One-way traffic

"...You should go over there."

Mandela gritted his teeth.

"Our 'Salamandra' team is responsible for guarding this area. We can't rule out the possibility that there are other Demon King's subordinates and minions in the vicinity. At the very least, we must contain the destruction in this area and prevent it from spreading further towards the residential areas!"

Everyone understood what Mandela meant: the truth of what had happened was left to the people of 'NoName' and Sandra to handle.

Sandra and the members of 'NoName' exchanged glances and nodded.

"Black Rabbit, I have a question I'd like to ask you."

"Eh?"

Hatsune Miku, standing to the side, asked in a slightly puzzled tone.

"I remember, the final verdict regarding that sandbox center you mentioned... it was something like—"

"The two sides will temporarily cease hostilities and resume the game after one week and one day."

That's right... In addition, there are other rules such as 'comrades cannot kill each other' and 'cannot leave the designated area'.

But what if the rules are like this?

"..."

Gradually, Black Rabbit also began to sense that something was wrong.

Because if the rules issued by the central authority of the sandbox include a condition such as 'communities must not kill each other'—

"That Pest, who is part of the Demon King's community... should be completely unable to attack us, right?"

"Yes! That's exactly right. Not only are they unable to take action, but none of us should be able to do or intend to harm them either..."

is that so?

With these thoughts in mind, everyone looked up at the sky in confusion.

—That daylight, which seemed to bring the world an apocalypse, and the purplish-black neutron aggregation storm.

Both sides are clearly bound by the rules and should be unable to harm each other. Even if they unleash such a wide-range attack, it would be completely ineffective... Why would they do something so meaningless?

So what exactly happened?

"Speaking of which, where did all those people go?"

"That's right!! Izayoi-san, Accelerator-san, and Kakine Teitoku-san... where have they all gone?! It's really worrying..."

Moreover, considering the personalities of these three individuals, Black Rabbit also developed a greater sense of concern in this regard.

I really hope that these problem children can all be a little more self-aware...

——————————————————————————————————————

"Ugh... Guwaaa...!"

Even after the brilliance of the neutron explosion dissipated, the daylight in the sky still shone upon the earth.

Pest collapsed to the ground.

Even as a demon king with a five-figure reputation, she had no strength left to resist under this dazzling white light.

"How...could this be...?"

She simply cannot imagine everything that has happened so far.

First of all, to encounter such a powerful expert with terrifying strength in such an outer area... and the opponent is actually just a human.

Furthermore, no matter how strong this human is, they should still be bound by the rules of the Little Garden world. The rules state that the two communities cannot interfere with each other, so they should be unable to harm each other.

But now, this idea has completely disappeared from Pest's mind.

Its strength is so overwhelming that it can disregard even the rules set up by the Little Garden, and it can even do things that are enough to change the laws of this entire world.

What world did this freak come from?!

Thud—that's the sound of someone's footsteps landing on the ground.

With the little strength she had left, Pest managed to lift her head and turn her gaze forward.

She saw a human dressed in black and white clothing standing about twenty meters in front of her.

"He survived that blow."

Compared to what I had seen before... this human had not changed at all, and not even the hem of his clothes was damaged.

I'm afraid that everything he just displayed was only a negligible small part of the power he possesses.

"As expected of the Demon King. I thought you would be like all the trash I've encountered so far, unable to even withstand attacks of this level."

"You... bastard..."

"But then again, surviving these kinds of tricks isn't really something to be proud of... I agree, don't I?"

Click.

The white-haired, red-eyed monster slightly twisted its neck.

But it made it emit a chilling sound.

At this moment, Pest finally understood.

We can no longer use any common sense to judge this human being.

"How could I... lose to... such a mere outer gate place...!"

As a demon lord, Pest faces a situation akin to fate and destiny.

The evil side is defeated by the righteous people, the hero will surely defeat the dragon, and the demon king, who represents chaos... will never be able to live permanently in the miniature garden.

This was a lesson that Weser and Rattin had told themselves not long ago, when they had previously served others.

As long as one is a demon king, one will inevitably be defeated in this miniature garden and face the fate of disappearing, because that is the so-called fate of a demon king.

…only.

The fate that entangles Pest is not that simple.

She knew very well why she had become the Demon King and what her reasons were for taking this action.

The Demon King gripped the muddy ground tightly, his expression obscured, and he seemed to be sobbing softly.

Compared to the Demon King who is impervious to heaven and earth.

The current Pest... is more like a pitiful, defenseless young girl.

—But Accelerator wouldn't care even a little bit about that kind of thing.

"Whatever your reasons are for taking action, that's your own problem."

He slowly approached Pest, ignoring the expression on her face.

With a slight raise of his hand, the weapon named Apollo transformed into the shape of a pistol, aiming at the top of the girl's head.

Now, with the support of this vector, even a single strike like this would be enough to kill the demon king before us.

"I have no interest in understanding the safety of people all over the world. Whatever your motives, reasons, or causes, it has nothing to do with me."

Click—the trigger was pulled.

"All I want to do is beat you to a pulp right here and now."

People around the world will have their own reasons for acting because of all kinds of tragedies, which, in a sense, is the root cause of the birth of all kinds of evil people.

That kind of thing is an unchangeable fact, no matter where you are in the world.

Just like the unshakeable fact that no matter where he stands, he is always number one in Academy City.

boom--! !

Then, the radiance carrying immense power transformed into a warhead.

It shot out mercilessly towards the top of the demon girl's head.

"..."

The first person lowered their arm and looked straight ahead without wavering.

That attack failed to kill Pest.

"oops."

The reason is actually very simple.

"That's quite unexpected, but—"

Because one person blocked the attack.

It was a figure dressed in a black robe, slightly smaller than him.

Through the robes, one could only see a slight smile on the other person's face.

"This child's usefulness cannot be completely eliminated yet."

Bang——! !

The man in black robes raised his arm and slammed it down onto the ground.

The earth was instantly torn open with countless cracks.

"..."

Naturally, one side cannot allow the other side to continue its actions.

So he pulled the trigger again.

Countless dark red streaks of light transformed into highly destructive energy projectiles, sweeping towards the opponent.

But the man in black robes didn't even look directly at the attacks.

Despite being hit by energy blasts, he seemed to be completely unharmed.

No, this doesn't mean the defense is strong.

Rather, it refers to the other person's entire body—as if there were an invisible layer that deflected all the light bullets.

In that instant, Accelerator seemed to see a very familiar scene.

"It's a reflection...?"

"That's right! But to compare it to the kind of reflex you just displayed is a bit of a lack of self-awareness."

At that moment, another figure appeared beside the man in black robes. This figure was also dressed in black robes, but was slightly petite.

"Then I'll leave it to you for now, Rin. Let's get ready to leave."

"Oh dear, Your Highness has wasted so much time. I already told you not to fight with them without permission."

"There's no way around it. After all, such an interesting ability is too intriguing to ignore. It would be too much of a suspense to keep people in suspense, wouldn't it?"

Boom! The spatial ripples spread out instantly.

Like a gust of wind blowing towards the first person's body, Accelerator saw that the bodies of the black-robed man and Pest both began to become blurry.

"Our operation this time is just to retrieve this child; we have no intention of becoming your enemy for the time being."

It is a spatial transfer.

The two men in black robes seemed certain that they would be able to leave, and they spoke to One-Way Street with a smile.

"This will definitely not be our last meeting. I look forward to the next time, when we'll have a real showdown."

"A newcomer to 'NoName'."

With such elusive and unpredictable movements, almost no one can decipher this phenomenon.

The man in black robes, with a smile on his face, disappeared into the space along with Pest's body.

And their next appearance.

I'm afraid that a fierce battle with the person in front of me is now completely unavoidable.

——Crack.

Click, click click click click click—

"--Varied?!"

"Eh, eh?! ...