The difference in strength decided who stood as the predator and who became the prey.
Even if a person failed to realize it immediately, the body—or perhaps instinct—would sense the gap between oneself and the enemy first.
The moment Noah showed hostility, the instincts of everyone present had already begun warning their bodies, trying to make them recognize the enemy's strength.
Perhaps only Noah knew it.
After this battle began, the heartbeats of everyone on Najenda's side had increased by twenty percent and were gradually approaching thirty percent.
Their muscles had also become stiff and tense, making their movements less smooth.
This was their instinct at work.
Now, Noah had pointed out that phenomenon with words.
Najenda immediately felt a chill run down her back.
A faint mechanical sound came from the cannon in her hand.
She lowered her head and only then discovered that the sound had come from her own trembling hand.
"Huey... Losser..."
The former Imperial general looked at Losser, who had been killed in the blink of an eye, and at Huey's body beside them, which had yet to go cold. Her eyes were filled with pain.
They were not only comrades-in-arms, but friends, and like-minded companions.
These brave, intelligent, promising warriors who carried their own honor had been willing to follow her.
To Najenda, that had been the greatest recognition and blessing.
But what had it led to?
Their ambitions had died before they could even begin.
They had not even raised their banner yet, and two of their five had already died miserably before one another's eyes!
"You bastard!! How dare you!!"
"Wait, Jeffman! Don't act rashly!"
Ignoring Najenda's order, Jeffman poured a large amount of life force into his curved-blade Teigu, causing the red light on the blades to flare brilliantly.
He seemed to have almost lost his rationality, but in reality, he planned to deliberately reveal a false opening and use that to lure out Noah's own flaw.
There was no other way.
Because from earlier onward, he had suddenly realized that this boy had no openings at all.
The experience he had accumulated from facing enemies in the past was completely useless against him.
In that case, he would create an opening!
He would exchange his own injury for a single instant of carelessness from the opponent.
It was a killing tactic only a warrior who had survived countless near-death experiences on the battlefield could understand.
Or rather, it was a tactic.
As his superior and comrade-in-arms, Najenda saw Jeffman's plan at a glance.
But the bad premonition in her heart grew stronger and stronger, forcing her to follow her instincts and shout to stop him.
Noah watched him calmly, like an audience member judging whether an actor onstage was qualified.
However, judging from his expression, which showed not the slightest fluctuation, Jeffman was clearly a third-rate actor at best.
Noah saw through his intent.
The instant Jeffman entered Weaver's domain, a slope of earth manipulated by Noah tripped him, causing him to lose balance.
As a veteran of countless battles, Jeffman naturally would not make a mistake when observing terrain.
But if one chose to focus on an enemy on the horizon, one would inevitably lose sight of what was directly beneath the feet.
Noah made the ground rise into a slope, and Jeffman kicked his toes straight into it.
His body, moving at high speed, immediately tilted.
Of course, he would not fall so easily.
He planted both fists against the ground, violently rebounding into the air. After two rotations, he changed direction and launched another attack.
In terms of reaction speed and method, Jeffman was qualified.
But all of this had been guided by Noah, not done deliberately by Jeffman.
Therefore, between the two of them, the only one who could correctly predict what would happen next was Noah.
"Tch!"
Najenda quickly pulled the trigger.
Roman Artillery: Pumpkin released a powerful laser as the intense beam locking onto Noah.
Noah had already prepared for it.
Two walls of earth rose directly from the ground, blocking the laser's path.
The earth walls were more than ten centimeters thick, and under Noah's control, various mineral elements had been mixed into them.
Even an attack from a Teigu only blasted holes more than five centimeters deep into the walls.
Although Roman Artillery: Pumpkin and Tsukushi's Prometheus were both gun-type weapons, one was a Teigu while the other was a Shingu.
In terms of power, Prometheus was only at an ordinary level.
Aside from allowing the user to manipulate the bullet's trajectory through mental control, it was simply a large-caliber handgun.
By comparison, Roman Artillery did not require physical bullets. It transformed mental energy into shockwaves and fired them.
From the method of energy conversion alone, the difference between the two was already like heaven and hell.
However, any comparison could not be limited to only one aspect.
For example, the current situation.
Najenda could not destroy the earth walls quickly enough to threaten Noah, nor could she bypass them in a short time, because the shockwaves fired by Roman Artillery could only travel along the path of aim.
Once that path was blocked, aside from suppressive fire, they had no further meaning.
Most attack methods were like that.
Jeffman was in midair, unable to move, completely exposed as a live target.
Najenda knew that with the several abilities Noah had already displayed, he could easily kill Jeffman while he had no way to dodge in midair.
Even Jeffman's resolve to die together with him would probably achieve nothing.
Thinking this, her thoughts tangled into a knot.
Was there any way?
How could she save Jeffman?
Or was Jeffman also doomed to die, just like Huey and Losser?
Damn it.
Had starting a battle with Sir Noah been a mistake?
He had actually hidden such terrifying power, and his methods were so cold and merciless that he was almost like Esdeath.
Moreover, from the start of the battle until now, two people on her side had already been sacrificed, yet they still had not even figured out what his Teigu was!
This could not be called a battle at all.
She had believed that, with their advantage in numbers, they could easily take Noah down. But reality showed that they were helpless against him.
At this rate...
There was even a possibility they would all be wiped out!
"Damn it!"
Najenda's gaze fell on the figure swinging his twin blades in midair.
A flash of electricity seemed to tear through her mind.
Then, as if possessed, she aimed the cannon in her hand at her own comrade.
At the same time, Noah also brought two fingers together and compressed a wind blade.
He intended to use that wind blade to split Jeffman in two.
A compressed wind blade could cut through steel bars, let alone the mere flesh and blood of a human body.
If struck by a wind blade carrying a lethal frequency, it would be no different from being cut by a high-frequency blade. The body would be divided in half in an instant.
Jeffman looked at Noah's indifferent face and knew he had made a fatal mistake.
He gritted his teeth and threw one of his curved blades at Noah.
Faced with what could almost be called a desperate attack, Noah did not grow careless. He knocked it far away.
'Damn it!'
'Even that could be blocked?'
Jeffman felt every pore on his scalp open, cold air seeming to pour out of them.
Was he going to die?
Noah swung down his joined fingers, and the almost solid cyan wind blade fell straight toward Jeffman's face.
At that critical instant, a beam of light that pierced across the battlefield made its dazzling entrance.
Under Noah's surprised gaze, Jeffman was struck by that flash of light and sent flying.
The wind blade was much slower than that flash, and it only cut off two of Jeffman's toes.
"This is..."
Noah watched Jeffman get carried dozens of meters away by that force and did not chase after him.
With a thought, the earth walls collapsed.
Then he looked in Najenda's direction.
Najenda was covered in cold sweat as she held down the Teigu in her hands.
A wisp of smoke rose from Roman Artillery's muzzle.
"You couldn't attack me, so you attacked your own comrade and pushed him out of my attack range?" Noah looked at Najenda, feeling genuine admiration.
Her judgment, decisiveness, and grasp of the situation were truly impressive.
By comparison, perhaps the sheer variety of his own abilities had instead limited the breadth of his thinking.
"Hans! Protect me!"
After throwing down those words, Najenda rushed straight out from behind the shield man.
The shield-type Teigu user named Hans sighed at the sight, but immediately followed her pace.
A user of a long-range Teigu was taking the initiative to shorten the distance?
Noah gathered ice elements and generated more than ten frozen blades, hurling them toward Najenda.
Suddenly, Najenda came to a stop.
She raised the gun-type Teigu in her hands and, in a few movements, removed the muzzle section of the cannon.
Facing more than ten ice weapons flying toward her, there was not the slightest fear on her face.
Because her reliable comrade was at her side.
The man named Hans raised his shield and flashed in front of Najenda.
The ice weapons, which were flying at extremely high speed, shattered one after another upon striking the shield Teigu.
From the way they broke, it did not seem as if they had shattered from the impact. Instead, it was more like they had been broken down by some kind of force.
Noah watched this phenomenon with a hint of interest in his eyes.
The energy had been absorbed.
It had all entered that shield.
Adding in what had been absorbed earlier, the shield had already stored a certain amount of energy, yet the man named Hans had not used that energy at all.
Was he planning to save it as a trump card?
In any case, that was undoubtedly their tactic.
As Noah analyzed this, he saw a figure step out from behind Hans.
It was Najenda.
She held the Teigu level, her body slightly lowered.
Seeing her shooting posture, Noah sharply noticed the difference.
"The movement is different. And that Teigu... did it transform?"
The structure of Roman Artillery: Pumpkin was now quite different from before.
The muzzle section had completely changed shape.
Before he could think further, Najenda had already pulled the trigger.
Flames spat from the muzzle.
A continuous chain of fire connected into a single line.
Noah moved his foot, and his entire body instantly turned into a gust of wind, darting left and right.
The dense flashes of fire chased his movement path, accurately striking every point where he landed.
Because his own movement speed was not slow compared to the speed of the projectiles, and because he held the initiative, the barrage of shots failed to harm him in the slightest.
"So that's how it works."
By changing the muzzle component, it could change the shooting method and type of ammunition.
As expected of a Teigu.
In a certain sense, it was only natural that it could do such a thing.
In this mode, Roman Artillery: Pumpkin's projectile had changed from a powerful beam that could not fire rapidly into small ammunition with excellent rapid-fire performance and a form similar to physical bullets.
She had taken the initiative to shorten the distance earlier because this mode was better suited for mid-range fire suppression than long-range combat.
At the same time, because the distance between them had been reduced, Pumpkin's characteristics had been triggered, increasing its power again.
If he were hit by four or five shots in one go, he would probably be in trouble.
The key was that once he took one hit, his body would fall into a stiffened state, and he might lose the ability to resist from there.
In the end, it had appeared.
A type that could be considered a counter to him.
Truthseeker could help him stay one step ahead in an information war, or even ten or a hundred steps ahead.
And relying on the experience brought by Truthseeker, he possessed martial skill that made it difficult for him to be suppressed in close combat.
Aside from that, Spell-weaver was his main combat method when he did not borrow external objects.
Within his domain, Weaver was basically all-purpose.
Aside from restrictions such as upper power limit, operation scale, effective range, and maximum precision, there were many things he could do within that domain.
So what kind of enemy would trouble him?
There were probably several types.
The first was an enemy with a similar type of ability, a similar system, or a causality-manipulation ability.
This kind of enemy's ability was far too bizarre. Even if he knew the ability and its principle, he might not be able to avoid it in time.
The second was someone who possessed a power similar to his and surpassed him in quality.
To put it simply, this was the situation with Stella, Kurogane Ryoma, and Esdeath.
Because Weaver was limited by Noah's level and ability values, when facing Stella's flames, it would become correspondingly difficult to deal with.
Suppose Stella's flame ability was Lv.80, while Noah's various abilities were all balanced, with fire, earth, water, and wind all at Lv.60.
Then even if he used Lv.60 water manipulation or ice manipulation, he still would not be able to match Stella.
In the same way, Kurogane Ryoma's wind and Esdeath's ice both surpassed him in the quality of a single attribute, which would place him in an extremely passive position.
The third was an output type whose attack range exceeded his own.
In plain terms, an opponent with longer reach than him.
The opponent would not enter Weaver's domain, and once Noah's magic left Weaver's domain, its power would become unremarkable.
Against the firepower of Roman Artillery: Pumpkin, none of the magic he currently possessed would be very useful. He could only focus on defense.
Because defense could be established within Weaver's domain, which made it far more reliable than attacking targets outside the domain at close range.
Although this was the situation, Noah did not feel that he had fallen into danger at all.
Yes, if he were a swordsman, or perhaps a magician, he might have been suppressed now.
But he was not any of those professions.
A blacksmith? An alchemist?
No.
He was a special existence that combined all of those crafts and techniques!
"Then let's see whose firepower is stronger."
He condensed his soul into form.
"Come, Annihilator."
Noah raised an ice wall to block Najenda's attack, then clasped his hands together behind it.
When he separated his hands, incandescent light shone between them, and with the motion of his spreading palms, it quickly manifested into an elongated shape.
A pure white gun appeared in Noah's arms.
Layers upon layers of spell formulas glowed faintly across the body of the gun and inside the barrel.
Using the technique by which Blazers created their Devices, he had completely reproduced Annihilator.
Because the strength of a Device depended on the quality of the soul, Annihilator was undoubtedly sturdy enough.
However, since it was a manifestation of the soul, some of the original's abilities did not exist, such as the properties of its materials.
Therefore, in terms of power, this Device would be somewhat inferior to the real Annihilator, but the empowerment protocol remained.
Next came the ammunition.
Back in Orario, the ammunition Noah used was specially processed with corresponding materials depending on type and effect.
For example, ammunition engraved with the Bombard formula was mixed with Flame Stone.
The explosive power of that material alone was already terrifying.
With special processing and the enhancement of the Bombard formula added on top, the power could even cross two levels.
Even a Lv.4 adventurer could not ignore it.
Of course, it had not been particularly useful against Tsubaki.
Now, he had to create ammunition on the spot, and the material would be the earth beneath his feet.
Because he lacked materials like Flame Stone, the Bombard formula could only exert about one-third of its complete power, but that was already enough to contend with Najenda.
And in his backpack, there was also a "little thing" that had been clamoring for a while now.