The two girls—one trembling with fear, the other with a blade pressed to her throat—had already resigned themselves to fate. Surrounded by the bandits' bloodthirsty grins, hope felt like a forgotten dream.
But just as the cold steel neared their necks, a voice, sharp and mocking, echoed through the trees:
"So many monsters… and yet all of you are bullying two helpless girls?Have you no shame?"
Every gaze turned sharply toward the source.The wind rustled through the dark forest as the shadows parted—revealing a young man standing amidst the dust and broken leaves. His clothes were tattered, his hair unkempt, his face dirt-streaked—he looked like a beggar who had lost his way.And yet… there was something unyielding about his stance, something in his eyes that spoke not of weakness, but of danger.
The girls' brief spark of hope flickered, then dimmed into disappointment.Was this ragged stranger supposed to save them?
Far away on a ridge of stone, the bald man—leader of the Blood Mark Gang—turned his furious gaze toward the newcomer.But before he could even shout, Killer Axe—the old man guarding the carriage—saw his chance. His body, once weighed down by pain and age, suddenly moved with explosive ferocity.
He lunged.
The air screamed as his axe cleaved forward, crashing into the bald man's chest. Blood erupted in a crimson arc, and a deep gash tore across the bandit leader's ribs.
The bald man staggered back, clutching his chest, his grin twisting into rage.
"Kill that brat! Slaughter them all!And you, old man—I'll peel your skin off while you're still breathing!"
He pulled a small jade-green pill from his pocket. Its surface pulsed with a sickly glow.
The moment Killer Axe saw it, his expression darkened.He could feel the foul energy within—it was made by extracting the life-force of living humans. Forbidden alchemy.
"Stop him!" he roared, rushing forward—But it was too late.
The pill slid down the bandit's throat, and the air trembled. Black energy burst from his body like wildfire, spreading waves of corrupted power that reeked of decay and hatred.
The bald man threw back his head and laughed, his aura swelling, muscles twisting with unnatural strength.
"Now… you all die!"
The ground cracked beneath his feet as he charged.Killer Axe's eyes blazed red.
"Then come. My old bones were gathering dust—let's see if they still remember how to kill."
He focused his energy—thirty-six energy points blazed to life across his body, linking in patterns of ancient might. His once-fading aura surged back to its peak.Though his injuries had crippled his path to the Energy Circulation Level, he could still unleash the fury of his prime—at least for a moment.
Their weapons met.
The forest exploded with sound.Axe and dagger collided, energy crashing like thunder. Shockwaves split the earth; the trees bent and cracked under the force.
Meanwhile, the bandit leader's underlings turned toward the boy—the ragged stranger who had mocked them moments before.
"You shouldn't have interfered, kid," one sneered, energy flaring around his fists."Now you die with them!"
They lunged as one, their speed blurring—far faster than anything Ishan had ever seen on Earth.
But instead of fear, a calm fire rose in Ishan's eyes.
"It's been a long time since I met fighters worth testing myself against,"he murmured. "Let's see how long you last."
He focused. The world slowed.Every movement, every flicker of motion around him, became clear as daylight. His mind moved faster than his body—a technique he had honed through countless battles back on Earth.
It was the art of Prediction.He read his enemies like a book—the tightening of a shoulder, the shift in a foot, the tension in a wrist. Before their attacks even began, he already saw where they would end.
The first bandit's punch cut through the air.Ishan shifted a single step sideways—the attack missed entirely.Before the man could react, Ishan's hand clamped around his wrist and twisted. Bone cracked. The man screamed.
Ishan's body flowed like water. In one smooth motion, he stepped behind his enemy and snapped his neck with a brutal twist.The corpse hit the dirt before the others could even blink.
Five seconds. One dead.
The remaining bandits hesitated—then roared and charged together.Ishan's lips curved into a thin, cold smile.
"I told you… five seconds is all I need."
He moved.
His feet barely touched the ground as he slid between them—steps drawn from both Kalari and Japanese flow combat he had once studied on Earth. Every motion was a blend of elegance and death.A hand flicked—his stolen dagger flashed through the air.A throat opened.A second step—a slash at the knee, a palm strike to the temple, another neck snapped in silence.
To the watching maid atop the carriage, it was as if death itself had descended.One moment, ten men surrounded the ragged stranger.The next, they were all collapsing to the ground—each with a clean, fatal wound across their necks.
The entire slaughter lasted no longer than the time it took to draw a breath.
The maid stared in shock, whispering,
"He… he killed them all."
Inside the carriage, the young lady clenched her fists, her heart pounding with a mix of awe and disbelief. Whoever this beggar-looking boy was… he wasn't ordinary.
Ishan, now standing amidst the fallen, lifted his gaze toward the ongoing battle where the old man and the bald bandit clashed.His eyes narrowed as he sensed the raging energies in the distance—the same kind of energy he once knew as Battle Force back on Earth.
"So that's their power… cultivated through energy refinement,"he muttered. "In this world, even my foundation is only at its beginning."
The old man's axe clashed again, sparks flying as the bald leader's corrupted energy roared.And as Ishan stepped forward, his eyes glowed faintly with determination.
"Let's see if my technique works…even on someone like him."
He closed his eyes, exhaled once, and opened them again.
The world slowed to stillness.The forest, the battle, even the trembling of the ground—froze in his perception.Only the threads of energy between warrior and monster burned like glowing paths before his vision.
And Ishan smiled—calm, fierce, and unshaken.