"I Reincarnated But Have No System? You Must Be Kidding Me!"

Despite the gap in their levels, Magnus knew the truth.

Judging from his gaze and movement, the man standing before him was no ordinary swordsman.

His Divine Frame shimmered faintly, like a dying flame refusing to go out. Yet even that faint glow was enough to tell Magnus exactly who he was facing.

His name is Mardonio.

With a terrifying level of 72 and once hailed as a legendary adventurer during his peak.

The founding father of the Katana household. A man who built not only his family's name, but an entire legacy in the Austerra Kingdom.

This was the man who had trained knights, forged warriors, and raised champions whose loyalty still echoed across the kingdom's battlefields.

Without Mardonio's help, Robert's rebellion three years ago would never have even been possible.

And yet here he stood- broken, betrayed, and left to rot in the kingdom's deepest cell.

Not because he failed, but because he had been betrayed. Nobles with sweet words and false smiles had stabbed him in the back.

Among them had been his fiercest rival: Betthon, head of the Soulfang family.

Magnus's chest tightened as the weight of recognition sank in.

He had heard the tales about this man before, the whispered legends of Mardonio's impossible victories against ascended magical beasts.

He had laughed them off, certain they were exaggerations. But standing here, seeing the man with his own eyes, he realized those tales hadn't even scratched the truth.

Never once did he imagine he would clash blades with him. And certainly not here, in the middle of a frozen battlefield.

'So the mad king kept him alive all this time…' Magnus thought bitterly.

This was Austerra's greatest swordsman. His prime may have faded, but his instincts, his reflexes, his raw skill- they were still sharp. Razor-sharp.

Magnus understood with cold certainty: this was not a man he could kill easily.

'I need to take this seriously then. This man is dangerous.'

His lips moved quickly, whispering the words of an incantation.

Mana rushed through his veins like icy fire, pouring into the ground.

[WINTER ECHOS]

Frost burst upward in jagged spikes, and from them, three shimmering clones formed.

Two rushed forward, blades raised in perfect unison, while the third lingered behind to serve as Magnus's escape anchor.

"Impressive skills."

Mardonio's voice cut through the clash like a blade, steady and commanding. He didn't sound like a man in battle.

He sounded like a commander disciplining a soldier.

"But you are not going anywhere after laying your hands on my family."

A crimson aura burst around him, heavy and suffocating.

His strength tripled in an instant, the Divine Rapier shifting in his hand like an extension of his soul. With a motion as smooth as flowing water, he invoked the skill that had made him a legend:

[PHANTOM EDGE]

Magnus blinked out of sight, reappearing at the side of his distant clone. His chest heaved with sharp breaths, but his relief was short-lived.

SLASH!~

SLASH!~

The two charging clones had already been destroyed- shredded to mist by strikes too fast to follow.

And then it hit him.

The weight. The pressure. The presence of death itself, right behind him.

Mardonio had already closed the distance. His rapier gleamed like molten sunlight, raised high for the killing strike.

CLANG!

The golden blade slammed into Magnus's barrier. Sparks burst outward like fireworks. Magnus staggered, teeth clenched, as the last protective ring on his finger cracked and shattered, its light dying away instantly.

'This is bad.'

CLANG!CLANG!

Mardonio pressed the assault.

His blade fell like rain, each strike sending out shockwaves that cracked stone and tore walls apart. The air itself seemed to rip with every blow. Magnus's shield buckled under the onslaught, ice fracturing like glass.

"This is what you get for harming my child!"

Mardonio's roar thundered across the battlefield. His figure blurred into afterimages, his rapier weaving a storm of light and steel that hammered into Magnus with merciless force.

Magnus's instincts screamed at him to flee. But his pride as one of the leader of Dark Fate prevented him.

'I should have asked that stupid Jembook to kill this man before.'

He forced his breathing steady, letting muscle memory and battle experience take over.

Years of close combat carried him through- his guard steadied, his timing sharpened, his stance adjusted.

Slowly, painfully, he began to match the rhythm of Mardonio's storm.

"Hyah!"

But Magnus loathed being on the defensive. He was a predator, not prey.

His eyes narrowed, his teeth bared, and frost poured from his body like a blizzard. Sweat flew from his brow as he shouted back with a roar.

"You think your little swordplay can scare me!?"

His blade dropped, glowing with frozen light as mana surged through it.

"Just die like the rest!"

[FROZEN MAW]

From his sword, a massive dragon of ice uncoiled, its fanged mouth roaring as it tore forward. The ground split beneath its weight, the air plunging into a deadly chill that covered the place instantly.

'This…'

Mardonio's heart froze.

His joints locked. His limbs refused to move. Frost raced up his body like vines, crawling across his skin. In seconds, half of him was trapped, his muscles stiff, his hands heavy as stone.

'Not good…'

He strained against it, pouring mana outward, but his strength failed him. Years in prison had weakened his body and mana control.

The spell clamped tighter. He couldn't shake it off.

"I overestimated myself again…" he muttered through gritted teeth, ice crawling toward his throat. The dragon bore down, its jaws wide, ready to crush him to pieces.

"Hahaha! Fool! You think you can escape my Frozen Maw!?" Magnus howled, feeding more mana into the beast as its roar shook the battlefield.

But salvation came in the flash of steel.

CLANG!

"I finally found you!"

Robert's voice cut through the chaos as his blade crashed down toward Magnus.

Magnus reacted instantly, summoning a frozen clone to block the strike. Steel rang against ice, sparks scattering.

'Thank you'

The distraction was enough. Mardonio shattered the frost with a desperate surge of mana and with a swing of his sword and leapt clear of the dragon's path.

KRABOOM!

The ice dragon slammed into the earth, exploding into shards that ripped through the battlefield- but Mardonio has already escaped.

Robert's eyes widened, his face twisted with fury- and dread as he faced the dangerous man that took Marissa away from him.

"Where is Marissa!" he bellowed sending forth another slash.

The last time, Magnus had stood beside Marissa. That memory seared through him, the very reason he had returned to Austerra was to find her.

To learn what had become of her, Magnus was his greatest clue.

"I see you're still alive…"

Magnus sneered, summoning fresh clones to surround them. He expected Robert to fight. But to his surprise, Robert stepped back.

ZZZT–KABOOOOM!

The clones about to charge suddenly shattered in a flash of smoke and fire.

Magnus spun- too late.

Through the haze, a figure stepped forward.

It was Auren.

His silhouette glowed against the smoke, bazooka raised and steady on his shoulder.

"What is that- "

ZZZT–KABOOOOM!

The ground where Magnus stood erupted, smoke and fire spewing skyward. He escaped through clone transfer, but Auren kept firing through eveytime he resurfaced.

ZZZT–KABOOOOM!

ZZZT–KABOOOOM!

The battlefield shook with each blast, the ground splitting, fire and smoke rising in pillars.

"What a slippery bastard," Auren growled, his eyes glowing with Eagle Eyes as he tracked Magnus's movements using the faint mana fluctuation in the chilling fog.

Robert held back, unwilling to break the boy's focus. His chest swelled with quiet pride.

'Just what kind of crazy weapon has this kid made this time…'

Auren wasn't just clever anymore. He wasn't just the boy who tinkered in the shadows. He was brave. Strong. Unyielding.

ZZZT-KABOOOM!

'I wouldn't survive a single hit from that,' Robert admitted silently, awe mixing with pride.

Mardonio, regaining his breath, stood with Austaire.

The princess's face was pale from the blood she lost but the wound in her stomach was slowly closing thanks to the healing potion Auren fed her.

Although her body has weakened, but her mind stood firm, determination burning in her eyes. Both of them gulped mana potions, their auras sparking faintly back to life. They would fight again- for Auren, if nothing else.

But before hope could rise, the battlefield darkened.

'This…'

[DARK CALL: SHADOW BIND]

Before Auren and the gang could move, chains of living shadow swiftly shot from the ground, wrapping around them.

Auren, Austaire, Robert, Mardonio- all slammed down at once.

The bindings squeezed tight, pinning their bodies, choking their mana and silencing their spells.

"HAHAHAHA!"

Dozens of figures marched through the smoke of Magnus's fading spell.

"Well done, Magnus," Auborn's voice rang with glee. "We've finally caught them all- the culprits of the rebellion!"

Knights. Mages. Royal attendants. Dozens, maybe more, ringed the battlefield. Their eyes gleamed with arrogance, as if this had been their stage all along.

"This night," Auborn declared, his grin wide and cruel,

"is going to be a good night!"