Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)
Book 9: Chapter 10

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Around the same time, the battle of Lieze and the girls against Flame-Eye was coming to the climax. The three may have fought her before, but the situation has changed drastically—first, the difference in numbers. The last time, they also had the princess of the Galgan Empire, Angela, by their side. She was much more skilled than you would expect from a princess, so not having her around definitely hurt their strength. Then, the location was different. They were indoors, albeit in a bigger hall, but a secluded space like this was definitely an advantage for Flame-Eye. And then, there’s their actual fighting prowess.

During their last encounter, Urza managed to summon the high-ranking spirit Leviathan and have him fight for her. However, that was because of the location, dense in spirit power, and recreating that was impossible here. Yet despite all these advantages, they still had a chance. This was the confidence that they had grown stronger after following Kyle’s heroic duties and journey across the continent. In fact, Lieze’s attacks properly reached Flame-Eye, where they had previously been blocked off by her flames. Urza managed to control both the Water Spirit Undyine and the Wind Spirit Sylphid, using them as offensive and defensive tools to support Lieze. Minagi’s attacks from the shadows almost struck Flame-Eye’s vital spots. This was the result of their training and experience.

However, the battle itself remained an equal fight. Yet while the girls were slowly beginning to get worried, Flame-Eye was as calm as always. Lieze continued to close in on Flame-Eye despite her constant attacks and fought back, but the demon evaded all of those attacks, as Minagi tried to use this opening to leap at her. It was almost perfectly executed cooperation, and yet Flame-Eye fired off a roundabout kick at Minagi like she had eyes growing from her back. Thanks to that, Minagi was forced to dodge instead. This was an ability Flame-Eye didn’t have a year ago, which surprised not only Minagi but also the other two girls.

“Did you really think I’d be fine fighting you again without having any chance at victory?” Flame-Eye said with a condescending tone. “Humans aren’t the only ones who get stronger over time. And that defeat back then did hurt me…so much so that I actually trained.”

She had continued to improve while possessing innate talent. This must be the reason for Flame-Eye’s confidence. The three girls weren’t particularly careless, but after they had felt how much they had improved, and considering they had already won against her, they must have gotten a bit clouded in their judgment. And the price they paid was this.

“I can’t believe she’d give us this much trouble…!” Minagi’s voice carried a glimmer of panic.

The battle itself wasn’t going bad by any means. However, time was on Flame-Eye’s side. She was tasked to buy time for Targ, so there was no telling what he might be plotting right about now. He might be bringing more forces with him. Of course, there was a chance that Kyle or Seran and the others might be returning quickly, but that was just wishful thinking. Luckily, Flame-Eye wasn’t using her special technique, which would allow her to turn her whole body into one of fire. But this ability would attack her surroundings, and although it’d be extremely effective in a narrow hall like this, it would end up with her movement getting number. Since her goal was to slow them down, dying here after using up all her power would be counterintuitive.

“There’s something I’d like to try…”

Realizing that they wouldn’t get anywhere at this rate, Urza looked up and voiced her idea. Needless to say, they couldn’t discuss tactics while the enemy was listening, but they could convey their intentions with eye contact alone. Lieze and Minagi nodded and proceeded with their plan.

The first one to move was Lieze, acting as the vanguard. Realizing that something had changed, Flame-Eye upped her caution. However, Lieze’s attack was the same as before, coming directly to her face, so since Flame-Eye could just guard and buy more time, it didn’t matter to her. However, that was only the case in a regular duel, and since there were two other opponents she had to be careful of, this was only more of a threat. And so, she evaded Lieze’s attack while being careful of the possible back attack from Minagi. However, when she looked Minagi’s way, she was nowhere to be found. She had lowered her body to the point she crawled along the floor, trying to attack Flame-Eye’s ankle. So far, all her attacks had been aimed at Flame-Eye’s neck or eyes, so Flame-Eye’s dodge was a bit late. And then—

“Sylphid!” Urza ordered the Wind Spirit.

A fierce wind attacked Flame-Eye like she was rammed by solid air, which made her lose her balance and get slammed into the wall.

“Guh…! But this won’t be enough!”

Although she was attacked full-throttle, the damage itself wasn’t all that bad, so she could stand up immediately. However, the main goal was just to move Flame-Eye into position.

“Now!”

Urza’s call was not aimed at Lieze or Minagi.

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Flame-Eye felt like something bumped into her legs. Shortly after, she realized that this was Poison-Needle, who had her stomach holed out by Flame-Eye earlier.

“Flame-Eyeee! Damn youuu!”

Poison-Beetle roared in rage, clinging to her neck and blocking off her arms. She looked like a vile beast, biting into Flame-Eye’s arm like she was a hungry monster.

“You were alive after all!”

Urza flashed a confident grin. It was a bit of a bet, but she was confident in it. The reason she believed Poison-Needle to be alive was because the bees stuck to the ceiling were still alive. Urza remembered that Poison-Needle’s bees vanished immediately when Seran had knocked her out. So, Urza figured she must be laying low waiting for a chance to attack, and so Urza approached her in the chaotic battle to ask her for assistance if the chance arose.

“N-Now you did it! You…don’t even know when to die!”

Having her left arm bitten by Poison-Needle, she grabbed her neck and fired off flames. Poison-Needle’s whole body burned up in flames and fell to the ground like a piece of charcoal.

“You…damn brats! How many more times do you have to get in my way?!”

Flame-Eye had lost all her cool and now roared in anger. However, that was a fatal flaw, and Lieze didn’t miss that chance. She closed in on Flame-Eye, past the wall of flames, hammering one clear hit right into the demon’s stomach. Flame-Eye’s body bent like a U and fell down on the ground.

“Y-You…!”

She attempted to get up immediately, but the damage she suffered was too great for her to cope. She at least managed to push up her upper body, only to see the knife in Minagi’s hand. It reached the tip of her nose, making Minagi believe that she had achieved victory. However, the moment she saw something cut through the air, a black sphere rammed into her side.

“Guh…Ah…!”

Just like Flame-Eye, Minagi fell to the ground, except with much more force. She must have suffered insane damage through that, as she didn’t even get up from the ground. She threw up as her body moved in agony.

“M-Minagi!”

As Lieze’s attention was directed over at the collapsed Minagi, another sphere closed in on her. She tried to protect herself against it with a straight punch, but right before they collided, the sphere changed direction so that Lieze only hit empty air. The sphere then hammered into her abdomen, sending her flying. Although the damage she suffered wasn’t as bad as Minagi’s, it was still too much for her to get up again. In but a single moment, two fighters had been rendered unable to continue. Even Flame-Eye didn’t expect this, her expression looking shocked and in disbelief. Left behind, Urza wanted to rush over to help the two, but she heard a certain sound and stopped completely. The footsteps were all too clear, sounding painfully familiar. And then appeared a demon she had seen just once…but even so, she was filled with bottomless terror.

“Wh-Why are you here…?” Urza forced her mouth to open to ask that question.

The individual who had appeared was the new Demon Lord—the Black-winged Demon. Targ said he would buy time, but nobody anticipated he would bring the mastermind behind it all. Targ himself was nowhere to be seen, but even without him, this situation was already utterly hopeless.

“S-Spirits!” Urza called the Wind Spirit and made it rush over to the demon.

Even if she knew this wouldn’t be enough to do anything, it was hopefully enough to let the other two recover. However—

“Impossible!”

With a single flick of their hand, the demon made the spirit vanish as if it had never been there in the first place. Of course, whenever spirits took damage and disappeared, they would eventually recover so that new summoning was possible. However, Urza could feel that the spirit had completely vanished from within her, even though it should be impossible. If Shildonia had been present, she would have immediately grasped that the ability used was [Disintegrate], which could analyze, destroy, and erase anything in its path. Although it was hardly something she could be blamed for, this brief moment of carelessness on Urza’s side would prove fatal, as another black sphere flew Urza’s way. After knocking out three opponents in a matter of seconds, the Black-winged Demon proceeded to the center of the hall.

“W-Welll…Apologies for showing such a miserable performance.”

Flame-Eye looked like she had returned to her senses as she showed genuine terror while lowering her head. And yet, the Black-winged Demon didn’t show any particular reaction. Instead, they intended to finish off the girls with one more attack, raising their hand, but Flame-Eye frantically stopped them.

“P-Please wait. Would it be alright if I finished them myself?” Flame-Eye pleaded with all her heart. “There is…a special technique amongst all my techniques that I would like to offer you as a token of my servitude, and I’d like you to watch over it. Please, allow me this chance.”

It was unclear how the demon felt about Flame-Eye’s pleading, but they slowly lowered their hand. They then moved away for just a few steps, as if to say they would watch over it. Flame-Eye judged that the demon agreed and sighed in relief.

“I humbly thank you for listening to my selfish request,” Flame-Eye deeply bowed again and then faced the three girls, flashing an arrogant grin as she looked down at them. “Now then…I have to admit, it’s a bit of a waste to use this on people like you. I would have preferred to burn down at least one of the two men who defeated Three-Arms…But, I can’t ask for too much. Plus, now I can repay my debt.”

Met with Flame-Eye’s arrogant speech, Lieze and the other two grit their teeth. They had no intention of giving up from start to finish. However, seeing the flame forming in Flame-Eye’s hand, rising to shape into a small sun, they were forced to taste despair.

“This is what I’ve been saving this whole time. Consider it an honor you get to see it with your own eyes,” Flame-Eye spoke in a prideful and arrogant manner, but the girls realized something odd.

She wasn’t even looking at the three.

“Then let’s do this…Are you ready, Poison-Needle?!”

Together with that voice, Poison-Needle moved despite her whole body having been burned black. But when the black skin was shed from her, the body that appeared below was mostly unharmed.

“Yes! Go!”

She fired off a swarm of giant bees. It must be in the millions, as they attacked the Black-winged Demon from all sides. It didn’t even take a second before they disappeared behind a wall of them. And then, they stabbed them at the same time.

“These little guys are packing poison so extreme it’ll kill you in a matter of seconds! No matter what demon you are!” Poison-Needle saw this and grinned.

“Time to finish this…Go forth, my final flame…Annihilation Flame!”

Flame-Eye’s ball of fire slammed into the Black-winged Demon, raising a pillar of flame. That blue-white flame looked like something other than a fire, but it completely engulfed the demon and his appearance disappeared. The trump card Flame-Eye used before, which turned her whole body into a flame, was so hot it burned the sand at her feet. Yet this time, the space around them practically evaporated. Despite being a good distance away, even Lieze and the others almost got burned.

“U-Undine!”

Urza panicked and summoned the water spirit to protect them. Flame-Eye and Poison-Needle stared at the pillar of flame without letting their guard down once, but seeing that the demon hadn’t escaped from the flames now, they slowly relaxed and were certain of their victory.

“Phew…I’m glad things worked out. So many random things happening…” Flame-Eye said while gasping for air, but she sounded satisfied all the same.

“You can say that again. What if we failed?” Poison-Needle seemed relieved, too.

Lieze and the others couldn’t follow at all, just staring at the flames in disbelief.

“Wh-What is going on?”

“Can’t you tell? This was our goal from the very start. We wanted to give that demon hell by tricking him into coming here,” Flame-Eye acted like Lieze was stupid for asking that question.

It was a betrayal of the betrayal. Everything was just to defeat that demon. Flame-Eye narrowed her eyes and showed a serious expression like never before.

“He’s not good. We can’t let him become the Demon Lord. I could tell with a glance. That’s why I wanted to kill him no matter what it would take.”

That’s what Flame-Eye felt when Kyle and the others met him for the first time. And Lieze and the girls knew just how right Flame-Eye was in that assumption. The [Great Invasion] the Black-winged Demon caused—or more accurately will cause—brought humanity to the brink of annihilation, but it’s not like the demons didn’t suffer any consequences themselves. Because they were truly strong when they fought without regard for their own lives.

“Y-You should have told us sooner…!”

Urza managed to raise her body as she complained. In reality, she and the others were brought to the brink of death, so she had a point.

“Because that raised our chances. We were going to strike down the Demon Lord, you know? It’s do or die.”

Just as she stated, she was also not in the best shape herself.

“My secret ability Annihilation Flame can kill just about any demon out there. However, it takes a good ten seconds for me to focus, so it’s actually not that viable of an attack in actual combat. And once I do use it, it saps the energy out of me that I won’t be able to use it for at least another year or so. I couldn’t afford to miss, so we had to create this situation.”

Looking at her, Flame-Eye was rather pale, her body spasming like she was exhausted.

“It was all necessary to kill him. And for that, we used you. Creet and the others helped out a lot, allowing us to build our trust.”

It was unclear what Creet and the others were even doing, but they were probably all risking their lives. Even so, Flame-Eye considered them a necessary sacrifice.

“And I know you’ve got a thing or two to say, but what exactly did you expect from demons like me? If you die, I don’t lose anything.”

“…”

Flame-Eye’s smile seemed judgmental, but she made a valid point. And Lieze knew that she was also just a special case compared to demons like Yuriga.

“But that didn’t mean you had to keep it a secret to me as well…You’re unbelievable. I mean, explaining what you’re planning while you’re stabbing me through the stomach? And as brief as ‘Play dead until I give you the signal.’

It didn’t help easing up the tense atmosphere, but Poison-Needle still complained for good measure. Lieze did remember seeing something like Flame-Eye whispering into Poison-Needle’s ear.

“I made sure not to pierce any of your vital organs, right? I know full well that you wouldn’t die from an injury like that, considering how many times we fought each other. And why did you even fight back that one time? That way, you almost ruined our plan,” Flame-Eye held her left arm as she complained.

“It’s because that elf woman found out I’m still alive. That’s why I played along.”

“So you just sucked at playing dead?”

“Like I said! Don’t expect me to be able to play long after you said that!”

The two were hissing at each other, but they seemed to be in a good mood regardless. After all, their plan worked out better than expected, and they succeeded in defeating the new Demon Lord. The same was true for Lieze and the other two, being relieved. They managed to defeat the mastermind. Granted, this might not be the end of it all, but they at least did something good. Even if Kyle’s preparations against the [Great Invasion] may have gotten ruined, it was better than fighting for their lives. Minagi wondered how they should break the news to Kyle when she saw something moving within the pillar of flame.

“Oh yeah, since we both defeated the Demon Lord, who’s gonna be the next one…?”

“Huh? I won’t! I did this to get some peace and never have to leave again—”

“W-Wait! Look at the flames!”

Minagi’s scream made everyone look at the flames, and so did the two demons, and they were all utterly bewildered. Something was moving there.

“It’s…still alive…?” Lieze uttered in disbelief.

“Impossible!” Flame-Eye screamed as if she wanted to convince herself. “That…That was my strongest attack! It can burn down even the flame spirit, that’s how strong it is! It should have been enough to kill him!” True terror filled Flame-Eye’s voice.

Not because she was scared for her life, but rather because of this inexplicable something she was facing right now.

“I…I had all my bees stab him, too! No living being should be able to survive that!” Poison-Needle seemed utterly bewildered, too.

And seeing that two of the strongest demons were completely frozen in shock, surely it would have killed anybody. And yet, the scenery in front of them denied that. Although it was still inside the flame, the Black-winged Demon was definitely moving.

“…What do we do?” Urza slowly retreated, taking distance from the demon as she asked everyone else.

However, her actions spoke for themselves.

“…We’re running.”

“…Right now, he still can’t move after all.”

Flame-Eye and Poison-Needle made their decision immediately.

“At the very least, he should have suffered some level of damage. If we could focus on him all at once…!” Minagi saw this as a fortunate chance to fight, but the demons disagreed.

“I used up all my bees, so I can’t fight anymore.”

“If you want to kill him yourself, I won’t stop you. But we can’t kill him ourselves.”

They both used their strongest attacks that turned out useless, so they accepted that reality. If they wanted to run, it was now or never. Minagi hated to retreat with their mortal enemy in front of her, but she herself wouldn’t be able to achieve anything. And so, with a feeling of loss and defeat, as well as a bottomless terror growing within them, the five ran away.

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