Storming the Demon Archduke's Throne
The Old Man strode toward the castle gates without a backward glance, as if there was no need to confirm anything.
Once I stepped out of his aura range, the demonic energy he'd been holding back would come surging at me again—it was obvious. So I stuck close to his heels.
Still, clinging too tight would look weird, and if I got caught up in his fight by accident, that'd be it for me. I kept a safe distance.
Someone reliable once told me that in fights between Masters, craters big and small were everyday occurrences—even if mountains didn't get sliced clean, their overall height often dropped noticeably.
This was the minimum I needed to maintain.
If I got too close and got dragged into the Old Man's battle, I'd be dead 100 percent. Or at the very least, mortally wounded.
But maybe I was overthinking it.
When the demonic energy suddenly pushed hard against the Old Man's aura, it grazed my body before getting shoved back out by his aura.
The contact lasted only an instant.
But the moment it touched me, I said,
"Huh?"
I was suddenly standing on the pile of ash from the monster horde that had come out of the castle earlier and met their end at the Old Man's hands.
There was no time to figure out what happened.
I hurriedly drew up my aura to defend myself from the demonic energy.
"Urgh."
Then, before my aura ran dry, I sprinted at full speed back toward the Old Man.
Luckily, I hadn't been flung too far, so I quickly re-entered his aura range.
'Did he slow down a bit for me?'
This guy who always acted like the world revolved around him, barking curt orders like "Go."—had he actually waited for me?
I mulled over the unfamiliar question popping into my head, pondering it seriously enough.
If he'd kept the same pace as before, I'd have had to run a lot longer.
The Old Man glanced at me as I returned to the safe zone and said,
"That's one of the Demon Archduke's abilities you're about to face. Remember it well."
He gave a brief explanation of the technique I'd just fallen for, then walked on.
'Sigh, as if that guy would wait for anyone. Must've been my imagination.'
Seeing him march ahead after saying his piece, I resolved the misunderstanding I'd just had.
After that, similar interferences kept coming.
But none pierced the Old Man's aura as deeply as the first one.
He'd probably thrown everything he had into that initial attempt, fully committed to breaking through.
Even if he'd kept slamming demonic energy at that level, the Demon Archduke couldn't have halted the Old Man's advance for even a single second.
More meaningless time dragged on like that, and eventually, the Demon Archduke seemed to cleanly accept that he couldn't breach the Old Man's aura.
'The attack pattern... it's changing.'
Suddenly, the castle's internal structure began shifting in real time before my eyes.
He'd first tried endlessly duplicating and looping certain sections to trap the Old Man, but that failed spectacularly without even getting off the ground.
Stairs ahead would suddenly turn into walls, and so on.
With his demonic energy ineffective against the Old Man directly, the Demon Archduke was now manipulating the surrounding structures to block our approach as much as possible.
A bunch of petty tricks kept trying to interfere, but every single one crumbled meaningless before the Old Man's overwhelming might.
If the Demon Archduke was burning serious power just to harass us like this, he was totally wasting his strength.
The Old Man had clearly baited him into it.
Otherwise, we'd have come this way from the start.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
The Old Man stepped up into the empty air.
'Air-stepping!'
One of the hallmark techniques of Masters, usable only by those who'd reached that realm.
Most Masters could at best hover in midair, but the Old Man wielded it freely, climbing higher and higher.
I trailed after him like a kitten being carried by the scruff by its mother, dragged up to the castle's topmost floor.
BOOM!!!!
The higher we went toward the top floor, the more barriers blocked our path.
But the Old Man rendered them all pointless just the same.
'Is this Demon Archduke just dumb?'
The typical demon image was cunning, deceptive, inherently clever.
But this guy's actions were the polar opposite.
He should've realized by now his tricks were useless against the Old Man.
It was bizarre.
Maybe these were old traps he'd set up ages ago.
Or perhaps he knew they were pointless but was thrashing anyway.
Honestly, the demons were weird, but the Old Man was even weirder.
The fact that he could block every bit of the Demon Archduke's demonic energy and techniques meant his world was far more refined, complex, and complete.
For a mere human to overcome the world of a Demon Archduke who'd lived eons?
'Turns out the Old Man wasn't human after all.'
Who knows.
Maybe he was a god.
In any case, we pierced every obstacle and reached the top floor.
Sure enough, the density and quality of the demonic energy here was on another level.
Clear proof this was his domain.
'Old Man's still got this.'
I trusted in the Old Man's power.
I wasn't even considering the possibility of him losing.
More than that, I was focused on how much I could learn and gain from watching this fight.
The top floor resembled a king's audience chamber.
I lifted my head to check the Demon Archduke seated at the far end...
"Don't look up. The battle hasn't started yet."
But the Old Man stopped me.
"The moment you lay eyes on him now, your soul will start getting corrupted by his demonic energy just from that."
He said once the fight began, the Demon Archduke would have to focus on him, so he couldn't pull any tricks on me then—it'd be fine to look later.
"Kuh. Kuh. Kuh. KHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"
Hearing that, the Demon Archduke doubled over in hysterical laughter.
"What the hell are you, human?! How do you know so much about us?! Why won't my powers work on you?!?!"
The Demon Archduke screamed.
Even with my head down, I could roughly picture him from his movements.
Clawing at his own face with his nails, blood streaming down.
He looked like a total madman.
Suddenly jerking his head up to meet my eyes—that was some genuine, chilling demon shit.
"They're cunning. Demons don't have human emotions. Show no pity. Don't listen. Humans often judge by what they see and hear. That rationality and curiosity—which should help grasp the essence of things—are just easy prey for demons to exploit."
The Old Man was always calm.
His flat tone, conveying only facts.
That was the Old Man I'd known.
But now, I could feel the raw, unhidden fury in his words.
It had to be tied to something deep in his past.
You don't rage like that at a total stranger.
I could sense it.
With those words, the Old Man had no intention of letting this bastard live any longer.
Keeping him alive until now was just to explain things to me.
My role was done—now, the demon's existence was pointless.
The Old Man's formless sword of aura blazed fiercely, as if it could endure no more.
The Old Man responded to his aura, assuming his stance.
"Tespatium!!!! I call out your vile, hideous true name!!!!"
The instant the words left his mouth, the Old Man vanished completely.
He reappeared right in front of the Demon Archduke, Tespatium.
In a slight crouch.
From under the Demon Archduke's chin, the Old Man slashed his sword upward.
'It connected!'
Unavoidable distance, unavoidable speed.
The Old Man's strike was precision and sharpness at the pinnacle, befitting his realm.
But,
Tespatium was already far away from that spot, as if he'd teleported without any warning.
He'd reacted just before the attack landed.
But the Old Man wasn't one to take lightly either.
Thud!
He instantly pursued Tespatium, swinging his sword.
At my level, the Old Man's speed looked about equal to the Demon Archduke's teleportation,
but seeing the bastard keep reacting meant that at Master level and above, the Old Man's movements were still faintly visible.
That didn't give Tespatium any real advantage, though.
"Why aren't you affected by my demonic energy?!?!"
He must've thought he could pierce the Old Man's aura with demonic energy at close range.
But even with the Old Man right in his face, not a single strand touched him.
The Old Man wasn't giving the demon even a second to scheme, so Tespatium's odds of winning were approaching zero.
That's why he was screaming in that enraged voice.
But that didn't mean the fight would end anticlimactically.
'His attacks aren't landing at all, but he's still a Demon Archduke.'
Proving my hunch, he stopped attacking the Old Man.
Then, using magic, he split himself into multiples.
Each duplicate looked different.
Since he handled space-time concepts, these were probably Tespatiums from different timelines.
'Hiding the real body while buying time to cast spells.'
The Demon Archduke—who'd only been fleeing until now—sent his other selves charging at the Old Man's blazing aura like moths to a flame.
"Graaah!"
"Urk!!!"
The Old Man sliced them all down without flinching.
But more Tespatiums from other space-times kept pouring in.
Then, one of them—having bought enough time—started chanting an incantation.
A magic circle like a clock's mainspring formed before his eyes.
'Gotta stop that!'
No matter how strong the Old Man was, space-time was the opponent's domain.
Letting him cast a spell freely wouldn't be smart.
The Old Man thought the same; he swept them away with a casual circle slash.
Then charged the caster...
Or not.
He appeared in empty air, nowhere near.
'Why?!'
Doubts flooded my mind.
Did he have the confidence to block whatever spell or trick the demon pulled?
Or some reason I didn't know?
The answer was the latter.
"Graaaah!!!!!!"
The Old Man slashed at the empty air.
No one could've questioned that judgment.
Until the Demon Archduke plummeted to the floor, writhing in agony as he burned.
'Humans often judge by what they see and hear.'
It was the moment the Old Man's pre-battle words came full circle.