"Haaaaah!"
Rei pushed off the ground, closing the distance with Koldo while brandishing the Death Scythe.
For a moment, Koldo felt a flash of relief. Despite the boy's boast about having countless ways to handle him, it seemed the brat was resorting to the same brute-force frontal assault as before.
But then, Rei's earlier comment about his previous strike lacking magic power flashed through his mind.
True, that blow without magic power failed to destroy my carapace, even if it worked on my lower tentacles. That means his next move will surely be a strike infused with magic.
Koldo took a deep breath as he watched Rei rapidly close in. Sensing a dangerous opening, Rei shouted almost reflexively.
"Magic Shield!"
Of the skills imbued within the Death Scythe, this one generated a shield of light capable of blocking any single attack. While the shield required a brief moment to manifest, it flickered into existence just in time. An instant later, it vanished like mist.
It had served its purpose, intercepting the high-pressure jet of Water Breath that Koldo had spewed from his mouth.
Water released at such extreme pressure could slice through metal as smoothly as a blade. While Koldo's breath wasn't quite that potent, it was more than enough to lethally wound a human. Nevertheless, the Magic Shield held firm, neutralizing the strike entirely.
Koldo froze in genuine shock. His trump card had been countered. For Rei, that single moment was all he needed.
"Hah!"
Rei delivered an upward slash, scooping the Death Scythe from below. Infused with magic, the blade alone possessed enough power to shatter the carapace, but Rei specifically targeted the joints where the protective plates met.
By the time Koldo realized the intent, the blade was already upon him. In a single clean motion, the Death Scythe severed the right arm from the elbow down and three tentacles extending from the right flank, sending them spinning into the night air.
"Gugh!"
Even a Beast Soldier felt pain. Koldo groaned as his pincer was shorn away, but Rei was far too experienced to overlook an opening created by a moment of agony.
"Gah!"
Koldo cried out again. With a fluid snap of the wrist, Rei had followed the upward slash with a backswing, severing the left shoulder joint entirely.
His right forearm and his entire left arm were gone. Having lost his pincers—his primary weapons—Koldo was left nearly defenseless. The six tentacles on his flanks, which had served as his primary shield, were now severed stumps. He had only one weapon left: the Water Breath that had failed him moments before.
Come closer, boy. Even if I die here, I will fulfill my duty as a Beast Soldier. We must produce results. Our struggles will be the foundation for those who come after us.
Koldo, blown back by the impact of his severed limbs, collapsed and feigned unconsciousness. He pinned his last hopes on a reversal strike, waiting for the perfect moment to unleash his final blow.
Crunch, crunch, crunch. He listened to the sound of Rei's footsteps approaching across the garden soil, timing his move.
But then, the footsteps stopped several meters away.
He couldn't let the boy know he was still conscious. Koldo kept his eyes tightly shut, straining his senses for any gap in the youth's defense.
He only noticed the sound because his concentration was tuned to its absolute limit. Otherwise, he surely would have missed it—the faint whistle of something falling from directly above.
He reflexively surged away using his lower tentacles. An instant later, the heavy shaft of the Death Scythe slammed into the spot where he had been lying.
"I thought so. A 'Beast Soldier,' was it? I didn't think a trump card of the Bestia Empire would go down that easily."
Rei landed noiselessly and muttered his observation while keeping the scythe ready. Koldo realized the deception had failed. He twisted his lips bitterly and used his remaining lower tentacles to haul himself back up to face his opponent.
"So, what now? You're out of options. It would be easier for both of us if you'd just surrender. If you cooperate and give us information, I'm sure the Margrave will see that you're treated well."
Koldo ignored the offer entirely. To him, betrayal was not an option. If he turned traitor, the treatment of his fellow Beast Soldiers back in the Empire would undoubtedly worsen. Surrender was unthinkable.
"I take it that's a no. I don't know who you're being so loyal to, but is there any reason to swear fealty to people who turned your body into... that?"
"A person with talent like yours could never understand. You will never know what it feels like to be one of us!"
Koldo's flat, emotionless voice shattered into a scream of raw emotion. He unleashed another Water Breath from his mouth. Since Rei already knew the trick, dodging it was simple.
"Whoops!"
Rei tilted his head just a few centimeters, letting the high-pressure stream whistle past his face.
"Don't get the wrong idea. Now that I've seen your little trick, it's not going to work a second or third time. Since you won't surrender, I'll have to use more... forceful methods. Hope you don't mind."
Rei advanced, scythe in hand. Koldo fired a desperate barrage of Water Breath, but Rei dodged them with ease or batted them aside with the scythe's shaft. Eventually, Koldo ran out of internal moisture. He could only glare at the youth drawing closer.
His eyes were hollow, yet burned with a stubborn refusal to submit.
"Ideally, I'd cut away your lower tentacles so you couldn't run, but they'd probably just grow back. I suppose I'll just have to knock you out."
Rei frowned slightly. Koldo's carapace offered formidable protection. To deliver a non-lethal blow that would penetrate that armor and render him unconscious, Rei would need to precisely modulate the magic power in his strike.
"Well, as long as you're alive, Margrave Larkus can figure out the rest. Try not to die on me."
Rei thrust the end of the shaft toward Koldo's solar plexus.
Suddenly, a flicker of movement caught the corner of Rei's eye. He kicked off the ground, leaping backward. Koldo's face was a mask of frustration.
In the spot where Rei had stood a moment ago, two tentacles with tips as sharp as spears were thrust deep into the earth. They originated from Koldo's lower body. Among the twenty-odd tentacles he possessed, these two were significantly longer and more specialized.
Are those tentacular arms? Rei wondered.
They were limbs similar to the two long hunting tentacles found on a squid—organs used for snatching prey.
Is he really a Beast Soldier based on a squid? No, squids aren't monsters, so they shouldn't have magic stones to begin with.
Pushing the question aside, Rei swung the Death Scythe in a swift arc at the spear-tipped limbs.
"Gugh!"
Unlike his other tentacles, these seemed to possess a full sense of pain. Koldo cried out as they were struck. Seizing the opening, Rei reversed his grip and thrust the end of the shaft with explosive force.
Koldo's carapace was hard enough to snap a common sword, but it was no match for the magic-infused scythe. The shaft smashed through the armor and buried itself in his solar plexus.
Had Rei followed through with his full strength, the blow would have punched through Koldo's back. But his goal was to capture a specimen to learn about the Empire's unknown forces. Killing him would be a waste.
They might get information from the alchemist being held in the office, or from the woman Set was fighting, but more sources were always better.
Though, based on Koldo's personality, he doesn't seem like the type to sell out his comrades easily. I'll leave the interrogation to the Margrave's experts.
As Rei neutralized Koldo, the battle between Set and Minas was nearing its end.
"Kuh! Why? Why can't I hit you!?"
Minas lashed out with a whip she had produced from somewhere, but she couldn't land a single scratch on the Gryphon soaring through the air.
While they were both Beast Soldiers, Minas was different from Koldo. She didn't have massive pincers; instead, her hands remained human-like despite the scales on her skin. She lacked Koldo's raw power, but she possessed the dexterity to wield weapons with lethal skill.
The Simplified Version of the Ritual of Inheritance used by the Bestia Empire produced unpredictable results. The final form depended on the quality of the magic stone, the subject's physical ability, magic power, and personality. In that regard, Minas was likely highly compatible, as she had retained most of her human form.
However, no matter how compatible she was, a human hybrid was no match for a true Gryphon.
At the start, Minas had been overconfident, believing a Beast Soldier could never lose to a mere monster, even an A-Rank one. That pride had been dismantled within minutes.
"You...! For a beast to be stronger than me... I won't accept it! I won't!"
She screamed, her whip moving at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye. Set tracked every movement, dodging or batting the lash aside with his talons.
Crack! The whip's snap echoed through the garden, but it only struck the earth. Set flapped his wings and soared higher into the night sky.
Minas, lacking long-range attacks, could only wait for him to come back down. Set circled above, diving whenever he saw an opening.
Set was also holding back. They were in the middle of the city, with eyes watching from the residence. He couldn't use the more flashy skills he had learned through Beast Magic. He limited himself to Size Change, which was easier to disguise in the dark.
He decided to end it with a physical strike. Set plummeted from twenty meters up, diving straight for Minas.
"I've got you now!"
Minas waited, ready to ensnare him as he entered her range. She lashed her whip, but Set let out a high-pitched cry and activated Size Change. In an instant, his massive body shrank to the size of a large dog.
He performed a barrel roll as he dove, making the sudden change in mass look like a trick of the light or a blur of motion. None of the observers could be certain they had seen him actually shrink.
He zipped past the whip and plummeted toward the woman. Just as he cleared the weapon, he reverted to his original size.
"Guru!"
Set swung his right front leg in a powerful horizontal swipe.
"Kyaaaah!"
It was no ordinary blow. It was the full-force strike of an A-Rank monster. Despite her scales, Minas was sent flying ten meters across the garden. She hit the ground and went still, unconscious.
The garden, which had been filled with the sounds of desperate combat just moments before, fell back into the heavy silence of the night.