"You're very confident... going as far as to tell me the name of your organization. Your face is even open for all to see," Mistress Alyra remarked offhandedly. "What happens when I leave here?"
No 29 let out a mirthless chuckle in response to her question, shaking his head like he was chastising a little kid. "Sorry to say, but you won't be leaving here at all, my lady."
"Oh? And what is the basis for this claim?"
No 29 looked at her amusedly, but seemed content to play along with her questioning game. "Well, for one, I'm way stronger than you are. You're looking at the youngest ever tier five awakened of the Silent Blade Squad." He gestured at himself.
The commandant's eyes widened slightly as he held his ground, waiting for Mistress Alyra's signal to attack. He was thoroughly shocked, even thinking No 29 was bluffing. The guy looked, at most, twenty-five. For someone not of a noble background, that was extremely impressive. In fact, the people not of noble background that he could think of who had achieved the same out in the real world could be counted on just one hand.
Mistress Alyra didn't look particularly fazed. Her expression only shifted slightly in concentration as she regarded her opponent with more caution. "Silent Blade Squad's Smiling Devil."
No 29 grinned in ecstasy. "So you've heard about me, Mistress Alyra. It seems I'm kind of popular."
She rolled her eyes. "Not really..."
"Such is life... A little boy from some backwater town, making his way in the world to the point where his name has reached the ears of the oh-so-great and mighty nobles!" He gesticulated extravagantly. "And not even just any noble... A Ryvelin! One of the founding houses of the great kingdom of Morva!" He roared with unhinged laughter before quieting abruptly, raw venom dripping from his voice. "Do you know how happy I was when I was briefed about this job? Do you know why I chose to go ahead with it, despite the immense risk it came along with? Do you know why I—"
"Alright, you can stop talking now," Mistress Alyra interrupted. "Nobody wants to hear your sob story, or whatever petty reasons you've come up with."
Her eyes started to glow a soft cyan as the air around her began to crackle with intense magical energy. "It seems this is bigger than I thought. You even have a tool that can block transmissions from an A-grade communication artifact."
"He He He. I thought you were content with buying time, trying to call for reinforcement. What's with the sudden switch up? I was looking to have some deep conversations with you..." He grinned, his eyes also starting to glow, but with a bright orange color.
A look of shock crossed Mistress Alyra's and the commandant's faces as they saw Smiling Devil's eyes glow.
"What? Shocked?!" A dark chuckle escaped his lips. "You're not the only one with insane talent for Words! Even your ancestors started out like us! Clawing their way towards Origin!" he yelled, dashing straight towards the camp commandant, eager to take out who he deemed weaker first.
"Where's your mind at?!" he cackled maniacally as he reached the vacant-gazed camp commandant. One couldn't blame him though. It was like his worldview was being torn down and stepped upon. Seeing another person, not of the Ryvelin family or any founding house, embodying that... that concept... that Word... Overclock.
This was a Word only a few could embody, even after knowing the name. Among the Ryvelin house offsprings, Mistress Alyra and only two other siblings had some understanding of the Word and could embody it to some extent. The others had failed to even scratch the surface, their cores refusing to open up the secrets of the Word to them. They, who had superior bloodlines with extreme attunement to magic. Which was why he was shocked beyond belief at Smiling Devil's display of his mastery over the Word.
He snapped out of his stupor, his years of battle experience kicking in, but it was too late. There was nothing he could do. A rain of quick-fire advanced energy blasts sent him flying off his feet. Before he hit the ground, Smiling Devil was upon him, his body steaming from the insane amount of magical energy his mana core was processing into enhancement and attack spells.
BOOM!
The commandant tried to counter Smiling Devil's advanced energy blast spell with his own, but it was futile. Smiling Devil was not holding anything back, looking to end the commandant as quickly as possible. He was fully aware of Mistress Alyra's position as she watched him pummel the commandant dumbly.
'These nobles. They believe themselves so mighty and unreachable that when someone claws their way up to their pedestal, they are gobsmacked into utter stupidity.' He thought with scorn.
Mistress Alyra's face went through a rollercoaster of expressions, from surprise to utter disbelief, before finally settling on something... fearful... and urgent. Fearful because Smiling Devil's comprehension of the Word Overclock seemed to be no lesser than hers. And the fact that despite being higher-tiered than both her and the camp commandant, he had immediately pushed himself to the limit. He didn't earn his reputation for nothing. He was intent on finishing them off as quickly, as cleanly, and as thoroughly as possible.
'This isn't the time to get carried away!' She pulled out a vial of a special concoction she always carried on her, gulping down its contents. Instantly, a frigid chill permeated her whole body, starting from the surroundings of her mana core. She overclocked her core to the limit of what she was capable of, her mana core starting to siphon and channel mana viciously. All node pathways she had painstakingly refined over the years were pushed past their thresholds, threatening to crumble and cause irreversible damage, just then her second layer of preparation kicked in. Pale blue tattoo-like sigils emerging from the center of her chest where her core lay started to creep to the surface of her skin, exposing themselves directly to the air as they continued across her body, glowing with increasing intensity.
Despite the cold that permeated her body, she felt hot. Steam leaked out of her mouth in streams like a venting geyser. Her eyes glowed near white as she brimmed with magical energy like never before. She needed an outlet for it, and her gaze locked onto her opponent, who had nearly killed the persistent, cockroach-like commandant. The man was nearly dead, giant icicles sticking out of his bleeding body like a porcupine as he fought senselessly, running on fumes of pure will and grit, nothing left in his mind but to buy time for the Mistress to regain her composure. He was that confident in her abilities to turn the situation around if she could just get composed.
Mistress Alyra's gaze burned with intensity as she let out a scream of anger. At Smiling Devil, and at herself for her weak mentality. She moved her hands with quick hand gestures, chanting a spell under her breath to focus her mind as her mana nodes, hard at work, deciphered every process of the superior spell model.
The dome above them flickered as her hair stood on end due to the amount of charge building in the air. The already dark sky darkened even more. A small wailing groan seemed to be heard from somewhere and nowhere in particular.
Every fibre of Smiling Devil's being screamed danger. He had to stop her from casting the spell fully. The commandant's vacant eyes, driven by will alone, regained their vigour, madness now burning within. He used every last bit of life force he had in him to cast an enhancement spell, holding Smiling Devil down tightly with a vice-like grip.
It was useless.
His hands nearly burned off from just touching the young man. The magical energy pulsing from his body alone was powerful enough to blast him backwards.
But it had a slight effect. The slight, brief pause of the initial grip gave Mistress Alyra enough time to finish casting her spell, locking it onto the naked and fearful eyed Smiling Devil.
"World Cry... VULCAN'S RAGE!!!"