That silver hair, fragmented and damp with seawater, shimmered under the sun—utterly mesmerizing.

Before the stunned crowd…

The silver-haired youth stood atop the sea’s surface, cradling a black-haired little girl in his arms.

Gazing down at the girl whose lashes were tightly shut, the boy spoke slowly, his voice low and resonant, like an echo from the depths of hell itself.

“You took Fan Qiandai from me. Then you took my old man. And now… now you come for Alpha too…”

The silver-haired youth suddenly lifted his head, eyes blazing crimson.

The dozen knights hovering midair—without warning—

Their helmets shattered…

Their entire heads, steel-crystal helmets and all, exploded like dry beans crushed in a giant’s fist.

Thick crimson mist dyed everything around the boy.

“I don’t care who you are…”

The silver-haired youth continued, his words now turned against the knights themselves.

What must they have felt in their final moments?

“Today… you all die.”

Like a death sentence from the reaper, the silver-haired youth leapt onto the shore, his fragmented silver hair fluttering wildly behind him.

Simultaneously, the dozen headless knights rocketed toward the shore, crashing into their comrades.

These knights were veterans, hardened by countless battles and brushes with death.

Though their comrades’ grotesque deaths shook them, their discipline held.

“Scatter!”

At their captain’s command, the knights split apart with practiced precision. Every headless corpse slammed into empty sand, standing like grim tombstones.

The knight who’d held Alice tried to slip into the back ranks under cover of chaos.

But could he escape?

An invisible force seized his head, yanking him backward until he crashed at the silver-haired youth’s feet, paralyzed.

He couldn’t even scream.

Alice, flung free from his grasp, cried out in terror—only to feel a gentle force cradle her, guiding her toward the one she’d long adored.

“Ryosuke!”

Alice couldn’t help but call out, pure joy lighting her face.

Ryosuke placed a foot lightly on the knight’s chest—so softly it made no sound.

Holding Alpha in one arm, he reached out with the other to embrace Alice, tears streaming down her cheeks for reasons unknown.

“Sorry… I worried you both…”

Ryosuke’s gaze softened as he looked at Alice. Alpha’s eyes fluttered open, and she immediately clung to his neck, chanting desperately:

“Master! Master! Master!…”

As if each cry anchored him to this world.

“Sorry, Alpha. I won’t leave you again. Not from this moment on…”

Ryosuke smiled gently.

Who could believe the same boy who’d just slaughtered a dozen lives in a blink now radiated such warmth?

Even the Highest God might have been fooled…

“You jerk, Ryosuke! Do you know how worried we were? Saori and the others went back already!”

Alice’s outburst shattered the tender moment between Ryosuke and Alpha.

Ryosuke cleared his throat awkwardly.

“My apologies, Alice. I promise—I won’t vanish again.”

Alice’s pout deepened, lips nearly brushing the sky.

Ryosuke could only sigh.

“I know, I know. A tricolor salad’s no good without its silver leaf. Once we deal with these pests, we’ll head back—to Kempfa.”

Alice’s face finally brightened. She flashed a victory sign at Alpha in Ryosuke’s arms.

Both girls burst into laughter.

“Pfft…”

“Hehe…”

Their angelic smiles left even the enemy knights spellbound.

The captain snapped out of his daze first.

“Don’t fear him! He’s just a child! Attack together! Use the Battle Art!”

*Battle Art?*

Shock rippled through the knights.

Battle Arts—the greatest legacy of humanity’s fifty-year war against the Demon Kind.

How could frail humans stand against demons’ monstrous strength?

Even with Battle Qi and magic, not all could wield them.

Battle Arts were forged for ordinary humans: precise techniques and formations that multiplied combat power geometrically.

But that dark era had been sealed away by both races a millennium ago. Most on Reno Continent had forgotten the war. Only a privileged few still knew Battle Arts.

After all, who’d keep a Battle Qi master close when power threatened thrones? Nobles preferred ordinary knights. Ancient families guarded Battle Arts as elite bodyguard tactics.

For common humans, Battle Arts meant peak combat.

And now their captain ordered it against a boy who looked no older than twelve.

Shock gave way to grim understanding.

This child had erased a dozen comrades without blinking.

“No hesitation! Form—the Green Hornet Dragon-Locking Formation!”

At the captain’s roar, knights shifted positions with lethal grace—but held their ground.

They waited. For the silver-haired boy to step into their trap.

“The Dragon-Locking Formation, huh…” Ryosuke smirked, strolling casually into their encirclement.

The knight beneath his foot lay utterly still.

“Now!”

The captain lunged, heavy sword arcing downward in a jump slash—efficient, brutal, devoid of flourish.

Ryosuke didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Both arms were occupied by little girls.

A single indifferent glance froze the captain’s sword mid-swing.

Two crossbow bolts shot from beneath the captain’s shadow—aimed at Ryosuke. Three knights charged from other angles, rapiers thrusting like vipers.

Even Alice tensed in Ryosuke’s arms, debating whether to summon Siliphus—

Then chaos erupted.

The three bolts halted inches from Ryosuke, reversed course, and impaled the two would-be assassins.

The frozen captain flew backward as if struck by a battering ram, crushing three knights beneath him.

All this while the silver-haired boy walked on, unhurried as a man strolling through a garden.

Their invincible Battle Art collapsed in an instant.

Only then did the knights grasp the truth:

This silver-haired youth was a mountain they could never move.

*Run.*

The thought swelled with every step drawing nearer.

The captain finally broke. He couldn’t lose more brothers.

“Retreat!”

The knights froze.

“I said *run*, you fools!”

Panic seized them—but their bodies refused to obey.

A terrifying pressure…

No. An *aura*.

It pinned them like insects in amber.

“You two—close your eyes.”

Ryosuke’s command brooked no argument. Alpha shut her eyes instantly. Alice hesitated, then squeezed her right eye shut, peeking through a slit with her left, heart pounding with excitement.

Footsteps echoed.

Each step hammered into the knights’ souls like a death knell.

Heads burst like overripe fruit with every footfall.

Blood mist painted the path behind him.

The smallest knight, shielded at the rear, broke into sobs as the man before him exploded.

Ryosuke glanced at the last survivor—a boy his own age, by the size of him.

No mercy flickered in those cold eyes.

As Ryosuke raised his hand, the golden-haired girl in his arms cried out:

“Ryosuke! Spare him! He used blunt bolts—if he’d aimed to kill, my arm would be gone!”

Feeling the weight of his gaze, Alice buried her face in his chest, fingers clutching his shirt.

Ryosuke turned to the trembling knight. His voice left no room for appeal:

“You hurt her arm. So I take yours.”

Amid the boy’s bloodcurdling scream, his armored right arm twisted like rope—snapping cleanly in two.

Pain swallowed him into darkness.

When he awoke, the silver-haired demon was gone. Only corpses of brothers surrounded him.

His small frame shook as he howled at the uncaring heavens…

“I swear—I’ll have vengeance or cease to be human!”

At Sicily City’s relay station, a silver-haired youth and the two girls in his arms drew every eye.

“Master… where’s Old Man?”

“He’s gone far away, Alpha. We’ll see him again someday…”

“Mmm… will you go too?”

“Uh… not anytime soon!”

“No! Alpha forbids it! If you go, I go too!”

“Enough, you two! So many people watching—have you no shame? My reputation matters!”

“Hah! Alright then—let’s go! Back to the Imperial Capital! Kempfa—I’m home!”

The silver-haired youth threw his head back and laughed, vanishing with his two girls into the teleportation array’s glow…