Chapter 246

Rimuru vs Yuuki – Part 1

This isn’t surprising. That was my honest reaction.

I tried to think calmly as we began to trade furious blows.

In the first place, I could not understand why he would wage such a huge war one whole month later.

Who knows which side would have been victorious had he fought against us on that day in that place.

Had he sent Chloe at me at that point, I would have been hard pressed, even if I didn’t lose outright.

With Velda’s strength, he would have been able to take on Veldora and Velgrynd while I was being tossed about by Chloe.

Furthermore, with Kagali, Vega and a number of angels, they would probably have been able to kill Diablo and the others.

There were even some who could use special abilities like Mai’s ‘Teleportation,’ so I don’t think that this was an entirely wrong prediction on my part.

Even with Ciel’s calculations, the possibility of us winning was about forty percent. Which was not very high.

Though, apparently had I been able to kill Chloe without hesitation, then the odds would have been reversed to an eighty percent possibility of winning.

And so I had assumed that they were moving carefully, out of fear that I would act without hesitation, but my thoughts on the matter changed after witnessing the assembly of angels and the explosion phenomenon.

Or you might say that I had become certain of one thing.

If that was possible, then it was Velda, whose purpose was to destroy the whole world, who had the advantage.

All that needed to be done was to keep us there and eliminate us by having the angels’ energy run wild.

What was the reason that he hadn’t done this?

report this ad –It was to buy time–

I and Ciel’s opinions matched.

In the end, Velda had said something quite believable when he disappeared, but what if that was all an act on Yuuki’s part?

I felt like everything was starting to fit into place.

“Ku, kukuku, ahahahahahahahaha! Who would have thought?

Who would have, really… That you would be the most dangerous of all.

I’m impressed, Rimuru.

I would have liked to destroy the world with my own power, if possible.

But unfortunately…

I am not strong enough to defeat you. Not only that but even that demon over there–

–You are too unreasonable. Indeed, the chill that I felt when I first met you was real.

I should have seriously gotten rid of you back then when I had the chance.

Perhaps I had gotten a little crazy somehow? Well, it’s too late now.

No, perhaps if you are able to stop me, that is only the will of the world.

After that, –will make the decision, I think.

Goodbye, Rimuru.

Surprisingly, I did like you.

–so much that I really wanted to become your friend…”

I realized that I had believed those words sincerely.

I thought that through changing places with Velda after saying these words at the end, that Yuuki had been able to relate his true feelings.

But I was wrong.

At this point, he had already been starting his preparations.

Or perhaps preparations had started the moment we first met–

It was probably a sign of being a bad loser that I thought it was quite the act.

Ciel had her doubts as well but was unable to find a conclusive flaw.

She said that it was because I was so good-natured and believed Yuuki’s words, that she suspected it of being some kind of ploy.

I had laughed it off and said she was overthinking it. But in case there was some meaning behind it all, we both speculated over what it could be.

The one answer that we were able to come upon was that his purpose was to buy one months time.

And that turned out to be correct. Yuuki had been inside of Velda and making the power his own.

“You, you’ve tricked me until the very end just to buy some time…?”

“Ahaha, you figured it out? That’s correct, Rimuru. Well, regarding that, Velda was also easily fooled as well. You know what they say about tricking your friends in order to trick your enemies?”

“You can’t be serious, I really did believe–”

“Haha. That’s what they call soft. You really are so stupid for believing the words of an enemy, Rimuru.”

Yuuki scoffingly shrugged his shoulders at me.

Seeing this, Diablo and Milim gnashed their teeth and looked at Yuuki with murderous hate. However, the aura that Yuuki emitted now was not comparable to what he had before. They were overwhelmed by it, unable to move a single step forward.

This was a frightening amount of growth–no, evolution. Our weapons were evenly matched. Actually, I was starting to feel mine was inferior.

Veldanava didn’t even budge when blocking the blows of Veldora Sword.

And Yuuki who wielded the sword was able to adeptly pass off the impact, unlike Velda.

“How did you gain so much power?”

“I don’t feel like it’s necessary to tell you. But I did make you wait for a whole month, so I guess I could give you something. It’s quite simple, really. I just had to repress Velda into becoming my subordinate. After analyzing his power completely, I also analyzed his knowledge and understood everything. Thanks to that, I was able to easily gain the power of the awakened hero as well. It really was a stroke of luck that I was able to swipe a portion of Leon’s power. After that, I just needed to change our relationship into one of complete domination. Yes, yes. It was easy to do after you crushed all of Velda’s hopes and broke his spirit. And for that, you have my gratitude.” Yuuki says with a smile.

Now I was feeling regret, you couldn’t count on this guy to be telling the truth.

I hadn’t been able to stop myself from asking, but there was a high likelihood that I would be tricked again if I allowed myself to talk with him too much.

I had berated Mai rather snobbishly before, and yet I had been fooled myself. It was no laughing matter. Any more conversations would be dangerous, and it would be better to concentrate everything on fighting him instead.

[I presume that what Yuuki has just said is true, but I agree that any further conversation would be dangerous.]

Ciel had also sensed a danger in it and agreed with my opinion.

A first-rate trickster was a terrible thing to deal with.

I had been so confident that I would not be fooled, and yet I had played right into his hands. It made me incredibly mad. But fixating on that fact too much would only lead to bigger mistakes.

Then I really wouldn’t be able to laugh at Mai.

Yuuki had just said that he had gained the power of the awakened hero. And while he hadn’t said anything about it, it would not be strange for him to have the power of the awakened demon lord as well.

His former subordinate, Kazaream was also an awakened demon lord, after all.

Heroes and demon lords, these two different powers were united in a will of equal rank known as Velda. And the being who could freely control that power–that being was the current Yuuki.

It was a shocking development, but it was clear, seeing that Yuuki now had a power that was equivalent to mine.

“And to think that you were the one who had ‘Wisdom Lord Raphael’ all along. I had considered the possibility, and it turned out to be the case. My plans were not going well at all, to the point that I suspected that you had anticipated my movements. But the ability that Velda had been searching for was in the hands of his biggest enemy. Now he really does look like a clown. It’s hilarious.”

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Just as I was thinking of ending the conversation, Yuuki began to talk as if to ruin this strategy.

Yuuki’s voice reverberated joyously as if he thought Velda to be truly comical from the bottom of his heart.

He really was a tough opponent.

I parried Yuuki’s sword and kept my mouth tightly shut as I slashed back at him in return.

“Ahaha. Don’t be so cautious. You know Velda, he actually believed that he was Veldanava reborn. As if that could be true. He is such an idiot. That was nothing more than an ability. It was Veldanava’s original ability, and so he inherited all of his memories, that is all it was. In other words, he was really no different than people like Kondou and Damrada. He is a miserable Manas, even the inferior of irregular beings such as Rudra. It’s preposterous, isn’t it? That’s quite the misunderstanding for a mere tool who did not even have dragon genes. But you know, even a fool like Velda could become effective as a support for me. After all, it means that I can now command all of Veldanava’s abilities!”

Perhaps his strategy was to deceive with this conversation, as he continued to say things I was no longer listening to.

But in fact, his plan was working wonders.

The reason for this was that I was unable to concentrate well. We were in the middle of a fight, and yet Yuuki’s words were disrupting my ability to think.

Damn, he really was a dangerous opponent.

Still, if what he had said was true, it meant that he had a power to rival my own.

It was most likely true that Velda was a Manas. Just like Ciel, it was incredibly useful to have someone who could support all of your abilities.

They could activate a technique for you that was too hard to control. In other words, while you concentrate on close range combat like we were now, further methods of attack could be prepared without your opponent noticing it.

However, I couldn’t understand why Yuuki would go out of his way to tell me this.

Perhaps this was part of his plans. I suspect that there is something behind it. The existence of a Manas could be an important trump card that you would want to keep a secret. So of course, I would want to find out what his reason for relating this to me was.

No, it was also possible that having me worry over this was just what he wanted, and there would be no end to it once I started to search for an answer.

I realized once again, how much of a troublesome enemy Yuuki was to me.

“You think you can control all of Veldanava’s powers? Don’t get carried away, you human!”

Guy had been listening to Yuuki and my conversation and his red eyes burned with rage as he glared at Yuuki and shouted.

As if following his lead, Velzado and Velgrynd began to nod.

“Exactly! In the first place, it was I who sealed Veldanava’s holy corpse. There is no way that the likes of you would be able to use all of his power without breaking that seal!”

Ramiris shouted as if the outburst had been involuntary.

Yuuki heard this and then he grinned with an evil expression.

–but, wait? Why was Ramiris casually spouting out this incredibly important information? Sure, she had an incredibly careless and clumsy personality, but there was something clearly strange about this…

“Too bad! But your seal was meaningless. If it makes you angry, why don’t you unseal it and confirm it for yourself?”

“How dare you! Very well then, I will do just that–”

I was certain of it as soon as I witnessed Ramiris about to be swayed by Yuuki’s provocation. “Diablo, stop Ramiris!”

“Yes, my lord.”

Obeying my order, Diablo immediately began to move.

Gently, but firmly.

He created a magical barrier around the frenzied Ramiris and shut her inside.

“Hey, what’s this about, Rimuru?”

“Calm down. Yuuki just wanted you to break the seal. Right now, you were just about to obey him.”

“What?!”

I calmly answered to Ramiris who had shouted very unhappily.

Ramiris was shocked when she heard my explanation. Of course, she would be. After all, she had absolutely no idea.

If you only listened to the words of the exchange, then it would be hard to be fooled by the contents. And yet, without realizing it, she was about to take the actions that he wanted her to. It was so ridiculous if you calmly considered it, and so it was natural to wonder if there wasn’t some skill involved here.

There was definitely a need to be certain of this.

While it was possible that I would end up being controlled as well, I would just have to believe that Ciel would do something.

[Leave it to me. I will analyze Yuuki’s skills.]

After hearing Ciel’s dependable reply, I started to talk to Yuuki.

–without allowing my gaze to move away from him, we continued to exchange heavy blows.

“You haven’t changed from your trickster ways, Yuuki.”

“Ahaha. What do you mean?”

“Don’t play dumb. Your words purposely lure away one’s thoughts, and you can even mislead the hearts of those with a strong will. It’s clearly not at the same level as mere suggestions or hypnosis. It’s really quite impressive.”

“Why thank you. But it’s not very fun once someone has seen through it.”

“Say what you want!”

Yuuki brushed away my words as if they meant nothing.

report this ad Judging by how he wasn’t phased at all, he must have anticipated that I would see through it.

So that would mean that this mind control was not his trump card… The smart thing to do would probably be to assume that everything Yuuki says is a lie.

Wait, but what if that was his aim?

What if he mixed just a little bit of truth inside of the lie, then he could make me believe that even that truth was a lie as well.

Or maybe it was the opposite pattern and he mixed a little lie into the truth…?

[I think there is a high possibility of that being the case. Unfortunately, I have analyzed all of his energy wavelength patterns including his voiceprint, but was unable to determine whether or not he is lying.]

I had thought as much.

But it did hurt that even Ciel could not tell them apart. If we could not read anything from his expressions, emotions or wavelengths, then there was little else we could do.

This was one thing we couldn’t overcome…

So that meant that I would have to decide on my own. What information was there that Yuuki would want me to believe was a lie?

[Additionally, I have determined that there is a hidden power inside of Yuuki’s words. This is likely primitive magic, ‘Kotodama.’]

What? ‘Kotodama’–you say?!

I asked Ciel for further details, and she says that primitive magic is positioned at a level above the magic used by demons. It is the source of all magic.

However, it was of a property not meant to be used for controlling physical phenomenon but had the power to affect the mind.

While it had no effect on the physical, its effect on the mental realm was enormous.

In other words, it was a fearsome magic that could disable defense barriers.

But what was most surprising was that it could have an effect on people who were so powerful that they had awakened to an ultimate ability.

And being able to use this magic meant that you would become the mortal enemy to spiritual lifeforms.

Just like Ramiris had been so easily led astray, it had the ability to have an effect inside of your heart…

Currently, our skills with the sword were equal.

Neither I or Yuuki were feeling rushed just yet, but neither of us had taken a hit either.

Yuuki’s entire body was covered in God level armor, but I doubted that it would protect him from my Veldora Sword.

Similarly, I was not confident that I could endure being hit by Veldanava. After all, I had sensed an energy in that sword that surpassed even Veldora Sword.

A power that could rightfully be called the embodiment of Veldanava–

“Have you really–is it true that you can control the power of Veldanava?”

The hunch came to me as if a divine revelation.

The reason that Yuuki had needed to buy time, it was likely so that he could attain a power that was sure to be able to defeat us. In that case, it would make sense that he had gained the power of Veldanava.

“What are you saying? That’s completely ridiculous.”

“That’s right, Rimuru. As I said, you need to break the seal–”

Guy and Ramiris did not agree with me, but Velzado and Velgrynd remained silent.

And so did Milim. Perhaps, they had felt it. The same waves as Veldanava.

It was the power that overflowed from the sword that Yuuki was holding.

“Aha, ahahhahahahahahhahahahhahahahahhahahahah!!”

Suddenly, Yuuki burst into laughter as if a dam had been broken.

He continued to block the blows of my sword as he laughed on.

And then–

“Hehe. Very good, Rimuru. Nothing would have happened after that fairy over there released the seal. But I just wanted to see your despair when that happened. After all, it is true that I broke the seal.”

Upon hearing Yuuki’s words, everyone but me fell quiet as if they had been frozen.

They must have felt that the words were true.

This was not a lie to make me cautious. As there was little merit in telling such a lie.

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Then this meant that Yuuki had broken Veldanava’s seal in one month.

And so that was the reason that he needed the one month delay.

“Yes. That’s the face that I wanted to see. After all, I’ve decided to take this seriously now. I failed in my game to use tools to destroy the world, so I might as well enjoy myself a little at the end, right?”

So saying, Yuuki laughed as if he were truly enjoying this from the bottom of his heart.

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