One thousand two hundred violent wind blades surged toward Lord Grass Puppet.

The audience was ablaze with excitement...

And shock.

The shock filled their mouths so thoroughly that many of their faces looked utterly foolish.

Meanwhile...

Many Fourth-Rank Lords watched with completely different expressions.

Every Lord was analyzing.

Comparing both powers against their own.

Comparing the tools of the battling Lords to the tools they themselves possessed.

The random bracket system and the possibility of facing more opponents later...

Made everyone a potential enemy.

Any movement.

Any trick.

Any tactic displayed by the Lord fighting before them...

Was a priceless treasure.

Something that could improve their future chances.

"They’re using entirely different tactics."

A Fourth-Rank Lord whispered.

He was large-built, with long hair and a swollen face.

Beside him sat another Lord...

Dressed in refined medieval clothing.

Like a prince in simple noble attire, with shining blond hair.

His companion didn’t answer.

Meanwhile, the large Lord continued his analysis:

"Lord Puppet aims for a battle of attrition and airtight defense...

While Ivory Mask seeks to break through that defense."

The blond Lord smiled faintly.

"No."

He whispered.

The large man turned toward him.

"Then?"

The blond man’s smile widened slightly.

Then he narrowed his eyes and replied:

"He’s...

Simply playing with him."

.

.

"Come on..."

I said.

"Block this attack."

Meanwhile, the fan-shaped blades had already crossed half the distance.

The circular blades stopped.

The others continued.

After several more meters...

The star-shaped blades stopped as well.

Only the rectangular blades continued advancing.

And when...

The blades reached Point X—

They halted.

Then...

From the cracks in the earth—

More than a hundred and fifty grassy whips emerged.

The whips moved with terrifying speed and intensity.

Until their movements became nearly impossible to see.

At that moment—

The star-shaped blades moved.

They surged toward the blades already positioned at Point X.

Then—

They arrived.

There was no reaction.

No emergence of additional whips.

At that point...

Violent winds roared behind the circular blades...

As they began moving once again.

Within mere moments...

Every blade had gathered at Point X.

Facing fewer than one hundred and fifty grassy whips.

It didn’t take long.

The blades surged toward Lord Puppet.

They drew closer...

And met the sharp whips head-on.

BOOOOOOOOM—

The violent collision began.

The sound thundered once more.

Powerful.

Ferocious.

Dozens of blades shattered within moments.

Then...

The numbers began decreasing.

The number of blades.

And also...

The number of whips.

Then—

"Here we are."

I smiled.

Below me...

The whips began collapsing one after another.

Then—

The sound stopped.

And with it...

The existence of the whips vanished.

But—

The blades of all three types...

Still retained over a third of their total number.

The air had become chaotic.

Violent winds swept across the arena.

As for the ground...

It was filled with massive cracks from the impact.

But...

Despite all that—

Lord Grass Puppet still hadn’t moved.

He stood there.

Calm.

Silent.

Even his yellow robe...

Wasn’t fluttering violently as I expected.

My eyes narrowed.

"He didn’t move?"

I whispered.

The remaining blades...

Had already broken through his line of defense.

The distance between him and death...

Was now only several dozen meters.

And yet—

He didn’t flee.

Didn’t defend.

Didn’t do anything.

Suddenly—

The earth trembled.

Once.

Then again.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!

The entire grassy battlefield exploded.

Not from Point X this time...

But—

From everywhere.

The audience’s eyes widened in shock.

The entire ground...

Had transformed into a savage forest.

Thousands of grassy whips erupted simultaneously—

As though the arena itself had awakened.

They surged into the sky madly...

Then—

Completely swallowed the remaining blades.

BOOOOM!

BOOOOM!

BOOOOOOOOOOM!

The blades shattered one after another.

The circular ones.

The star-shaped ones.

Even the gigantic rectangular blades.

All of them...

Fell.

And at the center of that chaos—

Lord Grass Puppet finally moved.

He slowly raised his head toward me.

And for the first time since the battle began—

He took a step.

Just one step.

But—

With that step—

The entire earth beneath him shook.

Then—

His calm voice finally emerged:

"The ground beneath you...

Is mine."

Suddenly—

The whips surged toward me.

Their number exceeded a thousand.

They advanced at tremendous speed.

I retreated upward.

Seventy meters above the ground.

The whips still surged upward from below.

A thousand whips showed no sign of retreat.

Instead they climbed toward me with the same intensity...

And the same speed.

I raised my hand.

Numerous giant wind fans rapidly formed.

Until their number surpassed five hundred.

Suddenly—

They spun at terrifying speed.

And blasted immense currents of air downward.

Like countless colossal air conditioners activating simultaneously.

No wind blades emerged from the fans this time.

Only violently compressed natural air.

Suddenly—

The air currents struck the whips at a distance of forty meters.

The whips pierced through the wind...

And continued advancing upward.

Forty-five meters.

The air became stronger.

The fans spun faster.

Fifty meters.

The fans became even more oppressive.

Sixty meters.

The movement of the whips slowed.

Sixty-five meters.

Exhaustion struck the whips—

Like a tennis player after a seven-hour match.

Seventy meters.

There were no whips left.

They had already stopped climbing at the sixty-eighth meter.

"These tricks..."

I mocked lightly.

Then I surged upward.

To one hundred meters.

I raised my hand.

Five hundred additional wind fans formed once again.

Now there were one thousand fans in the sky.

"Let’s see now..."

I whispered.

Then—

I slowly lowered my hand.

At that exact instant—

All one thousand fans roared simultaneously.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!

The air exploded downward.

This time—

It wasn’t merely pressure.

It looked as though the heavens themselves were raining violent storms upon the earth.

Below—

Lord Grass Puppet remained motionless.

But—

His green robe had begun thrashing violently beneath the pressure of the wind.

The grass across the arena flattened completely.

And the dust began getting dragged into the sky.

The audience...

Could barely keep their eyes open.

Even some Fourth-Rank Lords...

Had begun raising their hands to shield themselves from the wind.

As for me—

I floated amidst the thousand fans.

My hair and robe whipped wildly.

While compressed air descended like a natural catastrophe.

I closed my eyes.

Then activated one of my abilities.

I whispered:

"Friend of the Wind — Activate."

At that moment—

I moved.

For the very first time toward the Lord himself.

From over one hundred meters away—

Supported by violent winds, gravity, and my own speed—

Like a flash—

I descended from above toward him.

In a blink—

I pierced through his sea of whips.

A thousand whips...

Couldn’t suppress my charge toward him.

Suddenly—

The Lord ordered his whips into formation.

The whips fused together.

Creating a wall.

The wall surged toward me.

It resembled scattered bars woven into a giant rectangular net.

I smiled.

Then—

Raised my left hand.

I formed a sword from wind blades.

Like a saw.

But thinner.

Sharper.

SWOOOOSH—

Numerous whips scattered apart.

Severed.

Against ordinary wind blades—

The whips might hold the advantage.

But against my personal Wind Sword...

They had no hope.

I struck.

More whips shattered.

Yet—

"These whips?"

I murmured.

"Despite their numbers, they’re incredibly durable..."

I hadn’t even finished my surprise at their toughness—

When another wave of whips erupted from the ground.

Lighter.

And their speed—

"Where are they?"

I whispered in astonishment.

The whips vanished from my sight.

Suddenly—

Danger surged through my instincts.

My neck twisted violently.

BOOOOOOM!

The air exploded beside my face.

Something had passed by me at horrifying speed.

Then—

It appeared.

A thin grassy whip.

It had already passed me entirely.

My eyes widened.

"It pierced through the winds?"

I whispered.

SWOOOSH!

Another appeared.

Then another.

Then—

Dozens.

The thin whips...

Didn’t move with overwhelming force like before.

Instead—

They moved with terrifying lightness.

Even the violent winds I released...

Passed between them instead of stopping them.

"Hah..."

I smiled.

"So that’s how it is..."

My body twisted in the air.

I spun rapidly.

And my long Wind Sword carved through the space around me.

SWOOOOOOOSH!

Dozens of whips split apart.

But—

More emerged from the ground.

From below.

From the sides.

Even from behind me.

The sky around me...

Had transformed into a forest of dancing whips.

And below—

Lord Grass Puppet remained as calm as ever.

He didn’t move.

Didn’t raise a hand.

Didn’t show any emotion.

As though the earth itself...

Was fighting in his place.

"This is annoying..."

I muttered irritably.

Then—

Suddenly—

I smiled.

"But..."

Wind blades spun violently around my body.

The air wrapped around me like a miniature cyclone.

"The greater their numbers become..."

I raised my head.

"For some reason..."

My smile widened further.

"I feel even more excited."

Several weeks ago...

I unlocked my hidden mission slot.

The first mission...

Was achieving five victories in the Fate Tournament missions.

I had to return to Sunrise City and fight.

Those battles hadn’t been particularly challenging...

But the reward...

Was truly worthwhile.

The first successful hidden mission...

Granted me a valuable gift.

"Ability — Friend of the Wind."

I whispered.

A complementary ability...

One that merges with another existing ability possessed by the Lord.

And since I already possessed a wind-based ability called Wind Blade...

The merge granted me—

Danger perception.

Through the winds generated by my own ability...

Acting as an early-warning radar.

As long as I continued using the wind fans...

I could sense every whip passing through those winds.

And because of that—

I smiled.

"No matter how deceptive or fast the whip attacks become..."

"They won’t matter."