Pratik was sitting atop the highest structure.
All the other people stood behind the rocky formations.
The gates opened.
A small army entered.
The guards.
Their orders?
Enslave the target, Pratik.
Pratik sat calmly.
His goal?
Reach the tyrant.
As soon as the bows were drawn, Pratik jumped toward the troops.
A huge explosion followed.
He moved through them as smoothly as the wind.
One of them aimed at Pratik's arm, but the arrow disappeared within a two-metre radius of him.
Pratik was switching Shadow Lord on and off at intervals of 0.07 seconds.
To analyse his enemies and counter them without wasting huge amounts of Dark Energy Reserves by keeping Shadow Lord active for too long.
For most people, that window was far too short to even notice the existence of Shadow Lord.
Soon, Pratik switched to Mala's Ratio Pattern Martial Arts.
He had replicated her fighting style during their spars using Shadow Lord.
Replicating a fighting style was surprisingly easier than replicating a complex technique.
At least for non-complex styles.
When the numbers began overwhelming him, Pratik increased the frequency of Shadow Lord's activation.
He activated and deactivated it 500 times within 0.5 seconds.
It temporarily shut down the brains of the enemies.
Pratik himself would have been affected if not for his own technique.
Within moments, every enemy was lying on the ground.
Pratik was barely injured.
The enslaved workers watched from afar.
Arjun's eyes shone with something.
Hope, perhaps.
A thousand court guards defeated within a minute by a teenager?
Then—
A kick descended from above.
Pratik barely dodged.
It was luck.
The continuous use of Shadow Lord had heightened his senses, allowing him to detect the attack.
It was Ratan.
One of the Three Elite Guards.
[Ratan]: Seems like the court guards were fodder after all. They should feel ashamed for losing to a nobody.
[Pratik]: That's rich coming from someone acting high and mighty.
The tension spiked.
A voice echoed.
"Run, Big Brother Pratik! That guy is too dangerous!"
The children screamed alongside Arjun.
Elite Guards were on an entirely different level.
Pratik knew that better than anyone.
His enhanced sensitivity was helping him analyse Ratan's strength through the sheer aura he emitted.
It was comparable to First Maximiser Mala.
[Pratik]: Are you here to kill me?
[Ratan]: That isn't the order. However, I will if you resist too much.
Ratan unsheathed one-fourth of his katana.
[Ratan]: One Fold, Python.
[Pratik]: Range Shiftling, Shadow Lord. Trigger 2, Density.
...
A massive slash tore through the void dimension of Shadow Lord and carved a deep wound across Pratik's chest.
As soon as it happened, the torn section of Pratik's shirt regenerated.
[Pratik]: Trigger 1 and Trigger 2 Combo—Accelerated Density!
The next moment, both vanished.
An earthquake followed.
Ratan suddenly found his neck within Pratik's grasp.
Ratan unsheathed half of his katana.
[Ratan]: Two Fold, Mammoth.
A jaw-dropping force crushed Pratik.
Alongside him, the massive wall standing 800 metres high was reduced to dust.
The wall stretched around a circular perimeter with a radius of 500 miles.
Nearly 50 miles of it were destroyed by the attack.
A gigantic crater formed.
Pratik stood up, coughing dust.
The impact had slightly displaced his shoulder bone.
He fixed it instantly using Shadow Lord's Garden with a range of fifteen centimetres.
Ratan calmly slid his katana back into its scabbard.
[Ratan]: Should I take that as a change of heart?
[Pratik]: The hell I will.
Pratik reinforced his arm with Dark Energy Reserves and Plasma Coating.
[Pratik]: Range Shiftling, Shadow Lord. Mega Punch—Dark Plasma!
He lunged at Ratan with terrifying speed.
[Ratan]: Three Fold, Megalodon.
Ratan unsheathed three-fourths of his katana.
A tremendous aura erupted from him.
It resembled a colossal shark.
Dark clouds filled the sky.
In the blink of an eye—
Pratik's body was covered in slash wounds.
His Dark Energy Coating had been bypassed.
Ratan's katana flowed as smoothly as water and struck with the sharpness of a shark's teeth.
Pratik lost consciousness.
The immense aura entered his body after bypassing his coating,
overwhelming his nervous system.
His brain simply shut down.
Pratik collapsed.
Ratan chained him up and threw him into the darkest part of Ruin Society.
The place where rebels were usually discarded.
The place where Gin was preparing his moves to end Grandor's tyranny.
Pratik landed near a massive stone monument.
A ruined temple.
Once Ratan finished his task, he left.
As he walked away, he pondered something.
[Ratan]: Am I assigned to catch the green-haired kid next?
He murmured to himself.
Was Yash the next target?
To be continued...
---
EXTRAS:-
CROCUS VS HAIDORO
Haidoro moved first.
Range Shiftling, Speed.
In a flash, he appeared beside Crocus, ready to deliver a devastating blow.
However—
Crocus disappeared.
[Haidoro]: Stop playing around, Crocus. Why are you here?
Crocus stood atop a distant hill.
[Crocus]: Is that any way to address your older brother?I think I should knock some manners into you.
Haidoro transformed into his Dragon Beast Form.
His most powerful state.
A monster over two miles long.
Crocus transformed into his Dragon Form as well.
Thanks to his recovery abilities, he had regained much of his former size.
Now stretching nearly 1.5 miles in length.
Their roars unleashed massive shockwaves.
The nearby village housing the Four-Star trainees was blown away instantly.
The atmosphere grew heavy.
[Crocus]: Shall we begin?