Chapter 42: Don’t Just Wrap Things Up on Your Own, Nya.

An SF dropship was ascending at a ridiculous speed, driven by a nonsensical propulsion system called an “antimatter gravity pulse engine,” whose meaning and operating principles were completely incomprehensible.

On the ship’s not-particularly-spacious rear cargo deck, the blue-bald man and I—me clad in ground-combat armor, him completely unprotected—were tangled together, slammed against the inner wall by a crushing force that would have flattened an ordinary human into paste. Even under that pressure, we continued our brutal contest of strength.

"Guhhh! Pointless struggling! Now that my magic has returned, it matters not how great the height from which I’m cast down!"

With his right arm, the blue-bald crushed the left arm wrapped around his waist—armor and all—sending plasma discharges from the electromagnetic shield and showers of sparks flying.

"Gyaaahhh! I-it hurts, it hurts so bad! Still in! Still in the match! Still in the match!!"

I screamed whatever nonsense came to mind, driven by pure instinct to dull the agony, and desperately clung to him with my remaining right arm.

The helmet—one of the sturdiest parts of the armor—creaked and groaned where his grip seized it. Then, crack—the visor split, fractures spider-webbing across my field of view.

"Stooop! Seriously, stop iiiit! My head isn’t something you can joke about!"

"Persistent little insect! No matter how sturdy your armor, before my magic—!"

Perhaps he was about to cast a spell. The instant the blue-bald released his grip, the crushing pressure pinning us both vanished, and our bodies floated upward as lightly as feathers.

‘We have exited the planet’s gravitational fall zone! Master, evacuate immediately!’

"Yesssss! I wiiiin! I wiiiiin!!"

Erica’s voice and my desperate victory scream echoed through the dropship.

"Wh—!? What is this!? Levitation magic!? No—my spell won’t activate! I lack mana! What is this place!?"

"Guess the ‘world-ending Demon King’ didn’t have space programmed into his settings! Winning move—force-out!"

I twisted my posture and grabbed a troop seat belt with my intact right arm.

Apparently, the blue-bald Demon King couldn’t use magic once the atmosphere—and the particles within it—were gone.

I was genuinely glad this wasn’t some fantasy world with a trendy, decades-old sci-fi flavor, like an ‘ether universe.’

"Open the hatch! Throw him out!!"

‘Acknowledged!’

The instant I kicked him away, the Hummingbird’s rear cargo hatch opened, and the blue-bald was hurled into outer space, where an unnaturally dense sea of stars glittered.

Air leaked from inside my helmet through the cracked visor, and a shrill warning alarm rang in my ears.

The blue-bald looked like he was shouting something, but even without the alarm, the air inside the small dropship would have vented far too quickly for any sound to reach me.

As he shrank into the distance, I saw his body become coated in pale, frost-like ice.

‘Recovering the Hummingbird into Einferia! Immediate treatment required!’

The Hummingbird sealed its hatch, turned its nose, and headed for the flagship Einferia.

"T-treatment can wait a bit… Just throwing him into space doesn’t mean he’s defeated. I need to make sure… finish him properly…"

Honestly, I felt like I could collapse at any moment—but there was something I had to confirm.

‘…Understood. Armor lock. Initiating neural link.’

Inside the Hummingbird en route to Einferia, my holographic prosthetic body was recreated on the flagship’s bridge via neural connection.

The pain in my left arm vanished, but the arm itself failed to render—it was simply gone.

I settled my holographic body into the commander’s seat, the only chair on the bridge designed for a human amid the AI-controlled unmanned fleet, and placed my right hand on the console.

‘Target position fixed with a gravity anchor. With our current formation, fire from Kaerula will reach it fastest.’

"Good. That works. Let’s see how tough that blue-bald really is."

On the monitor before me appeared the pitiful, frozen figure of the man who had called himself a Demon King.

"Fire anti-ship railgun."

At my command, a single shot from the Bahamut-class battleship Kaerula’s small anti-ship railgun struck him—and the blue-bald was blown apart into fine debris.

"Well, he was frozen, so I guess that’s about right… Erica, recover the remains of the Dragoons and Crusaders on the ground at Frilled Square, and while you’re at it, tell Ririka and the others we’re safe… I’m going to rest."

After saying only that, I let consciousness slip away.

"You finally came back, nya. If you have a plan, explain it properly before you carry it out. Otherwise, it causes trouble for us, nya."

"If you’re safe, then hurry up and come back next time. Honestly… you always go off and do reckless things alone."

Afterward, I woke up in the commander’s quarters of Einferia’s residential block. I confirmed that my left arm—crushed by the blue-bald—had been completely healed without a trace remaining, hurriedly got dressed, and returned directly to the ruined-beyond-repair royal capital, Larentia, aboard the Hummingbird.

I was shocked to learn that I’d been laid naked in bed, with the prosthetic-bodied Erica sleeping beside me.

Apparently, I’d been out for over ten hours, and it was already the next morning. The moment Ririka and Natsumi greeted me, they started grumbling in unison.

"I mean, I was the only one who could do it on the spot, right? We weren’t inside a spaceship, and we weren’t near a volcano’s crater either."

"Don’t talk back, nya. What were you going to do if you got taken out before reaching space, nya?"

"So you really do think you’re special just because you have cheat-level abilities. If you keep disregarding your companions, it’ll come back to bite you later."

"...Tch. You two really aren’t honest. You stayed up all night waiting for me to get back, didn’t you? Meanwhile, I got sleepy halfway through and passed out."

Dias crawled out of a simple tent with an enormous yawn, pointing it out casually. Ririka and Natsumi flushed bright red and launched into a flurry of excuses, but Dias brushed them off with ease.

"So, in the end, did you actually beat that bald old guy who called himself the Demon King?"

That was rich coming from Dias, who was also completely bald—but I let it slide and answered anyway.

"Yeah. One railgun shot and he was blown to pieces. If that didn’t finish him off, then there’s nothing left to do but give up."

"So the whole ‘defeat the Demon King and return to your original world’ thing was nonsense after all, huh. Well, he wasn’t even the Demon King we were supposed to be dealing with—and the real one wasn’t even implemented. Guess that means he doesn’t exist in this world at all."

"Looks like we’ll have to search for another way… though we’ve lost every lead we had. By the way, Shougo still hasn’t been revived?"

"Fortunately, the number of casualties was low, but the temple’s in complete chaos. Revivals and warp gate activation are going to take a while longer. Well, we’ll just do what we can in the meantime."

Saying that, Dias looked up at the half-destroyed royal palace.

"W-we weren’t worried at all, nya!"

"Yeah! It’s not like we were worried about Clarice or anything, okay!?"

Ririka and Natsumi kept running their mouths.

After that, under the command of Queen Tilda—who had reclaimed royal authority—reconstruction efforts began, led primarily by Dias and Beatrix. At long last, the royal capital set foot on the long road to recovery.

Count Godart and the captain of the guard returned to the city of Godart, bringing the succubi with them. Apparently, they planned to open a trial brothel there, managing the succubi under strict supervision.

As for the boy who had called himself a god—Kamui—he possessed a cheat skill that multiplied acquired experience by ten. Because of that, he was taken along by the succubi, led by Sapphire, as a sort of living food supply: killing monsters that threatened humans, then having his levels drained by the succubi. He ended up as something like a “level server,” doubling as a menial worker at the brothel, never released from their custody.

For someone who claimed to have become a god of this world, it was a thoroughly miserable fate. Then again, Kamui had completely lost the ability to think rationally—he simply kept flashing peace signs with both hands, wearing a creepy grin the entire time.

Depending on how you looked at it, maybe it wasn’t such a bad position for him.

The goblins and orcs of Taliya Village—along with Fina and Neil—returned home as well. With the queen’s official approval, their village would serve as a test district for coexistence between monsters and humans, continuing to live together as they had before.

As for Ririka, Natsumi, and me—the three of us were completely useless once the fighting in the capital had ended. Still, thanks to the queen’s generosity, we were allowed to stay in an intact room deep within the palace while waiting for the temple’s functions to recover.

During that time, the queen asked us to explain everything that had happened. With nothing to lose, we told her the whole story.

"So you are saying that this Balmugard in which we live is the stage of some ‘ga-e-mu’—a game—and that you adventurers came here from another world entirely…? It is difficult to believe. I possess clear memories of my childhood, and this kingdom has its own history and records passed down from my parents and elders. To be told that this world is merely a stage created by human hands is not something I can easily accept."

"Even if we say we came from another world, Ririka and the others weren’t originally in these bodies either, nya. It’s like… our bodies were adjusted to match this world, or maybe reality itself was swapped around, nya."

"That only deepens the mystery… Still, you believed that defeating the Demon King might allow you to return to your original world, yet that Demon King did not exist. If that is the case, why not seek out the Great Sage who resides in the Tower of Sages?"

The title “Great Sage” was one I’d heard before.

"You mean the guy who said collecting the Demon King’s keys would let us summon him? What we got wasn’t a Demon King—it was a Demon Overlord. Is he really trustworthy?"

"Great Sage Hemsworth, nya. In the game, he was basically an NPC who told you how many enemies you’d defeated, gave minor strategy tips, and announced upcoming events, nya. Whether he’s reliable or not is… questionable, nya."

"Besides, the Tower of Sages is in the high-level zone at the center of the continent, past the dwarves’ Great Tunnel. Wouldn’t it be better to head to the Ast Empire first and gather information from other players? Most of the experienced players seem to be heading there."

The Ast Empire.

Apparently, it was a military state ruled by a young emperor, boasting highly developed magitech institutions.

Although it was mainly intended for players level 100 and above, it was more technologically advanced than Granseal or Larentia. Many veteran players headed there in search of an environment closer to modern-day Japan.

That said, it was also a rigidly stratified society where slavery was legal—whether former Japanese players could adapt to that was questionable.

Of course, some players probably went there precisely because of that system, driven by less-than-wholesome desires.

"Either way, first things first—we take Dias back to Granseal."

"Don’t go wrapping things up on your own, nya. What, did you beat a Demon Overlord with cheats and start thinking you’re the protagonist, nya?"

"If Clarice were really a cheat-level protagonist, I’d expect the story to be a lot more convenient. You should think about how hard it is on the rest of us getting dragged around like this."

"Hey, cut it out with that already…"

"Good grief… the things you lot say truly make no sense at all."

In the end, the nojya-loli queen looked at us with an exasperated expression, clearly unimpressed by how utterly unsatisfying our conclusions were.

A few days later—thanks to the queen’s orders, driven in no small part by personal feelings—the temple was the first to have its functions fully restored.

"A great hero who gave his life to save this kingdom from the Demon Overlord’s grasp. Naturally, the revived Shougo-dono should be welcomed as—ah—my consort. Yes, indeed! Shougo-dono is precisely the kind of man fit to be king!"

"What kind of nonsense are you spewing, you pint-sized brat!? Shougo-san isn’t the kind of person who’d sit around on some tacky throne in a palace like this! He’s supposed to live with me—in a small but cozy house by a quiet lakeshore, where we can enjoy a lewd, lovey-dovey life together without anyone getting in our way!"

The nojya-loli queen and the red-haired succubus—the only one who had remained in the royal capital—were gripping each other’s scorched red headbands, arguing over Shougo’s future despite the man himself being absent.

In front of the same circular underground temple object found beneath Granseal’s temple, a scandalously dressed priest waited with a troubled expression, silently hoping the argument would resolve itself.

Once the priests returned to their duties, we gathered in the temple’s underground chamber to witness the activation of the warp gate—and Shougo’s revival.

I spoke to Beatrix, who stood in front of me.

"You’re reviving your mother too. Are you sure you’ll be okay?"

"Yes. This time, I’ll make sure to talk to Mom properly. I won’t let her cause trouble for anyone ever again."

Hearing that, Dias addressed Beatrix.

"Bea, you should bring your mom with you and come to Granseal with me. It’ll be hard for you to stay here, and I’ve got my brothers over there. They’ll help you out."

"Y-yes! Thank you very much, Dias-san!"

After Beatrix replied, a priest glanced around at everyone gathered and made an announcement.

"Then we will now activate the gate. The paths to Granseal and the Ast Empire shall open, and the souls wandering the land of the dead will return here."

As the priest closed his eyes and offered a prayer, the circular object emitted a low hum, and a curtain of light formed within its ring.

Almost immediately, a human silhouette appeared within the light.

It was walking toward us.

The figure stepped through the ring and emerged on our side.

A man I had never seen before.

He wore something resembling a military uniform, covered in excessive, gaudy decorations.

One after another, fully armed soldiers carrying spears and shields followed him through the gate.

In moments, the area around the gate was packed with disciplined ranks of soldiers. We—including Queen Tilda—were forcibly pushed back toward the stairway leading out of the underground chamber, driven away from the gate.

"W-what is the meaning of this!? This is the royal capital of Larentia—the temple of Larentinia!"

Queen Tilda shouted, raising her voice at the soldiers occupying the chamber.

The uniformed man standing at the head of the formation opened his mouth.

"So the gate finally connects. You must be Queen Tilda. Perfect timing."

He pulled a rolled document from the cylinder at his side, unfurled it toward the queen, and declared loudly.

"The Holy Necrozile–Ast Grand Empire hereby declares war upon the Kingdom of Larentia and the Kingdom of Granseal!"

On that day, in the world of S Sword B Blaze Online, across the sole continent of Balmugard—Fargaria—a great war that would engulf the entire land announced its beginning.

Part Two — End