— — — — — —
"So... What are you doing here, Tojo?" Kazuma landed lightly on the ground and asked.
"I don't know," Tojo Hidetora said. "I was working at school with my part-time buddies, rebuilding the school. Then… they all suddenly ran off."
"So I followed, and then this guy challenged me. I punched him once, and he went down."
Tojo scratched his head. Even now, he had no idea what was going on. His brain hadn't processed a single thing.
"Hmm…good job."
Kazuma patted his shoulder. "Since you're a member of Fairy Tail now, I'll give you the quick version."
"Basically, someone decided to pick a fight with us. These guys call themselves the Behemoth's 34 Pillar Division. They're demons."
"And since they provoked us, I decided to go find them first and beat the crap out of them. Got it?"
He explained it in the simplest terms possible. If Tojo didn't get this, nothing would help.
"Uh… demon?"
Tojo tilted his head. "A demon challenged us?"
"Forget it. Just know we're fighting. That's enough." Kazuma gave up explaining. The idiot wouldn't understand anyway.
"Oh! Got it! Count me in!" Tojo immediately rolled up his sleeves, ready for a brawl.
While they were talking, a black dimensional gate opened on the other side. The members of the Behemoth's 34 Pillar Division arrived.
"Graphel's down. Seems the ones who beat him were these humans… no, wait. There's a maid demon among them."
"That green-haired brat is the young master. And that man must be his human contractor."
One of the Pillar Barons, Nāga, looked down at Graphel's fallen body without a hint of emotion. More demons stepped out behind him.
The 34 Pillar Division consisted of 24 Pillar Generals and 10 Pillar Barons, plus their soldiers. Nearly four hundred in total.
But only the Barons and Generals were here.
"Hahaha. I see a couple of old friends. I'll leave this to you youngsters. I'll go say hello."
Behemoth wasn't wearing the Division's black uniform. He looked like a normal old man in sportswear, hands behind his back as he shuffled toward the distant figures of Ittosai Kunieda and the principal of Saint Ishiyama Academy, Genma Isurugi, who were already waiting.
"We'll handle it quickly, Lord Behemoth." x10
The Pillar Barons nodded and immediately led the charge.
"These guys seriously have zero manners. Shouldn't you at least shout your school name before starting a fight or something?" Tojo frowned as the demons rushed them.
"This isn't like the usual scraps. This is a kill-or-be-killed war. No one needs to waste time talking."
Kazuma didn't bother speaking either. He rushed forward. This wasn't a fight. It was a massacre. Every enemy here had to die.
"Honestly… there are smarter ways to do this. Like strategy." Hilda sighed as she watched Kazuma charge in. She drew her sword and ran after him.
"Kanna, if it gets too dangerous, hide. We can handle this." Tohru said this before taking off. Kanna was strong, yes, but she was still a child. Well… a child who could roar and obliterate buildings.
"Kanna's fine too."
Lightning sparked in Kanna's hands as she dashed forward. Child or not, she was still a dragon.
The battle erupted instantly.
"Human, die!"
Nāga lunged straight for Kazuma, assuming he was the commander. Magic gathered in his arm for a killing blow.
"What are you yelling for? You don't shout when sneak-attacking. Idiot."
Before Nāga even reacted, Kazuma punched him. The demon exploded into black blood.
Another Pillar Baron, Yato, watched without changing expression. He drew his blade at lightning speed, aiming to cut Kazuma in half.
A loud crack sounded.
"Too slow."
After mastering Shingetsu's secret techniques, Kazuma's physical strength and speed had skyrocketed.
These so-called elites of the demon world… Pillar Generals, Pillar Barons… to him they were rookies. Fresh recruits. Cannon fodder.
"Ahh, how scary… are you seriously going to hit a girl? A big strong man like you, picking on a poor helpless woman?"
One of the Pillar Generals, Agiel, put on a pitiful face and spoke in a sugary voice.
This trick had never failed her. As long as her target hesitated even a moment, she would strike them down.
"My fists don't hit the elderly or children. But you're neither old nor young, so die."
Kazuma didn't hesitate. His punch hit her square in the chest and blew her apart.
"That must've hurt like hell…"
Watching the scene, Tohru suddenly felt a phantom ache in her own chest, but at the same time she was oddly pleased.
"Hehe… he didn't hesitate at all. Doesn't that mean his heart is full of me, and other women don't matter to him?"
Tohru drifted off into a fantasy. Who knew what she was imagining, but her face was turning bright red.
Someone tried to attack her while she daydreamed, and she casually swatted them into a spray of black blood. A dragon's strength wasn't something to joke about.
"What a terrifying, ruthless man. He doesn't even treat demons like demons."
Hilda couldn't help sighing as she watched the battlefield. They were clearly the smaller group… but somehow it looked like the ones trapped and hunted were the 34 Pillar Division instead.
Forget the two dragons Tohru and Kanna. Just Kazuma alone was slaughtering pillars like they were stray chickens and dogs.
How was this even allowed?
And look at that idiot Tojo– even he was taking on several pillar Generals by himself.
For a moment, Hilda wondered if all the Demon world's military budget had been embezzled over the years.
Sure, demons couldn't use their full power in the human world… but they shouldn't be this weak.
Was the Demon world really okay?
---
Meanwhile, on a nearby rooftop—
"Behemoth, instead of staying quietly in the Demon world, you come to the human world. Aren't you afraid we'll cut you down right here?"
The principal of Saint Ishiyama Academy, Genma Isurugi, glared at Behemoth across the roof.
"Sigh… you think I want to be here? Without enough magic, everything feels uncomfortable."
"But Prince En was assigned to the human world, so as his subordinate I had to come check on him."
"And while I'm here, might as well clean up a few obstacles. But this time I'm just observing. I'm not planning to cause trouble."
"Genma, Ittosai… we're all old now. Let the young ones handle the bloody work."
Behemoth spoke casually, not a shred of tension on his face. He looked completely confident.
"Let the young handle it, huh? Fine by me. I've got a pretty good young man on my side too."
"Actually, look... most of your little soldiers are dead already."
Ittosai gripped his sword and looked toward Kazuma's battlefield. The fight was almost over.
Using sheer physical might, Kazuma had practically wiped out the pillar Barons. None of them could survive a single punch.
"That boy… he's the young master's contractor? Is he your disciple?"
Behemoth's eyes narrowed. Humans really couldn't be underestimated. He couldn't sense any magic from Kazuma at all, yet the kid was releasing that much power with just his body.
Impressive. Extremely impressive.
"If he were my disciple, I'd be laughing myself awake every night. But no. He's way too good for this old man's skills."
"I spent decades researching the Shingetsu, and he mastered it after practicing for a short while. Ah… guess I really am getting old. The world belongs to the young now."
Ittosai sighed again. Before meeting Kazuma, he'd thought he was still pretty spry.
After meeting Kazuma, he felt ancient.
"Is that so? Well, I've got a good kid too – the 34 Pillar Division's leader, Jabberwock."
Behemoth smiled. "He should be arriving soon."
Just then, the sky darkened under a massive shadow. A gigantic beast, dragon-sized, flew overhead. And riding on its back was the strongest warrior of the 34 Pillar Division: Jabberwock.
"T… that's a Bahamut! You actually brought one of those out?!"
Hilda's face twisted in shock as she stared at the enormous creature above.
Even in the Demon world, Bahamuts were terrifying monsters, mountains with wings. A flap of those wings could whip up hurricanes. Its maw could fire magic shockwaves powerful enough to wipe out cities. Its scales were nearly indestructible.
And Behemoth had brought one here?!
"It's flying in my territory. It's even flying above my head!"
Tohru looked up at the evil dragon and snapped. Dragons were fiercely territorial. Anyone intruding on their domain was absolutely unforgivable.
Wings unfurled behind her, and she let out a roar. Her pupils narrowed, glowing with fury.
In an instant, everyone present felt a crushing pressure settle over them.
The Bahamut roared back, sensing the overwhelming dragon aura. It looked down at Tohru on the ground… and its massive body suddenly tensed.
.
.
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(There will be a mass release next update. We'll either return to Fairy Tail or get extremely close to it.)