Lesser Demon (3)

“Atlas has appeared at the second front line! We ordered an immediate retreat the moment it was visually confirmed, but……”

“A devil has appeared at the fifth front line! The Saintess of Earth, Nina, is currently engaging it……”

“The Blade of Destruction, Rex, has been spotted near the first front line! His target appears to be Rubia, considered the weakest point of the front……”

“The Blade of Jealousy, Alber, and the Blade of Deficiency, Carencia, are at the second front line……”

It hadn’t even been five minutes since Lost departed for the third front line.

Emergency reports were coming in from each front line. The front lines that had been relatively calm were suddenly thrown into chaos.

“What about the Mystic King?!”

“He’s still single-handedly holding back the intensified demon offensive!”

“Damn it, are they trying to end the war in a single day?!”

Beast Forys spat out a curse as he looked at the communication device that was spewing fire.

Just from the forces currently confirmed, the phrase “all-out offensive” naturally came to mind.

“Why isn’t Lost coming back? I think I heard that the devil appeared near Alfheim……”

Claire was calmly observing the current situation.

At a time when those responsible for command authority were shouting at the top of their lungs and running in all directions,

She had been left behind specifically to prepare for such a situation. If she lost her composure now, they’d be in serious trouble.

‘The most dangerous locations are the fifth front line where the devil has appeared and the second front line where the trial has appeared….. If we’re not going to abandon one of them, we need to split our forces further and move from here.’

Just as Lost had predicted.

Something had indeed happened.

The problem was that it wasn’t just happening in one or two places.

Claire seemed to contemplate for a moment before looking up at Titan and saying:

“Can you and Ratatoskr hold out against the trial?”

“An excellent judgment.”

“I guess I’m just like that. Then I’ll leave the One Who Holds the Sky to you. We’ll head towards Alfheim.”

“Hmm, take Rata with you as well.”

“But then you’ll be alone. Will you be alright?”

“He won’t be of any help.”

“Ah! I understand.”

“……”

Even as Ratatoskr’s expression soured, the two were grinning as if they perfectly understood each other.

Something that only 15-year-old peers could understand.

The two looked at each other with broad smiles before immediately splitting up.

Each heading toward the battlefield where they were needed.

*     *      *

The strongest among demons.

From the moment he heard that name, he had already prepared himself.

A demon is a threat in itself. Regardless of skill level, they possess an absurd regenerative ability that makes them difficult to deal with without a priest.

Even for Kruud, who had reached the master level, it would take at least 5 minutes to kill a single ordinary demon soldier.

And in this situation, he was being asked to fight an opponent who was clearly far stronger than himself?

This was a battle that couldn’t be won.

“Huff…… Huff……”

The only goal was to hold out long enough for the refugees to escape.

Kruud and the soldiers who had volunteered were already exhausted. This had all happened just 5 minutes after engaging the enemy.

Except for Kruud, the forces weren’t even properly slowing down the enemy.

The only reason they could hold out at all was because of a man named Rectus, a knight from the Leze viscounty.

‘I’ll have to reassess that chubby old man. Having such a strong subordinate, he must be quite something.’

Perhaps from the beginning, it had all been a plan to support him and cleanly settle the command authority?

Kruud was thinking such thoughts even as his life was in danger.

“Sigh…… I knew it, but this is really too much.”

“It’s nothing new, is it?”

Kruud had held out quite well. Rubia was Kruud’s home ground.

The finely fragmented gray aura mixed with the gray sky and raindrops swirled around every time demons took a step.

When they entered a certain range, invisible aura mixed with raindrops would grind away at their bodies.

No matter how excellent a demon’s regenerative abilities were, continuous exposure to pain would inevitably make them uncomfortable.

What about Rectus?

He was a man accustomed to facing many enemies with few troops. A strong warrior who had protected the small confines of the Leze viscounty from magical beasts that came every year.

Neither Kruud nor Rectus could be called weak.

But the opponent before them was different. The level was too different.

“Haha! This is fun. I thought it would be boring, but there are some worthy opponents here! What are your names?”

The Blade of Destruction, Rex.

“……They call me Kruud.”

“I am Rectus.”

“Good, Kruud, Rectus. I’ll remember you. For about 3 years, that is.”

“Well, that’s kind of you. To remember us for such an ambiguous period of 3 years must require considerable effort.”

“For a fool, I must say you’re quite impressive.”

With a single strike, he had shattered the domain Kruud had established and broken through. He had demolished the wall Rectus had set up using soldiers.

There was no defensive movement in that process. A strike solely for destruction that didn’t stop even as his own flesh was being torn away.

With that single strike, the allied front line had collapsed, and both men were covered in blood.

The good news, if any, was that their limbs were still intact.

But Kruud had lost his weapon.

Rectus had lost one eye.

This was the result despite the two of them joining forces, unable to fully withstand Rex’s single strike.

Kruud now aimed two sticks at Rex, which could hardly be called spears anymore.

Rectus tore his clothes to roughly staunch the bleeding around his eye before gripping his sword.

“Good, that fighting spirit, very good. Honestly, not many could withstand my sword. But kids, why go to such lengths? I’m not trying to look down on you. I’m genuinely curious why you’re risking your lives.”

“What? You don’t know? How could you not know that?”

“Oh, is there some famous story behind it? Tell me.”

“No, not really a story.”

Kruud answered with a slight smile. Rectus remained silent, waiting.

“It’s because your face is so ugly. Looking at it makes me want to kill you. Khuhu.”

“Haha! I was wondering why I did it, but now I understand my actions. You’re ugly, too ugly.”

“Oh?”

Rex kicked Kruud in front of him, still wearing a smiling face. Even such a simple kick was impossible for them to block, showing the gap between the two sides.

“Then I should let you see it for longer.”

Thwack!

Rex deliberately chose not to use his sword against Kruud.

Kruud continued to counter with his shortened spear, but it seemed impossible to block Rex’s fists and feet.

“Hehehehe……”

“Why? Are you laughing at my funny-looking face again?”

“No, I’m laughing because it’s absurd. I’ve stabbed and slashed you so much, yet you don’t even have a scratch. Isn’t that cheating?”

“Huh? Oh, you’re right. You’re quite skilled.”

Rex only then noticed that the area around his ankles was soaked in blood.

He had thought them impressive when they first blocked his strike, but he hadn’t expected them to be capable of such tactics while being one-sidedly beaten.

“That’s the difference between demons and humans. As you can see, I don’t even need to catch my breath. I don’t get tired. To begin with, weaker beings like you can’t win against me.”

Even as he spoke, Rex blocked Rectus’s sword with his palm as it aimed for his blind spot.

Actually, to say he blocked it would be inaccurate. His palm was cleanly cut horizontally.

Rectus’s best strike that cut from Rex’s palm all the way to his elbow.

Even that was just a wound that the demon Rex could heal in 30 seconds.

“Rotation tactics won’t work. Psychological warfare won’t work. For humans to defeat us, you need overwhelming firepower… but you don’t have that, do you?”

Rex extended his arm and grabbed Rectus by the collar.

“Urk!”

He then threw him towards the fallen Kruud and began stomping on both of them simultaneously.

“What can you do? You came here knowing you were going to die, right? I don’t dislike guys like that. So I’ll play along with your time-buying objective.”

That was wrong.

Rex’s words were a lie.

Kruud and Rectus, who were trying to recover, could immediately tell. It wasn’t courtesy or respect.

It was simply the nature of a demon enjoying the pain of others.

“……No, there’s one more way to deal with demons. We need to try that too.”

Shlick!

Rex’s arm, which had been holding his sword, fell to the ground with a thud.

Following it, an aura resembling the Milky Way fell.

Rex frowned as he stared at his arm, which was regenerating more slowly than usual.

“Holy power.”

An elderly man with his face concealed by a hood had intruded onto the battlefield.

The elderly man immediately picked up Kruud and Rectus, retreated, and began healing them.

Rex clicked his tongue at such boldness and asked:

“And who might you be?”

“Just a mere commoner.”

The former cardinal of the Pantheon Temple, Judas Sicarii, had joined the battlefield after cutting off one of Rex’s arms.

He couldn’t just watch anymore.

If there was a time to risk his life, it was now. He couldn’t leave these young men to die as they risked their lives for others.

“From now on, I’ll join the fight. Surely someone who brought such a large army won’t call me a coward?”

Judas Sicarii declared coldly.

Judas’s aura, combined with holy power, was as beautiful as looking at the Milky Way, and no impurity remained where that starlight passed.

“Haha! Not bad. You had a hidden card! Then I can’t just sit around either. I don’t want to die!”

Rex laughed as he drew his sword.

The arm that had been cut by Judas seemed difficult to regenerate for now, but Rex showed no hesitation.

“How long can the old, wounded, and weary hold out?”

The strongest demon.

The one called the Lesser Demon, closest to a devil.

The Blade of Destruction, Rex, swung his massive bastard sword.

His movements still showed no concern for his own safety.

*     *      *

The battle didn’t last long.

Once Rex started wielding his true power, they were helplessly pushed back.

And the most threatening thing was his attacks that seemed to disregard the consequences.

Unlike humans who have only one life, Rex, being a demon, had multiple lives, so to speak. That’s why he could so easily employ tactics that risked his life.

That’s what Kruud and everyone else thought. That’s why they felt a glimmer of hope when Judas, a high-ranking priest and paladin, appeared.

“Haha! Hahahahaha!”

But the three of them quickly realized how wrong they were.

Rex didn’t care if he could die.

He disregarded his arm that still hadn’t regenerated.

If his neck were cut, even Rex might not be able to regenerate.

But despite that, he didn’t change his approach.

A method solely for attack.

The attack of a beast that had abandoned defense.

The threat posed by a demon living each moment as if betting its life was more destructive than they had imagined.

“Urgh……”

“Oh, did a life-risking strike seem easy to you? Too bad, those who’ve done it before are better at it.”

Each of Rex’s attacks was a method of sacrificing flesh to take bone.

No, it was an extreme attack method of sacrificing bone to take bone.

Originally, if an opponent stronger than themselves persisted with such extreme methods, they should have done the same.

That’s why Judas, Kruud, and Rectus each risked their lives to deliver their best strikes against Rex.

But as Rex had said.

Even in that kind of fight, those with experience are better at it. The overwhelming difference in skill between someone who bets his life every moment and those who have only risked their lives in dangerous situations.

“Is this… the Lesser Demon……”

Judas, who had lost both arms and was sprawled on the ground, shuddered at the strength gained by being a demon.

His mindset was fundamentally different from other demons.

Even demons were originally human. They can’t completely erase the habits of their human days. But Rex had erased them.

He lives solely as a demon.

That’s why he was the Lesser Demon.

“The Lesser Demon……”

But Rex, hearing such mutterings, replied with a rather disappointed tone:

“Sorry, but that name isn’t mine anymore. Someone more fitting took it from me. Huhuhu.”

*     *      *

“Kihihihihihi!!”

A misshapen monster gliding through the darkness.

Anyone who saw it would know.

“We have to deal with it here. If we let it escape… we won’t be able to handle it.”

That this being was indeed a devil.

But there was something that only I, an apostle and the Son of Man, could perceive.

“This is still just a seed!”

That such a terrifying monster was still not even fully born.

I sensed it intuitively. If we let it escape here, we wouldn’t be able to stop it the next time we encountered it.

It would become the embodiment of malice, far surpassing even Belial, whom I had targeted as my enemy.

The essence of evil, gathering all the world’s malice. A seed sprouting from there.

The moment that thought concluded, my body moved instinctively.

It must not be left alone. It must be purified here and now.

Answering that thought, a chain emerged.

A pure white chain, as thick as a finger, with interlocking rings.

But this is the ideal I’ve held as the Son of Man.

Each link contains the connections I’ve seen, experienced, and had to let go.

<Messiah>

The symbol of the leader consecrated by the seed of evil and the history of mankind collides.

Crunch!

The chain easily pierces through its arm, engraving a chant inside.

The massive arm pierced by the small metal chain collapses from within.

“Kihihihi!”

It’s still young. Immature. That’s why it faced my chains head-on.

So this is our chance. If not now, we cannot kill it.

Without missing this opportunity, I immediately bent the chain to wrap around its body and pulled it down.

“Eve.”

“I’m ready.”

Eve moved first at my words. She had also realized the danger this thing posed and prepared the best attack method at her disposal.

The lightning of the celestial god, Jupiter. Not just a single bolt, but something akin to its source. The divine authority I had once used against Pinocchio was now perfectly recreated in the hands of its original owner.

<Astrape>

The divine authority strikes. While the <Messiah> that had pierced through its arm and wrapped around its body disintegrates it from within, Eve’s <Astrape> melts it from the outside.

But it’s not over.

The strange sound, either laughter or crying, continues to disturb our ears.

Boom!

Finally, it tears away its body, shaking off the pressure of <Astrape> and escaping from <Messiah>.

The seed of evil rushes forward as if pain means nothing.

Following its trajectory, nearby human bodies dissolve and disappear into the darkness.

“Ugh!”

I retrieve <Messiah> and clash with it again.

Unlike when I pierced it from a distance earlier, this time I couldn’t time it properly, so I decided to defend.

A net made of chains stops it. But even so, it continues to charge straight at me.

I block its charge with my sword. However its body structure works, I was pushed back considerably despite blocking it with my sword.

In terms of sheer strength, it’s beyond Titan.

When I finally managed to stop it with my chains and physical body,

I could feel the darkness climbing up my body. But I could also discern something more important.

Yes, for the first time, I identified the true nature of this monster I had never seen before.

“So it was you after all……”

The seed of evil. Its true identity.

The suspicion that had vaguely occurred to me from the moment I first saw it turns into certainty.

“Another Hope.”

What Belial had created wasn’t just a hero of humanity to counter me.

It was the embodiment of evil itself, created by casting a human hero into the abyss.