As the "hell" falls on me, I can immediately feel the extreme heat it possesses. I will be lying if I say it doesn't hurt, but the pain is still something I can bear.
In a crucial moment, such as when you are close to dying, your mind will work so fast, you can see things slower. Given the fact that I can already see everything slower without my life being in peril, I can slowly observe the scene that brings me my doom.
Am I afraid of getting burnt to crisp? No, but I am slightly nervous. Am I just going to stand still and accept the fire? Of course, not. There is a way to get out of this situation.
'Luxia!'
I am not alone. With Luxia's corrupted Spiritual Heart bound to me, if I die, she will too, so I can't die carelessly.
I don't know if the Demon King's Mark will revive her as it does to me, and I will never know because I don't want to take the risk. My fight with Niles was a close call; I was lucky I got away with merely passing out.
'On it!'
Luxia, knowing that fact, also tried her best to protect and help me in dire times. This is the main reason why she helps me suppress my presence and power: so they don't attract dangers.
Burst!
Just before the fire touches any part of my body, I am devoured by the ground. My body sinks into it so quick, I feel like I have just jumped into a sea.
There is already a 36 square feet room prepared underground, which becomes the place where I shelter myself from the fire of Millonia's Spell. I don't know how deep I am in the ground, but I still can feel the heat of Millonia's Spell here.
"That lunatic—she is really serious about burning me to crisp in front of everyone," I remark. "Luxia, are you okay? You didn't get burned, did you?"
As I ask Luxia of her well-being, I look at my hands that I can barely feel. Both of them are completely ruined: I can see the tip of my finger bones, the skin has already gone, and the flesh that is now exposed looks like a crispy bacon.
"I am fine, thankfully."
"That's great to hear."
Luxia lands on my shoulder, and says, "Ouch, that looks hurt."
"It would be weird if it didn't, wouldn't it?" I smirk. "Don't worry though, it will heal in... Now."
When the heat from Millonia's fire gradually disappears, I receive a power-up. My hands are immediately healed—the flesh returns to its original state as the skin regrows.
Luxia marvels at the scene, and tells me how she can never get used to it no matter how many times she has seen it. She still shrugs in the end though, which makes her statement quite contradictory.
"Alright, let's surprise her."
When Luxia returns to the top of my head, I hold Rexorem firmly. Channeling Mana into my feet, I immediately kick the ground and emerge from my hideout.
Burst!
Millonia doesn't seem to lower her guard in the least bit; just as I emerge from the ground, she showers me with fire. Unlike the last time; luckily, this fire is weaker, so my Magic Barrier can handle it.
"Tsk! Quirky, aren't you?" She remarks.
Dashing at her as soon as my feet touch the ground, I cover Rexorem with the one thousand petals [Senbonzakura] made. I raise Rexorem above my head, and activate [Great Impact] as I swing it down.
Clank!
Millonia readily blocks it; but, like before, she doesn't anticipate [Senbonzakura]. The petals immediately carve hundreds of small cuts on her arms; she is lucky that she can react quickly.
"That fucking Spell again!"
"It's a Skill, Honey. It's my own creation."
"Shitty braggart."
Millonia still has the red hair, which is slightly frolicking in the air like the snakes decorating Medusa's head. With her current appearance, for the first time, I don't think it's unsuitable for her to curse.
Huffing softly, I decided to end the fight now. Though I have only got three power-ups so far, it is already enough to let me overwhelm her.
In the very first place, our gap is not that wide. There is also the fact that she has almost exhausted all of her Mana due to the last Spell of her, so defeating her is not that hard.
Kicking the ground as I dash at her, Millonia holds her sword firmly as she points it at me. Her hands are completely drenched in blood, thanks to the cuts she has on her arms.
Like usual, she doesn't seem to care about it. She is an 'I lose when I die' type of person, so she still faces me without any worry of worsening her injuries.
"Millonia, as your Master, I command you, freeze!"
Just as I am about to swing Rexorem—when I am just 10-feet away from Millonia, I use my authority as her Master. It shocks her so much, she even looks at me with bewilderment evident in her eyes.
I am well aware of how dirty I play; but, uncaring to that, I unsommon Rexorem, and channel my Mana into my fist. Using another one of my Skills, I thrust my fist to her solar plexus.
"[Death Blow]!"
Bam!
"Kuhak! You... Dirty bastard!"
"It's the only way to put you down, sorry."
The shockwave my Skill produced this time is weaker than it has ever been. It is not because I don't have enough Mana to fuel it, but because I don't want to inflict anymore injury to Millonia
The reason why I did this in the very first place is because I knew she wouldn't back down until she was completely immobilized. It is hard for me to do that these days since I am already used to killing my opponent, so I didn't want to take the risk.
Whoosh!
"Huh? This is...?" At the faint heat slowly coursing throughout my body, I frown lightly. "I can still get a power-up even though I don't kill my opponent? Sweet!"
It is something to rejoice—the fact that I can still get a power-up by making my stronger opponent lose conscious—but I don't really get that much out of Millonia. Our gap has been eliminated, but I am still not that significantly stronger than before.
"Yosh, it's time to take her to the infirmary. This idiot is losing so much blood because she doesn't even know that some of her arteries are cut."
Throwing the unconscious Millonia on my shoulder, I carry her like a sack of potato. She is lucky that she is in a Magic World, otherwise nothing could stop her cut arteries from spurting out blood incessantly.
Just as I am about to walk away, I hear the audience clapping. Looking around, I find many of them giving me a standing ovation much to my bewilderment.
Shaking my head in amusement, I walk out of the Arena and bring Millonia to Valeria. Saying nothing, Valeria immediately leads me out of the Training Field under everyone's gaze.
The clapping stops after we are outside. Silence briefly fills the Training Field, but the crowd immediately cheers not long after, turning the Training Field rowdy again.
"Did I do something amazing?"
"Enslaving a Seed Vessel is amazing."
"I thought they already knew she was mine the moment they saw the Geas," I comment.
Shaking her head faintly, Valeria says, "Unless you carve your name on your slave's body, there is no way for others to tell that they belong to you."
"Ah, I thought I was the only one who couldn't trace the origin of the Mana powering a slave's Geas."
"Geas is designed to be that way; so in case you enslave someone who has a connection with someone powerful, that powerful someone won't be able to trace or know you from the Geas."
"Ah, so that's why we are suggested to forbid our slaves to ever say anything about us to other people."
Valeria and I keep talking about random subjects until we reach the infirmary. I am honestly quite surprised there is indeed an infirmary in the Demon King's Castle since I have never visited it even once.
She immediately tells me to leave Millonia to her, and go meet my Wyvern friends. Doing what she tells me, I immediately sprint to the Wyvern stable.
It's been just two weeks, but after spending two months watching their shenanigans, I can't help missing them. In less than a minute, I arrive in front of the stable, and immediately push the door open.
Thud!
Silence greets me as the sound of the door hitting the wall echoes throughout the room. Frowning as I spread my Mana to sense the Wyverns inside, I smirk when I notice a hostile response.
Taking my mask off, I shout, "Is this how you treat your Master?!"
Immediately, the Wyverns that have been hiding themselves in their cage get out of it, and rush at me. As I expected, they didn't know it was me because of my quick growth.
"What? No way! It's Layland!"
"Uwah, he's back!"
"Hey, brat, you are still alive."
"Kuhahaha! You suckers have to give up half of your meal portion to me since I win the bet!"
I don't know what kind of bet Genelos is having with the others, but I really want to smack the shit out of the ten Wyverns. They greet me happily though, so I ended up deciding not to.
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