The Plan, Third Stage

(After Rimuru Left for Ruberios)

Shuna wasted no time after Rimuru left and immediately contacted the remaining executives. Sending the message to them that something urgent had occurred and that one of their master's bodies had left along with Shizue and Luminous to Ruberios.

Souei also chimed in, stating that his spy network, the Shadow Squad, had already notified him of the disturbance going on in Rune, Ruberious' capital. Using his Ultimate Gift, [Tsukiyomi]'s [Parallel Existance] body, he was already on his way to the city and would arrive there to back up their master.

Benimaru commented on how it was likely a trap, to which Shuna agreed and stated that Rimuru had said as much. It was at that moment, however, when the world suddenly changed. The town of Rimuru was instantly swapped to the lowest floor of the dungeon, catching everyone off-guard.

'What is going on?' Shuna pondered as she made her way from the kitchen to the control room. Despite the sudden change in scenery, she wouldn't allow that to affect her service. She still intended to serve her master's other body with refreshments if they were needed. The light snacks and teapot on the tray she carried didn't so much as waver during the sudden transition or Shuna's complete change in direction.

As she arrived in the control room, her eyes widened in shock. A large scarlet red dragon with a long serpentine body was hovering over the land where the city of Tempest was supposed to be. Shuna couldn't feel her aura, being inside the isolated Labyrinth, but she could definitely witness the burning power that surrounded the True Dragon's body visually. Just by her hovering over it, the trees below were lit aflame and the forest burned.

Still, she had a job to do. As she continued through the silent control room towards her master and silently presented tea ad cookies to her master Rimuru, the Storm Dragon Veldora, and the Spirit Queen Ramiris. There was enough fighting power here to surely defend against the True Dragon's assault, so Shuna didn't worry.

Despite his sometimes child-like antics, Rimuru was the wisest person she'd ever known, and her beloved master. She would never admit to it, but she did worship him as her god. At least enough to be able to use Holy Magic. Though that wouldn't stop her from giving him a good scolding if he was acting up, just like her brother.

She smiled briefly at the thought before wiping it from her face. Now was not the time for such thoughts.

Regardless of whether or not they'd win, a True Dragon was still a dangerous opponent. If not engaged with extreme care, the Great Jura Forest would soon become the Great Jura Wasteland. Her eyes turned to Veldora, who was seemingly cowering in fear.

Shuna hadn't much hope for him. So far, he hasn't been useful to Rimuru-sama at all other than being the battery to power the labyrinth. Even then, his antics usually caused more harm than good, though thankfully with the infrequent visits of Velzard and her husband Alaster, he was more subdued. He never knew when she would be around, so at least in Rimuru City, he behaved much more reservedly. That being said, as much as she like his wife, she couldn't really say the same about Alaster himself.

He was very informal with her master Rimuru and apparently liked to scare him, though she also realized that he was a good man deep down. He'd often do whatever Rimuru asked of him, even if Rimuru had to use little tricks or guilt him into it.

Alaster really didn't have to teach the Orcs or Goblins all about the intricacies of Earth Magic just so that they could construct the town faster. His instruction was instrumental to the defense of Tempest during the eastern Empire's invasions, as they were able to turn the area outside into a fortress and trap all of the soldiers who didn't go into the Labyrinth with Legion Earth Magic which he taught them.

She also recalled that Alaster, even though he'd like to tease Rimuru, had effectively given Rimuru his humanoid body and a number of useful skills. Her favorite was the [Parallel Body] Skill which made it so he never really had to leave and would always be able to complete his work while still having the time to enjoy himself.

Shuna even heard Rimuru say it was his favorite skill now before looking embarrassed and then correcting himself to say 'second favorite' /1\

Shuna didn't know which was his first, as he seemingly had so many to choose from, but discarded the thought when a loud voice came stretching through the speakers in the Control Room.

"Veldora, be a good boy and come out quietly."

Veldora shuttered when she said this. Rimuru, who didn't know the reason why a True Dragon was suddenly attacking his city, instantly realized that it was somehow Veldora's fault.

"What did you do to her?" Rimuru turned and asked.

"M-Me? I don' recall doing anything!?!" Veldora replied, tensed to the situation.

"Well can you go and talk to her? I'd rather not have to deal with her rampaging about while we are still at war with the Empire." Rimuru asked.

Veldora shook his head. "Rimuru, I know you know the truth about me." He muttered.

"The truth?" Rimuru asked back.

"That I am a man that cannot go against his sisters!" Veldora proclaimed proudly, though anyone who knew him well would notice the slight tension in his voice.

Everyone was taken aback by the True Dragon's shamelessness, especially after all of his boisterous bragging about how strong he was. Even Rimuru sighed aloud, though when Veldora noticed Ramiris' look of disappointment, he suddenly felt his heart sink.

Veldora wasn't stupid, as simple as he was. He knew Rimuru and everyone else were disappointed in him right now, but he could live with that. His sister was scary after all. It was one thing for Rimuru to think he was useless and scold him later by taking away his snacks for a day or two. It was another thing completely when Ramiris, the girl he liked, looked at him with those eyes.

He thought back to his conversation with Velzard when he first asked her for advice. It was the only conversation in which he had with his sister in which she didn't scold him and actually gently encouraged him, giving him advice.

'There is nothing in this world more painful than disappointing your partner' She said. 'If you truly love them, then you need to be more reliable... I wasn't very reliable at first with Alaster, and it tore me up inside seeing him in danger without me.' She said, looking genuinely guilt-ridden. /2\

It was the first time he'd seen his sister so vulnerable, an now he was feeling the same. That sinking feeling to know you've disappointed someone you cared for. He clenched his fist. There was nothing he could do though, he was scared, so much so that he was shaking. The constant beating his sister would give him had traumatized him.

Rimuru, seeing Veldora's fear, sighed loudly. "Alright, Veldora. I'll deal with it, but no-" he started as to scold him like always. If he had the chance to finish his sentence, he'd probably have just said, no desert for a week or something, before eventually giving in on the second day to Veldora's begging.

Unfortunately, before he could even get that chance...

"I see, my stupid brother needs a warning then," Velgrynd stated before summoning a Crimson Spear and hurling it towards the Labyrinth entrance.

"Look out!" Ramiris called out.

There was a large explosion as the entire Labyrinth shook violently from Velgrynd's attack. Veldora looked at the screen. He saw that floors 1 to 30 had been instantly erased from existence. He shook at the sight. He had been so sure that only a floor or two would be lost if Velgrynd were to attack it, as that was all he could muster in a single attack, but his sister's destructive power was greater than he would have thought. /3\

"I thought I'd go deeper than that but... oh well," Velgrynd said, summoning another spear.

"This is bad, if this continues, the entire Labyrinth will be destroyed!" Benimaru said with sweat running down his cheeks.

"It looks like we don't have a choice, I'm going to-" Rimuru said, standing up from his seat.

"No!" Ramiris yelled, drawing everyone's attention. "I'll go! She attacked MY Labyrinth. I'll go teach her a lesson." Ramiris stated boldly before giving Veldora a pitiful look. "Besides, I can't have that woman terrorizing my boyfriend anymore." She said quietly

Veldora hung his head in shame. He knew Ramiris was strong, perhaps as strong as him, but he also knew she wouldn't be a match for Velgrynd. Perhaps, if she got lucky, she could bring their fight to a draw, but it wasn't an impossibility for her to lose completely and be captured or killed.

'Coward'

That is what he really was. He always boasted about his strength, yet everyone who could defeat him in the past could do so with ease. He couldn't even beat Luminous when they fought and had to run away from Dagruel every time he got serious. Could he really call himself the 'strongest'?

No, he was simply a big lizard with more magicules than anyone outside of maybe his eldest sister and older brother. Even Rimuru rivaled him now and Alaster was stronger than him despite having less magical power.

All these thoughts raced through Veldora's head in only a moment thanks to his Thought Acceleration.

"No," Veldora muttered, not even realizing it himself.

"I'll go." He said more confidently as he looked up at the control room. The faces of every one were stunned.

He hardened his resolve before turning away from them. "My sister is calling for me, so I should meet her." He said before walking out of the room and teleporting out of the labyrinth.

Rimuru was absolutely shocked by this turn of events. Only a moment ago, Veldora seemed to be cowering in fear, but the next moment...

"His back looks so reliable," Ramiris muttered in a daze.

Rimuru smiled softly and gave a light huff. "Yeah, for the first time in a while... he looked pretty cool there." He commented before turning his attention back to the monitor.

...

Velgrynd raised her spear, readying another shot to hopefully destroy the remaining parts of the Labyrinth. She'd never say it out loud, but she was currently a bit peeved that she'd only destroyed about a third when she was aiming for half.

Because of this annoyance, she decided her next attack would destroy the entire thing. It was probably for the best, as the majin under Demon Lord Rimuru's command were way too strong to be left alone and would cause problems later, so it was best to eliminate them now.

Veldora would survive. He was a True Dragon, so even if he was seriously injured from this, he'd live. This would also destroy the physical bodies of the Primordials who served under the Slime, forcing them to return to the underworld.

If she thought of it like that, then even though this attack drained quite a bit of her power, it was still incredibly efficient. She threw the spear, waiting and watching for it to destroy the Labyrinth, but her 'easy' triumph would not come to pass.

"{|Kamehame-HA|}!!!" A deep voice shouted as a beam of incredibly dense Aura overlapped with the power of an Ultimate Skill shot up from the crater, intercepting the Crimson Spear Velgrynd had just thrown.

There was a wave of white, as a large explosion rocked the heavens and the earth for just a moment. The crater was widened, though strangely it looked like it was the same depth as before. The previously burning forest was instantly extinguished, as the pressure wave blew out even the rampaging wildfire that threatened to burn the continent-sized biome to the ground mere moments earlier. /4\

A large dust cloud rose into the heavens from the sight of their clash, reaching upward into a mushroom cloud that reached from the earth to push up against the very border of space. Velgrynd and Veldora, however, were unphased by this, as Veldora looked up at her in his human form, gazing defiantly at her with his golden eyes.

Velgrynd herself looked down at him coldly. "You seem to have gotten more cheeky lately, Veldora." She said.

Veldora, a drop of sweat running down his cheek, still looked up at his older sister in defiance. "I'll show you the results of my training and the wisdom of the scriptures." He said.

Velgrynd smiled amusedly. "I see that slime has done some nice things too. At least his influence has given you a backbone, however, it would be best to come along quietly now. If you do, I'll stop attacking this place." She tried to persuade.

"I can't do that. As the last boss of this dungeon, it would be disgraceful to surrender without giving it my all!" Veldora declared.

Velgrynd smiled, slightly sadistically. "I see." She said as she readied herself for combat, changing back into her Dragon form. She had taken human form to attack the Labyrinth just a moment ago, preferring its more concentrated magical power, but the unsung rule for a fight between True Dragons was to fight in their Dragon form.

Veldora was saddened slightly by her transformation. He would very much have liked to stay in human form, as most of his arsenal of 'Veldora Style Killing Arts' would be harder to pull off as an unwieldy Dragon form, but he did appreciate its added defensive power and the ability to use his Dragon Breath attack, so he followed her lead, transforming into his 100 meters long Dragon Form and letting out a powerful roar which caused tornados and storms to brew in the area around him.

"Veldora, this is your last chance. Come with me. Join me as a companion and I'll let you rampage whenever you want, though I will be the one choosing the location." Velgrynd commented.

"Sister, you have heard my answer already. Besides, rampaging is no longer fun to me. I now have many things I wish to protect rather than destroy!" Veldora boasted about his own growth.

Velgrynd was surprised by this. "Protect?" She asked, almost dumbfoundedly

"Yes, I even have a girlfriend now!" Veldora said, a slight blush on his char-black scales as he boasted about his girlfriend to his sister.

Velgrynd was shocked by this. "Is it the Demon Lord Rimuru? Is that why you've been so quiet lately?" She guessed.

"No, Rimuru is my sworn friend, but he is not my lover. It's actually Ramiris!" He declared.

Velgrynd was stunned by this revelation. She knew Ramiris from back during the days when she served under her eldest brother, but still, she was a bit too childish for her to think she would ever take a lover. Although, the more she thought about it, the more she knew it had to be true.

The only person who could withstand her younger brother's rambunctious personality was someone who was just as boisterous as him, and Ramiris filled that role perfectly. Velgrynd smiled gently for the first time in a long time. She was truly happy for him to have grown so much, however, a sour expression soon found its place on her face.

Ramiris was a problem. One that would have to be eliminated as soon as possible. Her lovely Rudra had decreed it and seeing how the Imperial Army was utterly crushed thanks to its power, he was not wrong. Rudra even had to call in help from that angel to deal with it.

She now looked at Veldora with pity. The first time in his life he has changed for the better, and she was going to have to be the villain who reaped away his happiness. She didn't like it, but it had to be done. Rudra had ordered it, so she had to obey.

She sensed in the distance, the prototype airship was on its way. She needed to incapacitate Veldora and deal with the Demon Lord Rimuru as soon as possible.

"For what its worth, Veldora. I am sorry about what comes next." Velgrynd said, before covering her body in a flaming hot aura from her Ultimate Skill [Raguel].

"{|Heat Domain|}" Velgrynd called out as her flaming aura expanded around herself being pushed by a wave of spatial magic, creating a shockwave of heat around herself that would burn away anything that it touched.

This was a technique she'd developed to get rid of Alaster's {|Gold Dust|} attack, as she had no other way of avoiding it. It might never have defeated her, but the attack was such a threat even at the Unique Skill level, so when she saw he had evolved to acquire the Ultimate Power, she knew she would need a counter to it.

{|Heat Domain|} was that counter. It would burn away even the spiritrons which made up Alaster's attack while also making approaching her impossible due to the effects of the attack. The spatial energy made it impossible to teleport through, and the heat from her [Raguel] and Aura would burn up anything that tried to approach normally.

Even for someone with a body as durable as Veldoras, there was only a 50% chance he'd be able to make it through the barrier without being burned to nothingness.

Unfortunately for her, in front of Veldora, 50% may as well be 100% due to the power of [Faust]. Veldora grit his teeth and began to gather power as he charged directly at the approaching shockwave of energy. He entrusted in the power of his Ultimate skill and managed to easily punch through his sister's opening attack.

Velgrynd, taken completely off-guard by this development, was wide open for Veldora's next attack. He unleashed a {|Storm Blast|} from his mouth. Space twisted and contorted as a thunderstorm of pure, turbulent energy raced toward the True Dragon of Scorch.

Velgrynd, sensing the danger of taking the technique head-on, immediately activated her inherit acceleration nature and began to dodge the haphazard strikes of lighting that radiated off of it. She responded to his attack with a {|Burning Breath|} of her own, accelerating them with a huge amount of speed. The probability of missing was astronomically low, and yet, Veldora was able to dodge each shot with grace.

Velgrynd, surprised by how Veldora wasn't falling as easily as she would have liked, grunted in annoyance. Thankfully, however, she wasn't going easy on him anymore. Ever since she began dodging his {|Storm Breath|}, she had treated him as an equal to herself, as she knew that if she continued tooling down on him, she might lose.

"You might have gotten stronger, but don't think just because I was going easy on you before, that you've cornered me! {|Cardinal Cage|}!!!" Velgrynd called out.

Velgrynd wasn't just spewing out {|Burning Breath|} randomly. She was slowly cornering Veldora with it. They were still inside of her {|Heat Domain|}, and she figured Veldora couldn't escape from inside it while also being pressured by his sister's direct attacks, so she was able to corner Veldora by withdrawing the diameter of {|Heat Domain|} and trapping him.

It was a similar technique to Alaster's Gold Dust, but much more potent. If she wished, she could burn away Veldora's body and soul right now, but because her objective was just to capture him, she felt as though her work was done. Veldora was a lot more trouble than he was previously and had much greater control over his power, so she couldn't afford to go easy on him.

She began to close the {|Cardinal Cage|} around Veldora so that he would be burned up, but kept enough space so that his core would survive even if his outer body was destroyed. The airship was already close now, and Kondou's [Sandolphon] would soon be in range.

"Don't underestimate me!" Veldora roared as he charge towards the rapidly closing cage. His dragon form was too big to fit between the rapidly closing 'bars' which threatened to melt away his everything, so at the last moment, he transformed himself back into his human form and slipped through.

Even then, the maneuver was risky and Veldora's body suffered massive laserations from the turbulent spatial magic Velgrynd had used to contain her attack's shape, however, Veldora did not stop and continued forward at incredible speed.

Velgrynd couldn't dodge in time. "{|UNITED STATES OF SMASH|}!!!" Veldora called out as he gathered an enormous amount of Aura and Magical energy before layering it with his Storm Magic and Ultimate Skill into his fist before slamming it into his sister's snout and sending her rocketing into the ground below causing a massive explosion and dust cloud.

The strike was enough to blow away much of the dust and embers in the air from their earlier clash and send away the storm clouds he had gathered earlier. He'd never admit it to anyone, but the fact he gathered them just so one of his attacks could blow them away to look cool was one of his dreams.

Veldora stood, floating in the air and panting heavily as his body healed the damage he received from escaping his sister's earlier attack. It wasn't perfect, but his plan of luring his sister into thinking she'd won before pulling out a stronger move had paid off.

"Heh! Don't you know that the Hero's strongest move always comes out just as all hope seems lost." Veldora boasted.

"Is that so?" Velgrynd asked from behind Veldora.

Veldora instantly went to move away from the sudden appearance of his sister, only to feel his back pierced by her Blue Dragon Sword before he could fully retreat. He had dodged a near-fatal strike which was aimed at his core just in time due to his luck, but Velgrynd's flame Aura was already racing through the blade and burning him up from the inside.

His spiritual body was under assault and if he didn't do something now, he would be defeated in a crappy way. Veldora summoned forth his Dragon Wings and gave a powerful flap, embuing it with the {|Death Heralding Winds|} which forced Velgrynd to withdraw or take damage to her human form, however, Veldora wouldn't be given enough time to recover, as he instantly flapped the wings again, this time to the side, dodging a {|Burning Breath|} coming from below.

Velgrynd had used [Parallel Existance] to catch Veldora off-guard, but that didn't mean her original Dragon Body was destroyed. It was only dazed by being struck by such a powerful attack, but now it had regained its baring and was launching an assault on her hapless younger brother.

The airship is in range now and all that was needed was for her to seal Veldora's movements. Thankfully, he had moved in a predictable pattern to dodge her {|Burning Breath|} just then and was having trouble with maintaining his areal mobility. The human body charged at Veldora's using her immense speed to instantly catch up to him and grab him in a lock.

Velgrynd looked to Kondou, who was standing at the bow watching the entire fight. Next to him was her original body, the one she used to protect Rudra in case of any unexpected attacks. Beside her was one of the Ten Great Saints, Glenda Attley, who had recently escaped from her distraction fight in Ruberios. Kondou, without a second thought, raised his pistol toward Veldora and took a shot.

"[Sandolphon]" He said as he fired. A [Necrosis Bullet] left the chamber and sped up by his own skill's power as well as Velgrynd's Acceleration ability and layered with Glenda's [Sniper] Unique Skill.

Velgrynd wasn't stupid, nor was she incompetent. She knew that all of Veldora's seemingly impossible dodges from earlier couldn't all be attributed to 'luck'. Maybe one or two attacks, but not almost everything. She needed insurance that Veldora couldn't escape, so she combined all three people's power to create an Inescapable attack. One whose probably of escape was 0%, and she made sure to double-down on this fact by holding him down in a grab.

Sure, she'd lose the [Parallel Body] that was holding Veldora too, as the bullet would cut clean through both of them since he wasn't in his Dragon form, but she was willing to take the loss in magical power from that body's complete erasure to accomplish her task.

"Gyaaahhhhh!!!!" Veldora cried out in agonizing pain as he felt his very soul being assaulted by the bullet.

"[Regalia Dominion]" The voice echoed from somewhere near the back of the Airship, inflicting Veldora with a powerful domination technique that none could possibly oppose.

Veldora hurried to contain the damage and fight the domination, however, he noticed that the effects would transfer through his Soul Corridor back to his sworn friend Rimuru if he didn't stop it now. He couldn't let that happen. Even if he were to fall here, he couldn't let Rimuru be dominated due to his own foolish mistake of letting his guard down, so he hastily severed the connection, causing quite a bit of backlash to strike Rimuru at that very moment.

Rimuru, who was standing at the edge of the monitor and watching the battle with bated breath, suddenly collapsed as he felt the pain from his very soul shoot through his being.

"They took Veldora from me!?!" He growled as his aura exploded outwards from his seat, shocking everyone around him. "To take Veldora from me! Don't joke around damnit!" He yelled as he stood up and immediately teleported out of the room before anyone could stop him.

"Damn! What's going on?" Benimaru asked. He knew something was wrong but from his perspective, even though Veldora was in a bit of a pickle, especially after taking that seemingly painful attack, the fight was far from over.

He had no idea of the truth behind his master's sudden decision to join the fight, but he couldn't panic now. He turned toward everyone and began to issue orders.

"We need to go and support Rimuru-sama. That airship should contain the Empire's strongest fighting force if they are able to injure Veldora-sama to such an extent." Benimaru declared.

Everyone nodded in agreement full of seriousness and ready to go to their lord's aide.

"This is an emergency!!!" Alpha, one of the many Dryas Doll Dryads working in the Control room instantly called out, bringing their attention to her. "Several individuals with their EVs in the Million Class have begun detected in the deepest floor of the Labyrinth!"

There was silence in the room, as one of the screens changed and showed a group of Angels and Humans marching through the Labyrinth only two or so rooms away from the Control Center itself.

Diablo closed his eyes and chuckled evilly. "I see we have a tractor in our midst." He said aloud as he turned towards Dino.

"Indeed. To think such a lazy angel has gotten so ahead of himself." Testarossa added.

Dino smiled wryly as the various individuals in the Control room began to collapse, falling asleep nearby. "Sorry about this, but orders are orders." He said as he watched Shuna slump over in a deep sleep.

Carrera punched her palm as she glared at Dino. "You're not going to live long enough to regret this, Angel." she declared.

Dino began scratching the back of his head meekly, though he was still fully on guard for their attack which was surely coming. "I already said I'm sorry." He said before turning to Ramiris.

"Ramiris, it would probably be best if you escaped to Alaster's side for now." He said in full seriousness.

Dino hadn't been given the order to kill or capture her, just to allow Rudra's forces to capture the Labyrinth by teleporting to the deepest level so they could kill the Demon Lord and his executives. Hopefully, they could also convert some of them to their side, but Dino had already informed them that this was unlikely, so they didn't hold much hope.

They didn't expect Rimuru to have immediately teleported out to save Veldora when he was dominated, however, that just meant they only had to deal with the executives now.

Dino unsheathed his sword as the door to the Control Room was blown open.

What walked in were several members of the Imperial Guardians, the fallen angels Feldway, Zalario, Kornu, Pico, and Gracia. Even Kondou strode in, as after dominating Veldora, he turned to lead the assault himself, not having witnessed Rimuru's arrival at his previous battlefield. Dino simply strolled back toward his 'side' and joined the ranks of the invaders.

"Let's get this over with. I really want to have a lay-down once this is all over." He moaned.

.~.~.~.

/1\:

[Raphael] scolded him for saying his favorite was [Parallel Body] rather than it.

/2\:

She was thinking back to the rights against Twilight and Ivarage. In both fights, she was there, but she didn't really help out as Alaster did most of the work despite her being stronger than him.

It ate away at her that she wasn't experienced enough to help, which is why she trained herself and part of the reason why she wanted to become his Manas, so that she would always be useful to him. It was only part of the reason though. The main reason was she wanted a closer connection to him.

/3\:

In canon, Velgrynd destroyed floors 1 to 50 in her first attack, but in this, it was only 1 to 30 because Ramiris is stronger now, so her Labyrinth's structure is more durable.

/4\:

Veldora used [Faust]'s [Probability Manipulation] here to make the probability of further damage to the Labyrinth 0% while also making the probability of the wildfires disappearing 100%.