Chapter 33
17-33 . World Crisis (3)
Satou here . Angels and demons, Indra and Ashura, God and Demon, such confrontations can be found in tales as old as time . Must be because it's easier for people to accept the contrast between good and evil .
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"Master, it's demons! Arm Exchange--Prepare Anti Demon Acceleration Buster . "
『Aye aye ma'am, Acceleration Buster Launcher, standby . 』
Once she confirmed an army of demons appearing in the sky by sight, Lulu ordered her golden armor's support AI to replace her equipment .
The demons seemed to be faltering for an instant as they lorded over the ground before they made a nose dive .
--Huh?
"Aim, and--"
"Hold it, Lulu . "
Just as Lulu was about to pull the trigger, I made my little clone jumped out of her shadow, stopping her .
"--Master?"
"Look closely . "
"Aah, the demons!"
The demons are launching a furious assault on the ground with their nose dive .
"Why are they attacking the vanguard monsters?"
Indeed, the demons aren't attacking us or soldiers at the rampart, but vanguard monsters overflowing out of the purple tower .
Most of the vanguard monsters had been annihilated by Lulu though, so they were done cleaning up the remainders in a flash .
Seemingly feeling anti climatic, the demons begin surveying the surrounding area, looking for more monsters .
"Did those demons kill those monsters for us?"
"Yeah, as if . They're coming for us next, I'm sure of it . "
"Just look at those demonic figures!"
The soldiers couldn't hide their surprise at the unexpected action the demons took .
Only a minority believes those demons are friendly though .
"Master, are the demons allying themselves with people?"
"Hmm, I don't think so . "
Judging from all the demons I've seen so far, whenever one is acting friendly, it's almost assuredly not out of the goodness of their heart .
『Master, some demons appeared out of thin air and began hunting vanguard monsters around purple towers . 』
『Master, same here so I report . 』
『Master, the demons who showed up here seem to loiter around the tower without doing anything else once they're done dealing with monsters . 』
『Same . 』
『Pochi won't lose to demon persons nodesu! Those are Pochi's prey nanodesuyo!』
『Tama won't lose too~?』
Apparently, demons have appeared near purple towers all over the world and cleaned up the vanguard monsters that had overflowed out .
"Master! Look at the sky!"
Lulu points at the sky .
A woman who looks like an image of holy mother is projected in the sky .
She's neither Demon God nor gods .
『My beloved children living in this world . 』
A voice full of gentleness reverberated in the sky .
The soldiers on top of the rampart have forgotten about the demons as they look up at the holy mother projection .
Since they looked a bit overzealous to me, I tried appraising them and found out that the lower leveled soldiers had been put under Bewitched state .
Lulu is fine thanks to her golden armor, but things could get ugly if this kept up .
It might be a good idea to halt the currently progressing plan I'm executing and circle around the world to undo these Bewitched states with my real body .
『Intruding the purple towers--[Tower of Trials] and letting Monsters of Trials flow out of the towers is a ploy by gods to reduce your faith toward Demon God-sama . 』
That holy mother is apparently a familiar of Demon God .
Would the fact that Demon God didn't do it himself be a proof that he had been severely weakened?
I would have been willing to hear him out were not for the Bewitchment, but it's pretty clear that this situation we're facing now is a work of Demon God .
『Except for God Parion, you must not put your faith on [Seven Pillar Gods]--』
『O people! Let not thyselves be misled by Demon God's trickery!』
A dignified voice interrupted the holy mother's speech .
To the opposite of the holy mother's projection, a silhouette of a fine man made of orange-colored light showed up . It's god Heraruon .
Lit by the orange light, the projection of holy mother warped and transformed into a feminine-looking metallic demon .
And at the same time, the soldiers were freed of Bewitched state .
God Heraruon sure can be pretty handy at times .
『Demon God is attempting to reduce thine faith toward us, to take this world in his own hand . 』
『People! Believe in your creators, us! That's the only thing those who crawl on the ground such as you can do! This great War God Garleon-sama shall annihilate the likes of demon god!』
『That's wrong Garleon! I, the great Zaikuon-sam will be the one who destroys Demon God!』
God Garleon's and Zaikuon's voices echoed after god Heraruon's .
Just when god Heraruon was acting like a proper god for once, these two gods just had to ruin it for him .
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『Heraruon, Garleon's and Zaikuon's voices are dispersing through the Wide Area Oracle system . You must correct this defect at once . Karion said so too . 』
『I didn't . But I'm in agreement about correcting defects . 』
So the messy broadcast was because of a bug in the Wide Area Oracle system, huh .
Their voices immediately disappeared, the orange pulsing lights loosened up .
『pEoPlE . yoU MuSNt bE dECeiveD bY tHoSe fOOlisH gOds . 』
Befitting of its now demonic mother form, its body swayed every time it spoke with its eerie voice .
Unlike before, the soldiers on top of the rampart are pointing their bows and spears at the demonic mother in dread .
『onLY dEmOn gOd-sAMa aND gOd pARiOn hOLd yOu DeAR . 』
--Guess God Parion is in Demon God's camp then?
『Minions of demon god! By thrones of gods and Heraruon's name, I order thou! Be gone from this world, back to Netherworld with thee!』
In the face of a brightly shining orange light, the demonic mother projection is melting down .
『peOPle . dOnT bEliEve iN FooLisH gOds tRicK--』
The demonic mother disappeared in the middle of its speech .
『O people . Interfering with the world of men should not withal, I shall make an exception this time and grant thee a miracle . 』
God Heraruon's light pulsed, then geometrically shaped apostles showed up in his place .
Though they weren't numbering in many, six kinds of apostles with six different colored ring light contours charged at the demons .
A lavish treatment you wouldn't think coming from these divinity-starving gods .
The gods must be trying leave a good impression of them to the people, thus stimulating recovery on faith .
"Do your best, apostles-sama!"
"Crush those demons!"
Soldiers on top of rampart cheered for the apostles .
Judging from their reactions, it's going just as gods wanted .
Those demons would probably just go back on their own once they eliminated the vanguard monsters even if those apostles never showed up though .
"How should we proceed, Master?"
"Let's just leave them be so long as the soldiers aren't in danger . "
After telling that to Lulu, I switched my consciousness to my other little clones to check on the other girls .
Sponsored Content "Those apostles appear to be suicidally charging toward the demons, so I analyze . " The apostles has the upper hand at Nana's location . "Pochi don't really get it nodesu . Lyuryu, which one should Pochi fight nodesu?" --ＬＹＵＲＹＵＲＹＵＵＵ . A three pronged combat between vanguard monsters flowing out of purple towers, demons and apostles is unfolding at Pochi's location . "Tama is a white angel-san~?" A three pronged fight is happening at Tama's location as well, but the situation there is a bit different . "These apostles have no fight in them . They just charge straight ahead without thinking . . . They're no good as a sparing partner, unlike demons with their hidden tricks and sneak attacks, can't let my guard down against them . " Liza was hunting down the demons while ignoring the apostles when she made a mistake and reflexively defeated an apostle trying to attack her . "Mwu, weak . " Mia's battlefield had apostles lay defeated, with the demons raising a victory cry . "Master, all sides faced annihilation over here . " None of the three, not the demons, apostles, or the vanguard monsters remained on the battlefield Arisa was in charge of . "So demons and apostles only show themselves up in locations with concentrated populations centers huh . . . " Zensan who has finished her duty at Seryuu City tells me the results of territorial army's investigation at Kainona Town and surrounding villages . I decided to convey that to others girls and ask them to concentrate on stopping stampedes at locations with no demons and apostles around . ◇ 『Satou-san . 』 Sera called out to my little clone attached to her . Sponsored Content "What's the matter, Sersan?" --A married alchemist couple who just moved in from Saga Empire . Kinda feels like I know this couple . "Did they get abducted?" Teleportation huh . . . So it's most likely Tactician Touya and the plain-faced reincarnated person with Teleportation Unique Skill after all . "Au, -kuh . " Sera sounded like she was in pain while clutching her chest . Her agony quickly receded, Sera looked up at my little clone with a face full of sweat . "Satou-san, I have received an oracle from god Tenion . " That agony earlier was apparently a side effect of an oracle from god Tenion . "What was the oracle about?" Afterward, Sera shut her eyes . "O-Oh no, Satou-san, this is bad!" As she opened her eyes wide, Sera cried out while hugging my little clone . "The Divinity Crystal kept in the depths of the Garden of Gods, [White Imperial Radiant Crystal] has been stolen by Demon God . " That sounds bad . Divinity is needed to maintain the barrier that keeps the Outside Invaders away from this world . "There was a request from god Tenion to Satou-san within the compressed information . She's asking you to go to the Netherworld, and take back the White Imperial Radiant Crystal from Demon God . " Great, another ridiculous task .
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Pochi can't decide on to whether defeat the vanguard monsters or the demons .
Since the apostles run away whenever they catch sight of Lyuryu, they're not even under consideration apparently .
Cat Ninja Tama in her pink mantled golden armor is staying still on top of a spire, but the person inside that armor herself is busy going around treating people wounded in the fight using magic potions while cosplaying as a white angel .
Well, those apostles are kind of like autonomous mechs, so this should count as an act of self-defense .
Mia's summoned Behemoth is standing by in front of a rampart, keeping a lookout for the demons .
The majority seemed to have been swallowed up into the <
"Yes, the vanguard monsters are still rampaging around in this area . "
I switch my consciousness there .
"A Demon God's familiar had showed up at Puta Town . "
"Puta Town?"
"Yes, it fled after demolishing an alchemist store . "
"What about the alchemist?"
"It's an alchemist young couple who had just moved in the town from Saga Empire, they're nowhere to be found after the familiar left . "
"Oh no, according to the witness who was on site at the time, magic hunter Kena, the wife cast a spell to teleport themselves away after they repelled the familiar . "
According to marker list, they're hiding in one of their former hideouts in Saga Empire .
Since that place is supposedly protected by Yuika's barrier, they're unlikely to get sniffed out by Demon God's familiars there .
A pale green light pulsed around her, but it doesn't seem like she's using the Unique Skill loaned by god Tenion in this situation .
The reason why it was unlike the usual oracle is apparently because she was forcefully sent a highly compressed information by way of a resonance with the [God's Fragment], source of Unique Skill, within her .
"Yes well, please allow me some time to decipher it since this one feels like it's been highly compressed . "
"--Divinity Crystal?"