* * *

Cadel hid behind a tree away from the gate, waiting for his subordinates to cross. If they did, it would mean the guards were under the illusion. He hurried to follow.

Cadel watched the two men’s backs, tense for a moment, until his nervous gaze shifted when he caught a glimpse of strange energy on the wide dirt path between him and the gateway, a path that had been worn down by countless visitors.

“……What is that?”

Like an unseen scribbler, a random pattern began to appear on the dirt floor. It started with a giant circle and filled the interior with geometric patterns, the speed of which he could barely keep up with with his eyes.

The bizarre scene, bordering on a psychic phenomenon, made Cadel reflexively pull away. As he approached, forgetting the fact that he was hiding, the pattern was mostly complete. And when he got close enough, he realized it was a ‘magic circle’.

“Ugh, what……!”

A blindingly bright pillar of light rose up. It was a dark purple light with a sinister aura.

Cadel reflexively stumbled backward at the beam of light, his barely-opened vision revealing the many silhouettes that filled the magic circle.

And from the fading light came a husky female voice.

“Oh oh, it’s a success, success! I was really summoned. It’s amazing! Right? You’re a genius, Emilia!”

She had her back to Cadel, so he couldn’t make out her exact features, but he could make out a pair of wings, neatly sprouting from where her shoulder blades should have been. They were nothing like the wings of Lydon. They were short, tattered, opaque dark red with ragged tips. They were definitely closer to the wings of a bat.

‘High Demon……?’

It was a kind of token proving that they were the core power of the Demon Realm and of a special lineage.

Cadel knew them intimately, down to their features, their fighting styles, and their skills.

That was because the High Demons were the first enemies Cadel faced in the Osma Empire, and they signaled the beginning of his quest for knight order promotion.

But why did this sign.

「Main quest ‘The Beginning of the Invasion’ accepted」

「Progress through the story by completing the quest. You will be rewarded.」

「In case of failure, the story cannot proceed.」

Why did this sign appear now and here?

“Ahhh! This is the first human smell I’ve had in a while! I’m free. I’m free!”

The High Demon let out a roar. An army of monsters crushed beneath her feet as she rose into the air. Faced with both types of enemies, Cadel’s face contorted in despair.

‘You should give me some time to get ready……!’

Even after the sudden appearance of the demons, they were busy chattering in the afterglow for a long time.

“The summoning was successful, so kill all the humans here, return to the Demon Realm, inform Emilia of her success, and…….”

She curled her fingers into a fist, carefully planning her movements, and then her head snapped up. Without a moment’s hesitation, she brought her hand up to strike out at the searing fireball. Her right hand, which had touched the flames, was stained with a deep purple demonic energy.

“Oh. It’s a human, human.”

She lowered her hand, and the owner of the fireball revealed himself. Her eyes flashed over her constricted pupils like snakes. It had been a long time since she’d seen a human, and that alone was a welcome sight, along with the vast amount of mana that human possessed.

Magician……. A magician brought back a lot of bad memories. The corners of her mouth quirked slightly, an odd smile playing across her face.

“Do you know who I am? Humans die quickly, so by now there should be a generation that has forgotten these bodies ever existed.”

“We can’t have forgotten already. You’re a High Demon, right?”

“What? You know? Do humans live longer than I thought, or did they learn to fear?”

“High Demon Sellev. Right?”

“Oh oh, even the name? How did you get it right away?”

How did he know? It would be strange if he didn’t know since he had ground the game many times. Cadel smiled, hiding the burning inside.

Sellev tilted her head and stroked the tip of her chin as if pondering how the human before her had discovered her identity. It was a familiar face.

‘I have to stall for time.’

Cadel studied the ground beneath Sellev’s feet. Atop the great circle of magic, a mass of Red Men, ugly creatures in the form of skinned humans, a kind of knight order that, like the Baby Devils, lived primarily among demons and served them. They hadn’t been seen since the sealing of the Demon Realm.

The army of Red Men lined up like obedient dogs. All eyes were on the gate in front of them. At a single command from Sellev, they would charge forward, and only four guards would be there to hold the gate.

Therefore, the guards who understood the situation asked for reinforcements, and Cadel had to buy as much time as possible until Van and Lydon joined safely.

“The demonic realm may have been sealed, but the demons’ infamy lives on. Their characteristics, their weaknesses, and how to exploit them are written down and passed down.”

“……Is that so?”

The corner of Sellev’s mouth twitched up in interest. Then, out of nowhere, she launched herself at Cadel. She spun her lithe body in a full circle, and her fist went straight for Cadel’s face.

Unsurprisingly, her surprise attack was intercepted by the wind barrier, but Sellev continued to channel power into her tightly clenched fist. A loud cracking sound followed, whether from her bones or the barrier.

Cadel glared at Sellev’s face as she stepped closer.

“Purple hair, inverted eyes with blue irises, symmetrical tear moles, and small wings.”

“Are you admiring the face of this body?”

“I am reciting recorded information. Sellev, a High Demon with such an appearance, specializes in physical combat using brute force and is good at annihilation by transforming into a giant. ……Having experienced it myself, it is clear that your brute force  is no joke.”

Cadel stared at the fist digging into the barrier with a nonchalant expression. He was treating her as if nothing was wrong, but in reality, he was pouring vast amounts of mana into the barrier. It was hard to keep a semblance of composure as his mana leaked through like water.

‘Is she insane? She’s got to have some brawn. If the barrier is broken, my head will be smashed and I will die. Please stop. Please stop, Miss Sellev.’

The distance from the gate was considerable, but the situation here would still be visible to Van and Lydon. So while he had her attention, the two of them would have to deal with the summoned Red Men. There was no better time than now, as they stood still, waiting for her orders.

Hoping that the two men had figured out his plan, Cadel eagerly poured water into the bottomless pot.

“Alas, I’m in trouble. If you know that much detail, it’s going to be hard to wreak havoc at will.”

“Then you can go back and reorganize.”

“You tell a good joke, human.”

As if she really thought it was a joke, the sly-eyed Sellev gave a light blow and withdrew her fist. Cadel hastily reinforced the shattered barrier, then grinned back at her, pretending to be unaffected.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter. My job today is to run amok.”

Slowly flying backward, Sellev kept her gaze on Cadel.

“Leave it to my scum to run the Empire into the ground. This body is a warm-up, and I’m going to tear a magician I haven’t seen in a long time apart.”

With a crunching sound, ferocious demonic energy like embers sprang up on top of Sellev’s broken hands.

“After slaying the magician who turned me on just by looking at him, with this giant of a body that was widely known to humans―”

But before she could finish her sentence.

Creak creak!

An ice awl rose from the entire magic circle. With a swift move, sword energy sliced through the dense column of ice that emerged and sprinted forward, aiming for Sellev’s back.

A lesser foe would have been immobilized and mortally wounded, but Sellev quickly spun around and slammed her fist into the flying sword energy. It was a swift enough move that Cadel could see the afterimage of the demonic energy’s fluttering.

Sellev’s brow crumpled. More than half the Red Men army she’d kept on standby had been killed by random magic and sword energy. Her sullen gaze flicked over the half-cut ice pillar.

“Commander! Are you hurt?”

“Cadel, I don’t want to run. Release the transformation.”

What she saw was a human with an uncommon aura and…….

“……Fairy?”

A familiar scent wafted from the boy as he ran unmotivated. The human raced to the magician’s side, and the boyish fairy followed closely behind.

Sellev’s eyes glowed. After a brief pause, she flew at the fairy and raised a fist in the air.

Just before her fist touched, a shield of cold ice formed between them. But the flimsy shield shattered as soon as it touched the fist with demonic energy. Just as Sellev’s brutal strike caught the boy’s cheek on the other side of the shield.

“What is this stupid demon?”

Five ice spears were aimed at her back. Reflexively, Sellev spun around, destroying them with her bare hands, but the one she didn’t break grazed her waist.

“……Ah ah, the first person to touch this body is a fairy, tsk tsk.”

As she frowned at the dull ache, a voice called out from the direction the ice spears had come from.

“Ahaha! Did you just break my magic with your bare hands? How stupid and ignorant”

Sellev’s eyes narrowed. The boy, who should have been beyond the shattered shield, stood proudly on the other side. Her attack had clearly been aimed at the boy’s cheek, so he couldn’t have traveled to the other side in that brief moment. If so.

‘A trade of place using illusion at some point.’

Was it from the time when he was running unmotivated? I didn’t even realize I was under a spell. It’s been a while since I’ve dealt with a fairy, so maybe my senses are dull.

Sellev, noticing the traces of a magic circle in the fairy’s eyes, bit her lip in disappointment. Lydon, waving gently at her, turned away and went to Cadel’s side.