"His speed is so slow! What the hell, only those eyes are special!"
Mahito was extremely wary of Tohno Shiki's eyes.
The moment Shiki charged at him, Mahito was on full alert, bracing for any possible attack.
But when he saw how slow Shiki was moving, he couldn't help but laugh in disbelief.
Shiki's speed was sluggish—like a college student with poor stamina running a thousand meters. It would take him at least five seconds just to reach Mahito.
"Talking big like that, I thought you were actually strong! Turns out you're just a joke!"
Mahito burst into mocking laughter.
With a flick of his hands, he hurled the modified humans—aside from Satsuki—toward Shiki. Midair, they twisted into massive drills, spinning violently as they shot forward.
Shiki's expression remained unchanged. In an instant, he channeled magical energy into the boots on his feet.
A series of runes lit up on the boots.
His speed skyrocketed, and with an eerie footwork, he dodged the incoming drills. Then, pulling an ancient dagger from his coat, he dashed toward Mahito like a sprinter covering a hundred meters in seconds.
"Huh? My work?"
Roy noticed the boots on his feet and raised an eyebrow in surprise.
Of course. With the world in this state, it was only natural that Akiha wouldn't keep Shiki locked away at home. Sending him to a magecraft academy was proof enough—Shiki had likely been a magus for a long time, and with Akiha's financial backing, he'd been equipped with top-tier gear.
Not to mention, he probably had plenty of combat experience.
The reason he hadn't used the rune-engraved boots from the start was likely to deceive Mahito.
And it worked.
Mahito had been fooled by Shiki's initial sluggishness. The sudden burst of speed caught him off guard, leaving him stunned for a brief moment.
By the time he snapped out of it, Shiki was already in front of him—dagger aimed straight for his throat!
The moment his throat was targeted, Mahito truly felt death looming over him.
His face twisted in fury as he instinctively raised his left arm, transforming it into a round shield.
Clang!
Shiki's dagger struck the shield, leaving behind a faint white mark.
"Tch!"
Shiki clicked his tongue in frustration, stepping back before slashing at the shield again, his movements relentless.
Mahito blocked with his shield-arm while his right arm morphed into a massive cleaver.
Just as he was about to swing—
"Guh!"
An excruciating pain, as if his arm had been thrown into a blender, erupted from his left limb, surging from the tip all the way to his shoulder.
The agony forced a pained grunt from Mahito, his instincts screaming at him to retreat. He immediately disengaged, putting distance between himself and Shiki.
Shiki, having landed his strike, also retreated to avoid Mahito's cleaver.
For a moment, a vacuum formed between the two.
"What's going on? His attacks were clearly weak before—the last one couldn't even break my shield—yet this strike shattered my entire arm?"
Mahito leaped back, looking down at his left arm.
The entire limb had been torn apart. Not only the shield formed at the front, but even the upper arm seemed completely dead, utterly unresponsive.
"The soul of my left arm has died... It can't regenerate for now. How is this possible...?"
Cold sweat broke out across Mahito's body in an instant.
In other words, the sense of death he had felt earlier was real.
If that brat's dagger landed a hit, he could genuinely suffer irreversible damage—enough to kill him!
Mahito's ability allowed him to alter not only the shape of others' souls but also his own.
His arms could transform into shields or blades precisely because he reshaped his soul accordingly, causing his flesh to follow suit.
This also meant that if he could alter his soul's form, he could also fix it in place.
As a result, no matter how severe the damage to his body in battle, his soul's pull would restore it to its original state.
This made physical attacks meaningless to Mahito—he could recover from them effortlessly. Only attacks that harmed the soul could truly injure him!
But the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception didn't care about any of that.
These eyes saw only death.
If they declared your arm severed, then your arm was dead.
Dead in the truest sense—no chance of recovery.
Unless an entirely new arm was created.
In that last strike, the part of Mahito's soul corresponding to his arm had been "killed" by the Mystic Eyes. With his soul now missing that piece, his arm could no longer regenerate under the soul's guidance.
To restore his arm, he would need to expend a massive amount of cursed energy to repair the gap in his soul. Only then could his arm recover.
And that process wouldn't be completed in just a day or two.
"Hey, red-haired gorilla over there—don't interfere casually, got it?"
Mahito shot a glance at Iskandar, who stood not far away.
Seeing the man's body tense slightly, Mahito narrowed his eyes, recognizing his readiness to strike at any moment. He issued a warning:
"Otherwise, I can't guarantee what I might do."
If Iskandar made a move—
Waver would die instantly.
Iskandar remained silent, his lion-like eyes glaring fiercely at Mahito.
Mahito found the situation troublesome.
He truly hadn't expected a single base city to produce so many unreasonably strong individuals.
The red-haired gorilla radiated terrifying pressure, and this black-haired brat wielded attacks more bizarre than anything he'd ever seen.
Against either of them, he had no certainty of victory. At least there weren't any even more absurd opponents—
"Then it's fine if I step in, right?"
At that moment—
Mahito's vision blurred.
A figure appeared before him as if teleporting.
His pupils contracted instantly, his sense of danger skyrocketing.
He barely had time to raise his hand—
Before the man's massive palm slammed down onto his forehead.
BOOM—!!!
In an instant, Mahito's mind went blank.
His body was as limp as cotton, utterly powerless against the overwhelming force pressing down like a mountain. Roy slammed his forehead into the ground with a thunderous crash, the red brick floor cracking like a spiderweb under the impact.
His mind reeled as if concussed, his ability to think momentarily stripped away.
In that instant, only one thought remained in his head.
"I'm done for~"
"This white-haired guy is even scarier than that red-haired gorilla and black-haired brat combined~"