[Sky Coating]

Since they could be tracked, obscure their vision. Since contact made them explode, use weapons!

Under the cover of smoke, the puppets' vision was completely blocked. They could only turn their heads mechanically, searching for targets in confusion. In these conditions, they were even less capable than ordinary people running around at random, let alone of resisting Lude's slaughter.

"First, decapitation." As he spoke, Lude swung out a streak of silver-green sword light, and a head immediately soared into the air.

Before the second puppet could react, Lude cut it in half at the waist. The third got a bullet hole between the brows, accompanied by a gunshot; the fourth was run through the heart; the fifth had its liver blown apart by a bullet; the sixth had its carotid slashed; and the last was split in two.

When the smoke cleared, Lude was the only one left standing in the carriage.

He held a head in his hand. Once it was separated from its body, the rune between its brows faded away. In fact, of the seven puppets, only the one whose liver had been blown apart was still struggling, and it clearly couldn't get back up.

It seemed this Secret Art didn't grant its host any extra vitality or alter the host in any way.

And once the host died, the Secret Art lost its effect.

That makes them easier to deal with, Lude thought. As long as he didn't run into a Secret Art focused purely on hand-to-hand combat, his strength, speed, and precision were more than enough to overpower an ordinary person.

Close combat might still be risky, but Lude only lacked a Secret Art. It wasn't as if he didn't have a revolver.

He'd never learned to shoot in his previous life, but with this body's exceptional precision, he could hit whatever he aimed at within fifty meters.

When your physical stats were high enough, even clumsy flailing could pound someone's brains out.

So what Lude needed to do now was cautiously advance toward the front of the train while searching for the Arcanist who had made the puppets.

But as Lude was thinking, a hand silently reached out from somewhere and rested on his shoulder.

"..." Lude froze. Slowly, he turned to look beside him. As far as he could see... there was nothing?

No, that wasn't right. Where sunlight streamed through the edge of the ruined carriage, he could just make something out...

Like a colorless beach ball submerged in water, it was only faintly visible as a transparent outline where the light met.

The next moment, searing red light bloomed in the air like a web of cracks, outlining a human figure in an instant!

BOOM—!!!

When Lude saw the red cracks, all he could do was shield his face and leap backward with all his strength.

The next moment, the blast wave slammed into him like a giant hammer, sending him flying.

Lude was hurled more than twenty meters, from one end of the carriage to the other, before the force gradually dissipated.

The instant he hit the ground, he landed on his toes, then dropped to one knee. He turned to the side and hit the ground on his hip. The remaining force sent him rolling once across the floor, and only then did he fully absorb the impact.

Even so, Lude couldn't get up right away. Instead, he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He had to admit, this body was incredibly sturdy. An ordinary person would've been blown to pieces by an explosion like that. Compared to that, all he'd suffered was damage to the organs in his abdomen. It hardly seemed worth the life-consuming Secret Art.

But what kind of expert had a puppet capable of optical camouflage?

Was this an evolved version of a Secret Art...? No. A person only had one soul, and so they could only have one Secret Art. The same Secret Art might take different forms, but its core had to be the same.

If it was a Secret Art that created puppets, then it was possible to make puppets with different functions.

But his opponent's ability turned people into self-destruct puppets. There was no way it could also grant puppets optical camouflage.

In other words... the ability to make objects or people optically invisible belonged to another Arcanist?

At that thought, Lude couldn't help but feel relieved.

Since he didn't know what the other man's Secret Art was, Lude had been devoting a full half of his attention to guarding against it.

Dividing your attention in a fight was extremely dangerous. That was precisely why the bomber had managed to get close to Lude.

Now that he knew the other man's Secret Art wasn't offensive, things would be easier.

A concealment Secret Art and one that created self-destruct puppets made an excellent combination. The concealment ability protected the user, while the self-destruct puppets searched for enemies and eliminated them. Together, they could even make deadly invisible suicide puppets.

However, neither of these Secret Arts provided any enhancement for close-quarters combat!

In other words... from the very beginning, this fight had been a game of hide-and-seek.

The puppets had to find Lude before their master was exposed, while Lude had to avoid the puppets and find their master.

And once those two Arcanists entered Lude's range, what followed wouldn't even be a fight. "Execution" would be a more fitting word, because within reach of Lude's arms, his opponents wouldn't have the slightest chance to resist.

Just then, the faintest footsteps sounded. The invisible puppets had clearly closed in around him.

"He's probably figured out what my Secret Art is." Brandon stood behind Polina, frowning as he spoke in a low voice.

[Sky Coating] was Brandon's Secret Art. By touching an object with his palm, he could make it optically invisible. The Secret Art wouldn't wear off until the Psionic Energy coating it dissipated, though faint shadows could be seen at dawn and dusk.

It was a purely support-oriented Secret Art, but when used in the right combination, it could have tremendous effect.

In fact, it would be more accurate to call the Black Tide Society leader's Elite Guard an "assassination squad" than an "Elite Guard." Don Juan himself was far stronger than any of them. Even several guards attacking him at once would be easily knocked down.

For that reason, every member of the Elite Guard was trained to become an agent, thief, or assassin.

An assassin's fighting style was usually all about killing with a single blow.

And that was how it generally went. In their past battles, their targets were often taken out instantly by a single puppet's explosion.

But if they failed to do that, their usual response would be to escape and avoid confronting a stronger opponent. So what Brandon meant was that he was asking Polina whether they should flee now or keep fighting.

Polina was currently pressing the barrel of her gun into a man's mouth, then pushing a wooden carving into the space between his brows.

After hearing Brandon, she considered it briefly before replying, "Let's take one more shot at it. I've already made more than thirty puppets and spread them throughout the carriages and across the roof. They won't attack anymore. They'll act as land mines and alarms instead."

"With the time that buys us, I'll use that move. If he can even get past that, we'll retreat!"

"Okay." Brandon nodded.