Rei surveyed the Subjugation Army soldiers surrounding him.
Each man pointed his spear toward him, yet their faces were masks of pure terror—or perhaps a deep, instinctive awe.
He was clad in Overlord's Armor, magic power manifested as a visible shroud. Facing Rei while this skill was active, they had likely realized on a primal level that no amount of struggle would grant them victory.
However, that realization was limited to those who saw him directly. It was impossible for anyone else to comprehend that level of power without witnessing it firsthand.
"What are you doing?! He might be an alias holder, but he's still just one man! If we maintain a constant assault, we can handle him—even if he is Crimson!"
The commander leading the troops shouted, desperate to rally their morale.
As a man tasked with leading, he gnashed his teeth in frustration, realizing how helpless he was when the mere sight of an enemy could crush his men's spirits so thoroughly. This commander belonged to the Second Prince Faction and enjoyed a significant degree of trust from Schuls.
He had heard of Rei’s strength, but he had never seen it with his own eyes. Perhaps if he had attended the Fighting Tournament, things would be different. Since he only knew the stories, a massive gap in perception existed between him and the soldiers currently staring at the Overlord's Armor.
"But sir, that man is dangerous! At this rate, we'll lose everyone!"
"I know that! But who else is there that can handle him?!" the commander roared back at his lieutenant.
His words were a harsh reality. If they had anyone capable of facing Rei individually, that person would have been deployed to the battlefield long ago. The damage Rei had inflicted throughout this civil war was far from negligible.
Even so, with no champion to match him, the commander believed their only option was to crush Rei with sheer numbers. He wasn't wrong. At least, in theory, he wasn't.
But to the lieutenant, who had personally witnessed the battle between Rei and Noise, the plan seemed like nothing short of suicide.
Quality surpassing quantity.
The lieutenant thought there was no man better suited for that phrase than the one before them as he turned his gaze toward where Rei had landed. At that moment, as if his movement had been a signal, screams erupted from that direction.
"Guaaaaaaaaaah!"
"Run! Run for your lives!"
"It's no use! We can't... we can't beat him!"
"Get out of the way! Damn it, move! He’s coming! He’s coming this way!"
"Ah! My arm... where’s my arm?! My arm!"
The chaotic blend of screams and panicked shouts drained the will to fight from everyone in the vicinity.
"Captain! At this ra—"
The lieutenant tried to make his captain face reality, but his consciousness vanished into darkness before he could finish his sentence.
Dying without ever understanding what had happened was perhaps his only mercy. He never realized that Rei had simply charged past him while clad in the Overlord's Armor, the sheer impact of the pass snapping his neck and killing him instantly.
"What?!"
The captain leading the unit finally grasped the reality of the situation. An entity wreathed in visible, pulsing magic power was standing right in front of him.
"You’re the captain, then. Sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to die."
Rei extended his left hand as he spoke.
The captain felt the weight of that gesture; it was as if Rei was telling him he didn't even need to use the Death Scythe held in his right hand. Faced with a presence that felt like the personification of absolute death, the captain drew the longsword from his hip and took a stance.
"Heh."
Rei murmured, sounding genuinely impressed. He knew the effects of the Overlord's Armor—he knew the soul-crushing pressure it exerted on those who stood before him. After all, he had trained by standing in front of Rebel Army soldiers while wearing the shroud.
Yet, despite his obvious terror, this man had drawn his weapon. Based on his gear and his resolve, he was clearly a cut above the common soldiers.
"Since you're standing your ground, why don't you give me your name?"
"H-Hmph. It is common courtesy to introduce yourself before asking another."
Rei nodded at the retort. He pulled back his left hand and gripped the Death Scythe with both hands, adopting a proper stance.
"You probably already know, but I’ll say it anyway. I’m Rei. A B-Rank Adventurer known by the alias Crimson."
"Radasnote. Of His Highness Schuls's Second Prince Faction."
"I see. Radasnote, then. Tell me... are you ready to die?"
"Unfortunately, I have no such plans. I'll return those words to you in full!"
"...Here I come."
"Come!"
Radasnote had finally purged the fear from his mind. As he let out a shout filled with fighting spirit, Rei kicked off the ground.
Normally, such a step wouldn't have generated much speed. However, when combined with the Overlord's Armor, the result was entirely different.
As Rei closed the distance at a blurring speed, the captain focused everything on the hand gripping his longsword. By the time he could react, Rei had already passed him.
Rei stood behind him, his posture frozen at the end of a scythe swing.
"Wha—? Impossible. A move... that even I couldn't track?"
Those were the captain's final words.
A moment later, his torso was severed at the abdomen. His upper and lower halves slid apart and tumbled to the earth. With a sickening squelch, blood and entrails spilled onto the soil, and the pungent, metallic scent of iron filled the air.
The surrounding soldiers stared, unable to comprehend what they had just seen, until the overwhelming stench of blood snapped them back to reality.
"U-Uwaaaaaah! The captain! He killed the captain in one hit!"
"Damn it! How are we supposed to fight a monster like that?!"
"Why is he even here?! I thought most of the Rebel Army's forces were already gone!"
"How should I know?! Don't ask me, ask the commanders!"
With their captain dead and their lieutenant missing, leadership had collapsed. Normally, the captain's retainers would take command, but they were nowhere to be found. They had been caught in the wake of Rei's initial charge—the one that had killed the lieutenant—and were likely dead or incapacitated.
"I see. It’s been a while since I used this in a real fight, but I'm definitely getting the hang of it. Steady training pays off," Rei muttered. "Anyway, as long as I'm here, these guys are the enemy. I might as well thin them out. Luckily, the Overlord's Armor makes this kind of cleanup easy."
Rei took a step toward the Subjugation Army soldiers who were desperately trying to scramble away from him. This time, he kicked the earth even harder than he had against the captain.
In an instant, he accelerated, plunging into the thickest part of the enemy ranks.
The moment anyone touched his body while it was enveloped in the Overlord's Armor, their limbs snapped or shattered, and they were sent flying. If merely brushing against the aura did that much damage, a direct collision left no hope for survival.
Rei simply ran through the enemy lines. That alone was enough to throw the unit into a state of total rout, leaving a trail of the dead and dying in his wake. It was a scene of absolute devastation; it brought terror and despair to the Subjugation Army, while igniting a fire of hope within the Rebel Army.
"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
Terrified by Rei's display, the Subjugation Army found themselves under a fierce counterattack from the Rebel Army. In terms of sheer numbers, the Subjugation Army still held a massive advantage, but with their morale shattered, those numbers were meaningless.
Realizing that staying meant certain death, soldiers began abandoning the field in droves.
The Rebel Army did not let them go quietly. If allowed to escape, there was no telling when they would regroup and strike again. Deciding to cut down as many as possible while they had the chance, the rebels began a relentless pursuit.
The anomaly occurring on Rei’s section of the front soon spread to other battlefields. Or rather, Rei carried it there himself. Clad in his magic shroud, he charged into nearby skirmishes, laying waste to the Subjugation Army wherever he went.
"Uwaaaaaah! What is that?! What’s happening?!"
"Captain?! Where’s the captain? He was right next to me a second ago!"
"H-Hey, look over there... isn't that him?"
"You’re kidding! His arms and legs... even his neck is broken!"
Rei batted aside the Subjugation Army soldiers as he pleased, swinging his Death Scythe with lethal precision as he passed through their ranks. No one could block his path; he simply trampled over them, sending bodies flying.
The only real difficulty was that Rei had not yet mastered the fine control of the Overlord's Armor. He couldn't perform delicate adjustments. This meant that while he could go all out in enemy-controlled areas, if allies were present, he couldn't distinguish between friend and foe and would catch them in the crossfire.
Because of this, Rei avoided the areas where the Rebel Army and Subjugation Army were locked in a mixed melee, focusing his devastation solely on sections occupied only by the enemy.
"Run! Just run!"
"He’s coming! He’s coming! He’s coming!"
Panic and roars of despair echoed across the field. Rei, however, was far from relaxed. Managing the intricate control of the Overlord's Armor took everything he had; one slip in concentration could send him crashing headlong into the dirt. He poured his focus into maintaining that delicate balance even as he unilaterally decimated the enemy.
In terms of raw destructive area, Rei's specialized Flame Magic was superior, but the focused, narrower effect of the aura had the distinct advantage of minimizing the risk to his own side.
Compared to Rei's flashy rampage, Seto's corner of the battlefield was a study in grim efficiency.
"Guruuu!"
With a cry of battle-lust, Seto descended from the sky. It swung its forefoot, crushing the skull of a Subjugation Army soldier. Using the momentum of its landing, it bounded forward, bouncing into the ranks and sending soldiers flying like bowling pins.
Unlike Rei, who was protected by a magical shroud, Seto fought with its physical body. Being struck by the Gryphon would certainly send a man flying, but it wasn't always a fatal blow. If Seto were allowed to use its full range of skills, it could kill as efficiently as Rei—or close to it.
However, since most of its more spectacular skills were currently restricted to maintain secrecy, Seto was limited to physical strikes and abilities that wouldn't seem out of place to a casual observer.
"Guruuuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Seto unleashed King's Intimidation on the soldiers in front of it.
The effect was instantaneous. Most of the Subjugation Army soldiers were paralyzed where they stood, unable to even twitch. A few managed to resist the pressure, but even their movements were agonizingly sluggish. To Seto, these frozen men weren't even enemies anymore—they were merely training dummies standing in its path.
"Guruuu!"
Seto purred as it struck. Its forelegs easily claimed the lives of soldiers in Leather Armor, and even those in expensive metal plating found no safety. A single blow to a head encased in a metal Helmet would send it flying like a macabre joke. A kick from a hind leg would leave the armor seemingly intact while the bones beneath shattered and the internal organs were reduced to pulp.
Some soldiers outside the range of the intimidation realized they couldn't win at close range and reached for their bows. However, Seto was already deep within the enemy ranks. Between the chaos and the soldiers paralyzed by King's Intimidation, it was common for the archers' arrows to sink into the backs of their own comrades.
Furthermore, with Seto's power, swatting an incoming arrow out of the air with a paw was trivial. In an emergency, it also wore the Bracelet of Wind Manipulation, a magic item that could deflect projectiles once.
Most importantly, Seto was intelligent. If arrows were being fired, it simply maneuvered so that the immobile soldiers served as its meat shields.
Of course, the paralysis of King's Intimidation wasn't permanent. As time passed, the soldiers would regain their mobility. Knowing this, Seto worked quickly to thin the enemy's numbers while its various abilities were restricted.
"Guruuuu!"
Seto let out a sharp cry and swung its forefoot. Using the Power Crush skill, it reduced several soldiers to piles of shredded meat in a single sweep.
Seeing that, the surrounding soldiers lost what little remained of their will to fight.
"U-Uwaaaaaah!"
The moment the first soldier recovered from the intimidation, he turned and fled. Seeing him run, the others followed in a panicked wave. They had come to fight a Rebel Army... they had come to fight humans. They hadn't signed up to face an A-Rank Monster like a Gryphon.
Muttering such excuses to themselves, the soldiers on Seto’s front vanished from the battlefield as fast as their legs could carry them.