Only one of the three remained.
Izou was still standing where Noah had left him, grieving over the destruction of his beloved sword.
Noah lifted a small stone and held it suspended beside his fingertip, aiming it at the unresponsive swordsman's head.
Temper refined the stone, compressing and hardening it.
An Explosion formula provided propulsion, Wind Shelter reduced air resistance, and a Lightning formula accelerated it even further.
Bzzzt!
A lightning-wreathed beam pierced Izou's skull in an instant, leaving branching arcs of electricity dancing through the air behind it.
As for the other two, Noah was in no hurry to pursue them. His eye in the sky had already locked firmly onto their positions.
He returned to Bols.
"You've had a disastrous evening. After attracting lunatics like those, perhaps you should move your family into the Jaegers' headquarters for now."
Despite saying that, Noah felt slightly guilty.
His Bombardment formula had blown Bols's home apart. He could only hope the man had already finished paying for it.
"Noah, thank you." Bols held his wife and daughter close, revealing the tenderness beneath his intimidating appearance.
"Without you, I don't even dare imagine what might have happened."
"There's no need to thank me. We're colleagues."
Noah waved it off before taking out a bottle of healing potion.
"Hold the severed foot in place and don't move it."
Bols's foot had only recently been cut off.
The wound was still fresh, and the blood vessels had not fully sealed, so reattaching it would be easy.
Following Noah's instructions, Bols gritted his teeth and aligned the severed limb.
Noah poured the potion over the wound.
An extraordinary sight followed.
Sensation returned to the detached foot almost immediately.
A mixture of pain and unbearable itching spread through Bols's leg, but the discomfort did not last long.
When he cautiously stood, disbelief filled his face.
"It's healed..."
His wife began crying with relief.
She had believed her husband would spend the rest of his life missing a foot.
That would have made daily life difficult and might even have cost him his position.
Yet one of his colleagues had restored the completely severed limb with nothing more than a bottle of mysterious liquid.
It felt like a dream.
"Noah, what exactly are you...?"
Bols had questioned Noah's abilities more than once.
Teigu could possess incredible powers, but they generally specialized in one particular function.
The longer he spent around Noah, the more often a certain possibility entered his mind.
Perhaps Noah was not a Teigu user at all.
Of course, Bols always dismissed the thought himself.
Noah closed one eye and shifted his vision high into the sky, following the rapidly fleeing pair.
"Bols, take this key. You and your family can use my room at headquarters. I never stay there anyway."
After testing his restored ankle, Bols hurriedly asked, "Are you planning to chase those men?"
"Yes. They may only be insects, but leaving them alive would be irritating. Eliminating them should prevent a few future problems."
Noah reduced his weight and changed the direction of gravity around himself.
"See you tomorrow."
Then he rose into the air and pursued the fleeing members of Wild Hunt.
Moving above the city allowed him to ignore every obstacle. It took barely a minute to close the distance.
"Crowfeather."
Silver-gray gauntlets formed over Noah's hands. He constructed several formulas and stored them inside the Device.
With a single leap, he crossed nearly a hundred meters and descended toward his prey like a hawk diving upon helpless animals.
"Damn it! He caught us!"
Enshin turned and released two Wind Blades, while Champ hurled the six orbs of Die Leaguer.
Faced with the long-range attacks, Noah gathered the surrounding wind and propelled himself upward.
The two Wind Blades and all six orbs changed direction beneath him and followed him into the sky.
'Oh?'
Champ had apparently used the Storm Orb to redirect Enshin's Wind Blades as well.
He might have been an irredeemable pervert, but that application of his Teigu still demonstrated considerable skill.
Ability and character had never been connected.
Noah compressed the wind element into his hand, forming a massive sword of raging air five or six meters long.
One sweep shattered the two Wind Blades and knocked the six elemental orbs apart.
"That impact confirms it. Teigu really aren't easy to destroy."
Noah looked down at the two men.
He released his weightless state and allowed himself to fall naturally, activating it again just before he reached the ground and landing without effort.
"There are two kinds of people I particularly despise."
It was unusual for Noah to waste words on an enemy.
He raised two fingers.
"The first are those who commit atrocities purely for the pleasure of it."
"The second are maggots like you—the same kind of creatures who filled Evilus."
"I won't ask you to surrender. Life is precious, after all, so I promise you this instead: no matter how desperately you struggle or resist, I'll put everything I have into killing you."
Noah released his murderous intent without restraint.
For an instant, the area within thirty meters seemed to transform into a blood-red domain.
Enshin and Champ, who stood closest to him, stiffened.
It was an instinctive defensive response from their bodies when faced with an overwhelming threat.
Noah had been waiting for precisely that moment.
An Explosion formula erupted behind him and accelerated his body. He appeared directly in front of them before either could recover.
Enshin gripped his Teigu, Moonlight Sword Dance, and forced himself to slash.
Noah was mildly surprised that the man had managed to overcome his body's instinctive paralysis.
He calmly raised one hand.
When the Teigu's point reached him, Noah stopped it with the pad of one finger.
A Physical Barrier completely blocked the blade before it could even touch his skin.
To Enshin, who could not perceive the barrier, it appeared as though Noah had caught a Teigu's full-powered attack with a single finger.
The resistance did not feel like flesh at all.
"A modified human?"
Enshin misunderstood what had happened.
Then his expression shifted, and an eerie grin spread across his face.
A huge shadow fell over Noah from behind.
Champ.
Despite his enormous body, the clown moved with surprising agility and had circled behind him.
Instead of using his Teigu, Champ spread his arms wide as though preparing to crush Noah in an embrace.
"You smell awful," Noah complained without changing expression.
Champ tightened his arms.
Two invisible Wind Blades severed them before they could close.
Weaver required no preparatory movement to activate.
Noah simply never bothered informing his enemies of that fact.
He swept one hand toward Enshin, releasing a wave of freezing air that encased the man in ice.
Then he turned and regarded Champ's pain-twisted face with cold indifference.
Noah raised one hand and extended a finger toward his heart.
"Lightning Strike."
Golden lightning formed into a spear and pierced Champ's body.
The smell of scorched flesh spread through the air.
Champ's heart had disappeared, leaving a hollow cavity through which the scenery behind him could be seen.
The enormous man stood blankly for a moment before coughing up a mouthful of blood.
It splashed harmlessly against Noah's air barrier.
"M-monster..."
Champ dropped heavily onto his knees.
Noah placed one finger against his forehead.
"Someone like you would be mistaken to think you deserve such an easy death."
By manipulating the moisture, hormones, and nerves inside Champ's brain, Noah slowed his perception of time by more than three hundredfold.
"Feel it. Every instant of pain and despair with perfect clarity."
"This is the punishment you deserve."
After killing Champ, Noah turned back.
Although trapped in ice, Enshin had witnessed everything.
This time, genuine panic overwhelmed him.
Enshin was a pure hedonist.
His entire philosophy was that people only lived once, so failing to experience everything they desired would be a terrible waste.
Unfortunately, nearly everything he desired was cruel and depraved.
He still had far too many fantasies he had not fulfilled.
Yet no matter how he looked at the situation, Noah was going to kill him.
"W-wait..."
Enshin forced his frozen lips apart, tearing the flesh against the ice as he desperately tried to speak.
Noah watched his trembling mouth.
Enshin felt a spark of hope.
Then a burning sensation appeared inside his chest.
His frozen body prevented him from lowering his head to see what had happened.
There was no need.
He soon recognized the sensation.
It was his own blood.
Enshin had felt other people's blood splash across him countless times. He knew its warmth intimately.
Noah had waited until the exact moment Enshin wanted most desperately to live before piercing his heart with a blade of ice.
Against Seeker, shifting one's heart away from its usual position offered no protection.
Having eliminated three members of Wild Hunt in a single night, Noah left their bodies where they fell and walked away.
...
Their corpses were discovered early the following morning, and the news spread rapidly throughout the Imperial Capital.
Wild Hunt had run rampant through the city, acting without restraint while ordinary people suffered beneath their cruelty.
The citizens had long since come to hate them more than words could express.
When people learned that the three had died in the streets, the atmosphere became almost festive.
Only one person was furious.
Syura.
When he heard that his subordinates had been killed, he flew into a rage and beat one of his guards.
"I investigated every member of the Jaegers! None of them should've been capable of killing those three!"
Other than Esdeath, who could possibly have done it?
And that woman was supposed to be fighting at the border!
"Damn it!"
Syura clawed at his hair in frustration.
"I didn't gather you people just so you could humiliate me, you worthless bastards!"
Dorothea, Izou, Enshin, and Champ.
Four useless failures.
Wild Hunt had barely been established, yet only one member remained.
Cosmina, the final survivor, was already considering escape.
This was ridiculous!
Even putting aside the Jaegers, the members of Night Raid were all monstrously powerful too.
What could she possibly accomplish alone by continuing to oppose them?
Syura might already be thinking of eliminating her to cover his tracks.
"Fine. If this is how it's going to be, I'll use that power directly..."
Madness spread across Syura's face.
It was completely different from his original plan, and using it now carried an absurd degree of risk.
But if he succeeded, even his father would one day have to kneel before him.
Syura covered his face and laughed darkly.
...
Inside a prison cell, a man who had been tortured beyond recognition sat with his head hanging low.
Without the faint breath still leaving his mouth, anyone would have mistaken him for a corpse.
Had someone moved aside the long hair covering his face, they would have been shocked to recognize General Hemi, who had previously defected from the Empire.
Syura stood outside the cell.
A small figure waited beside him.
The moment the smaller figure saw Hemi, he rushed forward and grabbed the bars.
Sensing the familiar presence, Hemi raised his head.
When he saw the boy beneath the hood, he managed a weak smile.
"Nia."
This was the child Hemi had gone to such lengths to hide.
After choosing to defect, Hemi had taken his soldiers and fled far from the Imperial Capital.
He had never expected to encounter the son of a demon.
Syura.
Minister Honest's biological son.
Syura and his followers had massacred Hemi's entire unit.
Hemi himself had been grievously wounded and captured.
During that battle, Nia's unusual power had been discovered, and Syura had become obsessed with it.
With the boy's power of enchantment, neither Esdeath nor that stubborn old fool Budo would matter.
Even Syura's own father could be controlled.
The ability had nothing to do with the target's strength.
Nia stared at Hemi's miserable condition with visible distress.
He turned and looked pitifully toward Syura.
For an instant, Syura's mind became dazed.
The next moment, he bit down hard on his tongue and used the pain to wake himself. He then punched Nia in the face, knocking the boy away.
"You little bastard! Didn't I tell you never to use your ability on me? Besides, I have this!"
After striking Nia, Syura pulled a strange pendant from beneath his clothing.
It was not a crafted ornament.
It was merely a piece of bone hanging from a cord.
"Nia!"
Hemi tried desperately to lunge forward, but his body had no strength left.
The restraints around him prevented even the smallest movement.
"Syura!"
Hemi shouted with furious hatred.
Rather than becoming angry, Syura studied him like an unusual animal at a menagerie.
"Hahaha! Do you think that anger truly belongs to you, or is the brat's ability simply that powerful?"
"You've given me a little more confidence. It's time to begin."
The bone belonged to Nia.
Carrying it allowed Syura to resist the boy's influence to some extent.
He never dared let the pendant leave his body.
Otherwise, Nia might enchant him, after which Syura would obey the child without question.
That could never be allowed.
"Listen carefully, brat. Hemi's life is in your hands. As long as you behave and follow my orders, he'll remain alive. Understand?"
In Syura's opinion, Nia was unbelievably foolish.
He possessed such an extraordinary power, yet had allowed himself to develop affection for someone else.
For a monster, emotions were a luxury he could not afford.
...
"The members of Wild Hunt were killed."
Lubbock delivered the intelligence he had gathered to the others.
"Huh?"
Leone looked genuinely startled.
"Who did it?"
"Noah, from the Jaegers."
Leone fell silent.
She had not expected him.
Akame, on the other hand, immediately looked impressed when she heard that Noah had eliminated Wild Hunt's criminals.
"What exactly is that guy?" Lubbock frowned. "At first, I thought he was merely another dog serving the Empire, but now it seems like he doesn't support any side."
"Is that even possible?" Leone shook her head.
Who in this world could remain completely uninvolved?
Everyone eventually had to choose a side.
...
In the Jaegers' headquarters, Noah sat in the garden and controlled the water element to irrigate the flowers.
Footsteps approached from outside.
When Noah raised his head, he saw Syura.
'Hm?'
His gaze moved past the man and settled on Nia standing behind him.
Syura swaggered into the garden. The moment he saw Noah, contempt appeared on his face.
"Tch. It's you. Fine, I'll begin with you."
He arrogantly shoved Nia forward.
"Do it. Turn him into—"
"It won't work," Nia interrupted.
Syura froze.
"What?"
Noah understood the plan immediately.
He sighed, rose from his seat, and walked casually toward Syura.
With no understanding of spellweaver, Syura allowed Noah to bring him inside the skill's effective range.
"You are no longer permitted to breathe," Noah told him.
Syura exploded in anger.
He immediately raised one arm, intending to attack.
In the next instant, both hands closed around his own throat.
He truly could not breathe.
Syura dropped painfully to his knees, glaring at Noah with hatred.
Seeing that resentful expression, Noah casually punched his head apart.
The headless corpse fell to the ground, twitched several times, and became still.
The crisis that might have consumed the Empire ended before it ever began.