The sound of steel clashing echoes through the forest with a resounding clang! Startled, birds simultaneously take flight, and small animals scurry out of the bushes. However, there is no time to pay attention to such minor occurrences.
Izayoi focuses on Yuka, who brandishes her sword before him. Yuka, too, fixes her sharp gaze on Izayoi.
Swords aimed at each other, they gauge their opponent’s movements in a tense atmosphere. The heavy silence is broken by a single wild rabbit.
In an instant—
"—Hmph!!"
"—Yaah!!"
The distance between the two is closed to zero, and their swords clash.
"Urgh, you...!"
Yuka, having her sword deflected, forcefully pulls it back and launches a series of attacks. Izayoi steps forward to meet her.
Every time their swords collide, sparks fly, and the metallic sound echoes through the afternoon forest.
Yuka's swordsmanship is faithful to the basics. On the other hand, Izayoi's swordsmanship deviates from the basics, incorporating demonic techniques far removed from human sword arts, relying on strength surpassing that of humans.
What happens when these two clash is evident. Yuka, although slightly pushed back, should have her sword deflected or arm numbed at the initial clash if she were an ordinary person.
This shows that Yuka, despite being a misfit, must be a hero.
As Izayoi marvels inwardly, Yuka, frustrated by being on the defensive, dodges his sword by a hair’s breadth and steps in deeply.
"I've got you!"
Her sword is raised high and swung down with tremendous force. But it’s still naive.
As the blade approaches, Izayoi instantly switches his grip on the sword. Casually thrusting out the hilt—
—Clang!
The hilt and the blade collide violently. Caught off guard by the unexpected counter, Yuka's eyes widen. Izayoi steps into her exposed guard and gently places his sword against her neck.
"I win."
Izayoi declares quietly, and Yuka, lips twisted in frustration, lowers her sword.
■
"What was that!? That was absurd!"
"Absurd or not, it’s possible, so there’s no problem."
"How can you do that!?"
"It’s the gift of accumulated experience."
"How am I supposed to beat centuries of experience..."
Yuka grinds her teeth in frustration at the vast difference in their abilities and glares at him as if he were an enemy. It’s quite troublesome for the one being glared at.
"Don’t glare like that. Being able to face me head-on as a human, you are already quite strong."
"Even if you say that, it sounds sarcastic."
"What do you want me to do..."
Izayoi feels like holding his head at Yuka's increasingly bad mood.
"First of all, being adept in both magic and swordsmanship is just too overpowered. What you did yesterday was just..."
"Well, I admit I went overboard with that one."
What Yuka is referring to is when Izayoi obliterated a group of orcs with a single spell yesterday.
There were about twenty orcs, and Izayoi had casually cast the spell, but the destruction it brought was excessive, turning not only the orcs but also the surrounding area into scorched land.
Yuka’s anger afterward was tremendous. Izayoi genuinely thought that the phrase "furious as fire" must refer to Yuka at that time.
Sealing away the memory of Yuka's furious expression, Izayoi pushes through the dense vegetation.
Several days since leaving the Demon Lord’s castle, the two are heading south towards the human continent.
Originally, the human and demon continents are only separated by a vast forest, so crossing it isn’t particularly difficult. However, once they pass through the forest, they will be stepping into enemy territory, invariably facing danger.
Knowing this, Yuka’s expression becomes increasingly anxious as they approach the human continent.
"Hey, are you sure it’s really okay?"
"Don’t worry. As you can see, I don’t look much different from humans. Aside from black hair and eyes, I just have a bit more magical power and live longer."
"That’s not just a bit, and living longer is not at this level, idiot!"
"Well, it’s fine if it’s humans. Demons might notice due to aura or wavelengths."
The possibility of encountering demons on the human continent is almost nil, so there is no need for concern. More than that, Izayoi points to his eyes and hair.
"This is our real problem."
Saying so, Yuka nods in agreement.
"So, what’s your plan?"
"Well, we’ll be out of the forest soon, so I can show you here."
With that, Izayoi performs an illusion spell on himself. In an instant, his black hair and eyes change to a burning red.
"What!? Your hair turned red, and your eyes..."
Yuka exclaims in astonishment at the sudden transformation.
"How about this? Should be fine, right?"
"It’s fine, but... how did you do that?"
"Illusion magic. It manipulates the refraction of light to create illusions or make one invisible."
"I’ve never heard of that..."
"Of course. I created it."
To be precise, he developed it with Rem.
Hearing that Izayoi created it, Yuka’s mouth falls open in shock. She’s so astonished that she doesn’t respond even when Izayoi tries to get her attention.
Annoyed, Izayoi is about to tap her head with a bit more force when Yuka recovers and lunges at him with incredible vigor.
"You created it!? Can you make things like this as if it’s some "Even so! You're just too outrageous. Calling you a cheat is an understatement, you broken-spec Demon Lord..."
Yuka, visibly tired, drops her shoulders dramatically and moves forward alone. A sense of melancholy seems to drift from her retreating back.
Watching Yuka's departing figure, Izayoi reflects on her words.
"A cheat and a broken-spec Demon Lord, huh? Well, it's certainly true—"
—She probably hasn’t realized it.
Yuka is unaware. Unaware that she, too, is beyond the realm of ordinary humans. With abnormal physical strength that can match Izayoi, who is a demon, and extraordinary healing ability. Above all, that one blow that broke through Izayoi’s defensive barrier.
She herself hadn’t noticed, but at that moment, the magical power in the air surrounding her was concentrating into her fist.
That phenomenon is something that normally cannot occur.
Whether human, demon, or monster, manipulating external magical power is impossible. That’s common knowledge in this world, and of course, Izayoi had tried but failed.
Yuka, who can do this even unconsciously, is an even rarer existence than Izayoi.
Indeed, is she inferior to Izayoi? She's not aware of her own abilities now, but if she becomes able to freely manipulate external magical power—
"What are you standing around for? Let's go."
The voice urging him from a little way off interrupts Izayoi's thoughts.
—There’s no use in worrying about it now.
Exhaling softly, Izayoi falls into step beside Yuka.
"Ah, right. Yuka, what color do you want for your hair and eyes?"
"The same as yours is fine."
"I see. Understood."
Following Yuka’s wish, Izayoi uses magic to change the color of her hair and eyes. Their black hair and eyes turn the same deep red as Izayoi’s, and standing side by side, being both Japanese, they could be mistaken for siblings. In fact, there’s a high probability of such a misunderstanding from those watching.
"...Well, it’s fine."
They'll deal with it when the time comes. That’s the conclusion Izayoi reaches. In front of the steadily approaching human continent, Yuka’s expression shows a hint of anxiety. Seeing her like this, Izayoi secretly lets out a wry smile.