Lyra jumped down from the rooftop, landing gracefully despite the situation.

She quickly moved to stand beside Klein, her hands still crackling with ice mana as she glared at the hooded man, who was now scrambling backward in panic.

The man took the opportunity to create distance and retrieved a healing potion from his pouch and drank it in one full gulp.

Klein turned to Lyra, cupping her cheeks with both hands.

"Lyra..."

Lyra looked at him in surprise, her eyes widening slightly. "What are you-"

Before she could finish, he grabbed her cheeks and pinched them hard, stretching the soft flesh outward.

(˃̣̣̥⌓˂̣̣̥ ) "Ahhh-!" She screamed in pain, her voice muffled by his grip. "Itt hurtsshh-!"

His lips twitched in clear irritation as he held her cheeks stretched.

"You stupid ass. It was going so well. Why did you interrupt?"

（>﹏<）"Wawawawa I-I thought you were in danger!" Lyra managed to reply, her words distorted by the pinching.

Tears of pain pricked at the corners of her eyes as she tried to pull his hands away. "Let goooooo-!"

Klein held on for a few more seconds before finally releasing her cheeks.

Lyra immediately rubbed them with both hands, glaring at him with a mix of pain and embarrassment.

"You idiot!" she hissed, still rubbing her reddened cheeks. "I was trying to help you! That guy looked really dangerous, and you were about to fight him alone!"

Klein turned toward her and without warning, he gave her ass a firm slap, the sound echoing in the quiet alley.

*PLAH*

"For being a MILF, you have such a nice body but no brains," he said, shaking his head.

Lyra yelped and jumped forward, rubbing her ass with both hands.

Her face turned an even deeper shade of red "You-! You absolute pervert!" she shouted, her voice cracking slightly.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! I’m trying to save your life here!"

She rubbed her sore backside while glaring daggers at him.

The man didn’t expect them to bicker in the middle of a life-or-death situation.

’Should I run from here?...That woman is weak, if I take her hostage...’

Klein glanced at the hooded man, then back at Lyra ’That guy is weaker than I expected, so it’s okay to have her here.’

"Anyway, now that you’ve successfully ruined the momentum, let’s actually work together."

*swoosh*

Gripping his spear tightly, Klein dashed forward with explosive speed. The hooded man reacted instantly, raising his dagger to parry the incoming strike

*clang*

A wave of freezing energy shot across the ground, instantly encasing the hooded man’s legs in thick, solid ice.

The man staggered for a moment but in the next second, poured mana into his legs, shattering the ice with a burst of cursed energy.

Shards of frozen ice exploded outward as he broke free.

Lyra clicked her tongue ’Tch. My mana flow is still flawed...’

He twirled his spear in a powerful motion and struck the man’s head with the blunt end of the spear.

The impact landed with a heavy *thud*, snapping the hooded man’s head to the side.

Blood sprayed from his mouth as he stumbled backward.

Klein’s eyes narrowed ’I can’t accidentally kill him. I need him alive for interrogation.’

He immediately followed up with a horizontal swing, aiming for the man’s midsection.

The hooded figure twisted his body at the last second, the spear blade slicing through the edge of his robe and drawing a shallow cut across his side.

Lyra thrust her hand forward, launching a barrage of sharp ice shards toward the man’s legs to restrict his mobility.

Several shards struck true, embedding themselves in his thighs and calves.

"Arghhh-" The man grunted in pain but kept moving, forcing the ice to crack as he poured mana into his legs.

Klein pressed the attack without pause. He spun his spear in a wide, powerful arc, aiming for the man’s shoulder.

The hooded man parried with his dagger, but the force behind the blow pushed him back against the wall.

He thrust the spear forward in a straight, piercing strike aimed at the man’s shoulder.

The hooded figure barely managed to deflect it, lettingthe spear blade grazing his arm instead.

Lyra followed up immediately, freezing the ground beneath the man’s feet, causing him to slip for a crucial half-second.

Klein capitalized on the opening and lowered his body into a low stance.

His entire presence changed in an instant.

His eyes became sharp and unfocused at the same time, entering a deep trance-like state.

’Boundary Technique: Verdant Serpent’

In that moment, Klein’s mind and body synchronized perfectly as his every muscle, nerve and instinct aligned in a state of absolute clarity.

*swoosh*

The hooded man blinked once.

In the next moment, his right arm was cut clean from his hand and flew up into the air, blood spraying across the alley wall.

"ARGHHHHHH-!" The man let out a guttural scream of pain as he stared at the stump where his arm had been.

The dagger clattered to the ground beside the severed limb.

Klein stood in the same low stance as a thin line of blood dripped from the spear’s blade.

The hooded man staggered backward, clutching the bleeding stump with his remaining hand.

Klein slowly straightened, his eyes returning to normal as he exited the trance-like state.

Lyra stood a few steps behind him, her hands still glowing with ice mana.

She looked at Klein in shock ’What the hell just happened? His body moved suddenly. I wasn’t even able to see it and the next moment, his arm was cut off.’

She glanced at the hooded man, who was now on his knees, clutching the bleeding stump of his right arm with a look of pure pain and disbelief on his face.

’Seems like even without my help, he could have finished the job.’

Lyra rubbed her sore ass cheek absentmindedly, still feeling the sting from earlier.

’...No wonder he was angry. But again...’

A faint, soft smile appeared on her lips as she looked at Klein’s back.

’He told me to go first, so I wouldn’t get caught up in the fight, huh.’

’Even though he is rude sometimes, he cares for me, I guess.’

The realization warmed something inside her chest, even as she tried to maintain her usual guarded expression.

She lowered her hands, the ice mana fading away as she stepped closer to Klein.

Klein twirled his spear once, flicking the blood off the blade, and pointed it at the hooded man again.

"Now," he said coldly, "are you ready to talk? Or do I need to take your other arm as well?"

The man gritted his teeth in anger. "I won’t yield for this..."

A maniac smile appeared across his lips "ALL HAIL THE SOVEREIGN OF THE DYING HORIZON!"

Feeling the unstable mana flickering inside the man’s body, Klein’s gaze condensed.

’-_- Fuck...

*BOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM*