Within the flames, three screaming figures staggered back to their feet like corpses crawling out of purgatory.
Noah was not surprised.
He tossed aside the small piece of stone he had used as ammunition and murmured, "A Bombard formula made from materials like this can only threaten some mid-tier Lv.2 opponents at best."
The Annihilator he had constructed from soul energy was also weaker than the original version made from valuable materials.
Besides, none of those three were ordinary thugs.
Every one of them was stronger than Bols.
Sending all three after a single target had probably been nothing more than entertainment.
Their expressions earlier had made that obvious.
"They're no different from those idiots in Evilus—apes incapable of restraining even their most primitive desires."
Memories of his past clashes with Evilus surfaced, and Noah's gaze toward the three men turned colder.
He altered both the strength and direction of gravity around his body, then added wind as propulsion.
A distance of just over a kilometer vanished in the blink of an eye.
"Keep your foot safe, Bols. I'll reattach it later. For now, take your family aside and watch."
The moment Noah appeared, Bols understood who had been responsible for all the inexplicable events.
Noah was as mysterious as ever.
Still worried, Bols asked, "Can you really handle them alone?"
Noah walked past him and left only two words behind.
"Stop fussing."
Noticing that Bols's wife was barely clothed, Noah raised one hand. Gravity tore up nearby plants and arranged them in front of him.
He would use Construct and Temper together.
This time, however, he was not trying to create something hard or durable. The result needed to be delicate, soft, and reasonably breathable.
The plants were analyzed through Appraisal and separated into countless thin strips.
Those strips were refined into fibers while every impurity was removed.
White light enveloped the material.
Under Noah's control, it rapidly took the shape of a woman's dress.
Complete.
Noah caught the finished garment.
"Appraisal."
[Women's Linen Dress]
・Creator: Noah
・Quality: Trash
・Materials: Wild grass (14%), leaves (35%), tree bark (22%), miscellaneous plant matter (29%)
・The impurity-free fibers make this dress more comfortable than silk. Its natural materials and dyes give it an exceptional environmental rating. However, it provides no defensive value whatsoever and is a completely superficial failure as armor.
Noah stared at the result.
'Is Truthseeker having one of those days?'
That assessment was unnecessarily harsh.
"You turned weeds into clothes..." Bols said, stunned.
Even his daughter temporarily forgot her fear and stared wide-eyed at the garment in Noah's hands.
His wife was even more speechless.
Even ignoring the parts she could not understand, it was the most beautiful dress she had ever seen.
Noah handed it to Bols, who immediately used his large frame to shield his wife while she changed.
Crack!
The scorched wood beneath Enshin, Izou, and Champ split apart.
In less than ten seconds, the flames produced by Bombard had already been extinguished.
"Oh?"
They were in better condition than Noah expected.
All three had suffered only minor injuries.
Their eyes were filled with murderous intent, but Noah regarded them with complete indifference.
His attention settled on the spheres circling Champ. They radiated dense elemental power.
A Teigu, most likely.
"My, my. If Champ couldn't create ice and storms, we might've suffered rather badly," Enshin said, putting on a troubled expression.
"Honestly, why does someone always have to appear and spoil our fun?"
In reality, he was already struggling to contain his urge to kill.
Beside him, Izou drew his sword.
"Wait, Lord Enshin. Allow me to kill him."
The swordsman's expression was deadly serious.
"Kousetsu thirsts for blood. I must offer it some immediately."
Izou's obsession with the blade in his hands was obvious.
Noah looked at him and spoke bluntly.
"Are you an idiot? That scrap of metal doesn't possess consciousness. How could it possibly express desire?"
"You're merely projecting your own delusions onto it."
"..."
The area suddenly fell silent.
Only the occasional pop of overheated wood could be heard.
Enshin and Champ exchanged glances.
They had privately thought the same thing.
Izou talking to his sword every day had always seemed deeply abnormal, but neither had dared say it aloud.
Now an enemy had mercilessly stated the obvious.
It was almost funny!
Unfortunately, Izou had no interest in tormenting people. Noah would probably be cut into pieces within moments.
Izou would need to kill at least several hundred people before calming down now.
More importantly, he had to kill the man who insulted Kousetsu.
"What a terrifying bloodlust..." Bols murmured.
He endured the agony of his severed foot and gently reassured his family.
"Move farther away. Don't worry. Dad will protect both of you."
"Die!"
Driven by rage, Izou gripped his sword with both hands—something he rarely did.
With his physical strength, he could split a bull in half even while holding the sword between only two fingers.
Normally, he wielded Kousetsu one-handed to emphasize the blade's sharpness.
This time, fury made him use both hands. He intended to cut Noah completely in two.
As Izou charged, Noah calmly manifested Kurogane Ikki's Device.
Intetsu.
When wielded by Kurogane Ikki himself, Intetsu could not produce power above F-Rank because Ikki's mana capacity was the lowest possible rank.
Aside from its appearance, however, the blade Noah created was completely different in performance.
Izou swung with all his strength.
Noah met the strike with what appeared to be a slow, effortless movement.
The moment the two blades collided, Izou stopped dead.
Disappointment appeared in Noah's eyes.
Invisible vibrations traveled through the sword and entered Izou's body.
A moment later, the swordsman discovered that he could no longer move.
Noah withdrew his blade.
Izou remained frozen in the exact position of their clash.
If someone could see inside his body, they would discover that every muscle had gone out of control under the violent vibration.
"Third-rate..." Noah considered it briefly. "No, perhaps barely second-rate."
He gave the judgment as casually as commenting on the weather.
In pure swordsmanship, Kurogane Ikki was vastly superior to this man.
"What did you say?"
Seeing that Izou remained unconvinced, Noah kindly explained.
"You don't even understand what happened."
"Watch."
He raised Intetsu and held its tip less than three centimeters from Izou's pupil.
Izou flinched, his attention instinctively locking onto the point before his eye.
It was moving.
And incredibly fast!
Vibrating?
"Impact Sword. The blade vibrates, and at the moment the weapons meet, that vibration passes through the opponent's weapon and into their body."
"Depending on how it's applied, it can paralyze the entire body or destroy internal organs."
"The impact can also be restricted to the hand to disarm an opponent, or concentrated entirely within the weapon to destroy it."
"Like this."
Izou's eyes widened.
Was he planning to—
Noah reversed his grip and flicked the blade upward.
The immobilized Izou could not stop Kousetsu from being knocked into the air.
"No—wait!"
Noah aimed at the spinning sword and slashed.
Kousetsu shattered into fragments that scattered through the air.
"Aaah!"
Izou watched his beloved blade break apart before his eyes, his expression filled with unbearable grief.
"What? He defeated Izou that easily?" Enshin exclaimed.
He immediately signaled Champ with his eyes.
Champ understood.
Without warning, he produced several spheres from somewhere beneath his clothing.
One of them used Izou's body as cover as it flew toward Noah.
Champ's Teigu was Quick Toss: Die Leaguer, more commonly known as the Six Orbs Teigu.
It consisted of six spherical jewels, each with its own name and elemental property.
The one he had just thrown was the Storm Orb.
At the same moment, Enshin drew a curved blade from behind his back.
The Storm Orb moved quickly, landing between Noah and Izou before releasing a violent cyclone.
The wind forced Noah backward and allowed Izou to return to his companions.
However, Izou remained trapped in the shock of seeing his cherished sword destroyed and barely reacted to anything around him.
"Tch. What a useless bastard."
Seeing Izou's pathetic condition, Enshin began regretting saving him.
"Heh. I never expected the Jaegers to have someone this strong besides Esdeath."
"Strong?"
Noah sighed.
"Compared to you, perhaps I am slightly stronger."
Combat was not merely a comparison of attributes.
One needed enough offensive power to kill, the precision to land that attack, the defense to survive the enemy's response, and the speed and perception necessary to avoid danger.
Those things were merely the foundation.
If physical ability alone decided victory, then even without Falna, plenty of people in this world surpassed Noah.
But those people did not possess mana, formulas, skills, magical weapons, or potions.
When fighting seriously, Noah was the type who exhausted every available option.
Any weapon, potion, or preparation that could be arranged beforehand would be prepared as thoroughly as possible.
Had the earlier attacks been produced by the true Creation Breaker and a full-strength Bombard formula, even a Lv.4 could not have ignored them.
Against enemies like Champ and Enshin, one proper Bombard would normally have settled everything.
Judging from the elemental traces still in the air, Champ had created both an ice wall and a cyclone the instant Bombard struck.
'So this was the Six Orbs Teigu.'
In some respects, it resembled Noah's own abilities.
The difference was that Champ could manipulate only the six elements contained within the Teigu.
Noah could manipulate all of them.
He dismissed Intetsu and manifested two handguns.
Whenever Champ threw one of the elemental orbs, Noah fired mana rounds and struck it precisely in midair.
He had already identified the Six Orbs' weakness.
After every throw, each orb automatically returned to its owner.
Used properly, that trait alone was enough to decide the battle.
"What the hell?"
Champ grew irritated.
The two most destructive orbs required a direct hit before their powers could fully activate.
But what were those guns?
Their shots were strong enough to alter the orbs' trajectories, could be fired continuously, and did not appear to require ammunition.
Champ had never seen firearms like them.
The accuracy was even more absurd.
He did not understand that Noah's Sure-Hit formula could drastically correct the path of any projectile within his field of vision, much like Tsukushi's Shingu, Prometheus.
A bullet aimed north could practically turn around and strike something to the south.
'The formula is complete, though it still isn't perfect. An instant kill probably isn't possible.'
Noah calculated how long it would take the Storm Orb to return to Champ.
Perhaps his gaze was too obvious, because Enshin suddenly shouted, "Something's wrong! Don't let the Teigu come back!"
Champ froze.
Unfortunately, that was not something he could control.
Once thrown, the orbs always returned automatically.
Besides, why should he avoid catching it?
As he wondered, the Storm Orb flew back toward him while flashing with red light.
'Wait.'
Red light?
Why was the Storm Orb glowing red?
Spellweaver could directly manipulate mana, including the mana bullets Noah fired.
If those bullets could be transformed into formulas and engraved onto the returning elemental orbs, then each orb could be turned into a bomb.
Snap!
Noah clicked his fingers.
Boom!
Flames erupted from the Storm Orb.
Despite Enshin's warning, the entire left side of Champ's head and face was caught in the fire.
"Aaaaaah!"
The clown screamed and threw himself to the ground, rubbing his face desperately against the dirt.
It took more than ten seconds to extinguish the flames.
By then, the skin covering half his head and face had been burned black and ruined.
"Hey! Get up! I'll help you!"
Enshin finally entered the fight seriously.
He stepped forward and began moving the curved sword in a fluid pattern, almost like a dancer.
Each sweep released a blade of compressed air.
Noah was extremely familiar with that technique.
Wind Blade.
It was the first wind spell most wind users learned in the Blazer world.
It had also once been Noah's signature formula—the technique that earned him the title of Calamity.
He dismissed the handguns.
Reconstruction.
Ravenfeather manifested in his hand.
In the blink of an eye, Noah released hundreds of wind blades toward Enshin.
The attack covered such a broad area that Champ and Izou were swallowed by it as well.
"This is impossible!"
How many different abilities had this man already used?
What exactly was he?
Was there no limit to him?
Enshin watched his handful of Wind Blades collapse instantly and become absorbed into the tidal wave of slashes rushing toward him.
Screaming, he turned and ran.
Champ had also lost every trace of anger. Terror had completely broken his courage, leaving only the desperate urge to escape.
He hurriedly threw the Storm Orb and created a cyclone, using it to resist the incoming storm of blades.
Then the three men fled without looking back, scrambling so desperately that they were practically running on all fours.
It was an appearance perfectly suited to beasts like them.