"What…did…you…do?!" the Blaze Scion bellowed, even while temporarily stunned by Adam's [Incapacitating Shout].

"I showed you the reason," whispered Adam into his ear as he appeared behind the Drathan after using [Gladiator's Approach]. "That is why I have a bounty."

A horrified expression replaced the anger on the Drathan. Adam's large sword swung with both arms and hit the Blaze Scion in the side. The blade cut through his robe and then hit the red cracked skin, sinking in by a few inches.

The pain was enough to break the stun on the Blaze Scion, and he moved sideways before Adam's weapon could cut any further.

"But what did you do?!" he screamed, half demanding and half pleading.

Adam smiled at him.

"You've been cut off from the [System]," explained Adam with brutal satisfaction.

"That isn't possible," gasped the Blizzard Mistress with horror.

Turning to her, Adam expanded. Each point hit the three Drathan harder than his fists could have. "No status menu, no assigning levels or evolutions, and no notifications. Plus, I can steal your XP and energy."

"But that would make you as powerful as the [System] itself," said the Blaze Scion in disbelief.

Adam shrugged, then taunted him by saying, "not yet, but someday. Now you know why the bounty is so high. If an enemy doesn't kill me, then their future and progression will be cut off. Just…like…you!"

The three Drathan were more stunned by Adam's words than by his roar. The Blaze Scion stumbled backwards. Even though he had been bleeding, it wasn't enough to stop someone with his power. His arms dropped from the shock and the sword practically fell from them.

While the Drathan all stopped attacking, Lamar notched an arrow, but held it, bow drawn and skills triggered. Adam also waited to see what would happen next. Nick kept his binding skill on the Blizzard Mistress but looked at Adam with uncertainty.

None of them really enjoyed killing, even though they knew the purpose of it, and without the rage and corruption that constantly shouted at Adam, his instinctive need to finish off all the invaders was gone. He could finally guide his decisions by logic instead of fury.

The Aerial Bombadeer was the first to speak, fear as strong in his eyes as the other two enemies, and he addressed Adam.

"Will…will you give us the same offer as Kolrath?"

The words were spoken hesitantly, almost with desperation. Adam hadn't seen any Drathan lick their lips, but in that moment, he could imagine the invader doing just that as he stuttered. Adam's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Offer?" he asked back.

"To allow us to leave," said the Drathan slowly. "Our forces will retreat to our world. You can keep our bases."

"It's my understanding that someone would need to stay behind to operate the portal," said Adam.

"I…will stay," offered the Aerial Bombadeer with the weight of self-sacrifice. "As long as you don't cut off my progress, then I will stay to allow my people to leave. If possible, send me to another world in the future so that I might return home."

Adam stared him down. Their eyes met for almost a minute as Adam tried to gauge how much he could trust this invader. The Bombadeer's independent eyes both gazed back, quivering as they wanted to drop, but the Drathan kept them linked to Adam's.

With a curt nod of acknowledgement from Adam, the Aerial Bombadeer exhaled in relief. His shoulders and head drooped, and his bladed wand fell to the ground in surrender. But not everyone shared his decision. To Adam's surprise, the next to speak was the Blizzard Mistress, and her façade had dropped, replaced by pure desperation.

"No…" said she quietly, before shouting, "NO! You can't take my progress, my future, or my life!"

Red flashed in her hands, eyes, and mouth in succession. Freezing wind gusted out of her. Ice consolidated out of the air and formed three statues that looked just like her. The ground radiating from her also flash froze.

"[Glory of the Frozen Storm]!" she shouted her skills. "[Avatars of Ice]! [Hoarfrost]!"

Without the heat pulsing through him, Adam felt the cold slowing his muscles. The air could barely enter his lungs as all moisture in it condensed to form shards of ice that spun around the area like a cyclone in a blizzard.

Adam wasn't the only person affected as the support soldiers nearby gasped for air, fell to the ground, or tried to hide from the ice. Even Nick and Lamar choked while they fought to keep their focus. Nick's binding broke and he fell backwards.

Lamar hadn't waited. His arrow released as soon as the Blizzard Mistress flashed with skill use. The gusts that projected from her changed the arrow's trajectory, so instead of taking her in the chest, it embedded into her shoulder, spinning her body from the inertia.

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She didn't even seem to notice the attack since she continued to scream while releasing as many skills as she could. Ice walls formed around her. The wind spun with gale force, pushing hard against everyone while carrying hail and ice shards that pelted them.

Adam could barely see through the storm she had created, but there was someone else that he could see just fine as fire surged around the Blaze Scion. He became a beacon in the storm that melted any ice near him as flames surrounded him as if he was an Assunax.

"I can't go home like this!" his bellow was barely audible through the winds, even though he shouted with all his force. "But if I kill you, then the [System] can fix me. It will fix me! Right?!"

The flames cleared the area around him, protecting the Blaze Scion from the out-of-control Blizzard Mistress. Even the Aerial Bombadeer was huddling to protect himself from the storm.

Three ice avatars were also approaching as if the wind offered them no obstruction. One avatar approached each of the humans, Nick, Lamar, and Adam to attack them, even as the Blaze Scion charged Adam.

Adam raised his own sword. The ice storm wasn't enough to stop his movements, but scratches were dug into his leather gloves and pants, and cuts were quickly appearing on his exposed arms, neck, and head. The hoarfrost was also trying to form all over his body to slow his movement.

His sword was barely raised in time as the Blaze Scion jumped and then swung his own sword downwards at Adam.

Fire infused the invader's sword. It intensified as it wrapped around the Blaze Scion. As Adam blocked it with his own sword, the flames lashed out and enveloped Adam as well. His skin began to burn, his blood from the cuts caused by the ice sizzled, and even his Feral Behemoth leather armor became charred on the outside.

Adam gasped in pain. He was always surprised when the berserker rage wasn't there to numb his pain to ensure he could keep fighting through dangerous conditions. The flamed forced Adam to close his eyes to prevent the fluid inside from boiling.

Relying on his soul map, he found the Blaze Scion's soul and used [Soul Bolt] on him. The Blaze Scion staggered backwards with a scream, his flames weakening before surging with renewed intensity.

Fortunately, Adam wasn't the only one in this fight. All three of the Drathan were focusing on Adam, which allowed Nick to fade from sight with his stealth skills. Arrows also continued to fly. Two came for the Blaze Scion, although they melted immediately after penetrating his cracked skin. Others flew towards the Blizzard Mistress, unable to aim properly since the winds shifted them around, which prevented Lamar from getting a straight shot at her.

"Enough!" shouted Adam as he used the pseudo-skill for [Arc Shockwave].

Force erupted from him. The Blaze Scion was knocked backwards, sliding on the water from the hoarfrost that melted everywhere he moved. The flames were pushed back, twisting into the storm and melting the ice shards that still flew around. The nearby avatar of ice was also hit, deforming half its body to the point where it only walked with one leg and dragged the other.

The heat from the Blaze Scion had melted the hoarfrost that had crept onto Adam, and with the winds momentarily warm, he had his full range of motion. Adam lunged forward, both hands on his triangular great sword pointed forward at his side. As the Blaze Scion yelled while he brought his own sword to block, Adam used [Gladiator's Approach] to teleport, mid attack.

He appeared at the same side of the Blaze Scion where he had cut before and thrust the sword into his side. The tip entered through the existing gash in the skin. The Blaze Scion screamed, flashed red with a skill, and his flames roared outwards.

Adam felt the penetrating tip of the sword melting before moving further into the invader. The metal bubbled and sizzled at the entrance to the body, and Adam had to step back, seeing that about a foot of the blade tip was no longer on the warped sword.

Another scream caught Adam's attention and out of the side of his eye, he saw Nick driving his combat knife into the collar of the Blizzard Mistress. She already had six arrows in different places and angles throughout her body.

"[Kinetic Impact]," used Adam as he dropped his melted sword and his hands began to glow.

He slid to his side and then both fists punched out, catching the Blaze Scion in his chest. The power of the pseudo-skill knocked the fiery Drathan into the air where he struggled to get his balance.

Adam's aim with the strike was good as the invader arced upwards and then landed on the Blizzard Mistress. Nick was already retreating, his knife left in the enemy. He was flexing his arm to try and break off the ice that had formed on it from being so close to the Blizzard Mistress.

As the fire and ice Drathan collided, both screamed. But then someone unexpected called out a skill.

"[Atmospheric Implosion]."

If was said with sadness. A disappointing need to end this conflict due to fear of what it would cost.

The Aerial Bombadeer's outstretched hand flashed red. Then all the air in the area was drawn into a point. Wind, ice, and flames converged. They were all pulled together and compressed. Pressure built as the conflicting elements occupied the same space.

An orb formed at the center of the skill. It was like a black hole, except instead of being drawn all the way in, layer after layer of pressure consolidated towards the center. Adam and his friends struggled to resist being drawn in with the air.

Then the power could no longer be contained and it all exploded outwards, throwing everyone standing nearby around, kicking up the rumbling in the area, and obliterating those who had been near the center of the skill.

Drathan "Blizzard Mistress [7]" slain. 11,959 shared XP gained.

Drathan "Blaze Scion [9]" slain. 12,427 shared XP gained.

The corpses of both Drathan dropped to the ground. The ice that had protected the Blizzard Mistress had melted off her and a large chunk of her body had been destroyed. The left side of her neck, shoulder, chest, and torso were all missing.

The Blaze Scion's corpse wasn't in better shape, as without the flames it was easy to see that his chest and back had a gaping hole in them. No loose organs or blood came out as they had all been compressed and exploded around them.

Adam looked over to the Aerial Bombadeer. The Drathan frowned at the scene, looking devastated by his own choice and action. Adam walked over and picked up the Blaze Scion's sword, which had the blade twisted a little from the overlapping skills and elements. It was still in better shape than Adam's melted great sword.

Nick had unsheathed new combat knives in each hand and Lamar was shivering with frost on him as he still aimed an empowered arrow at the Aerial Bombadeer.

"I did it for my people," whispered the last remaining Drathan as he looked mournfully at Adam. "We were rivals more than friends, but I never wanted their deaths. I saw no other way forward. What you can do is too dangerous to fight against."

His words were more a plea than explanation. He practically begged Adam to justify what had been done, to offer encouragement or forgiveness for his betrayal of his comrades.

Unfortunately, even without the rage, Adam didn't have sympathy for the invaders. His words confirmed that as he raised the Blaze Scion's sword and leveled it at the Aerial Bombadeer.

"Call your soldiers. It's time for them to leave my world."

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