At the site of Haden and The Remnant's last battle, Rion and Rheak stood facing one another.

Marin, Valak, Arok, Zaelyane and the other group leaders stood at the edge of the clearing.

Kara looked at the cracked ground, uprooted trees, scorched land and the wide fissure running across the mountain with a curious gleam in his eyes and muttered wryly, "Sovereign really didn't hold back, huh..."

Valak turned towards him and commented, "It's not surprising that you don't know of Haden's true strength."

Marin nodded and said with an amused chuckle, "He never got the chance to use all of his strength, after all. Maybe next year..."

"Maybe," Valak muttered.

The group leaders looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and they wanted to ask them more, but before they could, an explosion echoed throughout the area.

Everyone turned their eyes at the sound, and their gaze fell on Rion, whose fist was clad in his golden aura, and Rheak was on the ground with a terrified expression on his face.

"What was that...?!" Naqir muttered, disbelief covering his face.

Kara frowned and asked, "What just happened?"

Naqir furrowed his brows and asked back, "You didn't see?"

Kara shook his head.

Naqir heaved a sigh and explained, "Rion covered his fist in aura, threw a punch, and the air exploded."

Kara blinked a few times and mumbled, "What...?"

—

Rion looked between his fist and Rheak a few times and said, "What's wrong? Aren't you going to teach me respect?"

'What the hell is wrong with this kid? Why does he have such a strong aura and so much of it as well?!' Rheak screamed in his head.

Suddenly, Rheak thought, 'Why did I agree to fight this monster...?

He blinked a few times, turned his head towards Zoka, Drokan and Grathar and mumbled under his breath, "If I lose and they win, won't I still have to follow their orders?"

He turned his head towards Rion, and his eyes widened upon seeing a wide grin stretching across Rion's face.

He lifted his hand, pointed his trembling finger at him and stammered, "Y-You wanted us to fight from the start, didn't you?!"

Rion's grin widened even further, reaching the realm of impossibility, and he answered with a nod, "Yeah. I wanted to gauge everyone's strength as it has become kind of hard to do so after returning from there."

From the start, Rion was physically stronger than most of his peers, and his golden aura was also way stronger than most.

But after learning The Zone, The Flow and Weapon Sense from Haden, it became harder for him to guess his own strength and to make it even worse, The Remnant sent him to the dark realm where he had to constantly watch an anomaly no worse than himself all the time.

By watching that humanoid monster, he had learned various things, and his control over aura had also become significantly better than before.

However, all of this rapid strength was making it hard for him to guess the strength of others, so he had planned to fight the group leaders from the start, but he had never thought that a few of them would turn out the way they did.

Their silence upon his questions was enough for him to understand that they didn't want any change.

He looked into Rhaek's eyes and said, "Why did you join the meeting?"

Rheak, who had already stood up from the ground, frowned and muttered, "What?"

Rion sighed, took a step towards him and questioned, "If you didn't want any reformation, then why did you join the meeting in the first place?"

Rheak pulled out his azrath daggers, his dark aura danced around him, and he vanished from his spot.

'An aura technique that allows him to disappear, huh... that's interesting,' Rion remarked inwardly.

He let his will flow freely, and the world around him became slower and much more vibrant than before.

Information about everything that was happening within his zone poured into his mind, and he ignored the useless one.

Rheak suddenly appeared beside him and swung his daggers.

The daggers cried, and he said, "I came for the same reason the others did."

Rion didn't move; he turned his head towards Rhaek and mumbled, "So, you were there to ask for more benefits and resources."

Sleek!

The daggers struck Rion, and hot blood wet his hand.

Rheak twisted the daggers and grinned. "Indeed, I don't care about anyone except my group."

Just a moment later, his grin faltered upon seeing that Rion wasn't screaming. Let alone screaming, he wasn't even reacting.

He gritted his teeth, channelled his aura into his daggers and dug them even deeper.

More blood poured out but Rion didn't react.

All of a sudden, Rion said, "This should be enough."

"What?" Rheak mumbled, and a fist enlarged into his vision.

Thud!

The fist landed, Rheak was thrown off his feet, and his daggers fell out of his hands.

His vision spun, and he hurriedly searched for his dagger, but before he could find it, Rion's words reached him.

"I no longer have to show you any mercy."

A shiver ran down Rhaek's spine, and an utterly terrified expression appeared on his face.

He waved his arms and muttered, "Wait, Wait, Wait—!"

Thud!

But his words were forced down his throat by Rion's fist.

Rhaek's world went grey for a moment as he blacked out, and he suddenly felt his world shift.

Rion lifted Rheak by his feet and smashed him onto the hard ground.

"UGH—?!" Rheak groaned, and his hands and legs scraped the ground as he tried to run away from Rion.

Rion watched him with a cold gaze and mumbled, "I also fear losing those close to my heart, but I don't cage them as you, nor have I forgotten my duty. You chose this yourself."

Fwoosh!

Rion's aura painted the world around him in a soft golden light, cracks spiderwebbed on the ground, and Rheak's screams shuddered everyone's heart as the aura crushed him like a bulldozer crushing a pebble.

<Why are you doing this?> Zaelyane's calm voice echoed in his head. She wasn't worried for Rheak, just curious about Rion's hot-headed actions.

Rion turned towards his next opponents and replied to her, <The tower is damaged too much, the repair is impossible, so I am rebuilding it.>

His gaze shifted towards her for a moment, and he added, <Unlike my father, I don't take shame in forcing these vermin to do their duty.>

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