What can be seen through the blasted wall is the upper body of a human man with a goat's head and bat wings and a well-trained human man's upper body and an owlish lower body.
　What the hell......... Is that a type of summoned beast too? Is the Demon's Lord a demon? It's true that he looks like a demon.

''Oh no... how much of a price would be required to make a contract with a demon like that.... And where would the magic power to maintain its existence come from...

　Princess Lucia murmured as she trembled with a wobble. Indeed. Unlike Lizardman, Silver Wolf, Skeletor, and others, he's that big. Does that general have that much magical power?

'The deal with the devil is simple. Sacrifice. The criminals in the Imperial City were sacrificed. The Emperor didn't like it, though. Once you make a pact with one of the higher demons, you're free to call any lower demon you want. We just need to make a similar sacrifice to that one, and then we'll make a deal. If you do it this way, you can summon as many demon armies as you want. And the magic power.

　General Bazur rolled up his right arm and showed us the bracelet attached to it. A red treasure ball was attached to the dull silver bangle. Is that........an artifact!

''This 'sucker's bracelet' has the effect of sucking magic power out of others. Everyone here is being sucked out a little bit of magic power, feeding that Demon's Lord.

　Siphoning magic? So you just felt a physical strain.... I mean, isn't it bad? If I'm here, you could be giving them even greater and greater magical power.
　Princess Lucia and Carol-san, who were beside me, kneel on the floor. Are they losing consciousness due to the magical power being sucked out of them?
　I've already recovered the magic power that was taken from me, but even if I wanted to give the two of them magic power with Transfer, there's no room for it in this situation.
　If that's the case, I'll have no choice but to eliminate the source of the problem.

''Apports!''

　He activated his magic in an attempt to draw the 'sucker's bracelet'. However, a sound like something being popped around the general and the bracelet failed to be drawn in.

''Hm? You still have magic in you? I don't know what you were trying to do, but you can't use magic on me. I don't know what I signed up for with that demon.

　The general flapped his bat wings outside the wall and pointed at the giant demon floating in the air.

''That demon's property is 'magic nullification'. That thing doesn't have any magical attacks, and it's not subject to any magical special effects. And I, the contractor, have the same characteristics in me.

　Disabling magic? You've got another troublesome ability! So I have no choice but to set it up with a physical attack........ I pull out Brunhild and reload from paralytic bullets to live bullets. If magic doesn't work, this would be the most effective.

''Hm?''

　He pulled the trigger at the wondering Black General. A shot rang out, and the bullet headed straight for the general was bounced off as if it had hit an invisible wall in front of him. What the hell!

What was that? A flyer? But that's a shame. If the magic didn't work, you probably thought a direct attack would be in order, but that's not going to happen.

　When the general rolled up his left arm this time, there was another bracelet attached to it. It still had a red jewel embedded in it.

This is the Armlet of Defense. The amount of magic you pour into it creates a powerful barrier to protect you from all physical attacks. The Fiendish Armband absorbs as much magic as it can, and then uses it to block physical attacks with the Fiendish Armband and nullify magical attacks with the Demon's Lords it summons. This is invincible defense! No one can hurt me in the slightest!

　Oh my God, is that even possible? It's not my place to say, but that's too cheaty, that's too cheaty! And I'm the source of that magical power?
　Even if I did a super-heavy attack with Gravity, as long as my magic power is absorbed by that side, the barriers created with it should have a similar level... Huh? Is this a contradiction, or is this one? No, it's not. The other side has other sources of magic power besides me.
　d*mn, it's too much trouble. It's too much trouble.

I don't know who you are, but we can't let you leave alive. You will die as a sacrifice to the Demon's Lord.
"...summon an army of demons to wage war? How much do you think it would take an imperial citizen to sacrifice for that?
'If there is a war, you will die anyway. It's just a matter of being killed by the enemy or being sacrificed. And sooner or later the sacrifices will be replaced by captured enemy soldiers.

　The general laughed with the corners of his mouth hanging up. This guy is just a madman who wants to fight a war, isn't he?
　Earlier I couldn't tell if this coup was a good thing or a bad thing, but now I know for sure. This is evil.
　There's no way I can use an unrelated life for my own desires.

''Ugh........''

　At that moment, the emperor, who was lying at the general's feet, moved slightly. No way, he's alive!
　He doesn't seem to have noticed the generals. Is it a good idea to pull back and save the emperor's life here? The two people behind me who are being sucked out of their magic power are probably at their limit.

Deployment of the "Gate". Target: The emperor, Princess Lucia and Carol-san. The target is my garden.
Copy that. Activating Gate.
What?

　A gate of light appears underneath the three of them and disappears as if sucked into the plane.

''Are you a transference magic user?
Correct. I'm going to back off for now. I won't let you do anything you want to me.

　He reloaded Brunhild's bullet and made it into another one. He readied it and pointed the muzzle at the general.

'Fool, I told you that as long as the Bracelets of Defense are in place, you can't hurt me.
Well, maybe they can't hurt you. I thought maybe I could put it on my pride.
...what?

　He chuckles and lowers his muzzle to aim at the general's feet.

'Slip.'
Wow!

　Sutin! And the General mocks boldly. He reaches the floor with his hands to get up, but it too slips and he falls again. As his opponent falls, he shoots a "programmed" slip round into the floor, reloading the magazine. Every time you move, the general takes your foot, your hand, and you keep falling. This is infinite slip hell.

"Sho, General!

　His friends run to the General to help him. Fool! This spell doesn't affect the General. It's doing its job on the floor.

"Whoa!
What?

　Sure enough, we got caught in a slip hell and the guys we saved had to keep falling. Poor thing, this one has no arm barriers, so the damage will accumulate.

''Kukkaku, you can keep falling forever! Keep dancing unceremoniously!

　He provokes the general by talking about such things. Well, if the "sucker's bracelet" absorbs the magic power of the floor, or if it is pulled out of that floor with a stick or string, it will stop. I don't have to tell you.

"Demon's Lord!

　The goat-headed demon stretched out a huge hand towards us. Oops, not good. The 'slip' won't work on this guy that's floating in the air.
　On the other hand, if it's a physical attack, it might be able to get through to this guy, but even if you defeat it, he'll probably just call for a replacement demon again. I guess this is the time to go.

Farewell, gentlemen! Babylon's hammer will fall on you sooner or later! You can wash your head and wait! Huhahahahaha!

　I'm addicted to this.
　I don't want to go home without it, so I'll use the "Mirage" to create an unpleasant illusion. I'll leave behind a picture of swarms of insects crawling around on the floor, like caterpillars, cockroaches and centipedes.

Hiya! Heeeee!
Bug! Worms aaaaah!
You. Just remember that!

　Hmmm, 'I can't help but get a 'Zamamimiro & Scuttlebutt Sawayaka' laugh from the bottom of my stomach! I'm not going to go so far as to say, well, I'm sure I've lost my tame.
　I opened the "Gate" on the floor and jumped into it and I left the Imperial City.



　I went through the Gate and landed in my garden to find Princess Lucia squirming on the Emperor's side.

'Father! Father!

　No, we have to treat him quickly. He crouched down beside Princess Lucia and held out his hand to the Emperor.

'Come light, goddess healing, mega-heal.

　The light of advanced recovery magic envelops the emperor's body. The wound on his side, where he was probably stabbed, closes up. ''This isn't enough.

''Recovery.''

　I'll make sure that he recovers from his condition so that he doesn't have any aftereffects or anything. The rest is up to him.
　I'm going to transfer him to the bed in the guest room. I asked Lime-san to call Dr. Raoul from the Royal Palace and led him to the room where Princess Lucia and Carol-san had been moved.
　Until Dr. Raoul comes, I briefly explain the events in the Empire to everyone in the living room.



　Else sighs in disgust. Let me tell you, I'm not poking my neck out to poke my head in, you know.

''........And yet, the empire did that......What happened to the crown prince......''

　Linze mumbles something like that, but I can only hope she's okay about it. It would have been nice if we could have transitioned together, but I didn't know the Crown Prince's face, even if I had tried to search for him.

''But this is an extraordinary incident, that it is. If the Empire really attacked Belfast...''
An invasion by an army of demons, right? We have to do something before that...

　The easiest thing to do is to defeat that General Bazur, after all.... Magic attacks don't work, and physical attacks can't get through, so there's nothing to be done.
　Even if you dropped him from 10,000 meters above with Gate, the Bracelets of Defense would probably take no damage. The same thing would probably happen if you attacked them with a physically heavier weapon or something like that with "Gravity".
　Magic is also effective if it doesn't target you, like "Slip" or "Mirage".... On top of that, the magic power over here is absorbed. But their friends didn't care about it. There may be a way to prevent this from happening. So, what to do?
　The question is, what should we tell the king? It's a matter of national importance, and I must inform him of a coup d'état in the Empire and the possibility of an attack from the Demon Army.
　But should I tell them about the Emperor and Princess Lucia or not? Even though we have a non-aggression pact with them, they're still our former enemies.
　What if they want me to hand them over? Well, in that case, I'll just hide him in Babylon. I'm not taking the side of the Empire, but at least I'm not going to hand over a seriously injured patient.
　While I was thinking about that, Rhyme-san brought Dr. Raul to me. Now, let's leave the emperor to his day job from here. Shall we figure out what we are going to do with that general and the demon?
　It might be a bit difficult to do but ... hmmm? Huh? Is this going to be easier than it seems...? It's going to take a little bit of preparation, but I think it's going to work.
　I'll think about the plan I came up with. It's not my hobby to tease him too much, but I guess I can't blame him. I can see the General's tearful face. I don't know, I'm starting to grin.
　I was smiling at that look, but then everyone else started to pull me aside. What the hell.