**********
When the spectators witnessed the sudden pause between the two fighters, hushed murmurs spread rapidly among them.
"Huh? What just happened?"
"Is the fight… over?"
"That doesn't look right at all! Look at that man—Fenix looks furious!"
"What's going to happen now?"
"Well, I guess we'll find out soon enough…"
The noise of gossip swelled like an incoming tide, each voice feeding into another. Still, the two men standing at the center of the ruined street paid no attention to the murmurs around them. Their focus had narrowed to nothing but the figure standing opposite them.
Fenix's chest rose and fell erratically.
Something in his expression twisted—not just rage, but something closer to unrestrained malice.
Slowly, deliberately, he reached behind him and gripped the handle of his hammer.
The moment metal scraped against leather, a sharp chill ran through the air.
Without a word, Fenix launched himself forward.
This time, there was no restraint.
A suffocating killing intent burst forth as he swung his hammer down with full force, his power no longer concealed. The sheer pressure of the attack made several spectators instinctively step back, their knees weakening at the wave of hostility rolling outward.
"Let's see if you can dodge this!" Fenix roared. "Remember well—an E‑Ranker like you is nothing but an ant! Easily crushed!"
Ryan's instincts screamed.
From the moment the hammer was raised, he felt it—something unnatural entwined with the man's aura. During their earlier exchanges, when they fought bare‑handed, Ryan had already sensed it faintly, like a shadow lurking beneath aggression.
Now, it was unmistakable.
Dark.
Heavy.
Wrong.
That aura… this isn't normal, Ryan realized grimly. This isn't just anger.
He didn't know whether his eyes had deceived him earlier, but now there was no room for doubt. Whatever clung to Fenix was not something born from mere human emotion.
This isn't the time to think, Ryan told himself sharply. I need to act.
He shifted his stance, preparing to counter.
Normal swordsmanship wouldn't be enough—not against something like this. To stop that hammer, he would need to draw out strength he had deliberately sealed away.
And if he did—
His identity would be exposed.
Not just to the guards.
Not just to the crowd.
But to her.
Damn it…
Ryan clenched his fist, bracing himself as Fenix closed the distance with terrifying speed.
Is he really planning to kill someone in broad daylight?!
The hammer descended.
And then—
"AHHHH!"
The scream tore through the street.
Ryan flinched in shock.
He hadn't moved yet.
Before he could process what happened, a familiar silhouette appeared in front of him.
Scarlette.
The crimson-haired woman stood calmly between Ryan and the incoming strike, her arm raised, one finger extended.
The hammer collided with it.
BOOOOM!
A deafening explosion shook the ground.
The hammer shattered instantly.
Metal fragmented into shards, the head splintering apart as the handle disintegrated into nothing but dust. The force of the collision blasted outward, sending debris flying across the immediate area.
Screams erupted.
Guards rushed forward, shielding stunned onlookers as civilians ran for cover. Shattered fragments clanged against stone walls and carts, scattering chaos through the street.
But before anyone could be harmed—
A translucent barrier expanded outward from the center of the impact.
The magical shield enveloped the nearby crowd, stopping every shard midair before letting them drop harmlessly to the ground. The guards barely had time to react before realizing they had been protected.
"What—?! A barrier?!"
"Who cast that?!"
"That spell was instantaneous…"
As panic began to subside, eyes slowly turned back toward the center of the devastation.
There stood the crimson-haired woman.
Calm.
Unshaken.
Unmoved.
Only faint cracks in the stone beneath her feet hinted at the overwhelming force she had just negated.
Asterion cursed softly under his breath.
'Damn it… she stepped in.'
The moment Scarlette intervened; relief and frustration warred inside him.
Thank Nexus she cast a barrier first, he thought sharply. If she hadn't, people would've been badly hurt.
He knew better than anyone how dangerous uncontrolled fragments could be. A single shard could spell death for an unprotected civilian.
And yet—
Why now?
Asterion forced himself to stay hidden among the spectators, lowering his presence so no one would recognize him. Every instinct screamed at him to step forward—to take control of the situation.
But Scarlette's earlier warning echoed in his mind.
This isn't your role.
His mission came first.
His secrecy came first.
Even so, his attention snapped to his chest.
The instant Fenix released that killing intent, Lunaris Astra reacted.
Violently.
Asterion's breath caught as the pendant beneath his clothes pulsed sharply—hot, urgent, far stronger than anything he had felt before. It wasn't reacting to Scarlette this time.
It was reacting to that man.
"What in the…?" Asterion muttered, glancing instinctively toward Scarlette.
Yet the reaction didn't subside.
If anything, it intensified when his gaze shifted toward the bulky adventurer whose hammer had just been destroyed.
Not her… him, Asterion realized.
The sensation crawling across his skin felt wrong—like the pendant was repulsed, alarmed, furious.
Or—hungry.
What are you reacting to? he thought, heart pounding. What do you want?
Asterion clenched his jaw and focused on Fenix.
That was when he saw it.
Beneath the rage, beneath the hostility, something dark coiled within the man's aura. It clung unnaturally, thick and oppressive, unlike anything produced by ordinary aggression.
Asterion's eyes narrowed.
'I know that aura…'
Recognition clawed at the edge of his thoughts.
Not clearly. Not fully.
But instinct screamed that whatever this was—it did not belong.
Is that why she intervened?
Scarlette hadn't stepped in earlier. She waited—observed—calculated.
That meant something crossed a line.
Before Asterion could piece it together, the crowd's murmurs erupted into something louder.
"Did you see that?!"
"She stopped the hammer with one finger!"
"That barrier… only one person could do that!"
"Look at her!"
"Isn't that—?!"
Then the inevitable happened.
"It's Lady Scarlette Overland!"
The shout cut through the chaos.
Asterion winced.
'Damn it. She's exposed.'
Scarlette's hood had been torn away in the blast.
Her black veil fluttered in the settling dust, revealing her unmistakable features—fiery crimson hair cascading down her shoulders, and those unique, mismatched crimson lilac-colored eyes that no one who had seen her would ever forget.
Recognition blasted through the crowd.
There was no mistaking her now.
Since her hood had been pulled off and everyone saw her signature black veil and her fiery, crimson-colored hair with her unique mismatched crimson lilac-colored eyes, they had confirmed who she was.
*********