The seven columns arrived.

Kai deflected the first two with his fists — Penetrating Strike changing their vector, the first toward the left wall, the second toward the ceiling.

He took the third on his right shoulder because his left fist was still completing the arc of the second deflection.

His right shoulder went numb.

The four remaining were coming.

Kai went to the ground — rolled under the fourth and fifth that passed over him — and deliberately activated the area pressure point under his foot as he got up.

The upward impulse pulled him out of the sixth’s radius.

The seventh caught him on his left side.

His left side joined the list of things protesting.

Standing.

The twenty creatures covered two-thirds of the chamber between him and the administrator.

---

Kai looked at Serah.

Serah looked at him.

Her markings at eight percent pulsed.

She read him.

Kai looked at Lira.

Lira looked at him, her working shoulder slightly tense.

The administrator watched the three looking at each other.

"Non-verbal communication?" it said. "Interesting. Although coordination has limits—"

All three lunged at the same time.

---

Serah went for the creatures on the right flank.

She could no longer use her Primordial ice due to magical exhaustion, but she could use her claws and physical strength.

The first six-armed creature raised its four upper arms for the sweep.

Serah passed under all of them and her claws reached the creature’s underbelly where the scales were thinner.

The creature fell.

The second and third arrived together.

Serah grabbed the second by the upper arm — the same judo grip Kai had used on the tentacles, applied to a scaled arm — and threw it against the third.

The two creatures struck each other.

Four creatures on the right flank. Three neutralized in ten seconds.

Her eight percent markings held — without structural ice, consumption was minimal.

---

Lira went for the creatures on the left flank.

Twelve of the tentacle ones — the same ones that had wrapped around her arm and whose movements she knew exactly.

The first tentacle reached for her neck.

Lira dodged it and grabbed the tentacle at the midpoint.

She threw it to the ground and broke it with a strike to the center.

The second extended five tentacles simultaneously.

Lira went to the ground under all of them and struck the creature’s underbelly with her closed fist from below.

The creature fell.

Zero magic. Pure physical effort.

She stood up and dusted off her pants.

’Damn, it looks like I’m getting used to the little piece of trash.’

Enough.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ALL THREE AT THE SAME TIME ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Dr_Snow: Serah using Kai’s judo. Lira using Serah’s dodge. everyone learned from everyone.]

[Drakeking: the admin said coordination has limits. the three proved otherwise.]

[Jack_Moore: Lira replicated Serah’s move from level 1.]

[Brandon_Haddan: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ The team ┗(°0°)┛ The team┗(°0°)┛ Ra ┗(°0°)┛ Ra]

[Jesse_Williams: Serah and Lira handling the creatures. Kai free for the administrator. that was the plan.]

---

Kai had the path. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Though not completely free — four triple-layer bone-plate creatures between him and the administrator, the ones Serah and Lira hadn’t reached yet.

He didn’t dodge them.

He used them.

He launched himself at the first, elbow to the point between the neck plates where regeneration was slowest. The creature stopped without falling — partially immobilized, enough for Kai to use it as a stepping surface.

Two steps atop the first immobilized creature.

The second raised its arms.

Kai passed between them, Flank Evasion seeking the right angle to finish it quickly at the exact point, and struck the rear knee joint as he passed.

The second shattered.

The third and fourth arrived together from different angles.

Kai activated the area pressure trap between them — the point he’d memorized during the fight.

He jumped toward the point.

The pressure launched him upward over the two creatures.

The two creatures struck each other in the space he had occupied.

Kai landed two meters ahead.

The administrator three meters away.

---

The administrator raised its arms — blue energy on both.

"Fine," it said. "You made it."

Kai kept advancing.

"Do you know how much power a level five administrator with full access has?" Its arms glowed brighter.

"I still haven’t used all of it."

Kai didn’t respond.

"The last time a Streamer reached this distance in an A_D_M event was—"

Kai activated Qi Step on both feet simultaneously.

Not to adhere to a surface — to concentrate all available Qi into the point of contact with the ground and convert it into forward momentum.

He covered the three meters in under a second.

The administrator launched the energy from both arms at the same time.

Kai didn’t deflect.

The administrator’s arms were pointing forward — toward where Kai was arriving.

Kai went to the ground in the last meter, under the angle of both arms, and reached the administrator from below.

Right fist to the exact point of the chest distortion.

Penetrating Strike with all the Qi the system had been accumulating during the fight.

The distortion opened.

The core lay exposed.

---

[DraconicLegacy: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ THE CORE EXPOSED ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[Dr_Snow: went to the ground in the last meter to pass under both arms. the exact angle where the admin’s energy had no coverage.]

[Drakeking: all the Qi accumulated since he stopped smiling concentrated in Penetrating Strike. one punch.]

[Jack_Moore: the distortion opened. the core visible. Kai one strike away from the end.]

[Brandon_Haddan: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ Kai turned into a manga character ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ One Punch Kai ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: the admin said it still hadn’t used all its power. Kai got there before it could.]

---

The administrator looked at the open distortion.

Looked at Kai’s fist ten centimeters from the core.

The blue points of light where the eyes should be stopped flickering.

They stayed fixed.

"Interesting," the administrator said.

Kai didn’t move his fist.

"You could end this now," the administrator said. "The core exposed. Qi active. The correct distance."

Nothing.

"Why don’t you?"

Kai looked at it.

The first time he’d looked directly at the points of light since he stopped smiling.

"Because I want the message first."

The administrator processed this.

"What message?"

"The one you had prepared for the Streamer who reached the center." Kai didn’t move his fist. "That one."

---

[DraconicLegacy: (ಠ_ಠ) STOPPED ONE STRIKE FROM THE END TO ASK FOR THE MESSAGE (ಠ_ಠ)]

[Dr_Snow: core exposed. Qi ready. Kai stopping the strike to ask about the A_D_M’s message.]

[Drakeking: the whole fight. the whole labyrinth. Kai got here to find out what A_D_M has in store for him.]

[Jack_Moore: the administrator has its core ten centimeters from Kai’s fist. the dynamic completely changed.]

[Brandon_Haddan: ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ "I WANT THE MESSAGE FIRST" ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ]

[RagingMutant: ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛ "I WANT THE MESSAGE FIRST" ┗(°0°)┛ ┗(°0°)┛]

[Jesse_Williams: He became Son Kai]