Maou-sama no Machizukuri! ~Saikyou no Danjon wa Kindai Toshi~ Vol 9 Chapter 16

In order to turn the tables, Kuina wanted to access a new power . But as she was now, she didn’t have enough strength .

For that reason, I used [Awakening] . [Monsters of the Covenant] and their Demon Lord were connected . The stronger I become, the stronger Kuina would become too .

When Kuina noticed the strength flowing into her, she smiled .

And so, it began .

Her whole body was wrapped in her golden red flames . Aside from the color of the flames, it looked similar to when she was about to use [Transform] .

Back then, she would use [Transform] to make use of her hidden potential, changing her form from being a young girl into a woman in the latter half of her teens in the process .

The flames she was exhibiting now was fiercer than ever before .

“Using the ultimate form of a Celestial Fox, Kuina can win”

This time, Kuina changed from her now-base-form of a woman in the latter half of her teens to a woman in her twenties .

The innocence from her face vanished, turning her into an even more breathtaking beauty .

As an added bonus, her broken left arm, her wounds, her bruises, and even her clothes were all healed and restored .

Moreover, her tail count increased from one to four .

This was the form recorded in the [Memory of the Planet] .

By obtaining more power, the number of tails a Wild Fox had would increase . Upon obtaining nine tails, they would ascend into a Nine-tailed Fox . If that individual gained even more power after that, they would ascend into a Celestial Fox but then have fewer tails than before, instead of gaining more .

Originally, Celestial Foxes had four tails .

But Kuina didn’t even have four until now . It was highly likely that her teen-age form was still an incomplete form as opposed to her adult form which had the four tails .

Whichever the case might be, Kuina’s latest form possessed unbelievable power . So much so that even I, her ally, couldn’t help but get goosebumps .

Actually, even for her, this power was too much . Through our connection, I could tell that each passing second consumed a great deal of her strength and magic power . I estimated that she had about three minutes at most .

“Rorono-chan, Tiro, thanks but Kuina’ll take it from here . ”

“Mhm . I’ll leave him to you . But if I see you performing poorly, I’ll beat him myself . ”

“Gaugau!”

In order to protect Kuina and me, Rorono and Tiro engaged the [Pig] Demon Lord in combat . I had instructed them to prioritize defense rather than offense .

As long as they didn’t receive any grave injuries from such a powerful foe, it was a great success . Not only did the two do that, they also helped whittle down the enemy a bit more . Without a doubt, the two did great .

From now on though, the spotlight was back to the star of the show, Kuina .

Or so it should have been, but the [Pig] Demon Lord was now totally devoid of thought and just attacking wildly . Just because Rorono and Tiro were uninterested in continuing to fight, that didn’t mean he would focus on Kuina instead .

And so, the [Pig] Demon Lord caught Rorono and pierced through her chest with his arm .

“Ugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!?”

But then, Rorono dissolved, turned into flames, and burned the [Pig] Demon Lord .

Infuriated, he then kicked Tiro, but Tiro turned into flames as well .

Without the enemy knowing, the two were replaced by phantoms made of flames . As soon as that was over, the original Rorono and Tiro appeared beside me .

“Kuina’s also able to do this kind of thing, huh . ”

“I was surprised too… Kuina’s so enviable . She became so strong naturally, it’s unfair . If only I could become that strong too…”

I found Rorono’s complaints amusing and laughed .

“What’s so funny, Master? I was being serious . ”

“I know, it’s just that Kuina said she was envious of you . According to her, unlike her who is supposedly only helpful to me in battle, you are helpful both in and out of battle . She really envies your usefulness in developing the city as well as improving our war potential via your weapons . ”

Rorono was taken aback . It seemed like she wasn’t aware of Kuina’s envy of her, or at least the extent of it .

For Kuina and Rorono to be envious of each other in this way, they sure have a great relationship, don’t they?

Anyway, looking back at Kuina’s fight, multiple Kuinas were now surrounding the [Pig] Demon Lord .

Just like earlier, these other Kuinas were flame puppets . If one was struck in hopes of striking the real Kuina, the flame puppets would turn to flames and burn the attacker .

By the way, the flames being used were the golden red flames that could burn anything .

Riled up and even more furious, the [Pig] Demon Lord was swinging his arms wildly . While he was like that, a blast of flames hit him from behind by the real Kuina . Thanks to the distraction that the flame puppets provided, Kuina was able to gain time and thus was able to freely increase the output of the blast . All that led to the large hole in the [Pig] Demon Lord’s chest .

“Kuina’s dominating again…”

Kuina was normally faster and stronger than her opponents, so she liked employing brute-force tactics on them . This time though, she was making great use of her special abilities and was even exploiting the enemy’s weak points .

Since the [Pig] Demon Lord was devoid of his reasoning and thus could only move in a straightforward fashion, Kuina was able to lead him by the nose .

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa”

The [Pig] Demon Lord shouted once again .

Unfortunately, that wasn’t all he did .

The flesh in the large hole Kuina made swelled and filled up the said hole . At the same time, his dark power swelled and swelled until it exploded .

The explosion hit and extinguished Kuina’s flame puppets .

If finding the real one is too hard, why not eliminate them all at once, I thought .

Still, that must have taken some serious toll on him .

Especially considering that the explosion reached even us . Thanks to the barrier Tiro and the Abyss Howls made though, I was left unhurt .

With the flame puppets gone, the real Kuina was now exposed .

Even so, she was calm and even had a faint smile on her face .

She had wrapped her golden red flames around her and used it as armor . She turned the ultimate attack into the ultimate shield .

However, ever since Kuina assumed her present form, 123 seconds had already passed .

Just staying in that form continually consumed magic power, and a large amount at that . Given that her magic power was limited, it followed that the time she could remain in that form was limited as well . She did have magic power stored in the furs of her original tail, but I had no idea whether she was going to use those or not .

As though to answer me though, her flames became even more fierce . It looked like she was going to use what little magic power she had left and risk it all in her next attack . Soon enough, her flames took on the shape of a large fox .

“Win or lose, Kuina’s gonna end this fight with this attack . If you can withstand this, Kuina admits defeat . ”

It was such a close fight, but I could tell Kuina was enjoying it .

She hadn’t had such a close fight since she fought Enlil back when she had low levels and when he was still just an A rank Emerald Dragon .

And so, Kuina took a deep breath and then extended both her hands toward the enemy .

“[Golden Crimson Celestial Fox]”

Kuina poured all of her flames into the large fox and made it go forward . By all of her flames, that included the ones that surrounded her, thus leaving none left for her defense .

“UGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

In response, the [Pig] Demon Lord made his body expand even more . This time, he pushed his body way beyond its limits . So much so that his body was visibly in the process of breaking down .

At the same time, he drew more of the seemingly endless dark power of his and used it to cover his body . Like that, he collided with Kuina’s golden red fox .

“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“Ugaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Kuina and the [Pig] Demon Lord both shouted .

Both put their all into this clash .

If Kuina couldn’t defeat the [Pig] Demon Lord with her golden red fox, she wouldn’t have any moves left . In other words, the [Pig] Demon Lord would win .

And then, the [Pig] Demon Lord’s charge stopped as the golden red fox enveloped him . The golden red flames were steadily burning the dark power protecting him .

Until finally, even his tough exterior was burned . His flesh was next .

However…

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

It was less of a scream and more of a bellow .

The [Pig] Demon Lord released all of his remaining power instantly .

It was almost like an explosion . As such, the golden red fox that engulfed him was torn apart and scattered .

With his burnt flesh exposed, he walked toward Kuina . And when he was right in front of her, he raised his arm .

“I… lost”

Kuina, exhausted but somewhat satisfied, said so as she fell to the ground .

I should order the Abyss Howl to break the crystal now, I thought .

I didn’t act on it though . And the reason for that was because Kuina won .

The [Pig] Demon Lord fell to his knees, turned as white as salt, and began to crack . Also, the arm he was about to swing down fell off .

Agares had sacrificed too much . He didn’t have enough strength to live, to exist .

Unlike Kuina who only exhausted her magic power, he exhausted his very being .

“I, i, i, I… thought finally became Demon Lord like [Dragon]… that person, I admire, aspire to…”

The [Pig] Demon Lord spoke those words before his entire body crumbled and then turned into particles .

So, this is the fate of a Demon Lord who used up all of his power . I better take note of it .

“[Pig] Demon Lord Agares, I will never forgive you for what you tried to do to Rorono, but I’ll at least say thanks for helping Kuina grow . ”

I issued such parting words to him .

Right after, I went to where Kuina was . She had passed out .

Her [Transform] was undone, but instead of reverting to her base form, she involuntarily reverted to her energy-conservation mode .

From that, I decided that letting her know we won could wait until she woke up .

We could break the crystal now to instantly end the [War] . Killing the opponent Demon Lord would also end the [War], but that would make us wait several minutes first . In either case, the Creator would forcibly Transfer us afterward .

But before any of that, I wanted to undo my [Awakening] . Being in this state was tiring, after all .

Wait, no, not yet .

I then thought of something to do, and rather than use [Awakening] sometime later and go through the whole process again—which had certain risks—I decided to try it now .

“Rorono, I’d like to get your permission on something . ”

“What is it about, master?”

“I’m wondering if it’s alright to use [Create] on your three knights . ”

Rorono gasped .

Whenever I enter [Awakening], my [Creation] evolves into [Create] . Whereas [Creation] materializes certain things recorded in the [Memory of Planet], [Create] was the power to advance something that already exists into a future version .

Objects advanced in accordance to their base functions .

So, in the case of the three knights, they would grow stronger than they were now, but still retain the concept behind their designs .

Based on that, it seemed like there was no downside at all in doing it . And there technically wasn’t, but going ahead with it might end up hurting Rorono’s pride . As the world’s best alchemist, it wouldn’t be at all strange for her to want to make the knights stronger through her own efforts .

“…mhm, yes, please make them stronger . I would then study the improved knights and make them even stronger . So, yes, please do so . ”

While clenching her fists really tight, Rorono said so . Her frustration was well conveyed even though she didn’t mean to .

In response, I brushed her head a bit rougher than usual .

“Understood . I’ll do it now . ”

Rorono had done temporary repairs on the knights earlier . She had put them back together just enough for them to look as they did originally .

While they were like that, I used [Create] .

A crest of dark power appeared and made the outer layer of the knights pulsate . Before long, they melted and then began to reform .

The magic power consumption of [Create] varied depending on the target .

For Rorono’s masterpieces, all of my magic power was spent . I had hoped I would still have enough to use [Create] on the Avalon-Ritters as well, but pushing myself beyond the limit might make what happened to the [Pig] Demon Lord happen to me .

“Their new forms are quite cool, aren’t they?”

Each knight’s weapons and peculiar traits were more emphasized than before .

Their material also changed . It was now a metal I had never seen before . More importantly, it was a magic metal that was better than even orichalcum .

“Amazing . [Create]’s ability to evolve something is amazing . ”

Rorono said so while her eyes sparkled and while her fingers traced the outline of the knights .

It wasn’t that her frustration was gone, it was just that curiosity got the better of her .

She wasn’t the only one; I was quite intrigued as well . Later on, once she has calmed down, I intended to make Rorono explain to me how the knights have changed .

After that and cancelling [Awakening], it was time to end the [War] .

So, I picked up the unconscious Kuina, carried her in my arms, and then snapped my fingers .

When I did that, the Abyss Howl that held the enemy’s crystal in its mouth closed its jaw with all might and crushed the crystal .

Right after…

<>

The familiar feeling of my whole body being afloat then enveloped me .

Looking back on this [War], we not only won, we also gained a lot of things .

Duke was able to steal war potential from the enemy via his [Enhanced Resurrection] . Ruhe, Tiro, and the Abyss Howls also gained actual combat experience, which was something they sorely lacked . Additionally, we were able to gather data on the three knights and even made them evolve .

But most of all, my ace Kuina was able to surpass her limit once more .

All in all, it was really fruitful [War] . Hopefully, it would prepare us enough for future wars and battles against the anti-Procell alliance, who most likely would be crueler now .

While thinking of such things, I entrusted my body to the Transfer .

A Transfer now courtesy of the Creator could mean one of two things .

If the Creator was really pleased with a Demon Lord’s [War], that Demon Lord would be summoned to go to the Creator’s side and be given a reward . Otherwise, things like the involved dungeons would simply return to where they were before .

The Creator did say he was pleased with my [War], but I wonder which one it is this time…

Chapter end