Vel’s torso was cut in half and fell to the ground. As Ara looked at him, she suddenly glanced around anxiously.

She could only see four Demon Soldiers who had fallen to the ground and were no longer moving. Yes, even though there had initially been five Demon Soldiers, only four had been killed an controlled by Vel.

「The last one is……」

Murmuring as she looked around, she could only see others fighting Demon Soldiers in the distance. Especially in this area where Ara had been fighting, she could see many of Elena’s knight guard. No matter where she looked, there was no one left.

That wasn’t surprising as Vel could have killed him if he stayed nearby. The beetle Demon Soldier had already left this place. After that, while he was heading back to Cyanus to report what Vel had done, he encountered Rei, who has split his body in half, just like Vel.

「……He was once a knight guard.」

「Ara-sama!」

As Ara muttered her own thoughts about Vel’s end, someone called out to her from behind.

Ara turned around a saw a middle-aged man with blue hair, about 10 years older than her. The man was her deputy commander and handled most of the actual organisation of the Knight Guard on behalf of Ara. That said, he was also a subordinate who didn’t let all that power go to his head.

「It looks like you’re safe, Machen.」

As expected of her position as Knight Captain. Instead of the tone she used to speak with Elena and Rei, she spoke to Machen in a firm tone.

「Yes. As far as I was able to confirm, there are currently 2 dead and 13 seriously injured among the knight guards.」

「I see. 2 dead.」

With sadness in her eyes, she gave a sigh as she looked at Vel, who was lying on the ground.

Following her gaze, Machen noticed the person lying on the ground with his body split in half.

「Vel!? Captain, this is……」

「Yes, this is Vel Sails, our former compatriot. A mere shadow of what he once was.」

「So it really is Vel? It, it seems that he has changed a lot.」

There was no trace of his former self with the tentacle like tree roots extending from his left shoulder and four eyes on his burnt face. Hearing that from his captain, Mechan gave a sigh.

「Honestly, when I heard that Vel had betrayed us, I wanted to kill him with my own hands. But after seeing him like this……I’ve lost that feeling.」

「That true. Even I, who saw his betrayal with my own eyes, felt only pity when I saw him like this. After all, in his final moments, the person who killed him didn’t even realise who he was and just brushed him aside like trash.」

「Eh? Didn’t you do this? His body is split in two.」

Ara looked at her deputy with a stern gaze when he unintentionally spoke those words.

Of course, she was aware that her strength was extraordinarily high compared to most other people, but as a woman, there were still some things that shouldn’t be said.

「When you say that, I now see what kind of person you usually view me as. But unfortunately, I wasn’t the one who killed Vel. Ironically, it was Rei-dono, the one Vel really hated.」

「Speaking of Rei-dono, I believe Elena-sama……」

The knowledge of what Elena thought of Rei was also known by Machen, partly because he was the deputy commander of the Knight Guard.

Of course, Elena hadn’t told him directly, but Ara had let him know in order to keep the relationship between Rei and Machen friendly.

「It seems he was looking for Elena-sama and happened to end up here. ……At that time, when he saw me being attacked by the Demon Soldiers that Vel was controlling, he helped me out. That said, all he did was slice Vel in half from behind with that large scythe.」

「A large scythe? From the information I heard from the Rowlocks army, it is definitely a very large scythe. Since he can wield it as if it were an extension of his arm, he must be even stronger than Captain……」

As Machen said that, Ara saw something moving in the corner of her eyes. Yes, tree roots were extending out from both halves of Vel’s body and were trying to connect them back together.

Seeing that, Ara pushed Machen aside almost on reflex, as he was blocking her path to Vel. Even though she didn’t put much force behind her push, this was still with her strength. Natrually, Machen staggered backwards several meters before falling to the ground.

「Aah-! C-Captain, I don’t know if that made you mad……but, I won’t……do, huh……?」

Wasn’t that punishment a bit overkill for the joke he had just made? He sputtered out those words questioningly, but when he looked up, he saw tree roots wrapped around Ara’s Power Axe.

And of course, the source of the tree roots that were wrapped around the Power Axe was Vel, who was still lying on the ground.

「He’s still alive in that state?」

Even though he was shocked, Machen quickly got up from the ground and pulled out the sword sheathed at his waist.

「Captain!」

「I’ll hold these roots down! Machen, crush his body and head!」

「Yes sir!」

「Ke-Kehi, Rei? Did you say Rei? Ah, it was Rei who killed me!」

Even though his body had been split in half, Vel shouted seemingly without a care.

The tree roots were growing out from his split torso as they tried to extend and connect with each other. Seeing that, Ara’s face distorted in disgust.

「Vel, have you abandoned even your dignity as a person?!」

「Kehi, it’s not like I became like this because I wanted to. I failed to assassinate Elena……you’re in my way!」

He tried to extend his tree roots to Machen, who was attempting to swing a sword down on his head. But before he could do that, Vel saw Ara, who had torn apart the tree roots holding the Power Axe down, move over and intercept him.

「You who was once our companion. ……Rest, in peace!」

With those words, Machen thrust his sword sharply at Vel’s head. Realising that his tree roots wouldn’t be able to block the attack in time, Vel used his right hand, his only human hand, to launch his body into the air.

By becoming a Demon Soldier, his physical strength had increased greatly compared to when he had been just a human. Vel’s upper body flew nearly 2m into the air, even though it was only with the strength of his right hand.

However……Vel was originally someone who fought with his brain. After becoming a Demon Soldier, his thoughts had dulled and he became mentally unstable, reducing the speed of his decision making. Yes, if it had been the old Vel, he would have known what launching his body into the air would mean.

「HAAAAAAAAAA-!」

Roar-!

Swinging the Power Axe, it was an attack made with all the strength she had. In terms of the pure power behind this attack, it would even surpass an attack made by Elena. Vel, whose body was now in mid air, was unable to avoid the attack and could only block it with his tree roots. As a result……the large blade of the battle axe swung down right between his four eyes and exploded his head.

Brains, bones, flesh, blood and green liquid, which might have been a side effect of becoming a Demon Soldier, splattered everywhere. When Machen saw Vel’s upper body fall to the ground, there was already nothing left above his neck.

「With his head crushed, it shouldn’t be possible for him to regenerate any more.」

While muttering, Ara frowned unpleasantly at Vel’s upper body, now missing its head, and lower body.

「Just in case. Machen, we’ll crush the rest. I’ll destroy his upper body, I’ll leave his lower body to you.」

「……It looks like it would be better to do that. I didn’t think he could still move like that after being cut in half.」

Pulling out his sword that was stuck in the ground, he turned to look at Vel’s lower body.

The tree roots extending from her belly were still moving as if they were still alive even though Vel’s head had been destroyed.

「What was the Bestir Empire thinking when making something like this? ……Vel, as our former companion, rest peacefully.」

Along with those words, he swung his sword down at Vel’s lower body.

Next to him, Ara swung her Power Axe at Vel’s upper body, which had lost its head.

Vel Sails. Born and raised as the second son of the Viscount Sails family. Over the course of his upbringing, he began to find pleasure in murder, but he never revealed it and even his family never knew. When his entire family defected from the Mireana Kingdom to the Bestir Empire, Vel was seriously injured in the resulting commotion and his body was used in an experiment by an alchemist from the Ministry of Magic to create a Demon Soldier that specialised in vitality. Even though he underwent an experiment with a survival rate as low as 1 in 500, he survived. However, his personality had changed as a result of the experimental process. After that, he served as a Demon Soldier and participated in the ambush operation utilising transition stones in the battle at Selemus Plains. While fighting his former compatriot, Ara, he was casually struck by Rei from behind and his body split in half. However, he managed to survive in that state due to his characteristics as a Demon Soldier that specialised in vitality. In the end, his head was crushed by Ara, finally killing him.

「I don’t know what he was thinking. But this is the result of his own choice. He has to accept the consequences.」

Briefly saying that, Ara turned to look at her deputy.

To Ara, who held Elena’s life as her highest priority, she no longer held any compassion for Vel, who had betrayed Elena.

「Machen, we will support our allies now. We have to preserve the strength of everyone in the knight guard.」

「Is Elena-sama okay?」

「Rei-dono is on his way. There’s no need to worry about Elena-sama any further.」

For Ara, she considered Rei’s skills to be sufficient to place her absolute trust in. So while it was regretful that she wouldn’t be able to assist Elena, she was certain that Elena would be able to defeat Theorem with Rei’s help.

「Come on, let’s go. Even if we can repel this ambush, the war is not over yet. For now, we have to secure as much strength as we can for Elena-sama.」

「……It’s going to be hard on my stamina. It must be nice to have that axe, Captain.」

With wry smiles on their faces, the two headed for the battlefield to help their companions.

 

 

「Phew……General Princess, your strength has made a lot of progress compared to before.」

Theorem called out to Elena as he kept his distance, parrying the tip of her sword whip that flew towards him from an unexpected direction.

It was no wonder as Theorem, who was called the Flash, was starting to run out of breath while Elena maintained a cool expression as she faced him.

「Well, I don’t know. Haven’t you just gotten weaker instead of me getting stronger? According to the information I heard, it seems you’ve joined the Third Prince’s faction. Have you neglected to train yourself after busying yourself in the power struggle?」

Elena replied as turned her sword whip back into a long sword.

However, Elena wasn’t really as at ease as her words suggested. No, in her mind, she was actually surprised by Theorem’s skill. He had been able to match her after she had inherited the power of an Ancient Dragon from the Inheritance Ceremony. Although she wasn’t able to fully use the power she had inherited, her physical strength had still increased considerably compared to before. Her words saying that Theorem’s skills had dulled were just a way to provoke him as he was actually matching her evenly.

「It’s true your skills have definitely gotten better. But that’s not enough to one-sidedly suppress me. In that case, I will just trust in Cyanus to defeat Count Arius and maintain this situation. Because of that, I’ll keep playing with you for a while.」

Theorem replied again said that as he held his sword on top of his warhorse.

Elena knew that aside from the fight between her and Theorem, time was also her enemy. Because of that, her mind was bitter at Theorem’s words. Still, there was nothing she could do as she was the only one that could hold Theorem down on this battlefield. ……Yes, until now.

「KYUUUU-!」

「……?」

「-!?」

A cry that shouldn’t have been heard in the middle of battle echoed out.

Theorem looked around quizzically at the sound while Elena smiled.

Holding her sword whip, she turned to look in the direction the cry had come from. And as Elena had expected, she saw the person she loved with a small Dragon at his side and a large scythe in his hands.

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