The Demon King's First General
Chapter 53: Returning The Favor

Chapter 53: Returning The Favor

The battle between the two fighters continued, and the castle walls were destroyed beyond recognition. Swords against fists, blades versus palms—they were to be considered one of the best in their chosen fields; however, their battle prowess was not on equal footing, and as the fight went on, the disparity in their strength became wider.

"You’re no longer in your prime, Captain Delta!" Fritz exclaimed as he successfully landed a palm strike on his opponent’s chest.

The Mad Executioner tumbled to the ground before he stabbed his sword onto the floor to stop his momentum, but the moment he looked at Fritz, he was nowhere to be seen.

’Where is he?’ He thought.

"Above you!" The king yelled from a distance while embracing his daughter.

Delta looked up as soon as he heard the warning, and he saw the massive amount of fat plunging at him downward.

"Damn it!" He cursed before rolling away from his position.

As he moved his body, he felt excruciating pain coming from his chest, and that was the moment he realized that some of his bones from the ribcage had broken.

Despite his suffering, he still managed to make the swords hanging above strike Fritz, who slammed his enormous body onto the ground, which caused the castle to vibrate. Then he heard the sound of the blade penetrating into his opponent’s skin, yet the tremendous energy coming from him was not even declining. Afterward, he covered his eyes to protect them from the accumulated dust particles that rose in the air.

’If you meet me during my earlier years, you won’t stand a chance to survive this long,’ he thought as he reminisced about his past before preparing himself for another bout.

However, Fritzes’ next set of actions made the ex-captain drop his jaw.

"How dare you stab me with these needles? It’s making my back itchy," he chuckled.

He appeared like a monster in front of the ex-captain; his back was filled with swords that struck him a moment ago, turning him into some sort of porcupine. Then he gave Delta a punch strong enough to send him almost a hundred meters away before slamming into a pillar, which was easily destroyed due to the impact.

Delta fell on the floor with his eyes covered in blood, coming from a cut at the top of his left eyebrow. Then he stood up and watched the fat man walk towards him with a wide grin on his face.

The ex-captain knew for a fact that his opponent was something special; despite his enormous body, he could move with ease and evade the swords hurled at him, and the strength he showed could rival that of an orc. Yet he was still growing in terms of power; in every second that passed, he became faster and much stronger than before.

"For the man who once hailed as the strongest swordsman in the whole Plain of Fantasies to be reduced to something like this, pathetic!" Fritz exclaimed and pulled a sword from his back.

"Any last words, Captain?" He asked, mocking the man.

Though Delta’s defeat was around the corner, he didn’t try to run. He stood there with dignity, even if he now had difficulty opening his eyes and his vision became blurred. He still raised his weapon.

Then he made all the swords above move and point to the fat man.

"Die!" Fritz ignored the blades and yelled as he charged toward the ex-captain, aiming for his neck.

"I will fall with you," Delta uttered, waiting for his opponent while the sea of swords rained down into the area.

Fritz parried and deflected those that landed at him without changing his direction. He believed that it was the man’s last attempt to survive, so he didn’t waste time any longer. He accelerated his speed once more.

Delta, who saw his blades getting blocked one after the other, lost his willpower.

’He is right; twenty-four years inside the prison made me this weak,’ he thought.

Then he closed his eyes and accepted his fate after he stared at his very own sword coming straight to his neck. But a barrier of wind kept him alive, as it appeared in an instant between him and the fat man.

Fritz immediately turned around as he noticed the magic spell.

"Show yourself!" He yelled.

However, the reply he got was a huge spear of fire that he deflected with the sword.

"A mage," Fritz realized as he saw a magic circle beneath him that was glowing in red.

Afterward, burning chains crept into his legs, restraining his movements. Then a burst of lava erupted from his position.

Delta witnessed the entire scene. As soon as Fritz yelled a moment ago, he opened his eyes, and he recognized the set of spells in one glance, which made his lips curl upward.

"You’ve really trained hard, I presume," he uttered.

Then a man with a white grimoire floating at his side walked from the opposite end of the main hall. His blue hair and eyes shone brighter due to the erupting lava.

"Thank you, Prince Lexzi," the ex-captain expressed his gratitude as the man entered his line of sight.

"No need to thank me; I’m just returning the favor," the man replied, then he glanced at the pair staring at him.

"Captain, can you still move? Find them a safe place; I’ll catch up once I finish this," he ordered before focusing his attention on the person trying his best to free himself from the chains.

"By your orders," Delta responded.

He even kneeled to show his respect, then ran in the king and princess’ direction, obeying the prince’s command.

’Is he still human?’ Lexzi thought while watching the fat man inside the burning lava.

. . . . .

Twenty-four years ago, a group of demons invaded the Kingdom of Herish, and hundreds of lives perished from that incident. The city turned into a graveyard, with people screaming everywhere. The knights were defeated, and while a lot of mercenaries helped, most of them fled to survive.

It happened in just a single day; the demons were looking for something. They kept on asking about a certain key, but no one inside the kingdom knew anything about it.

This angered the demons, and they stated that they would kill all the people until someone gave them the one they were searching for.

The people lost all their hopes and chose to do the demon’s bidding, but a man, along with the remaining knights, faced the invaders and prevented them from harming the crowd any further.

"Prioritize the people’s safety! We will strike back once the reinforcement arrives!" He ordered.

He mobilized his soldiers to defend and hold their ground until help from the other kingdom came. Then countless swords filled the sky, flipping the tides of the battle. The man became victorious, and he became known as a hero after contributing greatly to killing the group of demons.

However, when everyone thought that the storm was finished. A single demon who managed to survive sneaked inside the kingdom’s castle. He possessed the queen and made her his puppet to search for the key for which they were looking.

And by the time the hero, also known as the captain of the first battalion, noticed that the actions of the queen were not aligned with what he remembered. He notified the king.

"Your Highness, something is bothering this servant of yours," he said while kneeling in front of the throne.

"Speak your thoughts," the king replied.

Then the captain reported the queen’s odd behavior and his other observations, but the king didn’t listen to him. He even said that the man was overreacting.

But the captain, Delta, vowed that his words were true and he would provide evidence regarding his claims, so he asked for the king’s permission to observe the queen’s actions, which the king granted.

Days passed by and nothing happened, but Delta kept on insisting that something was amiss. Afterward, weeks and even months lapsed, and the captain still had no proof for his statement.

’Maybe it’s just my imagination, like the king has said,’ he thought.

Then he let go of his speculation and focused on his task to teach the first prince about the way of the sword, like the king wanted. Though he was the first person to whom the child had spoken about his dream, upon learning about it, he provided the prince with some basic books about magic.

For him, there was no way for someone to learn the sword if he had no interest in and passion for it. That was why he chose to support the first prince in achieving his ambition while keeping it a secret from the others.

The time continued to fly without any mishaps until that certain day, when the king and the second prince were busy inside the workshop. Delta was watching the first prince’s progression in learning magic inside a room, he was sitting on the window when he heard that the princess kept on crying even though the queen was carrying her in the castle’s garden.

He watched and noticed how the queen’s blue eyes changed into black ones. Then he jumped all the way down and took the baby away from the queen as soon as he saw that she was choking the princess to stop her from crying.

"My hunch is right after all; who are you?" He asked, before pointing his sword at the woman.

"Where is the key?" A gruff voice came out from the queen’s mouth, and this alerted Delta.

"Demon! What did you do to her Highness?" He asked.

The queen attacked him in a continuous manner, and he kept on evading without doing any counterattacks while protecting the princess in his arm. He was contemplating whether it was the queen’s real body; after all, he couldn’t afford to hurt the king’s wife.

Then a voice came out from where he came from.

"Delta! What’s wrong?" It was Lexzi. He felt troubled as he saw the knight rush towards the garden.

"Don’t com-" The captain was about to warn the prince, but he was a second late as he saw the queen go directly to the child.

He put the princess down and chased the silhouette that passed him a few seconds ago.

"Do not touch him!" He yelled and slashed the queen at her back to prevent her from reaching the prince.

The demon inside the woman’s body shrieked in pain after falling to the ground.

"Bastard! Are you not afraid to hurt this woman?" The demon asked.

But Delta ignored the question and proceeded to pin the queen’s body by summoning four swords that struck her limbs.

"I can always request a healer," the captain stated.

. . . . .