The dust from Amano Tetsu's vibration blast had yet to settle when the perimeter of the Western Quarter became a scene of absolute chaos. Royal Knights scrambled through the rubble, their armor clattering against fallen masonry.
"Hey! Hey! Did you find Sir Maren?!" shouted Sir Kael, his voice cracking with desperation as he turned to a fellow soldier.
"No!" the other knight yelled back, his eyes darting around the collapsing skyline.
"Oh, fuck!" Kael screamed, clutching his head. "Just find a teleporter magic user! Every knight, move! Now!"
The panic was infectious. Knights were running in every direction, their formations broken, their mission forgotten in the face of an SSS-rank disaster.
But suddenly, the air grew heavy with a different kind of pressure.
From the direction of the Kingdom of Zephyros, a figure emerged through the haze.
She walked with a predatory grace—a mysterious woman with cascading purple hair that faded into a vibrant pink at the tips. Her eyes were a piercing, royal purple that seemed to see through the very souls of the men before her. Despite the destruction, she stood tall, her presence commanding the attention of every panicked soldier.
Everyone stopped.
The shouting died down.
"Hey," she said, her voice cool but edged with steel. "What is the report?"
One of the knights, recognizing the crest on her pauldrons, gasped.
"Lady Merlin Salper... the SS-rank Knight of the Kingdom of Zephyros!"
Merlin didn't look impressed. Her eyes narrowed.
"I told you... reports."
The knight swallowed hard, his hands trembling.
"Ma'am... there is Amano, the SSS-rank, who was trying to fight Sir Maren and destroyed districts in lots of sectors of kingdoms... but he wasn't... he is also here to find Maren!"
Merlin's lips curled into a sharp, dangerous smile.
"Is that guy crazy? Trying to fight Maren alone?"
He could wipe out all races from this planet and no one will question him because no one will have such guts, Merlin thought, her gaze drifting toward the epicenter of the shockwaves.
Who is this jerk?
She looked back at the knight, who was staring at her in a daze.
"Hey, do you want to do it?"
The knight blinked, confused.
"What, ma'am?"
Merlin's face twisted in sudden, violent frustration.
"Fuck! Why don't you fuck me!"
The knight's face turned bright red. The soldiers behind him stumbled back, looks of pure embarrassment and shock plastered on their faces.
Merlin didn't wait for an answer.
She lunged forward, grabbing the knight by his collar and yanking him close.
"Asshole! What else would I tell you?! Go and get the Teleport magic user! And go fast! And now you say me... what?!"
She shoved him away with enough force to send him sprawling.
The knights didn't wait for a second command; they turned and ran as fast as their legs could carry them.
Merlin turned her back on them, looking toward the horizon where buildings were being erased one by one.
So, it's the matter of gravity, she thought, her eyes tracking the distortions in the air.
Oh, God... I can't handle this.
That bastard Maren... where is he?
Suddenly, she threw her head back and screamed at the sky:
"YOU PERVERT!!!"
The Teleportation Trap
BOOM.
Markil was launched across the ground, the sheer force of Amano's hammer impact sending him skidding through the stone. He was hit with such velocity that the ground beneath him didn't just crack; it was being hollowed out into a trench by his sliding body.
Amano stood in the center of the destruction, his blood-soaked face twisted in glee.
"Astonishing! You are really going to match my level!"
Markil gritted his teeth, his Kareno Eyes scanning for an opening.
Shit, he thought.
He knows I will teleport.
Markil flickered, activating his Chaos Step. He aimed for a blind spot, but the moment he reappeared, Amano was already there.
The warrior's smile widened.
I know your tricks, Amano thought.
CRACK.
Amano's fist connected with Markil's jaw before he could even raise a guard.
Markil was launched straight into the sky like a rocket.
Mid-air, his consciousness flickered, but he forced himself back. He crossed his arms, shielding himself with Asler and Warfer just as Amano appeared above him, propelled by the recoil of his own hammer.
"Wow! Pretty amazing weapons you have!" Amano shouted, his hammer glowing with a terrifying red light.
"Why don't you tell me the secret of those!!!!!"
Amano swung.
The force pushed Markil downward with the weight of a falling star.
How? Markil thought as he plummeted toward the earth.
How is he already knowing all teleportations of mine?
First, let me think...
Suddenly, a memory surfaced.
A vision of a man with a mocking grin and messy hair.
"Markil, listen boy," the voice of Maren Walberd echoed in his mind. "First of all, see if your opponent is tracking all the teleportations of yours. And you are thinking... how is he doing this?"
In the flashback, Markil had looked up at Maren.
"Is it some kind of magic?"
Maren had laughed, a loud, annoying sound.
"No, boy! It depends on your moves! Like you see, when I teleport, I can even move or stay still... Oh, God, it's depressing... like you are... Try to teleport in front of me!"
In the memory, Markil had vanished and reappeared to strike Maren's chest, but Maren had simply leaned back and grabbed Markil's punch from behind without even looking.
Markil had been shocked.
"How?! But how?!"
"Boy," Maren had said, his voice turning serious for a split second. "The thing is, when you teleport, you don't move your body or make any action. So, it's easy to track on which time you will teleport."
Back in the present, Markil's eyes snapped open.
A small, dangerous smile touched his lips.
That pervert...
Markil hit the ground, but he didn't stay there.
In an instant, he shifted his weight.
Instead of teleporting, he simply ran.
He moved so fast the air itself shrieked.
Amano, landing a second later, froze in shock.
"What?! Why is he—?!"
Before Amano could finish the thought, Markil was a blur of violet light.
He circled Amano with impossible speed, his daggers humming.
SHINK.
A single, synchronized slash of both swords tore through the air.
Amano's arm—the one holding the Ruin-Bringer—was sliced clean through.
The hammer, still gripped by the severed hand, tumbled toward the dirt.
Amano stared at the stump of his shoulder, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"No... this can't be! How can a human run this fast?!"
Markil skidded to a halt, his daggers dripping with SSS-rank blood.
"Sorry," he said, glancing back over his shoulder with a sharp grin.
"But you can say I am half-human."
Oh, this dialogue was bad, Markil thought immediately, a bit embarrassed.
But he didn't have time to regret the line.
Suddenly, an invisible, brutal force erupted from the hammer on the ground.
It didn't need a hand to move.
The Ruin-Bringer pulsed, and a shockwave surpassed anything Markil had seen.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A crater spanning 1 kilometer exploded into existence.
Markil's Marcer barrier shattered like glass.
He was thrown back, blood spraying from his mouth as the force crushed his chest.
What?! It surpassed my Marcer?!
Amano stood in the center of the new, massive crater, smiling despite his missing limb.
"You are quite a Knight, are you? Or whatever you are... but you don't know I have a Trump Card."
Suddenly, the hammer flew from the ground, snapping into Amano's other arm.
His eyes began to glow with a blinding, apocalyptic light.
At the edge of the crater, Merlin Salper was caught in the shockwave, thrown through the air like a ragdoll.
She slammed into a distant house, coughing as she struggled to stand.
"Oh, fuck! No, no, no, noooo!" she cried out, looking at the 1km hole where the district used to be.
She looked down at her own body, checking for injuries.
I'm safe, she thought, her heart hammering against her ribs.
I thought... who is fighting him right now?
Who is able to dodge or get his ass safe with an attack like that?
(Chapter 49 Finished)