[Lexia von Alceria POV]
The clearing fell into complete silence Yuuya stood casually over the unconscious assassin, one hand resting in his pocket while the other hung loosely at his side.
The remaining assassins instinctively flinched almost as one, they each took a step backward. The confidence they wore only moments ago had vanished.
In its place—
Caution, fear and confusion.
"...Monster..."
One assassin whispered under his breath the leader gritted his teeth.
"Don't panic!"
His shout echoed through the clearing.
"He's only one man!"
One of the assassins beside him suddenly stepped forward a brilliant blue magic circle formed beneath his feet.
Mana surged through the air.
"Water Spear!"
A razor-sharp lance of compressed water shot toward Yuuya and it crossed the clearing in a rush. Faster than any attack the assassins had launched before.
Lexia's eyes widened.
"Look out!"
The spear struck.
BOOM!
The spell pierced straight through Yuuya's chest and a gaping hole appeared where his heart should have been.
Lexia's face turned pale.
"N-No...!"
Several assassins erupted into relieved laughter.
"We got him!"
"It worked!"
"I told you he wasn't invincible!"
Even the leader let out a small breath of relief.
"...Good."
He lowered his hand.
"I knew overwhelming him would—"
His voice stopped.
Something felt… Wrong.
The body standing before them wasn't falling, it wasn't bleeding, it wasn't even moving at all.
The leader's instincts screamed.
"...Count off."
The assassins looked at him in confusion.
"...What?"
"I said..."
His voice had become noticeably quieter.
"...Count everyone."
One by one, the assassins looked around.
"...One..."
"...Two..."
"...Three..."
"..."
Their expressions slowly changed.
"...Wait..."
"...Where's Kain?"
"And Dorel?"
Silence.
The leader's heart began pounding.
Slowly—
Very slowly—
He turned toward the far right side of their formation.
There—
Nearly forty feet away—
Stood Yuuya.
Completely unharmed.
One unconscious assassin hung casually over his shoulder, another lay face-first on the ground at his feet. Yuuya rested one sneaker lightly on the man's back to keep him from getting up.
"...You're missing these two."
He spoke as casually as if returning lost luggage.
Behind the stunned assassins—
The figure they had believed they struck began to shimmer, its edges distorted.
Then—
It dissolved into thin air after an afterimage. A mirage created by movement so fast that their eyes had mistaken it for reality.
No one had hit him.
No one had even come close. Lexia covered her mouth in disbelief.
"...He's..."
She couldn't even finish the sentence. The assassins simply stared every one of them had been watching Yuuya. Every one of them believed he had never moved.
And yet—
In the blink of an eye—
He had crossed the battlefield...
Avoiding a spell…
Knocked out another assassin…
Dragged him across the clearing…
And returned to a completely different position without a single one of them noticing.
Yuuya adjusted the unconscious man on his shoulder before looking back at the group with a small smile.
"...You know..."
His metallic gray eyes swept across the remaining assassins.
"...For professional assassins..."
"...You're surprisingly easy to sneak up on."
No one laughed, no one spoke.
For the first time in their careers—
The hunters understood exactly how prey felt. A disappointed look slowly spread across Yuuya's face as he looked from one assassin to the next before letting out a quiet sigh.
"...Is this all?"
Silence.
"I'll admit..."
"When I sensed some of you using magic, I thought this might actually be a challenge."
His metallic gray eyes swept across the clearing.
"...I see I was mistaken."
The words weren't spoken with arrogance.
If anything—
He sounded genuinely disappointed as the leader clenched his fists.
"Y-You bastard..."
Yuuya ignored him instead, another translucent blue window appeared before his eyes. He selected a skill he had acquired during the past few days of training.
[Limiter]
"...Let's make this a little more fair."
He tapped the skill.
Immediately—
A comfortable heaviness spread throughout his body.
Not painful.
Simply…
Restraining his overwhelming strength receded as his movements no longer felt impossibly light.
For the first time in days—
He felt closer to a normal fighter curious, Yuuya activated [Appraisal] on the skill itself. A familiar blue window appeared.
[Limiter] :: A support-type skill that allows the user to voluntarily suppress their own abilities. Strength, speed, magic power, senses, and other attributes can be lowered to any desired level while maintaining complete control.
Experience gained from defeating weaker opponents is adjusted based on the user's limited state, making it easier to improve skills, techniques, and combat proficiency against enemies who would otherwise provide little growth. The limiter may be adjusted or released at any time by the user.
"...That's actually pretty useful."
He smiled.
"So I don't have to accidentally one-shot everything."
Satisfied, he closed the window.
Then—
He started walking, one step then another the assassins watched carefully.
"...He's slower."
One whispered.
"I can follow his movements now!"
Hope returned to their eyes and the leader immediately seized the opportunity.
"Attack!"
Several assassins charged while others remained behind, launching projectiles. A pair of throwing knives spun toward Yuuya.
From another angle, arrows whistled through the air and a mage began chanting another spell. Yuuya calmly watched them approach, his metallic gray eyes tracking every projectile.
Every movement, every twitch of muscle and how time itself seemed to slow. He tilted his head a throwing knife missed by less than an inch. He twisted his shoulders an arrow slipped harmlessly past.
One step.
A second knife passed beneath his arm.
Another step.
A third arrow flew behind him, his body flowed effortlessly through the storm of attacks. There was no wasted movement. No panic, only smooth, precise motions.
Almost…
Inhuman.
"W-What is he?!"
An assassin shouted seeing an opening, Yuuya bent his knees then I jumped. He rose several meters into the air and the assassins' eyes lit up.
"Now!"
"He's got nowhere to go!"
"Fire!"
Even more arrows and more knives every attack converged beneath him.
Lexia gasped.
"He can't dodge in midair..."
Then—
Yuuya smiled.
"...Can I not?"
His right foot pressed against empty air.
Step.
The air beneath him hardened for an instant like an invisible platform.
Before gravity could claim him—
He stepped again then again each movement created another invisible foothold. Yuuya calmly ran across the open sky.
[AIR WALK]
The assassins could only stare and one of them dropped his sword. Another forgot to finish casting his spell.
"...He's..."
"...Walking..."
"...In the air?"
Even Lexia's jade eyes widened in disbelief she had seen powerful mages, legendary knights, royal court magicians.
But never…
Never had she witnessed someone treat the sky itself as solid ground.
High above the battlefield—
Yuuya looked down at the stunned assassins with a faint smile.
"...Now..."
He shifted his footing on an invisible platform.
"...Whose turn is it?"
Yuuya pushed off the invisible foothold beneath his feet.
Boom!
The air itself cracked beneath the force of his launch he shot downward like a falling meteor.
The assassins instinctively looked up—
Only to lose sight of him halfway down.
THUD!
Yuuya landed squarely between two assassins a wave of wind burst outward from the impact, forcing leaves and dust into the air. Neither assassin had time to react when Yuuya stepped forward.
His body moved almost on instinct.
Over the past several days, he had spent countless hours reading martial arts books and studying demonstrations on his new phone. Combined with [True Martial Art], every movement felt natural, as though he had trained for decades.
His left hand shot forward and a rapid Wing Chun chain punch slammed into the first assassin's chest.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Three lightning-fast strikes landed in the space of a heartbeat. The man's eyes rolled back as the air left his lungs, and he collapsed unconscious.
Without stopping, Yuuya pivoted his hips rotated smoothly. A crushing Muay Thai roundhouse kick slammed into the second assassin's ribs.
CRACK!
The man was lifted completely off his feet before crashing into the ground several meters away, his weapon flying from his grasp.
Another assassin rushed in from the side, Yuuya met him with a sharp elbow to the jaw. The impact spun the attacker around before he collapsed and a fourth charged recklessly.
Yuuya stepped inside his guard and a knee drove into the assassin's abdomen. The man folded over instantly one final palm strike to the shoulder sent him sprawling unconscious beside the others.
"...Impossible..."
One of the remaining assassins whispered.
"He isn't even using a weapon..."
Yuuya barely heard him then his senses suddenly flared.
[Presence Detection]
Someone was behind him close, too close.
Without thinking—
His body reacted and he spun sharply, his right hand shot forward like a spear. A perfect spear hand strike straight toward the attacker's throat.
The assassin's eyes widened in terror, he couldn't dodge, he couldn't block. He could only watch as Yuuya's fingertips stopped less than an inch from crushing his windpipe.
Yuuya's own eyes widened.
"...!"
For a split second, he realized something.
If that attack had connected—
It would have killed the man instantly if his heartbeat skipped.
No.
He forced himself to relax, his fingers curled inward at the last possible moment.
The spear hand became a fist.
THUD!
The punch landed cleanly against the assassin's jaw; the man's head snapped to the side before he collapsed unconscious at Yuuya's feet.
Silence returned to the clearing Yuuya looked down at his own hand.
It was still trembling slightly.
"...That was close."
He let out a slow breath and his body moved entirely on instinct.
If not for that final moment of restraint…
He would have taken a life without even meaning to Yuuya clenched and unclenched his fist.
"I still have a lot to learn."
He looked up at the remaining assassins, his expression calm once more.
"I need to get stronger..."
His metallic gray eyes sharpened.
"...Not just physically."
Around him, the remaining assassins hesitated for the first time, they realized something unexpected.
The young man overwhelmed them…
Was deliberately holding back Yuuya lowered his fist and took a slow breath.
"...That was too close."
He couldn't let himself lose control. No matter how strong he became, he refused to kill unless there was no other choice.
Shaking the thought from his mind, he relaxed into a looser fighting stance, his shoulders dropping as he calmly faced the remaining assassins.
None of them dared move.
Then—
[Presence Detection]
A violent warning exploded through his mind.
Danger.
Not from the assassins, something much stronger. The hairs on the back of Yuuya's neck stood on end.
Without a second thought—
[Flash Step]
He vanished.
Lexia barely had time to gasp before she found herself lifted into Yuuya's arms in a princess carry.
An instant later—
BOOM!!
The ground where she had been standing erupted into enormous stone spikes as massive vines burst from the earth, tearing through the clearing and crushing everything in their path.
Trees shattered and the ground split apart.
Holding Lexia securely, Yuuya landed several dozen meters away, his eyes fixed on the source of the attack.
For the first time since the battle began—
His expression turned completely serious, something powerful had just arrived.
End of Chapter 13