The Demon King vs. The Black Cats

He wasn’t negligent. However, he was stupid.
He shouldn’t have come to Lemdria after all.
That he had to fight against those monstrous people…
In a literal frantic mood, Halt fled from his pursuers.
(I was careless since nothing bad’s happened recently~!)
Dashing through forests and plains, he finally reached the wilderness.
No, it wasn’t even a wilderness.
It was a place where no living things existed at all. In its center was a crater of gargantuan proportions.
Of the place where the imperial capital once stood, this was all that was left. Of the three million inhabitants that lived there, this was all that was left.

As he tried to escape from there, he realized that he wasn’t be able to.
They got here before him. No, maybe they were pushing him here from the start?
There was a magical barrier. He couldn’t even teleport and immediately knew who made it from just how strong it was.
“Azel, Al-san too…?”
Both were called Great Sages, the strongest mages in the continent.
And as for who was approaching him from behind…
“Halt, there’s no use in trying to run anymore.”
Shana. A scarlet-haired mage that used the strongest destruction magic.
“Well, you went a bit too far.”
Longsword in hand, a giant stood as though to protect her.
Thor. Likely the strongest swordsman in the continent.
A hint of sadness was mixed into his expression.

“Thor-san…”
An existence that came from the same world as Halt, he was once called a hero.
However, right now, he was an enemy. To destroy the work, or to stop it just beforehand?
They had ended up choosing different paths.
“Hey, don’t you want to start the Millennium now? The circulation of souls will, in the end, save this world from ruin. Don’t you understand that?”
Thor was the only one to still be so naive.
Defeating the former Demon King together with him, Azel and Shana had none of that naivety left. Towards Halt Arisugawa, that is.
“Trying to persuade him won’t help.”
The person to appear from the depths was Black Cat’s leader.
Yamato. However, a very limited number of people knew the man’s real name.
“Shifaka-san…”
The strongest of the strong. Halt couldn’t win against him in any way. He was the strongest man in the continent.
Saint Emperor Ryuke Shifaka.
Living for more than three thousand years, he was an existence that surpassed even a dragon.

“Killing you will spur the demon tribe into action, ringing the opening bell to the Millennium. There is no other way to save this world.”
Yamato’s—Shifaka’s voice sounded tired.
Setting aside three thousand years, he was an aged old man that had lived through many years.
“Doing that would snatch away any chance this world has of avoiding the same thing that has repeated countless times, do you believe yourself a savior!?”
Halt barked. Summoned as a hero, he’d seen thousands, no, millions of people dying.
Compared to that, this man had seen several times that number.
“I am no savior. I wish to prevent the Great Collapse from three millennia ago from happening yet again. I live for that reason alone.”
The Great Collapse.
It was something that absolutely had to be prevented. However, that meant taking away every living thing’s future.
“In the end, you couldn’t do anything at all.”
His voice filled with anguish, Halt muttered.
“I will do the same thing over and over, just my companions will change a little. I have no intention of leaving demons or humans alive.”

Halt’s mana surged, despite knowing that he definitely held no chance against this many opponents.
“While we went through the same thousand years, even though I failed countless times, I’ve been searching for a future.”
The number of lives sacrificed didn’t stop in the thousands, tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands. All of those deaths were due to the Demon King.
However, he still believed in a possible outcome.
An outcome for the Great Collapse and for the world to make its way past its ruin.
“Preventing teleportation and summoning… will be the reason all of you lost.”
In that moment, Halt was unlike his usual self—the look in his eyes was unbelievably cold.
“Summon, Demon King Machine God [Demon’s Bane].”
A giant summoning formation appeared in the sky above them.
No one there was so unintuitive as to be unable to feel how dangerous it was.
“Come, Humanoid Fighting Weapon [Evangelion].”

A golem that exceeded fifty meters in height. However, its true wasn’t obvious from its appearance.
“That’s… no way…”
Only Thor—someone from another world—Toru Hakamada, knew that it was something impossible.
Halt opened the golem’s chest and entered into the red crystal on its body.
Horned like a devil, its humanoid body was jet-black with two daggers in its hands.
“While you all desperately maneuvered behind the scenes to keep the balance of this world’s humans, I’ve been believing solely in the possibility of having a future.”
Halt’s voice boomed.
“That crystal, it’s…?”
“Are you serious…?”
“Thor, what is that thing?”
Shifaka was the only one calm, even in a situation like this. However, that calmness didn’t stem from courage, but from indifference to everything.

“That is the power of science. Moreover, it likely uses the power of magic as well…”
Thor knew. He knew just how dangerous it was.
“It isn’t a golem. It’s a weapon for the endgame.”
“Really.”
Shifaka drew his sword. A divine sword. It had killed a god, so it was a true divine sword.
“It makes no difference either way.”
And so the battle began.

There was no loser.
However, the Black Cats withdrew.
Shifaka made the call to withdraw before they started losing people.
In other words—
The one to win… was the Demon King.

*

The heck.
The heck kind of people are they.
Really, those people, what were they thinking?
Even though I was trying so hard to go and make an entrance with a bang for a final battle all like, “This is my decisive tactical-grade humanoid weapon!”
If they gang up on me in a five on one like that, even I wouldn’t have the luxury of holding back!
It’s good they fell back after getting tricked by my bluff, but my secret weapon took damage!
Stuff like Thermonuclear Darkness Exploding Hell and Meteor Shower… come on, give me a break! [1]
Ahh, the armor’s all bent out of shape and the magic formation is crumbling in a few places. Those foremen are going to be angry… or maybe they’ll be happy to have more work? Those people are work junkies after all.
Well, it wasn’t all bad. Even if I worked it out in advance, I was able to measure its operating time limit in actual combat.
Alright, time to teleport. Good work.

“Halt-san… no, Your Majesty Ars.”

Ah, Ferna-san. How long have you been here?
Eh? Your eyes are sparkling.
Hey, seriously, stop it. I’m no good against that kind of attack!
Yep, I really appreciate you coming over to our side from the bottom of my heart though.
But you have the same look as my retainers right now.
I don’t like that, so that’s why I’ve been going solo.

“I will follow your dreams!”

Wow, it came!
The ideal declaration!

“Ferna-san, please stop. My dream isn’t something so wonderful.”

No, really. My dream is pretty haphazard you know?
My motivation of wanting to preserve how things are comes from my life in Japan after all.
As an outcome of learning what the Millennium’s meaning is and what not to do against the Great Collapse, there’s already no one but me that can do anything…
Ah, that might not be true? Those people have strength, so if the dragons feel like it, they might make survive the Millennium too.
In the end, I’m just doing what I want to do.
Maybe I should’ve went to Ogress?

“I’m just doing things that I feel like doing.”

Really, I’m telling the truth. It’s just something that won’t come true without saving the world.
Even now, if there’s someone that wants to swap out with me, could you please?
Ah, Ferna-san, please quit it with that pose of holding your fist over your chest.
Ah, and please stop your eyes from shining like that.

Yep, I understand. I do. It’s been directed at me many times after all.
It’s the look where someone falls in love.
There’s still time for you, so please go and chase after some boy your age and not some old grandpa. I’m even older than your great grandpa!
Yep, she’s my type, so I have to somehow deal with it now before she approaches me. I might not be able to reject her at that point!

While I thought about stuff like that, one of my adorable children appeared.

“Your Majesty~”

Looks like the barrier’s gone too. Well, if I used my real trump card, it’d probably be able to make it through, but it’s still incomplete.
The adorable flaxen-haired vampire descended in front of my and took my right hand. Ooh, she’s soft. No no, this is just familial love.
Rei turned up after her as well. As expected, devil wings are faster.

“I was so worried! No, I actually wasn’t worried in the least!”

Eh, what?
Hmmm, is it that she had full trust in me?
Well, it’s better than if you had joined in on that fight.
But I’ll be sad if you don’t worry about me at least a little you know?

“Your Majesty…”

Rei stopped, standing a step away from me. She looked like she might start crying at any moment though.
Ah, she was worried huh. There were two heroes and two grat sages as my opponents after all. I’ll take my time slowly patting her head later.

H-huh?
Ferna-san’s grasping my left hand?
Moreover, she and Asuka are glaring at each other?

“Your Majesty, who is this woman?”
“Ah, she’s Ferna-san, she became my companion.”
“Hello, please call me Ferna.”

Ah, Asuka-san, even if they’ve grown bigger, please stop pushing your chest against me.
I’ve known you since you were a baby. I remember you screaming from having your diaper changed!
Even if you grew up to be so adorable, as expected, my morals are hard at work…

“Good to meet you. I am Ars-sama’s adopted child, Asuka.”

Even though I say morals, there was that person huh, Princess Guinevere.
In that dicey time just after frantically defeating that dragon, we wound doing it after she said something adorably pure.
“At the very least, I want to offer my chastity to the person I love from the bottom of my heart.”
No man would refuse after hearing something like that right?
But you know, if you think about it.

The only remaining member of that royal family is that person.
With Carla’s massive war potential and her being a solid ally, she could choose whatever lover she wanted. It might not be my child.
Thinking about it now, I’m not obligated to do anything, so I think I chose right yeah?
That person was fundamentally a scheming one. Maybe I should call her a wicked woman? No, a bad child!
Well, she made me feel comfortable, so I don’t have the right to say anything though.
Maybe it’s alright for me to gripe in my mind?

While thinking about stuff like that, Ferna-san wound up grabbing my left arm.
… Umm, Ferna-san…
Even if I look like this, I am a man.
The destructive power of boobs is a menace to all men.

“For now, let’s guide Ferna-san back to base.”

The girls gathered around for teleportation. Rei, your chest is just as lethal as usually. Hurry up and find a good man, it’s your pop’s request!
I’ll make sure the man’s up to snuff though of course!

“This room is somewhat unusual, isn’t it?”

Yep, this should be the first time Ferna-san’s seen a room like this so her reaction’s normal.
This room is based off of an average Japanese house… in other words, I made it look like my old room.
Moreover, it has a bath, toilet, and kitchen added on, so I’ve been living like this.
Ah, but really, I’m tired.
I didn’t think that those people would catch up to my thousand years of accumulation though.
But even so, I wanted to stay hidden as long as possible.

“Sorry, could you keep watch? I’m going to go to sleep for a while…”
Using so much mana’s made me really tired…
I found various things that can be improved though…
Anyway, for now, sleep is justice!
So, Asuka-san.
Stop trying to sleep with me…