I Died and Became a Noble's Heir

Chapter 534: I found you...

S’s crimson gaze followed Mira’s advance, showing a detached interest akin to that of an observer, bored with what was in front of him.

His blood-covered butler suit remained impeccable despite the blood painting it from collar to hem, the fresh stains mixing with dried remnants.

Mira’s fire blazed around her wounded form, orange flames wreathing her enhanced physique as she moved into striking range.

The massive wound Alaric had inflicted across her torso was still cauterized, the sealed flesh limiting her mobility but not eliminating her combat effectiveness.

"You think you can torture me?" Mira’s voice carried defiance wrapped in wounded pride. "I’m part of The Council. I’ve killed entities far more dangerous than some demon playing servant."

S didn’t respond verbally. His red eyes looked at her position with mild curiosity, his posture relaxed despite standing within her attack range.

Mira launched forward, fire propelling her across wet stone as her right fist blazed with concentrated heat.

The strike came fast. Enhanced speed pushed her capabilities to their limits as her knuckles drove toward S’s face with force sufficient to shatter bone.

Mira’s flaming fist struck his cheek at an angle. The impact landed with a meaty thud that echoed across the dome, S’s head snapping sideways from the force.

He stumbled backward several steps, his hand rising to touch the spot where her strike had connected.

Blood welled from a split in his cheek, dark crimson dripping down his jaw to join the existing stains on his collar.

Mira’s orange eyes tracked the blood with satisfaction.

First evidence that S could be damaged despite his casual demeanor.

’Maybe, he’s not that strong. Was I worried for nothing?

She pressed forward immediately, leaving him no time to recover. Her left hand came up in a rising palm strike aimed at S’s chin, fire condensing around her fingers as she prepared to drive the attack home with everything her Contractee state could provide.

S blocked with his forearm, the impact driving him back another step. But again, his positioning was weird.

He’d raised his arm too late, taken the force against muscle and bone rather than deflecting properly. The kind of mistake that came from inexperience or panic.

Another sign that S wasn’t as dangerous as his reputation claimed.

Mira spun low, her leg sweeping toward S’s ankles with fire trailing behind the kick. S jumped, clearing the sweep by bare inches, but landed off-balance.

His arms windmilled briefly as he struggled to maintain stability, creating another opening that Mira exploited without hesitation.

Her right fist drove into S’s stomach, fire erupting around the point of impact as her strength buried her knuckles deep into his torso.

The blow should have doubled him over, forced air from his lungs, created the kind of devastating injury that incapacitated even strong opponents.

S coughed, blood spraying from his mouth as he staggered backward. His hand pressed against his stomach where Mira’s strike had landed, his breathing ragged and uneven.

"Not so confident now, are you?" Mira’s voice carried cruel satisfaction as she advanced, her fire blazing brighter with each successful hit. "You’re just another demon. Powerful, maybe, but still vulnerable. Still mortal. Still able to die!!!"

She launched into a combination.

Left jab to his face, right cross to his ribs, spinning back kick to his chest. Each strike landed clean, driving S further backward across wet stone as blood began accumulating on his suit from multiple impacts.

His butler outfit was getting destroyed. The pressed fabric tore under her flaming strikes, revealing pale skin beneath that bruised and bled from her assault.

His perfect composure was cracking, replaced by defensive desperation as he raised his arms to block strikes rather than countering.

Mira’s confidence grew with each successful hit.

This was just another overconfident demon who relied on reputation rather than actual capability.

Another target to be eliminated before her own death became inevitable.

She gathered fire around both hands, condensing heat to levels that made the air shimmer and distort around her fingers. Concentrated flame that could burn through flesh and boil blood inside veins.

"Any last words before I burn you alive?" Mira’s orange eyes blazed with satisfaction as she prepared to unleash everything she had into S’s wounded form.

S’s crimson gaze followed her countenance, and a subtle alteration became apparent in his demeanor.

The desperate defense vanished, replaced by amusement that transcended simple confidence into absolute certainty about how this would end.

His right hand moved to his chest, fingers pressing against the blood-soaked fabric of his butler suit.

Then he pulled away, his hand coming away wet with crimson blood.

The blood didn’t drip. Instead, it floated, suspended in the air around S’s hand as if physics had become optional within his immediate vicinity.

Mira’s fire flickered as confusion washed over her confidence.

Blood manipulation.

S’s smile widened, his blood-stained teeth becoming visible as dark amusement bled into his expression.

The congealed blood coalesced, manifesting a distinct form within his grasp. Elongated and slender, it culminated in a sharpened point that reflected the subdued light filtering through the barrier’s dark magical emanations, making it appear both moist and deadly.

A spear. Crafted entirely from blood, solid enough to pierce flesh and sharp enough to cut through bone.

S’s arm blurred in the next instance.

The blood spear shot forward faster than Mira’s perception could properly track, crossing the distance between them in a fraction of a second.

She tried to dodge, fire propelling her sideways in desperate evasion, but the attack was too fast and too perfectly aimed.

The spear punched through her left shoulder clean, entering just above her collarbone and exiting out her back in a straight line.

Mira’s outcry resonated across the battlefield, a visceral expression of distress as her tactical composure faltered amid the pain she felt.

She staggered backward, her right hand rising to touch the hole in her shoulder, fingers coming away wet with her own blood.

The wound was clean.

A perfect circular hole through flesh and bone that began bleeding immediately, crimson streaming down her chest to soak into her already damaged clothing.

Her orange eyes followed S’s movements, the confidence that had characterized her earlier assault now replaced by horror.

The Blood Crazed Demon.

The entity, renowned for its formidable reputation, orchestrated massacres with artistic precision, transforming entire battlefields into crimson landscapes through the weaponization of the very substance essential for sustaining life.

She’d vastly underestimated the demon standing before her.

S’s red eyes gleamed with dark satisfaction as he watched Mira process her mistake, his posture relaxed despite the blood and bruises marking his face and torso from her earlier assault.

"Did you truly believe," S’s voice carried across the space between them, conversational despite discussing violence, "that I was fighting seriously? Did those hits you landed represent my actual capabilities rather than deliberate performance?"

He gestured to his damaged butler suit, to the blood staining his face, to the bruises already beginning to fade as his enhanced constitution worked to repair minor damage.

"Every strike you landed was permitted. Every opening you exploited was deliberately created. I was testing your capabilities, measuring your responses, evaluating whether you deserved the reputation Council members supposedly carry."

His smile widened, becoming predatory, transcending simple amusement into genuine anticipation.

"And I found you... disappointing."