Chapter 239 - Soaring Wall

Soaring Wall

 
Author note:

Milim was furious.

She decided that she must, definitely, eliminate Velda, the root of all evils.

Milim burst the door open and proceeded to the throne room where Velda was sitting.
Transparent capsules filled with clear liquid were arranged systematically in the walls.
Floating inside each capsule were unborn angels.
The soul energy was being poured into these empty vessels.
Because they didn’t possess a physical body, they were beings that could only exist in the Heaven.
If they established a certain degree of ego, they could act on the surface world for a short time, but…… It required a bit more time for that to happen.
Milim paid no heed to the angels and aimed straight to the throne.
The heart of this Heaven.
It was the place where the God[1] sat at the center of everything.
Velda was now the ruler of this castle, in both name and reality.
The automatic defense system of the Sky Castle[2] reacted to Milim’s murderous intent and judged her as an enemy.
The alarm reverberated and Guardian Dolls[3] appeared.
However, they saw Milim’s necklace and stopped moving.
「YoU CaNnOt PrOcEeD bEyOnD tHiS pOiNt. PleAsE tUrN bAcK.」[4]
The dolls warned Milim.
However, Milim completely ignored them.
「Get out of the way.」
As she said so, Milim casually swung her fist and destroyed one of the dolls.
The dolls couldn’t attack Milim due to the necklace that showed that she was Velda’s family.
Nobody could stop Milim.
That was until a woman stood up before Milim.
「Milim-sama, you have grown to be such fine la……」
The woman tried to approach Milim while being moved to tears.
She was a beautiful and gentle woman wearing a solid black dress.
「Is that you, Salome…… it’s been a long time……」
Joy brightened up Milim’s expression for a moment, and then――
「No. You are not Salome……」
Her expression was clouded over by sadness instantly.
The woman who tried to embrace Milim was split into two.
What dripped out from her wound wasn’t blood but a transparent liquid of unknown ingredients――it was something that came out of a tattered body of a complex machinery rather than that of a living being.
「……Ahh…… Mi, lim……sama…… you, have…… grown……beep――――」
She extended her hand to touch Milim’s cheek and wiped the teardrop on it.
Just like that, the doll modeled after Salome fell to the ground.
She was the woman who had raised and educated Milim when she still very young.
The woman who cared for Milim in the olden days had passed away.
There’s no way she’s alive.
Unlike Milim, who could live eternally, Salome was no more than one of the maids who served Lucia.
There was no way that Salome, who was a human, is still alive.
But……Milim couldn’t help but think of it.
Whether her soul was called back to dwell inside the doll or not?
Such a thing was impossible.
That was the conclusion Milim came to: the correct truth.
Milim destroyed the doll without hesitation and severed her attachments.
It should be the right thing, and yet the doll’s satisfied smile and overflowing tears for some reason had made Milim confused.
So――
She was perhaps really――
「What a cruel thing to do. Even though I especially called back a deceased soul for your sake. I thought you would be pleased, so I prepared the present secretly…… I guess you didn’t like it?」
A clear voice reached Milim’s ears.
She didn’t need to turn around.
The owner of the voice was――
「It’s you, Velda. You bastard, I hope you are prepared for it.」
「Prepared…… For what I wonder?」
Against Milim’s expression filled with wrath, Velda still had a cool smile.
Two contrasting emotions were clashing as the two faced each other.
She hadn’t contacted Rimuru yet, but Milim wasn’t worried about it.
Since she felt residues of the Hero Chloe at the time she buried Lucia just a little while ago.
It was a very splendid sword slash that crossed over even『Multiple Existence』 and reached Lucia’s main body. It happened just for an instant, but Milim wouldn’t fail to notice it.
It was the time for the people who were being controlled by Lucia in the surface to be released. Although, it seemed Rimuru had schemed something as he lurked inside the shadow and perhaps already worked out some countermeasures for it.
If she thought like that, even if she didn’t bother to contact him, she believed that everything would be conveyed to Rimuru even if she stayed in this place.
The fool called Vega was the first one to be eliminated by Rimuru’s subordinates.
The small fry called Kazaream seemed to have fallen as he couldn’t defeat Leon.
She also knew about Dagruel’s defeat as Lucia was raising a fuss about it.
Although where Dino was and what he was doing was unknown, Milim thought that it was pointless even to be worried about that cunning man. She knew that he would suddenly appear sooner or later after all.
In other words, it could be said that Velda’s subordinates were all defeated.
「It seems that your prided Four Unholy Commanders have all been defeated. You’re the only one left, Velda. I shall have you receive the reward for making me angry.」
As Milim said so, she pulled out the demonic sword
Tenma
and took a stance.
Velda looked at Milim with a smile while shrugging his shoulders.
「I’ll play with you, Milim.」
Those words became the signal.
Milim easily demonstrated continuous sword techniques.
However, Velda avoided everything by a paper-thin margin.
He was still unarmed and had leeway for his attitude against Milim.
That ignited Milim’s anger and the demonic sword
Tenma
began pulsing as if it had reacted to it.
The rusts on the surface of the sword disappeared, showing its bluish-white blade. It seemed that the blade was strengthened as it absorbed waves of her anger.
「Die! Drago Break[5]!!」
A ferocious slash like an embodiment of Milim’s wrath was heading towards the defenseless Velda.
However――
「Too bad. You’re a bit slow.」
Velda easily stepped back with just a bit movement and dodged Milim’s sword.
But, that was as Milim’s planned.
「The time for destruction is now!」
The moment Velda evaded Milim’s sword, their position was now reversed.
Milim stood in front of the throne while Velda stood on the ground below the throne.
Plus, on the very rear of Velda’s position―― soared the Heaven Gate, the only gateway connecting the Heaven and the surface world.
From the very beginning, Milim aimed for the chance to simultaneously attack both Velda and the Heaven Gate.
With the demonic sword
Tenma
in her right hand, and her left hand charged with Destruction Intent.
Right now, Milim unleashed Drago Nova at full power towards Velda.
A bluish-white light beam which resembled a sparkling star’s light overlapped repetitively and pierced through Velda.
It pressurized the surroundings as the beam bulged and expanded to pierce everything towards the entrance from which Milim entered from.
A flood of light was born, blowing away all of the lined up pillars.
And beyond them was the soaring wall of the Heaven Gate.
Everything was as Milim planned.
The bluish-white light beam penetrated through Velda as its power increased and pierced the Heaven Gate.
　　　　　　◇◇◇
As the lights subsided, half of the Sky Castle had been cleanly blown away and disappeared.
Only half of the castle remained behind where Milim stood.
However, the Heaven Gate was still intact.
It wasn’t unharmed as there were numerous cracks on it, but it had endured Milim’s strongest attack.
No, that’s not it.
(I saw the light had gotten refracted just before the impact, could it be――)
Milim didn’t let her guard down.
That was the right decision.
「Hmm, as one would expect from my daughter. I never expected that you can make cracks to this impassable gate.」
There was someone who spoke in an excited voice towards Milim.
Needless to say, it was Velda.
Velda, who was unharmed, had sat on the throne behind Milim before she noticed.
While suppressing her astonishment, Milim calmly turned around to face Velda.
「Oho……? For you to be unscathed after being hit by Drago Nova……」
「Ah, it was the ultimate magic that caused a supernova explosion with a super-high compression. It’s the ultimate perfected form of nuclear strike magic
Gravity Collapse[6]
, but it’s impossible to be use unless the user can manipulate Stardust[7] freely. It’s indeed an ultimate magic fitting for you. But, you see――」
Velda began to explain heedlessly to Milim who unintentionally expressed her disbelief. He created a thin light membrane on his hand as to show Milim and continued his explanation.
「I can also manipulate stardust. It’s easy to avert the impact since I directed the destruction so it only affected a limited area.」
So he explained.
Velda seemed to be surprised that her power could affect the impassable gate, but it wasn’t that surprising for Milim.
Velda had said it easily, but it was an impossible feat unless he could read Milim’s thoughts and understood her aim completely.
More importantly, there was no one who could manipulate stardust except Milim.
It was an ultimate magic with the only way to defend against it was to do a lot of work of casting nuclear strike magic repeatedly in order to offset it which even Guy couldn’t do …… But, right now, Velda had shown that he could easily manipulate it.
In other words, it was no more than a magic which could easily be blocked for Velda and Milim had lost one of her trump cards.
(What a monster
……)
For the first time, Milim experienced Velda’s true strength in the truest sense.
「Well, are you done now? Since I will have you make a child with me, I don’t want to hurt you. You should have played around enough, right? Please be obedient now.」
With a gentle smile, Velda said so as if he was persuading a child.
Milim desperately racked her head for something.

Is there nothing I can do?

Milim sought for a telling blow to Velda by making full use of her computation prediction.
However, her calculation indicated a merciless result that everything was useless even with her high abilities.
(Kuh, I should have waited for Rimuru and his subordinates to come here……)
At the moment when Milim regretted her action――
――Crack
――
So, a small sound echoed in the place.
Milim moved her sight to see the origin of the sound.
It also attracted Velda’s attention as he did the same as Milim.
「What!?」
And for the first time, Velda’s expression was filled with disbelief.
Right now, there was a huge crack on the towering Heaven Gate that blocked everyone from passing.
And then――light came flowing from the crack and the gate crumbled immediately after a thunderous sound.
「Good grief. What a sturdy gate, right?」
「Totally. I didn’t expect that even with the three of us it would repel our attack over and over again.」
「That’s right. I thought that it would be an easy task when we received the order from Rimuru-sama.」
While conversing like that, three women passed through the gate and came to invade.
Testarossa, Ultima and Carrera.
Under Rimuru’s order, they had finally succeeded in destroying the Heaven Gate.
「But, there seemed to be an impact from the inside at the end――」
「Eh, there are some people here?」
「――I see, there was a commotion inside or something like that.」
The three shifted their focus to Milim and Velda and seemed to have guessed the circumstances.
Testarossa smiled wickedly and pierced Velda with her cold gaze.
「Hey, you two. If we kill that guy, won’t all the achievements be ours?」
「Right, right! It seems we are the first to arrive here!」
「Milim-sama seems to be struggling too, she probably won’t complain if we help her.」
The other two agreed to Testarossa’s words.
And so, the three people confronted Velda with their respective weapons in hand.
　　　　　　◇◇◇
Milim analyzed the situation and thought of their winning percentages.
It seemed that Rimuru had made the necessary preparations with exquisite timing as Milim had expected.
She was unsure whether they could compete against Velda, but if they could distract Velda even momentarily, Milim could land a full power Dragon Break.
If she condensed Drago Nova’s energy and made it explode inside Velda’s body, even Velda who could manipulate stardust could do nothing but to perish.
Milim concluded so instantly.
「You guys, sorry but please lend me your help!」
The three demons delightfully nodded to Milim’s shout.
Her path to victory had been shut before, but she could now see a path opening even though it was only a small one.
Velda looked at Milim uninterestedly and shifted his sight to see the three demons.
Then he said,
「It’s troublesome to play with people other than Milim. I shall prepare suitable opponents for you guys.」
He announced so and took out an orb to his hand.
Milim and the three demons were wary of Velda’s action.
However, something was created in an instant.
Two people were standing in front of Velda.
An old man dressed in luxurious black clothes.
A short-haired soldier dressed in the former Empire Army’s official uniform.
The two surveyed their surroundings as they looked strangely confused.
「I, I’m certain that I should have died after I entrusted the girl with my techniques…」
「Why am I here? I’m alive―― No, that’s impossible.」
They were Damrada who had entrusted his techniques to Ultima and Kondou Tatsuya who had entrusted his Will to Carrera.
However, they were not the real one.
That was proven from their reaction.
「Yo, you guys seem to have woken up. How’s the body’s condition?」
「Ah, Velda-sama! It is very good.」
「It’s been a long time, Velda-sama. For you to call me, do you have a mission for me?」
Damrada and Kondou took a pose to show their loyalty in front of Velda.
Their current appearance was something you couldn’t imagine from them when they were alive.
Ultima and Carrera were stunned when they looked at the two.
It was truly unbelievable, but the two appeared so similar to the real ones.
「Don’t be deceived! They are just copies harboring their memories. Moreover――Velda had rewritten the memories to his likings…… their real selves’ soul had disappeared, right? Not even a god can revive the dead!」
From Milim’s shout, Ultima and Carrera also realized the truth.
Velda’s cheerful voice reached them.
「That’s right. They and the maid I made a while ago for Milim have the same principle. Strangely, I can’t collect memories of a living person and I can only use it once. This Memory Orb[8] can reproduce a deceased person’s memories.」
Velda said so while fiddling around with the third orb he took out.
And, he continued talking.
「I collected the angels’ energy to this orb as the core and created a temporary body for them. They can’t act on the surface, but that doesn’t matter here. Besides, even if I used a lot of unskilled personalities or even if I tried to evolve them into Manas, they weren’t strong…… This time I tried to replicate those with a strong will. With energy comparable to ten awakened demon lords and a strong will. How about it, don’t you think they are strong?」
Velda explained while laughing.
As they understood the meaning of his words, the demons’ expressions were dyed with anger.
Tampering with a person’s soul was the demons’ specialty. Therefore, they didn’t intend to complain about it.
However, playing with the memories of the people whom they acknowledged was a blasphemy to them.
Demons were fundamentally selfish, even if they could tolerate their own actions, that didn’t mean they could tolerate others’ actions.
「It appears that he really wants to die.」
「I’m so mad now.」
「Making me angry isn’t something that is easy to be done.」
The three demons, who couldn’t look at themselves objectively, declared their anger in their own way.
And, that was the same for Milim.
「Don’t let your guard down. I’ll be Velda’s opponent, but I can’t hold out for long. Get rid of those impostors quickly.」
She ordered those words to the three.
Thus, the fight in the Heaven had begun.
[1] 天帝 Tentei, made from kanji of Heaven and Sovereign. Ruler of Heaven, Emperor of Heaven, Heaven Sovereign, God.
[2] 天空城. Sky/Air/Heaven Castle. I forgot to mention other alternatives when it appeared before, I think. It’s the Castle in the Sky XD
[3] 守護機神(ガーディアンドール) Shugo Kishin (Gādian Dōru) Machine God Protector.
[4] This sentence is spoken in combination of kanji and katakana to make it looks like a robot/doll/machine is talking.
[5] 天魔竜星斬(ドラゴ・ブレイク) Tenma Ryuuboshi Zan (Dorago Bureiku). Tenma Star/Stellar Dragon Slash.
[6] 重力崩壊(グラビティーコラプス) Juuryokuhoukai (Gurabitī Korapusu)
[7] 星粒子(スターダスト) Hoshi Ryuushi (Sutādasuto).  Star Particle/Grain.
[8] 記憶の宝珠(メモリーオーブ) Kioku no Houju (Memorī О̄bu). Sacred/Precious Orb of Memory.