Ch 51: Traitor

Hajime, Chloe, Sakura Yue, Shia, Tio, and Akame came out from around the battle of Rimuru. They were going to save the city from the demon army and the god army, so before they got to the city they stopped to form a plan.

"All right, wait for me here."

Hajime used "aerodynamics" and climbed high in the sky to get a better view of the battle. After a while he came back down and gave a general description of things. After they listened to him...

"We will have to divide the forces, half face the army of the gods and the other half face the army of demons." Tio judged that would be the best choice.

"But from the way Rimuru-san talked, this army of the gods seems to be a great danger." Chloe seemed concerned about dividing the forces equally.

"I think the strongest ones should take on the heavenly army, while the others hold off the demons." No one refuted Sakura's words.

"Ah! Hajime-kun, we have to check if Shizuku-chan and the others are okay. Besides they can help us against the demons." Kaori reminded and Hajime nodded. He also added, We have to save Sensei, too.

"Do you have a plan?" Yue looked worried.

Hajime nodded and stated his plan.

"Okay, Akame and Chloe, you will face the heavenly army, I will rescue my teacher and soon after I will join you. Sakura, Shia, Tio and Yue, you will face the demons. Kaori and the Princess, you will go to warn Amanogawa to see if Amanogawa and the others are there.

By the way, Princess Liliana had woken up by now.

"Although I don't think it's the best plan in the world, we don't have much time" Sakura said dejectedly.

The others agreed. There was no time.

"Okay."

"This is a good plan."

"No objections."

"Let's do it."

No one seemed to have any objections. Hajime was about to tell everyone to go, but someone spoke first.

"Actually Goushin-sama, I have an objection."

It was Tio.

"What is it?"

"I think it's a waste of time for Goushin-sama to go rescue his Sensei. I can do that instead, and then help myself against the demons."

"Hmm..." Hajime got a thoughtful expression and the others looked at him waiting for an answer.

Really that would be good, as Hajime could help with the biggest threat, the heavenly army, which had unknown strength and numbers, but Hajime was worried in case there was someone powerful standing guard in Aiko's cell. For example the one gray haired woman that Liliana saw kidnapping Aiko.

"I think it's a good idea."

"Me too."

Chloe and Yue encouraged and the other girls also accepted the plan. Even Akame who was normally silent said "That would increase our chances." In the end Hajime accepted.

"Let's go!"

Everyone went to war.

●●●

Aiko was watching the moon. From inside her cell in a tower where no one can hear her, with a bracelet that seals her magic, this was the only thing she could do.

I have to find my students. That was all she could think about. She overheard the woman who had kidnapped her talking about a plan against the students and especially against Hajime. The student who was bringing her conflicting feelings the last day.

"Nagumo-kun."

"Oh? No, it's me. Goushin-sama is not here."

"Ueeh!?"

Aiko jumped backwards, as her murmur was answered by a female voice. She looked at the door to her cage, and there stood Tio.

"Ti-- Tio-san?"

"Fufu, you were having perverted thoughts with Goushin-sama, weren't you?" Tio said with a perverted look.

"O---what? No--- no! How could I think of such a thing!" Aiko didn't want to get into this subject "Why is Tio-san here?"

"I came to save Sensei, at Goushin-sama's request." Tio said and melted the lock on the door. The cell opened.

"Really? And where is Nagumo-kun?"

"Ah, Goushin-sama has an army to contend with, but don't worry, he's gotten stronger."

Aiko was confused by his words, but Tio didn't bother to explain. She took the anti-magic bracelet from Aiko and punched a hole in the wall with the power of her breath.

"Shall we?"

"Uh... Yes, let's go."

Aiko held Tio's hand. Tio turned into a dragon and carried Aiko on his back, which left her surprised.

"So, where are you going to take me?" Aiko asked after a while of flying.

"I will take Sensei to a safe place and then I will help in the battle."

"I see... Huh? What's that?"

Aiko noticed a strong light coming out of the tip of the God Mountain and asked Tio. The light was extramanently strong, so Tio also watched to see what was happening.

"'A... Portal?'

"..."

A small white portal opened up on God's Mountain. And from there they began to emerge. Several women with gray hair. All wearing armor and flying with silver wings.

Aiko remembered the woman who kidnapped her, she looked just like these women. Tio knew who they were. The Apostles of God. If you counted, you would see that their number is ten thousand.

●●●

CRIIIIICK

"Tsu!?"

Shizuku awoke to the sound of explosions and a loud sound of breaking glass.

She abruptly got out of bed and checked to see if anyone was around her. There wasn't.

Shizuku took her black katana from under the pillow and put it around her waist. She had been sleeping with the katana nearby for the past few days. That was because she felt something was wrong.

One day after I told her I had something important to tell her, Aiko disappeared. Which was quite suspicious. Shizuku and her colleagues tried to ask the Church about her whereabouts, but were only told that Aiko was once again helping plantations. However they were not told where or who was as her guard.

A few days after Aiko's disappearance, several of the castle servants began acting strangely and Shizuku even warned Kouki and the others to be on the lookout, but everyone took her words lightly.

Shizuku opened her door and looked around to see if anyone was there. Since there was no one, she went in search of her companions, starting with Kouki.

OCD OCD

She knocked on her door and after a few seconds Kouki opened it.

"What is it?" Kouki was in a sleepy voice "And what was that noise?"

"You idiot, don't open the door like that. What if I was the enemy?"

It was really careless of him, but Shizuku didn't press the matter. "Pick up your sword, there's something going on." She said and Kouki did so. The two then gathered all their classmates together.

The students were talking about what to do and theorizing about the loud noise, when...

"Shizuku-sama."

"Nia!"

A chambermaid called out to Shizuku. This chambermaid was Nia, A girl with whom Shizuku talked a lot and could consider her a friend. Nia was the same age as Shizuku and was very interested in swordsmen, so Shizuku got quite close to her, even though Nia kept calling her "sama".

Nia ran toward Shizuku and stopped beside her. Her expression was heavy. She then delivered some not good news.

"The first barrier has been destroyed."

Everyone was surprised. The capital of the Haihiri Kingdom was protected by 3 super powerful barriers and it was extremely difficult to destroy them.

"We don't know how they got here, but an army of demons is attacking the city and they have already destroyed one barrier."

"We have to help!"

Obviously the "hero" couldn't stand still and rushed forward, but Shizuku stopped him. "Nia, how big is the army?" She spoke addressing Nia.

"If you count demons and magical Beasts.... A hundred thousand."

"" "..." ""

Everyone was visibly shaken upon hearing the number. It was too much for them to face alone.

"Did you hear that, Kouki? We can't defeat them alone. Let's join Meld-san and the knights."

"But..."

Kouki seemed to want to go straight into combat. That was dumb, and Shizuku knew it.

"Kouki-kun, it's the best we can do. If we want to defeat the demons, we need the knights!" Unexpectedly the person who said that was Eri. Eri was always quiet, but now everyone could see determination in her words. That was enough to convince Kouki.

"Okay let's go!"

They went down to the castle courtyard, as Nia warned them that the knights were there. when they all reached the courtyard, they saw about 150 knights and their vice-captain Jose.

"Are you guys aware of the situation?" Jose asked upon seeing them. Shizuku and Kouki nodded their heads.

"Okay, Hero-dono, please come with me, the others wait here." They were strange to Jose's words, but they obeyed. Kouki followed Jose to a small wooden stage he had there.

When Kouki separated from them, all 50 riders approached, as they saw that Jose had something to talk about.

"Jose-san, where is Meld-san?"

"The boss has some business to take care of, but he will be with us soon." Jose said and turned to the crowd "Knights and heroes, the demons are launching an attack, but there is nothing to worry about. We have the Hero here, Amanogawa Kouki. Nothing will be able to defeat us."

A strange feeling began to grow inside Shizuku. Something was wrong with the situation. Joseph was speaking differently and the knights very naturally surrounded the students, but no one else noticed.

"We will kill all the evil demons. God is on our side." Joseph continued and pulled a small dagger from his blouse "Behold, the beginning of the massacre." Joseph raised the dagger on high and everyone looked at it.

KA

A loud sound was heard and the dagger let out a strong light. This light was similar to that of Hajime's light grenades. That white light was ccegante everyone was stunned.

"Guaah!?" Shizuku heard a groan of pain. She was the person who was least stunned, as she was already feeling something coming. She managed to put her hands in front of her face, but she was still stunned momentarily.

"Ough" another groan of pain, no, several. Shizuku could hear several groans of pain as she slowly regained her sight.

"What is this..."

Shizuku saw her colleagues bleeding. They had all been attacked by the surrounding knights and were not able to defend themselves well because of the blinding light from before. She was stunned to see this, but didn't even have time to reason, because a knight tried to attack her. Shizuku dodged the attack and made her katana float and hit the hand of the soldier who was holding a dagger.

"Wow, Shizuku is really troublesome. Meeeeeeee..."

"You..."

In the midst of all his colleagues fighting franticallyz, there was one calm person who was not being attacked. Eri Nakamura. She was without her usual glasses and had changed both her look and manner of speaking.

Shizuku realized, it was Eri's fault. She of some reason had hidden her true nature until now and had betrayed her colleagues.

"Shizuku-sama!"

"Nia!"

Nia ran toward Shizuku with tears in her eyes. Shizuku pulled her behind him to protect her.

"Augh?" Shizuku felt a knife being pressed into her back. She looked back and saw who had attacked her, Nia. "Why?"

Nia's expression was no longer humorous as it always was. It was empty now, as if it was someone else.

"Ahahaha, even you didn't see that one coming, did you Shizuku? I knew you would be trouble, so I made that one especially for you."

"Eri, you..."

Shizuku couldn't finish speaking as two knights struck her and pressed her against the ground. Shizuku cast Eri a confused look.

"Eri...what have you done...? Why..."

Although she couldn't speak properly because of the sword in his chest, Kouki had to ask why his childhood friend was acting like that.

Eri didn't answer and just started laughing loudly. She approached Kouki who was not only wounded, but was also being held by several knights and was wearing an anti-magic necklace!

Eri put her lips over Kouki's. Everyone was silent because of the unexpected event and the only audible sound was water running. It seemed that Eri was letting go of the feelings she held for Kouki.

"That was why, you understand? I want Kouki-kun all to myself!" She said with a smile that made everyone even more shocked "Even if I confessed to Kouki-kun it would be useless! Kouki-kun is so benevolent, kind and gentle. He would never treat me better than other people! It's lucky we came to this world, it would have been hard to kill you in Japan. But here it made things easier, you know? The demons were really helpful."

Eri was wearing a smile that could only be seen on a psychopath.

"De-- Demons? Don't tell me that...." Shizuku looked incredulous.

"Ahahaha, did you notice? I was the one who weakened the barrier. I just had to use intelligence and my necromancy."

That was the reality that everyone had to accept. Eri was lying the whole time and had betrayed everyone. Not only that, but she was about to kill them and turn them into undead puppets. They found this out, as Eri demonstrated. She slit Kondo's throat and made him stand up again with "soul grabbing" magic. That was going to happen to everyone, a magic that forced the target to stay alive and serve the user, without will or free will.

"It's too bad for Kaori. I was going to leave her alone, but one person helped me in exchange for possessing her. You will help me with this Shizuku."

"What?"

Eri was going to control Shizuku and use her against her best friend. Not only that, but he was going to give Kaori to someone else as if she were a thing. Just thinking about it made Shizuku's emotions peak. She didn't know what to do. Shizuku didn't have the power to act right now. It wasn't as if she had a special something that would save her right now... Or was it?

"!"

Shizuku remembered. She saw her sword lying on the ground almost five meters away. That sword that Rimuru had given her, with such irrationally great power. The sword that could even float into her hand. And that's exactly what she did.

.....

.....

...

Eri saw the sword fly into Shizuku's hand. She was about to give the order to kill Shizuku to the knights, but was stopped when she saw Shizuku's eyes. Glowing. Her eyes were glowing with what appeared to be electricity in her pupils.

"Kill her!"

"Limit Break."

KABOM

A great power began to pour out of Shizuku. Several black rays ran through her body and affected the knights who tried to attack her.

'What the fuck is that? How could she do this?' Eri's thoughts were full speed ahead.

Eri calmed down. Everything was fine. No matter how strong Shizuku was, Eri would only need to buy time. That was because the place where Shizuku was stabbed would not stop bleeding and it would soon kill her. Or at least that's what Eri thought.

"Healing."

Shizuku's sword glowed white. This white soon after covered her entire body and healed her wounds. That was another ability provided by the sword.

Thank you, Rimuru-kun. Shizuku couldn't help but say thank you internally.

Eri was startled to see the healing magic, but she was not afraid. She had to kill everyone here. She had to have Kouki.

"Go!"

She commanded and several of the knights advanced against Shizuku.

Shizuku used "Mutation" and made her katana double in size, soon after she split the sword in two with the same ability, so now she had two black katanas. One of the black katanas was charged with black lightning and was floating around Shizuku. The other was glowing blue in Shizuku's hand.

The floating katana attacked two knights who tried to attack Shizuku from hiding. The knights who discovered the power of the black rays had great damage to their bodies and could no longer even move.

Shizuku was a little hesitant to kill them, but they were already dead anyway. Eri only controlled their bodies.

"Divine cut!"

Five knights tried to attack Shizuku head on, but they all had their heads cut off. It was a clean cut that left only a line of blue light behind. This divine cut was difficult to control, but Shizuku had to use everything at her disposal. She had to save her friends.

"Tsk." Eri clicked her tongue in disgust. She then commanded Kondo, who had already become her puppet, but not only that. She also commanded her trump card, Meld.

"Die!"

"Die Shizuku."

Kondo gave a shout and pulled out his spear, he launched it at Shizuku, but it was knocked back by the floating katana.

Meld came out of nowhere and attacked.

Everyone was already surprised by Shizuku's strength, but they were even more surprised to see Meld attack Shizuku with his great sword. "Even Meld-san..." Kouki muttered in disbelief.

TCHIN

Shizuku defended Meld's powerful attack. She used both swords to defend, but even that wouldn't have been enough if Shizuku hadn't used "Protection" which gave her more defensive strength.

"Mutation!"

Shizuku leapt backwards and turned her swords into several floating ninja stars. The ninja stars surrounded Meld and Kondo on all sides.

"Black rays."

Several small black rays came out of the ninja stars and struck Meld and Kondo. The two flew away unable to move. Shizuku had no mercy. She had to defeat Eri, before the Limit Break time.

Shizuku used Mutation once again and was left with only one katana in her hand. She looked in Eri's direction.

"Uh, shit, attack!"

Eri was already getting scared. She couldn't let Shizuku stop her from having Kouki.

5 more knights attacked Shizuku from all sides, but she managed to fight them off by turning her sword into 5 daggers and piercing their chests. When she took her daggers back.

"Looks like you're having trouble, Eri."

An unknown male voice was heard coming from above. Everyone looked in its direction and there they saw a man with red hair and pointed ears, wearing armor, riding a large white dragon that exuded an overwhelming pressure. It was a man of the demon race.

"Fr-- Freed! That's it! Help me kill them all! Let only Kouki-kun live."

"Hff, I guess that's okay. Uranus."

Freed seemed to realize Shizuku's danger and spoke to the Dragon.

Oh, that's bad. Shizuku thought. Shizuku could even beat Eri, the knights and that man of the demon race, but the dragon was no thing to be trifled with.

BUFFFFFFF

Freed commanded his dragon and Uranus blew white fire at Shizuku. It was very strong. Although Shizuku had "Protection", she wouldn't survive it. "No!" Kouki shouted trying to get loose, but to no avail.

Not such a bad death. Shizuku spoke to herself. At least she wasn't going to be used to pocket her best friend. That was good enough.

The white fire was coming, and Shizuku would not be able to dodge it. She was prepared to accept death.

"Sacred Interruption! Interruption of Heaven! Interruption of light!"

Shizuku heard a female scream and saw several barriers form around her. A loud bang resounded as fire crashed into the powerful barriers. Some of the barriers gave way, but the fire did not reach Shizuku.

Shizuku looked in the direction of the courtyard entrance. There was her friend Princess Liliana and her best friend Kaori. All the students tamben looked over there and widened their eyes.

"Kaori!"

Kaori was on the other side of the courtyard, but they still managed to see each other. Kaori looked happy to see her well and also scared of the huge Dragon.

"Shizuku-chan, what's going on!?" Kaori asked and Liliana who seemed to have understood the situation better looked at Eri with sitting eyes "Eri..."

Shizuku was happy to survive and also to see her friend, but now that Kaori was here, she was afraid that Kaori would get hurt. However this could also be an opportunity.

"Kaori, heal everyone! We need your help!" Shizuku shouted and that made everyone recover from their surprise.

Kaori saw the injured and was startled, but it didn't take long for her to start chanting a healing spell for everyone.

Damn it, Eri cursed internally. If Kaori healed everyone there, it would be a problem. The students were strong and could defeat Eri, Freed and the knights. There was still the dragon Uranus, but he was recharging his breath.

If the heroes were healed, Freed would probably run away and leave Eri to die.

Was I too hasty? Did I not plan enough? Why do these people keep getting in my way?

Kaori had already started to chant a healing spell. Eri sent 20 of the knights to attack her, but they were all prevented by Liliana's barriers, which were super strong.

Eri then came up with a plan.

"Shirasaki, help me!"

Kaori heard Hyama call out to her right. He was covered in wounds and might even die if not healed. Hyama was being attacked by three knights and was running toward Kaori.

"Hyama-kun, my God, look at these injuries. Come quick!" Liliana saw Hyama's condition and opened a part of the barrier so that he could enter. Kaori didn't object either, even though she hated Hyama, she couldn't let him die.

"No! Stop him!"

Shizuku realized. The person who wanted to have Kaori to himself and helped Eri, was Hyama. There was no way he could escape the knights when even Kouki was caught. But his warning came too late. Hyama was already inside the barrier.

When Hyama was a few meters away from Kaori he pulled out a dagger and prepared to attack. This was the end. There was no way for Kaori to defend herself at this point. Just as Hyama was about to shove the dagger into Kaori's chest....

"Kufufufufufufu, I can't let you get any closer."

"Guagh!?"

Hyama was thrown against the wall and let out a groan of pain. "Who..." Eri couldn't finish her sentence. She just stood motionless looking at the man who had just protected Kaori. No, not just her. Everyone stood motionless.

This man wasn't giving off any pressure, but the feeling he was giving off was enough to freeze everyone in place. That evil smile and that elegant pose. Butler clothes, black hair with a red lock and a golden lock. Black eyes with golden pupils.

He was one of the Twelve Patrons of Rimuru Tempest. The demon lord Diablo.

"Kufufufufufufufufufufu."