The battlefield trembles as the two clash again, but this time Alix is the one pressing forward.

His body is wreathed in the glow of multiple buffs—strength swelling, speed crackling, endurance doubling with each stacked layer of power. The stormlight around him blurs. His strikes are sharper, faster, heavier than before.

Vernoso grits his teeth, barely holding the line as sparks fly from every impact. His fire-law sword quivers against the pressure, and a bead of sweat rolls down his cheek.

"Impossible…"

Alix cuts him off mid-swing, his spear crashing down with brutal weight.

"Human. If you don't use something, then this will be a disappointing fight for me."

Vernoso's pride shatters like glass. The humiliation burns hotter than his own flames. His aura bursts outward, fire clawing at the heavens. His voice rises in a roar. "You will regret it! Witness my true power!"

His body ignites—not with ordinary fire, but with a deeper blaze, a fire that seems to devour the world itself. A crown of flame-law forms above his head, and his wounds close as molten vitality surges through his veins.

[Tier 7 Skill – Flame Sovereign's Baptism]

The ground liquefies beneath his feet. The sky glows crimson, as if the sun itself bows to him. His presence swells, suffocating, drowning the battlefield in an inferno.

Grathum staggers back, one arm raised against the searing wave.

"Damn it… even from this distance, their clash still burns us."

Zurrak snarls, void energy rippling to shield his form, fangs bared.

"So… he's finally baring his fangs."

For the first time, Velira's smile wavers, though her gaze never leaves Alix.

"…And His Majesty remains… utterly at ease."

Because Alix stands calm. Stormlight coils around him, flames bending away from his form. His gaze sharpens, his voice steady and cold.

"Good. At least now you're worth killing."

Vernoso roars and vanishes, his speed multiplied, his sword blazing like a falling star. The blade arcs down—

—only for Alix to slip through the inferno, spear meeting it in a storm-crash of force.

BOOOOM!

The explosion tears through mountainsides, molten rock spraying like rain. Vernoso's buffed strength drives down like a hammer, but Alix doesn't falter. His foot grinds into the cracked earth, spear pushing back with equal force.

Their eyes lock through the blaze. Vernoso's grin is wild, manic.

"Now you see! This is Tier 7 power!"

Alix's reply is cold, almost amused.

"No. That is desperation."

Vernoso's teeth grind, his pride burning hotter than the inferno he wields. His voice rips out in a guttural roar.

"Shut up!! I will destroy that smug face of yours!"

He swings, his fire-law sword howling downward, carving a molten scar across the battlefield. The ground itself combusts, magma bursting skyward in his wake.

Alix doesn't flinch. His hand glows with azure light, stormlight sharpening to a blade.

[Special Tier 6 Skill – Stormfang Edge]

Lightning condenses into his spear's tip, crackling in a blinding arc. He meets Vernoso's slash head-on.

CRAAASH!

The clash erupts, lightning shredding fire in a thousand sparks. Vernoso snarls, muscles straining as his flames resist. Alix pivots, sliding his hand across the haft, redirecting the force. The storm-imbued spear lances sideways, cutting across Vernoso's ribs.

A shallow wound—but it burns with storm-law, refusing to close.

Vernoso's eyes widen. "What—?!"

But Alix is already gone, his form blurring with a step cloaked in swirling mist.

[Special Tier 6 Skill – Frost Veil Step]

Cold surges across the battlefield, steam erupting as fire meets sudden ice. Frost coats Vernoso's arms, crawling across his blade.

He roars, his fire-law flaring, burning the frost away. "You think ice can smother my flame?!"

"Not just smother," Alix's voice comes from the mist, calm, unshaken, "—It can also freeze it."

Vernoso whirls, fury distorting his face, his sword wreathed in fire-law. He hacks through the mist, each swing splitting stone and boiling air.

But Alix reappears behind him, frost still clinging to his spear. With a twist of his wrist, he drives it forward.

[Special Tier 6 Skill – Frostfang Thrust]

The spear explodes with frozen force, shards of glacial ice lancing outward like a thousand knives. The temperature plummets in an instant, the battlefield hissing as molten rock hardens into brittle obsidian.

"RRRAAAHHH!" Vernoso's roar splits the battlefield, his aura exploding outward in a storm of fire-law. Golden flames crown his body, devouring ice as it shatters and melts away on contact. The frozen air bends, consumed by the blaze.

"No matter what element you hurl at me—law reigns above them all!"

Alix's gaze never wavers. His tone is steady, unshaken, carrying the weight of certainty.

"You should know by now… these are no ordinary Tier 6 skills."

Of course, Vernoso knows it. His instincts scream the truth—these Tier 6 skills his enemy wields are not ordinary. They carry law within them, refined and fused, an impossibility. His mind reels, torn between disbelief and terror. How? How can Tier 6 carry law? The thought claws at his pride, burning worse than the wounds lacing his body.

And the worst part?

This man—this monster—is hurling them at him like they're nothing more than cabbages tossed in a market square.

Vernoso's jaw tightens. His strikes grow wilder, more frantic, fire-law raging to keep the storm, the frost, the crushing weight of Alix's attacks at bay. His teeth grind until blood fills his mouth. "This… this can't be real!"

Alix's spear whistles through the air, crashing down. Each blow feels inevitable, like the hammer of judgment itself. Sparks and embers spray with every clash, the battlefield splitting and melting beneath them.

Vernoso shouted, aura blazing. "I carry the sovereignty of flame itself! My fire-law devours all!" He swings with enough force to split the earth, molten fire ripping open the ground.

But Alix slides through it, stormlight coiling around his form. His spear lashes like lightning, piercing Vernoso's guard.

But Alix slides through it, stormlight coiling around his form. His spear lashes like lightning, piercing Vernoso's guard.

A searing gash cuts across Vernoso's chest—small, but law-forged. The wound refuses to close. His eyes widen, panic bleeding through his fury. "N-no… even my flame-law—!"

Vernoso staggers back, gripping his sword tighter, body trembling under the storm pressing down on him. The suffocating truth gnaws at his heart: he's losing. Every swing drains him further, every exchange leaves another wound that refuses to heal.

Alix presses forward, spear weaving arcs of lightning, frost, and crushing gale. Each movement flows into the next with seamless precision—calm, ruthless, efficient.

"You talk too much," Alix says flatly.

Vernoso roars again, more from desperation than pride. His body ignites, fire-law clawing against inevitability. He throws everything into one last strike, his blade wreathed in fire like a falling sun. "I will not be defeated!"

Alix steps into the blaze, spear glowing with stormlight, and meets the strike head-on.

The explosion shatters the battlefield. Mountainsides crumble. The sky splits with fire and thunder.

When the explosion finally subsides, the battlefield is a ruin of molten trenches and jagged obsidian ridges. Smoke coils upward, blotting the stars.

But Vernoso is nowhere to be seen.

In the distance, a streak of flame cuts across the sky—retreat, not triumph. His speed is frantic, desperate, the flight of a man who has thrown away his pride for survival.

Grathum's eyes widen. "He's running?!"

Zurrak snarls, void aura flaring. "That coward!"

Velira tilts her head, wings stirring the air. Her smile returns, sharp and amused. "He finally realized what happens when you bare your throat before His Majesty."

Before they can say more, Alix's voice settles directly into their minds—calm, steady, undeniable.

"You three. Go back and help Mhazul."

The command resonates like thunder wrapped in silk, impossible to ignore.

"I'll go after this bastard… and kill him."

With that, the three streak away, their forms vanishing into the haze.

It doesn't take long.

Stormlight folds around Alix's body, his speed stretching beyond the limits of sight. In moments, the blazing trail ahead shrinks, the morning sun catching on Vernoso's flaming figure.

Alix's laugh rings out, sharp and mocking. "Why are you running? Weren't you going to burn me alive?"

Vernoso glances back, eyes wild, his face twisted with both rage and terror. "Leave me alone!! You freak of nature—you won't catch me! Even multiple Tier 7s couldn't catch me, much less you!"

Alix only grins, his spear spinning once in his hand, sparking arcs scattering like dawn lightning. "Yet here I am."