Suffering a defeat and progress

If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead, you can check out my paterón:

https://www.patreón.com/Bakorio

The link is also in the synopsis

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Ryushi tried to put on his façade of a harmless person with a warm smile, but for some reason, he found it very hard to do this time as his mouth kept twitching before he frowned and responded "I don't know"

Yuki eyed the next batch of food that just arrived and said with a weird grin "Oh please, take your time thinking about it… Don't bother with anything else" he left 'Especially eating' unsaid as he started wolfing down the food again and his hunger was slowly getting appeased…

However, Ryushi surprised him as he also started eating again and when Yuki shot him a surprised look, the latter simply grinned at him 'You think I'm as dumb as you and can't multitask, heck I can even do ten things at the same time kiddo'

'Tch, my plan failed' thought Yuki, although he could see that Ryushi was still absentminded…

After they finished their food, Ryushi's eyes suddenly lit up with different light and a weird smile covered his face like a kid that saw his favorite thing in the world, and when Yuki noticed what the waiters and waitresses were carrying, he finally understood the reason for his reaction… It was time for dessert!

'Oh he like sweets huh' thought Yuki as he could see that Ryushi was really happy and he couldn't help but mutter with a smile "It seems like I got my answer"

Ryushi completely ignored him and kept enjoying the food and so did Yuki before they were told that the food they ordered as take-out was ready…

'Seeing Ryushi's blue face as he's paying the bill, I feel like I might end up bankrupt if I eat like this every day… But my body seems to require a lot of food lately… this is bad' Yuki kept hugging his wallet closely to his chest while thinking about the grim future as Ryushi approached him with a slightly paler face...

"Damn you Yuki, that was expensive"

"Well it's not like I ate it on my own" Replied Yuki with a smirk, and Ryushi suddenly realized why Yuki kept inviting him to eat despite him eating more than 90% of the food on his own 'This bastard was ready for this moment, how cunning' Thought Ryushi before he shrugged and said "Well played"

"I don't know what you are talking about" said Yuki as he picked up the bags filled with delicious food and started leaving happily just like a girl that had just finished shopping and was ready to go home…

Ryushi followed behind him silently and was contemplating 'Should I strike now? He's completely defenseless…' but he then shook his head and just followed Yuki to the car… If only he could see the eerie look in Yuki's eyes waiting for his prey to move to its death like an apex predator before his eyes went to normal after seeing that Ryushi made his choice and saved his own life… This was his final assessment for him, a crucial one…

"Oy Yuki, can I get some of the sweets" said Ryushi while rubbing his hands like a greedy merchant and Yuki shot him a weird look before he said "I will leave you some" which brought a smile to his face and he started driving them to Yuki's home…

Yuki didn't care if Ryushi knew where he lived or not because this place was a literal fortress and with the demons around, even a nuclear strike won't be enough to do shit to them with their powers recovered... They could just teleport whatever is sent to them back the way it came, and boom bye bye they will go…

"Well then, it was nice hanging out with you… we should do it again" said Yuki through the window of the car, and Maou who was staring out of their room's window lazily happened to see this and he couldn't help but mutter while looking at the many bags Yuki was carrying 'Ah, another poor soul fell prey to the clutches of the devil'

Then he turned to his generals and smiled like a true devil "Gentlemen, we've got ourselves a nice dinner today"

The eyes of Hanzo and Ashiya were confused at first, before they also looked out of the window and their eyes also started shining like devils with wide spooky grins that made Yuki's spine tingle slightly and even Ryushi felt it but when he looked at the source, he saw nothing there and only an empty window…

'Was it just my imagination?' He thought, but then he noticed the worried look on Yuki's face and thought otherwise, but he didn't care as he said "Brat I will never take you out to eat again unless it's a cheap restaurant"

"Tch, how stingy" Replied Yuki completely ignoring the fact that he just made Ryushi spend millions of yens for just one meal before they bid each other goodbye and he started walking to his apartment resolutely... but his first obstacle soon greeted him…

"Oh Bakorio, you are back, I missed you buddy" Said Hanzo with a happy smile like that of an angel as he rushed to Yuki "Let me help you out, these bags must be heavy"

'Aren't you the one that said I'm not your buddy not long ago? But these demons are indeed sneaky, they sent my ally first to soften me up, freaking bastards' Thought Yuki before he smiled gently "I missed you too buddy, but how can I make you carry such trivial things, don't worry I can handle them just fine"

'Trivial things? These probably weigh 50 kg, and the smell…' Hanzo had an obsessed look on his face as he thought 'What a heavenly smell!'

Walking past the creep that kept staring at his bags and following him silently even better than his shadow, Yuki knocked on the door of his room, and surprisingly he could hear someone say with a warm voice from inside "Oh everyone please sit down, I will get the door" It was none other than the hateful voice of Ashiya…

After opening the door, Ashiya smiled happily at Yuki and greeted him "Oh it's Yuki-kun, what a surprise, we were just talking about you and your great feats! Come in come in don't be shy, it's your home"

'Of course it is you motherfucker piece of crap of a demon being' thought Yuki with a disgusted look as he observed how Ashiya kept shamelessly throwing him praises but his eyes kept shifting to the bags he was carrying before they completely fixed on them as his nose kept twitching...

After glaring at him, Yuki simply ignored him and said "I'm home…" and Emilia and Mashiro soon said "Welcome back", and Yuki nodded at them with a smile before his eyes locked with Yurei's eyes and he saw the defeated look in them.

'What's going on? How come my loyal servant looks so defeated?' thought Yuki but the look Yurei sent him only said this 'We have been checkmated boss, there's nothing we can do…'

'How come?' thought Yuki as he went to Emilia and entrusted her with his treasure before he carefully observed the room and finally noticed the demon's trump card, Maou was happily talking with Mashiro and helping her draw and discuss her manga, and he was doing it skilfully like a master painter, and as if just on time, he locked eyes with Yuki and said with an evil smile "Ah, Yuki you are back, Mashiro-chan, it seems like we will have to continue after dinner, thankfully Yuki brought a lot with him"

"Um" nodded Mashiro at him with her dull face…

'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO; Mashiro how can you do this to me' Yelled Yuki inside his head and Yurei couldn't help but turn away from this heartbreaking scene 'Sorry boss, I failed you'

"Y-you…" Yuki muttered slightly but he saw Mashiro staring at him strangely and ended up letting out a sigh before glaring at the demons and promising to take revenge for this humiliating defeat as the demons kept chuckling at him but they were soon interrupted by Emilia as she yelled at them"Hey you three, you better come help me prepare the table otherwise there will be no food for you..." And they quickly ran to help her like the shameless people they are…

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After he was done with his second dinner and was prepared to go to sleep, Yuki first decided to check his new status after his recent power up…

[Name: Yuki Chibana (Robin Peterson)]

[Strength: 11 > 31

[Speed: 6.5 > 10.5]

[Vitality: 9 (+0.8) > 20 (+1.8)]

[Soul: 14 > 30]

[Free attribute points: 0]

[Magic: 100 (+40)]

[Mana: 750 (+150)]

[Mastery: Mutsu Enmei-Ryu]

[Skills: Phantom phasing (1/10) | Dark strike (1/10) | Dark shield (2/10) | Quick step(1/10)| Dimensional link (1/10)]

[Abilities: | Basic elemental resistance | Heart of stone | Body of stone | The hero's favor]

[Skill points: 2]

[Item: Space Ring (1/10) | Guardian's Orb (1/10) | Guardian's Horn (1/10)]

[Item Upgrade points: 0]

[Talents: Drawing | Minotaur's potential | Swordsman]

[Description: You are finally starting to shape into a powerful being, but you are still far from being capable of dealing with true monsters…]

'I can't wait to test how powerful I have become... stating by beating Rize…' Thought Yuki, satisfied by his great growth, before he turned his attention to a new quest he unlocked in the arena after finishing the Warrior's glory quest.

[Quest: Standing at the top]

[Quest Description: This world contains many different beings that could only be found in a world of fiction, some rely on their bloodlines, some rely on their magic, and others in their special abilities… but then there are those who were artificially created, they were mere humans yet they achieved unmatched levels of strength, and one of them is none other than the champion of the underground arena Kuro!]

[Quest Task: Win 50 fights in the arena to gain the opportunity to challenge the champion and defeat him!]

[Quest Reward: 1 Random skill | 1 Random Item | 5 skill points | 10 free attribute points | 3 Item upgrade points| Additional rewards depending on the completion of the mission]

[Quest note: The Champion is your goal, but the road to reach him will be a hard uphill climb so be warned…]

'Seeing the ample rewards this quest gives including something I didn't receive before like the item upgrade points and the clear warning in its quest note, I can easily assume that this is going to be one of my toughest quests so far… I need to be careful, but I have plenty of time to complete it' thought Yuki and he soon drifted out to bed while counting how many times he would like to stab his neighbors…

….

Two weeks later…

Yuki's life was very peaceful, and he spent his time either training, enjoying himself, or accepting fights in the underground arena… and despite him not putting all his effort into it, he still gained a lot from his training such as an increase of 3 to his strength and learning a new sword skill from Emilia…

Although it was hard for him to use magic, but since he was learning a sword technique, he received the 500% buff from his swordsman talent which made it barely offset the difficulties he was facing (world with no magic, and magic core 200% difficulty, no special talent for magic)

Yuki couldn't help but reread the description of the skill in glee since it was the first skill he learned by himself, and he was delighted to see that he could also level it up using skill points!

[Sword aura (1/10): An active swords skill and one of the most basic ones. Magic coats the user's sword increasing its sharpness by 10% | Consumes 20 mana/second | Cooldown: --]

But this brought another thought to Yuki's mind and he ended up asking his system 'Oy, system, can I level up my skills even without using skill points?'

The system went silent for a bit before a notification appeared in front of Yuki saying [Are you dumb? Of course you can, the system is only here to make the host's life easier, but it doesn't restrict his natural development in any way! Do you think those talents you are getting are just for show? Heck you are even training your body and your stats are rising, why can't you think that the same is possible for skill? Why do you have to…]

After getting his answer, Yuki immediately ignored his system despite countless notifications appearing around him… But then a wall of notification appeared in front of him as the system sent him 100 middle fingers before it didn't bother with him again…

'I feel slightly dumb to not think about this but I'm happy I can make even better use of my talents in the future' Thought Yuki happily as he prepared for what was coming next… His revenge on Rize!'