POV: Badigadi
Labyrinths tended to appear in areas of high mana concentration.
The true nature of mana was still poorly understood, but it altered animals and plants and sometimes could even cause changes in inorganic materials.
The labyrinths themselves were caves and ruins that had undergone such changes.
As more and more mana accumulated, it brought unfavorable effects: monsters multiplied, trees grew densely, and sometimes diseases spread.
For us demons, it was one thing, but a human body would wither if exposed even once to a large volume of mana.
Although it seemed that humans had become unexpectedly resilient in recent times, since such cases were now rarely heard of.
The laws of how mana accumulated were a mystery to me, but perhaps mana had some property that attracted itself, monsters attacked humans to feed on their mana, and the labyrinths absorbed the creatures that perished within them.
Because of that, humans built their settlements and flourished in places where the mana concentration was lower.
Cities and towns of the present day arose in places where the mana concentration was low. Even Rikarisu, where Kishirika's castle stood, was like that.
There was no other place on the Demon Continent with such thin mana. Or at least, it had been so once. Things seemed different now.
None of that applied to Atofe's fortress, by the way.
I imagined she thought living in a monster-infested place was fitting for a Demon King; my older sister was simplistic like that.
Let us return to talking about the labyrinths, however.
Labyrinths often sprang up in places that teemed with high mana concentration — in other words, the so-called mana wells. The denser the mana, the vaster, deeper, and more enigmatic the labyrinth became.
Thus, labyrinths usually sprouted in forests, wild places, mountains, places far from people.
Such places began rich in mana and thus were prone to the development of mana wells; which, although natural occurrences, had a limited capacity.
Wells that exceeded that established capacity were, in a way, artificial creations.
When a person dies, the mana remains.
Under normal circumstances, the mana quickly dissipates or else is used to transform the body into an undead.
If a large number of lives ended in a small area, the mana, through its mutual attraction property, would not spread out but instead begin to converge.
At the end of the Second Great Human–Demon War, the explosion that occurred when Laplace and I struck each other down swept the continent and, along with it, crowds of people, animals, and monsters.
The mana produced converged at the origin of the explosion and gave birth to a labyrinth. That labyrinth was the Devil's Cave.
It was the worst of the worst, worthy of being one of the Three Great Labyrinths, as humans call them nowadays.
"Whew… So, this is where we're going down?"
"Fwaha! That's right!"
It was dangerous to venture into the depths. First, there was a vertical tunnel of about twenty meters connecting the entrance to the first level.
The walls were waterfalls flowing in reverse and behind them lived large broods of sea serpents big enough to easily swallow an entire person.
Even for me, it would take three days to properly clear the place. I decided to consult my companion first.
"Did Hitogami tell you anything?"
"Jump! The serpents go after any fool who goes on the water's surface, but if you fall through the middle, they don't care."
"Fwahahaha. Then this will be easy! Hup!"
"Oowah!"
I jumped without hesitation. With Geese still on my shoulder, I leapt and let the momentum carry us to the center of the hole. The wind blew over my body as I fell into the abyss.
Ah, the feeling of falling was always good! Let's see, when was the last time I jumped from a high place? Was it when I leapt off the cliff in the Red Wyrm Mountains or when I jumped into the great canyon on the Demon Continent? I cannot soar through the skies like Atofe or Kishirika, so it had been quite a while.
There were many eyes spying on the surface of the water. They were the sea serpents. I suppose that if I so much as touched the surface with my fingers, they would immediately rise and attack.
They called themselves Autumn Dragons.
Humans had the bad habit of slapping the name dragon on anything with a head a little like a lizard, even when it bore no resemblance to dragons.
"W-whoa! You can land, can't you?"
"Fwahahaha! Contrary to what you might think, landing is my specialty!"
"Better be!"
What a skeptical man! On the other hand, Geese's fears were justified. The bottom of the hole was dark and it was hard to see where we would land. I myself did not yet know, so I suppose he could not help but worry that I might miss.
"Light as a feather!"
I never miss anything. I landed on both legs, using my knee ligaments to the maximum to absorb the impact, even as the bones cracked.
My hip bone cracked too. Using my internal organs as shock absorbers, I prevented the force of the impact from reaching the upper part of my body. Then one of my arms to lift Geese and I finished off the remaining impact force with my elbow.
It was perfect!
"Guh!"
At least, I thought so, but Geese went blue when all the air was expelled from his lungs.
"Ack, ack…" After a few moments of silence, he gave a strong cough and began to breathe again. How weak must he be in combat to breathe like that after a small impact like this?!
"I landed very well, don't you think?"
"Yes, I think so." He seemed displeased, but could not complain. His life had never been in danger.
We were on the first level. Scattered across the bottom of the vast hole was an equally extensive underground lake. Large pillars rose to support the ceiling.
Strangely enough, there was water pooled on the ceiling as well. The place was flooded above and below. Like the kind of puzzle you might find in ancient ruins.
Land was visible here and there, but the edge of the lake was out of sight. If we were to descend further, we would have no choice but to submerge into the depths of that water…
At the bottom of this lake, there were tiny creatures resembling crabs. I mean, truly minuscule, no larger than your little finger. They gathered on the bottom.
At first glance, you might not think of them as a great threat, but when an enemy dove below a certain depth, they all attacked at once and stripped the flesh from bone in seconds.
If I were alone, I could endure. But Geese would be turned into a skeleton.
By the way, none of the monsters from here on had names. If Laplace were still alive, the old dog would probably have come and named each one. They say he was meticulous to that level.
"Fwahahaha! What do we do from here?"
"Give me a second." Geese said, then climbed down from my shoulder and closed his eyes. He spun three times in a circle, then raised his arm and said, "I think it's that way."
"Fwahahaha! Fascinating! Some little charm your people use, is it?"
"Nah. Hitogami told me if I did that, we'd pass easily."
"Fwahaha! You asked for the answer? How boring! When you explore a labyrinth, you have to discover things yourself, no?"
"We don't have time for that!"
Shorter-lived races always wanted to cut wasted time. Even if wasting time was what made that time so special…
"Fwahahaha! Then let's go!"
"Yes."
I laughed, then put Geese on my back and began to swim through the absolute silence of the underground lake. I noticed something writhing far below us, but I was sure it would not come up.
I swam like that for a long time. Around the time Geese began to doze on my back, I saw an island rising from the underground lake.
Cautiously, I went ashore and discovered there was a stone floor and, at the center, a staircase leading down.
"Took so long to get past the first level? At top speed? How big is this place?"
"Indeed…" While listening to Geese's complaints, I squinted at the staircase; there seemed to be something familiar about it all.
After that, we continued descending level after level. Geese had the method to "pass" each level memorized perfectly; those methods, shown to him by the God Man, were completely insane.
I spent the entire journey wondering how we managed to get past a level or why we didn't encounter any monsters elsewhere.
It was incomprehensible. Did Geese ever question it…? No, he wouldn't.
That man would not be alive today if he had doubted the words of the God Man even once. His gratitude to Him must be absolute.
"Fwahahaha! What is this grand door doing in the depths of a labyrinth?"
"I don't know. I think even labyrinths have to keep up appearances."
"Fwahahahahaha! Appearances, huh? That was a good one! Fwahahaha!"
Before us stood an enormous door about ten meters tall. It was almost as large as the gate that had been installed in Kishirika's castle during the Second Human–Demon War.
From the time it was built until when it was lost, that door had never been opened. See, its excessive size made it very difficult to open. Even beings larger than me used a side entrance to enter.
That brings back memories! In those days, I used to complain about why anyone would make such a large door that didn't even open, saying we should melt the metal and turn it into weapons for the soldiers.
However, Kishirika rejected the proposal with an absurd argument.
"If a champion appears and finds a ruined gate, that would ruin my reputation as the Great Empress of the Demon World!"
Did she ever open it, in the end?
Maybe Laplace opened it. Although, if he destroyed it, then that meant there was some meaning in its existence… At the time, I thought I was right about everything.
Only now, in the challenger's role, I wondered if that gate was worth the reputation. But no, I think it wasn't worth it! Fwahahaha! This gate was clearly too big! It looked like just a wall! A champion facing this gate wouldn't try to force it open, they'd simply pass through the side entrance!
"Our objective must be behind that door."
"Seems so."
I agreed with Geese. Labyrinths had grand things like this at their deepest point. The stronger the labyrinth, the stronger the inclination toward grandeur.
Among those I had seen, the deepest point of the Black Steel Labyrinth was particularly magnificent with its golden door. Kishirika would have liked it.
Back to the point. What lay behind the door at the deepest point of the labyrinth was its Guardian, the Final Boss, so to speak.
When we opened that door, a battle with the most powerful monster of the labyrinth would begin.
Of course, the level of the guardian of the Devil's Cave would be beyond my wildest imagination. But that was not a problem!
Geese would have been told how to beat it. It could be a tough fight, but we would win in the end.
Suddenly, I lost the urge to laugh and examined the door closely.
"What's wrong, friend? Lost your courage, huh?"
"Yes." I said, briefly. Geese turned to look at me.
"H-Hey, what's up! What happened? I can't hear that from you. Yes, we're about to face the guardian of this infernal labyrinth, I get it, but we have to take it seriously! You're an Immortal Demon King, right?! How can you have something to fear?"
The tone of the monkey-faced demon was ironic. Geese always used a playful voice when trying to persuade someone.
Then, when the moment came, he grew serious and stuck his words straight into the heart of his target. I suppose that was his charm, but it didn't matter.
"…Hm."
"Don't tell me you're really intimidated?"
I wasn't, of course. First of all, as an Immortal Demon, I had nothing to fear from a battle. Whatever happened, I would not die. Fwahahahaha!
Anyway.
"Take a good look at this place!" I turned.
Behind us, death was everywhere. Flames appeared from nowhere. Endless earthquakes. Fissures opened in the ground and swallowed everything on the surface.
Spread throughout the space were the undead. Broken bones, ghosts that vanished like mist, and scattered pieces of blackened armor.
Geese observed the place before saying:
"Yes, well, it's a hell. If you came this far fighting, that would be a story to pass down through generations. Only this time, well, I can't tell anyone and even if I did, no one would believe…"
"Fwahaha! Is that how it is for you? Well, this place makes me nostalgic."
Geese looked at me shocked and said:
"Sorry? You said what now? You mean you've been here before?"
"Indeed. But not in this place!"
It was on the day the Second Great Human–Demon War ended. To rescue Kishirika, I donned the Fighter God Armor and returned to the demons' headquarters.
It was when I saw this. Because of the incredibly high mana concentration in front of Kishirika's new castle, everyone who died there became undead within an hour.
I knew their faces. They were true warriors who had sworn loyalty to Kishirika and had their power recognized by her: Kishirika's personal guard.
I expected them to fight prepared to die and to resist, but in the end, all fell by the same strike, repeatedly.
I knew this, because they were all turned into Dullahan, all decapitated.
I saw many with the same face; these undead had been generated as copies.
Now that I thought about it, the entire labyrinth was familiar.
First, there was the spiral stone staircase that connected the first level to the second, then the structure like the interior of a fortress.
The room with a ceiling that shone as if filled with stars. The fracture in the collapsed outer wall.
The small flowers that did not grow anywhere else, but had bloomed by the path. The monsters that should have been extinct...
I had seen all of this before, I had a strong sense of déjà vu.
To calm my anxiety, I sat down and said, "Come on, sit as well."
Geese said nothing, but sat opposite me.
Sitting like that face to face with another man made me want to drink, but unfortunately we had no drink. This was not the kind of conversation to have soberly, but anyway.
"Have you heard that the world used to look different from how it is today?"
"That's about that story that the strike of the Golden Knight Aldebaran not only brought down Kishirika Kishirisu but also split the continent and created an ocean, right?"
"Yes, that's it."
That legend is treated as mere fiction nowadays. It is completely unbelievable that a man could change the shape of a continent.
People know, when they look at the vastness of the world, that they are small and that nature is gigantic.
I included myself among them! The mountains, the ocean, all of nature had always been magnificent and far beyond our power.
"I really can't see how it would be possible, but you were there, right?"
"I was, indeed."
"In the days of my birth, there was no Ringus Sea."
I heard Geese gag, and with good reason! Who wouldn't make that face upon learning that the ocean they had crossed just a few days earlier once did not exist? I suppose he believed it because the words came from my mouth.
"Mount Idatz, the Ares Hills, the Mimishillan River, Lake Cabre… Have you heard of them?"
Geese shook his head.
"They are all names of places that used to exist. Each had its own story. Mount Idatz, for example, was renowned as the mountain where the great elven swordsman Idatzleid perfected his sword art."
"Wow…"
He didn't know. Idatzleid died in the First Great Human–Demon War. He was an elven swordsman who killed thousands of demons.
Finally, in the decisive battle against Necross Lacross, one of the Five Great Demon Kings, he died heroically. No books remained containing that episode.
Even the mountain that symbolized this had disappeared. It was natural that Geese was ignorant of it. It seemed that all evidence that that man had lived had vanished.
The story of the great swordsman Idatzleid was very popular during the Second Great Human–Demon War.
Not to the point that everyone knew it, but all who wielded a blade had heard some version of the tale. However, now no one knew it anymore.
"People, buildings, and not only that, but even the shape of the land is gone. We lost everything." When I said that aloud, I felt a tightness in my chest.
"That is the power contained in the Fighter God Armor that we are going to fetch."
I thought of the things and memories lost; of all the beautiful sights that no one remembered anymore.
"It is the power to destroy the world."
Did Geese understand how much could be lost from here on out?
"And it could be even worse this time, in fact, it probably will. Hitogami already told you, right? Rygar has the power to surpass the Fighter God Armor, we are gathering a truly terrifying group this time, but we can still lose. Hitogami is probably planning a large-scale war against the Dragon God and the Beast God."
Geese listened in silence.
"This time, it will not be just the Fighter God and the Dragon God. Rygar is very talented, but he is also an excellent leader; his Kingdom is already very powerful. This time, many others of that level will also join."
"If it ends like last time, even the landscapes of the Continents will be modified beyond comprehension. The Central Continent may end its current era of prosperity. The Great Forest may become a desert. The Demon Continent may be swallowed by the ocean and the Begaritt Continent may be pushed even further away."
"The races would be forced together and there would be countless conflicts. Although it hasn't been recorded in any history book, four thousand two hundred years ago, an age of darkness reigned for almost three thousand years. All races wandered, searching for land to call their own, fighting among themselves…"
I remember how, after many years, humans expelled the demons from the Central Continent and drove us to the Demon Continent.
"The land changes, cultures change, ways of life change and thus conflict erupts."
The end of the world is less flashy than one expects. After a few thousand years, no one remembers the world that once was, except us, the immortal demons. I changed after that war.
I became engaged to Kishirika and stopped worrying about trivial problems. We lived in contentment through days of peace.
Thus, I only have pleasant memories of the last four thousand two hundred years, although I also conveniently forgot the bad memories. Fwahahaha!
Geese was silent. In his position, he could not understand.
"With all that in mind, I simply had to stop. Fwahaha!"
Unlike Atofe, I am relatively quick to notice things. However, now that I stopped, I would not move again until I was convinced. After all, I had once been a Demon King of Wisdom!
I will not act unless convinced.
Which meant I was waiting to be persuaded. This was the trial for Geese, this was a judgment of a Demon King.
"…Hey, friend." After a period of silence, Geese spoke: "You are an Immortal Demon, so I think you see the world differently than I do."
"I believe so."
"When the land changes and cultures change, well… it probably can seem like a different world to you."
"Certainly it would seem that way to anyone, wouldn't it?"
"Nah, it wouldn't. No way." Geese shook his head.
"The way I see it, even if you do nothing, just going to the neighboring country is like… damn, it's like a different world. If you return to your old country ten years later, it will look totally different. Like a new reality."
Ten years, he said. I knew that in theory, but ten years was truly a long time for most of the other races.
"In just ten years, there are many things that don't change much, so you have moments when you see those things and feel at ease. However, you begin to think about how you haven't changed either and that really depresses you." Geese spoke with his usual indifference, but there was weight behind his words.
"Destroy the world? If you ask me, that's an honor. After the world ends, I would like to build a monument to myself." It sounded like a joke, but his tone was quite serious.
"Only, if there's such a big explosion, I don't think I'll survive. Damn! I'll probably die in a secondary shock in the middle of the fight."
Geese looked directly into my eyes as he continued:
"Rygar... he's an exceptional guy. He has magic literally coming out of his eyes, can cause natural disasters with his spells and his combat talent is so absurd that it's almost a bad joke, even for the Sword God!"
He paused; I could see he truly admired Rygar.
"But... did you know he was like a beast when he was a child? He even attacked his own allies and massacred innocent people lost in fury. When he was a child, slave traffickers attacked the Doldia tribes without limits; with his talent, he was pushed into the battlefield very early, he had every chance of being a promising genius who died young!"
"However, he did not let himself be defeated; on the contrary, he took control of the situation! He trained the members of his tribe and killed the most powerful enemies himself! Instead of staying and protecting himself in the Great Forest, he went out and massacred the slave traffickers directly at their base, he was still quite young at the time. He went out, traveled, trained and defeated everyone in his path, going against the tide of the world, he is a person born to change the course of history on his own!"
"I am not strong enough to face him. I know that. See, this time, I'm only helping to gather people. Rygar is so amazing, he makes you want to win at least once, doesn't he? Unlike him, I have nothing but that. Yes, I'm borrowing the powers of the God Man, but he is also borrowing my strength, right? This is my debt to him! I think I can gather a force as great as possible. Just with what we have now, it's already a group never seen before. I've thought about that, I gathered them, I want to win. So it's nothing to me if I die along the way..."
"I lived a shadowy life, doing what the God Man told me. That's how I valued my own skin; I took care of it very carefully, so I won't lose it, that's how I felt. I thought it was the most important thing, but I also thought maybe there was something more important out there. Anyway, it ends here. I'm aware I might die, but I won't stop. So you have to commit. Could the world be destroyed? Think about who we're facing! If there weren't such a risk, Rygar wouldn't deserve the title of Apocalypse Beast! Orsted wouldn't deserve the title of strongest Dragon God in history!"
Risking one's life was an idea unknown to me, an Immortal Demon.
The Dragon God Laplace had the power to kill Immortal Demons; that's what killed my father, Necross Lacross.
However, it did not seem real to me. Even Atofe was still strong after being sealed numerous times. I was not familiar with death.
That said, I knew that people with finite lives valued them immensely, sometimes more than anything. People like Geese valued them especially.
They did nothing important with their lives, but valued them nonetheless.
That was all. Now he had the chance to do something important and was willing to give his precious life in exchange.
There was nothing forcing me to join him.
I myself had decided to oppose the terrifying Dragon God and the awe-inspiring Rygar.
I decided to join the God Man.
Although I had told myself, at the end of the Second Great Human–Demon War, that I would never do it again, I explored the depths of the Devil's Cave to recover the Fighter God Armor.
Indeed, I had to commit, just like Geese, Fwahahahahaha!
Hm... maybe that could be considered his skill?
"Fwahahaha! Very well, let's take the armor that destroys the world!"
"That's what I like to hear! Let's go!"
Dear me, I got a bit tangled in my thoughts!
After that day, I should already have known that it was better to move forward without thinking about what might await me. I was clever, but also foolish, and thought that would make me a man worthy of Kishirika.
Well, if that's the case, better to get on with it!
I knew the labyrinth's guardian. He was one of those who had been called the Five Great Demon Kings during the Second Human–Demon War.
When I arrived at the site of the final battle, that man had long been dead. He had been the captain of Kishirika's personal guard.
We were at the deepest point of the Devil's Cave, so I was convinced we would find someone in the image and likeness of Laplace. It was an anticlimax.
That this man, loyal but rigid and the type to throw himself into everything, would be the guardian of the Devil's Cave. He did not live up to the labyrinth's name.
"O-ooy! This guy looks dangerous…"
"Fwahahaha! It's true, he looks pretty scary! But he's not a serious threat!" Before us stood, of course, a headless knight.
What had changed from the old days was that he wasn't holding his head. He wore pitch-black armor and was studded with swords.
He fought until his bitter end. Not against Laplace, however. He led an army half-destroyed by Laplace against the humans.
In the end, they cut off his head. When you are not an Immortal Demon, you die when your head is cut off!
I thought his body had been destroyed in that explosion, but it turned out it was here! Ah, what a touching reunion. It moved me!
Now it was time I would have liked to share a drink and swap old war stories.
Back then, he and I did not understand each other at all, but nowadays... I'm sure we could have enjoyed a drink together.
Unfortunately, we had to defeat the guardian if we wanted to obtain the object we came for. I went straight to the point. It's not as if he had a head to drink from anyway!
"Fwahahaha! Come and fight me, if you dare!" I raised my fists and advanced. In the past, I might have hesitated before this Demon King.
The captain had been a strong man, especially in single combat! He could even contain Atofe. She was immortal and had an endless reserve of stamina, so he could only contain her, but still!
He reigned supreme as the strongest of the Five Great Demon Kings. It was undoubtedly a power to be reckoned with. I, the old scholar, never challenged him. He would send me flying in an instant.
Since those days, I trained and trained.
Using the memory of the time I spent wearing the Fighter God Armor, I developed my own unique martial style and honed my muscles so I could use it.
I put up with Atofe, who beat me every day. I worked so I could act with reckless arrogance too. Who would have thought the day would come for me to show the results?
"Nghuh!" As I approached, starting to get excited, his fist struck me and sent me flying. I did three somersaults! My face sank, but it would soon heal.
"Fwahahaha! This is bad! I won't win like this!"
I stood up immediately, fists raised, but the difference in strength was evident, as expected of a high-level labyrinth guardian!
He looked even stronger than I remembered. It was clear that even with a bit of training and work on my personal fighting style, he still outmatched me. This would not be an easy battle.
"O-okay then, listen up, got it? He has a weak point!"
"Fwahahahaha! Ridiculous! A weak point, does he?"
"Yes, just what the God Man says is that his weak point is words! Got it?"
At Geese's answer, I stopped advancing toward the Demon King. The second I stopped, he struck me with the flat of his blade and sent me flying backwards.
As I flew, I thought.
Words? Even if I said them, he has no ears to hear!
"...Ahah! I get it!"
Words. Words?
It is true that he and I fought side by side for a long time in the Second Great Human–Demon War.
Although we had not come into direct conflict, of course we exchanged words and many promises. Many of them we kept and so many others we broke.
Hmm, in that case… there are many to choose from!
"I don't know!" I took another hit. No, it didn't even count as a blow. His sword was so blunt it couldn't pierce my body.
Swords! That's it!
"A long time ago, he tried to give Kishirika a sword as an offering! The day before, he said someone broke it, but actually… it was me who broke it! I'm sorry! I resented the idea of you rising even more! It was on impulse! Forgive me!"
"Gyaaaaah!" He lost control. Although he had no head, a cry of rage arose from somewhere. Then he could hear without ears!
The ears of his race were not on their heads in the old days, so perhaps they also did not speak with their throats?
But now was not the time for such questioning.
I regretted not being able to confess my wrongs, but all one could expect of a sword offered to Kishirika was that it would be used in a party trick and broken anyway. So I didn't feel that bad.
"Come on, you must have another one!" Geese shouted: "You're not the Demon King of Wisdom?"
"There are many possibilities! I can't narrow them down!"
"Then just try them all!"
So I did.
"Remember when your daughter…"
"That shining blue horse we found on Ruson Island! That…"
"When we defeated the human army on the Kohiba Hills…"
None of my words reached him. Every time I said something, his sword flew and threw me away. If I were an ordinary demon, I would have died hundreds of times.
I called myself the Demon King of Wisdom and, although I had my own opinions on wisdom and knowledge, it was impressive how memories continued to surface. It was as if I had returned to my former self, reliving my memories.
"Eh?" I had already gone through more than a hundred memories when I realized something.
"O-oy! He slowed down a bit, didn't he?"
The guardian, moving with a horrible noise as his armor creaked and his sword scraped, had lost some of his vigor, certainly.
I did not know which of my words had hit its mark, but one of them must have.
"All right, now it's your chance! Don't give him time to recover!"
No, that's not right. I thought so while looking at the loyal guardian. Nothing I said had been the answer.
The guardian looked at me as if suffering, as if my stories led him to remember something. Maybe my old stories made him realize in some way that I was not an enemy.
He had lost his sense of self, but knew that I was not someone he should raise his sword against.
Why did he try so hard to keep fighting? He was the guardian; that was part of it. Monsters were subject to such roles.
Certainly it was some regret that turned him into the guardian. As such, I knew what to say to him.
"We demons lost the war, but we were not destroyed and Kishirika Kishirisu is alive and well. We will fight another day, lower your sword."
The guardian stopped moving. Then, without a word, he slowly knelt, then fell forward. It was as if he was satisfied. He was saying that he could finally rest.
"Even after becoming the labyrinth's guardian, he was still bound by loyalty. What a stubborn head."
I hope I don't become the guardian of a labyrinth after the war that awaits me, I thought as I walked on.
At the deepest point of the labyrinth was the throne where Kishirika had sat. Currently, it was occupied by an armor.
If it had been displayed in an armorer's shop, it would not fail to draw attention with its perfectly efficient design.
Whatever metal it was made of, it shone in gold and in the dark emitted a faint glow. The efficiency and the bright gold produced an impressive effect that fascinated those who saw it.
It was a little smaller than the last time I saw it. No, there was no way the size had changed.
When I first saw it, the fear it inspired in me must have made it seem larger. Now, however, it seemed far more sinister.
"Th-This is the Fighter God Armor… W-wow… You can tell it's incredibly powerful just by looking at it."
"Be careful not to touch it. It will consume you."
"O-Okay…" Geese then stepped back cautiously, his fingers extended.
"Fwahahaha! I was joking! Nothing will happen simply by touching it!"
"D-Dude, don't scare me like that… Honestly, it looks like something would happen if you touched it…"
The Fighter God Armor, built by Laplace as the supreme armor. Nothing would happen if you touched it, but it cursed those who wore it, inciting them to battle endlessly. Remembering the old days was enough to give me chills.
But unlike the last time, I had a method to remove the Armor!
For some reason or another, Hitogami taught me the method to take off the Fighter God Armor. Probably the only ones who knew it were him and Laplace. With that, if I started to lose control too much, I could take it off to recover.
But apparently, that method got worse each time it was used; the Armor would manage to strike you more easily every time you wore it.
Besides, even possessing that method, caution was necessary.
"Geese."
"Yes?"
"You will be responsible for warning me when I am losing control, don't let me wear it for too long."
"Sure, I can do that."
"Fwahahahahaha! I'm counting on you!"
"Nice. Now, we just have to fetch one more guy, this will be the most dangerous one, we have to unite forces to make it work."
Geese seemed satisfied with the outcome.
All right then!
"Well, then, for the first time in four thousand two hundred years, I will show our enemies what it's like when I get serious!"
"Yeeah! You can do it, big guy!"
"Fwahahahaha!"
"Hahaha!" Geese's relieved laughter echoed through the walls of Kishirika's ancient throne room.
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