As she thought that the chance has finally come, for her to let loose all the frenzied furious anger that was within her....
On the first day of the great war, Shion along with Adalman and Albert were ordered by their master Demon Lord Rimuru, to move out to aid Demon Lord Ruminas.
Ruminas was "elegantly" relaxing, as she lounged on her couch.
「To think I would get reinforcements against that measly angel army, that Rimuru is quite the worrywart.
But isn't this a little too overprotective?
But....
She froze upon hearing Shion's reply.
More so, the fact that Dagruel, one of the oldest pillars among the demon lords, has made his move; this isn't a situation that can be taken lightly anymore. 「Gather the others immediately! We're holding a strategy conference right away!」
With Ruminas' command, her followers, the 7 great nobles and ranking commanders, gave orders for the other key appointment holders to gather.
Thanks to that, the other officers who were taking part in battles are now able to attend the conference.
Representing them, were the 7 great nobles, the "Seven Celestial Sages", and the Holy Knight Arno.
Seeing that all who were relevant has arrived, Ruminas gave a short opening address, and declared the start of the conference.
Then the movements of the angel armies, and the situations of the other areas.
As we have nothing to fall back upon, if we fall here the central countries will definitely fall shortly after!」
The alarmed Arno anxiously spoke out.
In comparison, the monster(Ruminas/majin) side wasn't as disturbed.
Just like they have did once in the past, when this country was destroyed by Veldora. For they believe that there will still be somewhere out in the vast lands of this world that wo
uld accept them.
The higher beings are all thinking about something, with a face that looked like they were chewing something bitter.
To protect the believers, who are citizens of the country, while simultaneously probing for a possible location for a new country, was what the nobles were suggesting; Ruminas was still thinking on the sidelines, while watching Arno debate.
For a monster such as herself, it's not too much effort to build another country from scratch.
Chances are, they will give chase. The opposition has every intent on wiping out all intelligent beings, having declared their intentions to destroy the world.
Additionally, the odds of victory for them doing a full scale tactical retreat while protecting non-combatants is pretty much nonexistent.
「Silence.」
They'll replenish their numbers shortly anyway, it's probably not much of a problem if their numbers are reduced somewhat, these are my honest thoughts.
As the enemy has declared their intention to wipe out everything, there are no guarantees that humans will be allowed to survive.
This is by no means, something done for the sake of the humans.
I mean, think about it.
That, is something that can be called a "contract", but at the same time it is also the obligation of we who rule over these lands.
Ramiris, Milim, Leon, and even the newcomer Rimuru are doing their utmost.
This, is us demon lords putting our pride on the line, turning our backs to the angels is unthinkable.
Instead, if we were to escape, it would be foolish to think we could ever live proudly again after that.
It is because we live proudly, that we live as nobles, as kings.
Prioritize our victory, and start thinking of how we will achieve it!
「「「Uooooooooh!! Let victory be ours!!」」」
Now that Ruminas' intentions are made known to them, the monster followers very easily made up their minds and mentally prepared their resolves.
And, without that fervor cooling down, the conference shifted to the discussion on their plan to engage the incoming attack.
Luckily there wasn't any noteworthy commander among the angels, which is also why they didn't have any tough battles for the day.
As they have no choice but to engage on two fronts, it was decided for the reserves to assist whichever side that has the most trouble.
All the other demon lords have their hands full holding their own territory.
If they were to be pincered by their foes from both land and the skies without Demon Lord Rimuru's aid, they would have been destroyed without the chance to even contemplate escaping.
(Fumu. Guess I owe him one, huh――)
And so, the location of their final battle is decided, for Ruminas' forces which occupy the Holy City of Ruberios.
Against the angel forces would be Arno and his holy knight forces, plus the Bloody Knights who are led by the nobles.
Against the traitor Dagruel, would be Shion and her personal guard forces.
Over the night, using his summoning magic, Adalman brought forth his followers from the Labyrinth.
Dagruel and his forces were also travelling at abnormal speeds without stopping to even sleep, it was calculated that they would cross the deserts and invade these lands in 3 days time.
Making use of the transit gates that were set up, Shion's personal guard were also gathering up.
Shion was giving orders to her forces to be on their guard, as they made their preparations for their upcoming battle with Dagruel's forces.
If things go smoothly, the decisive battle will take place on the 3rd day(of the great war).
According to reports from their scout squads, the movements of Dagruel's forces were spotted as per the predicted timeline.
But, as they moved at a constant pace, their time of arrival was accurately predicted.
For that purpose, Ruminas had the "Celestial Sages" take the job.
Also, they had teleportation type abilities, so on the off chance that they were to be spotted they would still be able to escape and return to base.
With that decided, on the 2nd day, everyone but the "Celestial Sages" were to be combatting the angel army.
But, something unexpected happened as well.
During the afternoon of the 2nd day.
My beloved daugther――Demon Lord Milim, has destroyed a pillar of the demon lords.
Though he was a newbie, he was the demon lord who had the closest ties to the humans.
The number of demon lords who are still against me, is but a measly 4 pillars now.
So instead of wallowing in fear and despair, wouldn't it be better to just choose death?
Until then, you have my word that I shall intervene no further.
The ones who want to die without suffering, just stay put in the capitals instead of running or hiding.
Shocks were sent throughout the world.
Many panicked and began their escape, while there was also the extreme minority that has accepted the end and decided to stay.
The many leaders are too, stumped with the problems that the chaos is causing.
There was no reason for him to lie at this point.
In fact, there are countries which are sending their defense forces against the sweeping angel squads that have appeared throughout the lands, there are already many uncounted casualties. Before the start of the great war, Demon Lord Rimuru and the other demon lords have had talks, and the fact that the demon lords themselves are taking part in the war was known. Demon Lord Ruminas took part in those talks, and it was decided that she and Demon Lord Rimuru were to take full charge of the defenses on the western front. Which, brings us back to the current situation, where the civilian populace needs to depend on the power of the demon lords, to protect them from Velda who intends to destroy the world. That finally brings us back to the point, as that is the problem the human leaders around the world are getting headaches for. To them, their symbolic defender, and also the symbol of fear, is Demon Lord Rimuru. As they have experienced, what kind of "death" that immensely powerful being is capable of unleashing. To the world leaders, the defeat of said demon lord directly leads to the destruction of mankind. What this means, is that the news of the defeat of Demon Lord Rimuru, brought unreal amounts of despair for them. The fact that Demon Lord Rimuru disappearing this fast, was something that didn't cross any of their minds. Even if he was defeated, pulling through no matter how many times he had to do it, was the image of Demon Lord Rimuru that they(the world leaders) held. But that only amplified the despair that they felt. (If the news of Demon Lord Rimuru's defeat wasn't made known, the capitals would still believe that the demon lords can emerge victorious――) That, was the unfiltered thought process of the world leaders, in the current situation. The reaction of the countries after hearing this information, was split into two opposing directions. The ones who still believe the demon lords will be victorious, even after knowing that Demon Lord Rimuru has been "defeated"; and the ones who have decided to do whatever they want, with the assumption that the demon lords will be defeated. For those who still believe in the demon lords' victory, they would be safest to stay in the capitals which have been declared to be safe from attack. In the end, most of the western country leaders and the empire's important figures, are part of the side which believe in the demon lords. Whatever happens, running around like a headless chicken won't get them far. If that's the case, staying away from the fighting and hoping for the best is still more ideal for them. Moreover, for the beings who have closer ties to Demon Lord Rimuru, they find it hard to seriously believe that he really was defeated; this was the greatest reason why they(the human world leaders) have yet to lose faith. To quote the words of a certain 1st generation committee leader――
『Haa!? There's no way the master would die that simply. That Velda fella looks like he's all talk, getting duped that easily.』 『I know, right. He's oh so underestimating that person, like I had in the past, looks like he's fully unaware of the ploy that's right under his nose.』
『Defeat is impossible, for Demon Lord Rimuru-sama.』 They said as such. The soldiers elaborated proudly, even though they were the ones who returned with disgraceful results from an overwhelming defeat. Because of how unnaturally absurd it was, it inversely caused the empire citizens to believe the soldiers. Although large scale confusions did happen, the swift response from the remaining empire leaders suppressed the civilian unrest within a few days of the occurrence. This, would be recorded as a miracle during the great war, and talked about by future generations.
But, problems arose, from the other side. A certain minimum number of the people, who are doing whatever they want on the assumption of the demon lords' defeat, exist everywhere around the world. Sadly, most countries had to split some of their defense force, to keep these miscreants in check. If this was also part of Velda's aims, it couldn't be helped that there will be some fools who end up falling for his ploy. These people only think of themselves. Which causes them to make bad choices, even if it was during such dire times.
The world was currently falling into despair, as per Velda's intentions.
From it, confusion was borne.
With that, one of his objectives was accomplished.
One of Demon Lord Rimuru's followers, "Warlord" Shion. She worshipped Demon Lord Rimuru as though a god.
So when she heard Velda's speech about his "death", all she could feel was a blinding rage.
That rage, was about to awaken a certain unstable emotion that was supposed to have been sealed deep within her heart....
And that, was about to whip up a turbulent storm upon the impending battlefield.