There were two types of reactions, from those who had heard Emperor Rudra’s outburst.
At the same time as the Imperial army was falling into chaos due to the attack from the Veldora Sword, the battles between the Royal Knights and the demons were also reaching their respective climaxes.
Agera put a hand on the katana on his waist, and cautiously observed her opponent.
Even if she was furious at the fact his master(Carrera) had been ridiculed, that was a separate matter unrelated to her present battle. That was why she approached her opponent with caution, slowly accumulating damage, and observing her opponent.
「Hah! What cowardice. All that talk about demons and being above us, utter hogwash; you aren’t a match for us, the strongest Knights.
I shall also wager that your master is far weaker than Kondo-dono. And you can continue to serve her in hell!」
I’m a fairly patient person, while you look to be a hasty one.
「Me, hasty? Have you still not felt the difference in our abilities?
But, you are simply garbage! Just give up and die already!」
Showering insults in the midst of clashing blades, was Royal Knight No. 5 Garcia.
It had a direct effect on his body, creating a sturdy physique.
Utilising high level abilities, Garcia, while taunting his opponent, was not being careless.
But, his taunts bore no fruit. As Spirit Forms, the strength of demons were strongly influenced by their emotions.
He was hoping to create an opening by taunting his opponent, but it didn’t seem to work.
「You are indeed vulgar in addition to being hasty.
But, then.
Souls have their own distinction. No matter what they do to hide it, a person who has a vulgar soul is unable to hide the fact.」
Garcia was falling for the opponent’s taunts instead.
As long as she didn’t take any fatal injuries, Agera would not be defeated.
But Agera was a Spirit Form, there were many ways to recover after the battle.
But, she knew that her base capabilities vastly overpowered his.
And then, hearing Emperor Rudra’s outburst, the situation shifted.
「His Majesty has declared his intentions. I’m afraid you all, including your master, must die now!」
Hearing those words from Garcia, something snapped in Agera’s head.
(To lower our god, Rimuru-sama…… To the level of a simple demon!?!
Even stating that we…… must die!?)
Fury.
Battoujutsu――Yaezakura――Hakkasen. (EN: Sword Art ―― Double Cherry ―― Eight Petal Flash)
「Ha? ….eh?」
Garcia couldn’t see it, nor could he understand.
While purely on defense――plus, taking damage――his prey, with him was unable to compute, had counterattacked.
The source of his self-confidence, the “Armor” which had the effects of an Ultimate Skill, was sliced through as though it was paper-thin, there was no way he could have understood.
Agera resheathed her blade,
「No bushi (EN: warrior/samurai) would sit idly listening to her master(Rimuru) get insulted, fool!
To think I would be that agitated by the words of such small fry……I have much to learn……」
She mumbled.
Her Unique Skill『Perciever』observed the enemy, and lets her understand the effective ways to use her strength.
Of whence, his single ultimate attack, reached the pinnacle of strength.
Up till this point Agera, who had been depending on his magic, now understood why she took on the form of a bushi.
In the distant past, before he reincarnated to this world as a Demon, he was once a samurai, she recalled. (TN: the actual word for samurai is used here, which is why I used bushi earlier)(EN: the gender pronouns got a bit weird here. Sasuga fuse-sensei!)
「It may be possible that I was a son of man (human) once, on some other world.」
With such fleeting thoughts, she comes back to reality.
Agera turns her heels, and headed towards the subject of her loyalty, Carrera.
Espirit was injured all over, and her face showed her composure was fading away.
Espirit was usually half-hearted, and mostly a hedonist.
While she usually only paid heed to Carrera’s will, the fact that Demon Lord Rimuru, who she worshipped as a god, was insulted, simply couldn’t be tolerated.
「Ahhー What a pain! That’s it, time for you to die!!」
「Hahaha, keep the nonsense to yourself. Those are not words for someone who has only been pathetically running around!」
Said Royal Knight No. 4 Gardner, mocking Espirit’s determination.
Indeed, that was what it looked like.
But, he was fond of rubbing salt into the wounds of the weak. His greatest pleasure was hearing the screams of the “strong”. (EN: in other words, S.)
He would kill her the moment Espirit begged for her life.
That twisted fetish of his, now became his downfall.
「This much should be enough. Echo-reflection!!」
The special ability to replicate damage that she has taken onto her attacker, such was Espirit’s unique skill『Retaliator』.
A human’s body would never be able to take that much punishment.
The moment Espirit activated her special ability, Gardner was turned into a pile of meat without the chance to even speak. (EN: Esprit is S++!)
「That was close.
Never underestimate the opponent! That was the lesson huh….
No way, I not buying it…… Even if this is Rimuru-sama we are talking about……」
Espirit felt a chill down her spine, while she was pondering over the matter.
Death is forbidden! This order, pretty much meant to attain the strength to “survive”.
「To defeat an opponent who is stronger than my current self, I have definitely become stronger……」
Demons, being Spirit Forms, their emotions bring change to their strength.
To implant the will to never give up, into the hearts of demons……
To make rid of those who insulted her master.
(TN:Some suitable tunes)
But despite that, he was unable to reach the warrior before him, tasting the humiliation, and the ground.
He was one of the people who had laid the foundations of the Empire, and helped usher forth a millennia of peace.
His unmatched skill in spear techniques was like a form of art; to Veyron who was a demon, it looked as though he was trying to receive meteors flying towards him.
The difference in their capabilities was like heaven and earth.
Veyron took his stance, with the newly created spear via Matter Creation, as the one he was just using shattered in his hands. (EN: I am the bone of my…)
「Hear Daemon, the result will be the same no matter how many times we do this. You will never grasp victory with your mimicry. (EN: Mongrel.)
Avoiding fatal wounds and clinging onto life so dearly, staying hidden away from the beginning would have worked better.」
「My, how harsh. But, my role is to be the wall that shields the princess (TN: Ultima).
If there is no one to keep you in check now, even my lady would have a hard time with you.」
Veyron was Ultima’s butler.
Even now, he was suppressing this dangerous man, preventing him from causing unneeded problems.
However….
The magic he was depending on wasn’t up to the task, so he lacked the means for a decisive move.
Anyone else who didn’t have Veyron’s immense reserves of mana, would have long since been defeated.
He understood he wasn’t able to fully defend with only magic, so he had been using his last resort.
Being simply a copy, it won’t bring him victory. Although he couldn’t win, he was able to avoid fatal damage.
Now then, what to do….
Veyron’s soul was boiling over in anger, but felt intense shame at the same time.
Despite his anger, he had no means to triumph over his adversary.
「His Majesty has given the orders.
It’s time you stopped running, and prepare to meet your maker!」
The warrior Graneet, releasing the aura (haki) of his “God of War” days, proudly exclaimed.
Right after that,
「Hey boss, I just saw something super cool!」
His associate Zonda teleported over, while saying that.
「Zonda, what about your “job”?」
Also, I got to see something real amazing and thought of a great idea!」
If Veyron was the butler, Zonda was the page (EN: man-servant).
But, they both served the same master (Ultima), so they got along well.
Which was why, Veyron allowed Zonda to speak with him so casually.
「Oh…? That, is it something that can get me out of this “pinch”?」
To Veyron’s repeated question,
「Sure it can!」
He answered confidently.
And,
「I shall show it to you now! This new ability of mine.
Unique Skill『Change Weapon』take that!!」
With his shout, his body began morphing into the form of a spear.
It was only possible by Spirit Forms such as a demon.
(Heh, how’s that? Veldora-sama became a weapon too!
I tried copying that. Boss’ tendency to copy stuff rubbed off on me eh!) (EN: *tehe pero*)
Zonda’s spoke casually, while sounding excited.
And he turned the spear he created back into mana, and now grabbed ahold his new weapon, the transformed Zonda. (EN: *ahem* BL ship <3)
Normally you would cloak yourself in mana for defense, but this spear uses all that mana and turns that into the form of a spear.
Graneet sensed the danger that spear posed, and his face twitched in response. And,
「I won’t allow that!! Hagun・Gekishin Resshou!!」(EN: Anti-Army ・ Quaking Sweep)
He unleashed his killer move with all his might.
With 『Demon Spear: Zonda 』 in his hands, Veyron directed all of his mana onto defense instead of offense.
With that, he managed to survive Graneet’s finishing move.
Although he took great damage, he avoided death.
「Now then, it’s our turn.」
Softly saying so, he perfectly traced of Hagun・Gekishin Resshou with his Unique Skill『Tracer』.
The body’s movements, and strength in each movement.
Discarding thoughts of attacking, he became force itself. With that, unleashed the attack, filled with the great Energy of a Demonic Noble.
Although Graneet moved to intercept, as it was an attack he was very fluent at; he was unable to defend and ended up destroyed.
Truly, it was a miniature version of the attack caused by the Veldora Sword.
「Good work, Zonda. This was first time you were actually of use.」
「Don’t be so cold, Boss! I have always been of use……」(EN: *ahem* uke intensifies.)
It was the same old casual conversation.
And good as new in a matter of seconds.
And so, the two of them, headed back to their master, Ultima.