The last battle of this war ended.

There was intervention from Yugura Nariya, but you could say the human side won in terms of result.

The demons that guided the monsters in each zone have fallen, and the Colorless Demon Lord who could replenish the monsters in the Nether has been defeated and retrieved.

Considering the personality of Yugura Nariya, the Colorless Demon Lord won’t be recovering completely by the time this war concludes. You could say he is technically dead.

The Black Demon Lord was watching all of this and was silently meditating on the throne.

Is she offering a silent prayer to the ones that fell in battle? Or is she thinking about what lies ahead…?

“Heya, I am back.”

“I don’t know about saying ‘I am back’ when entering the mind of someone else.”

I was thinking this and Yugura Nariya came back with carefreeness as if he had come back from the convenience store.

There’s nothing different from him to the time before he intervened.

The hard fought battle of Haiya and the others didn’t affect this man at all.

Emotions showed faintly in my face.

Yugura Nariya looked at me and was a bit surprised.

“—I thought you would show a bit more hatred and anger towards me. Could it be that you didn’t get along with Haiya that much?” (Yugura)

“…It is not like I don’t feel that at all. It is just that the sadness and jealousy is stronger.”

I knew from a pretty long time ago that Haiya desired his death bed to be under Yugura Nariya.

I can’t one-sidedly deny the desire of the person himself.

What I could do was show him that there were other options.

Haiya accepted those feelings of mine, but he in the end chose his own will.

I couldn’t change Haiya… That’s all there is to it.

“I am sure there are only a few people in your era that would feel a kamikaze as an honor now.” (Yugura)

“I may understand it, but I wouldn’t want to do it.”

Yugura Nariya would have been able to escape from the frontlines without having to fight against Haiya at all.

He tagged along with him till the very end despite that. That must have been his own way of showing consideration.

Even if I am in a position where I shun things like given power, and the strength of isolation, I still feel jealous at times like this.

I feel sad too, but the amplitude of my emotions is far lower than I imagined.

This wasn’t a sudden farewell. A part of me probably had already accepted the end of Haiya.

“You won’t complain?” (Yugura)

“It is not like anything will change if I did. Even if I were to bring it to a negotiation, you will just even it out with the matter of Ofaro, right?”

I planted a seed in Ofaro to increase the chances of victory for Ekdoik.

I technically was just caught in the rampage of Ofaro and I have no fault in this, but it is true that I interfered.

Also, there’s no point in criticizing Yugura Nariya.

We are in a position where we can’t do anything even if we are killed unreasonably.

What I can do is to help out in controlling his feelings so that he can be reasoned with.

“That was pretty funny for me. Tedoral must have wanted to see that too.” (Yugura)

“The person in question is in the middle of recovering?”

“Even if the body can be healed, the heart is another matter. He faced them with everything he had, thinking they were equals, and yet, they were actually holding back.” (Yugura)

“Was Haiya strong?”

“He was. The self-destruction at the end was so intricate it made me not want to take it on. But with the Black Demon Lord Killer Mountain being used as a shield…” (Yugura)

Most of the forest of the Taizu Nether was burned by the explosion I saw at the end.

If it is just as Yugura Nariya says, the scale of that was still from mitigated power.

The Black Demon Lord Killer Mountain is beyond the Taizu Nether. And that’s where the nest of the Mana Eater where the soul of the Black Demon Lord is caught.

Haiya, who has thrown away his human way of living, would have blown up the nest of the Mana Eater and might have been able to free the Black Demon Lord.

If the soul of the Black Demon Lord is freed and she resurrects completely, there’s a high chance she would interfere with the space-time magic that Yugura Nariya is trying to use.

She would originally also have despairing levels of power, but it would be far better compared to Yugura Nariya.

It would not be a bad gamble for the remaining people.

“I see…”

“But that was a valid result for the war. Well, you could say it is natural. There’s no specialist in war or battle in the forces of Black after all.” (Yugura)

That’s right.

This is a pretty big reason as to why Ilias and the others won.

The Black Demon Lord didn’t have people who specialized in combat like knights or warriors.

They had transcendental special traits and high physical capabilities as demons, but their battle techniques and stance were just an extension of common people. They were not soldiers at core.

That was the case for the Colorless Demon Lord, too.

He learned how to alter the laws with Yugura Nariya, and even if he were to do a lot of battle simulations in the time he had, he was at core a scholar and a researcher.

That’s why the state of things could be easily overturned even if the situation was beyond that of equals.

They were shaken, thrown out of posture, and defeated.

“Those types of people couldn’t endure the passing of time after all.”

“There’s no telling how it would have gone if Idolak and Ukawaki were alive. They were way too judgemental of themselves.” (Yugura)

The demons maintained their heart because they had a strong sense of self to dye over reason.

That could be seen as defective and inexperienced in an objective way.

You need to judge yourself with reason within a battle, and yet, they wouldn’t have been able to survive if they did that.

“Sounds like they were checkmated from the beginning.”

“One of the conditions was for the humans to not be in decline though. It might have been a mistake to establish the Yugura Church. No, you could say it was a success considering the meaning of its establishment.” (Yugura)

“Preparation against the threat of the Demon Lords, huh.”

The Demon Lords resurrect even when killed because of the resurrection magic curse carved in themselves.

Yugura Nariya set a variety of things in order to make it possible for the people in this world to oppose the Demon Lords with their own strength.

He founded the Yugura Church, gave them the knowledge to fight monsters and purify the Nethers, and formed an environment to become one and direct their hostility towards the Demon Lords.

He planted the factor of Illegitimates in the people, and created candidates for heroes who have special talents into society.

There’s no better bastard than him when it comes to being praised as a hero.

But the way you view this changes if he used his standing as the one who defeated the Demon Lords to leave the necessary strength and knowledge to future generations.

That said, everything was for the sake of the Black Demon Lord.

“Everything was pointless though.” (Yugura)

Yugura Nariya wanted to return the Black Demon Lord to a human. He thought her anger for her hometown being burned down would calm down after letting her do as she pleased for a while.

But the Black Demon Lord chose the path to destroy humanity.

The power of omnipotence that he gave her in order to smoothen it all ended up isolating her from the world.

He wanted to avoid that future and have her live as a human. Moving to protect the world was just an afterthought.

But he failed in convincing her and was frustrated about returning her to a human.

That’s all there is to it if put into words, but the process to reach that conclusion must have been something that no normal person would have been able to endure.

“But that’s still everything for the people who were born. Just like how Haiya’s way of living was.”

“Maybe. But I don’t feel interested. I have my hands full with her alone after all.” (Yugura)

There’s no good or evil. The only thing Yugura Nariya was seeing was the Black Demon Lord.

Him making contact with me and the Black Demon Lord in this manner is because he is barely seeing the ones that are around her.

He probably simply sees the world as an attachment to the Black Demon Lord.

“Are you saying you don’t feel anything about this battle of strenuous effort?”

“I can still feel something. There were a decent amount of individuals that I was interested in even if not to the point of wanting them. The one who was the most interesting was…your favorite girl.” (Yugura)

“…Ilias, huh.”

It is not unexpected.

People like Haiya, Arcreal, and Wolfe were set to become strong by Yugura Nariya himself.

He may be interested in how well they ended up, but he won’t feel any freshness in it as the person who made that happen.

“I didn’t expect to see a Limit Breaker in this era.” (Yugura)

“…So there’s really something like that.”

“It was the result of a hero from a few generations ago -a reincarnator- tinkering with the laws of this world. You can break through your own limits by proper continuous training since infancy. It is a power that everyone in this world has, just like mana.” (Yugura)

“Everyone has it…?”

The memories of the inhuman physical strength of Ilias flashed in my mind just from hearing this explanation.

For the people who are in the master level, she may just be a bit special, but it really is abnormal for her to be that strong when she is that young.

“But someone who was worried about raising the standards of the world too much placed a limiter to the instincts of people. You should have a bit of an idea since you lived in this world, right?” (Yugura)

“…The mana stabilization that happens when you reach adulthood, huh.”

“Pinpon~. It is not like it is a lie. The residents of this world have unstable mana when they are young, so there’s the risk of them easily breaking if they push themselves into training. They understand this by instinct. The person themself unconsciously puts a brake and a proper parent would definitely not let them do such a dangerous thing.” (Yugura)

Ilias lost her parents when was a child, and she trained, chasing after the shadow of her father who was a knight.

The one who saved her was the Archbishop Maya-san from the Yugura Church and the seasoned knights of the Ragudo Division.

They respected the will of Ilias and watched over her, but it was the appropriate environment to support and interfere when needed.

Outstanding knowledge of mana to stop accidents and technique. Such people fulfilled this condition miraculously.

And then, because of the earnest personality of the person herself, the brake was taken off unconsciously, leading to the present Ilias.

“She had a tough time in battles quite a lot of times though.”

“That’s because I was way too outstanding. The talents of the Illegitimates can easily surpass such Limit Breakers. Just showing the Hero Index is enough to easily surpass a Limit Breaker after all.” (Yugura)

“Apologize to your predecessors that tried their best to stop inflation…”

“Don’t wanna. They are a bunch of trash that did stuff like creating demi-humans out of interest which in turn created discrimination, and destroying Spirits because they didn’t like their personality, you know?” (Yugura)

“Aah, so they were like you.”

The otherworlders create unexpected changes in the world with their otherworldly knowledge.

They were transferred with that objective, so you could say it is natural for them to be similar.

“Ahaha, that must be why my words don’t reach.” (Yugura)

“…What do you plan on doing after this?”

“The fate of a powerless Demon Lord who has lost her subordinates and army is obvious, right? The knight who wants to save you will arrive here soon. The curtains will fall to the birth of a new hero. Well, I don’t know about a hero that was outside the production though.” (Yugura)

“No, I was talking about what will happen to me.”

“Black being in your body is a barrier of sorts. If she gets hit with an attack that could kill her, the barrier will be broken, and the authority of the body will return to you.” (Yugura)

Looks like it is set that I will be beaten up by Ilias.

I am sure she would beat me up without hesitation if the situation is explained -including venting for the daily grievances and this matter.

“…Asking just in case, but what will happen if my head is lopped off or my heart is pierced?”

“…People have a few seconds of consciousness even if their head is sliced off. You can still make it in time.” (Yugura)

“Oi.”

“Make sure you train your heart so that you don’t die from the shock. You are currently in your spiritual body, so don’t you think you would get stronger if you were to do squats as you are?” (Yugura)

“Oi.”

Even though the people who were injured and died still remain in my mind, there’s a part of me that can still match the light tone of Yugura Nariya.

My emotions must be unconsciously putting a brake on flowing to other things.

Everything will end soon.

I can’t do anything aside from leaving the rest to the others and believe…on Ilias, on myself, and the Black Demon Lord.

That’s the last thing I can do.

——

Author: The calm before the storm.

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