Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 189 Mission: 03-9 Game Over
"Huh? What happened?"

The sight of the two fighting made Shiroyasha's eyes widen at the commentary booth. "Nero's spiritual energy has suddenly exploded! Has she been hiding her true strength all this time?"

This viewpoint is essentially correct. Because Nero's awakening triggered demonic transformation in her heart, not her limbs, her advantages lie in her greater magical power, more refined magical power control, and a more powerful and durable demon state, rather than physical strength.

This is why she was able to emulate her father's rapid mastery of various techniques using the Phantom Sword, perhaps even surpassing him. Apparently, Nero never used the Phantom Sword to assist in combat in previous games, as the goal was to "capture alive," not "defeate." Nero wasn't a violent person and didn't want to cause unnecessary bloodshed, so he temporarily sealed away any methods that didn't have any effect other than inflicting damage.

Yes, let me put it bluntly, Nero is just letting her win.

He didn't use the Phantom Sword, nor did he use the Demonic Transformation. He also never used the Yama Blade's ability to slice through space. Wasn't that just letting Nero win? The rule that everyone must be eliminated through traps somehow limited Nero's ability. Otherwise, Nero could just unleash a segmented Holy Chant and destroy the entire game area with a single strike. Who could stop him?
However, if letting go really caused an accident, it wouldn't be called letting go, but stupidity. In order to prevent Yao's annoying ice storm from really causing any damage to himself - especially his clothes, Nero drew his Yama Blade and planned to end the battle quickly.

Facing Kasukabe Yō, who was swirling in the icy wind and attempting to charge again, Nero, having used her magic to blow away the grass and dirt clinging to her body, lightly stepped on the ground. Her bare heels made a heavy sound like drums on the dirt. Nero channeled her magic power into the earth through the soles of her feet, and a dense swarm of phantom swords rose from the ground around her, firing at Yō like a machine gun.

Yao used wind pressure and hail to shatter a small portion of the phantom swords, then quickly dodged them in mid-air. However, Nero's attack was only intended to delay time, and the countdown to the final kill had already begun.

Nero gripped his Yama Blade tightly and took a stance, silently raining down short swords formed from his magical power from above Yao's head. Yao, wrapped in wind pressure, broke through, and although Nero had deliberately not used too much magic power, he was not injured, but misjudged the situation and rushed towards Nero again.

Nero raised the corner of his lips imperceptibly.

After all, Yao looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, and it was obvious that she didn't often communicate with others and had little experience. Nero thought she would be easily fooled, and that was indeed the case.

With that, the game is over.

Although Yao was still wary of the magical slash that would be unleashed the moment Nero drew his sword, she could no longer reverse the situation. Indeed, just as she had imagined, Nero swung his sword, releasing a brilliant flash that tore through the storm, and Yao dodged it mid-air, lunging at Nero once more.

"You've been fooled~"

But what Yao didn't expect was that after the sword light dissipated, an illusory crack was left in the air where Nero swung the sword.

While smiling and informing Yao that he had fallen into his trap, Nero swung his left hand, wrapped in bright magic, forward, unleashing a gust of wind that tore the ice storm apart. Yao lost his balance in the strong wind and fell backward. Nero's outstretched left hand grabbed his slender ankle. Before he could use the griffin's power to gain momentum in the air, he was instantly thrown through the crack.

After a brief moment of trance, the dazzling scene before her changed from a smiling Nero to a blue sky fragmented by leaves. She felt her back fall among the soft fallen leaves, but there was no sense of solid ground.

what happened?

Before this thought could even wrap around her mind, Yao broke through the vine net covering the pit and fell into a trap covered with wriggling tentacles.

"The winner is decided!" Black Rabbit announced loudly from the commentary booth. Although she felt sorry for her community member's defeat, she was still the referee and could not show obvious bias.

"Did you see clearly what happened in that moment, Black Rabbit?" asked Shiroyasha.

When the two men clashed for the last moment, the nearest trap was nearly ten meters away. At this distance, even if Yao lost his balance and was thrown away, he would definitely be able to adjust his state and avoid it in the air before that.

However, Nero let Yao touch the trap at the moment of losing balance, and he fell into it without any chance to adjust.

Shiroyasha had seen it clearly, and she knew that Kuro Usagi understood what was happening without even having to see. But now, the two of them were commentators, and their understanding wasn't the same as the audience's. This lightning-fast, spectacular exchange deserved a moment's pause to explain.

"I think I have seen it clearly, but I need to look at the specific details carefully."

Laplace Demon, the director, immediately projected a slow-motion replay onto the screen. Black Rabbit, observing the scene, explained, bit by bit, using a graphic-like method: "In that final moment, Nero's slash was imbued with a power similar to the 'Power of Realm,' creating a brief spatial passage through the air."

Baiyasha added a commentary: "Not only that, but through the replay we can see even more details. For example, those daggers falling from the sky were completely feints—"

"Just as Master Shiroyasha said. The area where those daggers landed coincidentally coincided with the location of the final trap. Although Nero appeared to be attacking, he was actually using the falling daggers to mark the location of the trap, thereby creating the most accurate path in the shortest possible time.

"Then, at the moment of contact, you knock your opponent off balance, forcing them through the passage and into the trap—a single strike that kills them."

"Strength, skill, wisdom..."

The screen returned to normal time. Nero, victorious from the game, was rapidly returning to the zone's entrance. Shiroyasha waved a folding fan, covering the lower half of his face. A complex light flashed in his snake-like golden pupils.

"Although the community she belongs to, Hamel, is not well-known yet, I think it will soon become a name that cannot be ignored among the lower classes."

Bai Yasha said this with a normal expression, but there were some waves in his heart.

She recalled the knife Nero had taken out at the last moment. The power that resided in the knife seemed very familiar to her.

Should I say it's just a coincidence or as expected?
Baiyasha sighed silently under the cover of his fan: The person related to that demon king finally appeared.

　Chapter 2 will be published in the afternoon

　　
　
(End of this chapter)