"Do not treat my mercy as a given. I am simply carrying out my master's command."
~Primordial Blue,Rain
Rimuru's POV:
'God,this Clayman! He told Milim to attack me but he can't even hold his ground along with Viola, some kind of puppet robot against Rain,not talking about after Viola was destroyed by her in 1 blow..
Surprised me enough seeing that he is a demon lord in the first place. Now Beretta is helping Ranga,and I'm dealing with Milim. She might seems to be controlled by something in my mind tells me that it's not like that..Guess I have to find out later-'
Just when I'm thinking,she almost landed a blow on me! Luckily my reflexes were good enough for me to dodge.
'Heck,better pay full attention now,whatever she is having in her mind,I'd better dodge her attacks if I want to be alive. I wonder how the others are doing now..' I thought while continuing to dodge her blows launched at me constantly.
'Rain obviously had no problem,that puppet is gone for good,and Clayman is getting pressed on completely by her swift attacks, probably using him as some sort-of training bag or else he would be dead long ago.
Ranga and Beretta just dealt with the tailed beast with 3 tails,and I had destroyed the spell Clayman casted on her and she was taken care of by them,so it all comes to me now.'
'And somehow I've been able to keep up for a bit of her attacks,sounds really weird but yeah I do get the hang of it slowly,and dunno why but I'm really feeling fresh right now in a tense battle. But Rapheal-sensei still provided a great help by taking over the battle from me if necessary momentarily,so now I have the time to observe Clayman's battlefield.'
'Honestly..
I feel bad for him,kinda.'
What's happening now?
Well,long story short.
I attended the Walpurgis banquet of the demon lords and had a direct confrontation with Clayman,the piece of garbage! HE started to talk a bunch of bullcrap regarding me and my friends,and we got into a little heated argument.
And then,the lead demon lord called Guy Crimson,decided to let us combat each other in an all out battle with our subordinates joining too at the place. Turning into some brawl or sort.
But he literally pulled out his stupid trump card,Milim! I don't know how he somehow 'controlled' her or something,as I highly doubt that she is actually controlled,after some fighting between all of us,I gave Ranga and beretta a little help by releasing that 3 tailed fox from a control spell casted by Clayman.
Turns out she wasn't fighting willingly in the first place.
And then,Rain on the other hand,obliterated the puppet subordinate Clayman had,called Viola easily with no difficulties,and is now toying with him. I must admit,she is a very powerful one.
Me? Right now,I am taking on Milim while trying to analyze the battlefield's situations,which apart from my side,is favoring us.
As I was thinking,I could hear Rain and Clayman's side having a minor conversation..quite loudly that even I could hear it.
"Ha,what is this? Is it suppose to like,uh,do something,or at least damage me? Not talking about whether it hurts,I feel nothing now,pretty much."
Rain was trapped in Clayman's string bind but seemingly wasn't caring at all and taunted Clayman,making him pretty damn mad right now.
"Impossible! This is the ultimate control magic that could even control Milim! How does this have no effect?!" He screamed with frustration at his failed attack.
"Not talking about that,but I feel like nothing,and this is what you get for failing to be a good punching bag!"
*THUMP*
Rain broke from the magic bind,and gave Clayman a hard punch right at his face.
"GWAHHH! IT HURTS!!!" Clayman screamed in pain,while covering his damaged face with his hands,trying to stand properly.
"Funny how being so weak makes you a demon lord,if you can't control or beat me,you will never have any slightest chance to win my lord!"
'Oh god,that must hurt a lot,even for me..She could be cute and lively,especially when petting me in my slime form,really feels good,even Shuna and Shion are learning from her,which is supposed to be the opposite. But when she gets angry she could be truly fearsome,or being annoyed..It still sent chills to me,just like Shuna..' I thought as I remembered the few days I had her as my other secretary before the Walpurgis. Man,they were truly something!
"You...You little ant! Don't get too carried away! Milim! DESTROY THAT SLIME!"
'And he's trying. Great,back to work.'
"Of course I know who Milim-sama is,but my master wasn't that weak that he could not even stand his ground! Rimuru-sama! Add oil on your side!"
'Glad she looks high on me,like Diablo. But please don't be on the same level as him.,I don't want those kinds of troubles everyday-'
And that brief moment of thinking almost got me killed as I barely again dodged Milim's powerful magic blast.
'That was close,luckily I dodged that-'
And another punch is already in front of my face!
'Oh crap I can't dodge that!'
<Warning,danger incoming,recommended evasive action.>
'I KNOW THAT I'M IN A REAL SHIT SITUATION NOW! C'mon please somehow miss...'
I closed my eyes,ready to face what was coming,and hoped that I could make a comeback.
But then...Nothing happened.
'Wait,did a miracle really perform itself?' I thought quietly.
As I opened my eyes carefully,I realized that guy appeared out of nowhere and just blocked that strike for me with his head!
"OW! IT HURTS! WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO MEAN!" Veldora somehow appeared and took the hit for me randomly,complaining while holding his head yelling.
"Veldora?! Why are you here? I told you to guard Tempest-" before I could finish,he cut me off and shoved out a manga that I gave him to spend time with.
"Rimuru,you gave me a wrong copy of the manga to troll me so you better know what place you're in now! I want the manga! Where is the correct volume of the manga!"
Seriously,this?
"Yeah I will give it to you later,if only you would do something.." I said.
"The what?"
"Help me to deal with Milim there for a while.I suspect she is under control but I'm not sure now after what happened. But be cautious." I pointed at Milim over the air,levitating.
"Ah,the daughter of my brother, I haven't met her in person for quite some time,this would be fun to be an exercise!" He happily took on the challenge,while clenching his fists in excitement. Although his sentence did catch my attention for a bit.
'Brother? He probably meant 'Star King Dragon' or sort of,whatever.'
After dealing with that,I rushed to check on how Rain was doing on Clayman. She is probably having her fun bullying him but I don't have much to care about that guy,he just got what he deserved.
But I could clearly see that Clayman's attention was all on Veldora,while he was fighting Milim.
"W-Who is that man that could stand-off against Mlim! How is this possible,my plans..everything is going absolutely wrong! It should be following my design!" Clayman screamed in rage at the situation which is again,against him.
Pffft,how pathetic.
"That is Veldora,my friend. And yes,your little schemes are going to be halted and be ended. You will pay for what you have done to everybody in my country,I promise that you will pay the debt 10 times double." I replied with a frown on my face on his foolishness.
"This is not..this is not over yet! I will unleash my true power..NOW!"
After that,he shredded off his clothes,started yelling like a psychopath and more of that,his skin turned tan coloured and 4 arms grew from his back,stretching out with sharp claws,not joking but maybe one of the weirdest things I had ever seen in this world.
"You little piece of blob trash..Go to HELL!" He then launched at me with all of his might while letting out a battle cry.
I wasn't even planning to do anything even if he is dashing towards me,because..
Out of nowhere,Rain teleported in front of him and used her bare hands to slash his arms and legs off his body with a speed that I almost didn't catch up to.
"I would love to send you to hell instead for your insolence and your lack of self-awareness. Rimuru-sama wouldn't need to have his hands painted with your blood. Don't forget,I am your opponent!."
'Yeah yeah,of course you're enough for him,I'm pretty sure that she's even stronger than me along with Diablo.' I thought.
"What's wrong Clayman? C'mon,send me to hell already like you said earlier!" I taunted him white letting out an intended cocky laugh to make fun of him. and it worked out perfectly.
'Normally I wouldn't dare to taunt an enemy right in front of me but,he lost all of his limbs already,he couldn't regen it either,he couldn't do shit-'
"Impossible! If I were to,I would bring all of you with me! Milim! Respond to my order,activate berserk,and KILL EVERY SINGLE ONE HERE,RIGHT NOW!"
"Shit,I don't know if Milim was actually controlled or not,but if she is,then we are in big trouble here! Raphael-sensei! Please could you do something!"
<Be patient master,things would turn out to be all right along finally.>
'What do you mean all right?! It's not like I could take on a full power Milim here-'
<Just Watch.>
'Oh god do something-'
I thought,but Milim caught me off guard with a totally unexpected reaction.
"Why would I do that? Rimuru and the others are my friends!" She let out a little giggle while refusing his so-called order.
"........"
And this was totally unexpected and was met with silence.
""WHAT?!"" Yep, even some of the demon lords were surprised.
"M-Milim,you were supposed to obey me,how is this possible! Are you..trolling me all along?" Clayman questioned in confusion and disbelief.
"Thank god,I thought of the possibilities of your little plays,now it relieves me to see that I'm correct.." I mumbled to myself in relief.
"And why are you guys not surprised or anything? I thought at l;east you would be a bit shocked."
I turned to Beretta and Rain,which walked towards me after their fight.
"Well,Milim-sama is the daughter of veldanava-sama after all,a little magic spell would be impossible to possess her,not even me." Rain said with a smirk on her face.
"I agree with Blu-No,Rain-sama. Milim-sama is very powerful both mentally and physically,although behaving extremely childish,her abilities were not to be underestimated. I never thought of her being controlled by that Clayman because it was simply illogical and impossible." Beretta agreed on her statement with a nod too.
"Hey you finally called me with the name Rimuru-sama gave me! Wonderful! Did Diablo lectured you enough for your own good? Tehee." She punched Beretta slightly while giggling in a playful tone.
"You could say that,perhaps." Beretta just calmly answered.
'Can't believe you guys were already starting another conversation with laughter and smiles over your face,I thought demons were supposed to be darker and serious instead of having a jolly and positive side. Whatever,it's a good thing anyway.'
"Hey Rimuru!" Carrion on the side,unmasked and decided to finally greet me in person.
"Oh,Carrion! Good to see you're doing fine." I replied to him casually,as I already expected him to survive his encounter with Frey,so I was not surprised at all.
"Yeah,but care to tell me what happened so far till now when I'm absent,this is quite complicated." He asked,and I just gladly replied.
"Sure."
—---------------------------
"Hahahaha! Carrion,thank me! I did all that so you and Rimuru's country could become permanent allies! You even have free labor from the captured forces of Clayman's to rebuild your capital!" Milim patted Carrion on his shoulders,only to be met with a slightly irritated gaze from him.
"I know,but please rethink what you've done! If it's someone else it wouldn't be so smooth." He complained.
"Labour force huh?" Guy on the other hand,finally speaks up and walks towards us.
'And the red hair demon is here to join the fun.' I thought.
"I thought you were naive,but now I finally know why Noir took a liking to you." He said with a satisfied grin on his face.
'Noir? Who's that?' I thought.
And now,everyone is visibly staring at Clayman.
"Clayman,we do live in a world of the fittest,but you went too far by wrecking my country into scrap,and you will pay the price of that." Carrion angrily said.
"Now then,what should we do about him?" I asked.
"We don't really care,so do as you please." Guy simply replied.
'And this guy was more generous than I had expected,now then..it is almost time for that to happen.'
"I would gladly take the offer,however,there is something that is not settled."
"T-this is not over...YET!" A surprise to us,Clayman spoke up,somehow not dying to blood loss to his wounds.
"Clayman?!" Carrion shouted in confusion and surprise.
"I will use my final trump card,to kill you and escape! I will not..be defeated by a slime like you are!" Clayman said angrily.
And he started to gather a large amount of magicules and power inside his body,regenerating all of his injuries.
"As I had expected,he still had something on his sleeve,but how?"
<It is possible that his will to live convinced the world to give him a temporary boost of power,however,it is not a true awakening.>
"You sensed it? That's sharp of you." Leon said to me on my reaction.
"No,I calculated that this outcome was imminent. But I did not expect it to be a temporary awakening. And I will take care of him..personally." I calmly replied.
"You're on." Guy said.
"Rimuru!! Add oil!!" Ramiris cheered for me to win as I slowly walked towards Clayman,who is standing in the center of this magicule vortex.
'That pixie really spoke up huh? Good thing I'd heard that from her,heh,Raphael,you ready?'
<I always are.>
'Good,then let's get rid of him once and for all.'
"Clayman,you would probably get cocky of your new evolution,but I warn you to stand down and surrender. You are still not powerful enough to challenge me. I am a very civilized person and I hate taking blood of the likes of you on my hands. Consider this your final chance."
"Hahaha..Fool! You would not stop me! And these will be the final words with confidence that come out of your mouth before I shred you into pieces!" He said cockily with a grin that I can't wait to crush.
"How unfortunate,I guess you want me to go on the hard way. Then,let us begin. I will end this as fast as I can."
"Behold! MY ULTIMATE TECHNIQUE! I SHALL WIPE YOUR EXISTENCE FROM THIS UNIVERSE COMPLETELY WITHOUT A TRACE!"
Standing in a stance,putting all of his hands around one spot,a dark matter of magicules emitted and gathered around,forming the shape of a sphere.
'Is he charging an energy attack as his ultimate move?The way he screams reminds me of a certain manga back in my old world.
but he is nowhere cultured to that extent,still something that is worth a catch. I am just going to use Beelzebub to devour it then if it is impressive enough.' I thought,as I decided my counter-measures against his tricks.
"VANISH UNDER MY STRONGEST ATTACK!"
After he charged for a while,the only thing he gathered out was a beam of dark and purple with a disgustingly pressured aura around it,totally wasting my time waiting for something cool.
"Lame time wasted and a bad look,I would rate this 1/10. It probably tastes bad,but I will still take it."
"Beelzebub!"
A purple dark torrent of energy rushed and extended out of my hand as I yelled and consumed that energy in an instant.
"And it tastes okay." I mumbled to myself after devouring his so-called strongest move with my abilities with ease.
"W-what?! How is that possible! Impossible,this is not happening!"
"It is happening Clayman,if you had taken my offer to surrender I may have spared you,but you had chosen the other way,but I still have mercy..
So it will be quick. Now enjoy your stay in the otherworld."
"NOOO-"
*Crack*
"This impale has penetrated your vital point and all of your remaining chest armor protecting you,it will be as painless as possible for you. As a villain you are disgusting and treacherous. But as a fighter,although you had trash-talked so much,the point of not giving up is appreciated. You have earned bits of my respect in some way,be grateful...
Even as a stubborn shrimp."
I for some reason muttered this to myself,and nobody heard it,but I still felt like I'm going to do it anyway,as from my arms,dark purple waves of vortex spreaded out and consumed his corpse to bits without a single trace left behind.
—---------------------
What the hell is this situation?!
It was just like 5 minutes after I killed Clayman and absorbed him.and now I was forced to name the new demon lord group after the change in members while my naming skills aren't even that good!
And not only that,I was being threatened by Guy...kinda you could say that.
"Uhhh,8 stars,space,the sky and the night..."
I muttered to myself.
"Don't blame me if it's bad but,how about Octagram?"
"Hmmm,not bad,at least better than 10 demon lords." The demon lord called Dino,a fallen angel commented.
"I agree,actually pretty fashionable." Leon said.
"Whatever,at least it's not lame and stupid. I'd take it." The giant,Dagurel, also commented on it with some positiveness.
"Great,if no one objects,from now on we shall be referred to as Octogram! About our nicknames and aliases though.."
"Rimuru go on! I know you could do it !"
'Shut up old geezer,you put me in hell already,not doing that twice.' I thought to myself in my mind,so that nobody heard that.
"Well I guess it's me again,lets-"
*Thud*
Suddenly, a weird yet rushing feeling of dizziness and powerlessness struck me out of nowhere,making me fall out of my seat and hit the ground.
"Rimuru? What's wrong?" Milim rushed to me and asked with worry.
"What the,I can't!-" I felt my strength being sucked bit by bit and I was trying my best to not fall unconscious,while at the same time,my mind kept flashing some sort of memories all over my brain.
"Augh!" I grumbled in pain in my head as more and more of them came rushing in.
I kept losing my last remaining balance on the floor around,as I started to lose control of my limbs.
"Rimuru! What's wrong? You okay pal?" Veldora also asked me about my condition with concern.
I ignored Veldora and Ramiris and other's eyes on me,leaning on a nearby wall,trying to take a foothold.
I couldn't help but watch them play like videos in my brains,one by one.
'Hey Satoru,what's for breakfast?'
'Satoru,don't!'
'I'm not going down alone!'
"S-stop it..!" I said as the pain in my head grew stronger and stronger.
"I-I can't take it anymore!"
At last,I could hear a shout of anger from a white haired lady with rage.
"YOU BASTARD!"
And I just crumbled and laid on the floor,unconscious as that one last shout pushed me above my mental limits and caused me to faint completely.
"Rimuru! RImuru!" Veldora kept on shaking,but to no use.
'What the hell is this.." Guy just mumbled to himself.
Those were the last things I heard before I fell asleep.
—--------------------------------
Veldora's POV:
What the heck?
Rimuru was just fine moments ago,but now he's totally unconscious and lying on the floor asleep! For even I,the Storm dragon Veldora do not know why!
"What the hell is this? C'mon wake up!" Ramiris just flew around Rimuru's sleeping body,shaking him to try to wake him up.
"Master! What happened?!" Rain and Ranga came rushing in,while she was holding her master's unconscious body,Ranga on the other hand was looking very worried and anxious.
"What's going on here?" Dagurel asked me as he walked towards here to check the fuss.
"I don't know either! He was fine a few seconds ago and suddenly he got dizzy and kept screaming something like "get out of my head!" and just fainted. He looks like his mental state wasn't so good,which is abnormal.
"Well,at least nobody here did some mind-attacking spell on him,so what could it be?" That vampire demon lord called Luminous who obviously hates me for destroying her city in the past also spoke up.
"Before all that,Ranga! Mind if you could let Rimuru-sama lie on you for a while?" She turned her head to ask him,while obviously getting his approval.
"Of course! Please do it now if my lord could feel more comfortable."
She just carried Rimuru and put him on Ranga's fluffy back and laid him down there while he was still motionless.
"Hey! Rogue or whatever..Guy! If you're going to continue your demon lord business go ahead. Don't waste our time." She then turned around and gave Guy an annoyed look while not caring about any of the rank superiority in this room,referring to him casually.
"Hoho? You're giving me orders?" Guy wasn't mad at all,in fact,he was quite intrigued.
Till now I still don't understand him that much,like seriously! He is a weirdo, unpredictable and has strange tastes in interests. Sure he is powerful and strong,but I still don't know why he's acting so differently compared to other beings.
"Yes,and I don't give a shit about your title. Back in the netherworld I was only a bit weaker than you and Diablo,so that doesn't concern me anyway."
"I would admit that you are technically the 3rd strongest in the netherworld. But wait a second,who is Diablo?"
Well it's normal that he doesn't know about that,I won't blame him.
"That's Noir's new name. Both of us got one from our brilliant master,you see here. Now excuse me,I'm going to find a chat with some random greenie over there."
Calling Misery a 'greenie' is certainly not the best insult Rain got on her sleeves,right? I guess?
"Who did you just call greenie?" She's obviously quite offended and was not that happy towards her old acquaintance. I heard before that they were friends back at the netherworld hella a long time ago.
"Oh c'mon misery,I always called you that before,problem?" She chuckled while still not changing the nickname.
"Yes."
'Were they always like this before?' I couldn't help but wonder.
"Ranga,remember to take care of Rimuru-sama while I'm on my break here,I'm sure he won't mind since it's a daily drill already. Can you?"
"You have my word. Back when you were starting a conversation with the maid over there,I already placed him in another room that's safe while you didn't notice-"
A tremendous pressure starts to kick in at an instant.
"What the-"
"Okay what is it this time.." Carrion asked Frey,but it seems that she doesn't know as well.
"This presence...don't tell me it's him again" I heard Guy mumble to himself,both annoyed and in an expected manner.
"Great,it's definitely him." Dino,the fallen angel said,while dumping into his sleep again.
Everyone's muttering to themselves during that,while some of the beings are confused.
"What? Who could this be? such a tremendous aura,never had I felt something like this! Not even Veldora-sama!"
"Ranga,have you ever heard of the true dragons?" I decided to clear up the confusion since I know who it is coming from. No way I could mix him up.
"Yes,Veldora-sama is one of them right?"
"Kuku,you see here,I have a brother and a few sisters,and this is undeniably one of them. It belonged to who you called Veldanava,the Star king dragon." I said,remembering my big brother with some not so cool memories of getting scolded.
"Wait,are you serious?!" Carrion overheard this,yelled at me for an answer,and I simply nodded my head.
"It's so close,it's getting closer and closer..Is it coming? But what's such a powerful being doing here? He's practically a god.." Frey asked,and I must say it was an interesting question for them,not me though.
"Yep,even as one of the true dragons,I must say big brother is the most powerful one. I don't see him in action that much ever since I remember,but I could tell you that he is the most irregular out of all of us."
I continued as some of them were listening,those being younger demon lords like Carrion,Frey and subordinates like Ranga and a few others that I do not know.
"He might be the most powerful being in our knowledge,but I assure you. As long as you don't provoke him by some stupid act,you will be fine."
"Such as? Veldora-sama?" Ranga looked and asked me with curiosity,and I was glad that he asked.
"Like-" Before I could finish,an anomaly occurred in thin air and caught everyone's attention on it.
A crack opened in the middle of the conference room,slowly cracking open.
"All of you,get some protection for your own good."
"Why so,Guy?" Rain asked him,though in a more serious manner than before.
"He won't cause harm,but he will always bring some trouble along with that kind of entrance he makes,you better get ready or else you would probably get some accidental-damage on you."
Along with the opening,something crashed on the floor of the conference room,causing a blow of dust all over,blurring their visions.
Then,they heard the man speaking already, ignoring all the mess and dust he brought along.
"Hey! Did I miss all the fun already?"
And here we are,another dragon that had crashed landed into the banquet!
Hope you enjoyed today's chapter everyone,and expect the new one to be out soon,as it shall reveal some new relationships and connections between Rimuru and 'him!'
Author here,signing out (A/N)!