Chapter 313: What I wanted
Kevin couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
William had stepped into their presence with such shameless calm that it made his blood turn cold.
There wasn’t even the slightest tension in the man’s posture. No caution or guard.
It was as though he wasn’t standing before humanity’s strongest warriors, but a crowd of inexperienced rookies incapable of threatening him.
These were monsters.
Warriors who could bring down high-grade Devils alone.
Arthur himself had once faced a General-ranked Devil and lived to tell the tale. Every single person here possessed enough power to drown battlefields in blood and ruin entire armies if they fought together.
Yet William walked toward them with his hands in his pockets and a faint smile on his face.
Kevin’s jaw tightened.
’Did Emma seriously not warn him about this approach?’ he muttered under his breath.
Then Astaroth’s command echoed through his mind.
"Kevin, stay back them up."
The words had barely settled before Lancelot moved.
He vanished.
The ground beneath his feet exploded apart and a silver streak tore across the battlefield.
CLANG!
The deafening impact erupted only inches from William’s shoulder.
Lancelot’s blade had stopped mid-swing, frozen against an invisible wall. Violent shockwaves burst outward from the collision, ripping cracks across the earth as shrill metallic screeches rang through the air.
William let out a small sigh.
"I may be confident, but I am not foolish enough to stand unguarded while you attack me however you please."
Lancelot grinned.
"I would’ve been disappointed if you did."
The moment those words left his mouth, the blade suddenly elongated. Crimson light crawled along its edge like flowing blood, releasing a suffocating pressure into the surroundings.
William’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Your prized ability..." he murmured. "I can feel it working."
The student of the Sword Saint possessed a terrifying gift.
A blade that could cut through anything.
Steel.
Magic.
Space.
Even concepts themselves.
The crimson edge scraped against William’s invisible defense and, slowly, impossibly, the barrier began to split apart with shrill cracking noises.
William could feel the attack gnawing at his mental defenses.
A normal person would’ve panicked.
William only looked impressed.
"You are far too focused on your attack," he sighed.
He raised a finger.
Darkness instantly gathered before it.
A black orb condensed into existence, vibrating violently as unstable energy twisted around it. The surrounding air warped under the pressure, the ground beneath William’s feet sinking as if gravity itself had intensified.
Then Merlin shouted,
"Not so fast!"
A colorless prism materialized in front of the orb.
The moment the two touched, the prism swallowed the attack whole.
Not an explosion or a counter
The spell simply vanished.
William chuckled softly.
Then he willingly allowed Lancelot’s blade to break through the weakened barrier.
TNG!
The sword struck his shoulder directly.
And stopped.
Lancelot’s eyes widened.
The blade hadn’t cut through flesh.
It couldn’t even pierce his skin.
Before the swordsman could react, William stepped forward and planted a palm against his chest.
"Sleep."
The instant those words fell, Lancelot’s body stiffened.
His vision blurred violently.
The strength in his arms disappeared as though something had ripped consciousness straight out of him. His sword slipped from his grasp and clattered against the ground while his knees buckled beneath him.
However—
"AGGHH!"
A crackling bolt of lightning slammed into his back before he could collapse completely.
Electricity exploded across Lancelot’s body, jolting his senses awake.
Merlin lowered his outstretched hand, smoke rising from his fingertips.
Just before hitting the ground, Lancelot twisted violently and caught himself, breathing heavily.
Silence spread across the battlefield.
Dust drifted through the ruined air.
William exhaled slowly before crossing his arms.
"I genuinely fail to understand why all of you are so desperate to capture me."
Arthur, who had remained calm despite the chaos, finally stepped forward.
The pressure around him alone caused the atmosphere to grow heavier.
"Because you," Arthur said quietly, "are an anomaly to this society."
William hummed thoughtfully.
"Oh?"
A faint smile formed on his face.
"And why is that such a terrible thing?"
His gaze swept across every warrior present.
"All of you are anomalies as well, aren’t you?"
Arthur’s gaze remained cold and unwavering.
"You are an anomaly whose intentions remain unknown," he stated. "That alone makes you a danger that must be contained."
William tilted his head slightly.
"I’ll make my intentions clear, then."
For the first time since arriving, the amusement in his expression faded.
"I simply want to live peacefully with the person I love."
His eyes dimmed ever so slightly, carrying a strange exhaustion beneath them.
"Is that really so difficult to understand?"
Silence descended upon the battlefield.
A genuine one.
Even the wind seemed to pause.
Kevin blinked in disbelief while Merlin narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. For the briefest moment, uncertainty spread through the group.
Then Arthur moved.
BOOM!
The ground beneath him shattered apart as he burst forward like a launched arrow. Golden light erupted behind him in violent streams while his sword rose overhead.
But the strike wasn’t aimed at William.
Arthur slashed the empty space directly in front of him.
A crescent of golden force exploded outward.
Before the shockwave could even spread fully, Arthur vanished again.
Kevin’s pupils shrank.
Arthur reappeared behind William.
His sword carved upward in a savage arc capable of splitting mountains.
Then he disappeared again.
Left flank.
A diagonal slash tore through the air, leaving behind a blazing golden trail.
Right side.
Another strike.
Above.
Another.
Below.
Another.
Arthur’s speed became absurd.
The battlefield filled with overlapping bursts of golden light as sword strikes came from every conceivable direction.
The sound of steel screaming through the atmosphere echoed endlessly, each slash arriving before the previous one had fully faded.
Kevin could barely track Arthur’s movements anymore.
Forget following the trajectory of the sword.
Arthur had transformed into pure momentum.
Precision fused with overwhelming speed.
Golden illumination flooded the battlefield as Arthur finally came to a halt, standing exactly where he had started as though he had never moved at all.
The glowing trails left behind by his attacks still lingered in the air around William like a massive cage of light.
Arthur slowly lowered his blade.
"You underestimated us," he muttered.
Then—
It happened.
The golden trails ignited simultaneously.
The battlefield darkened.
And a sun eclipsed.
An overwhelming sphere of golden destruction collapsed inward from every direction at once, swallowing William whole.
Countless sword arcs overlapped into a catastrophic convergence of force, shredding the earth apart before the explosion had even fully formed.
The ground caved in.
Mountains of debris erupted skyward.
A deafening roar consumed the battlefield as a miniature sun detonated at its center, radiating enough pressure to flatten everything nearby.
Kevin instinctively threw an arm over his face as hurricane-force winds exploded outward.
The very clouds above split apart.
For several seconds, nothing existed except blinding gold.
Everyone held their breathes. The destruction was purely meant to destroy, to annihilate.
And the one who faced the full burnt of the attack...
...he was a little frustrated now.
°°°°°°°°
A/N:- Let me show you a glimpse of what Lucifer is actually capable of.
This time, pure dominance. Thanks for reading. Please drop a comment
