"Begin!" The moment Thalan's voice echoed, Solemon shot forward like a bullet.

"He's the real oddball here. If I give him even a second to think, he'll overwhelm me. I have to strike first!" Solemon's thoughts raced as fast as his feet.

While still in motion, he arced his right arm back. Multiple spears of compressed air materialized in the sky with a whoosh. Then, with a violent thrust, he launched them all toward Logan.

Yet Logan didn't move.

He hadn't moved even an inch since the match had started.

And now, even as the deadly barrage hurtled toward him, he still stood there... calm, motionless.

On the balcony on Arcadia's side, everyone was wearing a dumbfounded look. "What is he doing?" Ali blurted out. "I know he's stronger, but if those spears hit him head-on, even he'll be hurt."

Noah frowned and nodded slowly. He had the same thought.

Alice clutched the edge of her dress tightly.

Rudeous narrowed his eyes, fists slowly tightening.

Meanwhile, from the balconies of other kingdoms, excitement and mockery danced in the air.

"Tch. So the last match was just a fluke, huh? Look at him. He's frozen in fear!"

"Haha! Maybe Solemon should hold back a little… wouldn't want to accidentally kill the poor kid!"

But just as some grew worried and others grinned in delight...

Something happened.

Something that no one expected.

Just before the air spears struck, Logan didn't move…

But it felt as if something in his body stirred. A flicker. A ripple. A whisper of motion.

And then...

The spears tore right through him.

Alice's breath hitched. She shut her eyes, unable to bear watching. Rudeous sat frozen, his teeth clenched tight.

From the royal seat of Velkar, King Malrik's lips curled into a smirk. He leaned forward, ready to celebrate...

But the colour on his face changed abruptly as if he had seen a ghost.

The gruesome bloodshed everyone had anticipated didn't happen.

Logan's body shimmered like a mirage in water and faded completely… as if he had never been there at all.

Solemon, who had just begun to raise his hand in assumed victory, went stiff.

His eyes widened in disbelief. "What the h..."

BOOM!

Solemon was about to express his disbelief, but wasn't fortunate enough to finish it. A deafening shockwave blasted out as his body was hurled forward like a broken kite, twisting mid-air.

And then...

BAM!

Another explosion rang out as he slammed into the ground, skidding across the arena floor, dust and rubble erupting beneath him.

Silence. A crushing, absolute silence.

Every spectator leaned forward. Every jaw hung open.

From kings to commoners, only one thought echoed in everyone's mind.

"What the hell was that?!

Just moments ago, Logan had vanished.

But now… he was standing exactly where Solemon had been standing a few seconds earlier.

A collective gasp echoed across the arena.

"H-How did he get there?! When?!" Even Ali, the Guildmaster of the Hunter's Guild, couldn't believe his eyes.

"So when we fought back then… he wasn't even using his full strength?!" Noah muttered to himself, his heart pounding. A veteran S-class hunter like him was struggling to believe what he just saw.

Rowan stared silently at the battlefield, eyes locked on Logan's unmoving figure. "Three years… In just three short years, he's reached a level that's beyond comprehension."

Meanwhile, those who had been laughing just seconds ago, waiting to watch Logan get beaten to a pulp, now sat frozen.

Their faces pale and expressions blank.

As if their very souls had left their bodies.

In the royal balcony of Drahzul, the man from earlier who had spoken about Logan to the king leaned forward again. "Your Highness… even this time, he didn't use any magic."

Arsalan didn't say anything and only stared ahead where Logan was standing. "Is he even human?!"

Back in the arena, amidst the stunned silence and scattered murmurs, Solemon, who had been hurled to the ground like a rag doll, slowly pulled himself up.

His body trembled. His breath was ragged. But his eyes…

They were blood red.

Filled with rage.

Turning back, he glared at Logan. "I'll kill you!" Solemon roared.

With a snarl, he reached into a small pouch at his waist and pulled out a thin, ominous-looking pill.

From the royal balcony of Velkar, King Malrik suddenly sprang to his feet upon seeing this. "No, you fool! Not in front of every..." He tried to stop him, but it was too late.

Solemon didn't even glance at his king.

Without hesitation, he shoved the pill into his mouth and swallowed it.

He didn't care for warnings. He didn't care for consequences.

He just wanted to crush Logan. His pride had taken a considerable blow.

But Logan… he didn't move.

Not even an inch. As if Solemon's desperate action wasn't even worth reacting to.

A moment later…

BOOM!

A violent pulse erupted from Solemon's body as the pill activated. Mana surged through his veins like a raging storm, threatening to tear apart his body from the inside.

Even Logan felt the sudden shift. "His magic tier… it's definitely surpassed Tier 6. What kind of pill was that?" Logan narrowed his eyes, feeling the pressure from Solemon's rising mana, which was undeniable.

And then...

Crack!

The ground beneath Solemon's feet shattered as he launched forward, the air around him warping from the force.

A gleaming ice blade materialized in his right hand.

He was actually a dual-affinity user. His other affinity was water. But earlier, Logan defeated him before he even got the chance to use it.

But now, with the pill amplifying his powers beyond reason, Solemon was a whole new threat.

This time, Logan moved.

His right arm arced back, muscles coiling like a spring.

He then punched in the air. His fist hadn't touched anything but the enormous pressure that erupted due to the sheer force of his punch shot forward, tearing through the air like an invisible bullet.

Thud!

Solemon's charge was cut short in an instant.

His advance halted abruptly...

And then his body was blasted backward.

Gasps erupted across the stadium once more.

But this time… Solemon didn't crash into the ground.

Though his body was hurled back by Logan's invisible punch, he twisted mid-air and landed on his feet, skidding across the ground in a trail of sparks. His boots tore grooves into the arena floor as he tried to resist the force.

And the moment he regained balance...

He launched forward again, like an untamed wild animal driven only by fury and pride.

"I don't care how strong you are! I'll rip you apart with my own hands!" Solemon lashed out while hurling his attacks.

Ice began to crystallize around Solemon's body, layering his arms and shoulders like jagged armor. His aura was no longer stable, it pulsed violently, rising and crashing like a tide, as if his body was barely holding together under the pill's overwhelming power.

And yet Logan's facial expression remained unshaken. With a blur, he darted forward to meet Solemon's charge head-on.

The ground cracked under both their feet as they collided.

BOOM!

A violent impact exploded between them... fist against ice blade, strength against desperation.

Logan twisted his body mid-strike and drove a side punch toward Solemon's ribs, but Solemon bent backward unnaturally, like a snake, dodging just enough before countering with a crescent slash of his frozen blade.

Whoosh!

The sound of metal scraping air echoed, but Logan ducked, rolled, and came up with a rising elbow aimed at Solemon's chin.

Thwac!

It connected, but only slightly. Solemon had managed to tilt his head just in time, reducing the damage. He responded with a sweep of his leg, trying to trip Logan, but Logan leapt over and landed behind him.

They turned. They clashed again.

Fist. Slash. Duck. Dodge. Block.

Neither giving an inch.

Their movements became harder to follow with the naked eye. Even the mages in the crowd had to rely on mana-sensing techniques to keep track of the two blurs in the arena.

Dust and broken stone erupted with every exchange. Shockwaves rippled out with each strike. The arena floor was already torn and battered.

But still, they fought.

And then, both of them backed off at the same time.

Heavy breaths filled the silence. Solemon's chest rose and fell rapidly, his shirt torn in multiple places, blood trickling from a cut on his cheek. His eyes blazed red from the pill's side effects.

Logan, meanwhile, still stood calmly. "His strength has far surpassed that of an S-class hunter. This Velkar kingdom is surely full of tricks and schemes." Logan thought to himself. He still hadn't forgotten the incident from three years back when an assassin from Velkar had infiltrated Arcadia to kill Rowan. And they had used a needle to block Logan's mana flow. And now this! A pill that could raise one's power level by leaps and bounds.

"Is it also a temporary one like the needle they had used or a permanent one?!" Logan wondered.

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