Yuro's fire

The demon stood in front of me, menacingly. His creepy, bright smile sent tingles down my spine.

I took a couple of steps back, unaware of Yuro’s next attack. What was he plotting? What’s his power?

Captain Yuro lifted his left arm. He landed a strong punch on me. My mind was not fast enough to see the attack. Thankfully, my body reacted and blocked the attack with the Tri-Carver.

The punch drove slightly above the dirt, disintegrating the ground in its path. The citizens standing in the crossfire desperately ran to safety. Even with my sword, it sent me several meters back.

Yuro laughed, amazed by the distance I made. “Wow, that was a good block!”

My hands trembled after feeling the effect of Yuro’s strike. For some reason, the Tri-Carver was scorching hot.

“You should let me hit you!” Yuro insisted. “It’s only fair since I gave you a free shot.”

I focused my attention on Yuro’s arms. I needed to understand his power.

Yuro drew back his fist, focusing his mana into his hand. After he'd charged his mana, he chanted the name of his attack as he unleashed another punch into the air. “Blazed Punch!”

His concentrated mana flew freely in the air like fire, with a deep red color.

So fast! Despite seeing the attack, I could only graze past it, burning the tips of my black hair. It was like a physical punch that hit the house behind me, setting the wooden planks on fire as it blew away, just like the big bad wolf.

“Fire!”

The elves shouted for water. The females rushed towards the well to collect water. Then, they passed the buckets to the male elves, who used them to douse the fire.

I snapped my neck at Yuro in shock. “How did you do that?!”

“I use my fire magic to throw a punch.”

Fire!? That was not fair! How could I compete with something like fire? I couldn’t defend myself against actual fire!

He could forget about me giving him a free hit. If I got hit by that, I would die!

Yuro pressured me with a barrage of fire punches. I must stay focused. He couldn’t be that much stronger than me. I defeated the king! This should be easy!

I scurried around the village, dodging and blocking with the Tri-Carver, trying to close the gap.

“Wow, this is so much fun!” The demon burst into laughter, attacking me with joy.

I thought I was overconfident, but this playful demon took the cake.

Amada and the girls spectated from a distance. Sweat formed on their worried faces. Anojin, on the other hand, smirked, seeing me running around like a stray cat.

…

I double-gripped the Tri-Carver and continued to swing it around aggressively.

Garlan explained that I was unteachable when it came to fighting. My footwork was poor, but it worked in my favor. It didn't feel like I had any rhythm in my movement. Instead, it just came naturally to me.

My unorthodox style of fighting distracted Captain Yuro from landing any more punches.

The smile remained on the demon’s face. “Wow, I can’t hit you! Keep going!” he strangely encouraged me.

Why was he motivating me to keep fighting? Also, I’m blocking his attacks, yet he still had an annoying grin on his face. Ugh, did he ever get mad at anything?

After a brutal minute of dodging, I finally sensed an opening. I charged forward with another attack.

Yuro noticed my change in direction and gasped with joy. He stopped his barrage and charged up one heavy punch.

I responded by charging a slash of my own.

As we met, our attacks collided. A powerful gust of wind shredded the environment around us.

“Wow, you’re pretty strong, Satori!” Yuro exclaimed. “Not like the old days, but you still got it!”

The nearby elves held on to something to avoid being blown away. Anojin dropped his shield in front of him, shielding the girls from the aftershock.

The weight of his punch loosened my grip on my sword. I could feel myself losing the tug of war. Captain Yuro had the same thought and deliberately drew his punch away.

I pulled myself together before I fell forward. However, Yuro used his battle experience and took advantage of the situation.

Before I could notice, Yuro released another heavy punch. I blocked it with the sword. However, the impact of the strike forced me to drop the sword. Without wasting a single second, Yuro wound up another punch.

My body instinctively lifted my arms to tank the attack. The punch launched me away, crashing into a concrete house.

The house’s frame remained intact, though the front wall had a large hole carved into it. I lay above the debris as small pieces of the ceiling and rocks fell on me. Luckily, no one was in the house when it was destroyed.

The quietness was deafening. Only the sound of debris crumbling filled the air. Amada and the others couldn't see me inside the house because of the dust and smoke leaking out.

The captain of the demon king’s army stood his ground and happily gazed towards me, waiting patiently for me to show myself.

After a moment of no response, I dragged my body and emerged from the smoke, hugging the wall of the hole.

That demon’s strength was no joke. I did not expect him to be this powerful. If he really was this strong, why did the King reject him constantly? I completely judged this guy because of the King! Curse that stupid, jealous royal jerk for clouding my judgment with his nonsense!

I glanced at Yuro, taking note of his cheerful demeanor.

He would have had a run for his money fighting this captain. So how come this demon was so respectful despite being that strong?

I lacked the battle experience Yuro had. Winning this battle would be nearly impossible.

Realizing my defeat was close, I pondered a plan. I needed to come up with a plan. I needed to exploit the demon’s weakness. Only… he didn’t have any flaws in his fighting. The only thing bad about him… was his childish behavior.

After talking to myself, the gears in my brain suddenly started to rotate.

Hold on… I could use that to my advantage. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it was the only option I had left.

…