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Dark skies loomed overhead. Shattered earth stretched beneath his feet. Purple miasma hung thick in the air, and nothing broke the silence except the lonely howl of wind. It felt like standing at the edge of the world itself.

"Hmm..."

Bokue Keikain swept his gaze across the surroundings.

This place had clearly once been whole—complete terrain with actual structures. The half-collapsed castle tower tilting alongside the fractured ground in the distance proved as much.

This Eternal Battlefield called Samudō rose from the Northern Territory's earth like an isolated island on land. It jutted upward at an impossibly steep angle, like an inverted basin protruding from the demon realm's surface.

The unique geography made it virtually inaccessible to any living creature. Even winged birds would succumb to Samudō's toxic miasma and plummet from the sky. Only demons with sufficient power could use magic to reach the airspace above Samudō.

But... they still couldn't enter.

"A barrier, huh?"

Bokue looked down and clenched his fist experimentally.

Though subtle, he could definitely feel this battlefield trying to reject him.

How to put it—like accidentally stepping into the bed of a relatively docile house pet. While it wouldn't immediately attack or bark, it would still whimper softly in protest, hoping you'd move your foot quickly.

That was basically the sensation.

Of course, this only applied to him. If someone at, say, Sukuna's level got thrown in here, they'd probably be instantly obliterated by the barrier the moment they arrived. Even with an operating table right next to them, there'd be no saving them.

But for Bokue Keikain, this level of resistance couldn't even make him uncomfortable.

So... where was everyone?

Standing quietly on this land that resembled a life-forbidden zone, Bokue let out a soft sound of confusion.

Back in the lounge, he'd heard the broadcast announcing the final battle was about to begin. According to procedure, the next step should be teleporting both fighters here.

He'd already arrived, but where was Leohart?

Whirrrr—

Just as he wondered, a faint buzzing sound came from behind—something flying through the air.

Bokue turned to look. It was a floating magical marker, looking somewhat like those camera drones from Sword Art Online's GGO arc that officials used to broadcast match footage.

What the hell was this?

❁❁❁❁

Meanwhile, in the Current Demon Lord faction's lounge—

"This is ridiculous! Why is the final battle location set at Samudō??"

Leohart was rather agitated, negotiating frantically with the cat-eared referee girl.

"You all know Samudō is a dueling ground that only those with Demon Lord bloodlines can enter! With Ramusas dead, if the final battle takes place at Samudō, no one from the Old Demon Lord faction can even access that battlefield!"

"Um~ but doesn't that just prove Lord Leohart is the only one in the entire Northern Territory suited to be Demon Lord..."

The cat-eared referee girl cowered, covering her head as she spoke timidly.

Clearly, she'd completely misunderstood Leohart's real concern. Her seemingly flattering words only raised the young Demon Lord's blood pressure higher.

"I don't need such a spineless victory! If bloodline determined everything, I wouldn't have needed to form the Current Demon Lord faction at all—Ramusas, who shared the same blood as the previous Demon Lord Wilbert, would've been the perfect choice!"

"W-well, about that..."

Realizing she'd put her foot in her mouth, the cat-eared referee girl immediately fell silent.

But she continued defending weakly:

"B-but... the Council's orders specifically required us to set the final battle at Samudō. The teleportation circles and monitoring magic are already in place. Even if Your Majesty wants us to change venues urgently, we can't—"

Beep.

Before she could finish, the lounge's wall screen suddenly flickered. Dark skies and shattered earth appeared on display.

It was the current view from Samudō.

The cat-eared referee girl instinctively glanced at the screen and shrank back.

"A-as Your Majesty can see, all preparations are complete. If we had to change locations now, we definitely couldn't manage it today at least..."

"Wait!"

Before the referee could finish, Leohart suddenly spun around and strode to the screen, eyes widening in disbelief as he stared at one particular area of the image.

There on the shattered ground, a vaguely visible figure kept turning his head, surveying the surroundings—the only moving object on that desolate land, standing out starkly against the unchanging backdrop.

Then, as if sensing the gaze from beyond the screen, the figure kicked off the ground and shot upward, rapidly expanding in the camera's view until he was practically face-to-face with the broadcast beacon.

'What the hell is this thing...?'

The young man's clear features filled the entire screen, his confused muttering playing through the lounge's speakers.

And simultaneously broadcasting to the giant screens outside in the arena.

Leohart: "..."

Cat-eared referee girl: "..."

What were they just discussing again?

And the teleportation circle hadn't even activated yet—this guy was already inside Samudō?

Leohart slowly formed an inverted question mark in his mind.

Samudō was supposed to be an eternal battlefield accessible only to those with Demon Lord bloodlines. And if he remembered correctly, someone had sworn up and down that he was pure human.

Pure my ass!

Leohart suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to curse.

"Um... Old Demon Lord faction participant, please don't touch the broadcast beacon, thank you!"

Seeing the young man on screen not just looking but actually reaching out to fiddle with the beacon, the cat-eared referee girl hurriedly grabbed her microphone.

"Oh? This thing can transmit audio too? Perfect."

On the other end in Samudō, Bokue Keikain hadn't expected this tiny beacon to handle both video and audio transmission. He raised an eyebrow in mild surprise.

Then they heard him speak leisurely:

"So Leohart, where are you? The match started ages ago and you're still not here. You think those Council geezers' heads are just gonna fly into my hands on their own?"

"..."

What kind of nonsense was that?

Leohart wanted to say as much, but time wouldn't allow for such distractions.

He turned to the still-dazed cat-eared referee girl beside him.

"Prepare the teleportation spell immediately!"

"Ah... yes!"

❁❁❁❁

At the same time, in a cave somewhere in the Northern Territory, an elderly demon's sinister laughter echoed off the stone walls.

"Directly declaring he'll take our heads? How confident... Well then, since their final battle has begun, we should start as well."

"Prepare to summon the King of Heroic Spirits!"

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