She has dark magic resistance... Mil thought back to when she’d checked Crowell’s stats and remembered seeing dark magic resistance listed as one of her passive skills. The spells Mil had learned in the Demon King’s Castle’s library weren’t going to be much use here.
“Mil, I’ve got an idea,” Mary whispered into Mil’s ear. “Charge straight at Crowell and do your best to keep her close. Can you use a smoke bomb attack?”
“I know dark mist.”
“Okay. Use that when you get an opportunity. It’ll give me a chance to strike—I’ve got night vision.”
Mil readied her sword. “Got it,” she replied without hesitation. She’d seen that skill when she’d checked Mary’s stats in the castle.
“Got it...?” Mary said. “I’m glad you’ve agreed, but aren’t you going to ask any questions? You don’t want the specifics?”
Mil remained focused on Crowell as she spoke. “You’ve got a plan, right? I believe in you.”
“I don’t get people like you... But okay, I’ll count on you.” With a beat of the wings on her back, Mary took to the air.
“Here I come, Crowell!”
“Whenever you’re ready, Lady Mil.”
Mil began running.
Metal crashed against metal. Mil shifted her weight from her right foot to her left then took another half a step toward her opponent. She was using the footwork Crowell had taught her.
“You’re good,” Crowell said. “I see you haven’t forgotten the fundamentals.”
Crowell didn’t seem pressured at all. As much as Mil hated to admit it, she had no chance of winning in a pure sword fight. However...
As they crossed swords, Mil cast a spell. “Dark mist!”
“Ah.” For a brief moment, Crowell frowned.
Since Mil hadn’t extended her hand, the mist poured from her entire body, making it impossible to see anything around her. Even Mil herself couldn’t even see Crowell’s face right in front of her.
“Nicely done, Mil!”
“Ah! Princess Mary?!” Crowell drew back her sword to protect herself.
Mil heard their weapons colliding loudly several times, but she couldn’t tell what was happening because of the effects of dark mist.
“Mary!” Mil cried. “Where are—ahh!”
A gust of wind cleared away the dark mist. It was another of Crowell’s spells.
When the mist cleared, Mil saw Crowell clutching her arm and breathing heavily, while Mary stood composed and still holding her great scythe.
“No matter how dark it gets, I can always see. I’ve got good eyes.”
Mary had been able to keep track of Crowell within the mist thanks to the night vision skill.
“You’ve certainly improved, Princess Mary.”
“I’m glad I listened when you recommended that I use this scythe,” Mary said while twirling the scythe in a sort of dance. “It suits me far better than a sword.”
Graun crashed to the ground beside Crowell, wounded from his fight with Kuro and Yulia. It looked like he was no match for the both of them together.
“Crowell, when was the last time you took a hit like that?” Graun asked.
“Long ago... It hasn’t happened since we both fought together against His Majesty and lost. We’ve been underestimating Princess Mary. We can approach this fight more seriously without any fear of accidentally killing her.”
Crowell grinned as a cloud of miasma suddenly enveloped her and her brother.
“More magic...?”
The skin on Crowell’s and Graun’s arms and necks first turned black, then white patterns formed. At the same time, their horns and wings grew bigger.
“Wow... Mary! What is this?!”
They were transforming. Now, instead of being close to human, they both looked like sinister beasts.
“Higher demonkin have a skill called awaken,” Mary explained. “It converts their mana into miasma and strengthens their bodies.”
Mil remembered seeing awaken in their passive skills lists, though she’d never imagined it could transform them like this.
“This is so cool!” Mil could hardly contain herself. It felt like a showdown with the final opponent, just like in the stories of heroes.
“How can you think like that?! Now we’ve no chance of win— Here they come!”
Mary blocked a swing from Crowell’s sword with her scythe, then used her wings to take flight. Crowell gave chase, and the two then continued their fight in midair. They were blindingly fast, moving in and out of range far too quickly for Mil to offer any support.
“I’ll handle this somehow!” Mary called. “You take care of things on the ground, Mil!”
“All right!” Mil replied.
Graun was silently glaring at her.
“Yulia! Kuro! Back me up!”
“You can count on me!”
“O-Okay!”
Mil charged at Graun, picking up a piece of rubble from the ground in her left hand as she ran.
“Princess... I’m done being gentle.”
Mil stopped just out of reach of Graun’s narrow blade and threw the piece of rubble at his face.
“What?!”
It created the opening she needed. She closed the distance and swung her sword up from below.
Graun quickly knocked her blade off course, but then Kuro came in from the side to follow up with a diagonal sword slash.
“Kuh.”
As Graun struggled to defend himself, Yulia launched a fireball that scorched Graun’s clothes.
“I must say...you’re even more trouble than a party of experienced adventurers.” Graun casually wiped his face with the back of his hand. His clothes aside, the combination of attacks hadn’t harmed him at all.
“Aaaaahhh!” Mary came crashing down from above.
“Mary! Are you all right?!”
It was obvious who’d won the battle for control over the sky.
Crowell carefully folded her wings as she touched down on the ground. “Do you still intend to resist? If you’ll agree to come quietly, then there’ll be no need to injure you all further.”
Mil’s party was putting up a good fight, but neither Crowell nor Graun showed the slightest sign of exhaustion. If they got serious—if they fought with the intent to kill—Mil’s party surely wouldn’t hold out for long.
“Crowell... Ngh.” Mil’s vision blurred. Her legs felt unsteady. She hadn’t taken any decisive blows, but the total damage was mounting.
Graun pointed the tip of his narrow sword at Mil. “Maybe if you’d had, say...another year or so, you’d have enough experience that neither I nor my sister would be able to stop you. Princess, I’m not going to hold back this—”
Just as Graun was preparing to charge at Mil, Crowell placed a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
Graun looked at his sister. “Crowell...?”
“How did it feel to go adventuring, Lady Mil?” Crowell asked.
“Huh...?”
“Did you visit lots of places and see lots of different types of monsters and people? Did your experiences change you? Are you different now compared to when your journey started?”
Mil nodded. “I wanna keep doing exciting things. Since meeting Yulia, then Kuro, and now Mary, everything’s been exciting! Adventuring’s even more fun than I imagined!”
“But there are obstacles in your path. Not only the Heavenly Four, but also the ordinary troubles that all adventurers experience. And His Majesty the Demon King surely hasn’t given up on you. You may have avoided one member of the Heavenly Four, but I’m not convinced he was trying very hard.”
“Crowell...”
“Now please show me, Lady Mil. Show me you have the power to overcome these obstacles. Come at me like you mean it.” Crowell fell quiet as she sheathed her sword then stood ready to draw.
Mil had felt the need to hold back the entire time because they were in the middle of a town. It was true that she hadn’t swung her sword in earnest. But just as Crowell said, Mil had to be ready for the countless obstacles awaiting in her adventures to come. The incident at the beastkin village was probably just the first of many unpleasant experiences.
Although not everything about adventuring had been fun, a lot of it was. Such as meeting new friends and doing things together. But when someone got in the way of it all, she’d have to fight them seriously.
Crowell... Mil wordlessly sheathed her sword. Okay, I’ll show her. I’ll show her how fun this adventure is. And how serious I can be.
For a moment there was total silence. Then their swords cut through the air simultaneously.
“Demon slash!”
The two black blades collided. Mil had put everything into the attack—the demonkin sword skill Crowell had taught her.
“That wasn’t enough?!”
Mil still couldn’t quite match up to Crowell. Having gotten to grips with the technique just recently, she couldn’t compare to the master. No matter how serious Mil got, Crowell would remain unbeatable.
But then a status window opened in front of Mil. She hadn’t been using any of her goddess’s priestess powers—it had appeared all by itself.
Learned: holy demon slash
Requirements: Use demon slash a given number of times. Available to saints.
Mil had gained a new skill. She’d been using demon slash heavily since starting her adventure, and it seemed she’d fulfilled some condition as a result.
Mil hurriedly sheathed her sword and prepared to draw once more. “Holy demon slash!”
Unlike demon slash, this attack unleashed a cross-shaped shock wave consisting of two blades, one black, one white.