My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Hero's

"When I saw him in the Brute Labyrinth he was practically a corpse with one foot in the coffin, but now he seems to be moving as well as in his prime."

Mahiro was circling so that I was between him and Crow, watching Crow carefully.

Amaryllis's "enhancement drug" was the latest pharmaceutical tech—developed as an anesthetic but released to the world as a narcotic—used mostly for bad purposes so far. Even among Demon Clan who have abundant knowledge and memories, I guess no one has seen a Beastman whose aging had started come back to peak condition.

"There must be some trick, right? From what I see, it's an elderly-body magic that uses magical power to move the body? That kind of thing wasn't supposed to be very practical in battle. Well, whatever, once the magic power runs out he'll stop. It's nice and easy watching you dance him to self-destruction. I'm not one of those muscle-brained fools who likes fighting either."

"Shut up!"

My attacks grazed his body a few times, but Mahiro moved more nimbly than I expected and kept dodging my strikes aimed at vital points, so we couldn't land a decisive blow. Even if I tried to cause fatal bleeding, given Mahiro's versatile magic circles he might even be able to increase his blood supply.

Because Mahiro spun in half-circles, we gradually drifted away from the throne, and before I knew it we were nearer the audience chamber doors. The audience chamber door was behind Mahiro, and he was effectively holding the exit, but since Noren had come in, the doors remained open and no magic circle had been set to lock us in; it didn't seem they intended to trap us. Or perhaps they were too absorbed in Crow's condition to think of that possibility.

Probably Mahiro assumed Crow would self-destruct without his intervention and so wasn't being cautious. That thought was reasonable, but Zeal had told me Crow used to be fierce with close combat using various weapons in his younger days. If so, having Crow become the vanguard might catch Mahiro off guard better than whittling him down slowly.

The problem was Crow himself—he was only concentrating on canceling magic circles and barely moving from the center of the audience chamber. Likely because he'd spent so long old, he had forgotten he could move. Even if he understood that his body, which had hurt at every movement until yesterday, could now move as in its prime without pain, he might not really feel it. Pain is the body's defense response; even after wounds heal you unconsciously protect the area. I understand that—but he's really a handful.

Still, if Crow stepped forward, he'd naturally have less attention for canceling magic circles. Even though I can remotely deal with magic circles with my shadow magic, it's not automatic like Crow's and would be almost a gamble.

A grin spread on Mahiro's face. Night Blade God sliced his shoulder, and at the same time my body got in the way so a thorn expelled from the magic circle Crow couldn't fully cancel gouged into my flank.

"Akira!"

"Don't worry about me, handle the magic circles! Shadow magic—activate!!"

I gritted my teeth and answered Crow's shout.

A thin band of shadow rose up from my feet and wrapped around my wounded flank like a bandage, pressing and stopping the bleeding.

It couldn't heal, but for now it was enough. If it could self-regenerate like whatever took over my body in the labyrinth then it would heal this quickly, but unfortunately I don't know how to do that. What was that thing anyway? Some ultimate move that only works if you're practically dead? It fell within the scope of my shadow magic, but as an extra skill it was so different from other magic I couldn't even guess what it was. Convenient or not, I don't know.

"I thought it in the labyrinth too—what's that magic?"

Mahiro blinked and fixed his gaze on my shadow magic this time. I suddenly remembered Commander Saran had looked at my shadow the same way.

I slit the magic circle that had appeared near my right hand with Night Blade God and answered.