The skeletal frame, composed entirely of tubes, let out a silent roar.
From her position within the chest cavity, Diera intensified her magic power. In response, scales and carapace began to manifest, centering around her. They layered over the skeleton like muscle and skin, quickly forming a massive giant made of scales.
Magic power pulsed through the network of tubes, and chains of light wound around various parts of its massive form.
(Is this... a pseudo-golem?)
I stood there, dazed by the sheer impossibility of the sight before me. There was no mistake; it was a golem with Diera serving as its core.
The golem swung its arm, sweeping through the Allied ships floating on the sea. A chain reaction of explosions followed, sending ship wreckage and soldiers flying through the air. A single swing had unleashed terrifying destruction.
The Allied ships returned fire, their cannons shattering the scales on the golem's surface, only to reveal a second layer of carapace beneath. It was slightly scorched, but otherwise completely unharmed.
"It is useless! Put more effort into your attacks!" Diera's voice echoed across the water.
As if in retaliation, the golem slammed its palm down, causing a ship to explode into fragments. The resulting massive waves further shattered the Allied Forces' formation.
"So, Dwight! Am I not magnificent?!"
Diera spoke to me in high spirits. Feeling a headache coming on, I pressed a finger to my temple. It wasn't the result of a mental attack; it was simply the weight of psychological exhaustion.
"...Impressive, as expected."
"Right? Right?! But this is only the beginning!"
"What?"
As I looked on dubiously, a magic power reaction approached from the distance at high speed. A giant spear came hurtling through the sky, its size perfectly matched to the golem. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be made from the same scales and carapace as Diera's armor.
"Umu! It arrived safely!"
The golem caught the spear and spun it with practiced ease. The spearhead reduced an airship to smithereens, while a downward strike literally split the sea. The ships caught in the wake were dragged down to the ocean floor.
Next, a metallic cylinder flew in and attached itself to the golem's forearm. The golem thrust its arm forward and took a stance. Magic power surged into the cylinder, was converted into a beam of light, and fired. Every ship in its trajectory was reduced to cinders in an instant. My sensing magic indicated that the devastation extended far beyond what the naked eye could see.
From there, the golem swept its spear once more, obliterating the ships that had escaped the beam and swatting airships out of the sky like gnats.
(This is too much...)
The golem was a display of overwhelming violence. There was no hesitation, no restraint. It was the embodiment of absurdity, a literal storm of slaughter.
That golem wasn't merely magic. It seemed to be a weapon based around the spear, but I didn't recognize the design. It was something Diera could never have manufactured alone. Someone had provided full cooperation—someone with genius-level technical skill and imagination.
Only one person fit that description.
Certain of the culprit, I opened a telepathic link. "...Can you hear me?"
"Oh! If it isn't the Demon King! Do you have business with me?"
The cheerful, loud voice belonged to the Research Institute Director. I got straight to the point.
"Diera is rampaging with an unfamiliar weapon. You're involved, aren't you?"
"Yes! She consulted me a little while ago, so I made a special custom build just for her!" The Director admitted it readily, her tone full of pride.
Just as I had suspected, the initial spear served as the foundation for the pseudo-golem. According to her, the spear possessed the ability to form a skeleton using harvested lives—souls—as the raw material. By layering Diera's scales and carapace on top of that, the weapon was complete.
In short, it was a decisive battle weapon designed exclusively for Diera. The armaments that flew in were embedded with Diera's magic power and scales, allowing her to summon them from a distance.
"Diera-san asked me to 'pack it with as much romance as possible,' so I really went all out!"
"I see..."
A staggering amount of advanced technology had been lavishly poured into that pseudo-golem. I wondered how she had found the time to develop such a thing, but then remembered the Director was currently a multiple existence. Now that her resources were effectively unlimited, she could accomplish anything she set her mind to.
As I watched Diera's peerless display, I sensed the continental armies in the distance beginning to retreat. Having witnessed the pseudo-golem, they had clearly decided to evacuate to avoid being caught in the crossfire. They had likely concluded that their intervention was no longer necessary.
In my original plan, our main goal was to prevent the two armies from clashing. While I bought time, Luciana's unit was supposed to paralyze the Allied Forces' logistics and cut off their retreat so we could capture them.
The plan had gone significantly off the rails, but we had to push forward. I connected to Dorda, who was waiting on his ship.
"I'm leaving this area to you. When the timing is right, begin the pursuit and drive the Allied Forces back."
"A soft job, indeed. It's enough to make me yawn," Dorda replied in a carefree tone.
At sea, he was virtually invincible. I could leave the rest to him without worry.
"Powerless humans and beasts, tremble in fear of me...!"
Listening to the voice of the preceding Demon King reveling in her triumph, I teleported away toward the next battlefield.