Chapter 124 Instant Kill
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
I face Akahorus in a duel for the position of Grimlock family head. The venue: the estate’s meticulously kept courtyard.
The midday sun blazed down from directly above, illuminating the verdant lawn in harsh, bright light. A pleasant breeze swept through. It was a day far too peaceful for a duel.
”All right then. Shall we begin?”
The only witness to this farce was my loyal personal maid, Lilia. That stone-faced butler, Oscar, was probably in the reception room by now, cleaning up the blood Akahorus had spilled.
”Ayyy! Finally get to wreck you proper—no holdin’ back!” Akahorus’s voice rang out, dripping with anticipation. “Ahhh, this gonna be so fun~! You had the nerve to defy ME—the great, the powerful, the one and only ME! I ain’t lettin’ you die easy, nah. First, I’ma take my time, hurt you real slow—just enough so you don’t croak. Then, right in front of your eyes, I’ma make a real mess of that big-titted woman over there. And THEN I’ll kill you!”
The villain’s declaration oozed with vulgarity. Around his small frame, six spheres of mana of varying sizes slowly rose into the air.
The largest was roughly the size of a basketball. Each sphere blazed with its own color: fiery red, deep blue, heavy earthen brown, raging green, pure white, and—seeming to swallow all light—pitch black.
Fire, water, earth, wind, light, darkness.
All six attributes, condensed into high-density mana.
Among them, the light, water, and wind spheres were noticeably smaller and dimmer than the other three. It seemed even he had his strengths and weaknesses.
”How ’bout that? Pretty amazin’, right~!” He gestured grandly at the floating orbs. “I’ve mastered all six attributes and can manifest ’em all at once! But that ain’t all—check THIS out!”
He wasn’t in any hurry to fight, apparently. He was putting on a show.
For someone who’d just been bragging about killing people, he was full of openings—
Because I had no long-range attack magic, he was completely letting his guard down.
And he wanted to show off his magical talent to me.
(Let him have his fun for now.)
If any of his performance threatened Lilia even slightly, I could teleport to her in an instant.
Akahorus, determined to flaunt his overwhelming power, slowly moved the light and darkness mana spheres high into the sky. Then, inch by inch, he brought the two opposing forces together.
The air crackled with tension.
(…Huh. He’s trying to combine light and darkness mana.)
Watching this, I recalled my previous confrontation in the Demon Realm with Lucifiel, the former Demon King’s daughter. She possessed both light and darkness mana, and could fuse them to wield the ultimate technique—Annihilation Magic.1
Could this brat—who clearly looked like a complete idiot—actually pull that off?
I watched with faint tension, waiting to see what would happen. But what Akahorus created was not that ultimate Annihilation Magic.
KABOOOOM!!
The light and darkness mana collided with violent, explosive force. The blast shook the courtyard’s trees violently, whipping our hair into chaos.
”How ’bout THAT~~~!” He threw his arms wide, basking in his own display. “Found this by accident when I was messin’ around—it’s my secret weapon! Too powerful to use easily, so I ain’t breakin’ it out for this duel. But this right here? This is my signature move—the one I used to wipe out whole squads of Empire soldiers in one go! Impressive, right~! If I went all out, I’d blow you to pieces in a second!”
The kid clearly wanted to show off his power more than anything. Without any prompting, he kept revealing his techniques one after another.
(…But it wasn’t Annihilation Magic.)
For all his boasting, it wasn’t anything special. Well, objectively speaking, his power was probably impressive enough…
But no matter how impressive he was—
It didn’t seem like I’d even need to fight seriously.
”Gyohahahaha! C’mon, Akahorus, stop playin’ around and start tearin’ him apart—slow and painful!” The parasitic demon’s voice oozed from Akahorus’s hand, guttural and crude. “Remember—don’t kill him quick. Make it slow.”
”Yeah, yeah, got it!” Akahorus sneered. “Look at him! He’s totally frozen—scared stiff by my overwhelming mana! Bet his legs gave out! Heh heh heh! Scaredy-cat, scaredy-cat! What a loser!”
Akahorus summoned two more light and darkness mana spheres around him again.
And as he prepared to unleash all six attributes simultaneously—
That was the exact moment.
”—Ashraf. Seize them.”
I gave the quiet command to my Teleportation Demon servant.
Perfect timing.
Just as the enemy was about to attack—the beginning of his motion.
I seized the starting point of his attack.
Behind them, a single ominous figure in a perfectly-tailored butler’s uniform appeared without a sound, as if he had been there all along.
In the same instant—
Ashraf grabbed Akahorus’s head.
And the demonic hand with its grotesque mouth—he gripped that too.
(Speaking of which, I never learned the name of the demon fused with this brat. Oh well. I’ll call it “Small-Fry Demon.” Its laugh sounds like “gyohehe” anyway.)
The moment Ashraf’s hand closed around Akahorus and the Small-Fry Demon parasitizing his palm—
They snapped.
As if their very brains had been seared.
”HIII—GYAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
”GYOH—GYOHEPPAAAAAHHHHH!!!”
The two screamed in unison—a grotesque, inhuman chorus.
(They’re touching Ashraf’s mana directly.)
At that point, they’d lost not only their will to fight—but any semblance of rational thought.
The outcome was decided.
Instant kill.
Demonic mana is an ominous, malevolent thing. The mana radiating from that Small-Fry Demon had been unmistakably unpleasant—which was how I’d recognized him as a demon in the first place.
But even among demons, there was an absolute, unbridgeable gap in the quality of mana between Ashraf and that Small-Fry Demon.
To put it in terms: if the Small-Fry Demon’s mana was thick, sluggish crude oil—
Then Ashraf’s mana was high-purity gasoline, refined to its absolute limit, capable of burning everything in an instant.
Ashraf’s mana was pure to the extreme, refined with razor-sharp precision.
Even compared to the Demon Realm’s princess, Lucifiel, it was superior.
Compared to that Small-Fry Demon’s low-quality mana—there was no comparison at all.
”Xenos-sama. What shall be done with these foolish creatures?” Ashraf’s voice was calm, perfectly measured—the voice of a proper Victorian butler.
”I have no use for the Small-Fry Demon. Dispose of it.”
At my cold command, Ashraf crushed the Small-Fry Demon—the one disguised as Akahorus’s left hand—like a ripe fruit in his grip.
SQUELCH!!
The wet, meaty sound echoed across the silent courtyard.
Akahorus’s wrist dissolved into red mist, and blood gushed from the wound in torrents.
”AGHYAAAH! AGHYAAAA! AGHYAAAAAA!!”
Akahorus let out wordless screams, thrashing pathetically in place. Held fast by Ashraf’s grip on his head, he flailed in panic for a long moment—desperately trying to escape, flinging mana at Ashraf with mindless abandon. Like a worm with its head crushed, twitching in its death throes.
But Ashraf paid no mind to such infantile, meaningless resistance. He held Akahorus’s head fixed in one hand, utterly immobile.
And within a minute—
Akahorus stopped moving entirely.
The light faded from his wide, staring eyes.
He had lost consciousness completely—
And with it, all human intelligence.
What remained was nothing but an empty shell.
—
Summary:
Xenos faces Akahorus in a duel for Grimlock family headship, watching his opponent boast and display all six mana attributes before revealing an explosive technique. When Akahorus prepares to attack, Xenos commands his Teleportation Demon Ashraf to seize both the villain and the parasite demon fused with his hand. The outcome is decided in an instant as Ashraf’s overwhelming demonic mana shatters their minds, leaving Akahorus a hollow shell.
—
Trivia:
Xenos previously encountered Lucifiel, the former Demon King’s daughter, in the Demon Realm.
Lucifiel could fuse light and darkness mana to use Annihilation Magic.
Akahorus can manifest all six mana attributes simultaneously.
Ashraf’s mana quality surpasses even Lucifiel’s.
The parasite demon is referred to as “Small-Fry Demon” by Xenos.
Oscar the butler is cleaning up Akahorus’s blood in the reception room during the duel.
Lilia serves as the sole witness to the duel.
Xenos has no long-range attack magic, which led Akahorus to underestimate him.
The duel takes place in the estate’s meticulously kept courtyard.
Ashraf appears without sound, as if he had been there all along.
—
Translation Notes:
Notes:
• Akahorus – A brash, arrogant child brought by Oscar to replace Xenos as the next heir. Boasts immense mana reserves and battlefield experience. Prone to tantrums and juvenile threats. Speaks in short, emotional bursts. Candidate for the next head of the Grimlock family. Arrogant and boisterous, he has fused his body with a demon to gain power. Speaks with crude confidence and childish taunts, believing himself superior to the protagonist. The antagonist challenging Xenos for the Grimlock family headship. A small-statured brat with a vulgar personality who boasts about mastering all six mana attributes. Speaks with a yankii/delinquent register, switching between arrogant and childish tones. Parasitized by a demon in his left hand. The assassin sent by Xenos’s father. A reincarnate mob character with hard-work cheat. Massive mana pool and multiple mana affinities. Arrogant, crude, and underestimates actual combat experience. Tries to make Lilia his Magic Slave.
• Grimlock – Xenos’s family name.
• Lilia – Xenos’s fiercely loyal, trauma-resilient Head Maid is a lovely, pale, busty woman with long dark hair, a chest tattoo, and a nullified crest. Dressed in a black uniform, she maintains refined, icy elegance when disciplining others, especially Elenor. While formal and efficient with guests, she masks deep, jealous anxiety for Xenos, finding her greatest joy in serving him and sleeping by his side.
• Oscar – Head butler of the Grimlock family and Gaius’s confidant, he is a tall, lean man in his late forties with gray hair, silver-rimmed glasses, and piercing azure eyes. A professional yet secretly seething “shadow ruler,” he serves as strategist, spymaster, and Xenos’s protective, stoic bodyguard. Though hostile toward Xenos, he maintains composure while managing the estate, even under humiliating orders.
• Ashraf – Job: Teleportation demon; Relationship: Guardian of Xenos’s mansion; Note: Guards against potential attacks.
• Xenos – Job: Heir to a high-ranking noble house; Relationship: Owner of Lilia; Has romantic connections with Elenor, Cecilia, and Lizel; Item/Magic: Summoning magic, [Substitution Collars]; Note: Was caught up in a Royal Palace explosion and missed three days of school. Pragmatic and calculating personality. Job: Noble of Grimlock family, protagonist; Relationship: Manipulator of Princess Liliana, pursuing Serena; Item/Magic: [Ring of Transformation]; Note: Reincarnated villain with game knowledge, calculating and arrogant. Job: Theater Owner and noble of Grimlock family; Relationship: Fiancé to Cecilia; Item/Magic: Game knowledge/metaknowledge; Note: Reincarnated villain protagonist who knows the original game script.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
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