Welcome to the Impregnable Demon King Castle

264 ◇ Wraith Party VS Asmodeus Party 6 / The Armor Horn

「What are you going to do, Lem? The current ‘me’ is a little bit stronger than the previous ‘me’.」

In the battle when I was still in the Fenix Party, Asmodeus did not use the Armor Horn.

「I’m also different from the previous ‘me’. Besides, I’m not alone.」

「That’s a good point, Lem.」

Several pillars of ice grew from the ceiling, it extended as it curved.
Wraith and I jumped to different pillars.
The pillar extending from the ground was swallowed by an ebony flame immediately after it soared.

「It’s good to fly in the sky, but I don’t want the audience to hurt their necks looking up at us. So I don’t want to keep doing this for long.」

The target of『Ebony Flames』was kept on the ground, so the rest of the stage was safe.

『Contestant Lem has casted「Ebony Flames」with the stage as its target! As a result, a jet-black magical energy space became visible on the ground, but surprisingly, Asmodeus responded by growing wings! At least as far as I know, the Armor Horn technique has never been revealed before, but it is now revealed here!!』

Asmodeus is coming.

What Wraith immediately casted was the magic that causes the downpour of countless『Water Blades』―『The Scene of Blade Rain』.
If it’s actual rain, he’ll only get wet, but if he touches even a single one of these, he’ll immediately be injured.

However, Asmodeus, who is accelerating with his wings, was able to avoid and cut through all of it.

『He avoided all of ― 』

Even the commentary couldn’t keep up with his speed.

Wraith swung down his Holy Sword, but it was repelled far high into the sky by Asmodeus’s nails.
And her five nails formed by the Armor Horn deeply pierced Wraith’s abdomen.

「You and also the comrades that you have gathered were strong, the Water Hero Wraith.」

His body shattered.

I jumped from the ice passage.
I ran right after I jumped, and I just arrived at the planned point.

Directly below me was Asmodeus.
She immediately flipped over her body and swung her nails at me.

More like, she tried to do that.
She has a membrane of compressed magical energy that protects her from all attacks.

「Dark…!!」

The Holy Sword is enveloped in ebony flames.

「I’m troubled. I have a bad affinity with that.」

The membrane of magical energy that was layered over and over again was burned by the『Ebony Flames』from the tip of the sword and disappeared.

「What should I do? Yeah, I’ll do this then.」

She opened her right hand and pointed it at me.
Although it’s not visible to the human eye, I could understand that the space around her palm was distorting.
A tremendous amount of magical energy. Did she further develop the magical energy membrane?

「I know, Lem. You’re trying to cast Black Magic on me with the tremendous magical energy that you have poured into the Holy Sword. Your magic skills are excellent. That’s why I can’t take it. I have to properly defend against an excellent attack.」

She is being cautious. To the extent that my Black Magic is expressed as an『attack』.

I am now located right above Asmodeus.
She thrusted her sword on top of the membrane of magical energy that was extended in the shape of a half-sphere.

「Are you sure? I don’t know the limits of that Spirit, but aren’t you overusing it?」

I can’t use up all of Dark’s magical energy here.
I’m aware of that.

But if I stop here, all that’s waiting for me is defeat.
There is no time for hesitation.

I held the sword with only my left hand and struck the membrane with my right fist.

『Perhaps out of frustration that Contestant Wraith was pierced, Contestant Lem struck the invisible barrier with his right fist! The「Ebony Flames」are definitely working, but it doesn’t seem to be enough to completely destroy Contestant Asmodeus’s barrier!』

That’s it. That commentary is just fine.
They don’t have to guess the true meaning of this.

「…Lem, you – 」

Because I still don’t want the world to know that I can use Armor Horn.
Thanks to the robe and gloves, there is no apparent change in my appearance even if I deploy the horn on my skin surface.

This is a situation where a Demon King is releasing the magical energy of her horns, and in the first place, the audience seats and this space are visible to each other but not physically connected.

So, even if I released the magical energy of my horns, it wouldn’t be detected.
Except for the person in front of me.

With each strike, a part of the membrane of magical energy is repelled.
Burn it, destroy it, then burn it, and destroy it again.

「You… I see. It was you. You want to win and advance to the next round to fight against that person.」

It seemed that Asmodeus had an inkling about the relationship between me and my master.
But that’s okay for now.
More importantly, I have to correct her misunderstanding.

「I want to beat you! The formidable opponent that is right in front of me!」

Do I want to fight against my master? Of course.
But still, all I can think about right now is winning this battle.

That’s what it means to use the horn I inherited from my master.

「…You’re right, Lem. I feel the same way. I want to beat you.」

「I want to win as well.」

「―――」

We were both surprised..

Even so, I immediately undo the『Ebony Flames』.

In an instant, he thrusted his Holy Sword right next to my Holy Sword.
『Water Blades』are constantly coming out from the tip of his sword.

The Water Hero Wraith.

『W-What is going on here!! Contestant Wraith should have been sent off the field earlier, but he has now appeared to help Contestant Lem! I-Is this ― 』

「It’s Esoteric. Did he use『Assimilation』?」

Asmodeus murmured. She had a composed tone, but her expression conveyed that she was surprised.

In the raid,『Assimilation』was invoked by mustering the last bits of power.
Even now, I have yet to fully master it. Even Fenix had only recently mastered it.
Even a talented person may not be able to handle『Esoteric』easily.

Even so, he seemed to have succeeded in extending the duration.

He changed into water droplets that can be mistaken for the magical energy particles when someone gets sent off the field, then he moved around as water vapor.
He retrieved the Holy Sword that had been blown right above him and reassembled his body. After that, he came to help me.

「Well, yeah. More importantly, is it okay? This time I’ll really pierce through you, you know?」

He shot a thin『Water Blade』at a single point. Rather than cutting, the compressed water is released as if it were popped off from a spray.
Even if the target is a membrane of magical energy, it is the same.
A hole is rapidly drilled in a very small area by the high-powered Spirit Magic.

「Wait a minute. What the ― Just how far have you planned this?」

There are many reasons as to why Asmodeus did not notice Wraith.
First, the ice. Unless it is continuously manipulated, it will not disappear even if the caster dies.
Still, since it was created by magic, the magical energy of the caster can be sensed from it.

In addition to that, Asmodeus’s own magical energy and my magical energy.
The excessively dense magical energy filled the space and since it was all mixed together, she couldn’t notice Wraith’s existence even with her magical energy perception ability.

「What do you think?」

It pierced.
Asmodeus blocked the『Water Blade』with her right hand, but the membrane of magical energy has disappeared.

「Tsk.」

Through the hole that was created, I casted Black Magic.
By reducing her thinking and cognition, I disturbed her precise control of magical energy.

And then I noticed.
Just how far did we plan this.
I see, I ―.

「Lem, you… you casted Black Magic on yourself, didn’t you?」

Wraith is my comrade.
The normal ‘me’ would have thought that there’s no way he would be sent off the field at that point. No, I would have been aware of it.

However, if I move while assuming that that’s true, Asmodeus will realize it.
I had to move as if I had to single-handedly win against Asmodeus.
And seriously, from the bottom of my heart.

There is a way to make this happen.
All I had to do was to cast『Confusion』on myself.

I usually train by casting Black Magic on myself. I’m good at altering the magic.
I tampered with my own perception so that I wouldn’t know about Wraith’s『Esoteric』.

Which is why I was as surprised as Asmodeus that Wraith wasn’t sent off the field.

「Lem!」

「Yeah!」

Asmodeus’s right hand is focused on Wraith.
As I and my Holy Sword were falling down, I pierced her left hand and continued to pierce until it reached her chest.

Asmodeus’s eyes went wide open, then it relaxed as she smiled.

「So you’ve messed up my calculations.」

I activated Spirit Magic. The『Ebony Flames』released from the Holy Sword burned her body from the inside.

「―Well done.」

The Six-Horned Demon King Asmodeus was wrapped in ebony flames, then ― scattered as magical energy particles.

「You and the comrades you have gathered were also strong, the Six-Horned Demon King Asmodeus. Just kidding.」

At the same time when Wraith said so, his body also turned into magical energy particles.

At the very end, I was able to stop falling down by clinging to the ice pillar that he had extended from the ceiling.

Getting acknowledged by her is ― not the way to win against Asmodeus.

Although she is a Coordinator, she acted differently from the usual ‘her’.
She decided not to let someone as strong as Paimon get ahead of her.
Just by satisfying her when she’s in a single-horn state doesn’t necessarily mean that she will give us a『pass』.

So I thought about it.
As a Coordinator, she is good at adjusting her power while fighting.
She might even use one of her freed horns to the fullest to make the fight more attractive to the audience.

One after the other, as I focused on the chance to fight against my master, I calculated my magical energy. However, all the other contestants are also doing that.
I was surprised by the Armor Horn, but the real problem lies in the fact that she might use her other horns.
If she does that, all of us will immediately suffer.

So, we made her believe it.
We mislead her to believe that she can annihilate the Wraith Party with just one horn and Armor Horn.
After that, we would reduce her strength while she is in her single-horn state and finally hit her with an unexpected attack.
In this case, it was the『Water Blades』created by Wraith, who she thought had already been sent off the field.

It takes a little time to switch from the state of having a『I can win with a single horn』mindset to a『I have to release my second horn』mindset.

And that process is further delayed by Black Magic.
With the time we have earned, we delivered the finishing blow.

Although I have a horn, I’m not a Majin.
Although I have a Holy Sword, I’m not a Hero.
I’m a Black Sorcerer.
All of those are weapons that I can use in battle.

『A-after all of that surprises, the winner is finally determined. The second match in the Tournament of the black group・the second phase of the All-Heaven Festival Contest, the winner is ― the Wraith Party!』

That’s how we won.