Both Malakai and Jerom’s eyes narrowed as their minds raced. This wasn’t like the last riddle, there was no ambiguity. It was direct. Straightforward.
And for minds like theirs, the meaning was clear the moment they read it.
‘Only one team can leave this hall.’
Their gazes met once again, but this time, it was colder, sharper.
“I’ll take the left,” Malakai’s cold words followed.
Jerom’s hands trembled slightly, a movement that Malakai didn’t miss.
“…I’ll take the right,” Jerom replied after a second.
They both nodded, then turned toward the rapidly approaching trio of descendants.
‘No grand clans. Good.’ Malakai was relieved.
The grand clans were the overlords of the dome. They were clans who had member with an insane amount of potential and power.
In direct confrontations, a descendant of a grand clan would often overpower one from a great clan of equal rank and experience. And to an unevolved like Malakai, it was like adding an extra obstacle.
But these three, fortunately, belonged to the great clans.
The first was from the Glandular Clan. They manipulated hormones and enzymes, capable of affecting emotions and actions through biological influence.
The second was from the Cerebral Clan, known for their intellect-based abilities, coldly strategic, relentlessly curious, and tactically precise.
The third belonged to the Sonata Clan, and they were users of sound-based manipulation, able to use their voice and vibrations to fight or defend.
Malakai’s attention settled on his target to the right, a girl.
Beautiful was an understatement. She looked ethereal, barely in her teens, with near-perfect features. She had soft pink hair and eyes, and every movement she made was fluid, graceful, and oddly magnetic.
There was an unnatural softness to her presence, a subtle pull that made people instinctively want to protect her… to worship her.
‘Glandular Clan descendant,’ Malakai noted calmly. ‘She’s already releasing pheromones.’
He narrowed his eyes.
This was one of their main abilities, manipulating others through pheromones to influence behavior, emotion, even desire.
But there was no time for admiration or hesitation.
In the very next instant, both Malakai and Jerom exploded forward, the latter having eaten the last bit of the devil’s fruit.
‘Three seconds,’ Malakai thought calmly.
This was the time it took for the effects of the devil’s fruit to vanish. He would end this in that time frame.
The three approaching descendants visibly flinched, caught off guard by the sudden aggression. Their steps stopped as they wondered what was going on.
As they felt Malakai and Jerom’s hostility, their expressions hardened. In the next instant, their guards rose. Their weapons drawn, and auras flared to life.
But Malakai and Jerom didn’t slow down. They turned to their targets and surged forward.
Seeing this, the Glandular girl’s expression shifted. Her hand lifted toward him, and Malakai instantly felt it.
A wave of influence washed over him.
A subtle urge to stop.
To stare.
To submit.
To admire.
To bow.
To worship.
But his gaze flashed, calculating.
‘There it is.’
He had already anticipated this. Using the information he had on their clan, he had already devised a plan.
‘Their influence isn’t that great yet. At their level of evolution, they can only emit pheromones within a fixed radius. The closer I get, the stronger the effect will be. But…’
His thoughts sharpened.
‘For now, to maintain that influence, they need to constantly concentrate. Which means… if I disrupt that focus before I near her, the effect collapses.’
His hand shot to the gun strapped to his waist.
He didn’t raise it. He kept it low, at his side, aimed directly at his target.
The guns crafted within the dome weren’t like the ones of the old world. They didn’t fire bullets, but concentrated bursts of volatile vita.
They weren’t sharp enough to pierce evolved flesh, but powerful enough to deliver a concussive force that could knock a target off balance, shatter focus, or send someone flying.
But its only flaw was speed.
Malakai pulled the trigger.
A burst of vita surged from the barrel, a glowing orb of compressed force hurtling through the air.
The girl’s eyes sharpened instantly. She reacted with instinct, bending low to dodge the incoming shot.
But in that moment, her focus broke.
‘It’s gone.’
That was all he needed.
‘One second.’
Malakai’s eyes glinted. He surged forward, closing the distance in an instant.
The girl’s expression changed. Her eyes widened as she realized her mistake too late. She reached behind her back and unsheathed two slender daggers, slashing out to intercept him.
But Malakai was already moving.
He slipped past her first strike, ducking low, his scythe swinging in a fluid arc.
Whirl—CRACK!
A clean slash tore through her right leg, severed from the knee down.
“AHHHHH!”
A scream ripped the air from her throat as blood sprayed across the floor. She staggered, trying to retreat with her remaining leg, but Malakai didn’t give her the chance.
His scythe rolled again, and her left leg was sliced clean.
She collapsed, her screams echoing across the hall, a pool of blood rapidly spreading beneath her.
Malakai walked slowly toward her writhing on the floor.
Both her legs had been severed, blood gushed freely from the wounds, painting the floor beneath her in crimson.
Her once graceful demeanor was gone, replaced by a pitiful state with tears streaming down her face. She no longer looked like the ethereal girl from earlier.
She looked broken.
As her eyes turned to face Malakai, her entire body shook.
“P-Please… the G-Glandular Clan… w-we’re allies… a-allies of the S-Sanguine… d-don’t kill me…”
The Glandular Clan were one of the great clans under the Sanguine rule. In any event, their descendants were expected to be allies.
But her tears only intensified as she saw the emotionless gaze that stared back at her.
Malakai didn’t respond. And although he looked calm, his clenched hands betrayed his emotions.
His grip on the scythe had tightened visibly, knuckles pale beneath his gloves.
‘It’s harder than I thought…’