The anthropomorphic lion never reached me. His claws slammed against a glacial wall that sprang up between us, and even though he succeeded in smashing it to bits, I was already moving to distance myself further from my assailant.
"It won't work!"
The lion commander roared and twisted around agilely, his claws extending and twisting about to pierce into me. Once again, they were halted by another ice shield – this time a gigantic sculpture the shape of a snowflake. Not only that, I was able to simultaneously fire off a barrage of icicles in his direction, forcing him to dodge. A few landed, but they harmlessly broke apart against his armor. Still, the lion demon was forced to evade because the icicles threatened to tear into his exposed flesh, such as his un-helmed head and bare arms and legs.
He landed gracefully a few meters away, spinning around to continue facing me. A feral grin revealed sharp, glistening fangs and he applauded. Raising an arm, he swatted away another hail of icicles before they could pepper his face.
"Not bad!" He sounded delighted. "You are indeed a worthy foe."
I didn't reply. It baffled me why these morons talked so much in a battlefield. They should be focusing on fighting, not chatting. Instead, I continued to bombard him with a hail of icicles. Honestly, I wanted to launch a more powerful spell, but given the speed and agility of the lion demon, I knew it wasn't practical. More powerful spells took a longer time to cast, which was why I resorted to the basic icicle spells. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to prevent him from reaching my position.
As a mage, allowing such a formidable foe to get into close combat with me would mean certain death. I had to avoid that at all costs.
Jumping away, the lion demon dashed toward a safe distance.
"My name is Leo Regulus," he announced. "I would like to know your name."
I had no reason to indulge him, but I was too nice and polite a person to rudely ignore him, so I gave a simple reply.
"Klein Pearson."
"Oho! Not bad, Klein Pearson! I am honored to have this duel with you!" Leo Regulus laughed as he continued to hop away from the icicles. Realizing how futile they were, especially when I saw the few that landed home break into pieces, I ceased for a moment.
That was fine. I had already achieved my goal, which was to force Leo into a distance. From that far away, he surely shouldn't be able to…
"Did you think I wouldn't be able to reach you from afar?"
"?!"
I ducked instinctively, saving my head from being detached from the rest of my body when Leo's claws soared above. Whirling away, I stamped a foot against the ground and unleashed a gigantic ice spike that erupted from the ground to impale Leo, but he practically danced away.
When did he get behind me?
"Didn't you know?" Leo laughed again. "Among the demonic commanders, I'm best known for my speed. I bet I'm even faster than most of the twelve Divine Generals themselves!"
I parried his claws with another ice shield, which shattered upon impact. Once again, it still bought me enough time to escape. Even so, I realized that this wasn't ideal. Especially since…
"Oh, don't worry about them." Leo caught me sneaking a glance at the surrounding wyverns, gryphons and gargoyles. "They won't interfere. I have ordered them to keep their distance. I don't want any of them ruining my fun."
Wow. I wasn't aware that demons had any sense of honor. Not that I cared. After what they had done to my village, I was going to slaughter every last one of them. I wasn't going to allow even a single one of them to escape.
"Why did you butcher the villagers?" I asked, unable to suppress my rage and hatred. Leo stared at me for a moment, as if wondering why I was asking such a stupid question.
"Do I need a reason?" he scoffed. "Humans are the enemy. Of course I'll kill them. Reducing the population, cowing the civilians, restricting their resources such as ruining their agricultural ability and striking fear into the hearts of survivors…isn't that the standard strategy for warfare? After all, a fearful and starved populace wouldn't be able to put up an effective resistance."
"For that reason…!"
Even though I recognized that Leo had a point…that the humans had been using the same strategy as demons…the practicality of it…I couldn't help but feel enraged. I had long known the brutality and necessary cruelty of warfare, but it never registered until that very moment.
…until my family and my village directly became the victims of such violence.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
With a yell, I froze the entire area around me. The surrounding gargoyles, gryphons and wyverns flapped their wings frantically and tried to escape, but a significant number of them wasn't able to avoid the ice in time, their bodies caught by the blast and instantly frozen.
"Ha ha ha! You're the best! You really are the best!" Leo chuckled as he bounced away agilely, swinging his claws to smash apart the approaching ice. Even though certain portions of his body were caught in the blast and layered in frost, he shattered the ice with a surge of his demonic aura. "This is the first time I've met a human opponent like you! More!"
He vanished when I sent a bunch of icicles spearing his position, and then reappeared behind me. I ducked under his claws again and then sent a wall of ice sprouting from the ground. He effortlessly smashed it to fragments and continued slicing at me, forcing me to leap back.
Cursing under my breath, I pressed a hand against the ground and unleashed a sword-shaped ice sculpture from the ground. The ice blade pierced toward Leo, but failed to penetrate his armor. Even so, it seemed to have done some damage, for Leo grunted and backed off. I spotted a dent in his armor when he retreated.
Good. It wasn't as if my attacks were entirely ineffective. If I could just keep bombarding him with powerful intermediate ice spells, then perhaps I could get past that annoying armor.
But first I had to deal with his incredible speed.
Leo zoomed across the ruins of the village, zigzagging across lanes and jumping atop demolished houses, avoiding my icicles with consummate ease. He then reappeared in front of me, slashing at me, but there was a reason why I had slowed down the rate of my icicle volleys and didn't bother with an ice shield this time.
I was casting a more powerful ice spell.
"Ugh!? You…!"
Leo realized the trap too late. His claws raked across my front, causing a spurt of blood. I staggered, but refused to falter. Grinning fiercely, I activated my spell and froze the leonine commander, rooting him to the spot. Ice crept around his legs, pinning him to the ground. His crimson demonic aura flared again, but it was taking him more time and effort to break free of this intermediate spell.
"Hah! Well played!" Leo chuckled, crossing his arms to defend against my next attack. Knowing that the icicles couldn't deal the decisive blow, I had opted for another ice spell this time. Freezing a sword in my hands, I swung it and cut off one of his arms, causing blood to spurt from the stump.
Bellowing in rage and pain, Leo swung his remaining arm to slash me, forcing me to parry his attack. My ice sword shattered and I was sent hurtling several meters back. Blood gushed from my mouth and several scratches, but I ignored the burning agony and rolled to my feet. Opposite me, Leo had finally broken free of my ice and was bounding about, ready to finish me off.
"It's worth losing an arm to fight an opponent of your caliber!" Leo crowed, slashing with his remaining arm. I was forced to dive to the side as his nails shot out and extended in a deadly, curving arc, plunging deep into the ground. He retracted them and kicked at me, his feet tipped with equally lethal claws. I dropped to the ground and rolled away, heaving from the exertion.
Another icicle burst from the ground, piercing through the air where Leo had been, but he had intuitively moved away before it could deal any real damage, casually swatting it into pieces with a kick. Spinning around, he sent another volley of stretching nails toward my position, but I caught the elastic nails in a block of ice.
Crimson demonic mana surged through his claws, allowing him to break the ice and retract the nails, and Leo studied me, impressed, even as he shook the frost off his remaining paw.
"If I hadn't known better, I would have sworn that you're one of the seven human Heroes. You certainly possess enough skill to fight on par with one of them."
"You've fought against the Heroes before?" I asked, despite myself. Leo burst out laughing and shook his head.
"Of course not. But I've heard of them. I always wanted to fight against one of them. It's the dream of every demon to defeat such revered existences and deal a devastating blow to your human kingdom! Defeating one would catapult me to the rank of Divine General, I'm sure of it!"
"Yeah, that made sense." I snorted. "If you've fought a Hero, there's no way you would still be alive right now."
"You underestimate me," Leo snapped as he slashed at me. I conjured another ice shield, which broke under the impact but bought me the time I needed to retreat. He grinned and closed in. "But I guess I can count this battle as a warmup…a rehearsal for fighting on par with a real Hero."
"I hate to break it to you," I told him. "But I'm not even half as strong as any of the seven Heroes."
With Herman being the clear exception, but there was no need to tell my enemy that. Also, I wasn't in the habit of embarrassing my friends in front of other people, even if they were demons.
"Even better! I'm looking forward to fighting a Hero more and more!" Leo chuckled enthusiastically before slashing at me.
Summoning an ice sword, I parried his claws for a second before delivering a riposte that harmlessly bounced off his armor. He kicked at me, forcing me to back off, and then I deflected his claws with the ice sword, watching my frozen blade slowly get chipped away.
"You'll have to defeat me first," I pointed out coldly, and then knocked his claws aside. Leo couldn't help but guffaw, especially when he finally shattered my ice sword.
"That wouldn't be a problem." He smacked me to the side with a backhand. I tasted blood in my mouth as I was sent hurtling away. Groaning, I tried to get up, sensing Leo standing before me to deliver the finishing blow. "Thanks. It was fun, but I guess this is it."
"Yeah, this is it," I agreed. Closing my eyes, I pressed both palms against the ground. Leo didn't care and swung his claws down, confident that he could decapitate me before I pulled anything.
There was a loud crack and Leo's claws stopped a couple of inches away from my neck, caked in ice. His entire body was frozen, trapped within an ice coffin. He struggled to break free, his demonic aura rising to the fore once more, but as with before, it would take him some time to shatter his restraints.
Even so, he was able to free his head. His lips curled to a sneer.
"Cease this futile struggle," he growled, even as more fragments of frost shook loose from his neck, the disintegration of ice gradually descending to his chest. "You cannot defeat me!"
"Huh…where did I hear that before?" I wondered out loud in a sarcastic tone, conjuring a new ice weapon. This time, I shaped the ice into a massive spear, the lance extending even as I thrust it at Leo's astonished face. The ice spear lanced through his head, obliterating his features, skull and brain. Blood and gray matter dripped down, and the ice that encased the headless corpse ceased to crumble.
Sighing in relief, I straightened myself and snapped my fingers. The next instant, the rest of Leo's body shattered along with the ice and transformed into crystalline powder.
"Now then…who's next?"
Pushing my glasses up my face, I turned toward the subordinates of Leo. Despite the demise of their leonine commander, none of the demons had their morale broken and fled. If anything, it seemed that they were spurred on by rage and hatred to avenge their fallen leader.
Perfect. I also hated them to the core for slaughtering my village and family. Like I said, I wasn't going to allow even a single one of them to escape.
Snarling, growling and bellowing, the wyverns, gargoyles and gryphons surrounded me in a colossal circle before they lunged forward.