My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

Thank you all for waiting so long.

This continues after much anguishing.

I explained the reasons for the update hiatus in the activity report. Please read that.

I look forward to your continued support this year.

“This ends now!! — ‘Thunderclap’!!!”

Saying something like the catchphrase one uses when unleashing a finishing move, the Demon Clan man swung down the arm he had raised to the sky.

A brilliant light dazzled him; a shock ran through his outstretched hand.

His vision glazed white, then returned.

Dust motes fluttered down.

“…Hah.”

After the sandstorm that had clouded their sight cleared, someone among the Demon Clan let out a gulp.

It was only natural.

Seeing a Human alive and unscathed after being struck by an attack that would not only blow a person away but erase even dozens-of-meters-tall demonic beasts without leaving a trace, the Demons finally understood what they were up against.

Disappointment showed on the face still bearing a little of its youthful look that had drawn their attention.

Those eyes were murky black, as if they absorbed the darkness of the world itself.

The man sighed and lowered his slightly numb right arm.

“So this is you looking down on me, huh?”

“No way. If he were an ordinary human, he’d already not exist in this world.”

Before them spread not a horizon or a seascape but a line of demonic beasts.

They filled the view so completely it was as if the world itself was packed with them.

Creatures like those found on the lowest depths of a labyrinth, several times a person’s height.

Only the Demons and the man stood before the beasts.

If he were an ordinary human, he wouldn’t even beg for his life; he would be justified in fleeing without shame or regard — and no one would laugh.

Yet the man let out a bitter laugh.

Perhaps because of what had just happened, some of the Demons took a few steps back.

“You’re crazy. You’re no longer even a human — you’re a monster.”

Despite the situation, the Demon man, sweat beading on his brow, said that to the man who chuckled softly.

The man did not bristle; he simply accepted the words.

“Yeah. If that’s what you call me, then so be it. But the one who drove me mad from the moment I came to this world was you. Hey, Abe Mahiro.”

He deliberately used a name for the Demon Clan member that differed from how this world would call him.

The Demon, suddenly losing his composure, blinked as his brows twitched.

The man raised the lowered arm back up to chest level and spoke the magic word.

“‘Shadow magic’ — activate.”

An unprecedentedly vast, profound darkness blanketed the world.

A darkness so complete that one could not even see the face of a companion standing right beside them; confused voices rose from all around.

“Thanks for turning me into a monster. Because of you, I can kill that man. And regret it. I will never forgive you.”

The man spread both hands toward the sky as if to embrace everything.

“Lord, I am the one who embodies all the evil in this world — ‘Divine Punishment’.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the darkness took on myriad shapes.

Screams rang out from every direction.

“Be eaten by what you fear and die.”

In an instant, the only one left standing there was the Demon man.

Even the remaining, silent chunks of flesh were consumed and vanished.

What had been a war — a battle that should have overwhelmingly favored the Demon Clan — was reduced by a single monster to a one-on-one fight.