Chapter 88: Ilyu’s Special Live on the Battlefield

History is written by the victors.

Throughout human history, the demons have been consistently defeated by mankind.

In time, most of the demons were eradicated, and by today, only a few remnants remain.

“This history so far—has been the history of humankind.”

Yury, who was once a human girl, also stood among the victors—as a hero of humanity.

She had been a modest nun until she was chosen by the goddess. Blessed with the power of a hero, she led mankind to victory.

“But the history to come—shall be the history of the demons.”

Now the hero-turned-Demon King stood before the very city she once protected: the capital, Pedia. She prayed.

What emotions stirred behind those eyes?

“Let’s go, everyone. The age of demons has come. The day to destroy humanity has finally arrived.”

Before her lay the den of the humans who had once captured and defiled her—those who had oppressed the demons.

“May you humans... at least find peace in death.”

She prayed for their happiness in the afterlife.

---

“Well, you sure managed to gather a ridiculous number.”

“It’s honestly kind of sickening.”

After the demons revealed themselves, we were overwhelmed by the sheer size of their forces.

Demons, demons, demons.

They crawled out in droves, swarming across the land as far as the eye could see.

“Even if Hero Aldebaran can wipe them out in one breath... cleaning up that many corpses is gonna be a pain.”

“Do demon corpses pollute the land or anything?”

“We’ll need to allocate state funds. Hopefully, their bodies can at least be processed into usable materials.”

The nobles in the national army didn’t seem particularly afraid despite the overwhelming demon horde before them.

Rather than worrying about whether we could win, they were already concerned about postwar logistics.

To me, it was a terrifying swarm of monsters that made my head spin...

But maybe they’d never fought demons before—so they couldn’t grasp how dangerous they really were.

“Al, what do we do? Draw them in a bit more?”

“No, we push forward. The farther we can take the battle from the capital, the less damage the city will take.”

“Got it.”

If that many demons attacked all at once, even Aldebaran might let a few slip past.

The national army couldn’t handle them. I didn’t want Papa getting caught in anything that dangerous either.

Following Aldebaran’s lead, our group—the Aldebaran Party—advanced ahead of the national army.

“You remember the prophecy, don’t you, Aldebaran?”

“Yeah. I, as Flame God Overlord Aldobreak, incinerated most of the demons, right?”

The prophecy that Yuri and I saw last night hadn’t changed.

In it, the Flame God Overlord—Aldebaran—unleashed her most powerful spell upon the demon horde, erasing most of them in a single blow.

At the blast’s center, we found Ilyu—completely naked, screaming, surrounded by the corpses of fallen demons.

She screamed her hatred for humanity... and was ultimately sealed away. That was how it ended.

“That spell’s range is a little short. I’m counting on you for cover.”

“Leave it to me, you fiery little shorty. ...Hold on, Ilyu.”

If things proceeded as the prophecy predicted, the battle would end in an instant.

As long as we could escort Aldebaran into casting range, humanity would win.

After that, it all depended on whether Karl could persuade her.

“...Still, what Yuri said keeps bothering me.”

“‘Don’t rely too much on prophecy magic,’ huh. Not something she’d normally say, given how confident she is in her own research.”

“When greater powers are at play, prophecy magic may not be reliable. ...If anyone knows that, it’s her. If she says it might fail, we’d better factor that in.”

“Agreed.”

And then, there was one lingering concern: Yuri’s warning that “the prophecy might be wrong.”

She had a point—her prophecy had once failed back in Yowin.

Even if it were to fail again, we had no way of knowing how it would fail. And depending on the outcome, we had to consider the real possibility that humanity might lose.

If such a defeat were to occur... it would likely be because Aldebaran was taken out before she could cast her spell.

In that case, humanity would be thrust into dire straits. Without a hero, there was no way we could defeat the Demon King.

“If we all protect Al together, there’s no way we’ll lose.”

“Indeed. I will not be defeated.”

But to freeze in fear over such uncertainty would be the height of folly.

With absolute confidence, the Crimson Hero strode boldly forward toward the demon horde.

“For I... am the true hero.”

Aldebaran raised her staff as she said it—there was something undeniably reassuring about her presence, reminiscent of Karl in his prime.

This would be my second time fighting at full strength alongside her—the first was during Yowin. And yet, why did I feel so at ease?

Was this the charisma unique to heroes?

“Goblins incoming!! Everyone, get ready for battle!”

“They saw us move ahead and immediately charged. Let’s hope their recklessness doesn’t become their downfall.”

Seeing us begin our advance, the goblins quickly surged forward to engage.

And so began—no, had begun—the battle in earnest.

—

It was my first time fighting goblins. But according to the legends, they weren’t particularly strong.

Supposedly they had greater strength and endurance than humans, but they weren’t our match—not now.

“This shall be my greeting.”

With a shriek, the small-statured demons charged.

And yet, their formation was orderly, coordinated—charging in perfect ranks, they made for ideal targets.

“Surround Al! Karl, Inon, prepare to deflect incoming arrows!”

“Let’s go! Body Enhancement—this is the SUPER☆IRINE-SAMA in action!!”

“Don’t let a single one through. Not even a spider.”

To prevent a stray arrow from taking down our hero, we threw everything we had into guarding Aldebaran.

“Flame, flare, blaze, burn. Spirits of fire who gather to me—bring forth your cruel judgment.”

The great hero invoked her ultimate technique.

“Let the curtain of carnage rise. —Flame God Overlord Aldobreak!!”

A blinding aurora scorched the sky—but not so bright that it blinded us—engulfing the brave demon warriors in its merciless embrace.

---

“Ooh, so that’s the hero’s flame magic.”

“Incredible! Truly, truly devastating power!”

The nobles, upon witnessing Aldebaran’s full-strength firepower, burst into cheers.

Her magic was on a different level. A massive trench now marred the plateau in front of the capital—as though it had been crudely gouged out with ice.

This was her essence.

My spirit cannon is an ultra-class spell that creates a crater several hundred meters across… but Aldebaran’s spell doesn’t even leave a crater.

Instead, her merciless aurora concentrates into a laser that simply pierces the earth clean through.

According to Aldebaran, “Instead of blasting out magic recklessly, I focus it and compress it before firing. That way, the firepower increases exponentially.”

—

Which is why, after Aldebaran’s spell, not even dust is left behind.

—

…

And yet.

There should have been nothing—not even ash.

But something was off. Something didn’t feel right.

“Hey, Irine.”

“What is it?”

“Is this scene what you saw in your prophecy?”

That’s right. Something’s wrong.

In the vision I saw, the demon corpses were all charred black.

Even though Aldebaran’s full-force spell had hit directly, most of the enemies were dead but still intact, rather than reduced to ashes.

If her Flame God Overlord spell had really landed, wouldn’t the aftermath have been more complete… more absolute?

“…Huh?”

“It didn’t work.”

—

Eventually, the dust cleared.

The “vanguard goblins” hit directly by her spell began advancing again—like nothing had happened.

They marched straight toward us.

“They’re completely fine!! They’re coming this way!”

“Did they dodge it somehow!?”

Was it some kind of special magic that diverted Aldebaran’s flames?

…No, that’s not it.

Look closely—their gear is tattered and scorched. Her attack definitely hit.

Somehow, those bastards tanked a hero’s ultimate spell and lived.

—

“Fall back a little—we’re dealing with the unexpected! Somehow, my magic was neutralized.”

“No way! That was a direct hit from our commander’s spell!”

Aldebaran began retreating, moving to regroup with the national army. If the enemy had some kind of mechanism, we needed to figure it out first—or the odds would turn against us.

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!”

“Crap, they’re already here!!”

But it was already too late.

The goblins rushed in, elated, and closed the distance into melee range.

—

“Al. I’ll handle the rear guard.”

“…”

Immediately, the two swordsmen—Rey and Inon—stepped up to engage the enemy, buying time for the rear guard to retreat. Karl didn’t move.

Since goblins were small monsters, Karl—known as the Giant Killer—likely intended to stay back and support the front two.

—

—Flash movement.

—

At the front of the surging demon forces came a goblin with jet-black skin and one eye, cutting through the air as it lunged at Rey.

“Gigya!”

“…!”

It was a ferocious charge—but Rey reacted in time.

With his Silent Blade technique, he deflected the goblin’s charge using the back of his sword and, in the same motion, slid his dagger cleanly into its neck.

It was his master’s specialty—“delayed response.”

“Gii.”

“Hm.”

But his blade cut only empty air.

Too fast. The goblin, the moment its charge was deflected, immediately twisted away and created distance.

Left behind was a swordsman, wide open after a missed swing.

“Gigi!”

“Gii-gi!”

“…Gih.”

There was no way the surrounding demons would let that opening go.

At the cry of the glossy black goblin from earlier, their allies closed in from every direction—

“Haah!!”

“Gii!”

But even when surrounded, Rey still lived up to the name Silent Blade.

Dodging fangs and sidestepping blades, he deflected two, three fatal strikes with perfect precision.

He kicked away one goblin to break the encirclement and leapt back toward us in a flash.

“…Big bro!!”

“Stay back, Lev—run!! These guys… they’re insanely fast!”

But even the master hadn’t come out of it unscathed.

Blood poured from Rey’s right shoulder, and his arm hung limp at his side.

It looked like his dominant arm had been injured—in just that brief instant.

“Fall back for now, Rey. I’ll take over from here.”

“Sorry. But… don’t push yourself…!”

What the hell is this?

Weren’t goblins supposed to be weak monsters?

Rey had survived being surrounded by giant-class beasts without a scratch, and now he was rendered combat-ineffective in a single clash?

“Damn, they’re too fast—ghk!?”

“Ch—Inon!!”

“Dammit! What is with this speed!?”

And then the confident, blond, narrow-eyed Inon had his leg shattered in an instant and fell to the ground.

In just seconds, humanity’s two strongest front-line fighters had been taken out of the fight.

Wait—what’s happening? The goblins are moving so fast I can’t even track them—

“Irine, in front!!”

“Huh? WHOA!!?”

While I was caught off guard, that jet-black goblin from earlier was already swinging its sword down at me.

Its murky eyes locked on my throat, full of murderous intent that refused to let go.

You’ve got to be kidding—how is it already this deep into our formation!?

“Muscle Reversal: Muscle Revenge!!”

“GiiAGH!!”

Instinctively, I used the form Rey had taught me—Muscle Reversal—dodging the incoming strike and throwing my fist forward.

The technique was the same one Rey had just used earlier: redirect the enemy’s force and counter immediately. It’s a core form in his school, originally meant to be used with a sword, but he taught me how to adapt it for unarmed combat.

Rey had said it was “the most used, and the most effective technique.” Though, he did mention it wasn’t well-suited for someone with my slow reflexes.

“…No, Irine! Don’t!!”

“──Ah.”

He’d drilled that form into me until it was muscle memory.

And as a result, I’d used it without thinking.

Even though the master who’d taught it had just been overwhelmed…

For someone like me, still unpolished in the technique, the counter was far too slow.

My best, most desperate backfist failed to land cleanly.

Instead, the goblin slipped inside my guard, pressing in close—dead close—

“GYAAAH!!”

“H-hii!?”

It slammed me to the ground and, without hesitation, snapped my arm in two.

Pain exploded through my body, and my consciousness momentarily went white.

“Divine Spear.”

I’m screwed. I’m dead. For a moment, I saw my life flash before my eyes.

But, by some stroke of luck, I was still breathing.

“Razika, nice job, you bastard! Sis, sis, are you conscious!!?”

“…Ilya?”

“We’re all gonna die if we stay here! We need to run, now!!”

I suddenly realized I was being carried by a middle-aged man.

It seems that I owed my survival to this guy, who had shielded me from death’s grasp.

“…Just your arm. Thank goodness, it’s not life-threatening.”

“Sakura-san… What’s the situation?”

“Right now, Karl’s buying us some time, desperately. That guy, even against demons, doesn’t give a damn if the enemy’s small. He’s strong as hell.”

…Damn it. I let my guard down.

What the hell was I thinking? Goblins were supposed to be weak monsters, but that was only back then.

These demons are the vanguard of an entire army bent on wiping humanity out. How could I have been so naive, thinking I could win by facing them head-on?

“Al, should we fire off another ‘Flame God Overlord’?”

“No. …They’ve likely prepared full defense against fire magic.”

“…”

Aldebaran is the Flame Hero.

Her magic? It’s all fire-based.

Even Yuri, knowing this, would have surely prepared countermeasures.

“What the hell is going on? Shouldn’t we be able to crush these demons with the commander’s magic?”

“…Yes, that was the prediction from this morning.”

“So, as Yuri said, the prophecy was wrong?”

But this was too strange.

I had anticipated the possibility that the prophecy could fail. But I never thought it would fail this completely.

In the first place, the vision itself was odd. Despite Aldebaran’s ultimate spell landing squarely on them, the enemy’s corpses had little damage, and the terrain hadn’t changed much.

…Could it be? Was the prophecy tampered with somehow?

---

…Remember.

Does Yury—does Ilyu have detailed knowledge of precognition magic?

She’s a Hero who specializes in rear support. If she knows about it, then maybe she could’ve pulled off some kind of “trick.”

I already told her that I’m a Spirit Magician. What did Ilyu say at the time?

『I happen to know a fairly well-known story about one of your ancestors…』

…That’s right.

『The Spirit-Wielding Hero who banished the Wicked Dragon. Isn’t that the founder of House Welmund?』

Ilyu knew about my ancestor.

Yes—she called him a Spirit-Wielder who banished the Wicked Dragon. Could that have been… the Dragon of Might?

Wait… does that mean my ancestor… was Yury’s companion!?

“…That precognition magic was most likely countered beforehand.”

“What?”

“That’s right. My distant ancestor, the Spirit Magician Welmund, was a party member of hers at the time… There’s no way the Demon Lord Yury wouldn’t know about precognition magic!!”

Long ago, during the Second Great Demonic War…

My family’s founder fought alongside Yury as a comrade against the demonkind.

Then it only makes sense that she’d be familiar with precognition magic. If the Demon Lord knew I was a Spirit Magician descended from Welmund, of course she would’ve prepared countermeasures.

—That vision was most likely a “false future” shown to me by Ilyu.

——

——

——

——

“…!”

Just as I realized the precognition magic might’ve been fake, my face went pale.

And then—if I listened carefully—I noticed a soft, gentle singing voice echoing across the battlefield.

“…A song?”

“What is this voice…?”

I recognized it.

I had heard her singing once before, on a stage in the capital.

“…She’s singing. Ilyu…”

“Wait, this is—!”

——Let me sing for you.

——Let me sing for the one I love.

——I am here, singing for you.

——With my head held high, my voice lifted, so my song can reach the heavens.

——With my arm raised and eyes lifted, I will watch over you from here.

——Please, reach for glory with those hands of yours.

——I pray that the hand you raise—

——becomes a blessing.

---

The song that rang out carried power—word-magic woven into every note.

Ilyu wasn’t singing without purpose. This was a norito—a sacred chant.

As a nun, she was infusing her voice with magic, casting a massive support spell across the battlefield for all allies.

“This is bad!! This kind of… this level of wide-range support magic shouldn’t even be possible!”

“…This is an incredible support buff. I can hardly believe it.”

It wasn’t just me—Aldebaran seemed to understand the song’s true nature as well.

Magic like this shouldn’t exist. It was absurd.

It honed the body to its absolute peak, granted resistance to all forms of magic, endowed limitless stamina, and heightened reflexes to superhuman levels.

This wasn’t just powerful—it was unnatural. It was like—

“…Each of those goblins now has physical abilities on par with a Hero…”

This… this was a swarm of Heroes.

All across the plains, the demon army surged—countless monsters, a night parade of horrors.

They didn’t possess the special ability of Absolute Severance, but every last one of them had been granted the same physical strength as Karl when he’s in Hero state.

“There’s no way… no way we can win against this…”

“Don’t lose your nerve! They’re still just goblins! Cut off their heads and they’ll die! Deal with them one at a time!”

Aldebaran barked at us, snapping us out of our panic.

Right. Even a Hero dies if you take off their head.

Karl, who was drawing their attention and buying us time, had already taken down several goblins.

“First, the goblin in front of us…”

While Karl held the line, Rey’s treatment was completed.

Rey too—once he adjusted to their speed—was definitely a warrior capable of defeating them.

From here, we just needed to push the goblins back and attempt a temporary retreat…

“VovvvoooOOOHHH!!”

“BUMOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”

“Gya-gyigigiGYAAA!!”

…And then came the nightmare.

While we were struggling to hold back the goblins, a wave of larger demons—the true second wave—came charging in behind them.

“So that’s it. The goblins were just the vanguard…”

Naturally, the larger demons would be monstrously empowered too.

A monkey-faced monstrosity was rushing in, closing the distance with terrifying speed—nothing like the sluggishness it had shown the last time we fought it.

If even goblins were now at Hero-level physique, what would something that strong become when enhanced?

“So… the main force has arrived.”

Then it came—a true monster—something so far beyond us that even calling it a fight felt arrogant—as it crashed into the human defense line.

…Ah. Yury was right all along.

Humanity only had the slimmest hope of victory—if we fought with everything we had, gambling everything on a one-in-ten-thousand chance.

The moment we blindly trusted that precognition and smugly failed to prepare any real countermeasures… humanity had already lost.

All I could do was stand there, paralyzed, as death bore down on me.

---

“As expected of Wise Gob’s strategy… It hit the mark perfectly.”

“Giih.”

During a brief pause in her singing, the Demon Lord praised the aged goblin who stood quietly at her side.

Yury was aware—at least to some extent—that she wasn’t particularly intelligent.

That’s why, when it came to devising strategies for battle, she frequently consulted the goblin tactician.

“Disrupting the enemy’s precognition magic was critical. Thank you for recognizing that.”

“Giggigiih.”

Goblins were a relatively clever species.

Yury followed his guidance and devised all kinds of tactics in order to defeat humanity.

Yes. Humanity’s greatest weapon was their vicious intellect.

Even clever goblins couldn’t match the sheer cunning of humans.

And that’s precisely why they had to find a way to neutralize precognition magic—the one tool that let them leverage that intellect to its fullest.

“If we can just reinforce our resistance to fire magic even further… then we’ve eliminated every risk, haven’t we?”

“Giiih♪”

“Yes, I agree. However—”

The demon known as Wise Gob had devised a brilliantly detailed plan.

The Hero of Flame, true to their name, was only capable of using fire magic.

No matter how powerful that fire magic was, if their side boosted fire resistance to the extreme, it would become useless.

And to cover even the remote possibility that the enemy’s Flame might somehow bypass fire resistance, he’d sent in a suicide squad of goblins to charge in first—a sign of careful planning.

His strategy had landed flawlessly.

The Hero’s fire magic couldn’t break through the fire resistance that Yury had granted.

And the enemy frontlines couldn’t even hold off the goblin foot soldiers that Yury had enhanced.

Victory for the demonkind was within reach.

“——And yet, there’s someone I actually consider a bigger threat than Hero Aldebaran.”

“…Gii?”

“If things go wrong, that person might turn out to be the most troublesome force among our enemies… I only hope they’ve already been taken out in the chaos.”

And yet—

The Demon Lord Yury still wore a slightly uneasy expression.

——

——

…And unfortunately for the demonkind, her anxiety would soon prove correct.

“Giigiigiih!!”

“…Ah. So they did come after all.”

It happened in an instant.

The goblins who had been pressing forward so confidently suddenly stalled—then began to be driven back by the humans.

With a thunderous roar, goblin soldiers who had charged in on a suicide mission were blasted skyward and killed.

Even the large-type demons advancing alongside them were beginning to lose cohesion in the chaos.

“…That one’s bad news. We may need to pull back and reorganize.”

“G-Giigigiiih?!”

“Yes… That one really is trouble when they’re your enemy.”

Demon Lord Yury slowly closed her eyes, as though recalling something.

As the familiar song echoed gently around her, she murmured to herself, almost nostalgically—

“——Spirit Magicians, huh…”

---

“I will sing for you────”

“I-Irine!?”

This can’t be where it ends.

“I will sing of the one I love────”

“What is this…? My body—it feels so light!”

“…S-She can do something like this too? A Spirit Magician…?”

I can’t afford to die here.

There are still so many things I want to protect.

I don’t want to die—not in a place like this.

“I am here, singing for you────”

Before I knew it, I had begun to sing too.

As if resonating with Ilyu’s voice, I held a hand to my chest and raised my voice high.

The spirits gathering around me tuned themselves to my melody.

Because in that moment, I realized—

That support magic—Yury’s spell—was an absolutely perfect match for me.

I’m a Spirit Magician. One who can cast any magic, as long as I know the incantation.

There’s no reason I couldn’t use this spell.

——Ah… It’s coming to me now.

No doubt about it.

The name of this song—the name of this spell—is…

“Blessing of Spirits: Echo Spirit────!”

And the moment I invoked that spell with my own voice, Karl suddenly blasted several goblins away in one breath.

And not just him—Rey, Inon, Lev-chan, even the middle-aged knight—no, wait────

Everyone in the national army within earshot of that girl’s song had their physical abilities boosted to Hero-class levels by this magic.

——

——

And thus, the war between humanity and the demonkind entered its second phase.