Chapter 765: The Answer
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 765: The Answer
Old wounds.
New wounds.
How much time had passed between them?
How could a Demon General, who had clawed his way up through the bloody, cutthroat environment of the Demon Race, become as "steady" as he was now—cautious to an almost unbelievable, even cowardly, degree?
"A life-and-death struggle?"
Zagu’s cheek twitched. He let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Ridiculous. Look at yourself, Muen Campbell. It is precisely my steadiness that has backed you into this corner! Do you really think you’re still in a position to struggle against me? Do you think there’s any chance of a comeback? What can you possibly do now, all by yourself?"
"A corner? No, no, no. Isn't this where the real fun begins?"
The blade’s edge, stained with blood, reflected a cold, piercing light.
Muen’s smile was no longer as distorted as it had been moments ago; it had regained a touch of refined elegance.
"Being steady is indeed a good habit. If everyone learned to be as cautious as you, I imagine most clichéd stories would be cut short by at least half. But, Mr. Zagu... what you are facing with all that steadiness of yours... are the most persistent, hardest-to-kill bastards in this world."
Muen placed a heavy, deliberate emphasis on the plural.
Because he knew that if he hadn't fallen yet... then the other person certainly wouldn't have either.
"All this bickering... it’s annoying as hell."
Zagu froze again.
...You have to be kidding me.
One was bad enough.
But both of them...?
Zagu’s neck turned with stiff, mechanical movements.
Behind him, amidst another pile of rubble, a young girl, equally drenched in blood, pushed aside the debris and stood up once more.
She was covered in gashes and staggered as she rose. Blood and grime obscured her handsome face, making her look utterly wretched.
Yet, the girl still gripped the Crimson-Gold Greatsword tightly. Or rather... she had never once let go.
"If you ask me, either swing the sword or go die. It’s just a fight—why all the damn talking!"
Ariel spat disdainfully.
She knew perfectly well that their banter was a way to probe for weaknesses, gather intel, or even stall for time. She had done the same many times when facing difficult enemies.
But this time was different.
She was in a bad mood.
A very bad mood.
So bad that she just wanted to cut someone down and be done with it.
Since she couldn't cut Muen Campbell for the time being, someone else would do just fine.
Besides, Zagu’s annoying pursuit had long since worn out her patience. With old grudges and new debts piled high, her greatsword was thirsting for blood.
And so...
Without hesitation.
Without a moment's pause.
The instant Zagu turned his head, this wounded beast—whose ferocity had only doubled—launched her attack!
Flames erupted across the Crimson-Gold Greatsword once more, but these flames seemed to have melted the glaring color of blood and raw savagery into their glow!
"Damn it, she’s insane!"
Zagu’s expression hardened.
He couldn't comprehend the madness of these two humans.
They were like wild animals.
Like monsters.
Like the lowest-class, mindless Demons who could only bite and tear based on instinct.
Struggling desperately on the brink of death was normal, but weren't humans supposed to be cowardly, timid creatures who only brandished their so-called "reason"? Desperately scrambling to flee and launching a suicidal counterattack with total disregard for life were two completely different concepts. How could these two still erupt with such insane resolve?
He couldn't understand it.
And more importantly...
Why weren't they dead yet?
Why could they still stand?
Why could they still fight?
Are you not rats, but cockroaches?
Clang!!
His hideous, pitch-black spear parried the wide, sweeping strike of the red greatsword, but this time, Zagu was clearly not as composed as before.
The force had increased.
Her injuries were clearly so severe that her swordplay wasn't even perfect, yet... the power behind it was stronger than before.
"How..."
"How? Because of love and bonds, obviously!"
Muen’s movements were almost perfectly synchronized with Ariel’s. Against an enemy like Zagu, he wouldn't give the man a chance to suppress them one-on-one. Thus, while Ariel clashed head-on, Muen’s dual blades had already sunk into Zagu’s flesh from behind.
That powerful body, covered in bizarre patterns, and the terrifying Fighting Spirit shielding it were once again easily sliced open by absolute sharpness. Muen could even see the beating heart through the gaps in the white bone and connecting fascia.
"Get the hell away from me!"
Ariel roared, continuing to press Zagu back step by step. "Who the fuck has 'love and bonds' with you?!"
Under their pincer attack, Zagu was actually forced into a pathetic state.
A flash of realization finally crossed Zagu’s eyes. He looked at the human girl before him in disbelief, sensing her aura—which, though weak, was clearly a level higher than it had been moments ago.
"Could it be... no, it’s both of you... You broke through?"
In such a crisis, they couldn't have been holding back. Therefore, there was only one reason for this sudden surge in power...
A breakthrough in the middle of battle?
"Yeah, I just hit the Fifth-Tier. That guy is still a step behind me, but it looks like he advanced too."
Ariel admitted it without the slightest attempt at concealment, as if it were no big deal.
She even flashed a smile. "I should thank you. If your pressure hadn't been so perfectly timed, I wouldn't have broken through so easily. You just saved me a cool hundred million. You’re a real saint, Zagu."
The battle atop the High Tower.
The flight through the caves.
The slaughter in the slums.
The desperate strike against the Static Figure.
Looking back, thanks to Zagu’s "bloodletting" strategy, both Muen and Ariel had spent the entire journey walking the razor's edge between death and collapse.
But isn't that how one becomes stronger?
With great willpower, great pain, and great determination, one destroys the old self and, upon those ruins, reshapes something newer, stronger, and higher.
The greater the oppression, the more likely one is to shatter their shackles—and the feedback received after breaking through is all the more intense.
If you can't withstand the pressure and pain, you die, just like the prey Zagu used to toy with.
But if you endure, you can take another step forward from the abyss.
And as it happened...
Just as Muen said, when it came to taking a beating, being persistent, and withstanding pressure, there was probably no one in this world who could top these two.
One was the "Soaring Phoenix" protagonist carrying the Mandate of Heaven.
The other was a "Yellow-haired Villain" whom even a fucked-up fate couldn't kill—a man targeted by several Evil Gods who had managed to survive until now through sheer grit and "playing it safe."
You want to play the "steady" game?
Unless you crush them into paste with a single blow, they will show you exactly what they're made of...
Thirty seconds west, thirty seconds east—don't you dare look down on a cockroach!
Sucker, I just leveled up!
"That is—ENOUGH!!!"
A terrifying atmospheric pressure erupted from Zagu’s equally scarred, powerful body. Enraged, he forcibly repelled Muen and Ariel once again.
"So what if you leveled up? One just reached the Fifth-Tier, and the other is only at the late Fourth-Tier! Do you think that closes the gap between us? You’ve advanced, but your wounds haven't healed! You think you can turn the tables with just that? Who do you think I am? I am the First Demon General of the Demon Race—Zagu!!"
"..."
No one listened.
No one responded.
No one cared.
Because the title of "First Demon General" didn't even register as a threat compared to the enemies they had faced so far.
I’m a guy who can call a Crown Bearer my brother and chase an Evil God until he cries for mercy. Who the hell are you, Zagu?
As Zagu’s power erupted, Muen and Ariel closed in again.
Muen had just inflicted a massive wound on Zagu, but it was already closing.
Covered in eerie black patterns, Zagu’s physical body seemed to have become even more formidable. Ancient techniques granted him incredible recovery and raw violence; it was less a set of skills and more of a state of being.
In that state, although Elizabeth could still bypass his defenses with its level-ignoring sharpness, it couldn't inflict enough damage.
Or rather, a single, brief attack couldn't deal a life-threatening blow, and Zagu wasn't stupid enough to just stand there and take it. That was why he had retreated momentarily before.
As for the other side... Zagu seemed to treat Ariel with more caution than Muen. Was it because Ariel’s current strength was slightly superior?
Muen and Ariel locked eyes for a split second.
In the chaos of battle, a glance that lasted less than a heartbeat was usually not enough to see the other's eyes clearly.
But perhaps due to some unspoken chemistry, or perhaps due to an indescribable combat instinct...
The way they attacked suddenly changed simultaneously.
It was no longer a pincer attack designed to keep Zagu off-balance.
Muen used the explosive speed of Time Dilation and the sudden shifts of Shadow Step. Despite starting from a different direction, he reached his position even faster than Ariel.
Hundred Stacks.
He had swung this blade more times than he could count. The unbearable load had long since shredded the sleeves of his robe, and a faint mist of blood sprayed from his pores, leaving a faint "red afterimage" trailing behind him as he moved.
But he had long since become numb to fatigue and pain.
A silent flash of blade-light annihilated the darkness.
A thin, tiny line extended from one end of the space to the other.
Everything it passed through was split in two—metal, wood, air... even space itself.
However, when this terrifying blade-line struck Zagu’s body, it only turned into a negligible streak of blood.
Zagu’s eyes flickered.
Although Muen Campbell was fast, Zagu’s reactions and moves were actually superior. As the blade swung toward him, he could have easily thrust his spear into Muen’s heart.
But Zagu chose to defend instead.
"There’s no need..."
There was no need to trade lives with these lunatics.
They were at the end of their rope, making a final, desperate gamble. That was why they were willing to trade wounds for wounds. At a time like this, he only needed to be steady—to stall until they drained the last of their strength—and he would win easily.
Yes, this was the more prudent way.
"See? You’re afraid again."
Muen’s eyes reflected Zagu’s face as he smiled mockingly. "Lord Zagu, it seems you aren't as... unafraid of death as you claim."
Being afraid of death wasn't shameful. Muen himself was more afraid of death than anyone, which was why the old him had been so desperate for power.
But in battle, the more you fear death, the more likely it is to visit you.
Such a simple truth... when did Zagu, who had sat as the First Demon General for over a century and clawed his way out of a sea of corpses, forget it?
"SHUT UP!!"
Zagu roared in fury for the umpteenth time. His spear, carrying the weight of a thousand tons, slammed downward.
In an instant, the sound of bone snapping echoed from Muen’s shoulder. His body buckled instinctively as Zagu’s spear drove him into the ground like a nail.
Is the scapula shattered? Not just that, the internal organs seem heavily damaged too...
But the smile on Muen’s face didn't vanish.
Zagu had slammed his spear down and hadn't even retracted it when he felt the weapon suddenly grow heavy.
A nimble figure stepped onto his spear, closing the distance with lightning speed.
Seizing this fleeting opening, Ariel unleashed her most familiar technique... Heavenly Fire—Draw!
The reckless release of violent flames and sword intent tore through Zagu’s Fighting Spirit defense, finally managing to... sink the tip of the Heavenly Fire Greatsword into his chest.
After Muen’s blade had struck earlier, Zagu’s deliberate defense had left almost no wound to speak of.
There was only a tiny, insignificant mark on his chest.
And the tip of the Heavenly Fire Greatsword pierced precisely into that tiny mark.
Sizzle...
The smell of burning flesh, nauseating and acrid, instantly filled the air.
Zagu’s expression twisted into a mask of agony.
"DIE—FOR ME!"
He shifted his spear from a vertical smash into a horizontal sweep.
It had to be admitted that Zagu’s skill was in no way inferior to the two who had been tempered by countless life-and-death struggles; in some ways, he was even superior. Every one of his moves and attacks was half a step faster than Muen’s or Ariel’s.
Because he had bet everything on the attack, Zagu’s spear successfully slammed into Ariel’s chest.
Ariel’s Fighting Spirit defense offered no meaningful resistance; it couldn't hold. Her chest visibly caved in once more.
This finally brought a flash of grim satisfaction to Zagu. So what if you're cockroaches? Against absolute power, even cockroaches get crushed!
But in the next moment, his satisfaction froze.
Because he had forgotten.
He might be half a step faster, but because of his "steadiness"—or rather, his cowardice—he had taken a full step back at the start of the exchange.
Ariel was sent flying, but the Heavenly Fire Greatsword remained lodged in Zagu’s chest because she had proactively let go of the hilt.
In the middle of a fight, she had let go of her weapon.
However, before Zagu could pull the damned sword out, another pair of powerful hands gripped it tight.
It was like a relay race, with almost zero delay or gap.
As Ariel’s hands let go, Muen’s hands were already there to seize the hilt.
And then... he shoved!
Wounds could heal quickly, but raw flesh alone couldn't stop a massive blade from sinking deeper. Veins like a nest of snakes throbbed on Zagu’s neck and face. The fury and pain in his eyes were like surging lava, threatening to incinerate the overconfident human before him.
But just as his hand on the spear tried to pull back for defense, he felt a powerful resistance.
He glanced over and was shocked once more.
Ariel hadn't been completely blown away. At the moment the spear struck her, she had leaned forward and bitten down on the shaft.
Darkness surged along the pitch-black spear, but for a short time, it couldn't budge the bite force Ariel had developed since childhood by gnawing on black bread as hard as iron.
She was using her teeth to stall Zagu’s offensive!
It was too late...
Forced into a corner, Zagu had to temporarily abandon his weapon, using both hands to physically resist the Heavenly Fire Greatsword as it carved into his flesh.
Compared to those two white short blades that could easily bypass his defense, this massive sword made him more wary. Wounds from a blade could heal easily, but being scorched by the ancient fire within the Crimson-Gold Greatsword caused even him unimaginable agony.
Fortunately, this greatsword didn't have the defense-piercing attribute of the daggers, so it wasn't a massive threat on its own.
But now, the sword—constantly releasing high heat and flames—had broken through his guard and was sinking deeper into his body!
Muen, drawing on some unknown reserve of strength, pressed forward, forcing Zagu back step by step until the Demon General’s back hit a metal wall. There was nowhere left to run.
"But you still can't beat me!"
Zagu stared deathly at the blood-streaked Muen. He no longer had the composure of a hunter; instead, he was like a cornered beast, roaring frantically, "With just this, you still can't beat me!"
The Heavenly Fire Greatsword trembled as Zagu slowly, inch by inch, forced it out of his body with his bare hands.
So what if they broke his defense?
So what if they wounded him?
So what if Muen Campbell had a sudden burst of power?
The actual gap in their strength wasn't something that could be closed by a simple power-up!
This world didn't have fairy tales where a sudden burst of potential could overcome any enemy, nor were there Demon Kings who could be defeated by "love and bonds"!
Even if he could shove a sword into Zagu’s body, how could Muen Campbell, with his strength alone, deal a truly fatal blow?
"Muen Campbell, in the end, you—"
"You’re so noisy. Why do you love to ramble so much?"
Suddenly, Zagu’s frenzied roar cut off.
A shadow fell over his face, which was covered in old scars. He looked up blankly at the figure standing on Muen’s shoulders.
Ariel didn't look much better than Muen. Her horrific injuries had stripped away any trace of her beauty.
But she stood there, holding the pure white dual blades.
"Zagu, your brain doesn't seem to be as sharp as you think. Have you lived in comfort for so long that your mind has completely rusted over?"
Ariel looked down at him, her sneer light and dismissive. "In a fight, you always seem to forget the most important things."
The main attack wasn't coming from the sword.
He had fallen for this trick not long ago, yet he had stepped right into the trap again.
No.
Even if he had realized it, it wouldn't have mattered. From the moment Zagu chose to take that step back for the sake of "steadiness," the outcome of this battle was already decided.
Ariel gripped the daggers in a reverse hold and lunged downward, aiming for both sides of Zagu’s neck.
Puchi—
It sounded like a blade slicing through paper.
Elizabeth, with its absolute sharpness, bypassed Zagu’s defenses as easily and effortlessly as ever.
It pierced skin, pierced flesh, pierced arteries, and pierced internal organs.
Ariel struck with such force that the two daggers, entering from opposite sides, met within Zagu’s flesh with a clear metallic clink.
Steel on steel.
Yes, a single wound might not have been enough to deal significant damage to Zagu, but even the smallest letter opener, if placed correctly, is enough to deliver a fatal blow.
In fact, it didn't even need to be fatal.
"Cough... cough..."
A massive amount of blood began to spray from Zagu’s torn throat, proving that the strength of his physical body had not yet transcended the realm of "mortality."
The strength he was using to resist Muen finally began to wither.
Muen was able to lunge forward again, driving the Heavenly Fire Greatsword—its crimson-gold runes flashing—even deeper.
The demon-like patterns on Zagu’s skin writhed, trying to resist the ancient fire sealed within the sword, but it only caused the flames to burn more fiercely, further accelerating Zagu’s death.
"You asked us earlier... what trump cards we had left to change the ending after losing the black flames and our ultimate moves."
Muen leaned in close to Zagu, staring into those crimson eyes where confusion, resentment, fury, and even fear flickered in a complex, swirling mess.
"Now... are you satisfied with the answer, Lord Zagu?"
They truly had no trump cards left—or rather, they couldn't use them for the time being.
But whether it was Muen Campbell or Ariel Bugard, everything they had relied on to get to this point... had it ever really been about "trump cards"?