The Heavenly Demon Can’t Live A Normal Life [EN]: Chapter 435

Kevin looked different from what people said. I thought he would look like a scary monster, but he was just a normal young man, like someone you’d see anywhere. He looked very young, almost still a boy.

He didn’t seem scary at all. But as Mendes looked at Kevin, his mouth went dry.

“I’m fighting Dimitri’s Demon in the first round…” Mendes thought. Everyone in this tournament probably felt the same way.

They all wanted to avoid fighting Chris and Kevin early on, before they could win anything important. But they knew they might have to fight them.

Everyone was careful around Kevin and Chris. Beating Dimitri’s Flash and Demon would be a great honor, so even though they hoped for an easy path, they were ready for the worst possible fight.

“Luckily, it wasn’t hard to find out about Dimitri’s Demon,” Mendes thought. He had watched all his fights, from the battle against Barco’s Great Warrior to the recent Continental War. He had looked at every detail.

“Kevin fights very aggressively,” Mendes thought. “He’s fast and strong. He traps his enemies quickly and attacks in a way that takes big risks. Also, in this fight, we use real swords. Someone could really die. This makes Kevin even more dangerous. I have to be completely determined to face him.”

Mendes held his sword tightly. He felt the pride of the Chronos Empire on his shoulders. Losing in the first round, no matter who he fought, would make people say Chronos was failing.

“I need to stay calm,” Mendes told himself. “Even if he attacks like a storm, I must stick to my plan about distance. I’ll attack like lightning when he gets too close. But if I’m foolish and chase after him when he’s just out of reach, I’ll lose control, and it will become a messy fight that I might lose. I will show them all. I will show them who Mendes really is, the fighter from Chronos.”

Mendes gritted his teeth. He could feel everyone in the crowd watching him. He knew some people felt sorry for him. He wanted to make them remember the name Mendes.

Then, it began. *Whistle!* The referee blew the whistle to start. At the same time, Mendes focused his energy, ready for Kevin’s attack to come right away.

“Kevin always starts the same way,” Mendes thought. “He never gives you a break from the beginning, attacking all the time. First, I’ll block his first, strong attack. Then I’ll watch what he does next and decide what to do.”

*Whoosh!* His energy burst out. Adrenaline rushed through him. He was ready to fight, but what happened next was completely unexpected.

The crowd started to whisper. “What’s happening?” “Why isn’t he attacking?” They were all confused. And they had good reason to be. Kevin wasn’t doing what anyone expected. He hadn’t moved at all from where he started.

This was strange. It didn’t make sense. Kevin’s usual fighting style… it wasn’t in any of the reports. Kevin always attacked first. Mendes was confused by Kevin’s stillness.

“What’s he planning?” Mendes wondered. He couldn’t understand why Kevin was standing still. It was clear Kevin was doing something different than usual. Mendes knew he had to change his plan too.

Mendes swallowed, feeling nervous but also a bit hopeful. If Kevin was going to wait and defend, for whatever reason, Mendes could attack first and finish the fight fast. He decided to do it.

Mendes was warmed up and ready. He slowly moved closer to Kevin, then suddenly ran forward, pushing off the ground quickly.

*Thump. Whoosh.* He was very fast. His powerful energy helped him close the distance quickly. Mendes kept watching Kevin closely.

He was ready to block whatever Kevin did and completely stop him.

Ten steps. Nine steps. Eight steps. He was getting closer. But just as he thought he was still too far away, Mendes’s eyes went wide. *Flash! Bang! Crash!* He defended without even thinking. Kevin’s attack was so fast, it seemed to cut through the air. Mendes raised his sword to block it without even realizing it. His arms were pushed back hard, and his stomach felt sick.

He hadn’t even seen Kevin move. Just as he felt something strange in the air, Kevin’s attack hit him.

That was just the start. Kevin jumped back away from Mendes and then attacked again and again, like shooting arrows. *Clang! Clang, clang, clang, clang!* “This is crazy!” Mendes thought. Hits came from everywhere. He could barely block them. Mendes was confused by this new fighting style. It was nothing like he expected.

It didn’t make sense. Kevin and Mendes. Mendes was stronger and faster. So, Mendes should have been the one controlling the fight from the best distance. But Kevin was attacking from far away, even further than Mendes could reach.

There was only one way to explain it. Kevin knew exactly how far Mendes could reach. Kevin was attacking just before Mendes could get into his own attack range. This made Mendes’s idea about distance fighting useless. It only worked if you could calculate distances perfectly.

“Get closer!” Mendes thought, shocked. He couldn’t believe he had to do this against Kevin. Fighting up close was Kevin’s strength. But because Kevin was so much better at distance fighting, Mendes couldn’t just keep getting hit like this.

*Tap tap. Whoosh.* He ran forward. But it wasn’t what he expected. Even though he charged, the distance between him and Kevin got bigger. And then… *Flash! Bang!* An attack hit him hard.

Kevin kept the same distance from Mendes, like he was playing with him. As soon as Kevin saw a tiny chance, he would use that space to attack. It was amazing and strange. This was not how Kevin usually fought. Mendes had never seen Kevin fight like this before. He was getting really annoyed at how Kevin kept his distance, like trying to catch a slippery fish.

Mendes would have preferred a direct fight, face-to-face. He would have accepted losing if Kevin was just stronger. But with this new way of fighting, Mendes couldn’t even show what he could do. He started to panic. It was a very small mistake, just moving forward a little bit, but it cost Mendes everything. *Thud.*

Red blood sprayed across the dusty arena.

Mendes’s thigh was slashed. His leg wobbled, and Mendes, eyes wide with shock, hurriedly raised his sword.

Clang!

Rumble!

A powerful impact.

He gasped for breath.

Gritting his teeth, he tried to block the next attack, but Kevin, fast as a striking snake, had already appeared before him.

Plop.

A sword was pointed at his neck.

Kevin looked down at him with cold eyes.

Kneeling on one knee, Mendes knew how he should act in this situation.

“…I surrender.”

This was the worst thing he could imagine happening.

It was a shocking defeat.

Even people who liked the less popular fighter thought Mendes would win. He was expected to win more than anyone else.

But he was completely outplayed.

He couldn’t do anything in the fight. When Mendes said he lost, it made him look like he gave up too easily.

However, those with skill knew the truth.

Kevin was much more skilled than Mendes. He was so good that even a skilled fighter like Mendes looked clumsy.

He was carried outside.

He was quickly treated for the blood flowing from his thigh, and a high-ranking nobleman of Chronos asked with a flustered face.

“…What on earth happened?”

Mendes’ defeat was devastating.

He didn’t understand what really happened.

Looking at his gaze filled with bewilderment, Mendes said with a hollow face.

“…Can’t you see? I was completely defeated. In that duel, Kevin didn’t even consider me as an opponent.”

He choked up. He was angry.

Mendes had a strong sense of pride in himself as he entered the 6-star level, but today he faced a shocking reality.

Kevin proved that the realm of aura was not everything.

Before he could even properly show the power of his aura, Mendes was helpless as Kevin controlled the distance between them.

The problem was Kevin’s intention.

Thinking about why Kevin chose this method, he could only reach one conclusion.

“…The smart and cruel Dimitri doesn’t think anyone is a real challenge except for Chris. The same goes for the duel just now. He didn’t plan that fight to beat me. He was just practicing for his fight with Chris. That’s the truth. People called me the hope of Chronos, but I’m not even as good as Kevin, let alone Emperor Roman Dimitri.”

It was a voice filled with despair.

Mendes studied Kevin closely while preparing for this tournament, but he was defeated after being used as someone to practice against.

The Flash of Dimitri.

As there was a rumor that his neck would be cut off in an instant if he failed to control the space between them, it was obvious what Kevin’s intention was in facing Mendes.

It was a kind of training.

To quickly close the distance against Chris, to judge the appropriate distance with Chris, Kevin imagined he was fighting Chris when he fought Mendes.

Mendes was also the kind of person called a genius, but now he couldn’t stop feeling so hopeless.

“…People’s expectations are wrong. This tournament is not about how many countries other than Dimitri will take the top ranks. If there is even one person who is stronger than Dimitri among the top 16, we will cheer for that person.”

The high-ranking nobleman’s eyes changed.

Only then did he know that the Dimitri Empire, having unified the continent, had become too powerful to challenge with their past strength.

At that time, on another stage, a result that matched everyone’s expectations was produced.

“…Haaap!”

Pat.

Rumble!

The momentum was good.

He was called the best swordsman in Frank, and he tried to overwhelm the opponent by exploding the aura of 5 stars.

But no one expected his victory.

Since the opponent was Chris, called the Flash of Dimitri, people were interested in how long he would last.

And as expected…

Flicker.

Thud.

Only 3 seconds.

The Frank swordsman staggered. Something seemed to flicker, and the swordsman, struck in the back of the neck, collapsed to the floor.

“…21st match, Chris wins.”

“…Woooaaah!”

“…As expected, it’s Chris!”

People went wild.

Leaving behind the people who were sending very loud cheers, Chris came down from the stage with an indifferent face.

‘There’s no need to be too happy about winning so easily.’

The Continental War.

The swordsmen of Dimitri had entered a completely different realm.

Aura was an important factor in determining destructive power, but since the change in how aura is used, basic sword skills became more important.

The duel between Kevin and Mendes was like that.

The two were not very different in terms of aura’s destructive power, but Kevin saw and heard many things by Roman Dimitri’s side that normal people don’t get to see.

Therefore, he knew that the duel with Kevin would not end as easily as this time.

But he didn’t prepare for the duel with him.

He was just training himself, and he was going to prove to everyone that he could win without preparing for Kevin’s existence.

For that reason, he quickly decided the game. There was no reason to make it longer.

It was then.

As he was about to step down from the stage and move his steps, he heard very loud cheers from another stage far away.

‘Was there a game that received such cheers from the first round?’

He was curious.

Seeing the crowd of people and the strange cheers, he asked the game staff.

“…What kind of game is going on over there right now?”

“…People can’t help but be interested in that side. Do you know Raymond of the Valhalla Empire? He was once a figure who was named in the rankings of the best fighters on the continent, but he was said to have died, but he appeared in this Continental War, saying that he would follow Baron Ayrn. It turns out that he had been focusing only on swordsmanship while living alone and training. He is quite expected, along with Mendes of Chronos, as he is in the 6-star level and has considerable skills. And his opponent is……”

In fact, Raymond’s reputation alone cannot receive this much attention.

No matter how great a skilled person is, the main characters of this tournament were not people like Raymond.

However, the reason why many people came to watch his fight as soon as the list of first fights came out was because his opponent was special.

Raymond’s opponent was Prince Edwin Hector. He met a strong fighter from the first round.

People’s interest was in what results Edwin Hector, who is currently thought to be the best wizard in the land, would show.