Pazuzu closed the distance at a blurring speed.
The Bearwolves that had been by my side stepped forward to block his path.
"Gau!" "Grrrroooarrr!"
Are they actually trying to protect me? That’s dangerous, though.
I tried to pull them back, but I wasn't fast enough.
"Out of my way!" Pazuzu barked.
With a violent sweep of his arms, he sent the Bearwolves tumbling through the air.
"Kyain!"
The creatures let out pathetic whimpers as they were slammed into the dirt.
This guy... harming his own kin! What a piece of work.
Pazuzu didn't spare a single glance for the fallen Bearwolves. Instead, he lunged at me with a full-body tackle.
Thud!
The impact sent me flying toward the lake, my automatically triggered Magic Barrier absorbing the brunt of the blow.
—However, I immediately activated the Wind System Magic, Flight.
Clad in a mantle of wind, I skimmed across the surface of the lake and came to a halt near the center.
"Shaaa!"
Pazuzu spread his wings and kicked off the ground, pursuing me without a moment's hesitation. He swung his right hand down, and I caught the resulting mana wave with my Magic Barrier.
"Hey now, these are the precious kin you raised yourself. Isn't hitting them a bit much?"
"Silence! Foolish curs that defy me are no longer my kin! Once I have slaughtered you, I shall strangle every last one of them to death!"
"How heartless. Weren't you going to build a Fluffy Empire?"
"It is a Magical Beast Empire!!" Pazuzu roared, his face turning a furious shade of crimson as he rained blows upon me.
I wasn't taking any damage, but the sheer force was enough to make my Magic Barrier creak. A simple punch shouldn't be capable of this. ...This is it. Another application of mana property alteration.
"I see. You're visualizing mana gathering in your hands and hardening it to boost your attack power."
That looks interesting. Maybe I should give it a try.
Though, using my bare hands is a bit... Oh, right, I think there’s a weapon in my bag. I pulled out the iron dagger I’d used for Enchantment Magic a while back. If I use this, I should be able to perform the same technique with a blade.
"You've left yourself wide open! Die!"
Just as I was about to rummage through my bag, Pazuzu unleashed another mana wave.
"Master Lloyd, look out!"
To intercept the attack, my right hand—Grimo—fired off a black mana wave of his own. The two surges of power collided and detonated in a spray of sparks.
"Nuh! A Majin siding with a human?!"
"Heh, your power isn't worth a flick of snot!" Grimo jeered.
Pazuzu and Grimo began trading mana waves. Again and again, intense flashes of light erupted right before my eyes.
"Eeei, get out of my way! I intend to make that brat's body the new host for my form!"
"Like I’d ever let a hack like you have it! This guy's body is gonna be mine eventually!"
I couldn't hear them perfectly over the crashing sounds of the mana waves, but the two of them seemed to be arguing about something. I suppose even Majin feel a sense of rivalry toward their own kind.
"Master Lloyd! Leave this to me! You just do whatever you want!"
"Ah—sure. Don't overdo it, Grimo."
I mean, I could have blocked everything with my Magic Barrier anyway, but since he went to the trouble of offering, there was no reason to be rude. They say a member of the royalty shouldn't needlessly ignore the counsel of their subordinates, after all.
"Let's see... something like this?"
Following the same logic as before, I generated mana while visualizing a blade of extreme hardness and durability, then wove it around the dagger. On top of that, I used control magic to copy the sword techniques I’d seen Sylpha use earlier.
Alright, let's test this out.
I told Grimo to zip it and gripped the dagger tight.
"Here I go—"
I kicked off the surface of the lake and sprinted headlong toward Pazuzu. The low-held trajectory of my blade caused the water to erupt in a continuous line of explosions, a pillar of spray following in my wake.
"Nuh!?"
Pazuzu rained down mana waves like a hailstorm, but I wove through them all and reached his feet. Releasing the power I had been consolidating, I slashed upward.
"Langris Style Dagger Arts—Rising Biting Dragon."
Slash!
The flash of the blade split the lake in two. The momentum continued upward, piercing the heavens and parting the clouds. In the process, it had sliced right through Pazuzu’s body.
Since I was only using a single dagger, it was a bit of a shoddy imitation, but the power was more than enough. It seemed I’d successfully mastered the property alteration.
"Gugugu...! Impossible! To slice through my physical form... Do you mean to say you can use the same techniques as I?!"
"No, that was actually my first time trying it."
He seemed genuinely shocked to have taken damage. Come to think of it, hadn't someone mentioned that magic doesn't work well on Majin? Standard magic uses a Spell Formula to convert mana into a specific phenomenon, which makes it less effective against semi-spiritual entities like Majin.
In contrast, mana property alteration is essentially just raising the quality of the mana itself to deliver a direct physical blow. That’s likely why it works even on the spiritual bodies of the Demon race.
"That's the way, Master Lloyd! Give 'em a real thrashing!"
"You're right. I'll experiment a bit more."
The output was a little too high just now. A smaller, sharper focus should deliver power more efficiently. Through visualization, the mana coating the dagger grew tighter and far more acute.
"Langris Style Dagger Arts—Descending Flying Swallow."
Flying behind Pazuzu at high speed, I flipped the dagger into a reverse grip and hammered him with a rapid-fire sequence of strikes as I descended. The flurry of slashes completely erased the left side of Pazuzu's body.
Yes, this feels right. I'm getting better at adjusting the output. But I know I can make it even sharper.
"Curse youuuuuu!!"
"One Tiger: Jaw."
Dodging the desperate counterattack from his remaining side, I split Pazuzu into three distinct pieces with two swift strikes. Pazuzu vanished into nothingness, leaving nothing but his head behind.
—However, as a consequence, the dagger in my hand shattered into a million pieces.
"Oops."
Even with the mana coating, it seemed the weapon couldn't handle the strain indefinitely.
Seeing the shattered blade, Pazuzu began to grin. Even as a mere head, his body started to knit itself back together.
"Kuhfufufu... I was quite startled for a moment, but there is no way a mundane dagger could withstand such a surge of mana. And the same, of course, applies to your body."
At Pazuzu's words, I finally noticed the change in myself. My hands and feet were trembling. I couldn't put any strength into them.
"You overexerted yourself, didn't you?! It seems you can no longer even move!"
"M-Master Lloyd! What’s wrong?!"
"Tsk... blast it..." I muttered, my voice strained.
I looked at the panicking Grimo and gave him an honest answer.
"This is a problem... I've got a killer case of muscle pain."