Adyr’s body held itself together, gravely injured but alive and healing.

For him, healing alone was not enough to restore him fully. Luckily, he still had his innate ability.

On the edge of shattering, his body turned to gray mist with a soft pop. The next moment, he reappeared where he had been 3 seconds earlier, whole and calm, not a mark on him.

His breath came ragged, and his stance looked tired; even a 3-second rewind was enough to strain his body.

Grace ’s light in his right white wing flared, flushing the side effects from his system and restoring the stamina he had just spent.

Sszhar, its skull laced with cracks and blood spraying from its wounds, stared at the black figure standing before it like an undead that knew nothing of fatigue, let alone death.

The damn monster had just used a suicide attack on it, yet in the end, the only one truly hurt was Sszhar. In that instant, it understood that with an ability like this, the fight had already lost any fairness, and with that thought, it made its choice.

It was time to run.

The Rank 4 Spark snapped its ruined head back and slid into the darkness of the void, fleeing without looking back.

"No way I am letting you go after all this." The voice came calm and amused from beneath the black helmet as Adyr beat his wings and rushed at Sszhar, which was about to trigger Riftwalk and slip into a different dimension.

The serpent was fast, but still, as an Aether Path Spark, it wasn’t built for speed. Adyr was faster; his [Will] stat provided the burst he needed to catch it with no problem.

RUMBLE!

With another strike, the block of ancient black stone crashed into the Spark’s body. The hit left it dazed and broke the cast of its escape at the last moment.

Adyr checked the damage and saw it was not enough. The Spark recovered again, ignored its new wounds, and bolted.

Nevertheless, for the unlucky Spark, Adyr was not someone who gave up easily; he was already behind it like a hawk, stubborn to claim his prey.

Then a long chase began through the crumbling void, a strange hunt and pursuit for everyone who was watching.

—

On top of the small floating islet, all the Practitioners who had lost consciousness and collapsed a short while ago began to come to.

"My head hurts." Loudbark was one of the first to recover after Rhadak.

Being from the Nether Path and having [Resilience] as a core stat showed in their rapid recovery.

Soon after, while they were questioning what had happened and trying to recall the scene they had just witnessed, the others also began to wake.

"Is everyone alright?" Maruun first looked to his Aqualeth kin, making sure everyone seemed fine, only badly shaken and in shock.

He then turned to the void where, a short while ago, 2 massive gates had stood, but now were nowhere to be seen.

"It wasn’t an illusion, right?" he murmured, his memories coming back in shattered pieces.

But looking around and seeing everyone in the same state was proof enough that something had truly happened, something unbelievable.

He cleared his head, rose to his feet, and shouted, "We are leaving now. Whether you come or not, I don’t care anymore."

His words were aimed at the Gorathim and the Lunari, the ones who had insisted on waiting and had nearly died in a conflict they could not even understand.

This time, the two races did not oppose. They also rose to their feet and decided to leave, taking the Core with them.

Even the memory of those two massive heads descending like Gods before them was enough to make every body and soul tremble and push them to flee this cursed place as soon as possible.

But before they moved, something else moved in the distance.

"Hey, Fish, there’s something there." Loudbark was the first to spot it, already clear-headed.

"What do you mean, something there?" Maruun’s heart dropped for a second, not ready to shoulder another shock.

He tried to steady his trembling gaze and looked into the void where the dog was pointing.

When he began to catch small shifts in the darkness and finally made out a silhouette, his eyes widened, and the gills on both sides of his neck opened and closed rapidly, another tremor spreading through his body.

"It’s the Rank 4 Spark..." His voice came tense and alarmed. "Fuck, it’s coming toward us."

Hearing his words and seeing his panic, everyone quickened their steps, rushing toward the Core. All they wanted now was to take it and run for their lives.

They finally understood the truth. If the Rank 4 Spark was here, coming for their lives, it meant only one thing: it was already done with the others, had killed them, and had now chosen them as its next prey.

"Wait." Through the chaos and sudden movement, someone from the Gorathim group called out.

The small eyes in his round, dark-green head shone with a strange light as he activated a Spark skill to see farther. "The Spark looks wrong. It’s badly injured."

His words made the group stop again. Everyone with stronger investigative talents, or at least vision-enhancing skills, focused on checking if he was right.

Then they saw it. He was really right.

The serpent looked miserable. The hard black scales on its skull were shattered, blood poured down its head like a waterfall, and its motion was a haggard sway, drunk and ready to fold at any moment.

The most striking thing was its posture: the serpent was running for its life.

That sight made all of them pause and think. A possibility took shape, and hope brightened in their chests.

Then that hope bloomed as something else moved into their field of view.

Another silhouette came into view behind the serpent, a figure driving forward with a massive black stone in hand, making it plain who the Spark was trying to escape.

"Isn’t that him?" Those with the sharpest eyes began to speak up.

The silhouette was small and all dark, unlike anything they had seen so far. Yet the single white wing was familiar, and the huge stone pillar, now completely black instead of gray, settled the recognition inside them.

Right in front of their eyes, the winged figure caught the serpent, lifted the massive stone pillar, and brought it down mercilessly on the Rank 4 Spark’s head.

RUMBLE!

The sound and force of the impact reached their small islet and shook the ground; several nearly lost their balance as the rock trembled under their feet.

They steadied themselves and looked again at the unbelievable scene unfolding before them. Breath caught in their throats as the truth finally settled.

"Has he already evolved to Rank 4?" The question settled in every mind.

The attack power they were seeing and feeling no longer belonged to a Rank 3, and the man in question was making a Rank 4 Spark run for its life.

For a while, they simply stood there, forgetting the space still crumbling around them, eyes wide as they watched the comical scene of a small man pursuing a giant Serpent through the void.