Prologue

At the swing of my sword, I split open the visored helmet my enemy was wearing. By it, the face of my foe has been revealed to me.

Initially, the opening was blinding to look at. My instincts told me it was some form of spell that blinds an opponent via a flash of light. However, my eyes only took a few seconds to adjust to realize it was no magic.

The visage of my foe was simply bedazzling. It was more than fair with beauty that can rival any goddess of love and beauty from my old world.

I hadn’t realized this earlier that my opponent, the Demon Lord, is a woman!

She wore a long baggy black robe which hid her figure. Her face was obviously hidden behind the visor of her horned helmet, which likely had muffled her voice as well and made it sound deeper.

But, now that I have unlocked her face, it has unlocked something else as well. Something within me.

Like Pandora opening that infamous box, all these things that I have no knowledge of gushed out from within me. However, unlike what Pandora inadvertently unleashed onto the world, these things were not curses. Rather, they were warm, fuzzy and joyous feelings that I have never felt before.

With her helmet destroyed, the Demon Lord retreated, leaping backwards at a safe distance, out of reach from my broadsword.

Her long crimson hair settled down smoothly like a feather. It covered half of her face, but it didn’t hide her expression which visibly shows her displeasure. As to why, I can only guess, but it’s very likely due to the fact that I was close to slicing her head into two. Or, it could be her disheveled hair caused by wearing the helmet as she was patting her head with her free hand.

Her short pointed ears perked, showing she was still alert. Her flamberge rapier pointed towards me.

She was breathing through her mouth to control her breaths. The close call seemed to have caused her to panic a bit. This also revealed a cute set of fangs.

Her ruby red eyes made eye contact with me, piercingly stared at me, trying to get a read on me and awaiting my next move. As I looked back, I was lost in them. It was no hypnotism spell or something similar. It was simply something I wanted to look at all day if possible.

Unfortunately, sensing my lapse in focus, the Demon Lord made a step forward, which snapped me from my daydream.

The battle was still on, but I had already lost the will to continue. Or, rather, I found something else I wanted to fight for.

So, I raised an open hand forward with my palms facing her, indicating for her to stop, and shouted, “Wait, time out!”