Great America Again!

'I’ll kill you if you run off on your own.'

'Can’t you trust me that much?'

'Yeah.'

When the Blue Witch nodded firmly, Conrad gave a wry smile.

The location was Denver, the capital of Colorado, in the southern Rocky Mountains of the American continent.

The time was late June 2030.

The U.S. Department of Defense’s Demon King countermeasures unit and the Demon King’s army, which had begun marching south, clashed on the outskirts of the state capital, and a fierce war had broken out. To conserve their strength, the Blue Witch’s main force watched the battle unfold from within a hastily erected temporary tent in City Park.

Inside the temporary tent, the communications team constantly contacted the front lines through eyeball familiars, while commanders moved convex-shaped pieces across a map and issued rapid-fire orders in English.

Blinding flashes that could be seen even through the thick tent fabric repeatedly lit up in the distance, while multiple bloodcurdling roars struck their eardrums. The air trembled without pause, and the ground kept rumbling.

The four extremely powerful witches and wizards, with Conrad as their captain, had not taken part in the skirmishes, saving their strength for the battle against the Demon King himself.

Four steamships that had departed from the United States’ provisional government-in-exile in Cuba had circumnavigated the globe by a western route and returned to their home port two weeks earlier.

America had called at ports all over the world and gathered strength for the battle against the Demon King, but its plenipotentiary, Conrad, had stuck his nose into every local problem he came across.

In China, most of the Transcendents had been eaten by a Class-AA monster known locally as Taotie, and the people, left without protectors, were in dire straits.

After a convoluted series of events, Conrad leveled mountains, dug into them, and piled them up to build a large mountain city in seven days and seven nights, one that even Class-B monsters could not easily conquer. He saved several thousand innocent civilians.

America gained no supplies or personnel from China. One could even say that, after accounting for the days spent there, it had come out behind. Even so, the survivors were deeply, deeply grateful to America and Conrad.

India was suffering from upheaval in its caste system.

In India’s caste system, the lower classes made up a large portion of the population, while the upper classes were few.

Since Transcendents were generally born in roughly the same proportions as the population, there were many Transcendents from the lower classes and few from the upper classes. Indian society was in chaos because many oppressed people from discriminated groups had gained power.

After a convoluted series of events, Conrad barged into the wedding of two powerful people and helped the bride elope with the man she loved.

Half of India resented America, while the other half gave it tremendous goodwill and support.

Egypt, Greece, and Britain were all much the same. Conrad’s journey seemed less like an expedition to gather strength and more like a trip around the world helping people.

Nothing happened in Tokyo because it was peaceful when they visited, but if there had been an incident, Conrad would have worked without hesitation to resolve it.

There were many people in America who could have drawn greater forces or more technology out of countries around the world.

However, no one was better suited to serve as an envoy than Conrad. The Blue Witch admitted as much, albeit reluctantly.

Or perhaps that was simply what she wanted to believe.

It would be too cruel if the end of that inefficient yet kind journey—one spent understanding people’s feelings, putting more smiles on faces around the world, and helping people without asking for anything in return—were to be, ‘We couldn’t defeat the Demon King because we wasted our strength doing unnecessary things.’

'It’s all right, Blue Witch. We made all the preparations we could.'

Saint Luche gently stroked the Blue Witch’s back, encouraging her, since she could do nothing but sit and await victory in the skirmish. When the Blue Witch looked toward the other side of Luche, the ratman Glenn nodded encouragingly. But Glenn was the kind of man who could maintain a calm facade to encourage his comrades, no matter how dire the situation. That was precisely why he was trustworthy—and precisely why he was untrustworthy.

Saint Luche was a witch invited from Vatican City――――a ‘saint,’ as they called her locally.

Draped in a loose yellow robe, she wore a rosary around her neck. Her hair and eyes were blue, deep and clear like the endless blue sky. The staff resting on her lap had been given to her by a priest when she was born. She had used it as a pilgrim’s staff for twenty years before modifying it into a magic wand.

Saint Luche was a masterful user of healing magic, which the entire world had desperately longed for, and an undead with an extremely powerful self-regeneration ability. In terms of ability, she was below the Blue Witch but above Glenn, and she served as the healer among the four chosen to face the Demon King directly.

She was warm and approachable, overflowing with love for humanity, but her religious manner of speaking grated on the Blue Witch’s nerves, so she found Luche difficult to deal with.

'It’s true that no one dying during the opening phase is almost too good to be true, but we don’t know where things might start to fall apart, do we? If the southward advance had been delayed by one more day, we could have mounted a perfect interception.'

The Demon King grew stronger by absorbing witches, wizards, and magic stones. Throwing mediocre Transcendents at him would only feed him, so it had been decided that the direct confrontation would be handled by the cream of the crop among the Transcendents: Conrad Williams, Glenn Grayling, the Blue Witch, and Saint Luche.

To pit those four against the Demon King in perfect condition, all forty-six Transcendents were currently joining forces against the army of Class-A monsters that protected the Demon King and moved as his limbs.

Thirty of the forty-six carried magic wands made by Japanese master craftsmen. The remaining sixteen were armed with emergency-produced scrolls, magic script, and American-made magic wands, creating a storm of magic that shattered countless Class-A monsters.

'By tomorrow, our ninety-nine percent preparation will only have become one hundred percent. In practical terms, we’re already ready to intercept them at full strength. Worry about the Demon King battle, not the skirmish.'

'You’re such a worrier. Don’t worry. Everything will work out. I’m here, after all. The President will make it in time, too.'

'God does not give people trials they cannot overcome.'

Glenn, Conrad, and Luche all repeated in unison that everything would be all right.

When the atheist Blue Witch furrowed her brow skeptically, Luche continued smiling with a playful air.

'If we ever face a hardship we cannot overcome, then it isn’t a trial from God. It’s just a disaster. Let’s all run away.'

Luche thrust out her fist and bumped it against Glenn’s. The Blue Witch went along with it and bumped fists too, but, strangely, Conrad—the one who should have joined in first—was hesitating with his fist suspended in midair, looking troubled.

'What’s wrong, Conrad? What――――! You!'

Partway through, the Blue Witch realized what was happening and threw a cup. It passed through an illusion of Conrad raising both hands in surrender and rolled across the tent floor.

The instant he saw that, Glenn clicked his tongue and dashed out of the tent. A few beats later, the Blue Witch followed.

'Sorry, the Demon King extermination squad is heading out! Conrad jumped the gun!'

Luche bowed to the commander and communications team, who were staring at her in confusion, then ran after the Blue Witch.

The three of them ran through the city toward the front lines at full speed.

The Blue Witch was exasperated, Luche wore a wry smile, and Glenn was absolutely furious.

'That bastard even used Projection Magic! You’d agreed that people might die in the skirmish, hadn’t you?!'

'No, Glenn. He never agreed to it. He simply remained silent.'

'Both of you, joining that idiot is our priority right now. Let’s floor it.'

At the Blue Witch’s command, the three accelerated and became a gust of wind.

Along the way, they punched a savage-looking six-legged beast that had slipped through the lines with their three fists, kicked a fallen monstrous bird to pieces, and leaped onward, covering twenty kilometers in just ten minutes to burst onto the front line.

Because Conrad had spent their long journey sticking his nose into one troublesome situation after another and forcing them to deal with the aftermath, the three had perfected their teamwork. Even with nothing but their natural physical abilities and no enhancement magic, lower-ranked Class-A monsters were no threat to them.

But an army of the Demon King’s monsters with numerous Class-AA monsters mixed in was another matter.

The Transcendents holding the line and clearing the way should have suffered considerable casualties even with their weapons fully prepared. The fact that no one had died should have been enough to make them suspect Conrad’s intervention.

Sure enough, Conrad was flying freely through the monster army with a pure-white magic sword in hand. When he noticed the party’s arrival, he appeared before the three at the speed of sound, dragging a shockwave behind him.

Conrad scratched his head awkwardly, and the Blue Witch spoke coldly on behalf of the others.

'I told you I’d kill you if you ran off on your own.'

'No, I only used around 200K mana. I only spent what my amulet could recover, so――――'

Before he could finish making excuses, the Blue Witch slapped him. Conrad was not sent flying; he staggered in place and pressed a hand to his cheek with tears in his eyes.

The Blue Witch clicked her tongue and immediately moved on to something constructive.

'Fine, I’ll let you off this time. You had a chance of winning before you acted on your own, I assume?'

'Glenn is thinking up the odds for us.'

'…Sigh. I’ll lecture you after the battle, Conrad. In fact, if you haven’t spent much mana, the situation isn’t bad. Having zero deaths so far is significant. So you didn’t charge in completely thoughtlessly. How many Class-AA monsters are left?'

'Twenty are tightly surrounding the Demon King. We killed twelve of the ones that came to the front. Of the rest, the troublesome one is Taotie. You know, the one in China. That one.'

When Conrad pointed toward around the middle of a mountain on the outskirts, a gigantic monster like a sentient black cloud was swirling there. The black cloud constantly changed shape, with portions breaking away from the main body and transforming into grotesque monsters that tried to swallow the Transcendents.

The black cloud had no effect whatsoever on rocks or soil, but the trees and animals it swallowed disappeared.

The Class-AA monster known as Taotie, which had devastated China, was a vicious amorphous monster that passed through inanimate objects and devoured only living things.

'Hmm. The terrain has changed considerably. What’s making the sky red over there?'

'That’s the Hell Witch. She dragged one Class-AA monster into Hell and is holding it back by herself. Every monster and mutant that enters that area dies, so consider it a restricted zone.'

'I see. Then the route of advance is limited…and considering mana consumption…'

While Glenn stroked his beard, narrowed his eyes, and thought over the strategy, Luche went to the front line and joined the battle, beating and kicking the monster army. She was bitten, slashed, and battered, but she did not flinch. Even when she let them cut her flesh so she could break their bones, Luche could restore her flesh through self-regeneration.

Even the allied Transcendents she had saved recoiled at the sight of Saint Luche smiling without pause as she bathed in blood and ignored her own safety.

'Hey, Glenn. Give us the plan already. Luche is charging in, and Conrad’s itching to go.'

'Damn it, all of you… Fine, let’s do this. First, we take out Taotie. From what I can see, that one monster is tying up fifteen people. If we crush Taotie, the front line should become much easier to manage. Conserve your mana. Even if you use it, limit yourself to 500K per person. Once Taotie is down, withdraw. Only interfere with the most dangerous parts of the line and avoid wasting your strength. Got it? After that, pray that the President arrives soon.'

'Conrad, you’re only going to use enhancement magic anyway, right? I’ll carve a path with 800K. You charge in with 200K of self-enhancement.'

'Understood. All right, Glenn?'

'Fine, fine, do what you want. GO!'

At Glenn’s signal, the Blue Witch pointed the tip of Cuanos at the black cloud in the center of a swarm of hundreds of monsters. Intersecting double rings activated and began slowly rotating around the core.

Glenn went to deliver the message to Luche, who was tearing off a monster’s head, and Luche nodded before casting sensory-enhancement magic on Conrad.

'It’s over power of all over the world. Fervor, my blood.'

At the same moment that Conrad wrapped himself in three enhancement spells whose strain would make an ordinary Transcendent’s body burst, the Blue Witch fired concentrated freezing-air Downdraft Magic sideways, freezing and blowing away everything in its path.

A single white road suddenly appeared in the chaotic battlefield, and Conrad raced down it at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

Conrad leaped into Taotie’s chest in a single breath and swung his sword of light in every direction, slicing apart the exposed core of Taotie—the monstrous tiger with a human face.

However, Taotie, whose entire body had been divided into eight pieces, grabbed at Conrad with its separate bodies even as it was being cut apart. Its fangs pierced Conrad’s neck, its claws tore open his stomach, and its tail smashed into the crown of his head.

Taotie twisted its human-like face into a grotesque grin and sneered.

But immediately afterward, it realized that something felt wrong.

Even as Conrad was seized, slashed, and gouged all over by Taotie’s scattered pieces, he showed no sign of pain and continued swinging his sword of light.

The sword, radiating a dazzling light like the sun, divided Taotie into 1,024 pieces and annihilated it.

In the rear, Glenn, who had taken on Conrad’s damage, began spurting blood from his entire body and nearly died, but Luche’s high-level healing magic restored him completely at once.

As planned, the four slew the Class-AA monster while keeping their mana consumption down.

Having dealt with the most troublesome monster, the four withdrew to the rear as agreed.

With the difficult enemy gone, the forty-six Transcendents who had been in dire straits suddenly began to rally.

Great magic of every color, size, and shape raged across the battlefield, instantly blowing a hundred monsters to pieces.

However, the Demon King’s army numbered well over a thousand.

The gap that briefly opened in the battle line was quickly filled by monsters sent forward from the rear.

The Demon King’s army was like an endless, inexhaustible tsunami of death.

No matter how much they fought, knocked back, blasted apart, or crushed them, there was no end to it. More kept emerging from behind.

Of course, even the vast army of monsters filling their field of vision had a limit.

But the vanguard unit handling the skirmish alone was at a disadvantage.

The battle line, which had seemed to push forward after Taotie fell, gradually began to be forced back.

The front line, whose firepower had been enhanced with magic wands and held in a stalemate by expending scrolls, began to develop holes. No matter how much their weapons boosted their strength, the fundamental difference in numbers was too great.

'Damn, this is tougher than I hoped. Conrad, we need to start considering a retreat. If we use up all our mana, even retreating will be dangerous. If we’re going to pull back, now is the time.'

'No. We’ve already shown our hand. The scrolls, the magic wands, almost every kind of magic we can use. If we retreat now, the Demon King will learn from this and devise countermeasures, won’t he? We have to finish it here. It’s all right. We’ll make it in time. Let’s trust the President.'

'I can’t say I distrust that man, but I’m worried about his mount.'

'She has a good heart, you know? She’s just a little greedy.'

The four watched the battle unfold while talking, feeling as though their bodies were being slowly scorched.

If all four of them fully intervened in the battle line, they would win the skirmish. They could eliminate the entire monster army.

But if they did that, they would have to fight the Demon King after exhausting themselves.

Even for those four, the cream of the Transcendents, the Demon King’s strength was beyond reason. It would be a dangerous fight even at full strength; if they were exhausted, victory would be impossible.

To defeat the Demon King, conserving the strength of all four was essential.

They had already intervened to maintain the front line and spent some mana. They could not spend any more.

As each of the four offered a prayer to something different, an utterly out-of-place piece of music suddenly began echoing across the battlefield.

It was the United States national anthem, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner.’

The national anthem suddenly blared at full volume—a mere song—and a waving Star-Spangled Banner projected onto the clouds transformed the atmosphere of the battlefield.

Glenn stared in astonishment, then began to laugh.

Conrad looked at the enormous Star-Spangled Banner projected onto the white clouds in the sky, cheered, and waved his fist.

'May Almighty God bless you!'

"Ha. Honestly! America really does love this sort of thing."

Luche pointed her wand at the heavens and waved it, and the Blue Witch laughed too.

From beyond the sky ahead of them, a rugged middle-aged man riding a dragon came flying toward the four.

Using Projection Magic and amplification magic, the voice of the President of the United States rang across the battlefield as he made a grand theatrical entrance.

'Everyone! Brave citizens of America! And our allies, too! You fought well, and you survived! Everyone――――oh, hey! Stop struggling! This is the good part!'

"I still haven’t heard your answer. I had to push myself to get here at top speed, so hand over the rights to the gold mine too! Otherwise, I’ll drop you right here!"

'My apologies, Dragon-kun! You’ve worked hard as well! The United States will never forget your service!'

"I told you I don’t understand English! Gold mine! Gold! Is it okay?!"

'Ah, are we talking about the contract? Of course it’s okay!'

"Okay? You just said okay. Great! Everyone evacuate! Evacuate! The world’s strongest weapon is coming through!"

'Everyone evacuate! Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Behold, monsters! And listen! Know that this is the power of America!'

Hearing the order to evacuate, the Transcendents all began chanting Return Magic and withdrew.

Conrad saluted the President’s personal aircraft, Dragon, as it flew through the sky, then urged his comrades to hurry and put more distance between them.

'Great!'

With the President’s first cry, the dragon began dropping huge quantities of bombs gathered from all across America from its belly pouch.

'America!!'

The Class-A monsters possessed intelligence.

Precisely because they possessed intelligence, they sensed the abnormal atmosphere on the battlefield and looked up at the objects raining down from high above.

But the monsters did not know how dangerous those objects were. They could not understand how much destructive power something without even a fragment of mana could possess. They did not know. They had no way to know.

'Again!!!'

"Don’t underestimate humanity’s forbidden power!! You’re all gonna get blown sky-high!!!"

Then more than a thousand nuclear weapons detonated, and the power of the sun manifested upon the earth.

A massive earthquake struck, and a dazzling flash easily swept away the monster horde.

A colossal mushroom cloud thrust into the heavens.

Shock waves raged across the land, sending entire rows of buildings flying through the air like leaves.

The tremendous explosive heat scorched the earth, turning it red-hot and making it bubble.

The four escaped the detonation zone as though pursued by the shock wave. With their clothes and hair fluttering in the heat-laden gale, they shaded their eyes with their hands and looked toward ground zero.

'…Did we get it?'

'Oh. Glenn, I read something in a comic recently. Apparently, that’s called a flag.'

'Don’t be ridiculous. Speaking it aloud or not doesn’t change the facts. Ah…good. Every last one of its minions has been blown away.'

'Come on, let’s go. As I said, we’ll settle this within an hour. Beyond that, even healing magic won’t be able to remove the effects of radiation exposure.'

'That is, assuming physical attacks work on the Demon King. Well, the rest is our job. Let’s finish this and go home.'

The Demon King emerged from the fire and smoke without a scratch.

Clutching their wands, the four began an unprecedented battle against the enemy of the world standing amid the scorching heat.