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With this, we are done with the first battle. The number of pieces each side can use for battle is the same now. 

I answer the raised hand of the returning Mix with a high five.

“I have hunted him down just as you requested, Mister Friend!” (Mix)

“Yeah, this is my first time seeing your fighting style, but you are pretty strong.” 

The specs of Mix can’t be called high compared to the others even as flattery. 

Her strength goes without saying, but her technique is also lower compared to Ilias and Ekdoik. 

But with the knives that have varied special traits and her psychological manipulation, she accurately lands her knives. 

The strength of her mind; that must be her weapon. 

“Ehehehe~!” (Mix)

“That said, it is true that this is a first-timer killer.” 

Mix can show her highest performance when the opponent doesn’t know her cards. It is like enjoying a magic show. 

The other Great Devils were watching this battle somewhere too. Thinking about it, having her fighting style be seen is somewhat disadvantageous.

“I still have cards under my sleeve though… By the way, if you were a Great Devil, how would you deal with me?” (Mix)

“I would turn into my original body which even the chains of Ekdoik would be hard pressed to deal with and make my body as sturdy as possible. After that, I would charge straight at you without any real thought.” 

“That’s a barbaric method with no art… It is not like I have no countermeasures, but that’s what I am most scared of.” (Mix)

She obviously has already foreseen a scenario where her enemy charges at her without any forethought, so she should have one or two techniques to counter that, but that would be the battle style that would bring the most accidents for her. 

Even in the battle just now, if Fafilmuzekusho returned to his original form the moment he judged his lightning magic wasn’t working and rushed in, he might have had a chance for victory. 

“Now, what should I do next?” 

“I can still fight, you know!” (Mix)

“So you say, but…” 

We have heard information from Ekdoik about the nicknames of the remaining Great Devils and their special abilities. 

The remaining ones are: Right Leg, Left Leg, Tail, Nose, Ears, and Tongue. 

Their personalities have been considered too. I can pretty much guess the next 3 pieces the Purple Demon Lord will be using according to their loyalty. 

They all specialize in physical combat, so I should take out Mix from the next lineup.

I sat on the table again.

“I guess I should congratulate you for your victory in the first battle?” (Purple)

“Yeah, I am happy for the victory of my comrade. As for you, you don’t think anything of it, huh.” 

The Purple Demon Lord silently set her pieces. I can’t see any changes in her state. 

“Right. That was a Great Devil I didn’t really tinker much with. Considering the battles until now, he was someone I thought would have a low chance of winning even with the restrictions of the Pawn Mask released.” (Purple)

“Figures. By the way, you must have tinkered with 2 aside from Dyuvuleori. Nose and Ears, right?” 

“…Why do you think that’s the case?” (Purple)

“Intuition. Uncertain to a degree where it would be hard to explain with words.” 

“I see… I have finished over here.” (Purple)

“Let me think for a bit.” 

I lightly bite the second joint of my index finger and ponder. 

I normally don’t think like this, but I am going full power this time around. I think with the posture I can concentrate the most in. 

“Even if you think about it that much, you can’t see my pieces, and I won’t move as you wish, you know?” (Purple)

“…Right. Okay, I have decided.” 

I set the pieces, closed the drawer, and the pieces show up on the table after that. 

From left to right, the lineup of the Purple Demon Lord’s pieces is: None, None, Right Leg, Left Leg, and Tail. 

On this side there’s: Me, Ekdoik, None, None, Gold Demon Lord.

With this, a one-on-one against the Gold Demon Lord and a Great Devil has been settled. 

“…So you are going to continue that play of yours, huh?” (Purple)

“The first one you used really was the Tail, huh.” 

“—Tserukanritessa, come out.” (Purple)

She throws a devil piece with its tail dyed pitch black.

And then, a single Great Devil shows up. 

This time around it is the form of a human and devil forcefully mixed together. It feels as if he is trying to maintain his human form, but he can’t hold back his original Great Devil’s body. 

What stands out would really be his tail. It is as if its flesh and bones are sticking out. This tail that has many joints has sharp claws at each joint. 

“Tail of Shaving, Tserukanritessa. To think I would be fighting a Demon Lord. Good, good.” (Tserukanritessa)

“Gold may have a sturdy barrier, but her means of attack are just a few spells with questionable power, you know? It doesn’t change the fact that she is the lowest in physical strength among the ones here, right?” (Purple)

I must be the lowest one here. 

It is true that the physical strength of the Gold Demon Lord is clearly low. 

I heard that she has been decapitated by Lord Ragudo several times in the simulated worlds when she declared war on Taizu. 

I stand up from the table and head to the side of the Gold Demon Lord.

“It ended up with you being the next one.” 

“So it seems. I did say I would join too, but to think it would be as a combatant…” (Gold)

“I am sure he will mercilessly come for your head.” 

“This one isn’t good at physical battles though. However, I can at least draw his cards.” (Gold)

“I know.” 

“By the way, Ser, since the opportunity has arisen, let’s have a negotiation.” (Gold)

“What is it?” 

“If this one were to put up a good fight or maybe even win, can I get a reward? Of course, I don’t think I will win though.” (Gold)

“…” 

“Right… It would be a miraculous thing to happen, so I would like something really nice, ya know?” (Gold)

I gently grab the base of her tail.

And then, I smile gently.

“Hiih! S-Stop with the base! A-Also, I have told ya those eyes are scary!” (Gold)

“I just thought you were trying to do some sly negotiation here, you see. I will promise you about the same level of reward as the others. But I won’t go any further than that.” 

“Wa, this one is a frail woman, ya know?” (Gold)

“I know. And I also know the fact that you can defeat everyone here.” 

“Muh… What, ya noticed?” (Gold)

“As if someone who came here nonchalantly from Gahne all the way here alone would be weak. Show him the power of Ruling.” 

“Nfufufu! Then, I am getting that reward, okay?” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord tottered her way to the center of the plaza. 

Now then, let’s do what I have to do before the one-on-one begins. 

I bring out a scrap of parchment from my pocket and write down a memo.

I then return to the table without walking to my allies. 

“Oh my, will you watch by my side this time around?” (Purple)

“Yeah, I have already written down what I needed. If it is her, I don’t need to stop her when the time comes.” 

The reason I went to the side of Ekdoik was because in the off-chance Mix had a hard time and her life was threatened, we could swiftly save her. 

But there’s no worry about that with the Gold Demon Lord.

“Right. Gold is immortal due to the resurrection magic’s power, so even if you were to be late in withdrawing her and she were to die, there wouldn’t be any issues, right?” (Purple)

“I didn’t mean that when I said that, but even if you guys are immortal Demon Lords, I wouldn’t want to see you guys injured or dying.” 

“Then, what do you mean by that?” (Purple)

“You will understand soon enough. By the way, your leeway will also be gone.” 

I want to continue the talk, but the battle began not long after. This will be even bigger than the first-timer killer of Mix, so I am going to be using the Superhuman Glasses in concentration mode from the very beginning. 

“Now then, both of you, take your stances.” (Dyuvuleori)

Tserukanritessa takes a stance at the signal of Dyuvuleori. His tail is wagging as if saying it is ready to attack at any moment. 

On the other hand, there’s the Gold Demon Lord who took out a folding fan and spread her lips in amusement. 

“…Fight!” (Dyuvuleori)

The one who moved at the same time as the signal was given was Tserukanritessa. He must have learned that watching and waiting would be dangerous after seeing the battle of Mix. 

He stretched out his own tail faster than the chains Ekdoik can control freely towards the Gold Demon Lord, attempting to smash her with it. 

But the tail stopped right before it reached the Gold Demon Lord. No, it was stopped by the power of the Gold Demon Lord’s barrier. 

“I see, it is a troublesome barrier. But how long will you be able to maintain it?!” 

Tserukanritessa spun in place and flailed his tail again. 

There were now 9 of them. They branched in an instant and were rushing at her like blades with their respective wills. 

They all stopped before they reached, but he continued the attacks without care. 

It is an extremely efficient defense where you make the enemy stop their attack with their own power, but the stamina of Tserukanritessa amplified by the Pawn Mask is almost infinite. On the other hand, the mana of the Gold Demon Lord is finite. 

Attacks from all directions that don’t even allow a path for escape. They are all stopping right before, but there’s no assurance that will continue forever.

“Idiot. I would get tired if I were to use it the whole time.” (Gold)

The folding fan she swung randomly landed on a tail. 

There’s no opening to escape and he is continuously stopping right before it hits, so it is not difficult to touch them even without much skill. 

But if you try to touch them by your own will, the defense on that area will be nullified. 

As a result, the folding fan received the attack of the tail and broke. 

And then, the match was settled.

“…Eh?!” 

The one who leaked her voice was the Purple Demon Lord.

Of course, she would. Tserukanritessa, who has been on the offensive until now, collapsed without a sound. 

The attacks of the tails obviously also stop. 

The tails lost consciousness and slammed languidly on the ground. 

“Good grief, even if it was a cheap one I bought in a souvenir store…it was a folding fan this one chose.” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord stepped on the tail lying down on the ground and approached the side of Tserukanritessa.

And then, she held her hand up and used her magic. 

It is a common wind spell that can slice down a large tree. Even though it wouldn’t work on a Great Devil who has moved its mana for defense, that spell sliced off the head of the immobile Tserukanritessa.

After confirming that his body was beginning to crumble from his death, the Gold Demon Lord returned here. 

“See, this one’s win.” (Gold)

“Gold, you…what did you do?” (Purple)

“What, ya should have learned the basic wind spell from Yugura at least, right?” (Gold)

She began to create wind with magic as if showing it off, and the Purple Demon Lord smashed her hand on the table and shouted.

Dyuvuleori ran swiftly at that.

“There are very few spells within the mental manipulation magic that can immediately faint a Great Devil that has amplified their magic resistance with the Pawn Mask though?! Are you telling me you have been given such a power…a different power from what you already had from Yugura?!” (Purple)

“What are ya saying? What I used was the Ruling ya know well, Purple.” (Gold)

“Ruling is the power to form a simulated world. Such a power…” (Purple)

“Here.” (Gold)

The Gold Demon Lord placed a hand on Dyuvuleori who approached naturally. 

Dyuvuleori also didn’t think he would be touched in this situation and didn’t feel any hostility in it either. 

He allowed the Gold Demon Lord to touch him. 

Dyuvuleori collapsed powerlessly. 

“?!” 

“Aah, ya can relax. The boy wants a match, so I won’t do something boorish.” (Gold)

Dyuvuleori returned to his senses after a while and jumped up. 

That was an awfully fast rise. 

“That just now…” (Dyuvuleori)

“Dyuvuleori, any abnormalities with your body?!” (Purple)

“N-No, by the time I noticed, I was in pitch black darkness with nothing around…” (Dyuvuleori)

“Sorry about that. It wasn’t a simulated world prepared for the sake of entertainment, so it must have been boring, right? Only the mind can go to this one’s simulated world, ya see. If ya get sent to the simulated world, yer body will be defenseless. That’s basically all it is.” (Gold)

“Mind…” (Dyuvuleori)

Right. The Gold Demon Lord’s power is the formation of simulated worlds, or advanced calculations inside there. 

Those methods are performed by moving your mind to the simulated world. 

The Gold Demon Lord used that before to send Ilias and the others to the simulated world and tried to play pranks on their bodies. 

A state where your mind is not present is even more defenseless than sleeping. 

If you were to be sent to a simulated world in the middle of battle, you can cook them up as you please. 

This method can’t be used in the simulated world, thus the Gold Demon Lord only has the defensive barrier in the simulated world, and could only rely on herself.

“You can’t…resist it?” (Purple)

“I normally ask for permission when sending them, but if I want to, I don’t need an agreement.” (Gold)

“You…knew about this power from Gold?” (Purple)

“Rather than knowing, I had a taste of it.” 

“Speaking of which, Ser used it without worrying too much about it.” (Gold)

At the time when we had the match at Gahne, I cleared it pretty quickly and would go check the state of the others while having a fun talk with the Gold Demon Lord. I was thrown into the simulated worlds countless times without a say from me. 

I tried to test out whether I can resist it, but it was impossible. 

By the way, Rakura told us later that she tried to resist it, but she testified that it was no good.

It seems like she secretly tried to slack off. After I scolded her, I treated her to a drink. 

“The reason why I judged it could be used in battle was because of how the Green Demon Lord acted in the regular meeting I heard from the Gold Demon Lord.” 

“Green’s?” (Purple)

The Purple Demon Lord made a questioning look at the name of a person she didn’t expect. 

Green Demon Lord: the 3rd in hierarchy and the strongest Demon Lord at present. 

“Their personality is haughty, and if the talk gets long or it gets noisy, they would get in a bad mood and turn threatening. That’s what I heard.” 

“…Yeah, that’s right. Green is above any Demon Lord that has resurrected.” (Purple)

“I drew out the statements of that Green Demon Lord and analyzed them carefully, but they don’t interject when the Gold Demon Lord speaks. Also, they haven’t threatened the Gold Demon Lord specifically.” 

“…” 

“…Ooh, now that ya mention it, that’s true.” (Gold)

“This is the Green Demon Lord fearing the Gold Demon Lord…is not what I will say, but it would mean they acknowledge her as being above the other Demon Lords.” 

“Isn’t it because of the Hierarchy Curse?” (Purple)

“If that were all, they can just threaten her with: ‘Try using it. If you do, I will kill you’. In that case, it is natural that they are wary of the Ruling of the Gold Demon Lord.” 

This is merely speculation, so I can’t say it yet, but maybe at the time when the Green Demon Lord was on the verge of being killed by the Black Demon Lord that had been granted many powers by Yugura, the power Black used might have been the Ruling power. 

Yugura didn’t just give the 2nd in hierarchy to the Gold Demon Lord so that she would have the right to speak; maybe he also considered her own strength.

An unreasonable power that has the possibility to defeat even the Green Demon Lord that’s considered outrageous even by other Demon Lords when it comes to plain battle power. If I think of it in that way, it makes sense.

“So this one was actually pretty awesome, huh!” (Gold)

“I am impressed that you can say that when you are already aware of it.” 

Of course, it is not like it doesn’t have weak points. For example; she has shown the downside that she has to touch the other party. 

If someone with battle experience were to avoid her seriously, as long as their physical strength is on the level of an average person, they would be able to fight without touching her. 

Well, this weak point might just be disadvantageous. 

And this reality will cause an extremely bad situation for the Purple Demon Lord. 

The Purple Demon Lord has confidence in the strength of Dyuvuleori and it is due to this that she decided this way to carry out our match. 

The way to avoid defeat is to avoid bringing out the Purple Demon Lord piece. 

Because of that, she has to avoid the possibility of having less than 3 pieces aside from her. 

Even if the other 2 are not on the level of Dyuvuleori, I can tell they have strength that surpasses the other Great Devils. 

Dyuvuleori collapsed just now without being able to resist. This without a doubt will stir the Purple Demon Lord.

That’s because the possibility of the Gold Demon Lord being able to defeat all the devils has been flashed before her after all. 

The reality is that distress is showing on her face. 

It is not only the color of defeat that’s showing. It also has to do with what happens after the match.

The Gold Demon Lord has been assigned as the witness of this match. 

It goes without saying the difference in authority between a Demon Lord with power and one that doesn’t.

“I see. I now understand the reason why you needed Gold. So she is the blade that will create a crack in my formation, huh?” (Purple)

“Yeah. Are you feeling the balance now?” 

“Yes, but the scales are still just leveled. There’s no knowing who will win just yet.” (Purple)

The Purple Demon Lord said this and opened the drawer. 

I also match that and open the drawer. 

I set the pieces and we tell each other. 

“Done.” (Purple)

“Here, too.” 

The pieces show up on the table. 

The pieces of the Purple Demon Lord from left to right are: None, Right Leg, Nose, Left Leg, None.

Here it is: Me, None, Ekdoik, None, Rakura.

With this, Ekdoik’s battle against a Great Devil has been decided. 

The Purple Demon Lord saw the pieces and bit her lips.

“As I said, what are you trying to pull here?!” (Purple)

“Strategy. Didn’t you say you wouldn’t complain about it?” 

“You are using your piece that’s your defeat condition, and saving your Gold piece that can win; what’s the point of this?!” (Purple)

The Purple Demon Lord has now smelled the scent of defeat near her and is losing her leeway. 

This shaking is also working. Her heart is wavering. 

“Ekdo requested a one-on-one against the Nose Great Devil, you see. I was just thinking about having him win that one.” 

It is a Great Devil that insulted Beglagud just like Gugugeguderstaf. I have heard about their name from Ekdoik.

Ekdoik also consulted me about whether I could prepare a place for him to do that in this time’s match if possible. 

Being told this, the Purple Demon Lord began noticing how strange the current situation is -no, I made her notice.

“Wait, why did you think I would place a piece here?” (Purple)

“…I would know at least that much.” 

I throw a scrap of parchment onto the table. The parchment showed [-000-] and [0-0-0] one below the other. 

It is the prediction I wrote down beforehand just a few moments ago. 

The Purple Demon Lord must have realized clearly here that this wasn’t a result brought about by sheer luck. 

“This is…the positions of the pieces just now… Why…Why do you have something like this?! What…What’s going on…?! What’s…with those eyes? What is it?!” (Purple)

“Uhee… Purple, just here to warn ya, but when this boy has those eyes, he is scary. Really scary. This one was on the verge of crying, I’ll have ya know.” (Gold)

Analyze the target, get in their position, and predict their thoughts and actions: Comprehension. 

One of the few weapons I trained myself in within a world filled with malice. 

As for when I have been using this, it is from the very beginning. I have been given permission just once by Ilias. 

Then, I will maintain that ‘once’ the whole time. 

“Didn’t I tell you? I will answer you with my everything. I have been given permission by Ilias. I will comprehend you with everything I have.”

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