No Matter How Fast You Are, Can You Beat My Knife?

Jiang Bai felt the unprecedented surge of magic power within him and was somewhat dazed.

Th-this power... How was it at least three times stronger than when I crushed that wolf's head?

If it had been a stream back then, now it was the Yangtze River in full spate!

It seemed the feeling that his power had been building up was real. He really was a genius.

But... the timing was perfect!

Jiang Bai's gaze instantly turned icy, locking onto the black-robed man who had just slaughtered all those unarmed villagers with a wave of his hand.

With a thought.

No incantation, no movement, not even the slightest warning.

The black-robed man, whose face had just been filled with shock and whose body was trembling slightly with fear, was struck as if an invisible high-speed train had crashed into him head-on.

Bang!

A muffled thud rang out.

His body caved inward at a grotesque angle, then flew backward like a tattered sack and slammed into the wall of a burning wooden house in the distance. No one knew whether he was alive or dead.

The clean, efficient, and even somewhat bizarre strike instantly transformed the shock on the other black-robed figures' faces into sheer terror.

Jiang Bai, however, felt no joy at all.

He could feel that although he could now use this power, his control over it was still extremely clumsy.

It was like someone who had grown up speaking Chinese: that didn't mean he could get a perfect score in Chinese class.

That was Jiang Bai's situation now. He could use it, but he hadn't mastered it.

With his current level of control, he could only target one person at a time!

Jiang Bai didn't hesitate.

His gaze swept past the small fry and fell on Erza, who was bound, tears in her eyes, yet still looking at him defiantly.

When he had first come to this world, Erza had been nothing more to him than an anime character he liked very much.

But after all the moments they had shared day and night over the past three months, this kind, strong girl, who had wept with joy at receiving a surname, had long since become an inseparable part of his life.

She truly regarded him as family.

And Jiang Bai, who had always been an orphan in both his lives, had experienced the warmth of familial love for the first time.

He never wanted to return to those lonely days.

So he had to save her!

Jiang Bai concentrated all his will and magic power on Erza, trying to use his still-unfamiliar magic to free her from the ropes and bring her to his side.

Almost there!

Just one more second!

But just one second before Jiang Bai's thoughts could reach Erza...

Just a fraction of a second short!

A sudden gale sprang up without warning.

Right before Jiang Bai's eyes, Erza was whisked away by the wind!

The next second, when Jiang Bai spotted her again, he felt all the blood in his body freeze.

A man wearing a sinister mask, evidently the leader of the black-robed group, had appeared in the middle of the clearing at some point.

One hand held Erza by the back of her collar as if she were a chick. The other gripped a dagger that gleamed coldly, its icy edge pressed against her delicate neck.

"You brat, you really are an extraordinary genius."

The masked leader's voice was hoarse and grating, with a trace of morbid excitement.

"To be able to cast such powerful magic at your age... If I'm not mistaken, this should be a type of Mental Magic, right? I've never seen Mental Magic this bizarre before."

"Unlike me, who can only use a few branches of wind magic. Nothing worth showing off."

He looked at Jiang Bai, making no attempt to hide his wariness.

"Right now, I might really be no match for you."

"But..." A mad gleam flashed in the eyes behind the mask. "No matter how fast you are, can you beat my knife?"

"Do you dare bet on it? Will you kill me with that invisible magic of yours first, or will I slit this little girl's throat first?"

"Or perhaps..."

"Will we both die together?"

"Hahahahahaha!!!"

With that, the masked leader burst into a frenzied, piercing laugh, like an owl screeching in the night.

His unhinged laughter echoed over the ruins, shrill and unrestrained.

Jiang Bai's icy gaze passed over the sharp dagger and fixed on the masked leader.

His face was expressionless, and his voice was like the surface of a frozen lake, without the slightest ripple.

"What exactly do you want?"

"Haha, what do I want?" The masked leader seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He shook the hand holding Erza, drawing a stifled gasp from the girl. "Why, I want to play a game with you, of course."

He admired Jiang Bai's young face, taut with anger, taking a morbid pleasure in having a genius in the palm of his hand.

"It's simple. You stand right there. No moving, and no using that strange magic of yours."

"Take three of my attacks head-on."

"If you're still standing after three attacks," the masked leader said mockingly, "I'll let this little girl go. How about it?"

Jiang Bai knew, of course, that it was a lie.

How could a madman who took pleasure in tormenting others possibly keep his word?

Let Erza go? Impossible.

They would only take all the children and march off in a great procession to that hell on earth called the Tower of Heaven.

But Erza was in his hands now.

That dagger was too close to her neck.

Jiang Bai had no confidence whatsoever in his newly awakened magic, which he still couldn't control precisely. He didn't dare gamble, and he couldn't afford to.

This was the only way: use himself as bait in exchange for a possible opportunity.

"Fine."

Jiang Bai forced the word out through clenched teeth and slowly nodded.

The moment he agreed, his brain began working faster than ever before. His eyes, like the most precise radar, frantically scanned everything around him, searching for any chance to turn the tables.

"A wise choice."

The masked leader nodded in satisfaction, the smile on his face growing even crueler.

Without even moving his feet, he casually raised his other, empty hand and aimed it at Jiang Bai, more than ten meters away.

"Then let the game begin. This is the first attack."

Before he had finished speaking, an invisible heavy fist formed from raging wind tore through the air with a piercing howl and slammed toward Jiang Bai's chest.

Jiang Bai's pupils contracted. He forcibly suppressed his instinct to use magic, crossed his arms over his chest, and gritted his teeth, preparing to take the blow head-on.

Bang!

A deep, thunderous boom rang out.

Jiang Bai felt as though a massive siege hammer had struck him squarely in the chest. An unstoppable force instantly tore through his body.

Like a kite with its string cut, he was lifted off his feet and sent flying backward seven or eight meters before crashing heavily to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.