The Death Mage Who Doesn’t Want a Fourth Time-Chapter 57Side : An imperfect Utopia

Rikudou, who had been buried by the collapsed wall, stood up with an astonished expression on his face. “Impossible… I, someone who has become a god… was knocked down? Not by Amemiya, not by Amamiya Hiroto who has possessed his daughter, but by a mere brat…?!”

He had been blasted into a wall by a single spell. He might have understood if this had been done by Amemiya Hiroto, whom he had regarded as his greatest threat until very recently, or Amamiya Hiroto, whom he had very recently realized was the true threat.

But it was Amemiya Hiroshi – Amemiya Hiroto’s son – who had done this.

“Learned your lesson yet? You baldie! Baldie-dou!” Hiroshi said, taunting him.

As far as Rikudou knew, Amemiya Hiroshi wasn’t special. His investigations had concluded that the cheat-like abilities and fortunes of reincarnated individuals weren’t inherited through blood. Physical qualities were inherited, but nothing else. The children of reincarnated individuals were more likely to have talent than other children, but there were plenty of other children in the world who were just as remarkable.

Amemiya Hiroshi was no exception to that. It was true that in ten years’ time, he would have become a fine warrior who wasn’t at all inferior to the Bravers, other than the lack of a cheat-like ability. He might have even become a police investigator, scientist, or mage that Rikudou would have to be wary of.

But as he was now, he was just a boy. Even though he stood out from other children of his age, there was no way he was supposed to be anything other than a speck of dust before the ‘Arch-Avalon’ Rikudou.

“You bastard, how…!” Rikudou began to utter, but he groaned and coughed up blood.

He clutched his chest, where Hiroshi’s ‘Mana Bullet’ had landed a direct hit. His ribs were broken and one of the bones had punctured his lung. He was even more astounded as he realized this.

If I didn’t immediately cast a barrier, he might have crushed even my heart and my lungs, not just my ribs! I have become a god; how is this possible?! … I see. I understand now.

“Rikudou-san?!” Moriya shouted in alarm.

“No need to worry, Moriya. A wound like this will heal right away,” said Rikudou.

He had never been able to cast life-attribute magic, and currently, he couldn’t cast healing magic of the other attributes, either. But Rikudou had known from the very beginning that the ‘Arch-Avalon’ body would be unable to cast healing magic, so it had been cultivated with measures incorporated to make up for that weakness.

Though the healing was a little slower than Rikudou had expected, his lung and his ribs were regenerating with incredible speed.

“Dad, are you alright? Are you hurt?” asked Hiroshi.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Hiroshi,” Amemiya replied. “More importantly, that form of yours… It’s the same as our suits, I suppose. Did he give them to you?”

“Yeah. I wanted one more like the ones you guys are wearing, but Banda said that this one is specialized for defense.”

Hiroshi looked more like a villain than Rikudou, but Amemiya felt at ease after this short conversation with him.

“I see. If he said that it’s specialized for defense, then you’ll be fine,” Amemiya said.

“But doesn’t it look lame? That Banda, I bet he’s under the impression that having more eyes is cool,” Hiroshi complained.

“It’s not lame. Lots of manga and movies these days have characters who look like they’re bad guys but have kind hearts, don’t they? You’re just like one of those.”

“Dad, there’s a limit to how much characters like that should look like bad guys.”

“Sorry to interrupt your father-son conversation, but shouldn’t we take this opportunity to follow up with more attacks?” suggested Banda, appearing from the hole that Hiroshi had created.

Mari followed Banda through the hole, and Mei was inside him.

“Papa! I think Nii-chan would look even cooler if he had wriggle-wriggles!” said Mei.

“Ah, it’s you. Thank you for giving Hiroshi a suit as well. Where are the victims you went to rescue, and where are Ulrika and the others?” asked Hiroto.

“I had Hiroshi help me create a safe area for them. Laboratories of evil mages are quite nice, aren’t they? There’s no shortage of usable materials,” said Banda.

There wasn’t a single room in this facility with proper defenses against death-attribute magic such as Rikudou’s shockwave of death.

Thus, Banda had created an impromptu anti-death-attribute shelter by having Hiroshi peel parts of his transformation equipment off so that he could apply them its materials to the floor and walls and taking all the useful materials he could find from the laboratories to enchant them with ‘Alchemy.’

“I’ve left Ulrika with them in case anything unexpected occurs, and Gabriel is with her to keep her calm. Even if Rikudou releases another shockwave of death, they’ll be fine,” Banda said as he looked around to assess the situation. “Hiroshi, could you please go and help Bokor and Yukijoro? Their transformation equipment isn’t as durable as yours.”

“Huh? Am I really allowed to?!” said Hiroshi.

“Yes. I’ll explain things to your parents,” said Banda.

“Mei will tell them, too!” said Mei.

“I mean, my dad is right there,” said Hiroshi.

Amemiya watched his son lumber off with a dry smile on his face.

Hiroshi’s defense-specialized transformation equipment was also exceptionally protective against cold temperatures, so he was able to switch places with Bokor without any problems to fight against Ymir, the artificial spirit of icy air that Moriya had created.

Banda had also tasked Hiroshi with this opponent out of consideration. Although Rikudou had a different form now, he was still someone that Hiroshi had once looked up to. Rather than have Hiroshi continue to fight Rikudou, it would be less stressful for Hiroshi to fight against Ymir, an artificial being that was made of Mana.

“Thanks,” said Amemiya, knowing that this was the case.

“More importantly, aren’t you going to use the magic that combines life-attribute magic and light-attribute magic?” asked Banda, brushing off Amemiya’s gratitude. “The magic that you used when the Federal States Department of Defense building was covered in Pluto’s death-attribute Mana. I think that should be able to deal with Rikudou’s death-attribute magic.”

Banda believed that if it was based on the same principle as the anti-death-attribute magic used by the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz, then it would be able to break through Rikudou’s barriers without any difficulties.

“Unfortunately, that’s not possible. In order to use that, I need to use all my concentration on converging two attributes into one and maintaining that convergence. I wouldn’t be able to do anything else,” said Amemiya. “Back then, there was no caster to worry about, so all I had to do was ram my own Mana into the rampaging Mana in the air, but…”

“It won’t work on a moving enemy like Rikudou,” said Banda in conclusion.

“Even if you wanted to be more proficient with it, there wasn’t any opportunity for you to use it, either. Rikudou always assigned other people to Undead-related missions. I suppose he didn’t want you to gain a trump card against him?” said Mari.

Indeed, after the destruction of the Eighth Guidance, the only death-attribute Mana remaining in the world was the Mana in death-attribute Magic Items that had been created in the past. None of Amemiya’s missions had required him to face death-attribute magic, so there had essentially been no need for him to hone this skill.

And with the exception of Pluto’s Mana that rampaged out of control, Amemiya’s other weapons and spells of the other attributes had been sufficient to deal with limited death-attribute mages, so there had been no need for him to focus on improving this magic.

“I did do a little training after hearing that there seemed to be remnants of the Eighth Guidance around, and I can move a little while using it, but it will be difficult to use against Rikudou. Sorry to disappoint you,” said Amemiya.

“You might be able to use it a little better with that equipment,” said Banda. “I’m confident in its performance as a magical medium.”

“I see. I’ll give it a try,” said Amemiya.

“Have you finished talking?” said Rikudou, whose wounds had healed during Amemiya and Banda’s conversation. “I would like to have a word with the world’s first death-attribute mage and the failed creation that contributed to the creation of ‘Arch-Avalon,’ you see.”

“I have nothing to say to you,” said Banda.

“Nor do I,” said Amemiya. “It’d be shameful to voice my grudges against you in front of my children.”

“I see. How disappointing. I wanted my forebearer to witness my magic skills… like this!”

Rikudou released another black shockwave of death, as if for show. But Amemiya and the others weren’t phased by this, as they already knew that it was ineffective against them.

But Banda tapped one of his jointed legs against the floor in irritation – this had increased the burden on Vandalieu’s soul, which was spread around the outside of this facility. And not only that – other fighter aircraft deployed from other regions were flying around like flies as well.

He wanted to enter the facility to break Rikudou’s soul, but he was now unable to do that.

“What do you think? I’m sure the you on the outside will be able to block it, but it’s still quite impressive, isn’t it? I don’t think you or that failed creation that’s with you can use this spell,” Rikudou said with an air of superiority.

“… Well, it’s true that I can’t use it,” said Banda.

Mei made a vexed noise, giving Rikudou an irritated look in Banda’s place. Banda’s inner emotions were clear, as Mei was expressing them for him.

And as Rikudou said, ‘Shockwave of Death’ was a spell that neither Banda nor Vandalieu could use.

“I have far too much Mana, so my control over it isn’t good enough. You’ve excluded your subordinates from being targeted by the spell, but I wouldn’t be able to do anything as tricky as that. If I were to use this spell, it would become an indiscriminate attack of mass destruction that reaches further than I intend it to. That’s the only reason I can’t use it,” Banda explained.

The only reason Banda and Vandalieu couldn’t use the spell was because… it wasn’t a viable option of attack.

If Vandalieu were to do the same thing in Lambda, unleashing a shockwave of death containing over ten billion Mana in all directions, it was highly likely that it would affect not only completely unrelated people, but his own companions as well.

In addition to that, the shockwave of death was nothing more than a very crude attack. It was a wide-range, indiscriminate attack that weak enemies would have no hope of escaping, but to the powerful enemies that Vandalieu was wary of, it was nothing more than a crude attack that spread a vast amount of Mana very thin. They would be able to avoid it with ease, either by conjuring barriers or by casting attack spells to create holes in the shockwave that they could safely pass through.

It might have been able to kill Heinz and his companions before they entered the Dungeon of Trials, for instance, but it would never work against them as they were now.

Rather than sacrificing his own allies to use such a crude spell, it was far more effective to fight using directed, focused spells and fragments of the Demon King.

“Well, I don’t think it’s wrong for you to use it. It has suppressed my main body at the cost of only a small amount of Mana. It’s crafty, but it’s the right decision in your current position,” Banda said.

“… You’re quite the harsh critic,” said Rikudou.

His pride seemed to be wounded, but he kept his composure, only frowning a little in response to these words.

“Not as harsh as you, thinking that you’re so high and mighty while calling Mari a ‘failed creation,’” said Banda.

These words created a larger crack in Rikudou’s self-restraint.

“What do you mean by that? Are you trying to say that I, ‘Arch-Avalon,’ am the same as that failed creation over there?!” he shouted.

His previous self – the one that had kept his ambitions a secret and separated his public persona and real persona for over ten years after encountering the ‘Undead’ – wouldn’t have been shaken by words like these.

But ‘Arch-Avalon’ had achieved his own reincarnation and attained a power that was far beyond anything he had possessed previously. It wasn’t just his body that had changed; his mind had undergone changes as well.

He no longer possessed the self-restraint that he had in the past.

“You’re nothing but a child’s puppet! Very well, I shall kill Amemiya Mei, the one controlling you, and once your lingering presence is erased from this world, I’ll become its sole death-attribute mage!” Rikudou declared.

“Not only are you calling Mari a failed creation, but you’re accusing Meh-kun of controlling me as well… You’re irritating me so much that I’m starting to want to kill you,” said Banda.

He was reaching the end of his patience as well.

As he was a part of Vandalieu, he had the same personality. In other words, he was very overprotective of those he considered to be his family.

If these remarks had been made by someone insignificant and unremarkable, then he might have been able to hold himself back. But it was difficult to restrain himself after hearing Rikudou, the very person who had tormented Mari and gone after Mei, insulting them

But unlike Rikudou, who was emanating death-attribute Mana and reciting an incantation for an offensive spell, he wasn’t in a state of furious anger.

“Now then, I’ll leave Rikudou to you,” Banda said to Amemiya.

“So, you’re just going to provoke him and then leave the rest to me… Well, that was the plan all along,” Amemiya said.

“Meh-kun and Mari will be supporting you,” Banda told him.

“Papa, do your best!” said Mei, whose face and wand were sticking out of Banda’s chest.

With his daughter’s support, Amemiya stepped forward to face Rikudou once more.

“You’re no longer a threat to me!” Rikudou roared, firing an arrow of blue-white flames and producing a whip made of the same flames.

Both these attacks would sap the body heat of their targets and likely cause instant death if they landed.

“That’s a bit too arrogant of you!” said Amemiya, responding with a barrage of water-attribute spells.

Rikudou’s blue-white flames had no effect on his icy arrows and spears, which had no heat to begin with. But before the attacks reached Rikudou, he produced a barrier.

“My mastery over death-attribute surpasses the ‘Undead’… Amamiya Hiroto! I can use every spell that he did!” shouted Rikudou as his ‘Magic Absorption Barrier’ erased Amamiya’s offensive spells.

“Damn it!” cursed Amemiya, realizing that his attack had failed. “‘Life Radiance Sword!’”

He produced a blade that combined the light and life attributes. This was the spell that he had created as a countermeasure to the remnants of the Eighth Guidance.

Previously, he had only been able to radiate this magic from his hands, but he was now able to contain it within his hands and use it as a close-range weapon.

Maybe it’s because of this suit – The spell is far more stable than when I used it with other magical media. This might work! Amemiya thought.

The sword wielded by Amemiya extinguished the blue-white flames and severed Rikudou’s whip.

“I see! It seems that you didn’t neglect to improve your own skills! But you are the arrogant one, thinking that you could possibly overcome my magic!” shouted Rikudou.

He conjured black lightning and crystals and sent them flying in Amemiya’s direction. Every time Amemiya was forced to use his ‘Life Radiance Sword’ to strike down the attacks he couldn’t avoid, his Mana was being depleted.

“Your anti-death-attribute spell is impressive!” Rikudou laughed. “But will it last until you can close the distance –”

“Now, umm, Meh-kun,” said Banda.

“Get up!” said Mei.

Rikudou let out a startled shout as the floor beneath him suddenly disappeared. The wand-wielding Mei had made spirits possess the floor to turn it into a Golem, then made it change shape.

“A-Agh! A pitfall?!”

The hole was deep enough for the entirety of Rikudou’s lower half to fit in, but not so deep that he fell completely into the ground. But due to the sudden disappearance of the ground beneath his feet, he had lost his balance.

This created enough of an opening for Amemiya to close the distance.

“My kids are pretty amazing,” he remarked as he swiftly thrust his sword towards Rikudou’s head.

“Damn you! Since when have you been hiring a monstrosity as a private tutor for your kids?!” Rikudou shouted.

“To tell you the truth, I have no idea!”

Rikudou immediately cast ‘Magic Absorption Barrier’ to act as a shield, but Amemiya’s anti-death-attribute sword cut through it with ease, making it ineffective as anything other than a smokescreen.

Rikudou had always been capable of holding his own against Amemiya in physical combat, and now that he had the ‘Arch-Avalon’ body with superior physical capabilities, he had even surpassed him slightly.

But even he wasn’t capable of continuing to deflect Amemiya’s sword while his lower half was trapped in a hole, preventing him from moving.

Although they were far from fatal, Amemiya’s sword inflicted several wounds upon Rikudou’s body.

Although the damage was far more shallow than that caused by Hiroshi’s ‘Mana Bullet,’ Rikudou screamed as he felt the sharp pain of his wounds, and the blue-black blood flowing from them showed no signs of stopping.

In his efforts to create a body that was suited to using death-attribute magic, he had put too much death-attribute Mana into it. This had made it extremely vulnerable to attacks from Amemiya’s ‘Life Radiance Sword.’

“Rikudou-san!” shouted Moriya as he and Rikudou’s other subordinates tried to rush to his aid.

But their paths were quickly blocked by their own opponents – Derrick and the others.

“Damn it, you’re in our way!” shouted the ‘Knight’ Nabeshima, using his space-attribute armor to distort Iwao’s bullets and spells as he tried to shake him off.

“Right back at you!” said Iwao, producing a hammer of gravity that couldn’t be avoided even by distorting space and stopping Nabeshima in his tracks.

“My children are doing their best out there, too. I’m not going to lose face in front of them!” said Narumi, safely blocking the enlarged bullets fired by the ‘Issun-Boshi” Yazaki by using a spell to conjure a wall.

“You know, I never liked… you!” said Yazaki, scattering pebbles at Narumi with earth-attribute magic and enlarging them at the last second to catch her off-guard.

But Narumi had already predicted her attacks; she blocked them once more using a magic wall.

The ‘Knight’ Nabeshima had a weakness due to the attribute and properties of his armor – and the armor was weak if this weakness was known. As for Yazaki’s ‘Issun-Boshi,’ this ability could only enlarge physical things. No matter how large they were, they could still be blocked by other physical objects.

Of course, both of them were among the strongest Bravers even when these weaknesses were taken into account. Even though they had weaknesses, they had the skills and experience to make up for them. However, the same was true for their opponents, Iwao and Narumi.

And although Nabeshima and Yazaki were supported by Rikudou’s death-attribute enchantments, Iwao and Narumi had the transformation equipment that had been given to them by Banda.

And due to the high performance of that equipment, the Bravers had the advantage in this battle.

“Shit! Are there nothing but monsters in the Amemiya family?!” cursed the ‘Shaman’ Moriya.

He looked like he was free, but all of his efforts were going into controlling the artificial spirits created by his cheat-like ability.

Ifrit and Charon’s movements were being suppressed by the efforts of Joseph and Youdou. As for Ymir, it was currently on the receiving end of a one-sided beatdown from Hiroshi.

“Take this! And this! And this!” Hiroshi shouted as he simply swung his arms, relying on his sheer strength rather than having any kind of technique.

But even so, these attacks were being performed by an enormous, monster-like suit of metal.

Despite being specialized for defense, each of its attacks was fast and powerful. If Hiroshi’s movements weren’t so inefficient, Ymir would have already been broken to pieces by now.

Meanwhile, Bokor was being healed by Nanamori’s ‘Asclepius’ and Yukijoro was already moving to help Joseph deal with Ifrit.

Moriya and the others were in no position to aid Rikudou, and it was only a matter of time before they were the ones in need of aid.

“We don’t have enough people…!” Moriya muttered, revealing Rikudou’s weakness.

If everything had gone according to plan, the Bravers should have been separated and unable to fight together as a gathered force. Even if he failed to eliminate Amemiya and the others, they should have all been in different places all over the world, unable to reunite unless they used international transport methods – which were under the control of Rikudou and his collaborators.

But thanks to a monster that flew about while carrying a large van, Amemiya and the others had managed to gather and form a team.

On the other hand, Rikudou’s allies who had been dispatched separately to crush Amemiya and the others – ‘Balor,’ ‘Sleipnir,’ ‘Ares,’ ‘Artemis, and ‘Sahadeva’ – had all been killed, as had ‘Copy,’ who was one of the few individuals who could have turned this situation around.

The experimental subjects should have served as disposable fighting forces, but some of them had turned traitor and they couldn’t be used now. Needless to say, the Undead couldn’t be used, either.

Rikudou and his subordinates had tried to divide and conquer, but they had been crushed in return instead. As a result, they were lacking allies now.

Rikudou had been drunk on his sense of omnipotence after successfully being reincarnated as ‘Arch-Avalon,’ while Moriya and the others were too busy worshiping the reborn Rikudou. As a result, they had forgotten the very important fact that they had been driven into a corner with no hope for escape.

But Rikudou wouldn’t let things end here.

“DON’T UNDERESTIMATE MEEEE!” he roared, producing an acidic mist with a death-attribute spell.

Amemiya instinctively put some distance between him and his enemy after sensing an irritating odor. Meanwhile, Rikudou, who had removed the limiters on his own brain, pushed his physical abilities beyond their limits to leap out of the hole in the ground.

“You’ve used a spell that manipulates inanimate objects… by turning them into Undead. I can tell that much!” said Amemiya.

The ‘Undead’ had turned inanimate objects into Undead. Even Mari wasn’t able to do this, despite becoming the death-attribute mage known as ‘Black Maria.’

Rikudou believed that this was due to a lack of ability on Mari’s part, or that it was perhaps because she was a failed creation.

That was why he believed that now, as ‘Arch-Avalon,’ he would be able to use this spell.

“Awaken! And obey me!” he said.

The floor and ceiling… did not respond by turning into Golems to attack Amemiya or Banda and the others who were watching the battle.

“W-what?! Why aren’t they moving?!”

The floor and ceiling hadn’t turned into Golems and were completely motionless.

“Err, Meh… -kun,” said Banda.

“Yeah. Please wake up and obey me?” said Mei, waving her wand.

In the next moment, Rikudou, who had frozen still in astonishment that his attempt to create Golems wasn’t working, had his legs grabbed by countless hands that appeared from the floor.

A moment later, he groaned in pain as the ceiling dropped onto his head like a hammer. As the ceiling attempted to completely flatten him, he forcibly tore through the floor that was binding his legs in order to escape.

“Why can that girl do it, while I, a perfect being, can’t?!” Rikudou screamed hysterically, having suffered more mental damage than physical.

Mei gave him a puzzled look. “Why do you think anyone would listen to you, Uncle? Everyone says they hate you.”

The spirits of the experimental subjects that Rikudou had discarded after using them, the collaborators that he had killed just minutes earlier, and the soldiers he had been using as disposable pawns to guard the facility, were gathered around Mei and laughing at him.

They were pleased to be of use to Mei and ridiculing the unsightly Rikudou, her enemy.

But Rikudou couldn’t see their sneering faces, nor could he hear their laughter. “Why?! Why can I not command spirits, even though my Mana rivals that of the ‘Undead,’ and I have surpassed him in the ability to control it?!”

He could sense the presence of the spirits of the dead, but nothing more.

He didn’t know what they were thinking, what they asked for, or even whose spirits they were. All he knew was their locations and their numbers.

This wasn’t a problem with his body or his skill in magic. It was because he didn’t recognize that the spirits of the dead should be distinguished from one another, and also because the spirits themselves didn’t want him to know who they were.

Using the Status System of Lambda as an analogy, the ‘Arch-Avalon’ Rikudou and Mari both lacked the ‘Death-Attribute Charm’ Skill.

And after being reincarnated as ‘Arch-Avalon,’ he remained unaware of this fact as he wielded death-attribute magic.

“Why won’t they obey me?! Are you telling me that I am still imperfect?! Me, ‘Arch-Avalon,’ imperfect?!”

Until this very moment, Rikudou would never have even dreamed that he was imperfect.

“It seems like you’re coming apart!” said Amemiya, swinging his sword without mercy at the hysterically-screaming Rikudou.

Rikudou immediately attempted to block it with a barrier, but it was futile.

The ‘Life Radiance Sword’ went straight through the barrier, grazed his cheek, and sliced off his ear, causing him to scream in pain.

It had taken everything he had just to bend his neck and protect his head. The previous Rikudou would never have made such a move. Rather than using a spell of an attribute that was so clearly mismatched against his enemy, he would have used magic of another attribute to avoid the attack and then regained a stable position.

He had once possessed an affinity for all attributes except for the life and light attributes (as well as the time attribute which didn’t exist in Origin), and he had been skillful at using the correct spell for each situation.

But now, he only had the death attribute. In exchange for a vast quantity of Mana and special qualities that didn’t exist in other attributes of magic, he had lost his affinity for every other attribute. His adaptability and his methods of dealing with unexpected situations were gone.

“How dare you wound my body…! Eat this!”

Rikudou used a spell to produce poisonous smoke again in order to get some distance from Amemiya.

Amemiya clicked his tongue in frustration, but he had no choice but to back off in order to avoid the poisonous smoke. Because his transformation equipment had been made by Vandalieu, it could protect him from death-attribute magic to some extent. But it wasn’t well-prepared enough to deal with poison that had been created by magic.

Because most people in Lambda dealt with poison through resistance Skills, techniques for making equipment itself more resistant to poison weren’t very well-developed.

“Meh…-kun,” Banda said, prompting Mei again.

“Okay, everyone get up!” said Mei.

She turned the floor into Golems for the third time, but Rikudou quickly leapt away before he could fall again.

“How many times are you going to use the same…?!” Rikudou muttered as he gave a hatred-filled glare towards Mei and the monstrosity possessing her.

The moment he did, he realized something. His attention had been occupied by the relentless advances of Amemiya and the fact that Mei was rubbing his imperfection in his face, but he now realized that Mari was gone.

And at the same time, he realized that someone was hiding near him – Mari, who had used ‘Metamorph’ to change the color of her body’s surface to the same color as the walls and floors.

“There you are!”

Rikudou filled his hand with a shockwave of death and enchanted his fist with ‘Strengthen Lethality,’ then thrust it at Mari, who had been hiding and likely waiting for an opportunity to strike.

Being hit by this fist would cause one’s life-force to be rapidly drained; even Mari, who could duplicate her vital organs with ‘Metamorph,’ wouldn’t be able to survive it.

“Yes, I’m here.”

It wasn’t Mari that was hit by the fist, but Banda, who had changed the color of his body using the Demon King’s ink sacs.

“Now it’s my turn.”

With the claws on his four hands, he pierced both of Rikudou’s shoulders and both of his hands. At the same time, one pair of his jointed legs pierced Rikudou’s feet, pinning them to the floor.

Rikudou opened his mouth in a silent scream, unable to even make noise due to the agony of this pain.

Mari, who had disguised herself as Banda with ‘Metamorph,’ returned to her normal appearance. In her arms, she was holding Mei, as well as a black-red treasure orb.

She let out a big breath and started gasping for air. “That was tough… It’s difficult to breathe, and my back hurts just from maintaining that posture… What a ridiculous body structure. Don’t you think so, Mama?”

“But there’s a lot of wriggle-wriggles, you know? And lots of eyes, too,” said Mei.

Knowing that Rikudou would assume that the monstrosity wouldn’t leave Mei’s side, Mari had disguised herself as Banda to allow Banda a chance to attack.

Banda had traded places with her, handing Mei and a treasure orb of the Demon King in order to use ‘Mana Transfer,’ and sneakily approached Rikudou who was dozens of meters away.

This plan would have been easily foiled by warnings from the spirits if Rikudou had the power to charm them.

But now that things had come to this, both Amemiya and Banda thought that there was no hope for Rikudou anymore.

He couldn’t escape the grasp of Banda, who was capable of tearing through steel as if it were made of candy, and none of his subordinates were able to come to his aid. Nabeshima had collapsed on the floor, out of Mana and suffering from a rapid growth of cancer cells caused by Bokor. Yukijoro, having extinguished Ifrit, had inflicted severe frostbite on Yazaki’s entire body.

With all three of his artificial spirits defeated, Moriya was on his knees, his Mana spent.

All three were alive, but none of them could move.

Banda’s main body was busy nullifying Rikudou’s shockwave of death, but Banda believed that once he either etched a fear of himself into Rikudou’s soul and killed him, or took him outside to have his main body directly break his soul, the battle would be over.

Thus, if one were to ask whether he had let his guard down, the answer would have to be ‘yes.’

“I will not meet my end here. Not yet… NOT YEEEET!” Rikudou roared.

Death-attribute Mana welled up within Rikudou, more fiercely than ever before, and then he escaped from Banda’s grasp by tearing off his own limbs at the shoulders and knees.