The rising of the Shield Hero X One piece

The Rising of the Sword Hero part 19

The blade delivered a cut across the demon's chest and the whole clearing was covered in a blinding light. The demon fell to the ground with a noise that shook the clearing, and he lay there, motionless and defeated. Zoro sighed and lowered his hand; was that the end?

And with that, the short, but brutal battle came to an end. Rifana dropped her sword to the ground and sat down, breathing heavily. She had thought that both of them were all going to die here, but somehow, we prevailed. Not without any damage, though; she winced when the red burn marks on her skin throbbed painfully when exposed to the cool air.

Zoro sat down next to her. "Here you go. Does it hurt?" He asked, offering her friend a box of ointment. Rifana received it with gratitude, and rubbed a bit of the ointment on her burn marks. The pain soothed immediately.

Zoro stood over the demon who was now lying motionlessly on the ground. He could still see his chest rise and fall, which meant he wasn't dead. The demon red eyes were staring straight into his face, but not with an expression of hatred or anger, but rather, that of a defeated surrender.

"I lost," he said in a mournful voice. "You really are strong, Sword Hero; you and your companion. You are the strongest human fighters I have ever faced in my life. Being killed under the hand of someone like you is an honor. Do it."

Zoro's eyes narrowed. "You know me?"

The demon sighed sadly. "I have lived in this world far too long already. I've met other Cardinal Heroes, and even someone wielding the Legendary Sword, just like you. And I know when I am outmatched. Please... finish your job and put me out of my misery. The only thing I want to ask of you... is that after I die, please take care of the little one for me. She's innocent... do not let her... fall into the hands of those slavers again."

Then the demon closed his eyes, ready to accept his fate. Zoro didn't say anything for a few seconds. And finally, he raised his hand.

As the source of your power, I, the Sword Hero, command you, decipher the law of nature and bring life to the being in front of me heal.

The demon eyes snapped open. What...?!

To his surprise and shock, a wave of healing energy washed through his body and started fixing the damage he had suffered during the battle. The demon was so shocked that even after he was completely healed, he was still unable to move away from where he was lying. He just stared at the Hero. who had just healed him, dumbfounded, completely forgetting that the man in front of him had just nearly taken his life.

Finally, after a few minutes staring, the only word he could utter was a single "Why?"

Zoro answered him by raising his Legendary Sword, which was still in the form of the sword Curtana, which he had used to strike the demon down earlier. "Because of this. This sword convinced me that you might not be the one who I need to kill after all."

Curtana, the Sword of Enma the legendary sword which used to belong to oden. This demon was not an evil being which terrorized Mirso Village and destroyed things mindlessly like the village leader had lied to him about. Why that man did that was unknown, but there's something the Sword Hero could confirm, which was that there was definitely something happening here behind his back.

The demon rose to his feet. Rifana let out a terrified squeak and instinctively raised her sword to defend, even though she knew for sure it wouldn't do anything much against her opponent.

A burst of fire suddenly exploded from the demon. It swept through the clearing, forcing Rifana to cover her face but strangely, there was no heat coming from it. The flames coming from the demon rose all the way to the sky, and when it died down...