"Who are you?!" Anastasia narrowed her eyes at the newcomer, not minding his mumbling.
Over a long time, they had seen countless people blame them for not being able to save their loved ones.
This man was dressed in the trench coat provided by the military to their troops. Maybe he was a soldier who fought under them and blamed them for the deaths of his comrades or something.
Nero summoned his sword. "State your name and rank, soldier! You should not be here. I will not punish you since you seem to be out of it. But get back to your post immediately!"
However, right then, Amelia stepped forward and extended an arm in front of Nero, stopping him.
"Wait!" She said, "He's Lucas Morningstar of the 37th Crane squad. He reports to me. He was also in the same class in the academy as us."
Nero and Anastasia frowned in confusion. Obviously, they couldn't remember him, but if Amelia says so, she must be right.
Meanwhile, Amelia turned to the uninvited guest. "Mr. Morningstar, why are you here? You could've come to me if there was something troubling you."
Lucas stifled a hysterical chuckle and raised his head to look Amelia straight into her emerald eyes. His gaze held an unimaginable amount of suffering.
It was as if he was all alone in the world, with no one to rely on and no one to turn to.
He slowly shook his head. "You couldn't help me. None of you could. This is not the first time you've made your little oath to end it all. But you never succeeded, did you?"
Nero's eyes widened as Anastasia and Amelia frowned, looking at each other, clearly perplexed.
Was this guy talking about Time Reversal? But how did he know about that Gift? No, it couldn't be that.
Amelia calmed herself down and spoke in a measured, amicable tone, "Lucas, I don't know what you're talking about, but we can help you."
"I wish that was the case," Lucas tiredly smiled at the beautiful woman in front of him. "But it's all this and all that until I'm left alone to fight. Every single time. I tried everything I could… but there is no other way, guys… I wish there was! I wish! I wish I didn't have to kill you all!"
Before the trio could even understand what the man before them had said, Lucas lunged forward with a burst of blurring speed.
However, he was trying to kill three of the strongest people in the world. It was not going to be easy.
Nero reacted quickly. He already had his sword summoned so he went forward first, swinging down his sword at Lucas.
Even if he was a troop under Amelia's command, no one was going to live after attempting to assassinate them.
They were the world's last hope. Trying to kill them meant trying to kill countless innocent people they were going to save.
Clang—!!
Sparks flew as Nero's blade clashed against Lucas' spear. However, to his surprise, the silver-haired noble wasn't pushed back.
Someone… matched him in strength head-on? Impossible!
Right at that moment, Anastasia lashed out at the silver-haired spearman from the side. Lucas pushed back Nero and quickly sidestepped to evade Anastasia's attack.
He then kicked the side of Anastasia's leg, bringing her crashing down to her knees. Before she could do anything, Lucas was about to plunge his spear deep into her back and pierce her heart.
But before he could do that, a swift arrow whistled through the air and struck his spear, deflecting it away from Anastasia, which in turn gave her enough time to jump to her feet and hop back to safety.
Lucas turned to give Amelia a sorrowful look. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be. Please, I beg you…"
"Stay sharp! He's strong!" Nero yelled and activated his Gift – his right arm was quickly enveloped in the blinding radiance of the purifying light while malevolent darkness swirled around his left arm.
Soon, two swords – one's blade pristine white and the other's vile black – manifested in his hands.
At the same time, Anastasia's fists started glowing golden, looking as if she held a pair of suns inside each of her closed hands.
Simultaneously, raging wind whirled around the arrow that Amelia had knocked long ago on her bow, her aim locked at Lucas.
"Now!" Nero yelled, prompting Amelia to loosen her grip on her bowstring. n-.---.)(-((/I.-n
The arrow shot forward, surrounded by turbulent winds, destructive enough to rip the concrete floor below asunder in its wake.
In response, however, Lucas lowered his spear and summoned a beautiful quill with a gleaming crimson tip.
He pointed it at the incoming storm arrow and waved it in the air, almost as if writing something on an invisible canvas.
Fwoosh—!!
When he stopped, the turbulent wind died down and the arrow fell to the ground in front of its feet.
Amelia could only widen her eyes in surprise upon seeing this. Her spell… was dismissed? How?!
But she was forced to pull herself out of her gaze when she saw Lucas pointing his quill at her next.
That quill! It was a relic!
Amelia's pupils constricted as she tried to move away from Lucas' line of sight, but it was already too late. Her clothes turned malleable and erupted into sharp, thorny spikes that easily skewered her down to her bones.
"Arghh!" Letting out an agonizing grunt, she fell to the ground, blood pouring out of her wounds.
She wasn't going to die, but it hurt like hell!
Nero gritted his teeth and rushed at Lucas. Anastasia also followed suit, attacking the silver-haired man from the opposite direction.
However, Lucas didn't lose his cool even when he was facing two of the strongest individuals in the world.
He moved with the speed of lightning and dodged Anastasia's blows. He then pointed his quill at her hands and waved it in the air again.
Suddenly, the golden mana clustering around Anastasia's clenched fists dispersed, leaving her shocked.
Before she could react, a sharp kick squarely landed on her solar plexus, making her buckle down and crumble to her knees, coughing violently.
Lucas then turned around and ducked to avoid his head getting cleaved off by Nero's sword of light.
He jumped back a few meters and pointed his quill at Nero next. But before he could wave it in the air again, Nero clashed both his swords together.
