"...Could it be that what Anos is saying...is it true...?　He's the one with the tyranny of--

Hey, don't be stupid, man!　No matter how strong he is, no matter how strong he is, if he's not a member of the royal family, there's no way he's a tyrannical demon king who's a non-conformist!

That's right. It's not our strength or our wisdom that counts. It's the precious blood that runs through our bodies. You must be proud of your royal blood, the blood of our ancestors. He's just a strong non-conformist. His power has no nobility.

　You can hear such nonsense coming from the audience.
　How ridiculous, after witnessing the power of the Ancestors, but is this also Avos Dilhevia's aim?
　But what are they planning to do by hijacking my position of power? It's not even worth bothering about if it's just a little thing that they want power, but I don't even know what they're after yet.

"Hmmm...

　I heard Isel laugh and I looked in that direction.

'So that's the last one. 'That was a clever little trick, but we can't throw it anymore.'

　If you look, all the swords that were stuck in the arena are gone.
　There is only one sword left in Ray's hand.

　If he clashed with Izel's twin swords, the demonic swords would disappear in the blink of an eye.
　Normally, this would be a dead end, but strangely enough, I don't feel like that guy is going to lose.

　Let's see what he plans to do, let's see what he does.

"Well then, it's time for us to start doing things normally.

　Ray muttered a word, and without any kind of tricks, he headed towards Izel proudly.

''Hmm, so you've finally made up your mind. Come. The sword is not to be thrown, I will teach you how to use the magic sword.

　Izel and Ray face each other.
　The remaining half-step is inside the space between them. Ray is at an overwhelming disadvantage in the strike - yet he was the one who took a random step forward.

''Bypassing it,''

　The twin swords ran without holding back. Both arms moved as if they were separate creatures, the flame demon sword aimed at Ray's head, a few moments later, the ice demon sword aimed at his chest.
　Even if he barely made it through the flame demon sword, the ice demon sword would still attack him when he lost his stance.

　Against the two special killing blows, Ray met it with his right-handed magic sword.

''There.''

　Gakki, squeak, and the sound of sword and sword colliding.

'Two.'

..........?

　Izel gives him a grim look.
　Ray's magic sword had struck away Izel's twin swords.

　Aside from the skill of using one sword to intercept the twin swords that were approaching at almost the same time, what was inexplicable would be the fact that Rey's demon sword was unharmed. No matter which of the two swords were touched, Zeth, the magic sword of fire, or Ides, the magic sword of ice, Ray's sword should have been destroyed.

''.........ze.......!

　Once again, Izel swung his twin swords.
　The sound of a sword fight rang out, and Ray easily dispelled it.

'Four.'

　Ray mutters.

''........kid, what are you doing......?''

　Gakki, kiiiiinng, the sound of sword and sword collision echoed.

"Six.

Chii....in that case...!

　The speed at which Izel's twin swords were wielded accelerated to double, and in the next moment, it exceeded double that speed even more.
　The countless consecutive blows that could not be seen in his hand were all dispelled, and yet, Ray's sword was still unharmed.

"Eighty-seven.

You......... How can you protect yourself with that poor magic sword?　What kind of trickery do you have in mind?

　Gaga-gaga, giggling, giggling and the sound of incessant sword fights echoed.

''I see. Ray, when you cut down the magic sword you threw, Izel's twin swords caused a slight spill of the blade. No matter how much of a magic sword it is, the part that caused the blade spill can't show its magic power to the fullest. So it is possible to cut and tie them together in that way?

''.........Stupid.......You're saying that you're aiming at this high-speed twin swords, aiming at only the slightest part of the blade spill, and you're beating it away......!　There's no way you can do that...!

　To be more precise, from the time he was throwing the demon sword, he was only aiming at one spot on the twin swords.
　He controlled the force, angle, and aim of his throw, aiming to cut down at a certain point of the twin swords without an inch of error. Repeatedly repeating that over and over again would cause some blade spills, no matter how much of a demon sword Zeth Ides was.

''I didn't tell you about it because it would be detrimental if you revealed the seeds to me.

　Ray says, without looking as if he was troubled.

'Give him that much of a handicap.

　Izel stepped back and measured the pause.

''Well it seems I underestimated you, kid. Let me go all out from here........

　A magic circle floats in both of Izel's hands.
　A blade of fire rises from the magic sword Zeth, and a blade of ice covers the magic sword Ides.

''This is the true form of the Demon Sword Zeth and the Ides. Prepare yourself!''

　Izel's figure blurred. In an instant, the guy who stepped into the interval swung his twin swords at high speed.
　The continuous blows counted two hundred and fifty times per second. A slash of fire and ice with no room to escape strikes Rei almost simultaneously.

''.........Huh.......!

　With a gasp of air, Ray made his magic sword shimmer.
　The slash, which was equal to a flash of light, once again knocked down all of Izel's twin swords.

''Forty-two.''

...what the hell...?　It would have been useless to try to get to the edge of the blade at the earliest....

　Ray doesn't look like he's going to answer.
　Instead, I say, "It's simple.

'It's simple. Rey's magic sword didn't touch your twin swords. It was the sword pressure alone that sent it flying.

It's pretty hard to do.

　Ray says with a cool face.

''........You mean you can strike against my twin swords with just sword pressure alone......''

　After exuding frustration, Izel glares at Ray with a look of indignation.

'My, then!　Let's see how long that tightrope walk will last!

　Isel's twin swords shimmer again, and Ray fights them off.

'A tremendous sword brilliance indeed, but what about your endurance?　This one may be a hundred years old, but I'm not getting tired.

　Izel was speechless.

　The flames and ice that the twin swords were clothed with dissipated as if they were shattered.
　The two magic swords broke off with a snap, and the tips of their blades spun around and flew in the air.

　And then it stabbed into the ground.

''.........my twin swords.......snapped.......... ..........

Forty-four. I'm right on target.

　If you're counting what, it was the number of times you had to break those twin swords.

"By the way,

　Ray says with a cool face.

''When are you going to teach me how to use the magic sword?''

　Ray's refreshing smile, but Isel cowers in awe.
　Then he turns his gaze towards Geisel as if to ask for help. However, he finally seems to realize that he too has already been beaten.

''........Who in the world......are you guys.......?　We've never heard of a demon race that treats the Seven Demon Emperors like this as children...

　Isel says, as if he was hanging on by a thread.
　Without paying any attention to it, I turn my attention to Ray.

Ray. You've been slacking off, haven't you?

Not really, though.

'Don't be modest. With your strength, you could have cut down and discarded it without a single shot being exchanged.

　Ray smiled a cool smile and replied

'That's not much practice for me, you know.

"Huh?

''I thought I could break those twin swords without using magic, just with my technique. I cheated a bit at the end, so I guess I'm not quite there yet.

　Kuhu, dear, you're a delightful man.
　You've been training your sword against the Seven Demon Emperors.

　Interesting. I'd really like to see the depth of his power.

"Tomorrow, you can come to your senses.

　Ray said without breaking into a smile.

'I don't know.'

You're going to end up dead if you keep practicing on me.

If possible, I hope it won't kill you.

　It's still an aloof response.

'Well, you can do what you want.

That would be great to hear.

　Smiling wryly, I said.

'I'm going to make you want to get serious.'

　He looked at me for a moment with a blank expression, then chuckled.

"Anos, you're quite a sadist, aren't you?

What do you mean? I'm the kindest demon you'll ever meet.

So you could take it easy on me.

Ha. Don't be a fool. That's not what your body says.

　Ray smiles as if he is not full of himself.
　It's not belligerent, but it's not like he doesn't like to fight.
　It's a good thing that you're not the only one.

''Still, after all that exercise, you're hungry.

'I think we've had enough of this class. Why don't we go back to class and have a quick lunch?

Is he okay?

What? You're going to be fine if you go in sneakily.

Okay. Keep it to yourself.

　While having such a conversation, me and Rei returned to the outside of the magic barrier where the students were watching.

''Hey. Hey. You defeated the Seven Demon Emperors so easily, what's your daily life like?　Don't talk about fast dialects or anything like that like you usually do...

　Sasha blurted it out like that, as usual.