Illa's body trembled and jiggled as he moved his gaze around, scanning the area, and it didn't take long before he noticed some of his men on the watchtower looking in a certain direction.
His eyes narrowed, following their line of sight, and despite the distance, his gaze landed on the form of Atticus running with Aurora behind him.
Illa's gaze instantly morphed into intense anger as his aura suddenly exploded, showcasing his Advanced+ rank.
At the next instant, Illa's entire demeanor suddenly changed. It was as though the character who had been Illa had been replaced by another person entirely.
The earth around Illa seemed to buckle, snake like cracks appearing on the ground beneath him. His form seemed to become heavier, his weight suddenly tripling.
His voluptuous and soft body, which seemed to jiggle with each movement, suddenly started becoming firmer until it became as firm as rock.
A white viscous substance suddenly started emerging from each of the bones jutting out from all his limbs. In the next instance, his whole form was covered from head to toe in bony, sturdy armor, leaving some joints clear for easy movement.
Illa's massive form abruptly bent, the white viscous substance coalescing in front of his held hand and legs. In a second, a massive shield was formed.
And then, in the next instant, he moved.
It was akin to a seismic tremor, as though a powerful earthquake had struck the whole camp.
An intense shockwave spread out from the point of launch, its force sending a wave throughout the campgrounds.
The flaming tent was abruptly extinguished, as it's form and the nearby tent sent flying away.
The whole area trembled as Illa's massive form rocketed through the camp with speed.
Everything was crushed, from the small wooden fence to an unfortunate watchtower that stood in his way.
The imposing and sturdy trees of the forest were rammed through as though they were twigs.
The forest quaked with intensity as Illa charged at unreal speed towards Atticus and Aurora.
In an instant, a quarter of the distance between them had been crossed.
"A-Atticus!" The panicked voice of Aurora rang out, her eyes wide open as she tried to call Atticus' attention to the approaching monster.
But she didn't need to; before he had even moved, Atticus had already known that he was coming.
Immediately Illa locked eyes with him, he had felt his spine tingle. He knew that this person was strong, not so strong that his past self couldn't take care of, but stronger compared to the current him, even stronger compared to Zekaron who he had struggle against.
'We can't be caught,' Atticus thought, his gaze serious.
"He's getting closer!" Aurora's warning was followed by a red wave suddenly enveloping Atticus' whole form, his aura shooting up into the skies.
"Hold on tighter," Atticus commanded.
Aurora instantly listened, tightening her hold on Atticus.
Without missing a beat, Atticus's rapidly moving legs on the earth suddenly started moving faster until they became a blur.
Atticus's speed exploded in sonic booms as he reached thrice his original speed.
Unlike the massive form of Illa, which kept on crushing everything in its path, Atticus deftly maneuvered through the forest, his form moving so fast that he had basically become a red blur streaking through the trees.
Aurora had her hands completely clenched while holding Atticus tightly.
She had never felt so useless in her life. Currently, they were running away for their lives, and Atticus was the one carrying her and doing everything. This wasn't notwithstanding the fact that he also came to rescue her.
She felt useless without her bloodline. Aurora turned her gaze, trying to take a peek at the monster chasing them, her eyes widening.
She had expected to see the monster at the very least a long distance away from them, but he had gotten so close! Just a few meters!
Despite this intense increase in speed, Illa only seemed to be getting faster.
Atticus didn't need to be told; the heart clenching vibrations coming from behind to him were all the message he needed.
As though the situation wasn't dire enough, a huge wave of demotivation suddenly hit Atticus's mind.
Despite the intense terrible feeling, with him having to apply multiple times the effort in every decision or movement, Atticus still kept on going.
His form still maintained that red blur streaking through the forest with a massive figure covered with armor made of bones decimating everything in its path behind him.
'I can't keep going like this,' Atticus knew his limits well. In fact, it was a miracle that he was still able to formulate a thought currently.
'I have to use it, despite how much of a terrible idea this is,' Atticus suddenly decided.
The translucent red wave surrounding Atticus had already begun to flicker, its form becoming weaker and weaker with each passing second, the amount of demotivation racking his entire being becoming unbearable.
Large throbbing veins had already begun appearing all over Atticus' head and neck, their forms so big that it looked as if large worms were crawling through them.
If not for the fact that Aurora was currently facing the approaching threat, she would have seen the intense amounts of pain that Atticus was currently withstanding.
"Ten meters away!"
Aurora's scream was instantly followed by Atticus suddenly channeling his mana into one of the space storage units on his waist, and from it, Zekaron's head and body suddenly appeared in front of him.
With swift movements and without compromising his momentum, Atticus kicked both the head and body, making sure to send them as far away as possible in different directions.
At this point and with their intense speed, they were already far away from the camp. Only the trio remained in the surrounding area.
The emergence of Zekaron's corpse didn't go unnoticed. In fact, as soon as his body materialized, Illa had already felt it.
His eyes widened in shock through the bony helmet covering his head, his heart beating fast as he recognized his clothing and face.
What happened next was completely instinctual.
A forest as large as this would definitely have beasts around them. The only reason Atticus hadn't run into any was because they had already cleared their surrounding area when they got to the forest.
But they had already passed the cleared area. A fresh corpse if left behind would be devoured instantly.
Illa knew deep, deep inside him that even if he captures his killer now, especially when it was well-known back at home where the killer had come from, if at the very least he wasn't able to bring back Zekaron's body, his death would be brutal.
Illa's massive form suddenly veered off course, instantly going after Zekaron's body.
Noticing this, despite the intense pain, Atticus's speed suddenly exploded once more as he tore through the forest at fast speed.
…
WOAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The entire coliseum rumbled, the ground quaking as millions of youths screamed at the top of their lungs.
Every single one of their gazes was focused on the largest screen at the top, displaying the form of Atticus carrying Aurora, streaking through a forest.
"ATTICUS!"
"ATTICUS!"
"ATTICUS!"
Every chant of his name was followed by a loud and intense stomp on the ground.
"THAT'S MY COUSIN!!!!" Nate screamed at the top of his lungs while waving his hands. The other Ravenstein youths sitting behind him couldn't help but shake their heads while staring at Nate.
Wasn't he the same person who had been feeling sad that Atticus had chosen Aurora instead of him?
But it wasn't even only Nate who had a change of heart. Hella, too, had been down as she hadn't been the one to join Ember, but after watching all of Atticus's actions since the beginning of the summit, even the usually strict Hella was trying hard to stop herself from joining in on the cheer.
It had been blood-pumping!
Seeing a member of their family do all of these things filled each of them with pride.
"HAHAHAHA!" A loud and undoubtedly annoying laughter resounded across the whole room as Jared laughed at the top of his lungs.
None of the instructors even showed any reaction to Jared.
At this point, they had all been far too shocked at the unfolding events that trivial things like his volume didn't even seem to matter anymore.