Slightly pointed ears, reminiscent of what a half-elf might have, if such a thing existed.

Webbed fingers, like a mermaid’s, and similar webs between her toes.

Her beautiful, though messy, white, shoulder-length hair was made of Spirit Steel, almost like a dwarf’s.

At this rate, it would not surprise me if she had a drakonid’s sharp teeth in her mouth…

Narrowed in an innocent, smiling expression were her two crystal-like eyes, glimmering with every colour of the rainbow in a different manner from Entropy’s.

And this child…

Was currently sat atop the covers I was lying under, straddling my waist.

I had a faint idea as to her identity, but…

Well, who she was could be left aside for a moment. More important was—

She was stark naked.

“… You.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

A lively answer. And she did, indeed, appear to possess the sharp teeth of a drakonid.

“Why are you in my bed?”

“Because I wanted to greet you first thing in the morning, Your Majesty!”

I could not help but let out a sigh.

“First of all, state your name,” I said after a slight pause, shaking my head.

“Ah- yes! Though you have given me my name, I have still not properly introduced myself… I am the Demon King’s Blade, Misery’s End, created only yesterday! Please order me around as you see fit!”

Indeed, she was who I thought she was. And that made her a life I had brought into this world… And thus, it was my duty to…

I reached over, grabbed her cheeks, and pulled.

[https://i.imgur.com/Jl2d1oU.png]

“Owowowowowowow-”

“Listen. You do not climb into someone’s bed uninvited, and especially not naked.”

“B-but I jhust wanted to whake you uhp…”

“Then do that normally…”

I heaved another sigh, then let go of her cheeks.

“In any case… ‘Misery’s End’ is too long of a name to address a person, so the name of your human form will be Misery.”

“Understood!”

“And get off me already.”

“Ah- right.”

She clambered off, then directed her gaze not to me, but next to me.

I turned, to find Entropy staring straight at me.

“… Good morning,” I said, half a beat late.

“Good morning,” she repeated, nodding… She almost looked a little drowsy, what with her ears hanging low like that. How cute.

“Good morning!” Misery said, grinning a toothy grin.

Though Entropy appeared to yet be half-asleep—she had quickly started leaning on me, for one—she still raised a half-hearted hand in Misery’s direction.

“So, Misery.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“You are still naked.”

“Yesyes, one moment!”

She stood at attention, her hand at her forehead in a salute, and—

With some manner of flash, there was suddenly a full military uniform covering her body. It looked almost like some kind of projection, or like it was being created by illusion magic, but…

Well, it was properly opaque, so there were no problems, I supposed.

[https://i.imgur.com/ZsIi5Hj.png]

“So, Misery.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Why the human form? For that matter, how?”

“Eh?”

She appeared truly and utterly dumbfounded by my question, though I found it more than reasonable, myself.

“You didn’t appraise me, Your Majesty?”

“I… Did not. I will admit I was a little caught up in the moment…”

“Then I’ll give you a rundown of my abilities!”

“Very well.”

***

“Misery…”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Just to let you know, you are totally broken. You could win this war on your own.”

“Doesn’t that apply to you, too, Your Majesty? If you were the final boss of a video game, I’d call the devs and complain!”

It seemed she had inherited a veritable treasure trove of knowledge from me.

… On second thought, this kind of knowledge could hardly be considered treasure of any kind…

In any case, as for those ‘totally broken’ abilities of hers—

First of all, [Bladed Soul]. It allowed shapeshifting into any shape I considered a ‘weapon’, as well as a human form. This alone made her, essentially, a physical form of the spell Dark Blade, with the added potential of ranged weaponry.

Like a staff for magic, or a bow for arrows.

Or a gun.

Second, [Magical Soul]. Her function as a magical focus was literally unparalleled. Nothing else could even come close—not even the magical ring I wore on my finger. Any spell I cast through her would cost me only a fragment of the mana for a vastly improved effect.

With just this, she would be the most incredible weapon imaginable.

And yet there was more.

[Soul of Potential].

The ability to create anything that had the potential to exist in the future, excluding weaponry.

Given her lively, carefree personality, I mostly expected her to use it to recreate food from my memories, or perhaps things like heated blankets or such…

But there was no denying it was an absurdly powerful ability.

By analysing the structure of her gun form, Tempest could reproduce guns, and Misery could then reproduce modern propellant and bullets… or such.

Of course, the mana consumption increased as the size of the created item increased, and it was exponential, too. Anything larger than the aforementioned heated blanket was practically impossible.

There was a whole range of other potential applications, too…

But then again, given the likely form of the end of this entire conflict, making societal progress was a waste of time.

All things considered, guns would be the most cost-efficient product. I could not ask for much of Tempest’s time, given she was busy developing that thing…

But a little should be fine. She would probably appreciate the distraction.

As for who I would give the guns to…

Well, there was a large chance my Demon Generals would still grow between now and the final battle, so I would see to that later.

***

After a fair period of free time, most of which I spent bonding with my two newest allies, planning a strategy for Meph-whatever and rekindling my old friendship with the two Saints I had snagged, it was finally time.

Judging by the reports, ‘twould not be long ‘til the final group of Heroes reached the castle, granting us the opportunity to seize the final aspect, so I had gathered my Demon Generals and other close associates ahead of time, but…

Well, to put it simply, there was time to kill, and I was not intent on spending it idly sitting here, doing nothing. There was the hand of just flirting with Entropy instead, but if the Heroes happened to walk in while I was doing that…

In any case, I cleared my throat, drawing attention to myself.

“You lot.”

In one fell swoop, I addressed any who felt like answering my query.

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“This may seem like it is coming from nowhere… No, speaking truthfully, it is coming from nowhere. But even so, I would like you to answer.”

A hefty amount of ultimately useless preamble.

“Defeating your enemies, defeating your own weakness, being the only one standing, reaching your desired future… There are as many definitions of the word ‘victory’ as there are people. What does the word mean to you? What is your ‘victory’?”

The first to answer, as might be expected, was my very own personal knight. That girl, who seemed to live off of loyalty alone. Charlotte.

“ ‘Tis a simple matt’r, Your Highness. I simply work f’r thy sake. I shall be sat’sfied when thou sayeth ‘tis enough. But…”

She hesitated, a moment, as though pondering whether or not to give word to her own, ‘selfish’ desires. I doubted she could be more selfish than I was, so I gave her a nod.

“ ‘Twould grant me the great’st sat’sfaction… T’ one day reach thee. Thy lev’l… Thy strength. Thy side. That… Would be my ult’mate vict’ry.”

“A victory dependent on others, then? Forever comparing yourself to those around you, never working for your own merit?”

“Nay. Not ‘oth’rs’… Thee. Thee, specific’lly.”

“Not comparison, but loyalty… I see. As expected of you, Charlotte.”

She placed a hand in front of her chest and knelt down, wrapping her wings around herself. In particular, she was hiding her face…

Perhaps she was embarrassed to have said all of that straight to my face.

The next answer, in a more surprising turn of events, came from—

“Vict’ry, huh… Whassup, Master? Suddenly feelin’ philosophical? Or are you just bored? Vict’ry, vict’ry… Mmh, well, my first instinct when I think o’ the word is what comes after the fight. I guess you could call it… Lookin’ to the future? Tryin’ to get my hands on the peaceful daily life afterwards.”

Lilith, the girl who valued family and time spent with family above all else.

“Which is to say, the end of the conflict? As long as you can return to your regular life, you do not mind if the result is slightly different from your original goal… is it?”

“Yeah, that, that! Kinda like, an ‘anything goes’ attitude? Changin’ things on the fly t’ try ‘n make up for mistakes, ‘n all that.”

“Aye, I see.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, several appeared to agree with this attitude. The instinct-driven Alpine, whose recent growth knew no bounds, let out an approving bark, and Evyna, insatiably curious as ever, nodded enthusiastically.

Perhaps trying to adhere to the theatrics, Lilith took place next to Charlotte, kneeling on the ground.

“The word ‘victory’ rings hollow to me, Master. Much more important is the process of reaching it.”

The maddened witch, her passion for knowledge burning like a red-hot furnace. Tempest.

“The process, rather than the result…? So you prefer war over peace, then?”

“By far. There is no meaning in creating an invention if the creator herself does not understand how it works, so the process of creating something is multitudes more important than the creation. Not to mention, nothing drives progress like war.”

“In other words, there is no meaning to an overall victory?”

“None at all. Small victories are much more important.”

“I understand. Aye, I understand… A fascinating point of view.”

Not to mention there were a few who appeared to agree. Judging from the sparkles in her eyes, Evyna could find herself in this viewpoint, as well, and I could only imagine Nyx’s high-pitched laughter meant agreement.

Tempest, too, took place in front of me, kneeling down.

The fourth to answer—

“I don’t understand a lot of the complicated stuff you’re saying, but… Victory is a word for winning, right? Then, ‘victory’ is to crush enemies and get what we want! Hmm… I guess you could call it results? As long as everyone does what they were ordered to do, the result’ll be as we want it to be.”

The young dragon, ever-cheerful and ever-loyal. Davna.

“That is to say, you wish for results, and not to think about how to obtain those results.”

“Yup! Of course, it’s nice to do something of my own will, but… It’s just easier to leave the thinking to others, do as I’m told and enjoy the results.”

“I see.”

Perhaps this was the most agreeable opinion yet? The beast-children nodded along, perhaps latching on to the sentiment of not having to make plans themselves, and Saniel, ever-reliant on others, also appeared to agree.

Davna kneeled before me.

And the final Demon General.

“Family… Precious happiness? Protect, at all costs. No matter what. If successful… Then, victory.”

The slime, who I was almost certain would attain full sentience any day now. Navillus.

“Ah… I see. A view some might see as pessimistic, whereas others as hopelessly optimistic… Which is to say, as long as you were able to protect what you hold dear, that is a victory, even if you were unable to obtain your initial goal… yes?”

“Yeah! That. Sounds right.”

A little interpretation work was necessary, but her viewpoint, too, was quite intriguing. It also explained why she welcomed Faust with open arms, despite shunning Mica. Faust was an addition to our family, whereas Mica would have detracted me…

An unexpected discovery, considering the question I had asked, but not one I was going to complain about.

Out of all the opinions expressed so far, hers appeared to be the most agreeable—save for the other Demon Generals, nigh everyone in the room was expressing their agreement one way or another.

Navillus joined the line, too, doing her best impression of a kneeling pose with the body of a slime.

One might expect things to end there…

But actually, there were two people in the room I was particularly interested in, who had not spoken a single word, nor agreed to any of the others’ definitions.

“And what about you two?”

I turned, indeed, to the two newest additions to the group, who had just been watching without a word.

They looked a little surprised to be singled out, but the first to answer was Faust.

“Haven’t you already asked me that? I gave you this whole spiel… I can’t believe you’d just forget about it, just like that. And you want to become a God? Wow, you’re hopeless, you know that?”

“Oh, shut it. That answer you gave back then would not be an answer to this question… Nay, that was about the form of your victory, and what you would do to attain it. But what does that victory itself look like?”

“Ah… Well, you’ve got a point there. Hmm, let’s see… If you’d asked the old me, I’d have answered like this.”

She cleared her throat.

“The end. The ability to no longer worry about anything. To simply stop suffering.”

Curt, to the point.

“Given you specified that that would be the old you… The you who I do not know, I assume that is no longer the case?”

“Not at all. Seeing you interact with your subordinates… Your family, it’s given me… well, I wouldn’t call it hope, but… At this point, I’ll consider any kind of freedom akin to the greatest of victories.”

“I see… Liberation from your shackles. The ability to do as you like. To live, free of worries… Aye, I see, I understand.”

Unlike my Demon Generals, she did not join the line—one of several ways in which she expressed that freedom of hers, I assumed.

“My… Victory?”

Misery, meanwhile, pointed at herself, dumbfounded and open-mouthed.

“Aye, you.”

“My… My own…”

She paused in silence for a good while, contemplating her answer.

“The ability… to do what you ask of me. Any outcome that gives me that is a win in my book. As long as I can be of use to you… That, to me, is victory.”

I had thought Charlotte’s answer was reliant on other people, but…

Well, it made sense. She was only a few weeks old, to begin with…

Just as I was about to open my mouth to tell her something, a maid entered the hall.

According to her, it seemed the Heroes would be here very soon, which meant it was time for our side’s final preparations.

“Misery. With me.”

I took her with me through the side door, to lay the groundwork for the final Saint’s defeat.