Vol 1 Chapter 44 – —Hmph

“Hee, hee, phweee!”

Rayphia, who always presented herself as calm, cool, and beautiful.

The truth was, she had fans not only within the Demon Lord’s army but on humanity’s side as well.

It wasn’t that she was putting on airs; she was simply being herself.

But now, that same Rayphia was fleeing from Antares’s onslaught with a look of desperation no one had ever seen before.

“Fwooooooooooooh?!”

A flash of a blade.

A true expert would likely be unable to even perceive the movement of Antares’s arm or sword.

All one could see was the glittering light of her rapier, and by the time you saw it, her attack was already over.

The blade itself was a blur. A flurry of strikes at just such an overwhelming speed.

Without a moment’s pause to breathe, Rayphia somehow managed to weave through the fierce assault, drenched in sweat.

The sole reason she could do this was that she was focused entirely on escaping.

She wasn’t even thinking of counterattacking.

If she were to try something like that in this situation, it would be easily dodged, and she’d be met with a decisive counter.

And that counter would undoubtedly slice her head clean off in a single blow.

Just run.

As long as she concentrated on continuing to run, she was still, after all, one of the Demon Lord’s Four Heavenly Kings.

She managed to avoid taking a fatal wound from The Bloodstained Hero’s onslaught.

Though she was accumulating a countless number of minor cuts.

(Time! Hurry up and pass, time! Was a single second always this slow?!)

Her face was a mask of desperation.

This was the first time in Rayphia’s life that she had ever moved her body with such all-out effort.

One after another, attacks that could easily steal her life passed by, missing her by a hair’s breadth.

Her mental state was about to crumble.

The weapon Antares used was, of course, a Holy Sword.

Imbued with holy power, it was lethally effective against a demon like Rayphia.

The wounds throbbed with more than just ordinary pain, and more than anything, the light that it occasionally emitted hurt. It really, seriously hurt.

“Kuh?!”

Vwon! She somehow dodged the Holy Sword as it sliced through the air.

However, that was a mistake.

As if she had been waiting for it, Antares had clenched her small fist.

“Buh?!”

As if it were the most natural thing in the world, that fist slammed into Rayphia’s face.

She bounced and rolled across the ground several times.

“Wh-who in the world punches a maiden in the face without mercy?!”

“I am right here.”

With such a slender wrist, an inexperienced person would only end up injuring their own hand.

But you can rest assured.

Antares was well-practiced in punching people and demons.

She had mastered the technique of driving all of the impact into her enemy, ensuring none of the recoil came back to her.

Perfectly safe.

“Besides, please refrain from calling yourself a maiden. What I punched was a face filthier than raw garbage.”

“That’s not the kind of thing you’d expect a Hero to say.”

Humans and demons already didn’t get along, but being told that still stung. Well, this time I was working behind the scenes to bring harm to humans, so I can’t really say anything.

“Now then, this is the end. I was surprised you didn’t fight back at all, though.”

“Hah, hah… I’m not exactly the frontline combat type.”

Rayphia somehow managed to stand, but if asked whether she could flee as energetically as before, she would have to say it was unlikely.

To begin with, she had never trained to move her body this violently.

The fact that she hadn’t suffered a fatal wound was nothing short of a miracle.

She couldn’t do it again even if someone asked her to.

“I see. Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s kill you quickly.”

Her smile was wide, but her eyes were not smiling at all.

Slowly approaching, Antares was the very symbol of terror.

Honestly, Rayphia was totally freaking out.

There was no… loss of control in her lower half. If you don’t acknowledge it, it’s the same as it not happening.

But this city was enemy territory for her, a demon.

Moreover, it was a time when not only Antares but all the other special war assets—the Heroes—were gathered. There was no way that she, even as one of the Demon Lord’s Four Heavenly Kings, would have infiltrated all by herself.

“————To do that, too much time has passed.”

BOOM! A loud noise echoed.

The ground itself trembled, and Antares involuntarily looked up.

From within the city, plumes of black smoke were rising.

“…What is this?”

“It’s the reason I risked coming to this city.”

The screams of people who had been convinced they were in a peaceful city reached the two of them.

Antares’s smile vanished, and she stared at Rayphia with a doll-like, emotionless expression.

Scary. Rayphia is terrified.

“Is it all right if you don’t go? If you leave this as is, I think a lot more people will die.”

“…”

“You can either kill me and let a great many people die, or you can let me go and save them. The choice is yours.”

Antares paused as if in deep thought.

Letting one of the Four Heavenly Kings go was not an option.

She fully intended to kill her, as a matter of course.

However, just as Rayphia said, while she fought her here, many people might lose their lives.

She understood that, fundamentally, killing a Heavenly King was better for the future of humanity, but hearing so many screams, it was only natural to hesitate.

As for Rayphia, she wanted nothing more than to tell her to go defend the townspeople with everything she had.

But unfortunately for her, the gods had abandoned her.

“—Hmph.”

CRASH! An incredibly heavy sound reverberated.

It was the sound of a heavy Holy Sword, rubble still attached, falling to the ground.

A cloud of dust billowed up, and from within it, a person lumbered into view.

The moment she saw the Holy Sword with the attached rubble—so distinctive that only one person in the world would use it—Rayphia was already crying.

The man who appeared wore a huge grin.

It was the face of a murderer.

“Then I’ll choose the option where I kill you and save a great many people.”

“Peep?!”

“Y-you are…”

Rayphia broke down completely, sobbing.

And Antares, seeing Alvarado’s face, wore an expression of utter shock.