Episode-879
Chapter : 1757
Lloyd’s eyes were no longer human. The pupils had shrunk to pinpricks, and the Blue Rings were pulsing with a cold, rhythmic light—like the status indicator on a high-end server. There was no rage in his expression. There was no sadness. There was absolutely nothing.
"You talk too much," Lloyd said. His voice was a flat, digital monotone. It didn't carry the weight of his vocal cords; it sounded like it was being generated by a machine. "It is inefficient. You are expending 15% of your available lung capacity on verbal taunts that have a 0% chance of inducing a surrender."
The knight hesitated, his hand tightening on his broadsword. He was used to victims who screamed or begged. He was even used to heroes who roared with righteous fury. He was not prepared for a teenager who looked like he was calculating a tax return.
"Inefficient?" The knight growled, trying to hide his sudden unease. "Boy, you’re surrounded. We are the elite. We are the Shadow Knights. You’re just a meal."
"An organic consumption metaphor," Lloyd noted, tilting his head at a 15-degree angle. "However, your threat assessment is flawed. You have failed to account for the environmental variables. We are standing in a high-moisture environment. You are encased in conductive carbon-steel. And I am a Kinetic Engineer."
Lloyd raised his right hand, palm open to the sky. He didn't reach for his sword. He didn't need it.
System Check, the thoughts scrolled across his vision in pale blue text. Biological integrity: 40% (trauma). Emotional status: NULL. Steel Blood Bloodline: ACTIVE. Magnetic Alignment: 100%.
"Steel Blood," Lloyd whispered. "Variation: Weaver's Loom."
He reached into his own biology. His Ferrum bloodline wasn't just magic; it was the ability to manipulate the atomic structure of iron. He focused on the hemoglobin in his blood—the iron that carried oxygen to his muscles. He didn't just summon it; he re-engineered it.
He forced the iron to the surface of his skin, pushing it through his pores in a process that should have been agonizing. But he had turned his pain sensors off. From his fingertips, thousands of microscopic red droplets sprayed out. They didn't fall.
Using the ambient static electricity of the storm, Lloyd created a localized magnetic field. The iron droplets elongated, spinning and stretching until they became threads thinner than a human hair but stronger than diamond-tipped cables.
He flicked his wrist.
The air around him hummed. The "Weaver's Loom" was a radial web of thousands of these threads, extending twenty feet in every direction. Because they were so thin, they were invisible in the dark rain. The only sign they existed was the way the raindrops were being sliced into perfect halves as they fell through the air.
The leader of the knights roared and charged. He was a veteran of twenty wars, and he believed that a heavy sword and a fast run could solve any problem. He swung his blade in a massive downward arc.
Lloyd didn't move his body. He simply twitched his index finger.
A bundle of wires, hidden in the mud, shot up like a trap. They wrapped around the knight’s sword and his arm. The kinetic energy of the swing was so great that when the wires stopped the motion, the shockwave had nowhere to go. It traveled back through the knight's arm, shattering his radius and ulna into dozens of pieces.
"Correction," Lloyd said.
He pulled his hand back. The wires were vibrating at such a high frequency that they generated intense heat. They didn't just cut; they cauterized.
The knight’s arm, still holding the sword, was neatly detached from his shoulder. The cut was so clean that the blood didn't even spray; the heat of the wire had sealed the arteries instantly. The limb hit the mud with a dull, heavy thud.
The leader stared at the empty space where his arm used to be. He didn't feel the pain yet; his nerves were still trying to understand why they were gone. "What..."
Lloyd swept his hand horizontally. "Your guard is open. Error found. Executing fix."
A single wire whipped through the air. It passed through the steel plates of the knight’s neck armor as if they were made of butter. The leader's head slid off his shoulders, the helmet rolling into a puddle with a wet, metallic clink.
"Target 1 neutralized," Lloyd droned. "Eleven variables remaining. Adjusting trajectory for multi-target engagement."
________________________________________
Chapter : 1758
The remaining eleven Shadow Knights were frozen. They were professionals, men who had killed mages and monsters, but they had never seen a man fall apart like a wooden doll. The rain continued to hammer down, and the steam from the leader’s cauterized neck rose into the air, a ghostly white plume in the dark.
"What are you?" one of the knights gasped, his voice cracking. He held his shield up, but his hands were shaking so hard the metal rattled.
"I am a solution to a problem," Lloyd replied. He began to walk forward, his movements mechanical and smooth. He didn't run. He didn't need to. He was the center of a web, and the flies were already caught.
Three knights from the left flank charged together. They were smart; they knew they couldn't win alone. They tried to overwhelm him with three different angles—a spear to the gut, an axe to the head, and a mace to the knees.
"Coordinated attack detected," Lloyd’s inner voice analyzed. "Analyzing weapon material: High-carbon iron. Susceptibility to magnetic interference: 92%. Force required for structural failure: Minimal."
Lloyd moved his hands in a fluid, circular motion, like he was weaving an invisible cloth.
The wires lashed out. They didn't strike the men; they struck the weapons. The threads wrapped around the spearhead, the axe blade, and the mace head. With a sharp, calculated tug, Lloyd used their own momentum against them. He didn't just pull the weapons; he redirected the kinetic energy.
The spear was yanked into the path of the axe. The axe shattered the spear's wooden shaft. The mace was swung wide, hitting the second knight in the ribs with enough force to cave in his breastplate.
"Physics is a constant," Lloyd lectured, his voice cold and empty. "You cannot ignore momentum. You cannot ignore friction."
He clenched his fist.
The wires that were wrapped around the weapons suddenly contracted. They didn't just pull; they spun. The superheated threads acted like a high-speed saw. The three knights were caught in a vortex of vibrating steel.
It was a gruesome sight. The wires passed through the joints of their armor—the weak spots where the leather and chainmail were vulnerable. In the span of three seconds, the three knights were dismantled. It wasn't a battle of swords; it was an industrial accident. Arms, armor plates, and weapons fell into the mud in a chaotic, steaming heap.
"Armor integrity: 0%," Lloyd noted. "Biological status: TERMINATED."
"Get him!" another knight screamed from the back. He was a mage-knight, his armor etched with glowing runes of protection. He slammed his fist into the ground, summoning a wall of earth to block the wires. "Burn him! Use the fire-salt!"
The knights threw small glass orbs—alchemical fire. They shattered in the air, erupting into green flames that burned even in the rain.
Lloyd didn't flinch. He adjusted the magnetic field around him. The water in the air—the rain itself—was drawn toward him, forming a swirling shield of high-pressure liquid.
"Fire requires oxygen," Lloyd said. "Water is a natural suppressant. Conclusion: Your attack is irrelevant."
The green fire hit the water shield and was instantly snuffed out. Lloyd then released the pressure. The water exploded outward, hitting the knights like a blast from a high-pressure hose, knocking them off their feet.
While they were mid-air, the wires moved.
It was a harvest. Lloyd wasn't fighting; he was collecting data and resolving errors. He moved through the remaining knights like a ghost. He didn't use a sword. He used the invisible threads to perform "surgery" at a distance.
One knight tried to raise a shield; Lloyd sent a wire to slice the straps holding the shield to his arm, then used a second wire to take the arm.
Another knight tried to cast a spell; Lloyd sensed the mana gathering in the man's fingertips and sent a single wire to slice those fingers off before the spell could form.
"Magic is just energy without a proper delivery system," Lloyd noted. "Engineering provides the system."
The final knight standing was the largest of them all, a man named Boros who was famous for his strength. He swung a massive, two-handed warhammer that could crush a stone wall. He was the only one left, and he was driven by a suicidal rage.
"Die, you freak!" Boros screamed, bringing the hammer down with enough force to crack the earth.
Lloyd didn't move. He stood right in the path of the hammer.