Published: September 10, 2025
This chapter is not from Satou’s perspective.
“The Giant of Light—has a god manifested?!”
Turning at the commander’s shout, a yellow giant had appeared near where the apostle and the Demon King were fighting.
“Ritdilt, dodge!”
At the vice commander’s yell, I leapt forward without checking my surroundings and covered myself with a cloak made from the rat demon king’s fur.
“Gwahhhhhhh!”
I heard a colleague’s scream behind me.
The town ahead was bathed in yellow light, turning into white salt.
“T-The demon eater bird!”
I heard Tigerman knight Dazelim’s scream.
The “demon eater bird” flying ahead with a white tail disintegrated mid-air.
“Divine punishment of the gods…”
“That cursed god is just an evil god.”
Though the vice commander, who always clashed with me, and I did not get along, I agreed with this opinion.
My previously ineffective crisis sensing sounded an alarm.
“—What is that shining thing?”
Through the beams of light breaking through the clouds, countless shining objects appeared.
Their outlines were blurry but roughly cube-shaped.
“Minions of the evil god!”
They must have come to aid the evil god.
“They’ve come here too!”
“It seems they consider us enemies of the gods—everyone, show these evil gods the true strength of the palace knights (templar knights)!”
“““Yes!!”””
Answering the commander’s order, everyone charged at the cubes.
“The demonic swords aren’t working?”
“Even my holy sabre Monofo-shi Zao has little effect.”
As my comrades said, my beloved sword only gave a weak response, like cutting water.
These cubes seemed to be a type of apostle.
“Everyone, use of the white swords employed in the apostle battle is authorized!”
The white swords coated with dragon fang powder had limited uses.
The commander seemed to want to save them for the battle against the evil god, but judged it pointless to be killed by the cubes before that.
“We can do this! We can!”
“Of course! It’s his majesty the emperor and the military strategist’s secret strategy.”
As long as we could use our weapons, it was easy to coordinate and defeat the cubes, who fought poorly despite their speed.
We took down cube after cube.
The only concern was how many uses of the white swords remained—
◇
“Ritdilt! Come here!”
Lion knight Gilzem called me.
“Lord Gilzem?”
“The commander has ordered a summons for some palace knights (templar knights).”
“But we can’t leave here…”
“Quiet! It’s an order! Leave those cubes to vice commander Guarba.”
Gilzem grabbed my arm and dragged me to the assembly point.
—The Imperial Palace?
We were taken to the palace at the center of the white-covered Imperial Capital.
Thirteen palace knights (templar knights), including me, stood before the castle gates.
“Commander! At a time like this—”
The bespectacled rat knight Morbit was about to confront the commander when—
“—What!?”
A huge purple beast broke through the castle gate. It was an abnormal creature resembling a wild weasel.
The beast looked our way.
—Terrifying.
A fear that made me want to run away from this place bubbled inside me.
“T-The Demon King…”
I whispered, and my comrades except the commander drew their white swords.
Many had already lost their white glow.
“Hold back! This is before His Majesty!”
I couldn’t understand the commander’s words.
“—Don’t you understand?”
“Military strategist—sir?”
The one who appeared from inside the palace looked like the military strategist reincarnator.
There was no way the smooth-headed strategist had such long purple hair.
“That is His Majesty. He discarded his weaselfolk form to challenge the gods.”
Indeed, the eyes of that abnormal creature shone with wisdom.
“Listen! You all have strong reason to not lose yourselves in battle.”
The commander, prompted by the strategist, straightened his posture and raised his voice.
“Therefore, this is bestowed upon you.”
A plate floating beside the commander held several twisted dark purple horn-like objects.