Star vs. the Forces of Evil : Marco Diaz The Conquest Devil

Narrator's POV

"Lady Brunzetta... the forest is too quiet." The groups of indigenous warriors tracking Marco and Hekapoo suddenly stopped after the words of a veteran warrior.

"You're right. I can't hear any animal sounds, not even the forest's noises," muttered another warrior, scanning their surroundings.

There were about twenty warriors and warriors, accompanied by their chief and their guardian goddess, Brunzetta.

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They would have wanted to bring more men, but that would have left their village defenseless against potential problems.

Of course, the idea of reducing the number of warriors didn't come from the tribal chief, but from the woman leading them, mounted on an enormous bear. Brunzetta was a minor goddess of dimension X-103.

She had watched over this forest and its inhabitants, especially the indigenous people, for millennia. It was rare for a stranger to disturb the balance of her domain.

This situation is a problem, but she appreciates a bit of distraction in her long immortal life.

'Where does this "Bloody Smile" come from? It appeared suddenly and doesn't even respect the forest's fundamental principles,' Brunzetta thought, carefully scanning the surroundings.

The atmosphere had been heavy for a while, to the point where even breathing sounds echoed in the air.

*Crack*.

At the sound of a branch breaking on the ground, the warriors immediately raised their weapons toward the source of the noise.

"Sorry for the delay, I had to catch a woman... hard to manage," Marco declared, emerging from the forest's shadow.

Initially, some warriors were troubled seeing a young man in tattered strange clothes. But the furious expressions of their companions quickly made them understand the intruder's identity.

He was the cause of all recent misfortunes in the forest and their village. He had humiliated and defeated several warriors for no other reason than they had crossed his path.

He was "Bloody Smile".

"Capture him. And if he resists... kill him," Brunzetta declared seriously, her eyes fixed on the disturber of her forest.

Although young, the boy before her was clearly dangerous.

His danger came not so much from his magical power, though impressive, but from the aura he passively exuded.

'He reeks of blood... It's like he's spent years fighting for survival.' Brunzetta's reflection was wrong. Marco had only spent a month in this snowy forest.

Despite his inexperience in the wilderness, he had adapted thanks to the books he had brought with him.

The bloody aura Brunzetta perceived was merely a side effect of a devil's passive aura, amplified by his excessive blood consumption.

"You heard me? Show the goddess the courage of the Oja warriors!" the chief yelled, rushing toward Marco.

The arrows shot by the archers were faster to reach their target than the warriors themselves.

"A bit slow," Marco murmured, drawing a slightly rusty kukri he had confiscated from an indigenous hunter.

Marco had no experience with this type of weapon, but Hekapoo did.

She had taught him the basics of handling short bladed weapons, and Marco had worked to perfect his skills during his free time.

*Slash*.

After cutting the incoming arrows with his knife, Marco deflected a huge axe heading toward him.

*Bam*.

The impact made the snow on the ground vibrate.

Taking advantage of the moment when the chief tried to recover his weapon, Marco planted his knife into the man's thigh and twisted until he heard a crack.

"This one is neutralized," Marco mumbled, ignoring the big warrior's painful moans on the ground.

Marco had severed the femur bone. The indigenous chief would never be able to use his leg normally again, even if he miraculously healed.

*Bam*.

Marco was brutally thrown against a tree. Too focused on neutralizing the chief and dodging arrows, he had forgotten the presence of the dark-skinned woman perched on the bear-like creature.

"*Cough*. That's not very fair," he said in a mocking tone before pulling out an animal-skin water flask he had made.

"Ma'am, don't let him drink!" a warrior screamed, but it was already too late.

Marco calmly got up, cracking his neck as if nothing had happened.

This flask contained fresh blood. Marco made sure to keep it warm to prevent coagulation and use it to heal himself mid-fight.

"Are you a vampire?" Brunzetta asked. During her long existence, she had met numerous creatures, and Marco's behavior reminded her of some blood-sucking species.

"Do you really think I'm going to reveal such a crucial detail about my race?" Marco responded with a sarcastic smile.

Marco's words left Brunzetta and the indigenous people speechless. The tense atmosphere suddenly became... awkward.

…

Brunzetta's POV

Disappointment...

"Is that all you're capable of?"

Before me lies 'Bloody Smile', gravely wounded.

At the beginning of our confrontation, I was wary and excited by the strange abilities he seemed to possess.

The Oja tribe warriors had mentioned his impressive regeneration through blood, superhuman strength, and, of course, abnormally high endurance.

So why am I disappointed?

Once an archer "succeeded" in piercing his flask, 'Bloody Smile' began to fight less berserker-like, almost clumsily.

I quickly realized that despite his strength and speed far superior to any warrior, he had enormous gaps in his fighting style.

I literally felt like I was facing a barely trained young warrior, awkwardly handling a knife, but endowed with formidable strength and speed.

Without his crazy blood-linked regeneration, 'Bloody Smile' is no more frightening than any monstrous beast in this forest.

"I really thought I could have a bit more fun... Now I'm good for spending more centuries of solitude and boredom."

With a precise gesture, I decapitated my prey, ending the night hunt.

As I was about to pick up my trophy, several black birds suddenly appeared, regrouping to reform 'Bloody Smile'.

"Ha..."

An Oja warrior in the back pushed out a scream before collapsing, his head separated from his body.

"I would never have believed that I would actually 'die' in a cartoon story," the creature before me mumbled.

"How?"

I had to know.

I had literally decapitated him, and he was no longer emitting any magic or breath.

"Let's say... I still have faithful dogs."

Strange chains suddenly appeared on the bodies of several warriors in the back.

"If I die, they die in my place," he declared in a nonchalant tone.

When had he placed these strange chains on them? And why were the warriors unable to touch or remove them?

"Thank you for this fight, Brunzetta. I understood that I must accelerate my learning."

The chained warriors then began to attack their own companions, sowing confusion among the indigenous people.

'Bloody Smile' rushed toward me again.

…

Marco's POV

Control.

It's the ability that made the 'Devil of Conquest' so terrifying, not only to humans but also to other devils.

It allows me to impose a contract on an entity if I consider myself superior to it or if I beat it in combat.

During this conflict, I had deemed it useless to control the indigenous people, preferring to rely on my personal strength.

I was naive...

During my confrontation with Brunzetta, I ended up imposing a contract on the goddess's subordinates in the back.

Why? Because I was getting my ass kicked!!!

The terms of the Contract I used were simple: they had to cede their life to me.

So I simply exchanged my life for that of a random warrior when Brunzetta tried to decapitate me.

A situation similar to Makima facing Pochita.

Except that, unlike Makima, who had access to the lives of the entire Japanese people, I only have the lives of the warriors present, unable to resist my control.

Result? 90% of the warriors betrayed Brunzetta. But I only revealed 50% of my hand out of caution and to sow more chaos.

The final result of this war of attrition is easy to predict: a fallen goddess, covered in blood, at my feet.

"You defended yourself well. But if you had been ready to sacrifice all the Oja warriors, I would have been forced to flee," I said honestly, lifting Brunzetta by her hair.

"Go to hell! *spits*" she said, in a poor attempt at rebellion.

I wiped her blood mixed with saliva from the back of my hand before sketching a polite smile.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I *am* the devil."