Chapter 307: Massive Shift

Chapter 307: Massive Shift

Kharom’s offer of truce made the entire arena pause. Every gaze settled on Adyr, the figure at the center of it all, and the crowd seemed to see him with new clarity.

For most, the meaning was simple: a new-generation genius had appeared, a talent who could stand beside the top 3.

Even those still locked in battle slowed and turned to look, Thalira Luna and Brakhtar Gorat among them, each taking a brief breath from their fights to see what would happen next.

Inside that stillness, one group began to move.

"Brother, watch out!" Maruun Aqua’s warning cut the hush. The Umbraen Practitioners pressing the Aqualeth abruptly peeled away, drawing back in a coordinated slide and angling toward another target.

"Nice try." By the time the ruse began, Adyr was already in motion.

His analysis of Kharom’s character was detailed, and with Gaze giving him a 10-second window into the immediate future, it was almost impossible for ambushes like these to work on him.

He already recognized the truce for what it was: a mask, a lure to divert attention.

"Wait..." Kharom realized his distraction-and-strike plan had failed. Adyr was already coming with his new pair of swords, fast enough that there was no room to dodge. He opened his mouth to make the only plea that might save him. "I surren—"

BOOM!

A hard glint flicked through the air. Adyr’s explosive throwing knife struck Kharom’s chin and detonated with a sharp, concussive pop.

The blast snapped his jaw shut and stole the rest of the word. It scorched rather than shattered; as damage, it was light, but the interruption and jolt were enough to silence him.

These explosives need an upgrade.

He flooded both swords with Sonic Burst and Burst Hop and cut across Kharom’s unguarded chest. The skin there was already torn; the crosswise slash landed before the wound could seal.

Cracked ribs gave way under the blow; the fracture widened until internal organs showed. Dark blood burst out in a heavy gout as the shock traveled deeper, battering the organs behind and shaking them to the brink of rupture.

Kharom staggered, breath tearing, arms clamping toward the ruin of his chest. The arena, which had just begun to breathe again, fell silent once more, the outcome hanging in the air like dust after a strike.

"I regret this choice, but there’s no other path." Wearing regret as a mask to hide his true feelings, Adyr raised his sword for a final strike, intent on killing, while Kharom’s life drained away and blood spilled from his mouth.

"Stop." Sevrak’s voice rose as his hand reached toward the arena. An ominous pressure gathered and tightened every spine. He was clearly trying to save his grandson.

Before Liora, already poised to intervene, could act, another force arrived.

Sevrak’s power drained the instant it appeared, freezing him in place. A voice followed, as respectful as possible and as threatening as it needed to be:

"No one outside the arena interferes." The goatman Caprion spoke with a tone that left no room.

Seeing how easily Caprion halted the Dragon Rider without even shifting his stance, everyone fell into awe.

Sevrak, with no other choice, clenched his jaw, lowered his hand, and kept watching.

Adyr brought his black sword down one last time, his skill combo loaded to the hilt. A hard sword arc tore through Kharom’s already bleeding organs, leaving only a mashed heap in the hollow of his chest.

Kharom Umbra, grandson of Dragon Rider Sevrak, hit the ground with a thud. A deep, eerie silence fell over the market area.

After confirming the Umbraen threat was dead, Adyr lifted his head to Liora on Collossith’s crest. Her face was tense, but when their eyes met, she offered a small, reassuring smile and a nod. The meaning was apparent: ’You did well.’

He then turned his gaze to Sevrak, whose expression remained blank while rage burned underneath.

Now this man has every right to kill me,

Choosing to kill meant accepting death in return. A true serial killer understood that simple law. Motive, whether pleasure or necessity, changed nothing; only power decided the outcome.

For now, rules and restrictions protected him. Soon, only true power would. His mind was clear as still water. He needed time and an opportunity, and he would seize both with his own hands.

"Kill the Velari!"

A grief-charged battle cry split the air as the Umbraens surged toward him.

"Fine." Adyr sighed and lifted his weapons to meet them.

Before he could move, Gaze showed him an unexpected scene. Moments later, another shout cut through the chaos.

"Aid the Velari!"

It was not Maruun Aqua; he and the Aqualeth were already locked in a death fight with the Umbraens. The cry came from another race: furred bodies, dog-like faces. Houndkin.

"Houndkin acted first, huh?" Adyr was briefly surprised as a line of Houndkin Practitioners stepped in front of him, interposing themselves between him and the Umbraens and settling into a tight defensive formation.

He had expected the lower races to move after he killed Kharom and dealt a hard blow to the Umbraens’ morale. That had been his plan from the start.

Yet the Houndkin were known for caution. He remembered their surrender in the 5-man team match against the Umbraens not long ago.

A personal grudge? No.

Their aim was different. They were courting Velari’s goodwill.

It fit what he knew of them. Houndkin were usually docile, aligned with the Astra Path, culturally moderate, and on good terms with other kingdoms.

They tended to remain passive during territorial conflicts because they lacked the strength to shape outcomes. For them to step out now, openly challenge the Umbraens, and accept enmity told Adyr everything he needed to know.

By securing favorable terms with the Velari, the Houndkin moved to shed their passivity and pursue a place among the stronger races. In Adyr’s eyes, that made them the ideal race to cultivate as a future ally.

As the Houndkin and Aqualeth pressed the Umbraen Practitioners from front and rear, more of the lower races joined.

"Kill the Umbraens!"

Stone-dark giants, Obsidren, standing about 3 meters tall, pushed in from another side. The ring tightened, strangling the Umbraens’ ability to maneuver.

And they were not the last.

One after another, more groups piled in. Without a word, an alliance formed in the dust and noise, as if it had been prepared long before the event.

"You bunch of lowlifes." Sevrak’s roar rolled across the arena. More than half the Practitioners were now striking the Umbraen group together.

Everyone saw his fury and guessed at the revenge to come, yet no one on the marble pulled back, and no leader in the stands called their people off.

They were united by a single aim: wipe out the Umbraens and prevent even 1 from entering the Legacy Domain.

"Dragon Rider Sevrak... it looks like your people’s reputation is well known. No one wants an Umbraen at an event like this," Silverlight Zephan remarked, almost casually.

"Silence." Sevrak snapped the word, fully aware it was true, and the truth only made him angrier.

Every race here had long been tired of the Umbraens: tired of their swagger across the region, tired of the trouble they brought, tired of how they made life harder for everyone else. They had been waiting for the smallest opening to strike and be done with it.

Adyr’s clean kill of Kharom gave them that opening and the courage to act.

Under combined pressure from the lower races, the Umbraen Practitioners began to fall.

Adyr, architect of this chaos, waited at the edge and watched with a casual expression. He spared no extra thought for it and let others finish the work.

"You look like you’re enjoying the fight."

At the unexpected voice, he turned. Thalira Luna approached in small, measured steps. Her loose silver hair rippled with each footfall. Her beautiful, spotless face remained calm, and her silver eyes studied him in careful detail, as if trying to read the depths of his soul.

"I’m just tired and resting." Seeing she was not here to fight, he answered casually with a small smile. "What about you? You look tired, too, after your fight with Brakhtar Gorat."

Thalira did not reply at once. She came to stand beside him, folded her arms in front of her, fixed her gaze on the ongoing battle, and spoke in a low tone. "That fight lost its meaning."

Adyr understood and left it there. Once the attention she had been chasing shifted to him, her bout with Brakhtar became meaningless. She ended it, deciding it was a waste of time and unwise to tire herself before the Legacy Domain.

After a brief pause between them, her silver eyes returned to him. "My father told me to be careful about you. I understand now why."

Caution and a firm will filled her look. "You are cunning and smart. That is what makes a man dangerous." With that, she turned and left.

Adyr watched her back for a moment, then chuckled under his breath. "Lunari, huh? They seem hard to deal with."