The So-Called Impetus

Galan felt the entire world was a giant pendulum.

After crashing into the ruins, blood burst from his shoulders, and his internal organs felt like they had all shifted out of place.

The lower abdomen that took the kick felt a tearing pain.

Had his physical constitution not been tough enough, by now he would have already been disemboweled, with his guts spilling out all over the ground.

Yet even so, when he struggled to crawl out of the pile of wood, he still almost passed out on the spot.

A rich taste of rust traveled into his mouth, and the abnormal stickiness in his throat made even breathing very difficult.

His brain was buzzing fiercely after the violent impact.

"Galan! Are... are you okay!"

Reno, who had originally hidden in the collapsed wooden house, saw Galan get knocked straight into the ruins and rushed over with hurried footsteps.

"I... my magic power right now... is still not enough to help heal you..."

"I'm really sorry... it's all my fault..."

Even though Reno desperately clenched the Holy Scripture in his hand, the radiance symbolizing the power of healing still rapidly extinguished.

Seeing Reno, who felt deeply self-reproachful, Galan forced his eyelids open and failed to speak for a moment.

--It hurt to the point that the moment he opened his mouth, he felt like his lower abdomen was about to explode.

He let down his guard.

In the end, he still failed to break out of the mindset of fighting against humans.

He instinctively felt that the moment he inserted the short sword into the opponent's heart, he had won.

To end up beaten into this state in the end, what a farce he put on.

"...Over there... in the bag I brought..."

"There is a bottle of well-packed potion... Quickly... quickly help me get it..."

Glenn collapsed wretchedly on the ground, his chest and abdomen drenched in fresh blood.

His condition was even worse than Galan's.

Aside from internal injuries, fresh blood was gushing out from the hole opened in his right hand.

Then there was that left leg that had been kicked straight and snapped; needless to say, it was definitely broken.

Because when he struggled to crawl up from the ground, his left foot hung limply on the ground in a twisted posture, entirely unresponsive.

Though he still could not feel the pain brought by the broken leg yet.

Yet after a while, once the excitement brought by the combat faded, he did not know if he could withstand that bone-piercing pain.

"One after another, you all have it out for my right hand, is that it... Now it seems another left leg has been added to your list."

Even so, Glenn still drove the Black Sword into the soil, relying on the sword and his right leg to stubbornly stand back up.

He was not dead yet.

He could still breathe, and he still had a sword in his hand.

--Then he could still continue fighting.

"You have already lost."

Flag pulled the short sword that had pierced his heart out from his back.

Glenn saw that black blood was also trickling from the corners of Flag's mouth and the center of his chest.

It looked like even though he failed to kill him, destroying an important organ like the heart still caused him great damage.

"You are no fool; you should be very clear that you are simply no match for me right now."

The gaze he directed at Glenn was extremely cold, yet it also seemed to carry a trace of indescribable admiration.

For the demons, who possessed almost no emotions, being able to give such feedback could be said to be the highest courtesy.

"Your coordination truly made me feel a trace of crisis; I have to admit that even among the demons, you can be called quite outstanding warriors."

"But that is all."

He carried his treasured sword and walked slowly toward Glenn.

The blade scraped all the way across the ground, cutting out a deep mark and emitting a scratch-scratch sound.

In a trance, Glenn felt as though he had returned once more to that day in his childhood when his village was massacred by the demons.

In his memories, right behind him just like now, flames soared into the sky above the ruins of houses, and ferocious tongues of fire illuminated the greater part of the sky.

His older brother, as an adventurer, worked together with the knighthood stationed in the village to fend off the remnants of the Demon King's Army that came to invade.

"Glenn, run straight along this direction and don't look back until you see the city walls."

"What about big brother?"

"Once you reach the Fortress City, I will follow Uncle Dink and the others to hold off the demons for a bit and then come after you."

"Then what if I can't find you when the time comes?"

In his youth, he did not know at all that this parting was an eternal one.

In his heart, his older brother was always so formidable.

For all these years, he had never been injured in monster subjugation requests.

He must be the third strongest man in this world, aside from the hero Himmel and the Hero of the South.

Thus, he was inspired to become the fourth strongest.

"As long as you have enough impetus and stand on the city wall to shout my name, I will definitely see you."

"Really?"

"Would I still lie to you, you brat? Remember, no matter where you go, muster up your impetus for me; don't disgrace your big brother!"

Watching Glenn rush into the forest and run wildly all the way, in the end he still smiled with relief—smiling so happily.

Following that, he plunged into the sea of fire without a backward glance alongside the others.

In the end, Glenn still did not wait for his brother.

Even though he exerted all his might to shout on the city walls for three days, with an impetus so great it startled the guards over.

His brother still failed to find him.

"Good grief... how could I think of this at a time like this..."

He chuckled a couple of times, some lost dejection appearing on his face, but then it immediately turned exceptionally firm.

"I haven't disgraced you."

Seeing Glenn, whose fighting spirit suddenly surged, Flag was also taken aback.

He did not understand why the man before his eyes still refused to give up.

Clearly having no combat capability left, he still put on a look as though he would kill gods if gods blocked him and buddhas if buddhas blocked him.

Clearly having been beaten into this state by him, he still disregarded his injuries to stubbornly stand back up, like a cockroach with tenacious vitality.

Was it for face?

Humans seemed to care about this in particular.

Yet it did not quite seem like that...

"...Hey!"

"Hm?"

"You are truly very magnanimous... giving me this much breathing time once again... I have never seen a demon as generous as you."

"It doesn't matter anymore, anyway you are all going to die."

Flag did not understand what he wanted to express.

Just like over the years, when he relied on Memory-Devouring Magic and Magic to Disguise Oneself as a Human to interact with many humans, yet in the end, without exception, his identity was seen through.

Clearly he had been imitating.

Clearly he had already been trying to understand.

Humans truly were hard-to-comprehend creatures.

"...That is hard to say."

"...You really are... underestimating humans too much."

As he spoke, he limped his way toward Flag.

"Are you truly insane?"

Flag shook his head.

So be it; since he could not figure it out, he would just kill him.

He casually slashed toward Glenn, and the blow was barely blocked by the other party with the Black Sword, but right after, Glenn fell heavily to the ground due to losing his balance.

With this fall, the already broken left leg suffered even more severe injuries.

The oozing blood slowly flowed out from his pants.

"At the final moment, stop being so wretched; I will give you a quick and painless end."

Flag raised his treasured sword, preparing to deal Glenn the final blow like a solemn and dignified executioner.