Sunset (1)
The moment I saw the black-haired man’s aura, I realized one thing.
‘······The level is completely different.’
I wasn’t seeing someone of high rank for the first time. But most of them had been suppressing their presence, and even Charles, whom I had felt once before, had adjusted her power to match the level of the students. I had never experienced their full, unrestrained aura.
‘No, this isn’t even his full power.’
The sun still hung in the sky, uncertain when it would set. That meant he wasn’t going all out. ‘But how?’
Only low-ranking, inferior demons could appear at the entrance of the Demon Realm. The reason was the Transcendents.
‘They must be holding the demons back in the middle section.’
When I first came to the Demon Realm, I had asked Vincent why only weak demons appeared at the entrance.
‘I see. But no matter how strong they are, they can’t cover the entire sky with their hands.’
No matter how powerful the defenders were, they couldn’t block every single gap. This man had probably slipped through one of those openings.
‘I have to stop him.’
He had snuck in by avoiding the Transcendents. If I couldn’t stop him here, his steps would eventually cross the North and reach the lands where ordinary people lived.
‘But how?’
His aura felt so overwhelming that even the three of us combined would struggle to win. That didn’t necessarily mean he was stronger than every expert I had met so far, nor did it mean we couldn’t win. But our chances of victory were overwhelmingly low. And once the sun set, the situation would only get worse.
‘Should I give up?’
The pressure of his demonic energy grew stronger the closer he came. It felt like it might crush my mind. I turned my head with that thought.
On my left, Siris had gone deathly pale but was still staring directly at the black demon. Christina was holding on, radiating light. Neither of them looked like they had any intention of giving up.
‘······Ha. I really am still weak.’
I wouldn’t give up. If it doesn’t work, make it work. Weren’t those my favorite sayings?
‘I can’t be the first one to throw in the towel.’
Not when I hadn’t even fought yet.
Fwoosh.
I steadied my mind and raised my flames.
“Oho······.”
Interest sparked in the man’s previously emotionless eyes the moment he saw my flames.
“I see. So that’s how it is.”
The man muttered to himself.
“You’re the one who carries the surname of ‘Ifrit.’”
His voice was low, so I couldn’t catch everything, but one word struck my ears clearly.
‘······Ifrit?’
Ifrit. It was the surname I had chosen on a whim, a word that held no meaning. Yet this man spoke as if it carried some deeper significance.
“Nameless Ifrit, my name is Hal. It is only proper to know the name of the one who will kill you.”
The demon who wore the form of a man with jet-black hair—Hal—did not answer my question. He simply muttered to himself and raised his hand. The interest had already vanished from his eyes.
“Then.”
A vast amount of demonic energy gathered in Hal’s hand and shot toward us. He had already withdrawn his aura and turned away, treating us as good as dead. He judged that this would be enough to kill us.
Whoosh!
Before I could react, brilliant light burst from Christina’s body. The light illuminated the world, even piercing the darkness, and formed into a single massive sword. Christina, having created the blade of radiance, swung it down with all her strength.
Tssssss!
A terrible roar echoed. Light and darkness, two forces that could not coexist, clashed in an eerily even standoff.
“Ugh······.”
Christina groaned and poured even more brilliance into her sword. The darkness was absorbed by the light. She had managed to cut it because their compatibility was decent. But her trembling arms told me the opponent was far stronger than she had imagined.
Hal, hearing the sound, turned back around.
“······.”
His eyes were wide open. He clearly hadn’t expected his demonic energy to be sliced apart. Once again, interest bloomed within them. And this time, that interest included not only me but Christina as well.
“Intere—”
Crack!
Before Hal could do anything, Siris stretched out her hand and used frost to bind his legs.
Fwoosh!
Since he had withdrawn his aura, I was free to move. I unleashed a haze of flames and charged straight at Hal.
“······.”
Even with his legs bound, his expression didn’t change at all.
‘Is this a trap?’
His face was so calm that the thought crossed my mind. In fact, I started to feel like I was the one in danger.
Boom!
I slammed my foot into the ground and stopped my charge.
“Tsk.”
Whoooosh!
Hal clicked his tongue and threw a punch. Even though the distance was great, the sound of cutting wind was crystal clear. Demonic energy trailed after the strike like a shadow.
“······.”
Just as I had expected—a trap. If I hadn’t stopped on instinct, my life would no longer belong to this world.
“Your senses are better than I thought.”
“······.”
Hal casually moved his legs, withdrew his fist, and took a stance. Just from his posture, I could feel an intangible pressure. I watched him for a moment before retreating to rejoin my companions.
“······.”
Hal didn’t seem to have any immediate intention of attacking.
‘But I don’t know when he’ll strike.’
This was the same bastard who had tried to kill us from the very first moment we met. The reason he was staying quiet was probably because he was organizing his thoughts.
‘A surprise attack won’t work.’
A predictable ambush against someone stronger than you was meaningless. Unless I could find a real opening, such an attack would be no different from begging to be killed.
‘What should I do?’
We hadn’t even properly fought yet, but just thinking about breaking through that aura to reach his neck or heart made me feel hopeless.
“Adel.”
At that moment, Christina called my name. When I turned around, pure white light flowed from her body and wrapped around mine.
‘This is······.’
A sense of stability I had felt somewhere before washed over me.
‘It’s similar to Lord Helen’s smoke.’
It felt like the healing smoke I had seen in the training grounds. But this healed not the body, but the mind.
“Don’t worry. We’re going to win.”
She gave me a gentle smile, as if to reassure me.
“······That’s right.”
Siris, standing beside me, also offered a natural smile.
“Yeah.”
There was still hope. Then there was no reason to give up. I smiled back at them and turned my gaze forward.
There stood Hal, no longer hiding his power. He had opened everything.
I endured it, forcing myself to hold on.
“This will be fun. All three of you.”
He looked up at the sky.
“About three hours.”
When I followed his gaze upward, I understood what he meant.
‘The time until sunset.’
The fact that we couldn’t easily kill Hal meant he couldn’t easily kill us either. But that balance would shift once the sun went down.
“If I’m still alive by then······.”
Grin.
Hal looked at us and gave a spine-chilling smile.
“All three of you will die. Though you might all be dead before that.”
Gulp.
I swallowed dryly and prepared for his attack.
“······!”
In the brief moment I blinked, Hal had already appeared in front of Christina.
Kaang!
Demonic energy so hideous it was painful to look at shattered the sword of radiance. This time, there was no terrible roar. That alone proved how serious Hal was.
Whoosh!
With the next barrage of attacks, Christina urgently created another blade of light to block. Bang!
She was sent flying along with her sword, becoming a streak of light that disappeared into the gap between the trees Hal had walked through.
“······.”
All of this had happened in less than three seconds. She had blocked the attack, so she wasn’t dead, but she couldn’t even launch a single counter.
‘Is this guy insane······.’
I didn’t even have time to think.
Thud!
Hal’s fist slammed into me, who had been standing right beside her.
“Ugh······.”
Because I had wrapped my entire body in flames just in case, the impact was slightly reduced. Slightly. It still hurt like hell.
Thump. Thump.
My body, sent flying by the punch, crashed into the snow.
‘Fuck, that hurts······.’
As I lay there enduring the pain, I heard the sound of another impact. At the same time, I heard something collapsing. When I lifted my upper body, I saw Siris collapsed right next to me.
‘Wait a second.’
Right now, all three of us were down. That meant no one was left to respond. So who would Hal kill first?
‘Me, right?’
He had emphasized “Ifrit” while looking at me. His interest had first appeared when he looked at me. Realizing that, I hurriedly stood up and released my flames to their maximum.
Boooom!
Hal’s fist, flying toward me with the clear intent to kill, collided with my own.
“······Ifrit. I’ll kill you first.”
Staring into his eyes filled with killing intent, I raised my Battle Qi. With the will to win and flames wrapped around my fist, I struck out at Hal.
Hal lightly parried it and gathered demonic energy around his foot, aiming for my abdomen. I deflected it with my knee and fired the hidden flames, forcibly pushing him away.
“······.”
“······.”
A short stalemate that seemed ready to break at any moment. I quickly searched for Christina.
‘Where is she?’
She had been sent flying into the dense forest. Since I had gotten up, she should have recovered too. But if she wasn’t helping, there had to be a reason.
I focused my eyes and stared hard in the direction she had flown.
Flash!
In an instant, for the briefest moment, light appeared and vanished.
‘There she is.’
I knew that was Christina’s signal.
‘She’s creating an opening.’
The only reason she wouldn’t appear was to launch a surprise attack.
“······.”
I looked at Hal. He wasn’t looking at me. His gaze was fixed on the forest—the exact spot where the light had just disappeared.
“Over there, huh.”
With those words, Hal condensed his demonic energy and fired it toward that location.
Something felt off.
Whoosh!
This time the light didn’t flicker and vanish like before. It remained steady.
“······.”
Without saying a word, Hal condensed the same unsettling demonic energy and launched it toward Siris as well.
Crack!
I didn’t look, but I could feel the urgency in the frost she was creating. Feeling uneasy at the sight, I asked,
“······What’s going on?”
The light was still maintained, so she wasn’t dead. I could also feel the chill of frost, so she was still alive. Contrary to my expectation that he wouldn’t answer, Hal replied readily.
“The one I will kill first is you, Ifrit. They are not dead. I told them to stay out for about two hours.”
“······.”
I couldn’t believe it. Since when did demons speak kindly? No. The demons I knew were beings that whispered, leading people toward the most dangerous path in difficult situations.
But I couldn’t check for myself. The moment I turned my back, Hal’s demonic energy would pierce my heart.
‘Let’s think positively.’
Whether I believed it or not, nothing would change. Thinking positively would make things turn out positively. Everything was fine, but······.
“······That damn Ifrit. What the hell is Ifrit anyway?”
Why was he acting like the name I had randomly chosen had some deep meaning?
Hal’s eyes widened at my words. He seemed more surprised than when we had survived his first attack. Then he nodded.
“You don’t need to know. You’re going to die anyway.”
It seemed he had answered his own question and ended the conversation.
‘······That pisses me off. I’m going to win.’
He was talking like he had already won. No matter what, I would win.
Fwoooosh.
I gathered every last bit of the flames I had released at maximum output around my body. Battle Qi. I raised my will to win to its absolute limit.
“······.”
Clear killing intent flowed from Hal’s eyes, sending chills down my spine. At the same time, extreme Battle Qi radiated from my own eyes. The prelude to battle had reached its peak.
Booom!
My desperate fight had begun.
When I came to my senses, a red sunset was setting in the sky.