The Heavenly Demon Is Just Stuck In My Head

I sheathed my sword and then looked at Sir Ra... whatever-his-name-was, being carried away on a stretcher. As promised to the Black Prince, I didn't kill him. I just came pretty close.

I wasn't worried. The kingdom's best doctors and priests would be on standby. He'd come to his senses soon enough from something like that. He was still young, so his severed arm would reattach just fine.

I have my plans. It was a clean cut made with those calculations in mind. It wasn't a reckless slash. Well... there's also the fact that I'm a merciless man by nature.

"How does the Crimson Flash taste?"

I muttered softly.

Of course, it couldn't compare to the Golden Flash. If that guy hadn't let his guard down, he could have easily dodged or parried it. That's how scary carelessness is. Of course, my acting skills played a part in making him so defenselessly careless.

Even the Heavenly Demon praised my acting.

[You looked quite like a moron.]

This is why geniuses are what they are. They had a weakness they couldn't hide. Carelessness. They need to learn humility by hitting walls and being broken, but those guys grow up so fast they don't have the chance. A genius is rare, but a humble genius is even rarer.

Still, it was true that my Crimson Flash had improved a lot from the mere imitation it was the day before. This was because while I was sitting cross-legged all night designing my own ultimate skill, I had also worked on the Crimson Flash.

The stance is as low as possible to reduce air resistance, and the internal energy is gathered in one place and then exploded in an instant by stomping the ground. I said explosive, but I couldn't really make it explode like Sir Ashley, so it was more like forcibly gathering the wind of the Floating Step and then releasing the restraining force all at once to create a similar imitation... but it wasn't bad.

"...."

I leaned on my scabbard like a cane and looked across. The expression on the First Prince's face was quite a sight. Seeing his face, a sense of pride welled up in me. It felt like I was being compensated for all the frustrating years I had spent wearing a blindfold. Of course, I could see more clearly and in more detail in a different sense through my ki sense, but there was a clear difference from seeing with my own eyes. I'm human too, so what's familiar is comfortable.

"...You little brat. So surprised."

I gave him a grin and then checked behind me as well. The Black Prince also seemed quite surprised, his mouth half-open. Fluffy was staring at the beef jerky that had fallen on the floor as if it were a waste.

Murmurs could be heard from all around. Most of the audience didn't seem to have properly grasped what had happened. It was the delightful rebellion of a blind swordsman, I tell you.

Having succeeded in my rebellion, I put the thrilling feeling behind me and focused on the one clanking up the stage. It was the one presumed to be the Silent Victor. I hadn't realized because he was standing next to a giant over two meters tall, but now I saw that this guy also boasted a rather large frame.

He too was wearing a helmet like Rutie, but this guy originally wore a helmet, so I didn't think I would be able to recognize him even if I saw his face. However, it was impressive that he was wearing a different helmet from the one I had seen the day before. He seemed to have paid some attention to his disguise.

...Well. That's probably why he also changed his weapon to something other than his main one. Still, I felt a sense of pride that he was at least making an effort to disguise himself.

Sir Victor, boasting a dark-colored full-body armor, clanked his way to my front and stopped.

"...."

True to his nickname "the Silent," he didn't say a word and just stared at me silently. Not to be outdone, I also faced him without a word. I didn't really have anything to say either.

His helmet only had a thin, thread-like eye slit, and even up close, I couldn't see his eyes. Now I saw that he was hiding a pair of menacing hand axes behind his back. So, he was a dual-axe wielder.

'A knight with dual axes?'

I was slightly taken aback, but I decided to let it go. For some reason, it suited him well.

'What weapon was he holding before...'

I couldn't remember well. It was probably because the weapons of the other two knights were so distinctive. A slightly curved Dao and a giant spear well over two meters long. Since I didn't have any particular memory of it, it must have been an ordinary sword.

As we were observing each other and exchanging glances, Aron Hobas spoke.

"You two. Are you ready?"

Victor gave a simple nod, and I drew my sword from its scabbard and said.

"Ready."

Aron looked at us once as if to confirm, then shouted into the short staff he was holding.

I focused solely on Victor before me, and he did the same. The surrounding noise gradually faded away.

[Let me say it again. Even if you die, I will not go up on stage again. Take this seriously.]

"I told you I got it."

After brushing off the Heavenly Demon's nagging, I infused my internal energy into the scabbard I was holding and watched the man. Victor didn't take any particular stance and just stared at me intently.

"Hmm."

Before showcasing my amazing ultimate skill, I decided to clash swords a bit. In other words, a probing battle. Come to think of it, I knew nothing about this guy.

"...."

I glared at him intently... then suddenly threw the scabbard I was holding in my left hand.

Swoosh!

Victor, with the hand axes he had already drawn, chopped the scabbard as if splitting firewood.

Crack!

It wasn't just a casual throw; I had infused a decent amount of internal energy into it, but the scabbard was shattered in one blow by his axe. While he was clearing away the scabbard that flew in front of him, I had already reached him.

I appeared from behind the shattered scabbard with a Crimson Flash. This was because I had rushed in at the same time I threw the scabbard.

Clang!

But Victor, without any difficulty, swung his other hand axe and parried my surprise attack. It seemed like a casual parry, but the force behind it was so strong that I momentarily staggered.

Tatadat!

I quickly stopped, letting the shock flow through me with exquisite footwork. It wasn't intentional, but a footwork I had stepped into instinctively. It was a relief. If not for that, I would have surely fallen in an unsightly manner. The Crimson Flash, which had been moving in a straight line, staggered and fell into an unremarkable curve.

An axe flew at me.

Whoosh!

I lowered my stance to dodge the axe that was swung horizontally as if chopping a tree, then twisted my body to parry the axe that followed, aiming to split my head in two. I parried it as if to deflect it as much as possible, thinking my sword might break otherwise...

BOOM!

With the impact that flashed above my head, I barely managed to keep from collapsing. At the same time, my mind snapped to attention.

The knights before me were those who stood at the pinnacle of a nation.

I need to be... tense.

I leaped back and sharpened my senses. I condensed my wide-spread ki sense into a dense and detailed net, heightening my nerves. I also infused starlight into my sword and then, in that state, countered his axe blows.

Kakang! Kang! Swaak!

Is this what it feels like to be firewood? It was crude but threatening. It felt like facing Wolfgang when he was consumed by the demon sword. If I was off by even a little, my sword would break or my arm would be shattered. This time, I realized that fact without my arm being shattered, so perhaps I had grown.

Of course, that was about the power behind the attacks; his ability to manage a fight was incomparable to Wolfgang's. At a glance, it seemed like he was just swinging his axes thoughtlessly, but on closer inspection, he was watching my posture and mixing in various tactics as he swung his axes. I could clearly feel him trying to corner me and create a battlefield advantageous to himself.

He looked like a bear, but his actions weren't bear-like. He was a fearsome man.

Clang! Kakagang!

Sparks flew as the axe blades and my sword clashed. I tried my best to deflect them with my sword enveloped in stillness, but it wasn't easy. An axe, not having a long blade like a sword, was more difficult to deflect. On top of that, the user's ferocious strength was added, so what could I do?

A change of thought.

I had to dodge as much as possible. Or face him head-on. There was no deflecting or anything of the sort.

When the axe, faintly wrapped in an orange aura, and the sword, sparkling with starlight, clashed head-on...

Clang!

The aura enveloping the sword wavered greatly.

Is the starlight being pushed back?

My sword was one. His axes were two. The other axe came in succession. Just as my body was pushed back from the clash of the axe and sword, I twisted my body completely and kicked him in the chest.

Thwack!

It felt like kicking a lump of iron. It didn't do much damage to him, but that was a secondary objective, so it didn't matter. I used the rebound from kicking his chest to leap back and create distance, dodging his axe blow.

And so, the probing battle ended.

Victor and I maintained a certain distance and glared at each other.

The Heavenly Demon recited his review.

[What a brute.]

It was true. I should have known from the moment he brought out the axes. He was a guy who had no defense and would just shove his axe blades at me whenever he had a chance. If I tried to give up flesh to take the bone, I was in danger of having my bones torn apart as well.

And his dual-axe wielding was not awkward at all. To the point where I felt no sense of incongruity seeing a knight swing axes. He was good enough to be called a master of dual axes. Well, he must have had some confidence to bring out dual axes in the first place.

"...."

I glared at him and raised my Floating Step to its peak.

Hwoooong!

Immediately, the wail of a ghost echoed in my ears. The wind that had been gently swirling around me suddenly began to grow rough, and the hem of my clothes fluttered.

I spouted some nonsense at him.

"I'll tell you a secret."

"...."

"I am the god of the wind."

"...."

I tried spouting nonsense, but Victor had no particular reaction. Victor, who had been blankly watching my hair and clothes flutter, raised the axes in both hands as if to show me something in return.

Kang!

The axes clashed. He was striking one axe with the other, as if tormenting it.

Kang! Kang! Kang!

A sound attack?

I stared blankly at him hammering away at his axes like a blacksmith... and was startled.

At some point, sparks flew from the axes that were making a loud noise from scraping against each other, and the axe blades caught fire.

Fwoosh!

"What in the world is this?"

Are the axes matches? I thought it was a sound attack, but it was a fire attack. The sparks clung to his orange aura and soon became one with it, blazing fiercely.

They were flaming dual axes.

Victor, who had lit his dual axe blades as if striking flint, looked at me.

"...."

He seemed to be asking if I was ready.

"I am the god of the wind."

I am not one to be scared by such a little fire play.

The god of the wind immediately rode the wind and rushed at him.

Ch-chaeng! Swaak! Kang!

Sparks flew, and a fierce wind scattered the flames. In the middle of swinging my sword, I shot out finger and palm techniques with my left hand, but he endured like a silent rock. His mindset was that he would rather swing his axe one more time than block it. I couldn't even tell if there was any actual damage. He was so stoic.

At some point, his flaming axe came flying at my head. I quickly tilted my head back to dodge it, but the licking flames caught onto my blindfold. I had no choice but to swing my sword wide and retreat.

Swoosh!

His axe flew vertically, as if chasing me. Wrapped entirely in fire, it flew like the tongue of hell. As soon as I realized that an unusual amount of power was contained in it, I kicked off the ground with all my might and shot up into the air.

KWAAAAANG!!

***

Dust rose like a cloud.

Victor watched the scene silently, then swung the axe he was holding horizontally.

Swaak!

The completely hazy scene was split in a straight line like the horizon, and then scattered by the wind that rose belatedly.

Hwoong!

The Silent Victor, who had scattered the dust cloud that filled the arena with a single motion. He couldn't help but widen his eyes at the sight that came into view.

Dozens of black spears, leaking a black energy, were floating in the air. And the one standing in their midst was no longer a shabby blind swordsman.

Eerie, crimson eyes.

A cruel smile hanging on his lips.

"Who did you say I was?"

The Red-Eyed Devil swung the hand he had raised above his head forward. A red glint flashed in his eyes.

"The god of the wind."

Swoosh!

Dozens of black spears flew towards Victor all at once.

(End of Chapter)