"Super Punch!" Dash shouted, hurling a straight-line blast of golden light that annihilated everything in its path. Dozens of demons were thrown backward like ragdolls, some launched so far they vanished into the distant haze. Dash landed with a grin stretching ear to ear, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Wow! Why don't you guys invade more? You're so fun to fight! It's just like last time!" he laughed, pivoting on his heel.
"Super Kick!"
His foot slammed into a horned drakorath with such catastrophic force that the demon exploded into a cloud of red mist—one that instantly evaporated from the sheer heat of Dash's energy. The demons around him froze, terror crawling up their spines. Those who weren't already petrified now wished they had been.
Far behind the battle, near the unstable shimmering gateway that served as their invasion port, a demon knight clad head-to-toe in bright pink plate armor stood trembling. A swirl of emotions churned inside him—panic, frustration, disbelief—but above all, a very sharp, very persistent confusion.
*How did everything go so wrong?*
The plan had been simple. They would siege Treasurehold. They would overwhelm its defenders. And they would have the leadership of Demon Lord Lazgor, whose power, even if dulled by sloth, was still not something mortals could contend with.
Except Lazgor… didn't show up.
He just—didn't. At all. The demon knight had expected laziness, not outright absence.
And while they tried to salvage the siege regardless, this happened.
Dash Ardent had simply wandered over to the portal—alone—and since then, the demons had accomplished nothing except dying. Over and over. And over.
"Sir knight!" a voice barked.
The pink-armored knight turned to see Valrog—one of the named, one of the horned—built like a monstrous bipedal black bull, red eyes blazing, curved horns trembling with panic.
"What are we to do!? Six of us with names and horns are already dead!" Valrog demanded, clearly desperate for someone, anyone, to give him hope.
"Super Clap!"
Both demons stiffened as Dash slammed his palms together. A golden shockwave rippled outward, and every demon caught in the arc dropped instantly—their insides liquefied before their bodies even hit the ground.
The knight inhaled slowly, steadied his shaking gauntlets, and pulled a wicked demonic dagger from his belt.
"I-I guess I'll try to handle him until Lord Lazgor finally gets here…" he muttered, though every word sounded like a prayer to any deity willing to intervene.
Then, with a final exhale and the resigned courage of someone who had accepted his fate, he charged straight at Dash.
The Wandering Calamity had Super Kicked another demon into evaporating mist before a flash of pink cut across the edge of his vision. He pivoted just in time to find a dagger already inches from his left eye. "Wow!" he barked, hand snapping out to catch the demon knight's wrist—only to grasp empty air. The knight was already behind him, dagger arcing toward Dash's neck.
"You're fast!" Dash laughed, twisting into a tight spinning kick aimed at the demon knight's head. It ripped through nothing but wind. The knight, unexpectedly light on his feet, had planted a single hand on Dash's shoulder, using the momentum of Dash's own turn to vault upward. In the same motion he drove his knee hard into Dash's liver. The hit actually made Dash flinch, the impact biting deep even through the Wandering Calamity's unnatural endurance.
The knight pushed off and landed cleanly. Dash turned back toward him with a broad grin—though there was a flicker of pain in his eyes now, a spark that said the fight had finally become fun for him. "You're strong as well! Why weren't you fighting me before!?" he demanded, half-thrilled, half-puzzled.
The demon knight let out a tired, frustrated sigh, his thoughts scraping together in a frantic whirl. *That barely even hurt him… can Lord Lazgor even do anything?* He shoved the thought away; he didn't have the luxury to worry about anyone else. Not against this man. *If I don't give him my full focus, I won't dodge a single attack… why did I have to be the one stuck with this monster?*
His gaze flicked around the forest—and a cold shiver crawled up his spine. For all of Dash's speed, the deafening impacts, the violent exchanges… nothing around them bore a single mark. Not a tree, not a branch, not even a blade of grass had been disturbed. It wasn't just impossible—it was intentional. It felt as though Dash could choose what suffered and what didn't, not only from his own blows, but from everyone else's as well, as if the entire battlefield obeyed the boundaries he allowed. The realization curdled in the knight's stomach, a cold, unnatural dread settling deep.
He braced himself to charge again, forcing his nerves flat—only to freeze as a weight rolled through the air from the portal behind them. Everyone felt it.
"Sorry, sorry, I arrived late, but I hope you've all been doing well?" a deep voice called out, punctuated by a lazy yawn.
Every head turned as the Demon Lord finally arrived.