Published: January 24, 2026
The rubble and surface consumed by the pitch-black mana vanished, and right before Orun’s eyes, the land literally transformed into a pristine, blank slate.
—But the sword he swung down was stopped by something.
Almost simultaneously as Orun sensed it, a spiraling stream of water, like a drill, surged toward him.
Orun barely reacted in time to dodge.
However, the water twisted like a snake and pierced his side.
“—Ugh...!”
Stig, unharmed, appeared from within the scattered pitch-black mana ahead and flicked Orun’s forehead with his finger.
Despite the shock strong enough to have made a hole in his forehead, Orun was forcefully flung backward.
“An attack that just scatters mana? That’s so childish.”
Stig, who had knocked Orun away and didn’t even glance back at him, murmured while gazing at the freshly cleared land behind.
Orun, staggering from being thrown, struggled to stand.
“Oh…”
Stig let out a voice of admiration.
His gaze was fixed on Orun’s side, where the water had pierced him.
Yet there was no trace of penetration on that side (………).
Not only his body but even his uniform had returned to its original state.
Orun’s eyes burned with fury, and the air around him seemed to tremble as if his anger were spreading.
“Did you do that deliberately? Or was it unconscious?”
Even facing Orun like this, Stig calmly asked in a voice full of composure.
Orun naturally didn’t answer and said instead,
“—【Demonic Sword Unification (Alteration)】, 【Sixth Form (Mont Zex)】.”
He transformed the Schwarzhase into a magical bow, concentrating mana into an arrow and nocked it.
“—Li Tian.”
He fired the arrow, so concentrated it distorted the space.
The sphere formed by the destructive torrent of mana and gravity engulfed Stig.
The attack seemed excessive for just one person, but Orun didn’t let up.
“—【Seventh Form (Mont Sieben)】.”
He transformed the magical bow into a demon blade.
Reflecting the wind spirit’s traits, a pitch-black wind swirled around the blade.
“—Fuuma’s Great Sword!”
Countless black slashes carried on the wind cut through the destructive sphere.
“Why has it come to this...”
After finishing his attack, Orun couldn’t help but let out a voice.
“That’s simple and clear. Because you belong to the silver rabbits of the night sky.”
“—!?”
Orun turned his face in surprise toward the voice.
There stood Stig, unmoved from where he was, completely unchanged from before the attack.
“…What do you mean by that?”
“As I said. Our objective this time is the annihilation of Orun Dura.”
“...Huh?”
Hearing Stig’s words, Orun let out a foolish voice.
In his mind, his assassination and the Tsutolairu attack were not connected.
Sensing this, Stig added further.
“You are an extremely troublesome existence for us. And yet, we cannot kill you by normal means. Despite me piercing your side, it’s somehow (……) as if it never happened.”
Orun looked down at his abdomen.
Overwhelmed by anger, he noticed not only was the wound on his side sealed, but even the hole in his uniform had disappeared.
(I’ve seen this phenomenon somewhere before… That’s right, when I fought Shion a year ago, his injuries and clothes were restored without him noticing. But that’s because Shion possesses the supernatural ability of [Time Reversal]—ugh…grgh…)
As he pondered, a heavy headache struck him again.
Pressing his head to endure the pain, Orun listened as Stig continued.
“That’s why we thought carefully about how to kill you. The answer we arrived at was to break your mind. If you yourself wish to die, your supernatural ability should grant that.”
“My… supernatural ability...? Ugh...!”
Orun’s headache intensified as he listened.
“Do you see that?”
Saying so, Stig averted his gaze from Orun.
Following his gaze, there was a red translucent barrier surrounding the silver rabbits of the night sky.
“Inside that barrier, the people of the silver rabbits of the night sky are trapped.”