Lyrate’s gaze sharpened as she looked toward one direction.
"East side," she said quietly. "That’s where the strongest cluster is."
I followed her line of sight for a brief second before nodding. "Good. You two take everything else. I’ll handle that."
Knight gave a short nod as he shifted away with Lyrate, both of them already moving to split off and begin clearing the rest of the city, while I turned in the opposite direction, tightening my grip on the axe as I focused on the presence she had pointed out.
Impact Burst triggered beneath my feet.
The ground cracked outward as force drove through my legs, launching me forward in a straight line that erased distance in an instant, and before the first jump even settled, I chained the next, then the third, each one carrying me deeper into the eastern sector until I landed in front of a large structure built from brown stone, its surface marked by faint heat distortions that hinted at what was inside.
The reaction came immediately.
The doors burst open, and four figures rushed out, their red skin glowing faintly under the ambient heat. I took them in at a glance, the system showing me their levels at once.
Level 95.
Level 90.
The other two slightly below.
A faint smirk pulled at my face.
"Still low level," I muttered. Their levels were not enough for me to reach 100.
They didn’t waste time.
Energy surged around them as flames gathered along their arms, one stepping forward to lead while the others shifted to flank.
I moved first.
Radiant Drive surged through me as I closed the gap instantly, the axe rising in the same motion as energy wrapped around it, yellow light intensifying along the blade while lightning threaded through it in sharp, unstable arcs.
Annihilator Cleave came down.
The one at the front reacted quickly, a dense barrier of dark flame snapping into place just as the axe collided with it, the impact sending a shock through the ground beneath us as force met resistance, but the contact didn’t end there. The lightning surged across the surface of the barrier the moment it hit, spreading violently along it before snapping outward, striking the others as they tried to reposition.
The formation broke.
I stepped in.
The axe came back and fell again without pause, the second strike landing before the barrier could stabilize, the cracks spreading instantly before the structure collapsed under the pressure, the blade breaking through and driving into his chest.
The force carried him backward and into the ground, the impact tearing through the surface beneath him as the energy followed through.
I didn’t stop.
The motion carried forward as I pulled the axe free, pivoting into the next target as one of them tried to strike from the side, his attack cutting through the space I had just vacated as I shifted into him instead, the blade coming across in a clean arc that broke through his defense and carried through his body in the same motion.
The third tried to create distance, flames surging outward in a wide burst meant to keep me back, but I stepped through it regardless, the heat rolling across me as I closed the gap and drove the axe forward, the impact snapping his stance before sending him down.
The last one hesitated.
It cost him.
I reached him before he could recover, the axe rising once more before coming down in a final strike that ended it cleanly, the force driving into the ground and leaving the four of them broken where they stood.
Silence followed for a brief moment then I got a single level up.
So I moved again.
There was no need to slow down now. I pushed through the city without hesitation, moving from one presence to another, the axe rising and falling in steady rhythm as I cut down anything that stood in my path. Some tried to fight, others tried to regroup, but none of them lasted long enough to matter, the combination of speed and force breaking through their defenses before they could build any real resistance.
The streets shifted under the constant impacts, cracks spreading across the ground where strikes landed, walls breaking where bodies were thrown into them, and the heat that had once filled the area began to fade as the number of enemies dropped with each passing moment.
I didn’t track time, only the bodies. I had already cut through 30 of them.
By the time the resistance thinned to nothing, the city had gone quiet, the earlier presence completely erased as I came to a stop near the center, the axe lowering slightly as the energy settled within me.
The system responded.
[Level Up!]
[Level 99 -> Level 100]
The shift was immediate.
I exhaled slowly, a faint smile forming as I felt the difference.
"Finally," I muttered.
[Status]
—-----------------------------------
Name: Ryan Heavens
Level: 100
Class: Radiant Annihilator
Talent: Overdrive
Designation: Defier
Combat Points (CP): 2670
Influence Points (IP): 5130
Stats:
Vitality: 287
Strength: 459
Dexterity: 348
Intelligence: 190
Endurance: 190
—-----------------------------------
The moment the system notification settled, the change didn’t feel like a normal level up. It wasn’t just more strength or more energy stacking the way it always had. Something deeper shifted, like a limit I hadn’t noticed before had quietly broken, and whatever had been holding everything in place was no longer enough.
The energy inside me turned heavy.
My body stopped responding. I tried to move my hand and nothing happened, as if the signal never reached it. The energy didn’t wait for me to catch up. It surged through me all at once, not in a burst I could control, but like it had decided to move on its own. It pressed outward against my skin and into the space around me, filling everything within reach.
The ground beneath my feet cracked.
I hadn’t moved.
Thin fractures spread outward in jagged lines, slow at first and then faster as the pressure kept building. The air around me shifted slightly, like heat rising off stone, except there was no heat, just distortion, subtle but impossible to miss once it started.
The system responded.
[Class Evolution Initiated...]
[Previous Class: Radiant Annihilator]
[Condition Met: Continuous Energy Saturation + Level Threshold]
[Processing Evolution...]
The pressure intensified.