Vol 3 Chapter 25 – Between Delusion and Reality (Shion’s POV)【Vol 3 – The First Knight Commander is a Dark Elf Half-Succubus Who Hates Men】

When Shion proposed a two-on-one serious match, she had a secret ulterior motive she could never admit.

Actually, she had a hidden ambition.

That ambition was to make Master yelp—just once—that improper ambition—!

Of course, there was a deep reason for this.

During the ten years since she’d been separated from her Master, emotional aspects aside, the calm, rational part of Shion never truly believed he would return.

After all, she was the one who sealed him along with the evil god.

Yet Shion’s psyche had unconsciously refused to face that reality the entire time.

As a result, driven by intense emotions for those ten years, Shion continued her harsh training as if to blow away her calm rationality.

Since she was already blessed with rare talent, Shion grew stronger and stronger.

And Shion was fully aware of just how strong she’d become.

After all, this young lady not yet even twenty had utterly crushed every soldier except General Yuna.

An overwhelming strength that even a genius soldier couldn’t reach if they spent fifty years trying.

Shion had acquired it in just ten years.

…On the other hand, for those ten years Shion had been playing out fantasies in her brain of “what if Master came back?”

It was a long-running one-woman show that continued ceaselessly day and night.

The content, too, was simple at first: “Master sees how strong I’ve become and praises me, pats my head, says he’s surprised I’ve become beautiful, and then proposes to me…!” Looking back, it was pretty wholesome stuff.

However.

As a general rule, humans get bored if they repeat the same entertainment over and over.

And to avoid boring people, entertainment content gradually becomes more extreme.

That principle applied even to a decade-long fantasy.

And so.

Eventually the fantasy shifted from “getting praised for becoming strong!” to “What if—what if I actually beat Master…!”

By the ultra-latest version right before her Master returned, it had become: “I’ve become so strong that even Master fighting seriously can’t lay a hand on me, so I gently embrace Master as he tears up at his own powerlessness and whisper ‘No matter how strong I become, I’ll always be your disciple… ♡’ while gently pushing him down, pinning down Master as he resists with my fully matured body pressed against him, and then an eternal marriage vow… ♡♡”—basically, adult content that absolutely couldn’t be shown to children.

By the way, she once shared such a fantasy with her personal maid, whose heartless response was “Shion-sama, aren’t you a sadist?!” At that point Shion protested “It’s only with Master! It’s loving sadism! And I’ll take responsibility for life!!” but she couldn’t deny the sadistic suspicions sleeping deep in her heart.

However—lo and behold.

Shion’s Master, whom she’d miraculously reunited with, was strong as a demon.

He was so strong you’d think he was stronger than the war gods in myths.

Touching that strength of Master’s, Shion rejoiced from the depths of her soul.

After all, the strength of Master, whom she’d half-deified, was so much stronger it easily blew away even her fantasies—of course she’d rejoice.

Frankly speaking, she wanted to go around the entire world proselytizing about how amazing her Master was.

But no matter what, deep in Shion’s heart, a sadistic flame born from darkness still smoldered.

Master praised her, saying she worked hard and got strong. He even patted her head.

That itself made her incredibly happy.

But if possible.

If possible, even if it was a handicap match, she wanted to beat Master and get praised.

She wanted to score a point against Master and have him scratch his cheek bashfully to hide his embarrassment at falling behind his disciple, saying “You got me… You really have gotten strong.”

Just imagining that scene, Shion could down three bowls of rice.

But after all, her opponent was Master.

Even if he was inferior to elite knights, he was a monster among monsters who mowed down over a hundred members of the Succubus Knight Order blindfolded without letting them touch him with a single finger.

Shion herself couldn’t see the bottom of Master’s strength no matter how many times she sparred with him since then.

Just as she was about to give up, seeing Yuna happily fawning over her Master made something click.

First Knight Order Commander General Yuna was the strongest warrior Shion knew, excluding Master.

Then, if she and General Yuna teamed up.

Perhaps they could land a blow against Master, whom she thought she’d never be able to beat—!

＊＊＊＊

“…There was a time when I thought that way…!”

Slammed forcefully into the ground, Shion tasted dirt for who-knows-how-many-times today.

Before her eyes, what could only be described as humanity’s peak battle was unfolding.

That spectacle was truly a magic beast showdown… Actually, that might’ve been better.

Yuna’s combat style was that of a magic warrior befitting a Dark Elf.

Her fighting style was characterized by using body techniques without weapons.

That said, of course, the power was off the charts.

The fireballs Yuna unleashed were overwhelmingly larger than typical ones, and the knife-hands and backfists Yuna delivered could easily slice through and shatter even iron armor.

Just grazing one had enough power to incapacitate an ordinary knight.

Then what in the world was Master, who showed no sign of even dodging those attacks and took them head-on, completely unfazed…?

Having lost even the spirit to say “Master’s amazing,” she was blankly watching the battle (or rather, one-sided trampling disguised as a battle) when Yuna’s desperate voice reached her.

“Oi, Shion—!? What’s going on with Master’s strength!? Why is he fine without even dodging my attacks!?”

“I don’t know. It’s natural that Master is strong. Besides, Yuna-san, you became Master’s disciple too, didn’t you? Figure it out yourself.”

“Why are you suddenly being cynical!?”

“I’m not being cynical. I’m not thinking about how envious I am that you’re having a one-on-one lesson with Master while leaving me, the Senior Disciple, aside.”

“Where in this situation is there a one-on-one lesson!? Well, he is muttering things like ‘The quality and number of fireballs…’ and ‘The axis of the kick is off…’ but…!”

“Master is analyzing your attacks right now, Yuna-san. That’s why he’s deliberately not dodging and receiving all your attacks. The analysis should be finishing soon, so you’d better prepare yourself.”

“Wha…!?”

“After the attacks are done comes analysis of defense, obviously, right? Knowing Master, he’ll definitely unleash vicious instant-death attacks from every conceivable direction to give advice to his new disciple, Yuna-san.”

Seeing Shion grin while crawling on the ground, Yuna’s face twisted in fear.

Come to think of it, Shion had been eating dirt within five seconds of the match starting.

When she recovered and stood up to attack, she promptly ate dirt again repeatedly.

Shion’s eyes spoke volumes.

You’ll be like this soon too, Yuna-san.

“W-Wait! Everyone from the Knight Order is here—!?”

“I think it’s too late now.”

The match between the three of them took place during a break in the subjugation expedition.

Inevitably, the elite members of the First Knight Order surrounded the three of them, watching the outcome of the match.

Naturally.

A match this interesting—even if you told them not to watch, they’d watch anyway.

“When Master asked ‘Are you sure you want to do it here?’ multiple times, you should’ve thought harder.”

“How could I imagine such a one-sided development!?”

“You said, didn’t you, Yuna-san? ‘Victory and defeat are matters of luck; no fool who laughs at the defeated exists in my Knight Order.’ You definitely thought you’d win then, didn’t you? Against Master.”

“Even if Master is ridiculously strong, who’d think we wouldn’t stand a chance with the two of us!?”

“I thought so—about sixty percent chance we’d lose. …Well, I didn’t think we wouldn’t land a single attack either, though.”

“You should’ve shared that information beforehand!?”

“It’s fine, it’s not like we’re losing an actual war. …Master’s counterattack is coming soon.”

“Aaaaahhh!!”

And so.

After that, Shion and Yuna, the two great female Knight Order Commanders that the Succubish Kingdom was proud of, were together.

Thoroughly and completely beaten to a pulp by their respected Master.