58. Calamity Star
58. Calamity Star
To recover its strength, it absorbed every last bit of the Demonic Energy it had stockpiled. When even that wasn't enough, it absorbed the Demonic Energy that had been maintaining the Labyrinth's form.
It was Demonic Energy gathered over nearly 300 years, but it felt no regret.
Rather, it was glad. The bloodline of a Hero. A descendant of the cherry blossoms.
That loathsome pink. That absurdly pure Mana. And the strange feeling emanating from that small frame.
If it devoured that, if it took that wench, it could reclaim all its power. That was why it could gladly throw away 300 years' worth of Demonic Energy.
And so it swallowed all the Demonic Energy, healed its wounds, and recovered a portion of its prime strength. Even its appearance changed.
No longer the hideous melted form abandoned by Labyrinth, but the beautiful upper body of a woman and the sleek lower body of a serpent.
The form of a lamia.
"Hah, haah... Ahahah...!"
Having returned to the form of its prime, forgotten for the past 400 years, the Demon split its lips wide in a radiant smile.
Its entire body tingled with the sense of omnipotence suffusing it.
Its lower body grew slick and wet, and a moan escaped its lips unbidden.
The thick Demonic Energy spread from deep within its body to its fingertips and the tip of its tail.
With this power now, it could tear apart the loathsome cherry-blossom descendant standing right before its eyes.
The Demon, which had been gazing at its own beautiful naked body, looked forward.
It saw people who had fainted, foaming at the mouth, crushed by the characteristic pressure the Demon exuded.
The two insignificant wenches who had dared oppose it had collapsed to the ground, trembling in terror, and the platinum-haired wench who had suddenly appeared hadn't fallen, but she was in no state to move.
For a human—for a human standing before one who had once been a high-ranking Demon—that was the natural reaction.
Thinking so, the Demon giggled and looked at the one whose reaction it was most curious about: Eliarnes.
Eliarnes was.
Smiling.
Not a nervous laugh born of terror.
Not a hollow laugh. Not a self-deprecating laugh.
Like a child who had received a gift, like cherry blossoms blooming in spring, she was smiling prettily.
"Ahahah! You've completely lost your mind."
Eliarnes had lost her senses.
Unable to overcome her fear, she had gone mad.
Convinced of this, the Demon slowly approached Eliarnes. As it did, it leisurely swept its gaze over her body. Her fair skin. Her sweat-damp nape. Her moist lips. Her clear eyes. And her loathsome cherry-blossom-colored hair.
Her slender body, her seemingly soft skin, the dizzying scent still faintly wafting from her—all of it made the Demon's mouth water.
"The moans you'll let out, the blood you'll spray, the expressions you'll make... I can't wait. Ahahahah...!"
The chilling laughter spread through the museum's interior. At the same time, a delighted giggle spread as well.
It was Eliarnes's laugh.
She spoke.
"I can't wait either."
And she reached behind her back.
In that instant, the Demon felt an inexplicable unease.
It couldn't let her swing a weapon like that.
That intuition jolted through its entire body. It erased its composure. The void was filled with urgency.
Why? Before it could even consider the reason—
"You're fucked now."
The girl closed the distance in an instant and whispered. At the same time, she swung the dagger in her small hand. It was only a dagger, barely a handspan long, yet it surged toward the Demon's throat.
The Demon thought little of it. It sharpened its claws and moved to knock the dagger away.
But.
CRRACK—
"...Huh?"
Its claw broke. Not only that, the tip of its finger was shorn off.
Although the dagger shattered to pieces and the wound healed in an instant, a mere dagger had cut into the Demon's flesh.
Of course, it wasn't impossible.
Wasn't this the wench who had burst Demon hide and broken bones with her bare fists?
So it was entirely possible with a dagger, the Demon thought.
But something. Something was strange.
The feeling that wench gave off.
Long ago, in the very distant past.
400 years ago, it had felt this.
That unease.
The Demon's eyes narrowed. Grinding its teeth against the unknown emotion creeping up its body, it flared its Demonic Energy. —CRRACK. Two arms burst from its back, spreading like wings.
Then, with its four hands, it picked up weapons fallen on the ground and wrapped its entire body in Demonic Energy.
Normally it could have used a lamia's Authority, but its body was not in perfect condition. So it had no choice but to take up weapons that didn't suit it.
Two swords, a spear, and a greatshield.
"Pathetically imitating a human."
Seeing that, Eli kicked off the ground once more.
"If you're a Demon, act like a Demon, you dumbass."
With a thick curse, the small girl swung a massive hammer. KRAAANG—! The hammer struck the shield. A dizzying impact rattled the Demon's mind.
The shockwave blasted outward in all directions, shattering glass cases and kicking up thick dust. Within that chaotic scene, cherry-blossom-colored Mana rippled serenely.
At that sight, the Demon felt déjà vu.
A terror etched into its instincts made its body tremble.
Clack-clack—its teeth chattered, and its breath tightened.
The Demon ground its teeth, its jaw trembling, and asked.
"...Who the hell are you?"
Eliarnes answered with a giggle.
"You got beaten that badly, and you still don't know?"
*****
The Demon, upon hearing my answer, let out a grotesque shriek and went on the attack. But far from attacking, it couldn't even move properly. I didn't let it.
I hurled the hammer into the air, picked up an old sword, and swung it at the Demon's throat. The Demon desperately raised its shield. But it was meaningless.
FLASH—!
Cherry-blossom-colored Mana flashed.
And in an instant the Demon's eyes couldn't even perceive, the sword was driven between its ribs.
"...What is this."
A dazed mutter escaped it.
The Demon's face twisted at my bizarre movement. Even so, I didn't stop moving. I released the sword I had driven in and picked up the hammer I had swung moments ago.
I swung it. KRAAANG—! A tremendous impact shook the space. The fierce recoil pushed my body backward.
It didn't matter.
Rather, it was what I wanted.
I grabbed the axe lying on the ground right in front of me. I immediately kicked off and ran. A downward chopping motion from above. The Demon reacted. Its two arms wrapped in Demonic Energy shot upward.
At the same time—FLASH!
Once again the cherry-blossom-colored Mana raged, and the axe's trajectory changed. From right to left.
THUNK—! The axe buried itself in the arm wrapped in Demonic Energy.
"What on earth is—"
Terror-filled confusion rose on the Demon's face.
"Th-this... this movement is—"
An expression of realization crossed its face. Whether it had realized anything or not, I forcibly yanked the sword from the Demon's side. SCHLK! Black blood spurted. Without sparing it a glance, I swung the sword.
In that fleeting instant, countless thoughts seemed to race through the Demon's mind. It seemed to be agonizing over how to block this attack.
"Idiot."
No matter how long a mere Demon agonized, it couldn't keep up with my movements.
I flared my Mana. I poured it into the old sword. Then—paseuseu, the sword shattered. Immediately, I grabbed the Demon's hair with my empty hand. With the other hand, I picked up one of the weapons rolling on the ground.
I didn't choose. I just grabbed, checked, judged, and swung at the right spot.
Work that had to be done in a split second.
It was a fighting style where one misstep meant instant death, but I'd fought that way for half my life.
What I grabbed this time was a dagger.
Not bad. SWISH! I drove the reverse-gripped dagger into the bastard's forehead. Then—CRUNCH! I twisted and pulled it out.
I released the dagger that had shot upward along with viscous brain matter. Immediately, I drove my knee up into its forehead.
At the same time, Aura exploded outward.
"Aaaaaah!!"
KRAKOOOM! With a sound like tearing thunder, the Demon staggered. Seizing the opening, I pulled the axe lodged in its arm and chopped down.
CRUNCH—! I took my eyes off the axe buried deep in its shoulder and picked up the spear I had positioned beforehand.
"You insolent, insolent wenchhhh!!!"
As I picked up the spear, the Demon widened the distance.
A distance the spear couldn't reach. Then I just had to throw it.
I shifted from my thrusting stance and drew my body back.
I extended my right arm back. I thrust my left arm forward.
The shaft beside my cheek, the spearhead at the end of my gaze.
Then I twisted my hips and squeezed my thighs.
And so, my whole body, bent back to a dizzying degree, became a bowstring.
CRACKLE— Mana flared to its limit and settled into the bowstring. Then it flowed and gathered into one point.
From shoulder to arm. From arm to forearm. From forearm to wrist. From wrist to hand.
The moment it arrived.
THUD. I planted my back foot hard and hurled the spear.
FWOOOSH—!
The air tore as the spear shot forward.
Immediately, I grabbed two daggers that had fallen to the ground and chased after it.
THUNK! The launched spear impaled the Demon's abdomen.
At the same time, I hurled the daggers. One buried itself in the bastard's hand. The other was driven into its wide-open eye.
Now my hands were empty.
But weapons were scattered everywhere.
I bent my upper body and picked up a mace. My legs didn't stop. Closing the distance at high speed, I immediately swung the mace.
THWACK—! The mace's heavy head smashed into the Demon's skull. I swung the mace, which was beginning to break, once more to knock its arm aside, then grabbed whatever weapon came to hand.
This time, it was an ordinary bow.
"Ah, fuck."
I swung the bowstaff wildly, smashing it into the Demon's mouth, then stepped back. I kicked up a weapon caught at my feet and grabbed it. A hand axe. I swung it upward from below. The Demon reacted to my movement. A tentacle slithering from between its jaws tried to coil around my wrist.
I couldn't let it touch me.
FLASH—Mana burst with light. The path twisted once more. The axe that had been swinging up from below swept from left to right instead.
CRUNCH— The hand axe tore through hide, shattered ribs, and drew out a great gout of black blood before breaking.
Then I closed the distance and swung a sword.
When the distance widened a little, I thrust a spear.
I swung a poleaxe in a wide arc. I smashed down with a shield, tore tentacles with a hand axe, shattered the shield with a battering ram, and smashed the skull with a mace.
When there were no weapons, I used knees, elbows, fists.
When the distance widened sharply, I fired a bow. I threw javelins, used crossbows and slings.
When the Demon reacted at close range, I forcibly detonated the Mana dwelling in my joints to twist my trajectory.
I held my breath to the limit. I didn't think. I didn't block attacks. The moment I started blocking, I'd be pushed back. I couldn't block in the first place. If even one hit landed, this frail body wouldn't hold up.
So.
I dodged and struck. Dodged and swung. Dodged and thrust.
I devoted myself to attacking. I gave it no opening to attack.
I read the bastard's wild, flailing movements, deflected what needed deflecting, picked up weapons, swung, attacked, dodged, redirected, threw, broke, and cut.
If once wasn't enough, I repeated it twice, then three times.
There was no need to use a weapon suited to the situation—by using that weapon, I created the situation.
It was like dancing on the edge of a well-honed blade. But I was used to it.
And so ten, twenty, thirty.
By the time every weapon in the museum had been shattered and fewer than five remained.
The Demon, all four arms severed and half its lower body torn apart, stopped moving. Its Demonic Energy subsided, and the Barrier surrounding the outside began to thin.
The end was approaching.
"Hoo..."
I forcibly steadied my ragged breathing and looked around.
The interior of the museum, so wrecked that even the word "ruin" seemed too tame, came into view.
And right beside me, I saw a suitable weapon to kill the bastard.
I picked it up and drove it into the heart of the Demon, which was dying with its whole body ravaged.
"I'm tired. Just die already."
*****
"...You... you, just what..."
The Demon looked at the human who had driven a dagger into its heart. It looked at the figure who, even after a battle lasting nearly an hour, stood there without a single drop of blood on her.
After losing the flow, it had been pushed back continuously.
When it attacked, she dodged, deflected, and counterattacked. When it read her movements and reacted, pink Mana flashed and her trajectory twisted.
It couldn't read her. There was no pattern.
No tics. No habits.
Her face was full of composure, and even her breathing was calm.
And she was cunning, meticulous, and tenacious.
She knew how to fight it—how to fight a Demon.
She had the ability to actually carry out that method.
And she took it for granted.
"You, just what... is your identity..."
Wearing an arrogant smile, holding an axe.
Wrapped in ominously rippling Mana, she approached.
At that sight, the Demon felt an uneasy sense of déjà vu.
The arrogant smile. The eyes tinged with a ghastly air.
Countless weapons. Attacks that couldn't be opposed.
Unreadable patterns. Movements. Speed.
"No way..."
The memories of 400 years ago overlapped with today's memories.
The memory of its horn being broken overlapped with today's memories.
The memories from before it was abandoned overlapped with today's memories.
The flames of Purgatory.
The raging star.
"...Ah."
And so it remembered.
The star that led the Sacred Sword, the symbol of death.
The star that burned Demons and raised Holy Flame.
The star that brought about magical Calamity.
The star that summoned overwhelming violence.
The star that led the four Heroes and brought disaster to Ge Vihenum.
Ronan Luzarak.
As all Demons called him.
The Calamity Star.