‘Let's organize the situation.’
Osian muttered in his head, recalling the events that had unfolded as if whispering to himself.
It all started when Loraine got caught in the stock market.
Of course, that could have been dismissed as just an accident, but it couldn't be when Lucent, the person involved, requested an investigation.
Through that, they learned about the secret of the incident caused by Saint Tree, and successfully pressured them from various angles using connections.
Finally, to catch evidence of the board members' illegal activities, they deliberately entered their hideout and dangled bait.
'As Edgar planned, those guys moved desperately. Hiring quite impressive experts.'
Supremacy's high-grade field barrier mutant.
A magical bullet shooter who modified his body into machinery and could bend bullets.
Even a rare close-combat black magic practitioner of the Grim Reaper school.Osian's group overcame all of that. They revealed that the board members' intended trading partners were foreign companies, and even discovered that they were witch's familiars.
With Tirna's security forces involved, they thought it was all over.
Of course, the board members didn't just sit there and take it. They attempted to escape through a secret route via underground train.
Their destination was District 34, where the airship dock was located. They probably planned to board an airship and flee overseas.
Though they succeeded in blocking even that plan, an unexpected event occurred.
-Tutatatatatata!
Gunshots rang out in the air but what was being fired were colorful candy bullets.
However, they couldn't be taken lightly just because they were firing candy.
"Everyone, fall back! I'll block it!"
A brave guard raised a shield as big as his torso.
It was a standard-issue shield meant for subduing criminals that could easily block most small-caliber bullets.
He probably calculated that it could block such candy bullets without any problem.
-Thwack!
"Huh?"
But the colorful candy bullet pierced through the shield too easily and lodged in his body.
The guard who had stepped forward boldly collapsed helplessly, watching red blood overflow from his pierced body.
The guards who witnessed this turned pale.
"You idiots! Retreat immediately!"
Edgar yelled at the guards but the guards couldn't retreat yet as they were still moving the wounded.
Edgar created a turtle shell to protect the guards while grumbling in annoyance, raising his magical power.
-Titititing!
For the first time, the candy bullets that could pierce through solid shields were deflected but Edgar's expression wasn't good.
With a clicking sound, candy cannons emerged from the candy castle.
It was a moving candy castle, no less. Of course it wouldn't just fire bullets.
-Baaang!
Along with a sound like birthday fireworks going off, the cannon fired. Like how the bullets were candy, the projectile was a cupcake filled with pink and white cream.
Although it looked delicious enough to make one's mouth water just by looking at it, its power was anything but weak.
The cupcake swept through the retreating guards with a splashing sound.
"Aaaaah!"
"Help!"
The guards hit by the cupcake struggled. The cupcake's cream swallowed them up and then dissolved their bodies at a terrifying speed.
No, to be precise, it didn't dissolve them. The guards touched by the cupcake's cream were swallowed by it and became one with it.
The process of struggling humans being swallowed alive and melting into cream was unbelievable even to witness.
The candy castle didn't just target the guards. Osian and Diolan couldn't escape from their line of fire either.
The Starlight Warhorse and Diolan quickly retreated. Filling their empty space, huge cupcake cannon fire and candy bullets rained down.
'A moving castle that bombards from the air.'
Osian looked up at Hansel and Gretel siblings' candy castle.
Though it was only about the size of a large airship to be called a castle, its power suggested otherwise.
'From the moment it appeared, it turned the dock's sturdy structures into candy. That's what happened to the guards too. This is the witch's power that turns everything it touches into candy.'
If it just caused injuries, it wouldn't be this threatening.
‘The power to turn all material things into candy.’
Osian suddenly understood why witches were called heretics and feared.
'In a game, getting hit would just reduce HP. But now that it's reality, I can't be sure.'
He had learned that he could endure up to Tier 3 magic with his body, though painful but this was something beyond imagination.
What they needed to do in this situation was clear.
Diolan and Osian exchanged glances.
Without needing to decide who would go first, they both rushed toward Hans.
Although they weren't sure how the situation would unfold, their priority was to capture Hans first but the moving candy castle had apparently been watching their movements closely.
-Click.
The nutcracker dolls that had been performing a vigorous march all drew rifles at once and fired at Osian and Diolan.
The bullets couldn't be ignored just because they were being fired by ridiculous-looking dolls.
After all, this too was one of the powers wielded by the familiar [Nutcracker].
Diolan and Osian accelerated their movements.
The Starlight Warhorse moved faster in a straight line, while Diolan, true to his cat nature, displayed dazzling movements that were impossible to predict.
Even amidst the indiscriminate bullets and bombardment, the two managed to close the distance, targeting Hans but Hans knew they would target him.
He wasn't careless enough to let his guard down just because reinforcements had arrived.
"Gretel. Please."
Gretel, who was Hans' familiar and shared the same name as the owner of the candy castle, stepped forward and gave Hans new equipment.
It was a magnificent-looking cloak. When Hans jumped backward wearing the cloak, his body instantly distanced itself as the cloak fluttered.
'He's obviously trying to buy time.'
Hans knew it too, that if he was caught, it would be over, that's why he was trying to drag out time and lure them in deeper.
"But we're faster."
Osian spurred his warhorse. The warhorse neighed roughly and quickly chased after the retreating Hans.
"Osian!"
Diolan shouted in surprise from behind, but Osian paid no attention.
Osian, who had become like a shooting star, rapidly closed the distance with the retreating Hans.
Hans' eyes widened, apparently not expecting Osian to push in further here.
Just as the warhorse was about to ram its head into Hans's body—a shadow dropped abruptly from the sky.
The shadow blocked the path between Hans and Osian but Osian didn't care. The same went for the warhorse. If something was blocking, they would just break through it completely.
The familiar, who appeared to be a young boy, raised both hands to block the warhorse's head.
The warhorse's image was reflected in those expressionless eyes.
-Bang!
The young familiar's body slid backward.
When he put strength in his legs, his ankles dug into the ground, but his body continued backward as the ground was torn away.
However, he succeeded in creating a momentary gap.
Hans retrieved a new tool from Gretel. It was a pocket watch that made ticking sounds.
When Hans pointed the pocket watch at Osian, strange waves emerged from the watch and engulfed Osian and the warhorse.
'What is this?'
Osian felt as if his body was submerged in deep water. The same went for the warhorse.
Their momentum to push forward without stopping diminished.
'Did he slow down time?'
How annoying.
Osian donned his Starlight Armor while looking at Hans, who was wearing a satisfied smile.
As the power of starlight enveloped his entire body, a magnificent white knight descended to the ground.
The strange power of the pocket watch that had been constraining Osian's body was torn apart and disappeared in the Starlight.
"...!"
Hans' expression changed. It was a reaction showing he hadn't expected his technique, which he had used with great determination, to be broken so easily.
Judging by his cold sweat, he had clearly expended considerable strength and mental energy to use it.
'This is a chance to take care of both of them at once.'
Just as he was about to order the warhorse to sweep them away, Osian sensed something strange.
Even though the magical pocket watch had been neutralized, the warhorse couldn't move forward.
"What now?"
He looked at the familiar who was blocking the warhorse's head with both hands.
His appearance had changed.
Until just a moment ago, he had looked like a boy of about 7 years old but in that brief moment, he had rapidly aged to about 12 years old.
'He grew that much in that time?'
The familiar had somehow managed to withstand the warhorse's charge even when he was around 7 years old. Now at 12, he had become much stronger and was gripping the warhorse's head.
The warhorse, seemingly offended by being pushed back, snorted fiercely.
When the warhorse flexed its muscles, the boy's body started to be pushed back again.
The boy didn't give in either. Even to Osian's eyes, the boy's growth was noticeable.
The boy, who had instantly aged about 2 more years, now possessed strength equal to the warhorse.
It was a growth rate that would seem abnormal to anyone.
Realizing he couldn't leave everything to the warhorse, Osian drew his sword.
Though it might hurt the warhorse's pride, this wasn't a matter of pride anymore.
Pure white light surged up the sword, and just as he was about to swing it at the boy's neck, supporting fire rained down from the candy castle.
Unable to withstand the familiars and the candy castle's bombardment, the warhorse abandoned its charge and quickly withdrew with an extreme directional turn and unbelievable speed that seemed impossible for a horse.
The shooting star running across the ground returned to Diolan's side.
"What exactly is that guy?"
"A familiar, Solomon Grundy. Like Hans, he's one of her closest aides."
"Solomon Grundy?"
"A child born on Monday who closes his eyes on Sunday. A monster who shows an impossible growth rate."
Osian had heard similar fairy tale verses. It was a story about someone who grows at an incredible rate after birth, but ages and dies just as quickly.
The boy's impossible growth rate made sense now. By now, he had already passed beyond boyhood and was entering young adulthood.
"Mother Goose's familiars are quite strange creatures."
"You're not including me in that, are you?"
"Should I say you're not?"
"I suppose I can't deny it even in my own mind."
As they were having this conversation, a gunshot rang out and a bullet flew toward Hans.
Solomon Grundy, now a young man, raised his hand and caught the incoming bullet.
But that bullet, presumably shot by Loraine, wasn't an ordinary one.
-Bang!
The sacred power imbued in the bullet exploded with a brilliant blast.
Solomon Grundy frowned. His hand was not just torn apart but completely blown off below the wrist.
However, even that didn't last long. Solomon Grundy's hand recovered at an incredible speed.
It was an amazing regeneration rate that seemed to turn back time.
After completely regenerating his hand, Solomon Grundy opened and closed his new hand to test it.
His expressionless eyes turned toward where Loraine was presumably hiding.
"What should we do now? With this level of force, we're at a disadvantage."
"Diolan."
"What?"
"Can you buy me some time?"
Diolan didn't ask why. He sensed that if Osian said something like that, he must have some kind of plan.
Instead, Diolan called out Loraine's name.
"Loraine!"
"I know!"
Thanks to their long time working together, the two were perfectly in sync.
Diolan pounced forward like a wildcat while Loraine provided covering fire.
Osian's choice to acquire firearms from the Paladins proved decisively effective at this moment.
Even witch's familiars who wielded strange powers couldn't resist well against sacred power.
The giant Diolan tried to bite Solomon Grundy, and Solomon Grundy had to block Diolan's mouth with both hands.
Hans tried to provide support but was forced to focus on defense due to Loraine's covering fire.
Meanwhile, a Sun Ring appeared behind Osian's head.
-Kiiiiing!
Along with the sound of gears shifting, the Sun Ring began to spin furiously.
One rotation, two rotations, three rotations.
With each rotation, the size of the Sun Ring grew larger, eventually becoming almost as big as Osian himself.
As it grew larger, the ring's light became stronger and its heat increased.
Hans instinctively sensed danger. It was a fundamental feeling he hadn't experienced even when everything else had failed.
"Block it!"
Whether they heard Hans' cry or not, countless supporting fire rained down from the sky.
Not just candy bullets and cupcake shells.
Huge biscuit chunks fell as if to crush Osian.
But it was too late.
-Kwaaang!
A bright yellow beam shot toward the sky.
It swept away all the incoming candy, cupcakes, and biscuits, turning them into black ash.
It even went so far as to strike part of the floating candy castle.
An explosion accompanied by intense heat as one side of the sturdy candy castle's wall melted and slumped down.
Hans' wide-eyed gaze turned to Osian.
The white knight who had been there until just now was gone, replaced by a brilliant golden knight.
A knight wearing golden armor much thicker and heavier than the Starlight Armor, with a Sun Ring on his back.
Sun Ring Prison Armor FULL ARMOR.