He was just utterly, ridiculously strong. Some strong people let their guard down every now and then when it came to defense, or allowed their attacks to become too predictable, but this demon didn’t have such weaknesses. His well-balanced attack and defense were both of a very high level. Each sumo wrestler has their own peculiar rhythm, and the Demon Lord’s was extremely stable. You might think such a rhythm would make it easy to predict incoming attacks, but that’s not how it works. The one who creates the rhythm, after all, is also the one who can decide to break it at will.
I was smoothly dodging the sorts of powerful techniques that would definitely work on Yustin and General Maurilio, having oh so much fun. Fighting such an opponent was extremely enjoyable. We attacked each other with harite, pushes, and thrusts. I avoided my opponent’s underarm throw and went for a throw of my own, but the Demon Lord dodged to the side and began pushing me. Utilizing the buff of the white ground underfoot, I stopped his advance and grabbed his mawashi. The way he carried himself was downright artistic—I was enraptured.
“This is getting us nowhere... Don’t hold this against me, Floortje!”
“Bring out whatever you’ve got!”
A pitch-black miasma gathered on the Demon Lord. His muscles swelled up, and thorns grew out of various parts of his body. This was the demonic form I had previously seen used by Erhard. It must’ve been a special ability passed down from the Demon Lord. The combination of the demonic form and the spirit of sumo was truly powerful.
“I still have...one more form...left!”
“Then stop keeping it to yourself and give me your best!”
“When I’m...fired up...enough!”
The thought of there being an even more powerful form I would have to contend with excited me. I had to make him use it. My newfound motivation boosted the speed of the rotating gears of my sumo spirit.
“Kghhh!”
Their increased power allowed me to put up a fight against the demon, but his demonic form was simply incredible. The Demon Lord’s strength had doubled, his weight had increased, and his speed had fallen a little. Since his execution of techniques remained on the same level, it became more difficult to avoid them due to the greater strength behind them. He appeared to have trained in this demonic form as well, as his movements remained refined. Were I to let my guard down for a moment, he would no doubt hoist me up by my mawashi and throw me to the ground. His great weight made pushing him ineffective. I tried to remain in the white part of the ring, but he used his strength to pull me into the black zone.
Crunch! In an instant, a large portion of my strength left me, allowing my opponent to push me to the edge of the ring.
“My sumo spirit!!!”
It had been pulverized and vanished without a trace. What? What happened?
“I win!” said the transformed Demon Lord, a sneer on his face.
My sumo spirit had broken? How could a spirit break?
I endured the demon’s vigorous pushing using my human strength alone.
“You can do this, Floortje!” shouted the prince.
“Bark, bark, bark!”
“Don’t give up, Floortje!” continued Mamiana.
“Don’t you lose on me, Floortje!” added Phalaris.
“Persevere!” said the mizuchi.
With everyone’s cheering as the source of my strength, I just barely managed to hold on at the edge of the ring. But for whatever reason, I didn’t feel imperiled. I could sense it—a different source of power was on its way. In the corner of my vision, I saw Adela praying with an earnest look on her face.
Clank clank! My spirit of sumo had restarted. But this time, there was another small gear in it that connected elsewhere. The ladylike gear with flowers painted on its surface rotated at a high speed, giving additional power to my sumo spirit. A twin sumo spirit!!! Could this be called the level 2 spirit of sumo?!
“All riiiiight!!!”
My new spirit of sumo had become faster. The surge of unbelievable power—I could feel it!!!
“What?!” exclaimed the Demon Lord as he found himself being pushed back. “Not bad! Not half bad, Floortje!”
With this, I could finally put up a fight. In fact, I was even stronger than my opponent in his current form! As always, it had taken a crisis for me to unlock new powers.
“Bring him down, Floortje!”
“Go, Floortje!”
“Ba-ba-bark, bark!”
Everyone’s feelings came flowing into me. At some point, my sumo spirit had begun shining gold.
“You can do this, sir!”
“Show her!”
“Keep it mino-up!”
“Fight on...!”
My opponent’s subordinates cheered for him too. His black, punk-like spirit of sumo had begun shining as well, leaving a golden afterimage behind as it rotated. This was the way I liked it: fighting on equal terms; coming head-to-head; pitting our spirits of sumo, our training, our love for sumo against one another. It had nothing to do with the differences in our species—victory and defeat would be decided by the heavens solely through an earnest prayer in the ritual known as sumo. The real fight started now. I’m going to make you bring out that third form of yours, Demon Lord. And then I’m going to win!
A railway bridge had come into view. Once we crossed it, we would be in Aryakan lands. Prince Richie and I are back, my fatherland!
My upgraded sumo spirit contended with my opponent’s demonic form. He and I were locked up and both tried to make the other lose balance, but we each saw the incoming techniques and neutralized them every time.
The dohyō car jumped, causing the Demon Lord to fly up for a moment. I moved without thinking, smoothly closing the distance between us. One of the thorns growing out of his body tore my dress, but I didn’t care. Lifting him onto my hips, I went for a throw. He attempted to dodge it. The two of us lost our balance, and we both came falling to the ground.