"Is it here?"

  "Yes."

  The two boys arrived. On its facade, a wide structure, an isolated building in the city standing out both in its white material and height, bore the inscription "Portuguese Association of Exterminators." This was probably their headquarters in the city of Porto.

  Automatic doors, almost all the windows made of glass; it even looked like a small skyscraper, something quite unusual in a European city.

  "Hey, Theo." Jonas casually opened his voice. "Do we have to go here specifically? I mean, couldn't we go to the Exam building?"

  "Don't you know? That place is only for the Recruitment exam, nothing more."

  "Oh, my bad."

  They took one last look at the building. The street even seemed empty compared to its usual atmosphere. Perhaps because lunchtime was over, but even so, this was unusual for that place. Even to enter the building, there was absolutely no queue, just a carpet laid out for their feet.

  But there was no time to waste.

  "Let's go," Theo said.

  "Yes."

  ※ ※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※

  The interior was long and overwhelming. Machines with advanced technology, men in suits everywhere, making Theo and Jonas look like they came from another world.

  However, the place wasn't very different from the waiting room at the market where Jonas took the recruitment exam, just a much more amplified and modern version.

  On almost every wall, the exact same pamphlet that Theo had previously shown Jonas was displayed. On their way here, they also found several of these on the ground, lampposts, and trash. In fact, it was visible that the association was working hard to increase the tournament's visibility. Would it be a difficult task to find 100 Exterminators willing to risk their lives out of a total of 10 million people? Well, they wanted to know.

  "Have you ever been here before, Theo?"

  "Not really. I did the Exam a time ago, and just been doing Dungeons since then." Theo scratched his nose. "So I guess I'm in the same boat as you."

  "I thought you were gonna be my guide... But, if this is like the Exam, we should talk to the receptionists."

  "Yeah, what else could we do?"

  "Jesus, why did we waste so much time talking about nothing then?"

  "I don't know."

  The two noticed a huge counter with receptionists standing behind curtains, blocking the passage to somewhere. Just like the exam.

  "C'mon."

  Upon arriving at the first door, they were greeted with a warm smile from the receptionist.

  "Welcome. What would you like?"

  "So..." Theo took the front. "We would like to subscribe to the battle royale—"

  "Wow, look what I just found!"

  A voice interrupted them. A voice coming from the balcony next door, loud and confident. A voice very familiar to Jonas.

  "TECO!?"

  That's right. The man standing there with a smirk, shirt worn backwards and back folded up neatly; it was Mateo "Teco" from Bragan?a.

  "Who is that guy?" Jonas interpreted these words coming from Theo as an insult.

  "Don't you know!? He is so strong! He is literally level!—... ah..."

  As always, the transparent blue box above Teco said "Lvl. 1."

  "He is a level 1. What do you mean by that?"

  "N-No, is not that... I met him at the exam and—augh..."

  Jonas felt quite... disappointed. Teco, for some reason and somehow, continued to feign his true level, a real liar.

  With no choice, he decided to question him.

  "Hey, please, why do keep doing that? C'mon, everyone knows who you truly are."

  "He does not. Hey, you should greet me first and ask how I am. Manners!"

  Jonas turned to Theo, not quite knowing what to say.

  "Do you know what a smurf is? Those highly skilled players that play and dominate lower-level players? Well, he's one of them. That level is a lie."

  "A smurf?" Theo analyzed Teco. "Ah, wait, I know what he did. It's a really expensive potion that lets you hide your level as 1. Isn't that right?"

  "Yup. Indeed."

  Theo put a hand beneath his chin. "But you did that before entering the Exam, right? Well, why? How would pretending to be a Level 1 help you?"

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "I just didn't want to scare anybody."

  "But..." Jonas's eyebrows furrowed. "None of them have Mana Observation, right?"

  "Oh... I forgot."

  Teco's pupils narrowed considerably as he said those words. As if his entire life had just been turned upside down.

  "Well, but in the end there are no disadvantages."

  "Yeah, but why do you still keep it on?"

  "The potion's time isn't over yet. It's that simple."

  It had been over a week since the exam happened when Teco drank that potion, and the effect hadn't worn off yet. How long did this potion last? A month? A year? Forever? Teco didn't seem to care about the answer. And rightly so, at the moment that information was completely irrelevant.

  "So, guys, what are you doing here?"

  "We want to sign up for the battle royale tournament," Jonas replied promptly.

  Hearing those words, Teco's eyes instinctively narrowed.

  "Oh, really? You two are going to be a team? Are you counting on your little secret to win?"

  "Little secret?" Theo repeated. "What do you mean?"

  Upon hearing that phrase about the little secret directed at him, Jonas visibly began to sweat.

  "N-No, damn it! I'll never depend on that thing for anything!"

  "You will thank me later."

  That voice came from his mouth, same voice, yet it was not his.

  "S-Shut up... You are nothing compared to me."

  It wasn't that Jonas minded telling Theo about HeraCrox; he saw no problem with it. But this simply wasn't the ideal moment. It was probably not a good idea to say to your partner five minutes before entering the biggest tournament of their lives, "Hey, I have a demon inside me. Cool, huh? Haha."

  From Theo's point of view, he had just seen his battle partner talking to himself and answering himself. It was definitely not very encouraging to think that his partner might have mental health issues right before the start of their big tournament.

  But he simply shrugged.

  "Anyway, please let us pass."

  "No. No way."

  That simple, yet arrogant tone caught the boys in pure surprise.

  "What do you mean?" Jonas asked. "Just let us go, man."

  "I said no. Make a 180o turn and go home."

  "Hey, you cannot do this." Theo spoke. "It literally said there were no requirements to enter. You can't stop us."

  "I make the rules here."

  Their eyes met, and the receptionist simply observed the entire conversation with a rather bored expression.

  "Hey, it's the second time I've said this: Please put all the damage costs on my account."

  The poor receptionist had no choice; she knew who she was talking to: The strongest Exterminator in Portugal.

  And before she had a chance to react—

  "Let's do a simple test. My test."

  Theo showed both palms to the boys, one to one.

  "SHIT! DODGE! He's done this before!"

  Shouted Jonas. But it was too late already.

  Their bodies crashed into the closed building, leaving distorting wind marks in their wake.

  The speed was so high that all the eyes of the civilians present only focused on them long after the attack; even their screams weren't immediately recorded.

  In the end, Theo and Jonas's bodies slammed abruptly against a wall. Bricks, dust, and blood fell to the ground; the wall was almost entirely broken, but Teco used perfect strength to prevent this from happening.

  The boys fell to the ground, desperate for air, blood running down their foreheads and into their eyes.

  In front of them, Teco took calm steps toward them.

  "Come on, without this little test, you'll be the first to die. Actually, thank me, not everyone has the luck and the right to go through this."

  "What do you mean by that!?"

  Jonas tried to stand up, putting his beanie back on, which had fallen to the floor. "This has nothing to do with you, just let us in!"

  "Let's do the following." With tremendous rudeness, Teco put both hands in the pockets of his black pants.

  "Hit me. If you can scratch the smallest thread of my shirt, I'll pay your entry fees. If you can't, you go home. I won’t even use my hands. If you two are just going to the Azores to die, it's a good deal, don't you think?"

  "Are you crazy!?" Jonas shouted. "We are in the middle of a crowded building! There's so many people and—"

  "Seems like a good deal to me."

  With those words, Theo dashed forward. He tried to land a right hook to Teco's face, but Teco dodged his head to the side.

  "Wow, you don't waste any time, do you? You don't even—"

  But Theo had already tried another punch, which was dodged once more.

  "That won't work..."

  Even though he was a step away from Teco, Theo knew that any movement was useless.

  "You know, I can't use my powers here. There are too many people around us."

  "Oh, you're right."

  Teco looked around: The crowd of businessmen in suits was watching him. Some had already fled in haste, but most remained to observe, albeit passively, huddled and hidden behind counters.

  "Move on." For once, he raised both his hands. Theo didn't even try to do anything, a surprise attack, firstly because it would be useless against someone with almost infinite Perception, and secondly because it wouldn't be very fair.

  In a swift movement of his hands backward, each of the people present, except Jonas, Theo, Teco, and the receptionists behind the counters, flew backward. It caught them by surprise; some almost had a heart attack, but unlike what he had done before, this was a light, delicate, and careful wind. It seemed more like the people were sliding on fluffy snowballs until they finally exited the building.

  "Now we fine?"

  "Just one last thing. You'll pay for the property damage, right?"

  "I already said that."

  "Good."

  Theo opened the palm of his right hand, showing it to Teco. "Take a good look. God of the Light: Sun."

  His hand transformed into light. Pure white light.

  Now, try looking at the sun during the day. It was a difficult task, it hurt your eyes. But now, try looking directly at the sun from 1 meter away. That was more or less what Teco experienced.

  "D-Dang it!"

  His eyes quickly closed and he contorted himself downwards, instinctively putting his arms out in front of him.

  "Now!"

  Theo attempted another right hook.

  "Just because I'm blind doesn't mean I can't fight!!"

  Teco leaped backward, almost a somersault, dodging with relative ease.

  But then, using his Perception, he understood that Theo's "Now" was not a soliloquy. It wasn't for himself.

  "I SEE THE THREAD OF VICTORY!!!"

  It was Jonas, who, using his 19 of Agility, had managed to move exactly to the spot where Teco was going to fall.

  He looked up and saw Teco's foot falling down, exactly where his hand had been. All it took was a touch, and they would win—

  FOSH

  "AGH!"

  Jonas's head was on the ground. Not only that, his whole body was being pressed down almost to the point of breaking the brick. As if some force was holding him to the ground, a force of 500 kilos on his back.

  "What the heck?! I was so close!"

  "Phew, that was close."

  Teco sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. But something chilling was noticeable about his body: his eyes were white.

  "Hey, this lasts forever?"

  "No. I'm not at that level yet. Just a few hours," Theo replied.

  "Hours? Hehe..." In a horrifying transition, the color of his eye quickly changed from white back to its original dark brown.

  "I'm very strong, aren't I?"

  "H-Hey, you bastard!"

  Jonas groaned from the ground, still unable to move. "What the hell is this?! You said you wouldn't attack us!"

  "I didn't say that. Just that I wouldn't use my hands. And that's what I did."

  "J-Just take me out of here!"

  "Oh, yeah. I forgot."

  With those words, an enormous relief washed over Jonas, the relief of a huge weight having been lifted. The relief of freedom.

  "It's not over, is it?"

  "You tell me."

  The answer from both of them was a silent but unequivocal no.

  "Just to make clear," Theo spoke. "If we touch you, that's enough right? Just to scratch your shirt as you said. The simplest thing of all counts, right?"

  "Sure. Take your time."

  Theo took steps to reach Jonas's side, and Teco strategically moved away from them.

  Theo and Jonas looked into each other's eyes and nodded.

  "God of the Light," Without rushing, Theo opened both palms. "Supernova!"

  Theo could try using Aveiro Lighthouse, the same one he used to defeat the dragon boss. But it had a major drawback:

  It was his most mana-consuming attack, a huge amount. Yes, it's his strongest attack, but what's the point of using your most powerful attack against someone for whom that attack might simply seem ineffective? It would simply be a waste of mana.

  So he opted for a mini-version, hundreds of light bursts, but less powerful, fast, and precise.

  "Are you serious?" Teco simply dodged each one as if it was nothing. Moving slowly to the left in the meantime, Theo followed him with his steps.

  Theo knew that it was probably just another trap. Another trap for Jonas to act, so he kept an eye on him.

  But something was strange; Jonas was completely frozen, with only his hands down and his eyes fixed on Teco.

  And the moment Teco passed in front of Jonas—

  "Mana Explosion!!"

  Mud flew towards Teco. A lot, horizontally.

  Teco realized the truth: Jonas had used the broken floor itself as a weapon, the very floor that Teco made Jonas break. When the tiles broke, mud was revealed underneath, mud that Jonas had thrown at Teco using Mana Explosion.

  Unlike rays of light, you couldn't simply dodge them in mud; there was no space, it was almost like a liquid. Any position he tried to get into would result in him being hit by mud.

  Except vertically.

  He decided to crouch. It was faster than having to use his power to fly. If he had tried to jump, he might not have had enough time to dodge. In fact, if Jonas had simply thrown dirt with his hands it wouldn't have been a problem, but when he used Mana Explosion, the speed was much greater.

  But something felt off. While crouching, in his almost slow-motion vision, he noticed that the mud actually seemed too slow.

  So Jonas hadn't used Mana Explosion? Even so, he couldn't stand up now because of Theo's lights. The plan was simply to move to the side, easy as that.

  But Perception landed. Something was coming towards him from below. Something very fast.

  Teco didn't think twice and dodged to the side, only to see the tile he had once stood on explode in mud.

  He realized the truth: Jonas had used Mana Explosion, but from below, so as to explode the exact tile he had been crouching on. But it didn't matter; he had already dodged.

  Just to see Jonas a millimeter away with a brick in his hand.

  In the position he was in, dodging to the side, low, in the middle of a jump, he had no choice but to take a brick to the face for the second time.