Living a Maiden Game in Hard Mode

Chapter 124 – Invasion of Ten-to

Yuen of the Ten-to was also aware of the disappearance of the Hercules Star System from the sector that it once occupied.

After the Battle of the Apollo Star System, Yuen learned that the Spirits could repaint the realm, so he deployed a reconnaissance fleet outside the realm of the Hercules Star System for surveillance purposes.

As a result, the Daemons contracted to the magic engine operators of the reconnaissance fleet were able to learn of the abnormal situation in which ‘the Hercules Star System was swallowed up by a higher dimension and was sent elsewhere along with Fortress Kerviel’.

Thanks to this, Yuen was able to ask his contracted Daemon, Laura, about the situation.

“What happened to the Daemon Emperor, Zirke?”

『Mortals die. There is no immortality, even for Spirits and Daemons.』

“In other words, she died when she was defeated?”

To Yuen, who looked frustrated, Laura gave a slightly different answer.

『When two evenly matched beings fight each other and one is defeated, they become sustenance, their original nature inherited, and are reborn. By doing so, they are able to overcome their weaknesses after defeat. To become a greater existence.』

“What was that?”

When Yuen was told the reason for the conflict between the Spirits and the Demons, he forgot about the critical situation and asked back in a daze.

“Being defeated after every possible effort and maximum resistance is one of the steps toward a better evolution.”

The strongest organisms do not evolve. Because there is no need to evolve… Yuen has heard this before.

Humans also evolve weapons and technology by fighting each other.

Conflict is not the only element necessary for evolution. However, the notion that conflict does not cause evolution is also inaccurate.

『Lady Zirke’s power will become a Spirit and one day return to a Daemon. So it is only a brief departure. Perhaps we and humans have different measures of things and different concepts of death.』

Hearing Laura’s argument, Yuen showed some understanding of the adaptive evolution of Spirits and Daemons, but returned to the pressing issue at hand.

“I have a vague understanding of the scale of Daemons, but if you lose, you die, and that’s it.”

『It’s difficult, isn’t it? But humans would agree that life for an insect seems more difficult than for humans. Do your best?』

Yuen, who had been compared to an insect by Laura, who seemed unconcerned, countered with a bitter expression on his face.

“Even insects will resist when they are about to be killed. So if we have a contract, I’ll ask you to help me.”

『Very well. For us, it is part of the evolutionary cycle.』

What Yuen had in mind was a common sense defense.

The Daemon Emperor, Zilke, had been defeated, and it was unlikely that Zeahild, the Daemon King of Ten-to, would be able to hold out, but there was a glimmer of hope in the fact that Fortress Kerviel had disappeared along with the entire Hercules Star System.

Without the Marquis of Amakawa, who is in charge of all spirit-related matters in the Monarchy, it would not be possible to cause an abnormal situation like territorialization… possibly.

That way, the Daemon King of Ten-to will not be defeated, and Ten-to’s fighter crafts can easily repel the Monarchy’s invasion fleet.

An invasion from Ten-to would also be impossible, but if both sides reach an impasse, after hundreds of years have passed and the war generation has passed, a calm discussion between the leaders would one day bring the war to an end.

And Yuen’s hopes were dashed.

The first thing that occurred was the opening reaction of the Transition Gate created by the Daemon Mariel.

Zeahild, recognizing Mariel as a Daemon of the same Zirke lineage, allowed the passage to open, though she was somewhat skeptical of Mariel, who had somehow become a Daemon King capable of connecting the Transition Gate before she knew it.

Zeahild, who had received reports from the Daemons similar to those sent to Yuen by the surveillance fleet in the Hercules System, knew that Zirke’s death was caused by the Monarchy and had no suspicions about Mariel.

The death of Ishidor, her contractor, was falsely attributed to the invasion of the Monarchy by common sense, while information was cut off in Mariel’s realm. Therefore, Ōizumi’s fleet, operated by Ōizumi people, was allowed to pass through.

Therefore, when Yúnlán deployed three Daemon Kings at the same time, she could not immediately conclude that they were the enemy, and her response was momentarily delayed.

『As Lady Mariel said, she really is a foolish Daemon King.』

Of the three Daemon Kings Yúnlán used, one taunted Zeahild and attacked, while another joined forces and held her down 2 to 1.

It was the energy generated by grinding 20 billion Herculeans to produce a large amount of miasma that overpowered Zeahild.

While the magic element converted by the energy of the two bodies held Zeahild down, the third body tore out the energy harvesting roots that connected Zeahild to the Ten-to Star System, and planted its own roots in an attempt to take over the realm.

If it had been one-on-one, Zeahild would not have lost.

If it had been 2 on 1, the outcome would not have been conclusive.

Because it was 3 on 1, Zeahild was backed into a corner.

An unfamiliar red transition gate spread out in the Ten-to Star System, as if to indicate that Zeahild was in an increasingly inferior position.

“What the hell is going on!?”

『It’s a natural disaster for humanity, isn’t it?』

To Yuen’s surprise, while Laura was talking like it was someone else’s problem, an unknown structure flew out of the red transition gate.

It was the same group that first appeared in the Hercules Star System after arriving in the Andromeda Galaxy.

There are many 800-meter-class warships and 72 5,000-meter-long work ships.

They began to move toward the Ten-to Star System and the inhabited planet of Fù ChúnTomiharu, as if confident of the Daemon King’s victory

From Ten-to, a communication call was also sent to Ōizumi’s warships, but there was no response from Yúnlán.

And just as the same suppression operations in the Hercules Star System against the human race, with the exception of the Ōizumi people, began to be replicated, Fortress Kerviel arrived.

The intrusion into the midst of the battle between the Daemons of Ten-to and the Andromeda Galaxy was unexpected for Hart.

He didn’t know when the Andromeda Galaxy would invade, and he couldn’t aim for it. The best thing to do would have been to capture Ten-to before the enemies from the Andromeda Galaxy arrived.

However, Hart decided that it wasn’t such a bad thing to intervene between the Daemon King of the Ten-to and the Daemon King of the Andromeda Galaxy, so he ordered Maya, the Spirit Emperor, to attack.

『Maya, do it.』

『Yes, Father.』

Hart, not knowing the best way for the spirits to fight, gave no detailed instructions, and Maya, concentrating on the task at hand, gave brief answers.

Maya’s first move, a surprise attack, was made against the third Daemon King, who was peeling the roots of Zeahild in the Star System.

The first strike of a sneak attack is immensely effective.

Because she didn’t fight head-on, she had the maximum amount of energy left, and she threw it at the third Daemon King, which was also connected to the Hercules Star System via the Transition Gate.

The mass of energy taken from the Daemon Emperor, Zirke, was transformed into a sharp Magic Element Sword that pierced the third Daemon King.

At the same time, a Strategic Satellite from the Apollo Star System was thrown through the Transition Gate and exploded in space.

Instead of a scream, the red magic elements that had spread throughout the space region creaked as if they were trembling, and the red magic element burst out as if a human body had exploded and blood had spurted out.

The red Transition Gate disappeared, and Gremory’s fleet, which was in the process of invading from the Hercules Star System, was partially wiped out.

『The First one.』

A brief report from Maya reached Hart’s mind.

The results of the battle were dramatic. A black transition gate was created near Fortress Kerviel, connecting it to the Orias Star System.

As if to illustrate this, some of the giant artifacts deployed in the Orias Star System flew out of the Black Transition Gate, and connected to Fortress Kerviel.

「This is Dinah, a Count-level thinker of Crocell. We have confirmed the connection between the Ten-to Star System and the Orias Star System. Combat Celestial Group, commence plunge.」

Hart and Fortress Kerviel, who had a sense of urgency about the Gremory fleet, were relieved by the appearance of reinforcements.

The enemy fleet was also numerous, but the reinforcements from Crocell were of a different magnitude.

Crocell, which lacked the Magic Element Engine and Daemons, deployed large combat celestial bodies that did not consider warping with the Magic Element Engine.

A huge herd of Crocell’s elephants appeared one after another, crushing the large army of ants that made up the Gremory fleet and charging toward them at a furious pace.

「A Gremory fleet of this size can be destroyed instantly. We won’t let them lay one finger on Fortress Kerviel.」

The “one finger” that was automatically translated by the Spirits gave Hart enough psychological leeway to fantasize that it might actually be a tentacle or a stinger.

Meanwhile, Maya absorbed the third Daemon King she had defeated and then attacked the second Daemon King who was supporting the fight between Zeahild and the first.

Unlike the third before, the second was braced against Maya, but it was also wary of Zeahild and unable to counterattack with a perfect stance.

Maya, the Spirit Emperor who had absorbed the Daemon Emperor Zilke, wielded overwhelming power against the second Daemon King, who was expending energy in the battle between the two Daemon Kings, and sliced it in two.

A burst of black light erupted from the cut wound, smearing the Daemon King, who had an earth-colored light.

『The Second One.』

While the first defeated Daemon King had not yet been absorbed, the second defeated Daemon King joined the light that was being absorbed.

From the sight of the absorbed light turning black, Hart could imagine that the Daemon King of Ten-to and the Daemon King who fought with it would not be able to intercept the energy of the defeated Daemon Kings.

Maya, who had destroyed two Daemon Kings with little consumption, targeted and attacked the Daemon King of the Andromeda Galaxy, who was fighting with the Daemon King of Ten-to.

The Daemon King of the Andromeda Galaxy was no longer attacking the Daemon King of Ten-to. Rather, it was fending off the attack, desperately leading her to turn her attention to Maya.

『To be unable to judge the situation, such a foolish Daemon King. Please retreat.』

The Daemon King of the Andromeda Galaxy spat at the foolish Daemon King of Ten-to. Then she urged Yúnlán to retreat to the Hercules Star System.

When Yúnlán went to the Ten-to Star System, Mariel had given him four Daemon Kings. Two to face against Zeahild, one to take over the realm, and one for emergency evacuation.

While Maya and the Daemon Kings were still fighting, the first Daemon King, convinced of defeat, urged the fourth Daemon King to retreat while it could still create a realm.

The loss of the Daemon Kings is painful, but the Herculeans, a portion of the former Coalition, and the Honyō people, who can increase their numbers, are in Mariel’s hands in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Just as the Royal Army was able to recover from the loss of its fighter crafts, Mariel could make the decision to retreat because she would be able to recover from the loss of the Daemon Kings.

As a result of the not-so-foolish Daemon King’s quick decision, a golden transition gate appeared in Ten-to, beckoning the fleet of Yúnlán and his men.

Maya did not react to the golden transition gate.

Without a second glance, she pierced, tore apart, and eroded the remaining Daemon King of the Andromeda Galaxy without fail and without care.

『A Spirit Emperor who is not stupid has no cuteness.』

This affected Maya’s mind more than a simple counterattack, but it had no effect on the battle itself.

After defeating the three Daemon Kings of the Andromeda Galaxy, Maya made her way to the Daemon King of Ten-to, who was badly wounded.

Zeahild majestically confronted her, then her existence was ripped apart, and a celestial body was thrown into the wound, which exploded and killed her.

After defeating the two in succession, Maya turned to Hart and reported.

『Father, what kind of daughter do you think is cute?』

What happened to the report of the destruction of the third and fourth ones… Hart, who retorted in his heart, wondered how he would answer his daughter’s question.