Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Three-Arms fell to the ground with his limbs spread out. Kyle kneeled down next to him, clearly in pain, too.

“Y-You okay, Kyle?!”

“Somewhat…” Kyle forced himself to answer Lieze’s worried question.

In fact, that one attack gave him the most damage in the entire fight, but he decided to keep quiet about that.

“W-Wonderful…Truly, what a fight that was.” Three-Arms once again praised them with a weak voice.

For any human being, this wound would have been fatal with no chance of recovery, but a monster like Three-Arms with his massive vitality was barely alive.

“However…you had no chance of planning this before the fight, so how did you succeed in this cooperation…Human woman, why did you aim for that exact moment?”

If Lieze had arrived even a few seconds earlier, Three-Arms would have caught on to her presence, and a few seconds later, Kyle would have been dead.

“Oh, that? That’s because I gave her the order.” Seran joined the group, his body tattered everywhere.

“What even is this? I borrowed this from Angela-sama as you said in your letter, but…Hearing your voice directly in my head was gross, and you suddenly told me to punch Kyle in the back.” Lieze looked at the magic item with [Telepathy] engraved into it in absolute disgust.

On the way back to the arena, Lieze spotted this letter that was left behind by Seran.

“Don’t say gross…” Seran seemed more hurt from that than his actual injuries.

“My main body is the sword, after all. I’ve been telling Kyle about this and that during the fight and got their plot moving along…Hee, hee…this victory was all thanks to me this time.”

Shildonia had appeared out of nowhere, just nodding to herself.

“I understand about them…But what about you two?”

Seran and Kyle didn’t utter a word during the fight. Three-Arms saw that with his own eyes.

“I mean, I can tell what Seran’s thinking.”

“Yeah. Guessing what Kyle’s brewing up is easy as pie, it’s almost grossing me out.”

The two looked at each other, only to show disgust on their faces.

“Basically, you’re both simpletons.”

Hearing Lieze’s translation, they both seemed even more annoyed.

“I knew from the get-go that I can’t beat you on my own…But if I’m not strong enough on my own, I just have to borrow everyone’s strength.”

There are things you can’t do all on your own, no matter how strong you may be.

“I’ve always fought alone. I thought that’d be enough…but I’m just venting out my frustration after having lost before.”

Three-Arms started laughing.

“I guess we’ve got a conclusion.” Luiza arrived from the audience, calling out to Kyle and his group. “What a fight that was…Although I have to say, your tactics weren’t the finest…He’d have all the right to call you cowards.”

“Well, hearing the word coward from the Demon Lord…”

Hearing that from her of all people did hurt Kyle a bit, but she was absolutely right, so he had no room to complain. Then again, it was Three-Arms who said they were free to use whatever strategy they wanted or come at him with as many people as they liked. Plus, Kyle could only do such a fight since he was with demons and nobody cared about him being a hero. If he were to repeat such a fight with a fellow human, he’d probably be banned from whatever place he fought in.

“No, this is the result of all of them fighting with all their might. In a battle like this, victory or defeat is everything, and I would be a fool to cry about it just because I lost.”

“So the old man here is the orthodox guy?”

As no one other than Three-Arms spoke for Kyle’s group, even Seran had the urge to show him some respect.

“If you’re okay with this, then I won’t meddle any further. And even Flame-Eye lost…although she’s still alive.” Luiza sighed, as she had seen the state Flame-Eye was in as Yuriga dragged her along. “My strongest generals have lost, huh…”

As part of the pro-war faction, they may have been difficult to deal with as subordinates, but she had confidence in their strength. And to see them both lose, it must be quite hard to cope.

“And to think I would witness the day you lose with my own eyes…” Luiza looked at Three-Arms on the ground, speaking as if she had witnessed the end of the world.

“Though…I feel great right now.” Three-Arms spoke with joy in his voice, like he didn’t even regret his loss.

“Fine, then…What now? Would you prefer doing it yourself, or should I do it?”

Kyle and the others didn’t understand just what she was referring to when Three-Arms slowly raised his body.

“If possible, I’d like you to be the one to end my long fighting.”

“Very well…I shall let you depart by using my father’s rite. Accept it and find peace.” Luiza grabbed Three-Arms’ spear and threw it at him.

He accepted this and used it as a hold when standing up.

“Thank you very much…Demon Lord-sama.”

“You guys should step back…” Luiza spoke with a terrifying tone that had a shiver run down Kyle’s back.

He felt like he had seen a completely new side of her, as Kyle’s group quickly moved away from the two.

“Wh-What’s going on?” Kyle asked Yuriga, who explained with a gloomy expression.

“Three-Arms, he…he made a vow. If he were to lose even once, it would spell his own death. And, Luiza-sama is going to kill him based on that vow.”

Defeat means death—that’s how Three-Arms operated.

“Then…I will conduct the ritual.” Together with these words, Three-Arms leaped at Luiza.

His speed and movement weren’t on the level of someone who was on death’s doorstep. However, Kyle knew that the last of Three-Arms’ strength was currently being burned up. And since he was using up all of his left-over life force, his attack seemed even stronger. At the same time, Luiza showed no particular posture or even caution, as she just swung her staff. Her movement looked like that of an amateur, and she didn’t seem too intent on even fighting in the first place. However, her strength and speed were enough to intercept Three-Arms’ attack. The proof of her strength was her unparalleled power and ability against anyone and anybody. And at the same time, there was one more thing that made her the current Demon Lord—

“But…she’s gonna lose at this rate.”

Since Seran had just fought him, he knew. Three-Arms was still stronger. After a brief exchange, it became clear that Luiza was being pushed back.

“I know that Three-Arms is stronger…So just shut up and watch.”

Even though her master was in danger, Yuriga was awfully calm. And at the same time, Three-Arms’ final swing finally touched Luiza’s neck. He finished his swing, sending Luiza’s head flying.

“Wha…?!” Kyle and his friends saw that happen and all swallowed their breaths in disbelief.

And yet, Yuriga showed no reaction whatsoever. Blood splattered through the air when Luiza’s head suddenly stopped.

“As expected, you’re the only one who could defeat me despite the state you’re in.” The head grinned, and then returned to its main body together with the blood it lost, almost like time had reverted back to a previous time.

At the same time, even the wound around her neck disappeared like it never happened. Luiza simply stood on her two feet as if she had just arrived.

“…That is Luiza-sama’s power of immortality.”

Yuriga explained with a casual tone in her voice, but after they had witnessed such a scary scene in front of them, Kyle and his friends were unable to even listen properly.

“I-Immortality…? So she can’t die?”

“That’s right, Luiza-sama cannot die. Cut off her head, turn her body into a thousand slices, even burn it to cinders…she cannot die no matter what.”

There were monsters that survived even their heads being cut off, such as a hydra, but this couldn’t be compared to the ability they were just shown. And this was also the strength that allowed Luiza to become the Demon Lord. If she doesn’t die no matter what is being done to her, then nobody can win against her. Even Three-Arms, who is the strongest in all of the demon race. No matter how much Three-Arms fought in his state, the winner had been decided from the very beginning.

“Hm, you’ve certainly become weaker…To think you’d only be able to take my head once.”

“Haha…my heart…it’s been mostly crushed, so…” Three-Arms coughed up a large amount of blood as he responded.

“I have no intention of making you suffer any longer. You’ve done well serving me. Go rest.”

“…Yes…Thank you very much…”

Luiza stabbed her staff into Three-Arms’ chest, crushing his heart completely. After his large body convulsed two to three more times, he slowly fell to the ground and stopped moving. This had been the final moment of the strongest demon who could fight on an equal level with human folk’s hero Randolph.

“Your misfortune…was that you couldn’t die even after three hundred years of fighting, was it not? Fighting was your sole reason to exist…or rather, being alive is what kept you from fighting to your heart’s content. You’ve been a living corpse for the past three hundred years…Forgive me.” Luiza looked up at the sky as she mourned Three-Arms’ death.

“…But, he seems satisfied.”

“Yeah. this old man was happy to go out this way.”

Kyle and Seran looked at Three-Arms’ corpse, which gave off a sense of relief.

“If you say so, then I can let him rest easy…as his master.” Luiza seemed happy that she could fulfill her duty.

His final opponents were Kyle and Seran, and the one to end his life was Luiza. This should have allowed Three-Arms to pass on easily.

“Still, immortality, huh? That’s one hell of an ability.”

“That’s just against the rules at this point.”

Urza and Angela looked at Luiza as they uttered their impressions.

“……”

Minagi hid in the shadows as he already began thinking about how to kill someone that doesn’t die.

“…Actually, I just am basically unkillable, but it’s not like there is absolutely no way to defeat me.” Luiza showed a bitter smile as she listened to Urza and the rest.

“However, it would take a lot of work. If you’d cut up my body into the smallest particle and continued to crush me for an entire year, you might succeed. Then again, I won’t let you just try that, either.”

Imagining that way of killing had Kyle and his friends grew even paler.

I see…and that’s why…

Kyle remembered the last time he met Luiza and agreed to that statement.

“Anyway, that takes care of that…But, even if we’re free from any guilt, we still don’t know who killed Thunder-Breath, right?”

“Yeah, true.”

Seran brought up a valid point, which had Kyle thinking.

“It definitely wasn’t Three-Arms. He’s not the type of guy to do that.”

“Probably…”

Through them clashing in battle, Seran denied his previous assumption of it being Three-Arms, and Kyle agreed.

“And you people are innocent, too…But that really has me curious as to who it could have been. I don’t remember too many demons who would be strong enough…” Luiza started thinking. “I personally thought it would be Three-Arms, too. There shouldn’t be anybody else able to easily defeat Thunder-Breath like that.” Luiza said and turned toward Irumera and Ghrud. “It wasn’t you who killed Thunder-Breath, right?”

“Of course. An act like that would hurt the honor of Zeurus-sama.”

“Why do you have to doubt us, too?”

The two immediately denied Luiza’s assumption, when she looked down at Flame-Eye, still out cold.

“For crying out loud…Forcing herself to fight despite being weak.” Luiza sighed.

“W-Weak?” Yuriga let out a bewildered comment in response to Luiza’s words.

As Flame-Eye was an important player for the pro-war faction, this isn’t exactly the term she expected to hear.

“That’s right. Flame-Eye is weak. Her abilities may allow her to stand out from the masses, but she would only fight when the need arises. No matter how much talent she may have, it can’t get you far without adequate fighting experience.”

“Th-That is true…I’ve never heard anybody mentioning Flame-Eye fighting somewhere…”

Since Yuriga had been told something similar from Lieze and the others, she could oddly sympathize with Flame-Eye in that regard.

“Her true talent is coming up with strategies, and that is what I value about her. Plus, she isn’t aiming for the seat of the Demon Lord either, which let me give her that extra bit of respect…However, it doesn’t make sense for her to join the battle even after Thunder-Breath died, and even if she wanted to show off her strength to me…this is what she accomplished.” Luiza shook her head and looked at Kyle and his friends.

“Maybe she held a grudge for what you did to her younger brother, and that is why she acted so unlike herself.”

“…”

Since Kyle was the one who defeated her brother Ganias, he wanted to open his mouth and say something, but he realized it was all meaningless.

“Leaving that aside…” Luiza slammed her staff into Flame-Eye. “Wake up already, Flame-Eye.”

She had already been given the antidote, so she simply had to recover her consciousness, which now happened.

“Urk…D-Demon Lord-sama? Where are we?” Flame-Eye tried to confirm the situation with a hazy mind.

She finally remembered that she had lost and was about to throw a fit, only to see Three-Arms’ corpse, which had her grow pale instantly.

“D-Don’t tell me…Three-Arms…lost? Against humans?”

“That’s what happened. And there’s something I want to ask you. It’s no coincidence that all three of you came here to see me at the same time. Who brought it up?”

“I…I was invited by Thunder-Breath.” Flame-Eye panicked a bit as she delivered the truth.

“Thunder-Breath did…? So Three-Arms was invited, too?”

“Most likely…He was filled with rage after he had heard that you invited humanfolk to your castle.”

“He had heard? From who?”

“I don’t know the details…But he said that this would allow him to finally bring ruin to humanfolk. Since he was well-known for despising humans, I didn’t take him too seriously, of course…”

Kyle reacted to Flame-Eye’s statement.

“Bring ruin to humanfolk…is that what he said?”

“Y-Yes…But now that I think about it, something didn’t quite feel right about him back then.”

“Is there anything else you remember?”

Flame-Eye thought about it for a moment but finally shook her head.

“Hey, that guy who came to the World Tree, you think he’d be able to defeat Thunder-Breath?” Ghrud commented.

“Oh, Targ? He might be strong enough, yeah.” Seran answered Ghrud’s question.

“I see…Then Targ is a suspect too, right? He’s at least a lot more suspicious than us.” Ghrud commented with a displeased tone like he was sick of being treated as the suspect.

“Why do you think that?”

He did fight Targ, but he shouldn’t be this confident.

“I mean…Targ’s right over there, isn’t he?” Ghrud pointed in a direction that was part of the audience seats, not standing out too much.

Targ was sitting there, gently waving his hand at the group.

“Wonderfully done. Truly, what a sight that fight was. To think I would be blessed in being able to watch it happen with my own eyes. And who could have guessed that Three-Arms-sama would be defeated…” Targ clapped as he began tearing up, jumping down from the audience seats.

“Yo, doing good?” Seran raised his hand, greeting Targ.

“Quite. Has the injury on your arm recovered, Seran-san?” Targ replied with an equally fishy smile, responding in fashion.

“You saw the fight, right? Everything’s great. We can have a rematch right now if you’d like?” Seran flailed about his left arm as he responded.

“Oh, please. In this situation, I would be at a severe disadvantage. More importantly…” Targ turned towards the Demon Lord, politely greeting her. “Demon Lord-sama, it is an honor to meet you. In truth, I am a lowly demon that has no name or right to even meet you, but forgive me for visiting you like this…My name is Targ, and I shall be in your care…” Targ finished his introduction as he bowed his head deeper than ever before.

“You’re Targ, then…What about your pursuers? I sent people after you that I could trust with skill, loyalty, and devotion.”

“Yes, they truly were what I consider the elite. I myself couldn’t handle them. But, since I’m here already, I figure you should know what happened to them.” Targ explained with a fishy smile on his face.

The fact that he stood in front of them meant either that he was good at evading their pursuit, or that he defeated all of them.

“Luiza-sama! Please, be careful! You cannot let down your guard around him!” Yuriga stood in front of Luiza. “So you belonged to the pro-war faction, after all?!” Yuriga wouldn’t believe that Targ wasn’t related to that faction.

“Please, please, I wasn’t lying. I had no relation to the incident back then. And I’ve only met with Thunder-Breath-sama the other day.”

There was no meaning to him making up something, but Targ still fumbled over his own words.

“So you’re the mastermind who controlled Thunder-Breath?”

“By all means, no! I simply shared some information with him.” Called the mastermind by Luiza, Targ panicked even further. “However, I was simply hoping to assist the pro-war faction a bit.”

“…In order to weaken the Demon Lord’s strength and influence?” Kyle offered an explanation, which had Targ very excited.

“Ohh! Indeed, indeed! As expected…However, you were quite the unforeseen ingredient.” Targ looked at Kyle’s group as he tilted his head.

Everything he did smelt like genuine acting.

“It wasn’t anything majorly impressive of a plan, you know? Well, it ended up in absolute failure, that is. All I did was tell Thunder-Breath-sama that Demon Lord-sama has invited humans to her castle. I didn’t know just who that was, but to think it turned out to be Kyle-san and Seran-san…If I had known that, I wouldn’t have interfered.” Targ sighed from the bottom of his heart. “I actually had a talk with Thunder-Breath last night, but I wish he could have kept his resentment for humanfolk in check…More accurately, he was planning on killing all of you last night. I tried to stop him to the best of my ability, but he gave me no choice…”

“So…you’re the one who killed Thunder-Breath?”

“Yes, it was an unfortunate result. I regret it had to happen this way.”

Answering Kyle’s question, Targ took out a handkerchief to wipe the tears from his eyes.

“I had put my hopes into his resentment of the humanfolk that was out of the ordinary, but it was far too much, and I couldn’t let him roam free any longer. This will also negatively influence our future plans…And it truly is a shame.”

“Are you telling us to thank you or something?”

“No, not, of course not. His loss was something unfortunate, so I decided to leave his body in front of the castle to create a bit of chaos.”

“I see…” Kyle grit his teeth.

Thanks to that, they went through a mountain of trouble, so he truly accomplished his goal of creating trouble. Kyle had considered a wide arrangement of possibilities, but to think it was such a pointless reason.

“Hahaha, I’ve been in your care up to this point, so this was just a bit of payback…Honestly speaking, our plan was full of holes, so this was like playing the lotto. I truly felt fortunate that things worked out this well. Normally, things would have taken a lot longer with more people to gather on our end.” Targ sighed from the bottom of his heart. “Ideally, we would have wished for Thunder-Breath to fight the Demon Lord-sama, or possibly even Three-Arms alongside him, and then finish off who was left…But it appears life isn’t just quite that easy. I had no idea you would all end up fighting each other.” Targ lamented as he gazed up at the sky.

“You asked for this, remember? Because you had to pull some nasty prank with Thunder-Breath’s body.”

“Don’t be like that, please. I’ve had plenty of circumstances to consider…”

Since Targ apparently loved to talk, it became a lot easier to question him about his motives and such. And that’s also why everyone had become so engrossed in what he was saying—the only person who didn’t fall for that was Kyle. In the corner of the arena, at an angle above Targ, space started twisting like a mirage. From that appeared darkness much darker than the shadows. Following that, a black mass came flying right towards Luiza. The only reason Kyle reacted quickly enough is that he remembered this presence—he remembered this magic.

“Careful!”

Kyle kicked up Three-Arms’ tail that he had previously cut off, flinging it at the black lump. The two collided and erased each other in front of Luiza. In the truest sense of the word, both of the two had disappeared without a trace.

“No way…Was that [Disintegrate]…?!” Shildonia uttered the name of the supreme-tier magic that should have been long lost.

[Disintegrate] represented total annihilation. It was magic that could erase matter from this world entirely, unable to be defended against, and effective against demons, dragons, humans, and any other species. The only way to protect yourself from it is to have it collide with another object to actively cancel it, just as Kyle had done.

“N-Nice reaction…But, what’s wrong? You’re awfully pale.”

Urza had no idea what even just happened, but she realized that something was off about Kyle.

“Oh…don’t worry about it.”

Kyle couldn’t explain anything to her, but this was the second time he had seen that magic. The first time was during that final battle. The only reason he survived that attack is because Urza had sacrificed herself to protect him. And back then, all he could do was watch Urza disappear in front of his eyes. No doubt, the one who fired off that magic was—

Kyle glared at the darkness when a shadow appeared from within it. The person wore a long robe that covered their face in darkness, and unless he stormed right into their close vicinity with a sword attack, Kyle could not make out anything from afar. However, Kyle knew them. He knew that demon. The black wings growing from their back and the undeniable presence they emitted, mixed with absolute pressure…he could never forget.

“I’ve been itching to meet you again.”

Kyle thought he’d be a lot more agitated during their reunion, but he was almost eerily calm. The individual who had killed Urza in front of his eyes, and the winged demon who started the [Great Invasion] stood right in front of him.

“Ahh, I had hoped you’d be out of steam after your battle with Three-Arms-sama, but it appears not to be the case.” Targ put one hand on his chin as he lamented.

“Who are you?!” This seemed to be Yuriga’s first meeting with the demon, too, as she sent him a sharp glare.

“A winged one…How peculiar.” Luiza seemed a bit bewildered and closely inspected the new arrival.contemporary romance

“We are the ones who rebel against the Demon Lord, against Luiza-sama…That is all you need to know about us.” Targ explained after he teleported next to the Winged Demon. “And this individual here is my master. He’s rather tongue-tied, and a bit of an introvert, so I’m afraid he’ll have to introduce himself another time.” Targ jested a bit with his master’s honor, but the Winged Demon showed no reaction whatsoever.

“I see…so you are after my life…after the seat of the Demon Lord, is it?” Luiza understood their goal, speaking with an expression as if she had seen the abyss of the other side.

It seems like being threatened or hunted down for her life was no rare occurrence for her. She had been the acting Demon Lord for 300 years, so she must have encountered many assassins or those who started a rebellion. Yuriga also felt furious at the blind attack against her master, but that was all she really cared about. However, Kyle knew. He knew that this rebellion would succeed and that it would bring about an all-out war of humans against demons.

“Attacking me from behind shows me you’ve got quite the enthusiasm in you. If you wish for it, I don’t mind sparring with you.” Luiza exclaimed while showing off her pride as the Demon Lord.

However, the Winged Demon didn’t respond in fashion, and simply returned to the darkness it came from.

“We actually had no plans for this, but I guess this acts as an introduction for us…Now, if you’d excuse us.”

“…”

Luiza didn’t speak another word and showed no intention of chasing after the two intruders. The one to act instead—was Kyle.

“I’m not letting you escape!”

No matter what—is what he swore to himself. If he could end the Winged One’s life right here, right now, it would end his duty. With that thought in mind, he swung his sword.

“Wh…at…?”

However, his attack was stopped. His sword was grabbed. His attack had every fiber of his being working towards creating speed and impact, and yet the Winged Demon bluntly grabbed the sword between their thumb and index finger. With his weapon sealed away, Kyle tried to desperately make it move, but to no avail. Following that, the Winged Demon simply moved their wrist like they were brushing away a bit of dust from their clothes, which had Kyle get blasted away.

“Urk!”

Kyle somehow managed to land and prepared himself for a follow-up attack, but Targ and the Winged Demon had long disappeared.

“If fate wills it, let us meet again.” Targ’s voice was the last thing they heard until the two completely vanished.

“Was the irregular-level magic [Teleport]? However…” Shildonia crossed her arms and started thinking about what she had just witnessed.

Meanwhile, Kyle cursed himself for letting this chance get to waste and slammed his fist into the ground. Luiza’s reaction toward the Winged Demon may have been lackluster, but the same can’t be said about humanfolk. Lieze and Urza had been taken in by fear, unable to even stand. They had stood their ground against one of the strongest demons, and yet they were now filled with terror.

“So there were…demons like that.” Angela managed to withstand the pressure from the Demon Lord, but now her face was pale.

“Hey, Kyle…What the hell was that?” Seran asked as his voice was quivering slightly.

His instincts practically forced him to fear that Winged Demon, which had him sweat buckets. Since his damage from Three-Arms had not healed up to this point, he couldn’t attack the demon as Kyle did, but he wasn’t sure if he could even manage to land an attack.

“…He’s the enemy.”

That’s all Kyle could answer to Seran’s question. He didn’t know who exactly he was dealing with, and he wasn’t sure if he could even defeat that monster. But even so, he had to do it.

Shit! But, I at least know now that you’re behind this! I’ll find you and cut you down!

Kyle swore in his mind.

“Human, why…did you protect me?” Luiza asked Kyle, which had him bewildered.

“Well…because my body just moved on its own.” That’s basically all Kyle could say in that regard.

Back then, he had lost Urza to that magic without being able to do anything. Understanding that it was the same magic, his body just reacted.

“To think a human would save me…”

“I’d never imagined saving a demon myself,” Kyle said.

“There…there is something I want to ask you, humans.” Luiza seemed a bit unsure, but eventually asked the group. “You’ve defeated Three-Arms…That is why I want to hear how you would answer that question…What does believing mean to you?”

Met with Luiza’s question, Kyle immediately felt a sense of deja-vu, remembering the time he first met Luiza. On the day of the final battle, when they stormed into the Demon Lord’s castle, he found Luiza chained up inside a magic circle near the throne room. Back then, she was clearly weakened, which was probably because a great amount of mana was extracted from her. When she saw Kyle, she asked him the same question.

‘A human, huh…Since you’ve come this far, won’t you give me an answer? To you humans…what does believing mean?’ She asked with eyes devoid of energy.

Since Kyle had lost his precious allies in the previous battle, he had no intention of lending an ear to the words of a demon. And because Luiza had lost most of her mana, her power of immortality didn’t activate, which allowed Kyle to defeat her in some way or another. It’s not fair to say it after the fact, but he definitely could have avoided that battle. He had denied it back then, but now was the time to answer. His heart was calm, so he should take his time to carefully answer—

“What’s it matter?” Seran responded with his usual carefree voice. “Demon or human doesn’t matter, we’ve got people we can believe in. At the very least, Three-Arms is a guy I could put my faith in. And if that fails, then that just means I have no eye for people, and I’ll be careful next time.”

“You moron! Don’t just give some half-baked answer like that!” Kyle roared in anger as his thoughts were disrupted.

“You’re just thinking too much. Sometimes it’s better to give a simple answer than try to brew up something profound that ends up sucking anyway.” Seran grumbled.

“Hehe…” Luiza let out a giggle.

It was a genuine smile, like the tension had left her body.

“As I thought, you resemble him…Randolph in a way.” The emotions filling her expression were that of joy, and everyone understood how she felt.

They didn’t know what had led to it, but it was clear that the hero of the humanfolk and the daughter of the Demon Lord had been lovers. And that hero had to strike down her father.

“So the rumors were true…”

“R-Rumors…?”

“The reason that the Demon Lord-sama was trying to form an amicable relationship with humanfolk…It’s because she had fallen in love with a human before…I didn’t give these rumors much attention, though…” Flame-Eye answered Kyle’s question with a baffled voice.

“…’Have faith in me,’ is what Randolph said once. And when I believed in his words, I guided him to my father’s bedroom…where Randolph killed him.” Luiza spoke of her past trauma.

Almost as if she was too exhausted to keep it inside her any longer.

“Seriously…? He’s the worst.”

“That’s far too cruel…”

“It’s common sense to assassinate someone in their sleep, but having their daughter help you is just…”

For some reason, all the girls suddenly looked over at Seran.

“I didn’t do any of that, you know?!” On the receiving end of this, Seran tried to protect his honor.

“My, I believe Seran-sama is wonderful when he’s this determined.”

“Again, I didn’t do anything like that!”

Even Angela was simply looking at Seran.

“Even so…even so, I couldn’t resent him. I thought everything there would end after I stopped believing in him.”

Despite him having killed her father, despite him having died years and years ago, Luiza still cared for him even now.

“That’s why…I continued to dream. Dream of a world where demons and humans could live in co-existence…a world Randolph spoke of. Even if it was nothing but an empty lie in order to deceive me.”

“So…the reason you were so desperate to get this sword isn’t because it had the potential to kill you, but because it belonged to the man you once loved…” Seran looked down at the holy sword as everything clicked for him.

“That being said…I guess, you’re right. I had no talent for finding out who to trust. What did I even put my faith in? What made me believe in Randolph? I can’t even remember it anymore.” Luiza sank to the ground, showing an empty smile. “I…I…” She covered her face and began crying.

“L-Luiza-sama! Please, you don’t have to…!” Yuriga began panicking and glared at Seran. “Bastard! How dare you hurt Luiza-sama like this!” Yuriga roared towards Seran.

“Huh? Why am I getting the blame for this?!”

“…It’s fine. I’ve caused all of this. He is not to be blamed.”

“You can say that again!” Seran complained, but nobody dared to take his side.

“Go and say something…” Lieze rammed her elbow into his side.

“Try to cheer her up…” Urza pushed his back towards Luiza.

“Urk…” Meeting eyes with the dejected Luiza, Seran was forced to steel his resolve. “Well…cheer up, okay? Good stuff will happen as long as you’re still alive!”

He went with a safe approach, but Luiza kept a serious expression.

“Will it really? Nothing fun has happened for the past three hundred years, so…”

“Y-You just gotta change your way of thinking! Why not look for a hobby or something like that?”

“Yeah…that might be true.”

You wouldn’t imagine that these two were actually the Demon Lord and a human who kills demons for fun. Yuriga was the same usual Yuriga, glaring at Flame-Eye after she had learned of her master’s secret. Wondering how to get out of this situation, Flame-Eye responded with a meek smile.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. For the time being, I have no intention of betraying the Demon Lord-sama. And I don’t plan on telling anybody else about this.” Flame-Eye continued with a blunt tone. “Now that Three-Arms and Thunder-Breath are gone, I’ve got no chance of winning, either. I’ll just get crushed like a small fry.”

As she had no possible way of winning, she was now back to being a regular subordinate. That of course meant she was ready to stab Luiza in the back as soon as she saw any chance of coming out on top.

“That being said, I gotta decline your offer of exchanging information about the Demon Lord for information from us demons in general.” Flame-Eye rejected Kyle’s offer for their trade with a smile.

“You…” Kyle’s expression distorted in disgust.

She purposefully said it with a loud voice so that Luiza could hear it. She was probably trying to buy points with Luiza now that she had lost the fight. As a blessing in disguise, Luiza was busy talking with Seran. The girls seemed to be happy about this, excluding Angela, who watched it with a sour face. Meanwhile, the two dragons watched all of this like they were present at a zoo, absolutely not understanding what was even going on. As Kyle’s surroundings continued to stay noisy, he simply gazed up at the sky and reminisced about everything that happened today.

“I really…wanna take a nap now.”

done.co