Alex and Caelan stood facing each other.
For a brief moment, neither of them made the first move.
The air between them felt tense.
Alex remained somewhat confident.
Not because he was certain he could defeat Caelan on his own.
Far from it.
But this time, he wasn't alone.
The rest of the Wyndhams were behind him.
Ready to fight.
Ready to support him.
Ready to attack the moment an opening appeared.
Bang!
The mounted gun on Caelan's shoulder suddenly moved.
Without warning, it fired.
A round shot straight toward Alex.
Buster!
Alex reacted instantly.
He kicked off the ground and twisted his body sideways.
Using the burst of speed, he threw himself completely out of the projectile's path.
The round missed him.
However, it didn't stop.
Instead, it continued past Alex and headed toward the people behind him.
Zephyr was directly in its path.
Before he could fully move away, the round struck his left shoulder.
Thud!
A deep wound was carved into the thick muscle.
The impact burned into the flesh as smoke rose from the injury.
"Grrraah!"
Zephyr growled like a beast.
Despite the pain, he didn't slow down.
He ignored the wound completely and charged forward.
Running behind him were Lennox, Isla, Henry, and Gavalich.
All of them rushed toward Caelan from different angles.
Meanwhile, Clifford remained behind.
His role in the fight wasn't an offensive one.
He wasn't supposed to be at the front lines.
Instead, his job was to support the others and keep them supplied with energy throughout the battle.
At that moment, he was standing beside Jimmy.
Jimmy had already passed out from the pain and injuries he had suffered earlier.
While the others charged into battle, Clifford stayed behind to watch over him.
'Heck... if he stays in this condition for too long, the tournament might decide to eliminate him,' Clifford thought.
He immediately began channeling more energy into Jimmy.
Far more than he was sending to the others.
The energy flowed continuously into Jimmy's body as Clifford tried to encourage his body to heal the wounds on its own.
At the moment, keeping Jimmy in the tournament was his priority.
Meanwhile, Zephyr continued charging forward.
The distance between him and Caelan rapidly disappeared.
From the side, Alex watched everything unfold.
As he observed the battlefield, he spotted an opportunity.
'If we attack at the same time, I might get another opening to strike him like before,' Alex thought.
The moment the others rushed past him, he activated the Buster effect beneath his feet.
Boom!
The ground cracked slightly beneath him.
A blurred afterimage was left behind as Alex shot forward.
In an instant, he raced past the others.
Meanwhile, Zephyr had already reached Caelan.
With a growl, he brought both hands down like a giant sledgehammer.
The attack carried enormous force.
Caelan reacted immediately.
One of his arms shifted shape.
Metal moved and expanded.
The arm transformed into the shield-like form it had used several times before.
Bang!
The shield met Zephyr's strike head-on.
The impact sent a shockwave through the area.
Despite the force behind the attack, Caelan held his ground.
With one arm occupied blocking Zephyr's assault, he used the other.
The free arm transformed into the spinning blade.
The weapon rotated rapidly.
Then Caelan swung it upward from below.
The spinning blade headed straight for Zephyr's stomach.
A clean hit would be devastating.
However, just as the attack was about to land, something caught Caelan's attention.
His suit had picked something up.
A new target.
Something moving toward him at incredible speed.
[Warning!!]
The alert appeared instantly.
Before Caelan could even react consciously, his suit reacted for him.
A powerful burst of pressurized air exploded from his body.
Boom!
The sudden blast struck Zephyr first.
The werewolf was thrown backward, forced away from Caelan.
At the same time, the opposite force pushed Caelan in the other direction.
The distance between them widened instantly.
A moment later, Alex arrived.
His arm swept through the space where Caelan had been standing.
The attack cut through empty air.
He had missed.
As Caelan slid backward, his shoulder-mounted gun immediately locked onto Alex again.
Bang!
A round shot toward him.
"Buster!"
Alex activated the technique without hesitation.
His body blurred as he moved out of the projectile's path.
The shot missed.
However, the gun wasn't finished.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
More rounds followed.
The weapon continued firing at him relentlessly.
Using the Buster Technique repeatedly, Alex moved from one position to another.
He sidestepped.
He twisted.
He jumped.
Each movement barely avoided the incoming attacks.
The barrage continued to chase him across the battlefield.
Seeing an opening, Alex leaped toward a nearby building.
His fingers dug into the wall.
Chunks of concrete cracked beneath his grip as he used the surface to hold himself in place.
For a brief moment, he remained attached to the side of the building.
Luckily for him, Caelan's attention was suddenly pulled elsewhere.
Lennox and Isla had finally reached him.
The two attacked together.
Both swung their fists at the same time.
Caelan reacted quickly.
His shield arm came up.
Bang!
The strikes slammed into the shield.
The impact echoed through the street.
Neither Lennox nor Isla held anything back.
They poured everything they had into the attack, trying to overwhelm Caelan through sheer force.
However, air thrusters erupted from Caelan's back.
Boom!
The burst of force pushed against him, making sure he wasn't sent flying by the combined punches.
Even under the pressure of the attack, he managed to hold his position.
Caelan kept the shield raised.
At the same time, the gun mounted on his shoulder moved.
It locked onto Isla first.
Bang!
The round struck Isla before he could react.
The impact sent him flying backward and forced him out of the fight momentarily.
The gun immediately shifted targets.
Its barrel turned toward Lennox.
This time, it aimed directly at his head.
The weapon was already preparing to fire.
Then something else entered its detection range.
Several balls of compressed air were rapidly moving through the sky toward Caelan.
The shoulder gun instantly adjusted.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The weapon fired multiple shots.
The compressed air projectiles exploded one after another in midair before they could reach their target.
With the gun occupied, Caelan took advantage of the opening.
He shoved Lennox's arm to the side.
Then he spun his body.
The movement was smooth and fast.
Bang!
His kick slammed directly into Lennox's face.
The impact snapped Lennox's head backward.
Because of his enhanced body, the strike didn't cause much pain.
But the force behind it rattled him badly and disrupted his balance.
Before Caelan could even follow up, another threat arrived.
Gavalich was already on him.
The massive white werebear didn't bother using a claw swipe.
He launched his entire body forward instead.
His jaws opened wide.
The attack was simple.
He intended to bite Caelan's head off.
'Fool!' Caelan thought.
The shoulder-mounted gun reacted immediately.
The barrel spun around and locked onto the wide-open mouth rushing toward him.
Bang!
Blood splattered everywhere.
Gavalich was thrown backward through the air before crashing onto the ground.
The lower half of his werebeast mouth had been blown apart.
Pieces of flesh and bone were gone.
His lower jaw hung loosely, attached only by small strips of meat that allowed it to dangle unnaturally.
It looked like it could fall off at any moment.
Despite the horrific injury, Gavalich didn't stop.
He immediately retreated.
As he moved away, his body began changing.
His massive frame started shrinking.
The fur covering his body gradually receded.
The werebear transformation was already beginning to collapse.
Caelan watched him go but made no attempt to pursue him.
Not because he wanted to spare Gavalich.
Someone else was already keeping him occupied.
From a distance, Henry continued attacking.
One condensed ball of air after another shot toward Caelan.
However, the shoulder-mounted gun responded immediately.
Boom!
The first attack exploded in midair.
Boom!
The second one followed.
Boom!
Boom!
More explosions echoed across the battlefield.
The exchange continued relentlessly.
Henry launched attack after attack.
Caelan's gun destroyed them one after another.
As time passed, something became obvious.
The explosions were occurring closer and closer to Henry.
The gun was gradually adjusting.
Gradually predicting.
Gradually intercepting the attacks sooner.
Then Henry changed tactics.
Instead of rapidly firing multiple attacks, he gathered a much larger amount of compressed air.
The surrounding wind flowed toward his hands.
The attack quickly condensed.
When it was ready, Henry thrust his hands forward and released it.
The compressed air shot away from him.
However, it barely traveled a single meter.
Boom!
Caelan's gun blast struck it almost immediately.
The attack exploded right in front of Henry before it could travel any farther.
Boom!
The condensed air exploded right in front of Henry.
The blast caught him completely off guard.
"Argh!"
Henry was thrown across the street like a rag doll. His body spun through the air uncontrollably, flying past Clifford and the unconscious Jimmy before finally crashing into the ground.
Meanwhile, Caelan wasn't given a moment to rest.
The instant he finished dealing with Henry, Zephyr attacked again.
One of Zephyr's long extra arms suddenly stretched forward and wrapped around Caelan.
The next moment, Caelan was lifted off the ground.
"AHHHR!"
Zephyr roared as he swung Caelan downward with every bit of strength he could muster.
The air howled around them.
However, Caelan reacted immediately.
While still hanging in the air, his spinning bladed arm swung outward.
Slash!
The rotating blade cut straight through Zephyr's extra arm.
It was as clean as a knife slicing through paper.
The severed limb dropped to the ground.
Zephyr's grip vanished instantly.
Caelan fell free.
Before he even landed properly, the shoulder-mounted gun had already adjusted its aim.
It locked onto Zephyr.
Bang!
The shot struck him.
Zephyr was blasted off his feet and sent rolling across the street.
His furry body tumbled over the broken pavement several times before finally coming to a stop.
Fresh burn marks covered parts of his body.
Some of them were shallow.
Others went deep into the flesh beneath the fur.
A few had even reached the bone.
At this point, Zephyr was clearly weakening.
His breathing had become rough.
His body was covered in injuries.
Caelan slowly straightened himself.
The shoulder gun rotated slightly as it scanned the battlefield.
His gaze swept across the remaining Wyndhams.
"You all do have fighting spirit, I'll give you th—"
"Shut the fuck up!"
The furious voice cut through the street before Caelan could finish speaking.
Caelan turned just in time to see Alex jumping down from the building wall he had been latched onto.
Alex descended straight toward him.
Immediately, Caelan's suit reacted.
The thrusters on his back activated automatically and blasted him backward.
Boom!
Alex slammed into the ground where Caelan had been standing moments earlier.
The impact was tremendous.
Cracks spread across the street like a spiderweb, and the thin layer of ice covering the ground shattered into countless fragments.
Meanwhile, Caelan had already retreated several meters away thanks to the suit's automatic response system.
The moment he regained his footing, the gun mounted on his shoulder rotated toward Alex.
It locked onto him instantly.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Only a single shot had been fired.
Yet multiple gunshot sounds echoed through the street.
Caelan frowned.
Something felt wrong.
Confused, he glanced toward his shoulder.
The sight left him speechless.
'How did this happen?' Caelan thought.
The weapon that had been firing at Alex and the others moments ago was gone.
What remained was nothing more than twisted scraps of metal hanging from his shoulder.
The entire gun had been destroyed.
Caelan immediately turned back toward the only person who could have done it.
Alex.
And sure enough, he was right.
Alex now stood calmly a short distance away with a small pistol in his hand.
Thin trails of smoke drifted from the muzzle.
The shots had come from him.
For a brief moment, neither side moved.
Caelan stared at the ruined remains of his weapon.
Alex simply tightened his grip on the pistol.
'You think you're the only one with a gun?' Alex thought.
The qi gun remained aimed directly at Caelan.