"I’ve become surprisingly strong myself, you know?"
Good grief. I really didn't want to do this.
All I wanted was to avoid death flags and live a quiet, unremarkable life.
But I would be in trouble if Hero Leon didn't "win" against the Thunder Beast. I needed him to defeat it skillfully, to become the hero everyone praised, and then head off to slay the Demon King in a grand fashion. If he did that, any growing sentiment that I should be the one to kill the Demon King would surely wither away. This was all just groundwork for my own peaceful future.
In a way, this struggle was an investment.
Compared to a life-and-death struggle against an active Demon King, a battle where I just had to land a single hit on Shiunin—who looked down on me and let her guard down—was much more manageable.
...That being said, it would be a lie to say I had no ambition at all.
There was a part of me that wanted to test something for myself.
I wanted to see exactly how my current power measured up against beings like her.
"We shall see if you are more than just a wagging tongue. Show Me."
Shiunin flicked her wrist.
It was a trivial movement, yet my instincts screamed a warning.
It’s coming!
Following my intuition, I leaped to the left.
Shriiing!
A high-pitched keen, sharp enough to tear my eardrums, accompanied an invisible slash that sliced through the space I had occupied a heartbeat ago. The shoji screens were shredded as they flew apart, revealing the Night Garden beyond.
"Hohoho. Do you have the leisure to dodge?"
Before I could even regain my footing, Shiunin made her fan flash again.
It wasn't a situation I could normally evade, but I forced my sluggish body to move using reflexes and physical abilities pushed to the limit by Frenzy.
The slash grazed my side with a sharp whistle. I wasn't completely unscathed; a laceration split my left upper arm, and red blood spilled onto the floor.
"Guh...!"
A searing, delayed pain flared up, but I didn't have time to dwell on it.
"You have no room to knit your brows in pain, do you?"
Shiunin remained seated on her Curtained Dais, fluttering her fan left and right with a mocking smile.
Shriiing! Shriiing! Shriiing! Shriiing!
A relentless barrage of slashes lunged at me.
"Damn it!"
I deployed my Blood Sword, desperately diving through the forest of blades while dodging and parrying. Every time a slash shattered my sword, I regenerated it instantly. The strikes I managed to evade hacked through the mansion walls behind me.
Was this woman really fine with destroying her own home?
...Verdict had mentioned that the world was reconstructed every time a Visitor arrived, so perhaps it didn't matter. What a bizarre world this was.
"Your footwork is sluggish. Your center of gravity is too high. Such a clumsy dance sours My interest."
Shiunin watched my movements with a bored expression, critiquing me as she sat. She wasn't just being petty; every word hit the mark with agonizing precision.
Not that I had the luxury to take notes!
"Uoh!"
Wind pressure grazed my cheek, drawing blood. I used the Blood Sword as a shield—and sometimes a decoy—to endure the storm of slashes. I was being driven entirely onto the defensive.
But I had no intention of letting this continue.
"Spell: Magic Bullet!"
Seizing a momentary gap between her attacks, I launched my own. The Magic Bullet streaked toward Shiunin—
"Dull."
With a single word, Shiunin brandished her fan. She swatted the Magic Bullet aside and sent a slash flying back at me in the same motion.
"Whoa!?"
Simultaneous offense and defense?
"Hohoho. You are unexpectedly stubborn. I am almost impressed that a pitiful lowlife like you is still breathing in My presence."
She swept her fan horizontally.
"However, your breath is too foul to bear. It would be best to incinerate you."
She smiled wickedly and continued.
"Let us begin the next lesson. Can you keep up?"
Purple lightning crackled and ignited around her.
Wait, that was... Oh, no. That was definitely going to be bad.
"Begone, lowlife!"
Shiunin unleashed a Lightning Bolt. It was a vivid brilliance that reminded me of my own Thunder Emperor's Flash—no, it was far beyond that. It was a blinding, overwhelming pillar of light.
"Tch!"
I threw myself aside. The space where I had been standing was incinerated, and a section of the mansion vanished.
As if she had timed it for the exact moment I dodged, Shiunin swept her fan again.
A double attack—a Lightning Bolt and a slash combined.
"You're really going that far!?"
I held the Blood Sword as a shield, barely managing to parry the strike. Shiunin twirled her fan with a flourish.
"Hohoho. A double attack? It seems the lowlife cannot even count. Do you only know numbers up to two?"
With that provocation, a countless number of Lightning Bolts and slashes rained down on me. It wasn't a double attack; it was a multi-layered slaughter.
Damn it, I had estimated that I could counterattack once I got used to the fan slashes, but this was too much! Every single strike was lethal. I used every technique at my disposal to scramble through the death zone.
But—
"Haah... haah...!"
I was cornered in seconds. Lacerations and burns covered my body. My uniform was in tatters, and blood dripped onto the tatami mats.
I realized something then. Despite how many times I had been killed, I had been surprisingly relaxed during my battles with Verdict. That was because I could Return by Death. It had felt like a game.
But this was different. Shiunin had promised to finalize my death. A single mistake meant the end. No—she was a former Demon King. Even a mistake-free performance wouldn't be enough. I had to be perfect just to stay in the game.
The sheer pressure was enough to make my stomach churn. What frustrated me most was that despite my desperation, Shiunin wasn't even using half her strength.
So this was the "Magic Rank" of a Demon King.
"Hohoho. The sight of a weakling desperately crawling about has its own charm. However—"
Shiunin's eyes narrowed sharply.
"I am bored."
Her voice was absolute zero. It was a cold, unwavering killing intent.
She held her fan horizontally.
Suddenly, the air in the room began to vibrate. My hair stood on end from the static electricity. The lightning glowing around her intensified, growing denser and brighter.
"Be blown away. Thunder Prison: Heaven's Net."
As she swept her fan, a wall of lightning manifested between us. It was a grid of electrical energy, a solid plane that filled the room from floor to ceiling. It pulverized the tatami and the walls as it surged toward me, leaving no room to dodge up, down, or sideways.
"Be burned to nothingness, lowlife!"
If I ran, I’d have to go backward. But what then? The wall would likely chase me forever, and it was moving too fast to outrun anyway.
Fine. I’ll follow the Hero’s lead. I’ll use the same tactic Leon used when he sacrificed his arm to blow away my lightning.
I wasn't going to run. If I was going to gamble, this was the moment.
Because of the wall of lightning, Shiunin couldn't see my movements clearly. I couldn't see her either, but I didn't need to. Certain of her victory, that woman wouldn't budge from her dais.
I had one card left that could catch her off guard. I hadn't wanted to use it since I didn't know if it would work, but in this situation, I had no choice. To land a blow against a being of a far higher Magic Rank, one needed resolve and a trick. Against Verdict, I had used Return by Death to stage a suicide attack.
So, what about now?
I sprinted toward the wall of lightning.
T-this is... Thunder Beast Shroud de gozaru!
Kaname’s image flashed through my mind—the way she looked when she was draped in her armor of lightning.
If I donned that same shroud, could I parry a strike of lightning? Could I endure her attack for even a second? Since I possessed Shiunin’s power, surely I could manifest the same spell.
It was just a hypothesis. Everything was a gamble. I hated it—clinging to such an unreliable hope.
But it was all I had! To stand against an Absolute Being, I had to offer everything!
"Uooooooooooooooo!"
I didn't look away from the wall. I stepped right into it.
"Spell: Thunder Beast Shroud!"
I visualized the golden armor and forced my mana to obey. The power of Shiunin dormant within me began to swirl, and a suit of golden light enveloped my body.
The first stage was a success!
With that momentum, I dove into the lightning.
"Guuuuuu!?"
Agony ripped through my body, nearly short-circuiting my consciousness. But I was alive. I was still moving. As I’d hoped, the armor of lightning was mitigating the worst of her attack.
Move, legs!
I forced my failing body forward, sprinting through the white-hot world until the scenery bled back into view.
I saw Shiunin sitting on her dais.
"Impossible! You broke through My lightning!?"
For the first time, her face was twisted with genuine shock.
God, that felt good. That was exactly the look I wanted to see.
The Thunder Beast Shroud dissolved. I had no strength left to stand, but as I fell forward, I used the last of my momentum to deploy my Blood Sword and every ounce of Frenzy I had left.
This was it! If I didn't end it here, I would never get another chance!
"I've got you, Shiunin!"
My blade fell toward her.