The Barren Lands had gone still again.
Not because the battle had ended.
But because something older had stepped onto the field.
Dust rolled across the broken wasteland in long streams. Craters still smoked from the clash between Loki and Luminous. The Ten Great Saints remained scattered across the battlefield, bloodied and battered, struggling to stand. Above them all, the air itself felt heavier.
Dagruel had arrived.
His massive frame stood at the edge of the ruined plain like a mountain that had decided to walk. His gaze swept across the battlefield once, slowly, taking in the battered Saints, the furious Luminous, and the demon smiling in the middle of it all.
Then his eyes stopped on one person.
"…Luminous."
Luminous did not look at him immediately.
Her eyes remained fixed on Loki.
Good.
That meant her priorities were still in order.
Only after a moment did she turn her head slightly toward Dagruel.
"Dagruel."
Her voice was calm.
The giant narrowed his eyes.
"You."
He glanced between her and Loki, then toward the broken battlefield.
"And this mess."
Luminous crossed her arms.
"That nuisance is the cause."
Dagruel's gaze shifted toward Loki again.
Loki lifted one hand and gave him a small, almost polite wave.
"Hello."
Dagruel ignored it.
Luminous continued.
"He appeared in the West."
"He attacked my capital."
"He nearly killed my people."
"And now he is here making a mockery of this battlefield."
Her voice sharpened.
"He is a problem."
Loki placed a hand against his chest.
"That feels one-sided."
Luminous's eye twitched.
"You were dropping meteors."
"They were symbolic."
Luminous did not dignify that with a response.
A few meters away, Hinata finally forced herself fully upright. Blood still ran down the side of her face, but her eyes were clear enough now. She looked at Luminous, then at Dagruel, then back at Luminous again.
"…Lady Luminous."
Luminous did not turn.
Hinata frowned.
"What are you doing here?"
Luminous waved one hand dismissively.
"Later."
Hinata's brow furrowed.
"Later?"
"Yes."
Luminous's eyes remained on Loki.
"I am busy."
The answer was so casual that even Hinata went silent for a moment.
Not far behind her, the rest of the Ten Great Saints had gathered themselves enough to stand again. Leonard was first. Then Arnaud. Bacchus, Garde, Litus, Fritz, Saare, Grigori, and Glenda followed.
They looked terrible.
And yet they were still standing.
Then one of them noticed something.
Leonard's eyes moved from Luminous—
To Hinata.
Then back again.
His expression slowly tightened.
"…Commander."
Hinata didn't look away from the battlefield.
"Yes."
Leonard hesitated.
Then said it.
"Why are you calling her Luminous?"
Silence followed.
The others heard it too.
Bacchus looked from Hinata to the woman floating above the battlefield.
Then blinked.
"…Wait."
Garde frowned.
"No."
Glenda stared.
"Commander…"
Fritz looked openly confused.
The Saints turned toward Hinata one by one.
Luminous closed her eyes briefly.
Then opened them again.
She looked annoyed.
Not because the truth was dangerous.
But because this was happening now, in the middle of everything else.
Still—
She did not stop it.
Instead she said, without looking back—
"Go on."
That drew everyone's full attention.
Hinata stood still for a moment.
Then she exhaled.
Slowly.
There was no use hiding it now.
Not with Luminous herself standing here.
She turned slightly toward the Saints.
Her voice, when it came, was calm.
Measured.
"The one standing before you…"
A pause.
"…is Luminous Valentine."
No one spoke.
Because everyone there knew that name.
One of the Ten Great Demon Lords.
The ruler of Lubelius' hidden truth.
A being spoken of only in forbidden whispers.
Hinata continued.
"And yes."
Her gaze settled on them all.
"She is the God you worship."
The silence that followed was worse than shouting.
Bacchus stared.
Glenda blinked once, then twice.
Fritz actually took a step back.
Garde's face hardened.
Saare's jaw clenched.
Grigori narrowed his eyes.
Arnaud stood utterly still.
Litus looked between Hinata and Luminous as if trying to force the two images into one.
Then the reactions began.
"That's impossible," Fritz said first.
"No," Garde said sharply. "That explains too much."
Glenda looked half-shocked, half-offended.
"You let us worship a Demon Lord?"
Bacchus stared at Hinata.
"…Commander."
Saare looked at Luminous directly.
"A Demon Lord is our God?"
His voice wasn't loud.
The disbelief in it was enough.
Luminous finally turned her head.
Her expression remained cold and unmoved.
If their faith was cracking in front of her, she did not show any sign of concern.
"Complain later," she said. "I have more important things to deal with."
Glenda gave a disbelieving laugh.
"Oh, that's nice."
"Our religion collapses in the middle of a battlefield and we're supposed to schedule our outrage?"
Hinata cut in before things could spiral further.
"Enough."
Her voice snapped across them sharply.
Every Saint looked at her.
Hinata's face had gone hard again.
"We deal with this later."
Leonard was the first to recover his composure.
He nodded once.
Understood.
Whatever else they were feeling, the battlefield had not changed.
The demon was still there.
The danger was still there.
And now—
So was Dagruel.
The giant had watched the entire exchange without much visible interest. Matters of faith did not concern him. What did concern him was territory.
And disrespect.
He looked toward Loki again.
"You."
Loki looked delighted to be addressed.
"Me."
Dagruel's voice rolled heavily across the field.
"I do not know who you are."
Loki smiled.
"That makes two of us, depending on the day."
Luminous pinched the bridge of her nose.
Dagruel ignored the joke.
"But you have entered my land."
His eyes narrowed.
"You have fought upon it."
"You have shattered it."
He stepped forward once.
"And now you stand in battle against one I know."
Luminous did not correct him.
Which told Loki everything he needed to know.
Dagruel continued.
"So I will ask only once."
His pressure deepened across the battlefield.
"Will you leave?"
Loki looked around.
At the Saints.
At Luminous.
At Dagruel.
Then laughed.
"Ah."
"So that's where this is going."
He rolled one shoulder and looked openly pleased.
"No."
Dagruel's expression did not change.
"Then I will remove you."
Luminous's eyes sharpened instantly.
She did not protest.
She did not object.
If anything, a faint, cold satisfaction settled into her expression.
"Good."
For the first time since he had arrived, Loki's smile widened into something genuinely eager.
There it was.
The real turn.
The battlefield had changed again.
What had been a one-sided humiliation of the Saints had now become something else entirely.
A two-on-one.
A Demon Lord and a Titan.
Against him.
The battered Saints could only watch.
The air thickened.
Magic gathered.
Luminous stepped forward, one hand already crackling with lightning.
Dagruel planted one foot firmly into the ruined land, and the wasteland itself seemed to answer him.
Loki stood in the middle of them, maroon suit fluttering in the dry wind, smile bright and dangerous.
He spread his arms slightly.
"Well."
His eyes gleamed.
"Shall we get started."
Luminous's voice cut through the tension.
"Do not smile."
Dagruel's followed.
"Prepare yourself."
Loki laughed softly.
Then shifted his stance.
The wasteland held its breath.
And every person present knew—
The next clash would be far worse than the last.
---
Far away.
In another world.
The night streets of Tokyo glowed under white streetlights and neon reflections.
Cars passed.
People walked.
The city lived on, unaware.
Among those countless ordinary lives was one man.
Satoru Mikami.
A perfectly ordinary salaryman.
No magic.
No destiny.
No great ambition beyond getting through life with some degree of comfort and dignity.
And on this particular night—
That ordinary life was about to end.
He turned at the sound of hurried footsteps.
A flash of steel.
A cry.
Pain.
Sudden.
Sharp.
Confusing.
The city lights blurred.
Voices sounded distant.
His body fell.
Warm blood spread across cold pavement.
And as the final moments of Satoru Mikami's life slipped away—
His soul began to move.
Toward another world.
Toward a world of monsters, magic, Demon Lords, dragons, Primordials, and fate.
Toward the world where, one day—
He would awaken with a new name.
Rimuru.
---
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