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Sekai no Owari no Encore:Volume 1 Record.5

2019-08-24T11:54:39Z

UselessAwe: I made the sentences sound better in English while fixing grammar points like "were" and "was" in certain parts.

==Record.5: It, the Conqueror of Fire——==

===1===

The Great Volcano of Galia.

An active volcano which erupted approximately one-thousand years ago where you could still see gas billowing out from its crater. Even now the ground was covered by pumice stone, volcaniclastic materials from back when the magma cooled down and solidified.

At the junction of its three paths.

“Elise should have taken the right path and Fear, the middle path, aiming towards the summit.”

“Then we will be taking the left path huh.”

To reach the summit, the junction of the three paths should each connect to the three different routes.

The middle path which Fear took should be the shortest, but there would most likely be many Demons guarding it. Predicting that, Elise took the route which would have the longest distance to reach the summit.

As such, the route Ren would take would be the remaining route which was the left path from the junction of the three paths.

“——We should move fast.”

They climbed up the volcano’s path. Even though they should already have reached halfway up, not meeting the other parties implied they had a late start.

"It's natural that at this time, the parties that advanced up the mountain should have started battling Achendias' minions. Don’t lower your guard since we don’t know where a high-level Demon could be lurking.”

“......Roger that. By the way, do you know the situation of the battle?”

“The parties have mostly been annihilated. The Demons have left their miasma everywhere.”

“It can’t be!?”

“They were weak parties lured here by hearing the name of the Five Great Disaster. This would be a natural outcome if this was their first battle with high-level Demons. There won’t be a problem though since Fear and Elise would be rescuing them.”

Kyelse lightly climbed up the mountain as if she was skipping.

“If the parties worked together, they may have been able to put on a decent fight.”

“……That’s only if they headed to the mountain together.”

Not only did they not work cooperatively, it instead turned into a time attack battle where each party would first aim for the Five Great Disaster.

And the one who triggered such situation was none other than the five member party formed by Ren’s seniors. As a result, each party would get taken down by the Five Great Disaster’s henchmen on their own game.

And then——

Without any warning, a circular symbol, glowing crimson appeared on the ground.

“A spell!?”

Ren kicked the ground to evade it.

That moment, flames shaped like a giant dragon almost grazed Ren’s back and soared up into the sky.

“Huh? He dodged it, Ranaku.”

“That’s a rare sight, isn’t it? Looks like he has good reflexes for a human, Kanaku.”

Two winged Demons appeared from the sky.

Pale skinned children with solid yet transparent wings. Despite their adorable appearance making them appear like fairies, the expressions on their faces were like carnivores who had found their prey.

“It will be a competition since we can report this to Achendia-sama.”

“Which one of us can——”

“Eyesore.”

The two Demons, with their miasma around them, were blasted away by explosions around them.

“……H-Huh? It ended already?”

“I don’t have time to waste for novice Demons that don’t even know who I am. Let’s get going.”

The Dragon Princess started running ahead without waiting for Ren’s response.

“H-Hey? Was it okay to blast them away like that?”

“Dang it. I should have blasted them away after making them tell us where Achendia’s location is.”

“That’s not what I meant! Wouldn’t they also be considered as Elise’s former henchmen?”

The Dragons, the Angels, and the Demons were the three beings representing the Earth, the Heaven, and the Underground, respectively. If Kyelse who was a Dragon carelessly attacked them, then there would be a possibility that it will hinder the balance of the three worlds.

“The Demons strength lies in their toughness. Just like Elise’s ability to reincarnate.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if I did “destroy” them here, they won’t be “annihilated”. Either way, the Demons here are a bunch that betrayed the Demon King of the Underworld. It won’t be a problem if I lay a hand on them. More importantly, don’t assume it would end with those two. There’s more coming.”

The area where the battle took place between the parties and the Demons. If those two were the scouts——

“What……is this powerful presence? A Dragon!?”

“No, wait. What is up with this abnormal pressure? It can’t be?”

“That legendary——”

“Just get lost.”

Three Demons appeared from the ground. But even they were defeated by Kyelse's round kick, without putting up a fight.

“Ah, geez. I can’t stand this! Because of that seal!”

“……Even though you are saying that, that was too easy for you.”

Kyelse was taking down the Demons as they appeared.

Not even one of the Demons, who would be a threat to the human’s party, could be a hindrance to her.

And then——

“! Are all of you okay!?”

Ren in a rush, headed to the party of six that were on the ground.

Maybe they received a surprise attack from the Demons which Kyelse had just defeated. The party formed by the two {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}}, the two {{Furigana|Casters|ARIAS}}, a {{Furigana|Predator|HUNTER}}, and a {{Furigana|Curer|HEALER}} were all burned up and lying on the ground.

“……Did you two h……help……us……?”

The {{Furigana|Curer|HEALER}} girl opened her eyes a bit.

“Your injuries?”

“……It’s not a fatal injury. Even I can heal……injuries of this degree……”

She stood up weakly.

“Go ahead. There were parties ahead of us. Elmekia Dusk and a party formed by young people.”

“Elmekia Dusk!? So they passed through here!”

“Yes. That party……their strength were on a different level……they headed for the summit while overcoming high-level Demons.”

“Thanks, I was wondering about them.”

Ren faced towards Kyelse and nodded. Then they ran up through the path heading towards the summit.

“Ren——”

“I know. The young party that girl mentioned must be my seniors from the academy. I assume they progressed through this route by using anti-Demon barrier since one of them was a {{Furigana|Barrierer|ENCHANTER}}.”

“But that spell won’t work on high-level Demons, you know?”

You could separate the sources of spells used by humans into two major categories.

The destruction-type spells copied from the spells used by the Demons——magic and attack spells would be included here.

The protection-type spells copied from the spells used by the Angels——de-spell and defence spells would be included here.

Among these two categories, the anti-Demon barrier would be taken from the Angels’ spells.

The effect it has against the regular Demons would be high, but it was merely an inferior spell used by humans. It wouldn’t work against high-level Demons with overwhelming power.

“……I thought I already knew this.”

Ren realised once again after witnessing the fallen party.

The ones that were able to compete with the high-level Demons, the rulers of the Underworld, were a portion of the parties such as the Elmekia Dusk. They were not an opponent that a novice party should challenge in a rush.

——Screams.

It was then when Ren heard familiar screams coming from above.

“We were late……! Senpai!?”

The {{Furigana|Caster|ARIA}} who barely was conscious had his knee on the ground.

The {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} student who was using his sword to support his body didn’t move an inch. Standing next to him was a {{Furigana|Barrierer|ENCHANTER}} girl who was looking at the Demon in front of her with an expression filled with terror.

“Ren!?”

The {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} opened his eyes wide while breathing heavily.

Without even answering him,

“The aura of your power isn’t bad. You are such a waste to be Achendia’s henchman.”

“This smell, the Heavenly Silver Dragon!”

Kyelse’s punch and the large Demon’s punch. Both fists clashed creating a flash which burned the eyes. A powerful shock which could even distort space passed through the scene.

“What the……!?”

The silver haired girl who took the attack of a Demon head on.

Seeing such a situation, the five academy graduates screamed in shock.

''——Unbelievable.''

''——Such small girl countered the attack of a high-level Demon.''

Everyone had their eyes pop out while such thought passed through their mind.

“Senpai, behind you!”

Only Ren was staring at a completely different direction.

A dangerous presence which appeared behind them.

A Demon which had an appearance of a brown lion, whose colour was its main trait. Ren certainly saw the four legged beast stood firmly on the ground while it lit a crimson glow in its mouth.

“Senpai, watch out!”

“Ren!? Stop, you will——”

Kyelse’s scream could be heard. The instant the boy who was called the fake Brave Hero pushed away the {{Furigana|Barrierer|ENCHANTER}} girl, his body was enveloped by the crimson flames.

“Re————”

“Thanks. You saved me again.”

But the crimson flames were compressed in the empty air.

There was one boy who calmly stood right after the burning flames turned into small sparks.

He had a spirit which was glowing brilliantly and sitting on his right shoulder.

“The {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}!? Ren, where on earth did you master it!?”

“Ancient summoning! You are telling me there is a human who can command the spirits which exists in this era!?”

The Demon which had the appearance of a lion shivered.

Ren used that slight opening to mow down the lion’s body as he passed by it.

“……Splendid……”

That Demon disappeared like a shimmer of hot air.

Besides it, another Demon defeated by Kyelse perished.

“Ren, what’s going on!? Since when did you become capable of using spirit summoning!?”

“Ouch, it hurts! Rather, my eyes are spinning! Calm down!”

Ren, with Kyelse grabbing his collar, was being shaken around.

“That proves how amazing Fear-senpai’s divine tool is.”

“But……even so……no, let’s leave it for now. Though it was beyond what I expected——”

The spirit had the appearance of a winged lizard.

The {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} which looked like a small red Dragon disappeared. Kyelse who saw that turned around to Ren while looking happy.

“That was a great job from you. There isn’t much distance left till we reach the summit so we will keep on going while immediately taking down the enemies.”

“Yeah.”

Kyelse advanced ten metres ahead with a single step.

Ren ran while following after her.

At the mountain path where it had become silent——

The party of five members were watching such scenery in a daze.

<center>==========</center>

Near the crater of the Great Volcano of Galia.

“Looks like this is it for you.”

“Achendia the Demon General of Blaze. The great Demon who was even called a Five Great Disaster. We would never have thought you would flee while leaving your henchmen behind. Looks like the name of the legendary Demon had fallen.”

The five humans that were wearing black battle wear.

The Elmekia Dusk——. They were the only ones who managed to arrive at the summit, while the other parties were defeated one after another by the Demons who blocked their way, as they also aimed for the volcano’s summit.

“Pretty skilled there. I never have thought all of you would catch up to me by using {{Furigana|pursuit spells|trace}}.

The great Demon calmly stood there, smiling as she had the crater boil out magma behind her.

——Demon General of Blaze, Achendia.

Her crimson hair which looked like scorched heat was possessed by it. And her golden-coloured eyes made her look like a female leopard.

Simply, her appearance was that of a fascinating woman.

Her appearance was that of a woman in her mid-twenties. Though the dress she was wearing had a brilliant red colour, she was equipped with an unknown precious metal on her wrists and neck.

“Now then. What shall I do?”

Behind her was a precipitous cliff. If she stepped in the wrong place, she would fall into the boiling magma. Even though she was in a situation where she was cornered, the Demon General of Blaze kept her confident smile.

“We warn you. If you don’t want to suffer then leave this mountain immediately.”

“Oh? Is that supposed to be some human’s joke?”

The great Demon had a fearless glow in her golden eyes.

“So are you saying you'll fight us?”

“Such dummies. I wasn’t talking about that. What I was wondering was——should Mii reveal myself.”

The spouted flames enveloped around the Demon General.

“……What!? Who are you?”

“Hello there. I think your party was called the Elmekia Dusk, wasn’t it? Anyways, good job.”

The white haired little girl sat on the giant orb which was floating in the air.

“One of the Three Followers of the Demon General of Blaze Achendia-sama, Mii of the “Imitation”. Let’s get along.”

“A fake! Then where is the real Five Great Disaster——”

The Demon answered with an innocent chuckle.

“Achendia-sama was also bored so she could have played with all of you. But an interesting bunch, who would entertain us even more, showed up exactly then. So we needed the pests to be removed.”

“An interesting bunch?”

“Yup. Mii was also shocked. I would never have thought there would be a reincarnation of the legend from three-hundred years ago.”

“……Your words don’t make any sense. But we simply need to break through you and reach the Demon General of Blaze.”

The party of five humans in black attire.

Each and every one of them were professional {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}}, as well as being {{Furigana|Casters|ARIAS}} and {{Furigana|Barrierers|ENCHANTERS}}.

“Terrific. It’s been a while since I met humans that are worth fighting.”

She sat on a pearl-coloured orb.

Mii of the “Imitation”, who was opposing the Elmekia Dusk, said it with a chilling smile.

“I will play with all of you on behalf of Achendia-sama. Shall we start then?”

===2===

The Great Volcano of Galia, the summit of the third route——

“This was unexpected.”

That was the first thing Kyelse said to the Demon standing in front of her.

“I thought more of your so-called trusted retainers would be waiting for us, but you came all the way here to meet us?”

“It’s called special treatment. After all, it had been a while since we last met.”

The one who answered was a crimson Demon, who was the highest-class Demon.

The Demon General of Blaze, Achendia. She had her crimson hair blowing behind her and didn’t lose her smile despite Kyelse glaring at her.

“Has it been three-hundred and five years ago since we last met? But I’m surprised. It seems like the former Demon King-sama and the strongest Archangel in Heaven is with you as well. I can’t believe it. If Eleline was also alive, then it would have been the reincarnation of the legendary party.”

“……Eleline isn’t here anymore. He was a human. So he had a lifespan.”

“Then is that boy over there the reincarnation of Eleline? He resembles him so much.”

The Five Great Disaster’s gaze moved to Ren.

The golden-eyes like that of a female leopard. She was looking at him. Ren couldn’t help but feel cold sweat pour down his back like a waterfall simply from that.

''——She’s different.''

''The presence of the Demon in front of me is in a different league than the Demons I have encountered till now.''

Even Ren who simply stood in front of her could realise that. She looked like a human from a quick look. But the miasma and pressure which poured from her body was completely different from the other Demons.

“So? Are you?”

“You should know the answer already. Don’t even think I’m Eleline’s reincarnation.”

Ren held the chills he was feeling and answered by keeping his tone down.

“Heh? I like it. You are the kind of human who knows his place.”

“……There’s one thing I want to ask.”

Ren looked straight at the Demon with such an overwhelming presence.

“You were a Demon General who was previously the subordinate of Elise, right? I heard that you rebelled because Elise resigned from her post as a Demon King and didn’t like the current Demon-Lord.”

“Hmm? Well, I guess you aren’t far off.”

“Then couldn’t you just remain as Elise's, the former Demon King’s, subordinate instead of the current Demon King's? Elise is having trouble since her body turned into that state. Didn’t you think of helping her?”

“That’s out of the question.”

That became the final verdict of a Demon who was once the candidate to become a Demon King.

“To be honest, the current Elise doesn’t appeal to me at all. Especially as someone who once knew of her beauty, strength, and brutality. More importantly, don’t you think there isn’t any reason for me to obey someone weaker than me?”

The highest-class Demon whose strength even surpassed that of a current Demon King.

That was the declaration of war from the legendary Demon who was called the personification of blaze.

“Though meeting Elise would be the last entertainment for me. Until then, don’t you think it will be troublesome if I don’t crush you two and Fear till then? All of you also want to defeat me to protect the human’s town, right? So why don’t we get started now.”

“Ren, step aside!”

Kyelse jumped the same time as she shouted.

On the other hand, the Demon General of Blaze jumped to the rear towards the slope of the mountain while she made phantoms of herself.

The phantoms of the Demon General. All of the phantoms moved at the same time and spoke.

“This is so saddening.”

“For that invincible and unequalled Dragon.”

“Maybe it was due to that seal.”

“You don’t even have a trace left from back then.”

The crimson detonation——the scattered current of thermal expansion created by the spells of the four phantoms turned into shockwaves that burned and demolished the huge rocks.

“Just be quiet.”

Kyelse’s power of language.

The scattered blast swiftly turned into a pleasant spring breeze.

It must have been a spell to intervene with the energies and fluids within a wide-range. But it was in a level where a human like Ren couldn’t possibly understand the constitution of the spell even though he saw it up-close.

“Split.”

Kyelse’s raised feet stepped on the ground. That instant, a shock ran through the Great Volcano of Galia like a rumble caused by a huge Dragon landing on the mountain.

The lifted pebbles along with hundreds and thousands of small rocks headed towards the Five Great Disaster.

Every one of the rocks had the power and velocity of an arrow or even bullets. Even getting hit by one of them would cause fatal damage. But——

“This isn’t like you. A cunning fighting-style like that isn’t something a Dragon would do.”

They perished before touching the Five Great Disasters.

Miasma——a garment of curses that high-level Demons has around them. Metal objects would turn into rust. And mere objects such as pebbles would be disintegrated in an instant.

“You realise it, don’t you? In your current state you can’t——”

“That’s enough talk.”

The Princess of Dragons approached right in front of the Demon General. The many pebbles from before were for deceptive means. A trap used to deceive the eyes of the real Achendia and her four phantoms at the same time.

“It’s so obvious. And sadly, in your current state you won’t overcome my miasma——”

“Fall to the depth of the realm of the dead.”

……Shake.

The air shook. The punch created by Kyelse pierced through Achendia’s activated miasma and nailed her in the stomach.

“Who do you think I am?”

“!? ……k-ka……!?”

The Five Great Disaster held her enormous breast and couldn’t hide her pain.

Barrier breaker. Body destroyer. And the spell intervener. The punch which had those three different high-level spells reached the Demon General of Blaze.

“……Splendid. To be expected from the legendary Dragon Princess Kyelse. I guess that was roughly thirty to forty percent of the strength of your prime. And that was while being in a human’s appearance. '''Won’t you return to that beautiful Dragon?'''”

“That isn’t your concern.”

Kyelse simply approached her.

Seeing the silver haired girl doing that, the crimson haired Demon simply put on a cold smile and——

“I see. So you can’t transform back, can you?”

“…………”

“That’s too bad. If you could, then you would have been able to fight me even with only half of your strength.”

“What?”

“The cause of your loss would be that there hasn’t been much time since you woke up.”

The real Achendia. And the four phantoms.

Purple-coloured spell-circles appeared below the feet of the five bodies of the legendary Demon. Strange barriers made up of many complex spell-circles, symbols, and pentagrams.

“Anti-Dragon element barrier!?”

“You should have realised by the time I summoned the four phantoms. I pity you since your senses were still dull due to three-hundred years of being sealed.”

The light made from the barrier wrapped around Kyelse as if it was restraining her——

“Kyelse!?”

“Don’t come, R————gu……aaah……!?”

Before Ren could even reach her.

The silver haired girl’s scream echoed, where she then fell at the centre of the barrier.

“I already knew you were coming. It’s natural for me to have prepared barriers against you beforehand. I obviously have many anti-Angel barriers set around there against Fear.”

The four phantoms vanished.

The remaining Demon General of Blaze looked down at Kyelse with a bewitching smile.

“What will you do now? Good timing, I was hoping to have a henchman like you.”

“……Like hell……you low rank……”

She said while she had lights from the barrier restraining her to the ground.

She still tried to move despite that. The Dragon Princess bit her teeth hard, got on her four limbs and moved her head up.

“I’m astonished. You can still speak? Hmm, you are dangerous. If I don’t make you completely powerless before Elise and Fear shows up, you might break free from the barrier with some kind of trigger.”

The condensed flames.

She had a spell of intense heat, within her palm, which was burning so much that it was so bright——

“Anyway, I’ll have myself weaken her moderately.”

“Before that happens, I will have you go down.”

Achendia didn’t realise it.

No. To be precise, she knew Kyelse’s strength that she was very cautious of her. Thus she didn’t pay attention to the human who came behind her.

——The Angel’s feather in Ren’s left hand.

——At the same time, the divine item glowed, a crimson spirit appeared behind Ren.

“Don’t worry about me {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}, take me down along with her!”

“!? That spirit! Don’t tell me you are trying to intervene with my spell!?”

The fire spell compressed inside Achendia’s palm suddenly swells up in a rage. It spiralled around in the empty space where the intense heat of flames surrounded Achendia and Ren.

An instant flash.

“Ren!?”

Kyelse’s scream echoed——

The huge explosion thrusts up the sky. Ren and the Demon General of Blaze get dragged into the blast and both fell deep into the abyss of the Great Volcano’s slope.

<center>==========</center>

The Great Volcano of Galia, near the crater of the second route.

The earthquake shook the slope of the mountain.

The scattered shockwave passed consecutively through to the starting point of the mountain. Many small stones turned into fallen rocks due to the shock and started to roll down the mountain.

At the centre of that——

There was an Archangel and a high-level Demon, who were exchanging punches in close-range, within breathing distance.

“Destroy!”

Chorus of loud spirits between the two.

Fear bent her body to dodge the punch of a huge high-level Demon which came down at her. She went within his reach and thrusts her fist up from below.

The punch which could drill through the ground.

The punch which could cut through the sky.

Sounds of great destruction continued to echo. The punch from the Demon created a large crater on the ground and the punch from Fear which hit the air creaked the atmosphere. The two punches created a tornado-like blast.

“You are pretty good. It’s been a while since I had a fight which made my heart race so much.”

The Archangel who had a red face from excitement with her skirt gently blown by the air.

“I shall hear your name.”

“That would be an honour. Archangel Fear, the biggest battle maniac of Heaven who directly served under the Goddess Resflaze.”

The Demon who was wrapped in black and gold armour.

His actual skin turned into a powerful armour like that of an insect's exoskeleton.

“One of the Three Followers of the Demon General of Blaze Achendia-sama. The Veldred of the “Armament”.”

“That was a well-trained martial art. The name of your title doesn’t come from armed equipment but your “martial art” which acts as an “equipment” itself. I shall remember that name. ……However.”

The Archangel jumped as if she was dancing.

“It’s regretful that I don’t have the time to be dancing with you.”

“——That was my intention.”

The high-level Demon didn’t even try to dodge Fear’s punch. He crossed his arms. He used the back of his palm which was also the part of his body to take her attack directly.

“The Archangel who is the number two of Heaven. Even though you have weakened, I am still no match for you.”

“Oh my? You know when to give up.”

“Wrong. For that reason, I need to buy time and wait for Achendia-sama to arrive.”

“……Oh, that’s what you meant.”

She glared at the Demon who jumped to the rear.

This henchman of Achendia was a martial artist but more than that, he was her royal retainer. The plan where they would concentrate on wasting their strength at their spot so Achendia could later defeat their enemy one after another afterwards.

''…..What shall I do now?''

''……We wanted to avoid fighting Achendia directly in our current state.''

Elise, Kyelse, and herself. If two of them among the three joined forces, then they wouldn’t lose against a Demon General. Instead, if they were alone, then Achendia would be an opponent who would be extremely difficult to handle.

“Looks like we miscalculated.”

If the four of them, including Ren, had headed towards the Five Great Disaster together, then such a situation wouldn’t have occurred.

But in order to rescue the humans that were defeated by the Demons on their way, they needed to go through the different routes. That was the biggest loss.

“It would be a timely attack indeed. Would I join my comrades after defeating you who is concentrated on defending, or would Achendia defeat my comrades first.”

“That’s exactly it. Come, the strongest Archangel in Heaven.”

“No need for you to tell me.”

She scrunched her fist very hard.

The blonde Angel jumped ahead while she raised her fists which had the strongest hardness in the world and was only equalled by the fangs of the Heavenly Silver Dragon.

<center>==========</center>

The Great Volcano of Galia, near the crater of the first route.

Elise who was standing very close to the crater which was the origin of the flowing magma.

The one who was opposing her was——

“Let me think, I think you were Nesica of the “Reflection”. The follower of Achendia.”

“It’s a great honour to have the former Demon King-sama remember my name.”

The blonde Demon who held the side of her long skirt bowed to Elise.

She also had the appearance of a human girl. But what was clearly different was her long ears like a rabbit's and a tail covered by fur like a fox's.

“I think you specialised in reflecting spells? Geez, Achendia sure did pit me with a troublesome one.”

It would have been different if she was pitted against an all-rounder type like Kyelse. But Elise mainly specialised in spells. Just how troublesome would be an opponent who could reflect spells.

“I’m looking forward to it. Just how much would my ability work against the former Demon King-sama.”

“……Sure. But bye-bye.”

Elise clicked her fingers. As if it responded to her click, powerful spell-circles appeared and surrounded the blonde Demon.

“You won’t be able to “reflect” binding barrier, right?”

“——Wrong.”

The smile of a high-level Demon. At the same time, the loop of light which was about to restrain Nesica perished.

The barrier itself gets teleported to Elise.

“Wah, I didn’t hear that you could even reflect barrier-type spells!?”

Elise slipped through the loop.

“It would have been different if it was Elise-sama when you were an active Demon King. But if it’s a spell activated by you in your current body, then there isn’t any spell from you I can’t reflect.”

“……Hmm, this really is getting troublesome. I don’t even have the time to spare.”

Elise made a bitter smile while she scratched her head. She lifted her eyes which were burning with curiosity and glared at her opponent fearlessly.

“What should I do now?”

“Oh my. Do you still have that much confidence despite having that earlier spell reflected? Do you have a final trick up your sleeve?”

“Rather than a final trick, it’s more of a……but this is, no, it can’t be helped. I don’t have any more time to waste anyway.”

The dark-skinned girl shrugged her shoulder in an exaggerated manner.

The eyes of the girl, who was known as the former Demon King, becomes filled with ominous and cold light making Nesica who was standing against her feel the chills.

“I really wanted to save this for Achendia.”

“Eh?”

“————————I shall teach you fear which would even make Demons shiver in fear.”

The wind of spell powers suddenly stopped.

The area which had spells activated started to compress and what breezed instead was black wind.

The jet-black miasma which was even colder and chaotic than the black of night. Such wind swirled around Elise’s body as if it was enveloping her. Even the atmosphere around Nesica was tainted in black and continued to spread.

At the centre of that miasma——

One dark-skinned Demon appeared.

“Eh? ……Eh…………ah, n-no…………it can’t be…………”

Nesica’s expression froze in fear. There is no Demon who wouldn’t know her. In the past, she used her powerful and unrivalled black miasma to shroud the Underworld with. The strongest Demon who even had the Five Great Disasters serve under her——

“It’s been a while since I returned to this appearance.”

The one who said that was a tall dark-skinned Demon.

Her clothing changed to ominous colour and shape due to receiving her miasma. Her tied-up hair was now untied and was continuing to blow due to the powerful and black miasma.

She changed from her small girl’s appearance to the appearance of a woman with a fascinating body——

“D……Demon Imperial Princess……Eliselis Di Mariablaze-sama……”

“Indeed.”

The former Demon King looked down to Nesica who was standing in front of her with eyes which didn’t show the slightest mercy in them.

“You should be honoured. After all, you would be the first Demon to see me with this appearance ever since I reincarnated ten years ago. I haven’t even told Kyelse and Fear about it.”

The forbidden spell of the rebirth of the Demon King.

She spent ten years to create it after she reincarnated as a small girl. A secret spell which was solely created by Elise. Since it required the consumption of a great amount of spell powers, there was a restriction of being able to use it for only a very short time——

“I-It can’t be……!? I-I didn’t hear that you could......r-return to your previous form……”

“Fool. Did you really think I would head towards Achendia without any tricks?”

“Ugh……gu, fine……bring it!”

Even though she had to fight the motion of fear which had bound her whole body, Nesica looked up towards the former Demon King.

“What’s this?”

“Since your original body is that of that small girl, you would require a great amount of spell powers to maintain that body! Several minutes at most. Then if I could endure it here for several minutes, your spell power would reach the limit first. There’s no change in Achendia-sama’s victory!”

“Haha, to be expected from Achendia’s retainer. You are smarter than I thought.”

The Demon Imperial Princess answered with a smile on her face.

“But, let me give you a correction. The reason why I didn’t want to waste time wasn’t that I needed to consume an enormous amount of spell power to maintain this form.”

“Eh?”

“I am no longer a Demon King. I am merely a single Demon who left that position and lost all of my henchmen. But even for someone like me, I still have irreplaceable comrades. They aren’t my henchmen like all of you once were. But comrades who are equal to me. I just want to make it in time for that danger. That’s simply it.”

Those words.

The high-level blonde Demon made an expression as if she couldn’t believe her ears.

“……You have changed. Former Demon King-sama.”

“You’re right. I may have. But it doesn’t feel bad. A journey with equal comrades that is.”

She had an overwhelming dignity, and miasma enveloped her body. The charming Demon Imperial Princess walked slowly towards the Demon in front of her.

“And that’s how much I also want to watch over him. The possibility of Ren who is known as the fake Brave Hero.”

===3===

The Great Volcano of Galia, the midpoint.

At the midpoint of the mountain, where there wasn’t even the slightest sign of parties and the Demons that would counter them——

“……! ……Ku……looks like…...I overdid it.”

Ren used his sword to support himself and stood up on his own, while his body was full of cuts and bruises.

“Hmm. Ancient summoning. I wonder how many hundreds of years since it has been since I last met a human who can command a spirit. You sure came up with an interesting tactic when you commanded the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} to intervene with my flames and made it explode.”

The crimson Demon whose tone became lively in joy.

Even though she had been blasted in the same explosion as Ren, she didn’t receive any wounds.

“You, a human who resemble Eleline. I think Kyelse called you Ren earlier.”

“——Yeah.”

“So, what was your intention? It seemed like you protected Kyelse but what are you planning to do?”

“I was desperate. To be honest, I didn’t have the leisure to think anything through.”

Ren shook his head.

Seeing Kyelse put in danger right in front of him, he suddenly took action without even thinking and finding the reason to do so, just to get the Demon General of Blaze away from there at all cost.

“But by having the discussion with the two of us, I now have two things I wanted to say to you.”

“What would those be?”

“First. Why did you betray Elise? I don’t care about the current Demon King. But Elise……is a good girl. The relationship between you and Elise may have been that of a master and her retainer, but still, you two were comrades right? I don’t want to see the two of you fight each other and hurt each other.”

“That sure is an interesting impression you have there, don’t you think?”

“It isn’t interesting since it’s something I experienced myself. It was the most painful experience I ever had.”

He continued to be called the fake Brave Hero during those three years at Holy Fiora Journey Academy.

No one took him seriously. Since he didn’t have any friends who would practice sword with him, he continued to swing his sword alone outside while using the empty air as his sparring partner.

''——It’s because I wanted someone to acknowledge me one day.''

''——So I intend to understand very well what it means to have comrades, more than anyone.''

“If I were you……I would never betray such precious comrades no matter what the reason would be. Why can’t you get along with her? It doesn’t matter if Elise is or isn’t a Demon King right now. Didn’t she fight till her body was battered three-hundred years ago!?”

Elise had lost her body in the battle from three-hundred years ago.

She lost her position as a Demon King and reincarnating into a younger but weaker body surely wasn’t something she wanted either. However——

“Wasn’t Elise, the Demon King, the one who fought alongside all of you who were her trusted retainers!? So don’t just betray her easily like that!”

“…………”

The crimson Demon didn’t answer.

“……So, what was the second thing you wanted to say?”

“I certainly am no Eleline. Yeah, I’m none other than the fake Brave Hero. I don’t mind to be called that in the academy, the town of the blazing cliff, and even from a Demon as yourself. ——But!”

Ren gripped his sword harder.

There was one promise he made which passed his mind.

''“Don’t forget the strong spirit you showed when you protected me and challenged the Wyvern. That is the only requirement I ask from you to form a party with me.”''

“There is something I also can’t give up on. I won’t break the promise I made with Kyelse no matter what!”

“Are you going to buy time so you can call the other three here?”

“No way. I don’t have time to do that. Your henchmen are doing whatever they like and are rampaging in the town located below this mountain.”

The story of the boy who was called the fake Brave Hero.

This was truly the beginning of it.

“I will! Now, right here! I will end this by defeating you!”

“Dummy. If it was Eleline from the past it would have been different, but you are merely a human. Know the power difference between us.”

The Demon General of Blaze raised her right hand.

Roar!

Cracks were created on the ground where a giant wall of flames blew up so high that you had to look up. Not only did the flames have a high temperature which was enough to melt the rocks it touched, but it was also a wide-range spell which covered your whole sight in flames.

“This should be the end of it.”

Torrent of flames which was heading at Ren.

Those flames————was cut in half by the swing of the boy’s sword.

“You stopped my flames for the second time!? ……I see that the spirit is quite fond of you.”

The {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} which was resting on Ren’s right shoulder.

It responded to the sword Ren used, as he swung it to intervene with the flames coming towards him.

“!”

The Five Great Disaster got stirred. Ren used that instant to jump.

The mass of flames which was created by Achendia fell down towards Ren after it spun in mid-air. Ren continued to dodge every one of them. No, there should have been flames which had hit him. But even those flames disappeared, leaving just white smokes as if it had been washed away by water.

——The Archangel’s feather and the former Demon King’s jewel.

As well a jewel to activate ancient summoning, it could also be used as a defence-barrier which had resistance to varieties of spells. It was the effect of those supports.

“Over there!”

Ren closed the distance with the Demon General who had jumped away and swung his sword slanted from a lower angle.

The tip of the sword grazed her.

But the whole body of the crimson Demon disappeared that instant like a mist.

“Mirage!?”

“Correct~. I distorted the layers present in the air with the heat of my flames in order to manipulate the refractive index of light. Since it was a genuine physical phenomenon, I can even confuse those who sense the spell-power of their opponent……well, you didn’t seem like such a skilful person so I was surprised by you. I had to take that measure.”

The charming Demon was smiling from far away.

“Ancient summoning and spirit summoning. Did you train at the Holy-land of Canaan?”

“Of course not.”

The heat of the flames lurked in the surrounding area.

Ren wiped away his sweats which were falling down like a waterfall and then shook his head.

''……This is bad.''

''……I wanted to settle this with that attack just now.''

She was a Demon whom even the current Demon King would be frightened with. Ren himself was fully aware just how much power gap there was between the two of them. For that reason, he wanted to settle this right away. He wanted to settle it before he revealed the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} as well as the divine tools given to him by Fear and Elise.

“That was unfortunate. Your expression tells me that you wanted to use it while I had my guard down, you know?”

She spoke as if it was an obvious act.

But she didn’t have the slightest expression of looking down on him as she had before.

“You are the same as Kyelse. It was a bit too early for you to fight me.”

The earth which the crimson Demon was standing on started to slowly give out a red glow.

The stones around her started to melt and fuse. As if it started following after her, the earth around her, the giant rock which was present, and all kinds of objects started to turn red and melt——

“The lava flow!?”

“The temperature is more than 1000 degrees. I guess it would be too hot for a human to bathe in.”

That instant, the lava flow which was glowing brilliantly spouted from the ground.

From Achendia who was standing normally in the centre of it, the lava flow came down to Ren who was standing below her eyes. The lava flow came rushing at him powerfully, like an avalanche, while devouring everything in its way.

“By the way, flames are the only factor the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} can intervene with. Lava which is made from rocks that were melted by heat cannot be guarded or intervened with. What will you do now?”

“So it’s a countermeasure against the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}……!”

Ren bit his teeth hard and looked around.

The bumps of the mountains created from natural causes were made from the earth and the sand. If the lava was coming from the higher altitude, then evacuating to a higher place would allow Ren to escape this situation……or could he?

“Dammit, come {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}!”

Ren jumped while he had the spirit obey him.

The lava flow was coming at him as it blew out flames. It approached so closely that he could feel the heat from it burn his skin——

“How unfortunate. Maybe you won’t make it?”

Achendia’s words of pity.

At the same time, Ren tightly gripped the amber he had received from Elise.

“I hope this will work……!”

Ancient summoning to teleport physical objects. The more complicated the spell was, the more powerful the activation substance would be and hence, the easier it would be to break the limitation of the distance and quality of the object you would have teleported.

——A huge rock.

A huge rock which Ren had seen far ahead gets summoned between him and the lava flow.

“Are you planning to stop the lava? Dummy, a simple rock like that would get melted as a whole.”

“That’s not what I’m planning to do.”

Ren simply said that and jumped towards the huge rock right in front of him.

''……It’s obvious that I would only be able to summon that for an instant with my current skill.''

''……Please make it!''

The huge rock was to mould space for his footing.

Several seconds remained till the summoned rock would disappear. He stepped on the rock within those seconds and jumped once again from the top of the rock. He jumped over the lava flow that was coming at him.

“Good decision. But my lava doesn’t just flow————now explode.”

Rumbling.

Fragments of lava got shot out to the front. It came flying towards Ren in the same velocity as that of a bullet.

“————”

Countless flying pebbles which were burning in intense heat lands on Ren. The boy fell without crying out and had lots of blood spurt from his body............did not happen since he instantly disappeared from sight.

“Is that my mirage!?”

“That was your trick. You distorted the air with the heat of your flames in order to create a camouflage by bending the light!”

The boy who rushed right in front of Achendia swung down his sword at her.

——Emission of heatwaves by the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}.

Those flames distorted the air around Ren and created an artificial phantom on the spot.

The flash of the sword.

It was certainly the moment when Ren’s sword strike had caught the Demon General of Blaze.

“……'''Ren-chan.'''”

“!?”

Something cold passed through Ren’s back with that one word, said by the Demon. Ren took distance without thinking twice.

——The tip of the sword had rusted.

Right before the tip of the sword touched Achendia’s body, the blade made from steel rusted in an instant, by the high intense heat of the miasma which was enveloping and protecting her.

''……I was prepared ever since Kyelse told me about it.''

''……So this is the threat of the miasma which is worn by highest-level Demons.''

The protection which was given to him by the divine tools he had received from Fear and Elise. He had a faint hope of having his sword protected from her miasma. But the miasma of the Five Great Demon was overwhelmingly ominous.

“Now I get it.”

On the other hand, Achendia spoke as if she was talking to herself.

“I’m shocked. It was thanks to the power of the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} that you were able to copy my move by seeing it with your own eyes and it was thanks to Fear’s divine tool you were able to summon it. But the judgement you made to actually put that in practice in the very last minute was no doubt your power. …..If that sword was even a bit of a famed sword, I may have received some wound by you.”

Her dress which had a small cut.

The Demon stroked the small cut made by the sword on her breast. By that time not only wasn’t there a scratch on her crimson dress, but even the slightest crease was repaired.

“If there was one thing I fear about humans, then that wouldn’t be the population of the human species but their growth speed. Rather than being described as learning, it won’t be an exaggeration to call it an evolution. You know, with that in mind, Ren-chan? There’s one thing I’m sure of.”

“……What is it?”

“'''In the near future, you will become a threat to me. So I will kill you here.'''”

The atmosphere suddenly changed.

The glare of the Demon General of Blaze Achendia. Even inside the intense heat of the place due to the heat from the lava, she gave an intense cold feeling which was so cold as if you were thrown into the current of an ocean. ——No, this was a simple pressure.

“The forbidden chapter of blaze, the “Crimson World”.”

The sky of the night gets tainted in crimson colour which was close to that of blood.

''……A barrier? No, it’s Achendia’s miasma.''

''……Did this whole mountain get covered by the miasma of Achendia’s flames!?''

“I, the Demon General of Blaze.”

The crimson Demon raised her hand.

“The light, the heat, and the flames are within my control as close as it can eternally be.”

The red light which started pouring down.

Those came pouring from the crimson sky of night. There was a countless number of lights which poured like intense rain.

The single drop of light—— the moment it touched the tip of his elbow, the fibre was burned away without even flames actually appearing and burning it.

“Agh!?”

“The hellfire which would burn away this world. I shall show you what real spells are.”

The Demon General of Blaze just calmly stood there, while she had red lights pouring on her.

The rains of light, there were thousands of them.

When the raindrop touched the ground it melted away the stones and when it touched the grove of the trees it turned the whole trees into charcoals. Even though it was pouring like rain, it changed its course while dropping. There were rains where it dropped vertically even though it was pouring in spirals.

——The spell where the energy of flames all turned into light and heat.

——They returned into flames only when it touched the target and burned it away.

“Ku……a……!”

''……It isn’t a spell a human can control.''

''……This is the highest-level Demon. She is indeed a true monster.''

The {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} intervened with Achendia’s flames and weakened the flames that were attacking Ren.

On top of that, the Archangel’s feather and the Demon King’s jewel, which created a powerful and unrivalled protection-barrier to weaken the power of flames even more, played a role. But even still, a single drop of light had high intense heat.

Ren didn’t even have the will to imagine what would have happened to him if he wasn’t protected by both the spirit and the divine tools.

“Even still, it’s not over yet!”

Ren swung down his sword even though he was feeling intense pain on his shoulder.

The pouring rains of light with high intense heat. The single drop which could be called a raindrop or even a flash was accurately cut by the sword swung by the boy.

“————”

The boy didn’t stop.

While he was inside the pouring flashes, he concentrated only on the raindrops pouring on him so he could mow them down with the tip of his rusted sword. The blade itself would melt if Ren blocked them with the tip of his sword so the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} intervened with the course of those flames and distorted them.

“Magnificent.”

The praise from the crimson Demon which came from the bottom of her heart.

“To only cut the lights pouring on you. Or was that a coincidence?”

“No, I simply had done this training before.”

''“There’s nothing wrong with your training and your hard work.”''

''“Seize the drop of water and a fraction of fire, and strike it down with a single slash instantly.”''

''……I really need to thank Kyelse.''

He was an outsider at the academy. He couldn’t find classmates who would train with him so his training partner had always been the empty air.

''——I have been swinging my sword against the pouring raindrops by following its course when it was raining.''

Kyelse was the only one who acknowledged his hard work. She even pushed him to strive even further. That experience is now bearing fruit.

“But it was still too early for you to fight me.”

“!?”

“Burst.”

Lights covered his sight.

The next moment the detonations which shook the air attacked Ren.

“——Gah!?”

The rain of lights which poured on him. Those thousands of raindrops, which acted like very small bombs, exploded at once and the blast spread everywhere.

The sword fell from Ren’s hand and made a sound as it hit the ground.

''......This is bad. For an instant, I really lost my consciousness with that impact.''

Ren had his knee on the ground by the time he realised it.

“I guess this was your limit after all. Even though you have the appearance of Eleline, you are very far from being him.”

The broken sword.

The blade broke due to the impact of the blast. The Demon General of Blaze looked down at the bladeless sword.

“Well, you sure did put up a fight for a human. You did so well that I don’t mind making you my henchmen together with Kyelse. A human who can use ancient summoning is rare after all.”

“……Don’t……mess……with me.”

Ren wiped his cheek which was covered in his blood and sweat.

He tightly gripped the bladeless sword and glared at Achendia.

“I……can still……stand as you can see.”

“I can’t understand it.”

She had Ren in front of her, who had replied to her as such while breathing heavily.

It was none other than the Demon General of Blaze who tilted her head, eyes filled with wonder.

“Your sword broke and your body is battered. You can’t even completely control the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} which is your trump card. What can you possibly do in this situation? Are you planning to call out your comrades?”

“Nope.”

“Eh?”

“There’s only one thing I’m thinking of and that is the way to defeat you.”

Ren took a step, despite the fact that he couldn’t keep his body balanced, and showed a fearless smile.

“I……want to become a member of this party. I want to become the actual comrade of those three.”

''“When we are fighting, just put your life as the priority.”''

''The Dragon Princess Kyelse, the Archangel Fear, and the former Demon King Elise.''

''And myself who was merely allowed to “join” them. But that isn’t it. There won’t be any meaning if it stayed like this. The party I am aiming for is——''

“I just……want those three to really acknowledge me as their comrade. I want to continue journeying the world with them. That’s why I can’t lose at a place like this!”

His body was covered in cuts and burns due to the impact of the blasts.

Even so, the boy who was known as the fake Brave Hero declared it, while he had the legendary Demon standing in his way.

“Bring it, Demon General of Blaze. This will be the last battle!”

<center>==========</center>

The Great Volcano of Galia, the summit of the third route——

The faint purple light which came from the top of the mountain was a strange barrier made from a variety of different spell-circles, symbols, and the pentagrams.

The anti-Dragon element barrier. The pillar of lights would intervene the more powerful the Dragon was and would cancel their power.

“Gu……to use……such trick……”

Kyelse bit her teeth hard while the pillar of lights restrained her to the ground.

A mere barrier such as this would have been easily destroyed by her in an instant, without needing to transform back into a Dragon, if this was three-hundred years ago.

“……Ren……”

She said that name while she was in pain.

Ren commanded the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} to intervene with Achendia’s spell in order to protect Kyelse——. He fell down to the mountain’s slope along with Achendia from the blast. She possibly couldn’t know how far they had fallen but the biggest problem was that too much time had passed since then.

''——She isn’t someone who you could beat alone.''

''——Even Ren should know that.''

“Don’t play with me human! Why must all of you leave me and hasten to your death!”

The three-hundred years of imprisonment, being sealed.

She had the Sword Emperor Eleline, who had reached out to her, die before her——

And if she lost Ren here who she had reached out her hand to——

“I won’t allow it……I certainly don’t want that to happen! I won’t allow it!”

The silver-haired girl.

No, the Dragon who was in the form of a human howled.

“Return and reincarnate! I am the Princess of the Dragons. I shall abandon my body of a human once again!”

The magnificent howl. The silver-haired girl’s body vibrated for an instant. Then a bright silver-white glow was emitted from her body. It shined at the summit of the Great Volcano widely. And then——

“Disappear. Beautifully, and violently.”

The absolute power of words.

It shredded the purple pillar of lights which then disappeared into the empty sky.

The barrier perished without a trace.

In the centre of it was the silver-haired girl who crouched once again and was breathing heavily.

“……Sigh……a……ah…………I was able to……return for an……instant……?”

A large number of sweat droplets passed down her cheek and dropped from her chin.

But that only happened for a short time as Kyelse stood up and climbed down the mountain right away.

“Wait for me, Ren……!”

She wouldn’t get lost.

The girl climbed down the mountain path as if she was being guided.

===4===

The Great Volcano of Galia, the middle point.

At the steady slope of the mountain, there wasn’t any sight of either the parties or the henchmen of Achendia that were also Demons like her.

“The last battle? You should know your place.”

Crimson miasma appeared from the whole body of the Demon General of Blaze.

The magnificent and absolute power dyed the night sky of the Great Volcano with its colour. What fell from the sky which was dyed in crimson were numerous flashes just like a meteor shower.

The small light which had the size of a raindrop.

Each drop of light fused with the stones by simply being in contact with it and turned the ground into lava. Simply saying that you being burnt by it won’t be enough to describe the seriousness of the situation if a person was hit by it. Even so——

“I’m telling you that I won’t give up!”

Ren gripped his broken sword in which the blade was broken from the middle, and sprinted through the battlefield which had red lights pouring from above. Right behind him was the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} which was obeying him as it floated above in the air.

“Hah!”

He swung his sword against the flash of light which came from high above his head. Even though the tip of his sword was missing, the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} intervened with Achendia’s spell while responding to Ren’s movement. It moved away from the flashes which were pouring above Ren.

''…...Elise and Fear-senpai.''

''……And Kyelse. I need to thank all of them.''

The former Demon King’s jewel and the Archangel’s feather. Ren wouldn’t have been able to summon the {{Furigana|ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}} without these two divine tools and he also wouldn’t have been able to endure Achendia’s attack either.

And Kyelse.

In reality, the attack which Kyelse gave to Achendia in the beginning, had left critical damage to Achendia even till now.

Ren noticed that since Achendia had been putting her hand over her stomach, she had been using resurrection spells on herself.

''……This would be the only time for me to damage her.''

''……But what should I do? How would I be able to win against this enemy who is too powerful?''

The only weapon he had with him was his broken sword.

The decisive method to attack Achendia which would be the most crucial point still hadn’t been found——

That moment.

What passed through Ren’s mind was a “certain thing” Kyelse had said to him.

''............There is a way.''

'''''……There’s still one way left.'''''

There was still one possibility left to defeat Achendia even under this hopeless situation.

“————”

Ren gripped his bladeless sword and sprinted as he gazed at the Demon General of Blaze.

However.

“I’m sorry. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the attacks would only come from the sky.”

“……G-Guh!?”

The flash of intense high heat burnt Ren’s back from right behind him. The lights which came from the sky moved in a complex angle; therefore: Ren couldn’t notice the attack coming from behind him as that was his blind spot.

“The spirits are indeed powerful, but they won’t take any action if the summoner doesn’t give them orders. So it means the spirit can only block the lights you are personally aware of.”

“No……since that’s good enough for me!”

Ren still didn’t stop running even though his body was covered in cuts and burns.

“What’s this? That face. You still haven’t given up? But it all ends here. I had more fun than I expected but I still have three individual I need to be more cautious about.”

The Five Great Disaster raised her hand high.

“The red star, fall.”

Meteor. The crimson miasma which had dyed the sky red turned into a burning star and came falling down to crush Ren.

“You were entertaining for a human.”

Was the smile the Demon General of Blaze gave for pity or for praise?

Rumble!

The red, scorching, burning star was falling towards the boy. A huge crater was formed on the earth and there were powerful, red molten lava bursting up high from the crater.

——But Ren wasn’t located below the falling burning star.

“Falling for the same trap. That isn’t like you.”

The atmosphere distorted and the boy suddenly appeared.

Ren who held his sword had already gotten close to Achendia.

“……It’s the mirage from before!?”

“There’s only one reason why you lost. I wasn’t even a threat in your eyes. You reserved your strength while fighting me and had only been thinking about the fight against Kyelse, Fear-senpai, and Elise.”

The boy swung his sword.

But the Five Great Disaster didn’t lose her smile even though she saw that.

“And? What will you do with that broken sword? Do you think you can break through my miasma with that sword——”

“No.”

The sword fell to the ground while it made a sound.

“!? You discarded your own sword!?”

“You are hundreds of times stronger than me. Then it’s obvious how I must win against you.”

The golden jewel which he held in his left hand.

The former Demon King’s jewel. It was the divine tool to activate the ancient summoning and the effect was to summon physical objects. To summon what you were imagining into the designated location.

“'''I need to borrow the strength of the one stronger than you. That’s simply it.'''”

The activation substance was glowing. Immediately after that——

What Ren held in his hand was a single sword glowing in a transparent blue colour.

''“That’s the sword used to take down the Archangel who was acting tough at the Heaven, and the Demon King who was acting like a boss at the Underworld.”''

——'''Spirit Sword Vierge.'''
[[Image:Sekai_no_Owari_no_Encore_V1_Non-colour_008.jpg|thumb]]

Achendia opened her eyes wide. There was no way that a Five Great Disaster such as her didn’t know. This sword which was used by the Brave Hero was the one used three-hundred years ago to——

“They say that Eleline fought Elise using this sword. If it was a sword which worked against the Demon King of back then, then it’s natural for it to work against you who was her henchman.”

''……Please Eleline.''

''……This one instant will be enough so please lend me your strength!''

He wished and made a prayer.

The boy who was called the fake Brave Hero swung the sword of the Brave Hero that he held in his hand.

And then——

===5===

The Great Volcano of Galia, the middle point.

There wasn’t any sight of Demons, Achendia’s henchmen, nor the parties. Simply the remains of the heatwaves, created from the red scorching flames, filled the place and the atmosphere was awkwardly quiet.

“Ren! Ren, where are you!? Dammit……Achendia, come out!”

She yelled so loud that she started breathing heavily. Kyelse forgot to wipe her sweat caused by the fatigue of breaking through the barrier and simply kept on running.

''……I can feel the remains of Achendia’s spells. She must be nearby.''

The scars left by the battle between Ren and the Demon General of Blaze.

Kyelse became frustrated as there were scars of great destruction spread in front of her.

She continued to run through the surface of the ground which continued to glow red even now.

“Kyelse!”

“Fear!? And Elise!?”

The ones who caught up to her from behind were the two other girls that went through the separate routes.

The Archangel and the former Demon King.

All of them had close to no wounds. But the expression on each of their faces was filled with tension.

“My apologies. My body was duller than I expected…… You would need to think carefully about staying in a human’s academy for a long period. I had a hard time remembering my battle instincts. And Elise, was it me or did I feel a nostalgic miasma coming from you before?”

“I ended up using an incomplete forbidden technique.”

The dark-skinned girl continued to run with a bit of fatigue on her face.

“I only had half of the power of my prime even though I used that much spell-power. So my battle lasted longer since I tried to reserve my power. By the way Kyelse, where is Ren!?”

“Ren is…………”

He’s fighting because he defended me. Kyelse stopped herself from saying that and continued to run through the roadless volcano mountain. Fear and Elise followed right behind her.

Just how long had she been running while having the wind blow her hair?

What awaited her when she continued to run without a word was——

“Ren!?”

Right after that.

Kyelse, the Archangel, and the Demon King witnessed the moment which they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

That was——

“It’s my win, Achendia.”

The boy who had swung the shining Spirit Sword.

The moment when the boy cut through the ominous miasma and defeated the Demon General of Blaze.

“T-That sword!”

“The Spirit Sword Vierge!? Did he summon Eleline’s sword!?”

Elise and Fear who screamed in shock.

“…………”

Kyelse had forgotten about the two girls and simply walked silently towards the boy as it became dawn right behind him.

Far behind him was the great crimson Demon, who was on her knees in silence, without even moving an inch.

“……Ren?”

The faint morning sunlight appeared from the other side of the horizon.

And the boy who had his back towards the sunlight.

The Demon General of Blaze who would be a powerful enemy with absolute strength. She had witnessed the moment when the boy who was called the fake Brave Hero defeated her.

''……Words won’t come out from my mouth.''

''……I……Are you telling me I was……fascinated by Ren right now?''

“Huh? Ah, that’s good. Kyelse, Fear-senpai, Elise, you are all fine.”

The boy turned around slowly.

“……Ren. Achendia, you actually……”

Won against her?

Kyelse was about to say that but she couldn’t speak out as her lips were shivering. She couldn’t even come up with what to say to him, so staring at the boy was the best she could do.

“Well, it worked more than I imagined. Make sure you give me a bit of praise, okay?”

The Brave Hero’s sword was returning to the triumphal town.

The boy who was known as the fake Brave Hero gave a big smile to Kyelse, while he gazed at the disappearing sword.

——His body was all covered with wounds and burns.

Kyelse also didn’t know what was in her mind, when she saw the boy smile firmly, even though he was in such a state.

“…………”

Kyelse however, had put her hand slowly onto her chest.

Her heartbeat started beating fast without realising it.

——It was the first time she felt like this.

The strongest force was led by the Sword Emperor Eleline. It was impossible to lose in battle three-hundred years ago.

But it was different now.

It was different from the sense of security she had when she watched over Eleline’s promised victory with composure.

The weak retaliated desperately against the overwhelmingly strong foe while being covered in wounds. To have your chest fill with heat by seeing such individual attain victory at dawn.

It was a feeling Kyelse had experienced for the first time.
[[Image:Sekai_no_Owari_no_Encore_V1_Non-colour_009.jpg|thumb]]

“Kyelse?”

“………………'''Idiot.'''”

She approached the front of the boy while walking dizzily.

And then, Kyelse gently embraced the wounded boy and placed his head on her chest.

“I was worried. Don’t you ever act on your own again.”

“…………”

“This is a promise. Got it?”

The boy nodded silently.

Seeing his response, Kyelse embraced the boy again without saying a word.

===6===

The Great Volcano of Galia, the middle point——

“Oh well, it can’t be helped. I can’t be motivated to obey the current Demon King-sama but I just have to return to Underworld, for now right? I was beaten by Ren-chan after all.”

The Demon General of Blaze scratched the back of her head with an awkward look.

There wasn’t a single wound on her body which was covered with a crimson dress. The wound she received from the sword wielded by Ren was a small bruise which had already been healed.

——Even so, the Five Great Disaster declared her defeat on her own.

“So we are going back to the Underworld? So troublesome. Right, Nesica?”

“I sure wanted to enjoy a bit more of Earth which I haven’t visited in a while. Right, Mii?”

“Know your place, Nesica, Mii.”

The Three Followers stood behind Achendia.

All three of them were high-level Demons that stood in the ways of Fear, Elise, and Elmekia Dusk. The wound they received on those battle still remained strong, further behind them were dozens of Demons on standby, who are also Achendia’s henchmen and were waiting for her orders.

“I guess I’ll be returning then.”

“Achendia.”

The Crimson Demon who turned her back.

The one who called out to her was the dark-skinned girl who was known as the former Demon King.

“Are you still bothered about three-hundred years ago?”

“……Yes. It’s hard to understand. The End War from back then. '''Why did you, who was the Demon King, sacrifice yourself for me, who was merely your henchman?''' You lost your position as a Demon King because of it and ended up reincarnating into such a young body. I didn’t want to see it. That weakened state of yours.”

Achendia answered her while she sighed.

“Remember this, okay? I won’t acknowledge anyone but you as the Demon King who would rule the Underworld. So go and find the spell to return into your original body. I would rather be dead than to serve that weak Demon King.”

“……Yeah yeah. I never thought I would have my former henchman worry about me.”

Elise made a bitter smile while she put on an awkward expression.

The response the crimson Demon gave to the former Demon King, who acted in such a way, was a silent smile. That smile wasn’t the fearless smile she had till now but a smile which was pure and beautiful——

''……Was the real reason why Achendia came to earth was perhaps——''

''……Not to rebel against the current Demon King but to send that message to her?''

“Goodbye Ren-chan. Take care of Elise-sama, okay?”

The moment Ren thought such. The Demons including the Five Great Disaster disappeared as if they blended with the morning sunlight.

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Sekai no Owari no Encore:Volume 1 Record.4

2019-08-24T10:48:37Z

UselessAwe: /* 3 */

==Record.4: Elmekia Dusk==

===1===

The heat and the temperature which felt like it could choke you.

Simply breathing in the air would burn your lungs. A place where the atmosphere was filled with such high heat which made you feel as such.

The town of the blazing cliff, Jio.

“It’s hot! So this isn’t a heat coming from the people but the steam which is coming from the mountain right?”

“This is a town which lies before the Great Volcano of Galia after all. Over there, you can already see it.”

Ranges of the mountain where the summit of the mountain were tainted red.

Fear pointed at the top of a mountain, an active volcano where the magma spurred, with her finger.

——The location where one of the Five Great Disasters, Demon General of Blaze Achendia, awaits them.

“Huh? Are you a bit nervous, Ren?”

“There’s no way I won’t be. I’ve been like this before we even entered this town.”

Even though the surface of his body was hot, the part of his body deep within was icy cold.

The tension and the fear. Even for Elise whose current body was that of after reincarnating herself, their opponent would be someone who a former Demon King such as herself cannot face alone to the extent that she sought for help.

“Anyways, am I the only one nervous?”

“Are you implying I am?”

“You are like usual, Kyelse. I’m talking about the parties scattered all over the places.”

The people that passed through the main street.

About half of them weren’t the residents of this town but the members of powerful parties. There were obviously {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}} that were forging that swords and also what appeared to be parties exchanging information.

“Oh my. Achendia sure is popular.”

Elise made a bitter smile while she looked at the presence of dozens of parties.

“They will all be slayed, I guess? I doubt they won’t be able to defeat not only Achendia but even her henchmen.”

“……Don’t say such scary thing naturally like that.”

“I’m dead serious. That’s because there aren’t any impressive bunch here.”

The parties gathered at this town must mostly be newly formed parties. They must have gathered here to get their fame by defeating the Demon General of Blaze.

“Huh? Aren’t you Ren?”

That was the time when a young man’s voice came from behind them.

“Oi, it really is. The so called fake Brave Hero.”

“That one, right? The one who failed last year’s promotion exam and is repeating his second year.”

“……Senpai?”

The two {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}} that were wearing top grade armaments with carved seals engraved in them.

They graduated Holy Fiora Journey Academy last year and formed a party among their five friends. For someone like Ren who had repeated a year, they were three grades his senior. That made them a grade above Fear.

''——I wouldn’t forget.''

''——That’s because they were seniors that always tried to pick a fight with me ever since I enrolled.''

“Hey, what’s going on here? Skipping classes, are we? You aren’t telling me you formed a party? You are still a middle-rank student and haven’t even graduated yet. You are still III-Grade {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} aren’t you?”

“Or did you withdraw from the Academy? Hey. Who are those young girls? Huh…..aren’t you——”

“It’s been a while.”

The party of five members that graduated from Holy Fiora Journey Academy. The one who the female {{Furigana|Barrierer|ENCHANTER}} among them looked at was Fear who was famous for being considered as the first prodigy ever since the establishment of the academy.

“I think your name was……Fear. The one who was being favoured by the instructors.”

“That would be an exaggeration for someone like me.”

The Archangel responded with a smile.

“So, how come all of you are here?”

“Hunting down the Demon General of Blaze. Having a hotshot like that showing up on earth rarely happens after all.”

The one who answered was the {{Furigana|Caster|ARIA}} who was wearing a robe.

He was one of the top students who was ranked among the top ten of the graduates. Not only did he receive lessons from the instructors of the academy, but he was also famous for receiving special lessons from his teacher who was a professional {{Furigana|Caster|ARIA}}.

“Fear, why are you here? Weren’t you supposed to graduate this year? And what about your party?”

“I already formed one. I decided to go on a journey together with Ren.”

“H-Hey, Senpai!?”

Fear wrapped her arms around Ren and hugged him gently.

“Eh……that was unexpected. What happened with your graduation exam?”

“I decided to graduate from the academy earlier on my own.”

“Huh! These guys sure are naïve minded. Even though you were the instructors favourite, you are playing party-game with this fake Brave Hero……”

The I-Grade {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} spoke in a scornful tone while he sighed.

“A student {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} who repeated a year and only looks like a Brave Hero while trying to act——”

“Shut up.”

Kyelse’s voice which was filled with anger cut off the young {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}}’s words.

“Keep your mouth shut, human. Someone of your calibre is a thousand years too early to insult Ren who is my comrade.”

“Huh? What’s with this girl?”

“——Fool, if you really want to be crushed, then——”

“Alright, that’s it, Kyelse.”

Ren rested his hand on Kyelse’s shoulder who was shivering with anger while he smiled at her.

“It’s fine. What he’s saying is true.”

“Ren?”

“It can’t be helped. It can’t be helped if I get such comments.”

If it frustrated you, then you shouldn’t use words but make achievements with simple determination.

That was the reality in both the inside and the outside of the academy.

“Mmm……”

“Well, I was happy you became angry for me. Thank you.”

He smiled at Kyelse who was making a face due to her dissatisfaction.

''——She became angry as if she was the one insulted.''

That was the reason why Ren was able to keep his calm instead.

“So will all of you be hunting the Demon General of Blaze? The enemy is the great Demon. It would be too risky to challenge it when you just formed your party last year.”

“That’s why this is the situation we couldn’t ask even more for.”

The I-Grade {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} declared boldly.

“Look around you. Dozens of these parties are our allies. Most of the parties made an alliance and are preparing for a strategy to defeat the Demon General of Blaze. With these numbers, no one can stand in our way no matter who the enemy is. Obviously the reward and the fame will be shared among the parties. But even with that, what we will get is more than what we can ask for since our enemy will be a hotshot like one of the Five Great Disasters.”

They were currently coming up with a strategy.

Even though parties which would normally be rivals were everywhere, the reason why they were on standby without rushing was due to majority of these parties having made a temporally alliance.

“Bad news for you, Ren, since this has nothing to do with you. Do you think there will be a party which would form an alliance with you, an III-Grade {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}}, and three girls?”

“Wrong. We don’t plan on—”

Just before he was about to say that they would challenge the Demon General of Blaze with the four of them.

The noises around them quieted down.

The sounds of hard footsteps could be heard from behind them. It wasn’t a sound of just several people. It was more than that. The footsteps which was timed perfectly with the sound of other footsteps. And the pace of their footsteps which had no flaws to each other——

“Hey, isn’t that……”

“Elmekia Dusk!? Why is the highest-level party with the most man-power in the world here? Does that mean a request of reinforcement was given to the supreme metropolitan of Elmekia!?”

Shocked voices which sounded like screams spread through the scene rhythmically.

{{Furigana| Royal 72 Order of the Special Knight Squad|ELMEKIA DUSK}}—— the highest rank party led by the Knight King Zelblight.

Twelve people that appeared in the town of the blazing cliff.

They wore their symbolic black battle-wear and progressed through the main street without even being concerned about the parties around them. Maybe they were overwhelmed by their silent pressure. It was clear that the groups of party members and pedestrians on the streets gave path to the members of Elmekia Dusk which was like a path was made in the sea.

''——They are clearly different.''

''——The pressure given out from their body was very different from the other party members gathered in this town.''

“What’s with those snobbish guys?”

“Elmekia Dusk. It’s the biggest party in the world. Not only in terms of numbers, but they are one of the strongest party in the world for having groups of the strongest {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}} among the elites as their core members.”

The one who answered smoothly to Kyelse who looked at the party without moving her head was Fear.

“Among the seven-hundred and twenty {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}} they have hired, only seventy-two of them can become the official party members. There’s nothing to criticise about their achievements and strength. But since there is a clear ranks in terms of strength, there are rumours that there is an intense battle happening to take higher ranks within the party at all times.”

“Looks like you are awfully well-informed.”

“I sure am. I haven’t been attending the party raising institute for four years for nothing.”

The Archangel responded with a smile.

“Hey, Ren?”

“Hmm……ah, yeah. There were certainly many seniors back in the academy who wanted to join the Elmekia Dusk.”

But the competition was very intense. Potential {{Furigana|Knights|MASTERS}} and {{Furigana|Casters|ARIAS}} throughout the world gathered at the supreme metropolitan of Elmekia but only very few of them would be selected every year.

“I think the 1st rank was the Knight King Zelblight. I don’t see other high rank upper echelons among them either so I’m assuming that group is made up of lower ranks of the {{Furigana| Royal 72 Order of the Special Knight Squad|ELMEKIA DUSK}}. Even still, just as you see……you can tell they are clearly different from others from the atmosphere they are giving out.”

The noises finally returned to the main street. But the discussions were all about the Elmekia Dusk which had just walked past the street.

“……Geez. A troublesome bunch sure did come.”

“We really didn’t expect this.”

The ones who distorted their face with hatred was the party of the Holy Fiora graduates.

“Looks like we don’t have time to waste anymore. ……See ya then, Ren. I will give you a good news before we go. There were rumours going around about you, though not much as Elmekia Dusk. The reason we found you is because we heard your rumours and thought that it may be you.”

“Eh?”

“Congrats, fake Brave Hero. '''You have already joined the celebrities even outside the academy'''.”

“……Ah, so that’s how it is.”

The rumour about a young boy who had a mirror image of the Brave Hero Eleline.

It must mean that the rumour had spread fast even in this town of the blazing cliff. By the time Ren realised his senior was being sarcastic, the party of the five young members had already disappeared into the crowd.

At the large auditorium of the town of the blazing cliff.

A meaningful crimson carpet was laid on the passage. The windows for lightening the passage was set on both side of the wall where all of them had stained glass on them. So it gave a dazzling, yet sacred light.

“Wow, is the whole passage like this? It’s insanely gorgeous that I haven’t seen a beautiful building like this in Mstier. ……The world outside sure is amazing after all.”

Ren made a sigh of admiration after witnessing a scenery which was spacious as a castle.

“Hey, Kyelse. Don’t you think it’s amazing?”

“I don’t mind it, except why do we have to line up here for almost one hour?”

There are dozens of people behind them and also dozens of people front of them where all of them were people from different parties.

The Dragon Princess looked fed up by being surrounded by many humans.

“It’s for the party registration.”

The Archangel who hadn’t lost her usual smile.

“For requests such as that from towns, a set amount of money is prepared beforehand and is given to the parties where the reward would be determined by their achievements. You won’t receive a reward if you don’t register your party. And even if you did defeat one of the Five Great Disasters, you wouldn’t know which party had defeated it.”

“So it’s to distribute the reward and fame, huh. It sure is a cunning method a human would come up with.”

“You know, Kyelse, we wouldn’t be able to buy the sweets you are really fond of if we don’t have the money.”

“Hmm? That sure is a serious matter. We need to secure our reward then.”

Kyelse started to nod reluctantly.

“Oh well. You don’t need to worry since the only ones who is capable of defeating Achendia would be us so there’s no need to rush things~. Ren, you also need to give your all and survive, okay?”

“……Don’t say such ominous thing.”

Ren shrugged his shoulder after the previous Demon King slapped his back.

“But what about those guys? Maybe the Elmekia Dusk would be able to defeat Achendia……”

“Ren. Aren’t you taking the Five Great Disasters lightly?”

She lifted her eyes like a cat.

Elise made a fearless smile which could be considered disrespectful and looked up at Ren.

“You know they were Demons that were the candidates to become a Demon King three-hundred years ago? Ren, you said it yourself before but aren’t the members dispatched by the Elmekia Dusk lower rank members? Don’t you reckon they won’t be able to do anything?”

“I……Is that how it is?”

“Well, I would be grateful if they could stall one or two of Achendia’s henchmen at most. Majority of the Five Great Disasters are lone wolves but Achendia would be quite troublesome since she had many faithful subordinates under her. So having many parties come with us would be an advantage for us. We will have them deal with Achendia’s henchmen so we can concentrate solely on Achendia, you know?”

“They are that powerful huh. ……You’re right, they were strong enough to be the candidates of becoming a Demon King.”

The species known as Demons naturally had strength that were in different leagues to humans. For that reason they were called the superior beings and continued to rule the underground world known as the Underworld.

“————.”

“By the way, Kyelse, why have you been looking around yourself since a while ago?”

“It’s not me. Instead, we are the ones being looked at.”

The parties that bypassed them.

It wasn’t just them. Even before they entered the auditorium, merchants and salesboy of the street stall had been glaring at them with curious eyes and had been whispering at each other.

“They are saying, “So that’s the rumoured party a lookalike of the Brave Hero belongs to……”.”

“Eh? You can even hear them whispering even far from here?”

“You shouldn’t take lightly of a Dragon’s senses. Your appearance resembles Eleline to begin with. And now the three of us is here with you as well.”

The Eleline Sword Emperor Brigade which ended the End War with the only four of them. Everyone knew the legend of Eleline and the Three Great Princesses which represented the three world.

And now there was Ren, a lookalike of the Brave Hero, and the three girls that were with him.

——Such party appeared for the hunt of the Five Great Disaster.

——A mere coincidence? Or do they have some connection with the famous Eleline Sword Emperor Brigade?

There was no way the other parties and the town’s resident wouldn’t become curious.

“Oh well. The three individuals among us four is the real thing. Hey, do you think they will get shocked if we tell them?”

“……Don’t. It will cause a stir.”

Ren calmed Elise whose tone sounded like she was having fun.

“But the thing is, you will have to become one too, okay?”

“Me?”

“Don’t remain being called a fake Brave Hero and start working hard to become someone who would get called a Brave Hero since you are with us.”

“It’s too early.”

The one who said that was Kyelse who had candy inside her mouth.

“There’s no need for you to rush it. Ren, you need to aim from something easy first. It’s to become a Sword Saint.”

“……Both of them would be hard to accomplish.”

Fear rested her hand on Ren’s shoulder who had just said that.

“Ren. It’s our turn to register.”

It was one of the four counters.

The girl who appeared to be a receptionist looked towards them and started to explain in a nervous manner.

“You must be here for the special-code 09 “Five Great Disaster Hunt”. Please register your party’s name.”

“……Party name?”

The supreme metropolitan of Elmekia’s “Elmekia Dusk”, the holy-land of Canaan’s “Canaan Pilgrim, the Boat of the Sacred Teaching”, and also “Eleline Sword Emperor Brigade” from three-hundred years ago had a party name taken from their territory or the name of their representative and such.

“Oh, crap. We haven’t decided yet. Any good name any of you can come up with?”

The three girls behind him showed a sign of thinking up a name for a moment.

“I do! Adorable Elise-chan and her happy-going subordinates!”

“The party led by the noble, the strongest, the beautiful Silver Dragon Princess who had woken from her long seal—”

“Why don’t we just stay anonymous?”

“……Fear-senpai’s suggestion it is. Please register as anonymous.”

Both Kyelse and Elise that were behind Ren started making a sound of displeasure but he acted as if he didn’t hear them.

“Registration is completed. For this quest we have requested the aid of Elmekia Dusk for the hunt of one of the Five Great Disasters. They would be heading out tomorrow morning.”

“So you are saying other parties should match them?”

“To have everyone cooperate, that is what we are asking for.”

The receptionist girl said that with a begging eyes.

“The subordinates of one of the Five Great Disasters are gathered at the summit. If we don’t suppress them before their forces increases more than this, there is a risk that this town would be destroyed……so I beg you.”

“It will be alright~.”

The one who waved her hand with easygoing tone was Elise.

“Rather, if Achendia felt like it she could have destroyed this town on her own. Since that hasn’t happened, it means she has no intention to destroy this town. She’s a moody individual. If she is in a good mood she wouldn’t do anything unless we take action so relax.”

“It doesn’t sound relaxing at all you know!? What would happen if her mood changes for the worst!?”

“That’s why we will take her down before that happens.”

The previous Demon King smiled.

“That’s why we should head to the inn. I have been sweating so I want to take a bath. You too, Kyelse.”

“The party’s name……the special party name I have been coming up with since yesterday……”

“That was the name you came up with after seriously thinking about it!? Oh well, anyways, let’s get going.”

Ren took Kyelse’s hand who was putting on a sulking face and left the auditorium quickly.

And then——the moment they came out. ''Noises''. The parties and the residents that seemed to be waiting for them outside the auditorium all looked at them.

“Woah?”

“They were the parties that were looking at us before. I guess rumours brought more rumours and ended up gathering all these people.”

It was exactly like the situation when the Elmekia Dusk showed up before. They didn’t come to talk to them directly. But they were whispering to each other quietly.

“Ren. Let’s go. We need to book an inn first and have you concentrate on your training like usual.”

“…...Alright. The inn it is. Umm, I’m sure there was one this way.”

Kyelse who was following right behind him.

Ren walked through the main street while taking her small hand.

“By training, do you mean you will teach me about sword again?”

“At noon, yes. I will look after you in terms of swords. But at night it will be Fear and Elise. The ancient summoning, the one we had you train every day. It seems like you can’t hear the voices of the spirits yet. But we will have you continue it until we can.”

“……Roger that. Though I am trying.”

“It’s natural that you can’t perform it yet. It wouldn’t be called {{Furigana|“the lost spells”|ANCIENTS}} if it was that easy to acquire.”

The public road filled with people.

The silver haired girl then plainly said it while looking ahead.

“Even so, our battle against Achendia would be tomorrow. We don’t have time but we will have you train much as time would allow it. Both sword and ancient summoning.”

===2===

The town of the blazing cliff where there was still heat and commotion.

The hot wind which came from the active volcano where one of the Five Great Disasters awaits them. Even late at night, where jet-black curtain has covered the sky, the hot air was still present which made you sweat slowly.

“Thank you for waiting, Ren. You seemed to be quite tired now.”

“Hey, Fear-senpai…… Yeah, I’ve been sword training with Kyelse till just now. But seriously, no wonder this place is called the town of the blazing cliff. I never thought it would be this hot even at night so I was cooling off while taking a break.”

Ren turned around with a smile to the blonde girl who appeared on his way to the inn. Though his smile turned into an expression filled with fatigue immediately——

“……Except, I couldn’t calm myself down even though I took a break.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I’m……nervous. The Demon General of Blaze would be a great Demon who I would never have imagined to face. Even though I was training with Kyelse, I kept on realising that I’m still inexperienced.”

“That’s how it should be.”

The response the Archangel gave was a peaceful nod.

“Instead I would have been troubled if you said you were confident in yourself. That attitude is much better than those people from the other parties around here who are trying to face one of the Five Great Disasters without having the proper strength to face her and simply rushing for glory.”

“That may be true……”

“Knowing your weakness is the key to your growth. Ren, that modesty of yours is your strong point. Though talking about it in the middle of the street is strange. Let’s head to my room.”

The room Fear pointed at was right beside the room where Ren was staying at.

They booked two rooms.

The other rooms were already fully booked by the other parties, but luckily there were two rooms left.

It was good that they were able to divide the room among Ren and the three girls. Though the room would be too small for three people to stay in so they had no choice but to share each room among two people. So the room was shared between Ren & Kyelse for one room and Elise & Fear for the other room.

“Please come in. Elise went to take a night walk but she should be returning soon. Till then, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“About the ancient summoning?”

“Yes. We would be facing Achendia tomorrow so I’ll tell you a bit about it.”

''——You don’t need to feel so reserved.''

Fear entered her room gallantly as if she wanted to say that.

“T-Then excuse me————!”

Exactly when he entered the room.

The explosion of light. Ren took several steps back in reflex and had his eyes blinded by the light which was so strong that it could lighten the sky of the night.

“Oh my, pardon me. Was it too bright?”

“Senpai, those wings are……?”

The Archangel Fear who was the strongest in Heaven.

Fear who had pure-white wings growing out from her back was smiling normally inside her room.

“But first, there is something I must give you.”

The Angel who touched her own wing. What she pinched using her fingers was a single feather, a beautiful feather which was glowing, from her wing which just appeared.

“Here, please take this.”

“Eh? Isn’t this——”

“This is my present for you. Ren, this will be a ritual item for activating your ancient summoning.”

The Angel continued with a casual tone.

“We had you train by trying to have you communicate with the small spirit which is attached to you till we reached this town of the blazing cliff.”

“……Yeah. I was actually giving my all for the training.”

For the past three days, the small spirit of fire certainly appeared in front of Ren when they were camping outside.

It was certain that it was attached to Ren.

But no matter how much Ren tried to concentrate in trying to hear its voice, the spirit didn’t say anything to him after all. It was floating in the air optimistically and disappeared when it felt like it.

“So then, what do you mean when your feather would be a ritual item to activating the spell?”

“There are two factors you need in order to use ancient summoning. One is the power to hear the voices of the spirits. And the second is the activation substance for the spell. We are talking about a powerful spell to summon the spirits here, so you would need a suitable activation substance for it.”

“And this is……”

Ren stared at the Angel’s feather held in his hand.

The sacred ritual item which was giving out a shallow light.

“I certainly was taught that using the leaves of an ancient trees or items which is possessed by spiritual power would enhance the power of normal spells. Would it be safe to assume that the same logic would apply here?”

“Exactly. Though a normal activation substance wouldn’t be able to activate the ancient summoning. The “divine item” which is much superior than a mere ritual item——please excuse myself but I am an Archangel who has the second highest rank in Heaven after the Goddess Resflaze-sama. With a powerful activation substance such as this, even for you who doesn’t know much about ancient summoning yet would perhaps be able to succeed in activating simple spells.”

“Even for me right now?”

“Yes. Though I may be repeating myself but the most crucial factor in this is for you to be able to communicate with the spirits. I was originally planning to hand this to you once you were able to do that.”

“Is it alright for me to receive this now?”

“You can say it’s a replacement for a lucky charm. And also as a reward for you as you were working hard for the past three days.”

The blonde Archangel answered with a graceful smile.

Right after that.

“I’m back! Oh, Ren’s here!”

The door opened and a dark skinned girl rushed into the room.

“Did you receive Fear’s feather already? Then I should give you one as well.”

“You will give me something too, Elise?”

“Yup. I’ll give you this.”

A gold-like jewel which was glowing in yellow-brown colour.

Amber——a fossilisation of a large tree’s resin over a long period.

“Remember what Fear said? About how ancient summoning is a high-level spell which involves the manipulation of space. Spirits aren’t the only things you can summon. It should be even possible to summon simple objects.”

“What do you mean?”

“Assume that the Angel’s feather is the activation substance for the ancient summoning. And the one I handed to you will be to summon physical objects. In other words, you would need different ritual item for different types of summoning.”

“So even a jewel like this can become an activation substance?”

An Archangel’s feather which looked powerful no matter how you saw it.

On the other hand a jewel given to Ren from Elise looked like a simple jewel at first glance.

“Well, it’s natural for you to feel that way. But it isn’t a normal amber. It’s a jewel condensed from the resin belonging to a one-thousand years old tree which was present in the Underworld. Also, can you see a black line inside the amber?”

“……Umm, oh this.”

A narrow line which Ren originally thought was a crack.

There was something, something narrow like a string inside the amber.

“It’s my hair. I used this as a medium to seal my, a Demon King’s, power. It was a jewel I had prepared three-hundred years ago but it wasn’t enough to make my reincarnated body mature. I’ll give it to you since I won’t be using it.”

“Is it really okay?”

“Yup. You’ve been training to summon that spirit till yesterday, right? Even though it may be the same ancient summoning, summoning a physical object might be easier. Rather than summoning a special being like spirits, you would be summoning something you are familiar with. To explain it in details, you can for example summon a book you left at the academy.”

“……Isn’t that also amazing enough!?”

“Right? But this will be hard in terms of when to use it.”

Elise answered with a meaningful smile.

“Anyway, the effect of the ancient summoning apparently had to do with the spellcaster’s skills and the power possessed inside the divine item. Ren, you haven’t actually started training spells yet. But what you have are the divine items which came from me, the previous Demon King, and Fear, an Archangel. So you will be compensating your skills with a powerful activation substance.”

The Angel’s feather would be for the spirit summoning purpose.

The Demon’s jewel would be for the physical object summoning purpose.

Ren nodded his head while holding onto both of those activation substances.

“So I’ll be able to summon everything besides the spirits with this amber of yours then, right?”

“That’s how it is said. Even though I said physical object, it’s for non-living objects so you should give it a try. Ren, try to summon one of the education books you left in your so-called academy.”

“……By the way, how should I do it?”

“I don’t know. Ancient summoning was a spell which belonged to the humans. It’s said that spirit summoning is to summon the spirits through communication with them. But there is lack of information in regards to summoning physical objects.”

The previous Demon King shook her head immediately.

“Though if it’s a space-manipulation spell like the ancient summoning, then there is a spell created by the Demons which resembles it. The trick I used back then was, let me see……you make your mind go blank, then imagine you are manipulating space quietly, and then bang, you activated it. Easy right?”

“Pardon me?”

“That’s why I’m saying that you make your mind go blank, then imagine you are manipulating space, and then bang!”

“……Hold on a sec. My brain is about to explode.”

Ren stopped Elise and put this hand on his forehead.

In terms of the way how Kyelse taught Ren sword techniques, the training would involve Ren watching Kyelse wield the sword and learn it. According to Kyelse “explaining it in words is hard” for her so Ren would have a hard time acquiring it since there wasn’t any explanation given to him in words. Though Elise’s explanation was hard to comprehend in a different way.

''——I need to imagine my education book to appear strongly.''

He could guess that was what she wanted to say. But he never anticipated that a Demon’s logic behind spells would be a vague sense of feeling as this.

“Well then, start already! I’m also looking forward to your summoning, Ren!”

“I’ll give it a shot but don’t hold too much hope. I still can’t do the spirit summoning either……”

The Demon King’s jewel which was glowing in his left hand.

What Ren imagined in his head was his education book he left in the academy while he gripped the Demon King’s jewel for a long time.

His education book which he read through it so many times that the pages were torn. Ren still remembered the sensation and the weight of his book within his hands——

That instant.

The Demon King’s jewel was enveloped by a strong golden light.

“……What!?”

Ren was about to drop the jewel due to the sudden activation but he managed to stop himself from dropping it.

After the light settled.

A familiar old education book dropped on the floor close to Ren’s foot.

“……Eh? Does this mean I succeeded?”

He still couldn’t believe it even though he activated it himself.

But the book which was on the ground in front of him was certainly the education book he imagined inside his head.

“Hmm, nice job Ren. I was actually surprised for real this time.”

Elise who picked the education book from the ground.

The innocent looking eyes which belonged to a young girl rises up happily. But her eyes becomes so sharp and gets filled with devilishness that even Ren felt chills on his back.

''——The smile she is making while she showed a slight expression of when she was a Demon King.''

''——Therefore the praise she just gave must have come from the bottom of her heart.''

“Even so, I only succeeded in summoning a single book as this……”

“Ren, you are saying that because you don’t realise how hard space manipulation spells are. You do know that the spell you just showed would be a level where the instructors from the Holy Fiora Journey Academy would faint due to the shock if they saw that?”

The one who answered with a bittersweet smile was Fear.

The Archangel who took the book Elise had just picked up and started observing it.

“I see. It certainly is Ren’s book. It’s certain that this is a book which was summoned from the Holy Fiora Journey Academy which is located very far from here. Though you would require more training for spirit summoning, it seems like you would improve this summoning more than I thought.”

“……Y-You think?”

“That’s why '''your aim would be to maintain this book at this spot for more than an hour'''.”

“Eh?”

Ren couldn’t understand Fear’s word immediately.

The exact moment when Ren was about to ask her——

“This is what I mean.”

The education book Fear was holding onto disappeared after being engulfed by golden sparkles.

“!? It disappeared!?”

“It returned to its original location. “Karma” and “time” are the two important requirements for ancient summoning.”

Elise gave a steady answer.

With an unhesitant tone as if she already predicted that Ren would get shocked.

“Though it’s also the weakness of ancient summoning since you can’t keep what you have summoned within your reach for unlimited time. It is said that you would be given the “time” restraint. By the way, I was actually counting in secret just now and that book returned exactly after twenty seconds.”

“For such short time…… Oh, so this is what you meant when you said it will be hard to find the situation to use it.”

“Exactly. That’s why the main target of summoning for ancient summoning would be the spirits after all. The spirits would respond to your voice and stay in that location. But lifeless objects which doesn’t have consciousness has a trait to return to its original location immediately. Right, Fear?”

“That’s correct. Except, the factor which would connect the summoned object and Ren would be the “karma” shared between them. For that reason you were able to summon it on your first try, Ren. For example, even if it was another education book which was located in the library, the chances you would be able to summon the said-book would be very low due to the weak karma between you and that book. Even if you were able to summon it——”

“So rather than twenty seconds, it would return in few seconds?”

“Yes.”

“……I see. But I think I got the gist of it.”

Ren wouldn’t be able to summon an object which has a weak karma with him. Even if he did, it would disappear instantly. It meant the ancient summoning wasn’t perfect even if it was considered as {{Furigana|“the lost spells”|ANCIENTS}}.

“If that’s the case I might as well try again since I did succeed in——”

“Ren.”

Ren wanted to practise it once more.

But the one who spoke over Ren’s words was Kyelse who had entered the room all of a sudden.

“Huh, Kyelse? Since when were you there?”

“I was here since before. You didn’t notice me since you were all ears to Elise’s explanation.”

After having said that, Kyelse held Ren’s hand tightly.

“This is enough for today so you should take a rest already. You should be tired because of the sword training you had with me as well.”

“At least let me try once more——”

“Tomorrow will be the battle against one of the Five Great Disasters. We would be troubled if you go down at a crucial moment due to lack of rest.”

She didn’t even allow him to argue back.

Kyelse’s words was so appropriate that Ren was about to laugh without thinking.

“Let’s go.”

“……Fine. Anyways, Fear-senpai, Elise, thanks.”

Ren returned to the room next door while being dragged by Kyelse.

Soon as they went to their room——

“Seriously, you get caught up with training easily. You were tired a moment ago due to the training with me.”

Kyelse sighed while sitting on the bed.

“Let me confirm but did you receive the activation substances?”

“I got one each from Fear-senpai and Elise. I may ask you a weird question but these are valuable items which would hold high values if I sold them, right?”

The divine items which had the power of the Archangel and the Demon King respectively.

“If I put it into the human’s value, then just selling one will allow you to buy a whole town.”

“That much!?”

“The ritual items, which has the power of either an Angels or Demons, would function as a defence barrier which has resistances against all sorts of spells. If it’s a divine item with the power of an Archangel, who is the second highest rank after the Goddess, or the Demon King, then it would normally become a “shield” which would be too powerful for a human to be in possession of.”

Ren couldn’t actually understand it since he was given them so normally. But the Archangel’s feather and the Demon King’s jewel he was holding onto would indeed be the world treasures.

“But think about it very hard. Why do you think Elise and Fear gave you such valuable divine item? Especially Fear’s feather. The reason why she gave you the activation substance even though you still can’t communicate with the spirits.”

“……Because I’m inexperienced?”

You can make up for the spellcaster of ancient summoning’s skills by the use of powerful activation substance. That was what Ren was told.

“Half right and half wrong. More than you being inexperienced, it has more to do with the single enemy we are facing this time being powerful.”

“The Five Great Disasters……”

“Our current power is nowhere near our actual powers. On the other hand the strength of the Five Great Disasters surpasses that of current Demon King of the Underworld. Then what do you think will happen?”

The Dragon Princess stared at the ceiling while she sat on the bed.

“What do you mean by what will happen……”

“It means that even I will have a really hard time fighting Achendia alone.”

The silver haired girl said it plainly.

“That’s why you need to protect yourself on your own. Think of the divine items that Fear and Elise gave you not as an activation substances for the ancient summoning but as a powerful defence barrier and keep it close to you all the time. You have to protect yourself. When we are fighting, just put your life as the priority.”

“…..Yeah. You are right.”

“Why don’t you sound convinced even though you said you do understand?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Ren shook his head as if he was laughing at himself to Kyelse who was looking up at him.

''……I also want to become the manpower of the group.''

''……But right now, I’m not in a position where I can say that.''

“I know I’m being hasty. But I was wondering if I can become a strength to this party one day.”

“Don’t feel so down. I’ve been training you while having such intent from the start.”

Kyelse who had got up from the bed reached out her hand. What she grabbed with her hand was a single sword covered in brown colour sheath which was fading away.

“My sword?”

“In your case, not only your strength but you also need to do something with this sword or you can’t even start yet. I’m guessing you bought this in a minor weapon shop where you chose the cheapest second-hand one.”

“Ugh!?”

He couldn’t argue back. Ren bought the cheapest second hand sword from the town’s weapon shop when his enrolment to Holy Fiora Journey Academy was decided.

“The length of the sword as well as the weight of it doesn’t match your height and strength. The grip is also in bad condition. Instead I’m amazed you were able to use this till now.”

“……Are you praising me?”

“Yeah. Though this will be a joke if you are going to fight a high level Angels, Demons, and Dragons.”

Kyelse who drew out the blade from the sheath smoothly and started staring at the blade.

“The many layers of defence barrier the Archangels have around them. The Dragon’s scale which has stronger hardness than iron and steel. The miasma given out from high level Demons. All of them are a threat to humans. For example the Five Great Disaster we are facing this time. Let’s say you succeed in surprise attacking the Demon General of Blaze Achendia and cut her from behind——”

“And then?”

“The moment your blade touched Achendia’s miasma, the blade will corrode without any resistance and turn into dust.”

“Just how useless can it be!?”

“You would need a spirit armament which would be a sword with power of the spirit possessed in it at worst. The reason we chose the triumphal town as the meeting location with Elise was because I wanted to tell you that.”

——The Spirit-Sword Vierge.

The spirit sword which was said to be wielded by Eleline when he went to the Underworld and the Heaven a long time ago. Even though its sheath was destroyed over the three-hundred years, the blade was still filled with a sacred blue light.

“Aren’t weapons like those……”

“Hold on. There’s something wrong outside.”

Kyelse suddenly said that with a strong tone.

“Wrong?”

“……There are several presence……howl and anger…………it’s getting closer……really closer……”

The girl opened the window.

At the jet-black night, what the Dragon Princess stared at was the summit of the giant volcano. And then——

“'''It’s coming!'''”

The exploding crimson flames lightened the town of the blazing cliff at night time.

The dancing flames which blew many sparks.

Right after that, a sound of crumbling which signified something huge had been destroyed from somewhere far echoed.

“W-What was that sound?”

“The town wall which was surrounding the town must have been destroyed. And that wasn’t just one location since I heard a sound of multiple locations being destroyed. A charge of an enormous monster or an attack spell by a Demon.”

The sky which turned red.

The Dragon Princess muttered while she stared at the rooftop of the building which was being stirred up by the sparks.

“A conceited human must have acted rashly by angering the Five Great Disaster.”

“What do you mean!? It was supposed to be tomorrow——”

“One of the party who became blinded from making achievement must have made an assault to the Great Volcano of Galia at night. As a result, they counterattacked by the Five Great Disaster after angering her.”

The entrance to the room.

The one standing there calmly was a blonde Archangel in white robe.

“So then, what shall we do now, Elise?”

“Hmm……I really can’t imagine for the moody Achendia to become angry by simply receiving a surprise attack by a mere party. To begin with, she doesn’t even consider humans as a threat. I’m guessing her henchmen became angry on their own. So maybe she’s watching it from the summit?”

The previous Demon King who answered with her usual easy going tone.

“Oh well, should we be quick? Even though it’s a counterattack by her henchmen, there seems to be many of them. Though taking down Achendia would be the quickest way to stop their counterattack.”

===3===

The residents’ houses which were burning.

The sky during night was tainted in red by having the sparks rise up by the wind.

“The fire already spread this much!?”

“Of course since they are the henchmen of the Demon General of Blaze. Of course it would be spells they would be proficient at. ——Even so, let’s get rid of them right away.”

Elise who raised her hand.

The spell’s design glowed in blue colour. The moment the glowing ice particles which was created in empty space, the flames which was burning in fast pace gets frozen in no time and disappeared by turning into many fragments.

“......That’s Elise for you”

“Geez. Humans do turn into daredevils. Didn’t your academy tell you not to act so reckless, Ren?”

“Huh? What do you——”

“The ones who stimulated all these Demons and monsters that are rampaging first was most likely five member party’s made up of the so-called Ren’s seniors we met at noon.”

“It can’t be!?”

“I’m dead serious.”

The former Demon King who easily jumped onto a building’s rooftop to get a full view of the town.

“Hmm, I see. Approximately two hundred enemies. There are less than ten Demons that is acting as the main force. Majority of the remaining one-hundred ninety enemies are monsters tamed by the Demons.”

“Elise, is what you just said true? About the seniors from the academy!”

“More like I was there when it happened. They were heading towards the volcano. You know when I left at night? I bypassed them by a chance.”

“You didn’t stop them?”

“I did. But I’m in this state now. Not only didn’t they hear me out, they just ignored me. Or should I have injured them till they couldn’t move?”

“…………No.”

Ren shook his head while biting his teeth hard at the master of the Underworld’s question.

“You warned them right, Elise? Then the ones at fault are my seniors who ignored your warning and the ones who started this first was the humans.”

“I like the sound of that. So you can make proper judgment without treating them special for being the same human as you huh.”

The former Demon King nodded with a smile cheerfully.

“Anyway we need to go and stop them. Even if they joined forces they wouldn’t be able to win against Achendia. Then there will only be casualties if we don’t stop them.”

Ren could guess why they headed towards the mountain in a rush.

The Elmekia Dusk’s participation. Since they didn’t see any chances of winning the competition against a large world-level party head on, so they must have thought they needed to make the first move.

“Kyelse, Fear, Elise——”

To the volcano’s summit.

The moment Ren was about to shout that out, “something” large jumped out from the resident’s house right behind them.

“A monster!?”

A crimson colour large snake broke through the house’s wall and jumped at them.

——The sword flashed.

The snake powerfully and quickly leaped to the rear due to a sharp strike grazing its face. But it wasn’t Ren who swung the sword.

“High-level Demons and their tamed monsters huh.”

The {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} who was wearing a black steel battle-wear. His brute strength which allowed him to not twitch his eyes, even in front of a giant monster. And his behaviour which came from his confidence.

“Elmekia Dusk?”

“If you are a civilian then evacuate to the auditorium. If you belong to a party then head to the mountain.”

“W-What about you guys!?”

“We split into two troops. The first troop has already left to hunt the Five Great Disaster. And the remaining troop would concentrate on guarding the town.”

“……Can we leave the guarding of this town to you guys? Didn’t you also come to hunt the Five Great Disaster?”

“Protecting the town was also included in the request.”

The one that gave the answer just now was an {{Furigana|Caster|ARIA}} who was also wearing the same black battle-wear.

“Majority of this assault is caused by the monsters. High-level Demons are a threat but their numbers are low. So we will oppress them.”

“Having the Elmekia Dusk taking the defence sure is reassuring.”

Fear who smashed a strange bird that came to assault them to the ground with just her fist.

“Though it seems like you have other motives, right? Rather than getting uncertain fame where you might let the Five Great Disaster escape after cornering them, taking the certain fame as a priority which is to protect the town may be better. ……Would that be me thinking too much?”

“……I suggest you move your legs than your brain.”

The {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} responded with a fearless smile to Fear who was putting on a meaningful smile.

“Many of the parties had already headed to the summit of the volcano. You don’t intend to waste time here after coming this far to the town of the blazing cliff, right?”

“Well, we can’t argue about that. We should get going as well.”

The dark skinned girl made her body float in the air without waiting for others response after she said that. She jumped from rooftop to rooftop of the houses and headed directly towards the trailhead of the volcano.

“Hurry, you too, Ren. We can't stop the invasion unless we defeat Achendia.”

“I know. But you are going too fast!”

Ren chased after the three girls who were going ahead very fast while he breathed heavily.

The trailhead of the volcano. The moment he was about to go through the door which had been destroyed by the monsters.

“—! Actually, go without me. I need to go somewhere!”

“Ren!?”

Without even responding back to Kyelse’s shout, Ren turned around on the spot.

——The mansion on fire.

He could hear a weak scream from there.

“Dammit, did someone get left behind!? The place is about to burn down any minute!”

Ren forcefully kicked the burning door.

Ren entered the building while he had the sparks that was flying around burn his skin.

“Where are you!? Hey, you are there, aren’t you!?”

His sight was covered in crimson colour. There wasn’t much time left till the building gets completely burnt.

''……Calm down.''

''……Being able to hear the scream means that person isn’t deep inside the building.''

The flames that were burning as if it was dancing. Behind those flames.

“H……elp me……some……one……”

The black haired girl who was on the ground.

Ren saw a girl who was surrounded by flames and smokes who barely had any consciousness left who could just emit a low voice.

“Over there! ……Alright, it’s okay now. You are the only one left behind, right?”

Ren carried the small built girl on his back and tried to go back to the exit of the building.

“The mansion!?”

The burning ceiling crashed down. The path Ren was about to go through gets blocked by a wall of giant bricks and flames.

“At a time like this……dammit!”

The path which was blocked by the burning flames, from behind him and from the surrounding walls, Ren was being cornered by the heat.

Flames in all direction. The escape routes are getting blocked.

''——There’s no way to escape to.''

''——At this rate, we would burn along with the building.''

The chilling image which passes through his head for a moment.

But at the same time a passionate heat which would erase his chills ran through his whole body.

“……'''Like hell I’ll give up!'''”

He who was despised as a fake Brave Hero.

He was different from the Brave Hero Eleline. A III-Grade {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} who was far from being that legendary swordsman. Even so, all three of them; Kyelse the Dragon Princess, Fear the Archangel, and Elise the former Demon King invited him to their party despite knowing that.

He wanted live up to their expectations with everything he had——

That instant.

Something triggered inside Ren. And then.

''“Can you……hear my voice?”''

A voice.

Like a sound of a bell that echoed from far away——

It wasn’t his ears. It was then when a faint voice echoed inside Ren.

''“I was waiting……all this time. My voice. Now, it should reach you……”''

“!? You are——!?”

A voice he heard for the first time.

But this voice sounded which made him feel nostalgic.

''……I.''

''......I know who this voice……belongs to, since a long time ago?''

''“Summon language. My aria……”''

''“You words. Now, it can reach me……”''

“……'''Yeah. I can hear you. This time for sure'''.”

What Ren gripped tightly was the Archangel’s feather as if he was guided by a faint voice.

The divine white tool which glowed brightly.

“That’s why——”

Ancient summoning.

It was said that by hearing the spirit’s voice and responding to them, the spirits would also respond back to the spellcaster.

“I can’t end in a place like this.”

—— 『''{{Furigana|Rh/ s|Sing }} {{Furigana|hec ele Selah| the door of the world}}''』——

The sea of flames that was blocking his path gets split in half.

{{Furigana|Ancestral spirit of fire|SALAMANDER}}.

The spirit which had been beside Ren as a small spirit of fire descended now in its true form as a crimson lizard with wings.

“I get it now…… You’ve been trying to talk to me from a long time ago.”

Now he could hear it.

''“Call me, again. I would be, waiting.”''

Ren ran through the path of the flames. And it happened at the same time.

The same time as Ren exited the mansion, the mansion collapsed while making a sound.

“Ren!? Good, you are safe.”

Kyelse who found Ren and came running to him.

“Sorry, I took a detour. ——Oh, there he is. Hey, take care of this girl!”

Ren carried the girl he had saved and left her in the care of the {{Furigana|Knight|MASTER}} of the Elmekia Dusk.

“Y……You are……?”

“I’m glad you are okay. See you then, I’m also in a rush!”

Ren waved his hand to the girl who had her eyes open a bit as he ran.

“Where are Fear and Elise?”

“They are heading to the summit already. Also, I saw several more parties climbing the mountain while you were acting on your own. We are most likely the last ones. Looks like we are late.”

“I said I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t say you were bad.”

Kyelse smiled while running elegantly.

“If you didn’t do that, then there would have been a life no once could have saved. Also, we can climb faster for the lost time. With the two of us. Follow me!”

“Alright.”

Ren gripped his old sword. Ren ran through the path which led to the volcano.

One of The Five Great Disasters. The “Demon General of Blaze” Achendia. They simply ran towards her——

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