Isekai Maou to Shoukan Shoujo Dorei Majutsu - Volume 14 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Fighting a Godslayer

A sphere of golden light flew down from the top of the Magimatic Castle Viovix, hurtling toward them. Goldinus’ hatch was broken and it was missing its pilot.

—Did the tentacles eat her? Or did the Palace Knights kill her? Did she escape? Alicia... Are you alive? 

Diablo had no way of confirming Alicia’s fate. If he’d have prioritized saving her, he wouldn’t have been in this position to begin with.

“Goldisword!”

Goldinus began morphing, assuming the form of a gigantic double-edged sword. Logic clearly didn’t apply here. After all, Cross Reverie returned to its former shape despite being broken and melted... And now this humanoid contraption had just become a wielded weapon.

Diablo regarded it cautiously. Just because it was shaped like a sword didn’t necessarily mean the Emperor would use it as a blade; it might have even been able to transform again into something else. He couldn’t let any preconceived notions hold him back.

The gigantic robot grasped the golden broadsword floating in the air.

“Apocalypse Merge, Ultimate God Cross, complete! I praise you, ye foolish sorcerer who would claim to be a Demon Lord... For I will use my ultimate technique against you!”

God Cross’ chestpiece opened, revealing a gigantic tree within its hollow aperture. On the tree’s surface was the old man’s face.

“Feel divine punishment! You will...be ruined! Ragnaroooook!”

“You’ve prattled on long enough, old man,” Diablo stated grandly. “And thanks to that, I’ve had enough time to channel my almighty dreadnought-tier spell!”

This was the strongest technique he could access within Klem’s memories, so he had to bet on it doing the trick. Diablo thrust his hands forward and unleashed the attack with all of his strength.

“Taaaake...thiiiis! 《The Flames of Ruinatiooooooon》!”

This was the most powerful offensive attack in the MMORPG Cross Reverie, and the ultimate technique of the 《Demon Lord of the Eyeball Iankaroz》.

His field of vision was blinded by a flash of light. Emperor Gelmed’s face on the tree was grinning.

“I am a complete God. I have discarded my shell as one of the races and ascended to godhood! What can an elemental sorcerer pretending to be a Demon Lord hope to do to me?!”

The gigantic combined Magimatic Sol God Cross swung down its golden sword, connecting with Diablo’s Flames of Ruination. The two attacks clashed and struggled, beginning to tear the world apart.

“Nggh?!” Diablo clenched his teeth.

“The Emperor...” Klem said, her voice full of panic. “H-He has so much divine power... It’s like the Hero! No, it’s even greater...!”

The blinding light was being pushed back toward Diablo, little by little. He felt his very bones creak, a kind of strain he’d never felt before from the act of casting a spell. The Staff of Annihilation cracked and shattered in his grasp, and the armor plating his arms splintered and broke away with the sound of thick rubber being torn. His flesh began to be carved away as blood splattered from his hands. He felt each and every joint of every finger on his hands bend, crack, and snap off.

“Ugh, ngaaaah?!”

The pain was so intense it nearly knocked him out from the sheer shock. Even so, Diablo didn’t allow his focus on the spell to waver. The two competing masses of overwhelming power were now both closing in on him. It wouldn’t be long before this ball of blinding light, this swirl of angry mana, swallowed him up entirely.

He could hear Emperor Gelmed’s hoarse voice roaring with laughter, confident that he’d won. Diablo turned his eyes upwards.

“Well, well... So you’ve become a complete divine being, have you?” Diablo whispered. “In which case... I win.”

A lone figure leapt down from one of the cracks in the Magimatic Castle Viovix standing high above them. A pair of triangular, fox-like ears flapped in the wind.

It was the former captain of the Magimatic Sol unit, Aira Arjana. Gripped in her hands was that weapon — the Lance of Helvetia.

“Emperor Gelmed!” she bellowed. “For my enslaved comrades! Feel the hatred of my comrades...!”

Countless small eyeballs appeared on God Cross’ armor, all glaring at Aira.

“Helvetia?! How do you have this lance, cur...?! Stay away from me!”

The gigantic Magimatic Sol’s sharp shoulder plate flexibly changed shape. The sharpened metal extended upwards like a branch, piercing through Aira’s body.

“Nghhaa?!” Aira howled in pain.

“You mere beast unworthy of being counted among the mortal races! You dare revolt against a God?!”

“You...dirty bastard...!” she said through clenched teeth, swinging the spear over her head.

The moment the tip of the spear touched it, God Cross’ armor talons turned to dust and crumbled away.

“With just one blow?! Is my divinity too great?!”

Aira’s swings were slow and unwieldy, so God Cross could have dodged them easily. That is, if this were an ordinary situation. It was not, however; not when he was in combat against Diablo. The ultimate attack was still fighting against the most powerful spell.

This created a small opening in his defenses that lasted only a brief moment, but the blood of many had to be spilled to allow for it. Diablo had to literally cut away at his own life to give her this opportunity.

She pushed onward. The Lance of Helvetia reduced God Cross’ armor to dust, and pressing ahead, she finally plunged it into the tree sitting in the center of its chestpiece.

Emperor Gelmed let out a loud, pained scream.

†

“Diablo!” Aira called out. “Finish him!”

The Demon and God Slayer weapon was pierced into the tree that was Emperor Gelmed’s true form. God Cross’ aura faded away and the gigantic robot fell silent, like a toy that had run out of batteries. Losing power rapidly, its limbs came apart and fell to the ground.

He no longer had the divine power needed to produce miracles. God Cross’ Ragnarok and Diablo’s Flames of Ruination finally canceled each other out and disappeared. One couldn’t say Diablo matched him... Had Aira jumped down any later, he would have been consumed by the light and defeated.

Diablo’s hands were crushed to a pulp. Just looking at them made him sick, and the pain was consuming his mind.

“Diablo, can’t you shut off your sense of pain?” Klem asked him through the agony. “Your mind keeps screaming that you’re injured. It’s a racket in here.”

“Hmph... This doesn’t even register as pain for me,” Diablo replied. He never thought the day would come when he would have to role play as a Demon Lord even within his own headspace. If she could tell he was hurting, there wasn’t really any point in putting on airs about it.

While he thought she’d poke fun at him, she just said, “Oh, is that so! I knew this wouldn’t bother you, Diablo!” sounding surprisingly impressed. He’d have used an HP potion, but with his fingers all mangled, it was too difficult.

“But the Emperor is still alive, even with the lance stabbing into him!” Klem told him.

“Why won’t he just give up...?” Diablo whispered to himself.

“The Emperor changed himself using divine power, but his soul is still human. If we don’t crush his existence to the core, he will eventually recover.”

“In other words, my strongest magic...”

“Do it, Diablo!” He could imagine Klem thrusting a fist into the air in his mind’s eye.

There was no pitying the Emperor now. His ambitions had cost too many lives, and his empire had deprived too many people of peace. But he had a reason to hesitate.

—Aira’s still in range...

She was driving the Lance of Helvetia into the divine tree that served as Emperor Gelmed’s core. If he used a powerful spell, it would invariably hit her. The pilot of Burix the Red, Erina Rufelia, had begged him to help Aira Arjana.

And more importantly than that, Aira stabbing the spear into God Cross saved Diablo’s life. He owed her. He wanted to save her.

But Aira was willing to accept her death.

“Diablo! Finish him! The Emperor isn’t dead yet!”

“Kuh... You’re in my way, girl! Get away!” he bellowed at her.

She stared at him with surprised eyes. She realized he was worried about her, which shocked her. But she wore a resigned expression.

“If it would defeat Emperor Gelmed, I don’t mind laying down my life. I don’t have long left, either way...”

Aira was bleeding from her flank. A thin, sharp branch extended from the Emperor’s tree, became a blade, and stabbed into her. Diablo wavered.

—Do I close in on them, cut off that branch, save Aira, and then fire the spell?

Did he have the time to do that? Should he just fire the spell immediately? The combined Magimatic Sol God Cross had crumbled away, and now Emperor Gelmed was only protected by the Magimatic Garment Cross Reverie. The Lance of Helvetia tore a large gash into him, but his armor was restoring itself little by little.

Diablo did not have the time to question himself.

“Strike him down quickly, Diablo!” Klem pressed him. “The Emperor’s regenerating! If that Kobold girl dies, the lance will likely lose all its power!”

If Aira were to die, the Lance of Helvetia would lose its ability to slay the divine, and Emperor Gelmed would be restored to his previous strength. Diablo would have no other means of defeating him again. Losing this battle would mean everyone he holds dear would die...or worse.

“Kuh...!”

—Forgive me, Diablo thought to himself as he extended his destroyed right hand.

His instinct and mind had already resolved that this was the right thing to do. But for whatever reason, he didn’t cast the spell. Instead of chanting, he said something else.

“Someone asked me to save you...with tears in their eyes.”

“Diablo!”

Klem’s scream echoed in his ears, and at the same time, Emperor Gelmed’s voice boomed around him.

“You’re naive, too naive! I wouldn’t believe a man claiming to be a Demon Lord could be so softhearted! It is ever so laughable, and ever so fortunate! I am fated to rule the world after all!”

Cross Reverie’s headpiece contorted in shape, and two arms emerged from it — arms with the wrinkled hands of an old man.

“I won’t let you pull it out!” Aira said, glaring at the arms.

“I won’t kill you,” the old man said. “I shall use you as my shield. I’ll sever your limbs so you can never hold the lance again, then I’ll nail you to my chest.”

He reached for Aira... But then arrows whizzed silently through the air, gouging into Gelmed’s hands. His hoarse voice raised in a cry.

—Arrows?! Where from?!

“Diablooooooo!”

A bright, bubbly voice — which sounded foreign in this strained situation — reached his ears. Diablo looked in the voice’s direction and couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

—Shera?!

†

Shera was riding on the back of a large bird summon beast, 《Great Eagle》. Due to the unsteady footing, she was resting on one knee to shoot. And the bird’s summoner...was Rem, striding across the sky with the Glow, her shining fist swung out in front of her.

She approached Aira like a hurtling missile, slamming her fist enveloped by the Glow against the branch stabbing into Aira. She then grabbed hold of Aira and leapt away.

“Now, Diablo!” Rem shouted.

Raging tentacles spurted out of Cross Reverie in what looked like an explosion, and Emperor Gelmed began screaming again. “Ooooh! At long last, the Girl of the Vessel! At long, long last! You are finally before me!”

The tentacles pursued Rem, who kicked in midair and bolted off.

“Hah!” she scoffed at him. “You won’t ever lay hands on me! Diablo won’t let you!”

Rem accelerated to a speed that matched Diablo’s with the Shining Wing Armor.

“Hmhm, it seems she’s finally tapped into her latent power,” Klem said in Diablo’s mind, satisfied.

“You shan’t escape!” Emperor Gelmed howled manically. “You shan’t escape me, Girl of the Vessel! Bear me, give birth to me, grant me new life! Bring stability to the world!”

The tentacles doubled in number, crashing down around Rem like a volley of arrows.

Shera unleashed a martial art. “Take this! 《Arrow Storm》!”

“Don’t get in my waaaaaaaay!” the Emperor bellowed.

“Aaah?!” Shera grabbed her head, like the very scream was causing her pain.

The Great Eagle turned around and flew in the opposite direction, but not as quickly as Rem. As Diablo looked on, he felt a warmth fill his heart.

—Those two are the only ones for me, after all.

He had no more doubts. He unleashed another powerful spell again.

“Emperor Gelmed... The only thing you’ll gain is your own destruction!”

“Do not try to stand in the way of my ambition, you ordinary, mediocre fool!” the Emperor replied angrily. “My soul must gain new flesh if I am to govern all worlds! It is necessary! Why do you not realize it?!”

“Die! Flames of Ruination!” Diablo ignored him.

“Kuh!”

The ivory Magimatic Garment’s back tore apart as wings erupted out. Like a butterfly bursting out of a chrysalis, the insides of the robot abandoned Cross Reverie along with the wings.

He’d discarded his armor. The tentacles dried out like dying branches, lost their power, and crumbled away. Now airborne, Diablo’s opponent was a winged serpent with Emperor Gelmed’s head and wrinkled face. Its skin was rough and rugged, and its wings were pure white, soft, and graceful, contrasting the ugliness of his face.

“You won’t escape me, Girl of the Vessel!” Gelmed called out hoarsely. He went after Rem, ignoring everything else. Despite moving so quickly, she was being slowed down by having to carry Aira, and that hindrance kept her from shaking him off.

“What...?!”

The winged serpent closed in on Rem.

“Goaaaaaaaaaaah!”

But someone stood in Emperor Gelmed’s way.

“Diablo!” Rem called out.

Diablo nodded back at her and smirked fearlessly.

“Heheheh... Chanting doesn’t mean I actually unleashed my spell. What made you fall for this trick now? Losing your composure, Emperor?”

Diablo didn’t fire his spell earlier, as he’d correctly predicted that the Emperor would avoid it and target Rem. He’d taken off the Demon Lord of the Eyeball’s Iankaroz’s ring earlier, meaning he couldn’t even cast Flames of Ruination anymore.

“Out of my waaaaaaaaaaaaay!” the Emperor shouted at him. “Don’t interfeeeeeeeere!”

The winged serpent opened its gigantic mouth, revealing rows of teeth that looked like daggers. His howls were full of magical energy, becoming curses that washed over Diablo like a shock wave. Countless cracks ran through the Shining Wing Armor as the curse penetrated his armor and dealt damage directly to his body.

Diablo felt his entrails shake and bodily fluids fill his mouth, but he spat out all the blood and tanked the pain as he chanted his spell. “Get blown to bits, you madman! Infinity Detonation!”

The Demon Lord spell was activated at point-blank range, its flash engulfing the winged snake.

“Gyaaghaaaaa!” the Emperor howled.

His ugly form, his ear-splitting voice, his vast magical energy — it all disappeared into the magical light as the winged serpent was tattered by the spell.

—Will this...do it?

Diablo remained vigilant. He’d fired one powerful spell after another, but nothing had finished him yet. He had never so much as now longed for this world to have a victory fanfare play out when you win, just like in the game.

“Ah...!”

The serpent spasmed. Its shadow inched forward, like it was swimming through the flash of the Infinity Detonation spell. It was already half-destroyed, most of its magical energy was dispersed, and its voice was by now only a raspy whisper in the wind.

A dark premonition filled Diablo’s heart. Another divine miracle. Even after setting up this kind of situation, he still couldn’t beat him. Diablo turned around.

—What about the two of them?!

The avian flying beast had gotten quite far, and with Rem on its back. Aira seemed unharmed, and he could see Shera as well. He called their names, but they were too distant to hear him.

—Get away from here. As far as you can.

So long as they kept their distance, they’d surely manage to escape. Diablo gritted his teeth. As he did, the glow of that miracle caught up to him, covering him entirely.

—Death.

He didn’t feel any pain like he was expecting. This wasn’t an attack. In fact, as the white light enveloped him, it felt like all of the wounds inflicted on him during this battle were being healed.

—What’s going on?

And what filled Diablo’s ears next was...

Interlude

The silence was so complete it was almost loud. Everything around him was white, so he couldn’t tell the floor apart from the ceiling and the walls.

Emperor Gelmed’s serpentine body, the Magimatic Castle Viovix, Rem’s and Shera’s retreating figures, the moist ground, the rain, the burning capital — it was all gone.

Just white as far as the eye could see.

“I’ve...been here before?” Diablo whispered.

He looked around. Where there once was nothing but a void a few moments ago now stood a man. He was clad in a thin cloth hanging from his shoulders. He was tall, gangly, and looked to be about thirty, with finely chiseled features that struck Diablo as somehow familiar.

“I never would have imagined...” the man said, parting his dry lips. “That someone in that world could ever defeat me.”

“Hm?” Diablo furrowed his brows, confused.

“I suppose that when I was faced with the Girl of the Vessel, my judgment was clouded...”

“Y-You!” Diablo’s eyes narrowed in realization. “You’re Emperor Gelmed?!”

Diablo guarded himself, but the man simply stood there, defenseless.

“You win,” he said. “No... This victory goes to both of you... I never imagined a Demon Lord would lend their help to a member of the races.”

The cracks on the Shining Wing Armor expanded little by little, and then splintered off into particles of light. Steadily, Diablo returned to his former appearance, losing his Krebskulm-like form. For a moment, Diablo dreaded that Klem might have disappeared here, but the particles soon reconverged, forming the body of a child. Her horns, her tail, and her long fluttering hair were all there.

Diablo wrapped his arms around her body.

“Klem! Klem!”

He called her name again and again, and the girl slowly opened her eyes.

“Mm...?” she voiced groggily.

“Are you all right?! Do you recognize me?!” Diablo asked her.

“...Aye,” she said weakly. “I see you’ve won.”

Did he win, though? The man he thought was Emperor Gelmed said the same thing.

“Hmph...” Klem scoffed in his arms. “But we were sent to a rather troublesome place.”

“You know what this place is?!” Diablo asked her, surprised.

Before Klem could answer, the man chuckled.

“A corridor!” he declared. “A corridor to other worlds. I find it hard to believe a transcendent like me could lose to a man ignorant enough not to know that.”

“...A corridor to another world?” Diablo asked.

“Hm,” Klem nodded. “Since you’re an outsider, you had to have passed through here at least once before. It’s this Demon Lord’s first time here, though.”

A long time ago, Diablo was summoned from his original world to this one in the form of his player character in the MMORPG Cross Reverie.

—It feels kind of familiar...but I can’t remember.

“Crossing between different worlds is most unusual,” Klem added, sensing his confusion. “It only makes sense your mind would be scrambled by it.”

Did she mean his memory was being faulty because of it?

“Can we go back?” Diablo asked.

“Do you mean to the world you were originally born in, or—” Klem began.

“I mean to the world where Rem and Shera are,” Diablo replied unflinchingly.

Klem regarded him with a somewhat bothered expression.

“This Demon Lord would love to go back, but...”

Both of them turned their eyes to Emperor Gelmed. The lanky man shrugged theatrically and spread his arms.

“A Demon Lord or a sorcerer won’t be able to do it. Only God’s miracles can allow passage through corridors to other worlds. Feel free to wander this place for all eternity, dreaming of your home worlds.”

“Are you a fool?!” Klem glared at him gravely. “If you die in a nonexistent place like this, your soul will never find salvation! You’ll only find a void more vast and bottomless than any world’s end here! That’s even worse than falling to Hell!”

But Emperor Gelmed’s expression remained unchanged. He was well aware of that.

“Demon Lord, you may know of the rules of the countless worlds and universes, but you know not of the lot of man. In order to surpass God, I made an oath, and I intended to fulfill it.”

Over his bony chest, right over his heart, letters of some kind were etched onto his flesh, but Diablo couldn’t read them. It probably wasn’t Lyferia’s text, anyway.

“You!” Klem’s eyes widened. “You promised the price of a thousand incarnations?!”

“To gain limitless power, I’ve atoned for countless sins! It was necessary, if I was to make my ambition a reality.”

“And what you wanted was to become that terrible monster?”

“I wanted to free this world from the yoke of the gods. I’d grown weary of being ruled over like cattle, of dancing in the palms of their hands.”

“You wanted to liberate the world from the gods...?” Diablo asked quizzically.

But, as seemed to often be the case with this man, the words of another failed to reach Emperor Gelmed’s ears.

“...And I reached it... I’d gained the power to ascend to godhood... But I couldn’t escape the shackles of mortality. Man will forever remain man, it seems...”

Diablo thought back to their battle. It didn’t feel like he fought someone who was “only human.” Gelmed was more monstrous than any creature he’d ever faced. Even when he joined forces with the most high-level party in all of Lyferia, they were still almost completely wiped out. Only through borrowing the power of the Demon Lord Krebskulm was he able to squeeze out a win.

And that monster he had faced now looked so...frail.

With a vacant expression, Emperor Gelmed again parted his cracked lips and spoke with a fleeting, fading voice.

“And you too will surely meet a pitiful death...worthy of your efforts...”

His words sounded like a curse — a condemnation. Diablo almost flinched, but he was able to keep himself from doing so. He filled himself with strength and held his ground. Letting the opponent’s hatred overwhelm him wasn’t something a Demon Lord would do.

“Hmph. Keep talking, you pathetic novice. Even death bows down before a Demon Lord!”

His boast was met with silence. Emperor Gelmed didn’t retort, and he would never say anything again. He began crumbling away. Like a statue becoming sand, his fragments crumbled at his feet. Before long, he was completely gone, as if all the color he was made up of faded away into the white void that made up this non-world.

His very presence was gone.

“That one’s soul...” Klem sighed. “It will wander this space forever.”

Diablo couldn’t fathom the true weight of those words. But no matter who Emperor Gelmed was, seeing someone meet their end was always bitter. It almost felt naive to feel that way, given how much suffering he’d inflicted on others.

And more than anything, he had damned them — Klem had no way to get back home. Emperor Gelmed said that only God’s miracles could allow passage through corridors to other worlds, and after bringing them here, he passed away.

“Good grief,” Klem sighed again. “Unless another god gives us some kind of miracle, we really will spend the rest of eternity here.”

“No... That can’t be, right?” Diablo looked at her, shocked.

“This Demon Lord is used to it, but...”

True, Klem did spend countless years sealed within Rem’s bloodline.

“We’re going to spend eternity...in a place like this...?” Diablo asked in disbelief.

“Aaah, I’m getting hungry already...” Klem grumbled despondently.

It had been hours since they’d infiltrated the Magimatic Castle Viovix, and there didn’t seem to be any food or water in this space.

Diablo looked around again. And indeed, there were no walls, floors, or ceilings to be seen...

†

—How long has it been? Diablo wondered to himself.

“I’m pretty sure it’s been a few hours, at least...”

His body felt the same as it did when he came here. Klem squatted at his feet.

“Hm, it seems we’re in the same state this Demon Lord was in when I was sealed. We’re currently in half-spirit form.”

“Like summon beasts?” Diablo asked.

“Something like that,” Klem said moodily. “I’m bored, I’m bored, give me something to do!”

Klem, lying on the ground, thrashed her hands and feet in frustration. She looked like a child throwing a tantrum.

“Didn’t you spend years sealed already?” Diablo asked.

“Again?! I have to go through it again?!” Klem was outraged.

“Hm...”

Diablo looked down at himself. Maybe it was thanks to being a spiritual body, but he didn’t have any damage from the battle anymore; his limbs and organs were all intact. He still felt fatigued and hungry, but not sleepy.

Klem got to her feet and stretched with a moan.

“...I wish we at least had some books here or something,” she grumbled.

Diablo was about to agree when he suddenly realized something.

“Klem, you can read?”

“Of course I can read. I’m a Demon Lord, after all! You’re just not interested in culture enough.”

“Ugh...” Diablo groaned.

“Well, in the past, this Demon Lord only cared about destroying everything.”

—That sounds brutish.

Still, it was clear Klem knew a great deal.

“Do you understand why magic works?” Diablo asked.

“Of course. A Demon Lord rules over all things demonic and magical.”

“I see...”

“If I had to say, the fact you can cast magic without understanding it shows that you’re the one who’s working outside the rules here.”

“Hmm...”

Diablo simply worked by feeling like he was casting spells from the game, but he didn’t understand anything about how it really worked. And Klem could tell.

“I mean, I was in your head for a time,” Klem shrugged. “You outsiders are fascinating.”

“Ah... Yeah...”

Diablo felt himself break into a nervous, cold sweat. Klem simply scoffed at him.

“Are you interested in knowing? Very well! This Demon Lord will teach you of magical energy and sorcery! We’ve got nothing better to do, after all!”

A Demon Lord studying magic came across as...off. Not very Demon Lord-ly. But he couldn’t deny that he was curious about it, and this felt like the perfect chance. Diablo sat opposite Klem.

“Fine!” he said, crossing his arms arrogantly. “I am bored as well. Discussing the nature of magic with a Demon Lord should be a worthy pastime.”

“Ah!” Klem let out a strange sound and reached her hand out to him.

“Wh-What? You want a fee? Do you want me to pay you money? Or in biscuits?”

“Hand Edelgard over!” she told him. “We have time, so I can give her magical energy and revive her.”

“Right...!”

Diablo reached into his leather pouch, no different from opening his inventory in Cross Reverie. Despite being a small pouch, it could contain many more items than its size suggested. He took out the small, faint blue bell and handed it over to Klem.

“Hmm...” Klem examined it fixedly.

“Can you restore her?”

Edelgard had crumbled to particles of light and was destroyed, but Klem turned her soul — or maybe her memories — into this small bell. Could she put her back the way she was?

“I don’t know! For now, I’ll try restoring her lost energy.”

“Hm.”

Klem brought the conversation back on track as she fiddled with the bell in her hand.

“You see, to begin with, magical energy is—”

In a world of frozen time, Diablo learned many things from Klem.