Insane

"Insane."

"Insane."

"He cut the Thousand-Kill Swordsman down that easily...?"

"Someone like that actually existed?"

"He's a lich. A lich. How does a lich beat the Thousand-Kill Swordsman?"

"Right? I had money on the swordsman..."

"An undead revolt, then."

The second match, shocking as it was to the demons, came to an end, and from there Yujun tore through the bracket in an unbroken rush all the way to the finals. He had no wish to waste time, but more than that, not a single demon entered in the tournament could withstand his attacks. It was less that the demons were weak than that Yujun was simply too strong. Even a demon who held a count's title lost his life to a single blow.

Anything short of a duke or the Demon King really isn't a problem.

As for a duke or the Demon King, he couldn't say for certain. He had never properly fought either of them.

Unallocated points are already at 190, too.

He could hardly tell when they had piled up that high.

His opponent in the finals was a marquis among the demons, handsome enough to make the eyes fly open. For a moment Yujun thought he was looking at an elf, and the man's popularity matched the face.

"Stez! Stez!"

"Marquis Stez! You have to win!"

"Undead—you put one scratch on Lord Stez and I won't let it go!"

"Teach that ugly undead a lesson!"

The female demons, especially, cheered with feverish devotion.

"Ugly? That's a bit much."

Do Jiyun muttered, plainly put out. She was in an undead form herself, and so shared Yujun's predicament. An undead against a beautiful demon—the gap in popularity was no joke.

"You really are a Lich Lord, aren't you? Looking at you, all that comes out of me is admiration. That was remarkable magic. Most of them don't seem to realize it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but your control over mana has reached the very limit."

"Thanks for noticing."

"I'll face you with everything I have."

Handsome, and well-mannered besides. Wasn't that a little unfair?

Among demons, the higher the title, the greater the resistance to magic. Not everyone, but most. That did not mean magic failed against them outright. He had fought with magic alone not long ago and still beaten Duke Jonas.

Yujun drew his mana up.

In that instant Stez was already directly in front of him. Yujun's eyes went wide. Faster than he could even register?

Stez's gauntlet slammed into his body.

Unable to brace against the impact, Yujun was flung backward and crashed into the barrier. The collision was deafening, but the damage was not great—his defense was simply that monstrous. Even so, being struck in the span he had failed to perceive came as a small shock.

That isn't just speed. It feels like Blink, but I don't think it is.

A movement skill of SS rank at the very least, if he had to guess.

Stez's face had already settled into the certainty of victory, only for his eyes to fly wide when he saw Yujun unharmed.

"Wh-what? How?"

He was sure he had struck the body before any shield could open. He had been wearing the gauntlet; he had felt the hit in his hand. More than that, a lich who led a mighty army was supposed to be frail. That was the normal way of things.

Did I hit an illusion?

Thousands of times. Tens of thousands. He had dropped that many foes with this gauntlet, and the impact just now had not been the feeling of cutting empty air. A shield had not stopped it either.

Then what?

The Lich Lord was drawing his mana up again as if nothing had happened at all. Stez's gaze turned grave.

I'll know if I try once more.

He activated the SSS-rank skill High-Speed Movement.

This time the lich did not simply take the blow. The air shuddered hard, and the space Stez reached began to warp.

Damn!

He had already committed to memory the spell the man had used on others. He had never expected it at a timing this exact. Stez chained High-Speed Movement in a panic. Cast in succession, the skill's mana cost tripled with every use, and it was a costly skill to begin with. He barely tore free of the warped space and dragged in a ragged breath—vertigo, and a headache like an awl driven through the skull. Mana exhaustion. He could not use High-Speed Movement again.

Stez knew he had lost. He threw a hand up in haste, and Yujun looked at him in puzzlement.

"Begging for your life?"

"You could call it that."

"What is it?"

"His Majesty the Demon King finds you suspicious. Your identity can't be confirmed, and a Lich Lord this strong appearing out of nowhere is a rare thing."

"Why tell me?"

"As you said. I'm begging for my life. I don't want to die."

"Honest."

"That's how you stay alive."

"Hoping I'll show mercy?"

Stez nodded. The barrier kept the crowd from hearing any of it, but the lengthening standoff was enough for them to guess the shape of things.

"I for—!"

Stez was on the point of crying forfeit when Yujun quietly invoked Space Domination. This time he twisted only a very small space, and Stez never noticed the attack aimed at his life.

His neck snapped.

The empty death of one particularly adored marquis.

All of it was experience. Gather enough dust and you had a mountain; he was not about to let a chance to kill a demon slip by.

And so the martial tournament that had set the demons' night ablaze came to an end. The jeering from the female demons was ferocious.

The Demon Realm's obsession with looks is no joke. Not so different from Korea.

The thought came out of nowhere, and Yujun let out a short laugh as he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠stepped down from the arena.

Anyway. How is this actually playing out?

The organizers had made no approach at all. The Demon King was certainly aware of his existence, and knew part of Jonas's plan—and yet he had taken no action whatsoever.

Is something already moving where I can't see it?

Yujun returned to his companions. Do Jiyun smiled as she spoke.

"Congratulations. You won."

"It was a foregone conclusion."

He said it with a flourish, and Do Jiyun's expression locked stiff.

"......"

"I'm joking."

So he said, but it was not a joke. He had seen the level of the entrants and been certain he would win, and the result had come out exactly as he had expected.

Up through a marquis, I don't even need the consumables in my inventory.

In truth, if he had fought properly he could have finished Marquis Stez in an instant. He had only wanted to confirm how strong a marquis really was.

What... the System is giving out the reward for this, too?

Rewards of this kind could come only from the System.

Then the tournament itself has been recognized as content?

That, he could understand. And it brought relief.

If the Demon King or one of his subordinates had handed the prize over in person, I might not have been able to receive it at all.

Yujun waited with anticipation. A reward influenced by Luck. He had consumed that exceedingly rare item, the Ring of Fortune, and his Luck had been permanently and drastically increased. His prize was certain to stand on an entirely different level from those of any other champion.

A fair amount of time passed. Then a group radiating a formidable presence walked toward where Yujun and his companions stood.

A rush of air, then a shattering boom. Without a word of warning they poured Dark Demonic Energy straight at Yujun. He was not late in raising a shield, and he turned the blast aside. One third of the mana he possessed—all of it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spent on that shield. Solid and dense for exactly that reason, it held the Dark Demonic Energy off with ease.

"Wh-what?"

"Aren't those the Demon King's Royal Guard? Why are they suddenly—?"

"The lich is the champion. And yet..."

The demons murmured among themselves. A sudden assault on the winner of the tournament—they were every bit as lost.

The Demon King's Royal Guard: a company of twenty-five powerful demons who remained at his side and guarded him at all times, whether or not some crisis had arisen. Their authority was immense. Save for the Demon King himself, they ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠obeyed no one's command, and their strength was acknowledged by friend and foe alike. The pressure rolling off them was no small thing.

"What are you doing?"

Yujun asked. One of the ten demons who had attacked him answered.

"You have committed the grave crime of taking part in rebellion. We will deliver stern punishment. Surrender quietly."

So it's finally started.

He could more or less piece the situation together. Even so, he decided to play ignorant to the end.

"Taking part in rebellion? Me?"

"Yes."

"What did I even do? Did winning the tournament piss you off that badly?"

"We have no reason to explain ourselves to you."

Treason. The Demon Realm might run on survival of the fittest, but the weight of rebellion was still considerable.

"The tournament champion, a rebel?"

"Was the Lich Lord trying to become Demon King? When he isn't even a demon?"

"Has a lich ever become Demon King in all of history?"

The Royal Guard's shocking declaration set the demons stirring. And then the Guard moved as one.

Each of them was no weaker than Stez, whom he had just fought. Several surpassed him.

I can't afford to take this lightly.

Yujun drew a supreme-grade mana potion from his inventory. A single vial of it was worth comparing to an elixir that cured every wound and illness. He hauled up every drop of mana he held, and the vast store inside him emptied in an instant. Drawing it all at once was an ability in itself, and Yujun possessed that ability.

It'll recover soon enough anyway.

His mana regeneration was high. Mana began to well back up at once. The supreme-grade potion was only a precaution.

The floor shook hard. Mana poured out in a quantity the ground could not bear, and the entire banquet hall began to tremble. The Royal Guard, visibly shaken, put on speed and closed in. Yujun grinned.

Space Domination. He seized every space but his own and made the whole of that vast hall his possession. Aside from the Royal Guard and a handful of noble demons, no one understood that fact.

There was a reason his Ancient Magic had been judged EX+ at the beginning—EX++ now. Because he could cast a wide variety of spells? Because strange, unfamiliar magic was included among them? That had some influence. But the greatest reason for the EX+ judgment had been raw power. Whatever spell he used boasted tremendous force. Even something as plain as a fireball, in his hands, struck with the might of a high-order spell like Hellfire, because the rank was that high. On top of that, Yujun was equipped with every manner of item that amplified magical power.

The ten members of the Royal Guard charging him stopped dead at the same moment. Not by their own will. Arms and legs bent into grotesque shapes, as if something had seized them. A horrific sound rose from all of them at once—bone crushing, flesh pulping. Compression, and then compression again. Of the ten, not one retained an intact form. A single cast of Space Domination had annihilated them.

"...Insane."

"What did I just see?"

Reactions like those were, if anything, the sane ones. Most of the demons simply stood with their mouths hanging open, unable to understand what had just happened.

"Hmm..."

Yujun was a little surprised himself.

Didn't need this after all.

The supreme-grade mana potion he had been holding just in case, he quietly slipped back into his inventory.