The purple lightning rushes by, scattering black red. For a moment, even time seems to have stopped.

　A voice of endless savagery twisted in his throat, and he swung his arms. There was no longer any sense of pain, only a single sensation.

　Majin. Drigman the Controller. Its heart, its magic core - I've captured the fatal thing. Only that certainty is at hand.

　A great deal of blood stains the throne. The blown-out heart crawled across the earth, spitting out blood like a rag doll.

　My eyes widened. A different scene was unfolding before my eyes.

　Drigman's body no longer regenerated as it had in the past. He is immortal only when his feet touch the ground. The place where his heart used to be is stark, as if it's been painted black.

　My eyelids go numb. My eyelids go numb, and I open my lips without realizing it. Heavy breathing escapes between my teeth.

　It's over. I've killed him now. One of the mighty wizards that Heldt-Stanley had once killed was now crushed here.

　Ah, finally. This was the moment when my heart muttered such mixed feelings of relief and doubt.

"I understand. I feel it.

　The voice that touched my ear sent a fearful chill down my spine. The muscles supporting my entire body let out an unbearable shiver. If there is such a thing as intuition in this world, I felt it.

　I'm going to die here. Such a clear and inevitable absolute imagination.

　It was strange, really. Out of the corner of my eye, Drigman's eyes were distorted, blood dripping down his cheek. He looked as if he was about to die.

　Nevertheless, there was a terrible evil in his expression. It was a heat that no human being could match. Drigman's lips moved and his eyes spoke.

You were small and insignificant, but you are now our mortal enemy. ...... I admit, you are no longer cattle. As of this moment, you are our enemy.

"...... Well. I don't mind if you keep your guard up.

　You can keep your guard up if you want, but it's not like you're going to be rewarded for being an enemy. You move your lips instead of your motionless body, and every time you do, a sickening sensation licks your cheek.

　I felt a strange pressure and palpitations that would not stop. I tried to move my legs, but they didn't budge. It seemed a miracle that he was not lying on the ground.

　With both arms, Drigman crushed the huge tree that had pierced him and planted his feet on the ground. But his heart remains empty. What is lost in the sky will not return when he sets foot on the earth again. So he's sure to die here.

　But oddly enough, Drigman was quiet. No rage, no agitation. He held out his hands in a waveless silence.

"Rougis. Honored enemy. I offer you my respect and show you my essence. What does it mean to control the distance? My gaze, my authority that once roamed the world.

　The witch's eyes pierced my body, blood running through them. A shiver covered my throat. I've opened something I shouldn't have. I had a strange feeling of certainty in my heart.

　Oh, I knew it. I'm going to die here today.


　◇◇◆


　Drigman realized that his death was near. The body he depended on would lose its core and he would once again go into a long sleep. He has no idea how long it will be. I may never open my eyes again.

　So there was something I had to do. There was a mission that needed to be done.

　For a moment, Drigman squinted at the man in front of him.

　He may no longer be able to move, but his fierce eyes are still looking at him with an undiminished will. This is the essence of him, Drigman thought, his lips tightening.

　At first glance, he looks like a rough and tumultuous beast. But that's not enough to take the heart of a demon.

　He's here, having conquered even his own death. He has sharpened his mind, done all he can to his body, and transcended what was originally insurmountable, and now he stands. Drigman understood this well from his two encounters.

　It is a precious thing for demons and people alike. I'm sure he's not one of Althea's, Drigman thought. If he was one of her family, he wouldn't be like this.

　And that's why I have to kill him now, Drigman decided. If it's not livestock but a threatening enemy. I'll kill it at any cost.



　I'm going to put magic all over your body and allow you to activate it. A magical mechanism originally created for the spirit god Zebraeliris.

　A miracle to create a virtual sanctuary by spreading illusions all over this royal city. Drigman will take into himself all the mechanisms he has created for the ritual of reclaiming a part of the world that was once right.

　It must be done. Eliminating this threat and these humans would serve the Lord better than anything else. So Drigman believed.

　The continued supply of magic would prolong Drigman's life and allow him to regain his essence once more. The source material and the power of the two names of the controller.

"In the name of the demon I give you permission. "In the name of the devil, I give you permission to banish human beings from the earth. That is the enemy of all demons.

　--(Source: The Control of All Things)

　By nature, the Drigman has no concept of distance. There is no way that something that can only be used to close the distance is the essence of Drigman.

　In the past, when he was the ruler of the demons, his entire field of vision was in his hands. His vision swept the world, and there was nothing he could not grasp.

　The source material he vowed never to lose again, when he lost his people and his country. His seemingly cowardly authority is the essence of who he is.

　He wields both arms. In his fingertips resides the power that once gripped all sight.

　It is wielded to annihilate every human being in the land. To shake and collapse the earth and awaken the world of miasma. The magic will be more dense than in the past, and this place will become an uninhabitable demon world.

　Drigman's original text makes this possible. For him, everything in sight is his domain. It is easy for him to make the area around the capital his domain, even if it is still incomplete.

　It is autonomous, expanding its own domain and eating the world. And eventually it will cover the entire world.

　Its power source, its furnace, is Drigman's own original. He has decided that it is necessary at this time, and so he has made his decision.

　Man had become an enemy to be reckoned with. Then he would leave no stone unturned. Because our beloved cattle are gone.

　--For the spirit god Zebraeliris, and for all demons. I'll drive a wedge into the human world here.

　A moment after Drigman had made up his mind, there was a roar. A sound so startling that it seemed as if the canopy had collapsed and the sky had bowed down.

　The throne room was a majestic color. The beautifully decorated ceiling creaked and cracked as it collapsed.

　And then a rain of light poured down. A torrential downpour of heat rays that seemed to be divine, to obliterate and uproot everything in its path.

　The source of this was a woman with her hair dyed red and her white eyes twinkling. With her black eyes at her side, she says.

"Hundreds of years and you're still the same. No, you haven't. Neither have I. So I'm not going to talk to you. We don't understand each other, and we'll never understand each other. I can imagine how you got there, but I can't tolerate it. So, Drigman. Let's not speak to each other anymore.

　--Disappear here. I'm merciful, aren't I?

　And so the jewel Bhau-Agatha rained down. With all his heart and soul, he made sure that nothing was left behind.

　The intertwining of demon and light was like the return of a myth.