"...You've grown stronger."
At the center of the fading explosion, Guy still wore a savage smile.
It had been a very long time since he had taken a hit head-on like this, especially in close combat.
His disciple had succeeded in exploiting an opening that even Velzard had never pierced.
"...At this point, he's undoubtedly the strongest human of this age."
Guy could say it with certainty.
The swordsman before him had become a powerhouse on par with a [True Dragon], following after the First [Hero] and the strongest [Hero].
Sssss...
"...In all my life, you're only the second person to wound me with a sword."
At last, when the explosion had fully died away, Guy roughly grabbed Adelio's sword where it had pierced his heart.
"Among monsters... no, in the entire world, there are only about ten who could beat you."
Using nothing but raw physical strength, Guy pulled [Overlord Black Star] out from deep inside his heart.
At the sight, Adelio's blue eyes widened in shock.
"...He still has that kind of strength...?"
[Sword Emperor Manifestation] had already ended, but magic power was still pouring through the blade.
No matter that he was a demon, this was not pain anyone could endure easily.
...And yet.
Creak... creak...
Guy endured it.
As if this still was not enough, he raised his magic power even higher.
"You pass the test. But the spar isn't over yet, so—"
[Lucifer], [Pride], [Ability Copy].
- Copy: [Gabriel], [Patience].
- Output: 90%
"—this time, I'll be the one making the next move."
Crimson ice tinged with the color of blood began to invade the gray of [Sword Dance World].
Like [Metatron], [King of Purity], [Gabriel], [Patience] was also an angelic [Ultimate Skill].
Its authority was absolute freezing that could even bring space-time itself to a halt.
"Ugh...!"
Adelio spread his wings and immediately widened the distance between them.
As long as he still could not move within stopped time, getting caught in that freezing power even once would mean the end.
"He's trying to force this into a ranged battle... no, that's not it."
If Guy had truly intended to fight at range, he would have switched his body to female form.
His male form was better suited to martial combat, while his female form had the advantage in magic.
"...He's planning to catch me with speed."
He had sealed off Adelio's main weapon, [Arts], and wrapped himself in a defensive field that froze any opponent who came near.
On top of that, even after his weapon had been lowered by one grade, he was still on equal footing, so anyone could see that close combat favored Guy.
"I can't approach him, but if Guy closes the gap even once, it's over."
In the end, the only way to win in this situation was to break through from long range somehow.
Wooooong...!
"Dwargo's Fourth Secret Art, Heavenly Star."
Golden sword aura.
The rock-like aura wrapped around the pitch-black blade and fell as a massive slash.
"Hm. So instead of [Arts], you're planning to attack from range with only basic swordsmanship."
Compared to [Arts], Dwargo swordsmanship was weaker, but it consumed less, making it better suited for ranged attacks.
But the problem was—
"I've already seen that technique several times."
—none of it worked on Guy.
The other secret arts didn't work either.
Kaaang!!
Not even the spells he flooded with magic power.
Kaaang!!
Nor the various [Skill]s. None of them.
Kaaang!!
Even lowered by one grade, a magic sword was still a magic sword.
The sword of the [Demon Lord], now merely brought to the same level as [Overlord Black Star], split every attack in two.
As simply as a kitchen knife slicing tofu.
Adelio watched the scene and let the curve at the corner of his lips fade.
"..."
No, he tried to let it fade.
Because he thought his chance of victory had completely vanished.
"...Ria."
But he didn't.
"...Right."
Crrrk...
"[Odin]."
<Yes.>
"Move all my remaining magic power into the sword."
<—Understood.>
Guuuuung...!!
The veins in the hand gripping his sword stood out.
"I knew the outcome from the start."
The magic power wrapped around his entire body blazed like fire.
"So it's fine if I lose for now."
Will was carved into his gaze, mixed with fighting spirit.
"As long as, someday, I'm the one who wins at the very end—"
The demon's battle instinct still remained in his mind.
"—then it isn't defeat."
A demon's defeat was different from an ordinary defeat.
Even if they lost to someone now, if they surpassed that person someday, then that defeat became something that had never existed at all.
"...Dwargo's Fifth Secret Art won't work. I can't use that here."
The demon thought.
"...As for [Skill]s, I'll have to trust [Ru-Lawather], [Sword Emperor Heavenly King]."
Of all the cards he possessed, all the cards he had conceived, all the hidden trump cards he had kept in reserve, he searched for which one would be most effective now.
"In the end... this is the only one."
And the answer he found, as always, was much the same.
"—!!!"
"Oh?"
The gray [Sword Dance World] turned black.
A pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen.
"[Black Heaven, Nether's End]. So you're going to use your main technique."
As Adelio compressed all his magic power into [Overlord Black Star], Guy likewise wrapped [World] in magic power.
Every last bit of magic power he had left after reserving only enough to maintain [Gabriel], [Patience].
"At that distance, it won't even have half its usual power. A pointless gamble...—!!"
Guy's train of thought, the [Demon Lord]'s train of thought, never reached its conclusion.
Before it could, the pitch-black blade flashed white and pierced the sky.
That light was not Adelio's symbolic gray, but the very symbol of the [Hero's Egg] itself.
"...I've thought about it again and again."
A technique that was his swordsmanship, and yet not his swordsmanship.
"To defeat you, I have to surpass that [Hero]."
To bring down the strongest [Demon Lord], he too had to become the strongest [Hero].
That was why he had imitated him.
The secret art of that [Hero].
The sword at the pinnacle of humanity—
"—Divine Break ([Absolute Severance])."
The will to reach the summit of the [Hero].
[Arts] forged from that will fell into the world of sword and martial might.
That blade, which had completely cast aside the demon's power and left behind only the power of the [Hero],
instantly dyed the pitch-black space pure white, reversing day and night,
then flew toward the [Demon Lord] as a slash.
...
But the result called defeat did not change.
His opponent stood at the pinnacle of this world...
Even so, there were gains.
<...Will has reached into 'stopped time.'>
The gain he obtained from this spar
<...You have acquired a fragment of [Time Stop].>
would one day become part of a blade beyond compare.
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