As dawn broke, the allied forces had spent the day defending their garrison. Now, they were about to welcome the morning of their advance.
And so, the morning arrived in Lazak.
Just like during the last battle, I had disguised myself as one of the soldiers in the allied forces.
In this guise, I would enter the battlefield as a single soldier and participate in the final battle.
However, just like last time, Harriet, Olivia, Liana, as well as the Vampire Lords, had all completed their preparations.
The Holy Knights and priests of the Holy Order, our full force, were already unknowingly deployed among the allied force.
Thus, as much as the allied forces were putting forth their full strength, so were we.
The five Vampire Lords, as well as the mages from each family, had also completed their preparations.
"I can go alone."
"By that logic, why should you go?"
"…Fair point."
In truth, there was a high possibility that our power wouldn't be needed.
That's why I could go alone.
However, if I were to argue that way, I couldn't explain why I needed to go in the first place, so everyone else had planned to follow.
But that wasn't all.
Not only Olivia Lanze, clad in the armor of a Holy Knight, was waiting for the departure.
"It's been a while since I fought instead of commanding."
Eleion Bolton had decided to participate in the siege of Diane as well.
No one had urged him, but he had volunteered.
Though he was a retired Holy Knight commander, he argued that nobody would recognize him if he wore a visor.
Like Olivia, who disguised herself as a Holy Knight, Eleion Bolton seemed to follow suit.
Charlotte offered to fight for a day as well but withdrew when I frowned.
Charlotte had combat capabilities, but she didn't know how to fight.
That's why Charlotte, with an uneasy expression, only came to see us off.
Airi also had tremendous combat power as a Succubus Queen, but since her horns made it impossible to disguise, I had told her not to come at all.
Our forces weren't as large as the allied forces.
But our army was already within the allied forces, so practically everyone capable of fighting in Lazak was heading for the battlefield.
The number wasn't great.
It made me wonder if this was really the full force of the Demon King.
However, with just this small group, I had come so close to swallowing the entire continent.
Anyway.
Before departure.
As a king, I should say something.
Not everyone was going to fight, but everyone was here.
Harriet.
Olivia Lanze.
Liana de Grantz.
Eleion Bolton.
Eleris.
Lucille.
Gallarush.
Luvien.
Antirianus.
The vampires of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday family.
Charlotte de Gardias.
Airi.
Sarkegaar.
"I don't know how to make grand speeches."
There was only one thing I could say in front of these people, who could be considered my full strength.
"Everything we've done so far has been to survive."
That's right.
We had done all of this to survive.
"So, let's survive."
There was nothing else to dream or wish for, other than survival.
Not only for these people but for all those who sided with me.
And for those who didn't side with me.
I prayed for their lives and survival after this.
——
In truth, the final battle had begun long before we reached Diane.
The seething monsters had been roaming beyond the city's boundaries for quite some time, and they continued to appear.
The day of battle was merely the moment when Diane arrived within a day's distance.
In truth, the final battle had essentially begun two days prior.
The allied forces cut through the waves of monsters.
As always, Ellen Artorius led the vanguard.
She sliced through the monsters with the edge of the void sword, donned the cloak of the sun god that burned all attacks, and relentlessly pushed forward.
-Waaaaaah!
-Kwaaaaaa!
The cries of the angry soldiers and the howls of the monsters tore through the world with terrifying intensity.
This was the final battleground.
Of course, the number of colossal monsters was incomparable to the previous battles, and the allied forces not only had to push forward, but also had to fend off the tidal wave of monsters coming at them from all directions.
It was a fight to see whether the annihilation of the allied forces would come first, or the destruction of all of Diane's warp gates.
To put it very cruelly, even if the allied forces were annihilated here, as long as the objective of destroying all warp gates was achieved, it would be enough.
The remaining monsters in the world could be slowly exterminated.
As long as no more monsters appeared.
Magic and flames, swords and claws clashed.
Poison, flames, and lightning poured from the mouths of flying monsters, scorching the ground.
In response, magic cannons and lightning strikes fired from the ground, tearing apart and burning the flying monsters in midair.
Countless lives were lost, both human and monster.
They all approached the end of this evil.
“Is the Titan here yet? Is the Titan coming?”
“The Titan will be summoned when the attack on Diane begins!”
The final battlefield, drenched in blood and covered in flesh, was incomparably brutal compared to the previous battles.
“Huh!”
-Kwaaaaarrr!
As sparks flew around Heinrich's eyes, a swarm of monsters that had been surging forward was swept away by a torrent of crimson flames.
Thousands of monsters were incinerated in an instant, and those that survived the flames broke through and slaughtered the soldiers.
There were monsters immune to fire.
Heinrich was familiar with that fact.
But he could never get used to the sight of people being killed by monsters that his powers couldn't handle.
-Flash!
-Boom!
However, when Heinrich saw the monster that had broken through the flames get struck by a bolt of lightning from the sky and explode, his eyes widened.
Lightning.
It was undoubtedly possible through magic.
But then.
-Kwoooooong
As the sky suddenly darkened, lightning began to churn between the black clouds.
Soon.
-Flash!
Heinrich couldn't help but squint his eyes at the blinding light.
In a very brief moment, dozens, no, hundreds.
No.
-Kwoooooong!
Heinrich could only stare blankly at the scene of thousands of lightning bolts sweeping the battlefield and annihilating the monsters.
It didn't end with just one strike.
-Flash!
Thousands of lightning bolts per second rained down on the battlefield.
Even the highest-level magic spell, Thunderstorm, couldn't achieve this level of destruction.
The shower of lightning strikes dyed the battlefield in white light, erasing the monsters as if they were being wiped away by an eraser.
And it was happening across the entire battlefield.
“Liana…?”
Naturally.
Heinrich couldn't help but know who was in this place.
——
A storm of lightning struck from the ominous, overcast sky.
Like targeted shots, they pierced into the monstrous waves.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm so miserable I want to die."
Liana, with her dark eyes, grimaced and retched in response to Harriet's question.
In a corner of the allied forces' battlefield.
Only a few people knew that the downpour of lightning throughout the entire battlefield originated from Liana, who was retching in this very spot.
Despite the chilling depression, Liana continued to focus on her power.
More lightning.
More thunder.
With it, she erased the monsters and cleared the path.
"But now that I think it's all over, it's a problem because I feel like my mood is improving."
At Liana's dark joke, Harriet forced a smile.
Although they were surrounded, the allied forces were stronger than ever before.
And while their numbers were small, the Demon King's forces that had joined them could not be ignored.
If Liana's existence alone enabled her to perform tasks far beyond what several military divisions could accomplish, the same was true for each of the Vampire Lords and their kin.
It was premature to be optimistic already, but they couldn't help but see the situation as favorable.
Was this truly the end?
Worried about what would come next, Harriet began to wonder if the Gate Crisis could really end like this.
-Flash!
"Uh…?"
Flashes of light began to appear all over the battlefield.
It wasn't the light of destruction.
Where the flashes appeared, destruction didn't occur.
They vanished.
Both Liana and Harriet were in a position to overlook the entire battlefield, so they could see the simultaneous white flashes amidst the explosions and flames.
It wasn't a light related to destruction.
"Teleport…?"
It was undoubtedly the flash emitted by a spatial-based magic.
But through that light, no one was arriving.
They disappeared.
Along with the flashing lights, someone vanished.
It wasn't ordinary soldiers who disappeared.
It was soldiers wearing full-face helmets.
Liana mumbled in a daze as she witnessed the unbelievable scene.
"Are the Immortals… disappearing?"
Harriet, too, was wide-eyed at the spectacle.
"No way… It can't be. No way… It can't be…"
Harriet couldn't help but freeze in her terrible imagination.
But the reality unfolding before their eyes told them the truth.
The Immortals were withdrawing on their own accord.
——
"…Huff!"
Ludwig abruptly found himself forcibly teleported elsewhere, along with a cluster of white light, in the middle of slaying a monster.
"What…? What's going on…?"
Just as he had jumped into the battlefield and brought down a giant monster with a single blow, Ludwig was caught up in a recall spell without understanding why.
When Ludwig opened his eyes, he found himself in a familiar place.
The destination where the Immortals were recalled upon being damaged.
The underground research facility of Temple Magic University.
Although the Temple couldn't use spatial magic, limited teleportation was now possible within the underground facilities of the Magic University.
The Immortals had to return here for repairs if they were damaged.
Ludwig blankly stared at the vast hall lined with recovery ports and large vats.
Naturally, even if the Immortals weren't destroyed, they could easily be resummoned.
With a flash, it was not just Ludwig.
Alongside the flash, the Immortal mages and soldiers were being recalled at an incredible speed.
Seeing the mage casting the recall, Ludwig could not help but understand what was happening.
The Immortals were leaving the battlefield, and he too had been forcibly summoned by the recall magic.
There could only be one person capable of such a feat.
"Christina…?"
Ludwig let out a sigh as he spotted Christina, standing calmly amidst the gathering Immortals.
Nearby, in a makeshift healing station, Anna and Louis Ancton were leaning against a wall, fast asleep.
It was clear they had been forced to sleep.
There was no way the two of them would agree to something like this.
"Don't panic, Ludwig. It's all part of the plan," Christina said with a stern expression, looking at the bewildered Ludwig.
"Christina? What are you… What are you trying to do?"
Ludwig couldn't accept the situation.
It was the final battle.
Just one step away.
But leaving that last step behind and withdrawing the most important force, the Immortals, from the battlefield was nothing short of madness.
No matter the intention, no matter how reasonable the purpose.
This was something that should never be done.
Seeing Ludwig's expression, Christina faintly smiled as if she knew what he was trying to say.
"You may not know, but most of the allied forces have sided with the Demon King. If the Gate crisis ends without any trouble, the entire alliance will fall under the Demon King's control."
"So… what do you intend to do?"
"If the alliance becomes the Demon King's, humanity will become the Demon King's as well."
Ludwig asked with his mouth, but he already knew.
He couldn't help but understand why Christina was doing this and what would happen next just by thinking about it.
"We can't leave it like that, can we?"
"No, Christina… No. This… This is not right! This is madness!"
Even if those who betrayed humanity and sided with the Demon King were despicable, and even if they couldn't be left alone, did that justify doing something like this?
In the end, it would be the powerless ones who would die first, and they had nothing to do with this situation.
Christina calmly said she would sacrifice them.
"It's not about annihilating the alliance. It's about reducing their numbers. We have enough Immortals to handle the situation."
If there was an army destined to fall under the Demon King's control, it was as good as already being his.
So, they would weaken them.
Using only the Immortals to choke them until they could no longer breathe.
"In the meantime, there's no better fortune than our enemies dying while fighting monsters, right?"
Ludwig's eyes widened as he stood up from his seat.
He couldn't stand idly by.
He just couldn't.
With a thud, Ludwig grabbed Christina by the collar.
"Stop this madness. Send the Immortals back to Diane immediately."
Ludwig may have crossed a line himself, but not to the extent of Christina.
He could never have imagined she would do something like this.
It was nothing but madness.
It was an insane act, one that couldn't be understood or accepted.
Despite Ludwig's cold voice, Christina smiled while being held by her collar.
"Really? So we should just deploy the Immortal like this and assume the Gate incident will be resolved?"
"Exactly! It's not too late to think about it once everything is over! Doing this, doing this isn't for anyone's benefit!"
"Then what about revenge?"
"…What?"
"More than half of the Allied Forces have fallen to the Demon King, and the Emperor is trying to abandon the empire. In the end, to exact revenge, you'll have to kill the Demon King, the Emperor, Ellen, and everyone else. Do you think it's possible to just kill the Demon King and leave everyone who sided with him alone? Do you believe it's possible to sift through the massive entity of the Allied Forces and only kill those who did wrong?"
"You… what are you… talking about…?"
"In the end, it's just the Gate monsters killing those who should die instead of the Immortal. The only difference is whether the Immortal kills them or the monsters do."
One faces not a person, but a group.
If the war ended without any major damage like this, it would only result in strengthening the Demon King's army even more.
It was better to weaken them beforehand.
Whether it was later or now, the Immortal had to kill a tremendous number of people.
"Ludwig. It's actually by doing this now that we can prevent a war between the Immortal and the Allied Forces later on. If the Immortal and the Allied Forces fight, even more people will die, right?"
"That's just sophistry, Christina. It's not even a reasonable argument!"
If the Gate incident ended with the Allied Forces in good condition and the Immortal then turned against the Allied Forces, who had become the Demon King's army, even greater damage would result from the ensuing battle.
"By reducing their numbers in advance, won't the Allied Forces just surrender to the Immortal? They'll know they can't win. Think about it, Ludwig. This is the way to save lives."
To avoid killing even more later on, one condones the deaths now.
It's true that if the secondary battle between the Immortal and the Allied Forces, who had become the Demon King's army, resulted in the annihilation of the Allied Forces, then more people would die if the war ended like this.
However, if the Allied Forces suffered significant losses in the Gate War, they might unconditionally surrender to the Immortal, whether they had sided with the Demon King or not. In that case, fewer people would actually die.
If things went as Christina said, it would be true.
"People won't just wait to die. The Immortal won't be away from the battlefield for long either."
"…What?"
"Whether he's hidden somewhere watching the situation or disguised as something else. When they think the Allied Forces will be wiped out, those we need to kill will reveal themselves one by one."
"Are you saying… we should wait for that now?"
"Of course."
Someone had to fill the gap in power caused by the absence of the Immortal.
So if he was watching from somewhere, the Demon King's forces would reveal themselves.
Whether as individuals or groups, in some way or another.
"Once they reveal themselves, we'll deploy the Immortal again. The Immortal will kill those monsters and them too."
"…"
"Don't worry. If the Demon King reveals himself sooner, the Immortal will be redeployed to the battlefield just as quickly."
When the Demon King reveals himself to support the Allied Forces, the Immortal will go to the battlefield to kill him.
The plan was to exploit the Demon King's desire for the survival of humanity.
Ludwig believed that the Demon King should also be held responsible for this situation.
But was that really the case?
"This isn't… this isn't revenge… No, it's not. It's not! People are dying because of us, not the Demon King. If anything, we're the ones who should be killed, not the Demon King or the Emperor! Why do people have to die? Why should they be sacrificed for your whims? That's not why we've done all this! That's not why we created the Immortal!"
Ludwig couldn't help but cry out in anguish at the thought of spilling the blood of innocents to summon the Demon King for the sake of revenge.
"What are you talking about, Ludwig…?"
At Ludwig's question, Christina twisted her head, her collar gripped tightly.
"I've never once said… I'm doing this for the people…"
"What?"
"You're the same. You didn't want to do this for the people, but to make those who deserved punishment pay, didn't you?"
Ludwig had certainly said that.
"I just want revenge."
Christina had never claimed to represent the sacrificed or to be the voice for their grievances.
This was simply revenge on the world.
Nothing more than venting.
For someone.
They had never said they were doing this for a grand and happy ending.
The Immortal was created to end the Gate incident and use that power for revenge.
It was all about making those responsible pay.
Christina had never said she created the Immortal for the weak or to represent them.
"Weren't you the one who was mistaken?"
"…"
"Ludwig, your intentions. To kill the Demon King, to make people pay for these events. Weren't you secretly thinking it had something to do with justice or something grandiose?"
It was a determination unrelated to the judgment of good and evil.
Yet now, he was questioning why they were sacrificing the weak and invoking something akin to justice.
"If you thought this was a good or righteous thing, Ludwig… then you're still… still…"
With a horrifying smile, Christina said,
"You're still a fucking idiot."
It had always been about revenge.
They had started with vengeance in mind, seeking retribution.
And now, claiming that there were limits to what they could do, that they must maintain their morality, was laughable.
At Christina's words, Ludwig stared into her dark eyes, now filled with the abyss, his own eyes wide with disbelief.
"Maybe you're right… but… if this is what revenge is, if we have to do something like this to achieve it… if we're actually becoming the ones who should pay the price…"
Ludwig tightened his grip on Christina's collar.
"I won't take part in this so-called revenge."
Christina, who had become a monster, couldn't understand or accept it.
She had become an existence that shouldn't be in this world.
However, killing Christina was not an option either.
"Send me back. At least just me."
Upon hearing Ludwig's cold declaration, Christina's eyes widened.
"…Are you serious?"
Christina had somewhat sensed that he would say something like that.
"Yes."
"…"
"Whatever you do, I can't stop you with my power, and you won't listen to me. So, there's only one thing I can do."
Ludwig knew he couldn't persuade Christina.
Both had gone mad, each in their own way.
Persuasion was impossible from the start.
He knew that killing Christina would only cause greater chaos.
So, they decided to part ways.
They had to do it as quickly as possible.
That way, he could fight a little sooner on behalf of those who would die due to Christina's decision.
Christina had decided to let people die.
Ludwig, however, hadn't gone that far yet.
"Send me back."
Without the Immortal, the likelihood of dying on the battlefield was extremely high.
As if it didn't matter, Ludwig asked Christina to send him alone, and she stared at him silently.
Just as Ludwig couldn't persuade Christina, the opposite was also true.
He wouldn't say anything more about her actions, and she couldn't break his resolve to be sent to the battlefield.
"…Fine."
At Christina's command, the Immortal mages began casting.
"Don't die until the Immortal returns."
Somehow, Christina's words sounded amusing to Ludwig.
Was there still someone precious to her?
Even in this state.
Even while doing this.
Could she still say she didn't wish for anyone's death?
That was madness and, perhaps, the epitome of selfish human nature.
"Christina."
Just before the teleportation casting was completed, Ludwig looked at Christina and spoke.
"In the end, our choice was also the wrong one. The most terrible wrong one."
He couldn't find the right answer.
He realized that the so-called right answers were individual wrong ones created by everyone's thoughts.
In the face of the choices he had made,
Ludwig had to admit that not only himself but also Christina and the whole world had made the wrong choices, just as they had always suspected.
Everyone had chosen the wrong answer.
Those who had chosen the wrong answers were fighting each other, claiming their wrong answer was closer to the right one.
That was what was happening now.
Amid Ludwig's words, filled with self-mockery and contempt,
"Still, this wrong answer feels refreshing."
Rather than insisting that her wrong answer was the right one, Christina simply wanted to resolve everything.
-Flash!
Soon, Ludwig disappeared with a flash of light.
Without the Immortal, alone.
Ludwig wouldn't die easily.
He had been given a charm to not die easily.
All she had to do was wait.
Until the battlefield revealed those who had to be killed.
Then the Immortal would return to the battlefield and begin hunting.
Hunting monsters, as well as the Demon King and the Hero.
If they felt sorry for the dying people, they just had to reveal themselves sooner.
As Christina waited in silence for the situation she desired,
Ludwig had left, and in the quiet underground laboratory filled with Immortals, where Anna and Louis were sleeping,
-Step
-Step
Soon, somewhere, quiet footsteps began to be heard.
-Thud!
-Rumble!
And then, the sound of the sealed laboratory's barrier being destroyed began to resonate.
Christina's expression hardened.
The laboratory was in lockdown.
After the development of the Immortal was complete, no one was allowed to enter. All of the royal mages had been expelled, and in case anyone managed to break in, Immortal soldiers guarded the laboratory at various locations.
The sounds she was hearing implied that the Immortal forces were being defeated.
"…"
Christina stared intently at the entrance to the underground research wing.
Someone was coming.
Someone powerful enough to defeat the Immortals and break through the barrier.
A very powerful.
Entity.
-Kwagagang!
With an explosion close to a massive blast, the sealed entrance to the underground research wing shattered, and someone revealed their presence.
Christina looked at the person emerging from the rising dust.
It was a familiar face.
And someone who was not present in the allied forces' battlefield.
"…Saviolin Turner."
Christina muttered the name quietly as she gazed at Turner, who had appeared alone.
She was a woman who held the title of the world's strongest swordsman, yet she had not been able to participate in the Great Demon War.
And even now, as the world's strongest swordsman, she was unable to join the final battle.
She suddenly thought.
Perhaps this was a destiny or a curse laid upon her.
Unable to fight in the places where everyone remembered.
In the most glorious of places, where she could not stand.
It might be the fate of Saviolin Turner, the continent's greatest swordsman.
Not in the most glorious places of the Great Demon War.
Nor in the final battle that marked the end of the Gate incident.
There was no place for her.
The emperor had sent his sharpest sword to this place.
A cursed genius who was born with a destiny unable to fight where glory and honor resided.
Saviolin Turner closed her eyes quietly.
"Is this…"
In a place that no one in the world would remember.
In a dark underground devoid of glory and honor.
"my final battlefield?"
She had to face her most challenging battle.