Chapter 586 - Not Noname

POV Brainiac

He is gone in a blink without me being able to track him. No movement of mana, no vibrations sent through the air. Something I even started noticing with Tacita at times is not even slightly present here.

I hear shouts and look back to see Noname now standing in front of the door with his hand on the white palm symbol. The door starts shaking, dust and dirt falling off the edges as it opens to reveal a similar room. Inside, a single person stands on a small island surrounded by pale blue water that glows. The huge, square room has the same gray walls, but this time, three massive black doors marked with white palms.

Symbols cover the area, painted in subtly different shades of black, along with other markings that likely hint at which door to open next.

The person standing on the island floats into the air, and translucent bird-like wings glow behind her. Her skin is slightly grayish, the same as all of the avatars, and her face holds that empty expression. I recognize her as a Beyonder—one of the top three from the second round.

Noname and the woman disappear from my sight again, only for both of them to crash against the ceiling. The wings on the avatar's back change and turn into dozens of long arms that reach toward Noname, who pins her against the ceiling, neither of them falling, as if unaffected by gravity. All of those arms freeze mid-air and the woman's head bursts open before she disappears into blue particles.

I can barely keep up as Noname suddenly reappears on the ground, right by the first door. He opens it without a single damn concern for traps or whether it’s even the right one. Then the mana obsessed buffoon with, why the fuck not, white hair, does the same to the remaining two doors, and all of them start to open at once.

One of the doors reveals a cluster of fifty attendees, all trapped within the blazing ring of a firewall. The others swing open to reveal rooms packed with avatars, easily a hundred in each.

From where I stand, I can already feel the pressure radiating from Noname like a tidal wave. Then he moves. No hesitation. No pause. He charges straight in, ripping through them like paper, completely unfazed by Hell difficulty or by their numbers.

***

POV Rafael Vaughn - Channeler

The room is massive, enclosed by the same four gray walls as the last, but this time we're standing on a vast grassy field. Towering pillars, each as thick as a sequoia, stretch upward, nearly touching the ceiling.

Two avatars face us, walking toward us at a steady pace. CarrotCake and Klara, both of them winners of their first tournaments.

All five Hell difficulty fighters on our side are already down, and the rest of us can only watch and wait for it to be over. The two avatars, on the other hand, remain completely untouched.

Then a huge door to the right opens slowly, and a single figure steps through the massive entrance.

The white hair and red eyes are the first things I notice. Then comes the expression—strange enough to throw me off, just long enough for the realization to hit me too late.

I know that person.

Nathaniel Gwyn does not wear his usual calm, distant expression. Instead, he is smiling with a strange, eager intensity. Even his movements are different. Every shift of his body sends a warning straight to the primitive part of my brain. There's a predatory energy in the way he moves, something sharp and unnatural. It feels wrong like no one should be able to move like that.

There is no crown, no mana, no projectiles, no orbs, no golden flames. Nathaniel simply steps into the room without deploying any of his usual countermeasures, even though he must know he is up against two of the very best physical fighters in Earth's tutorial.

And he attacks first.

I do not see any movement, but out of nowhere he stands in front of me and CarrotCake is gone. Then Klara disappears as well. A split second later, two of the pillars explode as their bodies crash against them.

"Damn, I knew his output is high, but what is this shit?" Nathaniel says.

The voice is the same, but the tone, pronunciation, and rhythm are very different. When he turns to me and I see those red eyes, I confirm that it is not Nathaniel, but someone else.

"I know he kept comparing us, but I'm more handsome than you," he says after examining my face.

From where the pillars exploded a pair of shockwaves are sent and both Klara and CarrotCake appear in the air in front of him, stopped the mid attack as if held there by an invisible force. CarrotCake is mid-punch and Klara is swinging the gladius she holds.

Nathaniel moves with a speed I can’t even begin to follow. One moment he’s there, the next he’s already by two Beyonders, striking before they can react. The moment they clash, all of them burst into motion and the space around them erupts with force.

The two avatars and Nathaniel vanish without warning, only to reappear seconds later in a blur of motion, then vanish again before anyone can react. Their battle rages across the entire field, too fast to follow, too violent to contain. Pillars as thick as trees are shattered like glass in their wake. The ground is torn apart, ripped open by stray blows.

Even the attendees caught near their clashes don’t stand a chance, some are killed outright, reduced to nothing just for being too close.

It all happens in just a few seconds. Then Nathaniel is standing beside me, the gladius Klara once held now resting casually on his shoulder. She’s gone with no trace of her left.

Only CarrotCake’s avatar emerges from the smoke. One arm is missing, his body torn through with holes, and half his face is nothing but blood and ruin. But he walks forward without hesitation, each step heavy enough to make the air around him hum.

"Do you like it, you asshole?! It's not fun if someone doesn't use mana, right?" Nathaniel shouts at the avatar. Then he vanishes again, leaving only the echo behind.

For a split second, I catch sight of Nathaniel standing right in front of CarrotCake. In one smooth, brutal motion, he slams the flat of Klara's gladius against CarrotCake’s chest, unleashing a shockwave that sends me tumbling until I crash into a tree.

I lift my head with the taste of blood thick in my mouth. Nathaniel is already gone, leaving no trace behind. CarrotCake’s avatar remains standing for a moment longer, chest ripped open and heart completely destroyed. Then he collapses. His form unravels and dissolves into streams of pale blue particles, rising into the air before scattering like fading embers.

***

POV Samuel

The room we’re in is filled with motion-activated traps. Even the slightest movement causes mana to gather around the crystal floating high above, and a crystal projectile shoots out almost instantly. I saw one pierce straight through the barrier of a Hell difficulty attendee from the first round, and another break through the shield of a Beyonder from the eighth round, even though it was an upper epic shield.

Even talking isn’t allowed. Fortunately, a few of the remaining Hell difficulty attendees, like me, have noticed the inscriptions etched into the stone floor and are channeling their mana into them.

As in the previous rooms, this one must also have a solution; we just need to proceed carefully. But I have a strong suspicion that if you find a solution, it will apply only to you and exclude you from movement tracking. I suspect this because even the avatars here with us stand unmoving, doing the same thing we do.

At this point, it is a race to see who regains the ability to move first.

This does not mean there are no fights. The avatars and attendees use their primordial energies or skills that do not require movement and keep throwing attacks at each other. Both sides are defending and attacking.

That's when Noname appears in the middle of the room between two fighting factions. For some reason, his hair is white and his eyes are dark red.

"Damn, what a bunch of losers," he says simply.

Three crystal projectiles shoot at him, only to freeze mid-movement before they pierce his body. He tilts his head with curiosity, and three more shoot, all of them stopping in the same way, just an arm's reach away from him.

He moves and touches the tip of one of the crystal projectiles, and each movement causes more and more projectiles to be shot at him as dozens of them start collecting around him.

Taking one of these crystals into his hand, he twists his body and throws it. The crystal projectile disappears from my sight, leaving just a blur in its wake.

One of the avatars crashes against the wall, a crystal stabbed through his chest. That movement causes a few more projectiles to form and hit him on the ground, turning him into fine particles.

Around Noname, there are already dozens of crystal projectiles, and he snickers deviously, taking them out of the air and throwing them at the avatars. Beyonders, Hell difficulty, even Easy difficulty ones, he does not leave anyone out and clears out the room.

He disappears, and the rain of projectiles trails in his wake, slamming against the ground but too slow to catch up. The next time I see him, he puts his arm onto the white glowing palm on the huge wooden door that starts opening.

Before he leaves, he turns back, and I can feel his red eyes locked on me. Around him, a hundred crystal projectiles hang frozen in the air, with more forming every time he moves. He mouths something I can’t hear, and an invisible force pushes against me just enough to make me stumble.

The last thing I see is a dozen crystals speeding toward me from the crystal floating high above. A moment later, I find myself outside, in the common area.

I glance over the area at the crowds already outside the event, watching the screens. Some of my men are already here as planned, the ones who gave up on the event early just to record the fourth event using the cameras we set up.

"How’s it going?" I ask as I step up to one of them.

"It’s a mess. We haven’t been able to locate that silver-haired woman yet, but Noname is on a rampage. He has already hunted down dozens of Hell difficulty avatars and several tournament winners. We also tried to track Victoria, but just like during the previous event, she is holding herself back. It’s tough to properly estimate her abilities."

"Continue then," I tell him and move to my spot to watch the screens.

On them, I see Noname tearing through another room, jumping off the walls to dodge attacks and tanking close-range hits from a physically powerful avatar.

I remember the time his mana destabilized in the common area and wiped out hundreds of attendees. And I wonder if someone like him should even be allowed on Earth.

But at this point, I have to ask myself if there is anyone who can stop him.

***

POV Sophie Martinez

I have seen Nathaniel fight multiple times, and over time I have come to agree with something he himself and many others say. Nathaniel is not one of the most talented ones; he is not a genius like Savant, Tess, or Tacita.

Still, out of everyone I meet, out of every attendee, he is someone I want to mess with the least. The guy is harder to kill than a cockroach, and his mana output only seems to increase as the fight progresses instead of him getting tired or running out of resources.

There is just too much bullshit he throws around. The last fight against Absolute Candidate Ruby was proof of that. That red-haired woman was also one of these talented fighters and beat the shit out of him for most of the fight, but in the end, he still technically won by dying that split of a second later.

I saw the expressions of people in the common area during that fight, as well as the reactions of spies from other rounds, and it is obvious that the countermeasures they will prepare against him will increase in number.

To put it simply, Nathaniel is someone I absolutely do not want to fight or have as an enemy.

Yet here I am, standing against his avatar.

Our group of one hundred attendees is positioned across the massive square room. It has the same gray walls and a red ceiling lit by white crystals. The rest of the enormous space is filled with buildings reminiscent of those the lynthari on the fourth floor used to build. There is even a fountain in the center, and the area is large enough to host a small city.

There are four beyonders I know: Kang Jiwon from the 10th round, some girl from Victoria's round, Leticia, Luna, and one more guy from Jean's round. Then we have 10 Hell difficulty attendees and I don't even bother counting the lower difficulties.

It could be said that the collection of people here is impressive.

Still, Leticia by my side whispers, "Should we run?"

Luna, beside us, growls, now at the largest size I have ever seen this golden retriever reach. Her fur stands on end, and her massive teeth are bared.

I look in the direction Leticia is looking.

Nathaniel's avatar hovers in mid-air. A pale blue crown floats above his head, and the gray tones of his form make the crown's glow and the golden circles around his pupils stand out even more.

Leticia grabs my arm. "Why’s he not moving?"

He really isn't. Nathaniel's avatar just floats there, dead center of the battlefield, with no attacks, no skill activations, nothing. And yet everyone feels it; the air thickens, and the ground trembles under our feet despite the lack of movement.

I swear I saw Kang Jiwon take half a step back. Just half. Enough to mean something.

His crown pulses once and mana rises up around him. Someone shouts and defenses fire up and activate. Left with no other choice, I activate what I have prepared and stack it up around us, and prepare to fight.

My attempt to pierce into his mind is deflected as if I had slammed into a steel wall.

Again, pressure around him increases.

Ten people disappear. No screams, no impact, just gone, vaporized, or maybe something worse.

Luna lunges forward before I can react. She vanishes.

Leticia shouts and attacks. And all I can do is reach for mana and hope the next attack isn't for me.

***

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