Hero vs. Demon King

Although Iris’s posture seemed relaxed and casual, the tension in her muscles and the rapid circulation of magic within her body proved that, in reality, the Demon King deeply feared the Heroine.

No one answered. No sound came from within the small wooden cabin. This eerie silence lasted for nearly a full minute.

The seemingly extremely arrogant Iris now began to feel unsettled. The Demon King, gradually breaking into a sweat, was already preparing to take the initiative and attack.

Creak—

The wooden door of the cabin finally opened slowly. Iris’s nervousness climbed to its peak along with the opening of the door.

The Heroine’s appearance before Iris was completely different from what Iris remembered.

The silver-white armor had been replaced by fur-lined clothing. Her originally snow-white skin had been tanned into a healthy wheat color.

However, the one thing that had not changed was those amber eyes, filled with the familiar killing intent.

Upon realizing that Iris had used appearance-concealing alchemy to hide her demon traits, Furenna basically confirmed the other party’s identity.

“I never imagined that a new Demon King for the Demon Clan would be chosen so quickly—and that she would dare to come knocking on my door.”

Furenna activated magic she had not used in a long time. As if time itself were flowing backward, the Heroine’s appearance underwent a dramatic transformation, returning to her form from ten years ago.

Silver-white close-fitting armor, long white hair like snow, a beautiful yet valiant face, and those iconic amber eyes—every detail proved that the one standing here was the genuine current Heroine, Furenna.

But Iris knew. Heroines did not possess immortality. They merely lived longer than ordinary humans, not even as long as succubi, and shorter than most demons.

However, when creating Heroines, to ensure their combat power would not weaken with age, the Creator Goddess granted them bodily functions that would not decline.

Of course, this might also be related to the Heroine’s true nature as a star.

“This is our first official meeting, right? Heroine Furenna.”

Swoosh—!

The answer given to Demon King Iris was the sound of the holy sword being drawn.

The murderous golden-element sword aura tore through space, easily carving a bottomless fissure into the ground.

It passed straight through Iris and extended all the way to the edge of the horizon.

The crack in the ground continued to expand, finally causing a complete collapse.

The mountain range where the Heroine had lived for ten years was split cleanly in two by this single strike, collapsing into rolling rubble.

Furenna still maintained the posture of drawing her holy sword. The holy sword, unused for ten years, had activated golden-element magic. Had this single strike slain the Demon King…?

Furenna maintained her combat stance.

The Demon King Iris, pierced by the sword aura, slowly dissipated into the air. What had been struck earlier was merely an afterimage left behind by Iris’s high-speed movement.

“My, how frightening.”

Iris’s figure suddenly appeared not far away.

Her pale hand rested on her ample chest. The Demon King put on a look of feigned shock, but her right eye deliberately winked at Furenna, looking completely at ease as she mocked her, deliberately provoking her emotions.

“It seems the new Demon King is stronger than the last one.”

Furenna silently tightened her grip on the holy sword, beginning to move slowly while keeping a safe distance from Iris at all times.

The golden glow on the holy sword slowly faded, replaced by a deeper, heavier brown light.

“So harsh. You didn’t even use a second-person pronoun when addressing me. How rude, Heroine.”

Iris leaned backward, using her left hand to wipe away nonexistent tears from the corner of her eye.

Furenna, meanwhile, showed no emotional reaction at all. When the brown glow of the holy sword reached its peak, the Heroine plunged the sword into the ground. A torrent of earth-element magic surged downward.

The surrounding land instantly filled with massive magical power, forming countless earth spikes that burst up from the ground at Furenna’s will.

Furenna held the sword with both hands.

The holy sword scraped across the ground as she swung it toward Iris. Guided by the holy sword, the earth spikes tore free from the ground, soared into the clouds, then rained down all at once, converging on Iris as their single target.

“Ah~ So scary~”

Iris cried out as she dodged. Deadly earth spikes streaked past her body. After missing, the spikes changed direction and flew back again, vowing to kill Iris.

“Wow~ They can even turn corners and auto-lock onto targets~ How amazing~”

Iris seemed completely unafraid. Her graceful body moved effortlessly through the impossibly dense storm of earth spikes.

Iris’s body seemed repelled by the earth spikes.

No matter how dense they were, no matter how unpredictable their angles, the Demon King twisted away from the attacks at the final moment like a water snake, as if dancing.

“Am I dancing beautifully, Heroine?”

Iris vanished into thin air within the earth-spike storm.

The earth-element magic with auto-targeting capabilities suddenly lost its lock, colliding with one another and annihilating themselves in explosions.

Space was torn open with numerous voids amid the violent detonations of earth spikes, only to immediately repair itself.

The Demon King’s figure suddenly disappeared from Furenna’s field of vision. This unprecedented situation made every hair on Furenna’s body stand on end.

High-speed movement? No—teleportation!

The holy sword burst forth with crimson holy light. Superheated flames spun continuously in a full 360 degrees, instantly forming a protective barrier around her body.

The moment the flaming holy sword appeared, the surrounding environment became unbearably dry. Plants spontaneously combusted into ash without any direct contact. The forest within several kilometers looked as though it had suffered a massive wildfire, leaving behind only barren, cracked earth.

The moment the flame barrier formed, a crushing pressure transmitted from behind, spreading through Furenna’s entire body. Furenna quickly turned her head.

Iris’s breathtaking face was right in front of her. The surrounding flames were completely ineffective. The Demon King was actually bathing within the fiery barrier, clinging closely to Furenna from behind.

And that inexplicable sense of pressure naturally came from Iris’s massive evil presence.

Faced with Iris clinging to her back like an octopus, Furenna was deeply shaken. The previous Demon King had never managed to get this close before dying.

“Get off!”

Furenna swung her holy sword sharply backward, but struck nothing.

Iris’s speed was so fast that Furenna couldn’t see her movements at all.

Each time, the holy sword barely grazed past Iris, leaving behind a vacuum zone where it passed, space constantly shattering. Yet Demon King Iris remained completely unharmed.

“How is this possible? This Demon King is this strong?!”

Furenna swung her holy sword with all her might, flames raging, but she couldn’t even touch the hem of Iris’s clothes.

Every time the holy sword or magic was about to hit Iris the next second, Iris would reappear elsewhere completely unharmed. Again and again, endlessly repeating.

“Storm Herald.”

The holy sword transformed once more.

Pure blue lightning magic wrapped around the blade.

The sky responded as pitch-black storm clouds gathered overhead.

As Furenna raised the holy sword high, a pillar of lightning connecting heaven and earth enveloped her, then merged into the holy sword itself.

The pure blue holy sword became a conductor’s baton, commanding thunder at Furenna’s will.

The air was saturated with lightning-element magic.

Amid the crackling arcs of electricity, Furenna willed it with a thought.

Thunder capable of shaking and shattering space descended from the sky, completely engulfing Demon King Iris.

The wasteland where Iris stood triggered a massive explosion the instant it came into contact with the lightning.

The already devastated ground erupted again, soil flying everywhere as lethal lightning plowed through it.

One hundred meters of earth vanished without a trace, sublimated into nothingness under the cleansing of thunder.