Malakai’s eyes narrowed as the dust began to clear. Then…
Boom!
A small shockwave erupted as the dust suddenly scattered, and Gruden dropped to the ground from the wall with a pained grunt.
Crimson blood dripped from his battered face, and the sound of gritted teeth broke his silence.
“Shit!” he roared.
His head was filled with nothing but pain.
That punch… it would’ve shattered his skull if he hadn’t hardened the blood in his head just in time.
Gritting his teeth, his mind replayed the entire sequence once more. Malakai’s sudden sprint… the explosion… he had been baited.
His eyes burned with hate.
“I’ll kill that bastard!”
His head snapped up, ready to charge toward Malakai, but his eyes widened in the next instant.
Right in front of his face, a small circular object had appeared inches away, and before he could react, a burst of vita hit it.
“What—”
BOOM!
The explosion rocked him again.
Gruden screamed, thrashing on the ground in pain.
“Haaaaaaa!” he roared, his fists clenching the hard ground. All he felt was agony.
His face was now raw, burnt, and bloodied.
“I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!!” he howled.
As he opened his eyes to rise, his breath stopped.
‘How…?’
His eyes trembled.
The edge of a scythe, gleaming and cold, had appeared inches away from his face, just before his right eye.
And behind it, was none other than Malakai.
Expressionless. Eyes like ice.
Gruden barely had time to process.
Shhk!
The blade pierced through his eye and drove deep into his skull.
Gruden’s body twitched once, then stilled.
Malakai pulled his blade free with a smooth motion, stepping back as the blood dripped down.
His breath came in deep, ragged gasps as Gruden’s corpse hit the floor with a heavy thud.
But he didn’t relax. Not even for a second.
He shot to the right, just in time to evade the air-splitting strike from the darkness creature that hurtled down behind him.
Regaining his balance, Malakai broke into a sprint again, pushing his body to its limits, his mind racing.
‘Now that the threat’s been taken care of… let’s move to our main threat.’
Without Gruden in the picture, Malakai finally had the space to reassess.
He turned to examine the situation in the hall, and his eyes widened in disbelief.
‘What… happened?’
In the few moments he’d been distracted, so many things seemed to have occurred.
The grade two summoner still stood silently in the center, observing.
But that wasn’t what stunned him.
It was the other descendants. Or to be more specific, descendant.
‘Looks like I wasn’t the only one with the idea…’
Malakai hadn’t been the only one who thought to get rid of the other competitors using the chaos. Zeronis had also moved.
Not only had he taken down the Durandal youth, but somehow, even the Aurelius youth had fallen.
Of the five descendants that made it to the final, only two remained now: Zeronis… and Malakai.
But unlike Malakai, who had struggled against one grade one enhancer, Zeronis was facing three simultaneously.
He weaved between their strikes, his blade flashing, slicing through limbs like paper.
‘As expected.’
Zeronis’ threat level skyrocketed in Malakai’s mind.
Direct descendants were the pride of the grand and great families of the dome. From a young age, they weren’t just talented, they were sculpted for war. Trained by elites, given unmatched resources, and raised to dominate.
As the Third Vein of the Sanguine family, Zeronis was showing exactly why he was a different breed.
Malakai ducked another crushing strike, before his eyes shifted toward the summoner… and then they sharpened.
It had suddenly raised its hand, and darkness pooled in front of it once more.
In an instant, another grade one enhancer emerged from the darkness.
At this sight, Malakai’s heart froze, but then he exhaled, relieved.
The creature didn’t charge at him. Instead, it raced toward Zeronis.
‘Looks like it sees him as the bigger threat.’
Now surrounded by four darkness creatures, Zeronis was bombarded from all sides. Even with his strength, the strain began to show. His movements slowed, and he was forced to defend more than strike.
‘Should I go after the summoner?’
The thought appeared in Malakai’s mind. This was why he had concluded that winning this battle was possible despite it being a grade two darkness creature.
Aside from their powerful summons, most of them were weak.
But if he struck now and took it down, he’d be left alone with Zeronis. And that wasn’t a situation he wanted.
‘I have to wait.’
He calmed himself down. Making rash moves hadn’t brought him this far. He would wait for an opportunity.
‘Patience.’
His gaze flicked back to Zeronis, just in time to see him explode in power.
Veins bulged across his face and neck, and his speed surged, blitzing through the encircling creatures, their forms parting in his wake.
His blade flashed, drawn for a lethal strike as he charged toward the summoner in the middle of the hall.
‘He ignored the summons and went after the summoner!’ Malakai realized.
Suddenly, the summoner’s eyes narrowed. And it raised both hands.
Whoosh!
In an instant, it vanished into smoke, replaced by the grade one enhancer that had previously been charging toward Malakai.
BAM!
The creature’s momentum-fueled punch collided with Zeronis’ chest, sending him flying backward, straight into the waiting arms of the other four enhancers.
Malakai’s eyes narrowed into pinpricks.
‘So that’s its unique ability.’
He’d seen it clearly.
The summoner had swapped places with its summon at the last possible second, using the latter’s momentum to ambush Zeronis.
But that wasn’t what was currently on his mind.
No, it was one undeniable fact:
It had swapped with one of its summons…
Plus, the chilling sensation Malakai had felt behind him was now gone.
It was obvious, the grade one enhancer was no longer behind him. And in its place…
‘It’s behind me.’
The summoner should’ve chosen one of the other four enhancers to switch with, considering their close proximity. But it hadn’t. It had focused solely on Zeronis, as though it knew he was the real threat.
Unlike Zeronis, Malakai couldn’t even handle one grade one enhancer. He was far too slow.
Which meant, it hadn’t considered Malakai a threat.
A fatal mistake.
Malakai’s hand dipped into the sack at his waist, pulling out a full devil fruit. He threw everything into his mouth and bit into half of it—
Crack!
Power exploded through his veins. His grip tightened on his scythe.
He stomped forward, the ground cracking beneath his feet, then spun, his scythe whirling with him.
Behind him, the summoner had just appeared in the air, a small smile on its devilish face as it watched Zeronis tumbling through the air.
Its plan had worked. Now that Zeronis had been caught off guard and punched, defeating him would be easy.
But then, it suddenly felt danger emanating from every inch of this being.
It spun, trying to get a glimpse of its attacker, but it was too late.
It couldn’t even turn and only caught the gleam of Malakai’s spinning scythe.
SHKKT!
The blade pierced clean through its skull, carving through with force.
Its smile vanished before its body twitched, then slumped.