The orb before Jeff's palm instantly inflated to basketball-size.

At this moment, a mana density of sage-level mid-tier had been reached!

This was not an attack a sage-level early-tier like Atlas could take.

In an instance, a thick beam of golden energy blasted into the ocean. Upon contact, the water around the beam instantly vaporized into clouds of white fume.

Travelling like a beam of light, this beam had instantly engulfed Atlas. There was simply too little time to react!

[Energy Beam]

Jeff's new ability. Nothing fancy. But this beam of pure unprocessed energy was deadly enough by itself.

Sensing the results, Jeff raised his brows. His energy beam had just disappeared all of a sudden.

PAM!

Atlas shot out of the ocean surface, bring out a pillar of water.

"JEFF NORMAN!!" Floating above the ocean surface, Atlas looked at Jeff with a grudging gaze. "I'll remember. The shame you've. Brought to me today."

Atlas panted. This towering fella's size had deflated like a balloon. He looked like a skinny teenager now.

Plop... Plop...

Purplish-black blood dripped off the dude. These ink-like droplets quickly diffused in the ocean.

Jeff tapped his staff forward. In an instant, Jeff appeared before Atlas.

A purple light blinked around Atlas.

Whoosh!

Jeff swung his staff forward. An arc of blast wave traveled down the ocean surface, gradually bringing up a wall of tide.

Jeff looked upwards.

Atlas had suddenly appeared up there now. His ring emitted a purple glow. The dude's figure quickly inflated again. 2 meters tall... 4 meters tall...

In a blink, Atlas' form had changed. Before, he looked somewhat like a king. Now, this dude just looked like a purple muscular alien.

Leaving a hateful gaze at Jeff, Atlas shot upwards to the sky. Not towards the sanctuary this time.

Atlas chose to flee!

'Can't let you do that...' Leaving a trail of golden light in the air, Jeff shot towards Atlas.

Some distance away, one could only see two rays of light shooting up into the sky. The golden ray below quickly caught up with the purple ray above though.

Sensing this, Atlas turned around. Purplish-black blobs quickly formed around him. Atlas pressed his palm at Jeff. These blobs rained down like a barrage of missiles.

Before hitting Jeff, these blobs self-imploded into void rifts. In an instance, a field of void rifts blocked up Jeff's path.

Without stopping, Jeff waved his staff horizontally.

It's as if there was an invisible eraser, those void rifts got erased.

"This is your end Atlas..." Jeff popped right above Atlas.

Yet, leaving a purple flash, Atlas had disappeared!

Jeff looked up. Atlas had somehow travelled hundreds of meters instantly. Fog was obstructing Jeff's vision. But only one glowing figure could be seen.

'Is it that ring?' Jeff knitted his brows.

Jeff took a look around to be certain. No energy signatures whatsoever.

Without further hesitation, Jeff chased behind Atlas. 'But how many times can you use that move Atlas?'

Jeff certainly didn't have to worry about mana within these 10 minutes...

Just like this, whenever Jeff caught up, Atlas would flash away.

Poof... Poof...

Jeff squinted a little at the bright sunlight.

Following Atlas, he had shot through the blanket of fog.

Up there, it's the beautiful blue sky. A few thin cloud puffs here and there. A scene Jeff hadn't seen with his own eyes for a while.

The warm sunlight felt nice as well. Looking down, it's like he was standing on a blanket of cloud now. The sunlight gave the blanket of fog a golden lining.

The atmosphere was thinning here. High wind: hundreds of kilometers per hour. Freezing temperatures: about -50 Celsius. Nevertheless, at sage-tier, being enveloped by a layer of golden energy, Jeff felt totally fine here.

Looking up, Atlas was still ascending higher.

'Is he trying to get to space?' Jeff knitted his brows. He suddenly had a bad feeling about this one.

Jeff was fine at this height. However, Jeff wasn't sure if he'd be fine in sub-orbit. Or worse, in space.

'Enough.' Jeff poured his mana into his staff. With a tap, Jeff instantly disappeared.

A couple of kilometers above Atlas, Jeff suddenly popped into existence. Raising a palm at Atlas, a sphere of golden energy inflated.

Unfortunately, these were about all the tricks Jeff knew. However, it's enough.

'Let's see how many times you can make these disappear.'

Below, wearing a succeeded smile, Atlas chopped his dagger in the air.

In an instant, a void rift appeared.

Jeff widened his eyes. The orb in his palm instantly flattened into a disk. '9 layers of shield!'

Golden light quickly became blindingly bright in Jeff's view.

Tss...

Before Jeff could do anything else, he'd been engulfed by a wide beam of golden energy.

Layer by layer, the invisible shields before Jeff shuttered and dissipated. The golden beam of energy collided with Jeff's shield. Inside this beam, the temperature quickly heated up.

It's like being propelled by a geyser of water, Jeff was uncontrollably pushed further up.

The beam of energy quickly dissipated. The surrounding quickly cooled down.

Coming to a halt, Jeff panted a little. Breathing was becoming difficult. It had to be like negative 100 degrees Celsius here. The wind speed was getting rather fast. However, there's barely any air around. Even being covered inside his energy, Jeff still felt a little cold here.

Looking down, Jeff could see the curvature of this planet clearly now. Below, this entire planet was covered in a layer of fog. No exceptions.

Some distance underneath Jeff, Atlas clenched his fists. The dude wasn't panting or anything. In fact, This guy wasn't even breathing. Atlas looked past Jeff into space with a longing look. So close. Yet so far away.

Atlas' gaze flickered in thought.

"Looks like you are out of tricks as well." Jeff's voice sounded right by Atlas' head. A psychic trick. It's not like talking was possible here.

Atlas looked down. If he could get to the sanctuary, it's his win. Then Atlas looked up. If he could get into space, that would also give him a huge advantage.

As a void race, he could easily survive in the void space. Jeff couldn't.

Yet, with Jeff in his way, neither options seemed viable now. He was simply too slow.

Atlas clenched his fists. His gaze gradually became determined.

"My offer still stands Atlas. Return to a human again, and we can figure something out together."

PAUSE: Jeff was still hoping for the void-reversal solution. Not for Atlas. But for those void servants who'd changed their minds.

"Figure something out?" Atlas' voice sounded by Jeff's head. "Figure something out?!"

"I'd rather die than rotting in prison!"

"Why do you think I chose the void in the first place!" Atlas stared at Jeff with an angry gaze.

"If the old man didn't put you as his first successor, you think I'd choose this risky path!" Atlas ranted like he didn't care anymore.

Jeff raised his brows. He actually didn't know this information. 'Samson wanted me to be the keyholder?'

"Soft man like you should never be in charge of the military! Yet, you are in charge of the biggest mercenary group in this city! What a joke!"

"The old man even put Liam above me in succession order! Am I the only sane person here!" Atlas flew closer to Jeff.

"If you weren't a category 4, you'd be nothing! Nobody! You hear me Norman? Nothing!"

"What do you know about resource management? What do you know about leadership! What you know about city planning! Nothing! You know nothing!"

"Only I, Atlas, can bring glory to Berrystone. Only I..." Atlas slumped in defeat as he floated up.

In a moment, Atlas had reached the same height as Jeff.

"I... Atlas..." Atlas extended his hands forward. This guy was ready to be cuffed. "... Very well... I'll become a fragile human again. But, at least let me be an advisor."

Atlas looked at Jeff in the eyes. A smirk appeared on Atlas' face. His ring suddenly burst with a purple light.