While the entire Wyndham clan was focused on the fight involving Zephyr, Lennox, and Isla against Rhyssa and the Anakim, another member of their clan was unknowingly dealing with a dangerous situation of his own.
Alex's battle against the Anakim he had encountered had already been going on for quite some time.
At the beginning, the fight had looked completely one-sided.
Alex had been thrown around repeatedly like a rag doll. Every exchange ended with him crashing through trees, rolling across the ground, or barely escaping another heavy strike. The difference in raw power between him and the Anakim was simply too large.
Still, Alex had continued fighting.
And somewhere in the middle of the battle, he finally used one of the techniques he had specifically learned for this tournament.
The Anakim stepped forward and threw another punch toward Alex. The giant fist tore through the air with terrifying force. Even before it landed, the pressure from it alone bent the grass and shook the nearby trees.
This time, Alex didn't dodge.
He didn't retreat either.
Instead, he planted his feet firmly on the ground and raised one arm forward.
Bang!
The moment the punch connected, a violent shockwave spread outward. The ground beneath Alex cracked instantly. His body shook hard from the impact, and blood almost rushed out of his throat from the sheer pressure behind the strike.
The force was overwhelming.
Immediately, Alex felt the kinetic energy from the punch surge into his body like a wild current trying to tear through him from the inside.
His arm burned in pain.
His muscles screamed.
But Alex gritted his teeth and endured it.
'Now!' he thought.
Rather than letting the energy scatter uselessly through his body, Alex forcefully redirected it.
The energy traveled downward through his body and into his legs.
The next second, Alex pushed off the ground violently.
Boom!
The earth beneath him exploded apart as he launched upward.
Midair, Alex twisted his body into a backflip. Then both of his legs slammed directly into the Anakim's jaw.
Bang!
The attack carried not just Alex's own strength, but also the power of the Anakim's earlier punch.
The result was immediate.
The Anakim's massive body lifted completely off the ground. Its head snapped backward from the impact as the giant figure flew into a thick tree behind it.
Crack!!
The tree tilted heavily from the collision, nearly snapping apart under the Anakim's enormous weight.
The attack Alex had just pulled off wasn't powered by his own qi or raw strength.
He had completely reflected the Anakim's attack back at it.
'The Reflection Technique... this was something I could already do when I first started my journey as a Paragon warrior,' Alex thought.
His breathing was rough as he stared at the giant creature recovering from the attack.
'Back then, I hadn't chosen a cultivation path yet. I had more dormant Peace Energy than qi inside me, and because of that, the Peace Energy reacted on its own sometimes.'
Alex could still remember those strange moments clearly.
There had been times when he suddenly became stronger after taking damage. Sometimes attacks would hit him, yet the force would somehow return back stronger. At the time, he didn't understand what was happening. He had thought it was just luck or instinct.
But now he knew better.
'The Peace Energy was naturally creating reflection effects for me without training,' he realized.
'But after I started cultivating qi properly and increasing my stage level, those effects slowly disappeared.'
There was a reason for that.
Alex had focused almost completely on qi cultivation. At the same time, a large amount of his dormant Peace Energy had constantly been used to stabilize and strengthen his artificial qi core.
Because of that, the old passive effects became weaker and weaker over time.
Eventually, they almost vanished completely.
Still, Alex had found a way around it.
After studying the Reflection Technique again and training it properly, he had finally understood the reason behind those old power boosts he used to experience.
'Doesn't matter,' Alex thought as he tightened his fist.
'I have it back now.'
Meanwhile, the Anakim was already trying to stand back up.
The giant creature pushed itself off the broken tree slowly. Cracks could still be seen on its jaw from Alex's reflected strike.
Alex wasn't about to let it recover fully.
The moment he saw movement, he rushed forward.
Boom!
His feet pushed off the ground as he charged ahead.
Still, the gravity around the area was making everything harder. Every movement felt heavy. It was like invisible chains had wrapped around his body.
Alex forced himself forward anyway.
His muscles tightened. Veins bulged slightly on his arms as he tried to push through the pressure.
'Move!' he shouted inwardly.
But even then, his speed had clearly dropped.
And because of that small delay, the Anakim managed to stand back up once again.
Seeing Alex rushing toward him again, the Anakim reacted immediately.
The giant creature swung its massive leg sideways like it was kicking a ball. The force behind the attack tore through the air violently.
Boom!
Alex didn't retreat.
Instead, he spread both his arms wide and caught the incoming leg directly.
The instant the attack connected, Alex felt the familiar surge of kinetic energy rush into his body once more.
The force was heavy. Violent.
It pushed against his bones and muscles, trying to burst out immediately through the Reflection Technique.
But this time, Alex didn't release it instantly.
He held onto it.
His feet dug deep into the ground as he struggled to keep himself steady. The earth beneath him cracked from the pressure.
'I can't hold the reflected energy for long,' Alex thought.
His arms trembled slightly.
Even with the technique, the force wasn't easy to contain inside his body. It felt like holding boiling water inside his veins.
Still, the Anakim's kick had stopped completely.
And Alex was still standing.
The Anakim seemed surprised for a brief second.
That brief second was enough.
Alex suddenly raised both his hands upward and slammed them downward against the giant leg.
Bang!
The redirected force wasn't as strong as the earlier reflected attack, but it was still powerful enough to knock the leg away and disrupt the Anakim's balance slightly.
Alex moved immediately.
Without wasting even a second, he pushed off the ground and leaped upward.
Thud!
He landed on a thick tree branch with a single jump. The branch bent heavily beneath his weight before stabilizing.
From that higher position, Alex could clearly see it.
The Anakim's front was wide open.
'Now!'
Alex didn't hesitate.
He redirected the stored kinetic energy into his left leg and kicked off the tree branch with explosive force.
Boom!!
The branch behind him snapped apart instantly.
Alex shot forward like a cannonball.
'This won't be as strong as the previous attack,' he thought.
'So I need to add more power to it.'
The reflected kinetic energy boosted his speed forward while Alex simultaneously gathered qi into his hand.
However, the qi wasn't coming from his main qi core.
It came from the artificial qi core instead.
The energy flowing through his arm immediately became rougher and more unstable compared to normal qi circulation.
Still, Alex forced it under control.
[Buster]
Boom!