Not only the races, but even the Fallen wouldn’t be able to live with half of their upper body missing.
I guess that’s a Demon Lord for you...
Diablo smirked indomitably, but was panicking inside. In the game, no matter how much damage you inflicted on the enemy, it was hardly ever physically represented on their sprites. The grotesque sight of Modinaram’s cross section here was sickening.
“Hmph... You’ve only gotten more disgusting, Modinaram. Cease your resistance and you’ll at least spare yourself from further indignity.”
“Guuugh... Unforgivable... Such injuries, upon my flesh!” Blood spurted from its body as it spoke.
Sasara and Rose returned to stand in front of Diablo. They’d both leapt away just as he unleashed his magic, so as to not be caught by the Gravity Abyss’s gravity well, but now, they still stood at the ready.
“Watch yourself, Diablo... The enemy is still intent on fighting.”
“Rose awaits Master’s orders.”
“Don’t wait for me, just destroy the Fallen along with the Demon Overlord!”
In truth, Multiplex Magic left Diablo rather drained. He could replenish his MP with a potion, but if the battle lingered for too long, his concentration would plummet. He thought it’d be difficult to face seven grand turtles and the countless Fallen surrounding them in his current state.
Suddenly, a girl’s voice called for him from behind.
“Diablo!” Rem cried. “We saved Klem and Edelgard! As well as the governor and Emile!”
Good...
Despite thinking so, he scoffed in his usual Demon Lord demeanor.
“Hmph... Tenacious fools.”
There were many still lying about near the ruined gate, though. It was hard to say they’d made it in time, but they were lucky enough to save Klem and their familiar associates.
Diablo brandished his magical sword again. He had no intent of showing mercy. Had they not come in time, Modinaram wouldn’t have just killed Klem, it would have laid its hands on the townspeople as well...and then proceeded to kill off the entirety of the races.
“We’ll exterminate it.”
“You are too late...Diablo...”
“What?!”
“Sink in despair... The flames of the end, ruination to all creation!”
Modinaram extended a hand to its own right breast and cut through its own skin, peeling it off with a cracking sound to reveal an eyeball buried in its body.
“The Demon Lord of the Eye, Iankaroz?!” Diablo felt a shiver run down his spine.
“Be blown into oblivion, fools who dared defy the Demon Overlord!” Modinaram roared.
The Flames of Ruination!
Light thick enough to blind Diablo’s entire field of vision was fired from the eyeball buried in Modinaram’s chest. It was a flash of light with the same amount of heat that had shattered through Faltra’s defenses, being unleashed for a second time, this time with the barrier already breached.
Diablo pushed Sasara and Rose aside and stepped forward.
“You lose, Demon Overlord!”
Diablo stuck out his left fist. Even the Flames of Ruination, which boasted the highest firepower in Cross Reverie, were classified as magic—and could be reflected by the Demon Lord’s Ring. The ring resting on Diablo’s ring finger shone with an ominous red light.
It doesn’t matter how strong it is! So long as it’s magic, it can still...
The flash consumed his opponent. Diablo’s last image of Modinaram was that of the surprise overtaking its features. It may have had a goat’s head, but its eyes were opened wide. Its mouth hung open and was screaming something Diablo couldn’t hear over the blast.
Everything was dyed white, and the blinding light of the spell gradually faded. The thundering echoes
quieted down as well, and an unnatural silence filled the area. Diablo looked around cautiously—not a trace of his opponent was left.
No body either, huh...
Diablo knew this pattern all too well. Just as one celebrated their victory, the enemy attacked by surprise, revealing they were still alive, and killed a comrade. He’d never fall for such a clichéd development.
“Shera!” Diablo raised his voice. “Can you recognize the Fallen’s magical energy?!”
“H-Huh?! Y-Yeah, pretty much.”
“Has anything changed since earlier?! Is the magical energy granted to them by the Demon Overlord gone?!”
He was worried she might not sense anything, since they were so far away from the Fallen brigade. The eyesight of the races would normally be incapable of making out their expressions, but...
“It’s getting weaker!” Shera proclaimed. “Their magical energy is decreasing, Diablo!”
“Aaah!”
Did I do it?!
Sasara nodded along. “I can’t feel that prickly, murderous intent from earlier. In all likelihood, the Demon Overlord is...”
“No response from any sensors,” Rose reported. “Master is victorious.”
“Heck yeeeaaaah!”
...That sort of innocent enthusiasm wouldn’t be Demon Lord-ly, so Diablo restrained himself, instead shrugging indifferently.
“Hmph... He claimed himself to be a Demon Overlord so I’d hoped he’d be strong... But this ended up being nothing more than a boring sideshow. He didn’t even lay a single scratch on me. How pathetically disappointing!”
Well, that’s thanks to the opponent’s trump card being a grand spell I could reflect and Sasara and Rose being there to protect me.
Yet another fight that taught Diablo how much having a vanguard protect you made battle much easier.
“You did it, Diablo!” Shera ran over to him. “You’re so strong!”
“Hmph... What’s the point of stating the obviou—mmfmfh?!”
Shera jumped toward him, with Diablo’s face burying into her bountiful bosom.
“Rose’s apologies, Master,” Rose said, narrowing her eyes. “It appears Rose has failed to notice another certain hostile life form...”
How NOT to Summon a Demon Lord: Volume 9 Page 8