Demon King's Will

As I bolted out of the training grounds, I wasn’t watching where I was going and slammed straight into someone. My forehead smacked hard against theirs, and I toppled backward, landing flat on my back.

“W-what’s with the running?” Akiko asked, holding her head.

“You’re here!” I said, surprised.

“Yeah, we did agree to meet up here.”

“…Right.”

“Sorry it took me a while to get here. I figured we should eat before training.”

“You’re right, I completely forgot about buying food. Wait, I used up all my money already.”

“Don’t worry about it. I picked something up before I got here.” She held up a bag, and an incredible aroma filled the air.

“That smell…”

“Yup, it’s wagyu.”

“You bought it for me?”

“Yeah. I still had a bunch of credits left after clearing out a store, so I figured, Why not?”

“Thank you so very much! I was wishing I could buy some.”

“No problem.”

We sat down on the ground and dug in. Each bite melted in my mouth: rich, buttery, almost divine. I knew this might be one of the few times I’d get to enjoy this kind of luxury, since most of my money would be going toward potions. But that didn’t stop me from savoring every bite of this moment.

“You’re the best, you know,” I said between mouthfuls.

“Th-thanks… you seem unusually upbeat right now. Is the food really that good?”

“Yes, and it’s not just the food. It’s thanks to you.”

“W-what me? I didn’t really do much. I just—”

“After telling you everything, it felt like a weight came off my shoulders. Everything feels lighter. It’s nice having someone like you around.”

“Oh…” Her face flushed bright red.

“Are you okay?” I leaned in, “You look a little red.”

“Y-yeah, I’m perfectly fine. The meat is just… kind of hot, or something.”

“Alright then, but let me know if you can’t finish that piece.”

She chuckled, “Sure. By the way, how many potions were you able to buy?”

“I got a hundred mana and health potions. I used up all my credits, so I’m pretty proud of this amount.”

“Oh uh, good job.”

“So how many did you get?”

“Just a little more than you…”

“And that is how much exactly?”

“Like… a thousand.”

…

“Oh, five hundred of each potion, right, g-good job.”

“More like a thousand of each.”

…

“And you still had money for food?”

“Y-yeah…”

…

“You damn rich people.”

“If it makes you feel any better, that was like half my allowance for this month.”

“Half your allowance… You damn nobles.”

After finishing our meal, we got straight into training. Akiko taught me the basics of the remaining ascended elements. Once I grasped the first one, the others clicked into place. Also, Gareth’s analogy of the hammer, chisel, and marble applied universally. The process was smoother than I expected, but mastery would take time.

We trained until nightfall, pushing ourselves until exhaustion made the stars blur above us. Then we decided to head back together. The plan was simple: I’d walk her to her dorm first, then return to mine. It was safer that way. I could heal myself quickly with a good amount of malif, while she couldn’t. On the walk back, we cycled celestial mana between us to stay alert. We did this for weeks, night after night, without sensing anything suspicious. Until one night—

“Akiko, you feel that?”

“Yeah.”

She instantly turned and raised her hands. “Michael’s Spear!” A radiant blast shot toward the shadows.

A man leapt out of the bushes and threw up a barrier spell. It absorbed Akiko’s attack, but it gave me the opening I needed. I appeared in front of him, and the moment Akiko deactivated his barrier with her ability, I drove my fist into his face. He flew backward.

“Shining Dragon Ryu!”

This attack was a new form of Ryu. It was infused with radiant mana packed tightly into its form. It wasn’t as explosive as before, but it was fast. Think of it like a bullet of light.

The man tried raising another barrier, but Akiko shut it down. My attack pierced straight through him.

“Did you get him?” Akiko asked.

“Yeah, but that might be a fatal blow. I need to heal him!”

“What?”

“He has information that I need. I can’t let someone like that die.”

I knelt by his side and pressed my hand over the wound. “C’mon, don’t die on me now.”

But something was wrong. The more mana I poured into him, the worse he got. His body convulsed as if rejecting my healing.

Shit, why isn’t this working? It’s like the more mana I use trying to heal him, the worse his condition gets.

“YAKUSEI, RUN!” Akiko shouted.

I looked at her, confused. “What?”

The man groaned, voice breaking. “You won’t… get anything out of me.”

Then I saw it. His body was glowing. It was unstable and overflowing with mana.

The mana in his body is unstable, and there’s too much of it.

“I’ll take you both down with me!”

I threw up a barrier, but his explosion tore through it like paper. The blast sent Akiko and me flying. I hit the ground hard, my lungs burning, ears ringing. Akiko was unconscious, her body limp.

“How weren't you able to deactivate his attack just now?” I muttered, staggering to her side.

Three figures suddenly appeared around us, their robes trimmed with lead along the sleeves and hems. An emblem stitched at the chest caught my eye, the head of a devil.

They look like devil worshippers.

I reached out and healed Akiko with malif, jolting her awake.

“We have to get out of here!”

She grabbed my hand and split-stepped us onto a nearby rooftop. But the men followed instantly.

No matter how many times we tried to escape, they matched our speed.

“We can’t keep running,” Akiko panted.

“I know,” I admitted. “Are you ready to turn?”

“Whenever you are.”

We stopped running. I drew my blade, filling it with primordial magic.

“Primordial Flame!”

Purple fire wrapped around the sheathed blade, heat warping the air. The moment I unsheathed, it erupted in a violent slash, catching the enemy off guard. Filling my blade with primordial magic.

This was another attack I developed. I just infused the primordial mana with a fire attack. It caused the fire to be even more powerful and glow a dark purple. I would wrap this fire around my blade while it was in its sheath, and when I pull out the blade, it should surprise the enemy with a slash of fire.

All three of them put up a barrier, and then Akiko activated her ability.

“New sun!”

Her ability had grown sharper since suppression training. She no longer just detonated barriers; now she could rewrite them into spells. My flame and her explosion collided against their defenses, blasting them backward.

“We can’t risk a repeat of last time. We have to kill them,” I said.

They crashed into the ground, and I leapt after them.

“Destructive Dragon Ryu!” This version of Ryu was infused with primordial magic, the goal was to cause as much destruction as possible on the target. They lived, but I could still sense their life force flickering.

“Just die already.” Three magic circles spun before me. “Shining Dragon Ryu!”

Three bullets for each of them should finish the job.

Three bullets rushed down toward them, but at the last second, they split-stepped away.

“This isn’t working,” one of them muttered.

“I agree. We’re really kicking your ass right now,” I said, pointing my sword. “No one has to die tonight. Just cooperate. Tell me who you are.”

I knew letting them live was risky, but I was desperate for answers. Who were they, what could they be planning, and what kind of magic were they using? That explosion from the first guy felt different and evil. But somehow familiar.

“That is where I disagree with you,” the man placed his hand on the backs of his allies. The lead man touched his allies’ backs. Their skin blackened, cracked, and withered. They screamed once and then disintegrated into dust.

It looked eerily similar to how Akiko died in my dream.

He must be connected to it.

“What the fuck did you just do?” I demanded.

“I just needed a little bit of power.”

“Powe—”

Before I could react, he appeared in front of me.

Was that a split step? No, I would’ve sensed the mana. Is he just that fast?

His fist smashed into my face, sending me sprawling.

This power… did he absorb his allies?

“You lightened the blow with earth attribute, cute…”

“Bastard!”

I swung, but he vanished again.

BOOM

Someone fell crashing beside me. It was Akiko.

“Damn, he got a lot stronger,” she said as she picked herself up. “You have any idea—”

He then appeared in front of us.

We both were able to split step out of the way, just barely. After reappearing, we both charged at him. Every punch, kick, or attack we threw at him, he was able to dodge and counter. But I wasn’t going to give up.

“Akiko! Keep your distance and fire that spell!” I shouted.

“No! You’re not able to keep up with him physically. He’ll destroy you.”

“Just trust me!”

She gritted her teeth but vanished, reappearing at range. “Fine. Don’t die on me!” After reappearing at a distance, Akiko raised her hands and shouted, “ Celestial Star!”

This was a new attack Akiko had created; it was a blizzard of radiant spheres, each one moving under her precise control. The technique demanded immense concentration, locking her in place, but the payoff was deadly. Every sphere was so densely packed with mana that a single direct hit could be fatal. She had taken inspiration from the compressed mana balls I used, but she had pushed the concept far beyond, turning it into a storm. Even against the barrage, he kept dodging, slipping through the gaps with incredible speed. But I noticed something, he was slowing down. The longer the fight dragged on, the heavier his movements became. I didn’t need to overpower him outright. All I had to do was outlast him. As the relentless storm continued, my blade finally started finding its mark. Small cuts, shallow slices at first, but each one chipped away at his defense. Akiko’s spheres landed too, striking harder as his dodges faltered. Then at last, I saw the opening I needed. I drove my sword straight into his chest, mana surging through me as I focused it into the blade.

“Runed Chains!”

This was a binding spell that was similar to Tsubaki’s vines. It would disrupt the flow of the mana of the target, making it impossible for them to split step out, and it would slowly drain the target’s mana, strengthening the binding power.

Black chains erupted from my blade, binding him, draining his mana, locking him in place.

“Akiko, do it!”

I yanked my blade free and vanished.

“Death of a Thousand Stars!”

All of the condensed balls of magic detonated, and the man seemed to get caught up in it.

As the dust settled, there was nothing left.

“Looks like we—”

Agony tore through my body. A blade had pierced me from back to front.

“Yakusei!” Akiko’s scream tore through the haze. Then, it cut off. I turned just in time to see a hand punch straight through her stomach. Blood poured from the wound, her body convulsing before she crumpled to the ground.

A purple barrier formed around me. The mana that was coming off of it felt strange; it felt powerful. The man’s voice was calm, almost tired. “I’m reaching my end… and I can’t win this. But at least I’ll take you with me.”

As I looked down at Akiko, she clutched her stomach with one trembling hand, the other raised weakly toward the barrier. Even like this, barely hanging onto life, she was still trying to deactivate it.

His body began to glow, mana surging violently, spiraling out of control.

He leaned close, his whisper colder than the steel inside me. “No one will stop the Demon King.”

BOOM!