~ From the [Time] Demon Lord"s perspective ~
"Hmp, I can"t believe I am being used freely by a new-born chick."
The [Time] Demon Lord, unaccompanied, had just finished using a Transfer array in order to go to the [Creation] Demon Lord"s dungeon.
The place he Transferred to was the Plain previously used in Procell"s war against a human city.
This Plain was set up to be the entrance to [Creation]"s dungeon.
Unless one had a Transfer array prepared beforehand, it was impossible to go into the city of Avalon without pa.s.sing through this plain.
The Transfer array that [Time] used was prepared by the crow monster he had given [Creation]. Despite handing over the said monster, it was still under the command of the [Time] Demon Lord.
It was a so-called spy.
Furthermore, it had prepared the array through a method that would prevent any new Demon Lord from noticing.
"[Storage]"
He called forth the monsters that were stored in his [Storage].
The total number of monsters that awaited his instructions was fifty.
Normally, a Demon Lord could only store up to ten monsters in their [Storage] but the [Time] Demon Lord, and he alone, was successful in understanding and then improving his [Storage].
He was able to do so easily since half of the workings of [Storage] had something to do with time manipulation magic.
Hence, compared to other Demon Lords, he was able to move his forces at a much faster rate.
Among the monsters that were summoned, a dragon with a remarkably huge body had sent its thoughts to the [Time] Demon Lord.
It was an old dragon with a long and slender body, similar to an oriental dragon"s.
The lightning that crackled around its body further suggested it was a monster far above the others.
"I use whomever I could use and right now, I can use him to gain more time with Marchosias."
His agreement with the [Creation] Demon Lord was that in exchange for lending a hand, [Creation] would prolong [Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias"s lifespan.
Demon Lords were beings that were limited to a lifespan of three hundred years. Such was also true for Marchosias whom the [Time] Demon Lord loved.
As for the [Time] Demon Lord himself though, he had been continuously controlling his own flow of time to be about half of normal.
Of course, there were times he couldn"t do it so his lifespan wasn"t exactly doubled.
Even so, he had succeeded in prolonging his life by, at least, a century.
He had offered several times to do the same to Marchosias but each time he asked, she said no.
"That"s enough for me. Whether I make her fall for me or not will depend on me and me alone. [Creation] says he"s not in love with her but I know he is. Considering even that, I"m satisfied with this deal."
The [Time] Demon Lord"s deal with [Creation] was strictly limited to the latter prolonging the [Beast] Demon Lord"s life. Beyond that, it all depended on [Time]. And that was plenty enough for him.
Just by himself, there was nothing he could do about Marchosias"s impending death. And so, he pinned his hopes of having enough time with Marchosias onto [Creation].
"…Ragna. You seem to sometimes forget the fact that you are my monster. But, yes, you are indeed correct. I realize that. I know that I"m being naïve, too naïve in fact. But… seeing that guy, it just brings me back to the time when [Flame] was still alive. Along with that dream comes the many regrets."
It was a golden age. It was the first time in the long history of Demon Lords that four with A rank medals were born in the same generation.
[Beast] Demon Lord Marchosias.
[Time] Demon Lord Dantalian.
[Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth.
……and [Flame] Demon Lord Amon.
They competed with one another until, gradually, the buds of friendship was born. Eventually, the four swore to bring happiness to each other for as long as they lived.
The [Time] Demon Lord yearned for those happy days.
Marchosias would propose something unreasonable;
Amon would get carried away;
Dantalian would point out the absurdity of it all;
And Astaroth would propose a plan to solve it;
And in the end, Amon would rise up unify the four of them into one.
With all four of them, they could do anything. With all four of them, they were invincible.
However, they stood out too much and caught the attention of the old Demon Lords of that time.
If the four of them stood as one, they wouldn"t have been defeated.
However, there was a crack between the four of them and it revolved around the rivalry between Dantalian and Amon over Marchosias.
In the midst of battle, Dantalian tried to tried to one up Amon and show off to Marchosias.
Even now, Dantalian was regretting having done so. It was his youth and stupidity that had gotten his friend Amon killed. Ever since then, the friendship of the remaining three was ruined.
"If ever there is a next time, if ever a friend is exposed to danger once more, I will not waver. I will not lose another important person. That is what I have promised to myself on that day and I intend to keep it above all else."
If [Time] willed it during his negotiation with [Creation], he could have s.n.a.t.c.hed away several things that Avalon had a monopoly of. Those were after all treasures even from the perspective of one of the strongest Demon Lords.
Better yet, he could have demanded for [Creation] to reject Marchosias and thus not ever be a rival in love. [Time] knew, by looking at [Creation]"s eyes, that the latter would accept even such conditions. In fact, if demanded for, [Creation] would even offer everything he could without hesitation. All so that Marchosias could be saved.
Seeing such determination in [Creation]"s eyes, [Time] decided to cooperate and even entrusted his daughter, the Celestial Wolf Fel, over to [Creation].
[Creation] hasn"t committed the same mistakes my former self had, thought [Time]. For me to take advantage of such a guy would just make me look so unappealing and how can I ever hope to win over the best girl out there if I"m such an unappealing person?
Despite being [Time]"s subordinate, Ragna spoke as he wished. And upon hearing Ragna"s comment, [Time] smiled.
The Time Dragon Ragnaritte named Ragna was an A rank monster born using the [Time] and [Dragon] medals.
Excluding Fel, he was the strongest and most trusted monster of [Time].
When the four Demon Lords first swore to each other that they would walk through life together, they exchanged medals. Ragna was a monster made using those medals.
Ragna greatly like [Dragon] Demon Lord Astaroth, albeit a drunk one.
"The enemies will be here soon. Let"s save the idle reminiscing for later, chief."
"Yeah, sorry Tefrail."
Before [Time] noticed, the Qilin with flaming red mane was beside him.
This Qilin was a product of [Time] and [Flame]. A keepsake of a deceased friend, so to say.
It wasn"t a Covenant monster like Ragna but after him, it was one of the most trusted monsters of [Time].
At any rate, [Time]"s trusted and well-trained subordinate monsters were all already lined up and ready for battle.
The ones with excellent perception abilities had noticed the arrival of the enemies and notified everyone. Additionally, some monsters were also deployed in another dimension to keep an observant eye.
[Time]"s forces were always fully ready for battle.
"The ones to deal with the enemy vanguard will only be the [Chronos Knights]. All the others will observe the battle and be the last line of defense."
[Time] Demon Lord"s monsters nodded.
The [Chronos Knights] were twenty of [Time]"s most elite forces. Each and every one of them, starting with the Time Dragon Ragnaritte, possessed the ability to control time as well as another attribute; combining time and their other attribute together, they could create dreadfully powerful effects.
Each of them possessed the power to compete against at least a dozen of average A rank monsters.
Perhaps the most terrifying of all was the Chronos Knights" synergy of their abilities with one another. With all of them together, they could produce an output ten times more powerful than normal.
Any Demon Lord that knew of this would unanimously surrender upon the sortie of the [Chronos Knights]; fighting with such monsters head-on was suicidal.
"The enemy"s attack will most probably consist of about several hundred to a few thousand forces. We on the other hand are fifty strong. In other words, we can easily do this. Not letting any enemy lay a finger on [Creation] Demon Lord Procell"s dungeon, that much is a given for my monsters, correct?"
These well-trained monsters were all calm and composed. A thousand monsters—or even two—of a second-rate Demon Lord was not enough to elicit fear from them.
"Chief, you"re awfully pa.s.sionate about this. Did something good happen?"
"It"s just that I won"t let anyone hinder [Creation]"s efforts in trying to save Marcho. …moreover, right now, Fel is under his command so if his crystal breaks, she will disappear alongside it."
For the first time, [Time]"s subordinate monsters showed signs of being agitated. Before they knew it, the Celestial Wolf Fel became the [Chronos Knights"] idol. While they were teaching her battle techniques as well as helping her level up, they became enamored with her cuteness and innocence.
The Time Dragon Ragna was first among the list of monsters completely charmed by Fel. He would often a.s.sume the form of a dragon-newt and give her sweets.
That being said, Fel herself wasn"t as fond of him because he was calling her Fel, a special name reserved only for her father. Undeterred by this though, Ragna the Grandpa kept on giving her sweets.
"Since when did Fel become your grandchild?"
[Time] said so as he pressed his fingers against his temples.
"Trying to lay their hands on our princess… those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. We"ll burn them to ash."
Expressing a similar thought was the flaming Qilin Teflare. He had come to love Fel completely like a little sister.
All of the other [Chronos Knights], the monsters feared by all Demon Lords, then followed suit. To each of them, Fel had become their beloved granddaughter, daughter, or little sister. In other words, she had become an important family member.
This was the first time even for the [Time] Demon Lord himself to see his [Chronos Knights] this pa.s.sionate.
"You all… geez, before I knew you it, you"ve all turned into this. No, I guess I also have."
While smiling wryly, he noted to himself not to let other Demon Lords know of this, lest their cool image of him be tarnished.
◇
And so, the first group aiming for the [Creation] Demon Lord"s city finally arrived within the battle area.
Their numbers were presumed to be about three hundred.
They were composed of gigantic birds and wind-using monsters. In other words, it was a force primarily composed of fast-flying troops.
Conspicuously on top of an especially gigantic and gaudily colored bird was a Demon Lord. He was the [Bird] Demon Lord Andras. He was a male Demon Lord that had a rather lose body and, perhaps more noticeably, a bird"s head.
"[Time] Demon Lord Dantalian, it"s surprising that you"re willing to lend a hand to the [Creation] Demon Lord! But look, this is the combined forces of six great Demon Lords, a battalion of over three hundred! No matter how strong a Demon Lord"s monsters are, with this much-"
The [Bird] Demon Lord"s words were cut off there.
And then, his head separated from his body.
He should have been far enough that even his loud voice could only be barely heard and yet, there were [Time]"s monsters, already within their ranks.
It wasn"t as ordinary as [Time]"s monsters taking their enemies by surprise or moving too fast; it was a mysterious phenomenon that was just like stopping the flow of time.
"I guess you don"t know. You"re only but a young Demon Lord of a hundred years after all. And around the time you were born was coincidentally the last time that someone dared to oppose me. So let me teach you the might of my army that rules over time."
A Demon Lord was supposed to stay in the back. Disregarding that rather sound strategy however, [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian stood atop the same gigantic bird that the [Bird] Demon Lord was on and held up the latter"s head.
No sound could reach the [Bird] Demon Lord"s ears anymore; he was done for. Though to be exact, he was done for the moment he showed his faced to the [Time] Demon Lord"s forces.
The only ones to fall were the supposed-to-be attackers.
Not even a scream was heard.
The combined forces of six Demon Lords were trashed.
The gigantic Time Dragon would now and again appear and disappear without warning.
Some of the supposed-to-be attackers would run into invisible walls, some found as much as half of their bodies unmovable, and some would have their bodies simply torn apart. And then, there were some whose bodies would suddenly be on fire or be struck with lightning.
Without knowing how their enemies were attacking them or even from which direction, they began to draw friendly fire.
For as long as they couldn"t comprehend their enemies" attacks, the 300 monsters were out of time.
This was what it meant to go against the one who ruled over [Time].
"Now, [Creation] Demon Lord Procell, I"ve done what you wished of me. If you fail to deliver on your part, I"ll kill you as promised."
[Time] said so and smiled.
The one-sided trampling continued. A second and third group came but no matter how many groups, the [Time] Demon Lord took care of it without losing a single monster. If ever he needed proving that he was one of the three strongest Demon Lords, this was it.
"So, Astaroth"s going make his move, huh?"
Upon receiving a message from his subordinate, the [Time] Demon Lord remarked so and raised an eyebrow.
For getting not only me but also that [Dragon] to act… no, it"s not surprising at all. If it"s that guy, he"s very much capable of this.
He then looked up and stared at the sky.
How long has it been, I wonder, since I last looked at the blue sky like this? If ever that guy delivers on his promise, I guess I"ll have to stop calling him a brat and recognize him as a man.
Tl note: I’m not sure Ragnaritte is part of the race name. For now, I’m going to treat it as though it is.