Master Of Sorcery VS King Of Gales

Judas stood face-to-face with one of the Divine Gears: the King of Gales.

It was approximately twenty meters in length, clad in jade-colored armor, and possessed three pairs of wings—six in total. It resembled a giant, monstrous bird.

“Mage-type demon. Total Level 620. MP 9,000—a mana capacity surpassing even the Demon Lord class.”

The King of Gales stared straight at Judas. Its eyes flickered and blinked. It appeared to have a function to measure an opponent’s capabilities.

“Succubus-type demon. Total Level 220. Stats at the average level of the executive class. Specialized in magic and skills that act upon the mind.”

“Oh, you can see right through my power too?” Feria remarked. “But I’m not telling you my measurements. Though I might tell the Demon Lord, fufu.”

“Magic does not work against my armor. As a mere weapon, I have no soul; therefore, mental interference magic is also ineffective. It is impossible for you to defeat me.”

“You’re quite confident,” Judas laughed defiantly.

“Then, I suppose I’ll have to test that performance. I’ve never fought a Divine Gear one-on-one before. To see just how high the specs of the Heavenly Host’s strongest weapon are… how intriguing.”

What welled up within him was not a fighting spirit, but purely curiosity toward an unknown weapon.

“Feria, I want you to handle support and protect the other demons. I’ll deal with this thing myself.”

“Do you think you can win?”

“Who knows?”

Judas shrugged at Feria’s question. He lightly brushed back his silver hair and smiled.

“I fought them back in the Age of Myth, but back then—”

Before he could finish, the King of Gales flapped its six wings and soared into the sky.

“Be blown away, demon.”

The flapping of its wings generated countless tornadoes.

“Mega Wind!”

Judas neutralized the force with a top-tier wind spell of his own. The power was equal. The opposing winds collided and vanished together.

“Your mana capacity is as high as ever, Divine Gear…”

Judas gave a slight, wry smile. It seemed the combat capability that had troubled even the Primal Demon Lord Velpher was still very much intact.

“However, I won’t lose when it comes to magic.”

“Indeed, our magical attack power appears to be nearly equal,” the King of Gales noted. “But—for that very reason, my victory is certain.”

“Heh… then let’s put that to the test.”

Judas chanted a flight spell and ascended into the air.

“You dare challenge me to aerial combat? Know your place, fool.”

The King of Gales flapped its wings again. “Blasty Feather!”

From its six wings, countless blades of wind were unleashed. At the moment they appeared to slice Judas’s body apart, his form blurred.

“Mm?”

“Your attacks are too broad,” Judas laughed, appearing at the side of the King of Gales. He had activated high-level flight magic without an incantation, escaping the attack range in an instant.

“Silence.”

The King of Gales fired glowing green mana bullets. Their number was in the thousands.

“Firing in bulk and hoping for a hit—what a crude strategy.”

“It does not matter how fast you are. I shall crush you with overwhelming mana.”

The mana bullets split further in mid-air. Thousands—no, tens of thousands of mana bullets closed in on Judas from all directions. There was nowhere to hide.

With a massive explosion, Judas’s body was struck and vaporized.

“I felt the impact! You were nothing but talk.”

The King of Gales let out a booming laugh. “It seems even you could not dodge that.”

“Dodge? There was no need.”

Judas was laughing behind the King of Gales.

“What? You—!?”

“It was an illusion,” Judas explained flatly. “A classic trick.”

“Impossible…! An illusion with presence and mana identical to the original—”

“I’ve been refining my magical skills for tens of thousands of years, you know. Creating an illusion equal to the original is a simple task.”

Judas chuckled and held out his hand. Mana concentrated, and a blue radiance gathered in his palm.

“You—the Divine Gears—are indeed formidable. But that’s only when the three of you coordinate.”

In a one-on-one like this, it was a different story. For Judas, who possessed mana equal to or greater than a Demon Lord, this was not an undefeatable foe.

“Goodbye, relic of God—Aqua Bind.”

Countless torrents of water extended like snakes, binding the King of Gales.

“I… I cannot move—”

“Mega Thunder!”

Having thoroughly soaked the surface armor to increase conductivity, Judas unleashed a top-tier lightning spell. Against a Divine Gear, which was created through a mixture of sorcery and mechanical technology, this attack was bound to be effective.

“…Useless.”

But the King of Gales shook its entire body, repelling both the lightning and the water.

“My armor is made of Mythril. Half-hearted magic will not penetrate.”

“I see. So it repels even top-tier magic.”

“Hmph… that was dangerous even for me. But it will not happen a second time. I understand your true strength now.”

The King of Gales growled. “You have improved your skills far beyond our previous encounter. With that recognition, I shall ensure your certain erasure.”

The battle resumed.

Judas skillfully mixed diversions with his primary attacks, confusing the King of Gales with feints and illusions. Since most of the opponent’s attacks were wind-attributed, he intercepted them with magic of compatible attributes, sustaining almost zero damage.

“Curse you…!”

The King of Gales was being utterly toyed with by Judas.

“I told you, your attacks are far too crude.”

“You use nothing but petty, cunning magic—”

“You’re just too simple. It’s the fate of an autonomous weapon, I suppose.”

The fight was progressing in Judas’s favor. It was difficult to finish it all at once, but he was slowly pushing it back toward victory—.

It was just as he thought this.

“Eh…?”

From the corner of his eye, he saw a green light bullet graze past. A stray shot was heading toward the other demons. Because he had been so focused on exchanging magic while moving at high speeds in the air, his awareness of his allies had slipped for a split second.

(To think I would make such a mistake—)

He was supposed to have fought while calculating every positional relationship. To make such a blunder at the final stage was frustrating. The massive, glowing green mana bullet was heading toward Feria and the other demons.

Judas might have been fine, but it was an attack at a level that other demons could never hope to block. Even the Demon Commander Feria specialized in mental interference; in terms of direct attack and defense magic, she was inferior to Judas.

“Make it in time—!”

Judas accelerated in mid-air, pushing his flight magic to maximum speed.

(—Why am I doing this?)

A question suddenly surfaced. Why was he becoming so desperate?

Demons were a race of “Power.” The strong live, and the weak die—that was the rule of the Demon Realm and Judas’s own values. It was supposed to be.

(And yet, I—)

‘It’s dangerous, Judas!’

‘Why, Velpher… why did you shield me…!?’

‘Protecting a friend is… only natural…’

The voice of his old friend flickered through his mind. Or perhaps, he had been influenced by him. The man who possessed an atmosphere somewhat similar to Velpher. The anomaly who had been reborn from human to demon—the strongest Demon Lord.

“Rune Shield!”

He stood before the demons just in time, deploying a mana barrier.

“I see. So that is your weakness.”

The King of Gales flapped its six wings. “In this position, you cannot confuse me with illusions.”

“This bastard—”

Having stopped his movement to protect his allies, Judas was a perfect target for the enemy.

“It is over, demon.”

Then, tens of thousands of mana bullets rained down.

“Tch…!”

Judas poured every ounce of his mana into the defensive wall. He caught, repelled, and diverted the entirety of the Divine Gear’s massive mana.

“Guuuuuuuu… uuuuuuuuugh…!”

It was heavy. To take it head-on and block everything was a struggle, even with Judas’s mana—.

With a colossal explosion, the entire surrounding area was blown away.

“Hmph. Finally, a solid hit.” The King of Gales stated.

“Pant… pant… pant…”

Judas’s breathing was ragged. His beautiful silver hair was disheveled, his violet garments were torn, and blood seeped from various cuts on his charcoal skin.

“Judas…!”

He heard Feria gasp behind him. “You shielded us…!?”

The other demons were surely looking on with worried faces. To be wounded for the sake of comrades, to jump into a disadvantageous situation of one’s own accord—.

“Fufu… to think I… would do the same thing he did…”

A bloodied Judas gave a faint, thin smile.