Rein and the man appeared and throw a punch at the same time and their punches collided, the impact sending a shockwave across the sand near the ocean, rippling outward into the trees along the eastern forest edge.
The man shakes his arm once, rolling his shoulder like he's loosening something that barely matters.
"I am number 3 of the round table," he says coldly. "Camron."
He throws a quick jab right after, sharp and direct—but it's not meant to land clean. It's a feint.
His real attack comes low.
A sudden kick aimed at Rein's left foot.
Rein doesn't move.
The kick lands.
Camron's eyes narrow immediately.
Because instead of feeling impact on flesh, it feels like he just kicked solid steel buried inside a mountain.
A deep, immovable pressure.
Rein exhales slowly.
Camron clicks his tongue. "What the hell are you—"
Rein grabs Camron's leg mid-motion without even looking down properly.
Then he twists.
And slams him into the ground.
Left to right.
The sand explodes outward as Camron's body bounces once, then twice.
Rein releases him like he's tossing something light.
"Names are not important in fights," Rein says calmly, rolling his neck once. "And I can tell she's number 4 anyways."
A blur of motion hits his peripheral vision.
The woman.
Number 4.
She's already moving.
Fast enough that the air around her fractures into overlapping afterimages, like reality can't keep up with her acceleration.
She circles Rein.
Once.
Twice.
Multiple versions of her appear around him, all at slightly different angles.
Camron pushes himself up from the sand, wiping blood from his lip.
Rein doesn't even look at him.
Then—
Rein steps forward suddenly.
Not toward Camron.
Toward empty space.
He pivots and says, "Got you."
A punch fires out.
It connects with Number 4's face mid-step.
Her body snaps backward and she crashes into the sand, rolling hard before stopping near the edge of the shoreline.
Rein lowers his fist slightly.
"Don't try speed or strength," he says flatly. "Try something else."
Camron exhales sharply and rises fully now, his posture changing.
The air around him thickens.
His presence shifts.
"I serve my lord Prince Luther," Camron says, voice deeper now. "In the name of my lord I release the curse of Thor—god of thunder and lightning."
The sky reacts instantly.
Clouds gather with violent speed.
Lightning cracks once.
Then twice.
A bolt strikes Camron directly.
Instead of killing him, it wraps around his body like it's answering him.
His eyes glow with stormlight.
In his hand, a massive thunder hammer forms, crackling with compressed lightning arcs.
Number 4 slowly rises from the sand behind Rein.
She tilts her head.
"In the name of my lord Prince Luther," she says in a distorted tone, "I release the curse of sound—Mimik."
Her body shifts.
Bones restructure.
Her form becomes more unstable, less human.
A two-legged shape with multiple arms forming from shifting mass, her head losing eyes entirely.
Only ears.
And a mouth that opens wider than it should.
Rein finally turns his attention slightly between both of them.
"Sound and lightning," he mutters. "That combination is annoying."
Camron swings the thunder hammer down immediately.
The strike is heavy enough to split the air itself.
Rein raises one hand.
No weapon.
No stance change.
Just one hand coated in dominion energy.
The hammer hits it.
The impact does not push Rein back.
Instead, the ground under him compresses slightly and holds.
The thunder disperses outward in a ring of light and sand.
Camron's eyes widen slightly.
"That stopped it… with one hand?"
Number 4 suddenly emits a sound.
Not a scream.
A frequency.
A precise vibration that distorts the air around Rein's perception.
Camron vanishes from his position instantly—
And appears where Number 4 was standing.
Swapped.
Rein's eyes shift slightly upward.
"…What the hell?"
Before he can adjust fully, Number 4 reappears where Camron was, now directly in his blind angle.
She strikes immediately.
A rapid combination of hits, each one carrying invisible sound pressure layered into physical force.
But before the final strike lands—
She emits the same frequency again.
Camron and her switch positions once more.
Camron appears mid-motion, confused for a fraction of a second.
That fraction is enough.
Number 4 uses it.
She appears again and strikes Camron's side instead, using his momentum against him.
Camron is launched sideways.
He crashes into Rein's position, colliding into him with enough force to send Rein sliding across the sand and straight into the ocean.
The water erupts upward as Rein disappears beneath the surface.
Silence hangs for half a second.
Camron steadies himself on the shore, breathing heavily.
Number 4 stands near the waterline, her head tilting slightly as she listens to everything at once.
The ocean churns where Rein fell.
Then—
A low pressure spreads from beneath the water.
Not sound.
Not light.
Something heavier.
Camron feels it first.
His grip tightens on the hammer.
"…He's not done."
Number 4 doesn't respond.
But her ears twitch slightly.
The ocean surface begins to still in a wide radius.
Then cracks outward—like the water itself is being pushed aside from below.
A shape rises beneath the surface pressure.
Not rushing.
Not exploding upward.
Just ascending, step by step through the sea as if it were solid ground.
Rein emerges from the water slowly.
His body is dry already.
No visible damage.
Only dominion energy faintly circulating around him like a controlled atmosphere.
He steps onto the shoreline again.
Water dripping off his shoulders for a moment before stopping completely.
He looks at both of them.
Then rolls his shoulder once.
"Alright," he says calmly. "Let's continue."
Camron grips his hammer tighter.
Number 4 lowers her stance slightly.
The air between all three tightens again.