CHAPTER 272: POWER LEVELS

Two colossal fists erupted into the sky, swelling with mass and density with each passing second, transforming into twin weapons capable of annihilating entire cities.

The air shivered beneath their oppressive presence, heavy with the weight of impending devastation. Even the ground seemed to recoil under their looming threat.

Adyr held his pure black sword in his left hand, utterly focused yet impossibly calm, eyes locked on the shockwave expected to form. His heartbeat was steady, his posture fluid, as if the chaos about to unfold was unable to touch his mind.

His Gaze active, revealing 10 seconds into the future. Even motionless, his mind replayed visions of earth-shattering waves racing toward him, intent on obliteration. Every detail—the movement of debris, the angle of impact, the force of the wind—was etched into his awareness.

The Sonic Burst pulsed along his blade. He swung, releasing a crescent of energy toward the wave, aiming to slice it cleanly.

It was not enough. The shockwave barreled forward with relentless force, unyielding. Only at the last moment did Lucen step in, his massive sword intercepting part of the wave, diverting its energy, and shielding the trio from its destruction.

But this was only a vision, and for Adyr, 10 seconds stretched into an eternity.

Instantly, the scene in his mind shifted. He swung again, and again—each strike failing, each attempt ending in frustration. Hundreds of potential futures cascaded before his eyes, layered like endless windows, each variation a subtle shift of angle, timing, or force.

With every failed strike, he adapted.

Blade angle, stance, the rhythm of his wings, the flow of Sonic Burst—each adjustment precise and deliberate. The flood of possibilities threatened to overwhelm his mind and senses, yet he endured, dissecting each outcome and sharpening his actions with surgical clarity.

Then, at the culmination of 10 seconds of perfect preparation, Liora Virell, Rank 4 Practitioner, raised her fists high, twin hammers of divine force ready to crush anything beneath. Air cracked violently around her as she brought them down with unmatched speed onto Collossith’s massive head.

BOOM.

The impact radiated outward in waves, shaking the ground and rattling the air.

Collossith’s legs buckled under the pressure, its colossal body collapsing into a crater the size of a valley.

The recoil struck Liora as well—blood erupted from her eyes, mouth, and ears, mingling with shards of torn metallic-tipped hairs and shredded skin, spraying the battlefield in a gruesome mist.

The shockwave surged outward from Collossith, tearing through earth and sky as it raced toward Adyr and the others. Dust, debris, and fragments of rock churned violently in the turbulent wind.

Adyr remained unmoved. The first gust brushed against him, lifting strands of his black hair across his serene, unreadable face.

Wings adjusted instinctively, balancing him. Muscles coiled, every fiber ready. Sonic Burst surged along the length of his blade, illuminating it with an ominous pulse of energy.

Every motion was deliberate. Every breath, every subtle shift, calculated. The strike he had prepared for in countless futures was now real.

He swung. His black blade cut through the air with lethal intent, the Sonic Burst igniting into a crescent of energy, slicing with exacting force.

SHHK!

The collision of the soundwave and the shockwave split the latter perfectly. One segment tore apart, energy dispersing outward violently. The fracture occurred precisely at the point of contact, the fragment shattering into countless pieces before vanishing entirely.

A clean gap yawned through the wave, proof of the strike’s absolute success.

"As expected of someone with an awakened sword bloodline talent." Lucen had already withdrawn his hand from the hilt of his massive sword, folding it calmly across his chest. His expression was composed, yet his eyes sparkled with clear amazement, the light of it reflecting through every subtle shift of his gaze and tone.

"As expected? Are you kidding, Lucen? He just did something you’ve been training for years, after watching you only once. Work on your common sense!" Mirela’s words tumbled out rapidly, a mix of excitement and frustration.

Her rainbow-colored hair rippled from the lingering shockwave, her eyes wide and shining like a fangirl’s as she watched Adyr calmly slide his sword back into its hilt on his back.

Adyr only let out a soft chuckle at their reactions. To them, it seemed as if he had succeeded on his first attempt.

They could not even begin to imagine how many times he had failed in his mind, running the scenario over and over with Gaze. His apparent success was built entirely upon the accumulated experience of hundreds of failures.

I overdid it a little. Adyr thought quietly, suppressing the pain behind his eyes and the dull ache in his head.

To visualize hundreds of potential outcomes within just ten seconds, analyze each one, and calculate the perfect sword strike was mentally taxing. Combining Gaze and Presence had already left him fatigued, and adding this final layer of exertion pushed him even further.

While pressing against his temples to dull the lingering headache, his gaze shifted to Collossith, sprawled motionless in the center of the massive crater.

Its dark brown skull was fractured, dark blood oozing visibly from the wound, though it didn’t seem entirely dead—he could still see its faint, shallow breaths.

Adyr couldn’t help but be impressed. Liora’s full-power strike had unleashed a destructive force so immense that, if it had landed on the heart of a Shelter City, half of it would have been reduced to rubble in an instant.

Just this strike alone must measure around 100,000 on PTF standards, right? Adyr mused, a self-surprising estimate, though he remained uncertain.

When he had first observed Liora and Collossith, he estimated their power at somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000—a figure based solely on their motionless struggle. Now, seeing her unleash the full extent of her Spark skills in a real strike, he realized just how absurdly far off that initial estimate had been, laughably insufficient and wildly detached from reality.

As Adyr measured the full force of Liora’s strike, the other half of his consciousness remained tethered to his body on Earth, receiving detailed reports from researchers on the extent of his own powers.

—

"Mr. Adyr, your physical score has skyrocketed since the last measurement—truly pushing the limits of what we thought possible." Corven’s voice carried clear astonishment as he read the mind-blowing numbers off his tablet.

Some time ago, following the major meeting, Adyr had agreed to let the researchers examine his abilities and body. Since then, he had participated in countless tests, covering everything from raw physical strength and endurance to body flexibility, swordplay techniques, and more, providing only as much data as he chose to.

When Adyr first underwent these tests, measuring endurance, destructive force in punches, Spark skills, movement speed, and reflexes across three phases, he had scored a total of 304 points. Now, even as he awaited the numbers Corven was about to reveal, he felt a flicker of anticipation.

"Mr. Adyr, your previous endurance result was 54. It has now soared to 1,660—a thirtyfold increase on average." Corven’s voice trembled as he read the report aloud; it was undeniably staggering.

Of course, with the technologies they used, a margin of error existed, especially when analyzing someone of Adyr’s superhuman caliber. Yet after his last test, the research team had overhauled and upgraded every piece of equipment multiple times, meaning the result could not be far from reality.

"That’s quite impressive," Adyr said, chuckling, a touch of self-amused sarcasm in his tone. "And the other two?"

Corven tried to smile, but his heart raced. Behind him, another group of researchers waited—top experts from every department. If they weren’t concerned about appearances, they would have already stepped forward and slapped him to make him read the report faster.

"For power measurement, the results are a bit more variable, but the average comes out at 1,556—up from 125. That’s over a tenfold increase. ’’

Though not as staggering as endurance, the figure still left everyone gasping.

There were two reasons the numbers didn’t reach the level of his endurance results.

First, Adyr had recently focused on adapting his body to the use of Gaze, prioritizing an increase in his [Resilience] stat—raising it to twice the level of his [Physique].

Second, he had deliberately held himself back during the test, knowing that no research equipment could fully capture his true impact power without breaking. On top of that, he had not activated Malice, his bloodline talent with the effect of doubling the strength of every strike.

They didn’t need to know the true extent of his destructive power.

It should be around 3,500 if I unleash my full power, Adyr estimated quietly, realizing just how far these numbers lagged behind the devastation he had witnessed from Liora’s Titan Ape form.

Even though Adyr believed his power had already surpassed the peak of a Rank 2 Practitioner and approached the level of a Rank 3, facing someone like Liora made him realize just how far he still had to go.