Rei had been raining rocks down upon the rear units of the Subjugation Army, inflicting a moderate amount of damage while sowing massive confusion.
That had been his strategy; once this rock bombardment was finished, he planned to follow up with flame magic or an assault using the Overlord's Armor. He was certain that such a relentless offensive would leave the Subjugation Army severely shaken, handing the advantage to the Mercurio Army and leading the battle toward a predetermined conclusion.
Rei’s assessment of the situation was by no means incorrect. Had the Subjugation Army’s composition remained what it had been in the past, they would have been utterly helpless against a force like Rei, suffering one-sided casualties.
However, Rei had made one single, massive miscalculation.
On the Subjugation Army's side stood an outlier who exceeded even Rei: Noise.
As Rei continued to pull rocks from his Misty Ring and hurl them toward the earth, a sudden, spine-tingling chill raced down his back. Simultaneously, he sensed something flying directly toward him—or more precisely, toward Seto.
"Seto!" Rei shouted instinctively, but it was already too late.
Something streaked through the sky at a speed that seemed to slash the very air, homing in on Seto's body just as the gryphon tried to flap its wings in response to Rei’s cry.
The spear tip was a hair's breadth from plunging into Seto's flank when it struck an invisible wall of air and was violently repelled.
"?! I see! Seto, dive!"
Rei realized immediately that the attack had been deflected by the Bracelet of Wind Manipulation—a magic item Seto wore that could block a projectile or spell exactly once. Knowing they were now vulnerable, he ordered an immediate descent.
"Guruuu!"
Seto seemed to understand just how powerful that strike had been. It beat its wings and plummeted toward the ground.
The Bracelet of Wind Manipulation had saved them, but its protection was fleeting. Once triggered, the item would remain inert for the next ten hours. As long as they remained in the sky, they were sitting ducks for an opponent with that level of power.
Ordinary bows or catapults often struggled to even reach Seto's altitude. Even if they did, Rei could easily swat the projectiles away with his Death Scythe, or Seto could deflect them with its front legs.
But that previous strike was different. Its velocity and force were such that even Rei and Seto would have had to concentrate fully to intercept it. If such an attack were launched from the front, they might manage, but if it were thrown from the ground while hidden among tens of thousands of soldiers, they would have no way to react in time.
"Tch. I didn't think they’d have someone with that much power in their ranks," Rei muttered as the ground rushed up to meet them. Then, a realization struck him. "I see. Is it him? The trump card the Subjugation Army prepared for me. I knew it wasn't Rhodos."
As he came to that conclusion, the earth loomed large beneath them.
"Seto!"
Even without explicit orders, Seto grasped Rei’s intent. Just before impact, the gryphon swung its front legs, using the soldiers positioned below as living cushions to soften its landing.
The soldiers crushed beneath it died instantly. Rei ignored their deaths and leaped from Seto’s back, immediately drawing the Death Scythe from his Misty Ring and swinging it in a lethal arc.
The heads of several nearby soldiers were sent spinning through the air, followed by geysers of blood erupting from their severed necks.
The men on the ground were in a state of total shock. They had spent the last few minutes desperately dodging rocks falling from the heavens, only for a gryphon to drop directly on top of them. It was more than any ordinary soldier could be expected to handle.
"...H-Eeek!"
One soldier stood dazed, unable to comprehend the carnage until he saw the two-meter-long great scythe. Then, he realized exactly who stood before them.
"It's Crimson! Crimson has appeared!"
The effect of those words was instantaneous. The soldiers surrounding Rei and Seto scrambled backward, desperate to put distance between themselves and the reaper.
"Heh, you're certainly eager to move..." Rei muttered, a cold smirk playing on his lips as he braced his Death Scythe. "But if you think that putting a little distance between us is enough to save you... you're naive! Flying Slash!"
With a sharp swing, a flying slash erupted from the Death Scythe and tore through the retreating ranks. The force was only enough to cause non-fatal wounds to those in armor, but it struck several men at once. Normally, such minor injuries wouldn't hinder a soldier's ability to fight, but when the attacker was Rei, the psychological toll was devastating. The soldiers fell into a near-panic state.
"U-Uwaaaaaaagh!"
"It's Crimson! Crimson is here!"
"The gryphon is with him! Run! Just run!"
As they fled in terror, a clear space with a radius of about ten meters formed around Rei. He glanced at the frantic soldiers and spoke with a low, amused tone.
"A wise choice. But I'm going to need you all to expend yourselves a bit more. Seto, go wild."
"Guruuu!"
Seto gave a short cry of acknowledgment and pounced. One soldier, though terrified, managed to level his spear and reflexively thrust at the approaching beast.
However, a thrust delivered with trembling knees and an iron spear—not even made of magic metal—had no hope of stopping a creature like Seto. The gryphon’s front leg snapped the spear like a dry twig. The broken tip flew through the air and embedded itself in the chest of an unlucky man nearby.
"Eh?"
The soldier let out a pathetic gasp of confusion, only for his head to be pulverized an instant later by a horizontal sweep of Seto's paw.
"H-Eeek!"
The survivors, already paralyzed by fear, were showered with a gruesome spray of flesh, bone, blood, brains, and eyeballs. Proper combat was now impossible for them; they could do nothing but scream.
Seto ignored the cowering man and pounced instead on those who still showed a flicker of will to fight. It knew that leaving the terrified ones alive would spread fear and confusion through the enemy ranks more effectively than killing them.
While Seto rampaged, Rei was wreaking even greater havoc a short distance away. The damage he inflicted was incomparably more severe, as magic power compressed enough to be visualized drifted around his body. He had activated his Overlord's Armor.
Furthermore, learning from his experiences during the Battle of the Encampment, he had already channeled magic power into his Bracelet of Magic Absorption to keep it active. He swung his Death Scythe, harvesting lives with every stroke.
(As I thought, ordinary soldiers don't provide enough magic power. My recovery can't keep up with the consumption of the Overlord's Armor.)
Even as he thought this, Rei’s scythe cleaved through another spear and the soldier holding it in a single diagonal slash. Feeling the trickle of magic power flow back into him through the weapon, he kicked off the ground and leaped into the air.
Several arrows hissed through the space he had occupied a split second before. While airborne, he activated his Sleipnir's Shoes, kicking off the empty air to propel himself toward the archers who had targeted him.
"Hah!"
With a sharp exhale, he delivered a massive horizontal slash. As the torsos of several archers were severed, Rei felt another surge of magic power. It still wasn't enough to maintain the Overlord's Armor indefinitely, and he decided he needed to cut down even more enemies. But just as he moved to strike again...
A sudden chill raced down his spine.
It felt as though an icicle had been driven into his back. Rei froze. Normally, he would have deactivated the Overlord's Armor immediately to conserve energy while stationary, but the intensity of the chill was so great that the thought didn't even cross his mind.
Almost simultaneously, Rei reflexively decapitated a soldier trying to flee from him, just as a man leaped over the surrounding troops to land directly in front of him.
"Heh. Compared to the last time we met, you've become quite adept at using the Overlord's Armor. In such a short period... I suppose I should say, 'as expected.'"
The man spoke with genuine admiration. He, too, was clad in the Overlord's Armor, with magic power compressed so densely it was visible to the naked eye.
...Yes, it was a person who, by Rei’s reckoning, was not supposed to be here.
Rei’s movements stalled for a fraction of a second at the appearance of such an unexpected opponent. Had Noise been so inclined, Rei might have died in that single instant—or at the very least, suffered a crippling blow.
However, Noise didn't want a victory born of a surprise attack. He wanted to see how much Rei had grown in their time apart. Most of all, he wanted to fight Rei, the man who held Crimson's Alias, in a state without any holding back—a luxury their previous duel in the Fighting Tournament hadn't allowed.
Noise kept his Overlord's Armor active, a ferocious smirk spreading across his face. From his perspective, Rei was still immature. In terms of his Overlord's Armor, Rei was still using brute force to maintain it, resulting in massive magic power consumption. Nevertheless, his control was undeniably more refined than it had been during the tournament finals.
(His consumption must be staggering... but he has ridiculous magic power as always.)
Muttering with a mix of respect and exasperation, Noise drew his favorite magic sword from its sheath.
"Now... let me see your true strength, the earnest effort I couldn't taste in our last fight. ...You lot, get back. If you're caught in the middle of our battle... you'll die."
At Noise's command, the soldiers scrambled to put even more distance between them. In contrast to the fleeing men, Seto, who had been rampaging until a moment ago, stepped up to stand beside Rei.
"Guruuuuuuuuuuuu!"
Seto let out a low, hostile growl. There wasn't a trace of carelessness in the gryphon’s posture; it had resolved to fight with everything it had.
"Ho, so that's the gryphon. ...Compared to the ones I’ve fought before, it seems quite intelligent. It possesses a strange, overwhelming presence. ...Is that creature really just a normal gryphon?"
Rei showed a flicker of surprise. He was impressed by the intuition that allowed Noise to see Seto's true nature at a glance, but more than that, he was surprised by the claim that Noise had experience fighting gryphons. An A-Rank monster like a gryphon was a rare existence; to have survived combat with one proved that Noise’s reputation as an S-Rank Adventurer was well-earned.
"Considering it's my tamed monster, I think it's obvious he isn't normal," Rei muttered, his grip shifting slightly on the Death Scythe. He was preparing a stroke intended to cleave Noise in half with a single blow.
"Well, I suppose so. No warrior would reveal their full capabilities before a fight. Besides, trying to pry into an opponent's secrets before the clash is nothing but boorish, isn't it?"
Noise lightly swung his magic sword. His casual movement suggested he was perfectly aware that Rei was adjusting his grip on the scythe—a testament to the countless battles he had survived.
It had been nearly two years since Rei first arrived in Elgin. The combat experience he had gained in that time was incredibly dense. However... it was still only two years. To be precise, it wouldn't even be a full two years until next spring.
In comparison, Noise had spent decades as an adventurer. The years he spent climbing the ranks to S-Rank, and the years he had spent fighting since reaching that peak, had granted him a wealth of experience that Rei simply could not match.
(If we're talking about pure experience, I have no hope of beating Noise. My only chance to win lies in...)
What had carried Rei through his battles thus far was an instant inspiration that could only be described as combat sense. That, combined with his overwhelming magic power, and above all...
"Seto."
"Guruuu!"
His partner, Seto.
If they combined their strengths, victory against Noise was not impossible.
With that judgment, Rei brought his Overlord's Armor to full power and lunged forward, raising his Death Scythe high as he closed the distance.