‘Sorry! I accidentally let loose a swarm of flies! They’ll probably be at your place soon, so could you deal with them?’

With that in mind, I begrudgingly took on a request from an insufferable client I couldn’t stand. I grabbed my fly swatter, my specialized equipment for the Great Insect War, and descended the mountain.

It was oddly quiet below, where the Apostles had been clashing earlier. But as it turns out, the swarm of insects the client mentioned had already arrived.

There's no way they could have gotten here from the Empire’s capital this quickly, so they must have used a teleport gate…

“They’ve got plenty of money, huh.”

I don’t know for sure, but it’s definitely not a small sum. Unless there’s been some groundbreaking technological development while I’ve been holed up in the mountains.

While I clicked my tongue at the Empire’s knights for their wasteful spending habits, I saw a person I recognized talking with someone who appeared to be the leader of the knights.

I couldn’t hear the conversation from this distance, but the Empire’s speeches were always the same. Nothing new. Glory of the Black Sun, greatness of the Empire, blah blah blah…

Boring enough to kill me. Isn’t it time they changed the script?

Well, as much as it bores me, for most people, I guess their overwhelming power would still be intimidating.

After all, the Empire’s military might is the real deal, even if it’s disgusting.

“Huh.”

 

I expected the Apostles to feel the same way, but to my surprise, Joni and the Apostles, who had been whispering among themselves, suddenly began preparing for battle.

I watched them with shining eyes.

“Oh...”

An unexpected development.

They must know how overwhelming the power difference is, yet they’re boldly drawing their weapons.

Maybe it's because they know they can revive even if they die, but still, deciding to fight head-on can't be easy.

‘Well, considering they kept charging at me even while being cut down, I guess that makes sense.’

When I thought of it that way, it was easier to accept.

It would’ve been nice to have some popcorn, but since none was miraculously going to appear, I had no choice but to sit on the cliff and watch the chicks peeping away as they fought against the swarm of flies.

‘…That sounds a bit odd.’

Isn't it usually the chicks that are higher up on the food chain?

Anyway, as expected, the chicks weren’t doing too well in battle.

The enemy leader hadn’t even stepped forward yet, and with each flash of the knights’ swords, the Apostles barely managed to retreat without being able to properly defend themselves.

Still, not all of them were being helplessly pushed back.

Some Apostles fought desperately, struggling to maintain the front lines.

The one who stood out the most was the woman at the very front, swinging her greatsword.

Although her opponent seemed to be an inexperienced lower-ranking knight, her aggressive offensive and continuous pressure were quite impressive.

At first glance, it might seem like she’s just swinging recklessly, but unlike the others, there was a certain level of skill that showed through.

Meanwhile, my shuttle... I mean, Joni—

“Yeah, she’s not doing so well.”

She was standing a step back, just watching others fight.

If only she could have half the courage of the greatsword chick.

I had been impressed when she stood up to the knight commander earlier, but of course, she’s back to her usual self.

Then again, with Joni’s level of skill, even if she joined the fight, it wouldn’t be much help. But standing frozen in fear, unable to move, would be even worse if danger came her way.

Like right now.

I sighed as I saw the knight commander gather mana after launching a sword energy strike.

I stood up from the cliffside, brushing off my pants.

“I thought I’d never pick up a sword to protect someone again.”

But I’ve got to protect my precious shuttle—no, my disciple.

I keep misspeaking.

I pushed off with my right foot from the cliff, and the landscape around me blurred like a smudged watercolor.

A burst of speed.

Before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of the battlefield, where I had been watching from a distance just moments ago.

In front of me, a crescent-shaped sword energy, glowing with blue mana, was rushing toward me.

It was quite a powerful strike, as expected of the knight commander, but in the end, it was just that—some power.

There’s no need for me to even cloak my sword with energy for something like this.

I raised my sword and severed the connection of the sword energy.

It took only two simple strikes to destroy the attack that had claimed the lives of so many Apostles.

‘My cape’s torn.’

The already tattered cape couldn’t keep up with my movements and ended up ripping further.

I had paid quite a bit for that...

As I fiddled with the remnants of my cape in disappointment, Joni, who had been standing behind me, called out in a voice full of relief.

“Kana…!”

‘…I told her it was a secret.’

Why is she shouting my name so boldly?

Still, seeing her standing her ground against the Empire’s knights and not running away, her voice didn’t bother me as much.

Besides, at this point, it doesn’t really matter anymore.

The sudden quiet that fell over the battlefield due to my appearance wasn’t anything unusual.

The knights, who had been mercilessly pushing back the Apostles, froze. The Apostles, who had been on the retreat, also stopped in their tracks.

Even the Apostles who had sided with the Empire stared at me with blank expressions.

Well... this is nothing new.

The soldiers who saw me for the first time on the battlefield all had that same look on their faces.

And usually, the next reaction is—

“Ha! Hahaha! So, the famed Red Reaper is just a little girl? How ridiculous! Were you all really afraid of such a child?!”

“…What nonsense is he spewing?”

Mockery and scorn.

At least the old snake spoke in a way I could understand. But this guy is just rambling in a language that only he understands, completely thrilled with himself.

I can’t make out what he’s saying, but judging by his sneer and the way his eyes disgustingly roamed over me, I can guess the meaning.

As the knight commander finished speaking, laughter spread among the knights. One by one, they began to gather behind their commander, no longer attacking the Apostles. The Apostles didn’t dare stop them, realizing that charging recklessly would only lead to their deaths.

“Hm…”

The sneers I could see through their helmets didn’t stir any emotions in me. I’ve seen them too many times.

“Your worn-out sword is just like you—pathetic and broken!”

“I told you, speak in a language I understand.”

It sounds like he’s trying to provoke me, but if I can’t understand, what’s the point?

That old snake... maybe he’s too senile to even properly train his subordinates.

“A knight should speak with their sword.”

I raised my sword instead of continuing to entertain this pointless exchange.

“You’ve been doing something rather interesting.”

I lifted the sword high, just like the knight commander had done earlier.

As if I was about to pierce through the sun in the sky.

“That’s not how you do it.”

The strike had some power, but at its core, it was just brute mana, recklessly unleashed. There was no finesse, no technique.

Using 100 units of mana to produce a result worth only 50—how laughable.

“Watch closely. I’ll teach you how it’s done.”

In the blink of an eye, the sword that had been aimed at the sky was now pointing toward the ground.

Crack!

I grinned.

“Do you understand now?”

How pathetic you are?

 

Joni stared in awe, speechless, at Kana’s dramatic entrance, which seemed straight out of a comic book. She was completely mesmerized by Kana, who had miraculously appeared to save her. Though she couldn’t see Kana’s face, just looking at her back was enough to tell that Kana had the form of a young girl.

• What?!?!
• Is this real?!?!
• What the heck?!?!

 

The viewers weren’t the only ones shocked by the delicate figure that seemed so mismatched with such devastating power.

As if she had been on the battlefield from the beginning, Kana nonchalantly erased the powerful sword energy that had wiped out so many players, drawing all eyes to her in the process.

Even Pine, one of the viewers, couldn’t hide his shock after seeing Kana’s appearance.

“Is this… is this for real…?”

The chat window was flooded with similarly stunned reactions, reflecting the disbelief that Pine felt.

Kana’s sleepy-looking pink eyes blinked lazily. Her hair, gently swaying in the wind, looked so soft that it made one want to reach out and run their fingers through it. Her round face and softly curved eyes gave her a serene, almost harmless impression.

Her cute appearance momentarily left everyone speechless.

How could someone who looked like she couldn’t even swat a fly display such terrifying power?

The fact that the fearsome gravedigger, who had killed so many of them, was actually a small, cute girl left Pine’s mind in a daze.

However, Joni, who hadn’t seen Kana’s face, was simply filled with worry.

‘I know Kana is strong, but…’

She couldn’t shake the feeling that there was no way Kana could win against so many knights.

It’s difficult for a smaller force to defeat a larger one, but it's not at all surprising when the larger force wins. And the more soldiers there are, the fewer losses the victors tend to suffer.

In battle, numbers matter.

‘Raid bosses can revive after death, but right now, in this situation…?’

Joni had no idea why Kana had suddenly appeared here, especially after having run off before. But this time, unlike during a raid, there was no instance channel separating them, and Kana didn’t have a visible health bar, meaning she wasn’t categorized as a boss.

Which meant she was no different from any other NPC.

‘Run… run away!’

Unlike herself, who could revive after death, Kana wouldn’t come back to life if she died. Realizing this, Joni tried to shout for Kana to escape, but her body, frozen by fear, made it difficult to even get her voice out.

Kana, unable to hear Joni’s warning, raised her sword.

It was the same move the knight commander had performed earlier.

“Watch carefully, I’ll teach you a thing or two.”

Kana’s arm blurred.

“…?”

The next moment, the sword that had been pointing toward the sky was already slicing down toward the ground.

Did Joni’s eyes miss the swing due to fatigue?

Just as Joni rubbed her eyes in confusion—

Craaaack!

The air, the knights, the ground—all of it—split along the path of Kana’s sword.

Kwahhhh!

The knights who had been sneering at Kana just moments before were now cleaved in two, their mocking expressions frozen on their faces as they disappeared into the gaping maw of an abyss.

The battlefield was once again plunged into silence, this time from the sheer disbelief of what had just happened.

“What… what the hell…?”

Whether it was luck that kept him out of range or if Kana had spared him intentionally, the knight commander’s eyes widened in shock as over half of his troops vanished in an instant.

The once-confident smirk on his face drained into a look of pure terror.

“Did… did we really think we could capture that?”

Haha, what a joke.

Pine let out a hollow laugh, his mind still trying to process the overwhelming power on display.

It had all been a game to her until now, hadn’t it?

Even from a distance, the trench Kana had created with a single swing looked to be over 10 meters deep. As for its length, it was impossible to tell.

And we were supposed to take down a monster like this with just our swords?

“Yeah, no thanks.”

Actually, it’s not even possible.

As of today, the Kana raid is officially over.

While Pine was making up his mind, Joni remained in shock as well.

She knew Kana was strong, but she had never imagined she was this strong.

In an instant, over half of the knights who had been easily cutting down players were gone.

The few knights who had survived weren’t in good shape either.

Their fighting spirit, which had been soaring just moments ago, had completely vanished, replaced with an urge to turn tail and run as soon as possible.

‘After seeing something like that, how could they not lose their will to fight?’

The knights, who had seemed so terrifying just a moment ago, now looked pitiful in comparison.

To Joni, Kana’s small back seemed as large as a mountain.

“You monster! No, you damn monster girl!”

“That reaction is getting old.”

Even as the knight commander screamed in terror, Kana calmly shook off the dust from her sword hand.

Fsssshhh.

“Ah.”

“Huh?”

“…!”

The sword in Kana’s hand crumbled into dust and fell to the ground.

Kana let out a short exclamation of surprise, Joni made a confused sound, and the despairing knight commander’s eyes lit up with hope.

“This is our chance! All forces, charge! Charge now!”

“Of course, they’d take the opportunity to rush in. It’s not like I didn’t see this coming. I even bought a spare sword, just in case…”

Kana scoffed as she fumbled around her waist.

Rummaging, rummaging…

Rummaging… rummaging…

…rummaging…

Kana’s hand slowed down and eventually stopped.

“…but I didn’t bring it.”

The knights were already closing in on Kana.

They instinctively realized that if they didn’t strike now, they might never get another chance.

Seeing the knights desperately charging in with determined faces, Joni grabbed onto Kana’s clothes in a panic.

“Kana!”

Kana, sensing Joni’s distress, turned around, and for the first time, Joni saw Kana’s face. She gasped involuntarily, but quickly regained her composure and thrust her sword toward Kana.

“Take my sword! You can use this!”

But Kana didn’t take the sword.

“Here, take it!”

Maybe she didn’t understand because I said it in Arkish? I’ll try saying it in Granik.

Joni repeated her offer in another language, but Kana still didn’t take the sword.

Despite the knights closing in on her, Kana simply looked at Joni with calm eyes.

At that moment, Joni could see a swirl of emotions in Kana’s otherwise indifferent gaze. Emotions of red, blue, black, and light—so vivid and overwhelming that they almost took her breath away.

Joni didn’t know what these emotions were.

But if she had to name them, she would have called it “longing.”

Joni, lost in the dreamy pink of Kana’s eyes, suddenly snapped back to reality.

This wasn’t the time to be staring!

‘If you keep standing there, you’ll die!’

I don’t care about me, but you’ll really die!

As Joni began to panic, stomping her feet in fear, Kana finally opened her mouth.

“Kana…ria Grassis.”

“…What?”

“That’s my name.”

In the same indifferent tone she always used, Kana took the sword Joni offered her.

Slice.

With a quiet slicing sound, the world split in two.