Lucius couldn't believe it.
Pain tore through his body as he was sent flying out of range. Not a sharp pain. A deep one. The kind that rattled bones and shook the organs loose.
The strike he had just taken—he still couldn't process it.
It came from a Khyphon clan member.
Not the leader.
Not even the woman holding the dome.
Just one of them.
Lucius's body smashed into a line of tents. Cloth ripped. Poles snapped. The impact swallowed him whole, and in the next breath, he was gone from everyone's sight.
Silence followed.
The Triple Js had seen everything.
Their eyes snapped from the direction Lucius had flown to, then slowly back to the Khyphon clan member still standing there. No one spoke. No one moved.
Shivers ran down their spines.
They wanted to act. They wanted to rush in. But their legs wouldn't listen. None of them dared to step forward.
At the same time, the rest of the Khyphon clan members regrouped.
They moved quickly, smoothly, gathering around their leader. One by one, they stepped back into the large water dome she had created. The barrier accepted them without resistance.
All except one.
The man who had intercepted Lucius's attack stayed outside.
He didn't chase.
He didn't press the advantage.
He just stood there, facing the Wyndhams.
Still. Calm. Watching.
That alone was unsettling.
The Wyndhams felt it too.
Their attention shifted away from him, drawn instead to the rest of the battlefield. When they looked toward their other participants, their worry deepened.
Yes, they still outnumbered the Khyphon members.
But numbers didn't tell the whole story.
Their fighters were breathing hard. Some were injured. Others were barely holding their ground. Whatever momentum they had earlier was gone.
And now, with Lucius down and the enemy suddenly revealed to be far stronger than expected, the balance had begun to tilt.
They weren't in a life-threatening state, but their condition said everything that needed to be said.
They weren't a match for the Khyphon clan members.
Bruised bodies. Ragged breathing. Stances that had lost their sharpness. Anyone with eyes could tell the difference in strength.
Seeing this, John felt a sharp pain twist in his chest.
It wasn't physical. It cut deeper than that.
It was the kind of pain that came from watching a dream crack right in front of you.
Watching how poorly they had fared against a single clan—one that wasn't even considered a major name—made his heart sink. In that moment, John felt like the Wyndhams had no future in the Paragon world at all.
No matter how hard they trained.
No matter how far they pushed.
He felt like they would never rise among other paragon warriors.
For a split second, a dangerous thought crossed his mind.
'Maybe we should just gather everyone and leave,' he thought.
'Forget the colosseum. Forget the tournament. Forget the idea of building a family clan.'
The weight of it almost crushed him.
"Where's Alex?" Jim asked suddenly, doing a quick head count of their people.
The question snapped a few heads around.
Before anyone could answer, a loud thud echoed nearby.
A man landed hard in their area, boots digging into the ground as dust kicked up around him.
"I would say I never expected someone to pull that off from the Khyphon clan," Lucius said calmly.
He was back.
Not limping.
Not bleeding.
Standing straight, as if nothing had happened.
Seeing Lucius again sent a quiet wave of relief through the Triple Js. The pressure in the air eased. John felt the burning fire in his chest die down, replaced by a steady calm.
Lucius rolled his neck once. A dry crack followed as bone and muscle shifted back into place.
Then his gaze locked onto the Khyphon clan member standing outside the dome.
"Tell me," Lucius said slowly, eyes sharp, voice steady.
"What kind of robe is that?"
He took a step forward.
"What rank is it?"
"Rank six?"
"Seven?"
Lucius had already run it through his mind.
There was no way a normal Khyphon clan member should have been able to hit him like that. No way someone below the leader could deliver such force without help.
Not without external support.
An enchanted material.
A beast-crafted robe.
Something powerful enough to bridge that gap.
And now, Lucius was certain of one thing.
That attack hadn't come from talent alone. At least he thought so.
To Lucius, there was only one explanation.
The Khyphon Clan must have handed their strongest enchanted material to this member. A boost meant for moments like this—something to tilt the scales during a battle royal.
That kind of move was normal.
Every clan did it.
They all kept something in reserve. A weapon. An armor piece. A last card meant to change the flow of a fight when things went bad. Even the Wyndhams had their own trump card—the Five rings.
Right now, though, this robe had Lucius' full attention.
"By the time I defeat your clan," Lucius said, voice calm but sharp,
"not only will I take the invite—"
He shifted his stance, aura tightening around him.
"I'll be taking that robe too."
The words landed heavy.
At the same time, the Khyphon clan members reacted. Every single one of them adjusted their footing. Hands tightened around weapons. Bodies lowered slightly. They were ready.
The air tensed.
Then—
"Wait! I have an invite!"
"I got one!"
A familiar voice cut through the moment.
Everyone turned.
Alex came rushing toward them, breathing hard, one hand raised high. Between his fingers was a Paragon Battle Royal Invitation card, its surface catching the light.
"Where did he get that from?" Jake muttered, eyes wide.
---
Earlier, while clashing with the Khyphon participants, Alex had noticed something off.
One of them wasn't just strong.
He was Dragon Roar.
And not a low-ranking member either.
The realization hit fast.
Knowing that, Alex understood his limits. He couldn't fully enter the fight. He couldn't help the Wyndhams take the remaining invite cards from the Khyphon clan.
Not without crossing a line.
Interfering would risk exposing whatever mission the Dragon Roar member was on. A task. A hidden order. Something internal.
And that kind of interference was forbidden within Dragon Roar.
'Not worth the fallout,' Alex told himself.
So he made his choice.
Get an invite.
Pull back.
Don't touch the rest.
During the fight, Alex picked up on something important.
The Dragon Roar member wasn't fighting to win.
He was fighting to stall.
Each strike, each movement—it was measured. Controlled. Just enough pressure to keep the field chaotic, but not enough to wipe anyone out. Alex could see it clearly now. The Dragon Roar member was buying time. Time for Alex to stop the Wyndhams from pushing further against the Khyphon Clan.
Alex already knew the truth.
That Dragon Roar member could have killed the Wyndhams at any moment.
The power difference was obvious. It had already been proven in the exchanges so far. Yet he hadn't done it. Not once.
'He's holding back.'
That meant only one thing.
He was giving Alex a chance.
Alex tried to think fast. How else could he stop this? He couldn't just walk up and tell the Wyndhams to change targets or back off. They wouldn't listen. Not in this state. Not with pride and pressure pushing them forward.
Words wouldn't work.
The only real solution was the root of the problem.
The Paragon Battle Royal invitation card.
If the reason for the fight disappeared, the fight itself would lose meaning.
Decision made.
While the clash continued, Alex slipped away.
He moved through the coliseum grounds, weaving between broken terrain and scattered groups. Fights were still happening everywhere. Loud. Brutal. Messy. Most of the battles he passed were far beyond what he could handle right now.
He kept his head down and kept moving.
Then he saw them again.
The Synapse Circle.
They hadn't entered the main chaos. Instead, they were grouped together beside their massive ship, its metal surface scarred and marked from earlier clashes.
But something was different this time.
They weren't relaxed anymore.
Several clans were pressing them from different angles. Attacks kept coming in waves. The robots were still fighting, but it was starting to show. The pressure was building. Too much for machines alone.
That was when the Synapse Circle participants themselves stepped in.
And the fight around their ship began to tip into something far more dangerous.
They all had their helmets sealed shut, layers of mechanical plating covering their heads. Because of that, Alex couldn't immediately tell which of them were members he had seen before.
One of them stood out anyway.
He had a smaller body frame, but his mechanical suit was anything but light. Both arms were raised, the metal shifting and locking into place. The next second, his forearms transformed into compact blasters.
Boom. Boom.
Energy blasts ripped forward, slamming into the attackers and forcing them back. Dust and fragments flew with every hit.
That wasn't all.
The rest of the Synapse Circle members were fighting in sync, mixing raw mechanics with magic and qi. Spells flashed. Qi rippled through metal limbs. Every movement felt practiced and clean.
Then someone rushed in close.
A katana swung toward one of the Synapse Circle members. From the attacker's stance and build, Alex could tell the attacker was female. The Synapse Circle member reacted instantly.
Her arm lifted.
Metal flowed and reshaped, morphing into a wide shield just in time. The katana struck it with a sharp clang, sparks scattering outward.
At the same moment, her other arm shifted.
It stretched and hardened, turning into a long, narrow blade.
She stepped in.
The blade drove straight into the attacker's stomach.
No hesitation.
She twisted her wrist and slashed sideways, tearing through flesh. The attacker's body went limp, collapsing to the ground in a heavy thud.
Dead.
Right then, the Synapse Circle member lifted her head.
She looked straight at Alex.
For a brief second, the noise around them faded. Their eyes met.
The mechanical helmet began to move. Tiny segments slid apart like flowing nanobots, retracting smoothly. In seconds, her face was revealed.
Smooth skin. Sharp features. White hair framing her face.
Alex froze.
'It's her… heck?!'
He recognized her instantly.
His heart skipped, and instinct kicked in. He turned away at once, scanning for another clan to target.
"What was I thinking," Alex muttered under his breath, annoyed with himself. "Lucius said to stay away from the Synapse Circle. Even the system warned me."
He didn't slow down.
Alex broke into a run, pushing deeper into the chaos, searching for another clan that might have an invitation card.
What he didn't know—
As he ran, someone else moved too.
The Synapse Circle member stepped away from the fight and followed.
"What the heck… where is Rhyssa going?" Eric exclaimed, turning toward the others as he noticed her leaving.