?


    Throwing the book into the air, it dissipated into particles of shards and was absorbed into the ring with the cube Shiro Oni wore.


    p—!


    The once quiet and serene alley was now filled with pping sounds.


    Looking at the direction the sounding from, Shiro Oni found a group of five staring down at him on the rooftop.


    "That was a good technique you used right there, White Demon."


    Said the woman with long ck hair tied into a long ponytail, standing at the front of the group. As she jumped down, the rest of them followed.


    Shiro Oni quietly inspected them for a moment, finding out that they were Dystopia''s Combat Division members.


    The ck-haired woman, Valka, brought her hands across her chest, crossing them in front of her body. She was also inspecting the man with the oni mask in front of her.


    "What is that technique, I wonder. I''ve never seen it before, care to tell me?"


    After saying that, she quickly raised her hand.


    "No, wait. Of course, you''re not going to tell me, right? So…"


    A snapping sound reverberated in the air as she flicked her finger.


    "Gunter."


    Calling out one of herpanion''s names, a brown-haired man with asymmetrical bangs stepped forward, flexing his fists before taking out a slightly curved sword from its sheath.


    "Go test him."


    "Yes."


    Shiro Oni smirked under his mask.


    As Gunter was ready in his position and sword stance, Shiro Oni just stood firmly, his defense was wide open.


    Witnessing that, Gunter cocked his head.


    "Where is your sword?"


    "A sword? Against a swordmaster like you? Don''t you think it''s kind of useless to unsheathe mine if I was to lose anyway?"


    When she heard it, Valka''s grin widened, finding Shiro Oni was an amusing fellow.


    "I''ll just use this instead."


    Suddenly, the particles of blue glistened around Shiro Oni''s wrists and then small round shields materialized. Those shields were floating above Shiro Oni''s wrists while he was holding twin daggers in each of his hands.


    "Wrist shields and daggers?"


    A blonde man who was dressed mboyantly looked confused. Meanwhile, Valka''s grin kept on getting wider and wider.


    "So unorthodox! I like this guy!" Valka eximed.


    The use of wrist shields and daggers might be inconvenient for most people but, since the shields were hovering above the skin surface, they wouldn''t be a hinder to Shiro Oni''s movements.


    The hovering shield was the thing that the blonde guy, Martin, hadn''t yet noticed, and that was why he expressed his confusion. But, Valka and the rest of her team who noticed that were left impressed.


    They all had the same thought, ''Where does this guy find an idea as novelty as that?''


    Shiro Oni reached for the button beside his mask. As he pressed it, the left eyesocket opened, revealing his red eyes with an odd pupil that was shaped like an upside-down triangle.


    Among the witnesses, only Gunter was noticing his pupil shape. After seeing it, Gunter shifted to another sword stance.


    Adjusting his left eye to his surrounding, he assumed a battle stance.


    ''It''s nice to have something cool that people don''t know about.''<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    As his eye finally adjusted to his surrounding, he rashly dashed forward.


    ''It''s time to test the artifact''s power!''


    [Eye of Lace] [Bounded to Euclios Niveus]


    Type: Artifact


    Rank: A+


    Skill: Lace Sensory


    With the power of Lace, you are able to understand and perceive all of the oues of your action.


    Shiro Oni, or should we call Niveus, charging at Gunter.


    Before he was doing so, his Lace Sensory was perceiving all of the oues of his action. Sadly, as his magic and mental stats were not enough, he could only perceive 3 oues at the moment.


    The first one was the action that he currently took, charging at Gunter to surprise him. This action would result in a sessful hit if after charging, Niveus quickly maneuver himself to the side to dodge Gunter''s quick stab and immediately counterattacked.


    The second and third oues were showing him died getting stabbed by Gunter''s sword.


    As Niveus did exactly what his Lace Sensory showed him, everyone was shocked. Though, he couldn''tnd a hit at Gunter because he missed the timing.


    ''He dodged my quick stab?!''


    Valka smiled when she witnessed Niveus dodge Gunter''s quick stab effortlessly as if he was predicting it.


    ''Hmph, this White Demon guy sure isn''t normal.''


    Because Niveus failed tond a hit at Gunter, the Lace Sensory bestowed upon him another piece of information about the oues of an action he could take.


    Following the information with the best oues out of the three, Niveus dragged his torso down and parried Gunter''s formless sword once again.


    ''He blocked it!''


    When Niveus was about tond a decisive blow at Gunter, he suddenly perceived the oues, and there wasn''t a single oue that lead him to his victory.


    ''What the fuck is this?!''


    All of the three sights he perceived would lead him to his death, getting chopped into pieces by Gunter''s sword techniques.


    Gunter gently ced his hand around the sword''s hilt, ready to unsheathe the sword. Once he unsheathed it, that was when Niveus would be ravaged by his ravenous sword draw technique.


    ''He looks lost.''


    Knowing that he couldn''t rely on the Lace Sensory this time, Niveus stopped in his ce, not making any movements as Gunter was halfway to drawing his sword.


    ''He stopped?!''


    At that time, the five of Dystopia''s Combat Division Members had their eyes widened in shock, a great shock caused by one man who decided not to move even a single finger.


    Burst—!


    It started with one sh, then turned into dozens, and dozens turned into hundreds. Amidst thousands of quick shes that couldn''t be followed by human eyes, Niveus stood firmly while slowly enveloping his body with mana even though nothing had sliced him once.


    Everyone, especially Gunter who released the Thousand Formless sh technique was bbergasted.


    As the vortex of shes stopped its ravage, Gunter sighed defeatedly as he sheathed his sword back.


    Valka, who had the happiest face among her friends jumped at Niveus with wide open arms.


    Perceiving the oues of her action and what he could do at that moment, Niveus sidestepped, letting Valka dove into the snow floor.


    "What the fuck?"