If anyone asked Rem who was the worst person to engage in the Venistalis’ Incident — later nicknamed the Capital of the Dead by the survivors — his answer would be quick and precise.

“Samael Wayward is the greatest heavyweight in Venistalis,” Rem told Hikma as he got carry across the sky by his flying buddy. “Orwell Mehest might have a home-field advantage, but we have a way to stop him. Wayward is an endgame piece. You either remove him this turn or come to face with the fact you will eat shit for the rest of this game.”

“So how do we beat him?” Hikma asked as he flew as fast as his Arcane allowed. The boy already chucked down two stamina tablet to keep going.

“We don’t because we can’t,” Rem’s reply cut any hope of rebuttal. “Wayward is not Chuang. That moron has exploitable flaws and pride. Meanwhile, Wayward is another breed of terminator.”

“You sound like you admire him?”

“I do. I ran Breaker’s CCC so many times I lost count and he repeatedly killed us to where fighting him is no longer an option,” Rem stated in the face devoid of all hope. “Trust me, if you learn Wayward’s info, you will run on sight from him too.”

“Wait, how much do you know?”

“Everything,” Rem sighed depressively. “Phantasia’s Pioneer in [Clairvoyance], remember? I know Wayward better than anyone but the man himself. Trust me, Hikma, that guy is a monster. If he signs up with Mehest, we should give up and write our obituaries—no hope of fighting in a slaughterhouse.”

“Okay, explain to me why I should be so afraid of Mr. Wayward?”

Rem laughed.

“Buddy, that is a tale of horror and woe. Remember all those overpower Shonen protagonist. Wayward have their background minus the hot-bloodiness and morality.”

…

Wayward showed Luxinna a piece of reality in the first move.

In a relatively simple exchange, he buttered the ground with blue fires so hot that it put the elf into a defensive position. Luxinna barely raised a lotus shield before Wayward shattered it with a punch, knocking her back.

Wayward rhythmically unclenched and re-clenched his fist.

“Impressive reaction time and sturdiness,” he praised the young elf. “Your reaction time is doubled at the very least. Exotic technique with multiple applications, but an obvious weakness. You can’t keep it up for long.”

Luxinna summoned several lotuses and began showering Wayward with a beam of light.

Wayward ran toward the beam casually dodging, weaving and sliding under them. Luxinna’s enhanced calculation power allowed her to track his superior speed and netted an immovable trapping maneuver. The net of gold eventually surrounded him like an enclosing net of golden sparks, closing in on the supremely agile mages.

Wayward stopped playing around.

[Wayward Original’s Blue Leap]

He disappeared from the death-ground and reappeared suspend in the air.

Luxinna open-fired.

Wayward kicked the air, redirecting himself with flames and blazing fearlessly toward the golden streams.

[Wayward Original’s Blue Leap]

Wayward flickered away in a blaze of flames and reappeared right in front of Luxinna. His leg held high.

…

“Wayward is a pioneer in many aspects,” Rem explained. “He is born with no backing, no special talent, and his cultivation technique is a simple method that converted Mana into a highly oxygenate burning source stored in his dantian. This lent him an incredible affinity with fire and nothing else. Fire-base attacks are the only weapon the universe gave to Wayward. Life put him in the dump since the age of seven. He entered no school. He only had grit, dedication and exceptional expectation in himself.”

“And that guy became a Captain of a royal-mages?” Hikma’s mouth hung open. “Traitor aside, got to respect the man.”

“Captain?” Rem laughed. “Hikma, Wayward is several thousand times above someone like Hex. That monster took the only gift the universe gave him and brought it beyond the limit. He spent 3 years traveling on foot to several monasteries around Tengen Continent and observed its monks’ meditation to learn inner peace. He apprenticed as a blacksmith for 4 years to hone his body and perfected his meditation training. He read a textbook on physiology and determined his diet and training for an optimal body’s muscle for his selected battle-style. He spent 3 more years after that in a forest to hone his survival skill and re-forged his body through cultivation technique. Then he joined Willow Heart Street at 17 to learn assassination and martial art. A year later he accepted the assignment to infiltrate Grand Empire’s royal-mages for the purpose of learning Spell-crafting, tactic and leadership.”

Hikma nearly lost control of his Arcane. Those backstories made Wayward from Captain of the royal-mages turned traitor into a larger-than-life superhuman who rivaled god by raw hard-work and grit.

Rem did not finish shilling Wayward.

“Every step he passed is a path of learning and self-improvement. He put in more effort than anyone else. We can’t catch him by surprise because [Breathing Meditation (A)] is a passive skill. That is right. Wayward’s constant practice of meditation put him in the realm where his mindfulness and emotional control is a step away from the Bhuddist’s legendary arahant. At that point, mental manipulation worth jack-all because he ignores it.”

“So, you cannot touch his mind at all.”

“Oh, I can, but there is nothing I can use to tempt him with,” Rem said. “My EAPS is like a devil offering visions and prophecies. Bhuddist’s version of Satan tried that with Bhudda and failed. Wayward’s mind is so calm he will notice any shift in it — influencing him in his sleep is also impossible because he mastered lucid dreaming to the point his mind is a fortress.”

Hikma saw Rem despaired several times, but he never saw Rem trashed his plan in a mixture of respect and helplessness.

“What about physically?”

“Wayward self-invented a training to seep raw Mana into his muscle to stimulate its development. From the age of ten, he modified his body to be stronger and tougher than average elves and demons — even now his is still doing it. He also learnt fast-pace strength manipulation technique from working in the forge. Combine those training, an expert-level martial-art and a superb mindfulness, then name anyone in this city who can win a fistfight with that man.”

“Err, what about Lancaster? He must be strong as Shyme Enma’s bodyguard.”

“Nice try. That battle would be spectacular. But Wayward will win.”

“You sound like fan-boys in a versus video, Rem.”

“Hikma, let me explain Wayward’s ungodly willpower with a simple history, do you ever wonder why there are so few S-rank in Grand Empire?”

“How does that explain Wayward’s invincibility?”

“Hikma, the reason royal-mages and royal-knight Captain have power-level 15000 and not 45000 because the contract the Seven Continental Alliance have with the gods—the Mandatory Recruitment Order,” Rem cringed by just thinking about it. “A-ranker with power-level above 15000 is enlisted into the gods' army as their personal footstool. Some — like Luxinna’s mother—went willingly. Others got forced into service using multiple threat. That is the reason those 33 Stars are golden fishes, they have enough weight from the gods for most A-rank under them to avoid the Order. Only at S-rank does the individual gain a measure of freedom, mostly because they become too much for the god and authority to handle properly, assuming they survive the office politic.”

“Wait, stupid rule like that exists?” Hikma’s eyeballs nearly spilled out. “Who would try to reach A-rank under that law?”

“Righto, the Order is why people like Hex deliberately suppresses their training. Wayward don’t because he desires power. He is getting stronger while everyone else sleep and deals with his Stats by using Mana to stick a training weight on his cells. This docks all his stats except wisdom to mid 3000.”

“Can he do that?”

“Yes, but it will feel like having a hot-poker stabbing your body at every single moment,” Rem shivered. “Wayward live, sleep and eat in such state for two years and walk around like nothing happened. I will let his pain tolerance be up to your imagination. But I believe we need an S-rank stronger than Scathach and Marley to defeat superhuman threat like Wayward.”

…

Nearby, Wayward brought his foot down from up high.

[Wayward’s Original Blue Axe]

Blue flames slammed into the ground and spread through the material’s pores like a pressurize steam. Wayward’s foot flashed with a rune, softening the ground, turning the earth, 50m radius from him, into a super-heated sludge. Then with his [Motion of Tide], Wayward exploded the ground with a reverse suction force.

All of this happened in an instant, Luxinna conjured up a multilayer glass lotuses to survive being at the epicenter of Wayward’s manmade volcano, praying for the creaking lotuses to hold out the onslaught.

The effect was immediate. The grounds and the houses came apart. Melody’s unconscious body flew into the wind. The stone beneath the combatants emptied itself in a fountain of molten rock erupted a hundred meters high. Houses and building crumbled from the disappearing ground support. Every window that was intact broke in a thunderous applause of falling concrete and crushed metal.

…

Rem witnessed the small volcanic eruption that shook the Earth-quarter.

“Hikma, hurry,” Rem asked the tiring Hikma. “I need you to pull off what I ask.”

“Didn’t you said beating Wayward is impossible?”

Rem let the question rolled inside his mind before answering.

“Yeah, but Wayward is not the only superhuman in this city,” Rem replied. “It will be a gamble. But I can stop him.”

…

Luxinna’s rolled on the charred background and coughed. She was in over her head. Nothing Scathach taught her prepared for anything like that monster. The elf rose on her knee. Forget winning the fight, she must get Melody out of here.

“Let me give you a tip,” Wayward’s voice floated from nearby her. “You can’t dodge surprise attack at point blank no matter how fast you are.”

Luxinna’s eyes widened as Wayward disabled his stealth rune. The elf found it unbelievable that this man hid himself better than most Lightwell forest’s denizen, but the last minute taught her enough that Wayward was above any opponent life threw at her.

Luxinna’s speed lent no help to her when Wayward already prepared his attack at such a close-range, but still she had to try. Her enhanced reflex conjured lotuses in the split second. Survival instinct dug out every battle she ever experienced to survive this exchange.

In that split-second, things spun into motion.

Luxinna’s body rolled backward. Four [Serene Lotus] appeared in the air and fired. Ten [Serene Lotuses] bloomed between her and Wayward. Luxinna again showed her enhanced calculation ability by taking three supremely accurate action in a split second.

Wayward took only one action: a fire-augmented palm-strike.

[Wayward’s Original Blue Pulse].

[Blue Pulse] was Wayward’s designate reverse-counter attack [Motion Tide] created Mana suction current, diverting opponent’s attack away from him. Wayward’s Mana lighted into a blue fire as he activated the second part of [Motion Tide], cycling Mana current from suction to repulsion, boosting his attack in the enemy’s direction. [Hot Iron Strike] and [Martial Art] added in extra weight to his attack. If [Blue Spear] was a rune-enhanced penetrator punch, [Blue Pulse] was a raw maximization of brute force martial-art.

One pulse of blue later — a feat of Wayward’s overpowering might — sent Luxinna’s lotuses shattering to pieces. Her beam of gold bent away without landing a shot. All ten stacks of lotuses shielding her splintered into golden sand in a point blank pulse of fire.

The strike knocked Luxinna away in a violent journey into too many buildings. The elf penetrated several walls of bricks, tables, countertops, a fountain and a kitchen sink, leaving a see-thought tunnel digging through a row of buildings.

Luxinna tried to lift herself from the crater her landing created, but the broken bones and 3rd degree burn refused to budge. The elf fainted without landing a scratch on Wayward.

…

Fact was hard to accept. It was a bitter lesson for the two girls to learn that Wayward barely gave an effort to crush them. Harsher was how the brief battle between the rookie of Horizon Dawn and the unstoppable Wayward end. It didn’t end with epic battle to the death, or timely intervention by a third back-up. No, the duo got rescued not with justice’s fist but a deal with a devil.

The devil in question was not Wayward.

Wayward saw a throwing knife landed, accompanied by flashbang, which he blocked instantaneously with his rune. He noticed a slight flickered in the air — evidence of someone sneaking by. He realized the distraction was an attempt to rescue the girls. Wayward knew killing the rescuer was the best option, however the checkmate arrived with a pleasant conversation.

Temptation, trickery and distraction failed against Wayward, but no one was immune to an offering — a trade.

“Are you open for a deal, Samael Wayward,” A white-hair boy in a mask and a trench coat flickered into existence.

Wayward took one glance to recognize an illusion. Two glances confirmed that the illusion was coming from a knife. He never planned to invest a third glance, turning away from Hal Jordan instantly to pursue the interloper.

“Yes, that right,” Rem said. “You know better than to care about rambling madman. Your goal comes first—no distraction allow. That is your philosophy ever since the Grand Empire’s Leviathan annihilated your hometown 17 years ago, but what if I told you I can fulfill your deepest desire — your goal?”

Wayward stopped.

“You understand what happens if this is a trick.”

Rem laughed.

“Oh please, you are a half-step from S-rank,” Rem nodded to Wayward’s raising eyebrows. “Yes, I know about your attempt to avoid the Mandatory Recruitment Order — knowing your past — who would blame you? I respectfully tip my hat. Out of every variable in this city, you are the one I can’t deal with. I am down to only one play against you — an equivalent exchange. I will trade my wares for those two lovable morons’ lives.”

Wayward barely cared.

“What stops me from wrangling your rescuer and holds him hostage against you, Mr. Jordan?”

Rem sighed sarcastically.

“Because we are bargaining in good faith,” Rem smiled sinisterly. “And bargaining in good faith means we don’t extort each other. You don’t get to hold my buddy hostage, and I don’t get to tell the living assholes Sol Vice Grandy and Orwell Mehest where in the Tengen Continent you hid your dear Onee-san.”

Wayward clenched his fist.

“You get yourself a right to make an offer,” Wayward said. “All thirty seconds of it.”

“Four for two,” Rem offered. “Spare the lives of my two comrades and I will give you four things you ever want — a closure, an ally, targets and justice. I have an ability to deduce the past and I already work out what really happened 17 years ago when your home got destroyed. I can point you to the culprit and I promise I will help you get justice.”