Zelda looked at Clemens.
The demon appeared utterly dumbfounded.
Or at least, Zelda assumed he was.
It was difficult to tell when the fool's eyes were stitched shut.
Then again, he himself was the reason for that.
During their last confrontation at the Demon King's coronation, it had been Zelda who tore out Clemens' eyes.
Simply because he had found the demon annoying.
Throughout the feast, Clemens had wandered from table to table, loudly proclaiming himself to be the greatest practitioner of fire magic among demonkind. He had boasted that he would one day become the second most powerful demon after the Demon King himself, that all demons would eventually serve beneath him, and countless other absurd declarations layered atop one another.
The bragging had gone on for hours.
Zelda had tolerated it for as long as he could.
Then he had stopped tolerating it.
Using the spear-tipped end of his staff, he had stabbed out both of Clemens' eyes.
The feast had become considerably quieter afterward.
A definite improvement, in Zelda's opinion.
And in the opinion of many other demons as well.
"So, are we done?" Zelda asked. "You have already made me waste more time on you than you deserve."
For several moments, Clemens stood there in silence.
That alone made Zelda think even less of him.
When Clemens had boasted about growing stronger, Zelda had been mildly concerned. There had been demons throughout history who had become frighteningly powerful within surprisingly short periods of time.
Even the smirk he had worn earlier had been little more than a facade, meant to conceal that concern.
After all, regardless of the situation, one should always appear confident. The moment an opponent sensed uncertainty, they would begin to believe they had a chance.
But it seemed even that effort had been a waste of time.
"D-don't mock me!"
Clemens thrust both hands forward and unleashed a barrage of fireballs.
Dozens of blazing spheres tore through the air toward Zelda, lighting the twilight sky with streaks of orange and gold.
Zelda took in a deep breath.
What a useless attempt. Has he finally lost whatever rationality remained inside that peanut-sized brain of his?
His lungs expanded rapidly as he drew in an immense amount of air.
Then he exhaled.
Time to blow out some candles.
Clemens clasped his hands together.
His body began to change.
Muscles bulged beneath his robes as his frame steadily expanded. Flesh thickened. Bones cracked and shifted. The beastly demon grew larger and larger with each passing second, his aura swelling alongside his body.
A tremendous gale erupted from his mouth.
The winds howled across the rocky plain with enough force to shake the ground beneath them.
The incoming fireballs were blown away instantly, scattered across the sky like sparks caught in a hurricane. Some were hurled high into the clouds, while others were driven into the rocky plains below, exploding harmlessly in the distance.
The winds did not stop there.
They continued forward and crashed into Clemens.
The beastly demon dug his claws into the air and fought desperately against the raging current.
Even so, he was driven backward through the sky.
His robes whipped violently around him, and his dragon-like tail lashed wildly as he struggled to maintain his position.
To Zelda's mild surprise, Clemens managed to hold his ground.
Or rather, hold his air.
"I commend you," Zelda said. "Most would have already been blown beyond the horizon by now."
The gale continued to howl around them.
"But even so, you are still nothing more than the flickering flame of a candle against a storm."
For a brief moment, Zelda studied him.
At least the fool was making a genuine effort.
That alone placed him above a surprising number of demons.
Not by much.
But enough to warrant a sliver of acknowledgment.
"I am no mere candle!" Clemens roared. "I am the volcano that will drown you in a sea of flames!"
The beastly demon threw his arms wide and let out a thunderous scream.
His body began to swell.
Muscles bulged and expanded beneath his robes as his frame grew larger and larger.
Some kind of power-up transformation?
Such techniques were not uncommon.
Still, Zelda found them rather primitive.
And unnecessarily slow.
There existed transformations that could be achieved instantaneously, forms that could be assumed in the blink of an eye. Clemens, however, was clearly not using one of them.
Even so, Zelda made no attempt to interrupt him.
He simply hovered in place and waited.
After several moments, the transformation finally reached its peak.
Clemens now stood nearly four times his original size.
The growth ceased, but the increase in power was undeniable.
The air around him trembled beneath the pressure of his aura.
"In this form, my power is double what it was before!" Clemens boasted.
Without warning, he thrust both hands forward.
A colossal sphere of fire burst into existence.
Zelda's eyes narrowed.
Below, Maria instinctively moved behind him as the attack descended.
The triangular barrier materialized at once.
The glowing constructs intercepted the fireball and shielded them from the blast.
But unlike before, the barrier cracked.
Then shattered.
The triangles fragmented into countless pieces of light before fading away.
Now that was mildly troubling, was it not?
Not enough to concern Zelda.
He had simply used too little power when constructing the barrier.
Nothing more.
The solution was equally simple.
Use more.
A stronger barrier. A greater dose of mana. A sturdier foundation.
"Now your barrier won't be able to save you for much longer!" Clemens roared triumphantly.
Zelda had no intention of allowing that prediction to be tested.
He vanished, standing directly in front of Clemens.
The beastly demon visibly flinched in surprise.
Or at least, Zelda assumed he did.
Again, stitched eyes made such things difficult to judge.
"The death of any demon leaves a void within me," Zelda said calmly. "Especially when I am unable to eat them."
His free hand clenched into a fist.
Air gathered around it.
Compressed.
Condensed.
Reinforced by mana until the atmosphere itself seemed to distort around his knuckles.
Then he punched.
The impact detonated like thunder.
Clemens was launched upward, his gigantic body soaring through the sky like a projectile.
Higher.
Higher.
Higher still.
Until he was little more than a distant silhouette against the darkening heavens.
Zelda raised his staff.
The crimson gem at its tip blazed with light.
"Maximum Overdrive Penetration Beam."
A colossal beam erupted forth.
The attack tore through the sky with overwhelming force, engulfing Clemens completely.
For a brief instant, his silhouette was visible within the pillar of destructive energy.
Then it vanished.
The beam consumed everything.
Not even ashes.
When the light finally faded, the sky stood empty.
Zelda lowered his staff.
His expression remained unchanged.
Though inwardly, he felt a faint sense of disappointment.
A meal lost was still a meal lost.
"You okay?" Maria asked.
"No, I am fine..." Zelda paused. "Well, perhaps a little unhappy. That was supposed to be my meal."
Maria blinked.
"But you still have human corpses in your inventory."
"I do."
"Then why not eat those?"
"Because I am saving them for special occasions."
Maria stared at him for a moment.
That somehow raised more questions than it answered.
"Wouldn't they rot away?" she asked. "Not that they wouldn't have already. It's been more than a day since you collected them."
"Ordinarily, yes."
Zelda began walking again, and Maria quickly followed.
"But my inventory preserves things for a very long time."
Maria raised an eyebrow.
"I've been meaning to ask this for a while. What exactly do you keep in your inventory?"
Zelda thought about it for a moment.
"A dead fetus from a pregnant elf that I forgot to eat, some leftover dragon meat with all the best parts already consumed, several goblins that I skinned alive and stripped clean for their bones so I could make high-quality toothpicks, some scrolls..."
He paused.
"And many other things."
Maria simply stared at him.
Zelda stared back.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"I regret asking."
"Why?"
"Because you're messed up."
Zelda considered that statement.
"I am a demon."