Chapter 96: Fiery Lucy 1
The ground cracked beneath Karl’s boots as he took a lazy step forward.
Smoke curled from the broken gate behind him. Monster corpses sizzled in the aftermath. The scent of blood, ozone, and burnt flesh hung in the air.
Karl tilted his head at Garos, Eron, and Athena—unbothered.
"Three SSS-rankers?" he muttered, voice light. "Nice. This might actually be fun."
His aura expanded. Thick. Crushing. Like gravity gone wrong.
Lucy stepped back again, eyes flicking between Karl and the others. Even she could feel it now. This wasn’t normal power. It wasn’t something a human body was built to carry.
Garos’s armor clicked as he stepped forward, drawing his massive sword from behind his back. His eyes were calm but alert.
"You’re not leaving," Garos said.
Karl grinned. "Wasn’t planning to."
The earth trembled.
Then they moved.
BOOOM!!!
Garos vanished in a burst of light and slammed into Karl like a meteor, blade swinging wide. The impact cratered the field and sent shockwaves tearing through the nearby trees.
Karl blocked with one hand—bare. His skin shimmered faintly.
"You hit like a truck," he chuckled.
Garos didn’t respond. His armor lit up—lines of orange and silver spreading across the plating.
Core Titan Form.
His strength doubled. Then tripled.
He swung again—this time faster. He wasn’t just brute force now. He was precision.
Karl caught the blade again—but it pushed him back.
His feet dug trenches into the dirt.
That was enough for Athena to move.
She whispered something under her breath—then stepped forward.
Time slowed.
Everything around her crawled, except her own movements. The second her boots touched the ground, glowing gears spun beneath her—dozens, hundreds—forming a circle that clicked perfectly in sync.
Clockweaver.
She zipped across the field and appeared beside Karl, two fingers aimed at his side.
Tick.
BOOM.
A compressed time blast exploded from her fingertips—spiking reality itself. Karl was blasted sideways, crashing through a ridge of stone with a grunt.
He rolled once—and then bounced to his feet, laughing. "You people really don’t hold back."
Then came the third threat.
Eron.
He hadn’t moved since the start.
He walked now.
Slow.
Silent.
Unshaken.
Black threads drifted behind him like smoke trails. They weren’t visible to most—but everyone felt them.
Karl narrowed his eyes.
Eron raised his right hand.
The threads danced.
They moved too fast to follow.
And Karl’s jacket tore open in five places at once.
His cheek bled.
His shoulder twitched.
"Huh," Karl muttered, grinning. "That’s new."
Marrow String.
Each thread was like a scalpel made from death. They didn’t slice flesh—they sliced what held flesh together. Structure. Identity. They didn’t just cut. They undid.
Karl backed up and let his aura surge.
Gold and white pressure exploded from him—pushing the hunters back.
Garos blocked with his blade, sliding backward.
Athena blinked twice, gears resetting as time snapped forward.
Eron stood still—unmoving, unreadable.
Karl lowered his stance, eyes glowing now.
"All right," he said. "Let’s try this properly."
He vanished.
Boom.
He appeared behind Eron first.
The air rippled as his fist closed in.
But before it landed—Eron’s body twisted unnaturally, threads pulling his frame sideways like a puppet.
Karl’s punch missed by inches.
SNAP!
A string wrapped around Karl’s wrist—tight.
But Karl twisted with a grin—and ripped it off like paper.
Eron’s brow twitched for the first time.
"Resistant to concept damage," he said quietly.
Garos didn’t wait.
He charged again—slamming into Karl mid-step, blade coated in raw energy. Each swing now thundered, the air screaming with every slash.
Karl ducked the first. Blocked the second. Ate the third—and grinned through blood.
Athena blinked back into frame.
She appeared behind Karl and touched his spine.
Tick.
She froze his balance for 0.5 seconds.
That was all Garos needed.
His fist slammed into Karl’s gut with enough force to level a city block.
BOOOOOM!!!
Karl went flying—through three hills and a cliffside.
The earth rumbled.
Lucy watched, breath caught in her throat. "Did that...?"
But then...
From the rubble...
Karl stood up.
He dusted himself off.
Wiped blood from his lip.
And smiled again.
"Okay," he muttered. "Now I’m getting excited."
He raised both hands this time.
Golden energy spiraled out in rings—like ripples in a lake made of light.
The field shifted.
Everyone felt it.
Athena’s gears slowed.
Eron’s threads flickered.
Garos’s armor dimmed slightly.
Karl stepped forward.
"I don’t know what this world’s ranking system is," he said casually, "but if I had one—this would be my SSS Form."
He moved again.
Faster.
Before anyone could react—he punched Garos across the face, spinning him mid-air, then caught him by the ankle and hurled him into a boulder.
Athena snapped her fingers, trying to bend time—but it didn’t work.
Karl was already inside her range.
He grabbed her wrist gently—and flung her like a ragdoll. She bounced once, twice, and slid across the dirt.
Eron tried to cast strings.
They never reached Karl.
He grabbed one mid-air and snapped it like it wasn’t even real.
Then he kicked Eron in the chest.
Eron didn’t scream. He just flew back—hard.
Crashing through two trees.
The battlefield fell quiet again.
Karl stood alone in the center. Chest rising slowly.
He stretched his neck once.
"...Man," he muttered. "Lucian better not disappoint after this."
Lucy’s shoulders twitched.
Then her fingers curled—tight.
The black flames around her didn’t just flicker this time. They ignited, swirling like a typhoon chained to her bones. Her eyes locked onto Karl like a blade snapping to target.
"You keep saying his name like you’re worthy of him," she said, voice low.
Karl blinked at her. "Oh? You mad?"
The smile never left his face. His hair was tousled from the last few hits, a trickle of blood down his neck, but he stood there like none of it mattered.
"You think saying Lucian’s name makes you sound cool," Lucy said, stepping forward. "Makes you sound like you’re part of his story."
Another step.
The black fire pulsed around her legs, burning the ground under her feet.
"But you’re not," she said, eyes narrowing. "You’re just a speedbump. A loud one."
Karl raised a brow, amused. "Funny. He said the same thing about gods."
BOOOOM.
Lucy moved.
No build-up. No warning. One second she was ten meters away, the next—her fist was in Karl’s face.
Black flames tore across the field as the blow sent him flying backwards, crashing into a jagged rock pillar that cracked in half from the force. The ground rippled. Trees burned. The wind screamed.
Karl groaned, pulling himself out from the stone.
He wiped blood from his jaw.
"That was rude," he muttered.
But Lucy was already there.
Her knee drove into his gut, flames wrapping her leg like a blade.
CRACK.
He coughed, breath knocked out of him. But she didn’t stop. Her hands blurred—one, two, five strikes—each wrapped in cursed flame, each driving Karl further into the dirt.
Then—BOOM—she roundhouse-kicked him across the field like a missile.
He skipped across the ground, dust and fire erupting in waves.
Lucy landed hard, breathing sharp. Her fists burned like furnaces.
But Karl stood.
Bruised. Bleeding. Still smiling.
"Now that," he said, cracking his neck, "almost tickled."
Lucy’s eyes burned brighter.
"You’re not listening," she said. "He’s not coming here for you. He’s not coming here at all."
Her voice trembled—not with fear. With fury.
"You don’t matter to him."
Karl’s grin faltered for a second.
But just a second.
Then it came back, wider than before. "Oh, I will."
He blurred forward.
But Lucy wasn’t the same girl from ten minutes ago.
Her flames shifted.
The black turned deeper.
Darker.
Unholy.
A strange glow rippled up her arms—veins pulsing with cursed magic. Fire that didn’t just burn—it erased.
Karl swung.
She caught it with one palm.
No movement.
Just stillness.
Then—
FWOOOOOOOM.
A geyser of flame exploded from her body, shooting skyward like a volcano erupting under pressure. Karl was launched upward, spinning mid-air, and Lucy followed in a trail of black light.
She smashed into him with a flying elbow.
Then again.
Then again.
Each hit a detonation. Each hit carved through the clouds.
Karl crashed back down, hitting the battlefield like a meteor.
Dust. Blood. Stone. Everything went flying.
And Lucy landed in a crouch, one hand still smoldering, eyes glowing like twin black suns.
"You want a fight," she growled. "You’ll get one."
Karl coughed and chuckled through the blood in his mouth.
"Damn," he rasped. "Lucian’s not the only crazy one in that family."
He sat up.
"Fine, then. Let’s make this interesting."
He stood again—slowly.
Still smiling.
Still insane.
And Lucy charged again, eyes burning with the fury of someone who wasn’t just fighting for herself.
She was fighting for her brother.
For her name.
For the reminder:
Lucian Black wasn’t alone in this world.
And Karl was about to learn that the hard way.