Despite the disappearing light of dusk, the raging fire that kept on burning wreaked havoc in the kingdom. Flapping its mighty wings above the broken castle, with each flap taking away a piece of debris from the castle slamming it into the nearby houses.

The winged-serpent screeched at the top of its lungs looking down at a lone figure wield a fiery greatsword. Its tone showed its anger and fear towards the black-cloaked figure, his shadowy presence though was lit up by a weird red tint.

After hearing what the black-cloaked youth said, the winged-serpent wasted no time to slam its tail towards the top of the castle. With the force from its body, the top of the castle no longer exists only leaving the same black-cloaked youth standing above the cleanly cut castle.

"If we started like this from the very beginning..."

The black-cloaked youth slashed his sword down creating a slash of fire heading towards the wings of the winged-serpent. The odd thing about this certain attack was that it started off slow but then exponentially increased in speed, to the point even the winged-serpent didn't even have a chance to dodge.

A clean slice, even cleaner than how the winged-serpent cut the castle down. With one of its wings cut, it couldn't sustain its flight anymore and fell down from the night's sky. The winged-serpent fell right beside the castle, it then slithered and wrapped the castle within its massive body.

"You would've already been dead!"

Zane glared at the winged-serpent and it glared back, hatred could be seen from both sides but for completely different reasons.

The winged-serpent was angry because Zane was standing between him and Adam, being able to prove himself and earn his respect. Zane, on the other hand, was now furious because Garan killed his people, the defenseless women, and children. Despite him having such a devilish personality, he still kept the reason he was fighting for in his mind.

With the sheer amount of force of its body, the castle which once stood as a sign of his majesty was being crushed to dust alongside everything inside it.

Adam looked at what was happening and just sighed, he snapped his fingers and he was gone, only leaving Zane who was still standing on top of the castle.

On the outskirts of the kingdom, Adam, Eve and, the king appeared. Among the lush trees and greenery, it suddenly disappeared as if turned to dust and what appeared was a makeshift seat made from the ground.

Adam sat down and gestured the king to do the same. The king begrudgingly did so then widened his eyes. He looked at Adam and he looked back.

The king was furious but internally smiling, "You helped him! You broke the contract! Give me your mana technique right now!"

Adam played around with his hands and appeared Zane's locket, "I fail to see how stealing from him is helping him? When have you ever seen stealing from someone a good thing?"

The king couldn't refute what Adam said but then realized something, "You saved him from being burned to ashes!"

Adam casually said, "No, you are mistaken. I simply protected myself while I was about to steal his locket. Any more rebuttals?"

"You-"

"I could've just left you there dead, I already know where the soul is. Just shut up and watch."

Adam then waved his hands a screen showed up with the fighting in view.

Eve was standing beside Adam and couldn't help but admire how slick Adam was when going through loopholes. Even if he was told to specifically do something, Adam will still find a way to turn the tides to his favor.

Still, she was still supposed to be training Adam's mana technique but begged to see Zane after so long. Regardless she already knew that Zane will win this fight, Adam's mana technique is just too cruel that even fighting back is already a losing battle.

Eve spoke out some heartfelt words, "I hope he can hold out long enough though."

The giant serpent in the middle of the city was still squeezing the castle to dust while Zane stood there gathering mana. The atmosphere within the kingdom was so tense that just being in it would render an ordinary person barely able to move.

Abel and Gabe were still running in and out of the kingdom saving those they could and bringing them to relative safety. The soldiers that had finally reached this point no longer though about revenge but what was right in front of them, the people who they could save not those who they failed to save.

Black, red and blue colors mashed all over within the castle going to both Zane and the serpent. In front of the serpent formed different colored orbs, black, red, and blue ones. Zane on the other hand was focusing on integrating it into his sword.

Zane was limiting his movements since the toll his body went through when he was fighting Garan in his human form was enormous to the point even moving his body was problematic. Nonetheless, it was still anyone's win, Zane has a stronger technique while the serpent has more stamina.

The serpent once again screeched and the orbs that it was holding suddenly launched forward in hopes of killing Zane. The multiple orbs all aimed throughout Zane's body, each one was fast and as strong as the rest making it so that at least one of them will hit Zane.

This would've worked except for one thing, "Did you think ranged attacks will work on me? Did you really forget what happened earlier?"

The orbs that were traveling at an insane speed suddenly stopped just a few inches away from Zane. Each orb was filled with mana and composed of a relatively simple formation, it led the serpent to be able to produce quite a few powerful orbs.

Each orb then disintegrated into mana and entered Zane's sword powering it up even more. The integrated mana caused an even scarier force to appear on Zane's sword.

Adam could see what was happening and couldn't help but be surprised, "I should have expected this but I still can't believe it. Manipulation and Exhaustion, I guess what I saw really was this versatile."

Although the king didn't understand what Adam just said, Eve knew what Adam was talking about. The third and fourth stages of Ruler of Mana, the last two basic stages before the real stage of this technique.

Manipulation is the third stage of Ruler of Mana, where you should usually focus on controlling your own mana to the manipulation of the enemy's mana. Disrupting the flow of their spells even to the point of causing their own spells to backfire against them.

Exhaustion is the fourth stage of Ruler of Mana, where one should focus on gathering mana, you are depriving the enemy of mana. What use is the enemy's proficiency in magic when you can deprive them of even being able to cast a single spell.

When used in tandem, it is an extremely scary combination rendering the enemy unable to do anything but beg for mercy. Such a scene was playing out right in front of them. Zane was using his mana technique to stop the serpent's orbs and broke down the enemy's mana turning it into his.

The king slammed his hand against the stone chair in anger, "Dammit! I was so close to getting that power!"

Adam snickered when he heard this but didn't comment since everything happening right now was beyond his expectations. He didn't need to really do anything, Zane grew much much more than he expected.

Adam didn't even need to bring out a single card yet. He already knew what transformation Garan would undergo and his weaknesses, therefore he already infused Garan with his mana ages ago and decided to weaken him enough for Zane to kill him. Even if that wasn't enough, a certain crazy psychopath could just appear and disappear suddenly killing Garan.

Abel suddenly shouted with all of his might in hopes of reaching Zane, "Boss! Everyone's away! Kill that bastard!"

Zane heard this and had released the mana he had been gathering all this time and from the serpent's attacks and integrated it into his sword. The mana that gathered was so intensely condensed that people without any talent could take this in and instantly become someone grand.

Zane now had a clearer mind than he ever had, his devilish thoughts were kept at bay, and his instinctive impulses were nowhere to be found, there was clarity. The sheer amount of mana he received was enough to strike this serpent down.

Zane brought up his sword above his head, the sheer amount of mana inside it was suffocating causing mana to enter and leave at small intervals making it look like mana was forcing itself to enter the blade.

It was no longer a small sword but instead a great sword enough to slash the earth in half, not to mention the small serpent in front of it. Its sheer size may have been shocking to onlookers but the size meant nothing to the serpent, what it feared was that the sword was growing due to its own mana.

The weapon that was about to be used to kill it came from its own self, a humiliating way to die. Zane, with both of his hands holding the sword right above him.

"The boss is about to be killed the same way the lackey was, how poetic."

With one downward slash in the great earth, the serpent that was slithering around the castle only had fear left in its eyes. The thing that was racing through its mind when that sword that was about to cut it up was, cruel world.

Although the sword had already sliced the serpent in half, it still kept going splitting the earth in half. The sword didn't stop at all until the sword was fully embedded into the ground with only the handle being visible.

At the exact same time, Zane fell down unable to move at all. The fight before his locket was taken had already caused him to be able to barely move, it was lucky that the serpent only focused on magical attacks instead of physical ones since Zane wouldn't be able to dodge it.

Adam stood up and clapped, "Well done, Zane! You won!" Adam then snapped his fingers teleporting Zane and his sword in front of them, alongside him, were a bunch of women and children who had been kidnapped. Although they looked pretty ill, it was relatively minor to their previous situation as hostages.

"Well now, king, its come to pay your dues. Give it."

"No way! You cheated! Otherwise, there would be no way a-"

Adam smiled intensely while a black and gloomy mist suddenly appeared within the king's eyes, he reached inside his pocket and a luxurious looking storage ring was shown, he threw it away and brought out another one, this was also a ring but had a cube design with bars signifying it as a jail cell.

The king bowed and offered it directly to Adam, he took it looked inside. It was the soul of an unknown man, it was white and was unremarkable otherwise. The king then opened his mouth and a crazy and unholy sound came from his mouth, it had a similar figure to the soul inside the cage with the exception of a few black strands on it.

"Two for the price of one, I really did choose right this time, being greedy pays off."

Adam looked at Eve in utter disbelief at what just happened. She immediately looked away on instinct but Adam simply patted her on the back.

He teleported Eve and Adam away leaving the rest to ponder on what just happened. Though before he did this he left a mark on every single one of them, partially healing them and slightly strengthening their physiques.

By the time Abel, Gabe, and the rest of the soldiers appeared, there wasn't anyone left except for those who they were risking all of this to save. For the time being, they found peace.