“Gahhhhhhh!”
Though his body threatened to keep spinning, Berganda’s powerful legs brought it to a halt.
The demon general looked down without emotion as Sheto lay sprawled on the ground.
“Just as you wield two blades in a circular motion, I command the circles embedded throughout my entire body. Now you have witnessed the axe techniques of the demon realm?”
The blow from his axe had left the entire left side of Sheto’s body throbbing with agony. And while nothing seemed to be broken, the impact had left his elbow and hand so numb that he could barely move them.
“Fight against it. If you do not, you will die.”
“Ga…”
Trembling, Sheto forced himself back onto his feet as he glared at the general.
What he had just witnessed was completely beyond his comprehension.
The axe had been resting on Berganda’s shoulder, but then it was suddenly at waist level.
It wasn’t as if he had swung it down with brute force. The moment Berganda had rotated his body towards Sheto, the axe head was already in front of his waist…perfectly positioned to strike.
‘So…he uses the circles of his core to move. The martial arts of the demon realm are not to be underestimated.’
The dragon’s voice was somewhere between frustration and genuine admiration.
‘Sheto. As things stand, you cannot defeat him. He can bring any part of his weapon to any point on his body, then unleash it with the full force of his entire frame.’
“B-but…”
‘Of course, the structure of his body prevents him from reaching certain positions. But that is a trivial limitation.’
Indeed, Berganda’s axe seemed almost impossibly versatile. He could shatter magic projectiles, use it as a brace to launch himself through the air, ignore its immense weight entirely, and make the axe head appear wherever he wanted.
“What? Have you given up already?”
The bull-like giant advanced, step by step.
Sheto couldn’t help but recoil at his overwhelming presence.
“What are you doing, Sheto?”
Berganda leveled the axe straight at Sheto and fixed him with an icy stare.
“I told you before. The moment you let yourself fear something larger than you…you are as good as dead.”
“Uh…”
The words he had heard long ago while riding on Berganda’s back.
Once, they had been words of encouragement.
Now, they felt like a curse. A death sentence.
“You may have gained the power of a god, relied on cunning, and survived despite being nothing more than a feeble little monster… But in the end, this is all you are worth.”
Berganda’s thick lips curled into a laugh.
“I wondered if you might be some priceless gem. But you turned out to be nothing more than a worthless stone lying in the dirt!”
“Gah…!”
“A wretch like you is not even worthy of being offered to my lord. I will just tear off your head and serve it as the centerpiece of our victory feast instead!”
Berganda dropped into a low stance as he set the shaft of his axe horizontally across his back and slowly exhaled.
Terror shot through Sheto, leaving him unable to utter a sound.
The pain was fading, replaced by the thud of his own heartbeat, reverberating in his ears.
Am I going, to die? Here?
“…No!”
Won’t die. Can’t die. Want to live.
Then…what to do?
“Die.”
The instant the word left his mouth, Berganda lunged.
With his axe held low at his waist, he intended to sweep it the moment Sheto entered his reach. A single swing that would not only cut him down, but every possible avenue of escape, as if cutting through weeds.
And Sheto’s eyes followed the whole trajectory.
“Mmph!”
He commanded every muscle in his body to charge forward.
As if to cut through the motion, the axe roared to life from Berganda’s waist.
There was no time to dodge. The axe head tore through the air towards Sheto at the perfect killing distance.
“Come!”
Throwing both hands forward to block its path, he shouted.
“Skol! Hati!”
The divine weapons materialized in an instant and crashed head-on into the axe. And then the magical power sealed within them erupted all at once.
“Nnghhh!”
“Araaagh!”
A great explosion erupted between the clashing weapons, propelling Sheto’s body forward with full force.
And directly before him was Berganda’s torso, completely exposed.
“Ahhhhhhhh!!”
The twin blades flashed. Sheto slipped past Berganda’s flank as though dancing through the opening.
His feet then traced a perfect circle across the ground before he sprang backward, creating a wide gap between them.
“U… Uh…!”
Berganda let out a strained groan and grimaced in pain as he turned to face Sheto once more.
Blood poured freely from the wound at his side, beneath the armor that had been split apart across the lower half. Yet even so, the demon general raised his axe back into position and smiled.
“That is how you do it. Now then…let us continue!”