The Devil (2)

The man raised a hand, gathering swirling aura within it. The concentrated mana alone was more than double what Azier had currently mustered.

"Die!"

He fired the aura directly at Azier. Once again, as Azier extended his blade, the man's aura lost its power upon contact and plummeted to the ground.

Kwang!

However, this time, it wasn't completely neutralized, merely deflected, causing the ground behind Azier to shatter with a loud crash.

'He fires aura without any special techniques or weapons.'

Azier's cold eyes observed the scene. For humans, mastering aura alone required considerable training. Among them, only a very small number could go beyond mastery and actually project it.

And even those individuals needed to use weapons or unique techniques.

However, this man used aura as easily as his own limbs. He seemed to have no difficulty releasing the aura within his body.

He was definitely a being far more familiar with aura and mana than humans.

'A monster from the abyss beyond the realm... or a devil?'

As Azier deduced the enemy's identity, the man spoke, both annoyed and curious that all his attacks had missed.

"You use strange techniques."

There were many techniques to deflect an opponent's attack. However, they all required fairly complex movements.

Most relied on rotations, demanding twists of the sword or the entire body. Many left themselves vulnerable to the next attack, focusing solely on deflection.

However, Azier's technique was different. To the man, it seemed like Azier simply extended his blade, causing the aura to lose power and twist away, avoiding him. It would probably be the same for other attacks as well.

"There's no need to worry," Azier said.

"I only have one technique that could be called such."

"...Hmph. Are you saying you have nothing else?"

"That's right," Azier admitted calmly.

"The rest is just the 'basics'."

Unlike Enfer or Frondier, Azier didn't have any special tricks. He couldn't cut down distant enemies without aura like Enfer, nor could he unleash firepower with a formidable weapon like Frondier.

All of Azier's power stemmed from thoroughly mastered fundamentals. That's why he wasn't flashy, but calm and serene.

His temperament and beliefs were all embodied in one single technique:

'Falling edge'.

He had nothing else special, Azier told himself.

"Then I'll make sure you can't use that kind of technique!"

Tat!

The man charged. Since he couldn't inflict damage by firing aura from a distance, he intended to gain an advantage in close combat.

As the man's right hand reached out and Azier raised his sword in response, the man moved sideways at high speed, using his aura to accelerate and his own physical strength for the lateral movement.

This kind of unreasonable movement was only possible because he wasn't human.

However,

Puk!

"?!"

The moment he moved sideways, the man was stabbed in the abdomen. He stumbled back in sudden pain, blood flowing from the wound and staining his clothes.

"You, how..."

The man clutched his stomach, seemingly more shocked by the fact that he was stabbed than by the damage itself.

"How did you do that?"

"I don't understand the meaning of your question."

"How did you stab me when I moved to your blind spot?!"

"Blind spot...?"

Azier tilted his head.

"You moved back, so I simply stabbed with my sword, following your movement."

He spoke as if he had done something obvious. Azier genuinely seemed confused as he looked at the man.

"I'm more curious as to why you didn't block it."

"...Why didn't I block it...?"

Didn't block it?

No, that wasn't it. The man hadn't anticipated an attack from Azier in that situation. So, he hadn't even thought about blocking. There was no reason to block an attack that wasn't coming.

But Azier knew the man would move back. He knew it, so he stabbed with his sword accordingly. That was all.

'This is the basics?'

Azier definitely hadn't used any special technique. He just aimed for the man's body and thrust his sword.

However, seeing this one move, the man realized the level of Azier's 'basics'.

'...Good.'

The man smiled inwardly.

'There's no better material than this.'

The battle between Azier and the man was being watched by the monster inside the prison. The monster, still with Pascal's face, observed their fight, continuously learning.

It had surely witnessed the 'Falling edge' technique that Azier had just demonstrated.

'If the Disaster can fully master this guy's techniques, no one in this Imperial Palace will be able to oppose it!'

Finishing his thought, the man asked,

"What's your name?"

Until now, he hadn't even bothered to answer when asked about his identity, but now that he knew his opponent's skills, it was different.

The man decided he needed to hear Azier's name.

"It's Azier de Roach."

"...I see."

The man paused for a moment, as if trying to remember the name, then said,

"My name is Mizonas. Heir of Wrath and the first-ranked devil in the hierarchy of Wrath. Remember it! The will of the almighty Satan shall spread throughout this land!"

* * *

As the devil Mizonas had thought, the monster inside the prison silently watched their fight.

'...Disaster.'

The monster thought.

No, it wasn't thinking, but rather, it was like a recorder repeating what it had heard in its head.

The first question it had ever asked upon being born into this world: What am I?

It had heard the answer 'Disaster'.

'I am Disaster.'

Without even knowing the meaning of Disaster, the monster inputted that simple algorithm into its mind.

'Then who is that?'

And now, a high-level battle was unfolding before the monster's eyes.

Mizonas, who actively used his powerful, abundant, and freely controlled aura, and Azier, who deflected and neutralized all of his attacks.

The underground prison, which should have collapsed long ago under Mizonas' power, remained intact thanks to Azier's near-divine techniques.

The monster's eyes were fixed on Azier. Its superior brain and exceptional learning ability stole Azier's power and techniques in real-time.

Up to that point, everything was going according to Mizonas' plan.

However,

'...?'

As the Disaster monster watched Azier's fight, it gradually transformed its body to resemble Azier.

Its outward appearance was already identical to Azier's. Azier had noticed it during the fight, but he didn't seem particularly bothered.

And then, the monster began to replicate Azier's internal structure: his bones, muscles, nerves, and so on.

But at some point, the replication stopped.

'...What is that?'

The monster observed the technique Azier was displaying, Falling edge. And every time, the replication stopped.

'I don't understand.'

The monster hadn't yet learned swordsmanship or weapons. Therefore, it couldn't immediately comprehend Azier's near-pinnacle technique.

Normally, in this case, the Disaster monster would start by replicating what it could. It had no preference in its mimicry. Its imitation was simply copying what it saw, like a mirror.

Therefore, the monster's body began to move internally to mimic other things besides Falling edge, but...

'...No.'

The imitation was soon stopped again.

An unprecedented situation that even the monster itself couldn't understand.

It wasn't that it couldnt mimic. The monster itself had stopped.

It had stopped the mindless mimicry that it had been performing endlessly like a machine, by its own will.

The monster couldn't understand its own thoughts yet.

Yes, the monster had begun to incorporate its own thoughts into its replication.

'This isn't it.'

The monster completely stopped the replication it had been trying to restart and used all its intelligence to understand Azier's Falling edge.

Originally, replication wasn't something the monster could choose. As it had been doing until now, mimicking what it saw was the shortest path for the monster to become stronger, and that's how the Disaster was designed.

Stopping the replication by itself was nothing more than hindering its own growth.

Nevertheless,

'It's not all the same.'

The monster abandoned what it had to do to understand Falling edge.

It still didn't understand its own heart, but...

The Disaster was now yearning for Azier's Falling edge.

Squeak, squeak-

In the darkness, small red eyes watching the scene crawled on the floor.

What's said during the day is heard by the black bird, what's said at night is heard by the black rat. [T/N: A Korean idiom similar to Walls have ears.]

For someone, those words were undoubtedly true.