"It was a trap."
"What do you an it’s a trap?" Alexa asked as she slowly pulled her glowing hands away from Timmy’s chest as the last traces of healing light faded.
Timmy had already passed out from the powerful jet stream of water that slamd into him earlier, but his breathing was steady now. He was fine, just unconscious, and it would take so ti before he finally woke up.
"Has it ever occurred to you what the term ’Creator’ ant in your status panel?" Rentaro’s question stirred their thoughts, and they all fell silent. As they thought about it, they rembered their first interaction with the system panel. Back then, that sa concept had left every one of them confused.
"If my hunch is correct, and races across the sanctuary are indeed pitted against each other as so sort of entertainnt. Then this trial... This second option we ignorantly chose... made us the punchline."
The general slowly turned around to face them. Then, it calmly opened its hand, and the spear on the ground suddenly lifted into the air, as if pulled by an invisible force, before flying straight back into its grasp.
"As entertainnt?" They still couldn’t believe it
Jake’s naturally calm expression slowly started to crack. The thought of them being treated as nothing more than entertainnt sent a deep fear through him, terrifying him to his core.
Rentaro was basically saying that their lives, their efforts, their deaths, it was all a ans of entertainnt?
"We can worry about that later." Eliza said after regaining her composure. This was her team, and she refused to let any unfortunate outco stop them. "Right now, we have a bigger issue to attend to."
"How do you suggest we beat sothing that can easily adapt to our techniques?" Rentaro narrowed his eyes as he looked at Eliza.
Timmy was knocked out cold, Jake was already close to losing his will to fight, and even Alexa looked shaken by the overwhelming pressure around them.
Yet despite everything, Eliza remained calm, even after briefly faltering under the fear they were facing.
’Before the glitch altered my course to the sanctuary, the president of the SAC ntioned sothing about carriers of the Nexus Virus undergoing a crash survival course of New Nexus just before the solstice arrived. Could that have been the sa case for her?’ He thought. There was no other way to explain her quick adaptability, whatever the case, sothing just didn’t sit right.
"In the few exchanges we had, just before he adapted and took our techniques, that circle on its chest glowed, and now three of the five slots sealed up instantly." Eliza said, laying out all the observations she made during the start of the supre general’s attack.
"I see." Rentaro caught on. "Elental Class, Guardian Class, Support class. Three slots, three different abilities adapted and learnt."
"That’s right. Just before Timmy was knocked out, he used his class, but the general used Jake’s do to defend against his severing slice. But only three slots closed up, that must an physical contact is its way of adapting and learning our abilities."
’Luckily my strength is as a result of my physical stats increasing with each level up or beast I slay.’ Rentaro stared back at the general as it slowly walked toward them, its spear gripped tightly in its hand with a terrifying calmness.
"The supre general already adapted to our techniques, so here’s the plan of action. It has Alexa’s healing ability, so if we give it ti it’d just heal itself. Rentaro, and you will lead a charge of relentless assaults, even when it uses Jake’s energy do, our aim is to try and kill him before he manages to adapt to the rest of our techniques. Jake, you stand by and provide us with the necessary defense, and Alexa, you know what to do."
"Right."
"Okay." Jake said, exhaling sharply.
Eliza gave a firm nod before charging forward alongside Rentaro, both of them rushing straight at the general without hesitation.
’I haven’t recovered my Soul-Energy, so for now, this will have to do.’ Rentaro clenched his hand into a fist and threw a straight right punch at the general.
But just before it could connect, another energy do suddenly engulfed it. His punch slamd directly into the barrier, creating a sharp crack that spread across the do.
"Now!"
Eliza leapt above Rentaro in a swift motion. She stretched out her right hand, and her Soul-Energy burst from her palm like surging flas. The flas then swirled tightly, gathering and compressing into a small, concentrated sphere in her hand.
"Get out of here, Rentaro!"
Rentaro quickly channeled Soul-Energy into his legs and leapt backward.
At the sa mont, Eliza slamd the compressed sphere of fla energy into the cracked do. "Blazing Sphere!"
The barrier shattered under its force, and the attack shot straight toward the general’s chest.
Then.
Almost imdiately, the general raised its hand, and a sphere of wind energy ford in its palm, matching the size of Eliza’s blazing sphere. In an instant, the two forces collided head-on, erupting in a violent clash of fire and wind.
"W—what?" Eliza’s eyes and mouth widened in horror as she watched the supre general wield a wind Soul-Technique.
At first, she thought it had adapted to their attacks and copied their techniques, but that wasn’t it.
It made their class itself its own, and even made it stronger than it was in their hands.
The general’s sphere of wind overwheld Eliza’s Blazing Sphere, crushing it in an instant. The force didn’t stop there, it slamd into her stomach cleanly and her pupils shrunk as she spat out a mouthful of blood, launching her like a javelin across the room.
She crashed into Alexa, then deep into the wall, the impact echoing through the space. And they both passed out.
The general didn’t stop there.
It vanished in an instant, reappearing right in front of Jake in a blur too fast for his eyes to follow.
Jake’s gaze wavered in shock as the towering general lood over him. For the first ti, a twisted smile stretched across its thick gray mouth, and its eyes flared a deep red before it drove its claws straight into Jake’s chest.
Jake’s breath hitched as the general’s claws pierced his chest.
A crushing pressure spread through his body, as if his very heart was being gripped and squeezed. His strength faltered in an instant, and everything around him blurred before the general forcefully pulled out his heart, and he fell face first to the ground.
"J—Jake..." Rentaro’s eyes wavered for a brief mont as he saw Jake’s heart being ripped from his chest. Then after a few monts, his expression hardened.
His eyes narrowed and he let out a low grunt as he forced himself upright.
With one explosive step forward, the ground beneath his feet shattered, and he launched himself at the supre general.
Just as the Supre General turned to face him, Rentaro’s fist slamd directly into its face. The impact sent the general crashing through the ground, but it quickly caught itself, using its claws to break its montum as they scraped violently across the floor.
The general slowly rose back to its feet. With its left hand, it gently wiped the side of its mouth. When it lifted its thumb and saw the blood, its eyes flared a deep, dangerous red. A nacing grin curled at the corner of its lips as it dropped the spear from its hand, letting it fall heavily to the ground.
The general let out a thunderous roar, the sound tearing through the air and sending shockwaves rippling across the ground. Its nacing smile never faded as it suddenly surged forward at high speed, closing the distance in an instant.
With brutal force, it drove a punch straight toward Rentaro.
The force of the general’s punch pushed Rentaro back only a single ter. His feet scraped across the ground, but he quickly steadied himself, refusing to give even an inch more.
Without hesitation, Rentaro surged forward again. He drove another punch straight into the general, snapping its face slightly downward toward the ground from the impact.
The general recovered instantly without even stepping back, holding its ground despite the power behind Rentaro’s punch. In the sa motion, it threw another punch at Rentaro.
Rentaro t it head-on, and the result was the sa, neither of them gave way. No retreat, no hesitation.
In an instant, they blurred into motion, exchanging a relentless series of high-speed punches. Blow after blow collided in rapid succession, neither of them faltering, neither losing balance as the clash echoed through the battlefield.
Rentaro could feel it behind the general’s punches, the joy, the exhilaration in their fist to fist battle. It gained the title of the supre general after defeating every opponent that ever fought him, every Soul-Hunter and creature that had ever crossed its path was t with the sa fate.
But Rentaro? He was a completely different story.
His strength, his speed, they were beyond what the supre general anticipated, and that ignited the hunger for a worthy opponent all warriors dread for.
Their next exchange ca with devastating force.
Rentaro and the Supre General threw their punches at the sa ti, and this ti, both landed cleanly.
The impact drove them apart, each of them forced back several ters across the ground. Dust rippled outward from the collision point like a violent shockwave.
Blood trickled down from their mouths and faces, marking the intensity of their clash.
Rentaro panted heavily, his chest rising and falling as he steadied himself.
He could feel it, his strength draining with every passing second, but he still forced himself to stand, refusing to break.
With a final, furious roar, the supre general charged forward once more, intent on finishing the clash.
But in that instant, Rentaro’s eyes flared a bright blue.
An overwhelming pressure erupted from him, crashing down like an invisible weight. The general’s forward montum shattered mid-charge as its body was forced downward, and the trendous pressure pinned him down to one knee, right in front of Rentaro.
Rentaro exhaled a bit, his breathing easing for a brief mont as the pressure held the supre general down.
But then, the general’s leg shifted.
Its knee trembled violently against the ground, its muscles tightened as it struggled to push back against the crushing force of Heaven’s Authority.
Even while pinned, it refused to stay down completely, resisting with everything it had as the invisible weight pressed against it.
"What? Trying to adapt to my skill?" Rentaro’s voice grew deeper as he stood straight slowly, then he glanced down at the general that knelt before him as he said.
"It doesn’t matter how hard you try to adapt and learn, you cannot defy my supre order. This is the end."
[You have activated the passive skill (The Heaven’s Authority)]
With his final words, his eyes glowed once more, and this ti, the overwhelming pressure that fell on the supre general crushed its entire body to a puddle of blood.
Rentaro gasped as he fell to his knees, panting heavily. He had no intentions of using the Heaven’s Authority given he was still trying to recover for the next trial, but Mahashima gave him no option.
Rentaro’s eyes widened instantly as a heavy pressure crashed down directly above him.
And imdiately, he looked up.
A hooded, cloaked figure hovered several ters in the air. It was the examiner.
Its presence was suffocating.
Even without seeing its face clearly, Rentaro could feel the fury radiating from behind the hood, a cold, piercing glare that seed to judge him for sothing far deeper than the battle itself. It was as if he had completely disrupted its plans.
For a split second, everything went still.
Then, just as suddenly, the examiner vanished.
[Ding! You have made an incomprehensible achievent!]
[You have slain the Supre General Mahashima!]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have received 50 evolution points!]
[You have passed the second trial of the sanctuary!]
[You have leveled up a skill!]
[Heaven’s Authority (Level 1 — Level 2)]
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