Vol. 2 CH. 9 – The unexpected help

It had been unexpected that something like this even happened. Standing right next to Kyoushiro was gorgeous woman that had delicate features and was like a woman of the snow; long white hair that stretches down to her thighs, eyes as pure as snowflakes and a figure that could be said as divine.

Edsel was stunned at the sight of the 3rd Demon Lord walking next to Kyoushiro.

As it was stated before, it seems that the Demon Lords have kept a close eye on Kyoushiro. That was after he defeated the 9th Demon Lord that was said to have a thousand arms and had a powerful skill that could control monsters.

Even Edsel know about the 9th Demon Lord Kakal that kept himself within the wastelands in order to increase his army of monsters.

Right now however, Kyoushiro was carrying an unconscious elf knight on his shoulder like he was carrying a sack of rice. Even Lady Snow had been taken aback by his action but it seems that Kyoushiro didn't care about that.

"Say, since you're a Demon Lord, mind telling me how to get rid of a powerful curse?"

Kyoushiro idly asked Lady Snow...

"Depending on the curse, there might be one. Though I say that, the one on you is something that can't be cure by any means"

"So you guys even know about that huh? You Demon Lords have so much time in your hands"

"Oh my, we are just keeping tabs on someone that could potentially become a threat"

The talk between the two was quite friendly. Even though both of them were practically meant to kill each other, they were talking friendly enough to see that they are acquaintances.

Edsel was still wary of Lady Snow since she suddenly appeared out of nowhere, but worrying about that when Kyoushiro didn't mind her accompanying them would just make Kyoushiro mad at her for unnecessary thoughts.

Dahlia was quietly sleeping in her arms as she walked two steps behind Kyoushiro and Lady Snow.

"Say, do you know any skill that could send heroes back to their home worlds?"

Kyoushiro asked while keeping his face straight. Lady Snow, who was on his left side, coughed a sigh as she covered her face with her fan.

"Haaaa.... If there is such convenient skill then we Demon Lords would have conquered other worlds besides this one. There is no such skill that can traverse to other worlds. Even simply talking about this is simply nonsense"

It seems that the Demon Lords weren't omnipotent as anyone thought they would be.

"But there is a skill that could manipulate space right? Isn't a magic bag a perfect example of a different dimension?"

Kyoushiro asked in return as he thought of a simple magic bag as an example. The reason that would be because magic bags are magical artifacts that could store nearly everything, it could not store living creatures such as animals and other living beings but it can store anything inside its limitless space.

Simply put, the inside of a magic bag was like a pocket dimension; in which case is related to the manipulation of space. Gravity spells are also magic skills that any mage could learn if they know how it works. Kyoushiro was wondering as to why has anyone in this world hasn't even invented any advance technology to travel space or even cross dimension.

If this world had such convenient thing like "Skills" then simply building a device that could send anyone in different worlds would be possible.

"This world is filled with people obsessed with power so I thought there would be someone that would be able to take someone and send someone back to their world"

"A reverse summoning if you will" Kyoushiro added, ending his explanation with a small sigh.

"So you are thinking that maybe there is someone among the remaining demon lords has said skill then you can go back to your world?"

"Well, not immediately, I'm still going to settle a score with someone in this world. I don't really feel the urge to go back to my world that badly right now but just in case, I would want to know if there is someone out there that could send me back to my world"

Aside from killing Taiga, Kyoushiro plans on returning to his home to take everything his relatives took from him. Since this world had already forsaken him, there was no point in staying. Kyoushiro would take Lucinda and Arianne back with him as well so that they would be excluded from this world's mass genocide of Demon Lords and allied countries.

Truly, there was no point in remaining in a world that would collapse in another decade or so.

-

As Kyoushiro's group finally reached their destination. It was another hideout of the generals that works under Ernest Vern, the mercenary group leader that kidnapped the next elf queen. It was located in a small flat plane where only grass grows around it. It was a peaceful looking tower but when Kyoushiro's arrived at the scene, there were only rubbles spread around.

"What the... those guys lied to me?"

Kyoushiro was speechless at the sight of a torn down tower with its underground base torn from the inside out. Signs of charred ground can be seen around the tower and corpses were piled up and burned a few meters away from the tower.

There was nothing left of the hideout where the men that Kyoushiro tortured to get information from.

"Who the heck did this?"

Kyoushiro asked as he knelt down and dropped off the unconscious elf knight on the ground. Edsel and Dahlia gathered beside the elf knight and helped her while Lady Snow merely stood there watching Kyoushiro's back.

Lady Snow then smiled at Kyoushiro's confused expression.

"Mfufufu ~ it looks like the other heroes got here first"

"What?"

Kyoushiro turned around as he heard Lady Snow's voice.

"I had my sprites move around the whole place before I came here. It seems that two heroes have been going around destroying possible hideouts of the mercenary leader you are looking for"

Kyoushiro was shock by the news given to him by Lady Snow. According to her, the groups led by Koizumi and Katsuto met up with Minami's group while hunting down the trails left behind the missing princess. The trail then led the combine groups of the heroes to where Kyoushiro was headed and annihilated the target location where one of the hideouts of Ernest Vern's men has located.

This all happened while Kyoushiro was busy torturing the guards he had kidnapped and gained information about the generals under Ernest Vern.

Kyoushiro made a sharp sigh as he scratched the back of his hand in dismay.

"I didn't think that they'd be here" Kyoushiro thought as he looked at the rubble where a tower once stood. It looks like the other groups lead by the three heroes was on their way destroying hideouts themselves.

It actually saved Kyoushiro some trouble in going in each of the hideouts them destroying them himself.

"It's a change of plan I guess"

Kyoushiro muttered in a small voice as he breathes out sharply once more.

"Ugh.... Nnn... What? Where..."

Just then, the elf knight Elyria Rosemary, woke up. Edsel quickly helped Elyria sit up while Dahlia was standing behind her mother. Elyria, probably still confused, looked around her surroundings and saw Kyoushiro and a familiar Demon Lord standing across each other.

"!?"

Seeing the famed Ice empress of the frozen wasteland up in the northern hemisphere, Elyria's shoulder jumped. She then quickly took distance from the 3rd Demon Lord and stood alert with her hands holding down her aching muscles.

Edsel quickly tried to chase after her but Elyria snarled and glared at Lady Snow. However, as soon as she saw Kyoushiro's figure not too far from Lady Snow, her face turned pale.

"To think that I'd see the day that you'll stand on the side of the common enemy...."

"Hey now, try not to get yourself killed just after I saved your sorry ass. You'd probably been dead by now if that so called enemy of yours didn't drag you to where I was"

Kyoushiro replied in calm tone while emphasizing the fact that a Demon Lord saved her from death. Even the thought of a Demon Lord saving an elf from the races would never even cross Kyoushiro's mind. After all, there has never been something like that ever happened before.

"That is right, you would do best not to try and rashly against your savior. Though I would not mind killing you right now if it were not only to curry a favor to that hero over there"

"Can you at least try and hide your true intentions?"

"Oh? Might that be of concern to you?"

"Haaa... never mind"

Kyoushiro gave up in talking to Lady Snow as it wouldn't do him any good in sinking to her level of thinking. Still, while wearing an indifferent face, as though gave up in trying talking to Elyria as well, Kyoushiro walked towards her and threw a clean coat to Elyria.

After all right now, nearly 65% of Elyria's skin was exposed. If it weren't for her breastplate her top would have been bouncing right about now. Her skirt was torn but her underwear was still intact. Nevertheless, it wasn't Kyoushiro's principle to ogle at another woman's attractive body while having a wife of his own.

"......."

"You probably have no idea what happened while you're asleep but once you finish covering up and cleaned up yourself, come talk to me. I'll prepare camp for today"

Kyoushiro turned back as he yawned. Lady Snow followed him back after leaving a demeaning smile at Elyria. It seems that Lady Snow felt superiority since Kyoushiro chose to favor her than to warmly accept an ally. After that, Today's march was put on hold until further notice.

Inside the mansion of the lord of Caladium, Pernicious Caladium was having a conversation with a visitor that had been out of contact until recently. The contents of their conversation seemed as though the safety of others were not among their concerns. In fact, what they were talking about was an alliance between a Demon Lord and an Elf noble.

"It seems that you have been busy lately Pernicious; employing heroes in this kind of time"

"This isn't like what you are thinking. It is simply something that came up unexpected due to a nuisance doing things as he likes"

"If you are talking about Ernest, don't worry about him. The powdered scales of the 6th Demon Lord are strong enough to mutate one person. He and all his men should be monsters right about now"

"That disgusting taste of yours hasn't really deteriorated in the years, Dark Lord"

The 12th Demon Lord, Dark Lord Trause, one of the heinous Demon Lords known in the current era was smiling ear to ear as he take what Pernicious has told him as a compliment.

The Dark Lord had long unkempt hair, red beady eyes and sharp teeth. He also has grey skin with red lines that seemingly resembles tattoos of ethnic tribes. On top of that, he was wearing a dark purple robe that was furnished with skulls of all sorts of beings.

Trause leaned back against the couch as he placed his leg on top of the table in front of him. Pernicious wasn't someone that can reprimand the Dark lord's actions as he could even make a single town disappeared without trace if he wished to.

As much as he wanted to, Pernicious could not raise his voice against Trause.

"To think that you would even go that far in causing mayhem"

"I am a Demon Lord, what did you expect? This course of actions shouldn't be too far from my very own nature"

"Yes... While I do approve of your methods to create chaos, it was very unaccountable since my niece got involve"

The fact that Pernicious's niece got involve in his plan of taking over the main capital wasn't his plan at all. After all, that said niece was an accomplice of his that knew of his plans.

However, if it weren't for Ernest's group, then that plan would have continued easily. Back of this sudden set back, Elfianna came to his land fully armed with guards and heroes.

Pernicious couldn't help but blame Dark Lord Trause for his needless aid. Ernest's mercenary group would have been enough against Pernicious's enemies.

"In any case, there is nothing for you to do here anymore Dark Lord Trause, you can go whenever you wish"

"Oh Come on Pern!! I'd like to enjoy some time alone with those heroes!! Especially the hero that restored the damn nation I personally destroyed!!"

Although Trause's appearance was younger than his actual age, his personality was still stuck on that of a rowdy young boy. For him, fighting was normal and as a Dark Lord, his power grows immense whenever evil comes to play.

Furthermore, his sworn enemy or more like he declared him as his enemy, Kyoushiro Kagami, was his main target. Because it was Kyoushiro that rebuilt the country that Trause had destroyed personally back when he was just a new Demon Lord.

Right now, he was full of vigor to the point that it was clearly showing on his face.

A clear yet vicious grin was showing on his dull grey colored face...

"Ah... How long has it been since I've felt this way... The sense of overflowing wickedness, the emotion of pure hatred and the feeling of vengeance!! Black Hero, Kyoushiro... I'll be the one that will kill you!!"

Although the heroes were quite far, the Demon Lord was near them. Unknown to what may happen in the future; the heroes were not prepared to face a new enemy.

At this very moment the rescue operation had reached a different conclusion. One that favors the plans of Pernicious....

-

"Damn it, I knew that we should have turned back... these monsters are a pain to deal with!!"

The hordes of mutated humans, elves, demi-humans and animals had chased Kyoushiro's group all the way the lower part of an old abandoned fortress. Aside from three women that could use powerful spell to mow down a horde of beast, Kyoushiro was having trouble killing monsters one after the other.

The reason was that...

"Papa!! Save me!!"

"You have got to be kidding me?! Again!?"

Kyoushiro cut a human faced goat with three hind legs and a snake tail. Blood spew out and as Kyoushiro ran to take Dahlia back to her mother, a woman with a body of a snake came and attacked him.

"Tsk!"

Kyoushiro clicked his tongue and stopped for a moment in order to counter the incoming enemy. Infusing his muscles with magic, creating a pseudo-boost skill, he then hacked down the snake lady's head like it was a log.

Once he had successfully killed the mutated woman, Kyoushiro tossed Dahlia to the side of her mother. Without even hesitating, Kyoushiro leaped up and stabbed a giant spider with a human man's face with his sword.

"Damn it!! I told you to just bury them all didn't I?!"

Kyoushiro directed his complaints to the elf knight that he chose to save, Elyria Rose. She too was busy cutting down enemies as they all run. Elyria then took a chance and replied back at Kyoushiro's complaint.

"Like I said, the princess's life is our top most priority!! I will not let you destroy this building whilst knowing that she is still inside!!"

After waking up and after hearing everything from Kyoushiro, Elyria had decided to come with him albeit reluctantly. Because she already the squad of elf knights that she brought with her, she had no choice but to rely on the person she sees as an enemy.

"My, you two are quite close aren't you?"

Even a Demon Lord had chimed in their talk.

3rd Demon Lord, Lady Snow the Empress of ice. Her intentions were still unknown but for now she had decided to help Kyoushiro as a means to curry his favor. But despite acting all nice and amicable, it was obvious that she was up to something.

Kyoushiro didn't really want to take her with him but as he was on the weaker side, driving away a Demon Lord on his own would require him to lose more than an arm. The cursed sword can be of use to him but if he to do that, the curse on his arm would rapidly spread again.

Because of that, Kyoushiro had no choice but to let her do what she wants even though Kyoushiro himself doesn't like it.

"Kagami-san!! Please don't throw my daughter like that!!"

"If you don't want to, then keep an eye on her!! Just why you did even came here for!?"

Edsel and her daughter Dahlia came as well. As for the reason, it she seems that the mother and daughter decided to stay with Kyoushiro as much as possible in order to stay safe. Of course, Kyoushiro already asked them to leave when the Elyria wanted to attack the old fortress where Ernest Vern was hiding, but Edsel said "I'd rather stay with you than travel alone along with my daughter, that would be too dangerous" despite being a master magician in the past.

Even so "Would you bring your daughter in this kind of place?" Kyoushiro thought while grumbling.

For a long while since entering, Kyoushiro's group has been pressured by both humans and the men under Ernest Vern. Of course, there were no more 4 Honest Generals and such so it was smooth sailing for most of the time but...

"How big is this place?"

The old fortress was huge. They were still around the entrance part and yet there were already mutated creatures here. Furthermore, they have been running around for 2 hours now. It was like they have just entered a large maze.

"This old fortress was used against the Shadow King once, so it is only normal that is huge"

"Then you should have had it torn down. It served its purpose already..."

Elyria and Kyoushiro were both the vanguards. Lady Snow and Edsel were on support. Even while running, Kyoushiro was rushing down and cleaving through the thick hordes of mutated creatures. Elyria was the same but her use of wind magic that turns into a sharp scythe was more of use than Kyoushiro just swinging his sword.

Kyoushiro sighed as he finally reached the lower floors...

"It's a pain but since we're here already, let's just get this over with"

"For a hero like yourself, you complain a lot"

Kyoushiro would like to say "I'm not a hero though..." but at this point in time, it was already useless grumble. Kyoushiro led everyone down the stairs and proceeded to slay as much as mutated creatures as possible.

"This is weird..." Elyria wondered while following Kyoushiro's lead. The stairs that lead to the lower floors were silent. There were no monsters, no mutated creatures nor there no human enemies.

It was quiet, almost as if, the creatures in the upper floors were just guard dogs. Elyria glanced over at Kyoushiro's body...

"Despite not having any power to destroy large numbers of enemies, this guy is fast"

Throughout the fight in the upper floors, Kyoushiro had fought fairly for himself. Killing monsters with just a sword despite having not much strength, it was a feat that only he can do. Of course, he was aided by numerous enchanted equipment in order to boosts his stats.

But due to his curse, they were only on the bare minimum amount.

Finally, they arrived at a prison chamber.