NOVEL NEXT Chapter 262
At that moment.
Once a place known as ‘the System’, now called ‘Abelfia’.
A massacre unfolded in the building constructed by the Hero, where the imperials with nowhere to go were living.
Kiaaaack!!
Black monsters were running wild.
Fusion creatures soaked completely in black were opening their jaws wide, trying to swallow everything.
“Uaaack! Save me!!”
The imperial citizens were one by one disappearing into Kimaria’s belly.
Even though they screamed, no one came to help.
Because there was no Hero.
The Hero had left to find his master, the Witch.
But there was a sense of relief.
“By the name of the Moon Goddess!”
“Light! Protect us!”
“O Angels! Have mercy on us!!”
The imperial citizens prayed to their new ruler, the Angels.
The Angels, who had sent the Unbelievers to hell, had power.
They were powerful enough to surely defeat Kimaria.
“Alright! Pray towards the Blue Moon! I, Hannibel, shall defeat that wicked claw! In the name of the Moon Goddess—!!”
Aiming at Kimaria, the Angel clad in Divine Power charged forward and stabbed her spear into the monster’s neck.
Kiaaaack!
Kimaria fell.
As soon as the spear of Divine Power pierced her neck, she slammed her head to the ground, and the Angel struck down the beast in one hit.
“Oooh, indeed the Apostle of the Moon Goddess!”
“The Moon Goddess is a god!”
“Long live the Angels!!”
What does it matter if one doesn’t believe?
The proof of faith was shown right here before their eyes.
If faith can heal all ailments, and if faith can prevent a monster from devouring people, then there is no reason not to believe.
However.
“Haha. Behold, uncivilized humans! The power of the Angels!”
If only they could truly protect us.
“The Angels—”
Kwaaduk.
Something leaped from below, biting off half the Angel’s torso.
Protection through Divine Power?
That was non-existent.
“Uh…?”
In an instant, half of the Angel’s torso disappeared, leaving only her wings fluttering in the air.
Tudududuk.
Red blood poured down, and Kimaria, who had eaten the Angel’s torso, stood up with a vile grin.
One neck was stabbed by Divine Power and fell.
However.
Another neck emerged, ready to swallow the Angel whole.
For some reason, that body seemed to even chew on Divine Power and consume it.
“W-What?! To eat the Divine Power of the Moon Goddess!!”
“Uaaagh, that’s a monster…! A monster of doom!”
“It’s a monster from the Demon World! That’s why it even devours the Angels!!”
Once again, the imperial citizens were seized by fear.
“The monsters of the Demon King have resurrected——!!”
They fell into panic.
The terror of having no one to protect them engulfed everyone, and salvation was nowhere to be found.
“Ahh. Foolish humans. You are still irreverent.”
Flutter.
The sky opened.
From the black sky fluttered a blue-winged, golden-haired Archangel, reaching out her hand to all.
“Do not doubt. Do not question the Moon Goddess. I shall show you. The power of the Moon Goddess. I, Luciel, will show you.”
Luciel pointed her spear-like staff forward.
“Let there be light.”
Swooooosh——!!
“[Starlight Fall].”
With an unknown divine decree from the Archangel, blue starlight began to fall from the sky.
Kiaaaack!!
The blue starlight poured down like hail upon Kimarias.
“Bow down.”
Kimarias could hardly raise their heads, forced to bury themselves into the ground, and no monster dared to rise.
“Bow before the power of the Moon Goddess. Worship and praise. Just—”
“The Demon King, Beel Zephar——!!”
Boom——!!
Black darkness surged from below, repelling the starlight curtain.
In an instant, the blue starlight turned to stardust, scattering in all directions, and a massive Black Dragon emerged from the gaps of the monsters, roaring towards the sky.
Kyaaaahhh——!!
The beast, Beel Zephar, poured the black mana gathered in its mouth towards the heavens.
The blue starlight pouring down towards the beasts instantly turned black.
Grrr….
No longer would the starlight glimmer as it fell towards Kimaria, but instead fused into the darkness of the night sky.
“Was that such feeble magic, that you dared to threaten the Intermediate Realm, Fallen Angel?”
“Fallen Angel? I am Luciel, the representative of the Moon Goddess.”
“Everyone in the world knows you as the Demon King Lucifer, so what good will it do to prattle on with such ugly nonsense?”
“…Heh. I need not heed the words of a Unbeliever and a creature. You should have vanished five hundred years ago.”
Kwah——ng.
Luciel lifted her staff to the heavens.
“Witness the power of the Angels. I shall directly show you the true power of the Angels who have descended upon this land, the power of the Moon Goddess.”
“Show me, then. Show me the power that even dares to defile the Moon Goddess, the power of the Demon King Bel Phegor!!”
Flutter.
As Beel Zephar spread his wings, many minions began crawling out from the membranes of his wings as if they were leaping across space.
“If you are Celestial beings descended from the sky, then I shall call forth the subordinates of the Demon King!!”
“……!!”
“Open, Lemegaton! Bloom, Pandemonium! Open the gates of the Demon World and come forth to this land! I, Beel Zephar, command!”
“You, you don’t mean…!”
“From now on!!”
Beel Zephar shouted loudly towards the sky.
“I call upon the ‘Names’ of all Demon Races!!”
*
I hurriedly returned to the command room of the Bride Ship with Lucius to assess the situation.
“Is the fight in Abelfia really a fight? Phew.”
A stroke of good fortune amidst disaster.
“Did you feel… relieved? A sigh of relief?”
“Yeah. They seem to have joined forces.”
I almost had to face both Lucifer and Zephar at the same time, but thankfully that did not happen.
“…For now, they’re just battling each other.”
At least for now.
“The Fallen Angel is opening the gates of the Celestial Realm and continuously summoning Angels, while the Necromancer is directly summoning Demon Races from the Demon World. Wow, the Celestial War unfolding in the Intermediate Realm is quite grand.”
I was at a loss for words.
“Lucius. What shall we do? Which side will you take?”
“Is it even permissible to choose sides in this battle?”
“Yeah. Whose side will you choose?”
“Master’s side.”
Lucius’s declaration made me chuckle.
“If I choose a side, does that mean you’ll follow it without any complaints?”
“If Master chooses that side, then there is surely a reason for it, isn’t there?”
“What if I refuse to take either side?”
“I would also respect and follow that decision. However.”
Lucius took a step forward and gripped the sacred spear he had turned into a ring.
“If neither of them is Master’s side, then both are enemies.”
“…I suppose there’s no need to explain further.”
“Any Hero would have given the same answer. Both Celestial and Demon Races are forcing their own agendas onto the Intermediate Realm. If so.”
Lucius stood confidently before me.
“As a deity who protects the Intermediate Realm, I cannot simply let them be. Master, please teach me a good method.”
“What method?”
“Well.”
Lucius raised one hand and summoned the wind.
“I mean a way to sweep them all away.”
“Your enthusiasm is overflowing, huh?”
“Both are enemies of Master, aren’t they?”
“…That’s true.”
As Lucius said.
“One is aiming for my life, and the other is the enemy who killed my most precious person.”
“What shall we do?”
“Rather than how to do it, could you do me a favor?”
I pointed to the blonde man reflected on the Bride Ship’s monitor.
“Let me take care of that guy.”
“Then I just have to deal with that… ugly monster?”
“…He is ugly, indeed.”
Dreadfully so.
Not only because he turned into a monster, but he is genuinely ugly.
Without need for comparison to Lucius, Zephar is just plain ugly.
“How did Asydia endure looking at that face?”
Is Asydia an Angel?
From the fact that she simply stated, ‘Zephar, die,’ one can catch a glimpse of her kind-hearted nature.
However, that’s about it for Zephar’s usefulness.
“Lucius. Listen carefully.”
I rose from the captain’s seat.
“I don’t know what kind of nonsense he might spout about me. He is definitely not sane.”
“From just looking at him, he doesn’t seem sane.”
“Right. Lucius. Remember the day we first met?”
“…How could I forget?”
A faint smile lingered on Lucius’s lips.
“That was the day Master made me a Hero.”
“Right. Although it’s now sinking on that island, I met you back then, almost just before my mana was depleted.”
“Now that I think of it…”
“That guy did that.”
The killing blow.
“That guy tried to control me by stuffing me into the body of that little girl.”
Tattling to the Hero.
“To be honest, I want to kill that guy in all sincerity, but there’s someone I want to kill even more, so I’ll ask you for a favor.”
“Should I subdue him?”
“No.”
I made a slicing motion across my neck with my thumb.
“Just kill him. Don’t even think about giving me the opportunity to take revenge or anything, just kill him right away.”
“…He doesn’t seem like an easy opponent. Given that Master is so adamant about wanting him dead.”
“That’s right.”
The opponent is a madman who’s trying to summon all the Demon Races.
The body he is using is the last body of mine, the Black Dragon, and it seems to be mixed with the blood of ancient races, which can be termed as a divine weapon.
But.
None of that matters in front of the ‘Hero of the Holy Sword.’
“We need to dock the Bride Ship for a bit. Take out all the Holy Swords. Oh, Lucius. This is Trident. This is Kias.”
“…You’re giving me these Holy Swords?”
“Yeah. Wow, this is impressive.”
I too had gathered six Holy Swords once upon a time.
Now, Lucius has gathered six Holy Swords as well.
If he were to subdue Lucifer and end up with seven Holy Swords, it would mean achieving greater accomplishments than I ever did.
“…Lucius.”
“Yes, Master.”
“It might be sudden, but I’m truly proud and happy that you’re my disciple.”
I meant it.
I never imagined you would grow to this point.
“Now it’s the last Holy Sword. The last Demon King. And the Demon King’s Army, um, what was it…?”
“The New Demon King’s Army, Asydia Phegor.”
“Oh, right. Let’s dispose of that strangely named New Demon King’s Army in one go.”
Since they happened to be gathered in one place.
“…There isn’t enough time to bring my party and summon Mech Kraken, so sorry but—”
“We’ll go ahead first.”
Lucius reached out to me.
“I will lend you my mana. Please teleport us.”
“…Huh, Lucius.”
I held Lucius’s hand and pointed below.
“The Hero can’t just appear in a flash. Right?”
“Of course?”
“Certainly….”
I pointed to the big red button on the captain’s console.
“We should do it the way we always do.”
Gugugugu.
In front of the Bride Ship.
“There’s always what we do. Even when I’m not around, you often did it.”
A large, formidable, thick barrel was growing toward Abelfia, visible even from the command room.
“Let’s go, Hero.”
Hero cannon.
‘Bifrost.’
Output, maximum.