"Noooo!" Rhyssa yelled in dismay.
But it was already too late.
She wasn't fast enough.
Lightning was one of the fastest and most destructive elements. At her current level, outrunning it was impossible, even with her advanced suit.
All she could do was watch.
The entire lightning bolt slammed into Alex.
The area lit up in a blinding flash.
Violent arcs of lightning wrapped themselves around Alex's body like countless snakes, crackling as they coiled around him.
Crack! Crack!
The sharp sounds echoed through the warehouse.
The lightning continued raging around him for several moments before it finally began to settle.
The instant the attack ended, Rhyssa burst into motion.
She rushed straight at Prayzen.
Without slowing down, she drove a punch into his side.
Bang!
Prayzen was blasted away.
He skidded across the ground, bounced several times, then slammed heavily into the floor before finally coming to a stop.
Rhyssa didn't even spare him another glance.
She continued walking toward him with a furious expression.
"I gave you the chance to leave this tournament," she said coldly.
"But you didn't take it."
Prayzen looked up at her.
Then his eyes suddenly widened.
His gaze wasn't fixed on Rhyssa anymore.
It was locked on something behind her.
"Impossible!" he shouted.
Rhyssa paused.
She followed Prayzen's gaze and slowly turned around.
Then she saw it too.
Alex was still standing.
His clothes looked as though they had just been pulled from a fire, scorched and torn in several places.
But despite that...
He was still standing.
"That lightning should've torn you to pieces!" Prayzen shouted.
"How are you still alive?"
His voice was filled with disbelief.
Meanwhile, Alex was fighting a different battle altogether.
Although he had survived the lightning attack, he was now locked in a fierce internal struggle.
'That was mana...'
'I don't have mana, and because of that, I can't properly reflect attacks that originate from a mana source,' Alex concluded.
Just like before, Alex had relied on the Reflection effect to save himself from Prayzen's attack.
Using Peace Energy, he had managed to receive the incoming lightning instead of letting it tear through him.
However, he realized something the instant the attack entered his body.
Unlike fire, water, or air, which could be guided and redirected through controlled flow...
Lightning was different.
It was wild.
Far more violent.
Even more aggressive than fire itself.
The moment the lightning struck him, Alex's first instinct had been to guide it away from his body.
But the instant it entered him, the lightning immediately reacted with the natural chemistry of his body.
Instead of flowing where he wanted...
It tried to spread on its own.
Because of that, it became much harder for Alex to properly guide the lightning while keeping it confined to the surface of his skin.
Some of the lightning had already forced its way into his body, causing minor internal damage as it spread.
Even so, his Peace Energy immediately went to work.
It rapidly began eliminating the invading lightning.
Most of its effort, however, was focused on the surface of his body, preventing even more of the lightning from entering him.
It was safe to say that if Prayzen had continued attacking...
If Rhyssa hadn't interrupted him at that exact moment...
Then what Prayzen intended for Alex might actually have become reality.
Eventually, the strain became too much.
Alex's legs gave out, and he dropped to one knee.
He planted both hands firmly on the ground.
The instant his palms touched the floor, every trace of electricity inside his body vanished.
Alex blinked.
'This?' he thought.
Then his eyes widened slightly.
'Heck... I really should've paid more attention in Physics class,' Alex thought as the pain throughout his body quickly faded away.
Meanwhile, Prayzen was still staring at him.
"This... can't be," he muttered.
With a snap of his fingers, his hammer reappeared in his hand in a flash of lightning.
He tightened his grip and prepared to launch another attack.
But just as he was about to swing—
Something suddenly flashed across his vision.
Prayzen's body suddenly stiffened.
His attack stopped in that very instant.
Before he could even understand what was happening, his vision spun violently.
The next second—
Prayzen's head separated from his body.
The one responsible was none other than Rhyssa.
She stood beside his headless body in silence.
For a brief moment, Prayzen's body remained on its knees.
Then it slowly toppled over and crashed onto the ground.
"You just had to push me, didn't you?" Rhyssa muttered.
As she spoke, the blade that had formed from her mechanical arm shifted and transformed back into a human hand.
Moments earlier, she had reshaped that arm into a razor-sharp blade to sever Prayzen's head in a single strike.
Meanwhile, Alex pushed himself back to his feet.
He looked over at Rhyssa.
Rhyssa returned his gaze and smiled.
"So..." she said.
"How were you able to survive that?"
"You can add that to your list of questions," Alex replied.
"I don't have time right now."
His voice was calm, but firm.
He wanted to leave the area immediately.
Alex didn't even spare Prayzen's body another glance.
He had already seen everything.
He had seen Prayzen preparing to launch another attack.
And he had seen Rhyssa end his life before he could.
"I'll gladly add it to the list," Rhyssa said with a grin.
"But you could at least say thank you for saving your ass."
Alex didn't answer.
Instead, he simply turned around and started walking away.
Seeing that, Rhyssa could only shake her head slightly before following after him.
---
Meanwhile, the Wyndhams weren't exactly having it easy after leaving Alex with Rhyssa.
They had run into a group of beasts and were now being chased across the ruined city.
For the most part, they were still together.
Behind them, a pack of eleven regular werewolves stayed on their heels, refusing to give up the chase.
"These things are growing in numbers, and they're becoming more relentless!" Isla shouted as she ran.
"I guess that's why it's called the Endless Beasts," Zephyr replied. "They're never meant to stop."
The Wyndhams turned sharply into a narrow alley.
The moment they entered, they immediately realized it was a dead end.
A massive brick wall blocked the entire passage.
But none of them slowed down.
Instead, Jimmy burst out from the middle of the group.
He charged forward like an enraged bull.
Boom!
His shoulder slammed into the wall.
Bricks exploded outward in every direction.
A huge section of the wall crumbled apart, opening a path through.
Without breaking stride, the entire squad rushed through to the other side.
The instant everyone made it across, Henry spun around.
He thrust both hands forward.
A compressed blast of air shot straight into the center of the alley.
Boom!
The compressed air exploded violently.
Both buildings bordering the alley shook from the impact.
Cracks spread across one of them almost immediately.
Then the building began to lean.
At that moment, most of the werewolves were still charging through the middle of the alley.
The entire structure collapsed on top of them.
Dust and broken concrete burst into the air.
However, one of the werewolves was much faster than the others.
It sprinted ahead and leaped clear of the collapsing building just before it could be buried.
Its claws stretched forward.
Its jaws opened wide, ready to sink its fangs into Henry.
But before it could reach him—
Slash!
A set of razor-sharp claws tore across the werewolf's body.
The attack ripped its chest wide open and threw it violently to the ground.
The beast was still alive.
Blood poured from the deep wounds, yet it still struggled to rise and attack again.
"Even the little ones are becoming more aggressive as time goes on," Gavalich said while standing in his mutated werewolf form.
He had been the one who struck the beast down with overwhelming force.
Meanwhile, the wounded werewolf didn't stay on its feet for long.
Its movements gradually slowed.
Eventually, it collapsed under the pain.
But pain wasn't the only thing draining it.
Something else was silently eating away at its strength.
Clifford.
After absorbing the last of the werewolf's energy, Clifford frowned.
"These monsters aren't getting stronger," he said.
"They're getting crazier."
"We'd better get out of here before things become even uglier for us."
Without wasting another second, the group continued running, following Clifford's lead through the ruined streets.
Meanwhile, only moments later, a lone figure dressed in a cloak arrived at the place where the Wyndhams had been.
A magical hood completely concealed the wearer's face behind a shifting dark mirage.
The figure stopped and looked around the ruined alley.
"If he isn't with them... then where is he?"
"I have to stop him from leaving the tournament."