Alice had never witnessed magic like this in her entire life. In that split second, she had been subjected to a vision of hell.
Thanks to her immense magical reserves, she managed to forcibly break free from the illusion, but even so...
...the mental trauma was profound. It was only then that she finally grasped the sheer, terrifying magnitude of the man standing before her.
Her composure shattered.
"How could you do this??" she cried out. "I recognize your strength now, but taking it this far...!"
"I just exchanged a few harsh words with you! Why would you just slaughter them like that?? They... they were my comrades!"
Lucy was horrified, completely blindsided by how fast everything went south. If she had known it would turn into a bloodbath, she never would have brought Shin here. Now she was caught in a nightmare—on one side was her newly adopted brother, and on the other was her flesh-and-blood sister.
How was she supposed to mediate this? There was absolutely no way to de-escalate the situation now.
She looked frantically between Shin and Alice, a sudden realization hitting her. "Alice, please, don't lose your temper! Whatever you do, don't provoke him! If you push him any further, the survivors are going to die!"
"Him? I am going to rip him apart!" Alice screamed.
Right then, Shin's eyes morphed again. He swept his eerie gaze over the remaining survivors still twitching on the floor. A dark smile crept onto his face. "It's time you paid the price for your arrogance."
"You're an absolute nightmare to deal with. I get that you had a serious problem with me right out of the gate."
"But you should have realized one simple fact—I'm not the forgiving type. You kept pushing and pushing my buttons. What exactly did you expect me to do?"
"So, I made a decision. I'm going to level your precious guild and show you the real gap in our power. I'm going to make you wish you were dead, you hear me?"
"Now, witness what true despair looks like."
His voice dropped to a deadly whisper. "Amaterasu."
In an instant, jet-black flames erupted on every single person in the room—except for Lucy. The inextinguishable black fire clung to their bodies, completely immune to their desperate attempts to put it out.
Alice fully understood now. The man in front of her wasn't just strong, his power was overwhelmingly monstrous. But even knowing that...
...she refused to surrender. Yet, as she watched her guildmates being incinerated one by one, a crushing sense of helplessness washed over her. She couldn't do a damn thing to save them.
Because the black flames eating away at her own body were taking a massive toll.
"God Slayer Magic: Devour!"
Slowly, the black flames gnawing at Alice's body were sucked away and extinguished.
But by the time she cleared the fire from herself, she was entirely alone. Shin's flames had reduced every last guild member around her to ash.
In that agonizing moment, absolute despair swallowed Alice whole. She wielded incredible magic, but it had all been utterly useless. Every single person here died because of her arrogance.
She couldn't wrap her head around it. This man didn't possess a single trace of magic power—how could he be this godly? She remembered Lucy desperately trying to warn her about his strength. But... it was too late.
She fixed Shin with a look of venomous hatred. "I swear to God, I am going to slaughter you."
Shin merely smirked. "To be honest, I kind of like that fiery attitude of yours. But you're forgetting one crucial detail."
"Where does your sister fit into all this? She's basically my little sister now, too. And for the record, our dynamic isn't what you cooked up in that paranoid head of yours. She was the one who insisted on following me, not the other way around."
"Not that anything I say matters to you. Still, some things are a lot darker than you think."
"So let's play this out. You accused me of brainwashing your sister, right? Well, let me show you something. If I wanted to claim her, I wouldn't need to resort to some elaborate con."
"What I'm about to do will give you a front-row seat to my real methods. I can turn your sister into a mindless puppet with minimal effort. It wasn't my first choice..."
"...but you forced my hand. I never planned for things to escalate to this bloodbath, but make no mistake—this is entirely on you."
He shifted his gaze to Lucy, flashing a dark, chilling smile. "Now then... submit, and become my slave."
"Kotoamatsukami."
In a flash, it was as if Lucy's mind had been completely hollowed out. Her eyes went blank, locking onto Shin.
Shin spoke in a calm, commanding tone. "From this moment forward, you are my slave. Understood?"
"Yes, Master," she replied in a hollow, robotic voice.
It was only then that Alice truly comprehended the horrific depths of Shin's power. She stared at him, trembling with rage.
"You are a dead man walking."
Driven completely over the edge by his sheer sadism, Alice snapped. She whipped out her longsword, her magic flaring violently.
"God Slayer Magic: All-Devouring Void!"
A monstrous surge of magical energy coalesced, tearing open a massive black hole right in front of Shin.
Shin eyed Alice with genuine surprise. Magic of this caliber... it bordered on the power of a God of Death.
'No wonder she's so highly regarded,' he thought. 'It seems I really did underestimate this Alice.'
His expression grew serious. "I am going to force you into absolute submission today. I want you to watch as everything you hold dear is completely annihilated by my hands."
"I want to know exactly how that makes you feel. Consider this my personal revenge for your disrespect."
"God Slayer Magic truly lives up to its name... I admit I underestimated you, but raw power alone isn't going to cut it."
"Let's find out exactly what you're made of."
He slowly closed his eyes.
"Hollowfication. Bankai: First Form—Invincible Thunder."
Instantly, an apocalyptic surge of power erupted from Shin's body. It was then that a stark realization hit Alice. The man standing before her might lack conventional magic, but his sheer, terrifying strength existed in a completely different dimension.
She stared at Shin in horror. With a single, devastating swing of his blade, he cleaved straight through her magical vortex. She was so stunned that her mind failed to process the counterattack.
Before she could even react, she felt a sickening sensation—her arm had been cleanly severed from her body. The explosive, agonizing pain instantly shattered her will to fight, dropping her heavily to her knees on the ground.
"WHAT IS THIS?? IT HURTS! HE'S TOO FAST!" she gasped in agony, clutching her bleeding shoulder. Looking up, she realized Shin wasn't going to let her off the hook, coming to the chilling realization that the devastating strike had been born of pure physical strength.
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