Ch.889Heavenly Demon and Heavenly Demon Claiment

Diarmah had assured with a confident tone.

With the combined attack of two hundred and forty practitioners plus his assistance, they could easily defeat the Heavenly Demon Persiella.

Looking back, it was truly a laughable arrogance and an absurd delusion.

“Kyahaaak… karrrrk…!”

Phlegm-filled groans echoed like a chorus of terminal patients.

Utter defeat.

No other word could describe this scene.

Everywhere lay Dragonborn with missing limbs, while torn scale fragments floated in the muddy mixture of water and blood like burnt ashes.

It was a miserable sight.

Perhaps due to the Dragonborn’s characteristic vitality, not many had completely perished, but…

“Krrrrrk…”

Literally, they had merely avoided death. Most were so damaged they couldn’t even flee on their own feet, let alone continue fighting.

The Twenty-Four Dragon Formation had been broken.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say it was crushed under the difference in power?

The battle had flowed into something resembling a war of attrition between both sides.

Persiella, with her ocean-like mana reserves, had persistently endured the combined attacks of the two hundred forty, and throughout the battle, she gradually reduced their numbers with area-effect magic.

Until the practitioners forming the formation completely depleted their true body’s mana, reducing them from powerful mages to ordinary lizard people.

What followed was literally one-sided devastation.

The Dragonborn who lost their mana couldn’t dodge or block even a light slash from Persiella.

They were swept away thirty at a time by area attacks, wiped out in an instant like some joke.

It was only because I had persistently interfered with Persiella that things weren’t worse.

Otherwise, there would now be two hundred corpses piled like hills instead of two hundred severely wounded.

“Impossible. This can’t be happening. To break the Twenty-Four Dragon Formation single-handedly…!”

One of the last Dragonborn still standing, Diarmah, leaned on his staff-like pole and cried out in a voice filled with shock.

As if he couldn’t believe the result. As if this couldn’t be reality.

But reality was merciless. The over two hundred severely wounded and dead bodies scattered across the training ground, now reduced to ruins, proved it.

Little Forest had been defeated.

By Persiella’s martial prowess, which had grown incomparably stronger since the First Holy War.

The Dragonborn of Little Forest must have grown stronger since then too, but differences in talent and class exist in growth rates.

Persiella’s growth had far surpassed theirs.

To the point where she could now overwhelm head-on the Twenty-Four Dragon Formation that she couldn’t break through back then.

“Haaah…”

Of course, Persiella also seemed tired from the massive mana consumption, with her perceptible mana and aura having fallen to less than half of what they were initially…

Nevertheless, she was still standing firmly.

With minor wounds I had inflicted carved into her scale-covered body.

And.

—-

– Whaaaash!

The air currents twisted chaotically, mixing heat and cold. Clouds of steam rose up and were torn apart by the turbulent air.

Ice wing fragments shot by Persiella and streams of Karma fire I spewed forth.

The collision of these two forces caused a steam explosion that devastated the surroundings, blasting away the Dragonborn who still had breath in them to somewhere far away.

Thus, only Persiella and I remained in Little Forest’s training ground.

Outside the training ground, Heavenly Dragon Palace’s Dragonborn, practitioners who hadn’t joined the formation, and righteous faction Dragonborn who had come to support Little Forest were still engaged in fierce battle, but…

At least here, the one-on-one duel she had desired had finally been realized.

A development I had wanted to avoid if possible.

—-

“Come to think of it, you couldn’t possibly be a dragon in disguise.”

Persiella said, flapping her wings to disperse the steam.

“You did breathe fire like a dragon, but… if you were truly a dragon, wouldn’t you have easily overwhelmed someone like me who hasn’t yet become a dragon?”

Saying I couldn’t be a dragon because I was too weak.

“A dragon weaker than even a Dragonborn would be a joke not worth telling. Isn’t that right?”

She wasn’t wrong.

Dragons were undisputedly the strongest race on earth.

Unless Heaven’s Wall crumbled even more than it already had, they were powerful spiritual beings—or monsters—that couldn’t even show themselves in this world.

Of course, battles aren’t always won by higher levels alone, and due to compatibility or skill, there are cases where beings fall after being killed by weaker creatures…

But at the very least, they should be much stronger than me fighting with half my power sealed.

“Then we’re back to square one. What exactly are you?”

Persiella asked while crossing swords with me.

“A swordsman who can exchange blades with me, at a level infinitely close to earthly limits. You wield fire like dragon’s breath, yet you’re neither dragon nor Dragonborn. You don’t summon spirits, so you’re not a fairy either.”

Her left hand, with its claws, reached for my head as if trying to remove my helmet.

I deflected her hand with my left arm and thrust out my right foot, but she wrapped her tail around my leg, spun me around once, and threw me away.

After landing and regaining my posture, I looked up at the rapidly approaching mana energy to see a giant ice crescent greeting me.

“Tch…!”

I swung my sword, which was starting to lose teeth in places, creating a vacuum blade that offset the approaching ice crescent by freezing the air.

With a boom, a wave of cold spread out.

“What remains are humans and Dwarfs… obviously you’re not a Dwarf. So that leaves only humans. Come to think of it, there was one. A human swordsman with fame rivaling mine, perhaps even surpassing it.”

I clicked my tongue quietly.

As expected, killing her without being discovered was impossible.

Despite fighting at a disadvantage to conceal my identity, Persiella was starting to figure out who I was.

“But I heard that swordsman had black hair… Ah, I see. Hair color can be changed with magic or dye. Then indeed, your identity is…”

“You talk too much. Don’t you have any friends?”

I cut off her words, cracking my stiff shoulders.

“What…?!”

“People without friends always talk endlessly when given the chance. You’re exactly like that.”

And then,

– Whrrrrr!

I fully manifested the rune’s flames, engulfing my surroundings in fire.

I had tried to conceal my identity as much as possible in case I lost track of Persiella…

But judging by her reaction, she seemed to have figured it out anyway. So there was no point in hiding anymore.

“Well, looking at how you talk, it’s no wonder you don’t have friends.”

I said in a mocking tone while quickly glancing around.

The area was devastated from the battle’s aftermath and steam explosion.

Those who had entered to rescue the Heavenly Demon had perished along with Little Forest’s practitioners, and the remaining Dragonborn were still engaged in fierce battle outside the training ground…

They wouldn’t have the leisure to observe our situation. Unless I started flying around openly.

“How pitiful.”

So now, I could reveal my true power without issue.

I gripped the dragon-scale sword in my left hand and drew Durandal, extending crimson tentacles from my back.

Unlike before when they were simply blood-red, now they sparkled with small starlight like some nebula—perhaps something Hersella had done.

“…I am a Heavenly Demon. A Heavenly Demon needs no equal companions!”

Persiella retorted angrily.

Yes. People without friends always say things like that.

“Self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon, I suppose. Miss Heavenly Demon Petitioner.”

I smirked openly, deliberately irritating her.

“Did you know? The Ka’har of the Eastern Great Plains call me Abha Knight… that is, the first Heavenly Demon from eight hundred years ago. The very origin of the term ‘Heavenly Demon’?”

If we’re talking about origins, Hersella and I are the true Heavenly Demons, and you’re just an impostor.

Of course, the title “unparalleled devil spawn” felt more like an insult to me, so far from boasting, it was a term I wanted to avoid if possible…

But I could boast about it all day if it would provoke my opponent.

“So, when you think about it, I’m the true Heavenly Demon. Fundamentally different from a Heavenly Demon Petitioner lizard. Understand?”

“What did you just say…? Heavenly Demon, Petitioner? Heavenly Demon Petitioner…?!”

Was the word “petitioner” so shocking? Persiella showed anger bordering on astonishment.

Why, isn’t that what you are?

Weren’t you going around the world petitioning everyone to call you a Heavenly Demon?

“An impressive—well, I’m not sure if it’s impressive… anyway, if you want to boast about a title, you should use one given to you by others. Don’t you agree?”

What could be more pathetic than creating your own nickname?

I added such mockery while infusing the sword in my left hand with the power of Murder Karma.

– Crackkkk…!

The dragon-scale sword, imbued with Murder Karma’s lightning, trembled with a creaking groan.

“That mouth. I can’t let you keep it…!”

“Boasting about a self-made title only makes you look like a pitiful petitioner.”

Cutting off the petitioner’s rebuttal with logic, I added the power of Good Karma to the sword in my other hand.

– Woooong!

The sword of patience. The blue-silver true blade vibrated fiercely as if it had been waiting for this moment, its golden inscriptions shining brilliantly.

“Right? Fake Heavenly Demon without roots, lonely Heavenly Demon without friends, unconvincing Heavenly Demon Petitioner lizard miss.”

Was that the final blow?

“Yes, I see now. It is you! Just as I heard! Strange fire magic. Beast-like tentacles. And a mouth that reeks like a venomous spider, filled with deadly poison!”

Persiella charged at me with the fury of a dragon whose reverse scale had been touched, with momentum like an avalanche.

Foul-smelling mouth? That’s a bit harsh.

Ah. Perhaps, as someone who calls herself a devil spawn, she dislikes the scent of peaches?

You know, they say peaches have mystical powers to drive away ghosts. That’s why they can’t be placed on ancestral offering tables.

It seems ghost petitioners also count as ghosts.

“It’s you! It was you all along! The natural enemy of dragons, descendant of the Twelve Slayers! The merciless hunting dog of human gods, Aishan-Gioro Haschal!”

Persiella charged at me, spewing volcanic rage.

“You know me well? Miss Heavenly Demon Petitioner.”

I met her charge with a grinning smile, swinging my two swords like lightning.

Pure white ice rose like glaciers, and fierce flames scorched the earth.

Our powers, close to full strength, clashed without restraint, slashing the world in all directions.