With a howl of exertion, Beelzebub flung his whole body and soul into his offensive against the exhausted Alan. He unleashed a series of slashes, his innate strength polished more than ever thanks to his intense training. On top of that, he cast a barrage of spells, each elevated to the pinnacle of magic. Everything at his disposal, he threw it at Alan, as if he were trying to guarantee the death of his wounded prey. The air screeched and the earth was torn asunder by his ferocity. The local maps would need a thorough revision after this fight.
However, Alan faced the assault head-on with a hearty bellow. With his back against the wall, he evaded, parried, and sometimes stoutly blocked the deadly attacks. The insurmountable gap in strength between the two of them should have kept him on the defensive, but he paid that no mind as he ferociously stood up to his enemy. Defense wasn’t enough for him; he even started counterattacking, his screams as strident as ever.
Beelzebub flinched in surprise. He couldn’t help but be amazed as they exchanged blows. How? Even if I take the advantage his mana of light gives him into account, I should be surpassing him at everything. Magic, physical abilities, you name it! So, how?
“Haaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!” Alan shouted as he brought his weapon down on Beelzebub.
The demon lord yelled in pain as the sword found its mark. Alan’s mana of light plunged into the open wound, and a sharp pain assaulted Beelzebub’s senses.
Little by little, he’s pushing me back. He hurls himself into the jaws of death with every exchange, but he somehow makes it out alive. Each time he uses his magic, his strength builds further. There’s an incomprehensible something driving me into a corner, Beelzebub thought.
Alan’s body pulsed with willpower. Even his roars pushed back against Beelzebub like they were a tangible force. The demon lord once again came to a certain realization as he watched his mortal enemy.
I get it! That’s the force of will he mentioned earlier!
It was a power that he didn’t possess. It could only be obtained by continuously putting oneself in the most extreme situations, like this fight. Bravery, motivation, grit, resolution, hysterical—it was a suprarational power known by many names. Beelzebub might have endeavored to improve himself after his one defeat, but such heights were fundamentally out of his reach. After all, he’d held unimaginable strength from the beginning; there were only a handful of people the world over he could fight to the limit with. It was precisely because humans were weak that it was possible for them. Just like twenty-five years ago, that power was putting him in dire straits.
“Wonderful job, human. Let’s see how much further you can ignite my passion!” Beelzebub said with delight.
Alan simply roared as he pressed on.
His fierce rush met Beelzebub’s sword again and again, and in return, Beelzebub slashed at him time after time. He left his mark, carving deep wounds into Alan’s body with each swing. Yet Alan wouldn’t go down. His many injuries were devastating enough to knock an ordinary person out on the spot, but he never wavered. Quite the opposite, in fact. With every new wound, his force of will redoubled along with the momentum of his attacks.
As a result, Beelzebub suffered his own wounds. While his individual strikes were deadlier, Alan’s swords were empowered by his mana of light. Once they injured an enemy, the mana would invade the body and destroy the demon from the inside like a deadly toxin. Beelzebub’s boundless stamina and mana were depleting at an alarming rate to stop the mana of light’s rampage. It was as if—rather, there was no “if” about it—every mana particle emitted by Alan carried the undying desire to take Beelzebub down.
The mana of light’s special properties only activated against demons. As Alan had originally possessed no elemental aptitude, he’d had to develop it from scratch. Therefore, if he killed Beelzebub and demons disappeared from the human world again, it would go back to being a useless ability, but that didn’t matter. Alan, a man with no talent, had obtained such power after giving his everything toward the goal of defeating the demon lord. As long as he could achieve that one thing, he didn’t need anything else.
“Heh heh heh, aha ha, ga ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!” Joyous laughter spilled out of Beelzebub’s mouth in the middle of their bloody fight. Alan Granger never betrayed his expectations. “Rejoice, Champion! I’ve just been informed that other than Loki, the rest of the New Black Stars have been defeated.”
Not that Beelzebub paused his assault for a moment.
“But you’re still alive,” Alan cried. “I will bring you down, right here and now!”
“Yes! Those are the eyes brimming with determination I wanted to see!”
Alan wasn’t the only one doing the impossible. Based on sheer strength alone, the demon army should’ve won an overwhelming victory, yet humanity had brushed them aside like flies. The history of twenty-five years ago was repeating itself. Alan intended to mimic his greatest deed as well.
“You humans have surpassed my expectations countless times. Let’s see you do it again!” Beelzebub said.
He gathered most of his remaining mana into his right fist and used it to fire off the most devastating underworld magic: the highest number of black magic. The accumulated mass of mana formed a gigantic black tear in the fabric of space itself. The ground, air, and even the light around him had been devoured before he finished casting the spell.
“Final Black Magic, Number Fifty: Dark Legion, Chaos Ragnarok!”
This was the demon lord’s—no, the entire underworld’s—most powerful attack. Seventy-two sinister, towering devils emerged from the black distortion in space. Each one possessed mana that rivaled a shenmo’s. They all charged at Alan together. Naturally, he prepared to intercept them with his most powerful light elemental attack. The sword of light in his left hand emitted a blinding light that reached up to the heavens. This was the essence of the Champion’s light, an attack that had felled innumerable demons.
“Bravelight Excalibur!”
The ultimate attacks of light and darkness collided against each other, their owners screaming at the top of their lungs alongside them. The powers on display were on such a frightening level that without Alan’s mana of light negating the darkness on impact, the damage to the surrounding area would have been incalculable.
Despite his determination, Alan was losing ground.
“Ha ha ha! Seems like I’m better in such direct confrontations, Alan Granger!”
The army of darkness had the clear advantage. The seventy-two jet-black devils pushed back the light in the blink of an eye. This outcome was inevitable. Though the mana of light had a favorable affinity against demon magic, it wasn’t enough to overcome the gap in strength between the two sides. Beelzebub had known that since the beginning, but he didn’t think this was enough to seal his victory.
Go on, I know you’re not done yet! He hoped that this wouldn’t be enough to defeat Alan; that was the only thought in his mind. “Come on! Show me what you’ve got, Champion!”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!!”
Alan’s vigorous cry shook the air itself, causing the unbelievable to happen. Mana poured out of his body with tremendous force as the intensity of his attack spiked. This output far surpassed his limit that Beelzebub had seen with his Fairy Sight. While mana could be influenced by one’s emotional strength, there should still be some sort of boundary. The information gleaned by Fairy Sight was unquestionable. It was impossible for it to have misread anything about Alan.
If that was true, then how was this human displaying strength he shouldn’t possess? The answer was simple: because he was the Champion.
Courage and determination. He broke through the limits of his mana using nothing but willpower, Beelzebub thought. There was no trick or clever answer. He poured more mana into his spell as he burst into delighted laughter. How wonderful!
The light and darkness grew in intensity, and their clash soon caused an immense explosion that swallowed up the entire region around them.