Wizard, one of the White Eagle Eight, excelled in wielding a wide array of magic and crafting powerful magical artifacts. His combat prowess was considered average among the group. However, he possessed a fatal flaw: his physical constitution was no better than that of an ordinary person.
This was a common weakness among spellcasters. In some D&D-inspired worlds, a first-level mage might even have less health than a goblin.
Normally, this vulnerability remained concealed. Five of the ten rings Wizard wore were protective magical artifacts, and the necklace around his neck also offered life-saving effects.
But at this moment... none of these artifacts, none of his external defenses, were functioning.
The reason lay entirely in the dagger held by Director Fujiwara: the Blade of the Ordinary. This unassuming blade looked like a common pocketknife one could buy in any store, but it was actually a relic recovered from a Dimensional Rift by the Sakura Nation. The dagger's effect was utterly absurd.
The Blade of the Ordinary could nullify any supernatural ability it touched.
For example, if a fireball conjured by magic flew toward Fujiwara, he could simply raise the dagger at it. The moment they made contact, the fireball would vanish into thin air, as if it had never existed.
This was why the Wizard's vast collection of life-saving magic artifacts proved useless. Or rather, they activated, but their magic faded the instant they took effect, transforming back into ordinary rings and necklaces.
This was the primary reason the ambush succeeded. Overconfident in his arsenal of magic artifacts, the Wizard had grown careless, never imagining that his pet dog, which he kept at home, would suddenly lunge at him and clamp its jaws around his throat.
"Damn it!" The Wizard immediately tried to cast a spell. Even with his heart pierced, many spells could still turn the tide. But in the next instant, his eyes widened in horror. He couldn't sense any magic power within himself, nor could he cast a single spell. In that instant, he had become utterly ordinary.
At first glance, the Blade of the Ordinary seemed utterly absurd. However, it possessed a fatal flaw: its "Supernatural Ability" was essentially limited to magic and super powers, rendering it completely ineffective against technological or biological threats.
For instance, Firefly trying to stab SAM with this dagger would be laughable. Similarly, none of the Fancheng Virus Evolvers in the Dragon Nation would be affected by its strikes; their abilities would remain intact.
Indeed, the Blade of the Ordinary lived up to its name. Beyond this single effect, it was merely an ordinary dagger, easily broken or blocked. Even a Wizard wearing a police-issue stab-proof vest could evade death.
But reality seldom offers such "ifs." The Sakura Nation had meticulously prepared this seemingly simple stab for years.
Days earlier, Moriya Shushei's creation of a Dimensional Rift in the Dragon Nation and his subsequent attack on personnel from the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations was, of course, orchestrated by the Sakura Nation. However, their true objective wasn't revenge for the Martyr or sowing discord—those were mere misdirections. Ultimately, their sole purpose was to lure White Eagle and the Dragon Nation into holding a summit on their territory.
In essence, Moriya Shushei was a disposable pawn, a suicide operative with a simple mission: either kill several members of the Bureau of Anomalous Investigations and then be captured by local authorities upon exiting the Dimensional Rift, revealing some intelligence during interrogation before taking his own life, or reveal the intelligence inside the Dimensional Rift before dying.
As it turned out, he completed his mission flawlessly. The subsequent meeting on Nawajima wouldn't have allowed enough time to set a trap for a full-scale ambush of the Dragon Nation and White Eagle forces. However, it would have been more than sufficient to expedite the transport of a truck-sized device capable of triggering a Dimensional Rift.
Once everyone was trapped in the Otherworld-type Dimensional Rift, cutting off all communication with the outside world, the Sakura Nation would have ample time to execute their plan.
Internationally, no nation understood White Eagle better than the Sakura Nation. After decades of acting as their loyal lapdog, they had meticulously devised detailed methods—excluding the Prophet—to eliminate the remaining seven members of the White Eagle Eight, exploiting their intimate knowledge of White Eagle's weaknesses.
This plan even included the Martyr, as he was still alive when it was conceived. The Sakura Nation was merely using his death as a pretext to formally execute it.
In other words, Director Fujiwara was confident he could eliminate anyone the White Eagle Faction sent to the meeting, provided it wasn't the Prophet.
As for the Dragon Nation, the Sakura Nation had no plans to assassinate Kong Zhiwang. It would have been pointless. By eliminating enough members of the White Eagle Eight, they could severely weaken the White Eagle Faction, plunge them into chaos, and leave them no time for revenge. This would allow the Sakura Nation to seize the opportunity to rise to power—their ultimate goal.
Why couldn't one of the world's top five powers be overthrown? The Sakura Nation had simply chosen the weakest link.
Killing Kong Zhiwang, on the other hand, wouldn't weaken the Dragon Nation. In fact, they would likely appoint a new Director-General the very next day and retaliate against the Sakura Nation. Such an act would be far more trouble than it was worth.
Ultimately, it all came down to differing national circumstances.
After confirming the wizard before him had fallen completely silent, Director Fujiwara withdrew his dagger and murmured softly, "Looks like luck is on my side..."
In the plan targeting the seven individuals, the Wizard was the easiest to eliminate. The others, however, could only be dealt with by exploiting the Sakura Nation's meticulously prepared Dimensional Rift and relying on the Four Heavenly Kings stationed there.
Director Fujiwara turned to the petrified crowd and addressed Minister of Foreign Affairs Hojo Tatsuya. "Get everyone out of this city," he ordered, "as far as possible. Do whatever it takes to survive until this Dimensional Rift collapses."
Negotiating with the King about food supplies or rescuing the additional 1.5 million civilians? No, Director Fujiwara had no time for such trivialities.
He had personally engineered this Dimensional Rift, and he understood its consequences perfectly. The entire population of Nawajima Island had become expendable pawns in this operation—no, perhaps the entire Sakura Nation itself had been transformed into a massive bargaining chip.
From the earliest stages of planning, a critical question had been raised: the White Eagle's prophet could foresee the future. Wasn't this reckless scheme a suicidal gamble?
To be honest, the possibility was significant. But others immediately voiced their objections:
"If their prophet were truly all-seeing and all-powerful, wouldn't the White Eagle have already conquered the world? Their abilities must have limitations. Perhaps they can't foresee our plan at all? I think it's worth the risk!"
In essence, this was a plan to gamble the nation's fate. If successful, Sakura Nation could rise from the ashes to become masters of their own destiny. If it failed... well, those who conceived the plan would undoubtedly perish, leaving the nation's future to others.
Director Fujiwara retrieved a ring, used it to "collect" the wizard's corpse before him, and turned to leave, ready to prepare for the next assassination plan.
-
Meanwhile, the perspective shifts to Firefly, who is soaring through the air in SAM's form.
Her Japanese is limited, but she can manage basic conversations with the locals. Terms like "Hero" and "Demon Lord" are easily understood by any young anime enthusiast, after all!
Speaking of which, Firefly suddenly recalls a news story she once saw about a young entrepreneur from the Dragon Nation who successfully negotiated an entire business meeting with a Sakura Nation company using only the Japanese he'd learned from watching anime.
Though he ultimately received the feedback that his "tone was unexpectedly adorable."
Clearly, many anime phrases are designed to make characters appear cute, and Sakura Nation adults would never speak that way in real life. Just imagine a grown man saying things like, "Nee, Onii-chan, what do you think of this plan?" or "Can I? Can I? Please?"—talk about instant social death!
Firefly realized her recent actions were strikingly similar to those of the "young boss," meaning she might have been unconsciously using excessively cute phrases when interacting with the locals.
The only saving grace was that she was, after all, a beautiful young girl. At worst, it could be considered "deliberately cute," not "creepy."
Returning to the present, once Firefly understood she was in a world of Heroes and Demon Lords, she promptly left the city, found an isolated spot, transformed, and took to the skies.
Just as she had done in Otherworld Dimensional Rifts before, she intended to locate the Demon Lord directly and speedrun through this Dimensional Rift.
However, after nearly an hour of searching, Firefly hadn't even caught a glimpse of the Demon Lord. She also discovered that this "kingdom," this "world," was astonishingly vast.
Initially, she had circled the capital in a systematic search, hoping to blanket the area. But as she flew, she spotted other cities and realized she hadn't even reached the borders of the country. Firefly then abandoned her original plan and chose a random direction to fly in a straight line.
Though she wasn't flying at full throttle, she was still moving at a considerable speed. Even so, it took her over half an hour to leave the country's borders.
"This nation's land area might far exceed that of any country on Earth," she muttered to herself as she continued onward. Suddenly, Firefly realized something. She gradually slowed to a halt, then abruptly turned and flew straight upward into the sky. The world below shrank rapidly beneath her until she pierced through the upper atmosphere, completely escaping the planet's gravitational pull and entering outer space.
Turning back, she beheld a breathtakingly beautiful sphere swirled with emerald and sapphire hues.
This world... was actually a planet?!
Well, that sounds a bit odd, Firefly thought. What I mean is, this Instance is an entire planet?
Normally, in a Hero-versus-Demon Lord world setting like this, shouldn't the entire world consist of just one massive continent, with the Demon Lord's castle on one side and the human capital on the other?
The scene before her meant that finding a Demon Lord of unknown appearance on a vast planet without any clues was like searching for a needle in a haystack—virtually impossible.
"Damn it! Does this mean I actually have to follow the Plot and go through the proper channels this time?"
However, this might actually be good news for her. Given the planet's immense size and the nation's vastness, the number of Demonic Beasts must be staggering, and the Demon Lord's power truly formidable.
Firefly's current Iron Cavalry battle completion rate was just over twenty percent. With a bit of luck, clearing this Dimensional Rift might directly max it out, unlocking her next Identity.
As Firefly pondered her next move, she dove downward, intending to return to the capital of the kingdom she had just left.
As she descended through the atmosphere, the intense friction naturally caused SAM's surrounding temperature to skyrocket, engulfing her in flames. However, this had no effect on Firefly. Even in her regular Secondary Combustion State, the temperature was far higher.
While descending, she still had time to scan the terrain below, searching for the kingdom's capital.
Unbeknownst to Firefly, her dramatic "meteorite descent" was infinitely more conspicuous than her earlier "shooting star streak." At that very moment, countless eyes witnessed the fiery spectacle.
Among these observers, one man narrowed his eyes, staring intently for a moment before a look of intense excitement lit up his face. He muttered to himself, "It's heading this way...?"
Thanks to SAM's advanced reconnaissance systems, Firefly quickly located the kingdom's capital and chose to land in a desolate wilderness nearby.
Though vast in territory, the limitations of the era meant much of the country remained untamed wilderness. Humans survived by clustering in scattered cities, relying on them as oases of civilization.
Firefly landed smoothly. Before she could react, a rhythmic booming echoed from nearby.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
The next moment, a figure crashed violently into the clearing not far ahead, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Mad Lion, his face alight with excitement, casually waved his hand, unleashing a fierce gust of wind that dispersed the dust. The booming sounds, it turned out, were the thunderous impacts of his repeated leaps and landings.
With a few mighty bounds, Mad Lion had traversed from the Kingdom's capital to Firefly's landing site.
Grinning widely, he exclaimed, "SAM?! I never expected to find you in a place like this—this is truly... my lucky day! Come on, let's fight!"