Focusing to the extreme, Elian moved forward, dodging several earth mana slashes. His opponent's level was high, but the real danger was that his abilities completely prevented Elian's from functioning properly.
"Wind Eagle!"
A wind eagle appeared and flew directly at Khalid. Channeling mana into the tip of his spear, he sliced the eagle in half—while behind him, Elian appeared with his two daggers, delivering two crescent slashes.
"This won't—"
He felt that even though the strike was light, the wound it caused was deeper than the first one. Grabbing Elian by the leg, he tried to pierce his stomach with his spear. Seeing that, Elian twisted just as the spear began to pierce his abdomen, and with that spin, he managed to kick Khalid in the face.
'He evolved… if this keeps up, I might actually lose.'
As his head snapped to the side from the kick, Khalid gripped Elian's leg tighter and hurled him away. Clenching his spear, he decided to use his best attack.
"Spear of Oro!"
Knowing the attack would be on another level, Elian prepared to dodge. Being thrown like that might just give him an opening.
'But that's not what he wants, is it?'
Seeing Enrico's curious face as he watched the fight filled Elian with determination. He was sure of one thing—Enrico expected him to evolve during this battle.
'It's not that he wants it… he's certain of it. Damn, sorry, leader Serenya, but I think I'd rather follow him than you.'
On his opponent's side, Khalid's spear had changed shape, becoming longer and extremely sharp. A single strike from that and Elian would be cut in half.
"I'll end this as fast as possible!"
Tensing his muscles, Khalid summoned more mana, generating a vortex around him. With a powerful throw, he launched it toward Elian, who ran straight at the attack with both blades forward, not even trying to dodge.
'Is this guy insane?'
'Looks like they're misunderstanding me again.'
Crossing his daggers, Elian resisted, being pushed back bit by bit as cracks spread across his weapons.
'Come on, this should be enough—I'm sure it's enough.'
Elian had been stuck at ninety percent of the second circle for a while now. He only needed continued training—or a push—to advance to the next level.
'I know I can evolve… and I will.'
With an explosion of mana bursting from his body, his wind blades became sharper, and with one final push, he sliced the attack in half, leaving Khalid in shock.
"You—"
He stopped his own words, fortifying his earth protection to the maximum to resist whatever came next.
"Sorry, but that won't work anymore, because…"
A wind eagle circled around Elian, seemingly alive, its movements guiding the air around them and channeling it into Elian's body.
"...the next attack is impossible for you to defend."
Disappearing from Khalid's sight, several slashes appeared along the path until his body was cut into pieces, blood flying everywhere. If not for the barrier, it would've been an instant kill.
"I think I overdid it."
Elian had moved so fast he couldn't stop in time and ended up crashing into the wall. Smiling, Enrico appeared in front of him with his hand extended.
"Congratulations on getting close to my level."
"Damn, you knew… I hate you and love you at the same time, man."
"I can't believe it—you're confessing? I don't know if I should accept these feelings. I already have too many wives, but if you insist, I suppose you can be one of them."
"I don't want to be called a wife!"
"Why not? It suits your looks quite well."
Caelan, who had managed to win his battle with difficulty and injuries, looked at his own hand with frustration in his chest.
'Among the four of us… I'm the last one.'
Clenching his fist, Caelan felt something stirring inside him. In truth, he'd been feeling this for a while, and he was confident that he was close to awakening something—he even thought he'd awaken it before Elian reached the third circle.
'I had hope…'
Walking toward Enrico, he saw Elian trying not to react to Enrico's teasing, only to finally blush when Enrico changed tactics.
"Since you said you love me, here's my answer—I love you too."
Elian began covering his face in embarrassment while Enrico looked satisfied that his teasing was working. He had dozens of ways to keep this going all day.
"Enrico, I'd like to talk to you."
"What's wrong, Caelan?"
"It's about a feeling I've been having for a while."
Hearing Caelan explain, Enrico decided to check his stats and saw he was at ninety-nine percent, just like Elian had been. That didn't surprise Enrico—he'd seen him at ninety-eight the day before.
"Is this feeling good or bad?"
"I don't know… it's like something's about to happen, but it doesn't feel pleasant."
"From what I see, you're at ninety-nine, so you're very close to evolving."
Just like with Elian, Enrico could see his stats, so it was clear he had some kind of ability to view others' power. That was why he'd gotten close—to figure it out.
"You also have a unique ability waiting to awaken, so that could be it."
"Seriously? I have a unique ability? That's incredible, I—"
"Even so, Caelan, be careful. This unique ability wasn't there before—it appeared today, so be cautious."
In the original stories, people who suddenly gained unique abilities either had them granted by someone or got involved in specific events. This type of unique ability was even rarer than those people were born with—at least until the evil gods began giving them to their followers.
"But I want to awaken it soon!"
Seeing Caelan's frustrated expression, Enrico realized that just like Elian, he also felt useless—and maybe even worse, since he was the last of the four to evolve.
"How about this: when this is over, I'll train with you so you can surpass Elian."
"Seriously? I absolutely accept! I won't fall behind him."
"Wait, what do you mean he gets special training? That's not fair—I don't want to fall behind either!"
"Look at that, Caelan—seems like our girl's jealous."
Caelan quickly nodded in agreement while Elian insisted, despite the teasing, that he also wanted special training.
As the three began moving toward the enemy leader, they heard an explosion from that direction.
"Team seventeen eliminated. Three teams remain in Block A."
"Looks like it's our leader's power."
"She must've seen us fighting them and trusted we'd win, so she went for their leader."
"My fun's gone…"
The two stared blankly at Enrico, who slammed his fist to the ground in frustration—they couldn't tell if it was real or fake because he seemed happy for Serenya.
[You should be celebrating that your plan to make the others stronger is working.]
'I'm really happy—it's just that I wanted a good fight before this phase ended.'