“Jerard-!”
Hearing the explosion and rushing outside the village, the Holy Weapons discovered Jerard far off in the distance, limbs severed and dying. Without hesitation, they sprinted towards him.
In terms of sheer strength, Jerard ranked among the upper echelons, so it was hard to believe he could be so brutally defeated. The only person capable of such a feat would be…
“Kail Meyer….”
At that moment, they recalled witnessing that divine technique—the ability to summon an Aura Blade into thin air. With such power, slaying another Master was entirely plausible.
Ashura regretted not warning Jerard about his abilities sooner and bit her lip in frustration.
“Grrr….”
“Jerard….”
“Damn it, this is bad….”
Jerard lay there, blood oozing from his eyes, nose, and mouth, as if lamenting his fate. Seeing this, Ashura quickly staunched the bleeding at the severed areas before jabbing a needle into his neck, knocking him unconscious.
After gathering his limp body and detached limbs, Ashura stood up and turned to the other members.
“…Hephaestus, let’s head back.”
“What about finding the boss?”
“That’s important too, but we can’t just leave a comrade to die. First, we need to save Jerard.—Kaines, Hecate.”
At Ashura’s call, two figures glanced over at her. Meeting their gaze, Ashura flared her killing intent and spoke.
“Go find Kail and kill him. Think you can handle that?”
“Three of us should be enough.”
“I’m heading back first. See you later.”
With that, she left the scene with Hephaestus, carrying Jerard away. Left alone with Hecate, Kaines shrugged and said,
“Alright, let’s go.”
As Kaines started walking ahead, he realized Hecate wasn’t following and turned around.
And there he saw Hecate, trembling after discarding her robe.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
—Kyaaaaaiiiil!
Her pitch-black leather armor quivered slightly. Six arms emerged from her lower back, each one snapping bones into place, and bone swords sprouted from her palms.
Recognizing this as Hecate’s battle stance, Kaines gulped nervously and took a step back. Uninterested in Kaines, Hecate immediately dashed off in a particular direction.
“Wait-!?”
Chasing after her, Kaines felt certain something big was going to happen today.
* * *
Sword meets spear. But unlike usual, no clashing light or sound erupted. Instead, silence reigned.
Kail carefully activated his Aura Blade for just a fleeting moment when the spearhead touched his sword blade, ensuring no sparks would reach Yuri behind him.
After deflecting the spear, he immediately extinguished the Aura Blade and struck the opponent’s face with either the flat of his sword or a punch.
The guy had managed to block Kail’s strikes with Aura a few times now, but Kail relentlessly powered through, imbuing his fists with Aura and hitting harder.
Crack! The man’s nose shattered, his face caved in, and blood sprayed everywhere. Though it was a grim sight, the man burst out laughing instead.
“Hahaha! That’s more like it! Now we’re talking!”
He swung his spear horizontally, trying to push Kail back. Knowing full well that giving a spear wielder distance spelled doom, Kail stuck close and relentlessly harassed him.
Several seconds passed before Yuri, having healed all her injuries, cautiously stood up and launched a spell. A decisive blow that could determine the fight’s outcome. The man frowned slightly upon seeing the incoming magic.
“—I told you not to attack my husband, you crazy bitch!”
The next instant, despite being hit by the spell, the man appeared unscathed, just as he had been after Kail’s earlier attacks.
Seeing this, Kail bluffed.
“Who’s your husband? You crazy bastard.”
“Are you jealous? They say jealousy is an ugly trait in men.”
“Yuri—I’ve got a rough idea of this guy’s tricks. Keep firing small spells at him.”
“Got it.”
Following Kail’s instructions, Yuri cast spells that wouldn’t cause significant harm to an Aura Master but were still annoying. Watching her, the man clicked his tongue in irritation and glared at Kail.
“You claim to have figured everything out, so why bother with these petty tricks?”
The man slammed his spear into the ground with a thud. A faint ripple spread out, brushing past Kail and Yuri.
“Maha-Shutra.”
His Force Ability, named after himself, activated, and Kail realized the surroundings had transformed into a long expanse of marble flooring—a very familiar space.
“—There’s no escape now.”
Three!
A character never seen before in this world appeared in midair. Smiling, the man had seen it countless times.
“Come at me, boy.”
Two!
Kail didn’t move. More accurately, he couldn’t. This world operated on those rules.
“If you won’t come, I’ll make the first move.”
One!
As the countdown ended and the word “Fight” appeared, the man charged forward without hesitation.
A Force Ability that forcibly initiated a 1-on-1 duel.
His body wouldn’t obey his commands freely—it felt like a fighting game.
‘Just like a game.’
Recalling some mini-games from Diaros Academy, Kail smirked.
If Kail had been purely a native of this world, he might have panicked at his unresponsive body and lost the initiative.
“Sorry about this.”
But Kail was a modern human, a resident of the 21st century who once simulated this world as a game.
Watching the man rush in for the first strike, Kail waited for the perfect moment and swung his sword.
Counter! As the cheerful text flashed, the man momentarily froze in his attempt to attack.
“I’m quite used to this.”
Seizing the momentum, Kail pressed on with his assault. Incidentally, his childhood nickname had been ‘Chair Collector.’
* * *
Ashura wore a bewildered expression as Kail’s sword danced around his attacks.
‘How?’
His Force Ability didn’t merely force a 1-on-1 confrontation; it came with additional effects.
All of the opponent’s abilities were equalized, and only predetermined movements could be used.
Consequently, those who encountered his ability for the first time often found themselves helplessly overwhelmed, unsure how to move.
Kail was different.
‘It’s as if he’s done this countless times before…!’
From his movements to his sword swings, he acted naturally, as if he already knew everything. It was incomprehensible. Even an Aura Master or genius wouldn’t adapt so effortlessly.
In fact, the more skilled an Aura Master was at controlling their body, the harder it typically was for them to adjust to forced constraints.
The disconnect between perceived sensations and actual physical capabilities was usually too great.
“Guh! This guy! How is he…!”
Ashura desperately swung his spear to push Kail back. Thankfully, their stats were equally adjusted, which was a stroke of luck.
Had their real-world stats applied, Ashura would have been crawling on the floor with his head smashed in the instant he entered this space.
Kail took a deep breath and looked at him.
“I’ll finish this next.”
“What?”
An unbelievable declaration. And in the next moment, Kail accelerated. With both their reflexes and dynamic vision equalized, Ashura managed to track and intercept Kail’s acceleration.
If he could see it, he could block it. Naturally, Ashura thrust his spear forward, but Kail moved as if skipping intermediate motions, effortlessly deflecting the incoming spear.
‘What?’
An unprecedented movement, seemingly physically impossible. Kail chuckled at Ashura’s dumbfounded expression.
“You don’t know this, do you?”
Motion cancel. An accidental bug unique to computer games, a playstyle no resident of this world, even one who stumbled upon a Force Ability turning the world into a fighting game, could ever comprehend.
Showcasing the overwhelming superiority of advanced civilization, Kail cornered Ashura and followed through with his declared attack.
“Wait, guhk—gahk!”
Each time he was struck, Ashura instinctively felt his life force draining. He understood that when it depleted completely, he would die.
Every opponent subjected to his ability met the same fate—men, women, young, old, insects, beasts—it didn’t matter.
‘Die? Me?’
Death. The fear of death consumed Ashura. It was something he’d never contemplated in his entire life. With this ability, he believed he’d never truly die, even if things went south.
The moment that conviction shattered, the moment hope turned to despair—
That was when a person experienced their greatest fear.
“Ahh, aaaahhh!”
Just as he had done to the women he abducted, Ashura succumbed to humanity’s greatest fear and died.
* * *
“…Hm?”
Swinging his sword, Kail suddenly realized he had returned to reality, his body freed from the game-like constraints.
Stopping his swing, he looked down at the man before him.
‘He’s dead.’
This must be the penalty of his ability. If one died within that space, the user of the ability would also perish without exception.
A restriction that likely didn’t concern an Aura Master much. Yet here, Kail—an Aura Master with far more gaming experience—had thoroughly trounced him.
There was no need to pity him. This guy was a terrorist, and judging by his actions toward Yuri in such a short span, his usual behavior was clear enough.
“What?”
“Yuri, how many seconds passed?”
“…What do you mean?”
“How many seconds passed while that guy and I disappeared?”
“We didn’t disappear. That guy just suddenly collapsed.”
“Really?”
Which meant time didn’t flow inside that space. Though he couldn’t figure out how the ability allowed him to dodge his attacks, he shrugged it off, assuming there must have been some sort of invincibility frame.
Turning around, Kail approached Yuri again.
And then pulled her into a tight embrace.
“Yuri, I’m sorr—”
“Shh.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t apologize, Kail.”
Stepping back, Yuri broke the embrace.
“It’s not your fault.”
“…Yuri.”
“I became a Master but still got kidnapped without being able to do anything.”
Hearing her words, Kail bowed his head deeply. Becoming a Master and gaining transcendent power beyond the Aura Blade had made him believe everything would be fine.
Reality proved otherwise. Evil still ran rampant in this world.
The Evil God Cult, seeking to corrupt the world with darkness.
Forgotten worshippers following ancient rulers.
The Sacred Weapons, prioritizing their own indulgence.
And countless unnamed evils always reaching out with malicious intent toward people, toward those around Kail.
‘This can’t continue.’
These fiends couldn’t be left unchecked.
He couldn’t stand by and watch evil spread further.
“Yuri.”
“Yes.”
“I’ll make sure nothing like this happens again.”
Eradicate all evil from this world.
Lead the world toward righteousness.
“—Want to help?”
At Yuri’s question, Kail nodded slowly. This wasn’t something he could do alone. It was true in games, and it was true in reality.
As the two resolved to eradicate evil, a six-armed monster stepped through the hole Kail had created.
—Kaaaaiiiiil!
“Oh, it’s you.”
Seeing Hecate, Kail smirked. So that’s where she went—apparently, the Sacred Weapons had taken her along.
Giving Yuri a quick glance, Kail gripped his sword tightly and stepped forward.
“For sure, you guys are next.”
—Huh?
Facing a bewildered Hecate, Kail demonstrated firsthand why the combination of a warrior and a sorcerer was so overpowered.
* * *
Time passed, and Kail entered his second year at the Academy.
