Chapter 10:
Clash with Demon King Atofe
“I AM IMMORTAL DEMON KING Atoferatofe Rybak! If you defeat me I shall recognize you as champions! If you lose, you will serve as my puppets until the day you draw your last breath!”
Atofe radiated malice. A lone figure stood against her—the champion.
“I’m Sword King Eris Greyrat,” Eris declared. Facing down Atofe, she raised the Phoenix Dragon Sword, one of the Seven Sword God Blades, above her head.
“Sword God Style!” Atofe exclaimed happily. Without taking her eyes off Eris, she drew her own sword. “Just so you know, Sword of Light won’t work on me.”
Eris didn’t react. She knew. She’d heard the legend of the immortal demon kings.
Immortal Demon King Atofe couldn’t be beaten.
It wasn’t a question of technique—Atofe was slow and her blade was dull. She simply didn’t die. No attack, no mortal wound could kill her. No matter how much you hit her, she’d spring back up again. In the end, she’d win through sheer resilience.
That was Immortal Demon King Atofe. In the Laplace War, there were fewer than a dozen valiant warriors who’d been able to stand against her. The Three Godslayers stood among those few. The only individual to ever beat her one-on-one was the North God Kalman, or so the stories went.
Eris had assessed whether her strength was enough to topple the demon king, and she knew that the answer was no. Alone, it was impossible. The idea of challenging a being of legends was exhilarating, but she knew there was no way she could beat Atofe with her own strength.
That didn’t mean she was going to mope about it. She might not have the necessary ability, but someone else here did. They’d discussed it in advance.
“Hey, say something!” Atofe yelled.
Eris still didn’t reply.
“Hold on,” Atofe went on, “there was a guy like you who did the thing of concentrating all his energy and then coming at me with a single ultimate blow…” When Eris still didn’t say anything she chuckled. “I’ve got a good memory, see. I remember it well. That blow never hit me. I squashed him with my fist, like a toad.” Atofe snickered evilly, reminiscing, then glared at Eris. “Well, Eris Greyrat? This’ll be the gamble of a lifetime for you. Will you humiliate yourself in front of your trusting companions…or will you obtain glory?”
She tapped her skull. “Here’s my head, see? If you take it home you’ll be the hero of humanity for all eternity!” Atofe was supremely confident. The look on her face said No way this lady can kill me.
Around us, her personal guards were wailing. Something like, “No, Lady Atofe! You’re letting your guard down again!”
Allowing the hero to get the first swing in on purpose was an unavoidable part of what it meant to be a descendant of the immortal demon kings, I surmised.
“I don’t need any glory,” Eris said brusquely, “but I am going to cut your head off.”
“Bold words, Eris Greyrat!” Atofe bellowed. Her voice thundered around the arena. “Come and try it!”
The evening sun sank behind the mountains and darkness settled. The two women were illuminated by the purple flames of the torches. Atofe’s eyes blazed. Eris glared back at her, undaunted. Their eyes were locked on to one another. Each one wanted the other dead.
Things could erupt at any moment.
“Um…”
Atofe’s personal guards weren’t looking at Eris or Atofe. Instead, their eyes were fixed on the giant behind Eris. There, in the dim light, stood a towering figure made of stone, standing about three meters tall. Where could it have come from? Had someone used summoning magic? But no, there were none of the aftereffects of that.
A few steps behind the giant stood the blue-haired magician. She clenched her fist in a clear declaration of success, looking up at the giant.
“Oh…” Why didn’t Eris, this savage Sword God Style warrior, attack? One of the guards understood, sighing with admiration: Eris was buying time so that Rudeus could get ready.
Roxy had summoned the Magic Armor Version One.
“Who…whoa…” Atofe, looking up at the shadowy figure behind Eris, made an awed noise. She recognized that armor from long ago, back before the Laplace War. She’d seen it in the Second Human-Demon War before it was sealed away. It looked a little different from how she remembered it. It was a new color. But such changes were trivial. Back then, there had once been many sets of armor like this one. This was a complete set.
“Fighting God Armor…!” Atofe muttered. She stared up at it, stunned—
“Gyaaaaaah!” And at that moment, Eris attacked.
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