Two hours after the survival round began, the abandoned city was no longer quiet. Smoke rose from multiple areas, a ten-story building on the east side had lost nearly half its exterior, fire burning through its broken windows, and the elevated bridge that had been struck and snapped had collapsed to block the entire road below.
The corpses of several Partners lay scattered through alleyways, but most of the fallen representatives’ bodies were dissolved by the trial’s light shortly after their energy transferred to the victor.
The number of survivors was dropping at a terrifying pace.
[21.]
Less than three minutes later, it changed to [20], then continued to [19].
On the city’s west side, a silver figure burst through the glass of a building. Shards scattered across the corridor. The young man hiding inside had barely turned his head before he saw Cassian appear, and his expression changed instantly.
"Wait!"
Cassian didn’t stop. S-rank Acceleration erupted, closing a gap of over twenty meters in a single breath. The young man had just managed to raise his weapon when Cassian’s metal fist slammed straight into his stomach.
The combat armor caved in, and the man’s body flew backward through three consecutive walls before crashing hard into a concrete column at the end of the corridor. Blood spilled from his mouth as he struggled to prop himself up while Cassian walked over slowly. The silver-gray metal on Cassian’s right hand was still smeared with blood, but his breathing remained steady as though he’d just done something not worth mentioning.
"I... I give up." The young man gasped, frantically reaching for healing items. "I’m not competing for the championship anymore. If you want energy, I can help you find others. I know the positions of two guys to the north, we could..."
Cassian laughed, and the man immediately fell silent.
He leaned down, placing his metal hand on his opponent’s shoulder. "You’ve got it wrong. I don’t need your help."
The young man looked at him with terrified eyes.
Cassian squeezed, crushing the man’s shoulder bone, then continued speaking calmly through the agonized screams: "I just need you dead."
"Cassian!"
The man struggled, but his body was already too badly injured. Cassian watched the energy fluctuating inside him, the smile on his lips growing clearer. "You said killing you would be pointless? It’s not. You have energy."
His fist came down.
The young man’s head slammed into the wall a first time, a second time, and by the third the body had gone completely limp. White light appeared immediately, the corpse rapidly dissolving, and a stream of pale yellow energy burrowed straight into Cassian’s chest.
He closed his eyes, feeling the warmth course through his entire body. The energy spent in previous fights was replenished, and his aura had even grown slightly stronger. When he opened his eyes again, Cassian looked at his hand and smiled faintly.
"Now this is a real reward."
Just outside the corridor, a girl stood frozen in place. She wore the uniform of Safe Zone 7, the same emblem on her chest as Cassian’s. Her gaze lingered on the spot where the body had just vanished before slowly rising.
"Cassian..."
He recognized her. "Serah."
Serah’s face went even paler. She was also a Zone 7 representative, had trained alongside Cassian before entering the Trial Gate. Just hours ago, the two of them had stood in the same formation behind Marcus Vane; yet now, Cassian stood before her with someone else’s blood still on his hands.
"Who was that just now?" Serah asked.
"Zone 12."
"I’m not asking about him." She tightened her grip on her sword hilt. "I’m asking about the sixth person you killed. Del."
Cassian furrowed his brows slightly as if trying to remember, then nodded. "Oh."
"’Oh’?" Serah’s voice trembled with anger. "Del was one of ours."
Cassian looked at her. "So?"
Serah froze, and Cassian had already stepped forward. "There’s only one champion. Say we cooperate until the end, then what? Who yields? You yield, or Del yields?"
She pressed her lips together, unable to say a word.
Cassian spread both arms, his smile full of mockery. "See? In the end, someone still has to die. I’m just saving time."
"You’ve lost your mind." Serah looked at him as though looking at a stranger.
The smile on Cassian’s face slowly disappeared. "Watch how you talk to me."
Serah drew her sword. The blade had barely left the sheath before Cassian vanished from her sight. Serah’s eyes flew wide as a metal hand clamped around her throat, lifted her off the ground, and slammed her back into the wall.
She tried to slash down, but Cassian blocked the blade with his other arm. Metal clashed with a sharp ring, and the sword was knocked aside. Cassian watched Serah struggle, the irritation on his face gradually fading, replaced by a faint, cold smile.
"You know what I hate the most?" He leaned in closer, his voice very soft. "It’s weaklings who always feel the need to lecture the strong."
Metal spread across Cassian’s fingers. Serah’s eyes went wide, but she had no chance to resist. A snap rang out, her neck broken, and her body went limp instantly.
Cassian released his hand. White light appeared again, and a seventh stream of energy entered his body.
[Representatives remaining: 18.]
Cassian looked at the notification. In two hours, seven people had died by his hand, one of whom had been a teammate. But he didn’t feel he’d done anything wrong; on the contrary, everything felt increasingly logical. A competition that only allowed one person to survive and yet someone was still bringing up teammates, cooperation, and loyalty, that was nothing but self-deception.
If only one person could stand at the top, everyone else was already just an obstacle.
What difference did it make whether you killed them early or late?
Cassian walked to the broken window. Outside, the electromagnetic dome had begun its second shrink, and the areas along the city’s outer edges were gradually being swallowed by blue-white lightning. A building that had just crossed outside the safe zone was immediately swept by a bolt; its concrete surface instantly glowed red-hot, then exploded with a thunderous roar.
Cassian pulled out a simple tracking device. It couldn’t display participants’ positions, but he’d been following the sounds of combat to hunt down plenty of people. Only one target had produced virtually no movement from the very beginning.
Ethan Ashford.
The smile on Cassian’s lips slowly vanished. He remembered the order Marcus had given before they entered: if you encounter Ethan Ashford, kill him. But even without that order, Cassian still wanted to find Ethan.
He didn’t like how calm the guy’s eyes were, didn’t like how Ethan had looked at a score of over two million six hundred thousand and said "that’s it," and especially didn’t like how someone who’d chosen the Partner Mystery Box could walk around with a Mythical Red Dragon and a Necromancer that powerful.
Meanwhile he himself, the one an entire Safe Zone had poured resources into raising, had to claw his way to where he stood today on his own.
’Just some guy riding on luck.’
Cassian clenched his metal fist. He wanted to see how long Ethan could keep that composure once he lost his two Partners. More importantly, Marcus had given him a special item.
Cassian placed his hand on the small pouch at his hip. Inside was a deep crimson orb that could forcibly push his strength to peak Gold for a short time. He hadn’t planned on using it against Ethan, but if that Red Dragon really was as strong as the rumors said...
"Even better."
An unexpected explosion sounded to the south. Cassian turned his head; it wasn’t the sound of combat, but the noise of the electromagnetic dome colliding with something. Immediately after, a flash of crimson-violet light flared along the horizon.
Thunder and lightning.
Cassian remembered that energy signature perfectly. It belonged to Ethan’s Partner. He stepped onto the windowsill, the metal layer beginning to spread down both legs, S-rank Acceleration activating.
"Finally found you."
The window below shattered. Cassian launched from the building like a silver bullet.
Several kilometers away, beneath the sun umbrella set up in the middle of an abandoned plaza, Ethan was still lying in his chair. The electromagnetic dome’s second shrink had brought it to within a few hundred meters of them; massive bolts of electricity ran along its outer surface, but Laira, standing right at the edge, wasn’t being attacked at all.
Half of her Thunder Wing had unfurled. The dome’s lightning was pulled off course by the metallic feathers, then converted into streams of energy that flowed into the wings. The crimson-violet lightning around Thunder Wing grew brighter and brighter, and the status of the Cataclysmic Thunder Gate in Ethan’s interface was also gradually recovering thanks to the resonant energy.
Ethan sat up, the corner of his mouth curving. "Works after all."
Ruo Yan stood beside him, her expression having completely abandoned any attempt at surprise. She looked at the dome that was killing anyone outside the safe zone, then at Laira happily absorbing energy, then at the umbrella over Ethan’s head.
"I’m starting to feel like this trial was only designed for everyone else."
"Don’t say that." Ethan replied calmly. "It’s hot."
"This is an abandoned city."
"Still hot."
Ruo Yan decided not to argue anymore. Right then, the Necromancer standing some distance away suddenly turned its head toward the north. Ethan looked up too, because from between the crumbling buildings came a very faint sound of impact that quickly grew clearer.
BOOM!
A silver figure was streaking across the rooftops at extreme speed.
Laira turned her head, her eyes lighting up instantly. Ethan watched the trail of afterimages for a few seconds, then slowly rose from his chair.
"Looks like someone doesn’t want to let us rest anymore."
Ruo Yan narrowed her eyes. "Cassian?"
"Yeah."
Laira broke into an eager grin. "I fight?"
"Wait till he gets here."
In the distance, the corner of a building suddenly exploded. Cassian burst straight through the cloud of dust, the gap between the two sides closing rapidly. Ethan watched him, the corner of his mouth curving upward.
"Well, he came to us on his own anyway."
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