The gate prepared powerful obstacles for each of the Titled entrants in Phase Two, and while those challenges appeared overwhelming at first glance, they were not impossible.

Then again, nothing was truly impossible, so that wasn’t saying much.

Ethan’s group faced three B Rank beasts despite being composed entirely of C Ranks. As skilled as they were for their level, this was an enormous challenge to overcome.

Kaela, on the other hand, was facing an A Rank alongside two B Ranks, completely alone. Yet she was not complaining. If anything, she welcomed it and would never turn down a challenge like this.

Liora and Darius had to deal with a single A Rank beast.

Under normal circumstances, that might have been manageable as a duo, but Liora was not the most combat-oriented, and Darius was already in a compromised condition.

For them, this fight was far from favourable.

Then there was Elara’s group.

On paper, they had the strongest composition.

Seraphina and Rowan could each handle one of the B Rank opponents, and Elara herself possessed immense latent power. But that same strength was matched by the difficulty of their opponent.

The A Rank beast loomed over them as the deciding factor.

Kaela faced a similar level of threat alone, but that only spoke to the sheer extent of her abilities.

The first phase was just a taster of this gate and split them up across this endless expanse of floating lands. And everything about this phase felt deliberate, carefully designed, and engineered so that only those capable of surpassing their limits could survive.

And it seemed as though the remaining C Ranks were not among them...

-

Elsewhere, the remaining C Rank groups also fought, or at least tried to.

There were ten of them remaining after two died in the first phase, and they were split into three groups across the gate.

The first group of three faced beetle-like beasts.

They were massive and felt indestructible.

One of the Titled raised his hand, conjuring blades of dense black smoke that solidified mid-air before launching forward in a rapid barrage.

They shattered on impact, completely ineffective.

Another charged in, his skin bubbling as acidic blood seeped through his pores. It hissed violently against the creature’s shell as he struck with everything he had.

The beetle did not react or recoil, and simply slammed into him.

His body folded instantly under the force, crushed by the beast that weighed over a ton. The third didn’t even try to attack after that display and ran for his life, but let’s just say he didn’t get very far.

The second group faced a swarm of fly-like creatures.

They were fast, erratic, and impossible to track.

One of them threw punch after punch, each strike releasing bursts of compressed air that distorted the space around him. But the constant buzzing filled his ears, scrambling his senses, breaking his rhythm.

Another attempted to counter them, manipulating sound waves and releasing piercing frequencies meant to disrupt the swarm.

For a moment, it worked.

Then one of the flies hovered above him and unleashed a green mist.

His screams were sharp and bone-chilling as his skin corroded, and he watched helplessly as his flesh melted away.

The rest of his group suffered a similar fate.

But they didn’t even have it as bad as the third group did.

They faced a swarm of lower-ranked, but still dangerous, variety of insect beasts: wasps, moths, and grasshopper-like creatures that leapt between islands with terrifying speed.

One of the Titled tried to control the battlefield, manipulating gravity just enough to pin the creatures down. Another formed constructs of hardened light, shaping shields and weapons in rapid succession.

They fought hard and desperately, but it wasn’t enough.

One was stung by a wasp and collapsed instantly, his body locking up before hitting the ground. Another was grabbed mid-air and thrown, his scream echoing as he fell between the floating islands, his body shrinking into the endless abyss below.

He was gone just like that.

The last surviving C Rank in the group stood there, breathing heavily and bleeding.

"A Ranks! Where are you?! Anyone! Can you hear me? Please!"

His cries didn’t reach anyone, and they wouldn’t have been able to help him even if they had. A series of beasts then ripped him limb from limb, slowly and gruesomely, until all that was left of him was a smear of blood on the ground.

It was a total massacre.

In a single minute, the insect beasts had decimated all the C Ranks outside of Ethan’s group.

Well, not all...

A single C Rank hadn’t joined any group, which was suicide, and was still facing his first beast.

Or at least he had been.

On one of the smaller islands stood a giant man whose hands were wrapped with bandages, not that they needed them. And he was repeatedly punching the beetle that had been sent to him in phase one without a care for what was happening around him.

The beast had long since died, but that didn’t stop him from pounding away at it.

All he wanted to do was punch, and the times he wasn’t punching, he was thinking about punching. And almost as if respecting the brainless hunk that he was, the gate didn’t send any other beasts after him.

-

Back on Ethan’s island, he stood there, with the Bulldozer and Dave behind him. And deep down, they all knew that if they didn’t figure something out fast, they would just end up insect food like the other C Ranks had.

In a gate that felt less like a battlefield and more like a test, they were dangerously close to failing, but none of them had given up just yet.

’We have to at least try.’

Ethan stood still, his eyes flicking between them.

Steel Scarab.

Rotwing Fly.

Dreamveil Monarch.

Three B Rank beasts, three varying skill sets, and three massive problems.

"Well," Ethan muttered under his breath, rolling his shoulders slightly. "We’re most likely fucked."

His companions didn’t seem amused, but didn’t disagree either.

’I can’t count the number of times I’ve thought that and somehow survived, so this definitely isn’t the end.’

Despite that logic being insane, it made him relax as the three beasts towered across from them. They were in a tense standstill, almost as if they were having a staring contest with the beasts after their dynamic entrances.

And the Bulldozer was the one who sparked things into motion.

He dragged his foot across the ground once.

Then again.

Then a third time.

Each scrape carved deep grooves into the stone, dust scattering outward as his muscles tensed. His already massive frame swelled further, veins bulging beneath his grey skin. His hair hardened, forming that white, horn-like casing that extended forward into a brutal, sharpened point.

His breathing deepened, growing heavy and erratic like a wild animal.

Then he charged, using the only attack he seemed to have.

"RAAAAHHH!"

A blur of raw force as he launched himself straight at the Steel Scarab.

The ground cracked beneath his feet as he accelerated, his entire body transforming into a living battering ram.

But the Steel Scarab did not move.

It did not brace or even acknowledge him, simply standing there as the Bulldozer’s horn collided with it.

Clang!

The impact rang out like metal striking metal.

A deafening, hollow sound echoed across the island.

"What?"

The Bulldozer’s eyes widened in disbelief.

He hadn’t even moved it back an inch, let alone hurt it.

But before he could react, it was the Scarab’s turn to attack...