Luvian stared at him.
"What are you laughing at?"
"You."
Eden straightened.
"You’re slowing down."
Luvian’s face hardened.
"Tsk."
He lunged.
Eden sidestepped.
Luvian’s fist missed.
He swung again.
Eden blocked.
But the motion was slower.
’There it is!’
He drove his fist into Luvian’s stomach.
Purple Essence entered him.
Luvian stumbled.
"What did you..."
Eden hit him again.
Then again.
Then again.
The more Luvian struggled, the more obvious it became.
His movements were losing their sharpness.
His breathing was becoming heavier.
His flames were still powerful.
Perhaps even more powerful than before.
But his body was no longer moving with the same speed.
Luvian’s expression became confused.
"Why...!"
Eden’s fist struck his jaw.
Luvian stumbled.
"Why am I..."
Another punch.
"...slowing down?"
Eden smiled.
"You really haven’t noticed?"
Luvian’s eyes widened.
Eden’s fists were glowing with faint purple Essence.
"Every time I’ve hit you..."
Another punch.
"...I’ve been leaving something behind."
Luvian stared at his own hands.
’...A Paralysis skill?!’
The skill had spread throughout his Essence network.
And now that enough of it had accumulated—
His body suddenly stopped.
Luvian’s eyes widened.
His right leg refused to move.
Then his left.
His fingers twitched uselessly.
"What...?"
Eden stepped closer.
Luvian tried to raise his arm.
Nothing.
His entire body seized.
He collapsed.
Thud.
The flames around him flickered.
Eden stood over him.
Breathing heavily.
His body was battered.
Burns covered his arms and shoulders.
Blood ran down his side.
But he was smiling.
’It worked.’
’I actually did it.’
’The gamble paid off.’
Eden looked down at Luvian.
"Paralysis."
Luvian’s eyes burned with hatred.
"You..."
He struggled uselessly against his own body.
"What did you do to me?"
"Something simple."
Eden flexed his fingers.
"My skill isn’t particularly strong."
He smiled.
"But you gave me plenty of opportunities to use it."
Luvian cursed.
Eden looked around.
The hall was barely recognizable anymore.
The fight had reduced large sections of the building to rubble.
Fire continued burning across the floor.
Dust filled the air.
The blue barrier still stood outside.
’This is going to be expensive.’
He almost laughed at the thought.
Then his gaze returned to Luvian.
’It’s over.’
Eden’s body relaxed.
He had been holding Devour back this entire time.
Now, with Luvian completely paralyzed...
He could finally use it.
’An S-Rank fire skill...’
His eyes briefly flicked toward the flames surrounding Luvian.
’If Devour absorbs it...’
The possibilities were obvious.
He might gain another powerful skill.
Powerful enough to push his strength another step forward.
Eden’s crimson Essence began gathering around his body.
The familiar sensation returned.
Eden took a step forward.
He lowered his guard.
And that was his mistake.
Because there was something Eden hadn’t considered.
He knew Luvian possessed an S-Rank fire skill.
He knew Luvian was the son of an S-Rank.
He knew Luvian had enormous potential.
But there was something he didn’t know.
Something that even the Eden of his first life had never discovered.
Luvian had another skill.
A skill far more dangerous than his S-Rank fire magic.
A SS-Rank skill.
Luvian’s eyes suddenly widened.
His anger vanished.
His expression became strangely empty.
His Essence began burning.
Eden stopped.
"...What?"
The flames around Luvian changed.
They became darker.
Wilder.
Uncontrollable.
Luvian’s body began shaking.
The paralysis Essence coating him started to burn away.
Purple traces of Essence vanished beneath the heat.
Eden’s eyes widened.
"No."
Luvian’s fingers twitched.
Then moved.
His arm lifted.
Eden took a step backward.
The flames erupted.
The entire lower floor was engulfed.
Luvian stood at the center of the inferno.
His body was surrounded by fire that seemed to have no source.
There was no normal flow of Essence.
No conventional spell formation.
No controlled manifestation.
The fire was consuming something else.
It was consuming Essence itself.
Luvian slowly raised his head.
His eyes glowed through the flames.
A strange, demonic-looking horn began forming above the right side of his head.
It was made of pure Essence-fueled fire.
A jagged horn of uncontrollable flame.
Eden stared.
For the first time since entering the building...
He felt genuine unease and doubt.
’What the hell is that?’
Luvian’s body continued burning.
His paralysis disappeared completely.
The fire around him intensified until the walls themselves began melting.
He took one step forward.
The floor beneath his foot turned black.
Another step.
The flames followed.
Luvian looked directly at Eden.
"You..."
His voice was deeper.
Rougher.
"You thought you won?"
Eden didn’t answer.
For once, he couldn’t.
Luvian raised his hand.
The flames around him screamed.
"Let me show you..."
The entire building shook.
"...what happens when you push me too far."
Luvian’s power had changed.
Eden knew it the moment the flames erupted around him.
This wasn’t the fire Luvian had used before.
The flames no longer behaved like ordinary magic. They spread across the walls, crawled along the ceiling, and consumed everything they touched. Metal warped. Concrete blackened and began to melt. The air itself seemed to distort from the heat.
And worse—
The range was enormous.
Luvian raised one hand.
The entire hall lit up.
Dozens of spears made from fire formed above him.
Eden’s eyes widened.
They weren’t aimed at one particular location.
They were aimed everywhere.
"Die!"
Luvian swung his arm down.
The fire spears descended.
Eden activated Phase Shift.
[Defensive Mode]
Orange Essence compressed around his body.
The first spear struck.
Eden blocked.
Another.
Several others.
There was nowhere to run.
Fire tore through the hall in every direction.
Eden moved between the attacks, but each dodge placed him directly in the path of another.
’He’s covering the entire area!’
A spear struck his shoulder.
The defensive layer absorbed most of the impact, but the heat still burned through.
Eden gritted his teeth.
He jumped backward.
A wave of fire swept underneath him.
He twisted in midair.
Another spear passed within centimeters of his face.
’This is ridiculous.’
Luvian laughed.
"What’s wrong?!"
He thrust his palm forward.
A gigantic wall of fire surged across the hall.
Eden crossed his arms.
He was pushed backward.
His shoes scraped violently across the floor.
Then the floor disappeared.
Eden dropped through a newly formed hole.
He fell to the level below.
He landed hard.
The impact fractured the concrete beneath him.
He immediately looked upward.
Fire poured through the hole.
Eden jumped away.
The entire section he had occupied was consumed.
’He isn’t just attacking me anymore.’
Eden stared through the flames.
’He’s attacking the entire building.’
Luvian descended slowly through the smoke.
Fire surrounded him like a second body.
"You wanted to fight me."
His eyes burned with fury.
"So fight me!"
Eden clenched his fists.
"Gladly."
He launched himself upward.
The two collided.
Eden’s fist struck Luvian’s cheek.
Luvian’s head snapped sideways.
But instead of being pushed back, Luvian wrapped fire around his arm and drove his elbow into Eden’s chest.
Eden was launched through the wall.
He smashed into the neighboring section of the building.
A fire spear pierced the wall before he could recover.
Eden twisted aside.
It missed his head by an inch.
Eden pushed himself up.
His defensive Phase Shift was holding, but barely.
The strange thing was that Luvian’s body shouldn’t have been capable of handling this.
Eden had noticed it earlier.
The more Luvian used this mysterious power, the more his body deteriorated.
His skin was cracking.
Blood ran from his nose.
His muscles trembled.
His breathing was becoming increasingly ragged.
But the fire kept growing.
’His body can’t handle it.’
Eden’s eyes narrowed.
’So I just have to outlast him.’
Luvian roared.
"Feel the power of an SS-Rank skill!"
The flames exploded outward.
The entire hall disappeared beneath a sea of fire.