After barely escaping the clutches of the Anakim and Rhyssa, Lennox and Isla made it their absolute priority to put as much distance between themselves and that battlefield as possible. With Zephyr completely unconscious, they simply couldn't afford to be dragged into another fight.
At first, the long retreat was rough. A few stray beasts and natural obstacles tried to block their path, but Lennox and Isla dealt with them quickly, refusing to slow down their pace for even a second.
They were also helped by a grim fact. The overall number of participants in the tournament had severely dropped since it started. The constant killing meant the surrounding area was far emptier now, drastically reducing their chances of running into another hostile clan.
However, running blind always had its consequences. Even though they both wore their tournament watches, they had been so focused on survival that neither of them actually bothered to check the map or confirm their direction.
Before they knew it, the landscape around them shifted. They had accidentally stumbled straight toward the Ruined City. Since turning back wasn't an option, they made the call to just keep moving forward.
Stepping through the thick, unnatural wall of white fog, the heavy outlines of collapsed concrete buildings and shattered asphalt finally revealed themselves. They were officially inside the city limits.
Isla halted and glanced up at the towering, damaged structures surrounding them.
"Should we take one of these buildings and rest up for a while?" Isla asked, keeping his voice low so it wouldn't echo down the empty street.
Lennox turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow in mild surprise. "Are you tired?"
"I am not," Isla replied quickly. He shifted his heavy grip, gesturing to the dead weight he was carrying. "But we have Zephyr to think about. He is still completely out cold."
Lennox stayed quiet for a moment, his eyes scanning the misty shadows ahead.
"It is best if we try as much as we can to stay out of trouble for the meantime," Isla explained. "We need a secure place to lay low."
Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, the heavy sound of rapid explosions echoed through the thick, unnatural fog.
"Speaking of trouble," Lennox muttered. His muscles tensed immediately, shifting his stance to either fight or run at a moment's notice.
Neither Lennox nor Isla had any idea what was causing the blasts, but they didn't need to see through the mist to know the danger was right on top of them. The ruined asphalt beneath their boots was literally vibrating.
Boom!
Another massive explosion went off, shaking the concrete. This one was dangerously close.
Acting on pure survival instinct, Isla and Lennox moved fast. They completely abandoned the open street and dove for cover, ducking into a narrow alleyway wedged between two towering structures.
Boom!
The deafening noise erupted again. But this time, the blast happened right in front of them, instantly blowing away enough fog for them to finally see the battlefield.
High up near the roof at the opposite end of the alley, a massive, shadowy creature was violently struck by a highly condensed ball of air.
The explosive force of the wind instantly expanded upon impact. A violent shockwave funneled directly down the narrow space, hitting Lennox and Isla like a physical brick wall. The sheer pressure was overwhelming, violently blasting them both backward out of the alley and back onto the open street.
The heavy impact was too much for the already weakened architecture. Moments later, one of the towering brick buildings forming the alley groaned under the stress and suddenly collapsed, burying the area in a massive cloud of dust and debris.
Out on the street, Isla and Lennox tumbled roughly across the hard ground, unable to control their momentum. Because Isla had been carrying Zephyr, the sudden shockwave forcefully ripped the unconscious boy right out of his grip, sending him skidding across the rough pavement alongside them.
Zephyr's body struck the hard debris with a heavy thud. The harsh, physical impact was enough to violently jar his senses. A weak, pained groan escaped his lips as his fingers twitched against the pavement, his shaking arms desperately trying to push himself back up.
"What... the fuck was that?" Zephyr groaned, his hands shaking as he struggled to push himself into a sitting position on the rough pavement.
Nearby, Lennox and Isla had already scrambled back to their feet, shaking off the dust and ringing in their ears.
Seeing Zephyr struggling, Lennox immediately walked over to help. Zephyr still looked incredibly pale and completely drained of energy. Lennox reached down and carefully hoisted him up, wrapping Zephyr's arm over his own shoulder to support his heavy weight.
Meanwhile, Isla hadn't moved to help. His mind seemed to be completely somewhere else. His eyes were locked intently on the mountain of rubble where the alleyway had just collapsed.
"This... That attack looked familiar," Isla said suddenly.
Lennox and Zephyr both turned to look at him in confusion.
"Is that someone you have met before?" Lennox asked.
Isla slowly turned back to face the two of them.
"No," he said. "That attack... it was formed purely from the air. A condensed air ball that explodes outward exactly like a bomb. That is Henry!"
Back when they were all under the Wyndhams clan, Henry had trained extensively alongside Isla, Lennox, and Zephyr. The three of them had seen exactly what he could do in combat, which was why Isla instantly recognized the unique signature of the blast.
"You can't be sure of that," Lennox argued, scanning the thick fog.
Isla shook his head firmly in disagreement.
"Trust me, I have been struck by those exact air balls before," Isla said, his tone dead serious. "The force that just pushed us wasn't a normal gust of controlled air. It was violent and heavy, just like an explosion. It has to be him."
"Then we have to move fast," Zephyr said, his voice still raspy from exhaustion. He looked over at his companion. "Isla, you go ahead of us."
Isla didn't think twice. He kicked off the ground and took off into a full sprint, tearing straight through the thick mist. He ran directly toward the direction of the latest explosion, using the echoing booms to trace his way back to the others.
Meanwhile, Lennox was still trying to help Zephyr steady himself. Due to Zephyr's recent transformation, his clothes were completely shredded, hanging off his frame in ruined rags.
He clearly needed a fresh set of clothes, but they simply didn't have the luxury of time. Realizing they couldn't waste another second, Lennox quickly adjusted his grip, hoisted Zephyr up to support him, and rushed into the fog after Isla.
They managed to track him down at the exact moment the scene played out. Isla had just launched the heavy, broken car through the air, successfully saving Henry from the snapping jaws of the mutated werewolf.
"You guys are alive," Henry gasped, staring at the newcomers in pure relief.
Isla scoffed loudly, giving a sharp look. "Did you really expect me to be eliminated before you weaklings?"
Bang!
A sudden, violent explosion of raw strength erupted from beneath the wreckage. The heavy car that had been pinning the werewolf down was forcefully hurled to the side. It slid across the torn asphalt, crashing brutally into the concrete foundation of a nearby building with a loud metallic crunch.
The mutated werewolf scrambled back up to its feet, shaking off the dust as it locked its glowing eyes onto its targets.
"Roar!"
The beast unhinged its jaws, opening its mouth impossibly wide. Strings of thick saliva stretched tightly between its long upper and lower fangs, exposing that terrifying, pitch-black abyss down its throat.
The beast let out a deep, deafening roar that vibrated through the ruined street, forcing everyone to brace themselves against the sheer volume of it.
"Shut the fuck up...!" Isla shouted.
He didn't hesitate. Pivoting to the side, he dropped low and grabbed the rusted frame of a abandoned car sitting nearby. He slipped right under the chassis, braced his legs, and forcefully hoisted the entire vehicle over his head. The massive feat of strength looked completely natural for him. With a violent thrust of his arms, he hurled the heavy car directly at the monster.
The vehicle cut cleanly through the air, hurtling straight for its target.
Just as the metal block was about to smash into the werewolf, the two skeletal extra arms on its back whipped upward.
The thin limbs snapped forward and caught the flying car right out of the air. The heavy weight caused the monster's thick hind legs to skid backward across the torn asphalt, but it successfully halted the vehicle's momentum.
Henry instantly saw his opening while the beast was occupied.
He thrust his palms forward, aiming to exploit the blind spot. He rapidly fired a succession of compressed air blasts, hoping to shatter the car right in the monster's grip. But he was only able to unleash three air balls before the energy abruptly sputtered out, leaving his hands completely empty.
He looked down at his bare palms in absolute shock.
'No... no... no... How the hell can I run out of mana right now?' Henry thought, a sudden wave of panic crashing over him.
But there was no time to think. With a vicious snarl, the werewolf forcefully hurled the heavy car right back in their direction. The metal mass careened toward them at a terrifying speed, but Henry's first flying air ball managed to intercept it mid-flight.
Boom!
The explosion completely deflected the vehicle, sending it spinning wildly off to the side where it crashed into the dirt. Meanwhile, his remaining two air balls tore right through the smoke, heading straight toward the werewolf's chest.
The werewolf coiled its powerful legs and leaped high off the pavement at the exact moment the first air ball struck the ground beneath its feet.
Boom!
The explosion tore up the empty street, but the monster was already airborne. Henry desperately tried to redirect the very last air ball, straining his mind to lock down a perfect trajectory mid-air to catch the beast before it could land.
But as the projectile closed the distance, the werewolf simply unhinged its jaw once more. It swallowed the condensed ball of air entirely, snapping its mouth shut with a heavy click.
"Heck... How can it do that!" Lennox shouted, staring in absolute disbelief.
He braced himself, expecting a massive internal detonation to tear the creature apart from the inside out. But nothing happened. The monster's chest didn't even shudder.
Instead, the werewolf swerved mid-air, slamming its heavy claws into the concrete wall of a nearby building. Using the vertical surface as a violent springboard, it pushed off with immense force, rocketing straight back down toward the group.
Lennox and Isla immediately opened fire, unleashing a rapid volley of glowing Qi blasts. Jimmy and Henry joined in right away, pouring every bit of their remaining energy into the oncoming threat to form a wall of attacks.
But the werewolf was too agile. As it closed the distance, it rapidly darted from side to side in a jagged, erratic pattern, easily weaving through the bulk of the incoming projectiles. Even when a few stray blasts managed to clip its thick shoulders, the raw energy did absolutely nothing to slow its momentum.
Seeing their ranged attacks fail, Isla grabbed the frame of another nearby abandoned car. Instead of lifting and hurling it this time, he dropped it directly in front of his path and delivered a massive, bone-crushing kick to the rear bumper.
The car's shredded tires screeched violently against the torn asphalt, throwing up bright sparks as the heavy metal frame skidded forward like a speeding battering ram, heading directly toward the incoming beast.
But the werewolf was already right on top of them. With a powerful, explosive leap, it launched itself high into the air to clear the obstacle.
The mutated werewolf sailed cleanly over the skidding vehicle, landing heavily on the asphalt as it surged directly toward them.
Lennox and Isla clenched their fists tight. Without a single word of communication between them, both fighters instinctively prepared for the exact same desperate move. They strained their muscles well beyond their normal limits, channeling every ounce of inner strength into their knuckles to prepare a devastating counterattack.
But while the two front-liners braced for impact, a sudden, bizarre shift was occurring right behind them—something only the resting fighters were beginning to notice.
'My Qi... is it restoring faster?' Zephyr thought, his eyes widening as a warm surge of energy suddenly rippled through his tired veins.
'My mana... it's rising again,' Henry thought, staring down at his palms as the dry magical pathways in his body suddenly flooded with power.
With their energy unexpectedly returning, the entire group tightened their stances, ready to jump back into the fray together as the monster closed the distance.
But before any of them could make a move, a sudden blur interrupted the battlefield.
A massive, white, furry figure erupted from the thick fog behind them. The creature was gargantuan, easily matching the mutated werewolf in size, and it launched itself like a missile straight into the monster's side.
The two massive beasts crashed together with a brutal impact. They tumbled violently across the torn asphalt, tearing up the ground while sinking their razor-sharp teeth deep into each other's hides.
In an instant, their life-or-death struggle had been completely hijacked by a second apex predator.