“Hey, what are you doing?” asked Yuta, the self-proclaimed ‘Golden Soldier of Avangarden’ to the guard touching the cross.

Yuta found the guard suspicious, unresponsive with a flower in his hair.

Fittingly, he was wearing his iconic golden armour, decorated with only the highest quality materials. It was a simple armour, covering the form lightly, but of course, even the thinnest sheet of titanium alloy infused with mana. However, it seemed that his gauntlets and parts of his armour were heavily damaged, though the hero himself had already healed from the attacks, his hands in perfect form. Reginn who was watching him work was impressed by his healing. Though it was not as effective or as fast as a true hero like himself, it was still remarkable by human standards.

Yuta watched the guard in confusion, as he acted as if he did not hear him.

“Look who’s here!”

The Golden Soldier turned around to see his colleagues. It seemed that they had just arrived.

“I didn’t expect all three of us to arrive here,” said Yuta

“Well, we had free time.” said the woman in dark armour.

Sivrit noticed the hero as Mal, the famous gladiator turned hero. Nowadays, she worked closely with the royals — closer than any other Endlegions and so her outfit reflected the fact, that her sponsor’s primary colours of blue and gold proudly lined the armour. Her main weapon, the mace, was hanging by her hip. Even though they weighed a car, she did not seem to struggle even a bit. Mal seemed to be the most experienced out of the three, reflected by her age and silver hair.

“So what do we have here, a cursed relic so deep into the capital?” said the other man in dark red.

Gallatin was the final hero to arrive, the young man did not wear any armour but wore modern, closely fitting clothing. However, he did not let his abilities restrict his fashion, his jackets were custom made with strings to not flap around and his jeans were enchanted so as not to restrict his movement. Though his exterior may seem light, it was the most expensive. His rose-tinted sunglasses contrasted with his blonde hair, being as casual as can be. However, he did not exude a sense of vulnerability, but confidence, as if inviting his opponents to try and beat him.

“Well, according to the guards, it just fell from the sky,” replied Mal.

“Then let’s just finish this quickly.”

“What, you in a hurry?” asked Yuta.

“You know how it is, Yuta,” said Gallatin, “I never have enough time.”

The hero disappeared in a red smear, moving at incredible speeds. Only Reginn was able to keep up with his movements visually, or so he thought.

The moment he touched the cross, the possessed guard swung it as a weapon, knocking the speedster away. The impact shook the entire district, causing Sivrit to fall to the ground.

As Gallatin stumbled out of the remains of a concrete wall, Yuta quickly took action. Though he did not know exactly what was happening, he knew what must be done. His first course of action was his concentrated ray of light, blocked by the cross.

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Meanwhile, Sivrit and the group began to evacuate along with the rest of the civilians. The ear-piercing alarm continued to play as the red lights activated, guiding the citizens to safety. All guards were called to action immediately, and a series of automatic phone calls alerted all fire departments and guard stations in the area to the emergency.

Reginn merely watched silently, a small thought forming within his head. If the current heroes were this weak, perhaps he could use this situation to his advantage.

While the guard was distracted by the laser, Mal jumped into action to smash the guard in the side of the stomach. The vessel coughed up blood and was forced to jump back. However, the Endlegion Silverguards would give no leeway, and Gallatin tackled the guard into the ground.

The tide of the battle continued to turn to the heroes, and the vessel summoned the cross toward himself, forcing Gallatin to back away. As Yuta flew toward it, the cross knew that there was only one option.

“⌈Dichtomung⌋!”

With the conjuration of the talent as well as the slash of the cross, its dull edge began to cut through the very fabric of reality, though the dissection itself was invisible to the naked eye. However, Yuta could feel the death approaching and instinctually dodged the invisible attack. The slash continued to travel until it hit the opposing wall.

In only a moment, the entire level of the shopping district was divided perfectly in half between the upper levels and the lower levels separating from the impact point. The building began to creak to one side due to the force of the slash, and the screams of the civilians only continued to increase in volume.

“Shit, this is so much worse than I thought!”

“Who are you? Reveal thyself!” shouted Mal.

“Hehe, all of you have piqued my interest. You are much more powerful than I first imagined.” said the vessel, “I suppose I could spare you my name — I am Kyriekaos, the 33rd hero of Amstangrad!”

“The 33rd era? Amstangrad? Isn’t that like a thousand years ago?” asked Gallatin.

Reginn was surprised at this revelation. He simply assumed that it was a demon lord or a general at least. However, it seemed that the heroes varied even more across time than he initially assumed.

“Hm… It seems that you three are not the strongest, not even in this area. I’m a bit disappointed.” said Kyriekaos while looking at Reginn. "It seems that humanity has yet to reach perfection even in the future."

Reginn pondered for a bit then finalized his plans.

“...I’m not looking for a fight. At least, not now.”

“Heh!” the hero began to look around at its surroundings, analyzing the strengths of all its opponents, “Then I will be back, back with a stronger vessel.”

The three heroes’ visions began to fall dark, their surroundings turning into a total void. They struggled in confusion to no effect, allowing for Kyriekaos’s swift escape. However, as Reginn was immune to all mana, he clearly saw the hero’s ascent — though he made no attempts to interfere. Of course, he intended to take him out, but the key aspect was the ‘when’.

It’d be boringly simple to destroy a foe, he was specifically created for the purpose after all. The question was how he would use this opportunity to its limit.

He walked toward the blinded heroes struggling to carefully mobilize, and touched their eyes to destroy all mana particles within their irises, eliminating the blinding spell. Oftentimes, it took a cleansing or healing specialist for such occasions, but Reginn’s passive was malleable in all mana-related situations.

Yuta looked up to see Reginn above him, the lighting covering the hero’s face in shadow.

“...I would like to meet the rest of the Endlegion Silverguards. Come find me.”

Reginn then left the premises, the destroyed mall tethered. Electrical wirings were hanging from the ceilings, cracks in the concrete walls extending from the underground into the sky. It was empty like a ghost town, the only source of sound was the steps of the hero.