“Your Highness!”

Within the blink of an eye, the demon king leapt backwards, allowing Charlotte to take centre stage. █████ raised her arm, and then lowered it, meeting Charlotte’s sword head-on.

The sound of metal clashing against metal reverberated throughout the empty village, and █████’s sleeve was torn to shreds up to the wrist by the sheer force of the blow.

“Ghk… Heavy…!”

Charlotte leaked a complaint under her breath, narrowing her eyes.

█████’s torn-up sleeve revealed what lay underneath—not a hand of flesh, but dark grey claws, the same colour as the horn that sat on the side of her head. Their edges, sharp as a blade, glinted threateningly under the light that seeped through the blizzard as she jumped back, positioning herself for another strike.

“Your Highness, stay back… They appear t’ p’ssess some mod’cum o’ skill.”

Charlotte, not content to wait for █████ to strike again, rushed forward instead, unleashing a thousand and one slashes. Yet despite their speed, she was not sacrificing strength—each blow was packed with the full weight of her body and strength of her muscles, and even skilled knights would find themselves dropping their swords at the rebound.

And yet, █████ managed to match the vampire’s speed exactly, and fended off every attack with pinpoint precision. Blade met claw, time and time again, metallic clangs filled the air, and █████ narrowed her glowing green eyes.

“It would be troubling if you made me reveal my trump card already.”

How long could she last without letting the other party know her ability? She wanted to know. The demon king’s earlier display…

It had entranced her.

But in the end, if he was all talk, there was no hope. He had to possess fighting power equivalent to his feelings, or it would all be pointless.

Thus, █████ would—

“Don’t go forgettin’ about us, now! [Wind-Attribute Magic: Vacuum Blades]!”

Lilith raised her hand forward, directing her magic circle to launch countless invisible blades at the scene of combat. Charlotte would be able to dodge them based on intuition, she trusted that, but what about the robed stranger?

“[Wind-Attribute Magic: Vacuum Blades].”

█████ shook her head a moment before casting the exact same spell as the she-devil, nullifying every blade of wind with one of her own.

“Wh-?! Oh, come on!”

Lilith, frustrated, let out a shout and unleashed a variety more of spells, all of which were handled in the same way—the robed stranger reproduced the spell, on the spot, and nullified Lilith’s attacks as such.

█████ and the vampire jumped around, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, clashing with each other countless times, and all the while, █████ kept nullifying the devil’s spells by faithfully copying them in the opposite direction.

The demon king, his eyes narrowed, issued an order—

“Navillus. Do not get swept up in the mood and start participating. If I am right about that ability…”

█████ could feel her ear flick under her cowl. Perhaps he possessed enough knowledge, or at least insight, to theorise as to her power? That would be promising…

“T’ allow thyself t’ be distracted d’ring comb’t… Thou art a disgrace!”

Taking advantage of the stranger’s momentary loss of attention, Charlotte rushed forth once more, but those attacks, too, were parried, their force deflected.

“Your back… is wide-open!”

Suddenly, from behind █████, a boy with a massive sword burst forth. The force he was smashing it down with, right at her head, allowed her to feel the air pressure even from several dozen centimetres away. And yet—

Another metallic clang resounded as the sword collided, not with her claw, but with the sharp, metallic tip of her green tail. It seemed unthinkable to imagine such a slender tail blocking such a heavy blow, but there was no time to think about such things in the middle of a fight.

“The one with the opening is you.”

The stranger hooked the corner of her tail around Nexu’s sword and tossed it away, the momentum taking Nexu with it. All the while, still she was using her claw to block Charlotte’s strikes, and another part of her had to focus on nullifying Lilith’s spells…

Nexu smashed into a nearby wall, the entire house it was attached to crumbling to pieces. Remiel rushed over and pulled him away from the fresh rubble, then quickly started tending to his wounds.

“Charlotte. Try something unorthodox.”

“As ord’red, Your Highness!”

Charlotte’s sword was one-handed, despite what the force of her blows would believe one to think, which left her other hand free to take up the ceremonial dagger hanging at her waist. Without a shred of hesitation, she plunged it into her wrist, a maddened grin on her face. For the sake of catching up to him, nothing was beyond her, even if it cost her her life.

The white-faced eidolon’s blood gushed out like a fountain, and █████ reflexively took a step back, but none of the vampire’s blood even came close to staining her clothes. Instead, it froze in mid-air, as though it were a solid object hanging from a puppet string.

Charlotte clunked her knife back into the sheath it came from, and then swept her now-empty arm to the side, issuing an order to her blood as though it were still a part of her body. Behind her, it formed into the shapes of countless armaments, and it crawled up her arm and into the cracks of her sword.

With her Bloodworks, she would become her Lord’s blade, all for the sake of one day truly standing by his side. She rushed forth once more, commanding her bloodied armaments to assault the stranger from all sides.

“How… interesting.”

For the first time, a hint of surprise seeped into █████’s voice, though she just as quickly shook it off. She twisted and bent her tail into a complex shape, and——

Around her, made of dark light, appeared numerous armaments, as though to match the vampire. Her claws shone with a malevolent red light that would eat away at anything that touched them.

“As I thought… How irritating.”

Whispering a complaint, the demon king narrowed his eyes.

Charlotte’s bloodied weaponry hacked and slashed away at the robed stranger, but her weapons of dark light matched every movement to the millimetre and blocked every attack that was thrown at her. Although Lifedrinker tried to eat away at the stranger’s vitality, her claws stole it right back.

█████ was filled with joy. He had figured it out! He hadn’t said it out loud, no, but she could sense it just from looking at him. Just by observing her fight, he’d figured out her ability. All that left was to test if he had the power to back up his deductive reasoning. She trembled with elation.

“Wouldst thou cease th’ d’stractions?!”

█████ leapt back. In her joy, she’d let the vampire get too close. But no matter.

“Hmph.”

The demon king finally spoke up at a volume █████ could hear properly, his usual sneer on his face.

“I suggest you use your most powerful skill or such, because I have figured out your trick, and a way to counter it.”

Normally, he would never offer such an opportunity, but he seemed to be interested in the robed stranger. Normally, one would of course take advantage of such an opportunity.

So █████ did. To an extent, in any case.

“Then could you tell your underlings to call it off?” she asked, “I need some time.”

“Hah! Surely you jest. What use is an ultimate skill you cannot use in active combat?”

“Your sense of humour is very poor, demon king.”

“Even I will have my feelings hurt if you tell me so straight-up, you know?”

Although they were having a leisurely conversation, █████ was still locked in a battle to the death—if she slipped up and let even one attack through, surely that would cascade and eventually, she would end up with a sword through her throat.

“In that case, I shall simply chant as-is.”

She leapt backwards, taking a formidable distance from both the vampire and the devil, and paused a moment to slide down her hood.

Gorgeous, pale blue hair, likely enough to wrap herself in if she desired. A single dark grey wing unfolded from her back. On either side of her head sat a pointy ear, reminiscent of an elf’s. But more importantly—

Her otherworldly, glowing green eyes were locked into an expression that spoke nearly of desperation.

“I am, that which creates worlds.

I am, that which destroys worlds.

I am, that which saves people.

I am, that which kills people.”

Each of her contradictory statements was punctuated by a chiming, warped, distorted bell. Loud enough to be heard, but subtle enough to be almost pleasant to listen to.

“I am Mephistopheles, in the flesh.

My name is Faust.

I am she who will become God.

Your death, was decided upon long ago.”

The vampire and the devil caught up to her. But she would not let her chant go interrupted—she simply continued chanting, even while warding off killing blows and nullifying countless spells.

“Before my Lord, all is as food.

And my Lord is that which eats.

Food is to be eaten. That is what is called ‘fate’.”

Fate. The immutable destiny of everything that encountered her was to be eaten. There was simply no other way.

“There is only one way to survive—that is, to go from a place with large amounts of food, to a place with small amounts of food.

If you do not, surely you will be eaten.

The World-Eater’s Authority—

Dimensional Banishment!”

She unleashed a wave, one which would banish everything around her to a different world.

It was fine this way. She could not put his life at stake for her own sake.

She had been entranced by his words, earlier… so she would save him, so that he could continue to protect those he cared about. That would be for the best.

Except nothing happened.

“Wh-?! That’s supposed to work on everything other than god-candidates!”

True surprise entered her voice, and she couldn’t keep it off her face, either. After all, there was no way she could’ve known.

The demon king was already well on his way to becoming a god.

And everyone else present, whether it be a blessing or a name, contained a part of him.

In other words, there was not a single viable target for her ability nearby.

“Drivel.

Ahh, you speak such drivel, Faust. Meaningless words.

Fate? How worthless. Look around you.”

The demon king shook his head, and gestured around to his subordinates.

“A vampire is a fundamentally lonely existence. Yet look at this girl, right in front of you. She is far from lonely. She loves me, and I love her in turn…

Nay. It is not just me. My entire army loves her.

Is that not so, Charlotte?”

The vampire froze a moment, and then picked her assault back up, fiercer than ever before.

“Yes, Your Highness!”

She would catch up to him. No matter what.

“A dragon—that is an existence which hates all, and in turn, which is hated by all.

Yet this girl harbours not a shred of hate, directed at the world or at herself.

A slime could very well be characterised by its lack of intellect.

Yet this girl went out of her way to protect her daily life with us.

Devils are fundamentally built on selfishness.

Yet this girl is possibly one of the kindest people I know, placing her family far above herself.

Witches are defined by their single-minded drive for creation, with not the least bit of interest for their creations’ fate.

Yet we have a witch who insists her inventions be used.

If it is about fate, then we have already broken it several times.

You would speak of fate to us? Nothing could be more foolish.

That fate you speak of lacks both meaning and value. In which case, ‘tis fine to simply break it to pieces, aye? We shall simply start it over from scratch. Both fate, and the world itself.

Come, now. Show us your true potential!”

Faust could not help but chuckle. He was preaching about breaking fate, to someone who’d been its prisoner for longer than she could remember. And yet, his words carried a strangely powerful weight. Perhaps… Perhaps she could go along with him.

Yes. She would try it out.

“I am, that which creates worlds.

I am, that which destroys worlds.

I am, that which saves people.

I am, that which kills people.”

Once more, she started her chant. This time, not to save him… but to do what he asked.

“I am Mephistopheles, in the flesh.

My name is Faust.

I am she who will become God.

Your death, was decided upon long ago.”

She would show him her true power.

“Before my Lord, all is as food.

And my Lord is that which eats.

Food is to be eaten. That is what is called ‘fate’.”

So that perhaps, he could devise a countermeasure for when her Lord came and used the same power.

“So now, as the harbinger of that which eats all, I must inform you.

Your fate is to be eaten. Please do not resist, as you will not win.

You cannot escape.

The World-Eater’s Authority—

Turn The Tables!”

And then there were two.

Two separate Fausts, one of which was matching Charlotte’s swordplay exactly, the other of which was duplicating Lilith, spell for spell.

“As I thought, that is your ability.”

The demon king nodded, his hypothesis proven true. In other words, it was—

“And now, even if I…”

Out of curiosity, he flung a quick spell towards one of the Fausts. The spell, just like Lilith’s spells, was countered perfectly by another Faust, who had appeared from nowhere.

Another Faust who then proceeded not to do anything.

Indeed, it did nothing—

“Charlotte, Lilith. Hear me.”

“At thy c’mmand!”

“ ‘Sup?”

“Cease your attacks.”

Questioning expressions on their faces, the demon generals obeyed, only to find that the Fausts, too, stopped attacking.

“Charlotte. Put the blood away.”

“A-Aye, Your Highness!”

As Charlotte’s bloodied armaments faded, so too did Faust’s weapons of black light, and her claws stopped glowing.

“Faust. Your power… ‘Tis the power to copy your opponents, is it not? All you have, yourself, is a high level of physical strength and strong, sharp claws.”

“So what?! If you can’t attack, I win anyway!”

The three Fausts merged back into one and rushed at the demon king—

“Oh, but that is a simple thing. All I need do is this.”

The demon king spread his arms and, the moment Faust got close, wrapped her in an embrace, pinning her arms to her side.

“Wh-?!”

“Even if you copied this, nothing would come of it. And you cannot assault me from this position, can you?”

She tried to lash at him with her tail, but found it blocked by a magical barrier. Something not worth copying in this situation…

“Well, I will admit I cannot kill you like this either, since crushing you would lead to unfortunate side effects, but… Are you satisfied, Faust?”

“I will admit it. This is my loss.”

The embrace was dropped.

“Then, o Faust. I ask of you. Will you break fate, together with us? Or will you forever remain shackled to your uncaring master?”

“Fate… Breaking it apart…

Yes! I’ll do it!

Rather, please let me do it, Your Majesty! O Demon King!”

“Aye, that expression suits you much better, Faust. ‘Tis a lovely smile. Then, my first order… There is no need to obey the orders of Mephistopheles. How about that?”

With just that, the shackles were shattered. Of course, it would only last as long as this world did, but…

It was a step forward. The first in a very long time.