[ Undercity - The Golden Catfish Restaurant ]

In the middle of the Golden Catfish Restaurant’s third floor dining area, there’s a tense stand-off between three seemingly very powerful beings—so the words spread around, attracting the attention of the Chaos Angels who were only slaves to their curiosity.

However, even the few of them who actually came all the way here, no one dared interrupt, and they would only poke their heads around the door frame in order to look.

Within the dining area, an angel tried to peek at the scene from behind one of the flipped-over tables at the side of the wall, only for one of his friends to tap him on the shoulder and pull him back.

They all knew, instinctively, that what was about to happen between those three was not something they could realistically intervene and expect to come out alive.

Meanwhile…

““...””

Vena and Altarin continued to stare at ‘Casandro’ who was standing on the railing in silence.

And after a few seconds…

—Altarin pointed his gun and shot him.

Bang—!

‘Casandro’ flicked the end of the massive pillar and deflected the bullet!

It was what the two expected. So in the next moment, Vena rushed at him with a follow-up slash.

But ‘Casandro’ was able to shift the pillar around and deflect her attack too.

—Speed, even.

Altarin hooked his foot underneath a chair, knocking it up, before delivering a round-house kick that sent the chair flying toward ‘Carsandro’ at multiple times its initial velocity!

Boom—!

Instantly, ‘Casandro’ slammed down the pillar, deflecting the [accelerated] chair by cutting its front at the precise moment, sending it spinning wildly into a different trajectory.

Altarin fired two more shots, Vena slashed again, and the blonde-haired man responded to everything by using the slammed-down pillar as a vaulting pole and leaping over them both in a single smooth motion.

—Resourcefulness, high.

Landing on the other side, ‘Casandro’ turned around and swung his massive pillar. The pillar swept through the entire dining area, breaking and cutting through all tables and chairs, clearing out everything in its path.

Vena and Altarin jump over it and quickly close the distance.

—Strength, very high.

After finishing the swing, ‘Casandro’ was about to take another swing in the opposite direction.

However, this time, Vena was there to intercept it.

Clank~!

While Vena was preventing the pillar from moving with her sword, Altarin quickly arrived at the opposite end, and kicked it into him!

Khhrooom—!

A loud crashing sound reverberated in the halls as the wall of the dining area was broken through; multiple layers of wood cracked and splintered into a hundred directions!

Inside the newly-opened ‘hole’ in the wall, the figure of ‘Casandro’ slowly getting up after being pinned to a kitchen counter by his own weapon could be seen—along with the pale faces of the staff and chefs scurrying out of the kitchen.

“Hahahaha~ That’s amazing, how did you do that?”

Despite having been literally launched through a wall, the blonde-haired young man was still able to laugh so heartily.

“It’s you, right? The person responsible for what’s happening to all those sleeping people?”

Ignoring the question thrown at him, Altarin decided to throw out a question of his own.

“Ah, so that’s why you’re here.” ‘Casandro’ yawned a little while lifting the massive pillar back up. “Just when I thought I found someone like me…”

“So you’re not denying it!” Vena said and ferociously lunged forward with her sword.

Swiftly, ‘Casandro’ blocked her slash with the pillar. However, from the back, Altarin fired another shot.

The moment the bullet connected, once again, the massive pillar and ‘Casandro’ were sent through the opposite wall.

Bang—!

This time, the three of them broke out from behind a bar counter into an indoor pool area full of people.

“Assuming that someone’s guilty right from the get-go? Seriously, you people need to relax.”

"“Then tell us your identity!””

Ignoring the crowd of Chaos Angels running around in a state of panic—and the question posed to him—'Casandro’ dipped one end of the massive pillar into the pool and flicked it forward in an attempt to create a distraction.

However, that plan instantly backfired. As Vena proceeded to turn the droplets of water flying at her into ice shards, grabbing them to form two ice daggers, and throwing them back at him after a spin.

Not only that, but Altarin was also there to shoot yet another bullet at ‘Casandro’, sending him flying uncontrollably backward again.

Bang—! Bang—! Bang—!

After bursting through three walls in a row, ‘Casandro’ eventually slowed himself to a stop by dragging the pillar on the floor to create friction.

““Don’t force us to drag a confession out of your corpse…””

Walking toward the still recovering blonde-haired man, Vena and Altarin casually declared.

Vena raised her sword. Altarin pointed his gun. Behind them, the droplets of water from earlier had all been transformed into tens of floating ice javelins, staring down at ‘Casandro’.

—They’d now reached the end of the Golden Catfish Restaurant’s left side.

Futons and bunk beds, littering mattresses and other piles of personal belongings, and an open balcony that saw the Undercity on the other side of the canal—it was a shared sleep room for the members of the staff that took residence here.

The blonde-haired young man briefly glanced around. Behind him was a balcony, and on either side were walls.

There was nowhere left to run.

And yet, ‘Casandro’ still returned the twins' threat with a smirk.

“Sounds like a challenge to me…*burrrb~*”

As soon as those words left his mouth, the javelins shot forward, cutting through the entire room, piercing through the futons and bunk beds, destroying everything in their paths toward ‘Casandro’!

…But just because there was nowhere to run, didn’t mean that a ‘where’ couldn’t be created.

Immediately, ‘Casandro’ took the pillar, spun it upright…

—And slammed it down!

Bang—!

Once again, a massive quake was sent to every corner of the Golden Catfish Restaurant. From the outside, the whole place began to tilt sideways, its left half sinking into the water!

A little bit at first, but then lower and lower. As a result of this, Vena and Altarin’s attacks that were continuing on their straight paths went into the ceiling…

—And everything began to slide outward.

The twins could feel it immediately, and even though they both instinctively pressed their feet down, they too began to lose their balance.

Realizing ‘Casandro’ might sink the whole restaurant if he kept on pressing, Vena and Altarin shifted their attention toward preventing that from happening.

So, in the next second, both of them relaxed their postures, allowing themselves to slide forward along with the tilting floor, gaining momentum.

Then, after the two of them sufficiently closed the distance, Altarin rushed toward ‘Casandro’.

And landed a kick…

—[Celerity].

Boom—!

With another massive shockwave, everything in the shared bedroom, including the three of them, shot out of the room’s balcony and flew high into the sky!

The entire four stories structure shook and swung, causing waves upon waves to be sent out into the surrounding waters, before eventually returning to its natural orientation!

Inside the restaurant, the Chaos Angels were forced to cling on for dear life, and a resounding 'WaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAaaaaaaAaaaaahh~' could be heard everywhere.

Back outside, Altarin, Vena, and ‘Casandro’ were still locked in a tense stare-down while flying through the air, surrounded by the pieces of furniture that also flew out along with them.

Noticing the opportunity to land a decisive blow, Vena grabbed an ice javelin that was stuck to a floating floorboard and took aim at the blonde-haired man.

Falling faster and faster, fluorescent blue mists swirled around her arm, infusing the weapon she was holding with the power of cold.

Then, with all the strength she could muster, Vena sent the javelin flying toward her target!

“...!”

Immediately, every instinct in ‘Casandro’s’ body screamed at him to avoid this attack at all cost. So without wasting a single second to think, he shoved the pillar below him, pulled it back up over his head with a flip, and then sent it down with a throw!

Leaving his hand, the massive pillar traveled toward one of the large ships below, violently piercing it halfway through, sticking out of the ship like another one of its masts!

Back in the air, the ‘Casandro’ used the knockback from the throw to flip again, barely getting out of the way of the ice javelin, before eventually arcing down to perfectly land on top of the pillar.

Vena’s ice javelin missed its target and sliced into the dark water.

At first, there was nothing.

But then...

Woosh~!

—As if a release of some greater power, the dark underwater of the canal suddenly exploded outward!

BbbooOOooooooOOoooooooooooMmmm—!

At a speed visible to the naked eye, the entire canal began to freeze, creating a layer of transparent crystal surface that reflected the orange lights from the Golden Catfish Restaurant like fractals above the pitch-black waters, under the pitch-black sky.

The hundreds of small and large boats that were swayed by the waves generated by the impact eventually became stuck in weird, tilted angles on the jagged ice.

And at the center of all that…

Crack—!

Vena and Altarin landed on the transparent surface of the frozen waters, below the blonde-haired man who was currently perching on top of the pillar he’d thrown down earlier, looking over the entire frozen canal’s surface with an amused grin.

Unscathed.

—After those back and forth exchanges, finally, they were able to recognize it.

The staff technique of the 56th Floor’s Sage Monkeys. The footwork and movements of the 77th Floor's Devil Cat.

The races that [Mastered] each floor of the Abyss and ruled over them like guardians.

[If he’s really who we think he is, then you two need to be careful.]

[The same attack won’t work on him twice.]

—That’s fine. If we’re doing this right, we won’t need to attack him seriously more than once.

Above them, ‘Casandro’ began to scratch his chin and speak out loud, pointing at the two of them with his other hand.

“I see… so your bullets can increase the speed of anything they touch. —No, it should be that [you] can.

“And you, your swordsmanship is quite simple despite all the fancy tricks. I have already memorized the patterns for most of your attacks.”

““...””

At this moment, the twins’ expressions remained as stoic as the frozen canal’s surface.

—Everything’s ready.

The conditioning. The plan. The process.

—It’s time for us to go straight for the throat.

Vena and Altarin lunged forward for an all-out assault.

—————……….