Rayos’s Knuckle Duster on the King Star stopped moving, and he clicked his tongue.
“Nice one. This is a gift, so take it!”
He shot his immobilized right arm at the Demon King.
“I’m surprised it wasn’t utterly destroyed by a single blow.”
*DOGOOON!!*
The Demon King had ample distance to evade and easily dodged. He slipped past Rayos’s pursuing fist on the Royal Exclusive Machine and hammered a fist of similar power into its abdomen.
—*Ngggh!!!*
“Gotcha!”
“Nngh, you can still move?”
With half of its upper body gone, the Royal Exclusive Machine detonated its backpack support device to try and pin the Demon King to the ground.
The explosion and shock propelled it into a body slam against the Demon King.
This, even the Demon King couldn’t dodge.
—*GOOOON!!!*
“Crush himmm!”
“Grrrrhhh!”
The Demon King regretted his decision to leave the labyrinth.
He poured strength into both hands, trying to escape the Royal Exclusive Machine’s crushing embrace.
*Geee, Gan, Gan!*
The King Star began to crumble from the broken parts.
“Almost there! Why—!”
*GASHAAAAN!!*
“Haa, haa… That was a close one, for the first time in a while.”
Looking at the King Star’s head, the Demon King partially deactivated his skill enhancements, having avenged his subordinates.
It offered immense power, but at a great cost – a double-edged sword.
It was natural to deactivate it once the battle was over. After all, there were no remaining threats in the vicinity.
Or so he thought.
*Gacon!*
“Huh? Why are you still mov–”
The Royal Exclusive Machine activated a mechanism in its severed left arm.
A jagged knuckle duster, slightly longer than a Golem’s finger, emerged.
*Shuu! Gogyiiin!*
“—Guh!?”
The left arm was a fatal blow.
The Demon King pulled the jagged knuckle duster from his right side, where it had dug in.
He healed the severe wound that was bleeding profusely with healing magic.
“Cough, your last… desperate act? Haa, mortal technology’s… oil, cut? Nn, nnn?? Gaha?!”
The Demon King felt a strange sensation in his healed body.
The next moment.
He vomited something surging from his stomach.
It was a large amount of dark red blood.
“? Gueh?!”
Was his healing magic not working?
As this question crossed his mind, a second wave of nausea struck.
*Oeeh, becha becha.*
Was poison smeared on the jagged knuckle duster?
Or were fragments left inside his body…
“Oeeeee”
He vomited nearly half the blood in his body.
While his healing magic refined mana into blood, he couldn’t keep up at this rate.
To the labyrinth. If inside the labyrinth, he had authority.
He could have his subordinates, who he’d left on guard, treat him.
“Gah, Ughhh”
Oeee.
He took one step at a time towards the entrance leading to the labyrinth.
However, with only a few steps left, he fainted from anemia.
“Ugh… Nngh…”
He was so close to saving his life.
“What… is this state… is that what you want to say? ♪”
“Ngh!! Uguu”
Who are you!! Is this your doing?!
“Haaah? I don’t understand this one very well. ♪”
Rayos, having returned to his physical body, appeared before the Demon King.
Then, he began to explain.
“I implanted foreign objects into your body. Ah, it’s not possible with magic. Those relics don’t conduct magic power. The foreign objects are moving through every blood vessel in your body, damaging them. To remove them, surgery is the only option, but do you understand? ♪ This is a world reliant on magic. Cutting open your body and then healing it… doesn’t sound appealing, does it? ♪♪”
The Demon King, in pain, listened to the man’s monologue, trying to remove the foreign objects from his body. He simultaneously cast healing magic, combined with concealment magic to avoid detection by magic detection.
However, his suffering would continue as long as the foreign objects remained, rather than his blood and body returning to a healthy state.
“Goh, Guu”
“Hey, hey, can’t you just die a little easier? You’re not immortal, are you… Give me a break~~”
The man muttered something about not being able to kill him if he was immortal and became inexplicably grumpy.
“What… cough”
The man kicked him.
He couldn’t move his body. He couldn’t use attack magic, nor could he afford to lessen his healing efforts.
“You can stare all you want, I’m not scared! Even if you’re immortal, I’m not afraid at all!”
“…………Gah”
“Say something already, come onnn!”
Another kick, a stomp.
I had severely damaged the Demon King’s body.
However, I knew from personal experience that violence was not very effective against an immortal being.
Immortals are best sealed.
Because they don’t die.
The beings I feared were those who could perform seals.
To think I would end up in that position.
What a cruel twist of fate.
“Oeee”
“Ugh, that’s disgusting!”
After delivering another kick to the Demon King, I pondered how to seal him.
Ancient tales say… imprison him in rock? Throw him into a volcano? Ask dozens of sealing experts? Even with my imagination alone, he was still a Demon King, albeit weakened.
How long could he be sealed?
“Well, to make him easier to carry.”
“Haa… Wh-… GuAAAAAAAHHH!”
“Stop struggling! ♪”
I severed the Demon King’s limbs with my sword.
His head and torso were enough for transport.
His limbs would only resist and get in the way.
*Zashu, GiiikoooGiiikooo.*
I created a Daruma doll of the Demon King.
And to prevent him from regrowing his limbs with healing magic, I prodded the Demon King with my heated blade.
“Aargh! Aaaah!”
“Don’t regrow your limbs with healing magic. Had you not done so, I wouldn’t have to do this. ♪”
I gently advised the Demon King.
But still. Still.
He showed no signs of stopping his healing efforts.
Are all immortals stubborn? Or is it because he’s a Demon King? ♪
Several tens of minutes later.
I dragged the resisting Demon King to the wreckage of the King Star’s cockpit.
I seated the Demon King in the pilot’s seat.
I gathered scattered debris and used transformation magic to craft restraints.
While restraining him to the seat, the thorns inside the restraints slowly tortured him.
I ignored the Demon King’s suffering and demands, and repaired the King Star to a point where it could regain its basic form.
“Feee… time for a little break.”
“Grooo, Guu”
“Don’t you get tired of talking all the time? ♪”
“Peh”
The Demon King spat. Who would want that? I punched his left cheek.
Now, shall I return to the Royal Capital with the King Star?
The backpack support device was gone.
By the time I leisurely returned to the Royal Capital with the Demon King…
Black smoke was rising from the Royal Castle.
…Haaah?
“Cough, cough… The situation looks bad. ♪”
I wanted to punch the smirking Demon King, but what happened in my absence was more important.
I made the King Star walk at a brisk pace.
