Harem System In A fantasy World - Chapter 384: Aftermath

The aftermath of the war unfolded almost exactly as one would expect.

After putting an anticlimactic end to the infamous Demon Lord, Zenith did not go out of her way to commit mass genocide against the rest of her kind. There was certainly no love lost between them, but she did not feel any need to personally annihilate every surviving demon simply because most of them were murderous bastards.

That was simply their nature.

Of course, that did not mean she would advocate for humanity to show them mercy either.

When Fenrir and Noctis finally came zooming across the horizon, intending to help just as Melroy had planned, they were immediately met with a series of shocking revelations.

It seemed they had lagged quite far behind Melroy despite the human king already being mortally wounded. They had been forced to remain at the battlefield for a little longer to deal with the colossal summon Asmodeus had left behind to occupy them.

The first thing Elion told them was that Melroy had died shortly after arriving.

The pair wore grave, listless expressions, but neither of them looked surprised. Melroy had stubbornly insisted on going ahead even though he was already at death’s door. He was faster than the others, and with Asmodeus having slipped away from the battlefield, he had likely felt responsible for whatever might happen to Elion if the Demon Lord reached him first.

If some mishap ended up costing Elion his life, Melroy would have blamed himself.

And so, he had ignored their pleas to remain behind and receive urgent treatment, burning through what little remained of his power to reach Elion as quickly as possible; he knew he was already beyond saving, and they did too, though they tried to pretend otherwise.

Perhaps they should have been more shocked that he stayed alive for that long.

After swallowing the bitter reality of their friend’s death, the second thing that shocked Fenrir and Noctis was Zenith’s existence.

She made no attempt to conceal her identity as the Demon Lord’s daughter. Elion, in turn, spared no effort explaining that she was an ally. Not only had she defeated and killed Asmodeus on her own, but she was also the one who had anonymously been feeding the coalition information for so long.

To say they were shocked would have been an understatement. However, they forced themselves to remain calm.

Then came the most uncomfortable question.

What did Zenith intend to do now?

Her decision to help the coalition did not necessarily mean she would stand aside and allow them to slaughter what remained of her own kind.

However, her answer surprised them greatly.

“Do what you want.”

That was all she said before waving them off dismissively.

Did she care about demons at all?

Was she really not going to retaliate or anything like that!?

Despite the drastic transformation that had left her looking almost human, with the exception of her unchanged blue skin, she was still a demon. Yet Fenrir and Noctis could tell that she genuinely did not care what became of the survivors.

More importantly, they could feel the overwhelming pressure radiating from her.

She could kill all of them if she wished.

After all, she had defeated Asmodeus, the same Demon Lord who had given them so much trouble in a four-versus-one battle even before summoning the colossal titan that forced them to remain behind.

When Elion finally went to see the creature Asmodeus had left for the coalition Saints to deal with out of curiosity, he was momentarily at a loss for words.

The thing was monstrous!

Even while lying motionless on the ground, the creature looked large enough to reach the skies if it ever stood upright. It was a towering humanoid titan with skin made from thick, uneven layers of stone, its broken body stretching across the battlefield like a fallen mountain.

Elion stared at the enormous corpse.

“How did you even kill this thing?”

Fenrir seemed to read the question from his expression before answering.

“Golems usually have cores that power them and allow them to move autonomously,” she explained. “We only had to find the core and destroy it.”

Elion looked at the titan again.

“That sounds easier said than done.”

“It was,” Fenrir replied dryly. “The bastard had a rather thick layer of stone protecting it, not to mention the catastrophic spells it kept throwing at us.”

The mention of a core seemed to spark something in Noctis’ mind. His eyes lit up slightly, and he muttered something about speaking with Taegen and Ursas later, though Elion had no idea what he was planning.

Then Elion finally laid eyes upon the floating island the Saints had been using as both transportation and a mobile command centre.

His eyes widened.

Why did this place look so familiar? At first, he could not place it. Then the answer struck him all at once.

A massive flying island that stretches for miles on each end?

’Wait…’

The academy!?

It could not be that this was the same island that would one day become Grimholt City, with the academy built atop it, right?

There was a good chance that he was correct, but he kept the thought to himself.

Fenrir invited Elion to travel with them inside the island’s extravagant lounge. Zenith received the same invitation, but she politely declined. She could tell that the Saints, along with the singular Peak Sage Mage they called Xavier, were still tense around her.

That was understandable. Ally or not, she was still a demon, a rather powerful one too.

So she excused herself and disappeared somewhere else, though not before teasingly telling Elion that she would see him soon so they could speak privately.

Elion simply nodded.

He had little doubt that the next time the two of them found themselves alone, there would not be much talking involved.

Unbeknownst to Elion and the others, Zenith did not go very far. Instead, she floated among the clouds a short distance from the island as it began making its way back toward the Great Forest.

At the same time, the coalition army slowly marched into demon territory to seize the land and annihilate what remained of the demon forces.

The generals and commanders would take care of the rest.

There were plenty of Grand and Sage Mages among them, and with the domain created by the Philosopher’s Stone finally gone, so too was the demons’ territorial advantage. They were rapidly being hunted down and whittled away.

During the journey back, Elion took Melroy’s body out of his storage in front of the surviving Saints.

They stared down at him gravely. It was no surprise to them that Melroy had died with a smile on his face. He looked peaceful.

“We should prepare his body properly before returning to Haven and announcing his death,” Noctis said solemnly. “He deserves a dignified burial.”

No doubt, many of the human nobles would cause a commotion once they learned that their Saint was the only monarch who had died in the final battle. But what could any of them do about it?

Xavier had been there.

He had fought alongside the others.

In fact, they were all still recovering from their wounds. Even with the immense vitality of Saint-class Mages, injuries inflicted by other Saints were always troublesome to deal with.

Xavier would serve as a witness that no foul play had taken place to weaken the human kingdom after the war ended.