Chapter 3

On the other hand, Hakuryu transformed into a human form and was waiting for Ashura to return.

“Hm? That’s strange.”

Hakuryu was perplexed by the sudden disappearance of Ashura’s presence. Originally Ashura’s beloved steed, Hakuryu’s ears and nose were thousands of times more sensitive than a human’s. Even after Ashura left, he had been tracking her presence. But now it has suddenly vanished.

The time it took for Ashura to be overcome by drowsiness and carried away was less than a few minutes. So, for Hakuryu, the waiting time wasn’t that long.

“Knowing the king, she’ll be fine, but…”

Hakuryu stepped forward into the darkness.

Ashura spat out from a hole of light, skillfully rotated her body, and landed gracefully.

“Where is this? What the heck!”

Ashura kicked an attacking demon that suddenly lunged at her. Around her, many tribes were in the midst of battle with the army. A river flowed nearby, and it seemed like a wide riverbank. Looking back, the hole had disappeared.

―Damn! Did they change the flow midway?―

However, this required an even higher level of technique.

―I can’t take this lightly―

Looking ahead, she saw the familiar figure of the pig demon running away, bandages wrapped around its fingers.

“You! Stop!”

She tried to chase it, but other demons swarmed to block her path.

“Get out of my way!”

Kicking to the right, punching to the left, and finishing off the rest with a roundhouse kick and an uppercut, Ashura took them down with movements as graceful as a dance.

Grabbing the arm of one demon and twisting it down, she took its weapon and continued to pursue the pig demon.

“Ashura! Is that you, Ashura?!”

A familiar voice suddenly called out. She turned toward the voice.

“Ryujyu? What’s going on here?”

In the midst of a fierce battle, Ryujyu swung his bloodied sword and ran over to Ashura. His handsome, chiseled face was unchanged.

“What’s happening? Why are you here? You’re not reinforcements, are you?”

“There’s no time to explain. I’m chasing that pig! Come with me!”

Ryujyu looked in the direction Ashura was pursuing. Sure enough, a pig-like demon was fleeing hastily.

“Man, you’re as demanding as ever.”

Though it was inconvenient to leave the battle, he had no choice when it was the king’s command. Ryujyu followed after Ashura.

This was the southern district of Shura Realm, where Ryujyu had been sent to suppress uprisings. Most of the rebels were already incapacitated.

Catching up to the fleeing pig demon, Ashura delivered a powerful flying kick to its back.

“Hey, pig-face, did you really think you could escape from me?”

The pig demon rolled away like a stone and fell, landing on its backside. As it turned to look back, Ashura pointed her sword at its throat with a blank expression.

“I’m not a pig! I have a proper name, Pikara!”

Even though it was immobilized, it tried to maintain a facade of bravado.

“Hmm, Pikara, huh. Whatever.”

Ashura snorted in derision, a bad habit of hers.

“Ryujyu, bind him with a strong spell.”

“What? Oh, got it.”

Ryujyu, still new to the Shura Realm, could at least manage binding spells. He took restraints from the small pouch at his waist and wrapped them around Pikara’s wrists and ankles.

“So, Pikata, who ordered you to do this? There’s no way you could pull this off on your own.”

Ashura tapped Pikara’s head with her sword as she spoke, intentionally getting his name wrong.

“It’s Pikara, not Pikata! I did it all by myself!”

“Liar!”

An aura of anger burst through the sword, like lightning over Pikara’s head.

“Eek!”

“Don’t mess with me. There’s no way a demon like you could disgrace me like that. And creating a ‘Flow Path’? Impossible!”

“What disgrace? What happened?” Ryujyu interjected at a curious point.

“That doesn’t matter!”

Ashura snapped at him too.

“Heh. Acting tough, but you were crucified by my spell. I wanted to enjoy it a bit longer.”

“What? Really? I wish I had seen that…”

Ryujyu’s words were cut off as a dull thud sounded, and he fell unconscious.

“You seem to want to suffer greatly. Don’t judge me by my appearance.”

To Pikara, Ashura already looked terrifying enough.

Bringing the captured Pikara, they returned to the Shura King’s residence about half a day after setting out. Hakuryu was already back at the mansion.

“Here’s the king’s sword.”

Ashura, who had been carrying an unfamiliar sword, leapt for joy at the sight of her own sword.

“Hakuryu! Where did you find this?”

“It was in the cave where Ashura disappeared, just lying there.”

“I see…”

She heard that there were no traces left in the cave. The hut was gone, and so was the ‘Flow Path’ hole. Hakuryu, unable to track any further, had given up and returned to the mansion.

The mansion had a ‘Kaleidoscope’ that could view not only the Shura Realm but all six realms. Hakuryu confirmed Ashura’s safety through it and waited.

“So, did this Pikara confess?”

“No, I left that to your intelligence department.”

Despite saying that, Ashura was not fond of torture. As an undefeated warrior, Ashura preferred overwhelming strength in battle and had no interest in harming a defenseless opponent.

“Alright, but what’s with Ryujyu’s mood?”

The three of them were eating together as usual, but Ryujyu remained silent, eating with his head down.

“He probably doesn’t want anyone to see his face.”

Ashura smirked slightly and continued eating her meat. Ryujyu’s cheek was still swollen, like he had mumps from being punched earlier.

“Oh, this fried chicken is delicious.”

“Is it? That’s good to hear.”

For them, meals were like snacks. They didn’t need to eat, but they felt hungry after battles and wanted something tasty. Preparing these meals was Hakuryu’s job. Though a vegetarian himself, Hakuryu would cook anything to please his master.

In the large Shura King’s mansion, the three lived together, with Hakuryu taking care of all household chores. This is why he was said to work too much.

“King Ashura! Urgent news!”

During their enjoyable meal, the intelligence department members rushed into the mansion.

“What is it? We’re eating right now!”

It was Hakuryu who spoke, not wanting the enjoyment of his meal to be interrupted, especially by his own subordinates.

“S-sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. What happened?”

Draining the sake in his left hand, Ashura nodded to Hakuryu and asked.

“The Pikara you ordered us to interrogate…”

“Yeah, did he spill anything?”

The intelligence officer hesitated.

“Well, just as he was about to say something, his neck suddenly snapped…”

“What?!”

Ashura and Hakuryu stood up simultaneously. Ryujyu lifted his head slightly.

“What is going on?”

Entering the room where Pikara was being interrogated (essentially a torture room), they found him sitting with his neck limp.

The intelligence department’s torture involved mental techniques rather than physical ones, causing no visible injuries but being far more effective.

“He was about to reveal the name of his superior.”

“Did he say anything else?”

Ashura approached Pikara and inspected him. His neck had been broken, along with a spell. It seemed it could only be undone by the one who cast it.

“He kept insisting he did it alone but finally mentioned it was under orders from someone beyond our reach.”

“Oh?”

Ashura’s red eyes gleamed as she turned around.

“Who could that be, I wonder?”

The intelligence officers, Ryujyu and Hakuryu, all got goosebumps. The aura of anticipation for a formidable foe flickered red, matching her eyes.