Chapter 108: If You Lose, You Have to Do What You Don't Want to Do
Chapter 108: If You Lose, You Have to Do What You Don't Want to Do
After letting the horses graze, we sat on a hill to rest.
A gentle breeze fluttered through our hair, but a bloodthirsty wind still seemed to blow within the heart of the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon.
"How did you kill the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord?"
I let out a short laugh.
"You called my kindness persistent, didn't you? Your own persistence is no less than mine, Lord Smiling Demon."
"Don't you want to brag? At your age, Second Young Master, most would want to shout it to the whole world. 'I killed the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord! So lower those arrogant eyes before me!' Don't you want to be the 'Supreme Under Heaven'?"
"I do have a bit of a vain streak, but I'm not the type to claim credit for something I didn't do. It's true, I am strong—strong enough to warrant such suspicion. However, I did not kill her."
I stuck to my denial until the end. To give a man like the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon any information that could be used against me was the same as handing him my throat. If I spoke out of a momentary surge of emotion, I would regret it for a long time.
"Fine. Then let's have a bout, you and I."
I knew it would come to this eventually.
Watching my skill in dealing with the assassins must have filled him with a burning desire to fight me. By killing those assassins, he had become a beast that had caught the scent of blood. His long-suppressed desires were rearing their heads.
"I refuse."
"Why?"
"It is foolish for us to fight each other when we are facing powerful enemies."
"We only need to fight enough to avoid serious injury, don't we?"
"Once a fight starts, it's only natural for things to get heated."
"I won't get heated."
"I will. If I truly am strong enough to kill the Soul-Seizing Demon Lord, as you suspect, would you be able to handle me once I lose my cool?"
"Hearing that only makes me want to fight you more."
He was like a volcano, lava bubbling and spitting over the rim. To prevent a major catastrophe, I had to let some of that lava flow out today.
"Let's do it!"
"No."
"Many assassins died today. Do you really think they'll attack again before the day is even out? It's realistically impossible."
"There's another reason I don't want to."
"What is it?"
"Whether I win or lose, it's a loss for me."
"What do you mean by that?"
"If I win, you'll want to kill me. If I lose, you'll lose all interest in me."
"And why is it good for me to be interested in you?"
"I have only one goal. If you become my ally, it will be a decisive force in helping me become the successor. I wouldn't care if every other Demon Lord became my enemy."
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon snorted.
"You say that, but next time you'll probably try to win over another Demon Lord, won't you?"
"Is it that obvious? How did you know?"
"It's plain as day."
He possessed a deep-seated distrust of humanity.
"I'm sorry, but I cannot sail in the same boat as you, Second Young Master."
"And why is that?"
"You know why. The Demonic Path you dream of is not my Demonic Path. So there's no need to try and impress me. That Flattery Divine Art of yours is nothing but a waste of mental energy."
"Even so, I'll keep trying."
"Why?"
"Because I have nothing to lose by doing so."
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon laughed. It seemed my answer suited his temperament perfectly.
"That's an excellent reason. If you had said some nonsense about liking or respecting me, it would have had the opposite effect."
How wonderful would it be if the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon were only this much—if this was all there was to him?
But this was merely his clothing. It was the shoes he wore and the mask he put on. His true essence lay beyond this.
"So, let's fight. We're destined to never be friends anyway."
The world he showed to others was not his true world.
I knew the real world of the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon.
That moment when his eyes roll back and he sees nothing, when that madness erupts and no one can stop him—that is his true world. Only in that moment does he feel alive.
Right now, he was only holding back because of his curiosity toward me, because of the uniqueness I displayed by pushing into areas he hadn't considered.
Normally, he wasn't the type to beg for a fight. He was the type to simply pounce with intent to kill. I couldn't let him realize just how much he was restraining himself.
"Fine, let's do it."
"!"
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon looked startled. He clearly hadn't expected me to actually agree.
"Good! Let's start right now!"
He laughed loudly, looking genuinely delighted.
"Lord Smiling Demon."
"What is it?"
"Do you see that tree at the far end over there?"
"I see it."
"Let's start with a contest of lightness skills."
Before disappointment could flicker in his eyes, I quickly added, "If you beat me in lightness skills, I will spar with you."
"Fine."
A hint of disdain crossed his gaze. Since he was confident in his lightness skills, he was naturally certain of his victory.
"If I win, please grant me one request."
"Name anything."
"Have a drink with me tonight. You don't have to take off your mask. You can just lift it slightly like this to drink."
I mimicked the motion of lifting a mask to take a sip.
"Second Young Master."
"Yes?"
"Lift it slightly to drink? You really are a bit of a madman. I've never seen anyone so persistent."
I laughed like a madman at his words. This was the method I had chosen to deal with a lunatic. He called it persistence, but I called it steadfastness.
I would knock, and knock, and knock on the same spot again. And the place I was knocking was his mask.
"Fine. If I lose, I'll drink."
"Shall we begin, then?"
We stood shoulder to shoulder. It had been a long time since I'd had a lightness skill competition.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon asked me, "Have you ever competed in lightness skills before?"
"Yes. Exactly once."
"Against whom?"
Against you.
"Against an old friend."
"You're so young, yet you have 'old' friends?"
"There was one real bastard."
"I probably would have liked him."
"Most likely. Or you might have hated him because you're so similar."
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon gave me a strange look at my cryptic smile.
"May I start first?"
"Go ahead."
"Here I go!"
As I dashed forward, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon followed leisurely behind.
He caught up to me in an instant. He ran ahead of me as if mocking my speed. Glancing back, he called out, "Did you really challenge me to a lightness skill race with that level of skill?"
"It's not over yet."
I couldn't close the gap until we rounded the tree we had set as the turning point.
Of course, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon was on his guard. He knew well enough that I wasn't the type to propose a match I was destined to lose.
However, no matter how he looked at it, it didn't seem like he could possibly lose to me.
With the finish line drawing near, he allowed himself one last bit of leisure.
"So the Second Young Master has a weakness after all. You finally seem human."
"What did I seem like before?"
"A monster. You're so young that you make people let their guard down, but underneath, you're a monster."
"Like this?"
The moment he turned his head, wondering what I meant—
Swoooooosh!
I suddenly accelerated, lunging forward. I caught up to him in the blink of an eye. I had finally unleashed the Rapid Speed Step of the Wind God Four Steps, which I had been hiding until now.
My Rapid Speed Step, powered by my extreme internal energy, was truly lightning-fast.
Belatedly, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon surged his internal energy to chase me, but the gap only widened.
"Stop right there!"
Pee-ing!
He fired a Blood Calamity Finger from behind. Since it was meant as a warning, it whistled past my side.
As I neared the finish line, he unleashed the Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palm. Caught up in the heat of the competition, he sent it grazing past my head, though he couldn't bring himself to actually hit me.
The tree in front of me shattered and collapsed. Leaves showered down on my head as if celebrating my victory.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon arrived a moment later, killing intent radiating from his body. He strode toward me as if ready to strike at any second.
"Are you going to lose twice in one day?"
My calm words had an effect.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon might have been a villain, but he wasn't a petty man.
Instead, he took his anger out on the sky. He unleashed a series of Demon Extreme Wild Rage Palms into the air, each one filled with immense frustration. Thunderous booms echoed through the clear sky.
I waited for him to cool his head.
After venting his boiling rage, he asked me, "What on earth was that lightness skill?"
"It's a hidden technique I kept as a trump card."
"I'm asking what it's called."
"I can't tell you. It's a trump card, after all."
He refused to accept the defeat.
"Let's go again. From start to finish using that skill."
He was angry about losing, but he seemed even more furious that he had lost because he let his guard down.
"Next time."
I hopped onto my horse and set off first.
A whirlwind of killing intent surged behind me once more before eventually settling into silence.
Clop, clop.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon followed a short distance behind.
I could feel the heat coming from behind me. It was the heat I wanted. His lava was overflowing toward me.
Yes, your madness. Relieve it that way, at least a little.
*
That night.
The Extreme Evil Smiling Demon and I set up camp. Since we had traveled so slowly, the next village was still quite far away.
From across the campfire, he watched me prepare the game I had hunted. He hadn't said a single word since the afternoon.
The good thing about a campfire is that it makes any silence feel natural.
I roasted the prepared meat and offered it to him.
"You can take this into the carriage and eat."
Finally, he spoke.
"Why aren't you mentioning the drink? Is it because you think I'm trash who won't keep his word anyway?"
I responded calmly to his barbed words.
"I'm going to."
He was momentarily silenced by the unexpected answer.
"Of course we have to. I ran so hard to win, after all."
"Then why haven't you brought it up?"
"I was planning to eat first. You don't seem to like alcohol that much. You don't like drinking with meals, do you?"
"If you knew I didn't like it, why did you insist on it?"
"Because it's a penalty. If you lose a match, you have to do what you don't want to do."
He stared at me silently, then looked down at the meat I had handed him.
Then, suddenly, he lifted his mask slightly and began to eat.
I was surprised.
I hadn't expected him to lift his mask and eat in front of me so easily. I thought I'd have to bruise his pride a bit more to get him to do it. His unpredictable whims were an area I couldn't control.
"It's bland."
"The salt is here."
As I reached out, the salt resting on a spread-out piece of leather rose into the air. His eyes widened at the sight. He knew that lifting countless tiny grains with Telekinesis was far more difficult than lifting a single solid object.
Shhhhhhh.
The salt flew through the air and sprinkled over his meat.
His eyes trembled as he looked at me. The desire to fight me was flaring up again.
"It's still bland."
"Without even tasting it?"
I smiled at him, knowing he just wanted to see more of my techniques.
"They say eating bland food leads to a long life. The Demon Doctor said it, so you can believe it."
"Second Young Master, you really are..."
He started to say something but trailed off. What was he going to say? That I was a madman? That I was annoying? Or...
He went back to eating his meat. After watching him for a moment, I began to eat as well.
Once our hunger was somewhat satisfied, I brought out the liquor. Since we camped often, our supplies never ran out of alcohol.
Again, he lifted his mask slightly and drank. For someone who said he hated it, he drank quite well.
"I'm not even taking the mask off properly. I must look quite pathetic, don't I?"
"You don't exactly look dignified."
"Finally, you're being honest."
"That's why I like it. It's uncomfortable being around people who try too hard to look dignified. You can see that just by looking at my older brother."
Suddenly, the Extreme Evil Smiling Demon used a bone to draw a long line in the dirt. Then, he drew a vertical line where I had drawn one before.
"Where am I now? You said you'd spare me if I made it this far. Have I reached it yet?"