The moment Alfred signaled the villagers to attack, Hilda and Lara joined in the battle as well. The two girls blocked the incoming attacks of the villagers. The two went into the same formation they used back in the Dungeon. Hilda as the vanguard and Lara as the support.
"Ren don't worry about us here. We will deal with the villagers, you go ahead and kill that monster!" Hilda shouted at Ren, who didn't hear it since all his focus at the moment was on Alfred.
...
Ren charged forward towards Alfred ignoring the swarming villagers. Ren proceeded to use [air step] intermediate level wind magic, that allowed the user to walk on air. It hardens the surrounding air into something like a stepping stone, allowing the user to walk on it as if on land.
Ren used this magic to bypass the villagers and head straight towards Alfred. Seeing Ren using [air step] surprised Alfred since he had thought Ren was a pure fighter type, who only used mana to enhance his physical abilities.
"[Icicle barrage]" Seeing the approaching Ren, Alfred greeted him with an ice spell. six to eight pieces of sharpened floating ice appeared above Alfred and with a flick of his wrist, the six spears of ice headed towards Ren.
Ren who saw the approaching ice spears dodged some and the others that he couldn't he sliced with his scythe. Ren at the moment was deadly quiet as he rushed towards Alfred. This was really different from his usual excited nature when fighting strong opponents.
Ren was angered because of what Alfred said about the villagers. Their deaths and the numerous experiments done to them after were done all for the sake of curiosity. There was no grand goal at mind, Alfred simply did it cause he can. Every time Ren thinks that what if these villagers where the people of his own village, what would he feel then?
Once he thought about his mother dying for a reason Alfred stated made his blood boil. If this were the past him, back when he was a demon lord he wouldn't be so angry. Since demons of his era were thought that the weak die and the strong take all.
Yet now that he was human, and had been brought up by human parents. He had new multitude of feelings that he couldn't control. Ren already understood this, but he wasn't expecting this kind of raging emotion. Most of all he didn't expect to care so much about total strangers that had nothing to do with him. At this moment he couldn't even hear Silika's voice who was communicating with him in his mind.
...
As Ren kept on attacking Alfred, he was at the same time trying to control his raging emotions. Alfred, on the other hand, was surprised by Ren's way of fighting, though the weapon he was using was quite interesting as well, yet Ren's fighting style was even more interesting.
Alfred had lived for a very long time, including the time when he was still human could be counted in the hundreds. He has met many people and saw many fighting styles from different countries over the centuries but none were like Ren's.
Even though he was consumed by anger Alfred could still see the distinct precise fighting style of Ren that was made for efficient killing. How could a boy who looks no older than sixteen years old, be so skillful?
Well, it doesn't matter now, as long as Alfred is able to kill Ren he could easily know the answer to his question if he extracts Ren's memories.
"[Shadow bind]" Alfred used an advanced level darkness magic. A circular shadow appeared below Ren and was about to bind him, but before it could do so Ren jumped upwards. The shadow that was underneath Ren then sprouted chains made from the shadow and was trying to capture Ren.
Seeing this Ren swung his scythe cutting the chains apart. He then landed on the ground and breathed in and out, calming himself down. Ren who had finally calmed down took a stance. He held the scythe with his right hand on top and his left on the bottom. The blade of the scythe was pointing behind Ren, as his left foot was in front pointing forward, his right foot supporting his weight from the back. The six sword like needles floating above his head, Ren's then concentrated his raging mana inside of him.
Once he was calm enough Ren spoke to Alfred who looked at him curiously.
"Sorry about that, showing you such an unsightly battle."
"Oh, your demeanor changed... Don't worry child I won't fault you for your actions."
Hearing what Alfred said made Ren snicker, a being that was less than a thousand years old was calling him a child, how funny. Still seeing as in this form he was a child, Ren didn't bother much about this statement.
"Now that I'm back in the game, how about we start the real battle!" Ren then showed his vicious smile, the same smile he showed back in his own world when he gets excited about a battle. Feeling the sudden change in Ren's mana flow, Alfred strengthened his [magic barrier].
"Very well child come at me."
As if that was the signal, Ren pointed his left index finger at Alfred. "[Dark Curtain}" Ren used darkness magic that covers the enemy with artificial darkness. This spell was meant to be used to blind the opponent. Still, Alfred was also a master of Darkness magic, so he knew how to counter this spell. He used a burst of mana to scatter the darkness away.
When his vision was restored he couldn't spot Ren. His barrier was then broken and he was hit from behind. Alfred was kicked by Ren and was pushed into a wall. The wall Alfred hit was smashed a bit. Ren didn't let up and was about to do a follow-up attack but Alfred countered.
"[Bone Wall]" Alfred used a necromancer spell and summoned a wall made out of human bones. Ren was able to demolish this wall, but it gave Alfred enough time to stabilize himself and used another spell.
"[Summon Undead]" Two undead with tower shields were summoned, blocking Ren's path.
"[Earth Pierce]" Ren used another spell to counter, two earthen spikes came out of the ground and pierced the two undead shield and all. Ren was now coming down on Alfred his scythe raised above his head. He slashed downward at Alfred, unlike the attack before this one attack easily destroyed Alfred's [magic barrier] and was about to strike Alfred himself, but before it could do so Alfred was able to dodge to the side.
"[Bone Lance]" Alfred summoned a lance made out of bones and threw it at Ren who was still in mid-air. Ren seeing the incoming attack, used [air step] and was able to haphazardly evade. Ren who landed on the ground a bit of balance stabilized himself before getting into a stance.
After that quick exchange of attacks, the two could already understand the ability of the other. They knew that the opponent they were facing still had an ace or two up their sleeves. This made one of them even more cautious, while the other was extremely excited.
"Now that the warm-up is done. How about we get to the real thing." Ren said so in a domineering manner.