Chapter 3

“This duel shall be your final opportunity to obtain the Divine Pajamas! Now, accept it!”

Well, at this rate, I was about to be forced into a duel I couldn’t win.

“Er... I don’t have the orichalcum I took from it on hand.”

“You may send it at a later date! Now, accept the duel immediately. This is an order!”

Ngh. Given that I’m a slave right now, I can’t refuse a direct order like that. I’m just gonna have to play dirty here and try to claw for any advantage I can get.

“Understood. I understand that you want to forcibly take the sword Father gave me to make it yours. You want to steal the gift Father made for me, without Father’s permission. I thought you were an honest, respectable person with morals, one who could look up to Father with your chest held out high, but oh well. What a shame,” I said. My repeated use of the word Father sent Core 50 faltering. The past few weeks I spent with Core 50 had made it more than clear that he genuinely was an honest and respectable person, so yeah.

“Th-That is not what I am doing in the least! I am simply demanding you wager it on a duel!”

“Wasn’t it just a second ago that I asked for more time since I had no chance of beating you, a condition which you agreed to?”

“O-Of course, our duel will take place one week from now! You may spend that time preparing to defeat me!”

“To defeat you, huh? Don’t you mean land a single blow on you? That’s what the condition has been up until now. I don’t think I can beat you otherwise.”

“...Three blows. You will win if you land three blows on me. A week should be enough to accomplish at least that.”

Ngh, that’s not gonna be easy... Curse you, Core 50. You’re going all-out to win this.

“Can I bring more allies, then? Wataru the Hero is still hanging around, so.”

“I do not mind. Come at with me with all you have. I shall neither flee nor hide.”

Oh, nice. My chances to win just shot right up.

“It would be best for us to be separated until then. Therefore, I will spend the next week waiting at the bottom of my dungeon. Come at me with all you have when the week is up.”

Wait, didn’t he just say he wouldn’t run or hide...?

“I shall inform you where my dungeon is. It is a place that anybody can enter. It is neither running nor hiding. You need only ask my maid for information.”

Apparently it was normal in Demon Realm culture to boldly await a duel within the depths of one’s dungeon. It genuinely wasn’t considered running or hiding. I guess that’s more of a Dungeon Core thing that bled into Demon Realm culture.

“Now then, Keima. That should be enough. Accept the duel,” Core 50 said, and my slave collar tightened a bit. Seemed like I wouldn’t be able to push him any further than I already had.

“...Alright. I’ll do everything I can to win, then.”

“Excellent. Until we meet again.”

Thus began my battle with Core 50.

＊ ＊ ＊

First up was asking the elf maid about Core 50’s Mind’s Eye. That was a guaranteed payment for me showing him the orichalcum sword. She gave me a booklet filled with information about Core 50, at which point I went with Rokuko to where Aidy and her Master were training Niku. Rokuko coming with me meant Wataru and Neruneh were also there.

“So yeah, Rokuko. We need to beat Lord 50’s Mind’s Eye.”

“Yup! So, give it to me straight. Do you think it’s possible?”

At the moment, we were at an extreme disadvantage. It was fair to say that ninety percent of every battle was determined by how well you prepared, and we had basically zero preparations here.

“You’re gonna be helping out here, Wataru.”

“Wait, me? What?”

“This isn’t going to be a one-on-one fight.”

Indeed. My duel with Core 50 had begun with Niku and I teaming up against him—it was never a one-on-one fight, and he had just given me permission to bring more allies. It was a one-on-many fight.

“Keima, I get that you guys can understand each other without words, but you’re going to have to actually explain things to me. We’re not married, so I don’t understand you on the same level that Rokuko does,” Wataru said. Rokuko blushed at the word ‘married.’

“We’re not married. Put simply, I negotiated with Lord 50 to get the Divine Pajamas through a duel, and he agreed that it would be my win if I could hit him three times. Very Demon Realm-esque, no?”

“Okay, now I understand.” Wataru nodded, then looked at Niku. She had been fighting for so long already that she was out of energy and breathing hard.

“Out of breath already, hm?” Aidy observed.

“I’m still... a human, so...” Niku said in between pants.

“Breathing creates openings. Didn’t I tell you to stop breathing during our fights?”

“That isn’t normally possible...”

“Oh, but ‘normal’ is such a boring concept. I would recommend you toss it out the window entirely.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa, she’s not a Dungeon Core. Pretty sure her tossing breathing out the window would be pretty bad. It’s not even something you can toss out the window. Or maybe you would have to be as strong as a Hero and have the sheer resolve to abandon fundamental parts of human life, like breathing? Yeah, I think I’m just gonna stay as a human.

“I’m not sure I can hold my breath very long.”

“If you can manage to hold it for a long time, then you will be stronger than those who can’t.”

“I see... that’s logical.”

Niku lunged to slice at Aidy’s legs, but Aidy stepped on her knife to block the blow.

“Attacking the legs is a good idea, but not a perfect one.”

“Ngh...!”

“And... ah, you dodged it. Good, very good. I dislike your lack of attachment for your weapon, but your decision served you well.”

Aidy moved to kick Niku while still stepping on her knife, but Niku dodged it by abandoning her weapon. It was a nice snap decision.

Anyway, that was when I decided to speak up. “Aidy, how’s Niku coming along?”

“She has learned just a bit of Detachment. Sebas, continue training her for me. I shall have tea with Rokuko.”

“As you wish, milady... C’mon, dog. Get up already.”

Sebas took Aidy’s place in front of Niku. Niku took a deep breath, then forced her exhausted body up. For a second I thought about casting Restoration magic on her, but this was partially intended to get her used to extremely stressful situations, so I couldn’t let myself ruin it for her.

“...Pretty intense stuff. I’m impressed that Kuro can keep up with it. My spirit would already be broken. In fact, my spirit was broken two or three times when I was training with Misha.”

“The pup wished for it herself, so that she may learn Demon King style for her Master’s sake. Her motivation is so foolish I decided to truly grind her into dust. But do not worry. I will break no toy of Rokuko’s,” Aidy said with a joyous giggle. Despite the fact she had just been dueling, she wasn’t sweaty in the least, which made sense given that not breathing was a prerequisite for becoming an assistant instructor in Demon King style.

“Demon King style really is inhuman, isn’t it?” Wataru mused.

“It is a style for demons, you know. Humans aren’t supposed to be capable of learning it at all.”

“Huh? But aren’t you a human, Aidy?”

“No, I am a demon. I rule a duchy here, remember?”

Wataru and Aidy were having a lively conversation. Even she had taken a liking to him, since he was strong and this was the Demon Realm, of course.

I opened up the booklet. “Alright, Rokuko. This is the information I got on Lord 50.”

“I investigated him a bit myself, but let’s see here...”

The booklet consisted of several, well-organized bullet points:

• In general, he can only read up to one person’s mind at a time. When attempting to read more than one, he can’t tell whose thoughts are whose.
• Can’t read the minds of those without thoughts (Golems, etc).
• The mind-reading can continue forever. Experiments have shown it can continue for over a year straight.
• He doesn’t need a direct line of sight in order to read minds (for example, wearing a full suit of armor to hide your body won’t work). Furthermore, he can sense malice.
• It works even from several hundred meters away.
• He can’t read one’s subconscious.

“I fought Lord 50 myself back in the Hell Tournament, but I didn’t know he could read minds. Thinking back, that explains a lot.”

“Oh my. Just so you know, Lord 50 is infamous for his Mind’s Eye, though Sebas and I would have lost even if he hadn’t used it.”

Wataru and Aidy came in to join our conversation. Both of them had experience fighting Core 50 at the Hell Tournament.

“Anyway,” I began, “We can read between the lines of this memo and figure out that Lord 50 can choose which mind he’s reading at any given moment. Not that knowing that changes a whole lot.”

He could read one person’s mind at a time, and he could do so even when they were hidden behind obstructions. That meant he could read people’s minds outside of a room even when the door was shut. Put all that together, and he could decide which mind he wanted to read.

“Wooow, figuring that out from the memo was pretty smaaaart,” Neruneh said while peering at it herself.

“I doubt he was hiding it anyway.” But if we outright asked him about this, we ran the risk of leaking our plans, so it would be best to just put our heads together and extrapolate.

“That makes it clear what strategy is the best, anyway. Right, Keima?” Rokuko nudged.

“Yeah. Surrounding him in a group will definitely help mitigate his mind reading. No getting around the fact he can only read one mind at once.” Though the fact Core 50 went out of his way to write his weakness down meant he could see that kind of strategy coming a mile away.

“Shouldn’t we invite Aidy to fight him too, then?”

“Oh my. We don’t fight for free in the Demon Realm, Rokuko,” Aidy said with a giggle.

“How about a duel with Wataru?”

“Um.”

“Very well. We have already fought many times, but that is an acceptable offer nonetheless.”

“Er, wait, wait.”

Sorry, Wataru, but you’re Rokuko’s slave right now and you have no choice in the matter. Which means Aidy and Sebas will be helping us out here.

“...Hm. Keima, I think I just came up with a pretty good idea.”

“Hm?”

“We can just use your specialty, Keima—surround him and beat him up,” Rokuko said with an evil grin. “We can hire mercenaries for this, too. Keima, this realm... no, even this city is filled with strong fighters. If he can’t read all of their minds, we can count on a flood of people to get in a couple of hits.”

“Yeah, that makes sense. I’m just gonna check with the maid first so he doesn’t end up complaining about that.”

I went to see the elf maid, who was remaining in Core 50’s estate as a means of contacting him.

“Mercenaries?”

“Yeah. He said I could bring a bunch of allies, but I figured I should check and make sure that mercenaries are okay too.”

“Wait just a moment.”

It seemed the maid had some way of contacting Core 50 at any moment. She closed her eyes and froze in place. I wonder if she’s just a dungeon monster disguised as an elf? That would explain why she can contact him directly. Or maybe even normal people can be treated as dungeon monsters somehow.

After a pause, the elf maid opened her eyes, presumably having gotten a response from Core 50. “He says that he does not mind, and that you may even hire his own slaves. It would surely be easier to coordinate with the high-rank slaves you have trained with. However, be prepared to pay the proper cost for hiring the mercenaries. Here in the Demon Realm, their prices are determined by law.”

...I see. So I can bring as many allies as I like, as long as I can pay for them.

“So, Keima? How many should we bring?” Rokuko asked.

“Hmm... money, huh? Hey, Aidy. What’s the market price of mercenaries?”

“It depends on their Hunter Rank and strength. Prices can range from silvers to golds. In a fight with Lord 50, I would suggest hiring mercenaries that charge fifty golds.”

Fifty golds for one fight was about the price of the highest quality mercenaries. Hm. Fifty golds each. If we considered how much money our inn had made, I could hire dozens of them, but I only had 100 golds in my {Wallet}. That meant we could only hire two of them.

“Another strat would be to buy a bunch of cheaper ones instead, but... Hmm.”

“Why not make the money now? You could earn hundreds of golds no problem at all, Keima.”

“Nah, nah, nah. Maybe I could if there were a bunch of gullible rich people like Wataru around, but I doubt that.”

“You’re really going to treat me like a gullible rich person? Sure, fine, okay.”

In the end, just how many allies would we be able to gather? Only time would tell.

“We should probably think of strategies other than bringing a lot of allies,” Rokuko mused.

“Yeah.” It would be a problem if we just bought a bunch of mercenaries and they ultimately weren’t good enough to get the job done. The more strategies and backup plans we had, the better. We would just have to think up as many plans as we could and iron out the best ones.

...One week. It was a lot of time to prepare, but also, not a lot of time at all. Maybe I should have tried negotiating for one extra week.

# Core 50’s Perspective

And so a week passed. Core 50 had no contact with Keima’s group outside of the question the elf maid asked, and so he had no idea what plans they might have concocted. But to be honest, the moment the question about mercenaries came, Core 50 felt a tad disappointed. He couldn’t count how many times that strategy had been used against him. It was true that large groups could nullify his Mind’s Eye to some extent, but he was more than well aware of that already. Either way, he quickly shook off his disappointment, since he knew Keima well enough to guess he would have more than just one plan.

Core 50 shut out all information from the outside world, allowing contact only from the elf maid for questions. If he accidentally heard their strategy for beating his Mind’s Eye, he would subconsciously start thinking up a counter-strategy. That wasn’t what he wanted, even if it was a duel for an orichalcum blade made by Father. However... Keima hadn’t contacted him a single time since that first day.

Core 50 had so much time to kill that he just spent the days doing basic training exercises. Along the way he thought up a new ultimate technique, discovered an obscure flaw in his Mind’s Eye, and devised potential strategies he might theoretically use against himself. In the end, the two best strategies were the same as always—either use such overwhelming force that one’s mind being read didn’t matter, or don’t let one’s mind be read in the first place. One strategy was to think up such a terrifying thing that the mind reader would be intimidated, but outside of Core 4 (who now named themself Chaos), he had never met anyone with a spirit horrible enough to terrify him. That would likely be irrelevant, given that it was difficult to imagine Keima being on good terms with Chaos, or having the means to acquire their help.

And so, after some pondering on the past, it was finally time for the battle to begin. Core 50 had kept the entrance to his dungeon closed for the past week. There were no invaders inside. Nobody would be intruding on the battle.

Just to be safe, he turned off all the insta-death traps in his dungeons, as well as the mazes. He would be waiting at the bottom floor’s Boss Room with no measures to waste Keima’s time. He wished to fight with both of them at their maximum potential.

“Now then! Come forth and face... face me?!” As soon as the dungeon opened, he sensed a huge flood of people push forward. “Wh-Wh-What is going on?!” Core 50 faltered, and opened the map he had boldly been choosing not to check before. His dungeon was surrounded by people, people, and yet more people. There were both green and red dots, the former most likely being residents of the Demon Realm. He opened his monitor and checked the entrance of his dungeon—and saw the unthinkable. Several hundred people were gathered in front of his dungeon. There were citizens and Core 50’s own slaves. And on top of that, there were some true powerhouses, the likes of which would dominate in the Fighter’s Tournament and the Hell Tournament.

“I said that he could bring allies... but is this not far too many?!” Core 50 exclaimed. Naturally, not even he had expected Keima to bring this many fighters.

# Keima’s Perspective

The crowd of people in front of Core 50’s dungeon was so vast there were bodies as far as the eye could see. Since this was the Demon Realm, a lot of them were pretty monstrous in appearance. There were so many hundreds of people that one might initially think that the entire city had come with us. The fact that some had opened up stands and started selling food on top of weapons was very Demon Realm-esque.

“I have to say, I’m... impressed that you managed to gather this many people,” the elf maid said with an exasperated sigh.

“Sometimes, you gamble and win. I’m as surprised as you are.”

“...I wondered what havoc you had wrought when you asked me for my assistance in controlling your allies, but it did not take me long to find an answer.”

There were so many people that my party alone wouldn’t be enough to direct them. Thus, not minding at all if Core 50 were to learn of this, we casually had the elf maid help out.

As soon as the dungeon’s entrance opened, our army of allies eagerly began pouring inside. Indeed, this ocean of people were all our allies in the fight against Core 50. How had we gathered this many allies? It all started one week ago, when preparations for the duel began.

One Week Ago

Alright. I want to recruit some allies over the next week to help fight Core 50, but with the money I have on hand, it’ll be all I can do just to hire a couple of skilled mercenaries. What’s the solution to this puzzle?

Rokuko was the first to come up with a solution. “Keima, you’re paying for Aidy’s participation by offering a duel with Wataru, right? Maybe there are others who will join our fight for the opportunity to duel Wataru.”

Good point. Considering how much debt I relieved Wataru from, it would probably be fair to work him that hard.

“Excellent idea,” Aidy said. “That would be fair payment for both friends and mercenaries. I believe that many will be willing to join us for that payment exactly. Shall I name those who come to mind for me?”

“Hold on, hold on,” Wataru interjected. “My body won’t last if I have to keep fighting people as strong as Aidy back-to-back. Like, it physically just isn’t happening.”

Aidy was fond of the idea, but Wataru was exceptionally not fond of it.

“Maybe we can have Niku heeelp? As iiin, only those who defeat Niku get to challenge Wataruuu?”

“...I’ll do my best.”

Neruneh had a suggestion, and Niku was into it. But that would just lead to Niku getting overwhelmed instead of Wataru. That wouldn’t be good. Only in the Demon Realm would people agree to help in a fight just to get the opportunity to fight more, but that would break down if the reward ends up too exhausted to fight... Oh!

“...Keima. Did you think of something just now? That’s some smile on your face.”

“Yeah, it’s um... Kind of an evil smile, if I’m being honest.”

Rokuko smiled, and Wataru forced an uncomfortable grin. I had thought up a very good idea indeed. It was just what we needed to get a huge load of allies.

And in order to execute that good idea, we went to the city market. There were a lot of people there, which was just what I needed.

“You’re going to recruit the mercenaries here, Keima?”

“Nah. I’m gonna gather allies.” I used {Stone Pyre} at my feet and shot myself up on a short pillar, creating a stand for me to speak upon, then clapped to gather further attention.

“Listen up, fellas! One hell of a chance has just landed on your laps! How many people want an opportunity to fight the one and only Lord 50 himself?!” Instantly, I felt all eyes on me. “I’m Keima, temporarily serving as one of Lord 50’s special-rank slaves! Due to some special circumstances, Lord 50 is holding a massive fighting event! Listen up, everyone! I’m talking about Lord 50 here!” I repeatedly said Lord 50 in order to draw more attention. “Lord 50 gave me a challenge. ‘Land three blows upon me if you can,’ he said! Do you understand, everyone? Lord 50 desires battle! And he is asking for me to arrange a battle in which he gets hit three times!” That wasn’t a lie. Core 50 had told me to land three blows on him. And to finish things off... “This is a battle festival! The participation fee is a mere copper! For just one copper, you can all fight Lord 50 with me as companions!”

I had been given permission to bring allies, and he hadn’t given any maximum to how many I could bring. In other words, it would be safe for me to bring along everyone in the entire city as my ally. Their payment? Quite simply, the right to fight a legendary warrior like Lord 50. There was no doubting that the battle-hungry Demon Realm residents would come flocking to the opportunity. We were talking about a fight with the champion of the Hell Tournament, after all. They would pay money for it.

“I know that there are no cowards in this city, no, in the entire Demon Realm that would run from this opportunity!” I yelled. It was an event where everyone could participate, which basically made it a festival. I embraced that and just went ahead recruiting allies in as large-scale of a way as I could.

“R-Really? A fight with Lord 50?!”

“We can really fight him...? It’ll cost just one copper?!” asked a harpy with wings for arms. I had the perfect answer for him.

“Yup! But whatever you do, don’t forget the one copper! The time and place is one week from now, in front of the local dungeon! The entry fee is one copper! This is your big chance to fight Lord 50 for just a copper!”

I could have charged a silver, but the fight would end as soon as three blows were landed on him. It would be easier for people to accept the fight ending before they got there if they only had to pay a single copper.

“This festival is first come, first served! The battle will end as soon as three hits are landed upon Lord 50! Allow me to repeat myself. Lord 50 is challenging us to land three hits upon him in total! In other words, only three will have the honor of landing a blow upon Lord 50! Those who arrive first will have an advantage! And of course, a single person can potentially land all three blows! If they can, that is! Hah!” I let out a simple taunt, and the Demon Realm folk got fired up, roaring that they could, in fact, do that. That was literal phrasing, by the way. I saw some Fire Elementals literally shooting out flames. That’s the Demon Realm for you.

“If you know anyone who would want to join in, go tell them all about this! One week from now, in front of the local dungeon! Entry fee of just one copper! Lord 50 will be waiting for us at the bottom of the dungeon!” I repeated the time, date, and entry fee one more time, then drew the announcement to a close. A roar of excitement ripped through the crowd. I looked around and saw people talking among themselves, running off to tell those who weren’t present, and even starting to duel because they were already that pumped up. If I made the same announcement at a few other places, I could count on a ton of people coming to participate.

After having Wataru break the pillar, I moved on to the next place.

“To think you’d pay them with the work you want them doing...” Wataru said.

“Pretty simple once you think about it, huh? It only works since this is the Demon Realm, where getting to fight someone strong is payment in and of itself.”

Yup. The problem was the payment getting overwhelming, so we just needed to make it someone we didn’t mind getting overwhelmed!

“But why add the copper onto that...?”

“Think about it for a second, Wataru. Them paying me a copper will be inarguable proof that they and I are allies, yeah?”

“Oh. Right, good point.”

A verbal agreement without any record might cause all sorts of problems in the future, but setting up a receptionist by the dungeon entrance and charging one copper from everyone going through will be instant proof that they paid to be my ally.

“They’re happy to fight Lord 50 for a single copper, and I’m happy to have them fighting for me. Everybody’s benefiting here. It feels good, not gonna lie.”

“Aha. Truly a win-win solution.”

And so, in a similar way, we went and recruited people from Core 50’s training grounds and human farms. I mean, we were just hiring mercenaries as promised. The only difference was that they were paying us instead of the other way around!

“Oof, that’s evil. But that’s the Keima I know. Feels kinda relieving, honestly,” Wataru said, seeming genuinely relieved.

...What, you want me to name this the ‘Fight Lord 50 With Wataru Festival’, bub? Huh? Didn’t think so.

...Flashback, over.

So yeah. This ocean of bodies was the result of us recruiting a ton of people from training grounds and human farms on top of people in the city. I hadn’t ordered any of them to set up stands, either. Merchants just followed people, as they were wont to do.

Niku, Neruneh, Wataru, the elf maid, and I were at the dungeon entrance taking care of the payments. Aidy and Sebas were leisurely waiting their turn, and I had Rokuko taking care of another job.

“Now now, one copper, one copper to go inside! We’re all allies here! Go forth and challenge Lord 50! Gogogogo!”

I emphasized that we were allies once they paid the money, then sent them into the dungeon. They all raced inside, murder and eager bloodlust in their eyes. Man, it sure is nice to have allies!

“Ah, there’s the payment desk! C’mon, Sukjira! Hurry! We’re already way too friggin’ late!”

“We just gotta put a copper in, right? Let’s go, Shironaga! You too, Uzou and Muzou! Don’t fall behind!”

“Okaaaay, everyone who wants to join Lord 50’s festivaaal, please put one copper heeeere.”

Neruneh was holding open a sack, which the participants tossed their coin into before heading into the dungeon.

“Keima, we’re joining in too! Let’s go, Muzou! Hurry!”

“Yup! Gah, Shironaga and Sukjira raced ahead again! We gotta catch up, Uzou!”

Oh, there go Uzou and Muzou. Seems like they were with a Werewolf and a Weretiger. Both were about 75% furry, meaning they were covered in fur and had the heads of a wolf and tiger. The Werewolf had a muscular torso with wolf-like legs, while the Weretiger had a macho body like a pro wrestler.

In the Demon Realm, monsters didn’t have to hide the fact they’re monsters, and they just lived normally with humans. In the empire there were Warcats who had to claim they were just cat beastkins (e.g. Misha), but it seemed the Demon Realm was more considerate toward minorities. Demon Culture says anyone strong is welcome, but from a dungeon perspective, monsters give less DP. You don’t actually want them dominating too much of the population, really.

“Heya, Keima. You called?”

“Hm? Oh, Ostle. Aknera. And everyone else, too. Heya.”

All the high-rank slaves from Core 50’s training grounds came walking over.

“Here, the coppers. We can join the fight now, yeah?”

“Yup. As far as the record’s concerned, we personally negotiated a price and you paid to join the fight. All good?”

“For sure, for sure. Man, I can’t believe I get the chance to fight Lord 50 himself! This is the best. Special-rank slaves sure are something else. Not many would be nice enough to share this sweet-ass deal.”

“What can I say? It’s all thanks to Lord 50 agreeing to let me fight with allies.”

With Ostle at the lead, the high-rank slaves tossed over coppers and charged into the dungeon. Hopefully they could land one or two hits between them.

On the one hand, there were so many people it felt inevitable that they would be able to land three hits, but at the same time, it felt like human wave tactics would never work, no matter how many people I gathered. Core 50 was up there at the very top of the Demon Realm in terms of strength, which meant he was basically one of the strongest warriors in the entire world, so... Yeah. I would be waiting with my party for the opportune moment to jump in. I had a few more tricks up my sleeve on top of all this.

# Core 50’s Perspective

“There he is! Lord 50, prepare yourseeelf!”

The first to get through the dungeon and reach Core 50 was none other than the high rank slaves that had trained with Keima. They had experience delving through this dungeon as part of their training, so they conquered it with relative ease. Despite failing to reach it ahead of the crowd, they used the shortcuts they knew to reach the bottom faster than anyone.

“Ngh! Do none of you realize that you have been fooled?!”

“Fooled? Wait, what? Keima told us that we could fight you if we joined him as allies. Was that wrong? Did he lie to us?”

“Er, no, that’s entirely true, actually...”

“Then there’s nothing wrong with this at all! Hyaaaah!”

“I-It’s true that there’s nothing wrong, but still! Do you take no issue with this?!”

To say that they had been fooled was slightly inaccurate. It was more that they had been manipulated, but either way, the high-rank slaves weren’t especially happy with the fact that only specially chosen slaves got to fight Core 50. They had always been burning with the desire to fight him themselves, and all Keima did was give them justification to do just that.

They wanted to fight Core 50 if the opportunity arose. The opportunity did arise. Thus, they fight. It was that simple.

“Hmph! Such puny attacks will never land on me!”

“Hah, that’s Lord 50 for you! Everyone, pile on him at once!”

“RIGHT!” the other slaves all roared. Core 50’s slaves unleashed the cooperative power they had learned while training on his grounds. But even so, that wasn’t enough to land a blow. Ostle’s Lamia tail was grabbed and used to toss him, while all six of Aknera’s arms were blocked by a single one of his. He blocked the long-rage attacks by snatching slaves and using them as shields, swiping away the blasts and throwing them to block the rest.

“Bwahaha! Not bad, you all! Consider me entertained!”

“Hah! Lord 50’s as strong as ever! But we’re not finished yet!”

“Very well. I approve of the resolve to sacrifice yourself to obtain a tie, but do you think that will be enough?” Core 50 asked, having read Ostle’s mind. There were about a dozen surprise attacks running through Ostle’s head, and his companions moved in such a way to only allow a few of them to happen. Core 50 saw all.

Thus, he dodged to a safe location, and... slam! A shudder ran through his armor. He looked down and saw a fist pressed against his torso.

“Hrm?!”

“It landed... it really landed! Hahahaha!”

Aknera rejoiced as blood streamed down her cracked fist. The blow had done no damage whatsoever, but nonetheless, it was a hit that landed—a hit that had landed fairly. However, Core 50 had predicted that no attack whatsoever would occur—he quickly used his Mind’s Eye to determine the source of the error.

It all came down to Keima’s advice.

“After obtaining peak cooperation, boldly lower the effectiveness of your attack... I see.”

Lord 50’s so perfect, it’s actually better to go for an imperfect attack if you think about it. He can read the optimal move, so go for the suboptimal move he doesn’t expect, Keima had suggested. High rank slaves didn’t need to use Demon King style Detachment to launch attacks that couldn’t be predicted.

Indeed, a beginner’s body did not move as they wished. The attack she launched relied on that degree of inexperience. Normally, it wouldn’t have hit due to being an inexperienced move—hence it was unexpected, and it hit Core 50.

However, just like it was difficult for an adult to create the art style of a toddler with crayons and determination, it was difficult for an experienced fighter to recreate the clumsy blow of a beginner. This was because the fundamentals of movement were so beaten into their body as to be subconscious.

“You... you sliced off your own arm to force yourself into clumsiness!”

“That’s right! I have six arms, and I cut off one to make this attack work!”

She had spent her life training her body, and on the incredibly slim hope of landing a single blow on Core 50, she had readily sliced off one of her arms. Keima’s initial suggestion had been damaging the hilt of a blade or adding random amounts of wrist weights, but Aknera knew that being so half-baked wouldn’t be enough to work on Core 50. She took the much bolder route, and her courage had narrowly secured success.

“Incredible! You have earned my praise!” Core 50 roared approvingly before grabbing Aknera’s throat and throwing her hard against a nearby wall. The force of the impact pushed the air out of her lungs and she fell to the ground unconscious. But her expression was one of satisfaction. Core 50’s merciless throw was a sign of his respect toward her successfully landing a blow on him.

That said, once the trick was exposed, it would no longer work. The hit landed precisely because he had been attacked in an unexpected way while having little leeway due to the numbers. He would likely be able to predict and account for such a strategy next time.

And so, while the remaining high-rank slaves were giving their all to stay in the fight, the rest of the citizens arrived.

“Oooh! The fight’s actually going down! Alright, let’s join in!”

“Lord 50! It’s dueling time!”

Countless sets of friendly yet murderous eyes fell onto Core 50. Several of them belonged to fighters even stronger than the high-rank slaves that had arrived first. The slaves from the human farms were there, too. They weren’t as strong as the others, necessarily, but the fights would be occurring back to back with no time to rest.

“Bwaha, ahahaha! Good, very good! Now things are getting interesting!”

And yet, despite it all, Core 50 was so excited that he couldn’t help but roar in laughter.

# Keima’s Perspective

“Keima, one hit has landed.”

“Whoa, really?”

The elf maid working at the dungeon entrance informed me that one of the high-rank slaves had successfully struck Core 50. It seemed that my advice had done the trick.

“Say what?! Someone’s already landed a blow on Lord 50?!”

“Seriously...?! Is that even possible?! Oh shit, oh shit! Now I’m pumped!”

“The fight’s gonna end if we keep wasting time here! Let’s go!”

The gathered participants heard about that as well, and got even more fiercely motivated than before.

“Nice. Now we have a bit of leeway,” I said. I had thought up several plans to win this, but in the end, we were gambling on whether enough of them would succeed for us to win. Three cheers for my slave brothers being ballsy enough to land a hit.

Rokuko came walking over. In her hands was a ball of paper. Looked like she had finished what I asked her to make.

“Keima, I finished the map of the shortest route.”

“Sweet. Let’s post it, then.”

It was a map of the dungeon, drawn by hand—a bit differently from a Dungeon Battle map—so it was safe for normal people to see. The creation of the map was the job I had given to Rokuko.

“Wait,” Wataru said. “That’s a map of this dungeon?”

“Yup. It’s an old dungeon, so there were documents all about its structure. We finally found the map today, but the place where it was kept wasn’t letting anybody borrow it, and they didn’t want it outside there. I’ve been having Rokuko make a copy of it all morning... Did I not mention that?”

“No, you didn’t! Oh, but that does explain why Rokuko hasn’t been at the desks. Aidy and Sebas were one thing, but Rokuko not being here was a bit confusing.”

Well, naturally, those were all excuses just for Wataru. Rokuko had been sticking close to Aidy, running rats through the dungeon and mapping it out. Aidy and Sebas hadn’t been handling payments since they were guarding Rokuko.

The exploration itself was being handled by the festival goers... or rather, my companions, so the rats just had to tag along with the crowd. Man, it sure is nice having a lot of companions.

I spread the map onto a board and placed it next to the desks. Now the participants could go straight to Core 50 without getting lost along the way. We would be using it ourselves as well.

“...Do you think it’s about time for me to go, too?”

“Nah, Wataru. You go after we land one more blow on him. You’re our trump card here, so I want to keep you up my sleeve for as long as I can.”

“That’s riiiight. You need to stay up here and take care of visitors with meee, Wataruuu,” Neruneh said with a smile while wrapping her arms around his. Wataru gave a fairly pleased grin. I’ve given you some strats for beating Core 50 too, Wataru. Don’t let me down here.

That was when we heard the clanking of a heavy set of armored footsteps heading this way. Or rather, several sets of footsteps. I looked over. There was the Kobold from the magic tool workshop riding a Dai-Frame, being followed by a group of his coworkers wearing similar Dai-Frames. They weren’t all Kobolds—I saw ant people and Dwarves in the mix, forming in total a squad of six Dai-Frames. It was an unusual sight, and the people of the Demon Realm stepped back a bit to clear a path for them.

“What in the world are those...?” Wataru muttered.

“They’re magic tools called Dai-Frames. They’re like rideable Golems.”

“Interesting... I’ve never seen one of those before. I wonder if they would make one for me...?”

Huh. Does Wataru like that sorta thing? Well, I guess no man alive doesn’t like robots and power suits and stuff.

Neruneh tapped Wataru’s shoulder. “Do you want me to make one for yooou? I learned how to make them at the workshooop.”

“Whoa, you can make them?! Yes, please!”

It’ll cost you, though. That’s a style of magic tool that doesn’t exist in the empire. Hope you’re ready to shell out the big bucks.

The Kobold at the front waved his hand, which in turn waved the Dai-Frame’s hand. “Heya, special-rank! We’re gonna join in too!”

The craftsmen were citizens of the Demon Realm as well. They all wanted to join in too. I asked if they could make some equipment I wanted to use against Core 50, and upon seeing the designs they all got pumped up on the spot at the prospect of landing a blow on Core 50 themselves. The plan was for us to use the equipment ourselves, but the more the merrier.

“So, how’d the building end up going?”

“Perfect! Gahaha!” the Kobold replied before showing me how the arms of the Dai-Frame were box-shaped and covered in metal. It seemed they had implemented the suggestions I had for dealing with Core 50.

“Now you guys just need to pay one copper to join the party, but, well, want me to just consider it done already?”

“Nah, nah, we’ll pay. This is the map, huh? Alright! Let’s get goin’!”

The Dai-Frames piloted by magic tool craftsmen clanked loudly as they entered the dungeon. Hopefully they could land at least one hit with all that.

# Core 50’s Perspective

There stood a stag beetle bugman warrior, standing on two massive legs supporting its muscular body and wielding excellent halberds (which was like an axe and spear combined into one). His head was exactly that of a stag beetle, but in the process of evolving to stand on two legs he must have acquired pliable neck muscles, as he was looking directly forward. He had four arms, two on each side, and all of them were wielding halberds. Each arm resembled a stag beetle’s as well, the result being that he had a natural set of armor.

“Nguuh?!”

However, in the face of Core 50, the stag beetle wasn’t any different from an untrained commoner. He grabbed the bugman and swung him around, halberds and all, as if to say his hard skin was perfect for using as a shield.

“N-Ngggh! I-I’m not finished yet...!” the bugman roared, dropping his halberds and pawing at his belt with all four hands. But what he expected to find there was simply gone.

“Looking for these, perhaps?”

“What?!”

The four knives the bugman had been searching for fell to the ground from Core 50’s hands. All his options had been sealed, and with the shock adding onto the damage from being used as a shield, the bugman collapsed to the ground.

The next challenger immediately stepped in front of Core 50. This one was a human martial artist.

“Ultimate move, Exploding Dragon Fist! ...What?!”

“Hm. It could use some work.”

The ultimate move involved filling one’s gauntlets with mana and having it all explode on contact. But Core 50 saw right through that and grabbed the arm flung his way before tossing him over his shoulder, at which point he exploded upon contact with the wall.

“Hyaaah! Ngh, ngaaah?!”

“M-Muzou! I-I’ll avenge you, brother... Nghaaah?!”

Two human hunters were caught in the explosion. Their partners had been hit by the bugman when Core 50 was flinging him about, so their entire party was forced to retire.

“Sheesh. Those guys were as weak as I thought.”

“Think it’s about time for us to jump in?”

“Nah, I want to keep watching for a bit. Noble demons have moves as crazy as I expected. I’m learning a lot.”

There were some who watched Core 50 from afar, probing him for weak points. But their observation came with it the risk of getting wrapped up in the defeated challengers that Core 50 threw all over the place. Nobody wanted to undergo the humiliation of being defeated without even participating in battle.

“Then we’re gonna go up next!”

With a clang, a mysterious object stepped forth. Riding inside of it was a Kobold.

“Oh? So that’s the magic tool I was informed of. I believe it is called a Dai-Frame?”

“That’s right, Lord 50! They’re letting small guys like us fight like the biggest Weretigers in the world! Let’s do this thing!”

The Kobold and the other five Dai-Frames surrounded Core 50.

“Hm... I see, I see. There is a trap within your arms.”

“Ngh...! No hiding anything from you, huh? Alright, take this!” the Kobold yelled, rushing toward Core 50 and activating the trap on his arms alongside his allies. Instantly, large white clumps shot out of their arms. Core 50 dodged them. But the Dai-Frames just kept launching the white clumps onto the floor. A thick white cloud of what seemed like smoke rose off the ground.

“Hm? Is that not udon powder?”

“Bwahaha! Lord 50... ever heard of dust explosions?” the Kobold grinned, this time taking out a fire magic tool from a small metal box. Core 50 read his mind on the spot, dashed to his side, and stole the magic tool.

Dust explosions were, as the name implied, the explosion caused when one filled the room with dusty powder and set them on fire. The explosions could end up large enough to blow up an entire room or house. Even the sparks of clinking metal could cause a blast like that.

The Kobold and his squad were attempting to cause one such explosion, prepared to be blown up with it. All they wanted was to land a single strike, and an explosion of that size would have to be accepted as landing a fair blow—if the explosion actually happened, that is.

“You all are my belongings, remember? Treat your bodies with more care,” Core 50 said.

“C-Curses! The opportunity of a lifetime, and I messed it up!”

Core 50 stopped the explosion before it could happen without any hesitation whatsoever. His magic tool craftsmen were valuable, and their exploding would be a loss for him.

...But that itself was the trap. The fire magic tool in Core 50’s hand began to shoot fire out of nowhere.

“What?!”

“Hrm?!”

Core 50 acted fast. He undid his cape, enveloped the fire magic tool in it, and tossed it outside the room. A few challengers were knocked unconscious from being hit by the cape, but that was fine. Core 50 sighed in relief, the explosion having been averted.

“Gaaah, almost!” came yelling from the nearby door. “We woulda won if the fire had hit Lord 50’s hands!”

“The fire shot out in the wrong direction! I told you we should’ve made it shoot from all directions at once!”

“We had our hands full making it activate from detecting any mana that didn’t belong to the boss, you know that!”

There was a noisy crowd by the door. Finding them suspicious, Core 50 read their minds, and... Of course.

“Look over there,” he said.

“...Those are apprentices. What of them?”

“It seems they were the true fighters here. You were fooled by Keima.”

“What...?”

Dust explosions occurred when the air was filled with flammable particles. Filled. The amount of udon powder in the room wasn’t nearly enough to make the room explode. Keima had told the apprentices that, and had them stealthily lay a trap on the fire magic tool.

The real nasty part of the trick was making the craftsmen believe that the clinking of metal could cause the explosion as well. Trying to throw or destroy a metal magic tool with metal armor could cause sparks itself. Thus, the trapped magic tool was instead made to fit gently, perfectly into the palm of a hand.

“Th-Th-That bastard! What was all that shit about us being able to land a hit on Lord 50 if everything went well?! Is that why he fuckin’ said to use a magic tool since magic wouldn’t make it in time?! What a load of shit!”

“Bwahaha! You didn’t land a blow, but you did manage to get my cape! Feel proud of your accomplishment!”

“Huh? Th-Thank you! Nguuuh!”

Core 50 proceeded to drag each of the craftsmen out of the Dai-Frame one by one, throwing them into the apprentices and knocking them all out.

“It’s true that reading one’s mind means nothing if the person in question has no knowledge of the trap! Hahaha, an excellent move, Keima!”

Core 50 faced the next challenger, in an excellent mood.

# Keima’s Perspective

The craftsmen and their Dai-Frames were carried out of the dungeon. It seemed that the plot had ended in failure. Showing a small-scale explosion to the craftsmen to convince them of the powder explosion successfully led to Core 50 falling into the trap, but he managed to dodge it because the magic tool trap itself hadn’t been designed well enough to guarantee a hit.

“Gah, you damn liar. Thanks to you, Core 50 gave us some praise.”

“So close. We were so close.”

The Kobold and his craftsmen looked satisfied, while the apprentices were cradling lumps on their heads. But their sacrifices would not be in vain. Probably.

“Keima, what in the world did you tell them?” Wataru asked.

“Nothing much, just a little white lie. Anyway, we still have a lot of allies left. Hopefully at least one more of them can land a single blow.”

The sun was still high in the sky, and we still had a mountain of challengers. There were surging waves of newcomers like there had been before, but I got the feeling the people striding over now were a lot more skilled than the faceless masses. They were probably the ones so cocky that they thought the game would be over as soon as they joined in, and that they might as well give everyone else an opportunity to have fun. Though that was pure assumption on my part.

“Mm. But it kinda sucks that all the beaten challengers are being carried out. I was planning on hiding someone in the mountain of losers and launching a surprise attack from there.”

“Well, with this many people, the room would be literally buried in their bodies, so...” Wataru trailed off.

Incidentally, the ones doing the carrying were Core 50’s high-rank slaves, all of whom had recovered from being knocked out. They were all satisfied by Aknera managing to land a blow, so they were following the elf maid’s instructions and getting rid of the obstacles. Tch.

“Feel free to try landing another hit,” I said as Ostle carried out another challenger, but he just shook his head.

“Nah, not a chance! Lord 50 really beat his superiority into us. Aknera’s arm is all healed up now, and we know we won’t be able to land a scratch on him without another year of training. Plus, none of us thinks another surprise blow like that’s gonna work on Lord 50. It was a one-and-done thing.”

In other words, now that Core 50 had seen the trick, it wouldn’t work on him again.

“Well, alright. At least you got a single hit in... Thanks?”

“Hahaha, nah, thank you. You gave us the chance to hit Lord 50,” Ostle replied before returning to work with a fulfilled smile. The problem with Demon Realm people was that all their bloodlust faded on the spot once they finished the battle. I couldn’t count on anyone going back for round two. They all looked too satisfied, damn it.

“...Oh well. Guess it’s about time to go,” I said, standing up and working my shoulders. Things had taken long enough that I would like the second hit to be landed soon.

“Oh! Finally our turn, Keima?” Wataru asked.

“Nah. It’s not your time just yet, Wataru. Keep on handling visitors with Neruneh. Me and Ni—ahem! Kuro and I are going now. Let’s go, Kuro.”

“Yes, Master.”

I corrected myself before saying “Niku” in front of Wataru, then went with her to the Boss Room where Core 50 awaited.

# Core 50’s Perspective

“Graaah, take this! {Slash}!” a Werewolf roared, swinging its long claws. That was the {Slash} skill from the claw branch rather than the sword branch, but either way, Core 50 dodged it without difficulty. “{Slash} {Slash} {Slash} {Slash} {Slash}!”

“Hoh, ha, hm, ha, ha.”

It was a rapid flurry of blows. The claws rushed toward Core 50 from all sorts of angles, but he kept a cool eye on both arms and dodged them with ease.

“{Slash} {Slash} {Slash} Slash {Slash}!”

“A simple series of blows. Ah, that was a good attempt. I see you mixed a normal swing into the train.”

The Werewolf had simply shouted the word without using the skill once, then swung from a direction the skill never would have gone, but feints had no effect when Core 50 was reading your mind. That was enough playing around, so Core 50 blocked the attack and then flung the Werewolf over his back. The fighter, still swinging from inertia, landed onto a previously beaten Weretiger, and that was that.

“I suppose you would be strong enough to participate in the Fighter’s Tournament? Certainly not the Hell Tournament. Ah, but moving on...”

“My name is Abover Aes! Taste the blade of my Magic Lance Protrube and fa—Nguh!”

Core 50 dodged the strike without looking and tripped the attacker. “Naming yourself during a surprise attack defeats the purpose,” he said as the sound of a lance hitting the floor resounded. However, no lance could be seen. “Ah, it is an invisible lance. But weapons such as this will not work on I.”

The lance’s wielder was a fairly experienced warrior. He used his weapon like it was an extension of his own limbs, which thus made him an extremely easy opponent for Core 50 to understand and beat. A little mind reading revealed exactly what he intended, and those intentions were always followed through. It was safe to say that it would legitimately have been harder for Core 50 to fight an inexperienced commoner with barely any training.

“Hm.” Core 50 sensed a stirring of the mana in the air, and swung his body backwards. A huge beam of light shot by right where he had been.

“Tch. Not even that can hit you, huh?”

Core 50 faced the villain, and saw the man he had been waiting for. But he was alone.

“If it isn’t Keima. Good to see that you have finally come. Where are your allies?”

“My allies? You just finished throwing one of them over your shoulders.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right. That’s exactly right!” Core 50 declared, laughing in amusement. He had half-forgotten, but all the challengers who had visited his dungeon today were allies of Keima. Such was his strategy.

“You surprised me, Keima. To think you would turn this into a festival. I never thought the day would come that I would face all of my citizens in combat at once.”

“Good to know that even mind readers can be surprised sometimes. Does that count as landing a hit?”

“Ha ha ha! Not at all! Now, launch all your traps upon me!”

Honestly speaking, if they were to count psychological blows and surprises as hits, then Keima would have surpassed three hits long ago. Considering that he had landed an actual hit on top of that, it was fair to say that Core 50 had already lost the mental battle. But he hadn’t lost the physical battle.

And so, for the first time, Core 50 readied himself for a true battle. But Keima just leapt back without any hesitation.

“{Healing}! {Healing}! Hey, why the heck are you all dozing off?! The fight’s not over yet!” he yelled, waking up the defeated challengers.

“Wha, ah, b-but, my attack didn’t work on him at all...”

“Stay strong! Lord 50 is certainly not someone any of us could beat on our own, but we are not alone! We are allies here! Attack him all at once! Someone will land a hit on him for sure! And that will mark our victory!” Keima continued, hyping them up. “Don’t think about damage! Focus on speed, and area of effect! Just go at him!”

“Wh-What about coordinating the attacks?”

“No need! In fact, don’t think at all!”

“But then we’ll hit each other!”

“Don’t sweat it! I’ll heal you all! If you don’t give up, Lord 50 will face you as many times as you like! Don’t give up on this chance! Are you really a Demon Realm citizen?! Do you want to shame your ruler, Lord 50?!”

The warriors snapped back to reality, realizing their grave misunderstanding. In reality, Core 50 would prefer them to stay asleep, but in the broader picture Keima was exactly right. A Demon Realm citizen shouldn’t give up on winning just because they got a bit wounded. Thus, Core 50 could not object.

“This is entirely like an army... Thus, the classic move is to focus on the healers, and those in charge.”

Core 50 readied himself again, then focused on Keima. If he took things even a little seriously, he could easily dodge and launch attacks even without his Mind’s Eye.

He dodged the attacks from the strong Demon Realm residents, counterattacked, and used mind reading to prepare for countering Keima’s tricks. But this time, Keima had boldly come forth himself. He was holding a wooden sword in his hand, one sold in the city and used for practice duels .

A blade’s not necessary if I just need to hit. The damage doesn’t matter. Wood is lighter than metal, so it’s better. I’ve got plenty of spares in {Storage}... I can’t use Demon King style, but I’ll overwhelm him with numbers!

Keima genuinely thought that. Could he be lying? The possibility was... not there, Core 50 determined. If it were a lie, then somebody must have lied to Keima and made him believe it? That wasn’t possible.

Either way, he was finally leading the charge himself. Core 50 was excited, yet disappointed. Ultimately, Keima was still overwhelmingly weaker than Core 50. So much so that training only made him weaker, somehow. Even with the support of several reasonably strong Demon Realm citizens, none of his attacks would land without a miracle happening.

“Ngh! My Demon Fists can’t even land a scratch!”

“The more mana arrows I shoot, the more he knocks them at my allies!”

“Ngh, on second thought, bringing poison to this fight was entirely meaningless...”

A Vampire fistfighter, an elf archer, and a snake beastkin poison-user all faltered. Each was strong enough to make it through pools in the Fighter’s Tournament, but there was a vast gap in power between them and Core 50. Keima swung his sword while healing them and his other allies in the front lines. Naturally, none of his swings hit Core 50.

In the end, Core 50 didn’t even need to do anything for a mana arrow from the elf to hit Keima’s wooden sword and shatter it. But even so, Core 50 smacked down the wooden fragments and dodged them all.

“Ngh! But I’m not done yet!” Keima yelled, opening his {Storage} and taking out a spare wooden sword. Out came the sword, and... wielding it with his right hand was a goat-headed Baphomet, the very same Core 564 that had been expelled from the Demon King faction not too long ago. He popped out of {Storage} with the sword.

“Huh?”

“What?”

Core 564’s appearance was so shocking that Core 50 froze, stunned. Keima himself was shocked as well. And, clink. The stab happened so fast nobody even realized what was happening until it was too late. Core 564 had exploited the moment to successfully hit Core 50’s foot with the second wooden sword in his left hand.

“Bwaahaaaah! Did you see that, Keima! I did iiiiiiiit!” The roars of a Baphomet echoed throughout the dungeon.

# Keima’s Perspective

“Hold it! Why are you surprised?! Don’t tell me you forgot I was in there!” Core 564 yelled tearfully.

No, but seriously. Why was he in my...

“Ah,” I said, remembering the memories that Niku had sealed for me.

It all happened three days earlier. We were hashing out plots while successfully gathering an army of allies, and that was when Aidy had an idea.

“Incidentally, shall we summon that fool for help? Ah, what was his name... Core 564, I believe? I understand that he is still living somewhat nearby. No doubt he has the strength to at least enter the pools of the Hell Tournament.”

Core 564, huh? Now that she mentions it, he used to be a Demon Realm Core. He’s still in the Demon Realm even though he got booted out of the Demon King faction? I guess it’s not so easy for Dungeon Cores to move.

“Do you know where he is, exactly?”

“Not quite. All I know is that he is somewhere near here.”

Core 564 was a Dungeon Core that knew Demon King style, so he would be an excellent fighter to add to our ranks. I wonder if he would actually come if I asked him to get here within three days?

“How should we contact him?” Rokuko asked.

“Mm, good question... Ah. Aidy, can you do me a favor here? I just came up with something.”

I repeatedly {Teleported} to the furthest point I could see, taking Aidy and me to her duchy at record speed. Inside it was a classic Demon Realm city with no walls whatsoever.

“How convenient. To think you could travel this far in less than half a day.”

“It’ll be faster on the way back. Though a direct teleportation takes way more mana.”

“That is certainly a spell I would like for myself, Rokuko’s Master... Now then. Shall we begin?”

Without further ado, Aidy sent a request for a Dungeon Battle to Core 629’s (Mikan’s) dungeon. He accepted, which opened a contact window between us.

An orange rabbit appeared on screen, stamping its foot. “Where’s this coming from?! You won’t get away with this, Aidy! Haku and Keima aren’t gonna stay silent about... wait, what? Keima? What’re you doing there?”

“Yo, Mikan. Calm down and listen for a second. I need your help with something.”

I explained the circumstances to Mikan. I told him why I was in the Demon Realm and that we used the Dungeon Battle function to contact him. Then, I told him my request.

“Geez! You sure surprised me! My dungeon’s in a real tough spot where I may or may not get a Master, so now’s not the time to surprise me!”

“Sorry man, really.” He seemed busy, so I went ahead and got to the point. “So yeah, I need you to do something. You’re, like, a Dual Core now, right? You should be able to contact Core 564 instantly then, or rather, summon him. Could you ask him to come to where we are? We need the extra firepower.”

One of the functions Mikan had as a Dual Core was the ability to summon the Slave Core (Core 564) whenever he wanted. The Slave Core had no option to refuse.

“Why not just ask Core 564 directly instead of going through me?”

“What can I say? Sometimes you just need a good dose of fluffiness in your life.”

“Can’t blame you for that!”

While we were at it, I went ahead and had Aidy give him the mail function. That would let us contact him whenever we wanted, and it was another reason we contacted him directly... Believe me, I didn’t forget about it until a second ago. This is a totally legitimate reason. I promise.

“So yeah, could you summon Core 564, open up your gate, and send him over here? Oh, and feel free to lose the Dungeon Battle.”

“Oh my,” Aidy said. “I certainly don’t mind obtaining a free victory star.”

“Well, as long as you pay the DP for losing, Keima, I don’t mind.”

I had no idea about it since I had never lost a Dungeon Battle before, but the loser had to pay Father a DP fee. It was apparently 10,000 DP. This is my first time hearing about this... Oh, but now that I think about it, maybe that’s why Haku gave us a little over 10,000 DP when we had that first Dungeon Battle?

“I’ll pay you back once I can leave the Demon Realm. Put it on my tab.”

“Okie dokie. Don’t forget about it!”

Mikan’s DP wallet was pretty stuffed thanks to his ongoing idol business, and lending me 10,000 DP was no problem at all.

“Okay. Core 564, come here here heeeere.” Mikan said a random chant, and on his side of the screen a magic circle spread before spitting out Core 564.

“Hrm?! What is going on?! Ah, Core 629! Why have you summoned me?”

And so on and so on. We used the Dungeon Battle’s gate to safely get Core 564 to us in an instant.

“I see, you wish to borrow my power. And if I were to refuse?”

“Mikan, give him an order.”

“Core 564, you have to obey them!”

We were technically in the post Dungeon Battle meeting still, so Mikan could still speak through the monitor. Core 564 flailed in agony.

“Nghaaaaah! I understand, I understand! So, what do you wish for me to do? Hm...? Duel Core 50?! I see! The truth is, I am quite the fan of Core 50, and in fact I adopted this manner of speech out of admiration for him. I eve—”

He seemed fairly pleased by the observation, so I took that as a yes. I shut him up before he ranted for days and just got to the point.

“So basically, I want you to hit Core 50 with this wooden sword once I take you out of {Storage}.”

“Come again? I have my own Magic Blade, you know. And, ah, wait, you can put sentient things in {Storage}? That is news to me...”

It would probably take an uncomfortable amount of mana to teleport all three of us back at once, so I went ahead and put Core 564 right into storage. The fact that the teleportation still took a lot of mana led me to consider the possibility that living beings in {Storage} still increased the overall mana cost.

...Anyway. Thus concludes the flashback.

The plot ultimately ended up being a big success. It was all thanks to Core 564. Thanks! I’ll let you duel Wataru later as a reward.

“Alright, retreat!”

“What?”

“Er?”

I let out a declaration of retreat while shooting out {Element Burst} with no expectation of it working, and this time everyone except Core 50 froze in shock. He, meanwhile, narrowly dodged my {Element Burst} before multiplying and launching both nearby Demon Realm citizens and Core 564 into walls.

Oh shit, he’s serious. I guess since he doesn’t have any more chances, he’s using his duplication for the first time today. That’s a sign he won’t be messing around anymore.

I fled the room and met up with Niku while everyone else was being destroyed.

“Welcome back. Here is the ring,” Niku said, giving back the Succubus Ring I had lent her.

...Indeed. I had Niku let the Succubus possess her so that she could use Charms to seal my memories. Core 50 wouldn’t be able to read my mind and guess my plans if I didn’t have any memories of them. I mean, I wouldn’t even know about them myself! She also used the Charms to modify my mental state so that I would fight on the frontlines without bringing Core 564 out of {Storage} too early. My wooden sword breaking would be a sign that I was right by Core 50. The result of this plot was as you saw.

“Thanks, Niku. Now we just need one more hit.”

“Indeed.”

As I patted Niku’s head, Core 564 came charging this way while letting out a fairly bizarre roar. “Graaaaah! Y-You abandoned me back there...!”

“Hey, Core 564. Why were you crying when you came out of {Storage}?”

“I-I was not crying! That said, I am appalled by how cruel, merciless, and evil you must be to think up the idea of trapping someone within a hellish place like that! It was so dark! There was so little space! There was no sound! Anyone but I would have gone crazy in hours! I will forgive you since it allowed me to land a hit on the one and only Core 50, but still!”

Hmm...? I thought time stopped within {Storage}. It should have only been a second for him... Eh, whatever.

“Anyway, let’s take a quick rest before the final showdown. Let’s get back to the surface.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Hrm? Should I go as well...? I refuse to be put in {Storage} again! I will never enter such a place again! And more importantly, you should be praising me now! I had to search for the blade with my hands, unable to see, and I stayed on high alert for the entire time, ready to at—”

An oddly talkative fellow had joined our party, but whatever. I could just pass him off as yet another Demon Realm weirdo. He had in fact lived here as a noble demon just recently, so yeah. He was strong enough to live up to the reputation Demon Realm people had.

# Core 50’s Perspective

Despite having been expelled from the Demon King faction, Core 564 the Baphomet was strong enough to participate in the Hell Tournament. Under typical circumstances, there was no doubt that Core 50 would have easily defeated him with little issue, but he simply hadn’t predicted such an unfathomable surprise attack. It was such a bizarre strategy that Core 50 found himself in disbelief. Putting Core 564 into storage, then pulling him out? With the person doing the pulling having forgotten the trap entirely? Core 50 had known for sure that Keima had been planning something. He knew, but after reading his mind... or rather, being tricked into reading his mind, Core 50 had been thoroughly convinced that there was no plan after all.

“Bwaha! Ahahahaha! Excellent! Excellent, Keima! You are the third person to ever outwit and outplay me so thoroughly!”

The first person was Core 6, the Great Demon King of the Demon King faction. He would use Detachment and Still Water Serenity to completely erase his active consciousness, then defeat Core 50 through raw power. That was the reason why Core 50 served Core 6 despite both of them being from the First Lot.

The second person was Chaos, Core 4. She was even worse than Keima when it came to being surprising and thinking outside the box. Reading her mind was pointless, or rather, it was something one must avoid at all costs. You would be consumed by her chaos and lose your sanity. The fact that she was incredibly powerful on top of that just made her an even more formidable opponent.

And thus, Keima was the third. Unlike the first two, his mind could be read. He didn’t have any impressive power to speak of. And yet, he could use the resources available to him to their maximum potential, not hesitating to drive allies to his side and involve even himself in his own plots, which successfully led to him landing two blows on Core 50.

“But there will not be a third!”

It was then that Core 50 finally unsealed his duplication ability. Previously, he thought he wouldn’t need to get so serious, but that had changed. He now recognized Keima as an actual foe, rather than a mere challenger to defeat and possibly train. Core 50 offered a prayer of thanks to Father in gratitude for the joy of having met an actual foe. He would no longer let his guard down. He tensed up, ready for Keima to come at any moment.

And several hours passed, just like that.

“...Why does Keima not come?! The urge to fight is surging through my veins!”

The challengers that came next proved time-consuming to defeat, perhaps due to Keima encouraging them. They were all strong enough to either reach the grand finals of the Fighter’s Tournament or to participate in the first round of the Hell Tournament. That would make them the absolute strongest fighters in Core 50’s city, but... That was it. They posed no threat whatsoever if he faced them head-on and used his duplication properly.

“Ah...! Is this the ‘blueballing’ that Ishidaka the Hero spoke of? Ngggh! What incredible frustration I feel! I am not fond of this at all!” he declared, and just as he was running out of patience, the stream of challengers finally stopped.

“Hrm? Surely I did not defeat them all... No, there is still Keima and his party.”

Indeed. Keima and his party were all still healthy—the princess (Aidy), the slave Hero (Wataru), the pup (Niku), the banished (Core 564), and so on. Perhaps now was finally their time.

“Apologies for the wait, Lord 50. It’s only now that it finally becomes our turn. Now, shall we dance? Escort the good man, Sebas.”

“As you wish, Milady.”

Inside the room walked the proud princess of the Demon Realm—Aidy. With her was her Master, Sebas.

“I’ve been waiting a long time too. Feels like forever ago since he said we just needed one more hit.”

“Me too. I can finally fight.”

Wataru, the Slave Hero. Niku, the pup.

“This time, I shall land a blow on Lord 50 with my own Magic Blade! Hmph!”

Core 564, awkwardly overconfident due to having landed a blow on Core 50.

“I’m also heeere. I won’t get in the waaay, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t hit meeee.”

...And finally, the maid of Rokuko, princess of the Laverio Empire. She was riding in a Dai-Frame similar to the ones that the magic tool craftsmen had used.

“...I do not seem to see Keima with you,” Core 50 said, confused to see that the man he had recognized as a foe was not there.

“...K-Keima is in the middle of a very important secret plot,” Wataru the Slave Hero said with a forced smile. ...Aidy shook her head. “Wataru, trickery means nothing before Lord 50. You might as well be honest here.”

“Er, but Aidy. This is a bit...”

“Hah! My victory is assured even without that weakling here!” declared Core 564.

The weakling... was not here. In other words, Core 564 was saying Keima would not be participating in the fight.

It was then that the pup stepped in front of Aidy and bowed her head to Core 50. “Forgive us, Lord 50. My Master is presently bedridden with stomach pain.”

“What?” Core 50 asked, confused by what he had heard.

Wataru and Core 564 elaborated.

“Erm, it was his food, Lord 50. I mean, I knew he went off to eat some meat skewers while he still had some time here, but to think he would eat Basilisk meat...”

“It is his fault for lacking resistance for such pitiful poison! I had some as well, and I am as fine, as you can see!”

Core 50 read their minds. However, what he found truly was Keima getting so enthusiastic about landing a second blow on Core 50 that he ate some skewers and ended up bedridden with stomach pain. His party had waited until the last second for him to recover, but it didn’t seem to be happening.

In short. Keima, his long-awaited foe, was not present. Core 50 slumped his shoulders in reflexive disappointment... But wait. Was that really the truth?

“I-I shan’t be fooled! The same trick will not work on me again! There is no doubt that you are all lying!”

“Nah, nah, we’re telling the truth. Keima really was in a lot of pain. If you can read minds, you can see images too, right? I’ll try remembering exactly what he was like, give me a second,” Wataru said, mentally envisioning the past. Core 50 also rea—

“I will not! This is simply not true! Keima is not here due to some plot you are attempting to hide from me! No, he is here! Within whose {Storage} is he hiding?!”

Indeed. There was no mistaking that everyone here had been fooled as part of some plot. Perhaps he was in {Storage} just as Core 564 had been. If Core 50 carelessly read their minds, he would end up tricked by Keima again somehow.

That was when Neruneh smoothly held out a blade. It was the very same unforgettable blade that had initiated this battle—the gleaming, one-of-a-kind orichalcum sword created by Father. All was being done for the sake of winning it.

“Lord 50, siiir. If you beat all of us heeere, this is yoooours,” Neruneh said with a smile. She was telling the truth. He could tell by reading her mind. But nevertheless, she couldn’t be trusted. Core 50 had fallen into manic distrust of his own mind-reading.

“Now then, Lord 50,” Aidy began. “It seems that Keima has entirely run out of tricks by now. What will begin now is an honest and fair duel between our party and you. Feel free to read our minds if you wish, but it will be pointless. Isn’t that right, Sebas? The pup’s training was finished, I trust?”

She was alluding to Demon King style Detachment, no doubt. It was possible they might also use Still Water Serenity, the more advanced form of Detachment as well.

“She can manage it. Not well, but she’s just barely there.”

“...I’m not confident, but I will do my best.”

“Hmph! I can use Detachment as well! You may all count on me!” Core 564 butted in.

Core 50 carefully eyed the four challengers that had varying degrees of training in Demon King style. As for Wataru, there were some Demon King style-esque moves in the Laverio Empire’s styles, but he hadn’t used any of them in the Hell Tournament. Though it was possible he had learned Detachment while staying in the Demon Realm.

“Oh no, I’ll be using a trick-strat here. Keima taught it to me, or rather, forced it into me. Neruneh used some hypnosis on me for this, so... Here I go.” Wataru readied his Holy Blade, then looked at Core 50 and yelled. “...BERSERK, ACTIVATE!”

Thus began the fight. Wataru’s eyes changed. Core 50 read his mind—“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE DIEDIIDEIDIDIEIDEIDIEDIIDEIDIEIEIEIDIE”—and found it dominated by the sole idea of killing him.

“Die die die die! {Giga Slash}, {Meteor Crush}, {Pure Air Slash}!”

“Hypnosis and self-suggestion! I see, that is certainly something Keima would do!”

But it was a strategy more than familiar to Core 50. He had fought more than one challenger in the past who had focused their minds purely on killing Core 50. This resembled that greatly. The purity of the focus led to an increase in speed and attack power, but had the significant weakness of leading to more simple attack patterns. All of Wataru’s attacks—his lightning-fast slash, his meteor-crushing stab, his contorting air beam—were all textbook usages of the skills, and thus easy for Core 50 to deal with.

However, Core 50 still unsheathed his swords and did not let his guard down for a second. Up until now he had been refraining from using a weapon, but he was facing the strategies of Keima, a true foe. He would face them with all his might.

“Oh my. Are you perhaps thinking of someone who isn’t here, Lord 50?”

“...Ah. Forgive my rudeness, Princess.”

Wataru was launching simple attacks, but they became more unpredictable when two Detachment users—Aidy and Sebas—threw in their own attacks.

“Bwahaha! I shall land one more hit on Core 50, and prove my—nguh?!”

First, he flung away Core 564, who was getting annoying. Then he blocked Aidy and Sebas’s attacks, which was trickier than it sounded since they were both dual-wielding swords.

“I shall train you for the first time in a long while, Princess.”

“Aha! Oh uncle, when will you stop treating me like a child? I am already a fine lady, close to instructor class. Sebas and I will be more than capable of landing a blow on you.”

“Being addressed like that is also nostalgic.”

Core 50 honed his focus further. He too was dual-wielding swords. His duplicate fended off Wataru’s attack while stopping Niku, who had stealthily approached amid all the furious attacks.

“The berserker is the light, and the assassin hides in his shadow. A good combination, but you both lack experience. My duplicate is enough for both of you.”

“Ngh!”

“Die die die die! Die! {Charge}! {Charge}! {Charge}! ...{Omega Break!}”

Wataru cast {Charge} three times, which was a long-term spell that stocked mana and unleashed it later, and then swung his Holy Blade while three balls of mana appeared in the air. Due to his madness and inexperience his swing was clumsy by Core 50’s standards, and he knocked it aside with little effort. The blade hit the ground and smashed into it so hard that huge chunks of rock flew in every direction. Core 50 was thorough in destroying each of those rocks. He wasn’t letting his guard down. It was slack focus that led to the first hit landing.

Naturally, he needed to deal with Aidy and Sebas as well, not to mention the mostly irrelevant Core 564. They would not be using any fancy skills. Some aftershocks from Wataru’s destruction reached them, but it was largely a simple duel between Demon King style fighters.

And since Dungeon Cores didn’t even need oxygen, it was exceedingly quiet. The only sounds they made were the metallic clashing of blades.

Aidy was practically at the level of an instructor, while Sebas and Core 564 were assistant instructors, but Core 50 was a true master. In fact, he had invented Demon King style himself alongside the Great Demon King. His skill was as overwhelming as one might expect. Aidy’s ultimate move was {Crimson Road}, but he would never allow her the opportunity to use it, and even if he did, it ultimately amounted to a forward-facing area of effect attack with huge range and damage—something incredibly easy for Core 50 to dodge, even if he waited until the skill had activated and the beam of fire had started racing towards him.

“You are so strong, it is almost disgusting,” Aidy observed.

“So that is your assessment? You have grown stronger yourself, Princess.”

When Core 50 focused all his efforts into evasion and defense, not even three Demon King style users attacking him at once could come even close to scratching him. Not even a battle of endurance would be effective against him, considering how he had fought for an entire day and showed no signs of being even slightly tired.

“Nghaaah! I can no longer hold my breath!” Core 564 gasped.

“Understandable. Living creatures are imprisoned by the need to breathe,” Core 50 mused while exploiting the opening to throw Core 564 into a wall. Sebas would probably be close to needing to breathe soon as well.

“Good luuuck, Wataruuuu!”

“Nghaaah! Die die DIE DIE DIE! {Grand Bomb}! {Lightning Edge}! {Charge Release}! Fall to the earth pillars of lightning, {Lightning Spear}! Roar into the skies pillar of fire, {Flame Pillar}! Come forth from the ground, {Earth Pillar}!”

Neruneh’s cheers sent Wataru into an even more intense rampage, surpassing his limits to shoot out a storm of incredible attacks. The earth exploded into craters and electricity engulfed his Holy Blade. The {Charged} balls of life vanished, summoning three enormous pillars from the ground that shot magic attacks in every direction. They would be problematic if left unattended, Core 50 thought before having to pause to toss Niku away again. Their cooperation truly was excellent. The best way to stop Wataru’s rampage would be to hold him down and knock him unconscious, but Core 50 wasn’t allowed to... wait.

“...Ah. Now that I think about it, Core 6 only forbade from attacking during the special exhibition match. In these duels I am allowed to attack. How careless of me to forget that.”

“Oh my, what a shame... I had hoped to enjoy our duel for a bit longer.”

Core 50 finally realized the truth. In this fight, or rather, in all the fights of the day, he hadn’t been forbidden from attacking. He merely needed to hold himself back from killing them.

“Was this one of Keima’s plots as well? He certainly played me for the fool, then.”

The rest of the fight happened fast. It was a one-versus-five fight, but quality weighed the scales far more heavily than quantity. Core 50 was unmistakably the peak of Demon King style, and when he moved seriously, it was safe to say that his victory was as unavoidable as fate.

Core 564 was crushed in an instant, and Wataru’s neck was squeezed until he fell unconscious. The same was done to Niku, leaving it down to Aidy and Sebas, a two-on-two duel with his duplicate in consideration. He had no chance of losing whatsoever.

The fight ended with pitiful ease, taking even less effort than the fights prior to it.

“I suppose this is the best one can do with a full-front attack,” Core 50 mused, relaxing his shoulders with satisfaction. The only one left was Neruneh with the orichalcum blade, but...

“Here you gooo. It’s yooours.”

...She held out the blade to him without a fight, still giving a small smile.

“I-I truly can? Truly?”

“Yes, it’s truuue. This is now yooours.”

...Core 50 stayed on guard and sent his duplicate first.

Thus. He felt the blade was true orichalcum. He had his duplicate swing it. It was light like a feather.

With that established, Core 50 finally took the orichalcum blade into his own hands.

“Oooh! What a splendid gleam!”

Core 50 trembled with emotion. In his hands was Father’s orichalcum blade. He felt a stir in his metaphorical heart. At last, the blade was his, and only his.

“I have protected Father’s blade! I won! I have succeeded!”

He lifted the orichalcum high in the air. It shone, entirely as if to bless Core 50’s victory, and...

Clink!

A hole twisted open in the gauntlet holding the sword, and at the exact same time a stone stake extended from it and hit Core 50’s helmet.

“...Hrm?”

For a second, he didn’t understand what had happened. The hole closed and the stone stake fell to the ground. It hit the dungeon floor and rolled with a clink. Through the hole he could see the gleam of the orichalcum blade’s hilt. The hole closed as if nothing had ever happened.

“Wha... What?!”

Core 50 looked between his hand and the orichalcum blade. What had happened? The stone stake indicated he had been hit with {Stone Pyre}? But why had that come from the orichalcum blade?

...And that was when Core 50 remembered. “No! C-Could it be... Did you really?!”

Normally Core 50 would never, ever do this. But he had been pushed to his brink. He faced the sword and used his Mind’s Eye.

“Heya! Good fight. Man, I’m glad that worked!”

“KEIMAAAAA?! You can transform into even orichalcum?!”

...The attack had unmistakably come from Keima.