The Birth of a Hero

1.

“You were in a place like this?”

Elia arrived at the top of the clock tower.

A sword in her right hand.

A hand axe in her left.

Though armed like a warrior, she was a Saintess.

“I finally found you.”

Elia glared at Ether professor.

“I won’t waste words.”

Sword Dance towards the enemy.

“It’s time to be punished.”

Ether professor burst into laughter at the Saintess’s audacity.

“Are you going to slice me up with that sword?”

She looked plausible holding a sword.

But her opponent was a Saintess.

There was no way she could properly wield a sword.

“Are there more below?”

Ether professor looked at the severed surface of his arm.

It was very clean.

He didn’t think the Saintess had done it.

He judged that more reinforcements were coming up from below.

It didn’t matter.

He could just kill however many came.

Ether professor’s Magic circle glowed.

Viscous Demonic energy reattached his severed arm.

“I was planning to come find you anyway, but you came to me. How…convenient!”

Both of Ether professor’s arms were severed.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

A light flashed briefly, and his arms were on the floor.

A subtle light, not moonlight, illuminated the darkness of the clock tower.

Ether professor looked up.

The Saintess’s sword was glowing.

“…Sword Aura?”

He thought it was Divinity because it was shining gold, but it was definitely Magical power.

And not just ordinary Magical power.

It was refined as if it had been honed through years of training.

Elia’s body leaned forward.

With a bang, an explosion occurred, and a storm blew.

Before he knew it, Elia had closed the distance and was holding the blade to Ether professor’s neck.

-Thwack!!

The sword was embedded in Ether professor’s neck. But the moment it pierced his neck, he hardened the area around his neck, preventing his head from falling off.

Elia raised her hand axe.

“Where do you think you’re…!”

The Magic circle on the back of his hand flickered.

Darkness stretched out its arm and pulled at Elia’s shadow.

Elia’s body moved to the side, and the axe struck the air.

Elia didn’t panic.

She immediately spun around and slashed at Ether professor’s ankles.

It was Ether professor who panicked.

The new body didn’t feel pain.

As long as his head wasn’t cut off, he could regenerate as much as he wanted.

He was almost immortal, but that didn’t mean he didn’t feel fear.

A cold sensation ran down his spine.

He might die.

Ether professor slammed his fists together.

Two Magic circles collided, and Magic exploded.

The moonlight was obscured, and the entire space was plunged into darkness.

“Ria! It’s dangerous!”

Hoth, who had already been hit by this attack, shouted.

“Too late.”

From within the darkness, groaning and moaning, dark entities appeared.

They flew around like swarms of hundreds of locusts.

They would tear their opponents to shreds.

“Hiss…!”

Regardless.

Elia bent down and swung her sword horizontally.

A golden flash swept through the dark entities.

Screams echoed from all directions.

Elia immediately changed her stance.

She stretched the arm holding the hand axe back.

The hand axe grew into a giant double-bladed axe.

“That’s…?!”

Hoth’s eyes widened.

That technique was Hoth’s technique.

More precisely, it was one of the Sword Dance of the Ragtree family.

She threw the axe.

-Whoosh!!

The axe flew, creating a whirlwind.

Spinning around, the axe tore through the darkness.

Before the darkness was completely torn apart, Ether professor manipulated the darkness to alter the axe’s trajectory.

-Crack!!

The shadow-pulled axe passed by Ether professor and embedded itself in the wall.

-Fzzzt!

Demonic energy sparked from the Magic circle on the back of his hand.

He wasn’t yet used to becoming a Demon and manipulating Demonic energy.

Perhaps that was why Demonic energy was being sucked out every time he manipulated the darkness.

“I have no choice.”

Ether professor withdrew all the Demonic energy he had spread throughout the academy.

“Ugh…!!”

His heart pounded.

He could feel a vast amount of Demonic energy entering his body.

This would weaken the Summoned beast roaming the academy, but he instinctively knew that he couldn’t defeat that girl without doing this.

“Kuh-uh-uh.”

Demonic energy was transforming his body.

Arms like tree branches sprouted from his back.

Thick forearms were attached like wings.

His bulk grew even larger, and six Magic circles made of Demonic energy floated behind him.

“Krrk…!”

Ether professor, his convulsions subsided, chuckled.

“Saintess, let’s get serious now.”

In terms of Magical rank, it felt like he had jumped several levels at once.

He had been stuck at the 10th Magical rank for over 10 years.

He finally felt like he had broken through that limit.

Yes, this was what he wanted.

Wasn’t this why he had made a deal with the Demon race?

The six Magic circles flickered.

Giant limbs were summoned from the Magic circles.

The limbs writhed like tentacles and began to destroy their surroundings.

“Get serious?”

Elia grinned.

“Alright.”

She was dizzy.

She had overdone it too much.

It was the first time since her reincarnation that she had used Magical power and Divinity like this.

Still…

She felt good.

It felt like she was having a real fight for the first time in a long time.

“Let’s get serious.”

The Saintess’s smile.

Ether professor flinched when he saw it.

It was beautiful yet eerie.

-Crack!

Elia kicked off the ground.

The floor cracked and split like a spider web.

Closing the distance in an instant, Elia aimed for Ether professor’s neck.

The giant’s arm threw a punch.

Elia spun her body and dodged the attack.

As she spun, a golden flash flickered three times.

-Whack! Whack! Whack!

The giant’s arm was sliced into three pieces.

It didn’t stop there.

Elia sliced off the giant’s limbs with even faster movements.

Ether professor resisted.

But he couldn’t keep up with Elia’s movements.

Just when it seemed like an attack would land, she evaded it as flexibly as an eel.

Was that…a monster?

It was truly ridiculous for a Demon to be thinking this.

But he couldn’t help but think that.

Elia’s movements were not movements that a Saintess could show. No, leaving aside the Saintess, no swordsman in the academy could show such movements.

“Here.”

Elia, looking gleeful, wiped the flesh from her sword with her sleeve.

Around Elia, the giant’s limbs were lying in gruesome pieces.

“What can you do now?”

This was absurd.

To be reduced to this state by just one person.

And by such a fluffy girl who seemed so far removed from swordsmanship.

“Haha, it’s not over yet.”

Ether professor chuckled.

“I prepared a Demon just in case.”

A Magic circle floated on the floor.

It was a pre-prepared summoning Magic circle.

He would use this to summon the Demon he had created for experiments to this place.

While it was dealing with the Saintess, he would escape.

He had to retreat for now.

He couldn’t defeat that monster alone.

The Magic circle flickered.

What was summoned was a Demon.

“Huh…? What is this…?”

A Demon with its back open.

For some reason, it was summoned dead.

“Ah, I defeated that,” Elia said nonchalantly.

“It was in the lab, right?”

That’s right.

He had kept it on standby in the lab.

“What…what are you?”

Ether professor asked in a trembling voice.

“Hmm…”

Elia stroked her chin and pondered.

After a moment, she looked at Ether professor as if she had chosen her answer.

“I am a Saintess.”

She raised her sword.

“And a swordsman.”

Light gathered on the sword.

This time, it wasn’t Magical power.

Divinity was gathering.

It was her first time using it, but…it should be possible, right?

Elia used Divinity like Sword Aura and swung her sword.

Flash!

Light swirled and engulfed Ether professor.

Escape?

Resist?

It was all meaningless.

The light bisected Ether professor precisely.

His body split in two.

His intestines stretched out like ropes and fell to the floor with a thud.

“Ugh…!”

Elia felt dizzy and staggered.

“Elia!”

Hoth, who had been watching the battle without being able to do anything, supported Elia.

“Ah…thank you.”

She was such a small body.

You shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but.

It was hard to believe that such a girl possessed such tremendous power.

“I need to rest a bit. I overdid it too much, ehehe.”

Elia smiled like a child.

She was sleepy.

She wanted to soak her body in hot water to relieve her fatigue.

After a bath, she wanted to have a glass of beer…

“I’ll go get people.”

“Okay.”

Hoth dragged his heavy body up from his seat.

He was dizzy.

He wasn’t in a normal physical condition either.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

Elia grabbed Hoth’s hand.

Hoth’s body was healed.

“You should feel a little better.”

“…Thank you!”

Hoth started running to get people quickly.

Just in case, he grabbed the hand axe stuck in the wall.

The summoner was dead, but there might be other enemies besides Summoned beast.

He was about to go down the stairs when.

He saw Ether professor’s corpse twitching.

The moment he saw it.

“Kkyaaaaaaack!!”

The bisected body screamed horribly and tried to pounce on Elia.

“No…!”

Elia was completely defenseless.

She had fallen asleep in a short time, leaning against the wall and snoring softly.

Hoth squeezed out all the Magical power in his body.

Red Magical power became armor.

Armored, Hoth charged towards the Demon.

Would he be too late?

He had to not be too late.

He wasn’t too late.

Just as he was about to body-slam the Demon.

“Ah… geez… let’s rest a bit…!”

Elia kicked the Demon that was trying to pounce on her, sounding annoyed.

“Kkueaaack!”

“Cough!!”

In the process, Hoth was also kicked in the foot at a bad time. The Demon and Hoth flew together and fell out of the clock tower.

2.

Demonic energy disappeared.

Summoned beast also weakened.

In the meantime, everyone in the academy joined forces.

“Is it over…?”

It was the cry of a student.

It was at that moment that a huge object fell in the central hall plaza.

-Kwaang!!!

A black object fell from the clock tower.

The ground shook, and dirt rose like a fog.

The people in the plaza surrounded the object.

After a while, the dirt settled.

“Ugh… ugh… I thought I was going to die…”

Blonde hair.

Tan skin.

A giant man caressed his ribs.

The man’s appearance was miserable.

His skin was torn, his blood vessels had burst, and blood was flowing from his entire body, and the academy uniform was tattered.

But the hand holding the hand axe was firmly gripped.

The man staggered to his feet.

At his feet lay a hideous monster, split in two and dead.

“Th, that’s… a Demon?”

It was the words of a professor.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the man.

Last time too.

This time too.

The warrior who hunted the Demon, Hoth.

It was the moment of the birth of a hero.