[Arts] [Sword Emperor Manifestation].
This [Arts], the first one I created after becoming able to unite a [Hero]'s magic power with a demon's magic power, took the form of a simple thrust.
A plain thrusting counterattack, timed to meet the opponent's strike.
In a situation like this, where I couldn't use Ru-Lawather [Sword Emperor Heavenly King], you could even call it an utterly ordinary counter with no special support behind it.
There was just one thing that made it slightly different from a normal counterattack: the "magic power wound around it" without being condensed, and my "will."
Milim was too fast for my current reaction speed to keep up with, so I had no choice but to rely entirely on instinct and counter.
And to raise the odds that instinct would find Milim's opening, I made use of my will.
Unlike the method of condensing magic into a weapon to increase its power, the magic merely coiled around it would, at the very instant the blade struck—
—unfurl as sword energy worthy of the name [Sword Emperor].
"It's a one-hit match anyway. I don't need to worry about what comes after the counter... I just need to land one clean strike."
One strike.
Just one strike would be enough.
Without thinking about defending.
Without thinking about dodging.
All I had to do was land this thrust.
"Just once—"
As if time itself had slowed, my vision narrowed to a single point.
The center of body and mind.
With my consciousness pushed to the absolute limit, my focus locked onto Milim's [Heavenly Demon] flying straight for my throat.
"—Faster."
My left hand, gripping [Overlord Black Star], trembled violently, but it did not stop.
For a demon, defeat meant subordination.
In other words, your soul belonged to someone else.
It was no different from admitting with your own mouth that there existed someone you could never surpass.
Of course, even if I did end up bound to her, Milim probably wouldn't care and would just brush it off...
...Even so, I didn't want to lose.
This wasn't a life-or-death battle. At most, it was just a spar.
But at the same time, it was also a duel to measure my own skill.
The primal battle instinct of a demon—
the identity that made me who I was—
would not let me treat this duel as nothing more than a game.
"—Just a little faster."
How far could I struggle against one who stood at the summit of the world?
How much could I make of this rare chance?
Shouldn't I see it through to the very end?
Wooooooong...!!
The trembling in my hand eased for a brief instant, and in that very gap, the pitch-black blade shot forward.
"—!!"
"It hit."
The blue magic power born from the fusion of two forces had surpassed even the claws of a half-dragon.
Crackle... crackle...!
Just before the blade of [Heavenly Demon] could slash across my throat, [Overlord Black Star] reached Milim's armor, and—
KWA-BOOOOM!!!
—the magic power gathered around the blade that had pierced a single point erupted violently, using that point as the eye of a storm.
The magic power manifested in the shape of a sword tore through layer after layer of Ramiris's barriers,
then began raging wildly, like a storm that called the [Storm Dragon] to mind.
The pink magic power that had once dominated the floor had long since been shredded to pieces,
and from the aftermath, Milim's attack twisted off course and struck not my neck, but my left hand.
"......"
A distortion born from a single instant.
"...At this point..."
If it ended like this—
"...I don't think I lost..."
—then at the very least, it wasn't a defeat.
**
"...So it's a draw... right?"
Ramiris asked the question.
She had been looking around the floor, now left in ruins by the blue sword energy, cold sweat running down her face. Then she turned her gaze to me, sprawled on the ground, and asked carefully.
I gave Ramiris a bitter smile and slowly nodded.
"...Something like that."
I hadn't beaten Milim.
But I hadn't lost, either.
A draw, in other words.
About the best result I could have hoped for.
"That was seriously close..."
My attack had reached Milim first, but it had been stopped by nothing more than the thin armor covering her left arm.
If she hadn't twisted the trajectory of [Heavenly Demon] at the end so it struck my hand as well, then my defeat would have been certain.
Even with [Satanael] [Wrathful King], Milim's greatest strength, excluded from the match, this was the result. That only meant the gap between Milim and me was still enormous in more ways than one.
"......"
"...Maybe it's about time I gave [Overlord Black Star] a name of my own."
One way to narrow the gap was to change my weapon—or evolve it.
The name [Overlord Black Star] wasn't one I had given it myself. It was the name the [World] had recognized from its original owner, old Gran. If I named it with my own will, there was a chance it could evolve into [God-grade].
Of course, that would consume an enormous amount of magicules, and there was also the possibility the naming wouldn't take at all, bu—
"Wahaha!! That was fun! It's been a long time since my left hand tingled like that!!"
Boing.
...While I was briefly lost in thought, Milim had already put away both her armor and [Heavenly Demon] into subspace. Then, tossing out a line that gave me a strange sense of deja vu, she came up behind me.
A moment later, she rushed in like she meant to put me in a chokehold, then draped her chin over my shoulder like an oversized cat.
"Rio, you really should become a [Demon Lord]! Even if you're Guy's subordinate, at this level, nobody would think it strange if you were called a [Demon Lord]!"
She didn't seem upset at all that she hadn't managed to beat me. Instead, Milim wore a bright, innocent smile.
I had thought she might complain, considering how proud she was of her title as one of the strongest, but unexpectedly, she seemed to have enjoyed the spar so purely that she didn't care much about the outcome.
"...Did you have fun?"
"Mm! Of course! It's been a really long time since I fought this seriously with a sword!"
Milim's eyes shone as if she wanted to go another round right away.
Looking at her, I muttered inwardly that she really was childishly hot-blooded, then quietly said,
"Then that's good."
The most important part of my original goal had been to keep Milim entertained.
I'd managed to confirm my own abilities to some extent, so if she was satisfied, that was enough—
—and with that, I scattered the rest of my stray thoughts and lowered my gaze to my left hand, where a faint wound from [Heavenly Demon] still remained, then lightly closed my eyes.
"...As I am now..."
With my eyes closed, I remembered the time I first set my sights on [Catastrophe], after watching Chronoa and Veldora fight.
As I measured just how much I myself had grown by now.
For several minutes, I focused, pretending not to hear Milim and Ramiris chattering around me.
"......"
And when I finally opened my eyes again—
"...I'm almost there."
—all those scattered thoughts in my head had been cut away like scraps of paper.
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