Episode 240. Abyssal Holy War – The Abyss Also Gazes into You
The Gremory that Vassago rembered was a frivolous, unpredictable demon, excessively cheerful even for a succubus.
But the Gremory before him now.
Resembled the version he had only heard about.
The story went that after working as a saintess for the humans, the Gremory brought back by Baal after he defeated the Demon King had been terribly depressed.
He had only heard it as such; Vassago, busy punishing the Demon King and his minions alongside Baal and handling the aftermath, had no leeway to spare for so incomplete succubus.
When he t her in person later, she had acted so frivolously that he dismissed it all as nonsense.
...Alongside Baal.
Vassago let out a self-mocking smile.
It was like that once. Now he was in this predicant.
The Gremory before him had such a cold face he wondered if she was the sa succubus, but at any rate, Vassago was relieved that it wasn't that crazy bastard Paimon.
...And he felt a glimr of hope.
“...Kekeke, so what business brings you to this miserable demon with all his limbs cut off, Gremory?”
Gremory looked at Vassago for a mont, then shook her head.
“Nothing, really. I just ca to check if you were still alive.”
Her voice was extrely cold and flat.
Vassago, who had been wracking his brain, wondering what kind of deal Gremory would propose and how he should talk his way out of this damn predicant, couldn't hide his bewildernt.
“W-What?”
“Your mana plays a large part in maintaining the Drones. If by so chance you died, the extraction quantity would need to be adjusted. Well then, I'll be going.”
Gremory truly turned her back without any hesitation.
A panicked Vassago reached out to grab Gremory, only to realize he had no hands, let alone arms, and scread as if in anguish.
“Stop! Don't be ridiculous! If that were the case, you could have sent a subordinate! A CEO ca all the way here herself just to check if I was dead?”
Gremory slowly turned back to him, her eyes devoid of emotion.
“Didn't Paimon tell you? Abyss Corporation is at war with the Central Continental Allied Forces that have landed in our holand. Every last demon has been drafted and sent to the battlefield. All of my sisters, too.”
Vassago couldn't hide his shock.
“Wait. So the holand is under attack right now?”
“That's right. Almost every nation on the Central Continent has joined the war, and they're attacking through a ‘gate’ that connects to the Central Continent. You must have felt your mana being drained severely; it's unlike you not to have anticipated at least that much.”
He wanted to scream, Why don't you try predicting sothing like that while you're trapped with your limbs cut off, suffering as your mana is drained, you bitch!
Though he was filled with the urge to snap back at her, Vassago forced his expression into place and lanted.
“Damn it, so those two lunatics, Baal and Paimon, finally did it. Just how many of the Demon Race have died? Can we even win? An all-out war with the Central Continent on top of the Eastern Empire... are they trying to bring about the ruin of Abyss Corporation?”
Gremory didn't seem to agree.
Vassago quickly added.
There was no need to feign desperation. He truly was as desperate as he could possibly be.
“Gremory, don't you think differently? You were definitely against the war. Are you just going to stand by and watch this madness unfold?”
Baal released the imprisoned Paimon and used that lunatic to purge the opposition.
If so, why couldn't the reverse be done?
“Release ! I'll gather my subordinates and help! We have to stop this crazy act!”
But Gremory's gaze remained ice-cold.
Vassago intuitively felt he had failed, but the words that ca from Gremory's lips surpassed even his imagination.
“Your subordinates have all already beco Drones, or are fated to. They're just having their mana sucked out in coffins. You should be glad you're at least conscious.”
“What?”
All those subordinates? All of them?
Greed Inc., and the countless other companies that joined him, all of them?
“R-Ridiculous. Grinding half the Demon Race into Drones. Your jokes have gotten a lot worse, Gremory.”
Vassago forced the words out, but Gremory's expression remained unshaken.
Rather, her eyes looked upon him as if he were sothing pitiful, and Vassago scread.
“No, no, no! What did we do that was so wrong! We only tried to stop that damn bastard Baal's insane war, and he killed them all? He even reduced them to Paimon's soulless puppets?”
Gremory listened to Vassago's screams in silence before slowly opening her mouth.
“You must understand now, Vassago. Even if I were to release you, there's nothing you can do with just that torso of yours.”
“Hmph, what happened to the Hero of the Demon Race? To the dignity of the Demon Race? Damn it, not even the Demon King would have done this!”
Vassago lanted, and—
“I—we had no sin, damn it. We only tried to stop the war that Corrupted Hero bastard wanted to start.”
Gremory reacted to those words.
“Only the Corrupted Hero wanted to start a war, is that what you think?”
As Vassago was struck speechless by her sharp voice, Gremory relentlessly pressed on.
“Don't be absurd. How many seeds of discord have you sown across the Central Continent for 400 years? Did you really think the things you've done would never lead to sothing like this?”
“What does that have to do with anything! It was just a pasti that those inferior, foolish guys would never even notice—”
“Even with the King of Krafte here to capture Wittenfeld?”
Wittenfeld. The Chancellor of Krafte who had turned it into a rising military power, and the na of one of Vassago's ‘pastis’.
“H-Nonsense.”
“You think it's nonsense? Have you forgotten who I am, Vassago?”
The Queen of Succubi.
A being who could seep into and read the dreams and subconscious of humans.
For such a Gremory, it wouldn't be impossible to read the ntal image of the King of Krafte.
“It's not just you. Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, Gluttony, Greed. All of you have had your fun committing all sorts of trickery on the Central Continent for 400 years….”
Gremory tilted her head slightly and laughed self-mockingly.
“And now you're paying the price. Though I admit, I never imagined we'd be paying the price by becoming Drones ourselves and being used, instead of the races of the Central Continent.”
Gremory spoke, her voice full of cold scorn for the nearly breathless Vassago.
“I'm sorry for being so blunt. But it's just a little funny to hear you, who sowed all kinds of betrayal and enjoyed the fury of the betrayed for the simple reason of ‘pasti’, claim to be sinless.”
Vassago barely managed to answer after a rather long silence.
“...It was only sothing done against the inferior races. It was the path to Abyss Corporation's prosperity. Not its destruction.”
“I suppose so. And yet, the nations of the Central Continent, enraged by our actions for ‘prosperity’, are here to destroy us. And to stop them, we're grinding our own kin into Drones and using them... Honestly, at this point, I'm a little confused as to who our destruction is. What a bunch of idiots.”
Vassago's face flushed with anger.
“You speak as if you have nothing to do with this, Gremory.”
The powerless demon, with his limbs severed and only a torso remaining, denounces the golden succubus.
“You bitch, you also went around the continent carrying out intrigue according to Abyss Corporation's policies! You're the one who built the Drone System with Paimon! Don't you dare talk as if you're the only innocent bystander!”
Receiving that denunciation, Gremory laughed.
As Abyss Corporation sowed chaos and division everywhere, she had to carry out obstruction on the Central Continent to prevent their fury and hatred from being focused.
In the end, it only bought a little ti; it was a aningless act. No matter how hard she tried to cover it up, Abyss Corporation just committed more and more evil deeds the more it was hidden.
When Paimon created the utterly horrifying things called Drones, Gremory was certainly involved.
Under the so-called ‘humanitarian’ pretext, she at least let the humans who were being drained of their mana until they withered away into Drones have happy dreams. In return, the succubi could absorb mana while they dread and died.
"Humanitarian" was just a pretty word; in the end, she was no different from an accomplice.
-Lust Inc. has a special note~ The quantity of humans requested by Sloth Corp keeps increasing, but there's no sign of the human supply quantity increasing~ Action is needed!
Hadn't she herself clamored to increase the human supply quantity?
Because the other races that should have lived under Abyss Corporation and shared their mana with the succubi had all been ground into Drones.
Because there was no way for the succubi to sate their hunger except from those having their mana drained to beco Drones.
The excuse was plausible, so Gremory laughed cynically.
“That's right. I'm also responsible for this damn situation. We all made choices befitting demons, and now we are facing a catastrophe befitting demons.”
“Damn it, if you think so, then release ! Do you think you'll be safe? Whether the humans win, Baal wins, or that lunatic Paimon wins! An ambivalent person like you bitch will be purged soday too!”
Vassago struggled and scread.
“Are you planning to just leave things as they are and die together, Gremory!”
Hearing his scream, the golden succubus flinched, then burst into laughter.
As Vassago stood dumbfounded by the laughter that didn't fit the situation at all, Gremory smiled brightly and placed a hand on her chest.
Then, she lifted the cross necklace she always wore, pressed a light kiss to it, and replied.
“Perhaps that would be better.”
*
We busily distributed supplies and finished our preparations for marching to Pandemonium.
But not long after we marched out, Jero Morelle's Light Cavalry brought back a report.
“Enemy force approaching from the front! In addition to Drones, there appears to be a large Demon Army! There are also units that look like line infantry!”
“...I suppose this must be their true, final main force.”
Until now, the Drones had been their main force, and there hadn't been many demon units.
At most, they were assigned only to weaponry that required delicate operation, like rocket batteries or machine guns.
But the appearance of demons that looked like a regular army ant….
“Baal's Imperial Guard?”
Baal, the CEO of Pride Inc., who Gremory said was the de facto leader of Abyss Corporation.
It would be reasonable to assu he had co out in person.
Since he was the one who personally executed the Demon King, he was probably even stronger than Barbatos.
I swallowed dryly.
I had a hard ti with that damn admiral, so I have no idea how I'll deal with Baal...
Still, nothing changes.
In the end, all we have to do is throw everything we've prepared at them and win.
“All units, to your battle formations.”
“Yes, sir! All units, to your battle formations!”
The flags of Francia, the Germania Empire, the Krafte Kingdom, the Iberian Brotherhood, and the Northern Allied Kingdom scattered and began to form up.
The sight of nearly one million Allied Forces moving across the vast plain was magnificent, but this ti, a true bloody battle would unfold.
Paimon wouldn't make the sa stupid mistake twice, and it seed they had a regular army of demons this ti.
I took a light, deep breath and looked at the enemy's forces, which were slowly being revealed beyond the fog in the distance.
They're certainly nurous.
Even though we dealt with a huge number of Drones in the last battle, their troop numbers look almost equal to ours.
I glanced toward Christine, who would be busy with supply managent duties behind our ranks.
I couldn't see her because of the fog, but I knew that, as always, she was trusting and doing her best.
I smiled faintly and turned my head.
“Then, I'm counting on you, Your Majesty.”
“Leave it to !”
Eris replied with a bright smile.
Having moved a little deeper inland, there was no sunlight. As I t her clear purple eyes, so clear they seed translucent, even the unsettling feeling from that murky purple mist seed to vanish.
“I trust you.”
“All artillery corps, prepare to fire!”
“Artillery, deploy!”
While the artillery corps frantically took their positions and prepared for bombardnt.
Wheeeee-
Wheeee-
A familiar noise was heard.
It's starting.
The mont Eris raised her hand and the golden barrier was cast.
A massive, purple sothing ca flying.
What is that.
An aura… maybe?
Before I could even realize, it struck Eris's barrier—
And with a sound like shattering glass, the golden barrier collapsed.
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