Tsuyokute New Saga (LN)

Book 9: Chapter 9

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Seran and Yuriga rushed down the path indicated on the map. Since there was no reason for them to hide any longer, they took the shortest route as quickly as possible. Yet despite that, nobody attempted to block off their path.

“According to the map, there should be a hidden passage here. As for actually opening it…”

“Haaaa!” Yuriga just smashed the wall in as Seran tried to figure out the solution.

With a rumbling noise, the wall in front of them broke down.

“So it really was here…But how come Kyle knew about that?” Yuriga was surprised to have hit the mark, voicing the obvious doubt.

“Well…That’s not important right now. We have to get to Luiza as quickly as possible.”

Naturally, Seran knew the reason, but they didn’t have time to get into that.

“This is…It’s close to the throne room, but why…?”

Yuriga looked around, but Seran pushed her.

“I can feel a presence. He’s waiting,” he said and took a deep breath.

***

“…Ugh…”

Having regained consciousness, Luiza first tried to reassess the situation she was in. She tried to move her arms and legs, but they were still bound to the wall as when she was initially brought here. Checking her own body, she didn’t spot any obvious injuries. Understandably so, since her immortality would make every wound heal over time. However, she couldn’t move her body. It felt sluggish, most likely because of the chains’ powers that sapped her of her magic power. And in this weakened state, she lost consciousness again and again. It wouldn’t happen immediately, but if this process continued, she might meet her end eventually. She might be immortal, but she wasn’t indestructible.

“…Death…huh…”

Luiza confirmed the situation she was in and could feel that the existence of death, something she had never thought much about, was now slowly creeping up on her. If all this happened just a year ago, she most likely would have accepted it. Even in the fight with the black-winged demon, the arrival of the dragon was definitely unexpected, but the Demon Lord is supposed to win against any enemy no matter the odds, so she had no room to complain about the result of that battle. And rather than determination, she had simply given up on arguing about it. With a rule of listlessness and reservation, she had sat on the Demon Lord’s throne simply as a force of habit. Be it that throne or this prison, just one year ago she would have rejoiced at the fact that she could finally die.

But right now, she had a lingering attachment to the throne. And that, for the most part, was thanks to that human she had encountered. At first, she only saw him as the owner of the sword she desperately wanted, but he ended up not caring much for her title and overstepped any boundaries between them. Not only that, he was also incredibly strong. Having been able to defeat the strongest demon Three-Arms was a feat deserving of praise and admiration. And at the same time, he resembled the man Luiza was once attracted to, but who betrayed her.

It was honestly exasperating how easily her mood had been moved thanks to that man. Even the plant she had received from him as a present, she watched every small change with joy and excitement. It might be because of her simple mind, but she didn’t want to die. She didn’t want things to end here. And once those emotions entered her mind, she could put more strength into her limbs, finding the energy to fight back.

“Stop wasting your time.”

The only person watching over Luiza, the demon Two-Blade, muttered these words, seemingly having guessed what she was feeling. Luiza didn’t know every single demon under her command, but it was rare to see a demon using a sword, so she faintly remembered him.

“I heard about Three-Arms…That he picked up an orphan and raised him. And someone odd who ended up learning how to use the sword. I think your name was…”

Before Luiza could finish her words, the tip of a blade was pointed at her, telling her to stay silent.

The blade itself didn’t carry much of a presence, but the pressure coming from Two-Blade himself was strong enough to make Luiza falter.

“I will tell you one thing. Stay still for a bit longer, and someone will come to try and save you. But don’t hold out hope, because the only thing waiting for you is despair.”

“Save…me?”

Luiza found that rather hard to believe. Now that she had lost, she was no longer the Demon Lord, and the other demons had no reason to serve her. And yet, for whatever reason, she could think of several people who might come to her aid. Servants like Yuriga and the others who were all wasted on a lord like her. Of course, she thought of one more person, but that was nothing but a hope in vain.

“…Seems like they’re here,” the demon with two blades stared at the entrance of the room, where he spotted two silhouettes.

One was Luiza’s servant, Yuriga. And the other—was the man she had given up on seeing. It should be impossible for a human like him to be here. And yet, it made total sense that he would be there. That’s the kind of man he is.

“Seran…” She muttered his name and sighed in relief.

“Luiza-sama! Apologies it took us so long! We’re going to save you right now!” Yuriga screamed and started running over to Luiza with tears in her eyes, but the one who stopped her was Seran, one hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t take another step…Or you’re going to die.”

The reason he stopped her was obviously because of the two-sworded demon standing next to Luiza.

“Finally. I’ve been waiting for you,” Two-Blade slowly moved, yet showed no opening whatsoever.

“Sorry to show up late…Just out of curiosity, did you know of the trap we happened to walk right into?”

“Trap? What are you talking about?” The demon didn’t seem to be playing dumb, and instead genuinely looked like he didn’t know what Seran was talking about.

“I see…No, it’s fine. It’s out of your control, so there’s no need for you to know.”

“You…said that on purpose, right?” Two-Blade grew frustrated at Seran’s roundabout way of phrasing things.

Surely, the demon would have not allowed Targ to plot that surprise attack. He was probably locked in here, tasked to watch over Luiza.

“Well, don’t worry about it. What’s important is that we can now fight to our heart’s content.”

“…That is true.”

Two-Blade still seemed concerned but eventually let it slide.

“That’s how it is. Just wait a little longer, yeah?” Seran called out to Luiza, who responded with a faint smile.

“You think you can win?”

Seran maintained his confident attitude, but Yuriga seemed worried. Yuriga knew that Two-Blade was stronger than her, so she could only rely on Seran to deal with him.

“Of course. You know how strong I am, right?”

“But he’s got two blades…”

“A dual-blade style isn’t necessarily stronger than a single-blade style. If it was, I’d be doing exactly that. What’s most important is the skill. I’ve learned plenty about how demons fight…so now I’ll show you how we humans do it,” Seran flashed an arrogant grin.

If Lieze and the others happened to be here, they would definitely scold him for generalizing humanfolk.

“All right…I will leave mine and Luiza-sama’s lives in your hands…Counting on you, Seran,” Yuriga looked over at Luiza and then left everything to Seran.

“Now, let’s do this…Although, I never heard your name, right?”

“…Very well. You struck down Three-Arms, so I will tell you. My name is—”

Right as the demon prepared to declare his name, Seran closed the distance between them and swung his sword.

“Kugh…?!”

Two-Blade barely managed to avoid suffering a lethal strike, but he still took on an injury.

“Tch, you reacted faster than I hoped you would.”

“Y-You bastard…!”

Seran regretted not leaving a deeper wound, as Two-Blade’s expression twisted into one of rage and fury.

“You literally did the exact same thing when we first met. I’m just clapping back,” said Seran with a calm tone. “You’re going to tell me your name after I win, right? Two-Blade is enough for now…Oh? Is someone angry? Wasn’t it Three-Arms himself who said that anything goes?”

Two-Blade glared at Seran with a gaze that could kill, but Seran provoked him further.

“…”

Two-Blade knew that getting blinded by rage would only be playing right into Seran’s hand, so he forced himself to calm down and shake his head.

“Now, let’s get to the meat…Wait just a little longer, yeah?” Seran smiled and looked over at Luiza, who responded with a smile of her own. “Here we go!”

Together with his roar, the two leaped at each other.

As for the actual battle, Seran just ran around. In terms of speed and sharpness of strikes, his opponent was superior. If so, he had to overcome this wall with sheer speed of his own. Once pressed against the wall, he attacked back at the demon and struck at his feet to ensure a definite strike. However, the demon guessed this very intent and instead attempted to finish it off with a single strike to Seran’s chest. This repeated over and over. Seran evaded this just barely and rushed away, only to go for a counter.

“You sure love to move!”

“And you’re just watching from the sidelines!”

Yuriga apparently guessed that this strategy was working, because, in her eyes, it looked like a somewhat equal fight. However, this could only continue for as long as Seran had the stamina, and it very much wasn’t limitless. This situation of them being equal wouldn’t last forever. As proof of that, Seran already began sweating profusely, and he was out of breath. And since it took a lot of attention out of him, his thoughts were slowly beginning to numb.

Contrary to that, Two-Blade seemed like he barely broke a sweat. His swords may have been filled with rage before their battle began, but now he calmly countered Seran’s wild attacks. It was clear as day who would come out superior in this battle. Eventually, Seran’s attacks and defenses began weakening. He tried to finish the fight quickly before it was too late, but the demon naturally anticipated that move, continuing to block.

“What’s wrong? Your movement is getting worse. Why don’t I start now, too?”

The demon could easily tell that Seran’s attacks dulled, so he continued to attack together with a calm voice.

“Just because…you might have the upper hand a little bit…you shouldn’t get all careless like that,” Seran gasped for air as he fired back, but his attacks spoke for themselves.

Despite the disadvantageous situation he was in, his eyes had not given up. Seeing that, Two-Blade raised his caution again. The only person visibly shaken was Yuriga. At this rate, Seran would suffer defeat eventually. Before that could happen, she could very well jump into the battle to sacrifice herself and create an opening for Seran. As long as Luiza would be saved then…But Seran stopped her.

“I told you not to worry…” His voice sounded exhausted, but his expression was confident. “I found one point I’m superior in…” Seran mumbled in a voice nobody else could hear and then sucked up all of the strength he had left to go for one final struggle as he struck at the demon.

Two-Blade then attacked with a calm strike with his right sword to aim for Seran’s throat. He evaded this at a hair’s width, but a wound not all too shallow sliced along his shoulder. At the same time, he snuck right up to the demon’s chest, which should make it harder for the both of them to attack. The aim with all of this was the demon’s left sword. After striking at it a few times, Seran’s Holy Sword Rand was absolutely of higher quality, and he hoped that destroying the demon’s weapons would be possible. Having suffered an initial injury, losing one sword might bring Two-Blade to a disadvantage, so Seran was willing to risk it. After a metallic clashing sound, Seran managed to half-break the blade. However.

“I figured you’d do that.”

“Wha…!”

Before Seran could break it completely, Two-Blade let go of his sword and used his free left hand to strike Seran’s wrist. As his grasp on Rand weakened, Two-Blade then used the hilt of his other sword to ram it into Seran’s head. Seran aimed to break Two-Blade’s weapon, whereas the demon wanted to steal Seran’s weapon from him. As a result of this, the weapon dropped to the ground and Seran was blown into the distance. When he managed to raise his body again, the black sword was already in Two-Blade’s left hand. His shoulder and head were bleeding, and he had lost his sword. The situation was as bad as it could be.

“You did cause me some trouble…But now it’s over, right?”josei

Seran readied himself for a possible attack, but Two-Blade just walked over to Luiza instead.

“I know that this black sword is special…And now, you’re finally useful as a hostage,” Two-Blade said and stabbed the black sword into her right thigh.

“Ugh!” Her face distorted in pain.

Because the Holy Sword Rand was used by the past Hero Randolph when he struck down Luiza’s father and the previous Demon Lord Adonis, it was showered in his blood and had the ability to ignore Luiza’s immortality.

“It really doesn’t heal…”

Pulling the sword out and the wound remaining, Two-Blade couldn’t hide his admiration.

“Y-You bastard!” Yuriga was beyond herself in rage when she saw that.

Seran said to stay out, but this was too much for her.

“You fool…” Two-Blade tried to strike her down, but Seran stopped Yuriga before it was too late.

“I told you not to get in the way!”

“But…!”

“Hey, you…Is hurting a woman who can’t fight back really what you wanted to do?” Seran said, which made Two-Blade glare at him.

“…Are you treating her like some normal woman? She’s the former demon lord, remember?” Two-Blade cursed, speaking with contempt.

However, this contempt was not really directed at Luiza, but at himself.

“That person wants to use this woman for their own good, but now that we have the chance, I want to get rid of her,” said Two-Blade as if he wanted to tell himself, glaring at Luiza.

“It’s okay…” A faint voice came from Luiza.

Yuriga couldn’t believe such a voice came from the master she admired so much.

“Just step back…You have no more reason to fight for my sake,” she forced out her voice as she struggled to suppress the pain.

“That won’t do. We need you—no matter what.”

Seran’s words made Luiza’s heart jump. She had felt a similar emotion before. When the hero by the name of Randolph was still alive. Through whatever stroke of fate it may have been, they continued to fight on the battlefield until they became attracted to each other. The hero of humanfolk and the daughter of the Demon Lord…They were not supposed to be together no matter what, and yet with their relationship growing, she began to believe in his words and guided him to her father’s bedroom. As a result, she was betrayed cruelly as she watched Randolph strike down her father. But in reality, she had known why this would happen. He showed himself worthy as the demon standing at the top of all the demons. And she respected him for that.

But in reality, he had used his subordinates to move in the shadows and made them fabricate his own achievements for him. That’s why he met his end just like that, too. It was self-deserved in a way. Thinking back on it, her father might have simply been panicking, knowing about the strongest demon Three-Arms, and his own daughter being immortal. Ever since then, she had lived her life in listlessness, but because of his appearance, she had begun to change. Her lifeless and gray world showed colors blooming, and she experienced joy again. But that’s also why she couldn’t let him die here.

“I will not let you…!”

“Just shut up and watch! I’ve decided I’m gonna save you, so nothing’s gonna stop me now!”

As Luiza ignored her injuries to break free from the chains, Seran started running. Anybody watching this would have known that Seran had no chance at victory considering the situation, and he knew that better than anybody else. Yet, he showed no hesitation.

“If this is your attempt at striking me down…then you are much more foolish than I thought.”

Two-Blade understood what Seran tried to do and ran his way. Between them was the tip of the broken blade. Two-Blade knew that Seran would try to use that as a weapon, but it was all a desperate attempt. And right as Seran lowered his posture to pick up the blade, he also entered Two-Blade’s range.

“This is the end!”

Two-Blade swung the black sword in his hand, a horizontal strike aimed at Seran’s neck. With timing that made it impossible for Seran to evade it, the black blade approached him. And as a result, his head fell—or so it should have been.

“This sword can’t kill me, buckaroo.”

“Wha…What…?”

Two-Blade couldn’t believe the scenery in front of him. Seran had clapped his hands together, catching the blade between his fingers. However, this should only be possible if the other party had an advantage in terms of skill and raw power, which couldn’t have been the case for Seran.

“After exchanging clashes with you over and over, I knew just how fast your strikes were, and I’ve been using that sword for quite some time now…Now as long as I know from which direction you’re coming, it’s not possible…”

Two-Blade was sure of his victory, yet his final attack had been fended off so easily. The demon then changed his thought process and attempted to finish off Seran with his other sword, but it was too late. Seran kicked up the tip of the blade that laid on the ground and shot it right at Two-Blade with his knee. As Two-Blade’s sword got closer to Seran, he saw the broken blade stab the demon right in the stomach.

“You speedy…bastard…” Two-Blade coughed up a pool of blood and fell backward.

“I heard that a lot, though I’d be a lot happier if you called it skillful. Anyway, I’ll be taking this,” Seran said and picked up his beloved sword from the demon’s hand, then sighing to himself.

“Luiza-sama!”

Right as Seran’s victory was decided, Yuriga rushed over to Luiza. Seran followed and cut off the chains with his sword.

“Look after her, yeah?” Seran left the collapsed Luiza to Yuriga and headed over to Two-Blade.

“Yo, still alive?”

“…”

His eyes were open, so Seran knew the demon was still alive. That said, it was only a flicker of life left, and Seran knew that all too well.

“I lost…Losing against you in a duel…I guess I really could never catch up to Three-Arms,” Two-Blade muttered without any strength, but this stabbed Seran right where it hurt.

“That would have been fine…Honestly, this was a 2 versus 1 again. Kyle apparently had experience fighting you.”

“…?”

As you would expect, Two-Blade didn’t understand what Seran was talking about. When Kyle gave Seran the map, he had also written down more of Two-Blade’s habits. The two-blade style aside, his swings from the left were a lot sharper and stronger, possessing more impact and speed. He also had the tendency to try and finish things with his left sword.

“Of course, I knew about that before, but hearing that just gave me the last confirmation. That’s why I could bet on myself stopping the blade at the very end.”

You could see this as Seran complaining. In fact, he already had a problem with him beating Three-Arms simply thanks to a strategy. He figured this was a chance for him to go all out immediately, but his desire to save Luiza was stronger. And even Kyle must have felt like Seran would struggle with this battle. If Kyle had attempted to tell Seran about these weaknesses, Seran most likely wouldn’t even have listened. That’s why he wrote it on the map so he’d see it no matter what. And once he learned of it, whether he liked the idea or not, he would use it to win.

“I’ll punch his head in later.”

That said, Seran didn’t resent Kyle for it, and he most definitely made the right choice. Even so, Seran was frustrated.

“Well, I certainly didn’t think you’d be stabbing Luiza’s leg like that. If you’d attacked me then, you would have won for sure…Though I understand how you feel. You wanted to get revenge because she was the one who directly killed Three-Arms, right?”

Normally, Seran wasn’t the type to talk with those he had defeated, but he couldn’t stop himself just this once.

“You say what you want, but the truth is…You admired him, right? And your resentment toward Luiza and me clouded your judgment.”

“…”

Two-Blade didn’t comment on that statement.

“That said…You were incredibly strong. Sorry that I wouldn’t let you get your revenge.”

Two-Blade seemed to have accepted this apology as he flashed a faint smile. Seran saw that and opted to return to Luiza, only to remember something and stop in his tracks.

“Oh yeah. I never heard your—”

—Name, Seran wanted to say, but by the time he had turned around, the demon had already turned into a lifeless corpse. At a loss for words, Seran looked up at the ceiling and grit his teeth to swallow this bitter aftertaste.

After Seran shook his head and got back on his feet, he returned to Yuriga and Luiza. Thanks to Yuriga’s first aid and a thick bandage around her leg, the bleeding seemed to have stopped, but the wound was ever-present.

“I’m used to pain itself. But having it continue…and suffering an injury that won’t heal is definitely new,” she tried to stand up, but her legs were wobbly.

“Sorry. If only he hadn’t stolen that sword from me…” Seran looked down at his sword in pain.

“You have no reason to apologize after saving my life. You bet your own life to get me out of here, right?” Luiza tried her best to smile, but she was evidently pale and in pain.

“…I’m really happy…you came for me.”

“Your words are wasted on me,” Yuriga immediately grew emotional at such gratitude, luckily not realizing that these words of Luiza were probably meant for Seran.

Being on the other end of these words, Seran grew bashful, rarely enough.

“Because…we need you, so,” he tried to hide his bashfulness, but the word ‘need’ really hit Luiza where it was effective.

“A-Anyway, we should get out of here.”

Seran was curious about how the others were doing, but he had accomplished his goal of freeing Luiza, so they had to get out of there as quickly as possible. However, Luiza’s injuries were deep, making it rather difficult to walk on her own.

“Then I shall…” Yuriga was about to offer her help, but Luiza denied this.

“I want to avoid any unnecessary fighting, so you have to lead the way, Yuriga.”

“Ah, okay…”

What Luiza said was true, but there was another reason that forcedYuriga to accept this.

“So…”

Luiza glanced at Seran with a wishful gaze, and since he felt guilty for his sword being used, Seran reluctantly nodded.

“Got it. Leave it to me.”

“Ah…”

Luiza wasn’t even given any time to prepare herself, as Seran already reached for her. The first thing that popped up in her mind was the term—Princess Carry. After having read about such a thing in a human story, as an injured maiden, she had gotten her hopes up that maybe she would get to experience that. Yet, in reality, Seran just put her over his left shoulder, carrying her like she was luggage.

“I-Isn’t there…a better way to carry an injured person…?”

With her upper body hanging down Seran’s back, she couldn’t see the front and just forced out a faint voice.

“Sorry, but your horn would be in the way. And I don’t know when we might get attacked, so I need to keep my dominant arm free.”

As a matter of fact, Luiza’s horn was rather big, and it would probably also get in the way while she’s sleeping.

“Well…I guess it can’t be helped.”

What Seran said was absolutely correct, and Luiza understood that this wasn’t the time to act like a little girl…But despite that, she didn’t quite hate the situation.

“Anyway, I did what I set out to do. We’re getting out of here.”

Since there was no more reason for them to stay any longer, they immediately began evacuating.