Demon King of the Royal Class-Chapter 469

The tip of Ellen’s sword, which was pointed at the Demon King, was shaking.

Her gaze, her body, and her legs were all trembling.

Clang! Crack!

Against the fierce onslaught of the Demon King, Ellen could only retreat awkwardly, unable to launch any proper attack.

The Demon King showed no mercy.

His kicks, wrapped in fierce mana and backed with explosive force, broke through the flame burst of Lapelt and struck the Aura Armor surrounding Ellen.

Thud!

“Argh... Ugh!”

The kick landed with immense weight against Ellen’s abdomen. She was flung far away, and rolled pathetically across the ground.

The pain itself wasn’t that great, but it felt like her heart was about to break.

Ellen knew that this fight was ultimately just a show. Reinhart would not kill her, and she did not want to hurt Reinhart either.

This staged play was necessary to show people that the Hero could stand against the Demon King.

If they hadn’t met, this wouldn’t have been necessary. But they had met.

The Demon King was frightening, but people needed to believe that the Hero could face the Demon King. So that even while they despaired at reality and cursed the world, they would somehow grit their teeth and live on with the hope that the Demon King would eventually be killed. So that those who hated the Demon King would somehow live on to hear the story that the Demon King was eventually killed by the Hero.

Thus, even if Ellen didn’t want to fight, she had to fight somehow.

The Demon King leaped toward Ellen, who had been thrown across the ground.

Thud!

With a massive, mana-infused stomp, he crushed the ground where Ellen had just been.

Ellen had already rolled away from that spot.

She somehow managed to point her sword at the Demon King, but the tip of the sword was shaking violently.

This situation spoke volumes.

Reinhart’s expression said it all.

There was no going back to the past.

Walking hand in hand, embracing each other, and whispering that they were precious to each other—none of that could happen.

The hope of humanity and the enemy of humanity, separated by such a cruel dichotomy. Therefore, regardless of his true feelings, Reinhart attacked Ellen.

To be precise, he fought to retreat. The Demon King had to be defeated by the Hero for people to hold onto hope.

However, Ellen could not bring herself to unleash Lament, the Sword of the Moon that responded to sorrow.

Ellen knew the power of the Void Sword Lament. The Void Sword was a blade with an absolute edge that cut through anything. It could easily slice through the aura sword of a Swordmaster and the toughest hide of any monster.

The Void Sword might even be able to cut through holy relics.

If she swung it carelessly, she might cut through both the relic and Reinhart. Therefore, Ellen could not swing her sword reclessly.

Because Reinhart might get hurt.

Because Reinhart might die.

The Demon King gazed at the Hero, who trembled and could do nothing but slowly retreat.

“You’re scared, aren’t you?” he said.

The Demon King slowly approached the Hero.

“You’re scared I might die, right?”

“...”

Ellen felt like biting her tongue at the Demon King’s straightforward words, which accurately read her thoughts.

The Demon King pointed Tiamata at Ellen.

Whoosh!

White holy light began to surge like waves throughout Tiamata.

“Do I still look like the fool who used to get beaten up by you all the time?”

Something was coming. Ellen didn’t know what it was, but she activated her aura around her body.

Though there was still a considerable distance between them, the turbulent Divine Power swirling in Tiamata gave her a very ominous feeling.

“Do I still look like that fool to you?” the Demon King muttered in anger, gritting his teeth.

The Demon King swung Tiamata at Ellen from a distance where the sword couldn’t reach her.

Flash!

A blinding storm of light engulfed her vision, and a powerful destructive force that seemed to tear her apart enveloped her entire body.

***

Rumble...

The sudden release of Divine Power in the form of pure energy, without any true intent behind it, raked across the grand plaza. Ellen barely managed to stand, surrounded by the ruins of a collapsed building.

“Ugh... Ugh...”

Thanks to Lapelt’s protection and her Aura Armor, she did not suffer serious injuries. But without that protection, Ellen would have died from that attack.

The Demon King quietly watched Ellen, who had been flung over a hundred meters away, slowly rising from the rubble of a building.

Ellen could clearly sense the Demon King’s anger.

Was he angry because he felt like she was ignoring him?

In reality, it wasn’t like that at all. It was because she didn’t want to hurt him. Because she didn’t want to point her sword at him.

Ellen wanted to shout at the Demon King, to verbalize her feelings.

But wasn’t that basically the same thing as ignoring him? Telling Reinhart that she couldn’t give it her all because he might get hurt, because he might die? How was that different from underestimating Reinhart?

Ultimately, the reason she couldn’t fully commit to this staged play was because she feared Reinhart might not be able to withstand her attacks.

That was why Reinhart was angry.

‘Do you still think I’m that same novice from back then? Do you still think I’m that kind of weakling, just because I was always getting hit and getting beaten by you?’

Ellen gritted her teeth.

This Reinhart was no longer the Reinhart of the past.

He hadn’t opened the door to achieve Master class, but he had become a monster capable of facing Masters even without it.

She had always been ahead of Reinhart, so she thought it was natural that she would still be ahead.

She couldn’t say she was free of such arrogant thoughts.

Ellen acknowledged her arrogance.

Reinhart had become stronger. Perhaps even stronger than herself.

Ellen stepped forward, gripping Lament with both hands.

From now on, she had to perform her role in the play. She had to put on a show, letting people watch the play in which the Hero would defeat the Demon King after a fierce battle.

There was a fine line. It was a dangerous play, where a single mistake could lead to them killing each other.

When she thought about it, was it really that difficult? Was it something to be so tense, fearful, and terrified about?

Her heart still felt like it was breaking—painful and agonizing—but Ellen had to acknowledge what needed to be acknowledged.

It wasn’t a difficult task.

When she thought about it, they had crossed swords countless times. Every night. Until past bedtime.

At first, Reinhart’s level made it such that he was barely worth facing, and he could only take baby steps. So she had taught Reinhart swordsmanship.

At some point, he became good enough that she could afford to just hold back a little.

Every day, they had clashed swords. And at some point, Reinhart’s skills improved to the point where she had to face him seriously.

Then, Ellen found it challenging to the point where she was out of breath.

Every day, in every moment they sparred, they had persistently faced each other. Therefore, they knew each other’s swords better than anyone else in this world.

This was easy. It had to be easy.

Ellen gripped the Void Sword with both hands and pointed it at the Demon King.

Only then did the trembling finally disappear.

***

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Void Sword could not cut through holy relics.

The blade that could cut through anything could not cut through holy relics. But it still neutralized all other defenses.

The Demon King’s defenses could withstand the power of the Void Sword Lament. He could not absorb attacks aimed at his body, but had to block them with a relic.

No matter how strong the output of his Mana Reinforcement was, even if he could use Aura Armor, all of it was like paper in the face of the Void Sword. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Clang! Crack!

The onlookers, who had been trembling in fear and unable to do anything, now saw the Hero throwing herself into the attack, relentlessly pushing back the Demon King.

Though they didn’t know why she had been so terrified earlier on, what mattered was the present.

Clearly, the Demon King, who had withstood the coordinated attacks of the other Masters, now found himself struggling to defend himself against the Hero’s attacks.

However, no one knew that Ellen was intentionally avoiding inflicting fatal wounds on the Demon King, and that the Demon King was also intentionally acting as if he was being pushed back.

Reinhart’s swordsmanship originated from Ellen, and Ellen’s swordsmanship originated from that of the Hero, Ragan Artorius.

Therefore, Ellen couldn’t help but know everything about Reinhart’s swordsmanship, and due to the difference in innate talent and aptitude, Reinhart’s swordsmanship was inevitably an inferior version of Ellen’s.

The Demon King fought by swapping between two relics.

He would use Alsbringer, then dismiss it and summon Tiamata when needed.

Though he sometimes dual-wielded both relics, Ellen saw that he was relying on his excellent physical abilities rather than any actual ability in dual-wielding.

Reinhart’s swordsmanship fundamentally involved fighting with a single sword, and did not deviate from Ellen’s practice of swordsmanship.

There was no one to teach him the unique skill of dual-wielding, so even though he had two relics, he couldn’t abandon his well-established foundation to wield both of them at once.

Therefore, Ellen could still read the Demon King’s swordplay.

‘He might be fighting in a way that’s easy to read,’ Ellen thought.

Of course, all this was merely for show, and it was possible that he was attacking in a way that was easy for Ellen to read and counter.

They had crossed swords with each other for an incredibly long time. Therefore, just as Ellen could read the movements of Reinhart’s sword, it was only natural that Reinhart could read Ellen’s as well.

Of course, just because it was a play didn’t mean that it was only a clashing of swords.

Clang!

“Ugh...!”

The Demon King, whenever he saw an opening, would genuinely strike Ellen’s head with the flat of his sword or attempt to stab her vital points, successfully landing real attacks.

Thud! Crash!

Ellen, too, would deflect Reinhart’s sword with Lament and then deliver physical blows to the Demon King with her left fist or with her feet.

It was a fierce exchange that no one could think of as merely a play.

Unlike the old days at the Temple, when neither knew how to use Mana Reinforcement, the scale of this fight was very different.

Fountains were destroyed, the ground beneath them was crushed, and when they were flung and thrown about, buildings collapsed in ruins.

No one could intervene in the fight between the Hero and the Demon King. Not the fleeing crowd, nor the arriving imperial knights and mages, who could only watch the scene with bated breath, afraid of interfering.

Though it was a play, to those that were unaware, it looked like the Demon King and the Hero were fighting for their lives.

And indeed, they were risking their lives. Because if one made a mistake, the other would die.

Both the Demon King and the Hero were in tatters as they pointed their swords at each other.

The grand plaza, which had been prepared for the execution of the princess, was in ruins.

‘How much longer do we have to make a show of wounding each other to appease the people?’ Ellen thought as she bit her lip until she tasted blood and then charged at the Demon King.

She pointed Lament at Reinhart’s heart.

Now that her attack was revealed, Reinhart would deflect Lament with Alsbringer and then attack her with his left fist, a kick, or twist his body to strike with his elbow. If he pushed her away like that, she would block the attack with Aura Armor and prepare a follow-up strike.

All this was possible because they were reading each other.

However, the moment when Ellen extended her sword, waiting for Reinhart to deflect it, Reinhart instead thrust Alsbringer toward Ellen.

Splurch!

Clang!

Ellen’s eyes widened as she saw her sword pierce through Reinhart’s chest. Naturally, Alsbringer, which had been aimed at Ellen’s protected chest, was deflected.

He had deliberately allowed the attack to land.

Ellen’s face turned pale, unable to comprehend why he would allow such an attack to reach him.

“Ugh... Ugh...”

The Demon King took a few steps back.

The Demon King slowly retreated from Ellen, who was so shocked that she had let go of her sword. He pulled Lament out from his heart.

Clatter!

Lament dropped to the ground pathetically, and Reinhart slowly stepped back.

“I, I... I...” Ellen muttered.

Reinhart glared at Ellen, as if warning her not to say anything. As if to remind her that she had already seen him heal a similar wound with Tiamata.

The Demon King, communicating only with his eyes, retreated while clutching his pierced chest.

The Demon King raised one hand to the sky as if it were a signal, and a crack appeared in the air, from which someone emerged.

Ellen’s eyes widened as they fell on the person who had suddenly appeared.

Harriet de Saint-Ouen...

Harriet, who had torn a hole through space, caught the staggering Reinhart.

Harriet and Ellen’s gazes briefly met.

Though both Harriet and Ellen had much to say to each other, they knew that they couldn’t say anything at that moment.

Ellen could only watch in a daze as Harriet quickly teleported the wounded Demon King away.

Silence settled over the grand plaza.

Most people had already fled the plaza where the Hero and the Demon King had been fighting. However, many had witnessed the scene.

The Hero, who had initially seemed terrified, started to confront the Demon King with resolve, relentlessly pushing him back and ultimately inflicting a critical wound.

The Demon King had chosen to flee rather than to heal his wounds and continue fighting.

He must have felt threatened enough to have to flee. The Demon King was not immortal.

—The... The Demon King...

—The Demon King ran away...

—The Hero... The Hero made the Demon King flee...

Everyone knew the Demon King wasn’t dead.

They knew he had the power to heal and would recover. Regardless, it was a fact that the Demon King had judged that he couldn’t face the Hero, and fled with his subordinate.

—The Demon King has fled!

—The Hero drove the Demon King away!

Several people, who had boldly stayed in a far corner of the grand plaza to watch the fierce battle, began to cheer.

Things had turned out as Reinhart had hoped.

They had seen the Demon King, who had displayed near-immortality in the heart of the imperial capital, sent fleeing at the hands of Ellen Artorius.

Everyone saw that the Hero could stand against the Demon King, as they had hoped.

But Ellen herself was terrified by the sensation of her sword pushing itself into Reinhart’s heart.

Countless civilians had died, the princess hadn’t been executed, and the Demon King appeared in person—a terrifying calamity. However, that immortal Demon King had been driven away by the Hero.

Though he had not been killed, there was a possibility he could be.

Ellen was trembling with fear.

—The Hero has defeated the Demon King!

The people were praising the Hero.

The deeper the despair, the greater the hope became.

The more humanity projected their hope onto her, the more Ellen felt her own despair growing.