The Heavenly Demon's Disciple
The peak of the mountain, encircled by a sea of clouds, rose into view. I had been resting in a wooden pavilion when an elf suddenly sat up, her gaze locking onto me.
Euris Flintwood. The same elf I had once faced as an enemy.
“You are the saintess of the hero party.”
Her voice carried a cool edge, but I felt no real threat in it.
“Your body is frail, yet you made it this far. What is your purpose?”
I didn’t know the answer to that either.
Why had I come here?
After regaining my senses, I had simply kept walking without direction.
“It seems you went through something unpleasant.”
“…”
“Say something, at least.”
“…Yes.”
A rough voice scraped out of my throat, sounding as if it belonged to someone else.
“Let me see.”
Euris swept her eyes over me slowly, her gaze as deep as an abyss.
“You have been abandoned by the goddess.”
Her insight startled me.
“It’s a pity.”
I didn’t ask how she knew. Instead, she offered something entirely different.
“How should I live from now on?”
I had lost every companion I had, and even the goddess had turned away from me.
I had no meaning left to continue living.
The church had treated me with icy indifference, claiming I had committed some heinous sin that led to my excommunication.
A heavy future stretched before me, with no bright light at the end.
“Why are you asking me this?”
Euris rose from her seat and stood before me. Because she was taller by at least a head, I had to crane my neck to meet her eyes.
“Your future is for you to decide. Why ask someone else?”
“…I don’t know.”
“Foolish. Life is originally a journey without a clear destination.”
The darkness in her eyes had softened into something warmer.
“Just live as you please. Don’t worry about what anyone says.”
It wasn’t a stirring declaration, but every word sank into my mind like a thorn.
“Do you have something you want to do?”
Yes.
The euphoric state I had found at the moment of total defeat.
I wanted to feel that thrill again.
“It seems you do.”
Euris smiled brightly and rested her hand on my shoulder.
“Forget about other problems for now. Go do what you want to do. It’s not difficult, is it?”
It was indeed simple.
“I have a request.”
I had decided.
How I would live from now on.
“Take me as your disciple.”
First, I needed to regain my combat strength. Without holy power, I was weaker than an ordinary person.
I wanted to become stronger rather than weaker, even if it meant facing total defeat.
“Look at this guy…”
“Is it not possible?”
“Your attitude of asking isn’t proper.”
Upon realizing what she meant, I immediately dropped to the floor and prostrated myself.
“Please accept me as your disciple.”
“Yes. Welcome.”
Only then did a satisfied smile touch her lips.
***
My master was strong. In her prime she had been on par with the Demon King, chasing power that reached the heavens. It was no wonder she had earned the title of Heavenly Demon.
Of course, in this world there was no such thing as martial arts. I had simply made it up for the sake of coolness.
Anyway, the opponent was an elf who had reached the highest level through aura and magic. I could not face her with trivial movements.
So, before attacking, I mentally simulated the battle, planning the best offensive moves.
How should I extend my fist? Where should I focus the aura?
Thoughts raced without restraint. Imagination began to take on concrete form as it advanced toward prediction.
After a moment of deep thought, I presented the result of combining several possibilities.
“You must exert your full power.”
It was the result of objective analysis, not a provocation. My master did not seem particularly displeased.
“A cheeky disciple.”
Even though the words were like that, her mouth curved into a faint smile, revealing her teeth as if pleased.
-They are exactly the same! That elf has the same personality as you!
At that moment, an annoying intruder who didn’t notice the situation slipped in without realizing.
“Quiet. Shall I give you another punishment?”
-I’ll be quiet.
Only after the Sun-bask habit closed her mouth did the atmosphere grow quiet again.
“I’m really going.”
“Go.”
From the beginning, with full power. I stepped forward strongly and ran ahead, the speed placing a heavy burden on my legs.
Ordinary opponents would have difficulty reacting. But the opponent was a being who had stepped into the realm of the extraordinary.
A green aura barrier rose up, blocking my path. Without any delay, in an instant.
Impressive aura control. It was surprising, but it didn’t make me shrink back.
I lightly shattered the aura barrier with my body and continued running without stopping until I reached my master.
A distance that could be reached with just my arms extended. I extended my fist burning with aura, filled with respect and power.
My fist collided with my master’s face. Her body shattered as is, and her figure disappeared.
“You’ve become much stronger than before.”
A voice came from behind. I immediately twisted my waist.
“Let me see how your defense is.”
Before I could react, a fierce impact struck my back. An excruciating pain that almost made my mind go blank. Yet I didn’t fall and straightened my posture.
As long as the aura wrapped around my body, I could endure. Even if my spine was shattered, I could move.
I turned my body and swung my elbow, but it grazed the air, revealing a gap.
“My teachings weren’t in vain.”
At some point, she stood in front of me, satisfied, while delivering a direct punch to my abdomen with a fist wrapped in aura.
“But it’s still not enough.”
A feeling of nausea rose. The aura wrapped for defense wasn’t fulfilling its role and was shattered.
“Foolish. Did I teach you that way?”
A harsh scolding flew, not a follow-up attack.
“Tell me how to strengthen the aura.”
“…I must engrave memories and emotions.”
Aura is a power that draws life force overflowing with mana. But if used wrongly, it can drain your stamina instead. The primal energy that tries to devour the user in return. To utilize it properly, one must know how to control the mind.
A vivid memory of the experience just had. The emotions imprinted in my mind. Only by projecting intense will into the mana does a stronger aura emanate. This was the reason why aura’s color and form differed for each person.
“Raise the aura again. Is your painful heart that simple?”
“Understood.”
Instead of fighting, it was a lesson from the master. After swallowing the complaint, I withdrew the aura and moved the mana inside my body again. Then I recalled the powerless memory of losing a companion to the Demon King. I recalled it. The emotions of resentment and anger at that time.
Mana twitched. Converted roughly into aura. Added to this one more thing—the euphoric feeling that only comes like waves at the moment of defeat. Very abundantly. Like a kind-hearted restaurant owner. Mana was violently fluctuating. Unlike before, it didn’t accept my control calmly. With this, it should be enough.
I raised the aura in my hand.
“How is it?”
Thicker red aura than before. Blackness mixed in, turning it into a dark red color.
“Excellent.”
It had grown. I had thought I couldn’t do it anymore.
“As expected, my disciple.”
“From now on, you will be even more surprising.”
I swung the fist wrapped in reinforced aura. A straight-on attack that hit the face. But again, like before, it shattered and appeared from behind.
I hesitated to extend my fist again.
-Clitia-nim.
“I just realized that too.”
A technique that suddenly appears and disappears from all directions. Even my master couldn’t do it. The limit of the body. The ability to transcend space without any warning was a special privilege only for spirits.
“You were hiding something.”
“What do you mean?”
Before answering, I integrated my right hand with the aura.
“Hallucinations are now tiresome.”
I thrust my fist toward the sky. Rapidly spreading cracks. Space collapsed all at once. Soon, the research lab disappeared.
My vision darkened, and a cave with puddles here and there appeared.
“Wonderful.”
My master was sitting on some chair, crossing her legs.
“Orc, you are maintaining excellent skills as I said.”
“Didn’t I say I guarantee it?”
Giph, who had been thought to be unconscious, was sitting next to me.
“Pass.”
“…What do you mean?”
“I passed the test I gave.”
With a smile as if congratulating, she even clapped. My overloaded head was about to stop working.
“Sit here for now.”
There was another chair. With a headache, I obediently entrusted my body.
“You dismantled it faster than I thought. I thought it would take a while.”
As if pleased, she massaged my wrist. A faint smile was on her lips.
“I didn’t know you could shatter the hallucination I personally created in one go.”
The familiar touch moved to my forearm.
“It’s just that my master’s skill has decreased.”
“I was too lenient.”
While talking, the messy head became calm. It was time to find out the truth.
“I would like you to resolve the confusion.”
“From which part do you want me to speak?”
“Why did you end the seclusion?”
My master, this time, tidied her disheveled hair.
“Disciple, do I look like an elf who attaches meaning to everything I do?”
“You came down because you wanted to.”
“You know well why you asked.”
I asked just in case, but as expected. She was always the same.
“But, when I came out to the world, I heard some strange news.”
A soft touch suddenly became a smack and fell on my forehead.
“It was the news that my lovely disciple had become a madman obsessed with blood.”
“…”
I had thought she would treat me kindly for some reason. But I couldn’t immediately refute because I might get hit again.
“Why did you do such a thing?”
“Didn’t you tell me to live while doing what I want?”
I had only been diligently searching to fulfill my wish. Exactly the teachings my master gave me.
“Foolish. I should have been more careful not to be noticed.”
As expected, she understood my actions.
“I made a mistake.”
“From now on, act carefully. It’s good to disguise accidents as deaths.”
“I will remember.”
I received a great lesson. As expected, there is no end to learning.
“I understand why I became master and disciple.”
The orc’s grumbling was ignored by both.
“I wanted to find you and give you a warning, but I held back and headed to the west.”
It was a part I already knew.
“Why the west, of all places?”
“I received a request from the Elf Grandmaster. To collect the tribute of my kin.”
A large-capacity spatial magic was needed for the task. It suited the mission the most. Other elves usually only used spirit magic.
“Didn’t you make a disciple there?”
“Oh, did you meet him?”
“We had a spar between fellow elves.”
“That guy had some decent talent too. Do you know how I met him?”
So, for a while, the Western Heroic Tale continued. The story gradually becoming boring. At that time, when I was trying to hold back a yawn that was about to burst, my master’s expression changed.
“From now on, concentrate. I will tell you the reason I wanted to meet you.”
I shook off my drowsiness and listened attentively.
“The research lab I created with hallucination is actually a place I witnessed in the west.”
The feeling that reality was transferred as is was not an illusion.
“Did you research something related to corpse locusts…?”
“Yes. I even faced the black magician who was the owner.”
As expected. It would be the one who turned Liam into an undead.
“Is it not Remiraen the Lich?”
“Hmm. It wasn’t bones.”
The guess was nicely off.
“Clitia, don’t be surprised and listen.”
Giph, who had been silent, continued in a cautious tone.
“The Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, Kbalt.”
“…Who?”
“The demon you and the previous hero defeated.”
Why was Kbalt suddenly mentioned? As someone who had borrowed the name several times, I was quite surprised in many ways.
“He tried to possess my body in the form of a soul binder.”
My master’s weighty testimony made even the possibility of it being a joke disappear.
“He was repelled soon after, but he almost got me.”
It was just a setting made up for appropriate acting. But does it mean he is actually reviving and active?
“The nightmare of the west was also the disaster orchestrated by that demon.”
The credibility of the inference by the tower master suddenly rose.
“It can’t be left alone.”
A much more dangerous enemy than Liam, who is vulnerable to holy power. I had to deal with it as soon as possible.
Kbalt is a demon who shook the entire empire alone.
“I was already planning to catch and punish that guy. It’s annoying that he dominated me for even a moment.”
“It seems you needed me to find his whereabouts.”
Since I caught him. He was the target for the Kbalt extermination.
“Yes. As a bonus, I checked if his skills had declined.”
“How did you bring Giph?”
“When I said I was looking for you, he actively helped. This test was also led by Giph.”
His cold attitude or efforts to win were all acting to deceive me. He had played properly so far.
“There was no bad feeling.”
“Really?”
“There was a little.”
It was more sincere than acting.
“So, what do you plan to do from now on?”
“First, I plan to inform the public enemy meeting of his danger. It happens to be held in Serda.”
“Are you going to leave it to someone else?”
Only two representatives from famous organizations can participate in the public enemy meeting. My master had no place to intervene.
“No. I plan to participate directly. I founded the Adventurer’s Guild.”
It was an unimaginable fact.
“For reference, the current guild master is the grandson of my human colleague’s daughter-in-law.”
This was almost like a free pass.
“Disciple, come with me.”
“Me too?”
“You can participate as my secretary. The first guild master said there won’t be anyone who complains.”
What to do? It wasn’t a bad proposal. I could find out the position of the public enemy for later.
“Okay.”
“I knew you would.”
An unexpected schedule was decided. Taking the momentum, I revealed the reason I wanted to see my master.
“Do you know the manifestation method of forbidden magic?”
“I know a little.”
A puzzled expression. She looked straight at me and tried to gauge my intention.
“Why are you looking for a sealed magic that is dangerous?”
“I have to live while doing what I want.”
I gave a faithful answer to the teaching.
“I want to die to the hero party, but I also want to live.”
“…”
Another smack fell. It hurt. Much more than before.
***
“Ready?”
“Yes.”
Eluke pulled the hood of her robe deep over her head. It was familiar to hide her identity. She had sneaked out of the Sun Court to play with Liam.
Meanwhile, Riella wore a suit instead of a robe. She changed the eyepatch to purple and equipped a mana-storing magic staff. The presence of the tower master. In the original world, it was a figure that had withered before blooming.
“Let’s go.”
The sound of snapping fingers echoed, and a large magic circle began to be drawn on the ground.
“Be careful of dizziness because we have to move through space consecutively.”
“It’s fine because I have holy power.”
“Ah, you can use it?”
The two stood side by side waiting for the magic circle to complete, with a somewhat solemn face.
“Remember this. You must succeed.”
“Trust only me.”
A pessimistic thought that I couldn’t do it didn’t even arise.
“After this task is over, Clitia will want to die but won’t be able to.”
Eluke smiled sinisterly. There was an atmosphere that it had to be that way.