What if you are reborn as a demon after a funeral?.

"Well..." He paused for a moment, then wiped the corner of her hand that he had grabbed earlier with his sleeve: "Like this?"

"I'm asking you to apologize to me."

"I'm sorry, I'll be gentler next time."

"There will be a next time?!"

"No, no, I was just joking..." He chuckled as he wiped the corner clean, then smiled and took a step back. "And then? My dear Aura, my brothers... oh no, my sisters? What do you think of my proposal?"

"It's terrible."

"...Would you pledge allegiance to the Demon King?"

"How could that be? Who do you take me for?"

"So....."

"Are you crazy? That guy (the Demon King) has been able to occupy the throne for over a thousand years, so he must have lived for at least two thousand years, right? He might have existed since the mythological era. He's a monster among monsters. We young people who are a few hundred years old are like babies in his eyes. And you actually want to compete with him for the throne?"

The way Aura looked at him seemed to worry about his head, almost as if she was saying: Are you stupid? If you are, don't drag me to my death, okay?

"That's correct in theory, but..."

"what?"

"I am preparing for what will happen after the Demon King dies."

"...Are you serious? There's actually someone who can deal with that kind of monster?"

"Do you think I'm joking?" He looked back at the suspicious gaze with unprecedented seriousness.

Aura stared at him for a long time before suddenly leaning back on her throne, tilting her head and curling up her lips to reveal her signature—malicious smile:

"If that's really the case, then it's not without room for negotiation, but before that—let's first discuss who will be the Demon King and who will be the Prince?"

"Need I say more? It's definitely you, Prince."

"Why?"

"I am better than you."

"Haha~ Five hundred years have passed, you haven't grown taller, but your arrogance has certainly grown." Aura rested his chin on his hand, crossed his legs triumphantly, and his smile instantly revealed a competitive fighting spirit:

"Other things can be discussed, but this matter... it's best to resolve it with force, just like before—you don't have any objections, do you?"

"I have no objection. Whoever wins, I will unconditionally support them, and I will also let you assemble the Undead Legion. So don't complain if you lose, how about it?"

"Ah...of course!"

"...But there's a slight problem before that. What if I destroy too many of your undead troops? You won't ask me to compensate you, right?"

"If you can do it, then come on! Today... I will avenge myself and make you kneel at my feet!"

Aula slammed his hand on the armrest and declared with great bravado that he was determined to challenge him and repay him for all the grievances he had suffered.

......................

To prevent Aura from cheating after losing, Ash naturally chose to let her properly gather her troops.

Standing at the rear of the army, Aura, by the castle gate, looked at his own dark, headless army and began to ponder what he should do first after the victory.

In the war between the Demon King's army and humanity, she managed to gather several thousand carefully selected elite troops by taking advantage of the chaos. With this large army to wear down, the victory was hardly indisputable.

She even began to worry that the wins and losses were too overwhelming and lacked fun and a sense of accomplishment.

After all, defeating Ash and becoming the master was her greatest wish over the years. She thought Ash was dead, and it almost became her biggest regret.

"However... Ash has also regressed. He should have been more cunning before, but now he's actually... Huh??"

Awula, who was still yawning, suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

As the undead legion swarmed forward, Ash remained completely unafraid of their overwhelming numbers.

Just as the swords were about to strike, he merely bent his knees slightly, and the abnormal gravity caused the headless soldiers around him, along with the rubble and gravel within a hundred meters, to levitate and completely lose their ability to move.

And in the next instant....

BOOM—!!

With a loud bang, the earth suddenly cracked open, and sand and dust scattered and rose up. Ash's figure disappeared from the spot and flew into the clouds in an instant.

Chapter Forty-Five: Meteorite Falls from the Sky

Aura had already envisioned many scenarios for victory; after all, the numbers were vastly different, and he couldn't possibly lose, but...

"This guy—he's still really cunning!!!" The moment Ash flew into the clouds, her heart sank, and she couldn't help but nervously look around.

In this era, the sky belongs to demons and monsters. Even though there are mages in the Undead Legion, they cannot fly.

The ordinary soldiers were even more caught off guard, as were the mage guarding Aura and the few demons among them.

As a gravity manipulator, Ash's flight speed was significantly faster than that of a normal demon; in the blink of an eye, not even a black dot could be seen in the sky.

They were dealing with this kind of opponent for the first time and lacked the necessary experience and methods.

Aura's imagined human wave tactic failed from the very beginning, which made her so angry that she almost ground her teeth to powder.

I just can't understand how I fell for his trick again.

"—What open-ground duel, allowing me to fully utilize my legion's advantages and accept defeat gracefully... But isn't this just taking advantage of my mobility?! Ash! Don't think you can beat me like this! This time... I will definitely win! No matter what...!"

As she and her men gazed at the sky, gritting their teeth, she also released probing magic to sense the surrounding magical fluctuations.

Ash didn't keep her waiting long; he quickly helped her detect the unusual magical power... but everyone else saw it too.

They didn't even need to look up to see the crimson stain on the ground.

An untimely and spectacular sunset appeared in the afternoon sky.

This was a young demon girl adopted by Aura. Line couldn't help but murmur in amazement, "Is this... a real meteorite?"

Indeed, the fiercely burning fireball, like a meteorite, tilted from the sky and fell towards Aura.

The speed was unprecedented, even faster than when ascending to heaven.

This made Aura's heart tighten. He suddenly raised his hand and shouted, "Stop him right now!!"

There was no response, but one after another, the headless mages around them caused multicolored light and various elemental entities to converge towards the high-speed meteorite.

However, the meteorite's falling speed was even faster than their magical speed, even...

The abnormal gravity created by the purple lightning around the meteorite caused spells such as wind blades, fire pillars, and ice cones to have their flight paths distorted or deflected upon entering it, or to be twisted and broken like other intangible spells, making it impossible for them to approach the meteorite itself.

The magic dissipating in the sky even burst forth with dazzling, seven-colored light, like fireworks, and...

Aura, shielded by a large group of undead soldiers, hadn't even seen the outcome she'd been hoping for arrive, but instead discovered...

"It can even turn corners?!"

Not only was her magic deflected, but the meteorite even veered off course at supersonic speed, heading straight for her as she tried to enter the castle, leaving her completely dumbfounded.

She subconsciously gathered magic power between her hands, wanting to take the initiative and attack.

It was just a simple attack that gathered magic power and then launched it. Even for Aura, who already possessed a vast amount of magic power, it was enough to form a powerful blow. But the moment the magic power had just gathered... a dazzling light instantly stole her sight.

Boom! ...

With a deafening roar that seemed to shatter the heavens, the area where Aura stood was instantly engulfed by scorching flames and a sandstorm that blotted out the sky.

The earth trembled violently, and the majestic castle behind them seemed to be unable to bear the weight, trembling and emitting a low groan.

The brick road in front of the castle was also torn with dense and intricate cracks under the impact, like a huge spider web spread across the ground.

Immediately afterwards, these cracks seemed to come alive. Driven by the shockwave, they surged and spread outwards like giant waves in a raging sea. Every broken brick and stone turned into a deadly missile, indiscriminately bombarding all directions.

The shield-bearing soldiers guarding Aura were easily torn apart by the "meteorite" as if they were made of paper, and their bodies flew around like scarecrows.

Even the demons who wanted to come to the rescue were unable to advance an inch amidst the raging shockwaves, flames, and shard-like cannonballs; some were even sent flying backward.

Soldiers further away also succumbed to the disaster, many of them collapsing amidst the earth-shaking impact.

.........................

In the unimaginable impact, Aura, a mage who lacked close combat skills and whose physical abilities were far inferior to those of a warrior, didn't even feel pain.

In the end, all he could see was the approaching fireball, and before the magic could even spread out, he lost consciousness.

If Ash hadn't held back, she would probably have been shattered in the explosion.

When the dust settled, the surrounding demons and undead legions finally saw that their master had fallen beneath Ash in the enormous crater... and had simply passed out.

It was precisely for this reason that the Undead Legion immediately entered standby mode, while the demons, amidst cries of alarm, instinctively ceased all hostile actions.

"Lord Aura... you failed just like that...?"

"As expected of Lord Aura's elder brother...!"

"It's really...unbelievable..."

......

Amidst astonishment and disbelief at reality, the eyes of these disheveled demons were filled with shock, fear, and worship.

Although Ash's abilities were almost completely countered by Aura's, the fact that he was utterly defeated by one of the Seven Sages of Collapse in just one encounter was enough to illustrate the gap between them.

Even now, they can't think of any way to intercept that high-speed "meteorite" in the bizarre space distorted by abnormal gravity.

But even when faced with a monster they absolutely couldn't defeat, they just stood around, looking completely lost.

Although it wasn't just Ash and Aura who used to decide labor allocation based on strength, the demon society was also completely dominated by the strong.

But they are, after all, Aula's subordinates. If they surrender without even waiting for Aula to speak, it will likely cause them considerable trouble later.

However, Ash wasn't very interested in them. He ignored the guys who seemed to want to say something, and just like before, he grabbed Aura's convenient horn, picked up the unconscious guy, and casually hoisted him onto his shoulder before striding into the castle.

He was already looking forward to seeing what kind of interesting expression Aura would have when she woke up.

Chapter 46 Aura's Compromise

The day after the duel.

It wasn't until evening that Aura's consciousness gradually returned. He opened his eyes in a daze, staring at the familiar ceiling and blinking for a while.

It took her quite some time to finally understand the situation and realize her own failure.

"Why...why is it like this...?"