Side Story Chapter 171
-Urgh... Aghhhh...
Urus’s face contorted in pain. His red skin was scorched black by the lightning bolts infused into his heart spreading across his body.
-I am Urus Jackston, the second-strongest demon in the Demon Realm!
This place was the Human Realm, not the Demon Realm. Although his power was vastly weaker than it was in the Demon Realm, there was only one person who was stronger than him under that realm’s blood-red sky—and Urus was certain that the ranking would change if he wished it to.
Urus audibly cracked under his skin as he went through Martialization, the devils’ racial trait—but only a red devil like him could transform like this. The distinction was immediately obvious.
-It’s definitely different from ordinary devils’ transformation...
Perchilin watched the transformation curiously. Devils grew a lot bigger through Martialization. Their muscle mass increased by at least three times, and their bones also grew thicker. Their demonic power was solely focused on reconstituting their bodies, however, so they weren’t able to use their demonic power once the transformation was complete.
It was hard to understand why devils would voluntarily give up the use of their demonic power, which was a demon’s greatest weapon, but no one in the Demon Realm disregarded the danger of a Martialized devil. Those who had encountered such devils knew what it meant when all of their demonic power was focused on their bodies.
-What? I won’t be able to die in peace?
When the transformation ended, Urus grinned, revealing a set of pointed teeth. Where he had been three meters tall, he had shrunk to less than two meters. Urus looked about as tall as Cain, who was one hundred and ninety centimeters tall; at another look, the devil might even be shorter.
However, Urus seemed exceedingly robust. He didn’t have the slightest ounce of extra fat and his muscles were hard and sharply defined like a sculpture. His cold eyes made the people around him flinch in surprise despite the fact that they held no malice.
-...Right back at you.
Urus pulled the spear out of his heart without hesitation. Despite the mortal wound to a vital organ, he was abnormally well, and it wasn’t because the hole in his heart quickly filled up.
Altheon looked him up and down.
-You seem bigger than the last time we fought.
-I know. I would have been way smaller if my horns hadn’t been cut off. Damn it.
Urus tossed a cold glare at Joshua.
-I’ll crush you so badly that you’ll beg me to just kill you.
“No, you won’t,” Joshua flippantly replied.
-What? The source of this content nov(el)bi((n))
“Your opponent is someone else.”
Urus was even more confused. What in the world was this human woman talking about?
“Don’t you think your opponent is weakened enough, Cain?” Joshua turned.
Urus crumpled up his face, finally understanding what Joshua meant.
In contrast, Cain wore a bitter smile. “Thank you, but I don’t think I’ll be able to fight him.”
“Why is that?”
“I know my state the best. Although I haven’t said it because it felt like I was making excuses for my defeat, I’m already beyond recovery.” Cain saluted Joshua with his sword. “I’m glad I could meet you in the last moments of my life and I was genuinely happy to be your knight, so I would like you to be my only master even in my next life. Would you allow me to do that?”
Such was the last, ardent wish of the generation’s best and most loyal knight. While filled with sorrow for his own incompetence, he wished to be chosen even in his next life.
Gluttony’s teeth clicked weakly.
-I think you’re mistaken here. You don’t have a say in this, but I can make sure that you have a decent owner.
Gluttony tapped its teeth together inquisitively.
-Yeah, I promise.
A pool of faint light spread out from Joshua and permeated into Cain. It happened so quietly that no one else other than Joshua noticed; even Cain didn’t notice the change in himself. He was busy taking on the devil.
-That’ll do it.
‘I really can’t figure you out,’ Lilith grumbled.
-I’ll take that as a compliment.
‘It’s a compliment.’
Joshua didn’t listen to Lillith’s answer because Cain and Urus were making their first attacks.
-—What!?
Urus was shocked. He rubbed the fist he had struck Cain’s sword with. It burned like he’d stuck it into a fire. Urus was three times—possibly even five times stronger than before at least, but Cain had blocked Urus’s attack with ease even though he had had trouble stopping a single one of Urus’s attacks before his Martialization.
-No way!
Urus threw hundreds more punches in the span of a breath. Not only were his attacks fast, but the damage was astounding. The marble pillars exploded into clouds of dust without even being hit, a testament to the sheer destructive power of Urus’s fists, and yet...
-Try stopping this too! Hurt and kill: Darkness Guillotine!
Urus gnashed his teeth and raised his foot high into the air because Cain had left himself vulnerable to attack after the last collision between Cain’s sword and Urus’s fist.
An outrageously powerful shockwave battered the chamber.
A mere human had easily stopped the attack that Urus once used to shatter the earth for hundreds of meters in the Demon Realm. The devil’s lips trembled.
-Did I get weaker?
“No.”
The answer came from behind Urus, not from his opponent. He found the silver-haired woman standing there, looking at him.
“You haven’t noticed? The opponent you looked down on got stronger.”
-A mere human...
“Why don’t you look back now? It looks like that ‘mere human’ is about to kill you,” Joshua casually replied.
Urus flinched and jerked back around. Cain had already nullified the shockwave from Urus’s last attack and was already close enough to strike the demon.
-No...!
Urus couldn’t believe that Cain was that fast.
That was the last thought that Urus had before Cain’s greatsword cut through Urus from head to toe in one strike.
