"I won't let you do as you please, Varsas Gungnir!"
Lufa freezes up hearing that declaration. The assailant may be under a mental attack, but it is exactly because of that mental state that everything has become much more dangerous.
"Here it comes-" The one who was holding back the assassin single-handedly says. She glances back at a familiar voice, but what happens next stole all her attention.
"T-this is not swordplay!" She can only utter. The scientist stares back at her, annoyed.
This is the unseen peak from before. There is a new horizon on the scene. It is not the horizon as people knows it, but from the point of view of the people at the scene, it is as good as the real thing. A new bright horizon appears in the forest on the outskirt of the capital city of the Lanton empire. And the 'horizon' slowly approaches. Everything is front of it disappears, as if grounded into nothing. The forest disappears, no, that is not correct, it is being chopped down. In fact all the trees in the forest was cut in half, and then the remaining wood falls down into the path of the 'horizon' and got cut again.
Lufa's perception clearly tells her what is happening, but her mind refuses to register it. It is not magic, it is a sword slash.
However, right now there is a good chance that that single sword slash can actually mow down the entire forest they are in right now and causes some damage to the actual capital city.
At that moment Lufa can only wonder, "If this happened in the original timeline, how the hell did the prime minister of the Lanton empire survived?" The other part of her mind on the other hand is wondering "Just who is that guy?"
How does he know Varsas?
But there is nothing she can do at that moment. It is a sword slash, and the thing about a slash is that it is not only damaging or destructive.
It is fast.
The prime minister and his soldiers stare at the horizon of destruction.
"J-just what is this? How can our armies matter before such power? How can our technology matter before the face of such raw power? Does the strength of men even matter?"
The tone is that of finality, full of defeatism, uncharacteristic of a man who created many miracles in his life time.
The one wielding all of that destructive power is a triggered man, standing a distance from them. However at that moment, that distance may as well be thousand of miles away with the differences between him and the rest.
Before disaster hit, something happens. A man runs into the white "horizon" with his left arm raised. He rushes into that sword slash while no one knows what he was doing. Maybe they thought he has a death wish.
The scientist remains a mystery to everyone to the very end.
The "horizon" stops dead in its track. A horrible crunching noise resounds through the entire forest. The "horizon" dissipates.
Lufa can only stare in disbelief.
The prime minister and his guards do not know what to do before such a scene. They just face and escape death just like that. It puts everything in perspective.
One moment they were facing an unstoppable force of destruction caused by a great man. The next, another great man who has been with them from the start put a stop to that. They couldn't do anything about the situation. Absolutely nothing.
It is a humbling experiences, one that is hard to swallow. What are they? Toys to be played with?
However, what can they do about it except for being witnesses?
It was that fear, that helplessness facing force they can't even understand that pushed the Lanton empire to destruction before, in a distant future.
Now it all happens again, faster than expected. The person that instilled that fear into them are different, but the existential dread remains the same.
They want to be able to protect themselves.
The man who stopped the attack is alive. He turns back immediately with his right arm holding a weapon. The reason he stops the attack with his left arm is because he need his right arm to effectively counter attack. His left arm is bleeding and unresponsive. However...
To lose an arm stopping such an attack is more than what anyone at the scene could do.
The triggered assassin is shocked. He has managed to snap out of the spell Lufa puts him under a while ago.
The one-armed scientist looks back at him as if preparing for what happen next, even though he only has one arm left. The assassin shook his head, gazing at the destruction he has caused and the people at the scene. What goes on in his head is a mystery, but the next moment he dashes away. It was such a speed that none of the Lantonian guard could see what happened. Lufa could track him... but she really doesn't want to be in pursuit of that guy.
The spotlight shines on the remaining person who was the match of such a monster.
And that remaining person doesn't even have the decency of showing any weakness, not even torn clothes. The only sign of him being in battle is his bad arm and his bad arm alone. At that moment, the prime minister of the Lanton Empire thought
"What can I do if this man turned on me?"