Black Iron Magician

「U-Uwaaaah!?」

Sango screamed loudly, perhaps because he instinctively understood that he was facing death. However, he didn’t meet his end.

When the beast’s head was about to slip through the bars, it scattered vigorously as if it had hit an invisible wall. The red blood that burst from the lump of meat scattered around it, dyeing not only the iron bars but also the invisible wall.

「I was thinking that the gap is too big for a human to enter, so there was a barrier after all.」

「Ka-kakaka-ka….」

「Sango-sama, please calm down. You’re alive and perfectly fine, you know?」

Sango was so shocked that he couldn’t stand up right away even when the eye-patched man told him so. He remained absent-minded and didn’t even try to move.

「Hey~, is it over? If so, I’ll come to you this time, kay~?」

「Hmm, this is problematic. To think that the trump card that Sango-sama personally prepared would be defeated this easily. As expected of the Great Eight Demons Alezel-sama.」

「You’re so faithful, huh~. Are you sure about serving that incompetent employer?」

「We’re just doing the job for what he paid us. Besides, he’s not completely incompetent, you know?」

「Oh, why?」

「Because he hired us.」

At that moment, four figures appeared from the gravel in the arena, which Alezel complained of being bloody. The ones who appeared there were fully armed mercenaries. They are holding dagger knives coated with poison in both of their hands. They rushed on Alezel from all sides at once, and their movements were very refined that there was no hesitation or carelessness.

「Hmm, you fail.」

But just as they were about to attack Alezel, the weapons in their hands disappeared. It was supposed to be a surprise attack, but it ended up in failure, and the four of them felt pain after that.

「――!?」

「Oh, I’ll give you credit for not screaming.」

As if sewn into the gravel ground, the missing knives pierced deeply into their feet. The moment Alezel was attacked, she stole the eight knives and dumped them on the ground. A slight rigidity from the sudden pain. Alezel took advantage of this and pushed them backward.

「Gah!」

「Ugh…」

Even though Alezel’s physical strength is the weakest among the Great Eight Demons, it’s still an overwhelming power for them. She just poked them lightly, but the four fell down with great momentum.

「Y’see, I’m in a good mood today. It’s the first time in a while that I feel this elated. My thief’s blood is getting excited, so I can’t help but steal whatever caught my eye.

A bright red liquid is dripping from both hands of the smiling Alezel. It’s not the blood of Neipam Leol that she was holding at first. After all, although the amount was small, there are some human parts, such as fresh skin, ears, nose, and eyes, being held between her fingers.

――――Splash!

As if waiting for the right moment for Alezel to say so, blood splattered from the men. Even though the men could endure the pain in their feet, having their body parts gouged out was the first time for them. They screamed in so much pain and their screams echoed in the arena.

「Eek…!」

「H-Hey, is it going to be okay!?」

「W-We should have secured a retreat path.」

The terrible sight made the masked audiences bewildered. However, they can’t stop it. This is one of the reasons why Alezel was given the nickname 『Awe』, derived from her brutality in stripping off not only the equipment of her opponents, but also the body parts. The synergy of her stealing and dismantling skills gives her great power in battle.

「My~, it’s so easy to steal if it’s fragile. Well, these things have no value, though.」

「Don’t be scared, fire!」

Obeying the eye-patched man’s command, more than a dozen mercenaries who are holding bows from the outside of the iron bars shoot the arrows at Alezel simultaneously. The arrows shot in all directions turned into rain and fell all over the arena where Alezel stands.

「Oh, to think that there are shields in a place like this.」

Alezel picked up the two meat shields that have fallen to the ground and used them to shield her. They were forcibly lifted up, their feet that were pierced by the knives were torn, and their whole bodies were hit by the arrows. They seemed to be screaming something, but Alezel’s long elf ears were so convenient that they pretended not to hear anything.

「I wonder if it’s fine to use a bow against an elf girl~. It’s easy for me, though.」

Five more mercenaries were invading the arena, hiding in the rain of arrows. Their movements are like assassins, and they are approaching Alezel through the shortest route while seeing the trajectory of the arrows. They are all aiming at Alezel’s throat with a dagger that’s painted black to make it hard to see. Alezel’s arms are still holding the meat shields, and she shows no signs of letting go of them.

「――!」

They pierced Alezel’s vital parts. They felt the sensation of the blade piercing the flesh, and they were so sure that they got her.

(It hurts…!?)

However, a sense of discomfort soon attacked them. They felt no sensation in their hands that they had felt before, and instead felt intense pain in the ends of their arms. Moreover, they heard the sound of something falling on the ground. Some of them unintentionally saw the fallen objects, and they were even more confused.

There are five hands holding five daggers on the ground. Each dagger is piercing something that like a hand, and on closer look, those are the hands of their companions. There’s a rule for Japita’s mercenaries to have some kind of tattoo on the back of their hands. So, it’s easy to see whose dagger had pierced whom.

「Ha?」

At this time, they probably couldn’t understand what was happened. This mysterious situation, in which all of them have lost their hands beyond the wrists, and the lost ones are pierced by daggers. It’s something that’s hard to explain.

Then, they could hear the sound of something igniting nearby. It was so close that it sounded like it was coming from their own bosoms.

「I don’t if it’s for a suicide bombing or something, but wrapping bombs around your body is crazy. That’s not something I can imitate.」

Alezel leaned her back against the wall of the arena and laughed as she spun the cylindrical bomb around her fingertips. Looking at her, they finally understood. The bombs, which they wrapped under their equipment in order to blow themselves and Alezel in case of emergency, had fallen into Alezel’s hands.

(The bombs are――)

The bombs were placed in a way that they could be easily removed if they want to. However, they couldn’t remove the bombs since Alezel had stolen their hands. Their arms could only cut through the air, and they felt fear from the bottom of their hearts.

「Aah, the fireworks of scattered meat pieces isn’t pretty no matter how much I see it.」

By the time the rain of arrows came to an end, the majority of what was left in the arena were tragic dead bodies.