Ajax faces his opponents. Seven of his enemies have been killed so far. Now, there are the two remaining wind mages and the older man in front of him.

Ajax looks over at the two mages as they prepare magic and chant incantations. They were able to fire such powerful attacks at him but… the interval between consecutive attacks isn’t small.

Or, perhaps they’re discouraged because of how Ajax simply healed himself after being cut in half. Their eyes are twitching but other than that, their expressions remain focused.

It’s… probably because I killed their friend.

Ajax looks at his feet. The remains of their comrade can be seen; the frozen shards of his body. Ajax is nauseated at the sight of such death. It… It didn’t have to end this way… 

Ajax glances at the shattered head of his enemy who had inflicted such pain against him. Whoever he was, his life is now no more. All of the work put into ensuring his continued existence, throughout decades… all for naught on this day.

Ajax’s eyes shake.

“Son, you should really put away your soft heart… at least long enough for us to have a good fight here.”

Ajax turns back to face his new enemy. Ajax notices this man’s appearance as he pays attention to him more closely this time.

An older man, perhaps in his late forties, with white hair tied into a pony-tail. His armour is just the same as the other seven weaklings who Ajax easily dispatched… However, his bearing is different.

Perhaps, his age is merely a testament to his competence in this field. To live this long as a member of organized crime, a combat oriented person clearly, without dying…

Ajax notices another thing. The surface of the man’s skin has a faint glow. Ajax… is made to think of something divine… perhaps heavenly. But only if Ajax judges the man based on this superficial outward glow.

“Why aren’t… Why aren’t you attacking me right now? Do you… Do you really think you can afford to act so leisurely?”

“I wish to know your name. What is it?”

“...I’m Ajax.”

“Well, Ajax. Are you prepared to die?”

“...Huh?”

“It’s a fairly simple question. Are you prepared to die by my hand? Yes or no?”

The man smiles. His eyes don’t betray his malicious intent. Rather, his face and tone even makes it sound like he’s offering refreshments to a guest visiting his home.

“No. I’m not prepared to die… But… just how embarrassed are you going to end up?”

“Embarrassed?”

“Well, what’ll you do when you confront the fact that you’re all talk? After I defeat you that is. I’m getting a really egotistical vibe from you… Are you someone to be able to handle defeat graciously? Or are you someone who picks fights against those who they can beat easily? Am I going to see you tuck your tail and run?”

“Ha! You think you can defeat me? Your healing magic is impressive but you’re hemorrhaging mana with your attacks and recovery! So much wasted movement and effort…”

“I actually haven’t lost any energy since starting this fight. The net result of this battle has been zero energy lost or gained.”

“Quit trying to act tough, son… And you’re asking me if I’ll be embarrassed? Young men like you should know when you’re outclassed! Before I send you to the afterlife, I’ll give you my name… I am the knight Ilna Fautre!!”

The knight Ilna Fautre readies his stance. His body is engulfed in a special, blue incandescence. Within a second, visible streams of electricity circulate his aura. They increase in intensity as Ilna Fautre calms his breathing.

Knight… Holy knight? Holy knights wouldn’t work for brothel owners, right? How do knights work in this world again? But… I’m not as weak as I was then. I can kill a dozen Kinsers now! I can take you on, Ilna!!

“Birliu Carthir: Cloud Speed!!”

The light engulfing Ilna’s body turns white; the lightning becomes disorientingly fast. Ilna sprints to where Ajax is. He raises his right hand in an attempt to strike Ajax’s head with a chop.

Ajax raises his left arm in an attempt to block, so Ilna changes targets.

Shit!

Ajax's left arm is severed at the shoulder. It flies and hits the right wall of the hallway. The pain is dulled because of Ajax’s energy surplus. Ilna smiles.

Ajax, believing that Ilna has dropped his guard at least slightly, reaches his left arm towards him. If Ajax can touch him, then he can freeze him; he can win!

But… Ilna is faster than him. He reacts by backing away before Ajax can touch him. Ilna, realizing that he cannot kill Ajax with even his enhanced speed, tries another tactic.

Currently, Ilna has cloaked his body in a special lightning oriented mana. His senses have increased drastically. His speed and agility are magnified greatly.

Right now, if he fights Ajax in close combat, their battle can be said to be between equals. However… Ilna doesn’t know about Ajax’s true power. The ability to absorb heat and transform that into energy and healing.

The men saw him dissipate fire but assumed it was an application of ice magic i.e. lowering the temperature of fire to snuff it out.

Ice magic is a magic that affects temperature by decreasing it, it is not directly a magic that controls water. Ajax’s magic is more than that. His power reduces temperature merely as a byproduct through his ability to absorb heat.

As a result, Ilna believes that Ajax will only become slower, weaker and less effective. So long as Ilna doesn’t venture too close to him, he can’t be frozen to death like that wind mage had been.

But now, he notices. Ajax is still quite fast. It might be dangerous at this point to venture so close; perhaps his energy is more bottomless than originally assumed.

Luckily, the Cloud Speed cloak Ilna’s wearing is versatile. He doesn’t have to keep making incantations to conjure lightning projectiles for example. He can just allocate lightning energy in a fairly simple way.

So, Ilna raises his right palm towards Ajax from a few metres away. He holds his right arm with his left arm gripped on the forearm near the elbow, as if he’s aiming a cannon made of his right arm.

Ajax feels slight trepidation and starts running towards Ilna but--

“Ha!!”

Ajax doesn’t see it. Its speed is quite fast. Ilna has fired from his arm a white-coloured lightning bolt. He has aimed directly at Ajax’s head. It strikes true, entering through his eyes and mouth. Ajax should be--

But, no. Ajax feels… great. Ilna’s face pales at the sight of Ajax’s relieved smile. Ajax looks at Ilna again with a confused expression.

“...What just… What did you do just now?”

Ajax asks this question, confused by what Ilna has just attempted. Before he can answer, Ilna fires another white-coloured lightning bolt, this time aimed right at Ajax’s heart. 

It hits dead on! Whatever the earlier fluke was, this time for sure--

Ajax’s shirt catches fire from the excessive heat of the lightning bolt. Ajax, without really thinking about it, puts it out but… his heart doesn’t feel anything.

No heat, no strike force… no numbness or tingling… nothing…

Ajax tears off his shirt; it’s ruined now from the burns on it and it’ll just get in his way. Ilna can now see the state of Ajax’s chest. There is some soot from his shirt’s sudden combustion but… no burn marks on his chest of any kind.

Ilna looks at Ajax in fear and confusion. His original nonchalant, unfearing expression has disappeared, most likely for good.

“It’s impossible… that bolt to your head should have fried your brain! The second one should have burned your heart out… How? How are you still standing?”

“Huh? Bolt? Was that… Was that actually lightning!?”

“Yes! Yes, you moron! It was lightning!!”

“S-Stop yelling at me! I-I’ve never seen lightning that close up before, that’s all! It didn’t even hurt me at all either. If you were hit by lightning and didn’t even feel it, wouldn’t you be confused as well!?”

Ilna observes Ajax’s body. His body hair isn’t burnt, nor the hair on his head. His chest isn’t damaged in the slightest. He truly is unhurt by the two lightning strikes. What’s more, his arm that Ilna severed accelerated in healing right after Ilna fired the bolt at his head.

Suddenly, Ajax sprints towards Ilna. Ilna still has his lightning cloak on. He dodges Ajax’s attempt to strike his chest with his right fist. Barely.

Ajax aims for a punch again, at Ilna’s head this time. Another near hit. Then, a successful strike with his knee. Not exactly successful but Ajax’s knee touches Ilna’s Cloud Speed cloak. Ilna feels the lightning on his body dissipate where Ajax had just brushed it with his knee.

“Wh-What!?”

This time Ilna backs away to where the two remaining wind mages are. They’re still trying to prepare their magic, using Ilna’s solo battle to their advantage.

They haven’t gotten as far as they need to in order to defeat Ajax however. The battle between Ilna and Ajax consumed only a brief few seconds.

Unlike their wind mage comrade who Ajax killed, these two have to jointly use mana to create their wind slice spell; the complicated pattern of the mana configuration of the spell is difficult for them to do individually.

While Ilna is keeping them occupied, their decision has been to produce three concurrent wind blade spells to cut off his head and carve up his torso so he can’t use healing magic to regenerate ever again.

But now…

“What is it, Ilna?”

The two remaining wind mages speak to him; Ajax hears their deep voices for the first time, monotonous and emotionless.

Hm. Maybe these two are just sociopaths or something. Psychopaths maybe?

Ilna whispers to them, trying as hard as he can to make sure Ajax cannot hear, not knowing of Ajax’s hearing abilities.

“He’s… He’s not… He is absorbing my attacks! Not only does the lightning not affect him but he… he’s consuming it and turning it into his strength! He’s faster all of a sudden! He became faster than me without any preparation…”

“...you coward. This man… This scum killed our friend… he--”

Suddenly, Ajax rushes towards the two men; he’s had enough of them being in his periphery. Ajax heard their whispers. Did they think he wanted to take the life of their friend?

He gave them all an offer of mercy. He gave them the option to run. They just had to leave the innocent people under his protection alone. But no. Then, his friend hits him with something he can’t see to try and kill him and he’s scum for defending himself!?

You fucking pieces of shit, you think you’ll get away with that!?

Ilna jumps backwards, noticing that Ajax’s anger is being directed to the two of them and not him. As Ajax runs towards the men, he increases his perception of air pressure.

He does this to improve his ability to detect the path of the wind blades, which he believes to be unknown invisible projectiles of some sort.

Ajax sprints towards them, his eyes finally vicious and not concerned for their lives, the lives of his enemies. They whisper an incantation under their breath. Ajax believes it’s the attack that cut him in two before.

He feels it coming quickly! It’s aimed again at his hips. Ajax vaults over the blade as if he were clearing a hurdle on an parkour obstacle course.

However, he doesn’t jump quickly enough. As he attempts to clear the invisible slice, his right leg is severed from the middle of his calf.

Ajax winces at the realization that his leg has been cut (not directly from the pain). But, without skipping a beat, he lands on his left foot and leaps! He jumps at the men, his arms outstretched in an effort to touch them and freeze them solid.

However, he can feel it coming. Two more slices aiming for him. Ajax attempts as best he can to dodge midair.

One of the slices cuts through him. It slices through his right trapezius, right pec and right latissimus dorsi. His right arm and the entire right side of his chest is disconnected from his body.

The second wind slice is aimed for his head. Ajax feels a bit of air pressure coming directly to his head. He cannot see the projectile as clearly as he would like with this new sense of perception he’s attempted to master, but it’s clear where it’s going to hit!

Ajax instinctively tilts his head to the right. He’s not as quick as he’s like. The slice penetrates the left side of his head. Ajax feels air on the exposed bone of his skull; his brain is exposed but he doesn’t directly feel any discomfort from that since the brain itself cannot feel pain.

But, the two wind mages aren’t done yet! Ajax notices one of the wind mages has a short sword ready in case their attack fails. He attempts a slash. They’re certainly well trained…

This slash cuts through his left pec and rib cage, then through his left lung, heart, liver and spine. It creates a large gash but it doesn’t separate his body into multiple disconnected pieces.

Ajax screams in pain. He doesn’t remember if he’s ever felt pain of this level before, even before he learned how to suppress his physical pain! His left arm touches the neck of one of the two wind mages as the other one retreats from the two of them.

CONSUME!!!!!!!!

Ajax feels the gouge through his midsection heal instantly as well as the opening in his skull. His right leg restores itself as Ajax lands on the ground on both feet. All that’s left on his body is the pair of medieval pants he has on with the fabric torn where his right calf was severed.

Ajax slowly walks to the other wind mage. This one feels fear for the last time.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!”

Ajax screams in triumph and agony; then he laughs at the hellish pain he’s felt for an instant in exchange for their lives. He grabs the last remaining wind mage by the shoulders. The man is frozen to death while staring at Ajax in terror.

Ajax looks at his face with a smile that slowly fades. He holds his corpse up for a few seconds before speaking.

“Scum…”

Ajax then headbutts his frozen, somewhat statuesque corpse with full force. The frozen man shatters to particles of nothing. Even his metal armour is left on the ground as shards.

The knight Ilna remains. He looks at Ajax as his face twists into a display of cowardice and fear. As if he finally realized he’s not facing a man that merely commands the forces of winter but the heart and soul of winter itself.

Ajax walks towards Ilna. The memory of Ajax’s pain is seared into his mind. All he wants to do is get rid of his pain right now. Ilna is one of the objects who will accept his wrath.

“Y-You… You… Get away from me!!!”

Ilna is not wearing his Cloud Speed cloak right now. He’s quite vulnerable. So, Ilna focuses magic into his body and raises his palms towards Ajax. Ajax senses the new hostile intent and sprints at Ilna. But, Ilna is just slightly quicker than that.

“Yoltri Mei! Expanse of hell!”

All of a sudden, fire proceeds from Ilna’s hands out in the direction of Ajax. Ajax isn’t affected by it but… he cannot stop it from progressing this time. Fire fans out in all directions and crawls down the hallway towards the doors.

The fire quickly burns down the doors of each room in this hallway. The rooms are quite flammable to Ilna’s extremely hot, extremely powerful flames.

Ajax returns to his senses. Ilna runs towards the stairs setting fire to the stairs behind him as well as to the rest of the first floor as well. Ajax runs after him reaching the stairs in an attempt to stop his procession, but then, he remembers.

The… The girls might still be in their room!!!

How long has it been? Has Ajax bought enough time for them to escape through the window? As far as Ajax can tell, the women barricaded themselves in their rooms about three minutes ago. To climb down one floor to the ground shouldn’t take any time at all but…

Ajax forgets about Ilna and the collateral damage left in his wake. This has been Ilna’s intention. Not to kill him with that indiscriminate fire, but to use the women and the other inhabitants still in their rooms as quick hostages. Anything to force Ajax to take his attention off of him.

Ajax forgets about everyone else except the women he’s been tasked with protecting for the time being. He doesn’t even consider who else might be in the inn. A big mistake that will have to be reckoned with but--

Ajax rapidly sprints to the room where the women should be. The door to their room is burning down, smoke blocking his view into the room. Ajax can see the furniture at the entrance engulfed in flames. Even the bed has ignited.

This fire has already spread to the inside of the room. Ajax listens for any heartbeats inside the room. There is… only one!

Ajax leaps through the fire at the door over the burning bed and wooden room furniture into the centre of the room. His pants start burning but he quickly puts out that fire using his ability to absorb heat. Ajax then zaps the fire of its heat, dissipating it instantly.

Within seconds, all fire in the room disappears, being absorbed into his body. The smoke that was created within a few seconds by the quick moving fire remains but it isn’t quite thick at this stage.

“Ajax!”

“Hila? Are you al--”

Ajax feels the room shift. The fire was quick, having already spread to the ceiling. Unknown to Ajax, fire has also spread through the entire first floor from Ilna’s haphazard flames.

Although the fire has already been removed in this single room, the fire below has exacerbated the structural issues with the building. Ajax feels the room shift and break. It could collapse at any second.

What a shitty place this is… Burning down this fucking quickly, what the hell is that shit!?

Ajax is currently in front of Hila who was just about to escape through the window. She must have allowed her friends to escape before leaving herself. She’s quite a good person; is he going to allow her to die here after such a selfless act?

The women below have backed away from the window as they notice the building start to collapse. Hila is about to escape when--

The floor stops being level. Hila’s legs collapse and she falls to the ground. Suddenly, Ajax sees a beam of wood from the ceiling fall towards Hila’s head. Hila holds her head in her arms, closes her eyes and screams in preparation for her impending death.

Ajax makes a quick decision. He runs towards Hila. He places as much energy into his agility as he possibly can. He picks up Hila in his arms, holding her head, her neck, her back and her shoulder securely while continuing to run towards the open window.

He leaps while continuing to carry Hila safely in his arms. He holds her with as much delicacy and care as a mother holding her newborn if they were also running from a collapsing building.

He lands on the ground on his feet as the fires spread throughout the slum inn. Although the fire in their room had dissipated, it didn’t mean that the fire in the hallways of the second floor or first floor had suddenly disappeared.

Ajax places Hila on the ground gently. Ajax examines her for any injuries. He is not the best at controlling his strength so it is possible that he failed to protect her. He could have broken a bone in his rush. Is Hila concussed? Any internal injuries?

For now… she looks ok… Oh no!!

Then, Ajax realizes. The inn is still burning to the ground. What about… what about the rest of the people inside!? What about…

Ajax leaps back into the room from which Hila has been safely retrieved from. 

~

“Hila! Hila, are you ok! Hila!!”

Claris runs to Hila and grabs the sides of her pink haired head in her hands.

“What… What just… I was about to… What just happened? How am… How am I outside right now?”

“Huh? You didn’t see him, Hila?”

“See who?”

“It was Ajax.”

“...Ajax?”

“Yeah, he leapt out of the building while holding you.”

“...Huh!? Quit kidding around, Claris… I mean, I did see him in the room before the ceiling almost killed me b-but--”

“Well, the ceiling didn’t kill you because of him, Hila!!”

Hila sees a satisfied and proud expression on Claris face. Hila had been slow to trust Ajax and Shaula but while Claris is still kind of scared of Shaula, she trusts Ajax almost completely now.

“N-No way! H-How could… How could he move that quickly!? I was in that building just a minute ago!!”

“I don’t know… his strength and speed are fearsome, right? But Hila… Ajax saved your life. Do you… Do you feel anything wrong with your body? He did seem careful but…”

“N-Nothing wrong right now anyways… No broken bones… No torn muscles… Nothing bruised… Nothing sprained… no bleeding even.”

“Fantastic! Be sure to thank him later, ok?”

“Later? Where’d he go?”

“He leapt back into the building just now.”

“...Wh-Why!? It was on fire!! I-Is h-he a moron!? Does he want to fucking die!!?”

“He won’t die, Hila…”

“Well… Yeah, I can’t really imagine him dying in a fire after just saving my life, not a guy like him anyway…”

“Right? He’s a man of fearsome strength! Some shitty fire isn’t going to kill him!”

Hila and Claris look at the building, light and smoke still escaping from its various windows on both floors.

Hila smiles. She is still alive.