Finally, Alvin Vasco snapped completely. He ordered with rage, "Capture the woman and cripple that man. Bring him to the town's prison; I will deal with him later."
As he finished speaking, finally, there was a reaction between the two—or rather, only from the woman.
Despite her face half-covered, the rage in her expression couldn't be hidden from anyone.
Divya took a large step forward and roared, "How dare you threaten my master!"
With one swift motion, she grabbed her long sword with her left hand and made a swift horizontal slash.
The slash was so fast that even Alvin barely captured it.
Though everyone was shocked, the nearly twenty or so Apprentice Ranks who were standing atop various houses found it funny—as even though her sword was very long, in the end, she had just slashed empty air.
Who or what was she trying to intimidate with such an empty attack?
A few of them couldn't suppress their laughter and started chuckling. However, none of them noticed the grave look on Alvin's face.
Suddenly, a faint but distinct cracking noise echoed across the area.
Just as everyone tried to understand what that noise was, the stone buildings and every other structure in the area were slashed wide in half. They all rose into the air with the powerful force behind the attack.
BOOM!
"W-what!" Everyone's faces grew pale as they were all flung into the air. Thunderous booms were heard from everywhere around them.
Only then did they all notice that the attack was so horrifyingly powerful that, for nearly half a mile in radius, every structure and building—whether made of stone or wood—was cut in half!
The moment they saw this, their hearts nearly stopped beating. They absolutely couldn't believe this was possible. This had gone beyond what even an early-stage Rank 4 Warrior could accomplish!
They thought they must be hallucinating—until they heard the loud, mournful squeal of a beast.
Their heads whipped toward the noise, and their eyes widened to the point of nearly bulging out.
The Adult-stage Rank 2 Toross Ape—a pure physical-type beast—had also been chopped in half from the waist!
"Impossible!" Alvin was so horrified that he immediately flew high into the air to escape the area—or, more specifically, the woman's range.
He, in his lifetime, had never seen such a horrifying swordsman. He had come across countless Rank 4s and fought many early-stage ones. Despite never seeing a mid- or peak-stage Rank 4 Warrior's attack, he was certain that even they couldn't easily replicate this scale of wide-range destruction!
And to be able to cut open an Adult-stage Rank 2 beast in a single attack was nearly impossible for any early-stage warrior!
Even though, technically, a Rank 2 Adult-stage beast couldn't defeat a Rank 4 Mana Wielder, they could still take on nearly three dozen peak Rank 3s! Their constitution was high enough to not be one-shotted by any early-stage Rank 4 Warrior!
Just how terrifyingly powerful was that attack, to even be able to split his beast in half?!
This was absolutely impossible!
However, the current reality couldn't be denied—a mere Rank 2 swordswoman had truly killed an Adult-stage Rank 2 beast with a single attack!
Earlier, Alvin had managed to catch a flash of light that came from the sword strike, spreading across the area—mainly targeting his beast. Due to its speed and suddenness, only he had perceived it. He knew the light must be powerful, but he had never imagined that its cutting power and range were so ridiculously high that it nearly split a large portion of the town in half!
He quickly looked below and found that the woman had disappeared!
He swiftly noticed that she was traveling and killing his subordinates at lightning speed. Even before the houses could fall back to the ground, five of his subordinates had already been cut in half!
He was filled with so much dread that he didn't give it another thought and immediately invoked his strongest spell—one he could cast at his fastest speed.
**"DUAL OMNI FIREBALL!"**
Fireball was just a basic Tier 1 spell. He had enough mastery to not even need to draw a Mana circle to use it. But a normal fireball was far from enough!
Dual-casting was something only the most exceptional Mages could achieve. It not only required hard work and persistence but also a special natural talent for spellcasting. With just a high Intelligence stat, one could never succeed in it. Perhaps fewer than 10% of Mages worldwide could dual-cast. It was that rare and exceptional. And Alvin was a genius Mage who could not only dual-cast but had also developed it to the next level—merging two spells together!
However, he could only merge Tier 1 Fireball spells. Despite that, its power was enough to rival any powerful Tier 2 advanced spell without needing more than a fraction of the time to cast—and with his vast Mana pool and Mana control, he could increase its power even further, nearly reaching that of a Tier 3 advanced spell.
He could, in fact, cast even more powerful spells—but those took time, which he didn't dare waste against such a lightning-fast enemy.
Alvin raised both hands above him, and two Mana circles—two feet in diameter—appeared before his palms, spinning in mesmerizing orange beauty.
In the blink of an eye, a massive, nearly meter-radius reddish sun appeared above his head.
Size was not the terrifying factor about this attack—it was the power behind it. If thrown to the ground, nearly a few hundred meters in radius would be burnt to ash—even stone would melt!
A Mage was always superior to a Warrior when it came to destruction.
He knew his subordinates would die, but he had no hesitation. That woman was scary beyond belief. If he hesitated, even flying in the sky might not save him.
Just as he was about to hurl the giant fireball downward—suddenly, out of nowhere—the massive, powerful fireball was 'swallowed'.
Yes, he felt it clearly—it was swallowed! Swallowed from 'within'! As if, in the heart of it, a beast had opened its jaws and devoured the entire fireball inside.
Just as Alvin was stunned, wondering what had just happened, he heard a calm voice from behind him:
"Oh, interesting. It's my first time seeing a dual-cast merged together."
Alvin felt a chill run down his spine. He swiftly spun around at his fastest speed—only to notice that just a few meters behind him, the masked man stood calmly in midair.
He felt his heart nearly burst and his organs fail in horror.
This was the first time in a long time that someone had managed to appear so close to him without him noticing at all.
He instinctively looked below—his face growing even paler. He was certain that just a moment ago, when he had looked down, he had seen the masked man standing in the middle of the road. Yet, in the blink of an eye, he had appeared high in the air—without making a single sound or sign of movement.
**How?!**
And how could a mere Rank 2 fly midair?!
Perhaps the man's boots were a unique artifact with an unknown enchantment or array inscribed. Yet—that didn't answer his confusion about how the masked man could appear behind him without him sensing *anything*.
Not only that—just what had the man done to make his Dual Omni Fireball disappear into thin air? And why hadn't he sensed a single Mana fluctuation from these bizarre maneuvers?
Just what kind of monster was this?!
Without even realizing it, Alvin flew backward at full force—only stopping after putting at least 100 meters between them. Only then did he notice that he was drenched in sweat and panting as if he had run hundreds of miles nonstop. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this horrified and scared.
This was no mere Apprentice Rank—he was a *demon*! The woman below was terrifying—but the man was even *more* terrifying!
"Y-you... H-how? N-no—w-what happened to my fireball?"
Alvin was most concerned about how his attack had disappeared. He hadn't sensed any Mana fluctuations—yet it had been completely dissolved—no, swallowed. Even he wouldn't be able to do something like that to his own attack, let alone someone else's spell.
And it had been swallowed *after* it was fully prepared—meaning the entire power had been ready. If he had been interrupted mid-cast, it might have been understandable—but *after* completing it, the fireball's power was enough that even he would've treated it with utmost caution.
Asura's expression remained calm. He ignored the question and murmured slowly:
"You have the courage to declare you want to touch my maid—in front of me."
"W-wait! W-wait a moment! That was a misunderstanding! I had no such intention—I was just... I was..." Alvin paused as his eyes widened.
The masked man before him disappeared into thin air.
Before he could grasp what had happened, he suddenly got slammed from both sides—as if two walls had collided with him in between.
CRACK!
The bone-breaking noise echoed loud and clear in the evening sky as Alvin Vasco—a genius Rank 4 Mage—was smashed like a tomato. His body nearly turned into an ugly mess of meat and paste. Despite that, he still clung to his last breath.
Alvin's barely existent eyes trembled as he recalled what had just happened. With his spiritual sense, he had noticed the masked man suddenly appear behind him—but before he could even turn around, he sensed two giant *walls*—
No—not walls—**palms**! Two massive palms, packed with dense amounts of 'space', smashed into him from both sides.
He hadn't had a moment to dodge or defend. It had been too sudden—too fast—and the 'palms' had appeared from nowhere beside him. He couldn't make sense of what kind of spell or technique this was.
Just as his life was fading away, he heard another murmur from the masked man behind him:
"And you have the guts to use Fire Element—in front of me..."
Alvin had no idea what that even meant. He had no time to contemplate—his life soon left him behind.
Eric grabbed the Mage's 'still-surviving' valuables—then appeared before the unconscious twins on the empty street.
After a few moments, light flashed—and Divya appeared beside him.
Without even glancing, he handed her a golden pocket watch and commanded indifferently:
"Remove the lingering bugs within the town."
Divya took the watch, understood his intent, and gave a short reply:
"Okay."
Then, she flashed and disappeared from the street.
Eric pulled out a potion bottle filled with sky-blue liquid. He then proceeded to pull down the twins' chins—feeding each half of the liquid.
This potion was a unique product that could help mortals recover not only from physical and mental fatigue but also regenerate stamina and health.
As he watched both siblings slowly wake up, he murmured to himself:
"Now then... Why did a Rank 4 Master Rank specifically want both of you alive? What secrets could you possibly have..."
As he watched both twins open their bright blue eyes, he was once again internally speechless.
They really reminded him of him and Riya—when they were just eight years old.