The Passive Skills he'd considered omnipotent, the ones he was so proud of, could be defeated. How? Why? He didn't know. He knew only one thing: everything he had prepared was now useless. The only silver lining was that he hadn't suffered a severe backlash like Lachlan.

  A sizzle of lightning tore through the air beside him. Lachlan transformed into a bolt of lightning and charged. But then Arthur’s gaze shifted to him.

  No, that’s not right.

  Arthur had acted even before his gaze landed. Spirit Vision, even if not eliminated, couldn't affect the Spirit Entropic Intent. The lightning scattered around Lachlan. When the Major reached Arthur's protective dome, his hand was empty.

  Undeterred, Lachlan once again transformed into a blur, attacking relentlessly. Nathan glanced into the distance. The girl who used the Light Aspect was in her comrades' arms, her chest rising and falling weakly.

  Nathan gritted his teeth. He could no longer rely on the Passive System. Not every skill was useless—for instance, [Mind of Tranquility] was still working at full capacity. The pangs were likely the gaps where Arthur had inserted his malicious Intent into his spirit. The Passive System was an invisible thing, even after he reached Tier 2. But through today's events, he had a crucial piece of data. It resided in his spirit.

  Without his passive skills, his own body felt unfamiliar. However, the knowledge from [Martial Arts Mastery] still helped him adapt in a short time. His steps gradually became rhythmic, his strength not too dispersed.

  His punch crashed down, causing the protective layer to ripple. Emrys, without a moment's rest, was already exhausted. Even without buffs from his passive skills, he could still fight.

  Triggered [Mind of Tranquility]. One credit given.

  Arthur’s gaze felt like it could cut through his skin, causing him an inexplicable pain. But he didn’t stop, his limbs moving continuously. He even risked using the essence of the Lava Drake to create a raging firestorm. The blazing red light heated the space, along with the flickering blue of lightning, painting a beautiful picture on the battlefield.

  Crack!

  Finally, Emrys’s solid wall collapsed.

  Behind him, Zeryn coughed up a mouthful of blood, his hand pointing forward. The army of swords let out a heroic cry and surged forward like a tsunami. The sky was filled with nothing but swords. Hidden within was the invisible Sword Intent.

  Arthur stepped forward, hands spread wide, chin raised.

  A strange sensation pricked Nathan's advancing hand. He didn't need [Tingling Sense] to know the danger. The mana he used dissipated, like water bursting from a cup, rupturing his blood vessels. He cried out at the chaos in his wrist. Then, his sleeve detached, disintegrating into tiny particles.

  He immediately leaped backward. The rain of swords swept past him.

  The metal points, upon entering the invisible wall, faced the same process Nathan had: they disintegrated, decaying. One moment they were gleaming, the next they had become small specks of dust drifting behind Arthur. The higher-quality swords took longer to be destroyed.

  Zeryn twisted his hand. The swords obeyed. The one behind struck the one in front, increasing their forward speed. This action earned a look of approval from Arthur.

  The sword tips were gone, only the hilts remained, pressing forward. They broke through the first line of defense thanks to the pushes from behind, advancing while being disintegrated. Then they advanced again, until the blade of one sword touched the mana barrier from Arthur's armor.

  At that moment, Zeryn pushed both hands forward. The Sword Intent he had hidden exploded. The invisible swords charged at close range, tearing through the mana barrier.

  The sword prodigy coughed up a heavy mouthful of blood, his eyes looking as if they would pop out, his whole body staggering.

  Nathan roared, “Stop it, Zer!”

  But the swords continued the march, not retreating.

  Lachlan seized the opportunity, his body once again wreathed in lightning. The wind howled in the high sky. A bolt of lightning struck down.

  Nathan launched himself backward, embracing his best friend.

  With a deafening boom, the ground shook for miles around. The aftershock was so strong that Nathan couldn't move, only able to hold Zeryn tight, his back to the impact. The searing pain in his back made him groan. Debris from lightning, swords, and the Entropy Aspect had treated his three layers of defense as if they didn't exist. He couldn’t see his back, but he knew it was covered in a web of wounds that would take months to fully heal.

  In the chaos, he cursed the current situation. Just then, Arthur must have used the city's surrounding formation to boost his power. Otherwise, he couldn't have resisted Zeryn's ultimate technique.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  That was right. His spirit vision confirmed it: Arthur was unharmed. Only a single scratch on his cheek marked the wound that the three of them had nearly died to create.

  One side of Lachlan’s body drooped as he hovered in the air. His expression was unclear beneath his hair and blood. His tattered uniform revealed skin scorched by his own lightning. A few open wounds had been cauterized to prevent further infection.

  Arthur wiped the blood from his cheek, holding it before his eyes to admire it.

  “Who said Adrian is the strongest?” Arthur’s voice rose, growing louder. “You! The three of you are better. Even Adrian with his much larger force couldn't do this.” He held up the blood on his finger, his eyes blazing. “Here, my blood has been shed! By your hands. This will be a moment that history will remember. You are worthy of being the stepping stones for my path forward.”

  “Damn it,” Lachlan snorted, blood spraying from what was once a face, now unrecognizable. “I really didn’t think there was someone with a bigger mouth than me. Little Merinor rat. We’re not done yet!”

  Arthur’s eyes narrowed. His hand lowered, and his lips formed a straight line. “I’ve already overlooked your uncontrolled mouth. But you still don’t know your place.”

  “So what?” Lachlan growled. “Come on, show me what you got.”

  Arthur’s jaw tightened, his hand pointing straight at Lachlan.

  And then nothing happened.

  Arthur’s eyes widened in clear confusion.

  Nathan suppressed the urge to turn his head. His senses, combined with [Martial Arts Mastery] and his spirit vision, recognized the familiar power.

  But even if he hadn’t said anything, Arthur had already whipped his head to the side. At the same time, Lachlan vanished, leaving a trail of blue lightning.

  The Gravity Aspect user was pushed aside. The gravitational lens used to distract Arthur disappeared. Lachlan raised his hands, blocking the strange power that enveloped him. Entropy didn’t manifest in a flashy way—it didn’t push, pull, or make one retreat, suffocate, or be dismembered. The victim simply stood there, bearing all the chaos happening both outside and inside their body. Arthur’s Intent multiplied the suffering a thousandfold.

  The Major’s mouth opened in a silent scream. No sound escaped, as if his vocal cords had entered a high-entropy state and could no longer be used.

  Lachlan’s head drooped as Arthur withdrew his hand. He still hovered in the sky, a tattered figure on the verge of collapse, still trying to keep his back straight.

  Below, the soldiers let out choked sobs. They opened their mouths then immediately closed them, as if afraid any sound or action would cause the figure above to crumble.

  “Focus on your mission!” Lachlan said weakly. “Don’t interfere in things that are none of your business.”

  “I completed it!” the gravity cultivator said hastily.

  Lachlan lifted his head sharply, his eyes flashing blue. He moved in a flash, returning to his trusted subordinate’s side.

  On the other side, Arthur frowned, observing them.

  Nathan lifted Zeryn, placing his friend in a more comfortable position to move. He had given Zeryn food, but at this level, if he didn’t lie still, he would never recover. Nathan had expected Zeryn’s protector to intervene in such a dangerous situation, but there was no sign of them.

  He retreated, moving closer to the gravity cultivator’s position. The soldiers simultaneously moved to protect them, blocking the view to prevent Arthur from pinpointing them. One by one, they lost control of their defensive items, kneeling in a shared madness.

  Emrys waved her hand, ordering the city’s army forward. The spears once again advanced.

  Lachlan appeared beside Nathan. Only up close was the Major’s face clearly visible. It was a mess of burns and cuts. His swollen eyes seemed to block his vision. Each breath he took was accompanied by streaks of blood.

  “Take this, Nathan!” Lachlan pressed a cylindrical object into Nathan’s hand. It was only as long as his palm and emitted a green light.

  A secret PsiLink connection was established.

  Lachlan: These are Jade Records. Bring them out of the city and they will automatically find those above to solve the formation problem.

  Nathan: How? How did you achieve this?

  Lachlan: Like Entropy, nothing escapes Gravity. Or something can, but I don’t have time to dig deep into it. But energies, signals, waves, they are all affected by Gravity. They won’t let us take a formation master in to decipher anything in this city, so I have to come up with another plan. That’s why I brought Sevro. He set up many gravitational anchors around the place to wait for the moment Arthur used the formation. Within these Jades are nonsense data. A bunch of 1s and 0s, up and down frequencies. But for formation masters, this will be the key for them to create a counter-formation. They didn’t say we couldn’t use high-level formation masters, did they?

  Lachlan released Nathan’s hand, leaving a layer of sticky blood on his palm. The Major smirked proudly, but his fingers trembled. Such a long speech wasn’t Lachlan’s style.

  Arthur on the other side frowned even more tightly. He held out both hands, focusing on Nathan and Lachlan’s group.

  “He’s starting to suspect us,” Lachlan said to Nathan and Zeryn. “Go now. Leave this place! Take the prince with you. He can be your ticket out.”

  Lachlan flew up. The mana barrier around him eroded at a rapid pace. The Major opened his mouth wide to command.

  “All forces, retreat! Soldiers, on my command! Ensure the safety of Nathan, Zeryn, and the disciples from our allied sects.”

  Nearly a hundred soldiers responded without a word, turning their heads, abandoning their fallen comrades, abandoning the equipment on the battlefield. They formed a circle around the disciples, especially Nathan and Zeryn.

  “What are you doing?” Nathan roared. “Go with us!”

  “I already made up my mind at the camp, Nathan,” Lachlan said, shaking his head. “Only this way can we have a chance to win.”

  From the Major’s storage ring, an object that looked like a broken piece of wood appeared.

  Zeryn stirred, his eyes wide and unblinking as he uttered, “Impossible! Remnant of the Forgotten Battlefield!” He stammered, “You… You… No! Do not do it, Lachlan!”

  The group pulled Nathan and Zeryn backward, while Lachlan advanced without retreat.

  “Lightning God, hear me!” Lachlan said, falling into a mysterious trance. “Come to my aid. Possess me at this crucial moment. I am for you to take. Guide me on this path.”

  The piece of wood in the Major’s hand lit up, letting out deafening cracks. The mana barrier accordingly was no longer eroded by entropy.

  Emrys scrambled to pull her brother’s hand, gasping for breath as she said, “This is something vile! We gotta go, brother!”

  Arthur didn’t move, his eyes still fixed on the person wreathed in a mesmerizing blue light.

  “I am destruction.” The words echoed, and the sky turned dark with clouds, lightning writhing like mad serpents.

  “I am obliteration.” The mysterious item in Lachlan’s hand broke. An ancient and ferocious energy spread from its center. When it touched Lachlan, it was even more terrifying than the Entropy Aspect: touching skin, skin vanished; touching flesh, flesh was destroyed; touching bone, bone was no more.

  “I am tempest!” Wind swirled around Lachlan. A storm rose, whipping up dust. The Major vanished, transformed into something higher.

  BOOM!

  Lightning struck across the sky, illuminating an image imprinted on the clouds. A god descending to the mortal world.

  “I am…”