Chapter 11: Duel and disappointment
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“Um, Frostbite... Could you transform into a sword one more time before you go see Winter?” The demon asked Frostbite. Frostbite who just wanted to go see his brother as soon as possible, so he just complied with the demon lord’s request. 

Frostbite transformed into a sword and the demon lord picked it up from his right side of the bed. He grabbed Marcel’s hand and gave it to him.  

“Fight me!” He said in a commanding manner. Marcel was very confused. What did he mean by 'fight me'? He asked himself, but when he thought about it a little more, it realizethat the demon was right; he really was there to fight him. 

The demon lord noticed Marcel’s deep in thought expression and felt like he had to clarify further what he meant by that. After all, this person beside him came to the demon realm to slay him and from what he did to Marcel yesterday, today really might be his last day on earth. 

The demon lord quickly added to his previous words, “I want to test your strength. We aren’t really fighting, just dueling for a little bit.” He sounded very eager to explain himself. 

Marcel didn’t notice the demon lord’s nervous expression since he was checking out that perfect body. They were still in bed after all and if it wasn’t for Frostbite suddenly showing up, who knows what might have happened between him and his supposed archenemy.  

Marcel snapped out of it, feeling totally ashamed of himself for having thoughts like that. “Have I been brainwashed?” and “What’s happening to me?” were examples of things he was thinking about. He definitely hasn’t been in love before and he definitely didn’t think of men in the same way that he was now thinking of his future husband, so as someone who just found out about his interest in another man, this was a very confusing situation for him. 

He just nodded to the demon lord who was still trying to explain himself and when he finally came back from his thinking, he asked a question that’d make the demon lord really happy that Marcel wasn’t listening to him at all, “What’d you say?” 

The demon lord laughed and sword Frostbite spoke, “He said he wants you to fight him with all you’ve got. No holding back, okay?” The demon lord who upon hearing Marcel reply with, “Yes, I won’t hold back” got back to feeling nervous again.  

Marcel looked at the demon lord who was staring at Frostbite, his eyes saying, “Damn you, stupid dragon.” and felt like the relationship between these two people wasn’t going to get any better in the future, even if their misunderstandings were already resolved. 

“Right, so you want me to duel you, right? But, um... are we going to do this naked?” Marcel asked the demon lord, his eyes checking out his future hubby’s fine body. 

“Yes, after all, what more is there to see? We’ve seen each other’s bodies already, so I don’t think it’s a problem.” The demon lord, totally ignorant of his hottie factor said to Marcel who blushed when he mentioned both of them already seeing each other’s bodies. He went back to thinking about last night. 

“Fine, fine. We’ll do this naked. Now can we begin now so that we can get this over with faster? Frostbite seems colder than usual right now.” Marcel told the demon lord and yes, Frostbite was indeed colder than usual. He was very annoyed having to listen to these two love birds going on and on about their naked bodies. He just wanted to go see his brother and these two were simply flirting with each other, meaning that he’d have to stay there even longer if they didn’t stop their flirting right now and just fight. 

The demon lord seeing Marcel take the initiative nodded and got off the bed. Marcel did the same and prepared by taking a stance.  

After taking that stance, he noticed two things; the demon lord was indeed a hottie and that the hottie was completely unarmed. 

“Aren’t you going to fight me with a weapon?” Marcel asked. 

“I won’t need one. I’ll be fine just like this.” The demon lord seemed confident.  

Marcel continued, “What about the palace? Won’t we destroy it if we do this here?” The demon lord seemed even more confident in his abilities this time since he replied with, “I can fix it instantly if it gets damaged, and this castle is also quite sturdy, so I don’t think it’ll be damaged so easily.” 

“But...” Marcel was interrupted, “No buts! Now enough with your worrying and show me what you’ve got... Or are you afraid?” He added that last part as a taunt but Marcel took it quite personally since he seemed to want to do this now. 

Marcel readied himself and the demon lord was filled with anticipation. Marcel came at the demon lord with Frostbite. He launched his first attack and then another and another. He attacked the demon lord so many times but the demon lord dodged it all like a pro. He went for it again, even more serious than before, but the pesky demon lord seemed to be avoiding his attacks. They either hit the floor or the walls, no sign of damage on the demon lord at all. 

Marcel continued again and again, letting out multiple sword strikes, all in vain since nothing happened to his opponent, then he thought of the only way to win this. If he used Frostbite’s special freezing ability, maybe he might be able to freeze the demon lord solid.  

He had used this ability of Frostbite’s a few times since it was quite dangerous. All of the enemies he used it on seemed to be terrified of him afterward, so he only used it as his last resort. But he was fighting the demon lord, a very powerful foe, so he didn’t mind using his last resort, at all.  

There was also another problem. Using Frostbite’s [Absolute Zero Strike] ability was quite draining. It drained most of his magic and left him fatigued afterward, one of the reasons why he made it his last resort, meaning that if he used it right now, he probably won’t be able to use magic for a while and he’ll also feel very tired afterward. He thought about it for like a few seconds and then decided to use it, just like any known reckless hero. 

He put all of his remaining magic power and hope into that one freezing attack and unleashed it. He saw the demon lord take it head-on, but nothing, absolutely nothing happened to the demon lord. Although, the wall behind the demon lord seemed to freeze a little. But honestly, you wouldn’t call that a successful attack, now would you? 

Marcel looked very surprised as he looked at the demon lord. He knows that he definitely landed that hit on the demon lord, so why does he not show any signs of freezing like all his previous enemies. The demon lord whose eyes were brimming with flames of anticipation just minutes ago prior to before the duel began seemed extremely disappointed. Angry would be a better word to describe what he was feeling at that moment. 

“Frostbite!?” He looked at the sword Frostbite, revealing a hint of anger, “What’s the meaning of this?! What’ve you been doing all this time?!” He raised his voice at the sword.  

Frostbite transformed from his sword form into his human form again and answered with, “I am very sorry”, looking a bit embarrassed and then continued, “I’m sorry that he’s very disappointing but think about it, Marcel is only sixteen now and he’s only been in a dungeon for no less than a year. You can’t really expect him to be experienced enough to meet normal hero standards now, can you? There’s also the fact he’s unlike the other heroes who came here later on in their lives, around 25 to 40 years old.” 

“But that doesn’t mean he can be this weak!” The demon lord reprimanded Frostbite right in front of Marcel. Marcel felt like he’d done something wrong judging from their conversation and he even felt like saying something, but he felt like things were going to get worse if he opened his mouth, so he just stood back and watched the demon lord and Frostbite continue on with their bickering. 

“And like I said before, I’m sorry... and this isn’t entirely my fault. I had just started uploading knowledge about sword techniques into his mind and I was also sure that I had a bit of time before he came here. Who knew that he’d suddenly get up one day on an impulse and come here?” Frostbite explained further to the demon and Marcel seemed shocked to know that Frostbite was tinkering with his mind. He started reforming his image of Frostbite. Maybe he was even scarier than the demon lord. 

The Demon lord accepted Frostbite’s explanation. Sure, he was very thankful that he only had to wait for sixteen years, but he was also very disappointed that his wife’s combat level couldn’t even be called strong in the demon world. He was afraid that the only thing Marcel could defeat now with his current abilities was maybe a goblin or a dire wolf. Picking a fight with an orc would surely end him and even dwarves wouldn’t have a hard time mopping the floor with Marcel at his current level of power.  

He expressed his concerns to Marcel in subtle detail, comparing Marcel and himself to a little caterpillar against a huge mountain.  Marcel was very surprised to learn that he was weak now according to demon standards. “Just how strong are demons anyway?” Marcel wondered as he looked at the demon lord’s disappointed expression. 

But I wouldn’t say all the demon lord was feeling was disappointment. He felt a little happy as well. He was happy since it meant that he’d be able to see Marcel grow from his current level into the proper hero he was destined to be. Maybe he might even be able to persuade him into agreeing of his own free will to engage in relations with him and marrying him, thus pouring water onto the flames that were the destiny of his impending defeat. Judging from Marcel’s current weak level, he had quite a lot of time on his hands to do just that. 

The demon lord finished rejoicing over his Marcel’s current predicament and Frostbite seemed ready to leave. Marcel asked Frostbite if he was going home now since he mentioned that while they were still inside the demon lord’s mind. Frostbite replied that he was indeed going home now. He misses his brother and that he has to catch up on all the time he had missed. 

Marcel looked a bit sad to part with his sword. What was he going to do now? And where was he going to find a sentient sword like Frostbite again? 

Frostbite as if sensing Marcel’s worries told him not to be. He rolled up one of his sleeves and peeled off a bit of his skin.  

Marcel seeing Frostbite suddenly do that was very worried and concerned. He thought that Frostbite was hurt, but when he looked closer, he saw that there wasn’t any blood coming from where he just peeled off a bit of his skin and that part also looked a bit scaly, as if there was indeed skin, but also scales at the same time.  

Frostbite gave the small portion of his skin to Marcel who thought, “gross, but then that small scaly-looking piece of flesh suddenly turned into a huge scale about 100 meters wide. He was indeed were surprised, almost getting a heart attack from the sudden transformation of that small piece of flesh earlier. 

“That’s a gift from me. Take that to a dwarf and they’ll turn it into a nice sword just for you”, Frostbite said. Marcel nodded to his words, but then the demon lord said, “No need, I’ll take care of making the sword myself.” He said as he grabbed the scale. 

Marcel once again had that holy naïve look on his face saying, 'you’re amazing, demon lord'. The demon lord laughed at the sight of it, thinking it was very cute. Marcel got embarrassed. 

The demon lord thought of how amazing a sword he was going to make for his wife since this was going to be his first gift to him. He also remembered that Marcel was hungry and decided to call someone in through telepathy. 

Marcel who had grabbed a seat back on the bed and covered himself with the bedsheets since he was very embarrassed about continuing to show his body to the demon lord. They had already done the deed, so what was there to be embarrassed about? But Marcel just couldn’t show his body to the demon lord despite knowing that. There was also the white sticky fluid that was slowly oozing down from his behind the longer he stood, thus further increasing how embarrassed he was. He wanted to just bury himself inside a hole and never show himself again to the demon lord, but that wasn’t something he could afford to do since he was both the hero and this person’s wife, not that he accepts the wife part, but he’ll still have to see this person more so than he’d like. 

Marcel looked around the room to find his belongings. His clothes and armor were being collected by someone. 

The person who was collecting his stuff was a black-haired man in an exotic outfit Marcel had never seen before. The garment he was wearing was very long and the fabric was blue and looked lightweight. The sleeves of the outfit were also wide and holding it all together purple long belt made of fabric. (Enough with the explaining; it’s a kimono or a yukata if you haven’t already guessed it.) 

The man’s jet-black hair was very long and he looked quite thin judging from the outfit he wore. His face was also very pleasing to look at and also had one distinguishing feature that’d otherwise make anyone think he was human; the shiny silver scales similar to Letia’s covering the sides of his face. His eyes unlike Letia’s were green in color similar to the elves’ eyes, but his ears looked like a human’s too, so that possibility was ruled out by Marcel. He also had a toned skin color unlike Letia’s pure white skin, but Marcel still wondered if they were both related in some way.  

Overall, he was very human-looking and very handsome at that, but that didn’t matter at the moment. Why a hot guy was collecting his stuff and that same hot guy was walking towards him while his supposed husband stood there and watched him with a smile mattered more to Marcel.  

The hot guy looked at the demon lord and nodded. The demon lord nodded in response and then the hot guy picked Marcel up bedsheets and all, bowed in front of the demon lord and Frostbite and then left with him. 

“He’ll take care of you, okay?” was the only thing the demon lord said to Marcel as the hot guy walked through the door and left. 

Marcel was stunned by the whole thing. When did that man come into the room? How long had he been there? And where was he taking him now? Marcel tried long and hard to process all these thoughts at the same time.  

He finally asked the man who didn’t seem to be running but was getting further and further away from the place their earlier location, “Excuse me. Who are you... and where are you taking me?”  

The man upon hearing Marcel’s question smiled at him, then spoke, “Oh sorry, I forgot that wouldn’t recognize me in this form since this is your first time seeing it. Let me assume a form that you’re more familiar with.” He said, then snapped his fingers and then poof, his face and physique suddenly changed into one that Marcel recognized.  

He could never forget that face. The face of the person who led him to his doom. The face of the one other person he’d talked with apart from the demon lord or Frostbite... Letia. 

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