Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyusoukyoku (WN)
chapter-17-25

17-25. Demon God (2)

Satou here. In older idol manga, you often see this scene where an idol talks to the main character from behind while the TV is showing the idol, then the mc proceeds to repeatedly compare the idol on TV and the person herself back and forth in disbelief. It may be cliched, but I sure love those scenes.

◇

『Got it! Be right there!』

After receiving a report from Arisa in the capital about [Demon God in the sky], I made an eye contact with god Tenion to get her acknowledgment before going to where Arisa was with space magic Teleport.

I surveyed the surroundings at the destination.

It's okay, Arisa and the girls are unharmed.

I sighed in relief and confirmed the situation.

Apparently this is inside a bridge of an aircraft parked in the courtyard of Duchess Mitsukuni Mansion at the capital.

Looking up through the bridge window, I saw what looked to be demon god projected in the air.

Arisa had muttered some flag-like remark in Familiar Link, "It's our victory now", but since it seemed she said that unconsciously, I let it slide.

『Let me reiterate.』

--Age of Gods language?

『It appears those merciless gods have decided upon your annihilation. For the sake of saving you from ruins, I will bet all the power I hold and resist those evil gods. Do not pray to the seven pillar gods if you do not wish for ruins. Head to towers if you choose to fight alongside me. I shall bestow you my Divine Protections.』

I looked at the girls and it appeared they understood what the demon god was saying.

"Arisa, where's your translation ring?"

"It's stored inside my golden armor, should I take it out?"

I replied back 'no need'.

It seems like Demon God has used some sort of magic or Authority to make his words intelligible to anyone who heard him.

"Protections, get~?"

"Yes indeed. Let us head to the tower everybody."

Tama and Princess Sistina said something weird.

"What's the matter Tama nodesu?"

"Helmet."

"Pochi, put Tama's helmet on her! Nana, Tina-sama's veil!"

While Pochi and Nana were on the move, I put mind magic [Resist Mind Control] on the girls.

"Don't tell me, mind control?"

"Yeah, looks like it."

I affirmed Arisa while checking the Map.

Thousands of capital inhabitants have begun heading toward the tower. There's only a few commoners who got brainwashed even though the high leveled Tama and the princess fell under it though.

I'm wondering if there's some kind of conditions to it, but there's a more pressing matter to care now.

"Master."

"I know."

I take out a wand created from a World Tree's Emerald Branch from Storage.

This isn't the turn for force magic forbidden spell [Divine Destruction], but for mind magic forbidden spell [Dominate Mass Psychology].

It's the worst kind of magic that was originally developed by a dictator to brainwash his own citizens.

--Don't let Demon God mislead you.

I made an appeal to people through magic.

Luminous points on my Map showed new movements.

Looking around, Tama and Princess Sistina who were still restless even after equipping their mind control resisting helmet and veil have calmed down right after receiving my forbidden spell.

Tama was getting desperately hugged by Pochi, the princess got reproved by Mia, 'Careless'.

Well, I think that was inevitable considering the opponent is Demon God.

Now then, time to look around the world with Unit Arrangement--.

◇

When I got back from going around the world, the girls had relocated to the duchess mansion's courtyard.

I guess the view is too cramped inside the bridge.

『--It appears the army of gods is here.』

Demon God muttered as he looked up at the sky.

The sky cracked open, and from the fissure, came forth angels--or rather, white spheres with white light rings around them.

"Oh no, they're aiming at the ground--"

"It's fine. They're not in this plane."

I think Demon God is broadcasting the footage from somewhere, but I couldn't find him anywhere in the world.

A huge purple barrier blocked attack magic unleashed by the spheroid angels.

It's quite an intense footage, I back away on reflex. Like 4DX movies, heat swept over and buildings shook to match what occurred in the video.

Ordinary people will definitely mistake this footage as a reality.

『Demons! Protect the world!』

Magic circles manifested around Demon God and from there, troops of demons gushed out.

"That's a recording too right?"

"Yeah, most likely."

I think it's probably shot in a sub-space Demon God created.

Vivid orange colored and green colored lights overflowed out of the fissure.

『You cretin!』

『Dare you sully gods' names, know your shame!』

Whoa, looks like the gods are confronting him directly.

God Heraruon unleashed orange colored lightning and god Garleon crescent shaped green blades.

The intensity I felt from those attacks rivals that of the dense yellow beam god Zaikuon shot out.

Demon God's layered barriers blocked those attacks as it approached the ground.

The footage showed the slight shockwave that leaked out of the clash pulverized distant mountains and fields.

『No hesitation whatsoever on the damage you caused to those living below, yet you call yourselves gods!』

『You lowly thief god, do not speak of god's name.』

『Why do you not understand that the existence of you lot is precisely what makes beliefs fall into disorder!』

I'm listening to Arisa's summary of Demon God's speech while ignoring these quarrels amongst gods.

There's so many things I'd like to quip back, but more importantly--.

"Why would he do this now of all time?"

There should have been a more opportune time if his goal was to indict gods.

『It's thanks to that idiot Zaikuon being so worthless.』

That voice resembled that of the voice of god pouring down from above.

◇

"--Demon God."

There stood Demon God sporting a devil mask.

『That's 'sama' for you! Imma put a curse that makes you go bald huuh.』

『Right right! Revere him! Imma put a curse to worsen yer lumbago huuh.』

Pink haired little girls shouldering purple scythes showed up flocking around Demon God.

Seeing that, the girls assumed battle formation. It'd be bad if this turned into an all out fight in the middle of the capital, so I sent the signal [wait for instructions] to the girls, and took a step forward toward Demon God.

『Aren't you facing off against gods?』

From the sensation I felt from the gods I met before coming here, the ones projected in the sky aren't just mere recordings.

『The gods are being dealt with. That is merely one of my Split Divine Spirits.』

Demon God took a step toward me.

『Is there anything I can help you with?』

『Take a gander.』

I asked him the reason he went out of his way to come here while leaving the gods to his split spirit, yet he immediately gave me the slip.

He said, "Thanks to that idiot Zaikuon being worthless" when he showed up, didn't he.

『Are you here because of a grudge?』

Demon God snorted.

He's neither denying nor confirming I guess?

『Like maybe you were planning to let god Zaikuon go on a rampage by giving him forbidden power and defeat me, then you'd go and intervene when he get carried away and about to destroy countries on the ground?』

Demon God looked unaffected, but the pink haired girls around him smirked and laughed.

『Bzzt wrong.』

『It's not master who's gonna intervene.』

『The rampaging god Zaikuon would clash with gods.』

『And right when both have been driven to exhaustion, we'll swoop in to proveit.』

The little girls are making so much noise.

Guess they mistook [Profit] for [Proveit]?

Well whatever.

From what I could gather from those little girls, they planned to have god Zaikuon and the gods clash with each other, driving them to exhaustion, but since I went and defeated him, I have effectively thrown a wrench into Demon God's plans?

I mean I even hindered his ploy to brainwash people all over the world, I think it's only natural for him to hold a grudge. As unjustified as it may.

"Sounds like it's because of a grudge though."

Arisa's murmur invited Demon God's gaze to her.

I moved with Ground Shrink and stood before Arisa to protect her from that gaze.

『I've got quite a petty image on me it appears.』

Demon God muttered in displeasure.

『My business today is with you.』

Demon God points at me.

"It doesn't matter even if you're a god, I won't let you harm Master."

Liza readies her dragon spear with a resolute look on her face, standing alongside her are Tama and Pochi who've also got their dragon fang swords at the ready to protect me.

Nana also activated the late stage [Impregnable Castle] mode, while the rear guard members switched their wands and guns to active states.

Seeing that, CLANK, the pink haired girls transformed their scythes to battle forms.

『Recede.』

With that one word from Demon God, the pink haired girls canceled their battle stances.

The Log showed that I had resisted [Coercion (Geass)].

Well, I suppose having at least that much power is only fitting for a god...

『Fumu, going against god's words huh.』

Demon God gazed at me and the girls curiously.

Even though the girls are still in their ready to fight pose, they appear to be suffering from a heavy mental pressure.

Golden and Silver armors are furnished with mind magic resisting functions but even those functions can't seem to completely defend against Geass exerted by a god.

『Interesting.』

The pressure coming off Demon God vanished.

In its place, he struck us with restrained bloodlust.

"<<Dragonic Acceleration>> nanodesu!"

"<<Dragonic Eater>>~?"

"<<Dragonic Penetrate>>!!"

Beastkin girls reacted to the bloodlust and rushed at Demon God.

Pochi broke past the acceleration circle deployed by her golden armor entering into the hyper accelerated state, while countless clones of Tama swoop down on Demon God from all sides.

Liza who was equipping her powered exoskeleton followed slightly behind, charging at Demon God at twice Pochi's speed.

To support the girls, I use Ground Shrink too--.

A drawn sword appeared before me. I drew a holy sword from Storage. My blade broke into pieces. Oh crap. I dodge with Ground Shrink. The sword that grazed me is moving like Flexible Sword magic. Nanashi's equipment got cut up like it's made of paper. Dangerous. That must be the Dragon Rending Sword. The one mentioned by Dog-head.

Been a while since I entered accelerated thought process state.

I concentrate on ways to support the girls while parrying away the still homing in Dragon Rending Sword with improved Flexible Sword magic and handmade holy swords.

Pochi's and Tama's dragon fang swords and Liza's dragon spear got blocked by shields that had manifested before Demon God.

"Dragon Spear that 『Pierces All』, blocked?!"

"That's a foul play nanodesu!"

"Unbalibabo~?"

--No, it did pierce through.

New layers of shields get rapidly produced every time dragon spear and dragon fang swords pierced through one.

That must be the Divine Dancing Armor mentioned by Dog-head.

"Ouchie~"

Several of Tama's clones made an attempt to slip through gaps between shields, but they got blown away by suddenly appearing shields.

"Giant Shield."

"Hyper Deracinator."

Hikaru's and Arisa's defensive magic showed up between me and the Dragon Rending Sword, but the sword instantly pierced through those into oblivion.

"Aim--and shoot!"

Lulu shot at the blade part of Dragon Rending Sword with her acceleration gun in an attempt to shift its trajectory, but the bullet got crushed into pieces before it could reach the blade.

"I won't let you harm Master, so I inform."

Nana who switched from the stationary Castle to the mobile <<Absolute Throne>> put herself between me and the sword.

"Emergency, Throne has been breached open, so I report."

Nana immediately activated the disposable Phalanx one after another, but they all got crushed into pieces without resistance.

At this rate, the Dragon Rending Sword will stab through Nana.

Then--.

I change place with Nana using Unit Arrangement, and use one of my aces in the sleeve I have prepared beforehand.

『Dragon Rending Sword?!』

I repelled Demon God's Dragon Rending Sword with a magical sword of my own created from [Dragon Rending Sword (Dragon Slayer)] magic I acquired from the False King Shin boy.

The Dragon Rending Sword I produced is the weaker one.

I did manage to repel Demon God's Dragon Rending Sword, but at the cost of my own Dragon Rending Sword that turned into pieces.

Unfortunately, I don't know Divine Dancing Armor magic. Even [Karisfel, Writings of Wisdom] I got from god Karion had nothing on Dragon Rending Sword and Divine Dancing Armor which originated from Demon God.

『You learned that from a bearer of [Master Wizard] huh...』

Demon God guessed right.

Dragon Rending Sword returned to Demon God's side before vanishing.

At the same time, beastkin girls who were giving their all trying to break through the Divine Dancing Armor got blown away by some sort of shockwave.

『Humans and their excellent growth.』

Just as Demon God murmured satisfyingly, the pink haired little girls returned to his sides.

Looks like they were holding off the silver members.

『Well then, have you grasped the gap in our powers now?』

I can only agree to Demon God.

Even if I managed to overcome one Dragon Rending Sword, at the moment, Demon God is undoubtedly a higher order version of me.

But I have a way to deal with him.

The Dragon Rending Sword and Divine Dancing Armor employed by Demon God are indeed mighty, yet I've got a hunch Divine Sword can do something about them.

However, it's not a good idea to rely on Divine Sword alone. If it got snatched away, I'd then have no mean to oppose him. I need something other than weapon to deal with him.

I mean I still have Meteor Shower and anti-god magic with me, if I could just lure him to some deserted place.

『Let's get back to the topic at hand.』

Demon god took off his devil mask as he said that.

Under the mask was--.