"You-You couldn't! It's impossible!" As Clayman's brain tried, and failed, to take in the sudden influx of data on how each and every one of his schemes was currently blowing up in his face, I released the threads tying him down. It took him a second to even realize it.
He stood, turning to the rest of the Demon Lords here with spittle flying from his desperate face. "It's all lies! Fabricated evidence, false images built with magic! H-how could one believe a base slime like you!" He screamed, kicking his chair back.
Honestly, it was a bit sad to watch. "Then prove it." I asked simply. He stammered, unable to reply.
Placing a hand on the table in between us, I absorbed it, as well as the crystal ball on it, into my stomach to give me more room. "Look, Clayman. As I said before, I'm not pleading my case. I'm giving these people my reasons why I'm going to kill you. You got in my way. Just like whoever's backing you did. So, you're going to die. You see, Clayman, all I want to do is build a nation that I can enjoy living in, with my friends. In order to do that, I need the humans to cooperate with me. Not attack. So you're going to die, and someone else is going to take over your territories, just like what happened to the idiots in New Farminus."
"How dare some slime borrowing a Dragon's-" Clayman shut up as the chair that'd been beside me sailed past his head and exploded against the wall behind him.
He flinched. Nobody else did.
"Are all of you really willing to put up with this reckless violence?! He makes light of us-"
"Seriously, dude, just give it up. You got in my way. Repeatedly. Purposely. Even while you were talking, five minutes ago, you were stupid enough to try taking over my mind. But the fact is, you can't. Because all you are, Clayman, is a bug on my shoe. An obstacle in my way. And whether it's a person, a demon lord, or the Western Holy Church, if someone gets in my way, they're my enemy. Right now, the only one in this room who's on that list is you. Now, I'm taking you out. Does anyone object?" I scanned the crowd. Unchanged expressions. No surprise on any faces.
Luminous had a complicated look on her face, as she stood against the wall, but I suspected that was because I'd called her out, rather than her having anything against me killing Clayman.
"No objections. We all follow the law of nature. The strongest survive, the weak fall." Guy looked straight at me, challenging me, "So, you intend to declare yourself a Demon Lord, then?"
I nodded. "I'm already the leader of the Great Forest of Jura. As far as it matters, outside of this room, I already am one."
"Then prove it with your powers. Clayman, Rimuru, if you believe yourselves to be Demon Lords, then defeat your enemy with the might at your disposal. We will all prove witness to the ascension of the winner. May it be an entertaining fight." His eyes flicked over to Diablo for a moment, conveying a private message to me, and only me.
'Defeat Clayman without Diablo.' he was telling me. Fair enough.
"Diablo, don't interfere. Your involvement… may be a bit much." I sent the thought communication his way.
My diligent butler nodded. "Agreed, Lord Rimuru."
As I was telling my second-strongest fighter to do nothing, Clayman was laughing hysterically, his mask of composure cracked, along with his sanity. "Heh-heh-heh! I spent all of that time and effort attempting to avoid dirtying my own hands, just to be put into this position. How unsightly."
I just rolled my eyes. "Shion. Wait until I give the signal."
I could feel Shion beaming behind me, bloodthirst hitting an all-time peak as she possibly heard what I said.
Then, Clayman gave the dumbest order he possibly could. "You're up, Milim."
Everything happened in an instant. Shion and Milim both jumped into the spot where the table had been at the same time, Milim's body launching toward me at an incredible speed, as a green barrier appeared between us 'combatants' and the rest of the Demon Lords, who looked mildly inconvenienced at best.
Then, the space instantly grew, Guy using his abilities to expand his little pocket dimension thing. It gave me a few extra precious moments before Milim's fist was to slam into my cheek.
During those moments, my mind raced wildly. Could I stop Milim?
Yes. At least temporarily. I had access to the same Unlimited Imprisonment skill that'd once sealed Veldora, and Horus on top of it. I could, theoretically, create a barrier around her that made the one that'd sealed the True Dragon look like a piece of paper. Even Milim's 'Drago-Nova' attack she'd used against Charybdis wouldn't scratch something like that, but I refrained.
After all, she wasn't being controlled. She was just being… Milim, and getting too into the 'game' she was playing. I wasn't in danger at all. I didn't like the idea of unleashing my most powerful hidden card in what was essentially just a game.
But the moment that Milim got within two feet of me, there was a blur of white, as something simply appeared between us.
Catching the white thing in her arms, Milim immediately spun around and stopped in place, hugging it close to her chest.
"Miliiim!"
"RIsa!"
Whelp. One problem solved.
With Milim hugging Risa, all thoughts of combat temporarily out of her mind, I turned my own attention to the rest of my problems.
The moment that Clayman had called Milim out, I'd undone the Demon Dominate curse on the little fox, which was currently outside of the barrier, having been picked up by Diablo, who'd casually teleported through the barrier and back to remove the fox from the scene.
Which left the only combatants actually fighting as Shion, Clayman, and Clayman's second attendant, some sort of puppet doll kind of like Beretta, but with an artificial soul of some kind.
Even two on one, though, Shion still didn't need help. While her raw power only had a small advantage over Clayman's, making her notably inferior to Clayman when he worked with that puppet thing of his, her sword, the Gorakimaru V2 had been remade by Kurobe after his Researcher Unique Skill had evolved into something on the cusp of an Ultimate Skill due to my and Risa's Harvest Festivals.
Now, if Shion did nothing to it for around two or three years, it'd naturally evolve into a Legendary-class sword. And its ability was simple, too, to match Shion's personality. It could naturally channel bits of Horus-like dominion, meaning that she could theoretically destroy anything, if it wasn't hard enough to survive her attacks (including spirits), and could jam regeneration, just a bit (which added up with each hit).
Between that, Shion's inability to be killed, and my ability to supply her with a truly stupid amount of magicules, instantly topping her stamina off whenever I felt like it, no number of Unique-class weaponry courtesy of his primitive little doll was going to save Clayman.