Ren Kuroda had been flying through the sky at a speed that shattered the sound barrier.
Then suddenly—
A small figure shot toward him from the distance at an even faster speed.
The stranger didn't even give him a chance to explain.
A fist came straight at him.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ren watched the rapidly enlarging punch coming toward his face. Naturally, he swung his own fist in response—after all, he had no intention of letting his ridiculously handsome face get smashed.
BOOOOOOM—!
A violent shockwave exploded across the sky.
The clouds surrounding them were instantly blown apart by the force of their clashing fists, dispersing like smoke under a gale.
Although the clash took place thousands of meters above the ground, those below—Rimuru and the others—felt as though thunder were rumbling overhead.
The thick cloud cover blocked their view of the sky, but the constant rolling booms echoing above made one thing perfectly clear.
Someone was fighting Milim.
And judging by the sheer scale of the disturbance, the opponent's strength was on an absurd level.
If Milim had fought them with that kind of power earlier, they would have been wiped out countless times over already.
"Who's fighting Demon Lord Milim up there? Another one of the Ten Demon Lords?" Benimaru wondered aloud.
"But we don't have any connections with the other Demon Lords. And that's Milim we're talking about. Even among the Ten Demon Lords, is there really anyone who could fight her like that?"
Because of the enormous distance—and because Ren had now become an Awakened Demon Lord—Benimaru and the others never even considered that possibility.
But Rimuru's Great Sage had already reached a conclusion the instant the battle began.
[Answer: Based on magicule analysis, the individual currently battling Demon Lord Milim is the supreme-level monster known as Ren Kuroda.]
Great Sage had just finished speaking.
Rimuru was about to reassure everyone that the newcomer wasn't an enemy—but rather their ally Ren—
When suddenly—
A figure streaked down from the sky like a falling meteor.
BOOOOOOM—!
An earth-shattering explosion erupted.
The descending figure smashed straight through the ground and crashed deep into the forest.
A small mushroom cloud rose into the air as the earth trembled violently beneath Rimuru and the others' feet. The impact gouged out a massive crater like a meteor strike, and countless trees were instantly uprooted as the surrounding ground collapsed inward.
Seeing that, Rimuru couldn't help but feel relieved.
Thankfully, the moment they sensed Milim earlier, they had deliberately lured her away from the city.
Otherwise, that single blow alone would have destroyed more than half of the town they had worked so hard to build.
"It's Lord Ren!"
"The one fighting Demon Lord Milim… it's actually Lord Ren!"
That was right.
The one who had just been punched down from the sky obviously wasn't Milim.
It was the passing—unfortunately handsome—Ren Kuroda.
And because he had been blasted out of the clouds like that, Benimaru and the others could finally see clearly that the person fighting Milim up there had been Rimuru's close friend all along.
Even after becoming an Awakened Demon Lord, with his magicule reserves surging and divine power from Monstrous Strength and Madness enhancing his body, Ren still hadn't gained any advantage against Milim in pure hand-to-hand combat.
Up in the clouds, the two of them had exchanged punches and kicks that cracked like thunder across the sky.
But unlike the brawler-style fighting Ren had experienced against opponents like Izayoi, Milim's combat skill was incredibly refined.
While Ren's raw strength—boosted by Monstrous Strength and Madness—hadn't fallen behind, his technical skill in close combat was slightly inferior.
One moment of carelessness—
And Milim's fist slammed into his face.
That single heavy punch had sent him crashing straight down from the sky.
If it weren't for the effect of the skill King of Pride, which reduced damage by half when facing opponents stronger than himself, the damage from that blow would have been far worse.
"Dragon Star Scatter Blast!"
High above the clouds, Milim watched Ren fall into the forest—but she had no intention of stopping there.
Gathering an enormous amount of magicules, she thrust out both hands.
In an instant, beams of energy burst forth like a meteor shower and rained down toward the crater where Ren had landed.
"Wind–Forest–Fire–Mountain Style—Move Like Thunder: Rokuzon!"
Seeing the dense barrage of falling energy beams—like a storm of shooting stars—Ren immediately drew the blade at his waist: Shin'yū.
Lightning erupted across his body.
Now that his magicule reserves were on an entirely different level than before, the electricity he released was powerful enough to influence the very weather.
Dark storm clouds gathered above the forest.
Answering the call of thunder, blue lightning surged over Ren's entire body.
The instant the blade left its sheath—
Only the scream of lightning remained in the air.
A blackened scar was burned into the earth by a thunderstrike.
And Ren himself—
In less than a single moment—
Appeared directly in front of Milim's Dragon Star Scatter Blast.
The raging lightning granted Ren unimaginable speed.
It also granted unstoppable penetrating force.
The beams of energy—formed entirely from pure star particles—seemed to possess a homing instinct, locking perfectly onto Ren's location as they shot toward him.
But Ren, now transformed into living lightning, became like a spear of thunder piercing the heavens.
One beam after another shattered beneath his blade.
In only a few fleeting moments—
He pierced through the entire barrage and closed the distance to Milim.
The edge of Shin'yū was now right in front of her.
With lightning wrapped around the blade and its speed pushed to the extreme, both its sharpness and destructive power had reached terrifying levels.
Ren was confident—
Even a being on Milim's level would have their defenses broken if struck by that attack.
At the very least, it would leave a wound.
Yet Milim, watching him destroy her Dragon Star Scatter Blast so easily and charge straight toward her, only looked slightly surprised.
Not panicked.
A ripple passed through space.
Suddenly, a massive embroidered greatsword appeared in Milim's hand.
She swung it sideways and blocked Shin'yū's thrust.
CLANG—!
The sharp ring of steel colliding echoed across the sky.
The violent lightning immediately burst outward like water finding an outlet, exploding in all directions.
The sky seemed to transform into a giant web of lightning.
At its center—
Stood Ren Kuroda and Milim.
As the one using Move Like Thunder, Ren naturally wasn't affected by the lightning from his own attack.
But surprisingly—
Neither was Milim.
The lightning pouring from Shin'yū struck the greatsword in Milim's hand—and was instantly suppressed and extinguished, as though some invisible force had blocked it.
That sword was the Demonic Blade: Tenma.
A Myth-grade weapon, gifted to Milim by Guy Crimson, one of the three oldest and most powerful Demon Lords in existence.
Though in truth—
Milim rarely used weapons.
After all, compared to swords—
She much preferred the feeling of smashing things apart with her fists.