Chapter 44: Twin Rifles (3)

"Well, it seems the beam is indeed powerful enough to instantly kill at least five Ultimate-Class beings without any resistance," Marcus said as he lowered one of the rifles. "The barriers didn't even hold for a second. It went clean through them."

He switched positions, lifting his left hand. This time, the barrel of the weapon had widened slightly.

From Serafall's perspective, this was something new. She had never seen one of her Master's weapons create a cannonball inside the barrel before, as opposed to forming it outside the weapon.

But this rifle... it molded the cannonball within the barrel before manifesting and releasing it.

How many stages does this go through before firing? Serafall thought, her curiosity piqued. The other two were processing this differently.

Venelana was speechless, while Grayfia seemed indifferent. It was just another of her Master's new, destructive creations—nothing special, right?

While the beam didn't fully reveal the rifle's raw power, the cannonball was another matter entirely.

The moment the black energy ball, tinged with deep red, left the barrel, a whitish barrier surrounded the spectating devils. The ball's force shattered the sound barrier and nearly warped the space around them.

In the blink of an eye, it was at the far edge of the shooting range, ramming into a barrier-formed target.

What happened next left everyone except Marcus deaf for a moment. All sound was wiped from the area, and the shooting range was plunged into pitch-black darkness, with wisps of red hanging in the air.

The barriers had barely managed to contain the explosion.

Even the two strongest devil women required additional barriers to shield themselves from the initial release of the P.O.D. shaped cannonball.

That alone spoke volumes about how lethal the projectile was before it even hit its target.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"This... how is that possible?! How is the rifle still intact after releasing so much power?" Venelana finally exclaimed, her disbelief evident. She had just witnessed something capable of killing her son—perhaps not in one shot, but the next one surely! It was terrifying how quickly the rifle could fire again. No reload. No time lag. Nothing.

"This rifle has two completely separate magical energy ecosystems inside it," Marcus explained, casually lowering his left rifle and switching to the right. "The M.T.M is still there, while the weapon frame is powered by a separate perpetual energy system. This makes my Sacred Gear powerful—and even eternal, time-wise."

Marcus lifted the rifle once more and casually released an energy bolt...

Or so it should have been. But, once again, the explosion engulfed the shooting range in darkness.

Thankfully, their ears were spared from the deafening silence.

"This... how is that even possible? The energy required for that...!"

"It's called perpetual energy for a reason," Marcus replied nonchalantly. "I don't need to worry about energy. I just focus on pulling large amounts of it. Energy has never been an issue for me."

As he tested more shots, each one was meant to be casual—but the golf ball-sized P.O.D. blasts easily obliterated anything in their path, reducing entire areas to rubble.

"This is bullshit..." Venelana muttered under her breath. She couldn't hold back her frustration. Both Serafall and Grayfia looked at her in surprise. Venelana had probably never sworn in her life—at least, not in public.

"My son spent decades training his power to reach this level. He's the strongest devil alive, and he can only demonstrate that power by transforming! But you? You just pull a trigger!" Venelana said, her voice tinged with annoyance.

"Impressive," Marcus replied simply, as if discussing the weather.

"Impressive that someone can achieve that through training," he added. "I guess I'll need to try harder if there are beings like that."

Venelana's mouth fell open in shock. She suddenly realized she might have just encouraged her Master to create even crazier inventions!

"No, no, no!" she quickly said, shaking her head and flailing her hands. For a brief moment, she looked like a panicked teenager.

"I mean, what you've achieved in such a short time is simply astounding! My son spends an incredible amount of time training, and you did all that in no time at all! There's no comparison!" By now, Lady Gremory was scrambling to flatter her Master, not wanting him to accidentally create something that could crack the planet.

"Obviously. Your son trained his magic to reach that level. But where he built a castle from the materials he found, I brought materials to build mine. Where he built it by hand, I built it with the instruments I created. I did what humans do best—I found a way to build it faster, easier, and more efficiently. His hard work is impressive, but it takes him a lot of time. That's all there is to it, Venelana. He's a fighter, and I'm an inventor and engineer. I invent while he fights.

Comparing us is pointless. You should compare engineer to engineer, fighter to fighter. I'm never going to fight with warrior's honor—that's for warriors to do. More specifically, I'm not even going to fight... I'll simply disable the enemy and take them to the lab to study. That is, if they have something worth researching. If they're a boring enemy, I'll just..."

Marcus lifted his rifle again and fired at the target.

Once more, the shooting range was plunged into pitch-blackness, with the blast nearly deafening Venelana. The message was clear.

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