"You're fucked now kid." Raymond wasn't in the mood for any messing around anymore and directly launched himself at Alex, sword already in hand.

Alex, on the other side, stood with his dagger at the ready. He knew he practically had no chance of winning against Raymond. The best he could hope for was to steer the fight close enough to the city that the guards would get involved.

And he made sure that Raymond also knew of this fact.

"Are you sure you wanna risk fighting this close to the city? It sure would be a shame if the city guards come, or perhaps someone even stronger. I've made some connections during my short stay in the Primordial Expanse you know." Alex tried his best to form a snarky smile at Raymond, hiding his true fear.

Alex's warning made Raymond and especially Joanne falter a little, as they realised that since they could see the guards standing at the gate clear enough to make out their faces, then the guards could see them in much more detail.

Let's not forget that they aren't normal people, the moment they awakened all of their senses received an all around buff, and with the guards being E tier, a whole level above Raymond they can see a lot more.

'Were we really too late?'

Joanne looked at Raymond with panicked eyes, practically begging him to come up with a solution.

Raymond however had many thoughts going through his head.

'If I kill him here, then the guards will see me and recognise me. It all comes down to luck at that point, I could only pray nobody recognises Alex, or that he has no backer. But If I don't kill him then I am almost certainly dead whether it's now or in the future…'

"Fuck it. If I don't kill you here, then we are fucked anyway. DIE!" Raymond suddenly lunged towards Alex in a fury he had never witnessed before. The sheer malice and emotion Alex felt radiating from Raymond outclassed even that of the greed and malice he felt from him when he killed that flaming lion.

With such little distance between the two, Alex didn't have time to think and could only dodge from instinct.

Slice

"Arghh!"

However, since he was so inexperienced, Raymond's sword still managed to pierce his hand, essentially making his left hand useless throughout the rest of the fight.

'Thank god I'm right handed…'

Alex still wasn't ready to give up though, as he unsheathed his dagger and slashed back at Raymond's waist since the two were close enough to feel each other's breath.

However, Alex was still a whole major and minor level below Raymond so although the distance between the two was practically nothing, he still managed to dodge Alex's attack by a hair's width.

"You've got some moves Alex, but you're still too weak."

Alex ignored Raymond's words completely, as he now had to contend with another annoying factor added to the fight.

On the side lines, Joanne held her bow close as she stood with an arrow drawn, ready to leave her embrace at any moment when she spotted an opening.

"If I were still E- rank, then you might have still had a chance. But whelp, I guess you were just fated to die here."

Raymond continued his taunts while Alex was completely on the defensive, not able to unleash any attacks of his own all the while racking up more and more injuries, making the fight even more difficult for him.

'Are those guards just there for vanity?? Will they just stand there and watch someone be murdered practically right outside the city gates!?'

Meanwhile Alex was raging mad at not only the sinister duo currently trying to kill him, but also the lazy guards who seemed uninterested in doing their jobs.

One has to realise that the fight was happening nearly 2 miles away from the city gates. For normal unawakened, this might seem like a long distance but for F ranks and above this was nothing.

However the guards technically weren't obligated to do anything, as their jurisdiction only covered the city and the area outside the gates. A fight that was occurring a couple miles away was nothing new to them.

Raymond on the other hand was ecstatic when he saw the inaction of the guards, the adrenaline rush only caused him to up his attacks even more, pushing Alex even further into a corner.

Seeing no other way out, Alex sensed the mysterious energy that showed up inside him when he obtained the [Flame] talent and realised that he only had around 50% left.

'If this goes on for another few minutes then I am dead. Might as well throw in another hail mary!'

Immediately his energy reserves dropped to 0%, with a terrible headache developing for Alex. 

However this wasn't the important part.

All of that energy had to go somewhere, and Alex chose right in front of him, where Raymond was currently slashing towards him and Joanne firing Arrows from behind.

A shockwave reverberated throughout the surrounding dozens of metres as the duo's attacks immediately halted and they were sent flying backwards.

This flaming shockwave caused Alex to gasp with his jaw flying open even amidst the life and death battle.

'How is it this powerful..? this is only a D- rank talent…'

He wasn't in the mood to question any further though as he immediately made a run for it towards the city gate.

Or at least he tried to.

"I don't know where you were hiding all of this power Alex, but not even this can stop me." Raymond may have sounded imposing and superior in his tone, but his appearance, stopping Alex in his tracks, spoke otherwise.

Almost all of his silver armor had melted off or directly melted into his body, with Raymond's once handsome face now looking like a vegan's nightmare.

His now medium rare lips parted as he spat out bits of teeth and cheek bone, before turning his attention back to Alex.

"What's with that look on your face? Your attack didn't even leave a scratch, instead you should worry about yourself."

If Alex weren't in a fight for his life right now he would be facepalming.

'Is this guy shameless or just plain crazy? Take a look in the mirror and tell me again that you're not injured.'