?


    Known throughout the organization by various numbers over the years, Number 12 — the incubus — had rapidly risen through the ranks in the span of a few months and had only chosen not to raise his rank any further after meeting the ones known as the Single Digits in person.


    ??????


    His full name was Kino Soucriant.


    Born in a small vige in the western parts of the continent to the household of an unassuming farmer. He was discovered to possess an innate ability and a talent for swordsmanship.


    With the aid of his innate ability and sword skills, he was practically invincible amongst his peers and distinguished himself on the battlefield. With his racial abilities as an incubus, he could practically live forever as long as he fed off the vitality of others, and his name was soon known far and wide as the blood-sucking demon Kino.


    Having never known defeat in swordsmanship nor in battle, he walked an eternal path of victory.


    Nobody, not even himself, had doubted this fact, as such, he decided to venture out into the territory of the Primordials to seek stronger challengers and had entered the annual martial tournaments held by the Primordial Behemoth of Lust.


    At first, he had not joined to win as he knew his magic skills were far too weak to challenge mages on the level of Demon Lords. He had simply intended to let the entire region know of his prowess with the de.


    He had aimed to leave every Martial artist and swordsman crushed at his feet. However, he could barely believe the result of that tournament.


    Absolute defeat—


    For the first time in his life, he had been utterly humiliated and defeated. He hadn''t even stood a chance.


    The man who defeated him in the very first round was none other than Nine. He had entered the tournament in search of skilled recruits for the organization at the time.


    What scared him the most was the level ofpetition in that tournament. Despite the fact that Nine had made it to the semi-finals before stepping down, he had faced far more skilled opponents than he had been and that was a devastating blow to Kino, even more so than the actual defeat.


    He realized he had been living in a bubble all this while and how truly weak he had been back then. It would seem his perspective on this world had been too naive and limited.


    This was truly the tale of the big fish in a small pond.


    However...


    Despite the utter humiliation and defeat that would''ve shattered the world view of an ordinary lesser demon, Kino broke through the despair that would drive anyone to drink and steeled himself.


    Driven by his pure passion for the sword, he swallowed his pride and approached the one who had defeated him and pleaded to be trained by him. This was not something just anyone could do, approaching a being vastly superior to oneself would make even the bravest of demons cower.


    However, Kino was driven by pure determination and passion that would not back down for anyone. Seeing that, Nine decided to take him under his wings, soon he joined the organization called Numbers in the process.


    He trained ceaselessly, honing both his skills and his body.


    He learned more about magic and furthered his knowledge.


    The genius now applied himself like a schr.


    Defeat had only made Kino stronger.


    He had only one aim in mind.


    That was to wipe away his earlier shame and avenge his defeat with victory. To surpass the one that gave him that defeat.


    To that goal, he sacrificed everything and rose through the ranks of the organization rapidly until he has gotten to the 12th seat where he was qualified to meet the rest of the Single Digits.


    That was when his ambitions died.


    He had reached the limits of his magic potential and was struggling to gain any extra leverage he could by obtaining greater weapons and items to boost his strength.


    However, upon meeting the Single Digits, he realized. There were some walls, you couldn''t ovee.


    As such, he could not imagine himself loosing to anyone that was not a part of the Single Digits.


    ??????


    However —


    He had suddenly found himself back in the same situation on that very day of the tournament. His confidence and expectations, all blown away in an instant.


    —Rain closed in like a gale, her hands tightening their grip on the battle ax as she swung casually with a wide motion. Despite the fact that her movements with the weapon were amateurish at best, Kino was unable to defend against the attack or evade it, without so much as the time to move, Kino Soucriant''s top half went flying after being cleaved clean through.


    Kino''s fairly unremarkable life was thus extinguished in an instant. It vanished without him knowing why or how he had offended his opponent. Needless to say, he had failed to attain the strength he desired, and his life goal was snuffed in mere moments.


    Not unlike her usual self, Rain chuckled and said.


    "Is that how you n on making me pay for my mistakes? I did tell you not to underestimate me too much."


    Rain flicked therge weapon in her right hand, causing the blood stain on the de to dissipate. As Kino''s body sttered on the ground, the sword and item he had on his hands ttered to the ground as he didn''t even had the time to activate the magic item.


    Although the sight before their eyes was shocking, the remaining members of Numbers did not stop moving as they prepared their attacks.


    I suppose their im to be stronger than Number 10 wasn''t a joke.


    Rain mused to herself as she stalked toward the subus. Despite the fact that two of hispanions had died so easily, Nine wasn''t making any moves as he calmly watched the battle from the rear.


    Rain smiled, with both her speed and the hourss of Chronos, she could easily end this fight in an instant but she hadn''t done so as though she was awaiting something.


    As Rain approached Number 14, the Mana around her body shifted as the bat-like wings on her back pped rapidly and she took off into the air.


    She then pulled out two sets of multi-de weapons from behind her back as the des moved independently from one another as though they had a mind of their own.


    Her hands also didn''t stop moving as she pulled out the halves of a red pole that had been strapped to her thighs and connected them together as she prepared to move in for an attack.


    The multiple multi de weapons moved around her without any need for a conscious thought to control them as though they truly did have a mind of their own.


    Rain could sense theck of a direct influence on the weapons and found the method at which this was achieved to be rather interesting.


    This was most likely due to an enchantment on the weapons itself or a spell she wasn''t familiar with. Even so, most enchantments of this type only allowed for simple movements, and thus it was not usually suitable as a primary offensive method as it made one''s attack patterns predictable.


    Normally, such enchantments would not be used alongside a short ranged weapon and would be used as a distraction for mages to cast higher ranking spells that needed a full length of incantations in battle, but her skill to control these des was slightly different as she could control the extended des as though they were an extension of her arms.


    ? Cascading de Domain?


    ?Falling Vine Hook?


    Still hovering above the battlefield, Number 14 activated a second skill and the des of her weapon moved rapidly as they descended on the ground duplicating itself rapidly in mid-air increasing the area of impact considerably.


    While Thirteen also activated a skill sensing the disparity in their strength and nning to trap the emissary between a torrent of des and a storm of dark vines that tore through the reinforced walls and ground toward her.


    This was a barrier of des and vines. Stepping into this cage meant certain death and even if they were somehow blocked by the dark elf, it would be impossible for her toe out of such a torrent unscathed, and with that, 14 can move in to finish the job.


    However—


    Before both attacks could reach their intended target, Rain hadpletely disappeared from their sight and appeared behind the floating subus and swung the massive weapon at an impossible speed, causing the de to be ignited mid-flight as cracks began to appear on the weapon having endured far more pressure than it was built to handle.


    In the next moment, her head fell to the ground as her body still hung in the air, her wings still pping as she went through the motions she was already in having not realized her death.


    The vines moving towards her des shattered the skill that had lost its source of Mana and absolutely shredded her headless body as Rain moved out of the way before casting a spell in passing.


    "Widened Magic - Burning Fireflies."


    Specks of mes simr to the specks of lights still floating around the room rapidly appeared around Rain as they flew towards the approaching forest of vines, igniting them into a ze that instantly reduced the vines to ash.


    "Come on, attack with me! Let''s get him together!"


    A voice that sounded like a shriek came from under the hood of Thirteen as he raised his staff in the air and began to multi-cast several spells at once.


    "Grand Magic - Spirit Binding.


    Overtier Magic - ck Stone Coffin.


    Max Magic - Burning Light."


    To cast three vastly different spells simultaneously was no easy feat as this was something even most Demon Lords couldn''t do. This showed just how skilled and attuned with the Mana essence he truly was.


    However, none of that meant anything in front of absolute power.


    Several magic circles appeared around the hooded spirit as his aura skyrocketed and Mana exploded from his essence.


    The ground beneath the emissary''s feet shook violently and two ck pirs in the shape of coffins shot up from beneath the earth and mmed into her, trapping her within its walls.


    Simultaneously, translucent slippery vinespletely different from the ones earlier rose around the ck Stone coffins and bound them firmly in ce.


    These were both spells of the 4th tier boosted with meta magic and powered by the very life force of a spirit to transcend the limits of his users'' potential.


    To finish up thebo, a massive beam of burning light shot at the ck Stone coffin chained with spiritual vines trapping the emissary within for only a moment.


    Thirteen was no fool, he had put his pride as a superior species aside having witnessed the death ofradesparable to him in strength, and did not believe this attack was enough to kill the emissary.


    However, sacrificing all his Mana and even his life energy to power these spells was only to create an opportunity for Nine to end this.


    He firmly believed that no matter how strong this dark elf was, there was no way Nine— one of the Single Digits— the highest ranking elites of the organization, would be unable to kill this enemy.


    However—


    He caught the image of Nine from the corner of his eye yet to even take a single step. His expression hadn''t changed and he clearly had no intentions to help him.


    "What is this? What''s wrong with you?"


    Before he could even find out what was going through Nine''s mind, his eyes suddenly widened as he saw the beam of light that had shattered the Spirit Binding and ck Stone coffin being absorbed into an invisible shield around the emissary and his mind went nk.


    "Is this a joke?"


    A momentter, his attack came back at him faster than he could even think even with thought eleration as his body was erased from existence in the blink of an eye.


    Or rather


    , if he were any other species but a spirit, such an attack would have beenpletely fatal. However, that did not mean that he hade out of this unscathed.