"Ho—how are you doing?" Flustered, Cecilia said the first thing that came to her mind, the words slipping out before she could steady them.

"I’m alright." Logan replied simply, then added in a warm tone, "you seem to be having a hard time."

"You guess..." Cecilia let out an exhausted sigh, her shoulders dipping slightly.

"Are you here for another fight?" she asked Legion, a curious expression settling over her face.

From what she could recall, there was no one who could challenge Logan within the range of origin initiate fighters anymore. Battling would just keep earning him gold coins and nothing more.

It wouldn’t be beneficial to him in the slightest.

Before she could speak and offer some words of advice, she heard Logan’s words, calm and direct.

"I plan to challenge the Usurper."

Cecilia froze, then raised her gaze to stare at Logan, her eyes widening.

"Usurper?" she repeated, needing to make sure she heard him right.

Logan nodded.

Usurper meant challenging above ranks. Logan was still at the origin initiate rank, but he no longer had a match there. It was time to challenge those above him, to see how wide the gap truly was.

"Are you confident?" Cecilia couldn’t help but ask, curiosity threading through her voice.

Logan nodded once more.

She stared at him for a few seconds longer, searching his calm expression, before finally bringing out the measuring device and proceeding to record his information.

"Is it alright if the battle is now? The faster it is the better." Logan asked.

Cecilia nodded, then spoke into the mic at her side, transferring the information, her voice steady despite the faint tension in her fingers.

She recorded Logan’s details, noticing he had increased by a minor rank since they last met, but was it really enough?

She wasn’t sure.

Yet, for some reason, there was a quiet pull of trust toward him. Unknowingly, she found herself believing that Logan would accomplish it.

"Your match is up next." Cecilia said with a small, bright smile after receiving feedback from the announcer.

Logan paused briefly, about to move, when Cecilia spoke again, hesitating.

"Legion? Ca—can I take a photo with you?"

Logan paused, slightly taken aback by the request.

"Alright." Logan nodded.

Instantly, Cecilia’s face lit up.

She hurried out, pulling out her phone and positioning it for a selfie, her movements quick, almost clumsy.

Her head lightly rested against Logan’s shoulder as she posed.

Just as she clicked the shutter, she turned and pressed a light kiss against his mask.

Logan froze, the motion catching him off guard.

Cecilia’s face flushed deep red as she rushed back behind her desk, her heart pounding loudly in her chest.

She waited, tense, to see what Legion would say. Was he angry? Displeased?

Slowly, she lifted her head to peek in his direction.

He was already walking away, calm as ever, heading toward the arena.

A faint frown formed on her face, disappointment flickering briefly before she looked down again.

...

The moment Logan stepped into the arena, his gaze was drawn toward the stage.

The barrier had just dissolved. Cleaners dragged away a man, his head cleanly severed from his neck, leaving a faint metallic scent hanging in the air.

The announcer waited until they were done before speaking into the mic, his voice carrying a restrained excitement.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I’d urge you all to ready your bets for this next battle because..."

He let the silence stretch, tension building.

"...it’s going to be a usurper!"

"Usurper? You mean challenging above ranks? Who’s daring enough to do that?"

"Damn! The night only started and things are already this exciting?"

The crowd erupted into chatter, voices overlapping as excitement rippled through the stands.

Just the previous day, Legion had dominated with a streak, and now someone was attempting a usurper?

"Add to that... the challenger of the usurper is our very own... Legion!"

For a brief moment, the arena fell into stunned silence.

Then recognition hit.

"Could it be the same person?" someone asked, scanning the arena.

"There he is!"

A finger pointed, and instantly phones were raised, cameras locking onto the tall, lean figure of Legion as he approached with unhurried steps.

The same calm disposition. The same presence.

It was him.

"Is he confident in challenging a usurper?" someone asked, uncertainty creeping into their voice.

Although Legion was strong, surpassing ranks to fight an opponent was on an entirely different level.

"I don’t care, I’m placing all my bets on him!" the man beside him said, already tapping rapidly on his device.

Within moments, bets flooded in.

Logan stepped into the center of the stage.

"His opponent will be Blue Whale!" the announcer called out, voice rising as he introduced the strongest beginner origin initiate they had.

The ranks of origin were divided into beginner, intermediate, late, and peak. Four clear stages.

Once one reached peak, they could break through after saturating their origin core.

Blue Whale strode onto the stage with firm, heavy steps, stopping across from Logan.

A whale-like mask covered his face. Behind it, his gaze sharpened, a flicker of killing intent surfacing.

"Heh... there’s no way you’re gonna use me as a stepping stone!"

Legion said nothing. His gaze drifted past him, settling briefly on the announcer.

A few in the crowd exchanged uneasy glances, anticipation tightening the air.

"Both fighters seem ready enough. Fight begin!" the instructor announced quickly, giving the signal without delay.

The instant the words fell, ten daggers materialized around Logan, rotating in a tight, controlled orbit.

A low hum filled the air, like a swarm of insects vibrating just beneath hearing, the space around him trembling faintly.

"Others may be scared of your blades, but I’m the least afraid!" Blue Whale smirked as he slammed his fist into the ground.

The arena shook.

The ground beneath him rumbled, then a massive slab of rock, thick as a door, erupted in front of him.

He struck the ground again and again, raising layers of earth barriers, each one stacking over the last.

’An earth elementalist?’ Logan muttered, a flicker of surprise passing through him as he watched the defenses rise.

Still... it didn’t matter.

From the moment he stepped onto the stage, he hadn’t moved. His fingers had already begun engraving spatial coordinates into a coin hidden in his pocket.

Without hesitation, he flicked it.

Under the force of spatial telekinesis, the coin shot forward at blinding speed, nearly vanishing midair.

Before the barriers fully formed, it slipped through the narrow gaps, guided with precise control.

Clang.

The coin struck the ground, the sound sharp against the rumble of shifting stone.

Blue Whale’s attention snapped to it. Instinctively, he reached toward the strange object, drawn by the faint silver engravings etched across its surface.

The coin trembled.

Then it began to disintegrate.

"What kind of—"

"Shhhh..."

His body locked.

A blade pressed coldly against his neck.

"you lost."

The voice was quiet, close, final.

"Who—"

The blade moved.

His words died with him.

His eyes dulled as his body collapsed to the ground.

Logan stood behind him, expression unreadable beneath the mask.

For a moment, he said nothing.

He hadn’t realized it before, but now... to take a life so easily, without hesitation.

A fellow human.

There was no resistance left in him when he did it.

’This world is definitely changing me in more ways than one...’ Logan said silently to himself.

Without Blue Whale’s energy sustaining them, the rock barriers crumbled, collapsing into rubble.

Dust settled.

And at the center of it all stood Legion, tall and unmoving, above the corpse of his fallen opponent.

"He... won?"

A voice from the crowd broke the silence, quiet, disbelieving.

It echoed what everyone else was thinking.