In Dire Straits.

“Your power is indeed immense. But your sole weakness is these fragments of the Demon King’s Sword.”

Black radiance poured out from Zegart’s forehead and chest.

“Fragments of the Purgatory Demon King’s Sword (Radis)…?!”

And two of them, no less.

“When you fought the Hero who held a fragment in the past, your power weakened drastically, didn’t it?” Zegart smirked. “The mutual interference between the Miracle Armament within your own body, the Miracle Armament held by that Hero, and the fragment of the Demon King’s Sword—that is what weakened your power as a Demon King.”

“Mutual interference…?”

“The ‘Miracle Armament’ that gives form to divine power, and the ‘Purgatory Demon King’s Sword’ that harbors the power of the Demon King. When those two powers rise within you at the same time, they negate each other, causing your ‘magic power as a Demon King’ to diminish to near nothingness,” Tsukuyomi explained.

“Unlike historical Demon Kings, you are a former human who holds both a divine weapon and the power of a Demon King inside your body. That is why this phenomenon occurs.”

“The only time those conditions were previously met was during your battle against the Hero who held both a Miracle Armament and a fragment of the Demon King’s Sword at the same time—or so he taught me. Thus, I figured that by artificially reproducing those same conditions, I could weaken you.”

Zegart laughed.

“In the previous battle, I stole a Miracle Armament from one of the Heroes. Then, using Tsukuyomi’s magical engineering, I had that Hero’s arm modified and grafted onto my back so that I could wield a Miracle Armament myself.”

I see.

So the sub-arm growing from Zegart’s back was made from the arm of the Hero he defeated in the Second Hero Invasion War.

That was how Zegart could use that arm to control a Miracle Armament.

“And then I placed two fragments inside my own body and the Miracle Armament respectively. The result—as you can see. The tactics I learned from him worked like a charm.”

“Him… you say?”

“I struck a deal with an sworn enemy to forge my path of conquest.”

A hint of bitterness crossed Zegart’s face.

“A sworn enemy…”

“There’s no need to tell you,” Zegart smirked. “Now, shall we continue?!”

With a roar, Zegart thrust out his spear.

Mixing in his own claws, fangs, and tail, he unleashed a relentless array of attacks.

I intercepted with fire and lightning magic, but every spell was easily blown away.

With my output dropped this low, I had no choice but to raise the tier of my spells.

“Mega Thunder!”

I unleashed a highest-tier lightning spell.

The lightning, bearing enough power to burn away space itself, was nevertheless—

“Useless!”

It was sliced apart by Zegart’s Miracle Armament.

This didn’t work either—

“Lucifer’s Shield!”

Raising a barrier to withstand his attacks, I fell back.

However, even that barrier cracked continuously under Zegart’s relentless strikes. It wouldn’t hold out for long.

“Are you reduced to pure defense already? Weren’t you supposed to be the strongest Demon King in history? Kuhahaha!”

Zegart gloated triumphantly.

With a high-pitched shatter, the barrier completely broke into pieces.

“Tch…”

Clicking my tongue, I retreated even further.

In that case, I’ll use this—

“Convergent Type: Void Strike (Vanity Blade)!”

I created my ultimate magic sword.

Or rather—

“It’s not activating—”

The jet-black energy blade that appeared in my hand blurred hazily and dispersed into mist.

My magic power wouldn’t converge into the shape of a blade.

Don’t tell me I’m almost completely out of magic power?!

It was as if I had reverted to the time when I was a human Hero.

In fact, my current stats might not be much different from my human days.

Has the power I gained after reincarnating as a Demon King vanished…?!

“Stripped of even your magic power, you are no match for me! Now, fall—and hand over the throne of the Demon King to me!”

Stepping in for the finishing blow, Zegart thrust his spear forward.

This is bad, I can’t block this…!

Instinctively, I braced myself.

The sharp tip surged toward my eyes—

“Ghk…?!”

However, the expected pain and impact never came.

Clang!

Instead, a deep metallic ring echoed from right in front of me.

“You…?!”

Exclamations of shock escaped from both Zegart and me at the exact same time.

“…I will not let you point your blade at this man, Zegart.”

Leaping in from the side, Regal had caught the Beast Emperor’s spear with his sword—