He licked his lips, his tongue sweeping across his jagged teeth as his eyes scanned the battlefield below like a venomous snake, lingering for a moment on "Subaru."
"So much food and I haven't even had the chance to taste it yet... What a waste."
He shook his head, then, as if suddenly remembering something, waved to the people below and introduced himself in a flippant tone, "Oh, right! I almost forgot to introduce myself. I am the Sin Archbishop representing Gluttony—Roy Alphard, that's me!"
"That one over there, the red-eyed fellow..."
His gaze locked onto "Subaru", the playful grin on his face instantly shifting into an undisguised, hungry malice.
"I'll remember you."
He stuck out his tongue and licked his finger, his eyes looking as if he were sizing up a prime steak.
"Next time, I will definitely 'eat' you!"
Faced with this blatant threat and self-introduction, "Subaru's" reaction was extremely flat. She merely raised her eyes slightly, those blood-red pupils meeting Roy's gaze with calm indifference. There was no anger, no fear—only a bottomless apathy and a murderous intent as if looking at a dead object.
Not only that, her hand, hanging at her side, had at some point gripped a short dagger with a cold, gleaming edge.
"Go, quickly!"
Just then, a male voice, irritable to the extreme and seemingly suppressing boundless fury, rang out on the dragon's back like a clap of thunder.
A man whose expression was distorted by extreme rage appeared abruptly on the dragon's back.
He was the Sin Archbishop representing Greed, Regulus Corneas, who had been fighting against Reinhard earlier.
He didn't even look at the battlefield below, instead shouting at the dragon beneath his feet in a near-roar, "Otherwise, when that guy gets back, you're all going to die!"
Immediately, a hint of wariness seemed to flash through the dragon's crimson vertical pupils. It no longer hesitated, its sky-blotting wings flapping downward with all their might.
BOOM!
The violent airflow swept across the earth once more, making it nearly impossible for everyone to keep their eyes open.
The dragon's massive body accelerated, racing toward the distant horizon. It moved so fast that it turned into a tiny black dot in the blink of an eye.
The people below had just relaxed slightly because of the dragon's departure, and Rem instinctively wanted to step forward to check on "Subaru's" condition.
In that extremely brief moment when the dragon accelerated and its body tilted slightly, perfectly blocking the view of the people below—
Swoosh!
Hidden by the dragon's massive body, the people below couldn't see what was happening on its back.
The next moment.
"Argh!"
A shrill scream of agony drifted from the direction of the dragon, which had almost become a small dot.
At this moment, from "Subaru's" perspective, a short figure was faintly visible stumbling on the dragon's back, a bloody hole clearly having been pierced right through his right arm. Dark red blood sprayed from both sides of his arm like a fountain.
It was that dagger!
To think that at such a vast distance, without a line of sight, and with the target moving at high speed... it had with unerring precision pierced right through the right arm of the Sin Archbishop representing Gluttony, Roy Alphard, who had just been making threats.
On the ground.
"Subaru" lowered the arm she had used to throw the dagger, her blood-red eyes shifting to the sky above her.
"Move out of the way, please!"
A hurried shout, accompanied by a sharp sonic boom, suddenly came from high above.
Everyone instinctively looked up. In the blue sky, a tiny black dot was rapidly enlarging in their vision.
It was a person!
"Tsukasa?!"
Rem was the first to recognize the figure. Her eyes widened, and she gasped in shock.
Tsukasa maintained a diving posture, his white hair trailing behind him in a straight line.
However, what shocked everyone even more was that he was actually carrying someone in his right hand. It was a man in silver-white armor with short, flame-red hair—the current Sword Saint, Reinhard van Astrea.
At this moment, a look of extreme shock and a hint of lingering confusion remained on Reinhard's face. Clearly, he hadn't fully reacted to this sudden high-speed transport.
But he still maintained the poise of the Sword Saint, though his armor was covered in a bit more dust and scuff marks.
Whoosh!
Tsukasa's figure "nailed" itself onto the scorched earth in front of everyone without any buffer, yet he didn't kick up much dust.
He released his right hand, and Reinhard landed steadily. His movements were slightly stiff, but he still stood perfectly upright.
From the appearance of the black dot to the two of them landing, the entire process was as fast as a flash of lightning, so fast that most people hadn't even had time to blink.
"Yo, long time no see."
Tsukasa steadied himself, a slightly lazy smile appearing on his face.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he looked around, his gaze quickly sweeping over the messy battlefield, the remaining corpses of the Witch Cultists, and the people who had clearly been through a hard fight.
He asked, "Where are they?"
"They've already fled."
The one who answered him wasn't Rem, who looked happy and wanted to speak, nor was it the shaken mercenaries of the Iron Fang.
It was "Subaru," who had been standing silently in the center of the battlefield, her body still radiating a cold murderous intent.
Her voice was deep and entirely different from her usual gentle tone. Every word was laced with cold indifference and an indescribable ferocity.
Tsukasa's eyebrow twitched. He turned his head, his gaze falling upon "Subaru" whose temperament had changed drastically.