Demon Lord's Reincarnation

"Why do you seem a little bit disappointed?"

"Truth be told I was expecting someone else to be the so-called leader."

"I'm guessing it was a friend of yours that has been missing in the old world."

"Yeah, that's right."

"What's the name of your friend."

"Elena, she's a rather small girl for her age, incredibly intelligent and very sassy."

"Hm, I haven't heard of her, but if she's here then she should be registered."

"I already asked there are many people in this city that are named Elena, but none fit her description."

"... Then don't you think she's already dead?"

"Heh, that nosy girl kicking the bucket? That isn't possible, I'm sure right now she's playing around with those so-called Gods under the palm of her hands."

"You really believe in that friend of yours."

"Yeah, she's the only one that I can truly call my friend."

"So you wanted to meet me just to make sure if I'm that friend of yours. Then now that you know I'm not, what do you want to do next?"

The very second the leader said those words the two looked at each other and the atmosphere heated up. The two of them started releasing an unseen pressure that could have suffocated any normal person to death just by being close to them.

"Aside from wanting to know if you're my old friend Elena, I wanted to see how strong the leader of the Rebellion is."

"Are you challenging me to a duel?"

It was only a slight change of tone but it made the leader sound more cold and deadly than she did before. The feeling Erste was having at the moment was as if the leader was pointing a blade at his neck.

"I see that you're excited. So where do you want to have our dance milady?"

"A dance is it?... Very well, I shall be your dance partner. Follow me and I'll show you the dance floor."

Erste chuckled as he heard the leader's serious answer. The two of them then headed out and into the hallway, the leader then turned one of the weapons adorned on the wall upside down. A clicking sound could be heard from behind the walls and a door hidden within the walls appeared. The leader opened the door and entered while Erste followed in.

The room beyond the door was a large space with walls that had runes written on them. Erste could feel powerful mana being emitted from the walls.

"This is my training ground, where I try using newly created techniques. The entire room is protected by multiple layers of rune spells."

"Rune spells?"

"It is something we use to contain the mana of the world, it's basically a spell in written form."

"So those runes are there to protect the walls from crumbling because of a powerful attack."

"That's basically it. So what weapon would you want to use?"

"I usually use whatever but now I'm trying to practice using swords mostly longswords."

The leader snapped her fingers and multiple longswords appeared in front of Erste. Seeing how flashy she summoned those swords made Erste sigh as a portion of his lip curled upward. Erste took the sword closest to him since all the swords seemed equal.

"How about you, what weapon do you use?"

"There is no need to take a weapon since my weapon is already here, for I' am the weapon. My entire body from head to toe is a weapon. My body is harder than steel, and my hands and legs are sharper than any weapon."

"Normally I would have fought you in your own specialty, but I am practicing using swords so I won't."

"How confident, as expected of someone who defeated an Old God."

"Truth be told, if you told me to beat that Old God like I did before I won't be able to do it."

"Is that so?..."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I won't still win."

Erste had a vicious smile on his face as an incredible aura was emitted from his body. The leader felt like she was being stared down by a predator, this feeling was the same as the time she had when she was stared down by a dragon.

"You really are something else, aren't you?... Hey, do you want to be the leader?"

"Huh?"

"I mean do you want to be the leader of the rebellion?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't you already doing a good job as the leader, why suddenly spout such nonsense?"

"... I have been able to survive for so long not only because of my intellect and strength but also because of my instincts and luck. Right now my instincts are telling me that you're going to do better than me as a leader."

"I'm no leader, and the only strategy I know is to recklessly charge forward and fight head-on without backing down."

"Maybe that's the kind of leader we need right now. Doing things my way may indeed make us survive longer but the rebellion would never be able to win. All I'm doing is delaying the inevitable. I have seen the strength of the Old Gods, and I know for a fact that before you came here, defeating an Old God was near impossible. Even if all of us attacked together, we would have never won. The only reason I was even able to have a draw with an Old God is due to luck. That Old God had just fought a Dragon and was severely wounded, so I was able to fight back to a standstill."

"Now you're just telling me how good of a leader you are. That despite such a desperate situation you were still able to lead these people. So why are you telling me I would have been a better leader than you."

"Since only you can grant them victory. Since only you can give them hope of truly defeating all the Gods."

"... Even if you say that, I also only won because of luck, and I'm sure that I won't be a better leader than you are. So sorry but I decline your offer."

"Is that so... How about a wager then?"