Chapter 16

The Swordsmanship Genius Possessed by a God — Chapter 16

Demonic humans.

They were people who had obtained power through contracts with demons, sacrificing their lifespans and life force in exchange.

They were now rarely seen on the continent, and their very existence was considered an abomination.

‘Mr. Mikel was a demonic human?’

Yusia swallowed hard. Although she was standing quite far from the altar with Baudon, Mikel's killing intent made her legs tremble.

Even with a swordsman from Vishken on their side, there was no guarantee of victory against a demonic human.

“When did you figure it out?”

Mikel, whose eyes had turned red, and Allen slowly circled each other.

Neither took his eyes off the other. They knew that the slightest lapse could send the other's sword flying toward him like the wind.

“I knew from the beginning that you weren't from Vishken. I started suspecting you might be a demonic human when I watched you killing monsters.”

“When you watched me killing monsters?”

“You couldn't control your killing intent. And a little demonic energy was leaking out.”

“You sensed that?”

It should have been an extremely faint amount.

Mikel was impressed by Allen's senses. He had used only a tiny amount of demonic energy while killing the Bristle, yet Allen had noticed it.

“You bastard. It seems this isn't your first encounter with a demonic human.”

“I'm sick to death of people like you.”

How many demonic humans had he encountered so far? And how many demons?

Just thinking about it made him thoroughly sick of them.

“Oh, not that you're the same as them.”

“...What?”

“Just looking at you, it's obvious you're a mongrel, isn't it? Real demonic humans don't have veins bulging out or eyes turning red like yours.”

Ironically, the stronger the power of the demon, the less the demonic human who inherited that power differed from an ordinary human. The same was true of the demons themselves.

From that perspective, Allen considered Mikel only half a demonic human.

He was a demonic human who had not properly received a demon's power, one created through a blood transfusion rather than a contract.

Mikel was bewildered by Allen's words.

He also knew how his appearance changed when he began using demonic energy.

He had always believed that bulging veins and changing eye color were natural transformations that occurred when using demonic energy. He had assumed all demonic humans looked like him.

But now he was being told otherwise.

Grit.

“Stop talking nonsense!”

Whoooooosh!

Demonic energy erupted from Mikel's body as though exploding.

A whirlwind rose around him.

“What could a bastard like you possibly know? Stop pretending you know everything!”

Allen's hair fluttered in the whirlwind of demonic energy. Between the flying strands, his eyes gleamed blue.

The moment Mikel saw Allen's eyes, completely devoid of fear, he felt anger boiling up inside him.

“So what? You think you're special just because you're young and from Vishken?”

Having released his demonic energy, he kicked off the ground.

Bang!

With his leap, his long sword came flying like the wind. Allen's sword met it at the same speed.

Clang!

When their sword energies collided, the resulting shockwave carved marks into the altar floor.

Allen's sword smoothly diverted Mikel's blade.

Then Allen's sword slid forward, sweeping toward Mikel's head.

Mikel leaned his head backward, his eyes reflected on the surface of Allen's blade. Immediately after the attack and evasion, the two separated slightly.

A small distance opened between them.

Neither was willing to tolerate that distance.

Allen and Mikel clashed again.

Clang, clang, clang!

Their swords collided three times in rapid succession.

Throughout the fight, Allen never took his eyes off Mikel's gaze. Rather than watching his opponent's sword, he fought while observing his eyes and shoulders.

As though engaged in a contest of pride, neither man left the narrow confines of the altar.

Bang!

The two swords collided once more at the center of the altar. Mikel, who was relatively taller, pressed down on Allen from above.

Their eyes glared at each other across their locked swords.

“You bastard—”

Allen had not retreated a single step from the altar.

Realizing Allen's intention, Mikel asked,

“Are you planning to sacrifice my life on this altar?”

Scrrrape.

Allen did not answer.

His silence was an affirmation.

Screech.

Once again, Allen slid along the surface of Mikel's blade and slipped inside his guard.

The moment Mikel used his footwork to retreat a step and create some distance—

Celestial Star Style, Second Form.

Rainstorm.

Whooooosh!

The sword energy released from Allen's blade shredded Mikel's clothes.

It was a storm of sword energy that would have hacked his body to pieces if he hadn't barely managed to block it with his sword.

“Urgh!”

Mikel frowned as he stumbled backward repeatedly. A streak of sword energy he had failed to block sliced across his side.

But this was no time to worry about a single wound.

‘Where did he go?’

In the brief instant that he blinked against the fierce wind, Allen had disappeared.

He looked around the altar, but Allen was nowhere to be seen.

In that case—

‘Above!’

Mikel jerked his head upward.

Sure enough, Allen had climbed onto the demon statue above the altar and was preparing his next technique.

Celestial Star Style, Second Form.

Rainstorm.

Whooooosh!

This time, sword energy poured down from above. It was clearly the same technique as before, but the result was different.

Because the sword energy Allen unleashed was concentrated entirely on Mikel.

“Graaaaaagh!”

Clang, cl-cl-clang!

The sword he swung wildly clashed against the descending sword energy.

The sword energy rained down, tearing through his arms and piercing his collarbone.

Mikel swung his sword as though he felt no pain. In fact, he truly couldn't feel any.

It was a change that had occurred after receiving the blood transfusion and becoming a demonic human. He was convinced that the inability to feel pain was a demonic human's greatest strength.

Perhaps thanks to that—

Mikel survived the second Rainstorm as well. His arms were mangled, but he still held his sword.

The moment Rainstorm ceased, Mikel began his counterattack.

No.

He tried to begin it.

Riiip.

But a long wound had appeared across his chest before he could.

“...Huh?”

Splaaash!

Blood erupted from his split chest.

He still felt no pain, but the strength drained from his body.

Mikel's knees gave way, and he collapsed onto the floor.

He struggled to raise his head, his face filled with disbelief.

“What... How...?”

“So it can be used this way too.”

Swish.

Before Mikel's eyes, Allen flicked the blood from his sword.

First Form, Behold.

It was the technique that had sliced open Mikel's chest.

Immediately after unleashing the Second Form, Rainstorm, Allen had linked it into the First Form, Behold.

“I'll have to practice narrowing its range more. The smaller the area the rain falls on, the harder it will pour.”

“You're... practicing against me...?”

“Is there a problem with that?”

“You little...”

Mikel, who had been about to say something, flinched in surprise.

It was because of the anger contained in Allen's eyes as he pointed the tip of his sword at him.

“...Why are you angry?”

A quietly burning rage.

It was not anger caused by a momentary situation.

An anger that had burned for a very long time, perhaps one that would never be extinguished, blazed within those eyes.

Having become a demonic human, Mikel had grown sensitive to the emotion of anger.

He simply couldn't understand Allen's feelings.

“You won... So why on earth...?”

“Just because.”

Allen gave a mocking smile at Mikel's question.

“Because I'm sick to death of bastards like you.”

In Allen's opinion, people like this were the worst of all.

Most of the demonic humans in the future were people who had submitted to demons in order to survive.

But in the present, the continent was not yet heavily overshadowed by demons and demonic humans.

These were bastards who had clung to demons simply because they wanted power, not because they had been forced to submit to survive.

In some ways, they were an even greater evil than the demons themselves. And Allen did not hesitate to cut such people down.

Slash!

Mikel's neck was severed, and his head flew upward.

Thud. As Mikel's head fell to the floor and rolled, its eyes met Allen's.

In his final moment, Mikel had worn an expression of resentment, as though he had been wronged.

What did he feel so wronged about?

Was it because he hadn't found the treasure? Or simply because he had died?

Looking down at the head, Allen muttered,

“Live in a way that gives you nothing to resent in your next life.”

Whoosh!

It was then that the demon statue's eyes lit up.

The moment Mikel breathed his last, the altar's condition of 'one who offers a life' had been fulfilled.

Allen turned his head and looked toward Yusia and Baudon, who were standing far from the altar.

The moment his eyes met those of the two bewildered adventurers, Allen smiled faintly and waved.

In the next instant—

Whoosh.

Allen, who had been standing on the altar, vanished without a trace.

The altar was finally peaceful.

Yusia and Baudon, who had been holding their breath, were at last able to exhale deeply.

“Haaaaah.”

“Haaah. Cough, urgh, aaagh!”

Baudon, who had been exhaling deeply, clutched his stomach and screamed.

Blood was gushing from the wound Mikel had inflicted.

“Would you please stay still? I barely managed to stop the bleeding, and you're going to reopen the wound.”

“Ugh. The medical bills are going to be enormous when we get back.”

“Are medical bills really what you should be worrying about right now?”

Yusia sighed and shook her head.

“You should have chosen who to follow more carefully. Why did you act like that?”

“Damn it. It's not like I knew, was it?”

“If you'd known and still acted that way, it would be your head rolling around over there.”

“Urgh...”

With nothing left to say, Baudon clutched at his hair as he imagined what would happen when Allen returned.

“Should I just die...?”

________________

It took no longer than the time needed to squeeze his eyes shut and open them again.

After his vision flickered for that brief instant, Allen found himself in a different space.

It looked as though the altar where he had been standing moments ago had been turned upside down. The demon statue was still looking down from above, and a small iron door could be seen ahead.

Thump.

His heartbeat grew stronger.

Allen looked toward the iron door.

‘There.’

The fragment was beyond that iron door.

The Flower of Stars, his original objective, and the other treasures were probably there as well.

Unfortunately, however, the damned dungeon wasn't going to make things that easy.

Hissssss.

Sssssss.

Monsters appeared amid clouds of black smoke.

There were Dorvi and Bristles, along with earth merfolk, vampire bats, and other monsters, easily more than a hundred in total.

More importantly—

Whoosh.

The torches along the floor went out, plunging the space into darkness.

Darkness had suddenly fallen just as more than a hundred monsters appeared.

By concentrating mana in his eyes, he could brighten his vision, but most people would inevitably fall into confusion if they lost their light in a situation like this.

After all, fearing darkness was a natural human instinct.

However—

“Would it hurt you to make things a little easier?”

Allen stretched and slowly approached the monsters.

He was accustomed to fighting in darkness.

During his time in the Suicide Squad, it had actually been rare for him to fight demonic humans or demons in well-lit places.

Battles against demons took place regardless of day or night, and some demons possessed abilities that obscured vision or extinguished light.

Deep within the Demonic Realm, where it was even darker than this, he had once fought against endless waves of monsters for three days and nights.

And back then, he hadn't even possessed mana.

“This brings back memories.”

Surrounded by the gazes of monsters staring at him from within the darkness, Allen spoke.

“—Annoying memories.”

In the next instant—

Whooooosh!

Cutting through the darkness, Allen leaped toward the monsters.