The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 416: Swatting Flies

Chapter 416: Swatting Flies

Ferro felt the wind knocked out of him as he found himself flying backward and into a chunk of the rock that Malz had destroyed. Something automatically protected his body from the impact, but not his head as stars burst into his vision.

Instinctively he tried to land on his feet, only to feel something sprain in his right ankle as he hit the ground.

The bullkin continued his rush attack as Ferro recovered, barely spotting the attackers going for Malz and Anko before he was forced to duck and roll as an iron club the size of his body beat the air above him with a whumf sound.

Manasight let him recognize the man was a strong enhancer with an orange aura, which spelled Ferro’s doom as he knew he stood no chance in a physical contest. The bullkin kicked backward as Ferro tried to recover, knocking him onto his back where he rolled to avoid the next series of thunderous club strikes that cracked the rock.

He kicked off the ground after the fourth strike, activating flight for a brief moment to reorient himself before he fired off a pair of ice bolts at his attacker.

The bullkin man blocked both with his club before taking another swing at Ferro. Even though the club missed, Ferro was caught flat-footed as a followup punch piled into his stomach, launching him to the left, right as Malzkael’s scream pierced through the cacophony of shouting men.

As Ferro slowly spun through the air, he tried to reach out, only for the tip of his claws to barely scrape the cliff as gravity seized him. He quickly pressed the wing button on his wrist, but instead of flying he merely slowed for a moment before falling once more.

His suit was out of mana. Drained from his continuous casting and his forgetting to take the time to refill it. He tried but realized that the ground was rushing up to meet him. He wasn’t going to make it. He was going to-

"Gotcha," Kiryu said as he appeared next to Ferro, grabbing him by the ankle before teleporting above the battle. From there he rotated Ferro until he was princess-carrying the catkin to the ground, just outside the battlefield.

A battlefield now littered with corpses, most of them around Anko and Malz, the latter pressing her back and wing against the rock with a look of absolute horror on her face as she hyperventilated.

The only living slavers were the ones that had stayed back to snipe, and they practically tumbled down the slope of the mountain in their efforts to get away and out of sight.

All except one.

*

Hartl was incensed.

She’d thought the demon would stay out of the fight. He’d offered the angel up on a rocky platter along with her friends, but it was all a trap.

That mocking salute she hadn’t known how to interpret returned to the demon’s forehead as he regarded her, not even bothering to attack, even though he’d swatted her men down like bugs.

One moment, her team had been twenty-four strong. The next, almost everyone was dead. They hadn’t just died. A black pulse had issued out of the angel with her scream, withering her men until naught but desiccated corpse flesh remained on their bones.

In a red-gazed fury, Hartl reached down, pulling on the mountain with every ounce of strength her mavenry could give her. Ignoring the oppressive weight of the demon’s mana, she broke free a stone the size of a house and threw it with all her might, intent on crushing the angel who’d killed her men so fast she didn’t even know how. She would crush them all!

The demon man looked up but remained in place as the stone approached, only for it to suddenly come flying back at Hartl with so much force she barely had time to dodge.

"Nice try, but that’s enough play for today."

Hartl swung at the demon, who’d appeared at her shoulder, but was suddenly overwhelmed by the feeling of her ribs breaking as he punched her, cracking through her stone skin with a single blow that sent her flying and flying... until all there was left to do was fall towards the dark waters of the eastern sea...

*

Malz barely noticed the sound of Kiryu dusting off his hands as he returned.

They were no longer under attack, but that didn’t mean she felt safe.

Not when the slavers had surrounded her. When they’d grabbed her by the wing and she just... froze.

She froze, feeling the tearing sensations on her back all over again.

Seeing the face of Maledict, dispassionate even as he ripped her wings again and again and again...

And then she’d screamed.

The slavers fell away from her without even a chance to cry out as every cell in their bodies simply died, the heat of the spell vaporizing their bodily fluids as they crumpled like tree branches.

Just for a moment, she saw Maledict in the face of the demon Kiryu as he began to alight with Ferro in his arms.

She almost reached for the same magic again.

How could he do this to us? How could he make us fight and then just...

She looked down as Anko made a sputtering cough. "Is it over?" the demonkin girl asked.

Relief welled inside Malz, but was quickly replaced by fear. She’d... destroyed the people coming after them, but her spell could have just as easily killed Anko. "I-it’s over," Malz said, her anger towards Kiryu cooling as she discovered that she didn’t want to see Anko die.

"Oh. Neat... How’d I do?" Anko’s eyes locked onto Malz’s but refused to focus, jittering in their sockets.

"Terrible," Kiryu said, his voice flat. "Absolutely terrible. I thought you three were a team."

"We barely met weeks ago!" Malz snapped, glaring at Kiryu. "And you just threw us into battle like... like some sort of fucking savage. How could you be so cruel?"

Whatever goodwill had been imparted to her from the necklace evaporated at that moment.

Kiryu reached into his storage and drew his pipe.

Does he always have to fucking smoke?

As if in defiance of her thought, he simply held the pipe in his lips for a moment, before removing it. "Look at the sky, little angel. Do you know what is happening?"

"The end of the world, right?" Malz snapped.

"The end of the fucking world," Kiryu confirmed humorlessly. "You have no idea what cruelty is until you have seen a planet dying beneath you. Until you’ve witnessed the deaths of billions while you helplessly stand by and watch as they shoot and stab and eat each other. That was the world I left behind, trying to take out the people who made it that way. And for all I know I destroyed it too, which I’m sure is why I’m remembered the way I am."

He finally lit the pipe and took a long pull before exhaling.

"So let’s not trade pain for pain," he continued. "Because you have a journey to make, and if you freeze up every time someone or something comes to kill you, then it might not be just you who dies." He gestured at Ferro and Anko, then expansively at the surrounding corpses, as if to emphasize that it was not his fault things turned out this way.

"I’m..." Malz cut herself off for a moment. She was about to scream that she wasn’t going to go anywhere with him. That she’d had enough of his constant condescension. "...I’m sick of this."

For a split second, she thought about killing him. About wringing the life from his body the same way she’d killed the slavers. But then she remembered Anko. How the demonkin girl insisted the demon was the Kir she’d talked to Malz about for years.

If she was right and she killed Kiryu, that would also mean killing someone innocent.

"If they didn’t need you..." Malz growled through her teeth.

"Malz please," Ferro pleaded. "He saved my life."

"Mine too!" Anko said.

"So he could use you! So he could use all of us!" Malz shrieked.

"I need him to save my sister!" Ferro raised his voice. He passed a hand through the fur on his head, ears drooped, then reached to the side, pulling his oft-read book from a dimensional storage that had to be built into the suit.

"The Oracle, when we met, she told me the one who wrote the notes in this book would decide my sister’s fate. I don’t want her to die." Ferro’s eyes filled with tears. "So if he wants to use me... I’ll do whatever he wants. Until I can meet his... other side."

As Malz remained silent, Kiryu sighed out a cloud of smoke, infuriatingly calm.

"I’ve made up my mind," he said. "You three can go to Chainsfree or whatever that city is called. I’ll tackle the Duat alone."

"Wait!" Anko cried out, trying to stand and barely managing it with a wobble. "Take me with you!"

"No," Kiryu said. "You three need to rest and recover. Maybe figure out your teamwork. And fuck-all if I thought I’d be a good teacher for any of you." He walked past Anko and crouched, pulling the necklace from Malz’s neck in one motion. The ringing sound began, but ceased as soon as he said "Todomasu."

The necklace remained in his hand.

"Don’t do this, please!" Ferro begged.

As Kiryu stood, he took the pipe out of his mouth and sighed once more. "I tried to help because I know it’s what Kir would have wanted, but I’m just not him. You’re all safer away from me, and I can’t afford to care about any of you."

He said this, but even so, he continued to stare at Malz.

She knew whose face he saw. Felt the echoes of... those copies of her...

Then, without any indication of a spell being cast, Kiryu disappeared.

All at once, the suspended rocks fell to the ground, leaving the three of them with the sounds of crumbling stone and wind. And the scent of smoke.

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