BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Behind the dark castle, the open field where the magic airship had been docked was now covered by an endless stretch of green forest.
Explosions rang out one after another from within, sending pillars of fire skyward. Countless trees were ground to dust, and the earth itself was carved with shocking, deep fissures.
Two streaks of light moving at high speed shuttled through the depths of the forest. Every time their fists collided, a tearing shockwave erupted.
BAM!!
With their final punch exchange, Azuma was the first to lose in the high-intensity close-quarters combat. He flipped several times to put distance between himself and Mira in her Demon God King state, landing on a thick tree trunk as he panted heavily.
"So strong! This is so strong! This is the battle I've always crved!" Despite being wounded in multiple places, Azuma's fighting spirit had not diminished. In fact, it had grown even stronger. "Demon Mirajane! To encounter a powerful mage like you here... this is wonderful!"
"Surely you can understand it, right? The thrill of fighting and killing to your heart's content!"
The physical pain, the pressure of a strong opponent, the long-unfamiliar sense of crisis that he might actually lose—all of it was, for him who crowed battle, the perfect stimulant.
And that was also one of the reasons he had followed Hades to create the Great Magical World: the weak didn't deserve to live. Only strength against strength was the truth!
"I'm sorry, but I have absolutely no interest in such things," Mira said.
Her pitch-black cape swayed gently in the breeze. The Demon God King looked down at her clenched fists and said with a serious expression, "When it comes to the safety of my guild and my comrades, I give it my all. That's all."
"Guild and comrades? Are you trying to say that the great power you possess is for protecting boring weaklings?" Azuma, who believes in the law of the jungle, could not accept that the powerful mage he had acknowledged could have such a ridiculous mindset. He roared in anger, "Don't be ridiculous!!"
"Rather than protecting, it's more like being protected. Without my comrades, without my family, I wouldn't be able to go on living," Mira said, looking up at the furious Azuma and sighing softly. "Someone like you probably wouldn't understand."
At first, she had thought Azuma was a lot like Chase—both idiots who got excited the moment they entered battle mode.
But now, she was certain: this crazy man before her simply couldn't compare to the Chase she loved!
"What a shame. It seems we're not kindred spirits after all," Azuma said, shaking his head in disappointment.
With that, as if he had made some kind of determination, the magic power within him, which had been showing signs of weakening, once again surged to its peak—and even beyond!
Mira's Demon God King form not only possessed balanced speed, power, and defense, but could also use the Demon King's ability to absorb an enemy's magic power for her own use, achieving the powerful effect of diminishing the enemy while strengthening herself, growing stronger the longer she fought. This completely made up for her weakness of poor endurance.
Azuma had deeply experienced this during their battle and had nearly been pushed into a corner several times.
So, to defeat such a powerful enemy, he had to widen the gap in their magic power and achieve absolute overwhelming force.
Thus, to enjoy a top-tier battle and to prove that his own philosophy was correct, Azuma was willing to burn his own life as the price to push the power of his Lost Magic—Arc of the Great Tree—to its absolute limit!
"Let me see how much weight these so-called bonds of yours truly carry, Demon Mirajane!"
BOOM!
In an instant, all the trees and vines came alive, crazy surging toward Mira from all directions.
Although Mira cleanly blasted the trees and vines to pieces with pitch-black energy spheres, new attacks quickly came from every direction, wave after wave like an endless tide.
In the few seconds she was forcibly pinned in place, Azuma had already completed the incantation for his strongest spell.
A massive magical array surged with flames filled with the aura of destruction. Its scale was so large that it completely covered the entire forest Azuma had created. Even the heat radiating from the periphery, far from the epicenter, was enough to melt the earth!
"Release the all energy buried deep within the earth! Transform it into destruction that annihilates everything—" Azuma slammed his hands together and roared. "Earth's Roar!!"
A terrifying energy, comparable to a volcanic eruption, shot skyward. Everything in its path—including the already battered magic airship—was instantly reduced to nothing!
The sheer power of it even affected the mages fighting in the distant dark castle. Everyone felt a chill in their hearts and stopped to stare in terror.
Deep within the volcanic flames, Mira's pretty face was contorted in pain. Even though her Demon God King Combination Take Over included Demon Soul Halphas, which had high fire resistance, that effect was nowhere near enough to protect her from Azuma's life-burning ultimate move.
The tearing agony, accompanied by the nearly unbearable heat, spread through her limbs, forcibly invaded her internal organs, and shocked her entire nervous system.
For a moment, Mira thought she saw the cute Kuriboh waving at her.
If she gave up now, Azuma's life-risking attack would be nullified, and she would return safely to the Nirvana.
But...
Mira suddenly opened her eyes and burst out her magic power to fight the incoming energy blast.
Being protected by Chase wasn't something to be ashamed of. In fact, it made her happy.
But perhaps it was the little stubbornness of the "demon" acting up, or the influence of the competitive spirit buried deep within her, but at this moment, Mira wanted more than anything to defeat Azuma head-on!
"So now that your life is threatened, you're also planning to burn your last drop of blood?" Azuma watched the dark purple light flickering deep within the flames, a satisfied smile curling at the corner of his mouth. This is what battle should be!
The next second, sensing something strange, he suddenly froze.
Although the effect was weak, the surrounding flames... his own magic... seemed to be faintly being drawn toward the center?!
"Throwing away my life so easily—that kind of foolishness only brings sorrow. I won't do that!"
BOOM!!
As her resolute words rang out, a chaotic gale violently erupted. The massive curtain of flames, large enough to cover a small forest, trembled slightly, then began to rotate at high speed like a deep-sea whirlpool!
"Wh-what is this?!" Azuma was greatly shocked. "She... she's dominating my strongest magic?!"
Following his incredulous gaze, there, at the center of the flaming whirlpool, the white-haired girl in the Demon King's cape danced like an elf. Her rotating demonic body skillfully mobilized the surging flames!
"Demon God King: Super Cruel Rampage!!"
Without any hesitation, the moment the rotational inertia reached its peak, Mira endured the excruciating pain and pushed the flaming storm forward.
CRASH!!
A tremendous explosion echoed across the entire battlefield!
***
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