The demon man was dressed in shining armor and smiled without a trace of fear. I knew immediately that he was no ordinary opponent.
I proceeded to remove my power reduction chain so that I could face him at any time.
—Ios, here we are again!
—I’ll be back again and again until I kill you. Do you think I’ll settle for killing a few white foxes? Or is that what you want?
The unknown man and Grandma Tamamo were ready to fight at any moment.
Sweat was pouring down my forehead. The air felt heavy, and I thought I was going to lose consciousness if I relaxed him in the slightest.
—I see there are new people in this place, so let me introduce myself. My name is Ios, I am one of the former demon kings.
Kaede covered her mouth while her face was pale.
—Level… ¡¿150.000?!
—So he’s more powerful than me. And what level is grandmother?
—113.000…
For now I can raise my level to 108,000 with a mega boost, and that combined with the sacred weapons.
In other words, grandma and I are about the same level. But it’s just a measured strength on a number basis.
It still remains very likely that this demon is stronger than us despite joining forces.
—You’re someone pretty obnoxious, I guess you don’t plan to leave us alone.
—Hahahaha. But this is the result of your actions, Tamamo. After all these years, I still feel a tingling in my arm. The left arm that you tore off.
Ios proceeds to remove the glove from his left arm.
His entire arm was shiny and mechanical. Surely it’s a prosthetic.
He then proceeded to put the glove back on.
—This is the end of our conflicts.
—I hope so. Let’s put an end to this.
Tamamo’s grandmother turned and smiled at Kaede.
—Take care of the family. And live a long life.
—Grandmother!?
A fierce battle broke out between Ios and the grandmother.
They disappeared from the scene in an instant, and then there was an explosion in the distant mountains.
Tch… What a good time for grandfather to disappear.
—Kaede, get a hold of yourself!
—Kyu!
—No… I won’t allow it, Grandma is going to die….
Kaede sits on the ground and collapses limply.
So that was her plan after all. Grandmother thinks she’s no match for Ios, so she plans to do something that could end both of their lives.
She was prepared to die.
Kaede wouldn’t stop crying, and she clung very tightly to my leg.
—Master, please help Grandma! I know it’s a very selfish request on my part! But I can’t bear to lose Grandma too after my mother!
I bent down, and looked her in the eyes as I took her hands.
—I don’t plan to abandon grandmother. We will defeat Ios and she will live the rest of her life in peace. I can’t wait to hear her talk about how much she tells me I am a boy.
—Yes!
—I’m not sure I can beat him together with Grandma. So I will also need Frau’s help.
After that, she appeared, ready to fight, holding her hammer. Panda, who was restless and worried, decided to hide.
And Kaede stood up quite energetic while holding her iron fan.
—I’ll do it too. I’m not very good, but I’ll support grandmother and teacher.
—Perfect. Then let’s go and defeat that demon king.
We left Panda in Obi’s hands and ran to the battlefield.
—They are fighting in the air.
Looking up, we ran towards the mountain.
Two shadows streaked across the sky at high speed. They were colliding and shaking the air again and again. Both seemed to have exceptional magical abilities, allowing them to fly for short periods of time.
In addition, they seemed to use the rocks floating in the air from the impact as a foothold to continue floating.
That’s a pretty fancy way to fight.
Will I ever get to do that? No… I definitely have to.
I proceeded to jump high, and put my foot on the lowest falling rock, and then jumped towards another. While I was doing this, Kaede and Frau were going the other way.
This is a very crazy and dangerous move on my part, so they had better not apply it too.
—Blue coffin of the ice emperor!
—Red-hot fire
Grandmother shoots numerous blue fireballs from her tail. Ios, on the other hand, creates the same number of fireballs by making them collide with each other, causing a bright light to be generated in the sky.
There was an eardrum-shattering roar and the shockwave sent me flying through the air.
Damn, this is pretty messy. I have to find a way to get close to them somehow.
So I decided to inhale as much air as possible until I filled my lungs completely. Then I exhaled with great force, the result was as expected, I flew through the air in the direction of Ios.
—Aaaaaaaah!
—Boy!?
I hit Ios with my big sword. But he used his gauntlet to block my attack, causing a great impact to be generated around us, sending him flying towards a falling rock.
—Do you really wish to die, wretched human? How dare you interfere in our noble fight?
—I am not a human. My name is Toru of the Manyu Brigade.
I grabbed onto a falling rock and managed to drag myself up.
—I don’t care what your name is. My fight is against Tamamo. If you go now, I’ll leave you li…. Wait, did you say Manyu Brigade? I’ve heard them before.
Ios put his hand to his chin. He was thoughtful for a moment, then seemed to have remembered something.
—I remembered. So, you’re a member of the party that defeated Rudra.
—Do you know him?
—Kuku. Sure, it was me who sent him to the east.
Huh?
—I have many kings and demons who are devoted to me. And he was one of them. But he turned out to be too ambitious, and he stood in my way, so I decided to have Roswell eliminate him.
—Do you have any idea how many innocent people have died because of that!?
—I don’t care about losing anything if only insignificant beings die.
—Boy, don’t listen to Ios! It’s one of his common tactics to make them lose their composure in order to defeat you in battle!
I closed the distance between me and Ios as fast as I could and without hardly using a big move.
But he was able to block my attack with his gauntlet and laughed at me again.
—Kuku. I admit you are somewhat strong. But not strong enough, this fight is not for you, beat it.
—Ugh!?
After that, his left fist hit my abdomen, making me fall to the ground.
I pushed myself away from the crumbling rocks and crawled out. My legs wobble, but I think I can still try.
—If it weren’t for my armor, I’d probably be dead by now.
It was also a good idea to turn off my sense of pain beforehand. I noticed a drop of blood and wiped my fingers across my mouth.
Then there was a roar and, with the impact, a cloud of dust flew through the forest.
Ios descended from the sky with a smile on his face. Apparently, the grandmother also fell.
I rushed to the scene, trying to control my anger.
—It seems that our positions have been reversed since that time, don’t you think so, Tamamo?
—Kugh, why didn’t you just finish me off? Do you enjoy watching me grovel before you?
—I admit it’s uncomfortable, but at the same time it’s very good, quite a beautiful sight, Tamamo.
The wounded grandmother dragged her body to escape from Ios. I hid behind a tree and tried to catch my breath.
—In those days, you were the treasure of the battlefield. You were the white god of death who buried his enemies in cold blood, no matter how bloodied or scarred they were. Even though you stripped me of my arm, I was still blinded by you.
—So revenge has an ulterior motive?
—I’m going to make you mine and then kill you. That’s why I’ve lived for thousands of years.
—You’re a twisted being. Although, if you had confessed to me, I would have rejected you too.
A ball of fire appears on Ios’ right arm.
—Damn you, die!
I quickly approached him and cut his magic in half with my big sword.
—It’s you again, human.
—I won’t let you kill Grandma. From now on, she is part of the Manyu Brigade.
—!?
Then a whirlwind hit Ios, sending him flying through the sky.
That’s Kaede’s magic.
—It’s time for you to learn your place, Scum. There’s no way you can win against me. I’ve been alive for thousands of years.
As she flew in the sky, she shot flames indiscriminately towards the ground. Causing the ground to fall away along with the trees.
So I used them as a foothold so I could close the distance between me and Ios.
My big sword and his gauntlet collided again. The girls jumped and this time, her face contorted in discomfort.
—You’re quite persistent.
—I told you, I’m Toru of the Manyu Brigade.
—This unpleasant feeling. Don’t tell me what… You’re one of them!?
At his point of distraction, I hit him with my sword, causing Ios to be thrown upwards. And I quickly followed him as I deftly swung between the rocks, then swung my big sword as if it were a free throw.
The big sword, spinning at high speed in an elliptical trajectory, slashed Ios’ body again and again. I grabbed his left arm with my right hand and lunged at him.
After that, I grabbed the big sword with great force, and thrusted it into his body.
—Gahaag!
It was much harder than expected. Still, I proceeded to slash his body with much more force.
The sword blade made a great gash in Ios’ body. Making his blood splatter everywhere.
—Hey! Don’t go spear—….
—Fairy hammeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!!!
—Aaaaaaaagggghhhh
Frau, who flew in a great impulse, hit Ios in the side with her hammer. Causing him to fall dry on the ground. But still alive. When Frau saw this, she sped away.
—I’ll kill you all! We’ll all go to hell together!
—You’ll be the one going to hell!
Tamamo flies up from below and destroys his prosthetic hand with his glove.
—Please, no-…..
And before he could finish his words. Tamamo’s fist smashed his face.
—[Blue flame demon fox, give me all your power!]
Blue flames engulfed Tamamo, causing her to punch Ios in the face and stomach with tremendous speed.
After a kick in the spine that Grandma Tamamo gave Ios, she made him fall to the ground again.
After this, I lunged again to deliver my coup de grace, but….
Ios catches the sword strike with his gauntlet and bears it with a pained expression on his face.
Suddenly, cracks began to appear on the gauntlet.
—If I’m suffering to fight a guy like this… It means I’m not so good after all.
—Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Finally, the glove breaks into many pieces.
Yes… We can win, and Grandma Tamamo won’t have to die.
—You have insulted me too much. Now, disappear without a trace of your ashes.
I felt a great shiver run through my body.
In the blink of an eye, her bare hand was on my chest.
Not good. A magical attack at this distance could kill me. I’ve seen him fight Grandma, and I know his magic is very powerful.
But it didn’t end up that way. A bolt of lightning comes out from somewhere, and burns both of Ios’ eyes.
—¡¡¡¡Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!!!
This is my chance.
I grabbed my sword very quickly, and slashed his right arm.
—Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag! My aaaaaaaaarm!!!!!
After his arm fell on the ground, I proceeded to cut off his head, causing it to fall next to his arm and roll a little on the ground.
With no strength left in my legs, I stabbed my sword into the ground to support myself.
—Master!
—My lord!
From a distance, I heard Kaede and Frau’s voices.
—coof coof
I held my hand to my mouth, and could tell I had coughed up blood. Despite having received a single blow from him, I was badly injured.
Perhaps this is the result of having turned off my pain senses?
Ah, I’m very sleepy…
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