The deathly silence in the alley was shredded by a voice calm to the point of terror.
Allen held the Black Sword and slowly walked out from the alley entrance.
Rainwater soaked his jet-black hair, but it could not extinguish the icy flame in his golden eyes.
His gaze swept across the entire scene.
First, Marianne, collapsed by the wall, barely breathing.
Then, the black-robed man clutching his neck, who had clashed with his Villain persona.
‘This guy… isn’t in the intel.’
Allen frowned slightly. This was most likely not negligence on the part of the Firebird, but rather that, at his level, he simply could not access information on the man before him.
This man was very powerful. His rank had likely already surpassed Blood Priest and reached the level of Abyss Walker.
Just this ability to create a domain of The Supreme Heaven at will was not something an ordinary small fry could possess.
The question was, when had such a figure appeared in the Cult?
Over countless past Cycles of Reincarnation, wasn’t the only Abyss Walker in the Capital’s Cult himself?
Although the butterfly effect caused by his early Rebirth had already sent the original plot of into a shredder.
But this suddenly appearing powerful enemy still made Allen want to complain: from what godforsaken corner had this wild boss spawned?
Plans can never keep up with changes.
Fortunately, the bond deep in his and Marianne’s souls, as well as his keen perception of the Evil God’s aura, allowed him to lock onto this isolated space in time.
He directly activated the Black Sword’s Engraved Mark amplification mode, forcibly tore open a gap, and forced his way in.
Hearing Allen’s voice full of anger, the mysterious man slowly released the hand covering his neck.
The wound glowed green under a strange power.
He turned around, just about to say a few classic Villain lines to show how effortlessly in control he was.
However, he could not utter a single word.
His vision blurred.
The boy’s figure appeared before him without warning.
The Black Sword enchanted with Divine Power, carrying a shriek that tore the air, struck first despite being launched later, instantly cutting through the longsword he hurriedly raised to block.
The mysterious man’s pupils violently constricted.
He did not even have time to think before that pitch-black weapon had already sliced through his body.
The monomolecular-thick edge split him from head to toe without any resistance.
Allen flicked his wrist, performed an extremely fluid spin, and unleashed another ferocious horizontal slash!
Pfft!
That head, which had just begun to separate, was cleanly sliced off.
Golden Saint Flame erupted from the blade with a roar.
Before the rolling head hit the ground, it burned all his remaining body to ashes.
The entire process was smooth and flowing, taking less than a second.
Time waits for no one.
Allen did not even glance at the scattering ashes.
He dashed to Marianne’s side, pulled out a Judgement Court Emergency Medical Injector from his clothes, and injected it into her nearly lifeless body.
Immediately after, he pressed his palm to her heart.
That warm and majestic Divine Power within him poured into her body without regard for cost, repairing her shattered organs and bones.
With that combination, he forcibly pulled the blood-drained Marianne back from the brink of death.
“Cough, cough!”
Marianne suddenly choked and coughed, spitting out a few mouthfuls of clotted blood, and looked at Allen with tear-blurred eyes.
“I’m sorry… Master… I-I couldn’t beat him. I let you down.”
“It’s not your fault. This guy really does have something.”
Looking at Marianne in such a miserable state, Allen’s heart ached.
If he had arrived a step later, his beloved Yuri Heroine would have been killed by this random nobody who had appeared out of nowhere.
That damn Evil God, if you’re coming, come at me! Don’t touch my Lily Garden!
However, having been saved by Allen like a hero, Marianne instantly forgot all about being on the verge of death.
As expected, she was still not devout enough.
She had actually thought for a moment that Master would not come and prepared to close her eyes and wait for death.
As a result, she had almost missed Allen’s overwhelming heroic figure.
Although she could not move, Marianne’s Yandere eyes were now almost overflowing with red hearts.
She looked at Allen full of worship and said in an extremely weak voice, “But… you are stronger. In front of you, he didn’t last even a second.”
“No,” Allen said calmly, “that guy isn’t dead yet.”
“Eh?”
As if to confirm Allen’s words, the blood-colored domain of The Supreme Heaven around them receded like a tide.
The sound of rain, wind, and distant faint thunder instantly rushed back into their ears.
The two returned to reality.
At the alley entrance, the mysterious man who should have turned to ashes was clapping and smiling as he walked out from the shadows, completely unharmed.
“Marvelous, truly marvelous. No wonder they call you a powerful enemy. If that strike had happened in reality, I’m afraid I would already be dead.”
When Marianne saw the enemy reappear, she struggled to get up.
A hand gently pressed down on her shoulder.
“Good work. Rest well. Leave the rest to me.”
Allen stood up, took off his still rainproof coat, and gently covered Marianne with it.
With his back to her, he left behind an infinitely vast and imposing silhouette.
‘Master… so handsome…’
Marianne tightened Allen’s clothes around herself. Her body, gradually growing cold from blood loss, gained a warmth that belonged only to him.
However, with his back to Marianne, the tenderness on Allen’s face had long since vanished, leaving only gloomy killing intent.
He, Allen, hated two kinds of people the most.
One was people who tried to defile sacred Yuri.
The other was people who dared to show off in front of him, a genuine Villain.
Obviously, the mysterious man before him was both.
Then he was dead for sure.
Allen carefully sized up the mysterious man and said in an extremely contemptuous tone, “I don’t kill nameless people. State your name.”
“Heh, then who are you?”
“Wrong answer.”
The instant the words fell, Allen’s figure once again turned into an afterimage. The terrifying explosive force even threw the rainwater on the ground backward!
This time, the mysterious man finally felt unprecedented pressure. He no longer dared to hold back.
Using Engraved Emblem Power, he instantly created a pitch-black blade and barely blocked Allen’s sword, which was aimed at an instant kill.
“Clang!”
A harsh metallic clash resounded through the alley.
“So you’re just a nameless stray dog. No wonder you dared to run wild on my turf.”
Allen’s words were merciless, and the attacks in his hand were even more like a violent storm.
Every sword strike was so fast that only black lines tearing through the rain remained.
“Didn’t your mother teach you not to piss around outside? Oh, right. Something like you, crawling out of a gutter, most likely doesn’t have a mother.”
The opponent was forced by this berserk swordsmanship into a miserable block.
As Allen activated Crest Suppression Mode on the Black Sword, that invisible force made him feel as if he had fallen into a swamp.
Every swing of his weapon was incomparably heavy.
He was pressed back step by step, gradually falling into a disadvantage.
The mysterious man also wanted to retort with some trash talk to maintain his unfathomable swagger.
But if he dared to lose focus for even a second, that pitch-black deadly blade would stab toward his vitals from an inconceivable angle.
He did not dare relax at all and could only focus all his attention on defense.
His Bloodline of the Sigil was very special, making him more like a being of The Supreme Heaven walking in the material world.
As long as any inch of his limb remained, he could revive infinitely under the power of The Supreme Heaven.
It was precisely by relying on this heaven-defying ability that he had escaped from powerful enemies time and again and then become stronger.
But this time, he had kicked an Iron Plate.
That Divine Power on Allen was the absolute nemesis of his kind of existence.
That strike in the domain just now had already inflicted a wound on his soul that was difficult to heal.
If he were killed like that again in reality, he had no doubt he would truly be reduced to ashes!
It was also the mysterious man’s first time encountering such a terrifying opponent.
His mentality of looking for fun completely disappeared, and the fear of death began to shroud his heart.
Those people were right. This place, the Capital, really did have monsters absurdly strong!
This boy before him was not human at all!
He regretted it.
He had originally thought that if he made a big scene, the Church would take him seriously, and the Judgement Court would send its main force to hunt him.
Then he could finally experience the pleasure of crossing blades with top experts.
Who would have thought that any random boy passing by would make him experience what despair meant?
The powerful ones of Capital Lucien were not comparable to those rural Sword-Bearing Nobles.
What terrified him most was that the other side had not even used an Engraved Mark from beginning to end!
That cold gaze, like someone looking at a dead man, the endless stream of trash talk, and that one move after another, seemingly endless powerful sword techniques, were about to completely break his mentality.
Just as he had toyed with that Maid, now the tables had turned, and the other side was making him feel what it was like to be prey.
After his deathmatch with Livia, Allen’s swordsmanship had climbed to a completely new realm.
In the past, he was a swordsmanship expert with no sword in hand but a sword in his heart.
But now, he had reached the peak, becoming a master with no sword in hand and a sword in his heart as well.
He no longer clung to any school. Every move and every stance was done as he pleased, yet each was lethal.
His use of the future had also reached a new realm.
He no longer triggered it passively but perceived actively, strangling all possible counterattacks from the opponent in the cradle.
Allen was not worried about a battle of attrition at all.
With the blessing of Holy Power, his stamina and recovery were endless, and any enemy would be dragged to death by him.
Moreover, there was still the Black Sword’s aura that weakened the power of The Supreme Heaven.
This battle had been Allen venting his anger unilaterally from the very beginning.
You like bullying my Maid, huh?
Go to hell and repent!
This high-intensity combat pressure gradually wore the mysterious man down.
After Allen seized an opening and cut off his entire arm with one slash, he finally broke down!
The mysterious man let out a shriek.
Behind him, a cloud of blood mist suddenly exploded, and a pair of huge wings, black as night, unfolded from it, flapping to lift him off the ground and put distance between him and Allen.
A flock of crows from nowhere surrounded him. His severed arm regenerated madly with visible writhing.
That evil aura no longer hid itself. The terrifying oppressive feeling made the air in this entire area become viscous.
“Oh, there’s a second phase.”
Allen looked up at the mysterious man circling in the sky, while cursing wildly in his heart.
‘Damn it! I hate these flying flies the most. Picking on my lack of anti-air capability, huh?’
‘Just wait. When I get back, I’ll develop the ZSU-23-4 “Shilka” anti-aircraft gun for you. Let’s see who dares fly in front of me then. I’ll blast you into the brightest firework on the horizon!’
“Feel proud, human! You are the first to make me use my full strength!”
The mysterious man’s voice in the air became grand and proud.
Hearing this, Allen burst out laughing.
“No, bro, what are you acting out here? Do you really think you’re some big shot? Come on. Some outsider came to the Capital to beg for food, and you think you’re a dish? Come on, let me see what circus tricks you’ve got.”
Allen raised his middle finger and provoked him. “In a moment, I’ll personally twist off your head and see just how ugly that hidden face of yours really is.”
“Courting death!”
The crows under his control let out piercing shrieks and dove toward Allen on the ground like a black tide of death!
These red-eyed crows were not ordinary creatures, but manifestations of the power of The Supreme Heaven.
Their beaks and claws were enough to tear a living person down to a skeleton in an instant.
To deal with these annoying things, Allen frantically compressed the Divine Power within his body.
He did not dodge. He simply put away his sword, gathered his hands at his waist, palms facing each other.
The space in his palms began to distort visibly.
A singularity of energy radiating pure golden light was forming and expanding at a terrifying speed.
“Ka-me-ha-me-ha!”
The next second, a thick golden pillar of light shot into the sky, instantly evaporating all the rainwater and crows along the way!
When the mysterious man saw that terrifying pillar of energy, his pupils shrank sharply.
He had no doubt he would be directly vaporized by this move.
He flapped his wings hard, and his whole body teleported out from another space in a sorry state, looking at the light that pierced the sky with lingering fear.
“Oh ho ho, so it really can be used like that.”
Allen, who had successfully replicated a classic anime move, revealed a delighted smile.
Meanwhile, Marianne, lying on the ground, saw this impactful scene, and her Yandere eyes were already full of little stars.
“Master is so handsome!”
“Master is the best!”
Of course, this move consumed a huge amount of energy and had a long wind-up.
Allen only did it to show off his muscles and boost his swagger, letting the opponent know that constantly flying in the sky was not a wise idea.
Sure enough, the mysterious man seemed to realize that being in the air made him an easier target.
After glancing at Allen with apprehension, he slowly landed back on the ground.
In the alley, the silence of confrontation returned once more.
“You… just who are you?” There was no longer any of his earlier composure in the mysterious man’s voice.
Allen could not see his face, but he knew that it must now be filled with solemnity.
The struggle between Villains had always been only life or death.
Allen smiled and said, “Who I am is not important.”
He stepped forward, and alone he exuded the momentum of a thousand troops.
“What’s important is… I know who you are.”
“Right, ‘Pure-blood’.”