It Seems the Demon King Has Returned to a World Where Gender Roles Are Reversed - Chapter 57

 Chapter 57 :

One fundamental rule for victory:

Fight under conditions that favor you.

But the world is not fair. It’s impossible to always fight under advantageous conditions. So, Ragna decided to change the conditions.

The inherently unfair condition was the requirement to use a golem.

Hazel had likely been wary of facing Ragna head-on.

And for good reason despite it being due to her carelessness, she had been effortlessly struck down in their first encounter.

Thus, Hazel chose a situation where she was absolutely confident: a duel using golems.

It was a卑劣 move, no question about it. But Ragna accepted her proposal without hesitation.

However, that didn’t mean he did so thoughtlessly.

He was well aware that he was at a disadvantage in this duel.

Even so, Ragna accepted the golem duel because he saw a path to victory.

In a golem-based fight, he could turn the conditions in his favor and secure a win.

As mentioned, the key to victory is always creating conditions that favor you.

And the one condition where Ragna could beat Hazel was in the total amount of magical energy.

Even then, his advantage was only slight. He couldn’t be certain of victory.

That’s why it had to be victory. To widen that slight gap, he provoked her, creating a tantalizing situation where it seemed she could attack him at any moment.

Generally, pursuing someone is more taxing than fleeing. Not knowing where the target will go consumes more energy. As a result, Hazel’s magical energy expenditure was inevitably greater than Ragna’s. Yet, she relentlessly squeezed out her magic to chase him. This turned their slight difference into a significant one, and then a substantial one.

There’s no need to mention that the trick he learned from Eric was instrumental.

“*Huff… huff…!*”

After about 40 minutes, Hazel felt her strength rapidly draining and finally collapsed to her knees. This was 10 minutes earlier than her usual maximum operating time of around 50 minutes.

“Ugh!”

Her grip lacked strength. Even trying to stand, it felt like she didn’t have the energy to press the pedals. Meanwhile, *clank, clank.*

The sound of metal echoed as Ragna approached. Seeing this, Hazel shouted.

“Why?!”

“…”

“Why?! This is absurd! Me… me, losing to a man in terms of magical energy?!”

Her voice was like a scream.

Ragna responded with a mocking laugh instead of words.

Foolish.

There was no need to explain.

She was a foolish girl who had fallen for his scheme. It would be more painful for her to collapse in ignorance.

Thinking this, Ragna slowly picked up his sword, which had fallen nearby in the arena. Then he approached Hazel, who was still down.

Hazel was struggling to get up.

But, lacking strength, she kept collapsing.

Ragna raised his sword and approached her. Typically, a golem duel ends when one side surrenders or when the trophy the decorative piece where the head would be is cut off. Right now, Hazel had no means to protect her trophy.

Ragna approached with a relaxed demeanor, aiming his raised sword at her.

And he swung down toward the trophy.

But at that moment—

“…!”

A flashing blade came down, but Hazel, risking being struck, used both hands to force her golem to cling to Ragna.

“Ugh!”

As a result, Ragna’s sword missed the trophy and only grazed her back. *Clang!* A sharp metallic sound rang out. Hazel, forcibly disrupting Ragna’s balance, caused him to fall.

“Damn it, futile resistance!”

“I won’t lose, I won’t lose, I can’t lose—!”

Screaming like a banshee, Hazel clung to him with both hands. Ragna swung his fist to push her off.

*Crack, crack!*

A sudden melee broke out. Ragna reached out to rip off Hazel’s trophy. But then, *Crunch!*

“…Ugh!”

Ragna let out a light groan as he saw his golem’s hand shattered by Hazel’s counterstrike. The fingers broke apart, debris scattering. Clicking his tongue, Ragna raised his leg.

*Thud!*

“Argh!”

A scream came through the amplifier. It seemed her chest area near the cockpit had been hit by his knee while she was crawling toward him.

Ragna’s eyes gleamed. He followed up with repeated knee strikes to her chest area. Unable to withstand it, Hazel rolled away to evade. Meanwhile, Ragna struggled to stand.

“…Damn it!”

But then, he heard a creaking sound from his golem’s knee.

He clicked his tongue lightly.

It seemed his golem’s knee had been damaged during the attack on Hazel’s abdomen.

The grinding sound of machinery echoed. He couldn’t stand like this.

“Arghhh!”

Hazel, having rolled to avoid the attack, let out a roar as she regained her senses and charged. Startled, Ragna blocked her attack with both hands.

*Boom!*

“Argh!”

A resounding crash echoed, followed by falling metal debris.

Screams erupted from the stands.

Ragna’s head buzzed as if struck by a hammer.

In his wavering vision, he struggled to focus.

At that moment, clatter, metal pieces fell.

The armor covering his abdomen was breaking off.

Frowning in the now-clear view, Ragna saw Hazel right in front of him.

“*Huff… huff…*”

She, too, had her abdominal armor torn off from the impact. Both were struggling to rise from their prone positions. Blood dripped from her head, likely from debris, and her bloodshot eyes and the blood streaming from her nose showed how much she was pushing herself.

“…”

Ragna gritted his teeth as he looked at her.

Fine. If she wanted to see it through to the end, he’d give her an end.

His eyes began to glow red.

A glint of madness flickered in them.

The destructive instincts he’d been suppressing writhed within him. Along with it, the dormant dark magic surged, rising like a faint haze around his body.

*Creak… creak…*

His golem began to move with a grinding sound. Seeing this, Hazel struggled to rise as well.

“Aaaah—!”

Her voice was closer to a scream than a battle cry, but her golem only twitched sporadically, unable to move properly.

“Argh! Argh! *Argh!*”

Hazel kept screaming. Meanwhile, Ragna had already risen. He clenched his fist. One strike one strike would end it. With all his magic poured into it, her body was now no stronger than an ordinary woman’s.

With her magical enhancements gone, this strike would be enough. A sadistic smile crossed his face as his eyes gleamed.

He raised his fist.

Everyone held their breath, watching. Some screamed, expecting the fist to crush Hazel into pieces. With a light breath, Ragna brought it down—

“That’s enough.”

*Thud.*

A blade pressed against his neck stopped him mid-swing.

Noel had approached unnoticed, standing right beside him.

“…”

Ragna glanced toward the hanger. Unlike her usual demeanor, Noel’s face was stern as she aimed her sword at him.

“…Tch.”

Clicking his tongue lightly, Ragna withdrew his fist using his remaining magic and stepped back from Hazel.

Hazel showed no reaction, likely unconscious.

“…”

Confirming this, Noel sheathed her sword. With light steps, she stood between them and declared,

“Both sides are incapacitated. Due to the destruction of chest armor, continuing the duel is deemed impossible!”

“…”

“Therefore, today’s duel is declared a draw!”

“…!”

At Noel’s announcement, the crowd began to murmur.

_____________

Ragna heard about Noel’s draw ruling as he climbed out of the golem.

He merely clicked his tongue without much reaction.

Instead, he turned to look at Hazel.

Her two usual attendants were frantically pulling her out of the golem, panicking.

They supported her and began carrying her somewhere.

“…”

Their eyes briefly met, and they glared at him with hostility.

But Ragna didn’t look away.

Gritting their teeth, they turned away. They likely thought tending to Hazel quickly was more important than wasting time on him.

And Ragna felt the same.

“Coward!”

“…”

“You call yourself a knight, pulling that stunt?! I’ll take you on!”

The crowd hurled insults at Ragna.

They were likely reacting to his attempt to strike the defenseless Hazel at the end.

Ragna snorted at the girls’ shouts and walked away.

_______

“…”

“…”

“…”

Seria and the other two watched Ragna’s retreating figure with worried expressions. Unable to hold back, Seria spoke up.

“…I’m going to check on him.”

“…”

Anita and Liliana didn’t respond. Seria didn’t wait for an answer either, running toward Ragna.

“…”

An awkward silence hung between the two. Then, Anita sighed as if recalling something and muttered.

“…Did you see that just now?”

“…Yeah.”

“…So, I saw it, and you saw it too… It can’t be that both of us misread it, right?”

“…Yeah, exactly.”

“…Then it’s certain. That was it”

“…”

Liliana didn’t respond. Her expression was sharp.

In the awkward silence, Anita’s sigh echoed.

Liliana remained silent, her face unyielding.