Chapter 77: No escape!

Boom!

Meeting at the center of the arena, it was like an unstoppable force crashing into an immovable object.

Dust billowed from the ground, and the illusory domain that Ethan had just reinforced once again began to spiderweb with raw cracks.

Under the ferocious impact of their collision, violent ripples and spatial tears tore across the illusion.

It seemed as though the entire Illusionary construct was about to collapse at any second!

Fortunately, Ethan was already anticipating this. The moment the first fracture appeared, he reacted instantly.

’Damn these guys! If this is how every match is going to go, I’m going to run out of mana before all ten of them even finish!’

Yet despite his internal complaint, Ethan had no intention of stopping the fights.

As each veteran fought, Ethan could distinctly feel his own combat comprehension soaring.

Whether it was Kenjiro’s Boundary-Cleaving Sword or Darius’s Body-Limiting Technique, these were living insights forged entirely through the sheer pressure of actual combat.

’Who knows when a monster of this caliber will ever cross my path again?’

’Since he’s here, I might as well make the absolute most of him and farm myself ten brand-new techniques!’ he thought, rapidly pouring fresh mana into the surrounding illusion to mend the spatial tears.

Fortunately, Lucian was far too consumed by the battle to notice the failing fabric of his environment.

Otherwise, he would have realized long ago that he was trapped inside an engineered mental construct.

"Shitty old man, just what the hell is your body made of?!"

"Where does this ridiculous strength even come from?!"

No matter how hard Lucian tried to push forward, his massive frame remained completely locked in place.

He was blocked entirely by Darius’s iron fists, reduced to frantically exerting raw muscle just to keep from being flattened further.

However, even that effort was in vain.

Midway through the deadlock, Darius abruptly shifted his strategy, morphing his punch into a vicious grab and clamping his bare hands around Lucian’s iron-hard beak.

"Monster kid, let me tell you something."

"When I activate my Limiting Technique, it isn’t just my defense that multiplies; my physical strength scales right along with it."

"Right now, I’m operating at a hundred and fifty percent of my baseline. Do you know what that means?"

Clutching Lucian’s beak in a death grip, thick veins bulged across Darius’s arms.

Tears began to rip through his flesh, and his muscles stretched dangerously close to their absolute structural limits.

Deep within his chest, his mana circle was draining at a frightening pace to sustain the 150% output.

Yet, despite the excruciating strain, he did not falter.

"It means that in terms of pure physical strength alone, I honestly don’t think I’d lose to the Patriarch," Darius said, offering a tight, blood-flecked smile.

"Although I have no idea how a beast like you managed to acquire human intelligence..."

"Unfortunately, since you’ve chosen to use that intelligence to oppose the Smith family..."

"This old man can only do you a favor and send you on your way!"

Boom!

Still holding Lucian’s beak firmly in his right hand, Darius wound back his left fist, preparing to deliver the absolute finishing blow.

It was a devastating move that Lucian could only watch in sheer terror, desperately trying to swing his remaining wing to shield his vital organs.

Unfortunately for him, his natural defensive feathers had been completely blasted away earlier, replaced by the fragile, barren bones of his new skeletal wing.

Crunch!

As the punch connected, Lucian’s bone wing instantly shattered into splinters.

The socket of his left arm snapped off entirely from the shockwave.

Overwhelmed by blinding agony, he screamed so loud that his voice echoed across every corner of the arena.

"Arghhhhh!"

’Damn it! I surrender! I surrender!’ He screamed inwardly

Feeling the sheer trauma of having half his upper body effectively blown apart by a single blow, his mind nearly broke under the trauma.

This was entirely different from the easy, sweeping victory he had envisioned before his grand escape; he had been utterly, mercilessly crushed.

And to make matters worse, he still had eight more matches to go after this!

’Shit! Is he the monster, or am I the monster?! What kind of freakish strength is that?!’

’And on top of that attack... why isn’t my body even regenerating properly?!’

’Do I really have to fight the next eight battles with half a body left?!’

’System! System! Answer me!’

Crying out inwardly, Lucian was losing his mind. But his system remained dead silent.

He was losing disastrously. At this rate, it was only a matter of time before he was beaten into actual death.

However, just as he thought all hope was truly lost, a welcome voice rang in his ears:

"I surrender."

Easing up his grip, Darius stepped back and announced his surrender, leaving Lucian utterly dumbfounded.

"Hey now, monster kid... don’t look at this old man like that."

"That attack just now completely drained my energy. I’m going to go take a nap!"

Without giving Lucian a single second to process what had just happened, Darius activated his Air Walk and casually floated back up to the top of the arena seating.

Leaving behind a completely stunned, mentally exhausted Lucian.

In fact, not only was Lucian confused, but even the other veterans blinked in surprise; after all, a surrender right at the brink of victory felt abrupt.

Yet to this, Ethan didn’t say a word of reprimand.

Perhaps only he, still maintaining his Advanced Mana Sight, truly understood what had happened.

In Ethan’s eyes, Darius was practically a moving corpse.

His muscle fibers were completely torn, micro-vessels had burst beneath his skin, and fine structural cracks were spiderwebbing across several of his arm bones.

That 150% overcharge mode had placed an enormous amount of stress on his body.

His only saving grace was that he had shut down the technique just in time; otherwise, he could have easily died from the physiological backlash.

Still, even though he survived, he had nothing left in the tank, forcing an immediate surrender.

A move that meant that, out of the three matches required to leave this illusory space alive, Lucian had technically secured two wins.

"Patriarch, I’m sorry for disappointing you," Darius said as he bowed slightly, taking great care not to reopen his internal injuries.

Fortunately, Ethan wasn’t angry in the least; rather, he remained entirely nonchalant about the current score.

"It’s fine. It’s not like I expected every single person to win; after all, you all lack practical application cases on mana."

"Besides, looking at the sheer level of trauma and stamina depletion Lucian is dealing with right now, there is zero chance he can win the remaining matches. So what’s there to be sorry about?"

"Instead, the rest of you need to get out there and put what we’ve practiced into real application."

"Go all out and unleash your special moves; this is your rare chance!"

Waving a dismissive hand, Ethan easily swept away the veterans’ lingering worries.

Indeed, looking at Lucian’s pitiful, mutilated state down below, the beast was barely even standing upright on his remaining limbs.

It was a miracle if he could even survive another match, let alone pull off a clean victory.

Realizing this, the tension among the group instantly melted away into quiet anticipation.

"Hey, Grandson, if what you’re saying is true, then I suppose the order doesn’t really matter anymore."

"Can I go next?! I feel genuinely restless watching all my friends get to trade blows down there while I’m stuck standing up here doing nothing!"

With Darius now finished, Christian stepped forward, eager to take his turn in the ring