3rd POV:
*Clash*
The battlefield was firing at all stages,it may seem like that it was a relatively balanced fight,but in reality...
It was becoming more one-sided than at the start,if you peek in carefully.
The Saints were all having huge trouble on their asses,as one of their strongest,Leonard Jester,was completely defeated by the Primordial,Rain under the absolute display of strength that paled the Saint's in comparison.
It is safe to say that they will all fall at one point,but it was never the main focus of the entire conflict,not even at the start.
As it is stated,every section of the battle is all in heated battling,yet the most decisive part lay in the clashes between the leaders of both sides...
Rimuru Tempest and Hinata Sakaguchi.
In each part,there would always be a fight between the heads of both factions. For example,Benimaru and his shock troopers were busy cornering Arnaud and Bacchus.
Souei and some shadow troopers giving Litus and her comrades a really bad time.
Shion and her Yomigaeri pounding Fritz and his forces,the overall summary would be that "The Crusaders are fucked up" vibe.
Could this be applied to the side of Rimuru and Hinata?
Of course! And we all know who is getting the upper hand,and trust me,he had it at the very damn start.
*Clash*
As seen,Hinata was trying her best to catch an opportunity for her to even lay a hit on her opponent with the tip of her sword.
Still,every single strike was countered and nullified by Rimuru,whose speed completely surpassed the Saint's.
Even a fool would know that the situation is dire for themselves.
*Clash*
"Come on,Hinata?"
Rimuru said,unimpressed by her efforts.
"I finally decided to go beyond my average attitude to fight you lots as a respect for warriors,but I honestly expected more remarkable results."
Not saying a word,Hinata simply focused purely on finding an opening with both her constant attacks and her skill to evaluate her enemy,only to find that out of unknown causes,the skill was blocked and gained no results.
It was then that she completely understood the difference in terms of strength.
Deciding to pull some distance,Rimuru leaped backwards and shot out a stream of black lightning from his palm as a deterrant,which Hinata dodged rather easily,considering that it was never meant to be a serious one.
Looking at her,the demon lord was disappointed by her performance for he had expected much greater performances as the so-called "Protector of humanity".
Knowing that this is what their leader is like,Rimuru didn't even bother to think an ounce about the power of her fellow Saints.
'How weak. To think that such a grand,glorious title was granted to an individual with such mere strength. I couldn't help but be worry for their future...'
He deadpanned himself in his mind before speaking.
"Such a letdown in the mood,is this all you can do? Swing your sword at me with that kind of speed,and expect me to just take it? Or firing magic of all kinds that failed to itch me by bit?"
He swung his katana around with his hands in a bored manner,slowly losing interest in his opponent.
Hinata still looked composed on the outside,but inside she was already having a small panic attack.
From Luminous,she already knew of the extraordinary origins and history of Rimuru,so she had also known that it would be her greatest opponent in her life.
But this level of strength? It's extraordinary,it's simply beyond her understanding!
To know that she is one of the strongest beings in this chaotic age,apart from demon lords,of course.
Yet hiding her trump cards while challenging such a being now looks extremely foolish to her.
'He wasn't even being serious! Is this the power that surpassed true dragons,the power that was obtained by constant ascensions from a mortal,to a being that could most potentially rival the true creators..?'
At this moment,her troubled mind raced to find the best solution that could finish this. There were cowardly ideas,voices that encouraged her to surrender or flee.
'He's too strong,running away is okay,nobody will laugh at your failures!'
The primordial cowardice....
'You can't defeat him. If so,why not surrender to him? Perhaps you can get a better end...'
The instinct to survive....
'Why are you fighting? Your acts are not justified,your men started it! What is the meaning of continuing this with such risks!'
The stems of doubt.....
However,at the end...
"Shut up!!"
She shouted unconsciously with her mouth while her head inside was quarrels of thoughts.
"This is not justified,I'm not on the side of correction! Neither am I powerful enough to defeat him,or even raise his interests! Yet.."
"I won't be a coward,not mentioning the idea of abandoning my men! He's powerful,the most powerful being I had ever seen!"
"That is why.."
"That is why I will fight him with all I've got!"
Filled with courage and determination,Hinata tightened the grip on her sword again,having cleansed of her doubts and cowardice as a living bring.
Abandoning death,ignoring stances,her only goal is to give all that she has even if it meant to perish.
"This is the last rule I have for myself." She said with a fire in her eyes.
Rimuru,who didn't react for a few seconds with a stoic face,until bursting out with laughter that originated not from amusement but impressment.
"I heard your message now,Hinata Sakaguchi.." He smirked as he pointed his katana at her,questioning.
"Perhaps the now humanity still has some hope? Can you prove your worth to me?"
Listening,Hinata widened her eyes in shock,not expecting to be truly starting to be treated like an equal in a duel of honorable warriors.
At the start,not only did she fight for her men and ideals,a small portion of her fighting desire thirsted for the chance to battle the once strongest human in the world,the god's hand.
"Yes! I will go full out now!" She grinned,summoning and embodied herself with holy spirits that became her armor and fairy-like wings on her back,emitting a warm glow.
Her energy output rising in tiers as she no longer held herself back due to useless doubts.
Watching his opponent rise in power over a few seconds,he failed to resist showing a smile of excitement,feeling hungry for combat,especially the results of Saint's last gambit.
"I expect you to do your truly best this time,eh?" He smirked,visibly intrigued.
"You requested a duel in the first place,it is only logical for me to try my best to impress you with my strength." Hinata said as she held her sword tightly,yet her words confused Rimuru greatly.
'Wait a minute,a duel?'
He thought,uncertain.
'I did mention that in the message,but if you listened to the full message,even stupid could figure out that it wasn't what I truly meant..'
His mind flashed through Hinata's face when she mentioned his 'request',it's not the face of a deceiver,she mean it. But why..?
'For some strange reason,I smell a political plot behind this by somebody else..' He thought carefully,but was soon interrupted by the footsteps of others nearby towards them.
"Rimuru-sama!"
Turning his head,he saw several of his subordinates that had the defeated Saints restrained on the ground,but the one that particularly caught his eyes are Souei and Litus,where the latter stared at the spy with a blush on her face.
'What the hell happened at his side?! That definitely shouldn't be the look of a defeated one..' He frowned looking at him,where he simply gave out a confusing shrug in response,indicating that he didn't intentionally caused it.
'Forget that.' He thought as he turned to Benimaru and rain next.
"I entrust you two to lead the cleaning after we win this,kay?"
"Roger that." Rain showed a playful salute,while Benimaru simply nodded with a smile of approval.
Finishing arranging the afterwards work,Rimuru returned to a calm and serious face as he faced down Hinata,who will give out her last attempts to her condition of victory.
Knowing that it is time,Hinata closed her eyes calmly and started to chant.
"Offering my prayer to god,the one who watches us all,the holy great one.."
Her sword started to cover itself with a mystical aura,glowing in holy light,that earned the interested gaze of Rimuru as he watched.
"Repel all that stands against you,overcome those who stood for the dark.."
'She is enchanting her sword,a slash-like attack.' Rimuru analyzed his experience,judging that it would be a move where a mystical imbued sword would slash through all that stood in it's way.
"The light of the skies,the heavenly rainbow above our presences.."
'Continuing..' Rimuru thought,not expecting it to continue its chant for that long.
Finally,Hinata placed her hands and touched a sword in a tap,visible quantities of holy energy flowed into the weapon,itself becoming rather majestic.
"Are you ready?" Rimuru asked,with a sign that signaled her to unleash her strongest move at him.
'It's all or nothing.' Hinata thought as she nodded,before vanishing on the spot as she dashed at the demon lord with all her might,lunging her sword at the location of his chest as it shined in the colors of a rainbow.
"Deadend Melt Slash!"
'Here it comes!' Everyone that was watching the showdown all thought in their minds,the silhouette of Hinata fused with the light emitted from her weapon,in a last try to gain the imagined victory.
Watching it all unfolding with his eyes,Rimuru at the last seconds displayed a smile of satisfaction at the Saint,raising his hands to repel the incoming strike.
"So this is Hinata Sakaguchi,head of the Saints.." He mumbled in a monotonous manner,suddenly switching to a hyped-up one.
"You had tried valiantly enough!"
He exclaimed,a hole in the space cracking open in his palms that leaked with the pressure of tension and emptiness from the seemingly endless infinity behind the hole as if it was nothing but darkness.
"Impossible,he is taking it head on!" Arnaud,who originally sat on the ground after his defeat,jumped up in shock as the demon lord wanted to take it head on with his eyes closed.
However,the voice of another soon stopped him in his tracks.
"He's our boss,that's all that explains it." Rain watched,crossing her arms at the scene.
Benimaru meanwhile,was more curious about the cracked space Rimuru created with his power.
'To be able to destroy even the space itself,how powerful had Rimuru-sama become since Walpurgis ended?' He pondered with a sweat on his forehead,before quickly blown away.
'This is not the power of just Azathoth,this is both Azathoth and mine combined...' Rimuru said in his head,opening his eyes.
'Lets try this one...'
From the dreaded air of the cracked vortex of space that connected to the limitless void.
The shadows of an uncounted amount of chains emerged from the void that emitted an ominous aura.
"Void Reborns!"
The moment they appeared,the ginormous amounts of energy imbued in Hinata's sword was sucked away in an instant by it.
Proceeding,the chains then fused into four main ones and bound Hinata with the tips of it digging deep into the ground.
'Void Reborns,the move where chains from the void shoot out and restrain the enemy,all after sucking the selected part of them or weapon dry of energy.'
Rimuru explained in his mind.
"Well done to have me use it on you,Hinata Sakaguchi. You have impressed me well." He congratulated the Saint as he released her from the restraints,the chains retreating into the void with Rimuru closing the hole in the space with a snap of his finger.
Walking towards Hinata who lay on the floor,exhausted,he clapped his hands in congratulation before lending out his hands in a signal of non-aggression.
"Perhaps you aren't as weak as other humans." He smirked.
"Did I succeed?" Hinata asked as she took his hand and got back up to her feet.
"You did." Rimuru shook his head. "So,are we in the mood for some actual diplomatic discussions?"
He thought,no,they thought that this was finally going to settle down after all the fuss caused by some unknown
misunderstanding.
But one thing still troubled him till now,what,or whocaused this?
Such levels of information difference on both sides are not natural by any means. The part where Hinata stated that 'He wanted a duel' is completely false if she finish the entire message Rimuru delivered through Reyheim.
This has to be purposed by somebody else that his message was not conveyed properly by any means.
"Hey,Hinata." Rimuru watched her getting back up as he asked. "Why did you say that I intend to have a duel? My message isn't just about it."
"What? But didn't the message end after you said out your intentions to settle things"
"It's not,someone distorted it to be that way,I wanted to have a duel unless we fail to achieve a common understanding and agreement on the matter."
Judging from her innocence in this topic,Rimuru decided that it seems that both of them have been deceived. But again,who could had done this?
As both of them are thinking,a shocked expression flashed through Hinata's face as she had realized the most possible explanation behind such heights of conspiracy,from her side.
"Could it be the-" She stated but it was already too late.
She noticed the sudden flow of magical interference in the sword that the Seven Luminaries had granted her that she didn't use in battle and left it somewhere near the scene alone.
The sword,under unknown command,suddenly levitated itself and fired a powerful magical blast at the Saint,piercing through her chest and blood leaked out from the fresh wound.
"Tsk..damn you,Seven Luminaries..!" She muttered in rage before coughing out large quantities of blood and fainting at the spot.
"Hinata!"
—-------------------------------------------------------
Velzard's POV:
"That's it,I'm not just going to stay here and do absolutely nothing!"
I shouted furiously as I watched the battle unfold from Rimuru's point of view with our mental connection in the dungeon,along with several others.
Originally,I was observing the battlefield but overtime as it grew heated,Zegion,Apito,Adalman,Ramiris and Kumara,the appointed guardians of different sectors of the labyrinth and the owner itself insisted on joining me,and now we go.
Just as we were each admiring and appreciating how cool Rimuru looked when he completely defeated Hinata Sakaguchi in every aspect.
Yet,the udden disruption of the supposed peaceful aftermath had changed how things should go as it was supposed to be.
The thing that triggered me the most wasn't that Hinata was almost killed,but because of the lowly tactics used against the victors and the fight itself.
"Did you all hear that?!" Adalman,the skeleton pointed at the virtual screen where I displayed out that played the scene in shock.
"Hear what?" Kumara asked,wagging her tail.
"That woman,Hinata Sakaguchi muttered the name Seven Luminaries,and judging from the sword that left her on the verge of death through the element of surprise,it's not hard to deem that it's them who orchestrated this!"
"But this act is very dangerous,considering that a peace talk could be turned into a reason of a complete war between two nations."
Apito stated,the insectar pondered the motives of the group,but was answered by Zegion.
"Simple. They wanted the same,they wanted a war to breakout for their gains. Yet I believe that there must be a mastermind behind all of this "
"Anyway,we should do something about it,shouldn't we?" Ramiris suggested,uncertain of the solution to adapt in the matter.
"I will go." I said in a stoic voice,trying to hold off my anger and annoyance in my heart as I turned into my complete form,a chilling presence bursted out across the room.
"I hate someone using such underhanded tactics,and I hate even more that Rimuru received such levels of disrespect right in his face."
As I am about to leave,Zegion stood up and called for me to pause in my way.
"Wait,Velzard-sama."
"What is it,Zegion?" I turned to look at one of Rimuru's most powerful subordinate,curious about his intentions.
"May I come with you along?" He asked,to which I swiftly denied with good reasons.
"I suggest you not to,not only Rimuru had previously ordered you to stay on guard in the Labyrnith and only leave to reinforce in case anything broke through the defenses and posed a threat to the capital. I only choose to go because I am free,and that it's a bit personal."
After a moment of silence,he sighed and sat back down calmly.
"Very well."
Nodding,I teleported away from the room to the surface,greeting a few troopers on guard before heading to the battlefield with my flight.
"No doubt big brother would be acting soon as well..." I said to myself as I focused on the matter.
"To do such things to insult his honor and place him into extra troubles,I will make them pay dearly."
—----------------------------------------------------------
3rd POV:
On the outskirts of the continent,a few fishermen were seen packing up their belongings on their little ship to sail out and earn some income for the day.
"Hey,guess how much cash can we get ourselves today?!" One of the eldest among the fishermen said happily at his companions.
"I don't know,but judging from the clear skies and good weather,we are probably going to get some good results today."
"Judging the weather again,Polnareff?" A red-haired fisherman asked as he readied a few nets and loaded some wooden boxes onto the ship.
"What? I'm just telling the truth!"
"He isn't wrong though." Joseph,the older fisherman said. "After all,such clear skies and weather,I don't see any big storm or winds coming through and ruining everything-"
As he was about to finish,on the skies,the figure of a flying object at high speeds was caught on the eye by the fishermen as they watched it soaring through the skies from a distant island at the sea.
"Whoa,what the hell was that?!" Polnareff,the crippled one,gasped in astonishment from the object.
"It's blue,and it was a bit dagger-shaped with some wings? It doesn't look like anything alive,but could any machine achieve such speeds,not to mention flying in the skies?!"
Above the clouds,the figure,now revealed as Soundwave in his V-wing interceptor form,flew through flocks of birds as its engines boomed with light,with nobody inside the cockpit.
"Estimated to arrive at the Jura forest,10-20 minutes." He calculated. "Entering cloaking mode."
"Destroy enemy forces,Soundwave acknowledges."
Then,the robotic lifeform added more input force to the engines,his figure becoming so fast that as if it was a comet in blue that slashed through the skies.
A/N:
Do you people want to see more interludes,moments of the girls (Velzard,Morgan and Artoria),or just things that isn't generally about the main story? Tell me what you think in messages or comments,thanks!
And,thank you all for your support of the first book of the series,we have reached and surpassed 50k reads! I had truly,never imagined that this project would even go so far at the start,but this defitnetly couldn't be real without you guys!
I hope you enjoyed till now,and again,feel free to express your ideas and thoughts to see improval!