DID YOU KNOW? YOU CAN NOW READ THREE TO SIX CHAPTERS AHEAD. CHECK MY PROFILE FOR THE LINK.
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'Seriously? That's her actual question?'
Rimuru felt an overwhelming urge to facepalm straight into the scorched earth at Millim's wildly misplaced priorities. Why did her future self kill Guy Crimson? Why were they even fighting to the death in the first place? What on earth happened to Millim in that dark future?
'Okay, maybe those last two are actually valid questions,' Rimuru quickly corrected himself, realizing how catastrophic the implications really were.
Of course, the pink-haired Demon Lord who had just vocalized those thoughts had already entirely forgotten about the brutal outcome of her clash with the future Kaede moments prior. With a cheerful, unbothered bounce in her step, Milim was already marching right up toward the menacing, dark-haired entity hovering in the void.
That was precisely when Guy intervened, smoothly reaching out to place a firm hand on Millim's shoulder. With a single, fluid motion, he halted her forward advance and gently pulled her back into formation behind him, taking center stage with an effortless elegance.
Across the gap, the future Kaede narrowed her eyes, sharply fixing her gaze on the crimson Lord of Darkness as he stepped forward.
"As intriguing as it is to hear of my supposed demise at your hands, and as much as a part of me would genuinely love to test the validity of that theory," Guy began, his lips curving back into his signature, infuriatingly confident grin, "I'm afraid we simply cannot afford such a petty distraction at a time like this. So, I will ask you this once."
He tilted his head, his crimson eyes gleaming with razor-sharp intellect. "What exactly is it that you are searching for? Because as I calculate it, and to the human girl's apparent ignorance, you have actually been lurking in this era for quite a while now. At least a month. All you truly had to do was bide your time, quietly accumulating your strength, and I haven't the slightest doubt that your reveal would have been utterly devastating. So what on earth finally drew you out into the open like this?"
The future Kaede simply watched him in dead silence, her expression unchanging, before she finally parted her lips for only the second time since Guy's arrival.
"I genuinely hate hearing you talk."
Guy let out a low, amused chuckle. "Ah. Yes, I have honestly been told something of the exact sort on numerous occasions throughout history. Still, humor me? I really don't see why I cannot assist you in your grand endeavor, just as you might assist me in mine."
"I know all about your little games, Guy, and I certainly don't approve of them. Neither will he," the future Kaede stated flatly, her voice carrying an eerie, hollow resonance.
When she spoke those final words, her dead, crimson eyes suddenly drifted away from Guy and locked entirely onto Rimuru, causing the slime to shiver violently as an unholy chill raced down his spine.
"Okay, look, I know I wanted answers just like the rest of you," Rimuru muttered nervously, taking a half-step backward, "but I honestly almost liked it better when she was just speaking in single, cryptic words and trying to be all mysterious."
Guy's broad grin shrank slightly, settling into a thin, calculating line. "I see. That actually correlates rather neatly with the human girl's side of the equation. You truly do possess quite the fascinating potential, slime."
Every head in the group instantly snapped around to stare directly at Rimuru, who blinked in utter bewilderment. "Wait, why did this suddenly become about me?!"
"Still, you have yet to answer any of our actual questions," Guy smoothly reminded the dark duplicate, smoothly redirecting the conversation back to the matter at hand.
"And why on earth should I?" the future Kaede fired back, her tone dripping with cold disdain. "Why should I bother playing along with any of this nonsense? I am not at a disadvantage here. You cannot kill me. None of you possess the means to do it."
She paused, her aura flaring with a suffocating weight. "But I can kill you. I can slaughter every single one of you right here and now."
"And yet, you haven't," Guy pointed out instantly, his composure entirely unshaken as he met her murderous glare. "I do not particularly doubt the sheer magnitude of your power. You are, after all, a future incarnation of Kaede, and I have yet to fully decipher the underlying mechanics of her abilities, so I can vividly imagine what yours must be capable of. Still, you didn't have to reveal yourself to do this. Any of this. It feels rather pointless and inefficient to me. No... there is something else at play here. Something specific that you are searching for."
"Look, I've never been one who considered herself the smart type," Kaede said, her voice dropping its defensive edge and replaced by a raw, profound frustration as she took a tense step closer to the edge of the platform. "And I highly doubt I've ever seen myself as the cryptic, condescending type either. So just... tell me what you actually want! Why did you attack me? Why did you try to take my daughter? Our daughter! What on earth happened to turn you into... this?"
A fraction of a second later, a microscopic twitch rippled across the future Kaede's left eyelid, a micro-expression so infinitesimally brief and tightly controlled that every single person present missed it entirely, save for one.
Guy's crimson eyes narrowed sharply, a subtle, razor-thin smirk playing at the edge of his lips.
"Daughter?" the dark duplicate finally repeated, the single word slipping past her lips in a tone completely devoid of its prior icy venom, replaced instead by a jarring, genuine note of absolute bewilderment.
Kaede completely stalled, her breath catching in her throat as her forward momentum instantly died. "What? What do you mean by that?"
"Now wait just a minute, what on earth is this?!" Rimuru threw his hands up in total exasperation, his silver-blue hair swaying as he aggressively stepped into the conversation. "Is she actually a future version of Kaede or isn't she?! Now that I really think about it back at the border, didn't you even call Kaede 'mother' at some point? What the hell is going on here?! Who are you?"
Without warning, the future Kaede descended from the floating heights of the void, dropping swiftly until her heavy boots struck the fractured, trembling ground of the sub-realm.
Guy's keen crimson eyes tracked her landing, instantly noting that the suffocating [Anti-Skill] suppression field was still fully active, and the entire sub-dimension of Hell continued to plunge deeper and deeper into the multiversal abyss with every passing second.
Not yet, he calculated internally, keeping his guard locked at absolute maximum.
The dark duplicate stood completely straight, before she lifted her chin and formally introduced herself to the gathered assembly.
"I am Maple."
Before anyone could even begin to process the jarring statement, the very atmosphere around them violently fractured.
<<
"What?!" Rimuru blinked in absolute shock as the unmistakable, cold resonance of the Voice of the World echoed directly inside his mind and ears.
And he certainly wasn't the only one caught off guard. Even Luminous, who had maintained an icy, composed silence the entire time, let her eyes shift slightly with sudden tension. Milim reacted far less subtly, freezing in place with her jaw visibly dropping in disbelief. Kaede narrowed her eyes into sharp, hostile slits, while Guy remained entirely motionless, though the red glare in his eyes turned deadly serious.
But the system announcement didn't stop. Instead, it began to tear apart, stuttering through a horrifying cascade of corrupted administrative text.
<<
<<
<<
<<
Panic spiked instantly through Rimuru's core as the fundamental laws of the world seemed to break down and crash right before his eyes.
'Raphael! What the hell is going on right now?!'
[xxx]
"Hmnn?"
Almost collectively, every single person gathered within the strategic war council in Tempest turned their gaze upward toward the ceiling, or rather, toward the open sky far beyond it.
SHATTER!!!
A deafening, atmospheric crash echoed across the entire capital, like a sheet of thick glass being pulverised by a giant hammer.
"Someone... someone just broke completely through the multi-layered barrier!" Shuna ended up being the one to actually vocalize the terrifying reality of what had just transpired, her hands clutching tightly to her robes.
"B-But wasn't the exterior barrier personally reinforced by Lord Veldora and Lady Velzard?!" Gobta squeaked out, a look of sheer, unadulterated panic washing over his face as his knees visibly shook.
Velzard narrowed her eyes into icy slits, while beside her, Veldora raised a clawed hand to his chin, his golden eyes scanning through the structural rift above.
"Mmu... I do not recognize the signature of these intruders..."
"I do," Velzard added, her smooth voice turning dangerously sharp. After all, the specific aura pouring through the breach was one she had sensed not all that long ago, just prior to the commencement of the last Walpurgis. They had, after all, sat directly across from one another at the round table.
"Ah. This is..." Kanade raised a hand, covering his left eye as volatile licks of crimson flame began to escape from beneath his palm at erratic intervals.
Through the activation of his extra skill, [Crooked Eye], his perception cut straight through the physical layers of space.
"...Quite bad. Yeah, that's definitely what this is," he finished, his expression hardening. "To think that she actually managed to get to him... Exactly when did she pull that off?"
"That's... that is an entire army," Benimaru finally found his words, his fists clenching so tightly at his sides that his knuckles turned stark white. "How on earth did they move such staggering numbers right to our doorstep without detection?! Mass Teleportation?!"
Indeed, hovering directly above the nation of Tempest, positioned upon dozens of colossal, floating magic platforms that spanned for miles in every direction, was a fully mobilized legion nearly a hundred thousand strong.
And standing right at their absolute vanguard, looking down at the monster capital through cold eyes of radiant, piercing gold, was the Platinum Devil himself.
The Demon Lord, Leon Cromwell.
Without uttering a single word, Leon slowly brought down his raised right hand, and with that simple, decisive gesture, he passed absolute judgment upon Tempest.
"RAAAAAAAARGH!!!"
The deafening, unified battle cries of his vast legion shook the very atmosphere to its core as they dropped down from the sky like a massive, torrential wave of golden power, descending violently onto the defenseless capital below.
Back in the crumbling strategic hall, Benimaru hurriedly yelled into his thought transmission, his voice sharp with absolute command. "Soei! Do not attempt to engage their vanguard! The citizens are already fully evacuated into the underground bunkers. you and your Shadow company should immediately fall back and reconvene with Gabiru and his company!"
"Leon is going to be a massive problem," Kanade pointed out, stepping up beside Benimaru as the violent vibrations of the falling legion rattled the building's foundation. "I don't know the exact specifics, but he has changed somehow. It feels completely unnatural."
Kanade didn't fail to notice Chloe's slightly more pronounced, sharp exhale at the mere mention of Leon's name. He slowly turned his head to fix her with a measuring look. "It's best if you sit this one out for now, Chloe. For all we know, this entire assault is just a elaborate distraction."
"Exactly!" Veldora declared in booming agreement, throwing his chest out as a toothy grin spread across his face. "Leave it to me! Let me go deal with this arrogant upstart! Thinking he can just waltz in and attack my and Rimuru's nation! I shall personally show him why such insolence is a foolish endeavor!"
"Absolutely not!" Benimaru immediately cut him off, raising a stern hand to refuse Veldora's impulsive decision. "Lord Veldora, you cannot just rush out to face Demon Lord Leon yourself! You are the absolute last bastion of defense for Tempest right now. If this turns out to be a trap designed specifically to draw you into the open, having you in reserve means you will be able to turn the tide when it matters most!"
Veldora blinked, his heroic grin wavering slightly. "Mmu... when you put it like that, I suppose my majestic presence is best suited as the ultimate trump card..."
"I'll handle him," Ari declared flatly, stepping forward with her posture straight and her expression dangerously calm. "I will be the one to take down the Platinum Devil."
"And I'll back you up," Kirara added without a second's hesitation, resting her hand on her weapon as she fell into position right beside her fiancée's daughter.
"As for the army descending upon the city," Hakurou spoke up, his hand resting lightly on the pommel of his cane sword, "Shuna, Gobta, Geld, Ranga, Rigurd, and myself will lead the defense forces of Tempest. The High Orcs, the Hobgoblins, and our Kijin units are more than capable of holding the line against the forces of El Dorado."
Benimaru instinctively reached for his sword, his eyes burning with red flames. "I am coming with..."
"No, Brother," Shuna interrupted gently, stepping directly into his path with a firm gaze.
"The Commander belongs at the helm," Hakurou agreed, offering his pupil a quiet, resolute nod. "As the Supreme Commander, your duty is to oversee the entire battlefield from above and direct our movements as the situation evolves. Leave the vanguard to us."
Benimaru gritted his teeth, but after a moment of heavy silence, he yielded to their logic and nodded.
"The Paladins will assist in Tempest's defense as well," Hinata stated coldly, drawing her rapier with a sharp, metallic ring.
"Lady Hinata, are you serious?!" Saare snapped, stepping forward with an annoyed, disbelieving scowl on his face. "The Ten Great Saints are already down to less than half our numbers after recent events! I refuse to lose any more of our knights defending a nation of monsters!"
Before Saare could even finish his sentence, Hinata moved like a blur. Her hand shot out, grabbing him violently by his collar and yanked him up until they were nose-to-nose, her eyes burning with a terrifying, absolute fury.
"Shut your mouth," Hinata snarled, her voice dropping into a deadly whisper that made the surrounding Paladins flinch. "In case your tiny mind has forgotten, our leader, our ruler, and our God is currently trapped in another dimension, risking her life to protect the very existence of this world! We hold the line here, or there won't be a holy empire left for you to run back to!"
"Luminous isn't my God..." Saare mumbled under his breath, adjusting his twisted collar as she finally shoved him back. "She's just a Demon Lord... there's no point in throwing our lives away for this..."
Litus, however, didn't hesitate for a single second. She stepped straight to Hinata's side, her spear held firmly in her grasp. "I stand with Lady Hinata."
Hinata didn't have the time nor the patience to berate Saare or Grigori, who visibly looked as though he sided with Saare's reluctance. Without wasting another breath on the hesitant Paladins, Hinata and Litus turned on their heels, sweeping out of the hall alongside the core leaders of Tempest as they charged toward the falling invasion force.
Velzard watched the entire chaotic exchange unfold with a cold, analytical eye. A deep, bubbling annoyance began to fester within her soul as she observed the sheer inefficiency of it all. She felt an overwhelming urge to simply flex her magicules, tear a hole straight through the dimensional barrier wrapping around the Demon Realm right then and there, and force her way inside to end this tedious madness herself.
Veldora, sensing the sudden, terrifying drop in the room's atmospheric pressure, glanced nervously toward the empty air where his sister was hiding.
"A-Ah... Sister?" Veldora stammered out, sweatbeads forming on his brow as he felt her unseen glare locking onto him. "Let us... let us not do anything rash, alright? I am sure Guy and Rimuru have everything under control..."