The wind swept the dust and lingering smoke from the center of the Great Plains. At the heart of the crater formed by the previous clash of apocalyptic powers, Zald's massive body lay motionless. The Gluttony had lost consciousness, but a satisfied smile was still clearly etched on his face.
The eight Orario fighters surrounding him—Ottar, Leon Vardenburg, Finn Deimne, Gareth Landrock, Riveria Ljos Alf, Bell Cranel, Ais Wallenstein, and Ryuu Lion—stood with violently trembling bodies. They had succeeded. The absolute wall named Zald had finally fallen to the orchestration of their attacks.
However, that relief did not last for more than a few seconds.
The air around the crater suddenly felt empty. The sound of the wind, the rustling of pebbles, even the heavy breathing of the exhausted adventurers seemed to be sucked into a vacuum. An absolute silence descended over the battlefield, bringing with it an atmospheric pressure that made their lungs feel as if they were being crushed by iron blocks.
From the edge of the crater, a woman in a dark gothic-style dress stepped down. Her footsteps made not the slightest sound as they touched the sharp gravel. Her silver hair fluttered softly, framing a beautiful face as cold as a carved ice sculpture. Her heterochromatic eyes—emerald green on the right and silver-gray on the left—stared blankly at the heroes of Orario's new generation.
Alfia stopped right in front of Zald's body. She glanced at her comrade for a moment before focusing her gaze on the eight fighters before her.
"So Zald lost," Alfia said. Her voice was melodious and clear, yet it radiated a mind-crushing intimidation. "Quite neat teamwork. You managed to force this fool to his limits."
Alfia raised her face, staring straight into Finn Deimne's paling eyes.
"Then... do you still intend to fight me?" asked Alfia. The question was spoken without any provocative intonation, purely a logical inquiry.
No one answered. Finn's mouth was clamped shut. Ottar tightened his grip on his broken sword hilt. Bell Cranel swallowed hard, feeling his survival instincts screaming to warn him of a lethal threat.
"You have just brought down a legend," Alfia continued slowly. "However, do not let this momentary victory blind your rationality. If you harbor ambitions to complete the Three Great Quests—which currently only leaves the One-Eyed Black Dragon in this Timeline—the power you just displayed is nothing. With your current levels, facing that black-winged apocalypse is merely mass suicide. Your strength is nowhere near enough."
Those words slapped the pride of the Orario veterans. However, not a single one dared to argue. The air pressure radiating from Alfia's body told an indisputable fact.
"But," Alfia touched the green gemstone necklace on her neck, then smiled very faintly. "If you really want to test how vast the chasm between us is, I don't mind indulging you. If you want to experience my power, come forth. At most, you will all just be severely injured."
The challenge was laid down. Silence once again ruled the crater.
Finn Deimne was the first to take a step forward. His eyes radiated a steely determination. "We accept," Finn said firmly. "We didn't come here just to kneel after a single victory. Orario will not run from a fight."
Leon Vardenburg nodded beside him, followed by Ottar who raised his sword once again. Bell Cranel positioned the Hestia Knife in front of his chest, refusing to show fear in front of his own aunt. Ais and Ryuu followed suit, lowering their stances.
Seeing the flash of defiance in their eyes, Alfia sighed softly.
"Good. But your current condition is too pathetic to even touch," Alfia said while glancing towards the Orario rearguard outside the crater. "The healer girl from the Freya Familia, and that level-boosting Renard girl. I allow you to restore them back."
Hearing that instruction, Heith Velvet and Sanjouno Haruhime, who had been holding their breath in the rearguard, gasped. Wasting no time, Heith chugged her last Mind Elixir and immediately cast the Zeo Gullveig magic. A golden light once again swept over the bodies of the eight frontline fighters, instantly healing burns, torn muscles, and fractured bones.
Simultaneously, Haruhime pushed her remaining Mind energy after being healed by Heith. "Grow separate, Uchide no Kozuchi Kokonoe!"
The level-boosting magic exploded once more. Rings of golden light enveloped the six main pillars. The statuses of Ottar and Leon Vardenburg were once again boosted to Level 9. Finn, Gareth, Riveria, and Bell Cranel touched Level 8 again. The six fighters felt their vitality and magical power filled to the maximum limit. Ais and Ryuu, although not receiving the level boost this time, had their stamina and strength completely restored by Heith.
Now, Orario's strongest lineup in their prime condition prepared to face a single woman in a gothic dress. Thousands of adventurers watching from afar held their breath, as did the gods and goddesses staring tensely through the Divine Mirror screen in the Tower of Babel.
"Are you done?" asked Alfia casually. She slowly pulled her dark gloves until they were neatly fitted on her wrists. "In that case, let's begin."
In the next second, Orario's common sense was shattered.
Alfia suddenly vanished. Not moving so fast as to leave an afterimage, but truly disappearing from the visual perception of all the Level 8 and 9 fighters.
Bell widened his eyes. His Initiative failed to detect any movement trajectory whatsoever.
A gust of cold wind swept through the Orario rearguard located tens of meters away from the crater. Heith Velvet, who had just lowered her healing staff, didn't even realize that Alfia was now standing right beside her.
"Sleep," whispered Alfia softly.
A very light tap of an index finger landed on the back of Heith's neck. The healer girl instantly lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
"Heith!" shouted Lefiya Viridis. The young elf tried to raise her magic staff to cast a protective spell, but before the first syllable left her lips, the pressure of a palm lodged itself into her solar plexus. The air was forcefully pumped out of Lefiya's lungs, knocking her out instantly with her eyes wide open.
"Damn it!" Welf Crozzo and Mikoto moved in unison. Mikoto drew her katana, while Welf readied his magic sword.
Yet Alfia twirled her body with elegance. She stepped through the narrow gap between Mikoto's sword swings, using the back of her hand to deflect the katana's blade. The kinetic impact of that deflection ruined Mikoto's balance, followed by a leg sweep that sent Mikoto's body flying. Without a pause, Alfia used her spinning momentum to launch a chest-high roundhouse kick that slammed into Welf's jaw. The blacksmith collapsed before his magic sword could activate.
"Sister!" Tiona Hiryute darted forward alongside Tione. The Amazon twins coordinated a deadly dual attack from the left and right flanks.
Alfia did not alter her flat expression in the slightest. Realizing the twins' synchronized breathing rhythm, Alfia merely stepped back half a centimeter. Tiona and Tione's attacks cleaved empty space. Right at the intersection of their attacks, Alfia raised both her hands and flicked the foreheads of both Amazons with terrifying precision. The flick contained a micro-scale shockwave that pierced their skulls, scrambling their motor nervous systems. Tiona and Tione instantly fell to their knees and lay helpless.
Asfi Al Andromeda, who tried to activate her flying shoes to retreat and observe from the air, found her dress pulled from below. Alfia yanked the magic item maker back to the ground, slipping a lock on her shoulder joint that forced Asfi to pass out from a calculated shock of pain meant not to break her bones.
Haruhime, who stood trembling, could only close her eyes as Alfia approached her. But Alfia only gently patted the Renard girl's shoulder.
"Good level-boosting support power. Get some rest," Alfia said. A light chop to the back of the neck put Haruhime sound asleep.
In the span of less than four seconds, the entire rearguard, reinforcements, and support fighters of Orario had been leveled to the ground. They all fell without even having the time to understand what attacked them. An absolute demonstration that forced everyone to understand why Alfia was dubbed the Incarnation of Talent—The Talent Monster capable of copying, dissecting, and destroying any technique with just a single glance.
Ais Wallenstein and Ryuu Lion, who immediately bolted from the crater to chase Alfia, arrived at the location a second later.
Ais slashed her sword, Desperate, cloaked in the Ariel storm, while Ryuu slashed her sword from a blind spot.
Alfia didn't bother to turn around. She used Resonance, a development ability that manipulated the frequency of thoughts and waves. Microwaves radiated from Alfia's back, disrupting the Mind circulation within Ais and Ryuu's bodies a split second before their swords landed.
That delay in circulation caused Ais and Ryuu's movements to halt for zero point one seconds. For Alfia, that time was more than enough. She ducked past Ais's storm slash, thrust her elbow into the Sword Princess's stomach with precise force, then spun her body and slammed the edge of her palm into Ryuu's neck.
Ais coughed up blood and lost her balance, while Ryuu instantly lost her motor functions. Both collapsed to the ground without knowing what had actually stopped them.
"You two are still too young to read the frequency flow of a battle," Alfia remarked coldly while brushing imaginary dust off her dress.
Alfia then turned around and walked calmly back towards the crater. There, six adventurers had readied their weapons. Ottar, Leon, Finn, Gareth, Riveria, and Bell Cranel. All six radiated Level 8 and Level 9 auras, yet not a single one of them dared to take the initiative to attack after witnessing the one-sided massacre just now.
"Now," Alfia stood at the lip of the crater, looking at them one by one. "Only the six of you remain. Let's make good use of this time."
Leon Vardenburg gritted his teeth. He refused to be intimidated. Ignoring the risks, Leon triggered Dvergr Rebellion. He deliberately shattered the ten swords of light from the Blaze of Round magic orbiting him one by one consecutively. Each broken sword triggered an extreme surge in his physical and speed parameters. When the last sword shattered, his mysterious Development Ability, Supreme Light, fully activated. The sword in Leon's hand radiated a dense white light that converted all his endurance into absolute attacking power.
At the same time, Ottar growled low. Discarding any form of self-restraint, the Boar King triggered Vana Arganture. Ottar's body enlarged drastically, his muscles expanding extremely to tear the remnants of his protective armor, and his face radiated a thick feral aura. His speed and destructive power exploded past their limits, pushing his specifications into the realm of Level 10. He swung his broken black sword, which was coated in Hildis Vini.
The two strongest pillars of Orario darted simultaneously. Leon's speed surpassed sound, while Ottar's striking power cleaved the air into a vacuum.
Alfia looked at the deadly dual attack with half-closed eyes. She did not cast magic. She did not retreat. The Silence purely utilized martial arts.
Leon arrived first, thrusting his Supreme Light sword straight at Alfia's heart. In the last second before the blade of light touched her dress, Alfia tilted her body at an impossible degree. She shifted her center of gravity, letting Leon's sword miss narrowly past her ribs. Alfia clamped Leon's sword blade using the inside of her elbow, then used the momentum of Leon's charge to twist the Knight's arm.
CRACK!
Leon's wrist bone fractured. Before Leon could scream, Alfia slammed her knee squarely into his chest, stopping the youth's heartbeat for a fraction of a second and launching him dozens of meters backward until he lost consciousness.
At the moment Leon was thrown, Ottar's broken sword was already right above Alfia's head. The Level 10 blow capable of splitting mountains descended like a guillotine execution.
Alfia did not dodge. She activated Aegis Harmonia.
It was not a physical shield that appeared, but a frequency manipulation around Alfia's body. Aegis Harmonia created an 'infinite distance' paradox that dampened all forms of kinetic energy. The closer Ottar's sword got to Alfia's head, the denser the dampening wave became.
The sword swung with Level 10 power suddenly slowed down extremely. The black blade was halted just one centimeter above Alfia's silver hair, trapped in absolute deceleration until its speed reached zero. Ottar roared, pumping all his Mind and stamina to press the sword down, the veins on his arms bulging until they nearly burst, but the sword did not budge in the slightest.
"Pure power without precision is merely a child's wooden swing," whispered Alfia.
Alfia raised her right hand casually and placed her palm on Ottar's broad chest, who was in his beast form. She channeled Resonance, synchronizing the frequency of her strike with the Boaz's heartbeat.
BAM!
A short punch without a long wind-up exploded. However, its internal impact was incredibly destructive. The shockwave shattered Ottar's Mind circulation, damaged his lung functions, and instantly killed the Vana Arganture effect. Ottar's giant body stiffened before finally collapsing forward, falling with a thud onto the crater ground, unconscious.
Two Level 9s—even one who had touched the Level 10 limit—were brought down in less than ten seconds.
Finn Deimne and Gareth Landrock had no time to be shocked. Witnessing the destruction of their frontline, Finn maximized Hell Finegas, and his combat instincts took over. Together with Gareth, who leaped using the repulsive force of Ardigamma, the two attacked like a hammer and a sledgehammer.
Gareth slammed his axe from the air, aiming to ruin Alfia's footing. Finn darted from the ground, firing hundreds of consecutive spear thrusts using the Dia Fianna skill.
Yet Alfia was like a shadow in the rain. She stepped and danced between Finn's spearhead thrusts. When Gareth's axe hit the ground and created a shockwave, Alfia used that earthen wave as a foothold to launch herself into the air. Mid-air, she used the tip of her boot to kick the blunt side of Gareth's axe, reversing the momentum of the heavy axe so it slammed into the dwarf's jaw. Gareth was thrown and knocked out instantly.
Finn, losing his attack partner, tried to keep his distance and prepare Tir na Nog. But before he could even pull his spear back, Alfia had already landed right in front of him. Alfia gripped the shaft of Finn's spear with one hand, canceling all the kinetic thrust of the Pallum captain, then launched a sharp palm strike to Finn's neck. The precise blow cut off the blood flow to Finn's brain, forcing him to fall into darkness.
Now, only Riveria and Bell Cranel remained.
Riveria Ljos Alf paled. She knew physical combat was useless. The High Elf decided to maintain her distance and began chanting her offensive magic base.
"Vas Windheim!"
A dense green magical aura enveloped Riveria. She prepared to unleash Wynn Fimbulvetr or Rea Laevateinn. The long incantation began to slip from her lips at an extraordinary speed thanks to Chant Chaining.
Alfia looked at Riveria with a flat gaze. As the holder of the Development Ability: Ataraxia (absolute immunity to magic) and Mage, Alfia was the natural enemy of all mages in this world.
Without bothering to get closer, Alfia chanted her super-short spell.
"Satanas Verion."
A very high-frequency soundwave exploded from Alfia. However, instead of damaging the physical environment, the wave was designed using Resonance to distort Riveria's magic structure from within.
Just as Riveria was about to complete her spell, the magic incantation around her shattered. The Mind Riveria had gathered backfired on her own body like an internal explosion. Fresh blood spurted from the High Elf's mouth. Before Riveria could fall, the ensuing shockwave from Satanas Verion swept her body, throwing her against the crater wall until she lost consciousness.
Silence.
A cold wind blew past the crater of the Great Plains. Amidst the scattered living bodies of Orario's strongest adventurers, only two figures were still standing.
Alfia, the Silence, whose dress didn't even have a single speck of dirt on it. And Bell Cranel, the white-haired youth who now stood alone with heavy breathing and a trembling knife in his hand.
Alfia tilted her head, looking at her nephew with a gaze that was hard to decipher.
"Well, Bell?" Alfia's voice broke the suffocating silence. "Now, it's just you. There is no more healing magic. There are no more level boosts from the rearguard. There is no commander to orchestrate your position."
Bell clamped his jaw shut tightly. Fear pressed against his chest, but the fire of determination in his eyes refused to go out. He remembered all the brutal training Alfia had forced upon him over the past month. He knew Alfia would show no mercy, but he also knew that running from this challenge was tantamount to throwing away everything his aunt had taught him.
"I... will not run," Bell said softly yet firmly. The youth solidified his stance, gathered his remaining Mind, and condensed energy around the Hestia Knife.
Alfia smiled faintly. So faintly it was barely visible. "Show me the results of your combat torture."
Without any signal, Bell pushed his Initiative. He did not run straight, but used the extreme zig-zag maneuvers Alfia had taught him to obscure the enemy's visual predictions. In a matter of seconds, he was in Alfia's blind spot, slashing the Hestia Knife coated in the Afterglow technique straight towards his aunt's knee joint.
Alfia did not use Aegis Harmonia to block the attack. She took a step back, letting the tip of Bell's knife tear the wind in front of her dress, then countered with a sweeping hand aimed at Bell's temple.
Bell ducked just in time, feeling the cold air from Alfia's punch brush past his white hair. Utilizing his low position, Bell launched a spinning kick toward Alfia's shin. Alfia parried the kick with her own calf. A loud thud was heard, but Alfia didn't flinch in the slightest.
"You rely too much on visual prediction. If your vision is obscured, your movements become stiff," Alfia corrected mid-exchange.
Alfia counterattacked, unleashing a barrage of close-quarters punches identical to Zald's fighting style when breaking down defenses. Bell was pushed back. He used the Hestia Knife to parry punch after punch, but every impact made his arm numb.
Realizing he wouldn't win in a conventional battle of physical strength, Bell made a risky decision. He intentionally left his chest defense wide open, baiting Alfia to deliver a lethal blow.
Alfia's combat instincts responded to the opening. She launched a straight punch aimed directly at Bell's heart.
Right as the punch was about to land, Bell twisted his body using the remaining momentum of his Initiative, sacrificing his left shoulder to receive Alfia's punch. Crack! Bell's collarbone fractured, but he managed to lock Alfia's arm using his left hand. At the same time, his right hand holding the Hestia Knife slashed sharply towards Alfia's neck.
Behind her flat expression, Alfia felt a flicker of pride. This nephew of hers possessed terrifyingly extraordinary adaptation instincts in battle. Bell was willing to swallow a fatal wound to create the sole opening against a far superior enemy.
However, no matter how great the adaptation, it could not overcome the absolute chasm of experience.
When the blade of Bell's knife was a millimeter away from the skin of Alfia's neck, Aegis Harmonia reactivated within a centimeter radius. The Hestia Knife slowed down drastically, trapped in a sound frequency that locked the space and time around it.
Bell's eyes widened realizing his attack had been neutralized.
"A fairly good tactical exchange," praised Alfia in a flat tone. "Your adaptation exceeded my expectations. As a frontline fighter, you have the talent to turn the tables. However..."
Alfia effortlessly broke Bell's lock on her arm. She stepped forward, piercing the youth's defense.
"Your training ends here."
Alfia's right hand moved with a speed that Bell's eyes couldn't track. She used her knuckles to strike Bell's solar plexus with a precision of zero point one millimeters. The attack was not designed to destroy organs, but rather to paralyze the central nerve point and instantly cut off the flow of oxygen to the brain.
The sensation of the impact hadn't even been processed by Bell's nervous system when his vision suddenly blurred. Strength drained completely from all the muscles in his body.
The Hestia Knife slipped from his grasp, clattering onto the rocky ground. Bell Cranel staggered forward, and before his body hit the cold earth, absolute darkness took over his consciousness. He fell, joining the other Orario veterans who were already fast asleep beneath the feet of the Silence.
Alfia stood amidst that absolute silence. She looked down at her nephew's face, who was now sleeping peacefully. Her dark-gloved hand moved slowly, brushing the strands of Bell's white hair covering his forehead.
"Sleep well, Bell," Alfia whispered softly beneath the gusts of wind sweeping across the Great Plains. "Your battle for today is over."
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