Chapter 240

Victory Lies in the Hands of the Maid (2)
Everyone immediately understood that the Demon King Iris had resolved to destroy everything. The hesitation vanished entirely from all her attacks.

Demon King Iris swung her arm clad in a black glove. She no longer had any combat magic held in pre-cast form. The rest of her spells weren’t suitable for battle.

There was no time to chant, and the sinister maid kept disrupting her attempts. That left only close combat. Ignoring her body’s screaming pain with every step, Demon King Iris swung her arm. Unlike before, when her magic flickered like miasma, her hand now transformed into something sharp like a blade. At that moment, Takuto sheathed his katana and drew the spirit sword strapped to his back to block her.

Demon King Iris’s claw and the spirit sword—the pinnacle of all holy swords—collided. The result: the spirit sword sliced through the glove covered in miasma-like magic, leaving a small wound.

“Tch…”

“It’s useless. You won’t beat me with that power.”

The spirit sword was forged to destroy evil gods. A Demon King—a corrupted spirit king tainted by fragments of an evil god—could not break it. That’s because it had been forged by both the Spirit King and the Goddess.

Moreover, the torn black glove did not regenerate quickly.

(Was it purified...?)

It was. The spirit sword, as a holy weapon, purified magical corruption. The strength of its purifying power varied by rank, and Takuto’s spirit sword sat at the top.

Demon King Iris began to inch back, widening the distance from Takuto.

If she had ten more years, the spirit sword wouldn’t have been a threat. If Alicetia's body matured, if her soul was twisted and made more malleable, Iris could’ve fully taken over. That outcome wouldn’t have been impossible—Alicetia had that much potential.

But she couldn’t block Takuto’s spirit sword herself. Aware of the disadvantage, Demon King Iris grabbed Gladius. Naturally, Gladius refused to recognize her as its master. The chain extending from the hilt wrapped around her arm. And not just that—

“Gyaha—! Gyahaha!”

Gladius wrapped around even her soul. This was unexpected, but it was the only weapon capable of resisting Takuto’s spirit sword. Even knowing it would fight her, Iris had no choice but to wield it.

The demon sword Gladius—once a holy sword second only to the spirit sword—had lost rank, but it still deflected Takuto’s strikes. Gladius let out an unamused cry. Yet, even as it inflicted excruciating pain upon her, Demon King Iris didn’t stop.

She swung like a berserker. And yet, the movements were those of someone well-versed in solid swordsmanship. Both Takuto and Alicia stepped back in surprise.

“Hey, maid—did Ai know swordsmanship? From what I remember, she only knew a bit of self-defense.”

“Do you think the Princess looks like a swordswoman to you? Without magic, she’d lose to a goblin. Also, call her Princess, or I will kill you.

Still, I sense the flow of Arland-style swordsmanship… although the form is quite different. It’s not mainstream Arland swordsmanship. I doubt the Princess knows the user.”

Arland swordsmanship was the style used by Arland’s standing army. Unlike standard swordplay, it was wholly designed for real combat—practical and ruthless. It had no formal rules, but there were established forms.

What Demon King Iris used wasn’t Arland swordsmanship—it was the original style from the Kingdom of Avalon, the basis for Arland’s methods. The system was fundamentally the same: a school of brute force.

Demon King Iris had absorbed the knowledge of the previous Demon King.

But in Alicetia’s body, which was not trained as a swordswoman, she couldn’t wield the full strength of such swordsmanship. It only bought her time.

Demon King Iris thought carefully. She possessed the knowledge of the previous Demon King—and even the Spirit King. Drawing upon all of it, she searched for a countermeasure.

Though the vast knowledge of the Spirit King placed a further burden on her body, she didn’t care. As long as she could create a new body before this one collapsed, it was fine. Blood trickled from her nose as she scoured her memory.

(Found it.)

At last, Demon King Iris discovered a way to escape her current predicament.

Though she had resolved to kill everyone here, she now saw that was difficult. So she’d do it later.

She considered fleeing via teleportation, but from the Spirit King's knowledge, she knew that Heroes possessed a teleportation spell that allowed them to warp directly to a chosen target. No matter where in this world she ran, Takuto would follow. While that spell required a large amount of mana, even Takuto could use it once—so she concluded it was a risk she couldn’t afford.

However, if she fled to another world via dimensional travel, Takuto would no longer be able to chase her. The Hero’s teleportation could not cross worlds.

Unfortunately, dimensional travel magic didn’t exist even in the Spirit King’s knowledge. While the Spirit King could teleport, it was an innate ability, not something systematized like human magic. Mastering the Spirit King's power completely might make it possible, but no human could manage that.

However—there was a clue. The Ancient Magic Kingdom had once created a magic tool that enabled dimensional travel: the Gate of the Otherworld.

It was magic born from the worst possible means.

The Ancient Magic Kingdom, which once ruled the entire continent, had faced problems like overpopulation and food shortages. To maintain national unity, they needed to conquer other nations. It was a country built on the idea that prosperity came from conquering external enemies.

Conquering already-populated lands solved the food problem more quickly than starting new settlements.

Thus, the Ancient Magic Kingdom intentionally caused wars. Countless people died. They summoned the Celestial Gate, which gathered the souls of the dead, then analyzed it to develop magic for dimensional travel.

That ultimately led to the invasion of this world by an evil god from another dimension, dooming the Dynasty—but to summon the Celestial Gate, all one needed was mass death.

Demon King Iris looked to the sky. There, unseen by normal eyes, a Gate had opened, collecting the souls of fallen Imperial soldiers on the battlefield.

(Something like this…)

Demon King Iris imbued Gladius with flame magic and swung it sideways. A slash of fire shot toward Takuto and Alicia, but they dodged it with ease. However, in that moment, Demon King Iris chanted Flight and shot into the sky at full speed.

Takuto and Alicia stood there, dumbfounded. Takuto quickly followed her into the air using Flight as well. Since Alicia couldn’t fly, she instead ran underneath Demon King Iris.

Takuto’s Flight was far less refined than Iris’s, and he could only manage less than half her speed.

“Pointless. You’re not getting away, Ai.”

Even if she tried to lose him, Takuto still had a way to pursue her. He wasn’t out of options yet.

Demon King Iris gave a soft chuckle and unleashed a torrent of miasma-like mana from her right arm. The chains of Gladius were torn away from her body by the force of the magic, but they clung to the miasma instead. It was as if Gladius, unwilling to let go, was trying to suppress the demonic energy and rebind the chains to her right arm.

Gladius was desperately trying to restrain Demon King Iris. It no longer had the power to seal a resurrected Demon King. In fact, it had never truly had sealing powers. However, by pushing its soul-interfering magic sword abilities beyond their limits, Gladius refused to let Iris forsake her humanity. The blade cracked under the strain.

“O’ Gate of the Celestial Realm that crosses worlds—grant me all your knowledge!”

Suppressing Gladius’s interference, even if temporarily, Demon King Iris drew the dragon staff from her back. It was quickly dyed black and she stabbed it into the Celestial Gate.

Crack!

The moment she cast the analysis spell, more blood flowed from her eyes and nose. The enormous formulae composing the Celestial Gate flooded into her.

Her body screamed in agony. Even Alicetia, trapped within, screamed under the pressure of the torrent of knowledge.

“I found it!”

Demon King Iris turned and delivered a kick to Takuto.

“Gah—Ai!”

“This is goodbye for now, Takuto. But I will return. When I do, the world of happiness we once had will come back. If you can… wait for me until then. Gravity Press.”

Takuto's body plummeted toward the ground at high speed. He hastily conjured a cushion of wind magic to reduce the impact, but he still dropped his spirit sword from the shock.

Kazuhito and Mai tried to approach.

“Don’t come near! This magic affects everyone in its range! Stop Ai instead!”

Gravity Press crushed everything in a fixed area with intense gravity. Dispelling it was difficult.

Still, Takuto slowly stood up. And just as quickly, fell to his knees.

Meanwhile, Demon King Iris began chanting. Several brilliant, massive magic circles floated around her. Recognizing the overwhelming scale of the spell, Alicia screamed.

“Princess, please stop! If you cast that, your body won’t survive it!”

But Demon King Iris didn’t even glance her way, continuing her chant. The black gleam in her inverted sigil eyes drew in the surrounding mana like a vortex.

The sigil in her eyes was the proof of the Spirit King, the source of that power. Iris abused it to grasp control over natural mana. Without that, this spell would be impossible.

The explosion of the mana furnace had flooded the area with a wild concentration of mana, and all of it was becoming fuel for Demon King Iris. But natural mana is not compatible with human bodies. In fact, this berserk energy would normally destroy her.

Still, she would use it—to tear open a hole in the world.

Dimensional Transfer. A hastily cobbled together and extremely dangerous spell. To travel to another world, one must first set coordinates. That requires magic capable of observing other worlds. However, the dimensional transfer Iris created simply flung her into a random otherworld. No control over where she'd land.

Underground, underwater, even in space—the risks were endless. But this was the only way. She would annihilate humanity in another world. This world would be destroyed last. That was the decision Demon King Iris had made.

Kazuhito and Mai launched attacks at the airborne Iris, but neither were skilled in long-range combat. Their attacks were deflected by one of the magic circles floating before her.

Then, the world tore open. Space warped and spiraled.

“Now… my journey begins.”

The moment Demon King Iris opened her mouth to cast the final spell—

Alicia, who had been waiting for just this moment, acted. A spell of this magnitude—if it failed, Alicetia’s body would be too damaged to ever move again.

From her storage pouch at her waist, Alicia pulled something out and shouted toward Demon King Iris.

“Princess, pudding à la mode, coming right up!”

At that instant, Alicetia, who had been suppressed within, surged to the forefront.

“Pudding!”

The final chant faltered. The massive magic circles began sparking and distorting.

“Wha—?!”

Never had Demon King Iris imagined a failed incantation at this crucial moment. She tried desperately to stabilize the unraveling magic, but the overwhelming power of the dimensional transfer—once destabilized—could not be stopped.

As the giant magic circles vanished one by one, Demon King Iris began to fall. Takuto, finally freed from Gravity Press, caught her.

“Phew. I’m glad I decided to buy that after all.”

“Seriously…”

Takuto and the others wore bitter expressions. They never imagined that a single pudding would change the course of battle.

Pudding à la mode—only five made per day by the Shishido Confectionery, run by Takuto. Alicia had lined up from 3 a.m. to get one for Alicetia.

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