A massive palm grabbed Nuk by the face and ripped him away from the halberd’s handle.

"It is over..."

"For you."

Nuk was yanked away, flying several times the speed of sound as he shattered multiple sound barriers before finally crashing into the ground.

BOOM!

He created a kilometer-long trench as he coughed up blood.

But before he could recover, his vision blurred as he felt all of his limbs disappear.

"AAAGHH!" Nuk tried to scream, but the instant he opened his mouth, it filled with blood.

His eyes widened as his severed limbs began regenerating.

BANG!

Nuk retreated rapidly, crashing through multiple middle-level demons, destroying their limbs and shattering their bones.

Yet whatever he was running from never seemed to disappear.

Thousands of middle-level Rank 0 demons surrounded him.

Just as he thought he could finally breathe a sigh of relief, they all exploded into blood mist as an overwhelming pressure descended upon him.

Nuk found himself kneeling.

Blood gushed from his eyes and ears.

The limbs that had just regenerated vanished once again.

"What... no... who are you?" Nuk asked, his heartbeat pounding wildly.

"Hajun."

A deep, unsettling voice echoed around him.

The next instant, Nuk’s vision went black.

Then he ran.

His speed reached five times the speed of sound as he weaved across the battlefield.

Yet the farther he fled, the stronger the sense of danger became.

It felt as though every instinct in his body was screaming at him.

His scales cracked.

Turning around, Nuk nearly lost his footing.

Corpses.

Everywhere.

Demon corpses littered the battlefield.

Yet Hajun was nowhere to be seen.

So why...

Why the actual fuck did it feel like he was about to die at any moment?

Just as confusion overwhelmed him, his feet suddenly left the ground.

Before he could process what had happened, his skull was slammed directly into the earth.

BOOM!

"AHH!"

Nuk pulled his head from the ground, his body trembling.

He rolled to the side.

A narrow trench nearly a kilometer long appeared inches away from where he had just been.

Badum.

Badum.

Badum.

Nuk’s heartbeat skyrocketed.

He immediately shot into the sky.

He could smell death.

But worse still...

He still couldn’t see Hajun.

Then, once in the air, Nuk almost felt his soul leave his body.

From the beginning until now...

Hajun had never moved.

He was still standing in the exact same position.

Halberd in hand.

Head raised.

Eyes locked onto Nuk.

"This... this is impossible," Nuk muttered.

"What is impossible?"

A voice suddenly whispered beside his ear.

Nuk’s entire body shivered with fear.

BOOM!

The sky exploded.

Nuk was smashed back into the ground headfirst.

He felt all the strength leave his body as he lay there, heavily injured.

Pah.

Pah.

Pah.

Rhythmic footsteps echoed across the battlefield.

With each step, more blood poured from Nuk’s ears, eyes, and nose.

His scales began falling off one after another.

The owner of those footsteps drew closer.

And closer.

And closer.

Finally, the footsteps stopped.

By now, Nuk was submerged in his own blood.

Every scale had fallen from his body.

"I can’t believe I had to fully reveal myself."

Hajun spoke calmly as he spun the halberd in his hand.

"Even among those of the same realm, you are stronger than most."

Hajun’s voice carried genuine praise.

Then he raised the halberd.

"Too bad your life ends here."

With those words, Hajun brought the weapon down.

BOOM!

CRACK!

SPLASH!

Nuk’s head split into two.

Brain matter scattered across the ground.

Seeing this, Hajun let out a deep breath and pulled back his halberd.

He glanced at Nuk’s corpse one final time before turning to leave.

Then...

SHIIAA!

PAM!

A shockwave erupted.

A massive scale burst apart, its fragments flying like cannonballs.

Hajun immediately raised his halberd in defense.

DING!

He was pushed back several meters.

His eyes narrowed as he looked toward where Nuk’s body had been.

Then surprise appeared on his face.

Nuk was standing.

His skull regenerated before Hajun’s eyes as he stretched his body and cracked his neck.

A wide grin spread across his face.

His aura had increased exponentially.

Even Hajun’s hands trembled slightly.

"He broke through?" Hajun muttered.

Nuk’s body expanded until he stood five meters tall.

"Ahhh..."

Nuk inhaled deeply.

"Interesting."

The moment he spoke, his aura exploded outward.

BOOM!

Within a hundred-kilometer radius, every living being humans and demon alike was forced to their knees beneath the overwhelming pressure.

The weaker humans instantly exploded into blood paste.

Nuk chuckled as he looked at Hajun.

At first, he hadn’t understood why Hajun had suddenly become so terrifying.

But during their battle, he had gradually realized the truth.

He wasn’t fighting an ordinary high-level martial warrior.

He was fighting a Peak-Level Martial Warrior.

He had been destined to lose from the very beginning.

No matter what he did.

And so, despite his reluctance, Nuk had been forced to use the scale.

Otherwise...

He would have died.

Although this might expose him, the other Peak-Level Rank 0 demons would eventually realize that something unusual had happened.

Still, they had no proof that he had taken the souls meant for Lord Vakim.

So he was safe.

For now.

At worst, suspicion would fall upon him.

And eventually...

He would still have to answer to Lord Vakim.

With Nuk’s aura spreading outward, it soon expanded across a thousand kilometers and continued to grow.

"Sigh..." Hajun stood upright and adopted a casual stance.

"Maybe another time. You are, after all, a Peak-Level being now," Hajun spoke with a look of regret as his Peak-Level Rank 0 aura was released for a brief moment before he disappeared.

Nuk chuckled when he saw this, and he too vanished.

He would have loved for them to finish their battle, but he knew that if two Peak-Level beings fought seriously, hundreds of millions of lives would become casualties in a very short time.

In fact, the entire Super City would be shaken.

It was not that they couldn’t fight.

It simply wasn’t time for the true powerhouses of both sides to step onto the stage.

At the demon camp, Nuk arrived to find several Peak-Level Rank 0 demons already surrounding him.

Their eyes were filled with wariness and questions.

However, Nuk’s mind remained focused on the battle.

He felt irritated that they had been unable to finish it.

"We will finish this very soon," Nuk thought, remembering that they only had to wait four more days.

Then he would be able to fight freely.