At the northern edge of Asfaria, far from the white houses, beneath the massive crack in the labyrinth wall, seven people stood under the sky that had begun turning blue.
Caius and the others stared at the man blocking their path.
Standing there with his dark skin and yellow eyes fixed on them with a gaze that grew stranger with each passing moment.
Even after the words that needed to be exchanged were said, neither side moved to attack first.
Essence circulated through everyone’s bodies, activating their abilities and reinforcing themselves.
For a moment, silence filled the place.
The only sound was the whisper of the wind.
But that lasted for just a single moment.
In the very next instant, everything changed.
It wasn’t Elliot or Caius who moved first—but Kyle.
With astonishing speed and silence, an arrow tore through the air toward Adam, yet all the latter did was take a step to the side, letting it pass and pierce the ground.
A useless attack... but it was only the beginning.
In the next moment, Ellen’s blades flew toward Adam, and at the same time Elliot vanished from his spot, while Caius’s muscles tightened as he dashed forward, closing the distance in an instant.
"All you had to do was sit down."
Adam muttered as he dodged Ellen’s first blade, only for Elliot to appear before him, swinging his sword wrapped in that same light.
The blade cut through the air at incredible speed, but even that speed meant little to someone at Rank Four.
So all Adam did was take a step back, letting the sword pass before him and carve an arc of light through the air.
At that moment, two blades came from his right side, but with essence covering his hand, Adam struck toward them.
He hit the first before continuing the motion into the second, and due to the overwhelming force of that strike, both blades were sent flying through the air until they slammed into the high labyrinth wall and disappeared within it.
All of this happened in a single moment.
In the next instant, Caius reached Adam, while the blade Ellen had dodged earlier curved back, targeting his exposed back.
Caius’s sword, coated in pure essence, slashed toward Adam’s neck, who tilted his head to avoid it—but his other sword was already moving.
This time, it didn’t aim for his body.
Instead, it completely ignored it, targeting the threads around him.
"You’re the most annoying one of all."
Adam clicked his tongue as he shifted position, avoiding Caius’s sword that had nearly cut one of the threads on his arm, and as a result, a gap formed in his defense for a moment.
And in battles like this, every moment mattered.
The instant Adam stepped aside, Elliot met him with a slash of pure light—and this time, it didn’t miss.
Elliot’s blade reached Adam’s ribs, clashing against the layer of essence covering him and tearing through it before reaching flesh.
But breaking through that layer wasn’t without cost.
As a result, Elliot’s attack lost most of its power, managing only to cut his clothes and carve a shallow wound into his solid body.
Adam tilted his head as an arrow passed beside him in the next instant.
At the same time, Ellen’s blades reached him from behind, but lacking the force of Elliot’s sword, they struck the essence layer, leaving cracks before being deflected backward.
Essence surged through the man’s body as he made his first move.
Adam threw a punch straight toward Elliot’s abdomen, but the latter pulled back his sword and placed it in the path of the strike.
A loud metallic sound rang through the air as Elliot gritted his teeth, his bones trembling before he was sent flying backward like a leaf.
At the same time, one of Caius’s swords vanished from his hand, while he swung the other again toward the threads.
This time, Adam didn’t dodge.
Instead, he raised his essence-covered hand and caught the blade before it could gain enough momentum to complete the strike, leaving Caius stuck for a moment.
But in that moment, Leona arrived, her sword striking at the perfect place and time, creating a small wound on the left side of Adam’s abdomen.
The instant the thought of turning his attention to her crossed his mind, a small light formed in Caius’s free hand as it shot straight toward Adam’s stomach.
His hand clashed against the essence layer over Adam’s body, and the moment it did, Caius released the essence, unleashing a powerful shockwave that broke through Adam’s defense and sent him flying back several meters.
In that instant, as he was alone and far enough from the others, Ellen’s blades reached him.
Not just them—but also a massive fireball and two silent arrows.
Seeing this, he frowned.
"Annoying humans."
His voice carried a strange echo.
Then in the next moment, a wall of chaotic wind formed before him.
As the blades entered those winds, they were struck and compressed from all sides, slowing down and becoming unstable.
At the same time, Izel’s flames dissipated.
The only things that managed to pass through were Kyle’s arrows, which Adam dodged after they had lost part of their power.
Caius clenched his teeth.
"Leona."
Without even asking, she understood what he wanted.
"I couldn’t seal his senses."
Unfortunately, the gap between them was too large.
She couldn’t seal his senses.
’An ability to manipulate air... or create an air barrier?’
Caius thought.
Adam used the momentary pause in Ellen’s blades and vanished from his spot.
It wasn’t spatial manipulation or anything like that—just pure speed.
The only ones who managed to track his movement were Caius and Kyle in the back.
In a single instant, Adam appeared above Leona—the weakest in his eyes.
Then, with essence coating his fist, he punched directly toward her face.
He had controlled his strength so it wouldn’t end with her skull being crushed in one hit... after all, what would be the point of all this fight?
But to his surprise, this girl—who wasn’t the fastest or strongest—easily dodged the punch.
Before he could continue, Ellen’s blades returned from behind, while a fireball struck his head from the side.
The flames vanished without breaking through his defense, while winds surged behind him again, stronger than before, forming a wall of miniature storms.
As a result, the blades’ trajectories shifted—some pierced the ground, while others nearly struck Leona and Caius, who had already reached Adam.
Caius swung his sword, but once again, he didn’t target his opponent’s body—only the threads connected to him.
As if more afraid of the threads being cut than death itself, Adam raised his hand toward the blade that had gained enough momentum to become dangerous.
That movement resulted in a small cut on his forearm.
But in the next instant, what Caius expected happened.
Essence trembled around them, and at the same time, he pointed a finger toward Adam, firing a sphere of condensed essence.
Meanwhile, a powerful gust of wind struck both him and Leona, sending them flying backward.
Adam moved his hand and struck the essence, easily deflecting it away.
Then he stepped aside, allowing another arrow to pass where he had stood.
In that brief moment of freedom, he raised his hand.
Just like Caius, he fired three compressed spheres of essence at the same time—toward Kyle, Ellen, and even Izel.
And he didn’t stop there.
Because soon after, a powerful wind descended from above—yes, from above—slowing their movements.
But it didn’t last long.
Elliot reappeared directly before Adam once more, holding something glowing in his hand.
A powerful, unstable white light shot straight toward Adam.
Noticing this, the air around him moved, trying to slow it down—but the sphere burned through the air itself and reached him as he had already begun to retreat.
Then, after managing to move away slightly, it exploded, illuminating the world around them.
The air burned, the ground heated, and the sand melted and fused into glass.
Since the battle began, everything had happened rapidly and without pause.
So in this moment, as the intense explosion of light engulfed the area—
Not even ten seconds had passed.
Soon, the light faded, allowing vision to return.
At that moment, Adam was nowhere to be seen near the center of the explosion.
Instead, with his clothes burned in several places—and burns visible across his chest, face, and other areas—
Using that brief moment of blindness, the man had reached the greatest nuisance here.
The one who had ruined everything.
And was still trying to complicate matters further... by cutting those threads.
So at that moment, the decision was made.
If he was going to make obtaining new blood this difficult—
Then there was no need to keep him alive.
Getting rid of him would also make subduing the others easier and faster.
Adam appeared directly before Caius, essence swirling around his fist with terrifying density.
But Caius knew this.
His eyes might have been blinded—but his perception wasn’t.
So when the man appeared before him, he wasn’t surprised.
And he didn’t try to dodge the fist aimed directly at his heart.
Instead, he raised his right hand—the one that had been free all along—toward Adam’s head, pointing his index and middle fingers at him.
Above his fingers was a small glowing sphere.
By forming a solid layer of essence into a small sphere, then pouring a massive amount into it while keeping it stable and compressing it to a terrifying degree—until it was on the verge of exploding—
Caius managed to pack a quarter of his current essence reserves into a single attack.
That tiny sphere, only a few centimeters wide, was a lethal strike... even to the peak of Rank Four.
Then, when everything reached the point of no return—
When Adam’s fist moved with overwhelming force, binding him to the laws of physics, leaving no room to change his position—
Caius didn’t release the sphere.
Instead, on the opposite side facing Adam, he created a small opening in the solid layer.
As a result of the heavily compressed energy inside, a thin thread of pure energy leaked out, shooting directly toward Adam’s forehead.
At the same time, Adam’s fist struck Caius’s body.
He had predicted its path, so he managed to shift slightly—barely avoiding a direct hit to his heart by a hair’s breadth.
But his flesh and bones were torn apart, the punch piercing part of his chest and rupturing his lung.
At the same moment, Caius’s attack pierced Adam’s forehead, the thin beam of light expanding with each passing instant.
The energy passed through his skull, destroying his brain before bursting out from the back of his head.
Even then, the beam continued flying into the sky.
The essence in both Caius’s and Adam’s hands dissipated, while their blood scattered across the dirt ground—
Announcing the end of the battle.
A battle that didn’t even last half a minute.