On a warm afternoon, I was walking slowly through the garden, enjoying the moment of peace.
The roses in full bloom were giving off a gentle fragrance, as if whispering sweetly, and the butterflies were flying briskly between the petals, as if holding a small festival.
The silence around me briefly brought warmth to the depths of my heart.
My footsteps, walking with a slight limp, seemed to add a small rhythm to the garden.
But the peace did not last long.
Suddenly, a sharp aura that seemed to squeeze my heart enveloped the entire garden.
I stopped walking at the overwhelming and unpleasant presence that took my breath away.
I instinctively turned my head to where the woman in black armor was standing at the end of my gaze.
I intuitively recognized her presence.
The Demon King.
There was no way such an ominous being could not be the Demon King.
The figure of the Demon King standing tall in the middle of the garden was pitch-black darkness itself, as if it were absorbing all the surrounding light.
The presence felt beneath the armor engraved with delicate patterns gripped me with an inexplicable fear.
The sparkling red eyes were as cold as ice, and the moment those eyes aimed at me, my spine went cold.
An invisible murderous aura swirled around the Demon King.
I saw the rose bushes trembling slightly in the windless garden.
The Demon King’s lips slowly opened.
A low, resonant voice flowed out heavily, like the air that filled the garden.
“Oh, you were in a place like this.”
The voice was filled with composure and venom, as if it was mocking everything.
I flinched and unconsciously stepped back, but I realized that I couldn’t run away.
The Demon King looked at me slowly and sharply.
“You ran away from me and picked up…a half-elf with a dragon heart?”
His gaze fell on my neck.
I could feel the white leather leash catching my attention.
The Demon King reached out.
The moment his sharp, bloodshot nails tried to grab the leash, a crisp, shining white light burst out from the leash.
I closed my hand tightly in the sudden flash and opened it again, and saw the Demon King’s hand jerking violently just before it touched the leash.
A faint red line was drawn on the back of his hand.
An annoyed sound leaked out.
“…”
The Demon King looked down at his hand, made a displeased expression, and clenched his fist as if he wanted to break something at any moment.
His bright red eyes were now completely fixed on the leash, beyond me.
“It’s quite an annoying toy.”
The rose bushes in the garden looked even redder, as if they were bleeding, and the air around them became even tighter.
The Demon King finally withdrew his hand, but there was still an unresolved tension between us.
Even breathing I stared at the Demon King without being able to exhale.
The Demon King turned his gaze to me again, but his eyes were different from before.
It was a strange expression mixed with hostility and interest.
The rose moved.
The brief moment of peace was completely shattered, and the garden was filled with a sense of urgency.
I was startled by the intense movement of the rose vines surrounding me, and almost suffocated,
but when the familiar scent of Flora’s roses brushed my nose, a sense of relief bloomed deep in my heart.
The fact that she was by my side was like the only thing that held me back in any fear.
Flora pulled me back tightly and faced the Demon King.
Her red hair swung violently with the magic power boiling with anger, and her eyes were completely different from her usual loving appearance.
A cold and sharp anger flowed from Flora’s entire body, and it was so intense that even I, who was hiding behind, was overwhelmed.
“You dare to touch Peridot-sama.”
“Handani…”
The voice I heard was so different from the usual soft tone.
It was cold and low, like a sharp blade, and I could clearly feel the anger and obsession.
The rose vines that stretched out around Flora squirmed as if they were responding to that anger.
The vines moved sharper and stronger as if they were alive and breathing, and the vines that wrapped around me tightened more tightly as if they were protecting me.
It was as if I could feel the will not to be taken away.
The Demon King made a subtle mocking expression.
The corners of his mouth went up slightly, and his red eyes were filled with a cold and murderous aura.
The Demon King seemed to be watching Flora’s hostile attitude with interest.
“It’s a little funny that you call someone that and try to protect them.”
The Demon King’s voice was relaxed, but Flora’s anger threatened to engulf everything.
Flora didn’t say anything.
Red magic burst out from her fingertips, and the rose vines that filled the garden moved even more violently and threateningly.
The thorny vines stretched out like sharp claws and rushed toward the Demon King.
Each one of them was so fierce that it seemed like it could tear apart even his armor.
As if he had been waiting, the Demon King pulled out a black blade from his waist.
The eerie red energy that spread from the blade weighed down even the air.
The Demon King calmly swung his sword without moving a single step, and the eerie sound of the rose vines being cut by the blade shook the garden.
With a sharp metallic sound, pieces of the rose vines flew in all directions.
Flora’s eyes burned even more intensely, and the red magic scattered around swirled and grew bigger.
The rose vines grew again even when they were cut, continuously rushing toward the Demon King.
Every time the Demon King swung his sword, vine fragments flew into the air, but Flora’s attacks continued without end.
I could only watch this fierce confrontation between the two, hiding behind her and feeling the torrent of power pressing down on my whole body.
The air in the garden became chilly and the red of the roses seemed to deepen.
It felt as if the garden was breathing according to their emotions and will.
“Even you, do you think you could win against a prepared wizard?”
Flora spoke coldly and quietly,
“Funny, you seem to have forgotten your place when I took away something that you didn’t even know you had.”
The Demon King laughed and answered.
The air surrounding the rose garden seemed frozen, and the battle between Flora and the Demon King grew more and more intense in the suffocating tension.
As Flora raised her hand toward the sky as if signaling, the thorns of the red rose vines growing in the garden grew all at once and rushed toward the Demon King.
It was as if thousands of archers were shooting arrows.
The Demon King tried to block with his sword, but it seemed that he was not able to block them all, and the thorns struck his armor, making a metallic sound.
Flora did not miss the gap, but raised one hand and recited a spell.
A red magic circle rose into the air as her red hair fluttered in the wind.
You could tell that the magic power contained in the magic circle was unimaginable.
It felt as if dozens of skilled magicians were pouring out their magic power at the same time.
The Demon King kept his mouth shut, gripped the pitch-black sword with both hands, and He pulled it up.
The blade turned black and the space around the sword seemed distorted as if a haze was blooming.
The moment the magical power reached its limit, a huge flash of light appeared from the magic circle and a beam of light that seemed to burn everything poured down.
It was an attack with such strong power that the ground shook just by being triggered.
At the same time, the Demon King’s sword was swung.
A loud noise rang out as the flash and the sword collided, and the shockwave shook the surrounding rose bushes and caused petals to fly up.
“Useless.”
The Demon King tried to look relaxed, but the sword in his hand was trembling slightly.
“Are you starting to feel uneasy?”
Flora recited another spell.
A new rose vine grew out from under her feet, cutting through the ground and aiming for the Demon King’s ankle.
The Demon King tried to cut the vines by slashing his sword down, but this time Flora moved faster.
When she snapped her fingers, the vines moved flexibly like snakes.
The vines avoided the Demon King’s sword and aimed for the gap in the armor.
The sharp thorns dug into the gap in the armor and scratched the Demon King’s arm, and red drops of blood flowed down.
“How dare you…!”
The Demon King’s red eyes burned like flames.
She grabbed the vines with her fist and tore them, exploding a powerful energy around her.
Flora’s vines shattered in the air and scattered in all directions.
Flora held out both hands and cast another spell.
A trembling magical power swirled around her, forming a whip made of sharp thorns.
She swung the whip and charged at the Demon King.
“Are you underestimating me by closing the distance?”
The Demon King dodged the whip and swung his pitch-black sword.
With each attack between the two, the garden was destroyed even more brutally.
Rose petals scattered like the scent of blood, and the air was filled with red and black energy due to the remnants of magic and collision.
Silence continued.
A drop of blood slowly fell from the tip of the Demon King’s sword and soaked into the ground.
The armor was shattered and the wounds left all over his body were proof of the fierce battle between the two.
Flora’s condition seemed to have already passed its limit.
A painful gasp escaped between her lips, and the blood flowing from her wound stained her dress.
In the end, Flora knelt down on the floor and could no longer stand up.
“Is it a curse of irreversibility? Yes… That’s quite a feat.”
The Demon King looked at her and wiped the blood from her cheek with his finger,
and slowly licked it with his tongue.
He licked it and made an expression of interest.
“I came to punish the traitor, but… I changed my mind.”
The smile on the Demon King’s lips was on the border between admiration and mockery.