Allen now lived in a world with Heroes and Demon Kings.
Kyubel was insinuating that Allen had been taken there by the gods for the sole purpose of fighting the Demon King.
A Hero and a Demon King would clash periodically every few millennia in this world.
There was always a new Hero or a new Demon King being born, and after growing strong, they inevitably fought.
Such was the cruel reality of this world
But it seemed that there were others who had lived for many tens of thousands of years, and were trying to derail that cycle.
Allen looked at Kyubel, the Primordial Demon General.
He seemed to have lived even longer than Merus, and knew how to properly dispose of heroes.
This time around, he had spent decades preparing to get rid of a hero that had not been born yet.
(So he's always been trying to kill those chosen by the gods? But now he even summoned a Higher God. Can we retreat somehow?)
The Arbiter God that appeared in the temple was no mere God.
He was a Higher God, just like the Beast God Garm and Mormor of Harvest.
He had the special power to pass judgment onto Gods that committed sins.
Darkness seemed to surround it, and its eyes were filled with enmity as if looking at a criminal.
Pharnemes had gone missing in the past after leaving to deal with the Demon King's Army, but Allen knew he was no longer an ally, he was with the Demon King's Army, either talked into it by them, or brainwashed.
'Oh right, we can't let you leave now. Let me keep you here.'
The large gate behind them closed, trapping them inside the temple.
Kyubel seemed to have read Allen's thoughts as he looked at the Arbiter God.
It was impossible to see his face under the mask, but it felt like Kyubel was grinning.
'Heeheehee, that actually hurt. Okay Kyubel, I'm gonna use the Divine Artifact.'
Kyubel was a Demon Great General, and the Demon King's Army Chief of Staff, but Basque did not talk to him with much respect.
There were some Demon Generals who refused to address their superiors as lords.
"Sure, it's collected more than enough lives after all. Here you go."
Basque had been sent flying all the way to the wall in the back, but he stood back up and smirked as he walked back to the altar.
Kyubel gave him permission to use the Divine Artifact as well.
Pushing his hand into the black flames above the altar, Kyubel grasped the metallic crimson plate and flung it towards Basque.
It flew straight to Basque's hand, as if gravity did not affect it.
As it left the black flames above the altar, the fire in the Divine Artifact turned back into regular red flames.
When the flaming plate was grasped by Basque, it transformed into a greatsword.
'So this is the Divine Artifact Flamberge. It feels good. Alright pops, you do the healing. Horsey, get here.'
Usually Basque fought with two orichalcum greatswords.
Now he left one of them stuck on the floor, replacing it with the Divine Artifact turned weapon.
Apparently it was called Flamberge.
'All-Heal.'
'Breeheehee.'
After being kicked by Merus, Basque was healed by the Skeleton Pope.
Then the Arbiter God, which was almost twice the size of a regular horse, walked to his side and Basque mounted on top.
'You really believe that's enough for you to win?'
Merus asked Basque, who held the Divine Artifact while mounted atop the Arbiter God.
'We'll figure that out soon, isn't that right you pesky angel? Heehee.'
Basque and Merus charged towards each other, closing the distance between them in an instant.
They clashed in the middle with an explosive sound and sending a powerful shockwave around.
'Ghah!'
Basque was still grinning, Merus looked pained.
The Divine Artifact Flamberge had shattered and burned Merus' fist.
On top of that, one of the Arbiter God's front hoofs had sunk into Merus' stomach, sending him flying back.
Merus' fist was burned to ashes, and the kick to his stomach sent him flying to the closed gates where he finally came to a still.
He had been unable to compete against Basque mounted on a Higher God and brandishing a Divine Artifact.
"Kiel, heal Merus. Sophie, use the Spirit King's Blessing!!"
"Got it."
"Yes, right away!"
Allen gave out orders one after another.
He sounded less confident and almost distressed, unlike his usual self. That was the effect of seeing Merus overpowered so easily, even after using Kingship which was his new trump card.
The Spirit King's Blessing increased all stats of his summons by 30%.
'This situation seems rather dire.'
There was no joy in the Spirit God's voice either.
After that the Spirit God Rosen began shaking his hip to cast [Spirit King's Blessing] onto the entire party, raising their stats.
'Woah! You're getting even stronger. That's nice, really nice. Come at me with everything you've got, or I'll kill you heheh.'
'Hmph!'
Merus' stats became even higher, and with Kiel's healing, he went back to resume the fight against Basque.
But it was not enough to make up the gap in power.
Merus was stronger than when he received the first strike, but Basque mounted on the Arbiter God still overpowered him.
'Curse Fire!!'
Gushara, the leader of the Evil Cult, also joined the fight.
He rained down fire where Allen stood.
The flames took the shapes of spears and fell down one after another.
"Nymph, grant me strength!"
After spending all her mana to activate her Extra Skill, Sophie had already regained all that mana.
Now she poured all that new mana onto Nymph, the water spirit.
'I'll protect everyone.'
Nymph, the water spirit wearing a raincoat appeared.
While the flaming spears fell towards Allen, a barrier of water appeared to stop them.
But Gushara had more power than that.
Nymph's wall of water was being boiled away.
"Rocanel, Hayate, Okiyo!!"
'...'
'Yessir!'
'Hihihi'
Allen summoned the three summons that could fit in the temple even after applying Kingship to them.
The Stone A summon looked rather crammed in there after increasing three times in size.
It was hard to imagine it could move even if it dragged its knees on the floor.
(No, this is fine, this can work.)
With the stats of his summons, and Nymph's power that was neutralized, Allen began calculating Gushara's power.
The Stone A summon did not need to move, just stand there to block long range attacks.
That summon was specialized in defending from distance attacks.
It could create floating orbs to block Gushara's attacks.
The Beast A summon that was just slightly narrower than the room's height and width would be a moving shield.
The Stone A summon was an immobile shield.
Allen was planning a formation where those summons became their defenses.
"Let's start with the Skeleton Pope! Use your Extra Skill too Kurena!!"
"Got it!"
Basque on the Arbiter God was a mighty foe, and dealing with it would be hard without Merus.
But Merus was just barely holding his ground against him.
Gushara looked more like a backliner with all the robes he wore, but also seemed to have considerable Endurance as Allen's attacks barely caused any damage to him.
He also had a high magic defense, as Cecile's magic had little effect as well.
In a way, both Gushara and Basque did not seem concerned with defense at all, focusing purely on attacking.
It was hard to get through to either their frontline or backline.
On top of that, the Skeleton Pope kept healing even minor scratches on Gushara and Basque.
It was clear that the Pope was the first target.
(Well, the time has already started ticking.)
Kurena's Extra Skill that buffed her stats [Limit Break], and Sophie's [Spirit King's Blessing] both used mana to extend their duration, 1 mana for 1 second.
Their maximum duration was one day.
It was a rather distressing situation, but Allen knew they could still pull through somehow.
Allen, Sophie, and Cecile had all joined the fight now.
While everyone moved around, Allen was already measuring the effectiveness of the attacks against Gushara, Basque, and the Pope.
Gushara's magic was far more powerful than the Demon General Razel's.
It was easy to conclude he really was a Demon Great General.
'Hold that, I won't let you take out our healer.'
"Yagh!"
Gushara and Basque regrouped in front of the Pope so no attacks went through.
Basque fended Kurena off with the Divine Artifact.
The impact sent her flying back almost all the way back to the gate.
Dogora attempted to fight against Basque that also stood in front of the Pope, but he was not nearly strong enough.
Shea had also tried to join with her fists ready, while Formar and the leader of Shea's archer troops attacked from afar, but their arrows had no effect.
There was such a gap in their stats that they could cause any damage to Basque.
'I knew it, this era's hero is developing oddly. I'm so glad I informed my lord the Demon King. If we delayed this just a bit more we wouldn't have made it. Killing you now was the correct choice.'
Allen was completely different to Basque and Helmios.
Somehow he managed to stall this situation.
'Lord Kyubel, what do you mean?'
"Well, I feel like there's still not enough despair in his eyes, you know? It's a bit boring if he doesn't look more scared."
While Allen desperately fought back, Kyubel was moving comically next to the altar.
Then he put his hand into the black flames, in the spot where Freya's Divine Artifact was floating earlier.
Bump
Bump
The black flames condensed into a round sphere in Kyubel's hand.
The black sphere kept beating like a heart.
'Lord Kyubel, what are you doing?'
Gushara asked what he was doing.
'This should be more than good enough as an offering for our lord, the Demon King. You can use the rest for whatever you want.'
Saying that, Kyubel guided the small flames that remained to Gushara's body, which they engulfed.
'Ah, there's so many. Ahh! Thank you, thank you!!'
"?!"
Gushara's magic instantly became far more powerful.
The Beast A and Stone A summons were unable to resist his attacks, vanishing as particles of light.
It did not matter if a summon was under Militarization and the Spirit King's Blessing's effects, nothing could resist Gushara's magic.
If anyone in Allen's party received a direct hit it would end really badly.
Even if a summon was under Command, it would vanish.
Allen's countermeasures failed to measure up to Gushara's attacks.
Gushara with the help of the black flames was more powerful than Allen's summoner skills.
"This is bad, stand back everyone!!"
Allen shouted at everyone to get behind the Stone A summon under Kingship.
But at the same time the Stone A summon under Command that protected Shea turned to particles of light, leaving her completely exposed.
Gushara's magic flew mercilessly straight towards her.
"Lady Shea! Ghahh!!"
Lud was next to Shea, and threw himself in front of her to protect her.
Gushara's flames burned Lud.
He fell on his knees, no strength left in him.
"Lud, Lud! Stand up please!!"
"Princess...run away..."
Those were the last words that left his mouth before falling silent, not responding no matter how loudly Shea shouted at him.
The last thing that flashed in Lud's eyes was Shea when he first met her, she was smaller then, and he was appointed as her guardian and instructor.
That single blow had taken his life.
Shea stared at Lud's lifeless body in a daze, and her three commanding officers had to risk their lives to pull her back behind the Stone A summon under Kingship.
'Heheheh, much better. I'll take my leave now then. Oh right, one last thing Basque.'
Kyubel was not going to join the fight.
He had only been there to collect the black flames from the altar.
Before leaving, he had one last order for Basque.
"Hm? What is it."
Basque answered while still fighting.
'Make sure you kill everyone here. I don't want to see you carrying someone as a trophy later.'
"Huhh? I can't? Alright, if that's what you want, I guess I'll have to kill them."
Basque had not expected that, and answered in a dejected voice.
Apparently he still had the idea of taking the women back with him.
Kyubel vanished from the temple then.
"He'll go for the backlines now!"
Hearing Basque was going to attempt killing everyone, Allen changed their formation.
'Crimson Slash!!'
The fire coming from the Divine Artifact Flamberge increased in size.
Basque then threw the sword.
Dogora had been unable to measure up against any of the opponents, but now Flamberge had been thrown in a path he could block.
He instinctively moved forward, knowing he had to protect those in the backlines.
Without thinking of anything, he held his large adamantite shield in front of him.
But the flaming greatsword cut through the large shield like it was made of butter or chocolate, not slowing down in the least.
"Gah?! Aaahhhhhhhh!!"
Dogora was in shock.
He watched as the greatsword pierced into his chest.
It easily went through him, the blade coming out from his back and dragging him along as it continued traveling.
The next thing he noticed were his arms set ablaze, which his brain struggled to comprehend and made him scream loudly.
He tried pulling the sword out, but it had gotten stuck on the ground at an angle, pinning him down.
His vision quickly darkened.
His eyes, blood, and every fluid in his body were boiling.
Once the liquid was gone, her body began to burn.
"Dogora!!"
Next thing he knew, Allen was watching Dogora's body turning to ash.
'Tsk, the weirdo got in the way. Gushara, their healer is that blonde guy. Try to take him out first.'
'You're right, we have to kill him before he gets to heal anyone. Hohohoh.'
To kill everyone, Basque's first target had been Kiel, who was in charge of healing everyone.
Basque kicked the Arbiter God's sides to make it walk, going to pick up the Divine Artifact Flamberge that had gotten stuck on the ground.
There was no compassion in his eyes as he looked at the remains of Dogora pinned down by the greatsword.
Basque was only interested in the next person he would kill as he headed to pick up the sword.
