The air seemed to swirl as the demon made a swift and rough landing onto the paved road below, dust flying into the air as attention was quickly brought to the demon girl whilst she brushed off her black and red uniform. The demon, Tanya, glanced up to study two semi-transparent sheets of magical energy, one curving up to form a dome over the city while the other made up one side of a rectangular pyramid. 

 

Transcending Eye told her what they were, though she didn’t need her Unique Skill in order to guess that they were restrictive barriers designed to weaken the residents of Tempest. While a mage’s barrier could probably negate its effects, all but a few stronger mages would struggle to apply such a protective barrier if they were already under its effects. Should a mage from the outside form a barrier around themselves and walk inside, however, they would have little issue so long as their barrier could be maintained.

 

It was certainly a complicated problem to deal with, and judging by the large amounts of smoke emanating from the city itself, Tanya could tell that her nation certainly struggled to deal with it. As she approached the barrier, mages lining the road all knelt before her, most staring down in shame, unable to face their leader. Those who weren’t were mostly streaked with tears, or wounded beyond physical capability, neither of which Tanya would comment on.

 

Tanya strode by them in silence, arms placed firmly behind her back as she marched forward, stopping next to a standing Weiss, whose arms were folded near the barrier’s edge.

 

He quickly took notice of Tanya’s presence, albeit mostly for show since he had likely noticed her approaching from kilometers away. He was Tanya’s best-trained mage from both worlds, after all, and Tanya expected nothing less from a war veteran of his caliber. Weiss appeared to be analyzing the effects of the barrier, as without Tanya’s own skill, Weiss was forced to rely on nothing but his own observations. He did have some skills like Thought Acceleration and a highly knowledgeable and analytical mind, but he wasn’t Tanya. 

 

Turning to Tanya, Weiss explained, “The barrier doesn’t seem to affect humans. Or at least, it doesn’t seem to affect me all that much. The magicule concentration is still dropping as we speak. It’s made it a lot harder to cast formulas inside, sure, but unlike most of the monsters, I can still enter and leave without the need to protect myself against the barrier. Monsters and demihumans need to cast a full-body shield to resist the effects of the barrier. ”

 

“That’s by design.” Tanya commented, “These barriers were made by humans to be used against monsters. We’re magical lifeforms, we need magic to thrive. Cut it off, removing any magicules in the air and you’ve just turned all of them into sitting targets, at least in theory. No magic means no internal support, no internal support means no magical resistance. I take it that whatever offensive was launched here was repelled?”

 

Weiss made a nod, “Of course, Chancellor. The barrier technology that the Panzers are equipped with allowed them to slip past the barrier without issue, resulting in most of the fleeing opponents' ends. The problem, however, is that while they had plenty of power to repel the attack, most of them are running low by now.”

 

Tanya sighed and commented, “They’re magicule-based tanks, in a field that weakens magic, they’re practically useless. Their barriers can allow them to negate the effects of the field, but then they need to drain more magicules to maintain that barrier, which only worsens the situation.”

 

Weiss again nodded, confirming Tanya’s speculation, “That’s exactly what happened. We’ve had to pull out most of the tanks out of Tempest. Most of them are too low to engage in any prolonged battle. With our mages being needed at all times in case another ground attack or air raid comes, we can’t afford to have them waste their magicules on refilling the tanks.”

 

“Smart choice. Tanks are far stronger at repelling a land invasion, but while mages might not be as effective at repelling a land invasion, they’re fully capable of repelling an aerial one. Tanks, on the other hand, would be left fully defenseless against an air raid. Right now, our mages are more valuable than our tanks.”

 

Weiss scratched at his chin nervously, muttering, “We still have three tanks with full magicule reserves. They weren’t put into action because we didn’t believe the roads were big enough to allow for proper maneuverability…”

 

“Because the… roads… weren’t… big enough? We designed the major roads in Tempest with tanks specifically in mind. You should be able to roll down three tanks in a row there and have space for infantry in between!” Tanya shouted, folding her arms in confusion.

 

Weiss sighed, “It's best if you see it yourself…”

 

The two fly off quickly to Veldoria, though with Weiss’ intense speeds thanks to his Accelerator Skill and Tanya’s overall skill and speed in flying, the two made it there in mere seconds when others would have required minutes. Not long after entering the now heavily busy fortress, Tanya was led to some of the inner labs where she gave a face of contempt at the three massive beasts of tanks that were located there, their magisteel armors gleaming in all of their excessive glory.

 

“Who greenlit this?” Tanya demanded, annoyed.

 

“That would be Otto, ma’am…” Weiss muttered.

 

Tanya rubbed the bridge of her nose, frustrated as she forcefully calmed herself down, sighing, “What a huge waste of resources. Our focus should be on stronger magical barriers, not oversized bombing targets!”

 

“That’s what I told them...” Weiss muttered with a sigh.

 

Tanya’s attention turned to the monitor at the side of the room. The computer served as the central command center for Tempest’s entire defense system, however simple it may be in its current form, as it computed everything a commanding officer would need to know. Tanya clicked away into the computer, shifting around a few things before the map she wanted finally displayed itself.

 

Projecting upon the screen was a reenactment of when the defense system had first gone into action against the impending missiles from Falmuth. Just as before, it showed two projectiles being shot down and a third slamming into Tempest’s defensive barrier, drastically weakening it, but failing to detonate within the city itself. After a few moments, another missile appeared on the screen, this time heading towards Falmuth, impacting the city where the missiles had been launched from. Whatever military base, city, fortress, or otherwise they may have launched the missile from, it certainly didn’t exist anymore thanks to Tempest’s MAD-type retaliations.

 

Tanya sighed, “Well, that answers that question. What are the statuses of our anti-air systems?”

 

“Gone,” Weiss stated blankly.

 

“I’d imagine they must’ve had aircraft with them if they ever found out about it.”

 

“They had a fully modernized army. I inspected one of the destroyed tanks; it was American in origin. Some of the soldiers we captured or killed confirmed this after interrogation. Apparently, they were originally members of the Unified States military who were stationed at some military base in Albion. Next thing they knew, they had been summoned to some fantasy world with their military base and comrades intact.”

 

“That explains where they got nuclear weapons, but not where they got the rockets…” In Tanya’s first life, the United States, her world’s Unified States, had created a few atomic bombs which they then dropped on Japan. In her second life, the war went similar to how World War II had gone, though with a vastly different Germany thanks to her efforts. Despite this, it seemed that the Unified States was still intent on the nuclear option. With no Japan to distract the US in the Pacific, the Empire was the next best testing ground, at least until Being X likely dragged it into this world.

 

“We inspected some of the destroyed rockets as well… At least what was left of them. From what we could salvage, it reminded me a bit of the rockets we used in Operation Revolving Door. The prisoners we took also confirmed that they were created by an old Imperial scientist. We inquired where said scientist was, and they stated he remained behind at the base.” Weiss explained, noticing Tanya growing more and more annoyed with each passing word.

 

“Of course that old bastard is here too… seems like all the sources of my headaches are, one by one, following me into this world. First Mary and now Schugel. With any luck, he was still at the base when it was hit.” Tanya muttered.

 

“Hit by what..?” Weiss asked, confused.

 

“Take the bomb that hit the barrier and multiply it by about ten. No, actually, about 50 times. From my estimations of the radiation and knowledge of history, the bomb that hit us was probably as powerful as the Nagasaki bomb… In hindsight, making a megaton bomb was probably excessive.” Tanya muttered as she ran the math rapidly thanks to Sage clocking in.

 

“Unfortunately, we haven’t begun clearing the radiation yet within our own territory, as we don’t want to drain our mages of magicules in doing so,” Weiss stated as Tanya nodded once more.

 

“Don’t worry, I started clearing it up not long after I landed. The mages should be able to operate around the city without needing to keep protective barriers up within a half hour.” Tanya explained as Weiss immediately conveyed the news to nearby units. All of the mages going into and within the region had been forced to keep a barrier up to prevent radiation poisoning, but without the radiation present, the magicules could be better saved for other tasks. Tanks had to be refilled, defenses had to be prepared, not to mention Tempestia and Veldoria practically ran on magicules. 

 

“So what’s the plan, Chancellor? I have no doubts that you could take down the barrier if you wanted to. I only have limited information on the true extent of the situation inside, but I believe we should still have enough to mount a counter-offensive.” Weiss calculated, though Tanya wasn’t so eager by comparison.

 

“No, I’ll keep the barrier up. So long as it remains up, the enemy will assume we’re trapped and weakened. The second the barriers go down, the enemy will begin preparing for battle, assuming we have a force capable of destroying said barriers in the future. Even if we win the following battle, I’d rather have the element of surprise to minimize casualties.” Tanya explained, walking away from the computer screen.

 

Weiss understood her logic, but he had his own concerns, “Well if that’s the case, do you think it’s possible to get some of our forces out of the city itself? In the event of a second attack, I feel we may need more than what we have here to defend.”

 

“Just why was so much of our military in the city in the first place? We should’ve had a lot more of it stationed in Veldoria, enough to repel any attack from even reaching the city!” Tanya was reasonably frustrated at the apparent lack of forces she now had on the outside, patrolling her nation’s territories and villages. Sure, she could bring people through the barrier with the help of her skills, but it was now increasingly apparent that this was likely avoidable entirely. She was sure Rimuru could perform similar feats, if not better, thanks to the slime’s ever-changing Great Sage. 

 

Weiss sighed, shame in his voice as he knew that it was their own fault, “The military wanted to do a massive parade. It started off as a random idea Gabiru threw out but everyone was on board with it instantly, deciding to treat it as some sort of festival as a show of force to you, of course. Flexing their muscles in a way. Most units were in the city preparing since you were soon to return.”

 

Tanya rubbed the bridge of her nose again, but couldn’t really blame them too much. It’s not like she had accounted for the possibility of such an attack herself, anyway, given the magical knowledge she knew of. It was partially her fault for not taking into consideration large-scale barriers which could single-handedly cripple all of Tempest, even after learning about them through her endeavors throughout the Western Nations. It was an embarrassing blunder, but at least it hadn’t cost them the war quite yet.

 

Had even just herself or Rimuru been at the city when the barriers were applied, the enemy’s plan would’ve completely collapsed since either of them could have shattered the barrier in an instant, along with completely massacring an army of mere humans. In short, it was a one-in-a-million opportunity with a perfect, albeit short, window of opportunity. While their absence for the week wasn’t exactly a secret to the public, Tanya knew there was no way Falmuth would have enough time to hear of this, prepare an attack, and launch it before one of them returned.

 

This wasn’t luck, this was coordinated, far more than what a single kingdom could have done on its own. The answer was rather simple; they had help, help from some greater power. Judging by the coordinated attacks against herself and Rimuru, Tanya already had a prime suspect, one who had been on her eyesight for quite a while now.

 

These weren’t Being X’s usual tactics, however. Usually, he would slowly and subtly alter world events against her, occasionally hurling a super-powered maniac like Anson and Mary Sue when the tension rose high enough as if reaching a climax like in a novel—which she may have well been. Being X rarely went all in with an offensive like he was now, even with all of his abilities and powers. This was a coordinated and well-planned strike, one that didn’t seem to be accomplished by said plan, but one that was extensively planned nonetheless. Being X was showing his full hand, all Tanya needed to do was beat him at his own game and Being X could be lured into a final fight. At least, that was the hope, though she wouldn’t be surprised if Being X tried to turn every country on Tempest, just like he had done in the previous world.

 

Still, the blaring issues of Tempest’s defenses were obvious. The mages that were outside the city, despite how elite they were, couldn’t defend the entire perimeter for long enough to have energy ready for the inevitable counterattack. The ‘Maus’ tanks, though massive and powerful, only numbered three, and were as slow as they were big, making them little more than slowly rotating cannons. Her soldiers weren’t trained enough in city entrenchment fighting, and she didn’t have enough of them among her citizens. Her citizens, too, were too weak and needed something that could save them in times of emergencies, in the case that soldiers couldn’t arrive on time. 

 

More reinforcements were needed, a call could be given to her allies in the Central Powers, but they wouldn’t arrive in Tempest in time if another army made their way to Tempestia while she and Rimuru were away once more. They would serve much better aiding other fronts, like in Falmuth anyways. No, Tanya had another ally up her sleeve.

 

Tanya marched by Weiss, who stared on in confusion as the Demon Lord ring on her finger glowed a faint purple light. Weiss was about to ask what she was doing, however, as they stopped before the massive and seemingly useless door, Weiss felt like he would get his answer soon.

 

The door, as Weiss had learned the day he got here, was useless. Despite how grand-looking it was, all it led to was a stone wall behind it. Despite that, as Tanya stood in front of it, it glowed a bright gold through the creases between the two doors. With her signature smirk at his surprise, she opened the door, revealing a seemingly endless corridor behind it.

 

Before Weiss could question where said corridor came from, a bright yellow light rushed through the door, hovering in the air as he realized it wasn’t some normal light, but rather some kind of winged entity, probably a fairy. The fairy that was, as he would’ve expected from one, incredibly small with insect-like wings on her back and messy blonde hair on her head.

 

The fairy’s eyes matched Tanya’s in intensity, rapidly punching the air as she proclaimed, “Alright, show me to 'em! I’ll blast 'em all away with all my 48 special moves! Like pew pew pew!” The fairy’s proclamation seemed to lack much force behind it, however, Weiss had learned to stop judging people by their cover pretty early on given the crowd Tanya seemed to surround herself with.

 

A few seconds later, a massive mechanical humanoid walked out of the doorway, kneeling down before the two and stating, “Greetings Lady Tanya, it is a pleasure to service you again. I shall not lose this time.”

 

Tanya nodded at the robot, gesturing for her to rise. “It’s alright Beretta. Don’t get too caught up in your defeat to Rimuru. Good to see you’ve been fully repaired.”

 

“Of course she is! Don’t you forget who I am! I repaired her in a jiffy!” The fairy proclaimed with a proud laugh as her hands were placed firmly on her hips.

 

“Yes, yes.” Tanya responded, glancing again at the confused Weiss, “Field Marshal Weiss, allow me to introduce you to the Demon Lord Ramiris and our magnum opus, Beretta.”

 

Ramiris kept her hands at her waist and lifted her chin proudly while Beretta performed a respectful bow. Before Ramiris could gloat over her own greatness, Tanya turned again to ask her, “Did you bring them?”

 

“No, I forgot,” Ramiris stated blankly as Tanya looked annoyed at the small fairy. After a second, Ramiris burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Look at your face! You seriously thought I would forget something that important?”

 

Tanya’s frustration only grew, though she managed to reign in her own face to avoid giving the fairy any further satisfaction. Before long, her own frustrations were drowned out by the sound of heavy mechanical marching as a relatively small unit of mechanical suits marched through the door.

 

Each one was humanoid in shape and appearance, though it appeared as if their very bodies were made up of armor, machines, lights, and wires. The single line of light where most creatures would have eyes seemed to serve as theirs, regularly phasing its colors in regular patterns. They had no mouth, though as Beretta lacked one either, Weiss assumed they could speak regardless of their lack of organs.

 

The suits weren’t dissimilar from the supposed magical mechanical armor suits that the TRI was planning to make. These, however, didn’t seem to contain any wearers underneath, rather they appeared to be fully mechanical, no doubt powered by magicules if Weiss had to guess.

 

“This, Weiss, is what we’ve titled the Teufel Legion. Individually, they might not be as strong as Beretta, but just one of them alone should be enough to route an unprepared army. You’d need a few well-trained mages to take one down.” Tanya explained with a mad grin.

 

“Teufel… as in?”

 

“They are demons, yes. Their bodies are mechanical, however, similar to how demons can inhabit constructs or golems, they can also inhabit robots. Therefore, rather than needing to produce some artificial AI, we can simply inhibit our suits with demons that are more than eager to have a physical form. In turn, demons gain access to predetermined abilities and functions, plus on top of their own, meaning we can better regulate how our more durable defenses perform.”

 

Weiss shook his head, sighing and muttering, “There comes a point at which I just stop being shocked at the things you make.”

 

Tanya took that as a compliment as she shifted to Ramiris and explained, “We’re lacking forces around the city itself, would you mind sending them to patrol around the perimeter?”

 

Ramiris nodded with a smile, “Don’t forget your part of the deal too! I’ll help you here, and in turn you let me stay in Tempest!”

 

Tanya nodded, “Yes, yes, of course. That door there can be your permanent one. I had designed it with that in mind. That way you have direct access to the TRI and our research.”

 

Ramiris gave a thumbs up and a wide grin, “Then let's blast that kingdom to ash!”

 

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

 

It took far more time than he had hoped for to return to Tempestia. Even ignoring the battle against Hinata that he barely escaped from, teleportation proved to be a tricky thing, even with Great Sage working overtime. The TRI didn’t allow any teleportation pads within Veldoria on the off-chance they could be overwritten and used by an enemy, and Rimuru was no exception. In fact, the TRI had already designed and implemented technology meant to disrupt enemies trying to teleport within the territory from the outside.

 

While the technology was brilliant, utilizing the fact that teleportation is a more fragile spell to its advantage and thus just needed some magicule jamming based on Charybdis’ Magic Jamming skill, it was now proving a headache for Rimuru. Though it meant nobody would just be able to magically appear within their backyard anymore, it also made teleporting into the area rather difficult for Rimuru himself. Normally, the capital had a few teleportation pads that he could use without restriction, as the TRI believed they would be obvious enough to not be a strategic threat when perpetually surrounded by guards, but with the city seemingly closed off from all transportation, that method proved impossible too after repeated failures by Great Sage.

 

It took some interference and loopholes with the help of Great Sage to bypass the TRI’s anti-teleportation field, landing on top of a tree. Even then, it had taken far longer than he would’ve liked, whole minutes long. Nonetheless, he arrived just beyond the barrier of the city. Thanks to his multi-layer barrier, he was largely able to phase through the two barriers surrounding Tempest with ease, although Great Sage told him that other monsters and demihumans wouldn’t be able to do it easily.

 

The sight beyond the barrier would’ve caused Rimuru to assume he was watching a war documentary, had he not been walking through it himself. Tanks left destroyed and sometimes still burning on the side of the road. Corpses, most of which seemed to consist of human soldiers, littered the streets, bullet holes and deep cuts from blades evident in most of them. 

 

While rarer than human corpses, unfortunately, monster corpses weren’t too uncommon to find either with much the same injuries as other corpses, though none of them seemed to be from blades in the latter’s case. All of them seemed to be either shot or crushed. Two possibilities emerged in Rimuru’s head. The first was that monsters had sustained minimal casualties in the fighting that ensued within the city itself, an unlikely outcome considering the fact over half of it seemed scorched, burnt, or outright destroyed in some way, likely through a quickly mobilized military. He hoped for this one, but his time with Tanya rubbed in another option.

 

The other, and much more terrifying probability, was that the casualties were much, much higher, and what Rimuru was seeing now were merely the corpses and remains that hadn’t yet been gathered or cleared from the streets. Whichever the case, the fighting along the roads had been intensive. Shells and bullets littered the cracked streets, and bullet holes and marks lined the walls and stone nearby. With Great Sage also informing him of small traces of radiation beyond the barriers, it didn’t paint a very pleasant picture of what happened during the past few hours.

 

Rimuru couldn’t help but feel somewhat ashamed at how much he criticized Tanya’s desire to rapidly modernize the nation’s military. Rimuru had been opposed to even creating guns in the first place, yet it was now obvious that whatever enemy they faced had the same weapons that he once shunned. Had the TRI not pushed so hard for modern weapons development, the battle that took place in Tempestia may have been a much bloodier one for the city. Without magic and skills, a sword will always lose to a gun. You didn’t bring a knife to a gunfight, you brought a bigger gun. A bigger gun which evidently Tempestia didn’t have, perhaps even due to his own nagging for peacetime policies.

 

Rimuru approached the center of town, eventually arriving at the central government building, which seemed to have been turned into a temporary hospital for the injured, of which there were so many. If there was one thing Tempest had plenty of, however, it was potions, so in time the injured would likely recover. The problem came with extracting the bullets out of their wounds. Healing around a bullet would only cause more problems, after all, and since surgeries were time-consuming, healing even a single person took a while.

 

The building itself seemed to be largely intact, though noticeable scorch marks and bullet holes stained the walls with the grime of war. It was fairly obvious that a battle had taken place over the building itself, and judging by the several flipped-over and destroyed tanks of unknown origin, Rimuru assumed they had won the fight for Tempestia’s most crucial headquarters.

 

Rimuru’s presence with his blue hair and outfit was quick to be noticed in contrast to the bleak smoke-filled sky and half-burnt houses behind him. Before he could even inspect anything that was going on, he could feel the ground shaking from the over six-and-a-half-foot tall mountain of muscle that was Rigurd charging at him.

 

Rigurd slid along the ground, getting down on his hands and knees as if praying for forgiveness, “GREAT RIMURU! I am so glad you’ve returned! Thank goodness you are safe!”

 

“Sorry I’m late, Rigurd…”

 

“You do not need to be sorry!” Rigurd declared as Rimuru noticed the excessive tears rushing down his face as he spoke.

 

“What’s happened?” Rimuru asked as Rigurd quickly stumbled up, visibly nervous.

 

“W-Well… I-I must inform you of the situation! P-Please accompany me to the emergency headquarters!” Rigurd replied, trying to hurry Rimuru along inside.

 

As he did, Rimuru gazed toward the direction of the central plaza of the town. “What’s over there?”

 

Rigurd immediately jumped to block his vision of the plaza, using his large body to block the view, “A very small problem has occurred! That’s all!”

 

“Stop lying to me. What’s happening in the plaza?” Rimuru demanded as he stared up at Rigurd, who failed to even stutter out a response.

 

Without any words, Rimuru walked past him before hearing a large explosion from a nearby alley. Focused now on the temporary occurrence, Rimuru dashed over to observe what was going on as Rigurd let out a loud sigh of relief. He would have to inspect the plaza later.

 

Rimuru rushed over to witness Benimaru in a clash with Youm, a few orcs standing behind him, blocking any hope for him to flee. Behind Youm was a woman with green hair, whom Rimuru assumed to be a magic caster of some kind based on her clothing. Youm, in almost every other situation, would’ve had his ass handed to him within seconds, but with the barrier preventing Benimaru from fighting at full strength, he was seemingly capable of holding on.

 

He was still losing significantly, of course, but rather than losing in mere seconds, it seemed he was able to drag out the battle for a little bit longer than it would’ve otherwise lasted. Youm appeared significantly injured as he struggled to stand his ground against Benimaru, being forced further back with every strike Benimaru landed. 

 

As soon as Rimuru’s presence was noticed, however, everyone was quick to kneel down, even Youm, who was just in combat with Benimaru, knelt down and swiftly apologized, “I am sorry, Great Rimuru…”

 

Still confused, Rimuru looked down at Benimaru, inquiring, “What’s happening?”

 

Benimaru looked up with his blade planted on the ground, explaining, “It’s this barrier. It weakens our strength. That woman was the caster of the magic which placed the barrier. When we tried to apprehend her, Youm resisted.”

 

Youm, still kneeling, explained, “I never had any intention of betraying you, Great Rimuru. I just wish to protect Mjurran here.”

 

“Please, leave me.” Mjurran muttered to Youm who seemed too stubborn to heed her advice, “After all, I am responsible for that scene in the plaza.”

 

Rimuru had grown tired of not knowing what was going on, commandingly ordering “Show me.”

 

With a nod Mjurran stood up and led Rimuru to the center of town, Rigurd hurrying forward to shoo the crowds away. There countless bodies were set up in rows, more corpses still being dragged in to join the count as military soldiers carried them in by stretcher or by hand. A few people with clipboards silently went around, trying their best to identify the bodies and counting the total losses. Several monsters were found weeping or staring in a longing silence near the bodies of their lifeless friends or family.

 

Rimuru’s heart sank at the sight, staring around in shock and sorrow at the seemingly hundreds of dead laid out across what was formerly the happy center of town. There was one area where there were no monsters, however, only one particular demon stood in silence as nobody dared go near her.

 

The reason was fairly obvious; the aura said demon was usually expertly contained was monstrously rampaging around her, its magicules so concentrated and bloodlust so evident that even veteran adventurers would only keel over and die upon getting too close. It threatened to tear up the stone brick and rip apart nearby bodies, so powerful were the magicules.

 

At first, Rimuru assumed Tanya’s emotion was sheer rage, judging from the bloodlust roaring through his technically nonexistent ears, but as he walked closer, he realized it was something else. Standing a bit away to the side, Rimuru noticed what, or rather who, Tanya was standing over. Below her was a black-haired cat-woman with a giant hole through her side. Rimuru could immediately recognize it as Eiga, someone who, for the longest time, had been effectively Tanya’s closest subordinate, and was still her second-most-favored individual and arguably the second-most powerful woman in Tempestia.

 

He could even sense mourning from Ranga hiding within his shadow, although because of the barrier overhead, he was unable to come out to mourn directly, not that even the direwolf would have dared mess with the demon at such a time. Tanya’s fists were clenched hard, shaking ever so slightly before the demon seemed to take notice of Rimuru’s presence.

 

In a near instant, her aura calmed down to normal levels and she seemed to return to her normal appearance. However, the terrifying look in her demonic eyes remained unchanged.

 

Nervously, Rimuru asked, “Are you… alright, Tanya?”

 

Tanya glanced over and placed her hands behind her back. “I am fine. It is just an unfortunate casualty of war,” Tanya muttered, although Rimuru felt it was fair to assume she was lying to some extent.

 

Tanya walked past and paused to stare at Rimuru once again, “Judging by how you look, you haven’t seen it yet.”

 

“Seen what?” Rimuru asked, worry further seeping into his voice.

 

Tanya sighed as she led Rimuru further into the rows of corpses, hands still behind her back as she marched in silence, none nearby dared to make a noise as the others seemed to know where they were heading by the nervous looks on their faces. Stepping up to one tall body in particular, Tanya lifted the blanket from it to reveal a dead Shion beneath it, her horn broken into pieces and her clothing riddled with bullet holes.

 

It was abundantly clear what had occurred, and Rimuru froze. 

 

The others looked on with ever-increasing nervousness before Rimuru’s aura also exploded outwards, causing all of them to flinch and fall back, aside from Tanya who stood firm in silence.

 

Rimuru’s head snapped back, staring at the group and then straight at Mjurran, his anger growing ever deeper, ‘if she’s responsible then…’

 

«Notice: The barrier created by the individual Mjurran would not have caused this much damage. The more likely candidate is the barrier placed beyond said barrier.»

 

‘I see… So it’s not directly her fault. The fact remains she’s still a criminal, but I’ll handle the interrogation myself. If Youm’s protecting her, there might be more to this.’

 

Rimuru’s brief moment of stability was again crushed as he returned his focus to the dead Kijin below him, his aura still overflowing as he used Great Sage to recreate Shizue’s mask, placing it upon his face to forcibly suppress his aura. He didn’t trust himself to willingly release it if he asked Great Sage to contain it for him. 

 

Glancing down once more, Rimuru stood for a few moments before firing off orders, “Everyone but Tanya leave. Now. Keep an eye on Mjurran, I’ll handle her later…”

 

Everyone silently agreed and left, Benimaru and Geld escorting Youm and Mjurran away to keep a close eye on the latter, as Tanya and Rimuru were left standing in silence over the corpses of hundreds of their citizens. More were brought in by the minute, but even those workers left in silence.

 

“Perhaps I treated your plans too harshly. Had I not held you back, a lot of this could’ve been prevented. It’s obvious that your whole belief… That whole ‘Iron and Blood’ thing… Well… perhaps I overlooked it too quickly. I still want peace, but now I believe I realize that you can't truly have peace without the might to win a war. That’s what you’ve been saying, at least.”

 

Rimuru turned to look at Tanya, sighing and continuing, “I don’t like war, and I don’t want war. But after today, I cannot ignore it either. Starting now, I will place no restrictions on the TRI, none whatsoever. Make whatever you want, but don’t let it fall into the wrong hands. I trust you enough to let you handle things from there.”

 

Tanya, though glad Rimuru had finally come around to accepting her ideals to at least a minor extent and allowing the TRI to finally research and produce at a massive scale, wished it had come from and during a much different set of circumstances. For how much Tanya would’ve normally celebrated in her ‘I told you so’ mentality, even she couldn’t bring herself to do that in the current circumstances.

 

If Being X was involved, then this war wouldn’t likely be the only one. There was no way Being X, regardless of how confident he was in the Unified States, would rely solely on one country to bring Tanya to ruin. If they were lucky, Tanya may be able to hunt down Being X before things got truly out of hand, but that was unlikely at best and impossible at worst. They would have to make more preparations, take more precautions, and move to eliminate almost anything Being X could mobilize against them.

 

With Tanya giving a silent nod, Rimuru turned back to the hundreds of bodies, raising his hand as he began to cast Gluttony to let them rest within him as he had done for Shizue in the past.

 

“Wait!” A voice yelled from behind, causing Tanya and Rimuru to snap back and witness the adventuring party of three quickly rushing over to them. The trio were some of the first visitors Tempest got along with Shizue, and they had visited a few times since, but for them to be here now of all times was entirely unexpected, even for Rimuru.

 

The blonde-haired mage girl, Eren, quickly ran up to Rimuru, panting as she caught her breath, “There’s a chance… No, it might actually be impossible, but there’s a story about a way to bring back the dead!”

 

Rimuru paused Gluttony and turned to listen. Even if the chances were near zero, even the slightest possibility was worth taking. “What is it?”

 

“Well you see, it's a tale from my country, but only a few people know about it. If I tell you, there’s a chance they might realize my contribution, but I don’t care!” Eren shouted, her face filled with determination.

 

“Your country? Aren’t you from Blumund?” Rimuru asked.

 

“No, she’s from Sarion,” Tanya muttered, much to everyone’s surprise.

 

“H-Huh?! How did you know?!” Eren jumped back in shock as the demon revealed her secret before she had even told it.

 

“You’re an elf, and from the way you phrased it, I took that to assume you have some decent connections, if not even higher up, in whatever nation you’re from. The only nation that would reasonably allow an elf to have any sort of connections to power is probably Sarion, a nation of mostly elves, since Jistav is a Demon Lord-ruled land.” Tanya explained, arms crossing before her.

 

“I-I suppose you’re right… Wait!- How did you know I was an elf?!” Eren questioned in shock.

 

“It’s hard to lie to my skills, especially with your level of strength. I never mentioned it because I suspected you probably had a reason to hide it. It probably would’ve strained our relations if I revealed it before.” Tanya retorted as Eren simply appeared exhausted.

 

With a wave of her hands, Eren ended the illusion magic upon her ears, causing them to return from rounded, human-looking ones to longer, pointy-eared ones, looking like all the other elves Rimuru had seen thus far.

 

“Well, what's the story?” Rimuru asked, desperate to know of any way to revive his friends.

 

“Right… Well, long ago, there was this girl with immense power that she inherited from her father. After her father’s death, she attached herself to her closest friend, a small dragon. The kingdom tried to control and use the girl for her power, but during the process, they killed the small dragon. The girl, enraged, destroyed the kingdom and awakened as a True Demon Lord. As a result, her dragon was revived, however, without its soul it went on a rampage, quickly forcing the newborn Demon Lord to seal away her once greatest friend.”

 

Rimuru listened to the story, but was somewhat skeptical, “Even if that is true or even possible… I’d rather not have all of my former subordinates turn into mindless rampaging monsters. I’m sure my citizens would believe the same.”

 

Eren shook her head, “I believe that the dragon didn’t revive properly because it didn’t have its soul anymore. However, with the barriers here…”

 

“The souls could still be inside…” Rimuru continued, glancing upward at the two barriers that had kept the monsters weakened and locked inside. What was once their greatest detriment could now be used to their benefit, if only to recover what had been lost.

 

«It is possible. The chance of success is 3.14%»

 

‘Easy as pi. Actually, that’s not easy at all. But it's possible, I know that now. Just how do I become a True Demon Lord? Perhaps it’d be best to let Tanya take on the responsibility.

 

«In order to become a Demon Lord, one must awaken the Demon Lord Seed contained within the individual. You obtained the seed after devouring the Orc Disaster, having reached the pinnacle of your species. Tanya’s magicule levels indicate that she likely also has a Demon Lord Seed. In order to nurture the seed, several thousand souls will be needed. However, while Tanya may be capable of becoming a Demon Lord, without a skill like Great Sage, the chance of her success in the resurrection is 0.52%.»

 

‘Right… Great Sage is probably optimizing the process. Sure, Tanya has Sage, but that's a naturally inferior version, even when Tanya pushes it to its limits. With how huge the invading armies seem to be, there may even be enough for both of us to awaken as Demon Lords, so perhaps it doesn’t matter too much.’

 

“I see…” Rimuru muttered with a nod, “Then it's worth a shot. Tanya!” Tanya turned and looked at Rimuru, whose expression was surprisingly now one of determination and newfound hope, “Mobilize everything we have. We’re going to need a lot of dead souls for this to work.”

 

Tanya nodded, “Already on it.” Tanya’s Demon Lord Ring glowed a faint purple hue as a small golden-glowing pixie fluttered over at rapid speeds. Rimuru’s determined expression turned to mild annoyance and confusion as she saw the overconfident pixie.

 

Tanya turned and spoke to the pixie, “Ramiris, tell the Teufel Legion to prepare for battle. Our offensive begins tomorrow.”

 

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With the demons beyond the barrier on high alert and Tanya quietly organizing the military in the background through dozens of Thought Communication messages to prepare for tomorrow’s offensive, the next major affair had to be dealt with; the pseudo-trial of Mjurran. After a brief investigation and questioning of some of Tempestia’s residents who had interacted with her, Tanya and Rimuru had gotten a good perspective of the situation from the viewpoint of others. It was only time to question her now. 

 

Apparently, Mjurran had tagged along with Youm’s party on their way to Tempest. After joining as their mage, Mjurran traveled with Youm to Tempestia, where she was able to cast her spell without notice, at least not until it was far too late for even Youm to notice. Mjurran and Youm seemed to have developed some sort of relationship over this time, as it seemed Mjurran wasn’t too proud of her decision to cast the barrier. That, of course, begged the question of why she cast it in the first place if she didn’t want to.

 

Wanting to hear her perspective, though with Tanya in particular skeptical of the majin’s motive, the two entered the room where she was being surveilled, ordering everyone else to leave. Additional measures to prevent her escape were largely unnecessary, with the barrier above having also weakened her magical powers as a majin as well, and plus they were the two strongest leaders of Tempestia currently involved in the case.

 

Guarding the room was Geld, armed in recently-repaired armor as he silently stepped aside to allow Rimuru and Tanya to enter, with the two soon standing face-to-face with Mjurran and Youm, the latter of which had been forced to leave his weapons outside of the room. Not wanting to waste any further time, Tanya simply walked up, hands folded behind her back and ordering, “Explain.”

 

Mjurran nodded and began, “I am a servant of the Demon Lord Clayman. True to his title, he is a master at manipulating his subordinates to do his bidding. Long ago, he stole my true heart, meaning my only way to survive has been to obey his orders. Applying the barrier was his order, as even had I refused to follow his orders, he likely would’ve taken direct control over my body as he had done to many disobedient ‘puppets’ of his,” Mjurran stared down quietly, muttering, “I do not seek forgiveness, I accept any punishment that is awaiting me.”

 

Silently, the two interrogators silently discussed through Thought Communication, with Rimuru sending a message to Tanya, asking { What are your thoughts? }

 

{ I noticed the artificial heart within her a while ago, although I wasn’t sure of its purpose. I knew she was a subordinate to someone, considering the encrypted signals being sent to and from it, but wasn’t sure who. It's possible that Clayman could control or even kill them through said connection. }

 

Rimuru seemed to understand, having sensed the artificial heart and signals himself, though likely not to the same degree that Tanya had with her Transcending Eye, { I see… I may be able to create an artificial heart that isn’t bound by Clayman. It’s just a matter of whether or not she’s actually disloyal to Clayman or if this is all an act. }

 

Tanya didn’t seem to have a strong opinion regardless { Worst case scenario, we should be able to easily kill her if she tries anything. She only got this far because we took our eye off of her. So long as we silently monitor her, we should have no issues. Besides, without the encrypted connection, Clayman would have no way of connecting to her through these barriers. }

 

Rimuru, having come to much the same conclusion, nodded in agreement. Stepping forward, he declared, “I’m sorry Mjurran, I’m going to have to kill you.”

 

Youm immediately tried to step in to stop it, but was quickly held back by Geld, who quickly locked his arms in place from behind. Veteran adventurer or not, a surprise movement from a named demihuman whose race was specifically built for brawls wasn’t something he could easily weasel out of. In an instant, Rimuru launched his hand into Mjurran’s chest, however, as Rimuru’s hand pulled out moments later, Mjurran stood blinking, glancing around confused, without a single scratch on her beside her rapidly regenerating wound.

 

Startled, she muttered, “W-What… Happened..?”

 

Youm stared, wide-eyed and shocked, unable to muster out a word as Mjurran seemed perfectly fine despite having just been visibly stabbed through the chest by one of the strongest people he knew. She should have died then and there, rapidly regenerating hole in her chest or not.

 

Rimuru shrugged with a slight grin, “I said I needed to kill you, not that you needed to die. All I did was swap out Clayman’s artificial heart for my own, this time without any strings attached. Just had to make it look like you died so Clayman wouldn’t come looking for you.”

 

Mjurran held her hands close to her chest, still somewhat bewildered but silently muttering, “S-So I’m…?”

 

“Free? Partially. The fact remains that, consentual or not, you were an accomplice to Clayman’s attack on Tempest. You’re going to be helping out with reconstruction, under watchful eyes of course. Consider it community service for your crimes, a generous punishment for your crimes.” Tanya explained as her focus turned to Youm, who was finally freed from Geld’s grip.

 

Rimuru simply shrugged with a sigh, “That’s the most lenient you’re getting with her. You’re lucky she didn’t just decide you were better off dead, honestly.”

 

Tanya then spoke to Youm, “I’m sending you to the Kingdom of Blumund.”

 

Youm’s attention immediately jolted as he leaned up to protest, “What?! I want to stay here and fight! I know that protecting Mjurran was-”

 

Tanya cut him off, “It has nothing to do with Mjurran. It was always my plan to do this, should we ever find ourselves at war with Falmuth.”

 

Youm now seemed puzzled, scratching his chin as he asked, “Then what is it that you wanted me to do in Blumund?”

 

Tanya folded her arms across her chest and explained, “Tempest has positioned a Panzer unit within Blumund for protection. Now that I’ve sent a subordinate of mine to alert them and bring them into the war followed by Dwargon, that Panzer unit, along with Blumund and Dwargon’s armies, will be invading the undefended Falmuth, along with some nobles I’ve swayed to my cause. Among other pawns.”

 

“Just how prepared were you for this war?” Rimuru questioned, honestly not all too surprised after months of working with Tanya.

 

“I prepared for several possibilities, including a war with Falmuth or other human kingdoms. Unfortunately, said plans were made under the assumption that I’d know beforehand if Falmuth was planning to invade. Of course, I didn’t account for them bypassing my sphere of nobles, bringing in priests to create a barrier over our capital, aligning with a Demon Lord to add another barrier, and pulling an entire summoned modernized army from my world out of their ass,” Tanya grumbled, clearly frustrated at the fact much of her preparation had been thrown into the gutter.

 

“I see… But why do I specifically need to go?” Youm queried in further confusion.

 

Tanya tilted her head, as if the answer was obvious, “That’s simple. You’re Falmuth’s champion, a hero among the people. I know of no better face for the impending revolution.”

 

“Revolution?!” Youm yelled in shock.

 

Rimuru too seemed a bit confused, but Tanya quickly explained further, “Thanks to my network of nobles and influential politicians and merchants within the Kingdom of Falmuth, I’ve begun to spread ideals of not only liberty and democracy but also technological and societal advancement. Something the peasants were more than happy to embrace.”

 

Rimuru gave Tanya a stare as he muttered, “So that whole ‘modernist’ movement I heard rumors of when I was Ingrassia… That wouldn’t’ve happened to have been your doing… wasn’t it?”

 

Tanya gave a wide smirk as Rimuru got his answer. With a sigh, Rimuru asked, “Just how far is your sphere of influence?”

 

“As of now, it spans most of the western hemisphere, but most of it has only just recently come under my control,” Tanya stated, her wide smirk remaining firm.

 

Rimuru sighed, ‘Great Sage, make a note not to leave Tanya alone for too long again. I feel like if I take another absence like I just did, I’m going to return to see Tempest out invading some psychic space fungi for resources…’

 

“So you want me to go to Falmuth and lead this ‘revolution’?” Youm questioned.

 

Tanya nodded. “Precisely. Of course, you’ll most likely end up as Falmuth’s first elected leader but don’t worry about long-term responsibilities. You’ll only be a leader for about a decade or so before stepping down and passing on the power to the next elected leader. And even if you struggle during the meantime, I’m sure Tempestia will be more than happy to cooperate about lending assistance, but such aid only comes to proper states of the Federation, of course.”

 

Youm was visibly shocked as Tanya mentioned him taking the role of leader, and although partially reassured that it would only be a temporary position, there was no doubt some worry still dwelled within him, “I see… Well if that’s the role I must take, then so be it. I’m ready whenever!” Youm determinedly stated as Tanya nodded at Rimuru.

 

With a wave of Rimuru’s hand, Youm vanished as he was teleported to Blumund to begin Tanya’s plan. The issue of Falmuth itself had been solved, all that was left was to defeat the armies still in their territory.

 

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

 

As the remaining members of Tempest’s high command gathered around the circular table, Tanya extended her hand as an illusion manifested on it. The illusion showed a map of Tempestia, the barriers above it, and the position of various armies and forces scattered across and around Tempest, though the majority congregated just to the northwest of it. The map spanned as far north as Veldoria, where a number of Tempest’s own forces were already labeled.

 

Rimuru began as Tanya finished her illusions, giving a subtle nod. “All of you are aware of the results of Falmuth’s attack. We were able to repel their invasion and inflict numerous casualties to their forces, but not without casualties of our own.”

 

The room remained silent as a few heads looked subtly downwards while Rimuru continued, “There is a way, though the chances are low, for them to be brought back. All of them. In order to do so, I need to become a Demon Lord.”

 

The room was filled with a bit of confusion and an equal amount of shock, although Shuna raised her hand and asked, “But… don’t we already have a Demon Lord in Tanya? What would proclaiming a second one do?”

 

Tanya shook her head, “There are two types of Demon Lords, True Demon Lords and Proclaimed Demon Lords. Of these, I am the latter.”

 

Rimuru nods, adding, “In order to become a True Demon Lord, I need a lot of dead people and a lot of souls.”

 

Tanya smirked, adding in before any further confusion could spread, “Fortunately our enemies have delivered that right to our doorstep with free shipping.”

 

Tanya waved her hand as an arrow appeared over a large clearing on the map, several tents visible below it as text above the arrow labeled it as ‘Royal Army – Kingdom of Falmuth’.

 

Tanya quickly explained, “There seems to be three main forces here, the Kingdom of Falmuth, comprising a more conventional medieval army of knights, swords, and armor, is invading from the north. The Holy Church, or rather, the deviant of the Holy Church aligned to Falmuth comprising mostly holy magic users and spellcasters, invades from the northwest. And lastly, the Unified States, a modernized military with tech comparable to our own, but with a noticeable lack of magical integration, outside of their vastly inferior mage corps, invades with Falmuth.”

 

Rimuru then added, “Tanya and I have been hiding a secret for some time, though Tanya was hesitant to reveal it for good reason, we agreed that now was as good of a time as any. Both myself and Tanya are otherworlders who, in our past lives, were once humans. My desire to be friendly with the human world stemmed from that fact, and Tanya’s military expertise and modernization programs came from her own time as a military officer. I understand if this causes any of you to become upset.”

 

As the room remained silent and nobody’s face seemed to show any sign of unrest, anger, disappointment, or really anything negative besides a slight shock, Rimuru added, “I said I was a human reincarnated as a slime… Tanya is the same but as… you know… a demon…”

 

Shuna, standing nearby, nodded with a smile. “And? You made it evident that it's not the background or appearance of a person that matters. Why wouldn’t that apply to you.”

 

Benimaru shrugged, “I’m partially shocked to hear that you’re an otherworlder, Great Rimuru… But I can’t say the same for Miss Tanya.”

 

Tanya looked confused as she simply responded with “Huh?!”

 

Hakurou nodded nearby, “It was rather hard to not come to that conclusion, considering the technology you’ve pushed for the creation of. I know little of the world otherworlders come from and even less about technology like you’ve implemented, but even I could tell that it was quite a leap from the stuff we’re used to.”

 

Tanya sighed and folded her arms, “Perhaps I should’ve been more subtle with it…”

 

Tanya shook her head and focused again on the illusionary map below, creating several more arrows, all labeled differently under the country of the ‘Unified States’.

 

Tanya shifted her focus back to the topic at hand. “This is a country from my last life. Fortunately, I have reason to believe that we aren’t seeing the country’s might in its entirety, but rather a far more desirable section of it”

 

Rimuru shook his head, “If this Unified States is anything like a certain burger-loving country in our first world, there’s no way they’d come at us with only that.”

 

“Only that?” Benimaru asked, “That’s already quite a massive force! Thousands of soldiers are marching toward our lands!”

 

Both Tanya and Rimuru looked at him and shook their heads. Benimaru quickly took the hint as Tanya continued, “Their force, though fairly large by the standards of the humanity of this world, is likely only a sizable fraction of the Unified States’ actual army. Assuming they’ve been summoned into this world, it is much more reasonable, and some prisoners have confirmed this, that we are dealing with only a single military base’s worth of soldiers and equipment.”

 

Rimuru seemed a bit concerned, “Wait, if they summoned all these soldiers and their equipment, did they summon a whole base too? If so, where is it? What are we going to do with it.”

 

Tanya nodded, “Yes, they did bring the base with them. But it won’t be a problem.”

 

“Why’s that?” Rimuru asked.

 

“It’s already gone,” Tanya stated.

 

Rimuru’s instincts told him that this was a problem for another time as he already predicted a few possibilities, none of which looked particularly good. With the focus being on the armies at their doorstep, handling whatever massacre likely occurred further north would be a problem for after the battle.

 

“Still… How could they summon that much? Summoning just one otherworlder costs enough magicules and mental strain that several magic casters in an elaborate ritual can only do it once every couple years, or months if they’re lucky! How could they summon this much?” Rimuru questioned as he looked over the map.

 

“Remember that entity that tormented me through my second life in a desperate attempt to get me to submit and pray?” Tanya retorted.

 

“You don’t mean…” Rimuru muttered.

 

“I have reason to suspect that he’s the one coordinating all of this,” Tanya explained.

 

“But what’s his goal? To make your life hell again? I feel like there’s probably better ways to do that… Or surely if he was a god, he would’ve known about Veldoria and not ignored it completely…” Rimuru muttered.

 

“Being X is a powerful being, perhaps on par, if not stronger than a Demon Lord, but he is not an all-powerful god. I am unsure of his exact goal, but if he wanted me to suffer, he would’ve set everything up for a prolonged war. With how much he’s neglected the Kingdom itself, I’d imagine he’s putting all of his eggs into this one basket. This isn’t about submission anymore, it's about utter and complete annihilation for having once escaped his grasp,” Tanya explained.

 

“Who is this… ‘Being X’?” Benimaru asked.

 

Tanya looked up and stated, “Being X is a self-proclaimed ‘god’ who has tormented me throughout my second life. After being born into my third life, this one, he seemingly vanished. Now, he seems to be making a return. Yet his strategy has changed, dramatically so. If we start winning this battle, there’s a good chance he may get involved himself. If and when that happens, I will be the one to kill him. You all focus on your goals, I’ll handle Being X.”

 

The group all nodded, few fully understanding who or what this ‘Being X’ was, but with Tanya being so determined to defeat him, few were willing to get in her way. If this entity could even torment one of their great leaders, he was a powerful individual indeed, and likely somebody they couldn’t afford to meddle with.

 

With all other affairs settled, Tanya and Rimuru quickly laid out the plans for the attack, setting up formations and units to attack in several places, making the most of their strengths of course. 

 

Tomorrow, the fate of Tempest – no, the world would be decided. Not by speeches and majority decisions…

 

But by iron and blood.

 

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

 

As Guy once again met with the strange entity who made her home in the depths of the void, he could feel a sense of growing conclusion, as if the story that she had spent the better part of the past few months telling in scattered sessions was gradually, finally coming to an end. With this fact evident, the time between Guy’s visits have only cut shorter and shorter in hopes of finding out the truth of this ‘Argent,’ and its connection to the entity that told its story.

 

From what he had learned, Argent at her peak, could probably even best him single-handedly, and without the massive nation she had backing her. The sheer amount of Ultimate Skills that the demon had was no doubt pushing the limits of what was possible for someone who seemingly had yet to even evolve into a Demon Lord.

 

The nation she built was equally fascinating, while in the modern world, it would’ve been struck down before making even a fragment of the progress it made, considering the story seems to all take place before the death of Veldanava, it meant there were no Temna Wars to challenge the progress of the Cardinal World. If this Argent was somehow defeated, it would’ve had to have been a threat that even he couldn’t deal with. The question, however, was what, or who was it, who had laid the final blow to this super-civilization?

 

But as he once again sat down once more to listen to the being’s story, he had little choice but to let her lead him along and hope that she revealed some answers in the process.

 

“The Empire of demons would continue to prosper and grow for centuries, residing in relative peace even when the human world fought and clashed. The demons remained a constant throughout, known and respected as neutral observers who only got involved when a threat emerged that opposed them as well, said threats were often beings that threatened the entire world by proxy of attacking them.

 

This prosperity wouldn’t last forever, as eventually Veldanava, the creator of everything, was destroyed by the very system he created. This event, on its own, was fairly insignificant for the Demon Nation. The death of seemingly the only being capable of beating the Federation in strength alone was certainly a positive for the country’s stability in the eyes of Argent, meaning she now reigned supreme over everyone else. However, the chain of events that it caused would send the demon nation spiraling out of its centuries of peace and prosperity.

 

To understand how though, I must backtrack a bit. The Cardinal World, as I’m sure you’re well aware, is but one of many material worlds created by Veldanava in his attempts to create a perfect world. While his other attempts ended in numerous failures beyond count in his eyes, the Cardinal World was when he finally accepted that he strove for an impossible goal and settled for what he could make.

 

Yet, as he decided to make the Cardinal World his new home, he was left with countless worlds without someone to oversee or protect them. The attack of the Chaos Dragon, a threat that even he struggled to properly deal with in his prime, proved that there were innumerable threats beyond his control, meaning that the worlds beyond his favored worlds would be under threat without his supervision.

 

In order to protect these worlds, he created a system that would allow souls to transfer between them. Aside from allowing souls to occasionally shift between worlds, it allowed for certain beings to move between the worlds themselves to allow him to occasionally patrol his territories. Still, Veldanava, now fully settled into the Cardinal World, wasn’t too keen on going out in a constant race to defend the infinite corners of his creations.

 

Instead, he created someone who could. Utilizing the Ultimate Skill Lord of Hope: Sariel, Veldanava created a manas that he named ‘Osiris’, much like how Argent had created Athena. Unlike Athena, however, this manas was far stronger, empowered by the Lord of Creation himself. Capable of standing nearly as Veldanava’s equal in creation and on the battlefield, the manas was designed to serve as a mighty protector for the outer worlds from external threats. To this extent, the manas accomplished this with great success.

 

Eventually, across the many worlds, Osiris became a symbol of worship, although he understood that Veldanava was the true creator. Nevertheless, the worship granted him further strength through immense holy magic, making him ever more capable of defending the many worlds. The skill he was born from, Sariel, granted him full control over the corridors between worlds, allowing him easy travel between them while also managing the system for transferring souls that Veldanava had created. He did his job, allowing Veldanava to spend his time with his most cherished creations.

 

The problem emerged from how he was created. In order to prevent the Manas from dominating and becoming an enemy of the outer worlds, he was designed with a caring heart that had a deep care for all. However, upon Veldanava’s death, this choice backfired, tremendously so. Osiris cared for his creator more than anything else, given that his very core originated from part of him, and when he died with no clear hope of resurrection, it sent Osiris into an endless rage. His caring heart became corrupted by mourning and sorrow, wishing for his sole creator to revive.

 

Desperate for ways to restore his creator, he discovered fragments of Veldanava’s soul drifting across the various corners of the universe, although a majority resided within the Cardinal World since he had perished there. With this revelation, Osiris realized that he could still rebuild his creator by rebuilding his soul and unifying all its fragments into a whole being once more, akin to how Veldanava struck down lesser beings but in reverse. But with his fragments integrating themselves into the worlds and their residents, and with a need to collect every last fragment, Osiris had no choice but to tear down every world in existence to achieve his goal. His first target, of course, was the most difficult world to destroy and his creator’s special darling of a planet; the Cardinal World.”

 

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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:

 

Dr. Rx, Dragon1008, Terraman60

 

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

 

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Alphas and Beta Comments Deluge!

 

Dr. Rx - it’s demon lord time baby

 

Terraman60 - Oh, it’s about to go down!