One moment he was sitting in the carriage, preparing to close his eyes, and in the next—
CLAAANNNNNNGGG!
He could feel the air rippling as metal clashed violently.
The hidden security that had tagged along with them seemed to be exchanging moves—either with intruders or amongst themselves—but the latter didn’t make sense.
But Ryuk didn’t react.
He simply listened, and with sound alone, the image formed vividly in his mind.
The clashes came faster and faster.
Weapons slashing in quick bursts—five strikes in an instant—revealing to him that the number of intruders was probably five, at least.
Threats were being shouted by the security guards, calling out the names of their Royal Houses to warn the attackers.
Yet the enemies remained silent, delivering swift, brutal attacks without a single word.
And then—
PUUUCCHIIIII!
The sound of a sharp blade piercing through skin rang out, followed by a mournful shriek that was abruptly cut off by another slash.
The thud of a body being tossed against something echoed in Ryuk’s head, and he concluded: One of the guards had been killed.
This he could guess from the sudden cutoff of the scream—and the enraged roar that followed.
The roar of "DIIIEEEEE!" grew louder, the collision of weapons growing frantic.
But a mocking grin curled up Ryuk’s lips.
The once-organized rhythm of weapon clashing now sounded erratic.
He could hear some breathing turning ragged.
A clear sign: one group had grown desperate.
Their fighting was becoming disordered, and then—
PUUUCCHIIII!
A second blade pierced.
Another sharp scream and another body thrown through the air.
It didn’t stop.
The sounds continued—blades stabbing one by one, bodies crashing down.
The elimination only became swifter, and soon, the battle ended.
Ryuk could already guess who survived as the sound of air being torn through rapidly in their direction echoed out to him.
The guards were most likely all dead.
’So much for the main security guards,’
HYYYYAHHH!
HYYYYAHHH!
Coachman Percival’s loud shout rang out as the carriage sped up, but whatever was chasing them was moving three times faster.
Soon enough, it caught up.
"You bastards! You dare to make a move on the mighty Eiffel Royal House?! If you do not turn back now, you will suffer a fate worse than death!" the coachman yelled.
Ryuk could only roll his eyes.
’Why is the first thing they yell always some dumb name—as if it can stop a blade?’ he thought.
Even the security guards had yelled out the Eiffel Royal House’s name when the assassins attacked—and they were all killed.
Now this fool, too, was yelling instead of setting up a protective barrier or doing something useful.
’They’re already on us,’ he noted, finally stirring from his seat, turning to Princess Eiffel.
He could see her with her ears pressed against the door.
She, too, could hear strange noises, though judging from her confused expression, not clearly.
She felt his gaze and turned from the door, whispering, "I’m hearing strange noises that sound like fighting..."
Then she saw his arms reach forward slightly.
"Huh?"
It looked like he was reaching toward her, but then—BAAAMMMMMMM!
A force slammed into the carriage hard enough to throw her from her seat.
A choked yelp escaped Eiffel’s lips as the carriage tilted to the side, sending her tumbling—Yet just as she braced to crash into the wall—
She found herself cradled in warm, strong arms.
She opened her tightly shut eyes, a flicker of shock and surprise to find herself in his arms.
Now, his earlier gesture made sense.
’Wait... did he predict the attack?’ she thought, stunned.
But Ryuk didn’t wait another second.
A moment later, light collapsed around his palm.
Eiffel watched as a dark grimoire appeared, its pages fluttering open to reveal a strange, bizarre drawing that somehow seemed incomplete.
Instantly, Ryuk’s eyes stilled, and a vortex of dark energy tore open inside the carriage.
He stepped into it, and both of them vanished into the darkness.
Just three seconds after Ryuk and Eiffel disappeared into the vortex—
KAAABOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A powerful wave of energy tore through the carriage, blasting it apart as if struck by an atomic bomb, followed by a mushroom cloud of warped space and crackling magic that erupted outwards into the surrounding space.
NEEEIIIIIGGHHHH!
The pegasi screamed as they were sent flying into the ground, along with Coachman Percival, who had already been knocked unconscious from the explosion.
Immediately, three figures cloaked in pitch black emerged from the storm of warped space, their crimson eyes—the only features visible—glinting as they scanned the swirling chaos.
As the blast settled—
"What!?"
"Where are they?" Their shocked voices rang out.
There was no trace of their target.
But then, all at once, they turned their gazes downward, and just 200 meters below them was their target.
She was being held in a princess carry by a young man, a blue sash floating from his neck, along with a dark grimoire floating above his head as he stared up at them.
’I was planning to hide away in the clouds... and somehow, I got teleported right below them,’ Ryuk thought, a wry smile on his lips, although his expression remained cold and focused.
’There are three of them. Two at the Early Apocrypha stage... and the last at the Peak of the Eternity stage.’
’A group like this... just to assassinate a girl only at the Initial Cataclysm stage? Seems like they came prepared. I think two of them already died.’
Earlier, he counted the clash of five intruders. Now, only three stood.
So, it was safe to say the hidden security team had dragged two of them down with them before they died.
But Ryuk wasn’t given time to think further.
One of the assassins suddenly flung out a row of dark rectangular playing cards from his palm.
SOAAARRR!
Each card shot out—not directly at Ryuk, but in the space around him, and soon they shifted their position, coming to surround him in a circular format.
Bizarre murmurings filled the air, seemingly whispered by the cards themselves, as pitch-black threads of light extended from each one, quickly converging.
In an instant, they coalesced, forming a dark, spherical barrier that enveloped them completely, plunging everything into utter darkness.
They had been trapped—along with the assassins.