Miserable Defeat (3)
“What’s with all of you? Looking like you’ve just seen something you weren’t meant to.”
“······.”
At the Demon King’s words, not a single soul could open their mouth.
Not the soldiers who had been drinking and celebrating only moments before. Not the ones who had never once doubted their victory. Every last one of them froze solid at the sight of the Demon King, who had somehow entered their camp and was now perched casually on a rock.
“Strange. Why no answer?”
She rose from her seat and began to walk.
“You came all this way hunting me down. Wasn’t this the situation you were hoping for?”
The Demon King’s voice. The Demon King’s footsteps. Even the sound of her breathing reached them with perfect clarity.
And still, of the two thousand soldiers present, not one could move.
Just one person. Only a single person—and yet they could do nothing but watch as she walked all the way to the center of the camp.
“Well then. Tell me. What exactly was that plan of yours for defeating me?”
A faint smile touched her lips as she spoke.
The sheer pressure of her presence kept the soldiers—and even Damian—from daring to approach.
And at that sight, Yuli could only feel panic rising.
H-how the hell is this possible? Wasn’t she wounded by Kyle?
The fact that she wasn’t already dead or on the run was lucky enough. But he had never imagined she would be standing there looking this intact.
He had watched with his own eyes as Kyle’s Holy Sword stabbed and slashed her dozens of times. Even for a demon, those weren’t wounds that could heal in a mere two months.
Damn it. Should I run for it right now?
If he ordered the soldiers to charge and used the chaos to escape, he might still make it out alive. With this many troops, they could at least buy him enough time to flee.
He was turning the options over in his head, about to decide—when a thought stopped him cold.
…No. Wait a second.
In the moonlight that had just broken through the night sky, he saw it.
Blood was seeping through the clothes the Demon King wore. Cold sweat was running down her neck.
If she could have won outright, she would have attacked the moment she arrived. There would have been no need for all this posturing and stalling.
In other words, it was pure bluff. Proof that the wounds Kyle had given her still hadn’t fully healed.
Heh. Of course!
More than that—to reach this place without anyone noticing, she would have had to pass through the village. They had deliberately left that village undefended so the demons could attack it. And yet the village had suffered no damage at all. Demons had no reason to simply walk past a soft target like that.
Which meant she didn’t even have the strength left to raid a single village.
Once that realization settled, there was no more reason to hesitate.
Yuli bellowed at every soldier present.
“All units, prepare for battle!! Target is the Demon King and her remnants!”
The shout snapped the soldiers back to their senses. They scrambled for their weapons and turned them toward the demons.
As the moonlight shifted, they could finally see it clearly themselves: the demons who looked barely able to stay on their feet, and the Demon King herself, breathing hard.
In an instant the situation flipped.
Yuli stepped forward, face full of triumph.
“Well, Demon King? Still curious about my plan?”
“…So it was you after all. You’re the commander here.”
“What, thinking of begging me for your life? I wouldn’t mind hearing it.”
He spread his legs and pointed between them at her.
“Crawl through here and I’ll let you live. Hell, I’ll even make you my personal bitch as a special favor.”
Even if she was the Demon King, her looks alone put the imperial princess to shame. Cut off her hands and feet and keep her as a toy—she’d be perfect for it. The common folk would go wild for the sight of the Demon King reduced to that.
But she showed no reaction to the words. She simply spoke, low and quiet, the reason she had come all this way.
“If you’re the commander, then answer me. Where is the Hero Kyle right now?”
“What?”
“I asked you where the Hero Kyle is.”
What the hell kind of nonsense was this all of a sudden?
The question was so out of nowhere it left him speechless—yet she had never looked more serious.
“Is he… truly dead?”
“Ha. Fuck. How long has that bastard been dead and you’re still dragging his name out?”
“…What did you say?”
“Hey. Forget that shit—you’re about to die, you get that? Still haven’t figured out the situation? You actually wanna die?”
Yuli’s face twisted as he spoke.
He never expected anyone would still remember Kyle’s name. Hearing it after so long only made the irritation surge.
She, on the other hand, simply stood there, dazed.
“So… he really is dead······.”
The death of the Hero Kyle. She neither raged nor rejoiced at the news.
He hadn’t even been of her own kind, and they had only met twice. If anything, his attacks had left her hovering at death’s door.
“Hey, what are you doing? If you don’t wanna die, hurry up and crawl over here.”
And yet… the moment she heard he was dead, something inside her chest felt hollowed out.
And that hollow place needed something else to fill it.
“Your blood will do nicely.”
“What?”
With those words she bared her long claws.
At the same time, the hundreds of crimson eyes behind her flared with light.
The sudden movement threw the soldiers into confusion.
“…Hey. What the hell are you doing right now?”
“The crime of defiling my duel. Did you truly believe I would simply let that pass?”
“Ha. You fucking bitch. I was even thinking of leaving your legs attached, but never mind.”
Yuli alone remained completely at ease.
He had watched the battle between Kyle and the Demon King with his own eyes. He knew exactly how badly she had been wounded. Even now, watching her gasp for breath, he grinned.
“All units, prepare for battle!”
At the order the soldiers leveled their weapons at the demons. Damian and the rest of the party had already taken their places at the front, ready for combat.
“Don’t you dare freeze up!! They’re barely even standing!”
“Y-yes, sir!”
Even the rank-and-file could see the demons were in terrible shape. Morale had never been higher. Yuli looked at the surrounded Demon King and snickered.
“Well? Starting to get the picture?”
“······.”
“Don’t worry. I was planning to kill you, but looking at that face of yours changed my mind.”
He drew two daggers from his coat and made a cutting motion toward her hands and feet.
“I already killed Kyle, but I’ll specially let you live.”
He smiled lewdly as he said it.
For the first time, the Demon King’s brow twitched.
Yuli turned to the soldiers and gave the order.
“All units, charge!!”
“Waaaaaaaaaah—!!”
At the signal the entire force surged toward the Demon King as one.
The plan was simple.
Damian at the vanguard would drive the Holy Sword into the Demon King, and Yuli would finish the job for good. The remaining demons would be handled by the soldiers. That was the core of it.
And just like last time, Alice had already raised a barrier of holy power so none of them could escape. Emilia and Muni were positioned for rear attacks, Jain assigned to support Damian—everything arranged perfectly.
A flawless plan. Against a Demon King already half-dead, it was almost overkill.
Or so it should have been.
“…You killed the Hero?”
Until the Demon King drew her Demonic Sword.
Who could have predicted that a body so close to death could still swing a Demonic Sword larger than herself?
Just before Damian’s Holy Sword could reach her, the Demonic Sword that had been stabbing at the moonlight came crashing straight down into the earth.
KRAAAAAAAAAANG!
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaah!?”
The first thing that reached them was the soldiers’ horrific screams.
Kuuuuung—
Then the sound of the ground splitting in two, and a cloud of dirt and dust exploding upward.
“D-damn it! What the hell just happened!?”
Yuli, who had been outside the Demonic Sword’s range, spun around shouting.
But the surroundings were buried in dust; nothing was visible.
“Gyaaaaah! S-save me!!”
“Guhk— m-my arm. My arm!!”
All that came from inside the cloud were the pitiful screams of soldiers. He couldn’t begin to make sense of what had just unfolded in an instant.
That damn bitch. To think she was still hiding this much power.
A Demon King was still a Demon King, it seemed.
But there was no way a body in that condition could unleash an attack like that twice. This had to be her final thrashing.
Yuli clung to that belief and waited for the dust to settle.
“Everyone stay calm! Once we have visibility again, return to your positions and reform the line!”
“Ghh… yes, sir!”
The soldiers answered his command. He immediately began searching for Damian.
“Damian! Damian, where are you!”
He had to be somewhere nearby. Anyone else could die, but Damian absolutely could not. Only by driving the Holy Sword through the Demon King’s heart could they sever the head of a body that had turned to undying stone.
“Damn it. Damian! Answer me! Where the fuck are you!!”
“M-Master······.”
Thankfully he wasn’t dead.
His voice came from not far away. Yuli sprinted toward it.
There he found Damian, wounded, leaning against a rock.
“Damian. You alright!?”
“Hah… hah… Master. P-please… save me.”
A look at the wound showed his waist had been slashed. It was serious, but not immediately fatal. Holding the Holy Sword was the only reason it had stopped there. Without it he would have been split clean in half like the other soldiers.
“D-damn it! Hang on. I’ll bring Alice right now—”
“And then?”
Thud.
His heart dropped.
A familiar voice spoke right behind him.
“Who exactly did you say you killed?”
“D-Demon King!?”
The instant he heard the voice Yuli swung his dagger—
Clang—
—only for it to shatter against the Demon King’s claws. Her hand closed around his arm instead.
“Guhk— w-wait!!”
He even threw away his remaining weapon, begging desperately.
No answer came.
Krrrrrk—
She simply yanked on Yuli’s arm—
“W-wait just a second! Let’s talk—”
Shhhhk!
“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!”
With a scream, Yuli’s arm was torn clean off.