The battle began with Hex eating Wayward’s boot.

Wayward felt sorry for these poor fools. What were they thinking? They should know he memorized their tactic after working with them for so long. They didn’t even receive the luxury of knowing they were already dead.

Flames erupted from Wayward’s feet as he touched the ground. The knight’s vanguard raised their shield, linking them jointly and circulating their Mana to deflect the heat. Meanwhile, the building opposite the hospital exploded as Hex plowed through like a human canon-ball.

The royal-knight’s archer mechanically prepared the spell-charged projectiles. But orange fire-balls rained from the sky, scattering the well-trained battle-formation in an inferno of pandemonium. The fires licked across the ground, turning the air arid with the scent of smoke.

Wayward’s body twisted gracefully in the sky. Orange flames engulfed him like the sun’s corona. Multiple a palm-size runes shone in his hand as he threw them below him among the blazing battleground.

“Lock-shield!” Vice-Captain Chamomile commanded.

150 shields shone, repelling the surge of fire. The tendril of flames set buildings around them ablaze.

Wayward clicked his finger and activated his rune.

In the middle of the royal-knights’ rank, a rune glowed and the air inside the barrier started converging to the center.

“What is he planning?” One of the shield-knight yelled.

“Keep focus, don’t let your… urrk,” the replying knight suddenly crawled at his throat.

One-by-one, knights blackout and fell all four. Even Chamomile was not immune. The Vice-Captain dropped to her knee, gasping for breath. With many of the knights out of commission, the shields keeping Wayward’s fires at bay fell apart a piece at a time.

Fortunately, the knights were not fighting this battle alone.

“[Disperse],” Shyme Enma spun her staff and slammed it to the ground. “[Enma Style: Rising Swan].”

Under Shyme’s magical might, the rune Wayward deployed shattered, releasing a gust of air billowing from under the ceiling of the shields. Wind swirled into a Swan of twisting current so powerful its wind-speed ripped surrounding roofs up the sky. In a gesture, Shyme sent the Swan of wind flying at Wayward.

The knights stared in awe as the swan of disaster flew up to Wayward, followed closely by several sections of brick roof weighting an estimate of 350 tonnes.

Chamomile screamed at the massive pile of brick flying in the sky.

“Lady Shuang, it will crush us!”

“I can deflect it! Don’t worry!”

Wayward faced the angry cyclone bird and the wall of brick with a calm and simple strategy: a blink rune.

Wayward vanished from the sky and landed on a ledge of a roofless building. But Shyme was not stupid. The Swan did a U-turn and dove right at him. Wayward blinked again, but the suddenly warping space broke his jump calculation.

“Dammit, Hex,” Wayward whispered.

[CROWN: Void Slash]

The crescent light burst from below, heading toward Wayward in the shining waves of energy that disrupted the very space around it, making blinking impossible. Hex stood in a pose below. His sword still glowing with light.

In face of the bird above and Hex’s special menu below. Wayward stopped playing around.

His fire turned blue.

…

Instances before Wayward took off the kid-glove, Chamomile rose from the floor.

“What is that?”

“Oxygen deprivation,” Shyme answered.

Shyme must admit Wayward earned his seat as a commander. If not for her, he would already take the entire royal-knights out of the fight. His first moves were to consume oxygen around them by spraying fire and forcing them to activate the lock-shield formation. His second moves suck all the air inside the shield toward one spot, displacing them with deoxygenate air and choking them from the fight.

Not that it mattered. Shyme watched Wayward getting sandwiched between [Rising Swan], tones of bricks and Hex’s surprise [Void Slash]. With no way out, surrounded from above and below, Wayward was doom.

Then blue-flames unfolded.

Shyme’s brain short-circuited from the information she never knew. When did Wayward used blue flames? It was a low-end cultivation technique, but even that should be unavailable for commoner child like Wayward.

[Wayward’s Original Blue Flail]

The tower of fire spun. Wayward’s [Motion Tide (A)] generated centripetal force, dragging [Fire Mana] into the spinning motion. Under the attraction force of [Motion Tide], both Shyme’s [Rising Swan] and Hex’s [Void Slash] got pulled into the blender of fire and roasted to nothingness. Bricks and rocks worth 350 tonnes danced to the spinning fire. The [Blue Flail] sizzled the air, smoking debris and melting them into super-heat liquid suspended in the tornado of blue fires by Wayward’s mastery of [Motion Tide] and rune-art.

Then Wayward stopped.

Physics question: What would happen to the object moving in circular motion once the centripetal force holding it vanished?

Answer: traveling where the velocity was pointing at.

The whirling mass of molten rock worth 350 tonnes in weight flung away from Wayward. Each super-heat particle of various sizes sailed in their individual bullet’s velocity and rained down like molten artillery from an erupting volcano.

The royal-knight suddenly saw themselves dealing with falling rain of larva coming at the speed of the bullet.

…

The effect was devastating no onomatopoeia could do it justice.

Ranks of royal-knights got shredded by the falling shell of molten storm. In the circular-area around Wayward, any standing pile of rocks still resembling a building got flattened. Plumes of smoked spread outward as the shell redecorated the urban’s plans. It was a thunderous party of smithereens and raining woods. Parks and fountains got upturned and burned. Statue fell. Pavement diced. Landmark wasted.

Wayward perched on the only spot within a kilometer radius with the height surpassing three-stories. The portion of Water-quarter he was in resembled World War I’s no-man-land. Smoke and dust rose, highlighting the bleakness of this new fiery wasteland. He glanced down at the folder he held from the start of the fight and panicked. Despite the heat-proof runes he placed on the document, the paper showed a sign of blackening.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Wayward quickly put the folder in his storage ring.

The beam of light shoot from the smog.

Wayward dodged the attack with inhuman flexibility. His combat sense kicked in. Wayward smelled the mage blinking behind him. Only one class in society wore an expensive perfume before heading into the battlefield.

Shyme Enma twirled her staff, extended with translucent blades of purple-light.

[Enma Style: Heaven’s Halberd]

Shyme’s attack scarred a 20 meters long gashes across the earth but missed Wayward. Not deterred. Shyme opened her palmed toward Wayward.

[Enma Style: Dragon Fireball]

A purple fireball reduced the three-floored building the two its ground-floor. However, gone was Wayward, and Shyme instinctively braced herself of a counterattack that must be coming.

Luckily for the young demigod, a flash of light deflected Wayward’s kicked. Vice-Captain Chamomile flashed into the air. Her thin rapier flickered in a masterful swordsmanship. Her cultivation technique circulated — unleashing a glowing, yellow Sword-Qi converted from Mana. Chamomile’s expression was indiscernible, but Wayward understood her fury. In the same anger Kruger displayed when he carved the royal-mages apart.

Chamomile launched a side-cut in at Wayward. She was fast, but Wayward was another breed.

[Wayward Original’s Blue Sword]

It was a martial move combining [Elastic Body], [Hot Iron Strike] and [Martial Art] for precise slash augmented by counter-rotating suction/repulsion force created from [Motion Tile]. Wayward’s unleashed a super-heated fire with a tearing force of a chainsaw.

The attacked that would effortlessly split reinforced-steel building in half headed toward Chamomile, who dodged it mid-air in a display of agility. She returned the strike with a thrust of light streaking to Wayward.

[Flash-Qi: Steel Piercing Thrust]

Wayward met Chamomile with a classic.

[Wayward Original’s Blue Spear]

The lance of light and the blue spear clashed for a second. Chamomile’s Sword-Qi might be higher on hierarchical sophistication than Wayward’s flames, but the combination of Wayward’s superior dedication and skill trumped that difference. His fist — faster than a bullet, and harder than steel — crunched Shyme’s Sword-Qi to pieces. The lance of concentrated fire surged toward Chamomile and knocked her out of their sky tango. Vice-Captain Chamomile fell down to the Earth with enough force to create a crater.

But Chamomile’s effort was not in vain.

Hex launched himself from the Earth under the cover of smoke, using the opening Chamomile bought. His sword stream with intense golden light backed by his humongous Stats.

[CROWN: Beheading Slash]

Wayward responded calmly, lifting his fist for another [Blue Spear].

Unfortunately for Wayward, Hex wasn’t alone.

[Air Palace: Clear Binding]

A transparent binding to Mana-infused air abruptly and instantaneously shackled Wayward’s body. Shyme Enma pointed her staff at him and intervened at the precise moment he would launch an attack.

Those were the mid-air exchanges that lasted for less than a second. A series of attacks, counters and contests ended with Chamomile batted out of the fight, Wayward bound in the sky, and Hex rocketed in with his sword aimed at Wayward’s neck.

For a second, she believed she did it. Wayward was a goner.

Wayward tugged the binding and frowned.

“Well, I don’t want to this,” Wayward sighed at the blade coming for his head. “But you guys left me no choice.”

Samael Wayward exploded in the ball of fire.

…

Enma Shyme squinted her eyes opened.

What happened?

She turned to left to see Chamomile, unconscious but unharmed. The [Yellow-Wasp Qi] was an amazing cultivation heritage as expected. Not only did it provide a boost to the user speed and converted Mana into sharp Sword-Qi for combat. It also automatically dispersed Mana as a barrier to nullify life threatening attack.

At her level, Chamomile can survive a finishing blow once before she exhausted her power, but a technique that automatically guaranteed its user life was precious no matter the scenarios.

Shyme turned right and saw Hex.

The Captain looked terrible. Several new burns sported his face and armor was steaming. Hex seemed like he had just walked through a desert on the sun-facing side of Venus. His metal armor remained pristine but warp and partially melt from the intense heat. Wayward’s blue flames burned pristine. Every spark of energy built on raw temperature. Shyme found it unbelievable was still alive after getting cook alive inside that hunk of metal. Inside that red-hot armor must be like a furnace.

“Captain Hex?” Shyme struggled up.

Then she saw him.

An image of triumph, an azure star among the earth and molten rock. It was a massive blue sun, ebbing with heat and power. Shyme never felt the power like this among the Enma clan. Even the gods failed to garner such awe-inspiring might. She never once believed a mere mortal could leave such an impact in her mind.

“Is that Wayward?” Shyme asked. “What did he do?”

“That bastard,” Hex muttered. His throat parched. “He never slows his training. His power-level must be over 19000 at least.”

Shyme’s head spun.

“But how did he hide that growth away,” she said. “The Grand Empire should lend him to the gods years ago.”

Hex worked out that answer long ago.

“That bastard used runes and physiological training to put a cap on his stats. He must have released the cap when we are about to deliver the finishing blow to take us with him.”

“Captain Hex,” Shyme grew more respect toward the person who must have saved her from Wayward’s suicide attack. “Should we be worry?”

“No,” Hex was sure. “No one can survive a violent release of excess Mana inside their body. Wayward kept his Mana and Stats chained for years. That kind of power-surge needed to be released slowly. Instantly unleashing all his power like that will cause disability and cripple his Mana Storage. That blue sun is Wayward’s Mana, leaving his damaged Dantian and Mana Core. The fight is over. Even if he survived Wayward can no longer wield magic.”

…

Wayward knew he lost his Dantian, but he knew it was a must.

The question he asked was a simple one: does a power borrow from the world his power.

Mana was a fuel for magic, but what exactly is it. Wayward pondered this theory and studied many books and text. His cultivation technique was feeble compare to Chamomile and the rest of the nobility, but that was why he must surpass them. He aimed to fight a monster razing his home, and he needed unimaginable power doing it.

Wayward must understand Mana, so he opened his mind to learn its music—to learn the song of these mysterious energies. He deprived himself of comfort, studied Mana and basked in its natural habitat. He lived among magical beast, copying them to learn what none in Phantasia understand.

The being of the wild—the fish and the ant—performed their art by extracting unique energy through natural Mana. Only in the wild — free from captivity — among those they considered friend and companion did they perform this sacred art.

General knowledge told that the magical core inside animal was a crystalized Mana. It was false. Those cores were object created from impurity coagulated with lingering Mana the animal didn’t fully excrete. The magical beast drew power from surrounding Mana and make it into a subcellular organism. It was the secret origin of cultivation technique Wayward spent years living as one animal in the forest to earn this secret.

He knew he must push that further. To fight against the cruel reality, he needed power unlike any other — power not borrowed from the universe, but his own. Samael Wayward knew the power was his — he forged it. The only task he had to perform was claiming ownership.

In the middle of the blue star, Wayward endured the muscle pained and reached out to his dissipating Mana. It was a part of him. Dantian was only a temporary refinery organ. Its job was complete, by recreating Mana into Wayward’s blue energy.

Now he only needed to claim it.

Wayward opened his eyes as the energy around him folds to his will. That moment Samael Wayward transcended humanity.

Skill learn: [One with Mana (B)]

…

Hex and Shyme watched the Sun unfurled into wings of phoenix.

“Impossible,” Hex barely believed his eyes.

“No way?” Shyme stumbled back. She dropped her staff on the ground from raw fear.

Samael Wayward walked toward them. His muscle torn and bloodied, but the blue flames licking his skin dwafted his injury. Wing of fire spread being him as if calling for an angel advent. His shirt blew off, revealing a muscled body, surging with blue energy.

Hex wasted no time. He refused to believe Wayward kept any power after his Dantian collapsed. He launched all his power with intent to destroy Wayward. It was an all-or-nothing attack putting everything he had on that blade.

[CROWN: Glorious Execution]

Hex slashed down, releasing the beam of golden energy at Wayward. The beam of light — a supreme attack that could vaporize half the Empire State building and flattened the surrounding block into smooth concrete — dug a trench in its journey to destroy Wayward.

Wayward’s blue-wing batted to the side like the city-wrecking attack was a tennis-ball — digging a one kilometer trench to his right.

Wayward put his hand on the ground.

“My turn.”

[Wayward’s Original Blue Axe]

Hex grabbed Shyme and Chamomile, crushed a golden crystal and tossed it at them.

90 Kilometer Square—half the Water-Quarter—an area roughly 10% of New York erupted in a blue volcano. It was an attack with a humongous blast radius of 5.35 kilometer, and the towering explosion was visible from anywhere in the city.

Interesting fact: the lethal blast radius range of the Fat Man nuclear dropped on Nagasaki is 1.91 Km.

Orwell Mehest didn’t leave anyone alive in the Water-quarter, but Wayward didn’t leave any corpse to get bury.

…

Wayward vs 321 Royal-knights + Captain Stuart Hex + Vice-Captain Chamomile Elragorn+ 33 Stars Shyme Enma

Battle Result: 321 dead, 2 survivors and one unknown.

The Royal-knights — annihilated.