Right as Yuki passed through the gateway to the 8th stage of the dungeon, his knees began to feel weak. Within an instant, Yuki fell over and landed face first into the gateway tunnel ground. The gateway itself was located in the middle of the tunnel however, the square shaped tunnel was a bridge-like structure which connected the previous stage with the next one. It was placed in the bottom-middle of the walls which blocked off one stage from the other. These walls were indestructible as they were forced to exist objects by the system of the world.

Yuki had fallen over due to the exhaustion from the past few battles which had taken place over the span of a couple days. He had forgotten about taking a break or sleeping due to him putting himself in scenarios in which his life was in danger. In turn forcing himself to be in a constant state of fight or flee mindset. Luckily for Yuki, the stage mini boss or any monster couldn't attack Yuki even if they wanted to.

Yuki had fallen into a deep slumber. However it was the best thing for him at that time. When he had awoken 14 hours later, his heart began to beat profusely. He was shocked and confused as to what had happened. Once Yuki began to calm himself, he remembered what had happened.

"Man, I must've been pretty tired," Yuki said as he yawned.

Yuki began to walk towards the actual stage where he would meet his next opponent. All that was on the stage was an empty armour case. No one looked to be wearing it which was odd and confusing. However, as Yuki stepped out of the tunnel he began to realize why it was there.

As Yuki walked out of the tunnel, a loud igniting sound could be heard. When Yuki looked at the chest area of the armour, he could see a bright light shining from it. Moments later, that light began to grow in size and expand until it fit the size of the armour. Unlike a regular armour set, this one did not have a helmet. The flames took the form of the armour however when it came to the head, it formed a large facial structure with wide spiral horns.

"Seriously?" Yuki sighed.

"There's only 3 stages left including this one. We can get through this," said Yuki to himself.

Yuki looked up at his enemy so he could learn his name.

[Commander of the flames Mini Boss: Kostas]

"Wait, I can use my skill to see how I stand against him... actually that would take too long and it's a waste of time. It wouldn't change the fact that I'll have to face him," Yuki said to himself.

Yuki began to charge towards Kostas bare handed. He still had some scars left from the previous battle.

[Flame commander]

Yuki saw a large text above Kostas. Without having to think twice, Yuki knew what it meant.

"I forgot that the last 3 stages' mini bosses all have a special ability of their own. This is gonna. be much more of a pain than I thought," said Yuki.

Yuki quickly turned away from Kostas to consume potions so he could at least be a match for him. He knew that without amplifying his strength and speed, he would have almost no chance of defeating Kostas. It wasn't like Yuki could rely on some secret martial arts technique which he picked up from many years of training. There was nothing special about him. He was no hero nor villain. He was just a random kid who got lucky and received the power to do whatever he liked.

Making sure to keep his distance, Yuki began to move his finger towards the gear like icon which opened up his inventory. However, before he could do so, multiple large spiral flames almost made a direct hit on him. Before they could burn the flesh off his face, Yuki ducked and rolled over to the right. He now realized that a moment of hesitation could mean the end of him. Before another attack could be made, Yuki opened his inventory.

[Open inventory]

Yuki pulled out exactly 8 attack boost potions. As he finished closing his inventory tab, antor attack of spiral flames were approaching him. Kostas was still standing where he was at when Yuki first entered the stage. He hadn't moved one inch since the so-called start of their battle. As Yuki ran around Kostas, he continously consumed the potions as Kostas wasn't going to give him time to do so on his own.

As Yuki drank the last attack boost potion and threw the glass capsule on the ground-causing it to shatter, Yuki came to a stand still.

"Activate ability: Fire Control"

Yuki intercepted the upcoming flame spirals which Kostas directed at him with his own fire spirals. This was a direct challenge of strengths.

Seeing this Kostas changed the shape of his flames to look like large flame arrows. Kostas created seemingly 50 of these large flame arrows all around him before firing them directly at Yuki. However, Yuki was not going to allow himself to be defeated. Using his ability, Yuki created an even larger flame arrow for each one of the ones that Kostas created. Yuki fired each one of his own arrows to clash with Kostas's arrows. However, since Yuki made his arrows larger than Kostas's ones, Yuki's arrows were left standing.

Instead of backing down and calling back his arrows so he could defend himself for another attack, Yuki pointed his palm forward and made all of the flame arrows merge together and create one massive fire arrow which he fired at Kostas.

The mini boss of the this stage would not give up so easily either. Using his own special ability, Kostas created a dense fire wall which completely blocked off the arrow which Yuki had fired at him. While it seemed as if they were both equal, one side was holding back a lot so as to make it seem more fair than it actually was.

This of course was Yuki. His different emotions become prominent at different times. During this battle Yuki's sadist-like persona would become his main drive to fight.