Published: March 21, 2026
"What, a near-death? Where did Oda Akira go?"
Crow stepped forward with a weapon in hand. Mahiro didn't even glance at him; he just looked around. My presence-concealment caused him to completely overlook where I stood.
Because the earlier explosion had drawn the attention of those fighting elsewhere, everyone was looking this way. Right now, the only ones actually moving were Mahiro and Crow.
"Are you dissatisfied with me as your opponent?"
Crow spun the weight attached to the dagger I had given him on its chain in his hand.
"Of course I'm dissatisfied... But yes. Letting you and the former Hero escape then has stained my name a little. Before you suddenly drop dead on your own, it might be amusing for me to deliver the final blow myself."
"Hah! I didn't know you even had a name worth staining."
With everyone in the audience chamber holding their breath, Mahiro finally faced Crow. The two of them began to circle each other slowly, measuring distance as they moved in a wide arc around the chamber.
Snap.
When Mahiro brought his hands together, over ten magic circles unfolded around Crow. He hadn't been serious even against me earlier, then. He was deeper than I'd thought.
"Shadow magic—activate."
The shadows in the room writhed and rose as if to consume the deployed magic circles.
"Don't interfere, please."
With a voice that came from nowhere, my shadow magic collapsed and returned to being ordinary shadow. My hidden form from presence-concealment also returned.
"Wha—!!"
I widened my eyes and looked up at the Demon Lord who had risen from the throne.
His beautiful eyes shone with a different light than before. The way he looked down at us overlapped in my mind with the mischievous smile Commander saran used when he would use his temperature-sensing Demon Eye to startle people from a castle corner. He often surprised people that way.
"Demon Eye!?"
"Magic nullification. That's the effect of my Demon Eye. It's been a while since I've seen Mahiro enjoying himself like that. If anyone's going to interfere, I'll deal with them. Though, of course, only if they can break Mahiro's barrier."
Right. Commander saran had said his Demon Eye was something he developed after scuffles with the Demon Lord. So it wasn't strange for the Demon Lord to have a Demon Eye manifest as well. The difference was saran had one eye, while the Demon Lord had both.
Still, magic nullification was terrible news for me. I had planned to handle Mahiro's magic circles with shadow magic, but things just got a lot harder. However, the Demon Lord seemed content to nullify only the magic coming from us outsiders—he had no intention of negating Crow's magic at the center. He wanted to watch the duel between the two of them without intervening.
"Reverse."
With a crisp voice, the magic circle Crow was looking at was neutralized. At the same time, the weight was hurled at Mahiro and its chain wrapped around Mahiro's arm. I had handed him the largest hidden weapon I had, but Crow wielded it as if he had used it for years.
"Tch."
"Hah!!"
Mahiro clicked his tongue, snapped his fingers while still chained, and the barrier shield stopped the dagger before it could strike his throat. Crow then pulled on the wrapped chain, unbalancing Mahiro; when he pulled harder, Mahiro's body lifted off the ground. Truly, the Beastmen's strength was unmatched among the four races.
Thrown with what must have been tremendous force, Mahiro smashed through the audience chamber's wall and was buried in the rubble; debris rained down upon him.
Crow pulled the chain again, but only the weight returned—perhaps the chain had snapped free.
"Do something, use strength!!"
Coughing through the rubble, a soot-streaked Mahiro emerged. A trickle of blood dripped from his lip, but otherwise there were no visible wounds. What a durable body.
Seeing the blood rush to his head, Mahiro snapped his fingers and caused the rubble to levitate with a magic circle.
"Refinement."
Crow traced something and the dagger in his hand reshaped—turning into a large, blood-red greatsword.