Ch.275Chapter 275: Subjugation

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CLANG-!!

A loud metallic sound assaults my ears.

It made sense that swinging the dragon sword would produce some kind of sound when it hit something.

Unfortunately, I didn’t feel even the slightest satisfaction that normally comes from cutting through fabric, which is what blades are most often used to slice through.

“Ohhh… I just broke out in a cold sweat.”

As you can see, the dragon sword that should have cleanly severed Desire’s neck if my attack had followed its intended path was blocked by her right index and middle fingers as she spoke playfully.

The sword was stopped at a position just a hair’s breadth away from where Desire’s neck was.

To the eye, it was so close that the expression “paper-thin difference” couldn’t be more fitting.

Yet for me now, it was a distance too far to cross.

I had put an indescribable amount of force into swinging the sword, more than could be conveyed by the expression “with all my might.”

Screech-

The dragon sword, despite being a divine weapon, couldn’t cut through Desire’s two fingers made of mere fabric and stopped in place.

No, it wasn’t just stopping.

“Hup!”

With Desire’s very light exertion and will, I could see the sword slowly—very slowly, but definitely—being pushed back toward me.

From the beginning, I hadn’t expected to end her life with this strike; it was meant as a threat.

“Wow. Look at this—I’m putting in serious effort here, and it’s barely moving back. You must have been really determined to avoid becoming my agent, huh? Whew, I’m getting another drop of cold sweat from the tension.”

Though she was exaggerating her playful remarks, the frivolity in her expression had genuinely changed to surprise, confirming that my surprise attack had somewhat achieved its purpose.

But the main reason I had swung this sword…

“Maybe it’s the heightened concentration from the tension, but this gem that resembles my eyes looks really beautiful.”

I still hadn’t recovered my mother’s keepsake from Desire’s grasp.

Tremble-tremble-

Even though my right hand holding the sword was shaking like an aspen leaf against Desire’s strength, I couldn’t withdraw it.

This precious item that had gifted me the miracle of regression, this peerless treasure that allowed me to remember my mother whom I could now only see in pictures.

“You know what? The red-scaled dragons that once held power in the large continent to the west particularly loved rubies that matched the color of their scales.”

How could I withdraw my sword when this demon was examining it as if it were her own possession, letting out frivolous laughter?

“After I set foot here, I saw enough rubies in their habitats to make me sick whenever I wiped them out. So there’s no need to doubt me. Ahahahaha!”

Despite facing this delicate balance of power where the dragon sword could advance no further, Desire was busy laughing and rambling about facts I had no interest in hearing.

Perhaps because of this, I gained a slight advantage in our power struggle, enough that the blade of the dragon sword, which had been inching toward me, now began moving back toward Desire.

The high-and-mighty demon didn’t seem to notice, being too busy laughing and chattering.

This was a signal that an opportunity had come to strike again at the distracted demon.

So I gambled once more.

I pulled the dragon sword back from where it was caught between her fingers.

“Huh? Whaaat?”

As Desire’s upper body tilted toward me due to the sudden shift in balance.

“HAAAH!!!”

With another battle cry.

WHOOSH-!!

Following the initial horizontal slash, this time I swung the sword with enough force to split her body vertically in two.

It felt good. I didn’t even expect to cut her, but I firmly believed this would at least disrupt that arrogant demon’s posture enough to give me time to reclaim my mother’s keepsake.

“Yap!”

But once again, my sword was blocked by Desire’s right index and middle fingers as she let out an annoyingly frivolous cry.

BOOM-!!

This time, instead of a metallic sound, an impact like exploding rock assaulted my ears.

Even I had to admit it was impressive that the weight behind my dragon sword, swung with tremendous gathered strength, could make such a sound.

“Hmm. My fingers are tingling now. It’s heavy—would you mind taking it off soon?”

Her playful remarks immediately turned my pride to shreds.

“By the way… the light of this ruby is gradually fading.”

Her filthy gaze still fixed on my mother’s keepsake left me utterly devastated.

“Just like the time remaining for you and me.”

Even her incomprehensible muttering grated on my ears, but I refused to give up my struggle to reclaim my mother’s keepsake from the demon’s grasp.

“Well then…”

As Desire slowly began to speak and rose from her chair, my pitiful attempt came to nothing.

The sudden movement disrupted the standoff between us, which had been maintained with me striking downward.

It’s collapsing. The strength I had been maintaining to cross that distance—so close yet so far.

With just the motion of the Demon Lord rising from her seat, it crumbles helplessly.

It’s boiling up. As she rises and meets my eyes with an inscrutable smile, challenging me, my fighting spirit boils over.

Not old emotions like anger or hatred, but a firm resolve to challenge an opponent I must overcome strikes my heart, and stimulates another heart symmetrically opposite to mine.

BOOM-! BOOM-!

A heartbeat too loud and clear to be coming from my heart heated my body.

SCREECH-!!

It gave me the strength to momentarily overwhelm Desire, who was trying to break our standoff by suddenly standing up.

“…!!”

For a very brief moment, Desire forgot her playful manner, and confusion entered her expression—I sensed an opportunity.

I brought my left hand to the dragon sword I had been holding with only my right.

“Give it back!!”

I shouted for her to return what she had taken from me as I put strength into both arms wielding the sword.

But something strange caught my eyes.

It was just for an instant. When I redirected my gaze back to Desire after focusing on putting strength into my hands holding the sword.

Grin-

As if her confused expression had been a lie, an unpleasant smile with a strange mischievousness appeared on Desire’s face.

“Good attempt, but when blood rushes to your head, you still don’t think things through.”

Despite her expression, her tone was remarkably calm as she evaluated me.

I should have shouted back at her nonsense and swung the sword with all my might against her two blocking fingers.

But as my focus shifted from her right two fingers to her left index finger entering my field of vision.

“Let me cool down that heated head of yours.”

With Desire’s voice, now calm with all frivolity gone, my consciousness sank into darkness.

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CLANG-!!

With a loud noise, the black dragon sword—a famous blade minus all components except the blade itself—rolled across the obsidian floor of the separate chamber in the Obsidian Palace.

Desire’s left index finger was placed on the forehead of Cal Ranos, who until moments ago had been swinging that famous sword without hesitation.

It was an extremely simple sight—just a slender finger resting on a forehead.

But while the action was simple, the result was far from it.

Cal’s black eyes, which had been burning with fighting spirit, began to dim the moment Desire’s left index finger touched his forehead.

By the time his dragon sword rolled across the obsidian floor, his eyes had completely lost their light, and he was about to collapse to the floor just like his sword.

But some invisible force guided Cal’s body to the chair at the table where he had been sitting until recently, preventing him from falling to the obsidian floor.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, and Cal showed no particular reaction while being seated.

It wasn’t that he had lost consciousness due to some tremendous physical impact.

Judging by his closed eyes and faint breathing, he was simply asleep.

But considering his fierce momentum just moments ago when he had drawn his sword and charged at the demon, it was a sudden change.

“Phew… that was almost really difficult.”

Judging by Desire’s appearance as she sat down, sighing with relief and wiping sweat from her forehead after the situation ended,

It was clear she had subdued Cal with her power—power that could change all physical laws in this area with just the flick of a finger.

Even so, it was an astonishing sight. The aura flowing from Cal’s body when he wielded the dragon sword was fierce and sharp enough to make many of the powerful beings in this Obsidian Palace back away.

Yet she completely blocked and subdued such an attack with just two fingers of her right hand and one finger of her left.

Even though she was in a state where her power had declined so much that “fallen” would be an understatement compared to her prime, Desire’s power in easily subduing a mortal being was not to be underestimated.

“Haaaah…”

As she exhaled a long sigh and continued to wipe cold sweat from her forehead, Desire showed none of the resilience hidden beneath the composure felt from her recent feat.

Let me take a moment to describe Desire seated at the table.

The cold sweat still dripping from her forehead despite her constant wiping revealed how flustered she had been by the recent situation.

Her two red eyes, which should always be gleaming with the desire befitting her name, were filled with fatigue that called for immediate rest.

Of course, she was probably just outwardly showing such exhaustion while secretly revealing pride in subduing a formidable opponent with just her fingers…

“…Whew. I thought I was going to die.”

…

Let me correct myself.

This master of the Obsidian Palace, the only one of the six demons who remained on this land after descending upon this world a thousand years ago to instill twisted principles, Desire…

“I need to be careful. Very careful. If I fail this time, I’ll really have to pack up and leave this place.”

She was genuinely quite shaken by the fierce attack Cal Ranos had just launched at her, so much that she even forgot to wipe away the cold sweat dripping from her forehead as she spoke.