Damn Reincarnation

e wrapping around the falling meteor.

There was no sound.
There was no explosion, no roar, nothing.
Just like that, the huge meteor disappeared.
Sienna stumbled in the air, unable to believe what had just happened.

‘…The Demon King of Incarceration.’

Sienna glared at the castle.
She could see a man standing at the top of the castle’s spire, where the chain had originated from.
The Demon King of Incarceration was unlike any of the Demon Kings she had encountered until now.
Although the horns on his head betrayed his identity, he looked very human.
His appearance was strangely calm and small compared to the Demon King of Destruction, who took on no tangible form, or the other Demon Kings, who had been rather fierce and large in appearance.

As if having sensed Sienna’s gaze, the Demon King of Incarceration turned his gaze with a slight tilt of his head toward where Sienna stood in the sky.

Zing!

Simply meeting the Demon King of Incarceration’s gaze made Sienna feel as if her mind would collapse.
A sharp headache threatened to knock her unconscious, and her body went crashing down.

“Hey.
Are you okay?”

Fwoosh!

The wind brought forth a familiar smell.
Sienna opened her eyes and turned her head to find Hamel, who had leaped to catch her from afar, before her.
She gasped when she realized she was in Hamel’s arms.

“You smell like blood,” commented Sienna.

“Of course, I do,” responded Hamel with a nonchalant gaze while licking a stream of blood running down his cheek.

He was covered with the blood of the demonfolks he had slaughtered as well as the blood flowing from his own wounds.
Sienna felt the blood soaking her robe as she tightened her grasp on Hamel’s clothes.

“…You didn’t use Ignition, did you?” asked Sienna.

“I didn’t,” responded Hamel.

“You’re lying,” said Sienna.

“It was only for a brief moment, so I basically didn’t.
There’s barely any recoil,” grumbled Hamel, flicking her forehead with his finger.
“Why don’t you worry about yourself instead of me, huh? I told you yesterday, didn’t I? Don’t aim for the castle.
The Demon King of Incarceration isn’t an idiot, so how could he fail to deal with a magic attack right on top of his castle?”

“…But it was worth trying,” said Sienna.

“Right, right.
Thanks to you, we were able to discover that your magic doesn’t have much of an impact on the Demon King of Incarceration,” said Hamel.

Sienna released Hamel’s collar while muttering in a small voice, “I can just use other types of magic.”

Thud.

Hamel placed Sienna on the ground before shaking his head.
“Don’t use anything big, and just maintain your condition.
I’m going.”

“Are you going to Vermouth?” asked Sienna hesitantly.

“Who else would I go to besides that bastard? I came here because I was surprised to see you fall, but Vermouth isn’t having it easy either.
I’d like to take the head of that bastard, Gavid, today.” Hamel turned his head while clicking his tongue.

Booom!

An explosion resounded from the far side of the battlefield, and a murky moonlight soared into the sky.
Vermouth had resorted to using the Moonlight Sword.

“…But that seems to be out of the question,” concluded Hamel.

Immediately afterward, he saw Gavid jump into the sky to escape the consecutive bursts of moonlight.
His eyes glowed black, and Dark Power rose like a flame from the sword that he held with one hand.
In combination with the power of the Demoneye of Divine Glory, the Demonic Sword Glory was preventing the moonlight from destroying everything in its path.

“This isn’t just a brief moment,” muttered Sienna while pressing down on her throbbing chest with her hand.

Hamel crossed the battlefield and joined Vermouth.
He had no choice but to use Ignition to keep pace with Vermouth, who had taken out the Moonlight Sword.

“Liar,” Sienna spate accusingly.

Hamel had promised not to use Ignition in this battle, but… Sienna had not expected him to keep his promise.
In order to enter the castle of the Demon King of Incarceration, it was necessary to conquer the Red Plains and exterminate the Black Fog, and that was why everyone was so desperate.

Despite being inferior in number, the scales of the battle were tipping in their favor because Sienna, Anise, Molon, Vermouth, and Hamel were dominating the battlefield.
In spite of this, there were simply too many enemies.
Each ally had to kill dozens of demonfolkss and demonic beasts to completely eliminate the enemy forces.

However, the knights and soldiers participating in the battlefield were incomparably weaker than Sienna and her comrades.
Even so, they stabbed their enemies without hesitation despite losing their limbs.
There were even people who triggered the mana in their body to explode along with their enemies.

Everyone was desperate because they knew the significance of today’s battle, and that’s why Sienna could not complain about Hamel’s lies.
She took out a potion from the subspace inside her robe and gulped it down.

Afterwards, Sienna repeated the same actions from her sixteen years of battles.
She chugged down potions like water to keep her mana stores up while unleashing bombardments of magic.
She supported herself with Anise’s Light and took the path that Molon had carved.

Meanwhile, Sienna continued to observe Hamel and Vermouth as they pushed the enemy’s commander.
Whenever she saw there was a chance, she threatened Gavid with her magic.

They fought for a long time.
Even though day and night weren’t distinguished here, it felt as if they had battled for an entire day.
The seemingly endless shouts slowly faded, and silence surfaced from time to time.
The plains were colored red with blood, rather befitting of its name, and the stench of the corpses and blood was pungent.

Sienna recited incantations with lifeless eyes.
Her lips were extremely dry and torn, causing blood to drip from her lips, but she still recited incantations while stumbling forward.

“…Sienna, Sienna!”

Arms clutched around Sienna’s waist from behind, and she came to a stop.
Sienna jumped up and looked back.
She saw a pale and lifeless face.

Anise was taking ragged breaths.
She too reeked of blood.

“It’s over,” Anise stated.

“…Anise?” Sienna uttered.

“It’s over.
Stupid Sienna! Even though you always berate Molon and Hamel, you’re no different from them.
Have you been consumed by your magic again?” asked Anise.

It had been inevitable.
In order to accurately distinguish between friend and foe while continuously casting spells, she needed to completely merge her consciousness with magic.
However, doing so transformed her into a mobilized magic cannon optimized for battles.

“…I wasn’t consumed.
This is…,” Sienna tried to refute.

“Yes, I know very well what you are trying to say.
Anyways, it’s over,” said Anise while enduring her pain.
She clicked her tongue as she looked over Sienna’s torn lips, ragged hands, and dragging feet.
“At least you’re better off than Molon.
That’s a relief.”

“How is Molon?” asked Sienna.

“Well, I don’t know where to start….
Both of his arms were severed about four times, and he lost his entire lower body once.
Ah, that’s not including the injuries to his legs,” explained Anise.

“…..”

“Our damages….
In short, about two hundred people survived.
Less than a hundred, if we’re excluding those who survived through the skin of their teeth, but yes, what’s important is that they are still alive,” continued Anise.

“What about Hamel and Vermouth?” asked Sienna.

“They’re fine,” answered Anise.

She let out a long sigh before stretching her hand toward Sienna.

Fwoosh…!

The Light coming from Anise’s hand was dim compared to the beginning of the battle, but the miracle quickly healed Sienna’s injuries.

“…But they missed the Blade of Incarceration.”

“Ah….”

“We couldn’t catch him once he made up his mind to run.
Noir Giabella’s Demoneye of Fantasy was hard to deal with, but Gavid Lindman’s Demoneye of Divine Gory was….
To be completely honest, we would have been wiped out way earlier if Sir Vermouth had not been here,” said Anise.

She looked frustrated as she pursed her lips.

A quick look at bit.ly/3iBfjkV will leave you more fulfilled.

It was known that Gavid Lindman’s Demoneye of Divine Glory had been directly bestowed to him by the Demon King of Incarceration.

Who did Gavid Lindman treat as his god? It was the Demon King of Incarceration.
As the name suggested, the Demoneye of Divine Glory allowed Gavid Lindman to borrow the power of his god.
In other words, he could use the power of the Demon King of Incarceration.

Sienna silently clenched her trembling hand and turned her head.

She looked around the battlefield with stiff eyes.
The number of corpses outnumbered the survivors by far.

‘Hamel.’

Then Sienna saw Vermouth supporting Hamel, who was rubbing off the blood around his mouth.
Sensing Sienna’s gaze on him, Hamel raised his head to look at her.

Hamel waved his hand while speaking in a husky voice, “That bastard was pretty good at running.”

***

They gave up on recovering the corpses of allies, but they did not abandon the funeral.
Anise and the few surviving clergies knelt on the bloodstained plains and prayed to their god to deliver the souls of the dead warriors to heaven.

“I decided to leave our back to them,” said Vermouth while staring at the Castle of the Demon King of Incarceration.
“The forces of the Black Fog and the demonic beasts have been wiped out.
The five of us will break through the remaining troops in the castle.
The Shield, Staff, and Blade should be remaining in the caste, but… we five should be able to break through.”

“Yes, five,” Hamel muttered while sitting on the body of a demonic beast.

He looked rather calm despite having used Ignition.
It was almost as if he were experiencing no aftereffects from using Ignition.

“…It will be better for us to go alone than for everyone to go.
We can fight in any situation if it’s the five of us, and we’ll be able to take care of each other as well.”

“Shouldn’t we also keep in mind that demons and demonic beasts might join forces from outside the Centipede Mountains?”

“That’s why we’re leaving our backs to them,” answered Molon.

Although they had won the battle, the remaining troops looked as miserable as defeated soldiers.
However, their eyes still glowed with a brilliant light.

He added, “They are warriors.
They will protect us, even if it cost them their lives.”

“We’ll leave tomorrow,” said Hamel.

Anise flinched and stared at Hamel with astonishment.
“Don’t be a fool.
You, of all people, need to rest and—”

“I’m not experiencing any rebound,” Hamel cut in, raising himself up for everyone to see.
“On the contrary, my body feels very light.
Besides, if we stay here for a few days because of me, there would have been no point in targeting the plains.”

“But—”

“It’s fine,” asserted Hamel with a smile.

Vermouth stared at Hamel for a while and then nodded.

“…You are right.
We’ve already come this far, so we cannot wait any longer.
However, Hamel, promise me this.
Just as I….
Just as we will not leave you behind, you cannot leave us behind,” Vermouth stated.

“Why are you making it sound so complicated? You’re just telling me not to die,” responded Hamel.

“We must go together from beginning to end.
If you feel like you’re going to collapse in the middle, don’t force yourself and lean on us,” said Vermouth.

“Right, right.” Hamel waved his hand before springing down from the corpse of the demonic beast.

Sienna observed Hamel’s movements closely.
Before, he had been unable to even move properly due to the rebound of Ignition.
It appeared that he wasn’t lying about not experiencing any rebound.

‘The flow of mana… is stable as well.
He’s fine.’ Sienna nodded while giving a sigh of relief.

Tomorrow, they would climb the Castle of the Demon King of Incarceration.