The peak of North Grave Mountain hanging beneath the brilliantly rising morning sunlight...
"Grrruuugh..."
"Aaaah!"
"K-kill me. No, please spare me..."
"Please, stop now..."
The Light Wind Palace swordsmen hung limply like wrung-out rags, replacing pleas for mercy with groans and screams.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Burren lay sprawled out in a spread-eagle position, gasping for breath as if he had no strength left to speak.
"That, that damn bastard..."
Martha was also too exhausted to move, barely managing to move only her lips.
"Grrrr..."
Runaan was forcing herself to sleep to recover her lost stamina and aura, and since it had been so difficult, she was even snoring unlike usual. With a sharp sound, Raon brushed off the blood and dust on Heavenly Drive. With a face as fresh as if he had just gotten out of a bath, he examined the completely drained Light Wind Palace swordsmen.
"Hiiieek!"
"Grrruuu..."
"Really, please stop!"
The Light Wind Palace swordsmen who had suffered all night screamed in terror just at seeing Raon tap his scabbard and fled backward.
"Are you really planning to kill us all..."
Gambling Monster furrowed his brow in disgust. He shook his head, thinking of how he'd joined the training midway and nearly died from exhaustion.
"Of course not."
Raon smiled faintly as he fastened Heavenly Drive's scabbard to his waist.
"I was just playing around a little."
He waved his finger, saying it wasn't training but just a light game of tag.
"T-tag? If that's play, children would all die before they could grow up!"
Gambling Monster gritted his teeth, asking how such training could be considered play.
"If we had properly conducted focus enhancement training, it would have taken 3 nights and 4 days."
Raon waved his hand, saying the period was too short.
"Of course, since we compressed the training, it must have been quite difficult in terms of intensity. But..."
He gazed at the eastern mountains, where golden sunlight shimmered, his lips twitching slightly.
"You'll need to endure at least this much to get through the battles ahead."
Raon nodded while putting strength in his voice so that not only Gambling Monster but all the Light Wind Palace swordsmen could hear.
"I agree with that, but there's still time left until the war. Moving too hastily might actually cause problems."
Gambling Monster slightly narrowed his brow, saying that while growth was good, it would be better to have some leisure now.
"Gambling Monster is right!"
Krein wiped away the blood and sweat flowing from his head as he raised his head.
"We need rest too!"
He pouted, saying that receiving such excessive training might ruin their bodies.
"Right?"
Krein sought agreement as he nudged Dorian beside him with his elbow.
"M-me?"
Dorian's jaw trembled as if surprised by the sudden attention.
"I-I'm fine! I like it now!"
He vigorously shook his head, terrified by Raon's cold gaze.
"I-I thought it wasn't bad either?"
"R-right. Sometimes this kind of training is necessary!"
"Yeah. We're not actually dying!"
The Light Wind Palace swordsmen also seemed to think their lives would be in danger if they agreed with Krein's words, so they averted their gazes and didn't support his statement.
"So it seems only Krein has complaints?"
Raon drew a sinister smile as he stood in front of Krein.
"Ahh..."
Krein saw Raon's shadow again, which had made him feel terror all night, and his lips turned pale blue.
"S-sorry... Huh?"
He was about to rub his hands together like a fly to apologize to Raon when he blinked his eyes.
"Honestly, it must have been hard. We completed all the training that should have taken 3 nights and 4 days in just one night."
Instead of smashing Krein's head with his scabbard, Raon patted his shoulder with his hand.
"But I hope you can endure it."
He let out a short sigh, saying he was sorry but the future training would be even harder.
"What? What do you mean..."
Krein's eyes widened as if surprised by Raon's sudden change.
"It seems the war will happen sooner than expected."
Raon bit his lips thinly as he recalled Derus Robert's detestable face.
"Something must be happening."
Burren nodded, saying he now understood the reason for the intense training.
"If there's such a reason, then training like today is right."
Martha also clenched her fists, saying it was right to do hard training if the situation had changed.
"I... can endure..."
Runaan blinked her eyes sleepily but murmured that she could do it. As if expressing her will, white frost flowers bloomed from the ground.
"I-it can't be helped! I'll work hard too!"
Even Dorian bit his lips, saying he would do his best in training.
"You should have said so earlier!"
Krein raised his hand as if to say not to worry.
"Just trust this Krein... Huh?"
He was laughing while telling them to trust him when his jaw started trembling.
"Um..."
Krein pointed to his shoulder that Raon was gripping and trembled his voice.
"I-it hurts?"
He blinked his eyes, saying the shoulder that Raon was gripping with his hand hurt.
"In such a very important situation, our Krein had many complaints."
Raon drew a chilling smile as he dug up what Krein had argued about alone earlier.
"N-no. Isn't that over with?"
Krein let out an exasperated breath as if he couldn't believe it.
"Over? I just buried it for a moment."
Raon tightened his grip on Krein's shoulder, wearing a chilling smile.
"There's only one way to resolve complaints. Greater violence."
He suggested they do personal training together as he drew Heavenly Drive's scabbard again.
"Aaaaaaahhh! Gack!"
Krein screamed and ran away, but Heavenly Drive's scabbard stretched out as if alive and struck the back of his head.
"Uuuugh..."
"Gasp!"
"Crazy..."
Watching Krein faint and collapse while drooling, all the Light Wind Palace swordsmen held their breath. They squeezed their eyes shut as if vowing never to rebel against Raon.
-What kind of human is this...
Wrath let out an exasperated breath as if he couldn't believe it.
-Even in Devildom, there's no one whose mind is this twisted! Someone please take this monster away!
***
After finishing training with the Light Wind Palace swordsmen, Raon returned to the annex building. Glenn was standing in front of the lake at the annex building with his hands behind his back, as if he had been waiting for him after finishing breakfast.
"You're here now."
He welcomed him warmly with a faint smile, as if he really lived in the annex building.
"The growth of the Light Wind Palace children doesn't seem bad."
Glenn nodded calmly as if he knew where Raon had been and what he had done.
"Yes. However, they're still a bit lacking."
Raon rolled his wrist, saying the Light Wind Palace swordsmen needed to grow a bit more.
"Hmm, can you do it right away?"
Glenn tilted his chin sideways as if to say it was fine to rest a bit before sparring.
"It's fine. It wasn't even a warm-up."
Raon said he could start right away as he drew Heavenly Drive. Though he had stayed up all night training the Light Wind Palace swordsmen, his stamina was not inferior even to a demon king, so he didn't feel tired at all.
"Good."
Glenn smiled as if he liked Raon's confidence and raised his tree branch.
"Whoo..."
Raon exhaled calmly while watching Glenn's tree branch slowly rise.
'I really want to break it.'
Since he had never even scratched that tree branch since they started sparring, the desire to completely destroy it rose up to his throat. Even if he poured out all his strength and couldn't move for a while, he wanted to break that tree branch.
"Let's begin."
Glenn nodded his chin as if telling him to try blocking it and slowly thrust his tree branch. With a deep rumbling sound, Raon resonated his Ring of Fire the moment Glenn moved his wrist, rotating nine rings while beginning the formation of a new ring.
'What?'
The movement of the flames summoned to create the tenth ring was faster and more flexible than usual. The new ring was half completed in much faster time than expected.
'This feels good?'
While connecting the rings, Raon read the mysteries of swordsmanship dwelling in Glenn's tree branch.
'Blunt sword, subtle sword, cutting sword, slashing sword, heavy sword.'
Perhaps because the ring's movement was lively, the flow of the profound swordsmanship Glenn displayed was read much faster and more accurately than usual.
'But it's still not enough...'
Knowing there was always a hidden martial arts mystery in the swordsmanship Glenn displayed, he didn't let his guard down and heightened his concentration even more. With a deep resonance, through the concentration further enhanced by the
'If I examine it just a little more... Damn!'
But there still wasn't enough time. Though the tenth Ring of Fire had grown half a span more than usual, it wasn't enough to completely grasp Glenn's swordsmanship. His tree branch had already reached his throat.
'I don't know, but I'll still block it!'
Raon newly created a technique to counter Glenn's swordsmanship and added the mystery of Precision Sword to it. With a sharp crack, but the swordsmanship mystery Glenn had hidden wasn't erased by Precision Sword. It pushed back instead, striking away Heavenly Drive and stabbing his throat.
"Guh!"
Raon clutched his throat where the tree branch had struck and collapsed, breathing heavily.
-Hmph! You tormented the kids all night and now look at you!
Wrath snorted, saying he finally felt refreshed.
-But it seems a bit too much...
The fellow glanced sideways at Glenn who had mercilessly stabbed his grandson. He kept thinking that he had too soft a heart to be a demon king.
"Hmm."
Glenn lowered his slightly trembling tree branch and approached Raon.
"Did you have some kind of realization?"
He narrowed his eyes, saying it seemed like he had grown again in just one night.
"There was no realization. What changed was..."
Raon stood up and tapped his chest with the fist holding his sword.
"My heart and will."
He nodded, saying his heart seemed to have hardened with the anticipation of being able to stab Derus before the war.
"So it's because of that matter."
Glenn also nodded quietly as if he had heard the story from Shadow Agents' Leader Chad.
"It's good to strengthen your fighting spirit, but don't be hasty. If you make a mistake, you might step into your own trap."
He told him to be careful while lightly shaking his tree branch.
"Of course. That's why I'm tapping even stone bridges more than ten times before crossing."
Raon smiled faintly, saying he had also asked Evelyn about that point.
"Right. If you say so, then it must be so."
Glenn seemed to completely trust Raon and didn't say anything more, putting his hands behind his back.
"Sylvia left food for you separately. Go eat and rest."
He left those words and walked toward the main building, not the annex building.
"Are you going to the main building?"
Raon blinked as he watched Glenn's back.
"I should go home sometimes too."
Glenn said dust would accumulate if he didn't visit too often and waved his hand behind him.
-That old man is finally doing work.
Wrath frowned, saying Glenn had been too idle, unbefitting of a head of house.
'No, grandfather worked every day.'
Raon slowly shook his head.
'Because Sheryl, Roenn, and the Shadow Agents' Leader came every night.'
He wiggled his finger, saying the reason those three people came was because of the head of house's duties. (E/N: I call BS. Glenn's duties are sitting on his ass while waiting for his grandson to come home. Nothing more, nothing less)
-Hm? Then why is that old man going to the main building?
Wrath shook his head as if he didn't understand.
'It seems to be for me.'
Raon slowly closed and opened his eyes while watching Glenn's back.
-For you?
'He's probably going to compile the information obtained through Evelyn, the Shadow Agents, and the Black Market to formulate Zieghart's plan.'
Glenn had surely heard the Shadow Agents' Leader's story and was trying to establish a family-level plan to support him.
"Grandfather! Take care!"
Feeling Glenn's affection for him, Raon shouted words of farewell in a comfortable voice instead of a formal greeting.
"Ah..."
Glenn stopped his steps toward the main building and turned back blankly. He seemed surprised by the farewell words and just stared at Raon for a long time.
"Right. I'll be back!"
Glenn walked toward the main building again with the warmest smile he had ever shown.
-Why is that old man acting like that again?
Wrath frowned, saying Glenn seemed strange.
'Saying "take care" is usually something you say at home.'
Raon raised his finger and pointed to the annex building where flowers of laughter were blooming.
'It's words acknowledging him as family of the annex building. He seems happy.'
He smiled faintly, recalling how Glenn's red eyes had widened.
'You're being oblivious today, aren't you?'
Raon shrugged, saying he seemed to have become more human-like now.
-Heheng! Don't talk nonsense!
Wrath shook his head vigorously.
-This king simply didn't pay attention to trivial matters!
The fellow wrinkled his brow as if offended by the comment about being less human than him. He couldn't understand why a demon king would want to be human-like.
'I should visit the Fifth Training Ground sometimes too.'
Raon smacked his lips as he sheathed Heavenly Drive.
'Adding variation to training isn't bad either.'
He was thinking thoughts that would horrify the Light Wind Palace swordsmen if they heard them as he was about to walk toward the annex building. Suddenly, a tremendous aura burst forth from the peak of North Grave Mountain that rose behind the annex building. With a deep resonance, Raon's eyes widened as he saw a sword stretching up from the peak, piercing the sky.
"That's..."