I pulled myself out from under the rock and stretched my neck, wincing in pain. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken, and I wasn't paralyzed. Without access to Perfect Me, I wouldn't have been able to heal such injuries.

"Are you okay, Master Kon?!" Carpy rushed over, wrapping himself around me and creating a water barrier.

"Give me the other sword," I said. When Kidomaru kicked me, I had dropped my cursed sword, which now lay between us. Retrieving it directly was risky, and even Carpy's attempt to use his water to grab it would likely be futile since Kidomaru wouldn't simply allow us to take back the weapon.

However, I had recently obtained another weapon, one with a volatile nature that I kept sheathed inside Carpy's stomach. Carpy was a cute fish bro, but he was still a demon and things like this didn’t hurt him.

Carpy opened his mouth, and I reached in to grab the handle of the other sword. As soon as I tried to retrieve it, a familiar wave passed over us, and I noticed Carpy frozen in place. I didn't move either and held my ground.

This sensation was identical to what I had experienced when Bets pushed me away—an Age Line Ability that restricted movement to those below a certain age. It was unlikely to be Kidomaru's own special ability; my best guess was that it was a power bestowed by a magical item, possibly the spiked bat.

Taking a deep breath, I focused on my surroundings, remaining motionless. With each step Kidomaru took, my heartbeat quickened. This was my opportunity for a counterattack! I can’t fuck it up!

However, it was a big risk. I no longer appeared as a fifteen-year-old, so Kidomaru might assume I was unaffected by the age restriction. Alternatively, it might be difficult for a demon like him to accurately gauge someone's age, especially since he had spent most of his life in demon lands.

I leaned toward the latter possibility. If my assumption proved wrong, and Kidomaru exploited this situation, I would undoubtedly sustain fatal injuries—perhaps I would even die.

Click… Clack… Click…

The sound of his footsteps was like a ticking clock. I swallowed nervously, feeling the cold sweat on my back.

As Kidomaru came within reach, I drew my sword. Time seemed to slow down, and I could see his eyes widening. Leaving the sheath inside Carpy's stomach, I pulled out a blazing sword, hoping it hadn't burned Carpy's mouth on its way out.

Before Kidomaru could dodge, the blazing sword sliced him from his left shoulder to his hip. He screamed in pain, clutching his wounds, but the burning had already cauterized the wound, leaving no chance for healing.

"O-Otakemaru's weapon?" Kidomaru looked confused, his mouth agape with realization dawning on him. He was starting to piece together what could have occurred on the battlefield.

Seizing the opportunity, I aimed for his only eye. However, he managed to dodge, so I swiftly turned my sword around and cut at his Achilles tendons above the back of his foot.

Kidomaru landed on the ground after his jump and immediately fell to his knees. "Huh?"

It seemed that the humanoid ogre's anatomy resembled that of a human enough for injuries like this to affect him. Since the flaming sword had cauterized the wound, he should be plagued by that injury for the remainder of the fight.

He had the option to crush his own legs and regenerate new ones, but with his tough skin, it would require considerable effort. We both knew that if he were distracted for that long, I would decapitate him.

Kidomaru raised his bat, and I crouched down. I remained cautious, knowing that any battle could change in a split second, just as it had between Kidomaru and me before.

His spiked bat descended, aimed at my legs. However, it struck the ground, causing cracks to spread throughout the arena. I felt the floor beneath me give way, and suddenly I was airborne.

Damn it! There was another floor below us!

In the chaos, Kidomaru disappeared from sight, despite my frantic glances.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

"Carpy!" I called out. He remained wrapped around me defensively, swiftly using water blades to slice any boulders that came too close for comfort.

I was about to ask him where the demon was when the castle suddenly shook. Without even catching a glimpse of Kidomaru, I knew he had just struck the foundation. Cracks rapidly spread along the walls, reaching all the way up to the castle, which came crashing down.

Damn it, even Carpy can’t handle those massive falling rocks!

***

Anika's worry had propelled her to follow Kon when he abruptly ran off from the camp. She hadn’t, as an example, been stalking him and trying to calculate how to break the ice and start a conversation. That would be crazy… and she wasn’t crazy.

"Why are we stalking him?" Sei inquired as they sat on the wooden part of one of his floating mirrors, the mirror's reflective side aimed downward.

"My levitation strings aren't fast enough to keep up with a high-class flying demon like Kon’s," Anika defended herself. "Besides, we had to remain beyond the reach of his demon’s sensory range, which is super far."

"Alright, but you still haven't answered my question," Sei shrugged.

Leaving Agon in capable hands with Gem, Anika wasn't concerned about her other teammate. However, she feared that Kon might act recklessly. While he wasn't known for impulsive actions, everyone had vulnerable moments.

Plus if she saved his life… Well… He would definitely feel indebted and fall head-over-heels for her!

"Do you like him?" Sei probed during their wait. “Also, stop chuckling creepily.”

"I don't have feelings for Kon; I'm merely concerned for a comrade," Anika asserted. "He needs more than good looks to impress me!"

"I never mentioned Kon specifically," Sei smirked. Anika glared at him, prompting Sei to raise his hands in surrender and withdraw. But after a brief silence, he added, "By the way, 'good looks'? I don’t think he can be called handsome. He's average, maybe slightly above average."

"And you look like a female prostitute, but I don't go around commenting on it," Anika retorted.

In her eyes, Kon remained handsome, regardless of what others might say.

Sei frowned. "You know I'm trying to help-"

"Fine," Anika cut him off. "Then help me by shutting up."

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion reverberated, causing Shuten Doji's castle in the distance to shake violently. Cracks fissured through it, and eventually, it collapsed, bringing down the mountain it was built on as well.

"Kon!" Anika shouted, and Sei's mirror swiftly moved toward the castle. His silver hair glistened, and Anika thought she glimpsed a phantom fluffy tail behind him, though that was the least of her concerns right now.

As they approached the castle, only rubble of stone and giant boulders remained.

Anika was about to descend and cut the stones with her strings, but before she could, the mirror moved toward the distant shore.

"What are you doing?!" she asked, her anger evident and a scowl forming on Sei's face.

Ignoring her, Sei narrowed his eyes and whispered, "I sense something there."

"Don’t try to act like a Blaster. We have better things to do, like saving Kon!" Anika retorted.

Despite her protest, Sei pulled her towards the shore, where an injured ogre demon crawled through the sand. His broken limbs and a trail of blood indicated his emergence from a distant cave.

Yet, something hindered the demon's regeneration, and his healing abilities were weakened. "Curse that snake, that two-tailed cat, and that brat. If only I weren't injured like this…"

Anika recognized the demon as Kidomaru, Shuten Doji's son. Seeing him crawling away from the rubble filled her with unease. Determined to stay vigilant, her strings transformed into a white dress, channeling her emotions into focused energy.

{White Bride}

Approaching the demon, Anika's strings struck his arms repeatedly, chopping them off in a flurry of rapid blows. Kidomaru grunted and could no longer move.

Suddenly, another rumbling echoed from the cave, and a bloodied, scale-ravaged creature emerged—a dragon-like being. However, what shocked them even more was the sight of a human next to the demon. Leaning on the creature, he had one leg crushed like an empty tube of toothpaste.

It was Kon, and his appearance was disheveled. Despite the loss of one eye, his sharp gaze radiated an unyielding wrath kept hidden within.

He gazed at the fallen Kidomaru and smiled, a chilling sight with blood staining his appearance. "It appears even you couldn't escape that ordeal unscathed. For a moment, I feared you had fled."

Anika's heart pounded painfully, and a swarm of butterflies fluttered in her stomach, making her feel slightly lightheaded.

"Are you alright? You're bleeding from your nose," Sei remarked.

Anika nodded. "Yeah, I've never felt better."

Defeating an ultimate-class demon was one thing, but driving it away in fear was something else. “He looks so heroic…”

“I think you need to get some glasses,” Sei muttered under his breath.