The flames that had once covered Alex's body were now completely gathered around the axe.
Smoke rose from his skin from all the hits and burns he had taken so far, but surprisingly, his condition wasn't critical yet.
Pain shot through his body nonstop. His muscles screamed from strain, and parts of his flesh still looked scorched black from the Pyre-Fang attacks. But Alex could still move.
And right now, that was enough.
Without hesitation, Alex hurled the axe directly at the remaining Pyre-Fang member.
The female fighter had already released him and was trying to escape the moment she sensed danger. Flames burst from her feet as she attempted to accelerate away through the air.
But the axe came faster.
It spun violently through the sky, completely wrapped in compressed flames. The heat pouring off it distorted the air around the weapon.
The woman barely managed to turn her head before it reached her.
Then it struck.
Boom!
A deafening explosion erupted across the Ruined City.
This blast was even larger than the previous explosions combined.
The compressed fire detonated violently upon impact, creating a massive dome of flames that expanded outward in every direction.
The fire stretched downward until it touched the ruined streets below.
Then the entire dome burst outward again.
Boom!
Buildings shook from the force. Broken windows exploded apart while burning debris scattered through the fog-covered city.
Meanwhile, Alex himself was blasted further downward by the recoil from the explosion.
The violent shockwave threw his falling body completely off course.
As he spun through the air, Alex suddenly noticed a ruined building directly in his path.
'Shit!'
He reacted instantly.
Clenching his fist tightly, Alex thrust his arm forward.
Boom!
His punch smashed straight through the side wall of the building before his body crashed through the opening right after it.
Concrete exploded inward as Alex tore through the wall and flew into the dark interior of the structure.
Just a second later, the expanding fire dome surged upward outside.
The burning wave stretched toward the building like a tidal wave of fire.
It barely missed Alex by moments.
Boom!
The outer wall of the structure was swallowed by flames as the fiery explosion roared past the opening he had created.
Alex slammed heavily against the floor inside the ruined building, rolling several times across cracked concrete before finally stopping.
Dust and loose debris scattered around him.
For a moment, the entire room glowed orange from the raging inferno outside.
Even while lying there, Alex could still see the fire pressing against the hole in the wall from where he entered.
The flames looked almost alive, twisting violently as they tried to force their way deeper into the ruined structure.
---
Meanwhile, the Wyndham group was still inside one of the ruined buildings when they suddenly started hearing a deep rumbling sound.
At first, it was faint.
A low vibration.
Something subtle enough to ignore if they weren't already on edge.
But within seconds, the trembling grew stronger.
The cracked floor beneath their feet started shaking violently, and dust began falling from the ceiling above them.
Rumble!
The entire building quaked harder, almost like an earthquake was tearing through the Ruined City itself.
"What is going on?" Jimmy shouted as he quickly jumped to his feet.
The others immediately became alert.
Lennox instinctively moved toward the nearest opening while Isla tightened his stance, ready for another ambush. Even Gavalich slowly turned his massive werebear body toward the trembling walls.
But before anyone else could react properly, Clifford suddenly spoke up.
"Quick! Everyone, get out of here!" Clifford yelled.
For the first time in a while, there was genuine urgency in his voice.
That alone was enough to tell everyone the situation was bad.
The others didn't know exactly what Clifford had sensed, but nobody planned to stand around long enough to figure it out the hard way. In the Ruined City, hesitation was basically another method of suicide.
Immediately, everyone moved.
They had been sheltering inside a one-story building that still looked relatively intact. Compared to the broken skyscrapers surrounding them, it seemed safer and easier to defend against another werewolf attack coming from the streets.
But right now, that small safety meant nothing.
One after another, they jumped straight through the windows of the building.
Crash!
Glass shards scattered outward as the group hurriedly escaped onto the ruined street outside.
And the moment they landed...
The fire arrived.
Boom!
A gigantic dome of flames surged across the area and swallowed the entire building behind them.
The structure vanished behind roaring fire almost instantly.
Heat exploded outward in all directions.
The flames climbed over the walls and roof like a tidal wave, devouring everything in sight. The intense heat alone was enough to force the group to continue retreating farther down the street.
"What the hell is that?!" Henry shouted while shielding his face from the heat.
Nobody answered him.
Mostly because nobody actually knew.
The fire dome continued expanding for several more moments before it finally started weakening. The roaring flames gradually lost momentum, shrinking smaller and smaller until they eventually faded away into drifting smoke and burning debris.
Luckily for them, they hadn't needed to run too far before the attack exhausted itself.
But when the group finally slowed down and turned around to look back...
Everyone froze for a moment.
The area they had just escaped from looked devastated.
Buildings were burning.
Parts of the street had melted black from the heat.
Smoke rose endlessly into the fog-covered sky while chunks of ruined debris continued collapsing inward.
Even the thick unnatural mist covering the Ruined City had been blasted apart in that section, leaving a massive clear zone behind.
"What in this world created that?!" Gavalich asked.
And honestly, that question was now sitting in everybody's mind.
---
The Wyndham participants stared silently at the destruction spread out before them.
The entire area had changed.
Stretching out from their view was now one wide, open street. The smaller roads and broken structures that once separated different paths through the city were simply gone.
Erased.
Several ruined buildings that once acted like natural dividers between the streets had completely disappeared. Some had collapsed entirely, while others had melted down into streams of glowing molten material flowing slowly across the cracked ground.
The heat still rising from the area was intense.
Smoke filled the surroundings heavily, drifting through the ruined streets in thick black waves. Even the unnatural fog covering the city had been partially burned away by the explosion earlier.
Right now, the Wyndham group had already decided on one thing.
Nobody was splitting up.
Not after seeing this.
They stayed close together while scanning the ruined surroundings carefully.
"I thought you said the werewolves were the only problem in this place," Lennox said while staring at the destruction ahead of them.
"Yeah, we did," Henry answered with a tense expression. "But we're also not the only participants in this tournament."
That statement immediately sank into everyone's mind.
The destruction around them suddenly became far more disturbing.
Because if this wasn't caused by some monster inside the Ruined City...
Then it meant another participant had done this.
And that was somehow worse.
The group stayed alert as silence settled briefly over them. Nobody really knew what the correct move was anymore.
"Should we run?" Gavalich suddenly asked.
The massive werebear slowly looked around the destroyed area before continuing.
"Or stay and fight whatever caused this?"
"Fight?" Jimmy immediately repeated while looking at him like he had gone insane.
He pointed toward the burning ruins around them.
"You want to fight whatever caused all this?"
Honestly, Jimmy felt that suggestion sounded suicidal.
The attack they just witnessed was absurdly destructive. Even after surviving the mutated werewolf battle earlier, this felt completely different.
This felt heavier.
More dangerous.
"We need to leave," Zephyr suddenly said.
His tone was calm, but serious.
Everyone looked toward him in surprise.
Zephyr wasn't usually the type to suggest retreating first. If anything, he was normally one of the most aggressive people among them.
But this time, nobody argued with him.
Mostly because deep down, several of them were already thinking the exact same thing.
Unfortunately, Clifford suddenly spoke before anyone could move.
"Too late for that," Clifford said quietly.
The others immediately turned toward him.
Clifford's eyes were fixed far into the distance at something only he seemed capable of sensing clearly. His expression remained calm, but there was now a noticeable sharpness in his gaze.
And that alone made the others tense up immediately.