'The Only Truth, huh… I've heard demons mention something like that here and there… but these guys definitely aren't demons.'

Indeed, the man Verity had impaled to a tree, from afar, may have appeared like one, but he definitely was no demon. Instead of the usual crimson, his eyes were a murky yellow color, his hair was neither white, black, or a mix of the two, and most importantly, he had no horns.

The only feature that may have led to confusion were his clawed hands and the bat-like wings protruding from his back.

'A half-demon then? Is he in the process of conversion?'

No, that wasn't it either. In the rather rare case where a human was turned, the transformation tended to be a more 'all or nothing' situation, with no intermediate states such as this.

Verity had only seen such a case a handful of times before, and there were only two explanations.

Weaker humans mutated by an extended exposure to miasma or, a much, much stranger case, which he'd only ever encountered once,

A demon turning into a human.

'But… this attack is coordinated… planned… Neither explanation fits.'

In any case, as it stood, Verity would have to figure it out later.

He stretched out his hand, and activated the rune on his hand. With a simple motion, he recalled the spear that had been lodged into the tree, alongside the… he decided to call them 'Inhumans' for now.

The inhuman held onto the gaping hole in his chest. "We know very well how strong you are… King of Fools… but we came prepared…!"

'I would have killed him already, but it'll still take a bit more time to charge an Aura blast.'

As if cleaning dirt off his spear, Verity flung the inhuman aside, leaving him to die somewhere out of sight.

Eight figures revealed themselves immediately, and every single one of them rushed not toward Verity, but toward the students.

'Nine Hells, eighth stance - Fraud.'

Verity's footwork created exactly eight replicas of him, each wielding his dreadful spear, and he repelled every single attack with such little time between each counter it seemed he'd done it all at once.

BOOM

All the assailants were repelled.

Unlike the first one, they were wearing cloaks, perhaps to conceal their identity, but Verity was overcome with the same feeling he'd gotten from the first one.

These people as well, were definitely Inhumans.

He looked behind him. "Don't try anything. These guys are at the very least first-rank level, maybe second. You won't be of any help." He cracked his neck, staring down the attackers who eyed him apprehensively. "Mage, set up a barrier around you all, and if they get past me, fight defensively."

Mavis nodded and immediately cast Barrier. Within it, the others drew their weapons, and took their stance, in case something were to go wrong.

[You are engaging in a challenge where the odds are greatly stacked against you.]

[You have received Exp toward your class.]

'Greatly, huh…. Eight first ranks all at once might be a bit much… even for me, not to mention I'm not sure what these guys can really do…'

[The skill -Beyond Reason- is being activated. Your stats have been increased accordingly.]

Arthur couldn't avert his gaze. 'Eyes that burn like fire….It really is him, isn't it. Let's see how he handles this then.'

Verity scoffed, looking ahead. "So? Who's going to be the first to attack? Or should I do the honors?"

Without replying, one of the cloaked Inhumans seemed to nod after listening to a certain voice. She brought her hand forward, and her lips parted. "[Switch]."

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'!!!!'

Before, Verity stood facing the enemy group, but now, he stood in the midst of the attackers. Immediately, sword, claws, axe, and hammer came flying at him.

Verity, in his stupor, barely blocked the incoming attacks, and created some distance between himself and them. With a measured motion, he touched his side, only to find the tip of his finger return crimson.

"...How did you do that?" He asked.

The cloaked individuals did not reply.

Fabio raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What does he mean? That lady just used a skill, didn't she? That's pretty standard, no?"

Arthur clicked his tongue in annoyance. "You idiot, can't you feel the demonic energy inside of them?"

"Sure… but so what?"

Apatia shook her head. "This is why you shouldn't only clear dungeons…. Demons can't use skills, Fabio. What just happened, is, simply put, impossible."

Verity frowned deeply. 'A demon using skills? That can't happen. Whether it be the mutates, or the ones who turn… as soon as a speck of miasma finds itself within a living being, the System abandons them.'

He sighed and spun his spear around his arm. "I guess that just means I'll have a lot to ask you after I beat the crap out of you all."

[You have your orders, eliminate the King of Fools. You will no longer receive instructions from this side.]

One of the cloaked Inhumans mumbled something. "Yes… your Highness." and he disappeared from view, as did the others. "[Zero Trace]."

'It's that skill again…'

The swamp fell silent. The vanished entities made no sound, produced no smell, and could absolutely not be seen.

Verity closed his eyes. 'Still… if they are triggering some of my detection runes, then I can find them.'' Some of which he'd placed down in that exchange just now without even the students behind him noticing.'

He raised his spear with a flash to halt an incoming sword. "You can attack while you're invisible too, huh… You should have led with that if you had any brains at all… but if you didn't, it's probably because..."

Using the momentum of the blow, he drew the figure in and then sunk his fist into where the supposed the inhuman was.

The Inhuman came back into view, kneeling before Verity and spitting blood. "You can't maintain this invisibility of yours all that well, can you? That was a laughable sword strike."

Verity turned his gaze to the barrier that Mavis had put the students inside of. It seemed the Inhumans had given up on attacking them.

A tense silence filled the swamp.

'Really, what's their goal? This ambush is… clumsy at best… and they don't seem to be after the students at all.'

Verity couldn't understand.

BOOM

Verity sent an inhuman who'd triggered one of his runes flying before she could even understand what had happened to her

[H-how is he seeing us!?? This skill is supposed to be perfect!! It's–]

[Shut your mouth, Ur. This was never going to be easy.]

[What's the progress on those kids? Can we break that barrier without the man stopping us? If we use them as hostages, we might be able to win!]

[If I deactivate -Zero Trace- and use a powerful Word… then it shouldn't be too hard…but we said that—]

[...Do it. Use a Word.]

[What!! We promised tha–]

[Do it!]

Verity's head snapped to the right. "Looks like you've had enough of this game of hide and seek."

"Lacerate!!"

This one came from the front. An attack much more powerful than anything they'd done before. Verity smirked as he strained himself to block the surprise attack. "Have you decided to take this seriously?"

"Crush!"

He blocked another attack with incredible weight shooting for the back of his head.

The others followed suit, all deactivating their stealth and deciding to use their demonic abilities to their fullest.

Meanwhile, next to the barrier, a female inhuman gathered her power. "Pierce…. Destroy…"

Igor shouted. "Mavis, undo the barrier. Let's fight this thing together!!"

Mavis, however, ignored him. She gathered all the mana that she could into strengthening the barrier. Blood flowed from her nose. "He… said… not to!"

Apatia, though she agreed, still raised her spear and lowered her stance. She stepped in front of Mavis, sweat rolling down her temple. "If… you feel like it's going to break, just fly away…! You too Igor!"

Fabio raised his arms in the air. "What about me!! I'm fragile too, you know!"

Arthur smacked the back of Fabio's head, raising his sword as well and gathering his Aura. "You need to read the room sometimes."

The female inhuman now had black tears dripping from her eyes, and if they could see under her cloak, the students would have seen purple veins spreading out from 'Something' within her chest.

She cocked her arm back, and prepared to strike, when—

SWOOSH

Her head fell off her shoulders. "Ah."

Verity scratched his head. "Hm. That was somewhat close."

Arthur looked behind him, bewildered.

The Inhumans had been torn apart, as if a famished wild beast had run through them. Arthur's eye brow seemed to twitch, and his hand tightened around the handle of his sword.

'Ten minutes or so for eight beings equal or above in power to first-rank demons. I'll keep it in mind.'

A mote of light suddenly hovered above his hair. Verity stepped back and offered his hand. The mote of light dropped within it.

Nothing happened.

…?

Mavis finally spoke. "It's a… magical message… likely, there is something written within the mana…"

Verity turned to her. "Can you read it?"

She nodded, and took hold of the mote of light. "...It's from the Radian Twilight… it says; 'Our unit has just vanquished foes of considerable might, but no match for my splendor!! I urge you, my Knights to exercise caution, though I don't imagine you'd lose to such weak opponents!!'"

They all looked at Mavis with a surprised expression.

Apatia's hand landed on her shoulder. "That was… a good impression."

Mavis nodded, not saying anything else.

"Looks like we weren't the only ones."

Meaning the enemy was aware this trip was occurring and planned to attack them when they were separated. This would have been clever… if they'd sent someone worthwhile.

Just why… What was the purpose of this?

Verity wasn't exactly known for his overwhelming strength, but rather his obsession with demons that bordered on madness. That same obsession that had put him at the top of the global rankings.

Still, he was a force to be reckoned with.

'I mean, the last time they sent someone after me… there was a third rank demon!'

Verity stroked his chin.

Something was amiss. 'I planned to leave this last one alive but she gave me no choice…. Sigh, I guess there's no way to know…'

"Why don't we talk for a moment?"

The head that had just been sliced off turned to the group and began speaking.

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