The Pendragon trio were not the only ones who thought Alex had completely lost his mind.
The duo—Jimmy and Henry—felt the same shock hit them at the same time.
To them, Alex was a stage one warrior. Someone who had only recently stepped onto the path of cultivation. Raw. New. Unpolished.
And yet here he was, standing in front of them, openly challenging two stage four warriors—fighters with real field experience and blood on their hands.
It didn't make sense. Not even a little.
'He must be joking…' Henry thought, his chest tight.
'If not, this is arrogance at its peak.'
The thought came fast, sharp, and bitter.
It never crossed their minds—not even for a second—that if Alex had managed to hide his connection to another clan, then hiding his true stage might not be impossible either. That idea slipped past them completely.
Before Henry could dwell on it, Alex had already moved.
He stepped closer. Calm. Steady.
Then he bent down in front of them.
Without any hesitation, and without any visible effort, Alex reached out and undid the ropes binding both Henry and Jimmy. The restraints loosened easily in his hands, like they were nothing more than old threads.
He stepped back right after.
Jimmy and Henry both sucked in sharp breaths and rubbed their wrists, fingers pressing into the red marks left behind by the bindings. The pain was still there. The shock was worse.
He actually did it.
Alex had really freed them.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. They couldn't. The situation felt unreal.
But not everyone was willing to let this play out.
Tamsin wasn't.
He didn't say a word out loud. His face didn't change. His posture stayed relaxed.
Instead, a message was sent—clean and direct.
[I don't care what deal you just made. If you lose, I will kill them.]
Alex received the message and understood it right away. This was no longer in his hands. Not fully.
There would be no second chances.
If he lost this fight, Jimmy and Henry would die. Simple as that.
Tamsin retreated back to the large rock where the others were already standing. He crossed his arms, eyes fixed on the open space below.
"Do you think he can do it?" Gwen asked, her tone light, but her eyes sharp.
"With his qi? Yes. He would beat them," Merrick said honestly.
Then he paused.
"But without qi… and without the others stepping in? I doubt it."
Below them, Jimmy and Henry finally pushed themselves fully upright and turned to face Alex.
Jimmy let out a short laugh, more disbelief than humor.
"You really went through with it," he said.
"I thought Zephyr was the most arrogant person I'd ever met. But you?" He shook his head. "You're on a whole different level."
"It doesn't matter," Henry cut in. "We'll shut him up—"
His voice trailed off.
Henry's eyes locked onto Alex, widening as something clicked.
"You…" His breath caught.
"You're not a stage one warrior."
That was all the time Alex gave them.
He burst forward.
No hesitation. No warning.
This time, he didn't suppress himself.
Even without qi, a stage three body cultivator moved far faster than a stage one warrior ever could—even one boosted by qi. His feet slammed into the ground as he closed the distance in an instant.
Alex shot straight toward Henry.
Henry reacted fast, panic sharpening his instincts. He thrust his palm forward.
A compressed blast of air exploded outward.
Bang!
The attack slammed into Alex's chest.
Alex was thrown backward, boots carving a deep trench into the ground as he slid. Dirt and stone tore up beneath him as he fought to stay upright.
His body finally stopped.
But the attacks didn't.
Jimmy moved immediately, hands glowing as he fired off qi blasts in rapid succession, each one aimed to overwhelm.
This time, Alex didn't retreat.
He didn't dodge.
Instead, he leaned forward and charged straight into the barrage, closing the distance head-on.
They came at him together, striking without pause, each blow meant to overwhelm and crush him before he could recover.
Henry spread his fingers and opened his palm wide.
A tattoo of a circular wind symbol was clearly visible there. It pulsed once, then lit up.
The symbol glowed.
A second later, a high-pressurized blast of air roared forward, tearing through the space between them.
While it was forming, a smile tugged at Alex's lips.
Then he leapt.
His feet left the ground hard as he launched himself forward and up, his body cutting through the air in a clean arc.
Henry didn't stop.
His arm tracked Alex's movement smoothly, eyes locked on him as the pressurized air followed.
Alex crossed over them mid-air.
The blast caught him square in the side.
Boom!
The hit was heavy. Solid. It should have sent him flying.
But it didn't.
Alex's body barely slowed.
It was as if the force of the attack slid across him, cancelled out, or was swallowed whole. The momentum stayed with him. His path didn't break.
He landed not far from Henry.
The moment his feet touched down, Alex pivoted and kicked low.
His leg swept through with brutal force.
Henry's balance shattered.
He was knocked clean off his feet and slammed into the ground.
Before Alex could press in, a qi blast screamed toward him.
Jimmy.
Alex raised one arm to the side.
The qi struck.
Instead of resisting it, Alex Reflected it.
The energy ran along his arm, down through his body, and into his leg in one smooth flow.
[Buster]
The ground cracked beneath Alex's foot as he closed the distance to Jimmy in a single explosive step.
He spun with the motion, power still coiled in his body.
Then he released it.
Alex's foot smashed into Jimmy's chest.
Bang!
Jimmy was sent flying backward.
From above, Tamsin and the others watched in silence.
For the first time since the fight started, even they looked impressed.
"Maybe we're really expecting too much from Alex," Gwen said, arms folded as she watched the fight.
"He's using the skill smoothly against them, but he struggles against us. Maybe we should remember he's not like us."
Her tone wasn't mocking. It was thoughtful. Almost careful.
Tamsin shook his head.
His eyes never left the battlefield.
"That's not it," he said.
"We didn't learn the Reflection Effect technique so we could throw every opponent's power back at them."
He paused, then continued, voice steady and firm.
"We learned it so that when we face people far stronger than us in stage, we'd still have a fighting chance."
He glanced briefly at Gwen, then back to Alex.
"If Alex used his qi right now, he would crush those two. Him using Reflection instead is no different from him using qi."
Tamsin's expression hardened slightly.
"What matters is who you use the technique on. Some energy will tear you apart before you even get the chance to Reflect it."
He knew that truth better than most.
He had once faced a Stage 7 warrior.
That fight had burned a lesson into him—clear and permanent.
No matter how abnormal you were, no matter how talented, there were still people who stood far above you.
Meanwhile, Alex's kick had done its job.
Jimmy's body skidded across the ground, scraping dirt and stone as he rolled to a stop.
He tried to rise.
Pain exploded through his chest.
The bones there were fractured, crushed by the force of the blow. His breath came out sharp and broken, his body refusing to obey.
Alex turned toward him, calm and controlled.
"Seems like you're not the type who works on your defense," Alex said.
At that exact moment, danger spiked.
A ball of compressed wind tore through the air toward him.
Right behind it—
A qi blast, fast and vicious.
Alex shifted his stance, eyes locking onto the incoming attacks as the next exchange rushed straight at him.
It flew at him—fast and brutal.
Alex stretched out his palm.
The qi blast and the compressed air ball slammed into his hand at the same time.
His boots scraped hard against the ground as he was pushed back, the force carving a shallow trench beneath his feet. Stone cracked. Dust lifted.
But then—
It stopped.
Alex stood there, breathing steady. Uninjured.
Henry stared at him in disbelief and pointed with a shaking hand.
"You— you said you wouldn't use qi!" he shouted.
Alex lifted his eyes to him.
"And I'm not using qi," he replied calmly.
He tilted his head slightly.
"At least, not my own qi."
Before Henry could process that—
Bang.
Alex blasted forward.
The distance vanished in a blink.
His fist drove straight into Henry's stomach.
The impact folded Henry in half. Air burst from his lungs as his body flew backward and slammed to the ground, rolling once before stopping.
Henry tried to breathe. Tried to move.
Pain flooded him.
"How… how are you this strong…?" he muttered weakly.
"What are you using…?"
Alex stood over him, expression flat.
"Don't fight it," he said.
He didn't answer the questions.
"By the time you wake up, you won't even remember what happened here."
Henry's vision blurred. His strength drained fast.
He tried to resist it.
Failed.
His body went limp as dizziness swallowed him whole, and he passed out cold.
After the fight, Tamsin and the others walked toward Alex.
Tamsin stopped a few steps away and looked at the unconscious body.
"It's a good thing you defeated them," he said bluntly.
"Because if you had lost, I would've killed them immediately."
Alex exhaled slowly.
Right on cue—
The door to the strange hall opened.
A slim man in a neat suit stepped inside, hands in his pockets, expression lazy.
Saka.
He glanced at the scene, then at Alex.
"Tell me," Saka said casually.
"Did you call me here to clean up another dead body again?"
His eyes flicked to the unconscious man on the ground.