Who the heck is this guy?
A man in black who dropped from the sky without warning.
A man clad head to toe in black armor.
No—rather, would it be more accurate to say his body itself was made of armor?
Or perhaps, a steel shell.
『Appraisal Impossible』
His identity is unknown.
As far as I know, the only one who ever triggers this Appraisal result is my Master.
Is he the same kind as my Master?
If so, that makes him an absurdly terrifying monster.
The man who landed between me and the demon person turned his back to me and faced the demon head-on.
Despite arriving with an impact so great it cratered the ground, he didn't even drop to one knee—just stood there like an unwavering statue.
His back radiated killing intent so intense it sent chills down my spine.
The demon person recognized the man as an enemy and swung his blade.
The man caught it without assuming any stance at all, simply letting the strike land on his body.
In the next instant, it was the demon person's sword that shattered.
I can see it.
Thanks to the Skill: Perception of Sorcery, I can make out the barrier woven around the man.
It's similar to the Divine Dragon Barrier that
But it's different.
The barrier coating the man's body was far more advanced, with a far more intricate structure.
All I could grasp was that it had extraordinary performance—I had no idea what effects it actually possessed.
The demon person hurled the broken blade aside and drew a new sword from the void.
This time, with his regenerated arm restored as well, he attacked with both blades.
The man simply flicked his arm in annoyance and shattered them.
Along with the demon's arms.
Even the demon person—someone who should have been consumed entirely by madness—let out a shriek and retreated a step.
The man closed that distance with an idle stride and crushed the demon's foot with a casual kick.
The demon person tumbled to the ground.
The whole sequence appeared to happen slowly.
The man lazily swung his arm to break the swords and arms, plodded forward one step, and lightly kicked him away.
That's how it looked.
And yet, the demon person couldn't dodge a single blow.
The same demon who took my strongest attack without a scratch.
The man grabbed the fallen demon's head in his fist and lifted it off the ground.
Planning to finish him off?
Not a chance.
That's my prey.
Don't just show up out of nowhere and steal him!
I hurled the Scarlet Sea at the man's undefended back, holding nothing back.
The moment the enormous mass of red water reached his back, it vanished—as if dissolving into mist.
"Huh?"
Can't blame me for that dumbfounded reaction.
Even if he blocked it with a barrier, I expected something flashy—like water slamming into a wall.
Instead, the Scarlet Sea disappeared the instant it touched the barrier, as if nothing had been there to begin with, or as if the barrier had silently swallowed it whole.
Fine, then. I'll play my trump card—the one I'd been saving for the demon.
My one and only, genuine last resort.
Envy.
A Skill that forcibly disables an opponent's Skills.
Master told me never to use it, but if I don't use it now, when the hell am I going to?!
"Don't."
Before I knew it, the man was standing right in front of me.
It was as though the entire process of him approaching had been skipped.
I couldn't tell when he moved.
Or rather, it almost seemed like he'd simply walked over at that same unhurried pace—and yet here he was, standing before me in one natural motion.
"That Skill corrodes the soul. Unless you want to lose yourself like that demon, I advise against using it."
The man's hand slowly came to rest on top of my head.
Slowly.
And yet I couldn't dodge.
My body wouldn't respond—as if I were pinned by sleep paralysis.
Then his hand made contact with my head.
His touch was extraordinarily gentle, soothing even—impossible as that seemed under the circumstances.
Like melting, my consciousness faded into a haze.
************************* The Administrator known as Black gently laid the unconscious girl's body down.
Then he turned to face the berserk demon person, who was struggling to stand despite having his feet shattered.
"GRAAAAAAAGH!"
The demon roared.
Black heard the roar and twisted his face in anguish.
"So you too are a tragic victim, are you?"
A tangle of emotions flickered across the man's contorted features.
A chaos of feeling that no single word could capture.
"Sorry, but you'll have to let me vent my frustrations on you. I won't kill you. But I'm not letting you off scot-free either. And I won't ask for your forgiveness. We're the ones who dragged you into this."
And so the battle began.
Though "battle" hardly described it—it was one-sided annihilation.
Every demonic sword the demon summoned broke against the man without so much as scratching him, shattering like scraps of paper.
Meanwhile, the man's strikes tore into the demon with certainty.
From the side, they looked like mere light taps—yet each one battered the demon's reinforced body, shattered bone, and tore through flesh.
After dealing a certain amount of damage, he left him alone for a while.
Waiting for the demon's regeneration.
Then, once the demon had healed, he beat him down again.
This went on for some time until the demon's supply of demonic swords finally ran out and regeneration halted.
Regeneration via Skills wasn't infinite either—some unseen force displayed on no Status screen had been fueling it.
That force was spent.
At the same time, the fury driving the demon's body lost its power as well.
The demon collapsed, powerless.
Black looked down at the fallen demon and let out a deep sigh.
"Is that enough for you?"
In the direction of his murmur, a white spider was staring intently at him.
"I know. If I kill this demon, you and D become my enemies, correct?"
The white spider said nothing.
"Even setting that aside, this one is a victim. This anger I'm feeling—there's no one to direct it at. So this is just me lashing out. Truly pathetic—nothing more than venting."
He murmured as if holding himself back.
To those quiet words, the white spider offered no reply.