Meanwhile, Aria was suddenly halted by someone—and that someone turned out to be Natsuya.
In the blink of an eye, Natsuya had slipped through a swirling portal of crackling energy, stepping out right in front of her with his sword raised and ready. Without even giving her time to react, he lunged forward, trying to block her from cutting down the wave of soldiers charging her way.
Steel clashed against steel with a resounding clang that vibrated through the air like a struck bell.
But the moment their blades met, a brutal force surged through Natsuya’s arm, making his muscles scream and his teeth grind together from the shock.
’Ah, this is bad... She might be a terrible match-up for me,’ he thought, feeling that jolt sink deep into his bones.
He didn’t even really know who this woman was, beyond the fact that she served as one of Yuuna’s maids.
Her real strength... that was also a mystery. But now, standing here face to face, he was beginning to realize just how dangerous she truly was.
Aria’s sharp gaze locked onto him, her chest rising and falling steadily as she recovered from the interrupted attack.
With calm precision, she shifted her stance, eyes fixed on Natsuya like a predator who’d finally spotted prey worth chasing.
Natsuya sucked in a breath, then straightened himself too, tightening his grip on the hilt of his sword.
The air between them felt like it was vibrating from the tension, silent yet screaming at the same time.
Then, without uttering a single word, both of them sprang into action, closing the distance in an instant.
Aria was the first to go on the offensive, blade slicing through the air toward Natsuya.
But before she could even touch him, he dissolved into thin air—no, into another portal—and vanished from her sight completely.
And from that space beyond sight, he struck.
His attacks slashed at her from places she couldn’t immediately see, the blade shooting out from the portals at angles designed to catch her off guard.
Each time, Aria’s reflexes saved her with her sword intercepting the attacks with sparks flying and metal shrieking under the pressure.
’If I can just keep this distance... that’s fine. I can keep slashing at her through these portals,’ Natsuya told himself, his breath shallow but steady.
He kept swinging his sword into the portal’s mouth, each slash reappearing right near Aria, forcing her on the defensive again and again.
Even though it wasn’t landing any clean hits, it was enough to keep her occupied as well as to keep her away from the soldiers and the battlefield itself.
But Natsuya had no clue just how terrifying she truly was.
The very moment she focused on his true location—even if he was kilometers away—she just dashed.
And she was fast. Ridiculously fast.
In the next heartbeat, she had already found him, crossing that distance like it was nothing.
Natsuya’s eyes widened in pure disbelief.
She was so goddamn fast that it almost felt like she had teleportation powers herself.
With panic gnawing at him, he quickly threw a portal open behind him, letting his body fall backward into it and disappearing from sight. He hoped he could buy himself even a split second to regroup.
But even that wasn’t enough.
Before he could even steady his breathing, Aria was already right beside him again with her figure appearing like a ghost out of thin air.
’What is she, a monster?!’
Nothing about this felt fair.
No swordsman, no matter how fucking skilled, should’ve been able to do something like that—and yet, she pulled it off as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
Desperate, Natsuya tightened his grip, muscles straining as he raised his sword to block the next incoming strike.
By some miracle, he managed to block her—but the moment her blade met his, his sword split in half with a crack that echoed in his ears.
The force behind her swing felt monstrous—unnatural even. It made his stomach twist just realizing how utterly outclassed he was.
Natsuya skidded backward, feet digging into the ground, trying to keep himself from being sent flying further away. Dust kicked up around him as he finally stopped himself.
Sweat dripped down his forehead as he panted hard, chest rising and falling. His eyes stayed locked on Aria, unwilling to blink and even unwilling to look away.
He reached out and ripped open another swirling portal beside him with his hand diving inside before pulling out a replacement sword, gripping it tightly despite the tremor in his fingers.
’Ha... This is really such a fuckin’ mess... How the hell did it even get to this point...?’ he thought, forcing a crooked, bitter smile onto his face.
Kouhei’s eyes were fixed on Masayoshi.
And right then, he saw something change.
It was that wild, unhinged expression slipping away, replaced by a crack of real worry and maybe even fear.
That single moment told Kouhei everything.
That Masayoshi was finally about to take this seriously.
"Hrkk..." Masayoshi hissed in pain, his burned arm twitching as he struggled to fix it. The bastard tried using his time manipulation to rewind the injury on his arm, but something was off. "Y-You... what the fuck did you just do?"
"So even a sword of light can fuck you up bad enough that you can’t heal instantly," Kouhei observed, voice low and steady, but with a razor’s edge.
It wasn’t even a big wound. It was just a burn on his arm—but Masayoshi’s power to rewind time around his injuries wasn’t working like it usually did.
"You...!" Masayoshi spat out, glaring at Kouhei with eyes filled with raw rage and disbelief.
But after what felt like an eternity of tense silence, his power finally kicked back into full effect.
And the burn on his arm began to close, skin stitching itself together until it was like nothing had happened at all.
However, even with all that happening, Masayoshi right now had this look of raw, gnawing worry twisting his features. His breathing had gone uneven, chest rising and falling faster than before, and his fists clenched so tightly the veins bulged along his skin. Right now, Masayoshi wasn’t charging at Kouhei with that reckless, crazed arrogance that he showed at first.
It had to be sinking in—the brutal truth that his ability wasn’t working like it should. And deep down, Masayoshi was finally grasping the horrifying thought that Kouhei could actually kill him or tear him apart in ways he couldn’t just rewind or undo.
"Kuh...! You think I’m scared!" Masayoshi spat out, voice cracking with anger that almost sounded desperate. His teeth sank into his lip hard enough to split the skin, but it closed right back up in a blink. "I’m not gonna fucking be scared of some human like you! Someone who’s just the lowest! You’re not gonna do shit! You’re nothing!"
Even with that fear scraping at the edges of his voice, Masayoshi forced himself to dash forward, muscles coiling and blood pounding in his ears.
Kouhei didn’t flinch. His eyes were steady, cold, and focused. And when Masayoshi swung at him with that monstrous, brutal fist, Kouhei just tilted aside, calm as water, letting the blow sail past before bringing his blade upward in a sharp, clean arc.
The slash landed. Flesh parted, blood spraying through the air, and Masayoshi’s chest lit up with a white-hot burn that ripped a ragged grunt from his throat.
Even as his skin split open, Masayoshi kept his feet, staggering but refusing to drop. But no matter how hard he clenched his teeth or tried to force it, his ability wouldn’t seal the wound back up.
"That’s not enough to kill me!" he snarled, eyes wild, throwing another furious punch at Kouhei. But again, Kouhei moved aside, breath unbroken, and with a fluid swing, his blade bit into Masayoshi’s flesh again—this time cutting deep enough to hack off a limb.
Blood spilled, hot and dark, splashing the ground.
Masayoshi tried again to call on his time manipulation, desperation flashing in his eyes—but nothing. The limb stayed gone, the wound stayed open, and the pain stayed real.
But he still didn’t stop. With the last arm he had left, he flailed, swinging wide and messy.
But the fear in his eyes had torn apart every ounce of technique he once had. His stance had fallen apart completely. It wasn’t even an attack anymore—it was a raw, panicked attempt to hit anything.
To Kouhei, it was pitifully obvious.
With cold precision, Kouhei stepped in again. His blade swept through the air, severing the last arm. Then it dropped lower, cutting through one leg, and then the other, blood painting the ground around them.
Masayoshi’s scream ripped through the area.
It was a raw, hoarse, and filled with pain that stripped every ounce of pride from his voice.
It was the first time Masayoshi had ever let out a sound like that—and to Kouhei, that pitiful cry was almost satisfying to hear.
The monster everyone believed was unkillable, untouchable... was now reduced to a bleeding, broken wreck on the ground.
He wasn’t even the same person anymore.
All the arrogance, that poisonous pride he clung to like armor, was shattered. And what was left wasn’t strength—but naked, trembling fear.
"N-No...! Don’t come closer!"
Right now, Masayoshi had fallen so far that he couldn’t even pretend otherwise. The terror was written all over his face, plain for anyone to see.