Don looked around. Since one of the high-ranking members of the Silvershiv died at the hands of Wilbert, there were four left now.

‘Hmm, these two occupying those adventurers.’

He was talking about Helen and Leon.

‘Let’s see, Harold is also busy. Damn! There’s no one left for me to match.’

He kept looking around the battlefield. There were still kids fighting with the half-demons who were the team members of the adventurers, but he didn’t want that.

‘Not even worth my time…’

Then he spotted Allen and Lucas.

‘Hoo, they are standing out too much. Should I have some fun?’

With a smirk, he began to move towards them. Allen quickly sensed something was wrong and began to check the area. Nelson, Allen, and Lucas were close to each other, and they were still slaying the half-demons.

‘Let’s get rid of this junk first.’

Don quickly went near Nelson, but there was something he didn’t know. Nelson’s bloodlust was at its peak right now. He suddenly turned behind and swung his sword in the empty area with an animalistic instinct. Don forgot to dodge and raised his blade out of surprise. With the collision, he revealed.

‘How could he sense me?’

“Oh.”

Nelson raised an eyebrow.

“What do we have here?”

He prepared to attack again, but Don was already behind him. He was already smirking again and tried to stab Nelson, but something different stopped him this time. He felt something was coming towards him from behind and quickly dodged to the side, but Lucas’ sickle changed its trajectory and followed Don. There were still so many half-demons between Lucas and Don. Because of that, the chains entangled with one of the demons and failed to reach Don. Allen was waiting for an opening this whole time, and when he thought he had found one, he approached Don from the side, but Don effortlessly turned around and deflected Allen’s sword.

“It’s pretty cute that you think you can really hit me.”

Allen didn’t say anything, he had a serious expression, and his swords began to engulf in flames.

“Hmm?”

Elius raised his head.

“Something funny is happening there.”

“You three, go help them.”

‘At least they’ll be safer that way. Tch.’

Aaron said, but he wasn’t even looking towards there. Instead, his gaze was fixed in one place.

“Quickly!”

The kids didn’t question him and quickly ran where Don was.

“Do you really think sending them a few meters away could save them?”

Aaron heard someone from behind. He quickly turned around and swung his glaive in the air. The blue flames relentlessly attacked Arkul and surrounded him.

“Are you seriously trying to attack a demon with fire?”

The flames around Arkul didn’t even put a scratch on him.

“Let’s see the strength of the so-called empe-”

Aaron didn’t let him finish his sentence. He was already in front of Arkul, swinging his glave towards the demon’s neck. The smile on Arkul’s face disappeared, and he quickly tried to take a step back. Aaron was faster than Arkul anticipated.

Even while he was taking a step back, Aaron didn’t let him go that easily. After Arkul barely dodged back, Aaron’s glaive stopped in the middle, and he thrust it forward, but a sword was already forming in Arkul’s hand. He was just about to block the incoming attack, but Aaron quickly spun around and changed the trajectory of his attack. Arkul felt a stingy pain and his arm fell onto the ground.

“Oh. I guess you are an emperor for a reason.”

Arkul began to smile again, and his arm immediately grew back.

“But you know.”

His expression changed again. This time he was frowning.

“Before you fuckers caused our race to go extinct, I was also someone qualified.”

He began to radiate heat just like Sozgadan.

‘We made demons extinct? What is this fucker talking about?’

Arkul began to attack this time. His dark red flames and Aaron’s blue flames danced around the battlefield. They seemed equally matched. Either of them wasn’t able to take the upper hand. Aaron put some distance between them, he slightly bent his knees, and his mana began to gather at the tip of his glaive. Before Arkul could start to attack again, Aaron drew an arc in the air with his glaive. The force he put behind the swing was incredibly powerful. A strong arc of flame flew towards Arkul. It swallowed everything that got in its way.

The places where the flame arc passed began to melt, and it turned everything into something like lava. Arkul didn’t panic, he simply raised his hand forward, and just like how Aaron did with his sword, Arkul’s mana gathered on his palm. When the flame arc met with the mana he gathered, the blue flames absorbed in his palm.

“Didn’t I just tell you? You can’t fight me with fire. As much as I’d like to play with you, I can’t stand to see the faces of disgusting humans anymore.”

Arkul’s body began to engulf in flames. Two long horns started to grow from both sides of his forehead. He reached his hand towards Aaron, and flames flew out of his hand like a laser beam.

* * *

Neil had a concerned look while leaving his father alone, but he knew, even if he stayed with him, what could he do? Neil bit his lip.

‘I’m so pathetic…’

He helplessly followed Elius and Eldron.

‘Hmm? Isn’t there too many people that use the four elements? Where is the variation that my father was talking about?’

“The four basic elements are the most common ones since they are the foundation of life. So if you are talking about that demon, fire is the second natuıre for demons. It’s the same for elves. They have a powerful connection with nature.”

‘Weird, why does Ruvyn have an aptitude for air element then?’

“You should read some books…”

‘That is your part.’

They finally reached where the Don was, but the situation was odd. Don was not attacking them.

“Is he… Mutating?”

Eldron asked. They couldn’t get closer to Don since he was also radiating heat. The transformation of Arkul triggered all of them. Every high-rank Silvershiv member also began to transform. Their complexion became paler, and small horns also appeared on their forehead. But they weren’t like the half-demons. They weren’t mindless puppets.

“Hahahahah!”

Don laughed.

“I… I am overflowing with power.”

Not just them, the transformation of Arkul also triggered the half-demons and made them wilder, more hungry for flesh. Don was still standing there, examining his body. Then, after a while, he raised his head.

“Come on, kids, entertain me.”

Don said with a grin. They were already struggling to hold him back, and now, the pressure he was giving to the kids was on another level. Allen took a deep breath.

“Nelson, don’t let these mindless creatures get in our way.”

“Okay, okay.”

Instead of attacking Don, Nelson began to slaughter the half-demons around. The aura around Allen started to change. The vibe he was giving was different now. Suddenly he rushed towards Don.

‘Are they suicidal?’

Neil thought to himself while watching them. The only rushing one wasn’t Allen, Lucas, and Elius was also running. Allen’s movement was different than before. His strikes were more precise. His attacks weren’t involving any unnecessary movements. Elius also realized that Lucas was the same. He used his chains like a whip and rained down a barrage of incredulous attacks at Don. Elius was surprised, a while ago, he was watching them from afar, but they were completely different now.

“They are in the state of flow.”

‘State of what?’

“In essence, flow is characterized by the complete absorption in what one does, the state of absolute focus. Their sense of time is different from an average person right now. There are a few ways to enter flow, but these two are easily entering by their will as far as I’ve sensed.”

He didn’t need to ask what had happened when someone entered flow because he could clearly see. Allen and Lucas’s movements were minimal, their timings were almost perfect, they were faster, and their mana was overflowing.

“And I thought you were strong, but these two.”

Elly paused for a second.

“These two could wipe the floor with you.”

Elius frowned. He still didn’t know his or the limit of the kids at his age, but hearing that made him angry for some reason.

“I advise you to stay out of their way. You’ll only hinder them.”

Elius bit his lip. He hesitated for a moment but reluctantly listened to Elly and attacked the half-demons around them like Eldron and Nelson.

‘What is this?’

The one who was more surprised than Elius was Neil.

‘At the academy, he was just toying with me…’

Neil clenched his fists.

‘If only I had been stronger…’

While Allen and Lucas continued to brutally attack Don, even though they couldn’t hit him, Neil also began to slay the half-demons around with a sour expression.

* * *

Chase and Floyd were exchanging blows for a while. Floyd’s body was covered in wounds, and it was getting hard for him to keep up, but he kept smiling.

“I’ll rip that smile off of your face!”

Chase was about to increase his speed, but something weird happened. The wounds on Floyd’s body began to disappear.

‘Huh?’

Chase put some distance between them. Floyd’s complexion gradually became paler, and two small horns appeared on his forehead.

“Ahh, that is it. This power…”

Floyd didn’t even give Chase time to be surprised and appeared before him. Chase felt a stingy pain on his shoulder. Even before he could react to pain, Floyd stabbed him again, this time from the leg. Currently, Jay also had the same struggle. Floyd began to smile again and pushed Chase back. Everything was happening around Ian, who was standing in the middle of chaos, lost in thoughts.

‘Why are these demons ignoring him?’

Floyd checked Ian with the corner of his eyes.

‘I should also get rid of him while I’m in a stronger form.’

He changed his direction towards Ian and began to run.

‘I guess that is it, Idarin. Your theory doesn’t work. I should probably get serious since this is getting boring.’

Chase took a deep breath.

‘Get a hold of yourself!’

Ian heard a voice. He sensed a familiar feeling, just like how he felt in the middle of darkness back in the forest when he met Arkhaar. He found himself in the middle of darkness again, but this time it was not physically, it was all in his mind.

‘W-what? Arkhaar?’

He looked around but couldn’t find him.

‘Control your breathing.’

‘I-I don’t know what to do.’

Ian was feeling a lot of emotions at the same time right now.

‘I-I feel lost.’

‘Sometimes, you need to get lost to find your way. I felt when we first met Ian.’

Ian’s storage ring began to shake like something was trying to come out.

‘At first, I thought nothing appeared on the scroll I gave you because you weren’t ready, but in reality, that scroll had not enough capacity to detect your magic.’

Arkhaar paused for a second before continuing.

‘Those blades I gave you, they are an ego item. Anyone can use it, but if it chooses a master, it can grow together with its master. It is reacting to your magic right now. Your dream to become a shadow assassin is futile. You are not aware. But Shadows… Darkness… They are all meaningless in front of you. You are only standing at the starting line right now. The shackles that were holding you back are not letting you cross that line. I’ll give you the push you need as a farewell gift.’

Ian felt a hand on his back.

‘Ian, do not try to live in shadows. Instead, become something that could swallow the darkness.’

Arkhaar raised his voice.

‘Cross the line, Ian!’

Two long, black blades began to appear on Ian’s hands. He raised his head to look at Floyd, who was running towards him with a joyful expression. Ian’s blue eyes were different now. It was black and not just the pupil. His eyes were completely black, including the white areas. And the hand he felt at his back pushed him forward.

‘Enter the void.’