all alive. I'm gonna save the world. And that's why..." Then the boy who had died meaninglessly in another world made his grand declaration. "...just for now, I'm king. So obey me." There was no reply. Some people stared at him in surprise, some people trembled in fear, and some people calmly stared at his blades. While their expressions were varied, their faces all bore the shade of a common mutual understanding. Kaito could no doubt tell what they were thinking: The moment we oppose him, the blades will end us; if we give the wrong answer, he'll split open our noses, pierce our brains, and dump our gray matter on the floor; I can tell from the quiet passion and determination in that insurrectionist boy's face that he'll do it. Everyone present was highly capable, and together, they formed the nucleus of society. It made perfect sense that none of them would be stupid enough to mistake his proclamation for a joke. Kaito himself also realized, in a detached sense, that "he would do it." Once you kill someone, they can't come back. Getting a second chance like I did is an anomaly. But right now, I have to make sure they comply. I'm from another world, so I'm probably the only person who can act without being weighed down worrying about who will have what rights. Or who will have to make which concessions after we deal with the current situation... Right now, the world was like a sinking ship. But the grudges the various races held against one another were too deep for any one of them to be able to take the helm. To prevent them from being totally annihilated, an outsider needed to steer the ship to shore. And in order to do that, some people might need to be cast overboard. Kaito recognized that much, and he'd made his peace with it. Right now, killing a hundred to save a thousand, or perhaps killing a thousand to save ten times that, was the only option. It was a stupid, arrogant choice to make. And it resembled the method she had once used. "What would you do in this situation, Elisabeth?" Kaito posed his question in a quiet, subdued voice. He received no reply. But that was to be expected. At the moment, the ebony Torture Princess was bound to the Diablo pillar. Kaito let out a masochistic laugh. However, a loud thumping noise rang out and interrupted his moment of sentimentality. Without turning around, Kaito snapped his fingers. Someone else had leaped atop the round table, and the blades went flying toward them. The sound of the weapons whizzing through the air was followed by the sharp ringing of swords meeting. From the corner of his vision, Kaito could make out sparks flying from where metal had clashed with metal. Each of his blades had been sent flying off in a different direction entirely. One of them had gone spinning toward a high priest from the Church, who screamed. Right before tragedy could occur, however, Kaito transformed the blade back into azure petals. The woman who'd repelled Kaito's attack had her vision obscured by the dancing flower petals, but she paid that no heed and charged instead. As she rushed toward him, Kaito got a better look at her and narrowed his eyes. Her red hair looked like waves of billowing flame as it fluttered through the air. "Yeah, I figured you'd attack," Kaito murmured. The rebellious foe who'd jumped onto the table was a fox beastwoman clad in dignified, masculine clothing: the first imperial princess. Over the course of the meeting, she had not only shamelessly attacked the Church for their actions but had even declared war against all humanity. She thrust her sword forward as she ran, then released a superb strike. For a moment, Kaito could vividly imagine the edge of her blade being driven into his chest. Once again, the ringing sound of swords meeting echoed throughout the room. "Yeesh, that was close. You've got a hell of a sword arm." Using Nameless, the jet-black long sword in his right hand, Kaito had blocked the first imperial princess's blow. As he did, he snapped the fingers on his left hand and summoned blades all around her position. In response, the first imperial princess sprang off the table, spinning diagonally through the air with characteristic beastfolk flexibility. After narrowly weaving her way through the slashes, she landed unharmed, then twirled to swat away the blades that had pursued her. An instrumental noise rang out, and azure flower petals cascaded down. Amid the storm of blossoms, the first imperial princess spoke in a curt tone. "Ha, what a joke. You can drop the forced compliments, human. You haven't called in a single one of your subordinates, and you're blatantly pulling your punches. Do you really think me so simple a vixen as to rejoice at your hollow words?" She thrust forward again. Kaito tilted his head back on instinct alone, losing a chunk of his faded-brown hair for his troubles. "How dare you cut Master Kaito's precious hair!" Hina, Kaito's automaton bride, dashed across the table, halberd in hand. However, Kaito called her off with a glance. Hina somehow managed to stop herself, although she cracked the table's surface in the process. "Good heavens, what a restless bunch they are. I must say, though, cracking the table with one's feet alone is quite impressive." "I agree that for a mere human, the boy never seems to know when to shut up. None of them respect the value of silence." Off to the side, Vlad and the Kaiser continued observing, as though they were mere spectators at a show. That was precisely why Kaito had frowned when he'd heard the first imperial princess's rebuke. "I mean...see for yourself. Even if I told them to help, only one of them ever actually does what I say." "Be that as it may. If you were fighting for real, my head would've been parted from my body long ago." "You're giving me a lot of credit, aren't you? You could just put away the sword, then." "Hmph. I fail to understand your intentions, but you don't look eager to bare your fangs any time soon. So I thought I'd kill you while you rested on your laurelsâ€”that's the plan anyway. What do you make of it?" "Seems like a pretty reasonable strategy." "Wearing away at my patience appears to be a hobby of yours. Now I'm determined to kill you." "Okay, in all honesty, I feel like you could tone down the aggression a little." "I don't want to hear that from someone who came in and seized control by force! What a thoroughly infuriating human you are!" The first imperial princess laughed as she swung her sword again. Over the course of their conversation, the two of them had exchanged several blows. Everyone else present still had blades pressed against their noses, and they were all watching the exchange, flabbergasted. It was a completely understandable reaction, and Kaito nodded. As he did, he deployed a set of blades in a fan formation, then shot them at the first imperial princess. She slashed each and every one of them away. As azure flower petals rained down on them, the two of them continued pacing atop the round table. They looked almost like a pair of dancers, caught up in the mood of a festival. Right now, this princess is probably the only one who'd go against me head-on, huh. Kaito's thoughts raced as he and his foe restlessly circled each other and traded places. He began working through his shock, all the while intentionally angling himself so that it would be difficult for the other beastfolk to aid the first imperial princess once they'd come to their senses. He hadn't expected anyone to respond to him with anything except rejection or surrender. And the fact that they'd been able to have a conversation midbattle made the situation all the stranger. After gauging the onlookers' reactions, though, Kaito realized his current exchange was critical. Based on their expressions now and what they said a minute ago, my guess is that the second imperial princess of the beastfolk, Vyade Ula Forstlast, and the representative from the Church's saints, La Christoph, think of me as a way to avoid interracial conflict and are leaning toward obeying my decree... As for the demi-humans, they're fence-sitting like always. The young human king no longer seemed to possess the willpower to resist much of anything. Thanks to the Church's meddling, the aristocrats who would normally serve as his advisers had been excluded from the meeting. That meant if Kaito pressed him, he'd undoubtedly cave. All he had to do was convince the first imperial princess, and the situation would rapidly tilt in his favor. Bearing that in mind, Kaito spoke again. "Tell me, do you honestly believe you'll be able to go up against humanity and wipe out all of Diablo's underlings at the same time? No, never mind, you definitely do. And you're strong enough to be able to say it confidently, too." "Self-absorbed, aren't we? Small wonder your subordinates have such little trust in you." "All right, let me give you a warning, then. You're looking at this way too optimistically." Clang. Nameless and the first imperial princess's blade met each other again a hair away from Kaito's right cheek. After retreating a step, Kaito snapped his fingers and sent a blade flying toward her wrist. She drew a knife from behind her back with her free hand and batted it away. Kaito nodded. He'd expected her to block it. "The curtain has only just risen on the end-time. The underlings won't stopâ€”they'll just keep coming and coming, with more of them spawning each wave. In order to prevent the apocalypse, you'll need to defeat them all, then topple the God and Diablo pillars. If the three races mobilized as one, you still wouldn't have the manpower to pull it off." "...Go on." "Even with the demi-humans on your side, choosing to fight while turning your back on a hostile race is a terrible move. The risks outweigh the rewards. But you already know that, right? You certainly don't look stupid enough not to have realized that by now." "I understand full well how harsh an ordeal it will be. But now is our only chance. It has to be now." "What do you mean, 'It has to be now'?" After repelling another fierce blow from the first imperial princess, Kaito came to an abrupt stop. He had been pushed to the very edge of the round table. There was nowhere left behind him to stand. A bear beastman seized the opportunity to aim his bow at Kaito's back. But Kaito just sent a blade to silently sever its bowstring. The beastfolk stared, aghast, at his now-useless weapon. As Kaito traded places with the first imperial princess once more, the hem of his black outfit waved in the air as though nothing had happened. The two of them faced the center of the table as they resumed their dance. The first imperial princess murmured in a melodic voice: "Let's think about what will happen after we get through this crisis. Even now, the beastfolk and demi-humans combined can't compare with humanity's numbers. If we assume the underlings will attack all three races in kind, then after Diablo's threat has passed, when we take the respective damages into account, the gap in power between humanity and the rest of ours will likely only grow. Even though they were the ones who brought this calamity upon us in the first place. Territory, population, resources... If we ever want to overtake them, then it has to be now, while their saints are preoccupied with defeating the underlings and the mistrust toward the Church has caused them internal strife. If we pass up this