Off from the location where the Wyndhams stood, deep within another section of the ruined city, the destruction looked far worse than anywhere else.
And there was a reason for that.
This was the exact place where the earlier explosion had gone off.
The area looked like it used to be one of the most developed parts of Ruin City. Or at least, before everything turned into hell.
Massive skyscrapers stretched into the sky from every direction. They stood in organized rows, surrounding different streets and pathways like the remains of an old modern civilization.
But now?
The place looked torn apart.
At the center of the destruction was a deep crater nearly five meters wide. Molten lava bubbled inside it, glowing brightly while heat distorted the surrounding air.
The ground around the crater had cracked apart like broken glass.
As for the skyscrapers nearby, many were no longer complete.
One of the tallest buildings had an entire side missing, as though some giant beast had taken a bite out of it. Melted steel and burning concrete dripped slowly from the destroyed section while the building itself leaned dangerously to one side.
It creaked loudly every few seconds.
The thing looked one step away from collapsing completely.
And it wasn't the only one.
Several nearby buildings had suffered similar damage. Some had already fallen against neighboring structures, creating twisted piles of metal and shattered glass between the streets.
Smaller buildings were in even worse condition.
Some had their upper floors completely melted off.
Others were still burning.
Dark smoke rose endlessly into the sky, mixing together with the strange white fog hanging over Ruin City.
The entire area looked like a battlefield abandoned after a war between monsters.
Meanwhile, not too far away from the crater itself, there stood one particular building.
Unlike the others, this structure still remained mostly intact.
The building had a strange shape, almost like a giant wheelhouse planted in the middle of the ruined streets.
Just like the other buildings nearby, the wheelhouse was heavily damaged.
Parts of its walls had melted away, and several sections of the ceiling had collapsed inward. Burn marks covered almost every surface.
Still, compared to the destruction outside, this place had survived better than most.
Inside the wheelhouse, at the far side near the broken wall, a figure remained crouched low against the ground.
It was Alex.
He had stayed in that same position for a while now without moving.
Through the massive hole he had created while crashing into the building earlier, the flames from the explosion had followed after him. The wall surrounding the opening had completely melted from the heat.
The only reason Alex wasn't roasted alive was because a large broken section of the building had collapsed at the right angle and shielded him from the worst of the flames.
Lucky.
Very lucky.
Even then, smoke still rose from parts of his body.
Slowly, Alex pushed himself upright.
He was completely naked.
'I seriously didn't think things would turn out like this,' Alex thought with a tired expression.
His body still hurt badly.
Burn marks covered parts of his skin, though most of the bleeding had already stopped thanks to his qi circulation and Reflection Effect.
Without those two things, he knew he would already be dead several times over.
Alex exhaled slowly while trying to understand what had happened earlier.
The more he thought about it, the stranger it became.
'That explosion was too strong,' he thought.
'The amount of energy I redirected into the axe shouldn't have created something on that level.'
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
'Which means the extra energy came from the Pyre-Fang member herself.'
That was the only explanation that made sense to him.
But that only created another question.
Why?
Why would her own flames react like that after his attack landed?
Alex couldn't fully understand it yet.
Still, right now, that wasn't his biggest concern.
Not even close.
Alex stretched out his hand.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
His hand simply remained hanging in the air while smoke slowly rose from parts of his body.
Then suddenly—
Whoosh!
An object shot through the air from outside the wheelhouse and flew straight into his palm.
It was his axe.
Alex grabbed it firmly and immediately inspected it.
Just as he expected, the weapon had survived the explosion.
The axe was badly scorched. Large sections of the metal had turned black from the intense heat, and parts of the blade still gave off faint smoke.
Even so, the weapon itself remained intact.
Not a single crack.
Alex could already feel the passive healing property of the axe slowly activating. The damaged parts of the weapon were recovering little by little, though the process was slow.
'It'll take some time before this thing is fully usable again,' Alex thought.
Still, he felt relieved.
If the axe had been destroyed, that would have been a far bigger problem for him right now.
After storing the axe away, Alex finally paid attention to his own condition.
Surprisingly, he wasn't feeling any serious pain anymore.
The burns were there.
The soreness was there too.
But compared to what he had just survived, his condition was much better than it should have been.
Reflection Effect had absorbed a large amount of the damage, while his qi had protected his internal body enough to stop him from collapsing.
The real problem now was something else entirely.
Alex looked down at himself.
Completely naked.
"...Great," he muttered.
Thankfully, this wasn't actually a disaster.
'Good thing I kept spare clothes inside my storage space,' Alex thought.
Immediately, he accessed his inventory and pulled out another set of clothes.
Simple.
Flexible.
Easy to move around in.
Exactly what he needed.
'Even if the others ask where I got these from, I can just say I found them somewhere in the tournament,' Alex thought calmly.
At this point, he doubted clothes were going to be the strangest thing people had seen inside Ruin City.
Alex quickly put on the pants first before wearing the top.
At the very least, he no longer looked like someone that had crawled naked out of a volcano.
A short olive-colored pair of pants that barely reached his knees, along with a sleeveless top of the same color.
Simple clothes.
Light.
Easy to move in.
Just the way Alex preferred it.
Alex had barely finished adjusting the top when he suddenly felt the temperature around him rise sharply.
The air itself became hotter.
Immediately, his instincts screamed at him.
Without hesitation, Alex activated Buster.
Boom!
His body shot sideways at high speed.
Almost at the exact same moment, the remaining layer of the wheelhouse exploded apart.
Chunks of melted metal and broken concrete blasted outward as a figure smashed through the structure and landed heavily inside.
The ground cracked slightly beneath the impact.
Alex quickly regained his footing and looked up.
Red oversized pants.
Topless body.
Messy red hair.
Flames dancing around his skin like they were alive.
It was the male member of the Pyre-Fang Clan.
The same one Alex had kicked into a skyscraper earlier.
Their eyes met instantly.
For a brief second, neither of them moved.
"I had a feeling you survived that attack," the Pyre-Fang member said calmly.
Alex immediately scanned the surroundings.
One glance.
Two.
Three.
No additional heat signatures nearby.
No second Pyre-Fang member.
No ambush.
Seeing that he had come alone, Alex relaxed slightly. Just slightly.
Still dangerous.
Very dangerous.
But manageable compared to fighting all three again at once.
"Alright... look, I know what your goal is," Alex said, forcing a casual tone despite remaining alert.
The Pyre-Fang member didn't interrupt him.
"You want me eliminated from the tournament, right?" Alex continued.
"Well, good news for you. I don't even want to be here anymore."
Alex slowly spread his hands a little.
"So if you just let me pass, I'll go find the exit point in this place and leave the tournament myself."
He paused briefly before adding,
"Saves both of us the trouble."
The ruined wheelhouse became quiet afterward.
Smoke drifted slowly between them.
Somewhere outside, parts of damaged buildings continued collapsing in the distance.
Then the Pyre-Fang member smiled.
Not a friendly smile either.
The kind that usually came right before someone punched you through a wall.
The member of the Pyre-Fang Clan stared at Alex silently for a moment.
His eyes slowly moved over Alex's body, scanning him carefully like he was already looking at a corpse.
"You want me to just let you go," he finally said.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"After you killed a member of my clan?"
Alex frowned immediately.
"Killed?" Alex repeated in confusion.
The Pyre-Fang member narrowed his eyes slightly.
"What?" he said. "What did you think caused that explosion earlier?"
Alex stayed silent.
"You forced her into overloading her mana core," the Pyre-Fang member continued.
As he spoke, flames slowly started gathering around his clenched fist.
"That explosion was her final attack."
Hearing that, Alex finally understood.
The pieces connected instantly in his mind.
That was why the explosion earlier had felt completely different from every other attack they had used against him.
It wasn't just a normal fire technique.
It was a last stand attack.
A suicidal move.
The kind people used when they knew they were about to lose and wanted to drag their enemy down with them.
Alex's expression hardened slightly.
'So that's what happened,' he thought.
Even now, remembering the size of the explosion made his body tense unconsciously.
That attack should have killed him.
Honestly, it almost did.
"But somehow," the Pyre-Fang member continued, "you still survived."
The flames around his arm grew stronger.
Heat spread across the ruined wheelhouse once again.
"You surviving made her death meaningless."
His voice became colder after that.
"And because of that, I can't let you live."
The temperature in the room continued rising.
"Even if you quit the tournament now, the Pyre-Fang Clan will still hunt you down."
Fire burst harder around his fist.
"We will keep coming after you."
Alex slowly exhaled.
At this point, he already knew talking wasn't going to solve anything anymore.
No explanation would matter.
Not after someone from their clan had died.
'I just have to work with what I have,' Alex thought calmly.
His body slowly lowered into a fighting stance.
Qi started moving through his muscles again.
Not perfect.
Not smooth either.
His body was still damaged from before, and he could feel the strain immediately.
But he didn't have a choice.
Across from him, the Pyre-Fang member took a single step forward.
The floor beneath his foot cracked from the heat alone.
Meanwhile, Alex tightened his fists and prepared himself for another fight.