Darius Supreme

Gunner ended the music, no longer paying attention to the woman who was now partially breaking through to Grandmaster on the spot. Rather, he gazed at Kirstien who looked at Fergie with rapturous excitement, then at Berry who had furrowed brows and a troubled look, then sighed.

Gunner patted Berry on the shoulder, snapping her out of her communication. The half-giant then leaned in close and asked coldly. "What is your country's verdict?"

If they surrendered, that was fine. Darius would not have much of a problem assimilating them as long as they wore his HoloBraces.

If they resisted, Gunner would have his fun slaughtering them all, including the newly made Grandmaster over there that looked like she had been through a thousand boxing rings.

Caught offguard, Berry couldn't quickly come up with an answer. She could only mumble while sweating from her brows, but this was enough for Gunner to understand the situation.

Whoever was on the other side was either not clever or had yet to accept the reality of the situation, resisting the surrender.

Gunner sighed and stepped back. "I don't have unlimited patience, I'm not your friend or ally nor am I sympathetic to your current plight. Whichever idiot you're corresponding with, let them know that what happens next is due to their own behavior."

The Branded Servant channeled energy into his feet as the ground beneath him cracked. Gunner then shot up into the sky like a bullet, reaching so high that he looked like a dot.

Berry and Kirstien gazed at him with alarm, feeling that something terrible was about to happen. The royal woman panicked and warned her sister on the other side to flee, yet it was far too late for that.

From the sky, Gunner identified Fraterina's Royal Castle, which was larger than Andrato's though they both bore the same style. He then stretched a hand downwards as a green light burgeoned within, charging up for a few seconds before firing out.

The Eraser Cannon was his strongest and most devastating attack, which was in the form of a huge green energy beam that struck the castle.

Immediately, to the shock and horror of Berry and Kirstien, the entire city shook as the Royal Castle exploded, lit up in flames that even caused a small mushroom cloud to form. All the buildings in the city were ruptured and reduced to debris at best.

Kirstien rushed forward and stood before the still dazed Fergie, whose aura was undergoing changes by the second. The armored woman roared as a blue light formed in front of her shield, another ethereal shield forming before her.

Berry, who was on her own, could only channel all her magic power to conjure a windshield as she resisted the huge shockwave that erupted from the blast. The Aera Sage was blown away like a rag doll, smashing into hundreds of buildings as well as the city wall on her way out, the magical shield breaking as her body suffered intense lacerations and burns from the follow-up heatwave.

Her life and death was unknown as she crashed into the earth hard, creating a severe ditch.

Kirstien roared as she tanked the shockwave, shocked by its power as the multitudes of ethereal blue shields that existed right in front of the metal one were shattered with ease one by one. Eventually, she was only left physical shield. She dug her feet into the ground still getting pushed back by a few meters.

However, her arm that had held the shield was thoroughly broken. Even worse, once the heatwave arrived, she could only cry out in pain as she cooked within her suit of armor, the sizzling sound and smell of burning flesh wafting through the area as Kirstien fell to her knees in agony.

Nevertheless, the naked person she had been protecting had come out unscathed, not even suffering a single bit of damage, as she had continued her enlightenment to reach the next stage.

The one responsible for all of this mayhem simply landed on the ground, taking in the effects of his actions without even batting an eyelid. Towards the now destroyed Royal Castle, he only gazed coldly with folded arms.

At this time, Gunner noticed a prompt from the True Supreme System about his kills.

[You have gained 2% EXP.]

Gunner rubbed his head. He hadn't gotten anything from killing that Master Speedsword and now, ending the entire royal family and all their powers, only amounted to 2%? It seemed like the percentage system was far more brutal and demanding of battle than the numerical system.

Gunner idly wondered if Darius was aware of this and what his plans were to counter it, before focusing on the only survivors around. He walked up to Kirstien and squatted before the kneeling woman, sniffing as she shook his head with pity.

"Unlikely to survive." Gunner pronounced his verdict.

He didn't even need to look at her HP bar to see that it was dropping rapidly as a result of status effects from her action of defending another. The half-giant was sure that if her armor was removed, what was underneath would no longer be a beauty - assuming she had been one before - but something far scarier than a man burned by lava kept alive only by hatred.

Actually no. It was impossible to get that armor off her anymore, as it had likely fused with her flesh at this point. She was going to die without ever being able to leave this metallic shell she chose to put herself in to defend others, which was quite ironic in Gunner's opinion.

He rose to his feet and took a single step that practically teleported him to the ditch where Berry lay unconscious, her body dirty and extremely bloodied, many bones visibly broken and poking out of her body. She had been an A-grade beauty before with a hint of mature mystery, but now she was just a damaged meatbag.

"…Unlikely to survive." Gunner pronounced his judgment again with a difficult expression.

He then looked at the slowly recovering Fergie who was coming to as her upgrade was finished, his expression not very good.

"Don't tell me… I'm left with that one? Sigh…"