Harian's voice dropped, steady and cold not for Maxwell, but as if he were recounting something carved into the back of his soul.
"I spent years hunting you," he said. "Driven by revenge. Even when I found you before I ended up in this prison… I still couldn't kill you. I was too weak. Then I gained strength. And when I finally cut you down…"
He tilted his head slightly.
"…the only thing I learned was that I'd needlessly stained my good sword with your disgusting blood."
A ripple ran through the room.
Maxwell blinked, confused. "What the hell are you talking about? The rambling of a brat scared to die?"
Harian didn't bother answering. He just kept staring.
Maxwell's lips curled into a sly smile. "That little girl with red hair… what was her name again?"
Maxwell continued, voice dripping with poison. This was how he survived the border using psychological attacks to break stronger opponents, waiting for their focus to crack so he could kill them with the Movement of the Light. A dishonorable tactic… but effective.
He expected Harian to waver. He had never underestimated the boy, no. Not after witnessing the guards he took out and Gremlo's dead body lying on the floor. He knew the boy was up to something. But there was a problem though he did not underestimated Harian
He overestimated himself and Harian read him like a book and he smiled.
"You're overestimating yourself," he said calmly.
Maxwell froze for half a second. Then rage twisted his face.
"Then I'll do the same to you as I did to that little girl," he snarled. "And everyone here will die because of you. Repent, boy! Maybe your next life won't be as miserable."
Harian's expression didn't move.
"At the end of the day, Maxwell, you're just a petty criminal," he said. "A rat who crawled out of the gutter and drags others down with him. You take advantage of suffering because you have no worth of your own. Everything you said to me was irrelevant."
Harian inhaled, Essence rising around him like a silent tide.
"Today might be the biggest fight of your life," he continued, "but for me… it's just the beginning of something bigger."
He shifted his stance, a different one this time. Sword drawn low behind him, left foot forward, body angled. This one was calm.
"I told you, you're just a petty lowlife criminal, far from a villain. So if you want to know what a villain looks like," Harian whispered, smile widening, "then I'll show you, Maxwell Thorne."
Maxwell roared. "DIE AND GO TO HELL WITH THE OTHERS!"
His stance sharpened. Essence violently hummed through the cell, crackling through the air like lightning ready to strike. Everyone nearby panicked scrambling, pressing against bars, pulling at doors. Muliad was frantically unlocking each cell, shouting for people to run.
The clash was coming.
Maxwell steadied his breathing, the Essence inside him tightening, compacting, filling every limb until his body hummed with power. Then, with a sharp exhale, he moved.
He launched himself forward with explosive force, every muscle in his legs snapping like coiled springs. His sword cut a clean, lethal arc toward Harian's neck. The strike was so fast the air split behind it even Muliad could barely track the motion.
No one survived this technique.No one ever had.No one ever would.
.....or so they believed.
When the blade reached its target, the steel met nothing but empty air.
[NULL STEP AT MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY.] Vex announced.
Maxwell froze mid-follow-through.
Harian wasn't there.
The shock hit him a moment later the realization that his perfect strike had been avoided by a footwork technique he had never even heard of. Not dodged. Not blocked. Simply outpaced.
Harian was already behind him.
"And my name isn't Harian anymore," he said quietly.
Maxwell's breath hitched. He spun, desperate, but Harian was already raising his sword with both hands, the motion smooth, precise, almost elegant.
"From this day forward…"His smile sharpened, cold and calculating."I'll be-...."
Maxwell panicked. He forced Essence outward in a rush, trying to form a barrier, trying to create anything between himself and that descending blade. He had seconds no, less than that to survive.
But it was too late.
"Shadow Ascend."
Harian swung.
The sword erupted with a surge of essence not normal essence, but Void Essence, thicker and far more violent. The force vibrated through the air like a living thing. Maxwell's sword shattered under it. His defense crumpled like wet cloth.
The impact hit him instantly, launching him backward as the Void power tore through his body.
And then the real disaster unfolded.
The energy detonated outward in a violent burst.A shockwave pulsed from the point of impact a massive blast that shook the entire prison.
Outside, guards barely had time to turn before the explosion ripped through the stone corridor. A section of the prison wall blew apart, fragments showering the yard. Dust, debris, and bodies flew through the air.
Maxwell was not the only victim.
Sir Leon had only taken a few steps away from the prison gates when it hit him.
A sudden, violent surge of Essence energy thick, sharp, overwhelming slammed into his senses like a physical blow. His instincts, honed through decades of borderline warfare, screamed danger.
He whipped his head around just in time to see the world explode.
A massive blast tore through the side of Thax Prison, stone bursting outward in a wave of dust and debris. The shockwave rolled across the ground, shaking the earth beneath their feet. A wall, an entire section of the prison was simply gone.
Leon, a Grand Knight of the kingdom, a man feared on the battlefield, felt the breath punch out of his chest.
His knights behind him froze as well, eyes wide, armor rattling from the force of the blast.
"What… what is that?!" one of them stammered.
Leon didn't answer. His jaw locked. His hands tightened on the reins until the leather creaked. That explosion wasn't an accident. It wasn't a riot.
It was power. Destructive, concentrated power.
"TURN BACK!" Leon barked. His voice cracked like thunder, snapping every knight to attention. "THE KINGDOM IS UNDER ATTACK!"
He spun his horse around, metal boots digging into the stirrups.
"MOVE!"
The squad followed immediately, galloping behind him as he charged toward the burning section of the prison. Smoke rose like a pillar. Debris still rained down. The explosion's aftershock reverberated through the air.
Leon gritted his teeth.
Whoever caused that blast…Whoever dared to unleash that level of destruction inside his kingdom…
He would find them.And he would bring them down.