181. TOWARDS THE FINAL STAGE
Sitting cross-legged, Moss had secured a position in the air overlooking the battle from above.
He achieved this by activating his Unique Skill 『Collector』.
It was often used to create miniscule clones of himself to spread calamity everywhere, its primary being the reaping of life……
However……
How boring.
What’s this? It appears my fellow Demon Nobles are in a challenging fight…… how enviable.
To make Carrera-sama get serious, and yet still fighting on par with her……)
After all, what he was collecting was intelligence.
Though he hadn’t noticed that Diablo, acting as a relay point, was further sending that information to a certain someone…….
Witnessing Demon Lord Rimuru-sama’s overwhelmingly powerful attack―― the ”Veldora Sword” ―― had left him brimming with excitement, and seemed to have awakened something in him, but it was likely a good thing to be of use to Veyron.
As he was thinking such things,
(Kufufufufu. Moss, we’re progressing smoothly. What’s the situation with the “Rat”?
The message came from Diablo.
(No problems here.
Thanks to the Spatial Interference Barrier set up by the Greater Demons, teleportation is being successfully prevented.
(All right. Having it darting around is quite a pain.
It appears several escape methods were thought out, but it’s all pointless.
(Roger that. Now then, my clones shall――)
I think it’s better if we left this to Testa. This would probably help her vent out some anger.)
Before the “Rat” takes the bait(Emperor) we can’t have the it killed.)
It’s impossible for Testa to destroy that “Castle Guard”.
Please somehow calm her down, and help her regain her reason.)
(Yes I mean you! Kufufufu. I’m leaving this to you then!)
(Ah, he hung up.
No matter how you look at it, it seems Diablo-sama’s no good at handling Testarossa-sama……)
Thinking so at the back of his mind, Moss let out a big sigh.
Even so, he was still lenient towards the other Devil Lords.
Well, there isn’t any reason in particular, maybe it’s just Moss’ imagination.
He requested her to destroy all other Airships apart from the flagship.
(Leave it to me. Let’s teach them what happens when they dare insult Rimuru-sama!)
Feeling the surge of her anger, Moss’ face stiffened.
He judged so, and began retrieving his clones.
At the same time, the battle on the decks had begun to reach their conclusions.
(Right, as expected.)
Incidentally, the remaining small amount of clones were ordered to continually obstruct the Mages on board the ships to interfere with their Defence Magic.
Immediately after, the sound of a large explosion resounded. Around half of the remaining airships around the flagship―― around 60 of them――had been raptured by a dragon of fire.(TN: 炎の龍 means it’s a dragon composed of fire rather than an actual fire dragon, so fire dragon may cause some confusion, especially with a certain Scorch Dragon around…)
The Airships whose defenses were weakened due to Moss’s interference couldn’t possibly resist, and were all burned to nothingness by the grand spell.
Thus, excluding the 200 captured airships, only the flagship, which carried the Emperor, was left in the air.
Moss had probed into the whereabouts of the “Rat”, confirming that it had transferred aboard the flagship.
All as per instructed.
As such, the battle plan had moved on to its final phase.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
Ultima was purely enjoying her battle with Damrada.
Or so it seemed at first but……
When it came to using magic, as a demon, she had complete mastery, enabling her to use it as she pleased.
The quality of their mana was different, but when it came to the quantity of Energy, she should have had the overwhelming advantage.
That being the case, a multi-pronged attack was attempted, but then multiple simultaneous attacks, all with equal strength was initiated in retaliation, and Alternative had activated on all of them, offsetting the attacks once more.
However, Damrada was aware of the fact he had been backed into a corner.
(This is bad. At this rate I’ll definitely be defeated.)
From a third party’s point of view, they’d probably think their abilities are evenly matched.
and then,
「Aha, I’m starting to get it now! 」(TN: Your daily reminder that Ultima’s a bokuko/tomboy.)
Happily cried Ultima as 6 pairs of――12 individual――pitch black wings spread out, and simultaneously commenced their attacks towards Damrada.
It, unlike the unstable Black Flame Whip up until now, it was a severe attack with refined strength.
Did it! And after he felt relief for an instant,
「Poison Lunge Fist!」
The young lady (Ultima) had pierced through Damrada’s Abdomen.
Its strength easily broke through Damrada’s defenses, giving her the grasp of victory.
「Ughf!」
Damrada started vomiting blood, and collapsed on the spot.
However, still mustering his willpower,
「You idiot, that wasn’t a lunge fist. It was a spear hand……
It could be called “Bloody Bite (Crimson Serpent’s Venomous Claws)” perhaps……」(EN: Look at this guy. Spouting off chuuni attack name on his death bed.)
And saying that much, he collapsed.
Your Majesty――
「Damrada, this time may be my last.
Suppressing Justice King Michael from going out of control has its limits.
a justice that everyone acknowledges doesn’t exist after all……
Therefore, while I’m still myself I command you.
『Seek out he who can defeat me！！』
If I lose this battle against Guy, There probably wouldn’t be anyone left with the ability to suppress the berserking Justice King Michael.
It’s vexing to be unable to keep my promise with “Stellar Dragon King” Veldanava but……
That’s something I’ll go apologize to him about on the other side.
This is an imperial order.
――My sincere apologies.
I was unable to fulfill your imperial order……
Regret.
To find someone who could kill his master, to Damrada it was agonizing.
That Demon Lord was obstinate about rules, he would never make a move out of his own volition.
He had found some candidates.
Their existences were the buds of chaos, but at the same time they were also the rays of hope.
This battle had caused the decisive showdown against Guy to become an impossibility.
With his tenacious will, he had dominated and controlled the ultimate skill 『Justice King Michael』.
He was idealistic, he wanted to unite the world, he wanted establish eternal peace.
When Rudra’s sister Lucia first met Veldanava she made a promise; she had sworn to give it her all alongside Emperor Rudra to work towards “establishing a unified country”.
That being that case, they needed to stop the rampaging of the Ultimate Skill bestowed by the “Stellar Dragon King” Veldanava, 『Justice King Michael』.
Before Rudra collapsed, Damrada had to fulfill the imperial decree, but……
Defeated by Ultima, his life began to wane.
However, he believed this wasn’t a worse case scenario.
「His majesty……Rudra sama, I wish for him to be killed (released)……
「……Yeah, alright. I planned to kill him anyways!」
Hearing Ultima’s reply, Damrada felt relieved, his heart was liberated as he felt at peace.
「Your offering, is my soul…… I will pass on all the “techniques” I’ve forged……
――Your majesty……I’ll be joining you now…………」
Those were his last words.
He who was the Prime Minister of the Nasca Kingdom, and the sworn friend of the unifying Emperor Rudra・Nam・Ul・Nasca.
The curtains had finally been drawn on the long life of the “Fist Saint” Damrada.
「A-ah, how boring. His Heart disappeared.
Especially after I thought about presenting it to Rimuru sama……」
Looking uninterested, Ultima, absorbed Damrada’s body that was altering into energy, his very soul, with her black tentacles.
And so, the battle between Ultima and Damrada reached its conclusion.
Damrada, in his final moments, had given his greatest power to one of the worst (strongest) of the demons.
Perhaps passing on without noticing this was, for him, a blissful thing.
Damrada passed away, and it was no longer possible to know the answer to this, for a method to do so didn’t exist.
−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−
Carrera, who had just lost her left arm, was in a bind.
Kondo too, had miscalculated.
Wearing it meant that he would be giving it his all. Even if his opponent were a powerful one, he would never don his uniform unless he judged it necessary to quickly eliminate them.
In other words, she was a “threat” at a level that not even Kondo could easily handle.
Or so he thought, but just thinking about this would be no good, and he shot out an Eraser bullet once more.
However he had already used it earlier in order to weaken Veldora, he would have to wait until cooldown time was over, so there’s no point thinking about it.
Against the Demon Carrera, Kondo had the upper hand in terms of battle tactics and proficiency over his abilities, however her overbearing Energy had forcefully evened the playing field.
Even now Carrera took a hit from a maximum output Eraser bullet that managed to gorge out the left side of her abdomen.
「You bastard……!!」
Carrera groaned as she used her right hand to mend the large hole on her flank.
In a situation where her left arm wouldn’t regenerate, Carrera was made aware of the graveness of the situation.
The stronger of mind could beat the stronger of power.
At this point, Carrera, whose body was tormented by pain, deeply understood this.
When fighting true elites, similar to using magic as naturally as breathing air, one must also have complete mastery of their own abilities.
However, she suffered a majorly in terms of will power.
In other words……I’ll die?
I, a Devil Lord, will!?)
Above all, this would go against the order of Carrera’s beloved master, Demon Lord Rimuru.
Rather than death, she worried about being unable to follow Rimuru’s orders.
「Such a thing is unacceptable！」
Shouting aloud, she braced herself as she forcefully tried to regenerate her left abdomen and left arm.
Colossal amounts of magic essence were being converted into energy, and the aftershocks had enough force to blow away Carrera and Kondo.
Carrera focused her will, and gained control of the Energy.
As for Kondo, he wanted to say ‘are you fucking kidding me’. (TN: I am not joking here…well, it’s a comical take, but this is actually what it saids…)
Perchance, if he didn’t survive the blow, he feared the Emperor would get wrapped up in it.
His teeth grinding in frustration, it was as if the tables had turned in an instant.
This was praiseworthy, to able instantly compress the mana that swelled out of nowhere, and leading to the current circumstances, reflected the precision of Carrera’s 『Mana Manipulation』.
This was something that could be accomplished precisely because she was Carrera, who, among the 4 Devil Lords, boasted of Energy levels second only to Diablo, and prided herself on the precision of her control.
「I bestow upon you destruction.Be gone! “Abyss Annihilation”!!」(TN: You really got to admire the Chunnibyou within the author to come up with all these names… )
A substance called forth from the abyss, a torrent of Anti-Spirit Energy.
Realized through the use of the Ultimate Skill 『Extinction King Abaddon』, this was the greatest, the best Attack Magic.
With Kondo as the target, this was a spell that would destroy anything in its path.
At this rate, it would directly hit the bridge of the ship behind Kondo.
He determined it as such.
And thus, Kondo, making good use of Sandalphon, attempted to tackle the force of extinction but……
Despite being protected from head to toe by the God-tier armour that was used to its full potential, Kondo felt intense pain penetrating throughout his entire body.
It was the result of protection from a God-tier armour on top of using Sandalphon the Executioner.
But, as a result of his actions, the bridge was splendidly protected.
He was relieved.
The battered Kondo turned towards Carrera,
「You are, unfair――」
He expressed his emotions for the first time.
Carrera seemed satisfied with his words,
「Ah, that’s natural. We are of the strongest race after all.
But are you not very unfair yourself?」
She responded with a grin while laughing fearlessly.
And then, she prepared herself vigilantly.
However, Carrera too had suffered heavier damage than how she appeared.
While the two mutually acknowledged each other, they began mustering their last ounce of strength for the final showdown.
Translator and Editor’s Dialogue:
ED: You just don’t see the chemistry. Chemistry can be inert or absolutely explosive! So No, I don’t wanna read martial art stuff. You need to go read To love Ru. It’s super interesting ~ gao!!! (Oh yeah, We’ll see you in another chapter!!)