The silence following the initial impact didn't last long. A low-frequency hum began to vibrate the very air, so intense that the surrounding dust began to dance in geometric patterns.
BOOM.
A massive shockwave erupted from the crater where the green-haired man had fallen. It wasn't an explosion of fire, but a violent pulse of kinetic energy that sent jagged slabs of the city wall and cobblestones screaming into the sky.
Markil's eyes widened behind his mask. He twisted mid-air, his Marcer barrier shrieking as it deflected the debris, but the secondary shockwaves continued to level the nearby buildings, turning homes into matchwood.
From the center of the settling dust, the man rose.
He was a mess. His vibrant green hair was matted with grey lime, and a thick stream of crimson blood ran down the left side of his face from a ruptured eye. But his remaining eye glowed with a toxic, emerald intensity.
His aura didn't just grow; it thickened, turning the air into a heavy, suffocating soup that felt like walking through deep water.
I guess I did something wrong, Markil thought, his heart skipping a beat as he felt the sheer weight of the man's presence.
I thought a focused hit would end it. Instead, I just cracked the shell of a monster.
The man stepped forward, dragging his massive hammer. The runes on the Ruin-Bringer began to pulse with a rhythmic, blood-red light.
He reached up, touching the warm liquid trailing from his eye with a trembling finger.
"Heh... heh... hehehe," he chuckled, a sound like grinding stones.
"You... you actually made me bleed. Do you know how long it's been since someone managed that? People usually just... explode when I touch them. Their atoms give up before the hammer even lands."
Markil stood his ground, his violet mana swirling around his feet.
"So what? You want a trophy for having a face that breaks?"
"But you..." The man's voice dropped into a dark, melodic whisper.
"You punched me like you actually believed you could win. I like that. Because when I break you..."
He tilted his head, the gravity around him warping the light itself.
"I want to hear the exact moment your confidence dies."
He paused, looking Markil over.
"Tell me your name, boy. I always remember the names of people who make me bleed."
"Markil," the boy replied shortly.
The man's smile twitched.
"No surname? No 'House of' or 'Son of'?"
"Sorry," Markil said, his eyes narrowing behind his mask.
"But I can't reveal it. You wouldn't like the answer anyway."
"It's okay," the man laughed, hefting the hammer with one hand as if it weighed nothing.
"I won't mind. My name is Amano Tetsu. I am a Hammer Warrior... or, as the cowards in the capital prefer to say, I was a High Knight of the SSS-Rank."
"Asler. Warfer."
In two streaks of silver and black light, Markil's twin daggers appeared in his hands. Simultaneously, his Kareno Eyes flared to life.
The world turned into a blueprint of vibrations.
He could see the "Heart" of Amano's hammer—a core of compressed gravity that acted as the anchor for the entire weapon.
Amano's eyes widened at the sight of the daggers.
"Those weapons... they aren't standard issue. The mana density in that black blade is... delicious. You're full of surprises, Markil."
"You won't have time to admire them," Markil growled.
"Because you're going to be dead by these weapons."
Markil vanished.
To the naked eye, he had simply ceased to exist, moving through the "glitch" in space.
Amano didn't panic.
He smiled, a terrifyingly calm expression on his blood-streaked face.
The moment Markil reappeared directly behind Amano's neck, daggers aimed at the gaps in his armor, Amano didn't even turn around.
He simply let the head of his hammer hit the ground.
CRACK.
The whole ground beneath Amano didn't just break; it detonated.
A 360-degree shockwave of Molecular Vibration tore outward.
Markil, caught mid-strike, was hit by an invisible wall of kinetic force that felt like being slammed by a mountain.
The vibration bypassed his Marcer, rattling his organs.
He was thrown back fifty feet, his daggers scraping the ground to keep him upright.
The Knights' Panic
On the edge of the district, four Royal Knights skidded to a halt.
Elara, a veteran with silver-trimmed armor, gripped her sword hilt until her knuckles turned white.
"Hey, look!" Elara shouted, pointing at the green-haired warrior.
"It's him! That's Amano Tetsu, the Hammer Warrior! The reports were true—he's been hunting Maren Walberd across the kingdoms, killing dozens of elites just to prove he's the strongest!"
"Who is that masked guy he's fighting?" asked Jaxon, a younger knight whose voice was trembling.
"I can't sense a single drop of aura from him, but he's standing in the middle of an SSS-rank impact zone!"
A third knight, Dante, arrived, his face grim.
"No way... I'm looking at him with Mana Sight, and he's invisible to the senses. It's like he doesn't exist."
"Don't you know the policies?" a fourth knight, Kaelen, barked.
"If an SSS-rank battle breaks out in a civilian sector, protocol 9 is in effect! We have to find an SSS+ rank or a Guardian to solve this!"
"Elara! Jaxon!" Dante shouted.
"Go find a Teleportation Magic user! Now! We have to get high-ranking reinforcements here before the city is leveled!"
"But Dante!" Jaxon cried out.
"The teleportation mages in this sector can only use their high-tier gates once a day! If we use it for a Guardian and it fails—"
"If we don't find Maren Walberd, we're all dead anyway!" Elara snapped.
"I heard rumours he was spotted in this sector yesterday, but I'm not sure if he stayed!"
"Don't bet on rumours!" Dante ordered.
"Find a mage! We need someone who can at least contain Amano before his Molecular Collapse sinks the entire Western Quarter!"
Back in the crater, Markil spat a mouthful of blood.
I see it now, Markil thought, his Kareno eyes analyzing the aftershock.
His magic isn't just 'strength.' He's vibrating the air at a frequency that negates physical barriers.
My Marcer protects me from the 'impact,' but it doesn't stop the 'sound' of the vibration.
He's a natural counter to my defense.
Amano began to walk forward, the massive hammer dragging behind him, carving a molten trench in the stone.
"You're fast, Markil," Amano said.
"But unless you can move faster than the speed of sound—the very speed at which my vibrations travel—you're just a fly in a jar."
"And I'm about to start shaking the jar."
Markil stood up, his purple mana beginning to swirl with a new, dangerous intensity.
He didn't look at the knights.
He looked at the hammer.
If I can't outrun the vibration... I'll have to overwrite it with Chaos.
"Hey, Amano," Markil said, his voice cold as ice.
"You said you wanted to hear the moment my confidence dies?"
"You're going to be waiting a long time."
(Chapter 48 Finished)