Rain stood a short distance behind Loki, her posture composed, but only on the surface.
Sweat slid slowly down the side of her face.
This is absurd…
He's overwhelming him with pure brute force.
Her eyes lingered on Loki's back as he casually rolled his neck, completely relaxed, as if the battlefield before him were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
That human is even using a Unique Skill…
Just what is this overwhelming power?
Her fingers curled slightly.
I'm older than him… yet I don't see myself ever reaching his level.
The realization sat heavy in her chest.
"Razen," Kirara snapped, her voice sharp as she shot a glare toward the court mage. "Why the hell would I willingly go fight that monster for Shogo?"
She pointed at Loki, who was still smiling faintly, eyes half-lidded with boredom.
"He's the one who stupidly challenged that demon. It has nothing to do with me."
Razen didn't even blink.
"Kirara," he said coldly. "This is an order."
Kirara's jaw tightened. She clicked her tongue in frustration, fists clenched at her sides before finally stepping forward.
"…Tch."
Shogo staggered upright, blood dripping from his mouth, eyes wild with fury.
"I don't need your help, Kirara," he growled. "Just stand there and watch."
Kirara shot him a sideways glare.
"Trust me, I don't feel like helping you at all," she shot back. "But I can't go against Razen's orders because of that stupid curse."
Shogo spat blood onto the ground.
"I don't care. Just don't get in my way."
Loki let out a low chuckle, rubbing his chin as he looked between the two otherworlders.
"Pitting two weaklings against me won't make much of a difference, Razen," he said lazily. "And I'm getting quite restless now."
His eyes shifted, sharp, focused and predatory. locking onto Razen.
"The one I came here for is you. Not these kids."
Razen chuckled softly, adjusting his robe.
"Just because you can beat up a child who was summoned here less than two months ago," he replied calmly, "does not make you anything special."
Rain stepped forward slightly, her voice firm.
"Loki, please make this quick. The longer we stay here, the more enraged Guy-sama will be."
Loki didn't even look back.
"Let him rage for all I care."
Rain's expression tightened.
"You might not care," she said irritably, "but this is not good for me. I failed a simple mission I was given."
"I can't stand to hear your bickering," Shogo snarled. "It's boring me."
Magic flared violently around him as he forced his battered body forward.
He charged.
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he rushed Loki once more, desperation and rage twisting his features into something ugly.
Loki sighed.
"…You really don't learn."
The moment Shogo charged, the air screamed.
Berserker pushed his body past its limits, muscles tearing and regenerating in an endless loop as raw power flooded his limbs. Stone shattered beneath his feet as he closed the distance in an instant, fist pulled back with enough force to pulverize steel.
"DIEEEEE!" Shogo roared.
Loki didn't move.
At least, not at first.
The punch came down like a meteor.
And stopped.
Loki had caught it.
With just his bare hand.
The shockwave still erupted, ripping apart the ground beneath them, but Loki stood firm, boots planted, fingers wrapped casually around Shogo's wrist.
Shogo's eyes widened.
"…Huh?"
Loki tilted his head slightly.
"You swing like someone who's never been taught how to fight," he said lightly. "Just flailing with power."
He twisted.
There was a sickening crack as Shogo's arm bent the wrong way. Shogo screamed, Berserker forcing the limb to snap back into place even as blood sprayed from torn flesh.
Before Shogo could recover, Loki stepped in.
A knee to the gut.
Just precise.
Shogo's breath vanished as his body folded, saliva flying from his mouth as his feet left the ground. Loki followed with an elbow to the spine, slamming Shogo face-first into the stone.
The impact shattered the earth.
Kirara flinched.
This… this isn't a fight…
She raised her hands instinctively, purple magic flaring around her fingers.
"Unique Skill — Bewilder!"
The world twisted.
Space bent unnaturally as Loki's position fractured into overlapping images. His outline blurred, stretched, and duplicated, as if reality itself could no longer decide where he truly stood.
Kirara followed up immediately.
"Wind Bullet!"
Compressed blades of wind screamed toward Loki from multiple angles, cutting through the air with lethal precision.
Loki sighed.
He took one step.
The wind blades passed through an afterimage.
He took another.
A third.
Each spell narrowly missed him, not because Bewilder was inaccurate, but because Loki adjusted faster than Kirara could account for.
"…This skill," Loki said as he walked through the distorted space, hands still in his pockets. "It scrambles perception rather than controlling reality itself."
Kirara's eyes widened.
"He's… analyzing it…"
Shogo erupted from the rubble behind Loki, Berserker howling as he swung with both fists.
Loki ducked under the blow, pivoted on his heel, and slammed his palm into Shogo's chest.
The sound was dull.
Heavy.
Shogo flew backward like a kicked doll, bouncing across the ground before rolling to a stop.
"Ghh—!"
Kirara gritted her teeth.
This is useless…
She reinforced Bewilder, pouring more magic into it, stacking disorientation upon disorientation. At the same time, she unleashed a barrage of elemental spells, fire, wind, and lightning overlapping in a chaotic storm.
Loki finally stopped moving.
Spells detonated around him, smoke and dust swallowing his figure.
Kirara's heart pounded.
…Did it work?
The smoke parted.
Loki stood there, clothes singed slightly, expression unimpressed.
"Dangerous," he said honestly, glancing at Kirara. "If I were weaker, that perception interference would be a real problem."
He smiled.
"That skill, I'd like to take it."
Kirara froze.
"…Take it?"
Loki vanished.
In the next instant, he was right in front of her.
Too close.
Before she could react, Loki placed two fingers against her chest, not touching flesh, but something deeper.
Her soul screamed.
"—AAAAH!"
Kirara collapsed to her knees as an unbearable pressure crushed her existence, as if invisible hands were prying her apart from the inside.
Loki frowned.
"…That's strange."
He pushed slightly further
And hit something.
A lock.
His fingers trembled as foreign magic rejected him, harsh and absolute.
"…A curse," Loki muttered.
He pulled his hand back.
Kirara gasped, clutching her chest as tears streamed down her face.
"…I—I thought you were going to kill me…"
Shogo staggered to his feet again, Berserker raging even harder.
"DON'T IGNORE ME!"
He charged, screaming incoherently.
Loki didn't even look at him.
Without turning, Loki snapped his fingers.
A blunt blast of force slammed into Shogo's face, sending him flying yet again, this time crashing through a half-collapsed wall and vanishing into the rubble beyond.
Silence fell.
Loki looked back at Kirara.
"…That thing inside you," he said slowly. "Is It a curse?"
Kirara's breath hitched.
"…You… you can tell?"
Loki's expression darkened.
He reached out again, carefully this time.
What he saw made his blood run cold.
A Master Lock.
A curse designed to override free will.
His fingers curled into a fist.
"…So that's how it is."
Behind him, Razen's calm mask finally cracked.
Impossible. He shouldn't be able to perceive that.
Loki straightened.
"You know," he said quietly, "I don't like you two."
Kirara flinched.
"You are arrogant. Cruel and selfish."
He looked down at her.
"But you were summoned here. Just like me."
His gaze shifted, sharp and furious toward Razen.
"And you enslaved them."
The air changed.
Loki grabbed the curse.
And tore it apart.
Kirara screamed in shock as chains shattered within her soul. The pressure vanished instantly.
She collapsed, sobbing.
"…It's… gone?"
Razen stepped back.
He destroyed it…
Shogo crawled from the rubble, staring in disbelief.
"…What… did you do…?"
Loki raised his hand.
Yellow light expanded outward, forming a translucent cage around Shogo and Kirara.
A Ranged Barrier.
Absolute.
"Stay out of this," Loki said coldly. "You're done."
He turned slowly.
His eyes locked onto Razen.
"Unforgivable."
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