As they faced off, Sistoi was the first to move.
Sistoi was well aware that he stood no chance against Rei in terms of pure combat skill; he had learned that lesson the hard way during their brief clash in the arena waiting room. Despite this realization, he took the initiative. He likely judged that a confrontation between Mura and Rei offered even less hope for success than if he stood at the vanguard himself.
However, their enemy was no longer just Rei. His tamed monster, the gryphon Seto, stood beside him. Knowing the odds were stacked against him, Sistoi lunged at Rei—and simultaneously flicked a handful of needles toward Seto.
Unlike daggers, needles were easily concealed and required little space to throw, yet they remained highly dangerous. While the needles lacked raw destructive power, their sharp tips made them a lethal distraction. In terms of pure weaponry, they were weak, but as a visual deterrent, they were devastatingly effective. Indeed, the move momentarily stalled Seto’s advance toward Mura.
But only for a moment.
“Seto, sorry, but keep an eye on Sobul! If he tries to run, stop him!”
“Guruuu?”
Rei shouted the command as he parried a strike from Sistoi’s longsword with his Death Scythe. Seto tilted its head and let out a trill that sounded like a question—Is that really okay?—but Rei insisted.
“It’ll be a bigger headache if Sobul slips away now. Besides, I can handle these two on my own!”
“Gurururuuu.”
Giving a chirping reply of understanding, Seto took several quick strides and kicked off a tree, using a triangle jump to circle around behind Sobul. This maneuver effectively placed Sistoi, Mura, and Sobul in a pincer formation between the boy and his gryphon.
This shift in the battlefield was a blow to the assassins, but it was a nightmare for Sobul. He had hoped to flee the grove while Sistoi and Mura acted as decoys, slip past the eyes of the Frizion Army, and make his way back to the Imperial Capital. But with Seto looming behind him, watching his every move with unblinking intensity, escape was impossible. If he tried to run now, he would be intercepted instantly.
Left with no other options, Sobul had to pin his hopes on the slim chance that Sistoi and Mura could somehow defeat Rei.
Betting on a hand you know is going to lose... that was always more Blatta’s style, Sobul thought. I wonder if I have any talent for gambling?
Judging that he most certainly did not, Sobul watched the battle unfold. From his perspective, the fight was a massacre in the making. Mura threw dagger after dagger to provide support, but Rei deflected every single one with the Death Scythe. He didn't just parry them; he swatted the projectiles toward Sistoi while simultaneously clashing blades with the man’s longsword. Rei’s defense was an impenetrable wall.
Sobul possessed no weapons capable of assisting, nor was he particularly athletic. With Seto’s round eyes fixed firmly on him, he could do nothing but watch in silence.
“Hah!”
With a sharp exhale, Sistoi closed the gap, swinging his longsword in a horizontal slash aimed at Rei’s waist. Rei didn't even flinch. He simply stepped forward into the arc of the blade. A sharp metallic clang rang through the trees as the blade of the sword struck the shaft of the scythe.
“Guh!”
The cry of pain didn't come from Rei. Clutching his left flank, Sistoi leaped backward to create distance.
“You think I’ll let you away?” Rei muttered.
Predicting the retreat, Rei prepared to swing his scythe, but he paused the motion to bat away another dagger Mura had thrown. He did this one-handed, holding the Death Scythe in his right. His left hand remained tucked inside his Dragon Robe. When he finally drew it out, his fingers were clutched around several arrowheads created by the magic item known as the Eye of Nebula.
Those arrowheads were the reason Sistoi was currently doubled over in pain. Rei had parried the sword with one hand, reached into his robe to activate the Eye of Nebula, and fired the projectiles all while Mura provided covering fire. To pull off such a feat against a veteran like Sistoi required an incredible level of technical mastery.
“Dammit... it hurts!” Sistoi hissed.
Normally, the arrowheads Rei fired had the power to pierce hide, rend flesh, and shatter bone. The fact that Sistoi had survived with only a cry of pain was a testament to his physical conditioning and the quality of his armor.
This is getting annoying, Rei thought. How many daggers does she have?
Rei wanted to finish Sistoi off, but Mura’s relentless barrage of steel made it difficult to commit to a killing blow. She threw them with such abundance that it seemed her supply was bottomless. While he knew she would eventually run dry, the constant harassment was a nuisance.
Then, Rei reconsidered. He remembered why he was here—to support the Rebel Army. In a battle meant to extinguish lives rather than capture them, he didn't need to hold back.
“You two have caused me a lot of trouble. Try not to die too easily, okay? If you’re still breathing after I’m through with you, I might just take you prisoner.”
Something in Rei’s voice made Sistoi’s expression turn deathly serious. Trapped in a pincer, escape was an impossibility. As an assassin of the Requiem Bell, his instincts screamed at him to flee, but with his path blocked, he could only fight to survive. He glanced sideways at the dense trees. Could he leave Sobul behind and flee with Mura? No—even on a beast path, they couldn't possibly outrun a gryphon.
“Mura.”
“I know. We have to do this.”
Mura’s intuition wasn't as sharp as Sistoi’s, but even she could tell Rei was about to unleash something devastating. She cleared her mind, focusing entirely on survival.
“Looks like you’re ready. Then... here I come.”
With those words, Rei activated the Overlord's Armor. Magic power, compressed so densely it was visible to the naked eye, flared around him. Sobul, Sistoi, and Mura all froze.
It was over.
The moment they saw Rei’s transformed state, they knew they stood no chance. In truth, they had never stood a chance, but the sheer weight of his presence shattered the illusion of a contest. Still, as elite operatives of the Requiem Bell, they refused to surrender their pride. They raised their weapons, determined to fight to the end.
Rei took a single step. Just one.
The sheer pressure of that movement forced Mura and Sistoi to recoil.
He’s dangerous. Too dangerous, Sistoi’s mind screamed. His instincts, honed over years in the underground world, wailed with a primal fear he had never known. He wanted to run, to vanish, to be anywhere but in front of this boy. Yet he stood his ground. If he fled, Mura would surely die. It was only their status as top-tier assassins that allowed them to remain standing at all.
Sobul, by contrast, had been reduced to a statue, paralyzed by the sheer weight of Rei’s killing intent. It was a miracle he hadn't collapsed to his knees.
Rei glanced at the magic power swirling around him. “It always ends up like this... I’ll try to be gentle, so please, try to stay alive.”
Without mentioning that this was also a way for him to practice controlling the Overlord's Armor, Rei blurred across the ground toward Sistoi. In the blink of an eye, he had stepped into the man’s inner guard. Sistoi, unable to comprehend the speed, swung his longsword based purely on instinct.
A sharp clang echoed through the grove. But this time, the collision yielded a different result.
“Agh!”
Sistoi’s eyes reflexively followed something through the air. Above him, a longsword was spinning into the canopy—along with his own right arm, still clutching the hilt.
“Sistoi!”
Seeing her partner lose his limb from the elbow down, Mura screamed and unleashed a barrage of daggers. These were the fastest she had thrown all day, aimed with desperate precision at Rei’s vitals. Rei didn't even bother to dodge. He stepped forward, and the daggers aimed at his head, throat, and heart were simply batted away the moment they touched the visible magic power of the Overlord's Armor.
“No... it can’t be!” Mura gasped.
Ignoring her disbelief, Rei raised the Death Scythe above Sistoi.
“Stop it!” Mura pleaded.
The scythe descended. It severed Sistoi’s left shoulder, and in the same fluid motion, it sliced through his left leg below the knee. Just before the blade hit the earth, Rei used his monstrous strength to forcibly redirect the trajectory into a horizontal sweep. It caught Sistoi’s remaining right leg at the knee, and the assassin collapsed into the dirt.
In a single heartbeat, Sistoi had lost all four limbs. He lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath him. At this rate, his flame of life would be extinguished within minutes.
Rei pointed the tip of the scythe at Sistoi’s throat and looked toward Mura.
“He’s going to die soon. If you keep fighting, he’ll only die faster. So, I’ll ask you one more time. You have three choices.”
Mura trembled. Her concern for Sistoi was absolute, but she knew that if she ignored Rei now, everything would be lost.
“First: you keep fighting me. I don't recommend this. Your partner is in no condition to help, and you can’t win. It’ll just end with two corpses.
“Second: you leave Sistoi here and try to run. I won’t let you go, of course, but maybe you have some secret trick to escape. But since I’ll have to chase you, Sistoi will bleed out anyway.
“And third: you surrender to me. I’ll place a few restraints on you, of course, but I promise to treat Sistoi’s wounds. Well? What’s it going to be?”
“Can I... can I really trust you?” Mura asked, her voice shaking.
“Yeah.”
To prove his point, Rei pulled a potion from the Misty Ring—not a cheap common grade, but a high-quality concoction.
“D-Don't... don't worry about me! Run, Mura! Just get out of here!” Sistoi wheezed through the agony.
His words had the opposite effect. Mura looked at her partner, a man she had known since childhood, bleeding out in the dirt. She couldn't leave him. Even if it meant betraying the organization she had sworn to serve, her choice was clear. The debt to the Requiem Bell was nothing compared to Sistoi’s life.
“...Alright. I surrender.”
She made the decision in seconds, letting her daggers fall to the forest floor. Rei deactivated the Overlord's Armor.
“I need to make sure you don't turn on us once he’s healed. You won’t object to a few precautions, right?”
“What are you going to do? Never mind... we’re in no position to refuse. Do what you must.”
With Mura watching him, Rei approached with his scythe.
“O Flames, thou art a seed. Should the host break their contract with me, use their life to bring a beautiful flame flower into full bloom.”
As he chanted the incantation, a tiny, seed-like flame flickered into existence at the tip of the Death Scythe's butt end. He pressed it gently against Mura’s forehead.
“Seed of Restraint.”
The spell took hold, and the tiny flame was absorbed into her head.
“If you betray me, or Vihera, or Mercurio of the Rebel Army, you will die instantly. That is your restraint.”
Rei pulled away and handed the potion to Mura.