In games, I don't trust someone quickly since they might make a fool out of me. I think it's an unspoken rule of the internet to not trust an anonymous person. Also because of that, I got some slight trust issues in real life too.

***

I can hear the crowd clamoring from the streets. Even though we're extremely far, it's still very loud. It's not a bad thing though.

“There are so many people in one place!”

Jane looks really thrilled to see so many people gathering on the same place. I've been to music festivals before so I’m used to this.

Cherry and Matt are indifferent, but they are looking at the part of the parade where the prince is. After a few moments, they go inside the room and sit on the sofa.

“This is going to take a while.”

“The welcoming ceremony is long so I'll just wait.”

“You two…”

Can't they show a bit some enthusiasm like Jane does? Even if Prince Frelisk might possibly become an enemy, he's still a royalty.

Leaving them aside, how do I watch them up close? The balcony's too far from the parade. I don't have clairvoyance magic or the sort.

“E-excuse me, Marquis Chardelier. Compliments from the king.”

All of a sudden, the Butler arrives with a bottle of wine along with some glasses. He looks a bit nervous.

Then, Cherry stands up from the sofa and walks to the butler. After that, she takes the bottle and glasses from him and makes him leave.

Cherry then looks at me while holding the bottle and glasses up.

“You’re not drinking.”

“B-but, didn't he said it came from the king?”

“I don't care.”

Then after that, the bottle and glasses disappears from her hands. I think she put it where the rest of her things are stored.

“Didn't we say ‘no drinking for one week'? If we say that, you follow that.”

Even Matt is supporting her. She's looking at me with an unhappy expression.

“P-please listen, Key. I-we think it's for your own good.”

EVEN JANE TOO?!

I rest my arms on the balcony while feeling sulky. Cherry and Matt just relaxingly sit on the sofa while looking outside.

Jane is patting my back to cheery me up.

It's just one bottle though…

“Still, looking from this distance is hard. We can see the prince's figure, but not his face. I wish we had a telescope here.”

The street's too far from the palace's balcony. I can't see anyone’s face and they're like ants from this distance.

“I forgot to say. There's actually a magic array on the railing. You can see that it’s an ocular enhancement magic spell just by looking at it. Pouring mana on it will activate it.”

Now that Matt pointed it out, I finally notice the arrays carved on the railing. Judging from its look, it's probably gold and magic core dust inserted in the lining.

“Hm… >”

Now that I copied it, I analyze it for a moment to see the composition of the magic.

“So it's catalyst type magic huh. Maybe I should try combining it with > magic.”

As I say that to myself, I assemble the script with the ring. I gathered quite a number of gazes from some Marquises and Dukes because of my magic conjuring.

“Okay, let's test it.”

I clasp my left hand and gathered some mana on it. After that, it slowly materializes forming a double-layered glass with a fancy half-eye-mask violet iron frame. Without doing anything, it automatically floats in front of my left eye.

“Wow, that's one fancy looking monocle.”

“I was going to call it [Augmentation Oculus], Jane. But monocle will do.”

I know Jane didn't mean it, but she destroyed my childish romance. Calling it Monocle sounds so dull. Where did she get that terminology?

Now then! Let's give this new magic a spin.

I look at the Prince’s parade’s direction. After that, I activate the second function to adjust the magnification level. It was slightly tricky to create the precise adjusting measurement calculations, but I replaced the calculating part with controlling it by will. It's easier that way.

“Hmm… I hate to admit, the prince does look handsome even with his face covered with dirt.”

Like the prince in stories and fairytale movies, they're both blond and painfully handsome. His face has this half-British half-Russian mix. When I look at the girls he waves his hand to, some squeals like deflating balloons, some faints like they've seen a prince. Oh wait.

“He's nothing like you girls describe. He actually looks like a nice guy. Maybe the rumors you heard were just baseless ones.”

“I hope so too. I don't like meeting people who are rumored to be philanderers. Only you is enough.”

“…..”

Cherry keeps making me sound like a bad person today…no. I think she started acting like this two days ago. Matt is acting weird and Jane's also become supportive of her too.

These women are weird. I sometimes wonder why I got attracted to them.

Going back to the prince, I can see his face up close with my monocle. I've been trying to find the scabbard, but I can only see from one angle so it's quite hard. I can feel magic power overflowing from him, but I can tell where it is due to the large ball of magic surrounding him. Finding the scabbard like this will be useless.

“Hey Cherry, can you do clairvoyance magic?”

“Yes, but I won't teach you. You'll just use it to peek at the maids you hired. You're a pervert after all.”

“Huh! That's nonsense!”

“You peeked at us before. Did you think I wouldn't know?”

“Peeked at you? When did I—“

Oh right! I remember now. I did peek at Cherry and Matt before back in my mansion in Dalseriev. She didn't mention it even once so I didn't know she knew. It’s probably her Magic Sensor gift.

“…. I will not do it again. Sorry.”

“You will not be doing it again because I will not allow you to.”

I hate to admit it, but Cherry is way stronger than I am. In the relationship that is.

“Well anyway, I can feel the scabbard's power from him, but the scabbard itself is not on sight.”

While watching him from a distance, suddenly, I notice him turning to my direction.

Mysteriously enough, he's looking at the direction where I am currently in, but it feels like he's looking directly at me.

“What the…”

All of a sudden, the prince picks up a bow from below him. Looking at it closely, it's a magic bow. Because he's pulling the string and pointing to my direction, I inadvertently muttered.

Wait a minute. I can feel magic power charging from his direction.

I think he's going to shoot me.

Seeing that, everyone in front of the prince where he is pointing the bow scatters and gets out of his direction. Even the knights picked up their shields and faced my direction.

“What are they doing?”

“Jane, girls, please take Marie and huddle behind me. The prince is up to something.”

I didn't answer Jane's question and gave out orders. Even though they're slightly confused, they didn’t ask questions and gathered behind me.

Unreasonable as it may sound, the prince is charging up the magic bow with a power that's enough to wipe the palace off the ground. Leaving aside the fact that he could kill everyone, where did he get that much power?

I finally found you, Heretic!

I don't know when he was able to use telepathy, but man, it's been a long time since I got called using that word.

“I don't know what I did to you, but you're putting everyone in danger. >”

The arrow of magic power went flying towards me—no, to our balcony to be specific.

The power expands as it flies towards me, but using > I forcibly shrinks the area of effect. Amber Funnel by the way is a barrier created in a funnel form.

Since the area of effect gets smaller as it comes to me, the power also gets concentrated which is bad. Still, it's not like I didn't think of something to shrink the area of effect.

“>>>”

Using the first magic, I strip the magic of its elemental substance turning it into raw mana. The second magic turns the raw mana into crystals to give it a physical form. But because the magic is too huge, obviously the mana crystal is also huge. That is where the third magic comes into play, it burns it back to its Ether form and disappears.

“As expected of Key, you are really capable of great feats.”

“Meh, I can do it better even while chanting.”

“I thought I was going to die!”

Leaving the three mixed opinions aside, I turn towards them while kissing Marie's forehead in a hurry.

“Evacuate the civilians within 3km! >”

I didn’t wait for them to answer me, I teleport them away along with Marie because…

“Turning your back towards your enemy is a bad move heretic!”

“Fuck you!”

The prince is flying towards me in supersonic speed. Not only that, he's got a shield facing me too. Is he planning to crush me with it?

“> >”

Because of the first magic, I was able to speed up my thought processing speed and invoke my magic armor in haste. However, it can't speed up my movement speed so I can't turn around and parry the attack.

Unable to guard against the attack, I got blow away by the prince with his huge shield passing through every wall of the palace and out of it.

*Author Moment*

Key got blown away out of the palace with his whole body intact. Because of his magic armor, he was able to survive a meteor-like explosion from his back by the prince.

After Key destroyed a building where he landed, he slowly stands up under the rubble with shaking arms. Since the attack was stronger that he anticipated, his body is getting numb from the pain it's experiencing for the first time.

“Shit! Attacking me without minding the public… Is he fucking insane?!”

Using his anger, Key punches the pile of rubble in front of him and blasts a hole on the wall exposing the main street. There, he could see the prince standing up in the air using some kind of flight magic.

“Greetings heretic, though this will be your end, it's a pleasure to finally meet you.”

With an arrogant tone, the prince bows to Key by lowering his shield, sword, and body. The way he spoke to Key, it's clear that he is well aware of his identity.

“That was one weird greeting, Prince Frelisk. Let me return the favor.”

In an instant, Key suddenly disappears from where he stood while breaking the floor at the same time.

Anticipating a frontal attack, Frelisk lifts his shield in front of him like willing to receive the blow.

However, it was a bad move.

“Eat this!”

Using only his fist, Key punches the shield using all his strength and multiplied to a thousand folds. Even with a Mithril shield, nothing can defend against this explosive attack.

When Key's fist landed on the shield, everything in front, back, or the sides went flying to the direction Key's fist is facing. And that also includes Frelisk.

But even with that attack, Key held back his punch.

Because of that, the prince was able to survive.

“I feel slightly insulted by that attack just now. A heretic with [Infinite] powers should be able to do more.”

Emerging from a mountain of rubble, the prince stands up with his sword and a slightly dented blue shield.

Seeing the shield in that state, Key was able to tell it's an Orichalcum shield. Seeing one for the first time surprised him a bit. However, it's not his problem at the moment.

Switching from claws to blades, Key flies closer to Frelisk and releases his power in front of him.

“Where did you know about me?”

“How? Anyone with a strong mana sensing ability can feel your magic even if you hide it. It goes without saying that we, the [Grey Legion] knows of your identity. You can't hide from us.”

Hearing [Grey Legion] after a long time, he clenches his fist to hide his surprise. But what surprised him is that the prince himself is a part of this organization.

“We of the great [Grey Legion] have received a message from the gods. With their divine authority and will, I will kill you and offer your head to them.”

“If you weren't the prince, I could've killed you right on the spot for nearly killing my daughter. But even if you are the prince, I'll beat you to a pulp. Gods or demons, I don't give a fuck! You endangered my family. Don't expect me to do nothing about it.”

With glowing blades, Key flies down towards Frelisk with exploding speed.

Even when receiving that much bloodlust, Frelisk didn't flinch and just smiled behind his shield. When Key was nearly in front of him, he suddenly drops his sword.

“Don't worry. Your family will follow you to the other side after you die!”

Frelisk holds the shield with both hands and raises it in front of Key.

When Key landed his next blow, this time, Frelisk didn't go flying from the power of Key's punch. Instead, the power got scattered all over the place creating a crater while blowing everything away.

Under Key's helmet, his face became full of surprise. He didn't expect Frelisk to withstand the charged power of his blade that is enough to cut a mountain in half.

In contrast to that, Frelisk draws a smile on his face while looking at Key. Even without seeing his face, he could tell that Key was shocked.

“Just because you have infinite powers, does not mean you are powerful than me.”

In just a split second, Frelisk pushes back Key's blade and made him raise his arms opening his defense. Using that chance, he kicks Key on his stomach with his left leg in full force.

What's more, it wasn't merely a kick. His kick also had the same level of power as Key's punch which broke his magic armor and sent Key flying.

Unable to see that, Key couldn't process his thoughts properly while enduring the gut-ripping pain in his stomach. But he was still able to endure it enough to make himself fly properly.

Since the pain was too much, Key starts coughing out blood inside his helmet.

“Painful isn't it? I bet you haven't experienced a real battle before. I can tell just by simply looking at you.”

“Says the guy who broke his right arm... I can see your left leg is shaking too. I bet it's fractured.”

Both of them are injured from the inside. Key has some of his internal organs ruptured from the meteor-like kick on the stomach and his spine fractured from the first attack, while Frelisk has his right arm broken after barely withstanding Key's explosive attacks and his left leg fractured from the unexpected sturdiness of Key's magic armor.

Though they hate admitting it themselves, they are equal.

“I wasn't able to detect incantations in your attack just now. How were you able to make an attack like that?”

“Try guessing it.”

Just when Key was able to stabilize his flight, Frelisk is already flying towards him like a rocket with his shield. Unlike before, he was able to prepare.

“>”

Switching back to claw, Key opens his arms looking like he'll catch Frelisk. Not only that, he creates two extra arms from his back to make sure he catches him.

Accompanied with a loud explosion, Key is able to catch Frelisk's shield with all his four arms. Even so, he got slightly pushed back by the force.

Letting one arm go off the shield, Key tries to attack by going around the shield. However, he hit nothing.

“I'm here!”

Using a magical sword from out of nowhere, Frelisk attacks from above while rotating like a wheel towards Key.

Realizing the first attack was a diversion, Key didn't have the time to react with his body. But that didn't mean he can't guard against the attack.

“>”

When Frelisk was only a meter above Key, a thick shield-like orange barrier intercepts the attack. However, the sword was actually stronger than it looks. It's able to bury itself inside the barrier, but isn't able to go through it.

“Tch! Magician.”

“You motherfucker!”

Frelisk clicked his tongue seeing Key able to defend against his attack. On the other hand, Key got angry even more.

Using his free extra arm, Key grabs Frelisk's leg and waves him around like a flag before throwing him to the ground.

Anyone who lands like a meteor on the ground would surely be dead. However, Frelisk is able to survive such attack and is missing.

Key looked around to try and find Frelisk, but it was actually too late.

“Die!”

“Illusion Feign attack!”

Appearing just in front of Key, Frelisk stabs Key on the stomach using a different sword. This time the sword is long and glowing in blue. For some reason, this blue light is negating Key's magic armor like it's a piece of paper.

Key wasn't able to foresee such attack. Not because his enemy is as powerful as him, but because of the experience he lacks.

Now that it's too late for him, he realizes that the second attack was a fake created with illusion magic. He overlooked that fact because of his bloodlust and blindly retaliated.

Driving the sword deeper in Key's stomach, Frelisk makes a victorious smile.

“Oh, that's right. I forgot to introduce myself. I am Prince Frelisk Valeshtyre, the first prince and the next heir of the throne. I am also a temple knight of both Helius and Darkus, and the wielder of the Bottomless Scabbard. Remember me in the afterlife.”

“You asshole!”

Key became weakened from the pain and loss of blood. Even more, he couldn't break the sword because the sword itself is Anti-Magic which negates every magic he tries to invoke.

“This was a short meeting, but this is your end.”

After saying that, Frelisk drives the sword through Key, ending his life.

When he lets go off the sword's handle, Key looses his armor and lost his flight magic making him fall to the ground.

“I would've liked a longer bout, but it would destroy the royal capital.”

While saying so, he puts his right hand on the left side of his waist. After that, he raises it up and pulls out a new sword. Only this time, this sword has both Fire and Ice magic.

Jumping up higher to the sky, he then kicks the air vertically to go fly down to Key with the second sword.

Accompanied with another explosion, he lands before Key with the sword stabbed on Key's heart. He made sure that Key wouldn’t live since he knows well that Key is infinitely more powerful than he is.

“Thank you, for not struggling.”

After that, he summons another sword and stabs Key's body.

He repeated it four more times mercilessly and brutally.

And after the fifth sword has been summoned, he points directly on Key's face.

“I wonder what type of person you are. But surely enough, we won't get along.”

When he raises the silver sword up, he charges it with mana making it glow in silvery light.

“Now, disappear from my sight.”

With one swing of his sword, Key’s existence was no more.