The moment Aiden and the remaining awakeners rushed forward, Lucien felt the pressure on him multiply by several degrees.

A streak of gold flashed across his vision.

Spiritual energy condensed rapidly before taking the shape of a flaming whip in the hands of one of the awakeners advancing towards him and whipped forward with terrifying force.

Lucien jumped backward immediately, dodging the blow.

The whip struck the floor where he had been standing moments ago, leaving behind a charred groove. The devastating power behind the attack was evident.

Before he could regain his balance, another figure appeared directly before him.

The second awakener.

Layers of armor covered the man’s body from head to toe, turning him into a moving fortress whose arms were now trying to smash his head in a single strike.

Violent sparks of energy crackled around his fingers.

Crack!

In the next instant, a bolt shot forward and slammed directly into the man’s chest.

The stone armor cracked and smoke rose from it.

The man’s body trembled violently as electricity surged throughout him. Chunks of stone shattered and fell onto the floor while dark patches appeared beneath his skin instantly.

And yet, the man remained standing.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed as his heightened senses screamed a warning.

Without hesitation, he crossed both of his arms before his chest.

Bang!

Aiden appeared out of nowhere and delivered a punch straight at his stomach with enough force to send him flying backward before crashing into a wall.

The wall behind him exploded, sending concrete fragments scattering in every direction.

Pain shot through his entire body, making his mind go numb.

Shi—

Before he could even rise, the flaming whip descended again.

This time, he failed to avoid it.

A burning line tore across his face and chest, with the smell of scorched flesh emanating from it.

Lucien gritted his teeth.

And instead of retreating, he stepped forward.

His hand shot out, catching the flaming whip wrapped around his forearm despite its fire burning through his skin.

The awakener controlling it froze.

"What are you—"

Golden lightning erupted and traveled directly through the whip inside his body, but this time, the amount was too much to be ignored.

Due to the damage on his face, Lucien had lost control of himself and used most of his remaining powers at once.

He had made a fatal mistake in anger.

For a brief moment, nothing happened.

Then the room turned gold as the man’s entire body emitted blinding light from his seven orifices. The flames surrounding the whip flickered violently before extinguishing altogether.

The next moment, a violent boom echoed through the room but there was no destruction.

Ash drifted from the man’s eyeballs as they were reduced to dust.

Thin cracks spread across his face as though his body could no longer contain the destructive force coursing inside him.

His body finally gave out and crashed onto the floor.

He was dead.

Silence briefly descended upon the place.

Even the stone awakener hesitated to attack again as he glanced at Lucien still standing there breathing heavily.

Blood dripped from the burn stretching across his face. The exhaustion he had sustained was apparent, yet neither Aiden nor the stone awakener charged again.

They were waiting, waiting for him to fall on his own.

The gap between Lucien and Aiden was a full small grade, from D+ to D++, but he was still able to stand his ground and make them use everything they had.

The only reason he was able to achieve this was due to the absurdity of his Lightning Primarch talent. It bridged the gap, not to mention he had fought two awakeners more, both of them being rated at least D- grade.

In the living room that looked less like a hall and more like a battlefield, Evelyn fought continuously.

She wasn’t having an easier time.

The apartment had already become chaotic enough that she had been forced to spread layers of ice across portions of the floor simply to limit her opponent’s movement.

The remaining physical awakener rushed forward.

His foot slipped once again for the briefest instant, yet instead of falling, he reacted immediately and pushed himself forward.

His attack crashed against an ice shield that protected Evelyn.

Boom!

The shield shattered instantly and ice fragments scattered across the room.

The impact forced Evelyn backward a few steps before she regained her ground.

Her breathing had already become uneven as maintaining her talent offensively and defensively at the same time was consuming her spiritual energy far faster than she could handle currently.

The awakener pressed the advantage with another attack.

Then another.

Evelyn narrowly avoided both of them and at the same time, glanced towards the ice spike she had launched earlier, which remained embedded deep within the nearby wall. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The man noticed it and a faint smile appeared on his face.

In his mind, she had already used her attack, including the ice formed beneath him in patches, not to mention the ice shield.

For a brief moment, he believed she was completely exposed and hence, he went for the kill.

A fatal mistake.

The ice beneath his feet suddenly expanded, a trick she had learned when trying her ice powers on the table repeatedly.

His footing shifted slightly, and the next instant, a new ice spike materialized behind him.

The awakener’s eyes widened as he felt the chill in the air behind him, he tried to dodge but alas, it was too late.

Pfft!

The spike shot forward and pierced directly through the existing wound on his neck that had been left behind by Lucien’s earlier attack.

His body twitched once as he opened his mouth, trying to say something.

Blood spilled from the corner of his mouth as his knees buckled beneath him. A second later, he collapsed onto the frozen floor with a dull thud.

Before Evelyn could even realize and be consumed by guilt for carrying out the act of killing someone, a sharp voice pierced through the air.

"Don’t."

The voice wasn’t loud, yet it echoed clearly throughout the apartment.

A sharp gasp escaped from several people at once.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed as he directed his gaze toward the source, and what he saw made his expression change.

Kael stood behind Mary with a jagged piece of metal resting against her throat.

It was a broken fragment from Aiden’s dagger that had been destroyed earlier by a point-blank lightning attack.

One of those pieces had fallen near Kael.

And in the chaos of the battle, Lucien had completely forgotten about a simple non-awakener.

"Surrender."

Kael’s voice trembled slightly as he warned Lucien.

The shard pressed deeper against Mira’s neck and a thin line of blood appeared before he spoke once again.

"You both, stop right now."

Lucien’s expression darkened.

His body was already nearing its limit from the repeated use of Lightning Primarch that had drained enormous amounts of spiritual energy, while Clara’s pressure talent continued weighing down on him every second.

Under normal circumstances, disarming Kael would have been effortless for him.

A flick of telekinesis and it would be done.

But Aiden was still there.

Waiting and watching.

Now the slightest opening could become a death sentence for him.