Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest Volume 8.
Epilogue.
The Demon Empire, Garland.
A feral, bestial howl rang out across the parade ground outside the castle. But the creatures standing on the parade grounds were no beasts… No, they were people. There was, however, one strange thing about them.
As this was the demon empire, the people standing there should have been demons. However, these figures all had animal traits, whether they be a goat’s horns or tail, or a tiger’s fangs or claws, or a snake’s narrow, slit-like pupils. And they dashed across the parade grounds much faster than any demon or human was capable of. With a single blow from their fists, armor crunched and swords shattered.
They were obviously beastmen. However, they were doing something no beastmen should have been able to do. Using magic. They had the reflexes and agility of a beastman, and the same ability to use magic that humans and demons possessed. But that wasn’t all. While the beastmen were loosing murderous howls as they trained, every single one of them had dead, empty eyes. They lacked the spark that living creatures were supposed to possess, and they appeared to have no will of their own.
“Such pitiful creatures.” Freid Bagwa made a disgusted face as he looked down on the beastmen from an adjacent building’s terrace. His soft muttering was barely a whisper on the wind, but the person responsible for creating the twisted scene below him heard it clearly.
“Oh, what are you doing here, Freid? Come to see the fruits of my labor?”
Eri Nakamura said from behind him. She was the necromancer responsible for killing Meld and Kondou and decimating Heiligh’s knights. Freid turned around to see her leaning against the terrace entrance, an arrogant smile playing about her lips. He hadn’t even noticed her walking in.
“Eri, don’t interfere with my senses again, or I’ll have you tried for treason.”
Not that he trusted a turncoat to begin with. Necromancer was a job that required a high level of proficiency in dark magic. In fact, necromancy was the most powerful dark magic spell. And since Eri could use that with ease, she of course had no trouble using other dark magic spells. She was the genius who’d created her own necromancy spell, Spirit Binding, so it was hardly surprising. The spell that allowed her to bind the souls of the deceased to her corpses and grant them a modicum of will was almost as powerful as ancient magic all on its own. Even Freid, general of the demon army and a master of ancient magic himself, hadn’t been able to sense her arrival, meaning he’d been completely taken in by the dark magic Eri had used to interfere with his senses. However, Eri waved off his threat and replied to him calmly.
“Now now, don’t be so stiff. I’m just a frail little girl.” Her grin grew wider.
Freid turned back to the beastmen training below and muttered “Vixen,” to himself.
“Do you like my soldiers… the undead beastmen warriors?”
“…I have no complaints regarding their strength.”
“Don’t look so displeased. They only got this strong because you lent me a hand, you know?”
Freid sighed at the cloying malice in Eri’s voice. Still, he couldn’t refute her words.
The undead beastmen warriors weren’t actually beastmen. Freid had used transformation magic on the corpses of Heiligh’s knights and added the traits of monsters to them. After that, Eri had used necromancy to bind their spirits to their bodies and reanimated them as her personal soldiers. They felt no pain, and they didn’t fear death. They’d just continue mindlessly fighting until they were destroyed. Freid had been disgusted to learn that even after death their souls were being toyed with, and he pitied the poor creatures. But as much as he despised Eri, he couldn’t deny that he’d helped her create these abominations. Eri sniffed dismissively at him and changed the subject.
“Oh yeah, where’d all those apostles go? They were all here last night, but I haven’t seen a single one today.”
The 500 apostles that had come to serve the demon empire were terrifying enough that they made even Eri’s blood run cold. When she’d seen that army of god’s personal executioners, Eri had been convinced that betraying the humans had been the correct choice. After all, there was no way anyone could stand against that horde. Humans would be wiped from existence, and that would be the end of it. She doubted even that monster, Hajime, stood a chance.
“They went to greet a guest. We have to gather all of the background actors first.”
Eri tilted her head in confusion at Freid’s words, but then a second later understanding dawned on her. And so, she grinned maniacally as she spoke.
“I see. Looks like the super fun party’s about to begin. I can’t wait until we get to see each other again…” Eri’s crazed laughter rang out through the courtyard.
Capital of Heiligh.
Yuka was performing at the capital square, as had become customary for her recently. Her knives glinted in the sunlight as they soared through the air. The children gathered around her cheered as she caught them without dropping a one. She even grabbed the objects other people had thrown into the air during her juggling act. With the Divine Mountain at her back, she threw one last knife high up in the air, her standard finisher.
“Hm…? Wait, what’s that?”
Yuka looked up to catch her knife and saw something sparkling coming down from the Divine Mountain.
Reisen Labyrinth Entrance
A single silver streak flew high above the gorge. Deep within the labyrinth, a small golem sighed as she watched the outside world using an artifact one of her dearest comrades had left behind.
“Looks like it’s finally begun… Does this mean my long journey is at long last nearing its end?”
An image of the girl Miledi Reisen had once been overlaid over her golem. A blonde girl with sky blue eyes looked up at the sky. Her expression was serious, devoid of the normal teasing playfulness it usually had.
The Floating City of Erisen
A young woman walked out onto the pier. She held a basket in her hands and was smiling softly. Men’s heads turned as she passed, but she ignored them and called out to her daughter, who was playing in the sea.
“Myuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! It’s time for luuuuuuuuuuuunch!”
A tiny figure popped her head out of the water and started swimming toward Remia. She swam with such elegance that she seemed made for the water.
“Mama, what’s for lunch?”
“I made your favorite… but I could only get fish, not meat. Sorry, Myu.”
Myu leaped out of the water, and both mother and daughter sat down on the pier. Remia pulled a few fish skewers out of her basket. Skewers were Myu’s favorite food. She didn’t care what was on them, as long as it was staked onto a skewer.
The reason she was so fixated on skewers was because that was the food she’d been given when Shea and Hajime had first saved her. Remia watched her cute little daughter bite into a mouthful of fish and took a bite of her own skewer. As the pair was enjoying their lunch, they suddenly heard someone call out to them.
“Huh? What’s that? Is that… a person flying through the sky?”
Remia and Myu both looked up. Indeed, flying directly underneath the sun was a beautiful figure with silver wings. And it was looking directly down at Remia and Myu with cold, emotionless eyes.
Diamond. diamond. diamond.
