After Kaito left the place, completely ignoring Eriri and Tomoya beside him, Tomoya slowly calmed down until he was breathing normally again.
"Eriri, are you okay?" he said as he hurried to help his childhood friend stand up.
"I am... coff coff... fine" Eriri replied, leaning on him.
But as soon as she recovered, she yelled in embarrassment, "Ah, what are you doing, let go of me, idiot."
"Alright," Tomoya said without releasing her, "I was just worried about how you were."
"Hmmp, I am fine, I do not need you to worry about me."
"Good." Tomoya sighed. Seeing she had recovered, he turned to Kato.
"Kato, what... what happened?"
"I lost," Kato replied.
"No, I mean... how?" Tomoya said, trying to express his complicated feelings about the situation.
"How?" Kato tilted her head as if being asked something obvious. "Did you not recognize him?"
"I... yes, I recognized him, but still, how?"
"I have no idea," Kato replied. "I could not even see what he did."
"That... that is insane," Tomoya said, knowing how strong Kato was. "But you do not look too upset about it."
"It was to be expected. You should know the name the Lords give to the Black Forest, right?"
"It is..." Tomoya hesitated. "...the Devil's Hunting Ground."
"That is right. Everyone who wants to get stronger and rise in this world has already left this forest. The ones who stayed are only two types, the fools who cannot accept their reality and want to face it, or those who already gave up."
"I know, but... I thought we would at least have a chance, no, I thought we could at least put up a fight."
"There was no way from the beginning," Kato said.
"True, even so... Kato, why did you not use other abilities?"
"Other abilities, there was no reason. None is stronger than the void."
"But I think that if you had used other abilities, you would have had at least some chance," Tomoya replied.
Kato looked at him in silence for a few seconds without changing her expression before answering.
"you are an otaku, right Aki?" she asked.
"Of course," Tomoya answered immediately. "Why are you asking that?"
"When you saw Lucifer appear out of nowhere in front of us, what kind of character came to your mind?"
"A... protagonist," Tomoya finally said.
"And when you look at me?" Kato asked.
"I..." Tomoya hesitated before speaking.
"It is fine, you can say the truth."
"An... extra."
At his answer, Kato smiled faintly, barely an imperceptible change. It was not a smile of joy, but one of quiet acceptance, as if she had heard exactly what she expected.
"You see? What chance would an extra have against the protagonist?" Kato said.
"No, even though I know it was my own answer, I want to change it, you are a protagonist, we are all protagonists of our own story," Tomoya said energetically.
"You are a fool, Aki," Kato said and vanished from the place.
"Ah, she left," Tomoya sighed.
"That girl, always ignoring everyone else," Eriri said beside him.
Tomoya gave a faint smile.
"No, she does not ignore us. My words simply... did not reach her. I hope that someday, someone will be able to make them reach her."
---
Southeastern Low Level Region, five hours earlier.
Along with Kaito's army, which had split in two, his sublords also divided and each group went with each side.
On the side heading west were Mashiro, Kaguya, and Ai.
At that moment they arrived at the first village to conquer.
As soon as they saw such an army, all the bells in the watchtowers rang at maximum alert to warn the entire settlement.
Kaito's army did not attack. They waited for the village to gather its soldiers.
The reason was simple, the Lords aim for conquest, not mass killing. Although they could destroy the village if they wished, there was no need when subjugating it already provided the reward.
That is why the simplest method was to wait for them to gather all their forces and then annihilate them in one strike.
But before that, a voice rose.
"I am Elric, former captain of the battalion from the village of Nyrem, I would like to speak with your captain."
Elric shouted toward the army in front of him.
Since he was someone known, the soldiers recognized him and called their captain.
Among the soldiers who parted, an old, thin, gray haired man wearing a dark blue mage robe appeared.
"Elric, you old bastard, you finally betrayed your homeland?" the old man said.
"Winston, you know the elf kingdom has been taken by unworthy hands. We could kill them all, but that is not the way. Let this village join Kaito's army and no one will be hurt."
"This village?. You do not even know the name of my village. Of course great Elric would not know something like that, because Elric is above everyone..." Winston muttered with hatred. "...I finally have a chance to kill you justifiably, do you think I would waste it?"
Saying this, Winston returned to the rear, protected by his soldiers.
Each one had a magic shield around their body.
Elric looked at Kaguya apologetically.
"I am sorry, Winston is a stubborn old fool with a bad personality, it seems we will have to fight this time."
Kaguya nodded seriously and spoke with a cold voice.
"It is fine. I have a new ability I wanted to test."
Elric nodded and prepared to fight. The rest of the army did the same.
Facing such numbers, the village guards felt fear, but they were surprised when Kaguya raised her hand and stopped everyone.
"Go to the next one, I will handle things here."
Although Elric was confused, the army obeyed her and continued advancing west, completely ignoring the village soldiers.
Some guards wanted to mock them, but most looked at Kaguya cautiously. They did not know her strength, but they did know Elric's, someone who only acknowledges those stronger than himself, and that person had just obeyed Kaguya.
Despite the noise and dust rising, all the guards kept their eyes on the girl in front of them.
Finally, a fireball launched from the rear by Winston broke the silence.
The ball fell directly onto Kaguya and hit her head on, causing smoke and dust to rise with a loud explosion.
"Is she dead?"
"She must be."
"Not even Elric could withstand a direct attack from Captain Winston."
But when the smoke cleared, they saw she was completely unharmed.
Not only that, she now looked different.
She wore a tattered black robe that barely showed her face beneath a long hood. Her hands were as pale as her now completely white skin.
Her appearance caused instinctive fear in several guards.
Suddenly, Kaguya's body began to float. A scythe appeared in her hand and she approached the nearest guard, using the weapon without hesitation.
The man fell dead instantly, despite not having any visible wounds.
"H... how is that possible? We have magic shields."
Many repeated the same thing.
"Do not worry," Winston said, amplifying his voice with a spell. "It is a special form, it must have a time limit. Judging by her power, it should not last long. Also, her abilities are short range and she can only focus on one target at a time."
Winston analyzed the situation and calmed his men.
But no one expected that, upon hearing him, Kaguya would smile mockingly in his direction.
Kaguya rose higher and, out of nowhere, identical forms of her began emerging from her body. In only seconds, hundreds of Kaguya in shinigami form floated in the sky before beginning the massacre.
As she flew over the battlefield, anyone touched by their scythes died instantly without being able to resist.
At first they tried to counterattack, but seeing it was useless, they accepted their fate, hoping her ability would end soon.
But not all soldiers were loyal enough to be willing to die.
One broke formation and tried to escape. A single stone creates waves, and his action caused many to imitate him, running for their lives.
But it did not work.
Of all the Kaguyas in the air, nearly a hundred descended and formed a circle around the battlefield.
Those trying to flee stopped abruptly, looking at Kaguya in despair.
"What is she trying to do?"
"She will not let us escape?"
"Fine," one shouted. "They cannot catch all of us."
Most supported him and ran, but some, the more cautious ones, stayed still and let the others test their luck.
"Kyaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"
A sharp scream echoed across the field. It was a distorted sound, a wail mixed with a shriek, like thousands of voices at once.
When the hundred Kaguyas screamed together, the effect multiplied. The roar shook the entire perimeter, and those trying to flee, along with those near the edge, fell to the ground with blood coming from the openings of their faces while trying to cover their ears.
"Arghhh!"
"Stop, please"
"Make her stop!"
"My ears, help!"
The cries of pain filled the field.
The fear that had paralyzed them now became unbearable. The scene broke the minds of many.
Finally, one of the soldiers lying on the ground shouted desperately.
"I surrender!"
At that moment, the sound stopped. The Kaguya in front of him, who had been about to use her scythe, changed targets.
The scene shocked everyone. Seeing that surrendering worked, many remembered Elric's words when he asked them to join.
Cursing Winston in silence for not accepting, most surrendered.
Those who did not surrender became corpses, their souls harvested, making the shinigami stronger.
The only exception were those who tried to flee, whom Kaguya deemed useless and killed even if they tried to surrender.
And of course, Winston.
When half of his army was dead and the other half had surrendered, he knelt down, wanting to surrender, but Kaguya ignored his pleas.
A swing passed through his body without leaving any wound or trace of the attack, his eyes turned blank, and his lifeless body collapsed to the ground.
______________________________________
+15 chapters in advance on Patreon.
p-atreon.com/IAMME26
(just delete the hyphen)
80 power stones = 1 extra chapter (cumulative)