The demon lord sat upon his lavish throne.

Standing in front of him was the human boy whom he assumed was the other successor candidate that the angel had mentioned.

His opponent seemed to be unusually calm, but from the previous shouting and noisiness the demon lord knew that the boy was seething inside.

“Congratulations, human. You have reached your final destination. For this, I shall commend you.” The demon lord stood up, releasing his intimidating aura without holding back. “Now, let us not waste our breaths and begin our duel.”

The demon lord made his first move.

Although he knew that the one to make the first move was often the one to lose first, he still did it anyway. The sooner he killed the boy, the sooner he ascends, he thought.

“…”

Ryouta did not bother to say anything.

He was simply too tired.

But, even so, he was still in high alert.

Though his body screamed for rest and was near collapse, he still pushed it further and further.

He dodged the demon lord’s attack by rolling to the side. Before he could catch a breath, the demon lord had already began ceaselessly attacking him. All he could do was avoid getting a direct hit.

Sensing that he was really about to drop dead, Ryouta gritted his teeth.

No, I don’t want to go down yet!

I still have to defeat the demon lord!

I still need to avenge everyone!

“Not… yet…!”

Ryouta summoned up every little bit of strength he could muster. Even taking a single step forward was unbearably hard, but he continued to push himself.

“Gaagh!” One of the demon lord’s punches landed on his body, then another, and another, and another… “I won’t… give up… just yet…!”

Surprisingly, the human boy was quite tenacious. Even after being dealt with dozens of his full-on attacks, he could still bear to pick himself up from the ground, bleeding and all.

Not yet!

NOT YET!

I… My anger, is still not settled!

“—Limit… Break!”

Ryouta uttered the name of the skill that he did not dare to use before due to its super expensive cost to use. Although there was a chance that it might not work considering that he was running low on both MP and HP, he still tried it anyway. After all, the worst case scenario would be his death. He was already close to dying so going so far above and beyond wouldn’t make a difference.

BZZZzzZzzzZZZZt!

A buzzing sound could be heard as Ryouta felt a newfound energy coursing through his veins.

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAaAaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!”

A roar slipped out of his mouth as he could feel himself becoming stronger by the second.

The skill [Limit Break] has been activated.

Your MP and HP is not enough to sustain it.

Estimation of time [Limit Break] can be activated for: 15 seconds.

Fifteen seconds may not seem like a very long time, but with his extremely heightened senses and abilities, those fifteen seconds may be all he needed to defeat the demon lord.

“…!”

Ah, as expected of a chosen candidate.

The demon lord was surprised for a brief moment after seeing the boy’s massive power up. He even felt that it was unfair that such a little kid received such strong backings and blessings while he was stuck fighting with tooth and nail. But then again, he was an intruder after all, so not having a backer was rather normal, so he wouldn’t actually voice his complaints.

The two exchanged blows after blows that easily decimated their vicinity. One was attacking from all angles possible, while the other had his feet planted on the ground, guarding himself well.

The tremors caused by their fight could be felt all the way from the survivor’s camp.

The three other members of the Hero Party, noticing the fight, had quickly made their way outside. Though reluctant, they had no choice but to leave Ryouta to fight alone. They needed to save as many survivors as they could, after all. They hurriedly made their way back to camp, ready to help with the evacuation.

Five seconds left…

Ryouta could feel the strain of using the skill descending upon his body.

Four…

“AAAAAAHHHHH!” Ryouta let out a furious roar, as if refusing to back down.

Three…

Shiro… lend me your strength…

Two…

“[Meteor Strike]!”

One.

Within his final moments, Ryouta invoked his ultimate Ultimate Attack, [Meteor Strike]. It was a spell that could only be used once in a lifetime.

He managed to cast the skill just in time before [Limit Break] ran out.

As soon as he invoked the skill, the clouds above them became overcast. A large magic circle covered the sky, aimed directly towards the battle site.

The demon lord readies his own Ultimate Attack, taking out the cursed weapon he had been saving for last.

“Sword of Pestilence!” The demon lord shouted, pointing the demonic sword towards the sky. A dangerous-looking miasma poured out from the sword and condensed itself into a murky green-coloured ray of light.

The meteor fell.

The sickly sword ray met against the meteor head on.

Despite using all his efforts to push back the meteor, the demon lord was still falling behind little by little.

Though the human boy had perished, he still had to deal with the damn rock.

However—

The solid light ray emitting from the sword began to show signs of cracking, as if it was being crushed by the meteor.

The demon lord let out one, final roar, employing all the techniques and skills that he knew to shield himself from the blasted piece of space rock.

BOOOOM!