Did He Eat Mira?

The taste of Balrog the flame demon lingered in Hughes's mind once more, and he could hardly wait to savor it.

The black-robed man whose head Hughes was gripping had intended to bluff his way through. He gestured in the air for quite a while, but as Hughes's gaze grew colder, his legs began to tremble.

"I... I don't know how!"

At that moment, he deeply regretted not listening to his subordinates and running away.

"You don't? Well, that makes things difficult!"

Hughes tightened his grip slightly. Creaking sounds rang out as the black-robed leader's skull began to deform. Amid a piercing scream of pain, his head burst apart like a watermelon, spraying its contents everywhere.

The spray landed on the demonized Mira, Lisanna, and Elfman.

The two of them had already been saved by the out-of-control Mira. Her feelings for them had kept her from hurting Lisanna and Elfman in the slightest, even after she lost control.

Now, the flame-wreathed madman and the out-of-control demon faced each other across the air, faint sparks flickering between their gazes.

Lisanna pulled the mud off her mouth and looked anxiously from side to side, wanting to speak but holding back. As the tension grew, she became so anxious that tears slid from the corners of her eyes.

"Lisanna, get farther away. They've both lost control. This isn't something we can interfere in."

The slightly older Elfman pulled his sister away. He knew that protecting themselves was the most important thing right now.

"You again!"

The answer to Hughes's words was a blinding beam of light, fired from a crystal on Mira's demonized body. With tremendous penetrating and destructive power, it blasted his body apart.

In an instant, Hughes's body reformed before her eyes from a single scattered spark.

As Mira's eyes widened, Hughes's heavy fist slammed into her abdomen.

"Bang!"

The system had enhanced Hughes's physique twice. His punch carried tremendous force, shattering the crystal it struck and sending Mira flying.

"We've met twice now, and you don't even know how to say hello!" Hughes said with a sidelong glance, reaching up to sweep his loose hair back.

"Roar!"

A beastlike roar erupted from Mira's mouth. She struggled to her feet, and the countless crystals across her body began to glow.

The next instant, beams of light streaked across the sky like meteors, raining down on him.

His head lowered slightly and his hands in his pockets, Hughes advanced step by step into the rain of light.

The beams struck him with a sizzling sound. When the last of their light faded, only white marks remained on his body to show where they had hit.

This time, he had not used elementalization to avoid the damage. Instead, he had used Tekkai to withstand Mira's Demon Beam head-on.

His brazen behavior angered the out-of-control Mira. The crystals on her body flashed, and beams attacked indiscriminately from every direction once more.

Tch...

A moment later, Hughes stood before the demonized Mira and looked up at her, an inexplicable look of distaste on his face.

He raised his right leg high and kicked out fiercely.

With a howl of pain, the demonized Mira flew backward, knocking down countless trees before landing amid the flames of the still-burning forest.

Hughes pushed off the ground and chased after her, delivering several more kicks and punches.

Looking at the demon, who was utterly unable to fight back against him, Hughes straddled her and unleashed a storm of punches, showing no sign of stopping.

Utterly unable to fight back, not that she was incapable of fighting back...

As the punches pounded into her, the madness gradually faded from the demonized Mira's crystal-formed eyes...

The crystals on its body flickered, and its cold, evil aura gradually weakened.

"You're scared! You're actually scared!!"

Hughes, no longer enjoying himself, stopped his fist in front of its crystal eyes.

If it didn't fight back, where was the excitement in that?

He lowered his head and sank his flaming teeth into the demonized Mira's shoulder.

With a slurp, a warm current like heavenly nectar flowed from Mira into Hughes. His eyes widened at once. That was the taste, the fragrance unique to demons!!

[**Ding!** Devil Origin devoured. Flame-Flame Fruit Awakening +0.1%. Current Awakening: 5.1%]

The system's sudden notification made Hughes, who had entered an episode, even more excited. He clamped his mouth tightly onto Mira's right arm and drew from her frantically.

[**Ding!** Devil Origin devoured. Flame-Flame Fruit Awakening +0.1%]

[Ding! Devil Origin devoured. Flame-Flame Fruit Awakening +0.1%]

...

Having lost most of its Devil Origin, the demon fearfully retreated into Mira's body. Mira, still pinned beneath Hughes, returned to human form in a flash of light.

"Slurp..."

Hughes took another great mouthful, but what entered his mouth was no longer the sweet, warm current of Devil Origin. It was hot, metallic blood.

"Pah! Pah! Pah!"

The metallic taste of blood made Hughes gag. With his prize slipping through his fingers, the furious Hughes seized Mira as she came to, looking frantic as he tried to force the demon out of her body.

Mira gazed fearlessly at Hughes with clear eyes. This was only the second time she had seen him have an episode with her own eyes, yet for some reason, she believed he could recover.

**"Bang!"**

Hughes slammed a fist into his forehead, forcing himself back to his senses. Without a word, he released his grip on Mira's neck. Drops of blood fell from his forehead, splattering onto her pale, weary face.

"Even a clumsy bird has to learn to walk before it can fly. You're just a little girl who doesn't even understand the concept of magic. How did you dare use a demon's power?"

"I didn't have a choice..."

Before the girl could finish, she saw Hughes's eyes roll white and his body fall silently onto hers. The stone behind him slowly slid down as well.

In the distance, Lisanna and Elfman were running over, stones clutched in their hands.

...

By the time Hughes slowly woke, several days had passed, and Mira was still half-carrying him on her back.

The stabbing pain in his head had eased after several days of unconsciousness. Hughes felt his back. If he wasn't mistaken, someone had hit him with a stone again.

Was he angry?

How could he dare be? He had only been in this world for a few days, and he had already been hit so many times that he was used to it.

He patted Mira. The girl had been so focused on the road that she hadn't even noticed he was awake.

"Mira, put me down!" Hughes said.

He was so big that Mira could only half-carry him, and he bounced and swayed as she walked. It hadn't mattered while he was unconscious, but now that he was awake, it felt even more uncomfortable.

If it were Mira after she had grown up, he could force himself to put up with it...

"Lisanna, Elfman, stop for a moment. Let's take a break," Mira called to the two ahead as she put Hughes down.

...

Under the shade of a tree, Hughes rested with his back partly against the trunk. Elfman went to gather firewood, while Mira busied herself cooking.

Lisanna walked over apprehensively, twisting the hem of her clothes between her fingers. "Hughes, I didn't mean to."

While Hughes was unconscious, Mira had told them what had happened. Lisanna knew she had done something wrong again.

Hughes waved her off and told her to go help Mira. If Lisanna's apology did any good, he would eat shit while standing on his head.

If the same thing happened again, Hughes was one hundred percent certain that the chatterbox brat would do the same thing.

He had no time to play with her now. He was busy looking at his panel.

[Fruit ability: Flame-Flame Fruit (Awakening: 6%)] ```