Ardyn's smile in response to that kiss was all the answer he needed a complex blend of trust, fierce pride, and simmering anticipation. She nodded once, her golden eyes holding his for a heartbeat that seemed to stretch, acknowledging the shift from date-night to a different kind of field operation.
Noctar stepped out of the car, shutting the door with a solid, muted thunk. The rumbling, predatory growl of the engine was a stark, brutal contrast to his elegant appearance. He walked to the front of the vehicle, placing himself between the gleaming black hood and the seething wall of humanity, a single, immaculately dressed man facing a tsunami of misplaced fervor.
A murmur, this one tinged with awe, ran through the front lines of the crowd. "That aggressive muscle car. It's the Blue Devil… the actual Corvette from the feeds…" someone muttered, a grudging, gearhead's respect for the machine momentarily cutting through the collective anger.
He didn't posture. He didn't yell. He simply stood there, hands loose at his sides, a statue of preternatural calm, as the final news vans screeched to a halt at the periphery, their roof lights painting the scene in frantic streaks of blue and white.
His Appraisal Eyes worked overtime, tagging the crowd in flickering overlays of data. Mostly C and D classes: Laborers, Apprentice Mages, lowtier Rangers. A handful of B-ranks:a Barber, a Stonecarver, an Alchemist. A smattering of Fs:Civilians with no combat skills. A physical threat? Statistically negligible. An emotional and logistical hazard? Critical.
// In a confined space with lethal force authorized, victory is computationally assured. However, your current skill library is optimized for erasing system errors and annihilating monster data, not for non lethal, public relations friendly crowd dispersal. Director Vale and Peacekeeper units are 7 minutes out. Caution is strongly advised. S.A.R.A. cautioned, her tone all business.
The fanatics, emboldened by his stillness and the flashing cameras, found their collective voice again. Their rage, momentarily cowed by the car's presence, refueled itself on his silent, perceived arrogance.
"Demon! Look at his eyes!"
"Incubus! He's used some charm magic on the Rose Knight! Free her!"
"Look at him! No one is that perfect without golem-craft or soul-sculpting! It's fake! All of it!"
"He's not even real! A corporate robot! A spy from Urpol!"
"Noc.bug! Show us your true form!"
The accusations flew they were absurd, venomous, painfully loud. They were a cacophony of fantasy and fear given voice. Noctar let them rant. He gave them a full two minutes, a lifetime in media cycles, allowing their hysteria to peak, letting every camera drink its fill of the furious mob and the calm man at its center. He was gathering data, letting their own energy become their weakness.
Then, he acted.
He didn't summon a weapon. He didn't adopt a fighting stance. He simply tapped into the core function S.A.R.A. had outlined. He channeled a sliver of his immense mana not into an attack, but through [Energy Assimilation], using it not to pull energy in, but to shape and project it outwards in a highly refined, invisible wave.
He focused it through his own bio electric field, directing the pulse to resonate with the ambient mana in the air and, more crucially, with the unprepared neural pathways of the mob before him. It was a reverse siphon, a gentle yet overwhelming push.
He didn't shout. He didn't scream to be heard over the din. He simply took a breath, and spoke one word into the heart of the storm.
"Quiet."
The word did not just leave his lips. It manifested.
It was a physical, polished force, a perfectly vertical wave of compressed air and divine intent that slammed into the crowd not as a blast, but as a suffocating blanket. The sound vibrated deep in their bones, rattled their fillings, and settled in the marrow of their spines. It wasn't deafening; it was absolute. It carried the weight of a command issued to a malfunctioning program.
The chaotic roar, the shouts, the chants, the crude spells was instantly, utterly extinguished, as if a universal mute button had been pressed. The cheap microphones and recording crystals held by the independent journalists and fan livestreamers fizzed, popped, and went dark, their sensitive components shattered by the precise, overwhelming frequency they were never designed to process.
A profound, ringing silence fell over the eight-lane highway. The only sounds remaining were the distant, confused honking from trapped traffic miles back, the idle, deep chested purr of his car, and the ragged, suddenly timid breaths of a thousand people who had just been psychologically stripped bare.
Inside the car, Ardyn felt the command roll over and through the armored glass. It wasn't a shout that hurt her ears; it was a wave of pure, dominant authority that didn't threaten her, but instead wrapped around her in a possessive, protective cocoon, a sonic signature that recognized her as ally, not target.
The effect was instantaneous and visceral. A jolt of pure, unadulterated heat shot straight to her core, so intense it made her muscles clench and her back arch slightly against the soft leather of the seat. A soft, helpless gasp escaped her throat, her fingers tightening on the edge of the seat. She watched him, a lone, elegant figure who had just silenced an army with a single, softly spoken word, and felt a dizzying cocktail of awe, territorial pride, and raw, undiluted desire.
This was the power he wielded. And he was wielding it for her.
In the deafening silence, Noctar's ice-blue eyes swept over the stunned crowd. The fight, the fanaticism, the self-righteous anger, it had all been blown out like a candle. In its place was a primal, knee weakening fear, the fear of a small animal that has suddenly realized it is in the gaze of an apex predator it cannot comprehend.
Their signs hung limp. Their glowing tablets flickered erratically. They weren't facing a man, a rival, or an imposter. They were facing a force of nature. A quiet, tailored hurricane.
He had their absolute, terrified attention.
Now, they would listen.