Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint
Chapter 335: The Song of Wither And Fireblast (3)

It seemed that, as expected, the Fireblastarch was truly hot-tempered.

Not only that, he completely lacked any self-restraint.

His spiky hair was covered with small metal rings, with pieces also clinking along shoulders and clothes, making rattling sounds whenever he moved.

His back was bulging with whatever he had packed inside.

When he spotted me, he scowled menacingly and immediately pulled out a bomb.

It was a small cylindrical bomb with a short fuse, roughly the size of a fingertip.

It looked small, but he was a Primarch of the Fallen Dominion.

It wouldn’t be as simple as it seemed.

Holding a handful of bombs in both hands, he shouted.

“I am Lord Rocket! If your ears are clogged, I’ll clear them out for you. Listen up!”

“People call you the Fireblastarch.”

“That’s something the idiots of the world called me on a whim!”

“That’s the point of a title, isn’t it? Something people can call you when they don’t know what else to call you.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the bombs in Rocket’s hands ignited all at once.

I had my answer.

Whoever coined the nickname “Fireblastarch” definitely knew what they were doing.

“Bombs exist to blow away punks like you!”

Unable to contain his anger, Rocket hurled his bombs.

The Fireblastarch’s Unique Magic could make steel into a combustible material.

Normally, steel would only blacken when scorched, not burn, but with his power, it exploded violently like popcorn.

And being steel, its destructive power was leagues beyond that of popcorn, especially if it was finely powdered and packed.

Oh, no time for daydreaming.

I shouted urgently,

“Azzy! Dodge!”

“Woof!”

Sensing the danger, Azzy immediately swerved, making the cart spin in a circle around her.

The sharp maneuver nearly flung me off, but thankfully I was firmly secured. Otherwise, I’d have been thrown far away.

Azzy hurled the cart forward as she bolted away and a massive explosion erupted behind us.

Dozens, maybe even hundreds of bombs detonated simultaneously, blasting scorching hot winds at our back.

“Looks like he blows up whenever he gets heated. Guess he really is the Fireblastarch.”

“Shut up! You think you can provoke me?!”

Rocket reached for his four-wheeled cart.

Mana flowed from his hand, reshaping the vehicle.

The cover flipped open, revealing eight thrusters—an excessive number—all igniting in a blaze of fire.

The pipe roared with a loud, bellowing sound.

“A dog sled, huh?! You’ve only managed to keep up with a quarter of my speed! Let’s see if you can keep up with me at full throttle!”

With a thunderous roar, Rocket tore through the air.

That wasn’t a vehicle. That’s a blast-propelled cannon!

Maybe his top speed could surpass even Azzy.

Faster than the King of Beasts?

Had humans really come this far?

Of course, Azzy, being a four-legged animal, could easily dodge him with agile maneuvers…

“Woof! Heavy!”

But if she did that, I’d get flung out along with the cart.

If she suddenly changed direction, I’d roll out onto the ground and be smashed up.

Not wanting to harm a human, Azzy just kept running straight.

But that was fine.

I didn’t have to rely solely on Azzy. I looked at the sky and shouted.

“Hurry up!”

“On my way!”

The voice grew closer and shortly after, the Regressor dropped right in front of me with a heavy thud.

I signaled Azzy to stop and yelled at the Regressor.

“Why did you take so long?”

“I came running the moment I saw him! You could’ve given me a heads-up once you found him!”

“How was I supposed to know I’d find him?”

“You could’ve said you were looking!”

The Regressor grumbled and slammed Jizan into the ground, creating a low wall of earth with a single strike.

It was not tall enough to block a person, but it would give a wheeled vehicle some trouble.

“What the hell are you?!”

Rocket’s four-wheeler adjusted its thrusters as it approached the earthen wall, creating a wall of flames as all eight thrusters pointed backward, reversing thrust to slow down.

Rocket shouted angrily as he faced us, but the Regressor responded calmly.

“So, you’re the Fireblastarch, right? I’ve got something to say.”

“Don’t call me the Fireblastarch! I’ve told you, I’m Lord Rocket!!”

“Oh, sorry. Got it, Lord Rocket.”

The Regressor hadn’t put much meaning behind the name. She was just calling him what he preferred.

As soon as Rocket heard his desired title, he calmed down, lounging back in his seat.

“Alright then. Speak.”

What was this guy?

He was just as easy to calm down as he was to enrage.

Did he have no emotional restraint at all?

I wondered if there was some weird understanding among the abnormal as the Regressor continued the most amiable conversation I’d ever seen.

“As a Primarch, you must know the location of the Golden Palace, right? You even said you had orders from there.”

“Hmph! Of course, I do!”

“Great. Then tell us the location of the Golden Palace.”

“What? For free?”

Rocket waved his hand dismissively.

“If you’re putting your request on one side of the scale, shouldn’t there be something on the other side too? What do I gain if I give you information?”

｢Oh, right. In the Fallen Dominion, everything came with a price. I almost forgot.｣

The Regressor rummaged through her belongings and pulled out a golden icosahedron, the Gold of Understanding.

“Here, take this.”

“…Don’t you know what a scale is? Offering the right to be executed by the Golden Lord as payment? You don’t even know the difference between rare and valuable! Get that cursed thing away from me!”

Rocket grimaced.

When the Regressor quickly tucked away the Gold of Understanding, Rocket sighed.

“You want information. In that case, something equally valuable should go on the other side of the scale. Speak. If you don’t have it, there’s no deal!”

“Ugh, hold on…”

The Regressor frowned, digging through memories from previous cycles.

｢Information, information… I don’t remember encountering the Fireblastarch in past cycles… Ah! Right! I read in the propaganda that he was shot down by the Gunmaster!｣

Is that really all she has for information?

Trying to persuade him with something that hasn’t even happened this cycle?

“You. You’ll die if war breaks out.”

“…What?”

“You’ll be the first to die if a war with the Military State breaks out.”

But that hasn’t even happened yet.

Is she really just going to blurt it out?

“We’re here to arrange a truce. If the war stops, you won’t have to die either. How’s that for a win-win?”

The Regressor shrugged as she spoke.

Indeed, if the war stopped, the Fireblastarch wouldn’t need to die.

Having personally experienced such tragedies, she knew a truce was a good idea.

It’s beneficial for both sides, with no downsides.

But the truth doesn’t always move people’s hearts.

Just look at Rocket, silently glaring at the Regressor.

“A truce? From the Military State?”

“Yeah, you could say that.”

“Then is that why you attacked my Winged Assault Squad?”

“They didn’t die, though? And they were killing Fallen Dominion people left and right in the first place.”

Rocket surveyed the scene.

Sure enough, the majority of the Winged Assault Squad had merely been grounded.

The Regressor had only stopped their thrusters to prevent a massacre, and Tyr was roughing them up but not killing them.

Those attacking the Winged Assault Squad now were the enraged raiders, colliding during their escape.

For now, the Assault Squad hadn’t sustained many losses.

Understanding the situation, Rocket stood up in his vehicle.

“More than hundreds of people have threatened to kill me. They all laughed at my power, saying I was throwing money in the dirt. Do you know how I dealt with them?”

He didn’t wait for a response.

Rocket stomped his foot, opening the back of his vehicle.

Hundreds of rockets shot into the air in unison.

“I rammed rockets down their throats and blew them up. Every last one of them.”

The rockets streaked across the dark sky, exploding into a storm of thousands of steel shards, falling like burning rain.

The steel imbued with the Fireblastarch’s mana burned without reason, swept up by the winds they created.

Even if the fuel in their thrusters ran out, it didn’t matter.

The power of the Fireblastarch filled the space, making this area his territory.

“With the alchemy of the Golden Lord merged with my own power, I’ll blow all the annoying pests away!!”

All at once, the dead thrusters reignited and the Winged Assault Squad members that had been grounded on the dirt rose again, fueled by the blazing, scattered steel.

The Fireblastarch, standing against that infernal backdrop, was the very image of a fiery calamity of war.

“War, Death?! Don’t make me laugh! Nothing has ever managed to kill me!!”

But the Regressor replied without much reaction.

“Then, I guess next time will be different.”

｢With the Gunmaster’s Zero In, every shot hits. No matter how fast he flies, he’s still slower than a bullet. If she mastered her Consensus of Gun and Sword… that squad is doomed to fall like autumn leaves.｣

The Regressor was calculating, but Rocket, having no mind-reading ability, couldn’t see through it.

He was a hothead and the Regressor’s words had stoked his anger.

“Then try to kill me!!”

Rocket flung his arms wide, scattering steel dust in the air that ignited into flames.

The Regressor hastily formed a barrier of wind with Chun-aeng.

“What the hell?! Why are you suddenly—?!”

If she wanted a truce, she was clearly dealing with the wrong person.

“War will happen! And it will rage on strong, starting with your deaths!!”

The Fireblastarch Rocket was a war hawk.

More than anyone, he wanted war to erupt.