Milin’s fist couldn’t strike down any further.
This wasn’t because she showed mercy, but because Luc had grabbed her fist, making it impossible to move an inch forward.
“…!”
Fuming, Milin swung her other fist. The heat from the surging flames nearly distorted the air… but Luc blocked it again.
Not just her fist, but her flames too.
“You’re right. I do hate you, I detest you, and I’m jealous of you.”
The armguards on both her arms were still intact. Those armguards, along with her palms, were being scorched by the flames.
Milin could even smell the charred scent of her skin being burned by the high temperature.
“Because you’re different from me. You can lean on your gentle mother’s shoulder and soak in a warm bath while chatting and laughing with her.”
Milin felt her fist being slowly pushed back by Luc.
“And my mother pushed me among hungry hounds and made us slaughter each other. Only when the blood those dogs splashed on me had gone cold would she run over and hold me.”
Milin could no longer maintain her mounted suppression.
The power resisting her fist was growing stronger… If she didn’t move, she would be the one pushed down and suppressed by Luc.
“You had a Teacher who would stroke your head and tell you ‘Well done’ when you defeated an opponent in a duel. You trained in a well-equipped training ground where your personal safety was guaranteed — “
The scales of the struggle were reaching an equilibrium. Luc stood back up, her shattered armor slowly mending itself under the influence of magic power.
“And since I was seven years old, I had to fight the claws of wild beasts and the blades of bandits barehanded in the snowy plains under heavy snow. I had to get used to the searing pain of dry lightning from the zenith piercing my body… And that man who taught me to do so, who ordered me to do so, never gave me a single word of praise.”
In contrast to the brilliant flames burning on Milin, eerie purple electricity coiled around Luc’s armor. Her swelling magic power tilted the scales of this struggle toward a balance.
“You’re someone loved by the world. So when I saw you surrounded by those people, everyone laughing happily… I truly felt jealous. That’s why I approved of my companion’s bombing plan. And I hurt that young man just now because he showed closeness toward you.”
“Who cares about you… you damn bastard!”
Milin didn’t understand how someone who was just about to die could suddenly explode with such great power. She roared, trying to push Luc back, but at this moment, their strength was evenly matched.
“I once thought this was my hatred for the Human race. But your words woke me up… Whether it’s disgust, jealousy, or hatred, they’re all my emotions — emotions directed only at you. Because of these emotions, I agreed to my companion’s plan that would harm innocents. Because of these emotions, I injured the young man who was close to you.”
“I believed I had to kill you. I heard many voices telling me to kill you… even now. But neither this voice nor these emotions are the reason I must kill you.”
The magic power of the two girls clashed and surged against each other as lightning and fire interlaced.
“It has nothing to do with the father I’ve never seen, nor the war I never participated in. It doesn’t even have to do with what race I am… or what my identity is. I’m going to kill you… simply because Lady Mother asked me to. If it makes her feel happy, feel blessed… then I will do anything.”
“That’s great… because I feel the same way! If it’s for Lady Mother… I’ll kill as many of you pest-like Demon Race as it takes!”
The flames burning around Milin turned a dark red. She kicked out in a rage, and Luc’s body was sent flying, crashing into the martial arts arena.
The stone martial arts arena shattered like broken glass.
The power of this kick was far superior to the previous roundhouse kick that had sent Luc flying out of the ring.
Luc’s entire suit of armor shattered completely under this blow… Flames scorched her clothes and flesh, but she still stood up from the mess.
Because Milin was pursuing her again. The temperature of the dark-red flames continued to rise, reaching a point where even her own mana barrier couldn’t withstand them, starting to ignite her clothes and hair.
Facing approaching death, Luc strengthened her body with lightning.
Her movements became faster — fast enough to grab Milin’s head as she rushed over, using that momentum to pin her to the ground.
Gravel and dirt exploded and flew — the impact of Milin hitting the ground completely shattered the already cracked martial arts arena.
When the back of her head hit the ground, she felt a moment of trance.
However, that trance was quickly dispelled by her frantically surging magic power.
She jumped up and threw a punch at Luc’s face. The punch slammed into Luc’s mana barrier, creating cracks.
Although the mana barrier didn’t shatter, Luc’s face was still distorted by the shock.
She turned back her neck, which had almost been twisted, and returned a punch to Milin’s chin.
“Ugh…!”
Her punch also hit the mana barrier, and it also cracked Milin’s barrier.
Milin felt like her teeth were about to be knocked out by this punch… so she grit her teeth and attacked Luc again.
“Only you… must die!”
This was the only thought in both their minds at the moment. And they both shouted it out in unison.
The magic power that should have been exhausted long ago was squeezed out over and over, becoming more and more vigorous and powerful.
What put an end to this situation where both emotion and power were fully released was their final clash with all their might.
The girls’ fists, one carrying fire and the other carrying lightning, collided.
A massive shockwave was released, sending both their bodies flying.
“Congratulations, brave girl. You won.”
The blown-away Milin hit the spectator stands, smashing them to pieces… She coughed up a mouthful of hot blood.
She looked around the nearby debris in horror, but the bloody, severed limbs of the audience she expected didn’t appear.
Because the spectator stand she hit had been empty for some time.
Feeling relieved, she struggled to crawl up from the fragments and continued to look at the girl lying in the ruins of the martial arts arena.
She waited for a long time, but the other party didn’t stand up again. Instead, the Shadow Demon Lord descended slowly from the dome covering the field.
“So interesting… Even an awakened Princess Luc couldn’t defeat you. You really haven’t changed at all… my beautiful girl.”
He stood beside the unconscious Luc, praising Milin loudly and clapping hard… Even though his face was still a void of darkness, Milin could tell he was ecstatic.
“Shut up. Release Lady Mother and everyone right now… or do you want to die too?”
“Don’t be in such a hurry. You will fight me one day, but not now.” Faced with Milin’s threat, the Shadow Demon Lord didn’t care at all.
“I said it before — we of the Demon Race always keep our word. Since you won, I will naturally follow my promise.”
He clapped his hands, and the shadows that had melted together gathered toward him rapidly.
His presence continued to climb as the shadows returned… Milin felt as if she were no longer standing before a living creature, but a vast deep sea made of magic power.
‘But what of it? Whatever stops me, even if it’s a vast sea, I’ll evaporate it all the same.’
She clenched her fists, preparing to attack… but the Shadow Demon Lord’s next move made her stop.
“Huh… I can move? Protect the Princess and the Duke, quickly!”
The people in the venue regained their ability to move.
But only the well-trained officers and the soldiers under them hurriedly raised their guns, aiming at the Shadow Demon Lord and the Daughter of the Demon King lying beside him.
They didn’t act rashly… just as the ordinary civilians didn’t dare to move or speak after regaining their ability to move.
Because as the shadow covering the entire venue returned to the Shadow Demon Lord’s body, they felt an indescribable sense of pressure.
‘If we fire, we’ll die instantly.’
Their instincts as humans and living creatures were frantically warning them.
Aiming their weapons at the enemy and protecting the important figures and civilians present was all they could manage to do.
“There’s no mistake… That’s a Magus… I’ve… seen one before… a Magus…”
An old officer who had participated in the war was trembling all over.
He had resisted the Demon Army that invaded Yilansiya toward the end of the war.
Unlike the young soldiers who joined after the war, he was a veteran who had personally thrust a blade into the heart of the Demon Army… but at this moment, it was extremely difficult for him even to suppress his trembling and grip his gun.
Some young soldiers with poor magic power adaptability even began to kneel on the ground and vomit.
Simply harboring hostility toward the thing in front of them made them feel a bout of physiological rejection.
“Don’t be nervous, Humans. I won’t break my word.”
They heard the Magus’s playful laughter. In their eyes, the Magus slightly raised his arm, and a crack appeared above the martial arts arena.
As the rift opened, viscous shadows wrapped around a group of people and dropped them —
It was about seventy or eighty soldiers of the City Defense Force and the Sage’s Clones wearing City Defense Force uniforms.
Unlike the clones whose magic power had already been exhausted, these soldiers groggily stood up from the swamp-like shadows and were then shocked beyond measure by the presence of the Shadow Demon Lord, just like the others present.
“Y-you’re the guy who destroyed the Lord Sage’s clones! Surrender immediately!”
But their understanding of the situation was clearly different from the soldiers already here.
They searched for their weapons… only to find their scabbards and holsters empty.
“Oh, I forgot. I have to return these things to you too.”
The Shadow Demon Lord slapped his head as if he had remembered something.
He cut open another rift and poured out the captured weapons… sabers, muskets, and spears.
These weapons fell right in front of the released soldiers, but they didn’t dare pick them up.
Because they also discovered that the pressure released by this eerie Humanoid in front of them was countless times greater than before.
“Well then, most beautiful girl in the world… I have fulfilled my promise. May I take my leave now?”
He bowed deeply to Milin.
“…Leave that woman beside you.”
Milin knew she couldn’t stop him. Because everyone present added together couldn’t possibly be his opponent.
Because he was the strongest Demon… he could do whatever he wanted, and he did as he pleased.
But even so, she couldn’t let that hateful woman who hurt Brother Bert and the people of the territory walk away.
Even now, she still felt that strong desire for destruction and killing intent, wanting to tear her to pieces.
She would try… even if the Magus attacked her, she had to try to keep this woman here.
“That won’t do. If there’s no Demon King, what’s the point of a Hero?”
He shook his head at Milin and picked up the unconscious Luc. His body rapidly sank into the shadows —
“You aren’t going anywhere.”
“Oh?”
As that cold declaration rang through the venue, the hands of the Magus holding Luc were severed. The neat cross-sections were covered with slowly spreading frost.
He looked up and found that the shadow dome he had set up had been sliced open with two slits, and daylight poured in from there.
Above the cracked dome, two figures fell rapidly from the sky.
One blue and one red, the long swords in their hands blazed with flames and blossomed with ice, crossing each other —
“Vera, are you ready?”
“Of course. Just like in the past. By the way, didn’t you give this move a name?”
“…That’s too embarrassing; I don’t really want to shout it.”
So, the two of them descended together with a slash toward the Magus on the ground, splitting that incredibly deep shadow.
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