Tsuyokute New Saga (LN) Book 2: Chapter 17

Now, lets get this rematch started!

Once more, Kyle pointed at the two demons. A deep scar could be seen on the male demons face, and one of his horns was still missing. The female demon stood one step behind the man, showing a sowhat conflicted expression.

As always, you humans show no end to your arrogance The male demon spoke with a cold tone.

Not too energetic today? We can move the day if youre not feeling well. Kyle joked around, but the male demon did not react at all.

No, let us begin right away. I will make sure your insolent mouth never opens again.

Seeing that reaction, Kyle suddenly changed his tone.

Since youll be fighting one-on-one, I have a bit of a proposition.

Would you like to bring more numbers? I dont mind, itll just raise the numbers of corpses.

No, I want to change the location. Its a bit too narrow here for two battles. Kyle looked around, as he argued.

It was a sowhat large space, but as they were underground, they couldnt go all out.

Whichever is fine with . Do as you please. The male demon didnt think much and simply responded.

This was actually sowhat of a test by Kyle, but as expected, he agreed imdiately.

Are you sure? The female demon seed a bit worried.

Where we fight doesnt matter.

However, he may choose an advantageous location

That doesnt change much. No matter what a puny human may co up with, as long as I dont let down my guard like before, he cant hurt . There, the male demon gently touched his scar and the location of the missing horn, as his expression distorted in anger for a mont.

He was clearly much more calm than compared to three days ago, but his hate for humans was showing even more now. The difference in strength was all too clear. He knew that Kyle managed to get a sneak attack on him only because he relaxed his guard for a brief mont.

Then, follow . Its right over thereIm counting on you. Kyle stepped away from the group, taking the male demon with him.

He gave Lieze and Urza a worried expression, but Seran simply said Go get him, tiger.

Huh? Youll stay here?

Seeing Shildonia staying behind with the girls, Seran gave a doubtful question.

Yeah, master told to stay with you all.

As her projection acting as a physical entity would grow weaker the further she was away from Kyle, she would naturally stick at this side at almost all tis, but her knowledge against demons might co in handy.

Well, Ive been supplied with enough mana, so as long as I dont move too much, I should be fine. She munched on so sweets, explaining.

Youre still eating?

Seeing off Kyle and the male demon, the female demon let out a sigh, and faced Seran.

Now thenif I win, I will get that sword, butdoes that an I have to fight you as well? She spoke like she didnt care too much.

No, Im just the observer here, so only those two will be fighting. Seran shook his head. If those two lose, Ill give you the Holy Sword, I promise. Seran spoke with a serious tone.

Of course, he had no intentions of doing so, and was ready to protect the sword no matter what it would cost, but he didnt show any signs of that.

I seeI dont like the idea of this, but its for the Holy Sword, so I will play around with you. She faced Lieze and Urza, declaring this. However, carelessness is the greatest enemy, as they say. Ive realized that you are indeed quite strong through our previous battle, so I will be taking you seriously today. She said, and gently ran her hand along the cheek that was previously grazed by Liezes gauntlet. If you dont want to die, surrenderOr, be ready to lose your limbs. The female demons muscles on her shoulders moved upwards, as her long fingers on both hands turned into sharp claws.

Following that, cracks appeared on the ground where she stood, like her weight had suddenly grown. Her hair stood on end, and her previously green eyes now looked like theyre burning up with a strong red. At the sa ti, both Lieze and Urza felt shivers running down her backs. It felt like the temperature in this underground area had dropped drastically.

This is bad, alright. Shildonia grumbledher cheeks full of sweets. Thats a type of strengthening technique amongst close-combat specialized demons, which heightens all your abilities.

Shes stronger? Even more than before? Thats a bit unexpected, Seran comnted.

Indeedjust think of it as strengthening your physical abilities

I seeBut if they manage to make it past the first attack, they should have a chance. Seran said, but prepared himself so that he could intercept whenever necessary.

Despite feeling that the female demon had grown stronger even on her own skin, Lieze stepped forward. Urza stood a bit further back, summoning the Fire Spirit Salamander.

Lets go

The first one to moveor rather, before Lieze and Urza could even attempt anythingwas the demon after all. With speed most likely deed impossible to achieve by human standards, she arrived in front of Lieze, slashing at her face using her claws.

Urk! Lieze narrowly managed to intercept that.

Without the high-quality gauntlets covering her forearms, the battle probably would have been over in an instant. However, the female demon continued her attacks to the point of not even allowing Lieze to breathe. Defending against this relentlessly fast onslaught of attacks, Lieze slowly but steadily was pushed backwards.

Salamander!

At Urzas order, Salamander fired off an orb of fire from its mouth. Any normal fla attack like that would wrap up Lieze in the blast as well. It had already reached the female demon, in fact. However, even as she attacked Lieze, the demon easily dodged the ball of fire that approached her from her side. However, the fact that she actively dodged it showed that she would definitely receive damage if the attack connected. On top of that, in the ti she spent evading, she couldnt attack.

As a support attack, Salamander fired off more fire orbs, which allowed Lieze to start her own counterattack. The female demon seed to see this constant fire of fire orbs as ddleso, which is why she stopped attacking Lieze, and instead put her focus on Urza next. If Urza were to be defeated, the spirit would lose its master, and disappear. That was the basic strategy when fighting a spirit user. With ease, the female demon jumped over Salamander, and approached Urza. However, that is sothing Urza had predicted already.

Gno!

Together with Urzas voice, the Earth Spirit Gno appeared, acting as her shield. The female demons claws reached Urza, but stopped right in front of her.

What?!

Not expecting that, the female demon let out a shocked voice. Summoning and controlling two spirits at the sa ti needs an insane amount of focus. She probably didnt expect Urza to be a spirit user on such a level. At the sa, the Gno attempted to capture the female demon. She sohow managed to escape that grasp and took her distance, but the Gno grabbed one of her arms.

Urk! Let go!

No matter how much she fought, even a demon could not hope to break free from the Gnos grasp. Naturally, Lieze did not miss that opportunity. She moved forward, and attacked the demon from behind. However, right before her fist would have connected, she suddenly stopped, and bent backwards. She attempted to avoid the backwards kick fired off by the demon, but it grazed her face, and she was blown away by the sheer impact.

Kya!

Even though she was barely grazed, it was plenty of an impact that made her consciousness blank out for a mont. Using that opening, the female demon broke the arm of the Gno that was holding her, and moved away. So did Urza, and so that she had another shield, Lieze and the two spirits moved in front of her.

Im shockedto think shed be this strong Lieze muttered, as she spit out so blood.

Yeahyou can say that again. Urzas expression ended up pale, her breathing out of control.

They seed to be exhausted ntally, and also when it ca to mana consumption.

But

Its not unwinnable, alright.

They showed invincible grins, and the battle restarted. Lieze and the Gno acted as the frontline, whereas the Salamander continued firing fire obs at mid-range. Urza stood in the back, giving orders to her spirits and analyzing the situation of the battle. The demon seed unable to even focus on Urza in the back, as she decided to start with the frontline, attacking the Gno and Lieze. Those two responded accordingly, slowly starting to push back the demon. Lieze used the Gno as her shield, and the Gno did its duty perfectly, which is why Lieze barely suffered any injuries.

However, this resulted in the Gno suffering the most damage, already of its body having broken apart. Even if he was a spirit, if it took too much damage, its physical body would break apart. As it was the sturdy Earth Spirit, he wouldnt crumble that easily, but at this rate, it was just a matter of ti. Soon enough, Lieze would have to take care of defense on her own, which would burden her even more.

I guess theyre being pushed back now? Shildonia said, sounding oddly worried.

That being said, since she kept eating sweets even beyond the utmost necessity of restoring mana, she didnt sound serious at all.

Yeah, no problem at all. Seran answered calmly, but his fingers and legs were twitching ever so slightly.

Cant calm down?

Just watching doesnt fit my personality. But, if I intervene now, Ill reap the punishnts later.

However, it seems like youll be forced to eventually?

Not wrongbut its hard since things are going perfectly according to our plan. Seran said, holding his head.

Youve held out for quite so ti, but this is the end! The female demon swung her hand at Lieze with full power. The Gno tried to protect her, but couldnt keep up because of its severe injuries.

Urk!

So far, Lieze sowhat managed to hold her ground against an attack, but that one was too much even for her. Following that, the female demon jumped and evaded the fire orb, and headed for Lieze once again. However, the Gno now managed to block her off.

That wont work anymore!

The Gno was already close to breaking apart, so when the demon saw that it would take just one more attack, she imdiately decided to break through and aim for Lieze to finish her off. However, the Gno went to its utmost limit in being a shield, closing off the demons view, which was used by Lieze as an opening.

Now! Urza gave an order, and Lieze fired off a roundhouse kick directly onto the Golems back.

Haaaa!

Lieze put as much strength into that kick as possible, piercing through the abdon of the Gno, shooting out the rock that acted as the Gnos stomach forwards.

Wha!?

As the Gno had blocked off the demons view, she could not even guess what Lieze was doing, so this attack completely took her by surprise. Even with her demonic nature and abilities, she could not react, and the rock slamd into her own abdon. Through the hole that opened up in the center of the Gno, Liezes gaze t the demons, who was groaning in pain.

Another one!

Lieze used that opening to put everything into her jab, and hamred the rock even deeper into the demons abdon.

Guha!?

The rock broke into several small pieces, and being hit by its full force, the female demon took the shape of a sideways V, blown off. With that, the Gno must have reached its limit, as it lost shape, the rocks crumbling to the ground. Naturally, its physical body may have been destroyed, but as it was a spirit to begin with, Urza would be able to summon it again after a set amount of ti.

Well donethank you. Urza deeply thanked her Earth Spirit.

At the sa ti, the female demon barely managed to keep herself standing, but on quivering legs.

Y-You!

Lieze tried to follow up with another attack, but the female demon just scread Stop your foolish arrogance!, and tried to counter that. However, Lieze perfectly read that.

Your attacks! You only go for one-hit KOs! Lieze easily evaded that attack, and ramd another fist into the sa spot of the female demon as before.

The counter attack after eating a hit is the exact sa as when you punched beforeNo matter how fast or strong it may be, if its an attack I can read, Im not scared at all!

Gah

Normally, a demon greatly surpassed a mber of humanfolk when it cos to strength and endurance, but taking three hits of Liezes full power must have hurt quite a lot. She coughed up blood, holding her stomach in agony, staggered backwards, and finally collapsed. There, the Salamander delivered the final blow with a giant fla attack, engulfing the entire demons body.

I guessit worked out. Urza walked next to Lieze, both of them gasping for air.

Separating that stomach part of the Gno so that Lieze could kick it took a lot of ntal strength and mana. On top of that, she used up all of her mana for the Salamanders final attack.

Yes, those were so great three hits there.

Lieze was riddled with wounds all over, her body assaulted with severe exhaustion. However, their expressions were fresh, and relieved. After all, the combination they had practiced this entire ti worked out perfectly in the real deal. Even so, they were still careful. Surely, the demon must have suffered a lot of damage from that combination of attacks. Finally, the flas faded, and the female demon was standing there. She had one hand on her stomach, the injury she had suffered, with blood dripping from her mouth, and she had burns all over her body. Her focus must have run out, as the color of her eyes went back to normal, and her claws disappeared.

Her body was riddled in wounds, but her eyes were more than alive. She emitted strong hostility as she looked at Lieze and Urza.

WhyIm clearly much stronger than you two, so how did I She was gasping for air, forcing out a weak voice.

Theres many reasons, but the biggest one is that your movent is so dull. Youre too honest, you could say.

Right. Before, when you were holding back against us, your movent was much more smooth than now.

Whatdid you say?

The female demon seemingly didnt expect to even be given an answer, but lost her words after hearing the twos opinions.

Also, this was your first ti participating in a battle with your life on the line, right? And, I bet you never even killed anybody, yeah?

Wha!

Lieze must have hit bullseye, as the female demon went silent.

Basically, youre inexperienced, cant properly react to anything unexpected, and you get far too emotional way too quicklyFinally, as we have gone through a fight for our lives before, we naturally had the upper hand. Urza looked down at the demon.

Alsoyoure a bit too diligent, and I bet people often tell you that youre stiff, yeah? Lieze said.

Ugh!

That assumption seed to be spot-on, as the female demon once again grit her teeth in anger.

What a foolish fellow you areyour fighting style reveals your personality. Especially you, youre far too easy to read. Urza nodded, agreeing.

The female demon once again showed shock and disbelief, shaking violently, whereas Lieze and Urza smiled at each other. They seed relaxed and confident, but that just shows how happy they were that their strategy had worked out this smoothly. It was a narrow victory where one misstep could have spelled their imdiate deaths. However, together with a bit of a bluff, their calm attitude did not break apart. Even if the female demon was lacking experience, it wasnt enough of a weakness to completely control the fight. If anything, they needed to show her that nothing of that was a fluke, but rather the natural turn of events, showing ntal strength and confidence. That being said, the female demon may have suffered more severe injuries, but Lieze and Urza werent exactly unscathed, and about as exhausted. Right now, they were about equal.

AlrightLets continue, shall we!

Yeah, this is where the real deal starts.

Lieze and Urza showed motivation, ready to resu the fight. However

No, its my loss. The female demon raised her head, announcing her defeat.

Huh?

Lieze and Urza looked at each other, baffled and confused.

Umso basically, youre admitting your defeat?

Thats right, I lost. I surrender. I dont intend on fighting any more than this. The female demon calmly declared.

Hey now, she gave up? Seran muttered, unable to process what had just happened.

Impossible Even Shildonias eyes opened wide in shock.

Amidst all the experience she had gathered, she never saw a demon surrendering this easily to a mber of humanfolk.

Before, I simply let down my guard, so I figured that if I fought seriously, there is no way I would lose. However, having seen your determination or what you call it, I realized that I was lacking sothing. And, as I am at risk of dying in this battle, I wont fight anymore. The female demon blatantly explained the reason as to why she would surrender. However, dont get the wrong idea. I am not scared of dying. The Demon Lord-sama has ordered to return alive no matter what, so I cant die hereEven so, simply surrendering to humans like this brings great sha. It tears apart, without a doubt.

It beca clear that the Demon Lords orders are absolute, no matter how much it may taint a demons honor and pride.

Still, what an irony. After telling you to surrender if you wanted to live, I ended up the one who would run to avoid death She smiled with a self-deprecating smile. Now that Ive surrendered, what will you do with ?

Hearing the demons question, Lieze and Urza were finally brought back to reality.

WhatI dont know, what should we do?

Even if you ask thatI dont know?

The two looked at each other, visibly confused. Clearly, they worked through several strategies in order to co out victorious and alive, but neither of them would have imagined that their battle would end with the enemy surrendering.

A-Attacking the enemy who just surrendered doesnt feel too right with either Urza was quite confident before, but now she was deeply shaken.

Even if she surrendered, you cant just let a demon go running away. Seran scratched his head, sounding conflicted.

Well yeah, youd probably make her go down on her knees, begging for forgiveness as you laugh to your hearts content, as you cut her down, butI dont want to cast away my humanity like that.

I wont make her do that while laughing!

That being the case, he did not deny the idea of cutting her down. The group sought help at Shildonia.

Since you won, you have the right as the winner to decide what you want to do. Shildonia basically contributed nothing.

UmSo, if we wont accept you surrendering, what would you do?

In that case, I would try to escape to the best of my ability, and resist with all might.

Oddly enough, the female demon now seed much more calm than Lieze and Urza themselves.

I have to make it back ho no matter what, so I cant afford to be captured hereIf you were to request sothing from , I shall abide to the best of my ability.

Request Lieze held her head, taken by surprise because of the demons statent.

However, anything I could provide youThat reminds , you wished for information, did you not? The demons that are currently active in the humanfolk territory under the Demon Lord-samas orders are just us two. There may be other demons invading your territory at this point, but I do not have any grasp on that.

Oh yeah, that was one of our conditions.

You completely forgot

Kyles desire to learn information from the demons was pretty much just a pretext to get everyone motivated. To the point they simply forgot about it right now.

Is there nothing else? Wellif you two were n, I wouldnt have minded sharing a bed with you.

Pffft!

WhaS-Sharing a bed with us!?

With this random proposition, both Lieze and Urza blushed furiously

Ah, if youre okay with a woman like , I dont mind. Of course, I can also do it with that man if he cos back alive and victorious Although the chance for that is pretty slimshe added in her mind.

No! You cant do that! Dont worry about it!

T-Thats right! Its enough!

Lieze and Urza both strongly denied that generosity (?).

I see, then Ill escape now.

Ah

Of course, the two girls could have attacked the demon, as there was no need to keep any promises with her. However, that would dirty the effort and intentions they had when fighting her. Although it was naive, it was the correct decision in the eyes of the two.

That reminds I havent asked for your nas yet. Could you tell ?

Right before leaving the tunnel, the female demon turned around, asking the two.

Its Lieze.

Urza.

The two answered.

Ah, my na is Seran was about to na himself, but the demon just ignored him.

I see, I will rember you. My na is Yuriga. Id be happy if you rembered .

The demon, Yuriga, calmly nad herself.

Oh, youre going to give us your naWell, its different from a spirit users true na, but demons still treasure their nas, so its rare for a demon to give their nas to humansOr rather, I never heard about that before. Shildonia spoke, sounding surprised.

You know a lotThough I have to say, I always assud humans were this powerful rely for their sheer numbers, but I was wrongI have to admit, you clearly were stronger than in this battle.

Being praised by a demon of all people, both Lieze and Urza showed ek smiles, but it didnt feel bad for sure. With the battle over, the tense atmosphere slowly broke apart. Yuriga smiled, and turned her back towards them.

At the sa ti, Seran moved like he was driven by madness. Since it was at imasurable speeds, not even Lieze and Urza could react. He imdiately sped past them, aiming for Yurigas backand drew his sword.

If youd excuse . I still havent gotten to try out my sword.

With that voice, Yuriga turned around, and found the sharp glittering blade of the Holy Swordsothing she had been chasing all this tinow aid at her. Unable to react because of her exhaustion, she could only look at the approaching doom.