The Demon King Who Draws

Chapter 39: Amon’s Unarmed Combat: The Hands of Intent

With a crackle and a buzz…

Behind Amon, a portal crackling with electricity opened. From it, she summoned a pair of colossal mechanical hands the likes of which had never been seen before.

The mechanical hands, pristine white with rings of lightning adorning each finger, seemed like relics from an ancient era. As soon as they appeared, they captured the attention of every onlooker in the mansion.

Zap… Crackling intensifies…

Amon’s body began to change.

Around her delicate frame, sparks of electricity started to flicker, and soon, a concentration of that energy gathered in one place.

Buzzing crescendo…

Above Amon’s small horn, a massive horn made of lightning materialized, revealing a portion of her true power.

Sizzling sound…

One of the small mechanical hands floating around Amon tapped the marble floor with its index finger, right where Faust and his companions were gathered.

Sensing battle, the group had already moved from the cramped dining room to a solitary location.

Crackling…

The small hand, emitting sparks, left a black mark on the floor. The dark circle it drew became Amon’s personal barrier.

As the black ring was completed, Amon declared,

“Do not step outside this circle.”

Knight Mary immediately protested,

“But we should… together…”

Amon smirked.

“If you wish to boast of the foolishness of burning yourself in a flash of lightning, I shall not stop you.”

Silence…

Amon’s gaze and aura had changed drastically from the calm, cat-like presence she had been at Faust’s side.

Sensing the ominous shift, Baron Grimhal stepped back and pointed at her.

“What are you doing? Remove these people from my sight at once!”

The baron’s private soldiers numbered in the dozens.

From the fourteen carriages that had poured out men to the servants residing in the mansion.

All were trained fighters.

Even if Faust deemed their training level low, the sheer number of them was enough to be oppressive.

Rapid footsteps…

Masked figures swiftly surrounded the group.

The aura emanating from them was uniform, likely because they had all been raised as Grimhal’s hunting dogs.

Trained the same, collared the same, their aura was inevitably similar.

“…Kill them.”

At the command of the apparent leader, a man with a scar across his eye charged forward.

Whoosh…

Despite being in plain sight, his presence was faint.

But the impression he left was lasting.

Wham…

Amon’s giant mechanical hand swatted the man approaching her as if he were a mere fly.

Thud…

The impact alone turned the man’s blood into rain, and his flesh scattered in all directions.

Gasp… Groan…

The knights groaned at the bizarre spectacle.

In contrast, others flinched but showed no further reaction.

They were desperately suppressing their fear, the foundation of their training as combat hounds.

They too must have felt the gravity of the situation, but without anyone to engage, the fight could not be established. It would be nothing but a massacre.

Heavy breathing…

The excitement led to frantic breaths.

The extinguished hall was shrouded in darkness, but all were accustomed to the dark. There was no need for torches here.

After a moment of silence, Amon’s voice pierced through the darkness.

“If it does not flow, it only rots.”

She chuckled mischievously and flicked her finger.

Snap…

The large mechanical hand floating around her mimicked her gesture exactly.

Massive snap…

Sparks flew from the point of impact.

Crackling… Thunderous boom…

An immense light and surge of electricity erupted from the impact site.

Screams of agony…

Those close to the impact bled from their ears and eyes as they fell. The first line of defense around her crumbled effortlessly.

What followed was not silence but panic.

…If they do not fight, they die!

Years of training led them to make a split-second decision. Their feet moved, driven by reason suppressing fear, towards the slightest chance of survival.

“Fire! Approach afterwards!”

Blazing sounds… Whizzing…

Shurikens and arrows.

All projectiles were futile.

Continuous crackling…

The mechanical hands surrounding her continuously emitted lightning, creating a barrier that dropped all incoming projectiles to the ground.

…To defeat her, one must plunge a blade directly into her heart.

Someone must carry the burden and leap into the flames.

The task left for them.

Delay, and they all die.

“Ughhh!”

“Kill her!”

Their shouts rose to a frenzy.

The battlefield grew more intense.

Whoosh…

An assassin, holding a straight sword to his chest, braced for death.

They would die together.

This sword for the demon…

Electric sizzle…

The giant mechanical hand pulled back and then shot forward towards him.

“Ah…”

An involuntary groan escaped as the assassin’s vision filled with the palm of Amon’s hand.

Thunderous roar…

“This is the end…”

With the collision, his entire skeleton turned to dust.

Crunch…

As his brain capable of thought was crushed, the flesh that was his body ultimately became a conduit for the lightning Amon unleashed.

Fizzling out…

The marble floor crumbled under the path of the lightning, retreating to the walls.

…A display of terror materialized.

“Yes…!”

The witch, flinging lightning with her colossal hands, laughs.

“The scent of human blood, it’s been a while. Let’s enjoy this a bit more.”

Her sweet voice, like that of soothing a child, pierced sharply into the hearts of her enemies.

“Ah… Aaaaaah!”

“Charge at once!”

“Don’t give her any openings! Push forward!”

In the midst of the shattered battlefield, a somewhat useful command was issued.

The large circle made of people surrounding her gradually tightened into a smaller one. Each small circle was a threatening gear with blades embedded in it.

But Amon was lightning itself.

Zap!

As she clapped her palms together, a ring of thunder swept around her.

Rumbling…

A ring of lightning expanded outward simultaneously.

“Arghhh…!”

“Ughhh…”

“Choke…”

The circle made of assassins quickly turned into a heap of charred remains.

Then, a decisive blade hidden behind that black circle.

It was the mansion’s butler, who had once been a mercenary. Using the death of the soldiers as a springboard, he lunged into Amon’s gap.

This beast-like charge, out of reach of Amon’s giant mechanical hands, would have been fatal had it reached her.

“Die, witch!”

…If only it had reached.

Thump!

Suddenly, the butler’s vision froze.

More precisely, the scenery behind his field of view, which had been receding, suddenly stopped changing.

Creak…

What blocked him was one of the small mechanical hands floating around Amon.

Everything about her was a weapon.

Avoiding the large hand didn’t solve anything fundamentally.

It was just the same end through a different process.

“Your effort was commendable.”

“You… monster…”

“…Cry out properly.”

Snap…

The mechanical hand broke the butler’s neck.

“She’s a demon.”

Amon waved her hand.

Fizzling…

As she pointed her hand downward, the large mechanical hand crushed the soldiers from above.

Crash…

“Run…”

“Gurgle…”

Despite the extinguished space, each time Amon swung her hand, a fragmentary scene could be witnessed.

Giggles… Maniacal laughter…

A massacre.

It was nothing but a massacre.

Fizzling continues…

The slaughter continued with flashes of light until there were no more screams.

…

And then, for a moment, a brief silence followed.

Thunderclap…

Was it Amon’s doing, or was the sky enraged by the terrible river of blood? Lightning in the sky briefly illuminated the post-silence scene of the mansion.

Where the light lingered, there was an abundance of charred remains and crushed flesh. Only one person was left, paralyzed with fear, losing consciousness.

“It’s a lie… This is… Yes, a dream…”

Baron Grimhal stood halfway up the stairs from the hall to the second floor, barely standing with a dazed look in his eyes. There was no one left to follow, no… to hear his command.

Silently…

Amon began to ascend the stairs slowly.

“Hi… Hiiiek… Don’t come! A demon… A demon, you say? Yes! Look here! Adelia! It’s a demon! A demon! You must confront this demon!”

“…”

The holy knights under her command focused on Adelia’s lips.

If she cried out for the demon’s execution, the holy knights would have to storm this nightmarish scene. They would have to cross the thin line of life, the black circle, themselves.

“The demon is the enemy of the church! That must be true! Hurry…”

“I…”

She raised her hands to cover her eyes.

“I saw nothing tonight.”

“To kill…! Hypocrite! The demon is right before your eyes… Cough…”

One large mechanical hand gradually approached and seized Baron Grimhal’s body.

And slowly…

It granted him a painful death, though it could not compare to the suffering of those who had died before him.

“Ugh… So… Suffocating… Can’t breathe…”

Crunch…

As the hand clenched him, the sound of bones and flesh being crushed was heard, and blood spattered between the fingers.

Blood was everywhere.

The smell and the traces.

Even the portrait of Baron Grimhal adorning the central hall was splattered with its owner’s blood.

The night’s slaughter, hidden by clouds covering the moon, had come to an end.

Creak…

Having finished the massacre, Amon sat on the mansion’s staircase railing, leaning back.

Snap…

As she flicked her finger, a streak of lightning touched a few torches in the mansion.

Whoosh…

A few torches lit up, illuminating the interior. It made denial of reality impossible.

Tonight, in this place, a demon killed humans. Dozens of lives were sacrificed.

This horrific scene unabashedly displayed the gap between poorly trained ordinary humans and a demon.

Smirk…

Amon, with her hair frizzed by static, wore a lively smile.

How many eons had the ancient archdemon breathed alone in such a pandemonium?

“…Now, do you understand why one must possess violence that no one can challenge?”

Faust recalled the conversation he had with her in the black market at Amon’s words.

Violence is just an efficient means.
To which she replied:

That’s a good saying. Just remember that this efficient means can control almost any situation.
It’s not an absolute truth.

It’s a value that can change at any time.

Yet…

“Well, at least for today.”

At least for today, her words felt like the truth.

Squeak…

Amon laughed brightly, like a child praised.

Beautiful.

So much so that she didn’t seem like the demon who had created this scene of slaughter.

Silently…

Faust forcibly turned his gaze away from the beautiful demon to the saint. How would she judge today’s slaughter?

Adelia bowed her head deeply and said,

“Ves has given me a great assignment tonight.”

[Assistance reward has been updated.]

[The reward is 12,000 top-grade magic stones.]