Varian's feet dug into the floor as he blocked a strike from the Mega Orc's club with his demon sword.
Since it was an artifact, the demon sword didn't break like any other weapon would have.
But the tremendous force from the collision was transmitted to Varian, leaving him with cracked skin, torn flesh and overall, very, very bloodied hands.
"I-If I fight for a day or two like this, I can improve myself—"
The large club swung from the left and Varian bent his body, dodging it and slashed his sword.
A thick red arc of aura reached the Mega Orc's feet. Green blood spilled on the ground and the Mega Orc stumbled for a moment.
"Woooah!"
The audience roared in excitement and disbelief.
After nearly twenty rounds of defeat, Varian still kept going. And with every round, he was slightly better positioned against the Mega Orc. But this time, he's actually starting to be on par with the creature!
The creature, of course, didn't like someone else stealings the affection from the audience.
The Mega Orc's green began to turn red and its aura grew violent, breaking through peak rank 5, but not quite reaching rank 6.
It was in a very unstable state with its senses going on overdrive and its instincts taking over its body.
"Oh no…"
Varian blocked the swing of the club again, but this time, instead of only his feet in the ground, only his head was left above the ground.
"Fuck you!"
The space ring activated, teleporting him at the last moment and saving him from getting his head smashed.
But the Orc was too fast. Its club reached Varian the moment he finished his teleportation, forcing him to do a last moment block, which didn't go very well.
"Oh fuck!"
Varian took out a white orb from his storage ring—which in reality was just a condensed power of sliver carefully masked through usage of materials and formations.
The crowd started booing.
Varian didn't care.
He slammed the orb down and a barrier enveloped their battlefield, completely blocking anyone from seeing or sensing their battle.
The maddened Mega Orc wasn't in a position to question his actions and continued its relentless offense.
Varian's main power kept changing. Adept, Assimilator, Binder, Space, Time, Energy, Matter.
He used all the paths he wanted to use. Did all the experiments he could. Three full days passed for everyone, but thanks to using his time powers extensively, Varian experienced two weeks worth of time and training.
The Mega Orc went into the final stage of its madness and erupted with great power, but its attack remained the same.
Varian slammed his fist against the club. He took a step back and the Orc took two.
The Mega Orc paused for a moment, looked at him in confusion and then its own club.
The fury of the creature began to wear off, its red skin reverting to green and an emotion called fear began to show in its eyes.
Varian didn't bother fighting it anymore since it could no longer provide him with any improvement. Moreover, a green Mega Orc was only going to be weaker than a red.
'Status'
[Adept Rank 4: 999/1000
Assimilator Rank 4: 950/1000
<Your monstrous body-to-body fight against a creature that was born for physical combat yielded results beyond what's normally possible.>
Binder Rank 4: 850/1000
<It's not easy to improve your soul perception in a physical fight. But you've done it. The Mega Orc might be a simple creature but its soul resistance was no joke.>
Matter Rank 4: 900/1000
Energy Rank 4: 900/1000
<With a snap of your fingers, stars will stop burning, and planets will explode.>
Space Rank 4: 900/1000
Time Rank 4: 950/1000
<The fabric of space-time is yours to explore.>
<You've nearly reached the peak of your rank, but the very fast improvement caused you to enter a small bottleneck. Break it down and rank 5 is yours.>
PS: If you spend a few weeks fighting, you can break down the bottleneck for certain and reach the new ranks!]
Varian walked out of the arena, intending to rest. But as he reached the exit, the world around him turned blank.
A pair of familiar golden eyes stared at him in the darkness.
"S-Sia?"
A pair of equally familiar sky-blue eyes were looking at the golden eyes and weeping. "Sarah? What happened?"
Varian clutched his neck and slumped into his small resting room. "S-Something is wrong…I can feel it."
An unease filled his heart and it kept growing like a beast that was given an endless feast.
Was it just another bad dream? Or was he simply panicking after a painful battle?
'No, my time sense and my binder...they're tingling.'
Varian knew that strong time awakeners had some degree of foresight. Their feelings weren't just normal fears. They meant something.
Since he had soul powers in addition to time powers and they're both acting up, Varian decided to take his feelings seriously.
"R-Right!" Varian looked at his wedding rings and remembered that he'd linked them with theirs.
'System, I can sense their condition with the wedding ring, right?'
[The tower has isolated all outside connections, Host.]
'But I can break that isolation, right? Even if only for a moment.' Varian's breathing was ragged and his gaze heavy.
Even when he was being crushed by the Mega Orc, he didn't feel so nervous. But now, his heart was about to jump out of his chest.
[Please try your best. The System will assist you.]
Varian first formed a barrier around him and then began to search for that one 'rule' in the air among thousand others.
The rule which forbids external connections from the tower…
'Got it!'
After nearly an hour of work, Varian managed to find it.
In a visual sense, it's a huge door. What he needed to do was drill a small hole—small enough that a fly could enter.
But the problem was that the door's defense, it's like the door was made of diamond.
'Focus, focus, focus!'
Varian descended into a meditative state and used the slivers like never before. Even Logos was surprised by his achievements in such a short span of time.
"Arghh!" Varian clutched his chest and collapsed into a fit of coughing blood. But his eyes were wide open and bloodshot.
The wedding rings sent a message.
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