Director Lin's expression darkened. That was the part worrying her the most. munication inside the Origin Battlefield was unbelievably difficult.
The fact that the three of them had managed to municate at all was because they had fortunately appeared relatively close to one another after entering the Fourth Layer.
Everything else was met with silence.
"We still haven't heard from Director Arven."
"And naturally, we haven't heard from Michael either."
The tallest old man nodded.
"Those two aren't my greatest concern. They're both still alive."
The rankings themselves proved that much. In fact, they were probably doing far better than anyone had expected. What truly worried him were the others.
Meanwhile, as the leaders of the academy concerned themselves with so many things, in the second layer of the Origin Battlefield, a youth with flames visible around his fists was blowing apart sections of a mountain with his bare hands.
If Michael were here, he would have recognized him. But the impression he'd carried of Brian from a year ago, when they had both awakened, was nothing like what stood before anyone who could have seen him now.
The genius of that time, the one who had carried himself with an air of obvious superiority while others around him largely agreed, now looked like a deranged man.
BOOOOOOM!
Brian's fists slammed into the mountainside again. An enormous section of rock collapsed, tumbling thousands of meters before exploding into countless fragments. Yet he didn't stop.
Wind gathered around his body. Fire followed immediately afterward. The two different elemental energies intertwined around both fists rather than rejecting one another.
Crimson flames spiraled together with emerald wind currents, forming violent vortexes that distorted the surrounding air.
BOOOOOOOM!
The flames burned the shattered stone to molten liquid while the pressed wind blasted everything apart before the magma could even cool.
The destructive bination was both beautiful and terrifying. Any ordinary Rank Three monster struck by those fists would likely be reduced to ash instantly.
Brian paid no attention to the destruction surrounding him. His breathing was ragged.
"…Why…"
Another punch.
BOOOOOOOM!
"…Why is it always Michael?"
His voice was almost a growl. Fragments of burning stone rained across the mountain as Brian lowered his fists. His crimson eyes were bloodshot. The announcement still floated before him.
Michael Norman.
Again. Always Michael Norman.
Brian clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white. His thoughts drifted back over a year. Back to the day they had awakened. Both of them had succeeded at eighteen. Their final opportunity.
At first, Michael had been nothing special. Just another ordinary student who had barely managed to awaken before the deadline.
Brian vaguely remembered another classmate awakening alongside Michael that day. A girl. He couldn't even remember her name. She had been that insignificant. Michael had seemed no different.
At least, that was what Brian had believed.
Only Mira, another of his classmates, could be said to have a future walking alongside him. Not only did she possess a special class, she was blessed with a terrifyingly powerful talent.
However, for some reasons Brian still couldn't understand, she had always gravitated toward Michael and never paid him much attention, despite how clearly he had made his interest known.
Why Michael? Michael back then had been ordinary. Brian possessed multiple classes. His talent was superior. His future should have been brighter. He should have been the center of attention.
At first, fueled partly by that superiority plex, Brian had dismissed Michael despite his jealousy. Perhaps Michael had simply gotten lucky once or twice.
But as time passed, the distance between them failed to grow. Instead, Michael continued matching his pace. Every breakthrough. Every achievement. Every improvement. Brian would hear Michael's name again.
Then the impossible happened.
Michael stopped merely matching him. He surpassed him pletely. The difference widened so rapidly that Brian suddenly realized they were no longer peting on the same track.
Michael had already entered an entirely different world.
Even so, Brian had refused to surrender.
Speed meant nothing. History was filled with geniuses who had shone brilliantly before fading away. Many had awakened extraordinary talents only to encounter bottlenecks lasting decades. Some never overcame them.
Brian had always believed Michael would bee one of those people, especially given the way he constantly provoked stronger enemies and made enemies everywhere. Sooner or later, someone would kill him.
Even if that never happened, his growth had to stop eventually. Everyone had limits. When Michael finally reached his, Brian believed he would catch up, surpass him, and personally crush him.
That belief had sustained him for months.
But now Brian looked at the announcement again. His expression twisted.
"What…"
"…is this?"
The Origin Will itself had announced Michael's achievement. The first in the universe. Brian's breathing became uneven once more.
"…Why?"
"Why is he still being more brilliant?"
He had expected Michael's legend to end. Instead, it was growing larger. Larger than Aurora. Larger than the Land of Origin. Now it had spread across the entire universe.
Brian slowly lowered his head. For the first time since entering the Origin Battlefield, a thought he had desperately tried to suppress many times resurfaced.
"What if…"
His lips trembled.
"…I can never catch him?"
The thought lasted only an instant. Immediately afterward, his eyes filled with madness.
"No."
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
His flaming fist obliterated what remained of the mountain's peak.
"I refuse."
"I'll bee stronger. No matter what. I'll surpass him. Even if…"
Brian's voice became almost a whisper.
"…I have to sacrifice everything to do it."
Brian wasn't the only one affected by Michael's brilliance.
In a cave, sitting cross-legged, Rynne stared at the notification before her as her heart ached for reasons she couldn't quite name. Her eyes remained fixed on a single line.
Congratulations to Michael Norman of Aurora.
"…"
For a long while, she said nothing.
Unlike Brian, she didn't hate Michael. Never had. If anything, Michael was one of the few people around her age whom she genuinely acknowledged.
Someone worthy of being called a rival.
"…Grandma."
She remembered something her grandmother had told her months ago, after she had taken Michael, who had been looking for business opportunities, to meet her.
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