The brutal clashes continued in the arena as students tore into one another without restraint. Screams of pain and fierce determination echoed intermittently, indistinguishable in the chaos.
Then the air shifted.
Two figures descended from above.
Guo Huan landed first, boots striking the arena floor with controlled precision. Adam touched down beside him a heartbeat later.
“Gather up,” Guo Huan announced, his voice reverberating across the arena. “I have someone to introduce.”
The fighting gradually slowed. Students turned toward the newcomers, confusion flickering across their faces at the sight of the unfamiliar white-haired youth standing beside their instructor.
One by one, they approached, forming a loose circle around them.
“I apologize for interrupting your session,” Guo Huan said. “I’m here to introduce the newest member of your class.” He gestured toward Adam. “While the official announcement will come later, there’s no harm in you getting acquainted.”
The students’ attention shifted entirely to Adam.
Their gazes lingered: assessing, prying, measuring.
“Did Varidan change its policies?” a young woman asked. “I thought mid-year admissions weren’t allowed.”
“Wait…” a young man stepped forward, squinting. “He looks familiar.”
“Ajasco? Do you know him?”
The young man’s eyes widened. His gaze darted between Adam and Guo Huan. He blinked rapidly, thumb brushing against his wrist device as if confirming something.
“Ajasco,” a slender girl urged, wiping sweat from her brow. “If you know who he is, say it.”
Ajasco glanced at his classmates before pointing at Adam.
“You’ve all heard of that infamous playboy from the lower ranks, right?”
A few students stiffened. Some nodded.
“Well,” Ajasco said slowly, “that’s him.”
The circle tightened.
Adam watched as heads turned toward him in unison, expressions ranging from disbelief to open disdain.
He maintained a thin, indifferent smile beneath the scrutiny.
Whispers broke out in clusters.
One student stepped forward. “Instructor,” he said sharply, pointing at Adam. “What is someone like that doing here? Isn’t this against—”
Guo Huan cleared his throat.
“As I stated,” he interrupted, “Adam is your new classmate. The formal announcement will occur in a few days.”
“What do you mean ‘formal’?” Ajasco demanded. “Why would an E-rank be placed here?”
A girl frowned at him. “Think for once,” she snapped. “If he’s here, he’s already passed reappraisal.”
“Natalina is correct,” Guo Huan said calmly.
He placed a hand on Adam’s shoulder.
“You may debate his qualifications later. For now, I require your attention.”
Adam resisted the urge to glance at the instructor. He could almost feel the deliberate provocation in the gesture.
“Adam,” Guo Huan continued, tapping his shoulder lightly, “has expressed interest in sparring.”
Silence dropped heavily over the group.
Shock hardened into offense.
Adam’s faint smile didn’t waver.
He’s enjoying this, isn’t he? Adam thought.
“He wants to challenge us?” Ajasco asked slowly.
“Yes,” Guo Huan confirmed. “And he chooses his opponent.”
A ripple of restrained hostility passed through the students.
“You’ll all have the opportunity to spar with him after the official announcement,” Guo Huan added. “But for now—”
He looked at Adam.
“Have you chosen?”
Adam nodded.
“Who?”
The unspoken tension was palpable. Whoever selected would be labeled the weakest. After all, they had been chosen by a former E-rank.
Adam lifted his arm lazily and pointed at a tall young man with striking golden hair and an athletic frame.
Muffled gasps echoed around them.
The young man frowned. “You wish to fight me?” he asked, disbelief coloring his tone. “Do you know who I am?”
Adam blinked at him.
“Why does that matter?” he asked evenly. “Do you introduce yourself to every creature in a dungeon before killing it?”
A few students sucked in sharp breaths.
The golden-haired youth laughed.
“Funny,” he said, stepping forward. He brushed his radiant hair back, golden eyes never leaving Adam. The crowd parted instinctively to let him pass.
He stopped several feet away.
“In my kingdom,” he began smoothly, “it is customary to introduce oneself before a spar.”
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He straightened. “I am Massimo De Leo IV.”
“Adam.”
Massimo smiled faintly.
“I’ve heard about you,” he said, folding his arms as he examined him openly. “I don’t know how you passed reappraisal. But I advise you to reconsider.”
His smile cooled. “You are not an opponent on my level.”
Adam tilted his head slightly.
“Were you not taught never to underestimate your opponent?” he asked with mild curiosity. “That’s how you get yourself killed.”
Massimo threw his head back and laughed.
“Look at this,” he said, clapping once in amusement. “You’re right. Confidence should be proven, not declared.”
He turned to Guo Huan.
“Instructor. When do we begin? And what are the rules?”
Guo Huan hummed thoughtfully.
“A battle of wills might be excessive for a first day,” he said. “Let’s decide the victor by first kill.”
“No objections,” Massimo replied, eyes returning to Adam. “Is that acceptable?”
Adam nodded once.
“I hope you won’t disappoint me,” Massimo said.
The students stepped back, widening the circle.
“You may use the full extent of your abilities,” Guo Huan announced. “However, cease immediately once your opponent falls.”
“No issue,” Massimo replied.
“Understood,” Adam said.
“You may begin.”
The arena fell silent.
Adam and Massimo drifted apart, slowly widening the distance between them.
Neither moved first. Yet the air had already grown heavier.
Massimo’s golden hair lengthened, flowing down his back as light intensified along each strand. The glow spread across his skin, wrapping him in radiant brilliance until he resembled a warrior forged from molten gold.
“I don’t know what gave you the confidence to choose me,” Massimo said calmly.
His golden aura flared brighter. “But you will soon understand why I am called the Golden Shiki.”
Adam summoned his weapons without a word.
Cataclysm’s twin axes materialized in his hands, their low, feral growls vibrating faintly through the arena floor.
“I don’t care what they call you,” Adam said evenly. “Let’s finish this.”
Massimo’s smile barely shifted.
Behind him, an ethereal projection manifested; a towering, blindfolded, bipedal lion formed of radiant gold.
Adam’s brows drew together.
That’s a Domain manifestation.
The creature’s presence pressed against his senses—not confined to space like a standard Domain. A Domain manifestation occurred when an Awakened projected the essence of their Domain into a corporeal or ethereal form that was not limited to a specific area like most Domains.
Adam tightened his grip on the axes. Great… another Domain user.
Massimo blurred. One instant he stood still. The next, he was in front of Adam.
The air shrieked.
Massimo’s fist drove into Adam’s abdomen.
The impact detonated like cannon fire. Stone fractured beneath Adam’s boots as his body launched backward, cracks spidering violently across the arena floor.
Gasps rippled through the students.
But the lion shifted its head. Massimo twisted mid-motion and punched empty space.
Clang.
Metal slammed against reinforced flesh.
Adam reappeared several meters away, boots carving trenches into stone as he forced himself to a stop. His hands trembled faintly from the collision.
The image of him flying through the air dissolved like smoke.
“What an interesting ability,” Massimo said lightly. “Illusions.”
Adam didn’t answer.
His gaze remained locked on the lion.
That thing can see through illusions.
His ribs throbbed. Even with regeneration working beneath the surface, the force of that first strike had numbed his nerves.
What kind of absurd strength is that?
“Unfortunately,” Massimo continued, flexing his fingers, “illusions mean nothing before Shiki.”
His golden eyes sharpened. “And you’re still holding back.”
Adam stayed silent.
For a brief moment, he glanced toward Guo Huan. You better keep your word.
Massimo inhaled slowly. “I’ll end this now.”
He clenched his fists and roared. “Shiki! Unleash the Chains of Retribution!”
The lion roared in unison.
Pressure exploded outward.
Within a three-hundred-meter radius, the air turned crushingly dense. The arena floor groaned and sank under the weight of invisible force.
Adam’s knees buckled.
His bones creaked. Veins swelled along his neck as the pressure forced him downward.
What is this—
A golden chain shot forward from the lion’s body.
It wrapped around Adam’s torso. Heat seared through fabric and skin.
Another chain lashed around his arm. Another latched at his leg.
Then more. Dozens. Hundreds. Thousands.
In seconds, he was entombed in a cocoon of burning gold.
Each link tightened. Each link cut deeper. Blood seeped down his skin where metal bit into flesh.
The pressure intensified.
Massimo’s breathing turned ragged. Blood streamed from his nose as he stared at Adam, disbelief flickering across his face.
Over a thousand chains…
They coiled and overlapped in a suffocating mass of gold.
Only the De Leo bloodline understood the true nature of the Chains of Retribution. They did not bind at random. They manifested according to the accumulated weight of one’s sins—forged from the resentment of those slain with prejudice.
Each link represented judgment.
Each link, a life.
How many has he killed?
Massimo drew a slow breath, steadying the tremor in his limbs.
My body can’t endure much more.
“Shiki,” he roared, forcing strength back into his voice. “It is time for judgment.”
The lion answered with a thunderous roar. A golden mace formed within its jaws and dropped.
Massimo caught it.
The weapon was heavy—not in weight, but in consequence.
If I break even one chain, the backlash from the rest will tear him apart.
He seized a chain wrapped around Adam’s torso. Then he raised the mace.
Within the cocoon of chains, Adam’s vision blurred. Pressure mounted, crushing inward from every direction. His muscles screamed when he tried to move.
The chains constricted in response. Through the faint gaps between overlapping binds, he saw Massimo lifting the golden mace.
My body won’t—
His thought stopped.
Darkness swallowed the arena.
Instantly. No light. No sound. No movement.
Everything froze.
Even the chains ceased their metallic tremor. Something shifted within the void.
A massive, distorted figure dragged itself forward from the black.
Its limbs bent in impossible angles. Flesh formed and reformed along its frame, as though reality struggled to contain it—or refused to.
It lunged at the chains.
Snap.
One shattered.
Part of its lower face split open.
Snap.
Another broke.
With each broken link, its form stabilized.
A mouth stretched wider. Two slanted black eyes opened. A forked tongue slid free.
Snap.
The final chain fractured. The crushing weight vanished.
The creature’s tongue coiled loosely around Adam’s body. Its eyes glowed a faint, sickly green.
“Leader,” it rasped, its voice echoing through the frozen expanse. “You need to return soon.”
Then it withdrew.
The darkness receded with it.
Light returned, and time resumed.
The aftermath was instantaneous and merciless.
Screams pierced the arena as students collapsed, blood streaming violently from their eyes and noses. Others fell to their knees, shivering uncontrollably, their wills shaken by the force they had just witnessed.
Massimo dropped to the ground. His Domain manifestation shattered behind him, the golden lion dissolving into faint sparks. Blood poured freely from his nose as his golden aura flickered and died. His chest heaved, but his gaze remained fixed on Adam—wide-eyed, incredulous, and trembling with a mix of fear and rage.
He couldn’t comprehend it. Over a thousand chains, shattered without him touching a single one. The Chains of Retribution were meant to crush, to punish, to leave a body broken and a soul shattered—but Adam had walked through them as if they were nothing.
Adam knelt, blood streaming from eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. Yet even in this state, his blackened eyes were distant, yet steady, unnerving in their calm precision.
What just happened?
His body felt hollow, drained, but not broken.
Was that… his doing?
Massimo’s mind raced, terror clawing at him. This… this isn’t possible. No one should be able to…
“We’ll have to end the sparring session here.”
Guo Huan’s voice cut through the chaos like a blade.
The arena walls pulsed with a restorative glow, washing over the students, stitching broken bones and easing the worst of the blood loss.
Guo Huan’s hand landed firmly on Adam’s shoulder. A portal appeared beneath them, swallowing the two in a flash of light.
Moments later, another portal tore open. Five hulking figures stepped through, led by a hunching old man.
“Elder Solomon, this is where the abnormality was detected,” one of the figures reported.
Solomon stroked his silver goatee, scanning the recovering students who were still too dazed to notice the newcomers.
“Hmm…” he murmured. “Who is in charge of this class?”
“According to our records, an S-rank graduate from twenty years ago—Guo Huan,” the subordinate answered.
“Guo Huan?” Solomon hummed, his gaze flicking to a golden-haired student. “Never heard of him. He seems to have left just moments ago… I can still detect residual portal energy. Interrogate the students. I’ll handle the instructor.”
Without waiting for a reply, Solomon disappeared through another portal.
