Luc verses Superpowers

After the test drive, Rei and Sersious guided Midgard back to the workshop, the setting sun casting long golden shadows across the street. The wheels rolled smoothly along the cobbled path, and the cart's polished exterior glimmered with pride and craftsmanship.

Once parked inside the dusty workshop, Rei turned to Sersious and asked, "Okay, so how much do I owe you, Sersious?"

Sersious blinked as if he had just remembered. "Oh right, the coins! I almost forgot." He fished into his leather pouch and pulled out a small stack of coins. "Here's your change—twelve bronze coins."

Rei blinked in surprise. "Wait, I gave you one silver coin to buy lumber, and one silver is worth a hundred bronze. A single log of lumber costs twenty bronze coins, and we used so much of it... How do I still have twelve bronze coins left?"

Sersious scratched his head with a sheepish grin. "Ah, yeah, about that. I found a dealer selling high-quality lumber at dirt-cheap prices down in the slums. Probably got it through... questionable means. Word is, the lumber came from the High Brown Forest near South Nevar."

Rei's brows furrowed. "Shouldn't illegal stuff like that be sold on the black market?"

"Normally, yeah," Sersious nodded. "But when it comes to lumber, demand's pretty low, and the quantity wasn't grand enough to attract noble buyers. To avoid raising suspicion, the guy sold it quietly in the slums. No one really looks too hard there."

Rei understood now. He took the remaining coins and nodded in thanks. But just as he turned to leave, Sersious called out.

"Wait, Rei. You're planning to leave this town, right?"

Rei paused, then nodded. "Yeah. Even with the superpowers gone, this town doesn't offer much growth. It's stagnant."

Sersious handed him a folded piece of parchment. "Here, this has some useful information on Gazai Town. It's just west of here. I used to be a hunter once, and I kept track of towns with potential."

Rei accepted the parchment gratefully. "Thank you, Sersious. I truly appreciate it."

Sersious smiled warmly. "Don't mention it. You let me be part of something big. When I die of old age, I can proudly say I played a role in changing the world. And if there's a second life, I'd want to build a cart just like Midgard and travel across the lands."

Rei smiled back and gave a respectful nod before stepping out into the street, ready for the next chapter of his journey.

But long before the final nail had been hammered into Midgard, a pair of unseen eyes had been watching.

Luc.

When Rei and Sersious had first met, when Rei proposed his plans for the cart, Luc had observed everything from the shadows. A shadowy figure clad in black, his presence had gone unnoticed, his silent bird perched high above the rooftops.

After overhearing their conversation, Luc sent a message via his trained bird to King Heinz.

Upon receiving the report, Heinz furrowed his brows and tapped his fingers thoughtfully. "He's modifying his cart? At this time? Shouldn't he be earning and saving? Hmm... perhaps I should assist him. He might suffer a financial blow otherwise."

With that, Heinz penned a letter detailing a plan to sell lumber for a single bronze coin and support Rei covertly. The letter was sealed and sent back with the bird to Luc.

Receiving the king's directive, Luc moved swiftly. Since Rei and Sersious were still in the planning stage, Luc went through each store finding the best quality of Lumber he could get and then acquired a small amount of lumber, deliberately roughing it up to appear as though it had been obtained through backdoor channels. Then he positioned himself strategically in the slums, placing the lumber where Sersious would inevitably stumble upon it.

The trap was set, the bait taken.

For weeks, Luc silently observed as Rei and Sersious toiled on their strange creation. At first, the assembly baffled him. But the moment the cart moved—unaided by beast or man—under Rei's command, he understood.

A self-moving cart.

His eyes widened. Without wasting a second, he scribbled a detailed report and sent it flying to King Heinz.

Heinz read the paper and nearly dropped his wine. "A self-moving cart... in Nevar? If the superpowers there catch wind of this, they might try to seize or destroy it."

Acting swiftly, he sent another order to Luc.

Immobilize the superpowers of Nevar.

Luc didn't hesitate. His first target: Ryha, a powerful enforcer who had ruled part of Nevar from behind a curtain of terror.

Luc arrived at Ryha's mansion under moonlight. The two guards at the entrance stepped forward.

"Halt! State your busi—"

Before they could finish, blood splattered the cobblestones. The guards fell, eyes wide, as Luc continued walking without breaking stride. More guards emerged, swords drawn, but it was like watching leaves trying to stop a blade of wind. One by one, they were cut down without Luc even visibly lifting his blade.

Inside the mansion, Ryha bolted for his secure room, eyes frantic. He locked the thick metal door behind him, panting.

Then the walls groaned. A quake ran through the mansion. Luc had not even entered; he simply walked past the walls, and the entire estate crumbled behind him like a sandcastle caught in a tide. Ryha never even screamed—his body was buried beneath the ruin.

Luc moved to the next power. And the next. One attempted to escape, flying on a tamed beast.

Luc merely exhaled.

A blade of air split the sky—and the fleeing man.

"These guys are so boring," Luc muttered. "I'd rather watch Rei's discovery."

He returned to a nearby hill, watching silently as Rei and Sersious completed Midgard and took it for a test ride. The wooden cart, elegant and powerful, surged forward across the fields with grace.

Luc smiled faintly.

"Maybe I wasn't needed to kill those superpowers after all," he whispered. "The world's already starting to change."

And with that, he vanished once more into the wind.