The forest held its breath, and then the lull broke.
Nubrus moved first, his silver hair shifting beneath his hood as his head snapped toward the path. "They're escaping. Heading toward the main road." His voice held a sharp, sudden crack of urgency. He took a single, measured step forward, preparing to give chase.
Beside him, Glo didn't budge. He let out a low, dismissive scoff. "As if they have the capability to outrun us." His dagger spun lazily between his fingers, unbothered and unhurried. He tilted his head toward his partner, his grin widening. "Go if you want. I'll play with the target."
Nubrus's eyes narrowed, calculating the split. Efficient elimination. "Fine."
He shifted his stance, slowing his breath as his body began to still—the silent prelude to «Erased Presence»
Before either could vanish, a sharp, mocking voice cut through the clearing. "You half-baked assassins..."
TWANG. TWANG.
Two arrows screamed through the air, coated in a faint, sickly sheen. Nubrus twisted violently, the first projectile grazing past his shoulder. Glo reacted half a beat later, snapping his dagger upward to deflect the incoming shot.
Both arrows struck the ground behind them.
HSSSS. The poison hissed seething into the soil.
Null stood several meters away, his bow already drawn with another arrow nocked. His expression was calm. "Where do you think you're going?" His gaze flicked briefly toward the forest path where his team had vanished, then locked back onto the pair. "Aren't I your target?"
He released. TWANG.
"Try being content with my company."
The barrage didn't stop. Null let fly one arrow after another in a relentless, unhurried rhythm.
He gave them no window to breathe, forcing constant pressure.
Glo clicked his tongue mid-motion, slicing one arrow cleanly in half before his blade spun to deflect another. Irritation flashed across his face, quickly turning to rage. "You weakling!" he shouted. "How dare you call us half-baked?!"
Another arrow came. Glo dodged, barely.
"If you two aren't half-baked," Null's voice came flat and unimpressed, TWANG, "then why did you waste so much time bickering?"
Another arrow followed, faster and closer.
"A real assassin kills their target at the first given moment—" TWANG, "—not after a theatrical introduction. I bet this is your first real mission, right?"
Glo blinked mid-motion. "Huh?" The question landed harder than the shots. "How did you know?" It slipped out instinctively
Null's lips curved slightly. "So I guessed right."
Glo's expression twisted. "You—!" Focus slipped for a fraction of a second. An arrow veered dangerously close, aiming straight for his shoulder.
CLANG.
Steel flashed, splitting the arrow cleanly mid-air. Nubrus stood in front of Glo, his blade lowering in a smooth arc.
"Glo," Nubrus said, his voice cold and controlled. "The poison coating these arrows is highly lethal." He glanced at the corroded soil behind them. "Do not let them touch you. Otherwise, even you will succumb quickly."
Glo clicked his tongue. "I know that! But that bastard—"
"What he said isn't wrong," Nubrus interrupted flatly, keeping his eyes locked on Null.
Glo froze, his eyes snapping toward his partner. "What?"
Nubrus didn't look back. He coldly re-evaluated null. "We don't have time for this. We will use stealth. Once concealed, his aim will become ineffective." He glanced toward the treeline. "You will kill the target. I will proceed to intercept his teammates before they reach the main road. If even one witness escapes, this mission is a failure."
Glo exhaled sharply, a crooked, violent grin returning to his face. "Tch. Fine. Just this once, I'll listen to you."
The air changed. Both men moved at once, their presences blurring before vanishing into stealth.
TWANG.
An arrow cut through the empty space. Then another, and another. Each shot was a deliberate, unerring strike.
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
Steel met steel mid-air. Forced to defend, both assassins reappeared, their stealth shattered under the relentless barrage.
They halted, shock evident on their faces.
"How?!" Glo's voice cracked with frustration. "How the hell did this weakling see through our stealth?"
Even Nubrus showed a faint trace of surprise. His gaze sharpened, analyzing the anomaly. "This isn't normal. Does he have a detection skill?"
Another arrow flew. CLANG.
"And even if he does," Glo growled, deflecting the shot, "how did he master it to this extent, even capable of precisely pinpointing the stealth of someone stronger?"
"Glo," Nubrus commanded, his tone decisive. "Remain here. It's already been over a minute; they should be nearing the edge of the woodland. If they reach the main road, we leave behind a massive piece of evidence."
"Then what do we do?" Glo snarled, deflecting another arrow. "How are you going to get past him without getting hit by those damn poisonous arrows? And why the hell does he have so many? What is this rate of fire? He's not even pausing!"
Nubrus inhaled slowly. "I will use my unique skill, Erased Presence, with full suppression. He will not be able to perceive me."
Glo scoffed, waving a hand dismissively. "Fine. Go. By the time you're back, I'll make sure he's dead."
Nubrus closed his eyes, concentrating. His presence didn't just fade—it collapsed, erased entirely from the clearing.
Glo surged forward alone, deflecting and dodging as he advanced. "Now then, weakling! Let's see how long you can keep up this farce! I don't know how you stocked so many poison arrows, but with your weak power output, they will never hit me. Stop this useless struggle!"
Null tilted his head, mildly amused. "Useless struggle?"
TWANG. Another arrow cut closer this time.
"It seems you misunderstood something. I'm not trying to hit you. I'm just stalling, you dumb, half-baked assassin."
Glo's expression twisted into pure rage. "How dare you mock me? I'll butcher you into a thousand pieces!"
But He stopped mid-threat, a sudden, mocking grin spreading across his face. "Heh. Stalling? Look carefully. My partner has already vanished. He's after your friends. I assure you, they're dead."
Null didn't blink. "Vanish? As if that's possible."
He shifted precisely, aiming four meters to his front right. He locked his bow onto a seemingly empty patch of air.
TWANG.
The arrow shot into the void.
CLANG.
An impact rang out. Intercepted mid-air, Nubrus was forced into existence, his blade held firm against the arrow's force. The impact pushed him back, breaking his footing and shattering his cold composure.
"How?" The question escaped Nubrus, his voice losing its perfect stillness.
Glo's voice cracked. "IMPOSSIBLE! That's a unique skill! You shouldn't be able to see through that!"
Virtually no one should see through Erased Presence, regardless of strength, unless they possessed instincts that defied normal perception.
Null seamlessly nocked another arrow.
TWANG. TWANG.
He was glad he had spent his spare time preparing a stockpile of these poison-coated arrows, storing them in his spatial ring as a failsafe.
His movements remained smooth and effortless as he chuckled internally. Did these idiots really think cheap tricks would work against me?
Existential Perception didn't rely on sight, sound, or presence. It was the absolute recognition of existence itself.
Nothing could hide from it.
He reached into his spatial ring to retrieve another arrow, his fingers moving by pure habit. They grasped nothing.
Null paused for a fraction of a second. 'Oops, Empty. Out.'
The barrage stopped.
-
For the first time, a dangerous, fragile silence pressed into the clearing. Glo noticed it immediately, his predatory grin stretching wide as he stepped forward.
"Hah. Out of arrows? Finally." He raised his dagger. "Guess your little trick ends here, weakling—"
Null didn't shift his stance. Instead, he spoke calmly within his mind. 'Fantasy Omniscience-san.'
[Yes, Master.]
'Let me ask you a question. You are the greatest intelligence in existence, right?'
[Yes, Master. All forms of intelligence converge—and end—with Omniscience.]
Null's lips curved slightly. 'Then tell me—are you capable of boosting my comprehension and cognitive capabilities?'
A noticeable pause, As if something deeper was being accessed.
[It is possible if you utilize the hidden sub-function: Omniscient Link,]
[It allows you to link your brain directly with the Beyond Ultimate: Fantasy Omniscience, and, temporarily access a portion of its processing capabilities.]
Null's smile deepened. 'That's good news. Also, what's this about hidden sub-functions?'
A flicker of hesitation rippled. [Master, that—]
'Not now,' Null cut her off, his mental command firm. 'We'll talk about it later. For now, activate Omniscient Link.'
[Understood, Master.]
A faint pulse vibrated deep within his mind.
[Omniscient Link initializing...]
[Omniscient Link established.]
The world changed. Not visually or physically, but fundamentally.
Time didn't slow; it expanded, layering into a hyper-accelerated grid of pure data. Every movement, every breath, and every micro-shift in muscle tension became instantly calculable. Glo's next step, Nubrus's angle of approach, wind resistance, and trajectory vectors were all simultaneously processed within Null's mind.
[What do you want to do, Master?]
Null exhaled softly. 'Nothing crazy. Just a stunt way beyond my current existential limits.'
He felt a sharp tightening in his chest as his mana began to drain at an alarming rate. Let's hope this holds.
...
Glo lunged. "Die!"
At the exact same instant, a distortion flickered directly behind Null. Nubrus materialized mid-strike, his breath controlled and his posture rigid as «Stillpoint Execution» began to trigger.
Then Null moved. Not with raw speed, but with flawless, mathematical precision. His stance adjusted and his body rotated just enough to slip the gap. In a single motion, his hands reached for storage.
Dual swords gleamed in the twilight.
✦Star Burst Stream✦
His mana surged violently, compressing into a refined, high-output current.
★100-Hit Combo
The clearing exploded into motion. A single silver flash split into ten, ten into fifty, and fifty into a blinding storm of steel. Slashes rained from every conceivable vector—front, back, above, below—targeting blind spots, dead angles, and impossible trajectories with terrifying fluidity.
Glo's manic grin vanished. "What—?!"
CLANG. CLANG. CLANG.
His dagger moved frantically, attempting to block and deflect, but his reaction times were entirely too slow. A shallow cut opened across his arm, followed by another, and then three more. His eyes widened in panic as he realized his body was being read, predicted, and systematically dismantled.
Beside him, Nubrus's composure shattered completely. Forcing his breathing to lock, he finally activated «Stillpoint Execution»
The world froze for him.
He frantically adjusted his blade, calculating a counter-strike, but it didn't matter. Even within his accelerated, frozen perception, Null's twin swords were already moving, adapting, and striking ahead of his thought process.
"Impossible..."
CLANG.
A heavy strike violently redirected Nubrus's blade. Another cut traced across his ribs, and a third forced him back. The assault didn't stop, slow, or leave a single gap to breathe.
Every inch of the clearing within Null's reach had become an absolute slashing zone.