Silvia and the shadow demon were still battling as Ark confronted the demon in the forest.

She had a slight disadvantage as the alley was covered in shadows and she had to exercise caution and be mindful of the surroundings. Even still, Silvia with the primordial wind should have overwhelmed the demon with ease.

The problem was the nature of shadow demons. They were originally cowards hiding in the shadows, but this heinous bastard was even worse, jumping at all the closest civilians.

Prolonging the battle so long caused doubts to arise. Silvia was vaguely aware of the attack at the gate, but she felt something was still missing.

"Keke, you are fast! But shadows are even faster."

The demon kept leaping from one shade to another, making it impossible to attack him. A frustrating opponent. His provocation had little effect though, as Silvia's brain was racked trying to comprehend the entirety of the situation.

The first large scale demon assualt in decades. It can't be trivial or shallow. They must've had a goal.

A frontal attack is suicidal, considering the number of enemies. It is asinine to underestimate the commanders. Unless, that isn't the main goal.

But if not, what is?

"Urg, this is annoying!"

At this rate, she will lose. Ark had defeated a gluttony demon so Silvia couldn't afford to lose in front of a mere shadow demon.

Summoning her primordial wind indiscriminately, the alley covered in shadows was drowned in silver light and gusts. The demon was blown out of the shadows, coughing blood.

Her rapier pointed at his throat.

"Surrender."

"Keke, you shouldn't hesitate to kill in battle, little girl."

Using the innate strength of demons, the demon escaped and leaped to the nearest shadow. There is no sign of him returning.

Had she killed him without hesitation, he couldn't have escaped. Silvia sighed at her immaturity, swearing to show mo mercy were they to meet a second time.

Covered in wind, Silvia flew up the sky and viewed the situation. The commanders were controlling the battle and were on the verge of victory.

"Wendy?"

Her comrade in the knight order seemed upset. The weapon in her hand was not her normal custom-made sword but a borrowed one.

Descending, Wendy changed expression and greeted Silvia.

"Miss Silvia! A brute stole my sword!"

"What?! Was it a demon?"

Another demon infiltrated, or was it the same one?

"He said he was Ark, and claimed a commander in the forest is under attack."

Ark? He is here?

No, before that. An attack.

The commander of the Peregrine Knight Order was out with some knights to thin the monsters in the forest.

"A diversion!"

"W-wait, Miss!"

However, she was already on her way, rising beneath the clouds. Casting the relatively complex auxiliary spell Hawk's Eye to improve sight, she scanned the ground.

The demon ambushing Ark didn't detect her from afar, and she also bypassed him oblivious to him. Finally, she found Sirius.

Bloody, ragged. He knelt in at the ground panting.

"Commander Sirius!"

Descending to the ground combat ready, her rapier slashed at the enemy.

There was only one demon. His hair ashen white, his skin covered by lines of black, evidence of darkness erosion.

"Thanks for coming, little lady, but I don't think you can defeat this guy. You should escape." Sirius' usual smile felt weak at this moment.

Silvia ignored him. The enemy didn't feel particularily dangerous, but she wasn't foolish enough to drop her guard.

A knight rushed to support Sirius. They seemed to stand guarded but didn't move, perhaps due to their commander's orders.

"You cannot defeat me, Sylphid. Just as this pathetic man and his weak subordinates."

"We'll see about that!"

Charging to attack, an arc of sword connected smoothly to a thrust. The rapier impaled the enemy's shoulder who couldn't react.

No, something was wrong.

She definitly saw the rapier penetrating the shoulder.

But there was no resistance.

"Too slow, Sylphid."

He appeared behind her, thrusting his weapon. Twisting her body, Silvia managed to dodge a fatal wound, but her side was torn.

Choking down the pain, she raised a whirlwind trying to push him away.

It didn't work.

The wind had no effect, and he continued his ruthless onslaught.

"Kekeke! Is this all you got, wench? So weak."

Every time Silvia mustered her spirit and wind to attack, he was either completely unaffected or jumped to her side, tearing more flesh and shedding more blood.

Bored, he aimed at Silvia's leg tendons and caused her to collapse.

"W-what are you? Unaffcted by physical attack... even spirit and magic aren't working..." Her sight became blurry. She lost too much blood.

"Not telling." The demon smiled wickedly.

Poising his sword against her throat, he intended on finishing her first.

"Goodbye."

"Not on my watch!"

Limping and bleeding, the commander still had pride and dignity to maintain. He couldn't let the girl who came to their help die.

He rushed to shield Silvia, eyes flaring with resolve. "Take her and escape! Do whatever you can to escape and report the situation! I will hold him off!"

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Just a minute ago, he had suffered crushing defeat at the mysterious demon's hands, but he had the duty as commander to protect his people.

Using water magic, he healed some of his wounds. He carried Silvia away to his subordinates while shouting at them to leave.

He was ready to die in this place.

"Annoying. I planned to kill you after the Sylphid, but seeing your eagerness to die, I will kill you first!"

This greatly frustrated Silvia. She had come to save the commander, not the other way around. Rather than defeating the enemies, she lost and just made herself a vulnerable target.

All her powers became useless in front of this demon's peculiar power.

"Commander!"

"No, commander!"

The knights shouted. They also were too weak to interfere. They also learned frustration.

The clash between the two was short. Sirius once again knelt before the demon, now without hope of being saved again. The demon lowered the sword at threatening speed.

"No... Wind Blast!"

A last struggle from the prideful Sylphid. But the sword didn't even slow at all.

Sirius is going to die.

Clang.

The demon frowned. "The Sylphid came from the air, but how did you pass Zoltan? Did he fall asleep?"

Standing there was a man who shouldn't be there. He blocked the sword that both she anr Sirius couldn't block.

"Was that his name? I don't know, I killed him in two seconds, him and his friend."

Ark had come to the rescue with the smile of a hero.

◇◇◇

(Damn Silvia. She couldn't even finish that shadow demon.)

Contrary to the heroic smile and bravado, Ark was already burned out. It was all because an unexpected reinforcement came, and killing him while rushing became far more taxing than he planned to bear.

He glanced at the demon facing him. "Wanna tell me your name? Unless you want to die nameless."

A demon that defeated both the Sylphid and a commander. Ark had no confidence at his current state, but he would fight even if he had to overdo it again.

After all, Silvia still had plenty magic power left. Worst case scenario, he will synchronize with her.

"Arrogant guy, I will soil the earth with your blood."

"Yeah, yeah. Catch!" Ark thew his weapon and took Sirius' sword.

Without attempting to dodge, the sword passed through the smirking demon and shattered on the floor.

It was worn out from the previous battle due to the specific means so he needed another one. A true Sword Killer.

His enemy could phase through solid matter. It's troublesome but Ark had confidence he could hit him despite that.

...

(Huh!?)

The demon appeared behind him. "Enjoy the af.. ku!"

Reacting at the exact instance, Ark elbowed the demon in the gut, then swiftly pivoted and slashed diagonally.

A cut on the cheek appeared at the supposedly untouchable demon.

(Oi oi, his intent is flaring like crazy, but he is way weaker than expected. His instantaneous movement is useless if he declares about the location to the whole world.)

"H-How!? I'm not supposed to be touched!" He was clearly dismayed.

"Tough luck, bud. I'm a bad match for you."

Ark quietly activated Aqua Potentia focused on reflexes and storms at the agitated enemy. With attacks that can cause damage, the demon who is unacustomed to the act of evasion accumulated injuries as the battle went on.

He had tried leaping to catch Ark off guard, but was countered at every time. The option of offense only brought more injuries to himself, as Ark dodged effortlessly.

(Hehe, his intent is like revealing your card at poker.)

Ark faced a peculiar demon. Whenever he did some outrageous act that defied logic, it was thoroughly detected by intent. Ark could read his opponent's actions with a never felt before clarity.

It forced him to concentrate, but his reaction speed was more than enough to deal with the demon who didn't know how to fight without his intangibility.

"Is he... winning?"

"I think so. The demon is getting pushed back."

The knights who retreated viewed the battle from afar, only to see the tables turned. Sirius and Silvia were also shocked.

It wasn't a particularily fast battle. The demon teleported here and there, but all the attacks were done at a visible speed.

Still, the way Ark domintated the battle was incredible. As if the demon's every action were seen through, a sword was already pointed at the demon when he appeared after teleporting.

All of the demon's attack were gracefully dodged or parried, and counters continued to injure him. Like a child fighting an adult.

"The boy is more ridiculous than I realized." Sirius muttered underneath his breath.

"Yeah... more than we realized."

As Silvia's misunderstanding deepened further, the demon had had enough.

She realized Ark had exhausted himself fighting two demons and could still fight against another. Although true, the motives of heroism and chivalry that she saw weren't there.

"Who are you? How can you attack me!?"

"My name is Ark. I suggest do a better job planning next time, 'cause your plan failed the moment I came into the picture."

"Ark? I will remember it. I am Qin of the Wraith tribe, serving the Immortal Dark Star. I will honor the one I serve."

A wraith. They weren't living being with a flesh but a phantom with awareness. Besides that Ark didn't know much.

No wonder Ark, who always uses Phantom one way or another could injure Qin. Ark had naturally learned to contact the soul.

But Qin still had cards to play. The black pattern disappeared. He hazed, storming at Ark like a gust of wind. Phasing in, nothing came out of Ark.

{So this is your mind? It's lamer than I thought.}

He was inside Ark's mind.

"The wraith is trying to take over your body!" Sirius shouted as he realized the situation. "You must fight it!"

The situation looked bleak for Ark. A wraith didn't often make am attempts to possess a body, but were masters at corrupting their targets to their will.

Ark didn't respond. He didn't even move.

{What? No, no no no! What is that monstrous mind? This can't be human! Stoppppp...!}

(It's called training. You should try it sometimes.)

"Yeah, I managed to secure a prisoner. That must be good." Smiling, Ark said.

"How do we know it's you? If the wraith took over..."

"He would quickly be defeated anyways. I am beat, can barely move. Just heal yourselves and I can take that guy out of my mind, in the literal sense."

Saying so, Ark collapsed on the ground searching for air. His mana is depleted and spirit isn't properly responding, but he killed two demons and imprisoned one in his mind.

(As expected, I'm the fricking best!)

But as he is still on with his nonsense, he should be just fine.

As for Qin, even he couldn't hear Ark's true voice. He was shoved to the darkest reaches of the mind inside a well sealed cage, so he couldn't perceive anything.

Sirius sighed with amazement, and Silvia's gaze was complicated. They both felt the birth of a young hero that day.

That day became known as the starting episode of the battle against the present day demons, and in spite of many injured, there were no casualties. A great start.

◇◇◇

"So, in light of your achievements of single-handiedly defeating two of the vile demons, as well as protecting Commander Sirius' life, I shall grant you the status of Sword of Arcadia. Do you accept?"

"It is my honor, Your Majesty."

The kneeling Ark felt solemn. He gracefully responded to the king like a noble while maintaining a dignified voice.

(This status is dog shit. I ain't getting actual benefits from this other than fame. At least give me money you stingy geezer!)

And... he ruined it.

"Congradulations Ark. You have done well." Elizabeth, floating as always, came to congradulate Ark as he was dismissed back to the banquet. "I'm really proud of you."

"Thanks."

"I did some research about this whole wraith tribe. There were some inconsistencies, but I have an inkling about how to imprison him. Drop by the prison dungeon and we'll have him out of you."

"No problem."

That was it about the prisoner for now. Ark relayed the wraith Qin followed someone called Immortal Dark Star but that was a dead end.

It seems this is all far from over just yet.

(But seriously, what a bunch of hypocrites.)

To his surprise, the commanders all gave him a friendly greeting. Considsring how they wanted to throw him to jail, and how obvious they were faking it, Ark marked those as people to ignore and avoid in the future.

Some were sincere, though.

"I don't trust nor like you, but I must thank you for protecting my comrade and subordinate." Commander Julius said.

He was strict but surprisingly a good guy.

Just, Ark was too petty to let him go off the hook. Inwardly, at least.

"No problem. Ah, I kinda ruined one of your knights' sword. If needed, I will personally come to compensate..."

"No need, I will pay for it myself. Consider it an act of gratitude for saving Miss Clarent."

(Keke, knew you would do that. Just as planned! Man, I'm as smart as that guy with the killing diary...)

Death n○te, and how do you even know about that, you human trash!?

"Were is she, by the way?"

"She was called to the duke's house, who could not attend due to internal affairs." Julius looked coldly at Ark when he added, "please refrain from courting ladies above your status."

He left, leaving Ark slightly irritated.

(Refrain from having your subordinate asking me for a date first!)

Did he still held a grudge because of a date with a cute girl? What an asshole.

As the banquet continued, Ark unexpectedly found himself bombarded with nobles trying to introduce their daughters to him. They must want to ride on his boat, thinking him being the youngest Sword of Arcadia status means he has a bright future.

Only low and mid-level nobles. The higher ups barely glanced at him.

Although the demon that nearly killed Sirius was classified as 'unique,' thus it was branded as good compatibility, it was still unclear how exactly Ark defeated the two demons.

Their corpses were found bisected with severe internal damage throughout the body. Ark had refused to explain, and not much could be done to know what happened.

Now they were slightly weary of him, but nothing could be done to those under the Sage's protection.

"Sir Ark, come here for a moment." The king requested, so he had obeyed.

The king, Alden Arcadia. An elderly man with gray bangs meshed with his golden hair, indicating his old age. He exuded an aura of majesty causing Ark to raise his guard.

They walked quietly and left the banquet hall with the dignity of royalty. Going through the corridors, they reached a warehouse full of swords. It was well maintained and shined brightly... and transmitted ominous feelings.

"Our family has the tradition of collecting swords. Real swords, of course, not ones to decorate the walls with." The king explained. "As a Sword of Arcadia, you are entitled to choose one. I've heard you lack a weapon, so this is perfect. Pick one."

(What's your game here, mister king?)