EPILOGUE
RIMURU VANISHES
As I was guiding Milim toward the Barren Lands, I suddenly had a bad premonition. Something had just occurred to me, and it wasn’t too rosy. This stuff I was doing… What if this was exactly what Feldway wanted me to do?
It was something I likely picked up on only because I’d been following Ciel’s suggestions a whole lot lately. Maybe I was overthinking this…but the fact I had only one suitable destination to aim for led to some uncomfortable questions in my mind.
If this was him leading me around, he undoubtedly wanted to see me at Skyspire Tower. After all, that was a divine relic from a god so strong it completely blocked Michael’s attack. The surrounding Deadly Desert would also prevent further damage from Milim, a shared goal of ours.
I felt bad for Daggrull, but hey—we were enemies. I wasn’t gonna lose sleep over it. I mean, I didn’t feel great about it, but if he was hostile to me, so be it. Call it an act of God, sort of.
So Skyspire Tower was about the only place I could take Milim to. He didn’t predict that, too, did he? Nah, I gotta stop worrying about—
…No way.
I really doubted Feldway could outsmart Ciel’s predictions. We couldn’t have ended that battle without Zarario’s support, and there was no way he could’ve predicted that. If he knew Zarario would abandon him, he could have tried any number of other tactics…
…Hmm. There was really no point dwelling on this, but I still kind of had a bad feeling. And as if on cue, Ramiris contacted me. I hated how these feelings always panned out.
(Hey! Rimuru! Big trouble over here!)
Yeah, yeah, same here, I was about to say, but Ramiris kept going before I could.
(Deeno and his crew are attacking us! We’re intercepting them, but I’m kinda worried now that my master isn’t here!)
Ughhh, this sucks…
If I hadn’t asked for Veldora’s help, I still would’ve been suspended in time. Daggrull had True Dragon-class power; he could have kept it stopped for a long time to come. If I had allowed the crazed Milim to do whatever she wanted in that state, the sacred tree would be a bunch of burnt-up lumber, and who knew what other trouble she could’ve caused.
So I didn’t think I made the wrong call, but…
(Well, all I can say for now is hang in there.)
(Um, y’know, that’s really not the kinda answer I was lookin’ for.)
(Oh, I know, I know. But, like, I gotta devote everything I got to handling Milim, so…)
(I can’t make contact with Benimaru at all, either! If you don’t come back real soon, it’s kind of gonna be a big problem for me!)
I could tell Ramiris was nervous. She couldn’t contact Benimaru because he’d overexerted himself, no doubt. I confirmed his safety earlier, and I figured he’d be back on his feet before long.
(All right. Just try to hold out for the time being!)
(I know, but like, seriously, come back soon…)
After some more grumbling, she finally ended the call. She could have given me at least a little praise—but now was no time for jokes.
I had no idea how the fight between Guy and Velzard was going; there was no way anyone could intervene with them. We had invaders in the labyrinth, and the battle was still intensifying. Milim remained beyond control, and I had no idea yet how to stop her.
If someone could take on Milim for just a few moments, we’d be able to stop her via Regalia Dominion…
I was really averse to that, but in the worst-case scenario, I’d have no choice.
More to the point, though, there was no “someone” here. Simply lifting Feldway’s order was a task tough enough to totally drain Benimaru. Asking him to do it all over again would at least have to wait until he recovered.
And you know, it really felt like our enemy was seeing all our moves and intelligently responding to each one, didn’t it? An attacker was always going to have the advantage, but I didn’t think it’d be this one-sided all the time.
I’d have loved an opportunity to counterattack, but—as free as I’m sure I sound, thinking about extraneous stuff like this—I really couldn’t take my eyes off Milim’s onslaught. If I was leading Milim, that meant she was targeting me. There was no way I could do anything about Feldway, and I had my hands full cutting off Milim’s attacks as we headed toward Skyspire Tower.
Finally, I saw it in the distance.
The tower should be able to withstand her attacks. Once I was inside, I was sure things would be a little better.
But sadly, that bad premonition I had was about to come true.
“I’ve been waiting, demon lord Rimuru.”
A voice from above reached my ears as I wrestled with Milim. It was the malevolent voice of Feldway as he descended before me.
“Damn it… I knew you’d aim for this!” I yelled.
I cursed my fate, but it was already too late. I was wondering what I should do when Ciel chimed in, its voice agitated.
Retreat from the area immediately!
Its unusual behavior indicated just how much of an emergency this was. By “retreat,” Ciel was basically telling me to get the hell out of Dodge.
I’d have loved to, really, but I couldn’t. I was still fighting Milim. This was exactly what Feldway wanted. What a disaster!
And I wasn’t panicking, either, because I knew exactly what was going to happen.
Feldway’s next move:
“Now, Milim! Obey me once more—Regalia Dominion!”
Gah, I knew it. He didn’t hesitate for a moment to employ the one last resort that bothered me the most.
The power drained from Milim, showing me she was once again under Feldway’s thrall. I was glad she stopped fighting—surely all her rage was gonna be pointed at me. Check and mate, I guess. If I had to deal with Milim and Feldway at once, I would have no chance of winning.
“Come the hell on! You coward!” I shouted.
Call it being a sore loser or sour grapes, or whatever you like. I felt I had a right to complain. But Feldway just looked down on me, laughing.
“What a sorry sight you are, demon lord Rimuru. You’re in my way, so now it’s time to make you disappear.”
Actually, maybe he wasn’t laughing at me. Maybe it was his way of recognizing my strength. Feldway, after all, was edging away from a confrontation with me. I assumed he was going to team up with Milim to beat my ass, but surprisingly, it didn’t happen.
“Prepare to be blasted to the far edges of time and space… Chrono-Saltation!!”
I had seen something like this before. It was the same attack that wiped Velgrynd off the face of this planet a short time ago—
And then, the moment I had that thought, everything went dark. Thanks to Feldway’s Dimensional Transfer, I was blasted to an unknown location—the past, the future, the present? I had no idea. I was lost.
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