Thunder Calling.

Theo chose the magic that had defeated the sandworm in one blow as his first spell.

The lightning that fell from the sky unexpectedly couldn’t be foreseen or prepared for.

‘The first one has to be fast and intense, something that takes their breath away. After that, I’ll surround them so they can’t escape...’

Theo had already decided the sequence of magical connections.

Holding the artifact in his left hand, he closed his eyes gently.

As soon as the synchronization with the artifact was established through Hatchling Syncro, various thoughts flashed through his mind.

• Lightning is powerful...

• Falling from the sky...

• Thunder.

• Fire lightning...

He could see the figure of an old man, presumably the artifact’s creator.

A magic circle was intricately engraved inside the artifact.

Since he had summoned Thunder Calling once before, he vaguely ‘understood’ the image that the magic circle had.

‘If I could just observe it a little more, maybe I could use the real magic.’

Surprised by this unexpected realization,

Theo slowly opened his eyes.

At the same time, he aimed his other hand, shaped like a gun, in the direction where Axion and his crew were.

“Let it pour down.”

Bang.

With the action as if pulling the trigger,

Boom!

Lightning struck down vertically from the sky.

The bolt was instantaneous.

Boom!

“Aaaah!”

“What the hell is this!”

“It’s an ambush, an ambush!”

A crater formed.

Dust clouds were billowing.

The participants who were hit screamed, and some tried to prepare a countermeasure, but—

Boom!

Krrrr!

The lightning that continued to rain down could not be defended against.

Ultimately, the participants were thrown into confusion and tried to scatter in all directions.

Morgan and Felix stood up in shock.

The area was filled with the smell of smoke, and sparks turned the surroundings into a sea of flames.

“What is this...!”

“It seems that either Theo or Wellington has caught wind of something.”

“We need to escape from here and prepare to counterattack...!”

However, their thoughts did not last long.

A bolt of lightning struck directly above their heads.

“Cough!”

Boom!

Morgan, who tried to swing his magically enhanced sword to block the lightning, was hit directly and sent flying.

“Drop the sword! You fools! Put it down! Quickly!”

Felix, who managed to grasp his sword a beat later than Morgan, yelled in panic.

He determined that metal was the most dangerous thing in this situation.

At that, the participants, regardless of their faction—whether from the Plum Blossom Palace, the Senate, or the Cultivation Society—began to hurriedly throw away their weapons and armor.

“What the hell...! What are you doing by throwing that away!”

Axion attempted to rally them, but his voice was drowned out by the panic-stricken fools.

Even now, lightning, ice arrows, and fireballs continued to pour down.

Axion realized that this was a plot by the assailants to disarm them, but it was already too late.

Boom!

“Ah, no!”

“The path is blocked!”

“Where do we go...!”

As expected, the flames had formed a large circle around the escape routes of the fleeing participants.

The power was so overwhelming that they couldn’t even dream of breaking through.

“What should we do...!”

As everyone was restless and pacing back and forth, the ground suddenly shook violently.

What’s happening?

Felix and the participants instinctively looked down at their feet, and suddenly, a hot gust of wind rushed from the ground.

And then—

It exploded.

“...!”

“...!”

“...!”

Boom! Boom!

Like a volcano erupting, pillars of fire shot up, followed by various explosion spells.

Inferno Cascade, Chain Explosion, Sea of Flames, Fire Lightning, Demon of Fire, and more.

The artifacts that Theo had never used before were now all triggered simultaneously.

And through Hatchling Syncro, their power was significantly amplified!

Aaaah!

Screams and cries filled the air, but they were all drowned out by the sound of the explosions.

Moreover, the situation was such that it was impossible to escape.

On one side, lightning rained down,

On the other, flames blazed.

The winter mountains that were supposed to be a blizzard had transformed into a hot inferno.

A hellish scene.

That word seemed to fit perfectly.

And then.

Thud!

Theo quietly landed on the chaotic debris.

Standing in front of him was Axion, covered in blood.

He had barely escaped the explosions and bombardments, but one of his arms and legs was grotesquely twisted.

“You... you!”

Shaking with rage!

Axion clenched his fists tightly.

His face was marred, half-burnt and hideous.

“If you were aiming for me, you should have known that you could be aimed at too.”

Theo calmly expressed Axion’s fury.

“You really think... you can get away with this...?”

“Didn’t you check your situation first?”

“...!”

How dare a fool from the Rose Palace mock him?

Axion’s rage bubbled over, and he was about to scream.

Swish!

Before he could, Drake’s blade swept mercilessly across his neck.

Whoosh—

A fountain of blood surged upward.

“Indeed, North 4. You’re pretty good at dodging too, huh?”

Theo mocked him with a wide grin.

Axion, who had initially attempted to parry Theo’s sword, had instinctively felt that a direct confrontation would not work and had hurriedly withdrawn.

His senses were indeed impressive.

As a result, he only sustained a shallow wound on his shoulder.

However, Axion’s pride was wounded, having avoided the attack from the fool of the Rose Palace.

‘It’s over.’

Theo knew that Axion would no longer be his match.

In that case, it would be best to dispose of him quickly.

So he stepped forward once more, but—

Bang!

Suddenly, the dust cloud surrounding them began to dissipate, revealing six participants emerging.

“Theo Ragnar!”

“How dare you make us look like this?”

“You’ll die!”

“I’ll kill you!”

The participants from the Cultivation Society, battered and bruised, had come to save Axion.

[“Activating Skill: Hatchling Syncro.”]

Theo unfolded his psychokinesis.

The targets were the various stones and debris rolling around at his feet.

Sharp and pointed weapons began to whirl violently and then shot out like a projectile.

“Cough...!”

“Gah!”

Thud!

The participants, unable to anticipate that stones would be shot out at them, fell without any ability to defend themselves.

Even if they managed to block the attack, they were at the mercy of Theo’s sword strikes.

Swish!

Moreover, just as Ray entered the battlefield late, the combined forces of the Cultivation Society, the Senate, and the Plum Blossom Palace were swiftly rendered incapacitated.

‘Did they escape?’

For a moment, Theo chuckled as he glanced at Axion’s departing figure.

He sacrificed all of his subordinates to save himself.

It seemed that the Cultivation Society would not last long.

Thud—

Theo activated the Wings of the Lark to chase after Axion.

He had already been heavily injured, so he wouldn’t be able to run far.

“Theo Ragnar! I’ll kill you! I will definitely kill you!”

As he escaped the scene, Axion clenched his teeth in frustration.

When did it all start to go wrong?

Surely, all the preparations had to be perfect.

But once a situation began to unravel, it snowballed and became uncontrollable.

“Felix, Morgan...! Yes. It’s all because of those stupid idiots. If they had done their jobs properly...!”

No, it wasn’t just them.

The Cultivation Society, and the fools like Orien, had also held him back.

In the end, it was a misfortune caused by everyone else failing to do their part.

‘Once I leave this testing ground, I’ll set everything right. The Cultivation Society will be restarted from scratch, and Theo Ragnar...! I’ll kill him, whether I have to bring an assassin or whatever it takes.’

Ed’s plea?

The artifact of the primordial dragon that he hadn’t recovered yet?

What did any of that matter?

His pride took precedence above all.

Then Axion suddenly looked up.

He spotted a low ridge.

There, there was a boundary separating the testing ground from the outside.

It was also the location where the examiners from the Central Security Bureau were stationed.

A rendezvous point to receive Ed’s orders.

If he could just reach there, he would no longer be in danger.

‘Almost there...!’

But Axion’s hopes were short-lived.

“You ran all this way just to end up here?”

“...How did you...?”

A calm voice.

But it was a voice that sent chills down Axion’s spine.

He quickly turned around, straightening his back.

A figure with long hair blowing in the mountain breeze.

It was Theo.

“If that’s where you’re running to, it’s all the same. Like a kangaroo that can’t leave its mother’s pouch. That’s you, right?”

Axion’s face contorted in humiliation.

Grr!

“Let’s see how long you can keep mocking me.”

Axion pulled out all the totems he had hidden in the pocket of his winter coat.

Krrrr—

As the ground shook, various types of monsters and beasts began to emerge around Theo and Axion.

“Originally, these were meant to trap you, but... yeah, whether it’s used here or there, it doesn’t really matter.”

Roar—

Among the monsters, there was a 5th-level beast with a purple totem.

A three-meter-tall creature with the head of a bull.

It was a Minotaur.

“If you want to be rescued by your friends, there they are, but how about you? You’re just a foolish little child, so you should blame your mother for bringing you into this world.”

What he had brought as a backup turned out to be unexpectedly useful.

Axion was certain that Theo would die.

He himself would be safe, as the examiners from the Central Security Bureau would soon arrive to rescue him.

But—

“Did you really think that I wouldn’t notice your situation, Axion?”

Theo appeared completely unfazed, even as he was surrounded by beasts.

Instead, he set his Drake blade into the ground and reached for his Moonlit Blade at his waist.

“What?”

“Did you think that I had been able to hunt all those summoned beasts without using any artifacts until now?”

“...!”

In an instant, the worst-case scenario flashed through Axion’s mind.

But it was already too late.

Clang—

The sound of the Moonlit Blade being unsheathed rang out.

Bang—

From the lower right to the upper left.

The Moonlit Blade traced a diagonal line.

Ka-boom.

Theo activated Hatchling Syncro to awaken the spirit of the Moonlit Blade.

The inherent hunger that had been deeply dormant began to awaken.

Hunger. Thirst. Greed. Ferocity.

A beast that knows no satisfaction roared.

The Moonlit Blade trembled more fiercely than ever.

This was the reason why Theo had been able to hunt various summoned beasts without using one-time artifacts.

No matter what kind of beast it was, it would be nothing more than a snack in front of a Griffin.

The Griffin, which had once instilled trauma in Theo beside the Black Dragon, had now become his loyal companion.

And it didn’t stop there.

Thunder Breath.

Having collected five fragments over time, Theo could now weakly imbue the sword with lightning properties.

Lightning was intense, fast, and ferocious.

Its brutality matched perfectly with that of the Griffin.

And the Claws of the Dragon.

The flowering plum of the Plum Blossom Princess and Ray’s Ice White Martial Art.

The fusion of those two opposing traits created a beam of light.

Swish—

The first claw that drew a line swept away a majority of the monsters,

The second claw, which fell vertically, aimed for the Minotaur’s head.

Roar!

The Minotaur barely managed to deflect the beam with the club it was wielding, but ultimately lost one of its arms.

And then,

The third claw, which was drawn horizontally, ruthlessly swept across the Minotaur’s head, aiming at Axion, who stood behind with a stunned expression.

“Y-you’ve already awakened the artifact...?”

One that his uncle hadn’t even obtained?

But Axion’s thoughts didn’t last long.

A wave of light illuminated his vision.

The pupils of the terrified Axion turned white.

The way of life of the heir to the Regal Blade was being forged.