Chapter 289: Another Deadly Sin

Axel quickly paused, breathing in deeply, and raised a shout.

“DON’T KILL ANYMORE THAN THIS!”

“…!”

Of course, the ones who had to follow his command—Arianne and Fenrir—faltered for a moment. Axel’s command came out of nowhere, without any sort of explanation, after all.

Still, they didn’t dare disobey.

Arianne quickly changed from attacking with lethal force to simply disabling the enemy. Robbing their consciousness, or inflicting just enough damage for them not to die.

Fenrir was much more skillful, despite her power being several times greater than Arianne’s. Her attacks were controlled, robbing the enemy’s consciousness alone. The damage she inflicted was minimal—a sore neck, or a bruised stomach, at most.

Seeing the two quickly adapt to the situation, Axel turned his attention elsewhere. Specifically, to the two “demons” who had suddenly gained a grand powerup.

They completely looked like humans, so much that looking at them alone wouldn’t raise any suspicions. However… “They stink!” Axel scrunched his nose.

Even without coming close to them, Axel could smell the stench of demons from them. Rather, it had gotten stronger almost in proportion to the rise in their strength!

“Sir Axel…”

Beatrix, who was just beside him, quickly asked. “Why did you tell us not to kill the demons? Isn’t that our main purpose here?”

“Exactly.” He nodded. “And it seems that’s also the enemy’s aim.”

Axel glared at the swarming demons and frowned.

“They gain power when their allies die, it seems. Not sure if human deaths would also increase their strength, but… Anyway, all we need to do for now is to prevent anyone from dying.”

When Arianne and Fenrir killed the weaker demons, their gain in strength was also small. But when the stronger ones died, their powers leaped several folds. Watching this, the worst case scenario played in Axel’s mind.

All but one dying, leaving a super-powerful enemy behind!

’But if all they need is death, then they should’ve committed suicide the moment we entered. That way, we would have no way of stopping their powerup.’

The roundabout way of letting the “minions” run to their death, and the bigwigs who refused to move from the stage despite getting sniped by Eve—all of this pointed to a single possibility.

’They’re waiting for something. Not sure what it is, but it’s definitely nothing good!’

Of course, Axel had already scanned the surroundings as they entered. He figured there might be magic circles, or ceremonial markings filled with magic somewhere—anywhere. But he found nothing at all.

Aside from the demons themselves, this place was just an empty stadium!

Whatever they were waiting for must be “trigger-based” instead.

Still, Axel wasn’t one to wait for things to turn south before he moved. After all, he already had a plan to handle the troublesome powerup the demons were getting.

“Everyone… We’ll kill them all in one fell swoop!”

Axel grinned.

If all the demons died at once, then none of them should be able to gain power. But this required precision down to the millisecond. They needed to kill the enemies until nothing remained, ensuring “instant” death without a shred of doubt!

In short, for this situation…

“Fenrir, it’s your time to shine!” Axel commanded.

The wolf girl’s ears perked up upon hearing his command, and a fierce grin graced her lips. “I understand, Master!”

The next moment, she jumped forward.

She stood right where Arianne was, busy handling the enemies around her. Of course, she didn’t come there to get in Arianne’s way—but rather…

“Alright, all the demons should be in range!” She whispered before clapping both hands and slamming them to the ground.

CLAP!

The sound bounced through the entire stadium, echoing loudly.

However, the sound wasn’t of any importance. Rather, it was what Fenrir was doing below.

Starting from where she knelt on one knee, the ground started turning black. Almost as if a thick shadow had engulfed the entire floor. This shadow was moving, spreading fast in a radial manner. And within seconds, all the demons were already standing on top of it.

“W-What is this?! Mud?!”

“I can’t… move! My leg is stuck in this shadow-like thing!”

“Shit! Don’t let that bitch finish whatever this is—!”

The demons, of course, panicked greatly.

They knew that something was happening. And since they didn’t know what it was, or how dangerous it could be, the “stronger” demons finally cried out for the first time.

Though, of course, it was way too late for them to do anything.

Fenrir’s eyes flashed as she whispered the trigger words, her voice cold like the northern ice.

“Forced Teleportation!”

The “shadow” quickly devoured all the demons, leaving Axel and the others untouched. The “darkness” below their feet almost felt as if it were sentient, leaving them out intentionally!

Axel turned to Fenrir, who was sweating bullets after pulling off that new skill, and smiled.

“Good work. That should’ve cleaned them up in one swoop.”

“M-Master…”

Of course, Axel was aware of what Fenrir had done.

It was another skill she unlocked after her seal was loosened. Forced Teleportation! Once caught in the technique, the target could not escape, no matter how hard they tried. The only way to cancel it was to interrupt the caster—Fenrir—just like that demon head had claimed.

Though they failed to do so, since they were being passive from the beginning.

By now, those demons should be right outside of the planet’s orbit, in the freezing void of space.

Although that might sound not so bad, it was actually a fearful thing. Imagine a balloon that had been in a place of high pressure. Then, it was suddenly placed in a space with no pressure—a vacuum—what do you think would happen?

The answer is… explosion.

Those men, those demons, would definitely undergo the same reaction.

Without the gravity of the planet holding their bodies in place, pressing down on them from all directions, their bodies would quickly expand until their skin, muscles, bones, and everything else lost cohesion.

They would turn into beautiful, but disgusting fragments of meat floating in the near absolute zero temperature of space.

“…!”

At least, that should’ve happened.

Fenrir suddenly fell forward, vomiting blood, making everyone present stare at her in disbelief. Without anyone noticing, she was attacked!

“Fenrir!” Axel shouted in worry, stepping forward—

BAM!

Only for something to strike his body the next instant.

He didn’t see anything, but he felt it. A powerful fist buried into his stomach, sending him crashing into the stadium’s walls and out through the other side, leaving a hole behind.

“That… hurts!”

But of course, it was Axel.

Even after receiving a full-force strike with no guard, he still remained standing as if nothing had happened! In fact, he even had time to use his flight to cancel out the punch’s momentum, which was why he only flew such a “short” distance.

“Ptew!” He spat blood onto the ground before glaring forward. “And…? Who the fuck are you?”

“FUHAHAHA!”

Right then, the space before Axel wiggled like a mirage. Then, from behind it, a single figure appeared.

A man wearing a clown’s outfit. A yellow jumpsuit that covered everything below his neck, its design a pattern of stripes and diamonds in a lighter, whiter shade. His hands were covered in pure-white gloves, while his shoes were quite peculiar, their tips bending backwards like a crescent moon.

But most of all, he wore a full-face mask. A Jester’s mask.

One that had several “manes” attached with bells at the end.

“Really, you’ve done me quite a number, little man…” The figure whispered as he performed a gentlemanly curtsy, hand across his chest, bowing lightly. “Thanks to you, my plan’s now a mess. So now, I have no choice but to do everything myself!”

“Hah?”

Axel glared at the clown but didn’t lower his guard. After all, the power he felt from the one before him was… literally on par with his own.

’If I show an opening and this clown attacks me with full force, I’d be dying with high probability…’

“It’s you who’s destroying my plan. I suggest you scram before I get even angrier.” He scoffed.

“You would… what?”

But the Jester looked amused at his response instead.

“Oh, did you think you’re strong? Did chasing away Wrath’s clone make you feel unbeatable?” He chuckled. “But sorry to burst your bubble… With your current strength, you definitely can’t handle me.”

“And who even are you for me to care?!”

Axel jumped forward, swinging the sword in his hand. It was a quick surprise attack, and he could see the blade cut the clown in half, but…

“…!”

He didn’t get the sensation of cutting at all. It felt almost as if he’d hit nothing but air!

“See?” The Jester scoffed.

Despite the mask covering his expression, Axel could tell he was smiling just as widely as what was drawn on the mask itself.

“There’s no way you can handle me—the Third-Rank of the Seven Greatest Demons: Envy!”

“W-What?!”

Only then did Axel realize how fucked they were.

The enemy before them was no normal demon. It was one of the strongest kind, like the Demon King, Wrath, and the pig demon, Greed!

“RRAAAAAAGH!”

Though, even after hearing that, the wolf girl who had vomited blood from a concealed attack earlier—Fenrir—attacked fearlessly.

Her claws rent the air, her kick hit nothing. Her attacks, loaded with all her speed and strength, failed to land.

Axel evaluated the situation and frowned.

’Fighting a Deadly Sin here is disadvantageous.’

The space was way too small. There were too many civilians around. There was no way Axel and the girls could fight at full strength like this!

“I guess it’s time to change locations!”

And so, Axel grabbed a Return Scroll, reached out to seize the Jester by his mask—no, his entire face—and bit the paper to rip it in half.

The next moment, their figures vanished from sight.

“…Master?”

Even Fenrir was left flabbergasted. She had no idea where they had gone.

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