A very sinister aura approaches me—it seems like I'm about to face trouble. Before it enters the village, I'll go to it myself and won't allow it to come any closer. It seems its intention is to kill everything here. Well, I prepared myself beforehand. I transported Adam and Mila to a safe place and asked Adam to take care of his little sister. It's a good thing Adam isn't sentimental enough to hinder me; he understood the situation. For the first time, I find myself admiring his indifferent personality. They'll be fine since I fortified the place well.
Now, I'll set off. I wonder if Mr. Denji Volt is struggling against the enemies here. There's a high probability that he isolated one opponent to fight, while the other is getting closer and closer. If so, they have a goal to achieve, not just destruction as I previously thought. The question is: what is their goal, and who are they?
Alright, I've arrived. It seems the enemy has set a trap for me. Naturally, they sensed my overwhelming strength. I'll avoid it for now.
At that moment, Mary heard a song about little children:
"Baby, baby, where are you? I want you to rule the world. Who are the elves that will play with me?"
The eerie melody echoed hesitantly, its slow notes creeping through the forest.
Suddenly, numerous large masks appeared in the air, staring at Mary while singing in unison—this time, the words were incomprehensible.
Mary wondered, What is this strange power? How does it work? And who is the one who hasn't shown up yet?
"Alright, I'll get rid of these worthless faces first. Maybe they'll lead me to the technique's owner."
She activated her advanced reinforcement, allowing her body to harness the elements she had mastered with absolute precision. She began with iron—forming powerful steel weapons to eliminate the disgusting faces with high speed.
Mary reached one of the faces and smashed it with her hammer, which she had created out of thin air. She noticed that the faces stopped singing and started crying and raging. Then, they surrounded her and launched multiple beams at her simultaneously.
In an instant, Mary formed a shield that covered her entire body, protecting herself from significant damage. She then noticed that most of the faces had disappeared suddenly, leaving only one. Its mouth opened wide, and a masked figure emerged.
"Welcome, dear lady, to my dream theater," the figure said. "I hope my dolls didn't bother you."
Mary thought to herself, Now that he's emerged, it's obvious—he's the one controlling the technique. But I need to be even more cautious.
She asked him, "Who are you, and what is your goal?"
Suddenly, his expression changed from a laughing face to that of a joker. What is this?
Even his hair changed color from white to black.
At that moment, Mary discarded her iron shield. Damn, he seems mysterious. But I will protect the innocent, and he won't take another step forward unless it's over my dead body. I must be wary of everything he does.
Without warning, the masked man threw a punch at her. She blocked it with an iron-reinforced elbow.
"You're skilled in using iron," he remarked.
In response to his words, she created a sword out of thin air and attacked him, but he dodged effortlessly—he was fast.
"Fine," she thought, attacking him multiple times. As he distanced himself, she instantly formed a bow and arrow, shooting at him. He dodged again. She fired more and more, searching for a weakness. Finally, he struggled to dodge one of the arrows.
At that moment, she enhanced herself and unleashed her maximum speed, landing a direct iron-coated punch to his mask. But he quickly got back up, and his face twisted horrifyingly, rotating 180 degrees.
"Disgusting," she muttered.
Then, his face changed back to a laughing expression. It seems he has a lot more tricks up his sleeve… Damn, what should I do now?
The masked man said, "I heard you have two magical elements. Where is your other one? Or is it your trump card?"
She took advantage of the situation to interrogate him. "And what if I had three? Maybe four, or even more?" she responded, trying to make him doubt her real abilities. In reality, she only had two elements.
"That's impossible," he replied. "No one in this era can use three elements."
"Perfect," she thought. This is the answer I wanted to hear. He doesn't have many elements—that was my initial concern.
So she said, "It seems the continent's parliament hasn't discovered your location, despite your strength."
He burst into hysterical laughter. "You're incredibly stupid! Haven't you noticed anything about me yet?"
His words irritated her. So he's mentally unstable. I think I've almost figured out the answer—he's dividing his powers, but I don't know how.
She fired arrows again to disorient him. As she did, another face suddenly appeared out of nowhere—this time, it looked different. It struck her in the back, despite her fortification.
Damn, I thought this was just theatrics, but he's actually using it in combat! What kind of element is this? Iron alone won't be enough to protect my body. I need to use physical magic defense like he did earlier—by concentrating an aura of pure defense.
As she continuously dodged the beams emitted by the eerie red face, the masked figure silently observed, waiting for an opening to attack.
Damn, he's turned the situation against me completely…
She smiled slightly. But he doesn't know—I trained for this. When my aura gets drained, I enter a flow state for a fraction of a second.
When she explained this to others, they would say, "What a contradiction." They weren't wrong. But it was a reversed energy technique known only to the strongest.
A theory crossed her mind: Am I the only one capable of doing this?
Twenty-four minutes passed as she continued dodging. She noticed his mask had changed multiple times—meaning he had three masks.
"If that's the case, I'll attack now."
"Defense stance—physical charge attack."
"Good," she thought. "This attack will be powerful because I'm in the flow state."
The masked man laughed mockingly. She ignored him and rushed toward his face, striking with all her strength—a brutal punch filled with her overwhelming aura, not just iron. The mask shattered, but as expected, another face emerged.
She said, "Enough with the theatrics. Let's stop wasting time and playing cat and mouse. Let's fight seriously now!"
As she stepped forward, flames ignited around her feet, revealing her second element—fire.
For the first time, the masked man revealed a sorrowful expression as he prepared to fight.
What will happen next in this battle?