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"This... how... how is this possible?! That's a Nine-Star Demonic Beast!!!"
A collective roar of horror swept across the ramparts. The air, already thick with the scent of fear and smoke, vibrated with impossible disbelief.
The Three-Headed Cold Bird—a colossal overlord of the Demon Beast Great Forest, a creature whose legend was etched in blood—had just dropped. It was a Nine-Star Demonic Beast, a beast that demanded a life-or-death struggle even for the most seasoned Nine-Star Swordsman.
But this man… he had killed it with a single, brutal move.
Clay's mind reeled, his shock morphing into a bitter, sinking realization. They already had a freak of nature in their midst—the legendary Tsugikuni Yoriichi. Now, another monster had materialized on the battlefield. How many impossibilities were allowed in this world?
"Who is he?!" The question was a desperate, unheard plea amongst the soldiers who didn't recognize the figure.
Then, a voice cut through the confusion—a guard, trembling with fanatical reverence.
"I know! I know! He is Mr. Qi Yan, Miss Erza's companion!"
Yesterday, he'd watched Erza shatter a Five-Star Blazing Boar. Today, he'd seen her stunning performance in the Swordsman Tournament. Now, her silent companion, Qi Yan, was casually executing a Nine-Star Beast.
"Miss Erza's companion?! Then he must be a Mage from Fairy Tail!"
The name—Fairy Tail, the guild from the distant Fiore Kingdom—provided the only context they had for this sheer, devastating power.
The King, moments ago drowning in despair, was suddenly breathless with elation. Nine terrifying threats were now eight. They had a chance.
The remaining Nine-Star Demonic Beasts—creatures of formidable intelligence—stared at Qi Yan with wary, animalistic eyes. They recognized the scent of a predator far above them.
Swoosh—!
Qi Yan's body dropped from the city wall, not falling, but plummeting like a guided comet. He spread a pair of midnight wings, his form instantly locking onto the nearest threat: the colossal, raging Hellfire Tiger.
The Tiger roared a sound that shook the very heavens. "Awoo—————!" Violent flames erupted, enveloping its body in a shroud of searing heat.
Swish!
A blade materialized in Qi Yan's hand—the shimmering Moonlight Sword. He thrust forward, a silver blur against the orange inferno.
In response, the Hellfire Tiger opened its immense maw and spewed a blinding pillar of fire. It consumed Qi Yan whole.
"Qi Yan!!!" Erza's cry was sharp with genuine anxiety.
On the ramparts, a sigh of resignation swept through the observers. The Hellfire Tiger's flames could melt steel like butter; no man could survive that.
Bang—!
But Qi Yan burst out of the flames. He was unharmed.
Pfft—!
The Moonlight Sword plunged, not into the Tiger's tough hide, but directly into its massive, vulnerable eye.
"Awoo————!" The Tiger's shriek was a high-pitched sound of agony.
Enduring the blinding pain, it swung its massive, crushing claw to smash Qi Yan into a bloody pulp.
Pfft—!
Qi Yan countered with an inhumanly fast swing of the sword.
Bang!
The Hellfire Tiger's enormous arm—a weapon of living fire and muscle—fell to the dirt with a sickening thud.
"Awoo————!" The second shriek was raw, primal terror.
Sonido!
Qi Yan's body vanished, reappearing instantaneously behind the beast's burning head.
"You're too noisy," Qi Yan stated with chilling indifference.
Pfft!
The Moonlight Sword drove through the beast's skull. The shriek cut off, violently arrested mid-scream.
Bang!!!
The immense, smoking body of the Hellfire Tiger crashed to the ground, dead.
Silence. A horrifying, total silence that lasted only seconds.
"Dead… dead… The Nine-Star Demonic Beast Hellfire Tiger is also dead?!"
Twenty seconds. Maybe fifteen. Two Nine-Star Demonic Beasts, killed in under a minute. They were witnessing a massacre so quick it defied the very laws of their world. This wasn't combat; this was slaughter.
"This is incredible!!" The cheer that erupted was raw relief. The despair was lifting, replaced by a desperate, fervent hope pinned on a single, silent figure.
"Roar————!"
Qi Yan's lightning-fast kills had finally triggered the self-preservation instinct in the remaining beasts. They simultaneously abandoned their current targets—the Kings and the Swordsmen—and charged the source of the danger.
They knew: Deal with Qi Yan, or die.
"Oh no!!" The King and his guard's hope fractured into a desperate fear as the mass of monstrous, murderous power focused its rage on one man.
Qi Yan's expression, however, remained utterly serene. He flapped his wings and actively flew to meet them.
"Roar————!"
The Earth Tyrant Bear slammed its paws down. Boom boom boom boom! The ground buckled, sending massive, jagged earth spikes rocketing toward Qi Yan.
Boom————!
A Moonlight Sword shot forth like a lance, shattering every spike in its path.
Pfft—!
The blade tore into the Earth Tyrant Bear's chest. It was a superficial wound, nothing more than a skin tear. But the moment the Bear saw the glowing sword, its beast-face contorted in pure, agonizing terror.
"Explode!" Qi Yan's voice was a cold command.
Boom—————!
A blinding, terrifying internal explosion detonated within the massive beast, engulfing it in a sphere of chaotic power.
"Awoo————!" The Bear's death-shriek echoed the Tiger's, a song of sudden, crushing defeat.
Swish!
The Dark Panther King, a stealth assassin among the beasts, appeared like a ghost behind Qi Yan, opening its bloody maw for the killing bite.
"Watch out!!!"
Qi Yan spun, catching the enormous jaws with his outstretched arm.
It's over! The thought flashed through the minds of every spectator. An arm caught in those teeth was instantly pulverized.
"Has no one ever told you," Qi Yan murmured, his voice deadly calm, "not to eat things casually?"
Buzz————!
A dazzling, frightening black light erupted between the Panther King's teeth. The beast instantly realized its mistake and tried to pull back.
"Too late!"
"Black Flash Void!"
Whoosh————!
A horrifying black burst of energy erupted from the back of the Panther King's head, tearing through it and continuing on. The catastrophic blast carved a massive, smoking path through the monster horde behind, annihilating hundreds in a terrifying, singular shockwave.
The Dark Panther King slumped, a perfect, smoking round hole where its head used to be.
Before the smoke could clear, the Mammoth Elephant King was upon him, its colossal trunk swinging with the force of a battering ram.
Qi Yan raised his arm to block.
A force unlike anything he had ever felt slammed into him. Boom—————! The ground beneath his feet detonated, a crater forming instantly, the impact tearing up the earth in a violent ripple.
When the dust settled, everyone braced for the sight of a crushed man. But in the center of the debris, Qi Yan stood firm, his single arm steadily holding the entire massive weight of the Mammoth Elephant King's crushing strike.
Eyes widened in collective, dizzying disbelief.
"He actually held it off?!"