Wooosh~
The boundary is a unique technique containing the life of the strong.
The Destroyer has long fought against the countless duties and pressures he must bear.
Responsibilities weighing down on his shoulders.
Guilt that prevents him from lifting his head.
Self-reflection that won’t let him straighten his back.
Nevertheless, the mission of the Warrior cannot let his knees bend.
As a member of the Warrior party.
Because of the imperfect journey of a Warrior.
He revisited the travel destinations they had passed before, confronting the darkness he had closed his eyes to and ignored.
The world was a bit darker, crueler, and more brutal than he had known.
Thud!
“I had no choice but to endure and move forward step by step.”
That this one step toward the next destination would be a step toward a better world.
Taking full advantage of the unprecedented authority granted to the Warrior party, he navigated the line between legality and illegality.
“Right now, the pain you are experiencing is no different from what I endured as a Warrior. If you can’t cultivate a mind and body that can be compared to a Warrior in their prime, you might die.”
Jonnas, standing at the starting point of the boundary where all rights he once enjoyed had vanished, must advance to the destination carrying only responsibility, duty, and pain.
It was obvious that the distance to move forward was shorter than the distance to turn back.
“Isn’t it tough? Aren’t you struggling?”
“This is reality.”
“The gap between you and me is this vast. Can’t you see how much mercy I’m showing just by not laying a hand on you?”
Grrr…
Just looking at his grim face and the body shape revealed under the butler clothes is enough to guess.
This man is no ordinary butler.
A person of extraordinary caliber, even acting as the face of the Foundation.
However, he cannot compare to a retired Warrior himself.
The Destroyer took full advantage of that gap.
If he sends this man back now, the connection between Oknodie and the Foundation will weaken.
The further the body is removed, the more distant the heart becomes.
A feeling of estrangement or neglect.
It’s much easier for a professor who sees your face twice a week to become closer mentally than a guardian who won’t show up for the promised visitation.
“The Foundation’s specialty is depriving and violating the hearts of the people. Can you overcome this after returning to the way it was? You’ve always stood in a position that makes others dance to your tune.”
Those who only know the pleasure of abusing their power, yet are clueless about the pain of being controlled.
Foolishly jeering at and disregarding the butler who stepped forward, they poured their venomous words to crush his heart and will.
He was confident.
That such cowardly beings didn’t even have the ability or qualification to pass through this hallway.
This man wouldn’t pass his test.
“It’s presumptuous, but I can’t help but be rude enough to argue against the words of a former Warrior.”
He should have retreated by now.
He should have realized his limits and stopped.
But the man did not stop.
“The Foundation is a charitable organization that provides a chance at a new life to those with talent but no opportunity.”
No matter how many ‘Young Ladies’ have been discarded to obtain that opportunity.
“For the success of the children, we are willing to make any sacrifice.”
Even if it’s a heartless and cruel organization that makes the ones who raised the Young Ladies make those decisions.
“While the Foundation’s actions may seem uncomfortable, those kids who have received opportunities compared to lives that we would not have intervened in are living a better life.”
Compared to the Foundation’s bottom feeders who couldn’t even seize opportunities and crumbled, they were happy, and it was words he often told the Young Ladies.
Once, he genuinely believed that and regarded their downfall merely as the blemish of human goods.
“To sustain that life, I, Jonnas Wahyhiemhai, the protector of Oknodie and the agent of the Foundation, willingly accept the test of the former Warrior.”
There is no more regret.
He must not repeat the same mistake.
“What a stubborn man to the point of being unpleasant. If a organization that has gained the loyalty of such a man finds its information network cut off, it should come as no surprise.”
Jonnas’s courage and resolve were clearly conveyed.
The former Warrior acknowledged it.
Even if he searched the world, he would not find many men who could stand so confidently before him.
At least from the time he’s experienced.
The two journeys he had as a Warrior.
Even among those, there were not more than ten in total who held a spirit like this one.
He recognized it.
Jonnas Wahyhiemhai.
He was far too strong to simply be a butler to a Young Lady.
It paradoxically proves the exceptional nature of Oknodie.
“He’s not a man to be let off lightly. I should end things here and take the easy road…”
A blade of grass bitten by the Destroyer was bent and fell.
The contact point with the ground rippled as if the surface was transformed into water, manifesting the alteration spells input into the hallway.
Glowing aura!
Trigger Release!
Second Form – Pressing Gaze Boundary!
Without moving a single fingertip.
With arms crossed, exuding such oppressive momentum that merely meeting his gaze could send one’s mind spiraling away, he merely fluttered his cloak.
Just being within the radius of such momentum, Jonnas felt a part of his body crumpling in a constricting pain.
Mana Flow Technique!
Ironclad Pugilism!
Self-Defense Technique – Silver Mountain Iron Wall!
Metal manipulation techniques used on the Weight Equipment that helped train the Young Lady.
Using his unique skill for self-defense, he managed to protect his body from the pressure of the gaze, yet Jonnas’s expression remained far from bright.
The exchange rate was poor.
The efficiency of mana relies on the user’s heart.
For a former Warrior who had actually experienced a disaster where an entire city was trampled, it’s not particularly difficult to weigh someone down with just a look.
One unit of mana can unleash a hundred times the power.
Jonnas was not lacking.
He protected himself with a near-stubborn belief.
The longer he kept his vow, the harder and more enduring his defensive magics became.
With a single unit of mana, he could effectively hold off thirty units of strength, and he had forcibly raised the output to fend off a hundred units on the fly.
However, because it’s not a standard operation, the cost is high.
The mana consumed for the power increase was not one, but ten.
Ten times more disadvantaged in combat.
As soon as the differences of “eye” and “entire body” added up, the exchange rate soars far beyond 1 to 10, breaking through 1 to 1000.
The Destroyer’s reserves were still far from reaching the point where he felt faint.
Certainly, it was an immense power that matched that of a legendary Warrior who had traveled alongside him.
If what he had to protect were things like wealth, honor, and his own face or success, he would have long since given up and bowed.
But now, what he bore was nothing so trivial.
“I’m going to enter the Academy. Jonnas, and even Lin, all did their best to help me. I don’t want to waste those times by running away in vain.”
Though she smiled brightly on the outside, he remembers her trembling hands, perhaps feeling fear in that unfamiliar environment.
“I don’t know what Papa and the Foundation want, but I’m strong. It won’t be easy demanding something from me. I’m going to keep getting stronger!”
He recalls the girl who, more than anyone, should have felt anxious, encouraging him instead.
“I’m not a strange person!”
The painful truth was she was merely a cowardly kid with a scarred past, hiding from the world behind closets or curtains whenever she was alone.
The Foundation and the Academy were no different.
They only wished to recognize the talents of the Young Ladies and exploit them as per their own desires.
Justice.
Villainy.
It doesn’t matter for what reason.
After all, being used is always the same.
If there is a refuge the Young Lady can rely on, if it is his wish to be that refuge, he is willing to remain as such.
Even if it meant taking a thousand-fold loss, stride after stride, with intestines twisting in agony and pain coursing through him.
“I am the butler of the Young Lady from Oknodie.”
Thump!
With a step so heavy it shattered the floor tiles.
A single step from Jonnas.
That weighty resolution was clearly conveyed to the Destroyer.
Even if blood flowed from his lips.
Even if blood dripped from his clenched fist.
His grim face never compromises before the pain.
Drumroll…
“I cannot kill. If I kill the guardian who came for a visitation, being expelled from the Academy will be definite.”
So this was a threat.
It was the Destroyer who held life in his hands and threatened.
Jonnas’s spirit.
His advance, unafraid of death.
Was, in turn, cornering him.
“Go ahead, kill me if you can.”
“If I can trade the position of a mere butler for the professor of a former Warrior, then go ahead and try.”
Faced with such audacious threats, the Destroyer compressed his power, instead narrowing his slightly opened eyes, using all his might to crush him.
I’ll make you faint so you won’t even have the will to resist.
Power Release!
Maximum Wide Eyes!
A brutal drain of mana forcing over ten thousand times the normal consumption per second, creating a pressure so extreme it’s hard to even endure.
At the moment the butler stumbled, nearly collapsing from the assault.
Eeeeeek─ Eeeeeek─!
Woooooooosh~!
The sound of a whistle echoed.
In the hallway blocked by the double boundary, outside noise shouldn’t be heard nor should it leak in.
“Did a gap form in the boundary? Impossible. There’s surely no intruder!”
In the eyes of the Destroyer turning back, a translucent figure trembling under heavy pressure was seen.
Crash!
In less than a second since their gaze met, the invisibility shattered.
Beyond it revealed the form of a young girl in an Academy uniform, a first-year student with black short hair.
Zhang, possessing advanced invisibility skills, had entered, creating cracks in the once perfect boundary, and through that gap, sounds began to leak from the visitation building beyond.
“It’s just a sound. It’s humiliating that a crack formed, but that one sound won’t change anything.”
But he didn’t know.
“!!”
The reason a man on the verge of collapse could suddenly pass by him.
That Jonnas had realized the whistle-blower was Oknodie.
