Atticus's eyes snapped open, only to find himself standing in the middle of the pit-turned-coliseum.
'I didn't move?'
He quickly observed his surroundings and saw the sovereign watching him with a small smile. Behind the sovereign stood Niall, fully healed and with his head bowed.
"In record time, amazing,"
The sovereign's voice pulled Atticus out of his reverie, and he realized the situation. The sovereign was looking at him like a priceless treasure.
'I see. It was all in my mind,' Atticus realized.
"It was all in your mind, and you were able to overcome it. Once again, congratulations."
Atticus didn't feel any happiness at the sovereign's words. Instead, he asked something that had been bothering him.
"What would have happened if I hadn't recovered and fought back?"
"Simple. Your will would have been swallowed up by mine, and my will would have become yours. A complete takeover," the sovereign finished speaking with a smile.
'He's really crazy, huh,' Atticus thought in disbelief. He had come so close to being taken over by this madman.
"Anyway, that's not important right now. Unleash your exosuit."
Atticus had been so baffled by the situation that he had forgotten to assess his changes. But he decided to do as the sovereign asked first.
Atticus focused on the stump on his chest, and it instantly responded to his call. Tiny pentagon-shaped objects streamed out and engulfed his whole body, a red shroud covering his face.
"Let's test it in battle. Niall, follow the earlier rules and spar with him."
"Yes, sovereign," Niall replied, having learned his lesson about never questioning the sovereign, especially when it came to this human boy.
However, that didn't mean he couldn't make a request.
"Sovereign, does it mean the bet is still in effect?"
"Hm, you're finally using your head, Niall. Good job," the sovereign praised. "Sure, I'll include this spar too. But if he lands a hit, you automatically lose."
"Yes, sovereign,"
Niall accepted and walked to one side of the area.
"Well, good luck," the sovereign said and suddenly ascended, leaving the duo behind.
Afterward, Atticus walked and stood across from Niall.
His face was covered, but he was calm. The sharp, metallic hiss of his katana sliding from its sheath echoed through the area as Atticus faced Niall.
Niall was emitting a domineering aura, even more so than before. His armor made of roots had already covered his entire body, and two long curved blades formed on both his arms.
Neither spoke a word, but they both instinctively knew when it was time to move.
They both disappeared, an intense shockwave spreading out the next second as they collided.
A figure shot back at blinding speed, slamming into the other side of the pit-turned-coliseum with a brutal impact. However, it hadn't been the expected person.
"H-how?"
Niall's gaze trembled, disbelief coloring his features as he struggled to comprehend what was happening.
He had just been punched? How the hell hadn't he seen it?
He immediately banished the notion from his mind, convinced it had to be a fluke. But reality hit hard.
The sound of the atmosphere tearing resounded, followed by a blitzing punch suddenly filling his entire vision before landing on his face with intense power.
Niall's head snapped back with tremendous force, the wall behind him imploding into bits. He felt his brain rattle from the impact.
However, despite limiting his strength to grandmaster- rank, his body was still at grandmaster+ rank.
Although the punch had been intense, he could still take it. But reacting to it was a different story altogether.
The rapid, fracturing sounds of the air echoed as Atticus's fists rained down in a torrent of cataclysmic punches.
Each punch impacted Niall's body with the weight of the world, driving him deeper into the wall.
Atticus moved like a phantom. Although he was floating in front of Niall, unleashing brutal punches, his entire body appeared as a blur.
He was utilizing his full power without any restraint. Every single ounce of mana he used was replenished by the suit's passive ability to siphon the surrounding mana. He didn't even feel any exhaustion.
The force of each punch kept increasing as the suit absorbed the impact and doubled the force.
He had long since sheathed his katana. As soon as he moved, Atticus realized he didn't need it anymore.
In all, the grandmaster- rank Niall was thoroughly overwhelmed by the onslaught. Despite his ability to think, Niall desperately tried to control the thick roots to pierce Atticus from behind, but they were diced into pieces before they could even reach him.
This went on for minutes—a short time for many, but for Niall and Atticus, whose sense of time was different, it felt like an eternity.
Then, the inevitable happened. Atticus felt something in his mind. It was like a tiny insect trying to burrow its way into his brain.
But the process hadn't even started yet. In his mindscape, the exosuit's consciousness, which had seemed like a harmless blob to Atticus, was now anything but.
Its figure had morphed into a large drill-like machine, with its tip spinning at intense speed, a dark aura emanating from its entire figure as it slowly approached a large crimson ball in the middle of the space.
This was Atticus's will at its rawest level, and it was what the exosuit's consciousness had been attacking. While it had generally been biding its time just as the sovereign said, every time Atticus used the exosuit, it gained easy access to this space.
It suddenly paused and stopped moving as though observing the crimson ball.
It seemed to sense that something was wrong. The large ball appeared way bigger than the last time it had attacked, and it looked thicker too. But its every instinct was to consume, so it didn't think much of it and continued to approach.
However, as it neared the crimson ball, the unexpected happened. The whole space shook, and the crimson ball erupted, immediately engulfing the exosuit's consciousness.
A scream as intense as it was guttural resounded in Atticus's mindscape. The exosuit's consciousness lost its drill-like shape, turning back into a small, harmless-looking blob. But it writhed in pain as though it were burning.
While this scene played out, Atticus's bombardment remained undisturbed. His expression didn't change despite knowing everything that was happening in his mind.
However, it couldn't go on forever. A chuckle resounded across the area, and Atticus suddenly found himself unable to move.
The sovereign descended, separating the two.