Just As Planned

This chapter starts from Hero's POV

Half of the katana's blade I swung at Demon King is gone.
It's not broken, it's still there, I just can't see it.

Upon a closer inspection, it's been stabbed into a gash in space.
What the heck is even a gash in space!? What the hell is going on here!?


"Well done. This shall proceed better than anticipated."

"What are you...!?"


Demon King's power shot up through the roof.
A black flower-like tattoo surfaced on his face.
Is this, True Demon Release...!?

Oh crap, he's still got me by my neck, he's gonna separate my head from my body.
No wait, won't that actually work just fine for me? I could just die for now and regroup after getting revived.


"U, waa!?"


Right after that thought crossed my mind, Demon King flung me away instead of breaking my neck.
I crashed hard into a wall, my back and head hurt so bad.

I turned my sight at Demon King while enduring the pain and saw him staring at the spatial gash with his hand on his chin.


"Fumu, I did not expect your power to open that by itself. The present day hero is quite a capable specimen as it turns out."

"What the hell you're going on about...! What's that spatial gash anyway!?"

"Do you truly believe you will get an answer out of me? Why don't you inquire your Menu."

Dammit, Menu! What's that gash! Why can't my attacks hit him!

<<A, an unknown magical formula confirmed! It's not of this world, it comes from a different dimension! I bet that's another power he brought back from Floor 21!>>

There it is again, another Floor 21-related power!
All we got are useless crap like a power to turn potatoes into sweet potatoes or sex change once a day, why does Demon King get all the good stuff!

<<Neora-san! Off yourself immediately and let yourself be resummoned!>>

Eh, wha, what are you saying now!?

<<Just do it! If you end up getting thrown into the space beyond that gash...!!>>


"I advise against that. Let the grace of revival takes effect and this world shall be condemned, forevermore."


! He read my conversation with Menu!


"At the point you died and be resummoned to the Hero Summoning Altar on Continent 3, I shall also cast the magic to spatially sever Continent 3."

"? ...What does that mean."

"Once that is done, Continent 3 will lose access from and to outside world for about a month. No ships, airships, any physical means nor Teleportation and Fast Travel will work."


...!!
This darned Demon King! He really prepared some real nasty crap!


"Continent 3 is where all the powerful people including Special Job holders have gathered, is it not? I do not believe humanity can withstand the full brunt of 'Current generation demons' with both the hero and those people absent."

"Current generation, demons...?"

"All the demons you humans have fought thus far are orphaned demons created by the previous generation Demon King. Common demons besides Chief-class are only around Lv 50-60. Meanwhile, the common demons I create are over Lv 80 at the very least. They are on par with previous generation chief-class demons."

"What about it!"


"As of present, the total amount of current generation demons that exist are about 30.000. Even one Chief-class demon wields enough power to destroy a city by themselves, do you believe humanity stands a chance against the entirety of them without their hero or Special Job holders? Would those people continue to fight once they find out the rest of humanity has gone extinct outside?"


...S, screw that to hell and back!!
How're we supposed to win against those! Forget a month, everybody's gonna die in half that!

Even if Special Job holders stayed behind, they would probably only last for a day or two against that many.
Has he been amassing that kind of overkill firepower bit by bit all this time!?


"Our previous generation comrades have done well. Thanks to all their unceasing actions, we have succeeded building this army with no considerable loss."

"J, just how far you thought ahead, how are you...!"

"There must have been a better and smarter method than relying purely on number and firepower, but I was incapable of coming up with such. Truly, I lament my lack of wisdom."


Demon King's strategy is super simple that's for sure. Brute forcing through sheer number and power while making sure the plan goes unobstructed.
But that's exactly why it's foolproof. Any setback could be dealt with by altering how he move those 30.000 strong Chief-class demons.
This strategy is foolhardy precisely because it's super simple.


"Well now, what shall you do, Hero-dono. Will you spend a month of peace alongside those few powerful people on Continent 3 and challenge me once again afterward, or perhaps---"

"I'mma beat the crap outta you here and now! All is well once you're dead!"


I look at Demon King with my katana at the ready.
That's the only way out. Humanity is done for if he's not taken care of here!


"Indeed, you possess no other choice. Straightforward, foolish and rightful choice."

"Screw youuu!!"


I take the iai stance and get ready to cast Master Skill 'Dimensional Blade'.
There's no dodging my iai slash with the effect of Longsword Skill. Add Dimensional Blade to cover the low reach and it's perfect.

I'm gonna take Demon King's head right here and now!


"...Fssh!!"


I pull the sheath and draw the katana.
The entire blade comes out of the sheath.

The sound of cutting wind echoed as my blade came out of its sheath and hit Demon King's neck---


A shrill metallic sound so loud I thought it ruptured my eardrum reverberated.


"Iigii!!?

"...!"


I couldn't hold back my scream at this murderously shrill sound.
The sound was produced from Demon King stopping my Dimensional Blade aimed at his neck with his own sword.
I couldn't hold myself from covering my ears due to the pain.


Even though that was the poorest of move I could make.


Demon King got in front me in less than 0.01s after my hands moved to my ears.

Blood seeped out of his ears, his eardrums must have ruptured.
Yet, he didn't flinch at all. Like he's used to this stuff.


"■■■■(Got you)."

"Owaa!?"


He grabbed and hurled me away once again as he uttered some sort of word.
I immediately activated Air Step to regain my balance but a dull pain ran through my abdomen just as I was about to take a step forward.


"Guee!"


An unbecoming scream escaped my mouth. A girl shouldn't make that sound. I'm a boy though.
Demon King had shot out a Mana Blade Farslash after throwing me.
A barrage of them at that! I can't dodge, gotta guard with Shield Art!


"Ugugagaaaa!!"

"...You almost made it, o Hero."


I narrowly managed to block the attack but I couldn't stop myself from getting flung since there was no foothold anywhere.
I heard Demon King's muttering like he was sure of his victory as he kept shooting Farslashes.
Think you won already huh!? This match ain't over---


<<Neora-san!! You can't let yourself be flung behind any further....>>


Menu displayed a huge red warning sign.
Behind? What's behind, me...!?


A gash, no, a big hole in space.
Behind me was a hole big enough to barely fit one person.

Isn't that the spot where I unleashed Dimensional Blade aimed at Demon King's neck...?
I think that was also the same spatial gash from earlier, but made bigger. Is he trying to shove me in there!?

I saw a wasteland on the other side of the big hole.
A completely barren land with absolutely zero grass anywhere to be seen.


My instinct and brain rang the biggest alarm bell. 

No. I must not go in there.


There's absolutely no going back from there in a way that goes beyond my comprehension.


"Farewell."

"Ga, aaaaaaaaa!!!"


But, Demon King mercilessly shot an unstopping barrage of magic and farslashes and blew me straight into the big hole.
I gotta go back, I must go back,


...A,aa...!!


The hole closed shut before I could make my way back.



The only one left here in this barren wasteland is a beaten up me.


<<W, we're done for. Why, why, how could, this...!!>>


What are you talking about! We can go back to his castle with Fast Travel now that Demon King isn't nearby... Oh right, you can't go to where Demon King is with Fast Travel.
Then we should head to another continent! Gotta hurry or 30.000 powerful demons will invade and...

<<...It can't be done. We can't go, anywhere from this place, no, this 'time period'. This is our final, stop.>>

W, what are you on about?
Where is this place anyway...!?

<<This is the end state of a dead planet. A planet of death with no humans, demons, nothing. You can't get revived either since you have been detached from the magic formula.>>

The end state, of a dead planet?



<<Yes. This place, this 'time period'... is dead Parallecia, hundreds of millions years in the future.>>




<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >


~~~~~~~~Demon King's POV~~~~~~~






"Ha, hahaha, hahahahaha....!"


I could not hold back my laughter.
It went well. Everything, perfectly.

The hero has been banished to the end time of this planet.
I have succeeded at erasing the Hero from this time period by perusing 'Time Loop Magic Formula' I brought from Floor 21.

Reshaping this formula into a usable form took immeasurably considerable efforts.
From specifying time period, coordinates of the destination, to usage limit and maintaining the open state. The issues to solve were endless.

The biggest problem being the enormous energy required to move time forward.
I could barely supply such amount of energy by activating True Demon Release and entering my Final Form.
There was even a possibility of me dying before I could send the hero away.
But due to him possessing a power beyond my calculation, I managed to open the hole with nothing more than a clash between his power and my True Demon Release.

With that much power and the grace of revival, he should eventually succeed in his quest to exterminate me even if the rest of humanity is no more.
But that is no longer a threat now that he has been banished from this world.


The match is set now that hero is off the stage.
Once Continent 3 is spatially severed, the current generation demons shall overrun the other continents. Then our victory is assured with the dead of the last Special Job holder.


That went well. Everything went well.
Everything has gone just as planned.


The time to remain in obscurity has passed. The world shall now usher in the age of demons.



～～～～～





<<Hero Neo Raifu's erasure by way of time slip has been confirmed.>>


...I see.

Menu, Fast Travel our group and the people I marked to another continent.
Gotta evacuate before we got confined in a severed space.

<<Affirmative.>>


Phew. Hero-kun, got sent away huh~. Far, far away~.







Just as planned.





...That kinda made me sound like a certain villainous protagonist with a note of death.

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