Satou here. [No nation lasts forever], said someone in a anime with Milky Way for its setting, but when you"re living in a relatively peaceful country, [downfall of nation] simply feels like a thing of distant future.

“Did a revolution or a coup d"etat break out at last?”

I nonchalantly asked Tifaliza who came here to report the news about Parion Holy Land"s destruction.

Despite falling into a slightly critical situation during the Divine Punishment, Parion Holy Land received help from Saga Empire heroes to cull out monsters in the surrounding areas, so I don"t believe it would be destroyed due to an external factor.
It could happen due to a raid by some beings such as demon lords or greater demons, however, there"s usually an omen before those bunch show up, and since Parion Main Temple has multiple [Oracle Miko], they should receive a prophecy from G.o.d Parion if they"re going to suffer a country-destroying raid.

“I-it"s not that! Parion Holy Land suffered devastating damages from a surprise attack launched by a greater demon, all the priests including Pope Zazaris that were present in the Holy City are either deceased or missing.”

–Geh. Looks like the country is really on the verge of downfall.

It"s weird how there isn"t an oracle about it even though it"s the home territory of G.o.d Parion–or maybe not. After all, the country"s key figures were under control of demon lord believers, it won"t surprise me if G.o.d Parion has given up on them.

Fortunately, the greater demon apparently didn"t have any interest in buildings that weren"t related to the Pope Governmental Agents which included the cathedral, thus after sporadically attacking the populace with magic like it was torturing them, it summoned its underling and simply drove the citizens out of the city.

“Are other cities besides the Holy City safe?”
“We"re having difficulties acquiring information, we don"t have info other than from the operatives that were in the Holy City.”

Well considering, the transmission speed of information network, that"s only to be expected.
According to Tifaliza, the accident itself happened a few days ago.

“We"ve got to help them quick!”
“Food sharing~?”
“Leave it to Pochi to take care of queue nanodesu.”

Tama and Pochi struck the shupin pose next to Arisa as she made a declaration while raising her fist up high.

“You two, first we need to take care of the demons and monsters that are infesting the city.”
“Aye!” “Nanodesu!”

After getting reproved by Liza, the two rushed out of the room while saying, “Preparing to sortie, nanodesu.”

“Mito, sorry but could you guard the rear together with her highness Sistina?”
“Un, I got it.”

I feel sorry to leave her out of a lot of stuff, but I"m confident that Hikaru is able to deal with any situations.

“Satou, you"re not going to ask me?”

Princess Sistina said that with a sulkish tone.

“Your highness Sistina, could you protect the royal capital together with Mito?”
“Yes, I"d gladly comply with your wish, Satou.”

I can rest easy knowing Princess Sistina and her army of defensively equipped Orichalc.u.m Golem would protect Hikaru.

“Tifaliza, sorry but please relay this to the royal castle–Hero Nanas.h.i.+ is heading to Parion Holy Land.”
“I understand. Should I inform them that Mito-sama is staying behind to guard the royal capital as well?”

I gave my consent to Tifaliza and instructed everyone to get ready to depart.

“Uwaah, they"re really thorough…”

While everyone is changing, I"ve gone ahead to a teleport base that I made while I was updating map info at Parion Holy Land with Unit Arrangement, here to scout ahead of time.
The Pope"s Administrative Sanctuary in the central city and the great majority of temples in various places have been destroyed.

According to the data I retrieved from Map, half of the priests have lost their lives.
Since this country"s politics come as a set with religion, the administrative functions have been practically paralyzed now.

Just like the info I got beforehand, the citizens have been driven out of the cities, there isn"t anyone that needs saving inside all the cities.
Several lesser demons and their tamed monsters were chasing the banished citizens around like they were playing with them, thus I created artificial spirits [Gryphon Riders] to rescue those people.

According to Map info, there is no greater demon nor demon lord inside Parion Holy Land"s map.
In addition, a large airs.h.i.+p and two accompanying medium-sized airs.h.i.+ps from Saga Empire with heroes on board have just arrived at the outer edge of Parion Holy Land, letting them aid the populace would make things easier.

“Now then, next is–”

I use s.p.a.ce magic [Clairvoyance] to see the sky above the Holy City where a lot of red dots are concentrated.
Thick dark clouds are hanging above the Holy City"s sky, so I lower my view down.

–Hm?

After the view came out of the cloud, I could see black gleaming airs.h.i.+p-like things with organic-looking silhouettes floating above the Holy City.
According to Map info, they"re apparently called Demon s.h.i.+ps of around level 50, they"re a type of mid cla.s.s demon.

Besides several of such Demon s.h.i.+ps, there are also monsters that look like a combination of a jellyfish and a balloon, called Evil Balloon floating about in the air. These ones are around level 20.

Lesser demons are loitering about above ground in the Holy City, creating more Undead and Construct-type monsters from dead bodies and debris.
Dozens of incorporeal undead monsters like Ghosts and Wraiths of around level 20-40 have gathered in the demolished site of the cathedral.
I found a 『Immortal Magic King (Lich)』 whose level was unusually low at 25 in the center of them.

Ordinarily, most Liches are level 40, so I checked its detailed info out of curiosity.
For some reason, the Lich has many close quarter combat skills.
It"s intriguing alright, but there"s a more important point.

This Lich possesses Unique Skills.

Three of them, which are [Unparalleled Pulverization (Nothing that cannot be pulverized)], [Infinite Regeneration (Rebirth)], [Infinite Propagation (Division)].

“Weird…”

Is it just me or are these Unique Skills are a mix of both heroes" and reincarnated people"s.
Well, I drew this conclusion from experience though, I won"t be surprised if the naming trends proved to be wrong.

Of course, I also checked on its t.i.tles, but this Lich is neither a [Hero] nor a [Demon Lord].
Its name doesn"t sound j.a.panese either, it"s [Anmeikusibi], doesn"t ring a bell.

“–h.o.m.onculus?”

After looking closer at the NB info, I found out that this Lich was originally a h.o.m.onculus before turning into a Lich.
Since h.o.m.onculi should have their creator name in its info, I tried to look up further and found a fake-sounding name attached, [Nemo].
I"ve got an idea whose fake name it belongs to, but for now I"ll write a memo about it on the Memo Pad of Alternate column.

『Master, we"re ready to sortie out.』

Arisa had called me through the Familiar Line, thus I put a stop on the mystery Lich"s investigation, and went back to the Solitary Island Palace.

“–And that"s the results of my preliminary investigation.”

At the palace, I shared the info I got to the girls who were ready with their gold and silver equipment.
The silver equipment may look the same outwardly, however they"ve been improved so that their capabilities and pure raw defense don"t fall behind the gold ones.

“A unique Skill holder huh…”
“Infinite regeneration would mean that we will need to bring it down in one hit to emerge victorious.”

Liza gave her a.n.a.lysis to deal with it as Arisa muttered.

“It might be a bad match with Nansan if it really could break anything.”
“Negative. There is no problem if I do not get hit, so I inform.”

Nana replied to the worried Lulu with confidence.

“Evasion s.h.i.+eld~?”
“Shupapapapa, nanodesu.”

Hearing their conversation, Tama dance and wriggle around, and Pochi who found it funny attempts to take stabs on Tama with her hand shaped like a sword as they play around.

“Since the Holy City has been turned into ruins already, attacking with Mia"s artificial spirits, my fire magic and Lulu"s accelerated cannon would be the quickest.”
“Pochi wants to take action too nodesu!”
“Then, let"s leave the demon s.h.i.+p to Lizsan and Pochi to deal with. Sertan will take on the undead on ground, Zentan the creatures there, and Karinsama will deal with the lesser demons.”

After giving orders, Arisa turned around and asked me, “Master, is that okay with you?”

“Yeah, so long as you leave the Lich alone, all"s good.”
“What about the Lich?”
“I"ll try to get in contact with it and see if we can establish a conversation.”

Just like the [True Ancestor of Vampires] Ban, and [King of Corpse] Corpse and the others in the labyrintht"s lower layer, it might turn out to be a friendly undead that can be reasoned with.

“If it"s no good, you girls can attack and defeat it.”
“Gotcha. I could do something like 『Cultivation of Greater Demons』 if it went and multiplied en ma.s.se with its Infinite Propagation.”

After reminding Arisa who said some gamer-like thing, “Everything in moderation, okay”, I moved everyone to the Parion Holy Land with Unit Arrangement.

“Oh my? It"s started already.”

Saga Empire"s large airs.h.i.+p is already fighting the Demon s.h.i.+p above the Holy City Parion.

I thought it would take awhile before they got here, so this was a bit unexpected.
The accompanying medium airs.h.i.+ps are fighting the Evil Balloons.

A cone-shaped flame radiated out of the large airs.h.i.+p, swallowing Demon s.h.i.+ps that kept shooting out black cannonb.a.l.l.s.
That"s probably Hero Yuuki"s attack magic.

“Fire~?”
“I think it"s about as strong as Arisa"s Inferno.”
“Did that took them down?”
“No, it doesn"t seem so.”

On the other side of the flame"s black smoke, Demon s.h.i.+ps jumped out of it while dragging black smoke.
Looks like the Demon s.h.i.+ps" magic barrier successfully blocked Hero Yuuki"s attack magic.

“It"s pretty strong for a level 50.”

Even while Arisa was stating her impression, the large airs.h.i.+p where Hero Yuuki was and the five Demon s.h.i.+ps went farther away from the Holy City"s sky as they kept fighting.

“–Ah.”

I saw someone jumping out of the large airs.h.i.+p and boarded on one of the Demon s.h.i.+ps.
I checked on it while thinking that there"s no one else besides her who would do that, and sure enough it was Hero Meiko who"s good with close quarter combat. And after she just got a sound beating by the Guardian Dragon of Dragg Kingdom the other day, as usual she"s really a battle junkie who loves to pick a reckless fight.

The hero that could be seen in the hatch where Hero Miko jumped out is probably the search-type Hero Seigi.
Looks like the last one, Hero Fuu didn"t get dispatched either this time.

◇

“Well then, let"s begin the clean-up of Holy City.”

After saying that, I headed toward the cathedral site in the center of the city together with the girls.

“■■ Purification (Turn Undead)!”

All kinds of undead that were in the Holy City came to a.s.sault us, but none could even get close as the Silver Knight Holy, aka Sera, purified them into dust with her holy magic.
The few rare ones that managed to escape her purification, like Wraith Knights and Wraith Mages, still ended up getting indiscriminately purified by Sera"s multi cast Turn Undead.

“Incoming enemy from the right forward. Doesn"t seem to be undead.”

From the direction Arisa pointed, lesser demons with Living Objects and Blood Golems created from debris are coming toward here in tow.

“…■■ Heavy Hurricane Hammer”

Silver Knight Air, aka Zensan, routed the weaklings with her wind magic, Nana"s force art bored the lesser demons full of holes, and Silver Knight Kung-Fu, aka Lady Karina, rushed up to another lesser demon with Flickering Move, and pulverized it with a fighting game character-like flying kick.

“Nin nin.”

A lesser demon that specialized in stealth tried to sneak on us, but Tama who had appeared behind the demon without anyone knowing lopped its weirdly-shaped head off.

“Ninjas really are all about head hunting~”

I don"t think Arisa"s remark is right, but since I"m concerned about the movement on the Map, I resist the urge to quip her and concentrate on it instead.

Apparently, those related to the temple are heading to the Holy City through air routes.
Looking with [Clairvoyance], it"s a group consisting of an elderly miko-san, a bald s.p.a.ce magician, and two stern-looking temple knights riding a [Magic Carpet].

The s.p.a.ce magician immediately noticed my [Clairvoyance] and used a counter spell.
Although my [Clairvoyance] didn"t actually get shut out by his counter spell, I canceled it nevertheless since there was no need to watch them.

Looks like she"s gotten fed up with it, as Sera uses a wide area purification magic a.s.sisted by the silver armor"s range expansion function.

Seemingly feeling bored, Arisa brought up a subject, “Y"know, the highest level spells have "Sacred" on the name with Holy Magic, but all other magic have "Divine" on them, is there any meaning to that I wonder?”
It"s quite an interesting topic, but we"re in the middle of a battlefield right now, so I shut her down, “Later when we get back to the Solitary Island Palace.”

“Master, look at the sky!”

Nana pointed at the sky.
A medium sized airs.h.i.+p that was fighting an Evil Balloon got entangled in the octopus-like tentacles, and then the next moment, a huge explosion occurred with roaring sounds.

The medium airs.h.i.+p still managed to stay in air even while raising black smoke, but the Evil Balloons are fast approaching the slowed down airs.h.i.+p one after another.
That s.h.i.+p would have gone down if that many Evil Balloons exploded themselves.

“–Lulu.”
“Yes!”

Lulu set up her portable accelerated cannon and shot down the Evil Balloons one after another.
Sniper Lulu"s shooting never missed a target, all the enemies in air got shot down in the blink of an eye.

『Master.』
『Thanks for waiting nanodesu.』

Liza"s and Pochi"s voices came through the always connected Tactical Talk.

Looking at the direction where the blue dots are approaching fast, I could see dragons of various colors, White, Green, and Black coming here.
Pochi"s dragon ride, the white dragon was in the plan, but I never expected the infant green dragon and even the black dragon to come along too.
Green Dragon is one thing, but I"m amazed to see Black Dragon could pa.s.s through the gate.

Liza isn"t riding on the white dragon, she"s flying together with them with her new Powered Exoskeleton.
The fuel consumption rate is so bad a single flight would consume one Crimson Treasure, it still needs some improvements.

『Pochi, Liza, and Heiron, go shoot down the Evil Balloons that are attacking the large airs.h.i.+p.』
『Yes nanodesu.』
『Acknowledged!』

Liza and the three dragons pa.s.sed through the Holy City"s sky in no time flat, then the infant dragon and the black dragon shot out their laser-like [Dragon Breaths] toward the Evil Balloons.
Black Dragon Heiron"s breath blasted away the Evil Balloons instantly, however, the infant dragon"s breath got blocked by the Evil Balloon"s barrier even though it hit.

『Breaths are unfair nodesu!』
『Pochi, let"s give the finis.h.i.+ng touch.』
『Roger nanodesu!』

A bit after Pochi"s fl.u.s.tered shout, the white dragon roared.
Pochi and the others should be able to handle the sky.

“Okay then, I"m off for a bit.”

After arriving at the cathedral site, I said that to the girls and dived into shadow.
Would be nice if this Lich is someone who could be reasoned with.