When the Demon Soldiers they had been fighting suddenly retreated, the punitive force soldiers couldn’t understand what was happening.

The Demon Soldiers could sense Rei’s strength because quite a number of them were strong enough.

On the other hand, the punitive force soldiers present were just ordinary soldiers, many were just peasants who had been conscripted by nobles belonging to the First and Second Prince’s factions.

It would be more surprising for any of them to be able to sense the strength of their opponents.

As a result, their first reaction upon seeing the Demon Soldiers retreat was to launch a full scale attack.

Of course, it wasn’t just the conscripts in the army.

Soldiers and knights from the various nobles’ armies were also present.

However, most of the army was made up of conscripts and there was no way they would give up the opportunity to gain merit.

「Wait! Stop! Don’t attack recklessly!」

If the battle had just begun, they might have listened to their commanders.

But with how long the battle had been going on for, many of the conscripts had fallen into an adrenaline rush as they fought with their lives on the line

「UooooooooH-! Good job, give me all the merit!」

「For my wife’s sake, right here, right now!」

「If I make big achievements here, I might be promoted to the army. Go, go go!」

「I’m strong, I’m strong! You ran away, so you must be weak! Die!」

「Haha! Hahahahahaa!」

As various soldiers shouted as they went to pursue the retreating Demon Soldiers……

Boom-!

Several pillars of fire suddenly appeared in between them and the Demon Soldiers.

The excited soldiers instinctively stopped their pursuit after the pillars of fire appeared in front of them.

In addition, lines of fire were gradually forming, linking the pillars of fire together.

「Anyone who goes past this line will be personally executed by me. ……I’ll say this first. Surrender. If you surrender now, I’ll treat you like prisoners. But, if you continue to fight me, I won’t go easy on you.」

Rei suddenly appeared from inside a pillar of fire as it split apart. The soldiers took several steps back at his words, overwhelmed.

Small in stature and with a face that could be described as feminine, Rei was hardly intimidating.

However, the Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour that covered his body was enough to instill a sense of fear in all that saw him.

The excitement that had carried all the soldiers forward just a few seconds ago vanished in an instant and some even dropped their weapons to surrender immediately.

「Don’t be intimidated! He’s just trying to scare us! We have more soldiers on our side, so don’t give up! As long as we can hold out here, reinforcements will arrive soon!」

One commander shouted out, but they also knew that they couldn’t defeat Rei with numbers in his current state.

If the decision were up to them, they would have retreated immediately.

However, he was just one of many low ranking commanders on the battlefield.

He had no choice but to shout out the order as part of his position.

「I see, in that case……here I come!」

Clad in crimson armour, Rei made a powerful swing with the Death Scythe.

A Deep Flame shot out as it drew a wall of fire along the ground, following the direction of his swing.

Those who saw Rei’s attack flinched, but Rei didn’t care as he continued to step forward.

「I’ll have you stop there. I can’t let you pass so easily.」

Pelfiel stepped forward with magic sword in hand.

Pelfiel had been fighting the Lizardman Centaur Demon Soldiers previously, but all she had in her eyes now was Rei.

Seeing Pelfiel’s response, the commander gave a sigh of relief.

Pelfiel was well known as a skilled fighter, even among the First Prince’s faction, so even if she couldn’t defeat Rei, the commander hoped that she would be able to buy some time.

If she could do that, then they might be able to use their numbers advantage to push back the Demon Soldiers while Rei was held back, giving the punitive force the advantage.

Their idea seemed to have a high chance of succeeding as well, but……

「Are you seriously planning to fight me? With your strength, you should know the gap between us.」

「Still, I cannot retreat now. If I let you go crazy here, the losses we will suffer will be immense. ……Even if I were to apologise now and ask you to let us go, you wouldn’t accept it, would you?」

Rei’s answer to Pelfiel’s question was to brandish the Death Scythe.

The main force of Mercurio’s army, led by Vihera, was currently on the offensive. Their goal was to break through the enemy lines and kill or capture Kabajid and Shurus.

With Vihera in charge, there was no way their offensive would fail.

However, what if the woman standing before him, Pelfiel, was able to reinforce the punitive force?

Rei had also heard of Pelfiel from Theorem.

She was said to be highly trusted by Kabajid and a knight who sought ever greater strength.

Rei had also briefly met Pelfiel at the castle entrance in the Imperial Capital, as he entered to help Frizione escape, so he naturally knew who she was.

「That’s right. If I let you go here, we’ll definitely suffer unnecessary losses later on. Since that is the case, I’ll have to kill you here if I can. ……Besides, you’re not really planning on running away, are you? Your fighting spirit is emanating out at full strength, isn’t it?」

「If you let me go, of course I would go. But, since you won’t let me go, I have no choice but to fight, right?」

Pelfiel watched Rei’s movements closely as she prepared for combat to break out at any moment. Rei asked again, just to confirm.

「If you surrender, I guarantee you will be treated properly as prisoners.」

「Impossible. I serve Prince Kabajid. I wouldn’t repay his kindness with betrayal. Why don’t you ready your weapon? Since we’re fighting, I could attack at any moment.」

Rei sighed softly at Pelfiel’s words.

If he took too long, the battle on the left wing would drag on……meaning that the Demon Soldiers would suffer more casualties.

The Demon Soldiers in his immediately vicinity had stopped fighting, having sensed the unnatural heat coming from his Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour, but that didn’t mean that fighting on the left wing had stopped as a whole.

Much further from Rei, the battle was still raging on.

The Demon Soldiers were greatly outnumbered, so the battle had to be ended as quickly as possible to minimise their losses.

「If you’re going to fight, then let’s fight. ……Don’t take your eyes off me for even a moment. There’s a big difference in our strength right now.」

Rei’s words, which were nothing short of pure arrogance, caused many punitive force soldiers to glare at Rei, as if telling him not to underestimate Pelfiel.

But, those who had reached a certain level of skill could tell that Rei wasn’t just talking as they broke out into a cold sweat.

Naturally, the same was true of Pelfiel herself, who listened in silence as she pointed the tip of her sword towards Rei.

「I won’t tell you to stop joking around……but as High Highness Kabajid’s sword, I won’t lose so easily!」

Hearing Pelfiel’s words echo out, Rei poured more magic power into the Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour to replenish what was spent on the Deep Flame that had previously been used.

(Considering Pelfiel’s character, it would be a shame to kill her. Her strict and honest personality would be an asset to Mercurio when he becomes the ruler of the Bestir Empire. She does appear to be quite loyal to Kabajid, but I’ll leave that to Theorem and Tilleyle to deal with.)

Rei appreciated Pelfiel’s outstanding character as he decided to capture her alive rather than kill her.

He knew that killing her would be the fastest way to turn the left wing in Mercurio’s favour.

However, he was also aware that Theorem had helped him out a fair bit up until this point and if he could steer relations between the Bestir Empire and the Mireana Kingdom in a positive manner, he also wouldn’t need to be worried about getting dragged into more wars.

「In that case, let’s begin.」

Muttering those words, Rei dashed forward with the Death Scythe in hand……and the next moment, he was in range to strike Pelfiel as the Death Scythe swept out horizontally.

「What-!?」

Pelfiel shouted out in shock at Rei’s instant movement to her position.

Even Pelfiel, whose skills vastly surpassed that of ordinary soldiers, could only catch a glimpse of Rei’s movement.

No, in fact, Pelfiel was probably only able to track Rei’s shadow as he moved.

The soldiers in her surroundings couldn’t see Rei’s movements at all.

Many of the Demon Soldiers were only able to track Rei’s shadow as well, and not to the level of Pelfiel.

As the shaft of the Death Scythe swung towards Pelfiel’s body……a high pitched metallic screech rang out, accompanied by a small scream.

「Wow, you blocked that? Both you and Noiz are really good at using your weapons as shields.」

Rei with a mix of surprise and admiration as he looked at Pelfiel, who was kneeling on the ground with her magic sword broken in half.

She had managed to block his attack, just like Noiz had, but the result wasn’t to the same level as Noiz.

Noiz had been hit by Set, who had hidden himself with Optical Camouflage and while boosting his strength using the Bracelet of Herculean Strength. Rei’s attack on the other hand was a lot more restrained, using the shaft of the Death Scythe rather than the blade.

「Guh, cough……no way, just one hit was that bad……」

Although she had used her magic sword as a shield, it was still impossible to neutralise the impact entirely. She coughed as she tried to stand up, but Rei’s attack had put too much strain on her legs and she couldn’t even prop herself up.

If Pelfiel had been in top condition, it wouldn’t have been so one sided……at the very least, she wouldn’t have been at the point where she couldn’t stand after a single blow.

However, she had already been fighting the Demon Soldiers for quite some time before Rei’s arrival.

As a result, she was already lacking a fair bit of stamina and couldn’t withstand Rei’s attack.

「Damn it, for me to……」

「Unfortunately, your fight ends here. You’ll be a prisoner from her on, so you’ll be forced to take it easy for a while.」

As she turned to face the intense heat, Pelfiel saw Rei move close as he raised the Death Scythe.

「Don’t think you can take me prisoner so easily!」

Pelfiel pulled out a dagger that she kept as a backup weapon as she tried to thrust it at Rei. Unfortunately for her, the Death Scythe struck first, sending her flying with a violent strike.

She had blocked Rei’s previous attack by using her sword as a shield, but with it broken, there was nothing left to block Rei’s attack. The dagger she held in her hands was less than useless as it was sent flying away as well. Even as she was sent flying, she could see that the Death Scythe’s attack had shattered the metal armour protecting her torso.

She flew for about 5m before coming to a stop as she scraped across the ground.

After her fight with Rei had began……no, it could be barely called a fight, he had been blown away without being able to make a single attack of her own. She had only managed to hold on due to her strong will.

The first blow had almost taken her out completely as she barely staggered to her feet, but……

「Go to sleep.」

The moment she heard those words, Pelfiel felt a shock to her torso, which had already lost the protection of armour from Rei’s previous attack……sinking her consciousness into darkness as she collapsed to the ground.

 

 

「……Well, I guess that’s that.」

Rei muttered as he watched Pelfiel fall to the ground.

He had known this would be the outcome since he used Fire Emperor’s Crimson Armour.

Still, considering how his fight with Noiz had gone, he still had his worries, so he gave a soft sigh as he realised his concerns were unwarranted.

「Take her to the main camp. She holds a high rank within the punitive force, so don’t try anything funny.」

「Yes sir!」

A Demon Soldier, the Lizardman Centaur one that had been fighting Pelfiel when Rei first showed up, nodded as they picked up Pelfiel before leaving.

The punitive force soldiers wanted to stop them, but with Rei standing there, there was nothing they could do. They could only watch on in silence as Pelfiel, the commander of the whole left wing, was taken away.

「Well……the battle is almost over. Time to send reinforcements over.」

Rei turned to look back at the center battle line as he muttered to himself.

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