Ch 53: Demons vs Gods

Hajime was screwed.

Today Hajime learned an important lesson. He realized that he should have paid attention to his brother's phrase, "Ultimate skills have an advantage over other skills. This was proven given the battle Hajime was having right now.

Hajime was fighting against two members of the heavenly army, but in the first minute of the fight he was already forced to activate the "Limit Break". This made his battle even, but Hajime's time was running out.

Hajime was able to use his "Acceleration" skill to increase his time. He did this by slowing down the speed at which his body was affected.

Five minutes had already passed, and Hajime didn't know how much longer this would last. He was using every skill, spell and artifact available, but still Hajime couldn't beat these guys.

Both of them were wearing full armor. The little one with the pointed ears was called Smid. He focused more on attacking Hajime and always used speed moves. Whenever Hajime tried to attack him the other guy, Big Gorse, stayed in front. Goruv had super defensive armor, so Hajime couldn't penetrate his defenses without just focusing on him. Only if Hajime focused on him, he would be attacked by Smid.

Hajime could beat these guys if not for the previously mentioned "Ultimate Skills". These two were confident enough to tell Hajime about their abilities.

Smid had the "King of Hercules Victory" an ability that Hajime didn't know what it did, but it looked dangerous. Goruv had the "King of resistance Aquiles" which seemed to be an endurance skill. Hajime actually came up with a theory about this skill, but he couldn't rely too much on a theory that was based only on the name of the skill.

"Heh, that's so unfair."

Hajime couldn't help but laugh at himself. He had already been pretty pissed off when he lost to Akame and he didn't want to lose here.

"Gehehe, that's because you're weak!" Smid said and set off on Hajime with two silver daggers.

"Die."

Hajime fired several times with Donner and Schlag. All the shots were strengthened by the "Heat" skill and all were precisely aimed, but Smid was not hit. That was because Goruv put his gigantic sword in front of him. The shots did not pass through the sword.

"Don't think you can defeat us brat. It's about time you died." His voice was thick and an intimidating air began to come out of him, but Hajime was not shaken. He looked up and I see Chloe fighting an army of ten thousand.

If she can do that, I can beat these two guys.

Hajime thought and decided to give it his all. He was going to beat these guys. For iss Hajime decided to use all his trumps.

"Accelerate!"

Hajime began to move faster. He was increasing his own speed, but he was also going to make the time limit of the "Limit Break", so Hajime only used this now.

"Ha! Finally going to get serious, huh?"

"He'll never beat us, I don't know why t--- Huh!?"

Goruv was thrown far away and hit a hill. He was surprised by the speed of Hajime's kick and even hurt himself a little.

"Don't let your guard down!" Smid attacked Hajime from behind, only to be surprised to see that Hajime was not there. There was only a manequi that looked like Hajime and in his mouth was a light grenade.

"Shit!" Smid tried to cover his eyes but couldn't, he was stunned. That was one of Hajime's traps.

Mild waved his hands and attacked the air while trying to regain his vision. "Die!" He used several fireballs in various directions. Even though Smid was blind, he was very good with his hearing, so two of the fireballs went in Hajime's direction.

"Magic canceller." Those fireballs were strong, so Hajime had to use a magic canceling weapon. Goruv had already stood up and ran up to Hajime. He made a horizontal slash, but was surprised when he saw Hajime behind him. It was an impressive speed.

It has to work, it has to work. Hajime twisted internally as he pulled out his new weapon. At the angle Hajime was at, it would accept both of them.

"Hyperion."

A cannon of light shot out. The white light covered the two enemies and they widened their eyes in surprise. Hajime immediately deactivated "Accelerate." If that didn't work, his best choice was to buy time.

After a while the light disappeared and revealed the state of the two enemies. Goruv was lying on the ground, his armor was glowing and slowly turning to dust. This probably meant that he was dying.

Smid, however, was with his two daggers in hand casting a murderous glare at Hajime.

"You bastard! You killed Goruv-san, I, I... I'm going to kill you!"

Smid had survived. The truth was that his supreme ability meant that Smid could once a day manipulate reality so that he had not lost the fight. That was how he survived Hajime's attack,

Goruv however did not. Goruv's ability greatly increased his defenses, but it had a weak point, literally. Goruv had to pick a spot on his body and if this spot was attacked, it would mean death.

It is not known where this spot was, but since the "Hyperion" hit his entire body, Goruv cannot escape.

"Maaaaaa, I think it will be hard to win now."

If Smid survived the last attack, there wasn't much Hajime could do. He would have to buy time and wait for help, even though he didn't like that.

Just as Smid was about to attack.

"I recommend that you don't move."

"Kh?"

A boy who with gray hair stopped in front of Smid. This boy might have been in sixth grade by his age, but both Hajime and Smid knew that he was no ordinary person. The pressure that this boy emanated was at the same heights or even higher than Smid's. Not only that, but he was passing through a lot of things. Not only that, but he had an evil feeling about him that made Hajime and Smid break out in a cold sweat.

At first glance one could tell that the boy had his guard down, hands in his pockets and a disinterested look on his face. However, Hajime and Smid could tell that this boy had great battle experience.

It was true, after all this was Moss, a prehistoric demon who had battled for thousands of years.

Moss turned to Hajime, who put himself on guard at the same time.

"Are you Hajime Nagumo?"

"... Yes." Hajime felt he had no advantage in lying here. When Hajime answered Moss quickly approached, Hajime thought he was going to be attacked, but quite the opposite. Moss knelt down in front of him.

"It's an honor to meet you."

"Eh?"

"The brother of our great master, Rimuru-sama. To be in his presence is honorable."

Hajime thought this boy was quite strange, but then he remembered when Rimuru complained that some of his subordinates were extremely respectful and that was a bit bothersome.

"You are my brother's subordinate? I see..."

"Yes, Hajime-dono, should I get rid of that nuisance?" Moss pointed at Smid who was still wanting to fight.

"Ah, yes, but that guy is no joke. Are you sure that---"

Before Hajime could finish Moss attacked. Moss didn't even use weapons, he just went at Smid with his bare hands.

Smid tried to give a vertical cut with one of his daggers, but Moss caught his wrist and crushed it. Smid gave a groan of pain, but kept fighting.

Smid attacked Moss with his other dagger, but Moss caught the dagger that had just fallen and defended easily. Smid tried a kick, only to be defended by the clone Moss had made earlier. Smid didn't even have time to be surprised as Moss kicked over and crushed his skull. Clearly he had not forgotten to suck out his soul to give as a gift to his master Testarossa later.

Really? How absurd is this guy? Hajime complained internally.

But it was true, Moss was absurd. Besides the primordials there were few demons that could face him. Before maybe Smid had an advantage because of his Supreme Skill, but a few years ago Moss had acquired "Infernal Commander Moloch" which was also a Supreme Skill. That added to his strength and great combat experience made the fight against Smid easy.

Hajime just sat on the ground to rest.

●●●

What a boring battle.

Akame was lounging against this giant man called "Helor" and it was being very time consuming.

The man had more power than Akame, but in contrast he only had one Supreme Skill, while Akame had his superior skill. However Akame didn't know how to control this ability properly.

Akame honestly thought it was a waste to have such a skill and not be able to control it. Rimuru told her about how rare and how powerful these skills were if masterfully controlled, so Akame was working hard on her training. Only she didn't have much time for training yet, so it was difficult to enjoy her full power.

Helor was using a big black sword and his strength was tremendous. Akame used his poisoned katana, which one strike would kill its target. Or at least that is how it should be.

In his world Akame always fought against humans, but this guy had a peculiarity. Whenever Akame hit a cut, before his poison could spread, the part that was hit would separate from Helor's body and he would regenerate. That was the difference in fighting with non-humans.

After seeing that it would be difficult to kill him with poison Akame remembered a conversation he had with Rimuru.

.....

...

...

"Haaa, Haaa, it's no use. No matter how hard I try, I can't."

Akame was trying to use her superior ability, but she couldn't. In the end the only thing that happened was she spent magic power and got tired.

Akame and Rimuru were at a training camp. The method they were using to help Akame control her ability "Goddess of rot Áclis" was suggested by Ciel. There was an apple on a table and Akame had to use her ability to make it rot. This was the focus of his skill, aging. Even Ciel cannot predict how high this ability could go, but his focus was on making things age. For example the poison Akame uses on His sword, this poison ages the target's veins to the extreme and kills him. However Akame can only use the poison if he is with his katana "Murasame" as this katana amplifies his powers.

"Come on Akame-san, just be persistent!" Rimuru tried to cheer her up.

That way the apple will rot by itself. Akame can't help but think, but Rimuru was helping her, so she wasn't going to complain to him.

"Okay, let's try again."

Akame agreed. Rimuru transferred magic energy to Akame and she stood up to try again.

Akame held out her hand toward the apple. She stared at the apple as she tried to use her ability.

A while passed and... nothing. The apple remained full of life.

"Tsk." Akame clicked her tongue in disgust. Rimuru put his hand on his chin thoughtfully. He asked Ciel for some tips, but got nothing. So he decided to do something for himself.

"Try one more time." Rimuru spoke and stood up from his stool.

Akame once again held out his hand for the apple.

After looking at it for a while Rimuru approached from behind and placed his hand over hers. "W-what are you doing?" Akame asked irritated. She was seriously considering pushing him away.

"Calm down. I'm just trying to help." Rimuru said in a calm tone and Akame did not push him away. She stared at his hand.

"Look, the abilities come from your will. You won't succeed if you just focus on the apple."

"My, will?"

"Yes, close your eyes."

Akame closed his eyes and Rimuru kept his hands together.

"Okay, I will move the apple and you will rot it."

"But, how am I going to do that if I won't even know where it is?"

Rimuru used a percent magic and moved the apple. Akame didn't know where it was, so she didn't think it would work.

"Calm down." Rimuru said in a low voice "Take a deep breath."

Akame took a deep breath and calmed down a little. She still had her hand raised.

"Now think about the apple. Don't think of just any apple, think of the apple you saw before."

"...."

"Imagine your will. You take the apple in your hand and make it rot with the power of your will. It's not the skill that's doing it, it's you."

Rimuru's calm voice made Akame more relaxed. Akame could feel the magic power coursing through her body and also her ability.

"I know it's hard to understand. It's not easy to explain either. You have to feel it."

Just as Rimuru said, Akame felt the power. Power of will and of her ability. She used those powers and opened her eyes. Only to see a rotten apple floating in front of her.

"I... got..."

"Wow, very good. I think that's enough for today, we'll practice some more tomorrow." Rimuru let go of Akame's hand and the two left the training ground. Shortly after they left...

"Rimuru."

"Hm?"

"... Thank you."

"You're welcome. It was a training session first of all. I have to help you." He said smiling.

Seeing that smile, for a moment. For just a moment, Akame felt a tightness in her chest.

......

...

...

If I want to defeat this guy I need to use my skill.

Akame knew this. She tried several other ways to kill him, but it didn't work. It had been a long time since they had been fighting and they both lost a lot of magical power.

Akame lost magical power by recreating the poison in her sword and also to improve her speed. Helor spent magic power to regenerate himself every time he was cut by Akame. It was a stalemate and so Akame was going to use his ability, even though he didn't control it well.

"What is..." Helor looked off in the distance with an incredulous expression. Akame was curious as well since the two hadn't exchanged many words during the fight, so it was strange for him to speak.

Akame looked in the same direction and saw. A shower of blood. Several people with colored hair slaughtering the apostles of God.

Something was going on and it was better to end this battle as quickly as possible. That thought came to Helor's mind too late.

"Rot."

Akame had taken advantage of his distraction and managed to rot Helor's body into nothing more than a skeleton.

I have to see what is happening there.

Akame headed toward the battle.

●●●

Going back a bit.

The Black Numbers were here. Chloe didn't know how, but she knew who brought them. It was the person she always trusts.

She knew he would come to our rescue. Even though it wasn't directly.

Chloe had no doubt that it was indeed Testarossa, Ulitma and Carrera in front of her. She didn't think it could be an illusion as the girls (demons) treated her super respectfully. Few people treated her like this and most were those who knew about her relationship with Rimuru.

Chloe and Rimuru's engagement had not yet been publicized, so few people knew about it. Obviously Tempest's strongest squad knew.

All the demons were silently waiting for Chloe's orders.

"Okay, first, Testarossa-kun, can you send someone to help that white-haired boy?" Chloe said and pointed at Hajime's battle.

"Obviously. Could I know his identity?" Testarossa asked with a smile.

"He is Rimuru-san's brother, his name is Hajime." Chloe said carelessly. She should have thought better before speaking.

"Hugh!"

"What?"

"That's..."

Not only Testarossa, Ulitma and Carrera, but all the other demons who heard this froze in place.

"Wonderful." Testarossa said contentedly.

"I agree! Being able to meet Rimuru-sama's brother is amazing!" Ultima jumped for joy.

"No need to worry, Chloe-sama! I myself will destroy those idiots who dared to go against him!" Carrera said and stepped forward, but Testarossa stopped her by putting her arm in front of her.

"Carrera, I know what you think, but those guys are too weak, it would be unfair to send you."

"Yes! That's why my subordinates will help! Veyron!" Ultima tried to send his subordinate. However Testarossa and Carrera wanted the same thing and it turned into a fight.

The discussion about who would help Hajime became so important that the army was completely forgotten.

However, the army didn't dare attack, because even though there were one hundred thousand against nine hundred. The difference in power was unknown. The enemy generals were talking among themselves.

Incidentally, the platoon numbers increased a few years ago because of a certain event. Before there were seven hundred. Moss, Cien, Veyron, Zonda, Agera and Spirit had 100 subordinates each. Of course these were subordinates of Testarossa, Ulitma and Carrera. In addition you had Diablo's subordinate, Venom who also had 100 subordinates.

The certain event that increased these numbers was the resurrection of two of Diablo's subordinates. These subordinates were Archdemon who sacrificed themselves during Rimuru's transformation into a demon lord. They took a few years to be reborn and when they were reborn Diablo recruited them again. In addition Diablo discovered that they also had one hundred subordinates each.

Rimuru named them both and gave them bodies. One of them was short and had gray hair, this one Rimuru called Spider. The other was tall and had black hair, this Rimuru called Chiron. Spider had Agera's table strength and Chiron was a little weaker than Moss.

These two were not here at the moment because they had gone to ensure that the army of the demon race did not invade the city.

After a while of arguing, Chloe interfered and the three apologized. Chloe sent Moss to help Hajime.

"Okay, now we need to destroy the heavenly army. I will need your help."

"Certainly."

Obviously no one objected. Testarossa formed a connection with all the demons so that everyone could hear her. Carrera and Ultima did the same. Then all three declared in unison: Kill them all.

The demons gladly carried out the order.

And so an extremely one-sided confrontation began.

The demons killed their enemies with elegant and refined movements. The apostles on the other hand attempted desperate suicide attacks. The enemy generals were destroyed in a matter of seconds.

There was no way they could win. Even the weakest Black Numbers soldiers were Archdemons, and the most powerful were Demon Peers without the demonic race limiter. Besides, the demons fought with pleasure.

Tempest was in times of peace, so there was no need for the demons to fight, they just do some government jobs they were assigned to. However, they are not the least bit sad about this. After all it is a method of serving their master Rimuru. In addition, Rimuru, knowing how demons like to fight, has asked Ramiris to make a new floor in the labyrinth just for this.

Ramiris before could not increase the size of the labyrinth, but every day she is getting stronger and getting closer to her adult form. So she was able to fulfill this request with ease.

The real reason the demons are so happy is that they can destroy those who dare to get in their master's way.

Chloe, Testarossa, Ultima and Carrera were not participating in the fight because they were saving their energy. This was because there was still a risk that after this army was destroyed, an even bigger one would appear like last time.

They stood watching the battle.

●●●

Diablo had been summoned by Rimuru. Diablo greeted him respectfully and Rimuru first asked him if there was something going on in Tempest and if it was okay to summon the Black Numbers. Diablo told him it was okay, so Rimuru did so. After that each was assigned to his task, Diablo's was to protect Rimuru's colleagues. Rimuru gave him permission to kill.

Diablo didn't see why he should do this as the students were well away from the battlefield and from the information Ciel provided, there were few people who could hurt them in this world.

To his surprise when Diablo arrived he saw that the students were indeed in danger.

It is simply wonderful. Rimuru-sama foresaw this too. Kufufu I have to get better.

Diablo laughed internally. Not only were the classmates in danger but one of Rimuru's teammates was in danger as well. Diablo was impressed that Rimuru had foreseen this. Actually Rimuru didn't see it coming at all.

First Diablo effortlessly healed Kouki who was poisoned, without him even noticing. Then he kept watching how things would develop to make sure that the enemy was not hiding anything. Diablo only went to interfere when Kaori was in fatal danger.

Obviously nobody there knew that. Everyone was just wondering: Who is he? And why does he give off this feeling of death?

Eri and Freed were the most afraid. This was because Diablo had just saved Kaori, which meant that he was sure to be someone hostile.

How can there be such an existence! Who the hell is he!

Eri was desperate. Freed too, he knew he had no chance with this guy. Freed couldn't even see Diablo move and couldn't analyze his strength either. Plus those golden eyes were giving him an eerie feeling. He had to get away from here and report this to his king.

Freed ordered Uranus to take off, but he didn't obey. The reason was that Diablo was looking him straight in the eye. It was only for a second, but Uranus could feel Diablo's true strength. It was terrifying. There was no escape or fight possible. Only die.

Freed used his magic to control Uranus and tried to wail flight.

"Ouh? You think you can run away from me?"

"Khh!?"

Without being able to be seen, Diablo appeared on top of the dragon and held Freed by the neck.

"Mo- monster!" Freed tried to curse as he was hung.

"Hehehe, such an obsessed soul and at the same time so full of fear. This is going to be a great meal." Diablo said and finished with his usual laugh. Freed was confused upon hearing his words, but then he remembered something. Ah it would have been better if he hadn't remembered.

An ancient legend. A legend about spirits from the underworld itself that ate souls. These spirits were called demons. Freed's race was called this, thanks to this legend. Humans started to call them this to label everyone as evil. This is why many people think that demons are an evil race.

Freed realized, his soul would be consumed and he would die.

"N- noooo!"

His body went limp. He had his soul sucked out. Diablo smiled.

This was an extremely frightening scene for everyone. Nobody dared to move a muscle. Actually someone tried.

"Kufufufu, trying to get a hidden hostage, aren't you? It's impressive that you have overcome your fear of me. Humans are so interesting."

Diablo said this to Hyama who was still trying to approach Kaori, even though he was injured. Actually Hyama didn't want to take a hostage, he just wanted to have Kaori for himself. He was obsessed. It was also this obsession that made him overcome his fear of Diablo.

"Get out of the way!" Hyama tried to attack Diablo who stood in the way, only to be met by elegant movements.

"Would you please stop attacking? I wouldn't want to hurt one of Rimuru-sama's colleagues." Diablo seemed to be enjoying the battle, but Hyama was giving it his all. He didn't stop attacking.

"I see. It's a shame." Diablo said and slashed Hyama's arm. He thought that by having his arm ripped off, Hyama would lose the will to fight.

"Hiiiii! Demon!" Hyama took time to realize the reality, his arm had been cut off.

"Kufufufufufufufu, that's correct." It was just an insult from Hyama, but it ended up hitting what Diablo was.

Hyama was seriously considering surrendering. He was badly hurt and would die if he kept this up, but then he looked at Kaori behind Diablo who was wearing a dumbfounded expression.

"No. Kaori needs to be mine." He recovered from his fear using madness. Even though his arm was bleeding badly, he still walked towards Kaori and ignored Diablo beside him. He shouldn't have done that. Diablo cut off his head. He had not forgotten to save Hyama's soul in case Rimuru wanted to see him again, but that was not going to happen.

All the students saw their classmate beheaded in front of them, their minds were going to be shaken by this, but not now. They were still in a state of alertness and could not process this properly.

"Now all that's left is you."

Eri shuddered.

"Stop! Either-or I'll kill them!" Eri threatened to kill her colleagues with the puppet soldiers. She heard Diablo say that she doesn't want to hurt them, so she decided to use them as hostages.

All the puppet soldiers fell to the ground. Diablo sucked out their souls.

"Maybe that one over there can be saved. Well, it will depend on Rimuru-sama." Diablo said pointing at Meld "Will you surrender or will you meet the same end as the other one?" He asked as he approached Eri.

Eri had no choice. She had to surrender. Even if she was caught, one day she would get Kouki for herself.

She said she would surrender and Diablo said: Great choice. He put a mark on her that would make it impossible for her to use magic and made her pass out on the spot.

"Rimuru-sama will decide what to do with her." He turned to the students who were still frightened and bowed elegantly. "It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Diablo, a servant of the great Demon Lord Rimuru."

●●●

"That's strange."

Hajime's murmur represented everyone's thoughts. After slaughtering the army, the demons went to introduce themselves to Hajime and Akame. Hajime was a little uncomfortable with the extreme respect they treated him, but he didn't complain. Realizing that no more armies would be coming to face them, they began to theorize about why the attack was happening.

There was no reason for the gods to want the capital of the Kingdom, so why did they use armies and several powerful people.

"They really sacrificed a lot in this battle."

"Mhm. Even their leader, Velda, came to stop Rimuru from participating. What could they possibly want?"

Hajime and Akame commented.

"Ah..." Akame understood. The others looked at her in confusion.

"If they didn't want the capital, then the only other thing they could want... Keep us busy." She said and everyone began to understand.

"Velda didn't come to distract Rimuru from the main confrontation. The army came to distract us from the main confrontation."

Their conclusion came too late.

Velda's plan was already in place.