Even with Star Dance, Kelly knew she wasn't going to make it.
The beam's range was too wide, and it was stupidly fast—so fast that even with Stellar Sight active, she could only watch it creep closer in slow motion.
She had one option left.
Cosmic Dust.
She pulled it to herself, faster than the beam could reach her, but the moment she did, her head went light. She'd never tried to control this much Dust before. It felt like someone was squeezing her brain from the inside, the pressure building until her skull throbbed.
The Dust swirled around her, thickening into a cloud before she forced it into a dome—dense, compact, an egg-shaped shield.
But the beam was already there. The air in front of her rippled and hissed like it was boiling.
Then it hit.
White. Nothing but white.
The blast blew the ground apart, chunks of earth and broken stone raining down like a meteor shower. Stalls shattered, people screamed, bodies scrambled for cover.
Kelly slammed into a wooden stall, the impact cracking bone and splintering the wood beneath her. For a second, everything was just noise and ringing.
She tasted blood.
She pushed herself up, knees shaking, vision swimming. The place was wrecked—charred earth, broken debris, smoke still floating in the air.
And then she realized she wasn't alone.
A dozen men in blue armor stood around her, staring like they couldn't believe she was still alive. Only then did it register—her hood was gone. The face she'd tried so hard to keep hidden was now fully exposed.
They'd seen her.
They'd remember her.
They could hunt her down whenever they wanted.
Her head pounded.
The Dust Mage stood a little farther back from the group, studying her like she was some kind of rare specimen.
"Who are you?" one of the men barked, storming toward her, face twisted with fury. "Why are you protecting the Blitz thief?"
That snapped the rest of them out of their daze. They all started moving, eyes shifting—some angry, some hungry in the worst way.
"You'll pay for this," one sneered. "You helped a criminal."
"Just come with us. You can answer for all the damage you caused."
Disgust crawled through Kelly's bones as the men closed in, their eyes gleaming with something foul.
She let out a tired breath, ignoring the sharp pain ripping through her body as she activated Star Dance. Cosmic Dust swirled around her in soft, elegant spirals, turning the ruined marketplace into something almost… dreamlike.
The men froze.
This wasn't the reaction they expected. A cornered girl using some weird, graceful dance? Not a threat. Not to them.
They were about to learn how wrong they were.
Two quiet words slipped from Kelly's lips:
"Sentient Dust."
The Cosmic Dust flickered—then bloomed. Dozens of luminous butterflies took shape, wings leaving glowing trails in the air as they fluttered around her, like they were paying homage.
Like she was their queen.
The armored men just stood there, stunned. And it wasn't because of the butterflies—it was because what they were seeing should've been impossible.
Creating life-forms from Cosmic Dust? That was a Celestial Sentinel ability—two whole phases above a Dust Wielder.
A teenage girl, radiating nothing more than a Dust Initiate's aura, should NOT have been able to do this.
If she really were a Celestial Sentinel, she wouldn't be injured. She wouldn't be cornered. And they—every single one of them—would be running for their lives instead of surrounding her.
"Get away from her! NOW!" the Dust Mage screamed.
However it was already too late.
***
A few moments earlier…
Roy was just a regular merchant, trying to earn a few coins selling Dent ore to blacksmiths. He sat lazily behind his stall, chewing on a blade of grass, staring into nothing.
"What a boring day," he muttered, sighing. "Wouldn't mind a little excitement for once."
He really should've kept that wish to himself.
Before he could finish daydreaming, shouts broke out—people yelling about a thief, others running like their clothes were on fire.
Roy stepped out from behind his stall, frowning. "What's all this—"
A blinding white flash cut him off. Then came the explosion—loud enough to rattle his bones and shake the ground beneath his feet.
His stall went flying—wood shattered, crates burst open, and the Dent ore he'd spent his whole life collecting was blasted into the sky like glittering shrapnel.
"My babies!" Roy screamed, voice cracking in horror as his precious ore rained across the street like meteor fragments.
Before he could even process the heartbreak, another stall just a few meters away collapsed—this time not from the explosion, but because someone had crashed through it.
Roy watched as someone stepped out of the wreckage.
A girl.
Injured, bloodied… and stupidly, unfairly beautiful. The kind of pretty that made you forget the world was on fire.
The law keepers closed in on her, barking orders he couldn't quite hear over the ringing in his ears—but he didn't need to. It was obvious: that was the thief everyone was shouting about.
"Hypocrites," Roy muttered, jaw tight. "Spouting justice while their eyes are glued to her chest."
He already felt bad for her. Once those bastards laid hands on her, she was done for.
Or so he thought.
Because the girl did something that made the whole street forget how to breathe.
She danced.
Not a desperate flail, not some attack stance—an actual dance. Slow, fluid, mesmerizing. Her body moved like she was weightless, Cosmic Dust swirling around her in glowing arcs, as if the universe itself was following her rhythm.
Then the Dust changed—condensing into tiny glowing insects, their wings fluttering softly as they floated around her. They were beautiful. Gentle. Almost begging to be touched.
And then—
—the massacre began.
Roy stood frozen as the "butterflies" sliced through armored men like paper, wings sharpened into blades that tore warriors—warriors—in half. Men who could level small cities were dropped in an instant, cut apart before they even screamed.
The insects didn't just attack—they hunted.
They moved with a terrifying intelligence, weaving through spells and blades like they were dancing, wings curved like knives as they sliced through armored men and dropped them screaming to the ground.
Roy watched, frozen, as the law keepers were torn apart. Blood sprayed the street like rain. Their attacks landed—some of them—but it was pointless. A scratch on a tidal wave. For every insect they hit, a dozen more carved into them.
So they screamed.
They howled.
…And then they died.
One by one, the voices stopped.
When the last body fell, the girl finally turned her head toward the spot where the Dust Mage had been standing—
—but he was gone.
Roy had seen him sprint away the moment the massacre began. Smart man.
The glowing insects dissolved into drifting sparks, fading like they had never existed. The girl stood alone in the aftermath, surrounded by corpses, blood pooling at her feet.
Her expression didn't change.
No horror. No triumph. Just… nothing.
Like this wasn't the first time she'd killed.
Like this wasn't even worth remembering.
She turned and started walking toward the exit, limping slightly.
No one moved.
No one dared.
The people who had blocked the door earlier—all puffed up with courage when she was just a wounded girl—stepped aside without being told, heads bowed, hearts pounding.
Because in this world, one truth ruled over everything:
Strength was king.
And she was terrifyingly, unquestionably strong.