Authority

Serie stood rooted to the spot, her white robes motionless amidst the shockwaves of the explosion. Her golden eyes gazed calmly at the smoke-filled crater.

The smoke and dust settled slowly.

At the bottom of the pit, a figure stood up.

Regulus Kornius dusted off non-existent dust from his white tuxedo. He glanced down at his clothes, then looked up, his youthful face showing a mixture of displeasure and reproach.

"Ah, you rude woman..." he began, his voice clear and fast, "It's one thing to greet someone so rudely, but to do that you even dirtied my clothes? Do you know how much this dress is worth? No, you certainly don't. Someone as lacking in basic manners and aesthetic sense as you could never understand the rights and dignity that 'appropriate attire' represents."

He stepped out of the deep pit, his footsteps landing on the scorched ground. Sunlight fell on him, and his white clothes and white hair, which should have looked somewhat disheveled, were strangely clean—without even a single burn mark or stain.

"Never mind, though." He waved his hand, appearing magnanimous. "I, Regulus Kornius, am easily satisfied. As long as you sincerely apologize and compensate me for this garment—of course, it must be made of the exact same material and with the same workmanship, that's non-negotiable—I can consider forgiving your rude offense."

He stopped and stood ten meters in front of Serie, his hands behind his back and his chin slightly raised.

"After all, as the most perfect and selfless being in this world, I have an obligation to show appropriate tolerance towards those who are imperfect. This is both the right and the obligation of a 'strong' person."

Ruby stood slightly behind and to the side of Serie, her turquoise eyes widening. She looked at Regulus, who was unharmed, and then at the charred crater, which was over a hundred meters in diameter and bottomless.

"Huh?" She blinked and muttered softly, "Master's move just now... it was so powerful... how come it didn't even tear his clothes?"

Himmel took half a step forward, Ruby slightly behind him. He stared at Regulus, his blue eyes narrowing slightly.

"Looks like someone with rather strange abilities," he muttered, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Not ordinary Defensive Magic... the attack just now didn't seem to touch him at all."

Serie gave a soft hum.

Her golden eyes reflected Regulus's self-satisfied expression, and a subtle, mocking smile curved her lips.

"Interesting."

As soon as he finished speaking, Himmel's figure left a pale blue afterimage in the air. His sword was already drawn, with a sharp whistling sound, pointing directly at Regulus's brow.

This sword strike was incredibly fast, so fast that to an ordinary person it would only leave a blurry trail of light.

Regulus did not dodge.

He made no defensive or evasive movements, but simply stood still, tilting his head slightly, calmly watching the sword tip rapidly enlarge before him with his empty golden eyes.

The sword tip pierced his brow.

There was no sound.

There was no impact, no obstruction, not even the tangible feeling of "touching." Himmel's sword stopped an inch in front of Regulus's brow, unable to advance any further. It wasn't that it was blocked by anything, but rather that all the "force" on the sword—speed, kinetic energy, and the intent to penetrate—seemed to be gently wiped away and vanished into nothingness at the very moment it was about to touch its target.

Himmel's eyes narrowed. With a flick of his wrist, the sword retracted, transforming into a blur of blades. Thrusts, parries, sweeps, and slashes—the sword light attacked Regulus's vital points from all angles—throat, heart, ribs, and joints.

Each sword strike was swift and precise, embodying the simplicity and efficiency honed through countless battles by warriors.

Each sword strike, just before hitting Regulus's skin, stopped an inch in front of him, then lost all power and slid away softly.

Regulus didn't even move a step. He just stood there, occasionally turning his neck or adjusting his posture, using different parts of his body to "meet" the sword strikes. His expression was calm, even a little bored, as if he were watching a dull performance that had nothing to do with him.

"Huh? Had enough?" He tilted his head, his voice filled with undisguised disappointment. "I told you! It's no use! How many times do I have to tell you before you understand!? I thought these so-called 'heroes' would be some kind of powerful warrior. Turns out, this is all the swordsmanship you've got? You can't even make me feel 'threatened'."

Himmel did not respond. He leaped back, creating distance again, his sword-wielding hand as steady as ever, his face showing no sign of anxiety, only focused scrutiny. He was observing, analyzing.

"Master! Let me do it!" Ruby called out, her hands already raised to her chest. Her emerald eyes locked onto Regulus, and tiny, dangerous wisps of magical energy danced at her fingertips.

"Flame Spear - Charge!"

Dozens of crimson spears, composed of highly condensed fire elements, appeared around her. Then, as if launched from a powerful crossbow, they shot towards Regulus from different angles with sharp whistling sounds! The spears crisscrossed, sealing off all his space to dodge. The flames leaping on the spears scorched and distorted the air, each possessing power far exceeding that of Ordinary Attack Magic.

Regulus raised his eyelids and glanced at the incoming fire spears.

Then, he yawned.

The flaming spear hits.

Boom!

The series of explosions completely engulfed the location where Regulus was! Crimson flames expanded, rolled, and intertwined, the high temperature Melt the ground into viscous lava, and shockwaves uprooting the surrounding vegetation and lifting it high into the air! Scorching air currents rushed in, carrying a pungent smell like sulfur.

The flames Burning for several seconds before slowly dissipating.

Regulus stood still.

The ground around him had turned into a boiling pool of lava, bubbling and gurgling. But the small patch of ground beneath his feet remained intact, even retaining the greenness of grass. His white suit was spotless, and his golden hair swayed gently in the hot wind.

He raised his hand and fanned the scorching air in front of him with the back of his hand, his brows furrowing.

"It's so hot," he complained clearly, "And so noisy. Is this the only way you imperfect people fight—a rude, noisy, and utterly uncouth way? It's so uncultured."

Ruby's small mouth opened slightly. She looked at her hand that had just cast the spell, then at the guy whose hair wasn't even messed up. A hint of seriousness flashed in her emerald eyes, but more so, a sense of curiosity was aroused.

"Completely ineffective..."

"It's no use," Serie's voice rang out calmly. She had somehow moved to Ruby's side, her golden eyes fixed on Regulus, her gaze filled with scrutiny and analysis.

"It's not defense, nor is it negation," she said slowly, "It's 'nullification.' The very instant before an attack touches him, his very 'existence' is conceptually negated. Therefore, any form of attack—physical impact, magical energy, even abnormal status—cannot affect him. A very troublesome ability."

Regulus heard her analysis. He turned to look at Serie, his face showing a mixture of approval and regret.

"Oh? You're a bit smarter than those two." He nodded. "That's right, exactly. My power [Lion's Heart] can temporarily 'sever' me from this ugly, noisy, imperfect world. While my power is in effect, I exist in my own independent 'time.' External attacks, interference, and even 'change' itself cannot touch me in the slightest." He kindly explained his skill.

He opened his arms as if embracing some kind of invisible glory.

"This is perfect defense! It is supreme power! It is a power that only a selfless, desireless, and perfect being like me deserves to possess!"

Himmel and Ruby exchanged a glance. They didn't speak, but their long-standing camaraderie and understanding from fighting side-by-side led them to make their choice at the same moment.

Himmel lowered his center of gravity, his figure blurring into afterimages once more. This time, he didn't attack Regulus directly, but instead began to High-Speed Movement. His footsteps trod on the edge of the lava ground, sending up tiny sparks. His sword light appeared and disappeared, slashing from various angles, each strike faster and more cunning, yet not seeking a direct hit, but merely probing—probing the range of the "nullification" ability, its reaction speed, and whether there were any blind spots.

Ruby her hands together in front of her chest. She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, a complex magic circle flashed briefly in the depths of her azure pupils. Her magical energy fluctuations became even more profound and concentrated.

"Multi-attribute composite magic--"

The sky above her head suddenly darkened. It wasn't dark clouds, but a deep purple vortex, formed by highly condensed magic, covering an area of hundreds of meters. At the center of the vortex, countless phantoms of ice spikes, lightning spears, rock spikes, and wind blades slowly emerged, intertwining and merging with each other, emitting a terrifying magical fluctuation. This spell was clearly more complex than the previous fire spear, and contained a much greater amount of magic.

" --Judgment!"

A blinding white light erupted from the center of the vortex! Hundreds of magical attacks, each with different attributes yet perfectly fused together, poured down like a torrential rain! Ice and fire intertwined, lightning and rock resonated, and wind blades tore through the air with piercing shrieks. The density of the attacks was so great that there was almost no room to dodge, and each strike was enough to easily destroy even the strongest city walls.

Vaporize! Melt! Overloaded! Superconduct! Electro-Charged! Frozen! Burning! Swirl! Aggravate! Spread! Quicken! Spread! Bloom! Hyperbloom! Burgeon! Crystallize! Lunar-Electro-Charged! Lunar-Bloom! Lunar-Crystallize!

A multitude of elemental reactions exploded on Regulus's body.

Regulus stood still, not even bothering to look up.

The attack landed.

Boom!

The continuous explosions merged into a long, deafening roar! The earth howled and cracked! Blinding light, violent elemental turbulence, and destructive shockwaves transformed the area into a hellish scene. Smoke and dust mixed with magical remnants rose into the sky, forming a slowly expanding mushroom cloud.

Just before the attack landed, Himmel withdrew and landed beside Ruby. He stood with his sword in hand, his breathing steady, his sharp gaze locked on the center of the explosion.

Ruby lowered her hands, exhaled softly, and remained calm. The composite magic that had just been enough to destroy an army seemed to her to be nothing more than a warm-up.

Serie didn't make a move. She simply watched quietly, her golden eyes piercing through the smoke and chaotic magical currents, locking onto Regulus's location.

The explosion lasted for nearly half a minute.

As the last ray of lightning faded into the smoke and dust, and as the roar of the elements gradually subsided, the scene in the center of the battlefield became clear again.

It was another terrifying crater, over a hundred meters in diameter and more than ten meters deep. The inside of the crater was charred black, and the lava had not yet completely solidified, emitting bluish smoke. The crater walls were smooth as a mirror, formed by repeated exposure to high temperatures and impacts.

Regulus stood in the center of the pit.

The only intact ground beneath his feet was a square meter, still green like grass. His white suit remained impeccable, and his blond hair was perfectly styled. He raised his hand, straightened his collar, and then looked up at the three people by the pit, his face displaying an undisguised expression of weariness and contempt.

"Is that all?" he asked, his voice carrying clearly through the distance. "Is this all you've got? How disappointing. I thought you'd at least pique my interest a little."

He shook his head and sighed.

"As expected, this is the limit for the imperfect. The struggle is earnest, but ultimately meaningless. Like an insect frantically flapping its wings, it can't fly to the clouds—the fundamental difference cannot be bridged by effort."

He took a step forward. His footsteps landed on the lava, which automatically parted to the sides, forming a smooth path leading to the edge of the pit. He walked slowly and leisurely, as if strolling in his own garden.

"Now that your performance is over..."

"Well then, it's my turn."

"I, Regulus Corneas, in the name of the Sin Archbishop of Greed, declare—"

He raised his right hand, fingers spread, and pointed it at the three people.

"You have violated several of my sacred and inviolable rights, including 'enjoying a peaceful journey,' 'maintaining proper attire,' and 'not being rudely disturbed.' For these multiple offenses, I hereby sentence you to—"

He parted his lips, revealing a completely unsmiling curve.

"--death penalty."

Ruby bit her lip. She looked at Regulus's matter-of-fact way of pronouncing others' fates, at her Himmel's solemn profile, and at her master's calm and unwavering back.

A surge of anger, mixed with the frustration of failing to gain the upper hand after a long and fruitless attack, and the irritation of being thoroughly enraged by the other party's condescending attitude, suddenly welled up inside him.

"Death penalty?" she raised her voice, her emerald eyes glaring at Regulus, a faint blush of anger rising on her small face. "Who do you think you are? You just have some turtle-shell-like ability! What's with the arrogance! My master is Great Mage has lived since the age of mythology! My Himmel and I even fought the Demon King together! You white-haired dwarf who flaunts your strange abilities aren't even worthy of carrying my master's shoes!"

She grew angrier and angrier, even taking a step forward, her finger almost poking Regulus's nose.

"What 'wife,' 'rights,' 'perfection'... It's disgusting! A self-righteous lunatic! A pervert! A narcissist! Pah!"

The clear, childlike voices echoed across the empty battlefield, carrying a childlike frankness and sharpness, hurling out words that would never normally be uttered.

"... What did you say...?"

Regulus's voice was squeezed out from between his teeth, hoarse, trembling, and filled with a leaky, gurgling sound.

"What an impolite and filthy woman... How dare she use such obscene words... to desecrate my most perfect existence...?!"

He suddenly raised his hand, not with the calm and judgmental gesture he had shown before, but with his five fingers forming a claw, and grabbed hard in Ruby's direction!

"Go to hell!!"

There was no light, no fluctuation, no warning.

Ruby's clothing on her left shoulder, along with a large patch of skin beneath, vanished without warning.

It wasn't cut open, nor was it blown up. It was as if an invisible, greedy mouth had cleanly and decisively bitten off a piece of it from the level of "existence".

The blood gushed out a second later, exploding into a blinding spray in the air.

Ruby for a moment. She looked down at her left shoulder, which was suddenly missing a piece and bleeding profusely, then looked up at Regulus's contorted face. The excruciating pain then swept over her like a tsunami; her face turned deathly pale, her body swayed, and she fell backward.

Ruby!

The instant her shoulder disappeared, Himmel pounced! He caught the limp Ruby, his left hand pressing firmly against her bleeding wound, the touch warm and wet with blood. His right hand had already pulled a bottle of high-grade healing potion from his waist, biting open the stopper with his teeth and pouring the pale golden liquid into her mouth.

"Cough... cough cough..." Ruby coughed, the medicine mixed with blood and foam spilling from the corner of her mouth. But the effects of the medicine were immediately apparent. At the terrible gap in her left shoulder, granulation tissue visibly wriggled, intertwined, and grew, and the bleeding quickly subsided.

She leaned against Himmel's chest, her forehead covered in cold sweat, her blue eyes somewhat unfocused from the pain and blood loss, but still fixedly staring at Regulus.

"... Cough cough... This bastard... is really strong..." She tugged at the corners of her mouth, trying to reveal a mocking smile, but it was twisted by pain.

She turned her head to look at Serie, who had been standing there silently, and called out in a drawn-out tone, her voice trembling with tears and grievance:

"Master! Your disciple... has been bullied!"

The voice drifted across the empty battlefield, carrying a child's sense of entitlement, like someone tattled on something.

Serie remained silent.

Her golden eyes swept over Ruby's bloodied left shoulder, then looked at the pale face in Himmel's arms, pale from blood loss and pain. Her lips seemed to move, but she didn't speak.

"You're just too weak."

Having said that, she turned her gaze back to Regulus. Her golden eyes were calm and still, reflecting his distorted face, as if she were looking at an insignificant, slightly obstructive ornament.

"And, white-haired brat."

She began to speak, her pace neither hurried nor slow.

"I've lost interest in playing with you any longer."

Regulus's fury froze for a moment, then turned to astonishment, followed by a deeper, more utterly contemptuous rage.

"Playing?! How dare you call that 'playing'?! You rude person—"

"What I love is the possibility of magicians creating everything," Serie interrupted him. "What I love is battle. It's the infinitely expanding 'unknown' that arises from the collision of wisdom, skill, power, and imagination."

She tilted her head slightly, and a strand of long golden hair slid down to her shoulder.

"And you--"

Her gaze fell on Regulus, containing no contempt, no anger, only a pure, utter "boredom."

"Just a brat who plays with so-called 'power.' Clinging to a fixed, rigid, and unimaginative 'rule,' he thinks he's the center of the world. Naïve, ridiculous, and—"

"Boring."

Regulus's body trembled violently. Not from fear, but from the extreme rage of having some belief utterly trampled and self-esteem crushed to dust.

"You... you... do you know who I am?! I am Regulus Kornias! The Sin Archbishop Greed! A perfect being beyond mortals! How dare you... how dare you describe me as 'boring'?! Unforgivable... absolutely unforgivable!!"

Serie ignored his roar. She simply looked at him with her calm golden eyes, a mocking smile playing on her lips, and continued in her statement-of-fact tone:

"I am Serie, Great Mage has lived from the age of mythology to the present day."

Her voice wasn't loud, but it clearly drowned out Regulus's roar and echoed across the battlefield.

"A fool like you, who thinks he's invincible just because he has a few special abilities, has a narrow vision, rigid thinking, and is good for nothing but arrogance—"

Deep within her golden pupils, a cold starlight seemed to flash.

I've seen countless.

"..." Regulus opened his mouth, making strange hoarse sounds in his throat, but he couldn't utter a single word. Extreme anger overwhelmed his reason, and his golden eyes were filled with only a violent killing intent that wanted to tear the woman before him to shreds, annihilate her, and erase her from the world.

"Die!!"

He roared, his hands gripping and swinging wildly in Serie's direction! An invisible force, powerful enough to tear steel like paper, rained down on Serie's location like a storm! The ground was ravaged by the invisible force, and the air shrieked under the strain!

Serie moved.

Without dodging or parrying, her body swayed lightly backward, as if weightless, drifting towards the dense forest behind her. Her speed seemed slow, yet she always managed to gracefully evade the invisible attacks at the last second. Her posture was composed, her white robe billowing in the wind, as if she were strolling through the woods rather than engaged in a life-or-death struggle.

Regulus roared, unleashing his power in a frenzied attack, but he couldn't even touch the hem of her clothes. His eyes were bloodshot, and he was panting heavily as he strode off in the direction Serie had retreated.

"Hey! You trying to run away?! Coward! Stop right there! Face me!!"

Serie did not respond. She maintained her leisurely pace, drifting towards the edge of the forest, her white figure appearing and disappearing among the trees.

Without a second thought, Regulus gave chase. He smashed through tree branches and trampled bushes, his gaze fixed on the white figure ahead, letting out a low growl that was difficult to decipher.

The forest is not deep.

Serie floated for only a few hundred meters before stopping above a clearing in the woods. Hovering a few meters above the ground, she turned around and looked down at Regulus, who was panting as he chased after her.

Regulus rushed into the clearing and glared at her.

"Why aren't you running anymore?! Finally realized running away is useless? Then obediently come down and suffer the consequences—"

His words caught in his throat.

Because he saw the scene in the open space.

About seventy or eighty young women, dressed in various styles of clothing, stood silently in the open space. They all had one thing in common—empty, lifeless eyes and expressionless faces, like exquisite dolls. They seemed oblivious to the chase that was right in front of them and the battle that had just taken place in the distance; they simply stood there quietly and stiffly.

Regulus's pupils suddenly contracted.

"Huh!? What... what are you doing?! You woman... hey! They're all my wives!"

Serie hovered in the air, looking down at him, her golden eyes cold and indifferent.

"A boring trick."

She raised her right hand, palm down, towards the "wives" standing stiffly in the open space below.

"Seal."

As she finished speaking, the bodies of the seventy or eighty "wives" in the open space trembled slightly at the same time. Then, the last glimmer of light in their eyes went out completely, and their bodies, like puppets with their bones removed, collapsed limply to the ground, lying there in disarray, and fell silent.

It wasn't death. It was just that some external force that maintained their "life activities" and "connections" was forcibly severed and imprisoned by a stronger, more fundamental force.

Regulus stood frozen in place.

The rage on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a blank, incredulous expression. He looked down at his trembling hands, then looked up at Serie, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

He could sense it.

Those "connections" that he regarded as the "heart container" and were closely linked to his power were breaking off and disappearing one by one, rapidly.

"No... it can't be..." he muttered, his voice hoarse, "My power...[The Lion's Heart]... how could it fall into the hands of a woman like you..."

Serie slowly descended from the sky, landing not far from him. She looked at Regulus's distraught appearance, her face still expressionless.

"Your so-called power is nothing more than a child brandishing a plastic knife in front of me."

Regulus abruptly raised his head! A final, hysterical glint of ferocity suddenly erupted from his empty eyes!

"Shut up!!"

He roared, using his last strength to raise his hands towards Serie! He unleashed his full power! He would wipe this woman who had insulted him and destroyed everything he had, along with this forest, from this world forever!

However, nothing happened.

No, it did happen. He could sense that the invisible, intangible power, capable of distorting reality, was indeed released, but before it could reach Serie, it was blocked by an invisible barrier that was more resilient, more profound, and as thick as the entire space itself. That barrier didn't even ripple.

He felt a cold, empty, sharp pain in his chest, as if something vital was rapidly draining away from there. His strength was waning, and his sense of authority was becoming intermittent and indistinct. The feeling of "invincibility" was fading quickly, and a long-lost sense of "vulnerability" that he utterly loathed began to spread.

He looked down at his chest.

Serie had raised her right hand without anyone noticing, her index finger pointing straight at him. At her fingertip, a pure, condensed, and intensely white light was silently gathering.

The light wasn't dazzling, but it possessed a density that sent shivers down one's spine, a density that seemed capable of incinerating everything.

Regulus's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, to roar, to preach, to invoke his theory of "rights"—

"Wait, wait a minute! Stop! You're violating my rights! I order you—"

A faint light shone from Serie's fingertips.

Buzz--

A deep humming sound rang out.

A torrent of blazing white light, like a flood bursting from a dam, surged forth from her fingertips.

There was no grand display, no deafening explosion. Only a beam of light, as solid as a physical object and as stable as time itself, silently and directly engulfed Regulus Kornias.

Optical flow continues.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Four seconds.

Five seconds.

Optical flow convergence.

The clearing in the woods was completely silent.

Where Regulus Kornias had stood, there was nothing. No ashes, no debris, not even a trace of his existence remained. Only a tiny, bottomless hole in the ground, its edges as smooth as a mirror, testified to the terrifying concentration and power contained in that attack.

The wind rustled softly through the treetops.

"Boring."