Chapter 111
#Chapter 111: Demonic Sword Forte (13) - This Demonic Sword Believes
The demon Valzarez had once wasted a golden opportunity while dealing with a certain librarian, squandering the time with all sorts of pointless chatter.
In that respect, Divana was more capable than her comrade.
Swoosh!
Rose vines that had shot up from the floor bound Forte's limbs tightly.
At the same time, Divana lunged forward, thrusting the sword in her hand toward Forte's heart.
She attacked without leaving herself the slightest opening, intending to take his life from the very start.
It was unquestionably the correct response.
But her opponent was anything but ordinary.
Rattle-rattle-rattle!
The vines binding Forte were cut apart in an instant.
They had not been torn away by brute force.
With the arm below the elbow remaining unbound and free,
he wielded the sword using only the dexterity of his wrist and fingers, cutting through every vine.
That absurd technique did not end there. The sword Forte raised met Divana's sword.
Divana felt an immense sense of futility.
It was the sort of emptiness one felt upon finding no stairs where one had expected them, or when a chair one had sat on without a second thought suddenly collapsed beneath them.
The momentum of her charge and the magic contained in her sword were sucked away somewhere, regardless of her will.
Without the slightest sense of incongruity, without even a chance to resist, as though it were only natural for things to happen that way.
A parry.
More precisely, a deflection.
A technique that sounded absurdly simple when explained in words.
Following the curve traced by Forte's sword tip, Divana's body was pulled along, and in the next moment, a fist slammed into the area around her solar plexus.
BOOOOM!
It was an impact better described as being struck than merely being hit.
The magic barrier she reflexively deployed was torn apart like paper, while her bones and internal organs were crushed or ruptured under the pressure.
It was damage that would make it difficult for a human to avoid instant death, and Divana was no different, save for being slightly better off.
In game terms, an entire phase's worth of health had vanished in a single blow.
Therefore, Divana unleashed her power without regard for anything else.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
As she bounced away like a pebble kicked by a foot, countless scales surfaced in layers across Divana's lower body.
Her clothing fused with her skin and transformed into fluttering fins, while her ears also changed into a pointed shape.
Siren.
One of the countless races living in the demon world, the owner of a voice imbued with powerful 'bewitchment,' opened her mouth.
“────!”
It sounded like music created by countless instrumentalists playing together, the innocent laughter of a spirit frolicking through the bushes, or the whisper of a courtesan in revealing clothes atop a bed.
What they all had in common was that they shook the listener's heart and drew them toward the owner of the sound.
The siren song, which could make an entire ship charge straight into a reef and sink if used with intent, burrowed into Forte's ears.
Divana was utterly convinced that this was her masterstroke.
No matter how outstanding Forte's physical abilities were or how exquisite his swordsmanship might be, he could not possibly block sound itself, could he?
Snatch.
As if to shatter that certainty, Forte casually approached and seized Divana by the throat.
“Ack… ugh, khk!”
Divana widened her eyes in shock and tried to say something, but that was impossible while Forte had her by the throat.
“Are you curious why I'm perfectly fine?”
Yet perhaps her struggles alone were enough for him to understand what she meant, because Forte answered.
“Then figure it out yourself. Unless I were some phantom thief, I have no interest in explaining my abilities at length.”
Divana's field of vision changed abruptly.
It was because Forte had slammed her head against the wall.
KABOOOM!
Along with the terrifying impact, stars flashed before Divana's eyes.
Both her hands convulsed, and blood flowed not only from her mouth but from her eyes and ears as well.
When Forte released her, her body went limp on the floor.
“Ah, ugh, wha….”
Divana found it difficult to understand what was happening.
If her opponent had merely been exuding overwhelming magical power just by looking at her, she would have understood.
If she had simply let her guard down and been caught off guard, she would have understood that as well.
But this was neither of those things.
The power her opponent possessed was less than Divana's, and she had not shown even the slightest lapse in vigilance.
Yet despite being neither of those things, she had lost.
And she had lost without even managing to put up a proper fight.
Supporting herself with trembling arms, Divana rose and immediately vomited.
What spilled from her mouth was not mere vomit or saliva, but thick, dark blood and fragments of bone.
After vomiting blood several times, Divana cautiously raised her head.
And she saw.
Forte's face as he silently looked down at her.
“──.”
His features, as though covered in shadows, were still impossible to make out.
And yet Divana felt as though she could tell what expression Forte was wearing.
It was the gaze of one who stood above all others.
The eye level of a born ruler.
Despite having just fought, there was no hatred, hostility, or displeasure toward Divana remaining in his eyes.
He was simply waiting.
For the answer to the question he had asked at the beginning.
Death.
Or cooperation.
If Divana chose the former, he would simply nod briefly as if to say, 'I see,' then casually blow her head apart.
Afterward, he would calmly leave to attend to his own business, taking no interest in Divana's fallen corpse and never once looking back.
That indifference sent terror crawling up Divana's spine.
There was no meaning whatsoever in that death.
It was no different from stepping on grass while passing by and simply brushing it off with a, 'Hmm? What, is that grass?'
In the demon world, the law of survival of the fittest was an utterly self-evident rule.
At least in this moment, the terror Divana felt toward the being before her was greater than the terror she felt toward her original master.
Therefore, Divana trembled and bowed her head.
“I-I will cooperate.”
***
《I succeeded in reaching an amicable agreement through dialogue. They will not bother you from here on, so do not worry.》
“Oh, okay.”
Pina rolled her eyes and looked toward a corner of the room.
There, she saw a young man kneeling with both hands raised, alongside an accessory standing upright on the floor.
She was confused.
‘Um, surely that wasn't the kind of dialogue he meant.’
Though often misunderstood, the girl named Pina Valestia was not actually all that stupid.
She simply followed other people's lead more often than she acted according to her own opinions or plans, so people mistook her for someone who lived without thinking.
Thus, she also realized that Forte's 'dialogue' did not mean dialogue in the ordinary sense.
She realized it, but did not bother to point it out.
She knew that the 'Demonic Sword' had not changed the subject to trick her; by his standards, that qualified as dialogue, so he had called it dialogue.
“Demonic Sword, Demonic Sword.”
《What is it?》
“Then, um, are those people going to fight alongside me against that last demon?”
《That would be difficult.》
Forte denied it in an emotionless tone.
《They are bound by contracts. They are free to decide the fine details of their plans while carrying out the operation, but apparently they cannot outright become enemies of another demon.》
However, Forte declared that would be enough.
《From now on, you only need to act as though you have fallen for their scheme. When the last demon approaches to take you to the 'Hero's Seal,' defeat it at that moment.》
Divana and the young man could not intervene in the subjugation of the third demon, but they could remain neutral and observe from the sidelines.
If the last demon believed Pina had already been bewitched, only for her to launch a surprise attack while fully lucid, while Divana, whom it believed to be an ally, was removed from the fight, it would surely be thrown into great confusion.
That opening would be Pina's perfect chance to subjugate the demon.
“D-Do you think I can do it?”
《The opponent cannot use its full power within the academy. No, perhaps it can, but then it would have to withstand a concentrated assault from the faculty.》
“If that's all, then, um.”
Pina nodded.
Honestly, if she had to do it alone, she was not very confident, but if she thought of Forte fighting alongside her, she felt she could buy enough time.
“Then what should I do now?”
《Nothing much will change. Go to dungeons, clear quests, and rest on holidays. If you do that, the demon that found that 'seal' will eventually approach you.》
“I see.”
《There is no need to be so anxious. It is still early in the semester, after all. Finding something as grandiose as the 'Hero's Seal' will take quite a while, so until then, just take it easy and grow stronger─》
“Um, excuse me, I'm sorry, but.”
Forte's words were cut off.
It was not Pina's doing.
It was because the young man, whose face was in rough shape all over, opened his mouth as though interrupting.
Perhaps because he sensed the gazes of the sword and the girl, the young man hurriedly answered.
“M-Miss Divana says… apparently a message has arrived. From the third demon.”
A brief silence followed.
Pina wordlessly stared at Forte.
《Hmm. Contractor, this Demonic Sword believes that you are more than capable of overcoming this trial.》
“D-Demonic Sword, could I hit you just once?”