42nd day of Trian Month, Trian Ruins:
In a scorched land where there was once a lush forest, a fierce battle was taking place.
A rather fierce battle took place.
Charles' ten members moved with great coordination.
They were among the strongest in level 8 and were capable of defeating a good portion of the so-called geniuses head-on.
But now they moved together.
No. They were forced.
"You fucking dogs!"
A loud roar reverberated like the explosion of a volcano and the next moment, the world was dyed red.
A giant red bird appeared in the sky. What was even more alarming was that it was bathed in flames.
"…Victor Caron."
Hearing his name, the man in the form of the beast looked down at the ground with strong battle intent.
"Gulp."
Swallowing her saliva, the newest member of Charles' team, Hira said. "Such compatibility…he's a monster."
Her eyes reflected the red figure in the sky.
Victor Caron.
He wasn't just a beast Morpher, but he was also a fire awakener.
He was a near-peak level 8 for both of these paths. Even though he was in his late 80s, he didn't even touch the bottleneck of level 9. So, even he knew that he had almost no prospects of advancing to the next level.
But the problem came with his combat prowess in the existing level.
"Screech!"
Victor's morphing entity—Flaming Bird had a superb affinity with flames—which was supported by his fire path.
Thus, despite not being the strongest level 8 in any paths alone, when combined together, Victor's power was overwhelming.
"Duck!"
The leader of the team ordered and Hira's body turned into a mass of flame before lowering itself.
Whoosh!
A huge shockwave of flames passed through their position. It was like a ring of orange-red that expanded throughout the area.
As they escaped, the shockwaves hit the forests in the distance.
Scorch!
The lush green forest was scorched in an instant!
"W-We have to defeat this monster?" Hira asked with a trembling voice. She was still new to the team.
Even though she too was a fire awakener, this range of power was beyond her.
"Or? Why would the Xander family raise us?" Captain Dwane retorted but didn't push her nervous body to the giant bird in the sky.
Instead, he stepped forward and said.
"Assist me. I can't defeat him one-on-one."
"Y-Yes!"
Hira raised her hands towards the flaming bird and clenched her fists.
Suddenly, the aura around Victor, the flaming bird turned chaotic. Especially the fire mana, it started to riot.
"Screech!" The flaming bird realized what happened and let out its own fire mana to take back the aura control.
But.
"Victor Caron, you too aren't invincible."
A cold voice sounded from below and when the flaming bird reacted, the middle-aged man was already at its eye level, three miles from the ground.
'Idiot' Victor spat out inside his mind and the flames around him intensified. The flame bird's own powers produced a special flame that was only amplified by his fire mana.
Screech!
To the resounding roar of the firebird, Dwane raised his arms and let out his water mana.
A blinding blue light flashed and a large water dragon appeared behind him.
Even in his bird form, Victor's eyes narrowed as if he was showing contempt.
Even though the water dragon was mighty, it couldn't be compared to an awakener wielding the power themselves.
"I know it won't be enough." Dwane shook his head and jumped onto the dragon.
His body turned into water and went transparent. Without delay, he assimilated himself into the water dragon.
When the flaming bird looked at the water dragon again, it had no contempt.
Even though Victor was sure of winning…the aura around him once again turned chaotic.
"Greeh!"
"Screech!"
The battle of a water dragon and firebird began.
***
"Huff!"
"Huff!"
Four tired voices sounded, across adjacent places in the level 8 ruins. The four geniuses, the strongest in the competition, knelt on a knee as the injuries all over their bodies threatened to worsen at the slightest moment.
In the scorched forests was the same trio who were here half an hour ago.
Dwane, Hira, and…Victor.
"B-Bastards!" Victor shouted, his pale blue skin was a result of excess ice mana.
"…Did we really?" Hira rubbed the blood flowing off her mouth and muttered in a daze.
"Without your help, it wasn't possible." Dwane was covered in horrendous injuries, but he was still able to smile.
As he expected, Victor was still too much for him. But when Hira interfered with the aura around him, he gained an opportunity and defeated him in one go.
In fact, defeat was a big word.
It should be—
"Cough. Cough. Arghhh." Dwane clutched his chest and coughed out blood while Hira collapsed on the ground.
The price to defeat such a powerful genius was the incapacitation of the strongest and newest members of Charles' team.
They were nearly incapacitated.
"Heh…Hehehe. You guys are crazy." Victor started laughing as his fire sense spread outward.
"You also took down the other three?" He yelped in confusion.
"…Our team divided ourselves to hunt you each," Dwane said without thinking and the man in question fell silent.
Victor found the people as strong as him now kneeling on a single knee. All of them were incredibly injured.
And as expected, facing these geniuses was a group of two or three. This group was equally, if not more injured than the geniuses.
"…All the four, we confirmed their capabilities," Dwane said and grabbed Hira.
Whoosh!
Emitting a blue light, he disappeared.
Like Victor and Hira, the other team members also began to regroup one by one.
Finally, they met up in a previously agreed-upon area and shared their findings.
After fighting the strongest level 8s, known as the Great Four for their contributions, Charles' team concluded this.
"We can stop the great four…"
Everyone's face, despite being covered in bloodstains due to the earlier battle lit up.
"But the price is our group will be in an equally bad state," Dwane said in a depressing tone.
The room also fell silent.
It was then, Hira said. "Trust young master…he'll make a change."
At her words, the group's expression relaxed.
The group didn't know.
Just yesterday, Charles lost against one of the three strongest level 7s.
In fact.
He was crushed.