We live at the foothills of Dragon Peak.
Hell of Blazing Fire.
Holding the Spirit Tree Wooden Sword in my left hand.
And in my right, I gripped the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword.
Renewing both body and soul, I danced the Dragon Sword Dance.
The storm of Dragon Energy, once scattered, returned on a scorching heatwave that ignited the Heavenly Mountain Range.
The Blazing Fire Flames were drawn in, and everything between heaven and earth became chaotic under the storm.
It was like a territory of purgatory created by a Shōjō.
The flames writhed, roared, and swirled with fierce intensity.
The black-clad ogres who leaped from the shadows were all burned by the flames, their dying screams vanishing as they were reduced to cinders within the raging inferno.
Furthermore, a cursed magic sword user, who had attacked companions in a suicidal charge, was enveloped by the storm of flames and incinerated without a trace of ash.
The Black Ogre forces shuddered at the gruesome fates of their comrades.
Even for a high-ranking demon, a moment’s lapse in the storm of flames could lead to death.
If you couldn’t keep pushing back the flames with all your magic, you’d quickly meet the same fate as the magic sword users and black-clad ogres.
However, this raging storm of flames was no mere transient technique.
As long as the Eastern Magician’s curse power lasted, and as long as I continued to dance the Dragon Sword Dance, it would burn endlessly.
Moreover, the flames created by the Eastern Magician burned what they wished to burn and protected what they wished to protect.
Toris, protected by the flames, moved. He brandished his Divine Sword and slashed at the colossal Black Ogre wielding a Great Staff.
“Fuhaha. Such insolence from a mere human!”
The colossal Black Ogre swung his Great Staff with enough force to blow away the storm of flames.
“Gwahhh!”
It was Toris who screamed.
“Even a Divine Sword is of no use if the one wielding it is immature!”
To his utter disbelief, the Great Staff swung by the colossal Black Ogre shattered Toris’s right arm, along with the Divine Sword he held.
Toris’s black arm shattered like pottery. As if to finish him, the colossal Black Ogre swung his Great Staff high.
A grin spread across… Toris’s face!
“You idiot! I don’t have arms in the first place!”
With a villainous smile as formidable as Slaton’s, Toris’s face lit up.
Conversely, the colossal Black Ogre froze in shock, his eyes wide with disbelief.
“What…?”
Impossible, the colossal Black Ogre looked down at his lower abdomen.
Where his gaze fell, Toris’s black right arm, which he should have just crushed, was there.
Furthermore, in his black hand, he held a thick-bladed two-handed sword, its tip deeply embedded in the colossal Black Ogre’s lower abdomen.
“Don’t you know? My master is the Cat Duke, who possesses the ability of material creation! Do you think he’d create a bland prosthetic like that?!”
Screaming, Toris swung the two-handed sword with all his might.
The colossal Black Ogre, ripped from his abdomen to his chest, let out a piercing scream.
Spitting blood, the colossal Black Ogre glared at Toris with hatred and killing intent. As if to take Toris with him, he mustered his last strength to unleash a super-large magic spell.
“Oh, but you haven’t forgotten me, have you?”
At that moment, Louvent descended from the sky in a dive.
Putting his speed into his thrust, Louvent drove his spear forward.
“Gah…!”
The spear pierced the colossal Black Ogre’s throat, burst through the back of his head, and impaled his massive body to the ground.
There was no need to confirm.
The colossal Black Ogre, his Great Staff still raised, was dead.
The storm of flames instantly engulfed the colossal Black Ogre, who had lost his magical barrier, and burned him to ashes.
The Black Ogre forces, having lost another comrade.
In a display of vengeance, a Black Ogre wielding a Great Staff unleashed magic towards Toris.
But again, it was Toris who grinned brazenly.
“Wha- What’s this?! That greatshield…”
The Black Ogre with the Great Staff was speechless.
Toris hadn’t possessed a shield until just now. But now, his black arm was equipped with a colossal shield that could cover his entire body.
Furthermore, the greatshield deflected the magic that struck it, sending it back towards the Black Ogre with the Great Staff.
“Against demons, of course I’d have armor with magic reflection!”
Shouting insults, Toris threw the greatsword he held in his other hand at the Black Ogre with the Great Staff.
This is unbelievable!
I almost wanted to interject in my own astonishment.
“Here you go! Divine Sword, Divine Spear, Divine Arrow, eat as much as you want.”
Toris hid behind the greatshield and pulled out divine weapons one after another from who-knows-where, throwing them at the surviving Black Ogres.
It was an obviously chaotic way of fighting.
But, it was so outlandish that it confused the veteran demons.
Aside from Toris’s tactics, where were all those countless weapons coming from?
However, I quickly deduced it.
This was not a summoning technique like Louvent’s.
Toris was creating weapons of his own volition.
So, this was Toris’s fighting style.
When facing demons, he was naturally inferior in terms of skill. However, he compensated for the power gap with his extraordinary ability.
Yes. The source of Toris’s power was undoubtedly that black arm.
As Toris said, Astel created that arm.
And Astel’s ability is material creation, right?
When Astel created Toris’s black arm, he imbued it with his own ability.
The black arm not only supported Toris in his daily life but also became his most crucial weapon in battle.
Still, Toris’s mental fortitude to be able to laugh even after his arm was blown off was remarkable.
Furthermore, even when one arm was blown off, his quick judgment to simply regenerate it with the ability of his remaining arm was excellent.
“Damn it. I won’t let Toris have all the fun!”
At this point, Slaton leaped forward.
Clutching his Jūryokken, he bravely closed in on the Black Ogre.
As if to support Slaton, Toris continued to throw divine weapons at them one after another.
Between the storm of flames that burned everything around, Toris’s chaotic fighting style, Slaton’s close-quarters combat with his skilled swordsmanship, and Louvent’s surprise attacks, the surviving Black Ogres began to be pushed back.
Alright, the battle on that side is safe!
Carried by the howling storm, my consciousness spread to the Heavenly Mountain Range.
In a distant valley, Alex and Ogre General Balvria were engaged in a fierce give-and-take battle.
If I were to carelessly intervene here, I might just get in the way. Believing in Alex’s victory, I extended my consciousness even further.
The Heavenly Mountain Range burned endlessly.
And, receiving my Dragon Energy, it transformed into a storm.
Now, the Heavenly Mountain Range was engulfed in a vortex of flames, turning into a hell for the demons.
“Hate… these humans…”
Kusharilla attacked me, her irritation palpable.
But I had tracked every move Kusharilla made.
Kusharilla’s presence, and the ferocious blades she unleashed.
“From over there.”
“From here.”
The gathered Spirits informed me.
They interfered from the spirit world, allowing me to perceive invisible magic.
The spirit world changed color according to the trajectory of Kusharilla’s magic. Not only that.
It seemed the Spirits could clearly see Kusharilla’s magic, and they flitted about following the path of the cast spell.
By following the Spirits’ movements, I was able to completely grasp Kusharilla’s actions.
And once I had Kusharilla’s movements in my grasp, all I had to do was calmly dance the Dragon Sword Dance as usual.
I entangled magic with the Spirit Tree Wooden Sword and gracefully parried it.
In return, I unleashed the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword.
The Spirit Tree Wooden Sword, existing by penetrating worlds where multiple spaces overlapped, connected to the world where Kusharilla’s true form existed.
And the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword, piercing our existing world, interfered with Kusharilla’s world.
For the first time, Kusharilla showed defensive movements.
Whether it was magic or a weapon, I didn’t know.
However, with some power, Kusharilla repelled the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword.
It seems that even Kusharilla feels threatened by the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword.
Normally, defense against an attack would be natural, but for Kusharilla, making her defend was significant in itself.
I continued to dance the Dragon Sword Dance, deepening my consciousness further.
Gracefully, elegantly, and ferociously.
Her irritation rising, Kusharilla’s killing intent and miasma swelled.
But the miasma only served as fuel for the flames, intensifying the storm.
And her killing intent, too, was swept away by the vortex of the storm.
Moreover, that wasn’t all.
“Angry!”
“Be more angry.”
“Hehe.”
The Spirits, drawn by the Dragon Sword Dance, danced joyfully.
For the Spirits gathered at the Heavenly Mountain Range, the demons’ killing intent or the raging storm of flames were nothing more than boisterous stage effects.
And what added fuel to the fire were the cheerful antics of the Spirits.
“Let’s make flowers in your right hand.”
“Let’s make rain in your left hand.”
“Just flames would be lonely.”
“Just a storm would be unfair.”
The Light Spirit and the Dark Spirit danced hand in hand.
The Water Spirit leaped about.
The Earth Spirit stomped its feet, and the Wind Spirit played a melody.
“Grrr. I’m being pulled by the Spirits…!”
“Come here.”
“Shall I go over there?”
“It will surely be more fun if our worlds overlap.”
“No, no! That’s forbidden!”
As I sank my heart deep into the world, the worlds, layered one upon another, tried to intersect through my consciousness.
But that was an act that bordered on forbidden techniques.
I stopped at the boundary that must not be crossed.
Nevertheless, with the great magic of the Eastern Magician, my large-scale Storm Dragon Arts, and the Dragon Sword Dance, the Spirits performed a miracle.
Thump! My feet shook violently.
Twisting my upper body while swinging the Spirit Tree Spirit Sword sideways. As my gaze swept around, I was astonished.
The Heavenly Mountain Range was erupting in various colors.
One mountain spewed snow high into the sky.
Another peak scattered petals of ten thousand colors.
One mountain ridge exploded with golden light, and one valley unleashed dark sparks.
Water exploded, earth and sand swirled, and flames danced wildly.
It was truly a natural disaster!
The end of the world, or perhaps its beginning.
The curse power, Dragon Energy, magic power, and the power of the Spirit Tree filling the Heavenly Mountain Range, combined with the gathered, cheerfully clamoring Spirits, created eruptions never before seen or heard of.
Far away, the demons fleeing the storm of flames despaired.
They screamed at the world’s great upheaval, trembling in fear.
And those who let their guard down were swallowed by the storm of flames and burned.
Not only the Black Ogre forces but also the Fairy Demon Lord Kusharilla froze in shock at this natural disaster.
“Damn you… to cause such a terrifying natural disaster. But!”
To those who could not perceive the world of the Spirits, this natural disaster might have appeared as the wrath of the world.
Such earth-shattering events dominated the Heavenly Mountain Range.
But, nevertheless, Kusharilla, the Demon Lord, did not yield.
Kusharilla trembled, as if rejecting the world.
A restless presence, visible yet invisible, shook violently. Simultaneously, her magic power surged explosibly.
“Cch. I can’t believe she still has this much magic power…!”
“………!!”
Whether it was a scream or a roar of the soul, it was not a voice, not a sound, but a definite vibration that became a violent shockwave, shaking us to our core.
I was struck by a violent dizziness and faltered to my knees.
Could it be that the Dragon Sword Dance was stopped by that vibration alone?
No, that wasn’t all.
I checked my surroundings through my blurring vision.
The Heavenly Mountain Range, which had been erupting like a natural disaster, returned to its original form.
The burning magic flames had vanished, and the swirling storm had also disappeared.
“Hate… these humans…”
Unlike before, I felt Kusharilla’s unpleasant will flowing into me.
Glared at by Kusharilla, and being subjected to her blatant killing intent, I felt my consciousness about to fade.
“You humans dare to thwart my ambition? Impossible. While it is an unpleasant resistance, you cannot stop me. Besides…”
Kusharilla laughed merrily, a stark contrast to the killing intent directed at me, and turned her attention to the edge of the cliff.
I, too, followed Kusharilla’s consciousness with my dazed awareness.
And I gasped.
The Eastern Magician lay there, defeated.
“The soul of the Eastern Magician, your last hope, has burned out. You have no means of resisting left, do you?”
Listea staggered and desperately called out to the Eastern Magician, but he did not respond.
“The flames have vanished. Your storm has also disappeared. The Spirits were startled and fled. You have no chance of winning now. Although there were losses, I am victorious.”
Kusharilla laughed merrily.
As Kusharilla said, if the Eastern Magician fell, the great magic flames would no longer burn.
It seemed to be a terrifying shockwave for the Spirits as well; the Spirits drawn to this place scattered and fled.
And the Dragon Sword Dance had also been stopped.
I never imagined that vibration alone could disrupt the Dragon Sword Dance so easily.
Perhaps even if I tried to dance it again, Kusharilla would interfere. And without the Dragon Sword Dance, the Spirits would not reassemble.
From an offensive stance, we had suddenly found ourselves at a disadvantage.
Kusharilla, convinced of her victory, laughed and looked down at me.
“Well, how about it? Beg for your life. If you do, I might deign to take you as a retainer on a whim.”
“Hahaha, you want me to beg for my life? And take me as a retainer?”
Is she planning to fill the void left by the demon forces and commanders lost in this battle?
My Dragon Sword Dance has a large-scale power, with destructive force comparable to an army.
And she lost three of her trusted Black Ogres.
Waiting for my reply, Kusharilla looked down at me.
I, still on my knees, looked up at the sky.
“…I believe I told you from the beginning. This battle is our victory.”
“At this stage, you’re still spouting such nonsense.”
“No, it’s not nonsense. By the way, have you ever seen a star shining in broad daylight?”
“What?”
Suspicious of my gaze fixed on the sky instead of begging for my life, Kusharilla turned her consciousness upwards.
The sun had not yet reached its zenith.
And, as if to steal the sun’s brilliance, countless stars shone in the sky.
“Fairy Demon Lord Kusharilla. We have won!”
