At that moment, his right hand began to glow.
It wasn't the pale green of plant magic, but a pitch-black darkness symbolizing the power of annihilation.
Light surged from his palm, rising upward, dyeing the already early morning sky even darker.
The Holy Queen and the others hiding in the distance felt that oppressive force. Even their heartbeats skipped a beat.
Yu and Beam's expressions changed.
Even after experiencing several worlds, they rarely saw such a terrifying technique.
This wasn't an issue of quantity. It was an issue of quality... those lights contained a pure will of 'annihilation'.
"Grand! Catastrophe!"
Mare's voice was very low, like a sigh squeezed from the depths of his throat.
The signature magic of Ulbert, one of the Supreme Beings and the creator of Demiurge!
The strongest destructive magic, surpassing even Super-Tier Magic.
It erases the target from existence itself with the pure power of annihilation.
Even with the aid of a World Item, Mare couldn't unleash this spell's full power.
It would be more accurate to call it a 'Minor Catastrophe'.
But even so, it was enough.
The destructive energy condensed into a single point in the night sky and fell from the sky.
Silent, even carrying a strange stillness.
But the moment it touched the ground, the world seemed to hit the pause button.
No explosion, no shockwave, even no sound.
Starting from the point of contact, stone, earth, rubble, corpses... everything silently turned to nothing.
The edges of the disappearing area were as clean as if cut by a knife. The cross-sections were smooth as mirrors.
The crater expanded, spreading in all directions at a visible speed.
The Holy Queen Calca and the others in the distance had already fled outside the city.
She stood on a hillside outside the city, looking down at the city she had protected as it disappeared like an eraser erasing a drawing.
She couldn't help covering her mouth. Tears silently fell from her eyes.
Finally, the earth stopped trembling.
Mare panted heavily and put his white gloves back on.
"Even I, who possesses the Disciple of Disaster class, cannot unleash the full power of this spell. But even a weakened version of Ulbert-sama's..."
Mare paused briefly and muttered to himself, "Still possesses power surpassing Super-Tier Magic. With this, Ishigami Yu will definitely be—"
"Will be what?"
Yu's voice came up from the bottom of the crater.
Mare's pupils contracted sharply.
He looked down into the seemingly bottomless crater.
A huge monster slowly rose from the bottom of the crater.
Its body was composed of countless guns... rifles, pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns... like a mountain made of guns.
Its chest cavity was like a blooming flower. Ribs pierced out from its flesh, spreading to both sides, revealing countless human heads hidden inside.
Men and women, old and young. Different faces, different expressions. Some were screaming, some crying, some struggling.
The Gun Demon - Complete Form.
Yu's voice came from inside the monster... low, hoarse, with a metallic grinding texture.
"I never thought I'd have to turn into this to deal with you."
Mare gasped.
His colleagues also had various monster forms.
But he had never seen anything like this.
In his complete form, Yu raised his enormous cannon barrel, aiming at Mare on the ground.
A dark red light gathered at the muzzle. The temperature of that light caused the surrounding air to distort.
"Die."
Yu's voice came from inside the monster.
But at this critical moment, Yu tilted his head slightly. The cannon barrel moved away from Mare. He cursed:
"Kill the young and the old come. Are you a martial arts sect from a fantasy novel?"
His body began to shrink. In less than three seconds, he reverted to human form. He took Beam, still in heart form, from his player item bar. His gaze lingered on Mare for a moment.
He didn't speak, but the meaning was obvious... you got lucky.
Then he turned and quickly walked away.
Mare breathed a sigh of relief and stumbled to his knees.
Another Forest Dragon descended from the sky and landed beside Mare.
Aura jumped off the dragon's back with agile movements.
"Mare! Are you alright?!"
Her voice carried a hint of urgency.
This twin pair... the younger brother wore girls' clothes, the older sister wore boys' clothes.
Aura's gaze fell on Mare's back.
Demiurge's corpse lay there. One could vaguely see his bloody, bullet-riddled face.
"D-Demiurge..."
Aura's eyes widened. "He..."
"It's my fault."
Mare's expression was extremely self-reproachful. Then he shook his head. "But we need to hurry back and report to Ainz-sama."
Aura's lips moved. She wanted to say something, but seeing Mare's expressionless face, she swallowed her words.
She bent down to help her brother straighten Demiurge's corpse. The two children, one on each side, carried the corpse, much larger than themselves, back onto the Forest Dragon's back and flew toward Nazarick.
Outside the city, the Holy Queen Calca and the others stood on the hillside, still shaken.
Yu descended from the sky, landing before the ragtag group of Holy Kingdom survivors.
His grim face showed he was in a very bad mood.
Calca stepped forward, placed her hands on top of each other in front of her, and gave a slight bow. "Tha—"
Yu raised his hand.
Bang!
A soldier beside Calca fell to the ground. A bloody hole in his forehead. His expression was full of confusion.
"Ah—!!!"
Screams erupted from the crowd.
Some crouched down, covering their heads. Some drew their weapons, but their hands were trembling.
Yu threw Beam's heart onto the still-bleeding wound of that soldier. The moment the heart touched the blood, it was like a dry sponge meeting water.
It began to beat, faster and faster, more and more powerful.
Blood vessels grew from the heart's aorta, like tree roots burrowing into the soldier's corpse, absorbing the last bit of nutrients.
In less than a minute, Beam stood up from the pool of blood. He shook the bits of flesh from his hair and stretched his neck.
"Let's go."
Yu, his face dark, turned and left. His mood wasn't good... Nazarick was more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.
'Damn it. Why hadn't this Reincarnation Game picked more of our own people this time?'
'If Nayuta were here, they wouldn't be so passive.'
Beam turned his head and shouted to the Nishikawa Grand Alliance soldiers behind him: "Little ones, we're going back!"
The soldiers crawled up from the rubble, adjusted their crooked helmets and loose armor, and followed in small groups.
A soldier leaned close to Beam and asked curiously, "Beam-sama, aren't we going to occupy the Holy Kingdom?"
"This country is already like this. No need." Beam didn't even look back.
Another soldier sighed, "I never thought I'd witness a battle of such strong warriors with my own eyes. It was worth the price of admission even if I die!"
Remedios stood on the hillside, watching the departing procession, and squeezed a few words out from between her teeth.
"Neither side is good."
Beam turned his head.
The smile on his shark face, the way the corners of his mouth were split open, sent a chill down the spine.
The Holy Queen quickly shielded her friend behind her.
Her body was trembling, but her arms were spread wide, like a mother hen protecting her chicks.
Everyone thought Beam was about to charge over and tear the Holy Queen and everyone else apart.
But unexpectedly, Beam suddenly smiled. "Good eye."
…
Axel.
In the bedchamber, Makoto had his arms around the Miyano sisters. The sisters' cheeks still had a rosy flush.
Shiho leaned against his right shoulder. Her short brown hair lay in disorder on his collarbone. Her breathing hadn't fully steadied yet.
Makoto suddenly remembered something. He turned his head to look at Shiho. "If I had tried to get close to you normally, how long do you think it would take me to sleep with you?"
Shiho looked up at him with a 'are you sick' expression.
'You just took the most important thing a woman has, and this is the kind of question you ask?'
Makoto shrugged, helpless.
In his previous life, he had also read many Detective Conan fanfics. Shiho, or Haibara Ai, was always the undisputed first female lead.
For some novels, it was fine. At most, twenty or thirty thousand words in, she would be conquered.
But some others were different. They would drag on for hundreds of thousands of words.
When he first started reading web novels, he read several Detective Conan fanfics.
In some, the protagonist was childhood sweethearts with her, and they were still in the ambiguous phase near the end of the book.
Were you f*cking with him?
But after thinking carefully, it was understandable. Given Shiho's upbringing, it was too difficult to enter her heart.
Fortunately, Makoto himself wasn't interested in entering a girl's heart. Just entering her body was enough.
Suddenly, Makoto's expression changed slightly.
He released the sisters, got up, and began to dress.
Akemi pulled the blanket over her chest, covering her cleavage. "What's wrong?"
"Ishigami and Beam are back. I'm going to see them." Makoto fastened his belt and put on his jacket.
"So late?" Shiho's brow furrowed slightly.
Makoto smiled, leaned down, and planted a kiss on each sister's pink lips.
"They're back from a battle. Of course I need to welcome them."
He straightened up and walked toward the door. After two steps, he looked back. "I'll give you more when I get back."
Shiho rolled her eyes at him in exasperation. "Go on."
'Again? Weren't you afraid of us dying from dehydration?'
At the city gate, Makoto came out to greet them in person.
Yu and Beam's procession walked out of the night. Every face was etched with exhaustion.
The group returned to the main hall.
Yu was about to begin his report.
Makoto picked up a bottle of wine handed to him by Luna, whom he had poached from the Adventurer's Guild, and poured each of them a glass.
Bubbles rose in the glasses. The pale gold liquid shimmered with an amber luster in the candlelight... Axel's sparkling wine, Aqua's favorite.
"Don't rush. First, quench your thirst."
Yu picked up his glass and downed it in one go.
Beam also downed his. His Adam's apple bobbed a few times. Wine ran down the corners of his mouth and dripped onto his chest muscles.
"Demiurge is dead."
Yu put down his glass and relayed everything that had happened in the Holy Kingdom.
After listening, Makoto couldn't help laughing. "You killed Demiurge. Now our relationship with Old Bone is at the point of no return."
Beam lowered his head. His shark face was full of self-reproach.
"Sigh... I'd rather have died by that kid's hands."
He felt he had dragged Makoto down.
If not for saving him, Yu wouldn't have killed Demiurge.
Then at least there would be room for reconciliation between the Nishikawa Grand Alliance and Nazarick.
Now that Demiurge was dead, Ainz would not let it rest.
He had screwed things up.
Makoto slapped Beam hard on the back, making him lurch forward.
"What are you talking about? How could I sacrifice a beloved subordinate over something so trivial?"
Beam's tears immediately flowed. He hugged Makoto around the waist, buried his face in his belly, and cried out:
"Chainsaw-sama! Chainsaw-sama! Waaah~"
Darkness, Yunyun, Tsuki, Megumin, and the others rushed over after hearing the commotion. They stood at the entrance of the great hall, watching this scene.
Yunyun's cheeks puffed up like an angry pufferfish.
The others didn't look too pleased either.
Megumin tilted her head and said to Yunyun beside her:
"I think their relationship is a bit too close."
Yunyun didn't say anything, but her cheeks puffed out even more.
She suddenly felt a resonance with Megumi and the others, far away in the real world... more than guarding against the women around Makoto, you had to guard against the men around him.