Gonna Be a Demon King!
Chapter 104: Interlude 1 – 1: Year 3, Second Quarter I

Chapter 104: Interlude 1 – 1: Year 3, Second Quarter I

Xaren lunged with a rising diagonal slash, black flames wrapping around his blade, but Ilya bent her upper body sideways to avoid and countered with a downward cleave.

He lightened his body with gravity magic and backstepped, narrowly evading the slash that cut through the space he occupied half a second ago.

Ilya closed the distance instantly, thrusting her blade towards his left shoulder, but just as Xaren raised his sword to block, she abruptly transitioned into a downward arcing slash.

However, Xaren still managed to adjust his sword in time and deflect the strike, bending his upper body back to avoid having the tip of her blade split his nose in two.

Just as she pulled her sword back in preparation for her next strike, Xaren infused magic power into his sword, causing the black flames on his blade to erupt in a spiralling beam.

Wind swirled in front of Ilya, its currents merging with the spiral of flames and stretching open the gap at the centre. Without hesitation, she lunged through that gap, closing the distance and unleashing three rapid slashes—left, right, then down.

Xaren deflected each strike, but the force of the last one sent him skidding toward the edge of the rooftop that they were on. He kicked off it, launching himself into the air as Ilya followed up with a horizontal swing, releasing a crescent-shaped black wind blade in his direction.

With no footing to anchor him, he manipulated gravity, pulling his upper body backwards mid-air. The wind blade sliced just above him as his torso dipped low, and then his legs followed, flipping upward in an arc.

He completed the full rotation in the air and landed on the lower roof in front of her, his sword at the ready.

’Pressure Craft.’

With that internal command, the ground split open, and huge rocks shot up into the air beside Xaren. Using immense gravitational pressure, he compressed the rocks into the shapes of five long swords, each identical to his own.

It only took a single gesture for the swords to shoot towards Ilya, but the girl was already prepared from the moment the Xaren called up those rocks.

She infused her sword with her dark green aura and swirling wind, enlarging the blade until it was nearly as long and wide as a broadsword.

Ilya positioned the weapon in front of her, its increased size just enough to shield her body and block the first three flying swords. The remaining two curved around her sides, aiming for her flanks, but she pivoted on one foot, swinging her blade and deflecting both of them in one motion.

Without hesitation, she leapt at Xaren and brought her blade down in an overhead slash, which he evaded by jumping to the side.

Ilya’s wind-wreathed blade slammed into the rooftop, carving a deep gash into the surface, but she pulled it free with ease and lunged after Xaren, who recalled his deflected flying swords to his side and launched them at her again, this time each one amplified with 5x gravitational force.

Charging after Xaren, Ilya swung her oversized blade with one hand, effortlessly deflecting each incoming sword, while her free hand conjured two-ringed magic circles and fired a rapid barrage of pressurized wind bullets.

Xaren raised his blade and deflected the first wave of pressurized bullets, then unfurled his wings and shot into the sky just as the second wave whistled past where he’d been a moment earlier.

Calling his flying swords back once more, he pulled chunks of rock from the ground to patch the cracks in the blades as he weaved through the maze of surrounding buildings.

Ilya dashed after him, running across the rooftops at over 200 m/s, swinging her still-enlarged blade and launching crescent-shaped wind slashes toward him.

Xaren dodged them all with ease, except the last which he raised his hand and fired a fireball at. Just before the two attacks collided, he snapped his fingers, detonating the fireball and scattering the pressurized wind slash in the resulting explosion.

Thick black smoke billowed out, clouding the area so completely that not even an inch ahead was visible. From within the smoke, five flame-wreathed flying swords burst out, charging towards Ilya, who deflected them with ease.

But just as she unfurled her wings, preparing to take flight in pursuit, five more flaming blades erupted from the smoke, then five more, and five more again, making fifteen in total, all coming at her from different angles.

Her pupils darted around rapidly as she swung her blade, deflecting only those targeting her vitals while dodging and using multi-layered magic shields to block the rest.

However, just as she finished deflecting the wave of fifteen, another volley came hurtling toward her through the thinning smoke.

’Did he carry a rock in his magic pouch to make these swo—No, why do I even ask? He probably did.’

This time, Ilya leapt off the rooftop onto another nearby building, ignoring the sound of the swords crashing into the building behind her as it began to crumble.

Wind swirled around her, forming a small tornado that ripped off the roofing beneath her feet. Letting the wind lift and spin her, she used the momentum to hurl her blade toward Xaren’s approximate position in the smoke-filled sky.

The sword tore through the lingering smoke, slicing apart the incoming flying blades and even cleaving through the massive rock suspended in the air—the source those blades had been pressure-crafted from.

Xaren’s Danger Sense screamed, and he quickly raised his sword just in time to block the incoming strike. Still, the sheer impact knocked him backwards, throwing off his balance mid-air.

Ilya unfurled her wings and launched herself into the air with such force that the shockwave shattered the rooftop beneath her. As she soared upward, she caught her sword mid-flight, infused it with aura, then spun with the wind once more and hurled the blade down toward Xaren.

*WHOOSH!!

At the sound, Xaren didn’t hesitate to retract his wings and let gravity pull him toward the ground. Ilya’s blade zipped just over his head, missing by inches, and the moment his feet touched down on the ground, Danger Sense blared another alarm.

Without a second thought, he jumped forward, just in time to evade the sword crashing down where he’d just been. Ilya had caught up to the blade he dodged, snatched it mid-air, and hurled it at him again with impeccable timing.

Black flames surged along Xaren’s blade as he kicked off the ground and dashed toward Ilya’s sword. Realising his intent, Ilya dove down, landing before him and seizing her weapon before he could reach it.

Without pause, she rushed at him, her green aura swirling around her blade.

Xaren leapt, bringing his sword down in a 5x gravity-fuelled overhead slash. At the same time, Ilya’s winds sharpened her blade, her upward arcing slash cutting through the air.

But just before the two blades could collide, someone suddenly spawned beside the impact point and reached out, instantly catching both swords mid-swing.

**BOOOMM!!!

Their auras detonated from the abrupt interruption, unleashing a violent shockwave that tore apart the ground, leaving behind a massive crater.

Dust and smoke billowed into the sky, but a single gust of wind swept it all aside, revealing Ilya and Xaren’s swords held effortlessly between the index and middle fingers of a tall, four-horned demon with purple skin.

The moment the two teenage demons processed his presence, the man reached out and flicked their foreheads, the force behind the simple flicks sending the two sixteen-year-olds flying nearly a dozen meters through the air.

As they crashed back down to the ground, the man calmly crossed his arms behind his back, raising an eyebrow as he spoke.

"What did I tell you two about destroying buildings during your spars?"

""...""

Both Xaren and Ilya silently glanced at the crumbled buildings they left in their wake, then quickly looked down, avoiding his gaze entirely.

"Minus ten points."

"Geh!"

"...!"

The two of them felt that. Both physically and emotionally.

"...my perfect record..."

Ilya muttered under her breath, her voice hollow, as though despairing at the end of the world.

Unbothered by their reactions, the purple-skinned demon shook his head and spoke.

"Maybe next time you’ll care a little more about your surroundings.

Now, get over here. You both did a lot of stupid things and made a lot of unnecessary movements during your little play fight."

Despite mourning the loss of points—enough to pay for three full-course meals at a 5-star restaurant—the two teens picked themselves up and trudged toward Xynax, bracing for the lecture that followed.

Once Xynax was done with them, he left to deal with others, and the two were left lying flat on the ground, more exhausted from the lecture than from the actual fight.

"Ilya..."

"...what?"

"I want to take those things off."

"Do you want more minus points?"

"..."

"Thought so."

The short exchange between the two was not as contextless as it seemed. The things Xaren wanted to take off were the weights strapped to his arms and legs.