Setting off a magical control reactor would cause vast amounts of magicpower destruction. If she triggered it right when Rimuru and Yuuki were locked in battle, she could catch them in the explosion, and they'd be caught powerless. An attack the demon lord Rimuru wasn't conscious of could absolutely defeat him—Maribel was certain of it.
Now she was in the central part of the crypt…but she couldn't find the reactor discussed in her report. In fact, there was nothing at all. The sarcophagi were empty, bereft of any accompanying decor or treasure. Yes, there were gold and silver baubles lying around, but no magic weapons— nothing of real value.
"That's strange," she reflexively whispered to herself. "So strange.
What's going on…?"
Nobody was there to answer her…or so she thought.
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! There's no magical control reactor in these ruins, you know."
"…!!"
"And by the way, there wasn't one in Soma, either."
"…Is that you, Yuuki?"
"It sure is."
It was definitely Yuuki who answered her, standing tall where she could see him. Kagali was also there, nestled close to her.
"Aren't you fighting the demon lord Rimuru…?"
"It's over. I gave my all against him, but it was pointless. Rimuru had enough strength to go easy on me, but I didn't stand a chance. If I could have won, I figured I would've beaten him right there, but…"
"I was so scared watching you! And I really thought you betrayed us, too."
"Ha-ha-ha! Sorry, sorry. I figured it'd be more believable if I didn't let you in on it. Besides, I always believed you'd understand my intentions."
"Well, all right. Everything worked out fine, at least. If this is what you wanted, I've got nothing to complain about."
Yuuki and Kagali were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Seeing them carry on, Maribel finally realized. Yuuki tricked her.
"That's a lie. It must be a lie. But… Yuuki, did you break my force?!" It seemed impossible to her, but it was a reality Maribel had to accept. But when, and how, did Yuuki manage to overcome the desires of her Avarice?
"…How did you do it?"
"Curious?"
"Just tell me!!"
"Heh-heh! All right. I will."
Yuuki gave Maribel a look of pity, then showed her. As she watched, his brisk, cloudless demeanor suddenly appeared to have a dark pall over it.
"No… That's a lie! A lie…"
"Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha! Don't believe me? But it's the truth. I was pretending to be under your thrall from the beginning. What do you think? Pretty good performance, huh?"
Yuuki laughed, having a blast down in the crypt.
Maribel, on the other hand, looked ill. "No! My desires… They harness your emotions, to give you power…" Whispering to herself, she tried desperately to understand her situation.
"Yeah, your greed was something else. Sadly, though, my own desires are stronger than yours. This world, you know… It's like my sandbox. And it's my dream to become king of it someday. I didn't even need Anti-Skill to keep your Avarice from working on me."
The smile stayed on Yuuki's face. To Maribel, it was like having her death sentence read out.
"Don't count me out! I'm Maribel! Maribel the Greedy! Someone like you isn't even a threat to me!"
She drummed up all the energy in her soul, hurling it straight at Yuuki as she screamed. This was Greed Flare, a skill that transformed the power of her iron will into waves of physical destruction. It didn't work.
"Forget it already. You can't beat me."
Yuuki took her attack unguarded. The black waves dissipated like clouds around him. And at the next moment:
"Grrhh!"
The edge of Yuuki's hand shot straight into her heart—and that wasn't even the worst of it. Her force flowed out of her body as Yuuki's own absorbed it all.
"Nghh…ah… My power… You're…"
"You got that right."
"No… You—you can't…do that…"
The light faded from Maribel's eyes, the power draining from the arms clutching at Yuuki.
"If you were born into this world even ten years earlier, you might have taken the whole thing over. You just weren't lucky this time. Your body was too young to fully control your skills, wasn't it?"
"..."
Maribel didn't respond. She glared at Yuuki, frustration clouding her face…and then her soul flickered once, twice, before fading away. The one golden rule of this world had been upheld once more—the powerless always lose.
"You said it yourself, didn't you? You said I had too much ambition. Well, good night, Maribel. I'll take on that desire of yours…"
His words no longer reached her—and thus, Maribel, who lived in an era of near-constant upheaval, breathed her last.
Leaving everyone else to Shion and my friends, I rushed over to help Milim.
Right this minute, I was looking down on the Chaos Dragon. It was huge. Super-huge. A good three hundred feet or so in length, maybe. It made Charybdis look like a shrimp, and just beholding it drove the viewer to despair. The Chaos Dragon was now consuming the magicules around itself, growing bigger and bigger. I could see it razing entire mountains with a single spout of breath. It was violence personified.
Even I had no chance against a monster like this. But Milim was different.
Thanks to her super-dreadnought-level magicule stores, she had stopped the Chaos Dragon's advance.
"Sorry I'm late, Milim!"
"Rimuru? It's about time! I've got a little problem here. This guy's actually my friend. I wanted to seal it away, but it's just not working. I think it's gonna cause some damage soon…but I can't bump off my own friend!" She looked ready to cry.
Unlike Charybdis, the Chaos Dragon was bosom buddies with Milim. She must've wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt…but it was so huge that not even Milim had enough force to banish it away. Simply beating it would be doable enough, but she couldn't kill a friend like that.
I could understand that. It reflected well on Milim, in my eyes. So I smiled, trying to reassure her.
"It's all right now. I've got an idea!"
Milim's eyes sparkled as she watched me. I could tell she trusted me, but man, talk about pressure. I couldn't let it get to my head, though. Trying to look as confident as possible, I explained my strategy. "Listen. No matter how big this guy is, there has to be a core in it. You can attack him accurately enough to leave that intact, right?"
I figured Milim could preserve the Chaos Dragon's soul while striking the rest of it—much as I did with Charybdis to save Phobio, its vessel. This soul would be protected by the dragon's astral and spiritual bodies, but those bodies were already corrupted and breaking apart—or actually, they were broken to start with, hence this hate-driven corruption. It was also smeared head to toe with Maribel's desire, and I couldn't extract it out of the guy.
But its soul, though—the "heart" of Milim's best friend—still seemed to be working hard to me, shining as strong as always.
"B-but… If it's this big, it'll take a lot power to stab into it. If I mess it up, I could blow away the whole thing…"
"I taught you how to go easy, didn't I? Your friend's trying its very best for you right now. You have to be strong for it!"
I couldn't let her make excuses. Momentum was key. If she starts thinking What if I mess this up? she'll fail at something she ought to succeed in.
"And I'll help you out, okay? Just follow my instructions and release all the magic force you've got!"
Yes, I told her I had a plan. I really didn't. I was just gonna rely on power here—Milim's power. But this wasn't the first time for me. I already saw it happen once, and it succeeded then. This was operating on an even huger scale, but the task before us was identical.
"All right. I believe in you, Rimuru!"
"Okay! We got this!"
I faked as much confidence as I could. Really, it was breaking my heart, acting so bold like this. If it failed, I was deathly scared of the consequences…but I had no other bright ideas, and I was the only one who could pull this off.
You're on, Raphael!
Understood. Yes, my lord!
I might be a pro at palming responsibility off…but for this moment, at least, I needed to perform. No mistakes would be allowed. I repeatedly told myself that this would go fine.
"This'll be easy, okay? It's the same thing over again! Do it, Milim!"
"Right! Yeah, you're right. Here goes, my friend. May the shining of the stars burn into your eyes! Drago Buster!!"
There was a flash, so bright that closing your eyes did nothing.
The enormous swirl of power Milim released reached the Chaos Dragon, smashing against its ominous wall of force. Power struggled against power— and as I watched it, I searched for the source of the Chaos Dragon's strength, relying on Raphael's calculations to control Milim's torrential might.
It was heavy. Incredibly heavy. I could tell it was draining my own magicule stores. But despite all the energy we poured into it, the Chaos Dragon was unscathed. This guy really was crazy.
It was about to break my heart, but if I gave up now, this would all be for nothing. All my previous experience was for this exact moment—I truly believed that as I threw everything I had at it.
Trying desperately to retain my peace of mind, I slowly brushed away the evil force that loomed around the Chaos Dragon's soul. In terms of time, it was less than a second, but the pressure made it seem like forever.
I saw it! The Chaos Dragon's spotless heart, blinking there amid it all. But I couldn't let up yet. Even without the black mist of desire, even without the hateful evil, I still had the dragon's broken, polluted spiritual force waiting for me.
Carefully, with pinpoint precision, I kept up my work. Then, out of nowhere, the black mist disappeared. Yuuki defeated Maribel!
"Yes! We can do this!" Hoping to seize victory, I set off Belzebuth.
"Milim, we're finishing this now. Can you boost your output?"
"You got it! Raaahhhhh—Drago-Nova!!"
Heeding my instructions, Milim finally got serious.
Feeling it all over again made me realize just how amazing she was. How could she turn the spigot any farther than that? The way she engineered incredible feats of strength like that—I could really tell she was on another level from the rest of us.
But watch out. Now's no time to stare at her, all amazed. "Okay, Chaos Dragon. I'm gonna stop the pain for you." Now for the final touch.
Timing was going to be key here. Milim's magic had to pulverize the Chaos Dragon's exposed spiritual body, breaking down its astral body as well. Not missing my beat for a moment, I waited until just before Milim's power shattered its heart, then triggered Soul Consume.
Ignoring all rules of time and space, Belzebuth did its work. Within my perception, it was done quicker than Milim's magic—and just as I planned it out, I had the Chaos Dragon's shattered heart in hand.
Without the core governing that massive cloud of magicules, the Chaos Dragon was already starting to disintegrate. But that was a problem of its own.
"R-Rimuru! This is bad news! It's gonna explode!"
Milim had already stopped infusing her magic at my signal. But now there was a massive energy field in the sky, twisting and warping the air inside. Force clashed against force, compressing the energy at eye-popping pressures. The reaction would come soon enough, a huge explosion that not even Milim could neutralize.
She gave me a panicked look. But I was calm. According to Raphael, I could apparently do something about this. "It's all right. I'll figure it out!"
"You can do that?!"
She looked surprised. I appreciated her admiring eyes, but if I messed this up, I was gonna look like such a dumbass—ah, but now's no time for that.
Are you sure this'll be okay, Professor? I couldn't help but ask.
Affirmative. It is not a problem.
Just as businesslike as ever. That seemed so reckless but kind of reassuring in a way.
With a smile, I looked at what used to be the Chaos Dragon. It was already just a shell at this point. No need to hold back.
"Gobble it up, Belzebuth!!"
Could it really consume such a vast blob of energy? My worries were instantly quelled by the fury of Belzebuth's appetite, astounding me beyond imagination as it swallowed every bit up like a midnight snack.
"Is…? Is it over?" Milim asked.
"No, not yet. We gotta do something about your friend here."
"Huh? You will?"
"Sure. I brought this along for times like these!" Not really! But let's roll with it!
I took out a pseudo-soul.
"…?"
No time to spell it out for the confused Milim. I focused on myself. Theoretically, this was possible. In fact, Raphael guaranteed it. I just had to believe in it.
Boldly, I did my work, trusting it was guaranteed to succeed. I picked up all the pieces of the shattered heart, then absorbed them into the pseudo-soul; Soul Consume patched all the pieces into a single unit for me, so it went easier than I expected.
The issue was what came after that. Can a core like this be housed in a pseudo-soul?
There was no reaction.
I began to sweat. Staying calm on the surface, I frantically tried to brainstorm a solution. What should I do at a time like this?
My brain finally settled on something I saw on TV dramas a lot.
"M-Milim… Did this Chaos Dragon have a name or anything?"
"A name? Nothing like that, no…"
No? Crap. But calm down. There has to be another way…
"…Gaia! I wanted to call it that someday. This creature's name is Gaia!!" Oh, it does have one.
I breathed a sigh of relief and softly called Gaia's name.
What a nice name that is!
So your name's Gaia, huh?
Hey, shouldn't you open your eyes before your friend starts crying?
The pseudo-soul began to softly glow. We did it. The heart was in the soul.
Now I wrapped the master core in Gaia's pseudo-soul. That completed its avatar core, and now my job was done. Time would take care of the rest— and once Gaia's heart was healed up, it would be revived in the shape of its choice. In Gaia's case, that shape would be its actual body, not some other vessel. It'd be a new monster, coming to life right before Milim's eyes.
"It worked, Milim. This is the new Gaia. It hasn't been born yet, so it's kind of like an egg right now." I presented the avatar core to her.
"Right… Right! I just knew leaving everything to you would work out. I trusted you, Rimuru. Thank you. Thank you!"
Glad to be of service. That, and I'm glad I didn't screw that up. But more than anything, seeing Milim smile really did make me happy.
"Wanna head back? Everyone's probably worried for us." "Mm-hmm! I need to tell 'em all what I did!" Sure, sure.
Good thing Milim came along, though. I couldn't have done a thing against that guy alone.
From far away, we saw the palace, along with our friends nervously watching us. They all looked okay, which was reassuring.
That wrapped things up, then. I just wanted to go home and relax. A nice bath, followed by a cold beer. Basking in the joy welling out from me, I joined Milim as we went back down to regroup with our friends.
EPILOGUE
THE ONE WHO LAUGHS LAST
Yuuki had obtained Maribel's power.
"I really wish you'd talked to me about it first."
"Ha-ha-ha! I already explained why I didn't. That's why I was able to trick Maribel, you know?"
"But do you realize how hard it was not to let my 'outside' friends find out the truth?"
As Yuuki fought Rimuru, Kagali was forced to distract the expedition team so the secret behind Yuuki's powers didn't come out. Any strange activity on her part ran the risk of attracting Rimuru's attention. It was an ordeal for her.
Yuuki, meanwhile, didn't really care if people found out, so he didn't see it as a problem. Even if everyone knew he could cancel people's skills, it wasn't like someone could devise any kind of workaround against it. It was an ace in the hole for Yuuki, yes, but it wasn't even one of his last resorts.
"Well, you know, I trusted in you. It worked out in the end, so can you maybe let me off the hook this time?"
"You siphoned off Maribel's power, didn't you? Was that in your plans, too?"
"Yeah, more or less. They say 'sinful' unique skills are the most powerful ones out there, so I did have my sights on it. I heard Avarice was driven by the size of your desires, and I figured it'd be pretty appropriate for me."
"You really are crazy sometimes. It's not that easy to take somebody's skill, you know that?"
"I'm sure it's not. But Avarice kinda chose me this time. I still couldn't win against Rimuru, but…"
"…I'm sure you couldn't. He's so unfair like that."
"I know! But now I can pin all the negative stuff on Maribel. I've just been fully acquitted! I'm probably gonna have to mind my p's and q's for a little while, but now I've got something else to look forward to, you could say."
"Right. No need to hurry things now. And it's so unnerving, how wary the demon lord is of the people around him. I can't say I liked everything about your plans, but I think I can appreciate them now." Kagali's main complaint was how Yuuki ruined the crypt by blowing it up.
Yuuki told Rimuru that Maribel activated the reactor, then took her own life. The explosion, which razed the deepest section of the crypt but little else, was his way of hiding the evidence. Yuuki had prepared a magical bomb for just this purpose.
"There wasn't much energy left in reactor," he'd explained to Rimuru, "so the damage was pretty light, thankfully." He even had the foresight to scatter the remains of a real reactor around the crypt to back up his story.
Now he was prepared to stick to that story, no matter what he was asked.
But Kagali had her concerns.
"You were planning to abandon this place from the start anyway, weren't you?" Yuuki retorted. "So why worry about it?"
To Kagali, though, this was a familiar city, her home. Once everything was cleaned up, she wanted to restore it to its former bustling glory—but with the crypt now buried, she had a few gripes.
"…Not necessarily, I wasn't." She shrugged. "It was kind of my second home, you realize."
Yuuki gave her a grin. "Yeah. But we earned something from this. My name got cleared, which is huge, but other stuff, too. Maribel deployed her Blood Shadow troops, but did you see how they all cast holy magic? That's a lethal blow."
"You're right. I noticed that, too. It proves that the Council's connected to the Western Holy Church. That's why there's all the secrecy behind the Five
Elders' true identities."
"Exactly. It showed up in the papers and everything, but after the war in Farmus, the reputation of the champion there took a huge hit. Then, at the same time, the Council started losing clout with the Western Holy Church. That points to only one truth! I'm thinking that Maribel's grandfather, Granville Rozzo, is actually part of the Seven Days Clergy."
"I see… That's a clever deduction, Sir Yuuki."
Kagali was just as sharp as him—and her reading of the situation matched his to some extent, convincing her it was the truth.
Yuuki looked at Kagali with a sinister smile. "Oh, it's nothing too impressive. But I've stumbled upon another really key possibility. You know what it is?"
He paused, gauging her reaction. Kagali couldn't think of anything else. She put up her hands in surrender.
"I tried tracing Maribel's thoughts, based on the actions she took. But she really forced things with this whole operation, you know? If she killed the demon lord Rimuru, there was a chance Veldora would go berserk on us. When she took over the Chaos Dragon, that really did enrage Milim, almost. You were terrified that she'd discover us, weren't you? So I really think she pushed her luck way too much with a demon lord as dangerous as that…to say nothing of a True Dragon."
"Putting it that way, you're right…"
"Maribel had to know the danger she was putting herself in, and I'm sure she worked out some countermeasures. But what were they?" Yuuki looked straight at Kagali. He didn't have an answer himself, but he figured asking would help organize his own thoughts.
"Hmm… Maybe she believed that she, alone, was safe the whole time?"
"There is that, yeah. But I don't think that's all."
"And maybe she was anticipating at least a little damage? She feared the rise of Rimuru, and if she thought some sacrifice now was worth it in the future…"
Yuuki nodded at this. "Well, me, I'd never do that if I had no idea how much damage there'd be. But if I could predict how much to expect, approximately, I'd definitely weigh the losses against the gains on the scale."
"…Meaning?"
"I think Maribel had some kind of reason to believe things would work out, even if Veldora and Milim lost control."
"..."
"And what was that reason?"
"Granville…"
"No." Yuuki had arrived at an answer. He grinned. "Who did Laplace fight in the sanctuary?"
"Well, the demon lord Valentine—Oh!"
He chuckled, seeing Kagali's reaction. "Right. The demon lord Valentine is dead…but there's a demon lord Valentine in the Octagram. The real demon lord's even stronger than the fake one, I bet."
"Even at my peak, I was about equal with that Valentine. In that case…"
"In that case, the real one's even stronger! Now I'm sure of it. The headquarters of Luminism isn't just a religious site—it's a demon lord stronghold."
"You mean Valentine's really the god Luminus? That's insane…"
"But it's true. I really don't think I'm wrong." The confidence behind Yuuki's voice led Kagali to the truth.
"Yes… You're right. And it wouldn't be strange if Granville knew that."
"Not at all. And so did Maribel. That's why she figured Luminus was protecting the Western Nations."
It all seemed to make sense. Kagali had to accept it. There wasn't any room for objection. "Sounds like we'll need to rethink our strategy."
"Yeah. But I'm gonna have to move my base of operations to the East for a while anyway."
"Hee-hee-hee! You are a scary man. You say you're going to lie low, but it sounds like you'll be moving around a lot, aren't you?"
"Well, sure. I'm gonna be king of this world, remember? I promised you I'd get a hold of it!"
"That you did. Hee-hee… Hee-hee-hee-hee-hee. I look forward to it. I really do. And I'm sure Clayman will be delighted, too."
"Yeah. So keep lending me a hand, okay?"
"Yes, of course. And please don't betray me, either, Sir Yuuki."
"Of course I won't. The world will be mine—and then we can all have a blast together!"
Yuuki and Kagali looked at each other and smiled. The laughs continued on and on; two magic-born aiming to seize the world like it was a game to enjoy. Their aim was childlike, but they were serious about it.
They wanted to conquer the world.
The Chaos Dragon was gone. Milim's friend was saved. And now that I was back on the ground, I was shocked to find the bottom section of the ruins all caved in.
According to Yuuki (who was safe), the cornered Maribel blew herself up inside. She wanted to take all of us along with her, apparently—she really wanted to take me out that bad? That was just too much, in a way…but she was hostile to me, so I didn't know what else I could do. No point moping about it.
After discussing matters with Kagali, we decided to restore the ruins back to their pristine condition. It would take time, but we planned to excavate the bottom portion as well. Eventually, we would display the artifacts we dug up and turn this palace into a museum. We wanted to make this into a tourist attraction, complete with a magitrain stop.
That would take who knows how many years, of course, and we had a ton to do before then. Unless we negotiated a peace treaty with the Eastern Empire, at least, this whole area was a front line. Just because it was Milim's turf didn't make it a safe zone, necessarily.
For now, at least, our plan was to work on restoring the site.
Negotiations were continuing to go smoothly with the Council. Several of the councillors got dismissed, though, which definitely affected its power as a legislative body.
The Western Holy Church was gaining more power now, and Yuuki, freed from Maribel's hold, was also making his presence more known. With things as they were, the Council was seeking a new unifying force. That, of course, would be us—or to be more exact, me.
Tempest had now become the biggest faction of the Council. Yuuki's Free Guild gave us a push along those lines, offering their public support of Tempest in exchange for financial backing. Hinata was working with us on this, too, in the name of stability among the Western Nations. Thanks to that, we had now obtained a pretty hefty amount of influence in the region.
Still, I'm glad Yuuki's been cleared of everything. Now I can keep building up our alliance without any qualms.
Negative. The doubts have now been confirmed. The subject Yuuki Kagurazaka is definitely acting of his own free will.
Huh?
Wait, why didn't you say anything before?!
Understood. Because his motivations were simple and easily taken advantage of.
Was that why? Oh. I see. So you were keeping quiet for my sake?
...
This is all thanks to my carelessness, isn't it?
For one moment there, I hesitated to kill Maribel. Considering what the future held now, I shouldn't have wavered. If I'm damaged, that wavering disappears—but if someone hasn't been that much of a bother to me, I couldn't help but think killing was going too far.
Even with Gaiye, I thought killing him overstepped my boundaries. My heart must've softened up with Maribel along those lines.
So did you keep quiet because you assumed I couldn't kill Maribel?
…Affirmative. It was decided that it was necessary to do so.
That's so selfish…or maybe not. Just as Raphael predicted, Yuuki killed Maribel for me. And now he was resting on his laurels, assured that all the evidence was destroyed. I guess someone like that would be easy for Raphael to handle.
I was in no position to complain, but I still found it incredibly frustrating. Making Raphael worry like that, just because I'm so unreliable…
Negative. That is incorrect. I did not want my lord to feel any anxieties.
Well, thank you. I wouldn't feel guilty this way, right?
Yeah, I'm glad for that, but that's not gonna work for me. I need to face facts and decide things for myself. Otherwise, I'm a failure as Raphael's master. If I keep clinging to people like this, I'm never gonna grow and mature.
So next time, report the whole truth to me, okay? I promise I'll accept it.
Understood. As you wish.
No matter what Yuuki's scheming, I'm going to crush his ambitions. And I'm not alone. I have friends, partners I can rely on. Don't I? With Raphael, I can walk straight ahead, never making any mistakes.
I'd really believed I could. And maybe, just a little, I thought I felt Raphael "smile" for me.