The Demon Executive's Overwhelming Strength
The demonkin possessed a level of strength on an entirely different dimension from the students in the performance evaluation. In a way, it was only natural. After all, the demonkin were essentially natural enemies of humanity. So it stood to reason that they would be on a completely different level from mere students.
-Slash!
With that, he cut down the last remaining demonkin. Sai let out a deep breath.
“Haa… That was brutal. Everyone alright?”
“Yeah, no casualties.”
“This is a walk in the park compared to getting hit by the Demon King!”
“Agreed!”
Everyone nodded with faces full of agreement. Sai inwardly agreed as well and shifted his gaze toward Sena.
“By the way… what do we do about that?”
“You said it…”
He wasn’t sure how to describe the sight before their eyes. That was because Sena and the last remaining demon were fighting at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.
This doesn’t look like we’ll have any opening to help…
He had planned to assist Sena after quickly mopping up the remnants, but it felt like he would only get in her way. It wasn’t just him—the rest of the group simply stood there with their mouths agape, staring blankly.
Demon King, please hurry and get here!
Sai and the Class A students prayed fervently for Elric to arrive soon.
Meanwhile, around that same time. Veil, who had been waiting in the neutral zone, furrowed his brow slightly.
This isn’t going to work.
No matter how much he tried to fix the broken gate here, it wasn’t very efficient. It was true that everything would be resolved once the chairman arrived, but there was no need for every professor to be tied down at the gate. Veil pushed up his scholarly glasses and spoke.
“Let’s leave just a few people at the gate and move out as well. There’s no point in all of us crowding around it.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Huu… That does seem like the better option.”
Hearing his words, everyone except for a few began moving to help Eve and Sai. Little did they know it would all be resolved before they could even intervene.
At the same time, Sena barely blocked Zan’s attack with a barrier.
-Crack!
The power behind it was so monstrous that the barrier looked ready to shatter from a single strike.
It seems just defending won’t cut it.
She had tried to hold out until Elric arrived, but this clearly wasn’t sustainable. There was no guarantee she could keep going when she had no idea when he would show up. Therefore, it would be better for her to eliminate the one in front of her herself.
-Whoosh!
Without hesitation, Sena manifested her divinity.
-Clank!
Chains forged of holy power formed in an instant and surged toward Zan. Any ordinary demon would be purified on contact. However—
-Crunch!
Zan crushed her chains with raw grip strength as if it were the most natural thing in the world. At the same time—
-Swoooosh!
Before she knew it, he was right in her face, swinging a fist wreathed in demonic energy. The punch came at a terrifying speed. But Sena hadn’t been idle.
“Hmm?!”
At that moment, a complex magic circle bloomed beneath both of them.
“Purification!”
A burst of divine light erupted—bright enough to make anyone squint. Caught off guard by the unexpected strike, Zan quickly retreated.
“Tsk!”
He frowned at his blackened, charred arm. When he wrapped it in demonic energy, the burned marks slowly began to fade.
“The regeneration speed is definitely slower than expected.”
Contrary to his hopes, recovery was sluggish. High-ranking demons normally possessed regenerative abilities, and among them Zan’s exceptional physical prowess gave him faster recovery than most executives. Yet even for him, the process felt frustratingly slow.
I have to kill that woman right now.
Thinking that, he concentrated demonic energy into his fist. Sena tilted her head when she saw it.
“Hmm? You’re going to use that again?”
“This time will be different.”
When Sena made a face like she didn’t understand, Zan ignored her and threw his punch. It was a distance where it clearly shouldn’t reach. But—
-Shrieeeek!
The demonic fist closed the gap in an instant. Sena’s eyes widened in surprise before she quickly—
-Hummm!
—deployed a wall of divinity.
-BOOM!
She barely managed to block it. A fraction of a second slower and the strike would have landed clean.
So this is how different an executive is?
Before her regression she had been so overwhelmingly strong that she never truly understood an executive’s level. Facing one now in her weakened state, it was clear they operated on another plane from ordinary demons.
Well, if they couldn’t manage at least this much, the Demon King’s army would have collapsed ages ago.
Of course, in the previous timeline Elric had already crushed most of the executives—including the Demon King herself.
“You don’t have time to be spacing out like that.”
At some point Zan had appeared behind her. He drove a trained fist forward without pause.
“Did you think I was just blankly staring into space?”
She answered while tapping her staff against the ground. At the same time—
-Flash!
A cross of pure divinity plummeted from the sky. Zan looked momentarily surprised, then—
“What?!”
—kept charging forward as if it didn’t matter. Flustered by the unexpected move, she—
“Kyaaaaah!”
—was struck by his fist and sent tumbling across the ground. At the same time—
-KABOOM!
The descending cross swallowed Zan whole.
I didn’t expect him to respond like that.
Normally any creature would instinctively dodge or block an incoming attack. But he had simply powered through as if it were irrelevant.
“Nngh… All I want is to be hit by the professor, you know.”
Muttering to herself, Sena wiped the blood from her lips. Her side throbbed painfully, forcing her to frown.
Feels like my bones are completely shattered.
Even though she had blocked it for a split second with divinity, the bones inside her body were utterly broken. Still, the demon before her must have taken a fatal wound as well.
“Huu…”
A shallow sigh reached her ears. From within the smoke, it was clearly the same demon she had been fighting. And sure enough—
“That actually hurt quite a bit.”
It really was him. Sena stared at his unscathed form, momentarily speechless.
How…?
No matter how outstanding his physical abilities were, as a demon he should have suffered a fatal injury from that attack. Yet contrary to expectations, he looked perfectly fine.
“How can you be completely unharmed after taking that? No matter who you are, that should have been impossible.”
“Well, seeing is faster than explaining.”
He slowly stepped sideways. The moment Sena saw the hole in the ground, she understood why he was unscathed.
“You shattered the floor while attacking…”
“Let’s call it half right. Honestly, it was close to luck. I was simply wary of the purification you used earlier and secretly let some power seep into the ground.”
“……”
He called it luck, but there was no denying he had won the battle of wits. She needed to find a way to break the current deadlock, and fast. As her mind raced—
“Then let’s end this now. I’ll kill those brats too.”
Zan swung his arm like he was swatting flies at the Class A students launching a surprise attack. Though casual, a direct hit would cause at least severe injuries. With no choice, Sena released her divinity.
-Hummm!
A barrier formed in front of the students. But perhaps because her divinity and stamina were both depleted—
-Crash!
—the barrier shattered into pieces. Still, it had clearly weakened his attack. Thankfully, no students died.
“Tsk! How annoying.”
He clicked his tongue openly and turned his gaze to Sena. The moment he began walking toward her—
-Thwack!
Sai hurled his sword, striking Zan squarely in the back of the head. Breathing raggedly, he growled.
“Haa… Haa… His skull is ridiculously hard.”
“You insect… I’ll kill you first.”
Veins bulging at his temple, Zan strode forward. Sena wanted to help immediately, but—
-Cough!
—her body and stamina had already hit rock bottom. Deploying that last barrier had truly taken everything she had.
“Don’t think you’ll die easily.”
Before she knew it Zan was in front of Sai, driving a fist straight into his abdomen.
“Keuk!”
Sai collapsed, vomiting dark blood as he stared skyward. Sena quickly scanned their surroundings. Everyone except her and Sai had fainted. That meant she had no choice but to step forward.
She struggled to rise on trembling legs and tried to release her divinity when—
-Pat.
A gentle hand suddenly rested on the crown of her head. When she looked up—
“Professor…?”
“You did well.”
The professor she had been waiting for finally stood before her. Elric slowly walked forward. Though she couldn’t see his face, his back alone told her everything. He was furious.
“Demon King…”
In that instant, Sai—who hadn’t fainted—muttered while looking at Elric. Zan’s eyes widened and he whipped his head around. Staring down at Elric, he scowled deeply.
“This guy is the Demon King?”
He had wondered how impressive this so-called Demon King was, only to find someone who looked ridiculously weak. The man carried a strange green wooden stick instead of a proper sword, and he didn’t sense any significant magical power to suggest he was a mage.
So it was just this guy after all.
As Zan wore an expression full of worldly disappointment—
-Tap. Tap.
The collapsed Sai poked Zan’s head a couple times with the flat of his blade, then emphasized with all his remaining strength.
“Demon King… This bastard… is the culprit.”
“I can see that. Good work.”
With those words, Elric immediately swung his bamboo spear.