Grant frowned at the inexplicable phenomenon.
The smoke that had hung thick in the air had already been absorbed by Mitchell and had thinned considerably.
He turned his head and looked at Nox, who lay collapsed.
'Damn! If I'd known this would happen, I would've only subdued him.'
Nox was the only person who knew about the object Mitchell had taken out.
But in the urgency of the moment, Grant had killed him outright.
'Think, Grant!'
Even as Grant berated himself, the smoke continued to be sucked into Mitchell's body until it was completely absorbed.
Grant had no idea what was happening, so he simply watched.
Fortunately, Mitchell slowly got to his feet.
Grant spoke to Mitchell with concern in his eyes.
"Mitchell, are you okay?"
Mitchell hurriedly looked over his body and moved around before finally speaking.
"I'm fine. I don't know what happened, but I don't think I'll have any trouble moving for now."
"That's a relief, but……."
The magic stone had been completely reduced to powder and disappeared. Since they had no idea what it was, they had no choice but to be as cautious as possible.
"Let's get out of here first. We can look into it after we get back."
"Sounds good."
Grant nodded at Mitchell's words.
Once outside, the two started to put their masks back on, only to stop dead.
"Damn……."
Rapel's martial artists had surrounded the annex.
They hadn't heard a single sound, yet this many martial artists had gathered.
Then a man with a powerful presence pushed his way through the martial artists and emerged.
"Well, look who it is. Is that not Runei's Eldest Young Master?"
"Barke…… How the hell did you know to come here?"
Barke was the commander who led Rapel's Martial Corps.
There was no way a man like him would rush straight here simply because the alarm magic had been dispelled.
The first place they should be guarding wasn't this annex, but the main building.
Their doubts were soon answered by Barke's vile grin.
"Heh heh. We could not openly make an enemy of the underworld, so we set a trap. To think such a big fish would bite. The Family Head will be pleased."
As expected, it was a trap, plain and simple.
A picture formed in Mitchell's mind.
Rapel wanted to get rid of Nox, but it was wary of the underworld, so it had tried to draw in the Runei Family.
They had likely leaked the information to lure the Runei Family in, intending to eliminate them together with Nox and then frame them for the whole thing.
For Rapel, it was like catching the pheasant and collecting its eggs too.
Mitchell sighed, drew his sword, and looked at Grant.
"You should've done a better job checking this out."
"Damn…… What do we do now?"
"Why're you asking me? You're the one who took the bait and dragged me all the way here."
"Urgh."
Grant's face turned bright red because every word was true.
He hadn't even suspected it.
Worse, he'd even brought Mitchell, who wasn't a member of the Runei Family, with him.
"Come to think of it, didn't you get tricked like this last time too?"
"That was……."
"Guess I shouldn't trust any information you give me from now on."
Grant hung his head at Mitchell's words.
Even if he had two mouths, he would've had nothing to say. But they couldn't keep this up forever. Grant bit his lip and drew his sword.
What mattered now was getting out of here.
"Be careful. Barke is Rapel's Martial Corps Commander and a Grade 5 Aura User."
"Wow, we might actually die."
"……I'll compensate you once we're out."
"Then I'll wring every last bit of compensation out of you."
Grant desperately hoped that was fine as long as both of them made it out safely.
Barke, who had been watching the two whisper, sneered.
"Why not surrender quietly? You may have gotten away by luck last time, but this is the heart of the Rapel Family."
But even at his words, Mitchell and Grant's swords did not waver.
Realizing it would only end after blood was spilled, Barke clicked his tongue.
"I had hoped to negotiate while all four of your limbs were intact, but it cannot be helped."
Barke gestured, and Rapel's martial artists charged.
Seeing that, Grant sent Mitchell a voice transmission.
[Hold them off as much as you can and wait for an opening. Then we break through in one push.]
Mitchell gave a small nod and swung his sword at the first enemy to reach him.
"AAARGH!"
The martial artist was sent flying in a single blow.
As he had felt in the previous battle, Rapel's martial artists weren't very skilled.
'But there are a lot of them.'
Compared to Runei, there were several times as many.
Especially this time, a considerable number of low-level martial artists seemed to have been mobilized. Here and there, he could see those whose Aura Holes hadn't even properly bloomed.
No, those men were the ones charging first.
Their faces were full of fear, but because of the other martial artists behind them, they were forced into the vanguard, as though swallowing mustard through tears.
And the result, naturally, was death.
SLASH—
Mitchell cut down enemy after enemy as they rushed him, then looked at Grant.
Even more men had swarmed him.
They threw their bodies at him just to inflict even a single wound, and Grant, thrown off by their reckless bodily attacks, was gradually being stained with blood.
'They're concentrating on Grant…….'
Though none of the wounds were deep, at this rate Grant would inevitably tire first.
Their only hope of surviving this crisis lay in Grant's strength.
Even if Grant praised him as a genius, Grant's current realm was still far ahead of his.
'I need to deal with the weak ones.'
The moment Mitchell made his decision, he unleashed his energy.
His strength shone even brighter in a battle like this.
SKREEEEEE—
He tore apart souls to fill his Aura Hole while simultaneously manifesting his energy outside his body.
It was merely an emission of energy, but to Rapel's lower-level martial artists, it looked as though a monster had appeared.
The monster writhed ceaselessly, its maw gaping open.
"Eek!"
At that, the Rapel martial artist charging him panicked.
He was a low-level martial artist, overwhelmed by Mitchell's energy.
The one directly in front of him, in particular, had his knees give out and collapsed on the spot.
Mitchell swung his sword at him, splitting his chest wide open and killing him.
"What kind of monster is that?!"
The others were the same.
The enemies, most of them merely Grade 1 or 2 Aura Users, couldn't do anything even as Mitchell swung his sword.
Mitchell moved over to Grant's side and dealt with the enemies charging at him too.
"Recover first."
"Thanks……."
At least when it came to opponents of this level, Mitchell was far better suited than Grant.
Thanks to the breathing room, Grant drank an emergency potion and quickly poured it over his body.
Potions were meant to boost recovery, so they weren't very effective during battle, but they were enough to stop the bleeding in an emergency.
After watching Grant quickly stabilize himself, Mitchell rushed forward.
He intended to make sure the frightened enemies couldn't do anything at all.
And Mitchell's plan worked.
SLASH—
"AAARGH!"
The low-level warriors who saw Mitchell charging backed away, tangled their feet together, and even fell over one another.
He swung his sword without pause.
The corpses of low-level warriors piled up on the ground.
Then other martial artists, unable to stand watching any longer, charged in. Their level was higher, but not enough to overwhelm Mitchell.
Whenever he started to struggle, Grant stepped in and took over, so Mitchell had no trouble maneuvering.
He kept releasing energy at the maximum output he could use.
SKREEEEK—
The souls within his body rapidly dwindled.
But that didn't matter to Mitchell right now. Souls were strewn all around him.
CLATTER—
Chains shot out from Mitchell's hand and snatched up the souls.
The souls he absorbed quickly filled him to capacity, keeping his energy from running out.
"Ugh!"
But that only lasted a moment.
A powerful Aura-infused attack made Mitchell stagger heavily.
COUGH—
At the same time, a handful of blood spilled out and stained the ground.
His insides had been badly rattled. When he raised his head, he saw Barke wearing a demon-like expression.
"How dare you interfere with Rapel's affairs?"
"Mitchell! Back!"
Mitchell leaped backward the instant he heard the shout.
Grant then sprang in front of Mitchell in an instant.
Barke calmly blocked the sword coming toward him.
Their swords clashed through several exchanges in an instant.
They were evenly matched.
Considering Grant's age, it was impressive.
'I need to open an escape route while Grant keeps him busy.'
Now was the perfect chance, while the enemies overwhelmed by Mitchell's energy still hadn't recovered their senses.
His decision made, Mitchell fed souls into his sword according to the principles of Heaven-Breaking Annihilation.
He compressed them while simultaneously converting them into energy.
SKREEEEEE—
The souls screamed, and hazy white Sword Energy formed on the blade.
But Mitchell didn't stop there. He began putting even more souls into it.
There was no shortage of souls, after all. When several more souls were added—
'Urgh!'
The energy in the sword began to run wild.
The souls merged into Mitchell's sword no longer screamed as before. They laughed.
HEH HEH HEH!
It was unmistakable mockery.
The merged souls writhed, trying to break free of Mitchell's control.
He was holding on for now, but before long they would surely surge back into him and consume him.
At that life-or-death moment, a voice reached Mitchell's ears.
[Arrogant.]
Voice transmission?
No. This was different from voice transmission, which delivered sound to the eardrums.
It came from deeper within. A voice resounding inside his head.
[Far too arrogant. To think one who wields the Sword of Death does not even know his own limits and runs wild.]
He had no idea what the Sword of Death was, either.
Mitchell had no idea who was speaking or what any of it meant, but he fought to keep his concentration.
If he slipped even a little, the sword's energy would flow back into him.
Yet the voice in his head did not stop.
[More importantly, why is the Heaven-Breaking Sword's circulation method such a mess? To think someone would mangle the martial arts I poured my heart into creating like this…….]
Heaven-Breaking Sword? Something he poured his heart into creating?
The instant he heard that, one person came to mind.
'Calian Runei?'
The first Family Head of the Runei Family, and a giant who had left a profound mark on the world.
The martial arts he had completed over the course of his life were said to have firmly supported the Runei Family.
Though only until the war with the Holy Empire.
'Could that magic stone from earlier have been a Soul Stone……?'
A vessel capable of containing a soul.
Only an extremely small number of the highest-grade magic stones could be used as the material, and even then, a Soul Stone could only be created through special processing.
Because it was made from a magic stone, Mitchell had heard there was no way to distinguish a magic stone from a Soul Stone by appearance alone.
But his surprise lasted only a moment.
'Damn…….'
He was on the verge of dying right now, so none of that could possibly matter.
As he struggled to hold the souls in place, a faint energy suddenly flowed into Mitchell's body.
Though the amount was very small, its purity gave it a powerful presence.
[Move your energy according to my guidance.]
The powerful energy began flowing along the Aura Road.
Mitchell still wasn't certain this really was Calian, but whether he died this way or that, the result was the same.
For now, he had no choice but to trust the voice and follow its guidance.
Mitchell immediately moved his energy.
Holding on to his fading consciousness, he sent his own energy along the same flow.
'Ah…….'
As the circulation method of Heaven-Breaking Annihilation was corrected, the wildly rampaging energy instantly calmed.
'Is this the real Heaven-Breaking Annihilation?'
A massive ash-gray Sword Energy had settled over Mitchell's sword.