Editing Shinmai Maou no Keiyakusha:Volume 5 Chapter 4 (section)

===Part 7===

The East route with Maria and Lucia, and the West route with Yuki and Kurumi.

As they were battling with the spirit on each route respectively, 

Basara and Zest at the central route were in a difficult battle.

The reason for that, was that while the situation at the other routes were two people working together to fight the spirit, Basara and Zest had to separate to fight against the spirit as well as the high-class demon controlling the spirit.

--though the situation was difficult, thinking about it wouldn’t change anything.

According to Lucia who was paired with Maria, this place was too far away Wildart City from her master for him to rush here quickly; Yuki was unable to obtain protection from [Sakuya], and while Kurumi had received the black elementals from Lucia, she was still unaccustomed to using the spirits of the Demon Realm, so they shouldn’t even be allowed to deal with a strong opponent like this now. Additionally, the spirits possess surprising regenerative power. So it still wouldn’t take them long to heal completely even if they received an injury; taking into account the spirit’s gigantic size and the inability to truss them up, him hoping for assistance from them would be for nothing.

And thus – with the situation not allowing for Mio to be on the battlefield, Basara has become the most suitable person to deal with this strong enemy. After moving the place of their battle field a building like a theatre with complex internal terrain—

“Ooooooooooooooo!”

On the stone-paved floor, Basara began running towards the high-class demon.

<nowiki>「——————」</nowiki>

The high-class then had countless magic circles shoot out fireballs, to greet Basara’s attack. As all of them are extremely hot and can combust, the distance he had to take when dodging had to be larger, which forced Basara to do larger side-steps to dodge the countless oncoming fireballs.

As for those that can’t be dodged, those will be just simply cut apart with Brynhildr. However—

“Ku…!”

''Clang!'' The sound along with the feedback transmitted through the hilt, caused Basara to frown. ''Heavy'' – those aren’t just simply fireballs, it probably had some rocks or debris within them; with the option of cutting through it no longer available, being able to deflect them would already be a very good thing. If one were to use a sword to deflect something like this for too much, it would just exhaust their hand quickly. Apart from when using [Banishing Shift], Basara would normally hold Brynhildr in a single-hand grip, but he had now been forced to grip Brynhildr with two hands for practically the whole battle, faced with this high-class demon. For large swords like Brynhildr, once the way of wielding them is changed, the wielder’s movements will too also change. In regards to Basara finely adjusting his actions at his current speed, it’s practically like suicide.

''…Tch, it’ll be great if I could use [Banishing Shift].''

Even if it’ll be unable to banish it whole, it’ll at least be able to eliminate the blaze of the fireballs, or maybe even the rocks within it. But right now, despite Basara knowing that the situation is currently disadvantageous to him, he still does not use [Banishing Shift]. Of course, there was a reason behind it.

After defeating Zolgear, Takigawa had given Basara a piece of advice.

And that advice was that in the battles that would happen with the Current Demon Lord Faction hereafter, there is a need to avoid using that move. [Banishing Shift] is a move where once the target space is slashed, it can eliminate and banish everything beyond the zeroth dimension, and is very unique even amongst the multifarious magics and special abilities in existence. From another angle, its potential as a threat is much higher even when compared to Wilbert’s power inherited by Mio. Just like in the past, Zolgear’s target wasn't just Mio alone, he had also taken interest in [Banishing Shift] and had plotted to take it for himself.

Hence, if Basara were to just show that move carelessly, it might add to Mio’s dangers. But in the first place, it was Basara who had voluntarily went and attracted the attention of the enemy. However, as long as it was to protect Mio and everyone else, Toujou Basara will definitely unhesitatingly use that power, even if it meant that he would have to foul his hands, use underhanded tactics, and doing dishonourable actions, basically if it meant even he had to become scum.

''…But the problem right now is that—''

Just like Zolgear had made use of Maria with a hostage when fixated on Mio – once the enemy knows that Basara has got such a unique ability, they might make a move to those around him.

That is something that Basara would not want to see. If he were to let Mio and the others be in dangerous situations just for him, even to the point of becoming a hostage – the moment he had thought about, Toujou Basara felt chills right from the bottom of his heart. Thus, no matter what, he had to not use [Banishing Shift].

Carefully passing through the troublesome fireballs released by the enemy, and making the enemy enter his range—

“---Haaa!”

Basara immediately slashed out with Brynhildr. The two-handed attack, with its power naturally much higher than usual – however became useless. The enemy had not dodged, as the slash had hit its target.

It’s just, the attack had not caused any injuries – the flesh of the high-class demon was too tough.

''…Damn it!''

No matter how many times Brynhildr hit him, there was only the sharp sounds from the impact. Forget about cutting into his flesh, it couldn’t even make a scratch on his skin.

--The opponent’s attack all consisted of fireball magic, so probably, he is a magic type.

The magic type basically specializes in using magical attacks, so they usually don’t have a very tough body. But this person has got such a tough body. Probably just like Zolgear who was good in not only swordplay but also magic, this high-class demon does not just fights with purely magic, but also with his physical body too.

In the past –in the fight with Zolgear, Basara had been overwhelmed while fighting. Not only just Basara, Mio and Yuki too seemed to never have been a match for him. Thus after the battle, Basara and the others had set aside a large percentage of their after classes time and school break time to train, since after all, Zolgear isn’t the only high-class demon within the Current Demon Lord Faction – of course, they had not forgotten about utilizing the Master-Servant Contract to raise their power by deepening their relationship, but just that alone was definitely not enough; for the future, raising their battle prowess is a must. In this period of time, when Sakazaki had taken action during the Sports Festival, despite how Kurumi had become his hostage, Basara had inadvertently received a heavy injury; but right before that, in the skirmish with Tachibana that roused from a misunderstanding, Basara had quite effectively managed to suppress Tachibana who had Vampire blood.

That undoubtedly was a result thanks to the training. And after the Sports Festival – Basara had continued to train to this day and had undoubtedly raised his levels, but yet his sword now is almost useless. It’s not that he was weak, but that his opponent is overwhelmingly strong, additionally—

''…he is definitely above Zolgear…!''

Although he had once been overwhelmed by Zolgear, as long as his fear was targeted, he could be damaged, and that thus was the way to defeat him; but the opponent before him right now isn’t afraid of his attacks at all, so that was practically nothing Basara could do. Just then—

“…You really don’t know when to retreat, do you?”         <nowiki>”————！”</nowiki>

In the moment the high-class demon released a sigh, Basara reflexively jumped away towards the right, and a fireball then barely scrapped past his body, slightly burning his clothes. Probably because his compatibility with this opponent was bad, that he had given him the chance for a surprise attack. He had managed to get by this time with his luck, but continuing to be this close was extremely dangerous.

“—do you really think I will fall back so easily?!”

However, Basara continued to boldly remain in front of his opponent. If he were to draw distance from the enemy without doing damage to him, he will soon be driven into a corner and then eventually die. Hence, Basara cannot fall back, but instead he had to change his thinking on how to damage his opponent, and only a single answer came to mind.

That answer was to continue attacking, until he managed to do some damage – just like how Yuki managed to cut through Takigawa’s barrier in the past. Basara lowered his body, and then launched another attack at a rapid speed.

“Haaaaaaahhhhhh!”

Brynhildr drew out countless curved lines of lights, continuously slashing at the body of the high-class demon. What sounded out, was the sounds of the strikes, but Basara continued to keep up the speed. The high-class demon that was receiving those attacks, then suddenly activated the magic, but—

<nowiki>「————！」</nowiki>

Basara jumped a short distance sideways, and while sliding slightly on the roof, he then once again launched attacks at the high-class demon. What Basara had just done, was to avoid the enemy’s attack and counterattack. The result of careful and intricate footwork, which allowed him to avoid the enemy’s attacks and quickly launch an attack.

Since the enemy could attack him with their all.

He would be fine as long as the attacks do not hit him.

And at that moment, as if the high-class demon realised Basara’s intentions—

“—what a boring battle tactic.”

Saying that with disdain, he brought out a new attack. No longer firing fireballs – but directly raising columns of fire by his legs.

As if like a wall of fire, surrounding the high-class demon.

“……!”

Basara hurriedly jumped backwards, keeping his guard raised while waiting for the volume of flames to decrease.

By using a magic like this, it appears the purpose of it was to force a distance between them.

Its aim wasn’t to attack, but to defend – so once the flames weakened, he will immediately launch attacks. While Basara was waiting for a chance with such intentions—

“That is--…”

He quickly realised that he was going down in the wrong direction. The blazing columns were not getting weaker, but instead they repeatedly expanded in volume. Very quickly – the flames rising up into the sky, turned into the shape of ‘a certain being’. That being was—

“A flame dragon…!”

As the flame dragon rapidly took shape before his eyes, shocking amounts of heat was still radiated to Basara who had taken quite some distance, even charring his fringe. Once the reins of such a monster that was made up of flames was let go, Wildart City would definitely be flattened.

「Damn it – do I really have no choice but to use that!? 」 

As Basara readied Brynhildr to use Banishing Shift, in that moment—

<nowiki>『——————』</nowiki>

The flame dragon flew upwards with a screech, and then rapidly descended.

“Eh………?”

And swallowed up the high-class demon before his eyes, causing an extremely thick pillar of fire.

''Suicide?'' –Basara began to have doubts in that moment, but the weird thing was that the theatre building had not caught fire as a result at all.

“—I do not wish to waste any more time playing around with you little kids.”

A low voice came from above the swirling pillar – and after that, the body of the high-class demon appeared from within the flames. On his body, there was now a pair of wings and a tail, with two horns protruding on his head and his arms becoming very thick – his appearance as a whole was very red, and he looked like a fire demon god. <ref>魔神majin </ref>

''That appearance...''

Toujou Basara realised why the high-class demon looked had turned into that appearance. It wasn’t that the flame dragon had swallowed him – but instead he had absorbed the flame dragon. The body high-class demon that had absorbed the flame dragon that could destroy the whole of Wildart City into his body before his eyes, radiated a scary amount of heat and feeling of oppression, and at the same time—

“I’m coming—“

Saying that short line – that huge body suddenly appeared before Basara’s eyes just as his mind registered that message.

<nowiki>“Wha————?</nowiki>

What shocking speed. Despite his large body, his speed was much faster than the speed-type Basara. Facing such an opponent with such strength, even any minor doubts in the sub-consciousness would result in a fatal injury. ''This is bad'' – as Basara repented on his reaction, the high-class demon swung his right arm that seemed to almost combust the surrounding air at him, and he wasn’t able to avoid completely it at all.

In the next moment, a large boom accompanied the impact of the attack.

--however, what the right fist of the high-class demon impacted wasn’t Basara.

In the nick of time, at Basara’s feet – from the stone making up the roof, a pillars suddenly rose up, pushing him upwards. Seeing the stone pillar being broken in his place below his feet—

“—Zest?”

Toujou Basara immediately realised who was the one that had just saved him, and called her name. Turning around to look, Zest was still in battle with the giant spirit not too far away, but—

<nowiki>『——————』</nowiki>

Their eyes met for a short moment. Zest was also currently in a difficult battle, but yet she still assisted him in the nick of time with magic. Thanking Zest in his heart. Just as Basara was about to jump away from the shattered  pillar--

Basara suddenly gasped in shock. From the high-class demon’s body part that had shattered the pillar, a flaming tentacle extended from it as its root, and it came flying towards Basara as if wanting to swallow him whole.

Basara hurriedly escaped backwards, and the stone pillar too was swallowed whole by the flames at the same time. After that, Toujou Basara who had just barely managed to escape into the air heard—

“—it’s over.”

The voice that came from directly behind him, told Basara that his movements had been seen through by the enemy, that he had been read through right from the start – and without even the time to turn back to look, an unbelievable attack landed on Basara’s back.

What Basara had felt, was not a heavy blow. Just like how the pillar that the high-class demon shattered burned, Basara who received a punch with extremely high temperatures, his whole body became bathed in flames--

<nowiki>“Ggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh——————!?”</nowiki>

Just like a meteorite, his body descended towards the ground while burning and screaming.

Hitting the roof within the blink of an eye, Basara impacted onto the ground of the theatre with a large boom. The impact destroyed a large number of the seats in the theatre, sending broken fragments flying everywhere.

<nowiki>「——————」</nowiki>

As Toujou Basara laid supine<ref>(of a person) lying face upwards</ref> on the ground of the theatre, he saw the high-class demon descending through the hole in the roof towards him.

And on his thick right arm – coiled the flame dragon he had seen just now.