Ghoul vs. Ghoul ⑥

What is this?

A black man descending suddenly from the sky.

A man clad entirely in black armor.

No—perhaps it would be more accurate to say his body is made of armor.

Or perhaps, a steel shell.

『Identification Impossible』

The man's true nature remains unknown.

To my knowledge, this result appears only when identifying my master.

A peer of my master?

If so, then he is an abomination beyond comprehension.

The man alighted between the ghoul and me, turning his back to me and facing the ghoul.

He descended with an impact that cracked the ground, yet remained standing—no knee bent, no stance broken.

A killing intent so intense it chilled the spine radiated from his back.

The ghoul recognized him as an enemy and swung his blade.

The man accepted the strike without any defensive posture.

Immediately after, the ghoul’s blade shattered.

Visible.

The barrier woven around the man, detected through skill-based perception.

It resembled the divine dragon barrier used by Ariel.

But it was different.

The barrier enveloping the man’s body was more advanced, more complex in structure.

I understood only that it was an exceptional barrier—its specific effects remained entirely unknown.

The ghoul discarded the shattered blade and drew a new one from space.

This time, using both arms simultaneously, it attacked with two blades.

The man dismissed it with a single, dismissive flick of his arm.

Shattering both blade and arm.

The ghoul, supposedly under madness, screamed and stepped back.

The man closed the distance without hesitation, kicking the ghoul’s foot into splinters.

The ghoul rolled across the ground.

The sequence appeared to unfold slowly.

The man swung his arm deliberately, shattering the ghoul’s blade and arm. He stepped forward with deliberate pace, then lightly kicked the ghoul aside.

That was how it seemed.

Yet the ghoul could not evade. Took damage.

The ghoul that had endured my greatest attack unscathed.

The man seized the fallen ghoul by the head and lifted it.

Intending to deliver the final blow?

Not funny.

That is my prey.

Don’t come in unannounced and steal it!

I slammed the full force of my Crimson Sea directly at the man’s unguarded back.

The massive crimson mass struck the man’s back—then vanished, like mist.

“Eh?”

I couldn’t help the foolish sound that escaped.

Even if repelled by a barrier, I expected something more dramatic—some visible impact, a collision with the wall.

Instead, the crimson mass vanished the moment it touched the barrier—as if nothing had ever been there, or as if the barrier had silently absorbed it without a sound.

Then, as planned, I activated my trump card—intended for use against the demon.

The genuine final trump card.

Envy.

A skill that forcibly disables the target’s abilities.

I was explicitly warned not to use it on my master—but when else would I use it now?

“Stop.”

The man was suddenly standing before me.

As if he had skipped the entire process of approaching me.

I did not notice when he moved.

Or perhaps, so naturally, so smoothly, as if he had simply walked toward me earlier, as he had before, that he now stood before me without apparent transition.

“That skill consumes the soul. Do not use it, lest you lose yourself, as that demon has.”

The man’s hand rests gently upon my head.

Slowly.

Yet I cannot evade it.

As though bound in a paralysis, my body refuses to respond.

And the man’s hand touches my head.

It is a tender touch—unexpectedly calming, even in this situation.

Like melting, my consciousness fades into a drowse.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

The Administrator known as Black gently lays the unconscious girl’s body down.

Then turns back toward the rampaging demon, whose legs remain shattered yet still standing.

“Gaaahhh!”

The demon roars.

Black hears the scream, his face contorts.

“You, too… a pitiful victim?”

The man’s distorted face flickered with conflicting emotions.

A chaotic amalgamation, impossible to define in a single term.

“Apologies—your body shall serve as my meal. I will not kill. But I will not let you go unscathed. You will not be forgiven. You brought this upon yourself.”

The battle begins.

Though it cannot be called a battle—only one-sided annihilation.

The demonic swords summoned by the oni shatter effortlessly, like paper scraps, failing to wound the man.

In contrast, the man’s strikes land with precision, inflicting damage.

From a distance, it appears as if he is merely tapping—yet each blow collapses the oni’s reinforced body, shattering bones, tearing flesh.

After sufficient injury, the man pauses.

Waiting for the oni’s regeneration.

Then, he resumes the assault on the newly restored form.

The scene continued for a time. Eventually, the oni’s magic sword struck true. Regeneration ceased.

Regeneration was not infinite. It relied on a hidden power, not reflected in status attributes.

That power had been exhausted.

With it, the rage that had driven the oni’s body also lost its effect.

The oni collapsed, lifeless.

The man looked down upon the fallen oni. Exhaled deeply.

“Is this enough?”

Before him, a single white spider remained still, watching.

“I understand. Killing this oni will make me an enemy of you and D?”

The white spider said nothing.

“Even if not, this is a victim. The anger I feel—there is no one else to direct it at. So this is merely my venting. Nothing more than a petty act of self-satisfaction.”

Muttering as if to restrain himself.

The white spider offered no reply to the muttering.