On one corner of the large stadium where the fight was about to take place in a few short moments, two figures watched on as they remained hidden from the others in the dark.
"General, you were the one to set it all up, right?" A sweet voice that could intoxicate anyone who listened to it escaped from the lips of a woman equally intoxicating to behold.
"Yupp," Edward admitted easily. There was no need for him to hide it from others - particularly those in the ranks of Lieutenant.
"Why would you rile him up when you know that Elvis holds a deep respect for you? He even worships you, you know?"
"I know that, Melfina. And that is exactly why I decided to rile him up."
"To what end?"
"I had two goals in mind." Although it was dark and hard to figure out the face and the overall silhouette of the other person, Edward still raised two fingers of his right hand.
In the meantime, the battle had already started and the crowd had already started cheering on the person that they were rooting for. At first, everyone thought that Elvis, who was a Lieutenant, was going to win for sure. But after less than three minutes, many had started to reevaluate their stance. The newbie had shown pretty good skills and managed to spar with Elvis without getting hit even a single time.
"Heh?" Even Melfina sounded a bit impressed.
Happy that things were progressing according to his wishes, Edward spoke to Melfina.
"Although I say two goals, in reality, there was actually only one purpose. That was the appointment of Vanitas as a Lieutenant."
Although it was dark, Edward felt as if Melfina had turned her head at him in disbelief.
"Are you serious?"
"I am."
"Why are thinking of appointing someone new like him as a Lieutenant?"
"First let me answer your first question. Then only I will move to this one."
"So, I was thinking of appointing him as the fifth Lieutenant of the Demon Extermination Corps. But there were two problems. What do you think they were?" Edward had the habit of playing this guessing game at times with his subordinates.
It was nothing new and Melfina didn't have to think too hard to arrive at the answer.
"Elvis and the other members of the Corps?"
"Bingo!" He gave a light clap and expanded on her reason.
"If I were to suddenly say that I am appointing Vanitas as the new Lieutenant, there's no way Elvis will be able to accept it immediately. He would surely object. To make Elvis agree, reluctantly or unreluctantly, he had to experience it firsthand that Vanitas was someone worthy of being a Lieutenant. That was why I riled him up by saying that Vanitas was probably stronger than me. I knew Elvis, who regarded me as the strongest and the mightiest, will surely take it upon himself to confirm whether what I spoke of was the truth or not."
And Elvis had done precisely as he wanted by proposing a duel against Vanitas.
"The next part was convincing the general public that Vanitas was powerful enough to be appointed as the Lieutenant. The best and the easiest way for that was to..."
"...Make him duel against one of the Lieutenants."
"Yes!"
By riling Elvis up, Edward had managed to kill two birds with one stone. He managed to make Elvis duke it out with Vanitas and now the crowd was going to witness the two fight against it each other.
One could say that Edward's plan had gone perfectly fine but there was one major thing that yet remained - and that was what determined the outcome of his plan.
"But that all depends on that boy. It will all go downhill if he doesn't win or at the very least put up a good fight."
"There is no need to worry on that front." Edward's voice was confident as he said that.
Melfina looked at the battle playing out in front of her as she replied to Edward, "Are you sure that he is going to win?"
"Yes. When I told Elvis that he was stronger than me, I wasn't lying."
That was the biggest surprise that had reached Melfina's ears today.
"Surely you are joking?" Melfina asked Edward. But there was no response. Only silence met her. Melfina thought of her General's silence as urging her to keep quiet and go on watching to see for herself.
As the fight continued, the crowd looked on edge. That was when the first ever hit of the match had been scored. Elvis had managed to deliver a small cut to Vanitas.
There was a sudden change in the atmosphere after that. Melfina trained her eyes on Vanitas and she felt that he muttered something but since she was far from him, she couldn't ascertain what it was that the boy said.
Then, Melfina 'felt' it, and she shuddered.
"That boy...he had been fighting without using the physical enhancement from his demon?!" She couldn't believe it. She hadn't felt a strong use of demonic power from the boy so she had thought that the demon was a very weak one. But, turns out he had been fighting Elvis who had been using his demon's abilities on an equal footing without using his own. For the first time, Melfina associated the word 'strong' with that boy.
When the boy used the demon's power, Melfina finally got an idea of just how powerful the demon he had gone under a contract with was.
"That demon... it's stronger than mine," Melfina admitted. Just a small glimpse was enough to make that point abundantly clear. Edward's words now started ringing true. 'Maybe...he really may be stronger than the General or at least equal to him.' Melfina thought that.
The boy launched at Elvis.
Suddenly, all of his movements became sharper, more fierce, and more refined. It was as if she was watching the boy dance with a sword in his hand. It was beautiful. It was elegant.
But, then, something nagged at her. She felt as if she had seen such elegant moves somewhere before. Where was it? She racked her brain for an answer.
Clang!
She heard the sound of the two swords colliding.
And as if on cue, she remembered where she had seen such exquisite swordsmanship before.
"Those moves...aren't they the sword techniques that are taught to the Paladins?" She asked that question to Edward as her voice shook with unease.
"Yeah," Edward said.
"Isn't that boy interesting, Melfina?" There was a hidden meaning behind the words that Edward spoke but Melfina couldn't know for sure what it was.
Instead, she asked an important question that arose in her mind after witnessing the boy.
"Where did you find that boy? Is he your acquaintance?"
"No. I don't know him. He was found by Eleanor and Dominique in the forest a few days ago. I have no idea who he is or where he comes from. However, I do know he is strong. And we need him if we are to think of defeating the seven Archdemons."
Even the General had no idea of who or what he was? Melfina felt chills run down her spine.
That boy - who was he?
He had a strong demon under his control - a demon that was without a doubt one of the strongest Melfina had ever seen a human control.
His swordsmanship and fighting techniques were that of a Paladin. Where had he learned those? Was he a Paladin himself? But if so then there's no way he could ever house a demon in his body and soul. Is he someone who was stripped of his title as a Paladin after he somehow managed to get contracted with a demon? But is it even possible for a Paladin who is supposed to receive the blessings and the holy power of God Himself to get contracted to an unholy and evil presence like a demon? Not to mention, where had he found such a strong demon and how had he managed to get contracted with it?
These questions ran inside her mind one after the other. That boy - Vanitas - was utterly shrouded in mystery.
"So, isn't it dangerous?" Melfina asked after thinking about it carefully.
That boy - Vanitas - was someone they didn't have much intel on. He was strong and that meant he was dangerous. Since they didn't know who he is clearly, they couldn't be sure if he was there for some sinister goal or not. He could very well be a minion of one of the seven great demons sent to kill every member of Extermination Corp. Taking him in as a member while there were so many unknowns about him was nothing sort of risky.
Melfina believed that Edward was a strong and at the same time level-headed leader. So there was no way he hadn't thought of all this beforehand. So, what was the reason why he was taking such a risky gamble?
"I am well aware of your concerns, Melfina. However, I think there's no need for us to be that wary of him. For now, at the very least."
"For now?"
"No." Edward then corrected himself.
"Not just for now. For as long as even one of the seven Archdemons is alive."
"What do you mean?"
"That boy - he has a very strong desire to kill each one of the seven archdemons. Even greater than Praxis."
"Greater than...Praxis?"
Praxis was one of the four Lieutenants of the Demon Extermination Corp and he was known to have an unfathomable degree of hate for the demons and thus his strong desire to kill the seven greater demons. And here Edward was saying that the boy had an even greater desire to exterminate the demons than that Praxis. Does that boy have a reason why he hates them to such a degree?
However, what Edward said next completely blew away the premise that Melfina had developed about the boy.
"What is baffling is that he doesn't hate the demons. He doesn't crave for vengeance like Praxis and many others. He wants to kill the Primordial demons for a different reason altogether."
"What is that?"
"I have no idea." Edward fell silent.
The more she learns about the boy, the more the mystery deepens. She felt as if the world doesn't want his secret to be unraveled.
"Well, let's not dig too deep for now. What matters is that he wants to kill the greatest threat that humanity is facing and he has the power to make that happen. He is sure to be our trump card for the inevitable fight against the demons. That's all that matters for now. We can think about what happens afterward when that comes to pass." Edward said in an attempt to warn Melfina not to dig too deep a hole that she would be consumed by it.
However, a curiosity like never before had sprouted in Melfina and although she knew it was risky, she thought that she wanted to find more about the boy named Vanitas.
Just as their mysterious conversation seemed to come to an end, there was a dangerous change in the ongoing duel.