Chapter 171 - Sparring

"Blessing? What do you mean, blessing?" Krog asked as he looked at the pattern on Eiro's chest, which had spread out to nearly completely cover his torso. Jess turned toward him with an expression as if she just went mad, "You don't know what a blessing is?! It's something that can be given by beings of extreme might! For example the Spirit Queens and Kings, or Deities!"

"In this case, it was both, apparently." James said, leaning his head on his palm as he crossed his legs, and Jess stared at the Light Elf confusedly, "Wh-What do you mean?"

"I don't know, yesterday night, he told me he received a blessing from both a spirit and some lady, which I'll guess to be a goddess." James pointed out. Eiro immediately nodded his head.

"Yes, exactly. I was blessed by the former Naiad Queen, as well as the Lady of Winter. She's technically neither a Spirit nor a true Goddess. Well, she's a Nature Goddess, but apparently that's just a name for them? She's the incarnation of Winter, basically."

"..." Jess silently stared at the Demon who proceeded to pull his shirt back over his head, and then leaned back in his chair, "Anyway, that's that. And before you ask, I have no way of contacting either the former Naiad Queen or the Lady of Winter." Eiro pointed out, "Now, next question." The demon suggested, and James quickly spoke before Jess could start complaining and saying she wanted to hear more about the blessings.

"Why are you like this? Monsters don't usually end up just being... good guys that can raise children like that. And the same with that slime, it seems way too civil compared to normal slimes."

"Ah, for that guy, it's simple. He was raised somewhere where his Monstrosity was sealed for his whole life. I guess that just made it possible for him to not have a direct hatred for people." Eiro suggested, although he couldn't say for sure, and the slime in question quickly tuned in, "Yup, I don't have a major hatred for people. Instead, it spread out so that I have a minor hatred for everything. Now give me something to eat, you piece of tra-"

With a snap of his finger, Eiro froze the outer layer of the slime's body, making it impossible for it to keep moving normally, "Sorry about that. Now, when it comes to me..." Eiro started, "It's not something I'll divulge just yet. All I will say is that I'm by no means a normal demon, or even a normal monster. For one, I'm a variant. I was born with higher intelligence, but less physical capabilities compared to other Imps.

"Hm. I remember." James pointed out, and next, Krog asked something again, "Then tell us why you're really here. Do you want to kill us after all?" The Warrior asked, but Eiro just sighed annoyedly and shook his head.

"Not if you don't reveal anything about who or what I am. It was just an honest coincidence, or maybe fate, that brought me here. I became acquainted with the King, so that's why I'm here. To send my children to the Academy with Solomon's support and to grow stronger myself while I'm here." Eiro explained, and Jess, quickly distracted from her curiosity about the blessing, immediately spoke.

"So it wasn't just a rumor after all? You're actually here with the King's support? And what do you want to become stronger for, for that tournament people have been saying you're taking part in?"

"Yes, and No. Yes, I'm here with the King's support, and no, I don't want to get stronger for the tournament. I guess it won't hurt not to disappoint Solomon too much, but no... I want to become strong for other reasons. I also won't speak about all of those reasons directly, but I can tell you one. To protect my children." Eiro said, and then pushed himself off the chair before walking into the center of the room.

"Speaking of strength, let's get started for now. I want to see what you guys can do." Eiro said as he looked at the three adventurers.

"Do you want us to fight you?" Krog asked with a slight laugh as he stood up, and Eiro quickly nodded his head, "Mhm. But don't worry, I won't be too hard on you guys. I won't use magic or any of my weapons, just hand-to-hand combat. Well, at least when going against Krog and James, it would be a bit unfair with my speed to go against a mage. Jess, for you I'm going to simply match your type of casting and won't make use of Nelli or Gondos." Eiro pointed explained to them, and with an annoyed groan, Krog stood up and stepped up in front of the Demon.

"Fine, I'll stuff your f.u.c.k.i.n.g mouth and then you'll stop being so damn rude to us." Krog said and stood in front of Eiro with his hands in front of his body, "Then come on, fight me. I'm pretty good with hand-to-hand combat myself, you know?"

"Really? But back then, you were fighting with a large sword, and right now you have two axes with you. Don't you think you should fight using those?"

"Fight an unarmed man with weapons? Hah, who do you take me for?" Krog scoffed, as if insulted by what Eiro suggested, and the Demon just looked down at the ground with a groan.

"That's quite honorable of you, but you can only do that kind of thing when you're actually stronger than your opponent. Now go on, take those axes of yours and fight me as if you want to kill me." Eiro told him with a deep glare, and Krog actually slightly flinched in response.

While grinding his teeth, the large warrior stepped over toward the table and picked up the two axes he leaned against it, "Don't blame me if you lose another one of your hands."

"Mhm." The Demon replied, and quickly took on his stance. One of his hands was formed into a fist and held directly next to Eiro's chest, while the other one was open while the palm was held toward Krog.

"Attack me." The Demon said, and Krog kept grinding his teeth before just doing as he was told. With a swift attack he just threw himself at Eiro and swung down both of his axes toward the ground at once. Luckily, Eiro didn't need to dodge that much. He simply had to turn to the side, press his tail against his body, and wait for the moment that Krog would start pulling his axes up again. After Eiro slipped through the two axes and exactly that moment came, the Demon jumped and stepped onto the two axes.

The slight boost through the axes moved by Krog's high strength propelled Eiro upward enough to let Eiro jump over Krog's shoulder. He gripped the big man's throat and swung himself around until he could press his feet into the center of Krog's back while holding onto the underside of his chin from over his head.

And so, when Eiro pulled on Krog's chin and pressed into his back, he lost his balance due to the momentum of his own two axes dragging him around a bit anyway. And when he started losing his balance due to his upper body, he instinctively tried to make up for it using his legs.

But at that point, Eiro already slipped down and grabbed Krog by his neck from the back while using the drop's momentum to kick right into the back of his knees. Since he had only been focusing on his legs after he first lost his balance, now that those weren't an option to support him anymore, Krog just fell backward. Of course Eiro managed to slip away properly and then just gripped onto Krog's stomach from behind with his legs while wrapping his arms around his neck, to take him into a proper grip that was hard to escape.

At first, like normal, Krog fought against Eiro and tried to rip him away from himself, but soon he gave up and just hit the ground a couple times to try and let Eiro know that he gave up, since he wasn't able to speak right now.

The Demon loosened up his grip and quickly stood up before extending a hand toward Krog, who was just rubbing his neck after all this, "See? Underestimated me a bit, huh?" Eiro said with a smirk on his face as he pulled Krog off the ground, and the warrior slowly nodded his head.

"...Yeah, I did for sure... Just... how did you do that? You sure you didn't use magic or somethin'?"

"I didn't use anything. All I made use of was the hand-to-hand combat technique taught to me. Anyway, in general, you seem to have pretty good control over your axes. There might be some balance issues here and there, but I know how to fix those. This technique was only possible because this was a one versus one, usually you would have Jess and James to cover your back, but I'd still try and do some perception and intelligence based training to increase your reaction-speed. Because if you had reacted quickly enough, you could have stopped the movement of your axes so that you wouldn't have given me the extra boost, making it harder for me to actually get into position for this." Eiro started explaining.

"But let's have another proper fight again in a bit. Just wanted to get rid of that 'don't underestimate me' mindset you have." The demon explained, and Krog just looked at him a bit embarrassedly as he picked up his axes.

And before Eiro knew it, Jess stepped up to the Demon next, "Now me!" She said, actually pretty excited to see the Demon's magic again, and Eiro looked at her with a nod, "Alright. How do you cast your magic?"

"Well, since I usually have these two to fight in front, I take the time to draw magic circles. But I am actually pretty talented with all four basic elements, so I sometimes try to simply do direct manipulation..." Jess admitted, so Eiro nodded his head.

"Got it. Alright, then instead of a regular duel, this will be a speed-casting contest. You start drawing any magic circle you want, and I will attempt to finish it before you." The Demon told her, and Jess looked at Eiro with a slow nod. It seemed basically impossible, but a lot about this demon seemed impossible, so she shouldn't be too hasty.

"Alright, then take out your staff and let's start."

"I already have my staff. Also, Nelli, Gondos, come out and provide us with materials. Just in case it's going to become a spell making use of any of the four elements..." Eiro said, and then quickly took out the spark-snapper out of his treasury and lit a flame that he made just float in front of them while making it so that Jess could take control of a small part of the flames.

"Here, now you have everything." The demon explained, but Jess just looked at him confusedly, "But... erm, where's your staff?"

"Hm? Oh, right. My whole right hand is a staff, basically. But don't worry, I'll only be using one finger for this to make it fair."

"...huh..?"