Published: September 10, 2025
This chapter shifts to Satou’s perspective toward the end.
“Yuuki, how’s your magic power?”
“Still nowhere near ready.”
The two heroes lay sprawled on their backs like crosses in the ruins of the Imperial Castle of the Saga Empire.
Hero Seigi asked, gazing up at the sky, and Hero Yuuki answered in a lazy tone without getting up.
“Think you can move?”
“Not for a while. I’ve never drained my magic power this much before. Even talking feels like a chore.”
Despite the laziness, Yuuki’s complaints flowed smoothly.
“How about the golden ones?”
“They’re rescuing disaster victims.”
“Those guys are tough.”
The golden knights and Hero Nameless had, along with the two heroes from the Saga Empire, defeated the Lamia Demon King, Ms. Ramiko, and were now moving to rescue survivors trapped in collapsed shelters downtown.
“So, they bypassed the castle ruins—”
“Means they’re leaving this spot to us, I guess.”
“Figures~”
Yuuki glanced around the rubble unwillingly.
“Can you search, Yuuki?”
“When my magic recovers, yeah.”
He answered, then remembered his companion’s special skill.
“—What about you?”
“Mine only detects evildoers.”
“Useless.”
Hero Seigi’s unique skill, ‘Evil Exploration (Where are the bad guys?),’ couldn’t be used to find survivors buried under the rubble.
“Huh?”
Seigi noticed the gravel on the stone pavement he was lying on twitching.
When he sat up and looked around, he saw faint ripples spreading over a nearby puddle.
“What’s going on?”
“Is it shaking?”
“Must be my imagination.”
Yuuki closed his eyes to concentrate and dismissed it.
“Whoa, it shook!”
“Told you!”
Though the tremor was only about level 1 or 2, intermittent shaking continued beneath their feet during their conversation.
“Is this bad?”
“Think there’s still a Demon King or demons underground?”
“Sounds likely.”
Seigi said casually.
“Then why not use your skill to check?”
“Oh right! —Evil Exploration (Where are the bad guys?)”
A blue light flowed over Seigi’s body.
Eyes closed in concentration, he suddenly opened them wide and shouted:
“Found one! About a kilometer underground!”
“Deep! Is it hiding in magma or something?”
Yuuki made a sarcastic comment on Seigi’s report.
“There’s only one. It’s bad news — I sense massive evil and madness. The threat level is off the charts.”
“Seriously...”
At that moment, a particularly strong tremor hit the ground beneath them.
The two lying down instantly jumped up.
“Let’s retreat and call the golden knights and the purple-haired one.”
“Agreed!”
Both heroes used their last magic power to activate their flying boots and took off from the rubble pile.
◇
“The souls of the Saga Empire—”
The emperor of the Saga Empire held a key shaped like a rainbow-colored jewel in his hand like a staff and called out to the City Core.
Maybe due to the overwhelming supply of magic power, the key’s shape kept changing constantly, crackling with purple lightning.
Though scorched by the lightning and bleeding from his wounds, the emperor refused to halt the ritual.
“In accordance with the divine envoy’s will, manifest here a door to invite the divine might.”
Shaking as if electrocuted by a high-voltage line, the emperor spoke.
Blood flowed from his nose and mouth, tiny blood vessels in his fingertips burst, spraying blood.
Before him, seven colors of light gathered to form a gate.
A rainbow-colored door embedded with jewels appeared, with seven keyholes.
“By the authority granted by the divine envoy, keys that open this door, be present here.”
Despite his battered state, the emperor chanted with bloodshot eyes.
Blue light leaked from his wounds, shining purple through the red blood.
Each color of light transformed into a key.
Anyone who had seen the gods appearing in the Empire’s capital of the Weasel Empire would have noticed the colors matched those emitted by each deity.
“Using the seven Divine Keys, I shall fulfill the sacred mission bestowed by the divine envoy.”