Currently, Behemoth was supposed to be the Servant of one of the Four Great Maou, Serafall Leviathan…
If she had grown tired of that magical lolita, he could understand, but there had been no such talk.
"My father—Chairman Mephisto—said the illegal research here involved the replication and modification of life."
"Th-then... that Behemoth is a copy?"
"Yeah, probably. And it might have been further modified."
However, Renya dispelled the barrier, created a demonic spear without flinching, and firmly gripped it with his right hand as he stepped forward without hesitation.
"R-Ren-kun!?"
"Stay back. I'll handle that one."
The monster—dubbed the Magical Beast King Behemoth—bared its rage at the uncouth intruders, recognizing Renya as its enemy.
—There were no formalities or signals of commencement with a beast.
Behemoth displayed its aggression from the very start.
Despite its massive frame, it stood on two legs, brandished its muscular limbs, and attacked, unleashing devastating heavy blows accompanied by tremendous winds and pressure.
Using its limbs, its two massive horns, and even its large tail as weapons, it rampaged like a typhoon, relying on sheer brute force to crush its opponents as usual.
For anyone else, even being caught in the aftermath would be fatal.
But Kurosaki Renya was different.
He didn't flinch at Behemoth's oppressive presence or brutality. He calmly perceived, dodged, deflected, and handled every single one of its savage attacks.
Against Behemoth, which seemed capable of repelling even legendary Dragons, Renya faced it without retreating from its domain of violence that surpassed even the natural order.
To an outside observer, it would seem too surreal—like a dream, an illusion, or perhaps the embodiment of a heroic legend.
But Behemoth was a magical beast.
It was leagues apart from mere monsters that only rampaged with their bodies.
Behemoth forced Renya back with a heavy downward blow and let out a roar that shook the mountains.
Suddenly, massive bolts of lightning rained down.
Renya, having evaded the heavy blow, revealed his Sacred Gear against the countless lightning strikes.
Countless demonic spears materialized around Renya as if seeping from the air, their tips pointed skyward.
Acting like lightning rods, the lightning was drawn to them, severed upon contact, absorbed, and extinguished.
The lightning-resistant demonic spears completely repelled the disaster-scale bolts.
Enraged by the result, Behemoth unleashed a colossal tornado while continuing to rain down lightning.
The combination of lightning and tornado was a genuine thunderstorm—one that should have scattered fragile humans like splinters.
Renya cast a spell to launch the surrounding demonic spears like projectiles, severing the lightning bolts one after another.
Furthermore, spinning his demonic spear like a windmill, Renya generated a massive tornado of his own.
The wind-attribute demonic spear, combined with Renya's physical strength, produced a tornado that rotated in the opposite direction to Behemoth's.
The two tornados clashed, grinding against each other and annihilating.
In that opening, Behemoth unleashed a great technique.
With a roar, countless meteors rained down from the sky.
At the same time, innumerable pillars of fire erupted around them, limiting their escape routes. No matter where they fled, they would be hit by meteors or Behemoth's savage blows.
Renya switched the airborne demonic spears to fire-resistant ones and thrust them into the pillars of fire.
As if by magic, the pillars of fire vanished, clearing the view.
Renya prepared to counter the falling meteors, but Behemoth wouldn't allow it.
Behemoth launched a furious assault on Renya, continuing to unleash deadly blows that could kill even with a grazing hit.
Death brushed past him, but Renya calmly focused on evasion.
However, at this rate, the meteors would land—he wouldn't die, but he couldn't avoid taking significant damage.
"I won't let you!"
Riselia charged in with a look of desperation.
In her hand was a beautifully crafted slender sword.
Its speed and sharp thrusts were worthy of the famed blade.
Realizing that her guns wouldn't even distract Behemoth, Riselia launched a desperate attack—but in the end, it was human skill, and the weapon was forged by human hands. To Behemoth, it was less than a mosquito bite.
Seeing that, Riselia altered her attack trajectory and pierced Behemoth's eye.
Even the King of Magical Beasts didn't have eyeballs as tough as its body.
Thanks to its arrogance, the slender sword pierced and crushed Behemoth's eye.
Screaming in agony, Behemoth rampaged wildly.
"Now, Ren-kun!"
"That's reckless!"
Returning a smile to Riselia, who had created an opening, Renya launched a newly created demonic spear toward the meteors.
Propelled powerfully by wind magic, the spear grew to immense size the moment it broke the sound barrier.
It pierced through the meteors, shattering them into pieces.
The spear, which had the effect of enlargement, released the wind magic wrapped around it.
The debris of the meteors was pulverized from within and blown away.
Having dealt with the meteors, Renya created another demonic spear and grasped it.
He thrust it forward powerfully and sharply.
The spear, inscribed with acceleration, hardening, and strengthening runes, combined with Renya's strength and skill, displayed devastating destructive power and speed, piercing Behemoth's remaining eye.
Renya released the embedded spear and kicked its butt end with full force.
The spear, having entered through the eye socket, embedded itself in Behemoth's body and suddenly grew to a massive size.
Expanding to rival a skyscraper tens of stories high, the demonic spear pierced through Behemoth's brain from the eye socket, skewering it.
Behemoth, now like a shrike's impaled prey, let out a death roar and thrashed about—but only briefly. Soon it stopped moving.
Though it twitched and convulsed, Renya remained cautious but relaxed his stance.
"Phew, is it over? It was stronger than expected. Riselia, are you alright?"
"...Riselia?"
Puzzled by Riselia's complete lack of response, Renya looked over and saw her collapsed, limp.
"Riselia! Are you okay!?"
Renya, abandoning his usual composure, rushed over in a panic.
Kneeling and lifting her, he felt her body wet his hand with a warm, sticky fluid.
Her body was marked with gruesome claw wounds.
"It was then!"
Renya, trying to stay calm, spat out in frustration.
When Riselia pierced its eye, Behemoth must have thrashed around, and a claw or shockwave grazed her.
For an ordinary human to survive even a graze from Behemoth was a miracle made possible by Riselia's training and skill.
"Haa, haah, haah... R-Ren-kun..."
"Riselia! You're conscious? Don't force yourself to speak. I'll heal you right away!"
Relieved that Riselia's life wasn't lost yet, Renya took out a red bottle from his dimensional space.
It was called Phoenix Tears—a miracle fluid that could heal any wound except death itself.
But even after sprinkling the Phoenix Tears, Riselia's wounds showed no sign of complete recovery.
"What's happening?"
Deploying a magic circle to diagnose Riselia's wounds, he detected a curse.
This curse was draining the target's life force.
Not only would no recovery magic work, but Riselia, being human, was rapidly losing vitality.
Even if the curse was removed, unless there was a means to restore her life force, no amount of Phoenix Tears would help.
And there was no way to restore life force. Strictly speaking, there was, but neither Renya nor his Servants possessed such means, and even if they did, it would be too late to call them now.
"R-Ren-kun... haa, haah, don't worry about it? I did this to myself, so..."
"Like hell I won't! Two years ago, and now, I haven't been able to save you!"
"Hehe... you really are, kind, Ren-kun...? I'm, glad I got to see you at the end... you know, I, love you, Ren-kun..."
Riselia smiled, gently stroking Renya's cheek.
Renya gritted his teeth at his own helplessness, but made a decision.
"Riselia. There's one way to save you."
Saying this, Renya took something from his dimensional space.
It was a bluish-purple chess piece—an Evil Piece—one of the 'Pawn' pieces.
"By reincarnating you as a Devil, I can save you. But that means living outside of humanity for ten thousand years. Do you still wish to be saved?"
Renya mocked himself inwardly, thinking he was no different from a noble Devil.
But he crushed that hesitation and focused on his desire to save Riselia.
"Haa, haah, yes, I'm happy... I want to be with you, forever, Ren-kun..."
Riselia smiled gently, as if embracing Renya's inner conflict.
"I understand."
If that was truly what Riselia desired, Renya made his decision.
"Live as you wish."
Hoping she would not be bound by him, Renya bestowed the Evil Piece upon Riselia.
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