Marcho"s dungeon was under attack by several Demon Lords, thus putting her in a dire situation.
Under those circ.u.mstances, she had sent her Succubus to warn me to not come help her no matter what. For if I did, it would give the old Demon Lords waging war against her an excuse to attack me, a new Demon Lord, despite the rule prohibiting them from doing so.
I was aware of all that but nevertheless, I decided to help her.
"Succubus, give me some information. Who are the Demon Lords that are attacking Marcho?"
"Why would I even tell you that? Marchosias-sama has sent me here to tell you to remain here. I will not be helping you go against her wishes."
"It"s fine even if you don"t say anything. Information is vital to increase our chances of winning even if only by a little but even without any, I will go anyway."
Succubus grimaced but then began to talk little by little. It seemed that saying I would go regardless of what she would say had made her want to increase my chances of survival.
"The ones attacking Marchosias-sama, they"re her, they"re composed purely of her own faction. ……there is no doubt that there"s someone pulling the strings from behind the scenes but for who that someone is, I don"t know. Normally, when attacked and driven into a corner, the allies on the same faction are the ones to rely on but since the allies themselves are the ones attacking us, our options are limited."
That"s troublesome.
Like so, Marcho was forced to fight all on her own.
Even if she was one of the three strongest Demon Lords, this situation was intense.
"The [Time] and [Dragon] Demon Lords aren"t included in Marcho"s faction, right? Are they aware of the situation?"
"They are. But then again, the three of them have a non-interference agreement. No matter what happens, [Time] and [Dragon] will not help."
"Okay but I"m still going to meet with them."
I understood that there was something in between those three but if I wanted to change anything, I had to act.
I wasn"t conceited enough to think that I alone could turn the tide of this battle. If I was ever going to help her, I would need the full might of Avalon. All of it. Including the trump card I had been trying to keep secret all this time. This was no time to think of holding back.
I was acting with the intention of using that right from the start. Doing so, however, would leave Avalon defenseless.
For that reason, I wished for [Time] and [Dragon]"s help. If they couldn"t help Marcho directly, then perhaps they could help me so that I could help her with all my might. That was the minimum expectation anyway.
"First are the letters."
I could show up uninvited but I thought it was perhaps better to schedule it.
I summoned the blue bird I got from [Wind] Demon Lord Stolas and the crow I got from [Time] Demon Lord Dantalian. I made each of them carry a letter and then released them to the sky.
Since [Dragon] was Stolas"s parent, I asked her to arrange a meeting between us.
"Succubus, tell me frankly, for how long do you think Marcho can hold out?"
"……currently, our side"s elites, including the [Monsters of the Covenants], are putting up a good fight. Marchosias-sama"s one of the strongest Demon Lords so her ability to hold out a siege is far different than others. She could hold out, at the very least, for seven days."
"Then, I"m going to a.s.sume I have five to deal with the unexpected betrayal of her allies and other unexpected turn of events."
By my calculations, I had the rest of the next day to finish all negotiations and then only one day for the rest of the preparations. On the third day, we should be heading out to Marcho"s dungeon.
"Geez, what a tight schedule."
In the unfortunate case that no reply arrived, I planned on intruding on [Dragon] and [Time]"s dungeons even without an appointment.
The image of Stolas then crossed my mind.
I wanted to rely on her [Omnipresence] ability. It could only be used once a day but for a fixed amount of time, it could replicate, albeit at a rank lower, the monsters on the same floor she was in. It was a genuine cheat ability.
If that was used on my forces, some of whom were S rank monsters, I would instantly have a large increase in war potential.
……however, that wasn"t a possibility since I didn"t want to make her a target of the old Demon Lords as well. It was completely outside of my principles as a Demon LordPerson.
"Aura, I"ll leave Succubus"s treatment to you."
"Are you going to do something, master?"
"Yeah, some preparations."
Since there no longer was a Transfer array, we needed to secure a way to get to her dungeon. I"ll start from there.
"Rorono, ready that so that it can be used at any time. We"re going to take it with us outside so prepare it for travel too."
"Mhm. Understood. The use of that thing is frightening. That thing is beyond any weapon. It"s a weapon of ma.s.s murder; something that mustn"t exist. ……and yet, I just can"t contain my excitement as an alchemist; I want to see that in action."
In reaction, I smiled wryly.
Rorono had not once expressed something like fear for the incredible weapons she had actively worked on and she had worked on truly incredible weapons like the napalm bombs, the Avalon-Ritters, and the custom-made ones for Kuina and the others.
In truth, I didn"t want to use it but as we were against old Demon Lords, I could not afford to hesitate. For if I did, even for a moment, it could prove to be fatal.
These are opponents I have to challenge with all my might… no, these are opponents I couldn"t defeat even with all my might so I have no choice but to rely on that.
◇
For the second time that day, I came to the bread factory to meet with Wight.
Wight was surprised to see me who was here just a while ago.
"What can I help you with, my lord? Did you forget something?"
"No, it"s not that. I"ll explain it to you in detail later but tomorrow, or perhaps as soon as today if possible, I am going with Kuina to meet with the [Dragon] Demon Lord. I want you to come with us. The [Dragon] medal I used for your Rebirth was from him so I want him to see you."
I had decided that I would rather meet and secure an agreement with [Dragon] first before I negotiate with [Time]. [Time] was in love with Marcho but for that reason, there was that possibility that he viewed me as a threat.
Also, I had decided that I was going to bring two of my monsters. The first was Kuina who had always been acting as my guard. The second one was going to be Wight.
I had two reasons for this.
The first was that I wanted the [Dragon] Demon Lord to feel some sort of familiarity with Wight who was made using his medal.
The other reason was simply that Wight was a strong individual. In the unlikely event that the enemies who had attacked Marcho had already positioned themselves in our destinations, there was a need to breakthrough their formation. I was confident there was no monster in this world capable of stopping the instantaneous power of Wight while under the effects of [Berserk].
"Certainly."
"Thank you. The issue now is what to do about the defense here when you and I are out."
There was still a risk in bringing Wight.
Originally, Wight was my staff officer and was supposed to be in charge in my absence. However, if the both us were away, it would mean a drastic decrease in our defensive capabilities.
"Then there is nothing to worry about. I have an excellent adjutant to fill in for me. Pochi, Koro, and Tarou like her and will listen to whatever she says so it"s alright."
"Pochi, Koro, and Tarou? Who are those?"
"Oh, excuse me, they are Darkness Dragons. It was a little inconvenient to give them orders with nothing to distinguish them with so I gave them nicknames."
For a moment there, I choked.
The symbols of fear that were the Darkness Dragons were given names that were pretty much for dogs.
But then again, in front of Wight who became a Black Dragon of Death, one the strongest dragons, the Darkness Dragons did act like dogs.
"I"m relieved then. I"ll notify you quickly once our time of departure has been determined. Until then, take care of the handing over of the chain of command for our defense."
"Yes, my lord. I will act swiftly."
"Sorry to bring you nothing but trouble, Wight. Also, I can"t afford to lose my magic power right now so it would seem we would have to delay your naming."
If a Demon Lord wished to name a monster after they had named their first three—or in other words, after they had completed their [Monsters of the Covenant]—it would mean that they would have to endure the after-effects of the naming which were the loss of all of their magic power and the inability to recover any of it for about half a month.
In this situation though, that was dangerous to the point of being lethal.
I had already thought up the best name for Wight but…
"Don"t mind me, my lord. This body of mine is immortal; I will wait forever if I must."
"It gladdens me to you say that."
After that and telling him to ready the Darkness Dragons, Avalon"s fastest mode of transportation, for the impending battle, the initial preparations were underway. All that"s left for now was to wait for the replies of the letters I had sent.
I had decided that in event that no reply came by the end of the day, I would go with the impolite course of action and show up uninvited.
I had been invited to visit [Wind] Demon Lord Stolas"s dungeon before but that trip had always been postponed. Now that I had to go, I wondered if she"ll be surprised to see me arrive on top of a Darkness Dragon. Despite the circ.u.mstances, I thought that and a smile escaped.