Ch.256Chapter 256: Devastator (1)

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No sooner had I drawn my dragon sword and entered my opponent’s range, having resolved to fight.

[Too hasty!!]

Fafnir pointed out my recklessness.

I know. I understand how rash it is to enter the range of someone whose strength visibly overflows just by looking at them.

If my blood sister hadn’t been perched on that woman’s shoulder, I wouldn’t have stepped forward like this.

But my desire to save someone within arm’s reach, rather than pretending not to see them, was stronger.

Without hesitation, I entered my opponent’s range.

*Whoosh*

As if sensing my will to use power for someone I wanted to protect, reddish flames enveloped the entire blade of my dragon sword.

I relaxed my tense body in the warmth of those flames while gripping the sword tighter in my right hand.

All these actions happened before even a single breath could be completed.

And even as these thoughts continued, the sequence remained unfinished.

“…”

Despite my intrusion into her range, the opponent wearing a helmet that concealed her eyes remained the picture of serenity.

It was as if she had anticipated that I would reject her proposal without even listening and approach her like this.

She showed no sign of wariness while still supporting my sister with her right hand.

She didn’t even consider drawing the sword with flickering crimson energy at her waist with her left hand.

…I acknowledge she’s stronger than me—I felt it just by looking at her.

But still, it feels like she’s underestimating me too much.

Seeing this, I felt a flash of anger rising within me, but.

[If you’ve already entered her range, focus on rescuing your sister! Don’t get swept up in emotions!!]

Thanks to Fafnir’s sharp rebuke after reading my emotions, I regained my composure.

I moved into the action I had initially intended.

With my dragon sword ready to swing.

*Whoosh-!!*

I executed a horizontal slash from left to right aimed at my opponent’s helmet.

Judging by the trajectory alone, it appeared to be more of an intimidation tactic than a lethal attack meant to remove the opponent’s helmet.

But this was merely superficial—in reality, it was an attack forcing the opponent into a dilemma.

It would be nearly impossible for someone with my sister on their shoulder to properly block a sword strike aimed at their head without even drawing their own sword.

Think they could block it with armor because they’re wearing it?

If my sword were just an ordinary one that could only withstand the aura of a superhuman, that might be possible.

But this is a dragon sword. It may be less well-known than the famous holy swords, but that’s all.

Its value as a weapon is comparable to any holy sword.

It can withstand the transcendent movements of heroes with superhuman dragon power.

It’s so sharp that with every swing, it cuts through everything in its path.

If someone tried to block such a sword’s trajectory with armor, they might lose part of their body along with the armor.

Well, I wasn’t trying to cut their body but to remove the helmet covering their face.

I wasn’t trying to inflict any fatal wounds on my opponent.

One might ask why I’m merely trying to remove a helmet with a half-hearted swing when facing an incomparably strong opponent deserves a killing intent.

But judging by the skill of my opponent, who remained confidently unresponsive despite noticing my approach, watching me.

If I had openly attempted a lethal attack, I feared I might suffer a fatal counterattack before rescuing the person I came to save.

It was an action taken within the bounds of not provoking the opponent enough to consider a counterattack.

Besides, my intuition that this person would be extremely reluctant to show their bare face to others led me to draw this sword path.

To avoid revealing the face inside the helmet, they would need to block this attack.

As mentioned earlier, without even drawing their sword, that would be impossible, so they would have to evade my sword with a sudden movement.

Judging by the strength flowing through their entire body, they could easily execute such a movement.

But if they made such a sudden movement, it would inevitably create an opening.

I planned to quickly withdraw my sword in that moment and rescue my sister from the opponent’s shoulder with my own hands.

It was the best approach to achieve my goal against someone with an overwhelming skill difference without crossing swords.

Whether it would succeed or not had already left my hands, so I’d have to wait and see.

The dragon sword traced its arc without even the sound of cutting wind that should naturally accompany a sword swing.

*Whoosh-!!*

The only sound came from the crimson flames flickering on the blade.

If nothing else, I was certain that this strike was the most perfect opening move I had ever executed.

Now, what will you do?

Will you reveal the face hidden inside the helmet that would be exposed by my sword?

Or will you hastily dodge my approaching sword without being able to draw your own, exposing an opening and losing hold of my sister?

In this situation forcing a binary choice, what will you choose?

Countless thoughts bloomed and withered in my mind during a moment shorter than an instant.

Despite my complex inner thoughts.

Even as the straight trajectory of my dragon sword flew toward their helmet.

My opponent showed no sign of dodging my strike.

“Sigh…”

Instead, they let out a faint sigh while calmly appreciating the arc my sword was drawing.

Despite wearing a helmet that concealed even their eyes, the slight movement of their head following the sword’s path confirmed they were indeed watching it.

Even with a dragon sword wreathed in crimson flames flying directly at their head.

Not only did they lack any sense of crisis, they didn’t even show tension, which was beyond frustrating.

“…”

I almost felt a surge of indignation.

But such emotional fluctuation didn’t last long.

Why, you ask?

Because something happened before my eyes that replaced my rising indignation.

“…!!”

Before the sword path I had smoothly drawn to remove this mysterious woman’s helmet could be completed.

The woman who should have been in that trajectory suddenly disappeared.

Despite straining all my senses to track every movement of the woman with the determination not to lose her while completing my sword path.

To lose her so pathetically.

Unless time itself had been distorted, there was no way I could have lost track of my opponent, and my mind began to fall into confusion as she vanished.

[Above!! Above!!]

Thanks to Fafnir’s alarmed cry, I avoided falling into panic.

The problem was.

“Good effort… but a bit slow.”

Before I could turn my head toward the calm, modulated voice of the woman that pierced my ear.

*WHAM-!!*

A thunderous sound that reverberated through my ear—no, my head—shook my entire skull.

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Everything’s shaking. My vision and my entire body.

The powerful blow to my chin has me trembling like an aspen tree, unable to maintain a stable position.

I tried to turn my head to see what had happened to me.

But as if experiencing a momentary blackout, my darkened vision failed to provide proper visual information.

“I thought it would be better to take you this way rather than making an offer.”

My hearing, which was still functioning, only conveyed the modulated voice of the opponent who had delivered the painful blow.

Hearing that indifferent voice with clear intentions to take not only my sister but also me to the Demon Realm for some purpose.

I felt anger rising at the opponent who showed signs of dragging me to that dangerous place without permission.

*Tap*

A sudden unfamiliar sensation on my forehead suppressed the anger about to bloom in my heart.

“So… relax your body now… and come with me.”

That indifferent voice, despite being modulated.

Was pushing my consciousness into dark…ness…

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…No way!!

*Whoosh-!!*

Suppressing both my sinking consciousness and the rising pain, I immediately swung my sword.

Toward where my opponent had placed their finger on my forehead.

I executed the best sword strike I could muster.

Despite my consciousness momentarily fading after the blow to my chin, the dragon sword’s flames that hadn’t lost their light created a powerful trajectory, but this time it didn’t make the sound of cutting flesh and blood.

*Clang-!!*

Instead, it made a clear sound as it was prevented from continuing its path.

…What blocked it?

As my vision gradually returned after being destabilized from the blow to my chin, what entered my sight was…

My opponent, who had somehow put my sister down on the ground.

*Wooong-!!*

She had blocked my dragon sword by holding up her ominously flickering crimson sword, still in its scabbard.

“Why aren’t you unconscious? How…?”

The opponent’s modulated voice revealed puzzlement at my refusal to collapse.

“Unfortunately, I have the ability to recover quickly even if parts of me get blown away. A single blow to the chin isn’t enough to knock me out.”

Matching the opponent’s indifference, I replied with a level of detachment that might slightly surprise those who know me well.

Then I turned my gaze to the crimson flickering sword that had blocked my dragon sword without revealing its blade.

Since that crimson flickering sword had seemed strangely familiar even when it was at the woman’s waist.

I figured I could roughly identify what it was now that it had revealed its form, albeit still sheathed.

[No, this is…]

Fafnir, who had observed the sword before me, seemed to recognize what it was.

Despite my later observation.

This time, I could identify what it was faster than Fafnir.

It was a demon sword.

Created to counter the holy swords that were born to drive away beings with twisted divinity.

It was the strongest and most malevolent demon sword, forged by infusing twisted divinity into the ultra-metal called black iron steel, tempered with malice.

Its name was…

“…Don’t stare at Devastator too much. If you get trapped in this sword, even I can’t get you out.”

Without me having to say it, the current owner of the sword directly named it while indifferently reciting its dangers.

The moment I heard this, my hope that it wasn’t a demon sword was mercilessly shattered.

Countless memories related to that demon sword resurfaced in my mind.

Most recently from three years ago, when I faced it during the Sword Congregation’s trial in a fierce battle against another twisted version of myself.

And more distantly, from the numerous timelines I lived through before my regression, memories that remain only as cognitive awareness in my mind.

As an agent of the Demon God, it was the weapon bestowed upon me by the Demon God, which I unfailingly wielded to take innocent lives.

“…”

The memories associated with the sword were so unpleasant that my expression involuntarily grimaced whenever I recalled them.

Ah, there is just one good memory.

The memory from before my regression when I was determined to die as a human, harmed myself with that thing, and then shattered it with my own hands—that’s the only one that remains somewhat positive.

In the countless repeated lives where I lived like a puppet of a transcendent being.

It was the only time I did something proactively by my own will.

In any case.

For someone like me who has lived with the determination never to repeat such failures after experiencing numerous failed lives, the appearance of the demon sword with its ominous crimson light flickering under a new master was…

*Wooong-!!*

As ominous as the resonating sound it made despite not yet being drawn from its scabbard.

And it was also calming my heart.

“…”

The woman who appeared to be Desire’s new agent observed me indifferently without showing any sign of drawing the sword she had revealed in its scabbard, making me wonder what thoughts she harbored as she watched me.