Chapter 3


      Whether they pushed or pulled on it, the iron bars didn’t move an inch.
      His voice wouldn’t reach from here, but Murata still called out his friend’s name.
      “s.h.i.+buya!  No you can’t, it’s too dangerous!  Hurry up and figure it out!”
      “What?  What can’t he do?”  Lord von Bielefelt was much calmer than Murata and didn’t seem to be particularly disturbed.  He’s likely unaffected because he has experienced Yuuri’s explosive magic many times over.  “It’s his usual high-and-mighty form.  Of course it is powerful… and inconvenient magic, but if we keep our heads down for a little bit and stay put, he’ll come back to himself all on his own.  I’m worried about him being totally exhausted after he collapses, but he’s somehow worked things out with that condition so far.  You could call it something like a small-scale typhoon.  It’s nothing for us to get worked up about.”
      “No, this is different than before.”
      Wolfram’s expression darkened like the way his mother’s does and looked back and forth between Yuuri standing on the stage and Murata.
      “What’s different?”
      “It’s just different.  The quality of the magic and the circ.u.mstances are different… First of all, he hasn’t been back to Earth in a long time.  This might have happened in the past, but he hasn’t kept repeatedly using magic without going back.  And then you saw it, didn’t you?  On the boat?  It was as if he said something un-s.h.i.+buya… I’m worried about that… Hopefully something unstoppable isn’t happening inside s.h.i.+buya… And then…”
      “Your Highness, shall I break this?”
      Taking notice of Murata’s unease, Josak tries to bend the iron bars.  Realizing the gaps wouldn’t widen with just the strength of an ordinary man, he starts hacking away at the metal with the axe.
      “… And then I’m here… that’s the most dangerous.”
      “What?”
      “I amplify his power.  Twice over.  If things go bad, several times over.  The nature of the magic might change as well.  It’ll become more aggressive, more devastating, probably.  Our relations.h.i.+p was created for destruction, after all.  A skilled pract.i.tioner might be able to control it with their own will, but he’s just recently become king.  On the contrary, it hasn’t even been a while since his magic was awakened so it will be difficult for s.h.i.+buya to control.”
      For a split second, Wolfram made quite an unpleasant face.  However, he quickly recovers his faith as a close friend of the king and respectfully gazes at the Twin Black Great Sage as if he was a novice.
      “If we get close to Yuuri, can he be controlled?”
      “You?  But Lord von Bielefelt, your back.”
      “Who cares about my back!?  If we get close to Yuuri, can we help control his rampage?”
      “It’s not certain, but probably a little.”
      “Come!”
      He kicked open the entrance.  While the guards standing on both sides were taken by surprise, he takes them down with one hit from the somewhat-supplied weapon.
      “There must be a side entrance somewhere.  It’ll be faster than waiting for Gurrier.”
      “You wound me, Young Master.”
      After joking that it wouldn’t be his fault if Wolfram blew out his back and lost all his popularity, Josak followed after them.
 

      All of the men packed into the stands were all looking up.  Some of them carelessly had their mouths hanging open.  For humans who had not went to the battlefield, there were no opportunities to see magic.
      The snow drawing figures in the black sky slinked about according to its master’s will as if it were alive.  First was a bird, then a dog, then a mou-… no, a red squirrel.
      It was a bit of a one-man snow festival.
      Before the spectators had the chance to yell ‘Adalbert, behind you,’ the ma.s.s of snow shaped like a bucket took a nosedive and attacked the man standing on the round stage.
      “Ugh!”
      It was a hard blow to the back of the head.
      The arms that had a tight hold of Yuuri slackened.  His body instantly slipped down as he escaped from the muscle h.e.l.l and tumbled onto the wet ground.
      “… Hey, what gives…?  Wasn’t this match normal combat?  If magic without any sense of art is allowed then you should have said so from the beginning… Ah, the shape of my head is going to change.”
      Adalbert was touching the lump as if to check it.
      When Yuuri brought his hand to his neck, his fingers were wet by something that wasn’t sweat or water.  It was blood.  He gazed silently at his palm, but before long the snow rubbed against it.
      Bit by bit, the white turned crimson.
      By the time he slowly raised his head, the light in his eyes was different than usual.  He was standing with his arms crossed and a cynical look on his face, his chin slightly lifted as if to look down on others.  His fiery, glittering black eyes were focused on one target: Adalbert.
      “… To not only go against your birthplace but to shake the resolve formed from a pure soul in younger days and to throw away the vow of loyalty to the demons you made as an adult…”
      A low and resonant voice with a roundabout, hard to understand way speaking.  Expressions you would only hear in period dramas in a halfway literary style.
      It’s undeniably the first Super Demon King Mode in a long while.
      “You make fallacious arguments with your selfish grudge and turned your back on your homeland to wander.  As if that was not enough, you wish for chaos in your native land because of a foolish reasoning that can only be thought of as resentment!  How foolish and lacking is your soul?  My nose cannot stop dripping at the shamefulness.”
      He’s the type whose nose starts running before his eyes tear up.
      “However!”
      The huge sumo wrestler snow sculpture floating in the air swung an arm around to match his speech.  It spread out all five figures and stood in a Stop the Back Talk trademark pose.  The cold, sleet-filled wind that sprung forth collided relentlessly across the entire audience.
      It stopped right when Adalbert got tired of listening to the lecture and was thinking if he should just attack already.  Nice timing.
      “… You do nothing but advocate for your own rights and do not know what it is to turn those over to another… Ah, where have the good old customs of compromise and sharing with others gone?”
      As if he was beset by an earth-shattering tragedy, he places a hand to his brow and gazes up at the sky.  The snow sculpture in the night sky accompanied that move by twisting its body as if it was wailing.  How ghastly.
      “What is the meaning of attacking the next opponent after being unsatisfied with one victory?  Von Grantz, you enemy of equal opportunity!  An insolent man like you should listen to these words well.  Are you listening?  Jam your fingers up those gigantic nostrils of yours and listen well.  Engrave it in your heart!  Modest virtue!”
      Several people in the arena c.o.c.ked their heads to the side as if to say ‘eh?’  That’s unreasonable.  And unsanitary.  However, most of the people were admiring the somewhat dignified string of words.  It felt like ma.s.s hypnotism.
      “You are no longer one of our brethren.  Even the previous Demon King said ‘even if he tries to come back I won’t forgive him, ehe!”
      He didn’t have to say that one part just like she did.
      “Hey, Your Majesty.” Adalbert slapped his shoulder with the belly of the scabbard fish sword and his neck made popping sounds as he stretched it. “When will this lecture putting me to sleep end?”
      Left out of all the goings on and just watching his master from afar, Conrad was taken aback by the man’s boldness, although the spectators and the judges who knew nothing of Yuuri’s social status and position were as well.  He was defiant even in front of the Super Demon King.  It was to the extent that it seemed like he would start digging around i-… brus.h.i.+ng off his nose.
      Yuuri’s clenched fists were trembling slightly, perhaps in anger.
      “… Ugh, there is no medicine for muscles… So your muscles have eroded your brain?”
      “You say that, Your Majesty, but muscles are nice.  Flexing them is a way to pa.s.s the time.”
      “Quiet!  You are a treasonous man who wishes to overthrow my authority and spread useless chaos in the kingdom!  Von Grantz, your existence is a large obstacle in the way of my flawless and absolute reign which I’ve named ‘My Bronze Statue’ Plan.  Even though we are of the same race, fleeing the country is a serious crime.  On this occasion, even spilling blood is not disagreeable…!”
      He showily swings down the left arm he had been pointing to the sky and points his index finger directly at Adalbert.  Three seconds to the death sentence.
      “You leave me no choice.  I’ll cut you down!  Throw yourself upon the sword of justice and fall just like Seizou f.u.k.u.moto!” (1)
      “Who’s that?”
      “Judgement!”
      ‘Justice’ was written in crimson on the piled up snow at Yuuri’s feet.  Only above his head, a flurry of light pink flower petals were fluttering down around him (but it was snow).
      Left behind on the ground, Conrad felt an indescribable unease at the succession of improper words.
      From here, he couldn’t see what was going on up on the faraway stage.  However, even though he could only hear voices, he was bewildered by the difference from Yuuri’s usual self.
      Something was wrong.  This was completely different than how Yuuri was until now.  It would be nice if he were just needlessly worrying, though.
      Anyway, Yuuri’s attack not being with a sword even though he said ‘cut’ was fairly normal.
      “d.a.m.n it!”
      Lord Weller took out his short sword that was for decoration only and stabbed it into the pillar that could also be called the base of the stage.  Next, he stuck in his long sword above that and lifted his body up with his arms.  Now with these two footholds, he had no choice but to climb up one step at a time.
      “Whoa, the snow!” someone screamed in abject terror.
      The snowdrift that had taken on a rough female shape all of a sudden changed its expression and swooped down upon Adalbert.  It had sunken eye sockets and a mouth spread open in anger.  And vertically, too.  If it was making noise, it would probably be yelling ‘aoww.’
      A high-pitched trumpet sounded throughout the grounds.  It was announcing an evacuation alarm.
      The snowy wind drawing patterns in the sky raged and was creating really bad weather in the area.  It was a pinpoint blizzard.  However, even after getting knocked down by the aftermath of the natural phenomenon obeying magic, there were next to no spectators who left their seats.
      A battle like this wasn’t something one got to see many times in their life.  Hands that held exploded millet kernels all froze in place and spilled alcohol on laps was left as is.  Air blown into balloons suddenly flowed back into mouths.  There were those who forgot to lower their raised fists and those who didn’t close their mouths.  There were even those who wanted to escape but were too afraid to move and would definitely have nightmares that night.
      If they can see something so awesome, they don’t care if they’ll be snowed on or injured.  Even if their wives leave and go back to their parents’ houses, just for tonight they’ll stay out past curfew.
      It was more wanting entertainment than bravery.  It was an unexpectedly simple s.h.i.+maronian trait.
      a.s.saulted by the white demon figure, Adalbert clicked his tongue.  He had a slight inclination to flinch back, but he immediately regains his composure.
      Sc.r.a.ping his finger and leaving a single drop of blood on the blade, Adalbert mutters ‘what was that’ to himself before bringing up his rigid weapon in front of his face.
      In an instant, the sword is colored bright red and it s.h.i.+nes as if it were molten-hot metal in the middle of being cast.  The snow sculpture that came at him is chopped clean in two and disperses into steam.
      “What!?”
      The magic user couldn’t hide his discomfort in this first experience.  Until now, he had not faced a single enemy that had resisted.  He hadn’t held back in the least because his opponent was of the same race.  It’s true.  That slightly ridiculous, cold demon lady was several times scarier than Snow Günter.
      “… Aha.  It’s impressive that you can use this much magic in these wonderful circ.u.mstances of being in human land and having a temple right next to you on top of it all.  As one would expect of a soul born to be king.  It’s different than a normal demon’s.”
      The evaporated water immediately cools down and crystallizes and once again loyally prepares for another attack as a devoted subject of the Demon King.  Like a swarm of bees flocking together, the sky is filled with white grains.
      “Impressive, a swarm of flies.”  How filthy.  The man that looks like he smelled of sweat twisted his lips up in what could be a sneer.  “But don’t get ahead of yourself.  It’s not always a given that your opponent won’t resist and will simply kneel before you.”
      The smoking sword gradually regains its original color.
      “Did you forget?  I’ve thrown away my demon self.  My status, my position, my name… even my magic power.  But I received much in return.  The exorcist abilities that humans use is one of them.”
      He nimbly spreads open the left hand he lifted from his thigh.  Blue spots spread from all five fingertips.
      “This place is steeped in particles that obey exorcism.  Just as one would expect from a temple in Big s.h.i.+maron.  Then again, this change in atmosphere might be trivial for the greatness of Your Majesty.  But, this is the best place for me to use exorcism.”
      The blue spots changed to flame and separated from the fingers to float in the air.  It resembled the phosphorus at graves.
      “And my opponent is the current Demon King.  Nice.  This is exciting.  I’ll probably never get this chance again.”
      “… So you defy my judgment?”
      His jet black eyes glitter coldheartedly.  So much so that if someone who knew the usual Yuuri saw him they would think it was a different person.
      “Very well, Adalbert von Grantz.  You and your relatives have moved to the top of my list of people to purge.  In the name of the 27th Demon King, I declare that all descendants of the Grantz family shall be eliminated.”
      “Wait!  My relatives have nothing to do with this.”
      “A family that resents the king will only be a hindrance to my reign.  Ah, but von Grantz, this is nothing for you to be worried about.  You should simply wait on the other side.  Here on this snowy stage, you’ll be the first of those with Grantz blood to be sent to h.e.l.l.”
      “Hey hey, isn’t your personality a bit different?  I feel like I’ve been beat at my own game.”
      When he glanced down, he saw that the word at his feet was slightly different than normal.  It wasn’t ‘justice,’ it was ‘ustice’… A letter is missing! (2)
      “There’s no use arguing.  Prepare yourself, Adalbert!  I’m going to split your chin even more!”
      “Tch.”
      The giant snow sculpture separated into small ma.s.ses.  Flying objects the size of thumbs circle around Adalbert.  The figures with their teeth bared heading towards their target looked more like a group of carnivorous insects hunting down prey than snow sprites surrounding a target.
      The blue flame jumped around faster than the eye could track and melted the enemy one after another.  Even after they melted they would immediately refreeze and return to the magic user’s side.
      Neither side was making any progress.
      Yuuri became impatient and bit his lip and the blizzard above his head wavered just once.  Checking to see if it would move as he wished, he raised his right hand high and snapped his fingers.  The icy wind became a powerful blade and swung down upon the man it was meant to vanquish.
      “… Ugh!”
      Adalbert had raised the bright red sword over his head and melted the wind sword, but his cheeks and both arms were deeply wounded.  Something warm moved over his jaw.  As if swarming towards that blood, the strange snow sprites pounced.
      It was more grotesque than usual.
      From whatever angle you looked at it, Yuuri looked like the bad guy and Adalbert looked like the good guy.  A pa.s.sionate chant of ‘von Grantz!’ welled up around the grounds.  Now, the arena had become one unified being.
      “Annoying, buzzing like bugs…!”
      He swings the salted salmon in a grandiose motion.  The gathering of white objects scatter and merge together once again in the sky.  While Adalbert hacked away at the ice sword, he ran about ten steps to close the distance between himself and his opponent.  The round stage wasn’t very wide to begin with.  He would soon come close enough to cross swords.
      “My sword will slit your throat before your magic kills me.  Come on, Demon King.  Hurry and test my theory.  Throw a s...o...b..ll or whatever else at me with your hands.”
      “… Fine then.”
      Yuuri snapped his fingers and Adalbert swung his sword down at the same time.  However, a few seconds before that, Conrad had managed to climb up to the top with his poor footholds.
      “Adalbert stop!
      It was too late.  The man who had discarded the demons had already moved into unstoppable action.  Even if he heard Conrad’s voice.
      “Yuuri’s soul is Julia’s!”
      The tip of the blade was turned away to the left at the last moment just as it cut a single layer of skin.
      “What…?”
      An unrelenting snowfall descended upon Adalbert from above as he stumbled forward.  Save for the elbow down of his right arm that was grasping his weapon, he was covered by a mountain of snow and stopped moving.  Several seconds of silence later, the audience erupted like a clock mechanism all at once in cheers.
      The victor turned around.
      “… Who…”
      Even after he almost asked ‘who are you?’ Conrad held his tongue.  He had cold and captivating eyes that you couldn’t look away from.
      However, there wasn’t even a sliver of kindness within them.

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(1)    Seizou f.u.k.u.moto is an actor that plays in a lot of period dramas as the guy who loses the swordfight.  He also played the silent samurai in The Last Samurai with Tom Cruise.
(2)    So in the original j.a.panese, the ‘sei’ (正) in ‘seigi/justice’ (正義) was missing a stroke so it became 止 and read as止義 which isn’t a word so I can’t really give a p.r.o.nunciation.  s.h.i.+gi, maybe?  The characters mean ‘stop’ and ‘justice/right/honor.’