Bloodshed!

Splat...!

When speed reached a certain level, even harmless airflow became razor-sharp blades. When speed reached a certain level, blades became unstoppable!

With "Spoon" unleashed, the berserk zombies surrounding Kuro instantly became like live pigs thrown into a meat grinder. Bloody blossoms kept bursting across their bodies. Their tough bones and muscles offered them no protection whatsoever. In an instant, severed limbs flew everywhere, and flesh was mangled beyond recognition.

It had to be said, Kuro was a genius.

Ordinary people only had one chance to exert force when moving their feet. Their speed depended on explosive brute strength and posture.

That was common sense among common sense!

Yet Soru, the ultra-fast movement technique among the famous Navy Six Styles, shattered that rule.

By stomping the ground dozens of times at high speed within 0.36 seconds, it generated explosive recoil for rapid movement. From an enemy's perspective, it was practically like vanishing.

Naturally, Kuro had no way to secretly learn the Six Styles. Even within the Marines of the East Blue, few knew of this ultimate Physical Combat technique.

His Silent Step used another method. He first burst forward at high speed, then continuously stomped while moving, steadily stacking his speed higher and higher.

Turning instantaneous acceleration into sustained acceleration naturally caused the difficulty to plummet.

That was why he bobbed up and down on his toes like a cat whenever he used Silent Step... Only by compressing and stretching a spring could one unleash enough muscular force to keep the acceleration process beyond ordinary people's notice.

It was entirely his own creation!

Just ask—could anyone else do it?!

If his fighting spirit had been a little firmer, if he had constantly honed himself through battle, combined with his terrifyingly high intelligence, then when Luffy first appeared three years later, it would be hard to say who the most famous pirate in the East Blue would have been.

"What a pity..."

Whoosh... Splash!

With Kuro at the center, blood sprayed from zombie after zombie, staining the grass red in a circle.

Lowett watched the battlefield ahead and murmured softly.

"You... grew weary of battle!"

Screech...!

Screech...!

Screech...!

Because he had to keep accelerating while moving, Kuro could not spare attention to observe his surroundings while using Secret Technique: Spoon. He did not even know what he had struck.

But the general direction depended on spatial awareness, something anyone could manage.

Rumble!

At the edge of the forest, century-old trees were severed amid creaking groans. Following the direction in which they fell, tree trunks, rocks, dirt, grass, and sand all burst apart in a continuous trail of claw marks advancing toward Lowett.

The berserk zombies could not locate Kuro. They flailed their bodies drunkenly, trying to force their enemy into view.

But against Kuro's astonishing claw techniques, their limbs were usually the only things sent flying.

"That should do it!"

When his fingertips could no longer feel resistance, Kuro knew he had broken through the encirclement.

His phantom-like body left streaks of afterimages behind it. Still leaning to the left, he appeared on the beach.

Kuro's right claw hung naturally at his side. His left palm lifted his glasses, and as he looked at Lowett less than two meters away, he gently pushed them up.

"Found you."

With that, he vanished again!

Twng! Twng! Twng!

Thread after thread snapped taut, dense vibrations pounding against the eardrums and heart, making the blood boil.

Danger was closing in!

When the last blood thread at his side snapped, a sense of crisis surged through his entire body.

Here it came!

A crimson glint flashed in Lowett's eyes. He raised his right hand, fingers together like a blade, then violently plunged it into the humerus of his severed left arm, sending blood spraying everywhere.

"Found you."

Speaking the same words, Lowett's fingers burrowed into flesh as though grasping something. Then he yanked outward and swung down in a vertical slash.

Bone Magic: Bone Fang Sword!

Being approached was a mage's disgrace, but that did not mean a mage who had been approached was a lamb awaiting slaughter.

Magic was ever-changing. When ambushed, mages of other schools were accustomed to protecting themselves with defensive and counterspell magic. Only mages of the Necromancy School preferred to...

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth!

Buzz!!

Creak!!

Mental Power erupted wildly, releasing a deep hum. Amid a scalp-numbing creak of flesh and blood, Lowett dragged out a white bone sword hilt covered in tender strands of meat and spun around to slash.

Ahead of him was a massive white bone sword over a meter long, scattering trails of thick blood through the air.

"What?!"

Horror filled Kuro's eyes as he instantly understood.

This was lying in wait for prey!

It had already been proven that Lowett could locate him using some strange detection method, but his physical abilities did not support catching him.

"So that means..."

A spiderweb was only responsible for trapping prey. What truly killed was the spider's venomous fangs!

His peripheral vision swept over those blood threads, and Kuro knew he had been careless.

And carelessness came with a price!

Clang!!

A trembling shriek echoed through the air as Kuro's body appeared as if by magic. A ring of shockwaves spread outward from the weapons colliding between them, and the gale pushed the small boat into a slight sway.

"What terrifying strength!"

Kuro crossed his claws with both hands to block the Bone Fang Sword. The overwhelming, bizarre force surging from it made him drop to one knee involuntarily, his knee digging into the yellow sand.

Noticing Lowett's scarlet eyes, Kuro's heart skipped a beat.

"Not good!"

Who said spells used on the undead could not affect the living?

With his right hand holding the sword down, coldness and cruelty lingering within his savage, bloodthirsty gaze, his empty left sleeve swung backward. With a clang, half a vicious bone sword made of nothing but blade regrew from the severed limb, gleaming sharply beneath the sunlight.

Then, like a venomous snake shooting out to hunt, it pierced through his abdominal cavity with lightning speed.

Even that was only because Kuro had endured the pressure and desperately twisted his body aside.

Screech... Splash!!

Serrated branches lined both sides of the blade. The Bone Fang Sword, born purely for slaughter, pierced through his body. With such a cruel design, it did not need to be pulled out for huge chunks of flesh to tear free, blood spraying wildly.

"Gah!"

Pain and fear drove his adrenaline soaring. Kuro's eyes became bloodshot as he shoved with all his strength.

The massive bone sword was forced aside, kicking up yellow sand. Ignoring the half-blade lodged in his stomach, Kuro roared and lunged forward with his claws.

Lowett possessed long-range attack methods!

If he did not kill him up close now, then with a blade through his stomach, he would have no chance to fight back later.

But at that moment, blood threads surged out from the pool of blood and blocked the space between them.

Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh!

Amid tearing sounds, Lowett slowly retreated and pulled the bone sword free.

Twng! Twng! Twng!

The blood spider threads once again rang with dense snapping vibrations, but even more threads pierced through Kuro's elbows, cheeks, ribs, and thighs from the sides. He kept trying to close the distance to Lowett, while the blood threads kept stopping his advance.

Finally.

Bang!!

A blood spike pierced his temple, and the eyes filled with madness and killing intent instantly turned blank.

Looking at Lowett less than ten centimeters away—truly less than ten centimeters away—Kuro's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something.

But no sound came out.

The next second, his pupils scattered, and his head dropped heavily.

Splash...

Seawater tirelessly slapped against the beach, soaking the yellow sand, bringing coolness and carrying away traces of crimson.

Blood gushed from his abdominal cavity, dripping down along his trouser legs. Kuro stood on the beach, no longer making a sound.

"...Seven years later, when he returned to Yangzhou and visited his uncle's home again, he was told, 'He had become no different from ordinary people.'"

Haa...

Letting out a long breath, the redness in his eyes slowly faded. Lowett was soaked in cold sweat, exhaustion filling his brow as he murmured softly.

"From the day you grew tired of fighting, the outcome was already decided."

His arm trembled slightly. Without Mental Power to sustain it, the Bone Fang Sword rapidly weathered and crumbled apart. Once the magic effect was dispelled, bone-deep exhaustion surged over him like a tide. Even moving a finger was difficult.

But Lowett still slowly turned his head toward the sea.

"In this ocean, how many people can survive without killing?"

You did not want to kneel, yet you still wanted to make money.

Pathetic!

Within the forest, the roars of undead chasing their prey rose and fell. Through the Mental Power link, Lowett knew that five of the twenty-seven undead soldiers had been eliminated, but fortunately, the remaining enemies were fewer than them.

Frowning as he looked at the battered berserk undead, Lowett took a deep breath.

"Go. Kill them."

The Marines would arrive soon. There was no time to drag this out.

"Roar!!"

Having received their orders, the berserk undead limped—or even crawled—toward the depths of the forest.

They had no thoughts, only hatred for the living. They would not feel joy because their master had defeated his opponent, nor would they feel humiliated by their master's cruel orders.

That was what tools were.

Thud!

After finishing all that, Lowett dropped onto the wet beach and closed his eyes, rubbing his brow.

"Next..."

His eyes cracked open as he looked at Kuro's corpse. A faint smile curled at Lowett's lips. "Are you ready? My Black Knight!"

The fourth purpose...

Compared to fame, Lowett valued Kuro himself more... He valued this material, honed through rigorous training, well-proportioned, and physically comparable to a Transcendent Knight King.

Why was his bestowed title "Black Count"?

There were more than a hundred Titled Mages, yet there was no "White Count" or "Red Count" to correspond with it.

The reason was that he had once commanded an Undead Army invincible throughout the Mage World.

Black obsidian heavy armor, dragon-patterned banners—following him, they rose from the ruins, slaughtered the Nether Gate, stormed the Ancient Realm, and destroyed the Divine Tower.

The Black Dragon Legion, composed of countless Black Knights, waged war in every direction. Even the once-mighty Saint Auckland Magic Empire had corpses burned for a thousand miles, with scorched earth everywhere.

"The Black Count of the Black Dragon Legion"—that name hung like a nightmare over countless heads in the Mage World. That tide-like black legion was the darkest night, so thick it could never be dispersed!

That was why he was the Closest to the Ten Saints under the Stars... Only when night fell could people gaze upon the stars.

"Still, the title 'Count Francis' did follow me my entire life."

Remembering the careless things he had done in his previous world, Lowett smiled self-mockingly.

"The Ten Saints Venerable could be so childish at times!"