Chapter 108: If You Lose, You Have to Do Something You Don't Want to Do

TL: FoodieMonster007

After letting the horses graze, we sat on a hill to rest.

My hair fluttered in the gentle breeze. However, a storm of blood still seemed to rage in the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's heart.

"How did you kill the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme?"

I smirked. "You said I was persistent while pretending to be nice, didn't you? Your persistence, Smiling Demon, is no less than mine."

"Don't you want to brag? At your age, Second Young Lord, you should want to boast to the whole world. 'I killed the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme! So lower those arrogant eyes in front of me!' Don't you want to be the sole honored one in the world?"

"I might be a bit of a bluffer, but not enough to claim I did something I didn't. That's right. I'm strong. Strong enough to make you suspicious, but I didn't kill him."

I denied it to the very end. Telling a man like the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon something that could become a weakness was the same as handing it to him. If I spoke in the heat of the moment, I would regret it for a long, long time.

"Fine. Then let's have a match."

I knew it would eventually come to this.

He must have wanted to fight me after seeing my skills against the assassins.

He became a beast that had scented blood while killing the assassins. The desire he had suppressed reared its head.

"I refuse."

"Why do you refuse?"

"Because it's foolish for us to fight each other when a powerful enemy is ahead."

"Can't we just fight to the point where we don't get hurt?"

"People get excited when they fight."

"I won't get excited."

"I'm the one who'll get excited. If I really have the skill to kill the Soul-Stealing Demon Supreme, like you seem to believe, Smiling Demon, could you handle me when I'm excited?"

"This just makes me want to fight you more."

He was seething, like lava about to erupt. To prevent Big Bro from causing trouble, I had to let some of that lava flow today.

"Let's do it!"

"I refuse."

"Many assassins died today. Do you think they'll attack again before even a day has passed? Realistically, that's impossible."

"I have another reason I don't want to."

"What is it?"

"Because I lose if I win, and I lose if I lose."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"If I win, you'll want to kill me. If I lose, your interest in me will plummet."

"What good does it do you for me to be interested in you, Second Young Lord?"

"My goal is singular. If you become my ally, Smiling Demon, you'll be the decisive force in my becoming the successor. I don't care if I have to make enemies of all the other Demon Supremes."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon scoffed.

"You say that, but next you'll try to pull in another Demon Supreme, won't you?"

"Is it that obvious? How did you know?"

"It's plain to see."

He had a deep distrust of people.

"I'm sorry, but I can't get on the same boat as you, Second Young Lord."

"Why's that?"

"You already know, don't you? The demonic path you dream of, Second Young Lord, isn't my demonic path. So there's no need to try and look good for me. Your flattery is just a waste of mental energy."

"I'll still try harder."

"……"

"Because there's nothing to lose by doing it."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon laughed. The answer seemed to suit his tastes perfectly.

"A very good reason. If you'd said some nonsense like you liked me or respected me, it would've backfired."

How nice would it be if the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon was only this much of a man?

But this was just the clothes he wore, the shoes he put on, the mask on his face. His true nature began here.

"So let's fight. We're fated to never become close anyway."

The worlds he had shown me were not his real world.

I knew the real world of the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon.

His real world was the moment his eyes rolled back and he could see nothing. It was the moment that unstoppable madness erupted. Only then did he feel alive.

For now, he held back only because of his curiosity about me. He was intrigued by my special quality of pushing him in unexpected ways.

He wasn't the type to pester someone for a fight. He was the type to just attack and kill. I couldn't let him realize how much he was restraining himself.

"Fine, let's fight."

"!"

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon was startled. He clearly hadn't expected me to agree to a fight.

"Excellent! Let's fight right now!"

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon laughed loudly, genuinely delighted.

"Smiling Demon."

"What is it?"

"Do you see that tree way over there?"

"I see it."

"Let's compete with movement arts first."

I added quickly, before disappointment could flash in his eyes.

"If you can beat me in movement arts, I'll give you a duel."

"Fine."

Disdain flashed in the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's eyes. He was confident in his movement arts and sure he would win.

"If I win, please grant me one request."

"Just say the word."

"Have a drink with me tonight. You don't have to take off your mask. You can just lift it slightly, like this, to drink."

I mimed lifting a mask to drink.

"Second Young Lord."

"……"

"Lift it slightly to drink, you say? Second Young Lord, you're the one who's a little crazy. I can't believe how persistent you are."

I laughed like a madman at his words. This was the method I had chosen to deal with a madman. He called it persistence, but it was steadfastness.

I was knocking, and knocking, and knocking again on the same spot, and that spot was his mask.

"Fine. If I lose, I'll drink with you."

"Shall we begin?"

We stood shoulder to shoulder. It had been a long time since I had raced using movement arts.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon asked, "Have you ever had a movement arts race before?"

"Yes. Just once."

"Who was it with?"

With you.

"There is. An old friend."

"You're young, Second Young Lord, but you have old friends?"

"There's one bad guy."

"I would've liked him if I'd met him."

"You probably would have. Or you might've hated him for being too similar."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon gave me a strange look as I smiled cryptically.

"May I start first?"

"Go ahead."

"I'm going!"

I dashed off first, and the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon followed leisurely.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon caught up instantly. He ran ahead as if to tease me, then turned back from a distance.

"Did you really suggest a movement arts race with skills like these?"

"It's not over yet."

I couldn't close the distance by the time we rounded the designated tree.

Of course, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon was wary of me. He knew I wasn't the type to suggest a match I would lose.

But it seemed he didn't think he could lose to me, no matter what.

With the finish line near, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon showed one last bit of leisure.

"So you have a weakness after all, Second Young Lord. Now you seem a bit more human."

"What did I seem like before?"

"A monster. A monster so deceptively young that he constantly makes you let your guard down."

"Like this?"

He turned his head, wondering what I meant.

SHWIIIIIIK.

I suddenly accelerated forward, overtaking the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon in an instant. I had unleashed the Swift Step of the Four Strides of the Wind God, which I had kept hidden until now.

My Swift Step, powered by my extreme inner arts, was lightning fast.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon belatedly raised his inner arts and chased me, but the distance only widened.

"Stop right there!"

PWIIING!

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon shot the Blood Calamity Finger from behind. He fired it as a warning, so it passed by my side.

As I neared the finish line, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon unleashed the Extremely Savage Demonic Palm. Crazed by the competition, he sent it grazing past my head, but he still couldn't bring himself to actually hit me.

The tree before me shattered and fell. Leaves rained down on my head, as if congratulating my victory.

Killing intent billowed from the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon as he arrived late. He strode toward me, looking ready to strike at any moment.

"Are you going to lose twice in one day?"

My calm words were especially effective.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon was a villain, but not a petty man.

Instead, he took his anger out on the sky. He unleashed a series of irritated Extremely Savage Demonic Palms into the empty air. Thunder rumbled repeatedly from the clear sky.

I waited for him to calm down.

After venting his rage, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon asked me, "What in the world is that movement art?"

"It's a movement art I've kept hidden as my trump card."

"I'm asking what it is."

"I can't tell you. It's my trump card, after all."

He refused to accept his defeat.

"Let's go again. From start to finish with that movement art."

Losing was one thing, but losing because he was careless seemed to make him even angrier.

"Next time."

I swiftly mounted my horse and rode off.

A storm of killing intent raged behind me before quickly subsiding.

CLIP-CLOP.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon followed a short distance behind me.

I felt the heat behind me. This was the heat I wanted. The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's lava was overflowing in my direction.

Yes, your madness. Release it, even if it's just a little like that.

That night, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon and I made camp. We had traveled so slowly that the next town was still far away.

Across the campfire, the Extremely Evil Smiling Demon watched me dress the animal I had hunted. He hadn't said a word since the afternoon.

The good thing about a campfire is that it makes any silence feel less awkward.

I roasted the meat and gave it to him.

"You can go into the carriage to eat."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon finally spoke.

"Why aren't you asking me to drink? Do you think I'm a piece of trash who won't keep his promise?"

I responded calmly to his thorny words.

"I'm going to."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon was speechless at my unexpected reply.

"Of course I am. I ran so hard to win."

"Then why haven't you?"

"I was planning to drink after we ate. You don't seem to like alcohol that much, and you don't like drinking with meals, do you?"

"If you knew I didn't like it, why did you suggest we drink?"

"Because it's a penalty. If you lose a match, you have to do something you don't want to."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon stared at me quietly, then looked down at the meat I had handed him.

Then he suddenly lifted his mask slightly and began to eat.

I was startled.

I never expected him to lift his mask and eat in front of me so easily. I had predicted I would have to provoke his pride a little first. His unpredictable whims were beyond my control.

"It's bland."

"The salt is right here."

As I extended my hand, the salt on a piece of leather rose into the air. The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's eyes widened. He knew that lifting countless grains of salt with telekinesis was far more difficult than lifting a single object.

CHWAREUREUREUK.

The salt flew through the air and sprinkled onto his meat.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon's pupils trembled as he stared at me. His desire to fight me flared up again.

"It's still bland."

"Without even tasting it?"

I smiled at him, knowing he clearly wanted to see more of my skills.

"They say eating less salt helps you live longer. The Demonic Physician said so, so you can believe it."

"Second Young Lord, you are truly…"

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon started to say something but stopped.

What was he going to say? Was it 'madman'? Or 'you're so annoying'? Or maybe…

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon started eating the meat again. I watched him for a moment, then started eating too.

When my hunger was sated, I brought out the alcohol. We often camped out, so our luggage was never without it.

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon again lifted his mask slightly and drank. He said he disliked it, but he drank it just fine.

"It's not like I'm taking off the mask coolly. It looks pretty pathetic, doesn't it?"

"It doesn't look impressive."

"You're finally speaking honestly."

"That's why I like it. It's uncomfortable being with someone who tries too hard to look impressive. You can tell just by looking at my older brother."

The Extremely Evil Smiling Demon suddenly drew a long line on the ground with his meat bone. Then he drew a vertical line where I had drawn one before.

"Where am I now? You said you'd spare me if I came this far. Have I come this far?"