Death Mage 222 – Those who toy with Guduranis

With ‘Soul Destruction Fighting Technique’ activated and his soul materialized through ‘Embodiment’ and wrapped around him, Vandalieu was in a grotesque form.

“Talking to your own fragments… so, you think you have already won. YOU DAMNED MIDGET! DON’T LOOK DOWN ON ME!” Birkyne screamed furiously as he severed his own bound limbs.

Using the no-attribute spell ‘Strengthen Physical Ability’ deliberately in an unbalanced way, he snapped his own bones and muscle fibers, forcefully tearing them so that he could escape.

This would be a suicidal act for ordinary living creatures, but Birkyne was a Pure-breed Vampire. As he took to the sky with only his torso remaining, he was already growing back new limbs.

Vandalieu attempted to chase after Birkyne, but he stopped as he noticed Birkyne’s severed limbs escape their bindings and fly towards him like arrows.

“The ‘Long-distance Control’ Skill, huh,” he murmured.

Not particularly shaken by this, he repelled Birkyne’s limbs. ‘Death Bullets’ and ‘Throwing’ destroyed Birkyne’s arms, while the Demon King’s jointed legs emerged from his back to destroy the legs.

He tried to chase after Birkyne once more, but at that moment, his body became immobile.

Birkyne was delighted to see this. You fool! I hid the Demon King’s shadow inside my fist!

He was capable of using ‘Long-Distance Control’ to manipulate the Demon King’s fragment. Even if spells and Demon King’s fragments broke his flesh and bone into pieces, the shadows did not disappear.

The shape of the shadow hidden within his fist had changed shape and bound Vandalieu once more. Using this opportunity, Birkyne tried to get some more distance from Vandalieu.

But Vandalieu’s glowing, blue-white spirit form appeared right before his eyes, causing him to take back his internal words.

“I just noticed, but it seems that you can only bind physically existing objects… things that cast shadows,” said Vandalieu, who had used ‘Out-of-body Experience’ just in case.

Birkyne groaned as he took Vandalieu’s kick directly in the face, and he flew spectacularly across the sky once more. Even his shadows were unable to stop Vandalieu’s foot, on which he had used ‘Embodiment’ just before the attack landed and destroyed Birkyne’s attractive, young-nobleman-like appearance in an instant.

B-but I have gained some distance! Birkyne told himself.

Vandalieu’s physical body was still bound by the shadow. Birkyne used the momentum he had gained by being sent flying away, activated the ‘High-speed Flight’ Skill and successfully moved away from where Vandalieu was.

Once Vandalieu was out of sight, he used his newly-regenerated hand to reach for the Item Box in his pocket and gulped down the bottle of virgin blood inside.

His jaws and collapsed cheekbones immediately regenerated, and his broken neck cracked loudly as it returned to an ordinary angle on his shoulders.

Pure-breed Vampires had a phenomenal amount of Vitality… what would be known as HP in video games on Earth. It was more effective for them to drink blood than Potions in order to heal from injury.

“I’ve healed back to normal, but fighting is unwise… But still, this is…!”

Birkyne had never intended to fight Vandalieu. At the very least, he hadn’t even considered trying to defeat him here.

But now that he was actually facing Vandalieu, he was overwhelmed with anger, frustration and bitterness towards him, for not doing things as he had planned and putting him in this predicament.

This fury stopped Birkyne from choosing the option of surrendering, even though the situation was as bad as it could possibly be, with no hope of victory and the chance of escaping hanging by a thread as thin as a spider’s silk.

He did think that it would be better to beg for his life and lick Vandalieu’s shoes, and even if refused, being killed and turned into an Undead would be better than having his soul destroyed and being wiped from existence forever.

But Birkyne, completely dominated by his emotions of rage towards Vandalieu, could not do that. This was different from his usual temper. He felt a primitive despair and refusal towards the idea of yielding to Vandalieu, and was driven by his anger.

“That’s right. I will not yield to him. I am someone who can wield a fragment of the Demon King with my sanity intact! I can do it; I am no different from him!” he told himself.

His fury faded, and self-confidence rose within him. Spurred on by this confidence, he activated the Demon King’s shadow, which wrapped itself around him.

“… I did it! I did it! I have accomplished the same thing as him! I will not be defeated by him!”

He took control over his own body with the Demon King’s shadow, amplifying his physical strength. Looking like he was dressed completely in black, he laughed loudly at the sense of invincibility that dominated his entire body.

There was no more need to run or avoid battle. He needed to go back, kill Vandalieu and take the fragments that he possessed!

“It’s laughable that even your misunderstandings have come this far, Guduranis,” said a familiar voice.

Birkyne stopped in mid-air and turned around.

“Well, if it isn’t Eleanora. To think that you had come to this city as well… It seems that Vandalieu has disciplined you quite well,” he said, recognizing his former servant. “You call me the Demon King? That is quite the compliment for me when I’m covered in the Demon King’s shadow.”

Eleanora continued smiling coldly at her former master.

Bellmond and Isla arrived on the scene as well.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the last of the Five Dogs. It seems that Vandalieu had better qualities for being a Tamer than me or Ternecia. You are all very well-tamed,” said Birkyne with a tone of contempt.

“… He’s just suddenly started praising Van-sama,” said Eleanora, looking at Birkyne.

“Yes, and saying obvious things that anyone would agree with…” said Isla.

“It seems that he is not sane after all,” said Bellmond.

Though Birkyne had been speaking sarcastically, it seemed to not have sounded that way to Eleanora and the others… even though all of the people like Eleanora that Birkyne had betrayed so far had lost their composure and insisted that they were no longer Birkyne’s pets.

But it was Birkyne who lost his composure this time.

“Y-you wretches!” he screamed in fury.

With his claws covered in the Demon King’s shadow, he leapt at Eleanora.

Because of the Demon King’s shadow, his movements were faster than before and so efficient that it was difficult to believe that he was enraged. Perhaps this was to be expected of a master of the ‘Unarmed Fighting Technique’ Skill.

Eleanora barely managed to raise her sword in time, still inside its scabbard.

Wait, she has raised her sword still inside its scabbard? Birkyne thought, noticing something strange about Eleanora’s behavior.

But before he could do anything, Eleanora opened her mouth.

“Transform!”

In the next moment, the scabbard that looked as if it were over-decorated began squirming like a living creature, equipping itself onto Eleanora’s body. Feeling a sense of danger at this change, Birkyne swung his claws towards her neck.

“As I thought, you’re not as scary to me as you were in the past,” said Eleanora, deflecting his claws with her sword.

With her body covered in the liquid Dark Copper armor that was both hard and flexible, she launched her offense against the astonished Birkyne.

“‘Super Acceleration!’”

Accelerating time for herself with time-attribute magic, she unleashed martial skills one after another. Birkyne blocked most of them and engaged in what appeared at first glance to be an even battle.

Impossible! Even with all of that Dhampir’s training, even with these Magic Items that I’ve never seen before, Eleanora, a Noble-born Vampire… my ‘daughter’ that has received my blood, why is she able to keep up with me despite my new evolution?!

Birkyne’s strength and speed had increased dramatically after he covered himself in the Demon King’s shadow. Despite that, Eleanora, a little girl who became a Vampire less than a hundred years ago, was fighting evenly against him.

This was too bizarre, even considering her being strengthened by Vandalieu’s guidance.

Meanwhile, Eleanora was feeling strange. In the past, Birkyne had been fearsome to her, to the point that she feared nothing as long as she could keep him happy.

Indeed, Birkyne was a being from another dimension compared to the Eleanora of the past. She wouldn’t have stood a chance in a fight against him, and even escaping from him would be difficult.

But what about now? She was exchanging blows equally against him, wasn’t she? On top of that, all of his confidants had been separated from him and crushed one by one. Birkyne was isolated and helpless, like a rat in a cage.

She was not fighting him carelessly or underestimating him. But what she felt towards him was certainly far from fear.

It was a trivial emotion compared to the heart-numbing sensation that she felt towards Vandalieu.

“As I thought, you are nothing compared to Van-sama!” Eleanora declared.

Birkyne’s claws, unable to deflect the next blow from her sword, were severed. Her blade cut deeply into his chest.

Birkyne screamed in pain. “How dare you…! Don’t get so full of yourself just because you’ve been given some good tools!”

He fell to his knees clutching his wounded chest, and Eleanora swung her swords down at the back of his defenseless head.

But the Demon King’s shadow wrapped around Birkyne’s body extended like tentacles and attempted to latch onto her, forcing her to retreat with a click of her tongue in frustration.

“I know everything! That’s technology from another world, isn’t it?!” Birkyne shouted. “I spoke with Hillwillow and Solder; there are warriors in other worlds that transform into special forms! Li –”

“Silence, you fiend!” said Isla, throwing a chain over Birkyne that bound him tightly.

“We won’t let you say any more!” shouted Bellmond, slicing his torso and limbs with her threads.

“Wait! The plan was for me to stir him up, wasn’t it?!” said Eleanora, hastily resisting their interference.

But the two of them showed no signs of guilt.

“Even if he is cornered, he is someone who ruled over the darkness of human societies. We needed to avoid being called magical girls by such a person at all costs,” said Bellmond, fearing that this would cause the acquisition of magical-girl-related Titles or the appearance of magical-girl-related Jobs.

“Exactly. But to think that the champions who were summoned from a different world than Vandalieu-sama would know of magical girls… Are magical girls beings that transcend boundaries between worlds?” Isla wondered, shuddering.

It seemed that Birkyne had been referring to transforming heroes that were not magical girls, but… due to bad timing, they hadn’t noticed this.

TLN: Birkyne was likely referring to a series called Liveman, which seems to be something like the Power Rangers.

Isla and Bellmond had both also activated their transformation equipment that had been created by Vandalieu and Tarea together. Bellmond was wearing a chic body-suit with butler-like decorations, while Isla was wearing armor and branching chains that were wrapped around her like bondage gear.

As Vandalieu had said before, their appearances, including Eleanora’s, were not magical-girl-like. But they may have resembled the transforming heroes and villainesses of Earth’s fictional works.

“Y-you… messing… around!” Birkyne groaned, glaring at the three of them.

His body, having been sliced into pieces, was being forcefully held together by the Demon King’s shadow. But Isla’s chains and Bellmond’s threads were already separate from their bodies, so he couldn’t use them to counterattack with the Demon King’s shadow.

What is this?! My wounds… They are taking too long to regenerate! Birkyne thought, frustrated by the fact that his sliced torso and limbs still hadn’t joined back together.

Until a few moments ago, he had been able to regenerate his severed limbs in a flash, but now, his bones were only just beginning to join back together.

Normally, someone’s severed limbs and sliced torso beginning to join back together within seconds would be considered an extraordinary regenerative ability. But it was unthinkable for Birkyne.

“What did… you do to… my body?!” he demanded, thinking that it was the doing of his foes.

Eleanora turned back to her former master and Vampire ‘parent.’

“Leaving the matter of magical girls aside… it seems that you’ve reached your limit. Even though we’re deliberately showing you an opening, you’re not even trying to escape, let alone attack,” she said.

“Indeed. Vandalieu-sama overestimated you, Guduranis,” said Isla.

Eleanora and the others hadn’t done anything to disrupt Birkyne’s regenerative ability. All they had done was use their equipment to transform and power themselves up, then attack him.

“What?! That’s, me, myself, I, have reached my limit?! You’re saying that this is it?!” Birkyne shouted. “That’s impossible –”

At that moment, the voice of Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life, echoed in Birkyne’s mind. His senses left his body, and time began to stretch.

“That’s right. You are finished, Birkyne – No, the being that has fooled himself into thinking that he is Birkyne!” the voice said.

Hihiryushukaka-sama?! W-wait, I can explain… I am your loyal servant! I have no intention to betray you whatsoever!

In response to the voice of the god he worshiped, Birkyne split his mind in two. On the surface, he submitted to Hihiryushukaka, and deeper within, he deliberated to think of a way to fool the evil god to not incur his wrath and use his power to find a way out of this situation.

Hihiryushukaka had ordered Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires to destroy Vandalieu, and if he learned that Birkyne intended to form a pact of nonaggression with Vandalieu instead, Birkyne would receive divine punishment. That was why Birkyne had recently been doing his best not to peer into Hihiryushukaka’s thoughts.

He did not think that his plan would be revealed to Hihiryushukaka from the thoughts of Mortor and his other subordinates. He knew that the structure of the minds of evil gods differed too much from that of mortals, and so it would be difficult for Hihiryushukaka to read and understand the thoughts of mortals such as his subordinates.

The only ones whose thoughts Hihiryushukaka could read were those who exceeded the limits of mortals and approached divinity, such as Elder Dragons, true Colossi, other evil gods and Pure-breed Vampires. That was why Birkyne had thought that his intentions would not be discovered, but…

“Your cunning is desirable to me. It is uninteresting to simply gaze upon those who have nothing but loyalty. To put it simply, those who plan this and that are more interesting,” Hihiryushukaka said. “This plan of yours came quite close to succeeding. Especially when you tried to manipulate his brain. If you had succeeded, I would have interfered and stirred his brain from the inside…”

Birkyne’s plans had not been discovered. Hihiryushukaka had known everything from the very beginning, and watched and waited in order to make use of Birkyne’s plan for himself – long before Birkyne bound Vandalieu with his shadow.

Th-then please, grant me your aid! At this rate, I will be defeated and you will no longer have any servants who can stand against Vandalieu!

There were still many Vampires in the faction that worshiped Hihiryushukaka. But many of them were either Subordinate Vampires or Noble-born Vampires of Baron Rank or less. A pitiful gathering of a hundred such weak Vampires would be no enemy for Vandalieu.

Without Ternecia and Gubamon and no outstanding Noble-born Vampires, Hihiryushukaka could not afford to lose Birkyne if he wanted to kill Vandalieu.

I am not finished yet! With your aid, I will turn this battle around before your eyes! Birkyne insisted.

But Hihiryushukaka laughed in amusement. “No, I have already said that you are finished. Have you not noticed yet? Your Mana and your body have already reached their limits. It seems that it was the wrong move to imitate Vandalieu by wrapping the Demon King’s shadow around your body and forcibly exceed the limits of your body and mind.”

Indeed, Birkyne had less than 30% of his Mana left. To properly imitate Vandalieu, he would certainly need the Soul Destruction Fighting Technique’ Skill and the Demon King’s fragments, but most importantly, he would need the vast amount of Mana that Vandalieu possessed. Despite that, Birkyne had attempted to imitate him without any prior practice.

It was only natural for him to not know how to control his Mana properly and waste a lot of it in the process.

That’s why I need your power – Birkyne began.

“I have already told you that it is impossible. I am not an omnipotent, limitless god!” Hihiryushukaka said with a laugh. “In addition, your body… and your mind, will not be able to withstand it. Even if I forcibly revived your spent body, it would begin collapsing again immediately! Give up on Birkyne’s body, Guduranis!”

What are you talking about?! I am not Guduranis, I am Birkyne, a Pure-breed Vampire!

Hihiryushukaka began laughing uncontrollably. “You say such amusing things! Your ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ is Level 10! Your soul has been encroached upon by the fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul to the furthest extent possible. Let me ask you this: Who are you, then?!”

Birkyne felt an impact that felt like a hard blow hitting his head. This impact shook him more than Vandalieu’s roundhouse kick or Eleanora’s slashing attacks.

“Had you fooled yourself into thinking that you had kept your sanity?” Hihiryushukaka continued. “Your hysterical behavior, when did it begin? Did you not realize that it was the Pure-breed Vampire’s body rejecting the Demon King’s mind, Guduranis? No, you are the Demon King’s shadow… a mere image of the Demon King Guduranis! Nothing more than a shadow of him.”

Birkyne’s true identity was a shadow of the personality of the Demon King Guduranis. To put it into human psychological terms, it was what could be referred to as a persona.

But naturally, the structure of the Demon King’s mind differed greatly to that of a mortal. In addition, the Demon King’s shadow was a hollow thing to Guduranis, void of memories, knowledge and emotion.

It had eroded Birkyne’s mind and taken over him, but it would have been unable to sustain itself that way, so it had fooled itself into thinking that it was Birkyne. That was what Birkyne was.

That was why he felt anger and rage towards Vandalieu. He felt a primitive sense of rejection towards the one who had stolen the fragments that should have been his.

“All along, I was a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis?!” Birkyne screamed out loud, his mind returning to reality.

Time began flowing as normal.

“… So, you really hadn’t noticed. Van-sama said that you didn’t seem unaware, so I was still half-in doubt,” said Eleanora.

She had not heard the conversation between Hihiryushukaka and Birkyne’s mind. But she had a good idea of the situation from Birkyne’s last, screamed words.

From the moment that Birkyne had proudly declared that he remained sane despite his ‘Demon King Encroachment Degree’ reaching its maximum, Vandalieu had suspected that his mind had been taken over by the Demon King.

Through telepathic communication, he had asked Gufadgarn, who had known Guduranis personally, and asked about how he behaved. Using this knowledge, he had lured Birkyne into this Dungeon.

“The Demon King Guduranis was calm and had a tactician aspect to him. At the same time, he had tremendous belief in his own power and was short-tempered, feeling a fierce anger towards those who disobeyed him and things that did not go as he desired. Thus, he will certainly chase after us if we embarrass him in front of his subordinates and take the hostages away,” Gufadgarn had advised.

And thus, Vandalieu had followed her advice to the letter.

“You are lying! That cannot possibly be true! I am the Pure-breed Vampire Birkyne! One of the three who has ruled the Vampire faction worshiping an evil god for over a hundred thousand years! Isn’t that right?! Tell me I’m right!” Birkyne shrieked, his eyes open wide, with no care for the fact that his sliced limbs and torso were becoming misaligned.

From the perspective of Eleanora and the others, it was merely a matter of Birkyne’s true identity being revealed, but to him, it was a shocking truth that instantly obliterated the pillars upon which his mind stood, a complete denial of his self.

And as a result, his mind had become distorted, and he didn’t possess the strength to prevent it from collapsing.

“That is why it is easy to take over you,” a voice said.

Without warning, Birkyne’s body twisted.

From Birkyne’s mouth came a scream of agony and, at the same time, Hihiryushukaka’s loud laughter.

“The past hundred thousand years have been very pleasant!” Hihiryushukaka said gleefully. “It was very pleasant, forcing the obedience of a part of the soul of the Demon King Guduranis whom I once served, and toying with it!”

Eleanora and the others made a move, realizing that Hihiryushukaka was attempting to use Birkyne’s body as a vessel as had once been done by Ravovifard, the evil god of release.

“‘Delay!’” Eleanora yelled, casting a time-attribute spell that slowed time around Birkyne’s body.

“Now, Danna-sama!” shouted Bellmond, binding Birkyne once more with her threads.

“Fire,” said Vandalieu, who had been watching the scene unfold the entire time.

He took aim and fired with ‘Demon King Artillery Technique.’

Although he had not realized this until Hihiryushukaka attempted to use Birkyne’s body as a vessel, it was possible that it was concealing some power as the Demon King Guduranis.

In order to draw this out, he had made Eleanora, who would stimulate his nerves the most, as well as Bellmond and Isla, to taunt him. And in the meantime, he had made preparations to fire his attack.

The Demon King’s horns were fired from the barrels made of the Demon King’s coagulated blood protruding from both of Vandalieu’s arms. They struck the immobile Birkyne accurately in the head and chest.

Small holes appeared in Birkyne’s forehead and sternum, sending bone, spinal fluid, flesh and blood spraying out from his back.

But Hihiryushukaka’s laughter did not stop. “You were not showing yourself, so I knew this was what would happen!” he cackled.

It seemed that he had already created a spare brain and heart inside Birkyne’s body.

When gods became physical incarnations, their bodies underwent change. They gained weaknesses in the brain and heart, which they did not possess when they existed only in the mind. Hihiryushukaka had been wary of these weaknesses being targeted.

But even with the surprise attack failing, Eleanora and Bellmond didn’t undo their restraints.

“Then let’s try again,” Vandalieu muttered.

The walls of the building next to the ones that Vandalieu had been hiding behind opened, and a large cannon barrel appeared from inside.

“Large Cannon-type Demon King Familiar, aim set.”

“Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar, loaded.”

Hihiryushukaka was shocked by the appearance of the large cannon barrel that he hadn’t seen anywhere in the memories of Birkyne and the other Vampires, but he maintained his composure and hastily tried to run away.

But as his transformation wasn’t yet complete, and his body was bound by Eleanora’s spell and Bellmond’s threads, he couldn’t move.

“Fire,” Vandalieu said once more.

With a thunderous noise, the Large Cannon-type Demon King Familiar fired the Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar, which had been created with one of the Demon King’s tumors as the base.

At the same time, Isla grabbed Eleanora and Bellmond, and used the ‘High-speed Flight’ Skill to get some distance from Hihiryushukaka.

Hihiryushukaka forcibly gained control over his new body with his Mana and muscular strength and screamed as he tried to descend towards the ground in order to escape, but the Cannonball-type Demon King Familiar followed his movement and collided directly.

“‘Flame Prison Death,’” Vandalieu murmured.

The resulting explosion and shockwave were enough to shake the entire Dungeon floor that was based on the city. The Demon king’s fat, packed inside the Demon King’s tumor in place of gunpowder, ignited to create a pillar of flame that formed a flaming prison.

“Vandalieu-sama… If you were to use this in the real city, half of it would be destroyed,” Isla said as she returned to Vandalieu’s side with Eleanora and Bellmond under her arms.

As this was just a Dungeon that was a replica of the city, the buildings and walls merely became sooty and dusty after being engulfed in the flames, but the real city’s buildings would have likely suffered tremendous damage.

Eleanora briefly thanked Isla and looked at the burning pillar of flame with a stiff expression. “More importantly, didn’t Miles, Saria and the others get caught up in it? They were supposed to be chasing and disposing of Birkyne’s confidants,” she said.

“There is no need to worry, Eleanora. Everyone except for myself, Chipuras and Berkert have returned to the fake orphanage,” Daroak assured her.

“And the fake orphanage should be protected from the shockwave by Melissa’s ‘Aegis,’” said Vandalieu.

The reincarnated Chaos Elf Melissa’s role was to remain hidden and use ‘Aegis’ from inside the orphanage building that was made from the Dungeon’s walls.

Normally, she would have joined the battle as well, but… since Birkyne had taken the orphanage’s people hostage, she was on standby together with Gufadgarn.

“I’ve made her play an unfavorable role, so I need to make sure she has a chance to fight on the frontline next time,” said Vandalieu.

“Van-sama, I think she’s happy with this. She doesn’t seem to like battle much,” said Eleanora.

“Is that so?” said Vandalieu. “… It looks like we’re not done.”

A humanoid silhouette leapt out from the blazing flames.

A mysterious, viscous fluid dripped from what was left of Birkyne.

It laughed. “Did you think it was over? It seems that you are more skillful at toying with Guduranis than I am.”

The Pure-breed Vampire’s body, which had been cut to pieces, was now being held together by shadows and tentacles of various sizes. It certainly did not look like an ordinary living organism.

“… So, it was you who stole the Demon King’s tentacles from Merrebeveil,” said Vandalieu.

“Stole?” Hihiryushukaka repeated. “I took that burden from her.”

He was speaking through Birkyne’s mouth, whose face above the nose seemed to have been blown away by the explosion.

Though the Demon King’s fragments were weapons, at the same time, they were dangerous objects… but this point was no longer valid when considering that Merrebeveil, the evil god of slime and tentacles, was the evil god best-suited for the Demon King’s tentacles.

“Then I’ll take the burden from you now,” said Vandalieu.

“That is a declaration… I don’t know how many foes you have defeated before. But don’t think that I am the same as them!” Hihiryushukaka screamed.

At the same time, the killing intent emanating from him increased drastically. Though he was another incarnation of an evil god, he was on a different level from Ravovifard, the evil god of release.

Hihiryushukaka and Ravovifard had been more or less equally powerful as gods, but the quality of the body used as the vessel was markedly different. Ravovifard had altered Bugitas over a short period of time, but Hihiryushukaka had surreptitiously altered Birkyne and the other Pure-breed Vampires for over a hundred thousand years so that even they themselves wouldn’t notice, in order to use them as vessels one day.

And unlike Ravovifard, who had not sent his entire soul into Bugitas, Hihiryushukaka had sent his entire soul into Birkyne’s body.

That alone caused a big difference, and more importantly, the Demon King’s fragments he possessed were different.

“Though it is a false image, I possess a fragment of the Demon King Guduranis’s soul and one of his physical fragments! It would not be an exaggeration to say that I am the new Demon King!” Hihiryushukaka roared, an extraordinarily sinister aura radiating from his entire body.

As he was now, it would not be impossible for him to face the entirety of the Five-colored Blades head-on or fight on even terms against Vandalieu.

But naturally, Vandalieu and even his companions remained unshaken.

Because they had her.

“Now then, shall we recreate the battle that took place in the age of the gods, Hihiryushukaka?” a voice said.

Hihiryushukaka froze as he saw someone who appeared to be a Dark Elf wearing a leotard and a skirt with strange ribbon-like decorations… Darcia.

“Y-you… Vida! You detestable goddess! Very well, I shall toy with you in front of Vandalieu, whose mother you have become incarnated within, and make you a sacrifice to myself!” Hihiryushukaka shouted.

Darcia had already used ‘Goddess Descent,’ and Hihiryushukaka was shaken, knowing that she was Vida’s incarnation.

“I say that, but we never fought each other directly… ‘Maximum Physical Ability Strengthening,’ ‘Life God Beast Summon!’” she cried, raising her staff to increase her physical ability to its absolute limit and create a divine beast made of life energy.

“‘Super Rapid Reaction!’ ‘Steel Form!’” Hihiryushukaka roared, activating ‘Armor Technique’ martial skills from his vessel Birkyne’s memories. “‘Screwing Overarm Swing!’”

Curling his tentacles together in place of fingers, he unleashed an overarm swing.

“‘Parry,’ ‘Fine Slice!’”

Darcia deflected and avoided the bundle of tentacles, and at the same time, she used a ‘Souryu Dagger Technique’ martial skill using the daggers she had made with her own Orichalcum bones through the ‘Chaos’ Skill. Attacking together with the divine beast she had created, she sliced Hihiryushukaka’s tentacles to pieces in an instant.

“Impossible! I expected life-attribute magic, but why can you use combat skills as well?!” Hihiryushukaka shouted in astonishment, but at the same time, he made a move to restrain Darcia using the Demon King’s shadow that he had hidden within his tentacles.

But Vandalieu stopped him.

“‘Evil Radiance.’”

His light-attribute dead spirit magic erased the Demon King’s shadow.

The divine beast’s fangs and claws tore into Hihiryushukaka’s body, and Darcia fired an arrow from the short bow she had been carrying on her back that pierced his chest.

“Impossible!” Hihiryushukaka shrieked again. “Vida has merely descended, while I have become a physical incarnation! I should be superior in power here! Why am I being overwhelmed?!”

Indeed, he had become a physical incarnation on Lambda and was able to wield his power as a god freely, and he should have been more powerful than Darcia, upon whom a mere part of the goddess has descended upon.

Hihiryushukaka had even reserved his power for a hundred thousand years, becoming even more powerful than he had been when he served the Demon King. He even had the Demon King’s fragments, which were weapons that he had not possessed back then.

There was no way that he should have been inferior to an incarnation of Vida, the goddess of life and love, who was unconnected in any way to combat.

“WHY, VIDA?!” Hihiryushukaka screamed.

“The reason is… something that you can’t understand, seeing as you’re not even saying my name!” said Darcia.

Hihiryushukaka should have known Darcia’s name, as he had read the memories of the Pure-breed Vampires and taken over Birkyne’s mind. Despite that, he did not call her by her name.

Darcia transformed her arms into wings and leapt at Hihiryushukaka, attacking him with her legs that she had transformed into talons.

“‘Flying Legs!’ ‘Dragon’s Tail!’”

Hihiryushukaka was torn up by the talons created from Darcia’s Orichalcum skeleton and struck down to the ground by the scaled tail that she had produced in an instant.

A part of Vida had descended upon Darcia, turning her into an incarnation of Vida. But naturally, she was Darcia at her core. She fought with Vida’s support, using her own experience and Skills. She was capable of engaging in direct combat that Vida herself was not proficient at, and had no problems with using her own transformed body as a weapon.

Meanwhile, Hihiryushukaka had become incarnated in Birkyne’s flesh. That was why he had taken over Birkyne’s memories and could use martial skills that he would not have been able to use otherwise.

But at the core, he was merely Hihiryushukaka, the evil god of joyful life. As a god who focused on nothing but playing and toying with others’ lives, the concept of training, learning combat techniques and improving one’s ability to fight did not exist in his mind.

This was evident in the difference in strength between him and Darcia that he had not expected. He had gained powerful weapons in the Demon King’s fragments, but at the same time, he was now unable to use any magic other than no-attribute magic.

This only made the difference in strength more striking.

But if I stop using the Demon King’s fragments now, Birkyne’s damaged body that has already passed its limit will fall apart! I need to get some distance for now and regenerate this body with my power –

“You don’t have time to be having a nice nap like this!” Isla’s voice shouted from overhead.

“What?!”

Before Hihiryushukaka could get off the ground, Isla’s chains rapidly wrapped themselves around him and threw him into the air once more.

“I don’t know where his weak point is anymore, but –” Bellmond began.

“We just need to tear him to pieces until he stops regenerating!” said Eleanora.

Bellmond’s threads and Eleanora’s sword laid into Hihiryushukaka’s airborne body. The Demon King’s tentacles and a part of Birkyne’s body were severed.

“Yes, this is it! This is it!” Eleanora shouted, the color of her eyes changing as she stared at the blade of her sword.

Having destroyed what remained of Birkyne’s head, she seemed to have grasped and awakened to something.

He screamed, unable to speak clearly now that Birkyne’s head had been destroyed. This was exactly like Birkyne’s own hysterical behavior. But this was interrupted by a heavier, thicker, more sinister voice.

“CURSE YOU! YOU UNFAITHFUL FOOLS WHO WORSHIPED ME AND YET DISHONORABLY SIDED WITH THE GODDESS AND THE BRAT!”

“Second cannon artillery to fourth cannon artillery, Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars, loaded,” said Vandalieu.

Hearing Vandalieu’s voice, Hihiryushukaka came back to his senses and looked around himself while still mid-air to see three more cannons like the one that had fired at him earlier, all in different buildings.

“W-wait! I surrender, I yield to you!” Hihiryushukaka shouted hastily. “So –”

“I can’t trust an evil god who tried to toy with my mother and called my companions ‘unfaithful fools.’ ‘Evil Light Cannonballs,’ fire,” said Vandalieu.

The Cannonball-type Demon King Familiars, enchanted by the light-attribute Ghosts’ dead spirit magic, were fired with a thunderous noise.

Berkert laughed maniacally. “We’ll turn you into Swiss cheese!”

“With our lord’s Mana flowing into me, my light is striking down a god!” said Daroak.

“Evil god of joyful life, be burned by your former servants!” shouted Chipuras.

Hihiryushukaka vanished among the bright light that resembled a second sun.

Monster explanation (Written by Luciliano): Evil Bright Ghost

As the name suggests, these are spirits of evil light. Master made Chipuras and the other Wisps increase their Ranks, causing them to go from Ghosts to Light Ghosts to Shining Light Ghosts, and they became Bright Ghosts after defeating Birkyne’s confidants. After that, the Ghosts experienced battle against Hihiryushukaka.

Naturally, Light Ghosts and their further variants are new races of monsters.

Chipuras has regained most of his memories from when he was alive, but Daroak has significant damage in his memories and knowledge, and Berkert seems to be an almost entirely different person.

That is why Chipuras has the ability to use water-attribute magic as well as any expert, and Daroak possesses advanced Skills such as an advanced Swordsmanship Skill, but Berkert has neither.

But perhaps because he has lost his sanity, he is more proficient in manipulating his own spirit form. His ‘Projectile Fire’ and ‘Long-distance Control’ Skills are at a high Level, allowing him to fire parts of his own body and control them after they are fired.