The man who wore a mask swung his sword once again.

He swung it with such speed that a blur could be seen in the air along the path of his sword.

'Ugh. Again?'

Nainiae's face was already hideous, but now it was getting worse with her cringing.

By the looks of it, his sword appeared to be an ordinary iron sword without any special magical device attached to it.

However, just by swinging his sword, her opponent somehow destroyed all of the magic attacks that were targeted towards him.

'I only heard theories about that being possible. To think I am witnessing it for real.'

Right around when the magic she launched dissipated, Nainiae coughed.

The black lights floating in the air shook for a moment.

'No. Beta believes in me. I must return the favor. I must endure this..'

A narrow stream of black blood was flowing down from her lips.

Not wanting anyone to notice, Nainiae wiped off the blood using the topside of her hand and started to cast magic once again.

Looking at the situation, she realized that, instead of shooting a powerful magic, it might be more effective to shoot smaller magic attacks in large numbers at once.

"Magic Missile."

Numerous magic missiles appeared everywhere, not just in front of her hand, but also behind her. They looked like black, semi-transparent arrows.

With difficulty, Nainiae took a deep breath as her hand faltered.

It felt like her burnt face, which was like that from a chemical when she was at the Magic Tower, was hurting more than usual. The parts of her hand where her fingers were cut off were hurting as well.

'Eat this!'

The situation changed.

Up to this point, there was one shot of magic coming at Riley at a time, but this time, there were several dozens of them.

Despite this,

"Is it a different magic this time?"

Nainiae's masked opponent was not startled at all by the change in numbers. He was still calmly swinging his sword.

As if he was saying he had no reason to strike every single one of the missiles, he dodged a few and deflected a few.

For the ones he deflected, he deflected them toward other magic missiles to change their trajectory so that they would not hit him.

In the result of this man's swordplay, all of those magic missiles, which were launched for the sole purpose of piercing through this one man, ended up being scattered in the air or striking nearby buildings and structures.

"..They are getting lighter."

After a quick sword dance, having completed his finish stance, the masked man said toward Nainiae in front of him,

"Unlike before, that was pretty light. I am not talking about just the decrease in numbers. The amount of mana in each is lighter as well."

".."

'Is she trying to figure me out? Or..'

The masked man stopped talking. Instead, he looked at Nainiae's chin.

Perhaps she was not able to completely wipe off all of the blood last time.

On her chin, there was still a bit of stain from her black blood.

"Nainiae. You can win, right?"

".."

"Nainiae! Answer me! You can win, right?!"

When she heard Beta shouting from behind, Nainiae said,

"..Yes."

She answered in exhaustion.

Her vision was already blurring.

It felt like she was about to collapse to the side, but Nainiae answered,

"Trust me. Beta, the favor you asked me.. I will make sure to get it done."

Along Nainiae's cheek, which was red from the burn injury, a stream of pitch-black tear rolled down.

It appeared that she had made up her mind.

She was bent on taking that man's life.

***

'Something..is not right.'

Riley sharpened his eyes. He thought about all of the magic attacks he deflected or dodged so far, and he suddenly turned his head.

Something was definitely odd.

Riley learned about the basics of magic from books.

Although he heard supplementary explanations during the visit to the Magic Tower, this was still not making sense.

'The color of magic described in books were not like this.'

In the books that explained magic, to make the descriptions easier to understand, there were pictures, and they were not in black and white.

They were colored pictures.

'But these..'

Riley looked around to see the aftermath of the places struck by the girl's magic attacks.

Buildings were burning in black flames.

Long magic icicles nailed to the Main Plaza's brick-patterned walkways were exuding cold air from their black surfaces.

Even sparks occasionally flying at one of the street vendors were black.

Everything was black.

'Is it a special type?'

This was like what Riley observed in his past life.

Riley was thinking about those that were extraordinarily talented or displayed exceptional abilities.

Those people, just like the girl under the rag he was facing right now, had unique colors or ways of movement.

'Somehow, the situation is not looking good.'

Riley was looking at the aftermath of the magic attacks, but then he turned his head back toward the girl.

The color was not looking all that great.

It wasn't a rich or classy black. Instead, the color felt disgusting.

It felt like..sewage water.

'It looks like she is not able to control her mana properly either.'

Riley could not confirm it to fine details, but he could certainly tell that mana inside the girl's body was running amok.

He guessed that she is coughing blood because of this, although there must be a different reason for her blood being black.

"Um?"

Riley looked at the girl under the rag.

Looking at her chin again, Riley's eyelids twitched.

It was because there was yet another black line being drawn toward her chin.

It was made by tears.

'Looks like she is not in her right mind.'

Her eyes were unsettled and constantly twitching, and there were black tears flowing below.

Even at a glance, Riley could tell that it was not normal.

'I think I better not leave things like this.'

He could not afford to let things to deviate too much from his plan.

Riley fixed his grip on his sword and concentrated.

Based on the atmosphere, Riley was certain that the next one was going to be an extremely powerful one, far beyond the magic attacks launched at him so far.

"Look over there."

"Someone is fighting?"

"Does that mean..we don't have to run away now?"

Riley corrected his stance to be ready for the next magic attack.

Riley was waiting for the attack to come, but he realized that voices of people could be heard, one after the other.

Now Riley had foolish spectators who did not value their lives.

'God damn it..'

Under the mask, Riley's face scrunched up as he remembered something from the past,

'..Over there! Look! It's a brave warrior! A brave warrior appeared!'

'..Ah.. Now we are saved! Saved!'

As Riley heard them shouting, in an instant, his mood plunged down to the worst. For the moment at least, nobody in the Main Plaza was calling him the 'brave warrior,' but the situation at the moment was very similar to another situation Riley remembered from his past life.

'I should just.. All of them..'

Under the mask, Riley's two eyes were starting to fill with deadly aura.

Riley was certainly aware of people starting to gather to watch, one after the other.

Their faces were full of anticipation and expectation.

They were hoping that Riley would stop the girl under the rag.

There were people starting to gather.

'All of them..'

Eventually, Riley's and the girl's eyes met.

"..?!"

It could have been that the girl detected Riley's deadly aura.

She was in the middle of preparing a shot of a giant magic, but suddenly, her shoulders were shaking.

"..Beta."

"Uh, yes?"

With an almost extinguished voice, the girl said to the woman behind her,

"You must run.."

"What? Nainiae? What do you mean.."

"Trust me. Believe what I have to say. That man, he is going to kill everyone here. That's why."

The girl under the rag gritted her teeth.

It looked like she finished preparing the magic.

"When I signal.. You must run. You can survive. You, at least."

"No, no way.."

"It is all right, Beta. As for me, even if I died here.."

"I said it won't do! You useless bitch!"

"..?"

Because of an unexpected yelling from the woman, the girl's shoulders were shaking even more.

"No way! You still have a job left to do! You can't die already! Before you finish your job, you can't die. If you died already, you..you will become just a trash that couldn't return my good will of having faith in you! You got that?"

The little girl's delicate lips started to tremble.

"Bu.. But Beta, this is because you said you believe in me.. That is why I.."

"I rescued you. Since I saved your life...and since I fed you and provided you with shelter, you need to at least do your part, isn't that right?! Why do you think we kept you around when you make us puke just from looking at you?! You! You are hopeless!"

"No, it is not true.. I'm.."

The girl's voice was shaking. She murmured to deny the woman's words.

Under the rag, on the girl's face, a sense of panic could be felt.

Instead of feeling betrayed, it looked like she was seriously hurt from hearing words like 'you make us puke' or 'disgusting bitch.'

No matter how she appeared to be on the outside, the girl was still not even in her twenties.

"Ugh.. Ugh.. You disgusting bitch.. It is no wonder why you were thrown out from the Magic Tower as w.."

The woman that had been pouring out horrible words suddenly stopped.

It was because an intense aura of murderous intent, the kind that even an ordinary person could feel, struck her from her back.

"Ik! Uu, Ah.. Uu.."

The woman clumsily stepped back and fell on her butt.

Because she could not use her hands, she fell down hard. Tears were forming in her eyes.

They were tears induced by fear.

"..Spectating ends here."

Riley was walking toward them while relentlessly exuding his murderous aura.

"A trash that couldn't return my good will of having faith in you? What a great line."

Riley chose the easiest way to neutralize a pesky runt.

In order to take the woman's life, Riley raised his sword.

The lassie kept on doing things that Riley hated. He had no reason to let her live.

He figured that killing her now would also help him fall asleep at night better.

Riley's sword glowed with mana.

"Uu."

Choked by fear, the woman tightly closed her eyes.

The girl under the rug was in a state of panic, but she bit her lip and blocked Riley's front.

"..Pillar of Fire!"

Before Riley could even say 'Out of my way,' the magic that the girl under the rag prepared was activated.

A red magic circle was drawn under Riley's feet, and a large pillar of fire revealed itself above it.

'You are really dense..'

Inside the pillar of fire, Riley narrowed his eyes and turned his body wide.

After lowering his upper body by a little, he swung his sword like a windmill. With a small shouting, he straightened up his body.

"..?!"

Whoosh!

By the whirlwind generated from Riley standing in the middle, the flame rising from below was expanded and then dissipated in the air.

"H-How?"

The girl was standing there looking disappointed after watching her magic, which she cast with all of her remaining strength, being torn apart by a piece of iron. Riley stood beside the girl and looked at her.

".."

Even after hearing horrible insults from the person she trusted, she still stepped in to save that person. Watching her, Riley felt like he was looking at his former self from the past life, a na?ve fool who was taken advantage of.

"B-Beta! Run.. Kuk?!"

The girl quickly turned her head toward Beta who was sitting on her butt on the ground, but the girl suddenly strained and opened her eyes wide.

It was because, along with a gust of wind blowing toward her face, there was a sudden and blunt impact on her stomach.

"Please.."

The girl under the rag abruptly collapsed to her knees. While grabbing on to a tip of Riley's pants fabric, she fell forward.

Her three fingers desperately held on, but soon they lost their strength.

Riley knocked her out carefully so she would not be able to regain her consciousness for a while.

"Ah.."

Watching the girl helplessly faint in front of her, the woman gave a blank stare with her mouth open.

With eyes sickened with fear, the woman sitting on the ground looked up toward Riley.

"I don't have that big of a heart, so, for your attempts at me, ending it with just two of your hands won't do."

By carrying murderous intent in his eyes, Riley immobilized his target. Riley raised his sword and swung it without a moment of hesitation.

"..Stop!"

However..

As if it was obstructed by something, the sword that Riley swung made a 'Ting!' sound as if it struck a layer that was invisible. His sword was not able to cut off the target's head.

"..?"

As he realized that his sword was blocked by something, Riley narrowed his eyes and started to look for the man who shouted 'Stop!' a moment ago.

The man was up above, in the air.

Wearing a robe with purple and dark green colors properly mixed in, the old man was holding a yellow staff with a blue orb embedded in it. He was staring down at Riley from above.

"Tsk.."

Riley clicked his tongue.

It was because he noticed that the old man floating in the air possessed extraordinary mana.

That was not all.

'Did I drag this out for too long?'

It wasn't just the old mage.

From Left Solia and Solia Castle, there were people with pretty powerful energies approaching.

Their energies were at a caliber that was on a whole another level from ordinary guards.

They were certainly royal knights from Solia Castle, the real deals.

That wasn't all.

Among the people coming this way, it felt like there were people from the Holy Temple mixed in.

'Ha..'

Riley sighed and cringed under the mask as the situation headed in an unwanted direction.

In his dignified appearance and attitude, the old man floating in the air asked,

"Who are you?"

".."

Riley did not answer.

As if he decided that the silence was the answer, the old man pointed his staff toward Riley and continued,

"If you won't open your mouth, then I have no choice but to demonstrate my power."

In front of the staff that the old man put forth, a red-hot flame appeared.

Unlike the magic that the girl under the rag was using, this one had a different color.

It was a fireball.

"I, Astroa the Grand Mage, shall handle this personally."

The old mage flying in the air, Astroa, was smiling with arrogance.