Three individuals stepped into the storage room.
A chilling aura surrounded them.
Lightning danced across their bodies, crackling around their limbs before coiling around them like living serpents.
Their eyes remained focused.
Yet they also looked strangely hollow, like people trapped in a daze.
From their appearance alone, the Wyndhams immediately recognized them as members of the Raikovar Clan.
One reason they recognized them so quickly was because they had encountered someone from the same clan not long ago.
That encounter had left a lasting impression.
It had also taught them something important.
The Raikovar Clan wasn't weak.
Far from it.
Yet, for some reason, three members of such a powerful clan were now standing beside an unknown clan.
A clan that no one had ever heard of.
Or at least, one that had never made any noticeable impact within Paragon society.
"You three, keep them busy," the leader of the Khyphon Clan ordered.
He then stepped back toward the doorway.
The next instant—
He vanished from sight.
In the blink of an eye, he had completely disappeared, leaving the three Raikovar Clan members alone with the Wyndhams.
As for the three Raikovar Clan members, none of them had come unarmed.
Each carried a weapon in hand.
Lightning continued to flicker around them as they silently faced the Wyndhams, ready for battle.
One of them held a sharp spear, while another had metallic chains wrapped all over his body.
The last one wielded two blades. Their outer edges curved like half moons, while the rest of each blade remained straight, giving them a strange and deadly shape.
The Wyndhams instinctively took a few steps back, creating more distance between themselves and the Raikovar.
Meanwhile, the Raikovar didn't attack.
They simply stood there, silent and motionless, as though they had been ordered to guard something.
"What do you think is going on?" Isla whispered, keeping his voice low.
"Is this some kind of magic? Is he controlling them, or are they simply working together?" he asked, though the question wasn't directed at anyone in particular.
No one answered.
The uncertainty made the silence even heavier.
As both sides remained locked in place, hesitating to make the first move, something else caught everyone's attention.
It was Jimmy.
He was still lying on the ground where he had fallen.
Slowly, his body began to fade away.
Bit by bit, it disappeared before their eyes.
The tournament had eliminated him because of the severity of his injuries.
None of the others knew whether Jimmy was still alive outside the tournament or not.
But watching one of their own disappear like that stirred something inside every member of the Wyndham Clan.
Fear.
Anger.
Determination.
The reality of the tournament hit them harder than ever.
This wasn't a game.
One mistake could take them out just as quickly.
Immediately, Zephyr moved.
Without a second of hesitation, Isla and Lennox moved as well.
Zephyr and Lennox charged first, targeting the Raikovar warrior wielding the spear.
The Raikovar reacted instantly.
He spun the spear around with practiced ease before swinging it horizontally like a heavy staff.
Bang!
Lightning burst along the length of the spear.
The strike slammed into Zephyr's arm, knocking it to the side. A wave of numbness spread through his hand, making his fingers twitch uncontrollably.
At the same time, Isla rushed in.
Seeing the Raikovar occupied, he seized the opening without hesitation.
He threw a powerful punch.
But the Raikovar moved with surprising grace.
He took a smooth step backward, avoiding the attack by the narrowest margin.
In the same motion, he pulled the spear back.
Then he thrust it forward.
The tip drove straight into Isla's abdomen.
"Argh!"
Isla cried out.
It wasn't a scream of unbearable pain.
It sounded more like someone struggling against an invisible force, fighting with everything they had just to stay standing.
Crack!
Bolts of lightning raced down the spear and surged into Isla's body.
His entire body locked up.
His muscles stiffened as the electricity held him in place.
Even though he couldn't feel the pain itself, he was still battling another effect.
The numbness.
The violent shock running through his body.
The electricity didn't injure him the way it normally would, and it probably wouldn't kill him inside the tournament.
But the sensation of being electrocuted was still there.
His muscles refused to obey.
His body felt frozen, as though every nerve had been forced to stop responding.
Isla gritted his teeth.
His blood streamed down the shaft of the spear, dripping onto the ground below.
Ignoring the numbness spreading through his body, he grabbed the spear tightly with both hands and held on, refusing to let go.
Meanwhile, Lennox wasn't any less busy.
He had chosen a different opponent entirely.
He was facing the Raikovar member covered in thick metallic chains.
The moment Lennox stepped within range, the chains came alive.
They unwrapped themselves from the Raikovar's body like dozens of metal snakes before lashing through the air.
Without backing away, Lennox reached out and grabbed one.
The instant his hand closed around the chain, it coiled around his arm.
Crackle!
Electricity surged through the metal.
His entire body stiffened as the shock locked up his muscles.
For a brief moment, he couldn't move.
'I have to overcome this... I need to put everything into my strength,' he thought, gritting his teeth.
"Ahhh!"
Lennox roared as he pulled with all his might.
His muscles bulged.
Veins stood out across his arms.
With one explosive yank, he forced his body to move again.
It was the first time he had managed to break free from the chain's numbing effect through sheer determination.
But Lennox quickly realized it changed nothing.
The Raikovar didn't swing the chains again.
Instead, he raised one hand.
Visible bolts of lightning burst from his palm.
Crack!
The lightning shot across the short distance and slammed directly into Lennox's chest.
Boom!
The impact blasted him off his feet.
His body flew backward before crashing hard onto the ground.
Meanwhile, Isla was still struggling against the spear embedded in his abdomen.
The lightning continued flowing through the weapon, but little by little, he was regaining control over his body.
His muscles responded again.
Slowly, he forced one foot forward.
Then another.
Each step was heavy.
Each movement demanded every bit of his strength.
Still gripping the spear with both hands, Isla pushed forward.
The Raikovar's feet scraped across the ground as Isla steadily forced him backward.
However, it wasn't enough.
Just then, Zephyr charged in again.
He burst forward at full speed, aiming straight for the Raikovar.
The Raikovar reacted instantly.
His movements were even faster than Zephyr's.
With a swift sidestep, he slipped out of the werewolf's attack, avoiding it by a narrow margin.
His spear was still lodged in Isla's abdomen.
Yet that didn't seem to matter.
After putting several meters between himself and the two Wyndhams, the Raikovar calmly stretched out his hand.
Crackle!
The spear dissolved into lightning.
In an instant, it vanished from Isla's body and streaked through the air before reforming in the Raikovar's grip.
Without wasting a second, he spun the weapon several times in a smooth, practiced motion.
The spear whistled through the air.
Then he lowered his body into a stance.
He leaned backward.
The muscles in his body tightened.
The next instant, he exploded forward with tremendous force.
Crack!
Boom!
The spear transformed into a bolt of pure lightning and shot toward Zephyr.
It was too fast.
Boom!
The attack slammed directly into him.
Zephyr's entire body was blasted backward by the impact.
Bang!
He crashed hard into the wall at the far end of the room.
Before he could even recover—
Crack!
The lightning reformed into a spear.
It drove straight into Zephyr's body with deadly precision, pinning him firmly against the wall.
"Argh!"
Zephyr screamed.
The cry sounded more human than beast.
It was a clear sign that he was beginning to lose his transformed state.
Meanwhile, Henry, who had remained beside Clifford the entire time, finally made his move.
Unlike the others, he couldn't attack carelessly.
One mistake, and he would hit his own teammates.
"Get out of the way!" he shouted.
The moment Isla heard him, he immediately ducked.
He already knew what was coming.
Henry had already formed a compressed sphere of air in his palm.
The swirling mass was tightly packed, vibrating with destructive force.
He steadied his footing.
He pulled his arm back, preparing to launch it.
But at that exact moment—
Something flashed before his eyes.
It happened so fast that he couldn't even react.
Slash!
Henry froze.
His body remained standing, completely motionless.
"No!" Clifford shouted.
His desperate cry barely reached Henry's ears.
Henry's vision spun.
Then everything tilted.
The next instant, his head slipped cleanly from his shoulders.
It dropped to the floor.
To the Wyndhams, it felt as though time had suddenly stopped.
Even through the pain, Zephyr saw it happen.
Clifford saw it too.
Henry...
Had been beheaded.
Standing beside Henry's headless body was the Raikovar warrior wielding the twin blades.
He had moved with terrifying speed.
No one had seen him close the distance.
His curved blades had sliced cleanly through Henry's neck in a single motion.
Not a single stain of blood remained on either blade.
As Henry's body finally collapsed, something else fell with him.
The compressed air sphere was still in his hand.
The moment his grip loosened—
Boom!
The compressed air detonated violently.
The tightly packed energy burst outward with far greater force than any of them had expected.
The explosion ripped through the store.
Walls shattered.
The building burst apart.
The shockwave blasted everyone in different directions.