Broken Possessors of Infinite Regression Academy

Nika, and the other succubi, sensing that the situation was taking a turn for the worse, stiffened.

“Yo, Your Majesty. What is that? What should we do? Are we going to die? Right?”

“What should we do, Master? We’re not going to die, are we? Right?”

“……”

Seeing Nika and the other succubi clinging to her, their queen, I wondered anew how Astaroth had managed to get these obviously ill-suited-for-battle creatures to fight on the battlefield.

They were so obviously unsuited for combat.

“Just stay here. I’ll handle it and come back. It’s more dangerous for you to get involved.”

“Yes…… I’ll do that, Master……”

Even now, despite my explicit statement that it would be a hindrance, Nika nodded with a blissful look on her face. It wasn’t just Nika; the other succubi were the same.

Elysier’s words were absolutely true.

“Um, Master. But, you know, I need more essence to at least defend myself. Can I have a little more…… Hehe.”

I gave Nika an incredulous look, and she stuck out her tongue and giggled. Despite having been beaten to a pulp just a while ago, she could still make such an expression. What a good-natured personality.

“Heuk…… Heax…… Heuuuung……”

After granting her wish and letting her absorb the essence she craved, I left the castle, ignoring Nika and the other succubi, who were acting as if they were under the influence of some kind of drug.

The black clouds had now covered almost all of the visible sky. Power flowed into my hand, which held Eternity.

‘That, no matter how you look at it, looks like the one from back then.’

The ominous clouds that appeared when I fought Mahbat. The ones that were meant to empower him.

If that was the case, I could guess what those clouds were.

However, the situation was worse than before. Back then, I had Leona with me, and it was possible to disperse the clouds with the Holy Sword. But now, I couldn’t do that.

In the end, I could only hope that nothing would come out of those clouds or that no one related to the Demon God would find me here. To be honest, even I thought it was a ridiculous hope.

What other reason could there be for those clouds to appear?

“Master!”

Not knowing how the situation would unfold, I had been keeping an eye on things when Nika jumped out of the castle and flew towards me, flapping the wings at her waist enthusiastically.

It was a ridiculously cute action for a Succubus Queen. Of course, the exposure and sexiness of her outfit and body were anything but cute.

“Why did you come out when I told you to stay hidden?”

“I kept thinking about it, and I concluded that it wouldn’t be right for a maid to leave her master to fight alone. I told the others to report the situation and evacuate if necessary.”

“I told you that you wouldn’t be much help anyway. How did you know something would come out of there?”

“That’s because you’re too strong, Master! I can cleanly take care of any ordinary demon! It’s not for nothing that I’m the Succubus Queen!”

“Even the ordinary demons would disappear with a single swing of my sword.”

“Uuww……”

Nika’s shoulders slumped as she had no more arguments. Still, it felt a bit heartless to dismiss her when she had come to help.

“You can stay by my side, but don’t hold onto my ankles. I don’t want to waste twice the energy. If you think you can’t handle it, don’t try to act tough. Just run away, okay?”

“……! Yes! Master!”

A bright smile appeared on Nika’s face. However, unlike her pure and innocent smile, her outfit was anything but. I had to command her to change back into her maid outfit before the exposure was reduced.

“Master, look over there!”

Not long after, the clouds began to churn and descend to the ground. It was the exact same prelude as when Mahbath was empowered.

“I knew it.”

“What did you say?”

“I knew it would happen. It was obvious that something was going to come out of there.”

The black clouds swirled like a tornado as they descended to the ground. I sighed. It seemed that hoping for this to pass without incident was indeed a long shot. The situation was blatantly obvious.

“I’ll be right back.”

As the tornado took shape, I quickly dashed towards it. I had been using physical enhancement magic ever since the clouds started to gather.

With a speed that made the ground appear blurry, I swung Eternity. The blade, wrapped in white flames, slashed diagonally across the upper half of the horse-like lower body.

Kuaaaaaah!

A wave of white flames erupted along the trajectory of the slash. The purifying fire burned the newly revealed body, charring the sliced areas and emitting smoke.

Even as its upper body was sliced and burned, it tried to counter, and I pushed away its axe head, which was barely an inch away from my neck. If I hadn’t caught it with my hand, it probably would have pierced my carotid artery by now. Even with healing magic, my mood would have definitely soured.

‘This is……’

I frowned as I recognized the axe in its hand. It was the one used by Leptarukus, the Sixth Legion Commander of the Demon King’s Army.

I remembered fighting him once before.

‘Could it be……?’

Just like Kirke, the witch, had appeared as a half-dead body with tentacles parasitizing her, this one might be in a similar situation. Otherwise, there was no explanation for it appearing with the power of the Demon God.

I would have to ask Elysier if Leptarukus had also gone missing when I met her.

Chwaaaak!

Before that, I needed to finish off this one, which was still alive.

As I confirmed its right arm twitching, I blew off its entire right shoulder, including the arm holding the axe. The severed arm and axe clattered to the ground.

“You’re still alive even after looking like that?”

From the right clavicle to the left flank, a large portion of its body had been torn away, and even its remaining right arm had been severed, leaving almost nothing of its upper body. I jumped back to create some distance.

As soon as I did, crimson tentacles sprouted from the severed area and entangled with each other. In an instant, several tendrils broke free from the tentacle mass, which had taken the shape of an arm, and picked up the axe that had fallen to the ground, handing it to the wriggling hand. The horse-like lower body began to move slowly.

“Master! That thingㅡ”

“I know! It’s just like Kirke!”

I was about to swing Eternity again, confident in my guess, but this time, the enemy was faster. The distance I had created was closed in the blink of an eye.

The axe was swung at an angle that was only possible with an arm made entirely of tentacles. Despite the enormous motion, the speed of the swing was beyond imagination.

Kwaaaaaang!

As the creature slammed the axe into the ground, the earth shook as if an earthquake had occurred. The impact caused the ground to crumble, and chunks of soil and boulders rose, as if they were being swallowed by an abyss with no bottom.

It was definitely stronger than when I fought it in the cave. Back then, it had been restricted by another legion commander’s outpost inside the cave.

Kwoong! Teeeeng!

And it was getting faster. Now, its body was visible only as a blurry afterimage. Despite circling around me, its attacks came in at a speed similar to my own movements.

“Uuuuugh……!”

Nika, realizing that her magic was ineffective, stood in place, frantically trying to figure out how to help. She was faithfully following my instructions to not get involved.

That was the right choice. It would only cause trouble if she tried to help unnecessarily. And this creature didn’t seem interested in her anyway.

“Nika!”

“Yes, Master! What can Iㅡ”

“Retreat to the castle! Now!”

Nika didn’t ask twice. She flapped her wings and flew back to the castle as fast as she could.

Now that I didn’t have to worry about the others, it was time to use a rather unique method. I wondered if it could run in the air as well.

I infused my right leg with mana. As I drew a magic circle and stomped the ground with all my might, blue light radiated from my leg, forming geometric patterns.

Dulkeorok, and the world collapsed.

Everything but the spot where I stood began to fall. An endless abyss swallowed the soil and boulders, crushing them indiscriminately.

When it had nowhere else to run, the creature, realizing it had no choice, stepped on one of the falling boulders and kicked off the ground.

It took only a single breath for it to reach me, but that was more than enough time to counter.

I deflected the axe, which was aimed at my heart, changing its trajectory, and activated my magic as I swung Eternity.

Restraint magic grabbed its legs, and the force of its charge caused its kneecap to crack and twist visibly.

I unleashed an extreme body twist on the upper body that had come right up to me, shredding the flesh and the wriggling tentacles within. The blade didn’t stop there; it continued downward, slicing through the body.

Eternity vertically bisected the creature, and as the middle section burst open, the body split into two halves, one going to my left and the other to my right.

I spun halfway, enveloping Eternity in white flames to burn away the remaining flesh and the tentacles that were still wriggling and trying to regenerate within.

The fragments of the Sixth Legion Commander, falling into the abyss, were engulfed by the white flames and disappeared before they could reach the bottom. I watched as the fragments burned, then fiddled with the necklace in my right hand.

‘……Was it like this before?’

This wasn’t the first time I had faced the Sixth Legion Commander in battle. But something felt different this time.

In the past, every time our weapons clashed, I was overpowered, my body wobbled, or I was slammed into a wall. Now, however, I felt like I could hold my own, and I even felt like I had won.

I couldn’t tell if the creature had weakened or if I had gotten stronger.

“Wow……! You’re amazing, Master! It looked incredibly strong, but you defeated it so easily……!”

Nika, who had somehow flown over and was now clinging to my side, flattered me. She was probably trying desperately to make up for her lack of contribution, as she had offered to help but ended up doing nothing.

I half-listened to her flattery and took out the necklace. It didn’t matter if Nika saw it; she had already witnessed Elysier appearing and speaking to me directly.

The other succubi were too far away to hear.

“Elysier, can you hear me?”

“……”

There was no response. It was quiet. I thought Elysier might be busy because Circe had gone missing. I wanted to tell her that I was here, and I had other things to say as well.

“Elysier. Can you hear me?”

Still no response. The necklace remained silent.

“You…… right now……”

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Elysier’s voice came through, but it was full of static.

Static? Something was strange. Could this necklace even have static?

“I can’t hear you well. What did you say?”

“Astaroth…… Demon King Castle……”

“Why the Demon King Castle?”

The voice went quiet again. I was getting anxious, and just as I was about to ask Nika if she knew where the Demon King Castle was, a completely different voice interrupted.

“Hello, Mira Crate? Are you and our traitor enjoying a secret rendezvous or something?”

“……Astaroth?”

At the name that escaped my lips, Nika’s body stiffened. I was equally shocked and asked again.

“What’s this? You were supposed to be dead……”

I had personally beheaded her, burned her body, and even confirmed multiple times that there was no life response. So how? Was the Astaroth I killed a fake?

However, Astaroth’s words completely contradicted my thoughts.

“Yes, I died. To be precise, I was dead. Oh, right. Instead of wasting time like this, why don’t we talk face to face? I have a lot, a lot, a lot of things I want to say to you.”

As she spoke, the necklace crumbled powerlessly. I stared blankly at the fragments of the necklace falling from my hand, and right next to me, a crimson-colored dimensional portal appeared.

“Cough!”

And from that portal stepped out Elysier.

She stumbled a few times, spat out blood, and with difficulty, managed to steady herself. I quickly went to her side and supported her as she was about to collapse.

“I’m sorry…… I lost to that bitch, Cough, Mira……”

“You don’t need to apologize. Just focus on recovering. What happened?”

Elysier was strong enough to toy with the Sword Saint, and I couldn’t be certain of victory in a direct confrontation with her. So it was incomprehensible to see her so injured.

I healed her wounds with healing magic, and as her energy returned, she took a deep breath and glared at the portal, then spoke.

“It’s the Demon Sword. It’s in Astaroth’s hands now.”

“You’re strong enough without a sword. You wouldn’t have been beaten just because of that one sword, would you?”

“If it had been just the Demon Sword, I would have won. Butㅡ”

“You left out the most crucial part.”

The portal overflowed with Mana, filling the ruptured space nearby, and Astaroth slowly walked out. In her right hand was the Demon Sword, glowing with a deep crimson light.

“She is no longer the Demon King, so she lost. She is no longer the Demon King, so she lost all her power to me. That’s the most crucial part, our traitor.”

“……You’re no longer the Demon King?”

I blocked her path and asked. Astaroth, who didn’t seem to be in a hurry to attack, answered readily.

“The Demon Sword has stripped her of her qualifications as a traitor. Just as the Holy Sword chooses its hero, the Demon Sword can choose its Demon King, can’t it?”

A laugh that seemed to be bursting with joy sounded.

“A human male and a female who clings to him are not qualified to be the Demon King, right? Aren’t they?”

“……”

“It’s ridiculous. You were acting all high and mighty, but it wasn’t even your own power. It was the power you borrowed from the Demon God through the Demon Sword, wasn’t it? What about the time I devoted to serving you? What about the time I spent serving you? What was it for?”

Astaroth growled and then grinned. Her emotions switched so quickly that it was hard to tell what was real.

“Ah, but it’s fine. I’ll be a much better Demon King than you anyway. I’ll prove it to you starting now.”

The Demon Sword, enveloped in crimson magic, was thrust into the crimson magic that covered the nearby space.

“Let’s start by destroying the human world, shall we?”