There was no room for reconciliation. Seeing Kerren's face, Layn understood that only blood could calm the rage that surrounded this place.
His movements were relatively slow. Compared to a two-star expert before him, even after his consecutive breakthroughs, Layn was still way off.
But what Kerren failed to consider, was that cultivation wasn't Layn's greatest strength at all.
"Go." Compared to other magical constructs, releasing the spell was one of the simplest things one could do. Consisting of only three basic ideas, it was a perfect trigger to all of the formations that Layn created leisurely before the duel with Sitra.
Crack.
In this world devoid of magic conductors, formations were a mage's best friend. Developed thanks to the greater understanding of the nature of magic that modern civilisation achieved, there was actually no reason for them to work any worse in the ancient world at all!
The complex structure of the main formation finally harnessed enough energy. By the time Kerren managed to cut the distance by half, the entire plain that he was dashing through suddenly exploded with light.
Apparently, that was all. Outside of the initial shock to the eyes, this strange illumination didn't appear to cause any harm. Outside of the annoyance factor, one could disregard it completely.
Layn sighed before approaching the girl beside him. For some strange reason, this lengthy action wasn't stopped by Kerran.
"May I?" Stopping right before the girl, Layn looked her deeply in the eyes for a moment. Their noses didn't push against each other only due to the perfect height difference between the two of them. Reaching with his hands down, Layn placed his hands on the exposed sides of Irea's waist.
"Huh?" To say that the girl jumped in a surprise, would be actually an overstatement. Rather than that, she suddenly seemed to melt while a strange mist clouded her eyes.
"Your sword? May I borrow it?" Ostentanouesly flirting with the girl, Layn pushed Irea's chin up with his finger all the while staring at her lips.
"My sword? Huh? Uh, sure…?" Meekly responding in his arms, Irea looked up to Layn's eyes.
"Thanks, dear." Lowering his hand from the girl's waist to her hip only to push it on the handle of a short sword hanging from her side, Layn pulled the weapon out. For some strange reason, his opponent and all of his lackeys that jumped in to help him when they realised something was going wrong…
Still failed to reach the archmage and the girl who were at the forefront of the group.
"I need to take care of this lousy bunch now, so I hope you will forgive me for a minute." Sending a wink to the shocked girl, Layn moved away from her. Just as he was to step into the illuminated sphere, the archmage suddenly turned around.
"While I know I'm clearly the reason for this fight, but I can tell they were an eyesore to you guys as well. That's why," speaking up towards the group, Layn pointed the tip of his sword at Irea, "I will get the right to make a decision for the entire group, and it won't be challenged by anyone or anything. Don't worry, I won't be unreasonable."
Putting the most innocent look on his face that he could, Layn smiled. Right now, there was a group of twenty experts fuming to kill everyone. Right behind his back. Even though those people offered him a lot of help, there was no denying that they still were strangers.
And this moment right now would decide whether they will turn into a fleeting memory later on or proper companions for the archmage. Even if the intent behind this request was likely to be insanely different to what the ancients could expect.
"Fine." After a moment during which the entire group hesitated, Irea suddenly stepped up. Even though her insanely cute and meek behaviour at times, she could still prove that she wasn't deprived of the wits either.
"Oh my…" Taken aback by the girl's readiness to accept his term, Layn lowered and then shook his head while placing his hands on his hips. "Out of everyone here, you should keep your guard the most around me!"
It was hard to tell whether Layn's words were a scold, a whine or an outcry of desperation. Instantly rooting both the girl and everyone else in the spot, Layn winked at the girl once again, before leisurely jumping into the dome created by the strange light from before.
"Now, let the real fun begin." As developed as Layn's morals were, there were times when even someone as compassionate and stoic as him would throw the conscience to the basement before grabbing the knife with his teeth and going on a murderous spree.
Arrogance, he could forgive. Boasting, bullying, even cheating and stealing or scheming could still earn his mercy. But destroying and disregarding the lives of innocent women?
"The hell is this place?!" Once in, the main feature of the formation would cease to work. After all, the entire purpose of the main trap that Layn prepared, wasn't killing the opponents. That he could achieve with just one or two small ones.
It was to hide away his insane powers from the ancients.
"You know, I never could understand you an arrogant lot." Speaking up, Layn couldn't care less about revealing his position. All at once, all twenty pairs of eyes moved towards him.
In a flash, just the insane killing aura released by all of the experts would be enough to squash Layn as an ant if he was just a cultivator. Sadly for Kerren and his party, in terms of mana manipulation like mental-affliction based killing intent, cultivators fared far worse than even the shittiest mage in the world!
'Disperse.' With a single thought, the dense aura of death suddenly disappeared. While it didn't seem like Kerren and the party had any hopes in this attack finishing Layn off, the ease at which the archmage dispelled it still put a hint of doubt in the back of their heads.
"You know, once you reach the top of the world, your position becomes more of a burden than something to enjoy." In this regard, Layn was saved by the betrayal of his wife. It was back then, over seven years ago, when he dropped the exhausting work at the royal magic office, focusing on his own projects instead.
While the main reason was obvious, to successfully use gran arcana to fix the mistakes that lead to the disastrous outcome for many, the process itself was still exhilarating. And it wasn't something that one could experience by being on top of the world.
After all, making decisions regarding thousands and millions of people, wasn't the perfect way to spend one's afternoon.
"Still, you guys dared to infringe on me, dared to raise your weapons against me. And that means I won't need to hold myself back."
At this moment, Layn's expression darkened. His cultivation, albeit weak, started soaring furiously in his insides. With the drag created by Layn's circulation of mana, the energy contained in his aura turned even denser than before.
'Who knows it could work together so well?' Not expecting such a lucky outcome, Layn smiled. The enemies at a distance continued to madly attempt to cross the distance that separated them.
"Well, let me show you what's the difference between us, then. I would call it teaching you a lesson, but since you will die at the end, what kind of a lesson would it be? Your last?" Shaking his head, Layn looked at the struggling figures of the ancient experts. As if they were blind to the reality, they still couldn't acknowledge how their efforts were completely futile.
"Disgraceful."
Uttering just this single word, Layn moved forward. But instead of speeding up and closing the distance, he just appeared right beside the first enemy. Without even moving his sword, the first head flew off its usual seat. Then, he appeared beside another. Another head flew away.
But the victims, couldn't even utter a word.
After all, in this mental-enchanting formation, it wasn't about one's movements or any physical attempts. It was all about intent.
Meaning, the only reason why everyone didn't just die at once from the instant slashes of Layn's imaginary swords, was the archmage's deprived wish to make them suffer the fear their victims would suffer due to their actions.
The fear of death.