Tension grew thick like smog for a silent moment in the room. The intense scent of melted metal, dust, and blood swirled between Adam and the female golem. Sweat trickled down his temple from brows furrowed as much in focus as they were in hesitation.

Could he win?

The question that tore through his mind met many answers. Escape. Return after growing stronger.

His eyes darted to the closed door.

Two brief exchanges almost got him killed twice, while he didn't leave so much as a scratch on her mechanical torso. Her swordplay was better; this was a fact he begrudgingly acknowledged.

Though the most pragmatic choice rang clear, his feet never moved.

Another isolated answer blared louder: you'll lose whatever legacy she guards if you leave.

His features twisted in reluctance. The first piece to create his ultimate mana gathering technique couldn't be lost. That golem must have a weakness. He just had to survive long enough to discover it.

Just as his hands tightened around his blades, the golem, who had silently sized him up, shot forward, not at him—at the remains of the colossal golem shielding Desmond, who condensed his spells.

"I'm your opponent!" With a roar, Adam swung and blinked simultaneously.

He reappeared right before the charging frame of the golem, both blades cleaving a cross through the air.

She reacted even faster. Her abyssal blade left a trail of consuming darkness as she parried, while her light blade snaked between the gaps for the kill.

He folded sideways, avoiding having his throat punctured, before the crystalline edge of his chronoscar glinted in retribution. Ice trails and shadows hummed in its wake, but before they could fully condense into jagged spears and afterimages, the darkness of her sword devoured the enchantments.

His eyes widened as she counterattacked without wasted movements. He parried her light sword, the edge of his Chronoscar blurring with spatial Qi—but her light sword drank the light the moment it appeared.

The shock of seeing Qi failing felt like a hammer blow to the back of his head, but he had no time to think. His arms blurred, strikes and parries flowing with deadly accuracy. He struck from vicious angles, feinting and even exposing his wounded side to bait her in.

Yet, she fought even more viciously.

No, she wasn't fighting. He could see it through the sparks exploding from their clashing blades. She moved with the grace of a dancer who went beyond choreography in her mastery, striking with chaotic lethality.

Amidst the hail of strikes, a question filled his mind.

Was it possible to create such a golem, or was she more than mere enchanted metal and protocols—perhaps something like Marcellus Noct Virein's undead, who kept a fragment of their egos?

No time to think. Now, only survival mattered.

Dismissing the question to the back of his mind, he continued to match her. But each counterstroke made him take a step back. Even worse, lacerations began to stream fresh blood that pooled at his feet from his limbs.

He was losing—losing against an adversary who was stronger, faster, and more skilled.

This couldn't continue.

Somber Qi erupted from the cracking slabs as he planted his right foot on the ground and surged forward, Chronoscar howling in a wide, overhead swing.

"RAHH!" He let out a primal roar, veins pulsing through his shredded uniform.

But the golem reacted with a graceful step back.

His Chronoscar grazed her cuirass as her blades drew a dark and light arc by spinning her wrists. No doubt, the counterattack would be swift and lethal.

Clenching his jaw, he hurled himself to the side, planning to disengage before the unthinkable happened.

Something wet and thick met his shoe, breaking his balance. He cursed himself even though he knew his intense focus on the golem wasn't a mistake. Yet, he blundered, slipping on his own blood.

And now, all he could see was the sheen of her weapons piercing toward his heart and her carved face. It bore no satisfaction, no victorious smirk... nothing, not even disappointment. She just watched him through the two red gems serving as her eyes, as if any other outcome had been impossible since the very beginning.

And it made his blood sear like molten magma.

Underestimated—almost killed—by a mere construct, a soulless mechanical monster... He couldn't accept it.

Without thinking, he blinked to the edge of the room—just as icy edges bit his chest.

Simultaneously, the crackle of lightning engulfed the room.

"Fuck off from my friend!" Desmond roared, his wand shooting a condensed beam toward the ceiling.

It instantly spread over the golem in raging arcs that made the very air shudder.

Adam's eyes widened when a blinding pillar, too broad for the golem to dodge, roared down. The ground turned into a mess of molten slabs and vapor, but that wasn't what dismayed him.

No barrier or enchantment. Instead, she simply sliced through the pillar with her light blade, revealing lightning arcs licking her cuirass before falling silent.

"Shit... I needed... more time..." Desmond muttered, his legs giving in, his mana wrung dry. He collapsed beside the carcass of the colossal golem, the bitter taste of defeat mixing with the streams of sweat in his mouth.

But for the first time since she had appeared, Adam blinked beside Desmond and smirked. "Hey, Desmond. Do you know what I am?"

Desmond waved his hand, panting. "Does it matter?"

"Try." Adam shrugged as the golem rushed at them.

"A cultivator? An alchemist? An enchanter?" Desmond answered, biting his lip. "I'm not playing your stupid game when we're about to die!"

"Wrong." Adam lunged at the golem.

Their swords met in a rain of sparks, but he didn't try to counterattack. Instead, he simply locked her in place, his voice a mocking sneer.

Mana rumbled through his expanding chaotic circuits as he discharged an unbelievable mass around them.

A mana blade condensed first, then a spear, an axe, a halberd. A hundred, a thousand, five thousand, they multiplied until the room rumbled in an elemental cacophony. And behind them all, winds raged around the spinning tips of ten hulking spears.

"Above all else, I'm the best mage," he declared, finally seeing a narrow path toward hope through the darkness of despair.