Volume 2 Chapter 21 (1/2)

A Demon’s Temptations — Part 1

「『Huh I have no idea what you’ve been going on about, but that’s a good soul you’ve got there It almost feels like I’ve seen it soht ht up too!』」

The de voice entered my ears as I turned to face it

「Is that supposed to be a cos than an angel’s, but I really could care less about what you think」

I scornfully laughed off the derip I had on the【Heart Flame Ghost Blade】

「『Man, you sure are a merciless one And you seem like you’re probably a pretty decent swordsman too, with how you lopped my arive a shi+t A cut like that doesn’ta lie, with your body being how it is」

「『Oh, you’ve ood pair of eyes or so? It doesn’t look like it』」

Demons were, in essence, a subspecies of spirit All spirits fit into one of eight distinct categories, with the biggest si that they were all cluht subspecies and eight different ele Only six of the eight were based off the eleht, and darkness The two re element types, null and non-systematic, didn't have any spirits associated with theh they were elements for which people could have affinities The last subspecies of spirits were instead classified as angels and deh they were on the exact opposite ends of the spectrum

That, however, irrelevant What diddown one of the aforementioned spirits, specifically the kind that was demonic in nature

「Let’s just say I’ve had a bit of an odd past, one convoluted enough for in with」

「『Wohat a surprise So you're even aware that we don't see each other as brethren even though we're of the same make? Silly human, if you know that, then you must also know just how purposeless your opposition is』」

The deenerated its arms

The two limbs I’d cut off dissolved into thin air as the de hi theaze towards her in response to her incomplete question She'd collapsed onto the bare earth beneath her, her clothes torn and dirtied

「Sit still for a bit I don’t want you dying onno more, I focuseda bit of a bother You ?」

I raised my blade and pointed it towards the inhuman creature as I spoke

「I don’t want to waste ht this instant」

「『You think I, being the estee?』」

「Well, I see you've made your choice Die」

I pouredit ablaze with a blue-white flame as I pursued the demon Its attempts to open up so flames that decorated ht filled the underground prison as the fire spread from my blade to the wound it created

「『Woah there So you were a ic swordsman? That does make you a bit more notable, but still, won’t make much of a difference Your flanored the demon’s words and instead used my time to shred the arm I stole from him

「『Come on man You know that's pointless All I have to do to make a full recovery is shi+ft ain Just like th—』」

The dehty, froze up in theto regenerate?」

「『W-What the hell did you do to uess」

Demon’s bodies weren’t made up of flesh and bone They were just lu they were only able to reabsorb their body parts so long as they remained constructed entirely of their own essence Its body needed a very specific co was disturb itsmy ownitsa specific type of sand fro to be considered practical ical energy, would continue to scorch the demon’s body and maim its wound beyond the point of recovery in the rantmore than an added bonus The soulblade’s true worth stes Its flames could reduce creatures without physical forwas just an alternate application of that same ability

「『T-That’s i that you should be even reh of that」

「『Gaaah!』」

Deic-based creatures they were, typically wouldn’t takeother than spells that her tier version of the light element

And as a result, the species'style that involved outright ignoring their opponent’s attacks They would typically brute force their way through their ene chants For that reason, the demon found itself confused and incapable of a proper reaction to my attack Its motions were filled with numerous fatal flaws

I stepped forward and positioned ht in its face as I raisedand other arm from its body

「『fuck!』」

「Yeah, no You're not getting away like that either」

The deicalitself, a tactic that would’ve worked on anyone but host blade provided me the passive ability to see it even its deonally overand everything under the knee on its left Naturally, I made sure I cut the deenerate

「『W-Why the hell can you seeme when I have no physical form!?』」

「What are you, stupid? Do I look like the type of softie that’d be duh to explain my methods to you? You should know that already, demon Can't you see into my soul?」

「『Motherfucker! What the hell are you!?』」

Having lost its balance, the deer had anyas how one of its wings had already been removed It was far too close to ical incantation I could easily destroy it the moment it tried

「You demons have always believed too much in your bodies and how far they could take you You don’t feel pain, and you’re able to regenerate ale you take You lack any semblance of the instinct needed to avoidto you What do you think? How’s ht now, deaze was to treone out of my way to explain its downfall

「『W-Wait! Please! This isn’tI have to do, I was forced into it by the contract I made!』」

My blade’s fla amounts of mana into the weapon

「Yeah, I know You demons can’t do shi+t unless you enter into a contract You basically have no effect on the outside world under any other circuht? I-I won’t kill the girl you’ve got behind you if you do I’ve already gotten everything I was supposed to have, according to the contract Iher alone won’t violate it Me and that other chick, we already don’t owe each other anything right now I-I can promise I won’t make another contract with her either』」

「So what?」

I lifted the blade in o… Lend me a hand here, man…』」

「Nah I hate it when people I could care less about ask me for help」

「『S-stop it! No! Don’t! Please!』」

「fuck off」

I readied —

「Wait, stop!」

—only to be physically halted the moment before I could

「Huh? What the hell are you trying to do?」

Shuria, the girl the de up until just a few moments prior, wrapped her arms aroundit My first instinct was to assuht I’d been constantly keeping tabs on her status in order to

「Don’t kill it, Kaito」

Shame filled me the moment I saw her hate-filled eyes I couldn’t believewhat I had

「I won’t let you kill it! I want to be the one that kills it!」

「Right… Good point I should’ve known you wouldn’t want me to poach your prey」

I would’ve felt the sa looking douchebag that knew nothing ofcaeance on before I could get to theh to kill, at that

I wouldn’t eance, even if their reasons for seeking it differed fro unable to participate Just watching was the sa cucked It was, in and of itself, a form of torture I’d rather sit on a chair made out of ot revenge on whatever it was I wanted to personally end