The three Magic Knights Squad Captains surrounded Bai En in a pincer formation within the narrow alleyway. At that moment, Bai En was like a bird trapped in a cage.
"Get lost, Mantis Squad's long-limbed freak, this guy is mine." Nozel, with blood at the corner of his mouth, stared ahead, his silver eyes filled with the cold stillness and killing intent of a winter wind.
The cloak on his shoulder had already been removed, and mercury-like liquid wrapped around his black battle attire, indicating he had entered full combat posture.
"Hehehe..." Jack chuckled, the blades extending from his wrists glowing with a sharp light. "Your Royal Highness, are you ordering me around?"
"By rank, I am a Magic Knights Squad Captain of the same level as you."
"If you try to tell me what to do again, be careful, I'll tear you apart too!"
Seeing that the battle hadn't even begun and his own allies were already squabbling, Kaiser Granbell, the Purple Orca Squad Captain, who was standing on the rooftop, quickly tried to mediate.
"Sir Jack, Sir Nozel, both of you... the enemy is right in front of us. We should capture him first."
"As for the rest, it's not too late to discuss it after the battle ends."
"Hmph—" Nozel snorted, his somewhat agitated heart slowly calming down. He suddenly remembered some words the masked man had said earlier, "...don't talk about avenging your mother... if you encounter a devil, just run..."
The Silva family had never revealed the true cause of his mother, Acier Silva's, death. How did this guy know his mother died at the hands of a... devil?
Not many people knew the truth back then.
'This guy is very strange. After we capture him, I must interrogate him thoroughly about this matter.'
"You pretentious faker, daring to attack in the Royal Capital, I presume you've prepared for your death?" Jack stuck out his extremely long tongue, licking his upper lip, a fierce glint in his eyes. "Hehehe... let me tear you to shreds and see!"
The clear moonlight illuminated Bai En, wearing a fox mask, in the narrow alleyway.
Arrogant yet somewhat unrestrained words echoed softly.
"Surrounded, huh? I'm actually a little scared, hehe~"
A pair of azure Heavenly Eyes glowed faintly beneath the mask.
"But... who's surrounding whom is still uncertain, isn't it?"
"Have you ever seen a tiger run away because it was surrounded by a flock of sheep?"
"Only the weak gather in groups."
From a weakling in Hage Village with only commoner magic, he had trained and grown to this point.
It was like a student who consistently ranked last in monthly exams, struggling from junior high all the way to high school, eventually surpassing others to become one of the top students in the class. When the college entrance exam arrives, wouldn't you want to surpass everyone ahead of you in one go?
Putting on the mask... and having confirmed his ability to escape safely, Bai En shed the mask of cautious meticulousness he had developed due to his past weakness.
Occasionally, he would let loose.
"Reinforcement Magic, Leg Strength Up."
Azure magic power surged into Jack's legs. He swung the scythe-like blade extending from his arm and charged forward. "Severing Magic, Death Scythe."
The scythe glowed with an azure light, and its blade extended.
A long halberd slashed from his side towards Bai En, as if to cut the arrogant speaker in half at the waist.
But... the sharp slash didn't draw a single drop of blood.
Two fair fingers, exposed from the black robe, effortlessly blocked the powerful slash, their knuckles in tight contact with the scythe's blade.
A flicker of surprise crossed Jack's eyes.
Bai En raised his other hand, and a crimson light at his fingertip continuously contracted.
"Watch out!"
Nozel's voice fell as a "Heh" beam erupted towards Jack's head. These were all Magic Knights Squad Captain-level fighters... Bai En would not hold back.
A vortex of magic power rose beside Jack.
The crimson beam touched the vortex, splitting into several tiny beams that scattered, the chaotic red light blasting out numerous craters.
"Mercury Creation Magic, Silver Star Chain Blade!"
Several sharp mercury chains, like a tide of snakes, whistled as they lunged at Bai En. The swirling vortex, the curved chain blades... a blue light suddenly appeared in Bai En's hand, different from the crimson beam that had just erupted.
The blue light formed a sphere, and the surrounding air was drawn and pulled.
"Ao."
The attacking chain blades, the vortex, and Jack within the vortex were all pulled in, beginning to rotate along with the "Ao" in Bai En's hand, and then were directly flung towards Nozel.
The blue sphere, after being released, exploded with a bang, and a powerful gust of air stirred in the alley.
"Sir Nozel, Sir Jack!" Kaiser, standing on the rooftop, worried about the two at the center of the explosion. But when his gaze flickered, the masked man who had been in the alleyway was already gone.
A strong sense of danger spontaneously arose in his heart.
His grimoire rapidly flipped pages. "Vortex Magic, Vortex Barrier!"
Sure enough, the moment the vortex instantly enveloped him, crimson beams scattered from behind, shooting in all directions.
Kaiser turned to look behind him. The masked man was standing in mid-air, and behind him was an exceptionally bright full moon.
'I can barely feel his magic power fluctuations... but there's no doubt... he's strong!'
Just as Kaiser was contemplating a countermeasure, a slender figure appeared behind the masked man. The one wildly swinging slashes was—Jack!
Bai En's 360° unobstructed observation with his azure eyes allowed him to detect the movement behind him immediately.
A Magic Knights Squad Captain couldn't be dealt with by a simple Heh or Ao.
However... this was good too.
Under the six eyes' vision, a large amount of information flooded Bai En's brain: magical and non-magical objects nearby, the trajectories of moving objects, and their possible future trajectories... but more importantly, it was "position" coordinates.
Similar to Mikuriya, the newly assimilated ability had clearly undergone some derivation and alteration.
Compared to the complex theory that brought the convergent infinite series from the fantastical, unconstrained Achilles' "paradox" into reality, the assimilated "Limitless" was clearly much cruder.
According to Bai En's two-day and one-night research summary:
New Six Eyes = a tool for observing position coordinates.
Limitless = a conceptual "distance."
Any position coordinate defined by the Six Eyes could be redefined by Bai En in terms of both general and specific distance.
To give a simple example: the distance between an apple and a pear is 5 meters. When Bai En defines the distance between them as 3 meters, their distance can achieve a spatial transformation of 3 meters in a general sense.
It can also change in a specific sense... their spatial distance is 5 meters, but the actual distance is only 3 meters... It's worth noting that when the general distance cannot approach the actual distance, it automatically defaults to a specific distance change.
Therefore, Bai En could do things that a certain Satoru's ability could not.
For instance, right now, Bai En in the air and Kaiser directly swapped coordinate positions. All of Jack's slashing attacks instantly struck Kaiser!