“This guy... is Muen Campbell? That imperial duke’s son? That famous playboy? He’s this strong?”

Watching a companion whose strength had reached the fifth rank—the same realm as Muen Campbell, and enough to be considered a powerhouse anywhere—die from nothing more than a single glance, the man beside the burning corpse also began trembling, thoughts of retreat surfacing in his mind.

But before he could even take two steps back, the world suddenly spun upside down.

He died.

His head hit the ground.

But this time, the one who killed him was not Muen.

It was...

“Trash.”

A pale-skinned child pushed aside the corpse blocking his path, disdain all over his face.

Yet when he looked toward Muen’s ongoing slaughter, watching heads roll one after another and blood spray in droplets through the air, even beneath his deliberate composure, solemnity unconsciously appeared in his eyes.

“No wonder Donna told us to stay on full alert. No wonder even the Third Seat constantly speaks your name. Muen Campbell, you really are nothing like the rumors!”

“I’m afraid that playboy reputation was just another disguise you deliberately crafted. Who knows how many people have been deceived by that carefully spread misinformation and died beneath your despicable tricks!”

“But...”

The child curled his lips upward.

Even if you are different, you are still only an ordinary “human.”

Humans were weak, filthy, and burdened with original sin.

They needed purification.

That was the Salvation Society’s doctrine!

And he would personally carry out that doctrine!

“Die.”

The child pointed the strange toy in his hand toward Muen.

The toy raised its head. Its button-sewn eyes seemed to stare at Muen, and then the stuffing beneath the ragged cloth began writhing rapidly. In only a brief instant, the toy’s appearance became strikingly similar to Muen’s.

Like...

A miniature Muen.

The child grabbed one of the toy’s legs—

No, now it should be called a doll.

Then he twisted hard.

Crack crack.

Though it was only a soft doll, crisp sounds of bones breaking rang out clearly!

In the distance, the rapidly advancing Muen suddenly lost balance and crashed to the ground.

Fortunately, at the critical moment, his powerful bodily control let him brace one hand against the earth, preventing himself from looking too miserable while also narrowly avoiding several incoming blades.

However...

Intense pain struck. Muen lowered his head and looked at one of his legs.

It was bent at a grotesque angle, like a tree branch casually snapped in half. Bones harder than refined steel had broken without warning, leaving only flesh and skin barely holding it together.

Such a bizarre phenomenon occurring suddenly in battle would have been enough to panic anyone and completely destroy their rhythm.

But Muen remained calm.

“Half a minute earlier.”

He muttered softly.

“Because I dealt with Ghoul too quickly? Looks like there’s someone coordinating the overall situation on their side, adjusting strategies according to circumstances.”

“That’s troublesome.”

“But not important.”

Black flames ignited. Muen’s leg recovered at a visible speed.

At the same time, he abruptly turned his head and instantly locked onto the child hiding in the shadows.

“How is that possible?!”

The child’s pupils shrank violently.

“He found me that quickly?!”

Remote activation.

A bizarre ability.

And not a trace of magical fluctuation.

All of it should have allowed him to hide perfectly.

What he had always enjoyed most was hiding in the shadows, watching from afar as his victims died one bone at a time, never understanding how they had died even in their final moment.

But now, he had only made a single move before being discovered?

That made no sense!

The child roared inwardly, but had no time to think further.

Because in his vision, Muen’s figure flashed forward, charging at him with terrifying speed!

“Damn it damn it damn it!”

The child was not good at frontal combat.

Or rather, compared to direct combat, he was not good at it. Compared to those trash whose realm exceeded their actual strength, he was still extremely powerful.

But among those just beneath the Seats, although his ancient relic made his abilities bizarre and difficult to guard against, his direct combat ability was the weakest.

He knew very clearly that if even thick-skinned Ghoul could not defeat this monster head-on, then he certainly could not either.

He could not let Muen get close!

“Die!”

Without hesitation, the child grabbed one of the doll’s legs again and snapped it violently!

Crack.

The sound of bones breaking rang out once more, especially horrifying amidst the murderous night.

The child revealed a cold smile, because he clearly saw Muen’s other leg snap along with the doll’s.

Even if the other side recovered quickly, this should at least interrupt his attack temporarily, the child thought.

But—

This time, Muen did not even glance down.

He clearly heard the sound of his bones shattering and flesh tearing apart.

Yet he still took that step.

His foot twisted grotesquely, completely incapable of supporting him. His entire body tilted downward, downward—

Until the broken fracture itself slammed heavily onto the ground.

“Hiss!”

The child sucked in a breath of cold air. Just watching it filled him with phantom pain.

But Muen remained expressionless.

As though the thing stepping onto the ground were a perfectly normal foot.

The broken fracture pressed against the ground, sinister white bone even piercing through flesh and becoming exposed. Yet because of that, Muen gained leverage.

The balance of his body could be compensated for through overwhelming physical control.

Once again, he shot forward like a cannonball, turning into an afterimage as he rushed toward the child!

The already short distance between them closed rapidly. The controlled soldiers continued charging fearlessly, but they could not even slightly hinder Muen.

The moment they drew close, their heads were casually severed.

And then...

The child.

“Damn—you!”

Knowing he could never escape with his speed, the child gave up on running. He grabbed one of the doll’s arms, attempting to prevent Muen from wielding his blades.

But before he could exert force, Muen had already arrived.

The darkness in his vision was instantly split apart. He saw only a bright blade-light—

Clang!

The sharp metallic sound made his eardrums ache.

“I didn’t die...”

The child froze for a moment, gasping as he hurriedly retreated. He saw a golden barrier standing before him, blocking that attack.

Relief—

Then fury!

“Altair, you were too slow!”

“Apologies. I also didn’t expect the mighty Monster Child to be pushed this far in a single exchange.”

The tall man wore long robes. They resembled Church priest robes, yet also differed. Every holy cross symbol of the Goddess had been erased, replaced instead with green trees and red suns crudely drawn like childish wax scribbles.

“What happened?”

The man called Altair swept his gaze across the battlefield and tilted his head in confusion.

“Doesn’t Monster Child usually hide like a rat? How come the moment I arrive, I see him getting chased around?”

“How should I know how this bastard found me instantly? I was hiding perfectly!”

Monster Child ground his teeth. “Help me stop him. I’m going to crush every bone in his body one by one!”

“Very well.”

Altair nodded sorrowfully.

“That way I won’t have to commit the sin of killing.”

“...”

Muen withdrew his gaze from the Holy Light barrier symbolizing the Church and glanced at Altair.

“So you really are a Church traitor. Just like Gaius.”

“Please do not casually speak the Holy Lord’s sacred name.”

Altair smiled.

“You are defiling a supreme saint who is destined to save the world, sinner.”

“Gaius Gaius Gaius Gaius... dog-bastard Gaius.”

Muen’s expression remained flat.

“I said it. What now? Going to bark at me like a dog?”

“You... insolent!”

Altair instantly flew into a rage. His robes exploded apart, revealing a body packed with muscles like forged steel.

The Holy Light barrier he had just cast rapidly contracted as well, soon covering his entire body and making him appear clad in heavy armor.

His massive physique, solid armor, and entire aura transformed at once. Violent battle aura surged around him, savage and frenzied.

“Die, insolent wretch!” Altair roared like a bear.

“...”

Muen could not be bothered talking with this shirt-ripping lunatic, nor did he want to confront him directly. His figure flashed and continued rushing toward Monster Child, who was already trying to flee and widen the distance.

“Haha! If you think I look fierce and don’t want to face me head-on, then you’ve been deceived!”

Altair suddenly burst into laughter.

“Because actually... I’m a mage!”

The aura of battle energy vanished at once, as though it had merely been an illusion.

Magic surged at Altair’s fingertips.

He carried no staff, but several magic-stone rings adorned his fingers.

Those were his staff!

Immediately afterward—

Tiny points of light suddenly lit up in the surrounding corners. They were formation patterns he had secretly laid down before entering the battlefield.

A prepared mage and an unprepared mage were completely different concepts.

And this was also the reason he had arrived later than Monster Child.

“Fall!”

Altair pointed a finger.

A powerful spell that had long since been prepared and required no chanting activated instantly.

The air let out a muffled roar, becoming tangible as crushing weight descended.

Everything in the battlefield was visibly being flattened. The corpses littering the ground instantly compressed, blood exploding outward yet only smearing thick crimson around the edges of the bodies.

The trees in the garden bent and shattered. Shrubs and grass flattened tightly against the earth.

Even the ground itself cracked inch by inch!

Gravity Magic!

A famously powerful high-level spell.

Ever since a great mage created it 238,000 years ago, very few people had ever learned it.

But every person who mastered it became renowned throughout the continent, because the spell was simply too powerful. Especially for physically weak mages, it could attack and defend alike. It was overwhelmingly versatile.

“So what if you’re fast?”

Altair laughed wildly.

“In several hundred times normal gravity, you’ll still move as slowly as a snail! No... maybe you should worry about whether your organs will be crushed first!”

“...”

Muen’s movements truly did slow down.

His whole body gradually lowered, as though unable to withstand the terrifying gravity and about to collapse onto the ground.

Seeing this, Monster Child became overjoyed.

“Well done! Hold him there while I crush his bones one by one!”

Monster Child was just about to continue his torture—

But from the corner of his eye, he suddenly noticed that Altair, who had just been laughing loudly moments ago, now wore an ugly expression.

As though he had discovered something impossible to accept.

“Didn’t want to fight you head-on?”

Muen let out a faint sneer.

“You guessed right that I ignored you temporarily because...”

“You weren’t worth it.”

Everything happened in an instant.

Muen crouched completely.

Then plunged his blade into the ground.

At some point, his pupils had already become deep black. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Black-flame vision had long since unfolded.

Within that unique vision, an enormous magical array lay hidden beneath the ground. Amid the world’s gray decay, only the intricate flowing lines of magic emitted faint points of light.

Exceptionally clear.

And the point where Muen’s blade struck was one extremely precise—

And extremely important—

Point within the massive formation.

From his earlier sprint, to stopping, crouching, and plunging in the blade, everything seemed calculated from the start.

Everything...

Perfectly timed.

“Impossible!”

Altair’s expression turned horrified.

“How could you locate the array core with such precision?! Across such a massive area, not even the most elite Radiance-Rank mage could do that!”

“Unless you—”

“Don’t overthink it. The only magic I know is a mere Illumination Spell.”

Muen lightly dragged the blade sideways—

Cutting something apart.

The enormous gravity spell instantly collapsed!

“Not good!”

Altair realized something and turned, shouting,

“Run, Monster Child!”

But this time, Muen did not charge forward.

Instead, while raising the blade upward, he concealed the motion beneath the magical backlash of the collapsing spell and hurled the dagger in his hand.

Monster Child did not even notice immediately.

So by the time Altair shouted his warning, the blade was already extremely close.

Too late to dodge.

Monster Child despaired.

This time, he truly was—

Clang!

Once again, that familiar heavenly sound rang out.

A flexible sword stabbed out from the shadows, altering the dagger’s trajectory at the critical moment.

It missed the vital point, leaving only a small cut across his cheek.

Monster Child touched the bleeding wound on his face. Having escaped death twice, he felt overwhelming relief.

“Hey, hey, hey... what exactly is going on here?”

A third person walked out from the direction Muen had intended to advance toward.

It was a woman with heavy smoky makeup and a seductive figure. Yet as she approached, one could feel sword-like sharpness radiating from her.

“I thought the problem would already be solved by the time I arrived, so I deliberately came late to slack off a little. But don’t tell me it really takes three people just beneath the Seats working together to deal with one Muen Campbell?”

The smoky-eyed woman tilted her head in disbelief.

“Three people?”

Muen also tilted his head in disbelief.

“What do you mean?”

“Can’t you count?”

The woman frowned.

“Me, Altair, and Monster Child. Isn’t that thr—”

Her pupils suddenly contracted, as though she had realized something, and she violently turned around.

“AHHH!”

Almost simultaneously, a terrified scream split the night sky.

Monster Child rolled frantically across the ground, desperately trying to extinguish the flames that had somehow ignited on his body.

Pitch-black flames.

Black flames that ignited from that tiny wound, then instantly spread across his entire body!

“W-what is this?!”

Monster Child’s expression twisted in agony. The flames seemed to burn not only his flesh. Fear overtook him as he tried every possible method to extinguish them.

But whether magic or battle aura, nothing could put out the fire.

Instead, it only caused the flames to burn even more fiercely.

“S-save me...”

He could only beg his companions for help.

The smoky-eyed woman gritted her teeth and moved to step forward, but Altair stopped her immediately.

“Stop!”

Altair shook his head solemnly.

“That fire... cannot be touched.”

“...”

The woman halted at once, no matter how desperately Monster Child begged.

Soon, Monster Child was burned away completely.

Not even ashes remained.

“Now it’s two people.”

Muen clapped his hands lightly as if making an announcement.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth, whom he had thrown earlier, wobbled cheerfully back into his hand and rubbed against his palm as though asking for praise.

“You... what kind of monster are you?”

The smoky-eyed woman completely discarded the last trace of contempt in her heart and stared at Muen with utmost gravity.

She realized this enemy might be more troublesome than any she had ever faced before.

“Monster?”

Muen sighed.

“That title is really rather crude. At the very least, you should call me... that damned Muen Campbell.”