In the crackle of intertwined currents—zzzt, zzzt…—fine electric arcs wrapped around Mieko's body. He suddenly sprang upward, his whole form turning into a bolt of lightning as he shot straight toward the heart of Birka Island—the supreme, untouchable district.
That highland had always been reserved for royalty and the powerful. And at the center of that region, Birka Kingdom's royal palace stood towering and grand, proclaiming unmatched authority and prestige.
"Huh? What is that?"
"He can actually fly…"
"Am I seeing things?"
On the highland, patrolling Royal Army soldiers spotted the blue figure rapidly closing in across the sky, and shocked cries burst out one after another.
"Unknown intruder—everyone on alert!" A guard captain in his twenties barked, longsword in hand, snapping the stunned soldiers back to reality.
He strode forward a few steps, slapped one soldier on the shoulder, and stared grimly at the incoming figure as he issued a hurried order: "You—go report to His Majesty immediately!"
"Yes, sir!" The soldier responded at once and sprinted toward the palace.
"Arrow-Cloud Formation!"
At the same time, a squad of soldiers raised their bows and fired a stream of bizarre arrows into the air. The arrows interwove into clouds, forming a cloud road that stretched across Mieko's path.
With strange devices on their feet that looked like ice skates, the soldiers charged up along the cloud road, trying to intercept him.
"Whoosh!"
Facing the Royal Army soldiers rushing into the sky along the cloud road to stop him, Mieko paused for a beat—clearly, these weren't comparable to the troops trained in the common residential districts.
His body flickered. In an instant, he appeared more than ten meters in front of the squad, standing suspended in midair. Electric arcs flashed around him; even without making a move, the pressure he gave off made the soldiers' scalps tighten.
"Take me to see your king." Mieko's gaze swept over the soldiers in tight formation, then settled on the guard captain with the sword—obviously the one with higher status. His tone was flat, almost casual.
The guard captain stared at Mieko's pale-blue arcs, his pupils involuntarily shrinking. He gripped the greatsword in both hands, held it crosswise before his chest, and demanded loudly, "Who are you? And for what purpose do you seek an audience with His Majesty?"
Mieko looked young, but whether it was the flight he'd displayed or the lightning dancing over his entire body, no one dared slack off for a second.
"That's none of your business." Mieko's voice hardened. "I'll say it one last time—take me to see your king!"
"No matter who you are, if you won't state your purpose, you will not meet His Majesty!" The captain clenched his greatsword, eyes blazing as he shouted him down.
He could feel it keenly—Mieko had come with ill intent. In that case, there was no need for more talking.
"Move! Take him down!" the captain ordered decisively.
"Yes!" the guards answered in unison.
"So he's got some kind of odd equipment that lets him fight at high altitude… If I want to force my way through, I'm probably going to have to put in a bit of work." Mieko thought to himself, then shrugged like it was nothing.
On his right hand, dazzling arcs erupted and flashed wildly, bleaching the surroundings in a pale glare.
"Arrow-Cloud Volley!" The guard captain's pressure spiked. He grit his teeth and gave the order to attack.
Shoo—shoo—shoo… Arrows streaked like meteors toward Mieko from all sides, forming thick "arrow clouds" about as wide as an adult's waist. It was an eerie method of attack—intimidating, no question.
"Huff—haah!" Immediately after, razor-sharp wind blades shot toward Mieko, and at the same time, lines of scorching fire-snakes whipped in after them. Wind and flame braided together, whipping up a searing sea of fire that nearly swallowed him whole.
Flames roared into the sky, almost drowning out the glow of the lightning on Mieko's body and completely engulfing him.
"That's…? The Third Guard Unit is fighting someone…" someone shouted from afar.
"Hurry over—enemy contact!"
"Go check! What happened?!"
With wind feeding it, the inferno burned furiously in midair. The commotion was huge, drawing attention from surrounding patrols and even some high-ranking nobles on the highland.
The firestorm gradually died down. Thick smoke spread everywhere, and a large stretch of cloud road had been burned charcoal-black.
The guard captain held his greatsword with both hands, staring grimly into the smoke at the center as he muttered, "With flames that intense… that should finish it, right…?"
"Putting a Wind Dial on a weapon to make wind-blade attacks, then pairing it with flames from a Flame Shell… Not bad. Pretty clever, actually."
Mieko's voice drifted out from the heart of the smoke. In that instant, the guard captain and the rest of the Royal Army soldiers turned pale, staring in horror at the silhouette sharpening into clarity.
"No way…"
"He didn't dodge at all, and he's completely unharmed…"
"What is this guy, some kind of monster?"
The smoke was finally blown away by a powerful gust. Mieko was still there, suspended in midair, right-hand arcs leaping and snapping—so brilliant it made people's hearts clench.
"Chidori Flow!"
Terrifying electric arcs spread explosively from Mieko's right hand. In the blink of an eye, they flooded the surrounding area—pale-blue lightning washing everything nearby into a stark white glare…
Bam—bam—bam…
One after another, charred bodies that had lost consciousness dropped from the cloud road, falling toward the Island Cloud highland below.
Mieko didn't even glance at the soldiers—alive or dead, he didn't care to find out. He became a streak of lightning and shot straight for the very center of the Island Cloud highland.
"Bang!"
Almost in the time it took to blink, a pale-green slash tore through the air. Midflight, Mieko was split cleanly in two.
Cough, cough. "I didn't give you permission to go past!"
The guard captain staggered on the cloud road, his whole body blackened, a complete mess. He raised his greatsword high with both hands and barked coldly.
"I didn't expect a little patrol squad to be hiding someone like you. Looks like I underestimated the heroes of the world!"
Mieko's bisected body dissolved into streaks of lightning, then rapidly flowed back together. Not even his clothes showed the slightest tear—an utterly terrifying sight.
"How is that possible? You were clearly cut in half by my slash—"
The guard captain's eyes bulged in disbelief. Staring at Mieko, completely untouched, it was as if something clicked in his mind. His face changed violently; trembling, he pointed at Mieko and cried out, "Lightning… split in two and still fine… you—you're one of those legendary Logia-type users…"
(End of Chapter)
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