Gill’s single slash sounded like a war bugle, and sparks ran through the ranks like torches catching dry grass.

In a breath, pillars of light speared the sky.

Magic Breaker Circles slammed together, shockwaves rolling like storm tides across half the field.

Both sides stepped into a death match, bridges burned behind them like boats on fire.

“Mmm—” The Iron Cavalry Legion’s captain crouched with the Black Spear, eyes leaking black vapor like smoldering coal, lids narrowed in decision.

The tide had turned; a Lawbreaking Ability stretched gear into a gulf.

The Kuso Guild had come in wrath, every strike straight for the throat like a hawk’s dive.

Rage hit like a falling mountain.

Even a lion goes all-out for a rabbit, and no one stood to catch a madman’s full-force blow.

Now the giant beast on their side was clawing back breath.

The Valkyrie with the golden whip carved bloody paths, a lightning lash among snapping banners.

The wall garrison was drowning in its own fires, and the main field tottered like a crumbling tower.

The enemy came prepared, arrows nocked, intent to claim it all.

Cold resolve pooled in the captain’s chest.

With a world-class commander over there, there was only one road left...

He let his kill-intent spill like frost.

“Ah-oh-oh—” His roar detonated; dust geysered, gravel flew like shrapnel.

He dropped to all fours, beast-low, dragging the Black Spear in a raider’s rush.

His line cut straight for Gill like a black current.

“You finally dare fight me, you damned coward!” Gill had expected it.

He spun and chopped, high to low like a falling gate, smashing onto the Black Spear.

“Mm... boom—”

One pressing cut drove the captain back; man and spear tumbled meters like leaves kicked by a boot.

“I’ll use your blood to honor Herbert’s ashes!

And for everything Medith and I lost...” Gill’s face set like cold iron, and a tight knot in him loosened, as if old hatred had finally been paid.

Thud—

The captain kip-upped and flicked his right hand.

The Black Spear leapt from the dirt, drawn to him like a stone to a magnet.

Black vapor bled from his eyes; in that smoke burned a final resolve, a lamp before dawn...

“What’s wrong? Our Southern Kingdom’s guardian god doesn’t look so godly!

Move it, move it!

You’re weak. You’re so weak!” Jade whipped the Bloodsword in a red arc, not even using Magic Breaker as he pressed the City Guard captain under a tide of steel.

Jade’s swordplay was a storm—angles wicked, rhythms feinting.

One breath he fenced you clean; the next he bared the hidden dagger and drove for a vital like a viper.

Sometimes he seemed pinned in a parry, then ripped free and hammered at your weapon like thunder.

After several clashes, the captain sagged behind his guard, sweat beading like rain.

Jade fought like he’d mainlined lightning, dragging the Bloodsword into cut after cut.

Every stroke was honed and ruthless, leaving no room to breathe.

Clang—vrrrm—

Jade knocked him wide and settled into a horse stance.

Left leg forward, right hand lifting the Bloodsword, he poised as if to throw a spear of blood.

A feral glint flashed in the captain’s eyes, a flicker of resolve like frost cracking.

Jade didn’t catch it.

He snapped forward like a python; the Bloodsword trailed shadows and thrust for the captain’s chest at blurring speed.

The blade punched through his chest without a snag, clean as a needle through silk.

Jade blinked, thrown.

The distance wasn’t short, but it wasn’t far; even exhausted, the man should’ve slipped aside.

Snap—

The captain clamped him with both hands, iron-tight.

Then his body began to strobe violently, light beating like a frantic heart.

“You maniac! You’re gonna blow yourself up on me?” Jade wrenched to break free, but he’d committed full strength; for a heartbeat he couldn’t tear loose.

White flash swallowed him like surf.

Behind the mask, his eyes went wide, stunned.

At the same time, heaven and earth cracked with a single detonation.

Then a fierce leopard of light shot into the clouds, roaring its master’s will.

It sparked no blast; it simply blazed and, in under three seconds, went dark like a spent star.

Thump—

The City Guard captain finished his mission and fell heavy against the wall he’d served all his life, a period at the end of his story.

Jade stood unharmed.

In the same heartbeat, he had tripped a mechanism in his mask and shattered the brand at the center of his brow.

The two Lawbreaking Abilities canceled, like two waves meeting and dying.

Tsk.

Jade clicked his tongue and lashed out with a spiteful kick.

The edge of his black leather boot bit like a blade, gouging a long crack across the dead man’s armor.

A black-haired girl with arresting poise stood atop the wall, her hair pouring like a waterfall to her slim waist.

Sunlight ran over it like water, and a faint fragrance stirred the air.

Her brows curved like a new moon, her face fine as porcelain, lips parted like a ripe peach about to fall.

Her eyes were bright and liquid, a spring that itched the heart.

She wore a black field outfit, ninja-like but tailored.

Her shoulders lay bare like white jade; her hands were slim and translucent.

Below, a black skirt with a frayed hem brushed her knees, showing half her calves like snow under night.

“Sigh. I hadn’t planned to show my true form. What a waste...”

Jade caught Medith and the others staring, and he shook his head, annoyed, like a cat flicking off rain.