"...I'll do it. Zevion's mastery of close combat techniques is beyond Lynette's."
"Let's go!"
Zevion approached with a swirling thrust, making it challenging to discern the origin and trajectory of his Shōki sword.
I chose to evade rather than force a confrontation, and a rush of heat passed above my head. In passing, I unleashed several basic water magic spells. I aimed ice bullets at Zevion, who was likely behind and to the side of me.
"Ungh!"
I heard the impact sound. Without distancing himself, he turned and checked the situation. It seemed he had blocked it with a Shōki shield on his left arm. The ice bullets turned into vapor.
The Shōki sword and shield made him resemble a black knight clad in dragon armor.
Flame Absorb was ineffective. I tried it when we fought on the ground... It could indeed absorb the fire created where he cut something. However, flames erupted repeatedly from the severed surface.
The stagnant high-temperature Shōki in that place relentlessly continued to set ablaze whatever it cut. If a living being were wounded—without blessings or regeneration, they'd burn until death. While I would merely be consumed like normal, that was no consolation.
Zevion's Shōki itself hadn't changed significantly. I had anticipated that Flame Absorb wouldn't work. The special property of his Shōki was intense heat, not flames. You could liken it to poisonous gas, perhaps, like magma.
That's why I kept my altitude high. Fighting near the ground would risk turning it into a sea of fire. It wouldn't work to my advantage; in fact, it would only disadvantage me. It's better if there's nothing around to catch fire.
This also served as a countermeasure against his Exploding Eye. Given the nature of explosion attacks, he could likely explode objects behind me while cutting through, sending shrapnel flying.
He accepted my invitation to fight—perhaps to separate me from the sea. Was his goal to let his familiar escape, or perhaps to prevent me from using seawater?
It's troublesome. However, it didn't change my fighting style.
Displaying a jumping motion, I sent my Mirage Body soaring upward, tightly aligning it with my body. I controlled my descent downwards with wind magic. I assaulted Zevion with my main body and the Mirage Body, enclosing him.
Gripping the middle of my staff, I feigned a downward strike like a naginata, then at the last moment, I turned it into a sweeping upward trajectory.
My gaze and posture matched the movements of the Mirage Body from overhead.
In other words, it was a two-choice attack using the Mirage Body's movements. My dragon staff struck Zevion directly in the chest, as he had tried to align his defense with the attack coming from above.
But it was still shallow. When I stepped in, he adjusted his posture to respond. At the moment of approach, he swung his left-hand shield, trying to push me away.
Shield Bash, and it could ignite on contact. I thrust my dragon staff, charged with mana, directly into his Shōki shield. Sparks flew as our bodies recoiled.
"I thought you humans couldn't even engage in battle. I never expected to enjoy a one-on-one fight this much!"
He said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned about his fellow demon's fall.
His main objective was likely still the investigation of the labyrinth. I didn't know about the other demon, but the reason this one hadn't remembered my name probably lay here. Despite being a demon slayer, I was still a human, and that seemed to be the underlying assumption.
Up to now, it felt like Zevion had been warming up. That said, it didn't mean I could afford to let my guard down.
Once I broke through and disrupted him, all that remained was to land a finishing blow. And that was precisely my plan.
My big move wasn't successful at the beginning. Considering his combat experience, he'd likely respond when I suddenly unleashed a powerful magic. In other words, when I showed my trump card, it would be for the kill.
If the balance was broken, the battle would tip heavily in one direction. It was simple to understand.
For a moment, I glanced towards Grace. She was looking up at me with a worried expression. Grace won. Ashley was waiting too. So I had to win. Win and return.
You, on the other hand, are in my way.
"Come!"
"I've been bored for quite some time! Let's promise to keep at it until one of us dies!"
Without hesitation, we advanced and clashed. At the moment of impact, my body literally split into two.
An up, down, left, right, all-encompassing single-choice attack achieved through coordination with the Mirage Body. A technique established by BFO. Even he couldn't predict this.
I repeatedly struck his body, but it wasn't fatal. I left minor cuts on the surface, but Zevion didn't seem to care.
He had designated one of us as his main target and dealt with feints by not paying attention to them.
It was an effective strategy. Due to the armor-like outer layer, his defenses were formidable, almost like actual armor. But there were other tricks at play.
I took damage even from his heat, so when avoiding the Shōki sword, I had to dodge more widely than usual. That's where the opening was—there was still a vulnerability in his pure defensive technique. With this level of defense and excessive offensive power, it wasn't entirely surprising.
The guy must be well aware of his own abilities. When struck once, everything would be over. He combined the weapons in both hands to create an enormous miasma sword, displaying movements that swept away both the Mirage Body and the main body simultaneously while taking attacks.
This is unavoidable.
Temporarily returning control to the Mirage Body, I held the staff with both hands and deployed a massive magic shield at the tip.
I intercepted the blade swung from directly above, facing it head-on. Heavy impact on both arms. Sparks flew in all directions.
Ouroboros let out an annoyed growl, and I felt the sensation of my circulation intensifying even more.
"Haaaaa!"
"Ooooooh!"
We both roared, and the energy that had nowhere to go exploded and pushed us apart, but we immediately reversed our positions. Zevion split the miasma sword into two and leaped towards me with both weapons.
I gripped the middle of the staff and clashed with the twin swords. The glow of red magic eyes. A thunderous noise echoed overhead. I dodged the impact by bending my body and retaliated with an ice spear from the magic circle deployed near my forehead.
Although it was ice, the spear was enhanced with magic, unlike natural ice. It struck the chest armor, causing only a minor scratch before it evaporated instantly.
Magic ice evaporated? Even if it's a miasma shield, hitting the body—?
"Not yet! Don't die on me yet!"
Zevion's body itself was becoming white-hot, emitting intense heat.
Wind magic: Air Screen. Creating multiple layers of air and enchanting my coat with heat resistance, I blocked the scorching heat that could burn upon approach and continued to engage.
In response, he bared his teeth in delight. I smiled in response, mirroring his enthusiasm.
I lost all sense of time and surroundings. I couldn't hear the sounds around me. I didn't even notice the stinging pain of minor burns. I was completely absorbed in the exchange of life with him.
My bangs were grazed by the tip of the sword. The smell of burning. Dual attacks of physical strikes and magic. Sparks flew. The miasma blade pierced through the layers of air and came at me. The heat on my cheeks. Someone's laughter. Countless intersections of magic and miasma.
I deployed a magic circle under my feet and fired an ice projectile just before he could kick my chest.
We distanced ourselves. Qi emanated from the left miasma sword—martial skills were coming.
Combining scorching miasma and martial skills. He sent slashing strikes my way while approaching with the sword in his right hand lowered, making it difficult for me to dodge effectively. I didn't step back. I moved forward.
I allowed his close-range slash to graze my side, then his thrust barely touched my cheek.
I felt the intense heat up close. I finally reached the distance that I had wanted by skillfully maneuvering through the death line. The hell of heat waves. A momentary intersection. This distance was what I desired.
A vortex of cold enveloped my Dragon Staff. I channeled the synchronized movement of my entire body with the thrust of the Dragon Staff, fueled by the momentum of both our charges.
"Pierce through!"
"Ugh!"
This time, the feeling was different from before; my hand that pierced through was tingling with the impact. I struck with all my might, then immediately lifted his chin with a single motion. Cracks appeared on the surface of his chest, and for the first time, he groaned in agony and stepped back.
There was no other time to seize the advantage.
I aimed my staff at him and deployed a massive magic circle in front of me. But...
"It was close!"
His eyes, when I returned my gaze, were gleaming, and a blast occurred right in front of my face. What I had shattered was only a superficial layer. It was a shallow wound, to say the least.
The explosion's coordinates were slightly off, but there was no room to use defensive magic. I crossed my arms in front of my face and assumed a posture to endure it.
The intense heat that had pervaded my entire body converged at his mouth. A bright, sun-like radiance appeared inside his wide-open mouth, and a tremendous heat ray—or rather, a column of heat—radiated outward.
My body was swallowed up in an instant. This was his trump card. It was supposed to burn everything, bone and all.
If it hit.
"What is this—!?"
The image of me being engulfed in the column of scorching heat was a mirage. I left the Mirage Body behind and detached from the spot in free fall, completing a spell and rushing from below.
Zevion, who had released all the heat he had stored throughout his entire body, couldn't even dodge. I pierced the wound in his chest with the horn of Ouroboros and activated the spell I had prepared.
Grade 9 Water Magic: Glacial Fortress.
It broke through Zevion's back—ice trees emerged in the sky. Endlessly, endlessly. Branches and roots extended, and the ice giant tree grew with a creaking sound.
"Shatter!"
When it had fully grown, the ice tree shattered into tiny fragments, swallowing Zevion inside. With a deafening roar and countless sparkles, tiny ice shards rained down to the ground. Zevion, whose chest had been shattered from the inside, fell to the ground with a rain of light. His face seemed to be adorned with a satisfied smile.
"...I'll do it. Zevion's mastery of close combat techniques is beyond Lynette's."
"Let's go!"
Zevion approached with a swirling thrust, making it challenging to discern the origin and trajectory of his Shōki sword.
I chose to evade rather than force a confrontation, and a rush of heat passed above my head. In passing, I unleashed several basic water magic spells. I aimed ice bullets at Zevion, who was likely behind and to the side of me.
"Ungh!"
I heard the impact sound. Without distancing himself, he turned and checked the situation. It seemed he had blocked it with a Shōki shield on his left arm. The ice bullets turned into vapor.
The Shōki sword and shield made him resemble a black knight clad in dragon armor.
Flame Absorb was ineffective. I tried it when we fought on the ground... It could indeed absorb the fire created where he cut something. However, flames erupted repeatedly from the severed surface.
The stagnant high-temperature Shōki in that place relentlessly continued to set ablaze whatever it cut. If a living being were wounded—without blessings or regeneration, they'd burn until death. While I would merely be consumed like normal, that was no consolation.
Zevion's Shōki itself hadn't changed significantly. I had anticipated that Flame Absorb wouldn't work. The special property of his Shōki was intense heat, not flames. You could liken it to poisonous gas, perhaps, like magma.
That's why I kept my altitude high. Fighting near the ground would risk turning it into a sea of fire. It wouldn't work to my advantage; in fact, it would only disadvantage me. It's better if there's nothing around to catch fire.
This also served as a countermeasure against his Exploding Eye. Given the nature of explosion attacks, he could likely explode objects behind me while cutting through, sending shrapnel flying.
He accepted my invitation to fight—perhaps to separate me from the sea. Was his goal to let his familiar escape, or perhaps to prevent me from using seawater?
It's troublesome. However, it didn't change my fighting style.
Displaying a jumping motion, I sent my Mirage Body soaring upward, tightly aligning it with my body. I controlled my descent downwards with wind magic. I assaulted Zevion with my main body and the Mirage Body, enclosing him.
Gripping the middle of my staff, I feigned a downward strike like a naginata, then at the last moment, I turned it into a sweeping upward trajectory.
My gaze and posture matched the movements of the Mirage Body from overhead.
In other words, it was a two-choice attack using the Mirage Body's movements. My dragon staff struck Zevion directly in the chest, as he had tried to align his defense with the attack coming from above.
But it was still shallow. When I stepped in, he adjusted his posture to respond. At the moment of approach, he swung his left-hand shield, trying to push me away.
Shield Bash, and it could ignite on contact. I thrust my dragon staff, charged with mana, directly into his Shōki shield. Sparks flew as our bodies recoiled.
"I thought you humans couldn't even engage in battle. I never expected to enjoy a one-on-one fight this much!"
He said with a smile, seemingly unconcerned about his fellow demon's fall.
His main objective was likely still the investigation of the labyrinth. I didn't know about the other demon, but the reason this one hadn't remembered my name probably lay here. Despite being a demon slayer, I was still a human, and that seemed to be the underlying assumption.
Up to now, it felt like Zevion had been warming up. That said, it didn't mean I could afford to let my guard down.
Once I broke through and disrupted him, all that remained was to land a finishing blow. And that was precisely my plan.
My big move wasn't successful at the beginning. Considering his combat experience, he'd likely respond when I suddenly unleashed a powerful magic. In other words, when I showed my trump card, it would be for the kill.
If the balance was broken, the battle would tip heavily in one direction. It was simple to understand.
For a moment, I glanced towards Grace. She was looking up at me with a worried expression. Grace won. Ashley was waiting too. So I had to win. Win and return.
You, on the other hand, are in my way.
"Come!"
"I've been bored for quite some time! Let's promise to keep at it until one of us dies!"
Without hesitation, we advanced and clashed. At the moment of impact, my body literally split into two.
An up, down, left, right, all-encompassing single-choice attack achieved through coordination with the Mirage Body. A technique established by BFO. Even he couldn't predict this.
I repeatedly struck his body, but it wasn't fatal. I left minor cuts on the surface, but Zevion didn't seem to care.
He had designated one of us as his main target and dealt with feints by not paying attention to them.
It was an effective strategy. Due to the armor-like outer layer, his defenses were formidable, almost like actual armor. But there were other tricks at play.
I took damage even from his heat, so when avoiding the Shōki sword, I had to dodge more widely than usual. That's where the opening was—there was still a vulnerability in his pure defensive technique. With this level of defense and excessive offensive power, it wasn't entirely surprising.
The guy must be well aware of his own abilities. When struck once, everything would be over. He combined the weapons in both hands to create an enormous miasma sword, displaying movements that swept away both the Mirage Body and the main body simultaneously while taking attacks.
This is unavoidable.
Temporarily returning control to the Mirage Body, I held the staff with both hands and deployed a massive magic shield at the tip.
I intercepted the blade swung from directly above, facing it head-on. Heavy impact on both arms. Sparks flew in all directions.
Ouroboros let out an annoyed growl, and I felt the sensation of my circulation intensifying even more.
"Haaaaa!"
"Ooooooh!"
We both roared, and the energy that had nowhere to go exploded and pushed us apart, but we immediately reversed our positions. Zevion split the miasma sword into two and leaped towards me with both weapons.
I gripped the middle of the staff and clashed with the twin swords. The glow of red magic eyes. A thunderous noise echoed overhead. I dodged the impact by bending my body and retaliated with an ice spear from the magic circle deployed near my forehead.
Although it was ice, the spear was enhanced with magic, unlike natural ice. It struck the chest armor, causing only a minor scratch before it evaporated instantly.
Magic ice evaporated? Even if it's a miasma shield, hitting the body—?
"Not yet! Don't die on me yet!"
Zevion's body itself was becoming white-hot, emitting intense heat.
Wind magic: Air Screen. Creating multiple layers of air and enchanting my coat with heat resistance, I blocked the scorching heat that could burn upon approach and continued to engage.
In response, he bared his teeth in delight. I smiled in response, mirroring his enthusiasm.
I lost all sense of time and surroundings. I couldn't hear the sounds around me. I didn't even notice the stinging pain of minor burns. I was completely absorbed in the exchange of life with him.
My bangs were grazed by the tip of the sword. The smell of burning. Dual attacks of physical strikes and magic. Sparks flew. The miasma blade pierced through the layers of air and came at me. The heat on my cheeks. Someone's laughter. Countless intersections of magic and miasma.
I deployed a magic circle under my feet and fired an ice projectile just before he could kick my chest.
We distanced ourselves. Qi emanated from the left miasma sword—martial skills were coming.
Combining scorching miasma and martial skills. He sent slashing strikes my way while approaching with the sword in his right hand lowered, making it difficult for me to dodge effectively. I didn't step back. I moved forward.
I allowed his close-range slash to graze my side, then his thrust barely touched my cheek.
I felt the intense heat up close. I finally reached the distance that I had wanted by skillfully maneuvering through the death line. The hell of heat waves. A momentary intersection. This distance was what I desired.
A vortex of cold enveloped my Dragon Staff. I channeled the synchronized movement of my entire body with the thrust of the Dragon Staff, fueled by the momentum of both our charges.
"Pierce through!"
"Ugh!"
This time, the feeling was different from before; my hand that pierced through was tingling with the impact. I struck with all my might, then immediately lifted his chin with a single motion. Cracks appeared on the surface of his chest, and for the first time, he groaned in agony and stepped back.
There was no other time to seize the advantage.
I aimed my staff at him and deployed a massive magic circle in front of me. But...
"It was close!"
His eyes, when I returned my gaze, were gleaming, and a blast occurred right in front of my face. What I had shattered was only a superficial layer. It was a shallow wound, to say the least.
The explosion's coordinates were slightly off, but there was no room to use defensive magic. I crossed my arms in front of my face and assumed a posture to endure it.
The intense heat that had pervaded my entire body converged at his mouth. A bright, sun-like radiance appeared inside his wide-open mouth, and a tremendous heat ray—or rather, a column of heat—radiated outward.
My body was swallowed up in an instant. This was his trump card. It was supposed to burn everything, bone and all.
If it hit.
"What is this—!?"
The image of me being engulfed in the column of scorching heat was a mirage. I left the Mirage Body behind and detached from the spot in free fall, completing a spell and rushing from below.
Zevion, who had released all the heat he had stored throughout his entire body, couldn't even dodge. I pierced the wound in his chest with the horn of Ouroboros and activated the spell I had prepared.
Grade 9 Water Magic: Glacial Fortress.
It broke through Zevion's back—ice trees emerged in the sky. Endlessly, endlessly. Branches and roots extended, and the ice giant tree grew with a creaking sound.
"Shatter!"
When it had fully grown, the ice tree shattered into tiny fragments, swallowing Zevion inside. With a deafening roar and countless sparkles, tiny ice shards rained down to the ground. Zevion, whose chest had been shattered from the inside, fell to the ground with a rain of light. His face seemed to be adorned with a satisfied smile.
