“Sorry to interrupt while you’re still shell-shocked. The demon lord this time around is about on par with me, or maybe even higher than that. ———————If you want to turn back, now’s your chance. The next battle is going to create a lot of casualties.”
“………,”
There was nothing false about his tone. Those words did not just silence the old timers alone. The people seated there, Kasukabe Yō, Kudou Asuka, Willa, Mandra, and catching up from behind, Jin, Sandra, and Jack, were unable to come to terms and were silent.
———————The storm is coming. A storm bigger than all others encountered up until now. It will resound in the heavens, it will shake the earth, and it will create mountains of corpses and rivers of blood, the worst natural disaster. A champion that cannot be allowed to exist along side the order of the Little Garden will come to dye the town of dusk in the colors of hell. Izayoi, who could sense this more than anyone else, narrowed his eyes and declared.
“———————I’ll say this ahead of time. I’ll be taking on their leader. I want you guys to handle the forerunners. Conversely, if you can’t do that, then there’s no chance of victory. To make that easy for you guys to understand, we called you guys out here.”
“…………”
Murmurs stirred, spreading out between the fire dragons and old timers. They were conceited because they had escaped the jaws of death many times. Being told this head on by a young person like Izayoi was not pleasant. That is why Izayoi displayed his power ahead of time. It would be too late by the time the demon lords appeared. Especially against that boy who calls himself His Highness and Demon Lord Maxwell, the ones without power who attack in desperation would probably be throwing away their lives for nothing. One of the old demons, having pieced together what was going through Izayoi’s mind, snorted and took a step forward.
“………Hmph. You say that, but is there a plan?”
“There is.”
He immediately answered with confidence. The old timers opened their eyes wide with interest at his affirmation.
“We have a plan for dealing with each of the members we know of in Uroboros. So for that purpose———————we need everyone to be able to keep up.”
He wordlessly appealed for help. The old timers were quiet for a moment, but suddenly let out an exasperated sigh.
“Grr, so indirect! It’s courtesy to be humble when asking! Am I wrong!?”
“Then I ask of you. Please lend us your strength.”
Izayoi promptly bowed his head down. This time, the old timers raised up their arms and resigned themselves.
“Hmph………well, in that case, we will. First, tell us this plan.”
“We know that you’re strong. Feel free to make the game.”
“Hey, you Salamandra lads, get those guys down from the clock tower. It’d be cruel to leave them there any longer. The meeting will begin after that.”
“U,Understood.”
The young fire dragons spread their wings and lifted off. Izayoi turned around to face Asuka and Yō, laughing as he put his hands on his hips.
“The first stage is cleared. The problem starts here.”
“Yes………with Kuro Usagi in that state, we can’t use the judgemaster to hold this off.”
“Yeah. We’ll have to do our best.”
The three stared solemnly towards no particular direction. The reason they were able to win their gift games against the demon lords until now was indeed, because of Kuro Usagi’s judgemaster’s ability to put the game on hold. But Kuro Usagi is currently not in any condition to use the judgemaster.
“Kuro Usagi………I wonder if she’s alright. She was pretty upset after that, after all.”
“Obviously. Just imagine. If, when you woke up———————your ears were on the top of your head, you’d be scared too, right milady?”
Goosebumps appeared as Asuka held onto her own body.
“………I would be scared.”
“See. It’s basically like that. If you’re worried, just go visit her again.”
“Yeah. ———————Right now, we should decide who faces off with who.”
The three nodded to each other and thought about the objective for next time. There, Willa suddenly raised her hand.
“About that, I might have a proposal for you.”
“………Hmmm?”
Izayoi looked at her with a quizzical face. Willa was known as one of the best in the northern side, but to Izayoi, his impression of her is that ‘I don’t know what she’s thinking, but she sure has a big rack’ and that’s it. That she was participating in the game design was probably what was unexpected for him.
“Sure. I’ll be taking on that white haired demon, so………starting with Demon Lord Maxwell, who’s going to take him on? Like you, he can use the astral gate to teleport around. How will you keep that in check?”
“We’ll aim for the spot where he’ll reappear.”
Willa smoothly talked about this difficult issue while Yō and Asuka looked at each other, troubled.
“………That’s,”
“A bit hard, don’t you think………?”
Indeed, if they could pinpoint the location of his reappearance, it wouldn’t be that hard to conquer the astral gate. As a matter of fact, Asuka and Yō had seen Willa using the astral gate to teleport. That wasn’t the kind of thing you could hold down with speed and firepower. It was none other than these two who had fought him who felt this way. To conquer the astral gate, they would need power with a completely different sort of vector———————
“———————I get it. So Kasukabe’s father had driven off Maxwell using this method.”
“Eh?”
Asuka and Yō raised their voices in surprise. Izayoi raised his face and confirmed it with Asuka, Yō, and Willa, in that order. He smiled fearlessly.
“Great. With that method, even when fighting Maxwell, the gears will click. ———————The match up’s decided. Let’s go gather Salamandra and the old veterans.”
“B,But………who’s going to fight Maxwell?”
Asuka and Yō questioned puzzlingly. Izayoi smiled mischievously and pointed at them.