—

As it stood, Vex was Kieran’s strongest opponent to date, so it was understandable that their clash resulted in him suffering some losses. But did that mean Kieran would back down?

On the contrary, it meant Kieran desired battle that much more.

Despite Vex’s altruistic suggestion to safeguard Kieran’s participation in the event, Kieran brandished Crimson Ashrune with no intent to concede.

“Sanguine Slashes!”

The outer layer of Crimson Ashrune roiled, leaving a faint crimson afterimage as Kieran swayed his arm. A second later, Kieran leaned back and balanced his weight on one heel.

Most people would lose their balance at this point, but Kieran twisted unnaturally with an Accel Shift and pressed his foot into the ground.

Bang!

Kieran combined Accel Shift and Surge Step to maximize his momentum. The breakneck speed of his actions made Kieran’s presence flicker like a red ghost, crossing 20 meters instantly.

Vex didn’t expect Kieran’s sudden movement, which far surpassed his earlier rush. ‘This guy… what kind of fine manipulation is this? The force of his actions aren’t amazing, but they’re precise, which results in ridiculous bursts of momentum.’

Due to the abrupt nature of Kieran’s approach, Vex struggled to prepare a proper defense. Left with no other option, Vex could only bring his elbow and knee together instinctively.

Bang!

Kieran felt like he had hit an iron wall as Vex hopped back on one foot and came to an inevitable halt.

“I take my earlier statement back. You’re strong, perhaps stronger than a good number of people present. I look forward to our bout. Prepare… for I will no longer hold back!” Vex exclaimed.

A thirst for battle rose within Vex’s eyes as his front foot slammed the ground and produced an intense shockwave. The bluish Mana surrounding his body adopted a silver gleam while his stance changed.

Compared to before, Kieran could sense little to no openings in Vex’s stance. Whether it was attacking or defending, this stance was capable of both.

‘Knocking him out of bounds may be impossible with that sturdy stance. I’ll have to opt for the latter. Hopefully, there are no irredeemable consequences.’

Kieran extended his hand and pointed at the ground beneath Vex’s feet.

“Blood Bind!”

The chains of blood cut off Vex’s routes of escape and advance. At least, that’s what Kieran intended them to do.

Crrck! Crrrck! Crrrck!

Vex’s knuckles crackled with uncontainable power as he condensed Mana in the palm of his hand. The compression continued until Vex reached the limit of his technique.

An instant later, Vex threw his first half a meter from his body and created a vacuum.

The force blew away not just the chains but some of the contestants nearby.

Unsurprisingly, Vex’s attack produced a kind of air cannon effect. Vex had no affinity with the Wind Element; this was all achieved with sheer force.

Kieran glanced at the aftermath of Vex’s attack with hints of praise in his eyes. He had to give respect where it was due. Vex earned his title as the Roaring Fist.

Kieran felt a ringing in his ears despite only suffering from the slight aftermath.

However, Kieran felt this was far from enough to defeat him. Although his Defense had dropped to 0, he was fast enough to avoid most attacks, which is why he entertained entering such a risky state.

Eventually, Kieran decided to use a more invasive attack. But to do so, he needed to build up Bleed stacks on Vex.

Advancing proved difficult, so Kieran was forced to fight at range.

Kieran repeated the attack unleashed upon Agna, rotating and empowering Crimson Ashrune until it approached his limit of control.

“Seethe Burst!”

After launching the attack, Kieran executed Surge Step to follow close behind it.

Like Agna, Vex could sense the threat from the attack, so he performed a technique inaccessible to Agna.

“Mana Manifestation: Destructive Soundburst Tiger!”

BOOM!

A type of destructive shockwave, similar to the roar of a ferocious tiger, bombarded Kieran and the other contestants.

As he suspected, Vex could manifest his Mana, which seemed to outclass Dusvim’s Manifestation.

The reason he used such a lethal Seethe Burst was to force Vex’s hand. By forcing his hand, Kieran produced a scenario where he could unleash an attack that could be otherwise disastrous without contention.

“Sanguinem Tempests!”

Unlike before, Kieran no longer created three tempests when activating this skill. No, it had increased to four! And merging four Sanguine Tempests into one frightening blast achieved something Kieran hadn’t accounted for.

Sanguinem Tempests was never a skill meant to be merged as one. The separate tempests were to act as individual deterrents that could attack many enemies at once, which is why it gained its presence as A Rank Skill.

Merging these tempests created something similar to a hurricane that evolved beyond Kieran’s control. Vex’s soundwave barrier was torn to shreds, reminiscent of flimsy paper being ripped apart.

The volatile winds and ridiculous rotation speed of this blood hurricane were baffling!

Upon witnessing this scene, Kieran inhaled sharply. ‘Don’t die….’

Vex’s expression grew grim after staring into the eyes of this incoming blood hurricane. The Mana around both of his fists rotated rapidly.

Unlike his earlier moves, Vex relaxed his hands and drew them both back.

“Mana Technique: Soundburst Blast!”

Vex unleashed a move similar to his earlier punch appeared, except it was accomplished using both of his hands. The destructive cannon attack made of pure compressed Mana punctured the violent winds and reduced the hurricane’s advance.

Stopping the attacks was impossible as not even Kieran could control it, so Vex opted for the best alternative–reducing its ferocity.

‘So this is the power of a True Berserker. No wonder Commander Scar is so feared. Not even my Soundburst Techniques could thwart the attack of someone of lesser natural power,’ Vex thought.

BOOM!

Vex and a few other contestants suffered the aftermath of Kieran’s attack and were directly knocked unconscious by the sudden force or knocked out of the ring in a daze.

〈System: You have gained 1,680 points. 〉

〈System: You have gained 890 points.〉

〈System: You have gained 930 points.〉

〈System: You have gained 1,100 points.〉

〈System: You have gained…〉

Some of the unfortunate participants to be knocked out were those who had just finished recovering from a significant attack.

Before they could respond, the frightening attack was already upon them.

What could they do against a hurricane of bloody energy carrying enough power to inflict more than 5 million damage upon anyone near Kieran’s general power level?

One couldn’t only look at an NPC’s remaining Health to judge their combat ability. One also needed to consider how much trauma the incoming attack could inflict.

Broken bones? Ruptured organs?

All this took time to reflect within the enemy’s information panel.

Due to this ordeal, Kieran’s ranking shot up like a rocket shooting for the stars.

From 5,857th, Kieran’s ranking shot up to 2,173rd. One might say it was a considerably low ranking with the number of participants still present.

However, one couldn’t overlook the fact that eight more batches remained after this one. As long as Kieran remained standing, his overall ranking at the end of the first stage could be significantly high or somewhat lower.

Nevertheless, Kieran currently possessed 5,680 points with twenty seconds remaining on Abhorrent Paroxysm’s duration, so he wasn’t done. Not by a long shot.

His main objective now was sniping fierce battles where he could eliminate both sides with the least effort.

This opportunity fell into Kieran’s lap ten seconds later when he approached a warring party with Crimson Barrage. The sudden surprise attack allowed Kieran to easily apply stacks of Bleed on his opponents before unleashing a Peril Implosion to blow them out of the ring.

〈System: You have gained 1,370 points. Your standing has increased from 2,173rd to 2,004th!〉

〈System: You have gained 1,510 points. Your standing has increased from 2,004th to 1,891st!〉

With the points acquired from eliminating those two, Kieran had entered the sub-2,000 ranking placement!

Considering he began nearly 6,000 ranks away, this was a stellar achievement on Kieran’s part.

…

Caecus released a loud chortle while turning toward Scar. “That boy of yours is pretty ruthless, knocking people out and interfering in other’s battles without hesitance. I can see some resemblances of you inside that boy.”

“Mm,” Scar muttered. The proud smile he revealed earlier had never once left his face. Allies? Enemies?

In competition, no such thing existed. If you could eliminate someone, eliminate them. At the end of the day, you were also a target of someone else.

It was best to move proactively than be caught reacting to an opponent you had no moves against.

“Hmph, can that boy of yours fight upright at all?” Ezrath scoffed.

However, Scar found this comment hilarious. “Did he not openly approach that boy with the loud fists? I believe he did and emerged victorious in his clash. Why don’t you stop being a sourpuss and enjoy the competition amongst the young generation?”

After a faint pause, Scar smirked mockingly. “You should also be happy that your boy isn’t in his batch. I wonder if they’ll meet in the second stage where you can’t claim they were ambushed.”

Ezrath’s fist clenched underneath his folded arms as he shot Scar a malicious glare. Fighting in the stands was prohibited and would attract the attention of General Zieg, so this was all Ezrath could limit himself to.

Scar understood this fact, which is why he goaded Ezrath, who was known for his short temper and destructive outbursts.

Of course, if Ezrath did travel down that path, Scar didn’t mind teaching him a lesson or two regarding manners.

It had been quite a while since Scar properly stretched his body against a relatively powerful opponent.