◆Black Haired Sage; Chiyuki

  In the magical projection that could be seen by all the citizens of the Republic of Ariadya was the image of Reiji, the hero of light, being beaten to a pulp without being able to as much as offering any semblance of fighting back against the Dark Knight.

  Though I tried to erase the projection which showed Reiji’s defeat, I realized that I couldn’t do that.

  Maybe someone had hijacked my magic. For that very reason, all citizens of Ariadya could see this projection even now.

  Even from where we stood, I could hear the despairing wail of Ariadya’s citizens behind us.

  It was a huge blunder on my part for projecting the scene of Reiji’s battle.

  I just said that Reiji was the hope of humanity, and yet, this image dropped them again to the depths of their despair.

  「WAIT CHIYUKI-SAN!! REI-KUN IS IN DANGER!! PLEASE SAVE HIM!!」


  Sahoko ran all the way till the top of the rampart where we stood and spoke to me in a hurry.

  「Calm down, Sahoko-sama. We mustn’t move carelessly to save dickhead-sama. Look, they’re ready to make a move as soon as we make our move. We can only wait for Sh*trone-sama for now.」


  Kaya who arrived beside Sahoko stopped the latter.

  Kaya’s line of sight was looking at the Moonlight Goddess, or should I call her, the Silver Witch.

  Her power seems to be equal to or stronger than ours.

  Moreover, there was a demon race army waiting right behind the giant dragon.

  A war might break if we tried to save dickhead.

  「But, Rei-kun might die…」


  Sahoko was looking at Reiji with a worried look on her face.

  That was only natural since Reiji was being beaten to a pulp right in front of her. He was getting beaten by an unarmed opponent though.

  「No, there’s no danger to his life this time. Look, Kuroki-sama is going easy on him. If Kuroki-sama is serious, Reiji-sama would have already been dead since the beginning of their battle.」


  I simply couldn’t hide my shock upon hearing Kaya’s remark.

  「Kaya-san. Is that true that he has yet to go… all out?」


  Kaya nodded in response to my question.

  「Indeed, Chiyuki-sama. Please take a look carefully, he has yet to use his sword.」


  「AH!!!」


  Kaya was right. He was using his bare hands instead of his sword to bash Reiji.

  And then, upon a closer look and seeing how Reiji was the one who kept attacking since the start of the fight, I could see that he was only toying with Reiji since the latter was asking for it.

  Which reminds me, the Dark Knight did try to evacuate before.

  He didn’t feel like fighting and actually trying to prevent the situation from spiraling down even now.

  Only when I realized that he wouldn’t kill Reiji did I feel relieved.

  「He’s really powerful right, Kaya? What do you think the factors that make Kuroki-san so powerful?」


  Kyouka asked with a complicated look on her face.

  For Kyouka, the Dark Knight was her benefactor. And the very same benefactor was turning her brother into a living sandbag right now.

  She might be torn inside as to whom she should cheer for.

  「I’m also wondering about that. Why is he so strong? He’s literally the exact opposite of what Shirone-san said about him being a weak man.」


  I also asked Kaya.

  Shirone described him as an unsociable, weak, but kind person without any redeeming merit. And yet, when we actually met him for real, he was the exact opposite of what Shirone said about him.

  「That might be Shirone-sama’s own misconceptions. From my perspective, he is a genius of martial arts. Even more than Reiji-sama…」


  Every single one of us was at a loss for words upon hearing Kaya’s remark.

  「But, according to Shirone-san, he’s really weak…」


  「Geniuses are divided into those who awakened their talent since their birth and those who awakened their talent later. From what I know, Shirone-sama has rarely interacted with him after she joined Reiji-sama and co. His talent should have awakened during that time.」


  Kaya told us her opinion while looking at the two battles.

  The difference between their strengths was obvious.

  Though Reiji didn’t stop charging at the Dark Knight, none of his attacks could reach the Dark Knight.

  「No way, even though Rei-kun did his best… even though he has been training every day…」


  Sahoko spoke with a sad look on her face.

  「Oh my, if that’s the case, Kuroki-san has never neglected his daily training either.」


  Kyouka spoke while tilting her head upon hearing Sahoko’s wail.

  She was right, I’ve never even considered such possibilities.

  Who said that his opponent couldn’t get stronger from training if Reiji was getting stronger from training too.

  Not even Reiji himself ever considered that matter and thus, ended up underestimating his opponent’s growth.

  That’s why there was no way he was going to win!!

  It became clear when I saw the fight between them.

  Reiji’s face, which always had a carefree smile on his face, had become serious now.

  He no longer had the same composure as when he fought Runfeld.

  「No way… Rei-kun is losing.」


  I could only look at their fight in silence.

  ◆Dark Knight; Kuroki

  He seems even weaker than before…


  Reiji’s growth was far below my expectations.

  He attacked, yes, but his pattern was no different from before.

  The only thing that changed was the fact that he attacked with two swords instead of one.

  What in the hell was wrong with this situation? I expected that he would grow stronger than me by now.

  And yet, his growth didn’t even meet a tenth of my expectations.

  I mean, I expected that Reiji who started training seriously will become even stronger than before.

  Naturally, I wouldn’t let my guard down too.

  And yet, when I saw Reiji’s current movements, I realized that he was slower than before, and his movements were literally asking me to telegraph a punch on his face, readable like an open book, no exquisite feint whatsoever, he just used his old tricks over and over again.

  Is this guy really trying to win against me? Are you sure that you’re not asking me to turn you into a living punching bag?

  Reiji swung the sword in his right hand. His swing was too big, he was literally asking for a counter.

  I caught Reiji’s right wrist with my left-hand and twisted his right-hand almost at the same time as I caught it.

  「GUH!!」


  Reiji let out a pained voice.

  But, that didn’t stop him from swinging the sword in his left hand.

  I used knife-hand to strike down that swing right after it started.

  The sword that he snatched from Runfeld fell to the ground. Runfeld and co should be able to retrieve that sword later.

  Reiji, who just dropped the sword in his left hand, then tried to use a kick on me.

  What a feat, it always came out of nowhere.

  I let go of his right-hand and retreated a few steps back.

  The kick missed its target and ended up hitting the empty space before me.

  When Reiji’s posture crumbled due to that missed kick, I nailed my right fist into his face.

  「BUGYAAA!」


  Reiji let out a funny scream as my punch sent him flying toward the ramparts.

  His body sunk into the third rampart.

  Even though I held back quite a lot of my power, it was still nailed perfectly since the target was full of openings.

  In a normal situation, that punch shouldn’t be that powerful. Against a trained martial artist, that is. The problem was the fact that Reiji was never a martial artist.

  He was overly relying on surprise attacks by using his unique physical abilities which went across the board.

  His main attack method was circling around into his opponent’s blind-spot with acrobatic-like movements.

  But, I just needed a simple trick to deal with that, and the flow of the battle would always be in my control.

  Rather, since all he did was make big moves, it left him with a huge opening once his attack missed.

  That’s why my punch nailed perfectly and showed its maximum power with less strength.

  And this was the main reason why I didn’t use my sword. He had way too many openings to the point that I would literally kill him by accident if I counterattacked with my sword, he was lucky when we fought last time we fought in Nargol since I didn’t put that much power when I showed him, otherwise, he would be a goner.

  That’s why, though it was a little dangerous, I chose to fight him with my bare hand.

  「Not bad…」


  He came charging at me again.

  You act like it was just a scratch, but your face has already swelled up like a balloon you know.

  I mean, are you sure you want to continue this useless fight when just my light punch could easily break your nose?

  「Still not giving up?」


  「OF COURSE! I’M RENA’S CHOSEN HERO, AFTER ALL, THE HERO OF LIGHT, THE HERALD OF GOLDEN DAWN!! THOUGH YOU’VE BEEN MANIPULATED BY THE DEMON KING, THERE’S NO WAY I’M GONNA LOSE TO YOU!!」


  Reiji shouted as he readied his sword of light.

  He Who Heralds The Golden Dawn.

  I felt a headache upon hearing such a stupid declaration.

  Regain the golden era of humanity he says.

  That sounds nice and heroic, the problem was the fact that such an era never existed.

  The monsters had already been roaming in this world even before the ancestors of humanity were created.

  This made me wonder who was the idiot who started to spread such nonsense?

  According to my investigation, Elios’ gods had nothing to do with this lie.

  It might have appeared naturally along with the long history of humanity.

  Humans were weak. They had no choice but to be afraid of monsters who were stronger than them.

  Such painful history might be the main reason for the propagation of this lie.

  Naturally, this might be the result of someone’s lies.

  But, the humans who are always living in fear of monsters might be the reason why they could easily accept such lies instead of trusting the bitter reality before them.

  And then, they might hope that someday, that lie will become a reality.

  And the fabricated hero who would save them was the one called the herald of the golden dawn.

  Reiji and co happened to fit in such roles. Thus, they’re hailed as the saviours of humanity.

  The monsters wouldn’t disappear even if they killed Modes, nor would the golden dawn of humanity ever come.

  Nevertheless, such lies became the only source of hope for humans to survive.

  But, I honestly didn’t care about that.

  I’m the protector of the Demon King, the Dark Knight. I didn’t mind even if I became the symbol of despair for humanity.

  「AAAH!! F*CK!! FINE, AS YOU WISH THEN!! LET’S SETTLE THIS AT ONCE!! COME ON, SHOW ME YOUR FULL STRENGTH, HERO OF LIGHT!! AND I SHALL CRUSH IT TO PIECES!!」


  I took a stance, I decided to stop playing around and end this farce at once.

  「HERE I COME!! YOU CAN’T DODGE THIS, DARK KNIGHT!!!」


  Reiji’s body shone brightly.

  He readied his sword and rushed at me.

  Reiji’s body had literally turned into an arrow of light.

  I unleashed the full might of the dragon’s power in my body.

  As a result, black flame and black lightning were coiling around my body.

  Both of us then collided.

  I turned my arms which were protected by the black flame to cancel Reiji’s power and then instantly loaded all my mana into my right fist.

  A moment later, a thunderous explosion resounded throughout the entirety of Ariadya.

  The only one left standing from that collision was only a single person, me.

  When I looked at Ariadya, it seemed that Reiji had blown away on top of the third rampart, broken through the upper portion of the second rampart, pierced through the first rampart and landed right in the plaza in front of the temple, creating a deep crater.

  I could hear Kuna’s and co cheerful cries from behind me.