“Go.”

At Cale’s gesture, the two water snakes shot toward Sir Satun and his men.

BOOM!

With a thunderous blast, Sir Satun’s body was shoved backward.

Damn it!

He squeezed his eyes shut.

He had barely managed to block one water snake, but he had missed the other.

No, that one was not even paying attention to Satun.

“Gahhh!”

“Aaagh!”

“Urk!”

The screams of three holy knights being swallowed by the water snake rang out.

Satun whipped around.

SHHHH—

Far too massive to be called a mere snake, the water snake wrapped itself around the three of them and plowed straight through the trees.

BOOM!

“Urk!”

“Hack!”

“......”

Helpless, the three holy knights were dragged along by the water snake as if they had been caught in a wave and slammed into the trees.

Two let out groans of pain, but one was already unconscious.

...Because of fear...!

Those three holy knights were not weak.

Especially Sir Pol, the squad leader. He was about mid-level holy knight class, not some swordsman who would go down this pathetically without even putting up a fight.

But fear.

They had already been consumed by the fear from earlier and could barely control their own bodies.

That suffocating domination was already swallowing them whole. How were they supposed to react to a water snake on top of that?

“Kh!”

A groan slipped out of Satun before he knew it.

He did not have the leisure to think about anything else.

BOOOOM!

Because the water snake came for him again.

SMACK!

Satun’s body was driven back.

Still, he somehow held his ground, blocking the water snake and enduring.

HUMMM—

HUMMM—

The twin swords in his hands were now humming.

Gray aura lingered on the blades, keeping him from being swept away by the water.

I can hold this!

A water snake at this level was something he could handle.

“!”

But then Satun realized something, and his entire body began to tremble in tiny shivers.

His eyes darted. Fear crept across his face.

The smell—

Even now, I still can’t smell anything...!

Drip.

The nosebleed running down his face would not stop.

It passed over his lips, down his chin, and to his neck, soaking the cloth beneath his leather armor.

Wrapped in the scent of blood, he could smell nothing else.

Ah.

Satun understood.

That black-haired man in front of him.

He’s going easy on me right now!

In an instant, fire blazed in Satun’s eyes.

“...A mere disciple of the Three Emperors...!”

How dare a mere Wanderer look down on me—me, who wielded the power bestowed by the great and exalted God of Chaos?

Satun could not allow this.

And then—

Heh.

The black-haired man smirked.

“!”

Fire flared in Satun’s eyes.

HUMMMMMM—!

The gray aura pouring from his twin swords intensified.

Cale took in the sight, and without meaning to—

Heh.

He smirked again.

Damn.

He was supposed to stay serious.

But the laughter kept trying to come out.

Hehe! He keeps falling for it!Listening to Raon say that, Cale could not help the smile that kept slipping out.

In truth, ever since entering New World, it had been rare for Cale to catch his enemies completely off guard.

Back when he had been dealing with the White Star, he had blindsided him from every possible direction.

Lately, though, he had only been sowing little seeds of future ambushes without really harvesting anything.

So watching these holy knights keep falling for it so perfectly, so beautifully, again and again, just made him feel good.

But disciple?

Of course, Cale did not miss the information either.

The water dragon of the Three Emperors.

And the water snakes of its subordinate.

Which meant that subordinate was apparently some kind of disciple.

Can individuality be passed down?

That did not seem like the kind of power you could have disciples for.

For the brief instant Cale’s thoughts wandered elsewhere—

SHHHRAAAK!

The sound made him flinch.

Human!Raon called out to him.

“Uaaaaah!”

Sir Satun split the water snake apart and charged straight through the opening at Cale.

HUM, HUM!

Gray light blazed from his twin swords more brilliantly than ever.

Drip, drip—

Of course, blood was still streaming from both nostrils.

Human, I think that bastard’s gone completely off his rocker!Which only made him look even more terrifying.

Seeing Cale hesitate, Satun opened his mouth.

“With such petty power, do you really think you can overcome the power bestowed by the great God of Chaos?!”

But Cale’s face remained calm.

No, more than calm—it was openly contemptuous.

“Go.”

The moment he moved his hand and spoke in that even voice—

“!”

Goosebumps rose all over Satun’s back.

He still could not smell anything.

Even so, his other senses were alive.

“Kh!”

He had to throw himself sideways.

And where he had just been—

BOOOOM!

With an enormous crash, the water snake devoured the spot and made the ground quake.

“......!”

Satun’s eyes shook as he watched, and Cale said indifferently,

“You shouldn’t forget there’s more than one snake.”

The water snake that had attacked the three subordinate holy knights was still there.

And Satun slowly turned his gaze back toward Cale.

Meeting those wavering pupils, Cale curled one corner of his mouth upward.

Human, you really do smile like a real villain!Right. I’m only pretending to be one right now. It’s not like I’m doing this because this is genuinely satisfying.

Cale was shamelessly firm about that.

Human, are you knocking these holy knights out now?And Cale was just about ready to finish off Sir Satun and his subordinates.

There’s no reason to drag this out.

His goal was simple.

Rescue Team Leader Sui Khan.

Make the Order of the God of Chaos think the Three Emperors were involved, to confuse them.

And on top of that, magnify the conflict between the Order of the God of Chaos and the hunters, a conflict that had probably started back at the holy land, Primordial Night.

Cale opened his mouth.

SHHHHH—

Water surged upward around him.

The moment the Water that Devours the Sky was just about to start using its power properly—

Huh?

Cale faltered when he looked at Satun.

A moment ago, Satun’s face had been full of confusion, blood running from both nostrils.

Now his expression had changed.

Grinning, he asked,

“Who are you?”

“!”

Cale was genuinely startled.

Gasp!Raon was startled too.

Human, d-did they figure us out?!As Raon stammered in real alarm, Satun asked again,

“I asked who you are.”

Thud.

After stabbing both swords into the ground and using them as supports to push himself upright, Satun ignored his subordinates entirely and drew gray aura all over his body as his momentum rose.

“As I thought, you are not a disciple of the Three Emperors.”

A high-ranking holy knight.

That was not a position just anyone could reach.

And even among those high-ranking holy knights, being counted among the top three was something most people could not achieve even if they devoted their whole lives to it.

Yet Satun had risen from the bottom and reached that point in his forties.

And besides talent with the sword, he had many other outstanding qualities.

His faith in the God of Chaos.

Among all the holy knights, his absolute devotion ranked within the top three.

Then there was the unusual ability that had earned him the name Blood Tracker.

And, along with that, the iron-blooded coldness that allowed him to maximize that ability.

“Even when you try to deceive me, I can see it all.”

Because Satun possessed that icy calm, everything he had shown until now—his shock, his agitation, the way he had seemed to get dragged around—had all been an act to gauge his opponent.

Of course, I really was startled at first.

An enemy that had appeared out of nowhere.

That aura wrapped around his whole body, carrying absolute domination.

And a state in which he could not smell anything, something he had never experienced before.

“When you brought out the water snakes, I thought you were a disciple of the Three Emperors.”

But then he had realized something was wrong.

Satun looked at the black-haired man.

“......”

The man stared back at him with an impassive expression.

“You—”

He thought he knew what the man was.

“You’re the first Emperor, aren’t you?”

“......!”

The man flinched.

Seeing that, Satun’s mouth curled upward.

HUMMM— HUMMMMM—

Even more gray light began to whirl around his body.

Satun, one of the top three high-ranking holy knights.

The Blood Tracker.

Right now, he drew out every last bit of strength he had.

The first Emperor.

The enemy before him.

“I never thought I would see the head of Five Colored Blood like this.”

Because he was a powerhouse Satun could never dare dream of challenging.

The black-haired man—Cale—slowly opened his mouth.

“...Why would you think that?”

Cale’s expression was serious.

Wow. How do you even make a mistake like that?

What kind of situation is this?

H-human, his misunderstanding is really severe!Raon was extremely flustered.

Cale, meanwhile, did not even feel like laughing anymore.

He was genuinely curious.

The first Emperor? Doesn’t he mean the first Wanderer?

If he meant the head of Five Colored Blood, that was the first Wanderer.

The one who dreamed of becoming a Transcendent.

Why was that bastard suddenly entering the conversation?

“Hah!”

Satun let out a short laugh.

That serious look on Cale’s face, and that question of his, convinced him completely.

“As I thought, I was right.”

A high-ranking holy knight of his level memorized information about the heads of every major faction.

And Satun, who hunted and tracked more than most, had learned even deeper information.

Here, he thought that his life might end.

That he might die.

“I heard the first Emperor can handle most of the powers of nature.”

But he had no intention of retreating.

No intention of running.

“That aura of yours. It is not power any disciple of the Three Emperors could ever possess.”

Then better to die for the God of Chaos.

The one whose aura had nearly suffocated him with its absoluteness.

“And you have not even used all your power.”

When he put all the information together, the answer was obvious.

“First Emperor, why are you pretending to be a disciple of the Three Emperors?”

HUMMM—

As if aware of their master’s resolute will, the twin swords vibrated deeply.

“Even if I die, you will never reach the Order of the God of Chaos.”

Satun knew about the horrific incident at the holy land, Primordial Night.

Because of it, every holy knight scattered across the Demon World had gathered here, where the Pope was.

And as a high-ranking holy knight, Satun also knew that two factions had intervened in that incident.

The Wanderers.

More precisely, Five Colored Blood.

And the other one was—

Cale, was it?

He had heard it was a being from another dimension, the one who had destroyed the White Star project.

But that man, Cale, could not possibly have come to the Demon World.

Because that bastard would not even know that the Demon World—let alone the current Demon King—had joined hands with the hunters and the Order of the God of Chaos.

So why would he come here?

And he has no way to reach the Demon World anyway.

Which left only the Wanderers.

And if someone was imitating the power of a disciple of the Three Emperors, it had to be a member of the Five Colored Blood family.

“Hah, haha—”

Cale laughed.

Then he said calmly,

“I am not the first Emperor.”

Hah!

At those words, Satun was the one who could not hold back his laughter.

His twin blades angled forward.

“Any moment now, the allies who saw the signal flare will arrive. My role is to hold you here until then, first Emperor.”

“Really.”

Cale tipped his head slightly, openly dubious.

Then—

“Uaaaaah!”

With a roar, Satun kicked off the ground.

His body shot toward Cale like lightning.

HUMMMMMM—

The gray light wrapped around his body and coiled around the twin swords, becoming a single arrow.

CLANG!

The instant the twin swords sliced upward toward separate pieces of sky, then turned their sharpened ends back toward Cale—

Satun’s eyes remained fixed on him alone.

“If I were the first Emperor, do you think you could hold me here?”

The moment Cale said that in an even tone—

“Urk!”

Satun vomited another rush of blood from his nose and came to a stop.

No—his entire body was shaking so violently he could not even walk properly.

“U-ugh—”

What is this—

How can something like this—

Absolute power pressed down on his entire body.

It felt as though every possible weapon in existence had been aimed at him.

The fear came crashing down that he might die if he so much as took one more step.

It even made him think that he should drop to the ground and beg that man to spare him.

Thud.

One knee hit the ground.

It was instinctive.

There was no thought in it. No reason.

His body simply reacted to that man.

It bowed its head to him.

It knelt.

It bent forward.

THUNK!

He stabbed the twin swords into the ground and tried to use them as supports, but both hands clutching the hilts trembled uncontrollably, and he could not command his own body.

“...Ugh... ah...”

Satun could not lift his head.

For an instant, a thought crossed his mind.

Would this be how it feels to face the God of Chaos?

Would the aura pouring from him, a god’s aura, feel like this?

Ah.

If so, then did that mean this man was like a god?

Did that make any sense?

The human before his # Nоvеlight # eyes was clearly—

No.

I can’t retreat like this.

No.

I don’t know.

I can’t think about anything.

I just want to get away.

“...Ugh...”

The world around Satun slowly began turning black.

That vast aura, so overwhelming it felt like it could dominate him completely, was about to shatter his mind.

A high-ranking holy knight.

How had he clawed his way up to that position, only to fail to withstand nothing more than an aura like this?

Satun tried desperately to resist.

At least lift his head.

At least raise his face and look at the man.

If nothing else, he wanted to do that.

He could not submit with his head lowered like this.

“Ah.”

But then Satun understood.

This was impossible to overcome.

Tap.

The strength drained from his hands gripping the twin swords.

The world truly went black.

The light kept fading.

Thunk.

His body collapsed onto the ground.

Satun lost consciousness.

“......”

Looking down at him, Cale thought,

Huh? He actually passed out?

No, he was bewildered.

Wahahahaha! You knocked him out with aura alone!The dominating aura burst into delighted laughter.

No, wait, that’s really possible?

Cale was dumbfounded.

Khahaha, of course it is!And the dominating aura sounded thoroughly triumphant.

It’s only because you’re controlling it and using it on people right now. Our power can contend with a god! It’s an aura that can endure against a god!It was power that could withstand the God of Chaos to a certain degree.

That human faced that kind of aura all by himself, so of course he passed out.Oh.

Cale was impressed by how powerful the grown dominating aura had become.

He had spent so long fighting enemies who were far too strong that he had not realized it, but he had definitely become pretty powerful himself.

Can I fight without lifting a finger now?

The fact that he could simply knock enemies out with the dominating aura—the power that caused the least backlash and put the least strain on his body—made the corners of Cale’s mouth start to creep upward.

But—

Human, you’re still acting!Just as Raon said, Cale quickly composed his expression.

Then he lifted his head.

“U-ugh—”

“Huff—”

The holy knights who had not passed out were trembling helplessly as soon as they saw him.

“You should go join him.”

With those words, Cale used the same level of dominating aura on them that he had used on Satun.

And as they were on the verge of blacking out, just before they lost consciousness, he left them with one final remark.

“This should be enough of a warning against betrayal.”

Thud. Thump.

After confirming that the last two remaining holy knights had collapsed unconscious as well, Cale slowly turned around and left.

Step. Step.

The pace of his slow walk—

“Give me some acceleration magic.”

“Got it, human!”

SHHHHH—

Soon the sound of the wind was joined by Raon’s acceleration magic, and he sped up tremendously.

When it comes to deceiving enemies, the most important part is how you finish!

Leave behind the right amount of confusion, then hit fast and get out even faster.

Cale moved hard and fast.

“Huff. Huff.”

Even with the wind and the acceleration magic, he was out of breath from running that hard.

Cale kept running.

And finally—

“...What did you do?”

“Huff. Huff.”

Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk—no, Sui Khan—had been lying there alone in total peace.

Cale walked up to him, where he had sent off the signal flare, and nudged him in the side with his foot.

“Why?”

Sui Khan looked at the sweat-soaked Cale as if he found him ridiculous, and Cale, still catching his breath, said urgently,

“We need to run!”

“Ah.”

Sui Khan sprang to his feet.

One of his arms was wrapped in bandages, but Cale did not have time to care about that.

“Cale-nim.”

Nyaaaang!

Nyaang!

Seeing Clopeh Sekka returning right on cue with On and Hong, Cale shot them a glance and said to Raon,

“Let’s bolt!”

“Got it, human! I’d already prepared it!”

And with that—

HUMMMMM—

Even in the Demon World, a teleportation circle carrying black mana rose into being.

Flash!

Cale and his group vanished from the spot in an instant.

They got away beautifully.

A little later, the Pope received a report.

“...The enemy invaded the forest?”

“Yes.”

“And the casualties?”

“...Only minor injuries. Not a single death.”

The Pope’s gaze changed.

At that moment, the highest-ranking holy knight prostrated himself and spoke.

“According to Sir Satun and Sir Pol, it was a warning sent by the first Emperor.”

The first Emperor.

The Pope’s expression shifted at those words. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

So Five Colored Blood has realized our Order is in the Demon World?

“And with the great plan right in front of us.”

With the great plan that would swallow the Demon World almost upon them.

“How interesting.”

Those who were looking at the Pope hurriedly lowered their heads at the sight of those chilling eyes, eyes that looked ready to explode.

*****

“Didn’t you say that Wanderer bastard definitely came to the Demon World?”

“Yes, Master! The writing left behind there was definitely in Demon World language.”

The Three Emperors quietly watched their disciple answer in a rush.

“......”

Under that gaze, the disciple squeezed his eyes shut and hurriedly continued.

“I’ll catch his trail within two days!”

“Good. I’ll trust you.”

Only then did the Three Emperors smile as if satisfied.

And watching that scene were two Wanderers.

A brother and sister who possessed Transparent-grade individuality from the Five Colored Blood hunter family.

Cho and Ryeon.

“......”

“...Seriously. Why am I even here?”

Patting her grumbling younger brother, Ryeon silently looked up at the sky of the Demon World.

Investigate the Order of the God of Chaos.

Help the Three Emperors.

Others had said they would handle everything related to Cale Henituse, and so the siblings had ended up coming to the Demon World with the Three Emperors.

*****

“Tch.”

Cale clicked his tongue, and Team Leader Sui Khan grinned around a mouthful of apple pie.

At that grin, Cale immediately snapped,

“What are you smiling for after coming back injured?”

And at those words, the average ten-year-olds reacted.

“Human! That is not something you should be saying!”

“I really don’t think the guy who coughs up the most blood and gets hurt the most should be saying that!”

“...Honestly.”

At On’s final sigh, Cale clamped his mouth shut.