Around the time Zel takes up the duty of protecting them, two enormous figures——the headmaster and one of the Eight Celestial Demons——stand on the Saint Academy’s vast school grounds, quietly meeting each other’s gaze.
“Hmm……you must be the Eight Celestial Demons I have heard so much about. What do they call you?”
“Heh, rude old man. When you ask someone’s name, you’re supposed to give yours first——that’s basic manners.”
“Oh ho, how careless of me. I am Badam Rosenheim, serving as headmaster of the Saint Academy.”
“Badam Rosenheim……oh, you’re a catch! You’re on the wanted list: Elgia Kingdom’s special-grade combat asset, ‘Badam of Celestial Harmony’!”
“Oh, wanted, is it. (The Demon King’s army has been gathering intelligence on humanity’s forces. As if the power gap weren’t bad enough already……what a nuisance.)”
As Badam strokes his long and distinguished beard, the demon with the ferocious grin opens his mouth.
“I’m one of the Eight Celestial Demons——Valtora of the Infernal Flame! A member of the highest-order race, bearer of dragon blood!”
Valtora of the Infernal Flame, apparent age thirty, standing two meters thirty centimeters.
Arms as thick as tree trunks, powerful legs supporting that enormous frame, crimson scales covering every inch of his body, twin horns growing from his head, razor-sharp claws——a specimen of the exceedingly rare dragonkin race.
Having exchanged names, Badam poses a question.
“Valtora, what is your purpose here? Why have you come to my Saint Academy?”
“Kill the Saint’s reincarnation——what other reason could there be?”
“Well, yes, I suppose that figures.”
Badam retrieves his magical staff from <Dimensional Storage> and readies himself for battle.
(The sun has long set, and tonight of all nights is a new moon……. What dreadful timing the creature has.)”
With both sun and moon absent from the world, the innate magic he has shown the world, ‘Celestial Harmony,’ cannot be used.
Fighting one of the Eight Celestial Demons with both wings effectively clipped is a losing proposition.
By rights he should retreat and choose a better time——but.
The enemy’s target is the Saint’s reincarnation.
As the head of the Saint Academy, he cannot turn his back on that.
“Oh, you’ll fight! I like a man who doesn’t waste time!”
The moment Valtora opens his body wide and takes a combat stance——
“——Huh?”
——a massive boulder falling from above crushes the dragonkin’s body flat.
“Well, if that’s all it takes, it would be nice to have it done here.”
Instantaneous cast earth magic.
Having landed a powerful preemptive strike, Badam narrows his eyes without letting his guard drop.
Immediately after——
“Phwuh……now that’s what I call firepower!”
Valtora punches through the boulder and shows himself with an open, cheerful smile.
Not so much as a small cut anywhere on his body. Completely, absolutely unharmed.
“Any ordinary demon and that would be instant death……. This is what they mean by the Eight Celestial Demons. (Frighteningly resilient body. Unless I catch the core squarely, damage barely gets through.)”
Instantaneous cast magic——speed-focused magic——can barely even chip him.
Having reached that conclusion, Badam immediately changes approach.
“——<Scorching Blaze> × <Frost Blade Storm Dance> × <Thunder Roar>!”
He swings his staff, and high-order magic tears through the air like a torrent of rain and hail.
Advanced triple casting.
Badam Rosenheim is the great mage of whom the Kingdom of Elgia is proudest. Even without his innate magic, his skill knows no equal.
“Hahaha, now we’re talking!”
Valtora spreads both wings and launches himself into the open sky.
“You will not escape!”
Badam immediately raises his staff and pursues the airborne dragonkin with spell after spell.
Valtora races through the night sky at high speed, and vivid streaks of magic trace his every path.
(This old man is seriously strong, living up to that special-grade title. The quality of the magic, the volume of power behind it——even three hundred years ago it would have held up. ……But at the end of the day, he’s human! No matter how powerful the magic he uses, his own body’s base specs are decisively lacking!)
Valtora circulates evil magical energy through his dragon scales, sharply reinforcing his defenses.
“Ha-haaah——!”
He forces straight through the magical barrage head-on and steps into killing range.
“What——!?”
Badam instinctively breaks off his attack and tries to construct a defensive spell——but there is no time.
“Here, it’s over——!”
Valtora’s brutal right hook drives cleanly through the lined face.
“Gh, ugh……!”
The satisfying solidity of a true hit reverberates through his fist, and bright red blood scatters in all directions.
What appears to be the decisive blow——and then, in the very next moment——
“Hnngh——!”
“Gakh……!?”
Badam’s shattering right hook lands, and Valtora is sent flying a great distance backward.
He frantically beats his wings to land somehow——but the unexpected counter has hit him, and his vision lurches and spins.
“What the hell……!?”
Slowly raising his head, he finds before him a palace of muscle.
What had appeared to be fat on Badam is, in fact, extraordinary steel-forged muscle.
“……Hah, now there’s a healthy physique. Hobby’s weightlifting, is it?”
“Ho ho, do not lump me in with your average mage. The close-quarters combat weakness——I’ve already addressed that.”
Badam spits out a bloody gob and cracks his neck.
Against him, Valtora focuses magical energy to his brain to heal the damage, then wraps both fists in evil black flame.
“You know what——I like you! This is getting good! ——<Hellfire Fist>!”
Receiving this, Badam wraps both fists in sacred white flame.
“——<Holy Flame Fist>!”
The two——one carrying darkness attribute power, one carrying sacred attribute power——
“HAAAAAAA——!”
“HNNNNGH——!”
——both feet planted on the ground, exchange blows with nothing held back, nothing but pure force.
“Take this——! (Magnificent! To think this inferior species contains an ‘individual’ like this!)”
“Hnngh——! (Formidably strong……! But I cannot afford to lose!)”
Fists capable of splitting boulders and piercing iron fly like a storm of rain and hail.
The slugging match between two power-types reaches a ferocious intensity.
“Yes! Yes! I’m heating up!”
With every exchange, Valtora’s energy only rises higher.
“Good grief, this is murder on these old bones——!”
Meanwhile, Badam slowly but surely loses the momentum he had at the start.
He is already one hundred and twenty years old.
Even slowing his aging with his enormous magical power, he cannot hide the essential deterioration.
If only he could use his innate magic <Celestial Harmony>, he could turn this around somehow——but wishing for what he doesn’t have changes nothing.
(Taking this down to an endurance fight would be foolish……. Fortunately, this creature is the type who finds pleasure in battle. Might as well draw him in a bit.)”
After several more exchanges of blows——
“Take that——!”
“Hnngh——!”
Powerful right straights catch both of them square on the cheek, and both are sent flying a good distance backward.
With a gap opened between them, Badam lets out a long “phew……” of breath——and at that sight, Valtora spreads both arms with theatrical flair.
“What’s wrong, you gassed already? We’re just getting started!”
“Ah, the old suffer from boredom easily, you see. All this punching is getting dull. What do you say to a change of pace?”
Even as he speaks, a massive ball of searing flame rises into being above Badam’s head.
“Oh, a firepower contest……. Sure, I’ll take that bet!”
Valtora flashes an aggressive grin and stokes the burning magical energy in the internal combustion organ in his chest.
The two quietly fix their eyes on each other, and move at almost the same moment.
“——<Primal Topaz>——!”
“——<Dragon King’s Absolute Fire>——!”
The two highest-order spells clash, and a massive explosion erupts.
White light swallows the world, dense smoke and dust billows upward——and then a gust of night wind carries the hanging smoke and flame away.
“Hah, hah, hah……!”
Badam takes a knee, breathing in ragged bursts, while——
“Guh, ugh……!”
——Valtora has lost his right arm, and his whole body bears severe burns.
The firepower duel of two highest-order spells——the verdict goes to Badam Rosenheim.
“H-he did it! The headmaster wins!”
The students who had been watching from a safe distance erupt in a cheer of joy.
However——
“……Just one step short……!”
——the moment Badam murmurs with regret——
“Phew……. Thought I was a goner there.”
——Valtora’s body regenerates in the blink of an eye.
What decided the outcome——was the difference in their races.
For a highest-order demon bearing dragon blood, the loss of a limb is of little consequence, and can be healed fully in a single breath.
“Impressive, old man. You are truly the pinnacle of your kind——to have been born of the lowly human race and still reach this level.”
Valtora’s words are genuine praise, unvarnished.
He has consumed more than ten thousand humans over his lifetime.
Among them, Badam was——excluding just one extraordinary outlier——the strongest individual he had ever faced.
“Consider this a courtesy for the fine entertainment. I’ll at least make it painless.”
Valtora launches into the sky and concentrates an immense amount of magical energy in the internal combustion organ in his chest.
“——<Dragon King’s Absolute Fire>——!”
A searing breath capable of incinerating all things is released at tremendous speed.
Badam, battered and near the end of his strength, has no means of stopping it.
“……Is this it……!”
He bites down hard——and at that moment——
“——Magnificent, Headmaster. Leave the rest to me!”
A girl with golden hair streaming behind her races up, swift as the wind.
“S-Sarl!? You fool, this opponent is beyond you! Run——!”
Badam raises his voice desperately, but Sarko gives a small shake of her head.
“No. I will not run. The Saint-sama, in her life, never once ran away. No matter what hardship faced her, no matter if the opponent was the Demon King himself——!”
There is no word for ‘retreat’ in Sarko’s saint’s code.
She burns every last drop of magical energy her body holds, and thrusts her right hand forward.
“——<Wind God’s Rending Slash>——!”
High-order magic <Wind God’s Rending Slash>——launching layer upon layer of overlapping wind blades to tear the target to pieces. It is the strongest wind magic Sarko can wield.
The searing breath and the razor wind blades collide in violent opposition.
(Ngh——what power……!)
Between a high-order spell and a highest-order spell, the gap is unbridgeable.
The wind blades shatter one by one, and the evil flame bares its fangs.
“Ngh——<Magical Augmentation>——!”
Badam whips his near-broken body and divides his own magical energy to strengthen Sarko, reinforcing the <Wind God’s Rending Slash>.
But it is, in the end, a drop in the ocean.
The difference in output is stark and plain, and inch by inch they are being pushed back.
“Come on, now——leave this to me……. Sarl, run while you still can!”
Badam orders her with a grim expression——but she shakes her head hard, and turns her reproach on herself.
“Oh, for——snap out of it, Sarl Ko Leyton! Are you not the Saint-sama’s reincarnation!? I don’t know what this ‘weakening through rebirth’ business is about, but if you can’t awaken here of all places, what kind of Saint are you——!”
The instant Sarko cries out with all her strength, a great tide of sacred magical energy surges out from her body.
The output of <Wind God’s Rending Slash> leaps up more than tenfold, and <Dragon King’s Absolute Fire> is driven back all at once.
“Wh——what!? Guh, ngh——AAAAAAAAAAAH!?”
The wind blades swallow Valtora whole and shred his powerful body to ribbons.
Struck by a damage entirely outside his expectations, he crash-lands helplessly——
“Hah, hah……! Was that just now——’the Saint’s magical energy’……!?”
Valtora’s eyes waver with shock, while——
“What is that power you hold……!?”
——Badam stares wide-eyed in disbelief, while——
“I-I did it……so I really am……!”
——Sarko herself is tasting something like a nameless, overwhelming sense of fulfillment.
The Saint’s magical energy purifies all things and draws out their full potential.
Just as Tama, who drank the Saint’s elixir, transformed into a great wolf under the moonlight.
Just as Taylor, who took the Saint’s Elixir, gained a physical strength beyond human limits.
Sarko, who had received both Luna’s elixir and recovery magic during the Saint Aptitude Test, had likewise come to hold a power that exceeded the human range.
Valtora heals the lacerations with recovery magic and levels a sharp gaze.
“……You there——what is your name?”
“My name is Sarl Ko Leyton! Eldest child of the Leyton family, and bearer of the Saint’s soul!”
“Sarl Ko Leyton……you are the Saint’s reincarnation, aren’t you?”
“Hmph. Noticing only now——the Eight Celestial Demons are rather slow, aren’t they.”
Without giving Sarko’s provocation a second thought, Valtora gives a low rumble in his throat.
“Heheh, is that so……. Meaning——if I simply kill you, the age of demons returns?”
The moment his face twists into an evil grin, that enormous body dissolves like mist——and from behind Sarko, a voice as cold as ice reaches her.
“——Die.”
“What——!?”
She spins around to find a sharpened demonic claw.
It is true that Sarko has surpassed the limits of the human race.
But her opponent is one of the Eight Celestial Demons——an existence that transcends the limits of the demon race.
Between the two of them, the distance is still as vast as heaven from earth.
(Ngh……!)
She channels wind-attribute magical energy through her body and attempts evasion at maximum speed.
But——
(He’s——fast!? No good, I won’t make it. To end here, like this……!)
As the demonic claw closes before her eyes——pure white wings beat through the air.
“——You displayed fine magic, human of beautiful heart.”
“Wh-who are you……!?”
“You……Zel——!?”
Valtora’s claw strike is stopped by wings like tempered steel——
“——<Wind Feather>“
“Guh, ugh……!?”
——and by a ferocious gust of wind, he is blown far, far away.
Having removed the immediate threat, Zel turns to Sarko.
“This place is dangerous. Step back.”
“Y-yes……!”
He sets Sarko down in a safe location, then turns and sweeps back to the battlefield.
“It has been a while, Valtora. Good to see you well.”
“Zel——the hell are you doing here……!”
Fight fire with fire.
For the Eight Celestial Demons, the Saint’s party is the appropriate opponent.
“I was surprised, though. I had the impression you had been defeated by the Saint-sama……did the Demon King reincarnate you?”
“Heh, it’s not just me. Every one of the Eight Celestial Demons killed by that monster has been reincarnated in this modern era. But well……the ‘degradation through reincarnation’ hit harder than any of us expected. Took quite a bit of work to recover our strength.”
Valtora keeps the conversation going while sliding his gaze toward Sarko, waiting far behind.
(A woman who carries the Saint’s magical energy, protected by Zel……there’s no room for doubt any longer. Sarl Ko Leyton——this one is the Saint’s reincarnation!)
He concludes that Sarko is the Saint’s reincarnation.
Setting Zel aside for now, he moves toward his highest-priority mission from the Demon King——eliminating the reincarnated form.
(If I can just——if I can just kill this one!)
He beats his crimson wings and charges toward Sarko at maximum speed.
But——
“——And where do you think you’re going?”
Sharp feather arrows are loosed into his path——
“Tch……!”
——and Valtora is forced to fall back.
The threat of great swordsman Zel Zezed is not something that can simply be ignored.
With him free to act, eliminating the reincarnation will be extraordinarily difficult.
“Ugh——what a pain……!”
After that, a spectacular aerial battle unfolds.
“HAAAA——!”
“ORAAAA——!”
Silver twin blades and evil flames clash again and again in furious collision, while——
“Hn——!”
“You——!”
——Zel’s twin blades whittle away at Valtora with steady precision.
“What’s wrong, your movements are dull. Is this the ‘degradation through reincarnation’?”
“Ngh——shut your mouth!”
As Zel points out, Valtora is lacking his usual sharpness and is being pushed to the defensive.
Two reasons for this.
The first: Zel’s condition.
For the bird beastman, his strength fluctuates greatly depending on the state of his feathers.
When he had crossed blades with Owl and the others in the Leonard Theocracy, his feathers had been severely damaged, and he had been operating at less than one-tenth of his true power.
Having gone through two molts since then, he has rebuilt himself to roughly seventy percent.
And the second: Valtora’s scattered attention.
(Damn it——where is that Silver bastard hiding!?)
Both the Saint’s reincarnation and the great swordsman Zel are gathered here.
From Valtora’s perspective, staying alert to the hidden hero is only natural.
(This is rough, but I’ll save the trump card for when that one appears……!)
Keeping his ace in reserve, staying alert for Silver’s ambush, while fighting Zel at seventy percent.
Even for a Celestial Demon like Valtora, pulling off this difficult act is no easy feat.
“I don’t know what you’re scheming——but to fight without even using ‘Dragon Form’……you think rather little of me, it seems.”
“Gh, ha——!”
Zel’s twin blades are relentless, and the tough outer hide is sliced open with contemptuous ease.
(Damn, at this rate this is genuinely going wrong. I should just go Dragon Form——no, don’t rush it. I’ve already got a grip on the reincarnation’s identity. The worst outcome here is dying and losing that information. What I need to watch most is an attack from my blind spot——Silver’s ambush……!)
All the competing information becomes noise, and hesitation creeps into his judgment.
The ancient swordsman is not the kind to let such a gap slip by.
“What’s wrong, your heart isn’t in this fight.”
“Damn——!”
Silver sword-light dances, and the dragonkin’s right arm sails through the night sky.
“——!”
He swallows the searing pain, and wraps his entire body in blazing flame.
“——<Crimson Possession>——!”
Seeing the wide-area magical attack, Zel makes no reckless move——simply leaps backward with easy calm to a safe distance.
(Now then, time to finish this.)
The moment the flame extinguishes, he will take the head.
Zel tightens his grip on his swords——and at that moment——
“——<Heaven Flame Rite>!”
A great altar appears at the center of the school grounds.
“Is that……ritual magic?”
Valtora used his severed right arm as a catalyst to deploy ritual magic at a remote location.
“For the next quarter of an hour, the entire Academy grounds will be incinerated by hellfire! Zel, for you this amount is no problem, I suppose. But——what about all these inferior species gathered here?”
“You despicable creature……!”
“Make your choice! Kill me and abandon the reincarnation! Save the reincarnation and let me escape! Pick one!”
Valtora says this and activates the ritual magic.
Zel does not hesitate for a single moment——he flies to the center of the school grounds.
His master’s orders are to protect her friends. The elimination of Valtora is secondary.
“——Hnn!”
Cut the altar, and the ritual magic dissolves.
Valtora uses that opening to weave two spells.
“——<Anti-Magic Detection> · <Otherworld Gate>“
He conceals his own magical energy to prevent tracking, and generates an exit for his escape behind him.
“Extremely galling, but I withdraw from this place.”
Ideally, he would have finished off the Saint’s reincarnation here and now.
But the reincarnation’s identity has been established.
The harvest is sufficient.
Better to bring this information back to the Demon King than to push any further here.
That is Valtora’s judgment.
“This was nothing more than reconnaissance. But next time, the Demon King’s main force will move! And——Saint’s reincarnation: you in particular will be killed, without fail——!”
With those words fixed on Sarko, the dragonkin vanishes into the void between worlds.
The moment Valtora makes his escape, the command center erupts like a hornet’s nest.
“Valtora of the Eight Celestial Demons has activated <Otherworld Gate> and <Anti-Magic Detection>! Magical energy signature——gone!”
The evil magical energy winks out on the <Heaven’s Board>.
Receiving the intelligence officer’s report, Nilva immediately moves to the next measure.
“Deploy Holy Knights within a ten-kilometer radius centered on the Saint Academy! The effective range of <Otherworld Gate> isn’t that wide! Don’t let him escape! Find him, no matter what!”
It was a hopelessly reckless order.
The Kingdom of Elgia boasts one of the largest territories among the four great powers.
Within those vast lands, finding a single demon who has hidden himself with <Anti-Magic Detection> is the same as searching for a needle in a desert.
There is no conceivable way he could be found.
The Eight Celestial Demons elimination operation ends in failure, and a heavy atmosphere settles over the command center.
“……Damn it……!”
Nilva, his face grim, loses his composure in a rare moment, and brings his fist down hard on the desk.
He had received intelligence that one of the Eight Celestial Demons had crossed the border.
The enemy’s target, nine times out of ten, was the elimination of the Saint’s reincarnation.
They would most likely summon magical beasts across the entire kingdom to disperse its forces, and use that opening to strike at the Saint Academy.
Having read the demon’s strategy this way, Nilva had prepared as thoroughly as he could.
He had deployed Holy Knights thinly and broadly across the entire kingdom, placed the ‘Gifted Sword Saint Owl Rustia’ in the capital, and ‘Badam of Celestial Harmony’ at the Saint Academy.
When the enemy attack overlapped with the dinner with Silver, he had inwardly thought it ‘a stroke of fortune.’
If the Eight Celestial Demons could be repelled before his eyes, it would demonstrate the kingdom’s military value——its usefulness——to the Saint faction.
And with that, the feasibility of King Magnus’s secret plan——to appoint Silver as Alicia’s guardian and invite the Holy Kingdom’s indirect governance——would rise sharply.
But reality was not so kind.
The Eight Celestial Demons far exceeded expectations, and before their overwhelming power Badam was defeated.
Thanks to the great swordsman Zel’s intervention, the students were saved——but.
The outcome on record is a complete failure of the elimination operation.
Silver’s assessment of the kingdom has most likely taken a severe blow.
At this rate, the kingdom cannot come close to being a candidate for partnership with the Holy Kingdom.
(The kingdom’s chance at a comeback, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity——and I let it slip through my fingers……!)
The depth of his despondency is beyond any words.
“……Silver-dono, I am deeply ashamed. It appears we have allowed Valtora to escape.”
Nilva keeps his gaze lowered and apologizes.
But no matter how long he waits, there is no response.
“……Silver-dono……?”
He slowly raises his head——and Silver is nowhere to be seen.
“H-hey, where has Silver-dono gone!?”
“Come to think of it……he excused himself partway through the operation, and hasn’t come back since.”
Receiving the report, Nilva’s shoulders drop.
“……I see. Well, that is only natural. Our operation was so poorly executed that he must have been disgusted and taken his leave……”
“N-no, that couldn’t possibly be——!”
One of the intelligence officers hastily tries to cover the moment, but Nilva shakes his head weakly.
“In reality, we accomplished nothing. Were it not for Zel-dono’s intervention, the Saint Academy’s students would have been slaughtered by now……”
A somber air takes hold of the command center——and then, all at once, an enormous sphere rises to the surface of the <Heaven’s Board>.
“Th-this is——a massive magical energy signature detected in Hizoru Forest in the kingdom’s north!”
“Pattern Black——it’s Valtora of the Eight Celestial Demons!”
“That magical energy——what in the——it’s twice what it was before, no, three times……and it’s still growing!?”
“For him to be releasing this level of magical power against his opponent……could it be——!?”
Nilva stares up at the <Heaven’s Board> in blank astonishment and murmurs with a certainty that has nowhere else to go.
“……No question——it’s him……!”
He clenches his fist until the skin nearly breaks, and pushes his exceptional mind into motion.
(When——when did he figure it out……!)
Silver had excused himself partway through the operation and gone to Hizoru Forest alone.
It could hardly be that he had simply wandered out and stumbled upon the Celestial Demon by chance.
He had gone to that location with some form of certainty.
The outcome of this battle, Valtora’s thinking, the enemy’s escape route——he had read all of it faster than anyone, and was already waiting in Hizoru Forest with time to spare.
“Silver Glorious=El=Bloodfallenheart——just how many moves ahead is that man reading……!”
The man called the ‘kingdom’s mind’ tastes, for the first time in his life, the flavor of defeat——before a mind that far outranks his own.