The Story So Far—
In the MMORPG Cross Reverie, Takuma Sakamoto was overwhelmingly powerful, and was able to role play so well that his performances were more boss-like than the actual bosses of the game. For this reason, he came to be known as the “Demon Lord.”
By defeating the Demon Lord of the Mind, Enkvaros, faster than anyone else, he obtained the super rare item, the ?Demon Lord’s Ring?. It was one of the ultimate pieces of equipment in the game, able to reflect all types of magic.
Then, one day, Takuma found himself summoned to a world that looked exactly like Cross Reverie! Having performed the ritual magic at the same time, the Pantherian, Rem, and the Elf, Shera, fought over which one of them was his Summoner. However, thanks to the Demon Lord’s Ring he wore, their magic was reflected, so the Enslavement Collar meant for him clamped onto the two girls instead!
Faced with Rem and Shera arguing, Takuma was at a loss of what to do. While he may have been a superior player back in the game, he couldn’t talk with other people if his life depended on it. After struggling with what to say, the words that came out of his mouth matched the Demon Lord role play he had used in the game:
“Cease your pointless squabbling. You are in the presence of Diablo.”
Soon after, Diablo found himself foiling an invasion of one hundred Fallen led by a Fallen named Edelgard, as well as an attack from within the city of Faltra at the hands of the Fallen named Gregore. Diablo then found himself the recipient of a quest from the governor of Faltra, Galford. Prince Keera of the Elven Kingdom of Greenwood demanded Shera be returned to him, threatening open war with Faltra should Diablo fail to comply. The details of Galford’s quest were simply to find a way to avoid the war. The bespectacled, straight-and-narrow Imperial Knight Alicia was assigned to the group as an observer to watch over their actions.
Using the ?Marionette’s Flute?, Keera manipulated Shera and unleashed a forbidden Summon called the Force Hydra—yet Diablo still managed to rescue her.
After her rescue, the group set off to resurrect the Demon Lord Krebskulm trapped inside Rem. However, in the process, Krebskulm had lost a portion of her memories as a Demon Lord, being reduced to a biscuit-loving young girl who they nicknamed “Klem.”
Peaceful days passed by...
Suddenly, Alicia betrayed the group! Now awakened as a true Demon Lord, Klem went into a destructive frenzy. But thanks to one of Diablo’s ultimate spells and the sound of Rem’s and Shera’s voices, Klem was subdued and reverted to her biscuit-loving form. To ensure Klem would never go berserk again, Diablo bound her with the same enslavement magic inflicted upon Shera and Rem.
Through a string of coincidences — or perhaps God’s own guidance — Diablo found himself rescuing Lumachina, a holy woman, from the Paladin Gewalt. As High Priest, Lumachina was the highest ranking member of the church. However, due to her attempts at ridding the church of corruption and avarice, she was nearly assassinated. Still seeking to reform the corrupt church, Lumachina sought the help of the Paladin Captain Batutta, setting out to meet him in Zircon Tower, which was located in the perilous expanse of the former Demon Lord’s Domain. Diablo’s group of adventurers accompanied her as bodyguards. After a long journey, they arrived at their destination, and were greeted by Batutta.
While there, Diablo reclaimed his own dungeon, gained many pieces of helpful equipment and items, and fought off the new Demon Lord’s army, gaining new allies in the process: the Grasswalker, Horn, and the magimatic maid, Rose.
Shortly after, Horn decided to change classes and study to become a sorcerer, leaving for the magic academy.
However, they could not celebrate their victories. After being informed that the Elven king, Shera’s father, had passed away, the four traveled to her homeland, where Shera was already engaged to a pig-faced Elf called Drango (for the sake of the country, of course). Diablo thwarted the wedding, giving Shera a wedding ring and assuming the throne as the new king of Greenwood.
Diablo then fought and defeated his next great opponent, the Demon Overlord Modinaram. Saving Rem, who had been taken captive by Modinaram, he gave her a wedding ring.
News of Diablo’s heroic deeds reached the king of Lyferia, Delouche Xandros. Diablo attempted to ignore the order calling him for an audience with the king, but still begrudgingly found himself in the audience chamber one way or another. What awaited him in the castle wasn’t words of praise, but gazes full of suspicion. Left with no choice, Diablo accepted a quest from the king as an adventurer in order to guarantee his and his companions’ safety.
His quest led him to the southern frontier town of Caliture. This turned out to be Rem’s hometown, and the place where her family, the Gadou Clan of martial artists, resided. There, Diablo found himself being toyed with by Rem’s aunt, Solami.
“You can be confident. You’re certainly a Demon Lord on this front. Nobody could compare to this overwhelming strength?”
And so, she trained him in the use of the Glow.
The king’s quest involved slaying wild beasts, but their targets turned out to be a clan of Kobolds. Being therianthropes, they were incapable of conversing with the races. But to Diablo’s surprise, he found he could understand what they said.
The Kobolds saved Diablo and his group when they were stranded, even giving them food and beds to sleep in, earning a debt of gratitude with Diablo, who decided to help protect their lifestyle. However...
The governor of Caliture wouldn’t budge from his decision to exterminate the Kobolds in the region, forcing Diablo to finally break away from Lyferia’s army. Rem and Shera faced off once more against the Palace Knight Gewalt, but the gap in their abilities only seemed to have widened.
Rem uses the ?Demon Lord’s Fang? she previously received from Klem to become a quasi-Demon Lord, shocking Diablo by easily beating Gewalt with overwhelming power. Having exhausted her strength, Rem fell into a comatose slumber, only for Shera to shock Diablo further.
“I, uhm. I saw it. I saw what you... did in the courtyard with Solami... last night.”
Prologue
Sitting at the eastern borders of the Kingdom of Lyferia was a great fortress. Situated at the bottom of a valley, its great walls blocked the winding highway. It was a vital strategic point in the eastern region of Lyferia, rivaling even the citadel city of Faltra in the west. Over the years, it had repelled countless invasions by demonic beasts and neighboring countries.
Its name was Kenstone.
Its iron gates were usually open to enable trade, but on this day they were closed shut. Atop its walls, several times the normal number of soldiers stood, their bows and spears at the ready as their expressions strained with concern and tension. Their gazes were fixed ahead, at a scarlet flag flapping in the wind.
The banner of another country.
Soldiers clad in full plate armor stood in perfect marching columns. Just the way they stood spoke volumes about how organized the army was. The commander of the citadel city of Kenstone’s stationed forces, Kudanis, furrowed his mustache as he spoke.
“So, that’s the Empire of Gelmed.”
From the reports he’d received, they were an empire from across the sea that employed magimatic technology. All the countries in their way had already surrendered, and their forces used that momentum to further their invasion.
Lyferia’s soldiers stirred. A single, fairly petite figure was walking toward the castle from the Empire’s side.
“What is this, a child?” Kudanis glared in the figure’s direction. “Have they sent a child as their messenger?”
None of the soldiers could answer their seasoned commander’s unsolicited remark. The small figure drew closer to them, enough so that its features became clear. It removed the hood covering its head, unraveling long, silvery locks.
It was a girl. A beautiful girl with blue eyes and tanned skin. She then removed her robe, exposing a revealing outfit that looked unfit for the battlefield and which stressed her bosom, which looked neither too big nor too small. Her thighs were shapely and sensual, a longsword dangling from her waist.
Sitting on her head were triangular, fox-like ears, and a thick tail extended from her behind. She was likely a Kobold, a species that wasn’t considered part of the races by the Kingdom of Lyferia and was treated as a type of animal instead.
Apparently, the Empire employs female animals as their messengers, they thought — but it wasn’t so. The girl pulled the single-edged sword from her waist and declared:
“I am Aira Arjana, infantry captain of the Gelmed Empire!”
Her tone was dignified, unbefitting of her youthful appearance, and if her words were to be believed, she was none other than the commander of these invasion forces.
“Let it be known, officers and soldiers of the Kingdom of Lyferia!” She held up her sword. “Before our forces, your resistance is meaningless and futile! I do not wish for needless bloodshed. Submit at once, and open your gates!”
Unbelievably enough, the commander herself came to demand their surrender. And the commander was a woman and a Kobold, at that! Nothing could be more removed from the Kingdom of Lyferia’s common sense. Some of the soldiers burst into laughter.
“A lady-Kobold commander?! Ahahahaha!”
Perhaps from how strained the atmosphere was, the laughter came out all the louder. Lyferia was based on the superiority of Humans, and the “role” of women was another deeply rooted prejudice of this land.
“If the Empire’s armies were led by a dainty girl, how strong could they be?” Kudanis scoffed mockingly. “The Empire is not to be feared,” he continued internally.
“Your sorcery is a century behind ours, and is no match for the Empire’s might!” The fox-eared girl kept speaking, as if the sneering hadn’t reached her ears. “You who know only of antiquated metal weapons ought to cease your pointless resistance. Should you surrender, we guarantee the safety of your soldiers and civilians. But if you turn your blades on us, we will meet you with punitive force and no remorse!”
“Bark on, you foolish fox!” Kudanis hollered back at her.
He was a war hero who fought alongside the last generation’s hero, Alan, in the battle against the Demon Lord. He was confident and proud, knowing that no one in the kingdom could match him as a halberd wielder. Alongside Galford, governor of the eastern citadel city of Faltra, the two of them were known as the ‘twin jewels’ of the kingdom.
“We shall open the gates, as you wish!” Kudanis ordered grandly. “But we shan’t surrender! We shall teach you the true meaning of war, you pitiful girl grasped by delusion!”
“Oooooooooh!” The soldiers of Kenstone raised their voices.
The rings connected to the chains for opening and closing the gates were pulled by countless soldiers, causing the sturdy gates to slowly open. Aira’s eyes widened in disappointment and sorrow.
“They’re fighting back... I suppose there’s no choice but to have them taste defeat...”
Lyferia’s soldiers spilled from the opened gates, charging toward Aira.
If we kill the enemy commander, will their forces fly into a rage and charge us? Or will they lose their fighting spirit and flee? Whichever it will be, this is a chance to bring our main force to the fray and grasp victory.
Or so it would have been.
“Ooooooh!” The first wave of cavalry charged forward.
In their direct path was a single, slender girl. She may have been a skilled swordswoman, but she shouldn’t have been able to fight these forces off.
Or so it should have been.
Aira bitterly clenched her teeth and swung the sword in her hands up into the air.
“Come forth... Magimatic Sol Arjanos!”
The air behind her warped. The view behind her contorted and undulated, the ripples growing bigger. From where there was previously thin air appeared a massive arm — a steel hand, clad in armor. Then a head emerged, followed by the rest of a torso.
What suddenly appeared before them was a gigantic suit of armor shining with a silvery luster.
What is that?!
Lyferia’s soldiers trembled in shock, but the rushing cavaliers couldn’t stop. No matter who they were up against, they had to secure victory. Even if they were up against some kind of massive magical beast, these high level cavaliers’ ?Lance Charge? would inflict effective damage.
Aira floated into the air slightly, as if drawn to the suit of armor. She squeezed her eyes shut, and then...
“Connect!”
The next moment, the chestpiece of the massive suit of armor opened, and with a slimy noise, countless tentacles spurted out from within it. Those tentacles, which looked strikingly similar to viscera, coiled around Aira’s scantily dressed body with a wet sound.
They twined around her slender waist and crawled under her clothes, forcibly forcing her legs open.
“Nnng...” Aira clenched her teeth as she felt a shiver run down her spine.
One long tentacle rubbed against her pelvis from behind with sliding motions.
“Aaah, aaaaah...”
The tip of the tentacle knocked against her pinkish lips, prying them open and forcing its way into her body.
“Haaaa... Nnng...”
Sticky, yellowish threads came out of the tip of the tentacle inside her. Those fine, thin threads coiled around Aira’s nerves, spreading throughout her body and eventually reaching her brain. It looked like the giant armor was devouring her, trying to physically consume her.
But even in the face of this unusual sight, Lyferia’s cavaliers didn’t stop their charge. If anything, they only strode faster.
The chestpiece of the Magimatic Sol Arjanos closed. Some of the tentacles failed to slither back in time, and after being caught in the gaps of the armor, fell to the ground, spewing out white, sticky fluids. Arjanos’ eyes lit up in a bluish-white glow.
“Ooooh...”
That same light emitted from the armor’s gaps and then its joints. It was visible at a glance that this was the glow of magic.
†
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!” Lyferia’s cavalry unleashed mighty thrusts at the armor.
These were strikes that would pierce even the heart of a giant many times the size of a man. But a high-pitched metallic sound echoed, and the tips of the cavaliers’ magically enhanced lances were repelled by the armor.
“Whaaaaat?!” The knights’ eyes widened in shock.
“Ooooooooooooooooooooooh!” Arjanos swung its hand into the air.
The next moment, a massive single-edged sword, longer than the height of an adult, appeared out of thin air.
With each swing of its blade, Arjanos sent soldiers flying through the air, reducing their numbers considerably. The knights, meanwhile, surrounded their massive opponent and tried to attack it from behind, but their enchanted lances failed to inflict any kind of damage on it. The moment before the blades struck the armor, they were pushed back, as if repelled by an invisible wall.
“Haaaaaaaaaaa!” Arjanos’ blade began emanating a bluish light.
Its already intense slashes grew even stronger, and faster at that. The battlefield rapidly became littered with the soldiers’ corpses.
It was all too overwhelming.
But it was then that someone appeared on the battlefield. A man clad in armor emblazoned with an insignia in the shape of a flame.
“My men... How dare you, you monster...!”
It was Lyferia’s commander, holding a golden halberd in hand — Kudanis. He faced off against Arjanos, which stood covered in the blood splatter of its foes. Lyferia’s soldiers regained their zeal, cheering him on from atop the walls.
“Kudanis! Kudanis! Kudanis!”
But Gelmed’s soldiers raised their voices too, as if to match them.
“Bastenia Ra Aira! Bastenia Ra Aira!”
They chanted, in their tongue, words that roughly meant, “Victory to Lady Aira”.
“Your weapons cannot hope to break through the protection of the Magimatic Sol.” Aira’s muffled voice spoke from within the armor’s chestpiece. “This cannot even be called a war. Forfeit this battle.”
It seemed Aira hadn’t been devoured by the armor, but was rather wearing and manipulating it. It was fearsome magic.
So this is magimatic technology... Kudanis thought in admiration.
It seemed her claims that the Empire was a century ahead of Lyferia weren’t mere exaggeration. Still, Kudanis tightened his grip on his halberd, refusing to back down.
“Do not look down on us, you brat... The Lyferian army has fought the Demon Lord time and again! Regular weapons not being effective is not enough to shake us.”
“The Demon Lord has appeared in the Empire of Gelmed already... it was not that great of a threat.”
“Cease your bluffing...”
“If the Demon Lord is supposed to rival God, perhaps it means Gelmed’s magimatic technology surpasses even God Himself. Not that I’ve ever seen any kind of God before.”
“Arrogant fool. I shall... beat you, along with your conceit, up to the heavens themselves!”
“You try to challenge a Magimatic Sol with a primitive weapon like a halberd... and you call me conceited?”
Aira sighed and raised Arjanos’ blade. Kudanis didn’t change his posture. A sword larger than his entire body fell down on him from above, which he caught with his golden halberd. Aira and the Empire soldiers expected him to be split in half along with his weapon.
But with fluid motions one would never have expected from his brusque appearance, Kudanis warded off the blade, and with that same momentum, revolved his halberd. Flames blew out of its tip, and that turning motion turned into a sharp thrust, aimed at Arjanos’ breastplate!
But while Aira thought it would be deflected before it even struck the armor, once again, her expectations were betrayed. The golden halberd pierced Arjanos’ armor, cracking its silvery shell and sending fragments of metal flying about.
“You penetrated the barrier...?!”
Kudanis pulled back his halberd and once again fixed his stance.
“The martial art ?Spiral Flame Spear? returns the damage of any attack it blocks to the aggressor. How do you like the taste of your own attack?”
“To think such a technique exists... I will admit I didn’t expect it, but your greatest failure is that you couldn’t finish me off with that surprise attack. You likely can’t use that technique unless you have a blow to reflect.”
“Hmph...” Kudanis scoffed, his lips curling unpleasantly.
Like Aira said, the fact he couldn’t finish her off was a bitter failure. The moment the halberd’s tip made contact, Arjanos pulled back, making the thrust that much more shallow. Kudanis realized he’d misjudged his opponent.
A wonderful reaction... This is not just this Magimatic Sol’s abilities, the lass inside it is just as skilled.
The two stared each other down. Aira didn’t carelessly attempt an attack, knowing it would be again deflected by the halberd and directed back at her. Arjanos cautiously held up its single-edged sword, standing still.
Kudanis charged forward. He stopped when she expected him to move, and moved when she expected him to stop — a truly seasoned veteran. But Aira was experienced herself, and didn’t do anything as foolish as hurriedly swinging her sword. She blocked Kudanis’ attack with her left arm, seeking the right moment when the halberd wouldn’t be able to deflect her.
But the halberd then lit up with a blinding flash.
“?Smiting Rage Slash?!”
Arjanos’ armor shattered and its massive left arm fell to the ground with a thud.
“How?!” Aira screeched.
“It is time you realize, girl!” Kudanis grinned. “Piercing absolute defense is but a part of the basics! There are battlefields out there where one can only be considered of use if they’re capable of penetrating any and all defenses!”
“You destroyed a barrier without any magimatic weapons... And you call me a monster?!”
“Too slow!”
His next attack was unleashed. Arjanos retreated, trying to create space between the two of them. It was unable to evade, and was gouged along its flank. Silvery fragments scattered in the air. A red, blood-like fluid seeped out of the points where the armor had broken away, except it didn’t smell like blood, but rather like oil and sulfur.
Arjanos swept with its sword, trying to drive away Kudanis’ assault, but its blow was deflected by the halberd.
“Sloppy once you’re on the back foot, eh, girl?! Your lack of experience in fighting powerful opponents is your undoing!”
The halberd spewed fire as part of its Spiral Flame Spear martial art, soaring toward Arjanos’ chestpiece. It was then that an arrow of light struck down on them from the heavens.
†
Kudanis narrowly evaded the arrow, but a second one flew in his direction as if in pursuit, stabbing into the ground.
“Ugh...?!” Kudanis retreated, staggering a few steps back.
Another Magimatic Sol flew down toward them. Unlike Arjanos, its armor was a deep crimson color, and its outer details were a bit different, but it seemed to be a similar model to Aira’s Magimatic Sol.
“Lady Airaaaaaaaa!” A girl raised her voice from inside it. “Aaaah?! There’s a hole near Arjanos’ hatch! Lady Aira! Lady Aira!”
“I’m fine, Erina...”
“Aaaah... Thank goodness!”
And then came another unit, this time colored white.
“Captain! I apologize for my tardiness!”
“You’ve come, Rikka.”
“Yes. I’m so glad I made it...”
As Rikka heaved a long sigh, Erina scolded her.
“You didn’t make it in time, you dumb-dumb! Your sucky piloting almost cost Lady Aira her life!”
“Uuu... I’m sorry.”
“No...” Aira smiled wryly. “Command demanded a reckless operation out of us. You both did well just by coming here as fast as you did. Could you lend me your aid?”
“E-Erm, Arjanos seems to be severely damaged, so leave this to us!”
“I would love to take you up on that offer, but we can spare no effort against an enemy like this. He has techniques capable of penetrating a Magimatic Sol’s barrier.”
Those words elicited shocked responses from Erina and Rikka.
“Huh?! With that primitive weapon?!”
“Whoa... There really are all sorts of techniques we’ve never seen before across the sea.”
“Rikka, let’s attack him from both sides. Erina, cover us with your magimatic bow.”
““Roger, ma’am!””
Arjanos’ movements hadn’t grown any slower, and it propped up its sword. The white Magimatic Sol, holding up a large shield, closed in on Kudanis. He kept his gaze fixed on both targets, but balls of light were already flying toward his legs.
I will die here... Kudanis steeled himself. But I won’t die in vain.
He threw his golden halberd at the white Magimatic Sol. This blow was his ace in the hole.
“Get crushed, you monster!”
“Aaaah?!”
Rikka blocked it with her large shield. It didn’t pierce through it. It got through the barrier, but the shield even blocked Kudanis’ greatest blow. There likely wasn’t any attack that could break through that shield in all of Lyferia.
With Kudanis bare-handed, Arjanos bore down on him with its single-edged sword.
“Prepare yourself!”
“Hmph... To win the war, one must finish off the enemy’s commander.”
Kudanis caught the blade with his left arm, shifting away the attack as if it were a halberd. But it wasn’t such a sturdy weapon, so his arm was crushed, the flesh tearing off and the bone shattering.
It was a Spiral Flame Spear that used his own body — and its aim was fixed on Arjanos’ already broken breastplate.
“Your head is mine!”
“Lady Aira?!” Erina screamed.
At that moment, Arjanos’ breastplate swung open. From within it appeared Aira, her own single-edged blade in hand.
“I retract my assessment of you being powerless. You were, without a doubt, a fearsome opponent.”
She swung her blade, cutting through Kudanis’ abdomen. His fist had connected with Arjanos, but the slash sent him flying back.
Kudanis met his demise at the hands of the “frail” girl he made light of, while Aira lost her unit to the man whose resistance she deemed to be “futile”.
Putting her sword back into its scabbard, Aira turned her eyes to the citadel city. With its heroic general gone, the soldiers were struck with fear. Now would be a prime time to attack, but...
“Erina, Rikka, are you all right?”
“Why, of course I am.”
“I think my shield got a little cracked...”
“We lost a Magimatic Sol on our first battle... Was I too fixated on achievement? We should wait for Migurtha to arrive. Though I don’t see the situation of the war changing any by the time they do...”
And just as Aira predicted, soon enough a white flag fluttered above the citadel city of Kenstone.
No Comments Yet
Post a new comment
Register or Login