Nihonkoku Shoukan

Happy singles day!!! /cry

Momota woke up and received a report from his subordinates. The Demon Lord Nosgoorah had appeared, alone, on the main street between Minaisa"s town square and the castle gate. Apparently, it was completely enraged. Momota immediately ordered his men to prepare for combat.

"UOOOOOOHHH!!!"

Daradundaradundaradun…

He could hear the sounds of knights shouting rallying cries and horses galloping. Apparently, 200 Topan knights just went on the attack.

The Demon Lord had come out all alone. A northern aristocrat, Abon, thought this was a chance to defeat it, so he gathered up 200 of his men and led a charge from the castle gate. There was only one enemy, so numbers should easily crush it.

"Follow me!!!"

Horses kicked up clouds of dust as they carried the knights straight at the solitary Demon Lord, someone even the heroes of legend could not defeat. Dark mana visibly emanated from the Demon Lord Nosgoorah.

"Insects!!!"

The Demon Lord raised its hands at the Topan knights, summoning black flames.

"Hear my command, in the name of the lord of the demon world. King of the Flames of Purgatory, Fenghuang, by my order, burn these fools who dare stand against me! Demon Lord Hidden Art of Burning Death: Incinerating Black Swallow!!!"

The black h.e.l.lfire coalesced into the shape of a bird and flew toward the knights.

"Wha—?!"

"GUAAAHHH!!!"

The bird of flame grew and swooped down on the charging warriors. Every knight and horse was swallowed up in the black flames and turned to ash.

"Wha…"

Soldiers who watched the entire sequence from above the castle gate were in shock at the display of Demon Lord"s strength. The Demon Lord began to cast even more magic.

"Vast lord of the earth, let loose your immense power; awaken, elder fiend, and execute my will! Ancient Kaiser Golem!!!"

Grghgrghgrgh…

The ground rose up and gathered into a large clump of stone. The clump took on the shape of a person then began to move. It was gigantic. Among demihumans, elves had the most mana, and even their most powerful mages could only create golems that were about two meters tall. This golem was a staggering seventeen meters! How much mana was needed to create a golem nearly nine times as large?!

The Topan soldiers could only watch in growing despair as the overwhelmingly large golem came closer and closer to the castle. There was nothing they could do to stop it. "We"d need a large army to deal with a normal-sized golem… This is… how strong the Demon Lord is! That Ancient Kaiser Golem is too powerful!!!"

"Get back!!!"

Suddenly, ten people in black robes with golden rings on their heads appeared on wall.

"It"s the Royal Combat Mage Special Task Force!!!" the soldiers cried out.

The Royal Combat Mage Special Task Force was a group of elite mages rumored be even more powerful than the heroes of legend. They were the Topa Kingdom"s hidden weapon.

"We"ll take it out in one attack!!! Use all of your mana!!! Aim at the golem and the Demon Lord behind it, blow them both away!!!" the leader ordered, and the group of task force mages began to chant.

"Dance, spirits of wind, kings of violent storms, take our mana as nourishment and, with your great power, annihilate the enemies before us! Dragon Thunder Storm!!!"

A giant tornado mixed with lightning appeared above the Ancient Kaiser Golem and the Demon Lord.

"Whoooaaaa!!!" The soldiers on top of the castle gate cheered in excitement. So this was the power of the super-elite special task force that was purported to surpa.s.s the heroes of old!

The tornado eventually dissipated… but…

"Wha… How… There was no effect!!!"

The ten mages all fell on their knees, panting in exhaustion, their mana completely spent. The Demon Lord was still leaking tremendous amounts of dark mana from its body.

"Humans… you"ve learned some interesting tricks. Now go!!!"

At the Demon Lord"s order, the seventeen meter Ancient Kaiser Golem marched from the south of the Minaisa district towards the castle gate. If the castle gate were to fall, the Demon Lord"s ma.s.sive army would no longer be obstructed from their rampage. With the golem"s enormous ma.s.s, any attack would demolish the gate. No one could stop it now. Everyone was resigned to death.

BWOOOOM…

The steel beast under j.a.panese control let out a roar.

While the special task force was engaging the Demon Lord, the JGSDF Special Topa Kingdom Deployment advance platoon was also preparing for battle.

"Lift the castle gate, please," Momota asked the soldiers guarding the castle.

KREEEEEEEE…

The heavy door was lifted, and Momota was greeted by a five-story-high rock monster coming straight towards him.

Moah called out, "Sir Momota, golems usually have a core somewhere in their torso! Destroying the core will destroy the entire body!!!"

This was certainly welcome advice. Since the target was so big, this time they would lead with the Type 10 battle tank.

It succeeded in creating an Ancient Kaiser Golem. With this, the clever little humans and all the other races were doomed. The golem was a replica of the mages" general-use bipedal land weapon, created in the image of the races but using the mages" enormous mana and high intellect. Even if the humans banded together to attack it, it would not even be scratched.

However, the humans somehow defeated the Red Ogre and Blue Ogre; that was not something it could have predicted. The humans had become much more powerful than they had been in the past. However, just now, the elves cast a high-powered offensive magic spell but not strong enough to harm it or the Ancient Kaiser Golem. The elves used up all their mana in that attack and were now laid out. The golem would easily destroy the castle gate with a single kick.

But then, the gate opened on its own.

"Hmm?"

Sitting there behind the gate was something the Demon Lord remembered well.

"Th… That…! It… it can"t be!!! T-T-The sun G.o.d"s messengers and their iron dragons!!! You cretins… you humans!!! I know now how the Red Ogre and Blue Ogre were defeated!!! I could not have imagined that… you were able to summon those vile messengers once again!!!"

However, what was in front of it didn"t quite match the iron dragons from its memories. This one was bigger, and it had a more polished shape. It still had that obnoxious horn that spewed explosive magic, though that too looked far larger and heavier than what the Demon Lord remembered.

"Tch! Ancient Kaiser Golem! Crush those ants before you!!!"

The golem immediately moved to obey.

BOOM!!!!!!

The enemy"s iron dragon fired its fell explosions.

The JGSDF"s Type 10 battle tank pointed its main gun towards the colossal rock monster and fired. The j.a.pan Steel Works 120mm smoothbore cannon, capable of an initial firing velocity of 1600 m/s, shot right at the center of the rock golem"s chest. The bullet pierced the front of the golem, blew through its interior, and burst out the back along with numerous rock fragments, opening an even larger exit would. The golem"s core was completely destroyed, causing the rock monster to quickly lose mana and crumble to pieces.

The monster that the Topa Kingdom could do nothing to stop was easily dispatched by a single shot from the JGSDF"s Type 10 battle tank. No one could move an inch.

"Ah… Ah…… Ahhh…"

The soldiers on top of the gate watched the entire thing and could not look away from the golem rubble. It was surreal, the sight of that legendary stone giant loudly crashing to the ground…

TAH!!!

Behind the remains of the rock monster, the thing called the Demon Lord Nosgoorah jumped up into the air. Its astonishing physical ability brought it up fifty meters.

"Huh?"

There was a black flame gathering in the Demon Lord"s hand.

"That"s that crazy flame magic that wiped out the knight order! c.r.a.p!!!"

The Demon Lord began to chant the spell.

"Hear my command, under the name of the lord of the demon world. King of the Flames of Purgatory, Fenghuang…"

This was not good!!!!!!

On top of the castle wall, Inugami was already waiting, prepared, and began to act even before the order came. He quickly and accurately readied the familiar Type 91 SAM in his hands, then immediately locked-on to the Demon Lord. Compared to the Stinger, the Type 91 was better for frontal attacks and instantaneous interception; he aimed at the Demon Lord, which was still chanting its spell in midair, and fired.

The homing missile flew straight for the Demon Lord. As soon as it saw "that," the Demon Lord flew up at high speed, canceled its offensive magic, and activated a defensive magic shield. A pale, golden-colored wall materialized in front of it.

BOOM!!!

It was a direct hit. The missile exploded near its head, blasting the Demon Lord straight into the ground at high speed.

"Don"t let up! Keep firing!!!"

The JSDF soldiers all fired their automatic weapons. Countless bullets from numerous people hammered into the monster.

Clink clink clink…

Bullet casings fell to the ground in streams, tinkling lightly amidst the sound of metal colliding with a hard object. The Demon Lord got up, as though nothing happened, and began to walk towards the castle.

Tatatatatatata…

The 12.7mm machine gun atop the Type 96 began firing now as well. The Demon Lord"s feet stopped as it took a defensive stance. It still looked unwounded.

"Even… even all of this has no effect!!! What a monster!!!"

DONDONDONDON!!!

The Type 89"s 35mm cannon began firing consecutive shots. While the golden wall glowed as brightly as ever, the Demon Lord was starting to look less a.s.sured of itself. Little by little, it appeared that its body was taking slight wounds. Its feet were now sunk ten centimeters into the ground; every cannon shot forced it back a bit. Once the Type 10 was reloaded, it turned to face the Demon Lord.

"This is your first time taking this kind of fire, isn"t it? It"s my first time seeing something as ridiculously strong as you, too," the gunner mumbled to himself. There was no way the Demon Lord could hear him, but he continued to murmur. "Well, it"s been fun… Adios!!!

BOOOOOOOM!!!

The Type 10"s 120mm smoothbore cannon fired. It was in a stable, unmoving position, and the target was at close-range and immobile. The sh.e.l.l hit the Demon Lord, blowing its body into pieces before blasting through a building behind it and detonating within the next building further behind it.

BOOOOOOOM… Guuuoooooh…

Everything was now completely silent…

The soldiers in the Topan army were gaping at the scene before them. They had all just witnessed a mythical battle, a fight far more fierce and intense than the one that described the heroes of legend.

"Curse you…!" echoed a clear voice; it came from the Demon Lord"s head. It was loud enough for everyone in the area to hear.

"Wha… Is that thing immortal?!" platoon leader Momota yelled in surprise.

"Curse you, messengers of the sun G.o.d!!! Not once, but twice have you interfered in my mission!!! Hear me well, insects!!! Soon, the empire of sorcerers will return!!! The insects" rule is coming to an end!!! Before the might of the sorcerous empire"s army, you will all be powerless and forced into slavery!!!!! Haah, haah, ha…"

The voice weakened as it spoke, then the Demon Lord"s head turned to stone and crumbled into dust. The demons of the Demon Lord"s army, having lost their leader, cried in fury and escaped north, back to Grameus, like an avalanche of living bodies.

"It"s… been vanquished…" After watching the battle, Gai didn"t know what to say. "Wh-What an absurd battle…"

The Topan army was burning what happened before their eyes into memory.

"Uu…"

"WOOOOOAAAAAAAHHH—!!!"

Cheers of victory went up on top of the castle wall, spreading to all the soldiers in the castle. Those cheers eventually infected the entire castle town of Tormis.

Moah"s perspective

The Demon Lord Nosgoorah cast fearsome magic to completely destroy the knight order. It then used more mana to summon a legendary giant soldier from various myths, the Ancient Kaiser Golem. To counter that, the Royal Combat Mage Special Task Force"s ten members unhesitatingly poured all their mana into casting the ancient spell Dragon Thunder Storm. The Demon Lord and its golem took no damage; everyone lost hope at that… except for those who had seen the j.a.panese army in action. The j.a.panese soldiers used their steel beasts to blow away the Ancient Kaiser Golem with powerful explosion magic. As he suspected they would, they then even took down the Demon Lord itself. This was a mythical tale in the making.

In the end, j.a.pan routed that unstoppable army under the Demon Lord"s control with only their advance platoon, before their main forces even arrived. And they didn"t lose a single soldier. Aah… what a feat. The incident with the Kingdom of Rowlia, the battle with the Papaldia Empire, the details in those stories about j.a.pan"s prowess were most likely all completely true.

That was when it hit him. The Demon Lord"s dying words, the messengers of the sun G.o.d…

He remembered.

The j.a.panese soldiers had their country"s flag on their shoulders, the red sun on white, which reminded him of the myth of emissaries of the G.o.d of the Sun, which also described the flag they flew. It was the same as j.a.pan"s, a red sun on white. The emissaries claimed to be residents of the Land of the Rising Sun. Perhaps there was a deeper connection…

Was it possible that j.a.pan itself was the country belonging to the emissaries of the G.o.d of the Sun? If that was really the case, then who did something as outrageous as summoning the entire country of j.a.pan here? For what purpose?

The mystery only deepened.

Rydorka was flabberghasted. He was an information officer from the strongest nation in the world, the Holy Mirishial Empire, and he had come to observe the war between the Topa Kingdom and the Demon Lord"s army. His mission was to observe the Demon Lord Nosgoorah, the legacy of the ancient sorcerous empire, and record its mana capacity, the types of magic it used, and how it interacted with the human races.

The legendary Red and Blue Ogres were extremely tough. They were demonic beasts with huge mana stores that were constantly applying weak healing magic, so naturally this turned into extraordinary resilience in combat. He was unfortunately unable to confirm when and how the two were defeated.

But… the real problem was the Demon Lord. First, he did confirm that it was able to control the supposedly uncontrollable hordes of demons. Then, the spell it used to exterminate about 200 Topan knights, the ultrhigh temperature black h.e.l.lfire, he could only call it the pinnacle of spellcraft. The heroes of the past truly would not have been able to overcome the strength of the Demon Lord.

Next, it summoned a replica of a bipedal land weapon from the ancient sorcerous empire, the Ancient Kaiser Golem. This one was several times larger than a typical golem. It spoke well to the Demon Lord"s excessively large mana capacity that it could control something like that.

In response to that, the emerging country called j.a.pan deployed its "battle tank" weapon. If it were the Holy Mirishial Empire, their magic ships could probably handle the golem without much issue. However, it was another story when it came to loading magic circuits onto a land-based vehicle; they lacked a powerful enough energy source to move a weapon that large made completely of steel with that much firepower, so that kind of vehicle was completely out of their means. It was completely impossible, even with the magical technology of the empire.

Rydorka didn"t detect any magic from j.a.pan"s weapon, so it must have been something similar to Mu"s machine technology. j.a.pan quickly destroyed the golem, and then the Demon Lord made a great leap into the air. Right then, a soldier fired another j.a.panese weapon that he could see corrected itself in midair to crash into the Demon Lord. It behaved very similarly to a light magic homing missile that the empire was currently developing, but it was not suitable for practical use yet, and it was limited to naval warfare. This was truly a weapon of the future, a homing explosive that was small enough to be carried around by a single person.

Finally, j.a.pan defeated the Demon Lord. It gave a speech as it died, but the most startling thing it said was this: "Soon, the empire of sorcerers will return!!!"

The beings that created the strongest nation in the history of the world, a race that stood above all other humanoid races, with potential for magic that far, far surpa.s.sed humans and even the elves. They left behind many artifacts that even the Holy Mirishial Empire could not begin to understand. Every once in a while, some of their ruins would be discovered, which just reaffirmed how truly advanced the ancient sorcerous empire was. Their civilization simply progressed too far, which was what led to their attempt to supplant the G.o.ds. And, from the words of the Demon Lord, that terrifying empire would soon return.

"I… I need to report this to the empire right away!!!"

Rydorka immediately prepared to return to Mirishial.

The sun was beginning to set. It had been a fierce battle. Many soldiers were just sitting on the ground.

During the invasion of the Demon Lord"s army, even though the demons were wild and unorganized, the Topan army lost 3,000 men. But… they defended their country. The people of Topa held back the Demon Lord before it could invade Fillades and lasted until its army was defeated. They had been released from their fear, and now a sense of accomplishment was setting in. The deeds of this day would become extremely prominent in the Topa Kingdom"s history books.

That night

There was an extravagant victory celebration, and word of the JSDF"s great efforts spread among the Topan citizens. Sentiments towards j.a.pan became incredibly positive, and the Topa Kingdom would soon become a close friend and ally to j.a.pan.

 —  — Chapter 22