The Great Demon's Descent
Black Magic
A forbidden art outlawed by the founding emperor after he suffered terribly at the hands of its users. Per the official setting of Dairos Academy, it involves contracting with demons to borrow power by consuming life force in place of mana. The source of that life force is irrelevant. Black mages exploited this by kidnapping powerless civilians to fuel their spells. Those who reached higher realms went further, driving conduits into the earth itself to drain its vitality. Unable to watch the world wither, the emperor declared a purge and eradicated every known black mage within the empire.
The problem is that black magic cannot be truly erased.
Unlike the ivory tower of magic—built over countless generations through the accumulated wisdom of sages—black magic was power granted directly by demons. Even if the word and concept were scrubbed from existence, some ignorant back-alley vagrant could awaken as a black mage overnight. Supernaturally occurring black magic like this could never be fully eliminated by human hands. The best anyone could do was drive it out of sight.
“Just what is he thinking… I can’t understand it at all.”
The Count muttered to himself as he stared at the castle ahead. Viscount Etalin’s stronghold—the fortress of a noble suspected of colluding with black mages. Sure enough, the man wasn’t even trying to hide his crimes. The gates were sealed tight while thick waves of black magic energy rolled out from within.
Sensing that power, the Count drew his sword and shouted.
“His Majesty’s reinforcements won’t arrive for another three days. And if we give those black mage bastards that much time, they’ll slip away and vanish again. There’s only one thing left for us to do.”
Bring the hammer down on that damned black mage.
The moment the Count finished speaking, the family mages began their chants. Siege spells—devastating magic meant to shatter fortifications—slammed into the castle walls with thunderous booms. Right behind them, the knights hauled enormous siege weapons forward, charging the defenses. Watching the scene, Kyle felt something was wrong.
“Father, how many people live in the Etalin territory?”
“Roughly the same number as in our Mayer lands.”
“Then…”
The black magic energy pouring from the territory was unnaturally vast. Kyle roughly calculated how much life force a single person could yield and realized it was impossible to generate this much power without tens of thousands of living sacrifices inside the fief. He immediately understood what that implied.
A black mage who had reached a high realm could steal life force from the land itself rather than from people.
“Everyone retreat—!”
“Kyle!?”
The Count looked flustered at the sudden cry. The knights charging the walls turned back with confused expressions, wondering what he was shouting about. But it was already too late.
Corpse Explosion
A cruel black magic that transforms human corpses into living bombs. The unprepared knights were swept up in the blast.
The corpses planted around the territory detonated with a deafening roar. Knights caught in the blast were hurled through the air, rolling across the ground and groaning in agony.
Kyle clicked his tongue at the sight.
“All forces, fall back! The enemy is a Master!”
At his command, the knights hesitated and began retreating. Charging into a castle occupied by a master-level mage was suicide. The longer a mage had to prepare, the stronger they became—and inside their own workshop, their power could reach absurd levels. If the black mage had turned the entire castle into his personal sanctum, they were already trapped in the palm of his hand.
“—Kyle, may I ask a favor?”
“Of course. Leave it to me.”
After all, a Master should be handled by another Master.
Kyle thought of the barbarian tribes that had once threatened the northern Great Wall. Compared to that colossal barrier, the walls of Etalin Viscount Territory looked small and pathetically fragile.
“Spear.”
“Y-yes? Here it is!”
He accepted a spear from a nearby soldier, closed his eyes, and poured aura into the weapon. The excessive amount made the spear tremble violently. The moment the aura began spilling out from the shaft, Kyle hurled it.
SWOOOOOSH—!!
The spear rocketed forward like a missile, propelled by pure aura. It slammed into the castle wall and punched straight through, carving deep into the interior.
Kyle clicked his tongue again, looking annoyed.
“Put in a bit too much. Next.”
“Yes!”
“Keep bringing me spears I can throw.”
“Understood!”
Receiving a fresh spear, Kyle infused it with slightly less aura this time and hurled it again. The castle wall crumbled. As it collapsed, the magical barrier protecting the fortress began to fade. With the barrier gone, the mages’ bombardment and catapults finally started landing solid hits. If things continued this way, the entire Etalin territory would be reduced to rubble.
“I’ll head in first. Follow at your own pace.”
“Head in first? Where exactly do you think you’re—”
Kyle ignored the Count’s question and sprinted straight into the Etalin lands. Black-magic traps triggered beneath his feet, trying to bind him, but they weren’t nearly strong enough to slow him down.
With a sharp whistle of wind, he leaped clear over the broken wall and landed inside the castle grounds. The moment he touched down, he spotted the undead waiting for him and broke into a grin.
“So that’s why there weren’t any soldiers.”
They were already dead.
Kyle swung his blade, sending the undead back to the grave, then scanned the area for any sign of the black mage. Barging straight into a black mage’s workshop was dangerous even for him, but he had no choice. He didn’t know what the mage was plotting, and wasting time would only make things worse.
The instant that thought crossed his mind, the lord’s castle in the distance exploded outward as a massive demon burst into view. Kyle’s grin widened.
“There you are.”
He charged straight toward the revealed demon.
* * *
“Urrgh… Y-you bastard, how dare you…!”
Viscount Etalin frantically slapped at the black mage’s arm as it gripped his throat, gasping in pain. The bodies of his vassals and knights lay scattered across the floor around him.
The black mage, whose goal had been the lord’s life from the start, ignored the resistance and steadily drained the viscount’s life force. In a world where individuals could wield superhuman power, a noble with authority was either a powerful superhuman or the seed of one. After absorbing a lord whose life force and soul were incomparably richer than any commoner’s, the black mage chuckled while checking his harvest.
“This should be enough.”
Every ounce of life force belonging to the territory’s residents. The accumulated vitality of the Etalin lands themselves. It had taken years to gather it all, yet it would be spent in a single instant.
The black mage groaned as he felt the power draining from him like water through a broken vessel.
“Come forth, my master…!”
The black magic energy he had collected began flowing down through the lord’s castle. The entire territory glowed crimson as a massive magic circle—centered on the castle walls—activated. A gate to the demon realm tore open, and the creature writhing within lifted its head.
A body large enough to be seen from outside the castle. Bright red skin. Two horns and wings sprouting from its head. The partial avatar of the Great Demon Diamon.
—Kuuooooooo—!!
The demon that had descended upon the earth let out a savage roar.
* * *
“O-ohhh! Great Demon!”
Perdun, the black mage who had taken control of the Etalin territory, burst into wild laughter at the sight of the daimon he had summoned. Thousands of lives from the territory’s residents and years’ worth of the land’s vitality had gone into this ritual. The resulting monster looked like it could bring about the end of the world.
“It was I—Perdun—who called you forth—!”
Perdun spread both arms wide as he shouted. The daimon heard a whimpering sound at its feet, reached down, and carefully lifted the black mage who had summoned it. Then it casually tossed him into its mouth.
Crunch. Crunch.
As he was chewed alive, Perdun’s face twisted in agony even as he continued laughing.
“Haha—uhahaha! For this grace, for this gr—!”
Crunch. Gulp.
The daimon swallowed the black mage in a single bite, then rolled its eyes as if still unsatisfied. Its gaze turned toward the humans standing beyond the castle walls.
There was plenty of food out there.
Where do you think you’re going?
As the creature began to move, it noticed something perched on its shoulder and shifted its eyes upward. Kyle stood there, a massive Aura Blade held casually in one hand.
“You’ve got to fight me first.”