Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 7 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 3===
In front of Leohart’s eyes, Basara was constantly increasing his speed, creating more than ten afterimages. It was a phenomenon caused by instant acceleration and deceleration; it was the result of the difference between visual and cognitive signals in the brain. However, although Basara was indeed faster, Leohart was still able to roughly make out his position. As for why he insisted on creating afterimages — Leohart could somewhat understand why.

''…The perfume was for this?''

When they initially clashed, Leohart could smell a strong odour on Basara’s body, it was from that bottle of perfume. Originally, that would’ve been a stupid act that would expose his own position, but for someone who used speed as a weapon, that was a different matter. By performing high-speed movements and emergency stops with vast amounts of perfume on, he had become something that was almost like a human incense which caused Leohart to misjudge Basara’s position.

—This perfume also had other effects. To Leohart, it had a provocative and distracting effect on his mind. What Basara had asked the Current Demon Lord faction to prepare was the perfume that had halted production after Zolgear’s death. He originally thought that it was the perfume that Zolgear gave to the women in his erotic playground, and when Belphegor became the playground’s new master, he stopped its production to remove Zolgear’s impression from it.

—He was wrong. After analysing the perfume that Basara had asked Lars to obtain, they discovered that it was the same perfume that Belphegor wore when he met with Leohart the other day. The main reason was so that Belphegor could fully unify the women in the playground by choosing a fragrance that belonged only to him; he prevented it from circulating on the market, most likely so that those women would have a unique fragrance in the Demon Realm. And the day before yesterday, they weren’t sure whether Basara was after Zolgear’s or Belphegor’s perfume. When the two representative sides met at the beginning, he was not able to smell this from Mio’s body, which meant that Basara had put on the perfume for the sole purpose of disrupting Leohart’s judgement.

“———”

While enduring Basara’s constant flurry of attacks where even a slight mistake in guarding could prove fatal, Leohart had to perform various defensive measures in an instant, and analyse the combat situation while avoiding the attacks. Up until now, he had crossed blades with Basara a countless number of times, and in the vast majority of those cases, he was on the defensive. His opponent was completely dominating the flow of combat. This happened because his speed fell behind that of his opponent.

''…But.''

Leohart wasn’t anxious or nervous at all. While Basara’s speed was certainly impressive, and the afterimages generated with assistance from the perfume were dangerous, Leohart was currently able to deal with all of that quite comfortably. The reason for that was because each of Basara’s attacks was of low quality — every one of his strikes was rather weak. From the perspective of the viewers who were outside the fighting space, Basara’s continuous attacks at a dizzying speed were putting pressure on Leohart, but that was only a superficial visage. It wasn’t a matter of physical arm strength, rather, it was clear that Basara was unable to utilise his full strength.

''…I don’t know where he was before.''

In short, his current injuries were not minor. Known for his swiftness, he was currently able to maintain his maximum speed, but under such circumstances, it seemed unlikely that it would last very long. Using Belphegor’s perfume for disruption or provocation was the most desperate struggle that he could put up right now. —He was deliberately stalling for time, at least until he fell. However, this kind of behaviour meant that Basara was simply using a petty trick. It was the day before yesterday when Basara asked for the perfume, and he disappeared late last night. In other words, Basara had planned to put this plan into action from the beginning, and decided to use the perfume against Leohart. Leohart didn’t want to stoop as low as Basara. He wasn’t opposed to using tricks, but he simply insisted on fighting until the end in a manner befitting that of a Demon Lord.

“—Roar, Loki.”

At the same time as Leohart’s call, the demonic sword in his hand responded by whipping up a wild tempest, dispersing the scent of the perfume in the surrounding area.

“———”

In the moment that Basara paused out of surprise because his afterimages had dissipated, Leohart unleashed a single pure strike. A slash of pure power.

“!——”

Basara lifted Brynhildr up to block it, but that was a poor decision. Leohart slashed down with Loki with no hesitation, causing both Basara and Brynhildr to be forcibly swept aside. Leohart’s ruthless strike had instantly sent the opponent in front of him flying through the air. He was sent flying towards the tall and distant twin towers.

 

“Gaaaaaaarrrgghh—kuh!”

Leohart’s powerful strike immediately sent Basara flying backwards.

''…This is bad, if I don’t think of a way…!''

In the scope of Basara’s upside-down vision while his upper body had been knocked into the air, he noticed the large building along his route.

“—Haah!”

As he saw the large twin towers quickly approaching, Basara struggled as he swung Brynhildr with all the strength that he could muster. Using the sharp gale of wind that was generated from his swing, Basara pierced through the wall and flew inside the tower; he attempted to stab Brynhildr into the ground in order to slow down, but the stone floor was too hard and all he left on it were scratches.

“Gah…help me…stop—!”

Basara did not give up on using the full weight of his body, and the tip of his blade finally pierced the floor, resulting in a sharp screech which echoed out, as well as an eruption of sparks across the floor — after sliding over a distance of a dozen metres, he finally succeeded in stalling his momentum amidst the wreck of a countless number of tables and chairs. In the space that appeared to resemble a parliament hall, he stood up on the dark floor.

“!…Hah, hah…kuh—!”

The sudden pain in his abdomen caused the expression on Basara’s already breathless face to tighten. It seemed that he had overexerted himself in trying to brake, causing his abdominal wound to reopen.

''…He’s definitely found out that my condition isn’t optimal.''

Although he had used the perfume to mask the smell of his blood; given how many times he was in close-quarters combat with Leohart, it was clear that someone of Leohart’s level could detect that something was wrong with Basara’s condition. —This was something that couldn’t be helped. Basara’s abdominal wound was received when he alone performed a ‘preparation’ for this decisive battle. It was an absolutely necessary preparation, something that had to be done. Hence, Toujou Basara didn’t regret his own injury, moreover—

''…I have to deal with this quickly.''

He was racking his brains on how to deal with Leohart at the moment. Belphegor’s perfume didn’t cause Leohart to lose his cool, and using the afterimages which were amplified by the odour was unable to disrupt him. In this situation, he was also no longer able to fight at maximum speed as he did before. When Basara hastily tried to think of his next strategy, he heard a loud and blunt metallic noise, which then lingered in the air.

“!…What is that..?”

Basara could not help but frown as he felt the entire tower shake from the ground in synchronisation with that sound. The word ‘earthquake’ entered his mind, but when he saw the adjacent tower outside the window—

''…No…!''

He realised what had happened to the place that he was in — the cause of the large tower’s tremors. The scenery outside the window was turning on an oblique angle…which meant that the metallic sound from earlier was the sound of the tower’s walls being cut apart. It seemed to be a position several storeys below that had collapsed, and the section above which had lost its support had begun to slide. There was no need to mention who’s doing this was. The battle was not over yet. Basara immediately tried to leave the area — but he was unable to do so. It was because the young man clad in black jumped in through the hole in the wall that Basara had made when he was sent flying.

“———”

As soon as Leohart spotted Basara, he rushed towards him in great strides.

“!…Damn it!”

It was impossible to escape at his current speed, it would be equivalent to death. Thus, Basara stood up to attack and charged towards Leohart — when their blades crossed, the phenomenon that was to happen sooner or later occurred. The upper section of the large tower that the two people were in finally slid off the edge — and began its descent towards the ground. While the floor rotated, the walls became the ceiling, and the wreck of tables and chairs began to fall—

“Oooooooooohhh!”

“Haaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Amidst the chaos, Basara and Leohart continued to fight as they searched for secure footing in the ever-changing space, cut apart the rubble, and continued to clash with their demonic swords. Every time sparks flickered from their clashes, it briefly illuminated the two figures within the dark space. The ceiling, floor, and walls were all footholds as their battlefield shifted from a flat plane to a three-dimensional space.

“—Hah!”

During this, Basara was the first to try breaking out of the current situation; he suddenly dispelled Brynhildr halfway through a clash and then summoned it again, using a quick-draw sword technique as he distorted dimensional boundaries — [Dimensional Slash]. His aim was to destroy the weapon — to destroy Leohart’s demonic sword Loki. However—

“Using a high-speed slash the moment the demonic sword is summoned increases its power and sharpness, I’ve heard—”

Saying that faintly, Leohart blocked Basara’s [Dimensional Slash]. After quickly restricting the movement of Basara’s arm before he started to use the technique, Leohart similarly released and re-summoned his demonic sword to cause a dimensional disruption to interfere with Basara’s technique — blocking it so that the [Dimensional Slash] became an ordinary slash.

“What…!”

“Although I cannot imitate it, it’s more than enough to stop your technique.”

After saying that to the surprised Basara, Leohart dragged the tip of his demonic sword across the ground as the resulting shockwave moved along the ground towards Basara.

“Kuh—”

Basara hastily jumped towards one side to evade it, but that caused him to lose sight of Leohart’s figure, and it was already too late by the time that he realised he had appeared beside him.

“—-!”

Upon seeing Leohart swing down the sword that was above his head, Basara was able to lift Brynhildr to block it in time, but his legs — crashed through the wall as a result of the impact. By the end of Leohart’s swing, Basara’s entire body had been knocked down towards the bottom of the falling tower.

“Gaaah—…!”

He was still roughly a hundred metres from the ground — so if he fell from this height, it would surely mean death, but Basara was fortunate enough to be able to find a foothold. In between the tower that Basara was in, and the other adjacent tower, there was a passageway between them that was still hanging in the air. Although he could safely reach the ground through that passage, Basara wasn’t out of danger’s way yet, as the tower he was in continued to fall. As for Leohart who had jumped out of the tower from another window, he wasn’t at risk of dying unlike Basara.

“———”

A countless number of black particles manifested in mid-air above Leohart’s back — in the next instant, two enormous black wings spread open, allowing Leohart to effortlessly float in mid-air. For Basara who didn’t have this kind of ability, there was only one way for him to stay alive — so Basara decided to use that move. It was one of the two trump cards that Jin had entrusted to Basara. Toujou Basara gripped Brynhildr with both hands to unleash a full-powered attack, turning the power of [Banishing Shift] into a destructive force.

“! —Ooooooooooohh!”

The destructive wave that Basra unleashed spread out in the shape of a fan, instantly turning the upper section of the tower that was falling down on him into rubble. A vast amount of smoke and dust gushed past Basara like a sandstorm, but it was nothing more than that.

''…I succeeded…!''

Having just escaped with his life, Basara lifted his head with a solid sense of confidence, only to see Leohart holding Loki at his waistline as it was wrapped in a dark luminance.

“Your destructive power is certainly strong…but it’s my turn now.”

After a single breath—

“—Devour him, Loki!”

In the instant that Leohart swung his jet-black demonic sword — the black torrent that could even distort space swept through the air as it rushed towards Basara.

“Uoooooooooohhh!”

Even though the pain from his abdomen caused his face to distort in pain, Basara still gritted his teeth to unleash [Banishing Shift]. Of course, it was not to fully eliminate Leohart’s black torrent, he aimed to just barely stop it, an attempt to disperse it, however—

''…S-So heavy…!''

The force of Leohart’s black torrent was so incredibly powerful that it almost knocked away Brynhildr while it was being gripped with both hands, forcing Basara to double the strength he was putting into his arms. Even though the bleeding from his abdomen was so severe that it seemed as though a blood vessel had burst — he still swung with all his might.

“Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!”

Accompanied by Basara’s beastly roar, he unleashed [Banishing Shift]. And then — after he had painstakingly dispersed Leohart’s black torrent, a voice suddenly came from in front.

“—I’ve also heard about your elimination ability.”

As he turned to look, he saw in the right corner of his vision — Leohart was in a low stance, as if he was ready to swing his demonic sword Loki at any time.

“!——”

[Banishing Shift] could only be used when holding Brynhildr with both hands in a full swing. Leohart had spotted this subtle flaw in the technique. Leohart’s slash closed in towards the right side of Basara’s abdomen which was unguarded because Basara had just swung Brynhildr—

“———!”

Since he was holding the sword with both hands, Basara immediately removed his armoured right hand from the sword, and used his arm to block Loki’s strike directly. —That armour was a derivative of Brynhildr’s manifestation. The strength of the material was naturally the same as Brynhildr’s blade — but, there was one clear difference. And that was its thickness. If the armour was as thick as the blade, Basara’s right arm would become too heavy to wield Brynhildr; so since it had to be light, the armour was correspondingly thin. As a harsh metallic sound rang out, the armour on Basara’s lower right arm — its exterior had been broken, revealing the inner section that even Basara was only seeing for the first time. However — now was not the time to be surprised or to delve into thought. Leohart’s strike seemed to have hit a major blood vessel, and so his armour shattered and bright red blood suddenly began to spray out. Even so, Basara had taken the opportunity of that strike to find a clear path to the passageway, and he jumped into the air.

''…Ah…''

When he felt stunned — Toujou Basara had begun falling to the ground. As Leohart looked down at him from the edge of the passageway, his consciousness began to fade.

[———]

What he then saw was the figure of Leohart’s back as he turned around to leave at the far end of his vision. It was as if the outcome had been decided.

“………”

As seconds seemed like minutes as they passed in this critical situation, a thought emerged in Toujou Basara’s mind — if he died like this, how would the situation change? Firstly, the Moderates Faction would lose this decisive battle. —But, Mio and the others would probably be fine. Because Jin had once said that if Basara was defeated, that he would disregard the agreements of the past Great War and step forward to deal with it. Jin was the father that Basara was proud of, and it was possible that he could solve the various problems in the Demon Realm in a way that Basara couldn’t even begin to imagine in order to guarantee Mio’s freedom and safety and also so that Yuki, Kurumi, Maria, and Zest wouldn’t need to worry either. Although he was unwilling, Jin did have such a capacity. Right now, Basara’s body would no longer listen to himself…perhaps it was better to leave the rest to Jin, and to honestly accept his own defeat and death, it would be so easy to do.

“……!”

But Toujou Basara simply couldn’t give up. He still had people that he cherished waiting for him, and he still had promises to keep; he couldn’t turn himself into a liar and a traitor, that was one thing that he couldn’t concede on. He absolutely couldn’t give up! So — Toujou Basara played his last card in that moment. —Before he left Wildart, Basara had asked Sheera to prepare some medicine for him. One of those was an aphrodisiac to deepen the master-servant bond between Mio and the others, while the other — after that life-threatening special training where he learned from Jin that he possessed the blood of two mothers, he asked Sheera to make — a stimulant that could strongly awaken one particular side. In Toujou Basara’s mind, there were some things that he just couldn’t back down from. In order to protect them, even if both of his hands became tainted with blood, as long as it was something that he had to do, then Basara was willing to do it. It didn’t matter even if he was no longer himself of the past. So with the tablet that had been hidden behind his molars, Basara used the tip of his tongue—

“———”

And swallowed it. The tablet containing magic was immediately decomposed after going through his oesophagus, and was fully absorbed by his body.

“…—Rampage, Brynhildr.”

When Basara uttered that — he was only ten or so metres from the ground.