The Sorceress

(A/n: Sorry for the wait on this one. I wanted to cover a lot, so it's a longer chapter than usual, but it also just took a lot longer to do. It kind of jumps around a lot, so let me know if it's too confusing. I can always split these up into smaller chapters.)

After their fight, Castor simply sat down on a wall and let Rimuru put a slave collar on him. It was definitely off-putting seeing a slave collar on someone whose status was right below the king, but Castor didn't fight it in the slightest. Rather, he was quite surprised that Rimuru didn't just kill him then and there, but he figured that a trial would be best for him. Essentially, it's what he would do in Souma's position if he wanted to ease his troops. Castor was by no means a hated man, so just outright killing him, while perfectly within his rights, was bound to strike some people the wrong way.

Immediately after, Castor summoned Tolman and told him that he lost, and as per their agreement, the air force now belonged to the Royal Army. While Souma wasn't here, Rimuru came prepared and handed an order directly from Souma, seal and all, for the air force to go and assist the rest of the army in Landel Castle. This garnered interest from Castor, who, despite guessing what the answer would be, wanted to go and at least meet Duke Carmine one last time before he would inevitably be put to trial and killed.

"Rimu-" he managed to eek out. Unfortunately, much to Rimuru's dismay, he found out that the slave collar would only accept certain words to address their master. If they tried any other form, they would go through what Castor is experiencing now, which was moderate pain. What made things even worse was that Ciel had easily dissected the contents of the slave collar but couldn't make adjustments to it due to the use of magic. To be more accurate, while Rimuru would most likely not be suspected of tampering with the collar, they would just issue Castor a new one as he was still technically a prisoner of war.

"Lady Rimuru," he managed, feeling incredibly odd at the words. From his reaction, Rimuru wasn't too fond of it either. Still, he continued, "would I be able to accompany you to Landel? I would like to see my friend once more and, if possible, get some answers from him."

Rimuru responded, "Sure. I don't see the problem with that. Keep in mind, though, that it's not ultimately up to me if you get to meet him."

Castor simply nodded in understanding. The two currently were walking down from Castor's office after they saw the resulting battlefield. Castor was certainly taken back quite a bit from how few of his troops remained standing, but Rimuru assured him that they would all be okay. After all, Testa was there healing them. Something he wasn't too fond of, however, was that he swore he saw the same collar being on Carla. He knew that it was her choice to fight in this battle of his, but just about any father seeing their daughter wearing a slave collar was a disheartening sight.

Rimuru, picking up on this, tried to cheer up Castor. "If it helps any, I'll petition that your daughter gets to keep her life. Though she will undoubtedly lose any chance she would have at keeping her status, I imagine that there was already a contingency plan in place for this, right?"

Castor chuckled a bit at this. "You're an odd one… Normally, no one would treat POWs this nice, but I guess nothing is normal about this situation. I certainly accept, but…"

Castor really thought this one through. Carla had some friends in pretty high positions, most notably Duke Walter and Princess Liscia. The problem was how this would be viewed by the public, and no doubt what is going on through Souma's mind. Making any sort of pardon just because the party at fault is close to you is often times the root of corruption, and something that he and Duke Walter have fought vigorously to ensure never happened. He simply never gave much though that he would be in this very same position.

"I think it's as you said, this is up to Souma's decision. To be honest, I'm not even sure if my life is enough to save hers. At least given the charge of treason. The worst-case scenario that might happen is that I will live given my accomplishments for this country. She doesn't have any such things to support her."

What started off as trying to support someone wound up practically doing the opposite. So, Rimuru did what he does best, which is to simply shelve it for later. Taking a very carefree look and tone, he said, "Well, no use worrying about it now. We'll meet up with Souma shortly. For now, let's just wait."

While it may have seemed callous, Castor enjoyed the change of pace from what was spiraling down to a pretty dismal realization. Taking advantage of this, he asked, "By the way, what exactly are you? You're not human, at least from what I can tell. Unless you have some sort of dark magic related to strength?"

Rimuru just smiles at him and says, "Well, there are humans who are quite strong where I come from. Some of them even stronger than you, believe it or not."

Castor became wide-eyed at this. "Why do people even need to be that strong in the first place?!"

He just laughed it off and said, "Well, there are some pretty nasty monsters back where I come from. If humans hadn't been able to fight back, they would have long become extinct."

Castor was quite intrigued at this. Mainly due to his warrior-like brain. The idea of fighting a mindless monster that could give him a decent challenge sparked a fire in his eyes. He knew it wouldn't ever happen, but that didn't stop him from asking Rimuru about his world. "So, what was your world like? Is it similar to ours with all the races and magic?"

"Honestly, I think the only thing that this world is missing from mine are orcs. At least mindful ones. Dragonewts like you exist, though some of them are more scaly, similar to lizards. I guess the best comparison is lizardmen? We have dragons, though not like you guys. There are… technically five dragons that are considered 'True Dragons,' but realistically only three readily call themselves that. There was one more, but he died long ago."

Castor urged him to continue, and Rimuru decided that a quick summation would be best. "I suppose that the biggest difference between my world and your world are the quality of the people. Not like morally, but in terms of power. For example, there are people who could destroy this fort with the ease that you or I snap our fingers. Likewise, there are people who are perfectly regular. Therefore, wars are ultimately decided by the quality of the people, not necessarily how many people there are."

Castor felt like his brain became muddled. He was honestly struggling to comprehend how anyone could destroy his castle so easily, and, according to Rimuru, that was them massively holding back. "How… do people like that even… no. Rather, how does the world even maintain its balance?"

Rimuru laughed again. "Well, there are these beings called Demon Lords, and they are largely considered the pillars of the world. Before, it was primarily humans, but as I said before, no amount of manpower can overcome a certain amount of power. While most of them aren't quite as strong as True Dragons, they are able to cross that threshold of power, and unlike True Dragons, actually care about having land. In fact, True Dragons weren't even widely known until the Demon Lords came into power since True Dragons mostly kept to themselves."

This wasn't entirely factual, since the only Demon Lord to come into power before the True Dragons arrived was Guy Crimson. Though it was true that Veldanava, the first True Dragon, was there long before Guy ever even existed, the fact was that since he was basically in a position of God meant that his existence was largely an unknown. At least up until Guy challenged him. Even still, he never really entered the public eye until he gave up his powers for Lucia, who is his wife and Milim's mother.

Seeing that Castor was silent, Rimuru continued. "Currently, the Demon Lords maintain power by, well, having it. How the balance of the world is maintained is kind of strange, in a way. For example, if you are a person of average strength, and by that, I mean an average human, then strength just isn't something that you need to concern yourself with. It then becomes a matter of intellect, which vastly levels the playing field for most people. This is true up until you get to a certain point, where strength does matter. For example, if you wanted to be a Demon Lord, not only do you need to have extreme strength, but you also need to have the intellect to back it up, otherwise you would quickly turn into a pawn."

Castor shuddered at the prospect. "So, basically, the higher up the totem pole you go, the more it regresses to 'might makes right?'"

"That's a simplified version of it, but yes."

"Geez." His head reeled from the revelation. Suddenly, he had a thought. "So, wait. Is it possible that one of the Demon Lords from your world is invading ours?"

Rimuru gave him a wry smile in return. "Come on, now. Did you listen to what I said? If a Demon Lord from my world came into yours, you'd definitely know it by now. Considering ten years have passed since the Demon Lord's Domain came up, that's definitely not the case."

Castor felt a bit foolish when he heard Rimuru's rebuttal. Of course, assuming everything Rimuru said was true, then ten years was more than enough time for any one of these Demon Lords to conquer their world. Still, there was one thing that he felt was missing.

"Wait a second. Master, wouldn't a Demon Lord still be able to completely destroy the balance of power if they are as powerful as you say they are?"

Rimuru gave his words some thought. This was largely true to an extent, but whenever he thought about how skewed power seemed to be in his world, he couldn't help but make parallels to Earth. After all, he couldn't see a whole lot of difference between a nuke from Earth and a Demon Lord from his world. While nukes were a one-time use, there were so damn many of them that they very well could spell the end of humanity and could realistically be used with very little effort.

In the end, he gave what he felt was a satisfactory answer. "Let me preface my answer by explaining what Souma's world was like. At least in terms of sheer power. Over there, on the planet called Earth, the most dominant life form are humans. The reason being is that humans are the only intelligent species on the planet. Couple that with the fact that magic wasn't a thing in his world, and most humans, at least on a physical level, were relatively weak compared to other species, this left intellect as their only defining strength. However, back on Earth, nothing, and I mean nothing could even hope to compare to intellect. It didn't matter how strong or fast an animal was. When it came to humans, they were hopelessly outmatched in terms of intellect."

Again, Castor remained silent, though he was hanging on to every single word that Rimuru was saying. Seeing as he had no questions, he continued.

"As you might have guessed, this didn't mean that everything between humans was all happy-go-lucky. Many of the same problems plaguing this world were things that plagued Earth, and for the longest time, those things were resources. Naturally, humans fought and killed each other over them. However, when fighting against a being with intellect, the playing field is… skewed a bit. In their pursuit to find out how to most efficiently kill their enemies, they invented something that most consider abhorrent."

Rimuru took a little pause, and then stared directly into Castor's eyes. "I want you to imagine a weapon that can level a city the size of Parnam. Not just destroy it like a siege, but completely level it to the ground. And on top of that, anything that had the misfortune to survive such an attack was given a lethal dose of poison."

Castor, to Rimuru's slight surprise, and more amusement, didn't really show any signs of shock so much as just looking lost. He guessed that the dragonewt really didn't know how to process that, and to be fair, it was difficult to comprehend unless you actually saw it.

Rimuru looked away again and said, "Well, things like that exist on Earth. And they can be triggered pretty much by the push of a button. Of course, building them is another story, but once they are launched, nothing outside of a miracle can stop them."

Silence again quickly overtook the room, and Rimuru once again filled it. "I'm guessing you're wondering how this relates to Demon Lords and the balance of my world?"

Castor nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, nukes are only used as a deterrent in a situation where it is deemed acceptable, and the conditions for acceptable use are essentially if a foreign power invades. Most of the world has deemed nukes to be a global threat despite them only being able to take out a city. Essentially, it's giving your enemy knowledge that you have power, and forces people to shift away from the destruction of traditional warfare. If they refuse, a pyrrhic victory is the best outcome that awaits them."

He continued, "Demon Lords are much of the same thing. While they don't need any fancy technology to accomplish the same feat as nukes, they can produce the same results. However, the reason as to why they don't go wantonly waging war on each other is for that same reason. At least that's what I believe. Plus, there's also the matter that it won't just be the defending force who will enter the fray. When widescale destruction is on the line, said Demon Lord may very well have others attacking them, as well as True Dragons assisting. After all, even Demon Lords would rather have something than nothing. No point in being king of the ashes."

Castor certainly understood those final words. He didn't get much of a chance, however, to absorb it as Rimuru said to him after looking like he suddenly remembered something, "Oh! I almost forgot! Can you broadcast that this fight is over? I wouldn't want any more unnecessary fighting or complications going on if we don't need it."

It was about that time when Castor made the assumption that his captor was a bit too lackadaisical.

---

Right after Carla gave her orders to her squadron, she took a breather, expecting Testa to go to work healing the troops as her own started tending to the injured. Testa, however, had one last addendum.

With a smile, she asked, "Carla, dear, aren't you forgetting something?"

Carla wanted nothing to do with the woman in question and hoped that she would just leave her alone sooner or later. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case. Feeling that she would take exasperation as a sign of disrespect, she turned towards Testa and put on her best business smile.

"Yes…?" Realizing that she never got her name, she was at a loss as to how she should address her. That feeling of confusion instantly turned into one of humiliation when Testa answered her question.

Holding out a slave collar, she said, "Unfortunately, because of your part in this, you are now considered a POW. I can't say I'm entirely fond of this, but orders are orders~"

Her words would be far more believable without the expectant face she had on.

Carla knew that this was the result of her own choices, but she just assumed that traitors were simply put to the blade and killed. To her, having a slave collar on felt like she had been kicked, whipped, and stomped on while she was down. Put simply, it was beyond humiliating. What was more were that there were plenty of her soldiers who were rife with fury, but simply could not do anything. Hell, even the attacking troops had looks of disbelief when Testa started walking over, yet no one said anything. At least nothing louder than a whisper.

It didn't take long for Testa to approach her, and though she saw Hinata shaking her head with a sigh, she gave it no thought. Certainly, she enjoyed teasing the young dragonewt, but more likely than not, she would be killed following the end of the war, meaning that Testa would be deprived of her newest toy. Therefore, she simply saw no reason to go further than what she considered simple teasing.

Carla kept her head hung even as Testa walked right up to her. "Come, now. Don't look so down."

Carla felt Testa's index finger gently push her chin upwards to meet the vile woman's gaze and tried to show as much anger as possible through her eyes. What Testa saw, however, was a mixture of fear, guilt, and humiliation, all masked behind her veil of rage.

She relished in it.

Carla, of course, had no way of knowing this, since Testa cleverly kept her feelings behind that gentle face, one that was threatening to wear down Carla's resolve. She knew that it had to be fake, given that this was the same person who mocked her until she gave up, and so the gentle action of putting on the collar not only felt jarring, but snide as well.

It became even worse when she cupped her face with her hands, and giving the same look she remembers her mother giving her when she's feeling down, she healed her, fatigue and all. By this point, her anger subsided to just have a pathetic look as she uttered the word, "Thanks."

Testa felt a bit miffed at not being called by name when she remembered that she hadn't even given it yet. "Ah. By the way, Carla, my name is Testarossa. Though you may call me Lady Testa."

Since Testa's hands were no longer on her cheeks, she looked down again and muttered in a voice that was barely audible, "Okay, Lady Testa."

Testa felt that this wouldn't do. She wasn't angry at all, far from it. In fact, she was just getting a kick out of teasing a teenager. Objectively speaking, this was not the situation at all to do this, but since Testa still has her moments of operating on a different level of common sense than most people, she didn't really weigh in the factors that built up to this moment. Not that she would have really cared in the first place.

Leaning her ear closer to Carla, she asked, "Ara? I'm sorry, I couldn't quite hear you."

In a slightly louder voice, she repeated, "I understand, Lady Testa."

Testa figured that would have to do. Partly because she still has a lot of work ahead of her, but also because Hinata was staring daggers at her. Finishing up their conversation, she said, "That'll do. Come on, now. Follow me."

Carla followed behind, trudging her footsteps behind the woman, much like a teenager being told to do something she doesn't want to do. The truly incredible part surrounding all of this is without really trying, nor intending to, Testa managed to make it seem like she broke Carla's spirit to the onlookers. Thus, a firm belief was established that day to the onlookers.

Never go against her.

---

After Testa finished healing all of the wounds of the air force with Carla's help, they then went into the castle to prepare the wyverns for the attack on Landel. During this time, Hinata and Testa regrouped with Rimuru, and the three were simply waiting for the rest of the group to gather all the supplies for their assault. All in all, they agreed to bring eighty wyvern riders, and two extra for Rimuru's group, as well as Carla and Castor, who agreed to share one. Souma may have some choice words about this decision, but Rimuru simply decided to cross that bridge when they come to it.

Eventually, they were ready to go, and quickly took to the skies. The trip there would've been normally uneventful considering there wasn't much to do during that time, so Rimuru decided to spice things up a bit.

Testa would like to say that she has gotten used to Rimuru's public displays of affection, but even she didn't expect him to be as bold as he was right now, with him reaching underneath her shirt to caress her breasts.

"Oi! What the hell are you doing right now?!" Hinata angrily questioned in a hushed voice.

"Hmm?" Came the casual reply. "Don't worry about it too much."

She retorted, "There are still people around!"

Testa, for her part, was barely paying any attention to the bickering going back and forth behind her. Rather, she was far more focused on trying to stay focused despite Rimuru's daring antics. Being the one who was effectively piloting the wyvern, she couldn't really afford to lose concentration. Even as his fingers were circling around her nipples, her breathing started to become more erratic, and her grip tightened, she continued to diligently fly the wyvern.

She also didn't want to let it show for the reason Hinata mentioned. Other wyvern riders were also nearby, but they were all behind them, and, like her, were more focused on flying their mounts than focusing on others. But that's certainly not to say that they wouldn't notice if she suddenly doubled over in pleasure.

"You know, I was wondering what came over Testa when she was treating Carla the way she was. She's learning all these bad habits from you."

"Oh, c'mon. That's not true." Using his thumb and index fingers to pinch her nipples, now hard like diamonds, he sent a gentle shock through them and whispered in Testa's ear, "Right, Testa?"

Testa desperately suppressed a yelp at the sudden pleasure. She sincerely hoped that he was done playing her before she felt another wave creep up when he pulled on them.

"Testa~? I didn't get an answer~"

She honestly had no idea what he was going on about. Rather than ask, which she learned the hard way more than once not to do, she mustered up every last bit of memory she could over the past minute to figure out what he was talking about. Thankfully remembering Hinata's complaint to him, she felt it was a horrible idea to say her personal thoughts.

The true answer was yes. One thousand percent. Before, to her, teasing people was more akin to seeing just how far she could push someone into the depths of despair without breaking them before killing them. This whole thing of being gentle, completely offsetting someone's view of her, was beyond foreign to her. She would never have even thought to do it if it hadn't been done to her, and quite frankly, by her own admission, has been giving disturbingly positive results.

"No… of… of course not." She practically panted out.

Thankfully, Rimuru seemed satisfied with that answer and stopped pinching her nipples. Surprisingly, in fact, he seemed to stop all together shortly after as his hands traced their way down her sides before suddenly retracting. Again, if she were more aware of her surroundings, she would have questioned why, but for now she was more focused on dealing with the flame in her core that her lord ignited.

Hinata, holding Rimuru's arms back by his biceps, leaned into him. With an exasperated voice, she said, "You know, I know you like to mess around, but for the love of god, at least try and act normal! Most people aren't interested in falling from this height!"

Rimuru looked back at her and chided, "But it's so fun! I mean, come on, don't tell me you weren't at least a little turned on by that."

Rather than even considering answering his question, her face morphed into an almost sadistic smile, and with what could only be described as a threatening demeanor, said, "You know, it's been a while since we've done it as women. I think I want to do it again."

That immediately knocked some sense into him. He quickly lost his smile and sheepishly said, "I'll behave."

"Really?" She cooed. "You sure you don't want to feel me inside you? Those moans of yours were quite delicious."

"Seriously! I'll behave!" Came the hurried response. He wasn't sure if he was completely ready for an experience like that again.

"Fine." Came the response, and accompanying that, also let go of his arms. While Rimuru has had sex as a woman numerous times, it's always been jarring for him. The more accurate summation is that he rarely ever requests it. The feeling of pleasure is usually more than he feels as a man, and it's also accompanied by what he describes as a loss of control. Effectively, he has a sort of mental block around it from the many years he's lived as a man. It also hasn't really helped that more often than not, he gets bullied into it, usually by Hinata and Milim, and he'll most likely have to deal with it from Luminous as well.

Of course, Ciel is always there to 'assist' him with it, but she usually says things like, 'It's only fair that you get to experience the same sort of pleasure that you give to others,' or 'You should learn to give up control.' Again, he's pretty much always enjoyed the experience, but it's also just… different.

In any case, after Hinata's 'threat' and Rimuru's response, the monotony quickly returned to them.

---

After the destruction of the cannons, there wasn't that much of an offensive against the fort that was hastily constructed by the Royal Army. In fact, even Ludwin was quite surprised in how little fighting there was. He figured that they must have adopted a strategy that was more attrition based, but he couldn't figure out for the life of him why they decided to do that. After all, time was of the absolute essence for both parties.

*Well, whatever wins us the war and gives us the fewest casualties, I suppose.*

He decided not to worry about it too much. After all, assuming that they were able to subjugate Duke Vargas, things should go quite well very soon.

And soon it did happen. In the late afternoon is when the air force came into view with the payload, and this caught many guards unaware. The guards on the fort were certainly shocked, but the guards on the walls of Landel were in for a rude awakening. Due to them believing that Duke Vargas was on their side and knowing that the Royal Army had practically no air force to speak of, they didn't even bother setting up any anti-air ballistae. So, when the air force started bombing them, they were completely caught unaware. As such, it took very little time at all for the air force to be able to overwhelm them.

The air force's sudden betrayal also caused quite a shock to the nobles who were hiding in the castle. When Duke Carmine got the report that the anti-air ballistae were all destroyed, he enacted his plan, effectively surrendering and forcibly making the corrupt nobles wear slave collars so that they could be turned over to Souma. Everything, at least to him, was thankfully going according to plan.

A little before Duke Carmine's surrender, two wyverns landed near the fort that was occupied by the Royal Army. These wyverns, of course, were carrying none other than Duke Vargas, his daughter, and Rimuru, Testa, and Hinata. Among the first to greet them was Liscia, but before she could even try and congratulate the trio for their victory, she got a mouthful from her friend.

"Where the hell did you even find those damn monsters?! With power like that, it's just unfair!"

Carla, who had regained much of her previous bravado after being away from Testa and simply rationalizing her as an unfair existence, felt it was only fair that she got to complain to her friend.

Liscia was taken quite aback by her complaint. Initially, she thought that she would have to console her, but apparently, that didn't need to be done in the slightest. The other reason was that she had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

"Umm… what? Hold on, what do you mean by 'monsters?'" She had a feeling as to who they might be, but she wanted to hear the full story from Carla.

"The people you have! That black-haired lightning woman and that…" She took a deep breath and said with a venomous undertone, "Lady Testa."

Wondering why she looked so fed up with addressing Testa and Lady Testa, she only then noticed the slave collar on her. It didn't take long for her to connect the pieces, but she still wanted to know what happened. When she replied that Testa was a summoned one and Hinata was a refugee, Carla's eyes almost came out of their sockets.

"Maybe that explains… Lady Testa's skillset, but I doubt a refugee out of who knows where is that skilled with lightning! I mean, seriously, she shot down most of my squadron in just a single attack!"

This time, it was Liscia's turn to be wide-eyed. She couldn't really compare Hinata against lightning mages of the past considering that they were few and far in between, but anyone with that level of firepower was a serious force to be reckoned with. She knew that Hinata had a fervent desire to fight against the Domain, so she reasoned there was a good chance that when she was on the frontlines, she was able to hone her magic. After all, being in a position where you didn't need to hold back in the slightest often showed the best results.

"Well, according to Hinata, she has plenty of experience on the frontlines of the Domain, so perhaps that's where her magic came into play. But what do you mean by Testa's skillset?"

Carla looked miffed at the response she got about Hinata, but when she heard Liscia mention Testa, her expression took on a more sour look. "Lady… Lady Testa has an affinity with every single element. And on top of that, easily bested me in combat! And if that weren't enough, she humiliated me with this!" She angrily said, pointing at the collar.

In Carla's defense, Testa really did a number on her psyche. Normally, she wouldn't complain about this at all, and just say that it was the natural result of defeat, considering that she prides herself coming from a military household. However, that also comes with a level of pride and honor that she carries herself with, and most importantly, respect. She wouldn't ever consider things like taunting during battle, and certainly not after it either. She firmly believed that her skillset would do the talking for her and saw such actions as beneath her.

Essentially, by completely disregarding all that, the woman is pretty much living inside her head rent free.

Liscia gave a small smile to her friend's words. She figured that she was just overexaggerating, as Carla had a propensity to do that from time to time. She initially wondered as to why Carla looked like she was going to puke whenever she addressed Testa with honorifics, but she reasoned that what most likely happened is that, like Carla said, Testa simply bested her. It certainly wouldn't be the weirdest thing to happen, at least considering the case with Rimuru, but she still wanted to try and work things out between the two. After all, from what Liscia knows of Testa over the past six months, she went from being a cold and distant woman to being more approachable, albeit aloof.

"I think you two just got off on the wrong foot. Here, why don't I talk to her about this whole situation and-"

"No, no, no!" Carla panicked, "That's a horrible idea!"

Again, Liscia just thought she was overreacting. "Oh, come on. She's not a bad person by any means. She can appear cold at times, but once you get to know her, she's a pretty amicable person as long as you don't get on her bad side…"

Liscia lost her footing a bit on those words at the end. The truth of the matter was that she didn't really know what Testa was like on a bad day since, at least as long as she's remembered, she's never shown it. She did hear about what happened on the trip to the God Protected Forest, but that was only the summarized version of it. She never heard the finer details about her more sadistic tendencies.

"Fine. I'll let it go." Liscia replied. While she, like others, was caught up in the light atmosphere of Carla and Castor's situation, when the conversation died down, she recognized the reality of the situation. In order for someone like Carla to be spared from the charge of treason, a very strong case would need to be made, and even then, the results were pretty slim. Still, she harbored some hope for her friend.

A little ways away, another conversation was taking place with Souma, Castor, and Rimuru. Souma quickly pulled the two aside after he heard Castor's request, and much to Rimuru's expectations, he wasn't exactly thrilled at the aspect.

"I know that chastising you isn't going to accomplish anything right now, but please watch your words in the future, okay?"

Rimuru responded to the stern request from Souma. "Yeah, yeah. Still, I thought that it was only fair that he should know what became of Duke Carmine. Plus, it got me the upper hand in our duel."

Souma rubbed his hand in his hair in an effort to destress himself. He could easily see the reasoning behind his actions, but it still didn't make it any less stressful. "Whatever."

Turning to Castor, he continued, "As for your request, there's simply no way I can grant it right now. The whole problem, the reason as to why I don't want to disclose the situation with Duke Carmine, is because of the mercenaries. Once Duke Carmine surrenders, many of the mercenaries will be our POWs which we can ransom for money back to Zem. If Duke Carmine's situation becomes public knowledge, Zem will think that we tricked them and will have a decent casus belli to attack us. You being spotted going to the castle will only fan that flame, especially since you were so public in opposing me."

Castor listened to his reasoning with a neutral face masking a slight look of sorrow. He knew that it wasn't a guaranteed chance, and hearing Souma's argument, he could clearly see why. Souma's next words perked him up a bit.

"That doesn't mean never though. Once this whole ordeal with Amidonia is done with, there will probably be a chance. Believe me, I also want to find out why he did this."

Castor smiled and nodded at him. "Thank you, Your Highness. For now, please use me as you see fit."

Souma raised a brow at Castor's new show of respect to him, and while he didn't address it, a slight smile could be seen on his face. "Good. For now, you'll be under Rimuru. And Rimuru, since you're technically his owner, you'll be responsible for him."

He made an overly dramatic display to Souma, saluting him and saying, "Got it. For now, Castor, once Tolman is done with the raid, you'll be under him."

Souma wanted to smack the blue-haired man. "No, no, no. Rimuru, I said that he'd be under you. Don't just dump responsibility onto someone else like that."

Rimuru looked genuinely offended by his words. "Dump responsibility- Souma! I am just cleverly allocating my resources. Castor is clearly best in the air force, so I see no reason to take him away from it."

Ah. There it is. Souma's oh so familiar tick mark coming back to mar his temple. "You know, you have a real knack for sophistry."

He sighed and cradled his face in his hands. The worst part was that Rimuru made perfect sense. He just didn't want to readily admit it. However, they had far more important issues to attend to, so he decided to just let Rimuru have his way. "Fine. But, if anything happens…"

Rimuru waved his worries away. "Got it, got it. I'm responsible. Geez, you act like you don't trust me sometimes."

Souma just gave him a deadpan look and promptly left the conversation. Castor, having watched that whole interaction unfold, was honestly hoping that he wouldn't have to work under Rimuru if he ever got to live through this whole ordeal.

In the end, he just sighed and followed orders.

---

Three days before the ultimatum by Souma, the Amidonian forces began to move. However, they quickly reached a quagmire. Currently, they have been camped outside of the castle-town of Altimura for almost two days. The reason as to why they just didn't storm it in a frenzy when they got there is because the lord of the town, Weiss, begged them to not attack as the town was divided into those who wanted to surrender and those who wanted to fight to the death. As Amidonia didn't want to have to deal with a death squadron, they allowed him to try and convince the townsfolk to surrender. However, after a full day passed with no word from the town, the Amidonian forces grew restless.

The next day, Weiss came back out and begged the Amidonians to hold off on their siege, and their leader, King Gaius VIII, only said that they will hold off until sunset. He had already had doubts after the first deadline had passed, but now, even if there was no word until sunset, he planned to attack and siege the small town. However, near when he was planning to attack is when it happened. A message from someone who had no business being there, that being Duchess Excel Walter. What transpired was them receiving a message from the king of that weak country which they held absolutely no regard for and thought that they could just effortlessly trample. After all, they were moving on behalf of Duke Carmine's letter asking for assistance. The kingdom wouldn't be able to handle a pincer attack.

Instead of the civil war that they were promised, the Elfrieden kingdom not only managed to subdue Duke Carmine's forces in under two days, but they launched an all-out attack on their capital of Van. Now, their options were split into two: Either continue their assault on a kingdom that would be poorly defended, or rush to defend their kingdom.

The first option was risky at best, as this also relied on sieging multiple towns and cities, each with their own guards. While they would eventually be able to win, there was no telling just how many casualties they would sustain, and they wouldn't be able to keep the kingdom for long before they were either driven out or killed. This left the second option, which surprisingly wasn't much better.

Due to the path they decided to take on their invasion route, it was going to be a treacherous journey back to the capital of Van. To make things even worse, due to Van's design and purpose being more of a stronghold than a capital, there were no cities or towns obstructing them and the kingdom. Currently, their only hope was to surprise the kingdom in a pincer attack while they were sieging the capital and hope that it was enough to at the very least, scare them off.

However, they would come to realize that things weren't going to be so easy. Again, their invasion path was situated as such to retake their lost lands, specifically those that specialized in grain production. Altimura was one of those lost lands, and to get to it from Amidonia meant taking a path through the Ursula mountains, known as the Golgoa Valley. This route was only really available during the summer when it was dry, as the weather conditions in every other season makes this path insanely difficult to cross, even on foot.

It was then that things took a turn for the worst.

"Father!" A young man called out. He had blond hair and handsome features to match, but you couldn't tell it from the fatigue that plagued his face, along with the perpetual scowl that he wears. "We need to slow down! Some of the men aren't going to make it at this pace!"

"Silence!" Another man bellowed. "If we lose Van now, we are done for! The city can only hold so long for a siege, and if we miss our chance, we'll never get it back!"

The man who responded, Gaius, was an older man with a stocky, yet powerful build. A warrior through and through, and one that, perhaps in a different time, people would look up to.

However, the man was anything but currently. A crazed and deranged look seemed to be the permanent face that he has put on this past month, and that has only grown to coalesce into what it is now. Someone completely consumed by revenge, and who has passed that onto his son, Julius.

"But Father, even if Van falls, we can always call upon the Empire to help us take it back! There's no reason to rush!"

Gaius swore back. "Did you learn nothing, you incompetent fool?! Yes, the Empire would have an obligation to take it back if we ask, but with how things are now, they will just make us their puppet for aggravating the kingdom! What hope is there then?!"

Accepting his silence as a suitable answer, he continued. "If you understand that, then hurry!"

They continued at breakneck speeds into the valley, where the night made visibility particularly horrid. It seemed like even nature was against them as well, especially with the moon cycle just coming out from a new moon, and that just left the stars and their torches to light their path.

It was then when it happened. A few horses got stuck in the mud. Gaius normally wouldn't have paid this any mind if it wasn't for the extreme peculiarity of the situation. They invaded in September, right before the summer ended. He knows the weather cycles by heart this time of year and knows that no rain could have fallen around this time.

And yet, it was enough to make him stop his march. A godsend for the infantry who were desperately struggling to keep up, but horrible for the cause.

Just as he was about to give voice to his thoughts, he heard the sound of what could only be described as an arrow whizzing through the air, along with a thump, and then someone falling to the ground. His face somehow contorted with more anger than before, and someone else voiced what he knew was happening.

"Enemy attack! Shield yourselves!"

Not that there was any place that could be considered decent cover. The entire place was surrounded by mountain ranges, and there was no cover to be had from the attack outside of what they brought with them.

"God damnit! How long was this shit planned?!" Gaius roared.

Julius answered, concealing the nervousness in his voice. "I can't say, but they have brought water and ice mages with them!"

He could've easily guessed as much when the attack happened. It also didn't take much in the effort of thought to know that they were responsible for the horrible road conditions. The only thing that mattered now was what they were going to do about it. Sitting around would just leave them as easy targets for what he imagined was a splinter cell from Elfrieden but moving forward wasn't exactly an option either.

He grew more and more frustrated at everything around him. From the cacophony of the soldiers, his hasty decisions, and that new king who put him in such a position, everything was quickly grating on his mind.

Julius, seeing this, attempted to placate him with a suggestion. "Father! I suggest that… we use our infantry to move forward first."

Gaius looked at him like he was insane. Considering that he himself was already looking quite deranged, it certainly said something about that proposal. "You would have me use my own troops as disposables?! To leave them in the mud?!"

Julius knew exactly what he was saying but didn't falter under his father's gaze. With a disturbingly cold expression on his face, he answered, "Yes. This will be the quickest way forward."

Gaius grimaced at the suggestion. This would certainly be costly, but it was leagues better than just staying here and getting pelted by arrows. He made his decision suddenly after a soldier near him was downed with an arrow to the neck.

"Press forward!"

The infantry practically had to be forced to move forward, and soon enough, Gaius, along with the others, were moving well along. He didn't let the screams of those trapped in the mud affect him, nor did he let the sound of the horses trampling those affect him, nor the sounds of broken bones when they inevitably were run over. He channeled this caricature of hell into one singular thought.

*Curse you, Souma Kazuya! I'll chop off your head and parade it around my capital!*

---

Above the scene of hell were two thousand troops, all dressed in black, like they were on an espionage mission. As Gaius surmised, these troops were part of the kingdom. The woman leading the force was one who looked no older than her early twenties and had a fit body to boot. As she took off her hood, long and luscious blue hair could be seen, accompanying her blue eyes.

Juna Doma, Excel Walter's granddaughter, led the navy forces to slow down the approaching Amidonian army. She was honestly thankful that she was some hundred meters above where the carnage was, as it was considerably easier on the eyes. Once she saw Gaius still press on, she knew that they had accomplished their mission. After all, this one action was bound to do a huge number on their troops, which means that they will have to spend time conscripting from their own villages.

Rather than simply leave, however, Juna ordered her troops to assist the people who were left behind. This certainly wasn't out of an act of good will, however. This was mainly for two reasons. One, they would have a high chance of defectors joining them, and among those may be talented soldiers. Two, is that after the inevitable fallout of Elfrieden taking Van, Elfrieden will have a neat moral high ground to stand on.

In any case, the final battle would soon be approaching.

---

"Finally, they're here."

"We've only been here for a day. What do you mean 'finally?'"

"Well, Souma, I don't know about you, but it's been pretty damn boring here. Sitting around and doing nothing takes a toll."

Souma and Rimuru were having some quick banter about the current situation in the king's area, warded off by the Royal Guard so as to better protect the king. This also included Rimuru, who chose to stay behind to guard Souma so that Hinata, Testa, and by proxy Carla, could fight. Liscia and Aisha, understandably, also wanted to do their part, and were stationed on the right wing of the army, with Liscia as the commander. While they did bring their air force, it was largely to combat the Amidonian air force if they brought them. However, since their air squadron was located much deeper in the country, they had no way of getting to the fight in time. (A/n: I believe in the manga and anime the Amidonians did have an air force fighting in the war, but it felt like an add on at the last minute since they were never seen travelling with them. So instead, I just took some creative liberties.)

The people they were referring to, of course, were the Amidonian army, who not only were looking far worse for ware, but also quite surprised at the sight ahead of them. All of this, however, was an ingenious plot devised by Souma and Hakuya, and cleverly executed by his close cabinet. What their plan ultimately boiled down to was to head to Van, but not actually attack it. This used Gaius's sense of urgency against him, making him return hastily to fight an army that not only outnumbered them, but also was far higher in morale due to the rest they were able to get.

After the attack on them, Gaius lost half of his forces, cutting him from his thirty thousand forces down to fifteen thousand. They were able to get their numbers back up to twenty-five thousand, though only through mandatory conscription. Meaning that over a third of their army were people who really had no interest in fighting, and if that weren't bad enough, were forced to the frontlines to bear the front of the attack.

This decision wound up inadvertently benefiting the Amidonian army as a whole. A main attacking point that Glaive, Hal's father, wanted to use, was that when the Amidonian army was charging at them, Hinata and Testa could fire off lightning attacks to sow disruption on the field. However, due to leather being a horrible conductor of electricity, that strategy would be ineffective at best. Sure, they might get a few, maybe even up to ten in that attack, but certainly no more than that.

With that surprise attack no longer feasible, they resorted to simply going with their original strategy. Much of the Amidonian infantry were hesitant to attack a force that was over double their size, but their generals and some of the more fervent believers in Gaius didn't give them that option, and so they got into formation and started charging. Elfrieden followed suit and charged to meet them halfway, and the fighting was off.

Initially, it was just the infantry butting heads, and it was clear off the bat who was pushing back who. The Elfriedens were decimating the less-armed Amidonians, and pretty soon, it was getting to the point where their formation threatened to break. Many of the Amidonians were looking for any chance to flee, as many of them were conscripts from towns and villages and had nowhere near the level of loyalty that the soldiers did. However, as soon as they tried, a couple of them were cut down by their generals as a show of force, attempting to scare them back in line.

Once the Elfrieden generals started noticing the Amidonian army go into disarray, they began to flank them. With the right and left flanks being led by Liscia and Glaive, Hal's father, respectively, they both charged in to attempt to surround the Amidonian army. Hal was especially hyped up for this war for the main reason that he wanted to make a name for himself. And so, when given the command…

"You heard the man! Attack!"

With a war cry, Hal and his men immediately found their footing and began butchering the Amidonians' left flank. The resistance they were met with was certainly not weak, but Hal wasn't a prodigy for nothing. One of the generals on the Amidonian side immediately noticed the pickle that they were in and tried to prevent it at all costs.

"Stop their advance! Archers and mages, fire at will!"

Some of them found their mark, however, most of them were blocked before they could even cause a miniscule amount of harm, courtesy of Kaede. With quick thinking, she erected an earth wall, protecting Hal and the others.

Just now realizing that his life could have been snuffed out then and there, he said, "Ah… Thanks Kaede. We would be dead meat without you."

Kaede gracefully accepted the compliment. "That's what I'm here for, you know! Now, enough chit-chat. Wars aren't won by standing around!"

*I was just trying to express my thanks…*

Shrugging it off as just another one of her quirks, he readied a spear of his own and chucked it over the newly created wall, injuring and killing a few in the process. Unlike how he was in the battle of Landel, absolutely no hesitation was seen in his actions. Lobbing a few more spears in that direction, he then rallied his men to take out their enemies.

"Press on! Show them the might of Elfrieden!"

The defending general was in a different position entirely. He was immensely frustrated at this whole situation. The belief that was situated in just about every general was that Elfrieden was this weak country, slowly having its power decayed by peace. The reality that was shown to him was far different. Add that with the clear weakness of his own troops, and it was a recipe for disaster.

Constantly hearing his own troops scream as they were being burned alive by Hal's spears, he eventually broke. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Hold formations! Don't back down!"

One of his troops, who was howling in pain from having a spear thrown into his stomach, wandered a little to close to the general. Chopping his head off in a fit of rage, he screamed, "I told you to shut up!"

Hal chose this moment to charge, and shortly after, cut the general in two, splattering himself in blood. "The General of the Royal Army, Halbert Magna! I have taken the enemy general's head!"

The enemy soldiers, seeing this, were terrified. One even exclaimed, "A demon! He's the red demon!"

Hal wasn't sure if he liked or disliked that name, but at the very least, it sounded intimidating. His allies, not wanting him to take all the spotlight, began fighting with even more fervor.

As for the actual demon, she was currently on a warpath straight to another enemy general. While Liscia wanted her to stay more as support, she 'coerced' Carla into convincing her that she was far better as a melee fighter. While Liscia highly doubted that her melee capabilities exceeded her magical ones, she knew that she could easily hold her own in melee combat. As such, she was situated on horseback near the front of the charge.

However, she decided that the front of the Amidonian infantry would be just boring to fight. After all, they were not only weak, but had pretty much no will to fight in the first place. No. She wanted someone with some backbone. Someone with some fight in them.

Someone she could instill the fear of god into. And then some.

After clearing a decent enough path, she dismounted her horse and sent it away. Whether it survived or not didn't matter to her. It already served its purpose, and she didn't want it in the way. Cutting down and culling those last few who attacked her, she got face to face with her prey who, fortunately, still had his wits about him.

"That's… one of the summoned! Everyone who's available, converge and kill her!"

Not many were available to listen to his orders, but there were still almost twenty soldiers who were ready to charge at her. Testa, in response, only had her smile grow even larger. She didn't think that it would be very interesting participating in this war, considering that she was far from going all out, only to realize just how wrong that level of thinking was. While she was limited in her output, she could make up in ingenuity. As much as she may not mind passivity and peace, at her core, she was a demon.

With just over ten meters of space between them, they were quick to act and close the distance. A few archers shot at her while the others charged at her, however, in a disturbingly efficient use of mana and precision, she used magic to lift a few rocks that blocked the arrows. As she was doing this, she swiftly reached into her pocket to throw a few of Souma's makeshift smoke bombs, sending some fire magic their way right after she threw them.

The bombs were enough to kill and maim a few men, but her main target was to disorient them. With only the last few people charging at her, she was able to deal with them much more manageably. She used an ice blade on the one who was closest to her, severing his head in half with surgical precision. She parried the next one and backpedaled, giving some space between them as she threw a fireball in his face, leaving him shrieking and burning to death. She then quickly dodged the next one, and stabbed him in his neck, killing him almost instantly. The next trio were finished with a wave of her hand, enshrouding them in ice, followed by an ice blade to sever each of their lives.

Blocking the next volley in a similar fashion in how she did the first, she quickly fired off lightning to incapacitate the archers, just leaving the general, a guard he kept close by, and the incapacitated soldiers from her initial attack.

The part that was completely eerie about this wasn't the way she was able to deal with them, nor the surprise that she was multi-elemental. The part that was ominous to them was how, throughout all of the fighting, throughout all of the blood that got splattered on her clothes, her smile never dropped from her face. The general knew he was in for a rough fight but had to wait for reinforcements to show up to deal with this… monster.

Right as he was about to declare his name and position, he was surprised to see that Testa had no intention of entertaining him and quickly rushed him. Angry at this sleight, he bellowed, "Have you no honor?! No shame?!"

She said nothing as she continued attacking and defending the two men, the smile, again, never leaving her face. In fact, if their eyes didn't deceive them, it looked like she was giggling, as if this whole thing was a game to her. And apparently it was, given the fact that she used no magic against them.

In fact, her talent with the sword was so astronomically above theirs that as she parried his guard's attack, she closed the distance and spun him around with her free hand and violently stabbed him right in the lower back. For good measure, she also sent ice magic into his body, freezing his insides and killing him.

Taking out her sword, she finally answered him. "No honor, you say? Your troops certainly fought with it." She added her next words with a giggle. "Look where that got them."

Fear and anger overtook the general as he wildly swung his sword at her provocation. At this point, he was sure that she was just playing with him, but he was currently doing anything he possibly could to buy time. Almost to add insult to injury, any of his wind magic he tried to use was countered by her own, but he could tell he purposefully was dragging out this fight for one reason or another, until he heard those words.

Testa, noticing that her allies were closing in, and the enemies were also coming close, uttered out, "Looks like it's time to end this."

Using lightning to shock him just enough so that his movements would slow, she thrust her sword through his armor and into his abdomen. However, she wasn't done there. Ignoring his swearing, she did something that even made her allies recoil.

As wearing a metal suit of armor is not super ideal in any environment where it is hot, she used the fact that he was wearing one to her advantage. Forcing fire into him, she purposefully made sure to not burn his insides, but rather burn his skin and cause the heat to cook him from inside his own armor, creating a faux Roman bull.

"AaaaahhHHHHHHHH!"

The screams, drowning out the surrounding racket of battle, were enough to cause even battle-hardened veterans to take pause in their actions. Her allies, fortunately, didn't see her face. Her enemies, however, saw a sadistic smile plastered on her face, watching her laugh as she burned one of their generals alive.

After that display, few of the Amidonians who witnessed her display wanted to continue fighting her. Unfortunately for them, the Elfriedens had no intention of letting them get away, and taking advantage of their stupor, charged in to finish them off.

---

Gaius was watching the surrounding carnage, slowly growing angrier with what he saw. Both of his flanks were quickly losing ground and his army was getting surrounded at an alarming pace. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before they lost, and even worse, at least for him, was that it would be a complete loss. Nothing would be gained from it. Which only helped his decision.

Turning to his son, he said, "Julius, take some of our guards and leave. We have no hope of winning this battle."

Julius was aghast at even the mere suggestion of fleeing. "Father! I can still fight! Why should I have to flee from these dogs!"

Gaius certainly agreed with Julius' sentiment, but he had something grander in mind. Looking at him directly this time, he practically shouted, "There's no winning this war for us! You alone have to survive! To carry the Amidonian will!"

He took a breath and stated in a grave voice, "Your sister does not share our hatred for Elfrieden. While she has our wit, there is no bite in her. You have to survive. To ensure that, I'll buy you some time."

Julius steeled his heart, knowing that his father entrusted him with their legacy. Although, it may be more of a curse, but those thoughts couldn't enter his head. Certainly not after the events of today.

He opened his mouth to say one last thing before his father, almost as if reading his mind, said, "This king, he isn't like the previous one, Julius. They will chase me all across Io if that's what it takes for my head. If that's what they want, then let them have it. However, I have no intention of going out without a fight."

Julius only nodded in solemnity at his words. Adding one other thing to the list of things Elfrieden has taken from him, he gathered a few guards and fled the battlefield. After seeing Julius was a safe distance away, Gaius took his elites and headed off to the battlefield.

---

"Looks like the war is nearing its end. Though it would have been nicer if he would just surrender."

Souma gave a light laugh at Rimuru's comment. "Yeah. Things would be quite easier. Although, I don't like how he's surrounded himself. Even if it is a small force, a death squad is never a fun thing to fight against."

"Oh?" Rimuru commented with a smile. "And you're a war expert now? Although, I do agree with you. They don't fear death."

Silence lingered between the two for a little as they watched the battle unfold, slowly watching Gaius making his way towards them.

After a little bit, Souma turned towards Rimuru and said, "Rimuru. I have something serious to discuss with you."

He raised an eyebrow as a response, beckoning him to continue. "If I fall here, please continue supporting Liscia in here-"

Rimuru cut him off, irritation and disheartenment evident on his face. "Jesus Christ, kid, worry about that kind of shit when you're in your eighties. You're not going to die here. Believe me."

"I'm a king, Rimuru. I have to take these sorts of things into precaution."

"And do those with everyone else's input. Don't just dump all the responsibility on yourself. Jeez, you're like the polar opposite of me."

Souma held back a smile at his words. "I'm serious, Rimuru."

They stared each other down for a bit before Rimuru sighed and hung his head. "No."

Souma was taken aback. "Sorry?"

"No." He repeated. "I'm not going to support Liscia if she becomes the ruler of the country, because you aren't going to die here, or anywhere anytime soon. Leave this worrying stuff for the adults, kay?"

"Rimuru. I'm being serious here."

"And I'm being serious too. Actually…" He was looking around the site for something. "I'll probably need this."

His odd actions were enough to get Souma out of his demeanor. "Knives?"

Rimuru nodded. "Yeah. Well, technically, kukris." He said, pocketing the throwing knives. "I was just thinking, if they are after your head, they are probably going to send a detached force and use that death squad as a distraction. At least, that's what I'd do."

Souma was a bit surprised at that reasoning. It wasn't necessarily the knowledge, but who it was coming from. "Just what the hell were you before you came here? I mean after Earth. Special forces?"

Rimuru waved off his questions. "Don't… don't worry about it."

In the end, Souma simply sighed at the man. He hasn't let him down before, so he simply decided to trust in him.

---

Gaius' forces were making quicker headway now that the enemy infantry was retreating. Initially, they thought that this was a declare of cowardice, but they quickly found out that it was to make way for the Royal Guard to make quick work of them. This was a problem for a number of reasons, chief among them that the Royal Guard more than tripled their number. Additionally, they were outfitted in armor that was simply better than the basic infantry, meaning they would be far harder to kill. At this point, they would be whittled away, only being able to accomplish letting their prince escape.

With quick thinking on his part, Gaius gathered a dozen of his elite cavalry and they bolted for Souma. Initially, the plan was for his body double to gather the attention of Elfrieden while Gaius would sneak past, but this scenario simply wouldn't allow for it. Whether it was out of sheer dumb luck, or perhaps idiocy on Elfrieden's part, there was a path wide enough to break through, allowing Gaius to force his way past the Royal Guard and rush his way to Souma. Whichever the case, it didn't matter to him. He had gotten through. The elites that he chose to join him weren't so lucky, but all of them were willing to die for the cause.

In almost no time at all, he was able to spot Souma, and another who was standing a few meters in front of him. Recognizing the blue-haired woman as one of the other summoned ones, he was planning to simply kill her when with almost inhuman speed, she chucked a knife at him. Or more accurately, at his horse.

He barely had time to process the whole ordeal as he fell down and yelled, "Shit!"

Tumbling and hitting the ground, he used his hands to prevent any further damage to his head only to realize that his helmet had fallen off. He glared angrily at the woman, only to be met with a shrug.

"I assume you're King Gaius?" She asked.

Rising to his knees, he barked, "My only target is your king! Step out of the way if you don't want-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, he got his answer with another throwing knife. This time, though, he was ready for it. He quickly deflected it with his greatsword and rose to his feet. A few more throwing knives were headed his way, and each one he deflected as she continued to run forward. He quickly realized that he wasn't dealing with any amateur. By keeping the pressure up with the throwing knives, he couldn't focus on using any magic, and sure enough, the knives kept coming until she was able to draw her katana and fight him.

Initially, he was betting on his greatsword being able to simply crush the weapon that she was using since his was simply a heavier weapon. However, he underestimated how she would use the katana. Cleverly deflecting his blows at an angle, she was able to minimize how much force her weapon was taking, all the while chipping away at his armor. Any attempt to move away to attempt to cast magic was immediately followed up by her closing the distance, and at this point, things were looking grim for him.

*Not good… My vision is starting to blacken…*

Due to the pace that they were returning to Van, they weren't able to get any decent sleep. While he tried to steal it whenever he could, for the most part, especially during today, he was running on fumes, and that was quickly catching up with him.

*If that's the case… then there's only one thing to do.*

Throwing out an overhead blow, it was deflected to the side as his weapon collided with the ground. Rimuru went in for the counterattack, but this time, Gaius didn't back away quick enough. Rimuru was able to slice him from the shoulder to his chest. Blood started spurting everywhere, and Gaius was subject to excruciating pain, but didn't cry out.

With indomitable tenacity and the last of his strength, Gaius shoved the sword into Rimuru's side right after Rimuru nearly bifurcated him. The shocked expression on her face was the last thing he saw, giving him some semblance of peace through revenge as he fell to the ground, dead at last.

The rest of the onlookers, however, were spread with a mixture of being surprised, mortified, and resignation. Some were shocked enough to the point of them screaming, and one in particular was more vocal among the others.

"Rimuru!!!"

Souma immediately rushed forward to his aid, or whatever he could possibly do. If anything, at the very least, the last scene he hoped Rimuru would see would be that of a friend rather than an enemy. Seeing him stagger back a few steps, he was certain that he was going to fall over dead long before he could make it, but still, he ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

Only to see that fateful turn of events never unfold. Rimuru never fell.

In complete disbelief of what he was witnessing, Souma slowed to a stop just a couple meters away from him and watched as a clearly shocked, but curious Rimuru took note of his condition, most notably the giant sword shoved in his side, and, reminiscent of a horror film, slowly just… pulled it out. Blood pouring out the whole way.

As he did this, Souma noticed the wound began hissing and steaming, and when the sword was fully out, the wound began closing itself, and in just a few seconds, he looked good as new. Not even a scar remained.

Souma was far too preoccupied to hear Rimuru mutter to himself as he tried to process what he just saw.

He, like many others who witnessed it, were wondering what the hell was going on.

Only for him to remember that Rimuru never actually revealed his dark magic before. From that standpoint, it didn't take any sort of genius to connect two and two.

*But if that was the case, why didn't he tell anyone? Surely, he couldn't have known about it beforehand. No, maybe he found out after suffering an injury, but to think that no one would have noticed it? It's possible, but unlikely. But he doesn't train, so how would he have found out? Unless… unless he's always had it?*

Souma's mind began going absolutely haywire. However, for the troops, it was an obvious answer.

Many names would be created that day, but two stood out from the rest: The Sorceress, and The Immortal.