“I am a machine born from the Saintess’s perspective. It is inherently unreasonable for you to be with the Demon King. If you have special feelings for the Demon King, I have other suggestions.”
The Holy Sword didn’t know if it was trying to save its own life or simply changing its approach.
At least Avira lost the urge to destroy it. If it wasn’t lying to her, as the Saintess’s weapon, it should have plenty of uses.
Moreover, it was the Demon King who had activated it for her.
“When did I ever say I was with her? I think you’ve misunderstood something.”
Avira retracted her terrifying aura, though she was still somewhat angry. Couldn’t this Holy Sword tell she was acting?
“There is a way for you to survive. You should collect the seven Seals and hand them over to the Demon King. If the Demon King becomes the strongest in the world, the balance of the world and fate itself will lose all meaning.”
“The balance of the world?”
“It’s a force that maintains the world’s equilibrium, known to humans as the [Emperor God]. Good and evil, light and darkness, water and fire, heaven and earth. By doing this, you would essentially be betraying humanity.”
“…”
Collect all the Seals and give them to the Demon King?
Avira had considered this before. Her original plan was to use the Demon Race, which she knew best, as resources and subordinates to unravel the prophecy of her death.
But if the Demon King could truly absorb the seven Seals, that would be extraordinary.
It was like in an RPG game where the final villain’s growth speed was several times that of the protagonist, and nothing in this world could fight such a Demon King. Avira still remembered that after the Demon King absorbed four Seals, humans would classify her as an “S-Rank” threat and call for the whole world to subjugate her.
However…
This plan didn’t sound bad, as long as the Demon King didn’t come after her later.
“I’ve never considered that betrayal. Everyone is just pursuing their own interests. On that point, I agree with you.”
“…”
Afterward, the Holy Sword fell silent and proactively vanished, burrowing into the back of Avira’s hand.
It had just escaped like that?
Come on, as the one who dominated the Holy Sword, shouldn’t she have the protagonist’s upgrade path? Where was her power? Her system? Her golden finger?
A hundred images of Lace floated through Avira’s mind.
She suddenly remembered that the Holy Sword had said it was activated by Ophitia.
In other words, this Holy Sword originally belonged to Ophitia?!
No…
She couldn’t let Ophitia get smug anymore. During the familiarization, she had nearly been ruined by her.
The sound she made that day still made Avira blush even thinking about it now.
And Avira had become a familiar willingly!
Unknowingly, she arrived at the camp holding the human captives. Two Beastmen guarded the main gate.
They had massive fangs. If she remembered correctly, they were Andre’s two great generals, Golden Bone and Silver Bone—near B-Rank monsters.
Standing over seven meters tall, stronger than any beast except dragons, their heads were covered in hoods. Their scarred, ferocious faces had eyes glowing with red aura. Their bodies were like steel, standing motionless like statues flanking the entrance.
These Beastmen had only just arrived near the city, slower than the Evil Demons and Demonkin. They hadn’t reached the scene until yesterday. With just over a hundred elite Demon Race members controlling thousands of humans, they were somewhat stretched thin.
These Beastmen looked intimidating but weren’t all that effective.
Not only did they eat a lot, without good armor or sorcerers, they were basically played like fools by powerful humans. Mounted archers who rode the wind could pierce them from a hundred paces, and in complex terrain battles, they often didn’t even know how they died.
So, Avira came up with a good idea… She had them carry crossbow cannons, which finally deterred Atia’s army.
However…
Although Ophitia had declared herself the Demon King, her actual supporters were only the three major groups: Demonkin, Evil Demons, and Beastmen. The Spider Queen of Tilves had completely lost contact and might have become the Great Sage’s “puppet.”
Within the Demon Race, the Beastmen’s habits were particularly unique, so they rarely mingled with the other two races. Rather than joining the Demon King’s banner, it was more like a partnership.
Andre had been a spirited, always-smiling young man, but unfortunately, he met an early end, slain by Atia’s arrows.
The Beastmen were now leaderless.
“Lady Avira.”
The two Beastmen knelt on one knee.
The Beastmen’s voices were hoarse and muffled, especially these two high-ranking ones. As soon as they spoke, several spectating Demonkin appeared around them.
“We previously only obeyed Lord Andre. Now that he is dead, to follow the Demon King, we need a new reason. For us Beastmen, the way to choose a leader is to fight them…”
“Then don’t waste time. Come at me together.” Avira raised her head and cut them off.
More onlookers gathered.
After assuming their stances, Golden Bone and Silver Bone charged with their cleavers, but Avira casually swung her hand. A crack appeared in the middle of both blades, and they shattered completely, leaving the pair weaponless. They hadn’t even caught her movement before they were defeated.
The Demonkin sighed in admiration, most captivated by Avira’s fighting style and intending to keep watching.
But Avira was in a hurry. She just beckoned and left.
Before departing, she said sternly:
“I don’t care where you came from. Now, your only king is Demon King Ophitia. Understand?”
Golden Bone and Silver Bone gazed at her departing figure, kneeling on the ground without rising for a long time.
—
Catherine wasn’t acting alone.
After learning that their leader was running around everywhere, the vice-captain led the Knight Order across vast distances, chasing her all the way to Tilves on foot.
But Catherine didn’t like the knights disturbing her. Compared to commanding troops, she preferred solo action. Though she disliked the Saintess’s free-spirited ways, she herself was quite unbound.
She wanted to see what Avira was scheming—or if she had run into danger.
After entering the mountains, Catherine had already shaken off the Knight Order members by thousands of meters.
She leaped onto a tree, and a magic circle appeared before her eyes, transforming into several lens-sized magic prisms that formed a simple telescope.
“What…?”
Catherine personally witnessed that Tilves’s resistance army had become captives, concentrated in various camps guarded by Beastmen.
And these captives, as if receiving some order, were lining up and marching through the mountains toward the same destination.
Catherine leaped up to a cliff and ran, reaching the high ground in no time.
From here, she could survey the entire mountain range.
Sure enough…
Were they going to deal with the captives?
But strangely, the captives’ destination wasn’t some horrific, bloody execution ground but a safe clearing without any Demon Race presence.
In the center of the crowd was a familiar figure.
—Avira.
She was actually… saving the resistance army’s captives?
“Avira, I wasn’t wrong about you. You really are still on humanity’s side.” Catherine’s lips curved upward.
