“By coming out to meet us, do you mean to lay down your sword and offer your head? Do you hope to buy more time for your subordinates?”
“No. I’ve only come out to convey the words of the Seer to you.”
However, Sheto felt an overwhelming unease.
He had fought countless Heroes from other worlds, and that experience was causing alarms to ring painfully inside of him.
“This was a battle masterfully fought. Instilling unfamiliar tactics in your subordinates and adapting swiftly and calmly. It is all very worthy of praise.”
“That does sound like something a god would say. You looked down on us as inferior and assumed that you could win in the same way as always. That is to say, by sheer force.”
Sheto ignored the two as they spoke, and continued to scan his surroundings restlessly.
“Salia…nearby. Any hidden, troops?”
“I do not see any. Even if a large force was being concealed with invisibility, it would still create an unnatural gap.”
The goddess sounded tense. And her scent was cold and impatient.
“I’m sorry. That is all the praise he has to give.”
The Hero said abruptly.
And then his gaze moved over to Sheto for the first time.
“I will commend you for sensing that something was wrong, even if you didn’t truly understand. However, my divine rule will not be defeated by something of that level.”
The god’s proxy showed no emotion as he tilted the thin board in his hand and placed a finger on it.
“Clutch at your illusory victory. And be stained by defeat once more.”
“St…op…!”
Berganda realized something was wrong and broke into a run, while Sheto stretched out a hand that could not reach him.
The Hero’s delicate finger then struck the string of foreign letters.
—
Before Sheto’s eyes, the horizon seemed to boil.
With a roar, ranks of spears stirred and began to advance toward him. There should have still been distance between the two forces, yet the sound of army boots crushing grass and trampling through brush felt so close it created the illusion they were already at hand.
“So they mean to crush us in one fell swoop. It seems they wish to end this quickly, no matter what.”
Berganda’s voice was drunk from the heat of battle and brimming with unrestrained delight. The soldiers around him were also staring down at the enemy without a trace of fear showing on their faces.
A chill ran down Sheto’s spine.
He looked around, assessing the situation.
Nothing had changed. Everything had returned to how it was before.
“Wha…”
“Sheto?”
Noticing the change that had come over Sheto, the demon general looked at him with suspicion.
But there was nothing in that face.
No suggestion that he knew that victory had been stolen from them.
“Ah…”
The Hero’s last words. An illusory victory. The meaning of that.
And the power of the divine rule, which had created this situation with a single finger.
“What…is…”
The Hero’s army rushed forward while kicking up clouds of dust. Faced with such an overwhelming sight, Sheto stepped back instinctively.
A monstrous force of outrageous power. It was crashing down like a tidal wave.
As fear constricted his chest, Sheto lost himself and screamed.
“What is this! This!”