Volume 7 - CH 6.5

Part 5

With the heart portion still floating in mid-air, Rafleisha was carried over by the slender tentacles.

She got down to the center of the plaza.

Her black eyes, shined red.

「I tried coming here, because there was a large magical power……but……to think it was a person of the Races.」

The appearance and voice was that of Rafleisha, but the tone was that of a completely different person.

As if they were the strings of a puppet, tentacles stretched out to Cardia’s main body that was in the sky.

He felt like he would be overpowered by that strangeness.

He would lose if he faltered.

Diablo put strength into his abdomen.

「You……Are you Cardia?」

「That is right, person of the Races.」

「I, am the Demon King of another world Diablo. Do not consider me the same as a person of the Races.」

「Diablo? I have……not heard of you.」

「Kukuku, so the Demon King that lost to God, and moreover just a mere fragment of it, does not know of me. I am the true Demon King. Be sure to remember that!」

Durango was astounded.

「Is that truly the Demon King Cardia!? Why, did it revive……!?」

Rafleisha simply grabbed her own head with her left hand. Her being expressionless made the eeriness all the more prominent.

「This Dark Elf……was tainted……with hatred, enmity, and resentment. She wanted to kill. The Elves. The Humans. To massacre them all!」

With her own nails digging into her, blood ran down on her forehead.

Durango groaned.

「So she was manipulated? The Demon King, doing that to a Dark Elf priest……」

「It is an unleashing……Unleashing of her will……Fulfilment of her true desire! Revenge! Revenge! Revenge!」

Diablo’s group was at a loss for words at the words and actions of the Rafleisha with a strange atmosphere.

However, brushing aside that mood, Shera shouted.

「That’s a lie! She said it after all! That it would be great if the Elves and the Dark Elves got along, she said that!」

Rafleisha’s blazingly shining eyes suddenly went wide open.

「GUUOOo……An Elf!! Elfffff! You damned traitor! Unforgivable! Give him backkkkkー!!」

At the same time she screamed, she stuck the orb out.

Cardia’s tentacles became like whips, and came stretching out this way.

「Princess!」

Durango bravely tried to protect her.

Faster than him, Diablo fired magic.

「《Flare Burst》!!」

Explosions took place, and engulfed the approaching tentacles. They were burnt away.

──Yosh, magic gets through to it!

If it possessed Reflection or Void, it would have been a troublesome opponent, but it didn’t seem like it even reduced the effect.

Since it was not yet implemented, he was cautious of just how strong it was, but was it surprisingly soft?

Rem came to Diablo’s side.

「It’s strange……The orb in Rafleisha-sama’s hands, it is something meant to seal the Demon King……If it were completely revived, then it shouldn’t have any sort of value.」

「Fumu. Then the fact that she is carrying something like that with great care means……」

「Doesn’t it mean that the seal still exists!?」

Having discovered hope, Rem let out a cheerful voice.

Diablo wrinkled his brow.

「Hmph……So it is an “incomplete Demon King” yet again. This makes me quite unwilling. To stand before me in that sort of state……What mockery!」

Diablo turned his Magic Staff into the large sword of light, 《Tonnerre Empereur・Libéré》.

Rafleisha who stood in front of him──was not the target he decided upon. It was the black mass in the shape of the heart that was floating overhead.

「You should scatter away from my magic. I shall give you bullets of purple lightning──《Enel Cannon》!!」

Just before it hit the orb──swerved.

Diablo didn’t hit it on purpose.

Maybe because she was being manipulated, Rafleisha’s expression didn’t change, but the Demon King’s emotions appeared in the magical power flowing from the orb.

For an instant, it was cut off.

Bewilderment? Surprise? Or was it disappointment?

Diablo shrugged his shoulders.

「If I apply the conditions from the time with Rem, if either magical power is poured into the orb, or if it is destroyed, the seal will be broken, right?」

Or, the Ceremony Magic that undoes the seal. Rafleisha should have known it, but she didn’t hold a ceremony. She was dominated by hatred and turned into Cardia’s puppet, but she might not be completely dominated.

「In either event, you were hoping that the seal would break from another person’s attack, weren’t you? Naive. Truly naive! Do not clump me together with fools that would indiscriminately exert their power if things turned into a fight.」

──Being cautious of traps when you feel that you’ve won, that is what a Gamer does!

Rafleisha’s shoulders trembled.

「U, UUuu……」

「Hmph……Were you happy since the outside of the seal was right before your fingertips? You made a mistake in judgment, you damned fool. To think that you would challenge this Diablo in an incomplete state.」

「UoGUgu, damn, you! Damn youuuuuuーッ!!」

The Cardia overhead vanished.

So it really was an illusion.

The camouflage was undone.

Diablo used an 《Elixir》.

Rafleisha’s wound closed up in an instant, and her HP made a complete recovery. Incidentally, her MP also made a complete recovery, and any and all Bad Statuses were normalized.

She repeatedly blinked her eyes several times over what had just happened.

「……Eh? Wh……at?」

「I gave you the order “don’t die”, you know, Rafleisha?」

While feeling relieved that he made it in time, Diablo talked with a solemn voice.

「Wha!? Are you saying you brought her back to life!?」

Having already given up hope, Durango opened his eyes wide.

Even if 《Elixir》 was the strongest recovery potion, it was unable to resurrect people. He only made it in time to heal her.

Shera hugged Rafleisha.

「Hoorayー!!」

Rem breathed a sigh.

「Fuu……You’re the same as ever, Diablo. I have no idea just how many people have been saved thanks to you.」

「Hmph……I merely found it irritating for things to go Cardia’s way, and lightly prevented it.」

Rafleisha stared at her own hands, and was dumbfounded.

「I, am not……dead……?」

「Making me spend time like that. Once you’ve calmed down, tell me what happened. Well, I can imagine the gist of it though.」

While being disoriented, Rafleisha raised her body, and lowered her head while kneeling.

「Diablo-dono, I nearly took the lives a great number of people. To think that you would even save this body of mine on top of obstructing the Demon King Cardia’s revival……Just how in the world should I thank you. Offering my life to you would be insufficient.」

「Due to a fool assuming the title of Demon King appeared before me, I merely crushed its schemes. It is not like I had tried to save you.」

「Even if that is the case, I shall never forget this favor for the rest of my life.」

「Do as you wish.」

When he thought that the first stage was completed, Rose, who was standing in wait behind him, raised her voice.

「Master, I sense high density magical power!」

Translator’s Notes:

[1] Original: オチルソラ. I wasn’t sure if I should keep it at “Ochiru Solar” or not. The moves are usually said in English or close to it.