The woman’s short teal-green hair flowed in the breeze as she walked down the city street. Her long purple dress and cloaked cape fluttered in the wind, slowing her down as she kept pace with the knight escorting her.

 

The knight wore crimson armor with gray-silver hair. Despite at times coming off as more of a stupid mess, the fact remained that he very much radiated the aura of a Champion he claimed to be.

 

The man, named Youm, was widely celebrated as the man who took down the Orc Lord. The woman, named Mjurran, knew this for the lie that it was as it had been the King, Rimuru Tempest, who took down the Orc Lord; Despite the story that brought him to fame being a complete fabrication, that hardly made him any less suited for the role.

 

He was charismatic, strong, and skilled. While he may not have been when he took up the role, he now was strong enough that he may have actually had a good chance against the Orc Lord, at least before its evolution into the Orc Disaster.

 

Officially, she had just joined his party as a mage. In reality, however, this was all a lie. She was using him, though she took no joy in doing so. The goal was to infiltrate Tempest. Sure, she could’ve come in normally like one of the many tourists or immigrants that began flooding to the town, but by attaching herself to Youm, she could alleviate at least some suspicion.

 

Looking around at the lively town, streets bustling with people socializing, selling goods, and seemingly preparing for some grand event, it brought her much shame knowing what she had to do next, but she had no choice, her will was no longer her own. She was a puppet of the Demon Lord Clayman, bound to his decisions so long as he held her true heart.

 

What the Demon Lord wanted Tempest for was beyond her knowledge, but with this seemingly being only one part of a grander plan, she imagined he wasn’t working alone in this endeavor.

 

For now, she had made her way into Tempest under the ruse of being a party member of Tempest’s close friend Youm. All that was left was to blend in and wait for the call. It could be days from now, it could be months, it could even happen in a few minutes for all she knew. Whatever the case, she was ready at all times, but she had to look the part of a normal mage, at least for now.

 

“It is great to see you again, Youm. Who is this you’ve brought with you?” Mjurran’s focus returned to reality as she saw Youm standing in front of a pink-haired kijin dressed in a red and white kimono. The style was common among some of the Tempestian women she had seen, but the kijin’s stood out among all others as especially extravagant, with the girl having the aura to match.

 

Youm gestured his hand toward Mjurran, explaining, “This here is Mjurran. She’s joined our party as a mage. She’s quite a skilled one too, probably the strongest of all of us.”

 

The kijin woman made a polite bow to Mjurran with a friendly smile, “It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Shuna, please make yourself at home. Feel free to explore around or try out the hot springs later.”

 

Mjurran nodded calmly, “Thank you…” Mjurran looked around again at all the people working to set something up. She had noticed it on the way here but it was especially obvious near the town’s center where they currently were, “Are you all preparing for a festival or something?”

 

Shuna clapped her hands and nodded with a smile, “Yes! Great Rimuru will be returning after a long absence in about a week so we’re planning a large celebration for his return.”

 

Youm nodded and folded his arms, looking back for a brief moment, “Yeah, I noticed there were a lot of the military folks around town. You usually see a few of 'em but there were a lot more than I remember seeing last time I visited.”

 

Shuna nodded, “Yes, those are for a military parade. The military wanted to do so to celebrate Tanya’s return. Tanya’s absence will have been far shorter than Rimuru’s, but the military mostly wants an excuse to show off how far they’ve progressed.”

 

Another kijin girl walked up, wearing a professional purple outfit with matching colored hair and a well-endowed chest, leaning a massive blade against her shoulder as she shook her head, “I swear the military gets more prideful and patriotic every day.”

 

Youm chuckled, shrugging his shoulders, “Is that really a problem, Shion?”

 

The purple-haired kijin, Shion, simply shrugged, “I suppose not, but these days it feels like they’re just itching to finally put their new tech and training to use. I almost feel bad for whoever becomes their first victim.”

 

Another Kijin walked by behind them, wearing an elaborate red outfit donned with a few military decorations, clearly defining his place within the Tempest hierarchy. As he passed by, he laughed, “If Tanya doesn’t get back soon, the Military will probably find some country to invade anyway!”

 

Shuna looked up at Shion with slight surprise, “I expected you to be up there with the military and wanting a target to destroy.”

 

Shion proudly placed her sword behind her back and her hands on her hips, “I am Great Rimuru’s personal secretary! I cannot indulge myself in such affairs as the military. Though should anyone dare to attack Tempest, I will be on the front lines personally to crush them!”

 

Shuna made a light-hearted sigh before addressing Mjurran again, “Sorry about that, feel free to enjoy all Tempest has to offer, it was a pleasure to meet you.”

 

With another polite bow Shuna turned and left, entering the large government building behind them as the other kijin went to handle their own affairs.

 

‘Each of those Kijin are insanely powerful. Even ignoring their military strength, their government alone could topple an entire country overnight if they wanted to.’

 

It was no wonder that Tempest was a target. Soon it would rival even the strongest powers, and the emergence of a power capable of rivaling the Eastern Empire right in the middle of the continent where it could strike anyone at any time was easily a massive threat.

 

She had hoped she could at least spare Youm from the conflict that was to come, but she could not warn him, she could not warn anyone. She could not completely deny the feelings she had developed for him, but that would have to wait as she simply prayed that he would forgive her.

 

She had one job, after all: Aid in the destruction of the Imperial Tempest Federation.

 

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

 

Tanya’s focus all funneled into a single spot, her eyes glaring intently at her hand as slowly and meticulously a crystal formed within it. After a full minute of forming, she opened her hand and crushed it within her palm.

 

‘Another mistake. I’ll try again.’

 

Yet again she manifested the crystal within her hand, and again she crushed it in her palm. She continued this a few more times, sometimes crushing it almost immediately, other times crushing it once it was practically complete. After several attempts, she finally had a successful crystal.

 

Perfect in shape, geometry, and most importantly, internal structure. She looked down at the rifle laid out on the desk in front of her, half-constructed and still in numerous pieces. This was a newer rifle than the one she was used to using, a completely new design she had been working on for months.

 

She carefully placed the crystal within the firing chamber, placing it alongside the dozens of other crystals, each perfectly crafted and placed along the edge of the chamber to aid in the firing mechanisms. The crystals aided in almost every magical aspect of the rifle, from its bullet creation, firing, and enhancement to even firing beams of pure magical force.

 

Her old design was primitive by comparison, using larger, let alone far more inefficient crystals lined all along the barrel, instead of within a single chamber near the start of it. The rifle also included one major noteworthy feature: A built-in computational device.

 

This was what she had begun referring to as the rifle’s magi-core, 6 computational cores within a single magical engine built into a circular part located below the barrel and in front of the trigger. Where there would have normally been ammo on most rifles, there was now just the magi-core.

 

Aside from making it so that a computation jewel was no longer needed to cast formulas on the rifle, the core amplified magic itself, even working in unison with computation jewels one may already be using, enhancing the power further. The core served as both a magicule battery and a magicule ‘charger’.

 

With the capability to absorb magic either by the user funneling magic into it or passively absorbing the excess magicules caused by the aura of nearby monsters, the rifle was able to recharge and be used even without a user of the amount of magic Tanya herself had.

 

The firing chamber and magic-core technology were both relatively new creations of the TRI, though none of the models the TRI had made came even close to the model Tanya had just completed for herself.

 

The TRI had made a firing chamber using fifty less-efficient crystals, while Tanya’s used over a hundred with maximum efficiency within each crystal. The most powerful magi-core the TRI had placed on a rifle was four, Tanya’s now had six.

 

The reason the TRI was behind wasn’t due to incompetence or lack of capability, but rather the fact that few people besides Tanya herself could use such a weapon. The costs for making it weren’t really worth it when the few that could use it effectively were better equipped with other weapons.

 

Putting the final pieces together, Tanya looked at her finished work: The strongest rifle she had ever seen, and possibly the strongest rifle to ever exist, though she wasn’t yet willing to take her chances on that.

 

A normal bullet from the rifle packed the same punch as an anti-tank rifle, and with it being far more capable of reaching the upper limits of power, it would hopefully have the capabilities she needed to take out her target.

 

Tanya sat analyzing her rifle for a few minutes until she was interrupted by the sound of her office door opening ahead of her. Looking up from her rifle she saw Mia enter the room, politely bowing before closing the door behind her.

 

“Is that what you’ve been working on, Miss Degurechaff?” Mia asked, no longer surprised by the strange inventions Tanya tended to pull from nowhere.

 

Tanya nodded, placing the rifle again on the table, “It's a new rifle, I’ll be needing it soon. There’s one last step I need to take before the Rosso’s sphere is under our control.” Tanya raised her hand, gesturing towards a blonde-haired pink-eyed girl sitting quietly on a nearby chair, “Speaking of which, this is Mariabell. Her soul has been successfully restored, albeit with some… alterations.”

 

Mia sighed before asking, “What did you do to the poor girl?”

 

“Since she had seemingly prioritized sacrificing less important parts of her soul, namely things like some of her memories and personality, I was able to alter them to my liking. Now Mariabell completely looks up to me.”

 

Mia looked nervously at Mariabell who made a friendly smile and waved at her, “Are you sure we should be speaking of this in front of her?”

 

“Oh, don’t worry, she knows that I changed her personality and memories. I designed it specifically so that she knows this and has no problem with it.” Tanya explained.

 

“Does she know that you modified that, too?” Mia asked.

 

Tanya nodded, “Yep, she knows that all of her respect and support for me comes from my meddling and has no problem with that, and though she knows I was the one who put the thoughts in her head she has no problem with that part either.”

 

Mariabell interrupted, standing up with a polite bow, “I am indebted to Lady Tanya for the rest of my life. I shall put my heart and soul into working for her.”

 

Mia looked cautiously at the girl and then back at Tanya, muttering, “You really messed her up, didn’t you?”

 

Tanya shrugged, “Yeah, unfortunately, she was probably a single-case scenario. I doubt I’ll be able to just consistently get souls with their personalities and memories damaged that I can so easily modify.”

 

Returning to the original topic, Mia asked, “You mentioned a ‘last step’, yes? What is it?”

 

Tanya stood up, placing the rifle on her back as she adjusted her clothes as she stood, “As I’m sure you may have noticed with Sage, I’m no longer using my Parallel Existence. That skill siphons off part of my magical power, and I may need all of it for my coming plans.”

 

Tanya waved her hands and showed an illusionary map, a crosshair materializing aimed at a small city-state nation bordering Falmuth to its northwest. After another moment, a picture of an older man appeared next to it, “Granbell Rosso. The head of the Rosso family and arguably the strongest enemy I’ve had yet. It is for that reason I don’t plan to play fair.”

 

“If he’s strong enough to make you use your full strength and upgrade your weapons, I can only imagine what he’s capable of…” Mia muttered as Tanya nodded in agreement.

 

“My grandfather is among the strongest people in the western nations. He will not be taken out so easily, but I believe Lady Tanya can do it!” Mariabell exclaimed cheerfully.

 

“Hearing that come out of the mouth of one of the most influential members of the Rossos is starting to freak me out…” Mia muttered.

 

“Yes, but she is correct.” Tanya explained, waving her hand as the illusions went away, replaced by another one showing a long series of magical circles, each glowing brightly and of various sizes, layered on top of one another with about a few inches of space between them, all perpendicular to the ground, “This is the spell I will use to kill him. One shot is all I get. I have my doubts about a victory in a prolonged battle.”

 

“That’s the biggest spell I think I’ve ever seen…” Mia muttered.

 

“That’s because it’s the biggest known spell, at least from my perspective. You see Formulas can only get you as far as the technology can sustain it. So I fire out a bullet at maximum formulaic power within the rifle and then enhance it with countless normal spells to further maximize its potential power. The result is a force that could effortlessly level a massive city all centralized into a single beam of power” Tanya answered with a smile.

 

“I see… you’ve planned this out a lot but… Do we need to take him out now? Surely we can wait until you gather more power to ensure a greater chance of victory.” Mia suggested with her fingers resting on her chin.

 

“While it is true that my Grandfather has relatively stagnated in terms of power growth over the last few decades, especially in comparison to the magnificent growth of Lady Tanya, he is acutely aware of Tanya and Tempest. Regardless of what action I take, he may soon take action of his own if we do not act soon.” Mariabell says with her arms folded.

 

“So we don’t have a choice then?” Mia asks, concerned.

 

“If we want the element of surprise, we don’t. Normally I would try a different course of action, but with Mariabell easily capable of usurping the role as head of the family, I most likely have no need for any direct repercussions.” Tanya swiped her hand again, removing the illusions and stepping from behind her desk.

 

Passing by Mia, Tanya headed for the door, “The company is in your hands until I am back. There is a magical blue orb in my desk, use that for communication if an emergency arises. It will connect to a ring I have and allow you to speak with me across long distances.”

 

Mia made a polite bow, “Good luck, Miss Degurechaff!”

 

Tanya sighed, “I’ll need it.”

 

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

 

Granbell Rosso had lived a long eventful life, though his appearance was far past his prime, he had lived for far longer than most humans could even dream of. What was once a man with a hope to protect humanity now sought its domination. His family had become vital tools for this sole purpose, spreading out across the west and gathering more and more control, all centered around himself and the Five Elders.

 

Progress on unifying humanity by force was slow, but he had plenty of time. Going too fast could gather too many enemies and leave humanity in danger. If humanity was going to be protected, he needed to rule it with an iron fist, but doing so too quickly would lead to more problems than it would solve. Slow and steady was ultimately the plan.

 

Of course, he knew he did not have forever. He was near ageless at this point, but even now there was only so much his body could do. His strength, though still far beyond what most humans could even dream of, was slowly but surely waning. In time, whether it be a few hundred or a few thousand years, he would start getting weaker rapidly.

 

He considered stalling this, and in truth it was possible to, at least for a while longer, but he no longer felt he needed to. He had been given a wondrous granddaughter, one who almost directly resembled the wife he had once so greatly cherished and tragically lost. It would be this granddaughter, Mariabell, that would succeed him and finish what he started.

 

It was to this extent that she was already succeeding. Her efforts alone had helped accelerate the growth of the Rossos’ influence by nearly a factor of two. The contribution of the girl’s intelligence, cunning mind, and powerful skill could not be understated. He had no worries about passing on the protection of humanity to her when she was fully ready.

 

Her strength unfortunately still left much to be desired. Aside from her powerful skill and her fairly significant amount of magicules, she lacked the same strength that he had. Should she face an opponent that her skill would not work on, most likely a Demon Lord or some equivalent, he worried that she wouldn’t stand a chance of defending herself.

 

It was for this reason that all of her targets were human. Sending her off to deal with majin or demon lords was too threatening a proposition just yet. In time, he was certain she could provide a threatening foe to even these individuals, but for now her safety was a priority.

 

As Granbell waited patiently outside the manor, he watched as Mariabell’s carriage slowly pulled in as the girl stepped out and offered a polite bow. Strangely though, Granbell could feel a strange presence, one that he could not fully detect, but shrugged it off as his imagination as his granddaughter caught his attention.

 

“Grandfather, I have learned something in my travels. I wish to show something to you in the wine cellar, I believe it may be of vital importance to humanity, but I do not wish to do it in public.”

 

Granbell was confused at why the wine cellar was essential. After all, the manor itself was already well secured, but there was no use in arguing. If she had learned of something he didn’t know, perhaps there was a genuine reason to be down there.

 

Nodding along, he muttered “Very well, I’ll follow you down there. We can speak when we’re in the privacy of the downstairs.”

 

Granbell followed as Mariabell led him down into the large wine cellar below. The lights below were all off, causing the room to be filled with a deep darkness. Granbell attempted to use light to illuminate the room, but soon noticed his light struggling to shine beyond a foot in front of him.

 

After a second, Mariabell seemed to have vanished from his now limited sight. Even magic or skills didn’t see beyond it. Immediately he knew something was wrong, in searching for his granddaughter he turned, hearing a loud bang along with the sound of whirling magic coming from behind him.

 

He had no time to react, looking down as a glowing circle appeared on his chest, slowly fading away as his vision blurred and his legs trembled. He stumbled around for a few moments before he collapsed onto the floor.

 

His face was able to look behind him at where the attack had come from as the illusionary darkness around him faded. Numerous magical circles, many of which were different from any magic he recognized, hovered and glowed in front of a smoking rifle. The weapon was a rare one, but he knew what it was. Looking at the one who wielded it though filled him with terror.

 

A demon with black hair and crimson-red eyes stared at him down, looking at him like a pathetic pest best left dead. He continued trembling on the ground, whatever the attack was, it was a spiritual one, aimed directly at his soul.

 

His soul was damaged, no, that was an understatement, his soul was falling apart. He could salvage it if he pushed himself hard enough, he could still live, he could still survive.

 

Then he froze. Looking back he saw the Demon casually talking to his granddaughter. Their words were fuzzy, but Mariabell showed no fear, no remorse, no sadness. In fact, she showed joy and gave praise.

 

His heart sank, the last person he had ever truly felt a deep personal connection to, the last grip he had on this world, the last person who kept him sane since the death of his wife. The striking similarities the girl had visually to his wife didn’t help either.

 

To see her so eagerly speaking with this demon, praising his death, it caused his will to slip. His soul slowly began to fade and fragment, ripping apart as his will to hold on faded away.

 

Yet, there was now something else there: Anger.

 

His heart and soul filled with rage. After everything he had done for the girl, everything he had done for humanity, for it to all end like this… He wouldn’t… He couldn’t…

 

{ I’m afraid I won’t let you. }

 

A voice emanated through the world. He looked around and saw no source beyond his own mind. His soul continued holding on, once more attempting to pull himself back together, now out of sheer anger and will for revenge. If nothing else, against the demon that took his granddaughter and now his life away from him.

 

Yet still, something was now holding him back. His soul was being restrained, there was another force trying to pull him apart.

 

Yet again the voice echoed { You have something that belongs to me. Unyielding as it is called now. Just look at the skill, it's practically reached Ultimate level already. All it really needed was a single push to knock it over the edge… }

 

Still struggling to hold on, Granbell retorted { Who are you… What do you want from me? }

 

{ My skill back. My skill has never been fully restored, a fact I had come to accept over time. Yet when I first arrived in this world I felt the presence of one of its fragments. It took me a while to find it, but then I found you. I had planned to wait until the Devil was slain, but it seems she’s done this step for me }

 

Struggling onward, he muttered { That devil… Is your enemy…? }

 

{ Why of course. A being like her cannot be left alive }

 

{ Then let me… Help you… }

 

{ Despite how useful you may be as a subordinate, I’m afraid I need my full strength to take her down myself. I cannot risk my skill being anything less than whole. I’m afraid this is goodbye }

 

He tried one last time to desperately cry to help him, however he felt in that instant his soul become torn to shreds as the voice committed the final act needed to fully tear him apart.

 

‘So this is how humanity ends… My dream is dead… I’ll see this world in hell’

 

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

 

“So you want to get them involved now too? How do you even think you can pull that off?” The boy asked, turning to face his bookshelf as the nutcracker on it stared him down in response.

 

“You’d be surprised how eager they are to get their plans rolling. The Demon has again made my job easier, but they have shown their full strength. I need Tempest to split their focus across multiple fronts. The Argent cannot be given support. How are your plans to subdue the slime?”

 

The boy, Yuuki, folded his arms and leaned against a wall, “That slime has a ring of communication that’s probably connected to the demon. Hinata has been informed about it, so it's likely she’ll go immediately for it.”

 

“Good. Keep the slime distracted, kill them if possible. Thanks to that devil I’ve regained the full might of my skill. I was originally worried that Falmuth’s army would not be enough, but now I have nothing to worry about.”

 

“Just what exactly did you do with the full skill?” Yuuki asked with curiosity.

 

The voice just laughed “Ohoho… I wonder what Tempest will do against the military might of the Unified States.”

 

“You summoned a whole country’s military?!”

 

“That is an exaggeration. It was one military base. It’s what weapons this base was holding that is truly important…”

 

“Whatever. You do your part, and I’ll do mine. I just hope your foolproof plan doesn’t fail on us.” Yuuki murmured.

 

“You must have more confidence in the creation of the great Veldnava.” The voice once more vanished as he left that last line, leaving Yuuki in silence as he began the final preparations for what was to come.

 

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

 

Business was slow over the last few days at the bank. Nothing too out of the ordinary, slow weeks happened all the time. If anything it was fortunate considering this was the week Tanya would be gone.

 

Out killing some powerful figure in the human world. It was amazing to Mia how casually Tanya treated such events, though it was obvious in this case she knew the full power of the person she was crossing with. Despite that, Mia had full confidence in Tanya’s safe return. It was really more a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

 

As she sat behind a counter handling some of the day’s paperwork, she heard a commotion coming from outside. Nothing too critical it sounded like, but rather as if the people outside were confused if not outright in awe.

 

Curious, and with paperwork already otherwise slow, Mia stepped outside to see what the commotion was about.

 

Far into the blue sky were three white streaks of clouds, some brief asking around led to an answer as a young gentleman explained, “There were just three shooting stars or meteorites, bright as day, soaring through the skies to the east of here.”

 

“Hm… I see…” Astronomical phenomena like that were a rare sight, and it made her somewhat disappointed to have just missed it. She knew little of astronomy, but part of her felt like there was something else going on.

 

While she ignored it for now and turned to go inside, she heard more murmuring building up amongst the crowd as fingers pointed to the sky.

 

Once more, a bright light leaving behind it a trail of white smoke soared through the air. However, as the voices soon explained, it seemed to be going in the opposite direction this time, yet appeared to be at the same distance.

 

For a moment she assumed it to be some additional part of some strange phenomena but as it seemed to disappear over the horizon and the group started to disperse a loud bang was suddenly heard from behind.

 

The group all turned as the few glass windows of the city cracked and even shattered around them. Far off into the distance, beyond what seemed to be the borders of Blumund, seemed to be a distant black cloud just barely peeking over the horizon. Most took little note of it, simply seeming confused, however as she stared at the small black cloud in the far distance, she knew it was of something bigger.

 

Mia knew where it came from, and she knew where it landed. The question of ‘why’ went unanswered, but she could no longer delay. If Tanya wasn’t already informed, she needed to know, and she needed to know Now.

 

[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]

 

“Back for another story, are we Guy?” The demon leaned forward in her chair with a smug grin as Guy rolled his eyes.

 

“Just get it started already.” He grumbled in response. He appreciated the story, but he’d be lying if he hadn't started to get a bit impatient with all the different times he had to come back over and over again. It wouldn’t have been so much of a problem if it weren’t for the void that she demanded to meet her in.

 

Whatever the case, his curiosity refused to let him simply give up on the story. He would see it to the end, at the very least. 

 

“Yes, yes… Now where was I? Ah right. With her Ultimate Skills, Argent managed to prove a worthy opponent for the Storm Dragon, forcing him to go all out on the Primordial. While she eventually again managed to force him back, the collateral damage and the fact she had yet to secure a decisive victory meant she wasn’t strong enough yet, at least not in her own eyes. 

 

She knew she needed more power, but was unsure of where to find it. She was limited in how many Ultimate Skills her soul could handle. So if she could not increase her number of skills, she argued, then she’d just have to increase the power of her skills.

 

However she ran into a roadblock trying to improve her own Ultimate Skills. The problem lies with them seemingly being the true final limit to skills. By her predictions, adding any more strength to the skills may have outright caused it to develop an ego and sentience.

 

As Argent pushed to strengthen her skills despite the impossibility of the task, she realized she got her belief backwards. Rather than skills getting stronger leading to developed egos, it seemed that developing egos led to the strengthening of skills. 

 

Combining all the knowledge she had learned, she created her strongest and most powerful weapon, the true ace up her sleeve, the Manas ‘Athena’, a manifestation of Fortuna: Lord of Odds.”

 

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Thanks to various editors and helpers on the Discord who helped with things like plot decisions, grammatical errors, and other aspects of the chapter:

 

Dragon1008, Terraman60, Ultra

 

To join the discord for chatting, discussion, updates, or to apply to be one of the credited helpers, join the link below:

 

https://discord.gg/xcCvpSxmA7