His left arm hung at an unnatural angle while the bone of his forearm pressed against his skin, pushing it outward without breaking it, and his hand hung limp like a dead weight.

"Fucking bitches..." said the man, his teeth clenched as he gripped his mangled arm.

His breathing was heavy and labored, each inhalation producing a whistle that indicated Alice’s blow had probably broken more than just his arm.

However, all the damage he had received seemed not to matter to him, because upon noticing the overwhelming difference in power between him and the women who had just attacked him, his mind quickly focused on the only thing that could still give him a chance, however minuscule, to level the playing field.

His greatsword.

"Where the fuck did that piece of shit go," said the man, his voice filled with pain as he looked around.

The weapon had flown from his hands with the impact and was now half-buried among the broken boards and wall fragments a few meters away from him. Upon seeing it, he quickly moved toward it and drove his right hand, the only one still functioning, into the rubble to grab the hilt of the greatsword.

Then he pulled it out from between the boards with a jerk and leaned all his weight on the weapon, using it as a support to keep himself standing.

The reddish veins in the blade pulsed with that constant heat that made the air around it tremble, and some of the pieces of wood that were in contact with the blade started to scorch instantly.

"That bastard lied to me... this was supposed to be easy," growled the man, gritting his teeth.

Then he looked up and saw how the two women were approaching him without any hurry.

Ely had her sword resting on her right shoulder, holding it with a single hand while her white hair moved slightly with the breeze and her expression was that of someone doing a boring errand.

Alice walked at her side cracking her knuckles through her gauntlets, causing the metal to creak with each movement of her fingers, and her green eyes were fixed on the man in the white suit with a terrifying intensity.

Mark, who was watching them from a distance with Rose, Aria, and Zilu at his side, slightly frowned at how confidently they were acting.

"Ely, Alice!" said Mark, raising his voice. "Finish him quickly! We don’t know what tricks he might have up his sleeve."

Ely turned her head slightly toward Mark without stopping.

"Don’t worry, Master," she said in a tone that overflowed with confidence. "I highly doubt an insect like this could even stand up to us."

"I agree, it was like punching a pillow how soft he was," added Alice without taking her eyes off the man.

Then Aria raised her voice with annoyance.

"Stop wasting time and obey the Master!" she shouted from behind Mark with her arms crossed.

"The Master is right," added Rose at her side with a tone of exasperation. "Kill him already."

Ely let out a sigh upon hearing her companions scolding her.

"Alright, alright," she said, lowering her sword from her shoulder. "We’re going."

But then Mark noticed the man in the white suit holding something in his right hand. It wasn’t his greatsword. It was a small transparent glass vial with a brilliant green liquid inside that emitted a faint glow.

"Kill him now!" Mark shouted upon realizing that what the man was holding in his hand was a healing potion.

However, it was already too late. The man squeezed the vial in his hand and the glass shattered. Causing the green liquid to spread across his fingers and instantly a light of the same color enveloped his entire body, concentrating on his broken left arm.

In less than a second, the man’s left arm was completely functional again, and he quickly grabbed the greatsword with both hands.

"Ely, Alice, watch out!" Mark shouted.

But the suited man had already raised the greatsword above his head and swung it down against the air in front of him with all his strength.

The blade cut through the void with a deafening whistle and from the edge shot out a burst of fire that covered the entire width of the street and advanced toward Mark’s two subordinates at a speed that left no time to dodge.

But there was no need to dodge, because Rose acted instantly.

"Magma Wall."

Rose extended one of her hands forward and from the ground between Ely, Alice, and the fireball, an enormous wall of molten rock rose up and solidified instantly, forming a barrier that blocked the path of the fire.

The fireball impacted against the magma barrier in a violent collision.

The fire from the sword engulfed the wall completely, pushing it backward centimeter by centimeter as the solidified rock began to crack until it finally shattered.

The magma wall exploded into pieces, sending fragments of molten rock in all directions.

And the fireball dissipated at the same time the barrier broke, leaving a cloud of ash between the two sides.

Rose lowered her hand slowly and looked at the remains of her barrier scattered across the ground.

"It has more strength than I expected..." she muttered, frowning. "That weapon is definitely not normal."

On the other side of the smoke cloud, the man in the white suit was laughing.

"Ha!" he shouted with a smile that split his face in two. "I knew this piece of junk had to work!"

The man raised the greatsword again and the reddish veins in the blade glowed with more intensity.

"I just have to keep using this!" he continued, quickly preparing to launch another fireball. "If that shit wall couldn’t handle the first one, the second one is going to char them—!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He stopped mid-sentence upon noticing something falling in front of him. Something metallic that bounced against the ground with a clink and rolled until it stopped at his feet.

"Huh?"

The man looked down, only to realize that they were his own hands. Both cut cleanly at the wrists, still gripping the hilt of his greatsword. He stared at them for a few seconds, as his brain took time to process what he was seeing.

Then he lowered his arms and saw two stumps that ended where his hands used to begin, with blood beginning to gush from the open wounds.

"This has got to be a fucking joke..."