"Raze, why the hell are you here?!"
the king shouted, panic cracking through his voice.
Raze didn't answer.
He didn't pause.
He kept walking — slow, steady steps echoing through the corridor — moving straight past the guards as if they were shadows on a wall.
His eyes lifted mid-stride…
and locked onto Princess Arlia.
Not stopping.
Not hesitating.
Just walking forward while staring directly at her, unblinking.
Arlia froze.
The king's face twisted in anger.
"Why… why are you looking at my daughter like that?!"
Raze still didn't react.
He kept advancing, gaze fixed on Arlia as if nothing else existed.
"Stop."
The king's voice shook.
"I said stop."
Raze didn't.
He kept walking.
The king snapped.
"Guards! Kill him!"The moment the king's order rang out—
"KILL HIM!"
—steel scraped from scabbards and the guards charged.
Boots thundered. Blades swung. Shields locked.
They rushed Raze from all sides—
But he didn't even lift a hand.
He just whispered:
"Rise."
The air warped.
A cold ripple tore across the floor—
FWOOOOSH—
And three corpses twisted upward, bones snapping into place, eyes burning with faint blue fire.
Three skeletons stood behind him.
Clattering. Breathing nothing. Waiting.
The guards skidded in terror.
"W-What—?! N-Necromancy?!"
The skeletons moved instantly, intercepting the oncoming blades.
CLANG—!!
CRASH—!!
SCRAAAAPE—!!
Bone arms blocked steel.
Skulls cracked against helmets.
Clawed fingers shredded armor.
The guards stumbled back, horrified.
Raze never stopped walking.
Through the chaos—
through the clash of steel and bone—
his footsteps remained slow, steady, unbroken.
His eyes still locked on Princess Arlia.
The king's breath hitched.
"F-Form up!! Protect the princess!! NOW!"
More guards rushed in and formed a human wall around Arlia, shields raised, spears trembling.
Arlia's pulse quickened—
not from fear,
but from something she didn't understand.
Raze walked straight toward their shield wall.The skeletons held the first wave—
but the king's elite guards didn't hesitate.
"Advance!! Take him down!!"
They broke formation and charged Raze directly, aiming past the skeletons.
Raze finally shifted his eyes toward them.
No change in expression.
No tension in his muscles.
No stance.
Just a quiet exhale—
barely even that.
Then they reached him.
The first guard swung his sword in a horizontal arc—
Raze tilted his head a fraction.
The blade cut empty air.
Before the guard could recover—
CRACK—!!
Raze's palm slammed into his chestplate.
Not a strike—
just a push.
But the guard flew backward like he'd been hit by a battering ram, crashing through two pillars before sliding unconscious across the marble.
The second guard lunged with a spear, roaring—
Raze stepped aside by inches, catching the spear shaft between two fingers.
Just two fingers.
He twisted.
SNAP—!!
The entire metal spearhead broke off like dry wood.
The guard's eyes widened—
but he didn't even have time to scream.
Raze drove his elbow into the man's ribs—
BOOOOM!!
The impact sent him spinning midair before crashing into the wall so hard the stone cratered.
A third guard tried to flank him from behind.
Raze didn't even look.
He pivoted one foot, swept low, and—
THUD—!!
The guard was lifted off the ground, flipped upside-down, and slammed headfirst into the marble.
A fourth one—a shield bearer—charged with full momentum, shield raised to bash.
Raze met him head-on.
His fist drew back—
and then shot forward like a bullet.
BANG—!!!
The shield shattered.
Not cracked—
shattered into fragments.
The guard behind it was launched backward, rolling across the floor like a rag doll, finally slamming to a stop unconscious.
All of it happened in seconds.
The hall echoed with the aftermath—
groans, clattering metal, breaking stone.
Raze stood alone in the center of the collapsing formation…
Expression blank.
Breathing steady.
Steps never stopping.
He continued walking forward—
straight toward Princess Arlia—
as if he had merely brushed aside dust instead of trained royal guards.The king's legs trembled, but he still forced himself to step in front of Arlia, sword raised with both shaking hands.
His eyes darted to the crushed shields, the broken pillars, the unconscious bodies scattered like discarded toys.
His voice cracked when he spoke—
"R-Raze Kyler… I… I didn't know you were this strong."
Raze didn't respond.
Didn't slow.
Didn't even glance at him.
He kept walking.
The king swallowed hard, panic twisting into anger.
"So this is it, isn't it?" he snarled.
"You think this chaos—this demon attack—gives you the perfect chance to snatch the princess?!"
Raze's gaze stayed locked on Arlia, unreadable.
The king's grip tightened until his knuckles turned white.
"You dare use this situation to take advantage of my kingdom? Of my blood?"
Raze stopped being a boy in his eyes.
He became a threat.
A monster wearing a student's uniform.
The king pointed his sword at him, voice breaking with fury:
"I AM THE KING OF THIS KINGDOM!"
His shout echoed violently through the corridor.
"If you take one more step toward my daughter…"
He raised his sword, breath ragged."I WILL KILL YOU, RAZE KYLER!"
His shout exploded through the corridor, shaking dust from the ceiling.
Princess Arlia gasped, stepping back instinctively, but Raze…
…Raze didn't move.
He just kept walking toward them.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Unbothered.
As if the king's threat meant nothing.The king didn't wait.
With a furious roar, he lunged forward—
FWAAAAM!!
His sword ignited with blinding light, the blade twisting unnaturally like it was alive.
Mana surged down the steel, forming ripples of golden force.
Raze's eyes narrowed a fraction.
An artifact sword.
A high-rank one.
The king smirked with manic pride.
"I am the KING! Of course I wield treasures worth a fortune!"
The sword moved faster than regular metal should.
Almost predicting his movement.
Almost dragging the king forward with its own killing intent.
SHRING!!
CLASH!!
SWOOSH!!
Raze dodged the first strike, barely.
The second grazed his shoulder.
The third aimed for his throat—
Too fast.
Raze's pupils tightened.
Even for me… this thing's annoying.
He drew his dagger in a blur—
CLANG!!
CLANG!!
CLANG!! CLANG!! CLANG!!
Steel collided with artifact metal so rapidly the corridor filled with sparks.
Each strike rang like a scream.
The king attacked recklessly, swinging with the full force of desperation.
Raze blocked. Pivoted. Slid back.
But the blade chased him every time—
The artifact sword moved like it had a mind of its own.
Even Raze had trouble avoiding its bite.
The king laughed through gritted teeth.
"Struggling, are we?!"
Raze didn't answer.
He simply exhaled— a thin mist leaving his lips.
Ice crawled across the floor.
Before the king realized—
CRACK.
His foot froze mid-step.
"What—!?"
He lost balance.
His next swing wavered—just a hair, but enough.
Raze stepped in.
SHHK—!!
His dagger sliced the glowing artifact blade—
—and the sword split clean in half.
The king's eyes widened in pure disbelief.
"Impossible—!! THAT WAS A HIGH-RANK—!!"
He didn't finish.
Raze struck again, dagger flashing toward his chest—
CLAAAANG!!
A different light exploded.
The attack stopped inches from the king's heart, halted by something invisible.
A shield.
A round, shimmering barrier wrapped his torso in golden hexagons.
The king grinned savagely through his panic.
"You thought I'd bring only one artifact…?"
The shield pulsed, reacting to his smug heartbeat.
He lifted his chin.
"I am the ruler of this kingdom.
I came prepared to survive ANYTHING."
The king panted behind his glowing shield, still shaken, still unable to believe Raze had broken a high-rank sword bare-handed.
Raze tilted his head slightly.
His voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
"You think this can save you from me?"
The king scoffed, forcing confidence back into his shaking limbs.
"Huh? This shield is impenetrable—"
Raze didn't let him finish.
He flicked his wrist.
SHFF—
His dagger flew upward, spinning toward the ceiling.
The king blinked, confused—
Raze's posture shifted.
For the first time in the entire hallway…
He took a fighting stance.
Feet grounded.
Shoulders loose.
Eyes half-lowered like a predator preparing to pounce.
Cold mana surged around his right arm—
ice crackling from wrist to elbow, forming thin blue veins of frost.
His fist began to glow.
A deep, chilling blue.
The air temperature plummeted instantly.
Even Princess Arlia froze.
The king stepped back.
"W-Wait—"
Raze vanished.
A blur of pale frost.
BOOOOOOM!!!
His fist smashed directly into the king's chest—
Ice shattered mid-impact, spraying the corridor in glittering shards.
The artifact shield didn't crack.
It exploded.
A deafening blast of light and mana burst outward—
KRSHAAAAAAAA!!!
Pieces of the shield scattered like broken glass, dissolving in the air.
The king's eyes went wide, horror filling them.
"W-What—how—"
He didn't get another word.
Because—
shing…
The dagger Raze had thrown earlier dropped from the air, slicing downward silently.
Raze lifted his hand—
caught the falling blade without even looking—
—and moved once.
Just once.
A single, clean slice.
So fast the king didn't even feel it.
He stood there, confused…
Then his body swayed.
A thin red line formed across his neck.
Princess Arlia gasped, covering her mouth as tears welled.
The king whispered, voice trembling:
"…I'm… the king…"
His head slid off his shoulders.
Thud.
His body dropped a moment later.
Blood spread across the marble floor.
Raze didn't look back.
Didn't gloat.
Didn't say a word.
He simply lowered his dagger, expression unreadable—
as if he had just swatted an insect.
The king's severed head rolled across the polished marble, leaving a thin trail of blood that reflected the pale blue glow still fading from Raze's fist. Silence flooded the hallway—heavy, suffocating, absolute.
Only two people remained standing.
Raze…
and the princess.
The flames from the wall-torches flickered as if afraid of him. Raze twirled the dagger once, letting the last drop of blood fall to the floor before slipping it back into his belt.
His cold eyes lifted toward her.
She stood frozen—her hands trembling, her lips slightly parted, her expression stuck between fear and something else… something he had noticed from the beginning.
Raze took a slow step forward, boots crushing tiny fragments of ice left from the fight.
Then, in his usual emotionless voice, he said:
"You can stop your acting now, Princess."
Her breath caught.
Raze wiped the faint frost from his knuckles.
His gaze sharpened, almost bored.
"I've completed the job."
The torches crackled.
The princess's expression changed—but into what, no one could tell.
And then—