"Kh…" The sword saint gritted his teeth, having trouble keeping up with Kayne. The latter continued to punch him, each punch heavier than the last.

The sword saint continued to clash with him, trading blow after blow. He swung his sword so hard that it could cut everything within a two-hundred-meter radius, but Kayne simply punched it with enough strength to disperse this power.

Kayne continued forward and punched him at a much faster speed. Gradually, the sword saint was on the defensive.

'I was stronger than him at first.' The sword saint thought, remembering what happened at the start of the battle.

He overwhelmed Kayne easily. In fact, he felt nothing could stop him. Yet, after a few minutes, Kayne had gotten strong enough to trade blows with him. In another five minutes, Kayne was already much stronger than him.

'This is illogical. The damage on his body shouldn't be that much. I know he has the ability to convert injury into physical strength. That's why his nickname is Berserker.

'But I haven't injured him enough to garner this much strength. How did he…' The sword saint suddenly fell silent as though he had come to a realization. 'Don't tell me…'

The sword saint was shocked in the middle of the battle. That revelation caused him to be distracted, and Kayne definitely didn't let that opportunity go.

Kayne punched him in the face, blowing him away.

"Kh…" The sword saint gritted his teeth.

"To think that you have the luxury of daydreaming while fighting me…" Kayne grinned, cracking his fingers. "I should beat you hard enough until you have brain damage."

The sword saint shouted, "You… Your ability to convert damage. It's not just about damage. You are considering everything as damage, whether it's exhausting your stamina, our clash…"

"Well, if you use your sword enough, the blade will be chipped away. Don't you think it's only logical to treat those kinds of things as damages? You're not the first person to figure that out. All my past enemies have figured it out, but not many can tell the tale. Those who survive don't even bother to spread that information." Kayne smirked.

The sword saint gritted his teeth. Kayne had tricked everyone. Most people thought that Kayne's power was only limited to injury.

Kayne wanted to continue to beat him up, but he suddenly noticed the sudden movement from the enemy group.

"!!!" Kayne glanced to the side, seeing the enemies were fleeing outside the forest.

The sword saint immediately rushed back to him and slashed downwards.

"I'm not distracted, rookie." Kayne punched straight away, pushing the sword saint back.

"Yeah, but you're distracted enough not to understand my intention." The sword saint swung his blade diagonally, sending his sword strike toward Kayne.

Kayne had to take this power head-on, but the sword saint used this time to actually slip away.

"I know your weakness now. Don't think that this is the end." The sword saint harrumphed.

"!!!" Kayne was stupefied, but he suddenly figured out what the enemy was trying to do.

…

On the other battlefield, Jean was completely clueless. "Oi! Where are you guys going?!"

Jean was trying to chase after them as seven Tier 8 humans suddenly tried to leave.

"Huh?" Even Clovis was confused for a second. Why would those Tier 8 humans leave?

However, Jean's reaction gave away the answer.

"!!!" Clovis widened his eyes in shock. It was an answer that surprised even someone like him. "Don't tell me…"

"After them. Don't let them get away!" Clovis shouted, pursuing his own target.

The others were still confused, but they followed Clovis' lead. Those whose enemies remained focused on their respective targets.

Jay was on the verge of defeating his opponent, so he definitely didn't want to let that person go.

Rea dove and tried to distract one enemy, while Kanaria shot another. They managed to stop two of them, but the rest had exited the forest.

The Dark Supreme had told them that there was no fighting outside the forest. The moment they exited the forest, there was no point in coming after them.

Melody figured out the reason not long after. She was the one informing everyone. "Those people who are leaving are the reinforcements from the Prophet. This must have been their intention from the beginning.

"They must have come here with an order to retreat the moment things aren't going in their favor.

"In other words, this competition is just a ruse. If the Prophet succeeded, he could eliminate the Libation Fiesta and take over the Dark Moon Mercenary.

"However, his true intention was to test Clovis… He wanted to see whether Clovis had another trump card or not. And this time, the Berserker had been exposed. They were running to preserve their current strength.

"We couldn't let them go. They would bring this information to the Prophet. No, there might be another reason.

"If the Dark Supreme made a move to prevent all of them from escaping, it might prove that the Dark Supreme was on our side the whole time."

They were confident that the Dark Supreme wouldn't do anything unless he wanted to be exposed. But even if he did, the Prophet wouldn't mind because he could use that information in a lot of ways.

Clovis gritted his teeth, trying to stop them, but it was too late. Six of them had already left the forest. Chasing them wouldn't benefit them. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Even if they were prepared to be disqualified and leave the rest to those who remained inside the forest, it might come back to bite them because it gave Jean a fighting chance.

That was why Clovis had no choice but to turn back.

"Kh…" Clovis gritted his teeth. He had been winning all this time against the Prophet, but this was probably the first time he had been played by the Prophet.

Even if he managed to win the competition and gain the Dark Moon Mercenary as his ally, the Prophet had forced him to reveal his trump card.

It didn't feel like a victory at all.