On The Other Side: I Quit Being Human

Standing over 6'2" tall, aided by his muscular physique, the green-haired human who is smirking provocatively at me certainly looks intimidating to his fellow humans. The amount of Mana he has is also not something to scoff at; had he remained on the human's side, he would be stronger than the Heroes.

I look at the Rank Necklace hanging on his neck and find seven curled wings on it. That is already an incredible achievement for a human since most of them who decided to join our side stay forever at the Sixth Wing Rank.

As impressive as he is, still, I don't get why he is so confident in himself. I get that he is salty because a newbie managed to surpass him in three months but he should've known that challenging someone you barely know is stupid.

It is bewildering that an impulsive imbecile like him managed to survive this long and climb this high. Cursed Creations are indeed impulsive but all of them never question their instinct; they will leave the moment their instinct screams at them.

I wonder if this dude's instinct has stopped functioning.

"Are you too astounded by my presence to say anything?" he says, still with a smirk on his face.

Turning to Millonia, I ask, "Do you know this dunderhead?"

"He is the Passionate Theddion," Millonia answers. "He likes to challenge rising stars. He believes he is doing everyone a favor by doing that since he knocks them off their high horses when he defeats them."

"Has he ever managed to defeat one?"

"Quite a lot, unfortunately. He has broken a lot of weak-willed Warriors with great potential."

This Theddion dude is unique. Everyone may think that he does what he does either because he cares about the army or because he is just a jerk who can't accept the fact that there is someone better than him but I know what his true reason is.

I can see it clearly in his eyes. He just likes to fight. For him, maybe, defeating a genius brings him a certain excitement, which is why he keeps challenging those who climb the Rank fast. At the same time, he also wants to make the people he beats grow stronger; because he wants to fight them again.

This is still my speculation—it may be wrong—but, still, the dude is unique.

"Whispering about someone who is standing not far away from you is considered rude, no? Didn't you learn anything about manners?"

"Don't try to lecture me about manners when you are standing in my way to have my meal."

Theddion widens his eyes as he turns to look at my hand that is on his shoulder. We were 30 feet apart, a few seconds, so he is bewildered that I could eliminate that distance in the blink of an eye even without him realizing it.

"You are quite—"

"Move aside."

Even before he managed to finish his words, I shove him aside. He is caught off guard but he has enough skills to keep his balance to prevent him from falling on his butt.

I glance at the girls and gesture at the empty table ahead with my head. None of them moves from their spots; instead, they point their fingers toward Theddion who is glaring at me intensely.

Some of the Warriors in the room harrumph to show their dissatisfaction. I can tell that they are fed up with Theddion's antics, so they are telling him to stop fooling around, which falls on deaf ears—he looks even more eager than before to have a go at me.

"Pardon me for my rudeness, Lady Valeria." Theddion bows respectfully at Valeria. "I seem to have a crossing opinion with Eighth Wing Warrior Layland. Will you be kind enough to permit us to settle our differences?"

As part of the Demon King's Army, everywhere is a battlefield for us, Warriors. Ilschevar allows us to fight anywhere in this Kingdom as long as we don't kill any of the audience and are ready to take responsibility for the damage that we cause.

The only moment that we are not allowed to fight is when one of the upper echelons is within the vicinity. If we are still eager to fight, we have to ask for the upper echelon's permission and, most of the time, we get it.

"You may."

Valeria didn't think twice before saying it. She seems to be interested in how this fight will play out.

Theddion looks at me with a manic grin and says, "Did you hear that? I know that you are Lady Valeria's favorite, so I will tell you this. Don't expect her to come to save your ass. This fight will be only between us. We start this fight and one of us will end it."

Creak.

Every table and chair in the room is moved to the side, leaving an empty spot in the center of the spacious dining room. This spot is the impromptu arena where we will fight.

The frontmost seats are quickly filled. Valeria and the girls, of course, sit at the very front. I see more familiar faces sitting in the front; one of them is Kruff who is grinning excitedly. His Instinct is ridiculous, so I am sure he must have figured out how the fight will play out.

Standing in the center of the arena, I stare at Theddion who is standing on the perimeter of the arena. He is twirling the saber in his hands as he looks at me provocatively.

"What's up, big boy? What are you doing standing there?"

"Waiting for your handshake."

"This is not an official duel, boy—we don't have to do it."

,m Shrugging, I say, "Whatever. I just want to make everyone know that you know beforehand you are going to die at my hands."

The audience 'ooh' meanwhile Theddion's mouth twitches. He stops twirling his sabers and swings them to the side once, blasting the air but not cutting the floor, which is slightly surprising.

"Whenever you are ready, boy. Come at me! We start this fight—remember? There is no one to tell us when to start or when to stop."

He cockily gestures for me to come at him with his hand. Utilizing my Footwork Technique, I dash at him and appear in front of him in the blink of an eye. He has anticipated it, so he is not flustered in the slightest. He swings one of his sabers to my neck, prompting me to…do nothing.

Clank!

Fire sparks as his saber clashes against my neck which remains unscathed. His smirk leaves his face; his eyes widen in shock. He used Mana in the swing that I blocked. He must have killed a lot of people with that amount of Mana, which is why he is surprised that it does nothing to me.

"Keuk!"

My hand grabs his throat, blocking his windpipe. His face immediately turns red as he fails to supply his body with the oxygen it needs.

Quickly letting go of his sabers, he channels Mana to his hands and does his best to pry my hand off his neck. His feet are kicking the air, failing splendidly to kick me. I put an end to this vain attempt by telling Teanosvera to bind them with his shadow. He grunts after I did that and starts frothing.

Since I don't like having someone's drool on my hand, I want to end this quickly. I take out a dagger from my Spatial Storage and slash open his abdomen, cutting through his cheap armor. It takes a few seconds for the blood to flow out. I insert my hand into the slit afterward and pull out some of his intestines.

At this point, he is already losing consciousness. I don't want to kill a fellow Warrior, so I immediately toss him to the side before cleaning my blood-stained hand.

Thud!

Looking around as I clean my hand, I wonder why the crowd is quiet. I can't tell if they are surprised by how quickly it was concluded or how cruel I am. I believe the latter is highly unlikely, though. I mean, most of them still beat me in terms of cruelty.

"This idiot might be brass but he is still worthy of being kept alive." Gesturing at Thaddeus, I say, "Someone, take him to the infirmary."

When my hand is clean, I conjure water and clean the blood on the floor. I also spread some water particles in the air to get rid of the pungent smell of blood in it, in which I succeeded.

When the room is ready to be used as a dining room again, I look around the room and find the crowd still looking at me in astonishment. I contemplate what possibly makes it hard for them to believe what I did and then remember that I am hiding my horns out of habit.

When I reveal them, the crowd 'oohs.'

"Were you wondering if I am a Demon?"

The crowd merely clear their throat, answering my question. It is amusing that they think I wouldn't have been able to do that without being a Demon.

The tables and chairs are then put back into their original position. Valeria, the girls, and I can finally have our meals but I am slightly disappointed that Kruff keeps his distance from me; he only looks at me from afar with a smirk. It feels like he is avoiding someone in our group.

Millonia.