When Alex landed in the crater, which resulted from his explosive attack, the dust began settling while the other participants slowly approached.
While the two fighters moved too fast and could only see their blurry figures, they still managed to see the entity explode in a blood mist. It was almost certain that it was dead.
"Alex….?"
Ross gently called out, waving his hands to clear the dust to see the figure of Alex in the centre of the crater.
Hearing his name, Alex turned to look at Ross and gave a subtle nod. There was nothing left of the entity even after waiting for some time for something to happen.
He came out of the crater and stood by Ross's side. However, the others stared at him as if he had grown a second head.
"I know you guys are curious as to how I did this..." He stated and then pointed at himself. The colourless aura around him still blazed along with the immense strength and speed he got out of it.
"… but I'm just as confused as you guys are. First, let's get out of here."
Alex proposed and got ready to leave. But then he paused when he recalled what they were here for.
"Yeah… The Celestial Sigil." Zen stated observing Alex's paused figure.
"But the question is: where is the sigil and how do we get it?"
"Don't know… Maybe it will appear on its own?"
"Maybe… But then, who gets it?"
At that question, everyone turned to Alex who remained in his place not saying a word.
'Right. Getting the sigil is why we came here in the first place. And Philip is right. Who gets it? No, better take it to avoid any conflict that may arise due to envy. The sigil is no small reward…'
Turning to look at the other, Alex pointed out, "I'll be taking it."
His classmates in the group nodded as they knew if anyone deserved the sigil, it would be him. There were no arguments there.
Of course, that was for his own classmates; the rest, however, didn't like the idea very much. With no one to decide who gets the sigil, what gives him the right to claim?
Yes, he defeated the entity and did more than they did. But they didn't get to this point by relying on someone else. They strived just as hard as he did to obtain the strength they had today.
"Says who?"
Kenneth muttered with a frown, turning the heads of everyone to him.
"Ken…"
"No Elena, let me finish. I agree that he did the most out of everyone here, but no one said anything about him taking on the entity alone.
"The entity itself mentioned we all face him. Just because you went in hot and managed to kill it doesn't mean the sigil automatically goes to you."
Alex stared at him in silence. But he did understand where the boy was coming from. The others just looked on and waited for Alex's response.
"You're right."
Alex agreed and the others were taken aback by his response. They thought he wouldn't have refused given the fact that he basically saved their lives.
"But the sigil isn't even here yet…"
Alex was cut off before he could even finish his sentence when the invisible roof they couldn't see began to break down as they turned into particles and exposed the blue skies with large puffy clouds floating around.
But what caught everyone's attention was the appearance of a hexagonal-shaped sigil that glowed with an ethereal white light as it hovered several meters high.
The aura it emitted stirred their cells like a device being revived with the insertion of batteries. Kenneth looked back at Alex who returned the gaze a moment later.
"So what now? What do you propose?" Alex sighed. "The sigil is finally here, and if defeating the entity wasn't enough for me to claim it, then what will?"
"Easy…" Kenneth flashed a knowing grin. "… we compete for it. The one to get it wins."
The others had confused expressions hearing what Kenneth suggested and wondered if he was drunk on something.
"Your bright idea is to compete for the sigil?" Ross had to make sure he heard right. "You were here when Alex fought that thing, right? You can't possibly be telling me that you want to compete with someone with that speed?"
Philip and Zen tried to stifle a chuckle as Ross roasted Ken from the inside out.
"You didn't think this through, did you?" He could only sigh at the idiocy of the boy.
Elena could only shake her head in disappointment. There was a reason they didn't say anything when Alex said he would take the sigil. Imagined they had to fight for the sigil.
Who amongst them could put them in their place before that knew what hit them? With all of them out of mana, there was not much they could do against Alex in a physical battle.
"Kenneth, just give it up. It's pointless. We did get a reward from the monolith, remember?" Elena tried to diffuse the rising tension seeing Kenneth's frown and how he looked at Ross.
However, their arguments became invalid when the sigil floated from its height and arrived in the centre of the group.
Kenneth wasted no time and rushed towards the sigil to claim it for himself. There was no hesitation in his movements and moved with a stretched-out arm, his expression marred with a victorious grin.
Everyone, including Alex, failed to respond in time as the circle they formed was a close-knit circle for a chat. Even if he made a move, Kenneth would have already claimed it.
Kenneth finally had his hands on the sigil and everyone looked on with disbelief at his actions.
Ross was especially angry at seeing Kenneth lay claim to what belonged to Alex.
'It has happened once already and Alex remained quiet about it. If this keeps happening, everyone will see him as someone who could be stepped on without any consequence.'
But then…
*BOOM!*
"Ahhh….!"