Law and Salin left the royal capital and headed back to their residence. As they approached, the sounds of fierce fighting reached them from afar.
Realizing the situation was worse than expected, Salin was about to speed up, but Law's sudden burst of speed left her stunned, and she was left behind in an instant.
Law arrived first. When he saw thousands of sand bandits surrounding and slaughtering the people in the settlement, he leaped into the air and landed, breaking through the encirclement with a shockwave.
Before landing, he had already scanned the corpses on the ground. Not spotting any children or elderly among them, he quietly sighed in relief… though many had still fallen to the sand bandits' blades.
Activating Gyo the moment a battle began was basic instinct.
Law focused his Aura into his eyes and swiftly assessed the battlefield, instantly grasping the situation.
Only about a hundred of their people remained, while the sand bandits numbered in the thousands. Among them, only thirty or so were Nen Users, most of whom were concentrated around Buhara and the other two.
The sand bandits stared warily at Law's imposing presence, temporarily halting their assault.
At that moment, Kuro, in full view of everyone, materialized out of thin air, perching on Law's shoulder, his silver eyes gleaming as he surveyed the surrounding bandits.
Kuro's eerie, sudden appearance deepened the sand bandits' unease toward Law.
Legends said black cats symbolized curses and divine punishment. Though such superstitions had weakened in modern times, Kuro's entrance inexplicably reinforced those fading beliefs.
Not only did the bandits react visibly, but even the hundred or so survivors from the settlement wore expressions of fear.
They stood close to Law but had only seen a wisp of black smoke swirl around him before solidifying into a cat on his shoulder.
"Did I tell you to stop?"
Suddenly, Geralt's cold voice cut through the silence, echoing across the battlefield.
After hearing Geralt's words, the sand bandits who had stopped their attack began to move again, slowly tightening the encirclement.
Law suddenly looked at Geralt, who was far away from the crowd. Cut off the head, and the body will follow… It's a simple principle, but executing it was another matter.
After making up his mind, Law suddenly reached out and grabbed Kuro.
"What are you doing?" Kuro was caught off guard and his silver eyes widened in shock.
Law smirked at him, and then, ignoring Kuro's horrified expression, he tossed him like a baseball, hurling him into the distance.
"You bastard…!"
Kuro transformed into a streaking meteor, vanishing to the horizon in an instant, his plan to slaughter the sand bandits thwarted.
After tossing away Kuro, who wanted to take the opportunity to blacken more pages, Law no longer had any reservations.
His Aura surged around him, and with a powerful push of his feet, he charged toward Geralt's location.
The sand bandits, still startled by Law's sudden action of throwing Kuro, barely had time to react before he crashed into them, sending them flying into the air. The severe internal injuries caused them to vomit copious amounts of blood, and they were dead before they even hit the ground.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sand bandits were sent scattering like bowling pins struck by a bowling ball.
The sounds of flesh colliding and swords shattering replaced the earlier one-sided battle cries. Law could utilize 100% of his Enhancement-Type Aura's conversion efficiency.
When his Aura enveloped his body, the sand bandits' blades shattered upon impact.
Under Law's relentless assault, the sand bandits' formation quickly fell into chaos.
Outside the crowd, Geralt watched the scene and was shocked. He immediately realized that Law's target was him.
Before his thoughts could fully process the situation, Law had already bulldozed through his subordinates' encirclement and appeared right in front of him.
'The ability to control quicksand suggests he's a Manipulator, but-'
'That reckless, brute-force fighting style was unmistakably that of an Enhancer.'
Geralt's nerves were stretched to their limit. He took a step back, and then, in a desperate move, he grabbed one of his subordinates and hurled them at the charging Law.
Law didn't waste time blocking the thrown bandit. Instead, he sidestepped, dodging the attack, and then instantly activated [Instant]. With an explosive burst of Aura, he closed the gap of several dozen meters in an instant, appearing right in front of Geralt.
"You…!"
Geralt's entire body went cold as he saw Law appeared before him in the blink of an eye. His Aura surged down his arm, concentrating in the longsword gripped in his right hand, which he swung down at Law with all his might.
However, the flow of his aura was as obvious as a naked child in Law's Gyo-enhanced vision. The movement was slow and glaringly telegraphed, and before the attack could even fully execute, its intent had already been exposed.
In other words, his Nen Techniques were far too weak.
'Foresight' or 'predicting the future' might sound exaggerated in the context of Nen Combats, but true Nen Masters could indeed evade an opponent's moves before they were fully executed, countering with attacks faster than thought… ones that couldn't be defended against.
Because the poorly concealed flow of Aura would betray the attacker's intentions in advance. This was why Ryu was such a crucial technique in Nen Combat. Of course, there were exceptions, as some Nen Users deliberately created openings to lure their opponents in.
But Geralt is obviously not that kind of person. He was simply lacking in skill.
The moment Geralt's slashing motion began, Law had already shifted out of its potential range. Then, with a single, decisive strike, he drove his fist into Geralt's chest.
There was no loud impact, nor was Geralt sent flying by a tremendous force. Instead, his body stiffened instantly, his half-executed slash freezing midair.
Though the punch lacked dramatic flair, it pierced through Geralt's meager Aura Defense, directly crushing his heart beneath his ribcage.
Blood gushed from Geralt's mouth. He stared at Law, wide-eyed, before collapsing backward, his body hitting the ground with a heavy thud. His eyes remained open, never closing.
All his ambitions, all his ruthlessness… everything faded with the dimming light in his eyes.
There were hundreds of sand bandits and fifty captives near Geralt's location. They were dumbfounded when they saw Geralt suddenly fall to the ground without a sound.
Afterwards, they watched as the wretched-looking middle-aged man, who had defeated Geralt effortlessly, tore off his head, which is still frozen in a death stare, and tossed it high into the air above the encircling crowd. The remaining blood spilled downward like rain.
Not far away, Salin stopped atop a rooftop, staring blankly at Law, who had obliterated Geralt in seconds. It suddenly struck her that her junior brother was far stronger than she had realized!
After hurling Geralt's head into the crowd, Law coldly surveyed the hundred or so sand bandits surrounding him. He expanded his Domain, then, with the brutal efficiency of an invisible sniper, detonated every one of their heads simultaneously.
The captured captives, who are drenched in the blood of the exploding bandits, stood frozen in terror, trembling uncontrollably.
Millia, however, felt no fear. As she gazed at Law's unremarkable face, she found it inexplicably… handsome!