Rematch Of Wind.

Riding on the Abyssal Emperor Dragon, Bell, I flew straight toward Jiregga City.

Along the way—

“I feel an incredibly potent Aura, Lord Freed,” Bell said.

“An Aura?”

“It must be heroes, but it’s practically angel-tier… They seem like exceptionally powerful people.”

“Where is it coming from?”

“Just a bit further ahead. Around the Malice Mountain Range,” Bell replied to my question.

“Shall we check it out?”

“Please do.”

After flying through the sky for a short while, Bell touched down on a mountain pass path. If I recalled correctly, this was the exact location where Zegart’s army had intercepted the heroes in the previous battle.

Before long, two heroes approached from up ahead.

“You two are…”

Both of them were female heroes. One was a lively-looking, beautiful young girl with blue hair tied into twin tails with yellow ribbons. The other was an elegant, refined beauty with updo golden hair. One of them was a face I recognized. She was one of the Sacred Edge, hailed as the strongest among the heroes.

Ludmila Deal.

“The Demon King—”

“Is this the man…?!”

The blonde beauty glared at me.

“Elio… I shall avenge your regrets.” She readied her rapier. “The Sacred Edge of ‘Fire’—Fiore Quell!”

I see, so she is part of the Sacred Edge too.

“This time for sure, I am going to defeat you.” Beside Fiore, Ludmila readied her bow. “I will never lose again!”

“Yes. Together, without fail.”

As the two nodded to each other, a dark radiance surged forth from them.

“Chaos Form, activate. Chaos Jacket, deploy.”

With their synchronized voices, the miraculous armaments they held were dyed in pitch black, dramatically shifting their shapes. Ludmila’s bow transformed from an X-shape into something resembling a star, while Fiore’s rapier extended into a blade that exceeded her own height.

So this is the dark miraculous armament I heard about from Zegart…

I furrowed my brow beneath my mask. Back when I was human, I had fought as a hero for about twenty years, but I had never seen or heard of a miraculous armament possessing such a transformation function. Furthermore, the outfits they were clad in—this was something missing from Zegart’s report.

Is this a heroic power that I am unaware of?

No matter how much my stats made me the strongest Demon King in history, it was necessary to remain cautious against an unknown fighting style. It would be wise to stay fully on guard.

“Second Form: Maximum Velocity • Precision Barrage • Xand Arrow!”

Announcing the opening of the battle was a volley of light arrows unleashed by Ludmila. When we had fought before, they numbered in the hundreds, but this time, it was likely in the thousands. A literally different order of magnitude of light arrows rained down around me like a brilliant downpour.

“Homing Meteor.”

I conjured countless colossal fireballs to intercept them. The surroundings were instantly enveloped in explosive flames and blinding light.

“Second Form: Crimson Fireburst • Fire Flower Buster!”

Slicing through the chaos, a slashing wave of fire closed in. However, I had already anticipated that they would use coordination to catch me off guard.

“Meteor Blade!”

I fired swords of flame one after another into the surroundings, neutralizing the fiery slash. The area was still shrouded in black smoke and bursting flames.

Where are they? Where will they attack from next—

“Homing Ray.”

Maintaining my vigilance, I unleashed my next spell. If they were hidden from sight, I simply had to track them down with an auto-homing spell.

“Kyaah?!”

Two distinct screams echoed. Explosions erupted from the front and the flank respectively. The resulting blast blew away the black smoke, rapidly clearing my field of vision.

“—So they endured it.”

Neither Ludmila nor Fiore seemed to have sustained any noticeable damage. Several glowing, reddish-purple light shields hovered around the two of them. Those must have been what blocked the Homing Ray. Or perhaps it was an ability of the Chaos Jacket.

“Sturdy, aren’t you?”

“Don’t think for a second that our attack or defense is the same as before!” Ludmila readied her X-shaped bow. Countless tornadoes began to rage furiously around her.

“We have grown stronger. Trained by the emissaries of God, all to strike down evil!” wielding her rapier, Fiore declared resolutely. A crimson flame swirled intensely around her blade.

I felt a prickly sensation, as if my skin were burning.

“Is this… Aura?” I muttered.

A sacred power, which could be called the manifestation of the power of gods and angels. Ludmila and Fiore, despite being humans, were exuding it heavily.

“If you’re surprised by just this much, you’re in trouble, Demon King.”

“Our true worth begins now.”

Positioning themselves back-to-back, the two cried out.

“This is our trump card—Aura Burst!”

Simultaneously, their Aura surged explosively.

“Perish, Demon King!”

Countless tornadoes were unleashed from Ludmila, while Fiore launched fireballs one after another. The atmosphere scorched and the earth shattered. The space itself was screaming.

The raw power is entirely different from just moments ago—?!

Staring straight at the oncoming wind and fire, I calmly spoke:

“Convergent Form • Vanity Blade.”

With a single flash, I sliced through absolutely all of it.

“N-No way…!” the two heroes groaned in utter disbelief.

“Just as you have grown stronger since that time, my power has also evolved—that is all there is to it,” I declared quietly, the sword of void in my hand.

“Too strong—” Ludmila fell heavily to her knees. She had likely exhausted all her strength with that last strike.

“To think it goes this far…” Fiore groaned, her face deathly pale.

“I bear no personal grudge against you,” I said, locking my gaze on the two heroes.

In truth, I could feel a dignified, strong will radiating from them. They weren’t corrupt heroes who hid behind authority or wallowed in luxury and extravagance. They were undoubtedly exemplary heroes who fought for love and justice on the surface world.

But even so—

“To protect our world—to protect my comrades, the heroes must disappear.”

As the duty of the Demon King, I proudly declared it.