Something Scarier Than a High Demon
Draud had always believed there was nothing more terrifying than a high demon. As a senior knight of the Kasen Kingdom’s Royal Knights and one of the leading candidates for the next commander, he ranked at the top in both experience and skill. It was only natural that he would be assigned to guard the prince.
Every other member of the escort detail belonged to the Royal Knights as well. No matter what sort of creature launched a surprise attack, they would repel it. Even a high demon would eventually fall. Or so Draud had believed without a single doubt.
Right up until the moment a comrade’s head vanished before his eyes with a wet crunch.
Goddammit!
The instant he saw it, he understood. The demon before him was strong. But this strong? Had the gap always been this wide?
I never neglected my training. So why?!
Some knights were content simply to bear the title. Royal knights, however, trained without end. Draud was no exception. He never rested. He never let the sword leave his hand. He could swear he had never grown lazy. Yet all that effort was crumbling away so pathetically.
Were high demons always this powerful?
The war against the demons had lasted more than ten years. In all that time, barely a hundred high demons had appeared. An extremely small number, but each one was monstrously strong. Draud had faced one himself in the past.
The knights suffered heavy losses, but they had eventually claimed victory. The problem was that it had happened several years ago. And even then, it had taken many knights to bring down a single high demon.
After that…
It was embarrassing to admit, but he had not crossed blades with another high demon since. It wasn’t that he had avoided the fights. He simply never had the chance.
Whenever a demon appeared, that man showed up without fail. The man who slaughtered demons indiscriminately, just as his nickname suggested.
Cain. That man led every battle.
Yes. Come to think of it, that was when everything changed. The war, which had been a desperate stalemate, tilted decisively in their favor overnight. High demons were turned into corpses the moment they appeared. Had he unknowingly come to rely on Cain?
Surely not. The very thought made his face burn with shame.
“Sir Draud!”
The high demon slaughtered yet another knight. Its next target was Draud himself.
“Man! It’s a man—!!”
Whether lower demon or high demon, they were equally repulsive. A woman’s voice coming from a male body. Clicking his tongue, Draud drew his sword back.
At this point he abandoned all thoughts of defense. He would focus solely on the attack. Solely on the heart. That was all he aimed for.
If he could inflict a fatal wound on the demon with his own life, his comrades would handle the rest even if he died.
If I’d known it would come to this, I would have kissed them one more time before leaving.
He thought briefly of his wife and children back home, then shook his head. A knight must not grow weak. Knowing when to die—that was what made a knight.
Come, you demon. Yes. Come at me!
The demon leaped forward and closed the distance in an instant. Its claws were already at his heart. If he had chosen to defend, it would have been far too late. But Draud had chosen death. Even if the demon’s claws pierced his heart, his own sword would pierce the demon’s chest—
“Move.”
Draud’s body was yanked backward. The speed was faster than even the high demon’s. It happened so suddenly that Draud could only stare blankly to the side. Something was passing him.
Power and speed that surpassed even the knights. Overwhelming mana. A tyrannical aura. Stronger than any knight he had ever met. There was only one name that came to mind.
“Cain…?”
Wait. Cain was from the Empire. How did he know to come here?
That question had only just formed when Draud was slammed into the ground behind them.
“Guh!”
It hurt. He had probably sprained his back. He might need treatment for a while. But that was fine. He had kept his life.
“Good to see you!!”
Because the demon slayer had arrived.
What a crazy bastard. Kiara laughed.
Charging straight at a high demon that even the knights struggled against? Overwhelming that same high demon? Making one of the fewer than a hundred high demons to appear in ten years of war scream and beg for its life?
“Liar…!”
None of it was true. Kiara felt utterly betrayed.
You said it wasn’t because of a woman!
She had wondered why he rushed here so desperately. She genuinely thought he just wanted to hunt demons. Even after they crossed the border and kept moving, she had believed him.
But the moment they discovered a group of people and she spotted a familiar woman at their center, Kiara’s misunderstanding became rock solid.
Estelle! It’s that bitch?!
How had she survived this long while being that stupid? What kind of flower garden was growing in her head to make everything look so pink? And just how beautiful was she that everyone around her kept grinning like idiots?!
Kiara wanted to grab her by the hair and throw her across the battlefield. She was dying to scream at her to get a grip. The only reason she hadn’t was purely because of Cain.
Smashing that head had felt way too satisfying.
The others hadn’t seen it, but Kiara had. She had considered using it as a weakness, but decided against it. It had been too thrilling. She had finally seen what a real man looked like.
For someone who had lost his mind, violence really was the answer. She had thought he was an impressive man for a commoner, but—
“You. If you tell me you fell for that bitch after all this time, I’ll kill you.”
The only woman in this group was Estelle. And Cain had truly sprinted here like a madman. It was a picture practically designed to create a misunderstanding. Even if her head was full of nothing but flowers, Kiara had to admit the woman’s appearance was exceptional.
Why did it have to be Cain? Why did it have to be Estelle?
It had better not be. Please, it absolutely could not be. If it was, she might literally die of frustration.
“Lady Kiara?”
Prinz, who had been protecting Estelle, spoke up.
“It really is you, isn’t it?”
“Hello, Your Highness Prince Prinz. We meet again after the party.”
“But why are you here, my lady…?”
His utterly confused expression was a bonus. Kiara answered as if it were nothing important.
“I came with that man over there.”
“With… Cain?”
The Empire’s mad dog, Cain, and the Empire’s princess, Kiara. A bizarre combination that matched zero percent. Prinz looked at her with an expression that asked if she was serious. His eyes clearly said he would rather believe anything else.
Crunch—!
In the meantime, Cain was brutally driving the high demon back. The knights didn’t even dare intervene. Terrifying strength. Overwhelming speed. An extreme aura. Even the senior knights could only swallow dryly as they watched.
“Kiiiit!! C-Cain! How are you here?!”
“Good looking! But it hurts! It’s a man! A man but I hate it!!”
Opposite voices burst from the male and female faces. Desperate tone. A body torn to shreds. Just moments ago it had been dominating the knight order.
In ten years of war, fewer than a hundred had appeared. That was how strong high demons were. Beings on a completely different level. Even the superhuman knights found them difficult. They were essentially the demon army’s ultimate weapons.
Yet that high demon was being torn apart like wet paper.
“It huuurts!!”
The sword was invisible. Its trajectory could not be read. Where it came from, where it went, whether it was even a sword at all. Every time something flashed, a chunk of flesh was carved away.
“Kiiiiiiik—!”
The demon desperately tried to turn the situation around. It was Cain, but he was still only human. Cut off his head or pierce his heart and he would die just like anyone else.
“Demon Slayer!”
“God’s Right Hand!”
“Today, right here!”
“We will—!”
““Kill you!!””
An ominous light exploded from the demon’s body. The male and female halves that had been split merged back into one. Wings sprouted from its back and horns grew from its head. The wounds carved across its body healed instantly.
Hiss—!
The stench of sulfur filled the air. Flames dripped down.
“…Heh. Hehahahaha!”
A voice that mixed both male and female rang out.
“To make me use even this power. You truly are impressive, Demon Slayer.”
“…”
“But from now on you had better be nervous. Because I am now an entirely different existence from before.”
“…”
“?”
When there was no response, the demon looked at Cain.
“Are you done?”
“What?”
“I asked if you’re done transforming.”
Transforming? Did he mean its true form? Yes, it had finished.
“Okay. Then I don’t have to wait any longer.”
At the same time, Cain’s figure vanished from the demon’s sight.
“Huh?”
Even after mobilizing every ounce of power it possessed, the demon completely lost track of Cain’s movements right in front of it.
Thud—!
“Aaargh!!”
A sword wound was carved from its shoulder to its side. Skin harder than steel—the high demon’s hide—split open and crimson blood gushed out.
“H-how?”
Thud—!
“Guh!”
This time it was the back. A burning sensation raced along its spine. It had allowed two attacks. Two whole attacks.
What is this? Why can’t I feel anything?
It was as if its senses had been severed; it couldn’t detect anything. The same thing happened afterward. The demon fought with all its strength. Yet what it caught was empty air, and what was cut was its own body. It couldn’t see. It couldn’t read. It couldn’t even sense him.
But the most terrifying part wasn’t any of that. Every single attack just now had avoided fatal wounds. It was as if he were declaring he could kill it whenever he wanted. The demon realized the truth.
This was bad. It was at a disadvantage here. It needed other demons. It had to escape right now!
“Kyaaaak!!”
When the demon opened its mouth, black ash poured out. It wasn’t simply obscuring vision with fog. The mana scattered, making it impossible to track any trace.
Good.
It could feel Cain’s footsteps stop somewhere. The purpose was to assess the situation while his senses were blocked. The demon didn’t miss the opening. It spun in the opposite direction and tried to flee without hesitation.
“Hey!”
Frustration rose on Cain’s face. It was a high demon. It had even transformed. He thought it wanted a proper fight so he gave it one.
The moment he got a little serious, it suddenly ran away? Had he gone too hard from the start? Should he have held back at first? Judging by how it was spewing ash, it really looked like it was going to bolt.
“Come back, you demon!”
He called out urgently, but it was already too late. The high demon’s presence was already growing distant. If it kept going, he would lose it. And he hadn’t done anything yet! He still needed to cut off its limbs, punch holes in its body, and dissect the mysteries of a demon’s physiology.
“Don’t run! Fight me!”
Cain shouted, but it was useless. All that remained was the demon’s cry promising to get revenge another day.
“Fuck!”
In battle, Cain held an overwhelming advantage. But when it came to running away, the demon had the edge. Gritting his teeth, Cain was about to chase after it when—
Wait a second.
Some brilliant idea seemed to occur to him. He grinned, then turned and headed somewhere else.
“Kihihit!”
It worked. It had escaped. It was humiliating, but as long as it survived, that was enough. It would join up with other demons, recover its strength, and then it could take revenge any time it—
“Demon! Look at this!”
It turned its head. Cain was chasing from behind. In his hand he held a woman.
“You’re just going to leave this behind?!”
“…?”
“What? You’re not thinking of giving up, are you? You can’t do that, right?!”
It had seen humans take other humans hostage before. But a human taking a human hostage against a demon? At first it wondered what the hell he was doing. Then, at some point, the demon’s eyes changed.
“Grrr…”
What was this? What the hell was it? Why did it look so appetizing? It needed to run. That was the obvious thing to do. Yet it felt like it had to catch her. Like it had to kill her! It shouldn’t do this. But it wanted to! Its instincts screamed. Kill. Kill! Kill her!!
Before it realized what it was doing, the demon slowly turned its body. It charged forward, radiating killing intent as if it had never tried to flee.
“That’s it! This is what I wanted!!”
Like a fisherman who had hooked a big one, Cain burst into wild laughter and welcomed the demon with open arms.
Yes. A fisherman. Cain was the one who had cast the line. And the bait dangling from the hook at the end of that line was—
“L-let me go!!”
Estelle, dragged along while caught in Cain’s grip.