Confrontation In The Alternate Dimension

An alternate dimension shimmering with multi-colored lights—red, blue, green, and yellow.

Within it, I stood face-to-face with the gargantuan crimson lion.

“To think that I, a weapon of God, would be cornered by a wicked entity such as a Demon Lord…”

The King of Flames groaned. Intense fire erupted from its entire body, as if manifesting its fighting spirit.

“But do not get ahead of yourself. Evil has never triumphed in the end—sooner or later, the Almighty God shall perish your kind.”

“I’m not about to let us be destroyed.”

I glared at the King of Flames.

“I will protect the Demon Realm.”

“Demons have no value in living.”

“…Why do you harbor such a vendetta against us? Is a ceasefire not possible?”

“As wicked lifeforms, demons have no value in living. As a wicked world, the Demon Realm has no value in existing.”

I could feel a resolute will conveying that every last demon must be exterminated.

“I guess there really is no room for negotiation, then.”

In that case—I should finish destroying it quickly. I held my hand out toward it, concentrating my mana. My target was the wound in its armor. If I fired something like Fire or Thunder into that opening, I could take it down—.

“…Wait, do not fire.”

The King of Flames’ tone shifted.

“Is your objective negotiation with me? Very well, I shall hear you out.”

“…Your attitude changed suddenly,” I said, growing suspicious. Was it plotting something?

Still—even if it tried to pull something, given the gap in our combat capabilities, I should be able to overcome it. Since the opportunity was there, I decided to ask what I could. Information gathering was essential.

“Where did you come from? The Demon Realm is supposed to be protected by a barrier.”

I wanted to ask this first. Perhaps there was a flaw in the barrier, creating a passageway to the outside world.

“Did you reach the Demon Realm by traveling through this alternate dimension?”

“No.”

The King of Flames shook its head.

“This is a ‘dead-end’ space that leads nowhere. We reached the Demon Realm through the barrier about a month ago, after discovering a hole had been opened in it.”

This guy has suddenly become quite talkative. Perhaps it’s aiming for a counterattack while I’m distracted by the conversation? Regardless, it was a chance to gain information. I decided to play along.

“So, without that hole, you wouldn’t have been able to enter the Demon Realm?”

“Strictly speaking, that is not quite correct. The stronger the holy power, the larger the passageway required to enter the Demon Realm—one so large it would practically necessitate the annihilation of the barrier itself. The hole from the other day was far too small in size.”

The King of Flames continued.

“That is why God does not intervene directly, but instead bestows weapons upon humans to fight the demons. We Divine Gears, those who possess Seraph-class Miracle Armaments, or the Angels and God themselves… cannot enter the Demon Realm by simply opening a minor hole in the barrier.”

In other words, as long as the barrier exists, the truly powerful forces within the Heavenly Host and the Hero Army cannot invade the Demon Realm.

“Then how did you get in?”

“By weakening our power. To the absolute limit.”

The King of Flames explained.

“We Divine Gears weakened our holy power to the brink before passing through the barrier. We then entered dormancy in the outskirts of the Demon Realm. While slowly accumulating power and biding our time… we felt your strength and awakened.”

So, they entered in a weakened state and then increased their power until they could act in the Demon Realm again. If that’s possible, then those who normally can’t pass through the barrier—Seraph-class Heroes, Angels, and even God—could use the same method to enter, couldn’t they? I should take that into account for the realm’s defense…

“Next question. What is your goal?”

“There is something in this world that was once lost from the world of God.”

“Eh?”

“…No, that is of no concern to you.”

Suddenly, the King of Flames’ aura shifted.

“It is time to end our chat. My power has recovered.”

It vented fire violently from its body and put distance between us.

“To actually indulge in conversation and stand by while I regained my strength… how naive, Demon Lord.”

So that conversation wasn’t to look for an opening, but just to buy time for recovery.

“Naive? No, I just have room to spare.”

I thrust my right hand straight out.

“Sorry to do this right after you recovered—but it’s time for you to vanish.”

Mana light converged in my palm. Its armor was already wounded. If I fired through that, I could finish it in one shot.

“Fool! You shall vanish as well!”

Suddenly, the King of Flames charged. Its entire body began to glow blindingly. Is it—planning to self-destruct!?

“Thunder Burst.”

I fired the lightning strike without hesitation, blowing through the King of Flames. A massive explosion occurred. I immediately deployed my mana barrier, Lucifer’s Shield, and remained unscathed.

“Surprisingly easy for a weapon of legend,” I muttered. But at that moment—

I felt a gargantuan presence.

“Well done, King of Flames. You have succeeded in trapping the Demon Lord.”

A voice echoed from outside the alternate dimension.

“The signal via self-destruction was also well-executed. Now, I shall proceed to exterminate the demons.”

“That voice—”

If I recall, there are three Divine Gears in total. This must be one of the others. So the King of Flames let itself be defeated so easily just to send a signal to the remaining two? It probably hoped the shockwave of the self-destruction would take me out too, but…

“Mega Fire!”

I unleashed the top-tier fire spell. But the crimson flames only exploded far in the distance. No feedback—? Perhaps this alternate dimension is too vast. I thought about making a rift in space to escape, but it might not be that simple.

“Judas! Feria! Hold back the remaining two until I return!” I shouted at the top of my lungs.

“My Lord?”

“Can’t you get out, little Demon Lord?”

I could hear the voices of Feria and Judas. It seems my voice reaches outside. Or perhaps they detected my words through their own powers. Regardless, I was glad we could communicate.

“My attack magic isn’t hitting anything solid. It might take some time to escape,” I explained. “In the meantime, protect the Demon Realm. I’ll be there as soon as I can—”

The ‘Divine Gear’, the supreme weapon created by God for the decisive battle against the Demon Lord.

One of them—the King of Tides.

Stella stared at the massive blue dragon with a grim expression.

“What a staggering amount of mana…!” She groaned as she scanned the enemy with her third eye.

The foe before her possessed mana equal to or greater than a Demon Lord—excluding Fried, whose stats were an anomaly even among the legends. In other words, the opponent they were about to fight was as strong as, if not stronger than, a Demon Lord.

(Can we win… no, can we even stand against it?)

“Have you found its weakness, Commander Stella?” Regal asked, his sword leveled.

“…I haven’t. Its armor repels mana. Most likely, even your energy drain won’t deal damage. The only breakthrough will be physical attacks.”

“Hmph. So I simply have to strike it down with my blade. Simple enough.”

Regal stepped forward casually.

“Shall I assist, Regal?”

A massive dragon descended from the sky. It was the Emperor Dragon, Bel-ga-Elfieda.

“I will observe the situation first. You stay back,” Regal said, shaking his head. “There are three Divine Gears in total. Others may still appear.”

“The opponent’s firepower is Demon Lord-class,” Stella warned. “No matter how immortal an undead you are, if your very existence is erased, it’s over. Be careful.”

“Who do you think you’re talking to?” Regal replied defiantly. “A weapon designed to kill Demon Lords, eh? A worthy opponent.”

The skeletal swordsman and the King of Tides faced each other head-on. The distance between them was about a hundred meters.

“Regal Vana Centaura, the ‘Undead King’—I’m coming!”

With that, the skeletal swordsman kicked off the ground.

“Perish, wicked demons.”

The King of Tides spat a torrent of water from its maw.

“Hades Blade!”

Regal’s slash sliced the torrent clean in half.

“Hoh, a demon blade that can even cut water?”

“This level of attack won’t even serve as a diversion!”

Regal swung his ominous sword, designed like a collection of bones. He brought it down with the force of a crashing wave—

CRACK.

With a dull thud, the sword snapped.

“My blade—”

“It seems its armor is protected by blades of high-pressure water. Don’t get too close, Regal,” Stella announced.

“Hmph. So its physical defense is also perfect.”

Regal gave the broken hilt a flick. The scattered bone-like parts gathered and regenerated into the shape of the sword in an instant.

“However, like me, my blade is immortal. Next time, I shall carve you apart.”

“Demons are to be annihilated. That is all.”

The King of Tides spoke quietly.

—The deathmatch resumed.