Even though I moved my feet the moment I saw Aslin stagger from that lunatic assassin’s blow.

Unfortunately, the assassin’s movements were faster than my steps, which were meant to reach Aslin.

Boom-!!

A vicious sound, as if the air had burst, exploded past me as I tried to get in front of Aslin.

The assassin, intending to land a follow-up blow on Aslin, who was reeling from the unexpected strike, launched himself at her. His kick connected with her abdomen, and the impact was thunderous, a sound almost like an explosion.

The aftermath of that strike was considerable.

Aslin, unable even to scream, was thrown to the ground, rolling helplessly.

It all happened so quickly that even I, who could break down time into countless fragments, could barely react.

‘How?’

That was the first thought in my head, but there was no time to dwell on that. The priority now was to move quickly and save Aslin.

Despite the unfortunate events unfolding, there was at least one silver lining: though Aslin had lost consciousness, she hadn’t sustained any fatal wounds.

Just before the assassin’s blow fully landed on her solar plexus, Aslin had instinctively twisted her body backward, an action that seemed to have spared her from a lethal injury.

Even so, this bit of fortune could easily be overturned by the brutish assassin, who was already approaching the spot where Aslin lay, with just a few gestures enough to end it all in an instant.

“Aslin!!”

This time, I was faster than the assassin’s attempt to finish her off.

I barely managed to get in front of Aslin. As my view filled with the assassin, closing the gap, he unleashed a merciless storm of punches, his body exuding a sinister, dark aura.

It was pitch black—so black that there was no other way to describe the menacing energy cloaking his fists. The sheer force of his punches seemed powerful enough to shatter anything they touched.

Though the energy he emitted was overwhelmingly negative, the density of his aura rivaled that of the strongest warriors of the Empire.

That color of energy… I’ve seen it before. It’s familiar. The League—a group of assassins based on the far edge of the western continent, in the desolate Namab Desert, with their headquarters in the ominous Mount Maeryong.

Their assassins are notorious for always completing their missions, as long as they are paid appropriately, unless they reject the target themselves. The black energy I was seeing now was exactly like the aura emitted by those belonging to the League.

This is one of the traits that develop as they refine the secret breathing technique they pass down. The deeper the mastery, the darker and stickier the energy becomes. Judging by the intensity of this assassin’s aura, he had a level of skill among the very best within the League.

As I processed all this at lightning speed, my accelerated thoughts racing, I noticed a twisted expression on the assassin’s face as he glanced at me.

He had realized I had stepped into the path of the blow he had meant to finish Aslin with.

When she executed her Heaven-Splitting Slash, he hadn’t shown this level of awareness, but now he had noticed me. It wasn’t just skill—he must have done something to his body, and I couldn’t help but wonder what that was.

But there was no time to investigate the secret behind his body. I had a more urgent matter at hand.

Pushing all other thoughts aside, I focused on raising my sword to block his incoming punch.

Despite his face already being covered in scars, making him look terrifying, I could see his expression twisting further with a bizarre smile as the moments ticked by.

Even with a quick glance, I understood what that smile meant.

‘How dare you block me? I’ll turn you into minced meat!’

It wasn’t the kind of smile you’d expect from an assassin, but rather the kind of crazed grin you’d see on a berserker who made their home in the eastern lands, near the Sword Manor, where I was from.

Normally, I’d respond to such a smile with an even colder retort, intentionally stoking their emotions to provoke a mistake.

But there was no point in further agitating this maniac, who was already burning with enough fury to boil over.

I didn’t want to take the risk of provoking him and endangering Aslin, who lay unconscious behind me.

So, I ignored his taunting grin and raised my sword, positioning it to intercept his punch, once again focusing my energy.

Even in the fractured moment, I drew a clear line with my sword to block the trajectory of that madman’s incoming fist.

I briefly considered deflecting the blow at the last second by twisting my sword, but considering Aslin was behind me, I chose certainty over a gamble. I decided to block it head-on, even if it meant taking some damage.

Crack-!!

The damage was already making itself known, as the sound reached me.

A strange, almost twisting pressure spread from my core. The sound filled my senses, and I nearly let out a twisted groan against my will.

Boom-!!

“Urgh-!!”

Before the groan could escape, the shock from his punch, which hit my sword, forced a pained grunt out of me.

I stumbled back—only one step. A far better outcome than Aslin, who had been thrown back helplessly when her defenses were pierced by a small opening.

It was a powerful blow, but I had faced even more terrifying attacks before, and the armor of experience helped me absorb this one without too much trouble.

“Well, what about this?!”

The assassin’s pride was clearly wounded as he snarled at me for only being pushed back a single step. His next barrage of attacks came at me like crashing waves.

‘Looks like I’ll have to be ready to drop to the ground.’

Gritting my teeth, I steeled myself, focusing the energy in my core even more precisely through my breathing technique as I prepared to counter his movements.

Even in these fragmented moments, his fierce attacks continued with a speed that was impressive, like a storm.

If he was a prisoner desperately trying to break free from the chains of time, I was the jailer, standing over him and ensuring he remained trapped in this fractured moment.

“Too slow...”

I muttered under my breath, barely audible, as I smoothly intercepted each punch he threw, cutting off the path of every strike with my sword.

I lifted my left hand—the one not gripping my sword—and caught his fist just before it could pierce one of my vital points.

And when he yanked his fist free, only to strike at me again, I caught it once more, repeating the process.

Even as this deadly dance continued, his punches were gaining the slightest bit of speed, a subtle acceleration in this fragmented moment.

It seemed to be the result of him twisting his body, desperately trying to squeeze out more power in response to my interruptions. His face contorted more and more like a demon’s.

‘Not once. You think it’ll work twice?’

It was unfortunate for him, but that trick wasn’t going to work on me anymore.

His misfortune lay in the fact that this wasn’t the first time he had used such tactics—he had used them against Aslin, someone as skilled as me.

And I had seen it all, taking in every move with my eyes, understanding and absorbing his combat style.

The sadistic smile on his face—the one he wore when tormenting what he thought was a weaker opponent—disappeared in an instant.

“Huff... Huff...”

The assassin, barely escaping my grip just before his punch could complete its trajectory, quickly distanced himself from me, gasping for breath.

Gone was the vicious aura he had exuded moments ago, when he seemed capable of tearing apart both me and Aslin with ease—an assassin in name only.

He was now completely spent, his breath ragged. It was the perfect time to switch to offense, to knock him down or at least subdue him.

“Phew...”

Unfortunately, I wasn’t in much better shape. I, too, was panting heavily, almost as badly as he was.

Though I managed to hold out for a moment by forcing my body to its limit, I couldn’t ignore the damage my core had sustained. In pushing past its limitations, the refined energy had given me temporary superhuman strength and speed, but now it was demanding repayment.

‘It hurts like hell.’

The pain radiating from my core was at a level that could easily make me roll my eyes back and pass out right here.

No joke—if I moved even one more step with my energy still flowing, I was certain I’d lose consciousness for real.

But stopping the energy’s circulation wasn’t an option either.

“You bastard... You’re nothing like the intel we gathered... You’re not a hollow shell; you’re a strong, ripe fruit. Ripe for plucking…”

Even as I tried to catch my breath from the overwhelming expenditure of energy, I couldn’t let my guard down. The crazed gleam in the assassin’s eyes made it clear—he was going to charge at me again, exhausted or not.

“But damn... This fruit doesn’t seem ready to fall off the branch!!”

The frustration in his voice, the way he threw a tantrum because things weren’t going his way—it would have been almost comical under different circumstances.

‘Yeah... I’m starting to think this guy is who I suspected.’

The more this lunatic opened his mouth, the more I was convinced of his identity.

Before I was dragged into the Sword Manor by my father—back when I wandered the back alleys nameless—I had heard rumors about a madman within the League of Assassins.

There was a guy who had joined the League on his own, not for money or prestige, but because he simply wanted to kill.

For an assassin, leaving no trace behind is fundamental.

But whenever this lunatic was deployed, he’d reduce everything to a wasteland, turning the entire scene into chaos. And somehow, he always succeeded in assassination, gaining notoriety for his deranged methods.

His name was...

“Khalid.”

“...!”

“You’re Khalid of the League, aren’t you?”

“...!!”

When I tested the name, the assassin’s face contorted, as if he had turned into a ghoulish figure straight out of a nightmare. His mouth and expression froze, locked tight like a puppet whose strings had just been severed.

“Seems like I hit a nerve. Assassins shouldn’t get so flustered just because someone mentions their name. Guess you’re not much of a professional, haha?”

Even though my laugh was clearly meant to provoke, cheap and mocking—

“...”

The assassin—Khalid—had completely lost his previous ferocity. His eyes were darting around, rapidly calculating how to get out of this situation. He was clearly panicking.

‘Idiot.’

I swallowed down the snide remark I desperately wanted to hurl, watching Khalid’s confusion unfold before my eyes, and took a moment to think.

He’s probably never experienced this before.

Though he may be lacking as an assassin, he’s always been exceptional when it comes to killing. His targets were always eliminated, thanks to his overwhelming strength and the “claws” he kept hidden for the last strike.

But he must’ve neglected the secrecy that an assassin should hone, focusing more on brute force.

As a result, his brain must be in chaos after things fell apart because of me, someone who stepped in just as he was about to finish off his target.

A first-rate killer, but a third-rate assassin.

It infuriated me to think that Aslin had been toyed with by someone like him, and while I wasn’t in the best condition either, the fact that I’d been pushed around by this brute irked me.

‘Just a little more… just a little longer…’

I had a glimmer of hope. I could drive this third-rate assassin away. And with that hope, I ignored my battered body and pushed forward.

Crack-!!

Despite the sound of my core twisting painfully, I activated my energy further and closed the distance between us.

My entire body screamed at me to stop, warning me that I was pushing far beyond my limits. But with Aslin unconscious behind me, this pain was nothing. If I’d been willing to stop because of a little agony, I wouldn’t have gotten this far in the first place.

Seeing my relentless approach, Khalid, whose movements had frozen in his panic, began to move again, frantically.

Though he was still disoriented from having his name exposed, it was clear that he didn’t care about Aslin anymore. His desperate flailing was aimed at erasing me, the one who had named him, from existence.

“Raaaah!!”

He screamed, his wild roar betraying how uncoordinated and sloppy his movements had become in contrast to the earlier ferocity.

To me, he looked like a perfect target, his vital spots exposed like a bullseye waiting to be struck.

“Haaah-!!”

With no hesitation, I let out a powerful battle cry. The sword in my right hand became a streak of light, carving a path directly toward Khalid’s vitals.

But just before the blade could reach its destination—

“Don’t! You dare! Drag me down with you!!!!”

Khalid’s body was suddenly swallowed by the pitch-black aura he had conjured, disappearing from sight. My sword had traced the perfect path but found no target, ending in an incomplete arc.

I had won. I had successfully driven off Khalid, the mad assassin who had been intent on killing both me and Aslin. It was a victory, and I had every right to call it that.

But there was a bitter aftertaste. I’d had the chance to end this dangerous assassin right then and there, but instead, I was left watching him flee. The feeling of dissatisfaction gnawed at me.

If my body had been in better shape, I wouldn’t have let him get away like that…

The thought of regret formed in my mind, creeping toward my lips. But for now...

Thud-!!

I let go of the regret and focused instead on the relief of having avoided immediate danger.

Tap, tap, tap, tap-!!

From a distance, I could hear the hurried footsteps of knights, likely the ones who had been at the frontlines against the monsters, now scrambling over in response to Aslin’s call.

It had all happened so fast, and now they were only just grasping the situation and rushing toward us.

I felt relieved. At least I had protected Aslin long enough for them to arrive.

Crack-!!

Another sharp sound of my core twisting viciously echoed in my ears.

*‘It really does hurt… a lot.’

It seemed I had truly reached my limit.

My entire body screamed for rest, demanding it now.

Maybe I should just… close my eyes for a bit…

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…Something heavy was pressing down on my upper body.

What… is this…?