The fight for the invitation cards was starting to thin out.
Most clans had already managed to snatch a card from someone else. The rest were retreating fast, moving with purpose instead of rage. The chaos that once filled the coliseum was slowly draining away.
Everyone who held an invitation had the same thought.
Cash it in. Now.
Because of that, as the fighting died down, Alex knew exactly where his next move had to be.
'If I want to get a card from a clan,' Alex thought, 'then I have to head for the entrance.'
He moved while thinking, feet light, eyes sharp.
'Most of the clans heading there would've fought already,' he continued. 'They'll be tired. Slower. Sloppy.'
It wasn't a perfect plan, but it was the only one that made sense.
Alex kept running, the noise of distant battles echoing behind him. His focus stayed forward, locked on the wide paths that led toward the entrance gates.
What he didn't know—what he couldn't feel—was the presence behind him.
Someone was following.
Just as Alex expected, the closer he got, the more people he saw. Several clans were already moving in the same direction, some limping, some supporting wounded members, others still gripping their weapons tight.
His eyes scanned them fast.
'Now,' Alex thought. 'I have to act now.'
He slowed, then stopped in his tracks, turning his head slightly as he searched for a target that looked weak enough. Someone careless. Someone exposed.
"Arhhh—!"
A deep, violent roar exploded behind him.
The ground trembled as a heavy footstep followed, cracking the stone beneath it. The sound wasn't just loud—it carried weight. Power.
Alex's eyes widened.
He reacted instantly.
He turned back, just in time to come face to face with a massive figure.
The person charging at him was a man, dressed in wild clothing made from animal skin. Rough. Untamed. The kind of outfit that screamed brute force over technique.
What stood out most was his height and size.
The man was huge—easily five times Alex's bulk and taller by far. Thick bones. Heavy muscles. His body was covered in coarse hair, making him look more beast than human.
And that beast was moving fast.
Way too fast.
Such a massive figure shouldn't have been able to run like that, yet he was closing the distance in a blink.
"Get out of my way...!" the man screamed, his voice deep and shaking the air.
Alex tried to move.
He couldn't.
It was already too late. The distance between them vanished in an instant.
Bang!
The titanic figure slammed straight into Alex, the impact throwing him hard to the side. The man didn't even slow down as he charged through, his momentum carrying him forward.
He only stopped several steps later.
The large man frowned.
'That doesn't feel like I hit someone,' he thought.
Bang!
Before the thought could finish, something dropped straight down onto his head. It was hard. Heavy. Brutal.
The blow drove him straight into the ground.
Stone cracked on impact. Fissures spread across the floor as dust and debris exploded upward, filling the air around them.
Moments later, the dust finally settled.
Alex was standing over the unconscious man.
He lifted his hand slowly, staring at it as if unsure of what had just happened. His fingers flexed once, then stopped.
'That strike…' Alex thought.
'If I hadn't learned the Reflection Effect technique, that would've flattened me into blood paste,' he thought.
The large man had slammed into him without warning, giving Alex no time to dodge or brace properly. The impact should have crushed him. Instead, the technique reacted on instinct.
Alex had Reflected the force.
Not blocked it. Not resisted it.
Reflected it.
The momentum and raw power from the man's charge flowed through Alex's body instead of tearing it apart. Even so, the amount of force startled him. It was violent. Heavy. Almost hard to control.
Luckily, he had somewhere to send it.
When the large man finally stopped moving, Alex didn't strike him just because he had been hit. That wasn't the reason.
He had seen something else.
An invitation card.
Acting fast, Alex kicked off the ground. His body lifted into the air as he guided the Reflected force through himself. It moved from his core to his head, then down into his legs, tight and barely contained.
He didn't hesitate.
Casting the Buster technique, Alex shot downward like a missile.
Bang!
His body slammed into the large man, driving him hard into the ground and knocking him out completely. The floor cracked beneath the impact.
Alex landed and immediately bent down. He reached for the man's hand and pulled free the invitation card.
It was a foldable envelope, golden in color, with unique magical runes etched neatly along its edges.
Out of curiosity, Alex unfolded the envelope.
[If you are holding this invitation card, then you have been found worthy to participate in the Paragon Battle Royal.
From the Nine Gods]
Alex stared at the words for a brief second.
'Too brief for all the fighting,' he thought.
Almost immediately, loud cries echoed from behind him. Heavy footsteps followed, fast and angry, shaking the ground as they came closer.
'Fuck… of course he has a clan,' Alex thought.
He didn't hesitate anymore.
'I need to get this to Lucius and the rest. I just hope things haven't gotten out of hand,' he thought as he turned and ran.
His body moved on instinct, weaving through the chaos of the coliseum, pushing speed where he could, conserving energy where he had to.
What Alex didn't know was that someone had been watching everything.
From start to finish.
Every movement. Every decision.
Someone had seen exactly how he dealt with the large man.
'Ha… one hundred percent victory?' Rhyssa thought.
'Seems like we might be witnessing the system being wrong for the first time,' she thought.
Alex's arrival with the invitation card left the Wyndhams stunned.
Not just shocked.
Confused.
Every one of them could see it clearly. The golden envelope. The runes along its edges. The very thing they had been fighting the Khyphon Clan over.
Questions flooded their minds, one after another, but none of them spoke.
Even with the card in Alex's hand, even with proof right in front of them, the Wyndhams didn't move.
No one cheered.
No one relaxed.
Lucius, in particular, didn't ease up at all.
He stood there, body tense, eyes cold, staring straight at the Khyphon Clan as if the fight was far from over.
Meanwhile, John finally moved.
He walked over to Alex and reached out, taking the envelope from his hand. The moment his fingers touched it, he could feel the weight of it. Not physical weight—but presence.
"How did you manage to get this?" John asked, his brows tightening, his face serious.
Alex opened his mouth.
'Don't tell me I'm in trouble for finding the exact thing we were looking for?' he thought.
But the words never came out.
He stayed silent.
John waited for an answer, watching Alex closely, clearly expecting something. When Alex still said nothing, John's eyes shifted away from him and landed on Lucius.
"Is this real?" John asked.
Even as he asked, he already knew the answer. The card in his hand gave off a clear feeling. A pressure. A certainty. Still, he wanted it confirmed.
"I can feel it from here," Lucius said calmly. "The invitation card is real."
John let out a slow breath.
Then Lucius continued.
"However, my business isn't done here."
His gaze slid toward a specific member of the Khyphon Clan. It was sharp. Focused. Heavy with intent.
"You will pay for what you did," Lucius said, his voice low. "I am going to kill you all."
Qi leaked from his body.
It poured out.
The energy was thick, hostile, and crushing. It pressed down on everyone around him without mercy.
The Triple Js felt it first.
Their legs buckled.
The rest of the Wyndhams followed, dropping to their knees as if the ground itself had turned against them.
John's heart slammed against his chest.
'What is wrong with him…?' he panicked.
At the same time, the members of the Khyphon Clan were hit just as hard. One by one, they were forced down to their knees.
The massive water dome around them began to tremble.
Cracks formed across its surface.
Then, slowly, the dome started to break apart, streams of water falling away as the pressure crushed it from the inside out.
"No…!" the Khyphon Clan head cried out.
She forced both hands against the water dome, teeth clenched, trying to hold it together. The dome shook violently. Cracks spread faster now. Her arms trembled as Lucius' qi pressed down harder and harder.
She was losing it.
Among everyone present, there was only one person who looked different.
One person who wasn't crushed to the ground.
Even Alex couldn't fully Reflect the force bearing down on him, but he was still standing. His knees shook. His breath came short. Sweat rolled down his face, yet he hadn't collapsed like the others.
Barely holding on.
'What is happening…?' Alex panicked.
'This shouldn't be it… this is not what I expected to happen,' he thought, his mind racing.
His eyes shifted.
He looked straight at the Dragon Roar member.
The man stood calmly, completely unfazed. No strain. No tension. As if the crushing pressure didn't exist at all.
That scared Alex more than the qi itself.
Boom!!!
Without warning, the sky above the coliseum exploded.
Lightning rained down in violent streaks, striking the ground again and again. Each bolt hit like a dropped spear from the heavens. Thunder followed instantly, shaking the entire area.
The sound was deafening.
Wind surged outward, tearing through the battlefield. Dust, debris, and loose fragments were thrown into the air. The light from the lightning grew brighter with every strike, flooding the coliseum until vision itself was swallowed.
White.
Blinding white.
Then—silence.
The light faded as quickly as it came.
When everyone could finally see again, three figures were floating several feet above the coliseum floor. Their bodies glowed faintly, wrapped in a calm, divine light that made the air around them feel heavy and sacred at the same time.
Lucius froze.
Completely still.
He slowly lifted his head, staring up at the figures. The terrifying qi he had been releasing moments ago vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
His voice came out low. Careful.
"Jovisrax…" he muttered.