As the pitch-black mana consumed the rubble and ground beneath it, the land before Orun was wiped clean, reduced to a literal blank slate.
—Yet, something halted his downward swing.
Almost the exact moment Orun sensed the resistance, a drill-like spiral of water lunged at him. He reacted at the final heartbeat, twisting to dodge.
However, the current snaked through the air with preternatural fluidity, piercing clean through his flank.
"—Gah...!"
Stieg emerged from the dissipating black mana without a single scratch. He reached out and flicked Orun’s forehead with a casual finger. The impact was violent enough to have bored a hole through his skull; Orun was sent reeling backward with staggering force.
"An attack that merely scatters mana... how childish," Stieg muttered. He didn't even spare a glance at the man he had just sent flying, choosing instead to gaze at the scorched, empty earth behind him.
Orun struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily.
"Ho..." Stieg let out a small sound of genuine admiration.
His eyes were fixed on Orun’s flank—the spot the water current had just run through.
There was no trace of the wound.
It wasn't just his flesh; even his clan uniform had been perfectly restored.
Orun’s eyes burned with a profound, hollow fury. The very air began to vibrate as if his rage were a physical pulse propagating through the atmosphere.
"Was that intentional? Or merely an unconscious reaction?" Stieg asked. Even facing such a volatile presence, his voice remained as insufferably composed as ever.
Orun didn't offer the dignity of an answer.
"—Alteration. Sixth Form: Mont Sechs."
He transformed Schwarzhase into its magic bow form and notched an arrow of condensed mana.
"—Reiten."
He released the shot. The arrow was so highly converged that the space around its trajectory warped and buckled. A sphere of localized gravity and mana swallowed Stieg in a torrent of pure destruction. It was an attack far beyond what was necessary to kill a single human, yet Orun did not slacken his assault for a second.
"—Seventh Form: Mont Sieben."
The bow shifted back into a magic katana. As he channeled the characteristics of a wind seirei, pitch-black winds began to howl around the blade.
"—Wind Demon Katana!"
Countless black slashes, carried by the gale, tore into the sphere of destruction.
"Why... why is this happening...?" Orun gasped, the words leaking out in a ragged breath as his attack ended.
"The answer is simple: because you belong to the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky."
"—!?"
Orun snapped his head toward the voice. Stieg stood there, exactly where he had been, having not moved an inch. He was entirely unchanged, his clothes and skin pristine despite the onslaught he had just endured.
"......What do you... mean...?"
"Exactly what I said. Our objective this time is the assassination of Orun Doura."
"......Huh?"
Orun let out a hollow, confused sound. In his mind, he couldn't bridge the gap between the total invasion of Tsutrail and a plot to kill him specifically.
Sensing his confusion, Stieg elaborated.
"Your existence is an extreme nuisance to us. Yet, you cannot be killed by ordinary means. Case in point: though I pierced your side just moments ago, that wound has, in a sense, ceased to exist."
Orun looked down at his abdomen. Consumed by rage until now, he finally realized that the hole in his flank hadn't just closed—the corresponding hole in his uniform was gone as well.
(I've seen this before... Right, a year ago, when I fought Shion. Her injuries were undone before I knew it, her clothes restored with them. But that was because she had the ability called Time Rewind—Ugh... Agh!)
The moment he tried to follow that train of thought, a crushing headache hammered against his skull. While Orun doubled over, clutching his head, Stieg continued to speak.
"So, we thought about it. We asked ourselves how we could possibly kill you. The answer we found was to break your heart. If you yourself truly desire death, your ability should grant that wish."
"My... ability...? Gah...!"
As Stieg spoke, the pressure in Orun's head intensified until it was almost blinding.
"Do you see that?"
Stieg looked away from Orun. Following his gaze, Orun saw the red, translucent barrier encasing the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky headquarters.
"The people of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky are currently trapped inside."
"No...! Stop it...!"
Orun roared, finally realizing Stieg’s intent. But Stieg ignored him.
"I wonder... would it cause the most damage if I filled the building with poison gas? Let you listen to the sounds of your comrades choking and suffering in agony?"
"Don't you... screw with me!"
Even as the headache threatened to split his skull, Orun lunged at Stieg. He swung his magic sword with everything he had left.
However, before the blade could reach its mark, Stieg’s hand moved in a blur. With a single strike of his palm, he severed Orun’s hand at the wrist. In the same fluid motion, Stieg drove his other palm into Orun’s solar plexus.
"Gah—ha...!"
Vomiting blood, Orun collapsed to his knees. Stieg stepped forward, placing his foot on top of Orun’s head and grinding it down. The cracks that spiderwebbed through the cobblestones beneath Orun's face were a testament to the sheer weight of the force.
"The interesting part is just beginning, so please, watch quietly. ...On second thought, poison gas takes too long. Waiting for it would be dreadfully boring. Let’s go with this instead."
Stieg snapped his fingers.
Instantly, a swarm of Water Dragons materialized within the grounds of the Silver Rabbit headquarters, inside the barrier. They immediately began to trample the property.
"Come now, don't sleep. You should see this through to the end. The final moments of your precious friends."
Stieg grabbed Orun by the hair and yanked his head up. Orun’s vision swam, focusing just in time to see one of the dragons leveling the main building with a blast of its breath.
"......Stop... Please... stop it..."
Orun’s plea never reached the dragons. They continued their merciless devastation, tearing the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky apart piece by piece.
"Burn this image into your retinas. After all, this is something you caused."
"............"
"Oh, and one more thing. A little bonus for you. Back when you were a child, the ones who raided your village... that was the Cyclamen Cult, too."
"......!"
"Because of you, a great many innocent people have now died twice over. We will never let you go. Even if, by some miracle, you survive this and find a new home, we will find you. We will repeat this cycle forever until you finally die."
"Because of me... everyone..."
"Precisely. You are a jinx—a plague that brings nothing but misery to those around you. The longer you live, the more people will die. Can you really live with that?"
At Stieg’s final words, the last of Orun’s mental defenses finally gave way.
Sensing a sudden, ominous shift in the air, Stieg let go of Orun's hair and stepped back.
"...Ah... Aaaah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—!!"
Orun let out a soul-shredding cry of lamentation.
The mana surrounding him was dyed a terrifying, lightless black. It erupted like a volcano, surging upward into a pillar of darkness that pierced the heavens.
Seeing the sight, Stieg’s lips curled into a sickening, triumphant grin.
The entire world shuddered, and the very fabric of space began to splinter. It was the herald of the end—.
Thank you for reading to the end.
It is Orun's defeat.
The perspective will shift again. The next chapter will be from Rain's perspective.