Benimaru vs Carrion

A/N: Sorry everyone for going dark for a while. I've been super tired these last few days and have been putting in extra hours at work because my car is dumb and it wants to die on me. It's not really an excuse or anything, but I just want to let you know why it happened. Anyways, it's fixed now and I should be back to fairly consistent uploads.

Maybe...

----------------------------------------------------------------

The air was still in the standoff between Carrion and Benimaru. The royal beast keepers and I stood off to the side watching in anticipation. The observers from the outside, on both sides, awaited for the one who would make the first move.

Carrion looked majestic with his Super Saiyan 3 haircut, ape-like muscular torso, and eagle-like wings. He slowly spun his golden halberd with his left hand while sizing up Benimaru.

Carrion, like most high-ranking majin, had an analysis skill. While he used it mostly for the day-to-day paperwork of ruling Eurazania, now he was using I to its fullest extent to analyze Benimaru for the slightest hint of movement.

One strike. That's all he had to land as his halberd had the effect of cutting through all defenses and barriers like butter. He couldn't even keep track of how many powerful and foolish challengers and human heroes fell to his blade as they foolishly trusted their barrier skills to protect them. If he could just strike one clean hit on his opponent he could end the duel in an instant.

Benimaru, on the other hand, was cautious. He knew that the Demon Lord in front of him was one of the weaker ones, as he was told by Rimuru, but he also knew that Carrion had been fighting life and death battles against some of the world's most formidable challengers for longer than his entire family's ancestry could be drawn back.

Benimaru closed his eyes and placed his hands on his trusty katana Benihasu (Crimson Lotus). This weapon was personally gifted to him by Rimuru after he had Kurobe and Kajin work on it all day and night for a week straight before having microscopic runes etched into the metal near the habaki (blade collar). This was no doubt a divine class weapon. Perhaps the first to be made in the new world and especially by new world denizens.

Benimaru unsheathed the blade and readied himself by taking a stance. HIs orange eyes locked onto Carrion.

They stood like this for only ten seconds, but for the audience, it felt like an eternity. Then, without anyone being able to notice. Both of the combatants disappeared from their original position.

*Clang!*

The echo of metal hitting metal sounded in the center of their personal arena. Benimaru twirled to the left and threw a quick strike with the tip of his blade towards the demon lord who parried with his golden halberd.

In the next second, Carrion struck with the butt of his weapon in an attempt to knock Benimaru's sword away for long enough for a clean strike, but he was met with frustration as Banimaru simply placed the tip of his weapon on the quarterstaff's shoe and guided it away gracefully.

Benimaru quickly twisted the angle of his blade and attempted to run it along the edge of Carrion's weapon right over his fingers, but the demon lord, in one swift motion, dropped the weapon in time for the blade to just barely mss his fingers and caught it with his other hand in a reverse grip.

Carrion used a burst of magicules with [Magic Haki] and succeeded in briefly pushing back Benimaru's weapon that was nearing his hands to cut them off. In that brief window, Carrion released a huge amount of magicules and channeled them into his spear.

"[Beast's Roar]!" He yelled as he twirled his weapon and aimed the tip of the halberd at Benimaru's center. A golden array of magicules quickly sone around him and he thrust at a speed nearly impossible to dodge.

Unfortunately, Benimaru had recently been training under both Hakuro and Cocytus, so this level of speed, while unexpected, wasn't unavoidable for the General of Red Lightning.

*Shoosh!*

*BOOOOMMMMM!!!!*

The golden energy soared just above Benimaru's head and he leaned back so far he nearly fell over. Unfortunately, Carrion was prepared for this. It wasn't the first time his attack missed. He quickly took both hands and gripped his halberd tightly while swinging downward on the now fully guard opened Benimaru.

"This is the end!" Carrion cried as the weapon came down on Benimaru.

Thankfully, Benimaru's battle experience with the two-weapon masters had left him in similar positions to this before, so he had a counter.

"[Blast Aura]!" Benimaru called out as a burst of red flame erupted from him, ever so slightly changing the direction of the incoming weapon to just barely graze his chest but not immediately cut him in two.

Carrion, of course, had [Fire Resistance] so he wasn't harmed, but he was affected by the sudden shockwave and briefly put off balance. While he wasn't vulnerable, due to Benimaru's current state, he couldn't follow through wit another strike due to this.

Carrion looked at Benimaru as he emerged from the flames of his burning aura and smiled maniacally. HIs beastman blood was boiling as a fight with a worthy opponent such as this was something he hadn't had in several decades. He quickly took to the sky and flew in a large U-turn, gaining speed as he went.

Benimaru regained his footing and watched as the flying beastman accelerated towards him while preparing a devastating strike that would cleeve him in tow if it landed. He placed Benihasu back into its sheath and took a stance.

As the Beastman approached, Benimaru quickly pulled his sword using an Iaido technique he had recently created.

"!"

*BAM!*

Suddenly, all of Carrion's momentum had vanished and he floated in what seemed to be slow motion in front of Benimaru who had smashed his blade into Carrion's weapon so fast that all of his forward motion had stopped. A shockwave of compressed air erupted from the exchange and kicked up dust for hundreds of meters.

Carrion was momentarily stunned, but that moment was all that Benimaru needed as his katana had already found its way back into its sheath.

"!" Benimaru called out.

The world stilled for the two combatants as the color drained from their surroundings. Then, the background, leaving only two colorless beings floating alone in a void. Benimaru's orange eyes glowed dangerously as he looked piercingly at Carrion. The former demon lord smirked, knowing what was coming next was his defeat. Carrion's golden eyes closed and he accepted the attack of his enemy with a smirk.

"" (Cruel Divinity)

*Shlick!*

Time resumed and Carrion fell on his knees Blood erupted from the wound on his chest. Even if he survived this, he knew that even with his natural regeneration skill, he would never be rid of the scar that would forever stand proudly on his chest.

Benimaru's sword slid back into his health and he exhaled heavily. He had to push his body to the absolute limit to use those last two martial arts and use a great deal of magicules to force his muscles to comply with his demand to move at such high speeds.

"It's over," I said while I watched Carrion fall forward. His face turned to the side with a satisfied smile even though he lost consciousness.

"Lord Carrion!" Phobio called out as the three Beastkeepers all ran towards their master.

Benimaru let them pass as he made his way before me and bowed.

"Lord Rimuru! I have completed the task you have asked of me."

"Excellent work Banimaru. You have surpassed all of my expectations for you."

"Thank you for your kind words."

I smiled at him while stepping to the side. I let Momiji run up to him and jump at him, tackling him into a hug.

"Eh!?! Momiji! Your here!?!" He said while being snuggled.

"Of course I'm here! How could a wife let their husband run off and do something so reckless by himself!" She pouted but didn't let go of her hug.

I leave the stammering Benimaru alone like the shonen protagonist that he is and make my way to the three Beastkeepers and former demon lord. The Beastkeepers don't know any healing magic and are desperately trying to stop Carrion's bleeding.

"Here" I say, throwing them a blob of full potion.

"Hu?" Suphia reacts and catches it before looking at it carefully.

I think she might question what it is, so I open my mouth to say something when she presses it up against Carrion's wound and bursts the thin membrane, soaking him in the healing fluid.

"Your not eve going to ask what it was?" I ask her curiously but she ignores me as Carrion begins to stir. He opens his eyes a second later and sits up while being hugged by his subordinates.

"What happened? That attack should have been fatal." He asks to himself.

"Can't let my new subordinate die on me can I" I say while looking over him with a smug grin on my face.

Carrion looks up at me for a second with an unreadable expression before smirking to himself and lowering his head.

"Looks like you got me good. Me and my country at that." He then looks up at me with slightly pleading eyes. "Please take care of my country."

My smirk becomes even bigger before I respond, "Who do you take me for? Of course I will!" I say as the three Beastkeepers all smile and the two girls giggle at our interaction while Phobio smiles to himself.

Carrion sighs in relief before smiling at me. "Then take care of me. Boss."

...

The reconstruction of the province of Eurazania didn't take long. The Fourth Army was already working hard while the battles were going on and with the Beastmen soldiers, who were now out of work, tens of thousands were now ready to be employed in the rebuilding effort.

Carrion and I started working out new methods for planting the fruits which served as the main food source of the former country and I invested a lot of money into creating new breweries and cosmetic companies that could use the excess fruits to generate unique and exotic new products for the human markets in the central region. These would be the main industries of the province as well as having our main, non-cereal crop, agriculture being based there.

I also set up a new trading caravan that would arrive in Estonia in two weeks carrying fresh food and supplies from the province as a proof of concept for trade through Jura. We could bypass the Draconic mountains for now and have one major stop in Fulbrosia before heading straight for the fortress cities in the country. This trade route would serve a double purpose as well. Fulbrosia's mountainous terrain was chock full of wonderful sights and vistas, making it a scenic route for many traders and bringing a large tourism industry into the country. Multiple famous artists even began gathering there and Nero sponsored the creation of the Fulbrosia Arts Academy there.

This was one of the conditions Frey had for surrendering to me. She wanted her territory to remain mostly undeveloped so that her harpies and her could fly freely. Normally, she was worried that I would try to take the vast resources of her country, but once she saw the mining dimensions and the infinite resources there, her worries were relieved.

Why bother trudging through dangerous and cold mountains to dig up ore and log for timber when you could leave your home in the morning, drop by the cafe before work, jump into a mining dimension where you could literally pick up the rocks on the ground, and collect more ore in an hour than you'd get in an entire week in other locations.

The timber would be taken from the Jura forest more easily than Fulbrosia as well. Ever since I partnered with the Dorian's and other tree spirits, they had been selling their excess forest resources in exchange for money to give to Ramiris. They had always practiced forestry, but now they could actually make money off of doing it. Ramiris was just shamelessly taking money for their hard work and using it for her experiments.

Oh and the construction of a personal library filled with manga and light novels. I had a feeling I would be finding Veldora in there a lot.

I also incorporated Milim's domain into Tempest as an 'autonomous region' in the same way Hong Kong is 'autonomous'. The region was mostly deserted and due to soaking in Milim's magicules for hundreds of years, became extremely fertile land where I began growing cereal crops year-round.

Since Milim didn't have Frey as her subordinate in this timeline, she really didn't care about managing her territory at all, so when I asked her if I could manage to for her, she simply waved her hand and said 'yeah yeah whatever'. I moved many of the Dragon worshipers to Tempest so that Milim could be closer to them and they would all train together, along with anyone foolish enough to want to participate.

Carrion and Gobuta were particularly persistent in trying it out and so a small tournament was created, where challengers would face off against the Dragon faithful working their way up from the weakest to the strongest.

Most were immediately beaten black and blue, but a few made it all the way up the ranks to fighting the priests. Carrion, of course, did much better than any of the others, getting all the way up to fighting with Middray, the head priest, but was still defeated in the end.

I didn't notice it until a few hours in, but many people started placing bets and watching the fights with great interest. Beastmen, in particular, loved watching the fights, especially after watching the duel between Carrion and Benimaru, so this became a local event and I got to create a city for tournaments could be held regularly. A few days later, we made it official and so Carrion became the Arena Champion at the new Arena City in Tempest. Not the best name, but it's what stuck.

None of the Dragon Faithful would participate in the fighting, since it went against their religion to fight for money, but a few became commentators and Middray even set up a 'battle school' where he taught the art of combat in the Arena City. Occasionally, Milim would spar with people there and so I made her a massive mansion where she could live at in her free time.

Of course, she never once slept there, preferring the magically comfortable beds in my palace, but she would occasionally stop by to eat the food or spar with the faithful, which made them all very happy.

...

Like this, three weeks past and the raids on the villages in the Re-Estize kingdom had begun. It was time for Rimuru to make an entrance into the new world of Overlord.

Oh, and Hamsuke would be there too.