Gozine

Of course, the sword strike I shot at Amdusias missed.
To be more precise, it would be more accurate to say it grazed him, but even just slicing his shoulder joint and drawing out his panic is a pretty good result.

Phase 1 skip.
A very good start.

“…I’m a bit surprised. I didn’t expect you to be this strong. Interesting.”

“You’ll have to entertain me more”

I said without realizing it.

It’s strange.
The worst situation has arrived and I will die here.
It’s a fact I already know, so why am I enjoying this?

I don’t know the reason.

But for now, the battle ahead is far more important.
I focus as much as possible.
Of course, the first attack was somewhat successful, but Amdusias will also fight seriously now.
The one who wins in a battle like this is not someone else, but the one who concentrates.

In the end, one attack is back to 0, zero.
From here, again.

Chwat!

I unleash another sword strike.
This time, I cut the opposite shoulder.

Of course, it regenerates quickly, but I expected this much.

Also, right on cue, he began to show his second phase.
I didn’t want to bring it out….
There’s no such cliché line.

Amdusias simply says the following.

“I shall get serious too.”

Creeeak.

Amdusias’s body begins to bend strangely.
I watch this.
I don’t interfere.
That’s black magic, and interfering in a situation where a spell is being activated from the start?
It’s a perfect way to get killed.

Even amidst this, he continues to change.
He is now assuming his true form.

A single horn sprouts from his forehead, and an unknown, bizarre.
Ominous music spreads out.
This was Amdusias’ characteristic, called the One-Horned Duke.

He sometimes attacks using music, and this casts a curse.
Additionally, the horn helps absorb all the mana in the vicinity and release it.
It could be considered somewhat similar to a Stormbringer.
Of course, its power would be weak, not even comparable to Stormbringer, but his overall specs are definitely superior to my current self.
No matter how much knowledge I have, he is one of the strongest among the Great Dukes.

“It’ll be different from the rabble, right?.”

[Of course.]

I grip my sword indifferently.
The One-Horned Duke begins to exert his power.
Black fog begins to gather starting from his horn.
This soon means that immense mana imbues his body, granting him a destructive force incomparable to before.

Well, it’s a pattern I already knew, so I’m not panicked.

It seems he indeed wasn’t going all out.
At least until now, up to the point where I haven’t used the middle stage form against him, even if he outputs his proper maximum power, he has no chance of winning.

The re-gripped sword, enemy’s enforced mana.
In the suffocating tension. The one who moved first was again, the One-Horned Duke.
Amdusias takes out a sword from the air and grips it in his hand.
A demonic sword that looks powerful at a glance. I already know its identity.

“It’s Belial’s item.”

[Unexpected… To even know this item. But isn’t it already too late?]

Creeak…Ting!

Amdusias’s sword chopping down vertically is fierce.

I parry it and deflect it to the ground.
The sword bounced up again, surging as if to split me in half, but I lightly evade it.

[You block well! Block this too!]

Amdusias’s sword that imbued with madness freely targets me.
It bends as if twisting, and also seems to extend again.
The sword’s path cannot be easily predicted.
Originally, demons aren’t particularly skilled at handling swords properly, and because there is no specific form, it’s difficult to prepare in advance.

It’s frightening because there is no proper form.

Moreover, he freely adjusts its position with mana at any time.
This was the biggest problem of the swordsmanship wielded by demons.

Spurt!

Actually, several wounds begin to appear on my body.
If it continues like this, I will be at a disadvantage in the long run.
Each time my wounds increased one by one, he looked me over with an ecstatic expression.

Haa.

I steady my breath.

And, I organize my thoughts. I can win.
The last time I lost to this guy was on the 21st round, and since then, I haven’t lost.

I can expect the same result this time too.

But there is one variable here.
It is the fact that in the process of swinging my sword and executing Amdusias, I must not use ‘Genius’s Time’.
Limit Breaker is the same.
I should not use self-sacrificing skills for him.
The reason is simple.

‘Through some course of events. Whether incomplete or not, Baal revives. This is certain.’

Baal revival.
This is already a predetermined event.

Therefore, if I use Genius’s Time here, I absolutely wouldn’t be able to kill Baal.
The strength he possesses is at least several times that of this One-Horned Duke I’m facing now.
Even if all my companions gang up on him, it would likely be nearly impossible to handle him easily.

‘But I must do it.’

If there is a difference from before, it is that I am different from my previous selves.

Nox von Reinhaver is the strongest at this point in this cycle.
This is an undeniable fact, and that means a solution exists for me.

Feeling my blood vessels about to burst, I think and think again.
How do I predict the movements of that vile demon moving while dyeing the surroundings dark?
How do I block a sword that doesn’t even have a form?

‘Think.’

“If I don’t want to die”. I don’t add this phrase.
There is only one thing to repeat now.

If I don’t want to see death.

My companions, those I trusted.
Even if they have forgotten, I repeat it to myself, from the lives lived by those who sacrificed themselves for me.
I ruminate and think.

It was then.
That suddenly Amdusias spoke to me and my emotions began to stir.

“After you die, I’ll sell all your companions to brothels or tear their limbs off bit by bit and kill them slowly. It’s a very generous treatment for a demon, so you can thank me.”

“Ha”

It’s laughable.
Why is that?

A moment arrives where everything feels bothersome and everything I’ve done feels futile.
In the end, I accomplished nothing.

Dozens of restarts and failures.
I have done nothing, again nothing.
Once more, have I accomplished nothing?

“Haha….”

Laughter keeps leaking out without me realizing it.

This is interesting.

A feeling of terrible hatred towards myself begins to slowly eat away at me.
I will sell your companions to brothels, bewitch them, and torment them.
Then I will tear their limbs off and kill them.

It’s a truly demon-like story.

Demon-like….

Only now have I been able to organize my thoughts clearly.

Nox von Reinhaver.
What I am facing now is not a great Sword Emperor with chivalry, nor a mage.
It is merely one vile demon.

Here one question suddenly flashes through my mind.
Followed by one derived conclusion.

If that bastard is a perfect demon.

If that’s truly the case, shouldn’t I repay him in kind?

**********

‘This isn’t the level I was thinking of. I absolutely thought it wouldn’t be comparable to the status of a Sword Emperor… but this is absolutely not it. It’s destructive power I never even imagined.’

Nox was a true monster.
I already know the fact that among geniuses, there are those beyond the heavens.

As a One-Horned Duke, Amdusias was a demon accustomed to tearing such people apart and killing them, deriving ecstasy from it and living.
But, Nox was somehow strange.
Even if he won this battle, he was someone who had continuously broken through the limits of his abilities to such an extent that he honestly wouldn’t want to face him again.

‘How did this brat. This Amdusias….’

He had been thinking a bit too much.
Amdusias had no choice but to admit that his nerves had become extremely sensitive.
This brat had that level of ability, but ultimately lacked experience.

Belial’s sword he wielded was tremendous, and the swordsmanship used by him, a demon, didn’t even have a distinguishable form, making it impossible for a human to withstand.

No need to think further.

He would quickly execute him here.
He had the mission of reviving the Archduke Baal and, although defeated, gave a judgment to the Monarch of Lies Belial who was building his forces even in a spiritual state.
Foolishly, he had attacked the Stiliner family that possesses white flames, and in the end, allowed Nox to strike him, losing one of his avatars, but he was still powerful.

Baal.
Belial
Amdusias.

They were among the few beings that could be called Great Monarchs among demons.

Amdusias was confident of victory.

Anyway, now that he could awaken Baal, he judged that Nox’s desperate struggle had little meaning.
Because the fight had become simply about catching that ash-haired boar-like guy and taking the jewel embedded in his hand.

[Let’s finish this now.]

Amdusias knew Nox was tired.
His white hair swayed messily, and his eyebrows twitched intermittently as if his vision was unclear.

Amdusias gathered mana to finish him off for sure.
The conditions were met to release all the mana absorbed through his horn at once, and immense mana seeped from his sword.
Nox was still standing still in that spot, waiting.
The reason was unknown, but he seemed to be continuing to repeat his thoughts.

Of course, he probably couldn’t break through this situation.

[Die. Last Sword of Reinhaver.]

As he said that, the sword filled with mana shot precisely horizontally towards Nox.
It left a massive energy wave and drew a solid line across Nox von Reinhaver’s neck.
Bisected.
Literally bisected, Nox would soon be erased from the continent.

Amdusias did not doubt this.

Until the moment just before his own horn was severed.

[…?]

It was a sudden occurrence.
A black sword bloomed like a flower, and a single petal fluttered.
Dozens, hundreds of mirrors appeared, and in the darkness, they reflected each other, eventually creating a path. A sword dance pouring down like rain.

A searing pain began to erupt from Amdusias’s forehead.
Only then did the One-Horned Duke realize.

The solid line he had drawn.
It had not cut through Nox’s neck.
Furthermore, in that short time, the youngest son of Reinhaver had bloomed hundreds of mirrors and fluttering single black roses.

To add.
Nox von Reinhaver’s eyes had changed.
The white sclera turned black, and the pupils reddened.
His hair became a mix of black and white, and his skin grew even paler.
At that moment, Amdusias saw something surging behind him.
Horizontal pupils.
The pupils of a demon.

The uniquely arrogant pupils floating behind Nox like wings, one, two…,
They soon overlapped, spreading to three, four.
Something on a completely different dimension from mana felt from the horn that had long since fallen from his own forehead.

Something of a different nature was erupting from all over Nox’s body.

Amdusias could only roll his eyes and mutter.

[Those eyes… Baal-nim’s…!!]

It was a moment of utter astonishment.

In that fleeting instant.
The moment Amdusias was instantly convinced of his defeat, a large hole was pierced through his chest. It was just a matter of reaching out and piercing, but was it possible to perfectly penetrate his heart?

Moreover, who could possibly cause such a situation facing a Great Duke-level opponent like Amdusias? Only one.

“Esteban von Arkheim.”

Nox smiled faintly.

“As expected, this damned reality has never once disappointed me.”

In the reality he believed was his 27th game. Not once had Nox directly fought Esteban. But for a catastrophic situation like this to occur?

Undoubtedly, because he himself had become the variable, this situation had erupted.

But Nox was composed.

He was confident that he could stop anyone now.
Even if it were Baal, he had a clear conviction that he could sufficiently stop him if he used all of his lifespan. It was a scene that succinctly described a person called Nox, and it was also a thought.

Yoochan. It was one of the few moments of certainty that Nox von Reinhaver had gained in this world.

He would end this tragic regression here, at the very least.
Nox smiled with certainty. His tangled white hair fluttered.

The white hair stained with blood spread a scent of death like a rose, and then scattered beautifully like cherry blossoms. Nox was beautiful to the extent of being otherworldly beautiful.

To a degree that was utterly mismatched with this damned, worst possible battlefield.