Dawn was just beginning to creep over the horizon.
After spending more than half a day wandering the coastline and thoroughly shaking off the tension, Adelio returned to the White Ice Palace with Rain and Misery.
The destination was the audience chamber.
It was the place where Guy was always seated.
Creeeak...
"Oh, you're back?"
"So you have returned."
But beyond the gate connected directly to the audience chamber, contrary to Adelio's expectations, it wasn't Guy waiting there, but Ria and Velzard.
Judging by the absence of any other [Arch Demon]s around them, Guy seemed to be somewhere else.
"Guy isn't here right now. I just got back myself after seeing Shizu off, so I don't know exactly where he is."
Before Adelio could even say anything, Ria read what he was about to ask and smiled faintly.
"And as for Rain and Misery... hehe, I won't say anything. You just got back after finally having some fun, and I wouldn't want to get scolded for that either."
"...Hmph."
"...I see."
Confident, relaxed, and without the slightest trace of doubt.
Ria, who never questioned her own standing or superiority, was as proud as ever.
And Adelio, who had recently started to think she had grown less imperial, realized that impression had been completely wrong.
She had only softened in front of Shizu and himself. Otherwise, she was still exactly who she had always been.
"Come to think of it, Velzard. Aren't you only here because Guy asked you to be?"
Ria's attitude toward Velzard was much the same.
Unlike Rain and Misery, who had sworn to become her retainers, Ria and Guy stood as equals.
And because of that, while Ria spoke to Velzard with respect as Guy's partner, there was no need for her to be excessively formal.
"Yeah, that's right. Just like he asked Rain to pass on a message, he asked me to tell you where he was too."
Fortunately, Velzard didn't find Ria's attitude displeasing or arrogant in the slightest.
After all, Ria and the other [Primordial Demons] were beings derived from the Seven Angels of Origin, the servants first created by her older brother Veldanava, and she acknowledged Ria's stature.
On top of that, Ria had been the second [Primordial Demons] to be born after Guy, and she and Velzard were from nearly the same era.
For those reasons, Velzard rather liked Ria.
They shared something in common: both gave off a mature, composed air on the surface while hiding cold instincts underneath.
"Guy said he'd be waiting at the training grounds starting yesterday, so he's probably still there now."
"He's serious about this."
"Yeah. He said it feels like it's going to be fun for the first time in a while."
Velzard answered Adelio and gave a light nod.
Having stayed by Guy's side and watched him more closely than anyone, she could guess what kind of mood he was in this time.
"Hehe... it's been a very long time since I've seen Guy look that excited. Probably not since he fought that person."
It was almost the first time since the first [Hero] that Guy had taken genuine pleasure in fighting someone.
After Veldanava died, all contact with that [Hero] had been cut off... and after that, the only opponent who could really satisfy him had been Velzard.
"Maybe that's why I'm looking forward to this too. I was one of the people who gave you your name, after all."
From the day she gave him the name Adelio up to this very moment.
A demon who possessed a [Hero's Egg], and who in some ways resembled a [True Dragon], he was unusual enough to draw interest even from Velzard, who rarely found other people interesting at all.
"So do your best. I want to see for myself just how much you've grown."
**
"So, what do you think?"
Rain and Misery left with Velzard to set up a barrier around the training grounds, and on the way there with Adelio, Ria asked him the question.
"...You mean my chances of winning?"
"Yeah."
She didn't think Adelio was guaranteed to lose.
After all, if he had grown enough in just a few hundred years to approach the level of a [Catastrophe], then pulling off a miracle once didn't seem impossible.
If there was even a 0.1 percent chance left, no, even 0.01, then absolute defeat could never truly be assumed.
But...
"...Who knows. I want to win too, but... you know as well as I do who I'm up against."
His opponent was Guy Crimson.
[True Dragon], [Primordial Demons], Seven Angels of Origin, [Cryptid].
The undefeated [Demon Lord] who had brought down all such enemies since the dawn of creation.
And on top of that, he was also Adelio's own master.
"Then... are you just going to give up?"
"......"
Adelio didn't answer Ria's question.
He couldn't.
The words "I probably will" rose all the way to his throat, but he couldn't bring himself to say them out loud.
"...I..."
The instincts of a demon spread through his mind again, just like they had back then.
"...I also..."
What demon would ever desire defeat?
What demon would ever accept defeat so easily?
His instincts shouted noisily inside his head.
"Of course I want to win."
The instinct for battle never moves toward defeat.
It always seeks victory. That's why demons cling so fiercely, even with the restriction of "subordination" placed upon them.
So...
"It... won't come to that."
He refused to speak of defeat before it had happened.
Even if the outcome had already been decided, it still hadn't happened yet.
And even if the possibility was vanishingly small, wasn't it all right to stake something on it anyway?
"...Hehe, is that so?"
Ria smiled as she caught the meaning behind Adelio's words.
He always spoke as if lowering himself, yet even before an overwhelmingly powerful opponent, he never let go of his own possibility. Seeing that brought back a memory from long ago.
That single moment he had shown her in hell.
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