“Why did you allow him to return?”

“One month?”

The questions came flying at Eugene at the same time. Which one was he meant to answer first? Eugene was left momentarily speechless as he could only blink his eyes in confusion.

“I asked you why you allowed him to return!”

“One month! That’s far too soon!”

While he was still blinking his eyes, the barrage of words continued. Although the other members of the general staff didn’t join in the questioning, all of their faces were covered in doubt and uncertainty.

“For now, you both should try to calm down,” Eugene said, raising his hands as he tried to get them to step back.

Because if they didn’t, Sienna and Anise seemed like they were about to take turns hitting him as they drew closer.

“I’ll answer your questions one by one. So Sienna, for now, please let your mana settle down. Also, you… Kristina, you should also lower your flail as well. Alright?” Eugene nervously pleaded.

It was Anise, not Kristina, who was glaring at him through narrowed eyes, but apart from Ciel, none of the other members of the general staff were aware of Anise’s existence. As such, Eugene was left with no choice but to use Kristina’s name instead.

“Fine then,” Anise huffed.

Although she didn’t retract her narrow-eyed glare, for now, Anise decided to lower her flail. Sienna also allowed her mana to settle down with a pout. Once that was done, Eugene was able to let out a deep sigh of relief as he took his seat.

“I allowed him to return because I felt like it wouldn’t matter even if I let him go,” Eugene explained.

“And I feel like you deserve a smack, Ha — Sir Eugene, would you mind if I gave you one?” Anise asked as her hand went back to the flail that she had just set down.

Eugene’s shoulders trembled as he flinched and quickly insisted, “No, really. I just thought that it would be okay to send him back, so that’s what I did.”

“And now I’m asking you why you would make such a foolish decision,” Anise said coldly.

“Because Balzac is still holding onto his humanity in his own way,” Eugene tried to argue. “He couldn’t do anything about the fact that he had already bound himself to the Demon King of Incarceration through his contract, so it seems that he took up the position as the new Staff of Incarceration to minimize the destruction from the war. Or so I believe.”

“So what, are you saying that we

shouldn’t

kill Balzac Ludbeth?” Anise asked doubtfully.

“No,” Eugene responded while shaking his head. “This is the last time I will show him mercy or give him a chance to escape. I gave you an explanation for why I made such a decision, but if Balzac does block our way up through Babel—”

“Then I’ll be the one to kill him,” Sienna spat out before Eugene could finish speaking. “Today, I was planning to allow him to return to Babel with his life, in any case. It doesn’t matter whether or not Balzac retains his human emotions. Now that he has become the Staff of Incarceration, so long as he stays in Babel and protects the Demon King of Incarceration, if he has truly given up his dream as a wizard to devote himself to his duty as the Staff of Incarceration, then as the Guardian of Magic, once we climb up through that damn Babel, I will be sure to take his life.”

Although her mana had settled down, her voice was still fierce. The other Archwizards who were part of the general staff looked at Sienna with admiring eyes upon hearing this declaration. Setting aside the overflowing murderous intent that was seeping out of Sienna, it seemed that they had been entranced by her title, the ‘Guardian of Magic.’

“Big sis, let me go with you. I also want to climb up through Babel! Until we reach the Demon King of Incarceration! Then I’ll show him the power of the Strongest Spirit Summoner of all time!” Melkith said as she clenched her fists excitedly.

Her motivation was impressive, but there was no way that they could allow this.

Eugene rejected her, “Sienna, Kristina, and I will be the only ones ascending Babel.”

“But why!” Melkith complained.

“That is because, Lady Melkith, while I acknowledge you as the greatest Spirit Summoner of all time, you won’t be able to use your amazing spirit-summoning skills freely while within Babel,” Eugene explained.

Babel was the location in which the Demon King of Incarceration could most powerfully exercise his full strength. While Eugene, of course, hadn’t managed the climb up to the Demon King’s palace three hundred years ago, he had heard from Sienna, Anise, and Molon about what the battle had been like back then. At that time, Sienna had had most of her magic sealed off during their battle against the Demon King of Incarceration, and Tempest had barely managed to remain active throughout the fight.

“You should take care of things on the surface, Lady Melkith. And if possible, please clear the walls of Pandemonium,” Eugene requested.

“The walls?” Melkith repeated quizzically.

Eugene answered her question by explaining the purpose of the missiles that had been installed on top of the walls. After hearing that they were aimed at all of the countries on the continent, the general staff’s expressions were filled with shock.

“W-we need to evacuate immediately…!” Honein stammered as he leaped up from his seat.

Among the general staff of the Divine Army, Honein and Aman were the only members of royalty who would be directly participating in the battle. Although he didn’t show any reaction to the news, Aman’s expression was also extremely dark.

“Is there any meaning to doing that? According to Eugene, those missiles are able to bombard the entire continent,” Ivatar pointed out.

Aman sighed deeply and shook his head in response to Ivatar's words, “Even so, we can’t just leave our citizens to burn in our cities.”

“If you really must evacuate, then send them to Samar,” Ivatar offered. “The land of the Rainforest is vast and, aside from the Lionheart’s estate, it is the place with the highest concentration of mana on the continent. You can use the rainforest as your main refugee camp if the Archwizards here are willing to step in and erect a defensive barrier to protect them.”

Everyone turned to look at Ivatar as if they were surprised to hear him give such a good idea.

Ivatar realized the meaning of the gazes being directed at him, and he furrowed his brow in a frown as he responded, “Those gazes feel extremely insulting…. Just because we are the native tribespeople of the forest doesn’t mean that we are barbaric and ignorant.”

Honein coughed, “Ahem, we weren’t going quite that far with our thoughts.”

Ivatar shrugged, “In any case, if you feel the need to evacuate, then come down to the rainforest. However, when you issue the evacuation order, it would be best not to mention the possible bombing. Doing so would only needlessly increase their anxiety and confusion.”

Eugene clapped his hands in approval at this insightful remark, which made it hard to believe that it came from an indigenous tribesman.

Ivatar raised an eyebrow, “What exactly do you mean by your applause?”

Eugene shrugged, “It just means, ‘Oh… You really are smart, aren’t you, Ivatar…?’”

In the face of this compliment made with seemingly pure intentions, Ivatar could only furrow his brow even further because he wasn’t sure what kind of reaction he should show. He was a hot-blooded man who would usually never allow any insult to go unanswered, but that being said, Ivatar couldn’t permit himself to take out his fiery personality against Eugene.

“What do you mean, you want me to clear the wall? What kind of boring request are you trying to make of me, Melkith El-Hayah, the greatest and most powerful Spirit Summoner of all time?” Melkith, who had finally realized the seriousness and gravity of the matter, began to grumble.

Eugene took a deep breath, “Lady Melkith’s amazing and powerful Infinity Force—”

“That name was for when there were only three Spirit Kings; now it’s called Omega Force,” Melkith insisted.

“Right…. I’m asking you to please destroy all of the missiles on the wall with your Omega Force. Then, if you get the chance, you can charge into Pandemonium and sweep them all away as well,” Eugene said encouragingly.

“Are you asking me, Lady Melkith, to charge straight into the enemy base and run wild?” Melkith demanded, her voice rising.

Eugene raised a brow, “What, are you afraid?”

“No, it’s just that I’m so happy…!” Melkith said as she excitedly clenched her fists.

Melkith, who loved being in the spotlight and held an overflowing desire for validation, couldn’t help but be excited by the critical nature of the mission she had just been given.

“The rainforest might be huge, but it will be impossible for it to accommodate all of the refugees on the continent. We will also need to construct shelters in each country,” Anise assessed.

Eugene waved it off, “The kings will take care of that on their own.”

Sienna sniffed, “How nice for you. You just casually need to tell them to do something, and others will take care of all the hard work for you.”

“Who were the ones who looked at me and told me to sit in this seat as the Commander-in-Chief of the army? You gave me this seat so that I can focus on slaying the Demon Kings, so all that I need to do is concentrate on doing my job,” Eugene said smugly.

Sienna glared at him in response, but Eugene didn’t feel any guilt. Everyone had their strengths and capabilities. Administration was definitely something that Eugene wasn’t good at, nor was it something that he would ever willingly do.

“I’m also not good at making Barriers, so you should take the other Archwizards with you, Sienna, and take care of it by yourselves,” Eugene instructed.

“You are also an Archwizard,” Sienna pointed out.

Eugene shrugged as he said, “Lately, I’ve actually been wondering if I can even be considered a wizard. What about me even looks like a wizard? Am I a wizard just because I have a Signature spell? But I don’t use any magic apart from that—”

As he was in the middle of saying all this with a calm expression, Eugene suddenly flinched and turned to look at Lovellian’s expression. This was because Eugene felt that, no matter what, it might be going too far to deny the usefulness of his magic in front of Lovellian, the one who had taught him magic.

“Well… each person has their own style that best suits them,” Lovellian reassured Eugene. “It’s just that your fighting style doesn’t match that of a pure wizard, Sir Eugene.”

Eugene winced, “That’s… even so, I do always make use of my Signature, don’t I? In fact, there’s not much difference between what I do when swinging my sword and casting a spell. It’s just, what I’m trying to say is that I’m not good when it comes to barriers. That’s all that I meant to imply.”

As Eugene earnestly backtracked on his words and made amends, Lovellian’s disappointed expression softened slightly.

“But what about Sir Molon? Don’t I need to summon him?” Ciel tilted her head to the side and asked.

In addition to mastering the White Flame Formula, Ciel had also been baptized by Eugene, so the current Ciel was now able to reach even the northernmost point of the continent when using her Demoneye of Darkness.

Eugene nodded in assent as he said, “Of course, you need to summon him. I’ll send him a message after I first enter Babel so you can summon him then.”

In the showdown against the Demon King of Incarceration, Eugene couldn’t afford to hold back any cards. Fighting the Demon King on his own was also out of the question. Molon had been transformed into an Incarnation of Eugene and was his Greatest Warrior. He was a powerful fighting force that definitely couldn’t be left out of action.

“Isn’t one month a bit too short?” Sienna asked as she furrowed her brow. “Of course, I’m aware that we don’t have much time left. However, we should still have the freedom to wait longer than a month, don’t we?”

Eugene shook his head. “Even if we increase the delay until the start of the war to more than a month, nothing will change. Instead, the longer it takes, the more anxious people will become. I’m more afraid of that than anything else.”

“One month…,” Carmen suddenly spoke up. She tilted her head to the side and stared at Eugene. “Oh, Radiant Lion. Do we really have enough…. No, I already know full well that the world doesn’t have that much time left. After all, I did accompany you on your visit to the rainforest.”

That was when they met the Sage, Vishur Laviola. Carmen was also present at that meeting. She hadn’t listened in on the full conversation, but she was aware that the previous era had met its destruction before they had arrived at the current era.

“However, apart from me, no one else among the general staff is aware of that fact. Even I don’t know the complete truth. But now I feel that I, that we, deserve to know the truth,” Carmen said firmly.

“Hm…,” Eugene grunted consideringly.

“We are also a part of this world. We have come here today to protect the world and defeat the Demon King of Incarceration,” Carmen said, her eyes revealing her strong determination.

The other members of the general staff also looked at Eugene with the same determination.

“Indeed, this really isn’t something I should hide any longer,” Eugene finally agreed with a deep sigh.

The members of the Lionheart clan already knew that Vermouth was sealing the Demon King of Destruction. However, he had never told them about the true meaning of their war against the Demon King of Incarceration and what would happen following the end of the Oath.

Eugene had already decided that this was something he should tell them someday. It couldn’t be kept hidden forever.

“If I lose to the Demon King of Incarceration, the world will be destroyed,” Eugene said with a calm expression. “Even if I win, that doesn’t mean that the world

won’t

end. If I lose, the Demon King of Incarceration will take action to destroy the world, and even if I win… the Demon King of Destruction, as his name suggests, will also attempt to destroy the world.”

The crowd was silent. There was nothing that they could say in response to that. There wasn’t even a hint of emotion in the tone that Eugene had used to relay these alarming facts. He was talking as if he were describing a process that was completely natural and inevitable.

Next, Eugene told them about how Destruction would surely come looking to end them within a few months’ time. He told them about how previous versions of this world had been destroyed multiple times. He also revealed that he was the reincarnation of Agaroth, the God of War, who had been alive during the time of the ancient Age of Myth. He explained how the world should have already been destroyed three hundred years ago but had been given a reprieve thanks to the Oath that Vermouth had made with the Demon King of Incarceration.

Eugene honestly admitted, “I don’t know why the Demon King of Incarceration wants to turn the world into a sea of flames the moment he defeats me. I can’t tell what that son of a bitch’s true intentions are. However, if I was forced to pick which side he is on, I suspect he’s on the side that opposes the Demon King of Destruction.”

While that might be the case, it seemed that the Demon King of Incarceration had no intention of directly confronting the Demon King of Destruction. Eugene suspected that he simply wasn’t capable of contending with Destruction. The Demon King of Incarceration had been forced to witness the destruction of the world many times over, crossing over to the next world each time that it happened.

Eugene thought that the reason the Demon King of Incarceration refused to face the Demon King of Destruction was the possibility of Incarceration dying if he did so….

But so what if he did die? The Demon King of Incarceration’s only desire seemed to be preventing the destruction of the world. If he had lived for so long while futilely clinging to that one desire, then what exactly was keeping the Demon King of Incarceration alive? What kept the Demon King of Incarceration hoping that the world wouldn’t be destroyed, and that the Demon King of Destruction would be erased?

“I don’t consider the Demon King of Incarceration to be an ally. Whether it is in the past or the present, that person is and always will be a Demon King, and he was the one who first launched the invasion against the rest of the world. He has also done the same thing this time as well. I don’t know what kind of reason or stubborn insistence he has for doing such a thing, but one month later, I will climb up through Babel and cut the Demon King of Incarceration down in his own damn palace.

“After that, I will slay the Demon King of Destruction as well,” Eugene promised before shaking his head with a short sigh. “That’s why I said that the war would start in a month. It won’t end with just slaying the Demon King of Incarceration, and the longer this standoff goes on, the more the people’s faith in me will waver.”

“In order to save the world,” Carmen spoke, her voice trembling slightly. “And prevent the Destruction….”

With a shaking hand, Carmen reached inside of her vest and pulled out a cigar case. Despite her hand tremors growing increasingly intense, she managed to open the case and grab a cigar, but in the end, the cigar that she had stuck between her fingers snapped under the vibration.

“How amazing…,” Carmen muttered as she tightly clutched the broken cigar.

Carmen suddenly leaped up from her seat and swung her jacket over her shoulders.

“Let’s go,” Carmen said as she looked around to the rest of the general staff.

Everyone else, who still seemed weighed down by the truth of the matter, turned to look at Carmen with puzzled expressions.

Ciel stammered, “G-go where?”

“The time given to us is short, but there is much that we need to do,” Carmen said firmly. “To save the world. To prevent its destruction. And finally, to save the ancestor of the Lionheart clan, the Great Vermouth.”

Hissss!

The broken cigar that Carmen was still holding in her hand was burnt into ashes and disappeared.

“Now isn’t the time for us to remain here, being crushed by the weight of the truth or cowering in fear. We must become the cornerstone of the brilliant future that the Radiant Lion has drawn for us. We are the vanguard! Of War, of Light, of Glory, and of Victory!” Carmen roared as she raised her clenched fist in front of the other members of the general staff. “In order to be victorious, our flames must burn brightly on the battlefield. Just how long are you all going to keep sitting there?! Alchester!”

“Y-yes?” Alchester stuttered.

“Draw your sword and come with me,” Carmen ordered. “It’s time for a spar. Then next, Lord Ortus, it will be your turn.”

Ortus was bewildered, “Why are you suddenly challenging us to a spar…?”

“That is a foolish question, Lord Ortus. For knights like us, apart from sparring, is there a need for any other type of training?” Carmen said as she spun around.

As she left the conference room ahead of everyone else, Alchester and Ortus, who had been directly named by her, also got up to leave.

Just like that, the general staff left the conference room one by one. It might be because they had all felt something stir within them during Carmen’s magnificent speech, but each of them walked with purpose.

To save the world. To prevent Destruction. They may have already firmed up their resolve, knowing that they

must

be victorious, but the stakes that had just been revealed had only caused their resolve to grow all the more desperate.

There was only a month left. Defeating the Demon King of Incarceration wouldn’t be the end of the war. The world could only be saved if the Demon King of Destruction, who had already destroyed the world several times over, was defeated.

Once they had all left, Eugene, Sienna, and the Saints were the only ones left in the conference room.

“Wouldn’t it have been better for Lady Carmen to have been the Commander-in-Chief rather than me?” Eugene said with a snort as he turned to look at the others.

They found themselves enthusiastically agreeing with Eugene’s words, but they just couldn’t bring themselves to nod and admit it.

“I also have to get going,” Sienna said as she stood up.

“Where to?” Eugene asked.

“The great Commander-in-Chief of the Divine Army did ask me to set up the barriers, didn’t he? That’s why I’m going off to do just that!” Sienna snapped.

“Come back safely,” Eugene said, not the slightest bit intimidated by her anger as he waved at Sienna in farewell.

“I will also be leaving,” Anise informed him.

Eugene looked at her in surprise, “Why you as well? It’s not like you’re needed to set up a barrier.”

“Please don’t say something so stupid. The priests of this era are extremely inexperienced when it comes to battling demonfolk. Do you know just how much of a hassle it is to teach them about such things?” Anise hissed as she glared at Eugene. “Then we also have to mass-produce holy water! Do you know just how annoying that is?”

“Well… if you need help, just tell me,” Eugene offered. “After all, it’s just a matter of me slitting my wrists a few times.”

“Instead of that, why don’t you chop off all of your limbs and go jump into a lake? A few days of that, and it might be enough to transform the entire lake into holy water.”

Eugene gulped, “If… if that’s what you need.

Anise just snorted at his stammered response and stood up to leave. “No, let’s just ignore that idea. Hamel, all that you should do during this month is conserve as much strength as possible. And think of a way to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration.”

“Mmm… alright,” Eugene conceded.

Anise frowned and said, “I’m asking this just in case, but the reason you only gave them a month is that you have the confidence to win, right?”

Eugene hesitated, “That’s… something I’ll only know once I’ve attempted it.”

Anise’s face twisted into a scowl after hearing his uncertain answer. She barely managed to hold back the harsh words she’d been about to blurt out as she glared at Eugene.

“Please don’t say such a thing in front of the general staff or the Divine Army,” Anise said through gritted teeth.

“Of course, I wouldn’t do that,” Eugene scoffed. “I know as well as you do how important morale is on the battlefield.”

Anise just let out a deep sigh at his thick-skinned response. “Sometimes, I truly despair at the fact that the fate of the world is in your hands.”

“You don’t mean that,” Eugene laughed. “After all, you trust me, don’t you?”

“It would be a whole lot better if you could just keep your mouth shut,” Anise let out another deep sigh as she left the conference room with one last look at Eugene’s grinning face.

After she had left, the smile disappeared from Eugene’s face. Without any trace of amusement on his face, he got out of his seat and walked over to the window.

“One month, huh,” Eugene muttered to himself.

Looking through the window, he glared up at Babel.

The confidence to win? Anything like that had always felt extremely faint, starting from his duel with Gavid. Eugene had never had the confidence that he would absolutely, definitely, without fail, be able to win. He had fought because he had to.

This time would be the same.

He needed to win.

He had to win.

If he didn’t win, everything would end.

And he didn’t want that.

“I need to win,” Eugene muttered to himself as he glared up at Babel.

One month passed.

Openbookworm & DantheMan's Thoughts

OBW: Wow, Anise can be really vicious.

Momo: Hand it to Carmen to raise the morale! Eugene should learn a few things from her.