The Saintess Calls Him Hero
The moment the demon saw Kyle perched on the Saintess’s shoulder, it conjured a new mouth right there and tried to swallow him whole. Feeling the ground vanish beneath his feet, Kyle instantly blasted Aura from his soles to stop his fall into the creature’s body. Landing on a nearby rooftop, he wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Right… I forgot.
The demon before him wasn’t a creature of flesh and blood. It was a being woven from mana and magic. Its two arms, two legs, two horns, and a face with eyes, nose, and mouth had made him overlook that simple truth. This form was nothing more than a disguise meant to spread its name. The demon could reshape its body at will.
—Grrroooaaah…
Having lost its prize, the demon let out a low, disappointed roar before slowly beginning to walk toward the outer walls. It moved as though intent on devouring every last human it could find. Kyle leapt down from the roof without hesitation.
Along the path the demon took, the undead it had absorbed were stuck to its ankles, writhing helplessly. Kyle drew a sharp breath and severed the demon’s ankle in one clean stroke, freeing them. The Aura Blade sliced through flesh, and the now one-legged demon lost its balance and crashed to the ground.
Thud!
The fallen demon turned its head toward its severed foot and spotted Kyle standing there, grinning with an Aura Blade in hand. A furious roar tore from its throat as rage consumed what little reason it had left. Its body melted into an amorphous mass and surged toward Kyle like a crimson tidal wave.
Kyle kicked off the surrounding buildings and vaulted onto a rooftop. Insane… Even he couldn’t cut water with a sword. Swinging at that jelly-like mass would only get him swept away and devoured.
The demon reformed into a humanoid shape and lashed out with an arm. The blow, powerful enough to level an entire building, shattered the structure beneath Kyle’s feet. As Kyle was flung into the air, the demon hurled its own body after him.
“This bastard…?”
Falling through the sky, Kyle let out a dry laugh as he watched the demon spread like a net to engulf him. The creature wasn’t even treating this as a fight. Just as humans didn’t consider battling flies or mosquitoes, the demon saw Kyle as nothing more than an annoying gnat.
It was the first time Kyle had been dismissed like this since becoming a Master. Even he was starting to feel his pride sting.
“Fine. Let’s play, then.”
He transferred the sword from his left hand to his right and began pouring Aura into his left. The energy coalesced into a second blade. Gripping an Aura Blade in each hand, Kyle launched himself at the demon.
He cut. He swung. He slashed and tore and rent the world itself. By the time the red mist of blood around him began to blot out the sun, Kyle had already pierced through the demon’s body and emerged on the other side.
The demon, carved open by Kyle, tried to return to its human form—only to freeze in confusion as it looked down at its chest. A gaping hole had been punched straight through it. The power of an Aura Blade that prevented regeneration.
Kyle leveled his blazing blue blade at the demon and delivered its final sentence.
“Go back to whatever hell you crawled out of, you illegal alien bastard.”
Clack.
He brought both swords together. The combined Aura Blade grew until it was large enough to cleave the demon in a single stroke. Faced with that star-like brilliance, the demon reflexively tried to reshape its body and dodge—but Kyle’s sword was faster.
The Meyer-style lightning strike. The demon’s body disintegrated completely, scattering in every direction. Kyle watched the last traces vanish, then carefully sheathed his blade.
“…Haa.”
He flopped down on the rooftop and exhaled. He had burned through so much Aura that his heart was hammering wildly. Afraid he might pass out if he relaxed even for a moment, Kyle bit his lip and stared up at the sky. The remains of the demon he had slain burned beneath the sun.
* * *
—Gurgle… glurk…
The demon was a being of mana. Even if only a fragment of its body remained, it could regenerate its entire form as long as it had enough mana. Each severed piece possessed its own will. The large chunk that Kyle had cut off first had watched its main body get torn apart and decided it was time to flee.
Escaping wasn’t difficult. The lump slipped into the city’s sewers and quickly left the territory behind. Riding the current out of the city took almost no time at all. Before long, it emerged on a riverbank far beyond the domain and began drifting toward a larger body of water—most likely the sea.
Its journey didn’t last long.
“Oh my.”
A woman riding a horse looked down at the lump with a calm, steady gaze. Demonic energy. There was no way she could fail to recognize a piece of demon flesh when it was right in front of her.
“—O God, Your enemy lies below.”
The moment the woman recited a prayer from atop her horse, the lump turned to ash and vanished. Once she confirmed the demonic flesh was completely gone, she turned to the holy knights following her.
“Andrei, search downstream and upstream from here. Check if any other pieces remain.”
“Yes, Saintess. Understood.”
“We’ll increase our speed.”
The woman called the Saintess spurred her horse toward the Etaline territory. Hundreds of holy knights followed in her wake.
* * *
“Careful! Move slowly!”
“The black mage is dead, but his spells might still be active! If you don’t want to end up a corpse like him, don’t touch anything carelessly!”
Right after Kyle slew the demon, Count Meyer began directing his soldiers to search for any remaining traps around the territory. Mages cast detection spells with every step while knights trampled the ground with siege engines to uncover hidden dangers. Advancing at a painstaking pace of one meter per minute, the count’s forces suddenly noticed something approaching from afar and shouted in alarm.
“Wait, halt! Stop right there! That area is full of traps—!”
“—O God, purify this desolate land.”
The moment the woman who had arrived from afar offered her prayer, a pure white pillar of light descended upon the Etaline territory. The count’s mages, realizing that every trace of black magic had vanished in an instant, stared in shock as the woman who had erased all the dark spells with a single prayer slowly approached.
Recognizing her by her pink hair alone, the count bowed respectfully.
“The head of House Meyer greets the Saintess.”
“Ah, so you are Count Meyer. I am the Saintess, Lagrisha.”
The Saintess—the second-in-command of the Holy Kingdom, treated with respect equal to or greater than the Pope herself. The count knew exactly what it meant for someone chosen by God to appear here in person.
“The reinforcements the Empire was supposed to send…”
“Ah, that isn’t us. We came here after receiving a divine revelation.”
“A revelation…?”
“That a demon would descend and bring ruin to this land… Though it seems we arrived a step too late.”
Lagrisha spoke while gazing at the ruined city. There was no sign of the demon anywhere. If it had still been alive, the city wouldn’t have merely been damaged—it would have been completely erased, and not a single living soul would have remained. In other words, someone had already slain the demon.
Just who could it have been?
She hadn’t come all this way for nothing. Demons weren’t beings that could be defeated so easily. No ordinary soldier or Expert-level knight could possibly kill one. Yet none of House Meyer’s knights stood out as particularly remarkable. Even if such a powerhouse existed, it would be strange for them to remain under a mere count…
“Haaam… Father, can I get a mage to make some shower water?”
At that moment, Kyle appeared, his entire body caked in chunks of blood and flesh. The Saintess took one look at the demonic remains clinging to him and realized he was the one who had slain the demon. Watching him speak with the count, she quietly approached.
“I’ll wash you.”
“Oh, I’m always happy to accept the touch of a beautiful lady.”
Kyle turned toward the pink-haired woman with a bright grin, completely unaware of what she meant. As he stood there, Lagrisha quietly offered a prayer, and light rained down upon his body. Watching the blood and flesh stains vanish completely, Kyle finally realized who she was.
“……This is…”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am the Saintess, Lagrisha.”
The Saintess looked up at him with sparkling eyes.
“May I ask for the Hero’s name?”