(……The Demon Race?)
Even as she realized the truth, Aristia felt no surge of emotion. Not because they were her subordinates, nor because they had just tried to murder her—
Her heart remained as still as a stagnant pool.
She simply didn't care.
Demons were capable of using Mimicry to change their eye color to match a human’s, just as Aristia was doing at that very moment. It was only natural that they couldn't see through the Mimicry of a Demon King.
Nor did she feel the slightest inclination to kindly correct their mistake.
Again, she simply didn't care.
"A chat? I’m actually a bit busy, you know~?"
"I’ll tell you what the talk is about—die quietly, human!"
The demon man thrust his right hand forward.
A Dark-colored Magic Bullet streaked through the air. It was a quintessentially demonic attack—pure mana launched directly at an opponent without being channeled through a spell to convert it into an element.
Aristia’s deep purple eyes tracked the projectile.
In an instant—
The Magic Bullet shattered into nothingness—
"Agh!?"
Simultaneous with his scream, a sound like a bursting balloon echoed through the clearing.
The body of the man who had fired the shot was gone. In his place were only shredded fragments of meat and a massive spray of blood that splattered across the ground with a sickening, wet slap.
A living being’s physical form had been neatly traded away in an act of absolute equivalent exchange.
It was as if no one had been standing there to begin with.
"Wha—!?"
The remaining demon stared down at the remnants of his companion.
A man who had been breathing only a second ago was gone. He stared at the space now painted in gore and gristle, his eyes trembling with primal terror.
"Hey, what just happened...!?"
His voice cracked, thick with nothing but raw agitation.
Aristia took a fleeting interest in his fear and finally focused her wandering gaze directly upon him.
"Are you planning to kill me too~?"
With heavy steps, as if she were trudging through deep mire, Aristia took a single pace forward.
In that heartbeat, the very air grew heavy. The temperature plummeted, and the atmosphere took on a thick, viscous quality. The leaves of the trees surrounding them began to rustle and shudder, though there was no wind to move them.
All of it—
Was merely a fraction of the mana Aristia was leaking unconsciously.
Caught in the crushing weight of that power, the man finally understood what stood before him.
"N-No way—it can't be! You’re—!"
The young demon’s legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees, his face a mask of pure shock. The terror of death surging through his soul had forced his body into a submissive posture before his mind could even process the command.
"The Demon King... Lady Aristia...!?"
His face drained of all color, his voice turned into a raspy wheeze, and his teeth began to chatter uncontrollably.
"P-Please, forgive me! I-I never dreamed the Demon King would be in a place like this—"
"It’s okay, you don't have to worry about it~ I left without telling anyone, so it’s only natural you wouldn't know."
The words were genuine.
Aristia wasn't actually angry. To her, a Magic Bullet of that caliber was no more significant than a gnat buzzing around her ear.
"Y-Yes...!"
A spark of hope flickered in the demon’s eyes. He allowed himself to think he might be spared.
But they were operating on fundamentally different levels. Forgiveness and punishment didn't exist for her. Aristia didn't even process the world through those moral boundaries.
"But you see, I think it’s fine if troublesome pests just die."
She didn't feel anything in particular, but a nuisance should be swatted and crushed—
Guided by that simple judgment, Aristia unleashed her mana.
Gash!
With that look of salvation still etched onto his face, the demon’s body popped like an overinflated balloon. A fresh spray of blood defiled the forest floor.
Silence returned to the woods.
"Mmm, it’s much better when it’s quiet~"
Aristia raised both hands over her head and stretched her back, speaking with a pleasant lilt in her voice.
Killing her own kind, slaughtering her servants—
None of it interested her. She felt no guilt, no remorse, and no sense of loss. She possessed no concept of racial kinship. To her, it was the exact same sensation as clearing away litter from the side of the road.
"Maybe I’ll head deeper in~"
Slumping her shoulders back into their usual lazy posture, she resumed her listless trek into the heart of the forest.
She walked as if nothing of note had happened.
Behind her, she left only the mountain of mangled Magic Beasts that had slaughtered one another and the fading bloodstains of what had once been the Demon Race.
◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇
This exercise was exactly what Luna had craved.
The monsters had destroyed her village, and she wanted nothing more than to see them eradicated.
"Ahahahaha!"
With a look of sheer euphoria, she cut down the Magic Beasts as they lunged at her in waves. Her body, saturated with the effects of Frenzy, moved with fluid precision. The swarming beasts weren't even a challenge. The more she killed, the higher her exhilaration climbed, sending a sweet, numbing pleasure through her mind.
(Kill! Kill! Kill!)
If she could, she wanted to slaughter every single Magic Beast in this forest with her own two hands.
The sheer bliss of trampling the weak, crushing them underfoot, and exacting her vengeance felt divine.
Three Hellhounds emerged from the brush. They were far more formidable than Forest Wolves, representing a threat even to an Intermediate Adventurer.
"Spell: Magic Bullet!"
The mana she released caused the lead Hellhound to explode on impact. Her mana had been honed to a razor's edge through her grueling training with Lord Albert; she was no longer the helpless girl she once was.
The remaining Hellhounds skidded to a halt, frozen by fear—but Luna wasn't about to let them go. Without losing a shred of momentum, she closed the distance and delivered a flurry of slashes in the blink of an eye.
A Hellhound’s head spun through the air.
In the same motion, she brought her blade back, cleaving the final beast's torso clean in half.
"Hehehe..."
More death. She had wiped three more hateful existences from the face of the earth. Once again, that wave of joy flooded her brain, melting her nerves with a sugary sweetness.
(Thank you, Lord Albert...! It is by your hand that I have become this strong...!)
Fatigue tugged at her muscles, but she had no desire to rest. Her blood was white-hot, boiling in her veins. Her emotions screamed at her to do more, to kill more.
(The next prey. I will find them. I will have my revenge!)
One day, this blade would pierce the heart of the Demon King itself—!
Luna started to move, but then she abruptly stopped. A faint, subtle presence was leaking from the shadows of a nearby tree. It was a highly sophisticated concealment technique, far beyond the capabilities of any student. Worse, there was a sickening, acrid tang to the air that made her skin crawl.
Luna leveled her right hand toward the shadows.
"Come out. I’m firing in three seconds."
At her warning, a figure lunged out. Simultaneously, a Jet-black Magic Bullet streaked toward Luna’s head.
An ambush—!
But Luna had already anticipated the move and dodged the projectile with effortless grace. The Magic Bullet slammed into a tree behind her, snapping the trunk with a thunderous roar.
The destructive power was considerable.
However, something else was far more important.
(A Jet-black Magic Bullet...!)
Only one race in the entire world fired magic of that color. Feeling like she had finally stumbled upon the prize she had been hunting for, she slowly licked her lips.
The figure who had leaped out stared at Luna.
His eyes were a vivid, blood-red, framed by jet-black sclera—
A combination of traits that belonged to only one race in existence.
(Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!)
Luna’s excitement reached a fever pitch. Finally! She had finally found one! A member of the Demon Race! Her hatred for them was a concentrated venom that far outweighed her loathing for Magic Beasts.
After all, the monsters were merely tools; it was the Demon Race who had commanded them to raze her home.
They were the devils who brought ruin to the world, the demons who delighted in creating miserable wretches like her.
And now—
One was standing within reach of her blade!
A violent shudder racked Luna’s body. It was a tremor of pure, unadulterated joy.
The demon man grinned, a cruel sneer spreading across his face as he stepped closer.
""Now, how shall I kill you?""
Their voices overlapped perfectly.