Visitor in the Darkness (2)
“It’s Hyter after all!”
The Windsor Knights were returning to the capital after completing their subjugation mission. A knight named Silon rode up alongside Hyter, who was leading the way on horseback.
“Ugh—that was insane. I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.”
“It wasn’t a big deal, so quit making such a fuss.”
“How could I just sit there after seeing that? It’s every knight’s dream!”
Nods all around. The other knights, who’d been stealing glances, bobbed their heads in agreement.
Hyter had discovered a dungeon, grumbled about the hassle, and obliterated the whole thing with his Extreme Art. He’d been the picture of cool.
The Extreme Art—a technique only those with titles beyond Sword Demon could wield. Yet in the Windsor Knights, it wasn’t all that rare.
Hyter found it a bit burdensome.
“Why are you acting like it’s your first time seeing an Extreme Art?”
“We only get to see it whenever Sisilia does hers!”
“What, you haven’t seen Sisilia’s yet?”
Hyter convinced himself the moment he said it.
“Yeah, fair enough. Sisilia’s not the type to waste power.”
“Do you know it, Sir Hyter?”
“Why ask something so obvious? I’ve been on missions with her a few times.”
“Ooooh!”
The knights’ eyes sparkled. Thirty grown men shining like that was kinda creepy.
But the knights’ one and only woman—and a ridiculously cute, beautiful one at that. Stories about Sisilia were impossible to resist.
“……Her technique’s called Wind Shear, I think.”
“Oh! Sounds like it shreds with wind, right?”
He’d guessed from the name, blades of wind.
But Hyter shook his head.
“Nah. That’s a domain.”
“A d-domain?!”
His eyes bulged.
“There aren’t even that many across the entire Arcadia continent!”
“She doesn’t seem to like it much herself.”
Hyter shook his head in disbelief.
“She’s always going on about how it’s not really a domain, or how Wind Shear is just a plain old barrier.”
“Can you tell us what it does?!”
“That thing? Nothing special. If you’re inside it, you’re dead.”
“Pardon?”
He blinked at the absurd, cheat-level performance.
Hyter shrugged.
“Now spill the details, sir!”
“I don’t know the full story. Sisilia never tells anyone. We all just speculate. Stay in the domain too long, and death’s guaranteed. The stronger the opponent, the longer it takes. But get this? Sisilia’s never kept her domain up for more than two minutes.”
“H-how strong is Sisilia, exactly?”
Hyter, who’d been bragging proudly, suddenly clamped his mouth shut.
……How strong is Sisilia?
The funniest joke he’d ever heard. Because Hyter had witnessed it himself.
—Forget what you just saw. And stop insisting my barrier is a domain when you’re drunk.
Sisilia effortlessly butchering a high-rank demon without batting an eye.
—Or I’ll get mad. Really, really mad.
And her warning.
Gulp.
“……Everything I just said is top secret, got it? If Sisilia finds out, she’ll flip.”
**
A man. There was a man.
“Intriguing.”
His eyes were blood-red, like they’d drunk deep of gore—and his skin was so pale it lacked any hint of life.
He stood beside Sisilia before she knew it. As if he’d been there from the start.
Shhh—.
Darkness fell over the capital.
Not natural shadow, but an impossible one.
The air felt shockingly cold. And heavy.
This presence was at least Demon Duke level. No—perhaps the Demon King.
An irregularity that shouldn’t exist in the capital right now.
“The goddess’s power… has weakened, hasn’t it?”
For everyone else.
Sisilia glanced sideways, searching for the Windsor Knights.
Their pupils were dilated, bodies trembling helplessly. Terror had paralyzed them completely.
But they were alive.
Sisilia let out a small breath of relief.
“I thought it was merely a foolish minion’s rampage.”
……Minion?
The demon from a few days ago, by the flames? There wasn’t enough info to confirm.
“And yet.”
The demon looked at Sisilia.
Arms casually behind his back, he’d infiltrated the heart of the Liannen Kingdom without a trace of tension.
“You’re not afraid of me?”
Sisilia was the same.
“……Should I be?”
The demon’s interest shifted from the flames to Sisilia.
After staring at her with chilling eyes for a long moment, he answered leisurely.
“No need.”
The demon turned back to the flames.
“Human. What’s your name?”
“Sisilia of the Windsor Knights.”
“Cain Baltarion, Duke of the Demon Realm.”
Sisilia tilted her head.
“You’re just a duke? Somehow I doubt that.”
Cain’s unchanging red eyes flickered with surprise. He chuckled softly.
“‘For now,’ I am a duke.”
Meaning he’ll become the Demon King soon. And even stronger than this.
……This is a problem. Asking newbies to take him down would be too harsh.
Sisilia rested her hand on her sword hilt, adjusting the difficulty.
Fwoosh.
In that instant, formless energy burst around her.
Cain’s brow twitched faintly.
“A domain-type Extreme Art. Impressive talent for a human.”
“Just a simple barrier. Wouldn’t want to wake people with noise pollution.”
A dense wall of wind enclosed the area.
At the same time, the four uninvited Windsor Knights were pushed outside.
They coughed like they’d been holding their breath too long.
Sisilia confirmed, then sealed the barrier.
Now no one could enter or see inside.
“Shall we fight?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t matter to me.”
Before Cain finished speaking, his presence swelled enormously.
Whoosh—.
The already flickering flames shook violently.
They teetered on extinction but reignited repeatedly.
Still, it was as good as half-dead.
“Not you, though.”
“……”
Crack—.
A fracture spiderwebbed across the entire barrier.
Cain hadn’t done anything special. He’d simply amplified his presence, piercing Sisilia’s barrier.
Stronger than I thought.
Sisilia revised Cain’s individual difficulty upward.
Probably stronger than the real Demon King.
By Another World standards, this guy outclassed the Demon King outright.
Could the entire Windsor Knights take him?
The answer came instantly.
No.
Sisilia calmly lowered her hand.
Cain smirked with amusement.
“Looks like you’re the one who killed my minion.”
As she pondered how to lure him without seeming suspicious—
A familiar voice rang out.
—‘Damn it, what the hell’s going on?’
—‘I-is this Lady Sisilia’s domain?’
The subjugation squad was back.
Of all the timings.
The barrier was half-shattered. Blocking the demon’s fear aura was all she could manage now.
They could enter easily if they tried.
But reshaping the wind flows would mean taking her eyes off Cain—and she couldn’t.
—‘High-rank demon intrusion! Silon! Rally the entire Windsor Knights! Everyone else, follow me to aid Sisilia!’
—‘Yes, sir!’
“A pleasant interlude, but it seems we have uninvited guests.”
Don’t come.
Sisilia pleaded inwardly, but of course, no one listened.
“Gah!”
The knights collapsed the moment they entered the barrier, unable to withstand Cain’s presence. Like dominoes.
“Damn it all.”
Only Hyter, a high knight, gripped his sword and barely held on.
Don’t.
Sisilia wanted to scream it.
But she couldn’t say it aloud. The demon would read her.
That she didn’t want them to die.
If he knew her wish, he’d twist it into the opposite.
Demons were like that.
“Sisilia—! I’ll make an opening!”
Hyter overcame the fear and charged full-tilt, swinging his sword.
Clang!
Sisilia blocked his blade in an instant and spun a kick into him.
“Guh!”
His body rocketed into the wall from the precise strike to his gut.
“Wise choice.”
The demon was still watching the flames.
“You just saved quite a few lives.”
“……”
“But it’s also displeasing.”
Cain reached toward Sisilia’s head.
She didn’t flinch, just watched.
His hand passed her head, toward the flower crown.
The moment it touched—
The crown, unable to withstand the aura of death, shattered.
“As an uninvited guest, this will be my toll.”
Cain moved to leave, as if he’d seen all he needed.
Ah.
Sisilia stared blankly at the sky.
Petals scattering to dust.
Losing their vibrant hue, reduced to gray powder.
The face of the child who’d smilingly placed the crown on her head flashed in her mind.
Sisilia, who hadn’t blinked at a Demon King-level being, faltered.
Grit.
Hold it in.
Fighting him here would end the city.
Her barrier didn’t work on him.
Battle would turn the area to rubble.
I have to hold it in.
The child who gave her this flowerbed, the Windsor Knights over there—they’d all die.
No.
Think rationally.
Full war with the demon now? The outcome would be her standing alone in the capital’s ruins.
“Consider this a warning.”
Her silver-blue eyes darkened coldly as her sword aimed precisely at Cain’s throat.
“Step foot on this land again…”
The demon glanced at the blade before his neck.
“And you die.”
Her tone stated plain fact.
Indifferent red eyes brushed over Sisilia.
She stared back with icy resolve.
What is this?
Tremble.
Cain’s hand shook faintly.
Fear. The survival instinct any living thing feels.
A new emotion. What do you call this?
But alas, he didn’t know the word.
He only felt it, faintly.
“Sisilia, was it.”
She was different from the pathetic humans.
“I look forward to it.”