Chapter 23: The Ascendance of This Scarlet Chimera!
All of the blood had rushed to Elsie's head by the time Sylvia had brought her to their apparent destination. The old, abandoned factory looked out of place in a fantasy world like Belzerg, giving off more post-apocalypse vibes. But despite that, it was there and Elsie was currently being carried down into the basement.
"This looks spooky," Elsie remarked as Sylvia marched down the stairs. It was funny how Elsie was the one with a hangover yet Sylvia was the one who looked like she had a headache. "Is this place haunted?"
"This whole town haunts me," the chimera grumbled before finally turning Elsie right side up and dropping her on the hard cement floor. "Now, tell me how to get this damned door open!"
Elsie stood up, rubbing her aching bottom as she took in her surroundings. The room was very roomy, both in the sense that there was a lot of room in it and in that it was very much like a room. Sylvia had a few fleshy tentacles waving about between Elsie and the stairway leading back out to prevent her escape. In front of Elsie was a large stone door set into the wall with two massive chains-like patterns carved into it. Next to that was a podium with what looked like an old Sintendo Famisys controller. Keima may have been a Play Field fanboy but their mom had an old Famysys that she'd pulled out a storage and tried a few games on, though she'd quickly given up on those. Why were 'retro' games so dang haaaaard?
"Enter the K Code," Elsie absently read the plaque above the controller out loud.
"Of course there's a secret key code," Sylvia growled, rubbing her furrowed brow. "But what is it?"
"The K Code…" Elsie stared down at the gaming controller in front of her and suddenly it clicked into place. "Oh, wait, I think I know what it is! There's this one video game company with a name that started with a K and they have a cheat code that they use in all their games. It's probably that one!"
"Well, don't just stand there, open the goddamn door already!" Sylvia demanded.
The young demon girl was just about to refuse. She didn't know what the bossy chimera wanted but it clearly couldn't have been good. Not to mention that Elsie was supposed to be the boss here, being the next Devil Queen and all. She should be the one giving orders, not this ex-general. But, she managed to stop herself and took a calming breath.
How did Keima do this? He always seemed to make it seem so easy.
"Why do you want to get past this door?" Elsie asked as calmly as she could. That seemed to be the first step. Find out more about the target, their interests and what they want. Then use that information and exploit it so that they think that they can only get what they think they want from you. Or something like that, it had been a while since she'd seen her brother pull off a capture and he probably wouldn't be using his skills as the God of Conquest again anytime soon now that he was spoken for. A bit of a shame considering how good he was at it. "What's in here?"
That earned her a glare from the giant woman but Sylvia seemed to decide to humor her for the moment. Or maybe she just really needed someone to talk to?
"Have you heard of the Mobile Fortress Destroyer?" Sylvia asked.
"The giant spider robot thing?" Elsie remembered. "Yeah, it tried to attack Axel but we managed to stop it and used it to blow up the old Devil King's castle."
…
Sylvia just stared at the girl before finally muttering to herself. "Well, that explains how that happened. Anyway, this is the lab of the ancient engineer who built the Destroyer, where he sealed away all of his other creations and powerful weapons. The one I'm after is called the Mage-Killer and is said to be the ultimate anti-wizard weapon!
"I've spent so long fighting those stupid Crimson Demons but they've done nothing but make a mockery and a fool out of me. I've had enough! I'm going to take the Mage-Killer and use its power to exterminate those stupid pests, wiping this godforsaken village off the face of the map!"
"I see, I see." Elsie nodded along thoughtfully. "Yeah, I know a thing or two about revenge."
"You do?" Sylvia replied with a genuine note of surprise. "You don't really strike me as the type to carry a grudge. But then again, it seems like I've been bad at figuring people out lately."
"Before I died and came here, I used to be an exorcist for New Hell," Elsie shook her head. "My job was to track down runaway spirits that had escaped to Earth and capture them to bring them back to hell. Do you know what kind of people end up like those spirits? People who can't get over the bad things that happened to them. People who became obsessed with things like revenge. And do you know what we do with those spirits? At best, we stick them in a jar to collect dust on a shelf in a dark closet for eternity. I don't think you want that."
"What would you know?" Sylvia clenched her teeth and turned away. "You're a Greater Devil, probably a Duke of Hell or something. You've never had to claw your way up from the bottom, to have to prove to everyone that you're not just some lowly mid-tier trash mob, and work your way to the top just to have all of that respect you so rightfully earned torn away from you by a bunch of overpowered lunatics so that everyone thinks you're a joke!"
"Greater Devil?" Elsie tilted her head in confusion before letting out a snort. "Hah, if only! I was raised in an orphanage in hell, made fun of by the other girls my whole childhood and graduated bottom of my class at school. I was the girl that no one picked for their teams in sports, that always got shoved in the locker when the teachers weren't looking… Heaven, I actually got shoved in a locker by a teacher at least once. And do you know how many swirlies I had to endure?"
"What's a swirly?" Sylvia asked with a note of morbid curiosity.
"It's when they shove your head down a toilet!" Elsie snapped back, haunted by painful memories. "And hell toilets are filled with lava!"
That got Sylvia to flinch.
"But did I let any of that get to me?" Elsie asked rhetorically. "No! I never gave up! I passed my exorcist exams and got assigned to Earth, where I met my brother and, for the first time, had friends and family there to support me. No one back home believed in me but instead of holding a grudge or trying to get revenge or any of that crap, I proved them wrong! Keima and I already held the record for the most successful captures by the time we messed up and accidentally got ourselves killed.
"But even then, I didn't let that get me down and just go home. We came here together and we made new friends, a new life for ourselves. And guess what? Now I'm destined to be the next Devil Queen and my brother is going to marry the next chief of the Crimson Demons! Do you think that we would have gotten here if we only focused on the bad things in our lives? No, we got her because we used those experiences to grow and become better. All we can do is keep moving forward and eventually, things will work out."
"Well, good for you," Sylvia replied sarcastically. "But not all of us are so lucky."
"There's more to it than luck," Elsie replied, then decided it was time to step it up. She walked up to Sylvia and pulled her into a hug, which was somewhat awkward given the tremendous height difference between the two women. It felt almost like she was wearing Sylvia's funbags as a hat. "Give up on revenge. Join me, and together we can rule this land. Or something. I'm actually not all that interested in conquering or ruling or any of that nonsense but a Devil Queen's gotta Devil Queen, I guess."
Elsie clung to the silent chimera, enjoying her warmth and trying to ignore the growing bulge pressing against her stomach until at last the hug was returned, Sylvia wrapping her arms around-
Wait, those weren't arms.
Elsie found herself suspended in the air by Sylvia's tentacles again. At least she wasn't upside-down this time.
"No, thank you. I'd rather have my revenge," Sylvia said darkly before dropping Elsie in front of the podium again. "Open the door. Now."
Well, that didn't work. But then again, Keima's captures never worked on the first time, either. She just needed to keep wearing her down. But for now, it didn't seem like there was any way she was getting out of this part.
"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start." Elsie input the code and, low and behold, the old stone doors parted like the Red Sea.
"Yes, finally!" Sylvia took off into the dark lab without sparing Elsie a second glance.
Elsie could have used this opportunity to run away. To get help, let the others know what had happened and come back with her brother, their friends and an army of Crimson Demons before Sylvia got the chance to get her hands on the weapon she was after and activate it. Instead, she followed Sylvia deeper into the underground ruins.
It certainly felt like a mad scientist's laboratory. Random junk and gizmos were scattered about between piles of research notes and what looked like old manga. Curious, she picked up a volume to find that the pages seemed to be glued together. How was anyone supposed to read it like that?
"At last, this is it!" Sylvia's voice echoed from up ahead and Elsie rushed over to catch up with her. She found the growth chimera with her arms spread wide in front of what appeared to be a giant mechanical snake. "The Mage-Killer is finally mine!"
"Don't do this!" Elsie begged. "Revenge won't bring you happiness!"
"Maybe not but I'll settle for satisfaction," Sylvia turned on her, her arms swelling up and vicious claws growing from her fingers. "Now, are you going to be a good little girl and stay out of my way or am I going to have to give you a few new orifices."
Bless it! If only she still had her scythe! Without it, she was practically defenseless. All she had on her were the twin swords hanging from her belt and…
Elsie had to refrain from slapping herself, holding back that impulse so that she could draw her blades instead.
"Please, just stop this," Elsie begged.
"Why, so I can be your little lapdog, barking on command?" Sylvia scoffed. "I've already served one Devil King and I have no desire to return to that life. I'm my own woman now!"
"Are you?" Elsie asked, more to stall for time than anything, it was becoming increasingly clear she wasn't going to break through to her. "Because it sounds to me like you've become nothing more than a slave to your own vengeance."
"That shows what little you know."
"Blood Oath," Elsie whispered to herself, triggering one of her new skills that she hadn't had a chance to try out yet. She had to hold back a yelp of pain as her swords suddenly started siphoning her blood through her palms. Maybe an attack boost at the cost of health wasn't such a great idea. "Shadow Blade!"
Black flames engulfed the blades of Elsie's swords just as Sylvia lunged forward, claws bared. The young demoness ducked and managed to avoid getting her head torn off, then swung her blade through the air.
"Argh, you bitch!" Sylvia screamed as her arm plopped onto the ground, no longer connected to what was now little more than a bloody stump.
"Takes one to know one," Elsie countered weakly as she took a hasty step back and watched as bone hastily grew out from the stump, followed by writhing, swelling muscles to cover it before a layer of rapidly hardening chitin wrapped around the newly grown limb.
Sylvia flexed the giant crab pincer before slashing it through the air at Elsie. The girl tried to parry the blow but ended up just giving Sylvia an opening to rip the sword out of her left hand. Elsie ducked back to avoid the other arm, which was now sporting a bear-like paw clenched into a fist, and moved her remaining sword to her dominant hand.
This could have been going better. Sylvia had already managed to get the upper hand, er, paw… pincer? And now Elsie was down to her last weapon. Maybe she needed to start carrying around more than three? Regardless, she found herself backed into a corner both figuratively and literally. Sylvia suddenly lunged forward and Elsie stepped to the side, managing to carve a nasty gash into her opponent's side before rolling to the side-
"Aaaaagh!" The girl let out a bloody scream as she suddenly found herself pinned to the floor by the giant scorpion tail that Sylvia had managed to grow without her noticing. Venom was injected into her, bioengineered to send her pain receptors going at full blast. She experienced an agony that made getting run over by that truck seem pleasant by comparison.
Mercifully, she passed out quickly.
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
Keima woke up to the sound of an explosion. That was nothing new so he closed his eyes again and tried to go back to sleep. It was barely even sunrise, after all. But then he realized that Megumin was still sleeping soundly on the armchair across from him with Chomusuke curled up on her lap and he shot up to his feet.
"W-what was that?" Yunyun asked, rubbing her eyes blearily as she rose from the couch.
"I don't know but it can't be good," Keima replied, hurrying over to Megumin and pulling her to her feet, to the annoyance of both the girl and her perfectly normal, no way strange at all despite having wings and breathing fire, cat.
"Oi, what gives?" Megumin shouted grumpily. "How dare you rouse me from my cutie sleep!"
"Not the time," Keima snapped at her, not nearly awake enough to put up with her bull. "Where's Elsie?"
"I don't know." Yunyun looked around frantically. "I don't remember seeing her last night."
He couldn't, either. But then again, most of that night had been a blur. How much had he had to drink? Too much, considering the hangover he was now dealing with. His head was killing him.
An earthquake shook the house, which was followed by a loud crash outside and then a hollow, brassy clatter.
"What was that?" Megumin asked, her eyes growing wide as Chomusuke began meowing in alarm.
"It sounds like it's coming from outside," Keima tried to take charge of the situation but more importantly was busy making a tall glass out of ice that he then filled with water. Having literal magic at his disposal was certainly handy at times. "But we need to check it out."
Downing his drink to try and alleviate his headache, Keima rushed for the door followed by his companions. It took all of two seconds for them to find the source of the commotion.
"Hohohohoho!" A giant cyborg lamia was ojou laughing from where she was perched atop the ruins of what had been the town bell tower, her elongated metal snake tail wrapped around the shattered stone shaft of the tower. The deep tanned skin and long dark hair of her humanoid half seemed oddly familiar to Keima but his addled mind wasn't quite able to place it. Mostly, he was just focused on how bright the early morning sun was. "Now, I shall make you miserable wretches pay for defying me!"
The giant, clearly crazy snake woman then proceeded to start burning the village down by blowing a massive stream of fire everywhere. Wait, scratch that, it looked like she had already started before they left the house.
"Oh, no!" one villager cried as he ran past. "It's General Sylvia!"
"She's got the Mage-Killer!" another yelled in panic.
"But how did she get past the seal?"
Keima let out a sigh as the village burnt down around him. Somehow, they'd stumbled into the exact situation in which Elsie's magic firetruck was precisely what they needed. Again. And for some reason, she was nowhere to be found.
"Oh, well isn't this just a barrel of monkeys," Chief Hiropon muttered as he walked up beside them. "Sorry you all have to watch the village burn down like this. Now come on, let's hurry to the evacuation point."
"Wait, where's Komekko!" Megumin suddenly began to panic, clearly more worried about her little sister than the entire rest of her people, which… was perfectly fair. Keima found himself thinking the same thing about his own little sister.
"I'm right here!" the young girl in question stepped out from right behind her older sister.
"Agh, don't scare me like that!" Megumin turned and knelt down, placing her hands on the younger girl's shoulders and examining her to make sure that she was alright. "I was worried."
"What was that about an evacuation point?" Keima asked, turning his attention to his sort-of father-in-law. With luck, his sister would be waiting for them there and even if not, they should probably try to get out of range of the giant fire-breathing snake woman currently destroying the village.
"Right this way!"
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
Elsie was, in fact, not at the evacuation point, which turned out to be a nearby cliffside overlooking the village. It was far enough away and highly elevated, which seemed to make it a good place to wait out anything dangerous enough that the town had to be cleared out on short notice like this. To a reasonable person, it seemed like that would make it a strategically good spot and be the reason it was chosen for that purpose. Knowing the Crimson Demons, though, Keima was pretty sure that this spot had been chosen because it gave the best view of the destruction below.
"Okay, so what's this Mage-Killer thing and why is it so dangerous?" Keima asked after verifying that no one had seen his sister anywhere since the night before. To say that was worrying would be an understatement but he had to keep his priorities straight. And since he was still locked into a Crimson Demon-esque mindset until they finally left this stupid town, those priorities focused on trying to take down the epic raid boss-type monster. Assuming that he was even using those terms correctly, MMOs had never been Keima's thing. For once, he found himself wishing that Kazuma and the others were around. This was more their forté.
"The Mage-Killer is none other than our crimson clan's mortal nemesis," came an answer from one of Yunyun's classmates, Arue. "An ancient weapon that nullifies all magic used against it. For our kind, to fight such an enemy is to face oblivion itself."
"Well, that would explain why you aren't simply blasting that lady to kingdom come," Keima grumbled. "Speaking of which, who the hell is that?"
"General Sylvia of the Demon King's army," Hiropon explained. "She was in charge of the force sent to try and invade our village before you defeated the Devil King. Our scouts hadn't reported any sightings of her troops since then so we had assumed that she'd retreated in the wake of his defeat but it seems that we were wrong."
Sylvia… Sylvia… Why did that name sound so familiar to Keima? Oh, right. Hazy memories of an encounter with the tall, mysterious woman the other night came crawling back to him and he had to stop himself from visibly wincing at his own stupidity. How could he have possibly let that clearly important encounter slip his mind like that? Of course, she hadn't been as large, then, or as naked.
"So, what's the plan," Keima asked. "We've got to have some way of fighting that thing, right?"
Hiropon gave him a 'so-so' gesture.
"Indeed, our clan has guarded another weapon designed to fell the mighty Mage-Killer should its power ever be unleashed," Arue said.
"Great, where is it?"
"We don't know." she shook her head.
"Okay." Keima was growing less confident by the minute, which was impressive since he thought he'd started without any confidence to begin with. "Well, what do you know about the weapon? Maybe we can work from there to find it?"
He was met with a lot of shrugs and shaking heads.
"All knowledge regarding the anti-Mage-Killer weapon was lost centuries ago, after the last time the Mage-Killer was unleashed," Arue exclaimed.
Of course.
"Alright, let's recap: your clan was guarding an ancient weapon that, from the sounds of it, was probably built specifically to destroy your clan, which has now been stolen by a former Devil King general who seems to have a vendetta against you. The only way to defeat her is by using another ancient weapon guarded by your people but no one knows anything about that weapon other than it probably exists because it's been used to defeat the Mage-Killer before. But if the Mage-Killer has already been defeated then why is it still here!?"
"Our ancestors rebuilt it, of course," Hiropon supplied happily.
Keima glared at him. "...Why?"
"Because the Mage-Killer is the only weapon that Belzerg has to use against us should our clan ever turn against it," Arue replied.
"But if the Mage-Killer is meant to stop the Crimson Demons from turning on the rest of the country, then shouldn't it be guarded by the royal family or something?"
"But then it could be used against us," Arue pointed out.
Keima let out a groan and buried his face in his hands. "Never mind."
"Well, I doubt anyone's ever used Explosion magic against it!" Megumin chimed in excitedly, a glint in her eye that could only spell trouble. "I doubt that even the legendary Mage-Killer could stand up to the might of my ultimate spell!"
"What part of 'nullifies magic' do you not understand," Keima snapped.
"Hm, I suppose that we could try blasting her with all of our strongest spells to see if we can overload its abilities and break through the Mage-Killer's defenses," the chief scratched his beard in thought before turning to his daughter. "What do you think, Yunyun? What would you do if you were in charge?"
"Muh-me!?" the girl in question stammered and took a step back before her brow furrowed and she took a moment to consider the situation. "Well, um, I suppose that we should, uh, try and find the other weapon. If we know it exists, then we should have some record of it, right?"
"According to the arcane lore, knowledge of the weapon is written on the Monument of the Indecipherable Inscription," Hiropon explained. "But the inscriptions on the monument are indecipherable, which means that no one can read it."
The memory of Keima's encounter with Sylvia flashed through his mind again. She had tried to get him to translate some 'ancient runes' or something because he was Japanese, hadn't she?
"O-oh," Yunyun glanced down at her feet nervously. "Well, then, I guess we should… Um, we should…"
"We should investigate that monument," Keima said, turning everyone's attention back to him. "We can't just abandon the town and this is our only lead. Come on, let's see if we can find something."
"Good plan." Hiropon nodded. "Or at least as good as any. Your group should try and find the ancient weapon while the rest of us stay behind to watch General Sylvia. She seems to be content burning down the empty village for now but we'll need to respond quickly if the situation changes."
"Right." Yunyun stood at attention, and Keima took a place by her side. Megumin reluctantly walked up to them as well, as did Chomsuke and Komekko. "You can count on us!"
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
Unlike most of the ancient ruins and monuments scattered around the Crimson Demon Village, most of which had been moved there from across Belzerg by their ancestors, the Monument of the Indecipherable Inscription wasn't much of a tourist trap. After all, it was just a giant rock with a carving of their ancestors' patron deities, the goddess of magic Nanoha and the goddess of darkness, Yoruichi, on one side and a bunch of random gibberish on the other. Yunyun herself hadn't come to visit the shrine in several years, though between her and Megumin they could remember the way there well enough.
Upon reaching the monument, it became clear that he disapproved of the goddesses for some reason. He didn't say anything, of course, but she could see it in his eyes. But then again, she supposed that being in a party with Aqua changed one's perspective of the divine for the worse. Not that Yunyun had a problem with Aqua. In fact, she quite liked the descended goddess, but… she didn't exactly set a good example of divinity.
The runes on the other side, however, seemed to strike her fiancé's interest.
"Yep, that's what I thought," he nodded and let out a sigh. "It's hiragana."
"Wait, are you saying that you know the ancient script?" Megumin asked him, stunned.
"Yep, it's one of the three written languages from my homeland," he explained. "Four, if you count romaji, but that's just a foreign script that we adopted."
"You have four different alphabets?" Megumin asked in shock. "Why?"
"Hey, I don't go around making fun of your culture!" Keima snapped at her.
"Yes you do," she pointed out. "All the time."
"Yes, but that's just because your people are insane." Keima turned back to not-so-indecipherable inscriptions.
"So, does that mean that you can read it?" Yunyun asked him.
"Yeah, it says 'This is a record of what happened here'," he began to read aloud. "One day, the king barged into my awesome new life, demanding that I make him a weapon that can kill the Devil King. 'War begets more war', I said. And then I got my ass handed to me by my hot lab assistant. I swear, with my power to create, I think that I've done a lot for this world already. I'm all out of ideas, why can't the king leave me alone?"
"Hey, this sounds like the guy who made the Mobile Fortress Destroyer," Megumin noted excitedly. "Do you think it could be the same guy?"
"Mobile Fortress Destoroyah!" Komekko exclaimed cheerfully. For a walking fortress of death, the Destroyer was oddly popular with kids. Yunyun herself had a model of it that she used to play with when she was young.
"I-I suppose that's possible," Yunyun replied, turning to Keima who'd gone quiet. "W-what else does it say?"
"I…" Keima turned away from her. "I don't think that I should say."
"Huh, why not?" Megumin asked.
"Yeah, why not?" Komekko echoed.
"But Keima, we need to know what's written here in case there's anything about how to save the village!" Yunyun insisted, which caused Keima to wince for some reason.
"But… ugh, fine, but don't say that I didn't warn you." Keima shook his head and looked back up at the ancient writings. "I made a weapon to deal with the Devil King. Actually, they're just some humans I modified. These people really have a flare for the overdramatic. I guess that explains the red eyes and serial number tats they wanted so bad. They look like a bunch of emo wannabes, now. I came up with the name Crimson Demons and they loved it, what a bunch of morons."
…
"What!" Megumin exclaimed in righteous ignition, looking like she wanted to blow something up. Though it was Megumin, so she always looked like she wanted to blow something up. "That asshole! How dare he call our ancestors morons, just because he was too dumb to realize how awesome they were!"
"Well, he did make us," Yunyun pointed out. "So I guess we should be thankful to him for that."
"What's an emo?" Komekko asked.
"Not important," Keima said. "But what was that about serial number tattoos?"
"Um, that's probably referring to our mysterious birthmarks," Megumin explained. "Every Crimson Demon has one somewhere on their body. Yunyun, show him yours!"
"What, no!" Yunyun blurted out, hands reflexively reaching for the hem of her skirt. "I can't do that!"
"Well, I'm not showing him my ass," Megumin argued. "Besides, you guys are basically married now, anyway, so it's okay if you show him your-"
"Here you go, Mister," Komekko said, pulling up her sleeve to show off the rectangular black mark on her shoulder.
"Is that a barcode?" he wondered aloud. "Wait, no, why am I asking? That's not even the weirdest thing that I've seen this morning."
"Eh, fine, we should probably get back to reading, anyway," Megumin said.
"Right, of course," Keima nodded, then resumed. "The Crimson Demons found out about this prototype Mage-Killer thingy I made and now they're calling it their 'greatest threat'. Honestly, I'm starting to dig their whole pretentious nerd aesthetic."
"Ah ha! So he did come around!" Megumin pumped her fist through the air.
"Hohohoho," Keima started laughing dryly and it took a moment for Yunyun to realize he was reading the tablet again. "The countermeasure that I whipped up turned out awesome for something that came out the size of a pole you dry your clothes on. It packs enough firepower to destroy the entire planet! I haven't decided what to call it, yet, so I'm just going to go with railgun 'til I do. Damn, I'm good!"
"Wait, so the weapon is basically just explosion magic?" Megumin asked. "Guys, you should have just let me blast that bitch!"
"Well, presumably the Railgun uses something other than magic so that it can break through the Mage-Killer's defenses," Yunyun pointed out, then turned to Keima. "What else does it say?"
"Nothing," he shook his head. "That was the end."
"So all we know is that it's called a Railgun and that it's the size of a clothes rod?" Megumin tapped her foot impatiently. "Well, that was a waste of time. Although, I guess learning our clan's lost lore was worth the trip. Does this mean the Mobile Destroyer was like our cool uncle?"
"Pretty sure that's not how it works," Keima said.
"Hey, is a railgun like a 'rie-ful'?" Komekko asked the young man, pulling at his sleeve.
"What?" Keima whipped his head around to look down at her, alarm clear on his expression. "Where did you hear that word? This world isn't supposed to have guns!"
"Big Sis Elsie said that the clothes store man's drying rod was something called a 'rie-ful'," she explained.
"Of course it is," Keima let out a beleaguered sigh. "A Crimson Demon using a weapon of mass destruction to dry clothes. That sounds perfectly in-character."
"Wait a minute," Yunyun suddenly shot up as she realized something, looking around frantically. "We still haven't found Elsie!"
"It doesn't look like anyone's seen her since last night." Keima shook his head sadly. "I just hope that she's safe and, more importantly, staying out of trouble... That's probably too much to ask for."
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
From the wreckage of what had once been the personal lab of the Head Researcher of the Kingdom of Noise, known to most who knew him in life and even more that had only heard of him after his passing as 'The Asshole", a hand reached out into the air, followed by an arm and eventually the rest of a body. Elucia de Lute Ima collapsed onto the rubble as soon as she'd finally managed to dig herself out of the ruins, breathing heavily as she stared up at the smoke-covered morning sky.
"Welp, that could have gone better," she muttered to herself bitterly before sitting up with a loud groan. "Oh, look, the village is on fire…"
It took a moment for her to process what she'd just said.
"Cursed heavens! The village is on fire!" Elsie jumped to her feet and reached into the pocket of her surcoat. "This looks like a job for my FIRE TRUCK!"
Ko! * No! * Su! * Ba!
In the next exciting chapter of God's Blessing, God Knows: The Triumph Of This Cute Little Sister!
"Yep, that's a gun, alright." Keima rubbed his temples as he and the others stood around a yard behind the village's foremost tailor's shop, completely ignoring the giant, fire-breathing cyborg snake woman burning down the town around them.
"I have come to put an end to your wickedness, Sylvia!" the girl declared, staring Sylvia down with a fierce determination almost literally burning behind her glowing crimson eyes which cut through the darkness before she spread her arms to the sides so that her black cape bellowed through the air behind her. "My name is Yunyun, Arch Wizard and Master of the most advanced magic! The greatest mage of the Crimson Demons, future leader of the Crimson Demon Clan and consort of the God of Conquest!"
Unbeknownst to everyone else involved in the Crucible of the Crimson Demon Village, as bystanders were already calling it, an anachronistic emergency response vehicle was barrelling along the old roads leading into town with a self-proclaimed Devil Queen behind the wheel.
Author's Notes: And we're back! And just a day before my birthday, too. Sorry for the long wait but my break from writing is over and I'll be back to updating this story every other week. It feels kind of weird to be posting this chapter now, over two months after I originally wrote it, but it's finally here. Here's to another year of God's Blessing, God Knows! I also might be starting up a second, unrelated Konosuba fanfic soon but I'm not sure how long it will be until that one's ready.
And, as a reminder, I have a link to my Discord server available in my profile. Feel free to check it out if you're interested in discussing stories, getting notified for chapter updates or anything else!
I also want to work on being more engaging as an author this year, so I'm going to try and leave off each chapter with a question. So, how do you think this boss battle is going to go compared to canon?