...
I heard the voices and turned toward them. When I saw who it was, a sour heat rose in my chest.
It was the five black-clad brutes we’d met in the woods, plus eight mages in long robes. The mana around them rippled like cold surf; the strongest felt A-class.
They weren’t the reason for my bile. The rot sat at their center—a boy in lavish silk, arrogance lacquered on his face like cheap gold leaf.
I didn’t know why, but the sight of him made my stomach lurch. One glance, and nausea clawed up my throat.
“Oh? It’s them? Ah—such a beautiful maiden!”
They approached at a slow drift. The boy saw Xinuo and froze, as if lightning had stitched him to the spot.
He snapped back and hurried forward, fussing with his clothes like a peacock smoothing feathers. “Ahem. I’m Larl Dia Kage, second son of the current head of the Kage Family of the Eastern Moon Empire. May I know your name, miss—”
Thud!!
I kicked him before he finished. Full force. It was instinct, the kind born when disgust burns like acid.
Splat!!
Larl flew, skidded far, and hit the earth hard. He coughed blood, red as fallen maple leaves.
“Lord Larl! Are you alright?!”
The mages and black-clad brutes rushed in and propped him up.
“Damn you!”
He glared at me with rabid eyes. “You bastard, looking like a woman, dared kick me? Fine. Good. I’ll show you what Larl can do! Get him! Kill him!”
“Yes!!!”
They advanced in a wave. The mages’ eyes held glee, pity, and playfulness, like cats watching a bird with a broken wing.
“More flies? Again?”
Hill drew a breath, ready to let Dragon Aura crash down. Xinuo raised a hand and stopped him. “Hill, let the Servant handle it this time.”
She turned to me, her gaze cool as dawn frost. “Servant, five minutes. Crush those ants. Understood?”
Of course.
I nodded, let my bracelet unfurl back into the Shattered Light Sword, and walked forward with storm-dark calm.
“Larl, right? Did you just insult me?”
I looked at him—face pale, edges shaking—and held my anger by the throat.
“Hmph. So what if I did? You, with that woman’s face, you piece of trash! I’ll insult you, then cripple you! What are you idiots waiting for? Attack!”
His expression slid back to that same lofty sneer, high and hollow like a paper lantern.
“Yes, Lord Larl! Boy, you’ve offended Lord Larl. Die! Ice Blade!”
A mage slashed his wand, sending a razor of ice screaming toward me.
“Fireball!”
“Wind Blade!”
“Water Burst!”
…
The rest hurled their spells like hail in a storm.
“Good. Good. You’ll pay for every word.”
My fury peaked, a thunderhead finally breaking. No one had ever insulted me. Twice? And he vowed to cripple me? That wasn’t just spitting on me. That was spitting on the Mizumi Clan.
I didn’t bother looking at the incoming spells. I flicked a casual Sword Aura, and their magic shattered like glass in a monsoon.
“Such weak magic, and you dare cast it? My turn.”
I didn’t stop. I sent a Sword Aura toward Larl and the brutes, a gleaming arc like a crescent slicing dusk.
“Look out, Lord Larl!”
One of the black-clad men lunged and shoved him aside.
But a man’s legs can’t outrun an edge of wind.
“Ah!!!”
Larl screamed. His arm exploded to powder, and the ground beside him burst open, stones turned to dust.
“I said you’d pay. I’m not done.”
I cut again, another Sword Aura tearing forward.
“Not good! Protect Lord Larl! Storm Spike!”
“Falling Fire Meteor!”
“Overwhelming Flood!”
…
The mages flung their strongest into the oncoming arc. Spells collided with the blade of air, sparks and spray flying like summer fireworks.
The Sword Aura faded at last—half a meter from Larl’s face.
“Whew—get Lord Larl out! We can’t beat him. Move!”
Relief loosened their shoulders. They shouted at the five brutes.
“R-Right!”
They hauled Larl up and started to retreat.
“No! I won’t go! I’ll kill that bastard!”
Larl thrashed, refusing to be dragged. Bloodshot eyes burned with rancor, fixated on me like a curse.
“But…”
One brute hesitated. “Even the mages can’t handle that boy. If we don’t leave, it’ll be too late.”
“Hmph! What’s to fear? The city guard will be here soon. Let’s see how he fights hundreds.”
His tone still climbed high, pride ringing thin. His handsome face twisted under pain like wet paper wrinkling.
“Then watch—if you live that long. Draw Sword Technique.”
While they argued, I’d already loaded the Draw Sword Technique to its limit. I swung the Shattered Light Sword in a flash.
A golden, half-moon Sword Aura bloomed in the air and rushed outward, ripples spreading like sunrise across a lake.
“Hey! Together—Magic Shields! Hold it! Lord Larl can’t be touched, or we’ll face the Kage Family’s wrath!”
“Yes!!”
All eight mages cast in tandem. A sphere of runic light domed their side of the street, a shell of starlit glass.
But a thin shield can’t hold against a mountain gale. The Sword Aura kissed the barrier, and cracks spidered through it like winter ice under a boot.
Crack. Boom!
In under five seconds, the shields were sliced to ribbons.
“Lord Larl… forgive us.”
The five brutes looked at each other, faces hardening like weathered stone. They nodded, then heaved Larl forward—over the golden arc.
“Lord Larl, this is all we can do.”
BOOM!!!
Their words barely left their lips before the golden Sword Aura tore them to shreds. The street cratered, dirt and cobble blasted outward like a storm of knives.
“You…”
Larl dragged himself upright, staring at the ruin with empty shock. No brutes remained. Only rubble and a hole yawning like a broken mouth.
“What’s going on here? Who dares cause trouble in Rat City?!”
Armored soldiers marched in, steel glinting like rain on slate—the city guard, just as Larl had promised.
