"Huff--Huff--Huff," panted Nico.

It had been more than thirty minutes and the zombies still flowed like a dam that had been punctured. Fierce, endless, and damn effective!

'Duck!' Nico mentally commanded himself as he saw a zombie stretch its arm beyond any possible limit at him.

Frantically, Nico swept his body out of the way just before the zombie's claws could reach his head.

Not letting the chance go, Nico, with quick reflex, stood back up and held on to the hand.

His initial plan was to use the arm as a rope, dragging the zombie to his side.

However, he dropped the plan before it even started due to the tremendous strength hidden inside the zombie's body.

Nico had always been proud of his strength. His base strength alone far surpassed anyone of equal cultivation base.

Yet, he found it hard to engage in a tug of war with the zombie.

Thinking on the spot, Nico still held on to the zombie's hand and chanted, "[Path of the Sun]."

Instantly, a yellow fire ignited from his palm and snaked it through the arm of the zombie.

Its movement formed a small yellow snake as every where it went, fire followed.

Getting to the chest region of the zombie, the snake set the zombie aflame and dug itself into the head of the zombie, effectively killing it.

Nico's expression wavered for a second before moving on to another zombie.

After staying in Aztec for more than half a year, he already knew the rules of the land.

It was kill or be killed. The same everywhere, but in Aztec, it was more stylish.

While they were technically under the law, deaths were permitted as long as it followed the grounded rules.

Nico had understood this very well during the annual competition. Even the king permitted death as long as the perpetrators followed the rules.

That was also what Nico was doing right now.

He was killing zombies, former humans!

However, he wasn't emotional about that, instead, it was about his future.

Today would mark the first day he killed without making any fuss and once he adapts to such a state, he would start killing actual humans without regret.

He knew he was given no other option, but still...

Shaking his head, a zombie shot out spikes from his body at him.

He was about to retaliate when another zombie jumped at him.

Before he knew it, he found himself surrounded by zombies!

'Kill or be killed,' Nico repeated those important four words.

It was easy to say and easier to do.

It was almost like an excuse one tell themselves for comfort.

Yet, it was not wrong!

Nico looked at the zombies that kept attacking him.

'They want to kill me,' he sighed.

Nico was far from foolish.

He knew he shouldn't deliberate over the matter, yet, if he didn't do that, he would be on his way to a gloomy future.

By giving himself a choice whether to kill or not, he had indirectly considered zombies as something of importance…..of value, giving them the respect their past self deserved!

A yellow sun appeared in Nico's goofy black eyes as his emotion faded away…..his worries…..his hesitation…...they all floated away.

His bearing changed from the usual warm one to that of a cold yellow sun.

If Jake was here, he would smile as he had foreseen this contrasting change in Nico. He had seen his potential as a being of the chilling sun!

Nico joined his two hands together and his glove ignited, conducting his special yellow flames.

He whispered in an immensely cold, yet fiery voice, "[Snake of the Sun]"

Immediately, he made a few fist movements at the head of the zombies, and the familiar yellow snakes ejected from his hand, going to the trajectory that had been planned for them.

The snakes burrowed into the head of the snakes and killed them.

Following that, Nico fell to his knees and panted for breath.

He had depleted his energy reserves. Now, he was left defenseless, but his friends covered for him.

Nico looked at the zombies he had killed and saw his yellow flames still burning their dead corpses.

He smiled as emotion seemed to come back to his pale face.

Far from what others might think, the [Snake of the Sun] was not an extremely powerful technique.

Its grade was [Low-Earth Rank]!

However, that was where Nico's version of the technique came in.

When he achieved the [Realm-1 Hidden Stage], Nico noticed that his "affinity" for [Fire Element] was different from the usual.

His affinity seemed to manifest in a yellowish fire that resembled the sun, even possessing some of its might.

After spending a lot of time with the well-educated royal children, he had found out that his element was a variant of the [Fire Element], which was very rare.

This, in turn, made it possible for a low-level technique, like the [Snake of the Sun] to possess great destructive capabilities.

The goal of the technique was to creates snakes of fire, just by the name.

However, just creating didn't mean anything. Nico had to find out ways to apply these "snakes". He was proficient in the conduction way, and the propulsion way.

The conduction way was basically using a material to conduct his flames, while the propulsion way was to propel the snakes from his arm via a fast and strong movement, in his case, it was a punch.

Looking at his surrounding, Nico realized that they, his friends, had already taken the fight outside the building, where their rented room was located.

They were currently on the street and they failed to notice for quite some time.

Having made his last kill, Roan also fell on his knees and wheezed to the rest, "That's about it?"

The rest of the group finished their side and replied in unison, "Yes"

Roan noticed that everyone was giving him strange looks. He didn't understand why until he looked at himself.

'Ohh,' sighed Roan.

His looks were different from the rest. He had sharp claws, elongated fangs, and pointed ears.

Just those three transformations. Yet, it meant something to him.

Unlike the first time he unleashed the transformation, he was in control!

After three months, he had learned to control his bloodline.

Dwelling on his success, Roan willed back the transformation into his body and smiled at his friends.

However, he was stopped short as his friends also surprised him with their abilities.

'Nico, with the yellow flames,' Roan thought as he saw the last wisp of the flames dwindle on the zombies' bodies.

'Lola, with her one-shot one-kill attacks and her dual elements,' smiled Roan.

Perhaps was the most inconspicuous among them, but they all knew she was one of the few with the most potential.

This became more evident as she was the highest contributor in the zombie fight.

She had progressed in her [Fissuring Point Technique] and was now very deadly. Plus her convenient [Wind Element] and her scary [Pyschic Element] made her capable of fighting each of them on equal grounds.

Finalizing his thoughts, Roan moved on to the next individual, "Jaya, with her all-around amazing skills."

That was the only description one could give when they catch a glimpse of Jaya's fighting style.

Accompanied with her new skill, the [Encompassing Five Steps], Jaya had steeped into a new realm of combat skills and had perfected all her techniques.

She now rivaled Cheyenne in terms of speed and possibly, only Jake and Melania could rival her in terms of [Technique Progression].

Roan smiled once again as he reviewed the trio.

Part of his reason for joining this group of friends was to motivate himself to get stronger and to recruit the trio into his "circle".

However, he found out that, for the first time in a while, he began to loosen his stiff face and smile a lot.

Ultimately, they had become true friends, who bonded over many things.

This made him realize how young they still were.

Maybe things would change in the future, but the present could still be enjoyed!

Stopping himself from trailing further, Roan continued reviewing his friends, "Sierra has also progressed tremendously."

He was not being biased when he said that.

His sister had started understanding the abilities of her physique, [Apollo's Grace], which granted her a unique healing factor and the ability to manipulate plant life, which could also be called [Nature Element].

The abilities fitted her to the T, and she was quite deadly when she went full power.

This could be noticed as his present surrounding was filled with plants that pierced the head of the unsuspecting zombies.

"Melania with her new-found path," smiled Roan.

His cousin was the one who struggled the most during these past few months.

He was happy that she had later found her path and was now flexible with it.

"Lastly, Cheyenne. What can I even say about her?" Roan chuckled.

It seemed that after the conclusion of the competition. His sister was back to her old ways.

He had not even seen her train for once during these three months, which was quite annoying as her talent managed to sail her to the absolute top of the younger generation.

Whenever he thought of her, he felt like crying because she would always invade his rooms at night and move him to the palace compound.

Every day, he would wake up naked in the presence of the palace servants.

Yet, even after all her playfulness, she was the most reliable among themselves.

Roan once again sighed, "Life's not fair!"