In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 28 - Chapter 1

 Chapter I: A Double Confrontation with the Wicked Devout

After successfully getting engaged to Kuon without (?) incident, Allis was immediately thrust into lessons to learn how to present herself as a lady of noble standing. She was thoroughly taught proper etiquette, social dances, and any necessary social skills. Her current basic education was also expanded.

Though it was primarily Yumina doing the teaching, Lu, Hilda, and Sue also assisted with the skills they’d picked up due to their royal backgrounds. Leen took up the role of teaching Allis the way of diplomatic negotiations, using her experience as an ambassador of Mismede.

Hang on, isn’t this way too much for a kid to be learning all at once? I feel bad for her, I couldn’t help but think to myself. To my surprise, however, Allis sucked up all the knowledge like a sponge, and before long, she had already mastered many of the skills expected of a grand duchess.

“Allis’s ability to learn things is unmistakable. Once she puts her mind to it, she can do anything,” Kuon remarked of his now-fiancée.

So she’s a born genius, then? Like father, like daughter, I suppose.

As an additional benefit to all of this, Linne and Steph began warming up to the idea of receiving the same teachings as Allis out of a desire to not be outdone.

“We aren’t asking you to change who you are, we are simply telling you to take on an appropriate persona when in a public setting. You don’t commence battle by showing your whole hand to your opponent, do you? Much like that, we women take on the visage of a fair lady to encourage those around us to let their guards down.”

Leen’s explanation appeared to have been easier to understand for the girls, as they immediately began taking steps to improve their manners, even if the change wasn’t as quick as Allis’s.

Well, what kind of father would I be if I sat here watching my daughters doing their best without putting in the same amount of effort?

I had been putting all my energy into condensing my divine essence since that morning in an attempt to create the sacred core required for the forging of a sacred treasure.

“Gwooooooh...!”

The ball of essence was gradually growing smaller and smaller.

Don’t get impatient. If you lose your cool and add too much strength, it’s just gonna blow straight back into your face.

I managed to get it to the size of a softball, but the resistance that came afterward was immense.

Is this actually possible?!

Making it even just the tiniest bit smaller seemed to take double the effort as before.

And that’s it for today!

It sure would have been convenient if I could just save my progress like that.

“Oh no.”

Having my mind distracted by such pointless thoughts caused the ball of divine essence to rebound, and before I knew it, particles of light scattered everywhere around me.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

And that’s another failure to add to the list. Just how many is that now?

The extreme fatigue that always accompanied the process did nothing to improve my mood. Even running a marathon wouldn’t have tired me out so much.

“Daaaddddddyyyyyy!”

“Oof!”

Getting charged by a full-on tackle right after my body had been sapped of all its energy resulted in me unceremoniously toppling over.

I’m pretty sure my body bent right in half there!

Steph was clinging to my aching side.

“Steph, how many times have I told you not to dive into me with [Accel] like that?”

“Daddy! I wanna go to the sea!”

“The sea?” I repeated back at her, rubbing my tender body to soothe the pain.

Where’d this talk of the sea suddenly come from?

“I want to see a Zallytan too! Linne told me all about the one she saw!”

“A whatty now...? Oh, a Zaratan?”

When I went to go hunt Fiendrakes with the kids in the Sea of Trees, we ended up coming face-to-face with a stampede. The cause had been a magical beast that looked like a large turtle known as a Zaratan, which had woken from its slumber.

With how ridiculously massive it was, you would think it was a Behemoth, but apparently, that was the normal size for a Zaratan. It was insane, honestly. According to Karina, the goddess of hunting, they were a very peaceful sort, but their sheer size meant that the creature simply walking could cause devastation on par with a natural disaster.

“You won’t find a Zaratan by just going to any old part of the ocean, you know?”

“Quun said that you could find one for me!”

Ugh... I mean, it’s not like I can’t, but there’s not much I can do if it’s deep under the sea.

The Val Albus was a whale-type Over Gear, so technically, it was possible for us to just use that, but I’d rather avoid taking that option. It was mainly being used in the search for the wicked devout right now, so I didn’t particularly want to take it away for less serious business.

Deciding it couldn’t hurt to at least give it a shot, I pulled up a map of the world on my smartphone and ran a search for any Zaratan.

“Damn, there’s a lot of them, huh?”

Seemed they weren’t so scarce after all. Though even then, there were only about thirty of them in total.

I say “only,” but given their size, that’s already pretty significant.

It seemed they could be found on both land and in the sea. Were the ones on land hibernating like the one we found in the Sea of Trees? Whatever the case, I had been told they hibernated for thousands of years. If we assumed the ones on land were in fact hibernating, there wasn’t much point in going to see them. However, if the ones in the sea were too deep, that didn’t exactly make them a better choice.

Let’s try filtering out the ones in the depths.

“Oh? Looks like there’s one near Egret. Wonder if that’s the Zaratan we found before?”

It wasn’t out of the question, really. The Kingdom of Egret was an island nation near the Sea of Trees. Their people revered a local Sea Serpent as their guardian deity. An overpopulation of Tentaculars had greatly injured the beast, but it soon recovered and returned to maintaining the peace in their seas.

Even a Sea Serpent would have some issue against a Zaratan, but Zaratan were so docile that I couldn’t imagine them ever fighting. I was fairly sure we’d be able to catch sight of the Zaratan if we traveled to Egret. Plus, we had been discussing going to the beach for a dip with the kids at some point, so I’d be killing two birds with one stone.

“All right, then, how about we go see that Zaratan?”

“Yaaay!”

Steph was quite literally jumping with joy. It kinda felt like I was planning a trip to the beach with some whale-watching on the side. Though if a whale really did appear, swimming in the ocean was off the table.

Going on a trip to the beach with the kids... Man, we really sound like a typical happy family, don’t we?

The kids would probably ask to bring Allis along, and with Ende being the overprotective father he was, that likely meant he’d be tagging along too. Actually, if Allis and Kuon were officially engaged, would that not make us family as well?

Karen and Moroha likely wouldn’t want to be left out, but the Babylon crew seemed like they might refrain.

You know what, the party’s already this big, so it wouldn’t hurt to let any off duty knights join us. It can be like a company-endorsed vacation!

I was getting a little ahead of myself, though. Had to get permission from the king of Egret first, after all.

“We really get to go to the sea with everyone!” Steph excitedly cheered. I then began thinking of all the preparations we would need to make as I tried to calm her down.

◇ ◇ ◇

“It’s the seeeeeeaaaaaa!”

The second I opened my [Gate], Steph zoomed onto the beach with [Accel], floatie in tow. Who taught her how to do a Rocket Start?

“Steph, you get back here right now!”

Steph’s mother, Sue, and the gold crown, Gold, frantically chased after her.

Well, at least this won’t be an uneventful trip.

Everyone had already gotten changed into their swimsuits before setting foot on the private Egret beach. Surrounded by rocks on all sides, it was a secluded little place. It was an ideal beach for royalty to enjoy time to themselves in private. The king of Egret was more than happy to give us permission to use it under the condition that, if a Zaratan really did start approaching his country, I would do something to stop it.

“It has been quite some time since I last swam in the ocean, it has.”

“Everything’s been so busy since the children arrived, after all.”

Yae and Hilde were chatting with each other as they walked along the beach.

“It has been a while since we’ve been to the sea ourselves.”

“All the adults have been so busy back in the future that it’s been a few years since we last went.”

Hearing Yakumo and Frei’s words, I suddenly understood why Steph had been so excited.

I would like to sincerely apologize on behalf of future me.

Yakumo’s and Frei’s swimsuits were the same color as their respective mothers’. In fact, it wasn’t just them; the other mother-child pairs had all done the same. Apparently, when it was decided we would be going to the beach, they had all gone on a trip to Zanac’s fashion shop and ordered matching swimsuits.

Kuon was the exception, of course. He had settled on a pair of white Bermuda shorts with black stripes. Sure, he looked rather feminine, but even Yumina would make sure to get him a boy’s swimsuit.

My sisters had also gotten changed into their swimsuits and were making their way to the ocean. Moroha was making sure to caution the rowdy knights that had come with us. Even though I had invited the knights to give them a vacation of sorts, Moroha being here somehow made it feel as though they were about to be subjected to marine corps training.

“Lady Melle, is it really necessary for us to wear this ‘swimsuit’ garb?”

“Everyone else is wearing them, so we must abide by the customs of this world.”

“We couldn’t refuse Allis’s request now, could we?”

Allis’s three Phrase mothers arrived at the beach alongside their daughter. They were all wearing one-piece swimsuits of different colors. Allis was wearing a swimsuit of the same ice blue color that Melle was wearing.

Thanks to the pendants enhanced with [Mirage] they held, their skin looked like any ordinary human’s. Previously, they only created the illusion of clothes, but that meant that if anyone were to end up touching them, they would feel the rough texture of their skin rather than the clothes, so they decided to use [Mirage] on their skin and then wear clothes on top of that.

Though apparently, this was their first time wearing swimsuits, which was leaving them a bit uncomfortable.

“All three of you look so good in them! Right, Daddy?”

“Y-Yeah, you all look perfect.”

Ende looked almost flustered at the sight, as if he’d never seen anything like it before.

You still in middle school or something, man?

“Oh, Kuon! What do you think of my swimsuit?”

“You look stunning. It suits you well, Allis. Very cute.”

“How do you always know the perfect compliments to give to someone?” Allis mumbled. She was squirming at Kuon’s words, face turning bright red.

“I simply spoke the truth.”

“Gah, he said it with absolutely no hesitation! Is that really your kid?! If you were in that situation, you’d definitely have been all, ‘Uh, what are you talking about?’”

“Oh, shut up,” I snapped as I glared at Ende, who was making unnecessary comments.

Listen, even I can compliment a girl when something suits her. I’m not that socially inept. Or at least, I don’t think I am...

While we had been chatting, the knights had all been swiftly setting up tents, canopies, beach umbrellas, and beach chairs across the sand. It looked like they had set up a net for some volleyball too.

These guys are way too excited to play around.

Not that I minded, of course. They were off duty, and this was meant to be a trip for them to relax anyway.

“Sango, Kokuyou, mind keeping an eye on the surrounding area for me?”

“As you wish, my liege.”

“But of courssse, darling.”

With the way they happily floated away, it seemed even Sango and Kokuyou were excited about being back at the sea after so long.

The water around the Kingdom of Egret was the territory of the Sea Serpent, so I didn’t expect there to be any strange monsters to worry about. Still, I thought it best to have them keep an eye out just in case. It would be a pain if any more Tentaculars appeared, after all.

The younger kids were more than ready to jump right into the sea, but when the older ones warned them to do some stretches first, they all listened without complaint. I was glad our children made sure to listen to their siblings. It sure saved us all a lot of trouble.

After they finished stretching, they all ran into the sea in sync.

Despite being the one who’d said she wanted to go find a Zaratan in the first place, Steph was the first to dive right into the water. Well, searching for the Zaratan could come later. It didn’t look like it was moving around out there, anyway.

Everyone else had already started their own activities. The knights had begun their matches of beach volleyball, while my wives were having a little tea party underneath the canopy.

Now, what exactly should I do?

“Touya, over here.”

As I was considering my choices, Karen beckoned me over from underneath a beach umbrella. The gods, dressed in swimsuits that perfectly suited them, had spread out a sheet over the sand and were already drinking away. Suika, the goddess of alcohol, looked well and truly drunk. I silently begged her not to try and go swimming in that state.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to spend time with this group now and again, I thought to myself as I sat down alongside them. It felt as if the sheet was made from the hide of some magical beast. Despite the blazing heat of the sand, it wasn’t making it through the sheet at all.

Granny Tokie and Uncle Takeru were absent, it seemed. Being the goddess of Space-time, Granny Tokie was even now dealing with the aftershocks of the timequake, observing to make sure it wouldn’t turn into a time tunnel. Uncle Takeru, meanwhile, was watching over the on-duty knights in place of Moroha while we were away. If he’d come with us, I was sure Ende would have never been able to just sit back and relax, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise.

“Whoa, itsh Touya! C’mon, c’mere, here’sh yer shots for bein’ late.”

“How many times do I need to tell you that I don’t drink? I’m still underage.”

“Yer shtill thinkin’ with yer old common sensh? Ya already have a buttload of kids!”

That doesn’t mean I’m not a minor. And wait, present me hasn’t had any kids!

I still hadn’t turned twenty in Earth years, so I refused to drink even a drop of alcohol. Not that I could deny that I’d been made to drink some here and there, but that was different.

Suika downed the glass that she had originally offered to me, prompting her face to melt into a grin. She really did always appear to be having the time of her life when drinking. And honestly, that kind of tempted me to have some myself.

Beside her was Sousuke, the god of music, strumming a tune from Hawaii on his ukulele. It was a well-known song in Japan about the Hawaiian volcano known as Diamond Head. Though the view was different from that of Hawaii, I thought it fit.

“By the way, Touya, how are you getting along with making the sacred treasure?” Kousuke inquired.

“Well, I guess I’m...getting there?” I responded awkwardly, averting my eyes.

I still hadn’t even managed to make the core that acted as the power source for the weapon. I walked in knowing it wouldn’t be so simple to make, but failing so many times in a row was a real blow to my confidence.

“A sacred treasure isn’t really something just anyone can make, anyway. You’d usually take a hundred years to forge it, so don’t beat yourself up over it. Take your time.”

I knew that Karina was just trying to cheer me up, but with the threat of the wicked devout looming overhead, that wouldn’t fly. For some reason, they were allowed to use the power of the wicked god, yet I wasn’t allowed to use any of my own divine powers. Talk about double standards.

In order to solve that conundrum, I had to make a sacred treasure infused with my divinity, then have a mortal use it to defeat them. Even then, though, the only candidates I had in mind at the moment were my children.

If I made a sacred treasure in the form of a katana, for instance, I could have Yakumo wield it and she’d potentially be able to completely annihilate the wicked god even if he resurrected. But if we put all our eggs in one basket, there was a chance our strategy wouldn’t be flexible enough to succeed. And so, I really had no idea what the best course of action was.

“If it aids in your troubles, Sousuke’s instrument is a sacred treasure too.”

“Huh?!”

At Uncle Kousuke’s words, I turned to stare at Sousuke where he sat still playing Hawaiian music. Or more specifically, I stared at the ukulele he was playing said music with.

“That ukulele is a sacred treasure?”

“He he, Sousuke’s sacred treasure ish called ‘Everchanging Wonder.’ It can change into aaaaaany instrument he wishesh!”

To show what Suika meant, the ukulele in Sousuke’s hands morphed into all kinds of instruments, from a guitar, to a banjo, to a sitar, to a shamisen, and even to a yueqin.

It wasn’t just stringed instruments it could change into either; it could morph into drums, a piano, a trumpet, a flute, and so many other things. Finally, it changed into something that fit snugly into the palm of his hand.

It was a musical note letting off a soft silver glow. It had a strange texture to it, like metal and yet not. The light it was letting off was the light of divine essence. This was likely Everchanging Wonder’s true form.

“What may seem a marvel to those in the mortal realm is but simply a convenient tool for us gods,” Uncle Kousuke stated. “Every one of us has some kind of sacred treasure in our possession.”

“Wait, really?”

I looked around at everyone present. Every god sat here had their own too?

“Indeed. For example, I have a sacred treasure related to farming tools, Karina has one for hunting, and Suika has one in the form of a sake cup and bottle.”

“What about Karen and Moroha?”

“Rather predictably, I have one in the form of a sword,” Moroha told me. “I could end up blowing a whole continent off the map without trying if I used it, though, so I don’t really bring it out much.”

She could get rid of a whole continent? God, that sounded insane. Apparently, her sacred treasure was so powerful that no human could ever wield it.

“What about you, Karen?”

“Mmm, mine is a silver bow and golden arrows that makes someone fall in love with whoever they first lay eyes on after getting hit. I made it on a whim as a young goddess, but I sealed it away in the Divine Realm’s storehouse. Love isn’t really love if it’s artificial, y’know?”

A bow and arrow that could make love sprout, huh? She really was just Cupid.

There are so many kinds of sacred treasure out there. One that can change shape depending on what we need at the time like Sousuke’s sounds good, I thought to myself, as the sound of the waves gently entered my ears.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Kuon, that meat’s ready, so feel free to take it. Oh, Frei, not that one!”

Arcia was shouting instructions to her siblings while turning over the meat skewers that were sizzling away tantalizingly on the grill.

When you’re at the beach, what better meal for lunch than a barbecue? The meat and vegetables we had brought along with us were cooked one after the other before swiftly disappearing inside our stomachs.

Karina had somehow managed to get us a whole bunch of fish and shellfish as well. It was an absolute mystery how one person could manage to gather so much without assistance. Did her powers as the goddess of hunting apply to seafood as well?

“Frei, slow down. No one’s going to steal your food,” Hilde admonished her daughter in exasperation, watching as she shoveled skewers into her mouth.

“But we’ve been swimming so much that I’m absolutely famished.”

Not to be outdone, Yae and the three Phrase girls displayed their own voracious appetites without reserve. Even the knights were chomping away at their food.

Well, at least they’re enjoying it.

Suddenly, I saw something behind the knights.

A large sandcastle stood in the distance. The detailing was so meticulous that there were windows carved out and even stones used in its structure. It honestly looked like a real castle.

Naturally, Kuon was the one behind it. My son had created such a massive piece of art in only two hours. I couldn’t help but take a photo of it.

I was expecting Allis to pout and whine that Kuon wasn’t playing with her, but to my surprise, she seemed to be enjoying herself just sitting there and watching him build the castle. I was so sure that she would have tried to drag him into the sea too.

Is this the effect of her lessons?

I couldn’t help but pity Ende when he asked Allis if she wanted to play together and she immediately refused him, though.

I really wanted to preserve the castle with [Protection], given how well-made it was, but Kuon refused.

“It’s fine. This kind of work cannot be preserved. I would say the ease with which it will crumble is part of the appeal, in fact.”

And so, I reluctantly gave up. I could understand the angle he was going for with beauty in impermanence at least.

Not that I was trying to do it in retaliation or anything, but I’d decided to use Earth magic to make my own sculpture and cast [Protection] on it to make some semblance of a waterslide.

There’d been only one thing left to do after that: slide down it and dive-bomb into the ocean. I originally made it for the kids, but the adults had joined in as well.

Not that I mind.

“Hiyah! Huh?”

A blindfolded Steph swung down a wooden sword, slicing the air right next to a watermelon.

And that’s a miss.

To help settle the food they had just eaten, some of the other kids had taken to splitting watermelons that Uncle Sousuke had grown. I’d had a bite of one earlier and it was delicious and sweet.

Linne gave it a shot after Steph, but she missed as well.

Wait, weren’t there usually people there to shout directions of where to swing?

“But then it wouldn’t count as training,” Elze chipped in. “So long as you have a solid grasp of where the watermelon is before you put the blindfold on, you just need to consider the length of your steps and the sword, and you’ve got it. It shouldn’t really be that hard.”

Uh, no, I’m sure that’s a hard thing to do.

She was talking about it as if it was the easiest thing in the world, but you were literally spun around at the start.

And hey, don’t go turning a fun game into training like that.

“Aw man, I swear I would know where the watermelon is if it wanted to kill me,” Linne muttered in disappointment after her failed attempt. If I encountered a watermelon that wanted to kill me, the last thing I would want to do is eat it.

Yakumo was the one to have a shot after, and she managed to split it clean in two. Or more precisely, she sliced that thing straight in half. With a wooden sword. At the very least, it was better than it splattering all over the place and being wasted, but still.

As per Steph’s request, we were going to go see the Zaratan in the afternoon. It was only going to be me and the children, though. Everyone else planned to stay on the beach. Still, at the very least, I would make sure to record the trip for them to see later.

《My liege, something to report.》

《Oh, darling, terrible newsss!》

“Sango, Kokuyou, that you? What’s up?”

A telepathic message suddenly came from Sango and Kokuyou, who were out on patrol. Was the Zaratan making its way over here?

《No, not the Zaratan, but there are hundreds of giant Gollems advancing along the ocean floor in your direction. They will likely make land within a few hours.》

“There are what?!” I shouted out loud without thinking, attracting the gaze of everyone around me. Was it the wicked devout?!

I opened up my map and tried a [Search], but there were no matches.

What is going on here? It’s not the Kyklops?

I tried searching for just Gollems, but there were no matches for that either, so the most likely scenario was that my magic was being blocked by the same power of the wicked god that kept the Ark hidden.

“Is everything approaching us the Kyklops?”

《No, there are also ssseveral thousssand Fishmen and Four-Armed Gollemsss. Alssso, one of the Kyklopsss is of a different color to the ressst. It looksss consssiderably larger and sssturdier than them.》

Could that be the commander unit? In which case, one of the wicked devout could be in there. Had they come after us? There was no way. The only ones who knew we were here were the Egret royal court. That would make Egret itself their likely target.

Well, really, I don’t think it particularly matters to them whether it’s Egret or some other random country.

Their goal wasn’t to plunder a specific location, but rather to plunge people into fear and anxiety, then gather those overflowing negative emotions to offer up to their wicked god. Or at least, that was how it came across to me.

I can’t just sit around here and do nothing—we have to begin planning a counterattack immediately.

I opened up a line to the king of Egret without hesitation.

◇ ◇ ◇

“They’re here.”

I could see a horde of Kyklops rising from the sea with [Long Sense]. Egret’s seas were shallow, so you could see an army arriving from a mile away.

Just as Sango and Kokuyou had reported, the Kyklops leading the group was much larger than the rest. Its body was shimmering a metallic brown in the sunlight. At just a cursory glance, it looked built enough to be heavily armed. It was about the size of Sue’s Ortlinde Overlord, and there was something like a horn on its head that the other Kyklops lacked.

It held a weapon like a meat cleaver that was the same color as its body. I felt that same sense of strangeness from the knife as I had from the purple spear wielded by the previous wicked devout I’d met.

We’ll need to be careful.

On our side, we had Egret’s knight order, my wives’ Valkyries, Ende’s Dragoon, and a few hundred of our own knights’ Frame Gears. The only problem was that my own Reginleif wasn’t here.

“Hey, you don’t have any right to complain. As I recall, the one who insisted on prioritizing the Valkyries be installed with a second seat was you, Touya,” Doc Babylon said over the phone. I could only lower my head in shame.

“That is true...”

I had asked for the Valkyries to be remodeled so that they would come equipped with a second seat for the children to also ride in. Additionally, it was installed with a function that made it possible to switch who was in control. Only the mothers could toggle it, though.

Why did I add that feature? Please don’t ask... What father could refuse when all of his daughters were begging him at once? Kuon had been my sole ally at the time, but that still made it two against eight, and before long, he was also forced into submission.

Our kids were used to handling Frame Gears, so it wasn’t exactly a problem per se, but I had still been hesitant.

Most of the children rode with their respective mothers, but Elna and Linne had swapped places, placing Linne with Elze and Elna with Linze. They appeared more comfortable with the other’s Frame Gears, so there was no reason to object.

I had a feeling that the reason Kuon had been against the idea of double-seaters was because he felt embarrassed riding with Yumina. After all, boys go through that period of their lives where they’re embarrassed to do anything with their mothers. Still, there was nothing I could do about that. If we could use Reginleif, I’d have been more than happy to let him ride with me.

Honestly, though? Yumina looked so happy at getting to do this with her son that I’d rather he humor her.

“Touya-dono, is the plan to simply charge it head-on?” Yae asked, her voice coming from the speaker of the Schwertleite.

“It’s probably best to do that while we have him so clearly in our sights. If anything happens, I’ll immediately be in to support you,” I responded through my phone.

We might have been losing in numbers, but I was pretty sure we had the upper hand in strength so long as the other side wasn’t hiding some trump card.

“We will handle that big ugly oaf!”

“Steph’s gonna be the one to beat the big bad guy!”

Sue and Steph’s voices came from the Overlord.

Given the Overlord’s size, I believed they would be best suited to combat the Horned Commander, but we had no way to know what the enemy had up their sleeve. That cleaver it held was still creepy too. There was more than enough reason to want to be as cautious as possible.

“We can leave the Fishmen and the Gollems to the Egret knights, right?”

“Yeah, we won’t let the Kyklops step foot on land, but the small fry that make it past will be handled by them.”

I’d already relayed the plan to the king of Egret during our phone call. Those of us from Brunhild would generally be the ones handling the Kyklops. We’d be in trouble if they got targeted by any long-range attacks, though, so I’d made sure to station a few Chevaliers over there.

“We really need to hurry and get those underwater Frame Gears developed for cases like this. That way, we can actually launch attacks before enemies come on land,” Doc Babylon remarked.

“The problem is that even if we get them developed, mass-producing them would take time.”

As advanced as the workshop was, not even it could mass-produce Frame Gears in a short amount of time. And that wasn’t even taking into account the cost of materials. Demolishing some of the Chevaliers and reusing whatever we could from them would help reduce it a bit, but...

“Hm? What’s that?”

“Huh?”

I was pulled from my thoughts by Doc Babylon suddenly speaking up. She was likely looking at the footage from the unmanned surveillance drone we sent out.

“Look, behind the Horned Commander. They’re standing something up...?”

I used [Long Sense] to investigate what Doc Babylon was referring to and saw several Kyklops pointing some long cylinder skyward.

Is that a cannon?

“But if they’re not aiming here, then...”

Just as I began questioning their target, there was a sudden massive boom as something was fired from the cannon. Whatever it was burst like fireworks high in the air above us.

The explosion wasn’t that large; it really did seem like fireworks.

But then what is it? Was it just a shot fired as a battle declaration?

“What is this?”

Whatever they had shot into the air scattered a golden powder around us. When the powder landed on my hand, it instantly melted like snow.

No, seriously, what actually is this...? Wait, no way! Don’t tell me...!

“Daddy! Mommy says she feels sick!”

“Father! Mother suddenly has a headache!”

One after another, the children reported their mothers falling ill. There was no doubt anymore what that powder was.

“It has to be divine venom,” Moroha said. “Don’t worry, this amount won’t kill them. I guess we can call it diluted divine venom, or diluted venom for short.”

Diluted venom? Is that really all you could come up with?!

“It’s definitely divine venom, but it’s like they’ve taken the tiniest remnants that remained and diluted it even further,” she continued. “There are a lot of impurities in it, and they’ve clearly adjusted various properties. Truth be told, you couldn’t kill even a servile god with this, let alone a lesser god. It doesn’t change the fact that it’ll still affect them, though.”

“Moroha, I feel kinda sick... It might be worse than we thought...”

I heard Suika’s voice pipe up from behind Moroha.

Wait, is the divine venom affecting her too?!

“Nah, you’re just too drunk.”

Oh, for the love of...!

“It’s fine, man, seriously. It’s not strong enough to affect actual gods like us, though your wards seem to be feeling it a bit. Even if it isn’t a threat to their lives, it’s probably making them feel a little worse for wear.”

“And the kids? Will they be okay?”

“They’ll be just fine,” Karen reassured me. “Your kids are demigods, y’know? If it was the real deal, it might be a problem, but something like this is no bother, y’know!”

Oh, of course. Our kids would have my divine blood running through them. If it had been the original divine venom, there was a good chance they’d be feeling the effects even worse than my wives, but I guess that “diluted” was the important part. We were fine because we had the genes of a god, but since my wives didn’t, they were being affected by it. Were they really going to be okay?

“Yeah, I’ll be good, I think. Just feel kinda rotten...”

“It feels like one of those mornings after eating too much...”

“I feel like I’ve just ridden on an incredibly bumpy carriage ride...”

Elze, Sakura, and Lu spoke up, voices completely lacking energy. Their bodies really were reacting badly to it. Despite how weak it was, I didn’t think even [Recovery] could get rid of the negative effects.

It didn’t seem like it was bad enough to knock them unconscious, at least, but it really did come across as a weak poison. They seemed to have light headaches and stomach pains at worst. That said, even symptoms as small as those could be deadly in a battle, since it was enough to disrupt one’s concentration.

Is that what the wicked devout are aiming for?

“No, Father, it appears they had a different aim. This gold powder is interfering with the circulation of ether liquid through the Frame Gears. Their output has decreased to around sixty-two percent. The effect it has on our mothers was likely an unexpected side effect from their end.”

So their aim was to decrease the power of the Frame Gears, then?

Back during the fight with the witch-king when he had become Hecatoncheir, he’d released some kind of gas that paralyzed the Q-Crystals. Was it something like that?

The wicked god had created Fake Gears before, and considering the Kyklops we were faced with right at this moment, they likely had some degree of knowledge of the structure of a Frame Gear.

“Actually, are they okay? Should their Frame Gears not be affected as well?”

“They aren’t stupid. I’m sure they have their own measures in place to account for that. Honestly, given those Kyklops are made solely from Gollem technology, I don’t even think the effects of the powder would be all that significant on them in the first place. We’ll need to think of a good countermeasure ourselves... Touya, could I ask you to grab a sample?”

“Hm? Yeah, sure.”

Though I accepted, whenever this diluted venom touched anything, it just melted away.

So, uhhhhhh, how should I get a sample of this exactly?

I couldn’t help but think it impossible as I stared at the powder dancing in the air in front of me.

“Oh, duh! I should just use [Prison].”

Though, thinking back, the divine venom couldn’t be blocked with [Prison] before. Maybe the fact that it was weaker would make the difference?

Using my divine powers here wouldn’t count as influencing the surface world, right? Surely it’s fine.

I used a [Prison] enhanced with my divinity and created a ten-by-ten centimeter cube in the air, before then compressing it to about the size of a die. Some of the glimmering diluted venom was floating about inside.

Hey, it worked. Guess I’ll shove it in my pocket for now.

“Father, it will be difficult for Mother to pilot the Schwertleite in this state. I would like permission to take over.”

“Oh, me too! I’d like to pilot the Siegrune!”

“Me as well, Dad! I’ve piloted the Gerhilde before, so it’ll be fine!”

“Don’t leave me out! I’ll fight instead of Mommy!”

Before I could respond to Yakumo’s suggestion, Frei and Linne, followed by Steph, all piped up.

Ugh, I was thinking to myself that it would be okay for them to get a shot at some point, since they would have someone supervising them, but I wasn’t intending for it to be right from the start.

Still, I knew it would be wrong for me to force Yumina and the others to fight in their current state. If it was the same as the divine venom we had to deal with before, the symptoms would pass with time, so maybe it would be okay to let them pilot the Valkyries just for now.

“Hmm, fine, but only if you promise not to go overboard. And make sure to swap with your mothers once they’ve recovered, got it? I repeat, do not go overboard. I’m being serious here.”

“Yaaaaaay!”

The girls all cheered at having been granted permission. Did they even pay attention to my warnings? I was especially worried about Steph and Linne.

My worry wouldn’t halt the enemy army’s advance, though. They had already made it within firing range.

“They do say the early bird catches the worm. Let us first signal that the battle has begun!”

Quun and Leen’s Grimgerde was the first to advance. The Frame Gear’s shoulder and leg armor slid open, revealing the multishot rocket pods installed inside. The Gatling gun on its right arm and the Vulcan Cannons in the fingers of the left hand were aimed at the Kyklops as they hooked both heel anchors into the ground.

“Full Burst!”

The Kyklops at the vanguard were bombarded by the full brunt of Grimgerde’s weapons. However, despite being barraged with a rain of phrasium fragments, the Kyklops continued their march forward undeterred.

“They’re rather tough, are they not? Is it because Grimgerde isn’t working at maximum output?” Leen asked, voicing what I had also been wondering.

“Since it uses [Explosion] to fire the fragments, the drop in efficiency is likely partly to blame, yes, but aside from that, their frames are simply just that resilient!” Quun replied.

Though they managed to withstand it for longer than expected, the endless assault of bullets eventually made a few of the Kyklops topple over. However, the Horned Commander that led the army still showed no signs of stopping, even after being hit with many of Grimgerde’s rounds.

Grimgerde’s attack came to a halt after letting out a white plume of ether-filled smoke. Usage of Full Burst had reached its limit, so it would need to go on cooldown.

“I leave the rest to you, Steph.”

“I’ve got you, Quun!”

The Ortlinde Overlord circled its right arm as it stepped forward.

“Here goes nothing! Cannon Knuckle Spiral!”

The Overlord’s right arm detached at the elbow, then rotated at high speed toward the metallic-brown Horned Commander.

Just as it had done with Grimgerde’s phrasium fragments, the Horned Commander took it straight to the chest. When the fist collided with its thick armor, the rocket punch managed to form a crack.

However, it didn’t manage to completely shatter it, so the arm ended up getting deflected back. The arm then changed course and slotted itself back into place.

“It didn’t break! Mommy, that big thing’s really tough!”

“Hmm... I wonder if it’s because of that strange gold powder...”

Sue sounded incredibly weak. I wanted to let her off the Overlord, but I needed someone to be there to step in if anything happened to Steph.

It’s okay. She should start to feel better in a bit.

Honestly, the decrease in output was way more of a hassle than expected. It was a bit like a human afflicted with altitude sickness. We knew the Babylon crew was working on a countermeasure, though, so we just had to focus on defeating the enemy in front of us.

The Horned Commander lumbered forward with loud, earth-rumbling footsteps before swinging down its cleaver on the Ortlinde Overlord.

“Stardust Shell!”

Starry lights gathered in the outstretched left hand of the Overlord before transforming into a wall of light. The Kyklops’s weapon clanged off the luminous barrier.

“You... You block the way. I...break you.”

Despite being blocked by the shield, the Horned Commander continued relentlessly swinging down his cleaver. The man’s voice I heard coming from the Kyklops was stilted and didn’t sound very intelligent. At the very least, I didn’t think it was the wicked devout I had met before.

As if to make a point of that, the Horned Commander still did not stop.

It’s clearly not doing anything no matter how many times you try, so why bother? Just as I thought that, the Stardust Shell began to shatter little by little.

“What?!”

Was that the special ability of the cleaver? Or was it because of the reduced strength of the Overlord due to the diluted venom?

“Steph, the Overlord can’t handle any more! Shove him away!”

“Got it, Mommy! Cannon Knuckle Spiral!”

Steph took the moment when the cleaver was raised to spiral the Overlord’s right knuckle smack-bang into its chest. A surprise attack from point-blank range appeared to be too much for the Horned Commander, as it staggered a few steps back.

The Overlord released a follow-up shock wave from its chest, sending the horned Kyklops even further away.

Before Steph could catch up to her opponent, though, three Kyklops stood in her path.

“Oh, come oooon! Get out of the way!”

She charged forward and attempted to punch one of the Kyklops, but it easily dodged her strike. The Overlord lacked speed due to how large its movements were, so it wasn’t very difficult to dodge if you could see the attack coming.

The Overlord was made as a defensive unit in the first place. When it came to protecting its allies, there was none superior, but it was lacking in choices when it came to having to directly attack. It had an anti-Upper Construct weapon known as the Gold Hammer, but its main way of attacking was its fists.

It didn’t help that the size of the enemy the Gold Hammer was made to counter was far bigger than a Kyklops. If they made use of it here, it was possible they would just completely miss their target or get caught in the gravity wave due to being within too close proximity. Plus, the burden on the Overlord for using it was also huge.

“Cannon Knuckle Spiral!”

The Overlord’s right arm was shot out. Naturally, a rocket punch was much harder to dodge than a simple swing, so the Kyklops took it right in the face and exploded into pieces, but more Kyklops immediately appeared to surround the Overlord again.

After being punched away, the Horned Commander used its cleaver as a support to push itself back up.

Are these guys managing to coordinate their attacks somehow?

According to Doc Babylon, the Kyklops were like Soldats where they could share information between a few units at a time. That meant these Kyklops were likely standing in front of the Overlord in order to protect the Horned Commander.

If they actually have some semblance of coordination, this is gonna make things much harder...

Just as the commander unit managed to stand itself up and begin making its way back over, it suddenly stopped. And it didn’t seem like it stopped voluntarily either; it was more like it was actively stopped by some outside force.

“Is that—?”

Right as I went to turn around, something flew past me way faster than I could look. In the next moment, the Horned Commander and the Kyklops surrounding it were sent catapulting out into the sea as if pushed back by some invisible wall.

Managing to look back properly this time, I saw the Rossweise standing poised with its Symphonic Horns on both of its shoulders, as well as Brunhilde armed with its sniper rifle.

“Kuon, was that you who stopped it?”

“Yes, Father. Yoshino said that she required the target to remain still to ensure her aim would be accurate.”

So Kuon used his Mystic Eye of Immobilization. Can’t believe he can use it on a massive mech like that.

If he was able to immobilize any enemy and take that opportunity to snipe them, was my son not basically unbeatable?

Then again, using the power of a Mystic Eye even once took a massive amount of energy, never mind using it a bunch in quick succession, so maybe not.

The Kyklops that were directly around the Horned Commander had been blown away alongside their leader in the attack, but the others that were closer to us had been spared and began approaching the Overlord again. However, one of the Kyklops that was approaching suddenly stopped in the same unnatural way that the Horned Commander had, and then in the next moment, a gunshot rang out and a bullet went straight through his head.

Wait, that was Kuon again? Accurate headshots aren’t easy to pull off.

He was already piloting Brunhilde as skillfully as Yumina.

The head of a Frame Gear typically only contained cameras and sensors, so ordinarily, it would have had little to no effect, but it seemed like the Q-Crystal of a Kyklops was situated there, much like with a Gollem. The Q-Crystal was basically the brain of a Gollem, so if that was broken, then naturally, it couldn’t function.

I could still remember Doc Babylon criticizing Gollem manufacturers for refusing to throw out their old preconceptions of how they should be built.

She had a point, though. What need was there to place a Q-Crystal in the exact same place if it wasn’t necessary? It would be so much safer to place it somewhere hard to strike like their back, or even just place it in the same area as the G-Cube that powered it. They couldn’t function without the other, so if even one of them was destroyed, it would be game over anyway.

Though if you considered it from the perspective of intending to retrieve the frame afterward, it was probably better to ensure at least one part would remain intact.

“We can’t let Kuon take all the glory!”

Frei charged forward in Siegrune and slashed a Kyklops right in half. Her usual battle style was to adapt to the situation and pull whatever weapon would be most suitable against her opponent from [Storage]. It was a rather unpredictable and crafty way of fighting. It might have been the reason her control of Siegrune felt less sharp, at least compared to when Hilde was piloting it, anyway. But despite that, she was managing to take down the Kyklops much better than the other Frame Gears.

Yakumo was also cutting down Kyklops one after the other in the Schwertleite. She fought very similarly to Yae, so controlling her Frame Gear came much easier to her.

“Hiyaaah!”

“Come at me!”

Two of the fighters were much wilder and rowdier than the rest: it was Linne piloting the Gerhilde and Ende piloting the...

Wait, hang on. Is that Allis piloting the Dragoon? When did she get on?

The Dragoon hadn’t been remodeled to add a second seat, but the cockpit was probably spacious enough for a child to fit inside.

I opened communications with the Dragoon to see what was going on.

“Ende, what’s happening?”

“I suddenly started feeling like crap...and then Allis jumped into the Dragoon saying that...she’d take over...”

Oh, of course. Ende was Uncle Takeru’s ward, so the diluted venom would affect him too.

When he said that she took over, did that mean she was the one in the pilot’s seat? Which meant that he was shoved into the narrow space in the back, while feeling ill to boot. I felt kinda bad...

Just hang in there, man.

Allis’s fighting style wasn’t the same as Ende’s, but she was still doing well piloting the Dragoon. It lacked the precision and control that Ende had, but if it worked, it worked.

“Allis, one’s headed your way!”

“Aye, aye!”

The Dragoon sliced a Kyklops that Linne had accidentally let slip past in two with its twin blades. The two mechs covered each other’s backs as they cut down the enemy one after another.

Their coordination was amazing. I had to wonder if Ende and Elze were advising them. They were making sure to support each other while taking down the enemies in front of them. They weren’t half bad at all.

But just then, a Kyklops that Gerhilde had failed to completely destroy moved to swing its blade down on the Dragoon from its blind spot.

Before the attack could hit its target, however, the Kyklops was assaulted by a rain of phrasium fragments, collapsing into the water with a splash.

“Linne, don’t let your guard down.”

“Elna!”

The Helmwige flew past the Kyklops that the Gerhilde was currently battling. The blades built into the wings sliced the enemies in two before ascending back up.

Though Elna and Linne weren’t in their own mothers’ units, they were both controlling them well. Aerial support fire was appreciated. In fact, Elna seemed more suited to that sort of support role.

Talking about support roles...

“Let’s rock and roll!”

The sound of a guitar came blaring from the Rossweise that Yoshino was piloting. She was playing “Danger Zone,” the theme song of a famous movie about a group of fighter pilots. It felt a little strange hearing it here.

Is Yoshino playing the guitar live?

Suddenly, Sakura’s vocals joined in beside the echoes of the electric instrument.

Even though this song had gentler vocals, her voice sounded weaker than usual. The diluted venom must have been affecting her as it had everyone else. Her voice hadn’t regained its usual vigor, despite the amount of time that had passed. Still, it was clear the song was having an effect regardless—the Kyklops’ movements were slowing. They were being forcefully delayed.

Thanks to how dull their movements became, Kuon’s phrasium rounds were able to hit their marks one after another. He was succeeding at consecutive headshots almost as if he was a robot made just for that task.

Was our son actually an S-tier sniper? Should I make sure not to stand behind him like that famous sniper from that one manga?

“You’re too slow!”

Following up after Kuon’s string of headshots, Arcia’s Waltraute, which had been refitted with a booster unit, charged into the Kyklops. With swift, accelerated movements, the Waltraute swung the sword it held in both hands, sending two Kyklops’ heads flying into the air.

She can put on some show despite the decreased output...

The Waltraute turned and waved at me.

“Did you see me, Father? I’ll kick these small fries right up their bottoms!”

“Arcia, turn back around! Losing focus on the battlefield can be deadly!”

“Wah!”

“Not so fast. [Slip]!”

The spear-wielding Kyklops charging at the Waltraute tumbled right over into the sea. Arcia wasted no time thrusting her twin swords right into it.

That was a close one!

Arcia wasn’t the thorough type that would make sure the job was done before celebrating; it was a little worrying, honestly. At least for now, Lu was with her, so she’d probably be fine.

We appeared to hold the advantage on this battlefield. The Four-Armed Gollems and Fishmen who had slipped past the Frame Gears were being taken out by Egret’s knight order. Given enough time, I was sure we’d be able to eliminate them all. However, there was still one problem...

I saw the Horned Commander rising from the water from where the Rossweise had sent it flying. The attack from earlier had been more of a delay tactic, so it had barely taken any damage.

“A-All of you...in my way! Destroy all!”

The Horned Commander took its shimmering meat cleaver and slashed it down into the ocean at full force.

“What is he doing?!”

The sea split in the direction the cleaver had been brought down, and sharp rocks from the ocean floor began sticking out one after another, forming what almost looked like a mountain range of swords.

The wave of rocks was heading toward the Ortlinde Overlord with tremendous force.

“Guard, Steph!”

“Got it, Mommy! Stardust Shell!”

The stellar barrier blocked the attack’s advance, but that road of rock swords was still left standing.

“It’s very similar to [Earth Wave]. Everyone, be careful. That large sword he wields appears to have the ability to manipulate the terrain,” Leen informed us from the Grimgerde that had finally finished its cooldown period.

It can manipulate the terrain? Why are these guys so annoying?

Guarding against that would be difficult if you weren’t using an aerial unit.

“Oh, wait.”

I looked up at the Helmwige soaring through the sky. It fired a concentrated barrage of phrasium fragments on the Horned Commander from above. Unable to avoid the attack, the Horned Commander raised its cleaver and used it as a shield.

Though the shots that hit its body were lodging themselves into the frame, any that hit the cleaver reflected straight off it. The only reason that would happen would be if whatever material the weapon was made of had the same strength as phrasium, meaning it was likely a sacred treasure of the wicked god—a wicked vessel. It would be the same as the rapier and spear the wicked devout I had met before were wielding.

“F-Flying one...noisy! I...make fall!”

The Horned Commander slammed its cleaver into the ocean floor once more, causing the land underneath it to shoot up into the air and create a large rock tower with the Kyklops standing on top.

Having made its way right in front of the aerial Helmwige, the Horned Commander leaped off the tower and swung its cleaver down on the Frame Gear.

Shit!

I went to unleash a [Prison] at the Helmwige, but then a loud gunshot rang out. The wicked vessel flew out of the Horned Commander’s hand, twirling into the air.

Stood nearby was the Brunhilde, sniper rifle at the ready.

Thank god Kuon’s here!

The horned Kyklops fell into the sea together with its cleaver.

“Mom, Elna, are you two okay?!” Linne shouted from the Gerhilde. I couldn’t blame her for being worried.

“It gave me a bit of a fright, but I’m fine.”

“We’re okay, Linne. Thank you for your concern.”

The Helmwige did a loop in the air to show that there was no problem.

They don’t seem to be putting up a front, at least.

It definitely made me panic, though. I don’t think any of us expected him to suddenly jump like that. Turned out we couldn’t assume the Helmwige would be safe just because it was up in the air.

The Horned Commander stood itself back up. A moment passed after it held its hand out to the side, and then suddenly, the meat cleaver shot out of the water and into its grip.

“We really did nothing to him,” Leen despaired.

He fell from that height and it did nothing? Like, sure, the damage would’ve been mitigated by the water, but I was expecting something to be damaged, at least.

The Horned Commander began walking toward us again, cleaver in hand.

“Cannon Knuckle Spiral!”

Steph sent out the Overlord’s right arm. Spiraling like a bullet, it collided right into the enemy.

“I...already see!”

The Horned Commander tilted its cleaver, using the large surface area of its blade to bat the Overlord’s arm into the sea as if it was a fly. Ignoring the arm now lodged in the ground, it continued its advance and swung its cleaver down toward them, but the Overlord held its left hand in front.

“Stardust Shell!”

The luminous barrier blocked the attack. Just as it had done before, the Horned Commander kept slamming its cleaver into the shield again and again to try to shatter it by force.

He’s relying entirely on brute strength here. Don’t think there’s any doubt this dude isn’t the brains of the operation.

“You dummy! No hurting Steph!”

“Gwah!”

Just as the Stardust Shell was beginning to crack, the Gerhilde landed a clean hit on the Horned Commander’s head with a flying kick. It seemed as though the kick had been fortified with [Gravity], since despite how heavy the Kyklops looked, it still fell with great force into the water.

As it tried to get back up, the Gerhilde followed up with a roundhouse kick. Though the Horned Commander was practically twice the size of the Gerhilde, the heel of our Frame Gear hit it in just the right place to knock it off-balance. Once again, the Kyklops fell into the ocean.

Its horn had broken off, and its head was all malformed, but it was still functional. The Horned (previously) Commander stood up once more, battered head and all.

“That still wasn’t enough?! Why not just stay down already!”

“Linne, no!”

Before Elze could stop her, Linne had already jumped into the air, holding out Gerhilde’s right arm, preparing to fire the pile bunker into the Horned Commander’s stomach. However, it was immediately grabbed by the Kyklops’s massive left hand.

“S-Stop...being so a-annoying!”

The Kyklops lifted the Gerhilde and swung it down toward the sea.

This is bad!

“Envelop all, o Wind! Gentle Embrace: [Air Sphere]!”

Seconds before the Gerhilde hit the surface of the water, the invisible wind cushion that I had sent out gently caught the red frame and softened the blow. Having absorbed most of the damage that would’ve come from the collision, the Gerhilde made only a gentle splash as it hit the water.

How many close calls does that make?!

As tough as the exterior of the frames might be, even the Gerhilde would’ve suffered some real damage if it hit the water at that speed. Of course, the automatic emergency evacuation would have kicked in and teleported Linne and Elze away before they were hurt, but it was still seriously bad for my heart.

The Horned Commander took its cleaver and went to continue with a follow-up attack, but two units stood in its way before it could.

“What do you intend to do to our sister?”

“Death be upon you.”

Yakumo used the katana of the Schwertleite, and Frei the sword of the Siegrune, to slash both of the Horned Commander’s wrists. The joints of a mech weren’t very strong, so they were right to aim there, but I never imagined they would be able to aim for it so precisely.

The Horned Commander’s hands fell into the water together with the weapon they held. However, its assault did not stop: it simply took the stumps and tried to punch with them instead. The Schwertleite and Siegrune dodged the attack in opposite directions.

Behind where they had been standing was the Grimgerde, all guns aimed right at the enemy commander.

“Uh, guh...”

“Full Burst!”

The rain of phrasium fragments hit the Kyklops’s head one after the other, turning it into a honeycomb. That strike had likely shattered the Q-Crystal, as the unit stopped moving before falling backward into the ocean.

“That’s what you get for bullying my little sisters.”

The angered attack from the third oldest had decided the result of the fight.

Your father’s proud that you guys get along so well that he doesn’t need to interfere.

“Ngh...”

The cockpit in the torso of the metallic-brown Kyklops suddenly flew open.

A large man crawled out from it. His muscles were bulging, and he had on a cylindrical, full-face iron mask. He wore an apron stained with blood and thick leather gloves. That strange appearance, together with the fact his weapon was a meat cleaver, made me think of an actual butcher. The iron mask even brought to mind an executioner.

“C-Come! Yellow Ocher!”

When Iron Mask held his right hand out to the side, the meat cleaver shot up from underneath the sea toward him. It shrunk in size before landing in the man’s hand, but it was still about the size of a large sword more than a regular knife.

That’s what happened with the purple spear that one wicked devout had. That has to be a wicked vessel.

“I... I destroy...towns of this country. I destroy lots.”

I used [Teleport] to make my way onto the destroyed Kyklops’s shoulder.

“Why do such a thing? Are you trying to revive the wicked god?”

Right now, we needed information. This man didn’t come across as the brightest, so I thought that I might be able to pull something out of him.

“W-Wicked god? Dunno. Gold, Scarlet...told me to destroy...so I destroy. N-Not complicated.”

Gold and Scarlet... Could those be names of some of the other wicked devout?

The gold crown was known as Gold, but...there was no way they were related, right? I was just letting my imagination get the better of me. But for him to not even know who the wicked god was? Wasn’t he meant to be one of the wicked devout? It would have been pretty sad if that NEET god wasn’t even loved by his followers.

“I... I destroy when people...get in my way too. Head feel good when kill humans. Feel happy...so I destroy.”

If we could see his face right now, I was more than sure that he would’ve been giving the creepiest smile.

Seemed this guy was someone that couldn’t function unless he was following orders.

Well, no, that’s not quite right. He kind of just seems faithful to his own desires. He’s no more than a pleasure killer.

I used my divine sight with [Analyze] on the man. Gods weren’t allowed to use their divine powers to directly influence the mortal realm, but using it to analyze an opponent wasn’t considered a violation of that rule.

Hmph. His heart isn’t beating, and he has no soul either. Is he an Undead?

Actually, it seemed like his soul had been transferred to the wicked vessel instead. It was attached to his body through some kind of spirit thread, which likely meant that unless we destroyed that weapon, this guy wouldn’t be going down anytime soon.

He seemed far from human by this point, so it would be a good idea to deal with him here and now, but destroying a wicked vessel without using any divinity? There was no way. The rules being enforced on me here felt way too strict.

“S-So...I destroy you too!”

Iron Mask leaped toward where I stood on his Kyklops’s shoulder. I took out the Brunhild sheathed at my waist and fired three shots at him, but even when they hit, it did nothing to deter him, and he immediately went to slice his cleaver down on me.

“Blade Mode!”

Now in its sword form, I was able to use Brunhild to block the attack. I felt the shock waves run through my arms, but since he was attacking from the air, it wasn’t impossible to take.

“[Power Rise]!”

“Guh?!”

I activated strengthening magic and swung Brunhild, sending both Iron Mask and his cleaver flying all the way toward the Kyklops’s stomach area. Despite how large his body was, he was actually quite nimble, so he made a skillful landing.

“M-My Yellow Ocher can’t cut...? Th-That sword...strange.”

“That should be my line.”

My Brunhild was made of phrasium. This was the first time I’d found a weapon that it couldn’t cut. If I enhanced it with my divinity, I could probably cut it in two easily, but that was against the rules.

Just how exactly was I meant to defeat this guy? If I didn’t destroy that wicked vessel of his, he likely wouldn’t go down for good. But to do that, I would need to use my divinity, which was taboo. A human using a sacred treasure that I had made would be able to break it, except I still hadn’t succeeded in making one.

Could I have softlocked my progress?

Wait, no, there is a way out of this! I still have those twin divine blades that Ende stol—I mean, borrowed from another world in [Storage]! Maybe that can... Hang on, I’m not allowed to use those either!

My wives were my wards, so they weren’t allowed to wield them, and if it was true that Ende had become Uncle Takeru’s ward, then he was out as well. I could technically ask the Phrase girls, but considering the fact that they couldn’t bring out the full potential of the divine blades, I would feel a bit uneasy pitting them against a wicked vessel.

That left only one option...

“Ngh...! Are my kids really the only ones I can ask?”

My children were demigods, so no one was more suited to this than them, but...

“Mmmnnnghhh!”

Iron Mask restarted his assault while I was debating what to do. With the Kyklops’s shoulder still our battleground, I blocked his attack with Brunhild again.

Ow, there was much more force behind that one!

“[Boost]!”

I strengthened my body so that I could push the cleaver away again, then took that opportunity to slash his arm off from the elbow.

“Guh? Gaaah!”

Right after Iron Mask screamed out, his arm suddenly regenerated in a flash.

He has regenerative abilities?! And so fast too!

Was this his own unique ability, or were all the wicked devout like this?

This sure was becoming a pain in the ass. I looked up and saw Schwertleite and Siegrune lumbering toward us. Most of the Kyklops had already been destroyed, which meant the defensive battle was basically complete, so why were they coming to me?

“Father!” Yakumo and Frei cried out as they exited their cockpits. They then landed lightly on top of the fallen Kyklops I was fighting against Iron Mask on.

“What? What’s going on?! It’s dangerous here!”

“Auntie Moro— Miss Moroha told us to come help you.”

“She said we were most suited to the task!”

Morohaaaaaa! Stop reading my mind!

It pained me to admit it, but it seemed I had no choice but to rely on my kids here. What a pathetic father I was.

I took out the twin divine blades from [Storage], then handed them to the girls. They gasped when they unsheathed the shortswords that emanated divine essence.

“Th-These are incredible...”

“Yeah. The sword I got from Father was already amazing, but this is something else.”

Now listen up, those are divine swords, you know? You’re comparing that to something made by a complete amateur.

“I want you to destroy that iron mask guy’s cleaver with those swords. They might be a little tough to use at first, but you should get used to them pretty quickly. Or at least, I think you will.”

“You think?”

“Father, Father! If we do well, is there aaany chance that we could perhaps, maybe, possibly get to keep them as a treat?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Boo! You’re so stingy!”

Frei was clearly in a huff at my response, but even if her weapon-maniac blood was screaming at her, this was one thing I couldn’t budge on.

“Your opponent has a pretty strong regeneration ability, so be careful. Of course, I’ll support you as much as I can.”

“There’s no need. We saw your fight with him while we were making our way over here. I’m sure that Frei and I will have little trouble.”

Hang on...was she indirectly dissing me? Like yeah, I was having some trouble because I couldn’t use my divine power, but that didn’t mean I was doing terribly.

“Y-You two...in the way. I destroy together with that man.”

“Excuse me?”

What did that bastard just say to my daughters? Maybe I should just use my divine power after all...

I took a step forward, murderous intent practically radiating from my body, but Frei stepped in first.

“Stop right there, Father. This is our opponent.”

“There is no need for you to interfere. Leave this to us.”

Um, Yakumo? You do realize I was the one fighting him before you two arrived here, right?

I had no idea whether they knew what I was thinking, but the two took their swords and prepared for battle.

“D-Destroy!”

Iron Mask swung down his cleaver at Yakumo. The attack was so slow that she was able to simply sidestep it before cutting the man’s side open.

“Hmm...” Yakumo mumbled, frowning down at the divine blade. “This really is fairly difficult to wield. It feels like it’s rejecting my mana. Not the most pleasant feeling.”

Those of a higher rank like myself or Grandma Tokie didn’t really feel it the same way, but I heard it was difficult to get used to another’s divine essence. Yakumo and Frei were demigods, though, so at most, they just felt a little uncomfortable using it. Were it a normal person, using an attack filled with divine essence would put great strain on their body, mind, and magic reserves, so they usually couldn’t wield these kinds of weapons.

I imagined this was the reason that both sacred treasures could only be wielded by heroes chosen for them. I was fairly sure that it would also be affected by whether or not they had the protection of the god that had created the blade.

The area where Iron Mask had been slashed immediately began to regenerate, but it seemed like it was taking longer than last time. Was this the effect of the divine blade?

“Gaaah!”

“[Power Rise]!”

This time, he aimed for Frei, but she blocked his attack with her own blade. Iron Mask seemed surprised that his attack had been stopped by a girl less than half his height.

“C-Crush!”

Iron Mask put more force behind his cleaver to try to squash her flat, but when a piece of his cleaver chipped off instead, he frantically pulled back.

“Y-Yellow Ocher got hurt?! This strange! That sword strange!”

Even if it was from a different world, a divine sword was a divine sword. Despite his name, the wicked god had failed to truly become a god. Did he really think a divine sword would lose to the weapon of a failure?

Frei retaliated by striking the cleaver. A crack broke down the metallic-brown blade from where it had been chipped.

“M-My Yellow Ocher!”

“Yakumo!”

“Understood.”

Yakumo had circled to the man’s rear and slashed off his thick left arm. Flesh began bubbling up around where the arm had been cut off in an attempt to regenerate the lost limb, but it was clearly much slower than before.

“I-It not go back to normal?! Why?!”

He was beginning to panic. So much so, in fact, that he was too late to notice the girls aiming for his cleaver. By the time he realized what they were doing, the two of them were already driving their swords toward his weapon.

“You’re too slow.”

“That’s a point to us.”

They slashed it with all their might from both sides. A high-pitched clang rang out, and the cleaver was cut into two. In the next instant, Iron Mask let out a guttural cry. His body turned to stone, and that stone then crumbled away into fine sand.

The now-masterless weapon clattered down onto the Kyklops’s body.

The metallic-brown gleam the meat cleaver previously held was no longer present, and it turned into a sludge that was emitting a black smoke, very similar to what we saw when defeating a mutant.

“He turned into sand?”

“I don’t think he was ever truly alive. He was probably more like an Undead... No, a Golem, in fact.”

He had simply been a puppet of the wicked god.

The wicked vessel broke apart just like the mutants did, so it was probably the source of his power. Still, it was strange. I thought that diver helmet guy would appear to teleport his cornered companion away. Then again, maybe it was just by chance that that happened last time. I couldn’t say I knew how much they really cared about their fellow devout. Even if one was to die, they could easily have another take their place. Though really, I’d rather they not...

Well, we needed to take solace in the small victories, at least. The battle was already mostly over. All of the Kyklops had been destroyed, which left only the Fishmen and Four-Armed Gollems the Egret knights were battling on the shore.

“This sword really is amazing... Hey, Daddy?”

“Beg all you want, no means no. Give it back now.”

“You’re such a meanie!”

I confiscated the blade from the whining Frei. Yakumo handed it back over without a fuss, though. Honestly, I’d probably need them to wield these again when the other wicked devout showed up, but I decided to keep quiet about that for now.

My phone started ringing as I placed the divine blades back in [Storage].

It was from Shirahime, the mikado of Eashen.

Did something happen?

“Hello?”

“Apologies, Touya-dono. This is an emergency. Per the pact between the League of Nations, Eashen requests an immediate loan of the Frame Gears.”

“An emergency? What happened?!”

Members of the League of Nations were permitted to borrow Brunhild’s Frame Gears, so long as they weren’t to be used in a personal war. Primarily, they were to be used for Behemoth extermination or rescue operations after a natural disaster, but for it to be an emergency request, and so suddenly too, something big must have happened.

“An army of one-eyed Gollems are assaulting the capital of Kyo, and many Fishmen are aiding them. The barrier has succeeded in repelling them thus far, but it will not hold for long. We require assistance.”

“You’re kidding!”

There were Kyklops appearing at Eashen as well?!

Damn it, this was a two-pronged attack all along.

I had installed barriers around the capitals of the countries that were part of the alliance that could be used in case of enemy invasion. Only the representative of that country could activate it, and it could hold back the attacks of even Behemoths to some extent. However, that was in the case of a few Behemoths, not a whole massive army of Kyklops.

I’ve gotta get to Eashen!

I told Shirahime I would be over right away, then phoned His Majesty to tell him of the situation.

“All right. There aren’t too many Fishmen or Gollems left. My knights will find some way of handling it. Please make haste to Eashen.”

“Thank you!”

I informed everyone about the situation after the phone call with the king of Egret. Our knights were still fine, but I was worried about how my wives would hold up given they were ill.

“Are you underestimating us? This is nothing. We’ve gotta hurry to Eashen.”

“We may only be able to sit in the passenger seat, but we have enough strength to advise our children.”

Everyone else seemed to agree with Elze and Linze’s words. My wives were such strong women. There was just no matching them.

Moroha and the other gods were going to remain in Egret, so they would be fine. We had to transport our Frame Gears to Eashen as fast as possible.

“In that case, everyone should prepare for battle once again. I’m going to teleport us to Eashen all at once.”

I took out my phone while standing on top of the Ortlinde Overlord’s palm and locked on to all the Frame Gears.

Shit, this really takes a lot of time!

Our destination was the land near Eashen’s capital of Kyo. We’d charge into the rear of the enemies that were swarming the barrier.

“[Gate]!”

A teleportation gate opened up beneath the Frame Gears, and they all fell through to Eashen. I accidentally transported some sand and seawater together with them, but I doubted they would mind. The gate opened fairly high above the ground of Eashen, and the Frame Gears dropped in one after another.

“Whoa!”

The force with which the Ortlinde Overlord landed had me almost falling off its hand.

“You certainly aren’t very careful. Can you not teleport us more gently next time?” Sue complained.

“I was in a rush, okay? Gimme a break,” I fired back.

I couldn’t deny how far from graceful that teleportation had been. Even the coordinates weren’t very exact, not that I had been that far off. In front of us were several hundred Kyklops and a whole herd of Four-Armed Gollems, with a bunch of devil-looking monsters with mechanical arms and legs by their feet.

Were those the cyborg devils Yakumo had spoken about? I suppose we could call them Cydevils for short. They had bat-like wings that they used to fly around.

“Father, over there.”

Quun had the Grimhilde point toward the army of Kyklops, and walking among them were two Kyklops of the same type as the one that we had been fighting in Egret. They had no horns, but their bodies were a dark gold and they were about twice the size of the rest.

There was also a Kyklops a little larger than the regular ones with a horn attached to it. That had to be the commander unit. Unlike the others, it was letting off a metallic-purple sheen, and it wielded a long spear of the same color. It was most likely Orchid, the wicked devout I’d had the pleasure of running into back in Panaches. His mech seemed to have been upgraded compared to before—it had something that looked like a vernier attached to its legs now.

“I think they’ve noticed us.”

Just as Yakumo spoke, the one-eye cameras of the Kyklops all turned to face us at the same time.

“Oh? Well, isn’t this a pleasant surprise? I thought there was a chance we might get to fight again, but to think it would be so soon. Aren’t I a lucky man?”

The purple Horned Commander spun its spear, and then the Kyklops behind it shot something up into the air. Golden powder was scattered about together with the explosion.

Gah, not the diluted venom again!

“Is everyone okay?!”

“I’m okay...” Yumina painfully squeezed out. “I do feel a little ill, but it’s no worse than before.”

There were no additional effects from before, at least.

I doubted the enemy side was specifically out to weaken my wives, anyway. They were just thinking about weakening the Frame Gears by disrupting the flow of ether liquid.

A double confrontation with the wicked devout was before us.

Can we really manage this? No, no thinking like that. We have to manage this.

I reaffirmed my resolve as the purple-horned Kyklops walked toward us.

◇ ◇ ◇

As the capital city of Eashen, Kyo was surrounded by fortress walls to defend against magical beasts. However, those walls only went up six meters high, a height that Frame Gears and Kyklops could cross with ease. The only reason Kyo was still safe was because of the barrier I had erected around it, but I had no idea how long that would last.

The most dangerous enemy here was no doubt that metallic-purple Horned Commander. Given that the barrier was only formed with regular magic, and it contained none of my divinity, the wicked vessel it wielded could very easily break it. Even the Kyklops who had only a little of the wicked god’s power enhancing them were doing some real damage to it over time.

“Father, we cannot use Full Burst like this. Kyo would be caught in the cross fire,” Quun informed me. That would only weaken Kyo’s barrier further, which was far from ideal.

If only we could get the Horned Commander away from here somehow...

As I got lost in thought, a gunshot was fired from behind me. And at around the same time, the leader swung his purple spear.

Clang!

The sound of metal colliding rang through the area.

I looked back and saw Brunhilde aiming its sniper rifle. Kuon must have fired a shot.

“Wow, that was almost a direct headshot. You’re an interesting one, aren’t you?”

The Horned Commander twirled its weapon.

“This is great! I was actually just thinking about how boring it was to just destroy a city and do nothing else. I’m gonna have you fight me whether you want to or not! Let’s go, you lot!”

The army of Kyklops charged at us with the Horned Commander at its lead.

“He fell for it much easier than anticipated. It appears he is quite the impulsive man. Father, please retreat with all due haste.”

Kuon analyzed the man in front of us as if it was nothing. Did that mean he had deliberately provoked him to pull him away from Kyo? This kid seriously seemed way older than six.

Following Kuon’s request, I retreated to the rear while making sure to keep an eye on the approaching Kyklops. Fortunately, they were heavily armored, so they weren’t all that fast. That said, they were only a little slower than our Chevaliers.

“Get back here!”

Suddenly, the Horned Commander came barreling toward me at high speed using the verniers built into its legs. He caught up in the blink of an eye, aiming for the Chevalier at the end.

“Not a chance!”

Frei with the Siegrune dashed to intervene. After being blocked by Siegrune’s shield, the purple Kyklops jumped back.

“You stopped my Wistaria? I’d expect nothing less from Brunhild’s Gollem army. But what about this?!”

He took the spear that he called Wistaria and twirled it above his head. Sparks flew as it rotated, and he swung the spear encased in lightning straight toward us.

At that moment, thunder and lightning crackled near us. Siegrune dodged just in time as a thunderbolt struck down where they had been standing. Many of the Chevaliers didn’t manage to escape, though, and the lightning made them fall to their knees. The cockpits of our Frame Gears had a protective shield encasing them, so the pilots were most likely okay, but I couldn’t say the same for the frames themselves.

The attack didn’t only strike our side, though. The lightning was so indiscriminate that some of the enemy Kyklops were also hit.

Does he not care even a bit about his allies?!

The Kyklops likely weren’t being controlled by actual pilots, and if they were, it would be Gollems at best, so you could argue there was no reason for him to be all that concerned, but still.

The enemy took the moment in which the Chevaliers were stalled by the lightning strike to charge at us all at once.

“We should be far enough from the city now that there’s no need to hold back.”

Quun fired a rain of phrasium fragments onto the approaching Kyklops. Any that she had failed to strike, Kuon methodically finished off with headshots. The damaged Chevaliers took that opportunity to fall back.

The fight only grew more intense as the Chevaliers who hadn’t been caught up in the lightning stepped forward to return fire.

Meanwhile, the purple Kyklops and Siegrune continued an endless back-and-forth. Frei’s usual style of fighting involved utilizing multiple weapons she had in [Storage], using whichever one benefited the situation most. That meant that she was proficient at not just swordplay, but many other weapons as well, including, of course, the spear. And being proficient with the spear meant that she could predict the movements of a spear wielder to some degree.

Frei blocked the Horned Commander’s spear thrust with her shield before pushing it away with her sword and dodging backward. Siegrune was more than a match for the horned Kyklops, but it was clear he wasn’t being pushed to his limits, and there was a noticeable difference in the strength of their weapons as well, however slight. The enemy had a spear enchanted with the essence of the wicked god, after all, whereas we only had phrasium weapons infused with my magic. Every single time that spear hit either Siegrune’s sword or shield, they were taking damage.

“Take this!”

“Huh?”

Taking a heavy hit from the enemy’s spear, Siegrune’s shield was cut clean in half. The metallic-purple spear once again closed in on the head of Siegrune’s faltering form. Schwertleite dashed in just before the spear found its target, slashing with its sword to completely divert its trajectory.

“I would like to request you stop bullying my little sister.”

“Yakumo?! He wasn’t bullying me!” Frei protested at Yakumo’s choice of words.

Apparently, it takes triple the skill for someone wielding a sword to beat the wielder of a long weapon such as a spear or a naginata. Given Frei had been fairly evenly matched against the horned Kyklops regardless of that fact, I could understand why she felt a little hurt.

There was no denying the situation had been dangerous, though, So Frei and Yakumo decided to take on their opponent together.

“Ooooooh, you’re both so annoying!”

I turned at the sound of Steph’s whining and saw the Ortlinde Overlord having a fistfight with the two largest Kyklops.

Being attacked by two mechs of roughly the same size made it hard for it to get out its signature rocket punch. Cannon Knuckle required the user to fire off its fist, so it would leave Steph without two hands to work with. With two opponents present, that would make it difficult to counterattack. As a result, she had no choice but to try and punch them both far away and create some space between them.

However, these large Kyklops seemed incredibly durable—they refused to fall. They would stagger, regain their balance, and then begin their assault again, almost as if they were zombies.

“Fine, let’s try this instead!”

The drills on the Ortlinde Overlord’s legs detached, then fused with its right arm.

“Take this special move! Drill Breaker!”

The drill rotated at high speed and made a clean hit into the Kyklops’s chest, drilling out a large hole.

With its chest now gouged out, it collapsed to the ground. There was no way it could survive that one.

“Now it’s your turn! Drill Cannon Knuckle!”

The Ortlinde Overlord took its right arm and fired it at the other Kyklops without mercy. The drill-attached Cannon Knuckle spun viciously into the Kyklops’s stomach, running it right through. The Kyklops fell to the ground with a loud crash.

“I did it!”

The Ortlinde Overlord’s right upper arm was lifted into the air in joy, and the detached forearm connected back into place.

Suddenly, white smoke filled with sparkling ether spurted out of the Ortlinde Overlord’s joints.

“Huh? What’s going on?!” Steph screamed.

The Overlord fell to one knee.

Oh, I see.

“You put too much strain on the frame. The Ortlinde Overlord is far, far less efficient with its fuel consumption compared to the other Frame Gears. You already used Stardust Shell multiple times back in Egret, so it was likely already at its limit,” Quun explained.

So the ether liquid wasn’t flowing to all the parts of the Ortlinde Overlord’s body properly? Essentially, it was anemic, if we went by human terms.

Whatever the specifics, the fact that it couldn’t move was bad. The Ortlinde Overlord was massive; it was practically a sitting target. The Kyklops had clearly thought the same thing, as they instantly began crowding toward the Ortlinde Overlord.

Like hell I’ll let you do that!

“[Gate]!”

“Whoa?”

The Ortlinde Overlord sunk into the ground. I had it teleport just a little bit further to the rear. It would be able to move again given a bit of time.

“Awwww! Daddy, I still wanna fight!”

“Come on, Steph. Stop being so selfish,” Sue admonished. “Haven’t you already had plenty of fun? Let’s rest for now.”

“Mmm, okay...”

“Good girl.”

Their conversation almost sounded like a sweet mother-daughter discussion, but having a serious battle be viewed as “fun” was somewhat problematic... I would feel like a failure of a father if she turned into some crazy battle maniac.

I should find some time to have a chat with Sue about this at some point.

That was the two large Kyklops down, but the battle between the Chevaliers and the more regular-sized ones was still at play. The movements of our men were growing sluggish. Were they exhausted after the battle in Egret?

Suddenly, a voice reverberated around the battlefield as if to get us out of that exact situation.

“Knights of Brunhild, charge!”

“HOO-AAAH!”

At the orders of Commander Lain, who was currently piloting the Shining Count, the Chevaliers cut through the enemy lines in a wedge-like formation. I think Baba had referred to it as a fish-scale formation? He must have taught them how to do it. Given he used to lead Takeda’s cavalry, it would only make sense that he was accustomed to that sort of thing.

Their commander’s encouragement and the support magic from Yoshino’s Rossweise gave the knights a second wind. They skillfully managed to take down the Kyklops one after another.

Frei’s Siegrune and Yakumo’s Schwertleite stood out most among the bunch as they were still locked in battle with the Horned Commander. Linne’s Gerhilde and Allis’s Dragoon were fighting back any Kyklops trying to interfere in their battle. Despite being pincered by two Frame Gears at once, the purple Kyklops was only evenly matched.

“C’mon, is that all you got?! You’ve gotta do better than that!”

“Ngh, you...!”

“Shut that stupid mouth of yours already!”

Their swords slashed at the Kyklops from either side, but he grabbed his spear in the middle and managed to deflect them at the same time. Without giving them a moment to think, he spun his spear and thrust it right toward Siegrune. Yakumo used the moment that Siegrune dodged to once more slash with her sword, but the horned Kyklops swiftly pulled his spear back to block the strike, then fell back.

It was as if he was perfectly reading their movements. Had he learned just how Yakumo and Frei fought over these past few minutes alone? It was true that the girls’ Frame Gears weren’t at their best output because of the diluted venom, but I hadn’t expected them to be played with like this.

When he fought me, I only won because I managed to catch him by surprise with my Fragarachs. If only I’d finished him off then...

Iron Mask had been more of a musclehead, relying on his brute strength to swing his cleaver around rather than any real skill, but this one was different. He was a skilled warrior whose abilities were derived from experience. The girls were managing to hold him back for now, but if they let their guard down, they were almost certainly going to get injured, and badly.

“Whoa!”

Suddenly, something bounced off the spear. It was one of Kuon’s bullets!

The Horned Commander had deflected one of his attempted headshots earlier, so this wasn’t a surprise, but just how experienced was this man that he could see through Kuon so easily? His overwhelming skill had even brought Siegrune and Schwertleite grinding to a halt.

No, come on, the number of Kyklops are already decreasing. If it comes down to it, we can take him down with numbers. There’s no way he can dodge Kuon’s shots while also battling two Frame Gears.

Siegrune and Schwertleite resumed their assault.

“Now that’s more like it! But you’re too naive! I’ve already seen right through you!”

The horned Kyklops dodged Siegrune’s slash and then went to strike with his spear, but though Siegrune’s sword had slashed down just a moment ago, it immediately pulled back up and blocked the spear.

“What?!”

Schwertleite took that opportunity to slash at the enemy’s open flank.

“You cheeky little shits!”

The Kyklops managed to maneuver his body enough to avoid a fatal strike, but the blade still scratched the frame. Now that he had been knocked off-balance, Siegrune went in for the kill.

“Ngh!”

Unable to dodge, the horned Kyklops’s left arm was cut clean off from the elbow. He immediately made some space between himself and the two girls.

What’s going on here? Their movements are completely different from before. Did Yakumo and Frei do something...? Oh, wait!

“Hang on—Hilde, Yae, are you the ones piloting Siegrune and Schwertleite right now?!”

“Yes, we are.”

“We contacted Kuon and asked him to create an opening so we would have time to swap, we did.”

That explained why Kuon suddenly fired that shot earlier. But were the two of them really okay?

“I would be lying if I said that I felt better, but I can manage for at least a few minutes.”

“A long fight will be difficult, it will, so we would like to keep our fighting to a minimum.”

Schwertleite and Siegrune readied their weapons and then dashed toward the Horned Commander.

“Get off your damn high horses!”

More thunderbolts rained down where the spear was swung. However, Siegrune and Schwertleite continued their advance, seemingly ignoring the lightning strikes.

Hold on, you’re gonna get hit!

Suddenly, the lightning dissipated into a fog.

“What just happened?!”

“Our son is a dependable ally, he is.”

“He puts us to shame sometimes, honestly.”

It was Kuon’s Mystic Eye of Negation!

Wait, he can use it from all the way over there?! How much of a cheat code can one kid be?!

Schwertleite and Siegrune’s swords swung down. Schwertleite’s katana cut off the Kyklops’s head, while Siegrune’s sword cut the torso in two. The wreckage of the metallic-purple frame scattered in the wake of its destruction.

It was a close call, but we managed to win somehow.

I do wish they hadn’t just charged straight into the lightning like that, though... Gave me one hell of a scare.

“Kuon told us to leave the lightning to him, so we chose to trust him and dived right in.”

“I am exhausted, I am... I feel nauseous, there’s a strange ringing in my ears, and my head feels heavy... My whole body is so lethargic that I’m not sure if I can do anything more, I’m not...”

That had to be due to the diluted venom. Having participated in a fight like that, they were both likely at their limits. I had to let them rest.

“First, we need to figure out what happened to that wicked devout.”

The Kyklops had been cut right in two due to Siegrune’s strike. If it was anything like the Kyklops in Egret, the cockpit had likely been in the torso area. It would be great if that strike had put an end to him, but...

“No way!”

From underneath the wreckage of the Kyklops came the wicked devout, crawling out and looking just as worse for wear. If my memory wasn’t failing me, his name was Orchid. His left arm was cut to shreds, and there was a notable gash in his side, but just as Iron Mask’s body had done, Orchid’s instantly repaired itself.

“Wistaria!”

When Orchid held out his hand, the wicked vessel that had fallen to the ground decreased in size and flew into his hand.

He’s still not had enough?!

I used [Teleport] to bring myself in front of him. I checked with my divine eye out of curiosity, and as I thought, he was an Undead with his soul connected to the wicked vessel.

“My, what a pleasure this is. Are you Brunhild’s commander?”

“And if I said yes?”

“Hmph! Then I’ll kill you, of course. Apparently, you’re our natural enemy.”

High praise, and not incorrect either. From where I was standing, they were all just some persistent little pests, though.

“I can’t blame you. We did just kill one of your friends not too long ago.”

“One of my friends? Who?”

“The big dude with the meat cleaver.”

“Oh, what? That idiot Hazel kicked the bucket, huh? How lame. Well, he was just a musclehead.”

Orchid twirled his spear and pointed the tip toward me.

“Well then, how about I take you down as a little revenge, eh? I’m not suited to fighting in those big old hunks of junk, anyway. It’s much more fun getting to fight face-to-face like this.”

I pulled out Brunhild, which was hanging by my waist, but just as I went to change it to Blade Mode, I suddenly noticed two shadows coming down from above. Unsurprisingly, the two people who made their graceful landings beside me were Yakumo and Frei.

“Huh? Who’re these brats?”

“We’re your opponents for this fight.”

“Father! The divine blades!”

Yakumo glared scathingly at Orchid, entering a battle stance. Meanwhile, Frei was staring at me with hungry eyes, beckoning me to give her the blade.

I dunno how I feel about this...

It was true that even if I were to fight Orchid, I wouldn’t be able to deal the killing blow, so in that respect, it made sense to leave it to them, but at the same time... Resigning myself to my inability to aid in this fight, I took the twin divine blades out of [Storage].

Was the divine essence infused in the blades weakening? It definitely felt like there was much less compared to the last time I pulled them out. Was it because they had destroyed a wicked vessel once already?

The sacred core within a sacred treasure worked a little like a battery filled with divine essence, and right now, it was running low. If I was able to refuel it somehow, the blades would return to their usual power, but according to Kraft, the god of crafting, a sacred treasure would only take the divine essence of the god who crafted it or their wards.

We’d been messing around with them for a while now, but...

“Father?! Hurry up!”

“Whoops!”

I was pulled out of my thoughts at Frei’s urging. Yakumo and Frei each took a divine blade and turned to face Orchid.

“You may be kids, but if you intend to fight me, I won’t hold back.”

“We would ask for nothing less.”

“Come at us!”

“Hah, got a mouth on you, huh? Better brace yourselves!”

Orchid kicked the ground and dashed straight toward them. He was aiming at Yakumo first. Yakumo just barely managed to dodge the amazingly fast strike by twisting her body. That form of dodging was terrible for my heart, though, so I really wished she wouldn’t cut it so close.

With no excessive movement, Orchid pulled the spear back and once more thrust it at Yakumo. This time, she deflected it with her sword and jumped back.

Frei took that moment to jump in and slash at Orchid with her sword. Orchid twirled the spear after having had it deflected from Yakumo’s attack and blocked Frei’s attack with the butt of his weapon. He then twirled the spear again and this time aimed the tip at Frei, who jumped back to dodge the slash from the side.

Orchid’s way of using his spear was more akin to how one would wield a staff. His ability to handle the spear in a flexible manner was unmistakable, and the girls were struggling.

Even though the fight was two-on-one, he was more than successfully fending off their attack. Usually, at a moment like this, his next move would be to switch from defense to offense, taking advantage of any openings and taking them down one after the other.

Usually.

“[Gate]!”

“Huh?!”

Orchid instinctively turned and thrust at where the sudden attack from behind had come...except there was no one there. Only the tip of a blade was floating in the air.

“What?!”

Yakumo had used a small [Gate] to teleport only part of her sword. Now full of openings due to his surprise, Frei swung her sword down directly in front of him.

“You bastard!” Orchid angrily yelled. He managed to hold his spear out to the side and block it, but Frei’s attack did not end there.

“[Power Rise]!”

“Ngh?!”

Under the weight of Frei’s greatly increased strength, Orchid fell to his knees. A crack appeared in his wicked vessel.

“Wistaria’s been damaged?! No, there’s no way!”

“ORYAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

At the same time that the wicked vessel shattered, Frei’s divine sword cut Orchid right in two.

“Gah, ah...! You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me... Heh. I...get it now. No wonder...you’re our natural enemy...”

Orchid’s body turned to stone before crumbling into dust. The metallic-purple wicked vessel let off a black smoke as it melted into sludge.