"How interesting… No wonder you were able to thwart my first attack."A raspy voice slowly echoed through the air. The strange shadow blanketing the region began to dissipate. One by one, more than a dozen figures emerged from within it.
Each one wore a bizarre mask, their faces obscured, and all were draped in ragged black cloaks—an appearance more befitting the endless deserts of Sargon than the lands of Leithania.
Revy frowned.
"...What? You don't care at all about that guy's fate?"He glanced casually toward Steiner, who was still being devoured alive, though now too far gone to even scream. Without a word, Revy stepped between the group and Eyjafjalla, shielding her.
"His fate is irrelevant to us."The leader replied, voice still harsh—like a rusted saw grinding against wood.
"Heh. No wonder he didn't count on you to save him," Revy said mockingly, casting a glance at Steiner, now barely clinging to life. He narrowed his eyes at the newcomers. "So… remnants of the Witch King. What business do you have with us?"
"…!"Though their face was hidden by a mask, the sudden change in the leader's breathing betrayed their shock.
"How do you know that?""I didn't—at least not for sure. Not until you confirmed it just now."Revy's gaze dropped to the strange pendant hanging from the leader's chest: a spiral-shaped, hollow horn mounted atop a steel-like flower pedestal. It shimmered with an eerie crimson glow, like a blooming Higanbana (red spider lily) in shadow.
"I don't know you, but I know that symbol—The Spiral Horn of the Witch King."
There was silence for nearly twenty seconds before the leader finally replied:
"If you recognize the Witch King's blessing, good. In His name, surrender the girl behind you. I shall grant you a painless death."
Revy's expression turned cold.
"Adel once told me that her parents were brilliant mages, far stronger than she ever hoped to be. Even if she exaggerated, their power was real."He glanced toward the corpses of Steiner's men, now collapsed from viral overload."Those thugs could never have helped Steiner carry out his scheme. It had to be you."
"You've guessed correctly. We did capture that couple—lost two of our own doing so," the leader said with a trace of arrogance in his gravelly voice.
"Tch. So persistent."Revy narrowed his eyes. "I find it hard to believe a quiet pair of scholars would ever provoke the Witch King's followers. Let alone their reclusive daughter. Steiner is dead. Killing Adel won't gain you anything. Why are you so obsessed with her?"
"That's none of your business—!"The leader was clearly rattled now, as if even mentioning the reason would invoke a disaster beyond imagining."Enough talk. Die!"
(Yeah… I wasn't planning to let any of you leave alive anyway.)
"Let's play… for a little while."With those words, Revy slowly donned his gloves for the first time.
"Sun, moon, and stars… transform into my bullets—ROAR! Celestial Inferno!"
With his incantation, two pistols materialized in his hands. Identical in design, one black and one white, they shimmered with a strange and deadly beauty. Their dark barrels and angular frames radiated an ominous glow.
—Beautiful, and deadly.
"Kill them! We don't need to hold back in the wasteland!"Maybe it was the unease brought by Revy's weapons—or the failure to manipulate the Originium energy inside Eyjafjalla and Steiner—that drove the Witch King's remnants to desperation. They raised their hands, preparing to cast spells.
"Senior!"Eyjafjalla called out nervously. Though she hadn't turned around, she could hear everything.
He was facing her enemies.
She desperately wanted revenge—but even more, she didn't want him to risk himself for her.
"Don't worry. I'll be fine."Before Revy even finished the word "fine," his guns opened fire.
But what shot forth was not bullets. Not even explosives.
It was a beam—wider than the barrel, wider even than Revy himself—a blinding ray of raw power, like the artillery of a fortress fueled by Originium energy.
The beam slammed into the crowd of masked attackers, instantly vaporizing five of them before they could even scream.
When it faded, a scorched trench was all that remained where the earth had once been.
If Mephisto had been here, he would've screamed in recognition—this was the very attack that once cut through his flock like grass, and this time… it was even stronger.
"Scatter! Scatter now!"The leader screamed, his voice hoarse and fraying."That wasn't a gun! It was a spell! Those 'pistols'—they're staves!"
"—Good analysis."Revy retracted the black pistol Celestial, while drawing the white one—Inferno—and rapidly fired five times to his side.
No more giant beams, no more destructive energy blasts, but rapid-fire projectiles shot out like a submachine gun. They struck his enemies with surgical precision, limbs and organs scorched by intense heat.
Compared to the ones vaporized instantly, these writhing, screaming enemies were almost pitiful.
But Revy—using nothing more than his own strength—had suppressed over a dozen high-level casters through sheer firepower.
"Surround him! Don't let him gain distance!"The leader gritted his teeth and pulled out a black obsidian dagger, flanking Revy from the right.
Seeing this, Revy calmly lifted Celestial again and unleashed another beam directly in front of him.
—BOOM!
The flash scorched the earth again, and several more casters fell—evaporated on the spot. The leader barely escaped, somehow leaping more than 10 meters in an instant to dodge the deadly light.
"...Interesting."As the leader charged again, Revy didn't flinch. Twisting his body mid-turn, he raised Inferno and fired several dense rounds of suppression fire.
"Senior! Behind you!!"Eyjafjalla's urgent cry came as three masked attackers appeared behind Revy, unnoticed.
Unlike the others, these three were clearly elites. They had survived the first barrage by conjuring powerful shields with their spells.
And now, glowing magic surged in their hands—ready to strike.