It was.
Something enormous.
It was.
A knight of solid steel.
A black knight, painted jet-black to exude an even more oppressive aura.
Wooooong—
Through the massive helmet, crimson light gleamed.
— "What is that? A golem?"
"…What the…"
"A golem…?"
"…What the hell is that?"
Aint and Ruina, as well as Berian who was sprawled in a corner of the battlefield, all gaped at the majestic figure of the golem.
It wasn't their first time seeing a golem, but it was their first time seeing one nearly 10 meters tall.
"This is the Upper Atmosphere Army."
Fernan drew in a deep breath.
Everything down below looked like mere toys.
Aint, Ruina—
"And even Andromalius."
"Do you think that just because you built such a thing, you can defeat me?"
"Nothing is impossible."
Of course, it would not be easy. But if there had been no chance at all, Fernan would never have poured so much time and effort into creating the golem.
"Now, Wuden."
Fernan caressed the golem.
"Show that worthless demon your strength."
That was the signal.
The crimson glow in the golem's eyes deepened. Its colossal frame began to move.
Slowly, ever so slowly—
Or so it seemed, until—
The massive greatsword was suddenly right before Andromalius' face.
"…!"
Claaang!
But the greatsword never found its mark. Something massive had appeared between the golem and Andromalius.
Shhhhk—
A snake, its tongue flickering. The serpent that had been coiled around Andromalius' right arm had stretched nearly 30 meters, transforming into a monstrous beast.
"I leave it to you. Crush it."
Shhhhaaa!
At Andromalius' command, the snake sprang like a coiled spring.
"It's coming, Wuden!"
The golem braced itself, knees bent slightly as it thrust its sword forward.
Shhhkkk—
The serpent twisted in midair. The blade barely missed—
Or rather, seemed to miss. The sword's trajectory shifted, chasing after the serpent.
Kwaaang! When steel met scale, a thunderous explosion erupted. The snake's massive body was hurled far into the distance.
"…A golem can move like that?"
"It's so fast…!"
The two knights were stunned. They didn't know much about golems, but they knew enough to understand that no golem they had ever seen could move like that.
"…So it's not entirely trash, then."
Even Andromalius' eyes widened in surprise.
"Of course not. Do you know how much I poured into this?"
Money is power.
At least in the golem world, that was an absolute truth.
The golem, having flung the serpent away, did not stop. It closed the distance in an instant, its sword descending as though to cleave the world in two.
Just before the blade reached Andromalius, the ground caved in.
The two crashed dozens of meters down into the earth.
───!
Moments later, a colossal impact shook the land like a meteor strike.
The golem's sword hadn't cut Andromalius clean in half. He had blocked it with his pitch-black crossed arms.
But the shattered fragments of magic and the blood trickling down, along with his trembling pupils, proved the strike had been effective.
It worked. Money had not lied.
Fernan's face twisted into ecstasy.
"…How dare you! A lowly human mocking me!"
Enraged, Andromalius unleashed his wrath.
Dark magic erupted from his entire body, writhing like snakes as they engulfed the golem.
The golem swung its blade, cutting some down, but it could not possibly stop the hundreds that swarmed.
But there had been no need to.
──!
The golem's body glowed faintly, forming a translucent shield.
"Petty tricks!"
But the real attack was the fist that followed.
A fist packed with condensed demonic might.
Claaang!
The shield shattered instantly.
Yet the force did not fully dissipate, slamming into the golem's chest.
Its breastplate caved in, the massive body thrown out of the crater.
Tap. Andromalius exhaled harshly as he climbed up.
"…To think you could wound me."
Crack. He roughly brushed back his hair with one hand.
The reason he used only one hand—was because the other dangled, half-broken.
"You will never die peacefully."
"There's a famous saying in the upper realms. Big talkers usually fall into one of two categories."
The golem steadied its stance once again. Its dented breastplate had already repaired itself.
"Idiots… or con men. Which one are you?"
"Malius!"
Andromalius roared.
"How long must I endure the buzzing of insects?"
At that instant, a colossal body crashed down upon the golem.
It was far too fast and far too massive to evade.
So the golem did not evade.
Fernan raised the earth into a barrier, and in the fleeting instant that barrier bought with its own destruction—
The golem, its heart's core surging with power and even draining its master's mana, coated its blade in aura.
Its two legs drove deep into the ground.
And then—
────!
An emerald slash cleaved the serpent in two.
"…My God."
"…What am I even looking at right now?"
— That's a golem?
Aint stared blankly at the construct.
It was his first time even seeing a 10-meter golem, yet what it was doing was beyond belief even as he witnessed it with his own eyes.
To think it could relentlessly push back the demon they thought impossible to defeat.
To think it could slice that massive serpent clean in half.
— How much have golems advanced in the thousand years I slept?
— At this level, even without the plans of the late emperor, humanity could handle demons just by building golems.
"…No, not every golem is like that…"
If they were, this world would not be a battlefield of humans versus humans, or humans versus monsters—
but a battlefield of golems against golems.
"…As expected of Fernan."
Ruina felt no differently from Aint.
No—if anything, the shock was even greater for her, since she had already resigned herself to laying down her life.
"…We can win."
It wasn't the desperate gamble of throwing away her life anymore, but the hope of a true and certain victory.
"Fernan!"
Without realizing it, she called his name. And Fernan answered.
"No need to shout so loud, I hear you just fine."
His condition looked rough, but the light in his eyes had not dimmed. He tossed potions to Ruina and Aint.
"Ruina, Aint. I'll leave the rest to you two."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Huh? All of a sudden, why?"
"Wuden can't fight anymore."
Flash—
A blue light wrapped around the golem. When they blinked against the glare, the golem was gone without a trace.
"That last strike used up all of the core's magic."
It would be immobile for the foreseeable future.
"And so am I."
The same was true of Fernan. He had forced his own mana into the core to unleash the strongest strike possible.
His completely drained mana heart throbbed painfully.
"But…"
— No, you can. Your master has already done more than enough.
Gardner whispered.
— Look closely at that thing's condition. Its arm is broken.
Though it was slowly regenerating, it was still a grievous wound for the moment.
— And more importantly, that damned reptile is gone!
Aint and Ruina's teamwork was visibly well-honed and could certainly wound Andromalius.
What had prevented them from seizing a decisive chance was that they too had been forced to split their strength—
That black serpent whose scales could not be harmed by ordinary aura.
Mindless attacks had no path forward, and Ruina had been prepared to gamble her own life.
Fernan's sudden intervention had shifted everything.
Either way, the situation was now in their favor.
"Yes, understood."
Ruina downed the potion in one gulp.
"You wouldn't ask the impossible of us. I'll trust you."
Over the past semester, an unshakable trust had formed between Ruina and Fernan.
Some might say it was one-sided on her part… but for her, if Fernan said something was possible, then it was possible.
"Aint."
Her steadfast gaze changed Aint's expression as well.
"Yes, senpai."
"You can still stand, can't you?"
"Of course."
Aint swallowed his potion and gripped his sword tightly. There was not a single place in his body that wasn't aching. Several bones were cracked, if not broken.
And yet, he had to fight. Their lives, the continent itself, were at stake.
And now was their one and only chance at victory.
The two knights began to move once more.
"…Malius?"
Among those standing on the battlefield, the one most shaken by the serpent's death was neither Aint nor Ruina.
It was Andromalius—the serpent's master.
"…Impossible! To think that mere toys could…!"
The black serpent, Malius, was no ordinary snake. It was his avatar, a part of himself.
Malius's death was not the loss of something separate—it was the loss of Andromalius's very flesh.
"…!"
But there was no time to grieve. The battle was not yet over.
The demon could neither endure nor accept such humiliation.
"…Fine then. I'll kill you all. Every last one of you!"
Summoning forth an even more ferocious aura, he clashed with the two knights who pressed in with their blades.
The demon clenched his fist. Aint and Ruina lowered their stances.
A moment later, the knights kicked off the ground.
Blinding white radiance and brilliant blue light carved long arcs from opposite directions, converging upon a single target.
Black demonic energy surged to meet them.
Kwooooom!
Dust clouds rose as deep scars were carved into the battlefield.
Fragments scattered, shockwaves ripped outward.
The demon's miasma churned, writhing like living serpents that lashed at the knights' openings.
But the knights were not alone. Each covered the other's gaps, their swords crossing in perfect unison.
It was a dance.
A sacred dance that trapped and slaughtered the demon.
─!
Wounds multiplied across the demon's body. His once-solid armor had weakened, and his broken arm left an inescapable gap.
─!
The power of the predator raged like a fish returned to water, gnawing away at the very essence of its prey.
"Cursed spawn of Armian… I should devour you alive…!"
The brighter the light, the more the darkness faltered.
With each scattering arc of swordlight, the demon's miasma disintegrated.
And yet, the demon did not fall.
"Do you think I will lose?!"
His pouring blood turned to venom, and the shattered fragments of magic still obeyed his will.
"I am Andromalius! A Count of Hell, commander of eleven infernal legions!"
He stood on two feet, roaring his defiance at the humans.
"I am the vanguard of Hell, sent to conquer the Middle Realm!"
His demonic energy boiled over—wilder, more savage, more violent.
"So what?"
But before him stood not some lowly human.
"Then I am what your kind despises most—an Armian."
The demons' natural enemy.
"The heir to the First Emperor whose very name makes your kind tremble!"
Hell's great adversary.
— Go, Aint! This is nothing but his last desperate struggle!
The cause of every demon's thwarted ambitions.
The First Emperor's sword shone brilliantly.
The white radiance, swollen by devouring and destroying demonic power, grew ever brighter.
────!
Light and darkness collided.
"Ah."
Andromalius touched his chest.
A heartbeat later, his chest split wide and blood gushed forth.
Crunch. Another sword pierced straight through his heart.
"M-me…?!"
The demon's eyes swiftly dimmed.
"Do not… think this is the end! This is only the beginning…! The Middle Realm will… be ours…!"
— How typical. The lines of a third-rate villain.
That was the end.
Andromalius collapsed lifelessly.
A moment later, his corpse crumbled into dust and scattered.
"…What's this?"
— Demons are not beings of the Middle Realm. Even leaving a corpse behind is forbidden to them.
And thus the demon died.
A miracle born from a hopeless situation.
But not everyone found the ending satisfying.
"…You've got to be kidding me. The body just disappears? After all the blood and sweat, and there's nothing left to gain?"
A merchant who had hoped to harvest the serpent's remains to craft various items despaired.