*
...
Something was wrong.
"......"
It made no sense.
-.........
How could a mere demon possibly overwhelm him, a being called a Cryptid?
He could not understand it.
"Wear this mask, gather souls, and call forth death. Then you will grow even stronger."
He had definitely told him that.
"To a level that can reach the King of the Cryptids, Ibaraje."
That he would become the true king of the Cryptids.
That he, and he alone, was the most perfect vessel for a king.
The master of those clowns, the King of the Specters, had certainly said so.
-Grr...
...And yet, what was this disgrace?
...Why was he being driven back like this by a demon that had survived only a few hundred years?
'Was I really nothing more than such a lowly species?'
-......Grrk... no...!!!
...No. That alone was unacceptable.
He could never acknowledge that he himself belonged to some miserable, lowly race.
An invader being [Encroached Upon] was something that should never happen.
Then what should he do?
The answer was simple.
-...Grrrrrrgh...!!!
He would drive himself, Venenum, into a rampage.
He would destroy everything with that madness.
Boooom!!!!!
*
Crunch!! Craaack!!!
"This is..."
A berserk state.
Feeling that familiar surge of negative magic running wild, I quickly leaped back.
Ziiiiing!!!
The moment I moved, dark violet magic spread up from the floor where I'd been standing and tried to [Corrode] Guy's barrier.
As if it meant to devour everything whole.
'...Ha. I have to admit, if nothing else, he's persistent.'
That beast's insect-like tenacity disgusted me.
But...
Even as it disgusted me, I couldn't help letting out a hollow laugh.
'...This really has turned out exactly like that novel.'
At this rate, it was just like that scene from the story.
The scene where the protagonist first stepped forward as a Demon Lord and fought.
I still remembered how it felt when I first read it.
The only difference was that this bastard wasn't [Awakening]. He was just flailing in desperation.
'Well, whatever. It's only just now starting to get interesting.'
The exhilaration I'd felt when I first passed through the gate and arrived in this banquet hall came surging back.
As if this were the very stage I had wanted for myself.
......
But I couldn't let that excitement swallow me whole.
"Hoo..."
I cooled my head, let out a light breath, and erased the ease from my face.
I adjusted my grip on my sword and leveled the tip at my opponent.
Feet spread wide, arms set before my chest, eyes fixed straight ahead.
Ready to fight again at any moment.
.........
Unlike Adelio, who had forced himself into calm, Venenum's mind was now filled with nothing but primal battle instinct and thoughts of how to kill that ash-gray demon.
That was all.
-Grrk!!!
At last, consumed by battle instinct and having forgotten even language, Venenum absorbed into his body even the greatsword and long spear lying on the ground.
He had burned through multiple Legend-grade weapons in a single battle, all to kill that ash-gray demon.
Venenum no longer had any room left for [Reason].
What remained to him now were four fists... no, only [Himself].
.........
There was no signal announcing the second round.
-Gwoargh@(#^@@)#@%#%#)(@!!!
There was only simple, deafening noise.
"Shut up."
And I used that noise as my starting cue and swung my sword.
This time, the sword I unfolded was hers.
A white blade, pure and flowing, stretching out just like her own.
A technique that erased the opponent cleanly, without leaving a single stain.
Flawless swordsmanship, free of noise and free of error.
It was a sword art wasted on a bug-like beast like him, but it couldn't be helped.
After all, thanks to Guy, the perfect stage for an experiment had opened up before me.
'...Guy really was aiming for this from the very beginning.'
The source of that initial unease.
I had thought Kazaream was the one who designed this stage.
It was all but certain that the cursed clown mask belonged to Kazaream, and he was also the one who had brought that bastard here first.
I had also assumed Kazaream had let Venenum run wild like this to test how far Guy would go before stepping in.
Guy usually stayed out of disputes between Demon Lords and merely watched, so I thought Kazaream was trying to gather information by exploiting that.
But that wasn't it.
More precisely, it was only half right.
'...The whole stage was prepared by Guy.'
Guy had already known.
He knew Kazaream would summon Venenum, raise his own standing with it, and try to confirm just how far Guy would refrain from acting.
Guy noticed that first, and instead of dealing with Kazaream, he chose to use him in return.
.........
There were two decisive reasons I was sure of it.
The first was the way Venenum was fighting right now.
'That attack... it's almost identical to the movements Guy showed me during our sparring.'
A reckless charge with no thought for defense, just like a beast.
Aside from having four pairs of arms, it was practically the same as Guy's style.
'The reason he pushed me without deliberately using magic last time wasn't because it was our final spar. It was because he wanted to hand this fight over to me...'
Guy had wanted to give me a chance to grow.
Through a real one-on-one battle against a race with overwhelming compatibility against me.
The second reason was that he had kept silent the entire time.
Having read the novel, I knew Guy well. I knew he was a proud overlord.
And yet, faced with Venenum's outrageous behavior despite the vast difference in their standing, Guy had shown no anger at all.
That meant he had already seen through Kazaream's intentions and swallowed the insult on purpose, all so he could naturally pass this battle to me.
'...Seriously, what part of him is supposed to be a Demon Lord?'
As my master, and as my teacher, he was doing everything he could for me.
He was making sure that I, a [Hero], would not be bound by fate through killing a [Demon Lord].
.........
'...If he's gone this far to set the stage for me, I can't exactly phone it in.'
Just as Guy had presented something to me, now it was my turn to present something of my own.
My own [Arts].
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