Ch. 711..720

Chapter 711

Frost covered Luanra’s massive frame as she roared and protected herself from the steam explosions. She didn’t feel much from the Flood Dragon attacks but she also didn’t bother swatting the dragons away. Lunara kept her eyes on Grixor, whose mighty claws and jagged tail were real threats.

As Lunara blasted Grixor with stream after stream of icy breath, Grixor’s claws tore through the ice to collide with Lunara’s frost body. That alone was enough for Grixor to confirm the truth, like Torian had with Moranti.

It was obvious that Lunara had surpassed him in level, putting her at lv. 99 like Halmut and Skaryn. That didn’t guarantee that Grixor would lose but he did understand that he was facing an uphill battle this time. There was no telling how much health Lunara had now, and her regenerative abilities were possibly on par with Halmut’s after leveling up so much. This forced Grixor to treat Lunara differently as he changed his mindset. He decided it was best to treat Lunara as more powerful in every category apart from speed, as it was better to overestimate Lunara’s defenses and attacks than to underestimate them and face the consequences.

But the most eye-catching battle was the battle of Jack and Halmut. All sorts of colors scattered through the air as their differing flames collided time and time again. Jack’s teleporting abilities were tamed by Tralbok’s time manipulation while Kylon would focus on giving Halmut opportunities to back off and reset for the next charge. It was a slow strategy but it should eventually get the job done.

Suddenly, Tralbok backed off and failed to stall Jack’s next attack. While Jack managed to drill his barbed, club-like arm into Halmut’s torso, Tralbok dispersed attacked an illusion of Jack that had grabbed his forehead.

"TRALBOK! STAY FOCUSED!" roared Halmut, unhappy to see his most loyal supporter giving Jack an opening. "Don’t stop moving!"

Both Tralbok and Kylon took that advice, swarming around Jack and Halmut as the two collided over and over across the sixth floor of the open chamber. Sometimes they would feel someone touch their heads but they were already in motion and found it easier to evade the chance of tanking a cerebral collapse.

Yet, Kylon suddenly stopped moving and flinched.

"Kyl, wear this and finally let loose..."

The Storm Goddess trembled the moment that deep voice crept into her ear. At the same time, she felt something different touch her head while her mind suddenly felt less muddled. Kylon reached to touch her head and was surprised to be wearing a metal helmet that covered her ears, protected the back of her neck, and had a slit of metal falling down her face to protect her nose.

She wasn’t entirely sure what helmet she was wearing and her memory was a bit fuzzy as to why she was fighting Jack at the moment, but Kylon was sure of what this was.

While Tralbok reversed Jack’s spectral flares, he suddenly tensed up and retreated from where he stood. But he was unable to fully evade the steam explosion that burst in front of him. Tralbok healed with time magic and shouted, "KYLON?! What are you--"

But before Tralbok could complain any further, Kylon was charging head-first at the God of Time. Lightning covered her as she spat electrifying, steaming explosions at her new foe. Kylon showed no mercy. In fact, Kylon wore a face of pure frustration and anger, letting go millennia of pain and silent suffering. She said nothing to anyone, only attacking without stating her reason.

Outraged, Halmut gave her a moment of his attention and anger. "KYLON?! HOW DARE YOU--"

Jack suddenly struck Halmut across the jaw, shutting up the Sun God and forcing the dragon’s anger back onto him. At the same time, Jack shouted in laughter, "ANY GOD WILLING TO SIDE WITH US, MAKE YOUR DECISION NOW AS I KILL HALMUT!!!"

By now, the spectators and those fighting in the other two battles were well-aware of Kylon’s surprising treason.

Without hesitation, the two Flood Dragons facing Lunara changed targets. They threw a multitude of attacks at Grixor without warning.

"Help your mistress!" Lunara suddenly ordered, catching the Flood Dragons off guard. "I can handle him, but she may fall for Tralbok’s tricks without you!"

Neither of the lv. 90 Flood Dragons flinched as they followed Lunara’s orders, just as they had in times of old when Lunara was their second-in-command after Kylon. They were finally allowed to fully trust their gut feeling and help their mistress alleviate the pain that she had kept bottled up for century after century.

"YOU--"

"Sillo, what about you?!" Jack interrupted Halmut’s roar with a question of his own, infuriating the Sun Dragon even further. "Don’t worry about the consequences! We’re helping your sister, so why can’t we help you?"

"Don’t--"

Before Halmut could order the Mage God to cooperate, Sillo had already turned his lightning web onto Tyres. Sure, it wasn’t the most effective, but it gave Sillo a moment to redirect his efforts to a foe at his level and alleviate Moranti of pestering from lower-leveled gods.

The entire landscape of the battle had changed. The three battles had become five. The overwhelming advantage of having three legendary gods against a single leisure god was flipped. The support and control necessary to give Torian, Grixor, and Halmut an advantage was gone. Now, there was a revolt among the legendary gods and a heavy advantage held by the leisure gods.

ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAARRRRR!!!

"Halmut," Jack commented with a loud laugh, "You’ve been threatening everyone for thousands of years with your cruel contracts. Now’s the time to use them, right?"

"YOU! YOU DID THIS!"

"So what? Are you the proud Sun Dragon that will hold to your threat or the pitiful runt that’s afraid to lose too many of your pawns at once?" Jack continued, making sure that everyone could hear him loud and clear. "If you want a chance at winning, a runt like you will need all the support you can get!"

Chapter 712

"If you want a chance at winning, a runt like you will need all the support you can get!"

"SHUT UUUP!!" Halmut roared, unleashing more and more energy into each of his attacks.

"Wow... you’re more unstable than I ever gave you credit," joked Jack. "I’ll make sure to never forget the moment when the mighty Halmut lost his mind!"

Jack changed tactics, no longer attacking physically. Now, he only needed to evade while verbally attacking Halmut’s greatest weakness, his fragile pride. "If you hurry up and use the contracts, then you may still beat me, but that’s still a slim chance..."

Halmut continued to roar and rage while watching his own people turn on him. He was proud to see that Torian and Grixor remained on his side, but that only lightened the blow that Kylon’s revolt dealt to Halmut’s ego. For the subordinate wrapped most tightly around his finger to rebel so willingly was a shock to his mentality. But that’s when he recognized the item now adorned on her head with a gaze.

"Eedaj’s Helm of Protection?!"

That shout left the looting spectators curious while it confused the legendary gods. But Halmut roared again in anger at Jack, "How could you have such a thing?! That vanished long ago!"

Laughing all the harder, Jack replied with a shake of his head. "Did you forget who I am, Halmut? Am I so easily forgotten?"

"You..." Finally, Halmut’s rage reached a point where shouting wasn’t sufficient. His throat trembled as if it was about to explode.

"As the Legend of Trodar, why would I have turned away Skaryn’s request to snatch such a legendary item?" reasoned Jack.

"But what’s the difference?!" Tralbok shouted, furiously slashing through steam explosions left and right. "Halmut! Why would--"

"Because Halmut’s been messing with her mind..." Jack mentioned aloud. "What? He didn’t tell you about his mental manipulation?"

The gods of Kartonia quivered for a moment, both leisure and legendary. It didn’t stop the fighting but it offered them all a change in perspective.

But Jack continued, laughing, "I guess there’s no more hiding it, Halmut! You might as well alter your strategy and go all-in with your only loyal subordinates! Or are is the great Sun Dragon just a chicken afraid to act!"

"YOU..."

Finally, Halmut was done. The moment Eedaj’s Helm of Protection landed on Kylon’s head, his greatest scheme was over. And with Jack prodding again and again, the Sun Dragon made a move before he fully lost his mind. But his rage momentarily subsided. Unparalleled confusion and a hint of fear washed over Halmut’s face. "W-what..."

"Looking for these?"

Those three words stopped all five battles with ease. While spectating challengers were stealing casual glances while finishing off their chosen treasure troves, the gods of Kartonia, including Lunara and Moranti, were utterly speechless.

In Jack’s hand was a stack of thick, old parchments with archaic writing covering them completely. There was also a simple diagram and seal drawn in dried up blood on each page.

"You... HOW COULD YOU..." Halmut shook as his mind started to tip off the scale. He wanted nothing more than for this to be a nightmare that he could wake up from.

"What? Without your contracts, you’re powerless?" Jack laughed, tossing them freely into the air.

Halmut made a mad dash for them, but he stopped in his tracks. He didn’t dare take a single step forward, not with what was taking place.

A slice of dark energy tore through all of the contracts without regard for whose contract was whose. All eyes fell onto the man now standing amidst the crumbling tears of parchment, which were evaporating as darkness consumed them. They all recognized the helmed figure, as well as his weapon, but they had never seen or affiliated that sword with the helmed swordsman. He wasn’t wielding his reaper from before, but a pitch-black greatsword with a crude design and infamous reputation for consuming foes in darkness.

"Th-th-th..." Halmut trembled, completely unsure of what was truly happening.

All gods were speechless, especially those once known as the chaotic gods, like Moranti, Tralbok, or Sillo. They were incredibly familiar with that blade, as well as the second, matching greatsword that appeared in the man’s second hand.

Wasting no time, the helmed man bolted into the shaking Halmut who felt like he was staring at a ghost. But the blades indeed carved into his chest as Halmut was forced into a crash landing. Together, Halmut and the anonymous swordsman fell from the sixth floor into the firm, immovable roxite floor of the open chamber. They fell upon a few stragglers exiting a treasure trove, forcing some challengers to exit upon taking the impact.

Halmut wasn’t fearful of the injury in his chest. He showed no concern for it nor did he worry about a lasting injury with his healing abilities. But his mind was rocked to the point of no return as dark energy erupted from the swordsman.

Before everyone’s eyes, the helmet and patchy armor were torn apart by vicious darkness, replacing it all with black, skeletal armor without a hat, mask, or helmet. The fierce look in the man’s revealed eyes was unfathomably merciless and boundlessly confident as darkness inundated the vast chamber.

The Sun Dragon’s instincts kicked in as he swatted at the man atop him, forcing his new opponent to back away and remove the swords from Halmut’s chest. Halmut’s undeniable anger came back, overwhelming his confusion and forcing Halmut’s mind to act first and ask questions later.

"Sk--"

"HAAAAAAAALLLLLLLMUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTT!!!!!"

Shaking the entire chamber and stealing everyone’s attention from their new treasures, the man roared louder than the dragon before him. No fear or hesitation existed in the man’s mind or countenance as he clutched the hilt of his greatswords and tore through Halmut’s crazed thoughts with a stare alone. Finally, after countless years of waiting and suffering, he could finally unleash the hellish fury that he’d been containing for longer than he wanted to remember.

"Skaryn, you--"

"DEATH IS TOO MERCIFUL!!!"

Chapter 713

In the waiting area, while everyone was on edge at Skaryn’s dramatic show of strength, there was an unannounced figure that appeared in a flash of purple energy. He seemed to be an ordinary man but was immediately approached by Oli.

’Hurry!’ Oli telepathically shouted in excitement.

Without another word, a purple, spatial rift was opened and Oli jumped through. The plain-looking man then assumed Oli’s position atop the platform and smiled at the show on the illusory screens above.

As Skaryn revealed himself for all to see, a wide variety of emotions was shared among those watching. The challengers from outside of Kartonia were astounded to see the masked man be so powerful, beyond anything they were anticipating. A majority would argue that his presence was enough to eclipse either of the twins present for the challenge.

Those from Kartonia were rocked to their absolute core. Each of the legendary gods had either began to doubt their success against Jack and the leisure gods or they had already accepted defeat in their hearts. Now, none of them were able to question their defeat.

Alcahain, still in the waiting area, was silently proud to see his long-time boss back in action to destroy Halmut’s contracts. Sillo felt relief that he had chosen correctly in rebelling while Jack fended off Halmut moments ago and nostalgia to see how protective Skaryn had always been of his people. Both Moranti and Tralbok showed extreme reactions but on opposite ends of the scale. While Moranti shouted and roared in glee, Tralbok immediately destroyed his own card to surrender the competition while Kylon wasn’t attacking him.

Kylon was too busy staring at her man. Finally, after witnessing what had truly happened to Kustram and realizing the truth of her relationship with the Dark God, Kylon’s mind felt clearer than ever before. The helmet guarded her mind against further tampering and cut off any attacks currently altering her mental state. Now, she could effectively put the pieces together to firmly remember who Skaryn was to her.

"Skaryn..." The Storm Goddess trembled and smiled as tears fell from her eyes.

Those formerly known as the holy gods were shaking their heads with a smile. Skaryn’s appearance didn’t mean the end for them, just the end of their allegiance to Halmut and his dying off faction of deities. Grixor laughed and Torian smiled, both accepting imminent defeat with pride and dignity.

What no one had noticed was that Jack was nowhere to be found.

While all eyes were now on Skaryn’s massive demonstration of power, the hero had vanished from the spotlight. It was the perfect chance for him to rush toward the final room.

Still invisible, Jack rushed to the tenth and final floor of the treasure room and blinked. The room that he was looking for had already been breached. But Jack stayed calm as he entered and inspected the empty space. He sighed in relief to find the next piece of the grand puzzle still untouched.

Walking to the back wall, Jack found a smooth cut made in the roxite. There was a purple outline around the perfectly sized hole, matching the tint and exact dimensions of Jack’s card.

Jack slid his card into the hole and nothing happened. But as Jack pulled the card out, the wall trembled. Suddenly, the small back wall began to part and expose a pitch-black space behind it. Without a second thought, Jack glanced behind him to find no one and hurriedly stepped past the opening door. The hero felt lucky to see the door begin closing the moment Jack was on the other side.

Once the door closed, the entire space lit up around Jack, causing Jack to whistle in surprise.

He had entered a vast chamber in the shape of a funnel. Jack stood on the widest end of the room and the space narrowed to a point on the other side. However, there seemed to be more than two hundred constructs standing between Jack and the small purple barrier on the other end.

Jack wanted to take another moment to let his system examine the many different constructs, both bestial and humanoid, but energy entered the eyes of each construct as they came to life. In seconds, Jack was targeted by all of them. He only had enough time for his system to give him estimates.

[Total amount of constructs: 250]

[Range of levels: lv. 95 to lv. 99]

Immediately, Jack transformed to combine Bowzer’s, Phoro’s, Karronteel’s, and Jinbe’s bloodlines. With powerful wings, barb-covered arms, hellish flames, and the sharpest claws, Jack met the constructs head-on.

However, Jack had only destroyed three constructs when he glanced back at the entrance. He then teleported to the far corner of the room as a wave of sword energy crashed into the crowd of constructs.

"I thought you two were smart enough..." Jack sighed, shaking his head.

Laughter filled the air as two twin figures became visible. Woltin chuckled, "I guess you’d beat in a competition of illusions..."

"Would you mind not getting involved?" asked Jack, still battle-ready. "I’d prefer to fight friends fairly during our first skirmish."

"Friends? If we’re friends, then you should just give up and let us handle this," Wollice replied.

Jack shook his head and spat a few spectral flares to slow the charging constructs. "Fine... then I’ll just have to fight by your rules..."

While both Jack and the Sicabor twins launched stalling attacks at the hundreds of constructs, a small emblem appeared in Jack’s hand. Though the twins were clueless as to what it was, Jack smiled while glancing at the Leisure Guild’s emblem. The hero then flooded the emblem with some energy until it shattered in a small burst of spatial energy.

Neither Woltin nor Wollice understood what was going on but their eyes widened as they were thrown for a loop. Woltin half-laughed and half-shouted, "That’s against the rules! You can’t--"

"You can’t someone anyone else while inside the challenge," Jack corrected, "but there’s no rule against summoning yourself..."

 

Chapter 714

Skaryn rushed forward again, ignoring the nearby crowd of challengers surrounding them on the ground floor. He led with both of his greatswords and held back nothing. The Dark God was fully intent on slaying Halmut in the most brutal way imaginable.

"FOOL!" Halmut roared back, retrieving his scepter and Naparn’s old flaming saber.

Both top-tier gods collided, forcing each other back a few meters. Halmut laughed, "You still forgot?! Your darkness is--"

But the Dark God only replied with a follow-up attack. Skaryn didn’t want to mince words, he wanted to mince meat. He then demonized to match Halmut’s hybrid form. Growing a pair of bony, black wings and dark claws, Skaryn showed how mighty a human could become. The transformation continued as he grew a tail and black, skeletal spikes emerged along Skaryn’s spine to the tip of his tail.

Dark energy overwhelmed everything as Skaryn lunged back toward halmut, who lowered his scepter and tanked the attack with a greedy grin. However, that grin was wiped away as a look of panic came over Halmut’s face.

"What?! But I--"

A massive amount of loose energy was now leaking from Halmut’s body, uncontrolled and unexplained. Yet Skaryn suddenly stored one of his greatswords and thrust his hand into Halmut’s unguarded chest. The Dark God gripped Halmut’s scales as if trying to break them with his fingers alone and carefully poured a sliver of his own energy into the unprotected Sun Dragon.

The great dragon was then slapped across the face by the blunt side of Halmut’s greatsword. He was too shocked to put up a defense and was thrown into a nearby wall, ricocheting brutally off of the unforgiving walls of refined roxite.

But Halmut began to smile and laugh. "Wha-what just happened..."

"I’ve given you another few moments to live," commented Skaryn, walking toward the fallen dragon as he dragged his greatsword across the floor behind him. "I told you, death is too merciful... I don’t want Jewel interfering in my revenge and ruining the sweet taste of your spilled blood..."

"Y-you... No! That--"

"You’re the fool for trusting such a shady organization, Halmut. I can’t believe you fell so low and embraced the cruelty you hated... You’re even worse than your father--"

"I AM NOT!!"

Skaryn lunged forward with a powerful step, attacking while Halmut was still emotionally compromised. Fighting fair didn’t matter to the Dark God, not now of all times against the man who always stacked the deck in his favor.

"AHHHH!!!" Roaring in pain, Halmut came to his senses a little too late. Glancing down at his hand, Halmut was horrified to find it lying on the ground. "Y-YOU! HOW--"

Explaining by demonstration, Skaryn swung his greatsword again but failed to evade the aware Sun Dragon.

Halmut was shaken. His arm was already beginning to heal but regrowing limbs wasn’t his specialty, that was Lunara’s. The Sun Dragons were able to heal faster than multi-headed hydras like Lunara but replacing a missing limb was different than resealing and repairing an open wound. Though Halmut was regrowing his missing hand, it was too slow to let him recover from the new disadvantage.

Also, Halmut was startled by something he had only just realized.

"You... have spatial energy?"

Not replying with a nod nor a word, Skaryn swung his greatsword again. A hundred-meter arc of spatial energy was thrown at the evading dragon, mimicking Moranti’s scythe attacks to a tee.

Though it failed to touch Halmut and injure him, the attack was more than powerful enough to revoke the dragon’s confidence.

"I KNEW IT!" a shout sounded out from high up in the air. "How dare you lie to me?!"

"Sorry, Moranti, but Jack and I had to handle things carefully. Otherwise, I would’ve never gotten rid of those blasted contracts..." Skaryn stated, sharing his reply with every challenger present. "And Kylon... Just wait a bit longer. I’ll make sure he suffers enough for the both of us..."

No one else spoke to Skaryn but both Moranti and Kylon nodded, one with tears streaming down her eyes.

"I give." Torian immediately threw his card to Moranti, accepting defeat with confidence. "Grixor, I think--"

"Yeah, I know..." Grixor groaned, snapping his own card in two.

Lunara was a bit surprised to see Grixor give up, the man who never backed down from a challenge. But her doubts were put aside when Grixor smiled back at her and added, "We’ll continue this after we’re allies... I won’t be bested that easily!"

Grixor was the first to vanish after Tralbok’s retreat, followed by Torian who was expelled as Moratni claimed the Thundering God’s keys.

Tyres was left with mixed feelings. He had no clue what was in store for him. While most gods would be welcomed by the leisure gods, how could he? After everything he had done to denounce and kill Jin, what would the leisure gods offer him?

The Sword God eventually retreated like Torian and Grixor, fleeing to the waiting area to at least avoid the cruelty that Skaryn had in store for Halmut.

As Halmut roared and tried to show that he wasn’t scared, Skaryn didn’t flinch or hesitate to pick up the dragon’s lost hand. He then carefully plucked the storage rings from the severed hand’s fingers. The Dark God only smiled after finding what he was looking for. "Jack guessed right... Good thing I didn’t cut off your left hand..."

Everyone was startled to see Skaryn then retrieve Halmut’s card, which had been carefully stored away during Halmut’s earlier clash with Jack. But Skaryn immediately placed Halmut’s card in his own storage.

"Now you can’t run away, like the cowardly runt you are..." scowled Skaryn, stepping forward slowly as he gathered a blend of dark and spatial energy around him. The bullying demon brandished a smile that could terrorize the devil as he cackled, "If you thought facing the power of a Dusk Dragon was hard, how about I show you what a Spectral Dusk Dragon can do..."

Chapter 715

mumbled to himself, startled to see his assumptions shattered by the plans of a lowly one-star cosmician. The shadowy man sighed, glancing at his wincing captive, "Why can’t you just side with us? How come the best ones won’t be swayed? First Skaryn and Sterfen, but you too?"

Jack’s second body was unable to hear anything at the moment. The connection between Jack’s shared minds was currently closed off to keep his other self from feeling the repercussions of mental torture. And that same mental torture kept Jack from thinking about anything apart from his own survival. It felt as if his mental existence was trying to be exterminated as if his mind could be wiped the moment he surrendered to the pain. He could either suffer more and more with each passing second or accept blissful relief in the extinguishing of his own consciousness.

But that didn’t stop 12-13 to playfully converse with his twitching captives. "I guess my retreat is necessary after all, which is fine. With bloom fruits, your minds, and Jack’s precious construct body, I’ve more than earned my safety. Now, to clear a few loose ends... Crax! How come Halmut didn’t warn me that such a helmet existed!"

Staring coldly at Jack, 12-13 clicked his tongue. "I suppose I’ll clear the area the hard way..."

Taking out a contract scroll, 12-13 poured his energy into it. The parchment began to burn away and disintegrate in dark energy as a slight chuckle left his lips. But that chuckle turned to a groan immediately.

"CRAX! How dare Skaryn--"

12-13 was livid, watching his precise calculations falling apart before Halmut’s eyes. He could still see through Halmut’s vision thanks to the dark bead implanted in the dragon’s mind but 12-13 was unable to forcibly detonate Halmut like a living bomb. Just as 12-13 wanted to curse for Skaryn stalling the imminent explosion, the shadowy man was caught off guard by something that took place before his own eyes.

Jack’s body was suddenly surrounded and consumed by spatial energy, forcefully ripping Jack out of 12-13’s grasp and relocating him elsewhere.

"WHAT?! Jack..."

Calming himself, 12-13 wasted no more time playing around. He dropped the mental torture encroaching on Sterfen’s mind but kept the assassin completely unable to move or talk with his ethereal pressure. Adding a veil of mental energy around Sterfen, 12-13 made sure that his captive wouldn’t be able to telepathically communicate upon leaving the barrier around Olympic Chateau.

Ready to retreat immediately, 12-13 took a single deep breath before fleeing the planet at a drastic pace.

"Congrats!"

Instantly, 12-13 went from entirely relaxed to on-edge as he sent out a deadly pulse of dark energy. Without fail, the entire chateau was reduced to rubble as the energy forcefully exploded past the walls. He wanted to make sure any uninvited and unannounced guests were immediately disposed of.

"Not bad..."

Chuckles rang out, angering 12-13 further as he thoroughly scanned the area. "There... Who and what are you? Be brief, or I’ll slay you on the spot as I don’t have time to waste."

"You’re a four-star, right?" laughed that deep, unfazed voice. A figure then emerged from the darkness lingering in the air precisely where 12-13 was staring. "Congrats on recently ascending!"

"Zok you!" 12-13 shouted, unleashing another dark pulse but directly targeted and streamlined at the intruder.

However, the intruder practically ignored the dark energy and instead turned around. The man laughed as he gripped the air itself with both hands. "No... Don’t tell me you’re a four-star? And with such a potty mouth..."

The man then clutched tighter, sending a snapping sound through the air as 12-13’s pained voice filled the now open space. The illusory figure beside Sterfen then began to fade as new 12-13 came into view with broken wrists and dangling hands in the man’s tight grip.

But 12-13 wasn’t going to give up like that. An explosion of dark energy burst from 12-13’s body before it vanished with the dispersing darkness.

"Not so fast..." The intruder then jumped forward and gripped the air a second time, but only with one hand. His other hand rocketed forward as a fist into 12-13’s invisible body.

Unable to keep up his shroud of invisibility, 12-13 wanted to cough up blood but caught it in his mouth. But that didn’t stop the man from being propelled through the floor and out of the mountain’s backside.

It took a moment for 12-13 to regain his composure in mid-air, but he immediately changed strategies. Forgetting Sterfen and his failure to clean his mess, 12-13 turned to flee. Facing the powerful unknown man wasn’t worth his time, even if he felt confident in beating him. What good was defeating the unknown man if that gave Daruun enough time to arrive.

Putting all of his energy in escaping, 12-13 tore through the air as he took off for the atmosphere. But then, 12-13 felt a sinking feeling in his stomach, exactly where the man had drilled him. That sinking feeling spread like wildfire all over 12-13’s body, coating him in confusion and a strange energy. 12-13 then immediately understood how rare that energy type was, only too late.

12-13 suddenly plummeted from the sky. Before he could break through the atmosphere, his body had become too heavy for him to bear as 12-13 fell from the sky.

While 12-13 fell, he was then met by a driving knee to the back. 12-13 had only just realized who he was up against as his spine was shattered. He groaned and mumbled, barely able to groan under the immense gravity suppressing his body. "You... Oli..."

"Bingo!" Oli laughed as he grasped at 12-13’s neck, letting the man’s broken limbs dangle toward the ground far beneath them. "Wait... You’re a late-four-star?! How terrible was your training?!"

No answer came.

While 12-13 was losing his shadowy covering, his energy turned rampant and uncontrollable. He wasn’t going to waste such a rare chance to eliminate someone as valuable as Oli.

Chapter 716

"Of course you’d go kamikaze..." Oli sighed, realizing what his defeated opponent was up to. "You must be ISA. They’re always cowards..."

While 12-13’s energy swirled and prepared to explode without mercy, 12-13 smiled. He remained silent but showed that he proudly accepted the loss as an opportunity to die without failure. At the very least, he wasn’t going to give up information via capture and a key figure in Silas’s camp would be brought down at the same time. It was a proud loss in 12-13’s eyes.

But Oli’s gaze also showed no signs of regret or hesitation. In fact, Oli’s smiling face turned serious for the first time as sweat began to bead down his forehead and cheeks. One hand held 12-13 by the neck while the other sat at Oli’s side.

12-13 had no clue what Oli was up to until it was too late. His self-destruction was already imminent and irreversible by the time he felt the familiar pull of gravity, only it was toward Oli’s free hand. In shock and horror, 12-13 realized what was about to happen but wasn’t able to believe the reality his eyes were witnessing.

In the palm of Oli’s hand was a tiny black sphere of raw energy. His hand quivered while trying his best to control the rampant increase of force that black sphere had created out of thin air.

Once that orb was steady and Oli’s body stopped shaking, he thrust his arm forward and drove the sphere into 12-13’s chest. Before the shadowy man was able to detonate himself as a living bomb of cosmic energy, 12-13’s body and energy started contorting and twisting around Oli’s hand.

"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAaahhhhhhh..."

12-13 finally shouted in fear and pain as his body snapped like a twig. There was no way he could withstand the drastic pressure of the tiny black hole in Oli’s palm.

Both 12-13’s energy and body gave in. They were forcibly dragged into the black sphere while the energy exploded but failed to escape the pull of gravity. In seconds, 12-13 had gone from realizing who his opponent was, to proudly attempting suicide at the chance of eliminating that opponent, to feeling the ultimate pain and regret as his existence was torn apart at the cellular level while failing to even scratch his foe.

The moment 12-13’s body and warring energy was disposed of, Oli heaved a sigh of relief. He didn’t bother maintaining his energy to stand in the air, letting himself begin the long fall to the ground.

Oli landed with a heavy thud and a small crater but he was smiling. Sweat still covered his body as Oli began to relax, as if the harsh landing hadn’t affected Oli whatsoever.

’Daruun... He’s been eliminated... Sorry, but there’s no chance to probe his brain...’

’Let me guess, he chose self-destruction?’ Daruun commented with a sigh. ’I suppose we were right to assume him as an ISA agent and not Jewel... It explains a lot... Thank you, Oli.’

’Hey... I’m expecting a bonus for this job... Making me use that move has to count for a pay raise...’ joked Oli.

’In that case, consider it done. You kept it under control, right?’

’Yeah... But I’ll just rest here for now... If you need me for more, let me know...’ commented Oli. ’If not, just let me rest a little bit...’

Oli closed his eyes, letting his body focus entirely on replenishing his emptied energy reserves. This was to be expected after the stunt he just pulled, considering that such a move shouldn’t be possible for any regular three-star cosmician, even late three-star cosmicians like Oli.

*****

"If you thought facing the power of a Dusk Dragon was hard, how about I show you what a Spectral Dusk Dragon can do?"

That sentence sent shivers down the spines of every Kartonian god able to witness Skaryn’s return. Whether they were in the waiting area or still inside the enormous treasure chamber, they were floored by the very thought of such a bloodline.

Without delay, the energy around Skaryn’s body shifted and transformed. The boundless dark energy began to intermingle with abundant spatial energy. Skaryn’s skeletal, draconic appearance shifted as well. His claws and skeletal spine turned from dark black to deep violet as they became sharper and longer. The Dark God’s entire body became more streamlined as a dark purple sheen overtook his body. Now, a crown of deep violet horns sprouted from Skaryn’s skull, turning the man into the most dominating draconic god from appearance alone.

"Your advantage of offensive energies is gone now, Halmut..." Skaryn chuckled, forcing the Sun Dragon to rethink his strategy. "Now, I don’t need dark energy to finish you off!"

Skaryn charged again, but Halmut failed to evade the faster, more agile Skaryn. Adding space to his lightning affinity along with his streamlined body gave the demon an undeniable speed advantage.

Halmut shrouded himself in holy energy as he took on the Spectral Dusk Demon. Fire, wind, lightning, holy, and nature energies were abundant as Halmut did everything in his power to counter Skaryn’s new form and attacks. But it proved near futile.

While Halmut was still able to repel a majority of dark energy attacks thanks to the black bead that 12-13 had implanted in him, that couldn’t stop the other energies. Now Skaryn wielded dark, water, earth, lightning, illusion energies along with fire and space energies. Skaryn effectively countered Halmut’s fire with his own while adding the ruthless power of space to each of his strikes. That was a reality that Halmut was forced to accept.

As Halmut guarded himself, he already felt a deep wound form in his side. Halmut breathed his multi-colored flame but the invisible Skaryn had already retreated. Now the Sun Dragon would need to guess which of the visible and invisible Skaryn’s was real while Skaryn was the most experienced at facing Halmut’s all-seeing eyes. This was proven as Halmut struggled to identify where the true attacks would come from next. His wild breath and powerful claw attacks created waves and pulses of energy going every which wave in attempts to create space.

Chapter 717

The crowd of cosmicians was in awe of the rare battle they were able to witness. Everyone got excited, wondering who would come out on top and when the Sicabor twins would step in to steal the visitor’s rewards.

But the Sicabor twins were nowhere to be found. This led most to believe they were secretly plotting to strike at the right moment, possibly to take on both draconic combatants to gain the most rewards possible. However, those thoughts would need to wait as the crowd grew more invested in the grand battle taking place before their eyes.

Skaryn’s onslaught of attacks was horrifying for the many one-stars to watch. They trembled to imagine such attacks landing on themselves. Halmut’s resilience and natural healing astounded them just as much, proving that Halmut could still fight against Skaryn though he struggled to hit Skaryn with his increased speed.

That was until Halmut roared in pain, nearly losing his eyes as they almost popped out of his skull in shock.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHhhhh..." Halmut didn’t look behind him, no longer willing to look away from the copy of Skaryn he believed was the real deal. He didn’t need to look behind him to confirm the loss of his tail. The fact that his body was hurriedly trying to heal and repair his missing limb was enough to put him on edge.

"What’s wrong?" Skaryn chuckled. "Afraid to attack first?"

As Halmut focused harder and refused to comment, Skaryn laughed harder, "Shall I keep playing with you, like you’ve done to me and the others? I think you’ll make a great toy..."

A slash of dark, spatial, lightning, and fire energies rushed forward from Skaryn’s greatsword, followed by a second slash with dark, spatial, earth, and water energies. He skillfully swapped between energies with each strike, forcing Halmut to pay the utmost attention to each attack and counter everything properly or face the consequences.

The Sun Dragon managed to counter both strikes but failed to anticipate the hand that gripped his head.

"Cerebral Collapse!"

Halmut twitched and darted away while spewing his hottest flames.

"Hmm... So that still doesn’t work against you..." Skaryn clicked his tongue in disappointment. "What’s in your head to stop that? I thought you refused to become someone else’s tool, not to give up your mind and body just to defeat me? You’ve fallen that far?"

"You--"

Halmut didn’t finish his shout, turning to attack the sneak attacking copy of Skaryn. He didn’t dare let Skaryn get any closer without a proper fight.

Those around them were still either trembling from excitement of the spectacle or shock that Skaryn was able to use not only Moranti’s but Eedaj’s personal skills. They had greatly underestimated the power of the Dark God, forcing all Kartonian gods to wonder how Halmut ever managed to defeat Skaryn in the first place.

"Try again!" cackled Skaryn, sending more copies of himself at Halmut.

As Halmut guarded his mind more fervently than anything, Skaryn began to understand something. Based on what Jack had hinted from his past match against Skaryn and the desperation that Halmut showed now, Skaryn deduced that attacking Halmut mentally would be the most effective and entertaining strategy. Seeing Halmut, the man that was formerly Skaryn’s greatest ally and now his most despised enemy, show gazes of true fear convinced Skaryn of that more than anything.

"Cerebral Collapse!" Skaryn shouted as one of his false selves grabbed Halmut in a ploy to scare him. The test confirmed just how jittery Halmut was under his tough facade.

But as Halmut become more and more anxious while Skaryn changed tactics, something came into view in Skaryn’s peripherals. At the same time, Skaryn extreme sensitivity to energy was setting off alarms in his mind.

A sudden explosion of raw cosmic energy spread across their battlefield, encompassing Skaryn at point-blank along with his many copies.

While the vast chamber refused to tremble under the shockwave, Moranti, Lunara, and Kylon refused to standby inactive. They charged toward the dissipating energy, more specifically aiming for the retreating Halmut who was being carried by unknown cosmicians.

No one understood what was happening now. The crowd was stunned to see a cosmician charge into the battle and suddenly suicide as a means to stop the battle while other unknown cosmicians pulled Halmut aside. Nothing was making sense and everyone was anxious to see what Halmut was really up to.

"STAY OUT OF THIS!!!"

Skaryn’s resounding voice stopped the charging gods of Kartonia, proving to them that Skaryn was still fine and shocking the spectators further.

But the moment Skaryn spoke was the same moment that another cosmician rushed forward to self-destruct. That explosion floored the other cosmicians further. Everyone knew, without question, that something suspicious was going on.

"I SAID STAY OUT OF THIS!" Skaryn shouted again, not letting anyone on his side join the battle.

"But--"

"Kyl, trust me! Let me handle this!"

From the midst of the explosion, Skaryn rocketed towards the fleeing Halmut. He scanned over the four-man team dragging Halmut away, searching for a means to identify them. But he was confronted with another cosmician going kamikaze.

As Skaryn blinked away in a flash of purple energy, everyone saw Skaryn appear in front of Halmut. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO FLEE!"

One of the four guarding Halmut charred forward but suddenly stopped moving. He then dropped to the ground, motionless and only able to breathe.

"How--"

Before Halmut could curse against Skaryn, he saw the heads of his two closest bodyguards rolling down through the air. A scythe then landed at his neck, threatening to decapitate the Sun Dragon without hesitation.

"I said--"

Before Skaryn could shout back at Moranti, another crowd member charged at the God of Space intending to self-destruct. As Moranti glanced back in preparation to defend himself, a spatial rift suddenly opened up directly in front of the suicidal cosmician. The cosmician was unready for such a tactic and fell into the rift. Coming out the other side while about to blow, that cosmician frowned heavily as he found himself far away from everyone and unable to take back his suicidal plan.

Chapter 718

Moranti was focused on detaining Halmut but failed to directly evade the Sun God’s heated, multi-colored breath at point-blank. Halmut showed no care for the people self-destructing for his safety, solely focused on his survival at any cost.

The Sun Dragon forced Skaryn to back off while evading the Skaryn’s swiping scythe, thanks to Skaryn’s hesitation to delay the kamikaze cosmician. But Halmut was unable to escape Skaryn’s death-defying charge, which showed no regard for the next wave of self-destructing cosmicians.

"HE’S MINE, MORANTI!" Skaryn only showed anger at his old friend, who dared step into the lopsided fight. "TRUST ME!"

Sighing, Moranti teleported away and gave in to Skaryn’s demands. Considering how Skaryn was alive and well despite the many people overwhelming him, Moranti didn’t bother arguing further. He understood the other reason why Skaryn hated having help.

While Lunara and Moranti watched curiously and Kylon watched in anxiousness, Skaryn dared to charge into an encirclement of exploding cosmicians. But the explosions never came...

All eyes were on Skaryn as multiple copies of the man appeared behind the four cosmicians preparing to blow. Suddenly, two rings of energy encircled each of the cosmicians, cutting off their rampant energy and sealing them into crystal orbs covered in archaic writing. Each copy of Skaryn then lobbed their orbs to the real Skaryn before fading out of existence.

Halmut began to tremble more than ever before. Losing his protection was enough to leave him horrified but the manner in which Skaryn removed those cosmicians left Halmut further shaken. "Y-you..."

"You gave me five hundred years to do nothing but study the seal containing me, so what else would you expect? Did you forget who I am?" Skaryn scoffed at Halmut, charging back at the Sun Dragon. "Today I end everything, no matter what it is you throw at me!"

With nothing left to lose, Halmut roared with all his might. He entered his hybrid form and forcefully grew larger and larger. Halmut crushed an abundance of stimulants as he forcefully took in their energy. Now, Halmut’s energy levels exploded to new limits as his spare energy was bursting at the seems and practically burning away outside of Halmut’s body.

"NOOOOOO!!" Halmut roared. "I REFUSE!!"

"He’s... ascending?!" shouted a cosmician in the crowd, the first of many to shout in a mix of confusion and excitement.

Skaryn finally paused his charge and took a moment to better analyze Halmut’s new transformation. Yet Skaryn’s determination remained clear in his gaze.

"No..." Kylon trembled slightly, terrified to imagine what was happening. She and the others from Kartonia were the first to confirm their fear. Halmut was no longer at lv. 99, but lv. 100.

However, unlike the crowd or those watching from the waiting room, Skaryn didn’t even frown. The Dark God only sighed disappointingly. "Halmut... you consider that a proper ascension?"

"IT’S MORE THAN ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH YOU!" Halmut’s roar echoed through the chamber, stealing the attention of the few people who still hadn’t shifted their eyes toward the battle.

As Halmut trembled, growing more and more powerful, Skaryn glanced about the chamber in surprise. Finally, after a few moments of silence from the crowd and nothing but roaring laughter from Halmut, Skaryn shouted out a question, "I thought no two-stars could take part in the competition?"

"Correct, but challenger Halmut entered as a one-star. Ascension is allowed during the challenge of Glacier Keep but the restriction on two-star items remains."

It wasn’t Oli’s voice that responded but the confident answer was enough for all challengers to understand how Halmut’s ascension was to be handled.

"SEE!" Laughing, Halmut mocked his long-feared foe, "Now, you are NOTHING to me!"

"So... ascending to two-star is allowed? Why wasn’t that explained earlier?!"

To Halmut’s utter shock, Skaryn only showed excitement while witnessing Halmut’s ascension. And Skaryn’s follow-up complaint left the ascending two-star with a sense of uneasiness.

Just as Halmut had been cloaked in energy moments ago, a shroud of multicolored energies fell over Skaryn. But, unlike Halmut’s burning energy that dissipated as it oozed out of him, Skaryn’s energy was dense and flooded the space around them. As Skaryn’s energy poured out, the dark purple energy filled with streaks of other colors pooled at the feet of everyone on the ground.

"Y... You can’t--"

"Your forced ascension is trivial, Halmut," Skaryn taunted, unafraid of the growing, hybrid Sun Dragon. "We’re both unstable mid-ascension, but I can already tell how much weaker your energy is."

"I--"

"You fail to understand what true strength is!" shouted Skaryn. "Stimulants and shortcuts will get you nowhere fast, so allow me to escort you to your life of uselessness!"

Before Halmut was able to react, he felt a set of claws tearing into the back of his throat. The attack was simultaneous with the flash of spatial energy, not even giving Halmut the time to move or defend himself.

Forced to retaliate, Halmut swung his newly-grown tail at Skaryn, along with his claws.

"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

Halmut’s tail and forearms were immediately severed. The Sun Dragon was unable to believe what was happening. He wanted to retrieve more stimulants from the last of his storages but that was impossible now. All Halmut could do was shake and cower as Skaryn slashed off his legs.

"There..." Skaryn sighed, watching Halmut fall to the ground. The Dark God took a moment to enjoy the absolute fear in Halmut’s eyes.

"H-how... How come..."

"How come you can’t heal?" Skaryn chuckled, sharing Halmut’s horrified thoughts aloud. "Take a look at your nubs... Your fake energy isn’t enough to overwhelm my new strength."

With trembling eyes, Halmut painfully looked down at his missing limbs. Darkness coated his wounds, dispersing any morsel of energy that dared attempt to heal Halmut. "Y-you... You can’t--"

"Oh, I can do anything to you..." Skaryn scoffed, brandishing a devilish grin. "You dared threaten me with Kylon’s life... You crippled my interference in your plans with her contract as collateral... Then you dared blame me when you defied our deal and warped her mind, forcing yourself on her...

"You dared do whatever you want... So I’ll do the same, runt..."

 

Chapter 719

"You dared do whatever you want... So I’ll do the same, runt..."

With a grin to match his satisfied gaze, Skaryn stood over the crippled dragon. He swiftly drove the tip of his greatsword into Halmut’s throat, retracting it seconds later as Halmut tried to cough up blood. Skaryn enjoyed the sight of the wound healing.

"I’m glad you’re healing abilities are so powerful!" laughed the Dark God, giving the spectating cosmicians chills. "So long as I allow you, I can wound you, slice you, break you, and more yet you’ll gradually return to your lively but helpless state... Survive a few millennia of this and I might consider your debt paid, finally worthy of a painless death..."

His greatsword plummeted into Halmut’s chest, twisting around inside his ribcage. The mighty cosmician that failed to ascend to two-star writhed and whined as his heart and internals were being shredded. But like Skaryn had stated, Halmut’s natural regeneration now played to the Dark God’s advantage, allowing him to torture the Sun Dragon to limits far beyond that of any other creature with less vitality.

Everyone was fixated on the pleasure that the menacing, ascending cosmician caused the amputee competitor. At the same time, they were entirely unaware of why the Sicabor twins hadn’t taken advantage of the situation to attack the ascending cosmician while his energy is more unstable than usual. The spectators understood that Skaryn was unnaturally strong but they wouldn’t doubt the twins fighting him together would fail, not while he’s in the middle of ascension. It was better that an ascending cosmician flee to not stunt his growth rather than take a chance at winning a competition.

But they had no clue that the twins were after a larger prize. Most wouldn’t know about the true meaning of Glacier Keep’s challenge. Now that the twins had discovered where to find the hidden chamber and that Jack would clear the way for them, how could they not go after the bigger fish?

*****

"That’s against the rules! You can’t--"

"You can’t summon anyone else while inside the challenge, but there’s no rule against summoning yourself..." Jack joked.

As spatial energy dispersed, a new figure appeared inside the closed area. That man immediately downed a powerful potion and loosed a sigh of relief. "Much better..."

"Jack?!" Wollice shouted in question.

The other twin groaned with a sarcastic chuckle, "Jack... your twin won’t count as--"

"Who said anything about twins?" Both Jack’s replied in perfect unison, smiling cheekily at Wollice and Woltin. "Now it’s a fair fight!"

Jack tossed a ring to his double, who gladly took it and cackled, "So, Skaryn doesn’t need it anymore... Then I’ll make due!" A rapier with a blackened tip then appeared in the double’s hand. He immediately charged at Wollice while brandishing a curious smile. "Show me what you got!"

While Jack’s double shifted into his Spectral Minokawa form to enhance his speed to the max, Jack flooded his immediate surroundings with spectral flares. The charging constructs were kept at bay for a moment and Woltin gave Jack a front-row view of his abilities. "You can nullify skills?"

"Sure... But it’s not as rare as you might believe," chuckled Woltin. "I think you’re much more interesting, having two bodies and more energy affinities than I can count. Who are you?"

"If I tell you, will you agree to just leave?" Jack laughed, teleporting to face Woltin directly, lunging forward at top speed to grip the mage.

However, living vines sprouted from Woltin’s energy and rushed to grab Jack first. A frown spread around Jack as he teleported away to narrowly evade the barbs of the powerful vines.

Sighing, Jack stated, "Nature, poison, and nullification... You’re an annoying foe... Why bother with you?!"

Suddenly, Jack teleported above the crowd of constructs. Thick spatial energy began to gather around Jack’s hands as he eyed the constructs jumping at him. Jack readied himself to grip the fabric of space but he suddenly felt his own energy fizzle out. He was forced to teleport away and avoid the dozen or so constructs about to leap onto him.

"Come on... At least let me--"

"We need those to open the barrier," commented Woltin, who used his thorny vines to keep some distance from the nearby constructs. "If I let you take them out, I think it’s obvious that you’d just grab the core instead of fighting us 2-v-2."

"What gave you that idea?" Jack asked, tilting his head innocently. Jack also punch through a few bestial construct skulls as he clicked his tongue in disappointment.

"Wollice, hurry up and--"

"Want to switch?" the sword-wielding twin laughed as he evaded the swift jabs of a teleporting rapier. "Come tag me out if you like..."

"Seems he needs help. Why not--"

Before Jack could finish his taunting joke, a javelin of holy energy flashed past his head. The hero whistled after dodging the attack. "Someone’s more fl.u.s.tered than their letting on... Don’t blame me for what comes next..."

Suddenly, Woltin felt a hand grabbing the top of his head. "What--"

"Cerebral Collapse!" Jack laughed as he cut the battle short. Or, at least while he tried to. "What?!"

Woltin then lashed out at Jack’s ninja clone, easily crushing the false copy of Jack. "If you want me to believe that’s really you, then you’ll need to better distribute your energy."

"Right..." Jack sighed, taking note of that comment but also paying close attention to how Woltin was situated. "You made an anti-energy barrier? Is that why you attacked my copy instead of your nearby vines?"

"That--"

"You’ve never attacked anyone personally, not with your own hands. Then again, I’ve yet to see someone get that close to you. But it would explain why you’re so calm and cool against all of my attacks..." Jack deduced, convinced that he was onto something. "You’re a mythic cosmician and your brother is a martial cosmician, right? That’s why he nullifies skills with his sword, making my double a difficult opponent, while you can sit back and be the greatest support. Sound about right?"

Chapter 720

Not wanting to give away anything more, Woltin smiled and sighed, "You’re a worthy opponent... Want to work with us from now on?"

"Huh?" Jack was somewhat thrown for a loop. He and Woltin both continued with AOE attacks against the construct as they conversed for a moment. "Is that a job offer I’m hearing?"

"Why not? We can--"

"I’ll stop you right there..." Jack sighed and wagged his finger. "Sorry, but you can’t tempt me. I’m aiming for much higher than working within a zone..."

"Then I suppose we were right to assume you all are connected to Daruun?" asked Woltin, trying to take control of the conversation. "Can you--"

"Sorry, I can’t hear you over my next attack!" Jack shouted, spreading spectral flares every which way. The ensuing flames even targeted Jack’s double and Wollice, along with the entire room.

A sudden shockwave of white energy then passed over the room. That energy forcibly rendered the spectral flares useless. But Jack wasn’t disappointed at all.

"You... separated my fire and spatial energies?" Jack guessed, following his gut feeling after experiencing the energy nullification on such a large scale.

"I have no need to explain my skill to an opponent!" laughed Woltin, who was regrowing a new set of poisonous vines.

"But if you can theoretically prove that it impossible for me to win, then I’ll probably just give up..." Jack shrugged, now acting disappointed in his failure of an attack. "What’s the use of wasting a good friendship by demoralizing each other? How come we can’t just talk it out? I’ve already shown you my trump card but you’ve only given me a taste of yours. Please? Maybe I’ll consider an internship under you guys to learn new skills..."

"For some reason, I want to doubt everything your saying," chuckled Woltin.

"Same!" Wollice grunted, parrying the rapier as Jack’s double teleported to evade a powerful wave of sword energy. "Surrender, and then we’ll talk!"

"Really? You’ll give up your secrets if I just give up?" Jack asked, smiling excitedly. "Why didn’t you just say so?! Information is always the greatest treasure!"

The next moment, both Jacks suddenly vanished and reappeared at the wall furthest from the purple barrier and the attacking constructs. Both Jacks spoke together, giving the twins a thumbs up, "They’re all yours!"

But a slew of sword attacks targeted both Jacks, forcing them to teleport back near their earlier positions. While Jack’s double continued to attack Wollice, Jack frowned and complained, "What’s wrong? We’re letting you--"

"Jack, give up your card already!" Woltin laughed, sending more and more vines toward Jack while hurling beams of light at Jack as well.

"That’s no fun though..." Playing along, Jack focused on evasion. He kept close to the vines so that the constructs were partially obstructed and used more brainpower to evaluate the situation further.

That earlier pulse of nullifying energy had wiped out all of Jack’s attacks but it had also torn apart Woltin’s own spell. With that in mind, it was easy to assume that nullification magic was a double-edged sword. Jack also took into consideration how his energy felt upon being nullified. It wasn’t that it was now out of Jack’s control, but more so that the bonded energies were forcibly separated and then reduced to raw energy without any affinity. Not wanting to share his thoughts aloud and alert the twins that he was onto something, Jack reached a few key questions in his mind.

Can they precisely control what they nullify? Jack already knew the answer to that was no as the nullification skill couldn’t discriminate between Jack’s and Woltin’s attacks, so Jack moved on to the next question. Does nullification overwrite Jack’s control of his own energy? The answer to that was both yes and no since Jack wasn’t able to stop or impede the nullification but the nullification would necessarily usurp control of his energy either. That brought Jack to his final thought. Would nullification work on raw energy? That’s was what Jack still need to find out if he wanted to win this fight.

Jack couldn’t think of any skill fitting for his test, but he came up with a simple test that might work.

The hero turned himself invisible and repositioned himself.

"Not bad!" Woltin laughed. "You’re dispersing your energy among invisible clones, you’re learning!"

"Well, you’re acting as a great teacher. Now, let me test a theory, professor!"

Woltin blinked as he suddenly felt a rush of energy appearing at his left flank. He wasn’t too worried at first but suddenly became more alarmed and turned to face the threat directly. "Nice try!"

The man’s staff was thrust forward, piercing the raw cosmic energy and forcibly repelling it to Woltin’s sides. Effectively, Woltin split the energy in two but failed to disperse it completely.

"Ohhh... So that’s how nullification skills work!" Jack cackled, coming back into view. He stood a few meters away from Woltin as proof that he was the one who had caused the attack. Sweating a little, Jack added, "So nullifying skill don’t nullify energy, it strips energy of their affinities and forcibly turns energy into raw energy, which is already incredibly hard to control. It’s quite a powerful strategy, I must say..."

"If you already understand it, then why keep fighting?" Woltin asked, noticing the strain Jack felt from making the last attack. "Sure, you could technically defeat us with raw energy. But you would need far more energy than you could ever control, let alone produce without relying on your affinities. So why not--"

"I give up."

Both twins were taken aback by Jack’s sudden statement, as well as the retreat of Jack’s double. Jack’s double appeared at his side while he stated, "I give up. There’s no point in fighting your two if I can’t win."

"Then--"

"You should give up too," Jack added, startling the twins further. "It would be best for us to go separate ways and for you to just let me handle things here. Tell you what, I’ll teleport you two back into the main treasure chamber so you--"

"NO DEAL!" Woltin and Wollice shouted in unison.

"Fine..." Jack sighed, nodding to himself before his double teleported out of the room. "Then I guess we’ll surrender together..."