Master’s Smile

C123 – Slash

“Oh, my~…? You are~, if I recall, you’re the one who recently joined Princess Neena’s entourage, yes~?”

Wissen asked and looked at Master who appeared carrying Ritter in his arms.

He was curious as to how Master survived from Lintz’s attack, but he was not alarmed by his presence.

That’s because there was no way he could beat the demon, Lintz, who had even managed to defeat Ritter.

“Master! Well done saving Ritter!!

Neena praised Master with a look of heartfelt happiness on her face.

Ritter, whom Neena had been worried about, had no noticeable injuries, although her cheeks were bright red, probably due to being exposed to the light.

“Well, one more person won’t make any difference, though~, Prince Lintz!!”

“OOOOOOOOOOOHHH…!!”

Lintz had remained frozen and didn’t respond to Wissen’s call earlier, but now he finally made his move.

He directed his powerful swings at Master along with Ritter, who was held up by him.

Yet, Master lightly dodged all those attacks, which could shatter every bone in his body if one hit him.

Ritter, too, did not look frightened at all in the face of such dangerous attacks and continued to look up at her master with an expression of complete and utter peace of mind.

“…Quite stubborn, indeed~. What’s wrong, Prince Lintz!? Go attack more!!”

Wissen could not hide his irritation at Master, who didn’t just dodge Lintz attacks but also smiled carefreely the whole time.

Thus, he took his frustration out on Lintz, yet Lintz’s movements did not get any better.

Lintz had already been attacking both Master and Ritter with all his might.

“OOOOHH!!!”

His arms were raised so high that it slammed the ground with such force which created a blast of air around it.

However, Master dodged it by soaring lightly through the air and landed right next to Neena.

He then put down Ritter and told Neena to take care of the girl.

“A-Aah, that’s fine, but what are we going to do about brother—no, that demon?”

For a moment, Neena’s face contorted as she remembered Lintz when he was still human, but quickly returned to having the face of a princess who must protect her people.

Master, who hadn’t thought about it, was troubled answering her question, when suddenly….

“Master, me too….”

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“O-Oi, Ritter.”

Ritter came forward while still in a daze.

She wouldn’t stand back and watch silently while her master was fighting.

Neena tried to stop her, but Ritter kept staring at Master.

And his heart was shaken by her pleading gaze that he had never expected to see.

However….

“Muu….”

Master didn’t allow it and patted Ritter’s head soothingly.

She was happy to be stroked, but became sullen when he declared that she could not fight with him.

Master smiled wryly at Ritter, who looked at him in silent protest, and pulled out Ritter’s sword from her waist.

He said he would borrow it and went to where Wissen and Lintz were standing.

“Oh~? Have you finished your last farewell?”

Wissen spoke as if he had been waiting for him.

Master smiled and thanked him for his consideration.

Nevertheless, Wissen was obviously not stopping out of kindness.

Lintz had merged with several low-ranked demons and finally gained a powerful strength.

However, he, who was the root of this power, had to spend his stamina and mana.

And he had been attacking so furiously that he needed to rest for a while.

“No, no…. There’s no problem~….Still, I thought you would plan a countermeasure…but, to think there’s none! Ihihihihihihi!!!”

Seeing that Master was the only one who had come forward means that he would be the only one who would fight them.

Still, that kind of act would be reckless against the current Lintz, and what’s more, Master only had one weapon in his hand, a sword.

A sword would certainly be a very effective weapon against a human.

But for Lintz, who was now a demon, it was no better than an unreliable toothpick.

“Only demons and angels could fight against their own, you know~!? Shouldn’t you drag Ritter-san out to fight as well~!?”

Wissen, who wanted the demons to clash against each other for his research, tried to provoke Master, yet Master only laughed and shook his head.

Wissen was disappointed with Master’s response and quickly changed his mind.

Either way, it was still possible to drag Ritter into his experiment.

He could just attack her as soon as he finished killing Master.

“I guess I’ll have to use you first for my experiment~, Prince Lintz!!”

“OOOOOOOOOOOOHHH…!!!”

Following Wissen’s words, Lintz extended his huge arm toward Master.

Then he opened his palm wide enough to contain him within it.

He probably intended to squeeze Master with his mighty grip.

Even Ritter and Neena, who were watching from the side, could see that, yet Master just kept smiling and did not move.

As a result, he was grabbed and covered by Lintz’s hand.

“Master….”

“IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI!!! That was disappointing~!!! Wouldn’t it have been better if Ritter had been the one fighting!?”

Ritter murmured sadly while Wissen was laughing hysterically.

Lintz gripped Master so hard that grinding sounds could be heard.

Whoever was in his hand would certainly not be unharmed.

They would be crushed so tightly that they wouldn’t even retain their original form as humans.

ーーーーーーExcept for Master, that is.

“Oooh…!?!”

Suddenly, a number of slashing glints appeared on Lintz’s hand.

And in the next instant, his hand was cut to pieces, and from within, Master, hopped off while smiling and still unharmed.

“I-Impossible…!?!”

“Master!”

Wissen and Ritter reacted in the exact opposite from earlier.

The former was astonished, while the latter looked relieved and glad.

Master, having finally landed on his feet, swung his sword four more times.

“Oo…?”

There was no way he could have hit Lintz at such a distance.

But for Master, that distance was nothing.

All of Lintz’s tough demonic limbs were completely severed from his torso.

The severed arms and legs fell to the ground, and his torso, having lost its support, followed suit and tumbled down.

“H-How…!? N-Not yet!! Prince Lintz!!”

His greatest guinea pig, Prince Lintz, who had defeated the demon-possessing Ritter, was about to lose against an unknown man in Neena’s entourage within seconds.

Stunned by this reality, Wissen remembered that he still had a trump card.

It was Lintz’s powerful magic cannon, which had even outmatched Ritter’s demonic magic.

With that beam, he would be able to obliterate Master without a trace.

Thus, light gathered once again inside Lintz’s mouth.

Furthermore, the amount of it was even greater than the one that was released at Ritter.

“This is just to be certain, so I present to you an extra-large magic cannon!!”

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHH!!!”

Lintz, who had lost all four of his limbs, still did not lose his will to fight.

By focusing his strength only on his neck, he raised his head and fired the light collected in his mouth towards Master.

The power was so tremendous that the ground was gouged into rubble after the beam passed through the air.

This barrage of light would be something that Ritter’s Flood might not be able to prevent.

Even if she managed to chip away some of the power with Flood, the area around her was still bound to be obliterated.

Although Ritter and Neena looked at Master’s back with fretful looks, Master remained smiling as ever.

Slowly, he raised the sword he had borrowed from Ritter and brandished it toward the incoming beam.

“ーーーーーー”

And the beam was cut in half.

The magic cannon, which boasted enough power to easily obliterate not only Master, but even Ritter and Neena, was torn through like butter without any resistance.

The aftermath of his slash was not limited to that.

Lintz’s face, still having his mouth wide open from firing the beam, was seemingly stunned by what Master had done.

Then, a cracking sound could be heard, followed by a split emerging from the center of his face.

Master’s slash had gone beyond the magic cannon and reached Lintz as well.

“Esteemed brother….”

Neena looked at Lintz, who had become a demon, with an indescribably complex expression.

He was the great sinner who had unleashed the demons on the royal capital and plunged the kingdom into chaos.

However, the scene of her childhood, when they were purely playing and competing with each other, without any thoughts of the throne selection, also came to her mind.

How was her relationship with her brother back then?

Didn’t they study, play, and laugh together?

“Ah….”

Even with those memories, Neena still did not wish to help Lintz.

It was even more unlikely that she would hold a grudge against Master who had delivered the finishing blow.

She was the first princess of Evans Kingdom.

As Neena watched, Lintz’s demonic face shattered in half with a transient sound.