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The overwhelming slashes lasted only an instant.

When the slashing ceased, Samudō—which seconds ago had been filled with flying light cannons—held nothing but endless silence.

Thousands of Ancient Heroic Spirits stood frozen like petrified statues, maintaining their exact positions from the moment before the slashes hit, unable to move even a fraction.

Snap.

Bokue Keikain snapped his fingers lightly—no magnetic field power enhancement, just the simple sound of fingertip meeting palm. That subtle sound rippled outward like a pebble dropped into a still lake.

Layer upon layer of ripples passed through, and wherever they touched, the frozen Ancient Heroic Spirits shattered and crumbled into pieces.

Previously, they'd had the King of Heroic Spirits as an anchor point—even with their bodies destroyed, as long as their souls remained, they could be summoned again.

But this time, not just their flesh but their very souls had been completely torn apart in those endless, overwhelming slashes. There would be no more resurrections.

Meanwhile, the King of Heroic Spirits in the sky began its collapse.

That mountain-sized form could no longer regenerate from damage.

Instead, like a straw mat cut by a master swordsman—it began to shift and fall apart, sections of its body plummeting toward the earth below, creating thunderous impacts like meteors from space that shook all of Samudō.

"Is it... finally over??"

A voice spoke as Leohart suddenly appeared beside Bokue Keikain, gazing at the King of Heroic Spirits' corpse forming new mountains on the distant ground, asking with uncertainty.

After all, he'd developed genuine psychological trauma from this thing. Bokue had already shattered it with one punch more than once before, pulverizing it far more thoroughly than these sword cuts.

If this was like roughly chopping a roast chicken with a cleaver, then before had been "meticulously pounding it into paste with fists."

Yet even so, this terrifying Demon God had resurrected, appearing before them again and again.

"Not yet."

Bokue answered.

"What—??"

Leohart, who'd been mentally prepared for this to end, suddenly perked up at those words. His arms—sore from continuously swinging his greatsword to kill Ancient Heroic Spirits—no longer ached. His back straightened. Even his breathing steadied.

It wasn't over yet?

As the young Demon Lord's mind spiraled into chaos, Bokue turned to give him a bewildered look. "What are you thinking? We still haven't done the most crucial step, right?"

Huh?

"THE COUNCIL!!"

Bokue nearly facepalmed.

This was a classic case of fighting until your brain short-circuited. They'd been putting on that show fight for so long, staging six fake matches before this, all to buy time for Luka to locate those Council geezers.

Though they'd now killed even the King of Heroic Spirits—meaning the Council theoretically had no more cards to play—some people needed killing. Leave them alone and who knew when they'd suddenly pop up to cause major trouble.

"Oh right!"

As if suddenly snapping back to reality, Leohart slapped his forehead and activated the communication magic he'd set up before entering the arena.

It was a small magic circle, slowly rotating beside his ear with a faint glow.

"Luka, it's me. We're finished here. Have you found where those Council bastards are hiding?"

"Y-Your Majesty! Reporting... we've found them!"

The moment he finished speaking, a boy's somewhat frantic voice came through the communication magic.

"Perfect timing—we just traced the broadcast signal to Madonis and his group's location. They're at coordinates XXX, XXX..."

That location?

Bokue heard everything clearly from beside him, raising an eyebrow slightly.

He'd expected somewhere bizarre, but calculating from these coordinates—wasn't that just in a mountain not too far from the arena?

Oh, but thinking about it made sense. The broadcast signal Madonis's group received was essentially a small pipeline pulled from the arena. Without advance preparation, wireless transmission couldn't maintain stable signals—a kilometer was basically the absolute limit. Their ability to avoid magical detection probably involved some unique concealment magic.

Getting the information, Leohart nodded slightly.

"Got it. I'm coming back immediately, then going straight to capture Madonis and the others... uh..."

Before he could finish, as if sensing something, he turned to look beside him.

Nothing but empty air—the youth had already vanished.

❁❁❁❁

Meanwhile, inside a certain mountain cave near the arena, the massive magical crystal screen still glowed, its image frozen on the moment of the King of Heroic Spirits' death.

This had been the Council's final trump card, but now even that card lay shredded.

Yet despite this, Madonis and the others hadn't tried to flee. Without exception, they all waited orderly in the cave. Not because they had martial honor and could accept defeat, acknowledging the iron law of victor's justice—

—But because they were all thoroughly dead.

When Bokue Keikain left Samudō and appeared in the cave, he saw a pale golden girlish figure behind the sofa facing the magical crystal screen, arms crossed and resting on the sofa's back.

Before her, five or six headless corpses lay sprawled across the sofa. The floor below was littered with rolling heads, including familiar faces like Madonis.

Looking at this scene, Bokue let out a surprised sound.

"I thought I'd gotten here pretty fast, but you beat me to it, Liala."

"Of course~"

Liala tilted her head with an innocent smile. Despite having just killed, neither her silky golden hair nor her pristine white dress showed a single bloodstain.

"After all, for big sister here, these Council geezers count as blood enemies too. If someone else stole my revenge for killing family, it would definitely leave me feeling unsatisfied."

"Fair enough."

Bokue shrugged, not particularly concerned with her reasoning.

"Since it's handled, I'll head back—"

"Wait a moment, don't rush off."

Just as Bokue turned to leave, Liala—who'd been standing behind the sofa—suddenly bounced over energetically. She kicked aside a head on her way to stand before the youth, hands clasped girlishly behind her back as she leaned in.

"Anyway, I really must thank Bokue-kun for helping Leo-chan and me so much. Big sister absolutely has to express her gratitude."

"Also—"

Without giving Bokue a chance to respond, Liala—who'd been speaking normally a second ago—suddenly rose on her tiptoes, leaning in to plant a gentle kiss on the youth's lips.

"The way you killed Demon God Chaos at Samudō just now was so strong, so cool—it really made big sister's heart race~"

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