Kazuma, back to normal, spit out of a glob of dirt that made it's way into his mouth during his climb to the surface.

"Eugh! Disgusting! How did that even-"

Boom

a series of lights quickly burst into the sky.

'That's in the direction of that secret weapon facility! Shit!'

Kazuma took off in a sprint.

"Megumin! Aqua! Get behind me!"

Darkness raised her sword, taking the role as human shield after they saw this exit the dust cloud.

Sylvia was now completely assimilated into the mage killer, turning her into a bio mechanical, Naga-esque creature.

"But- but I thought you were going to bring that to the Tyrant!" Megumin, knowing the level of danger they, as well as the village, were now in, could barely suppress the urge to run away.

"You're not wrong, but then I thought of something. What you mentioned before, about working for the Tyrant. You're absolutely RIGHT! Why am I slaving away, fighting on the frontlines for a leader who does nothing but sit around all day and night!? I'm treated like little more than an offhand HIRED HELP! And I'm done with it! But now, I think it's time I start to live for myself, don't you think?"

"Then leave this village alone!"

"Oh you'd like that wouldn't you? But these people have crossed me far more than I care to count, and for that they will burn. Of course, that naturally includes you three."

An overly loud sigh caught their attention.

"Man, I'm off doing some recycling work for what, ten minutes? And you girls manage to get yourselves into trouble already."

"Kazuma!"

Megumin smiled for a moment, relieved to know he was okay after all.

Kazuma unsheathed his blade, but immediately noticed something was wrong. His aura refused to come out, or rather, didn't exist at all.

"The hell happened to you Sylvia? Did you get jealous of your bot and decide you wanted to be a worm too?"

"Actually, this is the weapon that will allow me to kill you right here and now."

"Don't underestimate her Kazuma! With the mage killer, she's completely immune to any form of magic, even being near her seals your mana!"

"That's right, a weapon specifically designed to kill mages. Fully assimilated into my being! This is my power! The power of the growth chimera!"

'Oh come on! When's the last time I actually got to use my badass powers against a lieutenant!? Was it literally only Verdia!?'

"Great, now what?" He asked his party.

"You stand still and DIE!"

Sylvia took a large breath, then exhaled a powerful stream of fire, nearly singing the ends of Kazuma's cloak as he side stepped at the last possible moment.

'Damn it, she's using fire. If i'm not careful, i'll turn to ash!'

"Don't forget that your opponent is me!"

"Out of my way woman!"

Smash!

Kazuma watched as Darkness ran haphazardly at Sylvia, only to get whipped by the mechanical tail and knocked back into a rock wall.

Fwoooom!

Sylvia blew another stream of flames around their hillside, this time splitting the party with massive walls of fire.

'She's trying to keep me from escaping? Good thing that was never my plan to begin with'

"Augh!" Megumin got too close to the walls, nearly burning herself in the process.

"Megumin get away from there!"

"But he's by himself!"

"I know! It's infuriating! Why does Kazuma get to have all the fun!"

Megumin decided to ignore the crusader for now.

"Oh no, I can't use a single spell right now!"

Aqua had attempted to conjure up some water, to no avail. To think that this piece of technology could even seal a goddesses powers.

Megumin shut her eyes as she attempted to think of what the clan might have that could help.

"This is a longshot but it's the only thing I can think of at the moment…"

She looked past the flames and watched as Kazuma relied on thief like movements as Sylvia lashed out at him with a combination of her tail whip attacks and ranged spells.

"It's a stone tablet that might have a clue, as old as the facility that housed the mage killer, but it's kind of far from here, and no one in the village can understand it!"

"Then let me try! Maybe I can read it!" Aqua said. Volunteering mostly because 'far from here' was quite appealing at the moment.

"It's better than doing nothing. I will go into the village and warn the people!"

"Gotcha! Let's go Megumin!"

Kazuma turned to watch as his party went off in different directions. Feeling a bit better that they were out of harms way, for himself however…

'CAN I GET A HANDICAP OR SOMETHING!?'

"What's the matter, don't tell me you're having trouble?"

She looked rather cocky, pissing off the vampire to no end.

"Nah i'm just peachy."

"If you can't handle this, then perhaps it's best if you die here. One of the generals commands mastery over fire that could set an entire nation ablaze in an instant."

'The fire isn't exactly the biggest problem problem here…wait HOLY CRAP A NATION? That's a joke right?'

"Or, perhaps you would be willing to listen to a proposition?"

"Huh?" Kazuma found himself taken off guard.

"You wish to destroy the Tyrant, correct? Become my pet. It would be a waste to kill a boy as handsome as you."

"...Well, you might be hot and have a nice pair but, the snake legs isn't working for me."

'How would we even…it's not like she has anything down there anymore'

"Isn't that a shame."

She wasted no time raising herself high into the sky to continue raining down her flames upon him.

"This is it Aqua, over here."

Aqua did her best to ignore the two large cat girl drawings on the rock formation on the other side.

"Hey, this is Japanese! I told you I could read this!"

"Japa- huh?"

"Nevermind that. Listen here, it says:

For records sake, this stone tablet will detail the events leading to the forming of this clan. One day, the king forced his way into my personal lab, demanding that I create a weapon that would finally defeat the devil king. I tried to explain to him that I already created a sentient robot to do that for me. And then my hot lab assistant beat the shit out of me. I just wanted to work on my robot waifus! Why do I always get dragged into this!? Anyways, I had to interrupt Draedon from his current project so he could help me with this one. It didn't take long, all we did was take some humans and modify them. The only thing was that every single one of them, by complete coincidence, happened to be a group of edge lord losers! They practically begged to be given red eyes and barcode tattoos. Draedon said it was a waste of time and went back to his lab, but saved their modified designs for his own use. Seriously, I shouldn't have made that bucket of bolts so work oriented, he left me to deal with these morons myself!"

Megumin's jaw refused to close, her face frozen in comical horror as she was hit in the head with a mental base ball bat.

The tablet's events didn't stop there.

"I decided to call them 'Crimson Demons'...don't ask me how I came up with it, just sorta popped in there. These nerds ate it up though. And then one day they learn that I had an anti magic device I made. They called it their 'greatest enemy' and demanded a way to destroy it. I probably should have just dug out one of Draedon's old energy weapons like the gatling laser of plasma caster. But I thought why not make something really badass, guess these guys were rubbing off on me! So I made a rifle with the power to destroy the planet, I just called it the railgun cause who's gonna stop me?"

Aqua knew exactly what he was referring to, as well as just who this inventor was, much to her chagrin and regret.

"Ugh, this guy again? Maybe I shouldn't have let him choose that power. Megumin? You good? Hello?"

"No actually, I wouldn't say i'm good. Quite the opposite actually."

'I can't keep this dodging up…forever'

With every volley of attacks, the circle of flames got tighter and tighter.

There was only so many times one could do somersaults and backflips before it became too easy to read.

Smack!

Kazuma was forced to brace for a side swipe that caught him in mid air. He gave himself some credit, if he had to breathe air, he probably would have died from smoke inhalation a bit ago.

"No more running away!"

As he landed, Sylvia coiled her long mechanical body around him tight. Tighter, and tighter still. Making sure to look into his eyes as he struggled.

"I've survived fighting these maniacs longer than you realize. Did you really think you could waltz in here and hunt me down like a dog!? That's all I am to you, to anyone! An annoyance!"

Sylvia's anger mixed with a growing sorrow as she ranted on, all the while squeezing harder in an attempt to crush him to bone dust.

'This is bad, this is really bad, I can't…move a muscle. There has to be something. Something! Anything!'

A lightbulb turned on in his head.

'Handsome…'

"Here it is Megumin! I knew it would be here!"

"But that's Chekera's drying pole."

"And now, it's a railgun. We'll only be borrowing it for a moment."

"Wasn't Darkness warning all the villagers? Where did everyone- wait! There she is!"

The town itself seemed to be totally evacuated, and in its absence, thanks to the burning hillside that Sylvia created acting as a signal, the mass of her demon forces were currently attacking the town. Held off by a single brave crusader.

"Darkness! Why are you here by yourself?"

"I'm keeping…them back! Someone has to protect the village!"

She breathed heavily, and her armor was chipped in several spots.

"But Sylvia's far away enough that-"

"Too risky! I have to face them myself!"

"..."

"WAT IZ UP WIT DIZ LAYDEE!? SHE KEEPS AZKEN FOR MOR!"

Aqua and Megumin shared judging looks at her, who refused to meet their gaze. Although Aqua wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. If someone was going to go up against that many enemies at once, it wasn't going to be her.

"Let's go Megumin, she has this handled. We'll return as soon- what happened to all the fire?"

Megumin, Darkness, and even the lesser demons and goblins all turned to look, and sure enough, the distant fires that should have still been burning were all put out.

"Does that mean?"

-A few minutes before-

"H-hey! Sylvia! Listen to me!"

"Don't bother talking your way out of this! I'm sick of being taken advantage of! I'm sick of fighting for my life every day! I really wanted to prove my worth to them! Especially to the Tyrant, and for the past two years i've been here, I haven't seen a single drop of appreciation! I'm so tired of it! I'm tired of no one caring about me! I'm tired of being forgotten! I'm tired of everyone thinking it's okay if I die! I have feelings too! And I want to be loved!"

Kazuma noted that her hold on him weakened ever so slightly.

'Is she, crying?'

"I just want someone who cares about me other than my army! Someone who can truly love me!"

"Then WHY are you trying to KILL ME!?"

"Huh!?"

"Sylvia, listen to me. It doesn't have to end in one of us dying. The way you feel, I feel it too. I know what it's like to be alone! To not have anyone who cares about you! It eats away at you, doesn't it?"

The coils loosened even more.

"N-no, you came here to kill me. I'm not falling for-"

"Sylvia that was before I actually saw you. I knew from the moment I laid eyes on you, that perhaps, we could have something, something real. Start small."

"But…you said you were uninterested before."

"You called me a pet. But that isn't what you want. You want an equal, and that's what I want. That's what I want to be for you Sylvia."

"Really? You're, you're not just saying that?"

"Don't you want that life? Don't you want to leave this nonsense behind and live out your days in love with someone who loves you back?"

"That's exactly what I want!"

"Then trust me Sylvia. Trust us."

'She…doesn't seem all that bad. In a way, I can completely empathize with her. She just wants to be loved, who doesn't?'

After some hesitation and deep thought, the coil's completely loosened. Despite the fact that fire's still burned all around them, she was only focused on the boy in front of her. A boy she realized, maybe she did had feelings for.

"Come here Sylvia."

Kazuma spread his arms, beckoning her to come hug him.

With a smile on her face, she pressed her torso to his, and wrapped her arms around him.

His katana went through her chest.

'Unfortunately, empathize or not, there's still no reason to leave you alive'

That is what I wanted to see

"Y…you. But…why?"

More tears ran down her cheek, and her arms slowly drooped as she felt her body get weak. Electrical sparks flew from the spot she was impaled.

"I mean, the bounty is a pretty good reason alone. But stealing your life essence is like, another big bonus too. So don't take it personally."

"That's all…I was, to you?"

'Jeez, why so dramatic, you were literally trying to crush me not three minutes ago!'

Her body fell over, her hands still gripping onto his ankle in resistance.

"This can't be how…it ends."

Her forehead made a thump sound as it bounced off the floor.

"Guess that's that. Create water!"

Sylvia awoke in some sort of misty bog. Six figures stand across from her.

"Come with us, it is your time now Sylvia."

"Join us!"

"Soap…detergent…ice…"

She recognised their forms and voices after some time.

"Hanz? Verdia, and even, my lord!? But I saw you die after the Tyrant descended upon the castle! Which means…this place is! No! NO!"

Sylvia found herself being dragged underwater by a host of different hands. As she thrashed and fought against it, she made slight progress towards the surface.

"Kazuma you did it!"

Aqua, holding the railgun, had joined up with him alongside Megumin.

"You, you beat her when she had the mage killer? That's incredible!"

"Hell yeah I did! Me and my partner winter's howl. Who needs some cursed sword like Mitsurugi's? Oh yeah, so is that drying pole the weapon that could beat the mage killer?"

'Wait, I probably shouldn't be saying all this yet'

"Yeah, but I guess we don't need it anymore. After the fire went out, Darkness went to lead the clan in chasing her army down."

Glub glub

"The hell?"

In front of them, a purple slimy mass began to take form and grow where Sylvia's body should have been.

'Just once…just once can't there only be one form!?'

"I WILL NOT DIE!"

That familiar voice rang through the entire hillside at a booming volume.

"That's Sylvia's voice!"

"But I killed her! I watched her die!"

"Kazuma! It's that slime thing again!"

The three attempted to stand their ground, until the formless slimy mass grew so large it was beginning to take the space of the whole field, forcing them to back up more and more.

"I HAVE TO LIVE! I DID NOT COME THIS FAR JUST TO DIE! I REFUSE TO DIE!"

SHWING!

At that moment, some sort of magic spell was activated. The party didn't know where it came from, but Kazuma's regained energy sense made him trip over backwards in shock.

"Kazuma, you okay?" Aqua asked with genuine worry.

'What was that!? Something crazy strong just appeared out of nowhere, is it Sylvia!?'

This remnant of Sylvia continued to grow, a mish mash of different entities infused within the poison slime that towered over everything around it. But high in the sky, above the monstrous growth, was a pink circular light emitting intense power.

'A portal?'

"It's above us! See that?" He asked the girls.

"Yeah, it's kinda swirly isn't it?"

Then, from the center of the pinkish swirling light, someone walked through.

"Tch!"

Kazuma's teeth slammed shut and his body froze. His energy sense making every cell in his body scream to get away.

Moving his head slowly, he got a look, it was a girl.

She snapped her fingers.

Kazuma, Megumin and Aqua watched with open mouths as the several story tall, amalgamated mess of a creature that was supposed to Sylvia, was sliced into thousands upon thousands of pieces as blue colored lasers dissected and burnt away at the monster.

Then the girl outstretched her hand, and the entirety of the amalgamation, ashes and all, were pulled into a vortex and devoured, leaving no trace behind of its existence.

None of them moved a muscle, as she descended to the ground. Kazuma noted how accurate their shrine was. But seeing her this close. Her armor appeared as if it was truly something made in the cosmos. A level of technology that didn't exist on this planet.

"To think such an insignificant mortal could hinder our plans this much. I knew it was a mistake letting her handle this mission."

When she spotted the four gawking adventurers, she gained a glint of satisfaction in her eye and calmly walked to them face to face.

"Ah, but at least she brought the railgun out of hiding. Then perhaps this wasn't all for naught."

Without a care in the world, or the least bit of interest in the four, she grabbed the rifle from Megumin's hands as if the girl wasn't even there.

After a second of realization, she made to speak up, only to be silenced by Kazuma in an instant.

'This, isn't something a human should be able to fight. I can feel divine energy in her, which can only means one thing. She's Devoured gods!'

Even if they had called the entire clan over, any resulting battle would most likely lead to a multitude of deaths and the destruction of their entire village. She was that powerful.

A portal opened up.

'I really shouldn't, but if they really have reports on me, then Dev should know exactly who I am, so if this is my only chance…'

"Wait!"

The Devourer stopped, but didn't turn back.

"What does the Tyrant want!?"

"...sometimes, I ask myself the same question."

She walked through, and the portal diffused into the air.

For a moment, no one said anything. They continued to remain standing like statues.

Even Aqua, while unable to sense Dev's energy the way Kazuma was able to, she could understand what they were up against. She even began to wonder what the higher god's were thinking as they managed from above.

"I am here! What happened to Sylvia!? I saw a battle take place here. What happened? Are you three alright?"

Darkness came running out of nowhere.

"Dev, one of the generals of the Tyrant, she showed up, ate her and left."

Kazuma spoke in a matter of fact manner, still unsure of how to feel of what occured.

"You mean, a true general of the Tyrant was just here? And I missed it!?"

This trip was nothing but a series of unfortunate events in her mind.

"She would have turned you into swiss cheese then eat you."

"Hnng, if even you are afraid of an opponent, then they are a worthy battle indeed!"

"Are you not listening to me!? This wasn't like anything else you pervert! You would have died!"

"Do not call me a pervert! Especially you!"

Megumin managed a laugh. Getting a look from the others. After Kazuma noticed what they were doing, he let out a chuckle of his own.

Yeah, maybe this is what they needed. After what they just witnessed, it was good to know the party would never change. They decided not to dwell on the fact that the enemy now had a planet destroying weapon, leaving that for another day.

Aqua, who wasn't paying attention, tuned back to reality only to see the other three giggling amongst themselves.

"Hey, what are you all laughing about!? Are you laughing at me?"

The news of Sylvia's defeat, marking yet another bounty completed by the vampire of Axel, spread like wildfire. When the party returned home, they were met with a true heroes welcome.

For the first time since his arrival, he actually felt like he was getting the appreciation he wanted for his hard work. And although the entirety of her bounty had to go into clearing up a certain mine, he was able to capitalize on looking like a philanthropist.

'While I have a long road ahead of me before we're actually able to stop the Tyrant, for now, let's just enjoy this! No need to rush, right?'

The party had taken the opportunity to go on a picnic, with only minimal clouds and a bright blue sky today was as perfect a day as any.

"You know, I think I get where your clan's coming from Megumin. She was scary as hell, but…kinda cool looking now that I think about it. Or maybe I'm just going crazy…hey you good?"

Megumin's face was stuck in a permanent frown.

"This trip, in more ways than one, it was kind of a wakeup call for me, I think. We're not going to be able to win against the Tyrant and his generals if I'm not putting in all the effort I can. Or…acting silly."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"It's time for me to start acting more serious about being an adventurer, can't let my clan dictate who I am forever right? So I'm thinking it's time I put all that behind me, enough with the theatrics, enough with games and the introductions and all that. And enough with…"

She held out her adventuring card to Kazuma.

"What are you-"

"I don't think I was able to help out in any situation we were met with for this entire trip. I watched as you were knocked unconscious and let them get away. I wasn't able to actually fight Sylvia and stop her from getting the mage killer, and you did it with just a sword. I'm done being useless."

"All these points you've saved up. You want me to give you advanced magic, so you don't have to?"

She nodded her head.

"So let me get this straight, you're going to give up on explosions?"

"Yeah. I'm done. I'm never using it again. From now on, I'll be the foremost- I mean, I'm going to be the strongest Arch wizard in the kingdom of Belzerg."

She whipped her cape up out of habit, but quickly lowered her arms to her sides.

"Heh, it shouldn't be that hard. I mean if there's one thing about the crimson demons, we're still the strongest mages around."

She grabbed onto the brim of her hat and lowered it. Kazuma may not have been able to see it, but he could hear just fine.

"Hey, your choice I guess. Future strongest Arch wizard in Belzerg coming right up."

After applying the points, the card made a sound before he returned it.

"Thank you. Let's go back with the others."

"Wait. Not yet."

"Huh?"

"One last time, for me, you mind setting one off?"

"But, I just said that-"

His warm smile defeated any arguments she could ever possible come up with.

"Alright alright, fine. One last time, I guess I should go out with a bang."

She took a deep breath and raised her staff toward a distant mountain.

"Thank you, for everything."

Megumin's words were barely above a whisper.

"And goodbye.

EEEX-PLOOOOOOOOOOO-SSSSHUN!"

The blue skies turned red. As the largest, most spectacular and blinding explosion of all time rocked the very heavens.

She collapsed, the dumbstruck look never leaving her face. It was without a doubt the most beautiful and powerful attack she had ever set off.

"What, what did you-"

"Aqua told me about what she read at the stone tablet. And I wanted to tell you-"

Kazuma let some aura loose to dramatically raise his cloak, then struck a pose.

"-who cares if your clan's identity started out as a joke? Because it's not a joke to you, it's who you are. It's who I know, the Megumin I trust with my life.

My name is Kazuma Satou, leader of the strongest party in the entire world and master of blood magic, don't forget it! Now who are you!?"

She had already started crying by the time he began to introduce himself.

"M-my…My name is Megumin! Arch wizard and proud member of the crimson demons! Axel's foremost mage and future master of the unstoppable! All powerful explosion!"

Prologue

End