The tension in the room, thick enough to stop a bullet, was suddenly pierced by a soft, unexpected sound.
Ardyn let out a snicker. It was a quick, breathless thing, her golden eyes crinkling at the corners as she looked from the apoplectic Amerisyan man to the glacial, door shattering Noctar in the doorway. One hand came up to cover her mouth, but the mirth was unmistakable.
"Have you been watching Tap-it?" she asked, a genuine laugh bubbling beneath her words, referencing the wildly popular, absurdist Jipon comedy stream known for its over-the-top dramatic confrontations and catchphrases like "Amerisya, Halloo!" delivered before a ridiculous flight.
The sound of her amusement was a shockwave of cool water on the raw, possessive fury burning in Noctar's chest. The murderous intent dialed back from a system-critical 100 to a simmering 95, but the Perdition pistol in his hand didn't waver a millimeter, its barrel still a black hole of intent centered on the intruder's forehead.
The blonde man, now that Noctar was fully inside the ravaged doorway, drew himself up to his full height. They were eye-to-eye. He was the polished picture of Amerisyan aristocracy, a chiseled jaw that looked sculpted by public approval, sun-kissed blonde hair swept back with expensive product, and emerald green eyes that were currently shooting venomous, entitled daggers at Noctar.
// Target Analysis:
Name: Korvath Pierce.
Class: Dragon Knight (Legendary Variant)
Level: 203
Rank: S
Affiliation: Pierce Family Syndicate (Amerisya), Abyss Dragon Guild Liaison.
// WARNING: Close-quarters combat with a Dragon Knight specialization, likely possessing enhanced strength, durability, and draconic breath weapons, is statistically unfavorable given your current physical parameters. Strongly recommend tactical withdrawal or initiating engagement from outside of melee range.
Noctar's Appraisal Eyes fed him the data, but it only fueled his cold contempt. A dragon knight? How quaint. He didn't look away from Korvath as he spoke to Ardyn, his voice dripping with sarcastic venom. "Interesting. Since when are S-Rank adventurers as common as stray dogs on the street? The designation seems to be losing its value."
Ardyn outright chuckled this time, the sound like crystal bells to him, cutting the tension she wasn't apparently feeling. "You're insulting yourself with that one, Debugger."
"No," Noctar corrected, a dark, possessive edge sanding down his tone as he finally flicked his glacial gaze to her. The vertical slit in his pupil made the look unnervingly intense. "I'm an owned dog. Not a stray." The implication that he was her dog, her loyal, lethal protector, hung in the air between them, electric and undeniable.
A brilliant, furious blush instantly painted Ardyn's cheeks from her neckline to the tips of her ears, but she didn't deny it.
Being so blatantly used as a prop in their charged banter was the final, unforgivable insult for Korvath. "Ardyn," he bit out, his voice tight with barely restrained aristocratic rage. He didn't even look at Noctar. "Who is this… creature? Explain this… this breach at once."
Noctar's smirk vanished. He didn't like the man's tone the proprietary, annoyed curl of his lip when he said her name, as if she were a misbehaving asset.
Wordlessly, with the calm of a programmer executing a line of code, Noctar adjusted the mana output regulator on his Perdition pistol to its absolute minimum a setting used for testing or, apparently, for sending messages. He pulled the trigger.
FZZT-POP!
It wasn't the deafening, wall shattering roar of a full power shot. It was a sharp, contained crackle of compressed void energy, like a thunderclap in a tin can. The weakened, sizzling energy bolt shot past Korvath's face, close enough to singe a few strands of his perfect blonde hair and for him to feel the sudden, vacuum-cold heat of its passage. It dissipated harmlessly against the far stone wall with a hiss, leaving only a faint, star-shaped smudge of abyssal soot.
The display of impeccable, terrifying control was a message written in lightning: I measured the distance. I calculated the attenuation. I could have painted your brains across that wall, and I chose not to. My restraint is my power.
Korvath flinched back instinctively, a purely human reaction that seemed to humiliate him more than the shot itself. Then his handsome face contorted with primal, unfiltered rage. A low, guttural snarl ripped from his throat, a sound that was deep, resonant, and decidedly not entirely human. The air around him seemed to warp with sudden, dry heat. His charming green eyes narrowed, and within them, the pupils quivered and elongated into thin, reptilian slits.
Noctar's smirk returned, wider and more smug than before. A predatory light, cold and ancient, ignited in his own ice-blue eyes.
"Oh yeah?" he said, his voice a low, taunting challenge. He took a single, deliberate step forward, into the office proper. "I can do that too."
In the space of a heartbeat, his own pupils, already vertical from his earlier surge of emotion, sharpened further, becoming razor-thin emerald lines in a field of glacial blue. But he didn't stop there. He let a fraction of his true aura flare.
Not the overwhelming, divine pressure he'd used to crush Borin's will. This was something subtler, sharper, wilder. It was the aura of a predator that had faced down glitching cosmic errors and rewritten reality's source code, an ancient, silent dominance that didn't press down but instead thinned the air, making every breath feel insufficient, making the room feel like the vacuum before a storm.
Two S-Ranks stood locked in a silent, bestial war across the ruined office. A Dragon Knight, heir to fire and scale and traditional, roaring power, his very bloodline thrumming with promises of incineration.
And a Debugger, a cosmic vagrant in dead men's clothes, whose power lay not in what he could create, but in what he could unmake. His silence was a deeper threat than any roar.
The ruined doorframe still smoldered. Ardyn watched, her earlier amusement replaced by a keen, analytical focus. The battle lines weren't just drawn; they were carved into the very floor between them.