Editing Saijaku Muhai no Bahamut:Volume 13 Episode 4 (section)

===Part 7===
Around that time, near the old castle.

Slightly at the front of the fortress for capturing Avalon, several hundred Drag-Knights were in battle formation.

They were waiting for the signal of battle along with enough fighting spirit.

『Informing the Lord, the imperial princess of the Holy Arcadia Empire. We, the representatives of the world alliance have come in front of you all just as you wished. I wish to propose a negotiation for peace. If you release the Seven Dragon Paladins, we will consider it as your side’s will to negotiate!』

The one announcing that through the Dragon Voice of the Drake beside him was the prime minister of the New Kingdom, Nulph.

The leaders of each country were waiting in the fortress. Nulph was entrusted with the right of command as representative.

Reinforcement Drag-Knights with numbers that reached several hundred also came along with the sovereigns of the seven countries.

Queen Raffi of the New Kingdom came, guarded by four Drag-Knights using strengthened general type Drag-Rides. These four were chosen from the best among the forces borrowed from the four great nobles.

The sovereigns of the other countries also gathered skilled Drag-Knights to guard them. The figure of Alterize, the butler of the Einvolk house from the Ymir Theocracy was also there.

In other words, they really had gathered all their remaining battle force and came here with the resolve──to conquer the old castle even without the Seven Dragon Paladins.

Of course, on the surface the force was to back up the peaceful negotiation to happen, but it was nothing more than a mask.

If there was a chance, they would get a jump on the Lords and exterminate them.

The Lord’s castle that was floating in front of the old castle──Heaven Palace gave no reply.

『We will only wait for five more minutes. In case there is no reply, we will attack without mercy towards your castle that is floating in the air!』

Prime Minister Nulph who sensed that used the Drag-Ride’s voice amplifier function once more and announced the declaration of war.

Due to the provocation of the Abyss called Shadow which could mimic a human appearance and behavior, all the countries felt apprehensive of the people’s insurrection. They finally had no choice but to take action.

If they didn’t show an action that was easy to understand like exterminating the Lords, the people might misunderstand that the Shadow’s information was correct.

And then, with the hard fighting of the White Ridge knight order that was led by the aide of the Blackend Kingdom’s Seven Dragon Paladin, Zweigbergk, and with the assistance of Lisha and the others, the Abyss around the old castle were finally cleaned up.

There was no option of letting go of this good chance.

Thus, Prime Minister Nulph proclaimed the time limit of waiting for five minutes.

Everyone gulped nervously while looking up to the airborne ship in the air.

The majority of the Abyss that were the enemy army had already been taken away and they had advanced until in front of the old castle.

The Drag-Knights’ cannon muzzles glared at the Heaven Palace that was the Lord’s castle. They were holding their breath waiting for the time of battle.

It was a tense silence.

When the hand of the clock passed three minutes, Prime Minister Nulph glared to the sky.

He took in a deep breath to give out the signal of all-out attack. It was at that timing.

『Good grief, at last.』

It was a voice that Prime Minister Nulph had also heard many times in the war council──the reply from the first imperial princess Listelka could be heard in magnified state from the Heaven Palace.

That was a sigh of exasperation and disappointment.

『Honestly, I’ve been tired of waiting. Because, from the beginning this is what I wanted. I have been waiting all along for this time. I’ve been waiting continuously since I woke up several years ago……no, since sleeping several hundred years ago, to bring down the hammer on the foolish masses.』

「…………」

*Murmur*, the alliance army’s Drag-Knights taking position in front of the old castle were shaken. Prime Minister Nulph frowned further.

「If you are trying to buy time foolishly, you will only shorten your remaining life, your highness imperial princess. Two minutes remaining.」

Prime Minister Nulph declared that while opening the lid of his pocket watch with one hand.

Next he opened his mouth once more to fill the gap.

「We have finished grasping with Drake’s radar that there are no Abyss around you all as well as your lack of allied Drag-Knights. If you are bluffing, it has been seen through. Know that instead of negotiation to draw out advantage, this is only worsening our impression of you.」

Prime Minister Nulph threatened with a tone that was gradually strengthening.

In contrast with that, Listelka replied with a tone that was gentle to the end.

『Negotiation? What do you mean? I apologize but I refuse it. There is nothing that I can give in return to the presentation of merely the life of all of you.』

「──!?」

Listelka’s sentence that came from the Heaven Palace caused Nulph’s face to cramp and he closed his mouth.

Right now the Lords should have no way to take on nearly a thousand Drag-Knights in total.

All the division commanders of Dragon Marauder had also died in battle, and the remnants were only around a few dozen Drag-Knights.

Even those remnants were managing the Shadows that were carrying out incitement at various places. The only action they could take was only monitoring at best.

And yet, this confidence of the Lord was puzzling.

The enemy was seeing this combat force of the alliance troops as completely nonexistent.

『I called all of you, the powers that be, along with quite a number of Drag-Knights here in order to massacre all of you, leaving none alive. The job of all of you from now is to die quickly. I have no intention to let even one person escape from here for the sake of my ruling of the world from here on.』

「Tsu…… one more minute!」

Listelka declared war indifferently.

Prime Minister Nulph grinded his teeth after receiving a reply that was far more terrifying than a mere threat.

Even the elite Drag-Knights who also heard the voice emitted anger from their bodies and their grip on their Drag-Ride’s control stick strengthened.

Their fighting spirit boiled up like a heat haze. It was then that Listelka’s voice came.

『Then, this is a bit of an advance notice from me too. The countdown of twelve days was a means to gather all of you to this execution ground, so I will annul it right now. In exchange I will read out loud the remainder of your life.』

It was the same gentle voice like when she first showed up before Nulph and the others.

And then Listelka declared with a graceful manner.

『Fifteen minutes. Even so perhaps that is my overestimation. The time needed to clean up small fries like all of you might be even shorter.』

「──All troops, prepare for battle! We will move to subjugate the Lords from here on!」

Nulph who ran out of patience finally gave the signal for the battle to start.

「The target is the Heaven Palace floating in front of the old castle! Wyvern force, fly to the sky and approach for bombardment with Cannon. Wyrm force is to aim from the ground with the support of Drake! Don’t let even one get away!」

『All of you aren’t listening to my words since just now isn’t it? It’s better to look at your surroundings first before looking up to the Heaven Palace you know?』

「What?」

Listelka’s words that she said along with a sigh caused Nulph to make a dubious face.

『Magialca Zen Vanfrick is really something. If she set up the base too far from the old castle then it would be difficult to attack, but putting the base too close would mean falling into a trap. But, for the likes of you, you all can be easily surrounded if I can have you come forward.』

「I’m tired of hearing your nonsense! Prepare yourself!」

Right after that, one of the hot-blooded soldiers turned the Cannon of his Wyrm towards the Heaven Palace.

The distance was far so the Cannon’s power would decline, even so if the armor received strengthening support from special equipment type Drake, then enough output could be produced.

When that soldier was charging energy for the starting shot before the all-out bombardment, the soldier beside him suddenly raised a bewildered voice.

「O, oi-!? What’s with your armor!? Something is sticking on it?」

「Hm……? Wha──!?」

Hearing what the soldier pointed out, the Wyrm user who was readying his Cannon became speechless.

From above the armor, there were strange bluish white tentacles clinging.

But, the soldier who pointed that out──furthermore more than ten soldiers at the surrounding were also in the same situation.

「This is bad! The Abyss are appearing from underground! Everyone, strengthen your barrier!」

A Drag-Knight squad leader wearing an EX Wyvern quickly cut apart the tentacles coiling around his body.

His feeling of relieve after escaping the predicament only lasted briefly.

The tentacles that regenerated with speed that the eye couldn’t follow coiled around the squad leader’s body once more.

「Wha, what is this regeneration ability……!? It’s not a normal Abyss! Don’t tell me──gueah!」

Without even any time to feel shock, the tied up Drag-Knight had his armor pressured and his torso broke.

Without pause his internal organs spewed out from his mouth and he expired.

「This is……no such thing, such thing isn’t── There is no way this thing is the Ark’s Ragnarok, Poseidon!」

Nulph who had received the report in the past knew that figure and groaned.

Countless tentacles growing out from underground one after another.

The faces of the New Kingdom troops who were facing those showed terror and unrest.

Of course, they had resolved themselves already when accompanying their sovereigns to the decisive battlefield.

Whether they would face the Lords’ Drag-Knights, or a great swarm of the Abyss, or Sacred Eclipse──

But, when those things appeared together with the rumble in the ground, their resolve was blown away.

「Pri, Prime Minister Nulph! Re, reaction of the Abyss is──」

At that time, a Drake user of the alliance army let out a shaking voice.

「From the underground!? Until now there wasn’t any reaction but, how many appeared!?」

「Se, seven! There are only reactions of seven Abyss──n, no, this huge size, how……!?」

*DON-!*, at that moment the ground exploded along with a thunderous sound.

The road and soil of the abandoned city burst open and swirls of dust rose.

Their sight was covered for only more than ten seconds along with confusion. In that time several dozen screams overlapped.

「What!? Our position is changing by itself! In front of us the enemy is──ageh!?」

A huge steel arm that was even thicker than the mast of a large ship.

It shot out with speed that the eye couldn’t follow and smashed a Wyvern user of the Ymir Theocracy.

While its physical strength went without saying, there was also how that Wyvern user who should be on the ground within a formation was suddenly thrown to the sky where there was nothing.

「That is──Deus ex Machina!? It should be in Ymir Theocracy’s Ruin, Lux-dono should have defeated it the other day, why!?」

The elite force of the Ymir Theocracy.

The butler of the Einvolk house who came as its squad leader, Alterize yelled spontaneously.

The Drag-Knights of thr Ymir Theocracy were smashed one after another. Flesh bits and metal fragments were mixed and scattered.

But, the screams didn’t stop there.

「What is this huge spherical Abyss! Our attacks don’t work! Everything is reflected back──」

A spherical shaped Ragnarok with growing wings, Metatron’s attack reflection.

Before Marcafal Kingdom’s elite force could form a countermeasure against that, they got hit fully by the reflected all-out bombardment and got routed.

Furthermore at the right wing──the Drag-Knights of the Vanheim Principality received the attack of a wolf Ragnarok that breathed out absolute zero air──Fenrir and more than ten of them froze to death.

Next a great demon Ragnarok, Iblis’s mental pollution caused Blackend Kingdom’s troops to fall into chaos.

The formation of Turkimes Confederation also collapsed when they were pierced by the branches of Yggdrasil that possessed tough life force and the ability to increase resistance due to its strengthening ability.

And then, the army of the Heiburg Republic was also scattered everywhere when they were shot through by several thousand feathers clad in flame like fire arrows. The attack came from the undying bird Ragnarok, Phoenix, whose true shape wasn’t even revealed.

「This is, impossible! How can such thing──!」

They assumed that they would fight Sacred Eclipse and a large army of the Abyss, but the simultaneous attack by seven Ragnarok was unexpected.

Every single one of them rivaled several hundred Abyss, and they were equipped with atrocious special abilities like an evil god.

Such terrifying enemies were surrounding their force and launched attacks from all directions.

Even their trump card──the remaining first class soldiers weren’t a match against this ambush and they fell apart.

An elite force of nearly a thousand Drag-Knights that were the combination force of seven countries. Twenty percent of it fell in a few minutes since the beginning of the fight.

For capable soldiers, this was a situation where they had to retreat without delay, but they were surrounded so they couldn’t do that.

If they tried to break through forcefully and exposed their backs, they wouldn’t be able to avoid total annihilation.

Thus──there was nothing they could do.

It was a picture of hell.

Within the chaos, Prime Minister Nulph could do nothing except raise his voice.

「How!? Why!? Why are the seven Ragnarok that should have already been defeated here!?」

『It’s because they were resurrected, by this me, the shrine maiden of oracle.』

As though she had been waiting for that, Listelka immediately answered from the Heaven Palace.

『My little sister, the spy who was sent to the Vanheim Principality with the name Coral──Aeril Vi Arcadia has operated the function of Avalon just now. That is to say, she had pushed the last switch to revive the seven Ragnarok and liberate them.』

*Flash*, a giant framework of light surfaced from under the Heaven Palace and the side face of Aeril and Lux were projected there.

「……Guh, uu!」

Prime Minister Nulph who saw that couldn’t even curse back.

Everything was within Listelka’s scheme.

He finally understood that they were made to dance within her palm.