Chapter 257: CH 256

Feb 14 2021

“… Really, you don’t know when to give up…”

Standing, the Demon Queen lightly dust off her robe.

While her magic barrier had disappeared, it appeared she herself had not sustained much damage.

Glaring at us, the Demon Queen continued.

“You aren’t getting ahead of yourselves just because you’ve broken my magic barrier, are you? I still have plenty―”

“Lily-sama!”

“Y-yes!”

“?”

As we had planned, Lily began chanting her spell.

It was the Time Magic that had previously caused us trouble.

“Time Magic…? I see. Perhaps wisdom from TAIM?”

Having stalled the Demon Queen’s flow of time, we could tell that the magic she could draw upon had also reduced.

Even if she did have absurd amounts of magical energy, it’s meaningless if she can’t draw upon it.

The strain we felt from the Demon Queen’s magic, which had previously been enough to force us to kneel in her presence, had greatly reduced.

Even then, the amount she had left was astounding. But at least with this, it appeared that we could put up a fight.

However, there was one thing that caught my attention.

I quickly shot a glance in the direction of the palace’s entrance.

Rodd-sama, Mei, and Alea seemed to have used up all their strength and lost consciousness.

The three were close enough to see.

There was no guarantee that they were safe from stray attacks, or after-effects of our battle with the Demon Queen.

“I won’t do something as pointless as aim for combatants who have already dropped out.”

The Demon Queen spoke as if she had read my thoughts.

“Even though they have value as hostages?”

“Yes. I won’t waste any of my shots. I will use everything to defeat you all here.”

It wasn’t as though this was some sort of kindness.

The fiend basically declared that she would use all of her strength to kill us.

“While I do think no matter what you try, it’ll be pointless… Challenge me with everything that you have so that there won’t be any regrets.”

With those words, the Demon Queen sluggishly raised her right arm.

A fog began to form, filling the area.

“Claire-sama!”

“Right!”

Before the fog could encase the area in ice, Claire-sama caused it all to evaporate.

“I’ve already witnessed Judecca. Even if you’re the one casting it, it’s not going to work!”

“… Now that you mention it, something like that did happen didn’t it. The me of that time was weak, wasn’t I.”

“You’re still weak. Perhaps you are weaker now than you were then?”

“You think so?”

“At the very least, Rei has become honest. In contrast, you’ve become so twisted. There’s no way I’d allow myself to lose to you in that state!”

Shouting her words in a howl, she closed the distance between herself and the Demon Queen in an instant, swinging down her sword.

The distance between the two had been about 20 meters.

“Do you think such a simple attack would work?”

The Demon Queen raised one of her arms to block the attack.

However―

“In fact, I do!”

Her voice now came from behind the Demon Queen.

Simultaneously, the Claire-sama in front of the Demon Queen disappeared while the Claire-sama behind the Demon Queen swung down her blade.

“So it was an illusion.”

“… It seems it won’t go our way that easily.”

Without even looking, the Demon Queen had formed a rock wall behind her to block Claire-sama’s slash.

It appears that the illusion was also part of Manaria-sama’s support.

The Demon Queen then raised her right forearm to point up.

“Khh…!”

Several sword-like boulders raised up from the ground before homing in on Claire-sama.

Claire-sama was forced to retreat backward.

“Onee-sama, Lily, us three will act as the vanguard!”

“Y-yes!”

“Got it!”

“Rei, you support us from there!”

“Understood!”

With Claire-sama taking command, we took formation.

As Claire-sama retreated while evading the sword-like boulders, Lily-sama and Manaria-sama coordinated an attack, flanking the Demon Queen.

Lily-sama with twin daggers and Manaria-sama with a longsword, three blades assaulted the Demon Queen.

“Hmph.”

The moment before their blades reached her, a fierce explosion erupted, centered on the Demon Queen.

Unable to endure the blast, both Lily-sama and Manaria-sama were forced to step back.

And then,

“How about this?”

The Demon Queen released a tornado with ice blades swirling within it toward the two.

They each tried to dodge it.

However―.

“And this.”

The ground beneath Lily-sama and Manaria-sama suddenly froze over.

Slipping, the two were unable to move how they wanted.

“Soil Change!”

Reacting instantly, I formed a regular patch of ground over the frozen surface.

Just narrowly, the two were both able to avoid the tornado.

“We’re not done yet!”

Taking the opportunity now that the Demon Queen’s attention was off of her, Claire-sama rushed in and slashed the Demon Queen from behind.

While it was a good call, her approach appeared far too straightforward, causing me concern.

However, just as expected of Claire-sama.

“Flame Lance!”

About three steps away from the Demon Queen, Claire-sama launched a lance of fire.

While this rudimentary magic had no chance of hurting the Demon Queen…

Her goal lay elsewhere.

“!”

The spear landed at the Demon Queen’s feet, causing smoke to rise from the explosion.

The smoke blocked the Demon Queen’s field of view.

“Now, onee-sama, Lily!”

In response to Claire-sama’s call, the three joined together for a pincer from three directions.

I thought that they had caught her this time but―.

“Too naive.”

Even before her words had reached them, masses of compressed air slammed into the three.

While they had tried to twist their bodies to dodge, it was too difficult to completely avoid the invisible hammers.

“Ha…ah… Haa…ah…!”

“S-strong…!”

“As expected… of someone who bears the name… Demon Queen…”

The three were exhausted. In comparison, the Demon Queen had not been harmed aside from Alea’s one strike.

“Heal!”

I cast healing magic on Claire-sama and the others.

With that we were more or less back to where we had started.

However, I didn’t see a way to break out of this deadlock.

While it had looked like we had been pressing her, the Demon Queen had actually just primarily focused on defense. In truth, we had yet to land a single effective blow.

She was dealing with our attacks perfectly.

As she was me, it seemed that she wasn’t capable of wielding a sword, but even with magic alone she was excessively strong.

From the types of magic that she had used, it appeared she was not simply a Dual Caster.

I’d venture that she was a Quad Caster, similar to Manaria-sama and Mei. It also seemed safe to assume that she had high affinity with all of the elements.

The biggest trouble was that the Demon Queen had cast all of these spells wordlessly.

As one becomes more advanced in magic, deciphering the effect of the spell through the activation phrase or incantation is what’s normal.

For example, Claire-sama’s speciality,“Flame Lance”. As soon as someone hears the “Fla” part, it becomes obvious to any veteran that they will need to deal with fire.

However, that was not the case for the Demon Queen.

As she had so much latent magic, one could sense a heightened amount within the area and guess that the Demon Queen was casting something, but that was all we had to work with.

There were too many factors stacked against us.

“Do you intend to continue?”

“Of course we will. I will definitely defeat you.”

“You show wonderful spirit, Claire-sama. However, you will soon come to know that cannot come to be.”

“Say whatever you like.”

“Then, I suppose I’ve observed enough. Perhaps I should seriously take the offensive.”

““““!?””””

A sudden wave of uncertainty hit us.

“Is that a bluff?”

“It seems not, Rei. Look at the Demon Queen’s feet.”

“?”

I looked as Claire-sama directed me to. Amidst the floor that was scarred from the aftermath of the battle, the Demon Queen’s legs remained unscathed.

“Wha…”

“T-the Demon Queen has yet to move from that one spot…!”

Lily-sama’s scream put to words what we all felt.

“It’s my turn now. Lily-sama, Manaria-sama, will you be able to sustain through this?”

With those words, the Demon Queen waved her arms generating a beam of dark light that stretched toward the two.

This is…!

“Kyaa!?”

“Guh…!?”

Though panicked, I still managed to form a tungsten carbide wall in front of the two. While I had succeeded, the impact from the blast still sent the two flying backward.

“What force… and above that, that magic is…!”

“That’s right, this magic was also used during the incident with Lana. Though at that time, Rates was the one who had cast it.”

Magic that belonged to none of the four elements, Dark Magic.

What could this…?

“Dark Magic,while only usable by demons, there are quite a few powerful attack spells.”

As though just to give an example, the Demon Queen once again swung her arm horizontally.

Three dark, crescent shaped blades flew toward me.

“N-no you don’t!”

Recovering from the previous attack, Lily-sama hurried in front of me to cut down the blades that threatened me.

However,

“H-huh?”

“!”

As though avoiding Lily-sama, the dark blades wrapped around her and continued to rush straight toward me.

“Guh…!”

Using Lift Up to form a foothold, I evaded upward.

“You’re not out yet, Rei!”

Sharp words of advice came from Manaria-sama.

Turning to look behind me, I saw that the dark blades had changed directions, homing in on my position.

“How annoying!”

Repeatedly launching ice and earth arrows, I somehow managed to cancel out the attack.

“Perhaps I’ll have you retire from this battle first, Rei Taylor.”

The Demon Queen then generated countless new dark blades in front of her.

All of them rushed toward me.

“You’re kidding!”

Once again I tried to counter with a barrage of my own ice and earth magic, but a number of the dark blades managed to slip through.

This is bad.

“If I just take care of the source―!”

Seeing an opportunity, Manaria-sama rushed in for a slash. However, the Demon Queen calmly caught the attack with one hand.

“I thought that you might try this, Manaria-sama. Do you really like that girl so much?”

“Yes I do. Which is why I find looking at you so unbearable!”

“How sad. Similarly, I too find no comfort seeing someone such as her put your heart in such disarray.”

With her one hand, she pulled Manaria-sama along with the sword, tossing her into Lily-sama who had been quietly approaching from the opposite side.

“Wa, wawawah!?”

“Don’t try and catch me Lily! Just dodge!”

Manaria-sama’s words failed to reach Lily-sama in time, so Lily-sama caught her.

While they were down, a dark beam struck them.

“Kyaa!?”

“Guh…!”

Unable to hold their ground, they were both blown backward. Though I had been able to watch the exchange, my hands were already full dealing with the remaining dark blades.

There seemed to be no build up necessary for the Demon Queen to launch spells.

Almost without movement, she launched one spell after the next.

On top of that, with no activation phrases or incantations that could serve as tells, her spells seemed to come at us that much faster.

“Lily-sama, you’ve slowed down the Demon Queen, right!?”

“Y-yes, the effect should be in place!”

“To think she is still able to use such magic and react so quickly. How unfair.”

Despite her disposition, she was still the Demon Queen after all.

“Why don’t you go after me?”

Keeping posture, Claire-sama asked the Demon Queen.

I could tell from the look in her eyes that she was dissatisfied that the Demon Queen was holding back only against her.

“I have already said, I won’t kill you.”

“You realize the Three Great Archdukes are already gone, right? I don’t believe there should be any other options.”

“Do you truly think so? I believe I still have an option.”

“…?”

As she spoke, the Demon Queen created and launched more dark blades.

This time the blades flew toward Lily-sama and Manaria-sama as well.

“Stop this!”

“I can stop any time. Once you’re dead, that is.”

“―!”

So that’s what she meant.

“Demon Queen… you…”

“So Claire-sama, what will you do? Will you just watch as they die while sucking on your thumb?”

“…”

This is the ultimatum that the Demon Queen offered Claire-sama.

―If you want to help them, kill yourself.