A city seemingly forged from steel stood at the port of Tokyo Bay.
The city wasn't large, spanning only a few kilometers in length and width. Its walls were pieced together from sheets of metal in various colors, forming a thin, film-like barrier on the outside, exuding a sense of disorder at first glance.
From a distance, the city's skyline was as flat as that of a rural town, with hardly any skyscrapers in sight. There was no trace of prosperity—just an overwhelming lifelessness.
This was Tokyo City, one of the four major rebuilt fortress cities, constructed upon the ruins of the former Tokyo Metropolis.
"Hurry! Move faster! We'll be safe once we get inside the city!"
About two kilometers away from the city walls, a small escort team of several people was desperately fleeing for their lives, as if some monstrous creature were chasing them. Every one of them was pushing themselves to their absolute limits.
The one shouting to rally the group was a young woman with long black hair that reached her waist.
Her face was covered in dust and grime, dulling what would otherwise have been a striking beauty. She wore a pair of goggles over her eyes and was fully armed—bulletproof vest, a dagger strapped to her leg, and an automatic rifle loaded with live ammunition in her hands.
Yet, at this moment, the weapon in her grasp offered her no sense of security.
"Yes, Captain!"
Encouraged by her words, the team members behind her seemed to find renewed strength and quickened their pace slightly.
The entire escort team raced toward the city walls two kilometers away without pause, their legs pumping as if they were willing to run them to the point of breaking.
"Damn this shitty world!"
The girl cursed the wretched state of the world in her heart as she and the others desperately sprinted toward the city walls.
Her stamina wasn't particularly outstanding, placing her somewhere in the middle of the group. Even so, her energy was nearly depleted—she could barely maintain her breathing rhythm, gasping for air in ragged bursts.
"Grrrr—"
A low, drum-like growl rumbled from behind them.
A shadow, dark yet shimmering with iridescent hues, emerged from the horizon like a predator stalking its prey. It moved with the leisurely pace of a cat toying with its victims, unhurriedly trailing the fleeing humans.
The monster's body was covered in irregular black and white spots, crawling on eight powerful legs. Six asymmetrical eyes were scattered across its form, and its massive frame stretched over five meters in length, standing more than two meters tall—far beyond what conventional firearms could handle.
A malicious, almost human-like glint flickered in its eyes. It could have easily overtaken the group of humans in mere moments, crushing their hopes in an instant. But it chose not to. Instead, it played with them, like a cat tormenting a mouse.
It wanted to wait until the humans were just within reach of the city walls—until the moment they thought salvation was at hand—before suddenly surging forward and delivering the cruelest despair.
"Hmm?"
It let out a low, curious sound.
Its mismatched eyes, positioned at varying heights and angles, suddenly caught sight of another human figure approaching in the distance, heading toward the same city walls.
Another one?
"Captain, there's someone over there!"
The guard at the rear of the group had intended to check the distance of the monsters, but when he turned his head, he unexpectedly spotted a human figure in the distance and quickly called out.
"A refugee?"
"At a time like this, who cares about refugees!"
"Let's just focus on escaping the monsters first!"
The guards didn't even look back, sprinting forward with their heads down.
At this moment, they had no time to worry about refugees—survival was all that mattered.
Only the female captain of the team, upon hearing this, seemed to recall something. She turned to look behind her, her weary dark eyes suddenly brightening slightly.
"No, that might be... Magus over there, please lend us a hand and save us!"
She suddenly raised her voice, shouting for help toward the distant figure at the top of her lungs.
"Captain?"
"A magus?"
"How could there be one out here..."
The team members shook their heads in disbelief.
Even those incredibly powerful magicians would meet their end in the jaws of monsters if encountered in the wild.
Every magus they knew would never be foolish enough to travel alone in the wilderness. Even magi had to stick together to dare venture outside.
Magi were strong, but they were still fragile humans at the end of the day.
Yet the next moment, the distant figure's actions shattered the decades-long beliefs they had held since birth.
The figure suddenly accelerated, moving at a speed more terrifying than a high-speed train. In their eyes, the person's silhouette visibly grew from the size of a sesame seed to that of a red bean.
In no time, amid a gust of wind, the figure arrived beside them, swift and agile as a cheetah.
"Are you the Tokyo City guard team?"
The person slowed down beside them, running alongside them.
But what terrified them was that this individual had just covered hundreds of meters in mere seconds, yet now appeared completely unfazed, not even slightly out of breath.
Was this person really human?
Not some monster disguised in human skin?
"That's right!"
While the other team members were stunned by the display, the black-haired female captain's spirits lifted, her exhausted expression gradually brightening.
"There are monsters chasing us! Please, help save us!"
"Monsters, huh..."
Roy let out a noncommittal hum.
These people had nothing to do with him, and in his current mood, he had no desire to meddle in their affairs. Watching them die in the monsters' jaws wouldn't even make him blink.
"Given the circumstances, I'll help you just this once."
With that, Roy pushed off the ground, pivoted, and shot backward like an arrow loosed from a bow.
"Let's go help too!"
The young captain rallied her team. Her authority seemed high, as the members gritted their teeth and charged toward the monsters behind her at her call.
But unfortunately, there was no chance for them to shine.
Roy moved at an unimaginable speed, covering nearly a kilometer in just a few seconds to appear before the monster.
The monster had noticed him earlier but initially paid him no mind. Then, startled by his terrifying speed, it reacted immediately when it saw him charging forward.
Its eight spider-like legs clung tightly to the ground as its mouth convulsed, spewing out a white, viscous sphere nearly the size of a water tank.
The moment the sphere was ejected, it spread out like a web, rushing toward Roy.
Roy's face remained utterly expressionless. With a flick of his hand at his waist, a snow-white blade wreathed in pitch-black infernal flames materialized in his grip.
With just one swing, the web was sliced apart and incinerated.
The monster wore a human-like expression of shock, completely baffled as to how its web—which even magi couldn't handle—had been severed and burned away by this man in a single stroke.
Realizing it might have provoked a monster it shouldn't have, it immediately turned to flee. But then the man took a single step forward, his blade flashing like a streak of light.
In the next instant, darkness engulfed its vision, and it knew no more.