At this moment, Clancy Islet was going through what could perfectly be one of the worst nights in its history.

Not only was Clancy Hall, one of its most iconic places attacked by Djinns during an important event that brought together all kinds of important figures, but there were also multiple fights all around the island.

But if anything, there was one particular fight that was currently causing an enormous ruckus on it.

Close to one of the borders of the island, explosions and destruction resonated constantly, buildings were destroyed, and streets were blown away, leaving craters and dirt all around the place.

The culprits? Two persons fighting.

“*tch.* You’re causing too much destruction here!” One of them, a white-haired young guy with his upper body naked, shouted while stopping a giant tall man’s fist with the shaft of his glaive-like spear.

“HAHAHA!” The giant’s thunderous laugh resonated. “Aren’t you worrying too much about simple buildings!?”

He then dropped another fist towards the young guy, which made the space itself tremble out of the raw physical power it exuded, not even including the Magic Power infused in it.

“Who do you think is going to pay for all of this? Such a way to be an unconsidered prick.” Moving the spear, he used the butt of the shaft to move the incoming fist upwards, while lowering his body to make a low kick towards the giant’s left leg.

“HAHAHA!” Answering with a thunderous laugh, the giant raised his leg before trying to stomp down on the young guy’s leg.

But as if knowing his next movement, the young guy ejected fire from his extended foot as a propeller to retreat while rotating his body to cut towards the giant with the spear.

Having tested the insane amount of power contained in the spear, the giant quickly used the strength of the stomp to push himself back. Both of them gaining some distance.

“…”

“…”

Looking at each other during this small pause, both of them grinned, obviously excited for the fight. But the pause didn’t last long, and the next instant, they were once again rushing at each other at an insane speed.

One of them with gauntlet-covered fists, and the other with a long spear that exuded an abnormal amount of power.

{That’s not only Magic Power.} The giant thought for a moment while looking at the strange mixture of energies that was covering the spear, before grinning even more

In just a couple of seconds, they both exchanged tens of attacks, not even one of them connecting properly thanks to both persons’ reflexes.

It was on their fiftieth exchange, that the white-haired guy decided to change the flow of the fight, stomping the ground with force after defending from one of the giant’s fists, creating an explosion of lightning around them.

The ground trembled, and a big crater appeared below with both of them in the center, the lightning shock took the giant by surprise, and his body stopped for less than half a second. But that was enough for the young guy to make an attack, while repositioning the spear would take much time, he could at least connect a kick, an overcharged kick full of Magic Power, Natural Energy, and Draconic Energy.

“URGH!” Receiving the overcharged kick, the giant was sent flying back, out of the border of Clancy Islet, finding himself right over the Thames River, more than 700 meters in the air. “Huh…?”

Confused, the giant looked down, just for an instant, as he quickly turned to look up, finding the white-haired guy looking down at him, right in the process of sending a spinning ax-kick towards his chest.

As soon as he noticed, he used both arms to defend, but with nothing to hold his ground, he was sent down all the way down to the Thames River, falling like a comet at an insanely high speed.

The next second, as if a geyser appeared in the middle of the famous river, an enormous torrent of water exploded upward to the sky, reaching tens of meters in the air, while the ground trembled from the body of the giant impacting the riverbed.

After coughing some blood from the impact, the giant quickly reacted and swam out of the river, reaching the river bank.

“Cough, cough…” He quickly restored himself, while turning behind, just in time to see someone falling on top of the water in the river.

But contrary to ordinary logic, the one that fell, the white-haired young, didn’t sink into the water. He merely stood there, as if it was solid ground, barely creating small ripples in the water while the rain from the previous geyser-like explosion fell over him.

“Yo! Are you okay? Can you keep fighting?” With the spear on his shoulder and a smirk on his face, the guy asked the giant.

“…” The giant just looked at him for a second, before grinning. “As if a powerless kick like that could force me to stop the fun!” He shouted before laughing.

“Great. Because I would be disappointed if that happened.” The guy's smirk deepened.

“ENOUGH WARMING UP! LET’S HEAT THINGS UP!” At the giant’s shout, the space around him started rippling, his muscles expanded and contracted constantly, as if they were alive, and Magic Power started seeping out of his body.

{I’m giving it to him. He has an insane physical power, which is only enhanced by his Magic Power, even if the amount isn’t that surprising.} The young guy thought while smiling.

“I agree.” After rotating the spear once, he let the blade touch the water in the river. “Enough warming up. Let’s see what you got.”

At that moment, the space around the white-haired guy also started to ripple, lightning traveled through his body, while vapor started to form from the point of contact between his feet and the river’s water. As if it wasn’t enough, his body started to heat absurdly quickly, fuming as if all his sweat was quickly evaporating.

The next moment both of them disappeared, only to reappear clashing over the river’s water.

Once again, they started exchanging blows between themselves, but this time, the raw power of their attacks created shockwaves that made the water and even the earth tremble around them.

Some of the shockwaves were strong enough to create small craters whenever they passed by, while waves started to appear on the usually calm river.

They moved with each attack, causing destruction whenever they passed by. The physical power of the giant was enough to cause some damage to the young guy even when defending, while the insane amount of heat and lightning that the young guy exuded was enough to burn, scorch and even cut the giant’s body.

Both of them seemed to be equal in power, but with each passing second, the giant grew accustomed to the young guy’s attacks, until the time came when he connected a hit. A strong punch impacted the young guy on the chest, sending him flying through the Thames River.

Not letting the opportunity slip, the giant rushed behind him, but suddenly, over the river’s water, lightning coursed, and before he could understand what was happening, the flying guy, turned mid-air and swung the spear upward.

Contrary to what the giant expected, the swing wasn’t meant to cut him, so he couldn't notice the small trembling on the water under him on time. The water quickly raised as it formed a dragon made of electrified water, gulping him in a torrential stream that also contained a slight electric charge.

Stopping over the river’s water, the young guy roared, sending a strong soundwave around him, as if a monster just appeared in the middle of the Thames River. Waves of water surged around him, following the soundwave produced by his roar. Even animals and monsters swimming in the river quickly escaped after hearing the guy’s roaring.

But what was more surprising wasn’t the roar, but the insane amount of lightning energy that traversed over the water, surging up towards the water dragon that gulped the giant.

The man that was currently fighting to escape the slightly electrically charged stream of torrential water could only look in astonishment as the surge of lightning quickly reached him.

“URGH!” He clenched his teeth over the painful attack, as parts of his body were slowly turning black. “ROAR!”

In the middle of the pain, the giant also let out his own roar, breaking both the lightning and water that trapped him.

England’s night had become the witness of the two monster’s fight. With scared civilians and worried heroes all around, not knowing what was happening, or what to do.

After freeing himself, the giant fell into the river, trying to quickly move out to catch his breath, but as if not letting him breathe even for a second, the young guy rushed towards him, sliding over the water towards the giant, with the spear prepared to attack, while the long lightning-water dragon moved beside him in dancing-like movement.

Facing this, the giant decided to stop his original plane of swimming back to the shore, and quickly bent his body back, before strongly clapping towards his adversary, creating an insane shockwave that went towards the sliding guy.

Noticing this, the white-haired young guy didn’t stop but merely submerged himself in the river’s water, which surprised the giant, as it only made the guy lose his advantage of being able to move above water.

He didn’t understand why would he go into the water, but not wanting to lose sight of the young guy, he quickly submerged himself, and that’s when he saw with his eyes wide in surprise, how the guy was closing the distance with him while swimming in an absurd speed that didn’t lose to his speed above water.

{Is this guy some kind of water animal or something!?} The giant thought for a moment while punching forwards towards the incoming attack.

But sadly for him, underwater, his strength wasn’t enough to actually contend against the guy. Right now, he was at a huge disadvantage.

Each time he tried to stop an attack, he received damage from the difference in power, being trashed around. What’s worse, the lightning-water dragon was constantly attacking him underwater, and shocking him slightly, which was making things even harder for the giant.

That is why, while looking at the downward swing of the spear the guy made, he punched upward, but instead of trying to repel the spear, he used all his force to push himself back, until he reached the riverbed.

The white-haired guy noticed his intention, so he spun the spear to compact the water surrounding the giant to stop him, but it was late, and the giant already reached the riverbed.

Not wasting any time, and with a strong impulse, the giant jumped towards the shore, not even considering for a moment the idea of rushing directly towards his opponent in what could practically be called his home-ground.

Another explosion of water appeared on the river’s surface once a tall man jumped out of the Thames River to land on the river’s bank.

Catching his breath, he turned to look behind, at the river. Looking at the guy surfacing calmly, as if it was completely normal, once again standing over the river’s surface.

Both of them were looking at each other. With a happy smirk plastered on their face.

“Ha… Haha… HAHAHA!” The giant suddenly started laughing, and as if understanding him, the young white-haired guy also let out a chuckle.

The next moment, the young guy rushed towards the giant, gliding through the water as if skating over it, with a lightning-water dragon following right beside him.

Not even a third of a second passed, when they were inches close from each other, on shallow waters, both of them attacking and defending, and while the giant seemed to have a physical advantage, the young guy’s mystifying dragon didn’t let him make use of said advantage, moving in synchronization with the young guy’s spear.

It was like a giant fighting both a dancing Asian dragon made of water and lightning and a spear-holding young man. But once again, as the fight proceeded, the giant adapted quickly to his adversary's technique, and soon enough, thanks to his raw physical power, his advantage seemingly increased, as if his power was increasing with each passing second.

{Haha such a monster you are. Cheok Jungyeong.} The young guy thought for a moment.

{What a monster you are. Kid.} Unaware that the smiling giant in front of him was thinking the same.

Destructive attacks flowed from both sides, with the mix of thunderous laughs in between. And just as the white-haired guy tried to make his next attack with a downward cut, while the dragon tried to bite the giant from below.

Cheok Jungyeong found a small window of opportunity and punched through the dragon’s head, clenching his teeth through the scorching pain and cuts made from the torrential water filled with lightning, and hitting Cristopher’s stomach, making him cough blood before flying backward again, not before giving Jungyeong a hit of his own, kicking the giant’s belly to offset the impact a little bit while at the same time stopping the giant from rushing towards him.

Once again, separated. Cristopher was clutching his stomach from the pain. After all, fighting Cheok Jungyeong in close-combat could be considered a stupid idea. The guy was simply a monster when it came to fighting at melee.

“Huff… Huff… I admit it. You’re a monster.” Cristopher commented while breathing frantically, still with a smile on his face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this. I almost forgot how great it felt to have such a hard fight.”

“Huff… Huff… I agree with you, kid, it’s been some time since I’ve tasted my own blood, though I must say, I’m not the only monster here.” Jungyeong smirked sadistically. “You can’t just receive an impact without giving one back, huh? How has that worked with women so far?”

“Pfft… Hahahaha incredibly well, I guess.” Cristopher laughed at the ridiculous comment. “But hey, it seems like our fun is getting to an end soon.”

“Seems so.” With a nod, Jungyeong smirked.

They both knew. People were coming. It was impossible for their fight to not attract the attention of the heroes and other people, including Chameleon Troupe’s members, that were currently coming to look for the rampaging Jungyeong.

“What do you say, kid? One last exchange?” He smirked deeply, with an excited look showing in his eyes.

“*chuckles* It’s so sad that you’re a freaking ugly man instead of a beautiful woman.” Cristopher smirked. “Because I would be falling for your words right here and now, they’re just what I wanted to hear.”

“HAHAHAHA! LET’S FUCKING END THIS!” With a shout, Cheok Jungyeong’s energy started surging as if he hasn’t been fighting all this while, clearly trying to put some effort for him to overpower his opponent.

“Well said! I guess there’s no reason for me to hold this one back anymore!” Cristopher smirked while, suddenly all the Natural Energy flowing around him stopped in place, storming towards him the next second

The Stigma on his right arm shined in darkish-red and black color, extending all the way through his body until it covered the entirety of his body, even the parts covered by his clothes, all the while his hair quickly extended wildly, until it cascaded all the way down to his waist.

The lightning-water dragon dancing around Cristopher got fiercer, the lightning covered the water almost entirely, while the torrential water increased its speed tremendously, increasing even the size of the mystifying phenomenon.

“…” Jungyeong just looked at all of this happen with a big grin, he didn’t know what was happening, but his body felt it. He knew something just changed around them. Again, he wasn’t sure what it was, but there was something bizarre about the change that the young white-haired guy in front of him experienced, making chills run up his body. “You don’t stop surprising me.”

“…” Answering with a smirk, Cristopher rushed forward, something Cheok Jungyeong reciprocated.

They both attacked at the same time, and the mere shockwave produced by the impact of their attacks created a space around them, even emptying the water right below them in the Thames River.

As if one attack wasn’t enough, they quickly started exchanging blows in rapid succession, Jungyeong physical power increased out of pure will, while Cristopher’s body exuded even more heat, glowing in a red shining color that also covered the spear, while lightning freely flowed through his body and the spear.

The seemingly alive dragon also moved, looking for every possible opportunity for it to attack Cheok Jungyeong, either biting at him or tackling him.

In just seconds, they exchanged hundreds of attacks, until both of them decided to make one final attack to decide everything.

Cristopher’s spear lit in flames and lightning, making a bizarre combination with his blackish dark-red Draconic Energy and his whitish-cyan Magic Power, while the lightning-water dragon quickly crept up the spear, reaching the glaive-like blade and surrounding everything in torrential water.

Cheok Jungyeong directed his strength and Magic Power towards his fist, making it glow in a fuming deep-blue-colored Magic Power, which made Cristopher grin even more.

Both attacks met, creating an insanely destructive shockwave full of energy that blasted everything around them away.

Giant waves reached the shore of the river, expanding towards the building, debris flew away from the destroyed riverbank and riverbed, while rocks and vegetation also flew all around. The temperature around the Thames River heated up until a point where even water started to evaporate at a visible rate.

And from the center of the explosion, both fighters were sent flying away to each side of the river, crashing on what remained from the shores, now full of stones, vegetation, debris, and water.

“Huff… Huff… Huff…”

Both of them were irregularly breathing while lying down on the ground, exhausted from the prolonged fight. But this time, even with all the destruction and injuries they both had, the winner was clear.

While Cristopher received a few of Jungyeong’s punches and kicks, the fire, and lightning covering his body reduced part of the effect.

Meanwhile, Cheok Jungyeong was visually devastated. Cuts and burns were present on all his body. There was even a long wound that went from his left shoulder all the way down to the right side of his waist, but as it was made by a lightning whip, the flesh was burned, as if a light-saber cut him, so there was no flowing blood.

“Hey.” Cheok Jungyeong spoke with a frown, after sitting up. “Where do you take all those weird tricks of yours from? You just keep taking them out again and again.”

“What can I say. It’s always good to have a hidden card, or two, or three.” Cristopher smirked at him, while also sitting up.

“…” Cheok Jungyeong only smirked back.

They both slowly stood up, but before they could even try to start fighting again, a weird sound interrupted them.

At that moment, a portal appeared right behind Cheok Jungyeong, and from it, a black man with dreadlocks appeared, followed by Jain, who was holding a familiar suitcase.

{I suppose that’s Khalifa.} Cristopher thought while glancing at the black man.

He was the owner of Chameleon Troupe’s seat of blue, and the only human capable of creating portals like Djinns did.

After recognizing him, he quickly noticed the suitcase in Jain’s hands. It was the one that Hajin and Rachel should have at this moment.

It was a suitcase she wasn’t supposed to have.

With that in mind, Cristopher quickly expanded his senses at the maximum range, making use of the fact that he was still in Sage Mode right now, letting out a sigh once he found out that both Rachel and Kim Hajin were safe.

While they wouldn’t dare try to hurt Kim Hajin, Rachel wasn’t on the list of potential recruits, so who knows what they would do to her. Just the mere fact of thinking about her being hurt made his blood boil, almost literally, as his temperature was constantly rising from wrath.

He took a few deep breaths and once he calmed himself, he considered the options of taking the suitcase from their hands. But decided against it.

Not just anyone could join Chameleon Troupe, and he was already tired from the previous fight, so trying to fight those three at the same time would be a stupid idea, even if he could pull it out, there would be dire consequences.

After all, he wasn’t the only one with enough power to keep fighting, and he was now in a race against time, as he would be tired out after Sage Mode ended.

“Jungyeong! What are you doing!? Boss is mad at you!” Jain shouted at Jungyeong, walking towards him with an angry face. Before suddenly stopping. It seems she didn’t notice Jungyeong’s injuries until that moment. “What happened to you…?”

Both Jain and Khalifa were surprised to look at Cheok Jungyeong’s state. Someone capable of causing this kind of injury couldn’t be normal at all.

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just had a little spar.” Jungyeong said with a smirk plastered on his face. Still looking at Cristopher at the other side of the river, finding it funny that the guy suddenly got angry at Jain and Khalifa’s arrival, not really knowing why.

“What…?” As if she couldn’t believe what was happening, she turned to look at the guy that was standing on the river. “Who…?”

“We should hurry.” Khalifa intervened, looking somewhere towards England’s cityscape. “Heroes are going to be here soon.”

“Right.” Jain nodded, looking at the white-haired young guy for a moment, before hitting Cheok Jungyeong on the shoulder. “Let’s go. We have to leave now.”

“Argh… Fine.” Rolling his eyes at Jain he turned to walk towards the portal, before stopping for a moment, turning to look at Cristopher. “This isn’t the end, kid. You better prepare yourself for our next fight.”

With a grin on his face, he went into the portal, while Jain and Khalifa just sighed at his attitude, giving one last glance at the guy.

“*sigh…* That guy’s a monster. And there are worse things out there.” Cristopher muttered for a moment, before quickly disappearing from the spot. A few meters into the river’s now calm water, a small splash of water made its appearance. As if someone went underwater.

He chose to use the river to escape, after all, it was better for him to not be discovered right now by the coming heroes.

***

Moments before, while Cristopher and Cheok Jungyeong were fighting, on another side of Clancy Islet, Kim Hajin and Rachel were quickly rushing through the streets on the bike, until a portal suddenly appeared in front of them, forcing Hajin to hit the brakes, almost falling from the bike with Rachel.

They came to a sudden stop. And as they did so, two persons appeared from the portal, they were Jain and Khalifa.

While normally portals couldn’t be used inside Clancy Islet, it was just to enter the place. But once inside the floating island, this protection didn’t have any effect.

And for Chameleon Troupe’s luck, Khalifa was quite close, enough so he could make it inside the island before reuniting with Jain, and even before the portals were closed due to the attack at Clancy Hall.

“Who are you…?” Rachel asked them. Getting down from the bike alongside Hajin, who was slightly surprised by their appearance.

“It doesn’t matter~.” Jain answered in an excited tone, taking out a dagger before pointing to the suitcase she was carrying. “You better give me that, little Princess~.”

“No… This isn’t yours.” She tried to say with confidence, but this only made Jain chuckle, before she exerted pressure on both Rachel and Hajin with her Magic Power.

While she wasn’t among the strongest members of Chameleon Troupe, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t strong. She was, it was just that Chameleon Troupe was full of monsters.

“Give me that. Now~.” She said, smiling menacingly.

“No-” Rachel was about to reject her, but Kim Hajin stopped her, and shook his head.

“We better give it to them. I’m not confident in our chances of getting out of this alive if we fight it out.”

“…” Rachel’s hand trembled out of rage, rage against herself for feeling so impotent.

“Are you going to give me that~? Or do we have to fight for it~?” Jain asked while smiling. “I don’t care either way~ But go ahead, make me take it by force~” Her smile deepened.

Slowly, Kim Hajin took the suitcase out of Rachel’s hand and threw it towards Jain.

For one, he didn’t want to test his luck and endanger Rachel, and two, it was better for the Chameleon Troupe to get the artifact and the White Crystal just like in the original novel.

“Wow~ You’re so cooperative~.” She said with a grin, winking at him while catching the suitcase. “Well~ Thanks for the gift~.”

With the case in her hand, both Jain and Khalifa went into the portal, leaving the place. Not quick enough for Hajin not to listen to one message from Boss.

[Go pick Cheok Jungyeong. He’s fighting somewhere around the Thames River.]

{*sigh…* This day just gets weirder and weirder. Hope everything’s okay at his end.} Kim Hajin let out a sigh, before patting Rachel’s shoulder.

“You okay there?” Hajin asked her.

“…” Rachel was still slightly trembling out of rage.

“Look. It’s okay as long as we’re safe. Don’t worry about the suitcase, what’s important is for you to keep your life.” Hajin tried to comfort her.

“I know…” She clenched her fist. “It’s just… That all that training just for-”

“Look.” Hajin interrupted her. “You’re strong. And I’m not the one saying it. Cristopher was the one to tell me so, he thinks highly of you, and believes that you will do great sooner rather than later.”

“H-He did…?” Rachel broke out from her angry state, with an embarrassed face.

“Yes. He did.” Hajin let out a sigh, trying to grasp his head on how ridiculous was for Rachel to break out from her anger just because of what he said. “He knows your power quite well, after all, he was the one that helped you train.”

“…” Rachel nodded.

“So, cheer up. You’re still young, a freshman cadet in Cube. You’ll have a lot of time to progress and become even more powerful.”

“Thanks…” Rachel smiled while nodding.

“No problem, but you better go back to Clancy Hall. There should be people looking for you around there.” Hajin finally told Rachel, which made him widen her eyes.

“But what about Cristopher? He’s still fighting-” She tried to ask.

“Relax, he’ll be fine. Trust me. That guy’s insanely strong.” Only to be interrupted by Hajin’s words.

“…” Rachel bit her lower lip in frustration and worry. “But maybe if we call for help-”

“If you send someone to look for him, it would be problematic, so it would be better for you to just keep the secret. He’ll be thankful.” Hajin said, interrupting her once again.

“…” This left Rachel looking down with an extremely worried face. Before widening her eyes and turning to look in the direction they came from. She could feel something there. Something was stirring her mana, her connection to the elementals. She didn't know what it was, but it somehow calmed her and worried her.

“Trust me. He’s going to be fine.” Hajin said, noticing the weird state she was in.

“But…” Rachel couldn’t push her worries out of her head, after all, she’s seen too many people dying while protecting her, and somehow, the feeling she just got, worried her even more.

“Look… If there was something I would worry about, it wouldn’t be his safety, as I said, that guy’s insanely powerful, I can’t even believe someone would actually defeat him. I would instead worry about the disaster he would be making right now to the infrastructure of this place.”

“…” Rachel let out a deep sigh after looking to where the weird feeling originated for a while. “Fine…”

“Use the bike, I’ll go to the hotel, I need a shower to relax.” Hajin said with a smile.

“…” Rachel just nodded, while climbing onto the bike.

Just before leaving, she turned to the place where she felt that strange pulsation, she knew that it came from the place where he was fighting, she was sure it came from him. It felt surreal for her, but it also helped her understand that there was no way for her to interfere there. The fight was just too out of her league.

{Master... Are you really going to be okay?} Rachel thought for a moment before asking Hajin, not taking her eyes from the place where that pulsation of energy came. “Are you sure he’s going to be fine?”

Looking at Rachel’s worried face, Kim Hajin could only sigh, hoping that his words weren’t an empty promise.

“Yes, I’m sure. You’ll see him soon with a beer on his hand, laughing or messing around with people.” He answered with a smile.

“Okay.” Rachel nodded, before slowly driving the bike back to Clancy Hall. She was quite an inexperienced driver, so she felt really stiff, trying to drive back. Which made Hajin chuckle.

“He was right about her. She can be really cute sometimes.” After muttering, he started to walk towards the hotel.