"Dio…"
"What's up?"
"Although I guessed you'd come back somehow, I really didn't expect it to be through necromancy. How much longer can the necromancy on you last?"
In his necromantic state, Diego naturally couldn't hide it from Frieren, the last great mage—after all, those once-azure pupils had already been stained pitch-black.
"Hm… about five more minutes today."
"I see. Could you lower your head a little?"
The replica battle was over. Inside the Tomb of the Fallen King, the exhausted Frieren was carried in Diego's arms. Their eyes met; she leaned against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of his cheek and an overwhelming sense of security.
"Sure, but what for?" Diego raised an eyebrow, obediently lowering his head a bit while teasing with a full smile. "You're not… suddenly gonna slap me, are you?"
Frieren's eyes curved with a smile. Without answering directly, she reached out to caress the side of Diego's face and murmured to herself: "A little lower? Yes—if you could come just a few centimeters closer to me, that'd be perfect. Mm… shift a tiny bit to the left and that's good…"
"???"
Diego was full of question marks but still complied obediently.
Chuu…
What a perfect kissing angle!
Frieren wrapped both arms around the back of Diego's neck, gently pressing down as she leaned forward. Their lips met.
After a long moment, they parted.
Diego's pupils quaked, ears faintly red. He covered his slightly trembling lips with one hand, eyes brimming with shock.
Which parallel universe did this come from? Is this really Frieren?!
If it had just been a simple kiss, Diego wouldn't have lost composure like this. What truly baffled him was: who told this little granny that a first kiss should involve tongue?!
(Alicia, who had always wanted to try French kissing: ehehe)
"I think… I've missed you a little…" Frieren's cheeks flushed. She turned her head aside, no longer meeting Diego's eyes, and whispered: "No… I've missed you so much. Thanks to Alicia, I think I've come to understand romantic feelings a bit better…"
Heh…
Diego turned his face, a gentle smile on his lips. The dinosaur tail behind him wagged back and forth. He chuckled softly: "Me too…"
"Next time, don't hide from us."
"Okay…"
"By the way, Dio—didn't you say there was nothing in the Tomb of the Fallen King except traps?" Frieren suddenly remembered the information Diego had provided. Black lines appeared on her face, pupils drifting upward as she pushed him away in mild disgust. "I ended up this miserable all because of you…"
"wryyyyyy!!! Don't look at me with those eyes—! I really don't know what happened! If you don't believe me, look at my memories!" Diego cried out in grievance, face full of innocence. Even he couldn't withstand the cold shoulder. He hurriedly extended his hand and projected his memories. "'Memory Projection Magic'."
A curtain of memory light appeared, replaying past scenes. The little memory spirits kindly switched the perspective to third-person view.
This was from many years ago, after he had coaxed Alicia into giving up the Hero's Sword and leaving the Land of Swords.
"Roar roar, Tomb of the Fallen King—your Emperor has returned! This Dio is back again!" Diego stood alone at the entrance of the Tomb of the Fallen King, hands on hips as he laughed toward the sky. Suddenly his expression changed and he coughed violently. "Cough cough cough—choked on my own spit…"
Almost self-killed. Diego's high spirits calmed. He casually released several small dinosaurs into the Tomb of the Fallen King to scout the optimal route.
"Hm? The small dinosaurs got infected by something? A mirror? How weird…"
Receiving the report from the small dinosaurs, Diego's face looked puzzled. He scratched his head with a tiny claw: "Whatever, probably not important…"
At the deepest part of the labyrinth, the small dinosaurs retrieved the Salvation Staff. The water mirror demon's true body had been dinosaurized and lost its ability to read memories and create replicas.
(PS: Since the small dinosaurs Diego infected were inorganic and had no memories, the water mirror demon was unable to create replicas of them either.)
At the same time, all the jewelry and treasures inside were looted by the small dinosaurs and piled in front of Diego.
"Shares life with the user…" Diego toyed with the Salvation Staff for a while and nodded in satisfaction. "Very nice—perfect for Alicia…"
"Tch, as for this pile of jewelry…"
Diego picked through it with obvious disdain, stuffing the pieces he liked into Ugly Treasure's mouth.
"What use is this pile of junk…" Diego pinched his chin in thought. A light bulb appeared beside his head as he came up with a great idea and raised his index finger. "Aha! Let's set some traps for the people who come later—Dio-brand traps! After braving so many deadly traps to get this junk, they'll definitely be thrilled!"
People always have unlimited energy when doing bad things. Diego spent an entire day busily adding several new trap mechanisms without destroying the originals.
Things like an enormous rolling boulder, moving walls covered in spikes, a poison gas chamber you can enter but never leave—everything got installed.
He worked all the way to the deepest part, then moved every treasure chest mimic in the labyrinth into the treasure vault room and wiped the sweat from his brow.
Next, Diego turned toward the water mirror demon shining with golden light at the center of the vault. He walked up to the mirror's true body, examined it carefully for a while, deliberately chose not to think about the mana it emitted, carefully fixed his hair instead, and struck a few smug poses.
"Mmm~~ Even when busy, this Dio is still so handsome!"
"But… these traps could use a little improvement. From a gambler's psychology, I should put one real treasure chest in there to motivate the later guys to open everything. The reward can be… this book 'Magic for Automatically Styling Your Hair'…"
...
"Magic for automatically styling your hair?!" Seeing this scene, Frieren's eyes sparkled. She struggled violently, overcome with excitement and ready to rush in and claim the prize. "Let me go—I'm going to—"
Thud…
The moment she struggled free, Frieren collapsed face-first and instantly fell into the deep, infant-like sleep of perfect rest.
"…What are you pushing yourself for when you're this injured…" Diego sighed, bent down again, and picked Frieren up once more before heading toward the exit. "Let's go find Alicia to heal."
Suddenly, Diego's steps halted. After detaching from the sweet moment, reason flooded back instantly.
Wait—didn't this great one forget something…
Holy crap, Fern is still inside with serious injuries!
"wryyyyyyyyy—!!! Little Fern, you absolutely cannot die! Hold on no matter what! You have to have the will to live! This Dio is coming to save you!" Though this was Diego and Fern's first real-world meeting, he very generously gifted her thirty million points of cringe.
Fern: These two lovebirds are so embarrassing… and one of them is my master. I'm truly cursed…
Outside the labyrinth, Übel hurried over with Alicia. Falsch was still waiting for Sense to emerge so he could report the second-round exam results to Serie.
"Alicia-sama, why have you come?" Seeing the Continental Magic Association's beloved little angel arrive, he gave a slight bow. His gaze toward Übel was displeased and faintly reproachful. "Alicia-sama is very busy. You really dragged her out here in the middle of the night…"
In Falsch's mind, neither Sense nor Frieren's replica was capable of killing every examinee.
"It's fine—I'm actually quite free. Falsch, please get up!" Alicia hurriedly waved her hands to show it wasn't Übel's fault, helped Falsch up, then looked worriedly toward the Tomb of the Fallen King and asked politely: "Falsch, may I interrupt the second-round exam for a moment? Miss Übel said Miss Sense and the others might die inside…"
"Please rest assured. Sense is a pacifist and prepared escape golems for the examinees. Those golems not only have automatic protection functions but can even use simple healing magic." Falsch pushed up his glasses and patiently explained: "Moreover, if there truly is the danger Miss Übel described inside the labyrinth, with so many examinees, at least a few would escape to report the situation. It's impossible for every single examinee to perish inside, isn't it?"
"At the very least, Frieren-sama is participating in the first-class mage exam. With her and Sense present, the examinees' safety is certainly protected."
"But if you insist on entering the second-round exam, that's fine too. I'm sure Serie-sama would be delighted to see you treat the injured examinees. As expected of Alicia-sama, the holy hero who defeated the Demon King—truly benevolent and compassionate!"
Falsch spoke confidently and eloquently.
"Eh~~? So even if Sense and the others die, it doesn't matter?" Übel leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back, idly glancing deeper into the labyrinth, and teased: "I don't mind either way~"
"Falsch, since there's even a possibility, we should prepare for the worst, shouldn't we? Excuse me—I'll apologize to Serie-sama afterward." With that, Alicia resolutely charged into the Tomb of the Fallen King.
Only to…
Run straight into Diego, who was carrying one person in each arm.
"Alicia? Perfect timing. Frieren and Fern are seriously injured—I'll need you to heal them."
"Eh, Dio—you're here?" The person she had longed for appeared suddenly. Alicia's eyes widened in shock as she stared at Diego before her and asked with concern: "Is this necromancy? What happened?"
Before Diego could answer, her gaze was quickly drawn to the gravely wounded pair. She began treating their injuries. The Salvation Staff entered its second stage, holy light enveloping Frieren and Fern.
After a few breaths, the external wounds on both had healed. Alicia let out a relieved sigh and was about to ask about Diego's recent situation when…
Diego patted the hat on Alicia's head and pointed behind him with full trust: "As expected of you, Alicia—your cleric talent is still outstanding. Since that's settled, the rest behind me are all yours too. I had the Scary Monsters hold onto their last breaths. If you'd come even half a day later, they might all have died. Honestly, mages in this era are really weak—though the ones from a hundred years ago weren't much better either."
Alicia followed the direction of Diego's finger. One after another, small dinosaurs with barely any life force surged out.
Whoa, so many dragons!
Snap…
Diego snapped his fingers. The two leading small dinosaurs transformed back into human form: Sense's upper and lower halves.
Seeing Sense on the verge of death, Falsch broke into a cold sweat, panic rising as he cried out: "Sense!"
Only now did Falsch realize the difference between an ordinary first-class mage and a perception genius like Übel.
"Relax, relax—didn't you see Alicia already started treating them?" Diego sauntered over to Falsch, slung an arm around his shoulders, and chatted familiarly: "As long as there's one breath left, there's no one Alicia can't save. Don't worry—she'll definitely leave no lasting aftereffects."
"Really? Alicia-sama's expression looks terrible…"
"Haha, it's not because the injuries are too severe. I've taken worse. It's just because…"
"Ugh~ Why are there so many injured people? I can't keep up with treating them all…" Alicia's eyes turned into mosquito coils. Her healing magic never stopped as she looked pitifully at Diego and wailed: "Dio… wh-what do I do? I'm overwhelmed!"
Diego tucked his little claws away, scratched the back of his head sheepishly, and gave an awkward laugh: "…It's just because the workload is too big."
Poor Alicia—finally reunited with Diego, only to be forcibly assigned twenty major surgeries out of nowhere.
"Ahem, Alicia—if you heal them all, this Dio will let you sleep while hugging me, okay…" Diego bent down to whisper ultra-quietly in Alicia's ear, deploying the handsome-man tactic.
Alicia's ears twitched. Her cute face froze. At first she blinked in disbelief, then determination flared in her eyes. The output of holy light instantly multiplied several times as she began treating every examinee simultaneously.
Hey hey hey—isn't she way too motivated now…
At that moment, Übel walked over. Her gaze circled Diego with interest as she struck up conversation: "Joestar-san~ You really fooled me good…"
"Joestar already died in the Tomb of the Fallen King. Now it's Diego Brando." Diego cut her off, looking down at her from above. His dinosaur vertical pupils shifted imperceptibly. He curled a finger and flicked Übel's forehead, his voice cold and unfriendly: "Cut the act. The moment you tried to understand me and learn magic from me, my identity was already exposed."
"Oww…" Übel pitifully covered her forehead, then dangled the ring in front of Diego. "Then the promise tied to this ring still counts, right? You'll grant me one feasible request."
"Of course. You want to try slicing me open?"
"As expected—only Diego Brando would understand me!" Übel bloomed with the smile unique to battle maniacs. She licked her red lips once, summoned her staff, and swung it down toward Diego. "Theory is whatever—gotta test it in practice to know for sure…"
Ever since the beginning, anything I feel I can cut open, I can cut open. What does a perfect Heavenly Restriction body look like when sliced?
I'm so curious!
『Magic that can cut through almost anything』…
Clang—
"Want to try a few more swings?"
Hearing the familiar voice, Übel looked up. Through the gaps in her hanging green hair, she saw Diego standing unharmed.
"No need. The answer is clear—I really can't cut you. Even though there's no magic formula at all, even with my thinking, I can't imagine the scene of slicing Diego Brando's flesh." Übel lowered her eyes, withdrew her staff, her voice tinged with faint melancholy: "Maybe… from the moment I became curious about what you'd look like cut open, I had already lost completely…"
Pat pat…
Sensing Übel's dejection, Diego reached out and ruffled her long green hair.
From a sensory perspective, Übel's unhinged personality suited Diego's tastes perfectly. Out of interest in her talent—plus that ring in her hand—he didn't mind investing a bit more patience in her development.
"You seem to have a misunderstanding about your own ability. This isn't pure idealism." Diego shook his head, communicated with the little spirits composing 『Magic that can cut through almost anything』, swiped his hand, and simultaneously sliced through dozens of stone pillars in front of them before continuing: "I can do simple magic like this too."
"It's not that you can cut something just because you feel you can. You simply can't articulate it, but you've already sensed and understood the structure of the magic. You can use it, destroy it—you just can't explain it. That's also why you can imitate others' magic after understanding them. The essence is extraordinary perception of magic—directly grasping its true nature."
"…Well, whatever. I'll just tell you the reason. The reason you understand me so thoroughly yet can't replicate my magic is simply because I don't actually use any magic at all. I just command magic itself. I'd advise you to stop bothering me over something so pointless."
Übel listened dazedly to Diego's words, then tilted her head to the side. Her pupils dilated as her gaze drifted far away. She gave a soft laugh: "I see… Thanks to you, I think I understand myself even better now…"
[Hey hey, Grandma—is Diego Brando a good person or a bad person?]
[Well… that's up to how you feel, little Übel. Do you think he's a hero or a demon?]
[Little Übel thinks he's a good person! The great hero who saved Grandma and defeated the Demon King!]
Such a strange feeling. By age, he's someone from the last century, yet I… feel my heart race so much!
As expected—ever since the beginning, what I've admired most is Scary Monsters…
Perhaps you were the beginning that awakened my talent…
Today's verdict: Diego—defeat!
(For some reason, Übel started bothering Diego even more frequently.)