"Is this the end of the world?" Cannibal lifted his head from within the tall, yellow grass, his gaze fixed on the distant island across the shimmering energy sea, where the ground trembled under a series of violent quakes.

His face was as it had always been: gray skin; a mouth deformed and split almost to the ears; teeth that had once fallen out but now seemed regrown, crowding his gums like sharp thorns.

His face and clothes were caked in grime from the fieldwork he had to do every day, and he slept on bare soil, since there was not even a simple bed in this place.

He looked impoverished and poorly kept, his condition a direct result of living circumstances that were far from anything resembling human dignity.

There was nowhere to shelter and nothing proper to eat. The only food left to him was the insects that lived in the dirt, and even those he had to wrestle from oversized roosters that roamed the area.

He had, more than once, considered that eating one of those well-fed chickens wouldn't hurt anyone, but with Adyr's presence, more precisely his energy body, constantly showing itself like a guard, he forced the urge down and went back to meaty bugs, chewing them whenever hunger returned.

Worse, the entire region kept expanding regularly, and with it came a constant stream of new and unsettling oddities.

The colossal Citadelith was one of them.

It wasn't as terrifying as the enormous Serpent that appeared now and then only to vanish at once, yet at night, Cannibal could hear screams and strange noises drifting from that vast structure, making what little sleep he managed shredded to nothing.

"I hope this corrupted place collapses," Cannibal muttered, watching as the structure truly seemed to be falling apart for reasons he could not name.

He felt like a prisoner in this world with nowhere to run. His only hope for freedom was for all the Sanctuary to come down, and for a moment, he let himself believe that dream might come true.

His hope shattered when Adyr's energy body drifted into view, hovering calmly over the Citadelith.

A soothing, warm light welled from that energy form and poured over the Citadelith's crown, and the crumbling stone began to knit itself back together. Walls that had been giving way started to reform.

"Damn it," Cannibal said under his breath, careful not to draw attention since he wasn't alone.

Even so, the thing that shared these grounds with him, something like a roommate in misery, must have noticed him. The dry grass rustled ahead, and a pair of long antennae rose and dipped as they drew closer.

The Ant he had befriended some time ago was coming in for what it thought was a hug.

"I hate this place. I hate ants," Cannibal muttered in raw despair, ducked low, and began to crawl on his hands, hoping the annoying Spark would not find him.

—

Looks like I made the right choice picking the Citadelith, Adyr thought.

He was feeling every lash of pain from the red beam, yet there was no mark on his skin.

The Rank 4 Spark was successfully diverting all the damage into its stone body. Even so, the Citadelith could not bear everything. But thanks to the aid of his bloodline talent, Grace, its defenses rose another tier, turning the combination into a near-perfect bulwark.

It only needed to hold a little longer. Adyr had already laid out his strategy in his mind. The Citadelith and Grace were not his only means to endure this attack.

As fractions of seconds crawled by, the red beam began to lose power by degrees.

The Citadelith, however, neared its limit. When the inflicted damage mounted to the point that the Rank 4 Spark looked ready to crumble entirely, even with Grace's influence, Adyr cut the connection to save it from destruction.

In that instant, the still-raging beam struck his body directly.

His dark Malice armor strained to hold, plates cracking in many places. The flesh beneath began to soften and slough, then to melt and vaporize, vanishing into the heat so completely it seemed to turn to light.

"No, he hit his limit." Liora cried out again. This time, Adyr truly looked as if he would die.

Even Sevrak, though his features were hidden behind his helmet, faltered. His hand dipped slightly, the movement of a man hesitating.

Adyr's endurance had been astonishing. It had already shaken the arrogance of Sevrak's logic. Now, as Adyr's body started to come apart, Sevrak wavered, ready to stop before he killed him.

Then soon, another shocking event unfolded before every eye.

While Adyr's body continued to melt and most of his skin burned away, white bone showed through the heat; then his entire form suddenly burst into a gray cloud and vanished.

"What happened?" For a heartbeat, Sevrak stared, then he lowered his hand, and the attack ended.

The very next second, where the gray vapor dispersed, Adyr's body reappeared, whole and unmarked.

"What did you do?" Sevrak asked, baffled, as he took in Adyr's undamaged Black Dragon armor, intact from crown to heel, as if nothing had touched it at all.

Adyr let out a low chuckle at the sight of Sevrak's surprise. "I think it's my win, isn't it?"

Whether Sevrak had run out of power or chosen to stop for his own reasons did not matter to Adyr.

The attack had ended, and he had survived, so he felt no shame in claiming victory. If anything, it was fortunate Sevrak had halted, thinking Adyr dead.

Had the assault continued, Adyr could not be sure he would have endured much longer.

His new innate ability, Time Devour, was overpowered, but not without limits. He could not use it endlessly, and it only worked on his physical body. Also, though the Citadelith was safe within his Sanctuary, it was still damaged and would be unusable for a while.

Sevrak didn't answer immediately. He hovered in measured stillness, red leather wings beating in a steady rhythm; when he finally spoke, his dragonoid voice sounded weary, the words leaving him like a long exhale: "So this is the kind of power the children of the gods are born with. What an unfair world."

He looked truly dispirited. Never in his life would he have imagined a Rank 3 could survive his attacks, and yet he had witnessed it with his own eyes and felt it with his own hands.

He turned his gaze to the three Titled Practitioners. "It seems there is nothing left for me to gain here. I will grant you and your loved ones your lives."

Without another word, he climbed into the sky on beating wings, rising until he was lost to the night like a memory people try to forget.

Adyr deactivated the Malice armor on his body and watched in silence. His crimson eyes sharpened on the darkness beyond, his face composed and empty of emotion, as he murmured, "Even in defeat, he carries the same air of superiority. What a dangerous man."

He had the feeling this would not be the last time he saw that stubborn old man.

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