Gared appeared in front of Lysette with incredible speed, but the muscles in his veins were bursting, spraying blood.

Still, the speed he had produced was beyond anything a third mantle, even a fourth mantle, knight could have done.

Lysette's guards were too late to react, and Lysette knew that she would not be able to evade or block the incoming attack properly. Yet before Gared's fist could descend, Lucen appeared in front of Lysette.

Despite not being able to see him, Lucen could pretty much predict his movement. Gared had reacted very violently at the word garbage, meaning with his last shred of consciousness, there was one person he would attack first.

Lucen did not hesitate for even a fraction of a second. He used RELEASE; his body surged with power, similar to Gared's state, but unlike him, this was a technique that could be controlled to a certain extent, and it did not induce madness.

The instant Lucen used RELEASE, the world around him seemed to slow.

The strain tore through his body at once, sharp and violent, but unlike Gared's stolen power, it moved according to his will.

His muscles tightened, his aura mantle surged, as his mana circulated faster, and the strength sleeping within him was dragged to the surface in a way that was forceful yet still his own.

The ground beneath Lucen's feet cracked. Then he vanished as well.

To Jay, who was still standing behind the fight with his heart pounding wildly in his chest, it looked as though both Lucen and Gared had disappeared at the same time. His eyes could not follow either of them.

One moment, Gared had been in the middle of the alley, blood spraying from his bursting veins as he hurled himself toward Lysette with murderous intent, and the next, there was only a blur.

Jay's mouth had already opened, but no sound came out. He had wanted to shout a warning. He had wanted to do something.

Yet his body could not keep up. His mind understood what was happening, but his eyes and limbs were left far behind. All he could do was watch helplessly as death rushed toward the noble lady.

Lysette herself remained far calmer than Jay. She knew with absolute clarity that the attack was beyond what she could fully avoid. Her mind had already measured the difference in speed and force.

Even if she drew her short sword and moved perfectly, the best she could do would be to lessen the damage, and yet, she did not panic. How could a lady from the House Crowlorne ever panic in front of a hooligan?

Her hand tightened around the hilt of her blade, her deep blue eyes sharpening as she prepared to respond in the only way left to her.

It was at that moment that Lucen appeared before her. Lucen pushed the incoming punch slightly to the side as he then proceeded to counter with a punch aimed at the gut.

Robert, who was watching everything happening at the side, did not dare blink as he did not want to miss any valuable data.

Lucen's fist crashed into Gared's gut with a force that made the air in the alley explode outward.

The blow landed so cleanly that for a brief moment, Gared's body actually bent around Lucen's knuckles. A violent cough burst from Gared's mouth, spraying blood and saliva into the air, yet even then, the maddened man did not fall.

The dr*g still forced him onward. It still dragged strength out of a body that should have already begun collapsing.

Gared, who had a small inkling of his consciousness still clinging on, disappeared as he roared like a beast. His body was breaking apart, but his strength was increasing exponentially. He continued to roar as his entire body was now covered in his own blood.

"There's no choice now. I'm killing you now." The second Lucen said those words, he used gun creation and created a Colt .45 Peacemaker revolver.

As Lucen was once again dealing with Gared, Lysette's guards came and brought her to another place. Lucen glanced at her, then at Jay, who was following behind, then finally at Robert.

"No objections?"

"None," Robert answered without hesitation.

There was not even the slightest trace of hesitation in his voice. His amber eyes remained fixed on Gared, who was now less a man than a body being forced to imitate one.

"In fact," Robert continued, pushing his spectacles up with one finger, "this may be the most valuable part. I want to see what happens when the body is pushed beyond even this point."

Lucen shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the enemy before him. He could hear Gared's ragged breathing. He could hear the wet sound of blood dripping onto broken stone.

There was no more reason to treat the thing before him as a man.

What stood in front of Lucen now was only a mass of flesh and stolen power, something that had once been called Gared Voss but had already thrown away whatever remained of thought or restraint.

The bloodshot eyes no longer held hatred in any shape Lucen could call human. There was only killing intent, crude and overflowing, like a beast that had forgotten even pain in its desire to tear apart whatever stood before it.

"I would have wanted to educate you to become human again, but it seems like I can no longer do that. Despite what you have done, surely at some point in your life, you strived for something better. So I will give you the gift of a swift death."

Hearing what Lucen said, Gared, who had lost all reason, simply roared. Lucen then disappeared from everyone's sight and reappeared above the roaring Gared.

Lucen pointed the gun at Gared's head and, using the skill elemental bullet fired. The gunshot rang through the alley like a peal of thunder.

The lightning-imbued bullet tore downward and struck Gared square in the head. Then, blue-white lightning burst out from the point of impact and spread across Gared's body in jagged lines. His roar was cut off instantly.

The unstable aura surrounding him convulsed wildly, as if trying to resist for one last moment, before collapsing into chaos.

The flesh that had been forced beyond its limit could no longer endure. Gared's body dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. He did not move again.

Lucen looked at the fallen thug and sighed. 'Based on his reaction to the word garbage, and the way he spoke and acted, I have a few ideas on how this person lived. I guess there was a point in your life when you too strived to achieve your own dreams.' 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"May Lady Velmira guide your soul to a better place." The gun in Lucen's hand disappeared as he said those words.

For a brief moment after Gared fell, the alley became eerily still.

The violent pressure that had filled the narrow space vanished all at once, leaving behind only broken stone, blood, and the lingering smell of burnt flesh and ozone from the lightning bullet.

Surprisingly enough, the fallen thugs Lucen had defeated moments ago were not harmed by Gared's rampage. It was not only Lucen who noticed this, but even Lysette, who was being protected by her two bodyguards.

'I guess you weren't complete garbage after all.'

Lysette's eyes remained on Gared's corpse as that thought passed quietly through her mind.

Even in the final moments of his madness, when reason had already been torn apart, and all that remained was rage and stolen power, he had not struck down the men who followed him.

Whether that had been instinct, habit, or the last fragment of something resembling humanity, she could not say for certain.

Still, it was there. A man who had drowned himself in filth, blood, and borrowed strength had, at the very end, still avoided trampling the very men beneath him.

That did not absolve him of anything. It did not make him noble. It did not wash away the scent of blood that clung to him.

But it was enough for Lysette to admit, if only within the privacy of her own thoughts, that there had once been something in him that had not been entirely rotten.

On the other hand, Robert did not care about all that and approached the deceased.

He crouched beside Gared's body without the slightest hesitation, as if he were kneeling beside treasure rather than a man who had only just died.

His amber eyes moved quickly over the corpse, taking in every detail with frightening intensity. He took a pair of gloves from his coat and wore them. He also got out his bird beak mask and wore that as well.

He then proceeded to touch the body all over, not caring about anything else. "The damage received from Lucen's attacks seemed to have caused a few bruises, but the most damage came from within the body. This person should have died from blood loss, even before Lucen killed him. Hoh, how fascinating."

While Robert was doing that, Lucen, who had just exited his RELEASE state and returned to his normal state, let out a slow breath.

The burden of the technique came crashing down on him all at once. Pain ran through his muscles, and his breathing turned heavier, but he kept his posture straight.

The backlash had weakened as his mastery of the technique increased, but, of course, the backlash still hurts quite a bit. Despite that, Lucen approached the stunned Jay and spoke.

"It seems that we have a lot to talk about."