The Kingdom of Nanor, Land of Evil
　Sylphid's Point of View

Let's go, Sylphid!

　The moment Gladiel said that, he closes the gap at once. And the Demon King Sword swung down from the upper level. I catch it with the Wind Dragon Sword Air, which is clothed in the Windstorm Empress' wind.

　This sword is a great sword made from the claws of the Wind Dragon King Anima. It can unleash an intermediate level of wind magic just by channeling magic power.

　The moment my Wind Dragon Sword and Gladiel's Demon King Sword collide, the black flame and wind blowing in the air. My wind scattered the looming black flame around me and hit the ground and walls. And the black flame that collided with it burns the place up.

''That's a depressing flame!''

　I pop Gladiel's Demon King Sword and he cuts from me next. Gladiel holds up his demon king sword to catch Air as he cuts at me from the left with a horizontal cleave.

　I shake off Air as it is and cut up towards Gladiel from the bottom right. Gladiel avoids it by flying backwards.

　Naturally I follow and poke him with my air. Gladiel may have anticipated this, and he received it without any particular hurry.

'You look a lot different than you did three hundred years ago, Sylphid. You couldn't even follow me back then.''

Han!　While you've been holed up in the Devil's Land, we've been working on it!　So that when you guys show up again, you won't need a brave man to stop you!

　As soon as I move away from Gladiel, I release a wind bullet. It's an attack that has blown the Regalia soldiers away in the war, but Gladiel cuts through it without a hitch.

'I see. In that case, I'm going to go for real, too. Sylphid.

　As I say this, balls of black flame begin to float around Gladiel. And those flames are shot at me. I avoid the dozens of black flame balls, but the balls explode from where they land.

　Tsk, the area around me is covered in smoke from the explosion, making it difficult to see. I quickly blow away the smoke with the wind, but in the meantime, the black flame balls are still approaching.

　It's a pain in the ass to avoid this number. Thinking that, I let the storm wind blow around me and make it into a wall. The black flame spheres explode one after another as they collide with my storm, but this level won't be serious.

　And in the next moment, the storm that was blowing around me is torn apart. The one who appeared was naturally Gladiel. I catch Gladiel's sword coming at me as it is, but I'm blown away. Is the power stronger than before?

　I thought about it while regaining my position in the air, but there was no time for that. It was because Gladiel was already looming in front of me.

　I avoided the Demon King Sword that was coming at me with a thrust by turning my body away, but Gladiel grabbed my arm and threw me off. I can slam my body against the wall, but Gladiel's right arm, which touched my body with the storm wind, is also covered with wounds from the storm wind.

　Gladier didn't care about the wound and came swinging his demon sword at me. I quickly moved away from the spot to avoid it, but the wall I had hit was blown to pieces.

　Before I knew it, the entire area was surrounded by black flame. When did this happen?

Go.

　And when Gladiel pointed the Demon King Sword at me, the black flame, which was only burning around me, changed its shape like a thorn and extended to me!

　I let the storm blow around me again, but it's sharp enough to pierce even that. I avoid the black flame's thorns by jumping, but as if splitting from its extended thorns, new thorns appear and grow back. What a troublesome technique!

'Prominence Thorn. Those black flame thorns will continue to aim at you until they pierce you?　And of course I'm not just watching!

　As I continued to avoid the Black Flame's thorns, naturally Gladiel would also attack. I had a faint thought that this guy would also get caught up in the thorns, but of course this technique is Gladiel's technique. It extends to avoid Gladiel.

　In addition to Gladiel, which is just a hassle, he also has to avoid the black flame thorns around him.

''Tch, it can't be helped!　Air pressure!

　I can't be bothered to avoid it anymore, so I activate a defensive wind around me and let it cover me. Then I drop a mass of super-compressed wind on top of me and onto myself.

　The super-compressed wind falls on me and Gladiel, crushing them. Along with the spikes of black flame that were reaching towards me.

　Both me and Gladiel endure on one knee, but I'm somewhat better because I was wearing the wind for protection. I hold the air while bearing the weight that falls from above.

''Now, how's that?!''

　He then dispatched the air to Gladiel in a sideways motion. Gladiel couldn't move and was able to cut off Gladiel's head as it was. But what was that feeling now?　I didn't feel much of a cut.

　But the headless Gladiel was crushed as it was, and the black flame that had been burning disappeared. I also stopped the wind that was falling. Did you defeat it with this?　To say I'm stronger is an understatement, but I'm too stunned compared to 300 years ago. What in the world?

''I stopped. I can't take any more time to think about it when I don't know what to do. Let's go after Ray and the others.

　I hurry out of the room. I have to catch up with them quickly. I didn't realize it at the time, but all that was left in the room was my armor, which had no contents.