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{3rd Pov}
“Archers, fire!” Astros shouted, his command ringing across the battlefield.
In the very next moment, a massive volley of arrows was released.
The sky darkened slightly as countless arrows rained down toward Subaru and his group.
Felix immediately yelped in panic, instinctively shrinking back as the incoming attack approached at high speed.
At the same time, Julius stepped forward without hesitation, raising his hand as he invoked Spirit Magic.
A reinforced barrier formed instantly, shielding both himself and Felix from the incoming barrage.
Aldebaran reacted just as quickly.
He slammed his leg against the ground, summoning an earth-based defense that rose up around him and Priscilla, forming a sturdy shield that absorbed the impact of multiple arrows without breaking.
Wilhelm did not rely on defense.
Instead, he drew his sword and began moving.
With precise and controlled motions, he deflected each arrow one by one, his blade moving so fast that it created a continuous metallic rhythm as it knocked the projectiles away.
Reina stood still.
She did not even attempt to dodge.
There was no need.
Every arrow that approached her simply missed.
Some veered off at impossible angles, others curved away mid-flight, and a few even changed direction entirely—making sharp turns that defied logic, all to avoid striking her.
Her Divine Protections ensured that none of them could reach her.
And then—
There was Subaru.
Unlike the others, he did not move at all.
Instead, he smiled.
He spread his arms wide, as if welcoming the incoming storm of arrows, his expression calm—almost amused—as he allowed them to strike him directly.
One by one, the arrows hit his body.
But what followed left the opposing forces stunned.
The arrows did not pierce him.
They did not even scratch him.
The moment they made contact with his skin, they shattered.
Some broke apart instantly, their shafts snapping as if they had struck something unbreakable. Others were deflected off his body, bouncing away harmlessly. Even the few that managed to reach his face—aiming directly for his eyes—failed completely.
The sharp tips splintered upon impact, breaking into fragments before falling uselessly to the ground.
Not a single arrow caused him any harm.
And through it all—
Subaru remained standing, completely unfazed, farming aura like there was no tomorrow.
Astros carefully observed how each of them reacted to the volley of arrows.
In truth, he had never expected the attack to achieve any real results. The chances of someone of their caliber dying from a simple rain of arrows were extremely low—practically nonexistent.
Attacks like that were meant for weaker targets.
They were effective against civilians, ordinary militia, or perhaps even lower-ranked Royal Knights who lacked the skill to defend themselves properly. But against individuals like Wilhelm or Julius?
They were meaningless.
At best, Astros had placed a small hope on Felix.
If the healer could be injured early, it might disrupt their formation or at least shake his composure. However, that possibility was immediately nullified by Julius, who had shielded him without hesitation.
Astros clicked his tongue slightly in annoyance.
Then he shifted his focus.
From what he could see, Priscilla had been protected by an earth-based defense despite being a user of Yang Magic. That alone told him enough—it was clearly the work of her attendant.
That servant was not someone to be ignored.
He continued analyzing the others.
Wilhelm behaved exactly as expected.
His swordsmanship was flawless, each arrow being deflected with precision and efficiency. There was no wasted movement, no hesitation—just pure skill.
That result did not surprise Astros.
But then—
His gaze moved to Reina.
And his expression changed.
His eyebrows twitched slightly as he observed what had happened around her.
The arrows had not just missed.
They had been completely denied from being hitting her or even grazing her.
Some had curved unnaturally, others had shifted direction mid-flight, all avoiding her without exception.
Although Astros had already studied the reports detailing Reina’s Divine Protections, witnessing them in action was something entirely different.
It was absurd.
She did not need to dodge.
She did not need to react.
The projectiles themselves avoided her.
Arrows that should have struck her simply curved away, some bending at angles so unnatural that it looked as if the laws of physics no longer applied. A few even traced strange arcs in midair, redirecting themselves completely just to miss her, which would have woken up Newton if he had witnessed him.
It was not defense in the conventional sense.
It was absolute denial of harm.
Seeing it firsthand made Astros realize just how troublesome she truly was.
But even that—
Was not the most shocking thing he had witnessed.
His attention shifted back to Zero.
Subaru had not moved.
He had not defended himself, heck he had not even bothered to dodge.
Instead, he had simply spread his arms and allowed the arrows to strike him directly.
And they had.
Every single one of them.
Yet the result was beyond expectation.
Not a single arrow managed to pierce his skin.
Not a single one even left a mark.
They shattered on impact.
Some broke instantly upon contact, while others snapped apart and fell uselessly to the ground as if they had struck an immovable object.
Even his clothes remained untouched—no tears, no wrinkles, nothing to suggest he had been hit at all.
It was as if the attack had never happened.
Astros narrowed his eyes slightly.
‘I wonder… if those defenses can withstand a cannon,’ he thought.
This initial volley had served its purpose.
It was never meant to deal damage.
It was meant to observe, analyze and to understands how his opponents would react under pressure.
Now that he had gathered that information, the next step was obvious.
He would escalate the probe, cannons would be used next—not just to attack, but to force them into revealing more of their capabilities, their limits, and their true level of strength.
‘If they choose to dodge, then it means they can still be killed with sufficient force,’ Astros thought, analyzing the situation quickly.
‘And if they are capable of countering the attacks head-on, then I will simply need to assign more soldiers to overwhelm them.’
His mind moved rapidly, forming conclusions based on what he had already observed.
Without wasting any more time, he turned toward his forces and issued his next command.
“Magicians, prepare yourselves!” he ordered.
“Soldiers—fire the cannons!”
At once, the battlefield shifted.
The cannons that had already been positioned and aimed were activated, releasing powerful bursts of magic toward Subaru and his group.
The attacks were far more destructive than the earlier volley of arrows.
Wilhelm reacted instantly.
With his speed and experience, he avoided the incoming blasts, moving out of their trajectory with precise and controlled movements.
Julius, on the other hand, chose a different approach.
He raised his hand and used Clarista, dispersing and neutralizing the magical energy before it could reach him and those nearby.
Aldebaran acted just as quickly.
He summoned massive pillars of earth, forcing them upward from the ground to intercept the incoming blasts. The barriers absorbed the impact, protecting both himself and Priscilla from the attack.
Each response revealed something about their abilities and their limits.
Their preferred methods of defense.
But when it came to Subaru and Reina—
The situation changed completely.
The magical blasts that were meant to strike Subaru simply got redirected.
It was unclear whether they even made contact with him at all.
The energy seemed to redirect or vanish the moment it approached him, as if it had encountered something immovable—something that could not be affected by such attacks.
And then there was Reina.
Her case was even more absurd.
Instead of dissipating, the magical blast aimed at her suddenly reversed direction.
A perfect one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn.
Then, as if guided by an unseen force, it accelerated even faster than before and shot straight back toward the source.
The cannon that had fired it was struck directly.
And in the next moment—
It was destroyed.
Astros fell silent.
Alarms began ringing in his mind as he processed what he had just witnessed. The way they had responded to the magic cannon attacks was completely different from one another, yet both results were equally troubling.
It told him one thing clearly—
He was facing enemies far beyond conventional standards.
‘That has to be one of her damn Divine Protections,’ Astros thought, his gaze fixed on Reina for a brief moment.
‘But what about him? What exactly is he using?’
His attention shifted back to Zero.
Subaru was still walking forward at a steady, unhurried pace.
He showed no concern for the attacks being launched at him. The projectiles continued to strike his body, yet every single one of them broke apart and fell to the ground without causing even the slightest effect.
Astros narrowed his eyes.
‘Is his defense simply that high?’ he questioned internally.
Then he immediately rejected the idea.
‘No… that cannot be it.’
If it were merely physical durability, then at the very least, his clothes should have shown some signs of damage. But they remained completely intact.
That meant something else was at play.
‘It has to be some form of barrier,’ he concluded.
‘Perhaps Wind Magic… or Yin Magic.’
His mind raced through the information he had gathered in the past.
‘I recall documents mentioning that he is a Yin Magic user,’ Astros continued thinking.
‘That would also explain why the Great Spirit of Yin formed a contract with him.’
The pieces began to fall into place—at least from his perspective.
‘So that is it,’ he thought.
‘An advanced application of Yin Magic… something that allows him to negate incoming attacks completely.’
That was the conclusion he settled on.
Even if he did not fully understand it—
He believed he had found the answer.
Finally, Reina made her move.
Without any visible effort, she activated one of her Divine Protections. In the very next moment, the next wave of magic cannon fire did not reach its intended targets.
Instead—
The cannons themselves exploded.
The blasts erupted directly at their source, sending shockwaves through the ranks and injuring several soldiers positioned nearby. The sudden reversal caused chaos among those operating the artillery, as they were caught completely off guard.
However, Astros did not react, in fact he had already anticipated this possibility.
From the very beginning, he had assumed that the magic cannons would eventually be neutralized or destroyed. Because of that, he had deliberately assigned only weaker and older soldiers to operate them—units that were expendable in the grand scheme of the battle.
To him, this loss was acceptable.
It was part of the plan from the very beginning.
Without wasting any time, he issued his next command.
“Blow the horn!”
At once, a Royal Knight stepped forward and raised the horn to his lips.
The deep, resonating sound echoed across the battlefield, signaling the transition to the next phase of the attack.
The formation shifted instantly.
Archers dropped their bows and instead unsheathed their swords from the sheath hanging by their side.
Swords, spears, and shields replaced ranged attacks as the soldiers prepared for close combat.
Then—
They charged.
In unison, the army surged forward, rushing toward their enemies with full force, ready to engage them directly.
Reina moved instantly, she reached out and grasped the wind itself, shaping it into an invisible blade—a sword formed through the shared authority between her and Zero.
In the very next second—
She disappeared from her place.
There was no visible movement or no transition of her running from simply standing.
One moment she stood beside Subaru, and the next, she had already appeared within the front lines of the enemy formation, right among the foot soldiers and archers.
And then—
It happened.
In a single instant, their heads separated from their bodies.
Hundreds of soldiers fell at once, their heads flying upward as blood sprayed across the battlefield. The sheer speed of her strike left no room for reaction, no opportunity for defense.
It was over before anyone could even comprehend it.
And just as suddenly as she had vanished—
She returned back, reappearing calmly at Subaru’s side, her expression unchanged. Not a single drop of blood stained her clothes.
Not a speck of dust clung to her.
It was as if she had never moved at all.
The difference in power was undeniable.
Terrifyingly so.
But Astros had already accounted for this possibility.
He knew that among all of them, the Sword Saint was the greatest threat. If anyone could single-handedly dismantle his entire army, it would be her.
Which was exactly why he had prepared that countermeasure.
“Soldiers, engage the others!” Astros shouted immediately. “Knights, follow the plan! Magicians, provide support from a distance!”
His commands were sharp and precise.
Everything was already set in motion.
Then, he turned his gaze toward Heinkel.
Heinkel was visibly sweating, his expression strained as he witnessed hundreds of soldiers being wiped out in mere seconds.
The reality of the situation was far more brutal than he had imagined.
For a brief moment, doubt flickered in his eyes.
Then he looked back at Astros, and then both of nodded with shared understanding between them.
The plan would proceed as they have planned beforehand.
The army advanced without hesitation, executing their assigned roles with precision.
The cavalry, consisting of soldiers mounted on ground dragons, surged forward with force, charging directly toward Priscilla, Felix, and Aldebaran.
Their momentum was overwhelming.
At the same time, two separate groups of Royal Knights—each numbering over a hundred—moved in coordination.
They charged toward Julius and Wilhelm, supported by more than three thousand soldiers each. These forces included foot soldiers, additional cavalry units, and a contingent of magicians providing support from behind.
It was a full-scale assault.
Every key target had been assigned opposition.
Meanwhile, Heinkel, Astros, and the remaining Royal Knights, along with several magicians, directed their focus toward the most dangerous pair on the battlefield—
Reina and Zero.
…
“Meowyh says this is completely insane!” Felix complained, his voice strained as he watched the cavalry rushing straight toward them.
The sheer scale of the incoming force made his heart race.
Still, he did not freeze.
With a sigh, he raised his hand and cast healing magic on himself first.
Immediately after, he channeled a different magic to his sword.
Then came the final step.
He cast another spell—one that dulled his sense of pain significantly.
His body tensed slightly as the effects took hold.
Because he already knew—
What he was about to do was not going to be pleasant.
Finally, he focused.
His yellow eyes sharpened as he locked onto the incoming cavalry. The fear that had been present moments ago was pushed aside, replaced by determination.
“For Crusch-sama! Nyaaah!” Felix shouted, his voice filled with resolve.
Then he charged.
With his enhanced physical strength, he moved far faster than before. In a single motion, he leaped forward and swung his sword, slicing cleanly through the neck of the foremost rider.
The strike landed perfectly.
And yet—
Not a single drop of blood was shed, there was no visible wound, no cut through the neckline, no injury that could be seen from the outside.
And still, the soldier screamed.
A sharp, agonizing cry escaped his throat as he clutched his neck, his body losing balance as he fell from his mount and crashed onto the ground in complete distress.
Felix did not stop.
He followed up immediately.
Closing the distance to the next opponent, he thrust his sword forward, driving it straight through the man’s chest with precision.
The impact was direct, his armor and chest were pierced through.
And once again there was no visible injuries or blood pouring from the wound.
Yet the man let out a scream of unbearable pain before collapsing, his body unable to endure whatever had just been inflicted upon him.
Felix pulled his weapon back.
The only visible evidence of the strike was a clean hole in the armor.
But beneath it—
There was not a single scratch on his opponent’s body.
In the very next moment, Felix found himself surrounded.
Several cavalry soldiers closed in on him at once, their weapons aimed directly at his body. Spears thrust toward him from multiple directions, attempting to pin him down before he could react.
Felix twisted his body, narrowly dodging most of the incoming attacks.
However—
One of the spears pierced straight through his leg.
The impact should have been devastating.
And yet, Felix barely reacted, instead of pulling away, he moved with it.
With a sharp motion, he twisted his body even further, forcibly ripping his own leg free from the spear. The action should have caused severe damage—something that would cripple any normal person instantly.
But what followed was even more shocking.
There was no blood, no injuries, no hole, no ripped apart leg.
His clothes were torn where the spear had pierced through, but his leg itself showed no visible injury. No sign that it had just been impaled moments ago.
The sight froze several soldiers in place.
They hesitated for a second and that was enough as Felix moved again and with a swift motion, he swung his weapon across their necks.
One after another, the soldiers were struck, their bodies collapsing as they screamed in pain, trembling uncontrollably on the ground.
The remaining soldiers who had been about to attack him stopped, watching him with stunned and terrified looks on their face.
Felix stood there, a grin forming on his face.
“~Nyah… I am just a healer,” he said lightly, his tone almost playful.
“So, I will heal you all…”
It was not just a statement; it was exactly how his new fighting style worked.
A twisted application of healing magic—built upon his existing abilities, refined through harsh training, and shaped further under the guidance of the Great Sage.
His new fighting style revolved entirely around healing magic—his greatest strength and specialty.
Felix was the strongest healer in the world, capable of bringing someone back from the brink of death to a fully healed state within seconds. His mastery over water magic, especially in its healing applications, was unmatched.
And now—
That same power was being used in a completely different way.
Even though his primary focus had always been healing, he was still one of the strongest water magicians alive. His affinity for water magic granted him exceptional regenerative abilities, allowing his body to recover at an unnatural rate.
On top of that, he continuously cast healing magic on himself during battle.
It made him extremely difficult to take down.
At the same time, he applied another technique—one that suppressed or greatly reduced his sense of pain using water magic. This allowed him to continue fighting even after sustaining what would normally be crippling injuries.
But that was only one part of it.
The real danger lay in how he used his magic on others.
Felix had begun applying healing magic directly to his opponents—but in a way that disrupted and destabilized their bodies on the basis of actually healing them.
It was a twisted and unnatural application of his abilities, one that caused intense pain without leaving any injuries.
Under the guidance of the Great Sage, Felix had refined his magics into something far more dangerous—a combination of techniques that turned the role of a healer into something lethal.
Apparently, the mechanism behind his attacks was far more complex than it appeared.
Whenever Felix struck an enemy with his sword, he would immediately follow it up with a specialized application of healing magic.
However, this was not ordinary healing.
Under the guidance of the Great Sage, he had modified the way his magic functioned by combining it with another technique he already possessed—the ability to dull the sense of pain.
But instead of reducing pain—
It did the opposite.
The moment the wound was inflicted, Felix would “heal” it almost instantly. Yet even after the injury was closed, the pain associated with it did not disappear. Instead, it was amplified many times over and lingered within the target’s body for a prolonged period.
The victim felt as if the wound was still there—
Only far worse.
That alone was devastating.
But there was more.
To perform this rapid healing, Felix did not rely on his own mana.
He used his opponent’s.
Yes—
He was healing his enemies using their own mana reserves.
Since the wounds he inflicted were often fatal, and because he healed them at an extremely rapid pace, the process drained their mana almost instantly. The sudden depletion caused severe mana shock, overwhelming their bodies and knocking them unconscious.
Combined with the intense, lingering pain, it left them completely incapacitated.
In simple terms—
They lost all their mana.
They experienced unbearable pain.
And then they collapsed.
All without visible injuries.
At the same time, Felix himself continued to evolve during the fight.
Every injury he sustained was immediately healed by his own magic, and with each cycle of damage and recovery, his body adapted. His cells grew stronger, more resilient, gradually enhancing his physical capabilities beyond what they had been before.
The longer the battle continued, stronger he became after repeated cycles of his body being destroyed and healed.
Even Felix himself had been shocked when the Great Sage first demonstrated this method of fighting using the very same magic Felix already knew.
It completely went against everything he believed healing magic was supposed to be.
Healing magic was meant to save lives, to restore and to protect people.
And yet—
This technique twisted that purpose entirely.
Under the Great Sage’s guidance, healing magic had been turned into something capable of breaking a person’s will instead of preserving it. It did not just repair the body—it exploited it, drained it, and overwhelmed it from within.
And that was not even the most terrifying part.
By repeatedly applying this altered healing technique, Felix could establish a form of control over those he had affected. It was an advanced extension of one of his existing abilities, refined to a level where he could influence multiple targets at once.
Not absolute control—
But enough to manipulate them if necessary.
However, this aspect of the technique came with a restriction.
The Great Sage had explicitly labeled it as a last resort.
It was not something Felix was meant to use under normal circumstances.
It was only to be activated if he died and was brought back.
Because unlike his usual regeneration—where healing injuries gradually made him stronger—resurrection came at a cost. Each time he revived himself, his overall strength would decrease instead of increase.
In that weakened state, the control aspect of his magic would serve as a compensatory measure.
A way to maintain effectiveness even after losing power.
In short—
The whole technique was powerful, dangerous and fundamentally unnatural.
Even for someone like Felix.
As Felix continued fighting, his absurd and unconventional style began to draw attention from all sides of the battlefield.
It was impossible to ignore.
Aldebaran, in particular, was visibly shocked. He had known Felix as a healer, someone skilled but not meant for direct combat throughout his any of loops. Yet what he was witnessing now was something entirely different.
Felix was not just surviving—
He was dominating.
Even Julius, who had fought alongside him for a long time, found it hard to believe what he was seeing. The sheer brutality and efficiency of Felix’s methods went far beyond anything he had expected from his friend.
“Stop ignoring us, Julius!” a Royal Knight shouted as he charged forward, swinging his sword directly toward him.
Julius reacted instantly.
With a single step, he dodged the attack effortlessly, the blade passing harmlessly by him. He then calmly ran his fingers through his hair, his expression composed despite the chaos around him.
“It seems I cannot afford to hold back either,” Julius said, a slight smirk forming on his face. “I should make use of the knowledge the Great Sage has provided me.”
At his words, the spirits surrounding him responded immediately, their presence becoming more active as they prepared to assist him in battle.
Meanwhile, Felix continued his relentless assault.
His movements were erratic yet purposeful, his actions bordering on madness.
At times, he was struck directly—spears piercing through his chest, blades cutting into his body, even his neck being severed in certain moments.
And yet—
He did not die, the wounds inflicted on him closed almost instantly.
The moment an injury was inflicted, his self-applied healing magic activated, restoring his body as if nothing had happened. Even in the case of fatal injuries, the process was so fast that he never truly “died.”
After all, even a severed head could remain conscious for a few seconds.
And within those seconds—
Felix healed himself again and again, making what should have been death became nothing more than another step in his fighting rhythm.
To those watching—
It was not just terrifying, it was haunting as if they were fighting a being who didn't knew death.
His seemingly visible immortality began to terrify the soldiers.
What they were witnessing no longer felt like a normal battle. No matter how many times Felix was struck down, no matter how severe the injuries appeared, he continued to stand back up as if nothing had happened.
“Stop! Everyone, stop!” a general shouted loudly, trying to regain control over the situation.
“We need to attack him all at once!”
His voice carried urgency and desperation.
In the next moment, the soldiers followed the order.
Felix was surrounded completely.
Spearmen abandoned their ground dragons, leaping forward in unison as they thrust their weapons toward him. From all directions, spears pierced into his body—his torso, his limbs, even his shoulders.
One of them went further.
A spear drove straight through his eye, pushing all the way through to the back of his head.
For a normal person—
That would have been the end.
‘Meowyh… I really hate this fighting style,’ Felix thought, his consciousness wavering slightly as his body stiffened under the overwhelming assault.
The soldiers pressed forward, trying to tear him apart completely, making sure there was no chance for him to recover.
For a brief moment—
It almost worked.
Then—
A memory surfaced.
‘Remember, Ferris,’ the Great Sage’s voice echoed in his mind.
‘From the womb of suffering… the strong are born.’
“…”
There was a pause.
Then—
“Hyah!”
In a single motion, everything changed.
Several soldiers’ heads were pierced through at once, their bodies collapsing as they let out shrieks of unbearable pain.
Even as they fell, the effects of Felix’s magic took hold—mana exhaustion and the lingering agony of their injuries overwhelmed them completely.
At the same time—
Felix’s body began to change.
The weapons that had pierced him started to move.
Not outwardly, not through force—but as if they were submerged in liquid. Slowly, unnaturally, the spears began to slide out of his body on their own, expelled without resistance.
And yet—
There was still no blood dripping, no wounds on his body.
His body restored itself completely, leaving behind no trace of the damage he had just endured.
Felix straightened up.
A grin spread across his face.
“This is certainly…” he muttered, almost amused, “the wrong way to use healing magic.”
The soldiers who had surrounded him took a step back.
Then another.
Fear was clearly visible on their faces.
Because what stood before them was no longer just a healer.
Not even just a fighter.
Felix Argyle—the world’s strongest water magician—
Had become something else entirely.
Not the best attacker and neither the strongest warrior.
But something far more difficult to deal with—
The ultimate survivor.
To be continued...