Part 3

The adolescent girl stood there, glaring with visible contempt at the silenced lord, and with a somewhat, oddly, different slant at me. However, contrary to what I expected the reason for her intrusion would be, she continued,

"Spare me from the petty scuffle. Take your dogfight somewhere else or wait until I've left, I want no part in any fights over power."

Yeah, it was like that. I had reckoned she didn't want us to battle lest there would be some damage to the immediate surroundings, including the already almost collapsing castle, but in truth she merely didn't want to be bothered by it. It would have merely been an annoyance, a hassle, "petty" as she said.

"A-, but-" The lord's expression had turned awfully lenient with her arrival. He seemed to want say something, object to something, but apparently opted against it. "Most certainly Lady Tricia." He turned towards me and, now in vexation, uttered, "You, rabble, get lost unless you want to die!"

However, I paid no heed to the background murmuring, coming from the riled lord or my dismayed companion, I couldn't distinguish, but solely watched with some inscrutable longing at the delicate back of the departing petite womanchild, Lady Tricia, as she was addressed. With a minute rotation of her neck she glanced back and returned my gaze with her piercing upturned eyes. It was but an instant, however, the world did indeed stay still, and by some cryptic means the intercourse of our sights well communicated a profound understanding of both our inner realms.

"Wait!" I couldn't help but blurt out. The inexplicable attraction from earlier had been unraveled with that brief but somewhat passionate eye contact, and we both recognized the utility of collaboration. She halted in her steps, a magnetic smile on her face.

"Lady Tricia?" the current lord uttered in puzzlement.

"I've reconsidered," she declared, turning towards us. "Lord Arone, fight with that demon!"

"Huh? But why?"

"Does there have to be a specific reason? You know well that here everything is decided with power. Even you usurped this region under your rule by killing the previous lord, did you not? If someone contests for the position of lord, the only course of action would be combat, right?"

Thus we came to this situation. By request for a proper faceoff, generosity of Lady Tricia, the reason behind it was irrelevant to me, the town's rather shabby but still functional arena was procured, and here we were confronting each other, the lord at one end while I in the other. He was glaring daggers at me.

He had deemed it, probably, not necessary to change into battle equipment, or perhaps that robe of his provided some enhancements to strength and reinforcements to defense, similarly to my black vestments. Either way, he was opposing me still in his regal clothing, though one addition to his gear was that of a dark grey, glossy, and veined with vibrant blood-red lines, sword. Whereas my armor was my thus far impenetrable skin and my weapons were my razor-sharp bladed fingers and spear of a tail. Was I at a disadvantage, considering our respective equipment, mainly the weapon? There was no way to tell just yet, since we hadn't actually begun. And victory isn't solely dependent on the tools available. Namely, though in the dark about my opponent, I had magic at my disposal, which, according to my associate, wasn't that widespread, at least to the extent I was proficient in it.

However, you can't win by speculation and staredown either, so it was necessary for the battle to commence shortly. But just as I was charging up mana into my palm to shoot off a fireball, my opponent slashed the air in front of him with the sword and...

Huh? What the?

The world turned around, accompanied by a sharp pain in my upper body, or more specifically in my neck. With a spin my face hit the ground, I rolled slightly, and as I directed my gaze, I was staring at my body from under it. It was headless.

Huh, headless? Was I decapitated? Am I already dead?...

As the throughts ran through my detached head, comedically that possibleness was quite entertaining, I was overcome by a sense of impending doom. It was surreal, the whole situation. Because of the unnatural sensation of seeing my body from another perspective, yet at the same time still being aware, alive, I willed my body to move. For some odd reason, I had the urge to duck, and so I tried.

The discolored world returned to normal. I was crouching and the enemy was right in front of me, seemingly having just finished a sword swing. He was looking at me wide-eyed in surprise.

Though confused by what had just happened, I let my instincts guide me and retaliated with an uppercut from my position. But he managed to evade it, though by just a hair's breadth. As expected from a demon capable of keeping his reign over a territory, he's certainly strong.

I backstepped and gained a bit of distance between us.

While grimacing, the lord said,

"To have broken out of the illusion, impressive..."

Illusion? Was that what it was? But there I was, alive and well, and my head firmly attached to where it belongs. Still, I wonder what would have happened if I didn't dodge. I mean, would the sword have cut? Better not count on the toughness of my skin, just in case.

But there was no time for pondering, as the lord dashed forth, kicking dust off the ground, and came in for another strike.

It was no illusion this time.

I targeted my hand at him and chantlessly, it was almost a reflex, generated a force field between us. However, even if only for a moment he was startled, he was still a demon lord, so he halted his advance and made a right angle turn instantaneously.

I evaded the attempted slash to my side now already almost effortlessly. I was getting used to his speed and was getting the rhythm of the battle down.

So, how do I approach this?

Do I continue with trying to gain distance and using magic to fight? Though I could've used some close range spells, I didn't know many of those, just a few utility ones actually. But the opponent's speed made him immediately cover the ground I gained by backstepping, so it wasn't that viable of an option. Still...

I decided on a few more attempts to make this at least midrange combat, where I'd certainly have a bit more of an advantage.

The duel continued as I then waited for the right moment.

He slashed horizontally and I evaded it. There was quite a lot of momentum behind that strike, apparent from wind blade that followed. Luckily, there was no magic in the latter, but the sword would have surely managed to cut into me, were it to land a clean hit.

If precise attacks would be dodged, I thought, then I should perhaps use something with a shockwave or even an area of effect magic all the more. Or, maybe a magical weapon? That's an interesting idea, why didn't I think of it earlier. Ah, yes, I'd have to create such a spell first.

While I was thinking how I'd go about it, before the lord managed to close the distance made from the previous attack, I swiped my hand in front of me and fired a continuous flame out in a horizontal arc, like a flamethrower. He jumped to evade it, but he was a tad bit too late and was burned slightly on his legs.

After landing, he didn't retaliate immediately. Instead he looked in alarm at his legs and then at me with a threatening, yet cautious expression, and he became much more prudent, too.

It seemed to me that the instant and chantless casting of magic was of great concern to him, as if he hadn't encountered it before. Maybe my magic proficiency really was a class or ten above the average, as Lessa'El had commented before. Still, by all means it was to my advantage.

The retreat created an opening for me to use a more complicated spell, though for me it was still almost effortless.

Crouching, I placed my palm on the ground. The earth rumbled and a small shockwave surged forth towards the lord. The effect wasn't perceptible, but it had actually manifested already.

He looked at his feet in confusion and before he comprehended my intention, the earth dropped from under him into a five meter chasm below. I had hollowed the ground beneath him to trap him.

However, yet again it was useless. When the puff of sand settled and I was about investigate the result, a tornado formed inside the hole, lifting the lord up very quickly. He attempted to strike from above – using the momentum gained from the push of the wind, he flew directly towards me. Fast!

I jumped to the side and rolled away.

"You're quite good with magic," he said, almost growling, as a small pause appeared between the back and forth attacks.

"Thank you, you're quite good with the sword yourself." I was not one to flaunt, so I replied humbly, though in return he scowled, as if I had been shameless instead. Or perhaps he just didn't like my face... That may be it, too.

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I glanced to the sides. The intriguing woman, who I'd later insist on having a comprehensive chat with about the mysteriously conveyed figments of our motives and intentions, Lady Tricia to my left and my cherished friend, if it's appropriate to already call her as such, a half-elven, half-demon girl named Lessa'El to my right. If a week of travelling were to have any meaning, we'd certainly formed some sort of bond, a companionship.

So, cheer for me, okay?

Well, seems that deviating your attention towards women, and to happily, all smiles ask for mental support -to which I must note that she curiosly averted her eyes, all the while blushing faintly-, in the middle of a battle between men was far from honorable. Or perhaps it was due to something else, but either way my opponent's frown intensified to the extent of a first-rate diabolic expression.

Heh, get it? A demon and diabolic... Anyway...

Woah!

He really must not have liked that, using such a preemptive attack. Well, the battle has been going on for some time now, so it should be considered a normal attack.

In truth, I had been holding back, to some extent at least. In the sense that, while the lord was undoubtedly both strong physically, as seen from the fierce slashes and stamina intensive relentless onslaught, and skillful with the sword, judging by the quick and precise strikes, his abilities weren't great enough to make me unable to perceive and keep up with his attacks. I could see his movements, and though it wasn't as slow as the werewolves' back in the day, I still comfortably had time to plan my next actions in advance.

So, why not take it up a notch?

After dodging five consecutive slashes, noting the end of the combo as I had memorized it, I exploited the ever so slight opening in between, as I rapidly and forcefully created a spherical magic shield around me and then immediately, though its original effect was meant to absorb projectile attacks, poured another enormous amount of mana into it, making it explode outward.

The generated shockwave smashed into the lord and propelled him up into the air and over 10 meters away. As he landed somewhat bumbling, perhaps due to having been taken off-guard by the spell, I had by then prepared my next attack. It was a combination of spells, actually. To my sides appeared two floating orbs – one blue, water attribute, a floating ball of water, the other bluish purple, crackling, lightning attribute, something like a charged crystal orb.

Like a waterhose, the blue orb started spraying vast amounts of water towards the lord. He just stepped aside. Harmless by itself, the water by itself was just one part of the plan, and the lord recognized it, seeing as the water flooded all the ground around him not soaking into the soil, while the lightning orb remained yet to be used.

Hastily he jumped away backward out of the water. However, to his misfortune, he exactly fell into the trap I had laid. Another part of the plan included the usage of a spell manipulating earth. Concurrently with the two orbs to my sides, I had spawned a multitude of orbs with the earth attribute, or dirtballs simply, just behind the lord, but mindfully out of his field of view. And when he was about to jump, they formed into spears and struck into the ground, blocking his retreat and structuring into half of a prison.

So, the lord's only way of movement was forward, towards me. However, that required traversing through a sizable puddle, all the while electricity was ready to discharge into the pool from my side.

What will you do?

But, of course, I didn't wait for his reaction, as I straightforwardly shot the lightning both towards the mass of water and towards him. It was called Dual Casting – gathering mana and using two spells at once, something that by Lessa'El's introduction to magic was supposed to be fairly difficult and complicated, considering that spells usually required an incantation. Well, I was already, what, octa casting? With the two orbs to my sides and the rest behind the lord, that is...

He could only jump. But that, too, was in vain, as the lightning bolt's trajectory adjusted in the middle and coursed right at him. He was hit by the full brunt of the magic attack. Sizzling, he limply plummeted to the ground.

Oops? Did I use too much power?

Worried that I might have aimlessly extinguished a life, I went to check on him. The thing was, I was reluctant to kill, but not because of some senseless conviction for the sanctity of life, but rather due to him possessing more merit and utility while alive. At least I presumed as such – he had been the lord of this area for some time, so he should have had some overview over the workings and state of the place. Unfortunately, well, he was fried, deep-fried...

"Well done... Both you and him..."

One of the spectators, Lady Tricia approached me with uncalled-for humor. Well, what is done is done.

"Having defeated the current lord, the throne now belongs to you," she declared.

There wasn't much to it, seizing the position had been my objective in the first place. Now just to get my plans going, but first...

"If I may," I began, "would you care enough to introduce yourself? Earlier some acute interest in you arose, so I would very much like to make your acquintance. My name is Hax, a demon, by the way."

When wanting to know someone's name, it's appropriate to introduce yourself first.

"Hmm, yes, likewise. The name's Tricia," her mouth forming into a captivating smile, "It is indeed rather curious how earlier some of your hidden, more private motives seemed to have been somehow revealed to me. I somewhat presume that the same happened to you?" She said, slightly questioningly, but also with a speck of reluctance and regret. Noone probably prefers to have their thoughts openly revealed, even if it's to the extent of just an idea, as was this time. However, this time it came out benign, or even propitious.

"Indeed," I responded, but following that my curt reply caused a somewhat awkward pause to result. We kept gazing deep into each other's eyes, looking for and trying to comprehend the reason for that named phenomenon. It proceeded to create a fuzzy, pink atmosphere, quaintly, and if not for the desirable intrusion by the third person present, I don't know how this situation would have evolved.

"Ahem!" Lessa'El faked a cough to extract us from our two-person private world.

"Ah-, yeah, sorry about that," I apologized. "Now, where were we... Ah, yes, nice to meet you, Lady Tricia. Do I call you that, or how should I address you?"

"Just Tricia is fine."

"And this here is Lessa'El," I introduced the person beside me, "my travelling companion, and also my retainer." Those were the official standings.

"Before we get down to any discussion, we should change location," Tricia proposed and started heading for the exit of the arena.

"Follow me," she said, so we did. "... I'll mention that, while the position of a lord is authorative, the rank of this territory is of the lowest, and the position of lord is also of the lowest rank. But I, however, have quite a high-ranking position in one of the kingdoms, so for the moment I'll assume control to avoid any inconviences. I don't think that's of any bother?"

It wasn't. Actually, it was rather fortuitous to have initially someone else assume control until I get an overview of the state of affairs. Besides, the place was quite decrepit, and there weren't many guards or such either, just the few on posts, but no patrols.

So we made our way back to the deteriorating castle.

The guard there amazingly was just slightly surprised by our return, but without his lord -yeah, we just left the body there, Lady Tricia said not to mind-. He seemed open-minded about it, or perhaps oppositely he was unconcerned by the change in leadership. Tricia's company no doubt had an effect on it.

However, contrary to the outer appeareance of the castle, the inside was well kept. Well-lit by chandeliers, opulent carpets, intricate sculptures, gilded wares of all kinds on display. It's not the appearance, but what's inside that matters, was it? What does this kind of balance say about the previous lord?

The throne room was extensively luxuriant – but rather than a throne and the court, the room was smaller, a long rectangular gold-lined mahogany table in the middle, towards one end of which an extravagant throne was placed. But for now, the office for our conference.

- - -

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