When Kael opened his hand, small pieces of metal lay upon his palm.
ACUs.
The very things embedded inside the bodies of Pale's subordinates until just moments ago.
'Since that guy said his subordinates were 4th Rank.'
Kael inspected the ACUs on his palm one by one.
'Roughly six 4th Rank ACUs.'
The difference was distinctly palpable compared to the 1st Rank ACU he had used to deal with the subordinates moments ago.
The quantity of residual mana, the degree of refinement, and the density of the internal circuits were all definitively superior.
It was sufficient.
What he needed right now was the driving force to ignite his Magic Circuit. Everything would be decided in the split second that circuit caught fire.
Kael slipped one of the ACUs between his fingers.
Seeing that, Pale burst into laughter.
"I don't know how you did it, but you're quite good with cheap tricks."
When Kael did not reply, Pale took slow steps forward and continued.
"As if you were casting magic, no less. If we were in the upper district, I would've arranged a job in a circus for you. What a pity."
Kael paid little heed to his mockery.
In that moment.
Pale vanished.
"...!"
The distance closed in an instant.
Blue mana surged explosively along his legs, waist, and shoulders. Body Reinforcement and Nerve Acceleration engaged simultaneously. Moving at such blistering speed that the pooled water on the floor only splashed upward a beat late, Pale's fist flew fiercely toward Kael's face.
"When an adult speaks, you should listen."
Pale bared his teeth.
"Brat."
Kael twisted his body, narrowly dodging the fist.
The punch grazed his cheek.
Though Kael's skin tore and a burning sensation spread, it was fortunate that the damage ended there.
The wall behind him, where the fist drove straight in, literally blew apart, scattering shattered fragments in all directions.
Kael rolled sideways to retreat.
Without stopping, Pale immediately followed up with a second strike.
Every single motion was swift and precise.
There was no wasted movement, enough to show that his status as a 6th Rank was no empty boast.
'As expected.'
He had to make a swift judgment.
'Against a 6th Rank, it's difficult to keep up without using Body Reinforcement.'
The breed of Magicians in this world far surpassed the average physical abilities of the Magicians from where Kael used to be. It was entirely thanks to the Cyberware plastered across their bodies, and their physically reinforced flesh on top of that was on a level beyond imagination.
'It feels like fighting a demon rather than a human.'
Clashing head-on, Kael gauged his opponent's capabilities.
Pale then took another step forward.
"You're pretty good at dodging, at least."
"Is that a compliment?"
"It wouldn't be bad as your last words."
Blue mana coiled like thread around Pale's fingertips.
'Close-range Suppression Formula.'
Seeing that, Kael did not retreat; instead, he raised his hand.
"Are you trying to surrender now, of all times?"
In the midst of that, the 4th Rank ACU wedged between Kael's fingers entered Pale's view.
Pale wore an expression of complete bewilderment at his action.
"That's...."
Parrying Pale's provocation, Kael spoke.
"An adult?"
He pressed down on the ACU with his fingertips.
"You childish bastard."
Crack.
Cracks formed across the outer shell of the ACU.
At that instant, the refined mana trapped within scattered as if bursting out.
Kael's dried-up Magic Circuit reacted to it.
***
Pale furrowed his brow at the spectacle.
At first, he failed to understand what that action even meant.
To a Magician, an ACU could be considered both their weapon and their heart.
Therefore, destroying it was an act beyond comprehension.
His opponent's behavior was utterly unpredictable.
The moment Pale reached that conclusion.
Kael's lips moved.
Fortificatio Corporis [Body Reinforcement]
If only for a fleeting instant, magic power could be felt radiating from within his body.
In that brief moment when Pale—who had been certain the boy was no Magician—was thrown into disarray.
His opponent vanished from sight.
No.
Pale simply could not keep up with his speed.
"...!"
Too late.
Kael was already standing right in front of him.
Pale erected a Defense Formula. Skin Reinforcement Formula was already active, and Impact Mitigation Formula responded in the nick of time. But Kael's fist flew in even faster.
Boom!
The punch landed squarely on Pale's face.
His vision flipped upside down as he felt his nasal bone shatter. Even then, the impact did not fully dissipate. Pale's body only came to a halt after careening across the enclosed room and slamming violently into the opposite wall.
His consciousness blacked out for the briefest second.
"...."
When he opened his eyes again, he was down on his knees on the cracked concrete floor.
The taste of blood filled his mouth. Tasting his own blood—something he had never once experienced until now—instantly sent him into a daze.
When Pale slowly raised his hand to touch his face, his own crimson blood smeared onto his fingers.
"...."
He could not comprehend what had just happened.
Magic?
Without even an ACU?
On top of that, that guy was completely unaugmented, without a single piece of Cyberware.
Not even an ACU showed up on the detector.
Did that mean he had managed to keep up with the movements of a 6th Rank with his bare body, even if only for a moment?
No, to be precise, he was faster than that.
As Pale looked beyond the shattered wall, Kael's silhouette appeared through the dust and debris.
Pale gritted his teeth at the sight of his nonchalant demeanor.
'No.'
He corrected his thoughts.
'I was careless.'
That had to be it.
He had assumed his opponent was a half-baked nobody without an ACU, looking down on him as someone who merely relied on cheap tricks.
That single misjudgment had led to this current situation.
Even as Pale reached that conclusion, he began taking stock of the situation.
His opponent could produce an output at least on par with his own rank. He had neither Cyberware nor an ACU, yet he could use magic. How he did it was a mystery, but that didn't matter right now.
'I must go all out.'
Vwooom.
The ACU began calculating formulas, radiating a heat intense enough to scorch the skin.
As Pale released a limiter on the ACU, his eyes began to turn crimson.
The Red Eye Transformation phenomenon.
A phenomenon occurring when highly concentrated mana pressurized the nerves and bloodstream, it typically arose when casting high-ranking magic or when the ACU underwent a momentary overload.
Naturally, side effects followed, but this was no time to worry about such things.
Amidst the scorching heat on his skin, Pale looked down at the red circuit lines surfacing on the back of his hand.
The ACU flashed warning messages across his vision.
[Output limit exceeded.]
[Increased strain on the nervous system.]
[Recommended Overclock duration: 18 seconds.]
"Not bad."
A seething rage was laced deep within his voice.
"It was my fault for letting my guard down."
Kael still gave no answer.
Pale wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and caught his breath.
"From now on, I'm getting serious."
Overclock.
A method of forcibly ramping up formula processing speed.
Unlike simply increasing mana output, Overclock instantly heightened the synchronization rate between the user's brain and the ACU. Reaction speed, formula deployment speed, and the transition speed of mana flow all accelerated.
This also carried a heavy risk.
But Pale accepted it, acknowledging that the young man before him was no longer some half-baked nobody.
At least in this moment, he had to consider him an equal in rank.
Pale abruptly lowered his stance. His blood-red eyes locked onto Kael.
In that moment.
Kael drew a second ACU and crushed it to pieces.
Fortificatio Corporis [Body Reinforcement]
Kael kicked off the floor and closed the distance.
Pale gritted his teeth.
Fast.
Even though he had broken past his own limits.
Kael slipped inside his guard.
Pale thrust his left hand out, intending to sever Kael's neck with threads of blue mana.
Kael tilted his head and dodged with ease. At the same time, the edge of his hand struck the joint of Pale's elbow. Although the Defense Formula dispersed the impact, the connected auxiliary circuit faltered for a beat.
"Khh...."
Pale immediately swung his arm toward him, but Kael deflected its trajectory with an elbow and slipped to his flank.
Crash!
The hallway wall shook from their collision.
Pale wasn't pushed back, but Kael didn't get knocked away either.
That fact was rattling Pale's nerves.
'This makes no sense.'
Exhaling a ragged breath, Pale drove his output even higher.
"Haa... haa...."
Beneath his skin, the heat burned fiercely.
[Overclock duration nearing limit.]
[Increased strain on the nervous system.]
Red warning messages popped up at the edge of his vision, but he consistently ignored them.
Because right now, he had to pour in everything he had.
And yet.
At some point, this unidentified opponent had begun to surpass his speed.
'Where on earth did a monster like this crawl out from?'
There was no way a human without a detected ACU, without Cyberware, and without registration data could put up a fight like this.
Then there was only one answer.
A secret operative from another Megacorp, or a test subject whose very registration had been wiped.
Either way, he was no ordinary denizen of the lower depths.
Pale knocked away Kael's fist and took a step back.
"You bastard...."
His crimson eyes glared at Kael.
"Who are you affiliated with?"
Kael looked at him for a moment.
"Affiliation?"
"Don't play dumb."
Pale's voice grew rough.
"Combat prowess like that isn't something a guy bumming around in the Underground Level could possess. Which Megacorp is it? Aegis? Voltline? Or...."
"Roughly speaking,"
Kael cut him off and brushed off the fragments of the shattered ACU.
"A Magic Tower Master from somewhere."