Celia’s eyes widened as soon as she realized what she had said.
She turned quickly, pretending to busy herself. "I’ll go into the forest and hide. You should start."
Before she could slip away, Isaac reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "I think we have something to talk about before you leave, don’t you?"
Celia laughed nervously, her usual entertainer’s charm slipping into place like a mask. "H-hehehe, what might you mean by that, Isaac?"
"Who told you I can copy abilities?" he asked quietly.
"C-copy abilities? You can do that?"
Celia blinked rapidly, tilting her head in confusion.
"That’s new to me."
She forced a grin, pretending she hadn’t already slipped up and forgetting she was wearing a mask that hid her smile.
Isaac’s lips twitched.
He could see through her act, but he didn’t push further.
He already had an idea of who might have told her something, and this wasn’t the time to start digging into it.
He released her shoulder.
"Forget it."
Celia took the chance immediately, retreating several steps before smiling again.
"Good luck, Isaac! I know you can do it!"
She turned and darted into the forest, disappearing among the trees.
Isaac let out a long sigh.
His hands came up to lightly slap both cheeks, a little ritual to wake himself up and focus.
"This isn’t the time to get distracted."
With that, he activated his Netherborn Phantom Emperor bloodline.
His body became weightless.
His giant black wings flapped, releasing powerful gusts, and in the next second, he shot into the sky like a comet.
He rose higher and higher until the mansion below looked like a simple dot on the ground.
"The puppets won’t be able to detect me if I stay this far out."
He used Aura to reinforce muscles and nerves.
Then he churned Solar Fire mana through his system, weaving it through every vein and nerve like a raging current.
The Solar Fire Mana boosted his speed and strength further, heating his blood until it felt like molten steel.
"Heart of Eternal Sun," he muttered, activating the skill.
Golden flames sparked in the center of his pupils.
His heartbeat grew stronger, silent yet so forceful that the air around him trembled faintly.
At Level 5, Heart of Eternal Sun skill gave him something most awakeners could only dream of—access to all fire and light skills without burning mana.
It was the ultimate burst skill, but it came with a limit.
’I have five minutes to destroy the monolith.’
Five minutes where he could fight without holding back.
Five minutes to crush everything standing in his way.
Currently, he was 30% stronger than his base self.
But he wasn’t done.
He activated another skill.
"Daybreak Incarnate."
Dragon-like scales formed along his arms and neck, hard and gleaming.
His aura thickened into something sharp and violent.
The skill increased all his physical and magical stats by 90%, making his body feel like a weapon forged for destruction.
Finally, he pulled the Infernal Fang Spear from his spatial ring.
The weapon pulsed with heat, its inherent ability to conjure devastating flames humming like a heartbeat.
Isaac wrapped it in the skill Flame of Judgment.
Red and golden flames fused together, the two elements empowering each other until the weapon radiated blinding brilliance.
Isaac’s grip tightened.
His muscles screamed with power.
The air trembled from the sheer force radiating off him.
Boom!
The spear left his hands with explosive force.
To an observer, it looked like a meteor streaking across the sky, leaving behind a burning trail.
But before it struck the mansion, a massive ice wall erupted, encasing the structure in unnatural frost.
Isaac narrowed his eyes.
He could see three puppets in the garden, working together to conjure the defense.
However, it wasn’t enough.
The spear slammed into the wall and pierced through it without slowing down.
The puppets faltered, caught off guard, but reinforcements rushed out.
Two more puppets appeared from the mansion, and now all five combined their efforts.
A barrier formed around the monolith at the garden’s center.
The spear clashed against it, golden flames exploding outward.
The fire washed over the garden, engulfing the five puppets.
It even pressed toward the mansion itself, threatening to consume everything, but then the monolith pulsed.
The flames froze midair, unable to cross the threshold and enter the mansion.
Isaac noticed the more the number of puppets working together, the stronger they got.
’The puppets protect the monolith, while the monolith protects the mansion.’
He dived, streaking down like a falling star.
The five puppets scrambled to suppress the golden fire, struggling under the pressure of his attack.
Isaac hit the ground hard, cracks splintering outward, and immediately expanded his aura.
He used Solar Dominion skill.
Radian golden flames erupted around him, thick as a sea.
They surged outward like a living tsunami.
The mansion grounds were transformed into an inferno with waves of golden fire crashing against everything in sight.
Another puppet emerged from the mansion, making them six in total.
Their increased number increased their strength.
They worked in unison, strengthening the barrier protecting the monolith while the monolith itself shielded the mansion.
The puppets were shocked by Isaac’s display of strength.
Any awakener worth a dime could sense the strength of puppets.
These awakeners always sneaked inside the mansion, never daring to fight the puppets head-on.
Yet here Isaac was, doing exactly that.
And he was somehow overpowering them!
Suddenly, their strength rose again.
Isaac’s brows furrowed.
"No new ones came out, so how did they get stronger?"
He scanned the battlefield.
That could only mean one thing.
’They can turn invisible?’
A minute had passed since the fight began.
He had only four minutes left.
He couldn’t waste time.
"Demonic Eyes."
The world around him shifted.
The skill revealed what was hidden, and in an instant, he spotted two more puppets cloaked in invisibility.
Before they could react, Isaac retrieved the spear from the ground and lunged.
His attacks slammed into them with brutal force.
Their clashes shook the earth.
Now eight puppets fought as one.
The garden was a storm of strikes.
Isaac weaved between the puppets, his golden flames consuming every gap he found.
But with each eight puppets strengthening each other, their stats were immensely high.
Every hit they landed carried monstrous weight.
’If the last two puppets join, the boost they get will get out of hand.’
From the forest’s edge, Celia watched the battle.
She was frozen stiff.
Her breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the impossible.
"This... this cannot be real."
Isaac was a farmer?
He was a level 10 awakener?
Those things had to be lies!
She could barely follow the puppets with her ability to sense space.
Yet Isaac wasn’t just keeping up with them.
He was driving them back, fighting eight at once, pushing against the impossible!
He was winning an 8 vs 1 battle!
Celia’s eyes widened suddenly.
’Wait.’
’Isaac is in numerical disadvantage?’
She realized something, and a chill ran down her spine.
’Emily has a spirit summoning skill.’
’If Isaac copied that... and he uses that skill with his mana reserves...’
As if her thoughts had reached him, Isaac raised his hand.
"Phantom Parade."
The sky darkened instantly.
Hundreds of Zephyr spirits appeared overhead, each glowing faintly, filling the air like stars scattered in daylight.
At a glance, Celia counted a hundred—no, more than five hundred spirits!
Her jaw dropped.
The ground trembled faintly from the force gathering above.
The air grew sharp, pressing against her chest.
A noise came from her right.
Celia turned sharply, ready to defend herself, only to freeze when she recognized the person.
"Edmund?"
The man smirked at her, arms crossed.
He looked exactly the same as when she had seen him before—the one who ranked second in the first objective. The same Edmund who had traded items with Isaac and her earlier.
He gave a low laugh and slapped the shoulder of another participant beside him.
Alex stood stiff, face pale.
"Hahaha. You still think we can beat that monster?" Edmund’s voice was casual, but his eyes never left the sky.
Celia quickly realized something she hadn’t before.
Quite a few awakeners had gathered around the edge of the forest, close enough to see the mansion grounds but careful not to step into the firestorm.
Every one of them wore the same look—shock, disbelief, even fear.
She tensed, fingers curling as she prepared to fight if they moved toward her.
Edmund noticed and shook his head lightly.
"Relax. None of us are stupid enough to join that."
He gestured toward the flames consuming the garden.
"We’d be burnt to ashes before even getting near. Forget fighting the puppets, we’d never make it near the mansion."
Celia’s body eased, but only slightly.
She didn’t trust words easily.
Still, she didn’t sense any hostility from them.
"Dammit," Alex muttered, fists clenching hard at his sides.
His eyes shook as he looked up at the storm of spirits.
The other top participants stood nearby as well.
Orvane, with his scar across the cheek, and Cassandra, whose calm expression was finally cracked.
Both were staring at Isaac with clear disbelief.
Their teams huddled behind them, whispering nervously.
One of Orvane’s teammates stumbled backward, his legs shaking. "That’s... that’s impossible. Is he really an awakener and not a sentiment monster? How does he have enough mana to summon that many spirits?"
Another fell onto the ground outright, landing on his backside in the dirt. "This has to be a dream. Right?"
Cassandra’s voice was quiet, but it carried enough for her team to hear. "He’s not someone we can fight. There is no hope for us to complete the third objective before him."
One of her followers turned to her in panic. "But we used our people as distractions for the Guardians. If we don’t finish this trial, we would’ve promised resources to all those people for nothing!"
"Would you rather walk into those flames?" Cassandra asked sharply. She pointed toward the mansion grounds where golden fire licked across the earth like a living tide. "You saw what happened to those puppets. We’d last seconds."
No one argued after that.
Another participant near Edmund slumped to the ground, clutching his head. "All this time... we thought we were strong. But compared to him..."
Edmund’s smirk deepened. "That’s the gap. Hell Difficulty trial isn’t about teamwork or clever tricks. It’s about whether you can even stand in the same field as that monster."