Chapter 33

Kirill, Jean, Maria, and Linus—finally a party of four—continued their journey. The hero was still dejected, speaking little. This should have soured the atmosphere of the entire party, but it seemed different this time.

Jean was unusually cheerful. Maria also seemed to be in high spirits, and when Linus spoke to her, she responded more talkatively than usual. Their walking pace was faster than before.

This was a journey to defeat the Demon King, and if the two of them had regained their spirits, it should have been a welcome change. However, Linus slightly slowed his pace, observing the three ahead of him with a thoughtful expression. He sensed something.

He felt a thin layer of ice surrounding them—especially Maria. It wasn't that she had overcome her struggles on her own, but rather that she had snapped in the wrong direction.

At that moment, Maria suddenly turned to Linus. She smiled and approached him.

"Why the serious face?"

"I was just thinking that something must have happened to make Maria so cheerful."

"It's nothing much. I just feel a bit better today than usual."

"Is that so? That's good."

No, it wasn't. She was probably hiding something. And she wouldn't tell Linus, either. Perhaps she thought he had no value to her, or that he didn't trust her, or maybe—she didn't want to involve him. Just a short while ago, seeing Maria's smile would have easily dispelled Linus's worries. Now, every time he saw her expression, his anxiety grew.

—Perhaps he should forcibly take her away and make her quit the journey.

And then live somewhere far away, just the two of them. No, Linus knew that was impossible. Maria would resist with all her might. But even so, was what she believed to be "right" truly the right thing?

"…Why, Linus?"

For a moment, Maria's expression clouded over.

"Hmm?"

"Never mind. Let's go, Linus!"

The shadow quickly disappeared, and she grabbed Linus's hand as if to cover it up. They walked side by side. Despite this, Linus was acutely aware of the invisible, insurmountable gap between them.

◇◇◇

As they advanced through the territory of the demons, as usual, the Demon General Tsayon attacked to obstruct them. Over the past few times, Kirill and the others had been repeatedly repelled by Tsayon alone. He seemed to be getting tired of it and was now coming with the minimum effort.

"You guys lack passion. This is enough—Flare Meteorite!"

Tsayon raised his hand to the sky, and a massive fireball formed above it. However, he wasn't using the extravagant spell to increase the magic's power by over-consuming mana. It was clearly a half-hearted attempt, but the hero party was so weakened that they couldn't even break through it. Linus, the only one who could fight properly, drew his bow from a distance.

*Pshu!*

Three arrows were released. They scattered before hitting Tsayon and attacked him from different directions.

"This one hasn't lost his passion, but he can't reach me."

Tsayon cast Flare Meteorite at the three on the ground and casually surrounded himself with flames. The arrows Linus shot burned up instantly. It wasn't a weak attack. The arrows were powerful enough that even Gadio's sword would have difficulty deflecting them. The fact that Tsayon could burn them so easily was what made his flames abnormal. However, Linus didn't let up. He drew three more arrows—this time, bundling them together.

*Shugo!*

A clearly different sound as they cut through the air. Tsayon glared at them.

"Here it comes!"

He countered with a bundled flame arrow—Fire Arrow. Immediately, Jean cast a spell at him from the ground.

"Blue Flame"

"Fire magic at me? Have you gone mad!?"

A blue fireball floated towards Tsayon, as if it were a human soul. It was so weak that there was no need to deal with it. *Paaan!* The Fire Arrow and Linus's arrows collided and exploded. Then, the fragments of the arrows, each imbued with wind magic, pursued Tsayon.

"Terror Messenger will chase you until you die."

Just as Gadio excelled in earth magic, Linus was a master of wind magic. The arrows he shot would follow their target, riding the wind, until they were completely destroyed. Tsayon spun in the air, trying to shake them off. Even as the distance increased, the pursuit didn't stop. Destroying the arrows with fire magic only fragmented them, increasing their number. Jean's Blue Flame also followed him at a slow pace.

"Damn it!"

He gathered all of them and—

"Blaze Sphere!"

Covered himself with a superheated sphere, burning everything. Linus's arrows turned to ash and disappeared instantly—but Jean's Blue Flame remained unchanged. Even within the Blaze Sphere, the blue fireball continued to track him. Tsayon clicked his tongue and tried to crush it with his hand. If it were just fire, it would have been easily extinguished. However, as the blue flame wrapped around his arm, it rapidly drained his body heat.

"What…? It's not fire? My arm won't move, so it's ice—no, it should have been destroyed by Blaze Sphere!?"

Seeing Tsayon's confusion, Jean smirked from the ground.

"Blue Flame is fire, and it's also ice. Dumb monkeys like you wouldn't understand, but, hehehe, I've finally reached this level! Here's the next one, Medusa Wind!"

Jean raised his hand. But there was no change in the scenery, and it seemed no magic was being cast. At that moment, a gentle breeze brushed against Tsayon's face. *Chiri…* He felt something hit his cheek and touched it. A stone was attached. He tried to brush it off with his fingertips, but it stuck and wouldn't come off. When he tried to pinch it, it pulled at his skin.

"Impossible…!?"

Indeed, the stone wasn't attached. His skin had petrified. Tsayon moved away from the spot at high speed. An arrow Linus had shot flew towards him, *Zashu*, and pierced his right shoulder.

"Ugh…! Damn it, using weird magic! Promethe—"

Tsayon stopped holding back and tried to cast a large-scale spell. But Maria's magic interrupted him.

"Sacred Lance!"

A spear of light was created beside her and flew straight at Tsayon. He tried to dodge by tilting his body, but it pierced his right arm and burned the flesh.

"Aaaah! But… I'm not done yet!"

His fighting spirit hadn't waned. It burned fiercely in his chest, unquenched. However, Maria's magic didn't stop after just piercing his arm and burning the flesh.

"Spiral."

She smiled and whispered. The spear of light began to spin rapidly, twisting Tsayon's arm.

"What…? It's spinning… Gah, i, i… Aaaaaah!"

The light mixer wrapped around the flesh, twisted the tendons, and shattered the bones. Tsayon's arm shook uncontrollably, and as the destruction continued, it eventually tore off, spinning.

"Haa… a, g… damn…!"

Despite this, his will remained strong and noble. He couldn't let them reach Seithum. With that resolve, he glared at Maria and the others. But Jean and Maria were about to cast more spells, and Linus was drawing his bow. Kirill alone stood with a dark expression, gripping his sword, but it was already enough to finish Tsayon. Seithum's crying face flashed in his mind. He had to avoid dying—no matter what. He picked up his severed arm from the ground, turned his back, and retreated.

"Element Burst!"

"Judgment Storm!"

*Goooh!*

Jean and Maria mercilessly cast their spells at Tsayon. They were the most powerful spells they could muster.

Element Burst bundled the four elements and destroyed everything in a straight line, focusing solely on power. The mixed elements created a white flash, which could be mistaken for a light attribute spell. Even if one element was defended against, the other three would still damage the target, making it an equalizer that bypassed equipment and resistances.

Judgment Storm was an advanced form of "Judgment," which originally just fired a massive sword of light. By making the sword spin at high speed, it created a shockwave that purified and burned a wider area.

Tsayon glanced back and first dodged the Judgment Storm. Though he couldn't completely avoid it, his shoulder was torn, but his right arm was already in shreds, so it didn't matter. He immediately raised his left arm, poured all his mana into it, and clashed with the Element Burst. The power was evident; it couldn't be negated like previous spells. So, he deflected it, changing its course.

"Guh…! Here it comes!"

With all his might, the light beam finally curved and flew into the distance. It didn't lose power even when it reached the sky, blowing away all the clouds and turning the overcast sky into a clear one. Tsayon shuddered at its power, his face showing regret as he returned to the Demon King's castle.

◇◇◇

Back in the castle, Tsayon immediately entered his room and collapsed on the floor. He had cauterized the wound to stop the bleeding and walked back, leaving no trace. All he needed now was someone to heal him—

"I need to heal before Seithum worries… Yeah, I can't let her see me like this…!"

The problem was how to call someone. Lying on the floor, he panted in pain. Then, he exhaled and sat up.

"Brother, you're back?"

The last person he wanted to see was at the door.

"Seriously…?"

Tsayon collapsed again. He briefly hoped he could stay silent and pretend, but he knew that was impossible. After all, he and Seithum were close enough to enter each other's rooms without complaint.

"I heard your voice, you're in there. I'm coming in."

Saying this with a slight anger, Seithum opened the door without waiting for a response. Seeing Tsayon lying on the floor, she exclaimed, "Hya!?"

"Brother, what happened to your injury! Did the heroes do this…?"

"…Yeah, that's what happened. I was pathetic."

"Wait, you were silent just now because of this!? It's not like I didn't know you could be pathetic!"

"That's a bit of a shock…"

Despite the wound to his heart, Seithum immediately healed his physical injuries with her recovery magic. The severed arm was quickly repaired and functioned normally again. Light and Dark—Seithum's rare attribute allowed her to use both light and dark magic. She was particularly skilled in recovery magic and was often teased by Tsayon for not being "demonic" enough.

"Thanks."

When the treatment was over, Tsayon looked into Seithum's eyes and thanked her. In private, he was more sincere than when others were around.

"I don't like being hidden from. When something like this happens, you should rely on me."

"I'm at that age where I want to look cool."

"You're old enough to grow up. And stop standing with your collar up."

"That's impossible, it's part of me—"

"My soul, right? I know, I know. It's just… if it weren't for that, I could think you were really cool…"

Seithum puffed her cheeks and grumbled. Secretly, she also worried that if he lost that, he might become more attractive to other demons, which she didn't like. Of course, she kept that to herself.

"Still, what happened to get hurt this badly?"

She stood up and plopped onto Tsayon's bed.

"I don't know, some unknown mage appeared. The power and heat were way beyond what I've seen before."

He stood up from the floor and sat next to her.

"Suddenly getting stronger. Just when we thought the numbers were dwindling and we could end this soon…"

"Even if we tricked a group of humans, the party would eventually fall apart—Seithum's prediction was right, but it wasn't that easy."

Tsayon patted the dejected Demon King's head. Seithum leaned into him.

We want to avoid fighting humans as much as possible. Especially Seithum, influenced by her mother, believed in human kindness and abandoned most resistance. Before the heroes invaded, the demons in the area were evacuated north to minimize casualties. Demons, in general, are gentle and avoid conflict. Most residents accepted the Demon King's order, but of course, there were those who opposed. To accommodate their wishes, they performed destructive acts in the kingdom, but she didn't want to do even that.

"Still, can training suddenly increase magic power like that?"

"Maybe… they also have the power of Origin."

"Then that's the most likely possibility. They used magic related to rotation, connection, and proliferation. Hey, Seithum, is the seal really not weakening?"

Seithum nodded.

"As you know, the blueprint is usually stored in a place only the Demon King can access, sealed since the time of Origin. Even when Diza helps, I'm always with her. So, nothing has changed, it should be."

"The kingdom's people started acting strange about fifty years ago, right?"

"Yes, during Mother's reign. Before that, we had a good relationship."

"I can't imagine Mother making a mistake… What's going on?"

The previous Demon King, Seithum's mother, died of illness after the human-demon war. It was an early death for a demon. Seithum and Diza were the only ones present when she passed away. After calling out to her daughter, she held Diza's hand and whispered, "Diza, you…" before dying peacefully. After that, despite being young, Seithum took over the Demon King's role and, supported by Diza, Tsayon, and Negus, continued to manage the seal as a priestess for about thirty years. However, they never found out how humans obtained the power of Origin. They suspected the existence of another Origin and sent Negus to investigate, but so far, no significant information had been obtained.

"If the heroes reach this castle, the seal will be broken."

"Then, maybe we should just kill them?"

"But that would be exactly what Origin wants! Even if we repel the heroes, the hatred of humans will only deepen, leading to more conflict. That's why I didn't even want to destroy the towns!"

Seithum's voice grew harsh.

"Sorry, I was being shallow."

Tsayon looked down awkwardly.

"No, I'm the one who should apologize. I was being emotional. I'm too soft, and that's why you got hurt today…"

She leaned closer, pressing her body against his. Each time he felt her weight, Tsayon's resolve grew stronger. No matter what, he had to protect her.

"How can we stop them…?"

"Maybe we need to stop the church and the kingdom that support them?"

"But they won't listen to us anymore."

Fifty years ago, when the changes began, humans might have been more open. But by the time the human-demon war started thirty years ago, they already saw demons as evil. By the time Seithum took over as Demon King, it was too late.

"Even if we send secret letters, there's no response. Of course, the king wouldn't accept a meeting. The nobles who had connections with demons have either lost their power or been executed on false charges."

"Even if we try to undermine the authority of the church and the kingdom, it's hard for us alone. Is there anyone we can turn to on the human side?"

"Everyone is taught from a young age that demons are evil."

"Well, what about the ones who left the hero party?"

"Um, Gadio, Eterna… and Flamm, right?"

Seithum had never met them. She only knew about them from Tsayon and