Declaration Of War 1

Rimuru, the kids, their new teacher and the Freedom Academy headmaster, were gathered outside the city walls. After shaking hands with the two adults, he turned to the kids; Alice and Ryota already had tears running down, while Kenta and Chloe looked like they were trying really hard to hold their's back; Gail managed to not look like either, but he still had a sad look. Before they could say anything, he gathered them all up in a group hug, not bothering to say anything.

After a few moments, they broke the hug, though Alice, Ryota and Chloe were still holding onto his coat

-'Y...you'll come and visit, right?' Chloe said through tears. He gently patted her head

-'Yeah, I promise.' he said, however, she didn't look ready to let go. On a whim, he fished through his pocket and took out the mask Shizu left him. Before he left, he decided to leave each of the kids with a gift: a magisteel sword for Kenya, cloths with enhanced defense for Ryota (his berserk power left him with low defense), a pair of gloves that would enhance bullet magic for Gale and a new (fireproof and electricity proof) stuffed toy for Alice. However, he was kinda panicked about what to get for Chloe and was still raking his brain at the moment, but then he got the idea...

-'I want you to have this, Chloe.' he said as he handed her the mask. He wasn't sure why, but he just had the feeling that she should have it, like it was just the natural thing.

-'Aww, not fair!' Alice quickly complained, looking at Chloe taking the mask with envy

-'Now, now, you guys got gifts too.' he said 'and I even got all of you your new uniforms, right?' Alice calmed down and nodded.

-'Okay then...' he said as he began taking a few steppes back 'Oh, and yes, I will visit sometimes. I'll definitely come to your graduation, okay?' he told them 'So be nice to Miss Tiss, okay. If you do, I'll definitely invite you to my place sometimes, yeah?' hearing that, they all looked over at him hopefully.

He offered them one last smile before turning to walk down the road.

A few minutes of walking, he was far away from the city to teleport back home in safety. He stopped by a large tree on the road and offered one last look back to the city, then activated the spell. However, nothing happened. He tried again...

Warning: wide area magical barrier interfering with spatial transfer spell; connecting to points outside the barrier is no longer possible Great Sage suddenly warned 'What? Barrier?' Rimuru suddenly thought in panic. Looking around, he could now feel the magicules in the air getting scarcer, as if water was draining from a sink 'Is this the barrier's doing?'. Suddenly, he could feel a presence nearby

-'Sir Rimuru...' it was Soei, looking a bit worse for wear

-'Soei! What happened to you?' he asked as he rushed to his side

-'This is merely a double; my real body is safe, so please do not be concerned with me.' the ogre calmly said 'Please, you must be careful. Tempest...has been attacked...and there is a powerful enemy nearb...' before he could finish, however, the double vanished. Rimuru looked on at the place the double stood, shocked; his mind was running as fast as it could, trying to make sense of the warning 'Tempest was attacked? Why? Who would...'

'Some people might notice you...' the words of a certain dragonoid suddenly came to mind. 'Ah, dammit...' he though 'Now isn't the time. I need to focus and...' as he was thinking that, however, he could feel another presence approaching. It wasn't yet in visual range, and the magic barrier prevented him from getting a good read of the direction, so he stood his ground and waited. Then

-'Greetings.' a feminine voice rang from behind. He turned around 'Though we will part ways quickly...'

Standing there was a woman with short, black hair wearing a Paladin armor and uniform, with cold eyes staring at him. 'Wait, I recognize her...that other student from Shiuz's vision...' thinking quickly, he said

-'Ah, I'm sorry but you must be mistaken me for someone else. I'm Rimuru, an adventurer and...' however, he was stopped by her drawing a sword

-'I know exactly who you are, Chancellor of Monsters, Rimuru Tempest.' she said coldly 'And I am here to eliminate you. You're nation is a nuisance, so we decided to eliminate it. And so...' she said as she took a battle stance 'you must die too before you can return there.' '

-'Well, nice to meet you too, Hinata Sakaguchi, Captain of the Holy Church Crusaders.' he decided to say

-'You are rather well informed for a monster...' she retorted

-'Well, what makes you say I'm a monster?' 'I need to buy time. Ranga?' he tried to contact the Tempest Wolf, but came out empty

Warning: because of the magic barrier, individual Ranga cannot use shadow movement; furthermore, thought communication is blocked Great Sage informed 'Shit...'

-'I know because we have an informant.' Hinata replied

'Informant? I've been in my human form, masked; only a few people knew of my true self. So who...'

-'Well, enough talk. Shall we get started?' Hinata coldly said

-'Wait!' Rimuru shouted 'I know Shizu and...'

-'I know.' she replied 'I know you killed her. I am also here for that personal reason. I am going to avenge her.' she stated as she prepared to lash forward

-'Wait, listen to me!' but it was too late. The Crusader launched at him with great speed, thrusting the sword straight at his neck. He barley managed to dodge the blow

'Crap, why do I feel so heavy?' he though as he rolled out of another swing, preparing to draw his own sword

-'Well dodged...' she said as she followed him movements 'Inside this anti-magic barrier, you monsters are greatly weakened, but you are still quite capable it seems.' and lunged for another swing. This time, however, it grazed his forelimb as he moved to block

-'So this barrier is your doing after all?' he asked as they exchanged a few more blows

-'Indeed.' Hinata responded with another flurry of strikes 'The Western Holy Church' most valued anti-magic barrier; inside it, all magicules are purified, and monsters are greatly weakened.' another blow got through his defenses, gauging a wound on his shoulder. He jumped as hard as he could to gain some distance 'Weaker monsters simply wither and die, but you're quite powerful.' she said as she watched him trying to catch his breath 'your friend suffered grave injuries trying to stop my subordinates from erecting the field. Good thing for him it was just a double.' she stated

-'It angers me to see a friend wounded.' he told her with a wicked glare of his own 'What would Shizu say to all of this?'

-'The woman you killed and stole your appearance from?' she replied, voice dripping with anger. Before he knew it, she was again upon him with a wicked series of strikes, one of which wounded him across the chest. As he tried to escape, he suddenly felt a faint pain through his being 'What is this?' he wondered

Warning: direct damage to spiritual body detected. Great Sage suddenly said. He wondered a bit what that meant. A realization hit him as he looked at her sword

-'Ah, it seems you noticed.' Hinata said, sounding more calm but with eyes still full of anger 'My sword is a specialized weapon that can damage spiritual beings. Combined with my ultimate technique, your demise is certain in seven strikes...' and lunged at him again. This time, he spared no punches to avoid another blow, pushing all of his energy into moving and paring several of her swings, but even so another three got through. The sensation of pain shot through his body even more intensely.

-Hm, one more blow and you're done.' she said as she watched him stumble in pain. 'But credit where credit is due: you are powerful. I can see how Shizu lost to you...'

-'I'm...telling you, that's not it.' he said through gritted teeth 'but I guess you really don't care, huh?' 'I am not dying here, dammit!' he though as he summoned a large fire ball. While she easily avoided it, it was a ruse to buy time for something else. He summoned Ifrit, Shizu's former fire spirit, who was now under his command. He immediately split into several doubles and went in to attack, sending several walls of flame at her

-'Ifrit, huh?' Hinata replied, sounding unimpressed as she easily deflected the flame. Rimuru grumbled as he planed out his next movement; suddenly, Ifrit began to moan as if in pain 'Huh? What is...'

Great Sage helpfully informed him Warning: Ifrit was under the effect of 'Forced Takeover'

He looked at Hinata in realization 'Were you trying to steal Ifrit from me?'

-'Heh, correct.' she replied with a cold smile 'With the unique skill 'Usurper'.

'Usurper? I wonder what that dose?' he thought 'Doesn't matter now. I need to do something drastic. One more hit and it's over. Then that should do it...'

-'Alright then...no more games. I'm going to go all out!' he told her and began gathering a large amount of power for a last effort

-'Hm? One more hit and you're done, so why struggle?' she asked. He smiled at her

-'Because...I have people I want to see again. Someone... I want to see smiling again.' he told her as he finalized his last attack 'And you won't get in the way of that!' he shouted and dashed at her with extreme speed.

-'We'll send them after you, so don't worry!' she replied as she prepared a final strike 'Die, monster! Dead End Rainbow!'

-'Wake up, Gluttony!' he shouted. The air around him exploded with energy; even as Hinata's sword pierced him, the force was enough to crater the ground. A black mist expelled from him and took over her sword, forcing her to let it go and jump back. She watched as the black mist morphed into a mismatched monster with parts from the various creatures he had devoured. It snarled in a raw, primal roar.

-'Incredible...You took the seventh hit, yet you're not dead. No...' she said as she watched on as the monster lurched about 'you are dead. Your soul is gone.' the monster roared in her direction, prepared to destroy all in it's path 'How pitiful. Guess I should destroy you fully before you do any damage...' she calmly stated and spread her hands wide and shouted 'Spirit Summons!'

Five spirits materialized around her, then launched themselves to array around the monster

-'I offer this prayer unto God...' she began chanting 'Heed my request: I seek the power of the Spirits.' a large magical array formed beneath the monster, with the five spirits at it's edge 'Hear my desire and grant it to me! Creation, expend thyself!' the array extended itself into several more above the monster, ethereal chains forming between them. Then finally, she shouted 'Disintegration!'

A massive pillar of light formed in between the arrays, engulfing everything within. The monster roared in pain as it's entire being was ended in a flash, then nothing.

Hinata Sakaguchi looked on at the charred ground where her opponent once stood. Not wishing to remain, she began walking away 'I know you may not have wanted to be avenged...' she said to the soul of her former Sensei 'but, even so...goodbye.' and left. After a few more minutes, she was out of sight, and the barrier was gone.

'AAAAAAAAA!' Rimuru mentally shouted to himself as he felt the barrier lifted. From his hiding spot in the tall grass, some distance away from the tree Soei had appeared, his slime form wobbled as the stress was finally gone. 'Oh deer god or whatever, it's finally over...' he though, feeling like crying 'Talk about scary. Good thing I had this brilliant idea, but still, that was dangerous. If she suspected anything...'