The tactical map laid out across the war room table was a web of overlapping arrows and defensive lines. Yet, despite the complexity of the Frontierra military doctrine, every Holy Knight and Church Hero in the room had unanimously agreed to Shiori’s proposal.
"The Decoy and Infiltration," Shiori reiterated, her white hair catching the dim light. "We do not have the manpower to lay a prolonged siege. The Holy Knights will form a wedge and strike the frontline, drawing the main demon army's aggro. While they are occupied, the Vanguard—my classmates and the Church Heroes—will bypass the meat grinder and engage the commanders directly."
It was a terrifying gamble. If the Vanguard failed to decapitate the leadership, the Holy Knights would be encircled and slaughtered. Shiori never explicitly said they would win, but her absolute conviction left no room for doubt. They simply couldn't afford to lose.
But a grim reality hung over the Summoned Heroes: they had to fight without their Ultimate Skills.
According to Shiori’s rapid deductions, the penalty for a first-time Ultimate use was severe but somewhat randomized—aging for her, psychological trauma for Shota. Using them a second time, however, was a completely unknown variable that could result in instant death. They had to rely on raw stats and baseline skills. To bridge the gap, the Kingdom had supplied them with military-grade alchemical potions.
The mages—Shiori, Saintess Evelyn, Yua, and Mei—secured dozens of high-density MP vials to their belts. The frontline attackers—Shota, Yoshi, and Kazura—downed concentrated boosters for HP, STR, AGI, and SP. For Kazura, boosting his HP was paramount; the System calculated physical durability and Endurance directly from the maximum health pool.
When they finally marched, the weather itself seemed to hold its breath. The usual oppressive, magical smog that choked the Northern Frontierra had inexplicably cleared, leaving a direct, terrifyingly visible path straight to the towering obsidian spires of the Demon Fortress.
Location: The Demon Fortress - Command Spire
High above the encroaching human army, Lady Sylas and General Vane stared into a massive, floating magical crystal.
The Lich ground her skeletal teeth.
"They march with confidence. Look at the magical signatures... Holy Knights of the inner circle, and Church Heroes. The ambient mana from that army rivals the Summoned brats. We cannot hold the fortress indefinitely against a force of this caliber without heavy casualties."
Vane stood completely still, his heavy iron armor reflecting the crystal's glow. "We do not need to hold it indefinitely. We just need to break their spirit."
"You speak as if that is simple," a new, melodic, and intensely sinister voice echoed from the darkest corner of the room.
Vane didn't flinch, but Sylas visibly floated an inch higher in apprehension.
Stepping out of the shadows was a figure that embodied beautiful nightmares. She wore a dress made of pitch-black fabric, heavily accented with glowing neon-red trims that pulsed rhythmically, exactly like blood pumping through veins. The elegant, gothic frills of her skirt were violently contrasted by dark, razor-sharp armor plates bolted to her shoulders and shins.
But it was her eyes that paralyzed the room. They were a brilliant, luminescent crimson, glowing with an unhinged, merciless hunger. Resting over her shoulder was a weapon that defied physics: The Soul Reaper, a massive, curved scythe forged entirely from the fused, jagged bones of dark dragons, dripping with a suffocating, black aura.
Crimson Scarlet.
"You worry too much, old bones," Scarlet laughed, the sound resembling breaking glass. "I can handle them. Frankly, I don't need you or the traitor to have a good time."
Before Vane could respond, the heavy iron doors creaked open. A half-demon soldier stumbled in, saluting frantically. "Commanders! The human armies have breached the outer perimeter!"
Neither Vane nor Sylas moved. But Scarlet’s crimson eyes flared into highbeams. A terrifying, euphoric smile split her face. Her hunger for slaughter—the desperate need to hear the symphony of human bones snapping under her hands—was palpable. Without another word, she vanished, leaving only a trail of red light in the air.
Location: The Frontlines
The battlefield erupted into a cacophony of steel, magic, and roaring demons.
Exactly as Shiori planned, the Holy Knights crashed into the demon infantry like a tidal wave of silver, their holy auras burning through the lower-tier monsters. Using the chaos, Shiori led her Vanguard and the Church Heroes straight through the center, aiming directly for the commanders waiting in the fortress courtyard.
Vane and Sylas stood waiting. But hovering slightly above them, spinning her massive bone scythe with one hand, was Scarlet.
Several Church Heroes stopped dead in their tracks, their faces draining of color. Whispers rippled through their ranks.
"Is that... Crimson Scarlet?" one knight choked out. "The Abyssal Reaper?" She was a legend in the Church's darkest archives—an anomaly classified far above a normal Reaper, known for treating war like a theatrical performance.
"Do not let her presence break your formation!" Shiori commanded, drawing her katana. "Disperse the crowd! Do not let them combine their area-of-effect spells!"
Shiori rapidly barked out the assignments. "Saintess Evelyn and I will lock down the Lich! Church Heroes, isolate the Reaper! Shota, Yoshi, Kazura, Yua, Mei—keep Vane occupied! Do not let him cast!"
"Gladly," Shota growled, his broadsword glowing with frost.
Saintess Evelyn immediately fell to her knees, slamming her holy staff into the frozen earth. A massive, intricate golden magic circle erupted beneath the entire Vanguard. She began chanting the longest, most mana-intensive spell in her arsenal.
"Descend from the heavens, O holy light of creation! Wash away the fatigue of mortal flesh, break the chains of limitation, and grant my comrades the divine status of heroes. In the name of the Goddess, awaken the slumbering power within!"
"Kill the healer!" Sylas shrieked, instantly materializing a massive, searing blue fireball and hurling it directly at Evelyn's head.
Shiori intercepted. Channeling her dark magic, she conjured a condensed, black barrier of void energy. The blue fire slammed against the dark shield, hissing violently as the two opposing magics fought for dominance. Shiori gritted her teeth, her boots sliding backward in the dirt, but the barrier held.
"Divine Requiem: Genesis Ascension!" Evelyn screamed.
The golden circle detonated with a blinding flash. A warm, overwhelming surge of power washed through the human fighters. The sheer terror inflicted by Scarlet's aura was violently washed away, replaced by a surge of adrenaline and absolute confidence.
Across the courtyard, Vane approached the students. He didn't draw his great-sword. His bare, armored fists were clenched, his dead eyes looking at Shota and Kazura as if they were nothing more than bothersome insects. It was a blatant display of underestimation.
"[Crystalline Avalanche]!" Shota roared.
A massive, jagged glacier of ice erupted from Shota's blade, tearing across the courtyard like a frozen tsunami, aimed directly at Vane.
Vane didn't dodge. He planted his back foot, pulled back his right fist, and threw a punch fueled by pure, inhuman kinetic force. The shockwave of the blow shattered the tip of the avalanche. He followed it with a devastating roundhouse kick that completely obliterated the rest of the ice into harmless, glittering dust.
As the ice cleared, Vane raised his left hand. Resting on his index finger was a jagged obsidian ring.
Instead of chanting the long incantation for his Abyssal Rite: Holy Banishment, the ring flared to life, instantly activating the debuff. A pulse of suffocating, black magic expanded outward, attempting to drain the Vanguard's blessings and suppress their stats.
However, the black pulse slammed directly into the lingering golden aura of Evelyn's Genesis Ascension. The two massive spells ground against each other in mid-air, creating a loud, tearing sound like ripping metal. Evelyn's buff neutralized the ring's debuff entirely. The Vanguard's stats didn't skyrocket, but they didn't plummet either. They remained at a perfect, healthy normal.
It worked, Shiori thought, exhaling sharply.
But her relief was shattered by a wet, sickening crunch.
Shiori glanced to the right. The Church Heroes were already in chaos. Scarlet was laughing hysterically, moving at speeds that defied the eye. She swung The Soul Reaper in a wide, sweeping arc. One of the Church Heroes raised his enchanted shield, but the bone scythe sheared through the divine metal like wet paper, ripping a massive, bloody gash across his chest plate and sending him flying into the fortress wall.
"More! Bleed more for me!" Scarlet giggled, licking a drop of blood from her own cheek.
Location: Floor 100 - The Absolute Abyss
Far beneath the carnage, Kyouya Kusanagi sat comfortably across from Sofia Vileblood, analyzing the very foundations of the world.
"I don't understand," Kyouya said, his golden-ringed eyes fixed on the Demon Lord. "If we are going to tear down Kamiya's realm, why are you still sitting in this damp basement? Just walk out."
Sofia swirled the dark liquid in her glass, her expression unreadable. "It is not that simple, Kyouya. My presence here acts as a gravitational anchor. If I leave the dungeon—if the 'Demon Lord' vacates the throne—the hierarchy collapses. The absolute monsters residing in the lower floors, and the generals commanding the ground forces, will lose their restraint. They will flood the continent and eradicate humanity in a matter of days."
She took a slow sip. "Beings like the Crimson Scarlet. She is an apex predator. Without my aura suppressing her worst impulses, she would turn the Kingdom into a slaughterhouse."
"Crimson Scarlet?" Kyouya muttered, the name leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "Who is that? Sounds creepy."
Inside Kyouya's mind, a sleek, digital voice chimed in.
<Analysis Complete. Entity: Crimson Scarlet. Recorded in historical archives as 'The Recognized Fang'. She is an anomaly classified as an Abyssal Reaper, granted direct autonomy by Demon Lord Sofia. Threat Level: Catastrophic.>
"So she's one of yours," Kyouya noted. "But if leaving causes a riot, why not just put on a disguise? Hide your true appearance and walk out quietly."
Sofia sighed gracefully. "Demons do not recognize faces, Kyouya. They recognize mana and soul signatures." To prove her point, she blinked. Her deep violet eyes shifted into a piercing, unnatural green. "I can change my eyes, my hair, even my voice. But my aura—the absolute density of my existence—will radiate through any illusion. I cannot be hidden."
The cavern fell silent as Kyouya thought.
Then, Nova's voice echoed in his consciousness again.
<Proposal: Host possesses the Title [Absolute Gluttony of Everything]. Theoretical application of [End of Absolute Level Error] allows for spatial isolation. Host can theoretically 'absorb' the Demon Lord into a stasis pocket dimension within your own System, effectively masking her aura completely without executing the deletion protocol.>
Kyouya blinked. A slow, deeply unsettling smirk spread across his face. So, I just eat her. And smuggle her out in my stomach.
Sofia, noticing the sudden shift in Kyouya's demeanor and the dark glint in his golden eyes, narrowed her own. She leaned forward, the shadows in the room leaning with her.
"I know that look," Sofia said softly, her voice dangerously quiet. "What horrifyingly bad idea is currently processing in that broken head of yours, Gluttony?"
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