“Well, Anri? Do you still have reason to worry about me?”

“Not in the slightest, Sire. It seems that my trust in your prowess has been sorely lacking. I am in awe of my own foolishness.”

Anri’s expression is beyond ecstatic.

“What now, Angel of the Seven Stars? I do believe this should have taught you just how staggering a difference in strength there is between us.”

I basically just spit Uriel’s own words right back at him.

“I must admit, however, that I’m a touch disappointed. Never in my lifetime would I have thought that Angels, of all things, would be so pitiful.”

My attempts to add fuel to the flame bear results and Uriel’s eyes shoot wide open.

“You wretch… What did you just say…?!”

“Whatever’s the matter? Could you not hear me? Then you have my utmost sympathy for going deaf so early in life. Or are you Angels exempt from the decrepit changes that come with age? If so, then I humbly apologize for assuming you were young.”

Practically pouring gallons now. Uriel’s fists clench tightly and begin to quake.

“You degraded, undeveloped joke of a species… Do not presume to stand above your station!”

Uriel spreads his hands apart, forming a wide gap between them. What’s he planning now?

“I will now unveil my hidden strength. You shall dearly regret your provocations!”

Wait, he had an ace up his sleeve? Then he really should’ve played it earlier in the game…

Hunks of pure ice materialize around him, far more than I care to count. The second I get the impression that he’s just recycling his iceberg spell, I notice how they all appear to be gathering around a specific point.

The ice begins to clump together and gives rise to something new, rapidly growing in size. This culminates when it reaches proportions that could easily break through the roof of our castle’s first floor. It had become a titan made of ice.

“What kind of monster is that…?!”

“This can’t be happening…!”

The demons are awestruck at the sudden appearance of this colossus. It stands well above twenty meters, at least by my estimate. That thing could break through the roof and not even bat an eye.

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“What you see before you is my ultimate sorcery, the Glacial Behemoth! Submit to your terror! Wallow in your despair! HAHAHAHAHA!”

And now Uriel’s breaking out into very hearty, not to mention obnoxiously loud laughter.

“Whatever is the matter, O High King?! What do you have to say now?!”

“…”

“Hmph. Has the sheer terror stolen your voice away?! Be warned, that is not the only thing I shall steal from you!”

The behemoth raises both arms skywards, completely set on crushing me beneath them.

“Go on, Glacial Behemoth! Let him join the dearly deceased!”

Its arms fall my way, ready to make a direct impact. A deafening sound, not too unlike that of exploding dynamite resounds through the castle.

“I bid you farewell, High King! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA… Hah…?”

Uriel’s high-spirited wailing stops itself short. I guess he finally noticed that I’m still standing here, the very picture of calm.

HP – 9,999,999,975 / 9,999,999,999

Well, would you look at that. Well done, O ‘ultimate sorcery’. My HP actually went down by a whopping twenty points.

“What… What is this trickery?! What manner of creature are you?!”

Whatever other face Uriel might have pulled is completely smothered by his very apparent desperation. And here he’d gone on and on about how I was supposed to wallow in my own despair. Well, guess who’s wallowing now.

“An odd question to ask, especially so late in the game. I am the High King, He who stands at the pinnacle of demonkind. That is all I am and ever will be.”

“…!”

“There is nothing for you to be ashamed of. After all, you did manage to whittle my health down by twenty. I suppose I owe you an apology.”

“…What?”

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“Come on now, everyone. Show this angel the praise he so deserves. Applaud his guile.”

My voice goes out to the other demons taking in the view. They obey, although their applause comes off as scattered and uneven.

“W-Wait! Do you mean to claim that a direct strike from my Glacial Behemoth only cost you a measly twenty points of health!”

“That’s what I said, isn’t it?”

I pick up some of the debris that had scattered around me, turn to face the behemoth, and toss said debris towards it. It penetrates the creature, bulleting its way through its abdomen. Fissures spread around the injury, accompanied by a crackling noise. The behemoth collapses like a building hit by the might of an earthquake, now completely destroyed.

“My… The grandest of all my spells… Shattered with ease…”

“It’s really nothing for you to beat yourself up over. If you had the methods to repeat that very same attack at least five hundred million times, you would have brought my health down to zero. Then again, I suppose your MP would run out long before you could…”

“Five hundred mill…!? But that would imply that your health is close to ten billion…!”

“Oh, quite the mathematician, are we? Should you feel inclined to write that off as a joke, however, then I won’t stop you.”

I’d have shown him my stats, just for the sake of seeing him fall into even greater despair, but common sense – in this world at least – appears to dictate that doing so would be somewhat improper. I’ll reel it in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure this world has its fair share of people more than willing to flaunt what they’ve achieved, but I’d rather not fall to such hubris.

There’s also the small matter of his fighting spirit being shattered. Potentially, at least. Which would, in turn, mean that all my restraint so far was largely pointless.

“Well, what now? No more tricks you can use? Then I suppose I should do you the honors and show you my own spells. Consider it recompensation for ever laying a hand on my dear subordinates.”

I raise my finger. Uriel starts, his shoulders trembling.

“Incantation: Disaster Cannon!”

And silence.

Huh? That’s odd. It’s not working. Why wouldn’t it –

Oh! Right, right! I used my Grant Ability spell to give it to Rina earlier, didn’t I?! I can’t use it right now! That totally slipped my mind!

“Yuuto-sama, is everything alright…?”

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“You don’t think he failed to activate the spell, do you…?”

I can hear the demons, their voices coming out as hushed whispers. Damn it all. This is super embarrassing. Someone, anyone! Help!

“You fools! This is Yuuto-sama you speak of, keep that in mind! There is no conceivable way he would fail to cast a spell! He’s clearly implying that he has no need to waste the Disaster Cannon! Can your feeble minds not comprehend something so simple?!”

And Anri comes in with the save, screaming at the other demons. Good work, Anri! Great follow-up! I guess even her wild delusions can pay off every once in a while!

“You’ve done well to speak for me, Anri. Indeed, the Disaster Cannon would be wasted on one such as him. After all… should I be even slightly off-target, there is a chance of you all being caught in the blast.”

The other demons appear to understand, going out of their way to say things like, ‘I get it!’ and ‘I see how it is!’. Relief fills me up, and I decide to make use of some other magic-based attack.

Let’s see… Which do I pick… Alright. This should do it.

“Incantation: Grand Cremation!”

I restrain the power behind the spell, making sure that only about a twentieth of it leaks through. Then I allow it to do its work on Uriel. A spiraling column of flame comes into existence, with Uriel at its center.

“UAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

He screams in pain. Knowing just how many points in DEF he had, this much firepower should be more than enough to get the job done and done right.

“Haaah… Haaaah….!”

Or so I thought. The spiraling flames died down, but Uriel still hadn’t kicked the bucket. Did I use too little power?

I notice that Uriel looks strangely damp. Oh, of course. He must’ve encased his body in ice to mitigate the damage as much as possible. Well, looks like he’s not planning on making his death easy.

“You… degenerate, inferior creature… Do not presume that my passing will be an easy task…!”

“Hmph. I must admit, I’m impressed. Even in the face of such a vast, overwhelming power, your spirit refuses to break. That sturdy mind, of course, is deserving of praise if nothing else.”

Doesn’t really change the fact that I’ve seen everything he’s capable of. There’s absolutely no point in prolonging this little confrontation.

“Well then, why don’t we finally allow these games to come to a close?”

“What… Games…?!

Now then. Using my Grand Cremation twice in a row would be a little repetitive of me, wouldn’t it? He’d just cover himself in ice again anyhow. I should use something that’s sure to get him six feet under.