7
“Get off me, dammit! Obnoxious gnat! Hey, Heine! Peel this bug off me, will you? I can’t shake her off!”
Gadalkand lets out a frustrated roar. Rose is clinging to his arm with all four limbs and biting into his shoulder. The giant stone demon tries to shake her off, repeatedly slamming her into the ground.
“Oh, stop whining and hold on a minute! I’ll be done here in a second. Hey, dark-god cultist! Your curses require a sacrifice, right? I noticed those rings of yours are disappearing each time you cast a curse! Looks like you’re running on empty. You’re no match for us. Hurry up and bring Six to…”
Heine stretches her hand out toward me, as if preparing to cast a spell.
She’s interrupted mid-sentence when something annihilates a golem’s torso, blasting Heine off its shoulder and onto the ground.
Everyone in the area goes stiff, caught completely off guard by the sudden turn of events. A faint crack rings through the air and reaches us a heartbeat later.
“Wha…wha-wha-wha-wha……?”
Knocked onto her butt by the first blast, Heine stares in openmouthed shock when a second golem’s torso explodes in a rain of fragments.
“The hell is this?! Heine! What the hell is going on…?! And you, get off me!”
Gadalkand peels Rose off his arm while directing his question at Heine.
“I—I—I don’t…I don’t know…what just…what……”
Another golem is reduced to a shattered hulk, followed by the same sound a few seconds later.
It must be coming from afar.
The attacks are probably coming from so far away that the sound isn’t keeping up with the attack itself. Like thunder after a flash of lightning.
“Whatever it is, we can’t just stand here. You lot! Get in the air! Once you’re up there, fly as fast as you can!”
Gadalkand issues the orders, beating his wings and rising into the air himself. Heine, too, calls down her griffin circling above and hurriedly hops on its back.
Just as they lift into the air, another golem shatters, followed a few heartbeats later by the sound.
“Gadalkand! The castle! They’re hitting us from on top of the castle!”
“…What?! How the hell are they attacking us from that distance?!”
Gadalkand curses loudly as a fifth golem breaks into fragments. His tirade is cut short as he stares mutely at the golem’s destruction.
“…Gadalkand, your warriors can fly and can hold their own against anyone. Gather the strongest ones you’ve got! We’ll go assault the castle and take out the bastard attacking us from there!”
“…You boys, with me! We’ll hit the castle directly and take ’em out!”
Heine and Gadalkand circle once overhead, then fly off toward the castle.
The sixth golem is blasted into fragments, leaving one more.
“…There they go.”
“…Yes, indeed. I’m sure the commander can do something about them.”
I flash a reassuring smile at Rose.
“…Really? You really think the boss’ll take care of this instead of running away?”
“………P-probably?”
As the final golem is shot down, the soldiers around us let out a cheer.
“Wow… The boss did all this, right? This probably sounds weird coming from a Chimera, but I wonder what the heck he’s made of.”
“Yes, he really is a mysterious man… But more importantly…”
I look around at the large group of demons encircling us.
The golems and the two pillars of the Elite Four are gone, but we are still vastly outnumbered. The enemy slowly closes the distance between them and the soldiers standing guard.
In response, Rose lets out an intimidating snarl.
“Krrrrssshaaaaaaaw!”
The demons stop briefly in their tracks but then continue to close the gap…
“Ee-hee-hee-hee…”
I smile my most predatory smile, wheeling myself forward and bringing my chair to a stop in front of the assembled demons.
“Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! In this world, all living things eventually die…but I? I have overcome death a thousandfold. I am the Archbishop of the Great Lord Zenarith! Know my name, for it is Grimm Grimoire! Those among you who seek death, step forward! Allow me to demonstrate the true power of my dark blessings!”
At my sudden monologue, Rose’s eyes go wide in surprise.
“Wh-what’s going on?! And what’s with that monologue?!”
“I rarely have anything to do at night, so I’ve been practicing for a time like this.”
“Cheater! I—I…I wish I had something cool to say, instead of the silly things my dying grandpa made me promise I’d say…! Um, let’s see… Hear me! My name is Rose! …Um…uh…”
As Rose continues her stilted attempt at an improvised monologue, I turn back toward the demons, showing off the last few remaining sacrificial items with a flourish.
“Brace yourselves! You shall now taste the true power of the God of Undeath and Disaster!”
“What she said!”
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