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Her whole skin could feel the killing intent. Involuntarily, Seletina’s eyes narrowed, and the flow of blood slowed slightly. It wasn’t the kind of instinctual killing intent that Demons had toward humans. It was something distinct, a vicious intent that only an intelligent life form was capable of.

During her time as Orthus, Seletina had often been exposed to negative emotions due to her position. Jealousy, ridicule, skepticism, and killing intent. There had been many times when she’d almost been killed in various ways, but Orthus had always managed to shrug them off.

However, the killing intent she was feeling now was nothing like those times.

“No…” Seletina said, shaking her head to the side.

This was not the first time she’d felt this powerful and strange killing intent. She started rummaging through her thoughts, wondering where she’d last felt it, but she then suddenly stopped.

The smell of death filled her nose.

That smell was thickly coated around the masked man who was slowly walking up to Seletina while staring at her. The masked man made no difference between man and Demon as the blood of both was dripping from the black knives in his hands.

“……”

The masked man stopped.

He was dressed in tall black boots, black, thin garments with a grotesque vein-like pattern, and a ragged loincloth that fluttered softly in the wind. His hair was white and his skin, which peeked out only slightly, was an unpleasant purplish brown. A smile was tacked to his mask, further aggravating the man’s alien atmosphere.

“How many people have you killed with those hands of yours?” Seletina asked, looking at the number of dead bodies lying in the path the man had taken.

The masked man did not move. Nor did he show any sign of turmoil, or being moved. His unstoppable overflowing killing intent simply continued to fill the air.

It wasn’t as if Seletina was expecting a response. She didn’t even know if the man was capable of reason in the first place.

Dicentra’s smile as she’d talked about her favorite child flashed through Seletina’s mind, but she had no time to pay it any heed.

“What the?!” A black knife slid down just a breath’s distance away from Seletina’s face as she looked up. There was no point in Seletina thinking about it.

The masked man had not hesitated to deliver a fatal blow to Seletina. Yet, Seletina suddenly remembered the masked man had two knives. If the right one had come, then the left was sure to follow. The surprise attack had caught Seletina completely off guard, forcing her to lose her balance. In that state, Seletina tried to swing Elyutinias.

With how close they were to one another, the second knife didn’t take long to appear.
Luckily, Seletina was so quick to react that she made it seem as if she hadn’t been at a disadvantage in the first place and skillfully managed to parry the masked man’s blow. She could hardly rely on her vision because she was in a bad position, leaving her with her prediction, experience, and the instincts of a battle-hardened veteran.

The masked man, whose blade was largely deflected from its path, was conversely left unprotected, but his head came out next. A powerful head-butt pierced Seletina’s forehead as she flailed backward, the heavy sound of skulls colliding with each other echoing through the air.

“Urgh…” With tears in her eyes, Seletina kicked the man in the chest and jumped up with the momentum of her kick, flipping in midair to keep her distance.

(He’s strong…)

As she landed, Seletina licked the blood that dripped from her forehead and tried to catch her breath.

She could tell that the masked man was a strong foe from the sensation that had been transmitted through Elyutinias in her hand. She was fully aware that her head would be rolling on the ground if she let her guard down for even a moment.

“Whose side are you on? The humans? The Demons?”

The battle’s situation was still changing rapidly.

Although Seletina had separated a bit from the front, she knew that a ton of soldiers were dying as she was spending time here. Frankly, Seletina didn’t intend to waste much time with this mysterious man.

“……”

The masked man did not answer. The only thing that responded to Seletina was his intense killing intent.

“It’s not like I expected anything.” Wiping the blood from her forehead, Seletina once again held Elyutinias in front of her. She had expected that the masked man before her would not respond in any way.

(This man’s blades only give out fear, hesitation, and mostly desire to kill.)

No matter how sophisticated a master one was, it was difficult to swing a sword without thinking.

If the wielder was a human being, even if they had reached the ultimate realm of swordsmanship, there should still have been a small amount of the wielder’s character and heart that remained in the sword. However, the masked man did not have that.

Which meant that beneath the mask was neither a human, nor a Demon, but¹…

(Could he be brainwashed, or maybe modified in some way? Could he be a new toy that simply uses a dead person’s body? Does he still have a heart?)

As Seletina was lost in thought, Elyutinias’ guard screeched faintly.

This was no time to daydream. This was a battlefield, and the masked man Seletina was facing was an enemy who could kill not only her but slaughter all of Ulbdor’s soldiers.

As Seletina repeated those words in her mind, her deep blue gaze grew intense and she locked onto the masked man.

“I’m coming.”

The man in the mask most likely did not hear her words of determination, which were almost like muttering. The man didn’t even wait for Seletina to take a breath and launched himself forward.

1. Robinxen: But what?! Finish your thoughts! Well, the ‘clues’ are obvious anyway.