"Atticus Ravenstein,"
Colonel Zenon said slowly. His eyes were wide as he stared at Atticus on the screen, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"That's a human?" He sounded curious, unsure of everything.
The current Atticus was the personification of perfection in every way. While humans could be like this, Atticus had taken it multiple steps beyond.
Zenon could feel it.
His calm demeanor.
His aura of domination.
As though he was above it all.
As though they were all beneath his feet.
And the most terrifying part? He wasn't even trying.
This wasn't some forceful exudation of power.
This was simply him.
Zenon couldn't understand it.
Even their Paragons weren't like this. What was different?
A slow smile crept onto his lips.
He was curious. He loved things that challenged his mind. He loved curiosities.
"Colonel."
Zenon turned to the Staff Sergeant, Voren.
"I believe it's not fair for a Paragon to be pitted with the others," Voren said succinctly.
The other sergeants sent glances at the Nullite.
His expression bore no change, but they knew what he had done.
He had known Atticus was joining the competition, yet he hadn't mentioned anything about this until now. A colonel wasn't one that just anyone could meet. However, right now one was here.
He was trying to appeal to Zenon.
Aside from his curiosity, Zenon also valued fairness.
Regardless…
"Will you stop him?" Zenon asked with a smile.
Voren froze, his eyes furrowing.
"Stop him?"
"Yes. If you don't want him there, go and stop him."
A Grandmaster stopping a Paragon?
It would be akin to an egg trying to stop a moving truck.
"But—"
"If you can't, shut up. I don't care about your feelings."
Zenon's sword-like gaze turned back to Atticus, as though Voren was wasting his time.
Voren's eyes narrowed, and just as he was about to speak—
A crushing aura slammed down on him.
He staggered forward, struggling to stay upright.
Turning toward the cause, he saw that Zenon wasn't even looking at him.
Voren gritted his teeth but remained silent.
'This is why she wants him…'
Intrigued, Zenon focused all his attention on Atticus.
Even through a screen, he could feel everything.
…
The roars were deafening.
Intense.
The humans had long since shot up from their seats, their legs slamming against the coliseum floor, making the entire place quake from the force of their cheers.
One name burned into their minds.
Their mouths opened wide as they started chanting at the top of their lungs, their voices so intense they could shatter glass.
"Atticus!"
"Atticus!"
"Atticus!"
The other races, once focused on their respective Apex battles, had fallen utterly silent.
Their gazes had left the fights.
Instead, they turned toward the single screen showing a figure whose name was sure to be burned into the history of Eldoralth.
And then, a sickening realization hit them like a sledgehammer.
He was joining the competition too.
It was a thought that sent a chill down their spines.
Something was about to happen.
"The entire mountain range is a no-mana zone," Drill Sergeant Viktor explained. "You won't be able to use mana actively or any arts for that matter. To win this competition, you must reach the top however way you can."
Viktor's voice carried through the intense wind whipping against Atticus' face.
His silky hair flowed behind him like a wave, his azure and purple eyes staring down at the mountain range with a calmness that betrayed the chaos his presence had just caused.
Atticus said nothing, simply acknowledging Viktor's explanation with a curt nod.
His steps remained undisturbed as he kept walking, his footsteps simple yet explosive.
Atticus didn't hesitate.
He didn't brace himself.
He didn't crouch or bend his knees in preparation.
He simply walked off the ramp.
His foot left solid ground—
And the next moment, he was falling.
But something was wrong.
In physics, when something fell, it parted the air, creating turbulence, a rush of wind, a violent displacement of the atmosphere.
If the speed was high enough, it even created sonic booms that echoed through the sky.
But as Atticus fell—
There was nothing.
No wind resistance.
No air displacement.
No sound.
It was as though the world itself had accepted his descent, carving out an invisible, untouchable path just for him.
As though the very laws of nature refused to stand in his way.
And then—
He landed.
No crash. No impact.
No dust kicked up. No crater formed.
He simply… arrived.
His feet touched the ground like a feather settling onto a still lake.
The earth beneath him didn't so much as shift.
And yet—
Everything stopped.
The battles raging in the forest—
The clash of steel—
The roar of division leaders—
Halted.
The Apexes, locked in brutal combat high above, froze mid-motion.
Weapons still raised.
Attacks half-executed.
Their gazes snapped downward.
Something had touched them.
Something had gripped their very beings and refused to let go. Their eyes narrowed into slits.
An aura.
One so absolute, so imposing, that ignoring it simply wasn't an option.
And while they struggled to comprehend what they were feeling—
Atticus was somewhere else entirely.
His mana was being negated.
However, for the Atticus of now—
It did nothing to shake him.
He had the passive strength of a Paragon.
He had his will.
He had his spiritual energy.
His senses spread. He saw everything.
The vast, enormous green expanse of the mountain range.
The division leaders tumbling down the slopes, caught in the aftershocks of the Apex battles.
The two figures, Kael and Zoey, heads turning sharply, eyes locking onto his location.
They had felt it.
His presence.
But Atticus wasn't focused on them.
His gaze moved, his awareness stretching further—
And then, he saw it.
His eyes locked onto her.
A white-haired girl.
Surrounded.
Struggling.
Fighting off a swarm of Dimensari youths. Their attacks relentless. Lethal. Overwhelming.
Even after two years…
There was no way in hell he would ever forget her.
Aurora.
That was all he needed to see.