Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 48 - Heaven Realm's strongest

[Eternum Calendar 1972]

‘The God of Warriors, Dagda,’ with such an entity as their enemy, Leon wondered to himself if victory was even a realistically attainable goal. He took a slight glance to his side, there Nazarym laid upon the ground soaked and struggling in a pool of his own putrid yellow blood. Yet even whilst there was no doubt in his mind that it was Baron Rommel who dealt such a huge crippling blow to the enemy that even Nicholai recognized as ‘powerful’, triumph over a god seemed still far from reach.

He shook his head, ‘even if he was strong the opponent is an absolute existence.’ A being worshiped and followed by millions but if that wasn’t enough, out of all possible hostile gods to appear, it had to be ‘Dagda’ who was known to be the strongest. ‘It’s impossible,’ Leon convinced himself, wallowing in his own powerlessness against an inconceivable opponent.

Seeing his subtly trembling figure, Nicholai tried to calm him down by placing his hands on his shoulders.

“Milord, are you feeling okay?”

“Ah, yeah… I’m fine.”

“You do not appear fine in the slightest, well be that as it may, we best leave the vicinity immediately.”

“Huh?! What for?”

Nicholai sighed as he pointed towards the two figures that were on the verge of breaking out into a no holds barred battle to the death. In each of their ‘eyes’ all that was reflected was each other, thus there was no doubt massive carnage would ensue. Even now, as Leon stood still he could feel the air slowly suffocating around him, the pressure of the two alone was enough to cause the very air to become tense and hard to breathe.

“In the event that Baron Rommel loses, it would be more advantageous for us if we were already in a position to retreat.”

‘In the event he loses?’ Leon repeated in his mind, he knew it was not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. Still, to turn tail and run while an allied combatant was fighting to the death for his country seemed a little cowardly. Could he still call himself the protector of this country even if he turned away from this situation? When he eventually succeeds as Tetrarch this one moment would undoubtedly come back to haunt him.

“You mean to turn tail and run? How could you even think of…”

However Leon himself couldn’t honestly finish that sentence. He clenched his fists tightly and grit his teeth, he had already known that he couldn’t afford to lose his life here. To lose his life meaninglessly here for the sake of his cheap pride would be the worst kind of disrespect he could do to his own country. Even a Tetrarch filled with regrets was better than no Tetrarch at all.

“Milord, because I’ve been with you since childhood I understand your sentiments the most. To be honest at this point I doubt we’d even make it that far if left now but we still need to prioritize your safety before anything else. You are the future Tetrarch of this nation, you must understand that your life is not just your own and that you have a duty to succeed and guide this country. As your knight I simply refuse to allow you to throw away your life like this. Now please come this way.”

Nicholai extended his hands, despite being riddled with near fatal wounds he still appeared to be in even more of a solid figure than Leon. Was it because of the differences in their discipline that Nicholai acted as though he had everything under control? That he could make life or death choices so simply as though they were mere trivialities, or did Nicholai already know from the beginning what he wanted to protect the most?

Leon could only bitterly laugh at his own pathetic attitude. He took a deep breath and sighed, taking Nicholai’s hand.

"I understand."

Though it was only for a brief, fleeting moment that Leon had met and exchanged dialogue with the Baron but it now felt as though it had been a lifetime. He had drawn many different conclusions about him but as negative as they were, in the end he finally understood one positive thing. That Baron Rommel, while many things, was certainly not a coward; when it truly mattered, he was a grand hero who’d given his life for his country. ‘I promise your death will not be in vain,’ with that final thought Leon Crow Xix Ariadyne chose to turn his back with a resolute determination.

Leaving bitterly he whispered ‘farewell’ under his breath and turned around. Yet it was at that moment the fight between the God Dagda and Errick Rommel had commenced.

Who could have thought that it would turn out like this? Even his own determination was overpowered as Leon couldn’t help but

Leaving bitterly he whispered ‘farewell’ under his breath and turned around. Yet it was at that moment the fight between Dagda and Errick Rommel had commenced. Who could have thought that it would turn out like this, even his own determination was overpowered as Leon turned back to see what was happening.

Their opening move a collision of their fists, a mere collision of their fists yet in less than a second a fearsome and horrific shockwave screaming like a wild banshee screeched throughout the forest. Instantly turning the forest into a haunted one a large scale explosion took place at the epicenter of their collided fists and soon a magnificent dust cloud engulfed the area.

“What the-?!”

Leon ‘s eyes widened in complete shock, a cold shiver running down his spine he couldn’t help but have every fibre of his being tremble at the scene. ‘A mere clash of fists?!’ he briefly thought his eyes were playing a trick on him, otherwise it would make no sense! When the dust clouds settled down the figure of two titanic beings joined by their knuckles were revealed, strikes of lightning arcing across the two as their brute strength was transformed into a physical phenomena. A small hurricane started to swirl around them as gravity itself was being altered from the sheer force of their physical power alone.

Dagda smiled, one that turned the crown prince’s blood to ice in an instant. Quickly breaking off from their contest of brute strength, Dagda retracted. Forcing Errick to be temporarily shifted off of his balance, he went in for an uppercut with his unoccupied left arm. Whether it was due to sheer luck or pure skill and experience, Errick had somehow managed to evade the giant swing in a matter of milliseconds. A good thing too as the force of the air pressure alone was enough to part both the air and the ground behind them leaving a massive fissure.

“W- what… was that?”

Leon asked, but Nicholai shook his head with equal confusion and awe-stricken fear.

“I do not know… just with arm-strength alone he parted the grounds… I may have horribly underestimated powers of the Gods, but more importantly, for the Baron to take on such an attack directly and even repel it… just who is he?”

Leon shook his head this time.

“I… father said that he was a being known as [Ghost armor], an undead. However even I am hesitant to believe if that is honestly true.”

Having his attack evaded Dagda's fists flew threw the air magnificently, knocking him off balance and leaving him vulnerable to counterattack. Not wanting to waste it on a simple punch, Errick had instead opted to kick using the entire force of his titanium forged body. A lightning fast kick, before Dagda could even register that an assault was happening his opponent’s leg had already reached his unguarded sides.

As Errick’s foot connected a small but noticeable crack appeared on the iron colored complexion of Dagda’s skin. Followed quickly by a rapidly explosion of air that once more covered the battlefield in dust and dirt. Dagda’s body was tossed out of the explosion as though it were a rag doll, smashing through several trees before stopping only a few dozen meters away.

“AHAHAHA! YES THIS IS IT! ERRICK ROMMEL! I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS MOMENT!”

Enjoying the full brunt of even being knocked away, this was truly the kind of battle that Dagda had spent his past one hundred years training for. Seeing the nasty grin on his enemy's face, Errick couldn't help but feel disturbed but decided to entertain the child a bit more. As a being that dwarfed history itself it was the duty of Errick Rommel that some beings simply cannot be overcome- that a monster called the 'old world' existed.

“Come child.”

Errick scoffed behind his dusk black helmet, his single red ‘eye’ gleaming even brighter as though a singular focused inferno burned within.

Recovering almost instantly, Dagda lunged back with a ominously exhilarated smile on his face. For his large hulking body his speed was incomprehensibly fast, almost immediately covering a distance of 70 meters to engage once more. Yet even at the sight of this extreme physical capability, Errick did not seem the least bit surprised and casually entered close quarters combat with his nemesis.

Their movements were too fast for either Leon or Nicholai to properly track, only being able to see a flurried blur. All they could do was watch a torrential whirlwind of pressure and dust swirling around the entire battlefield. Gazing back with equal awe and fear as to how the outcome of the battle would pan out; in this situation victory for either side seemed equally possible.

“I- I don’t believe it, this strength to fight against even a god… just what…?”

Leon could even adequately explain to himself what it was that was happening in front of him. A power that could not only stand up to a god but to go as far as pushing him back to this extent. ‘This is the power that created our country?’ he couldn’t help but recall his father’s words as he called Errick Rommel a ‘founding father’ of this nation.

“I see… I suppose this explains why the Southern Tetrarchy never bothered to attack us until now.”

Nicholai calmly analyzed as he pushed up his glasses.

“What do you mean?”

Leon asked, though still unable to turn away from the epic battle of continental super powers that was happening before his very eyes.

“[Heaven State] I believe they call themselves now? The Southern Tetrarchy knew all along the existence and power of Baron Rommel. That’s why despite possessing three deity level beings on their side they never dared to even launch a small skirmish until now.”

“Wait, wasn’t our peace due to the ‘non-aggression’ treaty that all four Tetrarchy signed?”

Nicholai shook his head.

“Milord, for a country that possesses three deity level beings, that kind of treaty would merely equal toilet paper. Especially now of all times when the political situation at the Grand Capital is all a mess they’d have no reason to hold back. No, even before all of the Fallons were wiped out seven years ago I’m sure the South had been conducting military operations all over the place.”

“So then what, you’re saying that it was Baron Rommel’s presence alone that has been holding back invasion from the South Tetrarchy?”

Holding his breath Leon cursed himself, biting down on his lips until a small trickle of blood fell down. ‘How could I have possibly known that?!’ if he had known prior then he would’ve understood the reasons behind his father’s actions.

…

“Errick Rommel! Don’t tell me you’ve gotten weaker! You’re not even blocking half my attacks!”

Hurling a monstrous barrage of explosive punches, it was slight but Dagda was starting to push Errick back. Only due to the efforts Errick’s naturally armor plated body was most of the impact mitigated. However, as Dagda had pointed out, it was starting to be of concern that Errick was only able to track and defend against half of the attacks thrown at him. ‘He’s stronger than before,’ Errick thought as he continued to be pushed backwards.

Losing ground in this meaninglessly open battleground wasn’t particularly a cause for worry, but against Dagda it was starting to become a bit of trouble. The reason for this was due to Dagda’s specific nature, he was a being that would be overly immersed in battle, especially one where he could exhibit his full force. It was to the point that he could subconsciously influence himself to become even stronger just by the sheer drunkenness of his ‘victory’.

So seeing Errick be slowly pushed back only served to excite Dagda more, with his punches becoming more wild and potent.

“AHAHAHAHAAA!”

The two fought bare handed, yet through an exchange of blows even the grounds beneath their feet trembled and quaked fronly their fearsome strength. Unable to withstand their pressure the grounds gave in and started to crack and split. Their footing became unstable due to this, though being experienced warriors on both front it was only cause very minute positional problems. However Errick thought to take advantage of this fact, scanning through $the ground’s structure in the midst of trading blows.

‘There!’ Errick had located a soften ground and lead Dagda to it.

“What’s wrong?! Aren’t you going to fight back?!”

Dagda asked as he wore a large heavenly grin on his face.

“Careful child, of what you wish for!”

Timing his steps perfectly, Errick stepped upon the soft grounds sinking into it and avoiding a heavy punch from Dagda. Since it was only his altitude that was affected and not his entire body as it would have if he had chosen to dodged, Errick had gained another perfect opportunity to retaliate.

“Wha-!”

Witnessing Errick’s change in altitude yet not being able to do anything in the midst of an attack Dagda could only watch in slow motion as Errick’s fists started to glow a bright blue. A cold blue inferno erupted out of Errick’s hands as he connected it against Dagda’s open chest.

[Kinetic Repulsion], it was a [technical skill] that didn’t necessarily increase the damage of one’s attack but did dramatically increase the knock back radius of the opponent. His fists smashed through Dagda’s solar plexus, causing it to crack open revealing a softer white inside. He regurgitated his own vomit from the sheer shock, leaving his mental state unstable.

A massive pulse of force erupted outwards, hurling Dagda back several hundred- almost a kilometer through the forest. Destroying every tree, boulder and obstruction as he made his mark upon his flight, and as he crash landed his body’s iron colored skin started to crack. He landed head first into the ground knocking him out for a solid few seconds, but that was exactly the length of time Errick needed to prepare.

“[Weapon Code 9145U7X2, Matter Reconstruction.]”

Errick chanted in a language foreign to this world. An intense flare brightly lit from his hands and once the light died down it was replaced with a foreign object. A large night colored weapon that this world had never seen before, held lengthways with six ominous barrels pointing forward. Far too bulky and cumbersome to be used as any sort of melee weapon but also too convoluted to be a simple ranged weapon.

It was a weapon that one day the new world would come to recognize as a ‘Minigun’.

“Sorry child, but I too have my pride as a member of the [Upper Echelon]. I simply cannot have you win even a little. I shall have you fall here.”