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“The battle is only just beginning.”

Sebastian’s words rang out as he unsheathed his sword, its volume seeming higher than what it usually was due to the size and silence of the hallway, that he, his underlings, and Reina were at.

The hallway that was to turn into a warzone.

“Hahahaha! You’re right! You’re right!” Reina’s own voice echoed even more than Sebastian’s,her words plastered and filled with delight and excitement.

Sebastian signalled two of his men, one who held a warhammer and one who held a simple arming sword.

““As you command.”” The two of them said, charging into Reina’s direction fearlessly despite the fearsome display of power that occurred just earlier, the one that was responsible for blowing away the heavy doors which separated the chambers of what was supposed to be a surgery and the hallway.

Seeing the two ... sacrifices run towards her direction, Reina clapped as if applauding the two people who were apparently brave enough to be her first meal.

‘Oho? Appetizers?’ Reina thought, giggling at the thought.

Though it would be nothing short of cute if that were the case, the reality of the situation was most likely ...

‘He’s probing me ... that’s no fun ...’ Reina thought, though not revealing the thoughts on her mind as she stepped forward as the one with the Warhammer swung down on her head, aiming to make it short and hopefully preserve his life, however ...

‘I might as well ...’ She sighed.

*splash!*

Reina swiped her arm at the man’s chest, making it explode like a water balloon as another show of strength, hoping that such a display would let her see the fear of the mere humans already in her sights.

‘Hm?’

Though strangely enough, the other man wielding a sword never slowed down, even after seeing his fellow sacrifice turned into what was basically tomato and gut paste.

‘This is ... strange ...’ Reina thought, thinking that she might as well do some probing of her own, raising her hand towards the man about to strike her.

The man holding his sword, with no dramatic actions such as shouting as he attacked, swung down his sword in a fashion very much similar to how his predecessor did, ignoring Reina's hand which quickly formed a fist, and struck towards his sword.

However, unlike his predecessor ...

*slashhhhh!* His strike hit his target.

The cold metal of his blade hit the spot of Reina’s hand between her middle finger and ring finger splitting it open as it cut through almost as if the Demon Lord’s skin and flesh were mere butter in the face of his hot knife.

Bone being cleanly cleaved as well, it's unnatural hardness out of a scope of what a human being should have, becoming easily cut though, the man’s sword driving further into Reina’s arm.

However ...

It was because of Reina pushing her fist forward, not because of the man driving it deeper himself.

*splash!* Reina’s hand reached his chin, and despite it being split into two, it did not serve to play any part in even at least slowing it down, making his head disappear just as fast as his predecessor’s torso did.

Blood splattered once more throughout Reina’s skin and body, and then slowly started melding into her own skin, the stains of blood being gone in mere seconds.

‘... nothing.’ Reina thought.

To be more specific, the man showed no expressions of any fear, nor anything of the sort.

Reina even slowed down her strike, as to let the man revel in what she thought would be his own eventual demise, his life flashing through his eyes as his head would eventually cease its form.

However, far from her own expectations, Reina even discerned a hint of content on his face, as if he had no regrets as he died horribly.

Reina’s arm regenerated flawlessly, the two halves speedily mending together even as the arming sword were still embedded in the spot past her elbow.

‘What the hell is happening ...?’ She grabbed the sword’s handle, pulling it out of her arm and threw it away to the side, not even being given a chance to contemplate as what looked to be about five more immediately were in front of her, wielding all sorts of weapons.

‘You people—’ Reina’s thoughts boiled up, as she disappeared in front of the five men and women’s eyes, just before their own visions failed them.

“—are really persistent!” Reina said, appearing just behind their bloody corpses as their heads exploded all in unison, grinning from ear to ear, literally as the corners of her mouth extended all the way, revealing the only chink in her almost perfect human-like appearance.

‘Nothing ...!’ She thought aloud in her own head, becoming elated at the thought of her opponents harbouring no disdain, no hate, nor any sort of negative emotion during their deaths.

“... fufufufufu.” Reina giggled silently at the thought, even more happiness filling her hungry husk of a vessel.

‘Those who were not sore losers …’

... they were one of Reina’s most favourite types of the difficult-to-understand race they called humans.

“Sebastian was it!? Stop wasting time ...”

“... and come at me already!” Reina’s voice, carrying enormous amounts of hunger and sheer excitement to it, immediately started running across the hall.

“All units, attack!” Sebastian directed what was left of his meat shields, and charged forward along with them in order to meet the unstoppable tide of impending death and doom that was the Demon Lord of Gluttony, Reina.

Some of the servants stopped midway, and went into battle formation, the ones with melee weapons at the front, and the ones with staves and bows staying behind, Sebastian himself on the front as well.

For a bunch of so-called servants who liked playing dress-up, it seemed they had quite a diverse roster.

Reina could care less however, as she simply dodged arrows and magic spells, effortlessly closing the distance with Sebastian with sheer speed and leg strength, the marble and stone floor beneath her cracking with every step she took forward.

Several of the melee servants unleashed magical sword techniques, aiming for a quick victory almost just like their previous two sacrifice predecessors, to which Reina replied …

“Too slow! Put some more elbow grease into it!” She said, blowing up the heads and bodies of several of them with flicks of her wrists and elbows, flaunting efficiency and simplicity in the face of her outnumbering enemy.

Once she had cleared a path she immediately rushed at Sebastian, very much eager to cross hands with him, her expression filled with expectations.

“Don’t you die on me now Sebastian!” She said swinging her arms in an overreaching and dramatic arc, a completely different style of hitting compared to what she had flaunted earlier.

It was almost like she was doing such unnecessarily large moves, all in order to just keep Sebastian alive for as long as possible in order to toy with someone who actually had feelings to play with.

Whatever the reason however, there had been enough time for one of the servants to get in her way, sacrificing himself so that Sebastian could get in a step back.

*splash!* Blood, gore, guts, and brain matter spread out in every direction, with Reina extending out her other arm for another hit as a follow-up.

‘Damn monster!’ Sebastian thought, being faced with such tremendous speed and power.

‘Indivine Halo!’ Sebastian saw this from a mile away however, and released his first magical technique, his sword being coated in a black aura, then swung in a circular motion, aiming for Reina’s neck.

Reina herself however, saw this coming and used her other arm in order to block it, confident in the durability of her own flesh, even pumping up Aether into her veins as she knew that her skin normally would be unable to bear it, however …

*riiiiip!*

Even after going through the trouble of enforcing it with Aether, Sebastian’s blade had easily sliced through her absurdly sturdy arm, splitting it cleanly with barely any signs of resistance to it.

‘Magnificent …’ Reina thought for a brief moment, not really dawdling to much on such a trivial thought as most of her focus was on feeling out the limits of her current form,

‘Don’t die yet!’ The thoughts of trying to preserve the current situation flowed throughout her mind, as the wounds she suffered immediately started mending.

Reina went for the counter as her hand immediately had regenerated, her own palm open as if she were expecting to cut Sebastian’s own head off, as if wanting to preserve whatever expression he would be holding at death, also despite originally planning to keep him alive for as long as possible.

‘It’s coming again!’ Sebastian barely noticed, and moved his sword in order to deflect it, believing a block to be next-to-impossible.

“Kuh!” Sebastian groaned as he unleashed all of the strength he could muster, veins popping up throughout his body as he barely diverted Reina’s blow to the ground.

*crash!* Reina’s hand slid off of Sebastian’s sword, her hand accidentally drifting off to behead another one of the servants who were coming to try and help him.

Reina didn’t mind it too much however, instead simply basking in entertainment as she delivered another blow, a hit that focused more on speed than strength, so fast that Sebastian barely caught up on it and used the handle of his sword to block the hit.

*crashhhhh!* Sebastian’s body was blown away across the hallway for a few metres, thereafter putting both his legs down to stabilise himself, his feet cracking up the floor as he was pushed through, trying to stop the sheer momentum brought on by Reina’s hit.

‘What power!’ Sebastian said, cold sweat all over his body as he finally got a mere grasp of what Reina’s strength really was.

Seeing it happen to his people was one thing, but feeling it just inches away, barely missing your life was something else entirely.

‘Should I run away …?’ Sebastian asking himself as he wiped the sweat off his brow, and looked at Reina, staring at her in all her glory and gore-y fashion.

Her light expression, as if making fun of Sebastian was fully imprinted into his mind, as she effortlessly and swiftly killed two of his colleagues as they retreated to him.

Everything about her, from the way she looked at Sebastian as if he were mere food, and how she found all of this to be mere entertainment.

‘This bitch …’ Sebastian thought as he slowly understood what was going on in Reina’s mind.

‘I see, I’m the main course aren’t I?’ At that moment, Sebastian immediately understood his situation, and knew his way forward in such a dire and hopeless situation, firmly deciding against running away.

‘I can do this.’ He thought to himself, clearing his mind of any impurities that might say otherwise.

‘That’s right …’

Nothing was perfect, everyone anything had a weakness, may it be temporary or permanent.

Reina, who was the Demon Lord of Gluttony, was no different.

As she was right now, she couldn’t even hold a candle to what she was like at her peak, holding a power much akin to the Gods in mortal form.

Of course, that obviously didn’t mean anything as of the current situation based on just how purely outclassed Sebastian and his lackeys were in power and skill alone.

‘However, there is another …’

Another weakness, something to take advantage of …

“Hahaha! This is so fun! So fun!” Reina said, picking up a head of one of Sebastian’s lackeys that she had decapitated earlier by accident, thereafter opening her mouth, the corners of her mouth extending all the way to her ears as she bit into the head’s cranium, it’s skull seeming to crack like a walnut as she feasted upon its brain.

‘Her lack of seriousness.’

It was a thing, the only thing he could ever exploit.

‘As long as I can make her maintain that mood, I can use these puppets as stepping stones to eventually slay her!’ Sebastian thought, gripping his sword as tight as he could.

A tiny, and almost inconceivable path to victory had appeared, and though it may be small, it existed.

Or, at least until it didn’t.

*sniff sniff* Reina’s happy-go-lucky expression had completely disappeared, as she looked to be sniffing upon the open hole in the decapitated head of the man she was sniffing on.

*slosh slosh* And without a word, she inserted her hand inside of what was left of the brain, and thereafter pulling out a purple worm.

Or to be more specific, it was a little something that those with connections to demonic forces normally had with them …

A demonoid worm.

“What is this ... abomination ...?” Reina had her eyes wide open, looking at Sebastian and what remained of his forces, and then back onto her hand.

The sweetness in her face, slowly turned sour as she inspected the worm, as it wiggled whilst it was being held by Reina.

Sebastian couldn’t get any words out, nor any thoughts racing through his head.

“Sir Beckett, should we attack once more?” Sebastian couldn’t even reply to the question, as any thoughts of an answer were quashed out by another sound.

*slosh* Reina crushed the worm in her hand, its organs and blood spilling all over, the stains which were on her clothes non-fading into her skin, unlike the human blood she earlier was dressed with.

­­“Know your place, trash.” A mighty voice rang out, reverberating through the ruined halls, pulling all of Sebastian’s attention to the blood moving, centering towards Reina’s palm which slowly formed into a long and narrow rod, it’s sides, and top forming clear, and sharp edges, visible through how it warped the moonlight that was reflecting her bloody figure …

‘!?’ All of the hairs on Sebastian’s body rose up, the clearest warning sign he had ever received in his life, that this was a reaction that nobody could have ever hoped to get out of him.

Reina rose her arm high, her sword ... or an imitation of one for everyone to see.

‘This is—!’ Sebastian immediately succumbed to his own instincts, as overwhelming as they were even in the face of his machine-like stoicism.

Inescapable Death.

“Retreat! Everybody take c—“ Sebastian finally broke out of what seemed to be a trance that slowed down time, to give out orders to flee …

However it was too late.

For she, the Demon Lord of Gluttony, brought her hand, carrying her sword

downwards, making everything fade to darkness.

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Light suddenly returned, revealing a torn off roof that had ripped away not just the ceiling, but all the levels above it, the rising sun making his eyes squint in annoyance, as well as raise his left arm shielding his eyes from it.

‘Everything … hurts …’

There lay Sebastian, on a heap of rubble, his sword broken and covered in wounds.

‘I … can’t feel my right arm …’ He thought, as he looked over to check on his right arm …

… which was gone, a bleeding mess in place of where it should have been.

‘I’m … gonna die soon it seems …’ Sebastian thought, not really paying any mind to it, as he thought of other things he thought more important.

To the Demon Lord, that had thoroughly overpowered him, and showed him nothing short of a magnificent technique as he neared his end.

‘Was it even a technique …?’ Sebastian asked himself, then dismissing the thought as he looked more into it.

‘It was nothing but her angrily slamming her arm down …’ Sebastian laughed fully, ignoring the pain that came whenever he even slightly opened his mouth.

‘I never stood a chance …’ He thought as he kept laughing.

‘That Demon Lord … I didn’t even catch her name …’ Sebastian said as he laughed for a bit, his enjoyment mixed with groans of pain.

And soon after, surprise as well …

That same Demon Lord in front of him, now bleeding through her eyes and nose, her hands on her neck, as if trying to tear away something that constricted it.

Her condition full of weakness, full of openings, and frankly, just full of shit.

‘What …?’

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