06: I Defeated the Demon Lord! …Or So I Thought, but the Loop Begins?!
“Grrrrr. (Mm. I understand the details. I must needs slumber like this, yes?)”
“Yes. If you would agree to the seal, then it will add almost nothing to my burden.”
After hearing the circumstances from us, Behemoth excitedly buried herself in the ground. And the hole is one that she dug personally.
“Arf, arf. (You’re crazy, right up to the end, huh? Though personally, I’m pretty lucky for not having to do any fighting.)”
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to have her fight the Demon Lord instead? She freed herself from the brainwashing, after all.
“The miasma only gets thicker the closer one gets to the Demon Lord. If any monster aside from you, Routa, were to get too close, they would become underlings again.”
Huh? Then what about this mouse and cat riding on my back?
“Squeak. (Well, I am a dragon. We are different from monsters. Papa and Mama weren’t brainwashed, either, remember?)”
“Meow. (And Nahura is a homunculus created with alchemy, so…)”
Oh, right. You two aren’t even monsters, huh?
“Grwl! (Then I bid thee farewell, my beautiful silver wolf! I shall ask thy name when I next awaken!)”
Right, okay, so just go to sleep for a thousand years like we told you.
Lady Eili’s magic activates, and Behemoth is sealed beneath the ground without resistance. And with that, we’ve been able to seal all five of the demon generals.
The Demon Lord himself is the only one left, huh? We’ll have to defeat him, at least, instead of sealing him. He’s sure to be a fearsome opponent, but I don’t actually know a single thing about him.
What’s his name? What does he look like? What are his powers? I know almost nothing.
What I do know is that he’s brainwashing monsters with the miasma, manipulating them as he desires—and that if we leave him be, the world will certainly be destroyed.
“Are you prepared, Routa?”
“Arf, arf. (No, but I know I’ve just gotta do it anyway.)”
“All of this has only been preparation. This is where the real challenge begins.”
If this place is the Demon Lord’s territory, I bet he has his own castle. I imagine one bigger and gaudier than even Carmilla’s crystal castle.
Still, we haven’t seen any structures like that despite running around the forest to fight the Five Demon Generals. Even when we were flying in the sky on dragon-form Len’s back, all we saw was the center of the forest swirling with miasma—it didn’t look like anything was built there.
“You’re correct in your analysis.”
“Arf? (Wait, so there’s no castle? Is our Demon Lord homeless?)”
Even I get to be raised in a wonderful mansion. The king of all the monsters doesn’t even have his own house?
Pfft. How pathetic.
“Not exactly. Maybe it would be better to say the Demon Lord is the castle itself.”
The farther in we go, the thicker the miasma grows, blocking our view of what’s in front of us. If Lady Eili wasn’t stopping the miasma with a bounded-field spell, it probably would have been a lot harder to progress.
“Arwf, arwf? (The Demon Lord is a castle? What does that mean? I don’t get it.)”
Hecate doesn’t answer me; she stops, then says, “This place is the Demon Lord.”
A black shadow is under Hecate’s feet. It appears to lead all the way into the distance, though it’s hard to see through the miasma.
“Arf? (This shadow thing—is that the Demon Lord?)”
“Routa, do you know anything about labyrinths?”
Yeah, I remember them. They spring up in places where mana accumulates, form dungeons underground, lure in and brainwash monsters from outside, use the accumulated mana to create new monsters, and so on. Sounds pretty annoying, if you ask me.
They were popping up in the forest in the future, too, and Garo and the Fen Wolves always ask me to blow them up with my barf beam. And when Alstera came, we even tailed her and ended up going into a labyrinth ourselves.
It smelled like public park bathroom in there… So bad. Though for monsters, it’s apparently a good smell that they have trouble resisting.
“Yes. The Demon Lord’s true identity is that labyrinth, grown to its greatest size.”
“Arwf?! (Huh?! So the Demon Lord isn’t even a monster?!)”
The mental image of the Demon Lord I’ve been holding on to completely shatters. I was imagining this hot, humanoid demon dude.
“There just happened to be a place in this frontier region where mana had an easy time gathering. After such a long time without anyone finding it, the mana just kept building up, undeterred.”
Oh, and when mana builds up, monsters get created and labyrinths pop up, right?
“No, that’s not exactly correct. It actually happens when that reservoir of mana takes on a mind of its own.”
Apparently, it will obtain consciousness, and find a way to direct the mana for the first time—and that consciousness takes on a desired form.
“It could be a wild animal on the verge of death who wishes to continue living. Or it could be a greedy human after treasure. The huge amount of amassed mana assumes a form based on the mind of the one who touched it.”
So that’s how they worked on the inside?
“This shadow is essentially a giant labyrinth. Instead of splitting cracks in the earth, it splits them in dimensions, spreading them wide, gaining such immense power that its depths may as well be infinite.”
So once you go in, you can’t come out—like a bottomless swamp.
Now that she mentions it, the monsters being controlled, not least of all the Five Demon Generals, seem to resemble the characteristics of labyrinths. It’s just that this one’s scope is massive, combined with the fact that nobody’s ever noticed it.
“Hypothetically, let’s call this shadow the Demon Lord Labyrinth. Once you enter this shadow—enter the Demon Lord Labyrinth—you’ll end up walking through infinite corridors filled with darkness, forever.”
I audibly gulp.
“Since it is a labyrinth, it has a core at its very deepest part. That is the one rule we know for sure. But nobody exists who can traverse the practically infinite distance.”
A super-high-level labyrinth that nobody can traverse: That is the true identity of the Demon Lord.
“That was why we had no choice but to seal it,” says Lady Eili, lowering her eyes sadly.
She must have known the true identity of the Demon Lord, too. Actually, knowing that is probably how she came up with her sealing spell.
She put herself on the line to think up this healing magic, which would continue to cause suffering for all her descendants—and now that she knows it would fail in the end, her agony must be unbearable.
She came all this way, believing that this is the reason she was born, but now all that had crumbled right before her very eyes.
But instead of being sad for herself, she was sad for Hecate’s life after hers and had acted in such a way that she couldn’t make it any worse than this. Her joy and energy had doubtlessly been false. And yet, she’d still come all this way with us.
What a strong person she is. And that, too, is very much like Lady Mary.
“Changing that future is the reason we’re here.”
That’s right. I’m gonna pass on any future where the young lady has to die young, thank you very much. I want her to live a long time, having fun with me.
“Now that we’re here, it’s a simple affair.”
Hecate explains the final process of her plan that took her a thousand years to think of.
“In the future, I was not able to gain enough power to defeat the Demon Lord Labyrinth, even if I had come back a thousand years. However, that problem was solved—thanks to your massive amount of mana, Routa, and your ultimate destruction magic.”
Ultimate destruction magic can destroy anything. Whether it’s gaps in dimensions or infinite corridors, it’s all the same to me.
But I need a huge amount of mana to cast it, and even Hecate, after a thousand years of training, never gained the necessary power to put her own plan into motion.
“But you’ll be able to pierce through the infinite corridors and fire at the Demon Lord’s core.”
I get it. So that was why Hecate said I was the cornerstone of this plan.
“You’ll only have one chance. Even with your mana, at full power, you’ll only just be able to reach.”
So if I miss, it’s all over?
“……”
Wait, wait, wait. I’d rather tell her not to say things that important right now. I’m famous for being weak when push comes to shove. Famous in my mind, anyway. I’m getting kind of nervous now. I think my stomach hurts. Can I use the bathroom first?
“I’ll take aim for you. You just have to fire your ultimate destruction magic with all your might.”
In that case, we should be able to manage. It’s hard for me to adjust the power downward, but if all you need me to do is shoot it with everything I have, it’s simple.
“Squeak… (Still, ultimate destruction magic shouldn’t be something you can fire so easily…)”
“Meow. (Well, this is Routa we’re talking about. It’s a little late for that now.)”
Enough from the peanut gallery.
“I ask you again. Are you ready?”
“…Arwf! (…Okay. Let’s do it!)”
There’s no point dallying. Hecate is saying I can do it. All I have to do is believe in her and not pull any punches with my barf beam.
Hecate raises her staff and casts a spell. She probably received it from future Hecate, for sensing the location of the Demon Lord’s core and controlling my beam so it doesn’t shift even a tiny bit.
Forming this maximum-efficiency spell, which she is able to use even as her present self, she gives me the signal, sweat dripping down her forehead.
“Fire at will.”
“Arwf. (Well, then, don’t mind if I do.)”
I summon more power than I ever have before, and suck in a breath.
“GRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! (Mr. Demon Lord, hellooooooooo! And good-byeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!)”
A ray of light, several times the width of the wide-open jaws it bursts out of, shoots toward the shadow. The shadow swallows up the ray of light, as though nothing exists on the other end.
I don’t know how far my full-power beam is going. That’s because I don’t have any way of finding out what’s on the other end of this shadow.
Hecate is using all her strength to make aiming corrections. She has her eyes shut tightly, focusing on her mana-based detection lest she miss even a slight movement from the core. All I can do is continue barfing up this beam until my mana runs out. The beam’s emission lasts several seconds, with so much light being fired that even I can’t see ahead of me.
And then, finally, my mana runs out, and the beam’s discharge ends.
“…Hhh… Hhh…! (H-how was that, Hecate…?! Did it reach…?!)”
It’s been a long time since this Fenrir body has run out of breath. This might be the first time since my body grew.
Despite how much strength I fired the beam with, the shadow shows no change. It stays still, like the quiet surface of a nighttime lake.
“……”
Hecate, staff still raised, doesn’t answer. Her observation of the Demon Lord’s core seems to be ongoing. We can only gulp audibly as we watch her work.
“…Yes,” she murmurs suddenly.
At the same time, the shadow stirs violently.
As though a gale was blowing through, as if the shadow were a living creature writhing in agony, its surface begins to squirm until cracks appear in its spherical form.
And then, with a sound like glass shattering, the shadow bursts into small pieces.
“S-squeak?! (D-did we get it?!)”
Um, Len, could you not jinx us, please?
But even after waiting ten seconds, then another ten, the broken shadow remained motionless.
“I just observed it. I can verify that Routa’s ultimate destruction magic pierced the Demon Lord Labyrinth’s core.”
With those words, we’re finally able to let out sighs of relief.
“Arwwwwwwf!! (We did it! Now the future is gonna change!)”
Lady Mary won’t have to die, and generations of Faulks family members will have longer lifespans.
Once that happens, what will become of Lady Mary’s mother? Like, would she be alive once we get back to our time period?
Well, we’ll just have to find out what changed after returning home. Our role here is at an end. Hecate will keep an eye on history after this for us.
“Thank you, Routa. You’ve saved the world.”
“Arf, arf. (Aw, stop it. That’s such an embarrassing thing to say to someone.)”
I only came here to save Lady Mary—actually, strictly speaking, it was to protect my own peaceful pet life. Hecate was the one who really put in the work. I’m glad her thousand-year efforts bore fruit.
“Yes, my future self has just been saved from her pain. I, however, am just starting that job.”
Now that the Demon Lord is done for, the timeline of history will change greatly. Hecate will be making full use of her future knowledge to adjust everything so that the future is close to the one we were in.
Those thousand years will be a different sort of struggle for her. I can’t know what the next millennium will be like for Hecate, but I do realize it’s going to be very difficult.
“Arwf. (You can thank me in a thousand years.)”
It’ll only be a moment from my point of view, but it will be a long time from Hecate’s. Even so, we swear to our unchanging friendship and grin at each other.
“Routa! Hecate! You all did it!”
Lady Eili dives into my fluff with tears in her eyes.
“I’m so glad! I’m so happy! Ahhhhh!”
As she hugs all of us at once, I’m a little embarrassed. But Lady Eili, happier than anyone else, feels so dear to me that I nuzzle her with my nose.
That wasn’t the reason we were so late to react.
We’d defeated the Demon Lord, but the miasma wasn’t clearing up. It was our own foolishness to not have realized that.
From beyond the dense miasma, countless pitch-black hands reach out to attack us.
“Huh?!”
Like the broken shadow, the hands are impossibly dark, not reflecting anything. They coil around our bodies so tightly that we’re unable to put up a struggle.
Beyond, the supposedly broken shadow remains, and in the next moment, we’re swallowed by it.
“A-arwf?! (I-is everyone all right?!)”
All those hands disappeared after we got swallowed by the shadow, but it’s so dark I can’t see anyone. It has me bewildered.
I’m not standing on anything. I can breathe, but there isn’t any light at all in here. Even my vision can’t make out a single thing.
“Everyone, calm down.”
Hecate’s voice. At the same time, an orb of light appears, illuminating us.
“Are you all there?”
“Squeak. (My, my. This is certainly not good.)”
“Mew! (Lady Len, it’s all because you jinxed us!)”
“Arf, arf! (That’s right! This is your fault.)”
“S-squeak?! (Wh-what was that?! I’ve done nothing wrong!)”
It doesn’t seem like anyone else is injured. This also isn’t the time to be horsing around, but the exchange did calm us down.
“Arwf? (Hecate, does this mean we didn’t defeat the Demon Lord?)”
“…I’m certain you pierced the core.”
But the shadow is still present, and now we’ve been absorbed by the Demon Lord Labyrinth.
Hecate is biting her lip so hard blood is trickling from it. “…The plan is a failure,” she says. “Let’s get out of here. Nahura’s spatial magic should allow us to escape.”
“A-arwf, arwf! (H-hey, wait, but that means the future—)”
“Hasn’t changed. One thousand years from now, it likely has converged on the same future.”
It can’t be. We came all this way just to fail?
“But we’ll do it again. I’ll spend a thousand years rethinking the plan,” declares Hecate, frustration and anger filling her eyes. “And next time, I won’t let it end like this.”
But then, won’t that mean Lady Eili will die in a few years? Are you okay with that?
“Hecate, I’ll be fine,” says Lady Eili, a little loneliness in her eyes, drawing up to Hecate. “I will seal the Demon Lord. That is what I intended to do from the start. My resolve hasn’t wavered.”
“I’m so sorry, Eili…”
“Please, don’t apologize. You haven’t given up, have you? I’m sure it will work the next time around.”
Is there seriously nothing we can do? I can’t bear to go home like this. Once we go back, all we’ll have waiting for us is Lady Mary’s imminent death and the Demon Lord’s revival.
Should I stay behind to help Hecate with her plan? That’s the only thing I can think of.
My enthusiasm for this has hit bottom.
“Nahura, please get us out.”
“Mew… (Yes, at once…)”
Nahura deploys her spatial magic. She beckons to us with her front paw like she always does—then stops.
“A-arwf? (H-hey, what’s wrong, Nahura?)”
If we’re going to escape, shouldn’t we be quick about it? I know I’ve lost my energy, but I still don’t intend to die in the Demon Lord Labyrinth like this.
But Nahura stays still, as though frozen—in fact, nobody else is moving, either. It’s almost like time has stopped.
“Routa… Routa Okami?”
I recognize that voice. There’s only one person who knows my name from my previous life.
“Arwf?! (The goddess?!)”
Yes—standing before me is the very goddess who reincarnated me.
“It’s been a little over six months, hasn’t it, Routa?”
The floaty, pink-haired, soft-and-fluffy goddess is, for some reason, right in front of me.
It’s her fault I was reborn as Fenrir instead of a normal dog.
I’ve got a whole mountain of complaints for her before I ask her why she’s here.
“A-arwf… (Wh-why, you…)”
“I’m sorry to drop in so suddenly, but first, please accept this.”
“A-arf? (Y-yeah?)”
With quiet motions, the goddess lowers herself to her knees, then bows her head in a perfect manner of—
“I’m incredibly sorry!”
—groveling! The goddess is groveling! These isekai reincarnations always have this event!
Except the timing is all messed up. Isn’t it supposed to happen before reincarnating?
“Actually, I need to speak to you about some relatively serious matters, so I figured it would be best to lighten the mood first…”
If you’re capable of being that considerate, why didn’t you reincarnate me as a dog like you were supposed to?
“Well, I thought it would all work out!”
Her lack of genuine remorse makes it even worse.
Still, if I hadn’t been reborn as Fenrir, I wouldn’t have overcome all of those trials.
All I wanted was to be reborn as the dog of a rich family. How did it come to this?
“I thought it would work out…”
Don’t you think you should have said something to begin with, Miss Goddess?
“Tee-hee.”
I really want to wipe that dumb smile off her face. I thought she wanted to have a serious conversation, but her happy-go-lucky attitude is kind of killing the mood.
“Arf, arf? (Wait, so if you showed up, does that mean I’m going to die after this?)”
Did she come to lead me to my next place of reincarnation?
“No, the situation is worse than that,” says the goddess, shaking her head. “If this goes on any longer, this timeline will become cyclical, and you’ll be trapped in a time loop. To be more precise, Hecate is the one who’ll be trapped.”
“Arf, arf? (A time loop? You mean that thing where you repeat the same events over and over forever?)”
With my scant sci-fi knowledge, that’s about all I understand.
“Yes, that sort of loop.”
Seems I was right, though.
“At this rate, if you follow Hecate’s directions and escape from here, then redo the plan after another millennium, you’ll fail in the end. It will never change, no matter how many times you try.”
The goddess speaks as though she’s seen it happen. And given the sadness in her eyes, maybe she really has.
“I’m sorry. Even I only observed this event in this very moment. I’ve seen all the possible futures using the power of the gods, but no matter how many times you redo this, Hecate will always fail. And with her memories continuously passed down through thousands of years, Hecate’s mind will break, and she’ll stop inheriting them.”
I can’t imagine how awful that would be.
But it must be absolute hell for Hecate—the one who would do anything to save Lady Eili and Lady Mary—to give up and abandon everything.
“And when you go back again after that, the loop will be complete. Hecate will not have inherited her memories, and she will spend a thousand years coming up with her original plan to defeat the Demon Lord. And she’s already run through that loop many times. So many times that even I, a goddess, can’t count them all.”
Wait, then I’ve been reincarnated as Fenrir multiple times already? How many times? Tens of thousands? Millions? Any number a goddess can’t even understand is too terrifying to imagine.
“Arf… (Ahh, so then you…)”
Without meaning to, I realize the answer to what’s been on my mind.
Why did the lake near the mansion exist before I made that hole?
Why did the thousand-year covenant of the Fen Wolves happen before I went to the past?
Why does the same name as me, Routa, show up as the hero in the fairy tale about what happened a millennium ago?
If the loop has already begun, it would explain everything.
“This is the moment wherein this world’s history completely stops.”
“Arf… (But that’s…)”
I’m stricken with a sense of hopelessness. It’s even worse than hearing that we failed to slay the Demon Lord.
“Arf, arf?! (That’s… That can’t be! That’s insane! Everyone tried so hard to get here! And it was all for nothing?! And no matter how many times they try, it won’t mean anything?!)”
“Routa…”
“Woof, woof?! (Damn it, isn’t there anything you can do?! Is there really no way to break out of this loop?!)”
“There is.”
“Arwrw! (Oh, of course there is!)”
I’d like you to pretend I didn’t shout just now. Anyway, if there was a way, then open with that! You made me get all serious for no reason!
“Until now, I had no observations, and no way of telling this to you. However, in this single instant… Right now, I can rewrite the historical singularity.”
Wait, so you can do it? Why didn’t you do it sooner? Sheesh, you really had me scared. Did I pee myself at all?
“Actually, you’re the one who will be doing the rewriting.”
“Arf? (Me? Wait, you want me to do it?)”
You can’t just use your weird goddess powers to, you know, bam-bam-bam and you’re done?
“You are currently standing at a crossroads.”
The goddess holds up two fingers, then puts one of them down.
“The first path is to go with Hecate and use spatial magic to escape this place. Everyone will live, but the Demon Lord will not be defeated, and Saint Eilene will use her seal. As I said before, this equates to closing the loop. The same thousand years will keep on happening, and eventually you’ll go back to the beginning.”
I want to know what the other path is. But the goddess seems to be hesitant to say.
“Arf, arf. (Oh, come on, please just tell me already. You’re making me more anxious holding back like that.)”
“…All right. I want you to listen calmly.”
After I press her, the goddess puts down the other finger.
“The other path is for you to stay in this place and attack the Demon Lord’s core once again.”
“Arf? (Huh? That’s it?)”
Why, that’ll be easy!
“Your ultimate destruction magic has certainly dealt damage to the Demon Lord. Hecate and the others don’t realize this, but the Demon Lord is very weak now as well. If you fire again, with all your might, you’ll be able to defeat it for real.”
Awesome! A sure victory!
If all I have to do is barf up another beam, I’ll barf up as many as you want.
“The problem comes after that. If you do defeat the Demon Lord that way, you will be unable to escape this great labyrinth’s collapse. If you fall through a dimensional crack, you’ll either be adrift in this darkness forever—or, if you’re lucky, you’ll get warped away to some other place. It could be a million years later, or a million years earlier. And it’s possible you won’t even end up in this world.”
“Arwf… (Ah, I get it… I have to choose between giving up my own life or everyone else’s…)”
Of course.
“Arf, arf. (And if I choose to run away, what kind of life would I— Wait, no, I know exactly how it’ll be.)”
I would never enjoy a life without Lady Mary. Since there isn’t another me a thousand years from now, I must have given up at some point.
“…I’m so sorry for having you make such a terrible choice.”
“Arf, arf. (You’re telling me. You’re a cruel goddess, you know that? All I wanted was to be the pampered pooch of a rich family, and you reincarnated me as Fenrir. And now you’re telling me I have to give up my own life to slay the Demon Lord.)”
“…I’m truly sorry.”
The goddess bows her head deeply.
Suddenly, I shout at the top of my lungs,
“Arwf, arwrwrwrw!! (No, no, no! I don’t want to die! And I don’t want to get stuck in this darkness forever! And I don’t want to leave everyone! A million years in the past, or the future—there’s probably no humans around! I wouldn’t be able to eat delicious food! I want to see Lady Mary again! I want her to pet me! Ahhhhh, nooooooooo, I don’t want this!!)”
…Phew. I feel better now.
Having vented all my frustrations, I’ve calmed down a bit.
Well, these six months, for me, have basically been paradise. The kind young lady, the old man’s delicious food, and all the other people in the mansion pamper me, too. I was all alone in my past life, but now I’ve made so many friends.
Originally, I was corporate livestock, used and discarded by an exploitative company. I’ve definitely gotten my money’s worth: It’s been absolute bliss being able to live a little longer. I’ve made so many fun memories with them. If I ran away without returning the kindness I’ve been shown, I wouldn’t be able to call myself the pet of the Faulks family.
After all, I am Lady Mary’s loyal dog! That’s right—a dog!
It’s important, so I say it again.
I am Lady Mary’s one and only beloved dog!
“Arwf! (Which means there’s only one thing to do!)”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Arwf! (Yeah! …Actually, the longer I have to think, the more my resolve wavers, so please be quick about it.)”
I’ve always been one to lapse into laziness.
The goddess gives a giggle, then folds her arms.
“I will at least pray for your safety.”
A goddess, praying? That’s pretty surreal—and the moment I think that, time starts moving again.
“Arf, arf! (Nahura! One moment! Hit the brakes!)”
“M-mew, mewl?! (H-huh?! What’s going on?!)”
“Woof, woof! (I don’t have time to explain! Leave me here and get yourselves out! I’m the only one who needs to be here for the rest!)”
“Squeak?! (Huh?! What are you saying?!)”
“Routa?! Have you thought of something?!”
“Arf! (Yeah! A goddess gave me the perfect plan!)”
So please, go. Seriously, I’m hopeless, and I’ll probably tell you to take me with you if this drags on much longer.
Sensing something from my behavior, Lady Eili comes up and hugs me.
“Arf, arf… (Lady Eili, I’m happy I was able to go on this journey with you. You look exactly like Lady Mary, which is why I wasn’t lonely even away from her…)”
“Routa…”
So I want you to go now. I’ll defeat the Demon Lord, and you need to keep the thread of happiness intact until the day Lady Mary is born.
“Woof! (Do it, Nahura!)”
“Meow! (Geez, Routa, you’re always so abrupt with these things!)”
Nahura casts her spatial magic, sending everyone but me outside the shadow.
“Routa…!”
“Ah, Routa…!”
Lady Eili and Hecate reach out for me before they vanish.
The sad part is over. Now I just have to defeat the Demon Lord.
“…Arf. (…Okay, guess it’s time.)”
I can feel a weight that shouldn’t be there on my head.
“Squeak. (‘Guess it’s time’ nothing.)”
“Arwf?! (Len?!)”
“Meow. (I don’t know what you’re planning to do, Routa, but the Demon Lord’s core isn’t in that direction!)”
“Arwrw?! (Even you, Nahura?!)”
After the spatial magic sent them outside, they must have come right back again on their own
“Arwf…? (But why did you come back…?)”
“Squeak? (Did you think I would leave my beloved alone and escape by myself?)”
“Meow! (Nahura isn’t coldhearted enough to leave a friend behind, either!)”
So in the end, it’s down to the Three Stooges, huh?
“Arwf, arwf! (Geez, you guys! I can’t believe you. Let me be cool just one time!)”
“Squeak. (What are you saying? I know you’re actually happy about it. Your voice is shaking.)”
“Meow! (We know best that you’re a good-for-nothing! How long do you think we’ve been riding on your back? We can tell you’re forcing yourself!)”
Look, you… You’re gonna make me cry!
To be honest, I was super-discouraged!
And so, I tell them the final plan, given to me by the goddess.
“Squeak. (No, no matter how you think about it, you couldn’t do it alone. You just used up all your mana, didn’t you?)”
“Mew. (And how did you plan on taking aim? If you missed, it would’ve been all for naught.)”
You know what? That’s a fair point.
That goddess was a useless hunk of junk right until the end. I can just imagine her trying to defend herself, saying, “I knew they would come with you!”
You have to make it clear, or I won’t understand, Goddess.
“Squeak! (I’ll supply you with mana. Take it all!)”
“Meow. (You can leave the spell’s control to me. I can pick out the target even better than the Hecate from this time period can.)”
With Len and Nahura’s help, I prepare to fire my beam again.
“Arwf! (Let’s do it! Everyone ready?!)”
“Squeak! (Ready anytime!)”
“Mew! (I’ll follow you anywhere!)”
Rallying every last bit of energy, I howl out one final roar.
“GARUUUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNN!! (I don’t care if you’re a Demon Lord! I’ll obliterate anyone who gets in the way of my pampered pooch life!!)”
A lance of pure white light pierces the darkness, penetrating the core far in the distance.
This time, it’s destroyed in its entirety, and with a silent scream, the Demon Lord dissipates.
And then the walls between dimensions crumble, and we fall into one of the gaps.