And so, with my vision killed by the flash, I end up staying at the place where the maidens are changing.
"Eh? Eh?! Wait a moment, Karen-dono! Do we have to change our underwear too-de gozaru ka?!" (Hyue)
"Of course! Depending on the dress' designs, your shoulders might be visible. If that's the case, the strings of the bra would be visible, right? And there are also dresses that come with bra." (Karen)
"Fuhihi… This panty is absurdly plentiful in laces…!" (Juo)
"Juo! Is there a single person who would call underpants as panties in this era?! You really don't know anything aside from your researching!!" (Hyue)
"It is fine, just stay in place, Hyue-chan! I am going to gather the meat at your sides to create cleavage!" (Karen)
"What are you saying, Karen-dono! There's no way my breasts can create a cleava— It was created?!" (Hyue)
"There's no impossible for the boobs of a girl!" (Karen)
"Fuhihi… I don't need to do anything to have cleavage though." (Juo)
I feel like dying.
The density of pink in this place is suffocating me.
Why am I in this place unable to leave and move?
If I were to try fumbling my way to the exit in this state where I can't see, I might touch one of the girls accidentally.
And, there's no way I can join that conversation that is a 100% girl's talk.
That's why I stiffened my body like a statue and made my heart stone as well. Don't react to any erotic kyakyafufu they do. I had no choice but to endure this pink storm till it passes by.
"Haine-sama, Haine-sama."
This voice is…Doraha?!
"If you want, I can bring you outside." (Doraha)
That's great, it would help out a lot!
To think there would be a saving line called Doraha in this pink hell!
I was about to tell her 'please, lead me outside!', but…
"—Excuse me."
The door was opened.
I heard the voice of a man.
"I heard about Juo and Hyue being here. Do you have a bit of time? There's something I want to confirm about the ceremony…… Eh?"
The 'eh?' at the end felt as if he had frozen.
The pink atmosphere that was in this room just a moment had frozen in an instant as well.
"…Doraha." (Haine)
"Yes?" (Doraha)
"Explain the situation." (Haine)
"The Wind Founder has entered the room." (Doraha)
So it really was Shiva huh.
"And so, what's the state." (Haine)
"The wind hero and the previous hero are in their underwear. They are pure white and have a lot of laces to go with the dress, so they are quite cute." (Doraha)
No need to explain in such detail.
In other words, Shiva has stepped into his little sister and bride while they were dressing huh. Moreover, the underwear is of high-class.
"Karen-sama is the only one in regular clothes since she is the one helping them change, but the wind heroes are staring directly at the Wind Founder, and their faces are stiffened. And they are now steadily getting red." (Doraha)
The default route.
Now then, what will you do, Shiva? Depending on your words, this will decide whether this situation will calm down or explode!
Show me your ability to deal with unexpected situations!
"…The Wind Founder is sweating bullets all over his face. And he is conspicuously averting his gaze." (Doraha)
Hearing the explanation of Doraha, I could tell that it was game over.
"Ah, you two… It fits you two pretty well. You look good." (Shiva)
And he has now placed the tombstone.
""Kyaaaaaaaaa!!""
A sudden gale had been created along with those cute screams, and it blew me away as well.
As expected of the gale created by two wind heroes. It is nothing to look down on. I only took the aftershock of it and I couldn't breath, so Shiva, who had taken a direct hit, must be in an incredible state right now.
Because my vision was in temporary retirement, I was swept by the whirling wind freely, and it hurt when colliding with things like walls and other stuff.
"Haine-san, are you okay?! I will save you!!" (Karen)
I heard the voice of Karen-san approaching me.
What reliable help. I stretch my hand out towards the voice of Karen-san.
*Squish*
I once again felt something soft from my hand. It was like a softness made in heaven.
"Nghkyaaaaaaaaaa!!" (Karen)
A scream from Karen-san as well?!
And in this way, I was blown away by light divine power, and couldn't tell left from right anymore.
It took more than several minutes for everything to calm down.
"No… It is true that it is my fault for entering the room without knocking. Knocking is the greatest culture of humanity after all. It is certainly true that I am at fault for neglecting it." (Shiva)
Shiva, who definitely crashed into many things, had scratches all over his body.
I had finally recovered my eyesight, so I was able to see that pitiful face of his.
"But you see…Juo and I are supposed to be married next week, you know? Isn't it okay to not get that frenzied over something like seeing her in underwear? …And Hyue, I am his brother, you know? There's no brother who would feel anything at seeing his sister nake—!" (Shiva)
*Bang bang!*
The terrifying sound of blows were heard from the shut door.
Probably two hits at practically the same time.
Shiva and I had long been thrown out of the dressing room, and we are now doing a dogeza at the corridor.
""I am sorry! Truly sorry!!""
But there was no response from the other side of the door.
This silence is frightening.
"Seriously, Shiva, you…! You really serve no other purpose but to worsen everything. Can you even call yourself the Founder-sama that leads the Wind Church?!" (Haine)
"Oh, shut up…! Or more like, I don't want to hear that from you. You brought upon the fury of the light hero after fondling her breasts twice, right? You really don't have good timings. Or was it intentional?" (Shiva)
"I will return those words right back at you! You are already in your late twenties, and yet, you still have the love-comedy disposition?! Are you really an adult?!" (Haine)
The dispute was about to explode, but the door was once again hit noisily, so we both returned to silence.
"…Let's change the topic." (Haine)
"Right." (Shiva)
"Uhm…now that I think about it, what did you come here for, Shiva? You are here because you had some business, right?" (Haine)
"Of course. Since then, I stayed back to arrange the details of the ceremony, but there was something that couldn't be established without Juo and I, so I came to call her." (Shiva)
"Just that?" (Haine)
He could have just send someone to call her.
He is a Founder-sama after all.
"That's true, but I was also slightly in an ecstatic mood, you know. I wanted to be together with the girl that will be my wife for as much as possible." (Shiva)
Getting all cherry-minded there. Just go explode.
For some reason, the tense atmosphere at the other side of the door got denser while we were conversing.
And then, the door opened.
I was attacked by an optical illusion as if pure white light had leaked out from the opened space.
356: Family Virgin Road"Incredible!!" (Haine)
The heaven-descended Juo-san wearing a pure white dress felt even more heavenly now. And her originally pearl-like shining skin was amplifying the white of the dress without bringing either down.
Her original plumbiness was fitting into the dress well, and it created a neat and clean beauty.
"Shivsama…how is it?" (Juo)
Juo-san asks with a downcast look.
The idiot Shiva had frozen after seeing Juo-san, so I had to nudge him from the side to have him snap out of it.
"Gufuh?! …Ah, it looks good, it looks good! It looks really good!! You are incredibly beautiful!!" (Shiva)
The praise of Shiva that held no sense of individuality made Juo-san's face redden once again.
How innocent.
And now…
"Shivsan, how about here?" (Karen)
Pushed by Karen-san, the one who came out was Hyue dressed in a pure white dress as well.
This was also no less beautiful.
Hyue is still a teenager, so she normally wouldn't be wearing a wedding dress though, but even when she is wearing the same dress design as Juo-san, the impression it gives was completely different.
Her trained body, at glance, doesn't look like it would balance well with a heavily ornamented dress, but even with that, because Hyue herself is a natural beauty, she was beautiful in whatever she wore.
Rather, her incredibly slender body was increased in volume by the frills of the dress, and it increased that feminine charm.
Seeing this, the brother Shiva said.
"Why is Hyue wearing it as well?" (Shiva)
A truly on point opinion.
"I thought you would be saying that. That's why I told you, Karen-dono! That I didn't want to show Aniue-sama! It was obvious that he would just be flabbergasted! And that's what happened!" (Hyue)
"It is fine, it is fine! Shivsama, please give your impression! Tell her she looks beautiful!" (Karen)
For some reason, he was overpowered by Karen-san, and Shiva nodded repeatedly.
"Yeah, of course, you look good. My little sister is a beauty to begin with after all." (Shiva)
Hearing this, Hyue turned bright red.
The two dressed as brides were bright red.
It was a hard to describe atmosphere, so there was the need for someone to break this.
"R-Right, Shiva, you came here because you had some business, right?!" (Haine)
That was my role.
"Right! Right! Juo, to tell you the truth, it is something that I can't do without you! Please come with me!!" (Shiva)
And so, the place we arrived at with Shiva as the lead was… the Grand Church inside the headquarters.
In the day of the wedding, Shiva and Juo-san will be standing in front of the altar to do their pledge in the presence of the Wind God Quasar —leaving aside the fact that Quasar has incarnated as Shiva himself.
In other words, this will be the true stage for the wedding.
"At the day of the wedding, Juo and I will be entering from different entrances, and we will be walking straight towards the altar." (Shiva)
It is a pattern that's normally seen in weddings.
"…And so, in the words of the person in charge of the wedding proceedings, there will apparently be solemn music at the time of our entry, but once we arrive at the altar, he says he wants to stop the music at the same time as that happens." (Shiva)
"That's why he wants to measure how long it will take for us to reach the altar?" (Juo)
"That's right." (Shiva)
The speed one walks at differs per person after all.
I do think that's just being way too nitpicky, but this is the wedding of their Founder, so they probably want this to go perfectly to the smallest of details.
"You are wearing your dress and all, so it would be nice to try and take the walk. For the sake of the actual day." (Shiva)
"Understood." (Juo)
When the two move towards the entrances of the church, I hold the ethereal stopwatch.
"By the way, there's absolutely no one aside from us here." (Haine)
"The church is not allowing unauthorized personnel for the sake of the wedding-de gozaru. The ones that want to, will have to go to the second church inside the headquarters to offer their prayers." (Hyue)
I see.
"Well then…get ready, and…go!" (Haine)
That call didn't fall like the right one, but Shiva and Juo-san enter the church.
And just like that, they arrive at the altar. The path leading up to there was truly the thing called Virgin Road, and it will definitely be their bridge at the time of the wedding, but there was an unexpected problem.
"Eh?"
"Eh?"
"Eeeh?!"
Karen-san and I, who were looking from the side, raised voices of distress.
The steps of the two are not matching.
To put it more precisely, Shiva's walking speed was way too fast and Juo-san's was way too slow, so when the two link arms and walk, the distance from each other slowly grows wider.
I felt like I was watching a bad three-legged pair.
"What are you two doing?" (Haine)
I couldn't help grumbling.
With this, measuring the time would be the further of the problems. It is great that they practiced first.
"Shiva! Walk a bit slower! In this case, it is easier for the faster one to match the pace, right?!" (Haine)
"U-Umu, you are right…!" (Shiva)
But it looks like the problem fell on Juo-san as well. And as a girl who acts like a ghost in her daily life, she apparently had her own style in things.
Shiva couldn't match that and, no matter how many times they tried, they couldn't walk side by side.
"This is bad…! To think we would be hitting a wall at a place like this!" (Haine)
"There's only ten days for the actual wedding, right? Can we correct them by then?" (Karen)
Karen-san and I were worrying, but there was someone who stepped forward a beat faster than us.
"What are you two doing?!" (Hyue)
It was Hyue.
She approaches the about to marry couple with a strength that she doesn't show to us.
"Aniue-sama! Juo developed her own unique style when mastering her wind gun rebellion technique. It is obvious that you wouldn't be able to match her on normal means!" (Hyue)
"I-I see!" (Shiva)
"Juo as well! In your everyday life, walk normally. You are not that much of a slowpoke that you wouldn't be able to catch up to the large strides of Aniue-sama!!" (Hyue)
"S-Sorry…!" (Juo)
Hyue was pulling the two of them.
I thought Hyue, who loves her brother and hates Juo, would be against the wedding, but maybe that wasn't the case.
It might be just as that Maid-san said.
"I can understand." (Karen)
Karen-san said at my side.
"Hyue-chan really loves the both of them." (Karen)
Karen-san speaks out the sentiments of her friend.
"Ah, geez! I can't just stand to watch this!!" (Hyue)
Hyue went in the middle of the linked arms of the bride and groom, and placed her body in between. Hyue's right arm links with Shiva's arm, and her left arm with Juo's.
With the three walking side by side, they once again entered in a new set.
"Listen well! The two of you, match my pace!" (Hyue)
"O-Okay!" "Understood!"
"The original technique of Juo 'wind step' is something that I have tested myself. I will adjust the pace in the middle, so you two match that!!" (Hyue)
""Yes…!""
And so, a strange entrance of the bride and groom began.
The groom, bride, and the little sister.
A Virgin Road with the three in arms huh.
Hyue was also in a wedding dress, so they really looked picturesque.
'Did you aim for this when you made Hyue wear a dress?', is what I ask to Karen-san when I send her my gaze, but she shook her head to the sides.
Karen-san obviously didn't have such high planning skills.
But the three of them are without doubt walking down the Virgin Road to becoming a wonderful family.
"Come on. One, two, one, two…! Aniue-sama, drop the pace a bit! Juo, don't put divine power between the space of your feet and ground!" (Hyue)
""Y-Yes!!""
Looks like the entrance practice will still be continuing.
But I think that this is an incredibly important time for the three of them.
357: SeparationThis is something that happened at a different location at the same time.
The Demon Lords were flying towards the castle.
It is their base and also the cradle of the Great Demon Lord Lucifer that has still not reached a proper birth yet.
They temporarily called that place as 'castle'.
This is not something that the Demon Lords themselves prepared, but something that a human woman calling herself as 'Lucifer's Priestess' had guided them to.
For the Demon Lords, that woman's identity is unknown and hard to comprehend. And after deepening their understanding by fighting against the humans, her shadiness increased even more.
To the point that they want to change their view of her from shady to dangerous.
That's why Michael and Gabriel weren't in the mood of returning to what's supposed to be their home at all.
On the contrary, they were nervous, as if they were charging towards enemy territory.
They were planning on going back to the castle and have an audience with Lucifer who might have awakened by now.
Why do they have to fight the humans? What comes after the eradication of the humans?
The future that Michael and the others saw after directly coming in contact with the humans, the even bigger something that they can obtain from there —is the direction that Lucifer points at leading to such a future?
'There's the need to speak with the Great Demon Lord about this', is what the three Demon Lords with their prided wings thought as they flew through the sky in order to confirm this.
"…Really, you saved me there." (Uriel)
Uriel, who was flying at the furthest back, said this with true heartfelt relieve.
"If you guys hadn't come to save me, I might have been made a deity that forever makes Golems. Humans really surpass logic. With just their momentum, they completely sealed my chance to object!" (Uriel)
Uriel, who had been dragged to Ishtar Blaze by Sasae, had been held high up as the deity that replaces Grandma Wood.
A personal altar for Uriel had been made in the blink of an eye, he was enshrined there, and young and old people regardless of gender were visiting him alternatively.
In the time Uriel was overwhelmed by this and couldn't move, Michael and Gabriel appeared, and after doing some desperate convincing, they were allowed a temporary leave with the pretext of 'arranging personal matters'.
"…But I have to return at the fixed date. The threatening words of the hero: 'If ya don't return, I will be searching for ydasu yo!', don't leave my ears!!" (Uriel)
"You are just weak to pressure, Uriel. Good grief, to think that the Earth Demon Lord had such a pathetic side to him." (Gabriel)
Gabriel says with a tone as if making fun of him.
"…The more time it passes, the more our individuality grows." (Michael)
Michael speaks with him at the lead.
"Not only our abilities and outward appearance, but mostly our personalities. The experience and knowledge is changing each of us from the inside, and changing us more and more into different beings." (Michael)
"That's culture! By clashing opinions between people of different thoughts, knowledge is spoke out loud and takes form, is what the people of the Water Church said!" (Gabriel)
Gabriel says in an intoxicated manner.
In that case, the Demon Lords will in time hold different ways of thinking, and might end up confronting each other.
At first, the Demon Lords were cooperating to bring destruction to the humans, but now, even their biggest objective might be facing a downfall.
At the time when their objectives change and they face in new directions, will the Demon Lords be able to maintain the same grouping?
"……"
"?" "What's the matter, Michael?"
Reacting to their leader that had suddenly stopped in mid-air, Gabriel and Uriel also stop.
"I was thinking about meeting you. It is fortuitous that you are the one that came to meet us." (Michael)
Michael looked straight at an empty space, and then, from that one place, something appeared.
Many small points took shape, and those points became uncountable in no time, moreover, they were whirling like a storm.
"Uh?!" "This is…!"
That intensity made Gabriel and Uriel protect their eyes as they follow it with their gaze, but in the instant when their vision was obstructed by it, a new strangeness appeared.
A steel armor that covers the whole body. From his back, colorful butterfly wings were spread.
"Raphael?!" (Uriel)
"What, so it was you? Don't scare me." (Gabriel)
The last of the four Demon Lords that came together under the banner of human eradication.
His whole body is covered in full body armor and doesn't show a single bit of skin, which makes his appearance a step more unique than that of the other Demon Lords that are unique to begin with.
A suspicious look is directed at the dark gap in his helmet.
"…Raphael, the three of us have found a new possible path for us monsters to walk in." (Michael)
The Fire Demon Lord speaks with the Wind one.
"Instead of fighting humans, we should walk together and better each other. I think that, in this way, we will be able to go even further without stopping because of wounds we have done to each other. I am beginning to feel like seeing what this path will bring about." (Michael)
"Culture is the best! Culture is necessary in the development of monsters!" (Gabriel)
"I don't have that much freedom of choice as them, but I don't want to fight humans anymore. Especially with that super scary hero!!" (Uriel)
The other Demon Lords chime in on their approval to coexist with humans.
It was as if a cold ditch had been made between Raphael and the other three.
"We are planning on going to Lucifer-sama to ask about his will once again. Ask him if fighting the humans is truly the only path. Raphael, I want you to accompany us as well." (Michael)
"That's a great idea. We four are practically together all the time after all." (Uriel)
"The four together is what makes us the four Demon Lords. Let's go, Raphael." (Gabriel)
The three Demon Lords invited him, but the Wind one answered bluntly.
"I refuse." (Raphael)
This clear refusal surprised the three and confused them.
"You three really have been corrupted and have had your thoughts crooked. In order to climb to the summit of all living beings, we have to kick out the current ones at the summit. In other words, the humans." (Raphael)
"And we are saying that, instead of having one side stand at the summit, we can coexist and—!" (Michael)
"That can't happen. The summit is always one. Humans are enemies we must destroy. If you guys are not going to eradicate the humans, I will. That's all there is to it." (Raphael)
"Explain yourself, Raphael!" (Michael)
Even the leader Michael couldn't read the intense emotions that were hidden in the words of Raphael.
That's because those three still don't know about that emotion.
"If you guys have lost the will to do so, I will be doing it myself. Slaughter the humans, prosperity to the monsters; those goals will be achieved by the Wind Demon Lord Raphael on his own. I simply came here today to announce this." (Raphael)
As if saying there's nothing more to speak of, Raphael turns around.
"The four Demon Lords are now disbanded. You three can go choose a new name for your group now." (Raphael)
"Wait, Raphael!" (Gabriel)
The bitter voice of Gabriel stopped her brethren who was leaving.
"Why are you saying something like that?! Aren't we comrades that have acted together since the time we were born?!" (Gabriel)
"Comrades? Don't go joking." (Raphael)
Raphael says coldly.
"There hasn't been a single time you guys have thought of me as a comrade. Did you think I hadn't noticed?" (Raphael)
No one could refute those words immediately.
Without giving the time to break that silence, Raphael once again rides a gale and disappears from sight.
A storm's coming.