Alex had expected an attack from the very beginning.
And he wasn't stupid enough to underestimate the people targeting him either.
He already knew exactly who they were.
The Pyre-Fang Clan.
This was one of the clans the Wyndhams had specifically been warned to avoid during the tournament. And there were more than enough reasons for that warning.
First, the Pyre-Fang Clan stood among the strongest clans in the entire Paragon Realm. They weren't just famous for strength either. They already had several tournament victories under their belt.
Then there was another reason people feared them even more.
The Pyre-Fang Clan was the clan that raised one of the Divine Beings of this era.
Venatora.
Just the name alone carried pressure.
Normally, Alex would have followed Lucius' warning and avoided direct conflict with them completely. But his current situation was different now.
He no longer had the tournament wristband.
The one thing that could have allowed him to surrender and escape was already gone.
That meant there was no safe retreat left for him anymore.
If he didn't fight for his life here, then he would simply die. Plain and simple.
Because of that, Alex had no intention of holding back his power.
Qi surged violently through his body.
He gathered a massive amount of energy into his fist while simultaneously activating Buster across multiple joints and muscle groups in his arm and torso.
The technique detonated in sequence through his body.
His shoulder.
His elbow.
His wrist.
Even the muscles in his back and waist violently compressed and released power together.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The chained bursts amplified the speed and force behind his punch far beyond what his raw physical strength alone should have produced.
Then his fist collided head-on with the incoming punch from the Pyre-Fang member.
Boom!
The impact exploded like a cannon blast.
Fire erupted violently, engulfing Alex's surroundings in an instant.
The force from the collision spread outward in a burning wave, scorching the already dead wasteland around them.
Meanwhile, the male Pyre-Fang member was forced backward several steps. Alex's punch had completely stopped his momentum and even rattled him enough to throw off his balance.
But it didn't matter for long.
Alex wasn't fighting one opponent.
There were still two more.
Boom!
Another fiery explosion detonated from the side before Alex could properly recover from the first clash.
The attack slammed directly into him and blasted him away. His body flew across the wasteland before crashing hard against the ground, rolling violently through dirt and broken debris while flames spread across his body.
But the Pyre-Fang members gave him no chance to breathe.
The two females descended immediately.
Boom!
They crashed down onto him at nearly the same time, each grabbing one of his shoulders tightly.
Then they surged forward again, flying low across the ground while dragging Alex along with them.
His body scraped brutally against the wasteland.
Chunks of scorched earth shattered apart underneath him while sparks and dirt exploded behind their path.
Alex gritted his teeth hard.
'These bastards...!'
Meanwhile, the flames surrounding the two females suddenly began to spread outward.
The fire stretched unnaturally, crawling from their bodies onto Alex like living creatures searching for fuel.
In seconds, the flames completely wrapped around him.
The little remaining cloth hanging onto his damaged body instantly burned away into black ash.
Now Alex's entire body was engulfed in fire.
Flying closely behind them was the male Pyre-Fang fighter.
A burst of flames exploded from beneath his feet, pushing him forward at terrifying speed until he caught up with the two women dragging Alex.
The moment he got close enough, he started attacking immediately.
Bang!
A flaming punch smashed into Alex's face.
Bang!
Another slammed into his stomach.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The punches kept coming one after another without pause.
His ribs.
His jaw.
His chest.
Anywhere the male fighter could reach, his burning fists struck.
Each impact released bursts of fire that exploded across Alex's skin.
But while attacking, the male Pyre-Fang member slowly started noticing something strange.
Something deeply wrong.
The flames covering Alex's body were burning violently. The heat was intense enough to melt debris nearby.
Yet Alex's flesh wasn't charring the way it should have been.
And even worse...
Alex was staring directly at him through the flames.
Not screaming.
Not panicking.
Just staring.
That was when a cold shiver suddenly crawled down the Pyre-Fang member's spine.
'His flesh... it's not being consumed!'
The realization hit the male Pyre-Fang member too late.
By the time he noticed something was wrong, Alex had already moved.
Alex's Reflection Effect had been active from the very beginning. Every punch they landed, every burst of fire, every ounce of force driven into his body had been stacking up inside him.
The damage.
The impact.
The heat.
Everything was being stored.
Alex's entire body suddenly tightened with explosive power. Muscles bulged. Veins rose sharply across his burning skin.
Then he attacked.
Without warning, Alex swung his leg forward toward the male Pyre-Fang member flying beside them.
It wasn't a technique.
No Buster.
No special amplification.
Just a raw kick backed by all the energy that had accumulated inside him.
Boom!
The impact exploded through the air.
The male Pyre-Fang member's eyes widened as his body was launched backward like a cannonball. Flames spiraled wildly around him as he lost control mid-air.
By now, the fight had already crossed into the Ruined City itself.
Broken skyscrapers surrounded them while thick fog drifted between the damaged structures below.
The male fighter crashed straight into the side of a tall ruined building.
Boom!
A fiery explosion erupted from the impact point, blasting shattered concrete and burning debris outward through the air. Parts of the building cracked apart immediately.
Meanwhile, Alex was still restrained by the two female Pyre-Fang members.
But now they could feel it clearly.
The pressure coming from Alex's body had changed completely.
Shifting the accumulated force through his torso, waist, and shoulder, Alex suddenly twisted violently sideways toward his right.
The sudden movement yanked one of the female fighters completely off balance.
The girl holding his left arm barely had time to react before Alex forcefully dragged her along with the motion.
Then he hurled her away.
Boom!
Her body smashed straight through the side of another ruined building they flew past.
The impact detonated violently as flames burst outward from the collision point.
Concrete shattered apart while the female Pyre-Fang member was sent deeper into the structure.
Her own fire reacted chaotically to the violent crash, causing secondary explosions to erupt from inside the damaged building moments later.
Boom! Boom!
The entire side of the structure lit up orange through the fog.
Now, only one person was still holding onto Alex.
The remaining female Pyre-Fang member instantly sensed the danger.
Her instincts screamed at her.
She immediately released his arm and tried to pull away.
'Not so fast,' Alex thought coldly.
At that moment, Alex was already falling diagonally through the air toward the ruined streets below. Wind rushed violently past his burning body, but he paid no attention to it.
His focus remained entirely on the energy inside him.
Then his axe appeared in his hand.
The weapon materialized instantly, the dark metal reflecting the surrounding flames.
Without hesitation, Alex poured energy into it.
A massive amount at once.
'My mana core still isn't active,' Alex thought.
'I don't have any proper magical spell or skill yet. This is the only way I can make use of the mana energy I absorbed.'
The Reflection Effect wasn't limitless.
It could only reflect the exact type of energy used against him.
And from the barrage of attacks the Pyre-Fang members had unleashed on him, Alex had absorbed two different forms of power.
Kinetic energy.
And mana energy.
The kinetic force from their strikes had already been used. He used it to launch the male Pyre-Fang member away and to violently overpower the female holding him earlier.
Now it was time to use the second one.
The mana energy.
The moment Alex fully channeled the stored energy into the axe, something strange happened.
The flames covering his body suddenly reacted.
The fire shifted unnaturally, almost like flowing water being pulled by a current.
Streams of blazing fire peeled away from Alex's skin and spiraled toward the axe in his grip.
More and more flames gathered around the weapon.
The heat intensified immediately.
The air around the axe distorted from the temperature, and the fire condensed tighter and tighter around the blade until it looked like the entire weapon had become a burning core of compressed flames.
Alex tightened his grip.
His falling body rotated slightly mid-air while his eyes locked onto the last female Pyre-Fang member trying to create distance from him.
And for the first time since the fight started, fear flashed across her face.